crossStyx

Do Check out

2008-08-19T14:23:00.000-07:00

I've been discovering a few good online comics recently. And no they are not four lettered nonsensical words beginning with x.

Salil recommends Fly You Fools, which is on the whole quite appetizing.I recommend "See Mike Draw." On initial reading I particularly liked these two.

Two (original) jokes for the day

2008-08-12T07:03:00.000-07:00

Why did Raju submit just half a picture for his essay competition?
Because it had a 500 word limit

Why did Thaimei feel sad that she had lost her shin guard?
Because of reasons of personal attachment.

What is common to ...

2008-08-12T04:53:00.000-07:00

Steve Redgrave, Sebastian Coe, Daley Thompson and Bradley Wiggins haggling over a match in August
a 10-foot high stack of cash being pursued by a line of footballers
a restaging of the Gunpowder plot
Emperor Hadrian, keeps pointing at his sundial and (saying) to "get on with it".

They're all likely to feature in another 4 years when Britain decides to show the world "what its made of". At least according to Robbo in this piece here.

But the most important point - and one to which he concedes right at the start is that "the idea of organising 40,000 Brits into one four-hour spectacular is a complete non-starter."

Lyrics - Tun Ho Toh - Farhan Akhtar - from Rock On

2008-08-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

तुम हो तोह ...
फरहान अख्तर

तुम हो तो गाता है दिल
तुम नही तोह गीत कहा
तुम हो तो है सब हासिल
तुम नही तो क्या है यहाँ
तुम हो तो है सपनो के जैसा हसीं
एक समां

जो तुम हो तोह यह लगता है
के मिल गई हर खुशी
जो तुम न हो यह लगता है
के हर खुशी में है कमी
तुम को है मालूम
यह जिंदगी

तुम हो तोह राहें भी है
तुम नही तोह रस्ते कहा
तुम हो तोह यहाँ सब ही है
तुम नही तोह कौन यहाँ
तुम हो तोह है
हर एक पल मेहरबान
यह जहाँ

जो तुम हो तोह हवा मैं भी
मोहोबत्तों का रंग है
जो तुम न हो तो फिर कोई
ना जोश ना उमंग है
तुम मिले तोह मिली
यह जिंदगी

Lyrics for Tum Ho Toh, sung by Farhan Akhtar, written by Javed Akhtar for the movie Rock On. Lyrics in devanagari.

Come armed with a feed reader ...

2008-07-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

because India's short, pudgy and slightly dark-skinned answer to Dave Barry has finally resumed blogging. He's decided to shift to Wordpress too, now that he's going the whole nine yards - and he's forgetting things and getting scolded by women he does not know. Ah! just like the good old days.

Waking out of slumber to link to ...

2008-06-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

Brangan reveals another side to his writing. And what can I say, but to agree wholeheartedly!

Tweeting finally!

2008-05-28T23:13:00.000-07:00

You can find my twitter-droppings here : twitter.com/abhishekn

And yes, in case you were wondering there is a RSS feed for that too.

Hate the new Dilbert.com?

2008-05-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

If you, like me, cant do without your daily dose of dilbert you must hate the new site redesign. Even the email they send to me is now overloaded with hajaar images, mashups, flash and what not.

Well the best thing about Scott Adams is that he's a geek somewhere far down. So for all of us, he created (or got created) Dilbert Fast. Welcome to hassle free Dilbert!

Towel Day!

2008-05-24T23:55:00.000-07:00

any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

I'm celebrating towel day. I have a brand new pink cloth towel around my nape as I walk around at home. Hopefully I'll get a picture to show to you guys.

All the info about celebrating Towel Day can be found here. Go ahead, and join in!

Another fan-post

2008-05-13T22:26:00.000-07:00

I am a huge fan of Shamanth's writing. Unfortunately he writes very infrequently. I like this post a lot. Do go through the archives. There is some really good stuff in there.

Did you know?

2008-05-11T23:24:00.000-07:00

This came via Wordsmith today.

After Ambrose Everett Burnside (1824-1881), who served as a general in the
Union Army in the American Civil War, and who earned more recognition for his
side whiskers than for his military career. Eventually the term burnsides
morphed into sideburns as such a facial pattern was on the sides of a face.

They're doing five words about facial hair this week. I cant wait for the rest!

What other activity?

2008-05-11T13:28:00.000-07:00

Ok, Ok. For people who know me IRL, this should've been up a long time back. Anyway, I have got into IIM, Calcutta. And taking this as an inspiration I have decided to blog about this separately. Unfortunately this means that blogging here will be sporadicer than ever. I don't mean it to be this way, but going by the famous no-time-to-breathe schedule that one has to follow in the IIMs, I dont think I will have time to do justice to both, and in that case, esp. for IIMC related stuff that blog will get precedence,

Of course, I love this blog and could never let it go. (Even though I forgot it's 4th birthday on the 30th of March). I shall return here from time to time, so don't delete the feeds for this blog in a hurry.

But definitely say hi to my new IIMC blog! The RSS feed is available too.

Awesome is how I feel

2008-04-29T13:52:00.000-07:00

I've never felt so absolutely amazing as I do now. Not only have United progressed to the CL final, but my very own dear Scholesey scored one of his trademark 25-yarders into the top right hand corner to secure the game for us. I cannot even begin to tell you what a huge fan I am of his, and he is by far my fav. united player of all time. Awesomeness is coming, and rapidly.

Anyway - this would be a good moment to introduce you to Saket and his online blogging self. Happy blogging mate!

PS: Please leave comments about how the cocked-up the Ten Sports commentary was. Expletives in Hindi welcome. I will not even deign to curse their total lack of appreciation of genius at the Scholes goal.

Advice to people new to this part of the Blogosphere

2008-04-27T21:36:00.000-07:00

Read the George Thomas blog regularly.Or even better, subscribe to it.

For those who came in late (for whom this post is intended anyway) GT blogs mostly about Hindi Cinema. I'm always left amazed at how closely he manages to follow the bloody mess that is the Hindi film industry sitting that far away in Amrika. You could use a thousand cliches about "the internet brings us closer", but the fact of the matter is that we, as in the Indian Film Industry are not as well represented as we should be on the internet. Sure, we have cretin reporters from Rediff and the like, but we need more of this kind of stuff.

Anyway, to introduce you to George's writing, firstly don't shy away from it because its "hindi films". Even if you have no interest in them (something which I can understand) you still would be missing out on smashing alliteration like "LipLock Lallu" and the whole smorgasbord of exotic vocabulary that the man uses. And when I say exotic, I mean exotic - these are a few words from his latest post. cheiloproclitic¹, exosculation², crinigerous (in the quite wonderful alliteration crinigerous cretin) and dipping further into the 'invent'ory with kissee and smoocheroo.

All this in an article about Eemram #me, and his latest kissing exploits in the movie Jannat.

¹ : cheiloproclitic as this source tells me means "Characterized by an erotic attraction to women's lips." Wow, I say to these people, now THAT's an useful word. Note how I had to refer to a specialised dictionary to find out what that meant. define: on google are unlikely to be of any use as far as GT is concerned.

² I've asked the man himself what that means, since the great goblin was of no help. Hopefully will hear from him soon.

PS: I shall also use this opportunity to spread some linklove to the quite recent "The Movies and Moves of Vishal Bharadwaj". GT and JR are partners in crime.

Out of the Quote-idien

2008-04-16T13:21:00.000-07:00

"The only way not to do silly things in one’s early 20s is to die at 19, .. "

Amit from this otherwise typical post.

Reservation Please!

2008-04-16T13:01:00.000-07:00

This post is for all those who keep asking me about my IIM results. No - I would like to say - they're not out yet.

And to tell you the truth, I'm kind-of relieved that they're delayed. Though this issue of reservation makes us wait-listed passengers, it is a little surprising that most of us are unconcerned. Or at least the "most of us" that I know. And a few like me are perhaps even gleeful. And its not because I'm afraid in some way, or "unable to face the future".

They'd told me about self-doubt and uncertainty and all that kind of stuff via stories and anecdotes. I listened to them as faraway emotions that I would never have to face. A bit like you reading "What to do if you come face to face with a Tiger". You listen, attentively even, but knowing that stuff like this is never going to happen to you.

But I'm afraid - I think - that it has. And at a moment like this, I'm glad that there is still that element of "luck". For I'm trusting random chance, which is how I see luck, to make my decision for me. I know this idea of leaving it up to a celestial (pseduo?) random number generator is crazy to say the least. But, that is one thing I'm sure I want to do now. Something crazy. In a safe sort of way.

A position someone I know would call a "weak-ass way of thinking". Again, what can I say but quote Metallica - Sad, but true.

When I pay tribute to words

2008-04-15T11:01:00.000-07:00

I knew about the word "amanuensis" - and like Shah Rukh Khan the race driver and Kajol, the spoilt brat in Baazigar - I fell in love with it. Instantanement. It just felt wonderful to say - that latin feel, just rolling off the tongue. I sensed the root "man-" which pertains to the hand, and guessed it involved some sort of manual work. Princeton Wordnet obliged me with this :

"stenographer: someone skilled in the transcription of speech (especially dictation)" -

Ok. I said to myself. I get that.

But like most love, there was a problem. I didn't really GET it. I would never for example have enough courage to use it in a sentence. It was there lurking, like a shy peacock. I knew it was male, colourful and potentially beautiful. But, only potentially.

But age and experience they say solves most of these tiny knots that dot the timeline of personal experiences. And today - I grasped what an amanuensis truly meant. Not meant - implied.

The point d'inflexion? The quite wonderful, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly". Directed by Julian Schnabel and based on the best selling french book of the same name by Jean-Dominique Bauby, the movie is in three words, quite excellent indeed.

For those who came in late, it is the story of a man who has "locked-in syndrome", i.e he is paralysed completely except for his eyes - but that does not affect his mental capabilities of simple thought, and more importantly wild imagination. He decides to fulfill a past contract for a book with his publisher - only he has to write by blinking.

Enter the quite wonderful ladies. Marie-Josée Croze as the Speech Therapist (the french word orthophoniste is quite wonderful indeed) and Anne Consigny as the amanuensis are quite wonderful. What could've been a dull, dreary dark story is suddenly a vivid trip through a man's imagination which unfettered by his corporal shackles flies higher and farther than ever. Any review of the film would be incomplete without a mention for Janusz Kaminski's awesome cinematography. I would've loved to watch this one on the large screen - I felt awkward, inadequate and repulsed just on a 14incher. I wonder what the real experience would've been.

Anyway, definitely a movie worth watching, if not for anything else - but for a really different story in a long time - and some awesome cinematic treatment.

