"When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."
--Wendell Berry
taken from here.
Saturday, October 20
Almost uncool
"The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we're uncool."
- Lester Bangs, in Almost Famous
I was working late at night in my lab, when my mood switched and I decided to watch something. It was 1 am, and I was done with tea. So I brought out my laptop and watched a bit of Space Odyssey, then decided I'd better work, out of guilt, then my mood switched again and I began watching Almost Famous.
It's an enjoyable movie, and it always reminds me that there's a GREAT deal of music I haven't heard yet, and that most of it is old and there's very little new music to look forward to.
And as usual, there are a few really good scenes in the movie, like the one in which the line I quoted above appears. Kate Hudson if fabulous, as is Patrick Fugit. But they still aren't as good as the music.
- Lester Bangs, in Almost Famous
I was working late at night in my lab, when my mood switched and I decided to watch something. It was 1 am, and I was done with tea. So I brought out my laptop and watched a bit of Space Odyssey, then decided I'd better work, out of guilt, then my mood switched again and I began watching Almost Famous.
It's an enjoyable movie, and it always reminds me that there's a GREAT deal of music I haven't heard yet, and that most of it is old and there's very little new music to look forward to.
And as usual, there are a few really good scenes in the movie, like the one in which the line I quoted above appears. Kate Hudson if fabulous, as is Patrick Fugit. But they still aren't as good as the music.
Saturday, September 1
Smoke up
The smell of pleasurable chemicals permeated the air. Dim lighting cast shadows on our eyes and beneath our lips. Occasionally a face would light up, and then disappear, replaced by freshly exhaled smoke. Laughter.
We talked about nothing and everything. Spewing memories and insults with equal ease. Anything was permissible. We even smile at jokes that aren't that funny. We roar at the ones that are.
A hookah arrives. At first, I get nothing out of it. A half-hearted effort, an empty pair of lungs. And then, she tells me how. I let go, and 'pull'. I fight my lungs, trying to keep them from collapsing. I realize I'm going to lose, soon, and exhale slowly. The rush isn't that patient with me. The hookah hooks me.
Pockets of silence. We sip our beers meditatively, gazing into space. I glance at the others, they glance back, our faces blank. Our eyes mirrors. I wait for them to say something. Or something-to-say to strike me. Nothing does, and so we smile and resume our meditations, or sing along with whatever is playing. Something hit''s one of us, and the conversation rolls on. Shock. Laughter.
I glance at her. She looks back. Her eyes are different. They have changed from mirrors... to windows. I can see deep into them, hidden things. But in doing so, my eyes must change too. As we look into each other, two worlds are exposed, connected. We try to learn this new world. What is it we see? Tiredness, mischief, longing... judgment?
We look away, distracted by conversation. We look back, in hope of a confirmation of what just passed. We just smile, and lose ourselves in the rest of us.
We talked about nothing and everything. Spewing memories and insults with equal ease. Anything was permissible. We even smile at jokes that aren't that funny. We roar at the ones that are.
A hookah arrives. At first, I get nothing out of it. A half-hearted effort, an empty pair of lungs. And then, she tells me how. I let go, and 'pull'. I fight my lungs, trying to keep them from collapsing. I realize I'm going to lose, soon, and exhale slowly. The rush isn't that patient with me. The hookah hooks me.
Pockets of silence. We sip our beers meditatively, gazing into space. I glance at the others, they glance back, our faces blank. Our eyes mirrors. I wait for them to say something. Or something-to-say to strike me. Nothing does, and so we smile and resume our meditations, or sing along with whatever is playing. Something hit''s one of us, and the conversation rolls on. Shock. Laughter.
I glance at her. She looks back. Her eyes are different. They have changed from mirrors... to windows. I can see deep into them, hidden things. But in doing so, my eyes must change too. As we look into each other, two worlds are exposed, connected. We try to learn this new world. What is it we see? Tiredness, mischief, longing... judgment?
We look away, distracted by conversation. We look back, in hope of a confirmation of what just passed. We just smile, and lose ourselves in the rest of us.
Friday, August 31
The Boy
The boy's sudden arrival made him glad. That little bundle of joy. Always smiling, dancing, laughing. Eyes closed, oblivious to the world. It soothed his heart to see the little boy thus, softened it a little. He smiled as he realized how happy he was to see the child's happiness.
A sense of relief washed over him. All those cold days seemed gone forever. They became blurred, a distant memory. An imagination. He stopped shutting off tomorrow, instead looking it in the eye, defiantly. He could go through a lot more now, but nothing seemed like it would need going through again. His eyes shone brighter, his gaze farther, as he thought these words. He breathed in, content, while the little boy walked by his side, talking to himself, lost in his joyous thoughts.
They were on a hill, covered in grass. The hills rolled on, on all sides, with purple mountains in the distance. The sun shone low, yet full. They walked for some distance. He clutched the boy's hand, never wanting to lose this feeling.
Suddenly, the boy stopped his dancing, his bobbing head didn't move from side to side anymore. Clouds began to fill the sky, muting the Sun.
He was alarmed, he sank to his knees, and turned the boy to face him, a worried, searching look on his face. He held the boy's head in his hands, and stared questioningly into the boy's eyes. The boy didn't blink, allowing him to see the pain. Tears ran down the boy's cheeks, but the boy left them there. There was no accusation in the boy's eyes. No questions. The boy understood, and seeing this, so did he. It began to rain.
He pulled the boy towards him, embracing him. He ran a hand through the boy's hair, and three waters mixed. He began to sob, engulfed by grief. By the by, he stopped. He had begun to understand, and accept, like the boy. He smiled... and so did the boy. It was then that it hit him. His eyes were wide, his body still, as he stared at nothing. He knew what was next. The boy was calm, and looked at him, tugging his sleeves. He couldn't look at the boy, but the tugging wouldn't stop, and so he finally did. The boy's eyes were comforting. Kind. Encouraging.
He began to cry again... he bit his lip, looked away. He looked back at the boy, his face contorted in sadness, streaked with tears and rain. He breathed in, letting the air out slowly, trying to control the emotion. The boy was still calm, waiting. He looked away again. He stood up, and paced, running a hand through his hair, wondering what to do, knowing what the answer was.
It had been long since the last time.
He went back to the boy, and pressed him to his stomach. It rained hard and loud. The boy hugged him tight, eyes closed, waiting. He took out his only possession. The steel rim sent a momentary chill down the boy's spine, but the boy was instantly still again. His eyes grew hard, cold. Angry. Hateful. The anger helped him do the deed. The boy screamed, eyes shut tight in pain. The boy disappeared, not a single coloured drop was shed. He fell on his knees, head in his hands, hands in his hair, clothes stuck to his body. His senses were numbed. A deep groan rumbled inside him, and rushed to his throat. As it escaped his lips he raised his head, the hands still clutching his hair, and the cry went up to the sky.
He woke up in the same place the next day. The day was cold and dry, dimly lit. Like his eyes.
A sense of relief washed over him. All those cold days seemed gone forever. They became blurred, a distant memory. An imagination. He stopped shutting off tomorrow, instead looking it in the eye, defiantly. He could go through a lot more now, but nothing seemed like it would need going through again. His eyes shone brighter, his gaze farther, as he thought these words. He breathed in, content, while the little boy walked by his side, talking to himself, lost in his joyous thoughts.
They were on a hill, covered in grass. The hills rolled on, on all sides, with purple mountains in the distance. The sun shone low, yet full. They walked for some distance. He clutched the boy's hand, never wanting to lose this feeling.
Suddenly, the boy stopped his dancing, his bobbing head didn't move from side to side anymore. Clouds began to fill the sky, muting the Sun.
He was alarmed, he sank to his knees, and turned the boy to face him, a worried, searching look on his face. He held the boy's head in his hands, and stared questioningly into the boy's eyes. The boy didn't blink, allowing him to see the pain. Tears ran down the boy's cheeks, but the boy left them there. There was no accusation in the boy's eyes. No questions. The boy understood, and seeing this, so did he. It began to rain.
He pulled the boy towards him, embracing him. He ran a hand through the boy's hair, and three waters mixed. He began to sob, engulfed by grief. By the by, he stopped. He had begun to understand, and accept, like the boy. He smiled... and so did the boy. It was then that it hit him. His eyes were wide, his body still, as he stared at nothing. He knew what was next. The boy was calm, and looked at him, tugging his sleeves. He couldn't look at the boy, but the tugging wouldn't stop, and so he finally did. The boy's eyes were comforting. Kind. Encouraging.
He began to cry again... he bit his lip, looked away. He looked back at the boy, his face contorted in sadness, streaked with tears and rain. He breathed in, letting the air out slowly, trying to control the emotion. The boy was still calm, waiting. He looked away again. He stood up, and paced, running a hand through his hair, wondering what to do, knowing what the answer was.
It had been long since the last time.
He went back to the boy, and pressed him to his stomach. It rained hard and loud. The boy hugged him tight, eyes closed, waiting. He took out his only possession. The steel rim sent a momentary chill down the boy's spine, but the boy was instantly still again. His eyes grew hard, cold. Angry. Hateful. The anger helped him do the deed. The boy screamed, eyes shut tight in pain. The boy disappeared, not a single coloured drop was shed. He fell on his knees, head in his hands, hands in his hair, clothes stuck to his body. His senses were numbed. A deep groan rumbled inside him, and rushed to his throat. As it escaped his lips he raised his head, the hands still clutching his hair, and the cry went up to the sky.
He woke up in the same place the next day. The day was cold and dry, dimly lit. Like his eyes.
Tuesday, August 21
"The intent of the lyricist, obviously, was to so coarsen the feelings of males who sang the song that the singers could never believe again what most of us believed with all our hearts back then: that women were more spiritual, more sacred than men.
... I have loved only four women in my life... Let it be said now, though, that all four seemed more virtuous, braver about life and closer to the secrets of the universe than I could ever be."
- In 'Jailbird', by Kurt Vonnegut
... I have loved only four women in my life... Let it be said now, though, that all four seemed more virtuous, braver about life and closer to the secrets of the universe than I could ever be."
