Anatomy of a (former)Chat Addict

Chat Addict - That's the nick name some ppl gave me. I have to admit that they were right to some extent. Some ppl say I still am but I know I have cut down a lot.
Reasons: Work pressure, Realization that I m wasting their time as well and bringing down the productivity of India as a whole or that my lead caught on the fact. Take ur pick

For chat addicts, the gchat feature was a boon. Yahoo doesnt come with an integrated chat & mail client feature and the chat msgs sent by someone just pop up out of the blue on the screen. As Murphy's Law goes, the msgs would pop up at the worst moment like when the lead is at ur desk and someone pings u "Cant believe that a lazy ass like u could be working". Agreed it could be a lot worse like "Heard ur lead is a jerk" but this one was bad enough.

Sometimes, u end up having totally arbit chats with friends. Like in a chat, the two of us started to come up with Hindi names for superheroes.

Superman = MahaMard
Spiderman = MakdiMard
Spiderman 2 = MakdiMard Dwitiya
Batman = BallaManav
Birdman = Chidimard
X-Men = Kaunmard

Another unusual thing was that because of my name, some random guy would pick up my id from somewhere, think of me as a girl and start eflirting. Well, if the guy is that foolish, I deserve to have some fun at his expense. Those 1 hr chats r the most fun ever. I still laugh when I go thru those chats in my chat history.

Having cut down on chats, I took the liberty to sit back and observe the status msgs displayed by various friends in the chat list.

The most common ones were lyrics from famous songs with Pink Floyd being the most popular. Comfortably Numb, Comfortably Dumb, We Dont Need No Education (status msg of student with exams arnd the corner) and a few more.

One friend went for shayaari status msg:
- Dil jit le wo jigar hum bhi rakhte hai..katl kar de wo nazar hum bhi rakhte hai..Wada kiya hai kisi ko hamesha muskurane ka, varna aankhon mein samandar hum bhi rakhte hai..

- Rabba mein itna bura nahin hota, agar tu bewafa nahin hota

Another popular category was that of ppl sharing their life experiences or just picking up quotes on life by someone

- Realize things before its too late. Have lots of friends before you are alone. Accept things rather than deny them. Love people before you lose them. Life comes just once. Love it while you live it.

- Friendship is not about how you forget but how you forgive. Not how you listen but how you understand. Not how you see but how you feel. Not how you let go but how you hold on.

- Perhaps the easiest way to lose something is to want it too badly

- Everything looks amazing when viewed from a distance, its the closeness to any place, situation, person or event that reveals its true ugliness, hopelessness, despondency or hypocrisy

- if only the doors of perceptions were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is...infinite

- It is better to fail in originality than succeed in imitation

Some words on deadlines

- Deadlines r like horizons. Look beautiful from a distance but trying to meet them is impossible

- Deadlines r like monsters who look like innocent children from a distance

But my personal favourite category would be cheeky, humorous status msgs

- I slept & dreamt that life was beauty. I woke up & found that life was duty

- Coming to office on Mondays is bad. Coming to office on Mondays with lots of work is worse.

- Intelligence chases me but I m faster.

- Booze is the answer. I forgot the question

- A man got 2 wishes from GOD. He asked for the Best wine and Best Woman. The next instant, he got the Best Wine and Mother Teresa next to him. Moral of the story : Be Specific

- Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names

My Second Fav status msg till now: If electricity comes from electrons.... does morality come from morons?

And the best one so far: FREE TUTORIALS on "How to SCREW an easy exam paper ?" ... Services open ... 24*7*365 ...

The usual stuff:
Watched Casino Royale on Sun. Surprisingly, Daniel Craig looked good as Bond. The story is a prequel i.e. James Bond doesnt have 007 status at the beginning of the movie. Apart from half an hr of stretched love story of Bond (which is the norm this yr for superhero stories - Remember Superman Returns), the movie was good.

Wanted to see Dhoom 2 this weekend. But all tkts for the weekend were booked on Mon. A week without a movie.

Went bonkers in Blossoms- a book store in Bangalore. Wanted to buy 10 books but decided on 6. Convinced my friend to buy 3 of them. But with loads of work, no reading for now.

RM win in La Liga but draw in CL. RM is having an average season at home. Hope it gets better with time. Real Madrid take on Valencia on Sun, cant wait.

