An afterthought

WTF is up with Indian advertising???

2011-05-23T14:57:00.002+05:30

What is wrong with Indian advertising these days? Seems like there is a serious lack of ideas. All brands in a category seem to be talking about the same thing…sure you can argue that the products aren’t very different hence they might seem similar….agreed but the creative idea and execution can be different right?

Let’s look at cosmetics:
The Olay and Pantene ads….same concept…. same treatment...very very similar copy. Just the celebs are different I guess, who knows they might have some common models as well.

The fairness cream ads…every fortnight there seems to be a new variant and you can be sure that competition will have a similar one very soon, but you’d think they’d atleast make a different ad but NO!

The other thing that really pisses me off about cosmetics ads is that they are turning to scare tactics now…use me or you’d be fuck ugly…c’mon gimme a break…we’ve had beautiful woman for eons now we don’t really need jojoba extracts and peach creams do we….I recently saw an ad for anti ageing cream..very harmless talks about lines etc but the fuck up is it talks to 30 yr olds…if 30 yr old women need aging creams I’d much rather have them sent to concentration camps than have them use these creams….marketers seem to be talking the catch ‘em young principle to the extreme.

The other example of absolute same message is in the telecom space…..

Here is what I think happened during the briefing process for these campaigns

Client: lets talk about 3G…we are launching our services soon
Servicing guy: ok…so what features do u wanna talk about?
Client: U know about 3G, the new technology (which infact it isn’t…its more than a decade old)
Servicing guy: Yeah sure but what aspects of 3G, speed? Connectivity? Interactivity?
Client: everything man….why is it so hard for u guys to understand this stuff….why do u work on this account if u don’t know how cool 3g is?
Servicing guy (either panics or says suit ur self): yeah it really is a cool thing u know/u r the boss man…whatever u say…u know what lemme go over to the creative guys n see what we can come up with…I’ll get back to u soon…kthxbai!

SG to creative guy: We have a 3G campaign guys
Creative guy: ok so what’s the brief
SG: It’s a 3G campaign
CG: errrmmm I know but that isn’t a brief
SG: you do your job, don’t tell me how to do mine
CG: fuck u…come back 3 days later n take the crap I make

SG to CG: the brand window is too small don’t u think? Doesn’t really bring out the features of 3G
CG: whatever man..here are the files do whatever the hell u want with them

U get the picture….so all we see on tv is 3G is so cool and we have it ya’all…you gotta buy it cos sooner or later we’ll give it to u in one way or the other…

Consumer1 : So what do i get it activate 3G?
Consumer 2: No idea
Abhishek Bachchan: Get Idea….Awesome plugging don’t u think…"Th-th-th-that's all folks!"

There have been crappy ads before and there will crappy ads forever …that isn’t really the problem.

What I think is the problem is that either all agencies across the board have smoked up so much that their brain has evaporated and they just rehash stuff and put it out…or brands and brand managers are too busy focusing on visibility/other buzz words, have way too much money to spend and don’t really care about what their communication is and how its messes the consumers mind as long as their brands screams out louder than their competitions.

Well it isn’t all bleak out there…there is still a lotta good work being put out there…just that this horrible stuff outnumbers the good stuff…probably that’s what makes the good stuff really stand out…I don’t know.

This is giving me an idea though…will soon start an ad review blog…just hope I don’t fall into a laziness rut and manage to update it regularly. Suggestions are welcome (assuming u guys have managed read through this and wouldn’t mind more of this on a regular basis)

Smoke Screens

2010-11-01T18:44:00.006+05:30

Take a drag....let it sink in....exhale.... repeat a few times...

As the smoke screen descends on to you, watch the world around you morph into a merry place.

small talk...BIG MEANING

2010-03-10T13:30:00.007+05:30

Disclaimer/Note: This is a transcript of a chat conversation between a friend and me.

Why did I put it up here, you ask? Cos this seemingly meaningless conversation seems to have covered some interesting issues in a funny way.

You could either find it fascinating or absolute waste of time, but having bothered to arrive at my blog, you might as well go ahead and read the post and experience this piece of "seminal work in 'sarcastic realism'/ or plain shit" depending on how you see it.

P.S. I haven't bothered with editing or spell checking, but I guess you'd be able to make sense of the words.

me: heights of attention seeking

friend: what?

me: u r status msg....dont pretend

friend: oh please

its just funny

and it kinda rhymes

me: n sigh n say...rhyming u say

friend: oh nevermind

ur too grown up to appreciate these chilsish things

childish*

me: dont pull the age card on me

friend: lol

me: u cant now u know....u r in the 20s too now

friend: yeah but im on the better side of twenty

hehe

me: so am i

its jus 2 yr fyi

jus that when u r a twenty something n the other person is still a 'teen' u feel older

now that the age-berlin-wall has fallen...like it or not we are all in the same boat heading towards midlife crisis, responsibilities, bills etc

friend: okay okay..dont get so defensive :P

lol

thanks for that, now im really looking forward to the future

me: jus to illustrate what i mean...ur 'kid' sister will seem like a child to u now, but in ur few yrs time when ud be 40 something n shed be 30 something it wont be the sa,e

funny u know when u think abt it (about to delve into highly philosophical speech), the ultimate purpose of life is death....n all the things we do to keep ourselves alive

friend: (uhh ohh)

ahan...

we dont do them too keep ourselves alive

i think the focus is on making the life we have as enjoyable an experience as possible

me: ahan...we have a debator here nice...go ahead humour me n urself in the process

friend: sigh. its no fun debating when u have that attitude

me: hahaha ok

see i agree that u should do everything possible to have fun/live comfortably/enjoy ur time under the sun.....having said that what is the point in fretting over it when eventually u r jus gonna die

i mean does it really matter wether u take the hps wala fly over n get to lifestyle or take imax fly over n get to lifestyle

(see clever use of local knowledge to illustrate highly global n deep thought)

friend: lol....lol

so the MBA was worth something huh? :P

me: yeah i guess

u jus need to talk

connect random statements somehow n u'll be able to convince anyone abt anything

friend: hehe. two years to learn how to bullshit ur way thru anything?

im inspired now :P

me: but hey...the bullshit stems from a deeply rooted conviction

the two yrs also help in finding a few those

(or so i should be saying)

friend: did they reallly?

me: for me it was a paid vacation.....a postponement of something we all need to do eventually

friend: hehehe...

me: grow up n earn a living

friend: isnt it fun?

living on ur own? making ur own money?

me: no but it does have its beenfits also...so im not gonna short sell the mba dream to u...jus do it for the right reason not jus for the money

it is...but u also have to put with a lotta shit to make u r own money

friend: yeah im kinda waiting for the reason. dont wanna just do it, like engg

me: kinda draws a parallel to our life n its purpose discussion

friend: wjat shit?

hehe...there u go again!

me: living alone brings along a set of unique problems

worrying abt trash,. food, cleanliness basically stuff that u never even knew existed let alone thinking abt em

add to that, work issues...pressures deadlines etc etc

all this jus so u can "earn ur money", which in turn u need "to live like a king/have fun/etc"

when in reality u were having the same amount of fun at ur parent's expense

friend: lol

me: i know im sounding cynical

friend: first few years are struggle na? it shd get better soon...rt ?

me: but lemme also tell u the joy of buying stuff with ur won money is something that i can explain

or so u think

jus when u r earning enough, have risen at work n now can torment ur juniors....u have to settle down

buy a house. get married, make babies

which again have their own problems which im not yet qualified to talk abt

friend: lol...ever heard of living one day at a time?

or are u just doing this to mess with my head?

lol

me: yeah that is what i do

(the answer could be relevant for both the questions)

friend: hehe

me: so yeah its good to form ur own set of beliefs...delude ourselves n live n die for them

which is the primary cause for stuff like god,religion,profession

these are things we have invented to keep ourselves occupied n nt be depressed abt our futile attempts at existing

phew! move over platos,scorates n all the sex maniac babas...the greatest thinker ever is in the house bitches! i have solved the mystery

friend: true

haha

u wish!

u think ur the first person to think like ths?

me: u had to burst my bubble....didnt u

friend: heehee....

me: i know who am i kiddin...im jus part of the millions...im not special

blah! lets get back to our boring lives n to the most exciting thing ever "WORK"

friend: but u can always pretend

lol

me: yeah right....pretend after u suck the life out of dreamy monlogue

friend: awww

hehe

it was fun tho

me: see....i was right...u were bored n u need to talk...n u wanted to seek attention but be sly abt it

bloody hypocrite

friend: ya rt

u were equally bored

hence the philosophical lecture

anyway

go work now

me: guilty as charged...y wld i bother checking status msgs anyway

friend: go work! :P

me: i dont have any

friend: really?

damn

ok then i'll go work

ttyl!

me: yeah im done with what i had to do for the day....if something else comes along then id have to work again

yeah sure...go knock urself out

Not much has changed since

2009-12-23T23:05:00.005+05:30

Barring physical aspects like facial hair, body weight and hormone levels & the addition of a few letters after my name {B.Tech (I.T.) , PGDM (C) }nothing really has changed over the last decade or to be specific ever since I finished 12th.

