I've started so I'll finish...

"...I don't have the passion anymore, and so remember, its better to burn out than to fade away." These were the last words of the suicide note that Kurt Cobain wrote(the actual last words were 'I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU' though). I'm reminded of this at present. I know that this blog has been left un-updated ever since I don't know when. I've lost the sense of time. I feel rotten right now thinking of a future, a road that I have to journey in, a road that will someday bring me back to the freedom and sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that I've always felt while writing any post or article, a road that I'm yet to find, a road that as Schrodinger says is somewhere here. I can no longer be here and stand to think of this blog not being updated frequently. I don't know if I'm sounding corny or just way too plain or too build-uppy kind. Just that I'm not able to let go typing these words, once I've started to, in a way I want, in a way that isn't forced by an educational system or a family issue. It just feels so much better to come out of this sickly hibernation of not posting for long and writing here to my pulse. I'm just happy to think of times when I've marketed this blog successfully and sometimes unsuccessfully by asking people questions like "Would you like to read my blog?" over the chat to which most of them would think shit who'd want to read his rant but would be all nice on the outside, perhaps not being in a mood to be a mordant client and say "why of course" or "ya" or "ok". Ok, I'm grateful to you people for bothering to click and help me see the counter(previoulsy) rise. But was it worth a click? Tell it to anyone else, but me, cos I don't want to hear any negatives..ahem..ahem and I feel sorry to have bothered you all had I known I'd end it on December 30, 2005. The hell with it, anyway. On the hindsight, I also feel many of my posts have been way too immature or a dampener in the name of humour. I don't feel sorry for those; they have not restricted the writer in me. They have made me think twice before typing out a sentence. I don't know if I've thought well now, before doing this. But as far as 'The A Factor' goes here is the end.

The Gregarious REcluse

The delirium and trauma that many students undergo in their incessant need to see an amazing GRE score erected, is something I totally didn't experience. I enjoyed two weeks of absolute bliss at home preparing for the exam, in a way I haven't done in the past 20 years.Yes sir, its that time of the year when final year students of many engineering colleges (under the regime of AU) try and sweat it out to get out of a place, which, they would by now be sure enough to append an adjective and call it - fucking place.

Somewhere around the morning of September 4th, a sunday, I realised that i had bitched just about enough, not studying for the GRE which was to surface just 15 days later. My legendary pace of the bookworm, ironically not being one, saw me through with the staggering 50 word lists from the Bhagavat Gita of GRE - Barrons. That book is so damn famous that, in one of the tamil movies(where hardly ambiguous titles like 'Gentleman' and 'Run' are coming along), namely - Mudhalvan, in a popular song titled 'Shakalakka Baby' you can see the guys having this book.It has become so synonymous with the engineering students from middle-class families flying to the States.Whatever that be, its now a matter at hand.

For certain promises I made to the ETS, I won't reveal any fucking question and we won't discuss how I performed.

However, I feel a need to express the joy I felt preparing for the exam. Much of my present vocabulary, wherever it might stand, has been due to my family, my teachers, my surroundings and most of all a memory that has all the interest in the world to absorb all that seems highly trivial or useless to rest. I still recall my father holding a family photograph and on diffrent occasions giving me some trinket and saying -"This is for posterity".This memory dates back a long time ago when I would whine at boarding the bus to school. Another of my father's favourite usage on the occasion of grousing about autorickshaw drivers would be that they are charging exorbitantly, which he would put it as - "Autorickshaw drivers only in this place swindle money like this". And then when I would reach 8th standard or so, my father had to counsel me on a regular basis, as I used to be terribly bad at studies. My father used to tell me and try inculcating concepts like peer pressure, which hardly I could grasp and would escape the moment then by shaking my head obediently and feigning maturity.And so I got to know words like posterity, swindle, peer, etc.

Now that I have bitched about my skills, we will end this post in an abrupt manner.Its just fun to end a post like this.....

Life is beautiful!

There is a moribund usual stillness in the air, but there is a glimmering hope at the horizon.I can see it.It cannot cease to be a mirage or a figment of my imagination.Even if it is so, I like to think that there is a way out.That things will get better and my life is just gonna rock.

I just completed 'The Fountainhead' - a classic philosophical novel by Ayn Rand.The book speaks about the struggle of an arrogant, level-headed genius-pleasure-seeker-architect named Howard Roark.Roark is Rand's portrayal of an ideal human being in a world torn apart by diplomacy, autocracy, dependence and resentment of a faceless monster.Rand's quest into what is the virtue of selfishness is what forms the basis of the novel.This gives base to her theory of Objectivism which has found worldwide acclaim in capitalistic territories spreading throughout the globe.

The story starts with Howard Roark getting dropped out of an architetural college - Stanton.The beginning chapter explains the character of the best student at Stanton - Peter Keating.Keating, a normal human being, a promising young architect and the dreamboy of his times approaches life with an exactly opposite principle of that of Roark.Dominique, the exquisitely beautiful daughter of Keating's boss is an enigmatic personality, who does the most unexpected of things and is in her own quest to seek the perfect man.In her pursuit, she meets many men.As to whom she falls for and as to why she struggles to defeat Roark is what needs to be known.The second chapter is that of an eminent philosopher of their times - Ellsworth Monkton Toohey, who meets various characters and handles various situations tactfully.The third is perhaps the most energetic and dynamic of characters - Gail Wynand.One has to read to know him, for I surely don't want to disclose anything about Gail.The fourth and final chapter is about Howard Roark who goes to show his righteousness to existence and reflects primarily Rand's philosophy on life.

If you are interested in philosophy and in life and its meaning, you surely must venture The Fountainhead, for it promises to be the most thought-provoking novel I've ever read.

My most favourite character is the obvious - Howard Roark.But apart from that the second place should be a tie between Gail Wynand and Dominique.I despise Ellsworth Toohey.I don't feel anything about Keating.

Incidentally my most favourite movie - The Shawshank Redemption(I've watched it about 7 times) speaks of a character named Andy Dufresne which is of verisimilitude with that of Roark, whose life in the prison is what forms the basis of the story.Yes, that was a bum of a statement.But I don't intend to give away anything of it, for it is a must-see movie.Ofcourse you need patience to watch it.I'd recommend that it be watched in a DVD with subtitles.The dialogues are just amazing, and nothing less.The screenplay is brilliant and captivating.The actors are no actors - its a sin to call that acting.They have lived through it.Just the camera has captured it for us.The direction is beyond any meritorious adjective that can be offered.If you haven't watchd it yet, run and get it and get plugged.

We all have certain thoughts and ideas on how our life should take shape, on what principle we must work, on how we must seek enjoyment, on how we must co-exist and on how we must live.Some of us don't have, for we don't think on such lines.Those of you falling into the latter category and as well as the former, here is Rand with The Fountainhead, not to influence you, but to make you think and see the obvious, or shall we say whats best for oneself.Rand's simple and direct suggestive view of life proves to be the most obvious at the end of the novel.Some people recognize their mistakes and others don't give in.You can find The Fountainhead in any lending library or in some of your friends' place, but if only you can discern can it find you.

Where it all leads unto? or Fcuked up!

I am like fuckin bored with life.I don't even know why I am writng this post.I know its because I am bored.No, no its not because I am bored.Its because I am frustrated with life.There is just no satisfaction, no joy, no nothing whatsoever.It all seems as though the world is a big farce.Even blogging has become bloody boring.I don't know why I even live.But I guess, may be it is to say all this, watch a movie occasionally, chat with friends, go to the net, chat up with friends there, blog on some event or on something you've gotta say about or say nothing about.

All that is bullshit for sure.I know it.I know I am not here to do that.Its something else.But whats that something else thats dying for me to lay my hands on it is what is troubling.I wanted to study lots about astrophysics, space and its vageries and all the mind-boggling theories.I wanted to go to NASA and I was so very much interested into all that.It was the sole reason of me opting for ECE at SSN.There at SSN I have done a commendable job, that I should be awarded the highest civilian award for enduring 3 years of meaninglessness.Then I thought about going to the management side, but realised that I haven't matured enough to take that pressure.I probably will do something on that side later in life.Sometimes I just feel 'to hell with space and all that' and that I just wanna become an astronaut right away and fly into empty space, even if it means to losing my breath there.But reality hits me, when I know that I haven't done or worked in any way.Worked in the sense as to put a paper or do some research.I have become fuckin lazy and I dream like an idiot.My thinking in the metaphysical direction is no longer as intense as it used to be during my school days.I feel like I am losing direction.I don't know where I am being lead.I don't know many things.Sometimes I don't want to know.

