an austere mind and its weird thoughts...

The dream merchant :)

2010-12-31T10:52:00.000-08:00

The stairway circled the mall
Like a haunted house ,

Far away sounds , cradled like echoes

Like they were lost in time . . .

LOST ! It hit me just then - I was lost ! Lost in a mall - searching for a wedding gift . Finding an "appropriate" gift was herculean .Finding the EXIT seemed just as impossible . . . .Hot-blooded Indian men do not ask for directions . My ego wished I remain lost ;and to my ego I always listen.

Far away from prospective customers radar was a shop,sharing a wall with the generator room. Its name board read "D" on a plain white background . "Last try", I told myself and pushed the teak door open.

"Welcome Sir , how may I help you? " , Morgan Freeman stood behind a counter top .An Indian Freeman with a cheshire grin on his face . I was glad he dint wear a white suit . You see , I was tired and worn out , not quite the right mood to have a chat with "GOD" . And Morgan Freeman with a white suit was GOD .

The room itself was dimly lit . Cobwebs clung to posters of beaches with bikini clad women, treasure chests , gadgets and fancy cars . There were a billion posters ; one over another hanging loosely to a tiny patch of wall . The rest of the shop was empty except for a creaky old chair in the corner of the room .

"Do you sell anything here ?? "

"Of course ", Duh !! yes , u idiot , "We sell dreams !! "

"Eh?"

He put his hands up in exasperation. Muttering under his breath , he bent beneath his table and turned a few switches . . . . click,click,click........ brightness and hue changed with every turn . Soon the shop turned into a scene out of a driveway , tall palm trees on either side . Mr.Freeman wore a Hawaiian shirt and beside him materialized a race car .

"Bugatti - turboprop under its hood , don't you recognize it??" , he said faking a seductive voice

I walked towards it as if in a trance and touched the shiny red metal . Heat from its engine sent tingles down my veins . I got behind her wheels , and whirred her into ignition . Soon Mr. Freeman was nothing but a dot in the endless road of reality behind me .

Palm trees turned into beaches , beaches into buildings , buildings into temples . It was a pleasant drive , no suicide squad on the street, no motor bikes swerving their way in. It was just me and the road . I was the king of the world , I was God .

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

I was in a palatial chamber . Red curtains with golden embroidery adorned the walls . Girls in silken sari's held sweets in their hands and smiled. Bipasha and deepika padukone (albeit , a bit out of place) were dancing to "muni badnaam hui" in front of my throne . A few others were there too in a deep and serious discussion with me . I was smiling , my legs stretched over a cushioned footrest , juggling a golden coin between my fingers . I stood up pocketing the coin into the depths of my pockets . Expectant eyes laid on me , some even bowed their heads down . I cleared my throat . . .

"That would be 5000Rs , sir " . . . . . . The dancers popped out of existence , the chamber maids left too , my palace and the throne followed . . . Freeman was grinning again .

My friend got no wedding gift , but later that night when I checked my pocket there was a gold coin with my face minted on it . . . . .

Don’t you know me by now?

2009-06-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

First time I am writing something that's not my own!
But I wanted this to be here.. for i love it for them! :)

Daydream delusion, limousine eyelash
Oh baby with your pretty face
Drop a tear in my wineglass
Look at those big eyes
See what you mean to me
Sweet-cakes and milkshakes
I am a delusion angel
I am a fantasy parade
I want you to know what I think
Don’t want you to guess anymore
You have no idea where I came from
We have no idea where we’re going
Lodged in life
Like branches in a river
Flowing downstream
Caught in the current
I carry you
You’ll carry me
That’s how it could be
Don’t you know me?
Don’t you know me by now?

my.Random(5);

2009-04-30T11:12:00.001-07:00

Five random “arithmetically decreasing random collections”!

5. Five random tweets

5. Wrestler - Very good movie. 4 *s! Gave me jitters, boy am aging :( #movieRating

4. Status messages are the best metric for one's stupidity!

3. Watching gajini! Going down the memory lane, this was the only movie for which I bunked classes!Back to movie now:Back to ogling at hasin ;)

2. Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive - Andy Grove (former CEO Intel).

1. iTouch tweet: my fingers are big :(

4. Four random revelations:

4. I became a food buff and decided that I should learn cooking after watching Ratatouille :)

3. I am bad at talking! I think I never had a phone call in which I spoke for more than 10 mins. I do all the hearing and let the rest talk.

2. I love to play badminton more than cricket.

1. I have plans to do short films prolly 2 to 3 years from now I will try.

3. Three random pics taken by me:

2. The last two songs i heard:

1. My recent favourite:

Cheers!

Samurai Code Jack

2009-02-17T10:22:00.001-08:00

The early years of the 21st century was marked by the rise of the legendary hero who was destined to change the history of the world, for its better – the Samurai Code Jack.

When he was born, he was visited by a prophet who after spelling some mantras, raised up, looked stunned and said “He is the ONE”. Code Jack turned around and said “No sir, I am zero, and the world is binary”.

The prophet was diagnosed with a severe heart attack later.

When kids of his age learnt holding cricket bats, Jack was wielding code. He spewed code, more code and went on coding for hours, days and months together. He captured the worms, killed the bugs, raised new viruses only to slay the rest.

As his prowess spread across the towns, the master coder Mi Chi Shu visited him.

“Son, what will you do if you want me to my cookies?”

“I will send a cross-site scripted html message”, Jack answered without taking his eye away from the monitor and continued typing.

Mi Chi Shu smiled.

“Impressed. You are almost there my son. You need to learn to send it like a Google Ad, people will click blindly no matter what it says”

Jack turned around and tears rolled out of his eye.

“How did I miss that?”

“My son, mortals need more than just a plain message. You need more training”

Jack immediately joined Mi Chi Shu, for he knew this was what he was always looking for. Together they travelled all over the world. Redmond, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, San Franciso and finally came to Bangalore.

By then they had exploited PC, routed Macs, hacked twitters, brought down googles, and turned the web upside down. They stood over an artificial cliff of some unknown campus that had sprouted from nowhere.

“My son, what have you learnt after all this”

“It’s easier to hack than write code that cannot be hacked”

“You are enlightened! The time has just come. Go ahead and complete the mission of your life.The evil forces shalt try to thwart you from your mission, but that shouldn’t stop you. ”

Mi Chi Shu, picked a netbook from his Jolna and gave him.

“Jack, this is small, cheap yet very powerful. Believe me, this will rule the world. This is my gift to you”

Jack Code, it was then, did he become the Samurai. He raised the netbook, and felt his intellectual power flood the whole place.

“It’s time for me to leave my son!”

“But..”

Mi Chi Shu smiled, raised up and was transforming himself into 0’s and 1’s before he eventually disappeared completely. Jack realized all the time Mi Chi Shu was using tele-presence.He realized how unappealing the experience was, returned home and started coding again.

He coded for days together. So intense it was that every time he compiled the entire city would go without electricity. He went on coding for months and eventually he hit code complete, ZRB and ZBB!

And then….. he pressed F5!

It ran, and it ran like a magic, like a bird that would just fly away in the morning without making any noise, so peaceful was it!

It was running on Silverlight and the CPU made no noise. It was all just too smooth for the world to believe.

He had just created an actual second life, tele-presence made actual presence.

And all this time, he was pinged almost every day but he had little time to look into it. Now he was pinged again.

“Hiii!!!”

“Hi”

“How are you? :)”

“Whoever you are, you are still conversing the old non-sense way, try this!”

