December, Poor December

Well, December sobs because there is no post up. So here's to a blast of a December. Cheers. I'm off to spend a vague night filled with dynamic plans. It's New Year's eve. Happy New Year.

That 3:11 thingy


This is where I was at 3:11 pm on 03/11/07. Thanks to Amrit bhaiya for the information. I know the write up cannot get any more cliched. I thought just the picture would be sufficient but the 50 word description was too tempting to ignore. Besides it seemed like those limited-word English precis writing assignments back in school. Anyway, here's the link to more of what fellow-Chennaiites were upto.
PS: Maybe I should have put up a post informing you people about this but let's just interpret my laziness as my first attempt at RGing.
The picture was taken inside IIT Madras campus. The campus is built inside a lush green forest. The trees symbolize Nature and the scooters symbolize human intervention into Nature. The picture, thus, stands testimony to the fact that even in a busy metro city, Nature can exist in perfect harmony with man.

Underworld

“There’s a car waiting. See to it that those girls are dropped wherever they want and get yourself a free ride home.”

He walked towards the car and noticed the girls his boss was talking about.

“Is that an E-60?”

He looks around for the owner of that excited, impulsive voice. It was one of the girls in the group. She seemed far younger than the others most likely in her late teens. He sees no harm in talking to her although in a land where conversations were strictly restricted to business.

“Yeah, it is. Do you like it?” He has a warm smile on his lips and an innocent sparkle in his eyes.

“Yes. It looks lovely. I have never seen one this close before.”

He asks her to keep the file he had with him in her bag.

It was a monotonous journey except for occasional bikes vrooming past. She was visibly bored and started yet another abrupt conversation.

“Do you like working there?”

“Well, yes. I get a good salary but it’s a nasty business that they do. I can do nothing about it though. Anyway, here’s my stop.”

“Oh, where do you stay?”

“Starry Heights Apartments. I don’t feel comfortable at the office quarters. It’s a small apartment but I like it. Goodnight then. Nice meeting you.”

She finds his file in her bag. The following day, she goes to his apartment and hands him his folder.

“Oh, thank you so much. I was wondering how I would trace you without so much as a name.”

She sports a satisfied smile. “Are you always alone? Don’t you have any friends?”

He admires the spontaneity in her questions. “No, I generally don’t entertain here. I retire to this tiny apartment to get away from the monotony of work.” She leaves. He feels the presence of a caring soul. She feels the presence of a soul to be cared for.

Work goes on as usual. He and his monotonous work – neither cribs. 1 message received. Please fill in for me at the Interview hall today. I am down with fever. Thanks. Selection for shipping – 11 pm.

11 pm. He was right on time. He was briefed in on what to do – ensure that the candidate is on the list and mark those worth shipping. “Candidate?”, he wondered. His eyes fell on a skinny waif being dragged by a well built man. It all made sense now. He could do nothing. Each girl was led into the room; one more pathetic than the previous. He looked up to see who was next in line. Their eyes met. She felt energized while he felt stoned. He had to do something. He couldn’t just stand there and watch her go through such humiliation. She was pretty. She would easily be chosen. He knew he had to act. Something, anything. He went up to his boss and said it was getting late and there was some important business to be taken care of. The boss thought over it and gave him a suspicious look. The selection process was halted till further notice. He looked at her from the corner of his eye and felt good.

A couple of days passed. 523, Starry Heights Apartments; a knock on the door. His fellow employee opens and gives her an unwelcome look. She searches for him and their eyes click. His friends hand him his jacket and he rises to leave. She presses a fleeting kiss on his cheek and whispers, “Thanks.” He puts his arm around her shoulder.

Beside the fountain outside his apartment, he realizes how happy he was with her and vows to keep her happy all her life. Her eyes well up as she feels elated. The next moment they shatter into a million pieces. It was a cruel world and he could do nothing about it.

PS: This was a real dream I had last summer. Every bit of this occurred in that freaking dream dated July 27th, 2007.

First time for everything?

Conventions in amino acids, it seems. How do I care which groups have what charge and what the abbreviation or symbol is for some –cine or some –gine? Get a life. I have one. Let me live it my way.

How many are interested, I wonder. Isn’t it a much better use of time to solve your A slot assignment out of a sudden outburst of interest in the subject than talk or doze or play?

I appreciate Life Sciences (that's the course). It’s a beautiful world and that’s where I leave it. Asking a fellow classmate who had deviated about 10 degrees from the normal to sit up straight! Oh come on! Whatever happened to the fundamental rights of students. Wait a minute… there aint any! We hardly got to choose what we wanted to study at school and the same situation continues through college.

If you are wondering why I put up such a post then read on. I had all the enthusiasm in the world to solve that assignment. There was no deadline, yet I was doing a Math assignment. That’s not something you see everyday. My book was confiscated by the sadistic TA. That’s a first and I didn't like it.

@Noldorim: I listen in most classes. This was an exception. :)

@Freakin’ E batch fellow on the next bench with the irritating guffaw: It was not funny.

I don’t want the book back; I didn’t write proper notes. I do miss the L&T book-cover which looks real pseud though!

Tagged Aaj Tak!

People actually took up my Tag! The 8RF Game. Here they are…
Abhishek
Kaushik
Saboo
Neethu
Rid3r

Let’s get Addicted!

It’s finally here. My first addiction! It’s the sole reason why I have breakfast, why I wait for tea-time every single day and why I don’t mind drinking milk. Ah! Just one spoonful of this heavenly powder and milk, the liquid I totally despise, turns into a divine drink. The colour, the smell, the taste… it’s a feast for the senses I tell you. It really is.

It was my good friend, Coke, who suggested this heavenly drink to me, being an addict herself. She is addicted to the vanilla flavour and gave me a sip of it one fine evening. I was on the verge of puking! Ah! An analogue to a smoker’s first puff. I would never have got addicted had I left it at that first sip. Fortunately, I ventured to try out another flavour, namely chocolate and the rest, as they say, is history.

