So yet another uneventful Saarang passes by - the usual suspects thulping maajarly , some new talented freshies being discovered, the Peter gumbal from the freshies ready with the informals vol- informals coord- spons/PR coord- PR core, and lazybums like me who have resigned themselves to "Saarang is not for me". Overheard some guy "Macha these quizzes and word games are a pain in the a** da. Anyway we can't win here, let us go to other college fests and crack puts". Totally agree with this. If you haven't understood it yet all this is a euphemism for "I am way below Saarang standards". There is a slight tinge of regret on not being able to participate in other ways like managing something or becoming coords, but by and large I don't even have the enthu to do something like that now (also I am over aged you see) , so in all probability I will be going home next year, if I get placed by then.
Saw the artists for the pro-show and I could think of only one thing, the two golden words of IITM lingo - Pack daa. Thanks to the herd mentality found myself attending Sukhwinder Singh's "unprofessional show". It was horrible,surely the worst in my 4 years. Junta came up with many wisecracks - Suckwinder singh, Dukhwinder singh ( dukh = sad), Thookwinder singh (thook = spit ) and the best Fu**winder singh. Kambakht Ishq was the best of the lot, Ramta jogi, O saki saki rey,Omkara, Bunty aur Babli were ok types. Some memorable quotes -
1) Put the light on the backside please. I want to see the audience.
2) Where you want me to come ( steps down and is with the crowd now). Please give me side.
3) Calls a female onto the stage . She breaks into an impromptu dance with our hero. Our hero insists " We are only acting. We are brother-sister. We are friend"
4) This takes the cake. For the last song of the night, which obviously had to be Chayya Chayya our guy says " Now I want small childs to dance with me".
Some other things which enlivened my drooping spirits were the awesome babes and the cricket match. Total eye-candy only, and unlike my previous post I do have good adjectives ;) . The experience at Chepauk was very good. We painted our faces , bought a couple of pee pees (It makes that sound) , bought a flag , band and drowned ourselves in saffron , bearing a striking similarity to RSS/VHP activists. Sachin was practicing near our stand before the start of the match and I just couldn't think of a better start. Saw three of the all time greats - Lara, Sachin and Dravid smash 50's and also saw Sachin in flesh and bones near our stand (Royal Sundaram B stand) and I couldn't ask for more. Lara simply rocked and the field placements sucked. I always maintain that and continue to do so - Dravid's field placing has never been good.There was a huge roar when Sachin was near us and the poor guy was pained because India was losing and the junta there were fully cheering Sachin. An Indian win would have been the icing on the cake. Nevertheless a very gratifying experience.
There are a couple of weddings in Chennai, my Dad and most of my close relatives from Hyd are here. Thanks to a severe bout of cold, cough, sore throat and what not, I haven't been able to attend the Monday one and don't think I will be attending today's either. I was looking forward to attending these , but luck decided otherwise. Surely missed out on a 2nd innings of eye-candy and good food. It's back to classes and the usual routine after a 6 day layoff.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
DUNSTON CHECKS IN!
IIT Madras is a residential institute with nearly 460 faculty, 4500 students and 1250 administrative & supporting staff and is a self-contained campus located in a beautiful wooded land of about 250 hectares.
Thus says the institute website. To an outsider the imposing campus would present a wonderful sight with the greenery,lower temperatures (they say it is 2-3 deg lower than the average temp of Chennai),the deers crossing the roads and the occasional glimpses of stags ,blackbucks etc.Any forest is incomplete without our forefeathers. Needless to say the campus is infested with monkeys. We have monkeys in all forms and sizes. To put it in the words of Maneka Gandhi or Manisha Koirala in Indian we have sweet little ones, naughty mid sized ones and huge papas and mamas.I certainly would like to change the adjectives describing them.Who wouldn't if he found monkey shit on opening his window and his clothes in the ground floor.
