A break ...

Hey !

Due to the advent of the oncoming exams ... I have not ( of late ) and will not be able to blog for sometime ...

Exams get over on 15th Dec .. hope to do from then on ... or maybe if I can find time and slip one in ...

Thanks ! :)

All for a lil bit of fat ...

3 inches ...
Thats the magic number ...
Thats the amount of length I have to get off my waist before ... oh ... what the hell ... I haven't set a date ... but I'd like to hazard ... 1 month ???

All my life, I have always been into sports ... basketball mostly ... and also, all my life, I had been thin ... a tall, thin stick like something ...
I first started to put on some body mass after moving out from the four walls of my junior college ( which came with an attached basketball court ) to my 'new & cool' college - Engineering college life ...

All sports took a backseat ... and the main crux of life was to get those 40 precious marks which would take me to the other side ...

Many times, during my school years, I would put on some weight during the Diwali and the Summer vacations .. which would just shed off within the first few weeks of playing the maddening 30 min basketball matches during the lunch break ... and I would be back to square one ...

In the beginning ( in college ) when I started putting on some weight, I started to look better ... my BMI ( Body Mass Index ) improved and I started feeling better about myself ...

But then, now, all those raids of the kitchen, with the ruthless plunder of sweets and all the good stuff there is in the world ... now started showing off late ...

I haven't touched a basketball in months ... and going to school is a pain ... having to lug myself a distance of 10 kms to get to a decent place to play ...

Of course, my college has a basketball court ...
Only, we don't play basketball there ...
We play a game called - 'Crater Ball' in which we have to dribble the ball, over all the craters on the court, keeping the ball in control ...
And if you are lucky enough to get to the other end, extra points are given for attempting a shot and double the points are given for actually being able to convert a shot ... through the ring, which would baffle Newton by its gravity defying feat of being stuck to the board with half of the nuts gone missing ...

Anyways, back to the point ...
I have to lose 3 inches .. and have to lose em' fast ....

Some years ago ( when we had the 'cable' ), I saw this one Oprah show which featured Fat people who managed to lose tonnes of weight ...
There was this guy Jarrod who wouldn't even fit in his Airplane seat ... and I think he lost something like 150 pounds just eating low fat Subway Sandwhiches for a year ...

I think I remember his name correctly cause Seinfield, later, took his case beautifully ;)

Anyways ... thats out of the question for me coz ... these Subway Sandwhiches start from 70 bucks here ... and actually, I'll end up starving 10 inches just having to pay for the sandwhiches ...

I have a friend who was quite 'big' himself when he was in school ...
He is one year junior to me ... and in his 10th std vacations, he would run to school everyday ( which is 10 kms one way from his place ) and then at the end of 2 months ... he was unbelievably thin ...
Well ... not very thin ... but I bet he must have lost 30 kgs atleast ...

We almost have a gym at my place ... My mom likes to collect stuff ... And all the gym things we purchase, miraculously metamorphose into other utility items within a period of 2 weeks ...
Like the excercise cycle we had bought, is now is helmet stand which also sometimes serves the purpose of drying clothes on a rainy day ...

We have a treadmill which is all nicely folded up and stays like that ...
A set of dumbells which are there for finding your feet when the lights go off ... and an Ab Cruncher ... which I have just started to use ... in my terrified state of reliasation ...

But you know what ?
In the end of it all, its not the jazzy gizmos or paying 5000 bucks per kilo lost at VLCC ... its plain old determination ...

And God, if you're reading this, please give me enough to last for 3 inches ;)

The Book Bug ...

Just finished with the all so dreaded pracs a few days ago ... which I am happy to report, were not all that bad ...

So, now with the theory exams about 20 days away .. I decided I needed a couple of days of break before I had to go back to the monotinity of it all ...

Yeah .. we do it every 6 months ... have done so for the past 2 years ... have still 2 more to go ...

Anyways ... generally I like to unwind ... take my mind off work by either playing a game ... or catching a couple of movies ... and stuff ...

I love to read ... but have been avoiding that for quite sometime now due to the "not so much time to spare factor", but I decided to hit the books this time ...

I had purchased a Wilbur Smith - 2 in one special some months ago ... but had been able to read only the first book - "The Dark of the Sun" which basically dealt with the adventures of this African Missionary ...

Wilbur Smith was born and brought up in Africa and most of his books reflect the beauty and the brutality of the wild country ...

I fell in love with his works ... when I first read through the very big quot;Monsoon" ... which dealt with the adventures of the Courtney family ... english sea captains and pirates to many ...

He has written many such books which span generations of a particular family ( The Courtneys ) in this case ... and the previous book dealt with the father of the heroes of this book and the next book will deal with the sons of the heroes of this book and so on ...

What struck me about this author was the amazing attention given to all details
... and the pictures he paints ...

Throughout the 1100 page or so book ... you are taken on an emotional roller coaster of joy, fear, disgust, anticipation, dismay ... and all so many feelings that you cannot experience within a week ...

The book which I am going through right now "Sunbird" is a tale of this African archaeologist and his quest to uncover these certain Phoenician ruins in a terror and war torn Botswana ...

Again, the attention to detail is impeccable ...

It does get boring at sometimes ... but its like watching a movie in your head at 80 mm.

I did read a couple of "Hardy Boys" when I was in the fifth grade or so ... but got extremely bored and was thankfully rescued by a friend who lent me his not so heard about "The Three Investigators" ... Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews kept me company for most of my high school and I must have read most of the 50 volume series ...

The series were written by Robert Arthur and later Hector
Sebastian and each book was introduced Alfred Hitchcock ...

