Ho ho ho hum(bug)...

"The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, made his eyes red, his thin lips blue, and he spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice ..."

-Charles Dickens about E.Scrooge in A Christmas Carol

It is Christmas Season again, and for Bombay University's aspiring engineers its the longdrawn exam season.  I for one am bored already and very nearly Dicken's Scrooge. The examinations stretch from 4th of December to 14th of January, and we have only 5 papers to give. One can only imagine the apathy and complete displeasure at everything around that sets in. Exam time demands that time be spent with the books, if not convention its the conviction that tearing through the books and notes will help keep our head above water.

There is very little else that one can allow oneself to do. Its all got to be sit and home and study. No going out, no eating out, no long chats, no games, no movies, basically nothing fun. The weather in the mornings is so pleasant,so soporific just begs you to continue to snuggle the pillows and stay under the covers all morning, but that pleasure is short lived too-must rise early and hit the books. 

-Rising time from my Bedroom Balcony 

It comes as no surprise then that Ebenezer Scrooge was such a Scrooge, when one tries to put in the context that he too must have faced such a situation. Whats to be merry about? The people who went about setting the exam timetable, must have been scrooges as well...allowing us only a day off on Christmas.  I dont know if am making sense, but i for one am convinced-Ebenezer Scrooge was a student of banking or whatever it is, and his exams were as long drawn as todays engineers'.

So, No merry wishes to you, all I have to say is...BAH...HUMBUG!!!

Nov. 26th Bombay, Among other things....

As soon as I turned on TV in the early night on the 26th and witnessed lunacy at its best- the indiscriminate gunfire in South Bombay, surprise and shock gripped me. I wasn't sure that the Local cops would be able to contain them immediately, but never did I expect it to turn the way we have witnessed all of Nov. 27th 2008.

After texting my friends about the news, i turned in early on the 26th. Woke up early next morning, only to find-the Taj mahal hotel set abaze, and a terrorist situation. Like i am sure you have heard the news channels say, things turned very fast. A lot of policemen were killed including ATS chief, ACP Mumbai and an experienced Encounter Specialist. I don't know them personally, but instant sorrow and grief swept over me.I have found that as soon as you put a face and name to any one among the hundred anonymous victims, a deep sense of sadness fills me.

I was among the relatively fortunate who saw this terrorist situation develop rapidly into a hostage situation  from my home, and not on the streets of South Bombay, or inside those buildings. The news channels albeit doing their best not to perform their tacit responsibility of SENSATIONALIZING the news, were not entirely helpful. They kept repeating what we knew, and showed that they did little to find out more. CNN an American news channel, was the only one I could find who went online to get information. Which was giving more information than the hordes of journalists at ground zero. When i went online myself to find out about the "DECCAN Mujahideen"(seemed so much of a made up name), i found out on Wikipedia a few lines. There was more information about the events that took place last night on the internet(Wikipedia, BBC,word press) than on the news channels.

Our media sadly were found digging for new treasure on an already explored island. The most silliest of questions were posed to a survivor, and the DG of police. One good thing was they were flashing helpline numbers and were calling out for donation of blood. I am unaware of the response people got on those helpline numbers.

While I saw no pattern emerge from the series of events, there were news channels saying it was an attack on Westerners. But in that case CAMA hospital, VT station, Vile Parle all just dont add up. If it was to create confusion, they have not created CONFUSION. And as suggest to me by my friend over the phone, i don't think its just a gang of people with an aim to take lives. They would have killed everyone by now. The mind of a lunatic cannot be understood to have motives, i agree, but surely there must be some reason, even if it is changing from time to time, and pointless.

Our beloved political parties, with their hordes and hordes of activists maintained a conspicuous silence given their proclaimed love for this state and its aboriginals. There is so much they could have done. I don't mean fight the terrorists(although when they start protesting and disrupting daily lives for their leader, they have a countenance that betrays invincibility), but things like getting on the streets, and moving people from crowded hospital to one which isn't as busy. Move victims who make it out to safe locations. Find out about the people inside, and make sure their relatives know.
Patrol the streets of Bombay, and see if they can identify any disruptive acts. There is so much they could have done if they really felt for this city they way they claim. But that i guess, is expecting way too much. Where would the head honchos be able to create their own disruptiveness by helping the city. Even the city's MoS and MLa's presence does nothing really; Apart from wasting the time of the security forces, by getting an explanation of the situation, and doing nothing with it. They and global leaders did what they can do best...Condemn.

The NSG, RAF, Navy and police appear to be doing all they can. It must be a difficult job to identify among innocent hostages -the bad guys, and take them out. While I will salute their bravery and courage, and patience, it is what they have been trained for. They are doing their JOB. ANY LESS would be unacceptable. It is good news that they have managed to capture one of the terrorists and ascertain their identity.

There is no doubt that Bombay is playing host to a deadly situation, but certainly a lot is left to be desired for. I would like to convey my condolences to all those people who have lost dear ones in this battle, hope that the hostages return unharmed, and the perpetrators are massacred unceremoniously in public.

Marilyn Manson --- Songs?

In a bid to listen to new kinds of music, I decided one day deviate from the genre of music I generally listen to when on the move, and switch to what my friends were raving about. And thus went ahead and put in my iPod, Marilyn Manson: Antichrist Superstar. I had already heard two of their songs, and they didn’t seem so outlandish. I regret I expected the same from this album. 

The songs start off with morbid music. Deathly and ghoulish, the start of the song is almost certain to give you the creeps at night. The songs’ intro can be used for the original soundtrack of a film Zombies-a-rising. And those that don’t fit that bill will be just perfect as a dirge. That’s as much as I can say about the intro to any song. 

If perchance, we decide to listen on and not skip the song after the intro, we then begin to understand my peers’ raving in unintelligible noises. They are merely singing the song!!! The words just don’t feature in any language. We know bands like Rammstein is German, so we expect to not understand. A linguist of global nature wouldn’t know what to make of this group’s songs. Their lexicon seems to be borrowed from aliens. 