Officially Engineer now.

Warning: This post might not be the usual post like the one on Murphy's Law or the previous post on Dentists. Instead, it might oscillate between philosophical to senti stuff.

Convocation- The culmination of a dream. Maybe the first real dream I had - To become a Computer Science Engineer from an IIT. Seems just like yesterday that I was at bansal's trying to remember the colour of fumes in chromyl chloride test and today, I am trying to get my code to work by any possible way.

But between that yesterday and this today, are the four years at IIT Roorkee. The highlights of those 4 yrs would be - the terror of ragging in the 1st semester, the false allegation of being the ragger in the 3rd semester, winning the bplan contest in 4th, Starting Chaos 2005 in 6th semester, the pressures of getting a job in 7th semester and establishing an Entrepreneurship Cell in the 8th semester.
These highlights were punctuated by seemingly never ending tests, quizzes & practicals. As I have quoted before "Experiences can be bitter but memories are always sweet"

After receiving the degree and coming back to Bangalore, I didnt feel the same elation that should come with the completion of the dream. Maybe this was one of those destinations where the journey was more exhilarating than the destination itself. In any case, I have to start looking for new objectives, new dreams. For too long, being a graduate was the only thing on the horizon. Convocation was the symbol to get over it and start moving ahead.

Alrite, enuff of the senti, philosophical stuff. Back to the usual updates.

Real Madrid beat Barca convincingly and I gloated to every Barca fan on chats, mails & SMS. 2 matches l8r Real Madrid lost at home to Celta Vigo and my inbox got full bcoz all Barca fans I had gloated to had the opportunity to get back at me.
|Sigh| Some people just cant use the opportunity to being the better ones by not gloating.

Schumi retired after this year's F1. Lost to Alonso but drove an amazing final race. Showed everyone who is the king. The media is divided with debates abt him trying to win at all costs, him being the flawed genius blah blah. Alrite just one question- Give an honest answer to whether you would have done the same thing or not, if u were in his situation. Schumi was not a superman although he certainly drove like one. Without him, F1 will never be the same.

Have been downloading lots of stuff lately. Podcasts, Movies, Movie OSTs, TV Serials and Documentaries. Just dont miss "The Departed" at any costs. Ranks right at the top with Scorsese's best. Dhoom 2 releasing this weekend. Some idiot already mailed me the suspense. Now I am in a moral dilemma whether to tell it to u ppl and spoil ur movie too or not.

Another Monday. Monday is the worst day especially if u r back from a holiday. The cartoon below captures perfectly what I plan to do every Monday but dont. Something stops me. Maybe my goodness or the knowledge that I will be able to use it only once (Cant have a virus on my PC every Monday. Not even the IT guys r that foolish). Saving it for when I need it the most.

Dentists

The unfortunate accident I had resulted in me requiring Root Canal Surgery and quite a few visits to a dentist. Now this wasnt the first time I was visiting a dentist but somehow Dentists scare me more than say Heart Specialists. The reason is simple:

Doctors use tools like scalpel which inspite of being dangerous looks elegant. However, dentists use tools which resemble more like tools from a carpenter's workshop.
When doctors operate upon a patient, the patient is in a sedated state. He cannot hear or see what's going.
In the case of a dentist, well firstly the injection in gums hurts like hell. After that u c the tools of terror like miniature saws, drills at work. One can close his eyes but can do nothing about the sounds of these tools at work which resemble a constuction site. The difference is that you know that the construction site is your mouth this time.

All said and done. The dentist was a very experienced one and didnt give up inspite of all my tantrums (although the bill told my the reason behind this). Glad to put it all behind me.

Planned a Goa trip on the 3-day weekend. Tried to take everyone I know but ppl didnt confirm till the last moment. Last moment, everyone else refused and we 3 who started the project were the only ones left. As we were waiting for others to confirm, all buses & trains got booked. So the trip is in jeopardy now. Seems like first mover disadvantage to me.It is so tough to ask ppl to relax and have a good time.

On the other hand, saw lots of movies. Pyaar ke side effects is a wonderful movie. Watch to know what guys have to suffer. Miami Vice, Bas Ek Pal can be left unless you have lots of time to waste.