She did warn that this drink might get the drinker addicted but who cares for silly little warnings when trying something out for the first time? It felt nice in the beginning. Protinex buddies! Or should I say Protinex addicts! I used to take one cup a day after breakfast or in the evening instead of my usual tea. Then, it became nicer; two cups a day. Later it became my breakfast. Just one big cup of Protinex chocolate. A happy meal! I’m luvin it! Thanks (?) to the fact that I was eating at a mess where milk was served only twice a day, the daily intake was restricted to two cups.

One fine evening, another good friend, CL, gave me a tempting offer-a perfectly made cup of Boost. I used to like Boost very much so I decided to give it a try. The dark brown colour and the aroma were too good to say no to. Besides, my Protinex was finishing fast and I wanted to save it for the desperate times a.k.a end-sems. I took one sip and it felt tasteless. Entirely tasteless. My reaction was surprising to me too. How can a chocolate-crazy person feel a cup of Boost as tasteless? Something was wrong somewhere. I felt that nothing could make a drink as tasty as Protinex did. That is when the seriousness of the addiction struck me. It convinces you that every other drink is insipid, tasteless, archaic, obsolete and only one drink exists that is worth drinking…Protinex Chocolate! and I stand by this fact.

Every addiction comes with the ultimate aim of taking over the world. Mine is no different. It makes full use of its victim; from preaching about its splendour to offering a free sip. A pity I haven’t been able to serve my master in a reasonable, leave alone remarkable, manner for every time I preach about this heavenly drink, I end up convincing nobody. Not a single soul. To make things worse, all I get back from my audience are disgusted expressions and appalling remarks. I quote a few instances.

“Protinex? Yuck!” – Mind your language! Insulting I say!

“Oh! that drink; it’s ok ok types” – Ok ok types? Oh! Come on…

“Ahem! ” – I wish she would’ve stopped with that Ahem.

“Tastes like sugarless Milo with a tinge of bitterness.” – Sigh! Maybe because it was her first puff!

“Eww! That was terrible. So bitter! I need some water to clean my mouth” - speechless

The comments are never-ending and it all leads to the same conclusion; Proinex == Yuck. What can be worse than that?

"Smells Boostish. Tastes real nice ya." - Finally! some ray of hope but you know what? I am not so convinced about the genuineness of this comment because this was from a guy and guys say many things.

Update:
"Nice" followed by a dorky smile. - Well, that was "nice" to hear until he said that he likes yeast on toast too.

Inexplicably grotesque expression. - What more shall I say?

Now that, my good friend, is a serious addiction but guess what… I have no plans of snapping out of it.

Devil Strikes Again!

And you thought I was out of the picture! Another feather in my cap and a highly treasured one at that. The Play under the Umbrella. evil laugh!

A-Z Reloaded

Step into my shoes and the English alphabet will look like this.
Inspired by Vatsap?

Argh!; extremely expressive when it comes to anger
Bang!; speaks for itself, doesn't it?
Chocolate; my weakness
Devil; evil laugh
Exceptional; me!
Fish; peace
God; pray
Hunger; Grr!
Insecurity; whatever that is
Jinx; Freaky
Kiss; Ah!
Life; and the beauty of living
Money; to be spent on chocolates
Niche; jus' like me... small 'n' sweet
Oh; gen
Plucky; Definition
Qualm; no qualms about this one
Rival; get insanely competitive
Sarcasm; simply marvellous
Travelogue; love reading them
Universe; it's just so perfect
Vice; definitely vice
Weird; weird
X-men; super cool
Yay!; use it a lot.

Zoom; on my cycle.

That was fun. Give it a try and you’ll see.

Bang! Not again!

24/06/07: 19 30 hrs.

The short version:
I banged again just like this and this. Ouch!

The long version:
I was at this sleepover at Plucky’s place. Hmpf! More publicity. I had to choose between this queen-size bed with an intricately carved wooden railing but a not-so-soft mattress and a study table chair for a seat. As is obvious from my description, I chose the bed and began digging the laptop for useful stuff to send to my pen-drive when I noticed the beautiful pattern on the wall in front of me. Glow-in-the-dark stickers. I am a total freak when it comes to them. I have dozens of them in my room too, mainly dolphins. However, this was different. Stars of different sizes! I was gaping with my mouth wide open.
Me: Wow! they look wonderful.
Plucky: Yeah! I know. Wait till you see the ceiling.
I looked up and saw the ceiling. Wow! Double Wow! There were so many of them and I realized I was gaping again.

Plucky: Wait I’ll turn off the lights. It will look much better then.
The arrogant voice in my head: Duh! Where did your brains go?
Me: Ok. Good idea. Should have thought about it earlier!
Switches off the lights.
A bunch of crystalline stars frozen in mid-air while falling down onto the Earth, yet, seem to fall infinitesimally slowly.
Plucky: Hey, why are you straining yourself so much? Lie down, na?
Me: Ok.
Felt like she had hypnotized me! I was obeying her.
Update: She pushes me down.
Bang!
Not again! That was when I stopped gaping. I no longer like that intricately carved wooden railing. After it had come in the way of your stargazing, who would?

I don’t know if she had planned the entire sequence of events ;) but well, I had banged again and that’s all there is to know.

The Marathon

It’s not like I’m worried about it. It’s just that it’s there. It doesn’t bother me or anything but what if? What if it starts bothering me? What will I do then?

I have been trying to figure this out for quite some time now. An intriguing sensation that numbs me all over. Neither does it explain itself to me nor have I made a conscious attempt at understanding it. I have been running away from it and will continue the marathon. Yes, it’s a never-ending marathon. Now, out of the blue, (or shall I blame it on this endless vacation that is driving me insane?) I feel interested in this issue.

Where do I begin? It is, after all, difficult to think about something you never wanted to think about.