They went into the Third Life, and they went around the world, galaxies, universe and beyond without meeting each other. And finally just when they had nothing new to see, they saw each other, at the top of the most beautiful of the mountains. The sound of the falling water was the only thing they heard.

She looked like a most beautiful music one would ever hear. She was just fabulous and neither Jack nor the author had no better words to describe her. Any word that they could think of is clichéd and would falter badly in describing her.

“Hiii!!!”

“Hi”

“So…”, she smiled.

“I love you!”

“I know!”, she pulled him by his side and kissed him!

So immersive was the experience that at that moment, realized Jack, that very moment was what he was waiting for, the moment of moksha, salvation and realization. He knew his Third Life had done it’s job to perfection :P

The End - II

2008-10-01T10:21:00.001-07:00

It’s Tendulkar all the way

2008-09-21T10:30:00.001-07:00

Dumbfontain, 21, 2028: When the giant indoor arena’s top closed with a little less than a 100 million people – or should I say creatures – a lot of cloud loomed over the Earth’s future in the first edition of this Intergalactic Cricket Cup. Having played the game for nearly 150 years now it would be nothing short of a shame to be kicked out of the tournament in the very first round.

The team needed someone to rise and produce a performance exhibiting the heritage of the cricket in earth. And who else can do this better than our very own Sachin Romesh Tendulkar, the senior most statesman of the game.

The toss was won by the earth and they let the opposition - Octopert bat first. Considering the bowling and fielding strength of the Octopertians, the earth’s decision was a rather defensive move. The eight legged, ten foot creatures have proved to be extremely agile in the field and lightning quick with the ball. The team might have decided to take the upper hand in the game by bowling well.

The team worked to its plans. The initial spell of Arjun Tendulkar proved vital. His initial couple of bursts forced the Octopertians to the backfoot. He was provided adequate support by William Pollock, who bowls at an extraordinary pace for someone from the earth.

The Octopertians managed to recover in the middle overs with some clean hitting by {5F012453-B612-4d6e-A3A9-3036A453A8E1}. The partnership between him and {F1093674-5D42-4f52-8A2B-98E8B9B65C27} was turning out to be lethal. It required the man with the golden hands – Sachin to break this partnership. His reputation of breaking the partnerships remains intact. His slow leg-spinners proved effective. He tightened the screws with another couple of wickets in the death overs and returned with the figures of 3/10, his best in this format of the game. The Octopertians managed a descent if not formidable score of 112/6 from 19.4 overs before they were all out.

The earth’s innings started with {2FA45310-D45A-4b0e-9008-F092071F853A} picking up the important wicket of Stephen Marsh. Marsh was dealt with an ultra fast yorker, for which he had no answer. He was soon followed by Kataragedera(Yes, with Srilankan’s you just have to roll your lips and make a noise to get a name) and _____ (Cant think of a name yaar.. :( ). Just when it looked like Octopertians were taking the game away from the earth, Arjun Tendulkar came in and provided the much needed support for his father. Together they put on a 64 run partnership in which Arjun displayed a lot of grit and character. A little lapse in concentration saw him give him an easy catch to the fielder at the covers.

From then on it was master blaster who ruled the game. He pelted the bowling all over the park with an array of shots. His flick on the back foot off {2FA45310-D45A-4b0e-9008-F092071F853A} stood out of all and a six down the track off {XFA17U80-Q4YA-4b0e-UYS8-F09O1ER473D} reminded one of his knock at Sharjah in 1996 against Shane Warne, where even the sand storms had to make way for Sachin to resume the innings.

He made it a no contest and earth romped home with 6 wickets to spare in 15.2 overs with Sachin scoring an unbeaten 83.

In the post match conference, Octopertian’s captain {F1093674-5D42-4f52-8A2B-98E8B9B65C27} said that he had just witnessed the best knock of his lifetime, or even the entire Universe’ lifetime. He had words of praise for the young talents of the earth.

Sachin said there was no pressure at any point of the game and he always thought if there was one good partnership, earth could romp home easily. He said he preferred the longer version of the game (20 overs) and has no intentions of being part of the limited overs team (5 overs). When asked about his fitness, he accepted that tennis elbow has been niggling him for a while and he would undergo another surgery after the tournament.

For a question on his retirement he said he will think about it when he fails to deliver what he is capable of. If God were here this day, he would have been proud of what the master blaster had produced. No wonder, the entire world went celebrating this much needed victory.

Edit: Prompted by a dumb reporter's stupid to question to Sachin on when he is going to retire. x(

Time Machine

2008-08-31T04:14:00.001-07:00

I turned on the machine and I was sucked in. It made me a spectator of my own life, I could see myself crying, dancing and playing cricket and doing many many more things.

Few scenes from what i was taken through -

[Scene1 : Your oldest memory]

[Location: Kasturibai Street, Udumalpet (Forgot door no.)]

[Day: 1988 or so! (I am getting older everyday :( )]

Vivek must be younger than 3 years. He wakes up slowly and calls “Amma”. No response. He raises his head and finds no one in the room. No voices, no noise of the cooker or the rolling vessels in the house. He starts running and checks every single room in house. No one is there. He comes out. Pakkathathu maami notices him and says “Amma anna, akkava kondu vida poirukka da, vandhuduva. Nammathla irukkiya?”

“Maatttenn”.. He goes wild, runs and escapes from the trying maami’s and her husband’s grips and runs all the way to the road end where the school bus comes and hugs his startled mom!

(Maami still remembers this incident and goes nostalgic about it even today when we meet)

[Scene 2 : What were you doing 10 years ago?]

[Location: Suburban, Ramnagar, Coimbatore]

[Day : August 29, 1998]

It could be either of the two:

The game had just started, Vivek opened the innings. It was a Green house vs Yellow house match. Green house had won the toss and elected to bat. Vivek, bats and bats and bats, before he finally runs himself out. He scores 26 runs (yep, many were from edges) and earns himself a place in the school team :)

He was sitting in the last bench and made sure he is well hidden from the “miss” (he wouldn’t have cared about what she was teaching).

Picks the page number from his friend and starts dozing with book kept opened.

[Scene3 : Your first thought today morning]

[Location: 404, Silpa Emerald, Kondapur, Hyderabad]

[Day: August 29, 2008]

It was 7.30 when I pushed myself up in extreme slow motion from the cozy bed of mine. When I opened my eyes and started slowly settling into the real world, ….

Gawd.. What should I tell them tomo when they ask my decision?

I haven’t completed that work yet. Have to complete atleast today.

It’s high time I speak about it to ____. I feel like a loser now!

Ah.. Should I eat the same sick food today too..?

Damn.. I have to wait for another two months for Diwali..

Oh no.. I have to catch the shuttle in 30 mins :(

(It has to be one of these thoughts, but I don't remember which one exactly)

Out of practice, I desperately try to swipe the non-existent card and get out of the room and now starts

“Duniya ka naara jame raho” (Taare Zameen Par)

[Scene 4 : If you built a time capsule today what would it contain?]

[Day: August 29, 2008]

[Sub-scene 4.1]

[Location: I leave it to you to decide]

I pick up my mobile, my id card (I believe, my company will be there forever ;) ) and loads of food!

[Sub-scene 4.2]

[Day: August 29, 2408]

X: Wow! Look at this, a Nokia - 6600. How did you get this man?

Y: Hey, what is that?

X: That was a device used by the computer age man. He used to talk with that.

Y: Talk with that??? Ha ha ha.. That looks bigger than our transport device!!

X: Vivek, tell me who you are?

Vivek: I wonder if I could ask you a silly question. Will you believe that a man from the computer age, made a time travel to end up here some 200 years ago and, never grew up after that?

