Shaastra, projects, end sems and another semester old....

     Time flies by like sand slipping out of hands attempting to grasp it. Seems like it all began yesterday. The course registration, taking possession of my room, and the commencement of the semester, and its hard to believe that its all coming to an end in another 1/2 a week. 

    Time brings the inevitable change along, as they say, but frankly it has brought about very little change in me- for after another semester, i still continue to remain the same old, 'peace loving' idiot, completely oblivious to the disastrous effects it could have on my performance. Although some things have changed, like say my body posture (after a conscious effort from my side to monitor this time and again), which was otherwise quite sluggish, the title of this blog (which with a little observation can be noticed) changed to 'voice of reason' inspired from Larry David, and of course, I think Ive made some progress in feeling comfortable taking to women. : P

     Out of the many things that made this '22 credits-peace max semester' rather painful, (the most important being my carelessness) were Shaastra, and our projects- AM and MDS. Our AM prof, (for the past 2 semesters, and most likely, the next semester too), with all due respect to the man's intelligence, has really irritated me with his innovative examination and assessment techniques. Granted that the guy is one of the best in the business, and his deep understanding of the subject and excellent teaching and communication skills is worth a praise. But making groups of 3 random students, putting them through a project together, (and also a test) seemed completely senseless and baseless to me. His argument to support it being 'I never chose my colleagues. I just got them', which seems to be right from a wider perspective. But speaking on the behalf of all others who opposed this idea, i think 'unlike in here, colleagues do get fired if they don't work'. 

      So again another end semester examination is about to end, winter kicking in, (regularly heavy night rains in chennai infact). Another string of sleepless nights spent in last minute desperate preparations in the insti, and after all this comes to an end, the same thought looms around 'In the next semester, I'm not gonna waste my time. I am gonna begin afresh'. But little do we know that this is actually only the tail of a vicious cycle, thats gonna come back to bite itself after another 4 months. :P To end this one on a more positive note, Merry Christmas and a happy new year in advance! :)

      

Coaches, Software engineers and Dasvidaniya pune ;)

Another 7 days for college to commence, no more a freshie, and no more anxiousness.
6 days and im gonna be off to the same old super-hot, super-humid city down south. Mixed feelings running in my mind. A part of me longing for college, to get relieved from boredom, while the other part, not willing to leave my mum for the next 4 months. But as they say, separation is inevitable, and besides, who wouldn't want to forget the lousy vacation i had this summer..bah..

Moving on, from the senti, to the disturbing. Lately, ive been watching a lot of indian men getting really despo. You switch on the TV one day, you hear that xyz coach has been sacked, for asking sexual favours from his players. A couple of players get out of the closet ,out of no where, and scream out loud that they were sexually harassed by the man. Then a camera man reveals a pick of the coach getting intimate with a thai lady in his hotel room. The next day you switch on your TV to hear that a national weight lifting coach gets sacked because of a similar sex scandal with one of his disciples.

I mean c'mon!! give me a break. As said rightly by Bipasha Basu 'Indian men need to get a hang of their lust'. After 'Chakde India' in 07', Women's Hockey got the much deserved respect from all over India. SRK, though im not a big fan of his, revolutionized the concept of coaching. People expected such wonders from all coaches after that movie. 3 years later this coach goes on to do something exactly opposite .I often wonder how a man can stoop down to such ridiculously low levels, as to get into sex scandals with a had full of his students. I mean, 1 ,understandable, even if he's married. 2, is horrible, but the whole team is way beyond the limit. One can sense the level of discontentment in his married life. And for a man of that age, i must say he has an incredibly high sex drive. Today being the day of 'guru poornima' coincidentally, I guess its a nice example of how the 'guru-shishya' chemistry works in the 'kalyug'

Now, im disturbed by all that's being shown on TV, what do i do? I switch to the internet. And what do i see on youtube?? this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPVG2dt8tS0&feature=related . Criss Hansen, a TV personality, does this show for NBC, where he holds string operations to catch sexual predators, indulging in pedophile activities. He does an episode in California, where he sets up a trap for men who deceive children over the net. He catches not 2, or 3, but 4 such cases, involving Indian men, working in USA. All of them call themselves 'software engineers'. One of them even claims that he's got a 'phd, and a lot of respect in the society'.A real sad story, for us Indians. There are people who'v made India the famous land it is amongst the western countries, with its culture, religion and diversity. And then there are people like these that are persistently take all that away in seconds.

