HAPPY DIWALI TO EVERYBODY!!!

"Manjrekar Theory"

I know that India lost the just concluded test series to Australia and the much awaited taming of the"last frontier" was finally and efficiently achieved by the visitors.Yet, there can be no denying the joy I derived from the victory in the last test.You may knock the pitch all you like, and cry shame to the heavens and back but the fact remains that India won. And that, I like!!

Now, you may think that this was because of several reasons among which would rate no doubt miscellaneous assorted and undeniably logical factors such as poor batting by the visitors, an absolute turner of a track, the sudden and ominous return to form of two of Autralia's arch nemeses viz SRT & VVSL, but I offer another explanation... My version is that we won because of Manjrekar.

Ever since the junior Manjrekar took to cricket commentary he has been the foulest "panvati" for India( as is described in local lingo). I've yet to see a match where Manjrekar was rooting for the home team in a close scrape and they came up tops. On the other hand you knew for sure that Tendulkar or Ganguly or whosoever-Manjrekar-names is sure to get out for a duck or thereabouts when you hear him harping about how dangerous these batsmen are and how we're in for a sure treat as far as their batting is concerned. On another day you might feel it in your bones that Kumble is gonna skittle out the opposition for next to nothing, only to hear Manjrekar confirm your opinions in enthusiastic tones,and the next thing you know Kumble has been tonked all over the park and his figures read 10-0-78-0 or something just as painful.The agony is, despite all of this Manjrekar remains a staunch India victory hopeful and never ceases to make hopeful and optimistic statements about India, NONE of which ever come true.

This friday therefore as India packed up there 2nd innings at 205ish and faced defeat in the final tie with a measly total of 104 to defend all hope had left my dejected countenance and I settled into my fave couch potato location merely to keep tabs occasionally on the unfolding of the ignonimous defeat to the Aussies. Therefore you can well gauge the electrifying and rejuvenating shock I received when I tuned into the brodcast between innings to catch Manjrekar averring that with a measly 104 to defend there was NO WAY INDIA could win this match. According to him, with the Australian batting lineup even 150 or 200 would be a virtual walkover . All dejection left me then and as events bore out my shrewd intuitive hunch India did in fact go on to win...and that's why I say we owe it to Manjrekar's "kaali zabaan" in no small measure!!

A-hem!!

On a rather embarassing note this happened to me:
My sister called me today morning and enquired whats up?...So I said "Oh the usual, whats up with you ?"..And she sort of oh-ahed and said the usual and proceeded to update me on minor tidbits of her current wherabouts and doings...and then she kind of passed the phone to my mom who finally brought it home my clod-like (or should I say dubya-like) head that it's her birthday today...I could have died there right then coz my sister never once forgets my birthday, and i always do !!
This sort of an occurence has occured to me N(n-->infinty) times with the small variation being the person involved.Sometimes it has happened multiple times with a single person( as unfortunately with my sister) Most of my friends are inured to this behavioural defect on my part because when you get right down to it they aren't really all that "remembery" types themselves so what-the-hey and life goes on...

Wise heads have told me more often than once that I'll have problems with my girlfriend to be...heck I'll settle for that problem, but later...for the moment allow to me to make public amends to my sister ...
HAPPY Birthday DIDI!!

Arre OSAMA!!!

As a Sholay fan I just could'nt resist this pathetic pun as a title to my long overdue blog...but publicizing my highly original(??) pun was not the sole intention of this blog.

The intention was to draw your attention to the fact that as the weeks have drawn on, both US presidential candidates have looked more and more foolish with each passing day.I can't quite say for sure whether Kerry substantially differs from a Neanderthal or Bush from an Amoeba. Frankly, this US election makes me think that for all the inconsistencies and outrages we have to put up with in our leaders, atleast they manage to prevent outright displays of "zero IQ-ness" to coin a term...quite frankly Kerry's "I have a plan" is only marginally less irritating then GWB,Jr's " We are at war with these terrorists".And then out of the blue comes Osama's tape...

Its interesting, and probably an abhorrent opinion for several, but I beleive Osama was looking far more dignified in his TV appearance then any of the US Prez hopefuls. In fact who knows, he may have even endeared himself to that section of the US public which ensured that Farenheit 9/11 was such a huge hit...

Goa Away!!

Yippee!!...taken a 10 day break from work, which IMHO was rather well timed, am in Goa right now...chilling out with Prabhu and a couple of other friends... In a couple of days time I shift-ho to Delhi and my parents' for the Durga Pujo weekend...Life is beautiful!!!