Soccer season gets off to a gr8 start. RM joint leaders with Barca in La Liga. The defence looks solid with only one goal so far. But not celebrating yet. Knowing RM, they can go from extraordinary to ordinary in mins and the season has only begun. But now I dont have to take all those barbs from my other soccer fans. This is a new feeling after the past 2 seasons. Lets c how long it will last.

Goodbye Andre!

Tennis is different from most other games in respect that its an individual sport. In soccer, players might retire but the club is always there. Hence, whenever a tennis player retires, a void is created which takes some time to fill.

Last night, there were three of us watching Agassi v/s Becker in US Open. Agassi was 2 set down and was playing what would be the last match of his career. The whole stadium, in fact I think every Tennis follower was willing Agassi to win but it was not to be. No more Andre Agassi in action from now on.

First of all, I'll confess that I was never a die-hard Andre Agassi fan. Firstly, it was Pete Sampras
and now its Federer who rules in that respect.

But somehow its hard not to like Andre Agassi. The perennial underdog, firstly against Pete Sampras and then against Federer. The guy who has done it all & won everything in Tennis. A career spanning more than 20 yrs.

Sampras v/s Agassi was the rivalry of the last decade. It was fitting that they played against each other in the 2002 US Open finals after which Pete retired. Just two quotes that capture Agassi like none other

Pete Sampras:
"He's made me a better player. He's brought moments to my career that are like Borg and McEnroe. Those guys needed each other. I've needed Andre over the course of my career. He's pushed me. You know, he's forced me to add things to my game. He's the only guy that was able to do that. He's the best I've played."

Unknown:
"Agassi has known it all, the victories, the decline, the renaissance and victory again. His path through tennis is symbolic of life."

Just a thought from Sid. With the kind of genes that the children of Agassi & Steffi have, who will have a chance in front of them ?

Zidane gone. Agassi gone. There r rumors that next yr even Schumi might retire. Have to look for so many new idols.

Just an ending note. Saw "Lagey raho Munnabhai". Its an exception to the Law of Sequels. Even better than Munnabhai MBBS. We were laughing so loudly that the lady next to us requested us to tone it down so she could hear the dialogues. Munna and Circuit surely make it to Bollywood Hall of Fame. Cant think of any character other than Anand that I loved so much. Hope the series continues forever.

Sad but True

It has been a long time since my last post. The reason not being that there is a dearth of stuff but various factors. A major factor was as soon as I started writing, one or other of my friends would pop up on some messenger.

Another factor was the fact that I had an accident. Not one involoving automobiles but a mishap. Two weeks ago, I fell into a ditch while coming from office. Dark nite, no streetlights and open ditches. Makes me wonder how can India still be the second most populous country worldwide.

Coming back to the mishap, well the ditch was abt 10 feet but thankfully was filled with water upto waist height. And my friends had to pull me out. I had a few injuries, the major one being on chin requiring stitches but otherwise in one piece.

Just one observation. Quite a few auto rickshaws passed the scene but none had the time to wait and help. If the same case would have happened in Bombay or Delhi, there would be a crowd ready to help. Guess, one more reason to hate the rickshaw drivers.

On and on these have been a very sad 20 days. To top it, the last two days have been even worse. Hrishikesh Mukherjee, my all time favourite movie director passed away. I dont think I have still seen a movie which touched me like 'Anand'. Dialogues like

'Zindagi badi honi chahiye babu mushay, lambi nahin'

and the last scene when Amitabh is shouting 'Baatein karo mujhse, Baatein karo mujhse' still gives me goosebumps even after seeing it an infinite number of times.

Hrishi Da will always be immortal through 'Anand' and other timeless movies.

On Sunday, Schumi lost to Alonso, Real Madrid drew and Barca win. The worse possible results for someone like me.

One bright thought-Life can only get better than here. It certainly cant get any worse (atleast I am hoping it doesnt)

Tags

Tagged. I was thinking of writing a blog on podcasts and online puzzles but got tagged by Sid. Maybe later.

Although I believe in that blogs are ur own personal space but tags are a good way of knowing more abt other bloggers. So here goes the Tag

I a’m thinking about:
Should I call sick 2morrow and njoy a 5 day weekend ?

I said:
Real Madrid is going to win a trophy this season (I have said this every yr for the past III yrs too)

I want to:
Study Law someday.

