Following many people's recommendation that wordpress is the place to be I have moved this blog to http://notamustread.wordpress.com . For those of you who have added me to their blogrolls I humbly request that you change the link on the same. For those who have not yet added me; now would be a very good time to do so. ( Please!)
See you there!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Just an update
When i first started this blog; I was very enthusiastic churning out posts at an amazing frequency. Since then the motivation to create new posts has somewhat diminished and to my surprise there have been no new posts for almost 2 weeks. There is probably a reason for this inexcusable lethargy. The last few weeks have seen a flurry of action in my life which has left me with very little time to update the blog
So here is just a brief summary of events in the last two weeks
SPACE : SPACE 09 promised to be bigger and better than ever before. (snigger). While the day-time events were better than last year the pronites really took boredom to a whole new level. Winning the last quiz of my last SPACE would probably be the most memorable moment of the whole festival. The one phenomenon that puzzles me is the lack of enthusiasm from the majority of people towards the festival. While a fraction of my class worked our asses off trying to spice up the festival, the rest were busy playing cricket in Bhavan's ground ( Incredible but true!). This years SPACE also saw the introduction of compulsory seating in the quad during a pronite in a scene remniscent of a school festival. Considering the organised chaos in the quad that was a hallmark of all festivals till date; continuing this tradition will result in the ultimate death of the pronite. ( which judging by the present standards may not be such a bad thing after all!)
Results : Being in final year has a distinct advantage. The days when the rumour of an impending display of the result which would stir the class like a hornet's nest have long gone. There is no pandemonium at the mere utterance of the word, rather a weary walk to the exam centre contemplating the same journey made in previous years. It was afternoon on the first day of SPACE when the results finally came out interrupting our ( rahter expensive) lunch at the food court. This year the gods had been merciful to us. Almost everyone in my group passed and I got a 78% ( which is quite surprising considering the amount of time I spent in GRE and admissions last semester). Anyhow alls well that ends well and thats one monkey off my back for now
The Admits : At last, at long last, two admits have arrived. One from the University of Texas at Arlington and the other from Austin. I apologise to all my friends for being excessively depressed during the dark days prior to this when nothing seemed to be working inspite of their assurances that everything would work out in the end. I am now finally in a position to give that damn seminar on GRE and the admission procedure with a clear conscience. My heart goes out to all those who will be forced by the IEEE committee to sit for it against their better judgement.
SPQC : SPQC is the only thing worth looking forward to every week although my active participation is being resented by a lot of people for winning all the previous quizzes. ( Seems everyone else also wants the honour of showing Chinmay the finger after winning!). So this time I have been requested to set the quiz along with Heston . Its my first time and setting a quiz is turning out to be fucking hard. I just hope I manage to set a half decent quiz and not end up killing SPQC once and for all.
Lectures. The lack of interest in football from my esteemed classmates has seen me sitting for far too many lectures than recommended by doctors to maintain mental health. For the first time in eight semester the defaulter's list does not have the honour of including my name. A sad reminder of how incredibly boring this semester has been.
Anyway thats it for now. Signing off hoping for more frequent updates ( Yes, I can hear the multitude praying for the exact opposite but turn a deaf ear to their protests!!)
So here is just a brief summary of events in the last two weeks
SPACE : SPACE 09 promised to be bigger and better than ever before. (snigger). While the day-time events were better than last year the pronites really took boredom to a whole new level. Winning the last quiz of my last SPACE would probably be the most memorable moment of the whole festival. The one phenomenon that puzzles me is the lack of enthusiasm from the majority of people towards the festival. While a fraction of my class worked our asses off trying to spice up the festival, the rest were busy playing cricket in Bhavan's ground ( Incredible but true!). This years SPACE also saw the introduction of compulsory seating in the quad during a pronite in a scene remniscent of a school festival. Considering the organised chaos in the quad that was a hallmark of all festivals till date; continuing this tradition will result in the ultimate death of the pronite. ( which judging by the present standards may not be such a bad thing after all!)
Results : Being in final year has a distinct advantage. The days when the rumour of an impending display of the result which would stir the class like a hornet's nest have long gone. There is no pandemonium at the mere utterance of the word, rather a weary walk to the exam centre contemplating the same journey made in previous years. It was afternoon on the first day of SPACE when the results finally came out interrupting our ( rahter expensive) lunch at the food court. This year the gods had been merciful to us. Almost everyone in my group passed and I got a 78% ( which is quite surprising considering the amount of time I spent in GRE and admissions last semester). Anyhow alls well that ends well and thats one monkey off my back for now
The Admits : At last, at long last, two admits have arrived. One from the University of Texas at Arlington and the other from Austin. I apologise to all my friends for being excessively depressed during the dark days prior to this when nothing seemed to be working inspite of their assurances that everything would work out in the end. I am now finally in a position to give that damn seminar on GRE and the admission procedure with a clear conscience. My heart goes out to all those who will be forced by the IEEE committee to sit for it against their better judgement.
SPQC : SPQC is the only thing worth looking forward to every week although my active participation is being resented by a lot of people for winning all the previous quizzes. ( Seems everyone else also wants the honour of showing Chinmay the finger after winning!). So this time I have been requested to set the quiz along with Heston . Its my first time and setting a quiz is turning out to be fucking hard. I just hope I manage to set a half decent quiz and not end up killing SPQC once and for all.
Lectures. The lack of interest in football from my esteemed classmates has seen me sitting for far too many lectures than recommended by doctors to maintain mental health. For the first time in eight semester the defaulter's list does not have the honour of including my name. A sad reminder of how incredibly boring this semester has been.
Anyway thats it for now. Signing off hoping for more frequent updates ( Yes, I can hear the multitude praying for the exact opposite but turn a deaf ear to their protests!!)
Friday, February 20, 2009
A Few Childhood Memories
“Girls are like slugs. They serve some purpose but it's hard to imagine what.” Reading the above panel in Calvin and Hobbes took my mind back to my childhood when my sentiments closely echoed those of Calvin. Getting bored on a Saturday afternoon with nothing to look forward to for the next three days, I decided to make this long post about a few childhood memories.