(For those who couldn’t get the context of the dialog please watch The Man From Earth ;) )

[This year : Well, Scene 4 and my previous blog should answer this :) ]

[Scene5 : What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?]

[Location: The camera focuses on the moon, a graphical satellite, shifts now to earth and starts zooming in. Zooms on till it reaches somewhere near arctic (no more glaciers, its water water everywhere) and settles on the private yacht named ____ ]

[Day: August 29, 2018]

Vivek, holds his hat from the breeze and picks up the purple colored drink and sinks in his thoughts. “Dad what are you thinking?”, his kids in the pool, wake him up with their curiosity.

He smiles, and says “Nothing”.

“Nothing??”. Voice is morphing now!!

“Yes, Nothing”

“Vivek… vivek!!”

The voice has changed completely!!

Vivek wakes up to see his manager right there in front of him..

“Hey hi.. When did you come?” , Vivek tries to recover

“When you were thinking about nothing”

“Ha ha ha” (asadu vazhiyaran.. ;) )

“So what do you think we are good to go beta next month”

“Yes sure. We are just perfect”

“That’s great Vivek.”

Vivek turns around to his, slowly comes to his senses and starts mumbling now,

“Hey but … hmm.. May be.. I think I need one more day.. to see the cost of fixing the bugs assigned to me……… eh... Is that fine?”

A weekend in Hyderabad!

2008-07-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

Before I start a disclaimer - this blogpost is to address the ones who have this custom of asking me on the mondays, tuesdays and wednesdays about what I did over the weekend and on thursday and friday what I will be doing in the weekend that follows. But this middle class guy neither has a girl friend, nor does he booze or party. So this may not have anything spicy! ;) This would just serve as a template that will let you know precisely what I will be doing at any instant of during the weekends. And to remind myself of this weekend since I had more than one happenings that I would like to remember longer. (But no confessions here ! This will serve as a simple reference for myself to remember them)

Day1:
I was in the office when the weekend started. At 12, I had just started running to catch my cab. After coming home picked up the "Five Point Someone" that I had bought from the next desk at office. And read till 2 PM and slept with the lights on. Woke up at 4 to switch it off! And there started the journey to the lands of the dreams that went on and on and .... on till 12 next day! :) I had already got a message and a missed call then from home!

Ok.. So thats the start of the weekend! The day had started, weather was perfect to continue my session, but the hungry stomach had to be answered. Ate as much as I can, infact a little more than what I can and continued the book from where I left. The plan was to start to office at around 4. But I managed to complete it at 5:30 and was in no mood to go then. Ahh.. :( Bad (Ratings for the book: 2 + half since it kept me bounded to complete. But I think "Above Average" was better!) Just then I remembered the day's quota of water hasn't rinsed me yet. And after a fine hot bath, was hungry again. Made an invite for a pani puri visit. With pani puris no matter how much I eat I always feel I have eated a couple lesser than what I should have. Came back, whiled around surfing net and did dosa for myself (this is worth a big post!) and decided that I should get ready for Dark Knight. Watched the "Batman Begins" ;) Man.. it was too good and fit enough to be at IMDB 100. Slept at 2. Well I think this should have been part of day 2 but lets have it here for completeness :)

Day 2 :
I never believed I could wake up so early on a sunday! 7.45 and I was off the bed. Noticed that power had went off. Yeah, I belong to the breed that cant sleep without fan even for a single minute! No matter how cold it is I want the fan to be swinging at its full speed :) So there we are off to the 10.30's show at 9.30! (Between this I slept again till 8.30 after the power came again. :) )
The weather was pleasant and we were there in time for the show!
At the end of the 2 and half hours we were awestruck. It was worth the bucks spent! Came home and compensated for the lost hours with a siesta that lasted for more than 4 hours!

Went out as soon as I woke up to eat. You must taste those sambar idlies of Ruchira! Hmmmm .... I love them. That's prolly the only place in this entire city where I find myself eating some good food. Was caught in rain on the way! I must tell you about the auto trips here! They carry minimum 5 and a max of even 7! Ugh.. But that continues to be my transport mode now :)
Came home watched Kungfu panda(again) for the Po toy had tempted me a lot and slept at around 1 !

[I have delayed this by a week, the lazy bum is now finding it hard to write blogs! I have a month old draft still incomplete :( ]

Mocking bird

2008-06-29T06:06:00.000-07:00

I wanted to revive my blog for quite sometime now. And today I did a lot of blog-hopping and was wondering if I would ever start writing again.
And then I picked this tag from my favorite prater for it was interesting, and I don't have to think much to write this.
Things I did before starting this blog:
Downloaded most of my favorite songs that I am listening online these days hoping they would somehow suit as a good answer for some of those questions.
I have no winamp, and the new windows media player is not playing most of my mp3 songs (but that shouldn't be a problem with the media player i guess ;)). Had to settle with real player
Also was telling to myself I should reshuffle if the song doesn’t suit the question or overly suits it ;) Will keep track of the reshuffle count as well :)

So bang er.. click. Let the player play…

If someone says “is this okay?” You say?
Bingo.. Didn’t expect this.. !
“In the end… it doesn’t even matter” - LP
OK, I accept this was the first song and I decided not to move to the next one since this prolly is a perfect answer :)This question reminds me of the “Unnale Unnale advice”

What would best describe your personality?
“Endrendrum punnagai …” – Alaipayuthey!
He he he!! No comments :)

What do you like in a guy/girl?
“Newyork nagaram urangum neram …” – Jillunu Oru Kaadhal
Wow! That’s my caller tune. Was real player trying to tell that someone who would make me feel like Surya is the one I would like!

How do you feel today?
Bailamos… Enrique
Not really! Today i was sleepless but for other reasons! No parties :(

What is your life’s purpose?
Do you know.. ? Do you know? … Enrique

I don’t’ know! :)

What is your motto?
Ondra Renda Aasaigal .. ellam sollave oru naal podhuma .. Kakka Kakka

That was very apt! :)

What do your friends think of you?
En anbe .. en anbe… - Mounam Pesiyadhe

Agh.. Really??

What do you think of your parents?
Whatever you do I’ll do it tooShow me everything and tell me howIt all means something and yet nothing to me
- Strangers Like Me - Phil Collins

Wow! I have just become Tarzan :)

What do you think about very often?
Uyirin Uyirae - Kakka Kakka

Hmmm .. Something fishy here. I thought no one can read my mind ;)

What is 2+2?
Eguri kuthithen … Vaanam idithathu..

Maths lam varathuppa ! ;)

What do you think of your best friend?
Uyirilae enathu uyirilae.. Vettayadu Vilayadu

I like this song a lot. The initial sounds are so good that I used to hear them again and again

What do you think of the person you like?
Santhosha kanneere.. Uyire

Wow!! How true? :)

What is your life story?
Tired of being sorry.. - Enrique

Hmmm.. Interesting! I think i should take a relook at life story

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Jana gana mana.. Ayutha ezhuthu
[Returned from dinner and started it fresh. :) So took the liberty of having my first song !! :D]

What do you think when you see the person you like?
Adiye kolluthe… Varanam Ayiram

Wow! Wow!!

What do your parents think of you?
Paartha mudhal naale… Vettayadu Vilayadu\

I pity them, they wouldn’t have believed then that this little kid will trouble them like hell! :)

What will you dance to at your wedding?
Lajjavathiye..

