I ' m b a c k ! ! !

Its nice to have come back after a long break. Almost a fortnight. This time I do happen to have a valid and legitimate reason - Linux Project Submission ! Remember about the project that I had mentioned in one of my previous blogs ? Well, its better if you don't and I wouldn't take the pain and nor would you be least interested in it. The thing worth mentioning is that the project was finally completed, and the final product was satisfactory and up to my expectations. Will have to put in some more effort for the presentation that is to follow the project submission. But, things would be sorted out only as the time to sort them out comes.

The other things I have been doing in this while is going to class, trying to listen - quite an appreciative attempt I must say.. Also been to King Khan's "Chak De India !". The flick was refreshing and made us believe that the money spent was worthwhile. SRK - fitter and dynamic as ever, leading a pack of spirited girls towards victory encountering many barriers - mainly of the mind. The movie not only depicts the standard sportmanship qualities as is expected of such flicks, but also showcases the pitiful state of affairs of sports and games in the country other than cricket. The cinematography was par excellence and the matches showed in the movie seemed very much real. Inexperienced actors cast as hockey players added the required 'realism'.

Also had a scholarship test for an 'yum-bee-eh' preparatory institute. Was fine by my standards, but my friends seemed to have "co-operated" better in the examination hall. Anyways, the outcome wouldn't hopefully be so bad. The weather is gloomy and cloudy - just as I like it the most. A beautiful day according to me. Nothing more substantial to write for now. But, this space would surely be updated more frequently again...

Sayo nara !

Will I.... , Can I ... ??

Sometimes some small incidents, events or happenings force me to doubt my assessment, my evaluation of myself, of my capabilities, my potential and most disturbingly, my chances of survival in this rat race. The pessimist in me which I try to keep subdued all the while seems to have come back with greater determination with the sole intention of controlling my thoughts, increasing my inhibitions and limiting my ambitions. He keeps reminding me of my shortcomings and ridicules the things I otherwise used to consider as plus points and advantages. Its easy to argue with an enemy by reason and logic. But what if the enemy is inside you? Whom are you actually fighting ? The enemy ? Or yourself ? I know this tone might seem reminiscent of the myriad superhero flicks that have capitalized on the tried-and-tested formula of the hero fighting the evil within him, but the reality is there exists somewhere within me, as might in many of you, a pessimist, a loser, a coward, a hidden side of me which I would always like to keep hidden. But unfortunately it does not have ego issues, so notwithstanding the innumerable times I get rid of him, he manages to stage some sort of a comeback. But, I am sure the optimist in me is stronger and would soon get the better of him. But the question is for how long? Well, I guess this question is also a result of the pessimistic personality dominating my mind at this point of time.. Gosh ! This is starting to get freaky !

Meanwhile, I came across an article in the papers(“TOI” to be more specific) about the advances in the field of identifying and separating genes. Going by the attitude of the current researchers, there would soon be a time where all the genetic codes that have been 'gifted' to us by our ancestors might be demystified. Such advances seem of particular interest to me as I would be more than eager to 'correct' my forefathers' “height” gene – which has been and will continue to be one of the areas I find myself in a huge inferiority complex. Those of you who are well endowed in this dimension would never feel what it feels like to be the shortest of the pack. The world laughs at you, ridicules you and when it doesn't, you feel its waiting for the next opportunity to do so, or worst, they've started to pity you. Its short of what I would call a curse. I've always believed that with longer limbs, I would have been a better athlete, had better chances in my swimming career, been a talk among the girls and what not. The list of regrets is endless, but I am helpless. I'm sure my father and my brother would have faced such situations and I definitely wish my next generation doesn't carry on the curse. Coming out of the personal angle, many people have some even more 'undesirable' qualities in their genes and would definitely be interested in 'rectifying' themselves for the benefit of their future generations. It would mean that anyone with the available resources would be able to create a perfect new generation ! The consequences of which are too complex to comprehend. It would be like choosing your next PC – get the features you want if you can cough up the money. Can these so claimed perfect humans then achieve a state of happiness ? I guess, as a Will Smith flick rightly emphasizes, “Its the pursuit which makes the happiness worthwhile”. If you get it without asking, you start taking it for granted. Moreover, the real problem would arise when these set of 'perfect' individuals compete with themselves. The outcome doesn't seem so encouraging. Differences, arguments will continue as there is no “gene” for ideals !