I wish:
that college life would have never ended

I hear:
Maiden, Metallica, Pink Floyd and Movie OSTs

I wonder:
what will happen to Voldemort at the end of VII book

I regret:
Nothing

I am:
a Pisces

I dance:
Err does headbanging come under this category ?

I sing:
when I m listening music on my iPod

I cry:
When grown ups waste their time watching the Saas Bahu soaps

I a’m not always:
Sarcastic

I make with my hands:
Abstract figures when I have nothing else to do

I write:
what I think

I confuse:
waiters and visitors at a restaurant
friends and foes

I need:
a friend arnd to talk to

Now, keeping with the tradition, I have to pick up a few ppl and tag them to do the same on their blog. Being a supporter of free speech, I am not going to tag neone specifically. However, all the fellow bloggers who read this are requested to do this as I would love to know more abt them. Consider urself Tagged

Saw Omkaara the last weekend. Othello is my III fav Shakespeare play behind Julius Caesar and Macbeth. Movie would have been another sad love story if not for Saif. Never thought neone could take the spotlight away from Ajay Devgan's performance but its only the character of Langda Tyaagi that stays with you after the movie.

Kudos to Saif for making the role of Lago his own. Everything abt him is perfect - The reptilian smile, the scheming eyes and the wicked grin. Every actor has a role that defines his career.
Marlon Brando had Don Corleone,
Amitabh Bacchan had Vijay Verma (in Deewar),
Jackie Shroff had Gardish,
Rajesh Khanna had Anand

and now Saif has Langda Tyagi .

The i-Ching

Murphy's Law. The sole universal truth. Someday, Einstein's theory of relativity might turn out to be wrong, 2+2 might not make 4 but there wont be a day when Murphy's Law would be proved false.

I have already devoted a post or two to Murphy's Law. But for the uninitiated, I'll restate the original law:
Murphy's Law
If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong at the worst possible time and in the worst possible sequence.

This is the original law for which Murphy won the Lifetime Ig nobel last year(Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ig_Nobel_Prize to understand its significance). Over the years, many more laws have been derieved from it. My favourite one being:
If everything in life is coming ur way, you are in the wrong lane
The complete list of such quotes is available through various books (worth purchasing) and maybe even online.

Over the years, Murphy's Law has been omnipresent in my life. It stays with me, even in Bangalore. Hence, I came up with my own versions of Murphy's Law.

Rickshaw Reality
The Auto Driver Law- If a rickshaw driver is charging you 100/- but u decide to walk for 2km and then take one, the next one will charge you 120/-.

Arrival of the bus you have been waiting for half an hour will be at the time when you board an auto and the driver starts to drive.

Destination Dilemma
Whenever you get lost, the first person you ask for directions will be another techie from out of the town

The first localite will tell you that your destination is 5 mins walk. After walking for half an hour, the second localite will say that the destination is still 3 kms away.

Training Truths
The fresher u feel in the morning, more boring will be the lectures on that day.

The toughest lecture of the week shall coincide with maximum no. of your friends popping up on various messengers.

Whenever you call the trainer to your PC for clarification, a few of your friends will send you msgs on YM for him to see.

Miscellaneous
The day you forget your iPod, Radio Mirchi decides to play 4 Kannada songs and 1 Himesh song during the half an hour cab ride to the office.

The day you make fun of the MD in cafetaria, he will be sitting at the chair immediately behind you.

And finally,
If you want to reply to comments on your blog, the word check will be a 6 letter word with letters merging in & out of each other like warwrt. On other blogs, it will be a 3/4 letter one like cat.

Saw POTC2 on Sun. POTC2 pales in comparison to the POTC (The Law of Sequels). The major difference being that POTC was a fun movie while the second is a more serious one. Captain Jack doesn't dominate the screen like in POTC. The presence of lots of slimy creatures acts as a turn off too.

Real Madrid gets Cannavaro, Emerson, Nistelrooy. Now all we need is a solid left-back and a creative attacking midfielder to challenge Barca. Cant wait for La Liga to start. However, no channel is going to show La Liga live. Instead, ESPN Star prefers to telecast the stupid EPL.

Another Ferrari 1-2. Mere 11 pts separate Alonso & Schumi with 6 races left. Go Schumi.

Beginning of another long week. 6 working days !! Seems like some form of Chinese torture.

