Monday, December 27, 2004

Tarnishing the whole concept of blogging

Ah, Blog! How enthused was I when first decided to be a regular at blogging and reading other blogs to exchange some fantastic ideas! Another step in my ideology of being a perfect man. But nobody's perfect. Bah! I'll try that. Either I'll end up a known name, or an example of overdosage. Now i'm drifting too far from my intended conversation... damn me.

My open criticism to the readers of news-based blogs and curses to them for making them so popular. I ask, if there is any difference between them and forums, or sites like slashdot after all? Just because they're putting it under the label "blog" doesn't mean it still is'nt just a news update. Flashy movie pre-release sites dont' qualify as "blog" either (shrek, incredibles, that made-up lemony snickett antagonist's blog, et al).

Blog means "Weblog". Or as google itself has quoted: "A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world."

And it requires that it be strongly biased towards what you think, not how the world thinks or what happens on the planet (which is put up zillions of seconds accross sites as "news" before you are going to post it). One needs to represent himself. Criticize anything he/she/it finds resentful and ridicule the error-prone world. Be arrogant, be doleful, be showy, be mournful, be sarcastic, be fussy. Talk about your new gadget, your crushes, your observations, your field of intense interest. But be true to your personality.

Do you do that? Are you a true blogger?

Somewhat like I

The link takes you to a scientifically interesting, and philosophically sad article. About a whale sending out noises in 52Hz range. Whats interesting is that these vocalizations have not matched any other whale species' prints (Humpback, Blue, Fin) and have always indicated a single origin. And that too over 12 years! So chances of us having a deformed whale are eliminated.

What's deeply moving is the thought of the single soul out there in the deep, crying out for company during the past 12 years. And it remains lonely, the haunting voice resonating across the blue seas still waiting for an answer. While the world marvels at its existence, it, contrary to them, wishes that its heart would soon cease and allow it to walk in the land of eternalness.

Eerie and sympathetic. Do I see somewhat a reflection of myself? Because i've found pedants wishing to climb the most elusive branch they find on a tree to wisdom, while I, lone and determined, wish to taste every fruit on every single branch so that I may feel the true sweetness, bitterness and struggles of life.

O' World, hear my silent wails.

Sunday, December 19, 2004

Aim wikipedia

Joined the very small wikipedia "hindi" group. Link here
Not many pages so far. Most incomplete or just explaining the meaning. This is one chance to redeem myself of ignoring my mother-tounge when it was taught to me, and feeling disgust at myself for doing so later. Large crowds wish to learn, and there should be no such thing as "language" presenting a barrier. And other than that, many other like-minded people to share the ride.

My Wikipedia Profile (in Hindi!)

Let the revival of the structurally stable and phonetically strong languages begin. The extensive works of our ancestors should not remain in the sands.

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Turning into a lunatic

I'm slowly heading either towards glory or painful nights of silent crying. All this, for, I wish to be consummate in everything I love. Being the eclectic that man I am, everything somehow falls into the category of 'interesting' which leads to further branching of the tree I intended to climb all the way to the top. Then retracing my steps back to the central branch of the tree becomes difficult.
More involving things are encountered, exigent duties come up, frustrating work hovers around, and my life is in a state of entanglement. Am just wondering how much is enough. Maybe I'll end up being a "Jack of all trades, master of none". These types are people are found in ample in small places where they are loved, respected, supported, but due to their inability to develop expertise, they fall into chasm of depression.

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Where I am destined for

This is a short piece of literature written about one of the greatest persons since evolution of humans, Leonardo Da Vinci

No other personality was so intimidating, no other career so difficult to encompass, so biographers often resort to the assumption that Leonardo embodied some superhuman quality: "il divino". Vasari (a contemporary biographer of Leonardo) writes:

"there is something supernatural in the accumulation in one individual of so much beauty, grace, and might. With his right hand he could twist an iron horseshoe as if it were made of lead. In his liberality, he welcomed and gave food to any friend, rich or poor." His kindness, his sweet nature, his eloquence ("his speech could bend in any direction the most obdurate of wills") his regal magnanimity, his sense of humor, his love of wild creatures, his terrible strength in argument, sustained by intelligence and memory, the subtlety of his mind which never ceased to devise inventions, his aptitude for mathematics, science, music, poetry. What's more, Leonardo was a man of physical beauty beyond compare."

This teases my nerves. It whispers me to shun the glamour of a material, conspiring life for a higher purpose. Being perfect isn't in my kit perhaps, but I know that I have ample of time to do enough good to the world. I'll be quite satisfied if I get even a tenth of praise of this kind by the time I turn to ashes.

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Alexander : came and went without whisper

people seem to have clinged on to epic films to make their lost money since the Gladiator stormed the theatres few years ago.
Now it seems, the opposite is the case. So many bad epic movies, and critics have jumped onto each and every one of them, stabbing them for their poor portrayal of historic characters and events.

Alexander was another one to pass by recently. Star cast had Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer, Anthony Hopkins. Abundance of talent. Just puerile writing and poor direction that sent it to the dumps.

Top of the Blogs

Its been time since I've clicked on the little interesting-looking links on the home page of blogger under the "Blogs of Note" category. Here's a quick personal review of those (with a very limited vocabulary):

  • SciFiDaily - interesting. takes on movies, updates on cast&crews, all this from an intelligent perspective.

  • Core77 Design - heavily built, with lots of futuristic stuff to gawk at. Links are good help.

  • From the Floor - Somebody wrote a book on how he cheated in Casinos, and if that wasn't enough, decided to release a blog about it. I don't find it interesting in any sense.

  • Na-No-Blog-Mo - myriad of links relating to blogs tailoring together a novel. confusing and useless until and unless you know specifically what you're in for.

  • Dinyahloreng - kept by National Service(Malyasia) Trainees. Pretty much a bland experience.

  • Pop and Politics - Updates from US political scene. No relation to "pop" whatsoever. I think only reason this blog is in the list is because it has a whopping 31 contributors! I think only their regular visits would be enough to get its count high. The blog is crap. Right now, I see same blog posted 5 times on front page. As if that doesn't indicate the quality.

  • Pixar Animation - dedicated to the work going on at Pixar. Nice and clean. Moreover, there's no Pixar Employee involved. I'm quite sure to follow it.

  • Our Man in Hanoi - Good detailed journey of an (seemingly) altruist guy workig in Vietnam for KOTO. Lots of emotions spoken and praises made, but still tends towards being ordinary somewhat.

  • Sox Yankees 2004 - utter crap. don't know how baseball season update for the Yankees could get you in limelight. The man has posted no history, nor dedications, nor any long debates. I guess U.S. of A. folks really are brain-damaged when it comes to baseball (or American football).



That does it. Many of the blogs are uninteresting enough that a beginner would leave blogging instant he/she touches it. I'll just have to say that there are enought of peanut-sized minds to make the world a dull and unproductive place.

Saturday, November 27, 2004

Day of Doom coming near

heh heh.
Its going to be one twisted tale. I will be getting my hands on HL2 (G-man Edition) on Monday. And my papers begin a week after that. And my preparation is none whatsoever. And my heart wants to leap into the world of Gordon Freeman until the experience is over.

Will I be able to immerse myself in the most realistic 3-d FPS there exists, or will the hounds of chemistry hunt me down and force me to remember those ugly formulas and conversions?

Stay tuned for more. Only on this blog.

nice walkthrough

came accross this: http://www.recordholders.org
Quite nice way to spend your time. These people are brillaint(mentally or physically).

Now, let me attempt to calculate 13th root of 100digit number in 22 seconds...... gonna take time. please be back in few months.

Monday, November 22, 2004

hooray!

This person, sent me my first blog-mail. Lots of thanks. Anyways, I should still consider that my blog is in a state of obscurity as he might have stepped on it by mistake.

This really shows the pathetic stage my blog is going through. Like the great wonders that lay buried/hidden deep in the oceans of the world.

Okay, now I'm saying too much. I'll just continue to write from my heart, and lets see how everybody responds to that.

Search Engine are the most thrilling (apparently)

Yesterday, our computer teacher, had to lose her nerve over the constant chattering going on among the backbenchers of our class. Add to that the level of technical illeteracy my fellow classmates have. And all that led to one of the most exciting and bizzare description of "Search Engine" technology. Here it is, the whole transcript. no editing.

"Yes, students, be quiet. Now we move on to Search Engines. These are special websites or softwares created to help you search the internet.
As you know, the internet is also called world wide web. And on that web, there are special spiders. There are many types of spiders out there. For example robots, etc.
A spider's job is to report back the links.
Now when you search, for example, go to google, and type Visual Basic [she pronounces it Vijual. sic!], it would return you some links. What happens is that at the instant you press the 'search' button, all these spiders are let out on the internet. They travel really fast. They perform a scan of the www and return the links. The page which has most of the matching words will be displayed at the top of the list and so on."

She has to be on drugs to throw up that definition. Does she even know how the technology works? Searching the net would take thousands of years on a single PC. Hell, even all the efforts of Search Engines, combined has been able to index 30 or 40% of the Internet. God save those aspiring Computer Engineers!

I'm no UltraGeek so far, but even my short virtual span has not gone without understanding basic underlying technologies.

If anybody wants to know more about Search Engines, go to the conventional place for wisdom here

Had to post these separately

Brief History of Contra - Contra! a happy part of my childhood memories. On retrospection, I can recall it as being the first game I played on my personal TV Game System, the Sega Little Master. I was thrilled when I took on the role of Bill and got the "S" power, and proceeded to shoot down everything evil around me in first round.

Complete story behind HL2 development at Valve - not even hardcore followers of the game must be knowing some of the wisdom in this piece. Valve definitely dug up their grave around 2003-end. But now they're flying in the success of HL2, the same game that brought them death threats an year ago.

Weekly roundup of some links

Not necessarily fresh but surely interesing...