Here’s an incident from the recent past. I got hold of this song from Plucky recently. Summer of ’69 by Bryan Adams and here’s how it went.
Me: Hmm. Bryan Adams… should be a good song.
Plucky: Yeah, its really good.
Me: ok, lets hear it then.
Plucky: k
Plays the song.
Whoa! That was loud.
Hmm, sounds good.
After just two lines of the song, she had to leave to perform some chores. So its just me and the song now.
Foot tapping and head nodding.
Damn! here it comes.. he sings, “ oh when I look back now”
And it had arrived. That irritating torturous feeling swells up within me. The line, “those were the best days of my life” served as the Grand Finale. That was it. I paused the song then and there.
Plucky is back.
Me: why does he have to sing like that?
Plucky: seems to understand my situation perfectly. Hehe I know.
I have the song on my Lappy but I never play it. I just don’t feel like it. I do play it once or twice these days but I still haven’t crossed that 50 sec mark. But you know what? That doesn’t bother me.

Oh yeah, here’s another one. A few days back, I was chatting on Gtalk with CL. Just another day, just another chat, just gen stuffs. She was about to sign off and that’s when it happened. She said bye and added, “missing you guys.” Damn! Though I instinctively reply with a conventional “missing you too”, my thoughts are elsewhere, busy trying to run away as usual. And this particular incident has happened twice on chat and twice on sms. Damn! Double damn! I just don’t understand it. “Miss u a lot”, “miss kar raha hun”, “missing u”; every single time, it’s the same old story. But you know what? That doesn’t bother me.

The other night, this friend of mine, came into my room all excited. I was in no mood to listen to anybody. It was time to crash and I wanted to crash. She, however, had other plans. She had just come back from this amazing date with her boyfriend. Bah! I was definitely in no mood for that. I played some arbit playlist and hoped she would cut the narration short and let me crash in peace. I don’t remember what she said (coz if I did remember and wrote it on this blogpost, well, I would get kicked. ;) ) but there was something about that date, that was unforgettable for her and affected me to the extent that tears welled up in my eyes. Damn! A sudden gush of something flows through my system culminating in an involuntary smile. Was I happy for her? Or sad for myself? Or was it time to run away from whatever it is that I have been running away from? Time to chase her out of my room. I did chase her out and crashed on my pillow with such high approach velocity that my nose pained all night. Ouch! But you know what? That doesn’t bother me.

“Hey, listen to this song. He sent it to me this morning.”
Oh! Great! Just what I wanted to hear. “Ok. Send it down.”
I hardly listened to the song the first time I played it. I was preoccupied with many other things. She seemed excited about the song but I was least bothered. I played it a second time to actually listen to it, and man, was it good. Damn! It was too good. Why does he have to sing it like that? And why does he have to say things like that? Oh, by the way, the song under question is Truly Madly Deeply by Savage Garden. But you know what? That doesn’t bother me.

In other news, I just banged my knee against the sofa. Ouch!

Sometimes its just an involuntary smile and at other times it’s a surge of feelings. Its hard to keep yourself from smiling when you see an STD sms that reads just a “goodnight :)” or to hear your phone vibrate on your bedside window sill just a few minutes after you sent a goodnight message.

But you know what? All of this... just doesn’t bother me.

The 8RF Game...

Yay! I’ve been Tagged by Crazy gal and the game continues.

Here are the rules:

1.Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
2.Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
3.Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

Eight random facts about myself:

1. As a child, I realized that the Earth was spherical but believed that we lived inside the Earth and that its inner surface was the sky.
2. Table tennis, ball-badminton, tennis, volleyball; you name it; I play all these with the one opponent who never loses – The Wall.
3. I never have and never will ride the Giant-wheel. I have, however, been on fiercer rides than that.
4. I have a huge weakness for chocolates and I find it very difficult to share them with anybody.
5. In case my scooter goes out of control, I throw myself off, land safely on my legs and let the vehicle meet its doom.
6. In a batch of 29 guys and 3 girls, I, the puny little girl, was the first to finish the Fitting Workshop piece and I was asked to help out a guy.
7. I had not cried at all for a few months, so I cried once just to clean my eyes.
8. I took a small brown rock from the backyard, placed it in an air-tight bag and claimed it to be a meteor.

Ok. Now that was Random max! Here are the 8 lucky ppl i get to Tag...
1. Neethu
2. Kaushik
3. Rid3r
4. Abhishek
5. Pranesh
6. Akila
7. Grinch
8. Saboo

Bang! again

The title won’t make any sense to you unless you have read Bang! Now that you have read that, gear up for this.

16/06/07 12:00 hrs
It seemed like just another usual day. I was busy living my boring and monotonous life while the Earth revolved around the sun, spinning happily. Everything was fine. I was checking scraps and other such crap…

I take a detour from the original topic to bore you with something I learnt in my Biology textbook but never believed. We possess quite a few reflex actions most of which are vital to our survival but there’s this one reflex action that is just plain weird - The Patellar Reflex. In simple words, if you give a light tap on a particular point on the knee, your leg involuntarily kicks. Is that weird or what? What the hell is the use? Some kind of self defense? I just think it is highly improbable. Do let me know if any of you have experienced this first hand.

As I was telling, it was just another day. I was listening to songs on Real Player. Just then, I clicked on Eject instead of Play and Bang! The CD platform pushed itself out of the CPU and smashed into my knee. Damn those computer-table manufacturers! Thanks to the countless racks they designed on the table, my leg had no room to kick and ended up colliding with the bottommost rack. Ouch!

The pain dominated the enlightenment. The swelling didn’t make things any better. Swellings always freak me out and this was no exception. I was in too much pain to realize what had happened. The reflex action I was just telling you about; it really does happen and it happened to me.

A Blast of a Birthday! - Act 1

Disclaimer:
The following post describes in vivid detail the convoluted ways in which the mind of a certain UTD ( Ulti Torture Devil ) works. So, proceed only if you think you can handle it. Oh, by the way, this is just a teeny tiny glimpse of what goes on in her mind.