The CIA report on Iraqi WMD

Saw a sizeable snatch of this live feed ( Congressional hearing) dealing with the CIA's report on the Iraqi Weapons Of Mass Destruction (WMD) Program....the report was vastly underreported in our national dailies which wasn't surprising...but, if anyone saw it, then their hearts would respectively bleed/boil for Mr.Bush...depending on whether they are Bush fans/haters...There was this Mr.Duefler (CIA agent and former UN weapons inspector) expectedly facing the heat from the Democrat Senators( especially one Sen. Levin) and from whatever little I saw of the hearing, there was only bad news for Mr.Bush and his attempt to get re-elected..add to this, his bungled up debates with Kerry and it's fair game to say that Bush's election goose is effectively cooked...

Wishful thinking...

Madam, IIM-A dom!!!

Dumber and Dumber’s Con-Quizt

Circa 2002: This is a small story of how Rahul and Me availed ourselves of entertainment and tremendous satisfaction at Fergusson College’s(FC) English Lit. Quiz.
We’re usually the last to arrive in time for anything. And Lord knows, as my usual pardner in quizzing Maniche will affirm, I’ve been late to a fair share of Quizzes as well, though not intentionally. However by a freak happenstance here we were, about 30 mins. early for the elimination round of some quiz and minus our respective partners ( Maniche and Bimal).A board near the info desk informed us that the elims of a Literature Quiz were as a matter of fact in progress, somewhere in the premises. So we scooted to the said location. We located a room full of teams of two huddled together and apparently intent on some really hardcore lit stuff.
We made bold as to approach the supervisor (let’s call her X) and enquired if we might participate in the same. Here follows a transcript of conversation as I recall:

Me: Can we participate??
X: Which college?
Rahul[oozing attitude]: COEP
X[oozing even mor attitude and a fair degree of contempt]: COEP???…Engineering??…But this a “LIT” Quiz!!!
Me[ feigning humility and dejection]: Oh I see… can we at least try??
X[humouring us]: hmm…sure

So we walked in and were handed the elims sheet, thru which we breezed in approximately 5 minutes, and triumphantly handed over to X, with an impatient air.
It was taken with an I-told-you-you-engineers-suck-at-this triumphant air.

However, at this stage Rahul made a snide remark the exact content of which eludes me, but the import was basically “bwehehehe…what a faltoo quiz..we must have got every Q right”.
This prompted X ( who I believe knew Rahul from his earlier days at FC, and prolly thought he was farting as usual..:D ) to check our solitary submitted sheet, right then .
We still had time to kill , so we stuck around to observe the other supposed “ Lit” worthies struggling through the elims sheet. By this time X had finished checking our sheet , and approached us with a different air altogether.

X[visibly shaken and apologetic]: you did really well!! and you came in late!and finished early!![puzzled air]
Rahul[grinning from ear to ear]: yeah…we know, just tell us when and where the final is…

( I gather we topped the elims)

To be fair to X, she did tell us the correct time and place for the Quiz Finals and we did turn up as promised. Also continuing to be fair to X, we were treated with a lot more respect on this day, despite the fact that on this day It was our turn to ooze attitude and act like merciless slobs [ rotflmao…couple of our wild guesses had all the staff in the Audi turn red like beetroots…raunchy is us!!]

We called ourselves “Dumb and Dumber”, which, although not particularly original as a quizzing moniker, gave X a rather embarrassed air throughout the proceedings.

FTR We had a real ball on stage,won the quiz, and all we had to show for our efforts was an “Oxford advanced Learner’s Dictionary” apiece… :’((…. BUT IT WAS FUN!!!!!!

The Boss Is Left

Heard this bromide?..."The Boss is right, the boss is ALWAYS right"..?...me confesses that I have never been too convinced of the truth in this one...but here's the real truth from my perspective... (cf. title of this blog)

Mr.Lalit Kumar, the man who owns and runs TIME mumbai has quit TIME, to pursue his own avenues and interests. What prompted his departure , I cannot really say, but it is inexplicable in the light of the fact that he has nursed TIME Mumbai through its most difficult initial phase, and all the time and effort and money he has pumped into this venture, will only begin to bear fruit now, yet he quits at this juncture...

I've had my fair share of disagreements with the man on a professional front. But at a personal level, he's a GOOD man- always fair in his dealings, tremendously capable, an astute businessman, and above all a great person with a touch of the philosopher in his heart. Sir, I'll miss you at the workplace.

