What the heck...

After Evidence, I've taken a 24 hour break (a complete break) in celebration of the fact that I had 5 days (now 4) to my next paper. These 24 hours have included a Die Hard marathon...watching all 3 in the order: 1-3-2. This took place thanks to a swap with NY where I traded one of MY CD's for the Die Hard DVD (mine again), which she's had for months. Somehow I feel she got the better end of the deal.

 

The break is scheduled to come to an end in about 15 minutes, which is why I decided to blog as my final act...

 

News is that I am terribly disappointed in the final line-up. After the SF draw, I was really hoping for a NZ-SA and a new addition to the list of WC winners. Unfortunately, both have got so comprehensively thumped that it would have been a travesty to let them through. Despite AD's general weirdness and Lankan heritage(??), I'm with her on this one...

 

In other news, my withdrawal symptoms have finally died down after showing themselves off for 10 days. Phew...

 

Pretty incredible lyrics these - when you think about it...Dave Mustaine ki jai!

 

"This morning I made the call
The one that ends it all
Hanging up,i wanted to cry
But dammit,this wells gone dry

Not for the money,not for the fame
Not for the power,just no more games

But now Im safe in the eye of the tornado
I cant replace the lies,that let a 1000 days go
No more living trapped inside
In her way Ill surely die
In the eye of the tornado,blow me away "

 

-Tornado of Souls by Megadeth

34 down 2 to go!

One more eats the dust...will pass...

1 Down 3 to go

I figured I'd email a quick update....exam was ok - will pass. Just 3 more now...

One for the books

This is likely to be my last post until the 25th, if not the 5th. These exams have seen an unfortunate change - no book is being read on the side and so, I have to lull myself to sleep with mental revisions of situations involving Frenchmen getting married to Englishwomen in Italy under Polish rituals in the vain hope that when they remarry, the bigamy trial Court will be so confused with the validity requirements of the previous marriage that it will effectively say, 'Go do what the hell you like'!

Since we're on the issue of sleep - this photo is to ensure you don't. Part of my pre-exam boredom, really. It is also to give AD an indication as to where I stand to aid in her noble, yet what will undoubtedly be futile efforts to educate me about hair care and all that tripe...

The beginning of the end?

Is it just me, or has Gmail and a host of other Google sites become prohibitively slow, or at least significantly slower for those of you with fast connections? Is the 'free' and 'open internet' concept that Google has admirably advocated and successfully carried out these past 4-5 years finally reaching the inevitable bubble-burst stage?

Perhaps its time to begin looking at alternate avenues for a permanent email address and begin shifting. Or perhaps its time to switch to POP3 - at least that way I'm unlikely to feel the pinch as much.

In other news, characterisation in Conflict is just ridiculous. I am willing to make a phone call to anywhere in the world to speak to anyone who can explain it to me in 10 minutes. Such was the concentration to try and understand what on earth it is that I didn't notice the horrible irritation being caused by the longer than usual stubble on my face until a few minutes ago. This resulted for the 2nd first-time activity in as many days - shaving at 1 am.

When on the topic of natural keratin products - the hair continues to grow. Unfortunately frontward growth is far exceeding backward growth, which results in my eyes often being given the cliched message that ignorance is bliss. Anyone with any tips as to how to ensure ponytail'ish growth rather than broom growth will be treated to a Rustom's ice-cream.

Time now to explore Conflict in lesser detail than I have over the course of the past 12-odd hours.

Where is all that simplicity gone?

After getting terribly frustrated with Conflict, I returned from the Library and got on to StickCricket after a long long time. And, thankfully (at least from the exam POV) I didn't like what I saw. Loading is slower. Left-handers have been introduced. There is no way to just chase a score anymore - just keep batting with no ostensible total before you. A Super 8 format seems to have crept in as well - I didn't dare venture there.

What was a lovely, simple, good timepass thing to do on the net has been reduced, or rather elevated, to a complex, yet equally-unrealistic version of book-cricket. What a shame...

Hmm...

This caught my eye as I browsed the TOI ePaper this morning... completely bizarre. God save us all, if this is how hard-earned money is going to be spent.