Some of these things make you really start doubting the very existence of God. What did these young girls do to deserve a punishment as bad as this?? Im firmly with this notion that's risen lately, to punish sexual predators with a death sentence. With me, im getting all ready to pack up, and leave Pune. I'll miss all puneri friends. Some of whom had great plans for the summer that never materialized. And some of whom broke a toe, to be restricted from enjoying summer the way they expected to. Dasvidaniya..'See you l8r' ;)

Trying to bend time space continuum...

You know, its one of those times, when u are constantly hoping for something to happen fast. One faces great difficulty in blogging when there's nothing happening around, but still, this seems to be atleast some sort of recreation for me at the moment. Im gonna briefly share a couple of incidents that took place, and a couple of thoughts that ran through my head. So,here goes.


I landed in Pune city, on the 6th of may, optimistic of making these holidays memorable in some way. Hoping that i would make this vacation count in a useful way after not staying back in IIT like my peers did, undertaking various projects. Hey, if nothing, i thought that hanging out with a bunch of friends, 'spending quality time with family', and escaping the erstwhile horrid chennai climate would serve to cheer me up.Turned out to be the exact opposite. My bunch of friends, were , apparently glued to their books gearing up hard for their exams, 'quality time with family' was spent watching, what was quite literally a ship wreck, of a mother daughter relationship, 2 people indulging in a chain of endless verbal fights; the weather of Pune slightly hotter than chennai, and its raining like cats and dogs in chennai.


So, a couple of days into the vacation, and i find myself in a spot where death in the hands of boredom, seems inevitable. Right then, the T20 comes to my rescue, or so i thought. Also a couple of friends were relatively relieved from their exam preparations, who occasionally came to my help. So, T20 it is, every fan is glued to his idiot box, harouring hopes for the injury striken, out-of-form, ipl returned indian cricket team. For one thing, i was positive that this team wouldn't make it to the semis, and turned out perfectly. I have some how taken an intense animosity to the indian cricket team of late, which only grew after Dhoni's childish excuses during yet another post-WC-debacle press conference.The Indian team has put on excessive weight, coach says he's fitter than most players in the team, they mess around with a couple of NRI gals in a late night bar, all this though disgusting, kept me glued to my TV set.


Then, all of a sudden, the 'Tehelka' emerge from no where with a video taped evidence against pramod muthalik. The man is causing serious damage to an other wise rare first name. That makes him really dispecable. So thus the WC ends, and my miseries begin. I had exhausted all the material i had downloaded from the institute LAN. Normally, under such situations, u turn to facebook, but that too seemed to get boring.


So now im left all by my self, to fight boredom. Since a couple of days, ive been out all the day. I get out of the house without purpose, hoping to meet someone, see something, do something. They say time flies fast when u are enjoying it. Also on the other hand, id like to say that it kills like none else, and goes so slow that you almost feel like you are making a journey to eternity, the infinity, the ultimate bound of the universe. Something has to happen, and soon otherwise, i might just create a time machine, and attempt to traverse through time.

A tribute to the best rock band of all times..

I know im no poet. but this is something that came out right from the bottom of my heart..(amidst all the boredom during a physics class:P)
So here goes:

I listen to so many artists, patiently but yet,
always wonder how close, to the Beatles they can get..
Bands are made and then they fade, but none had such a spree
Its been a while, since Judy's cried, since 1970..