Mr. Lalit kumar, if you're reading this, it's only fair you know that I think you da MAN!!!!

His place will be taken by one Mr.A.R.K.S. Srinivas ( IIM-C alumni , who currently heads TIME Kolkata with his biz pardner and batchmate Rahul Reddy, who, I presume will continue as bossman of TIME Kolkata)

[aside]hey, Rahul(singh)...here's an IIM duo who also coincidentally are an ARKS & Rahul pair...hopefully we both make it there this time...you'll get there, but sometimes I wonder, wot with my lazy butt and all...hehehe[/aside]

The BCQC is now officially famous

Hey Everyone!

My friends were in the papers today... not the NY Times I admit, but for all that these guys have done to preserve the finest quizzing traditions in Pune, this article ( LINK) in the Pune Times was the very least in the field of recognition that was long overdue to them...

haven't seen the actual article but have hrd that it features a pic of my quizzing senior Ramanand ( BBC Mastermind 2002) , Nupur,Mankar, 'Not'rajan,BVHK, a couple of guys I can't place ( guys forgive my degenerating greycells--in my defense ? the pixellization isn't too good is it?),and my quizzing pardner in crime Maniche Mahajan!

My thanks to the likes of Ramanand, Sujay K, Gaurav, Neeraj, Niranjan, George T, Kunal V ( whom I've never met, nevertheless!), BVHK, for providing me with someof the most fun sunday/saturday afternoons I've ever had

And just so things are put in perspective I think its a cruel shame that the fine traditions of the BCQC ( Boat Club quiz Club) have been preserved by fewer COEP/PIET ians with every passing year, Manish & self can hang our heads in collective shame too.. Once again my thanks to guys like Hirak, Navneet, Swapnil, Samrat, Kunal S, Salil, and other true "insiders", though they not be COEPians...


YooHoo once again for the BCQC !!

"Fingerprints of the Gods" by Graham Hancock

What do you do when you come across a scholarly treatise that flies in the face of conventional wisdom, what if the facts as stated and the conclusions as drawn are perfectly appealing to the eye of our reason?
Such a work is "Fingerprints of the Gods", by Graham Hancock,which claims the existence of an advanced civilization around c.15,000 B.C that perhaps persihed or left the planet around the eleventh millenium B.C. ..on whether he may be right or not ,I'll reserve judgement , but the book is a fascinating read...
In fact, there have been, as he acknowledges, several theorists who have over the years forwarded this or similar theories, principally, Geologist Professor Charles Hapgood who first publicized the apparently shocking conclusions one would be forced to draw from the Admiral Piri Ries' map of 1513. Astronomer/Civil Engineer R.Bauval who forwarded the initially ridiculed but now well accepted theory that the pyramids in Giza are arranged in a floor plan that closely resembles the astral arrangement of stars in the Orion constellation, as it would have looked around c. 10450 b.c; also Egyptologist Anthony West who claims on the basis of water erosioon lines on certain ancient rock monuments,esp. the Sphinx and the valley temple at Giza and the Osireion at Abydos, that these monuments must have been around for millenia not merely on the desert as it is today and indeed, as it was even in the time of the Ancient Egyptians, but when the valley was like a vast savannah and received significantly more rainfall, another geological instance that takes us back to the Eleventh Millenium B.C...

On these seemingly strong premises, in additon to the astonishing facts his research has revealed about South american Maya/Inca/Olmic civilizations, the Angkor Wat in Cambodia,and the commonality in the threads of various mythological traditions around the world, the bizzare and controversial conclusions he forwards are these:

Has there been an ancient advanced civilization who have beqeuathed or communicated their technology to us by means of these monuments and mythologies , as they were in the sudden and final throes of their civilation which was sudenly snuffed out by a cataclysmic disaster??...Is such a cataclysm approaching our own civilization??...How are we so sure that the doomsday sayers are wrong??...Is it plausible, that despite the tears rolling down our cheeks in mirth at their stupidity, they may just have a teensy weensy bit more than blind faith on their side, i.e the precise mathematical calculations/ astronomical hints of an ancient advanced race, who were the originators of our mythological traditions?...Fair liberties taken by the author...but fair, and not as far fetched as it sounds...

This book believe or don't believe (the author), was simply unputdownable!

Two Movies!!

