A look at some of the movies seen in the past month:
Dhoom 2: Abhishek Bacchan,on a high currently after Bunty aur not-bubbly,Bluffmaster etc and also seen in Banaras,Siddhivinayak temple with Aishwarya finally gets back to his deserving place of second lead.Hrithik simplY steals the show.He is amazing!The film disappoints after an exciting first half due to some extra hamming by Ash and a totally unnecessary love track between Hrithik-Ash and Uday "I apply lipstick.Do you know?See Neal n Nikki" Chopra and Bikini Basu.Worth watching once ( typical Hyderabadi) only for Hrithik and the first half.
Jaan-e-Mann: Salman in place of SRK.Akshay Kumar in place of Saif.Rest very very similar to Kal Ho Na Ho.Salman is as usual awesome.*He is still India's most handsome guy*.Btw today is his birtday.Happy Birthday Sallu bhai. Hope you do some hair-weaving,hope you stop being a
psycho,hope you get to work with the better directors and show the other two Khans that you are no less. (Your HAHK is the highest grosser in the history of Bollywood.Sholay and DDLJ come next).Akshay Kumar as the nerdy,geeky astronaut has done a great job.Otherwise nothing special. Arachu maavu only.
Babul: *Sad* Sallu bhai why the hell do you work with these directors? Absolute rotten,faecal matter.Hema Malini looks better than Rani!!Give it a miss peacefully.
Bhagam Bhag: Theatre se bhag jao.Once again Akshay Kumar is the only saving grace.
Casino Royale: Get a DVD.watch the first 20 min for some amazing chase sequences.Then pause it,learn the fundas of poker and get back.Else you will bulb royally like I did.Wasted 100
bucks.Could have watched Sallu twice in Jaan-e-Mann :P
Khatarnak(Telugu): Someone take a stick and spank me.How on earth could I have watched this shit!If I were to add the total amount spent on worst movies like this,it would have fetched me a Lee or Levis jeans.
Godfather: Ajith is simply superb in the second half.What could have been a great movie has been pushed down into the average slot thanks to the boisterous comedy by Ramesh Kanna,unnecessary songs etc.Rehman disappoints.Only "Innisai" stands out.After "Raa Raa" this is one of the best songs with a classical touch in commercial flicks.One can infact count the no of words spoken by Asin.Absolutely no role at all!Ajith is too good as the hazaar effeminate dancer.Otherwise nothing worth mentioning.
Heard:
1) Himesh Reshammiya is going to act in a film.God save Bollywood.
2) Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is going to be remade.As if one was not enough.Hold-your-breath its going to be an animated with dogs replacing humans.Karan Johar ,you please stick to
animation.Atleast we will be spared of KANK,K3G etc. All of you take an oath .
" Even if I get a free ticket for a Karan Johar movie,I wont watch it"
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Saturday, November 25, 2006
DON
As the titles flashed by , I was transported to the good old school days when weekends meant checking out SONY MAX or ZEE CINEMA for some old Hindi classics . I became a huge fan of Big B after watching Deewar and Zanjeer and the fan became a devotee after Namak Halaal, Laawaris,Don,Sholay,Trishul etc. The timelessness of these were mainly due to Big B,cutting dialogues , R D Burman or Kalyanji Anandji- Kishore combo,masala story and pace of the movies.I would have watched DON,the 1978 blockbuster of Chandra Barot , completely atleast ten times and partially infinite times. Infact I even remember watching the Tamil remake BILLA starring superstar Rajni in Kumbakonam many summers ago and the gult remake YUGANDHAR with a disproportionate NTR . The gult version was horrible and left a bitter taste but the Tam one was pretty good. Thanks to LAN I watched yet another remake of one of my all time favs with the so called Baadshah of Bollywood teaming up with the suave, urbane, gen next director Farhan Akhtar.
SRK has done a great job, given his limitations like lover boy image, diferently abled talents like stammering etc. Though not very convincing as a top notch gangster, he has been able to carry the film on his shoulders well.Kareena in the item number is scorching hot!I wont say the same with respect to her other films though . However the choice of the side actors leaves much to be desired.Thankfully Farhan didn't commit the blunder of showing how martial arts can be learnt in ten days as done by the sexy Zeenat Aman in the original by showing an already trained Priyanka.Sadly the beautiful babe can't emote or dance.Seriously! And Arjun Rampal playing the role of a limping criminal, hell bent on taking revenge on the DCP (Boman Irani) was by far the worst choice. The master of the hamming code ,Pran had great dialogues in the original and made a huge impact. Some of the finest actors in Bollywood like Boman Irani and Om Puri (as the Interpol officer) have been wasted. Boman, though having decent footage doesnt get a chance to display his varied histrionic skills and was a little disappointing. These two chaps didnt get much roles in Lakshya too.
Like any Farhan movie this too has great locales, plush apartments,amazing gadgets, some sensational chase scenes and breathtaking photography which give a totally Hollywood look. The songs were a bit of a letdown but the rocking background music with electric guitar generously being thrown in compensated for the loss .Surprising that Indian directors have no qualms in blatantly copying famous scenes, promos etc.The green posters all over the town give a Matrix feel and the fights have been directly lifted from Bourne Identity. The chase and escape sequences , though well shot , are slightly out of the world though. Can you believe SRK escapes from a plane and fights in mid air for a parachute ?Oh yeah.He thulps his adversary , lands down and sings "Khaike paan banaras waala" after a few minutes !Or Priyanka snatching an injured Don from the cops in the first half by lifting the ambulance with a crane over a flyover when she could have easily lifted Don alone as the cops were already cornered by the gangsters and were unarmed :P. Some thought should have gone into these small aspects atleast.
The last few minutes offer some thrilling , edge-of-the-seat moments like Arjun walking across the Petronas Towers connecting bridge, Boman being made to run over high altitude cliffs and bridges etc ably supported by the stringing of the electric guitar and the camera work. The final scene will surely leave you bewildered and it is the trump card of the film! Farhan's talent comes to the fore in these scenes and one is bound to applaud them.
The bottomline is that first timers will fall in love with the flick , while others can only rue about the current acting talent , which is on the wane. Worth watching once mainly for the plus points mentioned above and to an extent for SRK. But one thing is for sure. SRK cant be Big B. As goes the trademark dialogue Yeh to mushkil nahi, namumkin hain!!!
SRK has done a great job, given his limitations like lover boy image, diferently abled talents like stammering etc. Though not very convincing as a top notch gangster, he has been able to carry the film on his shoulders well.Kareena in the item number is scorching hot!I wont say the same with respect to her other films though . However the choice of the side actors leaves much to be desired.Thankfully Farhan didn't commit the blunder of showing how martial arts can be learnt in ten days as done by the sexy Zeenat Aman in the original by showing an already trained Priyanka.Sadly the beautiful babe can't emote or dance.Seriously! And Arjun Rampal playing the role of a limping criminal, hell bent on taking revenge on the DCP (Boman Irani) was by far the worst choice. The master of the hamming code ,Pran had great dialogues in the original and made a huge impact. Some of the finest actors in Bollywood like Boman Irani and Om Puri (as the Interpol officer) have been wasted. Boman, though having decent footage doesnt get a chance to display his varied histrionic skills and was a little disappointing. These two chaps didnt get much roles in Lakshya too.
Like any Farhan movie this too has great locales, plush apartments,amazing gadgets, some sensational chase scenes and breathtaking photography which give a totally Hollywood look. The songs were a bit of a letdown but the rocking background music with electric guitar generously being thrown in compensated for the loss .Surprising that Indian directors have no qualms in blatantly copying famous scenes, promos etc.The green posters all over the town give a Matrix feel and the fights have been directly lifted from Bourne Identity. The chase and escape sequences , though well shot , are slightly out of the world though. Can you believe SRK escapes from a plane and fights in mid air for a parachute ?Oh yeah.He thulps his adversary , lands down and sings "Khaike paan banaras waala" after a few minutes !Or Priyanka snatching an injured Don from the cops in the first half by lifting the ambulance with a crane over a flyover when she could have easily lifted Don alone as the cops were already cornered by the gangsters and were unarmed :P. Some thought should have gone into these small aspects atleast.
The last few minutes offer some thrilling , edge-of-the-seat moments like Arjun walking across the Petronas Towers connecting bridge, Boman being made to run over high altitude cliffs and bridges etc ably supported by the stringing of the electric guitar and the camera work. The final scene will surely leave you bewildered and it is the trump card of the film! Farhan's talent comes to the fore in these scenes and one is bound to applaud them.
The bottomline is that first timers will fall in love with the flick , while others can only rue about the current acting talent , which is on the wane. Worth watching once mainly for the plus points mentioned above and to an extent for SRK. But one thing is for sure. SRK cant be Big B. As goes the trademark dialogue Yeh to mushkil nahi, namumkin hain!!!
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE
Note to self:
1) Mug probability,DI,integral and differential calculus like hell and become an expert by next November. After doing so,mention that you are one prob stud in your resume.The probability of being shortlisted in many companies is pretty high. You might atleast go the last round of Deutsche Bank - 125,000 $ p.a ,Lehmann Bros Tokyo - 110,00 $ p.a, Cap one - dont know, some other company offering 90,000 $ etc. Who knows if luck doesn't desert you,you might even end up grabbing some plum offer ;). Aiming high is not a crime
2) End sems from Nov 22nd. Mug for that. This is also essential for the extra dollars.
3) Watch The Departed,Dhoom 2,Godfather and Guru ASAP after Nov 31st.
4) If time permits watch the film with the same title. You can shout from rooftops that you know Clint Eastwood.
1) Mug probability,DI,integral and differential calculus like hell and become an expert by next November. After doing so,mention that you are one prob stud in your resume.The probability of being shortlisted in many companies is pretty high. You might atleast go the last round of Deutsche Bank - 125,000 $ p.a ,Lehmann Bros Tokyo - 110,00 $ p.a, Cap one - dont know, some other company offering 90,000 $ etc. Who knows if luck doesn't desert you,you might even end up grabbing some plum offer ;). Aiming high is not a crime
2) End sems from Nov 22nd. Mug for that. This is also essential for the extra dollars.
3) Watch The Departed,Dhoom 2,Godfather and Guru ASAP after Nov 31st.
4) If time permits watch the film with the same title. You can shout from rooftops that you know Clint Eastwood.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Orkut
The word on everybody's lips seems to be orkut now.All my cousins in the vetti age (>18) are there and I have re-established ties with many of my long lost school friends .Infact thanks to orkut we were able to meet this summer.Ok,everybody knows this,so why an entire post extolling orkut and Orkut Buyukkokten?Well ,read on.Here are 2 interesting conversations.
Firstly my mom seems to be knowing about Orkut now.
Mom: Do you know about orkut?
Me: Yeah,its a social networking site (with the usual nonchalance)
Mom:So what exactly is it about?
