Quest for the Seal of Freedom ...

It was a cold, dark, starless night ...
The moon shone in its entirerity ... bathing the ground below ... in its cold ambient light ...
A bat flew off ... screeching ... announcing its departure to all those who cared to listen ...

The lone ranger, rode up to the edge of the cliff which looked down below at the monkey kingdom ...
This quest had to be completed tonight ... he thought ... it had been a very long and tiring journey ...

50 mighty warriors ... had set off on this quest a week ago ... and now only one hurdle remained ...
Many of them had crossed this hurdle ... those who had ridden earlier ... and had reached the kingdom early ...

The lone ranger was amongst the remainder ... there were only a handful left ...
They had battled difficult terrains, accomplished three other quests ... and were on the eve of their victory ... or so they thought ...

On their way here, they had braved the COrinthian challenges, solved the Cape Province Problems ... and managed to send Signals to their allies announcing of their approach, a 100 miles away ...

And now, with only the final quest remaining, they marched bravely to the Monkey King.

Now, the monkey king was a very peculiar creature ...
He was, like, a monkey of course ... but also has some form of human emotions ... that of egoism and self respect ...
Throughout the year, the monkey king entertained his audience ... like a clown in a circus ... and now that he knew, he had his chance, wanted to hike up his importance ... however little that it may be ... a notch higher ...

When the men approached the Monkey King for his prized seals ... he became suddenly happy at the fact that he was finally receiving some importance in his otherwise, sad and really disappointing life ...
He agreed to give the seal to the men ... if they agreed to do his bidding ...

Seeing no other alternative, the men agreed to his wishes and did his bidding ...
But now seeing that the men had become submissive, the monkey king's ego grew a bit more ... so when the men came back to him, he sent them off again ... disagreeing to recognize the mens' work ... and asked them to do it all over again ...

The men were exasperated ... but they needed the seal ... and so, did it all over again ... but yet, the monkey king was unhappy ... he found out useless flaws in their work ... and sent them again ...

The men unrelentlessly did the entire quest again ... but they were again sent back ...
They finally completed their quest again ... and this time decided ... that they would have the monkey king's head if he disagreed again ...

So, this time, when the Monkey King again refused to grant them the seal ... the lone ranger and his comrade trotted off the Monkey King ... and tried to negotiate with him ... which he did not .. of course ...
So the comrade of the lone ranger, drew out his sword ... and the lone ranger followed ...

The monkey king, seeing the swords, wetted his diapers ... and granted them and their comrades the seal ...

Now, all the quests were over ... and the mighty warriors were free to do whatever they pleased ...
So, they rode off to their kingdoms ... in the moonlight ... amongst the shadows of the dark branches ... devoid of leaves ... through the jungles and the plains ...

They all reached their destinations ... their kingdoms ... and lived happily ever after ... promising to each other ... that when their day comes, they would behead the Monkey King ... and put his head in their showcase ...

Perhaps the Monkey King had not heard the story of the Hippo princess ... who was eventually beheaded by the warriors for being haughty and arrogant ...
Dreaded stories are still told of their adventures with the Hippo Princess ...

Some further reading on traffic and roads ...

Just a quick thing ...

As we are on the topic of traffic jams, I would like to point you to a blog writted by a fellow puneite and a good friend ... who has, in so many words, enunciated the conditions of Pune roads and how things get done ... perfectly ...

Head to :
http://makscrazywoild.blogspot.com/2004/10/highs-and-lows-of-pune-city-city-roads.html

The anatomy of a Traffic Jam ...

Pune has the highest number of two wheelers in the whole of Asia .... I think ...
And this is very apparent to everyone ... for the fact that you just have to step outside your house and if you can see, you will know ...

Another reason that we can safely put to the equation is the utterly crappy public transportation system that exists ...

Unlike Mumbai, we have no such locals to speak off ... Most of them ply only between Pune, Nigdi side and towards Lonawala ...

Earlier, we had the six seater ... which were so much of a convenience ... you could get one from anywhere within 5 minutes and they stoppped anywhere ...
They were a pain on the road ... but their merits took care of their flaws ...