For all people at this stage you are probably FCUKED up with life.Don't worry, time doesn't stop and change runs hand in hand.May Orkut save you from your status quo.

PS:This post was written in a moment of frustration and madness.It might not express the feeling of the writer anymore or probably it can be much worse than what has been portrayed, right now.

Anniyan - no usual onion

Two days ago I went along with Ananth to watch Anniyan at Satyam cinemas.We went pretty early, say around 5 minutes before the show started and found to our utter dismay that the tickets were sold out!!! So we, being the bad guys we are, tried for the black ones and got them at Rs.100/- each.

By the by this is my first tamil movie review.

Basic Story: This movie is a mixture of 'Tell me your dreams' - a book by Sidney Sheldon, Identity and Seven(which I haven't watched as of yet, but know the story) + five really good songs by Harris Jayaraj + Shanker's giant-size portrayal of things + Vikram's bulky body.

When you enter the movie hall, to watch this movie, you don't want to miss anything thats going on-screen mainly because of Shanker's overwhelming nature of portrayal.Vikram plays the role of a down-to-earth, innocent, prim, well-disciplined, obviously single iyengar boy named 'Ramanujam'.But throughout the movie people find it easy to address him as 'Ambi'.So from now I too shall refer to this character as Ambi(since its extremely cumbresome to type out the other name).But somehow in the movie some people amusingly find it very covenient to refer to Ambi as 'Rules Ramanujam', which by some untold rule I won't be referring to hereafter.Sada, who as 'always' fails to form an impression on my mind as a babe, plays the character of 'Nandini', plays obviously Vikram's love interest.Ooops! Ambi's love interest.The most interesting of characters is Vivek, who plays Chari - a CB-CID cop who assists Prakashraj, his senior, obviously.Prakashraj is referred to as 'Sir' in the movie, so I don't know his character's name or may be I have failed to notice.The other characters I will tell you as we move.

The first few minutes try to make the viewer understand that Ambi is a very naive lawyer, who adheres to rules, is a well-conditioned boy from the neighbourhood of agraharam-like set up.Here Vikram's acting is good, but there is a little too much of deliberation on the way of talking, not the accent.But one must not say its bad; he has done better than all his predecessors in the iyengar's role.He somehow falls for his neighbour and childhood friend Nandini(Sada), who not so surprisngly is single till then.Somehow, as a sensible male, one feels sad for Ambi falling for Nandini.Then there is Kumari - a song that forms a lasting impression on the mind of the viewer, mainly for its melodious tune and Shankar Mahadevan's renderring of it and of course Harris Jeyaraj's music.After this however, the movie goes to show how Ambi is helplessly frustrated with the absence of decorum in the city.One cannot resist , but laugh when coming to think of Ambi's IQ as he realizes this obviousness when he's of say twenty six or so.He then finds a website, titled Anniyan.com, desperately trying to bring the movie title to significance.This website takes in complaints from people regarding the absence of righteousness in some particular person, solely on the basis of description of the user.The mysterious creator of the website, promises to see to it that the problem is solved by lynching the concerned person in a highly unusual way.

The first victim is found dead in some god-forsaken place by bulls.The murder is obviously done by Anniyan.com's creator Anniyan - the stranger in black.Immediately Sir and Chari rush to the place, dressed up as locals(probably to get a pulse of what people think, none of which is shown in the movie).There, they find a place where our Anniyan manages to write in tamil, the form of punishment he has given.God knows why he wants to write.Probably to end the movie as quick as possible, but all his efforts go in vain, as the movie takes a cool 3 and 1/2 hours.The words written are intriguing at first, as they aren't usual tamil words.The same thing happens to some two other victims.This is where Chari tries to dilute the seriousness with his one-liners.You can't help laughing, its really funny.The apparently confusing words are solved by Ambi, who solves them for Chari on his request.Ambi and Chari, by the way, are very close friends and many of their interludes are hilarious.


Ambi professes his love for Nandini by writing a very funny love letter, and she rejects it.Dumb girl.Has no sense of humour probably.She then explains that she doesn't love for his straight manners.She then meets a ramp model, Remo, who looks amazingly like Ambi.But at no point does Nandini's bloodshot brains tell her this similarity.She falls for his obvious whiz and charm.During all this time, Anniyan goes about murdering people, for their unpardonable lack of properness.Anniyan, too amazingly looks like Ambi and Remo.All three of them bear close semblance to actor Vikram.Somehow the director tries to confuse and promotes intrigue into our minds.

Very soon the director gives up and goes public about Ambi's split personality problem.Ambi has no knowledge about his two other alters.Sadly his two alters have knowledge about him.By this time Nadini understands the problem, somehow, and realizes that she can actually understand concepts, plus 5 songs are over and its about 3 hours.She now falls for Ambi in all entirety.By now the court takes notice of this case, and leaves this guy out as he is diagnosed with MPD.He is then sent to a hospital where he is treated for two years and comes out completely cured, apparently.

Alright I am tired of writing anymore of this, as you are of reading this post.The movie keeps you entertained, but fails to keep you glued, if you have knowledge of 'Tell me your Dreams' or 'Identity'.The songs are really good.Vivek's comedy is quite funny.For all the base the story had, Shanker has not made good use of the 26 Cr. budget.He could have completed it for less.But somehow, its a good entertainer for a tamil movie's class and quite understandably will be a hit as it caters to needs of the masses.The following is a justification why the movie will be a hit.

Movie Blues

Anniyan(in a characeristic hoarse voice): Dei Baadu..

Audience:aaaayyyy.... whistles blow and everyone's elated at having heard a 'bad word'.

Me:All most falls of the chair laughing, watching both.

Placed!

I am yet to recover from what has happened today.I have narrated the incident more than some ten times now.So I'll keep shut.The news is that I've got placed in HCL COMNET.One hell of a day, I still am pinching myself every two seconds to check if this has happened for real.As a result of my pinching I am finding it extremely difficult to write this post.Plus most of my friends are asking me if its a BPO.Once and for all it is not a BPO.I just went through three rounds and here I am.I have an arrear, and it was a dream for me to see placements happen.Today like a magic, like how Krishna lifted a mountain as a small boy, he for no doubt has played a small trick today in my impertinent life and has given me this happiness, which for sure is ephemeral(No offence meant to Krishna).So I'll shut my butt, but not right away.

I'll be erring greatly if I don't mention and thank these people.So here goes.A big thanks to Janani, Mani, Mental(aka Saamu), Bhargav, Sridhar(the tourist taxi driver), Vigu(ECE-B placement co-ordinator), Rama(CSE placement co-ordinator), Praveen(another CSE placement co-ordinator), Hari(IT placement co-ordinator), George(another IT placement co-ordinator), Shyam and all my well-wishers.

With the way I have done my exams, this has come as something more than a respite.It just happened.Just like that!(This in no way tries to promotes the writer's unreadable Jus like that post).

Enjoy & Think!

Jus like that - 3 aka Humerrr.. sense

I am currently suffering from writer's block, so much so that I just want to get out of this condition by writing something.So I have decided that you will bear the brunt of reading this post and not kill me for what I am going to write.Wait a second, even I don't know what I am going to write.Anyways lets see what comes out of this post.

The tradition of the 'Jus like that' posts have been such that only the writer has ever read them completely and people whom he persuaded into reading just starting throwing curses by reading the first paragraph of those posts.So don't pin much of your hopes onto this one either.I know this statement, and why even this post and this whole blog is a product of my soliloquy.So there is no need for the writer to worry, its just for the typist to continue typing what the material inside my cranium suggets.Thats now what - three personalities? I still don't know what Arun R and Arun Narayan think about it.