Me: Well its open to all.You have to create a profile and then sign in.You can add new friends and also keep in touch with the old friends.
Mom:Is that all?
Me: Hmm there are many communities too.We can join them and participate in the interesting discussions.
(The million dollar question now)Mom:So what do you do?
Me: ( Tightlipped for 4 secs,A 1000w bulb.I cool down,come back to my senses and then shoot out) I keep in touch with my old friends.I participate in fruitful discussions in Iyengar community.I follow other communities which interest me like quizzing,Hindu crossword,Cricket etc.Thats it.
Mom: Ok I heard something called scraps.Dont waste your time scrapping everyone.Do it only if necessary. Also I have read some disturbing articles in the paper so be careful.
Me: Oh yeah sure.No tension.
We digress and that was the end of the convo. The "what do you do" was an interesting one. 339 friends,66 fans, 4669 scraps and 84 communities.That should speak for itself.The things which I do are the usual writing scraps,keeping in touch with friends,scrap book intrusion,etc.I read the scrap books of many of my close friends and follow the replies too. Of course,along with the replies some innocous babe watching. An interesting proof of what I do-
Guy(Some friend's friend) : hi XXX!..how is life going on...good to see u here in orkut....its always good to have good old friends back...so how has life been for so many years...... ("SO MANY YEARS" .rofl)
Girl: who's this?? I don't know u...
Guy: Hey I was your classmate in school.
Girl: Well i dont seem to remember.I really do not know you.
Guy: hi....that was just a way of getting a reply from u....sorry if it annoyed u......nyways....wanted friendship with u .....so what do u do....
Girl: better luck next time!! plzz i can't maintain so many friends... tk cr..
Girl (again) : hey! plzz don't feel bad!
Guy: simply amazing.....the way u denied it....hi funda... i mean i have never seen such a decent refusal.....that matches with ur pic....chalo it was nice talking to u.....as u say i wish i have a better luck next time.....hey dont worry nothing to feel bad about........chalo bye..take care.
Girl: Bye
I do not know either of them. Just felt like posting this,thats all. Anyway me off to Hyd for Diwali ,so advance wishes to all my beloved readers .
P.S : When is the probability of rain in Chennai 100%?
Ans 1) If the Indian team is in Chennai
Ans 2) 1 or 2 or 3 days before Diwali.
It has been raining incessantly since morning . Bunked the entire morning session.Well I would have become a "mamu" if I had donned a raincoat and put fight cycling all the way only to find the class cancelled.So did not take the risk.
Firstly my mom seems to be knowing about Orkut now.
Mom: Do you know about orkut?
Me: Yeah,its a social networking site (with the usual nonchalance)
Mom:So what exactly is it about?
Me: Well its open to all.You have to create a profile and then sign in.You can add new friends and also keep in touch with the old friends.
Mom:Is that all?
Me: Hmm there are many communities too.We can join them and participate in the interesting discussions.
(The million dollar question now)Mom:So what do you do?
Me: ( Tightlipped for 4 secs,A 1000w bulb.I cool down,come back to my senses and then shoot out) I keep in touch with my old friends.I participate in fruitful discussions in Iyengar community.I follow other communities which interest me like quizzing,Hindu crossword,Cricket etc.Thats it.
Mom: Ok I heard something called scraps.Dont waste your time scrapping everyone.Do it only if necessary. Also I have read some disturbing articles in the paper so be careful.
Me: Oh yeah sure.No tension.
We digress and that was the end of the convo. The "what do you do" was an interesting one. 339 friends,66 fans, 4669 scraps and 84 communities.That should speak for itself.The things which I do are the usual writing scraps,keeping in touch with friends,scrap book intrusion,etc.I read the scrap books of many of my close friends and follow the replies too. Of course,along with the replies some innocous babe watching. An interesting proof of what I do-
Guy(Some friend's friend) : hi XXX!..how is life going on...good to see u here in orkut....its always good to have good old friends back...so how has life been for so many years...... ("SO MANY YEARS" .rofl)
Girl: who's this?? I don't know u...
Guy: Hey I was your classmate in school.
Girl: Well i dont seem to remember.I really do not know you.
Guy: hi....that was just a way of getting a reply from u....sorry if it annoyed u......nyways....wanted friendship with u .....so what do u do....
Girl: better luck next time!! plzz i can't maintain so many friends... tk cr..
Girl (again) : hey! plzz don't feel bad!
Guy: simply amazing.....the way u denied it....hi funda... i mean i have never seen such a decent refusal.....that matches with ur pic....chalo it was nice talking to u.....as u say i wish i have a better luck next time.....hey dont worry nothing to feel bad about........chalo bye..take care.
Girl: Bye
I do not know either of them. Just felt like posting this,thats all. Anyway me off to Hyd for Diwali ,so advance wishes to all my beloved readers .
P.S : When is the probability of rain in Chennai 100%?
Ans 1) If the Indian team is in Chennai
Ans 2) 1 or 2 or 3 days before Diwali.
It has been raining incessantly since morning . Bunked the entire morning session.Well I would have become a "mamu" if I had donned a raincoat and put fight cycling all the way only to find the class cancelled.So did not take the risk.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
I WANT TO...
Tagged by Naren.This one seems to be easy. In fact no fight at all. One of my shortest and quickest posts-10min.Surprisingly I found ready answers to the questions and I am so happy for that.This is after spending so much time for every question in the now weekly affair called quizzes.
1) Read
The count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas and To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee.
2) Listen
All songs of Kishore Kumar, Mohd Rafi and A.R.Rehman.Hehe no pattern there.
3) Watch
The Usual Suspects,Pulp Fiction,Fight Club-all with subtitles.Tried watching them before but couldn't make out anything apart from four lettered words.I really want to watch these to know why they figure in the list of all time favourites of so many people.Btw I dont find Quentin Tarantino appealing at all.Kill Bill was crap to say the least.Captain/Balayya atleast provide some comic relief unlike Thurman.
4) Visit
Munnar. A few friends of mine went there recently and I fell in love with that place after seeing the pics.
5) Buy
Oh so many!!! Digi Cam,Pseude mobile,Swatch :D
I shall also brand my wants as "realistic" as that seems to be the buzzword now.
1) Read
The count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas and To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee.
2) Listen
All songs of Kishore Kumar, Mohd Rafi and A.R.Rehman.Hehe no pattern there.
3) Watch
The Usual Suspects,Pulp Fiction,Fight Club-all with subtitles.Tried watching them before but couldn't make out anything apart from four lettered words.I really want to watch these to know why they figure in the list of all time favourites of so many people.Btw I dont find Quentin Tarantino appealing at all.Kill Bill was crap to say the least.Captain/Balayya atleast provide some comic relief unlike Thurman.
4) Visit
Munnar. A few friends of mine went there recently and I fell in love with that place after seeing the pics.
5) Buy
Oh so many!!! Digi Cam,Pseude mobile,Swatch :D
I shall also brand my wants as "realistic" as that seems to be the buzzword now.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
SALAAM NAMASTE
Hi, Hello ,How do you do,Fine thank you!It has been a long,long time and I thought it would be fine to clear the cobwebs and dust my blog. It has been gathering dust for a month.Even my room generally breathes life once in 15 days. My body thankfully hasnt been subjected to an IITian form of life and I can proudly say that I take bath daily albeit at odd hours.Guess some of the guys who chat with me between 10-12pm would have known my erratic bathing timings.
The sem was damn painful initially mainly due to the long distances. Of course I dont mean travelling 1-2 hrs as most of the engg guys do. Any distance greater than Jamuna to MSB,which might be 1km is "long" for me.I have been fortunate enough in having my places of study quite closeby .The farthest I have encountered was my school which at the max would have been about 4 km . Actually I cant believe that I used to cycle down 4 kms then because I find cycling so painful now. Probably with advancing age things which seemed pleasurable once stop being so.
By an odd quirk of fate I suddenly find myself too busy.I have a quiz almost every alternate week and a spate of assignments to do. Assignments have been there every sem,only that this sem we cant copy most of them and some require original ideas. Of course original is a euphemism for googling or askjeeving on your own computer.Atleast this has provided the impetus to do something on my own and its surely time to rejoice as I have finished almost all the assignments on time.sadly laziness got the better of me and I am yet to submit two of them.A couple of assignments require some sort of a survey.And one of them is about FMCG etc.Surely we will be shown the out gate without any mercy whatsoever unless we hang our ID cards and produce them first like some FBI agents.What tragedy has befallen me! An engineer doing a salesman level job :P .Thanks to the turn of events in the past month I can now proudly claim that I am no longer vetti (=jobless, for those unacquainted with the word). I shall go a step further and announce that you will be offending me by calling so. Henceforth people are advised not to even inadvertently address me as a vetti,as its tantamount to insulting.
I have started playing football.Its interesting,only that more running is required.Cricket is so peaceful in that way.Of course I dont run much even in cricket.Let alone running, my footwork is also pathetic and after 15 odd years of batting I still cant get the cover drive right.Somehow my legs simply refuse to move when required despite my having a predilection towards cricket.Coming back to footer I am still in the learning process and have just learnt how to take a kick.I now play (I mean weekly once or twice)as a striker ,thereby masking my inability to run much and also in the process being able to play football. Dribbling ,hoodwinking etc will take time.All is fine with football,only that the term "beautiful game" somehow doesnt go well with me as I find it a tad "unbeautiful" and violent.
Btw if you haven't watched Salaam Namaste you haven't lost anything.Just check out Jaaved Jaffery's comedy track in that.Really hilarious. DON's audio has been released and the title song is really cool and sung beautifully as always by Shaan.The music is too good in that song.The rest are ok types.Udit Narayan,SRK and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy have murdered "khaike paan banaras waala" with new beats,SRK chipping in with limericks and all crap.It will be interesting to see whether this Farhan-SRK combo can match one of Big B's biggest hits. Post KHNH only Swades was good. The rest sucked big time. Once again continuing the talk about movies sadly Chiru's Stale-in {Stalin} isn't doing well.The mega star seems to have lost his touch with 3 straight flops. JIllunu oru Kadhal has been dismissed as a worthless movie and even ARR didnt give his best. The biggest hits this season have been Bommarilu in Gult and Munnabhai in Hindi and haven't watched both of them. What about Hollywood? Bole tho??? :P
And finally posting this on a day after writing two quizzes on the same day,followed by preparing the ppt for the intern viva tomorrow.This is supposedly the break. Atleast now are you convinced that for a change I am really doing something??
The sem was damn painful initially mainly due to the long distances. Of course I dont mean travelling 1-2 hrs as most of the engg guys do. Any distance greater than Jamuna to MSB,which might be 1km is "long" for me.I have been fortunate enough in having my places of study quite closeby .The farthest I have encountered was my school which at the max would have been about 4 km . Actually I cant believe that I used to cycle down 4 kms then because I find cycling so painful now. Probably with advancing age things which seemed pleasurable once stop being so.
