T20 - Jedis and Wizards in Middle Earth... Part II

The HP team supporters cast Lumos spell on all the lights and the stadium comes alive, presenting a brilliant spectacle. The Star wars team, led by Yoda fly slowly to the pitch in their pods. They huddle together to discuss about their strategy, that was worked out by Yoda and R2D2 with C3PO as an interpreter. Finally, they disperse to their assigned positions wishing each other with the words, “Let the Force be with you”. The Harry Potter team’s opening batsmen, Ron (with a wand) and Hagrid (with a club) walk to the pitch to the thunderous ovation that came from their supporters awaiting the start of the battle.

Ron, at the strikers end, waits patiently for the first delivery. The whole stadium erupts as Gandalf signals the start of the match and Obi Wan Kenobi is raring to bowl the first delivery. Ron, with his wand raised concentrates hard on Obi Wan’s run-up. As the ball( a lightsaber-proof one) comes at a blinding speed to the stumps, Ron tries to cast a flipendo spell on the ball to just defend but without Hermiones assistance ,forgets the way it has to be pronounced and ends up saying Flopendoooo. The ball skids on and rattles the middle stump. Star Wars team draw first blood.

Hermione takes guard at the strikers end and Obi Wan gears up for the next delivery. Hermione drives one straight down the ground with a powerful Flipendo spell. Boundary as there is no long on or long off and the Veela girls start dancing by a Tarantallegra.The next delivery – Hermione,uses the Impedimenta spell to slow down the ball and when it has almost stopped, uses Wingardium Leviosa to hoist the ball and make it land in the stands. The ball drifts toward the fineleg boundary and Haan in his Pod keeps ogling at the Veela girls and completely ignores the ball. Six! The next three deliveries turn out to be well disguised short balls which Hermione just defends. The score- 10/1 in 1 over.

Ad - Fred and George Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes shop.

Luke Skywalker is all set to bowl the second over. Hagrid keeps his club raised, ready to strike and grins at Madame Maxime in the crowd. Luke bowls a fast delivery and before Hagrid could strike, it races to the keeper Leia. Hagrid misses 3 more deliveries and the HP section of the crowd is silenced. Hagrid smiles at Maxime before the fourth ball, but she turns away in disappointment. Hagrid, in a web of fury, slaps the ball hard into the stands, not giving the fielders any chance. The last delivery turns out to be an excellent bouncer which hits Hagrid hard in the chin and suddenly the ball just vanishes. Manjo, standing in the slips, walks to the batsman to search for the ball, and it suddenly drops from Hagrid’s might beard. Manjo dives to his right and secures a catch. Two down for HP team. The Star Wars section hoot loudly as the giant takes a long walk back to the pavilion, crestfallen. The score- 16/1 in 2 overs. Hermione and the new batsman, Dumbledore play some intelligent cricket and take the score to 69 at the end of 8 overs.

Drinks break. Draco Malfoy, the 12th man is made to bring in refreshments for his team. Furious over not being selected in the main 11, Draco takes a minute off to tell Darth Vader he’ll do anything to bring down his team. And finally, Draco casts the Confund\us charm on Dumbledore just before the end of the break. Dumbledore is bowled out the very next ball from Haan. Dumbledore, confused over the path to the pavilion, bumps into Haan and Rita Skeeter in the audience takes a picture of the bumping act. Voldemort, the next man in, defends the first two deliveries. The next delivery, he casts the Avifors spell on the ball. The ball changes into a bird and flies towards the boundary. The next two deliveries meet with the same fate. The score- 87/3 in 9 overs. The following three overs were of mixed fortunes for HP team. Darth Vader, a spinner, before bowling the 13th over, gets his robotic arm programmed by R2D2 so that he can add leg spin and off spin to the same delivery. Hermione, caught unawares by the delivery, gets out. Snape,Fred and George Weasley follow suit in the same over as Darth Vader notches up a hat-trick. 110/7 in 13 overs

Meanwhile, a section of the Star Wars crowd make some racist remarks at Manjo, the only brown player of the match.
Harry Potter, the next man in, walks to the strikers end as the crowd chants his name. Harry casts a Conjunctivitis spell to damage the bowlers eyesight. With a straying line and a disorderly length, Harry takes up most of the strike(enna than irunthaalum hero aache) devours a run feast , builds a 50 run partnership in 5 overs with Voldemort, who contributes only 11 runs.

19th over. Palpatine, the Sith Lord bowls a quick out swinger which hits Voldemort in the legs. As the whole Star Wars team claims a leg before decision, Gandalf nods his head slowly and the HP team lose their 8th wicket. Krum plays out the the next 2 deliveries and then hits 2 consecutive fours. He finally gets out in the last deliver. Darth Vader, looking for a 5 wkt haul and Harry(on 39) craving for a 50. The first two balls fetch 10 runs for Harry,who moves onto 49. Darth Vader bowls three beauties which leaves harry completely flummoxed. The score-178/9.

The last ball of the match – everyone on their feet, ready to witness a fantastic last ball duel between Harry and Darth Vader. Rita holds her camera tight focusing on Harry. Darth before the run-up, threatens Dudley that he will let out a snake near him if he runs during the final delivery. Darth bowls a off-leg-off break and Harry with mighty concentration just pushes the ball into the gaps with a spell, runs to the other end and raises his wand in joy of reaching a half century. The crowd, in contrast to what he expected was hushed in absolute silence. Wondering what had went wrong, Harry turns slowly to his right to find Dudley, shuddering and rooted to the crease…

T20 - Jedis and Wizards in Middle Earth... Part I

T20 Match

Star Wars team vs Harry Potter world

The captains, Yoda and Dumbledore walk out to the center of the pitch for the toss, amidst a deafening noise from the stands. The dementors, students of Hogwarts, clones and a few people from different planets of the Galaxy occupied the side stands, while the Ministers of Magic, Death Eaters, Hogwarts staff, the Jedi council and the rulers of all the planets in the galaxy are seated in the pavilion block.

Cheerleaders for the HP team - Veela girls from Beauxbatons Academy.

As agreed by the two teams, the match is conducted in a cricket stadium called Middle Earth in a neutral venue. As per the cricketing regulations, umpire and the referee shouldn’t be of the same clan as of the opposing teams. Hence, Gandalf the gray is the umpire and Sauron is the match referee.Your commentators – Jar Jar Binks and Neville Longbottom.

The match referee Sauron tosses the Ring in the air, after announcing that Yoda wins if the side having the inscribed words faces him. Yoda eventually wins the toss and says in his trademark way, “Bowl first, we will”.

The line up...
HP team
Dumbledore(captain),Harry,Hermione,Ron,Voldemort,Snape,Draco,Krum,Dudley,Fred,George.
Star Wars team
Yoda(captain),Luke,Leia,Hann,Obi-Wan,Qui-Gon,DarthVader,Palpatine,Manjo,R2D2,

Pre match presentation - SportsCenter, LIVE on ESPN!
(OKay, I do know that SPorts Center is not a prematch pres show but I couldn't find a better picture!!)

Hosted by Jar Jar Binks and Neville Longbottom!

An hour before the show starts and 10 minutes before the cameramen and crew arrived…
Neville and Jar Jar are shuffling their papers and rehearsing their lines. Neville takes his remembrall outside and notices that it has turned red. He checks to make sure that all the papers are in the right order. After mulling over what he has forgotten to bring to the studio, he decides that his remembrall is malfunctioning. An hour passes by and the show goes on well, with Neville not forgetting a single line.
The final lines…

JJB – A great game on the cards. Mesa support Star Wars. Mesa looking forward to the match like yousa. Thankyousa.
Neville – For all the galaxy wide viewers, you can catch live action of the match in a few moments. And I hope the Harry Potter team beats the pants off the Starwars team. Its Neville and JarJarBinks signing off, without anymore fancy pants talk.

JJB and Neville stand up to shake hands as Sports Center’s end-of-the-show music is being played. And Neville realizes why his remembrall is glowing blood red.

Neville wasn't wearing his pants!



Jar Jar Binks (left) and Neville Longbottom

Random Reviews

The label Review has always been behind in posts count, not because I am short of topics to review but because I’ve watched too much movies and read too many books lately to write a review for each. A quick review on everything that has kept me occupied this week apart from watching the entire Star Wars series and a season of FRIENDS…

Transporters3
Amazingly dullish. Not the king of box office, but boredom. The heroine has a poke marked unattractive face. So, waiting for the odd you-know-what scene is worthless. Save 2 hours.

Varanam Aayiram

You’ll love the movie
IF you think a student with two arrears can easily start a company and become rich in a few years.
IF you think a normal person can save a child kidnapped by Delhis most feared don.
IF you think a normal parent will send his son to USA just to usharpannify a girl.
IF you think a normal person can rise upto the rank of a major in the army by a two minute music segment. ( I pardon Surya Vamsam)
IF you are one of the lot, who calls everything cute from a movie to an ant.
IF you are searching for a movie to go with your gf/bf and wanna make sure you don’t get involved with the movie even for a second!
IF all friends in your gang say the movie is great and you can’t disagree with them!

The director never told us what the ‘Daddy’ Surya did to make a living. All he did was to smoke, drink and read a book right through the movie!

