Japanese GP - what the *%&# happened to Suzuka?

Yesterday's race was, quite honestly, the most bizarre I've ever seen. I have never seen such immense stupidity exhibited by the FIA in it's desperate compulsion to get a race in. Cars were acquaplaning (go look that up if you don't know what it is), drivers couldn't see the red light of the car ahead of them and, to be perfectly honest, pushing the first 19 laps of the race (that's a lot) behind the Safety Car ought to have given them an idea of the mayhem out on the track?

In terms of results, Heikki drove a great race, especially the scrap with Kimi at the end. So too the last half lap of racing between Massa and Kubica for 6th. Since there was no 'dirty' OR 'dry' line - they actually managed to pull off a whole half lap of racing side by side and pushing each other off the track before Kubica succeeded in doing so on the last corner - only to see Massa race past him after exiting the grass!

Hamilton drove a great race, hardly any mistake that I can recall. Kubica fishtailed him in the middle of the race and he was lucky not to have been completely shunted there. Alonso reserved his only retirement of the season for the worst possible moment in the season. Hamilton just needs to cruise in the remaining two races to get himself the championship.

The moment of the race goes to Sebastien Vettel, who driving the Toro Rosso (the Red Bull 'B' team) decided to absolutely cream the back of Webber's Red Bull (the 'A' team) while the safety car was still out!! He's a talented 19-year old, but that's not going to help him very much, especially considering that Webber was driving for a podium finish and had vomited inside his helmet within a few laps of the start. That must have been a hard drive...

Law Making

Is this a far better way of getting the law you want? Well, yes and no. On the one hand, it would reflect precisely what the janta (not junta and therefore steering clear of recent controversy) may actually want. I think that the average citizen would actually be pretty non-frivolous and fair when it comes to submitting his own draft Police Code.

On the other hand, legislation drafting is a serious matter requiring some skill and perhaps best left to the bureaucrats. No doubt, India's staunch civil service would never allow it. All that we get to do is write critical papers reviewing proposed legislation and even those are barely publicised. (On the other hand, considering the quality of some of the legislation I've studied - see esp. Land Laws, Sem VIII - I dare say a bunch of drunks hooligans trying to get themselves a loophole in the law may actually be more subtle than the blatant doors that are left in many of the laws)

RIP Colin McRae

See his official website here , BBCs run down of his career here and the tributes here.

Pitter Patter

I have now been up for over 3 hours and the rain has been coming down in NYC for just as long. I would have been quite happy to see Bombay-esque rain (at least you get that wonderful smell from the earth), but this is very London-esque rain...quite depressing.

I was hoping to go down to Ground Zero for the memorial function this evening - if this keeps up, I think we may be in for a little more reading tonight...

Distractee's distractions

In what it is usually the only time I blog, I have tried very hard and unsuccessfully to get some serious reading done all morning. The inability to concentrate has led me to do the reading for Intl Law which is pretty much the easiest and arguably the most enjoyable class I have, primarily thanks to the presence of an Aussie at the helm...

There are a number of reasons that reading has been rather ineffective this morning:

• Following the triple Rugby mauling by NZ, Aus and Eng on BBC Sport (although one can argue that Eng's win was far from a mauling)
• Following the 2nd innings of the Lord's match on radio - it was wonderful to hear Henry Blofeld's voice again. Not quite the same reaction about India's performance though.
• Watching Monza qualifying online
  
• Lack of food in the stomach and excess of other things from last evening - details are best left undisclosed
• Lovely riff
• Trying to find a site where I can watch the WC.

Amex has sponsored a large screen in Madison Square Park where the tennis is being shown and I am now considering packing a few books and heading there for the 2nd Semi-Final. Somehow I have absolutely no inclination to catch the women's final this evening.

In other news - I bumped into IS at one of the numerous receptions I have been attending over the past 2 weeks in our eternal quest for free food and daru. IS turns out to be someone I knew from Delhi nearly 10 years ago. Having said that - it did take us a fair bit of PC to establish the link - god bless the Brits and all that they have taught me.

NYC continues to be bathed with wonderful weather, which is an absolute pity since I seem to be stuck indoors battling with reading backlog.

"We were always free to choose
Never free enough to find"

- Overcome by Live

Heartbreak

Of all things, something as stupid as not carrying KRs mobile no. and not waiting at my comp for an extra 2 mins have deprived me of the chance to watch the US Open...

My only consolation is this:


which is not much if you consider my last experience with him at a Slam - see here.

I think DM may have to wait for her postcard...

6 days - no coffee

I have now gone nearly 6 consecutive days without tea or coffee. Although I am suffering extreme withdrawal symptoms such as praising 'The Wonder Years' in my sleep with KR trying to carry on a coherent conversation with me until he realised I was sleep-talking.

In other stories of withdrawal - for some reason, I cannot log on to BBC News when I'm on the NYU wireless network. I think it some evil plot to deprive me of my commonwealth sports (more coffee withdrawal symptoms evident).

I hope for the sake of my sanity that I can at least access it from D'Ag...pls pls pls

I have located a place which serves cheap(ish) Guiness, but not necessarily showing the rugby. I have been referred to other pubs which may. I have also located Irish classmates. Updates will follow.

NYC - First Impressions

I might want to just stop typing at some stage, so I'm going to put some random observations down in bullet form:

• 2 days of Air India sponsored jet lag does not help the cause
• Someone to show you around does
• Went for the Mets v. Padres game courtesy KR's luck in a raffle. Baseball is actually quite fun to watch, although, probably more so because there's always something happening rather than the actual game itself. We had fairly expensive outfield'ish tickets, but thanks to us getting thrown out of what we thought were our seats, KR decided to try and sit up closer to home plate. That it was a cold and wet evening, meant a number of the regular box seats were empty. We ended up watching the last 2.5 innings about 30 feet from the batter. An exciting game (Mets coming from one run behind to win in the bottom of the 9th) seemed to try and press home the fact that baseball can be fun. But as I said in an email to one of my English friends - 'give me the Wankhede crowd anyday!' Am kicking myself for not carrying the camera.
  