All these thoughts went through my mind as I sat in the bus, listening to the songs, when suddenly; I was wrenched away from the song by the sound of screeching brakes. I soon realized this wasn’t any accident, because the bus continued to move… the iPod was showing the first song had ended and the next song had begun! What I had heard was the coda, indistinguishable from screeching brakes! The other songs too had similar pieces featuring breaking guitars, screams, and fade-outs in some sort of gibberish. 

Strangely, I didn’t mind all the weird elements to this kind of music. “Alternative metal” it’s called. The incomprehensible lyrics don’t really bother me and I am sure they don’t bother the fans of this Band either. The music is nice, the only thing is that to enjoy it best all you need to do is emerge from the crypt. 

Mellow-dramatics

I have a few articles written for me to share with you tonight, but i feel like writing something. I don't mean something with a point or purpose, just random musings. Please bear with.
I was intrigued by a movie called Sex and the city that i saw on keshav's LAN network. So i brought it home with me. This movie was made after its sitcom version became as popular as a sardar joke in India. I had never seen the show, only heard of its success and fame. Partly curiosity to see what all the hulla was about, and to see if it was in fact true to its name.
I skipped through the movie to make a quick estimation of the story line. As i went through it, i found a scene where the female protagonist was making wedding plans. On the next leap i made by fast forward i found the scene that where the groom had some doubts, and had been a no show at the alter. To which the bride was reacting violently in public. As he reaches to her to explain that he had a weak moment, and was alright now, she turns her back to him and clings on to her friend. What ensues is the height of melodrama! The friend makes such a wild and shocking cry refusing to allow the groom to come close to the bride.with so much invectiveness in expression she cast on him as they moved away. This is an over-reaction beyond all things. True I cannot contemplate and even begin to understand the embarrassment that might be caused to a bride when the groom decides to be absent at the alter, but surely some discretion is necessary when reacting in public.
The motto that this sends out is that there is this kind of female power to be proud of. I see my female friends who would have felt satisfied at seeing this kind of display of standing up for a friend.That anything goes if it is in the name of protection of femininity.
There are two things here: picking up Americanisms and following women empowerment and equality with fanaticism like ideals. The Americans portrayed in their serials and movies are always overly melodramatic. They tend to push things way out of proportion. They over react, shout, yell, throw things and do everything short gnawing each others eyes out. People some how like to follow this. They think this is the cool thing to do. And as a result, girls will react badly to anything on the road, scream, yell, and walk off in fits of rage. This they do with no qualms because they think its the way to conduct themselves.
And the womens' movement fanatics, need to really think about what they are asking. They may not all be maniacs, but if they must fight, it should be to make all women equal to each other. There are some who throw a tantrum if they are denied attention, there are some are not being given a job because shes a she.

The Nag-azine!

Its been long since i blogged. I was waiting for me to be the author of a good article. That didn't happen. I met my friend and blogger bud siddharth online the other day, he asked about the sudden recession in activity on my blog site. It was him that pointed out that blogs were never meant to be perfect little articles filled with "le mot juste" as Gustave Flaubert would have said it.

I have been busy with work with the magazine society of our college.I am the person responsible for it. This year we are starting a college wallpaper. That's sort of an open faced magazine. It is supposed to be fortnightly. this i guess will get people to write more often than just before the magazine is coming out!

The process started way back in August. I being a through professional, or at the very least aspiring to be one, wrote letters to the Principal, which he promptly directed to the Academic In-charge of our college. I suppose everything has to go through th Academic In-charge, so that makes it more like Vice-Principal. These letters were to state that according to the wishes of the previous magazine council i am to take charge this year. And another letter suggesting this Wallpaper.

Now we all know how things lie in the office. Days went by, in getting a new council in place, and getting a notice board and approval for the wallpaper. Only after getting the necessary stuff did we go ahead and invite contributions. Now after many weeks of deliberation are we in a position to release our first every issue of Campus BuZz. Thats what we called our little brainchild. Although we are still waiting for a professor to clear out the notice board that was promised to us, which shouldn't take very long...we're nearly there.

This year i guess our job, our meaning this years council, is to lay the foundation for such an activity. because there are only few more weeks left this semester, and about another 10-12 weeks next semester. So maybe next year this will really take off!
Wish us luck!

We venerate loyalty- to our schools, employers, institutions, friends-as a virtue. Loyalty, however, can be at least as detrimental an influence as it can be a beneficial one.

Loyalty by its definition is complete faith in someone or in some cause. By this definition alone we cannot understand the detrimental side of loyalty. In its simplest form, it is observed as a virtue that reassures us that amidst the vices of man, there is some good. In most things that bring immediate good, we tend to not look for the harm that it could cause in extreme cases. Thus we always tend to ignore the detrimental aspect to it. It is possible to discern the detrimental side to it if we look at loyalty in its extremes. 

The serious leeward side of loyalty is the blindness it brings. A complete lack of cognitive behaviour because of peoples near fanatical loyalty to a faith, are the causes of destruction and devastation today. A more relevant example is not available to confirm the veracity in the fallibility of blind faith. It is a characteristic of terrorism. The fanaticism and insane loyalty to a cause, where they pledge allegiance to their faith, and see it fit for numerous atrocities to be committed.  All attacks on humanity or prevailing harmony, which are globally condemned, are all acts conducted by such intense loyalty to a cause. This loyalty leads one to ignore all reason and then perform dastardly acts.

Intense loyalty is not only harmful to others, it can very often be, in fact more often be harm to ones-self. When it comes to loyalty to God for example, it brings with it blindness; a kind of fanaticism again but which harms the self.  When among the religious, become ill, if they believe that god or his miracles will alleviate them from their disease, and wait for another miracle they are doomed. People are believed to have refused medical attention to treat their cancer, because they believe that God is the one who put in a cancer, he is the one who will remove it.

These are the more severe effects of loyalty which make it as detrimental at least as much as it is beneficial  As it is so with everything, it is so with loyalty as well, in its excess it is extremely harmful.  Everything must be reasoned out. Even loyalty as godly as it maybe, sometimes has its shortcomings.

Jaane Tu..Or dont u know.