By an odd quirk of fate I suddenly find myself too busy.I have a quiz almost every alternate week and a spate of assignments to do. Assignments have been there every sem,only that this sem we cant copy most of them and some require original ideas. Of course original is a euphemism for googling or askjeeving on your own computer.Atleast this has provided the impetus to do something on my own and its surely time to rejoice as I have finished almost all the assignments on time.sadly laziness got the better of me and I am yet to submit two of them.A couple of assignments require some sort of a survey.And one of them is about FMCG etc.Surely we will be shown the out gate without any mercy whatsoever unless we hang our ID cards and produce them first like some FBI agents.What tragedy has befallen me! An engineer doing a salesman level job :P .Thanks to the turn of events in the past month I can now proudly claim that I am no longer vetti (=jobless, for those unacquainted with the word). I shall go a step further and announce that you will be offending me by calling so. Henceforth people are advised not to even inadvertently address me as a vetti,as its tantamount to insulting.
I have started playing football.Its interesting,only that more running is required.Cricket is so peaceful in that way.Of course I dont run much even in cricket.Let alone running, my footwork is also pathetic and after 15 odd years of batting I still cant get the cover drive right.Somehow my legs simply refuse to move when required despite my having a predilection towards cricket.Coming back to footer I am still in the learning process and have just learnt how to take a kick.I now play (I mean weekly once or twice)as a striker ,thereby masking my inability to run much and also in the process being able to play football. Dribbling ,hoodwinking etc will take time.All is fine with football,only that the term "beautiful game" somehow doesnt go well with me as I find it a tad "unbeautiful" and violent.
Btw if you haven't watched Salaam Namaste you haven't lost anything.Just check out Jaaved Jaffery's comedy track in that.Really hilarious. DON's audio has been released and the title song is really cool and sung beautifully as always by Shaan.The music is too good in that song.The rest are ok types.Udit Narayan,SRK and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy have murdered "khaike paan banaras waala" with new beats,SRK chipping in with limericks and all crap.It will be interesting to see whether this Farhan-SRK combo can match one of Big B's biggest hits. Post KHNH only Swades was good. The rest sucked big time. Once again continuing the talk about movies sadly Chiru's Stale-in {Stalin} isn't doing well.The mega star seems to have lost his touch with 3 straight flops. JIllunu oru Kadhal has been dismissed as a worthless movie and even ARR didnt give his best. The biggest hits this season have been Bommarilu in Gult and Munnabhai in Hindi and haven't watched both of them. What about Hollywood? Bole tho??? :P
And finally posting this on a day after writing two quizzes on the same day,followed by preparing the ppt for the intern viva tomorrow.This is supposedly the break. Atleast now are you convinced that for a change I am really doing something??
Friday, August 04, 2006
FIRST ANNIVERSARY
Firstly Happy Birthday to my blog.
Incidentally this blog's 1st birthday and my 1st day of M.tech fell on the same day.As always happens when you put maajar fight to attend a class {go walking from Jamuna to CAD lab -better put as Taramani to Velachery} we did not have any classes yesterday.Today's first hour had only 7 students from the dual degree stream.Out of the 5 courses I have,only 2 courses have the no. of students in double digits.Surely ,as I have already mentioned,proxies,sleeping in class,attendance % just equal to 75 have met with a premature death.Already two Profs know our names.The last hour was interesting.There were about 34 students.Needless to say,most of them are from JNTU,OU,AU -all in AP.More than 70% have been sponsored Mtech programmes from DRDO,ISRO,TVS and some have more than 5 years work experience!By a conservative estimate they would be atleast 27 years old.How can someone have the enthu to study Mtech at that age when they can as well do something "consistent with their age" ;).Surely one feels odd sitting with 25 yr olds all around.And finally there is an awesome female in my class,who is also in that sponsored programme,but sadly she is married.I obviously did not go down the bench to see her toes,she had the cliched "maang mein sindoor".Anyway everything is new and I feel like having entered some other college!Lets see how life is with the uncles.
Incidentally this blog's 1st birthday and my 1st day of M.tech fell on the same day.As always happens when you put maajar fight to attend a class {go walking from Jamuna to CAD lab -better put as Taramani to Velachery} we did not have any classes yesterday.Today's first hour had only 7 students from the dual degree stream.Out of the 5 courses I have,only 2 courses have the no. of students in double digits.Surely ,as I have already mentioned,proxies,sleeping in class,attendance % just equal to 75 have met with a premature death.Already two Profs know our names.The last hour was interesting.There were about 34 students.Needless to say,most of them are from JNTU,OU,AU -all in AP.More than 70% have been sponsored Mtech programmes from DRDO,ISRO,TVS and some have more than 5 years work experience!By a conservative estimate they would be atleast 27 years old.How can someone have the enthu to study Mtech at that age when they can as well do something "consistent with their age" ;).Surely one feels odd sitting with 25 yr olds all around.And finally there is an awesome female in my class,who is also in that sponsored programme,but sadly she is married.I obviously did not go down the bench to see her toes,she had the cliched "maang mein sindoor".Anyway everything is new and I feel like having entered some other college!Lets see how life is with the uncles.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
AGAIN ARBIT MAXX
I had to put a night out yesterday even to complete the project report.Procrastination kills.I would like to catch hold of the guy who taught me this art and shoot him from a point blank range.Am I playing the blame-game? Chill people,passing the buck is my birthright.
I am done with the summer internship and boarding the Hyd bound train on Saturday at 4pm. My mom has already packed my schedule till 8pm on Sunday.The doctor has agreed to look into various means of creating rifts with my best friends- running nose and sneezing at 10 am.
It seems some soul who is preparing for IIT-JEE came to know of his mom's colleague's son who is in IITM (read me), and is hell bent on spoiling my first evening at home .Our man wants to have some fundaes on cracking JEE. Welcome home my dear.I will bombard you with all the gibberish on earth. I will teach you the concept of night out.That should suffice for the time being.Proxies,sleeping in class will follow soon. Of course I will also ensure that you get ragged to death if you happen to come to IITM for spoiling my 1st evening as my dear friend
does wants this intellectual session as soon as possible and cant wait for a few days.
There have been clear cut and strict orders from my side to my mom. (1)She should not cook the wretched potato ,better known as aaloo atleast for a few days.If found doing so it will be mercilessly thrown into the gutter. I have been downing aaloo daily thrice-breakfast,lunch and dinner for the past 2 months.Solid spherical aloo,Aloo balls floating in a liquid,gelly type aaloo, aloo sandwich,chapati-aloo,poori-aloo,aloo in dal,aloo with beans,aloo with cabbage,aloo with kovakayi{dondakaya in gult.dont know the english equivalent) to name a few. Have missed out aloo raitha.No wonder I have become like aaloo now. Most of the boot-cut jeans have become skin tights now. Probably my mom can now narrate a story bordering on the lines of the fat pig Empress {in Pelican at Blandings} which refused the potato offered by its master Emsworth at Blandings. (2) She should not cook "Swathi saathumdhu". Swathi is my sister.She eats only if the saathumdhu (also called Rasam) resembles red coloured water without any other vital components like seasoning,coriander leaves etc.If found doing so it will be decolourised and used as water.{Filtering is not necessary as it does not have solid particles }.I am sure my sis will prevail after 3 days.Lets see.
This reminds me of the peculiar way of naming some of the food items in our family. Most of these dishes have a name as a prefix. For instance "Lambu Narayanan kuzhambu". Narayanan is a tall,famous Tam cook in Hyd and I love his kuzhambu or sambhar. So I can take credit for having coined that.The term in (2) has also been coined by me.I don't know with what dishes my name has been associated.I shall have to ask a couple of cousins for that.I only hope its not a "Rajeev aloo".
TV will not be there for another year.Thats ok,not at all a problem as I have new excuses up my sleeve for watching night shows and loitering about after dinner.Helmet is compulsory in the twin cities now thanks to that super lady cop Tejdeep Kaur and I do not have one .Hope the cops dont pull out much from me if caught without a helmet on a 2-wheeler.
Thats it for now.Hyderabad here I come!
I am done with the summer internship and boarding the Hyd bound train on Saturday at 4pm. My mom has already packed my schedule till 8pm on Sunday.The doctor has agreed to look into various means of creating rifts with my best friends- running nose and sneezing at 10 am.
It seems some soul who is preparing for IIT-JEE came to know of his mom's colleague's son who is in IITM (read me), and is hell bent on spoiling my first evening at home .Our man wants to have some fundaes on cracking JEE. Welcome home my dear.I will bombard you with all the gibberish on earth. I will teach you the concept of night out.That should suffice for the time being.Proxies,sleeping in class will follow soon. Of course I will also ensure that you get ragged to death if you happen to come to IITM for spoiling my 1st evening as my dear friend
does wants this intellectual session as soon as possible and cant wait for a few days.
There have been clear cut and strict orders from my side to my mom. (1)She should not cook the wretched potato ,better known as aaloo atleast for a few days.If found doing so it will be mercilessly thrown into the gutter. I have been downing aaloo daily thrice-breakfast,lunch and dinner for the past 2 months.Solid spherical aloo,Aloo balls floating in a liquid,gelly type aaloo, aloo sandwich,chapati-aloo,poori-aloo,aloo in dal,aloo with beans,aloo with cabbage,aloo with kovakayi{dondakaya in gult.dont know the english equivalent) to name a few. Have missed out aloo raitha.No wonder I have become like aaloo now. Most of the boot-cut jeans have become skin tights now. Probably my mom can now narrate a story bordering on the lines of the fat pig Empress {in Pelican at Blandings} which refused the potato offered by its master Emsworth at Blandings. (2) She should not cook "Swathi saathumdhu". Swathi is my sister.She eats only if the saathumdhu (also called Rasam) resembles red coloured water without any other vital components like seasoning,coriander leaves etc.If found doing so it will be decolourised and used as water.{Filtering is not necessary as it does not have solid particles }.I am sure my sis will prevail after 3 days.Lets see.
This reminds me of the peculiar way of naming some of the food items in our family. Most of these dishes have a name as a prefix. For instance "Lambu Narayanan kuzhambu". Narayanan is a tall,famous Tam cook in Hyd and I love his kuzhambu or sambhar. So I can take credit for having coined that.The term in (2) has also been coined by me.I don't know with what dishes my name has been associated.I shall have to ask a couple of cousins for that.I only hope its not a "Rajeev aloo".
TV will not be there for another year.Thats ok,not at all a problem as I have new excuses up my sleeve for watching night shows and loitering about after dinner.Helmet is compulsory in the twin cities now thanks to that super lady cop Tejdeep Kaur and I do not have one .Hope the cops dont pull out much from me if caught without a helmet on a 2-wheeler.