• After the game, we decided to explore Flushing Meadows, which is across the road. Although all relevant areas (USTA Tennis Centre) were shut (it was nearly 11), we got to the 'globe'...it is HUGE!! All those shots on the sports channels must be either on fish-eye lenses or from 1.5 km away.
• There is a Dosa thela outside the NYU Law School building. I have consciously refrained from consuming his wares, lest I end up with cravings every evening when I shift into the next street.
• I am struggling to come to terms with the idea of ultra-fast internet access 24X7 (minus downloading though). I fear it will be even more difficult for me when I move in to my place.
• As my academic career progressed, the distance between my place of habitation to my place of study progressively decreased. It is now going to be frighteningly short. The entrance to my 'hostel' is about 30 feet away from the rear wall of the Law School building.
• A (the larger one) comes in today. It's been a while and I think we shall make all attempts to make inexpensive nuisances of ourselves
• I have quickly given up, admittedly with minimal efforts to the contrary,all efforts (at least until I move on Sunday) to retain my shakhahari status. The worst bit is that the food here is ghastly
• Am trying to get US Open tickets for cheap, although that seems an oxymoron in this city
  
• Air-conditioned subway trains make for far more pleasurable travel than the Motherland's nauseous equivalents
• I still haven't got the 'feeling' that I'm an 8 hour flight away from anything I can call home. 16 hours for the puritans...
• I fear I shall have to put on an American accent at times to allow many of the local yokels to understand the precious words that exit my mouth...

That's it...time to do some reading for tomorrow's exam. I very much fear that blogging activity over the next 9 months is going to either be excessive or nearly non-existent. I hope for the sake of my grades - the latter. I hope for the sake of my sanity - the former....

Traversing

17 August 2007

So I’m sitting in Heathrow’s Terminal 3 and waiting at Gate 32 to board (once again) the aircraft. In what was, from my perspective, a completely futile action, we were made to de-plane, go through Heathrow’s de-shoe, de-laptop, de-everything security check before being made to walk all the way around the terminal and wait for the aircraft to be ready. A surprisingly heavy backpack coupled with the awful seats on Air India (notice the new name sans hyphen!) has ensured that my lower back has been announcing its existence. Somehow the non-stop flights may have some utility, but then again - 16 hours can be very trying…

Am kicking myself for not carrying the smaller A’s number. It would have finally put to use the pound coin that is permanently in my wallet.

Thanks to the use of several individuals’ good offices carrying the acoustic girlfriend has not thrown up any problems…phew…

It still hasn’t sunk in that I’ve left. As I told Footnote Unaware, that’ll most probably happen when I take off from the Motherland, which if all goes well, should be a matter of 60 minutes.

I feel tired enough to sleep a little more on the flight now, so I’m not too worried about jet lag, especially since I was already on BST after staying up 2 nights in a row…

The landing into Heathrow was beautiful. It’s a great day out there (17 degrees, clear sky) and we flew right across London in what was pretty much as close to a chopper tour that one will get in a 747. The only regret is that I wont get a whiff of fresh air.

They’ve started boarding and the lines have begun forming. Time to start packing and reading Law 101 in-flight…that’s the bit I’m not looking forward to.

Epi: After recurring bouts of sleep, I think I've finally got over my jet lag over 36 hours after hitting NYC. Reading status: nil. Hitting Manhattan today...

The Day

Today feels like a different day...

"Starvation and the hunger, the suffering and the pain
The agonies of all-out war, when will it ever end?
The struggle for the power, a tyrant tries again
Just what the hell is going on? When will it ever end?

No hope, no life, just pain and fear
No food, no love, just greed is here "

Childhood's End by Iron Maiden

Of Sport

As with most weekends over the past month or so - this one was also meant to be a sporty one. Unfortunately, I missed two key events - the Wallabies-Springboks test and the Federer-Gasquet match. I am extremely upset about the former in particular, particularly considering the dismal levels of rugby available on TV. I did catch the Wallabies-All Blacks test last week and it was a great match. Unfortunately, the Wallabies won it thanks to a sin-binning. If they had to win it, I would have preferred to watch them do it against 15, than 14. Gregan and Larkham have played their last tests at home, which means I've also missed the last opportunity this season to listen to 100,000 people singing 'Waltzing Matilda'. I'm hoping I get to catch the return leg of the Bledisloe next Saturday - the Haka must suffice.

Venus has completed her demolition job of women's tennis. Henin might have made it a good match, but...

Federer-Nadal: You can't not admire Nadal. A born clay-courter getting through the draw twice on the cow's grass (Lendl said that, not me). Unfortunately, it also tells you a great deal about how slow the grass has become. The Rafter-Ivanesevic match, I think basically marked the end of serve-volleyers. We don't see 45 aces a match anymore, and it's far more entertaining to watch players slug it out in long rallies, (call me a stickler for tradition if you must) but then we may as well play Wimbledon on Rebound Ace. What's the point of putting green grass on Centre Court? Mario Ancic, Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi (plus Henman of course) are probably the only true serve-volleyers in the top 100. Its a real shame - it's such a beautiful game...

This is from Iron Maiden's latest offering, and while they played it in B'lore, it was a while before I read the lyrics in detail: this stanza is incredible...