Wallmart storing terabytes of personal data - Alarming/Scary article. What in case there's a grand and successful attempt to obtain that data? What in case it gets mixed up?

Riding Through Chernobyl - Instant praise for Elena after reading this. And sad feelings abt the Chernobyl incident float up again in the mind. This was done long time ago. Elena's in for another adventure these days in telling us about the history of Kiev's fortifications

How Half-Life is a religion - To me, yes it is! No other game has been able to incorporate so many concepts and characters ever. But considering something which is under control of mere mortals a religion would be too naive.

History of Raven software - Must've been written quite a long time ago, for the games avaiable today are still under development as according to the article. Nonetheless, it provides a fascinating reading about the evolution and initial work of Raven Software and their strong bond with id software. Raven is busy developing Quake 4 at this time of the year.

Just says it right

This is one of the most hilarious cartoons I have come accross lately:
Year of the Monkey

Something to regularly look into

Anagrams are the greatest things! The genius makes up the most interesting of words from a bland passage. Being in touch with those would only help.

Usenet Anagrams Group: alt.anagrams
The best of Anagrams: Anagrammy Awards

As Sigmund Freud describes me

Acc. to Sigmund Freud, I have an Oral Fixation and Anal-Retentive Personality.
Some study on Stages of Psychosexual development revelas that fact about me. Should I be alarmed?

The link: Freud's Psychosexual Stages of development

I tend to forget

Sorry, once again, my dear blog (and those who follow my blog regualrly...nah, nobody does). I again turned my back on my virtual manifestation for the past few days.
Just consider that so many of my revolutionary thoughts have gone into oblivion...only if i would've padded them or put them up here.
Anyways, just like before, I again vow to keep the postings up-to-date. And this post will be followed by many in a matter of minutes.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Realising the Importance

The shocking incident of the most astute and optimistic friend of mine commiting suicide still creates ripples in my heart. The question of "WHY" beats louder than ever, and will so for the rest of my life. I've never seen a diamond lose its brilliance this quick. A snap and its all gone. Ah the Devil!

But its a moment of realisation that somethings can't be taken for granted, especially friends. Being the closed character my friend had developed himself into, slowly, over a couple of months, was his cause of giving up. After our school days together, distance grew to some extent. The regular monthly or bi-monthly hang-outs or online parties were there, but that wasn't something to replace physical interaction. His life grew darker. He cocooned himself more and more. And one day he found there was nobody to insipire him, rejuvenate his lost spirit, and make him realise the amazing precision with which life injects its doses of love, laughter, tension, anger, guilt, etc. A lonely soul scared from the planet, and whose heart cannot bear the self-assumed defeat went on the wrong track for all the wrong reasons.

The tears in his eyes, the last words he said, the last regrets he expressed, the last love he spoke of, the memories he recollected, the chaos in which he committed the ultimate sin.............................

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Remorse forever

Death, it seems always shows its ugly face to me. Instead of seeing it as a continuation beyond the celeberation called "life", I have formed opinions of it being the most distressing and depressing thing that could break you apart forever.

First to go was my Uncle's Father. Brain dead in a horrible accident.
Next was my pet Cocker Spaniel Ben (I), short for Ben Hur. The most tragic of deaths. Choked to death in my vehicle which was like an oven during the summers. I'll love him till the end of my life.
And yesterday came the shock. One of my best friends had committed suicide.

Out of nowhere did the news strike me. Like a spear through my heart. Defying any logic. The most prudent, astutde, shrewd, professional person I had known had succumbed to a moment of the devil. One whose thoughts resonated with mine, and the one our group always looked up to is no more. Shower all praises on him, and you still would be looking for more. He was consummate in every action and dedication of his.
I cannot convince myself to feel sad about him as there was nothing wrong or tragic going on in his life. Tears are hard to flow down as there is a feeling of absolute anger for the life he wasted. Lately I am not aware if anything that might have happened to the extreme, but it couldn't be that big in any possibility, that it would drive him to suicide.

May he R.I.P. My heart will always cry for him. Its sad that the planet lost one of the very few revolutionaries.

Thursday, November 04, 2004

One hella Democrat

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/election2004.jsp?feature=ne_election5

the pic of jubilant bush along with his wife, when put to closer scrutiny revelaed it had been uploaded originally as "asshole.jpg" (now, after few hrs they have changed the pic name). that's one freaked out, angry democrat who was responsible for uploading the file.

Finding My Niche

Even after being a computer freek/geek for years, I have never turned towards IRC or usenet. Never taken them seriously. So far, I was content with the topmost layer of the www. Didn't care to delve deeper into the cave to hunt for gold.

But I have had enough. I am being maimed from the inside, mentally. All courtesy the most uninspiring, talentless, non-creative, disdainful crowd I've come to know in my new college. They somehow find nectar in trifling, abuse-laden conversations. And obviously, none of them like computers. Internet is all bout "googling" and "ogling" to them.

IRC my first target. Not that I'm completely new to it. It was, after all, the progenitor to my large book collection. Originaly introduced by my cousin as chatting tool. Lets see... I'm only beginning to complete myself.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Indian Parliaments: benifit for the country, harmful to the ministers

Today, the news channels were talking about the Orissan Parliament, where the ministers lost their heads, to such an extent, that they took out Sandals, Shoes, Microphones, Chairs, anything they could find; and started hurtling them at the opposition. In the end, the Chief Minister of Orissa ended up injured and few ministers arrested. Grasping the occastion, and seeing so many unforseen (and humorous) happenings in the Indian Parliaments, I made a little joke of it:


Regular Indian Adventure Story: Ram and his friends were walking on the deserted road. With no village lights nearby, to expect refuge for the night would be too optimistic of a thought. Suddenly Raja, walking besides Ram froze. He had heard a rustling in the bushes. And how correct was he, for out jumped a band of robbers. Ram took out his bow&arrow, Raja yielded his axe, everybody else took a defensive position..............

The Parliament Adventure Story: Ram and his friends were walking on the deserted road. With no village lights nearby, to expect refuge for the night would be too optimistic of a thought. Suddenly Raja, walking besides Ram froze. He had heard a rustling in the bushes. And how correct was he, for out jumped a band of robbers. Ram took out his chair, Raja yielded his microphone, the others almost instantaneously had their shoes and sandals in their hands. You see, they were Ministers.

Together we shall...and we will

Ah, getting to see sunshine 10.5 hrs before Americans do is always a good thing. At least I feel secure and assured much sooner than they do. Well, nobody can be more insecure than the Americans at this time. Presidential Poll coming up, Osama threatening another act of terrorism, Bush in his crazy self, Kerry in his mimsy self, Europe carefully observing every breath one takes. If not one, then the other problem would get the citizens. Get ready to me maimed US comrades! The giant which goes by the name of US is surrounded from all sides by Gods of Wrath.

Being from a developing country has its advantages. People express disgust at us rather than scorn. Very unlike US, for which people either have respect or straightaway contempt, we are still given a chance to modify our image in planet's eyes.

Being overlooked is advantageous. There are so many plans, that people don't know, quietly reforming the society. Agreed, India is haven for corruption. Security is bought, not provided.
But its also the place you'll find the purest and unspoilt souls. The educated man keeps away from drinking and smoking. Women are getting empowerment. Programmers working abroad are feeding enough moolah to the country's hungry vaults. Children growing up learning from the negative aspects of excess freedom from the US and alike. The rural man still tries to earn a respectable job and not resort to joining dacoit gangs. Exactly not secular, but people still deal with other religions with respect, unless sparked by some flying rumours.

Without any ostentatious display, Laxmi Mittal has now grown to a business magnate, his father being at the lower rungs of society in the past. Reliance is zooming towards global domination. Narayan Krishnamurthy drove Infosys from a one-flat startup to global threat. So many Indian hands are constantly at work to carve out almost all of the softwares. India currently is hub for so many unrecognized stuff the world is usually obscure from.

Hear ye! Hear ye! Indians gonna be back with a vengeance.

Saturday, October 30, 2004

Review: Prodigy - Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned

Just got the album. And found it not worth the moolah, to summarise.

While prodigy continue their psychedelic beats, this time it doesn't grow on you like their earlier beauties(Fat of the Land). And I'd like to blame this on the selection of vocals. Irritating. But Prodigy's not to be let off the bench too, for their beats bear similarity to many of the games I played in the early years of video gaming. Not their trademark stuff. Brings up a lot of questions. Where is Keith Flint??? Why did it have to turn girlish???
Occasionally they bring up the imperious beats in opening of some tracks, but then they descend into perpetual blandness. Their electronic stamp is somewhat missing, for they tend to move to Chemical Brothers like music, who are undoubtedly master of their genre. Only a couple of tracks - Spitfire, Get Up Get Off - are worth the time.

Makes me "smack my face up" for gettin the album. But I actually read some other reviews over the net after to writing my own one, and they suggest it grows on you slowly. Lets hope so. Otherwise, Prodigy is having a disastrous phase.

I might sound like AABF21 (for the simpsons fans to know and the initiated to find out), but its just that I've heard much better albums recently.

Hibernation Encore

Blistering Blue Barnacles!

The exams had to start from next week. And chemistry, ugh!
  • Physics is actually interesting. loving reading about relativity.

  • Maths as always gets me to sleep.

  • Chemistry. I hate every letter of that word. Getting clubbed with a fossil bone is actually less painful to me than studying chemistry. Mode: Kill

  • Computers course is sheer crap. You should look at the kind of syllabus they expect us to study and become engineers of the future. Like a bored observer at an art gallery. Will see everything but never get to know the details.



Anyways, this means I'll have to go through the turmoil once again, and in the process dedicate smaller fraction of time to Computers(current usage: 8hrs a day). But would keep posting on my other blog if any good one liner aphorisms come into my bizzare mind.

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Ralph Wiggum: A Shining Moment

From Simpsons, Episode 2F05: "Me fail English? That's unpossible."