- In 'Jailbird', by Kurt Vonnegut
Monday, August 13
It weaves in and out of the flower bed. Sometimes in the sun, sometimes in the shadow. It flies swiftly, buzzing in an instant from one flower to the next, slowing down in no time. It hovers for a second, it's dark eyes impervious, seemingly brooding. It moves on.
After zig-zagging through the bed for a few minutes, it stops in front of a flower, and seems to approve. It swoops down towards it, and just before it appears it would crash into the flower, it stops, millimetres above it.
It slows its flapping, it's legs reach for the flower. With one final downward flap of its wings, it touches down on a petal. It's legs bend, wings droop and head bows. If it had eyelids, they would have been closed. Instead, it refuses to see. Because in that one instant, the weight of the universe came crashing down on it. A life dedicated to obeying nature and survival. A tired life. It resumes seeing, head bent, and for a moment it looks at the world, a defiant stare, and dares to dream. A new world reflected on its compound eye.
The moment passes. It lifts it's head, and begins its work, a mere insect, caught in the web of life.
After zig-zagging through the bed for a few minutes, it stops in front of a flower, and seems to approve. It swoops down towards it, and just before it appears it would crash into the flower, it stops, millimetres above it.
It slows its flapping, it's legs reach for the flower. With one final downward flap of its wings, it touches down on a petal. It's legs bend, wings droop and head bows. If it had eyelids, they would have been closed. Instead, it refuses to see. Because in that one instant, the weight of the universe came crashing down on it. A life dedicated to obeying nature and survival. A tired life. It resumes seeing, head bent, and for a moment it looks at the world, a defiant stare, and dares to dream. A new world reflected on its compound eye.
The moment passes. It lifts it's head, and begins its work, a mere insect, caught in the web of life.
Friday, August 10
Monday, August 6
Tuesday, July 31
Grey sky, Dark green trees. Spacious government property. Black, wet tar. Fading yellow lines. Miles of metal. Rain drops all around.
It's very quiet. All of us lost in thought, finding 'space' in a traffic jam near Raj Bhavan. Some grumble, some fret, some dream... some remember.
I'm hunched on my kiney. One hand resting on my knee, the other clutches the right brake. I stare at the floor of my kiney's leg space. head hangs down, my visor lifted a little, so that I can breathe freely.
Two drops run down the right edge of the visor. I imagine them, gleefully squealing, eyes shut, teeth showing, hanging tight to the edge. The rush of speed.
Suddenly they reach the tip, and are launched adrift. In an instant gravity claims them. They stare back up, at me, bewildered. They realize, and their face begins to bear that classic reaction to betrayal... 'Why?'
They hit the floor, disintegrating. I imagine them, closing their eyes just before impact, trying to block out the pain. How did they know, without looking? Their eyes shoot open, and they're gone.
A distant rumble. Movement begins. The engines begin to roar, one by one. I smile as the wave passes me, my engine throbbing to life with the press of a button.
It's very quiet. All of us lost in thought, finding 'space' in a traffic jam near Raj Bhavan. Some grumble, some fret, some dream... some remember.
I'm hunched on my kiney. One hand resting on my knee, the other clutches the right brake. I stare at the floor of my kiney's leg space. head hangs down, my visor lifted a little, so that I can breathe freely.
Two drops run down the right edge of the visor. I imagine them, gleefully squealing, eyes shut, teeth showing, hanging tight to the edge. The rush of speed.
Suddenly they reach the tip, and are launched adrift. In an instant gravity claims them. They stare back up, at me, bewildered. They realize, and their face begins to bear that classic reaction to betrayal... 'Why?'
They hit the floor, disintegrating. I imagine them, closing their eyes just before impact, trying to block out the pain. How did they know, without looking? Their eyes shoot open, and they're gone.
A distant rumble. Movement begins. The engines begin to roar, one by one. I smile as the wave passes me, my engine throbbing to life with the press of a button.
Monday, July 23
Look at me!
Whenever I'm walking randomly on weekends around town, I come across many women I find attractive. I stare at them, almost brazenly.
I receive a variety of reactions. Some genuinely don't even register my presence. Heck, most. Some are aware I'm there, but not too concerned. Some fastidiously avoid my gaze. Some of them catch my gaze, put on an annoyed expression, and promptly turn away. I'm fine with all that, I shouldn't be bothering them with unwanted attention anyway.
Now, some of them look away, then look back to see if I'm still checking them out. I guess they want to know if they're attractive. That's quite normal too. The part I hate is that they refuse to acknowledge whats going on. I mean, they act like they aren't looking at you, but they look at you just to know whether you're looking at them.
It's happened so many times, it's quite annoying. I understand most women would call me a letch or something. And argue that I should keep my eyes of the women. Hmmm. Well, that's all fine when you consider gentlemanly behaviour, and I can take a hint. The trouble is I'm looking for that one amazing moment that can really make my day once in a while. When an attractive person responds to your gaze, when both of us acknowledge each other's presence, and the hint of a spark forms between us, for an instant. I can safely assume I'd never see the person again. Yeah naturally, I don't expect such a thing to lead anywhere. That would be childish. It's just the simple rush of that very powerful moment.
A was saying that that's too much to expect from Indian women. Bollocks. I've had enough and more experience to know that it isn't Indianness, it's just something that makes us all take the safe and predictable path of avoiding confrontation. Fair enough, I guess. I'm not perfect either.
A bit of background: I've been single for quite some time now. Ah yes. So you've realised these are the rantings of a desperate fellow. Bloody loser. #&%@!*& MCP.
It's beyond that. I'm hoping for that one woman with the awareness and the zest for life that would enable such a thing. To connect with someone brave enough and interested enough to find pleasure in the most random of intersections. That's the day I'll raise a toast to a special kind of something.
I receive a variety of reactions. Some genuinely don't even register my presence. Heck, most. Some are aware I'm there, but not too concerned. Some fastidiously avoid my gaze. Some of them catch my gaze, put on an annoyed expression, and promptly turn away. I'm fine with all that, I shouldn't be bothering them with unwanted attention anyway.
Now, some of them look away, then look back to see if I'm still checking them out. I guess they want to know if they're attractive. That's quite normal too. The part I hate is that they refuse to acknowledge whats going on. I mean, they act like they aren't looking at you, but they look at you just to know whether you're looking at them.
It's happened so many times, it's quite annoying. I understand most women would call me a letch or something. And argue that I should keep my eyes of the women. Hmmm. Well, that's all fine when you consider gentlemanly behaviour, and I can take a hint. The trouble is I'm looking for that one amazing moment that can really make my day once in a while. When an attractive person responds to your gaze, when both of us acknowledge each other's presence, and the hint of a spark forms between us, for an instant. I can safely assume I'd never see the person again. Yeah naturally, I don't expect such a thing to lead anywhere. That would be childish. It's just the simple rush of that very powerful moment.
A was saying that that's too much to expect from Indian women. Bollocks. I've had enough and more experience to know that it isn't Indianness, it's just something that makes us all take the safe and predictable path of avoiding confrontation. Fair enough, I guess. I'm not perfect either.
A bit of background: I've been single for quite some time now. Ah yes. So you've realised these are the rantings of a desperate fellow. Bloody loser. #&%@!*& MCP.
It's beyond that. I'm hoping for that one woman with the awareness and the zest for life that would enable such a thing. To connect with someone brave enough and interested enough to find pleasure in the most random of intersections. That's the day I'll raise a toast to a special kind of something.
Saturday, July 21
Dawn
The bed shakes. He wakes up slowly. His brow lifts up, then down. 'Huh?' His face is a million dollar question, with his eyes closed. The eyelids open ever so slightly, and his face now bears a puzzled look. He half sits up. Suddenly it hits him. He groans and falls back on the bed. He lies there motionless for a whole minute, and then rubs his eyes, with an annoyed expression. Then he pulls on his eyelids, feeling inaudible pops as the air rushes back in.
He turns to where she's sleeping. Her back faces him, she's in the foetal position. She seemed quite peaceful. He was amazed at how long she slept. Things were always simple for her. It was he who had to go and live a grinding life. Annoyance crept back on his face. How he wished he'd been born a woman. He sells his peace of mind and she hoards it in bed. He gets out of bed, the covers are tossed aside in a quick motion that doesn't ease his irritation. He stomps off to the bathroom.
***************************************
Suddenly her eyes fly open. Her face looks alarmed for a fraction of a second. She relaxes. A hard, dreamy look washes over her face. She turns over to where he's sleeping, the bed creaks. Still asleep, and still snoring. She resumes her earlier position, only this time she's hugging her knees. He begins to wake. She tries to enjoy the few moments of silence, that short peaceful waking period. The rest of the morning begins to play in her head. His crisp words. No eye contact. The criticism. A thump sounds behind her.
Her face darkens. She wonders how to change things. How to go back to happier times. In a few instants she dreams possibilities, her face calm. But his nature ruins every dream. Her face is of despair. He gets out of bed. She grimaces as she feels part of the tossed sheets hit her. The moment passes. His footsteps sound the beginning of another routine day. Her face turns bitter. She gets up, already the tiredness running through her body. She follows meekly.
He turns to where she's sleeping. Her back faces him, she's in the foetal position. She seemed quite peaceful. He was amazed at how long she slept. Things were always simple for her. It was he who had to go and live a grinding life. Annoyance crept back on his face. How he wished he'd been born a woman. He sells his peace of mind and she hoards it in bed. He gets out of bed, the covers are tossed aside in a quick motion that doesn't ease his irritation. He stomps off to the bathroom.
***************************************
Suddenly her eyes fly open. Her face looks alarmed for a fraction of a second. She relaxes. A hard, dreamy look washes over her face. She turns over to where he's sleeping, the bed creaks. Still asleep, and still snoring. She resumes her earlier position, only this time she's hugging her knees. He begins to wake. She tries to enjoy the few moments of silence, that short peaceful waking period. The rest of the morning begins to play in her head. His crisp words. No eye contact. The criticism. A thump sounds behind her.