Here I am, goalless, ambition-less (well it's not all that bleak, there are like really long term big picture things like owning a restaurant/pub etc etc but nothing for the near future) and clueless for the most part of my waking moments. It's almost a zombie like existence, doing certain things cos they need to be done to stay alive or cos I have nothing better do.

I really don't know what it is that I wanna do in life or what it is that I like doing?

For as long as I can remember I wanted to be fighter pilot. I tried real hard to be one, cleared all the tests, interviews etc only to be told I couldn't be one cos spine isn't the way it ought to be.

That's it....that was the day that I thought, ok life doesnt end here...I'll figure something out, 7 years hence and I still haven't.

So let's look at a time line here.
At 17
Joined engineering cos that was the easiest possible next step, midway through it realised I don't wanna write code for a living. Age: 20 years Status: still clueless

At 21
Looked for the most exciting possible prospect. Thought advertising would be it. Status: Not entirely sure, but seemed like the best possible option.

At 23
Got a MBA, got a job, everything seemed to be fine. Thought I made the right choice.

Here I am at 24, quit my job, dunno what I'm gonna do next. Ok then again, my quitting my job had a whole lotta other factors involved and advertising might still be THE thing. But fact is at the big picture level I dunno what I'm meant to do, what my true calling is?

Ok let's stop the career talk here...I'll make money one way or the other, I'm still young there is still hope.

What about stuff like relationships, friends blah blah and all those things that matter to normal people.

I have some really nice friends, but I dunno if I can really call anyone a best friend, that is more my fault than theirs actually, have too many hangups n issues in life I guess. Have had little or no social life after I've moved to Bombay (while I was working had no time, when I did had no energy and now that I've quit, and have all the time in the world, I can't cos I don't think it's wise to splurge the little savings that I have)

So there you have it......I am 24, unemployed, aimless, not a single date in sight let alone a relationship, lost and clueless.....in most romantic comedies this would be the low point of the protagonist's life...looks like trash, eats cold pizzas etc etc...well since this is real life, I still enjoy my drink and a nice lil tandoori chicken. (Don't really know the purpose of the last few lines, but they seem funny so i'll keep em)

I am therefore as good or as bad as I was when I was 17.

Reminds of Sinatra's song 'It was a very good year........'

Carnivore

2009-05-07T01:26:00.001+05:30

Just out of boredom.....list of all the various kindsa meat i've had\
Hen/Rooster/Cock (Chicken)
Goat/Sheep/Ram/Lamb (Mutton)
Cow/Buffalo (Beef)
Fish (fresh water, salt water{ way too many varieties to remember and list})
Prawns
Lobster
Crabs
Rabbit
Sparrow
Pig
Wild Boar
Shell Fish
Squid
Duck

And tons and tons of microbes...which makes me wonder aren't all of us non vegetarians in a way?

Top reasons: "Why assignments/dissertation will never be finished before time"

2009-03-06T03:00:00.002+05:30

1. Just as you decide to start working on it, a long lost friend will ping you
2. After that conversation ends, you start reminiscing the good old days
3. You snap out of it after a while, but before you start you'd like to go over the contact list and check if anybody worth talkin to is online
4. You begin to look for the file, just then something more interesting catches your interest and you end up reading the doc/pdf/ppt or pic or whatever
5. You feel like logging onto facebook after a while, to check if any thing interesting has happened in the last half hr.
6. You get so bored of social networking that you'd wanna check out some porn.
7. After a while you actually begin working on it, while googling for some info, you come across something and one thing leads to another and lo! you end up looking at hot pics
8. Chotta chalega?....A yell from any corner of the hostel...and the only reply "han kyun nahi"
9.You need a 'break from all this chutiyap' so u start watching a movie
10. After a while you feel the urge to sort and classify your music and movie collection
11. You suddenly realise that you have a bunch of pictures you havent looked at yet, after that you'll want to look at old pictures and sort them as well.
12. You realise, that these reasons are worth documenting and that you should blog about it

Propoganda? Advertisement? Campaign? Aa su che bhai???

2009-02-28T20:12:00.003+05:30

"The Congress party has already set aside a budget of Rs 150 crore for the coming general elections, in addition to its ongoing campaign in Delhi worth Rs 40 crore. Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) is expected to shell out an equal sum to give Congress a tough electoral fight. Political parties are expected to spend over Rs 300 crore by March-April 2009. "- Indian Express

8(4 full page ) Adverts in TOI on a single day, some ad sales guy at Bennett must surely be very happy, after a long time he might be able to meet his targets. Moving on to a more important issue; I found it very odd that over the past week or so, the Ministry of Aviation seems to be inaugurating a new terminal every day and the other Ministries seem to be launching a new scheme or promising something or claiming that they kept their promise.

I wondered what brought this sudden bout of anxiety, this sudden want to proclaim "accountability"...didn't take me too long to realise that the elections are round the corner.

I don't have an issue with political advertising, for one it gives people jobs :P, jokes apart it's a free country and there's no harm in political parties using mass media for their election campaigns as long they limit themselves to putting for their agenda, manifesto, promoting their candidates. What I have an issue is why the tax payer's( as some one who would be paying taxes very soon, I don't want it to be misused) money is being used by the govt or shall we say the incumbents to help their cause.

Why this surrogate advertisement, let the INC open its deep coffers and spend it on the campaign, why do PSUs and depts which are already facing a strain have to suck up to the govt.

Chalo, for a while let us assume that various ministries and depts have actually done a good job and only want to spread the cheer and wanna paint the town red. Why do the ads feature The UPA chairman and the PM while the head of state the venerable Madam President (who doesn't seem to know much about protocol or anything else for that matter & btw is a UPA appointee) is glaringly absent.

Obama spent 60 odd mil on his campaign, but they were'nt govt funds, they were raised in the public domain, why can't our political parties do the same, after all they all have connections with industrialists.

WHY IS MY MONEY BEING USED TO SING YOUR PRAISES????

p.s. I know some guy was recently booked for defamation and fined for blogging 'objectionable' content.... If asking why tax payer's money is being misused by a polictal party or a consortium of oppurtunist leaders is defamation....go ahead sue me, I'll atleast get my 15 mins of fame this way.

The school song

2008-12-07T18:49:00.002+05:30

God, keep this school and all who herein dwell
Safe from all harm and evil's mighty spell
Teach us to live so one and all may be
Proud of this land and man's equality
God grant that we may live in liberty

Lead us along the path of good and right
Lead us to greatness always in thy sight
All in the school who grow from year to year
May know the truth that thou art always near
And give their best without regret or fear

So in the end this school may grow in fame
All who are here may loudly sing its name
And through the years and from each day to day
May we have cause to rise and proudly say
God bless this school and all who herein dwell

While researching for my dissertation I came across a link to my school's page on wiki....and lo...found the school song on it........brings back quite a few memories......its a small world after all

Maaaa Dekho meri photo paper mein ayi hai

2008-12-01T15:58:00.005+05:30

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JQS8yMDA4LzEyLzAxI0FyMDIxMDU=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

there was another in the Indian Express haven't been able to get a link to that yet....will update later

P.s. @ Alien(Curdrice)...... I know u've mentioned somewhere that u hope to see me in the papers someday....howz this for a start??? :P

The Stage

2008-11-29T12:30:00.009+05:30

For as long as I can remember now I've wanted to be on stage...wanted to perform...and now I'm getting to live it out(I've been on stage before but this is different). It's small step towards a bigger dream, lets see how things pan out.