Midnights Children
Imagine you need to buy a book. You walk into a library with stacks full of MC and find that it sells only Midnights Children and nothing else. If you are not so stubborn to buy a book, happily walk out of the library. The greatest literary work all right, but not a fascinating read. I finally stopped at page 299 after having extended my wits end several times.

Not a Penny More Not a penny less – An international fraud deceives four different people. The affected quadruple group decide to play the villains own game and get back their money ( till the last penny) from the fraud by deceit.

Honor Among Thieves Saddam Hussein steals the Declaration of Independence of USA by a cleverly devised plan in order to bring disgrace to USA and the CIA attempts to save the country’s pride. Jeffrey Archer is not a great literary writer but definitely one of the finest storytellers of all time. Both these books are page turners, with a great plot and narration.

What Levis, Nike and Calvin have in common!

People in urban areas are trying to catch on to the western wave by buying overpriced branded shirts in highly lit shining showrooms with grand draperies, even though half of the commodities are actually made in Asia.
Large retailers and multinational apparel companies have discovered a new lowcost method of advertising in shopping bags. They pay millions of dollars in advertising companies and dig deep into their treasury in the royal battle for celluloid space. And the chances of an average consumer flipping the channel when ads intervene is more than that of watching it patiently ( liril rexona are few of the exceptions ;) ). Understandably, shopping bags are with extra glitz and thickness these days helping all the companies and retailers to advertise free of cost.

For the people who are always short of ways to splash big bucks, for the people who want to show off their branded clothes/accessories (briefs too) and for the unfortunate guys with demanding girlfriends, there is an added advantage of going for branded items - The branded shopping bag (which is one of the few things that isnt duplicated in this country!) .

Imagine carrying some jeweller's yellow bag ( namma ooru manja pye) and walking through the portals of Citi Center? On a milder note, how about carrying a Poomukar vests and briefs name bearing shopping bag while walking down a street? Definitely not a great idea, unless maybe if you are the model for Poomukar briefs. People have become very brand conscious, right from what they buy to the shopping bags that they use for non buying purposes.

So, the next time you buy a shirt from a popular retailer, remember you are walking out with two proud possessions !

ROAARRRR....

When Ganguly announced his retirement from international cricket, the news dint affect me much as I missed Ganguly the ODI player more, but when he signed the camera on the last day of Border Gavaskar trophy, the feeling that Dada will not wear a cap adorned by the Indian crest left me shaken and stirred, as millions like me grew up watching Sachin and Sourav open the innings.

Rarely does a glittering cricket career in India end on a high. But Dada's career of controversies and centuries did. India's favourite southpaw retired from INternational cricket, provoked by the BCCIs( Vengsarkar,you bloody swine) baffling decision to drop him from Challenger series.

After announcing his arrival at the international arena in England with a bang, he has spent most of his career in the shadow of Sachin, popping out sporadically by match winning knocks and controversies! In the sport stricken city of Kolkatta, the young Ganguly had a brief fling at soccer but found his destiny in cricket,pursued it with all his heart, rose above all the odds and reached it in stlye.

During his debut century at Lords on a swinging wicket,during his fearless slaying of Pakistani attack in the INdependane cup final at Dhaka, during his five wicket haul at Toronto, during his topless jersey waving act at Lords signalling India's resurgence, during his career best ODI knock which came against Srilanka and during his classy century at Sydney, we have always unflinchingly supported and cheered the Prince of Kolkatta. And the vociferous roaring of the crowd in Eden Gardens when the Bengal Tiger walks down to bat, hunts down and rips apart the opposition bowling attack, is one of the most brilliant sights in any country and in any sport.

Innumerous times we've seen the Dada taking on spinners,treating them like high school fellas and whacking them out of) the park by dancing down the pitch fearlessly and arrogantly ; the way he pierces a packed offside field during the first 15 overs with ease, the way he pierces a packed offside field during non-powerplay overs with elegance and natural flair, the way he creates room and slams thunderously a boundary... All these beautiful moments which ascertain Sunny's statement. "On the offside, first there is God and then Ganguly".
And for atheists like me, he is the God of offside. Yeah, the He of offside.

An unrelenting warrior in heart,a journalist-friendly controversialist, a successful captain, a mentor for youngsters, a loving dad and husband, one of the world's greatest to wield the willow... Sourav C. Ganguly. Thanks for all the hours when you left millions rooted to the couch before the TV,whistling and hooting in sheer joy.

This is just a tribute to our Dada. Mind you, I havent yet started to exaggerate about Him :)



RECORDS THAT YOU MAY NOT BE AWARE OF
-First Indian to score an ODI century against Australia in Australia.
-Highest ODI runs scorer in the world (in a calendar year) in 1997,1999,2000.
-Second in the list of highest number of centuries in a single calendar year ever. 7 centuries in 2000
-He is also the only player to win 4 consecutive man of the match awards in ODIs
-His Test average has never been less than 40.
-Hold the record of most 200+ ODI partnerships (6 times) along with Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting
-Sourav, along with Sachin Tendulkar, formed by far the most successful opening pair in One Day Cricket, having amassed the highest number of century partnerships (26) for the first wicket. Together, they have scored more than 7000 runs at an average of 48.98, now with Sachin he is a world record holder for creating most no. of 50 run partnership in the first wicket(44 fifties)
-Third player to cross 10,000 ODI runs and so far the fastest in ODI history, after Sachin Tendulkar. He also reached 6000, 7000, 8000 and 9000 ODI runs milestones in the fewest number of matches.

PADMA 'SIRI'

Cinema can either embrace pure entertainment or send across a social welfare message to the masses. No other industry in the world (as far as I know) has a breed of comedians who form an essential (not adjunct) part of at least 9 out of every 10 movies that hit the screens. And Kollywood has been embellished by full-fledged comedians for the past 6 decades.
Myriad reporters have taken innumerous potshots at Kollywood for producing baseless masala movies. But its not any star’s presence that makes such movies bearable. The only silver lining is the comedy track!

Madhuri Dixit and AIshwarya Rai are few of the undeserving winners of the fourth highest civilian honor, Padma Shri. Both the heroines have done only 1/10th of the number of movies that veteran actor Nagesh has acted in. Both just act out the script written by the director, unlike Nagesh!
Take Madhuri Dixit’s case. She was awarded the Padma SHri for presumably popularizing Indian dance while there are women who have dedicated their lives for dance, like Shobana! And moreover she was living in USA when the award was announced. Someone feed some sense into the Padma Shri awards nominating committee!
Aishwarya Rai , former Miss World has not won even a single national award for acting in her life! So the Padma Shri is arguably for her looks!

The government has always ignored and failed to acknowledge the unparalleled entertainment provided by the comedians of our nation. Nagesh and the rest truly deserve a Padma Shri. For Ash can stun people with her pretty looks and MAdhuri can mesmerize people with her dance, but it’s the rare breed of full-fledged comedians who can bring a smile to your face and have you in splitsJ !
This post is a tribute to a man who has enthralled the masses with his humorous acting on screen and later with subtle cameos in a number of movies.
You’ve made your fans do something that you’ve never done before… you made them shed tears for the first time (on your demise)… Fuck Padma Shri… May you rest in peace, Padma ‘Siri’ Nagesh…

My Journo Avatar!

Saarang 09 - the Fourth Estate event.
Prelims - Of the four topics given below, an original article should be mailed to the Fourth Estate organising team.

1. Catastrophes in 2008 so far.
2. Nuclear Trust Vote.
3. Prevailing Economic crisis around the world.
4. Legendary rivalries in sports.

Naturally, I chose the last topic, penned down an article about Real Madrid-Barca rivalry and sent the unedited version erroneously on Sunday, the last day for submission! And during electronics lab today, while I casually browsed through saarang's fourth estate page in my mobile, I found my name in the shortlist for the finals !! The first phase of the finals requires the finalists to choose any event in Saarang, prepare a report and present it on stage. In the second phase, the participants will be shown a video and given a few minutes off the record to prepare. The participants are expected to report "live" on the video shown to them. In short, I have to act, think and be a reporter for the next two days, presenting news and maybe even creating them!



THE EIGHTY YEARS WAR…

A civil war bisecting the nation, a battle not manifested by artillery army tanks and bloodshed, a cold contest that is not fought for imperialistic or monetary reasons… This is Real Madrid v Barcelona FC – a politically charged rivalry dividing Spain, militated by 22 ‘soccerors’ for salvaging the pride of their club, the ideologies of their respective culture and moreover living the dreams of the soccer crazy Spanish supporters.
SPAIN – During El Clasico !

The rivalry can be traced back to the troubled times of Spanish Civil War, when Real Madrid was the face of the despotic dictatorship and Barca echoed every Catalan’s cry for a democratic nation. Barca was a symbol of defiance against Fransesco Franco’s dictatorship and the regime was behind Real Madrid. The clubs were seen as representatives of two rival regions in Spain, Catalonia and Castile. While the Catalans voiced their demand for a separate nation, Real Madrid (Castilians) tried to reassert its authority over the nation.

The Spanish giants locked horns for the first time in 1929. The match, which rewrote the grammar of a sporting rivalry, was eyed as a clash of two nationalisms, as the clubs played not only for the 3 points but also for honor and pride. Immediately after the Spanish Civil war, the friction and intensity of the enmity reached astronomical heights and the Catalans gave vent to their feelings through the El Clasico.