And that too in a single day..not unlikely by my standards though and I've done two movies a day on too many occasions , even stopped counting it as anything great. In fact the most I ever saw in a day was 5 with my friend Prabhu, we're crazy..:)...But then, that only happens on days off, and unfortunately nowadays my days off don't coincide with those of my friends..the pitfalls of training students to crack the CAT ( that's what I do for a living nowadays..lol!!) is that you can be damn sure you have a weekend to call all your own...( coz the entire world has a weekend on a sat-sun, boo hoo! )

Anyways, the movies: "Mujhse Shaadi Karogi" which was a take on meet the parents, and " rakht" which is a take on "What lies Beneath"..now the movies were good, but I'm pained at the ceaseless necessity of bollywood to replicate all concepts hollywood..get original guys, and if you still can't write that magic script mebbe you should be scouting for better script-writing talent..(hint!!..I'm not averse to obscene cheques..no sirree!!)

Now there is such a quark in the world of science and technol0gy called the strange quark and the reason I recall this tiny friend of mine is that the last time I caught two movies in a day was "Deewar" and "Hum Tum", which were come to think of it "The great escape" and "When Harry met Sally" respectively..."strange" coincidence??..perhaps I should quit taking in multiple movies in a day...

Two movies I still wanna see " I, robot" though N ( N>infinity) Asimov-fan friends of mine have warned me against it, but still...and the other one is "Dhoom"...so finally the little B has a hit and i'll be damned if anyone can dissuade me from watching this movie..the only dissapointment for me today was, that the little B has a really small cameo in "Rakht"....

No Roadies for me...

Just found out yesterday that I haven't made it to the roadies 2 show..
No big deal, but what surprised me was that although I made it to the final 23 from Mumbai , they did'nt even show as much as a glimpse of me on their review..or so say my friends and they would recognize me if I were there is my guess..
Mebbe the real reason for that is this...they called 23 of us from the previous day,(which was fun though!)and took an interview where the panelists tried to "phaado" the interviewees...muhahaha!...well they taped these interviews and while they were taking a look at the tapes it probably struck them ( they're so dense that it probably took 'em this much time) that instead pf "phaado"ing me, they got "phadaao"ed BY Me!!...therefore editor Bob was flown in from California or wherever and I was edited away...

Que sera sera??

Things are coming to a not quite so comfortable pass at work.( Basically, i get a feeling that I'd get a lot more free time if i were to become a part time faculty, and also, as full time faculty one thing that's sure screwed for me is my weekend...however, that's not the only thing, several minor squabbles with the guy who owns TIME mumbai, and our relationship is now a bit strained..My boss, Mr.Lalit Kumar views me with cautious concern and vice versa...there's more, but more on that later).Now, the situation created at work makes me even more resolved to never take up a JOB ever again. If I can avoid it. I'm just not cut out to be low/middle level employee. In fact, truth be told I'm not cut out to be an employee at all...Consultancy/Academics/Entrepreneurship, here I come...!!!

But, what's my ambition? Given that my heroes include the likes of Lincoln, Vivekananda,Feynman,Asimov, Gates, Buffet,Chomsky,Ambani, Iacocca and the Tatas ( Jamsetji & JRD); I could, if I choose to follow their exemplary life-paths individually or in combination ( to whatever extent I am capable), end up being anything or anybody!!

Now, I'm completely comfortable with such a vague life goal but I'll grant that very few others (if anyone!) will be satisfied with such an answer. And, since this blog happens to be my very personal but very public diary, esteemed reader for your sake I enumerate a few of my possible ambitions:

(1)
One position in the world which without doubt is considered the repository of POWER in todays world is that of the POTUS, and 3 of my all-time heroes have been POTUSes (if that is the CIA plural?) viz. Abraham lincoln,Woodrow Wilson and FDR. Can I become a POTUS?..not unless Arnie manages to change the US constitution. Do I even want to?...No, I'd much rathr be the PMOI ( indulge me my abbreviations,plizz)...hopefully, by the time I'm in a position to aspire/ascend to that lofty position, THAT would be the repository / pinnacle of world power...but do I really want to be PMOI ( even assuming that by this time PMOI>POTUS?)...No, I'd actually like to be the General Secretary of the UN possibly ( however, not the emasculated chair that Mr. Annan presides over)...Why??...bcoz I don't believe that politics is a dirty word, I do believe that politics is for those with a sincere desire to shape society and the conviction backed by a desire to take a people or peoples to a better future.