Monkeys have become a menace.These days they seem to be coming only in batches.Batch is an understatement,army would be better.They come in not less than 20-25 and wreak havoc in the wing.It seems like an F1 race .The first pitstop is the wing dustbin and peacefully dig the stuff ,throw out the unnecessary things like papers,refills etc and gorge on the banana peels,fruit left overs,pizza leftovers in the cartons etc. The race continues and the Alonsos ,Schumachers now head to the water dispenser or the wash basin.Ok fine,let them eat,throw everything,drink water etc.How the hell do we tell them not to shit in the wings esp near the water dispensers ?
Firstly this problem is due to the excessive concretisation of the open spaces in the institute over the last few months. We now have this huge Himalaya and four seven storied apartments masquerading as hostels. This pushes them to the green areas near our hostel which has hazaar green cover. Repeated complaints fall on deaf ears and the lips have only one standard answer - They have not occupied our place, we have intruded into their territory. This was coined by a Prof who is famous for her Ash type figure ( I repeat- only figure. Infact it is a favourite question during the ragging sessions.Ping me for details ) . One just cannot rest peace when the door is ajar because you never know when the army is going out to plunder the room.
Some probable (cant say if they are plausible ) solutions-
1) Leave them in the Snake Park/Cancer Institute/CLRI. Of course Anna Univ is also fine. I do believe in "Other students should not be left out. They too should experience IIT life"
2) Leave them in the houses of the proponents of animal rights. I would be eager to see how these guys react when they find monkey shit outside their windows.
3) Shift IIT . Proximity to any of Stella Mary's, Ethiraj , Queen Mary's etc is my first choice.
Things lost partially/entirely due to monkeys :
* Alarm clock, tablets in first sem.
* My roomie's mirror. They too are conscious of their looks , you see.
* Hazaar T-shirts which are hung outside in the wing. Some of them due to shit, some because the monkeys hang on them and throw them down. ( Reminds me of an old, superhit NTR song " Aaresuko poi paaresukunnanu ..". Can't translate)
* Hazaar vests and briefs. Somehow never found them wearing these. Will upload photos if I find them.
P.S : This movie was called Ek bandar hotel ke andar in Hindi. In my case it would be Hazaar bandar HOSTEL ke andar
Thus says the institute website. To an outsider the imposing campus would present a wonderful sight with the greenery,lower temperatures (they say it is 2-3 deg lower than the average temp of Chennai),the deers crossing the roads and the occasional glimpses of stags ,blackbucks etc.Any forest is incomplete without our forefeathers. Needless to say the campus is infested with monkeys. We have monkeys in all forms and sizes. To put it in the words of Maneka Gandhi or Manisha Koirala in Indian we have sweet little ones, naughty mid sized ones and huge papas and mamas.I certainly would like to change the adjectives describing them.Who wouldn't if he found monkey shit on opening his window and his clothes in the ground floor.
Monkeys have become a menace.These days they seem to be coming only in batches.Batch is an understatement,army would be better.They come in not less than 20-25 and wreak havoc in the wing.It seems like an F1 race .The first pitstop is the wing dustbin and peacefully dig the stuff ,throw out the unnecessary things like papers,refills etc and gorge on the banana peels,fruit left overs,pizza leftovers in the cartons etc. The race continues and the Alonsos ,Schumachers now head to the water dispenser or the wash basin.Ok fine,let them eat,throw everything,drink water etc.How the hell do we tell them not to shit in the wings esp near the water dispensers ?
Firstly this problem is due to the excessive concretisation of the open spaces in the institute over the last few months. We now have this huge Himalaya and four seven storied apartments masquerading as hostels. This pushes them to the green areas near our hostel which has hazaar green cover. Repeated complaints fall on deaf ears and the lips have only one standard answer - They have not occupied our place, we have intruded into their territory. This was coined by a Prof who is famous for her Ash type figure ( I repeat- only figure. Infact it is a favourite question during the ragging sessions.Ping me for details ) . One just cannot rest peace when the door is ajar because you never know when the army is going out to plunder the room.