"More pain and misery in the history of mankind
Sometime it seems more like
The blind leading the blind
It brings upon us more famine, death and war
You know religion has a lot to answer for"

For the Greater Good of God by Iron Maiden

They're almost here

After a week or so that I rather wish hadn't ever existed, the monsoons have begun rolling into Bombay. It's remarkable that after all these years, it's the little things that nature provides that fascinate me the most.

A few days ago, I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen - anywhere. There was this incredible lilac colour to the sky and the Malabar Hill to Bombay Central or so skyline in a perfect silhouette.

Today the sea decided to tell Bombay it shouldn't be ignored in our obsession with the clouds. It was pretty much the roughest I've ever seen it in a long while. As I rode back after a sumptuous lunch courtesy D Aunty, the tide appeared to have come in so quickly that people were stranded at Haji Ali. Even with all the wave breakers that have put in place, this was the first time I can recall some serious waves hitting the Haji Ali sea face walls.

It got even better on Worli sea face. Actually it was incredible - I'm sure there will be photos in tomorrow's papers. The waves were like the waves of old - not going as far as the other side, but rather going at least 30-40 feet straight up. There was a huge gathering as people came in for a Sunday afternoon picnic(?). Can't describe it...but wonderful to see...

"The dust has finally settled on the field of human clay
Just enough light has shown through
To tell the night from the day
We are incomplete and hollow
For our maker has gone away
Who is to blame?
We'll surely melt in the rain"

Say I by Creed

Lost - then found...and how

On my ride into town yesterday morning, I managed to somehow jump the phone out of my pocket on to the road. After realising it some way down, I head back as far as the start of the Mahim causeway - looking down at the road and asking every BMC sweeper on the way whether he/she had found a phone. No luck...

I then proceed to report late on my first day and do the customary lockdown of the sim. Calling didn't seem to help... I reckoned a car had probably gone over it.

At around 2:30, appa calls saying that somebody found the phone, somehow got in touch (some details still unclear) and had left it at a dry cleaners which is pretty much where I went back trying to retrace. (start of the causeway, if you're heading north). I rush back and retrieve the phone...but the good samaritan isn't there anymore...

I was right about one thing - a car did go over it, from the looks of things. No more dabba criticism now please - its working fine this morning.

A word of appreciation also for the call centres who I continually bash around.

That's the great part about this city - not so much the actual fact that one can get his phone back in this manner, but that it never stops throwing surprises at you.

I think I'm going to miss this place...

Water Ahoy

The rains have come...not the monsoons from the looks of things. Just a pre-monsoon thundershower - a long and pretty heavy pre-monsoon thundershower - resulting in some awkward flights from Del to Bom.

The 1st rain smell was unfortunately not all there in the present place of inhabitation...need to call SB and make sure we do the 1st rain walk one last time. Can't remember the last time we did it - must have been 2003, I think. It's one of my favourite memories that I'll take away from Wallace and Bom...

One last time...

Anger Vent

The absurdity continues... The omni-present, ever-ready to protest, infinitely wise and self-proclaimed sole representative of the Marathas - that Indian SS, continues to exhibit its abject insecurity. See here.

Perhaps at some stage, someone ought to explain to these half-wit bumpkins that when you pick a trade name - and it involves the name of a place - it needn't necessarily be the latest/correct name of the place.

And while we're at it - considering the fact that they exhibit little knowledge of company balance sheets - here's a link to explain what goodwill means and why I can't (and shouldn't) just randomly change the name of my establishment of Bombay _____ to Mumbai _______.

Me tube

In celebration of the fact that this post is my 100th, I have decided to follow illustrious footsteps and blog a YouTube video. The much improved connection speeds in Delhi have got me hooked to the latest internet phenomenon...

Unfortunately, I seem to be facing some recurring problem with linking my blog to YouTube and so, you shall just have to follow the link and watch...

I have also chosen a 'classic' bit of footage - but not exactly in the same sense as the one posted by the footstep maker...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=b8z5JON-fOc

I didn't know this - but the music in the 'Cat Concerto' Tom&Jerry is Listz's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2....enjoy!

The Grief Unveiled

Can you believe that a person can go from this and this:

to this:


in a matter of 90 minutes?

Arrrghhhh....
If you look closely at the 'after' picture - you can actually spot the tear in my eye...

"The north is to south what the clock is to time
There's east and there's west and there's everywhere life
I know I was born and I know that I'll die
The in between is mine
I am mine"

I am Mine by Pearl Jam

Of Grief

The locks are gone...

As I walked into the barber's, he takes a look at me, desperately hoping that I'm there for a shave and nervously asks, "Haircut?".

Me: Haan
Barber: Setting karna hai
Me: Nahin, chota chahiye

At this stage I can hear him cursing Fate under his breath, as also the other barbers at the place.

What ensues is unarguably the longest haircut I have ever had, both in terms of time and hair. It takes a little over 35 minutes. During the course of this 'process' ('event' seems too momentary a word to use), I learn a great deal about hair. For instance:

The position of your parting depends on how the hair is cut. It seems to explain why I was unable to get a middle parting going at the peak of my hair presence. It also seems to explain how NY managed that new hairstyle of hers sometime back. (my brag about me having more hair than her no longer stands...)

Even N, the friendly vaahan chaalak was most disappointed when I returned with my present ishstyle. He, alongwith one half of the grand-parents and the scores(?) of my ardent followers all endorsed how good the hair was looking.

And so I return to my grief...

The camera battery gave up as I was transferring the before and after pics and so the scores(?) of loyal readers of this blog will have to wait another day for them...

"If I cancel tomorrow the undead will thank me today
Fly in the space of your prophets I mock your morality plays.
The moon is red and bleeding, The sun is burned and black
The book of life is silent, No turning back.

Only the good die young
All the evil seems to live forever"

Only The Good Die Young by Iron Maiden

RIP shoulder length dreams...