My Heart cries out, and so aloud..
why did they have to split..
well, what d'you know, a woman's toe..
could make old Johny quit..

'Hey Jude' they sang, 'i wanna hold your hand'..
'While my guitar gently weeps'..
Georgy looked the floor and saw,
It surely 'needs a sweep'..

'Penny lane' they went, 'Abbey road' they walked..
John, Paul, Georgy, Ringo, always rocked.
If soul is bread, the music's butter,
And with the Beatles it never cud get better..

But, what followed was as fate pleased..
As Georgy, John Rest In Peace,
But in my heart there still is a place..
where John sings,Paul's words fill the space..
I listen to so many artists, so patiently but yet..
I listen to so many artists ,so patiently but yet...

Dedicated to the beatles, (and Boredom, the step mother of invention)

ipl magic, effects on indian cricket....

First of all, i must admit that i am no expert commentator, or cricket pundit as they call em'. So, any comment that i make in this piece means no offense to anyone, and clearly arises from my fanatic feelings for certain teams, and some personal perspectives, point of views.

A new ipl, new host nation, new team structures, new coaches, new strategies , new bats, but the same old fan base and spirit for cricket. With not much to be surprised about, MI started off as the most cheered club, following what was nothing less than a master class month for the master blaster. Truly speaking, although Sachin is regarded as one among the elite league consisting of none other than probably Lara and Sir Bradman himself, i have never seen the master perform as good as he did for as long as i can remember. Probably, the master has stamped his authority on the 'best batsman' position rightfully through the display of batting he has made in the past one year or so.

I too, had a favorite in the beginning of the season: Deccan Chargers, primarily because of the huge Gilly fanatic that i am. Although they didn't begin on an optimistic note, i still harbored hopes for them. Some how, one gets the feeling that they are just falling apart this season. Although winning a T20 tournament and defending it are two different things to me. Defending a T20 title is much more difficult than winning it. Kolkata on the other hand are doing pretty good, which is quite contrary to the reputation theyv earned in the 1st 2 IPL seasons. Looking good to not finish in the bottom of the table again.

Certain points that made news and created hype in the season were:
*Haydos displaying the mongoose bat
*Yusuf pathan belting a hundred off just 37.
*Kolkata doing comparatively better under a new coach
*Dada on fire to say the least.
*Sachin continuing his master class display.

As far as the changes in the squads go, 2 main additions that happened where kieron Pollard to MI and Shane Bond, who calls involvement in the 'rebel' ICL, one of his 'biggest mistakes in life', to KKR. Amongst the remarkable performances so far saw David Warner showing how destructive he can get, Chaminda Vass showing that age isn't a barrier for performance with the ball. Murali was amongst the wickets, and Tiwari, the 'wanna be Dhoni' in terms of his new hair style, proved his talent for the MI. Luck has been hard on Suresh Raina who leads Chennai filling in on the absence of the regular skipper Dhoni.

This season, there hasn't been that much of an involvement of the celebrity component into the ipl as was seen in the 2nd season and more remarkably in the 1st edition. SRK final thought that may be it would be right for him to stay away from the cricketing issues of his team, as he explains in his own words 'If i start to teach them how to play cricket, then they'l start teaching me how to act'.hmmm..., well, with some SRK fans back there, i wouldn't go more further than this, (although i have thought of a very sarcastic reply to it)

One can only feel for what the Kings XI Punjab have been going through. with 1 win out of 8 played so far, its probably as tough as its ever gotten for them so far. As they say, 'when the going gets tough, the tough gets going'.Yuvi hasn't been in best of forms both with bat and fitness issues of late. A point that does not just concern Priety and her boys but also the Indian cricket. Brett Lee hasn't quite made a statement with the ball, mahela and sangi although have got to good starts haven't been able to make hay. One can almost wanna loose to bring back the smile and the dimple on priety's face. With her break up with Ness wadia, film career not going sky high, and now KIXP not living up to the expectations, understandably, things are not hunky dory for her.

