Woah ! Headrush ...

Phew ...
Finally ... some time to get back to blogging ...

The past few days had been over the head ... hectic ...
Race against time and all the yada yada ... to complete this CD Magazine that our college is coming out with ...
Shouldnt be counting the chickens before they hatch ... but have finished about 80 - 90% of the stuff ... demo-ed it to the teachers and a selected few friends and the reviews have been pretty good ... and best of all ... no changes whatsoever ...
The most difficult part about any project ( esp graphics designing ) is to get everybody to be happy ...

Also, was busy with this Inter Collegiate event, which, I am happy to announce went off much more smoothly than I had expected ...
So much, that our delighted H-O-D complied with our request and declared Monday to be a Holiday for the entire Comp Dept.
Woohoo :)

Today, caught the morning show of 'The Aviator' at INOX ...
This is the first movie in which ... I have felt nothing about the movie ... during the entire course of the film and even afterwards ...
Maybe it was the front - row seats that we ended up in ... or the very rare Housefull at INOX ... I don't know ...
But the movie just started, got over and I was there ... three hours later ... and felt nothing.

I will have to agree that the movie is awesome-ly made ... and that Caprio didnt even let me feel for one moment, that he was acting ...
The USA of 1930 - 1950 has been recreated nicely ... with all the aristocricies and the likes ... but the movie doesn't tell much about Howard Hughes, other than his strong liking for making expensive movies and planes.

"A Beautiful Mind", according to me, was a much better biography by far ... and was more satisfying ...

The Aviator just covers some 20 years of Howard Hughes' life ( from his twenties to his fourties ) which leaves us with no head or tail ... really ...
Its just a sequence of events one after the other ...

But at the same time, I must admit, that there isn't one boring moment during the entire three hours and I never felt the movie dragging ...

The movie has got a very impressive cast with Kate Blanchett and Kate Beckinsale and lots of other stars who have done justice to their character ...

I especially like Kate Blanchett's portrayal of Katharine Hepburn.

Ending this, want to make a strong protest against the cutting of film done at theatre - level ... where all these theatres cut around 10 - 20 minutes from each movie just so that they can get an extra show in ...
Damn SOBs ...

Anyways ... we were totally lost in seeing Beckinsale's character ... as she just appears abruptly out of no where in the film ... no introduction ... nothing ...
This, I feel was definitely cut in addition to 3 dialogues which were very very visible cut in the course of the film ...

Who is John Galt ?

The Fountainhead was a pretty good book ...

I was at Crosswords, the other day, and happened to notice that they had 'Atlas Shrugged' in stock for 275.
Didn't think twice ... bought it ...

"Atlas Shrugged" is also by Ayn Rand and is another of her best seller ...
This is the 35th year, the book is in production ...
From the time I had finished the Fountainhead, I had been trying to get my hands on this book, and here it was ... finally ...

The book, may be pretty intimidating to many ... its about 1100 pages, with a very small text...

I haven't read the entire thing, just started today ... read about 100 pages and thought of writing about the book.

The book, reads a lot like the Fountainhead, and reflects Ayn Rand's style of writing ...
She stresses a lot on emotions ... and the character build up ...

Unlike Fountainhead, this has a lot more characters and the story is quite interesting from the starting pages...
The manner in which she describes, each and every thought, emotion ... her manner of writing ... is simply superb ...

Just 100 pages into the book, and she's mapped out all the characters perfectly ... and with every other page, the detail gets more clearer ...

The book, like the Fountainhead, is based on her philosophies of life - namely Objectism ... Or the virtues of selfishness ...

The characters, are again, portrayed very strongly, and you can't help but feel attached to some, and hate the others ...
The book, is not a page turner ... as per se ...
Its no a mystery book ... and sometimes, it gets slow ... but at the same time, is very intense ...

I've thought about it a lot, and I don't think a movie might ever be possible on either of the books ... the character portrayal will be just too impossible ...

Anyways, if you have read and loved the Fountainhead ... I think you'll enjoy this book too ...
Am already doing so ...

More, after I have finished reading :)

Serendipity ...

If you haven't guessed it as yet ... it means "A Fortunate Accident"
Playing on my comp is "Moonlight Kiss" which is the OST of a movie by the same name ...
Brilliant, slow song ... and the movie is pretty good too ...

Stars John Cusack and the ever so gorgeous Kate Beckinsale :)

Though, that is not the main reason for key-ing in this blog ...
Its about destiny ...