This is one of those posts I would advise myself not to write - because it is evidence of great grief that surrounds the 350 odd cubic centimetres of space that I occupy.

This evening signals that last day that the flowing locks remain a part of my 'get-up'. Whilst the goatee is the product of a mere 2 weeks of sacrifice and care, the locks have been a 5-6 month project.

This must be what its like to spend months building a model of the White House only for the director of Independence Day to decide that it looks best when blown up and filmed with high-speed cameras. Apparently blowing the model from the inside is exactly what happens when a death ray from the aliens' spaceship comes down on it...

Before and after photos will assuredly be taken and posted...

RIP: May you find your reincarnation on the cold glistening scalp of a needy, rich, bald Indian...

"The killers breed or the demons seed,
The glamour, the fortune, the pain,
Go to war again, blood is freedoms stain,
But dont you pray for my soul anymore."

2 Minutes to Midnight by Iron Maiden

Rise and Talk, my Metallic Beauty

The English, particularly those who would ostensibly qualify to be in the higher echelons of their white-collars, love to pamper themselves and rest their over-worked grey cells for approximately 3-4 minutes every weekday.
Despite being, in the very least, of average intelligence, these select individuals (most disturbingly) seem unable or unwilling to read the floor number appearing on the display inside a lift. It seems to be some sort of annoying national obsession, although I suspect it may actually be to cater to guidelines for the visually challenged.
Today, for the first time, I was met by an Indian talking lift. I am now terribly frightened that India is going the UK way. I'm glad I have to bear neither for a while soon. Amongst various other trite information such as the floor, the weather, the news and what I suspect was a 60's jazz song, the lady (thankfully Indian) also gives you the exact time - to the second!
In other news I have watched Eragon, Spiderman 3, The Importance of Being Earnest, 8 episodes of Season 18 of the Simpsons and 1 episode of Two and a Half Men in the past 2.5 days. Of these - Eragon and the single episode were alright. The Simpsons is as good as ever and Oscar Wilde is, of course, wonderful regardless of whether you're sober or not (I was when I watched it).
Spiderman on the other hand is (and I'm putting it very mildly) absolute crap. May I be struck with a lightning bolt if I pay to watch the 4th installment.

Smoke near the Water

This evening, I was enjoying a walk on Marine Drive, happy in the knowledge that thanks to the breeze blowing, the only thing posing any sort of abnormal danger to my health was Pantera screaming out 'I'm Broken' into my already under-sensitive eardrums.

Somewhere in the middle of the third chorus, I get a waft of diesel smoke (as I have a hundred time before). I know what it is, but for some reason - it really bugs me today, which is why it features on this post.

It's a generator at the bus stop powering the lights in the hoarding above the bus stop. I suppose that when people pay good money to advertise on prime location bus stops like those on Marine Drive, they expect it to be of some use 24X7. But surely when we (a) already have a severe power situation and (b) really can't afford any more pollution; you would think the authorities might wake up and do something about it.

Pull a power line to the bus stop if we must have hoardings with lights or at least insist on solar power. But, all that's far too difficult to implement and so we continue giving walkers on Marine Drive what they really came to find - clean air.

In other news - I will get through No. 35 too. Just one more now...

"I wonder if we'll smile in our coffins while loved ones
Mourn the day, the absence of our faces, living, laughing,
Eyes awake. Is this too much for them to take?
Too young for ones conclusion, the lifestyle won.
Such values you taught your son. Thats how!
Look at me now. I'm broken.
Inherit my life. I'm broken"

I'm Broken by Pantera

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!

High, Higher, Gone

Right - so firstly, apologies to all for not mailing and all that. Have just been so lazy after quitting work. Have settled/settling into study mode - so you should be seeing a lot more blogging activity and mailing from me.

There's only one thing to write about at the moment - MAIDEN

So I get to B'lore on Saturday and discover that AK has these Lounge passes. So after braving the sun for a bit, we manage to get rid of our already bought passes and get in for free. The jing bang now comprises AK, SM, V1 and me. The Lounge is this special enclosure to the left of the performers - so its certainly not the best seats in the house to watch the show, but its relatively empty and you can see things as opposed to having to tiptoe to get a peek and above all else - there's grub and an open bar - details are best left unsaid.

So the MAIDEN show started off with a terrible band called FTN - winners of the Campus Rock Idol contest. Actually the band is per se pretty ok - but the vocalist is...well....a bit like me with a bad sound system.

Then came Parikrama - always very good as also today. Met the better part of the band - they got Lounge passes as well to watch MAIDEN. Last was this chick-band fronted by Lauren Harris. I have to be honest - we all thought that there was a mixture of guys and women on the band, but it turns out that its an all-female band. eeehhh...

The key being that Lauren Harris is Steve Harris' daughter - go figure....

Then comes MAIDEN. Palace Grounds are packed...there isn't place to wiggle - leave alone jump or get a mosh pit going. And MAIDEN was just incredible...no other word for it. Even V1, who's more a Floyd fan than a MAIDEN one was sold on them by the end of it. The trademark number and the one that I think all 20000 will remember was Fear of the Dark. Bruce stopped singing in the middle, cos there were at least 19500 people screaming out the song - Wow!!!

So the big high lasted about 3 days post the gig. Had a fun time in B'lore - nice place - vandalism is revered. Got myself a curtain by pulling down one of those cloth banners which were up to publicise the MAIDEN gig....

Thats about it for now...

Of Yawns

Attended a lecture today after - well, a long while. And I have to confess I enjoyed it - more so because the Prof was pretty good.

On the subject - its also worth mentioning that I'm taking a lecture sometime soon on one the Environmental Acts for the 3rd years and I'm rather looking forward to it.