Caution:
I don’t have the permission to disclose who Devil really is… and I advise you not to bother either.

A few words before I begin.( well I guess I already began but anyway…)
Thanks to Postman for the idea to write a b’day blog.
Thanks to Crazy gal for the crazy idea to blog about this particular incident.
This is a big one.. so here it goes.

This blog post is dedicated to a plucky ( henceforth addressed to as Plucky in this post), a hopeless person ( henceforth addressed to as Hopeless in this post ) and a ziddi (means stubborn in Hindi) person ( henceforth.. blah blah blah... Imp)

Narrated by Devil:-

Act 1 Scene 1

(x,,y,z,t) – (Orkut, 12/06/07 : 22:00 hrs)

I should admit that I get a lot of satisfaction from the innumerable sadistic things I do. I cannot explain why or how but it has been this way for quite some time now. This greed for sadistic happiness was heightened today for some reason; maybe because Imp didn’t come online today at all ( that’s the reason he gave… what a reason! Lol ) or because of the inspiring episode – the one which focuses on Megan and her evil self - of Drake n Josh I saw just a few minutes back, which is my reason. The point; I was on top gear. Time to attack somebody’s scrapbook. Hmm.. who shall be my victim today?? I went profile-hopping in my friends’ list and voila! Who better than Imp? Ego freak to the core and a self-proclaimed cool guy… Time for some ego-deflation. Here’s what I did to his about me column. evil laugh

Scrap 1: “well i havnt figured out much abt myself yet like what i really want. a couple of years back i had an obsessive desire to get to IIT but now that i am here and i find that it is just another college i guess i need to find a new goal.so as of now i am aimlessly killing time and that brings me to orkut.my frends say im very composd n never get angry,i njoy spending time wid frends,watching movies n generally chilling out. so add moi!!”
Scrap 2: thts more about mr 1001.. his about me column
Scrap 3: see wat I told.. give up person. Hasn’t figured out abt himself in th first place!
Scrap 4: “obsessive desire to get to IIT” couldn’t hav gt th next train kya??any moron with a ticket can do it!
Scrap 5: “just another college” duh! Wat du expect? Hogwarts?!
Scrap 6: “need to find a new goal” hopeless and goalless!
Scrap 7: “aimlessly killing time” wata murderer! No wonder ppl lik me don’t get nuf time to carry out our aimful activities. Sheesh!
Scrap 8: “that brings me to orkut” oh no! more murders abt to occur.
Scrap 9: “generally chilling out” wonder wat’s non-generally chilling out?!
Scrap 10: “so add moi" ya sure! After all this? nice try! PS: ta da ta ta taa! I'm luvin it.. ulti thing to do on my bday!

10 scraps.. as always.. 1 orkut page :D Mission Accomplished.


Act 1 Scene 2

(x,y,z,t) – (Gmail, 12/06/07 : 22:30 hrs)

Wow! That felt great! One of my masterpieces! That’s when I got my birthday compliments… the best so far…

“u evil wiked gal..
i dnt cum online 1day nd u act so smart..
litter my scraps ldat..
utd is an understatement
ur unbelivably mean
:x
:x”
LOL!

“wat abt u havnt even gt nething 2 write in ure abt u section..
except dat u cn pain infi..
d name says it all it seems..
:x
:x”
LOL!!

“… d grt whose name says it all...(wonder if it means devil personified)”
LOL!!!

And get this… I made a calm n composed guy slaisha pissed! clap Achievement! Hardwork pays and it pays handsomely. (Chap didn’t even reply once that night)

For the record: He’s just the most amazing guy I have ever met. :)

( So that was Act 1. The damage:-
Devil : “How dare he get pissed? How can he stay angry like that?? And wats with the not messaging??? Wait till I get my hands on him!”
Imp : “ So innocent, yet so evil! Nobody messes with my ego! Wait till I get my hands on her!”)

A Blast of a Birthday! - Act 2

Note : If u happen to work at a CCD, this is an imaginary act played by imaginary actors at an imaginary CCD in an imaginary city.. ah! you get the imaginary picture don’t ya?

(x,y,z,t) – (Corner sofa @ CCD,13/06/07 : 12:00 hrs)

Act 2 Scene 1

They call it Cool Blue Granita… we call it Surf Excel. It is basically half-melted blue coloured crushed ice that somehow even tastes like Surf. The drink was in my hands when my eyes fell on the cream coloured trousers Imp was wearing. Time for torture.
Devil : “ Is that a new pair of trousers?”
Imp : puzzled
Ah! Wat the hell! As if I care if they were new!
“Splash!”; a strawful of Surf Excel all over the right leg of the crisp cream pants!
Devil : “Score!”
Take that you chocolate chip snatcher!
Imp : puzzled (Chap has a huge reservoir of these puzzled looks!)

“Splash!”; another strawful of Surf Excel all over the previous stain!
Boing! The spring on which Imp was sitting springs up! Poor fella! Tries his best to wipe his pants clean.
Hopeless : “ Thank God I am on the other side, far away from you.”
Devil : realizes that he too is wearin a pair of cream trousers “My lucky day! You’re wearing cream too.”
Hopeless : takes the newspaper to save his pants from the potential danger it was in
Devil : evil smile
“Splash!”; Surf on the big-mouthed fella’s pants! “Man, this straw is good. What amazing range!”
Hopeless : speechless
Fella surrendered then and there. Smart boy!
It is so satisfying to put your physics fundaes to use!

Next stop.. Plucky! Well, what do you know… she was wearing cream coloured pants too. My lucky day indeed. :D
Plucky : “No, not me.”
Devil : “Hmm, okay. She does have a class to attend after this. Besides I have no grudge against her. My first partner in crime, after all!”

