This day, last year

I found this little word doc hiding somewhere in my laptop today written one year back.

Nine year old 1: “Hi.”

Nine year old 2: “Hey, listen. What do you want to be when you grow up?”

1: “A cryptologist.”

2: “A what?”

1: “You know… a cryptologist.”

2: “What do cryptologists do?”

1: “They decode coded messages.”

2: “Wow! Sounds interesting. What will you have to study to become a cryptologist?”

1: “Mathematics and Computer Science mainly.”

After witnessing a conversation like that between two nine year olds, only a dimwit would sit idly and do nothing about it. I guess I should at least record it. How many children would have heard about cryptologists, leave alone spell it correctly, at that age? Where is the world heading?

You guessed right. She read ‘Digital Fortress’ by Dan Brown. I was amazed too. It’s not like she read it for the sake of reading or for putting pseud for the book was not bought for her in the first place. The book brought for her was good old Nancy Drew which she finished in just a few hours.

“That’s preposterous! How will she understand that high a level of English?”, you ask? It turns out that she has a remarkable command over the English language and manages to read the book without too many visits to the dictionary. Well, she probably didn’t understand ‘Fuck’ but she was thoughtful enough not to ask anybody or maybe the suspense of the story made her skip every occurrence of the word.

The other day, I got a text message.

“07/07/07 07:07 am. 7 days/week, 7 janma, 7 seas, 7 phere, 7 wonders, 7 colours. Why 7?”

I meditated on this all morning but couldn’t figure out a satisfying explanation. Googling didn’t turn up anything substantial either. That’s when I asked this to her almost completely certain that she would have no idea and would appreciate my processor for having come up with such a brilliant question. Pat came the reply – “Because God created the world in seven days.” She knows that too! And that too a belief attributed to another religion.

Recently, at a medical store she was overheard saying in hushed tones, “Doesn’t that look like the fake medicine they showed on TV yesterday?” Oh! Come on! Spare the news atleast!

That brings up a strange question. Will such a generation reach an age when there will be nothing left to learn? Freaky!

Keybored

After a long, long time, I decided to use my laptop, just to see if it was still in working condition. And what do you think I saw? Pressing j produced a ‘k’, k produced a ‘;’, and l did not show anything. The keys were all mixed up!

I wouldn’t stop until I knew exactly what was going on. So I opened Word and decided to try out each character on the keyboard. Suspense and excitement filled up as I pressed each key. Click! Click! Click!

‘8’ didn’t turn up anything; ‘=’ donned a shift to left function while ‘\’ donned the shift to right function. It was all a total mess. But how? I haven’t heard of anything remotely close to this before. The on-screen keyboard came to the rescue but it was not even close to charming. I, naturally, gave up on the laptop.

But what do you know? It was all right the very next day. Weird. Very weird. Maybe the keys wanted change. Maybe dust had messed everything up. Maybe a ghost was playing tricks. Maybe they just got bored of having to do the same old function every single time. No wonder they call it the “keybored”.

Voila! - 2

A header that I have been thinking of for sometime now. The fact that dark font on light backgrounds is easier to read had been haunting since my previous pitch black layout so here's one keeping in mind. I feel so relieved now. Although, it seems incomplete somehow and I know not why. Any ideas?

That's me in the picture, by the way. :)

Related Post: Voila! - 1

Made You Laugh

Out of the blue, he asks me to suggest possible additional features that the system could be incorporated with. Gulp! I hadn’t thought of that! I had just given him a basic report on the product to be designed and had included all the necessary features, the requirements and specifications. The system under discussion is a queue management system which is basically the type used at banks and reservation counters etc.

Was he not satisfied? Well, he has taken a printout of it. Think! Think, lady, think! I can’t recall exactly when I started blurting but here’s how it went.

"Why not make two prototypes? A low - budget alternative, perhaps?"

"Why waste on a printer when printed roll with a stepper mechanism would suffice?"

Boy, was I on a spree!

Some more technical talk (both ways now) later, he came up with the idea of adding an extra function to the keypad for the employee to be able to select a particular customer. “But, sir!”, I interrupted as he was explaining, “That would lead to bias and corruption!” Er, what did I just say? Blame it on the hangover of reading Tehelka.

And that’s when he laughed. I made him laugh.

Tour Tidings '08: The Starter

I'm back! And, I have one question for you. Have you been to north-east India? If not, do so for it is an experience of a lifetime. After 7 nights and 8 days in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh as a part of the packaged tour titled Mystic Arunachal Safari, I'd say I insist. The mountains, the valleys, the rivers, the greenery, the fog, the altitude, the winding roads, the safari, the food, the animals, the people, the war memorials, the cold weather, the icy water and the culture will leave you spellbound. I assure you. It feels like being a part of a typical Nat-Geo programme. Amazing, I tell you. Truly amazing!

