EXCUZE ME !!!

I Got The Signal!!

2006-06-22T01:27:00.000+05:30

as i sit here typing this post, this feels to be one of the weirdest moments in the past one year of my life. the reason might seem trivial to some, but what is happening right now in my room is ... something that has never happened in the past year. I HAVE SIGNAL ON MY MOBILE PHONE!!!

arrived on campus an year ago and took the Airtel connection which came with some incentive scheme for students. since that fateful day, i can count on my fingertips the number of days that i saw one bar (maximum) of signal on my phone in my room. if i had to call someone, i had to walk out of my room...right thru the corridor, turn into the right side of the wing, hold the mobile phone up like a tracking device till it showed some signal, and then stand exactly there and make the call. and dont even ask what happened if someone called me. in all probability, i would be unreachable if i was in my room. in my work life, i would have paid extra to get a phone which was unreachable all the time, but here...i wanted signal. so if someone called and fortunately my phone rang, i would pick it up and rush out thru the corrridor to find a spot where the signal showed two bars and then i would take the call. the situation was so bad that if my frends in other blocks wanted to find out whether i was in my room or not, they would call. if i was unreachable...they trooped to my room.

one day i even lost my temper and marched to the guy who had sold me the connection. and his telling me that he was AWARE OF THE SITUATION didnt help my temper either. i demanded the number of the person incharge of the area from Airtel. and i blasted him like anything and told him to refund my money. also because i had promptly paid up a HUGE deposit in advance for an year long validity while signing up without realising that my room did not have network coverage from airtel. after getting lambasted, the guy promised a repeater tower on the roof of my block. and true to his word the repeater tower appeared on the rooftop within a week, with some bulb like things being extended throughout my corridor, one of them right in front of my room. so when i see this bulb like thing in front of my room, i am filled with happiness hitherto unknown. so i take the phone out of my pocket - only to find ................................zero signal. i decide to give the buggers the benefit of doubt, so i hold up my phone again like a tracking device in the direction of the bulb. No signal still. i follow the cabling all the way to the repeater tower, holding the tracking devince in my hand and voila!!! i have signal: right under the tower!!. but how the heck is this situation better! i still have to run to the tower rather than to the other side of the corridor which was anyway closer. for a few days i sat right under the tower to make any phone calls, trying my best to ignore the swarms of mosquitos that i think have been overlooked by people trying to find a way to reduce their weight. come to think of it, it's a totally organic, natural and effective way if you can adjust with the side effects!

the situation was so bad that i even thought of cross marking with a chalk the points where we had signal in the corridor so we dint have to search everytime.

and today, finally, after exhausting the advance that i had paid to airtel an year ago, i feel like a completely new and free man. i have a reliance Smart connection. and it shows full signal with all bars in my room. to tell u honestly, somewhere deep inside i am scared that when i get up tomorrow, the bars would be gone. and i would have to find new spots in the corridor. i hope i dont get nightmares tonite about this at least. i know its weird to be scared of THIS of all things, but yes, i feel the fear. its palpable. its real. who knows what ll happen tomorrow morning. i am calling my frends tonight.

Winning

2006-01-28T02:27:00.000+05:30

Why is it important to win everytime?...only to be slaves of our destiny. When will we be free?

Again

2005-12-06T19:17:00.000+05:30

Exams are here...again :((. i guess it ll be another fortnite away from surfin like a free bird.

Attraction and Chastity - Episode 6

2005-11-05T17:38:00.000+05:30

This is going to be the last episode of this series for a couple of reasons. One, i think its been quite a while since i started the story. Last CAT came and went, and its almost time for this year's CAT, which Nattu wud be writing. Two, i think i am going to conclude this story and write to both of em with the link...i want to see both their reactions.

Recap: Gattu sends Nattu a gift which she returns. So they meet somewhere in their office building where they talk for a while and then she returns his gift which is a small toy. Gattu tries to convince her that its just a small gift and that he cant take it back. She doesnt relent and so he takes it back and throws it in the bin. They both go back to their respective offices.

Episode 6: Gattu spends the night slogging in office and brooding over whatever happened. i was with him till around midnight after which i think he really drowned himself in work. He dint take a single break the entire day next day and kept working at his seat. Finally i dragged him down for a smoke at 6 in the evening. So there we were, smoking away happily at our "panchayat spot" and there comes Nattu walking down the ramp nearby. Gattu looks at her and looks away. Somewhere inside i felt happy for him...the guy was totally getting himself into a heartache situation. so i thot his grief story was finally coming to an end.
Gattu finished his smoke and went back to his seat. At around 8, he got an email from Nattu

Nattu: Still in office?

I dont know whether Gattu shud have replied to the email or not...but he did.

Gattu: Yes
Nattu: Why dont you meet me at 9:30 if you are not busy.
Gattu: OK

so there he goes again, out to make a fool of himself once more. they meet near the fountain, Nattu looking askance all the while to see if someone is watching them, which makes Gattu feel kinda stupid. She wants to walk to the other block of this huge office building. Who is Gattu to object :). so they walk to the other side and they start talking...

Gattu: so whassup?Nattu: i think i was very rude to you last nite when i refused that gift.

<...silence...Gattu is wondering if she is going to say anything further. so he waits...silence...finally he gets tired of the uncomfortable silence which according to him was at least 2 minutes but i think it wud have been a few seconds at max actually.>

Gattu: so?
Nattu: so i think i shud say sorry for last nite
Gattu: hey wait a minute, so you called me downstairs to meet you just to say sorry? If thats all you called me here for, I think you know what you are doing and may be I should be getting back now.
Nattu: I dont know why my boss wants my team tostay back on Friday nights. There is some stupid conference every week where we have to be present.

Then her phone rings and she starts talking. Minutes go by. Gattu once again is feeling like the fool in the scene. she talks and she talks and she talks. Gattu heaves a sigh of relief when she is done.

Gattu: Since you never reply to my mails, I assume you dont want to talk to me. Why are we talking right now?
Nattu: Your mails are good entertainment
Gattu: <.laughs.>
Nattu: I think i ll have to wait for the next cab now
Gattu: I can drop you home if you want.<there he goes...> Where do you live?
Nattu: I live on XYZ road. What vehicle do you have?
Gattu: I have a ABC...you have seen me on it earlier of course. You want me to drop you?
Nattu: No thanks, i think i ll take the cab.
Gattu: Hey listen, I 'll be going abroad for a few weeks this weekend. if I call you from there, would you talk to me?
Nattu: Why would you waste your money calling me from there?
Gattu: look, may be i am mistaken, but the way we have been looking at each other, i thought there was a spark somewhere and that is why i wrote to you in the first place.
Nattu: hey give me some tips about CAT
Gattu: You can use my study material if you want. I am not studying much anyway. Just dont get the time.
Nattu: I already have the material from Coaching institute C and Institute T. But I have heard that Insti P's test series is really good. Do you have it?
Gattu: I dont have P's test series myself but I might be able to arrange it.
Nattu: Ok. I think its time for my cab now. I am going.

They say Bye and the meeting ends. Gattu comes back to his seat. Doesn't know if he can say whatever happened was positive or negative. But his goal is clear - he has to arrange for the test series of Insti P somehow.
He spends the next day trying to figure out if P has a branch nearby and is not very happy to find out that they dont have a branch in that state, leave apart that city. Now what?
He does what any fool atracted to a girl would do. he calls up a friend in Delhi, makes her go to the P center and get herself enrolledfor P's test series even though this friend finished her MBA from an IIM 3 years ago. And Gattu is ready to take this favour so he can arrange the material for Nattu.

In the meanwhile, Gattu has to travel abroad for work. He calls Nattu a couple of times from there. There is some small talk and she asks him again why he is calling her. And then, she tells him clearly she is not interested in him and doesnt see any reason why she should be talking to him. They have a minor altercation. Gattu takes offence and stops calling.

Few weeks down the line, Gattu comes back to India and finds a courier waiting for him. Its from his friend in Delhi and has the first few papers from P's test series. needless to say, he is sad to see the package and doesnt know what to do with it. Though CAT is just around a month away, he doesnt know if he himself is going to have the time to study. So he gets the first paper xeroxed and sends a copy over to Nattu. As expected, Nattu calls back...

Nattu: Hi, did you send me a courier?
Gattu: Hi...yes
Nattu: Whats in it?
Gattu: I am in a meeting right now. Can i call you in a half hour?
Nattu: OK
After a half hour...
Gattu: Hi
Nattu: yes
Gattu: its the paper you had asked for
Nattu: Please dont bother.

Gattu is furious. He went through all the trouble for THIS? He even troubled his friend and took a favour. But he doesnt say anything to Nattu and hangs up.
He keeps getting couriers from his friend every week but doesnt send anything to Nattu. CAT comes and goes, and so do many other exams. Gattu still thinks about Nattu a lot but doesnt wait to get a glimpse of her downstairs. He is kinda sad about how the whole thing went. Once the results are out, he calls Nattu once again and they talk for a while. He finds out that she doesnt have any interview call and he has one, which he is not very hopeful about or keen on either.

(I didnt mention earlier that Gattu had joined some test series in his own city somewhere towards the end and when he reached there the first day, he saw Nattu there too. On another day, they evenhappenedto be in the same room. But they acted as perfect strangers and didnt talk).

Now that Gattu doesnt have any hopes for this year, he plans to prepare again and decides to join a coaching institute regularly for this year. he knows Nattu would be preparing again too so he picks up a branch which Nattu is not likely to come to and which is not very far from his office either. I support him in his decision to pick a branch where Nattu is not likely to come cos i think the guy doesnt doesnt deserve to embarass himself further. Has been enough.

So he enrolls himself there and on his first day there, yes, he sees Nattu standing there.