NOU CAMP (BARCA)

SANTIAGO BERNABEU(REAL MADRID)

HEAD TO HEAD: (WINS) BARCA -59 REALMADRID - 68

.
"For Catalans, who see themselves as a nation that has lost so much politically, economically, and socially, a win against Real Madrid is especially pleasurable” remarked Jordi Josep Salvador, a Spanish sports affairs specialist. For the Catalans, Barcelona FC is more than a club( mes que un club). The El Clasico has seen footballic poetry from the finest pairs of legs in soccer history… Johan Cruyff, Maradona, Alfred Di Stefano, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Figo.

In war, there is no prize for runner-up. Barca and Real Madrid know it and this classic rivalry has produced some captivating matches, a few controversies that has hogged headlines and also legendary footballers, thus placing it in a stratosphere far ahead of any other sporting rivalry. Both the clubs have always had several local players from Youth Academies, who grew up with El Clasico’s intense history imbued in their blood. They make sure the rest of the team doesn’t forget that a lot more is at stake than mere points. The crowd chants and inspires their home team vociferously (if there was a roof in the stadium, it would be blown off by the thunderous sound!) while remaining hostile and intimidating to the visiting team with loud booing and shrill whistling.

Alfred di Stefano (the Argentinean legend) was up for grabs in the mid 40s and both the clubs were involved in an intense race to sign him up. He eventually joined Real Madrid; a decision alleged to be influenced by political pressures which led the club to unprecedented glory in the following years. The real fireworks though fly when a player leaves one of the two Spanish giants and joins the other. Luis Figo of Portugal moved from Barca to Real Madrid and he was welcomed frostily at Nou Camp, Barca’s stadium, with suckling fried pig heads and the like. Every time he came close to the touchline, a flurry of missiles and libelous words rained from the stimulated crowd in the stands. The match was ferociously fought and Barca eventually triumphed 2-0.

Eighty years have passed, nearly 200 matches have been played, Fransesco Franco is six feet under pushing up daisies, Spanish Civil War is only a part of history books, but this fierce battle will continue, as it is more than a game to the Spaniards… Més Que Un Game!

THE WHITE TIGERS

“India may not have electricity or drinking water or proper roads or sewage system, but it certainly does have thousands of entrepreneurs, most in the field of technology where they have set up outsourcing companies that virtually run America. “ – Says Aravind Adiga in his book, The White Tiger.

India was on the verge of becoming the global H.Q of IT industry. B.E graduates kept changing their jobs – as often as nasty fights in the parliament – with higher paychecks and a plushier lifestyle. Night life was at its best and pubs were overflowing with working class youngsters. Indians working in outsourcing companies and call centers – a place where Ramasamys, Navins and Vimalas pretend to be Romarios, Nevilles and Victorias to their lazy American callers and make them understand that the monitor has to be plugged to the CPU for watching a movie! – were being paid well and most made it their permanent job.

But a series of unexpected financial disasters, with many banks and insurance companies claiming bankruptcy, led to an economic meltdown. This financial crisis is the worst ever recorded since the Great Depression. Economic Meltdown, Global recession, Pink Slips… Words and phrases of the business jargon have become household terms.

Delaying any salary hike and also reducing the salary caps; large-scale layoffs are the methods that companies have resorted to for battling the ongoing financial crisis. The pubs are nearly deserted, party-animals have reverted to their normal self and window-shoppers have outnumbered actual shoppers by a whopping margin in super-malls. And students have been hit hard by this economic recession. People who kept changing jobs at will are clinging on to their jobs desperately with fear pangs clouding over their job security (comparable to the insecure post of Pakistan Cricket coach!).

An even imminent danger that pundits envision is unemployment, a word that has lost its fame ever since the IT industry invaded our country. Images of Kollywood movies that thrived on the subject of unemployment juxtaposes in my mind as I try to visualize the ominous impending situation. The heroes of the 90s used to wear intensely sparking shiny shirts and baggy jeans. And they went around the city wooing a girl and finally winning her… A seemingly happy ending but the guy did not have any job to make a living! These scenes, which seemed obscure to me during the IT boom, are now gaining more relevance !

In these troubled times when such images, buried under the garbage heaped behind video shops in the form of video cassettes, come alive and haunt us, one word stands out as a solution… ENTREPRENEUR.An entrepreneur is someone who organizes a business venture and assumes the risk for it. Reading between the lines, the word risk is to be noted. 1/3rd of the entrepreneurs are lucky silver spooned morons*, who own companies that have been bequeathed by their fathers. While the rest – the rare breed – have had to grind hard and sweat it out to smell success. These self-made entrepreneurs are unperturbed by recessions and undisturbed by any financial crisis…shaken but not stirred. Man usually performs well in a nothing-else-to-lose situation and most of the self-made entrepreneurs, who have defied the Murphy’s Law and risen against the odds, are stellar examples of it.

Millions of college goers in our nation, after under-graduation, head for higher studies or take up a subservient job at an MNC. But very few students have treaded the road less travelled and become self-made entrepreneurs, scaling heights that other people can only dream of. And classifying them according to the states, there are effectively very few in each region which makes them a special one-in-a-million phenomenon… Like the few white tigers in a large tiger population!

The world is hot, flat and crowded. Thinking out of the box, however whacky it is, can turn out to be fruitful. If everyone in the world had taken up an ordinary nine-to-five**, i.e, without any new self-made entrepreneurs… you wouldn’t be using the PC or the iPod, had Steve Jobs and Bill Gates chosen to take up normal jobs; had Evan Williams not launched Pyra Labs, you wouldn’t even be reading this blog !

------------------------------------------------------

*An expletive for those lucky morons coz my dad doesn’t own a company** With call centers and BPOs, the phrase ‘nine-to-five’ is no longer very relevant!

Twilight

G.I.Joes...Maggi...Tazoos...Center fresh cricket player cards...DD...Shakalaka Boom Boom...Frontyard rubber ball cricket...Shattered windowpanes...Pepsi tin stumps ...Velvet pencils...Magic Pop...Business...Monopoly...Book Cricket...Rides in the classic Fiat car...Hindi Tuitions...Mean big bro...Paper-Rubberband weapons...Chakra Skating...Hanaplast...Cousins...64 in 1 video games...Tom n Jerry...T-Bone ~~ Twilight street cricket...Duplicate audio casettes...Remuki puffs...Re.1 pepsi ...Paper boats in the rain...Crocin...Re.1 picture charts for projects...Playing football in the hall...Irking Granny...Backyard trees...Ripe berries... Powercuts ...Enid Blyton...Bright evenings...The Hindu (big enough for me to hide behind) and Milo...Half polished shoes...Carrom n Chess...HW diary sign forgery...Sideyard garden...Chitchat with Thatha... Evenings in the 90s...Smiling eyes.


Nokia King King game...Pizzas...Just Lays chips...Cric Info...Cable TV...ESPN...EPL ...EA Sports Cricket 08...Windows XP system hang...Overpriced tins...Parkers and Sheaffers...Death by Chocolate...Board games getting predated by insects...Driving TATA Indigo...Tutions for everything except Hindi...Bro in Indore...Rubberbands only in the office room...Forgotten rollers...Videogame set tucked away in the loft ...EPL...Lollu Sabha...Empty streets in the twilight...Bazaar Audio DVDs...Barren piece of land at Remuki...Appy Fizz...Water puddles longing for boats... Wikipedia+CtrlC +Ctrl V +Ctrl P for projects...Granny irked by my absence... Backyard trees...Rotten 'unplucked' berries...UPS...Sidney and Jeffrey...Bright evenings...Yahoo! messenger...Slippers...Max Payne...Cell phone to-do list...Sideyard garden...Lonely thatha... Memories of evenings in the 90s...Wet eyes.

55 FICTION

The Emerald Lady..

"Her name is Katrina ", said an old friend when I inquired about his new girlfriend. He praised her green eyes, curly hair and the emerald ear-ring. After he left, his words kept ringing in my head. Shocked, I looked at the photo of my late wife, her emerald ear-ring matching the color of her eyes.......



55 Fiction is a form of microfiction that refers to the works of fiction limited to a maximum of fifty-five words..

Engi(s)neering Chemistry

Title - Engineering Chemistry
Publishers - Dhanpat Rai
Authors - Jain and jain

In a nutshell - Aimed at providing the students an easy and lucid method for learning... Just aimed...



The features of d book as written in the back of the book

11 NEW Chapters
Err... The book totally has 12 , which means the previous edition had only one chapter? Or it should've been the book's title!
17th edition but still it manages to boast 2 mistakes minimum every page, a quality thats unique to Jain n Jain
Cost - Rs.150 and interestingly lower than books from other authors who've plagiarized stuff from Jain's.

The content of the book is presented in a lucid way but its more than just comprehensive. A book out of question for eleventh-hour preparation as it has too many topics, each comprising of too many lines that is agonisingly arduous to study.

Voices from the Fourth Estate

The Times of Congo - Trudosi'au ls*do po^ipd mcaksjo s"dkppaa #re qwd@opp^zzlwe!!

The Muslim - A captivating book and read by nerds 2-3 times over, so somethings good about it.

Washington Roast - Stress, lower jaw pain because of excessive yawning makes the author on top of the WANTED LIST and highly recommended by doctors who can make a living out of this book...

The Indian Bullock Cart - An enticing, gripping book, a must read, favourite of all age-groups - probably the best of its kind to come out in ages. Very generous, comes at a low price and also has given us 4k more than the decided bribe for this comment...