Just today when I was talking about The Motorcycle Diaries with Ananth the ingenuity within me created an instant joke based on punning the name of the main character of the movie - Ernesto 'Che' Guevara.With so much of a build-up I guess the joke has lost half its already impotent ability to stir the laughter.Anyways one must try his best.So here i go -

Fidel Castro and his infidelity(hope Castro doesn't castrate me for this!)


Interviewer(to Fidel Castro):Do you like USA?

Fidel Castro(in Spanish):'Che'!!

Okay I know that wasn't anywhere near a joke, but its something that crossed my brain abd so I thought I might bug you as well.Besides a recent mail I received that was posted to our class group ended with this - 'Don't keep the Laughter to yourself'.

I don't know whats happening to my sense of humour these days.I am failing awfully even in scrapping at Orkut, and most of my friends give me a stare for anything hinted as a joke.I know it must be tough times for people around me, but what to do, one man's pleasure is another man's sadness.

With thats apophthegm I guess we can coclude this vettiest post.Will try and write a sequel to this.I have lots to say about humour sense.Besides I wrote three testis(short-form for 'testimonial'; pun unintended) for Beta and he still isn't satisfied.My sense of humour is what irked him the most I guess.I guess now you know why.

What's smokin'??

Just recently our Union Minister for Health Dr.Anbumani Ramadoss, declared that smoking scenes in future cinemas to be produced should not show any smoking scenes.The ban just doesn't stop with that and extends also into the television arena.It says that any smoking scene shown should be blurred and that smoking scenes from old movies should be shown with a statutor warning at the bottom.I, for one am a non-smoker and it doesn't affect me in any way.But it sure does affect my viewing pleasure.Just think:

(The following is a scene from the movie Baasha)

Marc Antony(Raguvaran):Hey Baasha, nee intha business kku oru bachcha.Innum enni yezhe naalla nee close...hahaha.

Baasha(Thalaivar Rajni):(Lights his cigarette and screen blurs immediately) Nee innthaa Baasha oda valayaadathey..venaa.....
The writer wishes to apologise to all Rajini fans for not being able to remember any punch dialogue from the movie as and when he smokes.



Just an important scene in the movie Baasha would go blurred.The scene would lose the aesthetic value and I would lose the kick-assness that the scene would generate for me.Just think, how many such scenes will have to be blurred.Just think!!All this would make people not to smoke? Smokers will still be smokers, according to me.Somehow its all just a farce played by the central government in just making the public feel they are doing something good for them.Do all channels show sex all the time or is there one particular channel that promotes just sex? But still lots of people in India have AIDS.Why? I am not saying that screening sexual content on the screen from now on would have no impact on society.The youth is bound to go beserk.I remember guys used to stay tuned into the ZEE MGM channel every Saturday night, where 'A' movies used to be screned, to catch a glimpse of a woman's breasts.But hey, I can tell you that it surely didn't result in spread of AIDS or anything.Anyways thats different.

The film industry ofcourse has taken it badly for it curbs their imagination and creativity and restricts them of space in this already hackneyed way of making movies.The ban has come as a blow particularly to Bollywood.Many Bollywood actors and filmmakers have reacted in different ways.

Devanand, for instance says:If a person wants to smoke and die let him to do it...why affect the film industry by announcing such laws?..If you want ban smoking ban the sale of tobaccos instead.

Totally in agreement with you Devanand saab.But then filmmakers do also have some social responsibility, in that they mustn't take movies that can influence the vulnerable youth into taking drugs, smoking, drinking or stalking a girl and so on.The subject can't be of such sort, but one or two scenes where it is required to portray a negative character will demand him/her to smoke, drink or take drugs.Then what will the director do? How will he portray that emotion? Anyways thats none of my business.I am not here to speak for the film fraternity.But I sure do enjoy movies and can understand how such a baseless rule, rooted from idiocy will worry the filmmakers and disturb audience with blurs and subtitles.

And this how probably a scene in our future Indian movie would look:

Villain:Haaahahahhahahhehehehehehhaahahahh........(picks up a cigarette and puts it in his mouth and lights it and scene goes blur)...enna inthaaa cigarette pudikiriyaa?(offers cigarette to the hero).

Hero:Che....(gestures like hell he cares).

Villain:Enna bhayamaa?? hhehehehehahahahhahhahaa.............ithu nalla international brandu paa..(asks whether Hero is scared and says that the cigarette is of international quality).

Hero:Che...international branda iruntha enakku enna...ennaku onna maathri screen la blur aaga vendaam....hehehhehhahahahahh..(says he cares balls about its quality and that he doesn't take the cigarette cos he doesn't wants to get blurred on screen and laughs like the villain).

Villain:(takes off the cigarette immediately and looks like hes lost it all..with eyes protruding).

Of Ronins and Identities

Soon after the aptitude thingy was done, I came home and slept it off.Then I started out to KR's house by 8 at night.Other demons such as Ananth, Shivi and Spang also enjoined at KR's and we saw two movies : Ronin and Identity.

Ronin:

Ronin was a total action packed, all business and this-guy-betraying-that-guy kind of movie.The movie starts off in France, where Sam joins with a group of unknown people, for completing the task of getting a metal case from someone.The group which Sam joins consists of Vincent, Dierdre, Gregor and Spence.All of them are independently chosen and sent for the operation except that they conglomerate at a place in France and get to know each other just before the operation.Their first operation however, is to get a bag of guns from some party, which they pull off successfully after some sharp shooting and cool driving.They get the information through Dierdre( FYI:a woman) for this deal and the next operation of retrieving that mysterious steel case from some stupid villain.Sam's way of going about the whole operation is what is the most interesting.He has a charm and grace about him and the way in which he does those manouvres, to prove his mettle and gain others' confidence.

After meticulous planning, they pull off the operation successfully.Just then one of their own, Gregor deceives them of the case and tries to make the bucks by working the deal directly with the Russian Mikhi, himself. We'll leave it here and its for you to find out more about the movie by watching it, for I don't want to spoil it for ya.



Robert De Niro as Sam amazes on screen with his acting.In Tamil I'd say "weightttu" for that role of his.Jean Reno as Vincent is also pretty impressive.Then there is Natascha McElhone playing Dierdre who is a babe, but her babe-ish potentials haven't been put to use on screen.But still the average viewer is able to realize that she can sizzle and has great potential for out-of-the-pool roles and other such roles.Stellan Skarsgard as Gregor and Sean Bean as Spence play their parts well enough to merit a mention.The movie is famous for its car-chase sequence which keeps you on the edge of your seats.Its beautiful choreographed through the narrow streets and tunnels of Paris.The director John Frankenheimer being a former racing driver has specialised in the car chase scenes, and has shot them with maximum authenticity.The term 'Ronin' however, is a reference to the masterless samurais who were active during the feudal period.They commited hara-kiri(or disembowelment), which in this movie is referred to a Seppuku or ritual suicide.Though no one comits suicide, the title is intended to denote the masterless agents in this movie.

Identity:



The next movie has an intriguing title.The movie simply is to be seen at night 2:30 (morning actually), obviously without lights, room closed, and if possible with a generally spooky friend.This movie if seen alone, might cause you to piss down your pants or aggravate hidden psychic instincts.I won't tell you anything at all about the movie here.You have to see it, get intrigued, rewind see scenes, scratch your head, rewind, scratch, rewind, scratch, realize and immediately run to the toilet to piss.If you're living alone there are chances the next victim might be you, as in the movie one by one of the victims get killed.Hehe, enticing ain't it? Well see for yourself with the above guidelines followed without fail.
PS:Watch out for Amanda Peet(decent woman in photo).Whoa!!

Attitude not aptitude determines an aptitude test!

Yesterday the NIIT conducted their 2nd National IT Aptitude Test.Guess what, it was a total farce and the whole aptitude test was conducted in a sloppy manner.The venue : Loyola College
Time : 10:00 a.m.As usual I was up early by around 9:30 a.m. and reached Loyola by 10 a.m. at the dot.I was fearing the aptitude test might have started and that I might be running in late.But as Chennai is the Late City, so being the attitude of every Chennaiite, NIIT guys too found it easy adopting that attitude.