PS: I remember my second rencontre with the word amanuensis while "studying" for my GRE vocab. I found the entire process richly rewarding, even though the expansion in my vocabulary might not've been as large over time as I would've desired. Its an exercise I urge everyone to undergo - and I wonder if there is a way I could repeat such an exercise for Hindi or Marathi. If anyone knows of such "wordlists" in these languages, please do comment and tell. I end with reprimanding these two boys for making hard work of the entire process. Avnish for example dares to suggest that the word "lexeme" is pointless and wastage of dictionary page in general. I wonder what a few people from a certain profession feel about that.

UPDATE: PPS: In a somewhat unexpected move JR actually replies. Here.

Master Patient?

2008-04-11T08:07:00.000-07:00

Update: Jeev finished joint 25th at +4. Immelman won.

I distinctly remember that when I first heard the word, I actually misheard it as "master patient". This misunderstanding was compounded when one of my other good friends distinctly said 'Master Patient'. I remember being extremely confused as to this particular nomenclature and it was not until I looked, and looked hard into my dictionary that I came to realise (much to my relief) that it was NOT master patient after all. My belief in the english language was restored.

Anyway, that term could and should have a new meaning. Of course, going my general level of inanity at making these comments - most of you would have sussed out that I'm talking about the one and only "The Masters". Yes the one with the "green jacket and golf" thing, for those who came in late.

Now most Indians have never played golf. I'm one of them. In fact I've never even come close to a golf green - but then that is true about a lot of other playing surfaces too. But the average Indian middle class biological machine of the genus Homo Sapien Sapien would've played cricket, football of course - but also very probably touched a basketball, fondled a volleyball (both playing dodgeball), swum in chlorine infested waters and maybe even swung a racket or two. But Golf - which if you believe the story is meant to be Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden - should probably somewhere there read Ladies (and Indians) Forbidded. Or at least till now.

When in a few hours from now Jeev Milkha Singh walks out for his second round on the Augusta Greens he would be placed joint 11th. He's one shot under, 3 behind the leaders(Rose and Immelman) while everyone's favourite Tiger, languishes (by his high standards) BEHIND him, on a par round one. JM Singh as the Master's website refers to him, in a machinely sort of way that only machines can - is one of India's brightest ever sporting stars. And what's more awesome is that by paying absolutely no attention to him whatsoever, we let him stay that way.

He finished 2nd on the Asian Order of Merit last year (behind the quite fabulous KJ Choi) - and 37th at the Masters last year. Of course, he could totally screw up the next few rounds - but I would be very surprised if he did. With more experience and certainly more pedigree than ever before - lets hope and pray for a top 10 finish. Many people would be shocked if I say this, but a top 10 at the Masters is equivalent to at least an Olympic Bronze if not more. It simply is that big.

Of course, India as a nation needs an Indian to win a major. Then even Aaj Tak could not ignore that piece of news. Till then, we wait for these little flashes of joy across the tele (very rarely) and other electronic news flashes. Headlines Today had a story on TWO Indians playing at the Masters. They said "Daniel Chopra and ..." - That was when I flipped the channel. Sad, but true.

At the time

2008-03-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

Rosenbaum once said to me
Lets go on a drive
I said yes
It seemed fun
At the time

We drove through the party bin
With no one in the back seat
He looked out, while i looked in
And we both said
This is fun
And maybe it was
At the time.

Rosenbaum once said to me
Find you a girl to marry
I said yes
It seemed fun
At the time

I looked high and I looked low
Through nooks corners and every row
Of his bungalow - of OUR bungalow.
And we found me a wife to marry
So I did.
It seemed like fun
And maybe it was
At the time.

Rosenbaum once said to me
Lets go for a walk
I said yes
It seemed fun
At the time

He showed me a nice grave to buy
All nice trees and fallin sky
He said, give it a try
Dont be shy
So I said yes
It seemed fun
And maybe it was
At the time.

When I use xkcd to understand India Uncut

2008-03-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

I must confess that I have not used this blog to make it clear what a big fan of Amit's writing I am. What with lines like

"Rediff reports: “Britney’s pregnant teen sister gets engaged”. That’s too much information for one headline, no? By the time Rediff’s readers process it, the baby will out and cutting records."

you can't help but admire the guy.

But its a scary day when I reference something he quotes via xkcd.

Fire and Ice
By Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Read that, and then READ THIS.

Hah, segfaults indeed!

Serious of Joking?

2008-03-24T01:46:00.000-07:00

I'm also tempted to ask that old Derek Question on this. Sigh! as resident (self-appointed) expert I have a lot of writing to do on this subject.

Limerickrolled!

2008-03-20T21:32:00.000-07:00

I wrote a bunch of stuff for LimerickDB.com.

John, a man from Darjeeling
Could have all the jobs under the ceiling
But whatever he did
He was totally forbid
From being the salesman travelling

Neil, the rich man with the cash
Was searching for space for his stash
But he totally forgot
That space cannot be got
Unless you grep it with backslash.

Rakhi the goddess of beauty
Was just trying to do her duty
What if she shed off her clothes
And hung out with rogues
She's still a pretty hot cutie.

Evangelising one day for firefox
Roger got a bout of chicken pox
No matter what he tried
Synaptic always replied
"Medicines are currently under locks."

** The next one is inspired by a friend. I swear I HAVE NOT heard Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.***

Mark Wahlberg was once my obsession
I once saw him at the station
With the funky bunch,
And I spat out my lunch
When they sung "It's such a good vibration"

Once upon a silvery tree
A quizzing fairy said to me
That you will always lose
Until you choose
Randall Munroe & XKCD

A girl was raped upon the shore
She went quizzing, so goes the lore
"Do you know
the Bond in Dr.No"
It's Sean Connery - she said Roger Moore.

So they did.

Tata!

#UPDATE 1 I made some more!

A 5 yr old cannot say fuck
Unless his teachers really suck
And they teach him to say
"A duck in the quay"
And he gets his d's and f's all mixed up.

** this one is dedicated to another friend of mine ***

Cut him up with a knife
And go and murder his wife
He's such a dumb bird
That he hasn't heard
"Coming Back to Life"!

Yesterday they confessed to me
And today I tell it to thee
Yes it so is true
Oh! the lying crew
It's all fixed - on WWE

I just have this disease
I just cannot cease
To end with stupid lines
So that it rhymes
Can someone help me please?

I'm ambivalent about this ...

2008-03-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

That means, I don't particularly approve of Maddy hijacking Neil's blog like this. As long as her every post is approved of, I guess, its fine.

PS: Another year, another HUGE R-I-P. Sigh!

Sad day indeed

2008-03-04T21:05:00.000-08:00

When Manager are judged by what Office program they use.

I'm on my way to becoming one? O! God of Open Source, I'll never desert OpenOffice.

Open Letter #2

2008-03-04T09:45:00.000-08:00

Here is the first, in case anyone is interested.

This was written to fellow COEP students, on the 4th March '08.
****
The Importance of Giving Back

Dear Fellow Students,

Today I attended the lecture by Dr.Smoot in our college about the
origins of our universe. Granted that he could've been more engaging
and probably made his talk better suited to the audience, and more
far-ranging - it still was a pretty darn neat. I don't mean to be
derisive or anything here, but I was personally glad to see our huge
auditorium filled people, when no one was singing or dancing. We must
also commend the folks from Honeywell for thinking of such a great
idea, and more importantly executing it so well.

But on a wider scale, this is an excellent opportunity to talk about
our responsibility as students. I'm in my final year, and I'll pass
out this year. I've seen the college change under autonomy, and a lot
of what is happening is excellent and I personally like it a lot. A
lot of this is due to Dr. Sahasrabudhe, and the new regime of
administrators and policy-makers at COEP. We must commend them for the
work they're doing, albeit in small, sometimes unseen ways. What I've
found out about them is that, most importantly, they're reasonable
people who are willing to listen to us. So as students, it's important
that we think of issues that concern us, and make sure they're
addressed. The college has changed, and will keep changing, and it's
important we change along with it.

More importantly, the point of writing this email is that we remain
connected to our college, in whatever way possible. As I'm sure most
of you will realise, what our college gives to us is not instruction
in *a* particular subject or a particular discipline, but general
lessons overall. It also gives us opportunities and a brand - that has
been created by a lot of other students, who were exactly like us in
many ways. So realising that COEP is not just another chapter in your
life, but a part of your identity as a person is an extremely
important step into this journey of giving back.

We're a culture of quantity. To be frank, though we might have
hundreds of thousands of institutions of higher education. their
quality is abysmal to say the least. Even COEP, considered to be among
the best in the country, has a long way to go - if it has to come even
close to its American or European counterparts. And we, as students
have an important part to play, in achieving this goal. I'm sure we'll
get there sometime - but like good, professional organisations we must
set targets, and achieving transformational change within our
lifetimes has to be our goal.

On a more basic level here are a few ways one can stay connected, and
"give back" to use a cliched term.

1. Time
Come back. Visit. Say hi to old folks, old professors. Drop in
whenever you're in town and see what's going on. Maybe even teach,
full time or part-time. Mentor someone.

2. Money + Time
Set up prizes, develop a sustainable scheme for keeping these going.
I'm sure if everyone sets apart Rs.10,000 per year, to award one
deserving student, that itself would be a great achievement. People
are already doing this in small measures - and you can think of
innovative and effective ways to make your money count.

3. Just Money
This is the simplest really. Donate to college fund on a regular
basis. Convince colleagues, maybe past students to give back too. I've
just talked to a friend of mine who passed out, and he said he'd give
$2000 a year to the college, once he starts earning. That's not bad,
really.

I hope I've got you thinking in this regard via this mail. The whole
point is to keep this idea somewhere in the back of your mind. As long
as the thought is there, we'll maybe have our own Nobel Laureate
addressing people in 50 years time!

Cheers,
Abhishek

Come March the 15th

2008-03-04T05:11:00.000-08:00

I'm going to switch loyalties and support Force India as my primary team. Somehow, I don't really like Raikkonen, and Ferrari has never been the same since Michael left. Hence, the decision.

I never really liked the Force India name but I seem to have grown into it, and there is something exciting about having a F1 team named after the country you come from. Apart from that, the most brilliant thing was when Mallya said that he realised that buying the team was "the easiest part". So he's actually committed to spending on research, and I firmly believe that F1 too can be "outsourced" to India, in the sense that you can do the same technological wonders, but with a smaller budget. Mallya has doubled the budget from what Spyker had. Its still pretty small compared to what some of the huge teams have, but if they tap into Indian engineering talent which would be available at a much cheaper rate, it could mean much more.

There already seems to have been some substantial progress. Take a look at this testing data from Barcelona.

Day One:

9. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 1:23.091
12. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India, 1:23.239

Leader: : Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:22.276

Day Two :

6. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 1:22.516
10. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India, 1:22.942

Leader: Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:21.234

Day Three:

12. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 1:22.233
16. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 1:22.521

Leader: Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 1:20.801

Those are pretty good timings throughout. True, we won't know the true standings till Melbourne in two weeks time - but target for this season should be a double digit points tally for the team. Definitely achievable.