Her face darkens. She wonders how to change things. How to go back to happier times. In a few instants she dreams possibilities, her face calm. But his nature ruins every dream. Her face is of despair. He gets out of bed. She grimaces as she feels part of the tossed sheets hit her. The moment passes. His footsteps sound the beginning of another routine day. Her face turns bitter. She gets up, already the tiredness running through her body. She follows meekly.
The Law of Averages
Hmmmm well so today I went to work because the PhD student K in charge of the lab I work in and I had to go shopping for stuff we needed. Unfortunately, we weren't buying 5K shoes and cool threads in upmarket malls, we were buying bearings and teeny ICs from low, way low, Market. SP Road actually.
The catch was A had called us all home for lunch and her place was nearby the last stop on our route. So I thought I'd take the bike with K and go, but somewhere in Sheshadripuram life decided to even the odds and my tyre went flat.
So anyway, I abandon my bike and we head of by rick to do all the shopping. I will someday write about the wonder that is SP Road. For now, there are other things happening. Shopping takes us a good three hours. We had a long list.
After the last stop I head off to A's place and a whole load of people are there, generally chatting. S is leaving for Arizona tomorrow and that was kind of the reason we were meeting up anyway. Oh wtf, so that was Sunaad. Shruthi had also come down for two days all the way from Jhansi. Yeah, Jhansi. Even I was surprised.
I left pretty soon after lunch, because I had to go rescue my poor little bike who'd been left all alone in a crowded noisy spot. I finally had to travel by BMTC bus to sheshadripuram. Luckily got a direct bus, which wasn't crowded. Somehow I find my way back to the bike, and have to lug it all the way to the nearest mechanic, and that wasn't too near.
Now, Goodyear was a genius who made life SO much better when he put that little hose on his kide's bike. Cos it's a royal pain to lug a bike with a flat tyre. The last time I had a flat I asked for it, cos I went and said 'You know, I've never had to suffer a flat tyre,' two days before it happened. While this guy is fixing the tube, some joker bumps into my bike and sends it crashing on its side. The result of that was a smashed right rearview mirror. Sigh. Well anyway, after much trials and tribulations I'm back in IISc running simulations and writing this stuff.
Yeah so now I'm wondering why anyone would actually still be reading till this line.
Ah yes, picked up Rosemary's Baby from A's place. Err, that's the name of a book.
I'm off to enjoy the weekend, hopefully, bbye.
The catch was A had called us all home for lunch and her place was nearby the last stop on our route. So I thought I'd take the bike with K and go, but somewhere in Sheshadripuram life decided to even the odds and my tyre went flat.
So anyway, I abandon my bike and we head of by rick to do all the shopping. I will someday write about the wonder that is SP Road. For now, there are other things happening. Shopping takes us a good three hours. We had a long list.
After the last stop I head off to A's place and a whole load of people are there, generally chatting. S is leaving for Arizona tomorrow and that was kind of the reason we were meeting up anyway. Oh wtf, so that was Sunaad. Shruthi had also come down for two days all the way from Jhansi. Yeah, Jhansi. Even I was surprised.
I left pretty soon after lunch, because I had to go rescue my poor little bike who'd been left all alone in a crowded noisy spot. I finally had to travel by BMTC bus to sheshadripuram. Luckily got a direct bus, which wasn't crowded. Somehow I find my way back to the bike, and have to lug it all the way to the nearest mechanic, and that wasn't too near.
Now, Goodyear was a genius who made life SO much better when he put that little hose on his kide's bike. Cos it's a royal pain to lug a bike with a flat tyre. The last time I had a flat I asked for it, cos I went and said 'You know, I've never had to suffer a flat tyre,' two days before it happened. While this guy is fixing the tube, some joker bumps into my bike and sends it crashing on its side. The result of that was a smashed right rearview mirror. Sigh. Well anyway, after much trials and tribulations I'm back in IISc running simulations and writing this stuff.
Yeah so now I'm wondering why anyone would actually still be reading till this line.
Ah yes, picked up Rosemary's Baby from A's place. Err, that's the name of a book.
I'm off to enjoy the weekend, hopefully, bbye.
Friday, July 20
Today was quite a sweet day. A PhD student had returned form presenting a paper at the American Control Conference, held in New York. Name dropping aside, why I mentioned all that was because he brought a nice load of chocolates with him, with the added bonus that there was dark chocolate amongst the hoard. Yum! Later in the day I found the stash of chocolates another PhD student had brought on his recent trip to the UK. So it just got better :).
Meanwhile I was chatting with D. We spoke about how bugging it was when the latest fad happens to be one of our long-time personal taste or preference. So what we generally enjoyed doing, in a highly individual way, soon becomes a cliche. Sad.
In the middle of that conversation, I was trying to get my aerial robot built. There are many more names to call this little gizmo, but this one is the coolest :D. Anyway, we were building a test stand that would allow the thing to rotate along all axes, but not move, because if it didn't work things could get messy. It was awesome to see it all put together finally.
Went for a walk in Sankey Tank. Bumped into S and A, quite a surprise. Anyway it was fun chatting. Quite a peaceful place.
In the end I went home, strummed the guitar a bit. It's nice to play yourself some arbitrary tune. So after quite a good day, just slept dreamlessly. :)
Meanwhile I was chatting with D. We spoke about how bugging it was when the latest fad happens to be one of our long-time personal taste or preference. So what we generally enjoyed doing, in a highly individual way, soon becomes a cliche. Sad.
In the middle of that conversation, I was trying to get my aerial robot built. There are many more names to call this little gizmo, but this one is the coolest :D. Anyway, we were building a test stand that would allow the thing to rotate along all axes, but not move, because if it didn't work things could get messy. It was awesome to see it all put together finally.
Went for a walk in Sankey Tank. Bumped into S and A, quite a surprise. Anyway it was fun chatting. Quite a peaceful place.
In the end I went home, strummed the guitar a bit. It's nice to play yourself some arbitrary tune. So after quite a good day, just slept dreamlessly. :)
Sunday, May 27
Playing Along
'Playing Along' is supposed to be a comedy, rather, a satire on plays as such. It consists of two parts, one being a series of 'sketches' and the other being a complicated story of love, betrayal and murder.
The five sketches are almost completely borrowed from Rowan Atkinson. The director later admits, quite rightly, that they weren't even 10% as good as Atkinson. I hope he didn't think he was being modest.
The love story is really terrible. A married woman is having an affair, and gets caught when the husband comes home, with a detective he kept handy for the occasion. So the treacherous couple plan to bump off the husband, but some back-stabbing happens and we see various combinations of the four players claiming to be a couple (yes, there's a gay one even. As if to say using the G word makes something funny. Bloody kids). The acting was atrocious. Long silences, drawn out jokes, gut-wrenching expressions, pathetic dialogue delivery. 'I DHON'T think so!' 'Are YHOU Mmaaad?' '.... THE TRuT.' Egads.
Ironically somewhere in the middle the devil shows up, and claims to decide to make the play interesting (Ultimately, he lets me down) by forcing the 'actors' to screw up. Screw up they do, and how! I think he did this to cover up the lack of talent and professionalism the crew displayed. Come to think of it, maybe the bad script and action was a part of the intended satire. How very deep! I have misunderstood this play.
Still, the guy who played the devil was decent. Good acting and all. Yet no one was laughing at the jokes he kept belting out. Some wise souls left in the middle of the play. I would have too, except my friend had a friend who was a member of the cast. So I stuck around. Actually, at some points I was laughing uncontrollably at the play. So in the end I did land up doing what I went there for.
The play supposedly originated in NIT Trichy. Now, beside me was this couple from NITT, whom I know from the cul fest circuit, specifically word games. The girl was quite peeved at my reaction. Apparently even she was part of the drama club there, and was around when this play was written. I couldn't quite understand why of all the plays NITT decided to export it was this one, as it casts a very poor light on the drama there. This was an award-winning play too!
The best part is, I paid a 100 bucks for this shit! Some guys in my coll had put up a play, which I was part of, which was way more entertaining than this. The three main actors were terrific together (this obviously excludes me). So we could have put up the play and milked everyone for a couple of thousands together and had a gala weekend after. Sheesh.
These plays are beginning to be quite disappointing, and quite a rip-off. Hope something better pops up soon.
The five sketches are almost completely borrowed from Rowan Atkinson. The director later admits, quite rightly, that they weren't even 10% as good as Atkinson. I hope he didn't think he was being modest.
The love story is really terrible. A married woman is having an affair, and gets caught when the husband comes home, with a detective he kept handy for the occasion. So the treacherous couple plan to bump off the husband, but some back-stabbing happens and we see various combinations of the four players claiming to be a couple (yes, there's a gay one even. As if to say using the G word makes something funny. Bloody kids). The acting was atrocious. Long silences, drawn out jokes, gut-wrenching expressions, pathetic dialogue delivery. 'I DHON'T think so!' 'Are YHOU Mmaaad?' '.... THE TRuT.' Egads.
Ironically somewhere in the middle the devil shows up, and claims to decide to make the play interesting (Ultimately, he lets me down) by forcing the 'actors' to screw up. Screw up they do, and how! I think he did this to cover up the lack of talent and professionalism the crew displayed. Come to think of it, maybe the bad script and action was a part of the intended satire. How very deep! I have misunderstood this play.
Still, the guy who played the devil was decent. Good acting and all. Yet no one was laughing at the jokes he kept belting out. Some wise souls left in the middle of the play. I would have too, except my friend had a friend who was a member of the cast. So I stuck around. Actually, at some points I was laughing uncontrollably at the play. So in the end I did land up doing what I went there for.
The play supposedly originated in NIT Trichy. Now, beside me was this couple from NITT, whom I know from the cul fest circuit, specifically word games. The girl was quite peeved at my reaction. Apparently even she was part of the drama club there, and was around when this play was written. I couldn't quite understand why of all the plays NITT decided to export it was this one, as it casts a very poor light on the drama there. This was an award-winning play too!
The best part is, I paid a 100 bucks for this shit! Some guys in my coll had put up a play, which I was part of, which was way more entertaining than this. The three main actors were terrific together (this obviously excludes me). So we could have put up the play and milked everyone for a couple of thousands together and had a gala weekend after. Sheesh.