Happy Birthday to NJ!

Power of...well, power

Thanks to an absolutely infuriating and terribly annoying sequence of events over the course of approximately 3 hours this evening, I did what I've never done before - study by candlelight.

After the first outtage(is it with a double 't' or single? Just seems wrong with one), we decided to play some cricket in the corridors. Fear of the annoying watchman (a confirmed squealer) on duty tonight meant we wrapped that up after a couple of games.

What made the outage (does it seem right now? No!) worse was that there were only select parts of the hostel that had lost power. The 5th floor was ok as was the 3rd and the one light in the corridor on the 4th that we used to play cricket by.

Once the fuse (or whatever was wrong) was fixed, all seemed well and the studying began, before the power went again in a matter of less than 30 minutes. This time I had to keep studying Copyright and so produced the candle that PS kindly donated to me at the time of the last exams for exactly such an eventuality...god bless.

Have now decided to pick up a candle tomorrow to prepare not for fuse burnouts, but actual outtages (both seem wrong) which Bombay is currently under a serious threat from. TPC says that there is no need to resort to it at the moment, but will be on an as-and-when-it-comes-to-it basis.

One of favourite new Maiden songs now - its really a lovely song. This one is from Matter of Life and Death...called 'Different World'

"Tell me what you can hear
And then tell me what you see
Everybody has a different way to view the world
I would like you to know when you see the simple things
To appreciate this life it's not too late to learn

Don't wanna be here
Somewhere I'd rather be
But when I get there
I'm afraid it's not for me"

Birthday's Galore

Happy Birthday to Anna!! I predict that he will have no further mid-life crises, simply because he is now too old to fit within the 'mid-life' category...

Tomorrow is NJ's birthday as well - so happy birthday to him in advance, in case I don't blog tomm.

By way of clarifications:
V1 disagrees that the girl referred to in my previous post is his better half
Muscle Girl doesn't like her nickname and can, in fact, click the odd good photo

If Three is a Crowd, what does this look like?

Chasing down Muscle Girl and Footnote Unaware for photos taken during the College farewell, has finally borne some fruit...all from the former though.

Here it is finally - two shots of KSR, AK and myself. The weird one is us gettting incredibly frustrated with Muscle Girl's photo-clicking skills (or the lack of them)...

Promised Photos....hopefully will upload

Right - have chosen 'small' size in the hope that it gets done this time...


The '300' poster, courtesy the 'Rex' in Bangalore...

The Maiden curtain...

My room...as it stands today!

The Spoils of Travels and the Accompanying Mess

Once again - too lazy/concerned about exams to blog rationally. So it's another photo feast! My room in its current avatar along with two prized possessions ripped off public displays.

My 'curtain' was ripped off a lampost, after a failed attempt at one where I only got the bottom half of it, the second one came right off. This was at around 10:30 pm on the Sunday after the Maiden gig. V1 and I asked the auto chap to wait as he watched (rather bewildered) as we attacked the lamposts with some gusto.

The '300' poster was done in a less crude fashion. After we watched the movie (worth a watch, but only for the effects really and therefore, only on the big screen), we calmly walked up to the glass cabinet which had three posters (A3 size) and a really large one (can't remember what size that is) V1 nonchalantly took all three of the smaller ones. One for me, one for him and one for who we all allege his better half his (incidentally the individual who put him up to the task of flicking the posters)

Blogger doesn't want me to put up any photos at the moment, so you will have to live with the empty description for now...

Oh for a fan....

I'm most irritated with my fan, that doesn't allow me to either study or sleep. Initially it only ever worked on speeds '4' and '5' - a bit of a problem on occasion in Dec and Jan nights, particularly when I had a cold.

Now its worse...it only works on '5' and even then, noiselessly only if it revolves above a certain speed. Otherwise it makes this awful grinding sound which can be heard as far as the half way mark on the floor, if my door is open. Can't switch it off either, because its just too hot in Bombay.

So I can think of no better way while waiting for the voltage to rise again (it usually drops around 1 am - a little earlier today) than blogging and basically bitching about the damn thing. Usually the voltage drop lasts about 5 minutes and if, god forbid, I should be sleeping, it's a pretty good alarm. Today its been going on for the past 30 minutes...argghhhhhh.......die die die fan.