One fleeting look at Imp’s look of ego and defiance and I knew I had to act again.
Devil : “Oh! Look.. Your left leg is totally clean.. Let’s give a finishing touch to this painting, shall we?”
I took one strawful and Boing! The spring goes up again! LOL! Just imagine a 6 foot tall fella jumping out of his seat as though poked with a pin. Tom & Jerry style!
One more sip from the straw and Boing! Double LOL!!
I just reached for the straw and Boing! Triple LOL!!!
I could do this forever!
Sip! Boing! LOL! Lolz!

Before long, he got the idea that I was just taking sips and had no plans of splashing but boy, was he wrong!
“SPLASH!” the biggest one so far! I just keep getting better at this!
Ah! Sweet Sadistic Satisfaction! It was an exhilarating feeling. The pant was crying and I was laughing.

Imp tried his hand at my game! An attempt to pour the last drops of Cold Chocolate over me but I was not ready to give up without a fight. It was a weird version of a tug of war.
Imp : “You wont win at this. This is all about strength.”
Devil : “ But you are supposed to be a chivalric guy…”
Imp : “No chivalry today.”
On mutual consent, or so I think, we decided to spare the Cold Chocolate.. or maybe the waiter appeared out of nowhere.. ;)

I was ruling and no one dared to revolt. I loved being in power… the power to splash! I had no idea what was in store for me; no idea that I had aroused a naughty little imp. He struck and he struck quick. I had no time to react. Quick as lightning, his long hands reached for the glass I had just placed back on the table, and the next thing I know I was drenched in Cool Blue Granita! Soaked all over. Wonder how that half filled glass managed to make me wet from head to toe. Freakish! He must be an expert; one with no plans of slow torture. He had set his mind on it and he did it! No straw.. no nothing. Just the Surf Excel and me.

It was Payback time, for all the torture he has been through ever since he knew me, for yesterday’s scrap-book decoration, for being my imp, for all the times he has put up with me and my evil self, for everything.

Of course, two can play at this game but right now it’s time to clean up and stop the hooliganism for the time being. The waiter must have thought that we had started to eat tissue paper too. Sparing just one tissue for Imp, I began wiping all the Cool Blue Granita and man, was it cool! And sticky too. Argh!

Hopeless : “Did you get that on camera?”
Plucky : “Ya… kind of.”
Hopeless : “ You missed the best part, the Payback time.”
Plucky : “These people don’t warn us before they attack. Next time give me a signal, ok?”



Act 2 Scene 2

(x,y,z,t) – (Same sticky, Surf Excel spilt sofa with torn newspaper soaked in Surf Excel and cushions trying hard to mask the mess, 13/06/07 : 13:00 hrs)

There was tension in the air. Who shall strike next? Who shall be the victim? Are the CCD guys going to throw us out? Are we going to be banned forever? Who should be given the camera?
So many questions, yet so little time to ponder.

Hopeless and Plucky didn’t get much to eat since the two of us were kind of preoccupied with Payback time. So we decided to order a Veg Burger just for them.

Devil : “ Aww! The colour doesn’t stay!”
Imp : “That’s right.”
Devil : “ That’s bad. It doesn’t look colourful at all.” evil smile “ You know, the veg burger is served with tomato and mustard sauce.”
Imp : evil smile
Devil : evil smile
Hopeless : worried
Plucky : busy on phone

The veg burger had hardly landed on the table when I aimed for the sauce packets. Ha ha! Sucker! They were in my custody and I was not going to give them away. Hopeless and Plucky didn’t even ask me for the sauces. They just ate away mechanically fearing the worst!

Maybe I am acting paranoid. Why am I clutching on to these sauce packets anyway?
Imp wont be so evil. Let me place it back. Maybe those two might want to have sauce with their burger. What a host I have been! I am supposed to be giving the treat.

Thus, I made the foolish decision of placing back the weapon I had. The war wasn’t over and I placed my weapon down. How will I ever forgive myself? As if he was just waiting for me to act foolishly, he did his long hand act again, and the sauce packets were in his hands. Damn!
Imp : “Self-defense” evil smile
Devil : “Hmpf!” bemused

Oh! Look at him. Staring away at nothing. Those two sauce packets tossing from one hand to the other while he listens to the music. That smile on his lips; the smile of victory. The charming smile that is contagious most of the time but not right now. No time for smiling. Focus! Focus on the packets. Ah! His hands relax their grip periodically. Hmm. Now, if only I could figure out the time period. Focus! That’s a nice song. Hey that smile again! Does he have a girl in his life? One that I don’t know of? Interesting! Cut the crap! Focus!

Sick of not able to focus on the weapon of mass destruction, I made my move. A silly, hasty move. Call it insecurity or ego, I don’t care. Imp had a metallic grip and would not be letting go of his self defense that easily. The excessive pressure he applied on the flimsy packet coupled with my sharp nails spelt inevitable destruction. Mustard all over the place; our sofa, my brand new dress, his old crappy trousers, the adjacent sofa, the kid on that sofa, everywhere.
Imp : “ That was suicide!”
Devil : “ Duh! I know. Shut up.”
Imp : “ Mustard stains are hard to remove, right?”
Devil : :shutup
Devil : “ Even on my hair!”
Imp : LOL

That’s the story of how I got bright yellow mustard stains on my brand new birthday dress. If you, by chance get any mustard stains, take my advice and never google on how to remove them. It’s a scary world out there! A dye, it seems. Just what I wanted to hear!

You think that was it? Wait till you hear this. I smell like mustard! Yeah! That’s right. I smell like one huge mustard packet and the worst part is my hair smells like it too, even after a good wash with loads of conditioner. Argh! to say the least.

Mine and Mine Only..

Let me introduce you to somebody. Somebody whose elegance is beyond par, whose very sight brings a smile to my face and whose embrace is positively electrifying. There’s something in that look that keeps me engrossed in every class, something in that touch that makes it irresistable. Bryan Adams must have composed this just for me! :)

“Sometimes I think that I’ve not been looking good,
But there’s only one thing that fits like it should.
The only thing I want,
The only thing I need,
The only thing I choose,
The only thing that looks good on me…
Is you.”