The Craze that is following the latest release is amazing. i don't claim to be a movie buff, but i generally have an idea of what the public reactions to a film just released are. The first 2 days following a release are really busy, because a film releases on Friday and then comes the weekend, and its generally with good Pre-release marketing and a rather favorable review that the shows go house-full.

The week that follows manages lukewarm to warm business at the box office, because the days now turn to the working days, and mostly people go to work, and those who don't are engaged in other responsibilities. This takes up the majority of society. The remainder are those who have the time to go to the movies. Even among those there are few who would prefer to watch it with someone so wait till the someone is free, and those who wily few who managed a ticket for the opening weekend.

This particular film has done so well over these few days, that almost all shows every where have been declared HOUSE-FULL! Imagine that. Owing to the fact that it was well marketed before the release, a very very favorable review, and that most people among the target audience lie in the age group depicted in the movie are lazing around with the vacation season over them. 

The movie released 4th of July, and today is the 8th of July the first Tuesday where the shows are declared house-full an amazing three hours prior to the start. Even i managed to see the show with front row seats for the late night show which was declared House-full soon after i bought tickets which was around 8 hours before show start time. 

This is what some site had to say:

The film fetched a flying start, collecting 80% + in morning shows and was 100% in noon shows across the country. It's one of the biggest starts of this year. The reports are very good and the film is expected to enjoy a strong, meritorious run in days to come."

                                                            -http://www.indiafm.com/trade/boxoffice_update/84.html

Well, there you have statistically, 100% in noon shows! I have never seen a response to a film like this.i suppose they initial response is going to go a few more weeks, this is when we can really figure the population of a region. 

Like Ninad (aka Belo) a friend of mine observed today- the title of the film suggests to the people, Whether you know ...Or not - that you just might not get tickets.

But Pappu can't dance

If there were ever a person by the name of Pappu, he would surely by now be hiding some place safe with an attic. And when he'd have to move around he'll have a doggie bag with 3 holes (2 eyes and a nose) handy. Thats all he could do, even to change his name he'd have to reveal it. Everyone seems to have taken a strong passionate liking to the idea of defamation of Pappu!

It all started one sunny morning, when the papers and other forms of media our protagonist enjoyed, accused him of have a chronic problem of failing. All over the tube people began saying itne saal hua pappu pass nahin hua! . At first it was only over the channels that aired children's shows, which pappu didnt really mind. But then shows that aired more popluar adult shows like saas-bahu serials, and the news began transgressing his private school records. When such ideas were in print pappu without being able to stand it any more, decided to take to the courts. Thats when they agreed to let pappu pass. Finally Pappu pass ho gaya!
How much of a relief it brought pappu to have the record set straight was not revealed to the public, who merely took joy in the fact that the guy passed the grade!

They mongers of such slander went a step ahead and even showed people that a really old fellow as pappu who just passed the 10th! The papers and media ever since have referred to people who pass the 10th standard long after their contemporaries as 'Pappu' . He even consulted astrologers who refused to see his horoscope saying that their horoscopes foretold trouble if they tended to his. It seemed nothing was going right.

then there was a lull. nothing much was said about pappu, at least not openly. he still when passing along areas where collegians gathered and 'hung around' heard allusions being made to him when someone goofed up. but that was the most.

Come 2008, it seemed to him that the stars decided to finish off any remaining self respect, they may have missed in the first round. They were rubbing everything he never was right in his face. This lean, shy and reserved fellow was being teased. he was never all those things they said he was....and he knew they knew it. they were just poking fun. He couldn't understand, why they were after him.
They were all after him. He wondered if there were any in his ancestors that were the cause of nearly all his countrymen having such an unpleasant sentiment towards him. he looked up libraries, in search for historical events that connect him to traitors or a variety of bandits.
He found nothing.
One day, he finally gave up, and decided that he would merely change his name. that would end his misery. he went to the court and submitted to change his name to something with more weight. After a few minutes the form was accepted and stamped by a giggling clerk. Pappu was no more, he was now Raj!
A wave of triumph swept over him. he felt he had just defeated all the evil spirits that surrounded him. All he had to do now was go over to the bank, and ration card office to get them to recognize the name change.
He was whistling on his way home, expecting his life to change for the better. At his doorstep he stopped to check the mailbox. It contained a cheque for a PAPPU of 10,00,000. And that not the bearer, but PAPPU himself must cash it.
Why me was all he remembers thinking before he fainted.

Trying stuff out

This is me again, trying stuff out on the iGOOGLE page.
This is an amazing innovation from google, which allows us to add our favourite tools on to our google home page.
to make it lucid...i have on my google home page, my gmail, my facebook account pages, orkut pages, my blog(which i am accessing right now) and more cool stuff like thoughts for the day, the date time and weather, google maps!!!!
I hope this gets posted on the blog correctly!
Kudos to GOOGLE! :D

Make like the birds...

We have grown up knowing and taking for a fact that Birds fly south for the winter. Now, just because we make allusions to dumb people as bird-brains doesn't necessarily make the original owners of those brains dumb.These migratory birds, leave the northern regions in search for alternative food sources, or the 'beat the cold'. The northern parts of our planets can get frigid in the heights of winter, and so these birds fly south, where the climate is far friendlier. So also for the southern parts, where the birds fly North for their winters. These are migratory instincts, that the birds and animals have.

An instinct is an inherent disposition of a living organism to a particular behaviour -Wikipedia.en

The seasonal movement of a complete population of animals from one area to another. Migration is usually a response to changes in temperature, food supply, or the amount of daylight, and is often undertaken for the purpose of breeding.

-Dictionary.com

The instinct of migration was true even to animals and mammals. From the prehistoric era onwards man has recorded that mammals like the mammoth find that the grass is greener on the other side, often of the equator(considering all the continents were joined together). They all went in search of better land and places where food was agreeable to their palates'. And when the climates changed, they would return, to the very same place from where they had left.This shown in the popular film ICE AGE 2. When the ice begins to melt, all the animals begin to move from their habitat.