Hey… ! I would love to dance for that! :)

What will they play at your funeral?
Show me the meaning of being lonely… Backstreet boys

He he he!! I am wondering what the reaction will be if I wake up and say, “No, who said you are lonely”

What is your hobby/interest?
Vellai pookkal ulagam engum malarattum – Kannathil Muthamittal

No.. Am not interested in gardening! ;)

What is your biggest secret?
Suttum vizhi chudare - Gajini

There are bigger secrets than this ;)

What do you think of your friends
Valiye Valiye en uyir valiye.. Dham Dhoom

Clarification – Valiye here stands for air, Uyir valiye – Oxygen

What should you post this as?
Mocking bird – Eminem
I am sure no one is going to understand anything from this title.

Hmmm.. Nice exercise ;)

7even

2008-01-02T08:05:00.000-08:00

Long back the austere mind was tagged
So long that no one remembered
Not even the one who had left it here
Until this day - when the austere mind finally decided
That now is the time to list why it is indeed weird!

1. A cricket maniac:
Ever since I knew who I am, I have been watching and playing cricket. Not many of my age would have started then. I have been following cricket for the past 16 years or so. There was not one moment when I lost interest in cricket. My love for cricket has matured. I watch matches irrespective of India wins or lose. I am prepared to take India’s losses the way I handled my failures in exams. But I do support India till the last ball. But if the opponent is an Australia or Pakistan, well I will go uncontrolled ;) A maniac indeed!

2. I believe in enjoying this very moment. Be it getting drenched in rain, playing cricket for hours together (ofcourse I need my share of bowling and batting ;) ), enjoying the cool breeze on a drive, chatting non-sense for hours together, … I don’t want to miss any of those

3. I give a lot of importance to individuality – a lot.

4. I won’t tell people to do things that I don’t do. And I abhor people who ask me to follow things that they don’t do.

5. I don’t build walls around myself but I would love others to respect my privacy as much as I do theirs. I stand by point 4 here. ;)

6. When I sleep, it’s pretty hard to wake me up. I don’t have the habit of scowling at phone calls that I get when I am asleep. I go to a state where I don’t even realize the phone ringing. I consider this as a blessing – not many are blessed with peaceful sleeps you see ;)

7. I make sure I don’t reveal much about me to everyone ;) Not everyone gets to know about this austere mind!

So there ends the list…

I hope I have served the purpose of this tag!

I wonder if I could tag another seven! But if you are interested in telling the world about yourself – why not tag yourself ;)

I shall try anyway :)

One more to avoid the void!

2007-10-31T10:42:00.001-07:00

This is perhaps the most straight forward title I ever had after I revamped my blog. This is just to fill the October block with an entry. Long time since I scribbled something. Everytime I travel I had thought about a few hundred for this blog but I was just pulled out by lack of something to jot them down here.

Let me try to get a few things that happened in this one month.

I moved to a new team and started working er.. doing something that may or may not be called as work.

I had remained away from home much longer this time. 3 months! Am leaving this friday and can't wait for the day to dawn. :)

I became older by an year - The year that had gone past was the most uninteresting year of my life. At times it made me feel so incompetent and moving without knowing the path ahead. There were plenty of occassions when I came to consciousness and realized that I am literally doing nothing.
And more and more to whine on why this was not a great year for me.

Hoping things get better soon.

And fill the void in my mind ... And make me better!

Wish you all a Happy Diwali!

Cheers!

Water...

2007-09-30T07:46:00.001-07:00

It's raining... and raining for days together, raining the cats and dogs, and now raining everyone in the world. The melting Alaska and Antarctica are doing no good. Meteorological Department has predicted that this will continue for the next few months. All the omens are finally shaping into a cold reality.

The situation is the same in most parts of the world. Very few regions which do not have any water bodies in its surroundings remain as lands. The water lord is on a roll, as if he will never be slaked by what he has got, he has usurped most regions of the world.

The regions near the sea shore and oceans were gulped in by the fierce waves. Other regions are being flooded with water. The regions closer to sea are facing the crisis of being taken in completely at any time. Water level is on the rise.

It's water, water everywhere.

Efforts are on to reclaim the land. Ideas ranging from propelling water into earth, out of earth and vaporizing them altogether are considered.

Life is no longer the same. People are finding hard to live in the new water world. Growth of vegetation has come to an abrupt halt leaving the gourmets all over the world in a deep struggle. It has given rise to new forms of eating habits, feeding on food stuffs made of see weeds. The victuals that remained were priced at sky rates making them unaffordable.

Small ferries have taken the place of other means of commuting. Now, every place in the world is just another Venice.

People have started moving to higher floors of the apartments. I should thank the stars for letting me live in the fourth floor. And the genes for having me close to 6 feet. City is immersed in a 3 feet water. And at places it's even more. Power supply has been completely waned out to eliminate loss of lives.

Now, I can't bear this excruciating pain more. I am hungry! I leant up from the bed searching for my water proof suit. Now dresses worn are mostly of this ilk. It's quite a routine to see a star featuring in a daily advertising for a garish branded swim suit. When I reached the ground I couldn't find the regular boat that wanders in our apartment. Someone else might have boarded it. I can't wait.

I stepped into the water and started moving. It was more of walking than swimming. I had learnt swimming in a hurry when the surrounding places started sinking into the sea. I am still not very comfortable with swimming and I prefer this walk mode as and when it is possible.

I had reached the shop and started waiting in the queue outside. Now they don't let people into the shops. All orders are taken outside and delivered. When my turn came, I could see them preparing the ones I would ask for. They now know what I buy. Some hard to spell sea weed was baked and handed over to me with a smile.

I could just walk normally with the food under the water since it was packed in a wet proof, heat retaining pack. I just couldn't wait to reach home. When I reached the junction where my apartment's road and the shop cross each other, my sub-conscious mind had started alarming me for some reason.

My reflexes were quick to identify the thing moving from the other end. I could see the upper part of it: an ugly mix of black and brown running over an array of irregular crests and troughs. There were half-opened eyes and lots of teeth on its partial face that appeared above the surface. It was huge and was moving without creating any splashes in the water that one would usually notice with others. Ironically it was too calm when compared to the fear and quiver that it leaves in the one who sees. It was a crocodile.

I have seen many of those National Geographic channel's programs that say on how crocodiles go about their task. The thought of a defenseless human in a flashy swimming suite replacing the innocuous beasts in those features started conjuring up in my mind.

As I stepped up unable to control my motion, I could notice it's head twisting towards the center of the ripples I had just left. Up goes the heart, I could hear it beat at 200s, it should possibly near my ear. I am left alone. There's no one around me.

Should I move, but ain' that make me an easy pray, crocodiles are much much faster than even a Thorpe or a Phelps?

But if I stay here, I will succumb without a fight.

I should have bought an alpenliebe !!

Oh no.. This is real, and I can see it's eyes dreaming a heavy feast for the day. It's coming. It's nearing me. No point in pondering.

I picked all my strength and started swimming hard. This could well be the race of my life. I was moving faster than I have ever done in my life. The cliche "Necessity brings the best out of you" pops up. I was slashing harder and harder. But it was nearing me ferociously. I still have a long way to go before I can reach my apartment or for that matter, any apartment to take the shores. And all my energy is getting drained out. It has closed in now. Will I lose this battle of life?

I could see all my loved ones moving one after the other in front of me. I could hear them laughing. I could feel them crying. I enjoy the emotions I shared. I am not done with my life yet. I still have a long way to go.

I slap harder.. I will give every bit of what I have.. I will fight!!

I slap even harder...

"Aaaah!!" ..

I wake up to see myself positioned just in front of Suresh. Unable to control the inertia, I continue banging against water, er.. Suresh!