Now before yu think this story has taken a filmi turn, let me tell you that this story does not have a happy or sad ending. It is from real life, and like most things in real life, the sequence of events just culminated...somewhere....without a conclusion. Gattu made it thru his interview and quietly vanished from the scene. Nattu is going to appear for CAT again this year no November 20th. They havent communicated ever since Gattu vanished. And that......is where our story ends.

I dont know what both of them would make of it when I send this link to them. Gattu, surely is going to read all episodes multiple times over coz i know him weel. Nattu, well may be she'll mark my mail as spam and send it straight to the recycle bin.

Gattu, my frend, i know you come out looking like a sorry idiot but then, its just Nattu, you and me and all three of us know everything already.

Nattu, you must be a really nice girl. This narration is just my perspective of how things went in front of my eyes. I am going to write to you after your big exam.

and both of you, If you happen to read this, I would like to know what you have to say about it all, about any of the episodes anywhere. I might have missed out some minor details here and there.

and the audience, who has been reading this all along, what do you have to say about Nattu and Gattu? Do you think Gattu went a little overboard or not?

post

2005-10-30T16:53:00.000+05:30

Have been thinking about posting for so long now but seems like life aint giving any free time at all. at times, while in the middle of running for something, feel sad when i think i havent posted properly for a long time. i want to...just that...urghh.
am determined to post the final episode of Attraction and Chastity within the coming week.

best frends

2005-10-19T23:17:00.000+05:30

what do you make of it when your best frend of years doesnt have time for you anymore. not even five minutes in a month to pick up the phone and make a small call and say they are there. or just write a one liner mail to ask if you are fine?

i am not liking this. :(

nooooooooo

2005-10-19T03:30:00.000+05:30

exams starting tomm. i want to sleep :((...even if just for an hour. one of those days again when i am wondering if its worth it

back in the game

2005-10-10T23:51:00.000+05:30

okkkkkkkkk
me recovered fully now and back on the circuit. and have finally decided to throw off my first computer with which i had an emotional bond. have replaced it with a lappy which i still rate second to my old pc.

life is on a roll right now. too much happening in college its difficult to cope. sleeping thru my classes and staying awake trying to catch up at night and again feeling sleepy in classes the next day. seems like an endless cycle of assignments.

Down but not out

2005-08-08T22:54:00.000+05:30

Had exams going on and immediately afterwards had my eye screwed up with a cricket ball. internal bleeding and all. narrow escape from vision loss from that eye.
vision still very hazy from one eye. can hardly see anything thru the haze. so havent been online much.

Attraction and Chastity - Episode 5

2005-07-13T22:33:00.000+05:30

After a looong looong hiatus, the Attraction and Chastity series is back with its next episode. My apologies to all of you who have been visiting my blog to read whats happening with Nattu and Gattu and have been disappointed cos of my inability to find some time to write it. And my snicere thanx to those who have appreciated it so far. wud try to be more regular from now on...promise!

Recap: Gattu has been chasing Nattu for sometime now, getting increasingly confused if Nattu is infact interested or not. He offered to take a step back and got a reply back to his mail, which made him hang on. He has been asking her out for a coffee and she has been skirting the issue one way or another. From this point on, we pick our story back and proceed...
In this episode too, i am going to quote emails exchanged between Gattu and Nattu in a conversational style.

Episode 5

Days go by. Gattu and Nattu see each other during lunch hour or whenever they happen to come downstairs for a break at the same time. Looks are exchanged, the 'turn and look' thing still going on, prodding Gattu not to lose hope. Then one fine day, on his way to his office in the afternoon, Gattu finds Nattu waiting for the elevator too. He stands there besides Nattu thinking if he should say something or not. While his super slow brain is busy calculating the possibilities, the elevator doors open and so they have to go inside with a bunch of other people. Gattu comes out at his floor(he is one floor below Nattu) and is cursing himself for having lost the opportunity. He goes to his seat and writes...
Gattu: So finally had the fortune of bumping into you...well ..almost...just now in the lift. I dont know for what reason you keep on choosing to not reply to my mails...though you dont want me to stop writing either...why cant we meet and talk?
btw...why were you looking so damn good today?
Nattu: oh so u were that [adjective]guy.then u cud have spoken to me rite?????????

(Time out !! time out!!!...what the hell does she mean you were that [adjective]guy??? i mean comeon!..these guys have been eyeing each other for like ages now and she is asking him if he was the one in the elevator. what the hell was the email "i think you have reached the right person" about...and what the hell was that 'turn and look' thing all about. what kinda game is this??...i tell Gattu boss there is still time..you are going to end up one embarassed jerk with this one. just leave it at that and turn around. but then, if they say love / lust / attraction (whatever tag you wanna put on it) is blind...there is a reason behind it.
Meanwhile, in a more meaningful and self respecting life, Gattu has to go out of town for a few weeks. He wants to meet Nattu in person before he leaves.)..anyway, lets continue with the emails..

Nattu: oh so u were that [adjective]guy.then u cud have spoken to me rite?????????
Gattu: sure could have..but i figured the amount of air time i would get there would be just a few secs...before the place is thronged by others...and since somehow inexplicably you say you dont recognise me...wanted to get that part sorted out first.plus i was too busy gawking to say anything :)).(dont take off..am just kidding).i am going out of town this weekend for a lil while...can we meet once before that? a 'yes' or 'no' would do for an answer.
Nattu: (no response)

Another scene
**************

Gattu is roaming around somewhere in a mall and finds this toy, looking at which he immediately thinks of Nattu. The toy is a plastic pumpkinhead in a lantern with a knob. The moment one turns the knob, the pumpkinhead inside the lantern glows up and starts making eerie and sinister sounds. Gattu finds it amusing (some ppl just dont listen now, do they?) and picks it up.

Next day he goes straight to the courier guy and sends across the toy to Nattu with a note which reads..."Since i ll be gone for a few days, here is something to remember me by".
The courier reaches Nattu, she hasnt opened it yet and she writes back...
Nattu: btw did u senfd me a courier?what is it?was it for me
Gattu: Yes

The day passes by without any further correspondance from either side. The next day there is again a mail waiting for Gattu as he reaches office at 12 in the noon...
Nattu: free for 5 mins anytime today?

Gattu doesnt know whether to be happy or sad. Does she want to meet? has she changed her mind? has sense finally dawned on her? ....or hey, is it that she wants to throw the gift back in his face? he doesnt know. my advice is sought...and i tell him she is confused...and she wont keep the gift...at least not now. besides if he is getting to meet her (even though only for 5 mins...he should go and talk. if for nothing else then just for the sake of finding out what kinda person she is...i mean talking face to face is better than making your BP jump up and down waiting for emails isnt it?
with his heart racing and pacing, he writes...
Gattu: sure
Nattu: can i cm to ur floor now?only 5 minsNth floor rite?
Gattu [senssing trouble]: "can we meet downstairs please...say near X shop.. i wouldnt be totally comfortable at Nth flr (obvious reasons..you dont want to be yelled at by a girl you ar crazy for in front of your colleagues)one request though...if its the kind of thing you know already i am not going to feel very good about or like, please lets do it on email itself. else, X shop sounds like an OK place.
lemme know"

Gattu has a grim satisfaction on his face...having made his point clear that if she wants to return his gift or yell or anything unpleasant, better just yell over email and not in person. Me..... i am confused between "Gattu is naive" and "Gattu is a first class idiot".

Nattu: i dont know whr X Shop is.............N floor is fine for me.
Gattu: ...if you come down at the fountain where you were sitting in the afternoon today and look around, you would see me standing near X Shop at 5 30. i really wont be comfortable on Nth floor. if you still insist, will meet you in the stairs between Nth and Mth. lemme know
Nattu: hullo u there?
Gattu: very much..i was waiting for your confirmation of the time
Nattu: ok
Gattu: so whats the time finally dear :)
Nattu: i went there silly................u were not there
Gattu: but you dint confirm any time...i have been there twice myself ..once at 5 30 and then at 6. ...and you werent there both times :)). and in last mail i asked you also whats the time finally :)) this is funny..i guess our email servers arent that fast.why dont you call me on 12345678 ?

So they have their first conversation on the phone and decide to meet downstairs at a not so busy spot near X Shop. Gattu reaches there first and is waiting for Nattu. And there, he sees Nattu approaching. his heart misses a beat..he is feeling a bit stupid in a teenage kinda way but his beat is racing with excitement. Finally he is getting to meet her in person and talk. (fool of a guy isnt he for getting happiness out of such small things).

Nattu is walking slowly towards him. but hey!, whats that in her hand? Gattu's heart sinks to see his gift box in her hand. He stands there, a little calmer now, waiting for her to reach where he is standing. Once she is there, they exchange greetings and the how are yous and all.

Nattu: your gift was nice but uncalled for. i cant keep it.
Gattu: why? its just a small toy...i bought it especially for you.
Nattu: but i cant keep it. i dont accept gifts from strangers <what is it with her and strangers???>
Gattu: hey but we have been conversing thru email for a while now. i was rather thinking more on the lines of we meet up and get to know each other a lil better.
Nattu: look how can we be friends. you are neither in my team, infact not even my company either.
< wtf!!...is she in school? > Gattu is thinking may be he IS the guy her mother might have told her to stay away from :)) He has no clue what to say now. Would changing his company and working for the same one as Nattu make things easier? :)
Somehow Gattu manages to say something. i dont know if that was dumb or smart...whatever it was...wud have been better than that awkward moment. conversation moves on to other things and he gets to know a lil more bout her, and that she is writing CAT that year. Coincidentally, so is Gattu. so they talk bout that for a few minutes. During this entire duration, she hasnt looked Gattu in the eye even once, which Gattu is feeling very uncomfortable and awkward about. (does she think he wud hynotize her if she establishes eye contact..:). He mentions that to her and she says she is doing it on purpose. (may be she DOES think he might...lol). and then they come back to the gift...

