BUT PAPPU CAN'T DANCE SAALA

is a song from the latest Aamir Khan production Jaane Tu .. ya Jaane na . Music is by God and the songs are already chartbusters. The lyrics of the above song -

Hai muscular, hai popular, spectacular
Paapu ki gaadi tez hai, Pappu kudiyon mein craze hai
Pappu ki aankhen light blue, pappu dikhta angrez hai
Rado ki ghadi haathon mein perfume gucci wala

But Pappu can’t dance saala, Pappu can’t dance saala
Pappu naach nahi sakta

What the hell. If I am muscular,spectacular and have a Rado watch, I care a damn if I cannot dance !

Hey ye.. ye.. Pappu hot hai and smart hai
Hey ye..ye.. karta hai France mein holiday
Hey hey hey Pappu guitar bajata ha
But Pappu can’t dance saala, Pappu naach nahi sakta

Similar argument holds here !

AH ! BLISS

My joining date has been changed twice so far ! It was postponed to August 18th and then following a rebellion and a volley of mails from our side to advance it, it now stands at July 21st. I guess this is the final official date as the HR herself has mailed us personally with the list of certificates and things to bring on July 21st. We will be reporting at Karapakkam (OMR) as against the N'bakkam campus followed by a week long orientation at Hotel Ambassador Pallava. I only hope there are no more changes.I am all eager to start working , rather eager to keep my mind engaged because for the past year I have been majorly vetti and jhak maraofying at college in the garb of project. It was actually a paid vacation of sorts thanks to the monthly stipend.

I am perfectly enjoying my vacations. Time simply seems to be flying. I haven't had a single boring moment so far. Apart from the eat,sleep,roam,movies routine and IPL in the first 2 weeks, the other time occupying things are internet,a teeny weeny bit of cooking, cleaning,( Oh yes my wife is lucky :P) reading etc. I have perfected coffee (apparently) and can cook up edible rice, sambhar and some curry. Cutting seems to be the only headache as it is taking ages for me. Ideally I should be able to dole out a full Tam meal ( rasam,sambhar,curry ) by the end of the vacation.My granny is home right now which virtually rules out any access to kitchen for the next week. Obviously she has been churning out finger licking stuff. This sums up a perfect vacation before the drudgery of a 10-11 hour work per day and monotony lying ahead.

I have seen Indiana Jones,Sarkar Raj, Aamir, Bujjigadu, only Ind Jon is worth a watch among that list. Aamir has been receiving amazing reviews and ratings. It seems to be majorly inspired by Phonebooth, Nick of time etc. However, it is neither engrossing nor captivating. The only unique aspect has been the showcasing Mumbai in a totally new angle - a glimpse of the Muslim infested slums, ghettoes,slaughter houses, markets etc.

A typical day's sleep is from 1am to 9am and 3pm to 5pm with minimal physical activity. This surely means a Jyothika level waistline and Rambha level thigh line in the next couple of weeks, as against the Trisha-in-Bheema level circumference as of now !

THAT'S IT FOLKS

Note : I had posted this on May 16th, a couple of days before leaving IITM . I then wanted to edit it . Thanks to the wonderful net at home, I never really had the chance to publish it. I am reposting it now.

What began on July 28th,2003 has ended now. May 7th,2008 was officially my last day and grades were released today. It is now confirmed that its all over. The last one month was not very peaceful, what with thesis submission and another end sem on the same day, the last weeks of April and first week of May had been torturous. Like a Bollywood movie , it has been a happy ending with A grade in project. My first sem magic continues to haunt me. I put a wretched E in the final course in the last sem. Logically, it should be attributed to thesis submission and end sem on the same day. Practically, it should be attributed to the inadequate knowledge that thesis can be submitted peacefully even 3-4 days late, just before the viva. However,I am happy there are no last minute hurdles. I will be leaving once for all by 17-18th , once I am done with all the formalities. I have some works left in the meantime. The no dues is almost over, I have disposed many shirts, jeans and books, and computer and cycle ( Oh yes I got it back !) are the only things left. These will stay put at my aunt's house and retrieved later. The train tickets have all been booked, so volvo beckons. My joining date is July 2nd and I am surely looking forward to one solid month of eat,sleep routine a trip parents .

I have been wanting to share many things about a travesty called Dual Degree Project (DDP) which lasts for about 1 year . The Btech Project (BTP) is for 6 months. Crudely put, for a majority of the guys it is essentially about how to convince (a) Your guide and (b) The panel consisting of 5 wise men that you have done enough work to pass out with the coveted IITM degree. A project is essentially sabko ullu banao. Of course, there are many guys who slog and carry out their projects with utmost dedication. But regarding the others, there are a few time-tested methods. Given the amount of outsourcing done in the project, it could actually be renamed BTPO on the lines of BPO. The modus operandi generally includes

(1) Copy from vague and obscure source. Emboss it , add a medley of beautiful symmetric graphs and it sells like hot cakes. This is what music directors like Rahman ( Brazilian tunes ) and Pritham ( Korean and Indonesian tunes) do.