Ha! Ha! Ha!

I just had to mention this link separately.

For those who know what half-life is in terms of computer gaming, I present:
http://www.quirkybastards.net/halfpark/half_park.html

Links. Interest factor: 10/10

http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/2004/10/19.html
http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/
ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org
http://www.aaevp.com
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/microcar.html
http://homepage.tinet.ie/~peterc/a/nsk.html

Reliving the passed times

I'm a game addict. No arguments. Don't try to offend me related to this or i'll have to do the honours of giving you freedom from this planet. But after I ended my relationship with SEGA's Little Master console to move on to more eveolved gaming over the PC, I've not looked back. Still remember the days of clearing first level in Mario and saving the Princess or killing that god-machine in Contra or Taking revenge over somebody's grave in Street Fighter. But those remained stuffed in some corner of my mind.

Until Now.

Found good ROM sites, downloaded emulators and ROMs, read some stuff about runing the softwares and editing the ROMs and I was off. Many hours of Contra, Super Contra, Street Fighter, Mario; I felt heaven. Here's a listing of some of the sites. Few, but not after you visit em:

snesheaven.org
romnation.com
emuconnect.com

In Hibernation

Oh geez, i totally forgot that i used to keep a blog. Hence the reason why it wasn't updated. Anyways, having an uninsteresting city life doesn't help either.
Nothing much to talk about. friends studying, nature seems to have gone on vacation, sports seem to have taken a step back. Finding nothing happening around makes you wanna blow up something just to check if humans still survive.

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Coming up

I will swell out and then burst into little tiny pieces if i don't share my evergreen love for greenery. I'll be posting some eloquent(hopefully) deifications dedicated to nature in coming time, all based on true experiences.

Rolling out some good links

While my dedicated net connection is crawling these days, my procrastinating character still allows me to do a recon of some of the interesting stuff over the Internet. "Internet, Eh!"

Primate found in Dominican Republic of Congo resembling those in the movie "Congo"
Some Optical Illusions
Each day, new hack
Really Weird Names
The Genius called Issac Newton. Also browse herefor more of him.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Ethereal Feeling

Nature overwhelms you.

You just can't stop the appreciation when the bright green leaves dance in wind after heavy rainfall, while cool air tickles your skin. Or when you find the woods humming some unknown, hypnotizing tune on a star-lit night. Or when you jump with elation on finding that your stone took 14 bounces on the waters of a lake in the wild, obscure to the city folks. Or when you see water snakes slither away in the green waters of that same lake. Or when you hear low pitched roars of tiger on prowl or the shrills of a deer being hunted, waking you up at 3 in the morning. Or when the thunder gods gift you with an unforgettable sight: sparks of lightning seeming to meet at the crest of the hill and illuminating the whole valley.

For an ephemeral moment it seems that nature is everything you should survive for. Love till infinity.

Back in action

I am back in the virtual domain. after long time.

Nothing more addictive (in urban life) than the feel of your adroit fingers beating out on the keyboard while you lie back on your chair in your true environment.

For past some time, I was up in the Himalayas for some time. With whole family. Visiting different places. Appreciating nature and rawness of life.

Not that it was my first trip. I go there each occasionally, for my Grandfather was intelligent, caring and astute enough to buy a huge piece of land 60 years ago - which was a originally a discarded road built during the British times - and build a cottage on it. Its just that I cannot part with nature. On every visit I lose my mind at the sights and sound nature presents. Nothing gains superiority to Nature. NOT EVEN DIGITAL TOOLS. I'm saying this even after I spend 8 hrs at computers daily in my urban avatar.

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Strange but entertaining night

I slept a little early - from my habit - at 10:30PM today. Originally I had planned to wake up at 0030hrs to watch Manchester United's Champions League match, and put an alarm for that.

But nightmares gripped me to bring me to a sweaty awakening at 2:00AM. Really scary memories. Something about taking my friends to hills, to spot some wildlife, in an open chevy, and getting mauled by a leopard in the night (I was attacked first).

I thought that the soccer match would have been over, but still turned on the television out of curiosity, to find my team won gloriously 6-2. Their new buy - the prodigal Wayne Rooney - scoring a Hat Trick on his debut!! By tomorrow the whole planet must be flooded with the news of soccer's future elite. Manchester really purchased a gem in form of this boy, same age as mine, and talents with the ball about gazillion times better than mine or anybody else.

That followed a good 4 hr session on PC, which I'll be ending after finishing off this blog. I'll try to compile my remaining memories whatsoever related to the dream I had, put some time to search about meaning of such stuff, and post it later when I'm back from College.

Adios till then!

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Solution to my mimsy self

Recap
I expressed scorn at 2 parties i went to for the selection of music and dance

Continued
I think I got too critical. I found there was 1 major cause for that: watching TV during dinner time. That develops your instinct to move towards the food plate instead of dance floor when thumping loud music is played. You just grow accustomed to laziness even when the best rockers on planet are playing, because thats what how associate food & dance.

Just like about 9 yrs ago when my friend introduced me to the very beautiful Cindy Crawford images he had at his PC (running Win95). She was dressed in little clothing. And the program his computer vendor had installed for image viewing was Corel 5. Hence double-cliking the image ran CorelPaint, which started with a splashscreen with baloons, circles, etc on a green background. Somehow that splashscreen just got printed in my memory because of what it was associated with.
So in the next 1 year, whenver I visited any friends of mine and found that program, I asked them to close the door, expecting something equally entertaining to come up on clicking on Corel Icon. At relatives' place I would blush. I just had related "Corel" to "Sexy Images".

That computer nescience lasted only till 1997, when I got my first PC.

Dull day

The expected action didn't happen at the college today. That kid who ruined our party yesterday, obviously was nowhere to be seen. The whole talk seem to have calmed down. Not much discussions related to it.
But what was surprising was that teachers didn't have a clue as to what mess we'd been in a day ago. Seniors chickened out of telling them the whole story. And juniors anyway won't.
So in the end, it seems, whole matter was hushed up. Well, that keeps our college away from negative publicity. But fire spreads sooner or later.

New day has come

Well, after yesterday's party being ruined by one of the senior students, everybody in college would be in the mood to cream him. He'll not attempt to even come near the college campus if he has a single brain cell left. So I don't actually expect fireworks today. But a lots of talking would sure go on. Lots of accusations, lots of cursing, and stuff.
And now I have to run and get ready for college. Bye.

Monday, September 27, 2004

Typical of us

Today at the party, one act where most of the eyes were rooted was that of a couple - both second yr students - dancing and romancing together. The boy was about 5 8", wearing a low-cut jeans and dark designer white shirt, and the girl about 5 4", dressed in stunning black dress which only went as far as her heels. For us its something out of normal and surprising. It does not usually happen when you are in process of learning i.e. in school or college. Even if you fall in love during college days, relationship is kept very clean and philosophical/fun.

Their chemistry worked well. They held each other, like they wouldn't separate till the end of time.

Unfortunately for the most of us, it was first time we were witnessing display of affection in public. And it drove people frantic.
Whenver they smooched, all around me burst into cheap laughter and claps; and me enjoying, not the acts of the lovebirds, but the antics of the crowd. At the same time the feeling in my mind ranged from anywhere from embarrasing to shameful. Some of my good friends, whom I thought highly of made really ugly comments at the girl and that just repelled me away from them for the rest of the party. I know I myself long for such times, but I don't think I'll be doing the in future if I myself have a stigma or fear or disgust attached to it. I don't see it as something to hide, but at same time I don't see myself mature enough for it. Hence the lack of a girlfriend of mine.

Luckily, the couple, either didn't notice or didn't give a damn about the whistles and woo-hoos of the crowd. They just held each other close, and synchronised their movements to perfection.

Art of Dancing in truly "Desi" Parties

In my earlier post, i mentioned my fresher party. here's something elaborated: How to dance in such parties.

I would give an excerpt from Ted Bundy's "Hand to Hand combat"

Now, let me discuss some of the basics you will need to know when you are in any combat situation.

Stance
The best stance when confronting an enemy is to put your feet at shoulders length apart and your arms should be facing forward, parallel to each other and bent at the elbows. Keep your knees slightly bent and stand on the balls of your feet.
Remember, you always want to maintain this stance when you are not striking at the enemy.

Balance
It is always important that you keep your balance. If you use the stance I have described above, you will never have to worry about it. If by chance you do lose your balance even for a second you can kiss your ass goodbye as the enemy will probably kill you.

Aggressiveness
Always be aggressive and always attack. Don’t just stand back and defend yourself against the enemy’s strikes as he will end up killing you eventually. If you are not aggressive, the enemy will think you are scared and he will have an advantage over you.
A great thing to do is yell at the enemy. This will scare the **** out of him if you start yelling at him and plus it also allows you to get more oxygen in your lungs so you will have more strength.

Natural Weapons
Your natural weapons are as follows: knife edge of either hand, the heel of your hands, your fingers folded at the second knuckle, your boot, your elbow, your knees, your teeth, your fore finger and second finger forming a „V“ shape, and your fist. These body parts alone are some of the most powerful weapons you can use.



You have to be skilled at this knowledge for a comfortable stay on the dance floor.

Indians always dance in multiple-people groups. The groups mostly unisexual, ie males dance together, females together. There will be lot of rush. Hence first step would be to take an agressive stance and slowly make way into the crowd towards your friends, who will be dancing somewhere in there. Then announce your arrival by a booming shout showing that you are all pumped up. Then comes the most difficult part: entering and staying in the group. For this you require to be very well balanced, as well as in a high. The slower you dance, the more likely you would be pushed out of the circle. Just keep waving and shouting like its nobody's business and you'll get respect on the floor. Don't try to hum songs, it just makes you look stupid when you're actually trying to show-off how close you are to the music. And when you fall in a group where girls are also present, you can't survive without the agression. In an effort to prove that they are alpha-males, all the guys get very pushing and loud.

