Tagged

Tagged by Knight Rider.I never knew that thinking of these seven things would be this difficult.So here it is:

Seven things I want to do in my life:

1) Fulfill all my responsibilites towards my family.
2) Earn loads of money,retire early.
3) Go trekking in the most remote regions of the world.
4) Go bungee jumping (in New Zealand),parasailing (in Barbados),scuba diving (Great barrier reef),skydiving (anywhere).
5) Own a house at a quiet little hill station in India. I mean really quiet, like say Naggar or Sankri.....heard of these places? No? Good!
6) Write a post on this blog which makes a century of comments.
7) This one's a secret!


Seven things I can do:

1) Everything in the above list except including point 6. I have some dedicated (read jobless) friends who can make that happen in no time at all.
2) Read books like a mad man,not only hard copies,even on the computer screen.
3) Chat for hours at a stretch.
4) Listen to the same song in an infinite loop.
5) Stare endlessly at the night sky.
6) Give advice (Good or bad, I dont know. Ask those who took my advice).
7) Walk long distances without feeling tired.

Seven things I cannot do:

1) Avoid the 'Yuck!' feeling when I see a lizard.
2) Stay awake in classes.
3) Avoid feeling frustrated if I start something and leave it half way through.
4) Smoke.I tried,didn't like it.
5) Go for one day without using my special vocabulary.
6) Shave properly without cutting myself in spite of using a safety razor.
7) Go for one day without listening to Audioslave's 'Be Yourself'.

Seven celebrity crushes:

1) Elisha Cuthbert
2) Riya Sen
3) Scarlett Johansson
4) Laetitia Casta
5) Maria Sharapova
6) Monica Belucci
7) Alicia Silverstone

Seven things that attract me to the opposite sex:

1) Intelligence
2) Frankness
3) Patience
4) Evergreen smile
5) Dimples
6) Sweet voice
7) Sense of humour (Should find my jokes funny.That's a tough ask!)

Seven things I say the most:

1) The 'f' word (phrases?)
2) The 'g' word(s)
3) The 'c' word
4) Abe Yaar!
5) Ok
6) Fodu!
7) Hehe (Ok, I dont say it. I type it,but what the heck?)

Seven people I tag (Damn!Badri hasn't left anyone untagged).I hope our combined pressure tactics makes the last 4 on the following list post on The Band:

1) Neon
2) Abhinav
3) Turbo
4) Sir
5) Ganand
6) Smiley
7) Troll

I Love Winter

I can't exactly enumerate the reasons why I like winter more than any other season.I don't say that I don't like summer or the rainy season.In fact, I love rains and getting drenched and I also love summer because summer means vacation. But there is something special about winter.

Maybe I love winter simply because I was born in December. Or maybe its because most of my favourite dishes are winter specific or maybe it is just because I enjoy my warm blanket and bed more or maybe because I like the world covered by a layer of fog. Or is it because the cold brings back the memories of all the treks ?

I remember the first few years in school when I had to get up at 5:30 in the morning to reach the bus stop within an hour. It used to be especially difficult in winter. But all that was made easy by the cup of piping hot tea. During the last two years in school, winter was when I could wear the school council's special jacket.

I especially remember the winter in Kota.Kota was really cold,I recall that it went down till 2 deg celsius one night.But it was great coming back from classes with the sun still not out at 11:30 in the morning to the poha and jalebi stalls. Those samosas tasted much better in winter.

I was very disappointed when Hyderabad had a very mild winter last year, but this time it has been better and it has brought all the memories flooding back.

The Night Sky

The night sky is an absolute delight.Looking up at the stars,the moon,the clouds spreading out like waves,I feel as if they are all alive.The stars seem to be talking to each other,or are all of them quietly admiring the beauty of the moon?

The moon peeps through the clouds,spreads its tranquil light.I can go on staring at it.The pale yellowish glow,the soft moonlight feels like a soothing hand on my shoulder.

But the beauty is not just because of the moon.The night sky would be incomplete without the stars.

Is that a stream flowing through the heavens? A sparkling stream.The millions of stars up there,are like the innumerable droplets of water that make up the stream.They are the life of the stream.They give it a direction,a purpose.But what is the destination of this starry stream? Where does it originate? What is its purpose? Is it trying to help us forget our worries,carrying us along in its flow, drowning us completely in its beauty?

I don't know.But then,do the answers matter at all?

Long time...