Anyways, the PMT ( Bus Transport ) people got cut off coz everyone preferred the six seaters ( tam tam ... tam as from 'tamatar ) and so, they got a court order and restricted these six seaters to certain routes ... ... and so, people suffered ... and hence, everyone buying bikes makes perfect sense coz its cheaper - spending money on fuel, than going by bus ( Pune buses are the most expensive in the whole of India ) ... even if your bike gives you a mileage of 40 kmpl ... and besides, who can argue with the added convenience of a bike ?

Anyways, getting back to the point ....
I happened to partake in the festivites of a traffic jam the other day ...
Now, I have been in jams ... and many of them had nothing to do with traffic ... but this jam was special ... because it took me 17 whole minutes to travel a distance of 600 mts on a 4 lane road ...

This is the maximum amount of time I have spent on any traffic jam ... and so, I spent my time, constructively, observing my fellow homo sapiens sweating it out there in the 10 o' clock sun.

Here is my thesis on traffic jams ...

Now, traffic jams are caused due to the following factors :
A. Bad roads
B. Failure of traffic signals
C. Truck / Bus / Car breaking down in the middle of the road
D. Alien invasion
E. Incompetent traffic policemen
F. Avalanche / flash floods / mud slides / earthquakes / volcanoes and other such related natural phenomenon
G. Closure of some important bridge / main connecting roads

In my case, it was due to reasons A, B, E and G.
Normally, if you end up in situations D or F, I'd recommend leaving your vehicle as it is and running for your life ...

In a traffic jam, there are the following different kinds of vehicles :

1. Buses / Trucks
These vehicles are the most well behaved ... and they maintain their line ... one behind another ...
These slow moving creatures are the cause of many such jams because of their slow movement ... and this causes tremendous heartache to two kinds of people ...
(i) The people who are smart enough to juxtapose themselves in such a manner as to be in direct line of sight of their exhaust.
(ii) The miserable souls who end up in buses with deficieny in seats.

2. Cars & Jeeps
These are second to buses & trucks in behaving good. Second due to some ambitious Tom Cruise who thinks that he can probably turn his car 75 degrees to the left and then squeeze it between a bike and a rickshaw ...
But mostly, these vehicles are well mannered ... travelling at .005 kms / hour ... listening to music and chilling out in the AC.
Even the auntys enjoy themselves as all they have to do is to follow the bus in front of them at speeds which they would otherwise be very comfortable in driving ...
The blessing in disguise comes in the form of a hot chick sitting in the passenger seat of a car to the right of you ... but these phenomenons are very rare and must not be counted upon.

3. The Cyclists
These people are the most confused lot. They are not able to comprehend what the hell they are doing in a traffic jam ...
The reason is mainly because they do not come under the traffic category ...
Objects coming under the traffic category, usually drive on the left side of the road and wait at traffic signals.
These people will wait for a while ... some will get off, put their cycles on their heads and walk out ... while the clever ones will get to the footpaths and fly ... mocking the other mortals who look enviously at them while they get away ...

4. The people on the bikes
Chaos theory has been discovered lately ... but what the scientists failed to notice that it has been in practice in Pune ever since the invention of 2 wheelers ...
People riding their two wheelers are masters at this form of art ...
Any nook, any corner, any small passage available ... and they are off ...
People on bikes will make different formations automatically ... as to move from point A to point B in a traffic jam ... and in the process, opening more avenues ...
All the members in this community are able to communicate using ESPs and can help each other out without saying a word or even looking at the other person ...

5. The Rickshawalas
These people are the biggest bas***** on the roads. This quality is more personified during the course of a traffic jam. Basically, these people have a wrong pre conceived notion that they inherited the roads from their fathers when they started driving the rickshaw ...
These are the most selfish and inconsiderate people on the road and will try to jam their big butted rickshaws into any crevice they can find ...
Caution is needed against such creatures and no feeling of guilt whatsoever is to be felt when you drive rashly against these creatures ...

Conclusion:
In conclusion, I would like to quote the wise old Murphy and remind you fellow human beings of the fundamental three laws of nature :

1. Nothing is as easy as it looks.
2. Everything takes longer than you think.
3. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

A babbling brook .. gives the final touches to this picture ...

The waterfall at 'Rung-dhab-dhaba' ... definitely a spot worth checking out ...

Another one of those ... hills and clouds pictures ...

And He said ... let there be light ... and there was light ... and it was good ...