1. The routine miracles : Calvin would have been proud of the fuss I made about going to school; until my mother had a idea that to me today classifies as pure genius. She convinced me that if i prayed real hard; I would get chocolates in my lunchbox and my water would get coverted to orange squash. It really did happen and these little miracles reconciled me to spending a quarter of my life-span gaining knowledge. It was only much later that I realised that God while perfectly capable of turning water to wine had entrusted the duty of converting water to orange squash to my mother. In fact she even hid behind the curtain to eavesdrop on my prayers to find out which chocolate was to appear miraculously in my lunch-box. What appears to us strange and wonderous in our childhood days always seems to have a perfectly logical explanation later in life
2. Wanderlust : A restless day in school saw me wander away from my class unnoticed. School was just across the road and going back home seemed like a great idea. How a 4 year old boy crossed the busiest street in Jaipur on his own without becoming road-kill is still unknown and may count as a miracle ( A real one this time!). After finally managing to pack me away to school my mom was just sitting down when she heard me singing outside the house. I knew the colony but didnt know which building my house was in and I was just roaming around singing " Tinkle Tinke Litti Tar" at the top of my voice. She rushed out and picked me up and the story had a happy ending except for my teacher who got a real-talking to for negligence of duty and was suspended from duty.
3. Cats : She had just given birth to 5 kittens and was protecting them much like a lioness protects her cubs. National Geographic was not around those days and I unwittingly picked up one of those kittens. A blur of motion is all i remember till her claws made contact with my face tearing away half my right cheek. I remember blood pouring down my clothes and tears streaming down while I howled like a dog that has just been stoned. I was rushed to hospital while she was thrown out of the house. Since then I have had a dislike for cats and I believe from their reactions the feeling is mutual.
4. Girls : To prevent me from crying my lungs out while being bundled to school; I was dragged at times to a neighbours house whose two girls went to the same school. Apparently I found it shameful to cry in front of girls and went to school without a fuss. Looking back I have fallen prey to the wily ways of girls even before I could comprehend their purpose on this earth!
5. Fireworks : It was two days before Dusshera and the older boys were stuffing crackers into the effigies of the demons for Ram Leela. I was standing by as a curious bystander and suddenly noticed a lighter that had been left lying around. As soon as I figured out how to operate it; I tried to set fire to the big heap of firecrackers lying around. Luckily it was snatched out of my hand before I blew us all to kingdom come. In fact his timely action is the only reason why I am still alive and writing this blog today ( Yeah i know what you are thinking; He should be publicly hanged for his foolishness!)
And with that I have posted enough for the time being. Of course I did not remember all the details and its only through painstaking research that I have managed to present my reader(s) with the accurate and unabridged version of these events!
1. The routine miracles : Calvin would have been proud of the fuss I made about going to school; until my mother had a idea that to me today classifies as pure genius. She convinced me that if i prayed real hard; I would get chocolates in my lunchbox and my water would get coverted to orange squash. It really did happen and these little miracles reconciled me to spending a quarter of my life-span gaining knowledge. It was only much later that I realised that God while perfectly capable of turning water to wine had entrusted the duty of converting water to orange squash to my mother. In fact she even hid behind the curtain to eavesdrop on my prayers to find out which chocolate was to appear miraculously in my lunch-box. What appears to us strange and wonderous in our childhood days always seems to have a perfectly logical explanation later in life
2. Wanderlust : A restless day in school saw me wander away from my class unnoticed. School was just across the road and going back home seemed like a great idea. How a 4 year old boy crossed the busiest street in Jaipur on his own without becoming road-kill is still unknown and may count as a miracle ( A real one this time!). After finally managing to pack me away to school my mom was just sitting down when she heard me singing outside the house. I knew the colony but didnt know which building my house was in and I was just roaming around singing " Tinkle Tinke Litti Tar" at the top of my voice. She rushed out and picked me up and the story had a happy ending except for my teacher who got a real-talking to for negligence of duty and was suspended from duty.
3. Cats : She had just given birth to 5 kittens and was protecting them much like a lioness protects her cubs. National Geographic was not around those days and I unwittingly picked up one of those kittens. A blur of motion is all i remember till her claws made contact with my face tearing away half my right cheek. I remember blood pouring down my clothes and tears streaming down while I howled like a dog that has just been stoned. I was rushed to hospital while she was thrown out of the house. Since then I have had a dislike for cats and I believe from their reactions the feeling is mutual.
4. Girls : To prevent me from crying my lungs out while being bundled to school; I was dragged at times to a neighbours house whose two girls went to the same school. Apparently I found it shameful to cry in front of girls and went to school without a fuss. Looking back I have fallen prey to the wily ways of girls even before I could comprehend their purpose on this earth!
5. Fireworks : It was two days before Dusshera and the older boys were stuffing crackers into the effigies of the demons for Ram Leela. I was standing by as a curious bystander and suddenly noticed a lighter that had been left lying around. As soon as I figured out how to operate it; I tried to set fire to the big heap of firecrackers lying around. Luckily it was snatched out of my hand before I blew us all to kingdom come. In fact his timely action is the only reason why I am still alive and writing this blog today ( Yeah i know what you are thinking; He should be publicly hanged for his foolishness!)
And with that I have posted enough for the time being. Of course I did not remember all the details and its only through painstaking research that I have managed to present my reader(s) with the accurate and unabridged version of these events!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Secrets to a Successful Blog
So here i was sitting contemplating on various random things like why did my accent suddenly turn psuedo- american while talking to staff from the admissions centre of universities and whether it was possible that someone had created a voodoo doll with my resemblance when another pertinent question struck my consciousness. I was checking my number of profile visits or people who read this blog ( I admire your courage!!) and found the number to be around 20. Considering that half of these were made by me to see if me clicking my profile increased the number of visits ( it does!) and whether people read my blog ( quite obviously not!) I am left with a clientile of maybe 3 or 4. Quite staggering figures those!!
Like any newbie blogger I had started this blog with the intention of catering to a wide audience, things were not quite working out the way i intended them to. So like I said at the beginning as a learning experience I decided to take a closer peek at some of the more well-read blogs and ascertain the reasons for their success . And then the reason for my abject failure struck me like a dumper truck at 100mph. I had been wrong from the very outset. Most of my posts were light-humoured sarcasmless takes on quite ordinary life events which I believed was what people looked for in a blog. But considering the posts in other blogs I have figured what really attracts the viewers must have one or more of the following characteristics.