All figures from various charts on formula1.com

Ganya has restarted blogging

2008-03-03T23:11:00.000-08:00

or at least we hope he continues. Anyway, this post is charming.

How things tie up ...

2008-03-03T06:25:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, if all goes well I shall be attending the lecture on the origins of the universe by Prof. George Smoot at COEP. He was one of the two guys behind the COBE experiment.

I'm also kinda, reading more about XKCD in all my free time.

Guess what, Randall send Smoot a free XKCD T-Shirt wishing he'd wear it to the ceremony. I'm guessing he didn't. Tomorrow, I'm going to ask him why!

Smoot, you think you'd escaped, but we deserve an explanation!

Dropping a line to say

2008-02-28T12:26:00.000-08:00

I'm 1 hour 5 mins through watching this movie. It's already got so many amazing moments, its unbelievable! And yes, I've fallen in love with Debra Winger!

Quizzing 101

2008-02-26T20:07:00.000-08:00

This is college quizzing season. Which means a lot of people will be setting quizzes for their college fests. It also means that a lot of people will be setting and QMing their first quizzes. This is by far one of the most important experiences for quizzers.

However, it takes experience to grasp the nuances of setting, organizing and making questions for a successful quiz. It's not difficult or anything, its just you need to fall and fail to realise what went wrong.

The good thing is, a few stalwarts at the BCQC have already done some excellent writing on the issue of a) making good quiz questions and b)organising a quiz event.

You can find these essays here on our website. This Quizmaster's Checklist is a must-read especially if you are organising a quiz event.

(cross-posted on Notes and Stones)

SKimpy, we bow down to thee.

2008-02-22T21:35:00.000-08:00

SKimpy should really have been at one of those round tables while the auction for the IPL was going on. It was painful to see Dravid writing/calculating stuff ;D.

Anyway, his knowledge of the domestic cricket scene is unparalleled. I had a few views on the issue (of the IPL), but till now absorb these two posts about the Bangalore and the Delhi team.

I will be looking out for his analysis on the Mumbai team. Also, if you are a girl who wears Yellow kurtas and travel by BTS Volvo buses (esp. Route 500K) please contact him!

I'm hoping this good deed will stack up some unseen points somewhere which will come to my aid in the future. I'm not that generous normally :P

Two words - Watch it!

2008-02-18T21:50:00.000-08:00

** This review contains mild spoilers **

Just got back home after watching Mithya. I'll try and be as objective as possible - even though I'm still reeling.

To put it plainly Mithya is so so much better than Rajat Kapoor's previous efforts. Its funny, dark, fast and exhilarating. Ranvir Shorey puts in a performance of a lifetime - and no, the role was not written with him in mind. Even Neha Dhupia is passable. Good directors get performances out of anybody. Case in point Abhay Deol in Manorama - 6 feet under.

Mithya is like Manorama in the fact that it's real and satisfying at the scene level. But beyond that its totally different, The writing, especially in the first half is tight, and wickedly funny. Like every "indie" movie, there are cruel jabs. At the film industry, at established stars. Hell, even at indie filmmakers. Of the supporting cast, Vinay Pathak is obviously brilliant. But he's totally overshadowed by an absolutely superb Brijendra Kala. Naseeruddin Shah is not even in my top 5 as far as performances go. And Rajat had got the guts to do that.

I'll probably write a more "revealing" review, sometime later when the two readers of this blog have read this post. I'll extol about specific scenes and specific storyline elements. But I'm writing this to ask you to go the theatre and watch this movie. Ensure than you give your monies to good film-makers. Then I'll forgive you if you pay 200 bucks to watch Jodhaa Akbar. Even if you normally don't watch Hindi movies, give this one a shot. And if you don't like it, please tell me. I'll direct you to a few (stupid) "friends" of mine!

Why City beat United

2008-02-13T07:55:00.000-08:00

Because they quiz before every game! Here is Micah Richards in his column for BBC Sport.

We get there[Manchester city centre] at about 6pm and always have a general knowledge quiz the night before the game, which is run by Les Chapman our kit-man. We do not split into teams, it is every man for himself!

The best by far is Didi Hamann, he has got a lot of knowledge, and the worst has got to be Kelvin Etuhu. He is actually good academically but some of his answers are ridiculous.

Me, I'm in the middle somewhere. I have not really got a specialist subject, although I normally do well with the music questions.

Another set of notes

2008-02-08T22:08:00.000-08:00

I've been wondering what attracts me so much to Gaiman. I've not read Sandman, Coraline or American Gods. All I've done is seen an interview, read a few poems and essays and follow his blog. I think I have an answer. All the god-level people I knew, all belonged to a similar kind. The scientific, cold, calculating, trade-off oriented. They are brilliant. They write lucidly, they understand and analyze immensely well. But there is always a reason behind what they do.

Not Gaiman. He sees stars in the day, he believes in monsters, and other worlds and fairies and princesses. He adores little girls in frocks, he uses a fountain pen, he dreams. I know you'll tell me there is a word for this - "fantasy". True, but Gaiman is the only person I know, of my generation who seems accessible. There. Real. The internet has allowed him to talk to us, unlike with Tolkien or Asimov or Arthur C Clarke. From what I've read about Clarke, he seems immensely likeable too, but somehow distant - like speaking from the past. Gaiman is here, real. His colour photos still have him with those glowing eyes and flowing locks. There is something immensely endearing about him. Now I better go and find a copy of Coraline somewhere ;)

****

JR writes here about his Hitler-esque attitude towards wasted food. I too have very similar "values" embedded about not wasting a shred of food - but like all things in life, there is a balance to be maintained. We're not in a state of a Malthusian Catastrophe and maybe in today's (urban) world, obesity is a bigger issue than food wastage.

The hungry are often hungry not because there isn't enough food, but because enough food does not get to them. It is more a distribution and allocation issue than that of production. True, appropriating huge sums to yourself at a buffet dinner and then wasting it is mindless - esp if it becomes a regular habit. But realising you've made a mistake in talking more than what you really need, sometimes its best to "waste" than to over-consume. Remember, the so-called sin is going to take place anyway, the caterers are probably going to end up throwing some food all the same.

The point is, as I've realised, there is no need to be overly guilty about having not eaten some portion, if one realises that it can't be taken. Mental notes should be made about avoiding such instances in the future, but puh-leeze don't fall to the prey of food-conserving-zealots and finish whatever's on your plate at all costs. Its just not worth it.

****

My IIM interviews near closer, and I realise that I've done absolutely nothing, in terms of personal prep. I really need to get my file in order - and ensure that I'm not at the receiving end of "why do you you leave such important things for the last moment" rant. I'm consigned to saying this, but moms have an uncanny ability of being right.

Sigh! off I go.

My xkcd recommendations

2008-02-04T04:02:00.000-08:00

Firstly, thanks Randall for allowing me and other freeloaders to hotlink to your strip! That is just awesome. Here are a few of my favourites so that you guys can fall in love with it instantanement. There are tons more that I love, but this is a decent list to start with.

Compiling
Exploits of a Mom
Real Programmers
Sandwich
Fixed Width
Pix Plz

Centrestage Clown

2008-01-29T12:03:00.000-08:00

How can you see me and turn away
How can you tell, that it's not your day
Well, Delilah in a dream, she came to me
And the barber in the wings cut me aimlessly

You're the one who's got to go
And play the clown at the circus show
I'll be there watching intently
I'll be there, but it'll not be me

Come one and come all
Come and see me getting small
Getting whipped and all teary eyed
My mom's here, but she doesn't mind.

She's the one who said to me
Don't fall in love so hopelessly
But its all done, and here I am
Wham, bam and thank you maam.

She's gone, but she's left some proof
Like a cat on a hot tin roof
There it is, if you want to see
The hair's still lying in my dormitory.

She's the one who's playing the role
City's empty and the circus is full
Centrestage, what a clown is she
But everyone's --
just laughin' at me.

2nd choice

2008-01-13T08:31:00.000-08:00

This happened at the GD/PI training I was attending today. Basically each person is interviewed as others watch - so that you learn as you watch.

So this is what happens to this generally sensible, likeable sorta guy. His major achievement is that he has a 100 percentile in the CAT, effectively topping it.

Interviewer : "So, what do you think about gay people?"

100 percentiler (thinks a bit) : "I would like to say sir that they have the second most popular sexual preference in the world."

Is that a story or what!

Answer to Sci-Tech

2008-01-07T06:16:00.000-08:00

Here are the answers to Scitech - the online quiz conducted as a part of the elims for Techfest 2008. I do not know the answer to q7 and q12 for sure. Please to use comments and point out if you're wiser than me. Pdf can be found here.

DISCLAIMER: This is what I think the answers are. I qualified, so chances are most of them are right ;)

1. Nicholas Flamel.(The alchemist finds mention in all these works.)

2. That is Freyja, also called Vanadis - after whom Vandium is named.

3. Super Glue (Dr Harry Coover)

4. Carl Sagan

5. Logitech (this seems to be from here. )

6. Nike+Ipod

7. We wrote, People from Bell Labs winning the Nobel Prize for physics. (This is mostly incorrect. All of them have won the Nobel Physics. But 97 guy is not Bell.One or two others also I think. Also some groups are mentioned completely, some are not. Weird. Shockley is the most famous by a mile though.)

8. Radio Shack and Issac Asimov

9. Camera works on smile detection.

10.Guitar Hero Controllers, company is Gibson.(Pretty sure, though not 100%)

11. Google Doodles (Burning Man Festival - first doodle, Dennis Hwang who draws them, Dali and Miro paintings were also Google doodles once.)

12. (Thanks to V) People after whom craters are named.(Bunsen etc)(Volt, Galvani, Diesel etc. Dunno how diesel can be "lab equipment")

13. Project Gutenberg (Declaration of Independece, Gutenberg, Michael Hart)

14. Alan Turing

15. Schroedinger's Cat

16. Butterfly Effect(Bradbury's book made it popular, Ashton Kutcher starred in the movie and The Lorenz Atttractor named after Edward Lorenz is where term is applied to Chaos theory.)

17. Nikola Tesla - Gas Ignition(Spark Plug for automobiles)

18. Locations of the 5 Jantar Mantars. (Delhi, Jaipur, Varanasi, Ujjain and Mathura(?) )

19 Screens of Death

20 Algorithm and Algebra

Can't remember last when ...

2008-01-06T04:44:00.000-08:00

It really pained me on seeing India lose. In fact, I don't think I've had this feeling since Manchester United lost to Arsenal in the FA Cup final - and really can't remember the last time I felt something like this with respect to cricket. Maybe it was when we didn't win the series in West Indies. Anyway, from a personal perspective - I'm amazed at how much I care, and how much it pains!