Huts amongst the greenery ... a village scene

Clouds kissing the peaks ... picture perfect ...

More babbling brooks ...

The view of the lake from around the MTDC resort ...

Villagers in Bhandardara ... simple ... and friendly ...

Recharging the batteries ...

Well, ever since the contest got over, I have been having this race against time ... trying to catch up with life ... or more so the college assignments ... the 10 - 12 days that I missed out on completing assignments and stuff ...

Then immediately after the contest, I had basketball matches ...
During these matches ... on a Saturday, Sunday weekend ... when my dad had a holiday on Ganesh Chaturthi, he decided to take us all on a trip ...

Earlier, we decided to go to Raigad ... with the ropeway and all ... but the place got full ... and we were left stranded a day before we were to leave ...

So, anyways ... we just took the car ... packed in a pair of clothes, some food ... basic necessities ... and headed off towards Nashik side ... to Bhandardara ...

Bhandardara is supposed to be a hill station ... thats what my dad told me ...
I had never heard of it ... and so, wasn't looking forward to this trip that much ...

The only proof that such a place existed, was on the map ... with a symbol of a huge lake ...
I didn't know what to expect ...

It took us 5 hours of driving from Pune to reach this place ... I was in for a very pleasant surprise ...

The place was just beautiful ... greenery everywhere ... and not just green ... glowing light green ...
Everywhere you could see ... green :)
This small village - town is situated on the banks of the Bhandardara Lake ... which is one of the biggest lakes I have seen ...

I am sorry that I was not able to save the info pamplet ... but I'll recall and reproduce it to the best of my ability ...

Bhandardara
The place is at a height of about 800 mts or so ...
The peak season is from July to October end ... after which the greenery turns to yellow and then later brown ...
There is another peak period ... but I don't remember it right now ...
So, your best bet will be to get there during the rains ... its just heavenly there ...

Getting there
We travelled by car ( Indica ) from Pune.
Its around 190 - 200 odd kms. from here ... but it takes around 5 hours to reach there ...
This is due to some bad stretch of roads ... lots of ghats ... and also driving through a couple of towns having only 2 lane roads ...
But overall, the roads are good ... and the drive is pleasant ...
Also, the ghats are pretty easy ... only there are lots of them ...

Putting up tent
We were planning to stay at the MTDC place ... they have hogged the best location by far ...
But, because we hadn't pre-booked the rooms and also because it was a Saturday, and Ganesh Chaturthi, the place was full ...
MTDC has around 33 rooms ... with a 20 beds - room and a 12 beds - room incase you are coming with college or friends ...
We also found the MTDC rates a bit on the high side ...
A normal ( non AC ) room ... away from the good view goes for around 600 - 800 bucks ... for 3 people in a room
The AC ones go for around 1200 ... and if you want to stay at the lake side cottages, they go for about 2000 for 4 people ...

The MTDC manager told us that it was all full ... and directed us to an agent who showed us a couple of places around ...
They had rates comparable to MTDC ... but the rooms were very shitty ... damp and mold covered ...
This was due to the high rainfall this place receives ...
You could actually feel the damp room with a very heavy - airy feel to it ...

The MTDC person told us that if we didn't like the other places .. he would try to manage something ...
From this, we deduced ... that the manager gets some commission from the agent for refusing us ... So, if you want to stay at the MTDC place, you will HAVE to pre book the rooms ... preferably from an MTDC office in your town ... as we tried calling this place the previous day ... and never got connected ...

Anyways, so we finally crashed at this place ... which was walking distance from MTDC ... had decent rooms ... better than the earlier ones ... dry ... beds were decent ... and they also had TVs ...
The rates were half of what MTDC and the other places were offering ... and he got down more 100 bucks or so ... per room ... after bargaining ...

So, we got 2 rooms - 2 beds each for a total of 650 something ...
I don't remember the name of the lodge .. will ask my dad later and put up all the info later in the blog or the comment ...

Things to do
We stayed there for a night ...
So, we had an evening ... and the next morning ....

So, we basically drove a lot ... and I clicked many, many pictures ...

There is a large dam worth checking out ...

