Hectic weekend awaits

The beginning of a long weekend. And its time to study to the fullest. Well you might be wondering whats wrong with yours truly? Studying? him?
Its just that finally I have realised, after 4 disregarded semesters that CG is very important. I've been led down the wrong path believing that CG is a useless way to spend your time. Just maintain a bare minimum and you'll do fine. But I am not an average person. This much I have realised. Mediocrity does not impress. I aim for the highest. And this has made me realise CG is very very important for such a life. And also the fact that I have missed out on a number of wonderful opportunities because of CG..

Trippy maxxx workshop..

Game – survivors.
Scenario – World at the brink of nuclear devastation. A group of great thinkers meet to decide what must be done to save civilization. They decide to send two people from different backgrounds into space, to survive there for 5 years and come back to rebuild civilization as we know it. Each of the six participating parties elect a representative to put forth their arguments.

Trippy stuff that occurred in the Shell workshop .
Godly as politician – we have a very high EQ to IQ ratio. What the heck is he driveling? Is he trying to tell us that he has a very low IQ??
Nuclear scientist (kasai) – Countering an argument that this set knows only about high end equipments, gets irritated with the Dhobis and retorts ‘Dhobis are talking to me about technology??’
‘You guys are responsible for this mess. You made the bombs. You’re so stupid’
‘We used a lot of intelligence in making the bombs. We were stupid to give it to the politicians.’
Vinay as liquor baron – Liquor connects the world. It appeals to all sets of people. It was the only industry that developed simultaneously all over the world and I can connect to all sets of people through it. Liquor will help save the world !! WTF??
Wake up guys – You are goddammed barons, why not base your arguments on experience in business and capitalistic tendencies !!
Cavity as pirates and smugglers( Why in god’s name did we choose him to represent us ? )- left the audience wondering - is this guy really a pirate or a smuggler? Must be the dumbest profession around. Ask him a question and he’ll be like I am great, I am a good leader, I can rule the world.
Tell him ‘you’re a chuthiya’ and reply will be – ‘So what? I am great, I am a good leader, I can rule the world. Next question, please. ‘
‘How will you make people trust you?’
‘They can’t trust me’ (Where reply should have been- I will point a bloody gun at their face and tell them ‘ follow me or you’re dead!’ Fear is the key to the rise of the new civilization. At least initially. Then godammed democracy can take over) I am great, I am a good leader, I can rule the world. Next question, please. ‘
The highlight of his speech – ‘We are pirates, we do not follow any law. We make our own laws and follow it.’ What’s your point, mate?
Some arbitrary person as Dhobi – ‘We are poor, everyone will be poor after the disaster. So we can connect and live in harmony with them.’ Oh is that so? That’s why we are spending billions in sending you into space is it? So that you can come back and live with the poor in harmony? Boy, that’s real genius, mate. We thought we asked you to assume you were Dhobhis – meaning still hold on to your brains that you have as IITans !
Swathi as bar dancer – ‘Do not think of me as a bar dancer, think of me as a normal person.’ Then why the heck are you here? What makes you different from the rest of the world?
‘Bar dancers are intelligent, progressive people who just happen to dance in bars’
Well, that’s nice. So you dance in bars because you are intelligent eh? Do you even know what intelligent means?
‘Bar dancers are essential in bringing culture into the lives of people.’ WTF – the first culture that should originate in the new world should be that of bar dancing? God save that world !!
Trippy question to Swathi from the pirates– ‘You don’t expect us to believe all that you said, do you?’
An angry retort, ‘Do you think the rest believed what you guys said?’
‘That’s my point. No one did.’ (:P)

Crux of it all :
Liquor barons were more like politicians – they spoke a lot but hardly made one significant point.
Politicians spoke like politicians when they were off-stage.
Pirate representative was bulbing so much on stage that his own team-mates started tripping on him.
Dhobis do not want to develop the civilization.
Nuclear scientists don’t give a f*** about you.
Bar dancers – well they are not bar dancers it seems, just normal people.

AMPA Skywalk - a walk it was :P

A place worthy of being called a MALL. On the junction of nelson manickam and poonamallee high road it lies. Bigger, in fact way bigger than citi centre, but nowhere close to spencers (but it is still the best in Chennai, so far:) )

With landmark, an awesome food court, archies, pvr cinemas - it just propounds the fact that Anna Nagar is becoming a city within the city of Chennai. No more do I have to go all the way to satyam for a movie, or to nungambakkam for landmark visit :). And the best part is the skywalk. Spanning the entire layout of the mall you can actually get a very good view of the entire mall from here. And I go in the records for being the first person (barring those involved i nthe construction of the megastructure) to walk over it.

I'll end this post on that high.....