Firstly, there is no excuse for not drawing. True, Bucknor and Benson are idiots - but still, losing 3 wickets in 5 balls! That is not justified. RP looked more miffed than really pained, and Ishant Sharma should be told better than to leave his bat hanging like that. True, they are tail-enders, but sometimes when misfortune befalls - you've got to to stand up and be counted. And it was the situation which got to them, not Michael Clarke.

I think India should NOT complain about what happened. The questions will be raised - by the media and by a whole lot of other people. Nothing will change the result though - and India's main aim from here on should be a) Not to lose any of the remaining tests, while trying to win at least one. We've won the last one at Adelaide, and drawing at Perth would be as good as winning.

No doubt, the Aussies behaved inappropriately - Harsha Bhogle euphemistically calling it "an imperfect victory". Though that might console a few, fact is - India's two down, and things are looking pretty dire going into Perth. Rather than cry and whine and complain over spilt milk there are a number of pressing issues India needs to think about

1. What to do with Jaffer? Should Sehwag be inducted in?
2. Same with Yuvraj. Really seems to be struggling, Padukone or no Padukone.
3. The batsmen, especially Ganguly have struggled against Hogg. They've given too many wickets to the Hogg/Symonds combine. They're not really of that class, that they should be troubling the experienced Indian lineup.

That is my two-cents. I smirk at the joke Gaurav makes here. But needless to say, totally disagree.

Some movies you should check out

2008-01-05T20:28:00.000-08:00

It always irks me when I'm not at the forefront of discovery. Most of the stuff I read/ watch / hear do is recommended by friends - and so there remain very few people I can tell, "you know what, this movie is really excellent, you should really watch it sometime."

But with the aid of a few internet reports, and plain hunches - the last three movies I've seen have all been really really excellent. So here we go, please allow me to introduce them to you. (No Spoilers therein. Safe reading)

1 Atonement

I'm just realising that I'm a big fan of Ian McEwan. I've read only a couple of books (Amsterdam and Saturday) - absolutely loved Amsterdam. Atonement apparently is the piece de resistance of his oeuvre. It has been named in huge lists like Time's All Time best 100 Novels. So when the movie came out, I HAD to watch it - even though it has Kiera Knightley.

The movie at first glance reminds me of The English Patient. Another work that I wholly consumed (as book and movie). Visually it's splendid - and hopefully I'll catch this movie again when E-Square and co wake up to it when it wins the Oscar(that's what the talk is anyway). James McAvoy is decent, Kiera Knightley is much better than expected. The star is undoubtedly Saoirse Ronan as 13-year old Briony Tallis. Her acting is absolutely delectable!

The movie is not flawless. It suffers from an identity crisis in the middle amongst other things. But on the whole it will satisfy you visually and intellectually. Definitely worth a watch.

2. I'm not there

The movie inspired by Bob Dylan's life - is not another biographical tracing someone's life. Bob Dylan's life is just a basic framework for the movie to work on. There is so much thought that has been put on top, so much creativity and so much execution - one would have thought impossible! Again, I like this movie for the sheer feel that it creates, the ambiance of the film is brilliant, visually sumptuous! No more giveaways - go watch.

3. Sweeney Todd

I accept that the original intention was to watch, Johnny Depp's musical Sweeney Todd : The Demon Barber of Fleet-Street, but I ended up watching the 2005 BBC adaptation for TV - Sweeney Todd, starring Ray Winstone. But, no complaints at all! I had no idea of the old story, excellent adaptation indeed - and what's more my interest is piqued - about how a story of a barbaric maniacal killer-barber (yes!) could be made into a musical. Rest assured, I will not rest till I watch Mon. Depp's adaptation. Tell me if you've watched it / if I could get my hands on it somehow.

I believe this ...

2008-01-01T10:20:00.000-08:00

Woman: If I die, will I go to hell?

Man:Hell is an invention to frighten us.
There is no hell...

Man:...except the one we make
for ourselves on earth.

Woman: What is there, then?

Man: Oblivion.

Woman: What if you're wrong?

Man: Then we're all damned.

No buzz - but nice movie.

2007-12-29T22:24:00.000-08:00

Just finished watching the Bee Movie. I accept that the main attraction was that we finally get to see more than a Saturday Night sketch, after Jerry Seinfeld hung up his boots. True, we don't do much seeing - but still he co-wrote it and voices Barry B. Benson, the main protagonist bee of the movie.

But the point of this post is to direct you to this article by noted entomologist, Natalie Angier "In Hollywood Hives, the Males Rule". It features some killer lines like

"bee flinging, like bee stinging, is a lethal affair."

"A successful male is a dead male."

and

"The drone is deemed a drain, and if he won’t die for love, he must die for its lack."

Do read.

High 5 for Mood I!

2007-12-25T12:09:00.000-08:00

I'll be leaving to participate in Mood Indigo, IITB's annual cultural fest in a few hours. This will be my fifth Mood Indigo - and unlike the first years that I'm carrying in tow (a la Hagrid?), I no longer have the excitement that I once did. In fact, were it not for the quizzes I would not have gone.

Shocking as it may seem - my objectives for this year are to sleep at a reasonable hour (by around 1 am perhaps?) and NOT eat the junk chinese at the hostel 3 canteen and get my throat all messed up.

Apart from that, all my moaning about "5 years and no Jagjit Singh" has borne fruit. The great man will be there this year, and though many of you might not be fans - I'm really looking forward to this. Also Shankar Mahadevan and troupe are performing. I hope they give us the kind of stuff that I like, and not the populist stuff that is famous. Here's my wishlist

1. Rind Posh Maal (Mission Kashmir)
2. Lakshya (Lakshya)
3. Taare Zameen Par (TPZ)
4. Kal Ho Na Ho (KHNH)
5. Aao Na (Kyun! Ho Gaya Na)
6. Koi Kahe / Jaane Kyun Log Pyaar Karte Hai(DCH)

Apart from that, as this guy is no longer at IITB, I wont have internet access or peaceful lab-solace when I need it. I will try and chronicle stuff this year - so watch out for that once I get back.

PS: I'm accepting suggestions for what team name we should use this time round. The best ones I could come up till now unfortunately are all puns on Modi and Mood-i.

Poor Joke for the day

2007-12-24T21:13:00.000-08:00

Q. Why did the quarry workers not have bank accounts?
A. They were all miners.

More PJs here and here.

Note to self

2007-12-24T10:21:00.000-08:00

No matter how much friends try to convince you, do not watch an Anees Bazmee movie at 8:30 am on Saturday morning. Ever!

Desperately Seeking

2007-12-21T12:02:00.000-08:00

This book.: Comment saying you can lend it to me - and much kindness will come in your general direction.

P Diddy in Bloomingdale's?

2007-12-17T12:45:00.000-08:00

That is the simile this reporter prefers for one Monsieur Barwick. You HAVE to read this rotflmao article about Capello's "unveiling".

Here are a few gems :

"He says that, when he meets up with the squad in a month's time, he will be able to speak English," relayed his assistant.

It seemed an extraordinary claim. Images came to mind of Capello wandering round his mansion in Lugano, a Linguaphone cassette-player dangling round his neck and a set of flash-cards in his back pocket.

--

And what about the arrival of his backroom team of four fellow Italians, who between them will be costing the FA an extra £1.4m a year?

Was this not the footballing equivalent of buying an extremely expensive gadget for Christmas, only to unwrap it and find that it won't work without four additional batteries (not supplied)?

---

And it ends, fortunately in hope

Capello might be overpaid. He might be as short of English as his new side are of world-class goalkeepers.

But if he controls his players like he controlled the wilful British media, he'll be in with a chance.

Read the whole article now!

Two Tech Tips

2007-12-10T12:42:00.000-08:00

What is your homepage?

For many years, I've used the blank, going nowhere setting on my browser as my homepage. This was convenient - and really useful when you have dialup. Many people, prefer the Google Firefox homepage default, and thus give something back to the browser. But once the session gets going, everyone uses the in-built search bar - so not much money for Firefox to make there. Many people use Google Personalised Homepage. I personally did this for some time - my favourite gadgets? Gmail, Pune Weather, Orkut Birthday Reminders and Jay Leno quote of the day. iGoogle as it is known now, is much prettier - with weather-dependent themes and much innovation. It's very good if you have a nice, fast connection, i.e. say if your gmail loads in a second.

For most people in India, on broadband we're somewhere in the middle. So if you're looking to keep the "search engine" homepage option, but are bored of either Google.com or Google.com/firefox, then I have something exciting for you. Use Searchmash. It's my new homepage, and I'm loving it! It loads faster than Google, and has auto-cursor-to-text-box. Very nice indeed! Check it out. And if you thought, we finally have something to end GOOG domination, think again! This site is a Google experimentation pad - without any Google branding. So, the quality of results is as good as ever. Only with much better usability and UI.

***

Irritated by that Inbox(1032) message in Gmail?

I'm wondering why I did not think of this earlier. Due to a particular negligent phase of my using Gmail, I'd piled up a huge chunk of unread mails. What this meant, was that even though I had been reading all my mails regularly, my Inbox still said that I had 950 messages unread. Not that it made any difference. I have plenty of space remaining, but deleting all this stuff, just to get rid of that irritating sign seemed a bit excessive.

This is what I did.

Hit "select all messages". It will then ask you if you want to select all messages on that page, or all messages in general. Se you want to select all messages in general. Then, on the drop-down menu beside the delete button, you will find an option called "Mark as Read". Click it, confirm that you really want to do what you are doing - and you're set!

Mails remain, and unread messages zero. Yay!

They are like this too

2007-12-06T23:22:00.000-08:00

I enjoy reading Straight Dope sometimes. Today's mailer brought back recollections of an old quizzing chestnut about a cigarette tax or something.(Churchill was involved in some way I think) Shame is, I can't remember it! If someone could please refresh my memory in the comments that would be great.

Anyway - what reminded me of that question was this : How Come We never see Class B cigarettes. Any article that has the words "Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms" deserves special attention!

Finally, She purrs!

2007-12-06T02:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday night, I slept with the quiet joy of a man who know that his computer is going about its job of getting bits and bytes from people around the world so that when he wakes up the next day, it has a small present for him. Getting up, is an equally joyous experience - I act as if I really did not know, that my computer is going to present me with such bounteous gifts - and to some extent my surprise and admiration is genuine.

Now, this morning however was a rough patch in our relationship. I got up, as usual - and rushed to her hoping for another day of joyful gift-revelation. Imagine my surprise then, when I find a grumpy black face starting at me saying, "the computer has to shut off due to overheating" - or somesuch. This is the last straw I decide.