There is also a fort - Ratangad ... which you'll need 2 hours to go up ... and the same for coming down ....
Another nice place is Kalsubai ... its the highest peak in the Sahyadri range and is a hot trek-spot ... but again you'll require half a day for this ...

We skipped all the walking things :)
There is also a waterfall ... "Rung-dhab-dhaba" which was pretty amazing ( see picture ) ...
We caught it the other day ...

You can also go boating ... on a row boat ...
We did that too ... in the twilight .. the previous evening ...
It was a very nice experience ...

In the non-season period ... when the fish are not biting, the fishermen take you boating ...
We made good friends with the fishermen ... and also got invited to tea ...

The Weather
Well, I certainly feel ... that nature ... gave us the perfect weather ...
I can't stress more ... the weather, light, clouds, wind and everything else were so perfect ...
All through the drives, we were listening to a jugalbandi of flutes and tablas on the car stereo ... and it was heavenly ... just perfect ...
If you have seen "Lord of the Rings", picture the shire without the hobbits ... and you'll be very close ...
Just take a look at the pictures : http://sj-bhandardara.fotopic.net


Greenery everywhere .... cloud kissed peaks ... babbling brooks ... simple villagers ... away from town ... what else do you need ?

Getting life back on track ...

I need to turn the steering left ... until it gets back on the road ... let the steering go and let it auto rotate to center itself ... and then just push gently on the accelerator ... and let it cruise ...

Only, I am not driving a car ... its my life ... and there is no power steering ...

The past couple of weeks were just hectic ... as I had said before ... single minded, rodent like obsession ... about the ... game !
And it did pay dividends in the end ... If I may be allowed, a little chest thumping is in order ... "First in State"

Now, that does really sound good ...

Anyways, the entire journey wasn't very smooth going and us winning was very unexpected ...
Here is the rundown ...

We made this "Foosball" game for this "game development contest" held annually at the Sinhagad College of Engg. which is renowned for two things : One of the most picturesque campuses you will ever see ... and the ultimate, back wrenching, pot holed filled 20 km ride to get to the college ...

We were informed about the contest one week late by these Sinhagad College guys, and so, just had one week to come up with a working model of the game ...

After a lot of deliberation and killing a few of my fellow classmates, we decided to make the "Foosball" game of the "Friends" fame ...

So, after a week, we finished ... and submitted 70% of compiled code to these people for the elims ... only to have learnt we have been disqualified ... as more than 2 teams ( 3 according to them ) had participated from our college ...
This was very strange ... and I was to later realise that they had conveniently confused us with a Modern College ... whereas our college was Modern Education Society's College of Engg.

So, after killing a few more people at Sinhagad ... and explaining to the others ... that we were in no way related to the 'other' Modern College, we managed to get our entry cleared ...

We qualified for round 1 ...

During this period ... we coded a bit more ... type type type type ... and the code reached the magic figure of 2500 lines of code ...

We then took our copies and headed towards the beautiful and picturesque campuses of Sinhagad ...

Once there, after explaining our game to 3 judges ... who were least bothered ... and I believe, slept through our presentation, we underwent, one of the most grueling rounds of cross examination ....

These judges might have been taking out all the 'khun-nas' which their external examiners took out on them ... and really killed us ...

Here is a part of a conversation ...
( Seeing a game option : Ball speed )
Judge : What is this option for ?
We : Sir, this option controls the speed of the ball in the game ...
Judge : What is the default value ?
We : Sir, 6 ... gives you good game playability ...
Judge : What data type is it ?
We : ... umm ... Integer ...
Judge : Ok ... put 32,000 there ...
We : huh ? ( never expected that to come ... )
Judge : Lets see what happens in your game ...

( So we put 32,000 in the ball speed which had a default speed of 6 ... how were we supposed to expect a maniac entries ? ... and the game goes for a toss ... no collision detection ... all the players and the ball just vibrate on the screen )

Judge : What is this happening ?
We : Umm .... um ... huh ... hmm ... Sir, the ball is moving so fast ... that it is not coming in contact with the players ... and therefore there is no collision detection ...
Judge : Oh ... that way ...

Surprisingly, he bought that answer ...

But the other judges also took our case ... We were sure of not qualifying ...
Other teams had made Contra type shooter ( ripping all the bmps from the original game itself ) and another team had made a proper football game ...