Just felt like letting the world know about both these things - really don't have anything to write about and I'm not at my most eloquent at the moment.

Bad news in the world of HIV/AIDS today:

First, this-where a gel being developed to decrease the chance of infection for women unable to insist on condoms has turned out to be counter-productive with the rate of infection actually increasing with use of the gel.

Second, this - a shocker from the African continent where the Gambian President has claimed that a mixture of herbs can cure a patient of HIV/AIDS in 3 days. All I can say is I really hope he isn't bluffing...

I recall reading in the newspapers a while ago (August or so) that someone/some company in China had managed to discover a cure. But there were no follow-ups on that and even people working in the field of HIV/AIDS have had little information on it other than the half column write up.

India, of course, has a ban on drugs claiming to be HIV/AIDS cures and its a criminal offence to claim the same publicly. But what happens when its the President who's doing the claiming and the treating - a President who says after being elected that, "I will develop the areas that vote for me, but if you don't vote for me, don't expect anything"?

39 million infected and we're still only at a stage where we can say 'restrict spread'. I'm certain that this is the challenge of our age. There have been eras with war, freedom movements and conquest, but now its coming down to dealing with the consequences of going beyond the natural parameters set for us to exploit. Health is the priority....

TOI - 'breaching' new limits

I don't usually bash about the TOI or the papers akin to it, because its like picking on a little boy with no competence nor the will or ability to change. But every once in a while, they come up with something so absurd that it demands a look in... Front page news about the 4th ODI between India and the Windies, starts with the following sentence:

"On Wednesday, Tendulkar batted like Sachin again. With a sumptuous 76-ball century against the West Indies that was aesthetic, intelligent and sexy, the maestro was rocking once again and in the mood for the World Cup."

Sachin's been called a lot of things and his innings too have had all sorts of adjectives linked with them, but this is undoubtedly the first time I have missed watching a 'sumptuous innings which was sexy'.

As we often read in stories in the TOI these days - TOI was the first to break the story of a sexy innings on Thursday...

I was shocked when I read a Pradeep Vijaykar piece the day before and I spot the 'first to break' clause. Now this is a senior, experienced and serious sports journalist who is invariably worth a read no matter how small or insignificant the sport or the piece....ridiculous. Really is...

Here's my contribution for the TOI - a pioneer in its field with yet another boundary crossed.

And the Scoresheets

The Scoresheets indicate the following:

1. We lost both rounds - resoundingly...by 150 & 100 points respectively. We must have finished amongst the last 3 teams out of 20...
2. Our mem got a 111 out of 200. The 1st team we lost to (Say Team X) got 156. If I asked a 5 year old to take a stick and make designs in the sand on Marina, there's more likelihood of those designs getting a 156...
3. Team Y (the 2nd team we lost to) got a 110, and I think they got a raw deal too.

On Sunday morning, I was just low to be honest. Now I'm just pissed. Even objectively, I'd put my neck on the line and say we could have hit the QFs at the very least of Washington with our arguments. I have never felt as close to saying "Guys, we've cracked the problem" as with this one...

We looked at everything. How to read one treaty into another, how not to read them. How to trace custom, how to seize the court appropriately. How to avoid counterclaims, how to prove valid countermeasures....EVERY GODDAMN THING and Team X which says the de lege lata norms of the '61 convention apply to international orgs beats us??? A team which doesn't know what its jurisdiction is..whether 36(1) or 36(2) wins the competition???

One of the judges (and I'm pretty sure I know which one - LLM student, no speako English, no can spell law of international peeepoools) gave both APR and me a 30!!! He asked me one question which neither me nor APR nor DM nor the opposing team nor his fellow judges could understand. When I say that, I refer not to the relevance of the question alone, but the words included...

This isn't worth my time....

The End

28 January 2007 10:38 am
Madras

And so down comes the curtain on my mooting career, seemingly with lead laden frills – so resounding was the sound. The moment we finished that first round, I think we all knew we were in trouble. Here’s the hard part: we lost to a team whose merits argument was the 1961 convention.

I can’t really say whether I’m angry, disappointed, dejected or just plain helpless. There’s a gamut of ‘emotions’ – and I assure you, swear words – that’s been on in my head time and again since last evening. At the end of the day this remains the equation – go as a first year, say nothing of any legal significance, win.

I wont say we aren’t at fault – because that would just be a typical mooter’s complaint against being ousted. I think we did push the judges too far, but I can tell you this with absolutely no shred of ego or arrogance – municipal law arguments don’t win you a Jessup, except here in Madras from the looks of things. And if the result of one, two, three months of work means that I go out there and tell people that the ’61 Convention is applicable law to international organisations – then I’ll take not representing India, thank you very much.

There’s certainly going to be demand for a level of humility in my step in College for a while (the rest of the year, methinks) after all that we were making ourselves out to be. Winning is, after all, everything – never mind all that your teachers taught you. I don’t like losing, I don’t like the feeling and I’d rather not participate anymore if I know I’m going to lose – same reason the tennis racket was never picked up after I stopped playing.

After the first Jessup, I could come back and say I learnt something. That appears to be the position after this one too. Some things are not meant for you. I’m not a ‘fate’ guy at all – but then I’m usually not this low either.

APR was right – I ought to have brought my acoustic along.

‘This concrete field with its clear blue skies
Feel like the endless smother of an Arctic moonrise
Split lips and broken jaws never hurt
As much as this little blood spurt

And I still don’t want reality’

Half Marathon - Finished!