Shaastra 09 - all about MA trip

Another Shaastra gone by.......

Cometh October it came. And in the wink of an eye it was gone. A Shaastra I looked forward to most eagerly. It did not disappoint. Nor was it of the stature I expected it to be.

The air show and the laser show pulled the largest crowd but overall the turnout of people for the event was a bit disappointing. I've lived two Shaastras so far and it hurts me to say that crowd and entertainment-wise my first was the best, closely followed by the Shaastra 2008. And the fact that this had to happen when I was in-charge of publicity in Chennai (as some people blatantly pointed out) was like adding fuel to the fire. Well, all that is in the past now.

However I got to admit food-wise it was by far the best. This might be because I had unlimited access to free food..lol.. Still...

Oh and the MA trip - that was what this Shaastra was all about. The involvement of MA students in organising the event and the constant banter(well carried out by the newsletter team - even though that TEAM was dominated by MAs) meted out to them. IITM is changing - with scope for IIIT and MA students to take an active interest in campus life. Can't really complain - they are after all a part and parcel of this institute (sigh :P)

Mindblock - really can't think of a grand finale to this post. I'll make up for it in my next. Tschau...

Why do i get the feeling that I am not learning much about engineering in IIT?

Lets take a look. I've been here for the past two years, thats half my course completed and the only thing i've learnt about engineering is that you do not need to study much to get decent grades !! Whoa.. that was really not the reason why i entered this place. It was, if i remember right ,with a passion to learn, to be the best ( was it really? well i do not know. Boy, i've changed a lot and this might be a consequence of that. Or not). But you know now that i look back on these years i really do not remember what i have learnt in class. As a person, i will agree that I have definitely grown and have started making decisions of my own, learning to live on my own, roughing it out, standing on my own feet, and having fun at the same time. I've found happiness, I've found passions, I've found adventures, I've even found love. But when it comes to engineering, well, unfortunately what i've found i've either lost it as soon as i did, or i never found it at all. Take my friends who are doing the same mechanical engineering course in other colleges. They speak of stuff I have never even heard about. This design, that circuit, this code. My oh my, you've lost me totally guys. 

Why is it this way? Is it something amiss with the way we study here? Could be, our semesters are very short, we have the least number of classes( we crib about it still, we sleep them off, we wake up, we find end sems, the quizzes are a vague memory). And in these semesters are packed a host of extra and co curricular activities. To give you an example - all that my mom thinks i do is shaastra, saarang and mechanica and fun ( i never fail to mention that)  ! Lol. And to top it all anyone who opens his books well before the night of the exam is tagged a 'muggu'. God!! 

I really do not understand this. Now that i'm doing an intern in wheels india, i've learnt that there are loads of things about real engineering that i do not follow or dont give a damn. Its also made me realise that people from my college all prefer white collar jobs over core engineering ones. I'm going that way too. Pray, my mom would never understand. But thats the way it is. With my track record on marketing, i'd seamlessly slip into any job in that sector. 

IIT M offers you a lot besides engineering, people. In fact it offers the 'lot' part more than engineering. And here i am experiencing it to the fullest. 

A noble thought

I've been thinking. Its not often that i do it but when i do venture down that moss-overgrown path it is with some reason and purpose( and care, cause the moss is slippery.. lol... forgive the pun, i'm just too excited with this new macbook of mine :P ). 

Elections for the second largest democracy in the world have just been completed and the results are out. If you think politics is out and governance is in, well think again, some ppl are just too caught up with politics ! As the country awaits the selection of the cabinet ministers I wonder why is it that ppl who truly deserve the post do not want it and those whom the PM just barely managed not to name them as corrupt and inefficient are fighting like a pack of wild dogs over it. Gets one thinking, well it certainly got me thinking, is democracy the right form of governance. Or its success is just a farce? Or is there something fundamentally wrong with the concept which puts the least efficient person in the most powerful post? 

I had this 2 hour long discussion on politics with my parents ], grandparents and cousins and by god it was awesome, being the most illuminating discussion of my life. I learnt a host of stuff abt politics, how it operates, how it should, how it can be made better ( easy enough, just elect the goddammed right person, ppl !! ). It got me thinking by the end of it, why dont i give it a shot? There are a host of things i want to see changed about the country. And out there are definitely a few ppl at least who share the same ideas as me. The same passion burns in them too. Its not an easy decision to make. And i'm biding my time, one reason being, well i've still got college to finish!! 

FYI, I did not vote this time. What use is there, if all u can do is vote for the lesser of two evils?

Democracy was not meant to be like this....

writers block???!!!