1. The post mush show you to be a deeply disturbed individual struggling to find normalcy in a world where sanity is revered. So stuff like " Nothing makes sense. I'm headed forward with no fixed destination. "is lapped up by the discerning audience
2. The message in the post be profound. In fact the profundity should be of such an extent that the reader necessarily must not be able to make head or tail of it. In some cases even the blogger must lose track of what what is being said and trail off into a plethora of unrelated big ( may not be GRE but substituting a big word where a smaller word could have been easily used) words that may not convey any information but make the reader draw his breath at such a sumptous offering from the literary gods.
3. Poetry : Who does not like poems. So fill your blog with poems while not giving a damn for meter or rhyme of any of the silly, archaic laws of poetry ( who the hell even knows about laws of poetry?)
4. The most important rule : people love misery. Seeing other people stumble through life's obstacles is an elixir for most giving them an experience akin to nirvana. Obviously Buddha was quite off-the-mark when he said true love for all nature is the path to moksha and eternal bliss. All you need to be happy is see a fellow human-being suffer. And if you can make Anne Frank pale in comparison in your blog you have a wide readership almost instantaneously hooked to your blog messaging you to update it at all costs
5. Last but not the least express your deep anguish at any tragedies and wonder aloud when will things change, finish your blog and then get back to your normal life. Express your deep desire however to change the system in whatever way you can (obviously you cant!). The reading public loves to see rebels without a clue ( oops did i say clue i meant cause!!).
After preparing the list I sat down to see which of my posts confirmed to any one of the desired characteristics and sadly you the regular readers are already aware of the answer.
So here I am faced with a difficult decision : to stay true to the intent with which the blog was initially started or to change my style to accede to the demands of the reading public and transform myself into a media celebrity and gain instant popularity.
Keep watching this space with bated breath ( too much??) to find out What Happens Next!!
Like any newbie blogger I had started this blog with the intention of catering to a wide audience, things were not quite working out the way i intended them to. So like I said at the beginning as a learning experience I decided to take a closer peek at some of the more well-read blogs and ascertain the reasons for their success . And then the reason for my abject failure struck me like a dumper truck at 100mph. I had been wrong from the very outset. Most of my posts were light-humoured sarcasmless takes on quite ordinary life events which I believed was what people looked for in a blog. But considering the posts in other blogs I have figured what really attracts the viewers must have one or more of the following characteristics.
1. The post mush show you to be a deeply disturbed individual struggling to find normalcy in a world where sanity is revered. So stuff like " Nothing makes sense. I'm headed forward with no fixed destination. "is lapped up by the discerning audience
2. The message in the post be profound. In fact the profundity should be of such an extent that the reader necessarily must not be able to make head or tail of it. In some cases even the blogger must lose track of what what is being said and trail off into a plethora of unrelated big ( may not be GRE but substituting a big word where a smaller word could have been easily used) words that may not convey any information but make the reader draw his breath at such a sumptous offering from the literary gods.
3. Poetry : Who does not like poems. So fill your blog with poems while not giving a damn for meter or rhyme of any of the silly, archaic laws of poetry ( who the hell even knows about laws of poetry?)
4. The most important rule : people love misery. Seeing other people stumble through life's obstacles is an elixir for most giving them an experience akin to nirvana. Obviously Buddha was quite off-the-mark when he said true love for all nature is the path to moksha and eternal bliss. All you need to be happy is see a fellow human-being suffer. And if you can make Anne Frank pale in comparison in your blog you have a wide readership almost instantaneously hooked to your blog messaging you to update it at all costs
5. Last but not the least express your deep anguish at any tragedies and wonder aloud when will things change, finish your blog and then get back to your normal life. Express your deep desire however to change the system in whatever way you can (obviously you cant!). The reading public loves to see rebels without a clue ( oops did i say clue i meant cause!!).
After preparing the list I sat down to see which of my posts confirmed to any one of the desired characteristics and sadly you the regular readers are already aware of the answer.
So here I am faced with a difficult decision : to stay true to the intent with which the blog was initially started or to change my style to accede to the demands of the reading public and transform myself into a media celebrity and gain instant popularity.
Keep watching this space with bated breath ( too much??) to find out What Happens Next!!
Friday, February 13, 2009
A Crazy Thursday
Thursday is the one day of the week I look forward to because of the SPQC. The tedium of the remaining days of college is mitigated in the one hour i spend doing one of my favorite activities : quizzing. But this one Thursday will stick out considering the events that were about to unfold throughout the course of the day.
It began like every other day in my life. I woke up cursing at 7 am and after 15 minutes of procrastination managed to drag my sleepy ass out of bed.
Considering that the assignment due for the day had not been written, it was an easy decision to stay out of trouble by conveniently bypassing the lecture for the canteen. While the rest of the class opted to play cricket, me and Rohit decided to try the old Bhavan's trick of " How many are you? Can we Play" on a group of f.e's playing football. To our dismay, the usual esteem given to B.E's was sorely lacking amongst this particular group and we were downright snubbed . To avoid humiliation in front of our classmates we took a roundabout way to the canteen to drown our sorrows in a pitcher of FLW. Turns out it was not going to be our only reject that day.
Soon it was time for the weekly edition of SPQC. Rohit and me had been regular quizzing partners for the last 3 years but we had nothing to show for it. Finishing 2nd or 3rd regularly had convinced us that this was to be like every other quiz. However Rohit was on fire this time around and our team managed to own the quiz. One of the many reasons to remember this day. Another being my black Pepe Jeans shirt had got the approval of the most hard-to-please fashion critics. ( If only good clothes were not so frigging expensive!)
Checking my inbox had been a pain for the last 3 months. Not only was there no communication from universities but it seemed all the spammers in the world had selected this particular time frame to bombard me with their useless mails. This time however my alacrity at winning the quiz was going to shatter in a matter of seconds.University of Minnesota, after months of consideration had found me unsuitable for their master's program. To quote them " We hope our decision will not affect your determination to pursue further education". ( Why should it? After all they have only found me lacking necessary qualifications to pursue further education in their university! How this could be dampen my enthusiasm to pursue the same is still beyond me!!).