(2) Blatantly manipulate values. You just need to know what trend the graph follows after the experiment. The readings are all a formality. What we do in MS Excel the reality. It is an excellent tool to obtain wonderful, expected,tallying graphs. Just chuck out the aberrant value and obtain a wonderful result. Bill Gates needs to be mentioned in the acknowledgments alongside the usuak guide-parents-wing mates routine. As an aside, I have noticed Mtech students inlcude their GFs name also.

(3) This is the ultimate crack. In case of non experimental work, like analytical studies using ANSYS / FLUENT / MATLAB or coding etc Orkut works wonders. Join some community and actively participate in the discussions. After a week or so, post your problem. In all likelihood, there will be a bakra from some remote corner of the world who will chance upon your problem. A friend of mine got all his work done by a Chinese goat. His work was very similar and that chinki was a major enthu putter. He peacefully wrote the MATLAB codes and FLUENT stuff and gave our man all the graphs, images and everything. Strong stuff I say.

Btw the above list is in no way exhaustive.

Coming back to the vacation, amma has major plans for my Hyd stay. Cooking is the first of her priorities. She is keen on my eating home food atleast on weekends. I hope to grasp atleast the basics now and explore further later. Other than that , IPL, shopping, practicing not sleeping in noons, and getting used to a 11 pm- 7am biological clock are the other things in my schedule. Goodbye, IITM

GOODBYE, IITM

This is the last blog post from my room. I will be leaving for good tomorrow evening. I am packing he comp now and it will stay put at my aunt's place and retrieved later when I come before joining. There are no feelings of India as of now, I guess I will surely feel the pain when I leave tomorrow. Goodbye, IITM.

DUBBING FOR LAXMAN

- After being given "icon" status

W T F. Naku icon status aa. I better renounce it. As it is I don't have a place in ODI team. And my athleticism is being compared to the likes of Dada, Aloo etc. I can't handle this. Ok I can do one thing. Renounce my icon status and use it to bid for better players

- After being made captain

Ayya baboi. Ok, I have Gilly, Monkey,Gibbs,Vaas etc for experience. I will act as though I am at the helm of affairs but will secretly use them for field placing and tactics. I cant even hurt any bowler. I can only cut and slice him unlike others who murder him. So it is pointless to come in the middle order. I'd better use the initial power play field restrictions. I can atleast get 2-3 boundaries by flicks, slices and pushes. Else I am dead. So initially I will go one down and later go and open.

- 2 overs 20 odd to win against Rajasthan.

Goes to RP. (In hyd hindi) Dekh bhai. Merku field setting yeh woh nahi aata. Jo bhi hona bol. Main waisich act kartun aur field placing kartun. Aur thoda Gilly ko bhi pooch. Aur acchi bowling kar. And in the melee of things places an extra fielder in outcircle as a result of which it is declared no ball. RP ( to himself) - Kya c****ya hai yaar.

- 1 over, 17 to win

Discussing with Monkey. Monkey asks Laxman something. Lax ( to himself) - Nee yabba. Nene sastunna ikkada. Inka comedy chestava ra. Nake emi telidu. (You ass. I am myself dead here. And you ask me for tactics and do comedy. What do I know ?)OK do one thing. Just bowl something. Tail enders only no, we can pull it off.

- After losing 3 matches.

Man this is getting ridiculous. We had the best betting odds and Rajasthan had the worst and we lost 3 on the trot. The Hyd ground is also half empty. Goes to DC office. Hey! Can we have some more squads of cheerleaders ? Else no one will fill the ground at this rate. Currently we have 3 porn stars masquerading as cheer leaders at one section. We can have one at every fielding position. And add a desi touch by roping in Mallika Sherawat, Shakila, Rakhi Sawant, Mumtaz. This serves 3 purposes. The proverbial one stone, 3 mangoes
Firstly the ground will be full.
Secondly , the batsmen will surely get distracted. They will concentrate on other balls instead of cricket balls.
No cheering when are batting. Only when we are batting and hit in the deep will we have cheer leaders. Mallika with her fine legs will stand at fine leg. Aishwarya who has a third man ( Sallu,Vivek, Abhishek) will stand at third man. Mumtaz who has had a long off from films will be at long off. Rakhi who is never covered will stand at covers. Tanushree who revels in minis and midis will be at mid-wicket. Anyway I dont have cricketing strategies. Atleast I will contribute in this way.

NO MORE CLASSES

It started on July 28, 2003 and ended on April 17, 2008. I just attended my last class at IITM. As is my wont, I went in 2 min late. I am sure I can never attend classes on time unless there is a negative incentive in the form of X beside my name.