This instinct i feel was a part of the humans as well, but a little different in nature. Whenever our ancestors found climates were unfavorable, and could not carry on in the same location, they moved. i suppose the difference is that they moved away, which is to be understood different from migrate.Apart from the accounts of Mohammed-bin-Tughlaq, who kept moving his GHQ from Delhi to Daulatabad every so often, we really have not come across anecdotes of migration by our ancestors.

However i feel it is time that we took to migration and learn from the birds and animals. With the seasons of today, we are faced; at least in the city of Bombay, with torrential rains. Where in other countries rain falls, here it comes down with something that can only be described as a wrath or vengeance. And Thanks to all the reconstruction and badly spaced out areas, not to forget the low lying sections of our 'mega' city water collects, claiming lives, or worse, destroying everything that makes life live-able and sparing the life itself.

Why not make like the birds, and leave town starting Early June, and return to where we were, just 3 months later. We could make migratory patterns of our own. We could collectively leave this city, to go anywhere. Pack our stuff, and leave.

They city already comes to a standstill every so often in the rains. Us leaving would just make sure there is no loss of life and distance the inconvenience in living in this season.The picture clearly shows what this city is put through during the monsoons.An entire stream of traffic just clogged,waiting endlessly for the road ahead to be cleared. This is worse than a complete standstill to city life. We leave for a few months, and effectively bypass the devastation, saving us the frustration, anger, irritation and other negative effects the rains have on us. All the Governing body has to do it make if official. June to September is Bombay's Vacation Season.Whats better is we don't have to go only to one place each time, we could plan in advance, and go visit different cities. Every year a new place to see. Its not impossible to do, and since the city would be deserted, maybe the conditions that bolster the chaos causing rains could be corrected. Till then, Lets just Make like the birds...

Long time no 'Siege!'

Ah, its been long, or long enough that i haven't written. its beginning to scare me now. i realize that the less often i write the less capable i am going to be of articulating my thoughts! After a grueling session of examinations i found myself at the liberty to do whatever i pleased. and so i pleased to go on a trip with my friends to a city called Hyderabad. The trip was a good 6 days, not counting the days spent in travel to and back from the place. The noteworthy travel was within the city of Hyderabad. The notes that i claim as worthy on the travel within city limits will be left to another post another time. This time i concentrate on something of lesser worthiness. This is merely a comeback post, to let the ardent fans of this blog know that i am very much here and have not taken to another hobby. Just as Psmith does to reassure his superiors at the bank he works in by leaving his hat and glove at his desk when he leaves for a lunch break, that he will be undoubtedly back, that they at the bank needn't worry that the 'highly efficient, toiler' Psmith has left for good, when they notice his absence. After the 6 days -excluding the one day of travel which is in no great detail explained here because of its already assessed worthiness, i was kept busy with other engagements. First on the 24th when i arrived at home, was my sisters birthday, which we all who are younger brothers know- must be treated with the respect that it is due. the first half of the next day went in coming back to the state where there is no PARTY! and the second half went wastefully in the expectation of my birthday, which demanded its own importance. Having called some people over and asking them specifically to come with presents, i was done for the day. My birthday passed very well, thanks to my family and all the people who made it. it pleased me very much that everyone who did come- had with them some present or the other. those who had no particular object to offer as a present, said they have brought themselves. i made a mental note of that so i may use it when i go for the very many parties i am invited to. The 27th presented me with a driving engagement that i was unable to escape from. again the engager of my activity was an elder sibling , so all my friends who are younger siblings will imagine and take comfort in that imagination that Alcatraz would be a lesser challenge. 28th was spent tiring to figure out what would be my POA or plan of Action for the remainder of my vacations, which i spent ideally- wastefully watching movies on my laptop. the joys of wasting time along the vacations was not exactly what i was planning for the days ahead, only they seemed a fitting way to start. all other means of entertainment failed to present themselves in time to save me from passing away the time they could have occupied. today is the 29th, and i am writing faithfully. I feel that i owe all of the fans of this activity of mine an explanation and a detailed report of those chores that kept me from posting my works so that they may read it. I am glad that this day will mark my comeback to writing, and your comeback to reading. Till later and more noteworthy topics arise, Adios

Whats human about us?

I have this interesting piece of news to give you all. yesterday in Kentucky (a state in the US) there was a Hit-And -Run accident and the driver just drove off.
CNN made THIS NEWS, and it was news because the by standers DID NOTHING! In that country everyone was appalled how a 78 yr old man crossing the road was just allowed to lie there.
the approximately 2 minute video shows very clearly the incident, of him being knocked over.
and the driver just drove off.
(link to the video:=http://www.hartford.gov/Police/)


The police say they aren't sure if anyone called 911. Cars just drove by around the body, as if it were a rag doll on the road. EVEN THEN You would expect them to move it out. people gathered around the body and just stood there for a few seconds, and walked away.

The local paper reported it as "SO INHUMANE". the chief of police even said-"we no longer have a moral compass".

no one even attempted to get medical attention to him. it was only when a police rover came up that they manged to get him help.

Juxtaposed to situations here, we aren't unhelpful, its just that most people would rather stay out of it. a majority of people would do exactly like these particular Americans did, and it would be normal conduct here. While there its national news. Inhumanity is made news on CNN.The people are calling it BEYOND CHILLING.
we are obliged to think we are doing someone a favor if we help. We should help because its the human thing to do.We just haven't gotten civilized natures into us yet.

i'll Be there for you...

When the rain starts to pour...,
...Like i've been there before...,
...'Coz you're there for me too."

These words made so famous by the decade long run of the sitcom 'F.R.I.E.N.D.S'. Some how manages to -when not just heard, but also thought about- set a sense of contentment. We always as our second nature would dictate, lean on our friends for support for so many things. from the disastrous to the completely joyful , it would help to point out that in the latter's case the support would purely be when one - jumps in delirium,and trips, if there is such a phrase.

Everyday, we feel our day just is more exciting and fun to go through just because they are around us. We really can't imagine a fun day all by ourselves. Even if we are doing stuff we really like, the fun just seems to diminish without them around. During travel, when you are with friends, you would spend time sharing the joy in doing stuff that you do. Be it discussions, laughing at something funny that happened in college that day;or would laugh out loud alone?