Nattu: Please take it back. i cant keep it.
Gattu: I cant take it back. i got it for you only. Why cant you keep it?
Nattu: then i would have to give you something in return.
Gattu: no you dont. and trust me i dint go out looking for a gift for you. just that i saw this and thought of you immediately...so picked it up for you.
Nattu: please..i cant accept this
Gattu: you dont have to read so much into this. its just a very small gift. please dont give it that much importance.
Nattu: No please dont insist.
Gattu: I cant take it back. what am i going to do with it?
Nattu: give it to someone else
Gattu: (Laughs)....if you bought something specially for someone, could you take it back and gift it to someone else?
Nattu: But i cant keep it.
Gattu: see i cant take it back. if you really want to not keep it so bad, please go ahead and throw it...
Nattu: i cant do that. please keep it
Gattu: if you insist, i ll take it from you. but i ll have to throw it into the trashbin myself then
Nattu: you dont have to do that...just keep it with you then
Gattu: cant do that...it ll keep reminding me of how you didnt accept a small plain gift.
Nattu: please
Gattu: ok...i ll take it. but i will have to trash it.
Nattu: no please dont do that
Gattu: then please keep it.
Nattu: you are blackmailing me.
Gattu: thats a tall allegation :)...anyway, i really dont intend to do blackmail you. If i take it back, would you go out for coffee with me?
Nattu: (smiles..more than smiles infact)..No
Gattu: Comeon...why are you being so cruel to me
Nattu: we shall see about coffee after CAT
Gattu: so we ARE going out for coffee after CAT ?:)
Nattu: we shall see.

Nattu hands over the gift back to Gattu. they start walking back towards their respective offices. On the way, Gattu throws the toy into the trashbin cos he knows he wont be able to keep it or give it to someone else either. Nattu tells Gattu that this act hurt her a lot. <i wonder why...if she doesnt want anything to do with it, why wud it hurt her to see Gattu dumping it. poor chap has made a fool out of himself, is still gracefully taking the whoel thing and has done what i myself wud have done in such situation...so he gets my vote>
Gattu is heartbroken and walks up to his desk quietly to get entangled in his sorry life. Bout Nattu, i dont know what went thru her mind that night. was she angry at him, was she sorry for acting like that, did she now feel may be she could have kept the gift and not made such a big deal out of it. what crap am i saying...may be she wouldnt have wasted even a thought on all this after that moment!

So this, ladies and gentlemen, is how the meeting ended. Gattu doesnt know if he is ever going to write to Nattu again, whether he should or should not, if there is a point anymore. He is confused, the usual confusion that follows for a couple of nights after such incidents, before life wakes you up and shows you it doesnt have time for all this.
The story has not ended as yet. quite a bit happens after this, which we would explore in the coming episodes. In the meanwhile, do let me know what you think of both Gattu and Nattu.....and what you think would happen next :)

Why

2005-07-09T18:48:00.000+05:30

koee ye kaise bataaye ke wo tanahaa kyon hai
wo jo apanaa thaa, wahee aaur kisee kaa kyon hai
yahee duniyaan hain to fir, ayesee ye duniyaan kyon hai
yahee hotaa hain to, aakhir yahee hotaa kyon hai?

ik jaraa haath badhaa de to, pakad le daaman
us ke seene mein samaa jaaye, humaaree dhadakan
itanee kurbat hain to fir faasalaa itanaa kyon hai?

dila-ye-barabaad se nikalaa naheen abatak koee
ik loote ghar pe diyaa karataa hain dastak koee
aas jo toot gayee hain fir se bandhaataa kyon hai?

tum masarrt kaa kaho yaa ise gam kaa rishtaa
kahate hain pyaar kaa rishtaa hain janam kaa rishtaa
hai janam kaa jo ye rishtaa to badalataa kyon hai?

Class Mating

2005-07-09T02:28:00.000+05:30

Back to school again, and the classes are already taking their toll on me small brain. You gotta be well read before you go the class...on the topic that is going to be covered in the class (so the prof doesnt have to work too hard??). There are marks for quizzes, marks for attendance (you dont get marks for attending, but you lose marks for not attending), marks for individual presentations, marks for group presentations, marks for mid terms, marks for end terms, and then there are marks for CP.

This CP is a very interesting concept. Basically CP stands for Class Participation. I dont need to explain to all your literate people what it 'ought to' mean and what it 'ought to' be. But then, its a bad bad competitive world out there. Everyone wants their share of airtime...and this means one needs to speak up when everybody else is also trying to do the same at the same time. Allow me to elucidate...

Darwin proposed in 1871 in The Descent of Man (obviously feminists werent a strong lobby then).."Males may fight amongst themselves, occasionally in dramatic battles to the death, to gain mating privileges with females. In comparison, female choice is generally much more subtle." At a conscious or subconscious level, we are all aware of it pretty early in life. As the real Slim Shady says...
"Of course they gonna know what intercourse is
By the time they hit fourth grade
They got the Discovery Channel don't they?"

In principle CP is a similar concept. Right from school all thru college, all students vying for the much coveted attention of the prof, hoping to make an impression,the profs ever so non-committal and subtle on which contestant is going to be in the good books that day.

The art and science of CP has evolved overtime. Batch after batch of students has tried to master and perfect CP. This evolution of CP has resulted in various forms of CP being present in the classroom today...and a classification is much called for. And THAT, is the purpose of this post. We are going to look at some of the categories that are identifiable, their subtle differences not easy to catch sometimes but with constant and careful observation, one can learn to identify the kind of CP whenever one sees it. Here is a humble attempt at such a classification...

CP or Class Participation: the purest form and the most rare. On the verge of extinction may be. There is not enough data to conclude it is still around.
ACP or Arbit CP: just comes out by chance, whim, or impulse, and not by necessity, reason, or principle.
BCP or Bullshit CP: having a mouth is reason enough to speak here.
FCP or Flood CP: for those modest ones who innocently just love the sound of their own voice. Once they start speaking, they find it difficult to stop and so it starts coming...and keeps coming...and coming..and coming.
KCP or KissAss CP: The Kama Sutra does not prescribe any one BEST position to do this...this has a lot of variations and generally gives satisfactory results with any party. e.g Does this sound familiar ?"I think you made a really good point there, Sir / Ma'am"...followed by .... ......................NOTHING.
JET CP or Just to Elaborate on This CP: You have a special gift of being able to say the same thing in 20 different ways by using different words(sometimes not even that), all 20 meaning the very same thing...and you consider it the good luck of the class that you have the impulsive and compulsive need to share this gift with them.

DCP or Desperate CP: Precious minutes have gone by..class approaching its end OR you have been making a futile attempt to think of something which adds value. Now that you dont have anything to contribute and time is fast running out, you say.......something....anything.

and last but not the least...After Class CP: the class is over and you couldnt get yourself to think of an iota of something which could add value. Not to worry, the prof is always up for grabs after the class :)

This is more or less my classification of CP. A dear friend of mine who has spent a lot of time in life looking for and collecting stuff to write / speak around this proposed another form which i am not putting here cos that would violate the confidentiality policy of my blog.

Well frends, it is up to us to choose which one of these to become a master of...but with daily practice, i believe you should be all set to make your mark in CP.

Partyeeeeeeee

2005-07-05T03:38:00.000+05:30

Monday is already over and i dint even realise where the day went. sat night i drank more than i shud have at the party and my eyes as well as the hammers in my head tell me the hangover continues. There are a hajjar assignments to be submitted with few meetings here and there, of course a couple of presentations and pre-reading before the class, so you can imagine the kinda time i have at hand. but i wanted to write bout this party, this being my first party here at the campus. I wouldnt ramble on too much, the party just rocked (thank you GOD for booze), besides this was one good opportunity to mingle with all, which everyone did in their own ways.

There were a lot of regular ones, who danced endlessly and shall i say, mercilessly, for loong spells.

There were some shooting stars, whom you would see jumping out of nowhere all of a sudden, they would hold your hand and make you SHAKE THAT THING (or things in some cases)...and just disappear just as quickly as they had appeared.

Then there were the comets, who would keep revolving at the boundary of the floor and evaluating the scene, probably looking for a place strategically suitable enuff for them to move in.

The girls took the points when it came to dressing. while the guys could be seen in almost all forms of attire - there were kurtas, there were shorts, there were unbuttoned shirts, there were sleeveless shirts, jeans, tees, roundnecks, wannabe turtlenecks et all...while amongst the girls there were the suits and jeans and then there were loongi lookalikes and the ghaghra lookalikes too.

The sisterhood of the sorority also showed their solidarity at the dancefloor. They would move together, dance together, talk together and ... Reminded one of a swarm of bees, moving around randomly but always together.

Some people deserve a mention just cos they get my admiration. Miss Networking was working hard...never to be seen with the same person for more than 5 mins. Had she been a guy, i would have called him Networ(k) Lal. THen there were those who danced their hearts out..somewhere between the spells of consciousness and grogginess, there were the remnants of Mithundaa in action.

All in all, party was a hit..just like any other party. like any other party, there were the fighters and suitors, who dont get a personal mention here. And of course like any other party, there were groups of two who became conspicuous by their absence for some duration from the dance floor (i promise this was brought to my notice by someone else)...whoever they may be, i hope they enjoyed the party too :))

Would close with few pics from the party. Not too good quality...but then the photographer was too stoned.

Who needs the world....i have my booooze!!!

Told ya...."Don't get me drunk"

A little FRIENDLY TOUCH can do wonders ;))

What is wrong with this world???