These plays are beginning to be quite disappointing, and quite a rip-off. Hope something better pops up soon.
Thursday, May 17
Adieu NITK
An entire chapter of my life has ended. Four years is an unbelievably long time, especially at my age.
Well, lots of people say it's been the best four years of their lives. Unfortunately I don't share that sentiment. I've had a lot of great times, met a lot of fine people, done a lot of interesting stuff. But on the whole, I didn't achieve what I went to NITK for. So I'll always look back upon it with a bit of disappointment.
Still, whats done is done, and with this short note, I move on from this moment, forever.
Well, lots of people say it's been the best four years of their lives. Unfortunately I don't share that sentiment. I've had a lot of great times, met a lot of fine people, done a lot of interesting stuff. But on the whole, I didn't achieve what I went to NITK for. So I'll always look back upon it with a bit of disappointment.
Still, whats done is done, and with this short note, I move on from this moment, forever.
Friday, April 13
I've been having a bad time with my project work. It's all about numerical methods and some dumb error keeps creeping in. Have no idea why.
In any case, Pigs (three different ones) is playing in the background, so my project isn't an issue right now. There's something very lovely about just listening to music. Not doing something and listening, just listening. Sadly, never have the time for that. Always something to do.
I haven't blogged in a while, and anyway whats been put up is more or less stuff no one is the least bit interested in. Oh well...
My friends have created a 'yo' scale. Apparently I score 0.04 Kanhe. 0 Kanhe is ultra-yo, and 1 Kanhe is non-yo. Kanhe is a the inventor of this scale. Or maybe they just named the unit after him. Whatever. Wonder how to increase my rating. I don't think working on my project is helping any. Sigh.
In any case, Pigs (three different ones) is playing in the background, so my project isn't an issue right now. There's something very lovely about just listening to music. Not doing something and listening, just listening. Sadly, never have the time for that. Always something to do.
I haven't blogged in a while, and anyway whats been put up is more or less stuff no one is the least bit interested in. Oh well...
My friends have created a 'yo' scale. Apparently I score 0.04 Kanhe. 0 Kanhe is ultra-yo, and 1 Kanhe is non-yo. Kanhe is a the inventor of this scale. Or maybe they just named the unit after him. Whatever. Wonder how to increase my rating. I don't think working on my project is helping any. Sigh.
Monday, April 2
Proud to be Down-to-Earth
Most people hate the so called 'yo' crowd. Yo people generally (try to) do everything with style. They are well dressed, wear only branded stuff, eat in expensive joints, and have their own transport.Which is all ok, really. They have an unnecessary accent and an attitude to boot. It is this attitude that ticks people off, since those who do not have the resources, or frame of mind, to be 'yo' get snubbed by the Yo.
There is, however, another type of crowd that I dislike. It is the (chauvinistic?) 'porikki' crowd. They revel in the fact that they are 'low level' and don't have any hang ups. They are proud that they are low level and willing to accept it. They think anyone who doesn't behave like them is being 'pseud' or 'yo'. Why I don't like them is because these so-called humble folks end up snubbing anyone who isn't like them. Does that behaviour ring a bell?
There is, however, another type of crowd that I dislike. It is the (chauvinistic?) 'porikki' crowd. They revel in the fact that they are 'low level' and don't have any hang ups. They are proud that they are low level and willing to accept it. They think anyone who doesn't behave like them is being 'pseud' or 'yo'. Why I don't like them is because these so-called humble folks end up snubbing anyone who isn't like them. Does that behaviour ring a bell?
Tuesday, March 27
State of Fear
I read the book a few days ago. I heard Crichton was speaking against the reality of Global Warming. I didn't like that, and read the book with a prejudiced mind. I'm surprised by a lot of what it has to say.
I am a pro-conservation kind of fellow. I reuse paper, minimize water usage etc. I can't call my life eco-friendly, but I do a bit here and there to be less wasteful. I used to believe strongly in Global Warming and even now I have a feeling that something's happening to the climate. The last few years have been hot, and the monsoons have behaved differently.
Now I'm not so sure about global warming. It may be happening, it may not be, I wouldn't know. The alarming thing, which Crichton has shown, is the manner in which Global Warming has been promoted/supported by sections of the scientific community and environmentalists. While State of Fear hasn't really dispelled my fears of climate change ahead, it has shaken my faith in environmentalists, who seem to have spread incomplete information.
Did you think that the polar ice caps are going to melt becasue of us? That the sea level is rising? That more CO2 means more temperature? That warmer climates will promote disease? That we need to and are competent enough to preserve forests? That the temperatures in a city are governed by many local factors and not solely dependant on the regional climate? Look for a report titled "Nine Lies about Global Warming" released by the Lavoisier Group.
The Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change released a report for policy makers around Feb 2007.
The things I noted about the report:
They state clearly (in a footnote, by the way) that according to the IPCC, climate change refers to the changes due to natural as well as human activities, not just direct or indirectly human activities, which was the old convention. I think this is because it has become hard to isolate climate change due to man, but they won't tell you that in a hurry.
The report gives pictures of the map of the world with regions coloured depending on the likely rise in temperature. At a minimum the arctic would be 4 degrees warmer by 2090, and at worst 7 degrees. The interesting thing to note is that the two maps are very similar, only that regions coloured 2 degrees previously are now coloured 4 and so on. When scientists predict that 2 degrees can trigger huge climate changes, how can I accept that the difference in the two projections is only the magnitude of temperature change? Completely new patterns should emerge, two different regions marked orange need not both become red. For God's sake, the atmosphere is not a linear model!! I know this much at least. My point is that the projection doesn't seem to be based on any realistic model of the Earth's climate, so how can it be presented as reliable data?
I still believe that we should cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. We are definitely modifying the composition of the air, and the atmosphere being chaotic, we cannot predict what the outcome will be. It may become hard to live in, it may not change much. It may bring drastic changes to Europe and S. America, but not really affect Indonesia. Who knows?
I also believe that people who use lies to pursue an agenda, should not be allowed to get away with it. Some environmentalists are not your average NatGeo scientist in khadis out in the middle of some desert. They are globe-trotters who ensure that they are paid well. Very little of the money that such NGOs receive is used in useful activities. A large chunk is spent maintaining the NGO, never mind its activities.
Many of us cannot do much to change the way the world works. However, some of us may lend support to various causes. I feel we should choose our causes from a position of knowledge, and not based on hype and propaganda.
I'd also recommend we take a relook at how we collect our information. The existing media have time and again proven to be sensationalist, trivial and inaccurate.
Who knows, the threat of global warming may be real and our climate is about to change for the worse. But find out for yourself.
I am a pro-conservation kind of fellow. I reuse paper, minimize water usage etc. I can't call my life eco-friendly, but I do a bit here and there to be less wasteful. I used to believe strongly in Global Warming and even now I have a feeling that something's happening to the climate. The last few years have been hot, and the monsoons have behaved differently.
Now I'm not so sure about global warming. It may be happening, it may not be, I wouldn't know. The alarming thing, which Crichton has shown, is the manner in which Global Warming has been promoted/supported by sections of the scientific community and environmentalists. While State of Fear hasn't really dispelled my fears of climate change ahead, it has shaken my faith in environmentalists, who seem to have spread incomplete information.
Did you think that the polar ice caps are going to melt becasue of us? That the sea level is rising? That more CO2 means more temperature? That warmer climates will promote disease? That we need to and are competent enough to preserve forests? That the temperatures in a city are governed by many local factors and not solely dependant on the regional climate? Look for a report titled "Nine Lies about Global Warming" released by the Lavoisier Group.
The Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change released a report for policy makers around Feb 2007.
The things I noted about the report:
They state clearly (in a footnote, by the way) that according to the IPCC, climate change refers to the changes due to natural as well as human activities, not just direct or indirectly human activities, which was the old convention. I think this is because it has become hard to isolate climate change due to man, but they won't tell you that in a hurry.
The report gives pictures of the map of the world with regions coloured depending on the likely rise in temperature. At a minimum the arctic would be 4 degrees warmer by 2090, and at worst 7 degrees. The interesting thing to note is that the two maps are very similar, only that regions coloured 2 degrees previously are now coloured 4 and so on. When scientists predict that 2 degrees can trigger huge climate changes, how can I accept that the difference in the two projections is only the magnitude of temperature change? Completely new patterns should emerge, two different regions marked orange need not both become red. For God's sake, the atmosphere is not a linear model!! I know this much at least. My point is that the projection doesn't seem to be based on any realistic model of the Earth's climate, so how can it be presented as reliable data?
I still believe that we should cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. We are definitely modifying the composition of the air, and the atmosphere being chaotic, we cannot predict what the outcome will be. It may become hard to live in, it may not change much. It may bring drastic changes to Europe and S. America, but not really affect Indonesia. Who knows?
I also believe that people who use lies to pursue an agenda, should not be allowed to get away with it. Some environmentalists are not your average NatGeo scientist in khadis out in the middle of some desert. They are globe-trotters who ensure that they are paid well. Very little of the money that such NGOs receive is used in useful activities. A large chunk is spent maintaining the NGO, never mind its activities.
Many of us cannot do much to change the way the world works. However, some of us may lend support to various causes. I feel we should choose our causes from a position of knowledge, and not based on hype and propaganda.
I'd also recommend we take a relook at how we collect our information. The existing media have time and again proven to be sensationalist, trivial and inaccurate.
Who knows, the threat of global warming may be real and our climate is about to change for the worse. But find out for yourself.
Sunday, February 11
Good Morning
It's been a good morning. Got up early, checked my mail. The internet is pretty quick early in the mornings. Then I go for a jog, stretch and do a bit of exercise. Caught the morning sun a bit, nice and red.
Get back, listen to music, have a bath. After feeling nice and clean, I go down to the mess for breakfast. Come back up, listen to some more music, try the crossword, Sudoku and in general read a few bits and pieces of the news.
It's been quite some time since I had a lazy Sunday morning like this. Feels great. Rooms clean, heads clear and moods up :).