Thats it for now.Hyderabad here I come!
Saturday, June 24, 2006
GEN ARBIT UPDATE
Imagine no net,no TV after 10,no newspaper,no cell phone during working hours {assuming I work that is},no people around your house.Come outside the quarters and see a full fledged village replete with cattle walking on roads ,vendors selling "aamblet and aaf boil ", fish markets,town bus,monthly fair etc.This has been my life for the past few weeks.Two more weeks and I will be done with this intern stuff.I am literally killing time thanks to the extended sleeping hours in the afternoon ,football matches before 10 pm,fart sessions with room mates,some good books etc.Actually absence of newspaper is a huge handicap as I am literally cut off from the world.I just cant think of any possible reason for the prohibition or absence or whatever of the newspapers.I have to depend on my mobile for every damn thing.This has resulted in the message counter showing 10500 sent messages right now as against 8000 odd on May 16th,the 1st day of interns. We finally got our swimming passes after
weeks of dillydallying and as ill luck would have it I ended up with severe cold after 2 days.The worst part is that I have been advised against using the pool.So my plans of being in the water have gone down the drain or shall I say have been watered away!
I suppose I have to get used to such a lifestyle as life after getting placed will in all probability be an extension of the same. Work on weekdays,wash clothes and press them on weekends and also travel long distances,going home only for a few days etc.I haven't bunked a single day inspite of waking up with totally zuk enthu on many days.Actually I have realized that I can attend 6 weeks without sleeping during the working hours.Yo man!Of course books and newspapers have been the main weapons in keeping sleep at bay but atleast I have the satisfaction of proclaiming from rooftops that I havent slept or bunked.I hope I dont squander away the momentum because next sem the class strength will not exceed 20 and will be as low as 9 in some courses. The lovely days of getting and sending smses at 7:55 AM with the golden words "Macha put proxy da" will be thrown into the coffin soon .The obvious replies "Macha I am already putting for 3 da.Ask XYZ" will also follow suit.I cant even sleep in the last bench with just 20 people and so its better to attend the remaining 2 weeks also without bunking and sleeping.I hope I am adequately geared for the personal attention by the Profs by the end of this summer intern.
The saddest part has been the quality of the food which has been detiorating.I surely can't imagine anyone having kachori-chana,chapathi-raitha or pav bhaji for breakfast.On second thoughts I guess only South Indians find this queer.Of course for a guy used to Himalayan food this should not be a problem.Lunch has been the only saving grace and continues to be fabulous.There is another thing which is supposedly very good but is of absolutely no significance for/to me.{Kindly let me know people.Do we use for or to there}It is the booze rates.Liqour is sold at half the rates thanks to the zero tax .If there are any takers for quality foreign booze at cheap rates let me know :P.
6 weeks have passed away.The first 2 weeks were very painful and irritating mainly due to boredom. Actually I fear loneliness and boredom, when they are together that is.Its one of my phobias apart from human anatomy.The advent of some books has killed the boredom to some extent.The best part is that my novel reading pace has increased a lot.The library here is awesome and boasts of quality literature and has many classics and best sellers in its shelves.I hope to cash in on this for the next 2 weeks.Otherwise there is nothing much to be written about the project.Eagerly looking forward to rushing through the next two weeks and getting back to Hyd on 9th for a 20 day vacation.
weeks of dillydallying and as ill luck would have it I ended up with severe cold after 2 days.The worst part is that I have been advised against using the pool.So my plans of being in the water have gone down the drain or shall I say have been watered away!
I suppose I have to get used to such a lifestyle as life after getting placed will in all probability be an extension of the same. Work on weekdays,wash clothes and press them on weekends and also travel long distances,going home only for a few days etc.I haven't bunked a single day inspite of waking up with totally zuk enthu on many days.Actually I have realized that I can attend 6 weeks without sleeping during the working hours.Yo man!Of course books and newspapers have been the main weapons in keeping sleep at bay but atleast I have the satisfaction of proclaiming from rooftops that I havent slept or bunked.I hope I dont squander away the momentum because next sem the class strength will not exceed 20 and will be as low as 9 in some courses. The lovely days of getting and sending smses at 7:55 AM with the golden words "Macha put proxy da" will be thrown into the coffin soon .The obvious replies "Macha I am already putting for 3 da.Ask XYZ" will also follow suit.I cant even sleep in the last bench with just 20 people and so its better to attend the remaining 2 weeks also without bunking and sleeping.I hope I am adequately geared for the personal attention by the Profs by the end of this summer intern.
The saddest part has been the quality of the food which has been detiorating.I surely can't imagine anyone having kachori-chana,chapathi-raitha or pav bhaji for breakfast.On second thoughts I guess only South Indians find this queer.Of course for a guy used to Himalayan food this should not be a problem.Lunch has been the only saving grace and continues to be fabulous.There is another thing which is supposedly very good but is of absolutely no significance for/to me.{Kindly let me know people.Do we use for or to there}It is the booze rates.Liqour is sold at half the rates thanks to the zero tax .If there are any takers for quality foreign booze at cheap rates let me know :P.
6 weeks have passed away.The first 2 weeks were very painful and irritating mainly due to boredom. Actually I fear loneliness and boredom, when they are together that is.Its one of my phobias apart from human anatomy.The advent of some books has killed the boredom to some extent.The best part is that my novel reading pace has increased a lot.The library here is awesome and boasts of quality literature and has many classics and best sellers in its shelves.I hope to cash in on this for the next 2 weeks.Otherwise there is nothing much to be written about the project.Eagerly looking forward to rushing through the next two weeks and getting back to Hyd on 9th for a 20 day vacation.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
10 SIMPLE PLEASURES
I was tagged by Asha.Its called some ten simple pleasures in life.I dont think I can post it in the order of preference.I guess I am one of the last guys to post this .Even that intro tag was posted by me last December ,a good 4-5 months after it was being tossed around in the blogosphere.So I think many things will be found else where too.Lemme give it a shot-
1) Sit on the Bessie beach after some 10 in the night without any worries in life {Till the police shoos me away at 12.It did happen on a couple of occasions }
2) Eat Paruppu Kuzhambu cooked by Mom,Vetha kuzhambu cooked by Dad,Maggi noodles by Sis and kesari by Paati.
3) Simply sit and chat with my Mom.
4) Watch Sachin Tendulkar in full form.A morbid passion is to see Abdur Razzak's face bleeding on being hit by Sachin's lofted drives :P
5) Watch some old Hindi or Tam movie starring Big B/Dev Anand/Dharamendra or MGR/Sivaji with my Dad and discuss the dialogues{Hindi} and songs {Tam}.I am a huge fan of Big B and he is a huge fan of MGR.
6) Visit the temples of Kumbakonam with cousins and take bath at a pump-set in the nearby fields.
7) A walk in my colony with friends after the rain has stopped and have pani puri (or) Go on a long drive with beshtu buddies in some car with myself behind the wheels.
8) Hum and sometimes loudly sing desi film songs.If I am taking bath and you are in the vicinity ,kindly plug your ears.
9) Sit in my room on a hot summer afternoon,switch on the AC,take out the photo album and look at my old photos.
10) Reading a good book in the night with gentle ,mellifluous music wafting.
Will add one more -11) Making faces,karaoke singing,aping the thalam {hand movements} and teasing sis and Mom when they are practicing Carnatic music.
Obviously this is not an exhaustive list.The ones that came to my mind readily have been posted.I dont wish to tag anyone because almost all my readers have finished theirs.
1) Sit on the Bessie beach after some 10 in the night without any worries in life {Till the police shoos me away at 12.It did happen on a couple of occasions }
2) Eat Paruppu Kuzhambu cooked by Mom,Vetha kuzhambu cooked by Dad,Maggi noodles by Sis and kesari by Paati.
3) Simply sit and chat with my Mom.
4) Watch Sachin Tendulkar in full form.A morbid passion is to see Abdur Razzak's face bleeding on being hit by Sachin's lofted drives :P
5) Watch some old Hindi or Tam movie starring Big B/Dev Anand/Dharamendra or MGR/Sivaji with my Dad and discuss the dialogues{Hindi} and songs {Tam}.I am a huge fan of Big B and he is a huge fan of MGR.
6) Visit the temples of Kumbakonam with cousins and take bath at a pump-set in the nearby fields.
7) A walk in my colony with friends after the rain has stopped and have pani puri (or) Go on a long drive with beshtu buddies in some car with myself behind the wheels.
8) Hum and sometimes loudly sing desi film songs.If I am taking bath and you are in the vicinity ,kindly plug your ears.
9) Sit in my room on a hot summer afternoon,switch on the AC,take out the photo album and look at my old photos.
10) Reading a good book in the night with gentle ,mellifluous music wafting.
Will add one more -11) Making faces,karaoke singing,aping the thalam {hand movements} and teasing sis and Mom when they are practicing Carnatic music.
Obviously this is not an exhaustive list.The ones that came to my mind readily have been posted.I dont wish to tag anyone because almost all my readers have finished theirs.
Friday, May 26, 2006
FIRST WEEK AT IAF
I had plans of watching and ogling Bindi,Ghungroo,Payal,Kumud,Banno {typical northie names} back in March but then realised that I will have to settle down with sighting Thamilselvi,Kanimozhi,Muniamma when i learnt that Avadi wil be my place of interns.The first few days have evoked mixed reactions.4 of us-3 guys and one girl, were selected for the interns at IAF base in Avadi.1st jhatka-No aircrafts here as this place basically deals with not the aircrafts but with the supporting vehicles and some ground equipment like starters etc .The most fascinating equipment seen so far has been the arrester barrier.My project will in all probability deal with arrester barrier.{Google it for further details}.And as always I wont go into the details of tech stuff ,not because you might get bored,but mainly because I myself wont know what I will be blaberring then.
3 of us have been put up in a small 2 bedroom flat type quarters.The facilities are pretty good.Atleast I dont run the risk of being caught in the loo with air gushing out of the taps which is a very normal occurence in IITM.We get tea and newspaper in the morning and like I used to do in my school days have been spending more than necessary time flipping through the pages,berated by friends and consequently getting late.We have a Sumo to transport us from the house to the hangars at 8 am.We were told to get ready by 7-45 and the old habits of walking in late to the 8am class have embraced me and like a leech refuse to go away.After 2-3 warnings we did not yield,and our Sir no longer asks us about the delay and has accepted it.We,on our part have not been capitalising on the generosity and go only 10 mins late.But we have been very punctual in leaving on time.We pack the work by 1-45 and assemble outside the hangar for the Sumo which comes at 2.Food,something for which I live,and which has been denied to me in good manner thanks to the authorities here in college,has been awesome.Lunch has been particularly amazing with a proper 3 course meal being served.A bulged waistline surely in the offing.