Happy? Sad? 50-50?

Together we shall.........

Happy times

Koi Roko Naa!!!

Too Drunk to shoot anymore :(

Dimaag ki Dahi - thoughts at 12 17 am

2005-06-22T00:17:00.000+05:30

my life is going thru a totally confusing phase where everything seems so convoluted i cant make out head or tail of anything anymore. the more i think about things, the deeper i find myself in shit. my biggest enemy (my brain) has launched a massive assault on itself. if i have ever been on the verge of insanity earlier, i am a tad closer this time. and there is no running, no escape, no hiding from itself, only sporadic bursts of anger at a self inflicted nightmare which i know i have to live thru. while my mind is busy wrestling its own wretched thoughts from a thousand different angles with a million tentacles filled with blood thirsty fangs, it has the audacity to think in between if it happens to everybody. is everybody so damn f***ed up sometimes everything seems a waste. but as someone said somewhere else for something totally different in an entirely different context which i still find relevant enuff to quote here "in baaton mein kya rakha hai.....iska anjaam jo hota hai...wo dard hi deta hai dil ko". i am pissed off at the disability of the mind to concentrate on the f***ed up things and its wandering into such irrelevant thoughts. determined to take my mind off that horrific labyrinth of thoughts and its paraphernalia of gargantuan proportions, even if only for now cos i know i cant run away from it for ever, i decided to sit up and write. But i guess it ll have to wait till tomm....right now there are so many races for the mind to run ... and lose, so many dark corners to explore, another night to spend wondering WHY!!??. sorry Gattu, teri story kal subah likhoonga yaar...abhi dimaag ki dahi ho rahi hai

Attraction and Chastity - Episode 4

2005-06-17T15:47:00.000+05:30

The Googlie Rounds
--------------------------
Recap: Prompted by Nattu's mail, Gattu has given his intro and has asked Nattu for hers.

so our man Gattu is waiting for Nattu's intro. and it comes in like this...

"i dont give my intro to strangers".

???? Gattu is confused. what the hell is that supposed to mean!!? dint she say he had reached the right person and asked of him to tell a lil bout himself ? and now, ma'am says she doesnt give her intro to strangers!. I am as confused by Nattu's response as Gattu is and at a loss what shud be done. But the email has to be replied to cos Gattu is a hard core optimist and is not ready to entertain the thought that Nattu has just blown him off like that. So he writes back..

"unless we talk the stranger status is not going to change now, is it? may be if you gimme your intro we wont be strangers anymore and can talk"

to this came Nattu's reply
"For starters i am a fresher from BLAH BLAH and am working with BLAH BLAH "

Gattu is happy to get a response and i am laughing at him as well as at her. what the hell is going on!...really!!...dint she just write she doesnt talk to strangers...what the hell was she thinking when she wrote that
OR
how did Gattu become a non-stranger now??.

Gattu is telling me she is intelligent and i am telling him boss you are a damn fool. He is impressed with her being from that college and i am telling him colleges do sometimes take girls in to dress up their sex ratio. (feminists dont start hunting me down...this IS true..we can debate separately on this). all of you who have ever been in the state where you think you are getting attracted to someone from the opposite sex (or maybe the same one for some of you), would vouch that reason is never a party at the table at such times. Knowing Gattu, i am sure had she been from any damn place with any damn background, that wud have been immaterial to Gattu. He was smitten and thats what mattered to him.

Looking at Nattu's last name, Gattu is under the impression that she might be from UP or Bihar. So he asks her in his next mail and she clarifies she is from neither. she is from some other state altogether but her family is in UP at this time.

After a few emails both ways, Gattu thinks its bout time to meet once. I congratulate him for sense having dawned on him for the first time in his whole sorry life. So he asks
"do you like coffee?"

Nattu replies she loves coffee and can live on it for days. Now going by Gattu's presumption that Nattu is intelligent, i tell him she would like to go out for a coffee or something, else she would not have replied like that to a straight question "do you like coffee?"

Gattu right now is in a state he would agree to anything which hints towards Nattu's being interested too and so asks her
"I know a few places in this city where they make really good coffee. If i ask you out for a cup of coffee sometime, would you come?"
and the reply came
"i dont go out for coffee with strangers"

is she ok at the top floor!!!??? what does she want? ...or hey wait a minute!...may be she is just enjoying the chase right now. i dont think i need to tell you which of the two options Gattu was going for. so he plays on. there was a series of emails which i abridge and narrate as a conversation, but i request the reader that while reading these, keep in mind these were short emails from both persons and each email was preceded with anticipation/excitement (from Gattu's side at least), opened with a lot of expectation and followed by ever growing confusion.

Gattu (trying his best to be funny): We have been communicating on email for quite some time now...i think we know each other enuff to be able to go out for a coffee at a safe place :)
Nattu: i cant go for coffee with you. i dont go out for coffee with anyone.
Gattu: email is ok for a mode of communication for a while. i think meeting would help us get to know each other a lil better.
Nattu: may be after some time.

now, this 'may be' thing is what Gattu got glued to like FEVICOL and wudnt let go of.

my take on things: she is playing him or may be she herself is not sure what she wants. either case...waste of time. He needs to get out of it RIGHT NOW.
Gattu's take on things: she is enjoying the chase but is surely interested why else would she reply to his emails otherwise.

Gattu doesnt want to see reason..doesnt want to listen to me, doesnt want to think any other way than that she is interested. the sweetness i talked bout in the last episode is all gone..at least in my mind.

Now lemme tell you a lil bit bout Gattu<though everything bout him is boring i think>, a couple of things which are relevant here. He has a big Ego, would never go to a place he is not invited to, would never stay somewhere he feels he is not getting his due respect or space <how the hell is he going to grow professionally..he cant even kiss ass>. so somewhere inside, he does have a doubt if he is coming on too strong or if he is imposing himself and the girl is just being polite and not shouting FO in his face. so he writes

Gattu: i hate ppl who act as chipku lotion. i have always hated such ppl whenever i have had to face them and i would really hate to be one of that kind to you. Your past couple of mails are giving me the kinda impression you are not interested in talking. If thats the case, please dont reply to this email and i ll take the hint and stop bothering you. If not, i am sorry for thinking like this...its just that i hate to be an uninvited attendee at any party. <somewhere in this email which i have abridged, Gattu had used the words 'tacit indication of intent'..i ll come to their relevance with Nattu's email>
Nattu: tacit indication of intent!! are you prepraing for CAT or something..your email looks like right out of some passage in RC.

Ladies and gentlemen, what would you think now that Gattu has received a response to his email in which he was more than clear. So Nattu IS interested after all....and Gattu is happy again. and i am also kinda thinking Nattu might be really intelligent after all..she dint give away anything in any mail at the same time she replied back too. smart girl!!..may be she actually IS enjoying the chase. nothing wrong with it now ...is there?

ok...i know i promised we ll cover the first meeting with this episode...but somehow in my rotten habit of blurting out things in detail, i have already written quite a lot. so much so that i think i ll have to jot down the first meeting in the next episode. but the first meeting is going to be a heartacher, if not a heartbreaker for Gattu..i can tell you that much right now :).

Attraction and Chastity - Episode 3

2005-06-13T15:14:00.000+05:30

ok!..i got my first comment on these episodes yesterday and invigorated by the joy, i am using precious office time typing away the next episode (yes i agree i oughta be fired :)). wont ramble on unnecessarily too much today and go straight for the kill. So here goes...

Gattu is keeping his fingers crossed after having sent that email. He has no clue what is going to happen and is racing up and down...smoking rate increased to twice his normal just hoping and waiting for a response...lungs taking the brunt for the gallivanting of the heart. he is finding it difficult to walk cos he has crossed his toes too..hoping to get a response, a favorable one at that. He has spent a few hours toggling again and again to his inbox window and staring at his inbox to find that one name he is waiting to hear from, staring at his computer screen so hard it starts feeling shy and conscious ;)). Gattu is the kinda guy who generally doesnt get excited about anything easily, is very difficult to embarass and i have rarely seen his emotions getting the better of him in all these years i have known him. Mostly he is cool, composed, calm and serene. But today things seem to be a lil different...and for what!!. i am disgusted with him for acting like this but then its a matter of the heart..there isnt much one can do to wake up one's dear friend.

finally that much awaited email arrives. with his heart in his mouth(am sure it dint taste good), he opens the email and reads. It goes something like this...

"i think you have reached the right person. I dont reply to anonymous emails as a rule..but your email was very different and straightforward, thats why i am replying. tell me a lil bout yourself".

you dont need to know rocket science to figure what Gattu felt like after reading that...especially since he had mentioned it clearly in his first mail that the recipient reply only if she too is interested. Knowing just enuff of company law to figure this can be taken as an implicit acceptance of a proposal (no indecent one this, since its just bout intros right now), Gattu is already planning his next mail. he jots down all the plebeian details bout himself as concisely as he can and shoots it across to Nattu asking of her to introduce herself too - 'anything that you would like to share' - as he put it.

and with this, ladies and gentlemen, Gattu has embarked upon a journey of long waits for Nattu's replies followed by his prompt responses. destiny had made me an unwilling witness to what attraction can do to an otherwise really sensible guy, one who generally doesnt give 'ghaas' to girls but is completely bowled over with this one. this, he says, is the girl who made him change his belief that there are only two kinds of ppl in hyderabad - males and walruses...though i fail to understand how his opinion changed cos this girl is no hyderabadi native either (no offence meant hydies..personally i love hyderabad). She is from...aah..writing this would give away who the girl is actually to anyone who knows her and might happen to read this.