I knew it was going to come to this. She has been slowly increasing the intensity of what was a quiet whir, to a almost resounding growl. I somehow managed to sleep - and have been putting up with this obstreperous behaviour for almost a few months now. So - I decide, enough is enough!

I get up, and armed with my screwdriver and two pieces of rags I approach her. I yank open the side cover - and set about trying to figure out a way to get the heat sink off. After a little while, the heat sink is off - and I'm hacking away at her innards getting all that layer of dirt, slime and grease off it. Finally she's clean and good to go. Pleased at having done a good morning's work - I then put her back.

This is where the problem arrived. If you've ever tried putting back a heat sink without taking out the motherboard, it can be a bitch! Finally I manage somehow, but to no avail. Obviously it's not been done properly, and the system promptly shuts off in ohh.. about 3 seconds.

So finally, I take the last resort. Take her to the big daddy. I yank out all the wires - shove her in the car and bang her on the mechanic's desk. He's smiles at me as if saying - "you don't really know how to handle her, do ya?". He takes her apart, piece by piece and puts her back - lovingly. She obviously must've relented - because in about half-an hour she was all ready to go.

I was still mad. But when I put her back at my place, and plugged her in - she purred! Softly and silently as she did about a year back. And as I sit here typing this, and listening to her - there is no greater joy than a really silent computer!

Free as in free software

2007-12-05T11:15:00.000-08:00

You guys must've heard about that famous quote by Richard Stallman

“Free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech”, not as in “free beer”.

So, someone thought, lets make this whole situation even more confusing by having beer that is free, free as in "free speech", not as in "free beer". Anyway, here is their website. You should start by reading their faq, to get a heads-up on things.

But the whole point of this post was to link to the interview these guys had with Stallman himself. I like it because it catches him totally off-guard, on a subject he;s seemingly ill at ease with, but eventually moving to the basic fundamental questions of "ideology". Here is the link, scroll down a bit, before you can see it.

Particularly interesting lines are,

"Open Source is a term used to co-opt our work; to separate our work from the ideals that motivated it. See, we developed software that users are free to run and share and change as they wish for the sake of freedom, because those freedoms, we believe, are essential. Then there were millions of people who appreciated the software and appreciated the chance to share and change it and found that it was very good software too. But they didn’t want to present this as an ethical issue, so they started using a different term,‘open source’, as a way to describe the same software without ever bringing it up as an ethical issue;"

"I’d rather not use the term ‘open source.’ I’m not a supporter of the ‘open source’ movement"

"Think of ‘open source’ and ‘free software’ as the name of two different political parties -"

Btw, here is the "source code".

Notes from today

2007-12-02T05:14:00.000-08:00

I was decidedly against watching Aaja Nach Le. But after reading Baradwaj Rangan say "Aaja Nachle is full of small, lovely moments about this world, about these people ..." I've become more malleable to the idea. More important is the fact that Taran Adarsh hates it saying (rotflmao here) "Sadly, AAJA NACHLE is below the mediocre mark and doesn’t meet the humungous(sic) expectations that you associate with the Yashraj - Madhuri combo." This one kind-of convinces me.

***

This one is tied to the above bit - saw "Dil to Pagal Hai" today (or most of it anyway). Was slacking off at home, with my feet hung up, quite literally due something about which you will read in the next bit. Anyway, I'm definitely a child of the mid-90s movie genre. This period starts with Baazigar, blooms with Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge - stays on with Dil to Pagal Hai and culminates (sort-of) with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Now you must note that all these are the quintessential movies that will one day typify Shah Rukh Khan's acting career in a phase where he became extremely popular - somewhat like Amitabh's "Angry Young Man" phase, with movies like Deewar and Trishul. Sure, they'll do other stuff - but this forever will remain their "coming of age" so as to speak.

Anyway, "Yashraj-Madhuri" combo reminds me of Dil To Pagal Hai - a movie which I remember liking quite a bit. Thankfully, I've found tell-tale signs that there has been some transformation in my tastes (for good/bad, time will tell). I hated it - the "Dance of Envy" that I once idolized as "something bhari" was nothing more than a contorted attempt at mutual provocation, Shah Rukh Khan is positively obnoxious and the dialogue notoriously kitsch. Immensely eeww!

***

What I did today morning was take part in this. Happy to report that it was a major anti-climax, finished it within 30 mins, and actually walked back from Nehru Stadium to Deccan, to build up an appetite to ensure that we could execute our carefully built breakfast plans to their potential. In a way, that too was a major highlight of the morning - the Chiken Cutlet and the Baked Beans at Prem's Restaurant in Koregaon Park. Not bad at all!

Me - Run - Yes. You Join?

2007-11-30T09:20:00.000-08:00

Me, my friend and the monkey-man will be running in the 4.5 km section of the 22nd Pune International Marathon, day after(this Sunday). Please come see us blaze the tracks. Congratulate the guys who'll win, and we'll wish you back in return.

And if you're a 20 something girl, satisfying all the frequently mentioned criteria, and really impressed by us - then remember, the other two guys have girlfriends.

(PS: All this running enthu is thanks to Dhammo. You've inspired me for ages.)

(PPS: Just for the record, my target is to complete the distance in 1 hr.)

(PPPS: If you're wondering if you're reading the right Abhishek's blog - the one who would sit around, reading books and watching movies, imitating a hibernating bear - then don't go anywhere. This is the Abhishek. I'm just trying to improve!)

Jigrii Dushman - The return of the Killer "Local Author"

2007-11-29T20:31:00.000-08:00

One of the best parts of the new "independent" regime at COEP, has been forwarding of subjects ahead by one semester, thereby cramming Automata theory in second year, and Computer Organisation in the 5th semester and suchlike. Today, friends, Romans, Countrymen - I'm going to write the last paper of this semester in about 4 hours. Why, then do you ask, I'm writing this in spite of cramming as much as I can into my short-term memory banks? The answer? Nostalgia.

Nostalgia, can make you do strange things - and now as I'm writing this, I'm least bothered about trivial matters like "doing well" or "getting good grades". These things happen to me, rather than any conscious effort on my part.(rarely of course) What I am bothered about, is the fact that owing to the aforementioned prefetching of future subjects, my next semester is virtually free. Sure, there is the pesky project(which I aim to do with utmost sincerity, O lord of project guides!) and the stupid elective(which is very likely to be "Advanced Entrepreneurship Development" mwahahaa!) - but it basically means - no day-to-day college! Sure, this has been my routine anyway for at least the last two years - but gone will be the burden of using all my charm and diplomatic abilities to ensure that I do not attend and still stay relatively safe. I must say, that it came very close this semester - but it seems like I'll make it.

Anyway, the nostalgia is basically that this will be my last turbulent stream that I will cross with the help of my trusted Nirali (ok, ok it's TechMax today, but you get the drift). As it sits in the corner, horribly used, edges frayed, line after line highlighted(all by some chap called Vikram Kamble, His Noodly Appendage bless his soul!) staring at me - all I can say is thank you! You have given me the confidence to step into today's "Advanced Computer Architecture" exam, having no freakin' idea what separates a Vector Processor from a Scalar processor. Sure, I know 10 points of differentiation, and am hoping this question will feature in the paper - but if by some freak chance my future employers put me in charge of the "Vector/Scalar Processor" department of their company (ah, choose this boy, he had good ACA grades) I will have no chance of facing my juniors with a straight face.

And what is important, is that, this has been pretty much the pattern of my whole undergraduate study. I've technically studied Computer Networks, Automata Theory, Compiler Construction and Digital Signal Processing. Tomorrow, when I go out to work in the domain, it will be on the basis of such extremely volatile education - which is brilliant, because my employers are anyway going to erase my easily destroyed EPROM and program me to their requirements. Now you know why COEP engineers are so much in demand!

Anyway, I want to end by basically saying thank you -- thank you to all you "Godse-Bakshis", "Bhutiyani-Joshis" and "Prasad-Prasads". You guys are no less than any super-hero combo!

(PS: Coming Soon! The Sequel : Killer Local Author in "The Revenge of the Firgans" )

(PPS: This post was supposed to go online with the entire contents at 11 am today, but thanks to blogger quirks on Konqueror and my Firefox being down, it goes up now)

Emergency, so what?

2007-11-28T08:42:00.000-08:00

When people in India talk about the 1975 Indian Emergency imposed by Mrs G, it's always in hushed tones - or at least with some degree of caution. It was, and I'm basing this on the reactions of these people - a huge thing. The biggest thing to strike India since the 71 war.

Now unfortunately I have not read either fact or fiction which is based in the time, so all my evidence is hearsay. But my closest encounter was via Amu (v.nice film - go drool at Konkona in her arty-best.) There was general terror, head-chopping in Delhi, places were majorly closed. Of course, how places far from the capital, like say Gadchiroli or Bidar were affected is another matter to explore - but it would be safe to say that a certain sense of commotion mixed with fear prevailed.

Now - lets come to the current Pakistan situation. I'm assuming here that the legal provisions of the emergency are pretty much similar in both cases. But - apart from that fact that they've caught poor Imran Khan again - life on the street seems pretty much normal. Pervez had a huge send-off party, he threw to himself, where he himself cried at how much he was going to miss himself in an uniform. People around were generally hoping (pun unintended) that they would be rewarded for their troubles by hutta-gutta Peshawari gosht and chicken biryani. A dude I heard on the telly was pretty happy saying that "Musharraf sir ne vardii to utaarii hai, lekin ab aage kya karte hai dekhna padegaa". You strip-teasing-pervert! Shouldn't such guys be put behind bars - immediately? Isn't the emergency hugely bigger than the Rowlatt Act?

When people's freedoms are supposed to be curtailed, Nawaz Sharif - who's been enjoying Saudi belly dancers all these years, is permitted to enter the country. Benazir too drops in to see what the fuss is all about. "Oh, how lovely, emergency! This is something I have not seen. Babu, book my ticket on the next BA, will you?"

Life elsewhere continues as peacefully (or violently) as usual. Shoaib falls sick again, and political wrangling continues.

It's time these guys realised the value of an emergency. "Do din mein khatm hogaa, tab pataa chalegaa, keh detii hoon!"

Yesterday

2007-11-27T07:31:00.000-08:00

The eyes they closed
And off I dozed
On what seemed a sunny day
But it was cold outside
And it was cold inside
In a stupid, magical way

Eyes wide open
Eyes wide shut
No place where I could stay
They all came to see
Then they showed to me
That lonely yesterday.

I stared at me
Me stared at I
Eyes seemingly cast away
But I couldn't be
What I couldn't see
Until my dyin' day.

And then she said,
That she's afraid
That it turned out this way
But, can't you believe
She just couldn't leave
Her things on my byway.

The silver spoon
That filled my room
Had nothin' more to say
And I couldn't find
With enough money inside
A purse that would make her pay.