Surprisingly, we came 2nd in the elims ...

We came home that night ... coded ... coded ... and coded ...
Implemented tonnes of new features ... including letting the player customize his own field ... select playback music track ... and put all the maniac error checking ...

Went again next day for the finals ...
The judges were different and two were actually from IBM ...

However, they didn't take our case .... but didn't show any interest in our program either ...
The IBM guys slept through our presentation ... and we predicted our doom ...

However, when the results were announced, we came first ... the Contra guys who had come first in Round 1 came third ... and the Football guys came second ...

I later heard .. that the judges were really impressed with the way we had made the game ...
Everything modular .. classes ...
We had thrown in some interrupts also ... were able to play music in the background ... along with foreground music ... and everything ...

The rest is all history ...
The trophy is in the showcase, money in the bank ... and I might have finally something to put on my resume ...

This entire incident has restored my faith in the saying "If you can dream it, you can do it"
Nothing seems impossible anymore ...

After 10 days of mad programming, 3000 lines of code ... and a very playable game ... just have to get my life back on track ... complete a few overdue assignments ... and study for some orals ...

The truth is out there ...

Hmm ...

Feeling very sleepy, but will go ahead and type a teeny weeny blog anyways ...

Tomorrow is Janmashtami ... Other than, we not getting a well deserved holiday, it would not make a difference to me ...
The entire day today, was dark and gloomy.
We had a good cloud cover throughout the day ... was just the perfect weather to slip away in the break, to the chai-wala across the street and grab a cuppa.
Did just that ...

Anyways, by the time I reached home, it started pouring ... in great quantities at that ...
I was just catching some grub and thanking the Almighty for getting the temperatures down ( which were rising of late ), when my mom exclaimed,
"It never fails !"
I looked up at her from my plate, at this sudden change of tone and inquired, with a raised eyebrow as to what she meant by that ...
She then enlightened me, to the fact, that it has to rain every Janmashtami ... and it has always rained ... It never fails !

Now, the Mahabharat is an epic ... and an epic is a story which never happened ... something like the Lord of the Rings ...
And in Mahabharath, if I remember my mythology correctly .... When Krishna was born and he was taken out of the prison, it was raining heavily ....
Something like today ...

Makes you kinda wonder ... if there is a supreme force out there which takes care of all these little details ...

Now, I do believe in God ... as in, there is some supreme being out there ( or atleast we all like to think of him that way ) which lets us have the human emotion of Hope ...

Most of us have never experienced him closely, and then most of us are happy that way ... but He does, sometimes, come out and prove His existence ...

I, very vividly remember the Ganesh drinking milk incident.
That took place all over the world didn't it ?
It was like in your face, and the scientists were baffled and none of the explanations they came up with ( the planets being in allignment and the crap ) seemed to satisfy the people ... ( me included )
I was totally blown away ...

So many times, painstakingly, I am working ... taking all precautions that nothing should go wrong ... then after a while, feel so supremely confident that nothing will go wrong ... and then bam ! Something happens ... so beyond my control and everything is ruined ...
Its His way of telling me ... "look who's boss ... now, don't try to act smart and don't start to think that I cannot alter your life ... "

So many things are there in this world, and so many things take place everyday, which have no possible explanation ...
And until, science becomes so advanced as to be able to explain everything, the truth will be out there ...

To infinity and beyond ...

Aaarrrrgh !!!
I want to scream out loud ...

Finally have some time and breathing space before the next 'big thing' comes my way ...
Me and a friend, signed up for this C++ game development contest after parting with 50 bucks per head as registration charges ...

Now, these dudes organising the contest, tell us about it a week late, and we have to submit our game ( atleast 60% of it ... compiled ), by tom ie Monday ...
We had about 6 days to do this in ... 1 day for research and other 5 days for the frantic coding ...
Now, after 5 days of rodent like, singly focussed behaviour, I can now smile benovelently as the game ticks on ...
I can proudly say, that we typed out 1200+ lines of code, in 5 days ... and still a lot has to be done ... more lines to be added ...
Now, the complexity and brilliance of any software can't really be measured with 'lines of code' but they make for good boasting rights anyways ...
That is until people realise that you are really an idiot and 80% of your code is repeated, because you haven't really learnt what a function actually is ... and the for(){} is uncharted territory ...
lol :)

We have to submit 60% of the code by this Monday, and if we are selected, will be summoned to show our masterpiece in an exhibition cum gaming contest at the end of the week.
Not to mention, take a shot at that, lip smacking, delicious prize of 5 grand flat ...