So Gattu's intro is given and the wait is on for Nattu's intro. By this time i too have kind of started enjoying this whole thing that is going on. certain kind of sweetness to it which i havent witnessed ever since leaving school. Nattu's intro comes in...which we cover along with a chain of emails and telephone calls leading to their first meeting...............in Episode 4.

My GirlFriend - My Character Certificate

2005-06-10T19:09:00.000+05:30

Something happened the other day that really really pissed me off. It takes most ppl A LOT of effort to piss me off so much...but this one bloke managed to do it with just 6 words. and boy o boy..my face could have looked like the sun at dawn..Redd. And the place where this happened happened to be Redd too...a place on Rd No.1 at Banjara Hills called Cinnabaar Redd.

It started like this..one of my ex-teammates and a very close frend is leaving for higher studies and he was treating us (yes i know a farewell is a more appropriate thing to do at such times ...we did that too..but that is no reason to let go of a party). So 6 of us decided to meet up at this Redd place for a rendezvous one of these evenings. Now the sex wise breakup of our coterie was 5 guys and 1 girl. Now that the place was decided, we fixed up a time and reached that place. 3 of us(all guys) reached a lil earlier than the others and entered the place. This place has a restaurant and a separate retro bar / pub. So we entered the restaurant and nicely sat our asses down on a table (thats just the way it is said..actually we sat our asses down on chairs) for 6. By the looks of it, the place looked pretty OK (it was my first....and trust me the last..time there). and we could hear the loud music pouring into the restaurant from their pub nearby. Once we had settled down and were ready to place our order for drinks, i generally happened to ask the waiter out of curiosity "Is that a Pub or is that a Disc" ? and there came the reply "SIR STAG ENTRY IS NOT ALLOWED THERE". Damn!...what the crap!. That felt like a slap in the face as i was not carrying my character certificate(my girlfrend) with me. It took the waiter a second to realise that i had asked a simple question (of course he was prompted by the look i had on my face...the bugger could have wet his pants there and then) so he said after a few secs "Sir it is a Pub". But the slap was already sounding loud and resonating in my ears.

Being treated as a second grade citizen for not having a girlfriend in most clubs is enough of an insult already. What are stags like anyway?? Do they stink of characterlessness..you gotta have a nose better than a dog to smell that then. Or is it just written on their face "this guy is without a girl...so this guy should not be allowed a good time". For all you dumbasses out there who tag a stag as evil, beware guys..may be next time i see your girlfrend the only thing on my mind is to see her naked. For all you know, having committed the dark sin of being a stag might have given me the evil powers to actually do it. so i see your girlfrend naked..haha. Or is it your f***king insecurity dude? Cos i am a stag, i might have also acquired the power to hypnotise girls !...you never know...being a stag is like being the Satan's hand after all.

Having travelled around the world and seen different cultures and how all categories of singleness can coexist peacefully wasnt helping me at that time either. My rage was showing on my face. Now it was pointless to argue with that waiter so i just got up and walked to the door. One look was enuff for my frnds to get up and follow suit. They were feeling pretty bad themselves but then, stags are accustomed to such insults. We left that place silently and the waiter had his jaw touching his feet.

Now i know most of you would quote umpteen reasons for why stags are not allowed or should not be allowed at such places. They come in and they create nuisance...they misbehave...they spoil the fun..and all that. I am not saying that is not true...many guys do that ..i have seen that myself. And i am not questioning the right of club / pub owners to not allow stags inside their premises. Their shop, their rules. But figure this - do you think if i had a girlfrend my character would change? Of course you would say if one is with a girl one would behave at least for that time (as if girls are the best charactered ppl on the planet). may be you are right - you would behave yourself during that time. but then, many places do allow stags inside if they pay more...more for a single guy than you pay for a couple together. a very popular pub in lifestyle bldng does that...a very popular disc in one of the hotels on Rd no. 1 does that. probably if i spend more, i would not misbehave...but then if my objective is to misbehave..would my urge to derive value for money increase after paying more??

i have been on both sides of the fence at different times in my life. I dont think having a girl on my arm ever changed my character or values or the way i act...i am the way i am, girl or no girl.

argument is endless. in the end, pub owners do whatever helps their business better. we left that place and went to a family restaurant across the road. Needless to say, since 3 guys arrived in that restaurant and asked for a table for 6, they expected more guys and seated us in a corner ;-))...i dont know if they did that intentionally.

on a lighter note..if they keep us out of such places where the good looking girls are at, where the hell are we going to meet them and get out of our STAG status :))

Attraction and Chastity - Episode 2

2005-06-10T16:13:00.000+05:30

OK!..i know its been some days since i posted Episode 1. Just dint find the time to type out the story further though i have been wanting to, but looks like my job is getting very possessive bout me - doesnt leave me with any time for other things...THIS JOB IS KILLING ME!!. But now that i have sat down to punish the keyboard, here goes...

Gattu has Nattu's name and knows which co. she works in. So Gattu takes a smart man's (obviously mine) advice and decides to use technology to his advantage. He writes an email to Nattu. Though he doesnt know her email ID, he finds out the naming convention for email ids in Nattu's co.(ab thodi mehnat to karni padegi naa) and takes a chance by constructing Nattu's ID accordingly. though he doesnt know yet whether the email would reach the intended destination or not, he does it anyway cos he wants to talk and feels Nattu would not initiate herself. So he writes, and he writes and he writes. After composing the email some gajjillion times (after all its the first email), he decides to dump those gajillion formats and go by his instincts. so he writes an email which is straightforward and honest (Gattu's style). And the email goes something like this (it might not be accurate verbatim but more or less it was the same)

"Hi
As you read this mail i dont know if it has reached the right girl. I saw you in the eatery (name omitted) the other day and felt you were looking at me too.after that a few times when we crossed i have been looking at you and i think you know that. I felt like you also look at me and would like to talk but there is no common thread for us to start communicating. and so am taking the liberty of writing this mail.
If this mail has reached the wrong person, please delete it and pardon me for sending it. and if it has reached the right person, please reply only if you too want to talk
Gattu"

would Gattu get a reply to this email ? What wud Nattu have to say bout this? ....find out in Episode 3 :)

Less Cursing, Better Pictures

2005-06-09T13:33:00.000+05:30

Hi All
Got my hands on this very very basic list of tips on digicams. So thought would post it here for the benefit of the less initiated who keep asking all the time...whoof ! Ab dubaara mut poochhna!!!

Here goes the FGA (Frequently Given Answers) list:-

End shutter lag. If your camera has a shutter-lag problem, the prefocusing trick (click the button half way and hold to let the camera focus, then click further full way to get the pic) may be your best bet. Another option: many cameras offer a continuous-focus option that eats up your battery faster but also reduces shutter lag by focusing constantly as you aim the camera (or as the subject moves).
Newer and more expensive cameras tend to have the least shutter lag, and digital single-lens reflex, or S.L.R., models (the big, heavy, $900-ish cameras that take interchangeable lenses) have none at all.
More megapixels do not make a better camera.
Megapixels measure the maximum size of each photo. For example, a four-megapixel camera captures pictures made up of four million tiny dots. Trouble is, camera companies hawk megapixel ratings as though they are a measure of photo quality, and lots of consumers are falling for it.
In truth, the number of megapixels is a measure of size, not quality. There are terrible seven-megapixel photos, just as there are spectacular three-megapixel shots. (Lens and sensor quality are better determinants of your photographic results; too bad there are no easy-to-compare statistics for these attributes.)
Meanwhile, more megapixels means you have to buy a bigger, more expensive memory card to hold them. And you have to do a lot more waiting: between shots, during the transfer to your computer, and opening and editing.
Megapixels are something to think about only in two situations: when you want to make giant prints (20-by-30-inch posters, for example), and when you want the freedom to crop out a large portion of a photo to isolate the really good stuff, while still leaving enough pixels to make reasonably sized prints.
But if you don't edit your shots and don't need them larger than life, don't get caught up in the megapixel race. Four or five megapixels is a nice sweet spot.
(Bonus tip: Photos intended for display on the screen - the Web, e-mail, slideshows - don't need many pixels at all. Even a two-megapixel photo is probably too big to fit your computer screen without zooming out. High megapixel counts are primarily related to printing, which requires much higher dot density.)
Ignore digital zoom. In a further effort to market their way into your heart, camera companies also tout two different zoom factors: the optical zoom (usually 3X) and digital zoom (10X! 20X! 30X!).
Digital zoom just means blowing up the photo. It doesn't bring you closer to the action or capture more detail; in fact, at higher settings, it degrades your photo into a botchy mess. For best results, leave this feature turned off. The optical zoom number is the one that matters; it means a lens that brings you closer to the subject.
Ditch the starter card. Unfortunately, it's a universal practice to include a very low-capacity memory card with the camera-a teaser that lets you take a shot or two while you're still under the Christmas tree. But it fills up after only four or five shots.
When shopping for a camera, therefore, factor a decent-size memory card - 512 megabytes, for example - into the price.
Beware the format factor. Memory cards come in an infuriating variety of sizes and shapes. The least expensive formats are Compact Flash (big and rugged, about $55 online for a one-gigabyte card; available in capacities up to eight gigabytes) and SD (about $70 online for a one-gigabyte card; maximum two gigabytes).
Most Olympus and Fuji cameras require XD cards (about $85 online for a one-gigabyte card, the maximum), and most Sony cameras require either the Memory Stick Pro (about $90 online for a one-gigabyte card; maximum four gigabytes) or the smaller Memory Stick Duo (about $115 online for a one-gigabyte card; maximum two gigabytes).
Note, too, that you can also find memory-card slots built into laptops, palmtops, cellphones, game consoles, printers, photo-printing kiosks and other machinery. They are most likely to accommodate Compact Flash or SD cards. Memory Stick-compatible slots are less common, and XD slots are downright rare.
Do your research. Fortunately for you, the prospective camera buyer, the Web is filled with sites, including dpreview.com and dcresource.com, that do elaborate testing and reviews of every camera that comes along. Look them up before you buy; if you're pressed for time, at least read the intro and conclusion pages, and look at the sample photos.
Know your class. Please don't ask a technology columnist, "What digital camera should I buy?"
That's like asking, "What car should I buy?" or "Whom should I marry?" There just isn't a single good answer.
Cameras now come in several different classes with different pros and cons. There are card cameras, no larger than a Visa card and less than an inch thick (gorgeous and very convenient but with few manual controls and short battery life); coat-pocketable cameras (bigger, but still self-contained with built-in lens covers, longer battery life and more features); semipro zoom models (too big for a pocket but with built-in super-zoom lens ); and S.L.R. models (endless battery life, no shutter lag and astonishing photos).
Turn off the flash. A typical digital camera's flash has a range of about eight feet. In other words, using it at the school play does nothing but fluster the performers.
Turn on the flash. On the other hand, here's a great trick for when someone's face is in shadow: turn the flash on manually. Forced flash or fill flash brings your subject's face out of the shadows, and rescues many a portrait that would otherwise turn into a silhouette. (On most cameras, you turn the flash on or off by pressing a lightning-bolt button.)
Turn off the screen. The back-panel screen is, of course, one of the joys of digital photography. But it's also the No. 1 consumer of your battery power. If you're comfortable holding the camera up to your eye and peering through its optical viewfinder, turning off the screen while shooting can double the life of each battery charge.
There you have it - the 10 habits of highly effective digital camera owners.