Get back, listen to music, have a bath. After feeling nice and clean, I go down to the mess for breakfast. Come back up, listen to some more music, try the crossword, Sudoku and in general read a few bits and pieces of the news.
It's been quite some time since I had a lazy Sunday morning like this. Feels great. Rooms clean, heads clear and moods up :).
Meet Joe Black
Actually, don't. This is quite a bad movie. The director includes scenes whose outcomes are pretty obvious, yet draws it out in an attempt at suspense and 'keeping us on the edge of our seats'. However, the audience is probably getting up all together.
There's that scene where two people meet, are interested in each other, but somehow choose to go on their separate ways. Not without turning back to see if the other is looking. So most movies do it once. They do it FOUR agonizing times.
This takes a good thirty or so minutes. Then finally we learn that Death has taken over the guy's (Brad Pitt) body and is going to meet the girl's (Susan)(Claire Forlani) father Mr. Parish (Sir Anthony Hopkins), as its his time to go. However, Mr. Parish is supposed to be Death's tour guide, and the former will live as long as he manages to keep Death interested in the world.
Plot spoiler
Still, read on :)
So the rest of the plot is how Death meddle's in Parish's affairs, and falls in love with Susan. Death falling in love. What a concept! Finally Death wants to take her with him, and there are some aphorisms peppered throughout the movie, and Parish even says that Death has become a good man, and such stuff. Finally Death takes Parish.
A good thing might be Claire Forlani's presence, but her acting is the same as in all her other movies. This calm, sensitive woman, who seems a tad bit troubled.
This movie last three hours. And it should have lasted about one. Hmmmm. Of course, if you like slow,stretched romantic/meaning-of-life stuff then you probably shouldn't mind me. :)
There's that scene where two people meet, are interested in each other, but somehow choose to go on their separate ways. Not without turning back to see if the other is looking. So most movies do it once. They do it FOUR agonizing times.
This takes a good thirty or so minutes. Then finally we learn that Death has taken over the guy's (Brad Pitt) body and is going to meet the girl's (Susan)(Claire Forlani) father Mr. Parish (Sir Anthony Hopkins), as its his time to go. However, Mr. Parish is supposed to be Death's tour guide, and the former will live as long as he manages to keep Death interested in the world.
Plot spoiler
Still, read on :)
So the rest of the plot is how Death meddle's in Parish's affairs, and falls in love with Susan. Death falling in love. What a concept! Finally Death wants to take her with him, and there are some aphorisms peppered throughout the movie, and Parish even says that Death has become a good man, and such stuff. Finally Death takes Parish.
A good thing might be Claire Forlani's presence, but her acting is the same as in all her other movies. This calm, sensitive woman, who seems a tad bit troubled.
This movie last three hours. And it should have lasted about one. Hmmmm. Of course, if you like slow,stretched romantic/meaning-of-life stuff then you probably shouldn't mind me. :)
Wednesday, January 31
Saarang '07
Due to some other commitments, I was almost going to miss Saarang this year. In any case, I wasn't worried, been there done that and all. Plus, I had just been to Mood I. However my bro did not have a teammate, so I ended up giving him company at Saarang.
Day 1:
I managed to reach a day late, on the 27th of Feb. So I missed an apparently good inauguration. Instead of the usual classical stuff, there was a Global Music performance by a group of firangs. Oh! and I missed the Word Games prelims, cos of some screw-up in the schedule put up on the website.
Day 2:
Anyway, so I reach Chennai after a huge traffic jam delayed the departure from Bangalore. It was a short ride to the IITM main gate, from where I decide to walk to the room. That took an hour! Meanwhile I saw about four groups of deer in different places, including one with antlers. Not sure if that's called a stag, a male spotted deer. Anyway.
So the first thing I do is have a bath and then head out to do the daily crossword. Husain had single-handedly won the previous days, and we did that days and won it too. After that there was nothing much o do, so watched a lot of Powerchord, where there was this bang from Xaviers, with a pretty good (two separate adjectives) lead vocalist. The bassist was talented too. They ultimately won, and got to take part in the semi-pro finals. Other noticeable acts was a band from the Chitra kala Parishat, with a guitarist called Sylvester who looked like some guy in a dingy, cramped shop in an arbit village lane in Tamil Nadu. Quite a guy.
Thereafter is the crossword pre-lims, which we finished somewhere between first and third, depending on whom you ask and who's ego is at stake, I guess. Meanwhile I managed to watch a bit of the main quiz elims in the morn, as well as some of the JAM sessions. the JAM was terrible, with a pathetic crowd laughing at every silly lewd joke, and slapstick Jammaster's delights and what have you. Some of it was good, no doubt, but it wasn't worth enduring the rest of the show.
In the evening I stood in line to catch a rendition of Five Point Someone by the Madras Play something-something, a theatre group. It was nice, the story is decent and all. There were a lot of people wanting to see the show, and the line was huge, but we managed to sneak in hrough a side door no one else thought would be open. It wasn;t supposed to be open, but they couldn't chuck us out once we got in, so we slyly managed to get front row seats.
After that I just loafed around the stalls area, talking to a lot of people, waiting for the Sports ad Entertainment (SpEnt) Quiz to start. I met Mithun who took me to the music room where he was practising for the Host Show, a nice fun event full of old rock.I left soon though, for the spent quiz. It started at about 12 pm. These guys have started this fad of LVCs. That's a Long visual Connect, meaning they show you twenty to thirty images and you've got to connect all of them. Painful. They also have a whole section based on Absolut and Mocktials. Sadly there wasn't any vodka being handed out to the audience, not that I wanted any but just for the sake of it.
So I was headed to the room to sleep, when I met Mithun again and we went to get some coffee, but no luck. So I inally decided to crash.
Day 3:
Got up and went to do the daily cross, but messed it up with a spelling mistake. that's ok. The real pain was when Sonal asks me to fill in for Sab who's gone home and left her without a debate partner. The topic was ' Is the media justified in altering the course of justice by arousing public opinion(/sentiment)? ' More pain, embarrasment, and some pretty women. Oh well, you win some, you lose a lot. Cos I missed the whole of Decibels morning.
I rush out of the debate and we leave to go to the mosque, Husain and I. My Dad's friend stays in chennai so we were going to her place to change, as it was close to the mosque. She has a daughter doing Visual Comm. After the evening prayer, we go back to their place, and stay for dinner. We chat a lot, and she's quite interesting. The daughter, mind you. My dad's friend drops us back in IITM after having coffee, and we part ways. Nice time.
So the light music is going on, where people either play tamil or those standard indi ballads of late. 'Aadat' and all that stuff. I missed the decibels finals. Boo hoo. So I leave, and Atul and I chat for a long time around Bindaas Park and the stall area. In general discussing college. Finally we head back by around 12 pm for the main quiz finals, in which Husain qualified. It was decent, managed to stay awake till 3:30 a.m., but I decided to sleep cos I might need it.
Day 4:
We get up, try the crossword, and don't get one word (!). Apparently Logorrhea is a disease where one can't keep one's mouth shut. Oh well.
I pleasantly watch acoustyx all day, which was nice, and loaded with pretty women. Some really talented performances went on. St. Joseph's College was really good, and as I guessed they went on to win the event. Cute singer.
Soon after there's western solo. the instrumentals are amazing, pianists, guitarists and a harmonica. Wow. Sylvester showed up with a funky tune. I want to watch the vocals, where Aditya would be takin part, but I have to leave for the crossword finals.
The finals is delayed, and I'm just generally waiting around. It start after about half an hour. The grids was too small, so soon a lot of the words could be guessed by filling in obvious letters. We were tied for first at the end of the first round. The buzzers don't worrk, so we have the third round, which was similar to the first. It's going well, clues are simple and most people are getting them. We slip to third place cos there weren't enough clues to complete the third round, before the partly uncovered clues become written clues.
finally the buzzer proves to be unreliable. We then go with a show of hands. And we rip. We get the first two buzzers and are back in the lead, and finally way ahead. Avi and Sathya finish second, after a points screw up initially declared them behind Bofi and Basvi. Initially I was scared Bofi and Busvi would prove too strong for us, but we managed to win.
The rest of Saarang went in collecting prizes, packing and then reaching the bus station. Husain lost the ticket, and we had to buy our own seat again.
On the whle, a pretty average Saarang. Forgettable in mos parts, I already struggle to remember the people and faces. Mood I was a whole lot more entertaining, though there'd never be a crossword there. Oh Well. I regained a title I wasn't too bothered about initially, and now it does feel good to have won.
Day 1:
I managed to reach a day late, on the 27th of Feb. So I missed an apparently good inauguration. Instead of the usual classical stuff, there was a Global Music performance by a group of firangs. Oh! and I missed the Word Games prelims, cos of some screw-up in the schedule put up on the website.
Day 2:
Anyway, so I reach Chennai after a huge traffic jam delayed the departure from Bangalore. It was a short ride to the IITM main gate, from where I decide to walk to the room. That took an hour! Meanwhile I saw about four groups of deer in different places, including one with antlers. Not sure if that's called a stag, a male spotted deer. Anyway.
So the first thing I do is have a bath and then head out to do the daily crossword. Husain had single-handedly won the previous days, and we did that days and won it too. After that there was nothing much o do, so watched a lot of Powerchord, where there was this bang from Xaviers, with a pretty good (two separate adjectives) lead vocalist. The bassist was talented too. They ultimately won, and got to take part in the semi-pro finals. Other noticeable acts was a band from the Chitra kala Parishat, with a guitarist called Sylvester who looked like some guy in a dingy, cramped shop in an arbit village lane in Tamil Nadu. Quite a guy.
Thereafter is the crossword pre-lims, which we finished somewhere between first and third, depending on whom you ask and who's ego is at stake, I guess. Meanwhile I managed to watch a bit of the main quiz elims in the morn, as well as some of the JAM sessions. the JAM was terrible, with a pathetic crowd laughing at every silly lewd joke, and slapstick Jammaster's delights and what have you. Some of it was good, no doubt, but it wasn't worth enduring the rest of the show.