What has amazed me that I have been so focussed in these days ...
I never remember being so focussed ...
Everywhere I went, whatever I did ... I was constantly thinking about the G.A.M.E !!!
game, game, game, game, ga.....
The CO teacher was teaching us about memories ... and I was going ... game game game ...
It has turned into quite an obsession ... and I won't be resting until we have put our finishing touches to it ... and typed in the wacky "Winamp" style credits in it ...

Anyways, I learnt quite a lot in these last five days ...
Lots of research went into this ... as I had absolutely no idea how to go about making a game ...

For all those who want to get into writing games, I found out that the site, http://www.gamedev.com has excellent material ...
We ran into many difficulties ... we are using Turbo C 3, you see ....
However, most of them sites, have resources only on OpenGL, DirectX, etc ... which even if we were allowed to use, would be way out of our leagues as of now ...

All the teachers were supportive and granted me one week's extension to submit the various projects and assignments and I am very thankful for that ...

Have to push off now ...
Things to study for and bugs to iron out ...

As my good friend Buzz would exhalt ... "To infinity and beyond ... "

Another day in paradise ..

Quoting one of U2's songs ( Phil Collins actually .. my bad :p ) ... can't help it ...
Its just one of those days ...

The past few days had been quite upside down ... College going on as usual ...
Had a test today ... didn't study much for it though ... wrote lots of crap ... ended up with a big smile on my face ...

The sun's finally out nowadays and I kinda miss the rains ...
Got a couple of things to comment about ...

The Olympics are almost over ... and I must say, it was one of the most interesting ones to watch ...
Other than the fact that the media hyped it up so much, I got to catch quite a bit of the action and it was a lot of fun ...
Especially the silver at the rifle shooting event ... :)

The Indian Hockey team, however, sucked big time ...
I managed to catch almost all their games, and it was really sad ...
Believe me, you can consider yourself lucky to have missed the games ...

Except the one against South Africa, everything else sucked ...
I mean, the quality expected at THAT level was not there ...
According to me, except Dhanraj Pillai, Dilip Tirkey and Gagan Ajit Singh to some extent, the remaining people played school level hockey ...
The two sardars in the team ( don't know their names ) who I bet must have gotten in due that Gill, sucked big time ...
Imagine not being able to trap the ball ...
Thats like we playing basketball and not being able to catch the passes ... Like playing cricket and fumbling big time everytime the ball came to you ...
It was pathetic :(
None of the goals scored were due to any teamwork or individual brilliance ... all were plain fluke ...

Saw the women's finals yesterday ... Germany vs Netherlands ... ( thats how I study for the test )
Apart from the fact that it was a women's game and that they were all good to look at :p, the game was brilliant ...
Hockey was never that fun to watch ...
Their co-ordination was top notch ... passes were near perfect, defence great and was generally a treat for the eyes ...
Germany won an upset game ... 2 - 1 ... after having lost 4 - 1 to Netherlands just a few days ago ...
It was not Netherlands' day ... they must have had ball posession for 75% of the game and must have had ten times the shots on goal that Germany had ... but when its not your day, nothing goes ...
However, it was good fun, and I can bet on it that either of the teams could have taken up the Indian Men's team and thrashed them royally ...
This is the sad state of sport in our country ( well, except cricket ... but that too only a handful of nations play anyways )

The other new thing with me is ... well ... my mom bought me a bean bag :D
I have always wanted one ... Though my dad ain't to happy about it, I love it :)
Have kept it in front of the TV ... and will watch all the movies sitting in the ultimate comfort ...

Spiderman 2

Finally got to catch Spidey 2 today ...
Had been wanting to do so since the day it released ... but was waiting for the ticket prices to drop at INOX ... imagine paying 130 bucks even for the morning show ...
Anyways, a month later, it did drop, and I did get to see the movie ...