Unlike the Hardy Boys which were sooo predictive, the three investigator books
were smart, slick and believeable ...

Later, I found "Agatha Christie" pretty slow ... esp the Miss Maple series ... the Hercule Poirot cases were interesting until too much french put me off ...

Then have jumped from "Robin Cook" ... who again gets repetitive after a while to "Sidney Sheldon" ... same complaint .... ( but Tell me Your Dreams was too awesome ) and now the "Wilbur Smith" series ...

In the middle ... after my HSC exams ... I happened to bump in to the "Perry Mason" series which were just awesome ...
The books were small enough to be completed with a part of the day and the steries were amazing ... If any of you are avid mystery readers ... I couldn't recommend a better book ...

I exhausted all the copies from my local library and was still not bored ...

But after all this, my favourite book is "The Fountainhead" by "Ayn Rand".

I started the book twice ... and was able to actually start reading only on my third attempt ...

My mom had given me her copy which was a small, 1980 paperback edition ... with small print, and very thin yellow pages ...

It took me a week to finish the book ... but it was one of the most amazing experiences ever ...

The characters in the books are ... agreed ... a little larger than life ... but I bet every person in the world will be able to identify with either one of them ...

Be it Howard Roark, Peter Keating, Dominique Frankon, Guy Frankon, Gail Wyand or Elseworth Toohey ... you can identify with atleast one or more of them ...

So much emotion and philosophy couldn't have been captured better ...

The book sort of changes your life around ... in so many ways ... It tells you that if you believe in yourself and your ideals ... then balls to everyone else ...

Thats how you should life your life ...

My most favourite part of the book ( one from the so many ) is the one in which Elseworth Toohey comes out to meet Roark from the Stoddard Temple ( which later is converted to his School for Subnormal Children ) ... after having screwed him over ... and tells to Roark :

"Why don't you tell me what you think of me ?quot;

"But I don't think of you" is what Roark replies ...

Just too amazing ...

Now to somehow get my hands on "Atlas Shrugged"

I'm baaack ....

A la Arnie in T2 ... I'll be bacc ... and I am ...

Have been wanting to write for quite sometime now ... but those blasted exams ...
I haven't finished with them yet ( or shall I say, they haven't finished with me yet ) ... but we have a week almost ... before the next practical ... and so I thought ... I'd write again ...

Past couple of weeks have been hectic ... as in, been very busy with exam prep ... and facing the first orals ... all for 50 marks !!!

These external examiners are a very peculiar lot ... and so here are a few thoughts on these species ...

Our orals was for the subject - CASP ... or Computer Algorithms in Signal Processing ... whatever that means ...

If you flip the text book and look on the reverse ... you will find pointers to get you to like CASP and try and study it ...
The pointers read as follows :

Seven good reasons for learning CASP

• Its the future
• CASP can snatch success from the jaws of failure.
• Excellent graphics ! Over 300 figures ...
• Step by Step approach in explaining concepts
• Simple Computer Programs
• Digital Filters : Simple to implement, incredible performance
• Your competition knows CASP

If this already doesn't have you in splits ... you should maybe read the last one again ...
Your competition knows CASP ...

Now of course they do ... they being as unfortunate as me and getting stuck up with this crappy syllabus ...

You know whats the best reason that they missed out ??
It comes for 100 marks in the exam you dumbass !!! Do you have any choice ?
Not to mention the 50 marks orals that we gave a couple of days ago ...

So, anyways ... we have our orals in CASP ... our first ever ... yay ! ( all the previous stuff which we did for kicks were pracs ... orals is the new 'in-thing' )

Anyways ... so I spent 5 days in their entirety studying for this subject ... and I realised ... that it is not that bad ... only I should have paid a lit-tle more attention with whats happening in class ... and maybe should get treatment for 'brain disorder'.

It always happens with me ... I get things only in the end ... throughout the semester, it was greek and latin ...
On the bright side ... better late than never ... but I feel like such a dud !

So I went for the orals ... having learnt all about Fourier series, Z Transformations, Digital Filters, Signals, DSPs and all the good stuff ...
I reached the college a one hour before schedule and begin the all so important last minute GD with other fellow mates destined to the same fate as me ...

I got all confused and tensed and entered the classroom ... where the two ... our teacher and the external were sitting behind the desk.
He looks at me with those "I don't give a damn about you look" and asks me ...

External : Have you studied difference equations ?
Me : Yes Sir ! ( Some chest thumping in order ... I did it today morning only ! )
External : Good. Tell me some properties of difference equations.
Me : Huh ???
External : Properties of difference equations.

( Now to the best of my knowledge, difference equations is just a measly one line equation ...
IT HAS NO PROPERTIES !!! )

Me : Sir, do you want me to write out the equation ?
External : No ... tell me the properties only ...

( I stare out into oblivion ... and even fake scratching my head ... trying hard to 'think' what to say ... )

Me : Sir ... which properties ?
External : Any properties ... your choice ...

( Deathly silence ...
He then turns to my compatriot sitting besides me ... who has enough presence of mind to rattle off the uses of Differential Equations ...
The external on the other hand ... shows no emotion or reaction whatsoever ... )

He asks me another question which I answer properly ...
And then a sum, which I flub big time ...
The good thing for me was that he didn't bother to see the answer ( hoping that he didn't see me botch it while solving )

Anyways, to my rescue, my teacher asks me a couple of questions ... which I CAN answer and which will hopefully save my ass ...

So much for studying for 5 days ...
Well, atleast I have sorta understood the subject ... never mind WHY and WHERE it is used ... but atleast I KNOW ...

Next stop, a PhD at Massachusetts :)

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 ... "