In the evening I stood in line to catch a rendition of Five Point Someone by the Madras Play something-something, a theatre group. It was nice, the story is decent and all. There were a lot of people wanting to see the show, and the line was huge, but we managed to sneak in hrough a side door no one else thought would be open. It wasn;t supposed to be open, but they couldn't chuck us out once we got in, so we slyly managed to get front row seats.
After that I just loafed around the stalls area, talking to a lot of people, waiting for the Sports ad Entertainment (SpEnt) Quiz to start. I met Mithun who took me to the music room where he was practising for the Host Show, a nice fun event full of old rock.I left soon though, for the spent quiz. It started at about 12 pm. These guys have started this fad of LVCs. That's a Long visual Connect, meaning they show you twenty to thirty images and you've got to connect all of them. Painful. They also have a whole section based on Absolut and Mocktials. Sadly there wasn't any vodka being handed out to the audience, not that I wanted any but just for the sake of it.
So I was headed to the room to sleep, when I met Mithun again and we went to get some coffee, but no luck. So I inally decided to crash.
Day 3:
Got up and went to do the daily cross, but messed it up with a spelling mistake. that's ok. The real pain was when Sonal asks me to fill in for Sab who's gone home and left her without a debate partner. The topic was ' Is the media justified in altering the course of justice by arousing public opinion(/sentiment)? ' More pain, embarrasment, and some pretty women. Oh well, you win some, you lose a lot. Cos I missed the whole of Decibels morning.
I rush out of the debate and we leave to go to the mosque, Husain and I. My Dad's friend stays in chennai so we were going to her place to change, as it was close to the mosque. She has a daughter doing Visual Comm. After the evening prayer, we go back to their place, and stay for dinner. We chat a lot, and she's quite interesting. The daughter, mind you. My dad's friend drops us back in IITM after having coffee, and we part ways. Nice time.
So the light music is going on, where people either play tamil or those standard indi ballads of late. 'Aadat' and all that stuff. I missed the decibels finals. Boo hoo. So I leave, and Atul and I chat for a long time around Bindaas Park and the stall area. In general discussing college. Finally we head back by around 12 pm for the main quiz finals, in which Husain qualified. It was decent, managed to stay awake till 3:30 a.m., but I decided to sleep cos I might need it.
Day 4:
We get up, try the crossword, and don't get one word (!). Apparently Logorrhea is a disease where one can't keep one's mouth shut. Oh well.
I pleasantly watch acoustyx all day, which was nice, and loaded with pretty women. Some really talented performances went on. St. Joseph's College was really good, and as I guessed they went on to win the event. Cute singer.
Soon after there's western solo. the instrumentals are amazing, pianists, guitarists and a harmonica. Wow. Sylvester showed up with a funky tune. I want to watch the vocals, where Aditya would be takin part, but I have to leave for the crossword finals.
The finals is delayed, and I'm just generally waiting around. It start after about half an hour. The grids was too small, so soon a lot of the words could be guessed by filling in obvious letters. We were tied for first at the end of the first round. The buzzers don't worrk, so we have the third round, which was similar to the first. It's going well, clues are simple and most people are getting them. We slip to third place cos there weren't enough clues to complete the third round, before the partly uncovered clues become written clues.
finally the buzzer proves to be unreliable. We then go with a show of hands. And we rip. We get the first two buzzers and are back in the lead, and finally way ahead. Avi and Sathya finish second, after a points screw up initially declared them behind Bofi and Basvi. Initially I was scared Bofi and Busvi would prove too strong for us, but we managed to win.
The rest of Saarang went in collecting prizes, packing and then reaching the bus station. Husain lost the ticket, and we had to buy our own seat again.
On the whle, a pretty average Saarang. Forgettable in mos parts, I already struggle to remember the people and faces. Mood I was a whole lot more entertaining, though there'd never be a crossword there. Oh Well. I regained a title I wasn't too bothered about initially, and now it does feel good to have won.
Friday, January 12
Mood Indigo '06
I decided to take a break form project work and go to Mood Indigo. I heard the fest wasn't that great, though the chicks were aplenty. In any case I was in my final year and since the best way to learn is to do it oneself, I found myself in IIT Bombay on Christmas Day.
The train ride till Mumbai was fun. The third years were in bogey 10, I was in S3, and the remanining final years in S11 with kaiya, a second year. I kept moving up and down the train through the pantry on the first day, but stayed there completely on the second day. It was good fun, we played cards, cracked jokes and had a great time. I learnt how to play Literature. It's a memory based game where you try and secure sets, a set being cards 3-8 or 9- Ace of a single suit. So there are eight sets in all. You use the fact that a person can ask the opposite team for a card only if he has one from the same set himself. So you have to remember who asked what and figure out where all the cards are. If someone askes you for a card then you must give it to them if you have it. One problem was that everyone wasn't seated in two continuous compartments, so there were in effect two groups. Not a big deal but not ideal either.
Day 0:
Once we reached Mumbai we took an auto to IIT. It was a bit of a waste because the dance troupe form our college managed to go from Kurla to IIT by local train, turning out a lot cheaper. Anyway we registered as a contingent of 25+, went to our rooms and laid the mattresses and we were set. The first thing S did was get ready to smoke up. I didn't hang around for long, and headed for my Kaka's place in Mazgaon, near the docks. It took me quite some time and there were a lot of commuters on the train.
Kaka was eating sugarcane so I joined him. Soon after I took a bath and washed away the dirt from the train. By the time I got out Kaki had gotten dinner ready. After dinner I just chatted a while and then went to sleep.
Day 1:
I left Kaka's place by around 8:15 in the morning. The train ride was peaceful however the bus was packed and sweaty. I reached IIT by around 9:20 and rushed to G1&2, for the wordgames. I asked a girl for directions, Maitri her name was. It turned out she was headed there too, only GenQuiz was supposed to happen. She was right, and so I teamed up with Arun Sagar, a.k.a. Asso. We did ok, but not good enough to qualify.
After that I headed out to watch a Brazilian Martial Art / Dance called Capoeira. It was developed by the slaves as a kind of expression of their anger and hope against their masters. We thought we'd get to see lissome Brazilian women in bikinis shaking it like there was no tomorrow. Instead we got fully clad people of all shapes and sizes, and all of them dancing like there had been no yesterday. The only good dancer was the instructor, who wowed us with some neat gymnastics, but since you need two people in capoeira, he couldn't really show us the dance. All in all I got to learn a small bit more about the world.
Next up was the panel discussion. Prado, Vij, Bhogle and I went there, and met some other people from college too. The panel featured Kiron Kher, Cyrus, Shubhash Ghai and others. They were talking about where Mumbai was headed. Typically it was about Mumbai growing beyond its seams, and about the need to keep people out and other stuff that got boring and cliched very fast and so we left.
We had lunch, where the only thing reasonably priced was a tasteless chicken roll. Nevertheless it managed to keep the hunger pangs at bay. Vij and I also managed to find a partner for wordgames, Rahul Lalmalani from Duke Uni. He was Vij's friend, and also the BQC champion of champions. We reached the wordgames and did O.K. There were anagrams, codes, rebuses, scrabble and some other new stuff that was fun. We managed to get 428 on 500, which put us in sixth place for the elims.
After the elims we went and saw the Rangoli and Bonsai Exhibitions. The Rangoli was awesome, with this neat one of the Big B, which got the lighting from his shirt with an almost photo-like accuracy.
Finally I went to watch the JAM Elims, which was ok, not too good. As usual people are splitting hairs and only once in a while saying anything interesting. There we met Praneeta, a girl from Symbiosis, Pune. Since there wasn't place and people left in the middle for the proshow, Pranay and I ended up on either side of her and we struck up a conversation. The JAM elims went on till around 8, and we missed the start of the proshow. Anyway I went inside, and met our college band. We sat outside, ogled a bit and then I left to go to my mom's mama's place. There I had dinner and then my cousins took me for a ride about town at 11. We went to Marine Drive, Worli Sea Face and finally to this famous juice centre, Haji Ali's I think. It was great fun, especially since it was so late at night and stuff was still open, and people loitering about.
Day 2:
I reached IIT by almost ten. Watched livewire till around 12. There were some forgettable heavy metal bands, except Metal Messiah, which was very tight and the bassist had a 'Rastafarian' look that was pretty neat. After that we had lunch at the hostel canteen and then headed for the JAM finals at 1:30. We were a bit late and managed to get place on the floor in front.
The place got really jam packed and we were lucky we didn't have to stand. The JAM was pretty bad, very little creativity. I know it's hard to JAM, but since these were the semi-finalists after about 90+ contestants you'd expect them to be able to say something decent and not buzz for no reason. But as usual people split hairs. The JAM master was once a winner but currently acted like a jerk. As in the elims he was heavily influenced by oestrogen. In the elims he favoured a guy from Symbi Law cos this group of chicks was from Symbi Law. In the semi-finals he kept asking a girl Farah to start. Quite an arbit fellow so finally at 2:30 I decided I didn't want to watch another average JAM so I left and almost immediately found Brat who wanted to watch the Ballroom Dance.
And so we headed to the LT and found space on the floor in front of the stage again. The first couple was good, they were energetic and had some nice steps. The girl was really pretty. However they soon got tired and it showed, missing each other once in a while and fumbling a bit. Still it was really good and I was happy I took the trouble. The next couple was really good. The guy was a tall and graceful fellow, so he could lift the girl a lot more easily and they were much smoother. They didn't make a mistake until towards the end, but it was minor and on the whole it was very impressive. From then on it was downhill until I left at four for the wordgames finals. In between some chick who was a juggling bartender gave us a cameo and Pranay volunteered to try it, and he very nearly managed to throw the thing up and catch it with the other arm behind his back.
Instead of the WG finals the exhibiton round of the JAM was going on. It was a lot of fun and a lot more interesting, partly I guess cos nothing was at stake. It still was a long time before they finally started the worgames. There was another elim round which had a crossword in it. We managed to blitz through it in about eight minutes, which made me feel very good. We jumped to fifth place since the first team got only 25 points and we got 100.