Some probable (cant say if they are plausible ) solutions-
1) Leave them in the Snake Park/Cancer Institute/CLRI. Of course Anna Univ is also fine. I do believe in "Other students should not be left out. They too should experience IIT life"
2) Leave them in the houses of the proponents of animal rights. I would be eager to see how these guys react when they find monkey shit outside their windows.
3) Shift IIT . Proximity to any of Stella Mary's, Ethiraj , Queen Mary's etc is my first choice.
Things lost partially/entirely due to monkeys :
* Alarm clock, tablets in first sem.
* My roomie's mirror. They too are conscious of their looks , you see.
* Hazaar T-shirts which are hung outside in the wing. Some of them due to shit, some because the monkeys hang on them and throw them down. ( Reminds me of an old, superhit NTR song " Aaresuko poi paaresukunnanu ..". Can't translate)
* Hazaar vests and briefs. Somehow never found them wearing these. Will upload photos if I find them.
P.S : This movie was called Ek bandar hotel ke andar in Hindi. In my case it would be Hazaar bandar HOSTEL ke andar
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
@CROSSROADS
15th January, at twenty twenty three,
X on his bed, his future shrouded in mystery
Pre-final year,pre-final year
How I wish you never appear!
Thinking about job,CAT,GRE (read greeee)
While his peers are on a movie watching spree
His friends shouted veni,vidi,vici
He could only think of veni,vidi,vetti
Software said one; finance, flaunted the other
8 am class he went,lab report said the professor
A CAT crossed his path, the mind struck a chord
Spake one :MBA without work ex? It does sound odd
Keep your options open, said mom
Write GRE, as goes the norm
5 years for Ph.d!Its too long a time
CAT is dicey and unreliable, said T.I.M.E
Its eleven now,time for some coffee
X jumps out,decides to be tension free
Confusion and dilemma still reign supreme
The conclusion will come soon, I scream!
P.S: Hazaar thanks to Gads, Naren and Sandy for proof reading and helping me out with the title.
X on his bed, his future shrouded in mystery
Pre-final year,pre-final year
How I wish you never appear!
Thinking about job,CAT,GRE (read greeee)
While his peers are on a movie watching spree
His friends shouted veni,vidi,vici
He could only think of veni,vidi,vetti
Software said one; finance, flaunted the other
8 am class he went,lab report said the professor
A CAT crossed his path, the mind struck a chord
Spake one :MBA without work ex? It does sound odd
Keep your options open, said mom
Write GRE, as goes the norm
5 years for Ph.d!Its too long a time
CAT is dicey and unreliable, said T.I.M.E
Its eleven now,time for some coffee
X jumps out,decides to be tension free
Confusion and dilemma still reign supreme
The conclusion will come soon, I scream!
P.S: Hazaar thanks to Gads, Naren and Sandy for proof reading and helping me out with the title.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
GURU
Warning : Spoiler alert, long post, many mistakes might have crept in, no enthu to rectify
Continuing from where I left in the previous post , we went to Mayajaal in ECR yesterday in pretty much the same manner described in the previous post for the late night show GURU at 10-45 pm. We managed to reach there just in time and got the 2nd row tickets . In my opinion Prasads multiplex in Hyd is much better than Mayajaal. Without digressing much , let me stick to the main motive of the post - review of the movie.