Was talking about destiny the other day with a friend ... and my mind threw in a lot of stuff ...
Ranging from the Matrix thingy about choice to even Einstein's theory of relativity to the bizarre time travel ideology ...

So, what exactly is destiny ?

As of yet, haven't gone through a life changing, destiny dependent situation ... so I'll sit on the fence for this one ...
Remember seeing a movie, a long time ago, called Mr. Destiny which had an average star cast, but the concept was pretty cool ...

It delved into idea of how every little thing we do, alters our future ...
( Coupling this with Merovingian's belief that there is no choice ... and the stuff that choice is an illusion , created by those with power for those without ... we are actually living a pre-planned life )
How do you know, that a choice that you made, was pre-decided ... and that you wouldn't have made the other choice anyways ...
There is no turning back and trying the other path is it ? Time is a one way street ...

Anyways, getting back to the movie, the plotline was hence :
There is this guy, the protagonist of the film, who as a kid ( teenager ) was an amazing baseball batsman ...
So, in this one baseball match final, last innings, they need a home run and he's on 2 strikes ...
He has the capability to hit one .... but as you guessed it, he misses ...
Everyone boos him and clear out ... he just sits in the stadium alone ... crying ...

This incident, haunts him throughout his life, and is probably the thing which he regrets the most ...
So, back to when he is old again, he is an average, middle class guy, gets an average salary and is married to a normal, not so good looking, average girl ( Sigourney Weaver ) I think ...

Anyways, so one really shitty night, he gets into a bar and bumps into one guy, who calls himself Mr. Destiny ...
He agrees to change one thing in his life, and this fellow asks for the homerun and the wish is granted ...

So, when he steps out of the bar, his entire life is changed ...
Because, when he hit the home run, he became a hero, started dating the daughter of an Industrialist, and now is married to her ...

Thus, to cut a long story short, it shows how a sequence of events takes root from things that we do ...
The fellow's original wife, was the only person, who came and consoled him after he missed the homerun ...
That incident got nullified when he hit the home run, and he actually, never met her ...

A very good friend of mine, will come up and say, that every second of our lives, parallel universes get created, by our every action ...
So, according to him ... in one of the universes, Hitler won the war, and is alive, and is ruling again ...

In one of the universes, someone made a wrong choice, and Gandhi wasn't assasinated, because the assasin couldn't get to him ...
Maybe he got to the place late, because someone else blocked his approach, becase someone else pushed the fellow ...

Makes you kinda think ...

In another universe, I've taken over the world ! :)

For a lil' bit of sense ...

Its that time again ...
Kind of a been there, done that feeling ... deja vu' ...

The Maharashtra Government, on a High Court Order, is making Helmets compulsory from the 1st of Feb.
To cut a long story short, some college students from the Symbiosis college here, had long ago, filed a writ petition ... seeing the number of people losing their lives in road accidents ...

The High Court had ordered the Govt. to make the helmets compulsory ... and they even had done so ... for about a week ... before some stupid people got together, and got a stay order ...

This all happened sometime in 2000 - 2001 ... if I remember correctly ...

I, for one, am totally for the helmet issue ...
I do not take my bike out without a helmet ... has become some kind of a compulsion now ...

Pune, has the highest number of two wheelers in Asia ... and I'd reckon ... the whole of the world ...
Most of the two wheelers drive rashly ... and are prone to accidents ...
Its a well established fact, the outcome of studying hundreds of cases ... that having a helmet, could have saved a person in an accident from dying, or worse, turning into a vegetable ...

Then why do people do this ?
Why can't they just acknowledge the fact, that the Govt. for once, is doing something right, and they should let them do it ...

Every other country in the world, has helmets compulsory for two wheelers ...
Then why cannot we implement it here ?

This just shows how dumb can people get ...
They have formed an organisation ... a 6 word something - Marathi name ... which translates as : "The Pune Anti Helmet Order Group"
Everyday, you'll see a notice in the newspaper, saying that the PAHOG is having a meeting at such and such place ... to come up with reasons and protests, as to quash this evil Govt. scheme ...

Then there is this smart-ass, who writes to the Editor that ...
The helmet law should not be implemented due to the following reasons :
1. A person is responsible for his own safety ...
2. When this law is implemented, helmets will become expensive ... or cheaper, subsidized stuff will be available ...
3. This will be another way in which a policeman will harass people and take bribes ...
4. The roads in Pune are so bad that two wheelers do not travel at a speed of more than 20 km-hr ... so there will no use of a helmet in an accident ...