We seem to be world-famous in IAF with almost everyone asking us "Ohh you are those 4 peepal from IIT naa?" .We chorus in unsion "Yes" .99% of the times the next question has been "IAF jaain karoge kya" and a chorus "No" has been the answer.They seem to be having wrong notions about our making a ground-breaking discovery there and so the non commensurate respect.The fox will soon show its true colours. A tea meeting with the Commanding officer {He is the Head of this place} was the high point of Day One.Tea seems to be flowing like a river here and has been following us wherever we go.Most of the technicians are Northies here .So the mechanism,parts etc were explained in Hindi mostly.I didn't have much of a prob and dont think will have it either unless he hurls bouncers like "vidyut chumbkeeya tarang"{ EM waves}.Of course the Biharis do chip in with their "vheri pphirst " and the Bongs have been explaining stuff like "taarbines".
One of the main difficulties in being with the fairer sex is the lack of freedom of speech.I have been forced to curtail,nah totally stop the usage of four lettered words,addressing the kith and kin etc and their corresponding translations in other vernacular languages.These actually are pasted on my lips thanks to my hostel life.On many occasions I have been uttering half the word,realizing the presence of females,being embarassed like a kid being jeered by his peers for peeing in the pants and wishing the earth opens up and swallows me.The other thing which beats me is the abysmally low amounts of food girls eat.I know the basic psychology is to stay slim {*and attract guys*} but that should not be at the cost of food.My co-intern has been having almost 1/3 rd of what I eat every session{or the other guys for that matter}.I shall devote an entire post towards this one as I cant do justice in one paragraph.
We have not had much work so far and boredom in the nights has been one of the few cribs.Having been accustomed to a life full of activity{read net},people all around ,etc this deserted and lonely quarters did disappoint me.I was teetering on the brink of madness in the first week not knowing what to do.Now Wodehouses,Forsyths{also Feminas,Womans Era etc :P} have provided some respite but still nothing rocks like free net.The weekend just flew away and its off to Central now to catch a train to Avadi.Hopefully next update after one week.
3 of us have been put up in a small 2 bedroom flat type quarters.The facilities are pretty good.Atleast I dont run the risk of being caught in the loo with air gushing out of the taps which is a very normal occurence in IITM.We get tea and newspaper in the morning and like I used to do in my school days have been spending more than necessary time flipping through the pages,berated by friends and consequently getting late.We have a Sumo to transport us from the house to the hangars at 8 am.We were told to get ready by 7-45 and the old habits of walking in late to the 8am class have embraced me and like a leech refuse to go away.After 2-3 warnings we did not yield,and our Sir no longer asks us about the delay and has accepted it.We,on our part have not been capitalising on the generosity and go only 10 mins late.But we have been very punctual in leaving on time.We pack the work by 1-45 and assemble outside the hangar for the Sumo which comes at 2.Food,something for which I live,and which has been denied to me in good manner thanks to the authorities here in college,has been awesome.Lunch has been particularly amazing with a proper 3 course meal being served.A bulged waistline surely in the offing.
We seem to be world-famous in IAF with almost everyone asking us "Ohh you are those 4 peepal from IIT naa?" .We chorus in unsion "Yes" .99% of the times the next question has been "IAF jaain karoge kya" and a chorus "No" has been the answer.They seem to be having wrong notions about our making a ground-breaking discovery there and so the non commensurate respect.The fox will soon show its true colours. A tea meeting with the Commanding officer {He is the Head of this place} was the high point of Day One.Tea seems to be flowing like a river here and has been following us wherever we go.Most of the technicians are Northies here .So the mechanism,parts etc were explained in Hindi mostly.I didn't have much of a prob and dont think will have it either unless he hurls bouncers like "vidyut chumbkeeya tarang"{ EM waves}.Of course the Biharis do chip in with their "vheri pphirst " and the Bongs have been explaining stuff like "taarbines".
One of the main difficulties in being with the fairer sex is the lack of freedom of speech.I have been forced to curtail,nah totally stop the usage of four lettered words,addressing the kith and kin etc and their corresponding translations in other vernacular languages.These actually are pasted on my lips thanks to my hostel life.On many occasions I have been uttering half the word,realizing the presence of females,being embarassed like a kid being jeered by his peers for peeing in the pants and wishing the earth opens up and swallows me.The other thing which beats me is the abysmally low amounts of food girls eat.I know the basic psychology is to stay slim {*and attract guys*} but that should not be at the cost of food.My co-intern has been having almost 1/3 rd of what I eat every session{or the other guys for that matter}.I shall devote an entire post towards this one as I cant do justice in one paragraph.
We have not had much work so far and boredom in the nights has been one of the few cribs.Having been accustomed to a life full of activity{read net},people all around ,etc this deserted and lonely quarters did disappoint me.I was teetering on the brink of madness in the first week not knowing what to do.Now Wodehouses,Forsyths{also Feminas,Womans Era etc :P} have provided some respite but still nothing rocks like free net.The weekend just flew away and its off to Central now to catch a train to Avadi.Hopefully next update after one week.
Monday, May 15, 2006
DONE WITH MY B.TECH
Last last thursday I wrote the last exam of my B.tech in IITM.I wanted to blog about that since then but slow net at my cousin's place prevented me from doing so.So I am done with my B.tech for all practical purposes.Wait,my engineering is not yet over.I will be entering the world of uncles-M.tech in August and have two more years to go to get the coveted degree from a "premier" college.Somehow M.tech in IITs is not at all "kewl".I mean B.tech has a pretty good brand image whereas M.tech in IIT has been suffering from an identity crisis.M.techs are fondly referred to as mataks or matkas in IITM by us and are synonymous with uncle like guys and a stitched trouser that doesnt run through the entire length of the leg.I do not know what the mataks call us B.tech.If its a similar process of christening then i guess we all would be called bataks ,which rhymes with a part of the human body.Due to the aforementioned reasons I somehow donot want to be called M.tech.Probably calling myself a designer{no ,not the Manish Malhotra genre} is a better bet I guess as my M.tech is in Product Design.
Well I guess you all dont want to hear the same story about my exams so even I wont delve much into that.Anyway a few lines will do no harm.The first three were very painful with me sleeping only for max 2 hrs in the night.After that the rest weren't so difficult.One thing I have been practicing ever since my childhood is not sleeping in exams and I can proudly say that I have never slept in any of the exams here.We had a pass-fail course this sem and pretty obviously complacency creeped in as a result of which i was inadequately geared for the exam and finished the 3 hr paper in 45 mins.In order to keep up the record of not sleeping I started cleaning all parts of the cell phone and reassembled it and also cleaned my calci.I also played antakshari with myself by singing in 3 different languages.To the best of my knowledge the only exam in which i dozed off for a considerable amount of time was a totally crap exam called DA-IICT{Dhirubhai Ambani's Engg Coll at Gandhinagar} entrance exam.I had no enthu in that and after completing the easy questions I dozed off after 1.5 hours.I think many others also slept accross the country because I found my name in the 1st list of qualified candidates.
The vacations are on now and visited a few of my cousins in Chennai and Bangalore after totally lazing around in my room watching lots of movies.As I have already mentioned if you have no work to do then IITM LAN is a total heaven.You can choose from eng,tam,gult,hindi movies,videos,songs,cricket and footer clips,amazing documentaries,hazaar e-books etc {and of course "you-know-what"} and all this comes without any price tag attached to it.My summer internship was originally scheduled to be at the IAF base at Palam near New Delhi and the Dept office dropped a bomb a few weeks back saying it would be at Avadi near Chennai.New Delhi became No Delhi and Avadi became KLPD.I have to report on 14th and I hope to atleast catch a glimpse of the fighter jets and defence related stuff.Of course I have absolutely no idea what a mechie is going to do there.Updates about that will be given after a few weeks.
I am back after a 4 day trip to Bangalore.It was mainly to kill time {and blow up money as I have spent a lot}.I came to Chennai this morning and will be leaving to Avadi at about 9am.I am already a day late!The seniors have said that its a very good campus and that we get royal treatment there.One thing for sure is that there will be no net there.I guess i will be posting sporadically this summer on the days when I get back to my room.I do hope to get back to my room on weekends and catch up with a few hostel mates,orkutting,chatting,movies etc.Will blog about Bangy trip soon.Now all set to leave.All you guys enjoy your summer and get roasted and fried like me.Ciao folks.
Well I guess you all dont want to hear the same story about my exams so even I wont delve much into that.Anyway a few lines will do no harm.The first three were very painful with me sleeping only for max 2 hrs in the night.After that the rest weren't so difficult.One thing I have been practicing ever since my childhood is not sleeping in exams and I can proudly say that I have never slept in any of the exams here.We had a pass-fail course this sem and pretty obviously complacency creeped in as a result of which i was inadequately geared for the exam and finished the 3 hr paper in 45 mins.In order to keep up the record of not sleeping I started cleaning all parts of the cell phone and reassembled it and also cleaned my calci.I also played antakshari with myself by singing in 3 different languages.To the best of my knowledge the only exam in which i dozed off for a considerable amount of time was a totally crap exam called DA-IICT{Dhirubhai Ambani's Engg Coll at Gandhinagar} entrance exam.I had no enthu in that and after completing the easy questions I dozed off after 1.5 hours.I think many others also slept accross the country because I found my name in the 1st list of qualified candidates.
The vacations are on now and visited a few of my cousins in Chennai and Bangalore after totally lazing around in my room watching lots of movies.As I have already mentioned if you have no work to do then IITM LAN is a total heaven.You can choose from eng,tam,gult,hindi movies,videos,songs,cricket and footer clips,amazing documentaries,hazaar e-books etc {and of course "you-know-what"} and all this comes without any price tag attached to it.My summer internship was originally scheduled to be at the IAF base at Palam near New Delhi and the Dept office dropped a bomb a few weeks back saying it would be at Avadi near Chennai.New Delhi became No Delhi and Avadi became KLPD.I have to report on 14th and I hope to atleast catch a glimpse of the fighter jets and defence related stuff.Of course I have absolutely no idea what a mechie is going to do there.Updates about that will be given after a few weeks.