Follow these simple things and you're sure to end up on top of a few dancing shoulders (if you're not oversized and overweight like me, that is).

Crashed and Trashed: Exclusive Online Review of my Fresher's Party

I, along with a friend reached Hotel Ashoka, one of the best 5 star hotels in city for our Fresher's Party. My friend had come in his best clothing which he bought esp for the event - embroidered kurta and payjamas. Me was in simple Shirt&Jeans. I don't care abt my looks that much.

After the usual alcohol and cigarette checkup we were allowed to go inside. And then my friend found there was no use for his attire. Inside was all dark and humid with kids rocking the floors to DJ's music. I first thought we were being caged. I went totally blind bcoz of sudden change of light level. They my eyes adjusted. Met my friends who were already dripping sweat.

The floor was all crowded. There was very little place to move to the groove. Somehow ppl had to crawl among the long line of rocking bodies.
Worst thing was: the music had little pace. The DJ playing it was a poor one. He not only was playing complete tracks, but he wasn't putting any beats or changing the tempo of the songs either. Apart from that music selection was awful. Only crappy Hindi remixes and Punjabi. The DJs that came in my former college's party were much better (read prev posts).

And folks were still shaking like it was a miraculous place to be. I can't digest how they could, first of all, dance in that small area esp when music's so slow, secondly, how could they like the same songs being played repetedly. Boring. They jumped in the air shouting violently whenver a Punjabi song began, you know, the usual "ting-a-ding-a-ting-a-ding-a" tune, trademark of all thats Punjabi.

I sat dormant for a long time, just gazing at fellas knockin themselves tired. Many friends asked me to join them but I told them that it wasn't fast enough. Really. I did feel that way. Frustrated, I approached the DJ and asked him to play some Prodigy, Chem Bros or Oakenfold. He said thats for later. I gave him the grumpy look and went back. You're supposed to build the tempo at beginning, not when everybody is tired and wanting to go home. After some time, I told myself: "lower your imaginary standards and go out there and rock." So I did for abt half hour.

And when 2 hrs were left, and I was sitting in corner gobbling up pizzas and sipping cold drinks, thinking about the trance I'd be in when my favourite music will be played, the music stopped. The lights came on. Everyone complained that they wanted more. Then came the newsflash that one of the seniors had harassed the hostess and assaulted a guard and then ran away. Apparently that became a big issue and Hotel Manager and Commissioner of Police were called. The hall was emptied. The seniors felt sorry and apologized to us for all that had happened. Then the silence. And then it was bye-bye for us.

I became really violent at the end for I hadn't had any fun. Everybody felt like killing the bastard who ruined it all for us. For me, it was 250 bucks gone in the drain. Better luck next life.

Prepared

today is my fresher's party. occasion when all the newbies to college life are given a great time (supposedly) by seniors. But I know I'll end up bored. THere would be only 2 things: Food & Dance. As I'm not fond of the latter one, i'll be found next to the food table irritating the waiters.
Mebbe if they put on some oakenfold, prodigy or chem bros, i mite as well be on the dance floor for a few minutes.

I would be leaving in 5 mts. Am listening to the epic song "Paranoid Android". Don't know if the resonance of the song in my mind would help me enjoy the party or not.

Friday, September 24, 2004

Growing into a hedonist...

...who leeches day-in day-out using his download manager's explorer to locate folders rich with media content on the net.
My thought process has changed since inception of age of cyber freedom for me. All my plans to wreck havoc on slashdot and local forums seem vanished.

Where am I heading for? Will I succumb to the forces of pleasure? Or will the light of creativity and genius once again shine? Stay tuned for more breathtaking blog-episodes of "Vidrohi" at http://vidrohiarrives.blogspot.com

Phobias I have

I have morbid fear or aversion to:

  • 13, number- Triskaidekaphobia.

  • Alcohol- Methyphobia or Potophobia.

  • Beaten by a rod or instrument of punishment, or of being severely criticized- Rhabdophobia.

  • Blood- Hemophobia, Hemaphobia or Hematophobia.

  • Body odors- Osmophobia or Osphresiophobia.

  • Burglars, or being harmed by wicked persons- Scelerophobia.

  • Buried alive, being or cemeteries- Taphephobia or Taphophobia.

  • Clowns- Coulrophobia.

  • Confined spaces- Claustrophobia.

  • Crowds or mobs- Enochlophobia, Demophobia or Ochlophobia.

  • Death or dying- Thanatophobia.

  • Defeat- Kakorrhaphiophobia.

  • Homosexuality or of becoming homosexual- Homophobia.

  • Imperfection- Atelophobia.

  • Jealousy- Zelophobia.

  • Love, falling or being in- Philophobia.

  • Operation, surgical- Tomophobia.

  • Others, dependence on- Soteriophobia.

  • Radiation or x-rays- Radiophobia.

  • Religious ceremonies- Teleophobia.

  • Robbers or being robbed- Harpaxophobia.

  • Scientific terminology, complex- Hellenologophobia.

  • Words, long- Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia or Sesquipedalophobia.



The knowledge on phobias, source http://www.phobialist.com/

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Realising the (rock-bottom) standards of people

Took a day off from college to visit my old college, where an event to welcome the freshers was being held. The college, standing among top 5 in Delhi, promised to give me a good time-out from engineering studies. Moreover it had been a while since I met my friends, and passed those dreamy looks to a couple of had-been flames of mine (thier looks would really freeze you).

Expecting to be rolling in fun, I arrived at the old institution and easily got in by showing my last year's I-card at the entrance. Preceded by the ritual cigarette-and-drug checkup, I made it towards the main area. I met my friends. I had a glimpse of some lovely faces around (polite way of saying "hoocie mamas"). Then I saw the preaparation for the event - many loudspeakers bunched to form a monster sound system - thats it. Some DJs were arranged for to play soul-pumping music.

And at about 1:15PM began the music. I think 3 or 4 diff DJ's had come. They were using an old DJ system to mix songs. And 4 medium-sized travel bags stuffed CDs accompanied them. By the looks i was expecting some redemption from boredom. They started out with some booming beats, really loud and then came their remixes. The remixes sounded like the dinner your mother prepares on weekdays: same dishes, different toppings and desserts. It was basically mashing together punjabi booms with pretty western/indian songs with a little twist in tempo, or addition of screeches, etc. So Lame. They played some of the songs over and over again driving me raving stark mad. My repeated efforts to get some oakenfold, chem bros, or prodigy playing went in vain.
But what topped the disgust list was the crowd. The college had arranged for a space nearly the size of two large rooms for the students to boogie. Now try to accomodate 500 students (minimum assumption) on that floor, and you'd find nobody gets even space to stand properly. And still people rocked as if it was the best they'll ever experience. Even though the songs were repeated, or unheard by many, they shrieked and jumped when music changed, like they knew the artists closely. You could spot my types in the crowd trying to fend off jerks bumping into them while moving their hands occasionally to announce that they can "get jiggy" too! I stayed back, just watched them from safe distance. One of my friends broke his nose when somebody from the crowd hit his face in the frenzy. Others were bored to death.

I am apalled at the level human forms of entertainment have come to.

Examinations over, no change in attitude whatsoever

Exams ended last week. Now I'm breating the fresh air of freedom again. Anyways, the pain and struggle was ephemeral. I didn't prepare for anyone for more than 3 hrs and the marks are sure to reflect that. Physics and Maths are sure to lead me to my doom. Hope I would feel insulted and get inspired to be the "best of the best of the best" from my poor showing.

Now, the day usually passes with me inside my room. And I am not joking, for all I do is use the PC, or sleep. Regular hunger breaks lure me towards the kitchen, the only time I leave my room. Seems that I'm not affected whatsoever from the completion of a stressful week.

And then i talk about myself being dynamic at thoughts. As static as it gets.

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

I can breathe free...

...virtually.

Got my dedicated connection in place after long long time. Can't stop being online even tho I know I have Chemistry (ugh) exam tomorro and preparations are zilch. I'm going to phail again, customary of me.

Anyways, first thing I dloaded were some simpsons clips. Then D3 vids. Now am hunting for music torrents. Of course, illegal.

Is that sci-fi in the dump?

Recently, lots of articles have been debating over survival of sci-fi concepts in today's society. The same thing that revolutionized the progeny 50 yrs ago looks bleak in shape now.

I, myself am not a big fan of sci-fi. But being a handshake distance away from my PC, I always find something related to it over WWW. Recently "I, Robot" was based on Isaac Asimov's concept. And now people like Corey Doctrow and Charles Stross are making an effort to bring it back. Here's one very good article relating this: http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/article/0,12543,676265,00.html

It seems as if the millions of souls on the planet lack, not creativity, or originality, but direction and expansion. I know of many people who have their own concepts of space, time, evolution, and of course, aliens. But their ideas are too bleak and underdeveloped to stand strong. But then everybody wants a job where you get to wear golden rings on all 5 fingers. Why'd they want to mess up with something that lies buried for some time now?
Evolution is perpetual. Its just that now we categorize those examples under "Low IQ" category.

Saturday, September 11, 2004

And which Osama do I talk of...

Osama's the new boy in our class. Muhammed Osama Khan. Roughly 6ft tall. Abt 3X the size of Osama Bin Laden. But really nice personality.

He became instant celebrity in class for his name. Now everyone knows who Osama is. Thankfully there are no anti-terrorism cults here that would go as far as to express scorn at him. They all take his name lightly and gladly accept him in conversations.

Cheers to Osama!

I met Osama today

Osama's strong
Osama's meticulous
Osama's generous
Osama's focussed
Osama's trustworthy
Osama's funny

What! Me! Concenterate!

if(concenterate(me)) return true;
else return false;

This is an example of an always-false function

In simpler (and understandable) language, I can never concenterate. I sat down to prepare for my exams abt to come up in 2 days (which i'm going to fail gloriously in) and found myself thinking of off-topic stuff. I ended up wrting hour-long document on PC abt the 3 music videos i'm going to create when I grow up and become filthy rich. Just chalked out the videos, not music. I think all 3 of them are brilliant when put out in expected way. Esp 1st and 3rd.