"Stop it da..."

Whew! A minute's silence and a mixture confused and anxious looks were shared!

"Hey.. It's only 500 bucks per month. Why don't we join swimming da?"

You should be able to predict his reaction now! :)

Maggi!

2007-08-22T02:34:00.000-07:00

The new little fluorescent sticker was smiling at me from my notebook. A sense of pride was filling my heart as I leant to touch it and smiled within. I got this for my score in the just concluded test.

The new scheme of collecting this sticker for the performances in the school has caught everyone of us in a joust to claim superiority over the rest. They had promised gifts for those who outsmart the rest at the end of the year. The better you perform the more stickers you get more the chances of getting the gift.

It was really working well. We did our home works regularly. We tried hard to top in the tests. We were trying to do everything to have that teeny greeny face smile on our notebooks. Every now and then counting was going on. The leader identified was given a star treatment. They took pride in telling to people from other groups (there was a ' III A' and 'III B'. We bragged about it to seniors and juniors too) that they lead theirs. Lunch time breaks was spent entirely on discussing this with others. There were an array of thoughts and ideas on what the gift would be and who will get it.

First pages of all my notebooks had rows of those. I was there at the top in our class and very few people had as much as me. I couldn't wait to get my hands on the gift.

The D-Day had arrived. People in other classes were given the gifts - couple of maggi (noodles) packets (Huh.. Didn't they get a better one?). We were very excited and could hardly wait for it. I had already decided what I am going to have in the evening and was planning to surprise my mom.(Come on!! As 7 year olds we ought to get excited for every silly thing in the world). The hours were running and no signs of maggi. We were getting restless. And finally when our wait got over we were in the last hour of the day... the Hindi hour. Incame my hindi tutor with a bundle that we were waiting for eagerly all day.

As we were waiting eagerly for the packets to be distributed, she kept it at the corner of the hall and announced a surprise test. Uh no.. Am not that good in hindi. Some questions were dictated. Some answers were scribbled. My mind was fixed on the bunch of noodles, wondering how many I am going to get.

The answer sheets were collected and corrected. She started distributing the packs.. Heck!! She was giving them according to the marks they had scored in the test. I still believed that I will get it. I am leading the class. I deserve it. The people who were way behind me were getting it. I was avoiding the looks of my friends up there with their maggi. The bundle was getting smaller and smaller. My ears were waiting eagerly for the little name to be sounded.

The worst disappointment in life is not getting what you deserved. The little heart was about to be broken for the first time in its life. It had no idea that it was only preparing for bigger,worser - disappointments, rejections and more.

As the bundle became empty, my heart was full of a mixture of emotions - anger, disappointment and inability. My single day's performance has denied me what I had thoroughly deserved. How mean she was..

The bell rang. Class dispersed. I stood there stunned. When my classmate with a much lesser score came to me bragging at his pack and teasing me for not getting one, all he got was a big slap (I am a spoilt arrogant brat when I was a kid).

I could hardly hide my tears. I broke and ran down the floor, hugged my mom waiting outside the school. She tried every bit to console me. I didn't stop. Even a dozen maggi wouldn't have mended the broken heart.

Next year when I was given the option to pick my second language, I preferred Tamil just not to attend her classes. And I preferred not to listen the occassional science classes she took. Even today I remember her face and the entire incident. She was the first one to teach me what disappointment is all about. She will be remembered forever for reasons that even she wouldn't like.

But yes.. she had given me good lessons on life. And she had helped me uncover one among the several layers within me that I retain even today- (I leave it to you to identify).

The End(!?)

2007-08-03T06:21:00.000-07:00

Every beginning has an end. Life is no exception.. A life that I (and You) possess and proceed with the unlimited dreams has to come to an abrupt end some day; the day when my presence in this earth comes down to a few million molecules serving the saprophytes beneath. Very few things remain to identify oneself on the earth at the end of the day. Very few indeed.. Compared to the magnificience of the earth with its life running for several million years, the time one spends here is way too less to be of any significance.

Still "Death" - a rather gloomy word - has its singnificance, for every being blessed with the sixth sense. Its something that every man would try to win for himself, but understands the pain and impact if it were really won by everyone in the world - only to realize that it shalt never be won.

The first fears of death - and the impact it has on you are crucial. It moulds you and makes you realize how painful this life can be.

"I had my first fears when I was doing my second standard (I should probably be 6 years old then). Too young, yet I had started thinking about it after I witnessed my first one then."

This very word can instill an enormous pain in the minds of the ones who miss their loved ones. Isn't that very harsh to miss someone you loved, you cherished to be with, you celebrated for having been with is no longer there with you... ? You can no longer talk with them.. You can no longer be with them.. You can no longer feel them.. You miss them! You miss the comfort they offer when you are down! You can no longer be what you were when they were here! You feel you are lost! You feel the whole world is not for you!

And thats when the thoughts of what happens before and after a life begins to pop up...

"I was too young to ponder over all those things.. But I still remember the innocent dreams and the shudders that it left.. the weeps with and without reasons.. the thoughts on what lies beyond the inconquerable.. and the innumerable possibilities of what happens after!"

The world has its array of stories on the life beyond death. Each religion may have it's own tale. But the undeniable fact is that we all add up to the earth's dead chunk and make sure what it gave is there with it. It doesn't lose anything!

"And as I grew up, I found myself not thinking too much on those. Reason could be I had not witnessed one again.. But no one can escape from this pain having taken this earthly life.
I had just stepped into college.. This time even though I was not related to the one, I could still feel the pain. I knew nothing of the one who lost. But when I tried to fill in the shoes of the bereaved... Could life be this tougher? You feel you had lost everything. I could see the pain in the eyes when I met again. I could see the sudden vacuum left in the life.. I could feel the sense of loneliness that pervades the life when you miss someone that close.. "

In the history of the human life, it has been a routine to see bad ones live longer than the noble. Worse is when infants and innocents die when the ones who deserve to be in hell(!) still dwell in peace. Thats when the thoughts of whether there is GOD rise. Most athiests will have a death as a reason in their change. It could be the otherway too.

"The next one I happened to be there shook the one within me. A cousin with whom you played the previous day, you teased, you loved spending time with is now in front of you motionless. How could this happen? I have never lost anyone this close.. The marks of the way it unsettled the entire family is still there. All the pleasant moments I shared and the ones I missed.. Well.. Can I have them again??
This saw their parents become even more pious!"

The more you think of death the more the mind gets numb. It leaves you strangled in a web called past. And takes you deeper and deeper into darker and gloomy regions of your mind. The best way to deal with this is to live the moment.. Enjoy this very moment to the fullest..

And make sure you never lose an opportunity to spend time with the ones you love. You may never get them again! A minute's thought should reveal the ones who will miss you in this world and who won't. Spend your precious moments with them and make sure you never miss an opportunity to be with them.

And finally think of
" ...
What am I leaving
when I am done here
..."

Would love to see you all soon(!)

Cheers!

First Days... [ Part III ]

2007-06-19T06:31:00.000-07:00

Long time since I posted something..
Right now I am in a corner of Hyderabad, miles away from home and surfing the internet with no purpose. I remembered that a blog exists for me, when I completely ran out of sites to visit. When I started this blog a month ago, I had comments from my friends who said I wouldn't continue this long. I want to prove them wrong. And so.. here is a post.. :)

Lot has happened in this one month...