Turns out even Rohit had been given the same royal treatment, in short fuckkk offff with a capital FUCK. ( The irony is that the origin of the word FUCK and the universally accepted middle finger gesture had been asked in the quiz and we had answered it correctly too in fact!)
With a heavy heart I retired to bed that night. Seems life can be very unpredictable, fleeting moments of happiness amongst a sea of troubles, much like sunshine peeping through overcast skies. Resolving to not let this affect my state of mind, I lay tossing and turning in bed before weariness took its toll and I fell into dreamless sleep.
( If you are reading this Parinita, no amount of coercion or physical harm is bound to make me submit this blog as " Extracts from a geek's diary " (i am not a geek inspite of what you think) for the essay writing competition on Tuesday!!)
It began like every other day in my life. I woke up cursing at 7 am and after 15 minutes of procrastination managed to drag my sleepy ass out of bed.
Considering that the assignment due for the day had not been written, it was an easy decision to stay out of trouble by conveniently bypassing the lecture for the canteen. While the rest of the class opted to play cricket, me and Rohit decided to try the old Bhavan's trick of " How many are you? Can we Play" on a group of f.e's playing football. To our dismay, the usual esteem given to B.E's was sorely lacking amongst this particular group and we were downright snubbed . To avoid humiliation in front of our classmates we took a roundabout way to the canteen to drown our sorrows in a pitcher of FLW. Turns out it was not going to be our only reject that day.
Soon it was time for the weekly edition of SPQC. Rohit and me had been regular quizzing partners for the last 3 years but we had nothing to show for it. Finishing 2nd or 3rd regularly had convinced us that this was to be like every other quiz. However Rohit was on fire this time around and our team managed to own the quiz. One of the many reasons to remember this day. Another being my black Pepe Jeans shirt had got the approval of the most hard-to-please fashion critics. ( If only good clothes were not so frigging expensive!)
Checking my inbox had been a pain for the last 3 months. Not only was there no communication from universities but it seemed all the spammers in the world had selected this particular time frame to bombard me with their useless mails. This time however my alacrity at winning the quiz was going to shatter in a matter of seconds.University of Minnesota, after months of consideration had found me unsuitable for their master's program. To quote them " We hope our decision will not affect your determination to pursue further education". ( Why should it? After all they have only found me lacking necessary qualifications to pursue further education in their university! How this could be dampen my enthusiasm to pursue the same is still beyond me!!).
Turns out even Rohit had been given the same royal treatment, in short fuckkk offff with a capital FUCK. ( The irony is that the origin of the word FUCK and the universally accepted middle finger gesture had been asked in the quiz and we had answered it correctly too in fact!)
With a heavy heart I retired to bed that night. Seems life can be very unpredictable, fleeting moments of happiness amongst a sea of troubles, much like sunshine peeping through overcast skies. Resolving to not let this affect my state of mind, I lay tossing and turning in bed before weariness took its toll and I fell into dreamless sleep.
( If you are reading this Parinita, no amount of coercion or physical harm is bound to make me submit this blog as " Extracts from a geek's diary " (i am not a geek inspite of what you think) for the essay writing competition on Tuesday!!)
Monday, February 9, 2009
dev.d: the inconsistencies
I have read over 10 reviews for the movie and asked friends about their opinion
Many say it sucks; its too long and that it gets repetitive in the second half
some cannot stop raving about it as a work of art, the Times of India gave it 5 out of 5 stars, something probably not seen since the Lord of the Rings!
I am frankly baffled by this; has our society been so polarised that what is manna for one section of the populace is a bitter pill for the other to be avoided at all costs? or is the movie made to cater to the tastes of a select clientele while the rest can go boil themselves? ( no profanities in my blog!! :P)
I have been trying to solve this conundrum for quite some time. I would like it if you could post comments regarding your opinion about the movie. As they say in a democracy the opinion of the majority counts and the results can be used to have a fair critique of the movie
Cheers!!
Many say it sucks; its too long and that it gets repetitive in the second half
some cannot stop raving about it as a work of art, the Times of India gave it 5 out of 5 stars, something probably not seen since the Lord of the Rings!
I am frankly baffled by this; has our society been so polarised that what is manna for one section of the populace is a bitter pill for the other to be avoided at all costs? or is the movie made to cater to the tastes of a select clientele while the rest can go boil themselves? ( no profanities in my blog!! :P)
I have been trying to solve this conundrum for quite some time. I would like it if you could post comments regarding your opinion about the movie. As they say in a democracy the opinion of the majority counts and the results can be used to have a fair critique of the movie
Cheers!!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Liverpool : Rotten Apples in the barrel
When Shakespeare wrote " Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" he captured perfectly the turmoil and conflict associated with a change in governance. The same phrase can be used to describe the situation with Liverpool today!
I started supporting this club a long time ago when the media dismissed the clubs as the has-beens of english football. A club with limited international exposure but still supported by a group of fiercely loyal fans. The supporter oriented approach of the club may not have brought in the marketing revenue but held together a closely knit bunch of people; fanatics as some may call them who lived and breathed football and Liverpool. I was hooked to this club; the under-dogs, financially unsound and still reeling under the impact of Mr Souness. It appealed to me in a way no other club did and I officialy started telling people I supported Liverpool.
Under the Houllier regime Liverpool progressed a bit at first coming second in the 200-2001 season and winning the FA cup; league and UEFA cup. There was talk of the glory days returning but after that the club went into a decline till Mr Benitez took charge after disagreements with the board at Valencia.
The success in 04-05 Champions league and 05-06 FA cup saw the club back into the media glare but along with it got a new breed of fans or plastics as we like to call them. The club management changed hands with the arrival of the two cowboys Hicks and Gillet who seem to have taken an early lead in the race for the most reviled football club owners of all time.
The new stadium plan was changed a zillion times and almost a year after construction was supposed to have started; the plot for Stanley Park remains untouched ( apart from a little nonsense work which was done to appease the baying fans); the best manager liverpool have had in the last twenty years was under criticism and the management resorted to washing dirty laundry in public ( something unheard of in the club's glorious industry).