Save That Seat

2005-06-06T16:03:00.000+05:30

While we in India struggle to provide a basic metro-rail system to the most visible of our cities (Delhi has one which probably would be overloaded the day it connects the entire city and ppl actually decide to use it and Mumbai: with all due respect to Mumbai and the Mumbaikars, if you are have ever visited Mumbai you would know what a torture trip a ride in the local can be), our brethren and sistren in developed US of A have another concern - the middle seat. People are actually debating whether the middle seat shud remain or go. Here is an article from NY Times June 5 issue. Am pasting the content here as the paper's site needs a loginID and pwd to be able to read such valuable and enlightening opinions. Here goes...

In the gently rolling landscape of the suburban commuter train, the middle seat is forsaken territory. Unloved and overlooked, doomed never to be a favored aisle or beloved window, it is always empty, except at rush hour, when it is a refuge for losers - for the people who are too late, too slow, too tired to object to being cold-shouldered by sleepy strangers left and right. Should you ever feel the perverse desire to relive the childhood misery of losing at musical chairs, just get on the 5:41 p.m. to Hicksville at 5:39. You'll have to stand. Or take a middle seat.
None of this, however, is any reason to make the middle seat go away.
In a front-page article last week, Patrick McGeehan of The Times reported that transit agencies around the country are eliminating middle seats, having decided that they are underused and a waste of space. Cranky commuters sometimes like to complain that railroads are run by stupid people, and with decisions like these, the officials seem almost desperate to prove them right.
What has been ignored in the quest for maximal passenger-packing efficiency is that the commuter is not a tomato. The commuter is a human being, and the suburban rail car a delicate psychological battleground, a society of sleepy, depressive people jockeying for scraps of comfort and solace. In this confined world, 18 or 19 inches - the width of an empty middle seat - is a sanity preserver, a cushion against oppression, a bit of emptiness no less necessary or precious than a landscaped highway median, a deserted beach or the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The meager pleasures available to a commuter include being able sometimes to stretch out, to place newspapers and coffee cups somewhere besides the lap, and to retreat into the quietude of one's own thoughts. There are, too, people who travel in groups of three or more - families with children, neighbors, card-playing work buddies. They also deserve the option of a convivial three-seat ride.
Going two by two is fine for Noah's ark, kindergarten recess or a wedding procession. But in a two-seat-by-two-seat car full of snarly business types, cellphone jabberers, sneezers, wheezers, and extra-large people with shopping bags roaming the aisle like a flotilla of fat-bottomed boats, the heavens cry out for justice.
For mercy.
For three seats across.

Attraction and Chastity - Episode 1

2005-06-03T11:57:00.000+05:30

Awlright..i have been thinking about some time now to narrate this story of a very close frend of mine who happened to get attracted to a girl and made a complete fool out of himself. The story is not too funny (doesnt look funny to me from where i am standing but you may have a different opinion after you've read it). Keeping in line with my blog's policy of maintaining privacy of characters mentioned the names would be changed...but if either of the characters of the story happen to read this, they wud surely know its them. The guy i know would surely read this sometime...the girl i doubt would. Not that she is too busy or something...but then she ll have to stoop down real low from her standards to go to some stranger's blog and read. Now dont say i am biased even before i start the story, i am the guy's frend!!..so what do you expect? :) but i promise to put down everything in true facts as it happened. Some very minor details might be airbrushed though..just ot keep things interesting (to whom!!??). If either of the girl or guy feel the facts have been misrepresented, feel free to yell at me. The story is long and winding, since i like to tell things in detail. So i will probably not be able to finish it in one go..so we' ll use episodes here.

The story starts somewhere near the place i work in hyderabad. This guy, pretty much OK on all counts of attractivess (he is no Arnold, no Einstein, no Tom Cruise, no millionaire, no human rights activist, no 'protect the stray animals' enthusiast either) but like i said...pretty much OK. This girl, conventionally not the most beautiful, but attractive and graceful. this guy finds an air of attractiveness around her, probably becos of her aloofness, not to mention that she is intelligent or so he thinks. Before we get into the details of ths story, lets put some names on our characters..i ll call the girl Nattu and i ll call the guy Gattu. Both Nattu and Gattu work in the same bldg, in diff cos. though.

Scene 1
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This guy, Gattu sees this girl, Nattu somewhere in an eating place and is attracted immediately. Nattu, wearing blue jeans and white T Shirt is looking pretty. Nattu catches Gattu's eye. Now, knowing the constraints of just going and approaching a girl in our country (you know the stereotyping that happens if someone does that, unless you re a girl whos mentally as mature and open minded as girls generally claim to be or unless like you are in college...work life is a lil different), doesnt want to go and strike a conversation immediately there and then. But he does want to talk. Since he cant do that immediately, he satisfies himself with observing the name of that girl (Nattu) on her ID badge and comes out.

Gattu is interested in talking and wants to strike a conversation. But for the time being, he just has a name and thats all.

Scene 2 (a series)
------------------
Gattu is leaving office one day. He is with his frends, going outside to celebrate something that happened with one of the guys, and there, he sees Nattu again. But things are a lil different this time - he feels Nattu is giving him 'the look' too. He feels there is 'that spark' and his heart races thinking what he had in mind is being reciprocated. Gattu is overjoyed, but taking my advice, doesnt want to jump to conclusions either. So he controls himself ...tries (the bugger barely ate anything at the party). And trust me by the way they both looked at each other i would have felt the spark too if i was him.

Since Gattu and Nattu are in the same bldg, their paths did cross once in a while. Gattu wud be sitting smoking with his frens somewhere and suddenly wud see Nattu. He could see Nattu checking him out while walking there, the last 'turn and look' before sho took a turn and all that...you know what i am talkin about.

After this happened a few times, Gattu gathers the courage and is ready to move in. We think of an appropriate manner since Nattu doesnt seem like the kinda girl you can just go and talk to anywhere if you dont know her. So Gattu is racing his mind how to go about it.......

Hip Hip Lurrrray!

2005-06-01T17:43:00.000+05:30

Now that i have decided to share my pics with the world (only for the fear of avoiding the tag "recognised as a great photographer posthomusssly"), i begin with some of the realll beautiful ones (the credit form some of the best ones goes entirely to Handy Baba), which were shot in late 04 in Virginia near Luray Caverns.
Handy Baba, that was a wonderfulll trip dude !!!!
Here go the best ones...

This is just outside the entrance of Luray Caverns. Get the full size here

A HUGE tree on skyline drive...plus the valley behind. Get the full size here

The play of sunlight in a valley. Get the full size here

If you like these, you can check out the complete set here
You are invited to leave your dumbass comments about any of these.

Is there an end?

2005-05-26T12:22:00.000+05:30

After a looong time, i read the news of another woman burning herself on her dead husband's pyre. After reading it, i really dont know whether i feel sad or not. Rakes up the whole debate in my mind again, why would someone willingly want to burn themselves? the answer probably lies in the same truth as holds for why child marriages still abound, why dowry is still prevalent and so many other whys which lead the deeply ingrained values sytems that our culture carries. while i am still honing over how many generations it would need for these things to be present only in history books..you guys can check the news out here

TIME Part II

2005-05-25T18:24:00.000+05:30

Awlright, coming back to me story...here goes Part II (you can find Part I here)

Now that i had joined a wknd batch, i promptly reached there at the designated time. The room in which my batch was assigned was huge enuff to allow 30 ppl...but TIME had been nice enuff to allocate around 45 instead. Lemme explain the room here once...around 15-18 benches, two fans on the ceiling and one side-fan near one of the walls. Since i had not been wise enuff to come at 4 30 in the morning and reserve a seat for myself, i got one of the left over seats where the absence of the fans' effectiveness in that 'seat by the window with the sun shining bright' made me realise how people die of sunstrokes. anyway, someone closed the window and i thought that may be if i breathe very hard, the guy in front of me would get some relief. At once i thought i should just get up and go back to their office and demand if THIS is the kind of infra they are providing for all the money they are charging. but then, being used to mediocre service levels all around, i decided to keep my trap shut knowing no one else would probably bother to go take them by the collar for this sheer rip off...and just when i was kinda settling down in that bench, few more guys entered the class and two of them decided to choose the same bench as me (not like the poor things had a choice)...and to top it all, one sat to my right and one to my left. i was feeling like a prize idiot...no ..a 'sweating' prize idiot sitting there in the 'too close for comfort' physical proximity of two guys and that too in the middle.

my mind was constantly thinking whether i shud really do the taking by the collar thing now. but then, i was there for another purpose..and decided i would try to concentrate hard and not let either those guys whose every small move would surely result in some physical contact (trust me its yukkkkkkk when this happens) or by the sweat drops running down my back and forehead...small price to pay for some gyan which can help me to crack CAT. a coaching institute is a temple of education and we should not bother about petty things now isnt it! .