Other heroes in thiss:
Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi, M.Singh,A.B.Vajpayee, Jaswant Singh,APJAK,Churchill, Laloo ji (purely and only for spunk!) , Narendra Modi , Parrikar, Nitish Kumar, and of course Arvind Kejriwal !!

(2)
My fascination with science dates back to my cradle possibly, and therefore, a career in Science has always been one of my most sought after pursuits. I've had several life-experiences that have reaffirmed my faith in my abilities as a scientist, as also, I've had more than several experiences that have made me doubt my prospects in this field. But on the whole I'd say that a career in Science notwithstanding, no one can deny me from pursuing it as a (much more than!) part-time obsession/passion.
Having selected Engg. when all I really wanted to do was a B.Sc in physics, having majorly hagaoed in the IIT-JEE, then having been rejected by 6 top US univs after majoring in Engineering have all led to me believe that I've probably missed the bus on this route , but I don't give up so easily, and hence you never know if there is a Nobel prize in store for me or not..(heheh!)

Here(oes):
Feynman,Gauss,Einstein,Schrodinger/Heisenberg,Pauli,Dirac,Faraday,Boltzmann,J.C & S.N. Bose, M.Saha, Sarabhai/Dhawan/BrahmPrakash...this list is really mind bogglingly long !!

(3)
Who wouldn't want to be rich?..Atleast I'm not immune to such base desires yet, and, this I believe--There's lots of money waiting out there to be made iff you go into some form of entrepreneurship.So i'd list being a greatentrepreneur as one of my other ambitions.Given my passion for science , nothing would give me better pleasure than to merge these two passions and turn tech-preneur a-la-Danny Hillis for example.But to me the real joy of being an entrepreneur lies in the intensely rich human interactios that are necessitated and made possible only because one is an entrepreneur. Being an intensely people person I'd say that even going into entrepreneurship that is completely divorced from technology would be well worth it!In the ultimate analysis, the entrepreneur is invariably in a position to positively affect the lives of those around him, the society he lives in, and in particular cases business Maharajas have vastly enriched their countries and sometimes improved the world itself..( I mean who can fail to appreciate the Tatas' contribution to making the india of today?)

Heroes:
Tatas,D.Ambani,Birlas,Bajaj's,Iacocca,Welch,Morita,gates,Buffet,walton,A.P.Sloan,A.Carnegie

OTHER Careers for me, and If chosen Who I'd aspire to become:

(4) Writing/Poetry:
Asimov, Clarke, Kipling, Poe, Dickens, Shakespeare, Blake, Wodehouse, Christie, Narayan, Tagore, Wilde, O'henry, Russell, Tennyson, Frost, Longfellow

(5) Teaching/ Academia :
Dr.S.Radhakrishnan( 5th september ticked by unnoticed in an ungrateful nation),I.Asimov( whose lectures in Biochemistry at the Boston univ. school of madiceine are legend!), R.Feynman ( the Feynamn lectures in Physics!!)

>>from personal experience<<

Prof.P.Lal ( his discourses on the mahabharat at birla audi. kolkata are a tourist atraction.. a must visit if ever you're in Kolkata)

All my profs in Hindu Junior College, Chennai - especially Padmini Iyer & Ramalakshmi m'ams and of course our VP 

(6) Singing/Music:
Kishore Kumar,Ghulam Ali, Bade Ghulam Ali, Bhimsen Joshi,Illayaraja, A.R.Rahman, Sonu Nigam, Hariharan, Sukhwinder Singh, G n' R, Iron Maiden, Queen, Jim Reeves, Nat "King" Cole,System of a down,Strings

(7) Proffesional MCing/QMing/VJing:
Siddharta Basu,Any of my BCQC seniors, my friend Prabhu ( for MCing!), both the cyruses on MTV, and gaurav from [V]

(8) Making Movies:
Kurosawa,Ray,Spielberg,Ratnam,Santoshi,Kundan Shah,Shekhar Kapoor,M.Bhatt,Ivory-Merchant,Peter Jackson , J.P.Dutta, and David dhawan ( deewan mastana alone entitles his presence in this list).. likewise, whoever made Andaz Apna Apna (RKS !!)

There now I've told you.

However, after this confession, it is meet that I add something in my defense.How feasible are my goals?..dunno..I MIGHT achieve everything and more on my list, then again I MIGHT NOT achieve anything or less...at this stage, and probably even in retrospect, it's enough for me that I wanted to achieve all of this irrespective of whether I actually do or not....