The test was conducted at Bertram Hall in the campus and since I had been there previously for another test I knew the place well and guided two other victims of the test to that place.There they made me change positions more than Pamela would do for her photoshoot.All in all a whopping 45 or 50 had turned up for the test.The way things were going I knew it was totally dopey.The only respite from the heat was a chick dressed in dark green salwar with those half-arms.She beloged to the clan of NIIT dumbos.Man she sure was dumb; to be proved with instances later.So these guys had their formal introduction start after grouping everyone to one side of the hall, on the pretext of providing good auditory experience.Bullshit!! The dumb chick started reading out the introduction, and I could hear a dozen farts in the wind.Then they realized the apparent fallacy in their proceedings and tried a better way, the obvious way - mic.The dumb chick started reeling off about how NIIT conducted the 1st test and teh overwhelming response obtained this year.There I was witnessing the overwhelming response with myself a major contributing factor.After sometime she thought it would be nice of her to get off the stage(i.e. long after I thought so).They started distributing the question papers and answer coding sheet and a plain sheet for working and did some 8908 verifications on my hall-ticket, only me!(May be they were suspicious of that heroic look in my photo.Added to that the photo was on the print-out.You're asking WTF is a print-out doing there? Dude thats the hall ticket.Control!!)And then we started writing or rather shading into those circles as and how we each wished.

Now this question paper was sure dopey, for it had some 3890 identifiable flaws.As and when they would identify a flaw, they would send the dumb chick to announce over the mic and she would politely ask us to correct it.For instance:

Dumb chick: Attention, there is a mistake in page 3 in question no.12.

Now when you'd say question no.12 in page 3, everybody has the sense to look into question no.12 in page 3.Allright? But look what the chick does.

Dumb Chick:A train starts at 1:20 p.m. at Delhi and ends its journey at 4:30 p.m. at Surat.Another train starts at 5:20 p.m. at Jalandhar and ends its journey at 9:00 p.m. at Delhi.What is the ratio of speeds of the two trains?.....Okay?.....A train starts at 1:20 p.m. at Delhi and ends its journey at 4:30 p.m. at Surat.Another train starts at 5:20 p.m. at Jalandhar and ends its journey at 9:00 p.m. at Delhi.What is the ratio of speeds of the two trains?.....Okay?....Here please cut Surat, its not Surat its Jalandhar.

She was trained at NIIT to repeat questions twice.Poor girl.Insatnce number 25:

Dumb Chick:Attention there is a mistake in question no. 45 in page 7.

We still somehow have the physical tenacity to turn to page 7 and look at question no.45 and read it.But our dumb chick sticks to her basics and delivers the goods:

Dumb Chick:(can't remember any question so..) I am a girl who is supposed to be working for NIIT and I am trained to compere this farce and I am trying my best to attract the attention of all you males by wearing a sleeveless salwar in dark yellow colour.What is my purpose here?...Okay?....I am a girl who is supposed to be working for NIIT and I am trained to compere this farce and I am trying my best to attract the attention of all you males by wearing a sleeveless salwar in dark yellow colour.What is my purpose here?...Okay?....Here please the colour is not yellow, its green.

So once again we rectify the mistake and proceed.I try hard to concentrate and do the problems, but this chick would just then come up with a mistake, much for the delight of my eyes but least for my nerves.Then there is this guy who promptly says "Time up".WTF dude, you've messsed up with your question paper and now its fuckin time up for you ehh?? So I tried and explained him the restraint of time with the intent found in the previous sentence and he gave me some time.

So after completing the "2nd National IT Aptitude(or attitude, still wondering) Test" I came out and had a nice hot soup and a cold coffee at Loyola's famous coffee shop in the campus.I don't quite know whats the name of the shop for its filled with lines like "The Fresh Coffee..." or something such.Testing times these are, really!!

PS: During the introductory speech the dumb chick said "....you people are one among the 1.5 lakh students taking the test at over 300 venues..." LOL, she sure doesn't know how many zeros accompany a lakh...Or may be the joke was unintended??!!

Feeling Incredible

A biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggggg "Hi" to all of you guys in the blogosphere.Its been quite a long time since I have made a post.I was dying to make posts but a turn of an untoward incident knotted my hands invisibly.But now I am back and it feels great to type out my mind in this space provided.

There have been a lot of changes at Blogspot since I made the last '16 things' post.One significant change is the introduction of the 'Recover post' option for people who feel bugged and feel like they have just listened to a corny joke from me.This option is to enable bloggers to "Re-cover" their post just in case people didn't read them.I was obviously joking and hell, find it out for yourself if you want to know what that option is there for.Another thing that caught my eye was the topic in the 'Blogger News' section about 'Bloggercising'.The news reads as follows:

"Not sure if you knew this already or not but we've got a couple different styles of Blogger tee shirts in the Googlestore. One of them looks like an old gym shirt—good for doing exercising between posts. Highly recommended for active bloggers.
– Biz "

WTF was that news for, is what I don't understand.And the last change is that I was finally able to upload my mirror-cracking pic in blogspot.Alright alright now shut that giggle up.So if you're checking my profile next time at Blogger, beware....Forewarned is forearmed.

So after the enough of gala time that I was having for the past three months, with the much cherished memories of exams and all, I landed at Shivi's house at Adyar yesterday and later shifted to KR's after dinner at Dhabba Express I was dabbling with KR's comp.Our man played some (looney) tunes in his guitar and showed me his new composition.It was good, to be honest.Any new solo that KR has composed has been bearable, not decomposable.Now I don't know how good it really is, cos me is no expert in scales and soloing part of guitar.I just like to listen to the strum of it and the reverberation it produces.So how looney the tune was - I don't know.But I'll stop talking about guitars right away for, otherwise I will want to stick the finger at myself. So we won't take that risk.

Then our man suggested that we watch Godfellas.But I was not in mood for gangsta-movies and so I said no straight away.Then we settled it that we'd watch The Incredibles.Now I thought it might be some corny animation movie.But no, this wasn't like that.It did have the corny theme - Superheroes save the day.But only this movie can make you laugh, if not atleast giggle for the expressions siphoned out of the otherwise inanimate characrters.Man, they were so real.You couldn't find a flaw or a hitch anywhere.Flawless! You can see the shadows, the dust going up when Dash runs in the forest, the frustration in Bob Parr/Mr.Incredible's face, the coyness in Vi's face, the concern in Helen Parr/Elastigirl's face, the naughty-schoolboyishness in Dash's face and the wickedness in Buddy/Syndrome's face, brilliant waterfalls, and oh-so-incredible locations and the unforgettable expressions brought out in Jack-Jack's face.Every detail is THERE baby, and you end up feeling sad at the end of the movie that these guys don't exist for real.I won't tell you the story, cos the movie ought to be seen.The movie, as most animation movies are made was produced by PIXAR, the mother of animation movies.PIXAR, if I remember right, were the first ones to provide a breakthrough in the medical field by developing 3-D aspect of animation, due to which bones and lots of other important stuff could be analysed in the human body.Guess, this is what developed concepts of CT-scan and MRI and such other FART scans.



Just had a ball of a time watching the movie and replayed some parts today morning and enjoyed them with the same animation.This movie is kick-ass-incredible.

After dilly-dallying my start of travel back home for some time, by noon I started off from KR's place and reached home.Man, one heck of a week.Just wanted to post.Feeling incredible.Enjoy & Think!

16 things

Hey everyone! Its been a long long time since I've posted.To clear your doubts on whether I'm alive or not, here's a post that I am making.I am pretty much held up with my UTs ( to be taken as nothing more than a hyperbole ), and plus theres this tension spreading in the air about my 5th semester results, that most often I am made to visit my toilet.If you think its all gas, well......you're both right and wrong.Now while you ponder upon that last sentence, I wish to tell you something.There was this text file that I recently found pretty interesting, that I procured quite carefully from KR's external hard disk.The file is quite interestingly titled '16 things it takes most of us 50 years to learn'.I'll leave you with the contents of that file.