My first class in 2003 was a core bore subject in Mech and probably one of the worst courses - Materials Science and Engineering . It had this stupid concept of prof in one room and the students in the other, staring at the screen like some movie ,and the profs did not take attendance. It was the foundation for bunking, sleeping in the last bench, killing time etc. Of course I wont be a loser and attribute my lack of enthu to the lectures, but yeah why should I take all the blame . I think I got 5/20 in the first quiz , the least score during my stay here . The best thing being in Mech is that you always have company , and in many cases people who outperform you. So yeah, there were people with binary value level marks also. Btw that course was scrapped the very next year. I guess it was an aftermath of our wonderful 2003 Mech batch. This reminds me of one incident, in another class though. A gets 1 and B gets 0. A goes to B and says - Macha I got infinite times more than you. Thus started the saga of proxies, bunking-and-maintaining exactly 75% attendance, one day internationals, xerox, assignment submission by faithfully adhering to just-in-time policy (JIT) with a six-sigma level accuracy like Mumbai dabbawallas etc.

4th sem had an awesome incident at which I laugh even now. One guy had not submitted the assignment like our entire gang. The prof catches him. Here goes the convo -

Prof - Did you do the assignment ?
Guy - No sir
Prof - I always see you in the last bench and you never have interest. You people slog day in and day out in your 11th and 12th and give up like this. You wake up at 4 am and go to Ramaiah's classes braving the cold Hyd winters and end up doing nothing here. What happened to that dedication, commitment etc
Guy - Sir I was in the evening batch.

The most common graffiti seen were IIT - Insti of Idiotic Teachers, Insti of Infinite Tensions and a coffin with an inscription - In memory of those who died waiting for the lecture to end. My favourite time pass used to be snake on Venky's mobile and arbit drawings on my notebook. A few samples are shown here.


This cartoon was obviously not an original one. A reproduction, but a decent one in my opinion. As you can observe, the girl has a :P expression. I urge my readers to come up with a satisfactory explanation for that. The winner gets to play basketball with that cute girl in her micro minis. In case the winner is a female she can chat with the cool dude below who has a cell phone surgically grafted to his left ear, given the plethora of calls he receives daily.


However, when I do have enthu I scribble down something which generally resembles an aeroplane taking off of every line. A few more samples -


These were about 2 famous playwrights - Arthur Miller and Ariel Dorfman, both of whom had strong Leftist ideologies. This was from a Humanities course - Drama. We actually had to stage a group play at the end of the course. Given that it was my debut, I had the least number of lines. However , I got to play the bridegroom in that play titled "A Matrimony of Errors". It was good fun though.

And yeah, hold your breath, I am about to reveal a tsunami causing news. There was a clamour for my notes in the 8th sem Mechatronics course. Many guys photocopied my notes as they felt mine was very legible. On a personal note I actually put major fight for that course and it was by far the best I had ever written . I can now proudly say "been there , done that" regarding all aspects of classroom life. I am not sad or nostalgic about it being the last class. Infact, there is no feeling at all. I am happy that I had at least attended it. I now bid adieu to the rooms which housed most of our classes - Class Room Complex (CRC) - 101,102,103, Mechanical Sciences Block (MSB) - 257, 357 and Machine Design Section (MDS) - 217,306. I hope my name is scribbled atleast on one bench.

I GOT PICKED-2

So, it was well past 10pm now and the lights in the entire bogie were off. No dirty conclusions please. I sat at the edge of the side lower seat, she at the other edge.To add to your mood, let me include stuff like the moon was shining, and it was pretty cool. Everyone was asleep.

*****************
She - So when do you gen sleep ?
Around one. After net goes.
Hehe, ok I sleep at 12 types. I just can't sleep at 10-11.
Yeah, same here. ( She got the message that I was game for more chat)
Then some gen talk about movies, weekend hang outs etc. Since she was scolding Chennai, I too cribbed majorly. Again, I had to score points, right ?
Enter Pongal la Sambhar (PLS). Yes, he was as welcome as sambhar in Pongal. Why ?Because I was seated in his place , and now I had to move further towards her. He seemed to be of my age, and obly yet another s/w guy.PLS and the girl ( ok call her j) had already spoken to each other while I was reading. So, overlooking me ( I was beside her rem) , she talked to him for the next 5 min. I really felt odd. J sensed my displeasure , and well left him now. She resumed talking, that guy left, but intelligently I continued to stay put at my place. A call at 11pm, this surely must be PLM I thought. She was talking for a few minutes. Now, I had to do something. Genly window gazing. Thankfully PLM left in 5 min. I deliberately emptied my bottle of water and asked her. Again we chat for some 10 min. PLM calls again. She cuts, says we use CUG in company, so it is free. This might take time. I now decided to gather some sleep.

****************
Morning, around 6-30. I came down. She - Smiles. GM. I am so sorry, I had to cut you yesterday.
Me - Yeah its ok. So when did you sleep ?
Hmm at 4.
Whattt ?
Yes, phone itself till 1. Then I couldn't get sleep. I was staring at the moon.
I guess you were right. Like Jab We Met Kareena you sure talk a lot.
Hehe. I know that.
And what made you gaze at the moon from 1-4 ?
Hmm it was a beautiful sight.
OK forget it. Coffee ?
No thanks. I had it.
Hmm ok.