Ah! The sleek build, the sharpness, the metallic shine; all rolled into one attractive package. The stainless steel back and base metal bezel, definitely male! The way I fell for him the minute I saw him, the way his charming hands shine, the way I pleaded with my parents to let me keep him, the way I try to see the reflection of my face in his, the way I feel that his presence amplifies the beauty of my hand, the way this blog post is scribbled in phrases rather than full sentences; undoubtedly a new addition to my crush list! That’s right – a new addition; my brand new Q&Q Quartz water-resist wrist watch. ;)

I AM BORED

5/17/2007 5:03:11 PM

It’s day 14... A fortnight into the summer vacation… It’s official… I AM BORED. Most of my friends have already reached this stage. There was something or the other to keep me occupied for so long but here I am in a posture that I am dead sure is bad for the stature but what the heck! I am bored. I will do what I want. My best buddy...my Lappy is here of course and Microsoft Word… guess I haven’t got bored of that as yet. Listening to the ABBA music CD that I wrote for my dad with all his favourite songs. At 2600W, my music player redefines ROCKING! It seems more like the room is resonating! I wonder what will happen if I play Linkin Park.

The phone buzzes to life. Is it ringing? I must be hearing things. The things a bored mind concocts! It WAS ringing. Yay! Someone else is alive too and bothered to ring up. I wish you could see my excitement. I stopped typing, jumped out and paused the song being played. Actions just mentioned don’t just happen. The seriousness of the issue is, hence, clear, I presume. Oh! It was Dad! Checking up on me I guess. Not so dejected coz it was an event after all. Somebody called.

That brings me back to square one. I AM BORED. It’s not that I have nothing to do. I have a lot of movies on this very Lappy, a few magazines lying around, a couple of books waiting to be read, a desktop with net connection, a television with quite a few channels, a DVD player and DVD’s, my cell phone, some cooking fundaes etc.. There is simply no enthu to do any of these activities today. Till yesterday everything was fine. I was proud that I am not feeling bored when the entire world was complaining of being bored but today; I am surprised at myself. I AM BORED.

What exactly leads to this ‘I AM BORED’ syndrome? I thought it was lack of things to keep you occupied but clearly, that is not it. What is, then, the cause? I stop here but the song plays on.

Bang!

There I was sleeping peacefully on my bed. Ten hours into slumber and no plans of waking up. No surprise there! When was the last time I had plans of waking up anyway? I generally sleep with my face down and today was no exception. I lifted my face up, albeit half awake, just to check up if the world around me was still the same as when I left it. It was. That means I can afford to continue my sleep. I would probably have continued anyway. Fair enough! So I brought my head down on the pillow or so I thought.

Sometime between the point when I woke up and now, something eerie occurred. The iron railing of the bed shifted by some finite distance towards me. I came to know of this the hard way though. My forehead met the railing instead of the pillow. Bang! That ought to have hurt and you bet it did. My roommate got jolted in spite of the fact that she was watching a movie on her computer with headphones. She must have got freaked out and more so when I gave a weird dorky smile in return for the confused look on her face. I mean, what else did you expect? The fact that you are going to continue with that well deserved sleep increases your approach velocity towards the pillow and it is far from bliss to end up on the hard iron railing instead of the soft pillow.

That, I would say, is the worst possible way to wake up.

Making inroads into sports.

[ The original version of this was written for my hostel magazine but I didn't submit it to the editors. I am not very sure why though! ]


It is said that we discover our true identity during teenage. Life has been quite ordinary till date but all of a sudden I find myself transforming into a totally different person exploring newer dimensions. The fact that I’m presently living in a hostel, far away from home, is mainly responsible for this. The unrestricted freedom, the tremendous amount of resources and, of course, the brand name IIT is the perfect combination for a wonderful hostel life.

One of the most drastic changes that took place was sudden interest in sports. I wanted to master as many as possible. A thrilling urge to become a sport enthusiast. I started with the one sport I used to play decently; Badminton. The enthusiasm in sports activities in my hostel is quite high, that is, when RG’ed with other spheres. I got to play with my batchmates as well as seniors. It was a nice way to get acquainted with the seniors especially since I was new to the place. Technically speaking, I was playing baddy only but tennis and cricket also found their way in. ;)

I then ventured into athletics. It requires a lot of stamina, they say, but I wanted to try my hand at it anyway. What was there to lose? I cannot possibly get any lighter than I already am. [;)] Well, jogging does wonders to your body. I am not talking about all that standard information that fitness trainers brainwash their clients with. What I felt is that this boosts up your stamina or in technical terms, takes the “yield point” to a new high. (not that kinda high! ).

It was time to give the next sport a go. Tennis - I’ve always liked watching the game but never got the chance to play. You need lots of energy to play tennis it is not just a high-funda version of badminton as is the general opinion or at least my opinion. :D It was nice to get the basic fundaes from experienced seniors.

The next one on the list is Throwball. It is like playing Volleyball, with lesser probability of injuring your hands. I don’t have any comments on this one because I don’t classify it as a sport in the first place. :|

Basketball – truly a magnificent sport - I wanted to try my hand at this also. The only difference was that this was not a passing attraction like most others; I wanted to master it from day one. Form trying out a few shots to dribbling, I also got fundaes from a senior who was all smiles to hand down the tricks of the game. It turned out that there was a particular way of orienting the ball before shooting it. Who would’ve guessed that there might be such rules to this game? There is even a way of dribbling the ball. It is not just arbit up and down SHM!

The thing is I put a lot of enthu when I play and what do I get out of all this? A swelling, and that too, double the diameter of my arm thanks to badminton, a numbing sensation in the legs after running all over the athletics track, a chance to, almost, but not quite, fracture my finger during tennis, a scar having run into a pole while following every twist and turn of the basketball with utmost concentration and an excuse to get a Gurunath tea to pep me up!