Class 1: supposed to be something on logic. to top the ongoing torture, the teacher did not turn up for a half hour, while i was reading thru the rules list they had handed over, one point in which mentioned that if a student was more than 10 mins late, he would not be allowed into the class. (i have intentionally not written he/'she') in the preceding sentence cos majority of people DO have different set of rules for the HEs and the SHEs. i once again reminded myself about the 'gyan factor' and the sanctity of a place of education, even if its short on sanity. khair, so what, the teacher did come in 35 mins late and mumbled an apology for being late. with the expectation setting i had been having with TIME so far, that mumble seemed like the biggest gesture of professionalism in the world to me at that moment.

having had the grim satisfaction of hearing an apology for lousy service, we got along and he started off with his teaching. i found him good...concepts and all ..though i found him a lil fast for comfort, but then all of us have our styles, and then he did give some good examples. he distributed some handouts with examples to explain the concepts. it was THEN that i realised what Shoaib Akhtar had been missing in his pace. The teacher picked up so much of speed i could only hear, but not listen at all. i looked at his lips hoping he would get tired and slow down, but trust me he could have given Mr. Scatman a run for his money. he just wouldnt slow down. as i looked at his mouth, i pictured the Rawalpindi Express in my mind. and guess what, when he did slow down, i realised the class was about over and he had covered all that he wanted to cover...material planned for 90 odd minutes and delivered in under 60 ! who ever said education was part of service industry and is a professional thing today!!?? i would like him to come and attend a class with me at TIME.

no harm done, its just one class...and we get a break of 30 mins. (30 MINS!!??...comeon..its a wknd batch for ppl who dont have time..plus the excellent infra wasnt making every minute easier anyway).

Class 2: a class on RC. some lady arrived and started explaining the stuff. RC is one thing i like so for a moment i just forgot about the worldly troubles and started concentrating. aah..did i mention that after the break i had gotten up and moved to the first seat in the middle line / column whatever you wanna call it. i just didnt think that the RC teacher could be a lady. feminists - before you start preparing to jump up with your clubs..picture this (and i bet any guy who has been in a similar situation would understand what i am talking about). You are a tall guy sitting at the first seat in the middle column...there is not much room between your bench and the black board and on top of that the teacher is a female who is standing right in front of you between you and the black board. put yourself in that situation and tell me what do you see? and i mean 'see' literally here. its a 'view' which is not very comfortable (unless the person on the other side is really HOT, which was not the case here, or you are uncouth enough to stare anyway). so there we were, she and i, and being the decent guy that i am, i had to look another way. To my left there was a girl sitting. Needless to say looking constantly in her direction would have surely sent out wrong signals, and on the other side was a guy...comeon!..two guys in a day was already too much. i didnt want to look at another for 90 mins. so i found the most comfortable angle that i could, and focussed my eyes on some point on the wall, trying to keep my ears on to her voice.

she started with the usual things about RC, its importance and all. though i expected all Junta to already know rc IS important (why would they otherwise pay so much and sit there in the torture chamber on a HOT summer afternoon), but then, backgrounds are needed and so we went on with the ritual waiting for the real stuff. what did i know that this 'real stuff' was on the teachers mind too. (pervs pls dont race your brain too hard here...just read on). During her lecture, she used the words "real stuff", "hardcore stuff" and "the thing" so many times and sometimes in such really funny manner that i started getting disgusted with myself for even entertaining non-rc thoughts at that time. but she was incessant, and the usage of such words increased in frequency. i was wondering if i was the only one thinking that way there that day...and i started asking myself WHY!?....WHY IS SHE DOING THIS!?WHY!? ...and just then i heard her say "If i reveal everything right now, you would see and understand". trust me, just by the mere fact that she had sprayed couple of times on my bench as she spoke, i DID NOT WANT TO UNDERSTAND!!...even if it did or did not mean whatever i was feeling disgusted for thinking she might be doing there.

By this time, my neck had already started yelling with strain, so much that my itch to take objection to one of her examples (she mentioned some situation where a group of guys is standing and a girl passes by ...and blah blah blah. I immediately remembered a college scene where a male teacher had been taken to task by few female students for quoting the same example...apparently they thought it was sexist and encouraged objectification of women...my protest here would have been that it is sexist and shows men in a bad light in general

ppl...i have already spent around 10-12 mins on typing this. just wanted to do this before rushing into a meeting which i have to do now...the episode ends normally with no harm done..just that my neck felt a lil uncomfortable that whole day . i think i have written a bit too much ...hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as i did recalling it.

until next encounter
quipster

TIME Part I

2005-05-25T17:20:00.000+05:30

Over the past couple of days i have been posting at pagalguy.com about my experiences with a training institute by the name TIME. I had approached them for an MBA entrance exam coaching and really amusing stuff happened. I thought i d provide a link to that forum from here but they sometimes let threads 'die'?? and the posts become unavailable. So i am pasting what i had posted there in two parts...Part I: before joining the institute and Part II: after joining. Enjoy....

Part I (before enrolling)
---------------------------
I called up TIME on the phone and asked for details on the courses available which were promptly provided, with a non-stop voice reciting all the courses available, the fee structure etc etc...so far so good, though this could have been an Automated Voice Service cos i tried to ask something twice but the woman just wont stop and kept on reciting. somewhere reminded me of the poems i used to learn by rote as a kid and was always nervous that if someone wud interrupt me, i wud forget the rest.
Anyway, the real fun started when i landed at their Ameerpet Center. A counsellor asked me to sit in one of the demi-cubicles they have and asked...
Counsellor(C): so what do you want to join sir
me: classroom coaching for CAT, preferably wknds
C: (here came the recital again..but this time i was determined to ask my doubt no matter what)
me: but you see, my job requires a lot of travelling and thus my availability in Hyd. is always questionable..even on wknds. do you have a postal course ?
C: YOU DONT WANT TO ATTEND CLASSES!!??
me: of course i do, but knowing my circumstances, it might be a challenge for me to do that regularly. So if you have a postal course where i can get all the material without having to attend the classes, that would be really good for me.
C: that is impozzible sir.
me: ok...since you dont have a postal course but i do need the study mtrl, can i join your wknd classes and then take the material and attend only if i am in Hyd.
C: Sir your intention is to just take our material.
me: i dont get your meaning here...i am joining your course and paying for it too. anyway, whether i attend the classes or not would work good/bad for me..so lets not waste our time discussing that. tell me something, since you guys distribute material in classes, can i call your office occassionaly to check if you have circulated some material for my batch and if yes, i ll come over and collect from the office.
C: it is impozzible sir.
me: impossible!! why? thats a simple piece of information i am asking for.
C: sir actually our telephones are only meant for official calls. we cant make personal calls.
me: (hello!!...whos gonna make YOU a personal call!) but i would think this wud be counted as an official call, since i am only calling to ask about the course material.
C: that is impozzible sir!
me: i really dont get it. i believe yours is a professionally run organisation. i am sure you would maintain logs of which material has been circulated in which batch. it wud hardly take a couple of minutes for someone to tell me over the phone if matrl has been circulated or not.
C: it is impozzible sir
me: ma'am...why wud you want me to come all the way from my house to your office only to be told you have not circulated anything at all. wouldnt it save a lot of time if you could just let me know on the phone, yes or no.
C: it is impozzible sir.
me: but this is illogical now. y is it impozzible..sorry impossible.
C: thats our management policy sir.
me: can i request someone from your management to pls consider the situation and make an exception.
C: it is impozzible sir
me: let me atleast try...could you please put one of your policy makers on the phone pls (hand out my mobile to her)
C: it is impozzible sir
me: what!..is it a secret?
C: it is impozzible sir
me: please say something else
C: you are the only one asking like this sir
me: so?
C: your intention is only to take our material and not attend classes
me: you find my intention wrong in any manner?...i mean you got something against it?
C: no sir its impozzible sir

now thats mostly how the conversation went. somewhere in between there was a sequence of me trying to take the example of a movie and explain how if she had to watch a movie, things would be really easier if she could find out about ticket availability from home itself rather than having to go all the way to the hall only to find house-full, thus putting some analogy. nothing seemed to work and impozzible anyway was the word of the day...

well, thats that...despite everything...i still joined TIME ameerpet. the story doesnt end there.
rest in Part II (after joining)...

Why Blog?