**************
It was almost 7-20am by now. She asked me when we would be reaching. I said in ten mins. She was seeing the stations like Falaknuma Palace, Malakpet etc. I said now 2 more mins. We started packing the bags and kept it on our seats. I decided not to act despo. I did not want to ask her no . Now the train started decelerating. I did not even look at her, feigning total lack on interest. And now halt. I picked up my bag, a bit sad. She too picked hers. The PLMs and kids also picked up and I was about to disembark. Voila!
Rajeev, I will be coming to IIT for some work next week. Can I have your no ?
(1000 watt smile) Oh ! Sure.
She takes out a slip and I blurt out.
Me - Why slip ? What happened to mobile
She- Hmm no charge.
I decided to give a final parting shot. Avunu mari. Raatiranta fone matladute charge ela untundi. ( If you talk through the night, how will charge be there)
Hehe.
Her sis comes, and she introes me saying this was the guy I was talking to. Thankfully my dad had not come yet. I gen aa smiled.
Bye Rajeev. Have a good time
Thanks. Wishing you the same . Bye
******************

The next time I am traveling in train, I have a ready pick up line for F 23.
Innocent face, a bit tensed, stumble here and there - " Excuse me. I am travelling along this route for the first time. Does this go up to Egmore? I really have no idea. "

blah blah

I shall update as and when I get a call reg her "work" at IIT :)

I GOT PICKED - 1

Girl ( F - 23. I had already checked the reservation chart) - Totally tensed, in full chaos. "Excuse me, does this train go to Sec'bad ? I am travelling for the first time in this train and don't really know !
Me- "No, it does not. Kacheguda is the last stop."

(OMG W WAR 3 has started level reaction) Oh shit ! But I was told every train goes and told my parents to wait at Sec'bad.
Hmm. You can catch a local train from Kacheguda.
Yeah that's there but we stay at Sec'bad.
Anyways you can always call them and tell them to come to Kacheguda.
Yes , I will do that now.

(Break for one hour)
*****************
I would have traveled atleast 15 times along the Chennai -Hyd route over the last 4 years and never had a Jab We Metish, DDLJish or Before Sunriseish conversation. This was the perfect chance. Seat no 36 - F 23, upto Hyd; Me M-23 Seat 38 ;Seat 39 - F 23, Hyd. Neither great looking , but still great stuff.
*****************
Girl - Hmm so where are you working ?
I gave a similar WW-3 has started reaction. I am a student.
(Girl as shocked as Prabhu in C'mukhi when he discovers that Jyo is going to kill him.) Student aa ?
Hmm don't I look like one ?
No way. With your french beard and all you look like a 25 yr old corporate executive.
Hehe ok I am in final year, engineering at Chennai.
Hmm. Meeku telugu vaccha ( Do you know Telugu)
Yes.
Oh ok. Native Hyd or Chennai ?
Born, schooling Hyd. Engg Chennai.
Oh. Why not at Hyd ? Didn't get a good rank in CET or gen you wanted to study here ?
Hmm I got in IIT.
IIT aaa. You never told.
Hmm you didn't ask.
Aha. I thought you guys flaunt that tag liberally.
Yes. If you haven't noticed, I am wearing an IIT T-shirt.
Hehe ok. Btw, I am so sorry I haven't introed myself. I am (beep- censored) , stretches out her hand
Oh pleased to meet you. I am Rajeev.
****************
I am sure I had a kick-ass start. I had to have a six-pack middle now. The initial brownie points had been scored and enthu sustained. Obviously some pesky creatures have to intercept and poke their nose. Lets call them Pongal la Milagu (PLM) as Kabab mein haddi is passe. Milagu is the extremely despicable black balls in the delicious Pongal which gen aa people discard, but it's a huge pain. I think the analogy suits well. PLM-1 then majorly started paining me about tips for IIT as his kiddo was in 9th.
PLM-1 (to kid) : This uncle is doing IIT. Talk to him
Kiddo, with friends : Uncle, uncle blah blah
In my mind , as pained as SRK and John Ab in the new pepsi uncle ad- Enna rascala. Mind it. Use your Saravana Bhavan chutney sized brain . I am a student. No uncle business
It went on for a few minutes.
***************
She - Hehe see everyone thinks the same.
Me - Hmm blame the beard.
Hehe.
Ok forget it, so what do you do ?
Engg at beep college Hyd, passed out last year, employed with beep firm , posting in Chennai at beep
Oh actually even I belong to 2003 engg , I am doing Dual Degree. I get Btech and Mtech, hence 1 year extra.
Hmm. Good. You save 1 year.
Hmm yeah its good.
***************
PLM-1 ( I didnt know he was eavesdropping) Final year aa.Got placed aa ?
Yes. With SCB
Why bank blah blah
What package ?
Now this was getting uncomfy. I didnt want to reveal, kinda dicey situation. I thought ok ditch I wont even see him ever again and told him a reduced arbit amount.
***************
She - With a :O expression. Hey thats awesome.Congrats
Me - Thanks :)
She -Hmm, so have you read 5 point someone ?
Yes. Its good fun. But exaggerated.
I thought as much. Stealing question papers and most stuff seemed too much.
Yeah. But life is more or less like that. We do major time pass.
Ah !Please don't bluff. I am sure you spend hours daily digging your nose into books.
No. Free net in room plus single room. I am online 20*7 ( No net from 1am-5am :P) . LAN is there. Orkut,gtalk,movies,sitcoms this is what we do.
Oh thats cool. You said gtalk.
Yes. Majorly
That means you have a gf. Why else will you chat so much ?
Hmm. I am jobless. I have many friends. Chatting need not mean gf.
Bluffing. I am sure you have a girl.
I think, therefore I am single.
Aha interesting !
Me, or the quote ?
The quote . Nice one.
Hmm so I am not ?
Hehe now please dont do nitpicking.
Ok, I am single.
Hmm, it beats me how you guys are left !
No answer. Smile. Blush.
Ok. Do I remind you of Jab We Met .
As in , you look like Kareena ?
Hey no ! Do I talk like her ? Ekkuva sollukodutunnana ?
Hmm so far you have been tolerable
What do you mean !
Whatever I just said.
Ah, you are free to resume reading .
I will, if I find this boring. ( Bring on my super smile)
Kinda laughs. Ok you can go then.
Hmm so you find me boring ?
Hehe ob I didnt mean that !
Ok. So do I have the liberty to read at my will or need your consent ?
Hey I am very sorry. You can do whatever whenever you like !
Hmm. What if I really pick up the book now ( Smile again)
Oh god! Can we please digress.
Hehe ok so how many months in Chennai ?
Oh 2 full months.
Liked it ?
Majorly cribs. This that etc
***************
It was around 10 now. I had finished my dinner . I had the upper berth, she had the side lower. Now PLM-1 enters, says he wants to put up the middle berth for his kid and he wants to sleep. I now had no place to sit. The best strategy at this moment was to buy time, so that she herself calls me over to her place. Take out cell (zero signal) . Act as if some message. Go drink water and come back to original place and look helpless. She HAD to offer a seat now beside her.
***************