Dabha Chronicle - 364 pages at Rs.80 (2nd hand), vadai owners club n parotta parcel services club all praises for the book.

Am just kidding.I mustered up 84 in chemistry. Both the Jains - I love ya swines!

Rooney to my rescue!

August 2006

LOSA, an aggrandized cultural extravaganza of Southern TN is easily the most awaited event in anyone's school life out in the south. Having been a part of the substitute quiz team, I got my first serious task at PSYNA college in the suburbs of Madurai as the celebrated regular quizzing teams of my school had to focus on studies. My team eventually came second in the tournament and were in the reckoning for LOSA's second team.

LOSA, being a event conducted and financed by TVS school's Alumni on a five lakh budget, the quiz was expected to be a tough nut to crack. Sports quiz qualifier went on smoothly and we cruised to the final. General Quiz prelimns had more than expected questions on sports and entertainment, so we luckily entered the finals. Finished third in General quiz, after enjoying the lead for few incredible moments in the initial part of the quiz.Being a second team from my school, qualifying itself appeared one mega achievement and coming third in it made me feel on top of the world.

I noticed all the variants of girls - cute, hot, dumb, trendy and smart (which was the reason I was there in the first place ;) ), as I walked along the corridors leading to the sports quiz venue after my skit team had bagged the first place in Movie-spoof competition and I was on an all time high. I had one fine final chance to prove my prowess as an accidental yet decent quizzer. The Sports quiz team comprising of me,Ram and Aniruth were perched nearest to the audience, who were sitting behind us in the cozy and cool lab with projector. The quiz organisers(TVS alumni) shook hands with us with a easily noticeable false smile and wished good luck, cursing under their breath, " u gona be bad losers this eve"...

Infinite bounds round of 40 questions.
After 39 questions, the scores stood as follows

The home team(TVS) at 80
My team - 75
The perpetual Mahatma(my school) - TVS rivalry reached new heights after this tight situation. The entire quiz organisers team were TVS alumni and everyone shot cold stares at us.

I forgot I was an atheist for a moment, the rest of the teams were looking at the quiz master, who winked at the TVS team on top of the charts.
Damn, he was from TVS too. It was a direct question to us.
All my sensory organs were so focussed at the quiz master.
Sweat trickled down my neck.. AC? It was on at 21 degree celsius!

" IF he had the citizenship to my country I would love to have him play for my country... Who said this about whom ?"

I blurted out Maradona and errr..err...
Ive come across it somewhere before, somewhere... I slapped myself, hoping it ll turn on my rusty brain and the answer surfaces. Aniruth and Ram sensed my anxiety and asked me to make a wild guess.
Quiz master announced that it wont have any part points.
I know you biased swine.

Everything look blurred to me, time stood still suddenly, I felt myself locked up in some dark room. I couldn't hear any noise around the room and even the smirking rival team already half celebrating their victory noisily. I shook my head vigorously for a moment hoping it comes to my head magically.

The quizmaster's voice loomed spelling doom to us, " ten seconds"
Wait you fuckin idiot
I turned back at the crowd who were right behind us (literally). A guy was stealthily tugging at Aniruth's t-shirt from behind and he shrugged. I lay back and read the words on the back of Aniruth's t-shirt...It read

ROONEY
Time resumed. Light filled the room and the door was thrown wide open.

The quiz master was about to mouth the words 'times up' and I squeaked WAYNE ROOONEY. The whole room fell silent for a second and the rival team stared open mouthed at me.
The quiz master looked shocked in disbelief for a moment and stuttered, " Corr..rrect a.an..an..answer" .

We leapt in joy at our unprecedented hour of glory. I stood up, and involuntarily my middle finger pointed towards the professor who intervened in the general quiz finals,which had cost us the second place.
The august month eve proved to be one of the most august moments in my life, thanks to the stranger who made it possible by stroking my team mate's shirt once.

Bless Aniruth for wearing Rooney's jersey. Bless Body Language apparel shop where he got it. Bless Rooney for being what he is...

Am a Baaad Man...

The clock struck 9pm.
In his abandoned ancient half-ruined mansion hidden away in the hills,a boisterous cacophony of the sounds of a battery of cannons firing,which was his alarm sound originated from the clock in his bedroom and resonated along the narrow hallways and finally the hall with a high ceiling. He slowly pulled himself upright, opened his eyes like the curtain raising on stage and stared with bloodshot eyes at the clock, surrounded by an array of skeletons of deer,rhino,lion and other dangerous animals that he had hunted. He got down from the bed and clapped his hands as his manservant came rushing into the room with his dark black coat and helped him into it. The manservant then handed the wrist watch,with its time sync with the clock, to him and receded to the door.

He walked towards the oval-shaped mirror positioned at one of the corners of the room and gave a long cold stare at himself and the watch as the manservant waited near the large oak door.

Bang!
The manservant dropped to the floor and scarlet colored blood gushed out of his temples.
He slipped the shotgun into his pocket,wore dark glasses and meddled for a second with his watch.He then walked over the corpse drenched in a pool of blood, down the dim-lit stairs to the hall where all his henchmen had aggrouped and sat down on his exquisitely made brown maple furniture, lighted his cigar and puffed out x shaped smoke patterns. He looked at the other big clock in the hall, with its time synchronised with the one in his bedroom . His advisor walked to him, announced that his meeting with other top international notorious smugglers and druggists was due at 10 pm and stood back.

He ordered one of his man-servants to bring him some roasted chicken and noodles for dinner. While he crunched the chicken and munched down the food slowly(which was unusual), the enticingly hot young girl danced around the hall erotically. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Ronnie, one of his henchman was looking anxiously at the clock and going out of d room silently whenever his shirt pocket appeared bright due to his mobile's illumination.After guttling down every piece of eatable on the plate and smacking the girl hard, he washed his hands as his advisor announced to him that there was only a minute to go for 10pm, i.e the meeting.He was late already.

He walked towards Ronnie.Giving him a warm smile, he positioned Ronnie's tie intact and stood back as everyone gasped on seeing his favourite hitman Ronnie collapse, blood oozing out of his pierced throat. He cleaned the stains of blood from his surgical knife, picked up Ronnie's mobile and stared at it till a message flashed.

"Time is ten nw. The bomb in his watch shouldve detonated.He and the other smugglers should be dead now. Good work Inspector Ronnie. Mission accomplished. Where should i meet you 2moro?"

He replied to the message,

"IN HELL... **** U COPS"

and asks his advisor to find the cop who was messaging by tracking down the number.
And leaves to the meeting in his car,still wearing his watch!










The watch showed 9.01 pm and wasnt ticking.

A Glitch in God's creation

Couldn't sleep peacefully even for a second on my way back to Chennai...
COurtesy : The guy in the lower berth, exercising man's disgraceful doggone habit, louder than the train itself...

SNORING

Lets talk Business

Brittania, Lays, Centerfresh, Milo - the titans of marketing by giving-away-useless-products-for-free strategy.

All such business tactics are manoeuvred to ascertain no-bargain sales of the product and its target zeroes in on the most profitable age bracket - kids. Human's innate tendency is to grab free stuff. Never mind the cost of the actual product man. You are getting something FREE. Something that you dont deserve to have and consequently never mind losing. No responsibility hovers over the free item. Gets damaged? Nomatter at all, its anyway FREE. You can hand it over to the deprived, be a good philanthropist with a wide stupid grin... Philanthropy at no cost, i.e FREE.

Indians are really good bargainers, probably the best. Ability wise on par with Aussie cricket. Even while buying stuff that is not legally or ethically right, they bargain, asking the seller to be noble (manasatchi) and just to his business. Sounds like be good while doing bad or be fair while doing unfair acts ! And more than often walks away with a substantial bargain, floating in euphoria at his moment of 'glory'.
Bazaars are selling dvds like hot cakes. No longer do they start quoting the price of a DVD at 80 bucks, get bulldozered by bargain and finally settle for 20 bucks. Its point blank Rs.20 everywhere. Save your time. Doing some simple math, 5 div-x quality movies in a single dvd which implies 4 bucks for one movie. Producer's graveyard the bazaar.
A dose of nostalgia... Tuesdays and Saturdays were invariably the power cut days back in the late 90s and the dawn of 21st century in Madurai. 9am - 5 pm was the traditional duration when the city goes un-electrified and I would be at school for the most part of it playing swatkats with my benchmate using scissors and getting punished for being the lone soul submitting assignments a week after the deadline. Saturdays though were rueful in having me nailed at home, with no power and hence no tv,taperecorder and fan, and wondering intelligently why they cant run on batteries. And last summer, I used to start off to the bazaar,spend my time lavishly in each shop and rummaging through the stacks of dvds for nothing!

Let me take you back to 1995 when Britannia gave away freestuff on the basis of point system by collecting wrappers( both yours and those that you steal from the kid next door) and handing it over to the nearest vendor in return for a spin-top like the blades of a miniature helicopter. It was the rage of my school and I fended off any possibility of buying anything thats not Brittania. The big pack of Goodday fetched twice the points of its closest rival and with gleaming pride I used to buy it at the store near my school everyday. The wrapper seemed precious to me than the enclosed eatable ! Wonder why I spent hundreds on biscuits (main constitiuent of my boyhood diet) for a piece of simple plastic toy, easily available in namma oor thiruvizha at infinitesimal cost.