I had watched Spiderman 1 at home on a crappy VCD print ... probably why I did not like the movie that much ...
But I did like Spiderman over other superhero movies ... batman is very dark and superman ... well ... just flies around ...
What made Spiderman different for me from the other super heroes is his diffent style of transportation ... his swinging abilities ... look very cool and also the fact that Tobey Macguire fits the bill to play the teenage guy next door very well ...
He has his own share of problems ... like every one of us ... and we can identify with him the best ...

In both the movies, Aunt May and Uncle Ben were very sincere to their characters ... and Kirsten Dunst, who plays MJ, atleast according to me was very mediocre ...
This leaves us with Harry Osborne who was pretty good in the second movie atleast ...

As compared to Seabiscuit, I found Tobey Macguire was very good in this movie and was more convincing ... maybe for the fact that I could identify with his character initially in the movie, when his life is as bad as it can get ...
The emotions ... for being responsible for his uncle's death were also very well portrayed ...

The CG in the movie is one of the best that I have seen ever ...
Dr. Octopus looked very believable and his arms are integrated quite seemlessly ...

The action sequences are very intense ... kept me on the edge of my seat ...
Many of my friends found the movie slow ... as compared to the first movie ...
What they missed out, I feel, is the connection ... the emotions being portrayed ...

The movie definitely has a better story line and is more topsy turvy ...
I found, the fact that Spiderman gets stripped off his mask ... naked to the whole world ... too brilliant ... It added to the story and made you stick to your seat ...
Hadn't this been there, there wouldn't have been much of a difference between the two movies ...
Now, c'mon ... all the other superheroes have their own secret identities ... I found this particular part very smart ...

This movie has its share of technical snags ... which I would not like to enumerate in case you haven't seen the movie yet ... but the movie, as a whole, more than makes up for it ...

The entire series, I feel has gone the LOTR way ...
The fellowship was good ... Two towers better and the Return of the King simply blew my mind ...
One of the few movies which improve with time ...

Spidey 2 has done it this time ... Waiting to watch what Spidey 3 would have in store ...
Until then, we have I, Robot, Village and Shrek 2 to go ...

Go Spidey !

The Art of Back Stabbing ...

Having been in a REAL college for more that two years now, I have had the opportunity of meeting many different kinds of people ...
Now, people can be classified into different categories and varieties ... but the ones whom I wish to dedicate this blog to, are a very different breed ...

When I was in school, there were different kinds of kids there too ...
But, I don't ever remember coming across any back-stabbers ... We had our share of snobbish scholars ... but they would be, at most, rude, and ignore us lesser mortals ... act generally selfish and not care a damn about anyone else ... but I generally do not remember anyone back stabbing ...

Enter college ...
"Its a tough world man ... dog eat dog and stuff ... tremendous competition ... and I for one, am not gonna be left behind"
This seems to be the general outlook of most people in this category ...

Let me illustrate ...
Our class is basically pretty diversified ... We have lots of people in different smaller groups ...
Till the second year, we were a terrific class ... unity and stuff ...
But this year, some old people dropped off and new people have come in ...

It takes us great time and effort to plan a "Mass Bunk" which is also more respectably called as "A Common Off" ...
This has not to be confused with the phenomenon in which a class does not show up for an entire week ... or one day even ...
These are all urban legends to us ... myths even ...
We are talking single, 60 minutes lectures here ....

We are really envious of the Mechanical people ...
There, the class vacates itself, even before the guy who is announcing the mass bunk, gets to the phrase "Mass bu...

We on the other hand, have to beg, plead, reason, threaten and kidnap people to actually get people off the class ...
The planning starts a whole good two lectures earlier ...
Everyone leave the class too ... along with this special group of people ...
But five minutes into our successful bunk ( or so we think ) and these people return back ... to the classroom ...
These people are the same one's who will be very paly with you on other occasions ... teach you about the benefits of team work ... they are the pinnacles of altruism ... but five minutes into the mass bunk and they realise ... that they haven't polished enough apples yet ... nor licked enough boots too ... sycophants of the highest order !

As a result, the rest of the people who go late or don't go at all, get brilliantly screwed ...
Like this TCS ( Theory of Computer Science ) guy ... don't know his name yet ... threw 43 students out of the class ( out of a total of 50 students ), the next day, after a failed attempt at mass bunk in which 7 students attended the lecture ...