Things It Takes Most Of Us 50 years to learn:

1. The badness of a movie is directly proportional to the number of helicopters in it.
2. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight-saving time.
3. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.
4. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers.
5. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is: age 11.
6. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
7. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.
8. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."
9. The main accomplishment of almost all organized protests is to annoy people who are not in them.
10. If there really is a God who created the entire universe with all of its glories, and he decides to deliver a message to humanity, he will NOT use as his messenger a person on cable TV with a bad hairstyle or in some cases, really bad make-up too.
11. You should not confuse your career with your life.
12. A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter/janitor, is not a nice person.
13. No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.
14. When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that individual is crazy.
15. Your true friends love you, anyway.
16. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enjoy & Think!

Black is beautiful!

Today after a long time, I stepped into the famous cineplex of Chennai - Sathyam to watch Black.Black is the latest movie that has created a flutter in the bollywood mainstream which has proved with ease that a good storyline, impeccable direction, excellent camerawork and a cast whose acting talent is par perfection can make a great movie without songs.

I went along with Ananth, Shivi, KR, Thanshyam Raj and Another Guy Whose Name I Don't Remember ( AGWNIDR ) to Sathyam after about three months, that is to say after I last watched The Bourne Supremacy with Venki.I just enjoyed a Hindi movie after a long time.It was no usual song and dance romance coupled with treacherous villains, or ruthless fathers or handsome heroes or ravishing heroines or any of that kind of bullshit.The movie didn't even have a song, which is what I have been praying for any Indian director to realize in their lifetime and give a movie without it.The reason is simply because song and dance doesn't happen so well planned in life with hero chasing heroine behind trees, showing platonic romantic scenes and having a great voice with lovely lyrics and all.So that in my opinion makes a good movie.It is positive step in that direction.Its not that I am against song and dance, but that we've all seen enough, and now is the time to come to reality and bring change in the cliched pattern.So there it is - Black that takes care of all that and much more.



The story is of a blind, deaf and mute girl named Michelle McNally, who struggles to find the light in her life that is covered with darkness.The man who helps her discover this is Debraj Sahai, who has had a history of working with blind as well as deaf & mute kids.Debraj first comes to know of Michelle through this Mrs.Nair, whose husband is someone( most probably Mr.Nair ) not shown and not important to the story.She is Debraj's confidante.Anyways when Debraj, first meets young Michelle he finds her treated as an animal with a bell put around her by her family to know where she moves, and that she is all petted and spoilt child who is kept under further darkness to the real outside world, thereby making her inept to take care of herself.Her family, particularly her father, considers that Michelle be put into an assylum.But they aver to the decision of leaving her to the care of her new teacher, Debraj, when he arrives.Debraj tries to suppress the brat in young Michelle by letting her trip and fall, and make her eat in an orderly manner and by not showing her sympathy, but the ways of the world.But too soon, Mr.Paul McNally, Michelle's father, loses patience and hope and curtly asks Debraj to get out.The next day Paul goes on a 20 day tour to some place, within which Debraj is supposed to have left the house.But Debraj stays and convinces Mrs.Catherrine McNally, Michelle's mom that he can make a difference by working with Michelle for those twenty days.Then he begins his days of training which would be hard and dispiriting at first, for twenty days is too short a period to see miracles.On the return of Paul, Debraj is left with no choice, other than to leave the house.But as he leaves he teaches Michelle the meaning and feel of what water is and sees that she quickly understands.To his excitement, he also sees that she learns what grass and flowers are.He immediately alerts her parents who are both only too very delighted to learn this.Debraj is then given permission to carry on with his unsusual teaching methods.Michelle grows to be a fine young lady, who would then try to graduate from a normal university.She slowly does it with a lot of endurance, and sees herself become a graduate at the age of forty.By then Debraj is ailed by Alzheimer's.Michelle on learning this, is quite determined not to leave Debraj to his own destiny, and that she would instead teach her own teacher to gain back his self.The movie ends on that note of hope.





The movie is quite beautifully crafted, and actors all grooved into their roles with great responsibility and knowledge that it is an important movie, by the famed director Sanjay Leela Bansali a.k.a. SLB.Clearly it is his most important and special movie, as he has stated in many interviews.The next aspect of the movie is the cinematography by Ravi K. Chandran who works wonders with the camera.It makes one wonder if it was really possible to capture a scene with so much poise blended with beauty.He makes a mark in Indian film history with such a sincere and magical work.He also has stated that the movie is among his most important movies and that it is one of his favourites too.Prakash Kapadia does fine with the dialogues, with Resul Pookutty resonating well for Michelle's sounds.Monty does a great jo with the background score that holds the audience in a trance.



Amitabh Bachchan, the Big B proves that he really is the Big B of Bollywood with another cameo from this movie.He plays his charcter so well that you are left to believe that the man playing Debraj, really cares for Michelle and that he really has Alzheimer's.You'd once again fall for his performance and talk about it for days to come, if you had seen his earlier movies and are a fan.Rani Mukherji plays Michelle McNally with great dedication and sincereity that is well reflected on screen.She hasn't fooled around or made us drool over her beauty by sizzling on silver screen, but has imbued herself into the life of Michelle McNally, making her mark into the coveted list of great actresses in Indian cinema.Its upto her to hold on to the respect she has earned here, through this movie.Dhritiman Chaterjee plays Paul who is anything but impressive with his acting skills.Shernaz Patel plays the role of Catherine with great elegance and teary-eyed melancholic expressiveness.She is really beautiful and one wonders if she is a Patel belonging to the likes of Amisha Patel.Whether or not one wonders, I do.Anyways then there is Nandana Sen who plays Michelle's younger sister, Sara, who is a babe and a mood changer in the movie.She is quite dazzling in the white dress she wears, with the exception of shots where she wears a lipstick.Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal plays Mrs.Nair, who cannot be possibly commented upon as her on-screen time is negligible.But perhaps the greates among all of the cast of Black is that of Ayesha kapur who lives through the scenes as the young and adamant Michelle.This acting debutant is just 10 years of age and does her role so well as to demand everyone's attention and make them ask "Is she a really special child or is her acting such?" Truly, I was compelled to ask this question by her on-screen cameo.She does it with such great involvement.I simply don't have any more words for her talent.You have to see the movie to empathize with me on this regard, and I'm quite sure we won't differ.I must say that I was quite moved and my eyes glistened at two or three places in the movie.

The story portrayed is based on the life of Helen Keller, who was blind, deaf and mute and went on to become one of the most influential writers, speakers and activists of the 20th century with her motivational and inspirational views on life.Her life itself is an example to this testimony.She really showed what hope could do.There was struggle behind every achievement of her's and behind every fall there was hope of revival and success.Many of writings still continue to inspire millions across the globe.If you do get some books authored by her please try reading to get a different viewpoint on life.Even I haven't so far got the opportunity to lay hands on any of her works.Besides, her teacher was Anne Sullivan, who through the Tadoma method taught Helen to learn and communicate with others.The rest is a story of tremendous will power and will to succeed.



I'll leave you with some of the quotes of Helen Keller -

Tolerance is the first principal of community; it is the spirit which conserves the best that all men think.

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.

A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships.

I can not do everything, but I can do something. I must not fail to do the something that I can do.

I do not want the peace that passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace.

One can never consent to creep when one feels the impulse to soar.

Taraspassing

It had been a long time since I bunked college for attending a symposium.So today I decided to take a decision in that direction after experiencing much of fickle-mindedness last night over thoughts of what the HOD would do to me if another two dozen bunked today.So after much of clouded thoughts, I found my mind leading me to take the decision as to attend the symposium at S.R.M. Valliammai College of Enginnering named Taras '05.Thanks to Spang and Beta for helping me find my way out of commotion.