The WG finals started after that. The first rounds were direct questions plus buzzers for the rest. The round was of the 'sum-of-two-synonyms-makes-another-synonym' type. They had ten questions of those. After that was the buzzer round which had rebuses and 365 D in a Y type questions. Finally there was snatch and then an individual round where you create words containing all the letters that pop up one after the other, the round ending when you can't find a word that contains the new letter too. I
n the end we came third place. The individual round didn't change the places, by a stroke of luck. We had A,J,A,I in order. Since J was 4 points we avoided a tie for third place. Phew!
I decided to skip the pro nite with KK. Instead P and I went to south Mumbai just for the heck of it. We returned and watched a performance of Kalaripayattu, a Kerala Martial Art form. Following that there was Poi, a fire show which wasn't all to different from a stunt the Malyali's did, so we left and went to watch the skateboarding performance. P said it was average, since she'd seen a lot tougher stunts. In any case they weren't getting it right all the time so it was kind of boring.
Finally she headed for her hostel and so did I. Opposite the hostel in the OAT parking lot there was a bonfire. I told Brat about it so we went and sat there for a while. They were singing some songs with a guitar. It was nice timepass. It was 2:30 in the morning. These guys were from SJIC or something. A couple of girls joined later. We soon left and went to sleep. It had been a long and nice day.
Day 3:
Pranay and I wake up at about 6:30 in the morning. We get ready and head out for breakfast and coffee. Breakfast is Methi Parantha with a bit of pickle. We then headed for the Pot Pourrie Elims. I teamed up arbitrarily with two juniors the day before. They had practised the pictography, so eventually got through. Apart from Picto there were rebuses, which were decent.
I rushed out after that and managed to be just in time to watch my coll's Semi-Pro Band performance as well as Street Dance performances. The band did ok, the vocalist Murali was having throat problems, so he couldn't sing with his usual energy. The lead guitar was inaudible at times. Mainly they lacked a stage presence. Somehow it didn't all gel that day. The street dance was nice, they were all dressed in bright blue sleeveless tops with straps on the arms, and black pants, a kind of Arabian looking thing. The theme was the suicide of farmers. It was nice, but didn't recieve as much crowd response as the jhataks and mataks by suggestively dressed girls from other colls. Oh well. Three cheers for our team though.
On the way out some TV reporter asked us our opinion on whether IITians are giving back to the community in a more direct way or not. Pranay, Tejas and I were made unwilling spokespersons at that point, and so we said some stuff. Apparently it was aired on CNN. My friends told me later. So that's my couple of minutes of fame.
We had lunch and then went to the SOM lecture hall to attend a talk by Gregory Roberts a.k.a. Shantaram. It was pretty good. Most of you would know his story, if not you can Google it. He spoke about his experiences and his book and future plans. However, his main point was that he regretted a lot about his life, and that he now feels being a Man means having the means to provide for your children when they need it. And also that we should start caring about our cities and country again. In between a guy got emotional and suggested he should run for President, which got a lot of laughs. Speaking of laughs Gregory Roberts knew how to tell a story, and sometimes I thought he was making a show out of it. Other times he seemed very sincere. All in all it was nice to see a person who had such a unique story.
I also watched the last round of the extempre, which was fun. Inthis round, one of the two team members interviews the other. The interviewee has to figure out what he's being interviewed for, cos the interviewer can't say that, nor use keywords as hints in his questioning. The events were like a man who had peed on the moon, a guy with the loudest fart, a guy with the longest nose hair. For the latter one he got the object whose length was in question quite wrong. Very wrong. :). Cute judge tho.
Next up we stood in line to watch the sitar funk show followed by Kailash Kher. Before that I watched the wall painting competition, some really nice stuff. The Sitar Funk was initially very promising. He heald it like a guitar, played it like a guitar. He was very first and that's fine for the first song. But in the end, that's all he did. Played speed licks, without thought to Melody at all. So I got bugged. The bassist with him was great though. Very talented.
I left after that... heard Kailash Kher from outside. Just sat and ogled, thenI went home, just went to sleep.
Day 4:
Reached IIT by around 9 a.m. I had planned to ditch the pot pourrie, and let them take a more experienced guy. Out of curiosity I walk in and find out it's not possible to change teams and so I had to be part of the team I qualified with.
So first round was a normal DC, with six types of things. A common hindi dialogue, a fictional villian, a movie, and other stuff I forgot. Next was a wordgames round, with one guy form each team solving wordgames and the other two playing WTGW proper. There was a funda that if you thought your teammate won't get the word, you pass it to another team. If they don't get it you get points. If they do you lose points. My team gave both words and neither teams got it. So we gained :).
The next round was a rapid fire round where we got 11 on 20. They were 10 movies and 10 personalities. The highest was 13, so we were pretty happy with ourselves. After that there was a picto-mime round involving a personality, and we got Phulan Devi in about 15 seconds. So now we were in second place!! Arbit team that too.
The last round was TDH, a modification of 20 Q. But it was a bidding round. Teams bid about howmuch time they think they can get the event in, and the lowest gets a chance to attempt the TDH. If they get it in the biggeg time, they get the difference between max time and bid time as points. If not, they have a penalty of half that differece. SO I didn't bid anything cos I had no experience with my teammates and was not in a position to judge. Eventually Tejas and co. overtook us and we came third. It was a 1-2-3 NITK finish.
After that I ran around to find the guy with teh college registration slip, and then stood in line and got passes TWICE. Once without and ocne with, later when I found the slip. It pissed me off a bit. Anyway so while standing in line, there was a cute chick, and we stole glances at each other, but once our eyes met and we both smiled, in knowing. Never saw her again. Oh well.
So finally we went to livewire (semi-pro finals and Pro show), but the line was insanely long. We decided to go round the back, and lidten from the parking lot. The others were wasting time and so I went off by myself. There I met Rahul, a college mate. He was about to get his girlfriend and friends into the OAT for the concert. So i got in too!! Of all the luck. I stayed and caught the end of some band that was supposed to be psychedelic, but that didn't seem so. Then there was a Hendrix- cover band, which was good. They also played a good OC, called 'Walk Away' or something.
The third band was too heavy, I head banged a bit and left. Didn't want to see Demonic Resurrection and Parikrama all over again. Instead we went to Leopold's, mainly cos G wanted to go there with all the talk about it in Shantaram.
So off we went. We caught the shuttle to the main gate, and from there we couldn't get an auto. We stopped a private bus and he took us at bus fare. What luck! it was a small and empty bus, all to ourselves. From Kanjur Marg, where we got off the bus, we took a train to Victoria Terminus, the last station on the central railway line in South Bombay. On the way I learnt the 'Is it you?' thing. When someone snaps his finger and asks you that, you have to say 'No, it's....' and it's got to be the most arbit thing around you. Nice timepass.
I reach leopold's and I realise I've been there before, my cousin Hutain had taken me there once. Lot's of pretty foreigners about. We wait about half an hour for a table. Then we order beer and food. It was nice fun. Debrati was half drunk. She almost used her plate as an ashtray on my suggestion, but then I stopped her in time. towards the end there was some cute girl who sat down at the next table. Wow!! We had a great time, and then we headed back. I stayed over at my aunt's place in Byculla again.
And that was the end of Mood Indigo '06.
The train ride till Mumbai was fun. The third years were in bogey 10, I was in S3, and the remanining final years in S11 with kaiya, a second year. I kept moving up and down the train through the pantry on the first day, but stayed there completely on the second day. It was good fun, we played cards, cracked jokes and had a great time. I learnt how to play Literature. It's a memory based game where you try and secure sets, a set being cards 3-8 or 9- Ace of a single suit. So there are eight sets in all. You use the fact that a person can ask the opposite team for a card only if he has one from the same set himself. So you have to remember who asked what and figure out where all the cards are. If someone askes you for a card then you must give it to them if you have it. One problem was that everyone wasn't seated in two continuous compartments, so there were in effect two groups. Not a big deal but not ideal either.
Day 0:
Once we reached Mumbai we took an auto to IIT. It was a bit of a waste because the dance troupe form our college managed to go from Kurla to IIT by local train, turning out a lot cheaper. Anyway we registered as a contingent of 25+, went to our rooms and laid the mattresses and we were set. The first thing S did was get ready to smoke up. I didn't hang around for long, and headed for my Kaka's place in Mazgaon, near the docks. It took me quite some time and there were a lot of commuters on the train.
Kaka was eating sugarcane so I joined him. Soon after I took a bath and washed away the dirt from the train. By the time I got out Kaki had gotten dinner ready. After dinner I just chatted a while and then went to sleep.
Day 1:
I left Kaka's place by around 8:15 in the morning. The train ride was peaceful however the bus was packed and sweaty. I reached IIT by around 9:20 and rushed to G1&2, for the wordgames. I asked a girl for directions, Maitri her name was. It turned out she was headed there too, only GenQuiz was supposed to happen. She was right, and so I teamed up with Arun Sagar, a.k.a. Asso. We did ok, but not good enough to qualify.
After that I headed out to watch a Brazilian Martial Art / Dance called Capoeira. It was developed by the slaves as a kind of expression of their anger and hope against their masters. We thought we'd get to see lissome Brazilian women in bikinis shaking it like there was no tomorrow. Instead we got fully clad people of all shapes and sizes, and all of them dancing like there had been no yesterday. The only good dancer was the instructor, who wowed us with some neat gymnastics, but since you need two people in capoeira, he couldn't really show us the dance. All in all I got to learn a small bit more about the world.
Next up was the panel discussion. Prado, Vij, Bhogle and I went there, and met some other people from college too. The panel featured Kiron Kher, Cyrus, Shubhash Ghai and others. They were talking about where Mumbai was headed. Typically it was about Mumbai growing beyond its seams, and about the need to keep people out and other stuff that got boring and cliched very fast and so we left.
We had lunch, where the only thing reasonably priced was a tasteless chicken roll. Nevertheless it managed to keep the hunger pangs at bay. Vij and I also managed to find a partner for wordgames, Rahul Lalmalani from Duke Uni. He was Vij's friend, and also the BQC champion of champions. We reached the wordgames and did O.K. There were anagrams, codes, rebuses, scrabble and some other new stuff that was fun. We managed to get 428 on 500, which put us in sixth place for the elims.