Now get propelled to the end of last millenium. Centerfresh and Big Babol offered cricket trump cards(again plastic!) free with every piece of chewing gum and getting the elite player's cards was reckoned to be the most crucial aspect of any serious collector. I was really lucky to grow up in a hood with atleast two shops selling chewing gum in every street. I gathered news from the Remuki beeda kadai shopkeeper about when his stock of chewing gums will be replenished every week which turned out to be Sundays. So, every sunday, when that middle aged man at the shop goes home for lunch and his dad, an octagenerian stands in, I sneak out of my home through the backyard ( not to alert my fellow card-collector/competitor and yeah also my friend! who lives across the street), buy a dozen gums and ransack the whole set of cards for the exquisite/rare ones and slip two-three cards into my pocket when he turns away for a splitsecond. I leave with a smile.
Mission accomplished !
And I head straight to my rival's home to flaunt about my new addition of cards and give a deep guffaw...

Now, move few more years forward to 2002-03,when Lays bolstered its foothold on the snacks sector with tazos(plastics yet again!). I had an edge over all other competitors when it comes to tazos, the free amusing plaything inside a Lays pack because I got addicted to Lays since I set my eyes upon it. 80% of the days in a year I dint miss out on Lays. If you are lucky enough to get two tazos in a single pack,it will make the next day's top news in school and friends exclaiming in awe and considering you a special blessed one,though cursing you bloody wretched child,under their breath.Tazos along with GIjoes was the ultimate combination of an indoor game and which provided more than a quantum of solace during those days with a powercut and helped me innovate new indoor games based on adventure. Looking at all the junior-school goers playing NFS for hours and Unreal Tournament for days, I can say they are missing something big in their life. Playing indoor/outdoor games with friends (well to all the detractors n those who know me well,I used to be passionate about playing outdoor years ago), helps you both bond well with them and also sharpens your creativity. Even Lays,Centerfresh and Brittania have stopped the practice of giving exciting free gifts, rightly though.

Cricket cards? Google up the name of the cricketer and voila,you get his pic,details and even about his secret affair and the his innerwear brand!
Swinging Tazos? Grow up, think of a kalashinov or a Shotgun!
Times are changing and change is the only thing permanent. But the pleasant niceties of the nineties are too good for me to stop thinking about and get carried away.
And its time I grab a pack of Lays, sadly though, without any tazo(s) in it...

Mustafa Mustafa and Pyaar

Try picturing a guy, arranging a deck of cards patiently for several hours to arrive at a momument. A pretty girl, no i'd better say a cute girl walks past the guy, still at work, flashes a wide smile and bang...her makeup kit containing handbag hits the underneath card and the structure collapses to the horror of the guy and the onlookers gasp, not at the arranged cards tumbling down but at the guy, holding a calm face following the sheepish grin from the cute girl.

Try picturing a guy, arranging a deck of cards patiently for several hours to arrive at a monument. A good male-friend of his walks past the guy, still at work and flashes a dumb smile. Blows air against the half baked building to check its rigidity and the structure collapses to the horror of the guy and the onlookers gasp, not at the arranged cards tumbling down but at the guy, swearing at his friend with expletives that you can find only in Eminem's uncensored lyrics or in a feedback about Bush by gulf natives.

The girl makes an absolute blunder and still stays off trouble while the guy can hold on his nerves when its a girl causing a problem.

Now,with nothing more to discuss on this topic, lets find what the bigwigs have to say about love and its apparent estranged relationship with friendship.
Our special correspondent, Ms. Reporter is decked up with steamy attire and ramped up with questions to fire at the experts.

Vijaykanth, who is playing a sleuth in his latest movie DYEHARD, argues that love is very much necessary in life but he doesnt have time for all that as he has to hunt down Kashmiri terrorists in Orissa.

Thalapathy Rajnikanth feels friendship is the most valuable thing on earth. But with much introspection, it was revealed that Rajni was friendly with Mamooty because he lived on the food given by mamooty.
Proof - Rajni sings " Nanban potta soru, dinamum thinnen paaru" ,ie he gulped down food from Mamooty's home.
And our reporter pointed out to the proof and demands an explanation.
Padikaathavan-Superstar shys away by saying "Yes,yes..Thank you".

Self proclaimed little ‘superstar’ Simbhu ( 20 years down the line, wont little be a little stupid? ) expresses his little thoughts on the same…
Love is sacred and its my duty to kill all the girls who are'nt living by moral values.
And when inquired why he had to rape them before the killing act, he retorts, " Look, my only hit movie was inspired by Sigapu Rojakal, the 80s classic. So you should be asking Kamal hassan for the answer "
Our reporter insists on a reply right there, Simbhu continues under his breath audible only to the reporter,
" Hey Ms.Reporter, you look gorgeous in this white salwar"
Reporter-Yikes! Pack up crew!

Our reporter finds time to catch up with Surya to record his perspective.
Time - 4:11 pm
" Hello reporter, its great to have you here, as I’ve got only few minutes left before Ghajini shooting resumes. Its a good movie, where I play the blah blah blah blah....."
reporter - Sir, your opinion on love?
Time - 4.16 pm
"Hello, you look like a reporter, so what can I do for you?"

At Vijay's place, he expresses his feelings on love
"Love is a once in a lifetime feeling and when you are in love, you will start listenin to flowers rustle as if its a soothing piece of music; you will feel like you are flying over a distance of a mile in the air"
Reporter - " But sir, you always do that in your movies but then we thought it was an action scene, with you performing a daredevil action stunt!"
Vijay - " make it superking action stunt else i'll get into brand loyalty trouble!"

Ms. Reporter finds Vivek at the beach, grumbling on Vadivel’s success. He chips in with his view on the topic by recalling his experience.
“Madhavan, a software engineer and a great friend of mine, once left me stranded after colliding head on with a truck and stalked Reema Sen into a mall. Finally I had to bear with the rain of blows from the cops before accomplishing an escapade. Also, Maddy had loaned out my gf for a week in the excuse of stopping a marriage he wasnt intersted in. So, I feel, guys can demolish friendship of any intensity for a girl, ie figure kaaga friendship cut pannuvaanga”. So vivek opines that a guy will ‘cut’ friendship for a figure.

Superstar's son in law Dhanush while on his way to the gym, took his time off for answering to the question.
"The girl will not lavu a guy who sells a tea or studies well as in Kadhal Konden, but the girl will love handsup men with a good job. So it ees best for the boy to register the marriage the day she says ok to love proposal. Beware, the girlu may prepare a pail/divorce in advance (mun jaameen). OKay enup for today, me going to gym for maintaining my six pack abs"
Reporter - " Isn't that your rib cage?"

Koundamani was spotted in a cafe and when asked for his views,
" I not taking love seriously. But one thing i telling ya, one romantic looku is enough to flat a girl. And while chattingla correcting a figure, check if your student or friend is deceiving you by acting like a girl! "
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR0HY9JKd5Y

Our reporter found Shyam at a theatre which is screening his own movie, ushering his friends and other people in for free tickets and even pays for few people to see. When questioned,
"Love is.... Friendship?"
On being asked to explain, " err.. Well that was a dialog copied from Kuch Kuch Hota hai, so am off with it. Ask Shahrukh Khan for an elaborate answer."
(Ask SRK? Will he have time between managing a team in tatters, a reality show with the lowest trp ratings, blogging shit about other actors and making hundreds of commercials round the clock"?
On asked to brief about the twin love story nestled in the movie 12B and how they came up with the idea,
"Errr... 12 B's plot is loosely based on the Hollywood flick, Sliding doors. So buy its DVD at the bazaar shop no.24 and tell them that I had sent you. You ll get the best bargain. Also buy any number of movies there for the same low cost but please dont publish this little info on Sliding doors in your magazine tomorrow!"

TR, planning to don the role of King Kong in the Indian version of the same, takes out sometime from his cramped schedule to voice his views on the same.

Love is nothing but a rose to pluck
IF you escape the thorn, its coz of luck
Once in love, you are a happy duck
Ice Hockey game is played with a puck
Dandanuck hey hey dadakanuck

Ms. Reporter finishes, ”you may be an actor, but I don’t give a **** “ and slaps him hard.

Sarath kumar’s picking on the topic,
“ Love is very important. My political party is fully behind love and we offer full support to lovers, unlike the rest of the parties So with the power vested in me after being voted the CM, I’ll do anything to unify lovers. So please vote for me.”

Full support to lovers? Well, after ANNA durai, THANTHAI Periyar, is it UNCLESarath?

Kollywood bigWIG Sathyaraj speaks out his mind on love.
“Kannu, love can happen to anyone, be it a 50 year old thug and it might be because of an 18 year old. Friendship is very important too. I also thank Koundamani, Manivannan and Vadivel for sharing the screenspace with me and also make my movies tolerable by their comedy”

Jayam Ravi was spotted at a telugu theatre and was asked to talk about his views on the same...
"Girls will always go for guys who are lively/jovial/something something or disciplined/mokkai/dad's child.. or ..or..or..err... just wait till Siddharth's next movie is released!"

Ms. Reporter feels its not the right time to meet Vikram, who is working on Pithamagan and may talk/look like someone from the Apocalypto crew.