I think it must be a terrific feeling ...
Must feel like "Hey ! I am in control ... I can make you people beg and cry and plead with me ... and then in the end, I'll get you screwed anyways ... "

It's like, when at 7:50 in the morning, I stop at a red signal, when the whole world is zipping by, impervious to the traffic lights...
Then, they see this guy waiting at the signal ... like a fool ... and, then they feel that something is wrong ... they wait too ...
The most satisfying thing is to get the PMT or any bus for that matter to stop ... because you are blocking its path and the poor guy behind the wheel can't do a thing ... :)

Must definitely feel something like that ...

So, as of the latest discussions, we have all decided to put this "Mass Bunking" thing on hold ... till we find better torture techniques ... or we get rid of these people whos' only aim in life seems to be "sucking up to the teachers"

As Max Payne had once said "Backstabbing Ba****** !"

God save the day !

The joy of belonging ...

It was almost ten years ago ... I was in the fourth grade when I got picked for our school basketball team ... not so much for my skill as for the extra half foot that I was taller by, compared to other people my age ...
I didn't do much ... As I got an early start, I found myself in a team of sixth graders ... guys two years senior to me ...
I could hardly catch the ball ... leave alone pass or even make an attempt to score ...
My job was basically to last out the first quarter, and get fouled out by the third quarter, so that a better guy got to play an extra quarter ...
I know ... the rules were stupid then, and all the teams did it ...

However, we won that tournament ... the first ever I played in...
I did my part, getting fouled out throughout the tournament and helping our cause :)
I distinctively remember that night ... it was a night game ... about 9'ish ... floodlights ... a big crowd ... our seniors cheering for us ... the adrenaline pumping ... the cold sweat breaking down, and the high tension atmosphere ...
Our team captain fell in the fourth quarter ... very badly too ... he was bleeding all over ... but he continued ...
That was all what was needed - to boost our morale sky high, and get the adrenaline going again ...
When the final whistle blew ... we had won ... The match had been pretty close ... how a finals game should be, and that made us happier ...
I even remember crying after the match ... Half the reason, I think, was us winning, and the other half was, I think, due to my inability to get fouled out that game ;) ...
No matter how hard I tried, the referee looked the other way ... I was on 4 fouls when the final whistle blew ...

From the next year onwards, I found myself in a more stable position in the team ... with the "Kamikaze" tag being finally removed ...
Since then, I stuck on ... and our team ( no brag intended ) was one of the best in Pune ...
We won every single Zilla Parishad ( equivalent to University tournaments in colleges ) tournaments we played in and got to represent Pune everytime ...

It is amazing how being in a team, playing basketball ... so dramatically ... changed my life around ...
I was this quiet ... really introvert kinda guy before this happened to me ...
I haven't changed drastically, but have done quite a bit ...

We played ... the same team throughout ... 5 years of our school lives and 2 of our junior college days ... behind the Gulati Hall ... every lunch break and every PT period ...

Another match which comes to mind and makes it really nostalgic was one final, played on a cloudy, gloomy Sunday morning on our own courts ...
The match started late and in a light drizzle ...
All the catholic guys had come to school to attend some Sunday mass ... they waited on the courts ... past their mass time ... rooting for us ...
Even our principal was there ...

We started miserably ...
We were fourteen points down by half time ...
Our principal left ...
But the guys stayed back ...

After half time, we shot the first basket ...
That was all that was needed ...
Everybody was possessed ... it was entirely a different team ...
Everybody outside the courts was shouting ... I couldn't hear my own thinking ...
On the sidelines, I could see my coach jumping ( literally ) up and down ...

The final whistle blew ...
We had won by seven points ...
We had not let them score even once in the entire second half ...

We hugged ... everyone in sight ...
No one cared how sweaty the other guy was ...
We were drenched ... partly due to the rain, and partly from our own sweat ...
We were stinking ... tired ... broken ... and dirty ... and that was the best I had ever felt in my life ...

Days went by ... we kept winning ...
School was over ... then the junior college ... We are all in different colleges now ...

But we have stuck as a team ...

We don't play so many matches nowadays ... nor do we practice so often ...
But we do meet every once in a while ... to play ... behind that Gulati Hall ... where we have played all our lives ... and you know what ?

Its the best feeling ... ever ... the joy of belonging ...