Official Time: 2:16:12
My time (got to the start 5 mins post start time): approx 2:10:30

Commentary: Slow and steady till the turn (little more than 11.4). 11. 4 time: 1:12:12. Just about 9 km/h. Left calf started cramping at the Haji Ali junction on the way back. Chocolates were a good idea.
Sudden burst of energy on Peddar Road. Think I upped the pace a bit. AV was struggling by here and needed a bit of coaxing to keep going. AV gave up and asked me to go on at km 17 (Charni Road station). Kept a steady pace till km 19 when rigor mortis set in. Kicked to try and get the 2:10 time. Last 2 km in 10 mins. Just missed the 2:10 time, but then I didn't train either.
Best attempt at a 'sprint' on the last stretch...was more like a desperate attempt at a quick jog!

Jost got up from a snooze. Shins and ankles and feet are killing me - probably from the pounding on the tar. No muscular pain (yet).

This was something to do. Next on the list - the Full in 2 years time, the Half in a sub 1:50 time next year...

Much physical exercise

So considering the two weeks that I spent in Giridih and Delhi were terribly unproductive so far as any physical training was concerned...the past week has been quite something else.

1. Played a fair bit of TT in hostel. GLC won the team singles and doubles...I lost in the open SF's - horrible game...the Monday night of the Jessup mems going. Just too zapped. Anyway - at least some physical activity.

2. Went for a run last evening...ran down to the Aquarium signal and then back up to Land's end and back to Hostel. Time:32 mins.
Speed: must have been around the 10k/hr.
Good part: recovered in 3-4 mins (probably less)
Bad part: Calves feeling very very tight...have been having trouble with them over the past couple of weeks in general and I suppose they dont actually enjoy being run on. Ankles and left knee aren't in the best of shape either...knee is most concerning, better dig out the cap to run with on Sunday

3. Cricket match - drafted in due to lack of players for the GLC v. FYBCom hostel match. Hamstrings dont feel very good. Right shoulder will ache tomorrow.

That's about it...time now for a quick snooze.

Marathon Training - Day Three

12 Dec 2006
Ran with AV at the Oval. Much better, because the pacing was better. Ran much slower - maybe aound the 8 km/h mark rather than the 12 km/h mark that I did on Day One.

AV had already begun when I was stretching, so did 1.5 rounds of the Oval with him at the slower pace, before he stopped . Then felt like pushing myself and did another round slightly quicker - closer to Day One pace, though not quite there.

Concern - Inside of left thigh was really aching during the walk to the Oval and stretching. Right knee gave a bit of trouble while running initially and inside of left ankle coming upwards towards the shin was also giving me grief. Everything stopped once I started striding. Probably too much weight landing on the legs too hard.

Track is harder than the Race Course, but still softer than gravel. AV and I are planning to do one session on Marine Drive before the week is out.

Only really ran out of breath on the last round of striding and had to push hard to finish the round.

No idea how long the Oval track is. I would estimate at least 1.5 km.

Also did floor exercises.

Marathon Training - Day Two

10 Dec 2006
No running or exercise - rest day.

Stretching done along with floor exercises.

Concern: Hamstrings are ok, but thighs have tightened up and right shin's muscle to the right of the shin bone is giving me grief.

Room Cleaning

Ok - simply haven't had the time to blog...doubt I will this week either. So am uploading the photos of my room pre and post-cleaning. If you don't know which is which - go jump out your window - blogger has completely jumbled the order...

Time taken: 5 hours
Trash Collected: Enough to fill a 3 foot tall and approx 1 foot in diameter 'trash bucket'.
Status 3 days on: I can still see the floor!

Marathon Training - Day One

Venue: Race Course
10 minutes stretching and warm-up, walk to the '2' Marker.
Breathing through mouth: began at '6' marker
Tightening of chest and oncoming of a stitch: '10' marker
Stitch: between '14' and '16' marker
Stitch gone: '18' marker
Stopped running: '2' marker
Walked the round...tiredness felt at the '18' marker
Concern: hamstrings feel a bit tight

Of Aid

This post was typed in on 6 Dec. But blogger doesn't seem to endorse blogging by email anymore..so here it is.

Had an interesting chat with SF, who was down from B'lore last evening about future plans in general. Some interesting ideas popping up...lets see.

Am extremely annoyed with myself for not remembering the ratio in the Naulilaa case. How? How? HOW? IL paper was ok...literally with good chunks and not so good chunks...will pass.

Did something I usually never do. Gave money to a kid who came up to me outside College to go get himself a Vadapav. I never do that..on the principle that I haven't earned it and that I can do what I want with money that I've worked for. Don't know why I did today. Perhaps because I was in a slightly ponderous mood after my chat with SF and looking at the world from a larger perspective despite the fact that I'm getting screwed doing CPC...and this is the one subject I've actually finished a first reading in!

Was on my way back from grub shopping and had buns and bread in my hand..yet I chose to give him 5 bucks after asking him if he was definitely going to eat with the money. Can't explain why. I suppose one way or the other - the money will help him out. If he eats - good. If he has to hand it over to somebody else - well, it'll help him get up to his required quota and maybe save him a slap or two.

Can't understand certain things in life...need more time to think. Then the doing can start....

Of distractions and forgetfulness

So I was, as always, strumming on my guitar in bed just before going off to sleep and I come up with an pretty enterprising riff and a chord combo to go with it. All of today has been about making a conscious effort to stick to the books. 3 days between exams is awful...

The other day I was making to PS an observation about the amount of 'knowledge' I gather about a subject in the 24 hours preceding a paper and the equally amazing 1 hour after the exam, after which I'd be lucky to be able to spell the subject name.

I was also unwisely trying to do some cross-subject thinking and memorising before the IOS paper and my abject ignorance of so much (or at least inability to remember, if not ignorance always) really hit me.

"In 6/8 months time, I'll be a lawyer. If someone comes to me with a problem, then what?"

Scary thought....really is...god save my clients.