The time spent on stage is interesting to say the least...yes you are involved, you get to watch the audience react and all that but when for most part of the play, you have to stay motionless its strenuous. Excruciating pain, back,heels and claves get fucked...being still is quite a pain, especially for someone who is fidgety and restless like me. Its like a huge relief when the lights are on you, and you can move :P....for all 8 of us in the mob movement is quite valuable.

Well the first show went of quite well, the audience seemed to like it, but then again they were all MICANs, lets see how the paying public reacts.

I'm glad I got this opportunity, once the student life ends...I dunno I'd get to be on stage or not....this is not the kind of role I wanted but nevertheless I got to experience what it feels like to be on stage...and I'm glad I tried.

Come to think of it, 'trying' is why I'm happy with myself.....and that is why I'm still alive.

As a kid I wanted to be a fighter pilot, n hell I tried real hard to be one...too bad my spine didn't meet the required standards...but I tried.

I also I wanted to be a cricketer, I tried (I may not have tried hard enough and there were other circumstances,issues but yes I did try).

There are so many other things I wanna do, a whole bunch of adventure sports, whole bunch of places to go to, things to try and I know I will try, the first opportunity I get I'll try and make it happen.

There are times I've felt I've got the wrong end of the stick, be it with friends,family or in any other setting but I find solace in the fact that I have always given it my best shot, have always tried. I've done things which were detrimental to my ego...but I did them just to try and make things work.

I know I've always tried hard and have no regrets.I know there is nothing else I could've done in all those situations.....have no 'what if I had done this', no 'why didn't I do this' , no 'if only'.....for this and this alone I'm at peace with myself. Being at peace with yourself is a huge driving force, you can be cross with the guy who messed up your order, the guy who gave you a blazer 2 sizes smaller, the guy who cut you off on the road....but you cant be cross with yourself and survive.

The post started out as something and has ended up being something else....signs of aging :P or may be its just the thoughts that ran through my head while I was on stage.

Should end it here now.

Cheers.....the stage beckons

P.s. the pics were taken either during rehearsals or its just me posing....will put up proper pics of the play after assimilating and compiling them from various sources.

2008-11-02T10:49:00.001+05:30

Holding up alright....may be :)

కలహాల ప్రేయసి

2008-10-12T18:22:00.006+05:30

విరహమే లేక కవితలే రావు కవుల హృదయాలలో,
పువ్వు రాలాకే పిందే పుడుతుంది ప్రకృతి పూతోటలో.
నన్ను కవినే చేస్తావో??? ప్రేమ ఫలమై వస్తావో???
కలహాల ప్రేయసి!!!

For all those who can't read Telugu. Will attempt to translate it.

Without separation/grief, a poet wouldn't be able to pen a poem,
It is only after the flowers wilt, that the trees in nature's gardens bear fruit.

Oh my quarreling darling.....
will you make me a poet or will you be the fruit of love???

Pardon my shady translation....haven't done justice to the song by far. This is one of my all time favourite songs...from the movie Panchatantharam(2002) by Kamal Hassan. Wish I could've done a better job.

Growing up too soon

2008-10-07T20:42:00.004+05:30

Spoiler: This is not a post about how kids have more spending power, how kids today are vital for every marketeer....this is far from mktg...so if u happen to have come across this, through google while searching for material for ur assignment...read no further...this is about ME.

Growns up are so messed up aren't they???

Should do the right thing....every thing is cut and dry...black and white...right and wrong.
Have to understand the other person...empathise..sympathise blah blah.
Rules,codes,standards,adherence to them.

Where the fuck has the kid who wants everything gone? Why the hell can't he get what he wants anymore? Why can't he just throw a tantrum,wail and scream his lungs out whenever he wants to?

Why do I have to succumb/accept to certain things??? just because I'm an adult and "need to behave like one".

N with me I think this growing up, process has just gone from point A to point F. Being exposed to a lotta situations very early on in life, did make me smart or whatever u wanna call it, but it also killed the kid. Analysing, toning down, trying to not make the same mistakes that I've seen ppl around me make.

See I even talk like some granddad now....fuck man....just so pissing off.

From Kill the baby to Kill the TWINS

2008-10-07T18:52:00.002+05:30

A fat loss regimen gone horribly wrong..thats what it is.

Gymming,sports were workin...fat loss beginin to show...n the lazy me discontinues it. Now a bigger paunch. Look like I'm pregnant with twins.

Ok thats enough self depreciation.

Staring into nothing

2008-10-06T13:03:00.002+05:30

Have you ever just looked through things? I mean you look at something, your mind recognizes but doesn't register colours,shapes,forms,depth and all that. But nothing more than that....you just continue staring at/into thin air.

A mind devoid of thoughts......I see most people around me with thoughts running in their heads ...worried,happy,stressed,concerned,angry,sad....but when I'm blank like this...nothing...no emotions...no thoughts...just mere processing of information that my eyes pass on to my brain.

N lately,it's been happening to me quite often. It's very fascinating, when i snap out of it ( warning/disclaimer:I AM NOT ON ANY DRUGS....these are not trips or psychic visions). I wonder how this happens to me involuntarily, I guess this is my brain's/mind's way of chilling out...it's as if it says "fuck u I need a break n I'm gonna shutdown... n close myself off from the world around u"

N its very different from the lost in thoughts types stare...here you move around a little, scratch yourself etc but fundamentally its all blank. I dunno if this what happens when you meditate. But I don't think its the same thing.

It also gets me thinking.... if this how comatose people feel or if this how a newborn sees the world.

Do let me know if any of you have experienced anything similar.

P.s. not a 'feeling low' post...no pity or sympathy comments please

Amnesia

2008-09-14T19:28:00.003+05:30

Its very funny not having any memories of a few hrs in your life.....its not like I've forgotten just that I absolutely have no memories.

Cause:Alcohol overdose.
Effect: No cognizance/memory of around 2 hrs in my life.

I'm not embarrassed or worried about what I might have done....but It's eerie feeling not knowing anything about those hrs.

What makes it worse is when ppl come up to u and ask u about that night n all u can manage is a sheepish grin. Different ppl have been telling me different things...n I dunno what to say....all I do is 'errrrrrr okkkkk'

Phew!!! Some night that!!!

8x10 की दुनिया

2008-09-12T17:25:00.008+05:30

क्या मेरी दुनिया बस चंपा 4 तक ही सिमट कर रहगयी है?
क्या मैं बस लोगों को आते जाते, मेरी खिड़की के सामने से गुज़ृते हुए देखता ही रह जाऊंगा?
क्या मैं अपने आप में इतना खो गया हूँ की मुझे कोई और नज़र अत ही नही या फिर क्या इसीलिए मैं किसी को नज़र अता नही?

It's not just about feeling wanted or liked....its much more than that....it's as if I'm existing for no specific reason. For who,what and why am I? Does anybody need me at all? Do I need anybody? Do they really need to need to me? Does a loner like to be alone or is it that he has no choice but to be one????

At some level I'm to blame for this distance that I seem to have created between everybody else and me(or is it I???...don't really give a fuck about grammar right now). In trying to shield myself from all the things I don't like...I've insulated myself in my own little cocoon. In trying to become self sufficient ,self reliant, independent and happy with myself; I think I've alienated myself from everyone else.

I can't remember the last time I was truly happy or excited....no it's not like I'm leading a morose and stale life but there is definitely a lack of excitement. I mean the only time there is nothing on my mind is probably when I'm playing a sport, where I just focus on doing well and winning.

It's not that all is dark here....I enjoy the company of my girlfriend, think we have a pretty neat thing going........
.......but there is still something that's missing in my life or so I think/feel. Desperately need to know what that elusive something is?(may be it's just a stiff drink :P) I dunno sometimes I feel I'm being too demanding, aiming for perfection even where I don't need it.

Time to post this, shut the lid and stare at the ceiling as I lay down in my '8x10 ki duniya'.