I am back after a 4 day trip to Bangalore.It was mainly to kill time {and blow up money as I have spent a lot}.I came to Chennai this morning and will be leaving to Avadi at about 9am.I am already a day late!The seniors have said that its a very good campus and that we get royal treatment there.One thing for sure is that there will be no net there.I guess i will be posting sporadically this summer on the days when I get back to my room.I do hope to get back to my room on weekends and catch up with a few hostel mates,orkutting,chatting,movies etc.Will blog about Bangy trip soon.Now all set to leave.All you guys enjoy your summer and get roasted and fried like me.Ciao folks.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
WHAT THE F***
The idlis they say are mighty fine
Until one fell down and crushed the toe of mine
This pretty much gives an indication of the latest insane thing that has come up in the campus.On April 1st a gigantic,gargantuan,mammoth mess was declared open-The Himalaya or better still Shitalaya.This mess,constructed at a whopping cost of 9 crores{What a waste!} will surely be bigger than some of the colleges in Hyd!I was slisha apprehensive about the day of inaugration {April 1st -All Fools Day} but later realized that it was a perfect launch because they have been succesful in fooling more than 2500 students.Wow! Sensational timing by the authorities I should say.It couldn't have started on a better day.It is a huge 3 storeyed building with a posh facade and green lawns in front of it.But it's total nonsense inside .A perfect way of describing it would be "Good from far but far from good".
For non iitians i shall give a brief intro.All these days we had our food in the hostel mess.The Dean decided that the students of one of the premier engineering colleges of the country needed better food and came up with this horrible idea called "Giga Mess" wherein all the students in the hostel zone will be going to a single place for their food.This Mess has 3 different caterers {RR,CR and SHAKTI} each serving two different cuisines called C1-Predominantly Northie and C2- Southie food.We later realised that C2=C1 + Sambhar.We were asked to exercise our vote on the caterer and C1 or C2.RR caterer had the reputation of being the best of the bad lot and so we all voted for that with the hope that atleast now things would get better.Alas the food is at an all-time worst now.
First of all the very fact that we have to walk so much for food acts as a deterrent.This Himalaya is just beside that Gurunath and evening coffee is non -existent.RR invariably has a mile long queue at any time of the day thanks to the huge turnout.Each floor is assigned a different caterer and the capacity is 720 in each floor.About 1600 students have registered for RR,some 500 for CR and about the same for Shakti.Needless to say there is absolutely no rush in CR and Shakti while we all fight it out in the queues in RR.The concept as such is bad,food worse and the queue "worshtest".We have to walk back the entire distance even for a spoon of rice.The scene in the lunch time is literally like a refugee camp with people pushing and jostling each other.This is mainly due to the 1pm class.I seriously feel lunch time has to be increased because we can never predict when we will be done with this stupid ordeal.
All of us were issued cards for entry into the mess and it says we cant go to the other caterer.It is a simple yellow card which would cost no more than 5 bucks.Loss of mess card means a fine of RS. 500 {REALLY} and coupons for extras will be issued in multiples of Rs.300.For all of us who experienced hunger pangs in the night Dhaba provided some respite with the ok types food.Now Dhaba also has been closed and we see a new outlet called Tifanys above Mega Mess.This Mega Mess is just beside Gajendra Circle and it closes by 10pm thanks to its proximity to the girls hostel.Infact its sandwiched between the 2 girl's hostels.Firstly why the **** was it opened there?And what's the problem in guys coming near the hostel after 10?? Anyway there are hajaar couples who roam till 3-4am and n hajaar couples just outside the girls hostel who keep talking till some 3-4am.The Dean has no problems with that and has cribs about guys coming near the girls hostels for food. *Evil Grin *-I am sure girls dont mind guys coming :P.
The Govt mess in our 1st year was pretty good and the hostel messes were privatised in the 2nd year and the food has been deteriorating ever since.How I wish our students enact a Rang De Basanti{hmm maybe without killing} or some Medha Patkar comes and starts Himalaya Hatao Andolan.Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizb-ul guys,if you really want to target an educational institution you are most welcome.Do come here and demolish Himalaya without leaving a brick instead of targetting harmless profs in IIsc.
P.S. : The rebellion has started.Be a rebel
http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=11116736
Until one fell down and crushed the toe of mine
This pretty much gives an indication of the latest insane thing that has come up in the campus.On April 1st a gigantic,gargantuan,mammoth mess was declared open-The Himalaya or better still Shitalaya.This mess,constructed at a whopping cost of 9 crores{What a waste!} will surely be bigger than some of the colleges in Hyd!I was slisha apprehensive about the day of inaugration {April 1st -All Fools Day} but later realized that it was a perfect launch because they have been succesful in fooling more than 2500 students.Wow! Sensational timing by the authorities I should say.It couldn't have started on a better day.It is a huge 3 storeyed building with a posh facade and green lawns in front of it.But it's total nonsense inside .A perfect way of describing it would be "Good from far but far from good".
For non iitians i shall give a brief intro.All these days we had our food in the hostel mess.The Dean decided that the students of one of the premier engineering colleges of the country needed better food and came up with this horrible idea called "Giga Mess" wherein all the students in the hostel zone will be going to a single place for their food.This Mess has 3 different caterers {RR,CR and SHAKTI} each serving two different cuisines called C1-Predominantly Northie and C2- Southie food.We later realised that C2=C1 + Sambhar.We were asked to exercise our vote on the caterer and C1 or C2.RR caterer had the reputation of being the best of the bad lot and so we all voted for that with the hope that atleast now things would get better.Alas the food is at an all-time worst now.
First of all the very fact that we have to walk so much for food acts as a deterrent.This Himalaya is just beside that Gurunath and evening coffee is non -existent.RR invariably has a mile long queue at any time of the day thanks to the huge turnout.Each floor is assigned a different caterer and the capacity is 720 in each floor.About 1600 students have registered for RR,some 500 for CR and about the same for Shakti.Needless to say there is absolutely no rush in CR and Shakti while we all fight it out in the queues in RR.The concept as such is bad,food worse and the queue "worshtest".We have to walk back the entire distance even for a spoon of rice.The scene in the lunch time is literally like a refugee camp with people pushing and jostling each other.This is mainly due to the 1pm class.I seriously feel lunch time has to be increased because we can never predict when we will be done with this stupid ordeal.
All of us were issued cards for entry into the mess and it says we cant go to the other caterer.It is a simple yellow card which would cost no more than 5 bucks.Loss of mess card means a fine of RS. 500 {REALLY} and coupons for extras will be issued in multiples of Rs.300.For all of us who experienced hunger pangs in the night Dhaba provided some respite with the ok types food.Now Dhaba also has been closed and we see a new outlet called Tifanys above Mega Mess.This Mega Mess is just beside Gajendra Circle and it closes by 10pm thanks to its proximity to the girls hostel.Infact its sandwiched between the 2 girl's hostels.Firstly why the **** was it opened there?And what's the problem in guys coming near the hostel after 10?? Anyway there are hajaar couples who roam till 3-4am and n hajaar couples just outside the girls hostel who keep talking till some 3-4am.The Dean has no problems with that and has cribs about guys coming near the girls hostels for food. *Evil Grin *-I am sure girls dont mind guys coming :P.
The Govt mess in our 1st year was pretty good and the hostel messes were privatised in the 2nd year and the food has been deteriorating ever since.How I wish our students enact a Rang De Basanti{hmm maybe without killing} or some Medha Patkar comes and starts Himalaya Hatao Andolan.Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizb-ul guys,if you really want to target an educational institution you are most welcome.Do come here and demolish Himalaya without leaving a brick instead of targetting harmless profs in IIsc.
P.S. : The rebellion has started.Be a rebel
http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=11116736
Monday, March 13, 2006
THE BEST MATCH EVER?
2 years ago Pakistan scored around 344 and was 5 runs short of victory over India in the first ODI at Karachi.This was the match where Kaif took that awesome catch jumping over Badani.That was the highest chasing total till yesterday,although it wasn't a winning one.A few months back NZ prevailed over AUS in a high profile chase and won, chasing a total of 330 odd and till yesterday that was the record for the highest winning chase.Few other memorable 300+ chases have been the Natwest final at Lord's ;the 316 at Dhaka vs Pak {Kanitkar scores a boundary off saqlain},;SL chasing 333 set by WI at Sharjah ,Tillakaratne scores an amazing century but the team falls short by 3 runs.Move over guys! 300 is passe.400 is the in thing now.If a team scoring 434 in the 1st innings is out-of-the-world then what can you say about the team which has chased 434 at 8.7 RPO.GOD LEVEL!!!!!!!!!!
I cant imagine with what mindset Gibbs went in to bat! Chasing 434 is surreal.How could he even think that his team could go for a win?His lofted cover drives,pulls,straight hits to the fence were an absolute treat to watch.Never did he get bogged down and the best part of his innings was that he tried to score off every ball.In his 80 odd runs partnership with De villiers the latter scored just 14. Gibbs totally bludgeoned,hammered,pummelled the ball and I cant come up with more words. He never lost sight of his goal even when wickets fell and the way he accelerated after his century was too too too much! The age old adage "Fortune favours the brave" was seen yesterday .Without taking away any credit, Gibbs had a reprieve at mid-off.A couple of edges also flew to the third man boundary and there was a missed run out chance. Every ball he tried some innovation -coming down the track,creating room on the off,chipping it over short fine leg etc. But the way he threw away his wicket was slisha disappointing.He had already scored two sixes and a lofted drive without the power or timing towards long off with a fielder there was unwarranted.He could have taken a single or hit a full blooded shot.Anyways i think he was tired.All said and done this was one of the best innings' i have ever seen and I dont think anyone can emulate Gibbs atleast for the next few years. "Wonder"wath was also wonderful! And full marks to Boucher for having kept his cool.He kept the scoreboard ticking and ensured that 6 an over was always coming. Imagine a tailender like Ntini facing one of the fastest bowlers with 2 needed off 3,this being the series clincher,SA on the verge of creating history.Phew!He aptly took a single.Well done boy .Boucher deserved the winning shot and his boundary over long on brought the roof down in the room and we all were dancing,shouting,embracing each other as if it were an Indian win!Such was the tide against the Aussies.
Almost all the guys in the TV room were baying for Aussies blood barring one or two . Every boundary was greeted with rapturous applause and we all were left red-handed after clapping so much.The atmoshpere was totally electric with about 150 people and this is something i wont forget for a few years to come.
Ponting's captaincy has left a few open questions.Even you and me know that Gibbs is extremely strong in the cover region.Why didn't he have a sweeper when he was repeatedly hitting it over the covers? Secondly Lee was the best bet with such such an inexperienced attack.So why didn't he complete his quota and why that Lewis was given 10 overs after giving away 90 in 9?Lewis might be a great bowler in the death but after being hammered for 90 runs it was an unwise decision to hand over the ball to him.Anyways I am happy he did that because I don't want the Kangaroos to win every series.But I am pretty sure that they will fight back hard.After every defeat they have had comprehensive victories.They swept the Super Series 3-0 and defeated WI,SA,SL back home after their Ashes debacle and the previous ignominious loss to Bangladesh.So a good fight is on the anvil.
The Ashes victory saw a surge in the popularity of cricket in England.Lets hope the same thing happens in SA .I would like to see SA attain the levels it had reached in 1996-99 and regain its lost glory.