Driving up and down winding roads on the edges of the Himalayas passing in and out of white cottony clouds and clutching life in one’s hands as visibility reduces to a little over one meter on a road half absent owing to landslides, overlooking the dark abyss shadowed by fog on one side and of which only a hazy outline remains amounting to having to guess the angle at every curve.

Tempting, isn’t it?

PS: More details, photos and videos as and when I finish transferring and organizing some infinite stuff from all these memory cards.

R-Ant

We all know ants, right? Yes, those tiny creatures that cannot possibly do any harm to any fellow living being. Think again keeping in mind a situation where they become regular visitors to your laptop keyboard. If that doesn’t impress you too much, how about ants living in your keyboard? Note the use of the preposition ‘in’.

Welcome to my world.

It feels very awkward at first but then, you get used it with time. Of course I am no Buddhist towards these gypsy-ants. Clearly, I exhibit no qualms about squishing or flinging them away whenever I get the chance.

Tip: repetitive pressing of keys is known to flush them out and has to be followed by quick reflexes.

You can even hear them marching if you keep your ears close to the keyboard. Well, there was hearing the march-past, key pressing and hurling them into the air and this process went on. The era of the ant-infested-keyboard lasted a few days only to be followed by the ant-infested-cell phone era which lasted only a few hours probably due to the inaccessibility of enclosed spaces.

Now, after all these days, the ant-infested-insert appropriate word era is back and this time it’s my office desk. Meh!

PS: I'm leaving tomorrow morning for a much-needed vacation.

Two Decades Ago

..the Leela* was born. Yeah, I know this comes a bit late but I wanted to wait for it to be well past the day in all parts of the world and for the last of the wishes to arrive. Simple and sweet, the day was all I could wish for. Gosh! Would you look at the fake humility!

I woke up early just to confirm that the nightmare of my sis and dad having eaten up all the cake before I woke up hadn't came true. A huge sigh of relief later, we dug into the cake. Chocolicious.

Yes, I went to work. Nine hours down. The idea of bunking never really came to mind. Three long phone conversations and four smss later, I got off work. I gave God a few thank yous and a few sorrys and got back some of my favourite Paal Payasam. Mom had sent coconut burfi along with dad who had come to pick me up and yours hungrilly, perched on the scooter, ate it all up on the way, through the roads of the capital city. I can get very, very insane when it comes to food.

Six more phone calls, two of them forming a nested loop and one sms later I was off to Plucky's place with cake and burfi. As usual, she and her weighing machine welcomed me. "Not on my day!", I snapped. Talk about birthday gifts. My weightlessness was the last thing I wanted to think about. But guess what? I am officially one kilo heavier. Yay!

The day is done and what stares back at me is two decades of existence.

*and I don't mean The Leela. :P

Voila! -1

All those who wanted a change in my blog's url (me included) may rejoice for it is here! Voila!

This marks a series of changes that I am planning for my blog. A total makeover. :D

But, first things first. Don't forget to change your Google Reader, Blogroll and other important settings. Thanks in advance.

PS: 50 posts up. Yay!

123rd page

Here we go again! Tagged by Amrit Bhaiyya.
The rules: Pick up the nearest book. Go to page 123. Find the fifth sentence. Post the next three sentences. Tag five people, and acknowledge the person who tagged you.

"The head of the family was called Mehboub. He was a wiry, muscular little man in his thirties with a lively,determined expression beneath his shaggy eyebrows and a forehead half-concealed by a thick shock of curly hair. His wife, Selima, wore a little inlaid stone in her nostril."

Guess! Guess!

I tag Neethu, Abhishek, Kaushik, Akila, Shady.

Kerala Culture Centre - 1

Kerala Culture Centre is organizing weekly programmes at Vailopalli Sanskriti Bhavan, Trivandrum. I really don't have anything to do with them but I happened to attend this Saturday's programme. Two plays were put up both of which were simply superb. I have attended plays at Chennai as well but something about these plays simply leaves you asking for more.

The first play was about the life of a butcher and how his life changes drastically after he sees the body of a bleeding child with a slit throat. The lead was played by the famous dramatist, Kannur Vasu. The way he brought out his character was simply stunning. The narration was a bit monotonous and unnecessary in my opinion.

The second play, "Ithu Bhoomiyanu" by KT Lovers (sounds gay, doesn't it?), was about a family ingrained in Muslim superstitions. How they face the real truths of life forms the crux of the play. The message is brought out in a simple, yet effective manner. KT Lovers, by the way, is a group of dramatics enthusiasts who are fans of KT Mohammmad, the famous playwright.

Here's the best part. All the programmes are open for the public. At Trivandrum, good entertainment comes for free. Which other city can boast like that?

PS:
Next Saturday's programme: Prathibha Sangeetha Sangamam courtesy Swaranjali, Trivandrum.