Making inroads into sports, indeed!

My ID110 notebook

Okay... I admit it. I had a notebook and that too a 200 pages unruled one for ID110. (FYI this is a course I had in First Semester titled Concepts in Engineering Design. A weird course, with professors changing every week or so, this is the kind of course for which people count their attendance very carefully to just make it across the 75% barrier. Of course, I don't belong to that type. I attend classes regularly.) :)

A couple of days back I found this book in my shelf. At first glance, I was amazed at the amount of notes written. You will be amazed too. Twenty pages back and front! Now that is serious news. It even had one of those "topics covered" zones. I wondered if this was really my own book. I got freaked when I saw that I had even used a black pen to underline the subtopics. Whoa! The book was totally crammed with graphs and figures and technical terms. After all, the professors were only trying to make engineering design as theoretical as possible but it is a totally different issue that they ended up making it as boring as possible.

Flipping through the pages ( twenty pages back and front, remember!) , still flipping... Yawn.. nothing much for some nine pages; just plain boring notes until a blank page! Now that was slaisha surprising. A blank page! I guess I was absent for a lecture and left a blank page to write down what was taught in that class. Oh yes! now I remember... I asked so many people for that day's notes but sadly (?) that page is still blank. Wow I have changed so much since first semester. Not a single book is as well maintained as this unique ID110 book.

Even more surprises in store for me! Last month of semester one. I guess I was no longer the same person who joined IITM or may be I felt like going back to school days. Either way, what the book had in store was that the notes written on that day were not like the ones written usually.The topic was Philosophy of engineering design. The professor put a lot of emphasis on the aesthetics aspect of design and was trying to make the class interesting. This is how it begins.
"Should've sat in the last benches! "
"Nice time to realize that! At the end of the course."
Aristotle supposedly put forward a theory named,"Theory of Causation":-
"Phew! Optimism: At least Aristotle didn't teach us ID110!"
Observation: The professor chooses one particular arbitrary word and uses that in all his sentences till it gets monotonic. First word of the day was "aesthetic" and the second one was "potential".
'Aesthetic expression and quest for perfection.', 'Intellectual and aesthetic needs.', 'What do we do in design? (er.. design??!!) Technology and aesthetics' (lol)
"Whats up with th prof,da? Babbling on and on with the aesthetics funda."
It was a part of that Aristotle's theory. Potentiality and Actuality. Whatever! :-
"How pessimistic! Don't remind me of potential! PH101 Argh!"

That brings us to the last written page of the book. Ciao!

Lived another quiz.

Yeah! lived another quiz. Wait a minute, technically speaking, there is one more subject left but since it is three days away most of the normal people will agree with me. How better to start the celebration than attend all classes with a broad smile?! (I am not being sarcastic) so here it begins-freaking out after quiz2, or so I thought.

There was nothing out of the ordinary with most classes today, except, of course, the one class I like to blog about - ED- a course about engineering drawing, graphics and CAD. It is supposed to be interesting and fun. Note that the emphasis is on "supposed". Anyways all that you need to know is that (x,y,z,t) is (classroom for ED theory, just after a heavy lunch).

It all started ( Herge style! ) when a friend of mine interrupted us when we were busy watching a movie to remind us about the class. Argh! the guts to disturb and remind about this class! It took a lot of determination to ditch the movie and make the long ( er.. not that long. This is just to add to the dramatic effect) journey to class.


I thought that the three of us can rock the class as usual but it turned out a big time flop. One of them starts behaving like a geek and began doing next week's assignment with my stationery. I tried to snap her out of it but ended up complaining to the girl next to me who ( another geek at times) takes her stationery out saying ," Hey, good idea"! Imagine my situation. In a desperate attempt to save them ( and myself in the process), I snatched all the pencils lying around and then needless to say there were some vain attempts to snatch them back. One of the guys behind us passed a lazy comment," Sir, girls are doing mischief in class". He said that it was good entertainment for him and far better than listening to the lecture. Entertainment it seems! The arrogance!

For a change I listened to the class and actually understood what he was trying to draw but after some time the board was overflowing with lines and planes and that's when I officially gave up. Having learnt the important lesson of not playing silly games in class ( refer previous post), I decided to put my pencil to work today. I felt my artistic skills needed rekindling and ended up filling the page with random sketches ranging in diversity from tortoises to ducks. The proffessor must have suspected my unusual interest in the assignment book I was drawing on and asked me for a pen (to explain planes? Fishy, don't you think?) I got some compliments for my sketches too, from my pals, of course.

When I am thoroughly bored, I start scanning the class. I thought I'll start with the fellow who passed the entertainment comment. His arena would be visible only through the corner of my eye. Wait a minute, he was not there! He had crashed on the desk, head down! From uncontrollable bombarding of doubts five minutes back to dozing off peacefully; he sure has a unique ability to change moods in a jiffy. There was this other guy on whose desk the professor placed a cardboard model of a pyramid. This lone wolf was actually staring at the pyramid as though it had just landed from Mars. My eyes then drifted to a trio who were discussing ( ED? ) all over the assignment book in front of them. I wonder why everyone was interested in ED, of all subjects.

I guess this habit of inspection of the class is contagious. My usually blind friend seems to have taken to my ways. I did not witness this though:
I turned back because some jobless fellow asked the equally jobless professor, who could have found something better to do than bore us with ED, a doubt. These guys were holding strips of paper, bent at different places and at different angles. It seemed like they were planning to build Eiffel tower out of those strips. I guess it is a part of some projection of solids funda. Who knows, who cares?