Ha! So here I am writing a post after a very long time. Lots of things have happened, here is a list of the most prominent events:

1)Screwed up the exams real bad
2)Finally got the LAN card changed
3)Booked tickets to go home and then cancelled the plan
4)Got myself a Bloglines account, now I spend only a limited amount of time reading blogs
5)Got the movie portal working
6)Wrote down a pretty exhaustive list of the movies we have seen and made some significant additions to it in the past week.
7)Finally the database of chess games in xml format is ready.Now some proper work on the project can be started
8)Got a wordpress invitation. We'll probably shift The Band of Bloggers to wordpress, this blog won't be moved. I'm too lazy to do it.
9)Had my first fag.It wasn't a pleasant experience at all.I can't understand why people get addicted to it? I'm done with it.
10)Read almost all the archives on Sidin's blog.If you are wasting time,reading my blog,then stop it.Read his blog.
11)Did something which I had never thought I could do.I have been in a pretty good mood ever since.Obviously I'm not writing exactly what I did.

Another crappy post.I should write a proper post which is not a list.

SNAFU

I wrote a post by the same title yesterday also,but some error occured while publishing and I lost it.So,let me start all over again.

The title is inspired by Siddharth's post.Actually, last night,I was feeling a lot better thinking that I have pulled myself out of the SNAFU condition.But today I am feeling worse than before.

Well,where do I start from?Let it be OS first.This important subject is now completely screwed up,with only a very faint chance of getting anything above a C. Mid sems were a disaster, and as if that was not enough,I chucked the assignment evaluation for a useless movie,'Se7en' and I have been begging the tutor for the past 2 days to evaluate it, with no avail.To top it off,some dumbass sent a 'threatening' mail to the tutors.Now even they are not ready to help us and the prof has revised the grading criteria,making it absolutely impossible for me to get a decent grade.Then there is the labtest and the next assignment due day after.

Then there are loads of other assignments,Signals,Maths,ITWS and the project.That reminds me that I have to meet the prof tomorrow to show the progress of the project. Needeless to say,the progress has been infinitesimal.

I'll wrap up this post with the only positive development of the week gone by.The movie club portal is up and working.I had to break my head over the php code for the whole of yesterday to get it right.But now it is working fine.Haven't had any error reports till now.

That is all for now.If you are still reading this,then please pray for me.

All play and no work !

Last 4-5 days I have been doing little except playing NFS Underground 2.I have become a complete addict.

I could have done so many things,I could have read "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich",I could have watched the movies I had on my computer and downloaded few more.I could have done my assignments,I could have worked on the project,I could have had the movie club portal working by today,.....

But all I have done is play NFS till 3 o'clock every night(except lsat night).This post is just to vent my frustration.I haven't been able to get the movie portal up for voting for almost a month now.I better get working.

The ITWS project is also going nowhere.Had Dhruvan not completed the Java applet,we would have had nothing to show for this deadline.I struggled with the PGN to XML conversion for 3 days before getting it to work.

Lets hope this weekend I finish some major work on all the fronts.

If you are still reading this,thanks for standing this crap post.

First Blog from 172.17.9.85

I just discovered that my new pc's new ip address is 172.17.9.85.Actually yesterday I had a pretty cool ip address:172.17.8.8.But it proved to be absolutely useless as I was getting miserable LAN speeds(<30 kb/sec).So I tried and tried and poor Anand (who did not go home,because he had to help me get my pc from Park Lane to IIIT and then get it working) tried and ultimately I went to bed with some 40 items on the download queue in DC++.

Today morning I woke up and found 10 items still there.I thought,"What the hell? 6 hours and this shit (I just noticed that these two words are anagrams) cannot download a few MBs?"
Then finally today evening I put Anand's old LAN card and it worked perfectly fine.Download rates are now of the order of 10^2kb/sec.That is when i got the ip address 172.17.9.85.

I missing home today.Many guys have gone home.I have stayed back.I don't know why.I was actually planning to get my PC in these holidays and then do some work with the project.Let's see how much I actually do.

Dusshera used to be fun at home.I would help my grandmom make garlands to be put on the doors,I would watch my mom make shrikhand,watch my father do the puja of all our vehicles,books etc.Then I would enjoy a wonderful meal,make a Ravan effigy with my friends in the afternoon,invite everyone for the Ravan Dahan,watch the fireworks and feel proud of the effigy we had made.

Now I can't even go home.All these festivals were much more fun when I was young.Now I don't know what to do.I'm too old for all the fireworks,or am I?But,that is where all the fun of these festivals lies.

I think I just don't want to grow up.I want to stay a kid forever.

Exams and Slogging

It has been a very long time since the last post.Even the last post was a copy-paste matter.

Second mid sem exams started today and the ordeal will be over by day after.Right now I feel quite satisfied.I realise that when time comes, I can slog too.I spent more then 6 hours in the library yesterday,without dozing off.Slogging isn't that bad if you have to do it for just a day or two.I dont know how regular sloggers maintain their mental balance.