"Close my eyes, close my doors
You'll never find me out cold
Broken mind, broken body
That's alright - its just for me"

What on earth?

Just read the news before sleeping...much torching of trains etc happening on account of an Ambedkar statue being defaced in Kanpur. Bizarre... one would think of all people, nothing would happen when an Ambedkar statue was defaced...its like people burning trains when a Gandhi statue is defaced. Dcubed has an interesting conversation... see here.

I had no idea what was happening...happy in the security of my hostel and books. And it seems what I initially dismissed as stress-invoked insanity in the girls hostel re: rumours that today's paper might be postponed seems to have had some basis.

Can't really comment on it...its just absurd. As the guy in Dcubed's conversation says...that's why we're third rate.

In other news, the Bengal assembly has been trashed, the Davis Cup final between Russia and Argentina is eagerly being followed on radio, Ganguly is back in the side to play the likes of Ntini, Pollock, Nel and Kallis on fast wickets in test matches (I wonder why selectors are paid at all...), the-cricketer-formerly-known-as Yousuf Youhanna has completed an incredible year and an ever-resurgent WI team has lost the test series to them 2-0. Watch out for the Windies...when Lara's head is screwed on straight, there's something about that team - at least over 100 overs, if not 450.

I'm just blogging news because I feel like Rip Van Winkle.

And another bites the dust...

1st ten questions for 10 marks in today's IOS objectives:
Define the following under the General Clauses Act:

1. Will
2. Union Territory
3. Rule
4. Registered
5. Swear
6. Son
7. Oath
8. Person
9. Local Authority
10. Official Gazette

Are you serious??? There go 10 marks..

Other wonderful questions include fill in the blanks such as:
Reddendo Singula _______ (with 4 options)
Expressio unius _________ alterius (with 4 options)

Topics to be studies according to the Syllabus include:
Reddendo Singula Singulis
Expressio unius expressio alterius

Really...this is a new low in paper setting laziness, even for the Mumbai University. So much for making us analytical machines geared up for a career in law. If I can mug 62 definitions under the G.Clauses Act and read the syllabus, I've got 12 marks in a final year law paper.

My resolve is only stronger now.

The paper was easy otherwise and went better than CrPC did. Things I must do now which I did today:
1. Don't have a bath
2. Wear my Khakis, not my jeans
3. Eat Bun-Amul and drink Cold Coffee before leaving
4. Try not to curse the cabbies during the bike ride
5. Wear non-collared shirts
6. Carry iPod in bag

That and some studying ought to do it.

Off to get some sleep. Only managed about 2.5 hrs last night - 3:30-6:00. Not ideal...need to advance it.

The hush before the roar

There's a little over 10 hours to go for my IOS exam. So I'm sitting on my bed with a mug of coffee and decided to blog. All is calm. I can't remember a word of what I read 20 mins ago. And yet, all is calm. Tried sleeping an hour or so ago...tossed and turned and ended up not sleeping. And yet, all is calm.

Usually the panic hits at about 6 in the morning for a 10:30 paper. I expect the same today. Wondering how to time my sleep today. Need at least a couple of hours. Day before yesterday, I slept about 3 hours in installments and woke up for the third and final time at 5:30. Wasn't a good idea. Think I'll try a 2-4 snooze today. At least there'll still be noise in the hostel to let me wake up.

Am wondering how to rearrange my room for 3 reasons:
1. Clean it...oh, how it needs cleaning!
2. Get some more visual space.
3. Make future cleaning (that once in 3 month irritation) easier.

Ok - off now...delegatus non potest delegare beckons...

29 down, 7 to go

That's the count for purging myself of the Bombay Univ. Then I'm outta here!

Had a horrendous paper today Think I'll pass. Asked a couple of people the answers to a couple of questions...pretty sure they were wrong too. Didn't like the feeling...don't think I'll be doing that again. Having said that, it means I need to study harder!

What AM I doing?

A critical question that I keep asking myself. In a sense, where is it all going? What is the desired end result and is there any movement towards it or is it the proverbial journey that life is and the incredible laxity that we display, happy in the knowledge that it doesn't really matter - after all, its all a journey, isn't it?

Call this pre-exam (very close pre-exam) stress venting if you must....

So this is state of studies:
CPC - 1st reading nearly done...bit of execution left, and caveat.
CrPC - 1st reading over, revision 1 tonight, revision 2 tomorrow, exam day-after...or tomorrow in an hour
IOS - the worrisome one...lets leave it at that, shall we?
IL - 3 days...nothing done...3 days!

Horrible state of preparation this time round...never been so poor, except perhaps Sem II - discovered I had to read an entire book that I hadn't read as yet the night before the exam!

What an amazing 5 years. I think above all else, its been a phase of development. If you ask me what Section 77-A of the Companies Act says, I'm unlikely to answer (its buyback of shares if I recall), but then it doesn't matter. I'll take these 5 years with a cherry on top without any education. And yet, I'm only a tenth of the way there. The question is where? The way things are going...I couldn't be moving further away from the promised land, however blurry it is. But then again, its been done before - if they can do it, why not me?

Wondering about how I'm going to be able to crack these exams, I've decided I can't, so I'm cutting my losses. As SDP once told me about his roommate the night before his Anatomy exam, the guy had basically given up on passing and started playing games on his computer. I'm tempted, but not suicidal...not yet anyhow, not to mention that I don't really have games that are worth spending any time on. Give me a couple of exams' time - to get suicidal ie.