I couldn't stop crying (not speaking literally here) when I thought of, and later typed down the last(3rd) one. It just made me melt over and over again (and btw, i'm don't fall among the sissy category). It was based on wildlife conservation.

I, tho can't leak anything now. Wait for the years when I slowly become adept in skills of animation and music composing. Then hope I either do as I plan, or sell/donate my idea to some great composer. Or if none happens, I'll extend the ideas , and release them as a novel.

Sheesh! I think too far.

What was I thinking back then?

While I'll be posting more of my earlier work later, I really felt sad and superior at same time over the things going on in my mind a fw yrs back.
I really got gloomy, as it sounds from my poetry during those days. But luckily I never resorted to anything violent, or depressing, and scribbled my emotions out as poetry. But at the same time I turned seriuosly notorious in thoughts and acts back then. Hope that made it even, and didn't degrade me.

Competitive thoughts, outbreak of puberty and guilt of watching too much porn, I think, brings out the best in you.

I also wrote a play then, over a topic like consumption of drugs which was highly acclaimed by everyone, and if not for those 2 actors in my group (i still loathe them) who ate up 3 major long paragraphs while the play was being presented, it would've got top honours in inter-school playfest. But it still came second.

Bye Bye Bye

(The poem created just for the irritating tone of then-popular boy band n'sync. i think this is much more entertaining than their song. Sort of Limerick, well, not exactly.)

I am wearing a tie.
Have you today put on the dye?
Be frank now. Don't be shy.
Be nice with all or time would fly.
And then there will be no need to cry.
Nor will I make for you delicious egg fry.

I truly admit I am a sutpid guy.
Never believed in scry.
I always kept my hair dry.
But why did you leave me, tell me why?
Crashed my PC and left me to die?
If that's the case, I also would say,
Bye, Bye, Bye, Bye, Bye.

Remourseful Life

My family, my friends;
I did ignore, I did betray.
This is, for what I thrive;
Cause this is what I missed in life.

I lived my life away from fear;
Too proud to shed a tear.
Never felt who was near;
Hated those who were dear.

I was stupid, myself fooled;
Deemed myself as a king,
But never ruled.
All the time I hadn't known.
My world of dreams, now blown.

Everything I touched I thought was golden;
Everything I loved is now broken;
No more words do I have to say

Every mistake I ever made has made me somber and full of fear.
As I was audience to my own devastation.

Now I wail, but in despair;
Need love but nobody cares.
In ocean of tears I stand drenched;
Have no family, have no friend.
I feel small, I stand alone;
Looking into the past, I myself mourn.
Give me a chance, this I insist;
But the will of god will subsist.

© vidrohi
all my works can also be found at http://infoland.s5.com It only works properly in IE :-(

Oceans of Fire

The crew was happy,
The people cheerful.
But never did one think,
Their end was going to be so pitiful.

We started off with a smile,
Having Snacks n' Wine n' enjoying every moment and while.
Keeping worries aside; Whoa we went,
It was like the blessings of God, treating us as a friend.

The breaking of bottle made a blast,
Standing on the deck,
People waved their dear ones,
Even the weather today was in contrast.

For many long days we sailed on the Oceans,
Nothing seemed to go wrong.
But nightmares awaited us,
The Weather soon became strong.

High and high it rose,
The waves seemed to touch the sky.
Cries of terror floated in the air.
Nowhere to run,
Neither would've escaped if we could fly.

Darkness dominated,
The lights went out.
All seemed to be a devil's plan,
No hope of rescue even if we would shout.

End was near with all left being a little breath,
Floating on the ocean surface,
Were planks n posters of Bon Voyage,
A luxury ship had turned into a ring of death.

Memories floated in front of us,
The last time we gazed at the heaven.
Then the ship immersed in the waters,
Thus came the journey to a sorrowful end.

The mighty ocean becalmed,
It had taken its revenge.
Showed such stillness as if,
Nothing had ever happened.

© vidrohi
also posted at http://infoland.s5.com Teh site works properly only on IE :-(

Age-old work in poetry

I wrote a few poems when I was in 10th grade. I felt they reflected the times when I got into the philosophical mode, leaving behind the dirty, sporty, frivolous, and social modes.
I'll keep posting the old ones, as well as writing new ones (reeeeeeeeeealy slooooooooooooooooooooowly).

Feel free to burn me down (thru comments, of course) if you dislike them.

Thursday, September 09, 2004

KIA

My tests begin next week. I have studied a peanut if you compare the course to a watermelon.

Just found out that Physics course is 300pgs long. So I either find better time management, or shorter book.
Other subjects are scaring me to death each and every second.

I have excitement of playing Table Tennis for 3hrs in the college, and no brains whatsoever to consider the restrictions on me when I perform horribly in tests.

Couch Potato Entertainment

Nothing better than Jimmy Neutron, The Simpsons, Sienfeld and Alias episodes on a boring day when you have nothing to do outside.

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

False enthusiasm

Its so easy to make people believe in something controversial. just put out a confident statament related to it and you've got ppl talking of wild things.

Recent example was the SETI finding of a consistent signal in past yr (3 times, that is). More crazy is the theory of Area-51, that aliens are working with the army to produce jet-fighters. Fav line : "Area 51. You are not here"

One thing's for sure, there's no intelligent or developed species within 1000s of light yrs frm earth. One reason might be that there don't exist any planetary systems like ours nearby. Only either binary star systems, or very fast-spinning solar systems. But there might also be possibility of non-carbon based life forms, unlike us.

We are not alone in the Universe. I would never recant this comment. Am waiting for that someday.

Two of my best reads recently

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.09/anime.html
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ctfonts/WordRecognition.aspx

My touch with courage

I'm really late and slow in life.

I had seen this many times over the TV as a kid, but had never given any attention to the "Unknown Rebel" who captured the broadcasts on 5th June, 1989 after Chinese govt had decided to crack down on peaceful protestors at Tianamen Square.
He defines your whole life's mission in a little space. If you don't get affected by this one, you're hopeless.


Video Clip here : http://www.cnn.com/resources/video.almanac/1989/tiananmen/tianamen.tanks.large.27sec.mov

read about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989
and http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/rebel.html

and about the "The Unknown Rebel" (as he was dubbed by magzines/papers later on)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_man

Anime in India

India has aversion to animation, it seems. Not a single recognisable cartoon character from a land of billions. And you see the level of animation here. Characters with body parts in form of blocks, all moving independently; static background; poor dubbing; worthless script.

"Pavitr" is the Indian spiderman abt to be released soon. Don't think that makes sense. People are just not interested to read or learn the art of animation. Its still seen as a medium for kids and as a result you have all the cartoon serials dubbed into Hindi, almost none of the true Japanese anime, and no sort of manga whatsoever.

But few works have been impressive: Ramayana and The Pandavas. Others are in process of completion.

People on resonance with my view wait for an Indian "Samurai Jack", or "Dexter" or "Akira"

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Seriously need speed

I'm just wanting to break the barrier of dialup. Those sick bastards can't offer Broadband in University area. I'm living life at usually <48kbps. The only broadband company here has speed ranging frm 16-48kbps. So its useless in other words.

My coll broadband sucks as its distributed among 200 PCs with jerks chatting and watching smut. Useless.

Rite now am in a cyber cafe, at 512. delighted. But wonder when that'll be made commercial. Not many ppl in India see any use of PC or Internet.

Planet of the nothings

I reached college in most revolting dress. And seems that seniors are too afraid to mess with me. And I'm not joking, because they caught many ppl from my batch for a small issue as not wearing sandals.
And here I was in coloured dress, shoes, shiny watch.

Unexpectedly, few of the newcomers in my class saluted me with "Goodmorning Sir".

Seniors need to grow up. Otherwise how would i take out all my verbal beating on them??

Mourning one's entry into college?

I reached college to find the whole 1st year batch was painted in white. Like they were mourning their decision to get into college. They were petrified of the seniors, and were wearing their proposed dress code. They were all looking at me like I was an alien, for my dress. I was the solitary revolt.
What a sight!

brevity is an art...

...and i'll try to practice it. Posts are gettin time consuming and irritatingly long.
Synonym: succinct

Monday, August 30, 2004

Rakshabandhan

Today is an Indian festival: Rakshabandhan. It is not a mojor one, but certainly celeberated throughout.
On this day, the sister ties a piece of thread (not necessrily simple looking) on his brother's arm, who, in turn vows to give her protection and help whenever she's in its need. He also gifts her something on the occasion.

This day is waited eagerly whole of August by school children for it also doubles up as a popularity contest for both boys and girls. But in college, the scene reverses. Boys are hesitant to come to attend college that day for they are more in search of love than sis in college. It leads to some really humorous events in college.

I, for one, am neither that popular that girls would come to me for tying friendship strings, nor that hip that they'd consider whacking out with me. Just caught in the middle of the current.

Olympics are over

2004 olympics are over. Now wait for another olympiad. Don't complain to me.

India, as expected performed horribly. They IInd most populated country stood in the lower rungs of the medailst ladder. Just a single silver from shooting by Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. No doubt he'll become a celebrity soon and gifted with money, land, prizes, respect, etc. Indians are so hypercritical of any achievement.

Just look at China. It most populated, but it continues to shake the world. And don't call them little people anymore. They won in almost all the events, where you require flexibility, to ones where you require stamina, to whose needing muscles and speed.

I noted that in History, those who were immolated and treated like dirt - the blacks - were the prominent medal winners for the US. The country should be proud of them and put in more funding to raise such talents which are falling for more materialistic acquirings the world has to offer.

Marion Jones didn't do anything this time. But I don't put the entire blame her. She was surrounded by doping allegations, and moreover she had a baby sometime ago. It just isn't that easy to give a repeat performance after so many factors are different.