I mean, people have all the time, and brains in the world to come up with such fantastic excuses, that I feel, its no use protecting their heads with helmets, which is functioning so poorly anyways ...
How about doing something constructive for a change ?

When I first started going to college on a bike ( 12th std - Junior College ), I had a Bajaj Sunny ( the so un-dependable ) ... and I was forced to wear a helmet by my mom ... whom I later thanked profusely when I was involved in an accident ... and lived to tell about it ...

It was a funny sight ...
I was already finding it hard to fit on a Sunny, and on top of that, with a helmet, it must have been a sight to see ...
People would often ask me ... why did I wear a helmet on a "Sunny" ?
The answer was simple ... the guy hitting you from behind, won't care a damn if you're on a sunny or a mo-bike ...

They are also coming up with the "Pillion needs to wear a helmet law" which I am not totally for ... it seems pretty unpractical ...
But, if they impose it, I'd be following it happily ...
I'll have to lug an extra helmet ... but what the heck ?

On the other hand, it could turn out to be a boon ... refusing some not so interesting people a ride ... under the pretence of not having a helmet ...
But then it can turn both ways ...

Feb 1st is the day to watch ...
Just have to see whether stupidity again wins this time ...

Life's in a big mess ...

What can I say ... I guess I bring this on to myself ...
Just a couple of days into the next semester at college, and I am into so many things ...

Quite a few not of my choosing ...

My neck is on the guillotine ... and the blade is gonna fall any moment now ...
And people will be watching ... yes ...
And they will walk away after my death has been done ... nodding their heads ... and murmuring to each other ... "Classic case of biting more than you can chew ..."

Have you ever wondered ... why deadlines ... are called : Dead-lines ?
Precisely ...

Anyways ... have this submission on the 23rd of this month, and my planner shows 0% completed and not started ...
Then our teacher comes up with a damn cool fundu project of us having to make a full fledged ... 32 bit calculator ... with the GUI .. buttons and all ... in pure, simple assembly ...
Why not binary for crying out loud ?
We can do that ... right ?

I can easily give up ...
Chop off one of the tasks ... and concentrate on the others ...
But ... I cant ... it is most probably not for me to decide anyways ...
I have to go on ... till I can ...
This is what classic - Disaster, End of the World - movies are made up of ...

As Aragorn, in the Return of the King says, "I see in your eyes ... the same fear ... that would take the heart of me ... But it is not this day ... cause, this day ... we FIGHT ! "
I kinda love that dialogue ... and the part of the movie, kinda explains my situation also ...

But, mine will probably have a different ending ... I suppose ...
Anyways ... cant go into details of how I am going to die ... its a surprise ending ...

I just pray now ... that maybe, might get to see the green pastures again ... :p

On Installing "Licensed Software"

Now, how does that feel ?
Yup ... I installed Windows Xp Professional today on my comp ... Licensed ...
Now, most of the people might say that I am crazy ... having spend some thousands on procuring a licensed copy ... me still studying and all ... but I have my reasons ...

Planning to earn some moolah ... and thought that I'd better get legal software, if I am going to make any money ...

Anyways, that is beyond the topic for this discussion ...
This is my experience ... first hand ...

I have installed Windows Xp ... a million times ... so much so ... that I can guide you through the installation in my sleep ...
But this time, it was different ;)

So, in the morning, I backup all my important stuff and put it on another partition ... email and bookmarks and address books and stuff ...
And once, I am sure, everything will be alright, I go ahead and format my drive ...

I tear the Microsoft Packet and extract the CD ...
Its a nice, holographic CD ... shimmering ... nice :)

Anyways, they had already slipstreamed ( integrated ) Service Pack 2 in the installation, so I wouldnt need to install it later ...

So, I pop the CD in the tray and boot up ...
Somehow, I was expecting this to be different ... more cooler ... after all, its original you know ...
But no such luck ...

Anyways, after 45 mins or so, I had my system running ...
I also activated the OS ... and it wasn't such a pain, as so many people ( not in India ) have complained ... just connect to the internet, and click activate ...
Takes 2 seconds and it is done ...

Anyways, this was all the good part ... then the problems started to emerge ...
I installed some bad drivers ... and the PC booted about a million times in one minute ...

After a lot of installing and uninstalling, I finally managed to get my PC working ...
But somehow feel, that my earlier, non original copy was better :p

The problem with all this activation is that next time I need to reinstall, I'll probably have to call MS ... and tell them why I am installing it again ...
What these people dont realise is that they make life difficult for the people who buy the real thing ...
The earlier installation didnt have anything to do with activation ...