Gimme my piece of the sun

2008-09-08T20:10:00.000+05:30

Victim of 'Nek Irade'

2008-08-05T00:55:00.002+05:30

How many times have we heard "Is duniya mein bhale/sharif admi ke liye koi jagah nahi"

yeah well that is how i feel right now. Well me with all my altruist n sometimes philanthropic irade go out of my way to make ppl feel comfortable or help them out n in the end i get blamed for causing harm to them. Simple things, innocius albeit unsolicited advice, all with good intentions more often than not backfire.

I'm begining to wonder if i should just shut my trap n let ppl b on their 'halath'....

Arrrrrgggghhhh...fuck it...too shitty...too fucked in the head right now.

Dissertation Block

2008-08-03T02:28:00.002+05:30

EOM

क्या लिखें कुछसमझ ही नही अता।

clean room,suspension,T,abrupt endings n more

2008-07-07T11:08:00.004+05:30

Two weeks into the 2nd yr n a lot has happened.....my first suspension( dont know if ill b this happy when i get my first salary)....the issue is settled though...nothing happened in the end....but quite an interesting phase.

New room,new hassles.....paint/chunna keeps falling off, therz seepage n i was living in a virtual store room,set up room finally yesterday looks quite nice,lets see till when it stays that way.

But the biggest disappointment of my stay at MICA, i missed the "culturization"...I had taken off for the weekend assuming it would last for a week or so, but alas I did only for a day...hence no door banging no yelling no assignments.

N yes T work is starting to bug me now, its not as much fun as it should be, we end up planning for all the things that could go wrong, we try very hard to b politically correct n all that...this sucks...anyways I signed up for it, will do my best.

Quite an eventful start I must say, but unfortunately nothing is moving on the MICANVAS front n i'm slightly worried now, but yeah whatever.... everything has a way of fixing itself.

Lazy afternoons,biryani,beer and drives in the rain

2008-06-13T12:55:00.004+05:30

Yes I'm back home(as if the title could be any less direct)......

Speaking of lazy afternoons, the ones spent just lying in Palaash feel quite different from the ones at home...well for one there isn't 10 different kinds of music streaming in.

Hmmm now lets look back to the origin of lazy afternoons....i guess it would be sometime in school that u turn into a sloth from the erstwhile incarnation of a hyper-active kid who cant get enough of running around.....u refuse to wake up in time..like to have ur meals in bed....prefer lying prostrate on the couch and watch cartoons all day and go out to play cricket only very late in the evening....n then puberty hits u n u become an even bigger sloth ball...and along with that comes rebellion and u fight back when ur mom says u havent bathed for 2days now n u r beginning to stink. After a whole lotta years u hit college...spend most of ur sundays sleeping in only to be woken up by a call or msg frm friend/girlfriend which ever the case may be and suddenly all the laziness in u vanishes n u change as quickly as superman in the phonebooth n rush out.

N then post grad happens.....the baaaaap of all laziness u dont shave for weeks, bathe lets see when u feel considerate enough for u neighbours, breakfast lunch dinner....y bother u have a 24 hr canteen...kuch na kuch toh mil hi jayega..... lets sleep in play some fifa n cs....watch some porn...n the day shall pass.

Anyways being home isn't as bad as i thought it would be( what with the mass exodus of engg grads frm snist n the whole of narayan gang)....some chuts have come back so its alrite.

Me sleeps me eats and eats some more.....surf the net for a coupla hrs.....n there u have it another day begins.

Ok... after this pathetic piece of self appraisal i need to go feed myself.

Err whatever

2008-05-29T13:51:00.004+05:30

Summer Internship, that great big promise......the one last chance to figure out what u want to do in life.....Phbbbbbbbbt!!!!!

Nah! u discover new levels of vellagiri....watching movies n porn in the office, pretending to b concentrating on a word doc which has been touched for over 2 hrs, ladadeedum....

Well I'm sure quite a few of my batchmates would've had a fruitful experience, but I for one certainly don't feel great about mine.

The expectations that I had n the reality r worlds apart. I did try to "learn" n b open as much as possible but I guess this organization n I aren't quite compatible.

Well anyway fuck that.....the fun things....had cheap ass cold drinks....travelled n saw some inhospitable terrain, had my first real brush with rural India....hmmm whatelse "office politics n culture" (do I hear ODY....no I still think that most of those courses were pure bull or atleast the way they were "facilitated")

N pretty much everything is hunky dory....looking forward to gettin that damn paycheque n gettin outta here now....some good times ahead I guess, first Bombay then Lakshadweep...wooohoo!!! n yeah i guess the trip back home wont be that boring this time.

Until later

Happy birthday Blog(belated)

2008-05-20T14:13:00.002+05:30

yes its been two years since ive started blogging.....

n incidentally ive completed one calender year at mica....

cheers(although im in a dry state rite now)

Annual report

2008-04-14T17:17:00.004+05:30

Yet another year of my student life has come to an end....unless i suddenly decide to pursue a Phd.....this will be the very last yr of my student life...... a very scarry thought that.

The last yr has gone by in a flash......although i slept through most of my time at MICA(proof my last post was in jan...well u can also credit that to lazyness)....i have quite a few fond memories.....n the last term was kinda wierd....i was hardly awake.....n the last few weeks were suddenly hectic......no i wasnt studyn....MICANVAS wrk...Team T stuff etc etc.

The last one yr has been quite "educative" in the academic sense n otherwise too...... my impressions of ppl wen i landed at MICA n by the time the yr ended have been quite different. :D
Some pleasant surprises...some not so.

Someone had told me a few days ago "Its hard to believe tht im not gonna see some of these people ever again"....that got me thinkin.....quite right actly.....there r quite a few ppl frm school i havent seen or heard frm n its just been 7yrs since i left school. Hmmmm just one of those life ke funde thingies. Anyways fuck this heavy shit......its all hunky dory n a lil more ;)

writing this from my workplace (yes yes.....i have eventually been forced to wrk...cruel cruel world)...the internship is on....pretty decent place....wrk is ok...a lil drab desk wrk bt ok.....field wrk shld prbbly b a lil more xcitin. Baroda is quite ok....havin a decent stay here.

Well was on campus for the weekend.....was kinda weird stayin in a barren palaash....no noise...no ppl....ppl that uve grown used to seein evryday...ppl u eat wit..bathe wit....ppl u look at n think to urslf fuck i jus wanna kill that guy/female. yeah well thats how it is......."Batch"

alrighty then...hope to be a lil mre regular now.....until then

over n out

A million little pieces

2008-01-14T11:00:00.001+05:30

Had been wanting to read this book for quite some time now. Was gifted this book on my birthday(Thanx)....finished the book within a week flat.

Was a very nice read....could relate to it a lot. Not with addiction part thou....that will take some time...havent found nethn that has me hooked yet :p

But the way he describes his pain, his fight with his own self is simply amazing. Its a very vivid description of how the mind fucks around with you.

"rage need rage need rage need"

"I want to run or die or get fucked up. I want to be blind and dumb and have no heart. I want to crawl in a hole and never come out. I want to wipe my existence straight off the map. Straight off the fucking map. I take a deep breath."

"I want to look beneath the surface of the pale green and see what's inside of me, what's within me, what I'm hiding. I start to look up but I turn away. I try to force myself but I can't"

And his atheist notions strike a chord with mine....like he says believing in god or a higher power and believing that such powers will guide you is something very absurd. Its just another form of denial....its shifting of the blame....its not owning up for yourself...not taking the responsibility for
your actions...it means you dont have faith in yourself .....its a replacement addiction.

All that apart...his style of writing is quite unique and pretty interesting....minimal usage of punctuation.....A continuous lucid and quick narrative makes for a very good read....the book on some level gets you hooked like a drug...once u start u wouldnt wanna stop.

I recommend you read this...even if your life isnt so fucked and you dont have a shit load of problems heaped over you....you might just like it....try it.

My anthem???