Kamal, meanwhile announces that he doesnt believe in marriage anymore. But dude, that’s an extremely late realization, you’ve married thrice till date!
On questioned about Simbhu's reply, Kamal argues,

"Love is divine, if u have the heart to donate blood to anyone, then it is love and you are God "

Forbes 'SAFE' 17

Given below is a list of companies/corporates that are a part of the famed forbes 2000 along with their respective taglines. Now,forget the company name and read just the taglines.Consider those taglines to be that of some misc company.
Don't mind a few shades of crudeness...
Arranged in increasing order of suitability/aptness.

THE FORBES Safe-17

17.Everything is Possible - HP

16.Your partner for life - Max new york

15.A Passion to Perform - Deutsche Bank

14.The Stuff of life - kmart

13.Experience. Results. - CSC

12.Make Every Day Exciting - FORD MOTOR

11.All you Desire. – TOYOTA INNOVA

10.The Complete Man - Raymonds

9.Bond with the Best - Reid and Taylor

8.Because Health Matters - SANOFI AVENTIS

7.Be Fearless. SYMANTEC

6.Accenture - High Performance. Delivered

5.The citi never sleeps - CITI BANK

4.Do More with Less - Windows XP ~~~~ Your Potential Our Passion - Micro'soft'

3.Connecting people - NOKIA

2.You can do it. We can Help - Home depot

1.The world puts its stock in us - NYSE New York Stock Exchange

;)

A year that was at college!

Dressed neatly in light blue designer shirt and dark blue slightly faded blue jeans, I clomped towards the beaming main auditorium, trampling across lush green lawn on a pleasant august forenoon...
Big day it was for 630 newbies to the famed SSNCE for it was a new chapter for a happy go lucky student and a grander stage to compete with the best in the business for the studious population...
As I opened the huge brown doors of the audi, the chattering sound of everyone resonated loudly and it took me sometime for the intensity of the occasion to mellow down in my mind.Nervous but excited eyes,astute ears, yabbering mouths and restless anxious minds all set to undergo a major transition in their life.

That was 295 days ago, with loads of dreams,which never materialized and was unaware of the unexpected changes that would creep into me gradually as days roll by.

Set aside the subtle changes in me, there are few realisations derived from my experience in college wiht quashed pre-college dreams

#Chennai is not Madurai
#Class getogether is not 30 mins away... It requires either careful planning or immense luck
#While in school,you dream of wearing colorful funky dresses in college but then you hit reality after joining college
#Be careful about the number printed in your designer tshirt unless you want to be compared with the person of the corresponding roll number
#Will be promoted even if you fail
#NO more restrictions on participation of other coll culturals
#Noone can live a kollywood college hero life
#Remember canteen is always crowded and beware of funny conniving pranks of your friends!
#You have to indeed study in college, atleast to pass
#Been to Mayajaal numerous times bt not once after joining college
#Pop corn costs shoot up eight times the original price on entering a multiplex
#Average speed of a vehicle in the city(except that of the CM's) is approx 6 km/hr during traffic extremum
#Word spreads fast, not necessarily true

The first week of college wasnt that uncool as I expected it to be. Felt anxious about making new friends and derived pleasure from the same feeling that shown evidently in every other classmate's face.Classes did happen as against the most essential logic of kollywood movies that centered around college life,though with lighter intensity and better interaction, but all the same for me.. YAAAWN

People who were ready to unwind fastly formed close knitted friend circles way early.
Having utilised my weekly co-curricular classes in school to great effect for the purpose of doing a week's pending homework, there was so little for me to improve on and so vast an area to start! Hence i ruled out the prospect of playing any popular outdoor games and finally chose the less-competent squash, which is always short of players. An ordinary performance in internals coupled by a desperate show in the semester exams, a good year in quizzing for a non-stereotypical quizzer like me...

Altogether, my first year at college was a very normal one,lacking in adrenaline rushing moments and conspicuous activities but nevertheless, satisfying for a guy who takes life easily on the stride...


A year that wasnt at college
http://subadeshkanna1.blogspot.com/2007/12/haunting-dreams.html

Blame it on the Warlords !

During the controversial Indias tour down under, when Rohit and Ishant Sharma were chasing the ball off a delicate coverdrive by Gilly, the non-Indian commentator asked Harsha Bhogle seriously if Rohit and Ishant were brothers !

Well, my knack of writing on weird topics, coupled by the mounting pressure on me regarding the upcoming semester exams is probably the reason why am writing on this.

Digging up the monarchical history books of India, one finds that not just the kingdom but king's name is inherited by their successor. The idea of Chandragupta VI is not that fascinating especially for 10th graders, who are flustered by the Roman Numerals and finally ending up writing Maurya the V 's mom as Maurya III 's wife. Not a big deal of concern for us but Maurya IV will definitely mind !
West is infested with the same problem, right from Queen Elizabeth to Louis (roman numeral)...

The Indian emperors, apart from being good samaritans n skilled warlords, were efficient practitioners of polygamy, or infact epitomizing the term ! The royal bloodline itself accounting for a mini empire within an empire, withe everyone sharing the same second name is maybe the reason for the daunting no. of people having the same second name in North India...

So back to the wise commentators, if everyone having Sharma as a second name are brothers, then Ishant (no offense) has easily thousands of brothers and not even the most raunchy pervert of a polygamist dad can ever account for it !

For all such foreigners who share the same perspective that India is a land of Mukherjee,Sharma,Chopra,Singh,Patels,Khan and the rest, welcome...
Take a look at the MP list of the ruling party, and the country's coveted celebrities, am afraid you ll draw absurd conclusions. Rani,Tanisha and Pranab ?
Parthiv Patel, son of the first citizen?
JP yadav...You one among Laloo's wards
IF chopras are all related, Nikhil the offspinner shouldve starred in OSO's songs alongside 'family'.
If Singhs are related,then, Buck hunter,Chain Smoker,Bebo man are all brothers.
Btw,Youngistan woudlve starred Yuvraj Singh or Mahendra Singh had it come a months earlier?
Rahul...Sonia...Mahatma ? Please !

Did we doubt whether Dan Brown and Gordon Brown are related ?
And if all Hussains are related, then Nasser should be behind bars now.
Why was Demi 'Moore' never a Bond girl ?
Cameron Diaz, lone survivor in the bloodline of explorer Barthelome Diaz?
Why is Tottenham's defender King not resorting to peace?
Sinima Pongolle of Liverpool has South Indian origin?

Finally, Subadesh kanna and Twinkle Khanna couple ? ;)

Arasiyal la ithellam sagajamappa !!

Historic Judgement...The 24*7 news channels kept screaming and yabbering all day. The Supreme Court had upheld 27% OBC quota reservation policy. But the deserving having to give way for the reserved is downright deplorable.Talking of equality, quality is forgtten and the auxilliary aspect is that equality doesnt form the crux of this decision. Lok Sabha Polls nearing, all political parties will be trying to propagate this agenda, showcasing their apparent support the verdict.

What is s historic about this? One that could be in contention for the most stunning blunders made by the SC?

And the creamy layer will consist of wards of politicians,engineers,doctors,filmstars,defense personnel,someone who owns a cmpany and a family income of 2.5 lakh plus!
Well, the number of OBC candidates who dont fit into the above mentioned category will be brutally low. The IIMs will probably decide on increasing the no. of seats thus facilitating the new OBC non-creamy layer candidates.

Reservation has crept into almost all fields in the country,diluting quality in the name of equality. The conducive environment of IIMs,which has produced world class professionals has been the ultimate dream of many MBA aspirants form all corners of the country but all their efforts and efficiency and performance is going to be sidelined by the reservation policy.

Imagine a cricket team, where the starting 11 has to be chosen keeping in mind the reservation policy ! Laxman,Dravid,Sachin and Sourav are all of the FC class. And the rest of the INdian batsmen from BC earn well over 2.5 lakhs a month !
Or the Indian football team, already in shambles getting pricked by reservation problem.
Or a bollywood movie plagued by reservation policy... They will have to rope in a troupe from Paruthiveeran to satisfy the rules.

The country should be providing the under privileged all the necessary ammunition for excelling in all quarters and try levelling the playing field, rather than inflicting absolutely insane ideas into the spotless infrastructure of the IIMs and IITs.

When the TN govt announced the scrapping of entrance exams to level the playing field, I had wanted the Central Govt to interfere and rubbish the action. The SC wasnt too supportive of the proposition but finally gave its consent. I appreciated the fact that the Central Government is atleast not fully inclined to the policy of TN.

But now, the enactment of 27% policy by the Supreme Court and the way all National parties have voiced their assent towards it in unison just makes us say...

Arasiyala ithellam saadaranamappa !

After all it is the same old lousy politics...

Madurai Merriment - Vichu's Bday

Extreme Course on Enjoyment - Thats ECE !!

CN Party !

The Fictional Government
Headed by The Mask

Environment Dept - Captain Planet and his crew

The five youngsters and Captain Planet can carry on their after episode cleanliness awareness segment on CN and take care of the Environment. Any issues regarding plastic use or effluent wastage draine in the rivers can be easily solved... GO PLANET and in our case GO india ... with local flavour - Chakde India !!!

The Police Department - ' 'men

Superman, Spiderman, Batman and Phantom can patrol the whole nation for a change. Right from body guarding the PM to saving the small kitten stranded in a tree.
Spiderman, mind you - you are a part of police dept, so don't go around kissing people in dark dim-lit alleys, both normally or dangling clumsily from mid-air.