AUSTRALIA DOWN-UNDER

Finally after a long and tiresome tour , infested with plenty of on and off field incidents, we have triumphed over the Aussies. The papers and cricinfo will give you plenty of reviews , I would like to point out my personal favorites and power plays , in no particular order though. It will obviously have an overdose of Sachinism, but I shall try to be fair and unbiased

1) Sachin's counter attack 60 odd at MCG, 1st test and Dada's fluent 40 in both the innings.

2) A very very special 109 in the 2nd test at SCG by Laxman - What an innings ! Silken drives, wristy flicks everything had a touch of class. Sachin broke the jinx of hundreds thanks to his patiently grafted 154* rallying around with the tail enders, though the 90s were in ODIs and he had a couple of snail slow centuries in tests against Bang in June 2007 though. Obviously it was reported that he played for averages, but then he had clearly mentioned that the field was spread for him. Again solid half centuries by Dada. He never looked so comfortable and at ease. In fact even his defence had the touch of authority and confidence.

3) The hour that shook Ponting ! A sensational spell by Ishant at Perth and the pacers setting up a historic and famous test victory at WACA. As Sunny said, a 19 year old rookie made Ponting perform Kathakali. What a sight ! Sandeep mentions the 2nd innings by Laxman also deserves and rightly so I acknowledge that. Just forgot to add it

4) Sachin's 153 and Viru's 151 in the Adelaide test , both at pretty good strike rates.

5) Gambhir cementing his place in the team with very good innings at No 3. The centuries against SL and against Aus while chasing 313 were awesome. He is very good while facing spinners and as mentioned by him started playing in the cover region also , which earlier used to go square as he tended to open the face of the bat. I guess Dravid can retire from ODIs now. His return is almost ruled out, which is actually a very unceremonious exit for The Wall. Actually I would prefer his return. No one can pull off a victory like he does while chasing when the chips are down.

6) Ishant again ! Totally bamboozling Ponting and Symonds repeatedly in the ODIs. Actually when Aussies toured India for the ODIs , Symonds made a whole lot of a difference with his 70s and 80s . We got the top order quickly but this guy( no, not guy. use f***er, b*****d anything you like) was the thorn in the flesh . Ishant sorted him out and we were able to restrict Aus in most of the matches. Ponting's comment - I am happy that Ishant is playing in the same team in IPL :P

7) Praveen Kumar's crucial spells in the 2nd finals and in the ODI where he bagged MoM.