Over the years, I have completely lost faith in the examination system.I think nothing can test anyone's knowledge at a particular subject.Getting marks and being actually good seem to be two completely different things.The world would be so much better without exams.

But a stereotype like me should not be talking about exams and their futility.After all,I have not done anything too revolutionary. I have accepted the system,though faulty.I have been tackling exams all my life.The very reason for my being here in IIIT is that I had a better day than someone else on the entrance exam day.

I am Morpheus!!

Morpheus


?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??
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If Mathematics is a language.....then I'm bloody illiterate

"Maths is a language,the subject is not just about knowing the equations,what we should really strive for is the deeper understanding".Understanding?My a**.I can't even make sense of the signs that are scattered all over the blackboard.

In the past one year,I have grown pretty much used to not paying attention in the class and consequently not knowing a damn about my subjects.But it was probably for the first time that I found myself in a situation where I felt that the teacher is teaching well,that I am paying attention,and in spite of all this I could not make head and tail of the f***ing subject called Signals and Systems.At the end of the class all I could do was to laugh at myself and my pathetic condition with regards to this subject.

But the only heartening fact was that quite a few of the people sitting around me were carrying similar expressions on their face.Maybe I should start slogging.It is not for the first time that I have felt the need.But I guess I should follow this advice:

Whenever you feel like working ,
Wait and relax .. until that feeling goes away .

Yes,attendance is very hard!!

This post comes after reading this by Arjun.Consider this situation:

1o'clock at night,OBH is alive,I am in a great mood to do BC(I always am),but I restrain myself.I go around on the 3rd floor,begging for an alarm clock(mine has run out of battery).I finally manage to get one from Bajpai.I finally go to sleep at half past one.

6o'clock...alarm goes off...I start the day with "b****od,kya yaar,band karo saala ise".Then i realise,that I still have just one PT credit and that I have to meet Pradeep today.Then I start persuading myself to get up.After about 20 minutes of grest struggle with myself,I set my foot on the floor.It is cold.I drag myself to the bathroom,wash my face and come back.I change and and wake up Turbo,he gets up,opens the door and guess what..he too starts his day with "b*****od,kya yaar?" I walk unwillingly to the ground thinking of the happy days of the second sem when I would be walking in the same way,because it used be 5o'clock in the evening.I was pretty sure then that I would finish my PT credits easily.

But then a cruel twist of fate,the a****le PT guy marked my f****ing ATTENDANCE wrong and I missed the credit.so here I am,facing the PT monster yet again.

Put yourself in my position and you'll find that attendance IS damn hard.

A Blog about Blogging

So,I'm back at this blog after a long time.I did post something on my group blog a few days back.Here's the link if you are interested in that blog too:

http://thebandofbloggers.blogspot.com

Well,I had some pretty enlightening comments from some readers of this blog about how damn boring the posts are.I think that is because I was actually thinking about the topics and what to write,before I actually posted it.Too much preparation going into a post.I realise that I need to make it more natural,more spontaneous.

So,here is a post about my blogging experience so far.

I got started with blogging last year,when the great Smiley,who is always the first one to get on with the latest internet trends and technologies,started a blog and invited me as a contributor.My first post on that blog was super crap.But I thought,I don't care if i write crap.It is a problem of the readers.

Then we changed the url to the present one(thebandofbloggers).Blogging changed from a new hobby,to a habit and then the interest subsided.But even when I wasn't posting,I was always reading blogs.Not those frustoo blogs of some desperate housewives,but some really good blogs.

But recently,actually not so recently,one of my close friends(who also happens to be one of the tolerant readers of this blog) asked me to start blogging again.That is what led to the new memory nuisance on the blogger server,with the url "thedonsblog".As you might have guessed,I am quite obsessed with the novel called "The Godfather".I tried to disguise myself as a deeply philosophical human being in the previous posts.But that is a job that I am finding progressively difficult,especially since my thinking is light years away from that of a philosopher.

I hope this post has been less boring than the previous ones.I think I'll end it here.

"The Brook"--My Favourite Poem

I come from haunts of coot and hern,
I make a sudden sally
And sparkle out among the fern,
To bicker down a valley.

By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorpes, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.

Till last by Philip's farm I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.

I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,
I babble on the pebbles.

With many a curve my banks I fret
By many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy foreland set
With willow-weed and mallow.

I chatter, chatter, as I flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.

I wind about, and in and out,
With here a blossom sailing,
And here and there a lusty trout,
And here and there a grayling,

And here and there a foamy flake
Upon me, as I travel
With many a silvery waterbreak
Above the golden gravel,

And draw them all along, and flow
To join the brimming river
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.