2007-12-02T14:26:00.001+05:30

"Extreme Ways"
-MOBY

Extreme ways are back again
Extreme places I didn't know
I broke everything new again
Everything that I'd owned
I threw it out the windows, came along
Extreme ways I know move apart
The colors of my sea
Perfect color me

Extreme ways that that help me
Help me out at night
Extreme places I had gone
But never seen any light
Dirty basements, dirty noise
Dirty places coming through
Extreme worlds alone
Did you ever like it then

I would stand in line for this
There's always room in life for this

Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Like it always does, always does

Extreme songs that told me
They helped me down every night
I didn't have much to say
I didn't get above the light
I closed my eyes and closed myself
And closed my world and never opened
Up to anything
That could get me along

I had to close down everything
I had to close down my mind
Too many things to cover me
Too much can make me blind
I've seen so much in so many places
So many heartaches, so many faces
So many dirty things
You couldn't even believe

I would stand in line for this
It's always good in life for this

Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Like it always does, always does

2007-11-16T00:39:00.001+05:30

MICANVAS the biggest event of the year @ MICA

was a huge success...although i personally...didnt get to enjy it...was workin all round the clock...all in all was gud fun n a nic xperience.

The concert nites were fun...parikrama n zero were kickass.......the crowds liked strings

it was a nic lil xperience....v had to pack up n vacate so dat v cld accommodate the guests.....palassh parijat n kachnar had an overnight transformation.

rooms that had not been cleaned for months...were fumigated cleaned and stacked wit mattresses n pillows.....Mican hospitality is unparalleled. Pretty much every guest appreciated our efforts.....most of em liked da idea of mixed lodging ;) :P :D

we moved into the senior hostel.....3-6 ppl cramped into one room....its anoda thing dat none of us hardly eva slept.

the campus wore a festive look for those 5 days(includin eve)

creatives were mind blowing....be it the paper lamps, the cut outs, the collage, the various other thingies.......events too went on decntly well.....i almost won an event(sigh!).

http://micanvas.mica-india.net

now let the pictures do the talking......

the creatives team @ work..puttin up lampshades...paintin the oat...makin the mosaic

mattresses in the palaash courtyard....served as a jumping point :P

During the collage making competition

me with the micanvas mosaic in the background

day 2

Parikrama & ZERO on stage on day 3

the madness after the concert

The gateway to the 3rd awakening :p

Antaral ke liye khed hai

2007-11-14T22:27:00.001+05:30

well a lot has happened after the last post......

firstly the trip to gir & diu.....was great fun......short but good trip......lotta booze involved :p

well the term got off to a meek start....with ppl still realin frm da aftermaths of their respective trips n booze escapades......then the placement week.....was an intrestin experience to say the least.

Well im placed with a ngo....deepak foundation....click here to know more--->deepakfoundation.org

well things had begin towarm up on the micanvas n sankalp fronts.

will post more abt them soon

END GAME...err...TERM

2007-09-16T23:42:00.001+05:30

Tons of ppts....umpteen group meetings.....reports....case studies...classes.......add to that house arrests...magazine releases....movie screenings....plays....PARTIES!!!!and u wouldn't realise that it has been over 3 months. Its been a lotta fun bt its all gonna change soon.

yes its that time of the year(u know its intrestin how the time frame keeps shrinking.....bak in skool it was yearly...in coll...semester wise and now v have 3 terms) wen ppl around me dive into their books, get hyper and freak out. "Whats the portion?" "what all are you doing?" "meri toh phat rahi hai" blah blah..... for me its one of the funniest lil periods....i have good laff at my peers' expense. May be its jus me but its kinda funny...how inconsequential these grades are in the long term.

Hang on...this doesnt mean i dnt prep(only a day before the xam mind u)....or that im some kinda god who doesnt need to try hard to pass....all im sayin is I dont see why ppl make such a big deal outta it.

Newayz....since im a term "wiser" now.....things have changed. Not jus my understanding of life...career thots n all that jazz.....ppl around me and my perceptions about them.
Equations, relations, attitudes have changed, (:D ive finally started gyming :D)

Oh and the nature of this post has changed too...set out to write sumthn funny ended up doin sumthn crappy...

Over n out

bon voyage mes amis!

2007-08-17T11:54:00.000+05:30

This one's for all u expat chuts.....

all da best.....hope u do well and achieve everything that u have envisioned for urself.

Have had sum really gud times wit u guys. U kno wat its kinda wierd for me to imagine hyd witout u guys.....derz hardly nebody bak home nw(no offence to the few who r still in hyd).

May b 5 may b 10 yrs down the line....wen we meet...hope dat u guys wld still remain hyderabadi's at heart....n wld still call me bhenchod or gandu like u always did, still know wat teen mar dance is.

Ok lanjus....enuff senti nw....go ahead have a blast....do sum kirkiree stf.....do keep me posted.

right den main katletun abhi....

Orgasms of a dial up modem

2007-08-08T14:57:00.001+05:30

The noises a dial up modem makes wen establishing a connection, seem to be like the mating calls of birds of some kind.....or may be even screams of ecstasy, as if the modem was having waves of orgasm.

U might feel like askin....y n wat made me think dis way?

Last week, I was disgusted with the IT dept and the their tall claims......they provide us with 24*7 internet "suffering"(no this is not a typo.....this wat the IT dept had used to describe their selfless service in one of their sermonizing mails). I missed my ghar ka conxn....unlimited downloads(ah!! downloads, dats sumthn every MICAn craves for), great speeds n all. In that nostalgic moment, I went back to the late 90's wen I started using Internet at home.

The good old dial up conxn......the whole ritual of getting connected was so enchanting....type in ur username password....wait for the modem to start up.....mate with the ISP and then wen it had had its sweet release....u cld start surfin.

The wait was so gripping, I wld keenly listen to every note the modem crooned and tried to make sense of it. I wondered if it was trying to talk to me? If it was trying to tell me a tale?

Sometimes I wish we dint have so many technological advances and that time could stand still, but then I quickly snap out of it, I need my download speed, want my mp3s and softies in a jiffy.

But then again, I'm at MICA................hafta deal with BLOCKED DOWNLOADS

"

ERROR

The requested URL could not be retrieved

While trying to retrieve the URL: http://download.com/

The following error was encountered:

Access Denied.
Access control configuration prevents your request from being allowed at this time. Please contact your service provider if you feel this is incorrect.

Your cache administrator is IT_DEPT.

Generated Thu, 09 Aug 2007 07:48:02 GMT by rel.relsurf.com (squid/2.5.STABLE6)

"

The dreaded page.

A Month into the 1st term

2007-08-02T23:06:00.001+05:30

Alrite.....really long break.....been busy.

As soon as i landed on campus after the break, the first words i heard were "behenchod niche dekh". Dose words brought back memories of first yr of engg, n I knew it was gonna be one helluva time for the next few days; ragging had begun, was fun to a large extent but then ended abruptly. A sad end to an intresting lil period. Dont wanna divulge trade secrets so wont describe the ragging.

Classes had also begun and we were officially in MICA now, assignments,quizes pre-reads etc etc etc. And in the nights were the umpteen committee presentations n elections(I'm part of compcomm btw). Sleepless nights followed by harrowing classes. After the leisurely life at engg, It was a lil hard for me to adjust to this kind of lifestyle, but everything is fine now. After the initial "disturbance", everything has fallen into a nic lil rhythm nw.

One exciting course was the transcreativity workshop it included martial arts, music, dance, fengshui, pottery and was a one of a kind experience. This workshop gives a new direction to ur life and opens up many avenues that u never knew existed.

(Holi after the workshop was ova)

In the meanwhile we put up a cul nite for the seniors, had very lil time to practice, but v did a pretty gud job.

Guitar lessons have begun, I've mastered the E-Major chord, but sadly thats the only chord that I can play rite nw, n there are only so many variations u can do. Hope to pick mre stf up soon.

29/7/2007: Freshers <:-p

(Me n my roomie before the freshers)

The seniors had put up a cul nite for us, it was fab and what followed was an amazing party that went on till 6am.I was one of the few who danced all night.

Every junior was assigned a senior as date. Was gud fun to buy gifts, go pick ur dates up frm their rooms and escort them to the party.

(Me n my date Aditi)

The aftermath: Palaash was completely silent apart frm the snores that came frm every single room. The hostel wore a deserted look for almost 12 hrs. This was the first time, this happened since we got here.

All along we've had tons of assignments to do and right now I have a report to submit :((

Thats it from all of us here, until next time.

P.S. Own composition coming soon.