This flick traces the rags-to-riches story of the Reliance emperor Dhirubhai Ambani played by Jnr Bacchan with aplomb without much distortion. Thankfully Mani doesn't give him many dance numbers , which were an eyesore in Dhoom 2. The movie starts off with Guru telling us to dream high and addressing his employees in a stadium. Immediately it shifts to the 50's and shows a young Gurukant Desai leaving to Turkey , after failing in the 10th class. After a slow start showing Guru working for Shell it slowly gathers momentum when he returns to India to set up his own business. Guru is portrayed as an unrelenting and persuasive guy when it comes to money matters. Mani has always had stud cinematographers like P.C Sreeram,Rajiv Menon, Santosh Sivan ( remember Chayya chayya ) etc. Ash's intro scene - the barso rey song was beautifully picturized and full marks to Rajiv Menon ( the Minsaara Kanavu a.k.a Sapnay director) . But I felt Trisha's Nuvvostanante was one of the best intro songs of recent times. Shriya was nowhere close in Mazhai. Guru convinces Ash's brother , who is his close friend, and marries Ash and starts his business with the dowry . The movie is totally engrossing at this stage , showing the various strategies,many unethical adopted by Guru to expand his business. This is the best phase of the movie backed by some super sensational background by Rahman and power packed dialogues by Abhishek. In typical Mani style the confrontations between Guru and the rivals , ministers etc are shown without the loud dialogues and Rahman immediately changes the mood of the scene with a sudden burst of amazing beats. Total riveting stuff. The dialogues surely deserve a mention. Surprising how Mani uses one line to convey a host of emotions!
Mithun plays the Communist editor of a newspaper . He initially supports Guru and is instrumental in his initial success which throws light on the lisence and permit system prevailing then. Guru slowly builds his empire and ensures that he is in the good books of the political leaders. The busines-politics nexus is highlighted in one scene with a minister. Guru resorts to many unethical ways due to his obsession with money. His meteoric rise exploiting the loopholes in the law, golmaal in shares and debentures, fake exports etc do not have Mithun's approval. He pits Madhavan, his reporter against Guru. The more he exposes Guru, the higher he grows and more is the profit. Vidya Balan's role dilutes the intensity of the powerful scenes in the 2nd half which beautifully juxtapose Guru's continual profits and Madhavan's image maligning spree. Guru meanwhile starts his " saviour of the middle class " campaign. Thousands of middle class people invest their hard earned money in his SHAKTI CORPORATION. Guru's dream of building India's biggest company is shown by means of few group photographs with increasing people in the background and bigger factories and culminates in a stadium photograph showing thousands of employees. Surely a picture is worth a thousand words.
The final scenes are a huge letdown. Having taken us on a delectable ride thus far , Mani disappoints in the climax. There are chargesheets and commissions appointed for this case. Guru suffers a paralytic attack. In the final hearing he is given 5 mins to defend himself in full public. Guru says nothing was legal and ethical in his initial days of cloth trading and everything in India is flawed. Big B simply rocked in the scene. The dialogues found great acceptance as many applauded in the theatre.The comparison to Gandhi's freedom struggle was in bad taste. . As the one responsible for the upliftment of middle class he questions if the dream to make India's company a world leader is wrong. He finishes his speech in 4 1/2 mins and says " Yeh bijiness hai. Isme bhi maine 30 second ka munaafa paaya hain". He is surprisingly let off with just a fine of about 60 lakhs for tax evasion etc. This probably was meant to show the poor anti-corruption laws then. The next scene shows an older Big B jnr and a bigger crowd and a motivating speech and the titles.
The movie has its share of brilliant moments. Abhishek has greatly improved every aspect of his acting . Apparently he has taken hazaar cues from Al Pacino in Godfather ( friends said that) and apes his dad too in the final moments which remind us of SARKAR. Overall the combo of sensational acting, amazing music, superb dialogues and Mani's directorial abilities give us a winner , the poor climax notwithstanding. Go watch it for Mani's brilliance. I wouldnt mind a revision!
Rating: * * * 1/2 ( scale of 5)
Continuing from where I left in the previous post , we went to Mayajaal in ECR yesterday in pretty much the same manner described in the previous post for the late night show GURU at 10-45 pm. We managed to reach there just in time and got the 2nd row tickets . In my opinion Prasads multiplex in Hyd is much better than Mayajaal. Without digressing much , let me stick to the main motive of the post - review of the movie.