Eyes wide shut
Eyes wide opened
A place where I did stay
Showed to me,
what I couldn't see
What came to me today

'Twas Another face, In another place
To pass the rest of my days.

'Twas Another face, In another haze
To pass the rest of my days.

Injured playmaker - no cookie for you.

2007-11-25T23:31:00.000-08:00

At least not today.

And if you thought this was sport, think again. You won't be getting any footage/videos from the Led Zep reunion concert because it is now postponed to the 10th of December.

Why?

Jimmy Page's injured, that is why!

Few will care but,

2007-11-23T23:51:00.000-08:00

Verity Lambert dies at the age of 71.

Saved from the trenches of RFC 822

2007-11-21T08:03:00.000-08:00

Lots more good stuff here. Esp this ravenous discharge.

Dir Straits

I want my
I want my
I want my FTP

Now look at them yo-yo's that's the way you do it
You get the files from the FTP
That ain't programming, that's the way you do it
Programs for nothing and the code is free
Now that ain't programming, that's the way you do it
Let me tell you those guys aren't pissed
Maybe break a nail on your little finger,
Maybe get some numbness in your wrist

We've got to install operating systems
Custom software delivery
We've got to move these manual pages
RTFM those RFCs

See the little user with his gifs and the jpegs
Yeah buddy he's got root
That little user got his own workstation
That little user got his own disk to boot

We've got to install operating systems
Custom software delivery
We've got to move these manual pages
RTFM those RFCs

I should've learned to run xarchie
I should've learned to play them games
Look at that mama, her gif is sticking in the monitor
Man we could have some fun
And he's up there, what's that? Orgasm noises?
Playing sound files like a grade-school geek
That ain't programming that's the way you do it
Get your programs for nothing get your code for free

We've got to install operating systems
Custom software delivery
We've got to move these manual pages
RTFM those RFCs

Now that ain't programming, that's the way you do it
You get your programs from the FTP
That ain't programming that's the way you do it
Programs for nothing and your code for free
Programs for nothing and code for free

Original Joke of the day

2007-11-19T22:06:00.000-08:00

Why did the judge sentence Ekta Kapoor to death?

Because she was a serial killer.

We bow down t to thee

2007-11-18T04:22:00.000-08:00

Verbatim: My college Sysadmin

2007-11-14T09:47:00.000-08:00

Hi, there is a particular, unmonitored way by which you can send an email to all COEP students, via an alias. There are absolutely no restrictions - and anyone, using any ID can do so. As I predicted sometime back, ICICI bank has come to know of it, and soon will IMS, Career Forum and anyone looking to target college students. In fact, they would even be ready to pay for this.

Anyway currently, the misuse is mainly by college students to wish us a happy diwali, send us marriage proposals and offer free mobile phones. Finally - the giant called the sysadmin woke up. Here is the strict action he has taken

"It has come to my notice that a lot of students are misusing the college email id, especially the ---------@coep.org.in email address. I would like it to be known that this email address is for the sole purpose of making important announcements by the staff or secretaries of the various clubs in the college. It has been observed, that students are creating profile on social networking / matrimonial sites using this account. Please let it be known that the college has not provided you with email addresses for such frivolous activities. If you must register with social networking sites, do so using your personal email Id and not -------@coep.org.in. Furthermore, students are now spamming this id with emails promising free mobile phones. This is a HOAX. Please refrain from such blatant misuse of the college id in future.

System Administrator "

The new Force India livery.

2007-11-13T21:51:00.000-08:00

Thought you would like to see.

You have to

2007-11-10T10:24:00.000-08:00

check out the new uniforms of the ICL. No more comments.

Hat Tip : greatbong

Abhishek's Law of education.

2007-11-08T10:11:00.000-08:00

If I ever teach a class this is the first thing I'm going to tell them

"No matter how good or interesting a professor or a course is, over a period of time, formal education is boring."

Anyone agrees?

Bacon No 4 - here I come!

2007-11-08T09:13:00.000-08:00

The director if Alliance Francaise de Poona, Monsieur Jean-Jacques Scaerou is an interesting personality. He is short, slightly rotund, always wears a smile on his face and is a connoisseur of music and art in general. I've seen him make fun - and in general entertain us often during boring phases of my study towards my Diploma. I must however add, that Alliance Francaise as an institution is as badly managed a place as I have ever seen, probably on par with COEP. But anyway, lets blame "the system" and move on.

So, the point is this. I was watching "A Mighty Heart" mostly interested by all the brouhaha created during the filming in Pune. So imagine when I see Mr. Scaerou playing the role of the French Ambassador(i think) in Karachi, Philippe Scaerou. He even has a couple of lines with Ms.Jolie.

Here is a screenshot.(some goof-up here. Will put correct shots later.)

Anyway, so Mr.Scaerou now has an IMDB page, and more importantly a Bacon number of 3.

Ok gotta go now - I've got to convince him to appear on a home video with me.

***

In parallel reading, you might want to check out A Mighty Shame, Asra Nomani's take on movie. She was one of Daniel Pearl's closest friends in Pakistan, and was with his wife during her ordeal.

BTW, loved Archie Punjabi who plays her in the movie. Dunno why, something was attirante.

"Whodunits" - BCQC November Open 2007

2007-11-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

Ramanand is doing a quiz this weekend at the BCQC. Should be fantabulous.
Quoting his post here from his blog.

*******
I'm doing an open quiz this Sunday called "Whodunits". The detectives theme is more than incidental and seems appropriate for an intellectual exercise such as quizzing. Anyway, I think it might be fun (mostly), so drop by even if it goes against your better judgement. All the details, complete with noir poster, below:

The BC Quiz Club will be organising an Open General quiz on Sunday, the 4th of November, 2007.

The details:

"Whodunits"
Date: Sunday, 4th Nov
Venue: Dewang Mehta Auditorium, Persistent Systems Ltd. (see this link for directions)
Time: Prelims start at 1 pm sharp, so please report by 12:45 pm
Flavour: General
Who can participate: anyone; it's an Open quiz; Entry is free
Format: Prelims + Playoffs + Finals for 6 teams
Team Size: 2 per team
Conducted by: J. Ramanand
Prizes sponsored by Landmark, Pune
Contact:
email: contact@bcqc.org
phone: Ramanand (97642 58560), Harish (93733 04910), Salil (98231 12258)

Look Ma, I'm quoting Dani!

2007-10-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

From here

Looking back, we ( the VIT quizzers and Kunal S) have done so much of college quizzing in the last two years that I think that we should really think about whether its worth or time to go for such frustrating quizzes any longer. It is an enjoyable quizzing experience that we are looking for, not the incentive to get yet another certificate of yet another college event. But then at the back of my mind I do know that most probably I will end up going for many more such quizzes this year, just in the hope of getting a good quiz, and a taste of Pune college quizzing for what will be my last year in VIT.

Man! Can't believe that a) I'm in final year already and b) I abso-fuckin'-lutely agree with the man. Wait a min, the last time I checked, that can't be good!

Movies we're looking forward to

2007-10-24T00:36:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to seeing Om Shanti Om. Dunno why, but I have some confidence in Farah Khan, giving us a complete masala film - and I think I might become a Deepika Padukone fan too.

But, Khoya Khoya Chand Sudhir Mishra's next, also seems very promising. Very similar setting to OSO, 70's film industry. But it really has a stellar cast, some of the best young actors in the hindi film industry today IMHO - Shiney Ahuja, Soha Ali Khan and Vinay Pathak. Shantanu Moitra's title song drew attention, will be looking to get the full score soon.

Apart from that, how could we miss No Smoking. Anurag Kashyap's next film promises to be amazing. Starcast : John Abraham, Ayesha Takia, Paresh Rawal and Ranveer Shorey. This brilliant poster I saw of the film yesterday just reminded me what was to come.

Then there is Mithya. Rajat Kapoor's next after Mixed Doubles (which I missed). Should be decent home DVD watching, let see. And to round off the list : Amir Khan's directorial debut : Tare Zameen Par - ostensibly a "children's" film. I'm interested to check out how he does. Lets see.

Rajat says I would never do that ...

2007-10-22T10:42:00.000-07:00

“First of all, Bheja Fry is not my film. I was associated with it. I (associate) produced it. But I would never take another film (in this case, Le Dîner de Cons) and copy it.” But it’s certainly the kind of film he tends to get slotted with, and for that he’s grateful. “I’m lucky. What I like, people are somehow able to relate to.”

Rajat Kapoor.

Go read Baradwaj Rangan's full interview with Rajat Kapoor.

Go Robbo!

2007-10-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

I've been recently sad that the quality of Robbo's work had gone down. But, pathos, they say brings out the best in you. So please read Robbo's rants about the crap weekend that England Sport had. Here are a few quotes in case you can;t got through it entirely.

About the Rugby WC

"All I can say is, thank God I was supporting someone. I'd be surprised if there was a neutral on the planet who hadn't switched off by half-time. There was a lot of what my Dad calls 'hyperbowl' from the combox, but by God it was bloody dreary stuff."

About Gordon Brown being there

By the by, why was Gordon Brown there? I've got absolutely no problem with a Scot being PM, so long as he doesn't pretend he's English from time to time. It just doesn't suit the bloke. You are Scottish, mate!

Just because it may take a long time for your countrymen to reach the final of anything, it doesn't mean you have to gatecrash the English party.

I think it would've been good to see him react like every other Scot I've met since Saturday, and say "bad luck, pal", with a barely-disguised smile playing around his lips.

And in conclusion

All in all, you're left with that feeling English sportsmen are better than any other when it comes to one thing. Heroic Defeat. Agonising Failure. Noble Effort. And it's bloody depressing.

Best race ever!

2007-10-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

Even though I'm a Massa fan!

(PS: Have you wondered that McLaren could've won, had Alonso dropped off to allow Hamilton to get by?)

Spyker Old - Force India new.

2007-10-20T12:04:00.000-07:00

Read full story.

This blogger's comment is pending more info.

A Silly Poem by Spike Milligan

2007-10-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

(Psst: I knew I would blog about this even before I read it. Nice.)

Said Hamlet to Ophelia,
I'll draw a sketch of thee,
What kind of pencil shall I use?
2B or not 2B?

YouTube's new rules.

2007-10-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

I hope you guys have had the chance to read about the changes Google is making to YouTube. Read all of it, on the official blog.

In short, what it implies is that instead of checking videos before uploading, they will make "IDs" of videos - and compare them with existing videos owned by copyright owners. Then they'll automatically do what the copyright owner requests. Umm.. big move - which could eventually cost YouTube millions of uploads a month, and dwindling content will mean, dwindling traffic. Of course - YouTube's not going anywhere, but I sense an opportunity for someone in another country, (not governed by laws regarding digital content.) to make lots of money out of this.

And another major disappointment - "We require a 10-minute limit on the length of content uploaded to the site." That really sucks!