I was just taken aback by Laure Manaudou's charm and performance. If anybody knows of anyway to contact her...I'm waiting.

Nudism and India

Was somehow led to a link to the definition and concept of Nudism, or naturism (Just odn't ask how).

In India, I can surely say that such behavior is non-existent. People here are culturally bound, as well as morally aware of how they should be in public, which I respect and adore. The lesser urban communities based on different philosophies, the better. You just can't create such differences, where people are dying of hunger and lack of resources in rural india, and the well-off ones walking on own philosophies which in one way or the other offends to the public, and hence there is no resonance between such ppl.

I can't understand why one can't commit him/her to wearing those things that cover your body - oh yes! they're called clothes - when performing any type of work other than bathing, or intercourse.

But if you go by the meaning of naturists, you would find those ppl more than often in India. Not because of philosophy relating to that of nudists, but because of unfortunate poverty and ill-health, or you can say environmentalism. Something seriuos has to be done to help them. REFORMS URGENTLY REQUIRED. The Indian metros(Dehli, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai) are dreaming of 8-lane highways, while many villages still dream of a road one day.

Wow! Look where I ended up from the heading of my topic. I should really practice on focussing my thoughts.

Hunt for books. More of a field trip.

I and a friend decided to hit the best book market in Delhi - Nai Sarak- for cheapest, newwest/oldest, and widest range of books. I had heard of it, but never had any idea of its size. Turns out it was gigantic place, where you had to be somewhat of a wrestler to push through the thronging crowds to make your way to the book-keeper to ask for book titles. The shops were at max. 2mts wide, and you can imagine the rush.

First Shop - We settled here for the owner had a demure look and shop was somewhat empty (compared to the others). We took out our list to order the books. He gave us half, and kept confirming to us that books were coming in "Bas Do Aur Minat"(Just 2 more minutes). We stood there like idiots for 45 mts before realising we could have done a recon over the whole market for better shops. Hence we left.

Second Shop - While we were looking around, thinking that we have reached the end of market, and head back, we were approached by a slovenly character, asking us if we wanted books. I resented from talking to him for his looks gave no relation to education. But my friend agreed, and he asked us to follow him into a very narrow path between two buildings. I couldn't stop my chuckling, for it seemed like a scene str8 frm a movie - us being customer, and the man being a drug dealer, pimp, ammunition trader, anything associated with the illegal, leading us into the dark alley. Finally we reached the shop, which we couldn't believe was stacking about 2000 books in a 6*5 feet hole in a wall. He sold, as well as bought books and there were students for both standing there. I regret why I didn't concieve the idea of selling my old books for some cool cash. They would've been feasted upon by rats anyways. We bought a few books at 55% the price of a fresh copy.

I found that many of the books I saw could've been pirated for there were typos, not proper hologram, and jumbled up pages in a few places. Piracy is rampant here. It becomes almost impossible to tell the diff between both sometimes.

During our browsing, we found another common friend there, and headed back, but not before stopping for some Indian delights - chaat, golgappas, idlis and thandai.

Where the olympics come from

The Olympics were originally a part of the Panhellenic Games. These were held once in 4yrs (or an olympiad) and no women could take part in it.

Here's the link: Panhellnic Games.

The site mentioned above is really interesting in content and concept. I wish I had more time to browse it, i'd be stuck for days in my room. Link after link after link to more articles.

Friday, August 27, 2004

Scornful patriotism

Last night, I had to make a trip to the Delhi Railway station. My mother had some exigent duties to perform. I left home at 10:45PM, train was to leave at 11:40PM.
Anyways, even though I am still a learner behind the wheels, we(me, mom, dad) reached there at 11. I was already angry over the unnecessary need for us to make it to the station a good 30mts before train even arrived. And then I saw more of the Indian matrix. Piles of luggage, crushing crowds, filthy surroundings, ineffectual railway enquiry services, etc. I don't know how could the common man on India be the most virile one on the planet, and still remain the most backward. Call it poor family planning, uncontrollable urges, unavailability of preventive measures or necessity for a male-child as a radical thought in Indian culture (not specific to any religion). The population explosion of India has hurt it more than anything. It crippled India.

Ok, enough of that, now back to the railway platform. Here's something I'd like to warn every1: Never try to cross a railway track on either sides of the platform. You'd meet stiff resistance with shit on the tracks, gigantic rats, unfathomable stench and dirty track lines which if broken would lead you splash into the most disgusting elements of nature you'll ever find.
Meanwhile, hordes of people continued to tussle for space. Everyone had taken a spot where they sat joking and eating food, right on the platform. Those of higher stratum preferred to use their luggage as furniture. I also found some space besides a very poor village family and kept the luggage over there. Alas! it was only a travelling bag, so squatting over it wasn't a good idea. We all had to stand. And then began "the wait". We talked of all that it frivolous, expecting the train to arrive and break that conversation soon. The piles of luggage around us increased. The infant cries multiplied. And there was no sign of the train coming. Occasionally the usual rumour-brigade bobbed their heads and picked up their luggage which made others to breathe a sigh of relief because of arrival of the train, but that wasn't true. The clock ticked by..... and soon we were nearing 12:00AM, already half-an hour over the time at which train was supposed to move, and us being on the platform for the past 1 hr.

I quarelled with my father over why he forced us to come here so early, for he had known the great Indian Railways for the last 60yrs. Both sides presented frustrated views, and got into an argument, which subsided after our energy levels were faint. Still no sign of the train.

This forced me to do some calculations. Considering all Indian families are like this, which they are, overcautious, they end up on the platform a good 1/2hr or 1hr before the train departs. Add to that the time when train comes late, which is almost everytime, it adds at least 15mts to their wait. So that makes up about a quarter of an hour to a full one every person. Multiply that by crowds arriving here every hour in counts of lakhs (10lakhs = 1 million). Multiply that by 24. And you get the hrs wasted in human life daily. Multiply that further with the major population hubs where same happens and you get a scary number for sure. Hundred or thousands of lives in human hours are wasted each day at the station itself.

I coined the term "gram-hysteria" to associate with Indian population. They like to waste time, calling it precautionary. Trying to be conservative they end up being wasteful. Still they repeat it again and again and again. And grams and groundnuts, being the favorite timepass snacks of the multitude accompany them everywhere. Its like they like whiling/wiling away time doing nothing useful. This attitude is damn contagious. So we end up with everyone infected with the gram-hysteria in every field.

After all the crap we talked about, and all the points I emphasized to my parents about slackness of India as a whole, the train arrived, 40mts late from scheduled time. It slowly backed on the tracks. We passed the usual smile. But the entertainment was far from over. People piled up like luggage on top of each other at the door of "Unreserved" compartments. It was chaotic. Those who missed one would end up sleeping on the floors or missing the train itself. I saw people being crushed under the force of 10 others on top. There was shouting and jostling, both sexes included for entry in the "Unreserved" compartment. Luckily my mother already had a confirmed reservation.
It was easy to look for the right coach and seat, and once in I found that my mother had good company with other ladies of comparable decency around. Wishing goodbyes, I left the station with my father. He commented that 40 yrs from now, he was a part of the crowd filling up in the "Unreserved". Ah! I feel nothing compared to that.

I got to drive back to home again. Whew! surreal experience.

Saturday, August 21, 2004

Recrudescence of "it"

I decided to sleep with cooler on, and shirt off tonite. Seems out, bad idea. My mind was engulfed with scary and philosophical dreams, featuring many of my old amigos. I can't recall (i sure don't like to), but its scenarios were such that I felt ashamed and sad at same time. It ended, with me feeling like a lunatic. I think it was bcoz of the stimulous of coool air. So I ended up waking up at 3am, turned off the cooler, wore my shirt, and listened to some good music. Those hellish mares almost mad me "Crawl in fetal position and whimper".

Shrug it off! Shrug it off! Shrug it off! Shrug it off! Shrug it off!

Opinion

"If I want your opinion, I'll give you mine."

My college isn't that bad either. It has colossal bldg(tho unfinished), resturant-style restrooms, library with subscription of every PC mag and multitude of books on subjects taught, elevator in work, good teachers except for 1 (physics). Apart from that, its only an yr old, which means seniors are just 1yr or not at all elder to me. They're pretty dumb too, so I guess I could take a permanent place in library and computer labs after I get my ID card in few days.

Boom

I'd been reeeeeeealy busy with college. Its the starting of a new second life for me. Turns out I should not be eggzaktly that exceited abt it too. Even tho it boasts of good features, what it lacks is a superior guide for me. I couldn't find a single like-minded person. There are no girls in the class.

Other than that, I've been confused as to what sleepin schedule I adopt. 11-6 or 1-8? Both have their own side-effects.
To reduce my 24-7 snoring in the classroom, I already have switched to fruits than that greasy omlette in morning.

Friday, August 06, 2004

Indian Flab

India is one lucky country. Without its cleverly planned transportation services, and designing and construction of the roads, we would've had the highest average weight figures. All the praise goes to the community effort.
Indians, as known are dull people when it comes to conditioning yourself physically. They don't care if sihouette of their muscles peek out of their shirts or not. Sure, their hormones rage wildly too on sighting a lad or lassie. But even that isn't enough to make them determined enough to prepare a body to adore. See, thats how lazy we Indians are, including me.
Even though our ancient cultures have emphasized the aesthetics of body in every book and carvings, it "ancient" now. The proponents of fitness have obviously been bitten by the western bug. Otherwise in India, one's family backgroud is measured by the size of his tummy. The more perfect it is towards being a cirle, the more of a magnate he is. People here follow the rotten doctrine of "The more empoverished one is, the thinner he is. The successful ones are full."
Now, back to the main point. Common transport is India's saving grace. Even if you are in the least mood to stress yourself, you're sure to end up like a sweating pig on a humid day. Once you're inside the buses, you'll be first receiving warm up, then main matchup against the ruthless enemy in middle of the bus, then some massaging once you've captured a comfortable place to stand, and that is followed by another session of sugar rush as you try to make your exit through protruding butts, bags, suitcases, cricket kits, utensils, etc. And once you're down, you again have to run to catch the next one (usually).
This combined effort leads to all round fitness. The paunch still protrudes to some extent due to excess of fat accumulation which Indians can't get rid of that easily. Only deep fried food sells here.
And yes, the process working remains same, nowhere in which part of the country you are. Modes of travel might be different, but end results are very satisfying.