8) The icing on the cake !Finals. Chasing. Huge pressure. 80 odd for 3. Top class fielding. A sell out crowd under lights at the majestic SCG. And an unbeaten, chanceless, no slog , superbly crafted match winning century by my hero. I couldn't ask for more . This should rank right beside his best efforts like Sharjah, 98 against Pak etc. One innings which I rate very high, which unfortunately is not remembered by many is the 90 odd scored against England last Aug-Sept. Uttapa's 50 helped India clinch a cracker of a match, but Sachin's blitzkrieg had laid the foundation for that. Full marks to Rohit Sharma for his great knock and 100 plus partnership with Sachin. This guy is very calm, composed , has a great technique and can hit the big shots. His 50 against SA in the T20 WC was a class innings. He can try recreating a Dravid for India in the near future.

9) Bhajji snapping up the right handed obnoxious fat ass twice in the finals and the left handed obnoxious fat pig once. Happy that his run out was also in Bhajji's over.

10) Obviously the 2nd finals and the winning moment.

What a feel ! I want to meet the Indian team and shake hands with each and every bloke who was instrumental in this victory . The MCG 1st test aside, I think we matched the Aussie side on almost all occasions and on many days on top of them. Full marks to Dhoni/Kumble and co. Chak De! India :)

RESTAURANT REVIEW ( WEEK UPDATE )

The week was good - covered 4 restaurants, 3 being first visit and one a revision. The weekend was particularly good.

Vrindavan, Woodlands , R k Salai , Mylapore - This one is a pure veg multi cuisine restaurant with a very good ambience. The place has many beautiful paintings of Krishna and the different aspects of his life , thus justifying the name. The soup and starters were good. I assume roti/naan cannot be murdered by any one but the side dishes can surely be and that is what happened. We ordered kadai paneer , and thanks to the overdose of capsicum it was almost kadai capsicum. Thankfully the finale was good - veg pulao and raita both were good. I have read / heard that the desserts are also good there, but couldn't check it out. Overall a nice place. A 3-course meal for two should cost around 500.

Breakfast buffet, Savera, Just beside the above hotel - This is a 4 star hotel . The dinner buffet was a total disaster, especially because of the high cost (Close to 400 per head) , had very few items, not so great taste and limited desserts. I am actually kind of saturated with these grand buffets. There is absolutely no enthu at all. However, the breakfast buffet turned out to be really good, the high cost notwithstanding (200 per head) . I suppose the extra psychological satisfaction was due to the absence of any burden on my wallet . Idli, Vada,Pongal,Masala and Plain Dosa, Paratha-pickle-raita, fruit juices, toast, coffee and a plethora of non veg dishes. I did full justice. Ideally go on a weekend around 9-30 am thulp for about 45 min, go home and and crash. You can peacefully skip lunch. It was better than the breakfast buffet at GRT , which I think was the last wing treat last year just before our Kerala trip.

Mathsya , Near Hindi Prachar Sabha, T Nagar - Another good restaurant with a buffet option. We had a lunch buffet , it was not the grand GRT level but a thoroughly satisfying one . The items were limited, tasty and not very costly. ( 150 per head). Strongly recommended. It gets pretty crowded by 1-30 on weekends, so better to go early. I went there on my friend C2's 200 cc red beast - Bajaj Avenger. It scorched the roads on a scorching afternoon. It surely was a head turner, but then I was strongly dissuaded from owning one. Looks like Pulsar it is by July-August.

Cream Center, Near Park Sheraton, R A Puram - A 10 min walk from Park Sheraton , situated amidst greenery, this one was the icing on the cake. One of the best places in Chennai, and of course that comes with a price. It is damn expensive. Continuing the legacy of wing treats (a gang of 8-10 for some job treat), this time I went with the dear old Alak hostel wing guys. We caught the 5C and reached there @ 3 bucks per head. Totally wonderful I say. I get a great sense of accomplishment when I do not use these lousy autos. In fact I am trying my best to avoid it as much as possible. The restaurant is in a house, much like the Mocha joints. The menu was damn impressive - it literally covers all genres, albeit with limited items. It is very similar to New Yorker in my soon to be area Nungambakkam opp Hotel Park, but notches higher. This surely will have a few revisions soon. Very strongly recommended. The only warning-A proper meal for 2 will cost a cool 700 !