The Other Side

Times of India reports
"More than half the attacks reported for 2004 were in South Asia, which recorded 327 incidents that resulted in 502 deaths. The bulk of the incidents were reported in the divided Kashmir state claimed by both India and Pakistan. "

The Mumbai bomb blasts being the last one in this series of terror attacks being faced by India. The bomb blasts have resulted in wide criticism of the Governement,the intelligence agencies, comparison with Israel/US etc. Instead of reiterating those things, this post shall try to look at the problem from a different perspective.

As soon as a terrorist attack occurs, comparisons to Israel and USA are the first ones to pop up. Let us take a logical look at these two before reaching any conclusions

Israel -
Surrounded by hostile neighbours, a hawkish Governement ready to take retaliate immediately, unflinching US support but the biggest difference "The neighbours cannot strike back except with more terrorist actions". Hence, Israel is in a perpetual cycle of terrorist attacks and bloody retaliations.

US -
No hostile neighbours, unrivaled military and economic might, ability to spend billions on intelligence operations and continue against international opinion

A hypothetical scenario:
The public outcry after a terrorist attack on India made the Indian Government take action against the terrorist camps situated in PoK (which incidentally, the Indian Government claims to be Indian soil). Against all international opposition, the Indian Governement launches missile attacks and commando operations against the terrorist camps. However, the attacks lead to civilian casualities and public demonstrations against the Govt in PoK. The public anger was further fueled by religious leaders forcing the Governement into action. The result was an all-out conventional war between the neighbours.

I suppose no sane person would want this to happen. I have seen forums and blogs asking Government to take action. Let me ask, what kind of action are we looking for? The only possible action is trying to prevent such attacks from taking place through intelligence operations. Before, someone starts harping abt the failure of Indian intelligence operations, let me ask a question - How many of us seriously think that its next to impossible to place bombs in Mumbai's local trains or in Delhi's buses ? Considering the ease with which this can be achieved on a regular basis (and I dont suppose terrorists have any shortage of resources to carry out this), the following quote surmises the dilemma of an intelligence agent

"Our failures are known, our successes are not"
- Al Pacino, The Recruit

The summary of this being that instead of just blaming the Govt and intelligence agencies, we should take a look at the options available to them.

I am tempted to include the usual info on sports etc but that would spoil the spirit of this post. Maybe next time.

The Weekend of many firsts

"Bahut kuch life mein pehli baar hota hai Mamu"

So goes the quote from Munnabhai MBBS. Well, this weekend was my chance of experiencing quite a few things for the first time.

No weekend, just Saturday
As long as I can remember, Sat was a fun day. In school, it was a half day and in college, it was a holiday. How we used to wait up for that Fri nite in college!!. But working life has different set of rules. During training, we have scheduled tests on Sat. This week was SQL but next week could be tougher than ever, JAVA.

Missing Lunch
After 6 hectic days of working, finally one day of respite-Sun. Even on this day, the guy who comes over for cleaning our apartment didn't let me rest. The door bell rings at exactly 7:30 am. I pull the covers over myself trying to ignore it and hope that someone else wakes up and lets me sleep. But my friends are even lazier than me. Result: I sleep in the afternoon and miss up on lunch. Must be a long time since I didn't eat nething b4 5pm.

Mud incident
We all have seen videos of rash drivers, who love to run through holes filled with rainy water and spraying the people walking around. Well, this was my first time to run into one of them. Me & Sandy had gone out for lunch and a guy in a Maruti 800 sprays us both. I had to suppress my instinct to shout something as ppl here might not understand English/Hindi but they sure know insults in both these languages. Ironically, the same morning I had seen a Michelin video on how next-gen radials would result in reducing the amt of water sprayed by such drivers.

Spelling Bee
Everyone must have heard of the Annual National Spelling Bee contest in USA. Well, this was my first time to see its finals on ESPN. The kids were mind-boggling. Last yrs runners up was Samir Patel, an Indian who was the favourite this yr. Then there was a 12 yr old guy who was ranked 22 last yr and had added 30,000 words to his vocabulary since then. 30,000 words !!!. I wont learn so many words even in my lifetime. Indian challenge ended at 4th position and the last 3 were girls. Finally, it was down to last 2 and they had to spell one word each out the 25 words for the finalists. They managed to go till the last 8 words. Finally, one of them made a mistake (just one letter wrong in a word that I didn't know half abt) and the last one got lucky. She got "Kundalini"(one of the 2 words I knew that nite, the other one being izzat) and other a word of German origin. Luckily she was German and was crowned the spelling bee.
Its an amazing show. See if u can get ur hands on it.