So today morning, I went pretty enthusiastically to the bus stop at Blue Star ( Which is a major landmark in Anna Nagar ) to board the bus to S.R.M. Valliammai College of Enginnering, only that the bus would turn up merely an hour later at around 7:35 A.M. So I boarded the bus and sat and had a nice short nap that lasted for about 1 hour or 1 hour and 10 minutes, which is when I opened my eyes to find the bus entering the campus.It was mere coincedence and no jerking activity of the bus or someone waking me up.So I got down all bleary eyed, and was in a daze for some 10 to 15 minutes.I would have entered the chemistry lab of the college along with the first years, if it wasn't for the quick recovery of reason for my presence there by my brain.So thank you sweet brain.I found the way to the canteen.On the way to the canteen I found my zip totally unzipped, so I un-unzipped( zipped ) it and entered the canteen to have a dry and uninteresting pongal.I say the pongal was uninteresting because, it had some kind of a face that seemed to be bored and unexcited and of course uninteresting.Or atleast it seemed to me to be so.So I started eating the uninteresting pongal and by the time I finished 3/4th of it, it seemed to plead me to relieve it from being eaten.So I decide in favour of the pongal and let the rest of it be.Then as I was drinking my tea, the guys - Ajay, Beta, Ganesh, Madhan, Mahadevan, Mukund, Srivats, Sushant(bespectacled guy) and Spang arrived.Just when I tasted the tea I knew that it wasn't my cup of tea.I should have known the signs then itself.But I didn't.By then our Beta had somehow managed to make a "missing" report to my mom.She as usual got tensed and had asked him to call her up once the "missing" me was found.So once Beta found me in the canteen, I threatened Beta that he wouldn't be found if he didn't make a phone call to my mom immediately and telling her that "missing" me was found.Actually I tried making an overstatement in the last statement.It is in fact possible even to threaten Osama Bin Laden, but Beta is way beyond that mark.You'll know why if you meet him.Anyways, so Beta dutifully called up mom and did the good boy work telling her that I was found and all, and my mom came up with a sentimental olden Tamil movie type dialogue - Thanks paa, yein vayathulla paala vaathai paa.

Since I didn't know where exactly was the symposium going on though I was inside the college, I had to wait for Beta to complete his breakfast so that I could go and register for the day's events.We then went and registered me in a mju p programming contest, quiz ( the sole purpose for which I went ) and Adzap.So the first event was that of mju p programming , wherein Beta and I squeezed our brains to answer every single question in that paper.I was happy that I remembered atleast some thing in mju p.Now for all those of my readers who are ignorant about mju p, I would first of all congratulate you, and then expand it for you.Mju ( to be pronounced as 'myu'....so you're thinking why I can't write it right away as 'myu'....well, thats the way things are in this world buddy so please ) stands for micro as in microscope or micro-organism or microskirts.Some say it also refers to 10^-6.I don't know all that.But what is micro is micro and cannot be mega or mini for certain.P stands for processor in the micrprocessor world.Besides it also stands for Phosphorous, pico, peta, penny/pence etc.So after squeezing our brains, we needed to open them a bit for the Adzap event.We found it tough to open our squeezed brains, and hence ended up drawing some crap.Yeah we had to draw for the prelims.Our given product was Invisible Inkjet Printer.Our group had various ideas but I managed convincing them that mine was to be used and we also had to come up with a slogan.So we came up with - Redefining transparency which I know sucked, but we couldn't think of anything else that was funny or that which had more punch in it.Besides it seemed great to us at that time.So after the fiasco, I still didn't realize that the best was yet to come.

We went to another room to attend the quiz prelims.Myself and Beta teamed up and did well enough to qualify.Srivats and Sushant(b) were obviously qualified.So two teams made SSN proud by qualifying for quiz finals of the first ever national level technical symposium of S.R.M. Valliammai College of Enginnering.All of us then attended the Adzap Finals, which really was breath-taking-ly horrible, except for the team from Sri Sairam Engineering College who were way too good.Then started the quiz finals.We did fine in the opening three rounds, Beta and myself.Then I became totally impossible with my answers.I missed things that I knew very well and muffed it up all in all.I was resposnible for a staggering 10% of the correct answers, while Beta managed a measly 90% of them.The percentages turned tables in the wrong answers department.We were close to winning it at the beginning of the 5th and final rapid fire round.Beta managed to get three correct answers getting us 30 points, where I managed to say pass to the others or give brow-raising answers, but either way I couldn't get points for my team.I must say that it really saddens me to let someone down.My principle is such that if I am working in a team, it doesn't matter even if I don't contribute by being a silent partner, but it really bugs me if I don't contribute inspite of putting in efforts, or inspite of knowing something well.I feel so unfit and undeserving of that certificate I got for being a part of the team that ended up third.I must say here that Beta was simply great with his answers, as almost 9/10 of them turned out to be right and earned us most of our points.I still really feel bad for letting him down.So after telling you that we ended up third, I need to tell you who came first and second.The first place went to well deserved team of Srivats and Sushant(b) and second to some team from Sriram Engineering College.Then after receiving our certificates and all we went and had an omlette each, courtesy Srivats.After that we had tea and ice creams and then boarded the S.R.M. buses to our respective places.Thus the day ended.

For once today, I could empathize with Venki on his viewpoint of taking part in quizes. But one very interesting thing about quizzing is that even though you lose, you gain a lot of knowledge and information.Thats why quizzing rocks.Thats what keeps me keen on watching lots of them and also taking part.I'll leave you with a quote of Pierre de Coubertin, who is best known as the founder of modern olympic games.He says something like -

The true spirit of olympics is not in winning, but in fighting well.

The Saarang Post - 3

So the next day Spang and myself were at college for some record correction crap and guess it what, it flopped more than a T.Rajendhar movie.BAKU wouldn't sign our records and I was more than happy when he marked me absent for the lab - double bonus.I must have listened to KR when he asked me to bunk college.I heard KR's words resounding when BAKU would not sign my record and marked me absent.My mind was now at Saarang but physically I was there doing the Pulse Amplitude Modulation there in the lab proving to the founders that they were right in the experiment, whether or not I had an interest, an opinion or a thought about the experiment.

So after the lab work Spang and myself went and had our insipid lunch in the notorious canteen.For your information this canteen is run by a caterer named Sony Caterers.Its a Sony!

I was then involved in a chat session with Mrigank and Spang.Mrigank was keeping us quite involved with his views and ideas on life and things I wouldn't wish to disclose here.My readers must pardon me here for this.I am quite candid about issues with a taboo, as you might have known from my previous posts, but here I am just not in a mood to go into all that we were talking about that day.But I surely will tell you junta about it sometime later.We then fled the college by around 1:30 P.M. in the afternoon buses that are run for the sake of juniors( first year students ) as their sem exams get over during that time.So I went home ate and slept.Woke up and slept again.I tried calling up Premal once or twice, but couldn't reach him.So by around 7:00 P.M., which was very very late, I started to Saarang.I was pretty hungry by that time.So as soon as I reached Bindaas Park in IIT-M, I ate a Dahi Poori and a Samosa and had a cup of tea.It was at the same Nadhinee Chat Corner that I had Dahi Poori and Samosa.It was really so mouth-watering.
By now the JAM Finals was over and so there was no point in going to the CLT.But I tried to get in, and was unsuccessful as all the doors were locked.So I was just hovering around for
quite some time in the corridor that had CLT, ChLT and PhLT.Then as I didn't have a ticket for that day's Light Music show by Kay Kay, I just decided to take a walk through the sylvan campus and go to the hostel Godavari to meet my friend Kumar.Kumar is my friend from my D.A.V. days which was sadly only till my tenth standard.After that I had changed school to J.G.V.V. which is quite near to my house.