No one can really say they don't need friends. or at least they can't say they don't NEED REAL friends. Everyone needs friends. as children, if we grow up in societies where they are fewer kids to play with, we end up making imaginary friends.
I can't provide to you living examples(i can't say that i had imaginary friends, but i did carry out discussions that were quite real with an imaginary person) but i can give you an example we all know of-Calvin and Hobbes. where the 7 yr old kid makes a friend in the stuffed tiger Hobbes.
At least they grow up with the company of someone they make dear to them.
Wonder about those people who outgrew these friends, and then never got incorporated into a group.
Most likely that never happened. like i said everyone needs friends, and these people don't stay out of friends groups....those people who dont fit in... can 'not fit in' TOGETHER!
so there's hope for everyone. :)

We all need friends, those that we can rely on, those that we can share our joys with, those that we can share our sorrows with. Those that make us feel good about who we are, and what we do. these friends may not be in the same person, these friends may be different people, they could be around you, they could be living your life with you, or they could even be in another part of the world.

So if having friends is such a good thing, something that should ordinarily make us happy, then why is it that people are so weary, so often of making friends? So many people are so reluctant to meet new people, and engage in friendly banter with. Everyone thinks it is the only done way to make new friends if you are introduced to a person. Why can't you just chat up with some u meet at the platform? Or you are working out at the Gym , why must there be a need to talk to someone? why cant you just walk up to a person and strike a conversation. why does it sound so absurd? Should it sound absurd?

I might think this person of the opposite sex from a class is a nice person to talk to(or would be a nice person to talk to) from the little i have seen her interact in class. it would still strike me as absurd to go up to her and introduce myself. why you would think i was hitting on her! !

Even in cases of same sex, people just NEVER want to get friendly out of nothing. there must be a reason. i have had issues where people don't on outings just because they don't have people they know with them...if you never give them a chance, you will never make new friends.
you might argue -'why do i need new friends?' and thats not the point at all. Thats the whole wrong outlook.
These people, people who feel that socializing is a talent, or job, or work that needs to be done, they ask for a REASON to talk to people. Well for them...the image is a simple reason...

Just Because There is no such thing as too many friends

These Humans are crazy!!!

"When did that bolt of lightening hit the ground mate?"
"just as i got there!"
"And what about the second one?"
"IT TOOK RIDICULOUSLY LONG"
"really? The humans couldn't even scamper off fast enough when i saw them...are you sure?"
"POSITIVE"
"a friend of mine in printing said the humans wrote it as within '30 seconds' of each other."
" '30 seconds' ? what does that mean? i know it happened when i was around equator , and the second one when i was around the moon."
" i dont understand why they cant describe everything normally? either it was before or after a definite event"

"These Humans are crazy!!!"

this is probably what a photon would discuss with another photon.
Our concept of time is flawed. that is according to them. and theirs would be flawed according to us. This is the major thing in the theory of relativity. first we must get our perspective right.
the underlying concept being in the most simplistic terms, as an object moves faster, time is supposed to go slower.
Albert Einstein, came up with this new perspective and showed it to the world.He said that everything depends on the observer.
i could say that 2 events were simultaneous from where i stand(logic would tell me i am in the mid point of the distance between the 2 places where the events occurred) where as a person at the place where event -say - A occurs, would undoubtedly claim that EVENT A occurred first!
but are we wrong? or is one of us lying? it would be incorrect to say either. we are both correct in our judgments.

Time is not absolute, like so many before Einstein felt. time is relative. if in the same example of the 2 events, a rapidly moving particle were to observe this, it would find that the 2 events were separated by a HUGE gap in "ITS TIME".

I get this knowledge from a book called ' THE ABC of RELATIVITY- By Bertrand Russell"
the only absolute is the velocity of light. no matter who the observer, or where they are, or in what motion they are.
the book uses an example to show this. if i am on a crowded street, and i suddenly open a source of light waves that propagate in all directions...after the first second i would say that the light from my source is 186,000 miles away from me.
The fun part is...an observer who has his watch matched exactly with mine and would be about a at some distance away from me, would at the same instant say quite accurately that the same light was 186,000 miles away from him too!
thats the implication that when your moving as fast as light...time has different meanings all together.

no wonder they would think " we humans are crazy".

ps: the theory of relativity is something that is amazing and also something that i with my limited understand of this will be unable to explain to anyone. i provide my apologies if any of my analogies in the post are inaccurate and are irreconcilable with the ideas presented by Einstein.

Dont make it a big tissue

At the risk of being read as completely clichéd, i ask you, have you ever had an annoying cold when your nose kept flowing like one of those irritating tiny holes in the roof? have you ever eaten a meal with your bare hands and not found a single source of water to wash your hands with? Or when u really want to get that stain out of the glass, and you cant find a decent enough cloth to get a hold of, yet a cloth that qualifies as a rag to wipe it off?

i sound like a dubbed russian commercial yes, whats the point i am getting at?-> Tissues. tissues are a god send. its a substitute for so many things.to the aforementioned problems(albeit only a small glimpse into the wonderful uses of tissues) when u have a cold, u could blow into a handkerchief and then really keep folding it over and over till u find a spot un-smothered, OR...u could use a tissue for each use, and throw the damn thing out. thats the end of that problem. next time u want to blow, use another tissue that was as easily available as the previous one.
You need to wash your hands, and u cant find a wash basin, you certainly dont want to use a water bottle to rinse your hands in the grass. What comes to the rescue? a tissue! wipe your hands, and then keep the used tissue in a small 'throw away when u get home' bag. or find a waste paper basket and throw it in that.
easy huh?
tissues are easy and more clean solutions to water and cloth pieces. You could wipe the stain off the table and just throw the dashed thing out, without having to clean it over and over.
The most common claim is that Foreigners (to india) are the only people who use tissues. If you are an indian u will use water like everyone else. Thats not true.
the only case where i can agree that using water is better than using tissue paper is in the loo. thats mainly because our food is more with gravy and wet. their food is by and large dry food.
but in all other places that is fathomable to my mind, tissue surpass all other forms in terms of clean efficient disposal, or clean efficient usage.
you never have to worry about cleaning is over and over as you would do with a rag cloth, or handkerchief on a day of a real bad cold. you dont have to worry about finding appropriate sources of water to wash soiled hands.
Whats more is that you even get Cold Tissues, or scented tissues! the moment you feel hot u just whip out one of them cold tissues and wipe your face and hands...viola! you will begin to feel much better.
If all of that is not reason enough, picture this, you have your boss's family over for dinner, and his kid spills some drink on the table. you cant bring yourself to soil that absolutely new towel you bought, and the one cloth you usually use for wiping is over due on its cleaning schedules.
dont embarrass yourself-> use TISSUES!
PS: had i had a tissue brand to name, i would do i gladly, already this is like a commercial for them:)