Bottomline: Any target can be achieved if you are determined and put your mind and heart into it.Will sum up with one of my favourite quotes - "Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill." - Mohammad Ali.And Gibbs,Smith,Boucher are champions. ^:)^
I cant imagine with what mindset Gibbs went in to bat! Chasing 434 is surreal.How could he even think that his team could go for a win?His lofted cover drives,pulls,straight hits to the fence were an absolute treat to watch.Never did he get bogged down and the best part of his innings was that he tried to score off every ball.In his 80 odd runs partnership with De villiers the latter scored just 14. Gibbs totally bludgeoned,hammered,pummelled the ball and I cant come up with more words. He never lost sight of his goal even when wickets fell and the way he accelerated after his century was too too too much! The age old adage "Fortune favours the brave" was seen yesterday .Without taking away any credit, Gibbs had a reprieve at mid-off.A couple of edges also flew to the third man boundary and there was a missed run out chance. Every ball he tried some innovation -coming down the track,creating room on the off,chipping it over short fine leg etc. But the way he threw away his wicket was slisha disappointing.He had already scored two sixes and a lofted drive without the power or timing towards long off with a fielder there was unwarranted.He could have taken a single or hit a full blooded shot.Anyways i think he was tired.All said and done this was one of the best innings' i have ever seen and I dont think anyone can emulate Gibbs atleast for the next few years. "Wonder"wath was also wonderful! And full marks to Boucher for having kept his cool.He kept the scoreboard ticking and ensured that 6 an over was always coming. Imagine a tailender like Ntini facing one of the fastest bowlers with 2 needed off 3,this being the series clincher,SA on the verge of creating history.Phew!He aptly took a single.Well done boy .Boucher deserved the winning shot and his boundary over long on brought the roof down in the room and we all were dancing,shouting,embracing each other as if it were an Indian win!Such was the tide against the Aussies.
Almost all the guys in the TV room were baying for Aussies blood barring one or two . Every boundary was greeted with rapturous applause and we all were left red-handed after clapping so much.The atmoshpere was totally electric with about 150 people and this is something i wont forget for a few years to come.
Ponting's captaincy has left a few open questions.Even you and me know that Gibbs is extremely strong in the cover region.Why didn't he have a sweeper when he was repeatedly hitting it over the covers? Secondly Lee was the best bet with such such an inexperienced attack.So why didn't he complete his quota and why that Lewis was given 10 overs after giving away 90 in 9?Lewis might be a great bowler in the death but after being hammered for 90 runs it was an unwise decision to hand over the ball to him.Anyways I am happy he did that because I don't want the Kangaroos to win every series.But I am pretty sure that they will fight back hard.After every defeat they have had comprehensive victories.They swept the Super Series 3-0 and defeated WI,SA,SL back home after their Ashes debacle and the previous ignominious loss to Bangladesh.So a good fight is on the anvil.
The Ashes victory saw a surge in the popularity of cricket in England.Lets hope the same thing happens in SA .I would like to see SA attain the levels it had reached in 1996-99 and regain its lost glory.
Bottomline: Any target can be achieved if you are determined and put your mind and heart into it.Will sum up with one of my favourite quotes - "Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill." - Mohammad Ali.And Gibbs,Smith,Boucher are champions. ^:)^
Monday, March 06, 2006
TIME IS FLYING AWAY
I am half way through the sem and have not yet described how it has shaped up.This is mainly due to an extremely busy schedule which for a change included mugging ,playing cricket and of course the usual time wasters like chatting,movie watching etc.As usual the Profs are not great barring two profs.One prof teaches well but slighly on the slower side.His class is somewhat like HIndi commentary on DD -1."Mohammad Kaif"..wait for 10 seconds.."shandaar shot"..10 more seconds.. ""kharab ball".Surpise-I have a Bradmanesque attendance average of 90+ so far in his class and have jotted down awesome notes.Infact i am pretty proud of a unique achievement.For the first time in my 3 years i studied for the quiz from my own notes.Of course it did have the usual glitches as i didn't copy a few graphs and the "sieve theorem" came into effect once again.Probably can be termed Beginner's Luck.As some golfer said "My luck is so bad that if i bought a cemetery people would stop dying"!The other prof is a total god.Infact he is going to be the next HOD and for the first time i seem to be enjoying classes.But he sent me out once as i went in 3 min late for his 8 am class.Grrrr.
The labs and the associated reports have been the most painful part eating away precious Sundays.Of all the things I dont think anyone would want to spend his Sundays writing lab reports and drawing graphs.In the previous sems too we had labs but I used to blatanly carbon copy the reports.This sem there were specific instructions not to copy from our batch mates.Certainly that dint deter me from copying ,the fact that i was dependent on others provided the impetus to write reports on my own.I still don't write it completely on my own.Thats obvious because Habits Die Hard.Thursdays and Fridays are the best days as the afty's are free.They are spent in the best way possible-sleeping.Even though I have been writng down notes in a few classes religiously I am absolutely not able to cope up with them and in most cases its blindly writing down what the prof has been telling.Sometimes when LB sits beside me we both have a small competition on who writes down more notes.Though I won on one particular day, after going through the notes I found out that what I had written was totally insignificant and irrelevant.The prof was using some analogies and like a fool I wrote down that without writing the subject matter.Phew!The simple things in life like writing notes in class is so tough man!Hats off to all you people who maintain notes.
This sem also saw the advent of GD's in our wing {6 guys} mainly in order to improve our debating skills.It has done everything except that.Mainly it has resulted in each of us taking turns to rape the other guy and pain him to the core.In most of the cases the guy getting tortured has had no support and its like 5:1 attack.But those sessions were total fun and I was also the victim many times.If I am not wrong I was the one who started these sessions and the cliched getting a taste of my own medicine.Hope to have one of those sessions this weekend.I am pretty sure the guys passing through our wing are convinced that these 6 guys have no other work apart from farting {aimless chat sessions in IIT lingo}.
I had put on weight in my December holidays and started running in our stadium in order to reduce it.Sadly i dont seem to have lost much inspite of running a good 5*400m these days.My main aim is to reduce my waist line so that i can flaunt my brand new Lee jeans by tucking the shirt in . :P.I hope to tuck in my shirt atleast by the end of this sem.Btw all you doubting Thomases,I am not that fat,just 65 kgs :P
This has been a total bits and pieces post.But what to do I dont get many ideas to blog about :(. Life is just going on peacefully these days.First quiz was just about ok.Hope there is no "sieve theorem" in the 2nd quiz!!!
P.S : For first timers sieve theorem --> Whatever i leave will surely appear in the exam.100%.For further details contact LB.
The labs and the associated reports have been the most painful part eating away precious Sundays.Of all the things I dont think anyone would want to spend his Sundays writing lab reports and drawing graphs.In the previous sems too we had labs but I used to blatanly carbon copy the reports.This sem there were specific instructions not to copy from our batch mates.Certainly that dint deter me from copying ,the fact that i was dependent on others provided the impetus to write reports on my own.I still don't write it completely on my own.Thats obvious because Habits Die Hard.Thursdays and Fridays are the best days as the afty's are free.They are spent in the best way possible-sleeping.Even though I have been writng down notes in a few classes religiously I am absolutely not able to cope up with them and in most cases its blindly writing down what the prof has been telling.Sometimes when LB sits beside me we both have a small competition on who writes down more notes.Though I won on one particular day, after going through the notes I found out that what I had written was totally insignificant and irrelevant.The prof was using some analogies and like a fool I wrote down that without writing the subject matter.Phew!The simple things in life like writing notes in class is so tough man!Hats off to all you people who maintain notes.
This sem also saw the advent of GD's in our wing {6 guys} mainly in order to improve our debating skills.It has done everything except that.Mainly it has resulted in each of us taking turns to rape the other guy and pain him to the core.In most of the cases the guy getting tortured has had no support and its like 5:1 attack.But those sessions were total fun and I was also the victim many times.If I am not wrong I was the one who started these sessions and the cliched getting a taste of my own medicine.Hope to have one of those sessions this weekend.I am pretty sure the guys passing through our wing are convinced that these 6 guys have no other work apart from farting {aimless chat sessions in IIT lingo}.
I had put on weight in my December holidays and started running in our stadium in order to reduce it.Sadly i dont seem to have lost much inspite of running a good 5*400m these days.My main aim is to reduce my waist line so that i can flaunt my brand new Lee jeans by tucking the shirt in . :P.I hope to tuck in my shirt atleast by the end of this sem.Btw all you doubting Thomases,I am not that fat,just 65 kgs :P
This has been a total bits and pieces post.But what to do I dont get many ideas to blog about :(. Life is just going on peacefully these days.First quiz was just about ok.Hope there is no "sieve theorem" in the 2nd quiz!!!
P.S : For first timers sieve theorem --> Whatever i leave will surely appear in the exam.100%.For further details contact LB.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
THIS FARE IS NOT LOVELY
Superstar Rajni waxed eloquent about this tribe in one of his superhit flicks.He goes about extolling the virtues of the autokkaran of Chennai.His cronies dance with wild abandon and sing along with him , probably shouting for an encore.In fact in his first few lines he claims to be a good singer.I dont second his views and I am pretty sure many of you will assist me in directing a stream of invective towards these guys.I do agree that they are good singers.They seem to be huge fans of Eminem as our guys also can sing rap songs{or crap songs?} with generous amounts of swear words thrown in.
I have been fleeced royally almost every time I took an auto here.I am particularly sad at my inability to reach at a favourable price even after minutes of haggling with the autowala.They are adept at using the choicest of Tamil expletives,obviously aimed at your immediate kith and kin.I dare not scold him in return as I am aware of the fraternity and camaraderie existing among them.The Hyd autowala is also equally adept at usage of expletives which often revolve around parts of the human anatomy below the abdomen,both posterior and anterior without any bias.Dont be surprised if you hear many of your relatives being called names in different languages.Poor guy,spits and wastes his 5 bucks worth paan just to tell you few of your body parts.But still the Hyd guy is better than the Chennai guy,atleast he sticks to the meter.
My experiences in Chennai with the autokarrans have been horrible to say the least.What would have costed me 15 bucks in Hyd costs me something around 30 if I catch a moving auto and 40 if I hire a stationary auto outside the IIT gate.He does take you on a ride!Cant understand why these static guys demand more.Invariably he demands 5 rs extra on reaching the destination.It is somewhat like "You wanted me to take you to Y on X road,this place is Z which is quite a distance from Y".This "quite a distance" is generally about 200-300 metres.There is also a worst case scenario- Z does not figure on X road at all and its 10 Rs extra.Any hour of the day apart from 10am-11am and 6pm-8pm is "untime saar" for our guy.He uses this word pretty often.Another handy crib is that the petrol prices were raised just a few days back.He predicts a traffic snarl on every main road through which we'll be passing .Is this guy any VIP with a convoy and Z plus security???