So anyways as I said I was walking through the eerie road that lead to the famed hostels of IIT-M.As I was walking I just had that magical feeling of being flown away to a different world, the world I'd love so much to be a part of, the world of genuine camaraderie and friendship where a molten form of intellect, fun, sport, independence, street-smartness and hell a lot of other things would combine and rush in through the gates of IIT-M from different parts of India.I felt like Alice falling into the rabbit hole as I ambled through the sylvan streets.I just walked, walked and walked as slowly and as thoughtfully as possible as I was savouring every moment of my existence in the elite surrounding.The trees swayed in that motionless street and it was a moment in time where I felt I was just floating.I forgot that I was walking.The moon was all bright and gay, beaming its glory as though it had had a great day, smiling upon the face of earth with its sharp rays piercing through the wooded IIT surroundings.The few stars around it and the unassuming occassional clouds made every thing feel light.I passed through hostels - Krishna, Cauvery, Narmada, Brahmaputra and Tapti before entering into my friend's hostel - Godavari.The cycles at the entrance all resembled a kind of armory lined up.They were not in any nice order, but not all otherwise either.I entered the hostel passing by the watchman, quite non-chalantly as I didn't want him to ask who I was and dig further on my representation there.So I walked through the pathway with nifty manicured bushes on both sides of it.I continued to climb the stairs to the second floor, where I would turn right only to find Room No.354, which was fourth or fifth from the turning point, locked.I just stayed there overlooking the balcony for sometime and not thinking anything.On my way back to the stairs I just couldn't help noticing one of my favourite scientists Albert Einstein's poster stuck on one of the doors qouting "Learn to ask why".It communicated something to me.

I walked back through the pathway.Beside me in the open ground was a student kicking the football there as a freeman.I turned back, had a glimpse of the building and turned once again and found my way outside the hostel.I then went to the phone booth that is near the Sri Gurunath Departmental Stories.There I called up Premal and found out that he was inside the OAT for the Kay Kay concert.Then I called up KR and found out that he'll be coming along with Spang for the Main Quiz by 11:00 P.M. The time in my watch was 9:00 P.M. I just sat outside the phone booth not knowing what to do.I then started imagining the life inside the hostels of IIT-M, about how I would be given a nick, about how we would go about doing assignments and how we would discuss problems and how we would attend/not attend classes, about how my whole life would have been different, about how I wouldn't have had to witness certain incidents at SSN, about how I wouldn't have met certain persons and all that.After about 15 minutes of such thinking I realized that I was much better than guys like KR and Spang and a whole host of others who had been unfortunate enough not to have got in after trying and vying for this life so hard.I even remembered the argument I had with KR over this topic.I then felt somewhat better and started walking towards Godavari once again.Now on the way a simple looking student wearing a half touser and having a book on digital circuits behind his cycle passed by me and stopped.He was passing by in the same direction as I was.Kumar said "Hi da" so casually.It just took me a second to realize that this was the same old modest friend from D.A.V. I managed to look casual and told him that I was going to his hostel to see if he had turned up.I also told him that I was there at the hostel some 20 minutes before to see if he was there.So then we went tracing back the same pathway to second floor of Godavari hostel and enetered Room No.354.An interesting piece of information I would like to give here is that Kumar's All India Rank( AIR ) in the JEE was 353, just one short of his room number.So what? So nothing, I just felt I wanted to tell this to you, so I said it.The room finished before it started.But nevertheless it was nifty room, with the flooring done with mosaic tiles and all, with a brand-new-looking table fitted with a drawer.The room also had a nice cot with two pillows on it and a cupboard that contained his clothes.There was a makeshift shelf like structure on the wall that contained some of his books, all of 'em foreign authored.I was talking with him there about my plans for writing GRE, CAT and in general about life.We also talked about 'Five Point Someone' - a book by Chetan Bhagat, and about his subject books, about my subjects, how they sucked and all that.A radio in that walled shelf was moaning old tamil film songs, that sometimes took our notice with songs that irked me to hell like Ponaal pogatum poda, which really added to the agony and my complex.I was asking him about hostel life there, which he said was enetertaining at times and kind of boring and monotonous at times.By then it was 11:00 P.M. and so we decided to go to the OAT to attend the Main Quiz.So we walked back.

The Main Quiz was an altogether different event which promised lots of excitement as this year they had a betting system on each of the participants.There was a guy named 10g who quite weird as his name was, took the bets with odd odds for each of the participants.I put 5 bucks on Vinod, about who I had mentioned in my earlier post.Premal put his money on BOFi.The quiz started out with the bubbly compereing of Satcho who started the quiz by encouraging junta out there to ask some fundoo questions just as a warm up.There was a funny question, I remember which was "Which city was a French settlement, and was famous for prostitutes?" The answer was "La (w)hore".Another one that turned out was "Why is Vodka also called 'The Rapist'?" The answer was "Because it turns virgin mary to bloody mary!" The quiz then started in all seriousness.There were hajaar questions and all of 'em were of awesome standard.They got me thinking and no where was I feeling bored.I even answered two to three questions.I am proud that I was worth 5 points.The simplicity of the set up was that, for every right answer you got a measly 2 points and for every pass answer you 1 point.Interesting ain't it? So the quiz went on and on and ended at about 5:40 A.M. Yes, sir thats the way the quiz goes.They started late by one hour in typical IIT fashion and ended 5 and 1/2 hours later.KR and Spang were also along with me in this endeavour.BOFi was the winner with 21 points I guess.The second place went to Vikram who was at 19 points and the third to Aadisht who was at 18 points.Then when it ended I went and collected Premal's money as his horse won and mine lost, and as he had gone midway out of the quiz due to some reason.My horse finished fourth with 14 points.The quiz ended.The three of us - Spang, KR and myself went to KR's house and slept it off.

You haven’t lived till you’ve attended a quiz.
And you haven’t quizzed till you have attended the Saarang Main Quiz.

The newsletter of Saarang on Day 5 read this at the starting of an article regarding the Main Quiz.It is also known as the Lone Wolf Quiz.

The next day we guys would attend Prasanna's Jazz show, which didn't turn us on much.We then marched to the entrance through the wooded road, a journey of 1.5 Kms.Then we would once agin slee it off at KR's place.Thus ended our romance with Saarang 2005.

I'd like to leave you with a quote again from the newsletter that at the end of the Main Quiz article which went like this -

You haven’t been to Saarang till you’ve attended the Lone Wolf Quiz.
And if you haven’t been to Saarang, you haven’t lived.

The Saarang Post - 2

The second day saw us all - Spang , KR and myself wake up by 11:00 or 11:30, somewhere when the sun itself is confused as to whether to call it morning or noon.We then had a nice cup of hot coffee, thanks to KR's tolerant Aththai.Then we guys were listening to some music and getting a feel of Sunday, discussing yesterday's rock show and all that.Later, by around 12:30 I guess Spang and myself left to our houses.

After a nice bath and a satisfying lunch, I called up Premal and he was there by 4:00 or 4:15 in the evening.Actually we were supposed to have left earlier to Saarang, but due to my second sleep and profound lazy bones, I was able to make the move only by 4:00 to call him up even.We then left speeding in Premal's Pulsar.

When we reached, Premal and myself made that 1.5 Km journey through the dense of IIT-M to the circle( which refers to 'Gajendra Circle' from now on ).When we reached to the Bindaas Park, Mary Anne was as usual pulling the crowd with her impressive compereing skills.This Mary Anne is a sweet female from IIT-M, who is smart, beautiful and has a terrific attitude.God, she even fagged.I was not there to see it, though KR and Spang were privileged enough.Anyways, so myself and Premal decided that there was not much to do, and so we sat at the CLT for the Sports Quiz final.

The participants were all in teams of three and were as usual lying stray on the dias, as it is with any IIT-M quiz.Casualness is something that blends so very well with the insti and the junta who take part in the events at IIT-M.I saw it right from the start, through the end.It was real cool.The questions were maajor pro kind.Connect questions were so bloody tough.Premal during the quiz went to bring his friend who was outside waiting for him.In the meanwhile, Sushant Ravikumar, a guy from our other class ECE-B was there to give me company.We couldn't possibly answer any fu**ing question.Some team, which I really don't remember, came first, Vinod's team came second.This Vinod is a maajor quiz freak who goes to all maajor quizzing events and wins almost all of them.This guy made it to the Landmark quiz finals some four times consecutively, but was unlucky enough not to win any till now.He also was the winner of last year's unforgettable Main Quiz at Saarang 2004.Besides the guy won some two to three quizes at last year's Mood Indigo - IIT-B culfest that was held during December last week I guess.So thats that about him.Of course, there was the other famed team consisting of Shamanth and BOFi and some other dude as one of the teams.These guys, Shamanth and BOFi have been to BBC's 'University Challenge', which is a maajor quizzing event amongst college teams in India.Besides, this BOFi managed some second or third place in last year's Main Quiz at Saarang.