And, like my friend Prabhu once told me," I'm either destined for the history books or for the ignonimity of anonymity"...completely agree dude, me too, though I never felt this way till more recently, I guess we're just not the kind to be satisfied with mere "success"...

Brevity!

Brevity, is wit....

On Quizzing and breaks from...

It's been ages since I've participated in a Quiz ..and while there is no dearth of open quizzes in Bombay or Pune, which from my home at Vashi is only a 3 hour journey, the snag really,is that I have weekends working and Sunday is the usual day for such dos..

So today there is a quiz at FC.."Inquizzition "...LINK HERE...now this happened to be the first quiz where me and my usual partner in crime Manish Mahajan tasted complete victory in Quizzes (i.e a First place as opposed to the 2nd and 3rds we'd been piling up)..and it was like the proverbial tasting of blood, our duo then notched up several subsequent good wins...However, and here is the moot point, my college was choc full of super-stud quizzing seniors, and even our victory at Inquizziton (2002??) could partially be ascribed to the no-show (or If you ask Gaurav,showed-up-but-disallowed) by the final year team of Gaurav-Neeraj from our college.

Anyways, the open quizzes were places where the usual suspects like Samrat,Ramanand ,Niranjan,Gaurav,Hirak,etc. would turn up and win with impunity...and that is where our performances got better after this victory, we notched up several reasonable performances after that in open quizzes like the Shyam Bhatt & Gen BCJ memorials ( we've yet to winan open quiz, but then "Time!...is on our side..."..:)..)

As far as I know, today at Inquizzition , there is going to be a small team of Ramanand & Gaurav
participating...If you're a betting person, call this an informed tip as to the likely winners of this quiz... prize money stands at 12,000/- bucks... 6k for the winner... damn my job, which prevents me from being there...also, dang!! they never had a cash prize when we won...boo hoo!......:(...

Paychecks

Just yesterday I received from my employer a small piece of paper, called the paycheck...It makes you remember that the previous 30 days when you dragged your lazy butt to work, and cursed your job almost 10 times (atleast!) daily, were not completely in vain..Hey, so your job sucks!... but atleast you get paid for it...However, things are happier in my case ..my job does not suck..but then, since I have a lazier-than-usual butt, I guess I sometimes don't allow myself to enjoy my job as much as I should...

On flaws in my writing style...

Someone, after reading my blog feedbacked me to say that I had a proclivity for long and complicated sentences( pity she didn't leave a comment on my blog ..:(...), and on reflection , it's true...my sentences tend to be super complex in grammatical terms , consisting of one or two main clauses and several subsidiary dependent/independant clauses..I guess this is a reflection of the spontaneous outflow of my thoughts..not that this is strange in the blogging community..most blogs I read adopt this style, since most blogs are extemporaneous descriptions of what is known as a state of mind..although I hope that in my case, atleast, my sentences don't get as obscure as James Joyce's (IMHO tripey/trashy) literature...

Infact , if you take a look at my blog the one thing that stands out, now that it has been pointed out to me, is the singular lack of full stops delineating one sentence from the next. I infinitely prefer the pause "..."connector...

On my lack of simple sentences and inability to paragraph, one painful incident from an English class when I was a tot, comes to mind...Here was this essay "On reading books", which, was my fave pastime even then,that I particularly considered one of my literary achievements, and that I'd submitted with a lot of pride to my English teacher expecting to get the highest marks in my class for the effort, which in those days was big deal, given that there were lots of kids better at essay writing than me in my classs...I got 0/10 on the essay..the reason?-- i still remember her exact comments..." I don't believe you've heard of the concpt of paragraphs.Wherever you have condescended to break the monotous flow of sentences, I see no paragraphs only extremely long sentences masquerading as paragraphs.The essay is good, but the style leaves me no choice!"

On a parallel note, this tendency runs in my family , my dad has preserved essay notebooks from when he was a kid at Loyola's ,Pune, and similar reprimands were recieved by my not so ancient ancestor as well....

But who cares, this is the way I wrote, I write, and will continue to!...muhahahahah!!!

This just in...