Lin-ux perience

Its 2:16 in the morning, and i am sitting at my comp -most of my entires start of like this...i think i should find a new way to say it;

Tonight, my most recent want has been taken care of. i have been looking forward to using Linux for many years now, and when i got a comp of my own, i decided to give it a shot. So asked a friend(BOOTSTRAP BILL) to download Fedora 9 for me.
its a 3.38 Gigs file, and he had the means to do it in good time. Major thanks to him is on record here.
Before going any further i should tell u THIS IS NOT A GUIDE TO INSTALLING FEDORA.
-->
First after a mad search ,trying endlessly to figure out if my system architecture is i386 or i686 or x86_64, i figured mine was x86_64.
for those who are not sure,
Most systems are i386. that is if u are not using a MAC. a MAC or macintosh has an architecture called PowerPC, or PPC.
Intel Core2 Duo is an x86_64 architecture.
all those pentium 4, 3....etc are i386.

anyway, after having figured that out(i add that wikipedia is the source of all knowldge), i downloaded a torrent file.
a torrent file is used when we do not download directly but from a number of peers who are downloading the same file.

sat down to install it this evening, things weren't exactly how i wanted them to be, ran in to absurd errors that claimed that a corrupt file was downloaded. but all the same, stuff started rolling.
Now i did not know that linux uses 3 seperate partitions.
one is the 'root' the notation is '/' - that is the ROOT directory, where everything is supposed to begin.
it also needs something called a 'swap' partition. when frequently accessed files are present, they are placed in the swap partition. they say the larger the swap the better it is. and the third is '/boot' this is required to store the boot information. and well, the installation is good enough to do this for you, but what kind of a comp science student would i be if i didn't notice all this.

after the installation was done, as if i didn't run into enough problems during the installation, my Windows refused to boot. apparently, i had messed up my boot file.
soon enough i managed to fix that, and now can use both vista and Fedora properly.
Fedora is new to me, and as all new things are- novel to the mind, it is novel, and interesting.
I hope i can figure this out and manage to gain "Extensive knowledge and experience"
All the best to me!

Ugg...M sick of it

Today was wonderful. I feel sick. :( i know all of u know how lousy it is to fall sick, but i'll tell you my view on it anyway.they do say, share your sorrow, it'll become less--so here SHARE WITH ME;
To start things off, there's this nauseating feeling, associated with severe distention(thats what a balloon is when u fill it up)...how they co-exist within the same body i'll never figure out. you cant do much, all you really do is lie around going...uhhhh....m not feeling welllllll.....it gets u the attention just like the squeaking hinge.

you cant eat anything nice, but thats not that bad part, coz with the nausea u dont feel like eating, the whole though of food is full repulsive.If you have loose bowels then you are all set, make a dash for the closest available loo, and when u are out, and think u can finally rest that aching back, owing to the fatigue and lack of food intake, and u have to run back to that same available loo.

the nights are the worst...u keep twisting and turning in your bed, and then you're so groggy and u still want to visit your new favorite place in the world, so you are like a person far from sobriety reaching for the lights; and thats if u are lucky to have the time to reach for the lights. Otherwise u're just running hell for leather for the aforementioned place.

but given time and medication(fully supervised) things get better. m now feeling better though, therefore this post :D so its just a matter of time till u are able to recount to others the sorry and kinda disgusting tale to everyone else.


but sometimes some of these are just preludes to more major illnesses. we always hope that we are lucky enough not to be infected by any of those. i recall something my dad said to describe life and illness inducing germs. (i dont remember it verbatim, but its something along the lines of-)

"We walk on a path that is surrounded on both sides by virulent and dangerous bacteria and other illness causing agents, we are lucky if we get through without too many scratches"

i suppose falling sick is part of life as my mum put it, and the best way to deal with any of them is to laugh it away. they do say "Laughter is the best medicine". my sister helps me laugh whenever i am unwell :)

anyway...now i well. so i must get back to my books....I HAVE A FRIGGIN EXAM in 2 days!
i'll leave u with this thought:

"Those people who feel time heals everything, have not sat it out in the doctors waiting room"

-(i dont know who said this)

blogger

In the constant drive for writing blogs, i suppose i forget the whole aim. for a few days now i have been in search for ideas to post a blog. while realization dawns on me (always if u notice...realization dawns on one ...suggesting that before that they were in the dark) that i am writing for myself primarily. the others who read this are reading it for me.
Thank you to my readers.
Just done with my first exams, it was ok-ok. i wasnt ecstatic or anything, a run of the mill paper. i suppose had i studied some more answers i would have done better enough to be ecstatic.
but that approach strikes me as the worst kind of approach possible towards after exam reflection. If we did have a choice among how modes of after exams reflection...this would be the least productive. even in other spheres of life, regret is never something worth holding on to. learning from the past mistakes yes...but i dont think i gave my paper as bad as to have to go through it again.
4 more days for the next exam and i cant even pull myself to get off the net and start. this is the sem i wanted to do really well. i KNOW i am going to regret this kind of management of time where i pretend like i am a millionaire in time. I am sure its happened with you, *snigger* and then finally a dash to the finish line. dash it i say, time should be spent well, and when u must read u must read, when u must write u must infact, write.
i think i have reached what they popularly call a writers block, only it seems ludicrous to suggest i have that since i have hardly ever written much in my entire life. i suppose when u begin to write u begin to develop all the symptoms as well!
till next time, or till the block is removed--Adios Amigos