The recent Robbie Keane episode ( feel sorry for the bugger) highlights the cracks in the hierarchy of the club. Rafa and Parry have both sought to distance themselves from the whole farce but at the end of it all the club finds itself a striker short at a time the title is still within its hands.
The last two years have been a trying time for the fans. The takeover by DIC is still stalled and the owners have backtracked on all promises made to the fans. Fan agitations are the flavour of the day outside Anfield and the training grounds at Melwood.
The situation has deteriorated so badly that i feel alienated from the club. What was more important than life or death as said by the great Mr Shankley now has become a passing distraction. I would not say that I am shifting to supporting another club but the level of passion has certainly reduced due to my disgust at the way the club has been run in recent times descending to a unfunny caricature of what it once stood for.Unless the club ownership gets its act together and starts delivering on the promises made and gets 100% behind the manager ( I firmly believe Rafa is the best thing that has happened to the club in the last 15 years) it risks alienating a significant proportion of the fan base. A truly sad moment in the history of the greatest club in England.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Nadal Wins
Yes!
Pete Samapras's record of 14 Grand Slam wins has not yet been equaled.
Chew on that Federer!!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Applying to US Universities : Stage 2 : Filling forms
So we continue where we left off with me having given my GRE and TOEFL ( there is nothing worth writing about this exam; so I have left it out).
Selecting a college to apply is a tricky process. While your GRE score and acads are the most important parameters which determine which university you should apply to; several other factors come into play
1. The probability of getting financial aid once out there
2. The willingness of the university to accept students from other countries
3. On-campus safety
4. The facilities for research
and blah blah blah; the list is quite long
Anyway by discussing with several seniors and consulting websites and reading through forums me and Rohit finally finalised on 9 Universities ( And no I am not repeating them again!!)
Proud of this significant milestone; we decided to start filling up the forms for these universities.
Problems associated with filling up forms
PROBLEM NO 1
God has been unkind to us South Indians. We dont have a surname and for some wierd reason the world seems better off with one. Now in all the forms the surname field is a compulsory one and the form cannot be submitted without filling in a surname! The problem was eventually solved by submitting our father's names as surnames but this led to inconsistencies between our names on the passport and names on the application form. We are still waiting for the consequence of this action
PROBLEM NO 2
The education terminology in US is very different from India. So basically after completing my graduate course in India I would be applying for a graduate program in the US. So basically I am a graduate hoping to become a graduate after slogging for 2 years in the US. Mind-blasting!! The conversion from Indian courses to US courses in the SOP and LOR's is quite frankly a pain-in-the-ass!!
PROBLEM NO 343o493840
Online recommendations; easy and convenient my left foot. The days I spent on sentry duty outside my professor's cabins waiting for a glimpse, a nod, a kind word or some indication that my work had been done before the due date. Though our professors were kind enough to finally finish the work; we still had to endure 3 weeks of madness before the work was completed
Filling up the forms is no easy business I tell you; the amount of details required is quite mind boggling. Certain universities wanted my complete academic record from L.K.G to engg. I still have not found any correlation between my academic performance in LKG ( alphabets, colours and numbers) to my suitability for a Master's education
So all said and done my advice for all those planning to pursue your Master's (you poor poor fools!!) is to be prepared for more than a month of serious mind-fuck as you go around filling forms and getting recommendations done. Its God's way of punishing us for our sins in previous lives and our only option is to grin and bear it
( Stage 3 involves the procedures after getting an admit and I will be more than happy to enlighten you all as and when I get one! :P)
Selecting a college to apply is a tricky process. While your GRE score and acads are the most important parameters which determine which university you should apply to; several other factors come into play
1. The probability of getting financial aid once out there
2. The willingness of the university to accept students from other countries
3. On-campus safety
4. The facilities for research
and blah blah blah; the list is quite long
Anyway by discussing with several seniors and consulting websites and reading through forums me and Rohit finally finalised on 9 Universities ( And no I am not repeating them again!!)
Proud of this significant milestone; we decided to start filling up the forms for these universities.
Problems associated with filling up forms
PROBLEM NO 1
God has been unkind to us South Indians. We dont have a surname and for some wierd reason the world seems better off with one. Now in all the forms the surname field is a compulsory one and the form cannot be submitted without filling in a surname! The problem was eventually solved by submitting our father's names as surnames but this led to inconsistencies between our names on the passport and names on the application form. We are still waiting for the consequence of this action
PROBLEM NO 2
The education terminology in US is very different from India. So basically after completing my graduate course in India I would be applying for a graduate program in the US. So basically I am a graduate hoping to become a graduate after slogging for 2 years in the US. Mind-blasting!! The conversion from Indian courses to US courses in the SOP and LOR's is quite frankly a pain-in-the-ass!!
PROBLEM NO 343o493840
Online recommendations; easy and convenient my left foot. The days I spent on sentry duty outside my professor's cabins waiting for a glimpse, a nod, a kind word or some indication that my work had been done before the due date. Though our professors were kind enough to finally finish the work; we still had to endure 3 weeks of madness before the work was completed
Filling up the forms is no easy business I tell you; the amount of details required is quite mind boggling. Certain universities wanted my complete academic record from L.K.G to engg. I still have not found any correlation between my academic performance in LKG ( alphabets, colours and numbers) to my suitability for a Master's education
So all said and done my advice for all those planning to pursue your Master's (you poor poor fools!!) is to be prepared for more than a month of serious mind-fuck as you go around filling forms and getting recommendations done. Its God's way of punishing us for our sins in previous lives and our only option is to grin and bear it
( Stage 3 involves the procedures after getting an admit and I will be more than happy to enlighten you all as and when I get one! :P)
The Snake Adventure
Now I dont claim to be a paradigm of truthfulness; in fact I advice people to take whatever I say with a pinch of salt. It was easy for the father of our nation to be truthful his entire life but he probably never had his mother asking him what he was doing staying up so late on his computer!
Inspite of this I generally wish for my friends to believe me when I am narrating them an incident; so picture my disappointment at the following turn of events.