Otherwise, we were surfing channel and we realized one fact
ETC - Himesh
M TV- Himesh
V TV - Himesh
Zoom - Himesh
Its Himesh all the way this year. But I still think, the best music should go to RDB.
Another win for Schumi. The lead is down to 17 pts.
Madrid being associated with abt 50 players. Plz start buying. The speculation is killing me. With the Serie A scandal, the gr8est transfer market in soccer history is open.

Merci Zizou! For Everything

The two opposites of Zidane's Career - The volley for Real Madrid in 2002 CL Finals and the red card in WC 2006 finals


Every world cup has moments which become imprinted on one's mind. In WC 2002, it was Batistuta crying on the ground after Argentina's first round exit. In WC 2006, it was Zidane's head butt. One moment of madness leaving a blemish on one of the gr8est careers in soccer.

Initially, I hated Zidane. As a life long Brazil fan, he denied us the Penta in 1998. But it also sparked an interest in Zizou. I followed him on & off when he played for Juventus and in Euro 2000 but in 2002, Zizou came to Real Madrid-the gr8est club on the planet. 2002 was an amazing year and to see Zizou in action was surreal. Soccer has seen many players who can dribble but no one like Zidane. He didn't dribble, he became one with the ball and the ball refuesd to leave his feet.

Then came WC 2002 and France were favourites with Zidane at his best. But his injury resulted in French exit in first round. Euro 2004 was again supposed to be his last tournament for the country and France were the favourites but couldn't get pass the Greeks.

WC 2006 and nobody gave French a chance. Brazil led by Ronaldinho were the favourites (again) but unfortunately they ran into France and Zidane showed that Ronaldinho is gr8 but Zidane is God. Finally, the WC finals and Zidane had a chance to do something that not even Maradona had achieved - Win 2 world cups. But maybe he decided to show in his last match that he was a human too, that he had emotions. If only he hadn't done what he did.

Still, Zidane remains at the top alongside Pele, Maradona, Di Stefano as the most beautiful players to play soccer. In the forword to El Diego - The Autobiography of Diego Maradona, the journalist says "Our generation weren't told that Maradona was the best. We saw him in action." We can say the same thing abt Zizou.

Farewell London

London, Heart of the erstwhile British empire and the place where I spent my last two weeks. It all came together suddenly within a week and I was sent to London to be with dad who is here on a migrant visa.
The trip has been a wonderful one to say the least. Visiting the famous places of London like Madam Tussauds, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, London Eye etc and places of interest for me like 221 B Baker Street (Address of Sherlock Holmes), Stamford Bridge (Football Stadium of Chelsea FC) and Wimbledon has been a unique experience to say the least. Especially in the Stamford Bridge where the guide took us through the players' tunnel to the ground with stimulated crowd noise behind us.
Apart from sightseeing, experiencing the British lifestyle was in itself worth the trip. In my dad's words "There was some reason behind English ruling the world for over 100 yrs". I suppose the reason was the discipline and emphasis on education. Let me clear this up
1. Library access is free for everyone.
2. You get a 60 page paper for free although you have to walk to your nearest underground station to get it.
3. Free education for children upto 16
Free library is a boon for a book lover like me. I was able to complete the Artemis series which I started in B'lore last year and also read a number of other good books.
All and all, this trip has been a blast. Now time to go back and get ready for the next phase in my life as a professional.
PS: The photo is me at the entrance to Wimbledon Museum. The poem is If by Kipling