So with the ipl almost half played out, the situation stands quite interestingly poised. MI topping the table followed by the ever consistent DD. RCB and RR too make it to the top four.But as one can see, there is not much to choose between RCB, RR,KKR and chennai, all the four separated just by a margin of 2 points. With one half of the season left to go, the aussie, and kiwi hunks coming over, you could expect anything. Even a complete turnover of the tables should not be a surprise package. Here in IITM, there is a lot of energy and ipl spirit floating around. although this hasn't come for us at the most appropriate of times, (with end sems knocking on the doors), we still are enjoying most of the season.There are people going crazy, betting,doing a lot of other cranky stuff. As for me, im all worked up for the 2 matches coming chennai's way: MI vs Chennai, DD vs Chennai for which ill be going. Hoping to see sachin, jayasuriya , warner and viru make a game out of both the encounters.

With all the fun aspects of the ipl discussed, i think its worth pondering upon the deep effects that it can leave on indian cricket and also world cricket to a great extent. Its known fact, that almost all the nations consider India on home soil one of the most challenging tasks to take on. Infact since the past 10 years, its just happened once that a team touring india (aussies in 2004) have managed to pull off a series win. This is primarily due to the exceedingly difficult and alien conditions we have in india, and more importantly, the kind of players who can make most use of them. All this said, the IPL happening in india every year, will make the other teams more acquainted with the indian conditions.

The indian wickets, and weather condiditons which currently haunt most players outside the sub continent might become regulation stuff for them in a couple more years of IPL backed by a possibility of all the '2 IPLs per year' talks floating. This could mean a serious loss to india's edge over the other cricketing nations.Looking at the larger picture, i.e world cricket, what the IPL could do is it could make people know the weaknesses and strengths of various other players. Once these sort of things happen, world cricket will never be the same.Above all, with all this T20 format killing the longer and elite version of the game, the IPL is really not helping the issue.

Anyways, as every issue can be tackled by addressing it at the right time, probably this isn't such a right time to discuss these issues. Probably, when the time comes, World cricket would find an optimized path to find a remedy to the issue. But till then, Its gonna be T20 IPL all the way. The fever is catchin', there is no place to hide, no where to go.The only thing to do is to get sunk into it..

a thought or 2 in the week

Ok, im blogging after quite some time.So i do not have anything concrete to express. Hence, what i'll do is that i'll put down a couple of thoughts that were running through my mind the whole week.

To begin off, here are a couple of things that happened after the day of the last blog. We accepted fate's will, started mugging our asses off for the 2nd quiz. Had a whole week of quizzes, hectic, and boy what a sigh of relief to have got the week over with! For me, it was a week that had 2 electronics assignments (pain). Amidst all this chaos, innocent mind had some deep profound thoughts passing through.

I'm an ardent follower of the show 'The Wonder Years', (one show which is grossly under-rated.). The show is based on the adolescence of a boy during the confusing and revolutionary times of the 60's. As i closely followed one of the episodes of the series (season 2), i was able to connect so well with the thought that went with the episode. The episode begins with the lines, " Growing up is a funny business. When you are a child you have so many aspirations and career choices for your future. The weirdest and the most fancy plans. There is a little bit of everything in you when you are a child, a little bit of an artist, a little bit of a scientist, li'l bit of a singer, sailor etc etc..I guess growing up is a process of giving up all of these one by one, to finally realize one day that you have narrowed out a path for yourself".