Boredom, at its best

I took some time to digest the fact that I had arrived early to class. The class was just starting to get filled up and I was already there in the not-so-usual second bench. You might be thinking this is some high credit course which I would not miss for anything in the world but you are sadly mistaken. This lecture is very much in the competition for most boring lecture of the semester and I am sure it will win too. I saw that my friends had already arrived. I asked them if they were out of their minds for having arrived so early and one of them replied that there was nothing else to do and so she came early. Excessive studying is not good for health. I was firm in my decision to not listen in this class for I had no plans of losing my sanity.

As soon as the professor entered the class my brain started processing ways of staying awake. It might have been the result of this excessive thinking but I ended up deciding to play a silly kindergarten level game of join the dots with lines. I know that this is the height of being bored but as always I had no plans of dozing off in class. A few minutes into the game and I felt this was the most boring game of the century, in spite of the fact that I was not losing. I got distracted for a while as I paid attention to some few minutes of the lecture for no particular reason. I asked my pal ," What did u do?" I actually meant to ask which line she had drawn and she answers with a straight face, " I drew a line." This is what happens to people who are taxed with uninteresting classes all day long. I, however,lost the game because I overlooked an obvious winning move. I declared that this was the most boring game and not worth playing under any circumstances no matter how bored one might be. I gave up the idea of playing games during a lecture (well, I would have played NFS during any lecture) and sought other ways of keeping myself occupied.

I could see the entire class from where I was sitting. The positioning of the bench relative to the other benches as well as the angle of sight was just right. There were some people who were as disinterested as ever while some others who seemed to be doing other nerve-wrecking work. There were others who were listening to class but the sensible people among them gave up halfway. I realized that there was quite a substantial number of students in class which is quite odd for such a lecture. They must have calculated their attendance earned till date and not been satisfied with the observations.

My eyes fell on a guy whose beard was singularly different from beards that I have seen. It resembled a lawn that was half mowed at arbitrary places and watered for a few days. My attention then switched to another guy who seemed to be engrossed in a sword fight using his palm as the sword. On closer observation, it turned out that he was listening to class intently and was trying to visualize the projections and elevation views (it being a drawing class). The next person I set my eyes on was nodding his head so badly that it seemed very likely that it might fall off. Eventually the class came to an end, officially. It was time for the much-anticipated attendance sheet. It turned out that the professor had forgot to bring the sheet.

Ten bucks

"How much more do we have left?",he asks.
"10 bucks."
"Well, u keep it then."
"No, what will I do with it? Let's finish it off."

These coupons are valid only for one day. I looked around frantically trying to find out something worth 10 bucks. Maybe its the increased cost of living these days, but there was nothing much for 10 bucks. I was almost going to give up when my eyes fell on the packaged food stall. Bingo. Haldiram's Moong dal. "I like moong dal very much and its exactly 10 bucks", I blurt out like as if I was Columbus and I had just discovered America. "Okay then. I'll get it.", he blurts equally well. Of all the things that had to go wrong, the packet refused to open. It was no use trying to open it and it was getting late. So he asked me to keep it. He searches around for his cycle like it was a needle in a haystack. I was terribly amused at the amnesia he suffered but tried to control myself lest he should feel any more embarassed than he already was. After a long hunt, he succeeded in finding his cycle. Then, fiddled with the lock for some more time. After what seemed to be an eternity, we climbed on board our respective cycles, rode side by side for some time and then went our separate ways. I looked at the moong dal packet and wondered why it refused to open. Feeling bad about not having said a proper goodbye I decided to send a text message- "Thanks for the company." and as always.. no reply.

In my shoes

Zoom.. I practically fly on my cycle. It is not so surprising taking my weight.. er.. weightlessness into account. I like it when my cycle tyre is filled with air. The weather is just right but I will have to spend the next one hour attending a lecture. I try to drive this thought out of my head and concentrate on my cycling. If this road was never ending or the class cancelled for some reason, I would have cycled on and on. But alas, nice things like this never happen.

I park my cycle and take the usual path to the classroom. I enter the same old class mechanically with questions in my head and unlike most of the time I have answers too. Why am I here? Oh yes, attendance. What do I get from this class ? Oh yes, knowledge that is supposed to be useful for my future profession. Why do people make boring things seem interesting and make a mess out of it? I guess that is what they are supposed to do for a living. More mechanically than ever, I take my seat as usual in the first bench. I seem to have arrived earlier than usual. There are not many people around. There is a drastic increase in the sensible people who decided to bunk class.

I have no idea when the class began because I was lost in another notebook. It was when my neighbours started writing frantically in their notebooks that I realized that the class had officially started. In a vain attempt to make a new beginning, I started writing notes which were better off not written in the first place, taking my handwriting and negligible enthusiasm into consideration.

I am not very sure what the topic exactly was but it was not in the least interesting. You must keep in mind that I am talking for the normal people of the class excluding nerds for obvious reasons. Anyway, class went on as usual. A few minutes into the lecture and I realized that I had not worn my watch. That was hard to digest because I will not be able to know when the torture will end. There is nothing much to do now, is there? No watch to stare at, ticking, second by second, nobody to talk to as the others seemed to actually listen to the lecture and no electronic gadget to kill your time. Imagine my situation.

The professor seemed to be talking more than usual today. I also noticed that he was walking in a wobbly manner, but then again, it might have been the effect of drowsiness in my eyes. "How much more of this left?", I asked my neighbour, who experienced a lot of difficulty in taking her mind off the class. She did reply however, "25 minutes." Gulp. The information is being processed. Twenty five minutes is a lot of time when it comes to classes like this. I felt the powerful urge to make a dash for it. Even though I am almost invisible, the finite strength of the class would make it amply conspicuous if I dared to do anything as silly as that. Moreover, the attendance sheet had not reached me. So I had no choice but to wait and keep waiting.

I am not very sure what happened between then and now but I am guessing that I dozed off or listened to the lecture for want of nothing else to do. Well, I got out of the class after it got over and walked mechanically to the cycle stand. I was back to my own self. I hopped on board my cycle and zoom..