All's well that works well. So let's all give a big round of applause to the largest nationwide collaborative effort which goes on despite being unawarded for.

Yippee!!

These days have been really sad. All the buses I've recently boarded have been empty. I get a seat easily, reach my destination, then get off. It just so plain boring. Previously every Indian bus trip of yours became a subject of interest among the group. The struggle, the quarrels, the emotion, the ruthless hunt for seats. It used to be so challenging. But alas, its had been drab for the past few months. I almost decided to resort to drugs to bring up some cheer in life ;-)
And today, I came down a radiant face from the bus. Because I found the good ol' Indian archaicness back during my bus trip. It was exhausting! You just couldn't act like the humble humanitarian once you're inside the bus. You need to have the nimbleness of a ballerina and flexibility of a gymnast to ride in a "truly Indian" public transport. I had to stand on one toe during the whole ride, and hang on the bars above to maintain my balance. Three more people-width to the left, and I would have had to hang on the sidebars of the bus entrance. There was a huge vegetable sack right next to me, which forced me to stand bending myself 45 degrees sideways. And I could smell the whole kitchen there and then itself.
Why need to spend gazillions on researches, when Darwanian Theory is proved in this 20 minute ride. Just tell me, What could be a better example of "survival of the fittest"? If you're weak, you're not in the circle. You either have to be mentally strong, physically strong, or verbally strong to book your place. Just like nature selects those with most survival instincts, same here.

Tale of profound emotions

While completing the final formalities for my admission, I was asked to sit down while they slowly performed the issuing of my College Admission Card. So I did. And it was next to the guard, a 6-ish feet man, dark complexion and not very aggressive looking. I decided to start a conversation with him, and started by asking about the rifle he was holding. And I think I extracted enough info from him to tease my mind for next few days.
The guy was from a rural village. He, apparently was an important figure in the local village authority. In India, you have Panchayati Raj in rural areas. Under that, each village selects its representative, or the "Sarpanch" from among themselves. He takes care of workings of his/her(its mostly male) village. A community of people gathers at a designated place regularly in case of development proposals, acts of misconduct by certain group, festivals, or just some nice chitchatter. An aggreagation of Sarpanch from all the villages holds regular meetings with the government-appointed head of the district to discuss the activities and request for reforms. You get the working now.
So, the guard told me he had served jail for 9 months for being an apprentice in the murders committed in his village. All the movie scripts, where I had seen such events rushed back and forth in my head.My mind instantly came out with different plots under which he could have done this, usually him being a raging maniac. By his story was very touching. He told me, in a low voice: "I was forced to resort to colour my hands with human blood. I had seen the gruesome death of my friends in front of my eyes. I had seen their burnt houses. When they put a gun to my head, me being one of many in the center of the circle of gun-wielding landlord's minions, I had begged for mine and my family and friends' lives. I fell on the feet of the landlord, his wife, his sons, but to no avail. Their perverse desires couldn't be stopped. I and other people decided to fight back, and had to kill to stop the killing. Then police came and jailed me. They ordered me to stay of my village for an indefinite time period."
It was apparent that he had been a part of some massacare, which usually goes unnoticed in the media because of lack of sources. The rich still have big hand in everything regarding their village, almost as if they are kings. And when they feel their grip is slowly getting loose, they resort to such acts to remind the poor farmer of their power. The landlord system was abolished long time ago in India, but not all abide by it, even now.
He told me further, that he had no intentions of serving as a bodyguard as it involoved lots of feet-licking of the incumbent. He had already threatened his secutiry company employer once that if he treats him like trash, he'd have no hesitation in making a hole through his head. I'd say thats the way to establish yourself as a brave, self-respecting individual if anybody soils your ego. He was planning to go back to his village to his family in near future and start a better life.
All my luck to him. By the time our conversation had finished, my name was called by the office peon, and I walked out with my admission slip, and said to him "Monday ko milte hain" ("see you on monday"), to which he replied back with a pleasing smile.

And I'm back in business

I finally avoided the hurdle, and got admission, finally in college. Had to get ready early, and go to the bank with ma. Then a hour long process of obtaining a draft for my college. The bank is really busy in the morning.
But how can I complete something without error? Thats just not the true programmer's way. Keeping that in context, I forgot some of my certificates, and some photographs, which I'll have to give later. Before I was rushing for the admission, just outside the college gate, I met 3 seniors sitting on their bikes. They sensed I was a fresher, and asked me to stand in the center, and were expecting some good ragging. But other than the fact that I'm utterly boring to the social man, I was in haste, so I asked them to excuse me, which they obliged. Thank GOD! If I would've given myself in hands of those asses, I would've returned pulp back home. Because I hate that (Haryanavi) culture for their attitude of fake machoism, derogatory fun, and jerking 24/7.
Now I wait for 9th, coz I might just be able to skip to a better college or course then. My classes would start only after that, so its a relaxing 3 days for me now.

Thursday, August 05, 2004

India's getting degraded

If you go by the TV ratings, the kind of programs Indian household are most "into" are the ones that give us intuition that Indian society is going towards self destruction.

Their basic theme is same: One girl with purity and decision making abilities of god. Limp men. Other girls who come out good but end up on side of evil. Rift between ladies and their mother-in-law. And yes, there is always a group of vamps plotting destruction .

Basically, its the good-ol western catfight theme. Nothing else, honestly. They make ludicrous scripts, and senile attempts to bring the show back on track, but fails everytime, and in that gathers more dead people as viewers. They are on equal crap-scale as the western family soaps.

I tell you, you let this continue, and kids are going to grow up PIGS! Scorn such serials. Put their directors and producers in jail.

I'll be missing the revolution

Doom III is out. Its the biggest thing to happen to gaming market ever, on expectation basis. And seems like it keeps well ahead from its mark. People quote it to be the closest game to touch the line of brillinace in all aspects: gameplay, graphics, sound, efficient coding.

And poor me, would be missing the first, or even the second wave. FOr my FX5900Ultra is out for repairs. And doesn't seem to come back to me by mid-September. I'm stuck with a GeF2 now. That old hag can't even play many of today's games.

Curse Luck. Curse Luck. Curse Luck. Repeat.

My vocab skills have come to a dead-end

I've pondered about the question for long time: Why am I not able to grasp anything related to the language lately?
Any new words, ephemerally in the memory, and then gone. Any new expressions, same. Where's that etymological humger and zest for enunciation in me subsided?

It looks as if I have been another victim of youth-senility, where your mind stops flow of information at very early age, usually which happens after you are a happy grandparent.

Mnemisis: It works

Tried a little of mnemisis today. Tutorials obtained over mIRC. And it works quite well. The approach asks you to implement all senses to associate to an object rather than just memorizing.

I was able to remember all 45 counties of England, from New Yorkshire to Tyne&Wear. If any more of em have popped up, thats none of my fault. The webpage only listed this many.
Its more amazing because being frm India, I had never heard about most of them earlier. Moreover, I can recall them in descending order of their sizes. Yea!!

I did it in under an hour. Now I have placed a bet with my brother that if he can remeber even 35 of these in 48 hrs, I would give him a treat. I just don't think he'd be able to do so.

I'm officially out of college. Now me planning country takeover.

Today I went to my college to find that if I don't do something in the next 24 hrs, my college 1st year seat would be marked as "empty". And complete blame on the college bastards.
When I came to visit it a week ago with my parents, they told me I could submit my fee later, facing a small fine. But now that idiot is sitting in his cubicle, arguing that if I don't do it till 5th Aug, I'm out. Problem escalates because currently my father is out of country, coming back in next week.
Not even a plea to the Director of the college helped. Those insensitive slobs! I'd seriously keep them for amusement and to be mocked at when I become India's King after a shocking coup. Make them dress in colorful leaves and dance on stage to entertain my people.
Would have to work some way out of this swamp now.....

Tuesday, August 03, 2004

Ghosts and Supernatual Phenomenon

Bah! Humbug. Same as Scrooge would say. I wouldn't bet a paise over existence of supernatural. Even though I wished there was, being a big fan of LOTR. How in the world would you come to such a conclusion. I may not be a big scientist to adopt that outlook, but I'm sane. And considering that nobody who profess their existence have actually seen it (other than dreams, from where most of their fears stem), they have to be crazy. In India, its the easiest way for priests to extract moolah from the superstitious crowd next door. People blame all their bad luck on evil spirits, when in reality they give all their money to these fakes to ward off those spirits.

Meanwhile, I have some great supernatual tales for the interested ones too. Would keep posting them when have good time in hand.

The kid with golden touch

He was the "thing" in my school when it came to computers. At a small age, his knowledge surpassed that of our computer teachers, and his logic could let an adult down. I don't know much about the past, but he must've won a lots of prizes in computers, seeing the respect senior grade teachers had for him.
We became friends when we represented our schools in competitions. He was two years younger to me, still had infinite knowledge about computers (not just programming, everything) than me. Told me he had bought his PSII from money he made by coding over net, at 15, when i was getting familiar to turning the PC on. And he was planning to mod his other hardware too.
I don't have a clue, but when I was around, I never saw him winning any medals. Hope I was not Jinxing him. Still I never doubted his knowledge. But I couldn't relate the cause for failure.
And now he's in last year of his school, preparing for SAT, and his aim is to make it to the MIT. I wish the very best to him.