MICAcophony

2007-05-23T23:25:00.000+05:30

I've been a MICAn for just three days now, yet I've imbibed the basic funda/tradition of MICA.

Everything must have MICA in its name.

Anyways let me begin from the very beginning.

Landed in Ahmedabad on the 20th, got registered,checked into the hostel,finished all the other formailities.

First thing you notice about the campus is the greenery, has manicured lawns, huge trees, its like a mini forest reserve with all kinds of reptiles, birds,amphibians,canines(the official dog roxie; a german shepard is a delight to be with thou) et al.

Also me being from an engineering background, its kinda strange(in a nice way) for me to see so much of the fairer sex. Its a good change from the shitty engg life and I hope things dont eva get back to the earlier state.

My room is a lil small but comfy, so im doin fine here, just the heat is a lil unsettling. The food too is good here.

Have lotsa places to eat (:D me is very very haffy abt dis),the mess, the chota canteen and the Micafe.

Have a few musicians in our batch so lotsa impromptu jam sessions happen. Thats good fun. Hope one of them can teach me an instrument.

Well the programme began on the 21st with the directors address, n the rest of the administrative mumbo jumbo. The classes actly started on the 22nd. The first session was an ice breaker excercise and was really fun, we were all asked to assemble in the auditorium, then we did crazy ass stuff, paired up or split up into groups depending on the task. We hopped around put on skits.....was fun.

we were told 2 things "MICA mein kabhi raat nahi hoti" dats pretty much how it is...at any point in time ull eider hear music from some room or find someone walking around the campus. And "MICA mein kabhi bhi kuch bhi hosakta hai".

And since then its been classes classes and more classes with a few assignments thrown in just for fun. French class has been a good monotony breaker.

Although we did have a movie screening tonite(watched russell peters before that).

Now all that I need to do is get myself a local mobile connection and a guitar.

The 'U' Turn

2007-05-18T02:39:00.000+05:30

Hang on...before you think I'm talkin about life directions and all that jazz.......the U turn is jus route i took on my lil vaccation

Hyderabad----->Pondichery--->Kanyakumari------>Kovallam(Trivandrum)----->Hyderabad

Finally finished engineering(havent recieved my degree yet thou, oh nor are the results out yet!), but anyways the thing is its done.

I dunno if a lifer at a jail after being released would be this happy or not....but i really dont care...four years of torture is over. K its not that im trying to give it a gloomy spin.....but engg was really pretty much the opposite of what i had expected it to be.

And the drama during the farewell would sum it up best.... most of my 'dearest' classmates dint even care to stay back for the photo session....you would think ppl would like to carry some memories n stf bt no......ppl dnt really care

Anyways it wasnt that bad either....i did have fun....did make good frnds so dats good enuff.

Alright coming back to the trip...Sagar Harish and I left as soon as the examz got over.

1st up was pondi........after being in a moving furnace(the rest of the trip we decided would be air conditioned, dint mind shelling out more).....we got off at chennai and took a bus to pondi....the drive was awesome....was really scenic....saw salt being made blah blah blah.

Pondi is a nice place not very happening and all but good.....v rented bikes and went around...u get to see french architecture and ofcourse taste french cuisine......i had a blast n pigged out....ate pretty much everything.

The train to kanyakumari was pretty eventful...what with we being in the waiting list and Harish choosing this moment to fall sick....we did get berths later on thou.

Now kanyakumari was something else.....again very scenic and everything,but had a very upbeat feel unlike pondi.

Sunrise and sunset, confluence of seas etc....tons of things to see n do.....but Harish chose to 'rest' n Sagar to just laze around(but we did have a lil drunken espcade later on).....i took off and did a lotta sight seeing by myself...only to play tour guide to these guys later on.

Then kovallam....now this is my second time here.....the water is just amazing.....pristine(phulishtop).

After checking into the hotel...we hit the beach,then the pool, then the bed. were really tired. Day 2 at kovallam 7 am snorkelling!!!.....Swimming in the open sea was frigthening yet fun. Man it was just great.....scooped jelly fish out the water :D.

K I forgot to mention but...huge food bills became the norm......we(I) just ate ate and ate at all kindsa eateries....and ofcourse therz always roomservice(our room in kanyakumari had more plates and trays than luggage, humans and furniture combined).

But yeah it had to end(primarily cos we are all broke and had actually spent more than what we had budgeted.....we sincerely thank the ppl who invented ATMs).

The train back home was a 30 hour deal.....we played cards slept and goes without saying ate our way home.

Was one of the best trips I've had.....had a lot of fun...did quite a few exciting things

N i guess i felt so cos I'm DONE WITH ENGINEERING.....woohoo!!!

The sabbatical

2007-05-04T00:54:00.000+05:30

well a lot has happnd lately....n sadly i wasnt able to post stuff.

was really hard pressed for time in march....odyssey work had me explore new levels of multitasking. In the end it was decent affair, but the performance was da highlite of da day . To watch the clips click here----->http://youtube.com/results?search_query=schickados

N as if being busy wasnt enuff my comp concked off jus a day b4 odyssey. After that i was too lazy to fix plus mom was hospitalised so dint hav time too( i guess dat wld xplain me bieng absent frm the online radar for a few days)

Newayz there was sum good stf too...got I20s,but more importantly I got into MICA......so me gonna b an MBA two yrs frm nw. Also i got a call letter for the SSB, like last time i was recommended for the IAF but flunked da medicals....bt in da process made a few good frnds at the ssb so wasnt dat bad.

The project presentation was pretty ok...lets c how it goes.

Jus one xam between me n my degree....cant wait for it get ova.

Now me lookin fwd to Ahmedabad...babeville here i come. Hope my stay at MICA turns out to be one of best phases in ma life.

N as i bid farewell to SNIST i have mixed feelings, it was a shitty place but made a few gud frnds....n i did enjoy coll life albiet in trying conditions.

Oh btw bought new laptop ;)

Tour de Chennai

2007-02-16T13:05:00.000+05:30

Nah it isnt about a cycle race...we happend to go to chennai for saarang07 in the last week of jan.

And it wasnt the usual fest junta...had a completely different set of friends....was a nice experience.

Now saarang is almost the same as Mood-i sans the eye candy...its not like therz a dearth of good looking females in chennai...just that abundance is wat is lacking.

The campus is really really huge...takes you more than 10 minutes to get from end to end by bus. We had to walk a really long way from our hostels to the competitions arena. Surely wouldve lost a coupla kgs....bt we hogged like every night at the in-campus dhaba so i guess not much of change. The campus is really serene and picturesque with manicured lawns,lotsa greenery,ponds et al and ofcourse the bio-diversity, it literaly was like a wild life safari.

If therz sumthing in abundance in the IIT-M campus its the deers...man all kindsa deers blackbucks,spotted deer,sambal etc etc

Now chennai city is a wierd place ...pretty difficult to get around if you are not from chennai or dont speak tamil...somehow managed with my broken tam. A few friends told me that the night life is gud thou, dint really get to check it out...may be next time.

And then again the beaches are something else...filthy as hell.....
neverthe less we did get into da water

like david hasseloff...pity no baywatch babes around.

The best part of the trip was "BURMA BAZAAR"...dvds for 30-40 bucks....i shopped my behind off...bought dvds worth 800 or so...have a jumbo collection now...

The trip was fun on the whole.....endless rounds of dumb-c mafia and a few "shitty" games.

Now looking forward to finishing engg asap..so dat i can visit all the places on my "must-visit" list
Andamans, Ladakh, North-east to name a few.

Lets see how many places i can visit.

MOOD-I report

2007-01-10T20:34:00.000+05:30

Mood-Indigo the annual cultural festival of IIT-Bombay. My haven, eyecandyville.
This was my third time there. It was from the 26-29th of dec.

We (Akshay, Harish, Harsha, Mansi, Sankalp) left for mood-i on da 24th. The train journey was fun....the picturesque ghats;khandala-lonavla et all

We got there around 1 in the afternoon on 25th.... The room we were alloted was pretty dingy. The four of us had a tough time...you couldnt move without elbowing or bumping into someone else.
Anyways since the fest was to begin on 26th we just hit da town n partied a lil.