I do not wish to restrict myself to the autokkaran alone.His baap,the taximan surely deserves atleast few lines here.The biggest pain in life is when i disembark from the Chennai express which arrives at around 6 am,which is obviously "untime saar" for the taximan.Even at 6 am you can see our man very fresh,vermilion and sacred ash smeared along the forehead and the divine aroma of incense sticks in the auto/taxi.Dont get carried away people,beyond the saintly God-fearing exterior is a pertinacious guy who can extract any amount he wants despite stiff resistance from your side.He never pulls back even if you are in numbers of three or four.Hats off to your determination machi! I always arrive the day classes start and since we have to reach by 7-30 there is no time for the haggling .We pay him an outrageous figure which is delta less than what he demanded,he asks 25 more for the luggage,hostel security guard intervenes,usual expletives follow {there is one particular word used for the 1st few customers of the day who crib a lot and dont pay},we end up paying that extra 25 bucks,he elated,we fuming,the end.
All said and done this autowala certainly is an integral part of our lives,especially for me in Chennai as i do not have a vehicle here and my cycle wont take me beyond the gates.Read that as-I am too lazy {also a bit afraid}to ride a bicycle on the busy Adyar road and so take an auto even for short distances like Shakes and Creams.We just cant do without him and we are at his mercy.I will be happy if he atleast reduces this blatant exploitation of the weaker sections of the society{Yeah in this case we are weak}.Any tips from experienced customers on how not to get fleeced are welcome.In the meantime let me think of cheaper alternatives.
I have been fleeced royally almost every time I took an auto here.I am particularly sad at my inability to reach at a favourable price even after minutes of haggling with the autowala.They are adept at using the choicest of Tamil expletives,obviously aimed at your immediate kith and kin.I dare not scold him in return as I am aware of the fraternity and camaraderie existing among them.The Hyd autowala is also equally adept at usage of expletives which often revolve around parts of the human anatomy below the abdomen,both posterior and anterior without any bias.Dont be surprised if you hear many of your relatives being called names in different languages.Poor guy,spits and wastes his 5 bucks worth paan just to tell you few of your body parts.But still the Hyd guy is better than the Chennai guy,atleast he sticks to the meter.
My experiences in Chennai with the autokarrans have been horrible to say the least.What would have costed me 15 bucks in Hyd costs me something around 30 if I catch a moving auto and 40 if I hire a stationary auto outside the IIT gate.He does take you on a ride!Cant understand why these static guys demand more.Invariably he demands 5 rs extra on reaching the destination.It is somewhat like "You wanted me to take you to Y on X road,this place is Z which is quite a distance from Y".This "quite a distance" is generally about 200-300 metres.There is also a worst case scenario- Z does not figure on X road at all and its 10 Rs extra.Any hour of the day apart from 10am-11am and 6pm-8pm is "untime saar" for our guy.He uses this word pretty often.Another handy crib is that the petrol prices were raised just a few days back.He predicts a traffic snarl on every main road through which we'll be passing .Is this guy any VIP with a convoy and Z plus security???
I do not wish to restrict myself to the autokkaran alone.His baap,the taximan surely deserves atleast few lines here.The biggest pain in life is when i disembark from the Chennai express which arrives at around 6 am,which is obviously "untime saar" for the taximan.Even at 6 am you can see our man very fresh,vermilion and sacred ash smeared along the forehead and the divine aroma of incense sticks in the auto/taxi.Dont get carried away people,beyond the saintly God-fearing exterior is a pertinacious guy who can extract any amount he wants despite stiff resistance from your side.He never pulls back even if you are in numbers of three or four.Hats off to your determination machi! I always arrive the day classes start and since we have to reach by 7-30 there is no time for the haggling .We pay him an outrageous figure which is delta less than what he demanded,he asks 25 more for the luggage,hostel security guard intervenes,usual expletives follow {there is one particular word used for the 1st few customers of the day who crib a lot and dont pay},we end up paying that extra 25 bucks,he elated,we fuming,the end.
All said and done this autowala certainly is an integral part of our lives,especially for me in Chennai as i do not have a vehicle here and my cycle wont take me beyond the gates.Read that as-I am too lazy {also a bit afraid}to ride a bicycle on the busy Adyar road and so take an auto even for short distances like Shakes and Creams.We just cant do without him and we are at his mercy.I will be happy if he atleast reduces this blatant exploitation of the weaker sections of the society{Yeah in this case we are weak}.Any tips from experienced customers on how not to get fleeced are welcome.In the meantime let me think of cheaper alternatives.
Saturday, February 18, 2006
EK HAZAAR :)
Yipee!!! The counter says 999 and since this is my blog i wanted to be the 1000 th visitor.A refresh would have done so but i thought writing a small post would be better. :)
I thank all the readers for this .Surely for a novice churning out sub standard stuff having so many visits is an achievement.Thanks a lot people .Do read and voice your opinions.
PJ-- A woman saw her daughter-in-law at a restaurant with another man.She was shocked on seeing this.She saw the same pair again another day holding hands and eating ice cream from the same bowl.But she chose to keep quiet.Why??
"KYON KI SAAS BHI KABHI BAHU THI" !
I thank all the readers for this .Surely for a novice churning out sub standard stuff having so many visits is an achievement.Thanks a lot people .Do read and voice your opinions.
PJ-- A woman saw her daughter-in-law at a restaurant with another man.She was shocked on seeing this.She saw the same pair again another day holding hands and eating ice cream from the same bowl.But she chose to keep quiet.Why??
"KYON KI SAAS BHI KABHI BAHU THI" !
Saturday, January 07, 2006
IN THE LAND OF BIRYANI-RELOADED
After spending about 10 days "studying" for GATE in the hostel it was back to Hyderagood.Those 10 odd days were absolutely awesome!I had absolutely nothing to do.The very fact that I did not have to attend classes at 8 am inspite of being in hostel was the icing on the cake.I purposefully set the alarm at 7-45 am.On blaring ,I switched it off,pulled over the blanket,uttered a few expletives directed towards to the alarm piece,showed it my back and peacefully slept.I seemed to derive some great pleasure in that.Anyways left for Hyd on 14th for a 17 day holiday and should say it was pretty decent.
A new 5 storeyed apartment has come up exactly opposite ours with the balconies of all the flats facing our entrance ,cutting down the sunlight.I hope the balconies offers some other " colourful light" in the colony which has been quite "dark" for 20 years ;).Reminds me of the title song in that 7/G flick.There seems to be a marriage whenever I am in Hyd and this time it was my friends sisters wedding the day i landed and the entire iitm gumbal was there.We had a great time there.The first few days were spent in the usual fashion -meeting old pals etc,eating out ,returning home after 11pm ,scoldings from mom ,promising her not to repeat it and doing the same after 2 days.
Visits to the movie theatres in my holidays seem to be ritualistic .The count has been increasing in some arithmetic progression.It was 3 in the winter and 7 in summer in 1st yr.4 in winter and 13 in summer the next year.This winter it has been 5.The Hindi flick "Bluffmaster" was the pick of the season.Wanted to watch "Aaru" only for Trisha but could not do so due to lack of company.Later heard that it was pathetic ,so no regrets.
I had about 4-5 novels with me and have not completed any of them as i was very busy eating,sleeping,watching TV,roaming etc.There was a new Honda Activa and so there are 3 non-geared vehicles in my house now,one for each of the permanent members.I too have a non-geared vehicle though,my Hercules AXN bicycle.Activa seems pretty good,much better than Kinetic and except for a poorly designed rear view mirror{I use this mirror only for seeing the vehicles behind and not for any other purpose} it was quite good,esp the pick up which is lacking in kinetic and most of my roaming was done on Activa.Dad seemed to be in a pretty good mood as he allowed me to take out the car{Not some posh Lancer or Mercedes,a chota Maruti} on more than a couple of occasions.In return I had to wash it the next day and I accepted the offer gleefully.
It was pretty cold in Hyd,esp for someone who has been in Chennai.The mercury dipped to 9-10 degrees in the last week and my best friend "cold" had already embraced me by then.Cold is my trusted life partner,it will surely never ditch me or leave me under any circumstances.I hope someone creates a rift in this friendship.31st night was also spent with the same old best friend,a hanky and flipping channels till 3 am.A few relatives of my best friend also visited me the next day namely fever and headache.They were so kind,they accompanied me on the train to madras and slowly left 2-3 days back.
It is a new year and a new sem and I dont have any resolutions.The subjects seem to be better than the previous sem,only hope the grades are also better.
A new 5 storeyed apartment has come up exactly opposite ours with the balconies of all the flats facing our entrance ,cutting down the sunlight.I hope the balconies offers some other " colourful light" in the colony which has been quite "dark" for 20 years ;).Reminds me of the title song in that 7/G flick.There seems to be a marriage whenever I am in Hyd and this time it was my friends sisters wedding the day i landed and the entire iitm gumbal was there.We had a great time there.The first few days were spent in the usual fashion -meeting old pals etc,eating out ,returning home after 11pm ,scoldings from mom ,promising her not to repeat it and doing the same after 2 days.
Visits to the movie theatres in my holidays seem to be ritualistic .The count has been increasing in some arithmetic progression.It was 3 in the winter and 7 in summer in 1st yr.4 in winter and 13 in summer the next year.This winter it has been 5.The Hindi flick "Bluffmaster" was the pick of the season.Wanted to watch "Aaru" only for Trisha but could not do so due to lack of company.Later heard that it was pathetic ,so no regrets.
I had about 4-5 novels with me and have not completed any of them as i was very busy eating,sleeping,watching TV,roaming etc.There was a new Honda Activa and so there are 3 non-geared vehicles in my house now,one for each of the permanent members.I too have a non-geared vehicle though,my Hercules AXN bicycle.Activa seems pretty good,much better than Kinetic and except for a poorly designed rear view mirror{I use this mirror only for seeing the vehicles behind and not for any other purpose} it was quite good,esp the pick up which is lacking in kinetic and most of my roaming was done on Activa.Dad seemed to be in a pretty good mood as he allowed me to take out the car{Not some posh Lancer or Mercedes,a chota Maruti} on more than a couple of occasions.In return I had to wash it the next day and I accepted the offer gleefully.
It was pretty cold in Hyd,esp for someone who has been in Chennai.The mercury dipped to 9-10 degrees in the last week and my best friend "cold" had already embraced me by then.Cold is my trusted life partner,it will surely never ditch me or leave me under any circumstances.I hope someone creates a rift in this friendship.31st night was also spent with the same old best friend,a hanky and flipping channels till 3 am.A few relatives of my best friend also visited me the next day namely fever and headache.They were so kind,they accompanied me on the train to madras and slowly left 2-3 days back.
It is a new year and a new sem and I dont have any resolutions.The subjects seem to be better than the previous sem,only hope the grades are also better.
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