Btw, I just realised all the above were treats. Wow ! That aside, I am totally in love with the Alwarpet-R A Puram-Mylapore and surrounding areas. R A Puram has a thick green cover and I would love to take a furnished 2 BHK apartment there. That will cost just about 25-30k per month. A 100% hike in my salary might allow me that, till then let me keep dreaming :)

SING LIKE NO ONE IS HEARING

I will try a Mani Ratnam type post. So, lights off, minimal dialogues, (x,y,z,t) etc. Unfortunately no first night description (It is seen in almost every movie of his)

1996 , Hyderabad - I was inducted into Carnatic music classes . This was despite my infinite resistance and refusal. I couldn't even bunk because the teacher was just a few metres away and had to go with my sister. I totally despised it. Also, since it was in the evenings 5-7 types I had to miss my daily gully cricket session. It was a total torture. And the teacher's constant praises about my ability to sing high pitched tones , esp to my grandpa made matters worse. I certainly contest those praises and I strongly feel she had ulterior motives - retention strategies. So I had no reason whatsoever to avoid the classes . In hindsight I think I did a decent job, surely not the way she used the retention- strategies-accolades , but fair enough. It went on for a full year. An epic struggle bordering on the lines of 1857-1947 level freedom fight occurred at home and my August 15th was sometime in the beginning of 7th grade in July ,1997.

1996 , 31st Dec - I think Sandeep and I won/ were runners up in some Antakshari competition conducted in the colony.

1999 , Hyderabad- Some arbit singing stuff in classroom where every student had to sing. I think I sang "Woh Pehli baar" from some Dino Morea / Rinkie Khanna campus movie. Praise from teacher again, as usual that was surely because those were the days when we were the oiled hair- notes writing-shiny teeth-goodie goodie children.

2003,Alak hostel,IITM - There was this pain max lit sec who used to sing at the drop of a hat at every hostel function. Function is an overstatement,he used to croon at any place which had more than 5 guys assembled. He had organised Antakshari in the hostel and I teamed up with 2 northie guys. I think we qualified for the inter hostel finals but some senior funda thing and we were not able to participate in the finals.

2008, Pongal, Hyderabad - I met the aforesaid paatu teacher after eons. The usual oh-my-god-so thin-so dark level reaction aside , she asked me if I had any enthu in music. She lamented about how she lost a super student with great voice , grasping blah blah. In reality the grief was out of the 100 per month *12 rupees she lost since 97 , consider inflation and make it 250*12 in 2006 , assuming I would have continued for 10 years like my sis. One other reason why I presumed she showered encomiums then was that she found a potential son-in-law in me. I have to admit though that her daughter is a perfect Tam beauty. Tall, fair, very beautiful, sings well, studies well etc. Ok, tall is not a desired credential in my case and I had to strike off a potential candidate from my list when she came home recently as I found her a full 1 inch taller. Really sad ! Anyways as an elderly advice she told me to restart singing, which for a change I feel was genuine and devoid of monetary undercurrents as she knew there was no way I could go to her. Atleast try singing filmi stuff , she said. Yeah, as if A R Rahman is waiting for me.

2008 , Saarang ,LM pro show, IITM - I totally fell in love with Karthik , the voice behind "Girlfriend"in Boys, "Oru Malai" in Ghajini, "Unnale unnale" and many hit numbers in Run,New (nani in telugu) etc. I rushed to my room, checked Wiki and downloaded almost all of his songs.

So this is the background. My mom and sis are huge music rasikas. Inadvertently I have some knowledge of carnatic music, singers, marriage songs etc. Advertently have always had a huge passion for desi filmi music though it was never apparent. I am a total devotee of A R rahman (a) , huge huge fan of Harris Jeyaraj (b) , Karthik, Sonu Nigam, Unnikrishnan, SPB, Hariharan (c) Harini,Shreya Goshal, Aruna sairam (d) and any song involving a-c-d or b-c-d combo. Tam-Gult-Hindi music blares 24*7 from my system , though these days it is strictly Tamil. I actually,really think I am a good bathroom singer and repenting now for having fought for my August 15th then ( and of course missing ogling at the then shorter than me beauty) . Music is a great hobby and de-stresser and singing some Rahman song at some public place with >=50 members now figures in my things-to-do-before-i-die.

I now seriously want to learn music and sing, but strictly no Carnatic stuff. I have infinite free time now. Any suggestions ? For starters, I am practicing Unnale Unnale with lyrics and might soon inflict torture on you guys by posting it here :)

SPELLINGS

This dates back to my 1st year. A Hyd friend of mine , a very keen observer, asked me about the so called strange spellings in Chennai. That guy's only exposure had been the central-iitm route and it was just the 1st week here. He asked me why "h" is always missing in the spellings here. As in, he said from what he knew and saw, it is Bhaskar, not Baskar. It is Paav-Bhaaji and not paav-baaji. Abhirami and not Abirami. I can come up with many more. I tried explaining that they are directly translating from the Tam script which does not have the ta, tha, ba, bha, type like in Telugu or Hindi . It is just a "pa" for pa,ba and bha. Similarly "ta" for ta, tha, dha etc. He then went on to ask why it is like that and wont we get confused while reading it . Almost every regional language has the bha,tha,dha type in script but not Tamil.

In the same week, a northie friend cribbed that Southies always use an extra "h". He saw this after seeing the hostels named Sarawathi, Sharavathi and girls being spelled Anitha , Kavitha whatever. His contention was that it is Anita,Sarawwati,Kavita as that is how it is written in Hindi. A recent one being Ram Setu and not Ram Sethu.