Day 1: All the elims....English jam Hindi Jam Potpourri etc etc

I got thru to da english jam semis and hindi jam finals...... Met Cyrus Broacha ,Kunal Vijaykar and few others(they had come there for the Talk show). V cdnt pick up our passes for the pronite(kumaresh ganesh) cos v were busy takin part in all da events n stf...... so v missed da show dat evening , heard it was great. Oh btw Elizabeth and Purnima had joined us a day later i.e on da 26th.

Day 2: Hindi jam finals..... it was gud... den Extempore elims it was gud fun., was a team event...v(Sankalp and I) made it to da finals. By the second day we had invented "Gen"ing....a complex move where ud turn into a constipated ashok kumar(da old bollywood actor).....

Pronite was KK....v wernt intrested so went out cos the girls wanted to go shopping. After the shopping ordeal it was time to relax .....Sheesha....nic place....rooftop... good ambience.... good food.

Day 3: Extempore finals......it was a laugh riot...v came in 3rd :D.... Parody song writing elims...was fun too...n da usual audience quiz n stf were gud...got a few freebies.

And gening continued..... and Harsha for some strange reason cdnt stop singing Say na say na and Main hoon Don....it was almost predictable.....i think we even started betting on when he would break into a song.

Pronite: Fusion nite and Kailash kher.... The fusio n wa s awesome they played amazing stuff on da sitar flute and mridingam.

And Kailash kher was just something else. The whole OAT(Open Air Theater) had this amazing aura.

Day 4: The final day......all da elims were done.....v had made it to da finals of most events dat v had taken part in. We were mostly jobless on da last day so attend all kindsa workshops n talks n plays. The heavymetal quiz was mindblowing....sum amazing trivia.
raat ko livewire....sum bombay band won da competition.

The main acts were Demonic Ressurection Themclones & Parikrama..... it was fundu.....lotsa maiden floyyd n deep purple....themclones played coldplay too.....
:-" But it rained :-" u cdnt help bt sing along wen parikrama played dat.

On the 30th we left da campus n hit da town......

da sunset at marine drive was da highlight of da day..........

The train back home was a bit of a drag....it took forever to get to hyderabad....n all of us were very tired.....i had only abt 3-4 hrs of sleep everday.
BUT we eventually made it bak home on new yr's eve....we looked like hell ....i went home n crashed only to b woken up around 7 pm......

A belated Happy new yr.
P.S. Happy birthday mom

Happy birthday to meeeeeee

2006-12-20T09:25:00.000+05:30

well yet another year up...me is older( i guess :-??)...prbbly a lil mre wiser dan i was last yr :-?...bt oda dan dat lifz prty much da same

this past yr has been a mixed bag a few happy moments quite a few crappy moments bt still it was an intresting yr nevertheless.

oh btw results out me cleared all n got a decent score :D :D :D

looking fwd to mood-i nw....shall hav a detailed mood-i report

until den... over n out

Road Trip!!!!

2006-12-05T16:44:00.000+05:30

"Horn OK Please.......round trip 1334 km ...12hrs one way...Avg speed 70 kmph ....top speed 120 kmph.... Milage 16 Kmpl"

this was my status msg on messenger after getting back frm vizag.

it was one helluva trip...the stretch of road frm vijaywada to vizag was a beauty prbbly as good as the autobhans( an exggeration bt still). u cldnt help bt feel u r schumi(even tough u r driving a khatara maruthi) on those roads.

the reason for the trip: nthn; i jus wanted to go on a really long drive.

the whole trip was good but like everything this has a downside....my butt hurts nw( neva sat still for mre than a few mins n here i am driving for 12hrs straight). pity i left my camera behind...there were sum amazing,picturesque locations and a few horrible n gruesome accidents on the way. wldve loved to capture all those images.

it was fun reading all those crazy oneliners/captions written on the trucks.

planing to make it a policy to go on atleast one roadtrip every year

jinxed????

2006-11-19T17:13:00.000+05:30

1st semester exams seem to be jinxed.....the accent incident in the 2nd yr n now the maruti.....

ok jus so u kno...dis is wat happnd....

"on my way to coll for the xam on friday(17/11/2006)...was tryn to overtake da coll bus.....he dint lemme pass so i tried to over take from the left....bt dere was a truck in the blindspot...n the worst part is, it was stationary, so even after breaking really hard...v ended up ramming into it...luckily jus a small portion of the car cam in contact with the truck.....minimal damages(although the windshield was damaged)....da repairs dint cost much jus around 4k."

most importantly no one got hurt......n im still alive(third time)......

well the 3 exams until now were pretty ok.....

CAT was suprisingly easy..... i'm sure the cut-off will b really high...lets see how things pan out.

the rollercoaster rides that my mind keeps takin abt "her" finally seem to be ending.....i guess she's the one whoz lost out not me....i did evrythng humanly possible to let her kno wat n how much she means to me n yet if she cant understand well "ab kya bol sakte"

hmmm well now that gre is also done...have been busy wit da recos n sop drafts....havnt finalisd da list of universities yet(if ne of u can suggest a few gud ones it'd b gr8t) gotta finish this whole thng by dec....

looking fwd to the fun part of engg :D

until next time
over n out

fear......

2006-11-07T19:21:00.000+05:30

ppl hav all kinds of fears (im nt talkn abt aquaphobia or vertigo) fear of letting go, fear of "what will ppl thnk" etc

these apprehension make ppl to da stupidest of thngs......ive been victimised over n over. nw im begining to develop a fear myslf. im afraid that i wnt b able to trust ppl nemre. bt i guess only time will tell if i get consumed by my fear or if i can ride over a storm yet again.

i dnt have ne other significant fear, but there is one thing that i have to learn to let go....i dnt let go of things easily.......nt bcos of a fear of loosing things.....but its cos i love them so much( things include old clothes toys n all the oda jazz bt most imprtntly ppl{ espcly a few that i call "frnds"}) that i jus dnt wanna let go.

well da cliched "clenched fist" example is the only thing that eventually convinces me to let go.
i need to learn to nt get involved too much wit da stf around me.

or i guess i shld jus by myslf an alto,den i keep saying "lets go" :p

kya hai k......i da last few posts have been very senti n philosophical n shit ( mom dad i thnk im finally growing up)

kya toh bhi.....

2006-11-04T02:27:00.000+05:30

its dat time of da year wen evrythng else takes da backseat...n all u hafta do is dive into da books.

bt dats nt quite how it wrks 4 me.....it neva did...

ppl say n do wierd stf " stp eating nonveg until da xams r ova" "stp orkutting" ' im gonna stp " u know wat" '.......bt y ???? i mean common u think ur braincells start workn faster if u dnt hav meat? u thnk all da energy n fluids u save by nt doing it will help u study?

newayz apna funda has always been simple...do evrythng in moderation....bt i guess itll b a lil tuffer dis tim(wat wit da hectic schedule n all da oda stf dat has happend in da recent past).....wanna do well....try n get dat pathetic aggregate of mine to a respectable figure.

having said dat...i still havent touched da books(wit less dan 10 days to go)....i guess sumthngs neva change.

kya toh bhi!!!

All the best!!!

All good things must come to an end.....

2006-10-20T22:27:00.000+05:30

On the personal front, a beautiful phase of life has ended( i guess u get da drift)...bt no regrets it was good while it lasted... wld've loved for it to go on forever, bt dats ok(atleast got to kno wat a broken heart feels lik)......

b4 u thnk im turnin into a devdas...lemme tell u im doin prety well nt to wry......thnx for ur concern.

n on da proffesional front finally finised da newsletter...its at da printers rite nw....yet anoda responsbility successfully delegated.....

on a philosophical/futuristic note.....coll life is at its fag end......

oh! wat a helluva ride its been......1st yr to 4th yr all kindsa xperiences.....da crushes, da ragging, da mass enthu, da fests, da car crashes,da dosti n dushmani.....evrythn abt coll (even da sad n lame thngs).

as a new chapter begins, as i take a new turn on the path of life....derz dis wierd feeling within dat i cnt really express in words....

chalo bahut senti hogaya.....lets c where lif takes me....

cheers!!!

Life at its multi-tasking best!!!!