It was a bright morning ( or afternoon) and as usual I was seated in the SPCE canteen drinking FLW's. Seated with me were chakku, hesty, boli and chaukya. Sometime during our talks Harshita and Mugdha joined our table.
The conversation took an interesting turn when Heston started talking about snakes in his native place; at which point I pipped in saying that I had jumped on a snake (by accident but hey people do not go around looking for snakes to jump on!!).
Chakku stared at me with his usual sloshed expression which makes people around him want to slap his face incessantly with a dead fish and said "Balls!". Boli smiled and tried to sip chakku's FLW while he was not looking. Chaukya tilted his neck to 63 degrees. ( Now Chaukya has this habit of tilting his neck while making smart-arse comments and the degree of tilt varies from 60 to 63 degrees depending on his level of excitement). It was evident he was quite excited. " Myyyyyyyy Heroooooooooooo! " he said in a condescending drawling voice expressing his thinly-vieled disbelief. Only hesty considered my story however bizzare to be strangely plausible.
Hark! I hear the voices of the thronging multitude asking for a narration of the story. ( Actually considering the number of visits I believe no one reads this crap anyway!).But anyway here goes.
It happened like this: I was around 10 years old and staying at my Grandma's for the summer vacations. There is an empty plot next to our house roughly the size of the workshop. The middle portion of the plot is a clearing where we play cricket and the rest of the plot is covered with thick undergrowth and a couple of small trees. It is separated from my house by a low brick wall. So here I was sitting and watching TV sometime after breakfast when I heard my friends calling me. I was real passionate about cricket at that point in my life though the passion has since died down.
Not wanting to waste time; I decided to jump over the wall instead of walking around to the gate. I heaved myself over the wall and landed on something cylindrical. I looked down and to my horror it was a snake. I leapt back in shock like a person who has just landed on a snake and ran as fast as I could to the clearing. Having had no oppurtunity to indulge in pleasantaries with the snake; I still do not know why it refrained from biting me (or what snake it was for that matter).
I returned with my friends armed with sticks and bats to the spot but the snake was nowhere to be seen. The loss of faith in my story was almost instantaneous and from there on the general trend amongst any group of people has been to brand my story fake which had led me to shelve the story till that moment of weakness in the canteen.
Which leads to the obvious question as to why am I posting it on the world wide web where millions (snigger!) will see it and add to the list of disbelievers??. The right answer is that I am bored and by posting it I have ensured that you have wasted 5 minutes of your life( or more depending on your reading speed) you will never get back! Muahahahaha!!!!!
Inspite of this I generally wish for my friends to believe me when I am narrating them an incident; so picture my disappointment at the following turn of events.
It was a bright morning ( or afternoon) and as usual I was seated in the SPCE canteen drinking FLW's. Seated with me were chakku, hesty, boli and chaukya. Sometime during our talks Harshita and Mugdha joined our table.
The conversation took an interesting turn when Heston started talking about snakes in his native place; at which point I pipped in saying that I had jumped on a snake (by accident but hey people do not go around looking for snakes to jump on!!).
Chakku stared at me with his usual sloshed expression which makes people around him want to slap his face incessantly with a dead fish and said "Balls!". Boli smiled and tried to sip chakku's FLW while he was not looking. Chaukya tilted his neck to 63 degrees. ( Now Chaukya has this habit of tilting his neck while making smart-arse comments and the degree of tilt varies from 60 to 63 degrees depending on his level of excitement). It was evident he was quite excited. " Myyyyyyyy Heroooooooooooo! " he said in a condescending drawling voice expressing his thinly-vieled disbelief. Only hesty considered my story however bizzare to be strangely plausible.
Hark! I hear the voices of the thronging multitude asking for a narration of the story. ( Actually considering the number of visits I believe no one reads this crap anyway!).But anyway here goes.
It happened like this: I was around 10 years old and staying at my Grandma's for the summer vacations. There is an empty plot next to our house roughly the size of the workshop. The middle portion of the plot is a clearing where we play cricket and the rest of the plot is covered with thick undergrowth and a couple of small trees. It is separated from my house by a low brick wall. So here I was sitting and watching TV sometime after breakfast when I heard my friends calling me. I was real passionate about cricket at that point in my life though the passion has since died down.
Not wanting to waste time; I decided to jump over the wall instead of walking around to the gate. I heaved myself over the wall and landed on something cylindrical. I looked down and to my horror it was a snake. I leapt back in shock like a person who has just landed on a snake and ran as fast as I could to the clearing. Having had no oppurtunity to indulge in pleasantaries with the snake; I still do not know why it refrained from biting me (or what snake it was for that matter).
I returned with my friends armed with sticks and bats to the spot but the snake was nowhere to be seen. The loss of faith in my story was almost instantaneous and from there on the general trend amongst any group of people has been to brand my story fake which had led me to shelve the story till that moment of weakness in the canteen.
Which leads to the obvious question as to why am I posting it on the world wide web where millions (snigger!) will see it and add to the list of disbelievers??. The right answer is that I am bored and by posting it I have ensured that you have wasted 5 minutes of your life( or more depending on your reading speed) you will never get back! Muahahahaha!!!!!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Howdy all (Inspired by Texas A&M university)
After years of procrastinating I have finally gathered the initiative to start blogging.
The first few blogs are likely to be long and boring as I try to adapt to this alien (for me) form of literary expression
so kindly bear with me during the learning process
Deepak
After years of procrastinating I have finally gathered the initiative to start blogging.
The first few blogs are likely to be long and boring as I try to adapt to this alien (for me) form of literary expression
so kindly bear with me during the learning process
Deepak
Applying to US universities: Stage 1 :GRE
Disclaimer : This series of blogs is not intended to be a guide on how to apply to US universities. In fact reading the contents may cause you to re-evaluate your decision to do the above. Read ahead if you are strong of heart and know no fear!!