Another crib of his was that Southies pronounce h as "heych" while it should be "etch".

Any explanations ?

COVER DRIVE :(

I just don't get it . I have been playing quality cricket with the leather ball since 2003 (post JEE) and have not mastered it, err even got it right once. I am able to score in the V like a Shoaib Malik consistently but never in the covers. Like the Hyderabadis love affair with flick, I think I can flick/leg glance pretty peacefully though I miss out many on-drives by trying to flick every ball even marginally on the leg and getting hit on pads. This again is because I dont bend and find flick easier than bending, moving my feet and scoring. Is my inability to bend a manufacturing defect? :(

If it is between cover and point I generally tend to hit it in the air and have gotten out to a catch in point or cover point twice . I just cant get the ball to go along the ground in this region. I am able to score between cover and mid off though. Even if the ball is pitched short I try a back foot drive through covers instead of waiting for it and cutting it. One reason pointed out was that I dont wait for the ball , hence missing out on juicy cut shots which are very fruitful. Another strongest reason was that I do not bend at all and have very minimal footwork.

A suggested remedy by a stud max batsman from my team (Karthik Naib)was to do this.Take a leg stick guard, as soon as the ball is about to be delivered concentrate on the bowlers hand, move your back foot to a small extent towards the off stump, and take a back lift simultaneously. This will get your feet moving and give you some extra time to play the ball. After that focus only on the ball and watch it till it leaves your bat. I dont watch the ball till the last moment though. As in, when you are hitting the ball you should see the ball where as I see where I intend to place the ball thereby not bending my head. I started watching our batsman. Laxman, Dravid and Ganguly take a small step back with a back lift as mentioned by Naib whereas surprisingly Sachin hardly moves his back foot, and on the contrary sometimes pulls off his front foot also and on many occasions moves from leg to off in the same line but not back. Anyway, I cant replicate him, but would like to ask you guys the funda for a proper full blooded cover drive with a Yuvi level thud sound which should unnerve the bowler. I have a match this Saturday, and my last tryst with cricket surely in the near future. I would like to end it on a high note . Fundaes , please !

Btw check out cricket on wiki.

GEN

Gen want to post something. I do not have any specific topic in mind though. I guess some random updates will do for now.

Taare Zameen Par totally rocks .It is a bit slow, but I felt it was necessary to effectively drive home the child's psyche. A sure tear - jerker movie, and that makes it the second privileged movie for which my eyes became moist after Black. Aamir are gawd only - he was successful in making my eyes moist ! Another decent movie was Scorcese's Good Fellas , a totally gangster movie with taut story and screenplay, though I would certainly contest its position in the top 20.

Dec 31st 2007 was one of the quietest New Years Eve I have had in recent times. Last year was maajar fun in ECR. Out of that gumbal of 10 odd only 2 are left in Chennai , thanks to whom I am pulling on here and without whom it would have been miserable .Only one guy (PK ) was with me on 31st and it was kinda nostalgic when we relived those moments - a planned surprise treat extraction at an expensive resort , crashing on Bessie Beach and footer at 3 am. Also , on the same day I got the 7th sem results and my highest GPA in my stay at IITM helping increase my overall CGPA significantly ( which later proved to be amazingly fruitful as Scope International had a 7.5 CGPA cut-off, but not explicitly mentioned). Though it was not much of an achievement given the extremely small number of students, it was a very satisfactory accomplishment from a personal perspective . I just had a late dinner with PK and a couple of other guys and was having my usual midnight coffee . I received one sms at 12 and one call while the other guys seemed very busy with their cell phone keypads , the sound of which makes my mom call it paen sudukardhu (knocking the lice) . They seemed to be answering calls and replying non stop while I was just watching them. This prompted a wise crack - People like us much more than you, hence the messages . They were made to eat their words the next day. My calls number and duration peacefully outnumbered theirs. Continuing my trend of a temple visit on Jan 1st , I visited the Kesava Perumal Koil in Mylapore .

I have almost become a social recluse now.Wing fart sessions are totally defunct . And my project is still amorphous. This is really dangerous with mid-term review on 11th. I hope my good relations with my Prof will save me from an extension , because if I were to be in the panel I would have given an extension to the student with this low progress . Anyway, lets see what happens. The time-tested method of meeting the prof daily wil surely be followed now. I have exactly one course this semester. HS dept has introduced a new course Carnatic Music with a prof from Madras University. Totally strong. I guess it will be purely theoretical as practicals do not seem practical. My mom will be totally ecstatic if I enroll for that course, but since when have we been such obedient children. I will decide after a good look at the courses across all the departments as this is a free elective.

I am putting a Hyd-Tirupati trip on 12th followed by my cousin's engagement on 20th. Totally looking forward to 12th. For now, saving extension is the only thing in my mind.