I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
I slide by hazel covers;
I move the sweet forget-me-nots
That grow for happy lovers.

I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
Among my skimming swallows;
I make the netted sunbeam dance
Against my sandy shallows.

I murmur under moon and stars
In brambly wildernesses;
I linger by my shingly bars;
I loiter round my cresses;

And out again I curve and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on for ever.

The World Through A Window

Discrete Maths is boring .But it isn't so boring if you are lucky enough to be sitting beside a window.A window that gives you a wonderful view of the greenery outside. The trees dancing in the cool wind.The grass,alive and fresh after recent rains.The red flowers on the Gulmohar tree and the yellow ones in the lawn below. The cloudy weather further adds to my desire to just leave the class and get out in the open for a long walk.The empty road invites me.But I have to restrain myself yet another time.

Yet another time because this is not the first time that such a desire has almost taken control of my self. Somehow, the world outside the window always seems so inviting,free of all cares.Even in school I had similar feelings,where the window gave a view of the playground and the temple in the school campus.

A window is especially a delight if it is raining outside. You can watch the world getting drenched, washing away the long-settled dust,water dripping from the leaves,animals running for shelter,kids running around,playing in the water. After the rain stops,everything appears bright, clean. Trees, birds, insects, animals, men, all seem to be absorbing freshness and new life from the atmosphere.

Another very special kind of window is that of a bus.Windows of trains have inspired many poets, but the window of a bus has been met with nonchalance. A journey along the curvy roads in the hills in a bus, with a window seat is a unique experience. When you look back,you can never trace the road which you took.It appears as if the mountains are gobbling up the roads behind as you move ahead. You can also see a foaming river,flowing several feet below, with all its force. The torquoise waters are fascinating as well as intimidating.

Whenever I think of a window,I am reminded of Ruskin Bond's vivid descriptions of the world seen through a window, in his novel,'The Room on the Roof', then I wonder that even our eyes are like a window. A window gifted by the Almighty to be able to enjoy the beauty of the world.

Hatred

Why do we hate people?This is the question that struck me when I realised yesterday that the number of people on my hate list has increased exponentially in the last one year.When I was younger there were hardly anyone who I hated.Is it because the people around me are actually bad enough to deserve my hatred? But they say that it is our own reflection that we see in others.So, is it that I've myself become such a devil that I see everyone else in the same light?

Hatred.Interesting feeling it is.Being desperately in love seems justified,but being but full of hatred for someone isn't quite alright.But one thing is for sure,hatred creates a lot energy,though it may be negative energy.If one can channel this energy,he can put it to great use.But,then I feel that this kind of energy won't be long lasting.After all, hatred isn't natural to man.Is it?Sooner or later,he'll realise the futility of his hatred.

So,love thy neighbour.Lets see if I can manage to follow this.

Hazaron Khwahishein Aisi

Hazaron khwahishein aisi,
ki har khwahish pe dum nikale.
Bahut nikale mere armaan
lekin...
fir bhi kum nikale.

Mohabbat mein nahi hai fark,
jeene aur marne ka
Usi ko dekh kar jeete hain,
jis kaafir pe dum nikale.

Hazaron khwahishein....

Khuda ke vaste,
parda nakabe utha zalim.
Kahin aisa na ho yon hi,
Wahi kaafir sanam nikale.

Hazaron khwahisein...

Kahan maikhane ka darwaza ghalib,
aur kahan waaiz.
Par itna jaante hain,
kal.. wo jaata tha,
ke hum nikale.

Hazaron khwahishein.....

What's there in a name?

Today I found a website about some book called 'Disposable Lives'.The author wrote about how she kept acquiring different names as she went through different stages of her life.The website also had a link where you could write how many names you have and your experience with those names.

All this made me wonder,is a name really important?Even I have many names,everybody has.I feel that there are many personalities hidden inside a person, different personalities take control of the person in different environments.The names that we acquire are actually names given to these personalities.We can never know all these persons inside us completely.Maybe that is why we can never find a reason for some of our own decisions.Maybe when the struggle between the persons within becomes too tough,it causes personality disorders.But then,I am no Freud,I'm just speculating.

Does the name affect our personality too?I have read articles by astrologers and tarot card specialists which were about the effect a name can have on the person.Astrologers even determine the auspiscious letters with which a person's name should begin for his good fortune.

But,does all this matter really?A name is after all a tag,nothing more than that,isn't it?The person is much more important.Everybody has to fight his own battle.Only character and grit can help one surge forward,names don't help.

I think it is enough for today.Do give it a thought and leave your comments....