"I wanted to be friends with her too
So my relationship could be the same as yours
I hated everyone just like you
Hating you should be introduced as a new law

Take the time to learn to hate
Come and join the mass debate
Take the time, take the time
It's all uphill you've gotta climb"

Learn to Hate by Silverchair

PS - the voltage seems to have picked up now...bitching does work!!

If only I was famous

A little over two years ago, at the conclusion of the DMH final, as we stepped down from the dais, the Governor of Mah asked me, 'No National Anthem?'. Lost for an answer, I replied, 'No, Your Excellency, we felt it might be inappropriate with the overseas teams here.'

The truth is we never actually play the national anthem at DMH or any of our functions - not out of policy, but more out of the fact that we just dont do it. In fact, if I recall correctly (and I'm probably wrong), it didn't even feature in the little protocol booklet we were given once the Gov said 'yes' to coming.

Fast forward to the present and we have N. Murthy publicly castigated for his comments(rightly so) that it would be embarrassing for foreign students if the anthem was played with the words. Instead only the tune was played. It gets worse - he now has an FIR filed against him under the Insults to National Honour Act. See here. Pretty absurd - all this - to say the least... Sagarika Ghosh's column in the HT today was below-the-belt stuff to be honest and I wouldn't be surprised if a hand or two appeared behind it.

If only I had been famous - that FIR would have been in my name and I would be trashed by her for not being a worthy enough Prez candidate...

Much mental activity

Too much Evidence floating around to blog rationally. So here's another photo. This was at the Davis Cup tie between Pakistan and India at the Brabourne last April - 8 hours of SB and me screaming our guts out - 10 days before my exams! A Davis Cup tie is something else - if you ever get a chance, go...

The reason the photo's up is that the situation was pretty much the same as this year's tie against Kazakhstan - Leander stepping in to play the deciding reverse singles, and winning.

Happy birthday (as of yesterday) to NB!

Who's that Maiden?

Can't think of anything to blog about today, or more importantly, don't want to spend time worrying about it. So here's a photo instead. AK and me at a sign welcoming Maiden. DM very kindly took the photo after all of us had our own versions of a sleepless night.

Why should I let the moojhic play?

I've spent the last hour or so working on a nice riff. That led to me asking myself this question for the second time in the past 4 days: "Why do we listen to music at all? What is it about music?"

To be honest, I don't know the answer, nor do I have the mental capacity at the moment to argue this out - too much of Trade Marks law swirling in my head. Answers are welcome...

"Circle of fire my baptism of joy at an end it seems
The seventh lamb slain, the book of life opens before me

But I will pray for you
And some day I may return.
Don't you cry for me
Beyond is where I learn"

The Evil that Men do by Iron Maiden

High on a Hill with a missing Goatee

The goatee is gone, hoping to return sometime in the near future. In a fit of rage induced by facialkeratinphobia, (rights reserved over that word), I decided that it was irritating me way too much not to shave it off or trim it. The former obviously proved far more economical in terms of effort....and time.

The current furore over cricketers' endorsements has got me into a slightly vocal mood and leads to another exception to my 'no cricket discussions' rule. I appreciate the BCCI's populist-induced stand that cricketers spend way too much time worrying about their endorsements rather than cricket. See here.

I'm really in favour of the opposing argument i.e. you have to examine the two separately. If our cricketer's aren't playing well and are unable to win matches for India, then their punishment is to have their contract with the BCCI withdrawn and be dropped from the team. It's fairly simple market economics which dictates that an unsuccessful cricketer will hardly be a prime target for the Cola giants.

It's no secret that the anti-endorsement view is targeted at a handful of top players with a large number of endorsement deals in their pocket. An aspect that most people, and it seems the BCCI as well (unless they're just being too Headmaster'ish in their approach), don't realise is that the contracts that these top players have with their sponsors usually have an option given to sponsors for termination if the player cannot command a place in the playing XI or XII.