Well sinclair has been caught up with some really work (atleast i hope tat is the reason) for his inability to provide quality posts everyday. and i am sure u r all aware of the extremely high quality standards tat we impose on ourselves to make this blog a better read for u all.....in other words we r just out of ideas to write. Pls be assured that we r a bit down frm the CSK loss to RCB......of all the teams they had to lose the semis to RCB......well i guess i hv wasted enough time already not studying for my sem exams.....and if anyone got any brilliant ideas for our next post pls keep it to urself we r all the more capable of thinking of one........:)

1 in 2

I am getting really bad now at churning out good posts to keep my trusty readers interested. I notice that visits have been on the drop. What I feel is instead of bringing out postd every day maybe i should make it once in two days. Hmmm.. I thought with the holidays i'd be able to achieve the goal of one article per day. But getting quite tough as holidays drag on and enthusiasm drops. So many plans i had.. Well still trying to achieve most of them. Should not drop behind too much. Must keep up.. Must... must....

KKR play spoilsport

Whoa... Who would have have thought the Kolkata Knight Riders could actually win matches !!
But do they have to do it now? When all hope is lost, when so many teams were counting on them. :-P .. Poor CSK (well they still stand a chance of getting through to the semis). But the RR would be one disappointed lot. And the defending champions too. Let down by a team they were counting on. Come to think of it what good does this win do to the KKR? Their return tickets tickets are booked. All they had to do was relax, play for the sake of playing, all the while dreaming about relaxing days to be spent at home watching the IPL semis and finals on TV :-)
Certainly played the spoil sport this team !! Anyway Rajasthan Royals well played IPL09 for u guys. Disappointing you wont be able to defend the title.. Let the tears out. Shilpa leads the way :-) She needs a shoulder to rest her head perhaps. Well got two broad ones here :P.. But unfortunately a couple of thosand miles away :-(

The same old DICE !!

After 3 weeks of heated discussions and debates ( I hope they did all that, but if then again if they did do all that the next part would not have happened), they come back to square zero. The dice ?? Again ?? Hmmmm... design team must be really short on ideas. To not change the logo that came under so much flak. Seriously dudes.. the dice again. Someone pls wake me up and tell me it aint true.

The CSK do it again !!

And what a cracker of a match !! We predicted somewhere in the middle of the IPL that in one match Mcullum is gonna fire and woe betide the team that faces the music. Sadly it had to be the team I'm rooting for(maybe this aint that good a day after all - also i had to cut short a call which i really did not want to...hmmmm).
Hey and a good movie to watch - the notebook. For all those in love , savour it. For all those out of love, uh .. well..give it a miss, will ya...
Time to wrap up for the day. Inter's a-starting tomorrow and cant possibly be late for it !!
Tschau :-)

Gen

A reamrkable change of fortunes today. Finally got the permission letter from my HOD to do my internship. Had a nice time in college, generally talking and having fun. Only regret being not able to go to the gym.
Anyway intern to start from tomorrow and hopefully will keep myself busy. Grades are out and they have been a huge disappointment, as always. Some things hjust never change. The wind blows only in one direction. Hmmm....

A bad day - again !! God, will it ever end ?

Another day at the gym. Getting acquainted with old timers and some new ones. Still to get aquainted with the one I'm waiting to get aquainted with. Pity... A wait of another week, if i'm lucky. Anyway hols times, why wade in sorrow. Lots of other ppl to get aquainted with. Ah.. an overdose of the word 'aquainted'.

Comin to the IPL, well DC lose today against the kings. I so desperately wanted them to win. Not my day , again !! To add fuel to fire, i'm not exactly in the pink of my health. And its hols time too !! godammit !! Nothing going my way.. One frustrated blogger u have here.. Anyway, dudes, dudettes(?)... hey it's always a doubt we guys have in mind... When a gang of guys meet we call outHey dude !! etc.. so we were wondering what do girls call each other when they meet up.. The best suggestion so far has been Hey babe !! any of u with knowledge on this subject shed some light and leave a comment pls !! :-)

Okay gotta go now.....

All in a day

Oh Praveen ... Praveen old chap, where the f*** are you !!??!!
Wondering with your tiny little brain why I'm shouting out his name ? I'll tell you. He has the pics of me and jeffrey archer and we are not in different photos. Lost are you. Well let me just rewind it a bit for you.

Year 1990. A genius is born with the sole intention to..... Okay, wait not that far back. May 11 2009, 6PM. There I am standing in front of landmark, after the mad rush through the evening traffic on mount road, on my trusted steed, a kine.... Wait, need I embarass myself like this. Anyway so there I was in front of landmark, clutching a copy of a prisoner of birth. Landmark, chennai was the start off point of Jeffrey Archer's India tour, you see.