The Rhodes interview debacle has been confirmed today. Considering current stress levels, its effect hasn't really shown up much on the graph. Looking forward to the next couple of months in my life. My schedule as it stands today:

7th Dec - Last exam...am going to get drunk with fellow hostel'ites...that's the plan though. Will probably end up in my room sleeping.
8th Dec - Back to work. Need to be a good boy so that I can take the next month off.
15th Dec - End of work (if I'm let off). Depart for Giridih..can't remember the last time I used a train.
24th/25th Dec - Depart Giridih for Delhi.
31st Dec - Depart Delhi for Bom (New Year's on the Rajdhani...oh Joy!).
8th Jan - Court re-opening. Need to take another week off.
14th Jan - Jessup memorials submission deadline. The reason I need the week off.
15th Jan - Back to work
26th - 28th Jan - Jessup national rounds in Madras. More days off...Boss is going to be mighty pissed off.

Was mentioning to PS on one of our evening walks that I'm dying for a month to myself. She wasn't being particularly dishonest that evening - "No chance", was the general gist of the response. Was wondering whether doing Jessup was such a good idea, when I could have had some time on my hands if I wasn't doing it. Don't know if I've still got it in me to put in a month of 18 hours (certainly didn't have it for the exams!) for a moot. Time will tell. Motivation doesn't seem to be a problem, though.

And so in the end, where does it leave me? Don't know...can't care at the moment. Ride the wave when you can, because you never know when the authorities might install wave-breakers.

"Bitter mouth swollen at last,
A diary not read out loud, a blast
from behind but a face no more,
I pick up pieces of my shattered doors.

And I don't want reality"

-That's mine

RIP anti-distraction measures

To try and focus on this horrible man-invented activity called studying...I de-tuned the guitar. After suffering unbelievable withdrawal symptoms, I gave in on Day 6. Life is a lot better now after a half hour session last evening. And the guitar doesn't eat in on study time (although other things do).

Moral of the story: Give in, give in always - will power is a farce!

"People making fun of me
For no reason but jealousy
I fantasise about my death
I kill myself from holding my breath"

Suicidal Dreams by Silverchair

Too much - Too late

Since its been a ridicuously chaotic 6 months since my last blog....I doubt I can actually capture everything...so I wont try. Suffice to say - things will continue to be chaotic for the next 6 odd months, though hopefully geographically a little less disorienting!

Its exam time and so blog updates will recommence.... till then....

"Don't let the days go by,
Could have been easier on you, I coudn't change though I wanted to
Could have been easier by three - our old friend fear and you and me
Glycerine"

Glycerine - by Bush

Crash Tested Dummy

Overcoming my newly acquired claustrophobia and general urge not be confined to a seat, I just felt like watching a movie. After luring A (the larger one) into coming home with some promises of food and a lift, I mooted the idea of a movie. It's a Sunday evening, so I figured that there would be absolutely no problem in procuring a couple of tickets for a 10:30 show. While Capote or Memoirs of a Geisha would have been first preferences, I had to be content with heading for Crash - the only accessible movie.

 

So, as always a review - particularly since I hear that Crash has won the Best Picture statuette.

 

The first half of the movie is incredible. You think it's a bold movie which addresses racism when few have dared to tread there post 9/11. It's a nicely built up storyline, sufficiently wide and probably very accurate too.

 

Then comes the intermission - it takes a filling of some pretty good caramel popcorn and PC with an old school-mate to get back to thinking about the movie...and then it happens. The trailer for Basic Instinct 2 starts running...there seem to be some very scenic views of London, not to mention a corny aspect -the office where everything seems to happen is the Erotic Gherkin at Bishopsgate. Sharon Stone looks - to put it mildly - old. You'll find few people (except the die-harders) who would want to watch even the trailer twice - leave alone the whole movie! But wait -this blog is about Crash..so back I go...

 

The 2nd half of the movie is, in a word, disappointing. Where you thought the movie was going to be bold and politically incorrect giving you no answer to the question at hand, every wrong is undone with a good and vice-versa. Every seemingly racist person commits an act which sheds the tag (and vice-versa)...and ironically (I suppose that was the intention - irony), the two ostensibly liberal people are the only ones who end up in a stand-off.

 

The almost mindless underuse or total throwing away of a fantastic idea reminded me of What Women Want, where you're thoroughly enjoying the movie for the first bit, before it meanders into a crappy 100 odd minutes of reel. Now, Crash isn't that bad...but the concept is simply lost.

 

Another problem with the movie is that everything is loose - I found the scriptwriting in Love Actually far better when everything is nicely tied up at the end. Crash has this bizarre five minutes towards the end when you're suddenly taken back to the start...and your temporal frames are just all over the place. After a while I just gave up trying to fit the jigsaw puzzle. (It was nearly 1 a.m. at this point)

 

Despite my insistence that WR runs trains till 2, they refused to do so and as a consequence A and I had to walk back. By Chowpatty A was ready to fall off to sleep while standing..not a pretty picture when you're crossing a road where even Santro's are zooming around at 100 and over. Got back home at 2:45 or so after dropping A off on the bike...a bit of Mr. Verne's underwater exploits (for the 10th time???) later - I crash!!

Oh Me

A little update on my life for posterity

• have started working - with Iqbal Chagla. Great fun - love the place and the work(???)
• mooted in DMH as the GLC dummy team - one day prep. Ranked 5th in the speaker lists!! Loved it.
• didn't rank in the top 3 (out of 7) in some lousy elocution comp...man, even I couldn't be that bad...I want to see the marksheets!!!
• re-organised my music and the iPod.
• set up a wireless thing at home during the time that anna was here. still can't make optimum use of it - anyone with any ideas on how to position the router so as to gain best coverage -please to inform.

That's about it...can't think of anything else. Anna back in Ox, although I've barely spoken/mailed him.

"I can't see the end of me
my whole expanse, I cannot see.
I formulate infinity
and store it deep inside of me."

- Oh Me by Nirvana