Just watching the news parallelly as I check my mails and there's this snippet on NDTV India about those irritating bhajan singers, nay, tuneless non-bhajan bawlers, in Mumbai locals... these guys honestly, don't realise how much they irritate the mental composure of fellow passengers who have tired bodies, frustrating work days, seriously oxygen deprived lungs,legs that are so cramped for space that if-i-lift-one-and-then-the-other-i-needn't-worry-about-putting-them-back-down-see-mama-no-legs!,not to mention that niggling fear that one may not get down at that desired destination if one doesn't hold a PhD in crowd flow dynamics...Now with all this to distract what we really look forward to is, to be hassled by these bhajan inflicting pestilences..I mean,bhajan away all you want, at home for christ's or mohammad's or rama's or krishna's or whosoever's sake, dang it!!!!!!!

Independence Rock..and I couldn't be there!!

Independence rock is happenning at Andheri ..yesterday and today..and i won't be there...I'll have my lazy roommates and odd working hours of other friends in mumbai to blame...

Sesquicentenaries, in passing...

As a COEPian, I'm often distraught at the necessity to change the name of my alma Mater from COEP to PIET ( yes, my venerable college now goes by this moniker) but, I can see several advantages to this uncomfortable gambit( maybe not for those of us who've grown accustomed to or rather have been steeped in the history of COEP as COEP & not PIET..but for the coming gerations??...hopefully, yes...)

As our college celebrates its sesquicentennary this year, a grand set of events are planned which will shadow our usually grand annual gathering into insignificance...APJ is expected to make an appearance, and..ahem!...I had a small part to play in the invitation process...
Anyways, this reminded me of a poem I'd jotted down last year for the college magazine, as a farewell paean prior to exit..here I (re) present it:

Where do we go from here…?

Shrouded in our secluded microcosm,
Secure in the comfort of past laurels,
Clouded by the mists of complacency,
We only remain kings of a stunted domain,
Safely (?) asleep in the haven of yesterday,
We ignore the threat that is plain to see.

Those who till yesterday measured
Themselves up to us,
Have moved on, leaving us behind,
At this crossroads then, what choice do we make?
Can we afford to stand and stare?
Dare we luxuriate in our glory days past?
Live hereafter in abject denial?
Or is it our cross to bear?

Soul searching introspection, a collective questioning
Of a sesquicentennial legacy is necessary,
The hour of reckoning is near,
Surely, we stand within the bounds of redemption,
But, only, if, someone chooses to ask,
Where do we go from here…?

As we don the mantle of a new name,
Let us solemnly resolve to take it
to unreached and unparalleled heights,
Let us be second to no one, and,
May the brotherhood under the triumvirate
Of Truth, Strength and Endurance,
Reign unchallenged in this, or any, land.
For those of you whose interest in my college has been aroused, lemme add that our college is one of the oldest engineering colleges in India, probably asia, alas! as things stand today, it doesn't count among the very best (though it does come in somewhere in the top 20), but I'm hopeful that things will change for the better..

Here's a link to my college's website...Link

Comments Invited

Hmmm.... I was on the verge of suicidal tendencies on account of not having even a single comment posted by "friends" who "claimed" they visited my blog and tried to post comments but "failed".... Apparently the "...double quotes..." are unnecessary, my comments settings were horribly wrong as i subsequently found out..now anyone can comment on my blog and hopefully they will, the number of comments on my blog reads (til date) 1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0...etc. and that 1 was a comment posted by yours truly himself...

Read this cool comment-lamment a la Leigh Hunt.... by one of my fave bloggers...HERE ...pity Satyen hasn't found time to update his blog in almost a year!!..:)
Apparently, if thing continue as they are, I'll have generated the number Googol on my hundred and first post!!!

India's olympic Gold....

No... before you descend into raptures of orgasmic pleasure, or spasms of intense disbelief...let me state categorically THAT WE HAVEN"T WON EVEN A SINGLE GOLD YET AT ATHENS 2004..in fact 1980, Los angeles (?) was our last gold in hockey (sigh!!).....when will we, like China and US boast of a haul of 20s and 30s of gold in a single olympic?????(?!)!!!!! ...*Anticipatory ecstatic sigh*


P.S: the central parenthesis contains...?!.. this combination, also known as an INTERROBANG ( which incidentally is also a blog on quizzing in general and Pune quizzing in particular maintained by my friend JR Ramanand , who among other small achievements in his life happens to be Mastermind 2003 winner!)

Chiaroscuro

to You I have to ask,
Was light and shade both your task?
Could it perhaps have been but light?
No?...like a blinding aspect of the sun,
You're saying it would be darker than the night
Then,pray tell,why not shade only?
Again, I sense your inward smile,
Comprehension befuddles on thoughts of gloom,
leads not to the One, but merely makes lonely
Onliness!...then, to your Chiaroscuro
I say,if so be it, it be so!!