So inside i went, after a small tussle with the doorman about the book i was taking inside. Like a good friend i waited for one of my friends to turn up, he who said be there at 6 !! It took all my will power not to settle down on one of the seats, what with the fairer sex, mind you it was the higher echleon of the fairer sex, plopping down on seats right left and centre. There is only so much will power a person a muster and my limit was reached. With a determined mind I sat down on a seat next to a random girl ( most of the other 'good' seats were taken) and before i could even think of what to say, there comes this guy , out of the blue, and they enter into an animated conversation. I look around quickly, searching for another 'good' seat , to salvage my pride but it just was'nt my day ! They say, every dog has its day - but godammit i'm neither a dog nor is one day enuff for me !!

I've read a couple of JA's books - not a bad writer actually - simple, elegant, neat storyteller. Still the only reason i was there was my friend ( who showed up so late all he got to do was keep his body tight and rigid, shove ppl awat from himself to prevent getting crushed, sweat like crazy, and catch maybe phrases of JA's excellent monologue. JA can talk !! You got to attend one of his book signing's to actually experience and get immersed in his charisma. It was impressive enough that i stayed back for a couple of hours to get my book signed and for a photo session. The wait was worth it. There was also other pleasing visual sensations to keep me occupied :P It got me wondering ... what were these visual sensations doing here? were they really into JA or was it just a ruse to fool the outside world ? hmmm... taht, i'm afraid is an open question (u can always leave your comments) Anyway they were there and thats all that mattered:-) I was happy i lived up to the saying (might be mine) god made beauty so man can enjoy it.

After having a pic of me and JA taken I got involved in an argument with one of my literature friends about the difference between a novel and a fiction. How i regret that. I could not get a good shot at the damsel in red cause of it !! BAD DAY..!!

Anyway lemme continue with my hunt for Praveen... Praveen, my boy, where art thou ?

Uhhhhhhh.....

The beginning of the holidays !! Are always a pleasant time. Relieved from the shackles of a killer semester, going to sleep as late as you can with no bother of getting up early to rush to classes(where you're knocked off to sleep anyway ), being back at home, done with the mad rush of the last few days of your sem that were spent with your noses ground to innumerable books ( that suddenly made sense, when u find u have no time to read them !!). Oh boy now that I look back on those days I wonder how I survived them.
But you know time has a weird effect on all things in life. You look forward to something with great expectation and then when you do get it, well, its not that big a deal as what you made it out to be. This is the way with holidays. You expect it eagerly - it takes a long time to arrive and then you find out halfway(if u're lucky), maybe sem was more fun than this !! But THAT ladies and gentlemen, is a CRIME. YOU cannot let it happen. Hols are not meant for getting tired of !!
Never happens with me. And the secret is.. Do not look forward too much for the hols to begin. Let them take their own pace in arriving. Chalk out a strategy to tackle the vast emptiness of the hols ( specially so if it lasts more than 2 months, he he)
Stop...stop ... STOP it I say...
There i go, digressing again. Let me get back to the topic at hand. Oh wait, THERE is no topic. This is just a random thought process blog !! But wait.. There's more. Yours truly has more in store for you over the next 3 months. Glorious summer hols ( ah, imagine beaches, bikini's ... oh the life ) are here and my creative hat is on, the pen is poised and the ink is ready to flow (make what you want outta that sentence..the dirtier you think the better... lol ) . So expect the unexpected, sometimes I surprise myself :-)

Robocon is ours :-)

Hey all !!
IIT-M won Robocon 2009 and we'll be representing India for the international finals in Tokyo on august ! An awesome performance by us. The hard work of a group of 20 people pays off rich dividends. Am proud to be a part of it.

I have not even an inkling of an idea for the title..

Here I am, back on again, after another long break, yet again :-)

Things are getting pretty exciting in this corner of the woods in Chennai. Elections are a few days off and campaigning's are on full spree. Hey, I'm involved too. Standing for the post of Garden Secretary of my hostel.

Have you people checked out this website called Indiakhelo? Pretty awesome it is. Promises to revolutionise sports culture in India. Personally I feel it has a very good chance of doing so. Being hard-pressed for time and also the lazy guy I am I won't go into the details of exactly how Indiakhelo works. But you can check it out at www.indiakhelo.com

Just done with another wonderful birthday. Now in a financial crisis and expected to give a whopping treat to my friends here in college and the ones from my school too ! Well, there's mechanica this weekend to win some decent cash prize. Let's see how it goes....

Life goes on, mates ..... I just realised. Forgive, forget, get a move on.... Its short and it does not wait for you..... And they call it YOUR life !!

bah......

Its been a long time. A new year has come. I've gotten more busy than i can handle.
But still how can i remain away from what i like to do best. Thats why i'm back on now, in the middle of my quizzes to put up this post. Be back soon, once the quizzes are over.
Cheers all !!