Whatever microsoft spends in time and skill, in trying to make their software non-pirate-able, there are thousands of people out there, smarter, who are doing just the opposite ...
I have yet to see a software, which cannot be cracked ...

There will always be a way ...

What I am trying to say with all this is that software companies should realise, that people, home users especially, will never SPEND more than a few hundreds ( in Rs ) on a software ... even if they DO spend any money ...

Spending 7000 bucks ... that too for an OEM license ... even for an operating system is very steep ...
And piracy in India is just too rampant ... so much, that when I asked my computer dealer to give me a licensed copy, it took him 5 mins to realise what I was saying ... and then he took the next ten minutes trying to convince me that the pirated copy which he was willing to sell me for 200, worked in exactly the same way ...

What software companies should do is this :
1. Any software should be free for non-commercial and home use.
Only when it is being used in an industry, or company which is making some money out of its products, should they pay ...
Most of the software that is installed on your comp is copied ... and hence free anyways ...

The more number of people using the software, the better is it for the manufacturer ...

Maya, which sells for lakhs, has a free PLE ( Personal Learning Edition ) which has all the features ... only you get a watermark on all the rendered images ... fair enough ...

2. The other thing they can do is charge a yearly licensing fee for the use of the software ...
Something like Rs. 300 - 500 for the OS and maybe Rs. 2000 for a software such as dreamweaver or photoshop which are the tools which are used directly ...
Photoshop sells for 38,000 bucks and Dreamweaver for around 16,000
Though their price justifies their products, most of the people who freelance like me, cannot afford these rates ...
I would not mind paying even 3000 bucks a year to be able to use Photoshop legally ...
In this way, atleast people who dont pay and still use the products for commercial purposes, will, I think, definitely pay ...

I settled for a cheaper alternative ... Ulead's Photoimpact ...
This sells for around 5,200 ... its no photoshop, but I think will get most of my work done ...

I think its about time, the software and gaming industry took the path of the Music industry and cut down their prices ...
This will allow more people to buy their software ... and hence will be easier to recover the costs ....

It is a typical "hen and egg" thing ... but they will be the ones who will need to do something ...
People will not just start buying software overnight ... no matter how much policing ...

Bill Gates and Steve Balmer Arrested !

Bill Gates and Steve Balmer behind bars

Delhi, 20 December 2004
By a staff reporter

According to information by our sources here, Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft and Steve Balmer, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, were arrested today, by the Delhi Police in the MMS case.

Both, Bill Gates and Steve Balmer were deported from Redmond, USA, by the Delhi Police and were brought to India with regards to the pornographic MMS that was shot and circulated by a 17 year old DPS student here.

Both of them have been booked under Section 67 of the Indian Information and Technology Act for helping in the distribution of pornographic material.
Close sources revealed that the operating system used by the DPS student was Windows Xp which is developed and sold by Microsoft.
In addition to this, the browser used by the student for uploading the clip was Internet Explorer and also, Baazee.com on which the clip was sold is hosted on Windows 2003 servers ...
Due to all these factors, both, the chairman and CEO of Microsoft are pretty much stuck ... and they shall be booked three times under the same act.
This could mean a jail sentence of anywhere from 7 to 14 years in a minimum security prison ...

Later in the day, both the CEO and chairman were moved to the Tihar Jail and will be moved tomorrow to Jail number 3, where small time criminals and pickpockets are kept.
They shall there, give company to the CEO of baazee.com on whose site, the clip was being sold ...
The hearing is scheduled for tomorrow in this matter.

Meanwhile, Bill Gates is planning to sue the country for a gazillion dollars ... which will result in India going bankrupt ... but who cares ?
===============================================

This is just too funny ...
I mean ... you cannot criticize or abuse the Delhi Police ... you just have to laugh ..They have done it this time ... I mean there is no substitute for being stupid ...

I mean, what are these people thinking ?
How can you arrest a CEO of the company ... that too a website ... in this matter ?
Isn't everything automated ?

Do you expect Bajaj, to sit everyday in his office and go through all the stuff that is being sold on Bazee ?
Or for any staff for that matter ?
It is absurd ... and I have no more to say ...

Just that the Indians have done it this time ...
I know, that Bazzee is a pretty crappy site ... a lot of illegal and pirated stuff gets sold out there ...
But you must atleast give them credit for getting Online Shopping to India !
Its not the best, but atleast its a start ...