Sayonara Roorkee

This post was supposed to be my last from Roorkee. But packing, saying goodbyes and other stuff took more time than expected. The delay after that can be blamed onto the dial-up at home or my habit of procrastination.
Neways, time to get out of college life and get a little serious. I shall be joining Manhattan Associates, B'lore from 3rd July. A different life, that of a professional awaits after all the fun at Roorkee.
However, Roorkee will always hold a special place in my heart as the place where I spent the best four years of my life. I know a lot of my friends wont agree with me saying but for me, a place is made by the ppl there. If I hadn't been to Roorkee, I wouldn't have met all the wonderful ppl - Bong, Joshi, Bond, Gabs, Bhandari, Bansa, Laskar, Bela, Sid, Lancy, Gala the list can go on & on.
I learnt a lot from these ppl and thru organizing various activities. I'll never be able to forget Corpostrat 04, Chaos 05, EDC, Chaos 06 and Metamorphosis. I'll quote something that I have already quoted once "Experiences can be bitter but memories are always sweet"
Sayonara IITR, Will miss ya

PS: While coming back from London, saw Mr Azim Premji on Mumbai airport. The gr8 man was alone carrying a small suitcase with him. Ran after him but he entered security before I reached him. Bad Luck or I would have had proof for this story

Go Naruto

A disturbing thought came to mind at the beginning of the semester. This was after I had a job with Manhattan Associates, Bangalore and a full fun-filled semester to look forward to. But I was struck by the disturbing thought. Soon enough, there won't be any purpose in my life.

If anyone reading this(which I doubt, seeing that my last post didn't get ne comments) gets an idea that I have some issue with my future, that person is sorely mistaken. What I mean is that with LOTR movies over and only one more book in Harry Potter & Eragon series to go and no longer interested in movies, pretty soon there would be nothing to look forward to, nothing to wait for and nothing to discuss with friends.

But every cloud has a silver lining. In this case, the silver lining was the arrival of Japanese animations or animes in IIT Roorkee. As I am a sucker for animated stuff, the anime bug was bound to get me sooner or later.

Neways, the problem was amplified as lots of anime series were available and not just one or two. Each of these series belonged to a different genre. Full Metal Alchemist, Great Teacher Onizuka, Bleach, Kenshin, Evangelion to name a few.

However, the one that has the most fan following is Naruto. Naruto is a ninja-anime with Naruto as its protagonist. Its filled with stuff about friendship, loneliness and of-course ninja techniques. Dont want to give any more spoilers but watch it if u get a chance. Its awesome.

But now, I have already watched 150 episodes of the series and about 350 more are there. Its ironic that serials like Kyunki, Kasauti and other K stuff are 5 days a week while Naruto is a weekly one.That means 6 more years to go.

Semester exams are here. I want these exams to be the last exams that I shall be giving in this place. Hence, time to go and study.

Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis, Term symbolising Change usually for the better. And also the name of Entrepreneurship Fest, that the newly established Entrepreneurship Development Cell, IIT Roorkee by four students from IIT Roorkee (me being one of them) organized.

One thing that IIT Roorkee lacks was an e-cell. This was what the four of us felt since our first year. Hence, we decided to take an initiative and start EDC as a students' body in IITR. Metamorphosis was to be our crowning glory, the last major event that we would organize in IIT Roorkee and maybe our legacy. Having organized various events before in our cult-fest and tech-fest, the confidence was sky high and organizing this was going to be a piece of cake.

Why the use of past tense in the above sentences. Because organizing a fest is different from organizing an event. Maybe there were commitment problems, overconfidence, unjust expectations but whatever the reason, Metamorphosis didn't make it to the standards we wished it to achieve.

However, it has been a learning experience to say the least. In the past month, I have seen and been a part of it all - Personality Clashes, Ego Issues, Questions on commitments, Bureaucratic Hurdles, Last minute ditches and a few more things that I might have forgotten. It is said that true friends are the ones you have the most fights with. I understand this statement a little better now.

Back to the usual cheery stuff. Barca v/s Arsenal in CL finals. Should be a cake walk for Barca. Schumi finally wins. Awesome race. Alonso trailed Schumi by 0.3 sec for almost 20 laps and made an error in the penultimate lap.

Summer time is here and lots of big releases are lined up. Da Vinci Code, M.I. III, X 3, Pirates of the Carribean 2 and a few more.

Feeling sleepy plus its a friend's birthday. Time to go and give him bumps.

Rang De Basanti

The first thing u'll notice abt this post is the text colour. Just watched Rang de Basanti twice over the past three days and still not able to get it out of my head. If u're still not able to get it, I decided to put the post in saffron as a tribute to RDB and this was the colour closest to it (according to me).