Catching up

I am sitting at my lappy, and i have nothing particular to do. keen on finding something to do...i begin hunting for sidebar applications. these are small apps that go on to something called the sidebar in windows vista( yea baby...VISTA!!! WOO HOO) .
searching for cool apps, since i am on the MSN site, i remember that i had a blog going there. that was when i was in the first sem or second sem.
now whenever i look back at myself i tend to believe that i was an ass! in a way its a good thing to have believed that we are better today than we were yesterday. i figured i just had a post or two, so i started reading. turned out i had more than a couple, at least five!! (may not seem much to you full time bloggers... jobless buggers) as i read through them the feeling of a distance from my past self crept in. i swear, i began to wonder when was the time i used to think like this.
its a satisfying feeling to be able to listen to yourself speaking your mind a few years back. the way i spoke about serious on going rallies(youth for equality) or young love.
i think the most amazing thing was when i read myself say,

"i am using blogs like a diary entry, i have never bothered to use a diary cause it involves writing, and that ...u guessed it, is a lot of work. so that even if no one reads this, i will atleast read it yrs from now, (cause i will still have nothing better to do then!) and thats going to be fun."

i find my current boredom ebb away, and make place for immense joy. its like i am traveling back in time, and i know now thanks to documented evidence how i used to think, how i used to function.
the feeling is rejuvenating.in all this i feel i should have stuck to blogging, at least i woulnt find myself now, not being able to express this joy and ecstatic sense. the name of the blog is idiosyncrasies ... thats exactly what i recall of my time then.

The Write of way?

its not everyday that people get epiphanies.Today isnt one of those special days either. i just decided to take up writing as a stronger hobby. when i say hobby, i mean to dedicate some time to this avocation, and when i say stronger i mean spend more time than i do now.

i like to write, i just dont dedicate myself to it. unlike many of my blog buddies, i dont find a lack of topics to write about. i can come up with simply wonderful or strange, depends on your state of mind when u read it, topics and then try to build on them. its just my laze that keeps me from writing.

hopefully with time i will get good at it, (or better...again depends on your state of mind when u read it) .
Wish me luck again!

Sleepless in bombay

Its 2 30 am and i feel a lil strange. i am not the kind who finds himself turning and twisting in bed, when all signs indicate that i should be fast asleep. that of course under the implication that one who turns and twists in bed, is not in fact fast asleep! what can i do now is the most popluar thought in circumstances such as this? i went through my mobile contacts...is there anyone i would like to call? finally after debating over who to call..., anyone who thinks the debate it self would be stimulus enough to bring sleep, hasnt really spent a night so completely distanced from sleep, i decide to just read my cells inbox. so thus...i start reading through 450 odd messages!

i always wanted to delete those messages, but a certain happiness filled me, that they were there, with happiness, some hope, that reading messages in the dark would be the soporific medium i was wishing for! like they say -it wasnt meant to be!

MUSIC!!! thats what will put me to sleep, nice soothing music. i got out of bed, and hunted for my iPod. made a playlist of the songs that i figured would be lullaby like. which they were, i assure you, the fact that i was still awake is no fault of the songs. they could put some who awake after a marathon sleep, into a doze. having failed in this attempt, my mind was figuring new ways to get sleep.i share with you a secret, thinking of new ideas to find sleep is not way to get sleep.

Fine...i said to my self...i have a viva tomorrow...i'll study for that! super idea that was...i decided, anyway i would be getting up early, better if i used my time well now and then i can get up late in the morning, which was inevitable. enthusiastically i tossed aside my blanket and turned on the lights and found my book. i opened it to the chapter, and found my self no different from what i do in the day! forgive me...i dont think there is word but i was nightdreaming. still thinking, if i could find sleep.

i tried, drinking water, going to the loo, (which remains unconnected with the drinking water part), turned on the comp, decided to blog. after writing some my account to a certain point in time, i lean back to stretch my arms, and think of a suitable way to end this. my dilemma i am sure you all will appreciate, how does one end a story about trying to get sleep, especially when he hasn't slept yet! thus i begin to find ways NOT, to sleep...BUT to relate how i slept.
within minutes i hear someone calling out to me!? Oo? at such a late hour?
it was 5 hours from the time i started this blog, i had dozed off in front of the laptop thinking of a way to sleep! well...atleast i managed to get sleep! (next time i'll just think about telling people how i slept ;)

Man Vs Woman!

I am sitting at home, and watching Star Movies.A movie called The Namesake is on. what the movie is about isnt really even close to what the central idea of this post is. the scene is where the son of the just deceased man is performing the final rites. it occurs to me that the son is always the one chosen to carry on the family legacy.
whether its the family name, or inheriting the family business. its always the son who must carry on the family's ....everything...even the last name.

what comes to me next is that thats NOT the way it was intended! if you actually take notice, God wanted it to be the LADY to take on the family legacy. Which sex is it who is given the power to give birth? who is the kid attached to naturally? i am sure you have heard....."its the hand that rocks the cradle that rules the world".


even for every mating season among animals(or man) the man spends the time attracting the female, and very rarely the other way around! so really the way of the world is for the females to be WAY WAY superior to man. she should carry on the family legacy! the current situation where the male takes on the legacy is all set up by the human man. ...i think we should just abscond, before the women figure it all out and overthrow us! :D

Woah!: Setting up a router (linksys WRH54G) to a modem

Woah!: Setting up a router to a modem

Setting up a router to a modem

I bought a wireless router from linksys yesterday, to connect my laptop and my desktop pc to the net. and i ran into quite a few problems(although setting up a router is supposed to be the easiest thing on the planet! )
so i blog this for anyone who wants help.....

basically its just another network device that connects your computer to the modem. i use a PPPoE connection, so what i am documenting is for that kind.
PPPoE means Point to Point Protocol over the Ethernet.