Woman inequality? The girls created from sugar, spice and everything nice will take care of everything thats not so nice to women society. And also shield from monkey trouble.

CBI - Scooby Dooby Doo and gang can take care of detective and espionage work, with some help from Tweety,Sylv and Granny.

Military - G.I.J.O.E troops will guard the nation border
Swat Kats - Tbone and Centurion's Ace make up the Air Force
Land - Rockwell of Centurions fame and Swatkat Razor
Marine - The sailor man Popeye
And the Defense General - He-Man

Financial Minister - Uncle Scrooge, the riches fictional character will take care of the national treasury, though he wont be allowed to bathe in it as he usually does. This frugal candidate will see to that not even a penny, or in our case paisa is lost wastefully.

Research Wing - Dexter will lead the Research sector of the country and provide solutions to India' problems, with support from Jetson family's expertise.
Johnny Bravo will be the typical celebrity turned politician.
Ed, Edd and Eddy will form the new-age paritran political party in an attempt to topple the government.

Wildlife - Dino the Dinosaur, leased from Freddy Flinstone, Pink Panther, Yogi the Bear, Road Runner and Jungle Book Characters will be employed in Wildlife Sanctuaries and subsequently India will evolve as the the most favourite hotspot of the world.

Agriculture - Popeye will hold multiple topdog posts. The active protagonist of Spinach can do it on a muchbigger scale and on a wider variety of crops. Wonder if he can gulp down a whole pumpkin !

Bugs Bunny will be the President. If the party is found to be incapable, then he ll dissolve the parliament with the iconic

THATS ALL FOLKS !!!

Why I dont want to become a Cricket umpire

Why I don't want to be a cricket umpire...

Off to off-field jobs... Umpiring would be a good option but with skippers hogging the work of umpires lately, that will prove to be laborious too. Nor can I dodge those mighty hurricanish bludgeoning straight down the ground by pinch-hitters.Nor can I watch non-subcontinental spinners bowl the same line in a drab way.Monty - an exception, I would give batsmen out just to watch him celebrate in his zany ways. Flat benign tracks which don't offer assistance to any mode of bowling and I cant just be watching the batsmen exploit such conditions and never get a chance of drinking gatorade while someone gets out.

I dont like the idea of being under scrutiny as I won't give Sachin out in the most fictitious of the dreams.
Bowled or caught or both... No - Ball.
LBW eh? My head will be ever ready to shake ( would love to add a digitus impucidus-middle finger salute)

And also the thought of carrying those sweat drenched hankies, glasses and battered foul-smelling caps of bowlers while they are bowling... Ugh ! Signalling four or six or leg-byes to empty stands when some away team is playing will perhaps top the charts for the most ridiculous sight in sports. With excellent tigerish fielders filled sides like Australia, I always have to be on the run to avoid their cannon-like impeccable throws and simultaneously monitor the stumps closely to check on possible run-outs. And the critics easily write us off as incapable when we refer to the 3rd umpire ass often... To hell with them.

After ditching the traditional white apparel for ODIs in the lines of commercialization of the game following the advent of Kerry Packer series, the ICC officials never spared a thought about the umpire's boring and sick white dress. No wonder, cricket players get all the limelight and celebrity girls ( though its for certain that they ll be dumped after a tour) . Another strong reason is that I am not good at pacifying verbal duels and even worse, expert at aggravating it. So the next time you see me umpiring for an Ind-Aus match, you can well expect WWE style clashes on field between Symonds or Hayden and Bhajji. And how I wish I could dance with Sreeshanth while he performs breakdance steps...

Thousands of thoughts will revolve in my head
~~Wow that hot chick sitting within my eyesight in the pavilion stand looks great ~~Damn that third umpire guy, sitting relaxed in his a/c room absolutely idle and just have to press a button to my rare query ~~ How I wish I could have a bluetooth device on for Hawkeye updates ~~ Jeez, this bowler's hankie smells worse than my socks, will never signal no-ball to him as it might prolong the time I have to carry this piece of shit ~~ You hard hitting batsman, dont ever think of hitting in my direction or I'll dismiss you for LBW on a bouncer ball ~~ Now,where is the restroom? ~~ Next tea break, I should somehow usharpannify or flirt with that Pepsi cart girl ~~ OMG, Symonds at mid-on position, even harder now to dodge his accurate throws ~~

But circumnavigating the globe ( OC la ) will be great fun and things can't get any better in Carribean beaches %-). And the bitter side of touring is Srilanka's sweltering heat and pathetic looking girls. ( Now, don't accuse me to be a racist!)
The other secret desires - to trip a bowler during his run-up and watch him tumble with that wicked smile, during India-is-gonna-lose-for sure situation declare the match abandoned due to poor light or do a Darrel Hair act.
Bribery am totally against it ... wait let me complete ... when am not involved in it.
Bribes welcome... be it a million bucks in cash or shares in Reliance or few sq.m of land along the IT corridor,Chennai !!!

BUZZ !!

X - Hiii... Wassup?
Y - Nm u shud oly tel me

Everyone who knows how to use a computer ( which implies IMs and Mozilla) would've come across the above conversation. Stupidity, but noone admits nor cares.Absurdness, it will seem like for someone new to the IM world,and a perfect example of a normal start to a conversation for a seasoned IM user.

The usual pre-signing out msg is cya,tc,gn,sd.
Why is that 'take care' for when everyone knows you are going to enjoy a peaceful sleep and that there are no harmful microbes lying undercover under your bedcovers or a cold blooded assassin waiting to stab you from inside the closet.
Goodnight and sweet dreams... Warmly and hearty wishes but the invconvenient truth is that noone means it.

Wassup ? Well that question cannot have answers as people take to chatting when they are bored or nothing to do or not bothered to work. So, a nothing much will evidently be the answer and you already know that. Though perplexing, nothing much is the phrase over which several hours of animated conversations are curiously built upon.
Answers like ceiling or sky... Doh, please grow up !

People with busy,in a meeting and be right back display titles(whether true or not), you could do without them. Or add " in'x' mins " to the phrase to serve some purpose.
Emoticons is another such topic.Its however true that statements and info that can't be exchanged over the phone or in reality, can be done without any discomfort or hesitation. You can always something controversial and if the reciever is enraged at it, you can add up with ;) just kiddin

The other day, while finding time to talk over the phone to a friend, I was narrating animatedly about some rumours on the round about me in my college.
Instead of making ahem ahem sound by modulating the voice, my friend actually said "ahem ahem" !

And least but still the last, certain people, in the objective of enlivening the conversation, suffix normal words with respective characters like
Hiiiiiiiiiii ; what ???????????????????????? ; oieeeeeeeee ; byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Imagine everyone talking or behaving the way they chat on IMessengers with wassup, lol, rotfl,BUZZ !! and by the time you finish byeeeeeeeeeeee, the intended recipient will be miles away. And you can never have two IM windows on, chatting simultaneously. Greeting one friend who had just come online with "heyy! long time since we chatted :( " while in the other window bitching, " god, the boring idiot online now". When someone cracks out a joke, try rolling on the floor laughing ( rotfl) or give a :D when someone ridicules you or give a :P while snapping at your friend or try saying you look bad followed by ;) to your latest crush....


Thinking about all this.... LOL !

Parottas, Temples and XII C !

Saturday (22nd March) - As I set afoot on my hometown madurai soil, I shuffled my hair in response to the silent breeze in my direction. I was back in Madurai after my longest absence from the city, 82 days and I was exceedingly on a hyper and floating.Its a beautiful city with a flower like architecture and famous not for its Tata Sumos,ruffians and Veecchu Aruvaals (as demonstrated in movies) but for its Temples,Jasmine,Parottas and overwhelming hospitality.

Nothing had changed in the city, I observed, as the autorickshaw cruised through the traffic less yet busy streets of the earlymorning Madurai to my spacious residence in KK.Nagar. With open arms and a gleeful smile, my tata opened the door followed by a warm amiable welcome from the rest of the family. A feeling of unusual comfort crept into me as I stepped into my room, whose walls know me better than any other person or thing. After catching some Z's for a few hours, I woke up to my mobile screamin out Bon Jovi's Have a Nice day...

After buying some novels for my friend and hogging at British Bakery's flagship outlet at Town Hall road, 8-9 fellas visited our school for perhaps the first time after passing out. Desperately wanting to catch a glimpse of my 12 C classroom, I climbed the stairs while million memories of my school days converged in my mind. The 12 C bench, which saw me famously sleeping while standing and providing a solace to me when not being able to withstand lectures...there it was, moved few feet upfront but still bearing the scars of my pathetic artistic engraving and the sheen of having lodged the 12th grade blabbermouth me hasn't faded a bit.

Almost my entire gang thronged at Veeru's place and splurged into loud merriment for almost an hour. Dinner at Carnival followed. More friends to meet the next day and more matters to discuss about. After a long talk with my whole family, I left 647,KK.Nagar at 8.30 pm and started for the railway station. I sat upright on the platform bench, hoping the audio speaker nestled on a towering steel pillar to yell - Nellai Express has met with some problem and is rescheduled to leave the city only the next day. But it never did. The train was bang on time and I lifted my feet off the ground and got into the train.

And I was no longer floating nor on a hyper...

Kingly King !