I am a big movie buff (in case, u dont know it already). I realized this during the period of 2001-2003 when I was in Kota. I averaged atleast a movie a week during this time. The fact that this was David Dhawan's golden age (& Indian cinema's dark age), is testimony to my perseverance.
However, times are changing. Over the past few yrs, Indian cinema has produced gems like DCH, Lagaan (2 bright spots during the dark ages), Lakshya, Iqbaal, Ramgopal Verma's productions, Swades etc. RDB lies on the top of the list alongside Iqbaal and Lakshya.

The success of RDB lies in the fact that it deals with a real life issue and ends on a hard-hitting note unlike most Hindi movies. This was summed up by Bela as "It makes you think". It fills you with hope, puts a spring in your step.

However, I am still sceptical abt the long term effects of the movie. If real life incidents like Satyendra Dube couldn't shake up the student community, the impact of the movie wouldn't last for more than a month or so.

Currently, I m in Indore for my Holi break. Indore no longer holds the same thrill as it used to. Parents are out of station, most friends have left for jobs, higher studies or in some cases have been married. That leaves my bro who is busy with his upcoming exams. I am missing Roorkee for the first time. The Full Metal Alchemist and other animes are calling for me.

Other updates - Madrid is out of CL. However, so is Chelsea and Liverpool. Madrid is facing its third trophy less season. I hope the galactico era is ending at last. Lets hope the new mgmt thinks of Real Madrid as a soccer club and not as a corporate entity.
Alonso wins the first F1 race of the season. However, true hero was Kimi. He started last on the grid and still managed a podium finish. Hope this time, Kimi gets what he has deserved for a long time.

Signing off from Indore. Wishing you all a very happy holi.

Personality

Your Personality Profile

You are elegant, withdrawn, and brilliant. Your mind is a weapon, able to solve any puzzle. You are also great at poking holes in arguments and common beliefs. For you, comfort and calm are very important. You tend to thrive on your own and shrug off most affection. You prefer to protect your emotions and stay strong.

The World's Shortest Personality Test

I swear, I haven't doctored this test. I got the link off Shradz blog and decided to give it a try. Now that I think abt it, everything I do - the way I talk, walk, sleep, smile as well as my sunsign etc can be used to tell me abt my personality. What's the use ? I suppose usually ppl know enough abt themselves to know their personality.

Interviews

Interviews - The essential part of ne placement procedure. An hour which can give a totally different direction to someone's life. Ppl prepare for interviews cramming the usual questions - Tell us abt urself, Where do u see urself 5 yrs,10 yrs,15 yrs etc, Strengths & Weaknesses etc.
But the eagerness to project themselves as the most suitable candidates leads to some hilarious scenarios as well.

Mr X is going to appear in Oracle interview. A semester ago, he had to get his resume verified by the institute. In the column for Computer Languages, he mentions Java, even though he hasn't worked on it thinking that he'll learn it in the time before placement. Unfortunately, he couldn't because of one or the other reason. A day before interview he reads the basics of Java.
Interviewer : Which computer languages do u know ?
Mr X : Sir, I am comfortable with C++, have done a little work on Microsoft Visual C++ and Java but for Java, I use the textbook in case of ne difficulty.
Interviewer : Ok, so which version of Java you have worked upon ?
Mr X : Hmm, Hmm Actually, one of my friends installed Java on my PC in my absence and I have been using it as it is. So I dont know the version as such

Mr Y is going to appear for IBM. One possible question he has prepared is "Where do u see urself 5 yrs from now".The interview ends but the interviewer didn't ask this question. Instead, the interviewer asks "Do you have ne question on ur side regarding the co, the work etc". Unable to come up with a question at the spur of the moment, Mr Y asks "Sir, where do u see me 5 yrs from now"

Another place where interviews play an important part is CAT. I didn't make it through CAT but have been doing a bit of a research to help my friends who got thru. It turns out IIM A interviews are the ultimate in stress interviews. Here are a few samples

The student enters the room and before he can say nething or have a seat
Interview panel : What r u here for ?
Student : I am here to appear for an interview for the MBA program of IIMs
Panel : U don't know the name of the program u r applying for. Get out

Panel : Which is ur favourite book
Student : Love in the time of Cholera
Panel : Ok, What r the symptoms of Cholera ?

As the interviews continue, such cases will keep on coming. Lets c how many more shall be there