try all this only if u are sure u want to do it yourself, and dont want to get professional help.
we do the wired connection first. then any wireless connections.(u can use the wired connection as a wireless connection later if u like. )
before we start....make sure u have recorded the ip setting of your machine.
open command prompt (start->run->type cmd)
there type ipconfig/all
just copy all that u see exactly as you see it and save it as a notepad file. (you will have to type it down)
Run the Cd provided with the router, and things should start working.
If they dont.....Continue read, thats why you are here :D
many ISPs bind your computer with the modem, that is the modem will accept and send packets only with your computer.
that is because it recongnizes the address of your computer, not the IP address, but another kind, the PHYSICAL address, or MAC address. so either u call your ISP and tell them to bind the routers MAC address with the modem, or use a feature called MAC cloning.
this just makes the routers PHYSICAL address the one that was your machines. so that the modem still thinks that it is communicating with the computer to which it was bound.
to do this:
go to your browser and there put in the ip address of the router, most routers come with the default ip of 192.168.1.1
in the address line of the browser just type http://192.168.1.1
it should open a page that describes the setup of your router.
if it doesnt,
then check your LAN card (Ethernet card) settings.go to network connections, right click on LAN, goto TCP/IP and hit properties. there make sure the ip is obtained automatically.

set the DNS field to obtain automatically.
the page should open in your browser now.
if it the linksys router, then goto advanced setup, and there on the setup tab to MAC cloning.
now, in the fields provided enter the PHYSICAL address from the notepad file that u saved. it should be a 12 digit alphanumeric. and save the settings.

now go to the command prompt and do the ipconfig/all command again.
for your Ethernet Controller(LAN card) make sure the default gateway is 192.168.1.1

this means that for your computer the gateway to the internet is your router(with the address 192.168.1.1)
you do not have to change any other settings. just enter your User name and password correctly that u use to dial to the modem.
other problems that could hamper connection is that the comp and the router now have the same MAC address. common sense has it that that cant be....so we will manually change the MAC address of the computer.
read carefully if you have never done this before.
goto network connections. right click on your Ethernet controller card, (lan card),when the window opens, u will find a button with the name configure. hit that.
a new window opens, hit the advanced tab. there u will find network address, change that from not specified to value, and enter the MAC address u noted down, but with any one digit changed (the value must range only from 0 to 9, or A to F)and save it.
thats should help connecting.

after each step, it takes a while to identify the changes, so my advice to u is not to get impatient.
its not complicated, but if it goes wrong, u will have to change a lot of things.
anyway...after a lot of banging my head on the wall, (which i realize now is of no particular help) ITS WORKING. u can set your wireless connection after the wired connection. the wireless connection must obtain the IP automatically too.
i dont think i have missed anything, mostly if u did everything right, u wont have to dial at all after the router is set up. u should be all set to access the net.
All the best, i hope this helped u, many sites give a varied way of doing this. i hope this helps you out.

Setting up a linksys route(WRH54G)r to a modem

Woah!: Setting up a router to a modem

Setting up a router to a modem

I bought a wireless router from linksys yesterday, to connect my laptop and my desktop pc to the net. and i ran into quite a few problems(although setting up a router is supposed to be the easiest thing on the planet! )
so i blog this for anyone who wants help.....

basically its just another network device that connects your computer to the modem. i use a PPPoE connection, so what i am documenting is for that kind.
PPPoE means Point to Point Protocol over the Ethernet.

try all this only if u are sure u want to do it yourself, and dont want to get professional help.
we do the wired connection first. then any wireless connections.(u can use the wired connection as a wireless connection later if u like. )
before we start....make sure u have recorded the ip setting of your machine.
open command prompt (start->run->type cmd)
there type ipconfig/all
just copy all that u see exactly as you see it and save it as a notepad file. (you will have to type it down)
Run the Cd provided with the router, and things should start working.
If they dont.....Continue read, thats why you are here :D
many ISPs bind your computer with the modem, that is the modem will accept and send packets only with your computer.
that is because it recongnizes the address of your computer, not the IP address, but another kind, the PHYSICAL address, or MAC address. so either u call your ISP and tell them to bind the routers MAC address with the modem, or use a feature called MAC cloning.
this just makes the routers PHYSICAL address the one that was your machines. so that the modem still thinks that it is communicating with the computer to which it was bound.
to do this:
go to your browser and there put in the ip address of the router, most routers come with the default ip of 192.168.1.1
in the address line of the browser just type http://192.168.1.1
it should open a page that describes the setup of your router.
if it doesnt,
then check your LAN card (Ethernet card) settings.go to network connections, right click on LAN, goto TCP/IP and hit properties. there make sure the ip is obtained automatically.

set the DNS field to obtain automatically.
the page should open in your browser now.
if it the linksys router, then goto advanced setup, and there on the setup tab to MAC cloning.
now, in the fields provided enter the PHYSICAL address from the notepad file that u saved. it should be a 12 digit alphanumeric. and save the settings.

now go to the command prompt and do the ipconfig/all command again.
for your Ethernet Controller(LAN card) make sure the default gateway is 192.168.1.1

this means that for your computer the gateway to the internet is your router(with the address 192.168.1.1)
you do not have to change any other settings. just enter your User name and password correctly that u use to dial to the modem.
other problems that could hamper connection is that the comp and the router now have the same MAC address. common sense has it that that cant be....so we will manually change the MAC address of the computer.
read carefully if you have never done this before.
goto network connections. right click on your Ethernet controller card, (lan card),when the window opens, u will find a button with the name configure. hit that.
a new window opens, hit the advanced tab. there u will find network address, change that from not specified to value, and enter the MAC address u noted down, but with any one digit changed (the value must range only from 0 to 9, or A to F)and save it.
thats should help connecting.

after each step, it takes a while to identify the changes, so my advice to u is not to get impatient.
its not complicated, but if it goes wrong, u will have to change a lot of things.
anyway...after a lot of banging my head on the wall, (which i realize now is of no particular help) ITS WORKING. u can set your wireless connection after the wired connection. the wireless connection must obtain the IP automatically too.
i dont think i have missed anything, mostly if u did everything right, u wont have to dial at all after the router is set up. u should be all set to access the net.
All the best, i hope this helped u, many sites give a varied way of doing this. i hope this helps you out.