All this hungama stems from the fact, that the cyber cell divisions have no work in life ...
So, whenever some case comes like this, they just spring into action and go all out ...
Tomorrow, they will be releasing arrest warrants out for Bill Gates and Steve Balmer because someone wrote a threat email using Outlook Express or on hotmail !

Do you remember the first Cyber Criminal of India ?
He was an 18 year old guy who got booked for pornography for abusing a girl on a forum !
He was a national celebrity ... there were shows with his classmates discussing what kind of a boy he was and what not ...

Just goes to show ... what kind of jokers the government hires !
No wonder the country is going to the dogs...

If I do not write again in another weeks time, please assume that I have been booked for writing this piece ...

The Great Indian Massacre ...

All these television channels ... are just bastards ...
( phew ... had to get that out ... )

Just caught the last few minutes of the Indian Idol today ... on Sony today for the first time ...
There has been a recent spurt of all these reality shows on Indian television of late ... The Indian Idol, V Super Singer and there is one more ... can't remember ...

Anyways, what sickened me beyond belief was how these shows ... just to get their TRPs higher, a few more ads in, behave like scavengers ... vultures ... just flying above people who are gonna die ... so that they can rip off the flesh and feed on it ... even before he has breathed his last ...

The part on which they use people's emotions ... just sickens me ...
And I am not even getting started on how the judges ... Anu Malik, Farah Khan and Sonu Nigam behave with the participants ...
Well ... they are meant to do that .. so I wont delve into it ...

Here is what I saw ...
In this episode of Indian Idol ( I dont know how far it was coz I am not following it ) ... 3 finalists had to be chosen for the last round ...
So, just to stretch it for one episode more ... here is what they do ...
All the finalists were decided by what people ( the viewers voted )
Anyways ... they had to select 3 out of ( 10 ? )

So, they take each participant and they run them down on their previous day's / week's performance and remind them of how those 3 cartoons humiliated them ...
Here, they select 4 people ... ( I dont know for whatever reason )
And when the last guy has to get selected, they show ads ... and these might be the maximum ads I have seen in any TV serial ...
And mind you, this was a repeat telecast ...

So, finally, they select 4 ... they make them sit on 4 chairs ... away from the rest of the crowd ...
Out of these 4, they send one back again ... to select only the top 3 ... but wait ... before choosing the last one ... guess what ? ... again hundreds of ads ...

And when the hostess ( Mini Mathur ) announces the winner, she goes something like this :
And the third person is ... Mr. B ... you're not ... but Mr. A ...
Imagine what the guy ( Mr. B ) might be going through ...

And what was the whole point of getting 4 people on stage when you want to select only 3 ???
More ads ???
Get the participants' hopes high ... then screw them over ... then turn them around ... and screw them again ...
Just sickening ...

The other show which I caught a few glimpses of was the V Super Singer ...
This is a more subtle show ( on stage atleast ) with Adnan Sami playing the nice guy ...

Now, channel V people are the biggest haramis ...
They cant afford to compete with the bigger channels ... so they come up with their own, cheap, sidey rip offs ...
Remember V Dares you ?
In which they made people bathe, strip, and do what not on the streets for a paltry 2 grand ...
And this was mimicking Who Dares Wins ... which was a far superior show ... no comparisons can be made whatsoever ...

Anyways, getting back to the Channel V thingy ...
Of the stage, they take the cameras around all the frustrated participants, who have come from all over India ... probably, sitting on the floor of trains coz they might have not got reservations ... and probably who have not eaten for hours ...
They go ... and finger them ... and when they revolt, and abuse ... they catch it on camera and use it as an advertisement propaganda ...
Sick bastards ...

Then, there was this big thing about the Ambani brothers ...
It was blown out of proportions ...
Now, no news which we see is without hype ... but this was just mind boggling ...
Every news channel was screaming with the fight between the brothers ...
I mean ... whats your problem ?
There are fights in all the families ... even if it was Reliance ... they should just lay off ...
My respect for Anil Ambani rose ... when he decided to just keep quiet ... than giving the media more to chew on ...
Mukesh Ambani was an idiot by comparison ...

Anyways ... Zee News ... handled this entire thing in the most uncultured and gauche manner ...
It was like Laloo's Bihar compared to other states ... metaphorically speaking ...
They were covering news ... in which 8 brothers and sisters get married together in some village and they were comparing this to the entire Reliance episode ...
No words ...
Except just goes to show ... how these people are like vultures ... nothing else ...

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