You've GOT to read this.

2007-10-12T15:57:00.000-07:00

Seriously.

Quote-hanger

2007-10-11T03:42:00.000-07:00

Nice ones from Quote of the day.

"I don't have a photograph, but you can have my footprints. They're upstairs in my socks." - who else?.

"Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand"
Kurt bhai.

And I remember this from a re-viewing of Annie Hall yesterday,

I don't want to a member of any club that would have me as a member.

Those who can't do, teach. And those who can't teach, teach gym.
(re-used memorably in School of Rock, of course.)

Another world beater.

2007-10-11T03:23:00.000-07:00

This, that is.

The Pop Quizzing Joke Book - section I

2007-10-10T05:45:00.000-07:00

The MELA quiz at MindSpark,(or barQing Mad as some of us like to call it) ensured conditions where I could comfortably stare at the screen, think about the answer for a nanosecond, and then resume with whatever I was doing before (i.e chatting, counting the number of tiles on the north wall, eavesdropping etc.) This is where these following jokes have their origin.

1. Why could Avinash Mudaliar never complete his maritial pheraas?
Ans: He insisted on a round reversal.

2. Why did no team finish the Military quiz?
Ans: Due to the rapid-fire round at the end.

3. Why did the times call the quiz "a victory of circular logic"?
Ans: There were too many rounds.

Yes, I know, the last one sucks.

What brilliance!

2007-10-10T00:55:00.000-07:00

Look at this stud. This is IMS' list of the Top 100 at SimCAT 4.

(PS: For those who do not know, the test requires filling in OMR sheets(yes, the ones with many circles to darken. Oh! the idea of filling in circles patiently to read IIMS suck! Man, if you were a woman, I'd marry you.)

Flash News: COEP Girl dead. Suicide confirmed.

2007-10-05T04:41:00.001-07:00

Updates!
1. Rumours that she took pills, as the preferred route.
2. Her name is (was?) Neelambari Tuse.(or tusey as I say such names should be spelt.)
3. This apparently seems to be a "boyfriend break-up" case. Even more sad.1

Today is the first day of our first combined college fest. MindSpark However, news breaks into college in the morning by about 12 that a particular girl has committed suicide.(3rd year Production Engg. apparently.) This had the following effects:

- All events in which the college thinks we're having "fun" are cancelled. Frankly this might not be the reason, as everything I know up to this point is hearsay. Anyway, what is fact is that the cultural shows planned and the round-the-clock events at the "Lounge" stand annulled.

- We're keeping fingers crossed about the MELA Quiz. I kind-of feel happy that we called it the MELA quiz, and not the Entertainment quiz. Our chances of survival in that case would have been lower. I still (rather pessimistically) think, that it will be cancelled. Let's see.

- A series of rather sanctimonious repercussions the event. We've been told to gather all people taking part in our event at 4:something today.(even if the event is not today, and the participants are not here.) Then all these organisers with participants in tow asre expected to gather around the staff in-charge and "mourn" for 2 minutes.

- This rather pious statement is from the chief organiser, a rather kindly fellow I know named Priygun Jain. He instructed the main organisers "to ensure that everyone is wearing a black band. If you see someone not wearing one, ensure that they do." (PS: I'm NOT being sarcastic when i say he is a kindly sort of fellow. He really is.)

That as I rather think is enough reporting from the front-lines. My personal views on such suicidal cases is rather impersonal and some might say "stone-hearted". I will therefore express them later when the mind is more receptive to reason.

1: Details courtesy Aniket.

Hello! This is nice.

2007-10-04T22:19:00.001-07:00

I'm writing this from inside Flock. This is my way to send some link-love.And while you're at trying new software, do also check out Songbird. It's a new media player from Mozilla. It's still in developer testing stage - but still works pretty well. The best thing is that it plays OGGs and Mp3s.

(PS: I wish i could tell you to try Buzzword too, but then you don't have the private invite, do you? Mwahahaha!)

Nice day at the Box Office

2007-09-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

(Alert! Due to the insane hours in which this post has been written, it might contain many typos, non-sequitors, broken clauses and suchlike. I know this, but have no time or inclination to correct it. Please to excuse.)

Sorry, couldn't resist. ;-)

Anyway, as a dedication to QT, I'll commence this roundup of my day, (a very unusual post by my standards, but banal by blogosphere's) from the very end - and continue a-chronologically. If that is the right word that is.

Anyway, finished the day at 11:30 at ESquare after a wonderful couple something hours of watching "Manorama - 6 Feet Under", all thanks to the tip from this man. Kailash Kher song accompanying the credits was really nice - need to find out more. Still, whatever people do - no one stays for the credits! Not even supposedly trivially inclined quizzing friends. One of the few Miss India contests that I have seen - I remember Gul Panag's most vividly. I was appalled at her lack of sense even then - (remember the inane comment she made at the next Filmfares about how Preity Zinta and she were somehow divinely connected due to the quite prominent dimples?) I'd never thought she'd get somewhere in life. At least not to a place where I'd be seeing her. Anyway, here I am - a person who choosed very carefully what movies he watched in a theatre, and she's played a major roles in two of those. Dor and of course, Manorama. Hmm.. interesting to see how this story ends.

*****************************

Had an unusually hurried trip to the British Council Library. Returned all the DVDs, not having seen, the somehow conjunctionally challenged Romeo + Juliet starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Decided not to fill up my quota of 8 items with stupid DVDs, some of which will just contribute to my late-fee list - and picked up just books. Fewer, which I could hope to finish in a month. So here I am sitting with The Rupa Book of Ruskin Bond's Himalayan Tales,(I quite liked his other collection of Nature stories.) Ian McEwan's Saturday (again, was very impressed by Amsterdam, and he's been shortlisted again for the Booker's this year.) Graham Greene's "The Third Man" & "Loser Takes It All" (never read Greene before, shame on me!) and the prized-possession of today's raid "Notes from a Small Island" by Bill Bryson. The story of how I got the last one is quite interesting. I was standing at the counter checking my books out, when I noticed a teenagish girl with a bunch of books. The Bryson of course did not escape the eye, and I promptly and without inhibition (and you'll know how unusual this is for someone like me) asked hee if I could have it, if she's done with it. She did - and here I am, about to commence my third Bryson book, with "The Life and Times of the Thunderbird Kid" promised in the near future. Brilliant!

*****************************

Apart from that, I'm about to finish the quizically famous "Murders in the Rue Morgue" . This book of short storied by Poe, (with the rather intriguing cover catch-line "horror now has a name") has left me quite amazed. I've never grappled with a book, as I have done with this one. I must admit, that I haven't experienced real horror via literature, and I don't think Poe is the man to do it. From what friends tell me, this guy is what I need. Still, his writing is archaic, sometimes pompous - almost always incisive and rich. It's very very different - and I feel enriched as a reader, by a book for the first time in many reads.

*****************************

Now faithful reader, I must take your leave. For the night is long past it's youth, and the middle-age symptoms are about to hit. Till next time, cheerio!

In the water of the clear fountain ...

2007-09-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

In the water of the clear fountain
She was bathing - with nothing on
A gust of wind, rain from the mountain
Showed us all, as she was born.

Damsel in distress, she made a sign,
Asked me to go and seek,
Leaves of rose, tulips divine
Before someone could get a peek.

With a few petals of a little rose,
I covered her up to the cuff
But the beauty was so very small
That a single rose was enough.

With the branches of a little vine
I made her a pretty skirt buff,
But the beauty was so very small
That a single branch was enough.

She clasped me with her arms so tight
Thanking me for the clothes so crude,
I took her with such manly might
That she was soon again in the nude.

The game must've pleased the maker,
Because at that fountain again,
She would have a bath - often
Praying - please let it rain!
Let it rain!

R.I.P

2007-09-24T03:56:00.000-07:00

and thank you.

Has anyone noticed this?

2007-09-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

We have 3 world cups going on at one time. I guess the biggest of them must be the Rugby World Cup in France, but in India it's the ~~Twenty20 WC~~(crap!) that's bagging all the headlines - and in China it's the Women's Football World Cup.

Unique, or what?

My Solitude

2007-09-12T02:00:00.000-07:00

FLASH : I've gone and done something radical. This song - sung, (by me in whatever voice) is now available on YouTube. I know I'll regret this one day. ;)

After having spent so much time
With my solitude
I know now, that she's mine
Like a lover wooed
She never leaves me alone
Loyal - like a brood.
She's outside and at home.
Like a shadow would.

No, I'm never alone
When I'm with my solitude.

When she sleeps with me at night
She takes up all the space
We spend hours by the light
Staring - face to face
I don't know till when
I'll run, this lonely race
Should I just say amen
Or mend, her wretched ways?

No, I'm never alone
When I'm with my solitude.

Thanks to her, now I know
That tears have been sprayed
When I fight her back somehow,
Never, is she afraid
And if I prefer the love
Of another chambermaid
She'll still be standing above
Standing, my last crusade.

No, I'm never alone
When I'm with my solitude.

(Being a translation(with liberties) of "Ma Solitude" by Georges Moustaki. Note that it is a song to be sung, and not a poem to be recited.)

Being a tribute to George Brassens

2007-09-07T13:08:00.000-07:00

I heard him play,
I heard him say -
All those words -
All those chords.
But it's the song he sings that enchants me.

Umbrellas and women, lost in the rain,
Little boats - losing their way
And bigger battles of heartless pain.
And the swinging evening on the quay.

Gorillas that sodomize grown men,
Girls that don't come home
Uncles lost in a lion's den
And a meeting of two children grown.

He's sung it all - written it all
Straining from June to May.
He sleeps quietly with all wherewithal
But he lives, to this jolly day.

He sings - through electronic means
And through little boy-birds.
I sit here enrapt, speechless.
Speaking only through my words.

He enrages, stupifies, offends.
What if he lived! I'd smack his face.
Then kiss him - but alas he mends,
His ways - and vanishes without trace.

Leaving behind that hateful smirk
Like the Cheshire cat - in form.
And of course, those haunting songs
Springing now - from the lips of a new born.

एक इवलीशी होड़ी

2007-08-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

Trial post : in developement.

एक होती छोटी चिमुकली होडी
एक इवला जहाज
होती इवलीशी - अखेर कागदी
पाण्यावर झुले सहज

बांधाली तिला पाण्याच्या काठी
दोन लाकडी खाम्बा
उन्हा बरोबर हुरूप ही चढी
कधी पळ तर कधी थाम्ब.

अन् एक दिवस होडी पाही स्वप्न
मनात तिच्याही आस - करायची जगाची एक मोठी सहल

निघाली तुर्त नदीतून ती
झाला तिला उन्मेष
बघितल्या शिवाय न परतणार मी
जगाचे सर्व देष.