2005-05-24T21:07:00.000+05:30

OK!!..so why write a blog. its easier to say "i dont know i just felt like it" and probably thats trew to some extent. of course there are other advantages i can think of..like ranting on and on about how life suxx, poking fun at ppl...no lemme word it better..just jotting down how amused i am by creatures, besides i always have something to say about everything, even if i am a zillion miles away from even knowing what that is. other reasons could be...
thinking objectively, the possible reasons that come to mind first...
1. i need to get a life (doing this!!??)
2. there are a gajillion ppl doing it, why not me. 'herd mentality' has its own fans. you always have everything and everyone else to blame but yourself.
3. so that ppl like you who dont have a life either and are reading this can have some TP.
4. so i can share useless information with equally useless ppl

the politically correct ones:
1. so i can share my thoughts and opinions with ppl (this thoughts section would be mostly empty i can foresee but opinions / judgements should be free flowing)
2. create awareness about issues that bug me (mostly of very trivial nature)..and may be find like minded ppl
3. appreciate things and ppl i admire (or lets say flatter ppl who matter)
4. so i can give my 2p worth of advice to everyone for free.

the ones my frends think hold good..
1. i dont have anything better to do
2. me too me too
3. avenge the fokkers (just stick the label LOSER on my head!!...so much for frends!!)
well rest is for you to decide if i manage to hold your eyeballs long enough. (please go and rinse your eyes with distilled water..i dont want no dirty germs in my hands)

100 Things Bout Me

2005-05-24T13:46:00.000+05:30

Some time ago a project was started where people wrote a 100 things about themselves on their blogs. Well i missed the project but i quite liked the idea. Imagine first people take the pain to think about a 100 things to write about themselves and then they expect others to read that too. People came up with really nice things about themselves. Couple of em i remember vividly are "I have a mole on my bottom right cheek"..NOW, this guy must be deep in geometry to be explaining his right hip like the first quadrant of a graph..and of course that is some really useful piece of information about him. ANother one read "This is one point just to fill the list"...sure reminded me how i used to fill reams of sheets during my school exams.Well, i wanted to see how many things i could come up with and so i started making my own 100 list. After prolonged torture inflicted on my tiny brain, it came up with this...

i hate hypocrites
i am a bathroom singer (or shall i say "performer" as many singers like to call themselves these days…wonder what that would mean)
i have tons of perseverance but very little patience
i hate people with the HOLIER THAN THOU thing going on
I am proud to be an Indian
i can be poisonously sarcastic if i am mean.
i am not mean.
i find it difficult to answer when people ask where i am from – was born in Rajasthan, am a Punjabi who has grown up all over north india, now living in Hyderabad (south India for any northee).
I think any occassion is a call for a couple of beers.
i am an aquarian cusp.
i dig indian food.
i hate observing all kinds of days be it mothers' day, fathers' day or any damn kinda day for that matter. (is there a mens day???)
i hate girls who act dumb...many of them dont do it by choice though
i make the mistake of getting emotionally attached to my work..again and again.
i hate it if i get a middle seat in a looong flight. ( i am 6'2"...see what i am saying!)
i value my privacy too much and guard it fiercely.
i love it when i get snail mail from someone.
i enjoy sleeping in the library...its so peaceful
i am prepared to accept sponsorship to be a world traveller.
i am attracted to girls who have grace, are beautiful..but most importantly...are funny.
i can be very intimidating for people who dont know me closely.
i am a fan of F.R.I.E.N.D.S
i have two left feet when it comes to dancing.
it is sometimes very easy to annoy me, some people do it by merely existing.
although i come across as fairly guarded, i ll likely answer any direct questions.
i love gadgets..but not to the point of obsession.
i hate people who make promises but dont bother to keep them
i love sunsets and sunrises
i am a nightbird..sometimes an insomniac too.
i have resolved not to comment on religion and politics in public.
i am a very difficult person to embarass
i would love to join some secret society (especially after the whole THE DA VINCI CODE thing)
i love to laugh..and enjoy the company of ppl who can make me.
some things i have wanted to be at different points of time in my life ...a singer, a scientist, a philosopher, an actor, a restaurant owner, a gym owner, a radio program host...the rest are kinda racy ;-)
i shut down my tv after i wake up...ya ya i have had enuff of those save electricity lectures...so shut up already
have travelled to US, UK, Austria, France and Indonesia...Australia/New Zealand are next on my list.
i am in the IT industry ..... I HATE PROGRAMMING
i hate managers who dont realise they have the power / responsibility to shape the careers of their Direct reports.
good looking female = sexy. good looking modest female = sexier. good looking modest female with brains = even sexier. good looking modest female with brains who cooks well = never heard of one.
i love the beach
my worst enemy ...my brain.
my imagination works much much more than i do.
it ll take a real assload of alcohol to get me to blurt out what you cant get me to say otherwise..alcohol is wasted on me.
i will try almost anything once.
i hate bosses who are slave drivers...the ones i am talking about would know who i am talking about if they read this.
i have been at the verge of saying F@^K IT ALL and walking out of my job couple of times, but worse sense has prevailed in the end so far.
it ll probably take a few hundred years for me to accept that i cannot do everything i want.
you are still reading this??...you need to get a life pal!!
i think Nancy Friday needs to get a grip...apart from whatever other toys she might be having.
i think employing girls (or for that matter boys if that has happened anywhere) just to dress up the sex ratio suxxx.
i am a diehard optimist inside
it still amazes me how many ppl per sq.km can have the name Srinivas in Hyderabad.
i hate it that Delhi is the Rape Capital of India today.
Being in Hyderabad, i hate to miss all the action happening in Delhi ... so you see what i mean ;-)
i am not a narcissist, though i am expecting ppl to read 100 things about me.
i hate to have lied about my marital status to be able to rent a house in Hyderabad.
Contrary to what many Hyderabadis might believe...bachelors DO need a decent place to live too!!
i love to think i love cooking. My speciality dish is my Special Instant Noodles!..anyone who has had the patience of reading this far without pulling your hair out is welcome for a treat.
i think my 10 yr old nephew is much smarter than i am…he agrees
i hate SHOW OFFs
i was early till college..always couple of years younger than my classmates..then i hit a truck and everything changed.
i tend to nitpick while watching TV serials/movies..like how the glass moved from empty to full after just a closeup of the actor's face
i hate the saas-bahu soaps
i love standup comedy
if being a smartass was a paying career, i wud be filthy rich
i love my parents and would die for them.
i think more ppl are in love with the idea of being in love than there are those actually in love
the first rupee i earned on my own was at age 15. i tutored few kids just so i could show my parents i didnt need them.
i did my first job (no one believes i taught 'logic') while in second year of grad.
i started my first business at 24 (while pursuing masters in computer appl)..ran it for a profit and sold it off at 25.
I changed 14 schools doing 12 grades. NO! I didn’t flunk and was made to leave…we just kept moving.
i tried my hand at chemistry in college, quit for a bachelors in management, did half MBA, dropped out and did masters in computers. am thinking about MBA again!!
i think you are thinking i dont know what i want to do in life.
i think you might be rite.
I dream of having my own business someday.
i have often contemplated becoming a ‘sadhu’ someday (of course i would have to bend the rules about money and girls!)
i have been backstabbed real bad few times...i still trust people.
i believe in Karma.
i have been a national level player (anyone heard of Handball!?...no not that one you pervs…there IS a game by that name)
i dont follow sports anymore. The cricket matchfixing thing broke my heart
i am learning to play table tennis. Mr. Neel, i ll beat you 5-0 in a best of 5 one day.
my last wish would be to be able to come back and haunt the people who pissed me off when i was alive.
i love kids, as long as they are a few feet away ....and are somebody else's
some people dont agree with me because i like calling a spade a spade...they can kiss my ass.
My favorite quote.. “No that is NOT a pencil in my pocket…..would you STOP staring!!??.. Please”
I think Austria is the most beautiful place on earth.
I have started learning French, Spanish and German at different times and never built a decent level in any.
I am going to learn all three of em some day.
I HATE stupid questions
I hate men who make all that AAAAAAAAAH...AAAAAAAAAAH groans while taking a leak in the mens room. Kinda makes me feel deprived of whatever pleasure they might be deriving out of the whole exercise.
I am a workaholic
I think INDIA ROCKS! ..the very fact that it has so many cultures all living harmoniously (well…almost) is amazing.
I f*#@# ing hate lies
I actually enjoy public speaking…I know I know it’s a weird thing.
My fav position is do$$y ishtyle
I think having an ego is very important. That’s the thing which makes you wanna beat yourself at everything you do. (pervs please don’t race your mind)
If I have a short fuse with you..i consider you close to me
Me angry = things flying around
I suck at remembering birthdays and anniversaries.
I can do anything for friends. I am known to have done some really suicidal things.

Why are you here?

2005-05-23T23:39:00.000+05:30

OK! now if you are a first timer to my blog, may be you just happened to get lucky, so i ll give you the benefit of innocence. if you were referred..man i am getting POPULAR! welcome, make yourself at home, have some coffee and read along.
if you are a return visitor, there could be many reasons for your returning here..
1. you like mud being slung at other ppl
2. you like mud being slung at you
3. you really dont have a life
4. if you know me in real life, you want to see if i have written something nice about you too
5. you like mental sleaze, and are here for your doze of it (dude / dudette i am sure you have other sources too...lets share! :)
6. you are here to tell me how emotionally disturbed you are after reading what i have put up, how it has hurt your sentiments, how you feel violated (and as Chandler says "not in a good way") and all that crap. take my advice, jot down what you got and i ll throw something back in your face...i am sure you enjoy that kinda thing...dont you :))

In either case, please do take a moment to put your pin my my guestmap (the left button right above the ME ME ME part) so i can come and stalk you :))
Despite all these warnings..if you still find something you dont liek, please feel free to send me hate mail or post your stinker comments. If neither vents your frustration out....well i can only say...EXCUSE ME!

Mind Boggling

2005-05-23T23:22:00.000+05:30

Now this incident is something which can aptly be called MIND BOGGLING. Remember those stories u were told as a child where the villain's life would be linked to a bird somewhere and if someone would twist the birds neck, the villain would choke too. It seems some of our government servants still havent grown up out of those. In a rather bizzare incident, mass murder of birds was carried out to break down the villain. IT HAPPENS ONLY IN INDIA !!
http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?id=73215