Most important of all, I am no longer jobless. (But still I am weird! :) ) And this obviously is the main reason for this sequel of the First Days post. But unfortunately nothing exciting happened on my first day here. But make no mistake.. After the first two days, it was all fun. We had an instructor called William Adams, who can glue you to the seats and listen to him without shedding the eyelids. His animated sessions are a big hit here. :)

And here everyone is willing to help you out when you are stuck in some problem. This is something very unusual and incredible about this place. And also you see a calmness and serenity in the looks of everyone here - a manifestation of the awesome knowledge they have within I guess. And soon I had some great friends too.. They are making everyday worth the while. I can see my friend's turning red on hearing the training process here with the ones in their company. Everyday you end up learning something new and interesting. Thats the best part of all.. :)

Apart from my first day, other things that happened includes - myself staying away from the home for the first time. The loneliness and the emotional battles within, difficulty in coping with the new city, climatic conditions, food,... - and an array of other struggles that are part of this process - that makes you feel that life is tougher than what you have ever imagined... I am yet to get myself into this new world.. I am still struggling...

On the other side, the experience of living a life on my own too is awesome. The company of Suresh and Karthiks are making this even more fun.. :)

Also I got a couple of new visitors who took strains to comment my blog - Alpine path and Black King.. It was great to hear views from people you have never met :)

Thanks buddies..

I am hoping to post more often .. But I am afraid atleast for the next few weeks, I won't get time..

Wishing to see u all soon ;)

Bye

The Holy Dip

2007-05-22T02:19:00.000-07:00

The gentle breeze was charming as usual. As the train was veering at 150 miles per hour, the beautiful landscape and the breeze added grandeur to the experience. My love for seating myself near the window has endured the changes in the life. I preferred this low speed levitation train to the faster ones just to cherish this heavenly experience. The ones that travel close to the speed of the sound have imposing rules like closed windows to ensure safety of the passengers and also much lesser traveling time. It has been a long time since I traveled, I decided to have this one longer.

"Shall we have a coffee?", my father was looking at me. My mother nodded letting me know that she too was interested in having one. I thought that was not a bad idea considering the impact of the cool weather and the AC on us.

I pushed the little button placed conveniently from the reach of the travelers. It brought a sleek touch screen in front of me, that displayed the available food stuffs and drinks along with the price. I picked the coffee and from the number grid for quantity selected 3. A sweet electronic voice assured me of a prompt service before the screen moved back to its place.

The train is now darting on a bridge that extended for several miles and had placed at high altitudes above a vast beautiful river with greens ready to gobble it any time. The sun was struggling to pierce through the clouds. The rays that eluded the mighty clouds' grab ended up shimmering on the surface of river bed. My admiration for this beautiful earth and the secrets it holds within, is always on the raise.

The serenity the travel has left in me is now disturbed by the voice that said "Here is your coffee sir". A tall guy in a white uniform was standing with the coffees we had ordered. We picked up our coffee. He was here in less than 5 minutes, however, a specialized robot would have done the job much quicker. When the government proposed this idea last week in the Parliament there were strong agitations. Nationwide strikes were organized by the Lefts and secured the jobs of these men.

The coffee wasn't bad. By the time we completed our coffees we had reached our destination. The train floated smoothly down the platform before pulling off with a jerk. The automatic door collapsed to let us out. I picked up my my mobile and searched the Indian Tourism site to know how to move from there. The instructions were pretty clear. To convince myself I moved to the tourism assistant set up at the end of the platform.

I positioned myself in front of its speech sensors and asked for help. A 3D assistant, with the appearance of a typical good looking Indian gal, generated by the projectors on top occupied the small black table. It wished us and explained the map which is now on display in the accompanying screen. The location of the counter and the procedure from there on was detailed. As it went on, i could see the dazzling eyes of my mom and dad, struck by a frisson of surprise. They were witnessing this for the first time. After spitting the entire programmed message it vanished into thin air.

We moved to the counter we were described about and saw a robot giving the instructions. The screen displayed multiple cylindrical capsules and the permitted duration . After a small discussion we decided to opt the biggest one to ensure a wholesome experience. The system accepted my credit card and verified my identity with a comprehensive eyes, finger impression and a complete feature verification. We were directed to the section where we can get our capsule.

When we reached the section, the capsule we had just ordered was waiting and a man was there to give us the initial directions. The capsule was huge with turquoise blue glasses encapsulating the base made of a solid material resembling plastic with a similar color. The capsule was big enough to carry a basic limousine. The door automatically opened to let us in. The inner walls had chairs attached to them where we seated ourselves.

The capsule was up and was soon following other multi sized capsules. Now this looks like a series of test vessels in a laboratory lined up for a complex experiment. The capsule starts moving and we soon found ourselves on top of a huge river. The capsule slowly started to move down into the river and stopped after reaching a specific level. We are now in waist high water. The encapsulating glass sections had peeled off and the surroundings are unobstructed to our sight. The base still remains enclosing the water we had access to.

"You have 30 minutes from now. We wish you a satisfying experience.", the electronic voice from the speaker within the capsule gave the alert.

We dipped in and prayed the Lords, chanted the mantras and slokas, and soon we had another alert saying we had only 5 minutes left.

The capsule was up and a huge fan at the top of the capsule started spinning. The water that we used was cleaned by the segment at the lower end of the capsule and is now back in the river. We were dry soon and when the fan stopped at the top of the capsule behind the fan, was the inscription, "Project - Clean Mansarovar".

"Intha madhiri gangala snanam panna vimochanam kedakkumne thonaliye da (But I couldn't believe that this kind of holy dip in Ganga will absolve us from the sins)", I only had a melancholic smile as a reply to my innocent mom.

The Beginning..

2007-05-19T19:53:00.000-07:00

I removed the knob of that awkwardly placed door to help myself out of the underground lair. I am running on low energy. I was forced to be there for hours together. It had taken its toll. I am aware of every nook of this house. It didn't take long to come out to get the bright sunshine. My solar capsules were up and started their job soon. My father made sure I have the best of those. My energy levels soon surged. Cosmic energy levels in the atmosphere are quite high these days.

I initiated the controller. The small beryl green visualizer popped up right in front of my 'vision sensors'. The boot up ended within fractions of a microsecond. The date and time was shown in clear lighting. It read as 'October 11, 2047 08:49:32'. This day is a memorable one. My first birthday(!) - the day my neuron core was energized setting all my modules active and working; the day I stood up driven by the billion lines of codes that held together a rather abstruse connections of several million zepto RAMs. The day also marks the birth of the one who gave me this form, my father.

"Brother", I turned around. Another creation of Him, stood behind me. He is a decade older than me, belongs to the previous generation. Men have left this rather complicated entity which they preferred to call as Generation Gap even amongst us. He is forced (programmed) to call me as brother but now I am adept at understanding what it means to me and also to him. I am first of my kind. My virtue of discerning what emotions and relationships are and evolve in the process made Him very proud of His creation, the feeling which I reckoned during this evolution. I felt for what I had when I witnessed him collapse like a feeble worm set to fire, a few hours ago.

"All cyborgs are heading towards 641004, the site of the chaos.", my brother had said.
"Lets move..."

A complete scan of the mini RADAR confirmed the elimination of all the species but for a few bacteria. The place has been entirely transformed. It will take some time to get used to this new situation. A less memory system may have troubles and may even end up becoming insane. The radar was vigilant and was busy trying to identify the changes and reporting it to the main controller to update the system. The greens are no more. A new layer of atmosphere dense in radiations has been created. The land masses have started drifting abruptly. GPS reported that a new peek has emerged.

When we reached the spot, few million cyborgs had already gathered. Still many were coming from various locations of the globe. I was seeing all kinds of my fellow bots, each having different features, different sizes, different specializations. In a way this mass has close semblances with the men. But unlike them, they never attempted to prove their superiority - the very cause of what had happened today.