On Genius & humility,Empty TV and ageless love

The true essence of a genius is accepting lack of knowledge, accurately defining the boundary of one's world view, and trying to expand the perimeter of that boundary; which implies an innate willingness to learn...Or as one student of mine put it when I asked the batch if he/she/they thought they were (a) genius(es), said, " Yes!!..I'm a genius because whatever i do ,I do with a lot of Passion!'..well said buddy!!

This last few weeks has been one long string of Auto/Biographies..I think they've become my favourite genre of literature. Greats whose lives are more familiar to me now include-- Gauss,Einstein,Lincoln,Hawking,Schrodinger,Swami Paramahansa Yogananda,Isaac Asimov,John Nash & a host of other mathematicians involved in the evolution of the prime number theory ( do read "The music of the primes" by Marcus Du Sautoy..good boook!), Russell and its mind blowing to see that i share so much in common with them..If so then I'm hopeful that I share their genius... and if I can one day, do one tithe of what any of these men has done..I'll die a glad soul!!

MTV hasn't gotten back to me ..i mean select me for crying out loud!!.. you won't get a better choice for your show..If its only the driving license funda that prevents them, then I can only say, "KIYA YAAR!!!..I DON'T think their parents have taught them anything!!""...( rotflmao at memories of my ex-roomie sagar..dude was a major pain..wish him luck tough coz he'll need truckloads of it to get through life with his sour-ass attitude)

My grandparents,Dadu & thamoni celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary on the 15th of this month, I'd popped down to pune this weekend for my Dada's "operation". How patriotically romantic!!..they got married on the very first anniversary of our Independence..Hmm, ageless love aside ,I wonder if they sometimes regret having surrendered their freedom on the very day that symbolizes hope for a billion Indians..:)

Congrats to Dorli,Kates,and Ankoos Boy..

Dorli, got thru to PUMBA and is probably eyeing the IIMs later this year, well byesht luck!!..so with KT and Ankush I guess, they're headed to Sydenham & Welingkar respectively...I'm at Bandra at Ankush's place about to launch into a booze party and missing the presence of KT..BTW Bhau Rao Shinde, a.k.a Thote Bhau has also graced this auspicious occasion with his presence..Daru zindabad, hakkka noodle zindabad,bindaas party, uske baad mai vomit maarti!!( he he he..sorry for the pathetic PJ:D)

INNNJoy!!!

On MTV and their roadies too!

Was at the MTV roadies 2 audition in mumbai yesterday... VJ sophie and last year's roadie dude RannVijay were there...Sophie kept asking the crowd "hai dum??" and people were shouting yes like crazy, and then the noise wud die down and I'd screan "nahi hai dum!!" in my not quite so non-stentorious voice..caused some titters in the audience...sang a love song for Sophie onstage and won some stuff..had fun..think i might make it to the show..that would be cool , not bcoz i want to be on the show but bcoz i get a cool 5 lacs plus a bike plus a 41 day paid vacation!!..Was shorlisted and am on my way to the final interview today..will keep you posted on whether i make it or not..although if i do you'll probably catch me on MTV anyway...dont ENJOY!!..:)

Toto's , Beer, and hard rock

Had a rocking time yesterday at "Toto's garage pub" this place tucked somewhere in obscure nooks of pali (hill/naka/road?), bandra..really is without doubt the best place for a good time if you like rock music and booze at decent rates...had a good time grooving to the music..the bill footed by my old roommate Shubhasish ,so my  pockets were feeling happy as well!!...wats' more no end of solid chicks, giving you the glance and an occasional coy smile..that makes my day as well..but the crowning glory is the music..IT ROCKS... led zep, floyd, doors, eagles, GnR,Metallica, and on my request "chopsuey!" by SOAD...twice! , shame they don't play Agni or Brahma...( yet!...BWAHHAAAHAHAHA!!....Mugambo unke is kami ko bhi mitaa dega!!)
 

First past the post!!

Yup..this is where you guys begin to get it in the neck..why?..simply because here on in I start blogging as most of my peers do..only thing is I haven't half the funny things to say that they do, nor do I quite have the patience to be nice to my readers, finally, while YOU thought the concept behind my starting to blog was to share my tremendously complex and captivating thoughts with a vast and widespread audience, you were WRONG!!...

I blog because I need to get my typing speed up to speed for the next call centre job I'll be applying to! 

{ Only (half) kidding! }