Stage 1: Stage 1 of the whole process turned out to be the easiest in retrospect. After months of slogging and freaking out imagining all possible consequences the day of GRE arrived. Now GRE is a funny exam. You never seem to take it seriously till its almost too late. I even had the temerity to go on a trip abroad two weeks before the exam. Four days before the exam I found myself with 8 word lists to complete and a sizeable portion of maths left. The beauty of engineering is that I was well prepared for such an event and managed to complete the lists 8 hours before my exam. Finishing Quant seemed like an impossible task at that moment but like a shower refreshing a parched land; Dr Raju entered my life bringing hope at that darkest of times. Dr Raju's Quant Database on Orkut saved the day as will be evident later.
The day of the exam :
The level of security at the testing centre is equivalent to that of a mid-size US prison and is enough to unnerve you before the exam. I walked into the booth and sat down at my seat. I felt slightly nauseous and my eyes were swimming. Cold sweat formed on my brow. I looked up at the cieling and worded a noiseless prayer. After days of expectation the moment of reckoning was finally here.
The essay and argument sections were completed without much bother. It seemed luck was finally shining in my favour. I then started with the verbal section of the test. It seemed all my confidence had drained away. Every question seemed to hide intricacies, a certain reluctance to confirm the answer seemed to have gripped my system. Proceeding in this manner I found myself with 10 questions to finish in the last five minutes. " Please God!! no more passages!" was the thought in my head as I clicked on the 26th question and et voila a 30 lines passage greeted my disbelieving eyes. Sometimes I wonder why I pray!!
Fortunately I was able to complete the verbal section in time and proceed to the quant section. The second question I got was of a level which I had never seen in the practise tests I had given. Scratching my head; I strained my intellect to its very limit hoping to find a solution to this unforeseen problem. Getting an answer wrong this early would be akin to suicide. Five minutes passed with no break-through and the test seemed to be slipping through my fingers. Left with no option I clicked on option c and went to the next question. As expected I was left with hardly any time to complete the last few questions. But Dr Raju came to my rescue as the last 4-5 questions were directly from the database and I knew the answers to these questions.
How 3 hours passed by; I will never know but staring at me was a screen asking me to choose between reporting my scores or deleting them to avoid public humiliation. My mind went into over-drive as I threshed out the course of action. I was sure that I had messed up and cancelling the test courses would be the wisest decision. However a small voice in my head argued that I had paid 150 dollars for the test and cancelling it would be foolish. Finally gathering up the courage I pressed the report score button. The computer was not so easily convinced; again the same question appeared. Again the process repeated. I pressed the report score button again.
The screen went blank and my mind resorted to the same recourse. I stared dumbly at the figures on the screen. It took me a minute to register that I had scored a 1510 in GRE. A stupid grin spread on my face as relief flowed through my body. I had gone through a gruelling test and come out unscathed and I believed the biggest hurdle in the way of my dream of doing an M.S had been crossed. (If Only I knew!!)
( Stage 2 consists of selecting universities and filling out the forms : the horror stories associated with the process will be updated in the next few days; keep watching this space [ or rather the one below this!] for updates)
Stage 1: Stage 1 of the whole process turned out to be the easiest in retrospect. After months of slogging and freaking out imagining all possible consequences the day of GRE arrived. Now GRE is a funny exam. You never seem to take it seriously till its almost too late. I even had the temerity to go on a trip abroad two weeks before the exam. Four days before the exam I found myself with 8 word lists to complete and a sizeable portion of maths left. The beauty of engineering is that I was well prepared for such an event and managed to complete the lists 8 hours before my exam. Finishing Quant seemed like an impossible task at that moment but like a shower refreshing a parched land; Dr Raju entered my life bringing hope at that darkest of times. Dr Raju's Quant Database on Orkut saved the day as will be evident later.
The day of the exam :
The level of security at the testing centre is equivalent to that of a mid-size US prison and is enough to unnerve you before the exam. I walked into the booth and sat down at my seat. I felt slightly nauseous and my eyes were swimming. Cold sweat formed on my brow. I looked up at the cieling and worded a noiseless prayer. After days of expectation the moment of reckoning was finally here.
The essay and argument sections were completed without much bother. It seemed luck was finally shining in my favour. I then started with the verbal section of the test. It seemed all my confidence had drained away. Every question seemed to hide intricacies, a certain reluctance to confirm the answer seemed to have gripped my system. Proceeding in this manner I found myself with 10 questions to finish in the last five minutes. " Please God!! no more passages!" was the thought in my head as I clicked on the 26th question and et voila a 30 lines passage greeted my disbelieving eyes. Sometimes I wonder why I pray!!
Fortunately I was able to complete the verbal section in time and proceed to the quant section. The second question I got was of a level which I had never seen in the practise tests I had given. Scratching my head; I strained my intellect to its very limit hoping to find a solution to this unforeseen problem. Getting an answer wrong this early would be akin to suicide. Five minutes passed with no break-through and the test seemed to be slipping through my fingers. Left with no option I clicked on option c and went to the next question. As expected I was left with hardly any time to complete the last few questions. But Dr Raju came to my rescue as the last 4-5 questions were directly from the database and I knew the answers to these questions.
How 3 hours passed by; I will never know but staring at me was a screen asking me to choose between reporting my scores or deleting them to avoid public humiliation. My mind went into over-drive as I threshed out the course of action. I was sure that I had messed up and cancelling the test courses would be the wisest decision. However a small voice in my head argued that I had paid 150 dollars for the test and cancelling it would be foolish. Finally gathering up the courage I pressed the report score button. The computer was not so easily convinced; again the same question appeared. Again the process repeated. I pressed the report score button again.
The screen went blank and my mind resorted to the same recourse. I stared dumbly at the figures on the screen. It took me a minute to register that I had scored a 1510 in GRE. A stupid grin spread on my face as relief flowed through my body. I had gone through a gruelling test and come out unscathed and I believed the biggest hurdle in the way of my dream of doing an M.S had been crossed. (If Only I knew!!)
( Stage 2 consists of selecting universities and filling out the forms : the horror stories associated with the process will be updated in the next few days; keep watching this space [ or rather the one below this!] for updates)
journeys : part 1 canada sep 2008
Canada
The world's second largest country but with a population which would fit comfortably into any Indian state. But have no fear; Indian immigration to Canada has increased in the last few years and given our proven track record in fertility,Canada should be causing a few rumbles in the population charts in the coming years.But I regress from the topic which is an eye-witness account of my travels with my parents in the country or rather in and around its most important city Toronto.