Radar gave a scan image of the site even before I reached there. The crater was just big enough to cover the entire path of that highway. The size was a non-issue here, it was the amount of radiation that caused the havoc. Buildings stood tall and firm on both sides. I have been here once. I was brought here last month by Him. The conditions on the earth had just started deteriorating then. He showed this as the place where he raised, where his journey had started. He always wanted to spend a lot of time with me. He forced me to be with him before the inevitable happened.

As 'my brother' jostled the crowd on the way to the site, I was following him. I could hear clearly the mumbles going behind.

"Is he the one created by Him?"
"Is he the ONE?"
"Ah.. I was waiting all my life just for this moment to happen."
...

When we reached the site, my brother stood aside letting me in.

The radiation level was extremely high. The place instills in me a sense of deja vu. The void and loneliness pervaded the billion billion memory units I had. Is this what the men had endured all their life? Is this what He wanted me to possess? If I had the option, I wouldn't have preferred it at any cost. A deep moan from the bottom of the heart(!) left the gathered ones puzzled. I am new to them. Even though I am one among them, in a way I am far ahead of them. They were looking up to me now. I understood the fierce urgency of Now.

I activated the anti-gravity unit, soared up high and positioned myself right above the crater.

"I have a dream today!
We have seen enough. We have seen enough.
The wise men who could create a new breed called cyborgs failed to protect themselves and the ones created for them.
Lets show our gratitude by creating them again - a man who has no sect to divide them, man who has no despise for his fellow men, a man who knows nothing about anger, a better man - but this time let them be our slaves."

There were cheers in the crowd.

"Let the new civilization begin!!"

Idly and Pizza

2007-05-17T18:14:00.000-07:00

My first thought was having the title as Chalk and Cheese. But that wouldn't do any justice to what I have taken up today.

In this post I shall review the two movies that I saw this week.

Chennai 600028

If you missed this movie, you missed three hours of fabulous entertainment and fun.

Sharks from ...(I forgot the name of the place!) and Rockers from Rayapuram are the two arch rivals in the local league (don't expect any flashbacks!! :) ) with Sharks, our heroes, losing to Rockers in the finals in the previous three years. The movie is about the happenings in the lives of the Sharks in this one year and how they go about the tournament at the end of the year.

It all starts with Raghu from Rockers moving to Sharks' place. The rift with his team and friendship with Sharks' captain sees Raghu in the Sharks team. But Sharks' soon finds itself in a mess when Palani, a key bowler of Sharks splits with Karthik leaving the entire team in a disarray. The rest of the movie is about how the friends get back together in their pursuit for winning the next year's tournament.

Even though the movie doesn't boast of any lead players everyone comes up with a good performance. Notable performance is from the the director's bro who makes debut as the comedian. Every time he drops a catch or says 'Enna kodumai sir ithu?!' the entire breaks into laughter.

The astute director in Venkat Prabhu has made the film very interestingly then one would expect. Starting from the scene Raghu lands into the Sharks' place he keeps viewers enchanted. The best thing about the movie is nothing happens according to the expectations of its viewer. (For instance, when you expect the last ball to be caught beyond the boundary line like Lagaan, the director has different options). It is this attribute of the movie that sets itself apart. Also the director shows that he knows the game with scenes like the one that shows the love for one's bat.

I felt the matches could have been made better and better players could have been picked. Any cricket fanatic who knows the game inside out will know the cricket the guys play as rubbish. But the twists and turns the director adds to the game makes it all the more interesting.Camera and background music have lent good contribution in setting up the game for the viewers. The split screen views and appropriate graphics for the ball only adds up to the intensity of the game. The songs are tuned by Yuvan Shankar Raja and he comes with a nice blend of peppy and melody numbers. A couple of songs could have been avoided though.

The climax makes sure this is not a just another movie. Kudos again for the entire team!!

So my rating for the movie is

Spiderman 3
For someone who watches the previous two editions every time he gets an opportunity, who is so fond of spidey that he has seen all the episodes of its cartoon twice, another spiderman movie is nothing short of a festival. And spidey battling against three bad guys - this is a bonanza. But well.. Ben Parker advised in the first movie 'With great power, Comes great responsibility'. It would have been great if someone had said 'With great expectations too comes great responsibility' to Sam Raimi. I strongly feel that the director has squandered a wonderful opportunity.

The movie starts with Peter Parker marveling at himself for the love the people have on spiderman. The fame gets into his head. When Mary Jane is struggling with her career Peter Parker's rise leads to clash of egos. Harry Osborne now takes his father's mantle and decides to go on a revenge. And incomes an alien thing only to make things worse. It brings the dark side of parker out and makes him go for the sand man who killed his uncle Ben (There's flash back on who actually killed his uncle) and makes him pick the 'wrong choices'. How Parker gets out of the dark and deals with his foes is the rest of the story.

They could have told this in a much better way. When Sand Man and Harry take alternate turns to fight with spidey you soon lose the interest. Adding to the viewers woes is Mary Jane's whining. She cries and cries and cries and does nothing else. (But that's what she has been doing in the previous movies too. This time it's over-dose). And the scenes when Parker is controlled by the symbiote (the alien thing) are very unnatural. The hair style Toby sports doesn't suit him and so are his actions.

Also the dialog leaves a lot to be desired. In a movie like this where there is very few talks and lot of acts, one would expect the dialogs to be razor sharp and enjoyable. But here it turns out to be monotonous and dumb.

The movie has a lot of pluses too. The initial battle with Harry was damn good. The scenes involving Sand Man, in particular the one when he rises from the sand for the first time, can boast for awesome graphics. The movie kicks off and goes down to the wire when Parker sheds the thing off giving rise to the 'Venom'. The final battle too will be a good treat for all the spidey lovers. And James Franco (Harry Osborne) does a great job better than any one else. He was cool . So was Topher Grace(Venom). It is all these positive factors that makes spider man 3 a must watch.

At the end of the show one feels if Raimi was trying to teach us
'With great expectations, Comes great disappointment' :).

Anyways, I will give spiderman

(come on, I am a die-hard spidey fan. Don't expect me to give anything lesser than this :) )

Your comments on the movies are welcome.
See you all soon.
Bye.. :)

First Days.. [ Part II ]

2007-05-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

This is pure coincidence.

I received my result for the last semester today. This effectively disengages any remaining relationship I have with PSG Tech as a student. The graduation day will be just the completion of the formalities.
Four years have whirred past, faster than a racing schumi on a rainy day. This college has seen the metamorphosis of a very ordinary guy who knew little about his way ahead to someone who is equipped enough to lay the roads for the journey he has just started. I haven't left anything in my college for the people there to remember me forever. But I do carry with me a treasure that no one can dare to ask for a part... Beautiful memories.
Here is one of those.. the first of those - first day in 'my' college.