Now although i might have not quoted the lines that accurately, the message there is strong. We all know what the narrator means, and must have definitely gone through it. The funny thing is, i find a lot of people around me, so talented, in various respects. Some great at sports, some brilliant at playing music. i find quite a lot of these people not solely contented with the choice of career they made. When I was a kid, by 'kid' i mean somewhere around 8-10, i always felt i was a good singer (used to go to music classes) and played nice cricket. So my career plan was a play back singer, with the back-up plan being a cricketer. Never did i imagine i'd land up in the stream of engineering! I feel somewhere or the other all this has to do with the narrow minded ideology of a lot of people that certain streams of career are to be preferred to all others at any cost.Probably even at the cost of curbing the child's interests and creativity! But these people have their own point, as what they wish, is only intended for the child's benefits.

The second thought that hit me, (has been hitting me for a while now, but never this hard), is that 'sense of humor' comes in different blends. Initially the sense of humor that you have is the raw one. You laugh at the heavy jokes, probably the vulgar ones. But later on, as time passes by and you get exposed to the other side of humor, you sort of start appreciating the 'sophisticated humor'. for instance, i had heard a lot about the show 'seinfeld',(sitcom), I heard a lot about the critical acclaim it got and the achievement of a position in the top 3 of all time sitcoms, really motivated me to go ahead and try the show out.What i found though, surprisingly was that all the jokes fell flat to me. Never really found any joke to be as juicy as the ones i was used to. But, as time passed, i really started enjoying the humor in it. Now im almost a fan of the show.

so, the situation as of now is that we are done with our quizzes, have the whole damn week end to 'put peace' and as a stress buster. No one knows where this type of study is gonna get us in the end sems.. But again, as one of my friends says, " Hey Dhondu..just chill!!" or "Sab moh maaya hai",lets cross the bridge when it comes, but at the moment do what we do the best...
'putting peace'

An eventful day in alak

What happened today could easily get into the books as alak's worst ever '2nd yr room allotment' ceremony. There was everything. A perfect daily soap material, or incident that could feature in a parliament drama. It had all the masaala needed. But not that nice if u were a freshie though.

To brief you a bit about where this all began, a couple of days ago we agreed upon the fact the we would make groups of freshies and the group that would have a majority, takes the most wanted wing. Also we had successfully obtained a majority of C-2 junta along with some C-3 bros, and from there it looked as though everything would go fine and we had the wing B-2 in our pockets.

What followed though was hardly anticipated by anyone of us. We thought that the next thing to do would be to do the room selection formalities. All of a sudden, the gen. sec. comes up with the weirdest of ideas, that only he and a group of c-3 junta could find logical. He wanted the matter to decided on the basis of the toss of a coin. Now, there are 2 points here, firstly, with a clear majority no one would see any reason to employing that method unless you desperately want to help the other side get hold of the wing. Secondly, even an immature child wouldn't leave something like rooms for a year to a lousy toss of a coin.

With this going on, as we were fighting against a partial jury, we tried getting help from higher seniors, who came to our rescue thankfully.To counter this, their own senior was brought into the ring, along with another biggie, (both belonging to them) to enforce issues. What followed was an intense battle almost one could say between the c-3 junta backed by immature people and the 'others'. Matters such as some second yrs black mailing the freshies on our side to switch sides came up. That was when we thought they surely couldn't fall below this. Which they exactly did.

The senior made use of his 'power' and 'status' to enforce a lousy coin toss. As luck would have it, we lost the toss, the joy of the c3 group knew no bounds. Even the Gen sec wanted to take part in the celebrations, but withheld himself, leaving us thinking hard to figure out where we lost.., and me with the feeling of shame for having taken part in the insti campaigning.

As a fall out, we were all alloted rooms dispersed everwhere. we got the Bog rooms. collectively unhappy about the incident that took place. But still we feel that the 'c-2' spirit and the 'alak-freshie' spirit wouldn't die in us. barely having to cover extra distances to get to each others rooms wouldn't keep us from interacting. (or atleast hopefully). Over all an eventful day in the history of alak. Where a poultry issue as the room allotment for 2nd yrs became battle ground for the higher year seniors. where hearts were broken... (edited on advice of a fellow mate)