So after all that intros and glorifications, I would like to mention that I came out of CLT and ate Bhel Poori at Nandhinee's Chat Corner.KR wasn't interested in Saarang that day for some reason I don't know.So he didn't make it.Spang also didn't show up that day.I didn't have a ticket for the Choreo Nite and so I packed.As there wasn't really much to do, I left to KR's place.There our man had gone out with Shivi for getting JFK DVD from some shop.But in his house at the comp that time was Nat who I guess is not a nut, atleast as far as I've seen.Then our man arrived with Shivi and the JFK DVD.Nat then left in about 15 minutes.Shivi and I then laid our eyes on the Poison Ivy DVD that Nat had donated for the time being.We did the required honours during the night time.KR was way too sleepy and so he slept it off.

We then woke up by around 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning.Shivi had already left as he had to go to Mambalam to his relation's place for some reason.Myself and KR lazed around for a long time and when we thought it was time enough, we left for Saarang.There we met up with Spang at the Powerchord event.We were there listening to some amateurs for sometime and then packed to ChLT for the Crossie Prelims.Out of the 64 odd questions or shall we say clues, I cracked a staggering 8 - 10.KR and Spang made a team and did what I could do as a lonewolf.Gee, talk about flaunting!!

I was patient enough to wait till the end and note down all the answers and come to the Powerchord event, to which the KR and Spang had packed long time back from the ChLT.We saw our very own guys from college perform.The band was High on Caffeine.Memebers include Mayur,the lead guitarist, Adith, the bassist cum elec guitarist, Ashwin,the drummer and one other guy, whose vocals I won't forget and forgive for a long time to come.Mayur played well but committed a silly error in calling his band multi-talented while introducing every member.The fourth year girls of our college, some two of them, were of course videotaping all this.So I have evidence for what Mayur had to say and for the vocalist's performance.I was reminded of Cacophonix from Asterix and Obelix comic strip.

We guys then, went into the OAT for Decibels- an event where the winners of Powerchord and other semi-pro bands would get to perform.The winners of Powerchord was a band that calls themselves PITA-Powder In The Ashtray.At the end of Powerchord, Moksha's bassist, Audrey or Oberoi and Steve, a famous lead guitarist here in Chennai, played one amazing without any preparation at all, with Eddy of Unwind Centre growling into the mic.Steve simply rocked man!

The event was all kick ass.It really went on well.It is here in Decibels where you get to see the future Mokshas and Brahmas perform.The first band Bovi or Bhuvi, made a great impression.Their lead guitarist, Tommy was simply amazing.He played Steve Vai's For the love of God simply to god-level.PITA simply rocked and reminded all of ous of G'NR.PITA and some other band shared the first spot followed by some other band.

Spang and myself then left, for we had idiotic record work to complete, for we had to face BAKU the next day.KR however gave up on the idea as he didn't have a record.So he remained there for the Light Music event and we left.

We enjoyed that day so well, I should say.We really felt like freemen, but towards the end of the day reality dawned on us and we knew we were not there.With our hearts and minds at Saarang, we left the circle once again to that main gate.And by the way, Spang and myself saw an dusky babe in the IIT bus as we left.A thing of beauty is a joy forever, that Keats dude was damn right.

The Saarang Post

Hey all of you people out there.Its been a long time since I made a post.I know its long time, so here it is that I am making it happen.I have to tell you all that it simply feels great to make a post.Everytime, not just this once.I just flow when I see this 'Create New Post' screen in front of me.Anyways here I am.

The reason I wasn't able to make a post during these 10 or 11 days was that for one, I had a nasty cold and cough mix mania that I guess I told you people all about, in my last post.The second reason is that I was there at 'Saarang 2005'.

Now Saarang is the mother of all culfests-( that is 'cultural fests' for you ) held anywhere in the world in college level.It is held by IIT-Madras, a premier instituition in the country.Now I hate telling you people about what is Saarang and Where it is held and What is the greatness of IIT-M and all that.You know why? If you've been here in Chennai a.k.a Madras you'd know why.You hear a lifetime of stroies, endless achievements made by the institute, about how gruelling their entrance exam - the JEE is, about how brilliant minds make up the place for what it is year after year, about how they innovate every year, about how envious all of us are about those who are a part of it , etc.I could just go on and on and on.So now lets get started on how I went about the whole fest.But first some rules.

I making this a kind of tribute to what Saarang is and the place where it is held - IIT-M.So every IITian their has a nickname or a nick shall we say, for himself/herself.Of course they are nicked by the seniors during the ragging sessions.So some people I'll be referring to in the next few posts will be referred to by their nicks, for those people themselves really don't know their real names, leave alone me.Some of the lingo that IITians use go like this -

Junta - People
Maajor - Major
Tam Junta - Tamil people
Arbit Fart - Bullshit
Put Treat - Give a treat
Put Fundaes - Explain
Funda - Concept
Hajaar - lots of/many

Now I really am not very familiar with the lingo, but will be using it here as and when required and not required, for this is a tribute.Moreover I haven't enlisted entirely their lingo for I don't know every word and that I am not from IIT.

Now the event started on 21st of January, a Friday - Day 0, with a splendourous performance by Amaan and Ayaan, the two brothers and sons of the great Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, a great sitar maestro.So as you guessed, these two guys also played the sitar and were simply awesome - Now that was what I heard, as I couldn't attend the thing that day.The next day also went by pretty much the same way - that is I couldn't attend Saarang, as my sweet college had me all dutybound.

Saturday - Day 1, evening 7:30 was when I really got to get my feet inside IIT-M campus.The rock show featuring Orange Street and Moksha were performing and had already started by the time I went in.I, actually, came along with Premal and Rahool and was late for they hadn't yet got their tickets.Now KR and Spang were somewhat worked up as they had to wait for me at the Gajendra circle bus stop, as a result of which I had costed 5 minutes of precious time.I say precious time, cos I know how the rock show goes and how fellow rock afficionados would feel about being there right from the start.But I'll tell you what, though we got their 5 minutes late and all thinking we had wasted precious time, we didn't feel much, later as Orange Street had this hindi mixed with english kind of rock.They didn't get us excited and pumping and all, so much so that the band's lead singer himself aplogised to the crowd saying "If we were not good enough for you guys, we are really sorry....." He had to say that to save his face.But they did play one or may two decent numbers, I should say.

Next up were the crowds' most favourite and most awaited band for the night - Moksha.Moksha, is definitely one of the most talented, loved, amazing rock bands in India.They are Maiden worshippers, and serve the ecstacy to the other thousands who follow Iron Maiden and their legacy of rock.Black T-shirts, faces with beards without moustaches, long hair and an incessant head-banging sea of junta.I was all there in the middle of it, head-banging myself and rocking out and out.Moksha, had certain problems with the bass sound, as it sent the ground under us jarring when the bassist played.They got it all sorted out after about 30 - 45 minutes I guess.But still, they didn't do away with the problem, they only cut out the amps for the bass I guess.Then they simply rocked.Christie, the god of electric guitar, or just let us say guitar, played some amazing solos and made up for the bad start.The bassist was Oberoi or Audrey, I don't remember the exact name, was also awing.Leon, the lead singer of the band was perfect Bruce Dickinson.Towards the end they played two very famous numbers of Iron Maiden - 'Fear of the Dark' and 'Two minutes to Midnight'.Now we nearly died after these two numbers.Some of Moksha's own compos were very good too.I don't remember any tune, but I do remember that I enjoyed them a lot when they played.Moksha, then ended their stint by 11:00 I guess.We all then went to the Gajendra circle bus stop to board back to the main entrance of IIT-M.Later Spang, KR and myself crashed at KR's house.We would see the next day's afternoon rays of the sun.

The rock fans are all like bats.They come during the night.Nobody knows from where they come.They all conglomerate in the OAT and head bang in unison and sing along with the bands and simply rock the whole place.So cheers to all you rock fans out there, for it is we who make the event what it is, for it is we who really know how to rock and for it is we who really rock.