After the elims we went and saw the Rangoli and Bonsai Exhibitions. The Rangoli was awesome, with this neat one of the Big B, which got the lighting from his shirt with an almost photo-like accuracy.
Finally I went to watch the JAM Elims, which was ok, not too good. As usual people are splitting hairs and only once in a while saying anything interesting. There we met Praneeta, a girl from Symbiosis, Pune. Since there wasn't place and people left in the middle for the proshow, Pranay and I ended up on either side of her and we struck up a conversation. The JAM elims went on till around 8, and we missed the start of the proshow. Anyway I went inside, and met our college band. We sat outside, ogled a bit and then I left to go to my mom's mama's place. There I had dinner and then my cousins took me for a ride about town at 11. We went to Marine Drive, Worli Sea Face and finally to this famous juice centre, Haji Ali's I think. It was great fun, especially since it was so late at night and stuff was still open, and people loitering about.
Day 2:
I reached IIT by almost ten. Watched livewire till around 12. There were some forgettable heavy metal bands, except Metal Messiah, which was very tight and the bassist had a 'Rastafarian' look that was pretty neat. After that we had lunch at the hostel canteen and then headed for the JAM finals at 1:30. We were a bit late and managed to get place on the floor in front.
The place got really jam packed and we were lucky we didn't have to stand. The JAM was pretty bad, very little creativity. I know it's hard to JAM, but since these were the semi-finalists after about 90+ contestants you'd expect them to be able to say something decent and not buzz for no reason. But as usual people split hairs. The JAM master was once a winner but currently acted like a jerk. As in the elims he was heavily influenced by oestrogen. In the elims he favoured a guy from Symbi Law cos this group of chicks was from Symbi Law. In the semi-finals he kept asking a girl Farah to start. Quite an arbit fellow so finally at 2:30 I decided I didn't want to watch another average JAM so I left and almost immediately found Brat who wanted to watch the Ballroom Dance.
And so we headed to the LT and found space on the floor in front of the stage again. The first couple was good, they were energetic and had some nice steps. The girl was really pretty. However they soon got tired and it showed, missing each other once in a while and fumbling a bit. Still it was really good and I was happy I took the trouble. The next couple was really good. The guy was a tall and graceful fellow, so he could lift the girl a lot more easily and they were much smoother. They didn't make a mistake until towards the end, but it was minor and on the whole it was very impressive. From then on it was downhill until I left at four for the wordgames finals. In between some chick who was a juggling bartender gave us a cameo and Pranay volunteered to try it, and he very nearly managed to throw the thing up and catch it with the other arm behind his back.
Instead of the WG finals the exhibiton round of the JAM was going on. It was a lot of fun and a lot more interesting, partly I guess cos nothing was at stake. It still was a long time before they finally started the worgames. There was another elim round which had a crossword in it. We managed to blitz through it in about eight minutes, which made me feel very good. We jumped to fifth place since the first team got only 25 points and we got 100.
The WG finals started after that. The first rounds were direct questions plus buzzers for the rest. The round was of the 'sum-of-two-synonyms-makes-another-synonym' type. They had ten questions of those. After that was the buzzer round which had rebuses and 365 D in a Y type questions. Finally there was snatch and then an individual round where you create words containing all the letters that pop up one after the other, the round ending when you can't find a word that contains the new letter too. I
n the end we came third place. The individual round didn't change the places, by a stroke of luck. We had A,J,A,I in order. Since J was 4 points we avoided a tie for third place. Phew!
I decided to skip the pro nite with KK. Instead P and I went to south Mumbai just for the heck of it. We returned and watched a performance of Kalaripayattu, a Kerala Martial Art form. Following that there was Poi, a fire show which wasn't all to different from a stunt the Malyali's did, so we left and went to watch the skateboarding performance. P said it was average, since she'd seen a lot tougher stunts. In any case they weren't getting it right all the time so it was kind of boring.
Finally she headed for her hostel and so did I. Opposite the hostel in the OAT parking lot there was a bonfire. I told Brat about it so we went and sat there for a while. They were singing some songs with a guitar. It was nice timepass. It was 2:30 in the morning. These guys were from SJIC or something. A couple of girls joined later. We soon left and went to sleep. It had been a long and nice day.
Day 3:
Pranay and I wake up at about 6:30 in the morning. We get ready and head out for breakfast and coffee. Breakfast is Methi Parantha with a bit of pickle. We then headed for the Pot Pourrie Elims. I teamed up arbitrarily with two juniors the day before. They had practised the pictography, so eventually got through. Apart from Picto there were rebuses, which were decent.
I rushed out after that and managed to be just in time to watch my coll's Semi-Pro Band performance as well as Street Dance performances. The band did ok, the vocalist Murali was having throat problems, so he couldn't sing with his usual energy. The lead guitar was inaudible at times. Mainly they lacked a stage presence. Somehow it didn't all gel that day. The street dance was nice, they were all dressed in bright blue sleeveless tops with straps on the arms, and black pants, a kind of Arabian looking thing. The theme was the suicide of farmers. It was nice, but didn't recieve as much crowd response as the jhataks and mataks by suggestively dressed girls from other colls. Oh well. Three cheers for our team though.
On the way out some TV reporter asked us our opinion on whether IITians are giving back to the community in a more direct way or not. Pranay, Tejas and I were made unwilling spokespersons at that point, and so we said some stuff. Apparently it was aired on CNN. My friends told me later. So that's my couple of minutes of fame.
We had lunch and then went to the SOM lecture hall to attend a talk by Gregory Roberts a.k.a. Shantaram. It was pretty good. Most of you would know his story, if not you can Google it. He spoke about his experiences and his book and future plans. However, his main point was that he regretted a lot about his life, and that he now feels being a Man means having the means to provide for your children when they need it. And also that we should start caring about our cities and country again. In between a guy got emotional and suggested he should run for President, which got a lot of laughs. Speaking of laughs Gregory Roberts knew how to tell a story, and sometimes I thought he was making a show out of it. Other times he seemed very sincere. All in all it was nice to see a person who had such a unique story.
I also watched the last round of the extempre, which was fun. Inthis round, one of the two team members interviews the other. The interviewee has to figure out what he's being interviewed for, cos the interviewer can't say that, nor use keywords as hints in his questioning. The events were like a man who had peed on the moon, a guy with the loudest fart, a guy with the longest nose hair. For the latter one he got the object whose length was in question quite wrong. Very wrong. :). Cute judge tho.
Next up we stood in line to watch the sitar funk show followed by Kailash Kher. Before that I watched the wall painting competition, some really nice stuff. The Sitar Funk was initially very promising. He heald it like a guitar, played it like a guitar. He was very first and that's fine for the first song. But in the end, that's all he did. Played speed licks, without thought to Melody at all. So I got bugged. The bassist with him was great though. Very talented.
I left after that... heard Kailash Kher from outside. Just sat and ogled, thenI went home, just went to sleep.
Day 4:
Reached IIT by around 9 a.m. I had planned to ditch the pot pourrie, and let them take a more experienced guy. Out of curiosity I walk in and find out it's not possible to change teams and so I had to be part of the team I qualified with.
So first round was a normal DC, with six types of things. A common hindi dialogue, a fictional villian, a movie, and other stuff I forgot. Next was a wordgames round, with one guy form each team solving wordgames and the other two playing WTGW proper. There was a funda that if you thought your teammate won't get the word, you pass it to another team. If they don't get it you get points. If they do you lose points. My team gave both words and neither teams got it. So we gained :).
The next round was a rapid fire round where we got 11 on 20. They were 10 movies and 10 personalities. The highest was 13, so we were pretty happy with ourselves. After that there was a picto-mime round involving a personality, and we got Phulan Devi in about 15 seconds. So now we were in second place!! Arbit team that too.
The last round was TDH, a modification of 20 Q. But it was a bidding round. Teams bid about howmuch time they think they can get the event in, and the lowest gets a chance to attempt the TDH. If they get it in the biggeg time, they get the difference between max time and bid time as points. If not, they have a penalty of half that differece. SO I didn't bid anything cos I had no experience with my teammates and was not in a position to judge. Eventually Tejas and co. overtook us and we came third. It was a 1-2-3 NITK finish.
After that I ran around to find the guy with teh college registration slip, and then stood in line and got passes TWICE. Once without and ocne with, later when I found the slip. It pissed me off a bit. Anyway so while standing in line, there was a cute chick, and we stole glances at each other, but once our eyes met and we both smiled, in knowing. Never saw her again. Oh well.
So finally we went to livewire (semi-pro finals and Pro show), but the line was insanely long. We decided to go round the back, and lidten from the parking lot. The others were wasting time and so I went off by myself. There I met Rahul, a college mate. He was about to get his girlfriend and friends into the OAT for the concert. So i got in too!! Of all the luck. I stayed and caught the end of some band that was supposed to be psychedelic, but that didn't seem so. Then there was a Hendrix- cover band, which was good. They also played a good OC, called 'Walk Away' or something.
The third band was too heavy, I head banged a bit and left. Didn't want to see Demonic Resurrection and Parikrama all over again. Instead we went to Leopold's, mainly cos G wanted to go there with all the talk about it in Shantaram.
So off we went. We caught the shuttle to the main gate, and from there we couldn't get an auto. We stopped a private bus and he took us at bus fare. What luck! it was a small and empty bus, all to ourselves. From Kanjur Marg, where we got off the bus, we took a train to Victoria Terminus, the last station on the central railway line in South Bombay. On the way I learnt the 'Is it you?' thing. When someone snaps his finger and asks you that, you have to say 'No, it's....' and it's got to be the most arbit thing around you. Nice timepass.
I reach leopold's and I realise I've been there before, my cousin Hutain had taken me there once. Lot's of pretty foreigners about. We wait about half an hour for a table. Then we order beer and food. It was nice fun. Debrati was half drunk. She almost used her plate as an ashtray on my suggestion, but then I stopped her in time. towards the end there was some cute girl who sat down at the next table. Wow!! We had a great time, and then we headed back. I stayed over at my aunt's place in Byculla again.
And that was the end of Mood Indigo '06.
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