2006-10-08T18:38:00.000+05:30

These past few weeks hav been a pain in da ass....lif itslf isnt so bad bt u kno da ppl around can get to u at timz.....

for starters a c ertain sum1 hasnt quite been herself...shes been actin all wierd...dnt wanna get into da details....

oda dan dat lifz been pretty hectic wat wit da project da newsletter da tests n dandiya etc....

well da project (test generator for IBM Great Minds Challenge 2006) is nt quite goin according to plan.... firstly our guide is thope ^:)^ he seems to hav da same solution 4 very prob "Frameset" LMAO!!!...its been 3 weeks nw n its far frm finishd...its nt lik v arent tryn...v r bunkn classes daily... v hardly sit in da class...bt sumhow v arnt moving forward..its lik v r stuck in quick sand.... n u kno da gang gets pretty lame at timz n v end laffn our asses off instead of sittn n coding....lik yesterday went to da coll after lotsa jhamela flat tyres n wat nt..ended up blowing up a grand n at da end off da day v were right where v started...newayz v will eventually finish
it i guess...

n da newsletter is comin along fine.... thoda ragadna padta 4 da nxt 3-4 days n turn into sumthn gud

Aaj TOEFL hogaya so atleast nw its official dat i can read write understand n speak english...got 4 mre xamz to go lets c how it goes...

MAAAA!!!! mujhe naukri milgayi hain maa....

2006-08-08T01:09:00.000+05:30

That is exactly what i did when i told my mom that i got placed(totally fimly style...with a box of sweets n all ):P

Ah! the whole campus placement thing was fun.....me nt having a very gud aggregate was eligible for a handful of companies( the reason im so pleased is dat i got thru da 1st one dat i was eligible for :D} so it was a pretty dicey situation actually....all said n done i was pretty confident dat i'll get selected if i can clear the aptitude tests.

thnkfully i did clear da apti n da interview part of it was a cinch! (as expected) infact it was a very hilarious experience( my tech round was more of a football quiz n in the hr round the lady was being pretty frisky!!! dnt wanna elaborate on dis u neva kno my "employers" mite see it).....

it had been raining for a quite a few days n it did on da day of da interview...n as luck would hav it da car had a flat tyre n i was forced to use da bike...wen i reached da coll i was totally soaking wet....
bt fortunately/unfortunately(cos i had to wait dat long) my turn for the interview was late in da evening....

da interview went off pretyy well n i was confident i'd get thru so wen da results were out i was more relieved dan thrilled.

The bottom line is im a TCSerrrrrrrrrrrrr now :D <:-p \:D/

Ahem!!!

2006-07-24T21:36:00.000+05:30

well da vactanz were pretty drab.... didnt really have anything worth blogging about.....

da same old mundane stuff......late night movies tv shows waking up in da afternoon lunch ....n da cycle continued....but during da later part of da vacatnz da world cup infused some life into me....

now dat its done n dusted....was backed to da same old grind.....dint have nethng to talk about...coll had reopend n lif seemed to head nowhere.....

and then da mumbai blasts!!!!(11/7/2006) was full of rage n pent up feeling n was gonna blog about it....wen i got to know dat the Govt. asked all da ISPs to block blogs #-o....

newayz now dat dey r up n running....hopefully ill have sumthn to post.....

A day of hunger and wet undies.......

2006-05-25T21:06:00.000+05:30

happy birthday dad!!!

well my day began around 2 p.m. when i got a call frm harish (anoda birthday boy).....hez lik come to 1oD asap...so i get in n out da loo at da speed of light..... i try n make it on time bt no i had to wait 4 ages while Ms.CC took '"few minutes to get dressed"........
anyhow..... v finally make it to 10D around 4........i suddenly remember that i hafta drop my mom in da railway station by 4.30......i drive lik a mad fuck; barely make it in time.....

i thot phew!!! i can finally catch my breath n get down to sum solid hogging...bt no dese guys call up n say v r shiftn to eat street....i say wat the heck all i care abt is food (chandramukhi ho ya paro ki farak painda hai yaaron)......

so near yet so far....i was dreamin of layin my hands on sum grilled chicken or a sub or sum freakn food jus den a cop appears rite in front of me n i snap out of my food fantasy........

after im finally allowed to move....i reach eat street after wat felt lik n eternity.....n jus den da heavens open up...................da few seconds it took me to get across da street were enuff to drench me....i was wet to da bone.

well im no cynic....im nt sum1 who hates da rain infact i love it bt....its jus a lil uncomfortable having to sit for a few hours wen ur undies r soakin wet.....newayz i managed to get thru da ordeal primarily bcos i finally got to hav sum grub.....i tried my best to b decent n cultured.....bt i attacked da food like a famished unicef kid.............hmmm dat felt gud ( khane ke baad aisa laga jaise kisine mujh mein jaan phuk di ho)

k v decided to get bak hom....i was nw beginin to enjy da rain lik i usually do....bt den sum dickhead ruined it for me......he cam frm da right n scraped my car....i fliped.....i pulled over rite in frnt of him....i started mouthing expletives as if sum1 had asked me recite da multiplication tables or nursery rhymes......things got a lil too hot....dat guy tried to act smart n came ova to hit me....i was up 4 it i got out of da car b4 he reached.....bt b4 i cld lay my hands on him....'badday boy' comes out n calms things down....pretty much anti-climax.....

well here im nw.......writing dis in fresh clothing mre importantly in dry undies :D......(well ladies im sry i kno its nt a pretty picture tryn to imagine in my undies bt u gotta bare it :P{pun intended} ):D

Khalbali hai Khalbali!!!!!

2006-05-21T22:09:00.000+05:30

finally felt lik a student today....a student who can make a difference and a student who can play a major role in taking this nation to gr8tr heights(i kno its lotta self-dabba bt still)

a lot is being said and written about the whole reservation issue but sadly not much is being done abt it(altough offlate protests hav intensified quite a lot)....so thats when i decided that i've had enuff of this crap n its time i do sumthn abt it.......fortunately happend to meet a few ppl who thought on the same lines..... n thus the foundation for protests in hyderbad was laid....

after quite a lotta brainstorming n stf it was decided dat sunday 21st may i.e. today we were gonna hav a protest march n that we'd present a memorandum to the governer(the later was not possible cos 1)v cdnt acquire the permission to walk till raj bhavan 2) nor did hav the permission to enter raj bhavan)...anyhow the protest did take place bt frm indira park.....v went around lower tankbund stf....the 'narebazi' was fun the usual ek do ek do n stf n sum quite wacky ones too.....

after listenin to all the stories dad used to temme abt his student days m deir strikes n stf...i always used to think wil i eva have such an xperience...well here i am :D

initially i was lil dissapointed wit the crowd turnout...later it dawned me "apun log toh latelateef hone ke liye famous hain plus dat ind-wi match last nite".....slowly da crowds began to swell n v the march began...apparently at one point of time there were around 600 ppl.

bt wat pained me was, wen v were tryn to gather support the whole of last week ppl were either sceptical about it (wat if therz a lathicharge n crap lik dat) or were jus darn lazy ("sunday subbe bulaye toh kaise kaka"..."10 baje uthne nahi hota baap" )4 christ's sakes man how do u freakn expect sumthn to happen unless ur willing to take a few risks.....

all in all a pretty satisfying xperience......felt alive after a long time....felt that i have done sumthing worthwile.....
see all pictures of the rally---->http://community.webshots.com/album/550668191JEokCJ/0
INQUILAB ZINDABAD.........

anna....im a fresher....zarra samjhainchu....

2006-05-18T20:28:00.000+05:30

dis is my first evr post......well i was never averse to blogs n stf......bt always thought of it as a waste of time(read im too darn lazy). bt here im taking my first baby-steps....entering the world of bloggers.......

y i chose dis auspicious day(i dunno if its bt jus 4 da heck of it) is a mystery dat i myself cannot solve. probbably cos i was jus too freakin bored....(was up last nite watchin da champions league final...dint sleep til 7 in da mornin.....) after i eventually woke up it got lousier by the minute......

arguments galore.....mood 'fubar'ed..... n the match( IND VS WI ) hasnt started yet.....so lik dat n all.....

so nw dat i hav made start.... keep checkin in often.....