हे कळताच नदीत तिच्या
झाला मोठा कल्लोळ
चिंतेने सर्व म्हणे तिला
घलातेस कशाला घोळ

Unlikely Movie, unlikely review.

2007-08-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

Watched "Hollywood Ending" yesterday. Yes, another one of those Woody Allen movies, where he plays another one of those confused, nervous wreaks - something that he has made a living, and some might say legend, out of.

First glance intrigues. What with Debra Messing(in a juvenile role as Allen's passing love interest and struggling, talentless actress) and the quite beautiful Téa Leoni as the estranged wife. Ellie (Leoni) is Allen's now-divorced wife, who is all set to get engaged to a high-flying movie production executive Ed (George Hamilton). Allen's character is a genius-crazy movie director, who has fallen on bad days.

As fate would have it, Ellie convinces Ed to give the director one last chance to redeem himself, and Ed, not wanting to displease his soon-to-be wife relents. Val (Allen) quite delighted, takes up the assignment with great vigour and excitement. But much to his dismay, the extreme emotion of the situation has so overwhelmed him, that he suddenly turns blind. Not permanently, as he understands - but partly - a type of "psychosomatic blindness". But afraid that his last chance to save his floundering career would slip by, he decides to direct the movie blind - first with the help of a translator working on the set - and later with Ellie. It is during this later period - that the previous chemistry is rekindled, and Ellie finds herself drawn towards the wayward genius again.

Meanwhile the film itself is quite atrocious - but everyone trusting the director to "put it all together", keep quiet, not knowing that the movie is in fact being made by someone who cannot see. Ellie too, plays along - knowing that any disclosure on her part would lead to the destruction of Val's career. Of course, once the initial shooting is over, Allen regains his vision - and wonders how the utterly spoiled film is to be edited. He eventually churns out a film - which is of course panned by audiences and critics alike, but which to his great surprise is lapped up by the French audiences, paving the way for a successful European run.

Of course the film is semi-autobiographical, farcical and facetious. References to Allen's relatively stronger fan-base in France - and a jab at the film industry in general. The overall joke, "even a blind man can make a film" - packs a punch, but fortunately is not drilled through - just draping the background amongst an flurry of supplementary and sometimes downright irrelevant action.

Allen is brilliant as usuan Tea Leoni does a decent job, and Debra Messing shows glimpses of the timing she shows in Will & Grace. Yes, we've seen the semi-autobiographical, nervous, dibbly-dabbly Allen before - but frankly, I would love seeing him a million times more. It's just plain fun - and despite being, if looked at in a certain way, a "get-back-at-you" film, its hardly hard-hitting, the whole point lost in a fog of good-old Allen one-liners and mindless soliloquy.

Watch it, I say nevertheless - especially if you haven't watched an Allen before. It's all good ;-)

What I've decided to do.

2007-07-31T07:58:00.000-07:00

I think I rather fancy the Linux from Scratch project. It involves building the entire linux source code from scratch configuring everything along the way. The whole point is to understand how the internals work. From what little I've read of the documentation, I've been warned many times about being an "intermediate to advanced user". Also almost all of the documentation stresses about netiquette, something which I find very annoying.

I hope to record my adventures here, so keep an eye out.

This is BackByte material!

2007-07-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

I used to reach Chip magazine pretty regularly and it had this brilliant section called "BackByte" - the last page reserved for user contributions on funny stuff relating to computing and technology. I distinctly remember having seen a scan of the advt. for a certain "MacroHard Systems".

Anyway - I was playing around with my comp today - and was using this utility called SpinRite. Now SpinRite is no ordinary utility - it is pretty famous, with it's well formed Wikipedia page, and the much eulogizing website.

There are of course brilliant testimonials : "Your product saved my butt this weekend." and "I was blessed by having purchased Spinrite 6.0". It claims to "refresh" your magnetic loss on the HDD. Maybe - I dunno. I eventually didn't use it - but you have to see this brilliant UI design.

Now is that genius, or what!

Banging head against wall!

2007-07-25T05:53:00.000-07:00

Please show me effective ways. Why, why do we have IE AND Firefox. I just can't handle it! Tearing my hair out!

Umm.. someone buying this commercial?

2007-07-23T11:33:00.000-07:00

What would you do, if I ran out of juice
Would you move on and go bang someone else?
Give me a chance - and you'll never regret
That you never ever really crossed my fence.
Mmmm You'll get by with a little help from durex
Mmmm You'll get high with a little help from durex
Mmmm I'm gonna try with a little help from durex.

What do I do when I cant get it up?
(Does performing really worry you?)
What do I do when she feels really sad?
(Can't you go on because of you-know-what?)

Do you need a little help?
Yes I could do with some.
Do you feel a little cramped?
Yes I really need someone.

Take me now - to your home right away
Yes I'm gonna try that out tonight.
Write in to us about your pleasurous stay
I hope we never turn on the light.
Mmmm You'll get by with a little help from durex
Mmmm You'll get high with a little help from durex
Mmmm I'm gonna try with a little help from durex.

Do you need a little help?
Yes I could do with some.
Do you feel a little cramped?
Yes I really need someone.
Mmmm You'll get by with a little help from durex
Mmmm You'll get high with a little help from durex
Mmmm I'm gonna try with a little help from durex.

(with due apologies of course to these guys)

Good, it's raining now

2007-07-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

"Can we not play under double waved yellow flags, or even a safety car? It worked at the Nurbergring on Sunday." asks Jamie Bidford on the TMS Blog.

Citizen Level Activism? Naah !

2007-07-11T11:18:00.002-07:00

*** Summary : A rare "personal" narrative about a Sunday evening "rough up" with the Pune police traffic department ***

I usually spend my Sundays on FC road, preferable with a trip to the BCL and/or Jai Jalaram bookstore opposite Cafe Coffee Day. I also like to slip in the occasional Sabudana Wada at Savera. All this of course circles about the certain main activity which I do for four hours, in and around the vicinity. But, as you might have guessed, the details are impertinent to the comprehension of the events to follow.

What needs to be understood is that I had parked my bike opposite a Chinese stall besides Apache on the FC side, in between the new mall and the notorious but somewhat docile bar. I park my bike with the relative free-mindedness that pervades oneself on a balmy Sunday morning with a relatively traffic free road. I proceed towards the 4 hours awaiting me, which pass off smoothly - and which I spend along with a friend from college among others. I stay back for a second, due to which this friend leaves before - our departure uncoordinated unlike normal. I step down to discover, or rather not discover the presence of my bike at the same parking spot. The aforementioned friend is of course long lost by now. Oh! and yes, I've forgotten my mobile phone.

There is a new rule in place which mandates traffic cops to take photographs of a vehicle when it is picked up for no parking. Use this to ensure that you were really erroneously parked, if at all your vehicle is picked up.

We live however in a relatively carefree society where the disappearance of the bike from the parking does not elicit hasty conclusions of vehicular larceny, but points us towards the suggestion that the in-focus vehicle has been seized by one of the roving rollers of the Pune Traffic Police. There is of course no marking of the road about the whereabouts of the police station. There is another such vehicle there however, back probably for its next dose of metallic injections. Its almost leaving after having collected its haul - when I notice something strange. One of the clochards of the crack vehicle pickup squads is photographing the behinds of the targets before locking them up with their fellow auto-criminals. I ignore this seemingly trivial observations - and speculating that they must've carried the vehicle to "Modern Police Station" near Police Parade Ground decide to walk up till there.

This is the Sunday evening of the Silverstone GP - and in not resorting to a rickshaw to get to the desired location I have already wasted much of the precious moments watching old, haggard men rather than shiny new cars and their roaring engines. I reach Modern Police Chowky to find the place to be nothing but a mud-yard resembling one used to picturise the Abhishek Bachchan mud-fights in Yuva. Vehicles are parked at the edges in two groups - and I see a couple of policemen and lots of agenty people with cellphones. The kinds that went out of fashion a few years ago.

I identify my bike from the mêlée, when one of these agenty fellows indicated that my moto-offender was caught in his net - meaning which I was to deal with this fellow. I speculated from previous observation about the guy photographing the offending bikes, and stated that I knew about the new rule necessitating a photo of the incorrect position of my vehicle - to which he replied that there was only one camera and the photo was currently doing the rounds along with the pickup vehicle. I'd decided to see this through, and even though I was not confident about the right-parkedness (if ever there was such a thing) of my vehicle, I waited.

The vehicle came around after around 40 mins - during which I checked my license and the validity of my PUC certificate. I also got abreast of the parking rules from the agent - and ensured that what I knew was more or less correct. When the much awaited vehicle finally came around, the special photo-taking individual was summoned to show my the posterior of my bike, outside the dreaded white L shaped line.

Since my vehicle was picked up much before - he had some trouble in locating the photograph - and with every missed shot, I commended myself for having waited. He would never find the photo and I would be spared paying the 150 bucks - out of which I had only one 130 at that precise moment.

He however did find the picture, but much to his consternation unlike all the others there was no conclusive evidence to show that my vehicle was parked outside the white L. In fact using the zoom, 3 from the agency peered into the teeny screen, only to return empty handed - without any trace of the coveted white mark. He pointed to some rubbish lying around in the hope that I would accept, but even he knew that it was a shot in the dark.

By this time the vehicle had been emptied and it was time for them to part on another round of vehicle-picking, which meant the camera had to go too. The camera-wielder tried to hop into the back of the truck. I hoverer had no intention of letting either the camera or the person go, mainly because I had no time to wait another 45 mins. The held firmly the hand of the camera boy, and he shouted - asking me to let go of it. I summoned a police officer who was watching all this and seemed least interested in the proceedings. The crowd of the parents of the auto-wrongdoers gathered around to see the fun - and all this chaos summoned the head of the agenty fellows to come and check out what was going on.

The fracas continued to entertain with my witty but pointed arguments at this head fellow - at the end of which came the main Police guy to whom I explained the whole situation. He soon realised that resistance was useless, and ordered this head of the agents to let my poor darling go. It was almost 6 30 by this time, and I had no intention of missing the whole race.

I would have loved to argue more - and maybe even demand a compensation for my troubles, but that seemed unlikely and I was in no mood for a high-investment low-gain duel. I'd saved 150 bucks, and more importantly realised the value of how simple rules can empower common people. It was not really activism or a sense of social and public morality that made me fight. It was the simple case of me - fighting for my own personal cause. A battle in which I'm most likely to use my best resources and ensure the best possible outcome for me. The fact that it will make these fellows more careful from the next time and in turn save hundreds of people from trouble is purely co-incidental. Frankly all I care about is the 150 bucks still sitting in my wallet, rather than in that crummy bastard's sweaty little trouser-hole.

Why did the policemen go to the Rakhi Sawant show?

2007-07-11T11:18:00.001-07:00

Booty calls.