I approve of the bit where players can no longer do ads in the 15 days before a series or during one, but the 'only 3 sponsors' bit is a bit draconian. Don't get me wrong on this, though - I firmly believe our cricketers make way too much and underperform too often. It's just that this can't be the way to get them to perform - but if it does work, I'll only be too happy to accept that I was wrong!

Talent Needed - Any Will Do!

As I popped down to the communal TV after realising that Kevin Pieterson is leading England to what could well have been a good score, I am annoyed with the Sydenham fellow with the remote who keeps reverting to the Zee Cine Awards or one of those nonsense things.

One particularly annoying bit was when Ian Bell just got out and then Paul Collingwood soon after - setting what was surely an interesting passage of plays as Flintoff and Pieterson came together. Shaun Tait was bowling quick and accurately and McGrath had Gilchrist standing up. But of course, what we all ended up enduring was a series of half-naked 'item girls' (term used out of sheer inability to think of any more suitable term) dancing to some sort of medley.

First problem - I couldn't recognise even one of those women until someone most helpfully pointed out that if stopped chatting with the only other GLC'ite (equally-uninterested fellow) around, I may actually be able to read the names as they pop up on the screen rather than having to resort to the "Abey yaar, ek aur aa gayi? Ab iska naam kya hai?" route to elicit information. I took his advice and decided I would momentarily interrupt my item-girl bashing session to read the names of the frugally dressed women on the TV screen.

Second Problem - Even after reading the names, I found I had never seen or heard the names previously. However, I was quite sure I had seen a couple of their belly-buttons previously - but then they're all so alike, one can hardly tell!

Third Problem - The 'dancing' - if at all what they were doing can be called that - was atrocious. I can pretty confidently wager a Rustom's Ice-Cream that I can do that chest wiggle move better than the lot of them, even if I do lack the basic anatomical apparatus or the ability to wear what I can only describe as follows: 'Gaudy innerwear - probably flaunted by mistake or lack of monetary power of the sponsors to ensure adequate clothes for all the performers'

To be honest, I always disbelieved the fact that these crap 'item-songs' actually ended up selling movies and brought people to come and watch a giant set of half-covered breasts. But then I took a look around myself today and saw at least 50% of the 20 odd chaps in front of the TV intently watching and even complaining when the channel was switched back to the match. The film makers have obviously done their homework...or at some stage lived in a hostel with 300 other 17-22 year olds.

"Need a change
Not to imitate but to irritate all the ones who hate
I may be late, always seem to get the wrong date
But I guess it's fate"

Cemetery by Silverchair

Expression and Thought Lacunae

I have spent much (relatively speaking) time pondering about why I have not been regular with my blogging and why I simply can't think of things to write about. This is the answer I arrived at... The short walk from the railway station to home was the hotbed of inspired thought and general grey-cell activity. Now that I have been completely deprived of those 5.5 to 6 minutes, I realise I have far less brain activity on the Utopian front.

In an attempt to remedy this I have decided to undertake short walks on M.Drive even if my ankle is paining, as it is today. Although this is ostensibly a method of ensuring I don't fall off to sleep after dinner, I hope it will culminate in something of greater significance...

"He's the one who likes all the pretty songs,
And he likes to sing along,
And he likes to shoot his gun,
But he knows not what it means..."

In Bloom by Nirvana

Ah the end...

For some reason, I simply haven't been able to get much studying done over the past day and a half or so, which is not particularly good news considering my tight schedule. In any case, I figured the ONE productive thing I could do would be to blog.

But having figured that bit out, I really don't know what to blog about. So I'm backto square one.

The one thing I'm going to tell everyone (though not display through pics, even though I have a camera with me - use your imagination) is a slight change in physical appearance.

I now have long hair, proudly uncut since December (or was it November) and a goatee. Most would remark that this is my post-DMH exam time tradition being carried forward one last time, but this time the hair is significantly longer than I can ever remember it having been. When absolutely unruly, it comes down over my eyes and impairs vision - wonderful! The only negative has been the soaring temperatures in Bombay and this 13X8 mini-oven that I call my room.

Oh, and the bit that really tops it off is that I've put on 15 kilos over the past 1.5 months.

And I swear all of this is true except the weight bit!