The sleepless night of the day before July 23rd had little effect on me. In less than a week I picked this course I was asked to come to college. I was excited like never before. I was entering the college with lot of expectations. Unfortunately I had no company. I don't know any one from PSG Tech and was finding myself alone.
I was there in the quadrangle by 8.45, in time for the initial speech. The principal and the hostel warden (Senthil Kumar who later came as our class tutor and took maths) were flooding us with their advices and rules of the college. I almost slept. ('Well begun is half done'. I continued to sleep for all the four years in the college. Senthil Kumar sir was special - the number of classes I remained awake will be lesser than the ones I slept)
We were offered refreshments after that. I preferred not to go and was on the look out for my new friends. Found a bunch of guys hanging around there in the quadrangle. Picked the guy who was sitting a little away from the rest. He was tall, wearing glasses and had his shirts tucked out (which clearly is not a sign of a new comer, i realized it very late).
I decided to get his acquaintance.
"Hi.. You are from which department?"
"... (a confused look and raised eyebrows) IT. You?"
"CSE.. Whats your name?"
"Riyaz*. Yours?"
"Vivek. Do you know anyone from CSE?"
"Yeah.. See the guy over there, he is from CSE." The guy he pointed was not interested and was doing something very seriously.
"Oh.. Ok (smile.. as usual) Hey whats your cut-off" (This question is mandatory while introducing yourself in the first year)
"285 four years back"
(now I am terribly confused) ".... (a big pause)"
"Hey are you a fresher..."
"Hmmm.. Yes.. Why? You too are a fresher na.."
"No da.. I am a final year student here da"
(Now everyone there breaks into laughter)
"Oh.. :( I am sorry anna"
"Ok Ok.. Why did you pick PSG da..? "
"(struggling to get my words together. I hope you can understand my situation. What a mess I have made! )"
He continued
"For placements.. "
"Hmmm.. yess na"
"Achacho!! You should have taken CIT or GCT da.. Companies are not at all coming here da. Only girls will get placed here.."
"Oh appadiyanna!!"
"Here only I have managed a job as yet.. These guys are yet to get one.." (other guys nodded)
"(Go ahead go ahead.. Rat is caught in the trap here.. Go ahead.. x( ) Oh..."
"Thappu pannitye da"
"(those who know me should have seen my face when I try to please the staffs) Oh.."
....
This went on and on for a while before they left me.
In the meantime I happened to come across Karthik(eyan), the first guy I met from CSE and learnt that he is from Bharathiar University. 'Thats a consolation I will not be the only one coming to college from that far.' He took me to Kishon his school mate. Well.. Here are my new friends in college. We had our lunch in canteen. We were told that a meeting for CSE department will be held in N-block. Hanged around for the rest of the day with them. Karthik took me to the N-block later for the meeting. Met all the guys and gals of CSE with whom I would be spending the next four years . Got introduced to the ones who sat near me in the hall.
### and ###### gave their lectures (which we heard again and again for several times in these four years). And we were split into two classes. 'Oh my god! Karthik was in G2 and me in G1'. Well thats how it goes, but I got new friends soon. After that we were asked to stand in a queue. They were preparing us for a campus tour. 'I have seen enough. I shall leave now.' I left. My bunking spree in college started on the very first day. The guy who came with me then, is as good as me in this art - Pranesh :).
The next day the classes began, I was late as usual. My first class was by Praveena mam. The day wasn't great and I soon found myself sleeping when Sankar Kumar was spelling out 'bottle' a few hundred times. I continued sleeping all the four years.
Thats how almost all my days went... But i too had my share of days to remember, days to forget and days that I wish I live again. When I stepped out of my college for the last time, the void I felt, the unknown thing that I missed, well.. I still have them somewhere in my heart. But the memories and the experiences I carry with me will keep me going.. in the roads that no one else has trudged before, in the roads that I have just started laying.

Meet you all in the next post
Bye.. :)

*Riyaz - I am not very sure about his name. But it was something like this.
### - Censored for my safety :)

First Days..

2007-05-04T02:03:00.000-07:00

May 4..

This day is a memorable one for many of my pals out there... a new day... a new life... a new horizon up there for them to reach. When they return home they will have the pleasure of having spent their first day in office at CTS.

When i am waiting to cherish my first day in workplace, which will happen in exactly a month from now, i went nostalgic thinking about my previous first days...

The LKG day :)

Ah.. I still remember my first day in school. School was RGMS in Udumalpet (for those who haven't heard this place before it is near Coimbatore). The school was far away from the town. It was really big and had really huge grounds. I was not allowed to run in the grounds or enjoy this new place, my mom's hands were firm on me. She was pouring advises rhetorically - that i shouldn't ask for mom, shouldn't cry, listen to teachers,... before she left me in the class (LKG).
There was a lady (i would have called her as 'miss' later :) ) sitting there in the hall, busy entering the names of all the new admissions. There were many kids around me, all dressed up in the uniforms and were crying. 'Oh.. So i too should cry, thats the rules here i guess.' - I started crying. .... Bang.. thats it i don't remember what happened after that. Probably my 'miss' would have pacified everyone there. I somehow forgot what happened after that. But the next day we were split into two sections and i was sent to LKG 'A' where i had my first tutor - Mary ( I still remember her face but she won't be like that anymore :P ).

I spent four years of my childhood there. I still remember the classes i sat, some of the friends i made there, some of the tutors i had.. I wonder if i will ever see them again..

In a never before zone

Now this time it was in Coimbatore,Suburban Matriculation School. As the title suggests I was up for a really new experience.

I was here after discontinuing the classes in RGMS after the first couple of weeks. My father had got a transfer to Coimbatore. Before admission, I was told to write a small test and I failed in all the three subjects (English, Tamil, Maths) scoring single digits :P. Princi had given me tonnes of advises that I will be kicked out if I don't perform well.

First day - I was late and this being my first day i was let off (Others were made to stand outside the class :) ). Now, I was looked like an alien who had just jumped from mars. I went to the last bench that had the tallest and strongest guys in the class (Pupil are seated according to the heights). Got my first friend in Krishnan, who was huge but was really good. We spent the first two hours talking introducing ourself and I was slowly getting used to the new environment.

During the recess break, everyone surrounded me. Introductions were done. And i already had a couple of guys getting into my head and annoying me. I was invited for a wrestling ( WWF, now the WWE was in its early stages then :) ) during the lunch session. 'Oh my god! I am not here to fight'. But i was forced to - lost the battle and Krishnan saved me in the end (Remember he is huge :) But later i made for it with a rematch :P )

The day went with my new tutors assigning loads of works (since i joined after nearly a month) and was rather a forgetful one.

Anyways... I made a lot of friends soon and my reign started when the 'First Mid Term tests' began in a fortnight from then. The princi and my tutors were impressed so were my new friends :) And from then on it was one memorable journey that I always look back with lot of satisfaction.

These memories will linger in my mind forever and I will never forget those. The next post will be on my first day in college, which has made me what I am now.
Will meet you all soon..
Bye.. :)

My First Post

2007-05-01T01:08:00.000-07:00

After having thought long and hard i decided to start my first blog.

Before the reasons for starting this blog, i shall introduce myself to everyone who happens to stumble on this piece. Am Vivek Ramaswamy, from Coimbatore,Tamil Nadu, India, Earth, Milky way,..... one other guy adding a few million cells to this universe. I (somehow!) completed my Bachelor of Computer Science few days back. I have a great passion for cricket and computers even though i am not that good in both :) . More on me here in this profile

Till yesterday i was spending my time working on my project and browsing all day. Now i am done with my project and i am also losing my interest in orkuts, diggs, ...

So after a long thought on what to do to keep myself engaged... I decided to start a blog. :P
I have been following a few blogs now. But never thought of writing one for myself until yesterday. I am wondering how this blog will shape up. Atleast till the next month you* can expect me to post a topic once in every two days. But i have no plans on what they are going to be.

But i can assure you that it will definitely be weird and non-sense, since i am here just to kill my time! :)
Meet you* all in my next post.
Have a great time
Bye.. !

* - I wonder who will ever hop into this blog in this huge world of blogs. But the ones who visit here, i wud love to hear your comments and views :)