My gradual rise in world of binary

I remember first time I used a computer. 1997, at a typist's place, writing my name on Paint, and jumping with joy.
And my father brought a PC in 1998. He, actually had it in mind since a long time, ever since his trip to England, where he saw how omnipresent the device had become, almost comparable to God over there.
In India, nothing much. Nobody still recognized its use. They found it'd corrupt their children with illegal content, hence families usually never invested in it. As you know, the news of misuse succeds that of productivity by miles. But my father knew its uses, and after months of planning got it after summer vacations. It was joy time for me!!
But I was computer illeterate. When my computer vendor asked what I'd like to have in it, I said give me some games, some multimedia, and thats it. I knew nothing much. And I found the right click that used to bring display panel for screensavers, backgrounds, etc a month after compu was installed. It was a miraculous discovery for me. I kept taking tidbits of info from friends about what device prices were, and troubling them with names of dll files my computer couldn't find, when a simple install of DirectX would've solved it. And time passed. I grew. I did nothing much for 2 years, others than getting familiar to games, windows, and smut.

It all changed when my friend was discussing computer languages with others when I was in Xth. He said C++ is a big language, and it takes yrs to master it. I argued and ended up betting I could do it in an year. The same day I brought a book on it, without having any info on any title or author. I sifted thru the pages, and kept the book in the shelf. It started str8away with concept of OOP.

After a few months, I installed a HTML edting software from a mag just out of curiosity. I ran it, and from the menus was able to put a picture on the page, with some background music. Thrilled!! I took a look at the code, the tags, and consulted a friend who already was a MCP (and he proudly flaunted it in school). He didn't help much. Just challenged me to throw up some tag names, which I did, even tho in unorthodox pronounciation. But I continued, and looked up for material over the net. Found loads of it, and came grow good at HTML. A little CSS accompanied.

I really took up C++ when I was in 11th, and it was mandatory in the course. I brought beginner level books ,and read thru the history, the principles, the working of it as fast as I could. And soon I was competing among the best in class. But it wasn't my meagre knowledge of C++ that put me in eyes of my teachers, it was Flash. After I won some competitions, the goaded me to gain more skills in C++. In 11th, I won in Flash and HTML events, and learned in programming ones. 12th was really good for me. I learned C++ a lot. I won many events, in Flash, C++, Web Designing and Gaming. The kid teachers used to send in other team, whom they considered had a golden touch, came down like rock, winning nothing the whole year. But I still consider him more skilled and logical than I am. He plans for MIT thru SAT now.

And then came an easy year of college. I still was nowhere near to geek. I didn't even know properly what a Graphics Card was, what Linux really was and what DDR meant. Soon I took up to living hours over the net, searching for info and new sites. I left my liking for sleaze. And that really really helped (and also got me loads of scolding for heavy dialup bills). I truly felt ecstasic when a conversation about computers popped up among the illeterate as well as literate majority. And thatadded to lots of victories in quizzes, programming, gaming, web designing, multimedia competitions. Becasue I knew much more. But I never did it for glamour purposes.

I am a novice in the field, still under training from the gods of the net. And my aim is still far far ahead. But don't underestimate this determined soul.

In the news: An army of 50 cloned Vidrohis more threatening than an MNC

If you read my previous posts, you would kno that I am continuously in search for breaking my own record for damaging most number of HDs in least time, esp. under very good conditions. By not even attempting perform anything evil, evil still has befriended me. All my friends are left frozen when I tell them my tales of hardware carnage. Several HDs, gamepads, RAMs, Headphones, UPS, FDD, Speakers, 5900Ultra Graphics Card (for which I'm still sulking). And even after that, I'm foremost in their list of friends they turn to for help (softwares or hardwares).

Just put me in a cloning machine, and hand me with lots of money, and lots of components with warranties, I'll make their Intl centres in India close down.

Horrible setting of events, wonderful conclusion

I cheerfully woke up expecting to go for some joggin with friend prior to my first day at college. Found out it was raining outside (even tho it rained 1st time after 4 mnths, it was unwelcome frm my side. why'd it hav to be today??). That ruined all my hopes of shedding 0.02" of waist for the day. After that a long period of slackness, followed by rush to my new second-home(college). Found out today was an empty day. Just some paltry talk with the management, and enquiries abt how my year would be, and that was it. Came back home sweating like a pig due to all the moisture in air today.

But the worst was to come in 2nd half. I had a nice time till 5PM. Played soccer in the rain outside, ate lots of fruits, fragged some purposeless souls, Simpsons. And as night great, I came back to my love interest, the PC. While I was working on it, a sudden fluctuation, and it turned off. I has removed the UPS bcoz it was giving problems. Turns out, BAD MISTAKE! SHOULD'VE GOT IT FIXED TODAY ITSELF. So next time I boot up, it says it is having prob with a file, and won't even show the booting screen. No method seemed ot work. I hastily turn up at my friend's to disrupt his dinner and connect my HD with his PC. Did all that could do. To no avail. I come back home, with sullen face, like I just lost a comrade, KIA. Then I decided to do run scandisk thoroughly using bootup floppy.
Meanwhile, my parents asked me and my brother if we'd like to order some dinner. We finally agreed to a food joint, turns out we dialled to a jerk who was just having fun with our order. Hence, wrong num for 1st place. So I call up the 2nd place. Turns out, that was the num for 1st one. I call them back, it says their chain exists only places very very far from whre I live. That was gone too. So I called the last place, and turned out nobody was responding. Bad omen. I became tense over the unlucky instances happening in the past few hrs. I explained to my brother that the supreme powers don't want us to taste delightful treats today. But he insisted I call up a friend to ask the number. So I did. He only had number for the last choice of joint.

By the time that ended, my HDD scan was finished. It threw up a bad sector (ah, to my pity, this would be 4th time in 9 months I'll have to go back to replace the HDD) message. I had saved the erronous file somewhere else, so I replaced it back (working copy), and then Windows started, checked disk thoroughly, and spit out that I had 16KB in badsectors. But my account came back normal. Ah!
And we dialled the number my friend gave to me, and it worked. We placed order for some really satisfying food. MMMMMMMMMM

Finally it all came back to normal.

Monday, August 02, 2004

Gods come home. Finally.

Delhi, the capital of India, where my abode is, had been declared drought-hit area this year. Strange, because this came right after it received record-breaking rainfall last year, giving all the residents of Delhi, and all the farmers in surrounding states a state of elation.
Today, right now (5:30AM), outside, is the first time it has rained this summer. Ah! the scent of wet earth is just intoxicating. My soul seems regenerated. The nature and I reveling in the change of skies.
I wandered around outside, finding that nobody had woken up from their sleep, after watching India go down to a defeat in the finals of Asia Cup (cricket) last night. Anyways, I had some quality time outside, even though people usually advise to avoid the first showers of the season. Lets hope the weather gods show more mercy on us in the coming days and give us some overwhelming weather!

Thats my future knocking

Today is the first day of my college. I was in a better college (popularitywise) before, but had to leave it because of the course choices. A 4yr course in my new one would definitely benifit over 3yr one in my earlier college. Apart from that, the standards I felt of previous college and the University they were affiliated to is awful, even though it is considered to be best in India, and one of the colleges under it is ranked among top 15 on planet.
I would have to lose a precious year tho, but I don't regret it as what I learnt in that year has changed me a lot, and none of it is going out of this little brain now.

Paradoxical Situation: Two weeks ago, I was ragging (process of getting familiar with the seniors by introducing yourself and doing all the insane things seniors ask you to do) my juniors in my previous college. Today, I'll be walking on the footsteps of my new college expecting the same.
I just hope I don't lose my mind, and my egotist aspect doesn't show up there, or I'm going to face their wrath in the coming year.

Would tell you where I reach after 4 yrs from now.

Sunday, August 01, 2004

Back to my good 'ol self!

Yesterday was quite a shock to me. Amazingly, I woke up at 4:50AM, I probed the net for a while, then went joggin for 3kms with a friend and excercised too. Came back to a healthy breakfast of fruits and curd. That was topped up by a nice ebook session for a few hours, then football in the evening. Whoa! All this attention to my physical self in a day. If I could continue it, I'd be reborn in a week.
And along came Sunday. I woke up early, but due to my friend's absence, missed the jogging and excercising. Have been sitting in front of the PC for the past 3 hrs. Wonder what good that would do to me? Even sitting and typing burn calories. Lets hope its just enough.

Saturday, July 31, 2004

Final day of my vehicular training

The required 15-day period, for which they (driving school ppl) were supposed to teach me to handle all thats about gears and more is going to be over today. I'm at distress because the person who teaches me is a total jackass. He's more of the talkative type than imparting me some real knowledge about the 4-wheeled minions (the car he lets me drive is an old model of Maruti Suzuki).
If I even touch 40 (yes, thats 40 kmph my friends, or roughly 25 miles), he starts his ranting about how badly I am driving and that I shd keep it slow. Point is, how slow??? If i'm going to be on the road, that speed is nothing. You are here to encourage me! Not to despise me enough so as to make me nervous. I tell you, next time I'm going to go Postal if I hear any of that. My all NFS experience has taught me better than your classes. I might try some of that NFS skills on the road too...
yea! that'd be some good family entertainment (when the whole family in opposite car would be in hospital because of the collision)!!!!!

Future planning and me

Performing tasks, keeping long-distance future in the mind never pays me any dividends. My life is somewhat dynamic than others' normal one. I cannot possibly take the risk of doing thing A in order to have thing B happen to me. Because between that, I might trail anywhere. My ideas keep changing, plans keep changing, interests keep changing and I don't find it vaild that you could only reach your destiny through predetermined and preset milestones. To approach an object, there are a infinte directions. If you think you can reach your home in the mountains only by road, you're so wrong. Moreover, who knows, that my transient interests and attitude might actually take me ahead my own aim so that i'd have to return towards it when i find some free time!!