Gracias amigos ! Hope this hobby will help me to learn more about myself It has already started to..

The Unemployment Continues ...

Classes haven't started in full swing, nor have we got the books for this semester and neither have the mood to watch movies.. not to mention that we have left gaming long long ago – that leaves us, especially me with little options for whiling away my time! Also, I feel quite sleepy in the evenings to go through the ordeal of improving my vocabulary. Not to mention the hopeless speed we are victims to in the name of 'Wi-Fi'.. Even a simple and no-extra frills site like blogger.com tests the virtues of patience and persistence ! And its best if one doesn't keep his hopes of 'orkutting' alive.. few brave souls(count me in) have the courage to tunnel through the blocks imposed by the “@#$%*!” management. Orkutting here in this hostel requires the patience of a spider, which weaves its web and waits for the prey all-day long.. analogous to that we here have to wait for those wee hours of morning or the dark hours of midnight when the traffic is low and then finally we can proceed to make our kill. Not to mention the R&D(Research & Development) thats involved in this addictive passion, which involves being aware of the latest techniques, tips and tricks to pass through the blocks by the management, but also testing their effectiveness and efficiency in theses hostile conditions. Doesn't it seem that mere surfing could also be an adventure ? Wish I had a better figment of imagination.. pity you guys for reading this crap and expecting something interesting out of it ! Some suggestions would definitely be welcome..

Meanwhile, I'm currently in a dilemma regarding which of the management preparatory institutes would be most apt for me. One presents an overall attractive package, another claims its USP(Unique Selling Proposition.. for those who are blissfully ignorant) is that it can afford special attention to each of its students as they have lesser no. of students per batch. The third boasts of a national reputation and a weekly test culture of good credibility. Right now, at this moment my mind is pointing to the third option, but its not final yet. One thing is assuring, none of my decisions is going to be very right and neither can prove to be very wrong.

Been witness to another blatant lift-off by b'wood – Partner. An out and out copy of the Will Smith starer, The Hitch – duly Indianized with spoofs of other films, lots of comedy, a stupidly placed supersonic missile supposedly designed by a 8-9 year old kid and the inevitable b'wood trademark – song & dance. Nevertheless, putting the copyright issues apart the flick was entertaining – thanks to David Dhawan who knows how to tickle the funny bones of the Indian masses. Govinda was a treat to watch after a long time. Rajpal Yadav's comic timing demands special mention. Lara Dutta's new hair-do is refreshing. Katrina, needless to say is stunning as ever. Salman fits in fine with his part.

The 13^th Indian President, the first female ever to be appointed to the highest office in the country, has vowed to take steps against the rampant female infanticide prevalent in many parts of the country. The skewed sex ratio of 927 females to 1000 males is abysmally low compared to the world average of 1050 females per 1000 males. Meanwhile, another survey study pegs India at near to the bottom of the world's alcohol consumers. Is that a thing to rejoice or be ashamed of ? I am not sure what the tone of the report indicated. The writer seemed a little distressed perhaps at the feeling that his country is placed 150^th in terms of per capita liquor consumption. I am least bothered anyway...

Signing off for now... Gracias Amigos !

Unemployed , Restless , Directionless !

Well my situation, if evaluated properly would not exactly qualify to any of the words I've used in the title, but its one of those moments of the day when you feel that there is hardly anything that is going to interest you at this point of time and you wish to enjoy your 'solitude'.. but alas, that's even less engaging and soon you end up getting fed up with yourself !

That was yesterday, evening to be exact.. the day was perfectly normal, nothing out of the ordinary - started with 3 hours of worthless Microprocessor Lab, where my cell with a 2 MP camera turned out to be very useful as I could effortlessly take the photographs of the circuits and draw them later. These are moments when you really feel that "technology rocks". Well, apart from that we had absolutely nothing to do in the lab. except staring at the 8085 Microprocessor Trainer Kit and supposedly "familiarizing" with it, the rest of all the 3 hrs was spent in unimportant banter with my lab partner.