This flick traces the rags-to-riches story of the Reliance emperor Dhirubhai Ambani played by Jnr Bacchan with aplomb without much distortion. Thankfully Mani doesn't give him many dance numbers , which were an eyesore in Dhoom 2. The movie starts off with Guru telling us to dream high and addressing his employees in a stadium. Immediately it shifts to the 50's and shows a young Gurukant Desai leaving to Turkey , after failing in the 10th class. After a slow start showing Guru working for Shell it slowly gathers momentum when he returns to India to set up his own business. Guru is portrayed as an unrelenting and persuasive guy when it comes to money matters. Mani has always had stud cinematographers like P.C Sreeram,Rajiv Menon, Santosh Sivan ( remember Chayya chayya ) etc. Ash's intro scene - the barso rey song was beautifully picturized and full marks to Rajiv Menon ( the Minsaara Kanavu a.k.a Sapnay director) . But I felt Trisha's Nuvvostanante was one of the best intro songs of recent times. Shriya was nowhere close in Mazhai. Guru convinces Ash's brother , who is his close friend, and marries Ash and starts his business with the dowry . The movie is totally engrossing at this stage , showing the various strategies,many unethical adopted by Guru to expand his business. This is the best phase of the movie backed by some super sensational background by Rahman and power packed dialogues by Abhishek. In typical Mani style the confrontations between Guru and the rivals , ministers etc are shown without the loud dialogues and Rahman immediately changes the mood of the scene with a sudden burst of amazing beats. Total riveting stuff. The dialogues surely deserve a mention. Surprising how Mani uses one line to convey a host of emotions!
Mithun plays the Communist editor of a newspaper . He initially supports Guru and is instrumental in his initial success which throws light on the lisence and permit system prevailing then. Guru slowly builds his empire and ensures that he is in the good books of the political leaders. The busines-politics nexus is highlighted in one scene with a minister. Guru resorts to many unethical ways due to his obsession with money. His meteoric rise exploiting the loopholes in the law, golmaal in shares and debentures, fake exports etc do not have Mithun's approval. He pits Madhavan, his reporter against Guru. The more he exposes Guru, the higher he grows and more is the profit. Vidya Balan's role dilutes the intensity of the powerful scenes in the 2nd half which beautifully juxtapose Guru's continual profits and Madhavan's image maligning spree. Guru meanwhile starts his " saviour of the middle class " campaign. Thousands of middle class people invest their hard earned money in his SHAKTI CORPORATION. Guru's dream of building India's biggest company is shown by means of few group photographs with increasing people in the background and bigger factories and culminates in a stadium photograph showing thousands of employees. Surely a picture is worth a thousand words.
The final scenes are a huge letdown. Having taken us on a delectable ride thus far , Mani disappoints in the climax. There are chargesheets and commissions appointed for this case. Guru suffers a paralytic attack. In the final hearing he is given 5 mins to defend himself in full public. Guru says nothing was legal and ethical in his initial days of cloth trading and everything in India is flawed. Big B simply rocked in the scene. The dialogues found great acceptance as many applauded in the theatre.The comparison to Gandhi's freedom struggle was in bad taste. . As the one responsible for the upliftment of middle class he questions if the dream to make India's company a world leader is wrong. He finishes his speech in 4 1/2 mins and says " Yeh bijiness hai. Isme bhi maine 30 second ka munaafa paaya hain". He is surprisingly let off with just a fine of about 60 lakhs for tax evasion etc. This probably was meant to show the poor anti-corruption laws then. The next scene shows an older Big B jnr and a bigger crowd and a motivating speech and the titles.
The movie has its share of brilliant moments. Abhishek has greatly improved every aspect of his acting . Apparently he has taken hazaar cues from Al Pacino in Godfather ( friends said that) and apes his dad too in the final moments which remind us of SARKAR. Overall the combo of sensational acting, amazing music, superb dialogues and Mani's directorial abilities give us a winner , the poor climax notwithstanding. Go watch it for Mani's brilliance. I wouldnt mind a revision!