We landed in Toronto's Pearson International Airport on a Friday evening thoroughly exhausted after our 27 hour journey from Mumbai. My cousin's house was a good one hour drive from the airport.After an early dinner with my family I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Jet-lag what??
The next day we headed out towards the Niagra falls. Brushing and bathing were done in no time: a formality rather than intended to convey a favourable impression of my personal hygiene. I was so excited that I virtually ran into the car and fastened my seatbelt like a toddler who has been promised a outing to an ice-cream joint. We passed through Ontario's wine belt on the way; vineyards stretching miles on either side of the road; a clear sky and the sun shining brightly overhead. Perfect weather for a trip to the Niagra Falls. 2 hours later we were at the little town of Niagra-on-the-lake; a picturesque little village left untouched since the turn of the last century.
As we drove up to the falls; I caught my first glimpse of them as we rouned a bend: the gentle mist rising from the foot of the falls; the water shimmering in the sun light and a rainbow which stretched across the length of the falls presented a mental image I am unlikely to ever forget. The roar of the falls was loud enough to drown any conversation but none of us were talking as we drank in the awe-inspiring beauty of one of nature's spectacles.
The journey to the foot of the falls in the Maid of the Mist was one of the highlights of my short but eventful life. Wearing specially designed rain coats we stood on the deck of the boat as she inched closer to the falls. Spray buffeted us wetting our faces; the sheer force of the falls making our footing perilous on the slippery deck; the noise pounding our eardrums. Our heats beat faster adrenaline pumping through our veins. It was a sense of exhiliration; the joy of being alive and able to experience this natural wonder. We felt it was a just world and life was beautiful once again; shadows passed and we felt closer to the creator than we had ever before.
After an all too short (as we felt though it was a good 20 minutes long!!) ride we returned back to the dock. We spent the rest of the afternoon going through the other attractions like "Journey to the falls" which was a series of interconnecting tunnels built directly behind the falls. We had lunch as the Edge Water Grill which has one the best views of the falls from the deck. After feasting on Spicy Cajun Chicken and drinking blush wine we went to Marine Land where I got to see killer whales for the first time in my life. (Awesome!!).
The day well spent; we returned home to rest and reflect on the day's events. That evening we had a barbeque in my cousin's yard. I spent hours sitting on a deck chair eating steak and watching the stars listening to the murmur of a stream flowing just behind the house. ( At peace with the world!!).
We spent the next few days exploring downtown Toronto. The CN tower ( once the world's tallest building) is a must visit for all tourists. The observation deck at the top of the tower provides a breathtaking view of the entire city. We also spent some time gawking outside the venue of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) hoping to get a glimpse of a few stars. (Alas of no avail). The last day was spent shopping in a massive Wal-Mart approximately the size of an Indian town.
8 days after I started my journey I found myself back in Mumbai and with just two weeks left for my GRE.Needless to say my transition from vacation mode to study mode was almost instantaneous!!
The world's second largest country but with a population which would fit comfortably into any Indian state. But have no fear; Indian immigration to Canada has increased in the last few years and given our proven track record in fertility,Canada should be causing a few rumbles in the population charts in the coming years.But I regress from the topic which is an eye-witness account of my travels with my parents in the country or rather in and around its most important city Toronto.
We landed in Toronto's Pearson International Airport on a Friday evening thoroughly exhausted after our 27 hour journey from Mumbai. My cousin's house was a good one hour drive from the airport.After an early dinner with my family I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Jet-lag what??
The next day we headed out towards the Niagra falls. Brushing and bathing were done in no time: a formality rather than intended to convey a favourable impression of my personal hygiene. I was so excited that I virtually ran into the car and fastened my seatbelt like a toddler who has been promised a outing to an ice-cream joint. We passed through Ontario's wine belt on the way; vineyards stretching miles on either side of the road; a clear sky and the sun shining brightly overhead. Perfect weather for a trip to the Niagra Falls. 2 hours later we were at the little town of Niagra-on-the-lake; a picturesque little village left untouched since the turn of the last century.
As we drove up to the falls; I caught my first glimpse of them as we rouned a bend: the gentle mist rising from the foot of the falls; the water shimmering in the sun light and a rainbow which stretched across the length of the falls presented a mental image I am unlikely to ever forget. The roar of the falls was loud enough to drown any conversation but none of us were talking as we drank in the awe-inspiring beauty of one of nature's spectacles.
The journey to the foot of the falls in the Maid of the Mist was one of the highlights of my short but eventful life. Wearing specially designed rain coats we stood on the deck of the boat as she inched closer to the falls. Spray buffeted us wetting our faces; the sheer force of the falls making our footing perilous on the slippery deck; the noise pounding our eardrums. Our heats beat faster adrenaline pumping through our veins. It was a sense of exhiliration; the joy of being alive and able to experience this natural wonder. We felt it was a just world and life was beautiful once again; shadows passed and we felt closer to the creator than we had ever before.
After an all too short (as we felt though it was a good 20 minutes long!!) ride we returned back to the dock. We spent the rest of the afternoon going through the other attractions like "Journey to the falls" which was a series of interconnecting tunnels built directly behind the falls. We had lunch as the Edge Water Grill which has one the best views of the falls from the deck. After feasting on Spicy Cajun Chicken and drinking blush wine we went to Marine Land where I got to see killer whales for the first time in my life. (Awesome!!).
The day well spent; we returned home to rest and reflect on the day's events. That evening we had a barbeque in my cousin's yard. I spent hours sitting on a deck chair eating steak and watching the stars listening to the murmur of a stream flowing just behind the house. ( At peace with the world!!).
We spent the next few days exploring downtown Toronto. The CN tower ( once the world's tallest building) is a must visit for all tourists. The observation deck at the top of the tower provides a breathtaking view of the entire city. We also spent some time gawking outside the venue of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) hoping to get a glimpse of a few stars. (Alas of no avail). The last day was spent shopping in a massive Wal-Mart approximately the size of an Indian town.
8 days after I started my journey I found myself back in Mumbai and with just two weeks left for my GRE.Needless to say my transition from vacation mode to study mode was almost instantaneous!!
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