As I've already expressed that I was feeling strange in the evening and continued to do so till dinner. After that went to the terrace with two people who were equally unemployed like me and felt better to be talking and laughing. A point that I've been noticing from the time I've started my hostel life (i.e. 2 years), I've discovered the fact that 'bitching' isn't solely a girly thing to do ! In fact, in my opinion boys also talk a lot about others and have fun with some of their selected peers, maybe not to the extent that girls do, but I think they are equally interested in sharing their view points(especially the laughable traits) about their friends, neighbours, etc. and enjoying it. I feel, 'bitching' is a sexist term, there should be something that is equally applicable to boys !


Alright, enough of philology and semanticism, I'm calling quits for the day. Need to pay my college fees and do the registration business, then have plans of going for a movie and also enquiring about the details of the MBA preparatory course I intend to enroll in.

Gracias amigos ! Take care and keep watching this space... Encourage me with some comments !

New hopes, aspirations, goals, ambitions !

This, my friends I am afraid is going to be one of the blogs where I would try to sound ambitious, which of course I am .. but it is very much expected at this point of time as a new academic year has just started and it is customary to make resolutions, mainly related to academic seriousness at this juncture ! So why should this time be any different ? I don't have a grudge with the year 2007, so why not just begin with the proceedings...

Lo and Behold ! The Ten Commandments that should govern my life are...

<1> Thou are responsible for thy fate, thus work harder


<2> Thou shalt not indulge excessively in momentary pleasures


<3> Remember thyself and keep thyself "focussed"


<4> Honor thyself and all who honor thyself


<5> Thou shalt not murder thy desires and hopes


<6> Thou shalt "try" not pay heed to any distractions


<7> Thou shalt not cheat thyself


<8> Thou shalt not "fabricate" excuses


<9> Thou shalt not covet neighbor's leisure


<10>Thou shalt learn from thy friends and foes

Time's runnin' out !!!

Its always the same feeling I get every time a long vacation comes towards the end - both of satisfaction and regret ! Satisfaction as the boredom is about to end and regret coz nothing really worthwhile has been achieved in this span of leisure either ! My ambitious Linux project - yes, what came out of it - I did manage to work occasionally on that and successfully implement a few things - but as the budding engineer inside me would like to put it - "Nothing can and should never be completed before the deadline is reached" ! Among the other major feats I managed to have achieved within these vacations is thoroughly going through a session of "Word Power Made Easy" in the quest of 'building a superior vocabulary' - quite an achievement I should say.

Been to Chennai for a week to visit my brother and sister-in-law (the hindi terms 'bhaiya' and 'bhabhi' definitely sound more appealing to the ears). Fixed their screwed up desktop - which was brimming with viruses and continued my leisure vacation experience there too - only thing that was different was the sickening hot and humid weather of the city. Its a nightmare and global warming in my opinion is showing its effects all round the globe and not just in countries who are 'supposedly' more responsible for the phenomenon. Its high time India and all other developing countries realize that it is not solely upto the developed world to take up this challenge of taking steps to reduce or control the effects of globally occurring phenomenon. It would definitely be an egregious (thats a new word I've learnt ! It implies a mistake of enormous proportions.. in case if anyone doesn't know) mistake that any country that refuses to take reponsibility would be committing.

Leaving global matters aside and coming back to my personal experiences this summer, I had been courageous enough to have attempted and successfully watched the Himesh Reshammiya(forgive me for any spelling mistakes in the name - HR would be better) flick "Aap Ka Suroor" in Chennai on my bhabhi's birthday. Well, honestly speaking that was not our first choice, but it was the only show we could catch keeping our time constraints in mind. But the courage and the daredevilry of the act nevertheless deserves appreciation ! Surprisingly(and thankfully), the movie luckily was not as 'nasal' as one would expect it to be, but the songs definitely are. An overdose of the 'nasal' twang is certainly not so welcome, but the brilliantly captured German locations certainly are. Overall, a very average product for normal people and a blockbuster for all 'HR' fans.

I guess that pretty much sums up my experiences during the summer, now looking forward to resuming the college life..

Gracias ! Goodbye and take care ...