Rating: * * * 1/2 ( scale of 5)
Friday, January 05, 2007
NEW YEAR REVELRY
Ideally this post should have been written 3-4 days back but thanks to wing fart sessions,visiting some relatives, some outings, sem starting works etc didn't materialize. I came to Chennai on 31st ,well in time for a new year bash with hostel junta.After hazaar dillydallying and beating around the bush we finally decided to do something at 8pm. A casual perusal of the New Year Special which had the "hot spots" in the city and the various parties around resulted in a mini heart attack. Firstly everything had the wretched word which brings loads of anger and disappointment on every single guy's face - couples only. Next the rates which never even came close to a 3-digit no. Finally we embarked on a wild-goose chase with just the name of the destination - Farm House on ECR and absolutely no idea about the conveyance,location,costs etc. 10 of us got ready and after some smsing and gtalking decided to go by share auto via Taramani. The usual haggling ensued and we reached the place in 2 groups.We had a small squabble with the manager regarding seat allocation. Ego and pride got the better of us and we moved out only to realize there was nothing nearby. Better senses prevailed now , Alfa and me decided to dole out a dose of Gandhigiri,went in with "vinamrata" and were told to wait for 10 mins and finally got a seat.The ambience was amazing,very much like a farm house and the place was tastefully decorated.I had a slight inkling that this too would be hazaar costly and the mini heart attack resurfaced after seeing the menu card. Wodehouse would have said " I would have broken the record for the sitting high jump". Then was the time for some "strat putsing". 2 guys who got placed recently were coaxed and convinced to foot the bill . (Actually it was a part of the "hidden agenda" for the night ). The bill being taken care of , we ordered left,right and center. We veggies had no cribs, apparently the non veggie food wasn't that great. However I have to admit that the quality and the service were in no way commensurate with the rates. The inordinate delay left many of us fuming. Somehow finished everything without leaving a grain, watched some pyrotechnics at 12 and then dispersed.
We decided to do something out-of-the-box and went to the seashore sans people . The eerie road that led to the shore, dark and chilly night, barking dogs etc all added to the fun (and fright!) but somehow mustered enough courage to go the shore. We stopped at a point but Murali and Chenna went further upto the water. ( Mallika Sherawat would have said " These are men with balls " :P). Sea,Sand,night,no junta etc.What will guys do? Obviously take a leak! Having relieved ourselves we now set out to go to back to the city,first to Besant Nagar beach and then to IIT.
We walked a good distance greeting all the revellers along the road and finally found a share auto. Again the usual haggling, stuffed ourselves into the max-7-seater and then started the real fun. Throughout we morphed popular songs with a generous dose of expletives and sung at the top of our voices at a CelineDion level pitch. Surely any passerby would have thought we were drunk and totally out, which wasn't the case. Bessie beach was unusually crowded at 2-30 am. We got hold of an ice cream each and just sank into the sand.The guys with oodles of energy ventured out into the waters while the less enterprising just decided to "eat the air" and relax.After some farting and recollecting good old memories we just slept. The pic shows a natural pose,totally oblivious to the surroundings. It was already 3-30am. Finally we made a move fearing a lathi spanking from the policeguys who were shooing away junta and reached our hostel at 4 .We started off the new year in the hostel with football under lights. Scored a goal somehow and the aching legs finally told me to go and crash.
This was certainly a cracker of a night. One thing which I shall certainly miss next year is this bunch of friends and the wing camaraderie . Any time,any place be it cofee or mess or any outing one can find enough company. This will be sorely missed next year. Anyways many more placements/apping treats in the offing and hope to have a blast this sem. GRT,Chola,Park,Mayajaal etc are just some of the places which will soon be blessed by the
Sixth wing junta of Jamuna!
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