While channelhopping on TV, my eyes widened at the sight of Superstar dancing for a song from a movie, which used to be one of my childhood favourites.
A 1980s Rajnikanth starrer - Rajadhi Raja.
Nadhiya,Radha,Janakaraj,Radharavi and Anandraj were the other common names
in the movie.

Story in a nutshell - Rajni taking revenge on radharavi for the death of his dad
and friend by making his other lookalike act in his place.

Nothing was believable in the movie, right from two look-alike rajnis but different parentage to how they both curiously have the same voice and hairstyle.

Even the villain, who is supposed to be wicked and smart is not able to recognise Rajni incognito.In cognito as in,he wears orange clothes and sports a white beard and in the climax, he sports the one eyed look.Everything else is intact!
And god knows how the villain and his entourage managed to contact the magician rajni and why they couldnt recognise them.

The other Rajni agrees to act in the other Rajni's place after talking for a minute with him ! Which stupid insane duffer will agree to such a life-risking affair. In the ultimate climax, Raja drives his car straight to the scaffold room inside the prison. Excuse me,but dint prisons in the 80s have something called compound walls and security guards? Or was the movie scripted by JK.Rowling?

And Rajni is a mix of Superman and Spiderman as he enters Nadhiya's home with ease and handles seven ruffians(who in reality can finish off Rajni in seconds) with ease as if they are lifeless things. And the ever noisy Janakaraj lightens up the movie with his loud so-called comedy.

The usual big villain in the end whom Rajni trounces and vanquishes after initially taking blows; five songs promptly propping up every 30 minutes and a fite sequence every 30 mins; the artificial sets which can be easily identified ;songs with colorful sets and apparel.

But, Ilayaraja's pacy songs including the classics - En Kitta Modhathey and Maama Un Ponna Kudu songs hog the limelight.
The highlight of the movie is when Rajni takes on six people (the leader,two coll kids, two bald heads and one semi-bald) after dodging from them for the first minute and then striking back at them(Yup, like the movie Sachein).

Everything about the movie has room for people to criticise but then the one factor that nullifies everything is

SUPERSTAR

which is precisely why I watched the whole movie today for probably the tenth time:D

Chronicles of School days - I ... Why blood? Same blood

Mrs.Banu, my XII cse teacher and also my class incharge was teaching some C language crap during december. Me and Ambi were sitting in the last bench with Raj and Muhilan in front of us. Having been warned umpteen times not to talk during class, we were constantly gibbering and gossiping and giggling. And the watchful Mrs.banu ordained us to stand for the rest of the class. Not being able put up with the lecture anymore, I managed to doze off while standing thinking am hidden from her view by Raj.

And to the horror of everyone, I fell aside while sleeping and as a result, ambi was disturbed from his stance clumsily and she noticed it. And due to my special ability to sleep while standing,the whole group got into trouble.She sent us out of the class and dismissed our apologies at the end of the period and also the following day. Finally, on the third day, we went to Commerce class while she was lecturing. She made us wait outside that classroom. Raj and me were talking about Muhilan's goofy act earlier and started laughing meanwhile keeping an eye on the entrance of the class to check whether Mrs.banu is watching us or not. She came out of the class and yelled at us for talking n laughing even while waiting outside her room to apologise.

~~ Uh-hoh, the class had windows ! ~~

She was so furious that she ordered us to meet the principal immediately and more drama was to follow.
We waited outside P's room.And made sure she isn't watching out from tinted windows by calculating the angle from her table. Me and Raj started laughin at ourselves to have messed up things and were cursing fate. Presuming it wont be a big problem convincing our principal, we walked in to find in absolute horror, a huge mirror in the room and a scorning principal.

We could see in the mirror,the place where we had been standing and laughing outside her room moments ago.

And you don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to know what happened next !

Why blood ? Same blood ;)

American mappillai Dulhaniya Le Jayenge !

I detest those Indian guys in USA. Seriously.

The Indian population in US partly consists of guys who havent been able to secure a decent job in India and going off to USA. They see off the criticisms by not-so-well-wishers by smartly saying MS in US had always been in the back of their mind and that job+money is not what they are after but knowledge.
~ Adeengu ! ~

If we have a look at their past records, the history will be as dismal as anything.
Bad marks in 12th coupled with a never heard before course in a deemed university or a college ranked onehundred and soccham. 60% in college and to join the party is his abysmal under-average performance in numerous on-campus interview ( if any in their college) and screwing up royally in all off campus interviews. Crash courses in NIIT and GRE or other competitive exam training course - same story. And between all this comes his girlfriend, who bears with him for four whole years and finally dumping him when all other fellows get a job or pursue non-management quota higher studies.

And our hero, short of ladylove and a job,and with a score of failures under his belt, convinces his parents with stories of electronics being the future of the world and that he can make a good living after doing MS in US. And digging deep down the pockets of his parents, he finally is shipped off to US. And while in US, he isnt going to recuperate for his failures so far. Takes more than two years to complete his 1.5 yr course, anxiety and tension augmenting in his ageing parents. He gets to enjoy great food, babes and also wanders around the city in weekends.

And on the opposite end of the diagonal, there is this pakka prototype of sincere boy, with 1150+ marks in 12th, second day of Anna university counselling, 85% in college, placed in the first company in campus recruitment, works tirelessly for 5 yrs in 6-7 IT companies and never gives a thought about having a girlfriend as his parents are seeking a good alliance(bride) for him.

Bang ! The MS guy reappears in black and white suit, taking away the most goodlooking elite girls in the city with his monumental salary in US and the typical American maapillai accent. And the sidelined sincere fellow has to wait...

American mappillai Dulhaniya Le Jayenge !
(American guy will take away the bride)

Jeppiar 5th standard...oops...ECE symposium

Being just a first year and also relatively new to quizzing circuit, you may raise an eyebrow over the way I criticise this event but you ll back me after reading this.

The JPR college's ECE symposium Quiz Prelims started at around 1.30 and having already missed out on finals of various big quiz events like Techofes and IIT's biz quiz, we were low on confidence and morale and we were badly in need of a victory for motivation. With all the big quizzing moguls assembled at SSN's Instincts 08, we had more than just a good chance of winning this one by storm. We knew what was coming at the first sight of the question paper. Some questions :

When was Benazir Bhutto assasinated? a.26th dec b.27th c.28th
What is the land of cakes ? a.Scotland b.France c.some country which I dint bother to see
The Manchester of India ? ( This one had no choices, a written one...tricky question by their standards! )
And I was actually rolling on the floor laughing when I noticed three questions in Match the following mode !
We handed the papers and the finals was to start in another 10 mins.
We qualified.


And at 1.50, the "grand" quiz finale started, equipped with overhead projector and a huge working crew. Seeing this big horde of quiz organisers, I felt the questions will be of decent material. And they announced Round two - Dumb C
~~ Dumb -C? I think am in the wrong place~~

After explaining the rules of the round ( 2pts maximum can be scored in this round ) , Pravin was asked to enact MNCs and they had told earlier that the Dumb-C will be based on simple things. Can anyone explain on what basis, multi-national companies 'is' an object ??
And the other team got 'college', where they just pointed to the floor and got it right.... I swore that I wont give a hifive ever again after seeing that team (all smiles) exchange highfives after getting college right !

The third round was a video round where a 20sec clip was played and questions were asked on our observation power. Like how many cars in the entire clip and the pick of them....
A black and white video followed by the following questions - What was the color of the horse and question 2 - what was the color of the shoe ! Duh, it should either be black or white...
I went straight to the so called quiz master and asked, when the actual quiz will start and when this stupid crap will end...And the reply was even more baffling, " This is a nontechnical quiz. So... " never completed the sentence.

So, in a technical quiz they ll show that stupid video of a car race and ask what circuit is used in the speedometer? What crap !

I had an ominous feeling that the next round will be even more worse than the previous ones and so was it !
Audio round was announced.
~ Yikes ~
We were played a 20 sec speech of someone in some language. Thanks to a misfunctioning audio system ( the speakers were deliberately turned away from us as if the speaker is right there inside it), we couldnt even makeout the language.
And the answer Fidel Castro in cuban language I suppose.
We lost the quiz.

I remember answering the second question Scotland when I was in fifth grade during Maggi quiz finals. And people here havent grown up.

SSN Instincts 2008

Hordes of hoardings galore, legions of students having a blast and voila... SSN Instincts is back this year, aggrandized to ultra-extravagance and providing the best platform for champions and aspirants to battle it out.

This three day cultural fest boasts a gripping schedule ranging from live alfresco rock show by the heavy metal band Scrath to Quiz events and with prize money so monumental that it may hamper its own credibility !

Having enjoyed a consummate fling at sweet success and participant's overwhelming extolling satisfaction over the past years, Instincts has always proven to be the talk of the town. Being one of the most favourite culturals in South India, the students turnout has scaled unbelievable heights and getting better and better everyyear.

Whether it is the fun filled informals or the state's elite racking their brain out in the much admired quiz event or the finest heads competing at various fine arts events or the dancers sweating it out in the choreo nite, Instincts assures 3 days of pure rocking fun, and in the unlikely case that you cant attend, then you are definitely missing something...Big time !

For a detailed insight about the various events
Check www.instincts08.com/schedule.html

Get a taste of whats in store at Instincts 08 by the few highlights that I've listed:

~~SS Music, the 24hr Southie channel will be conducting on-site Voice hunt contest

~~Vikram,the man of the masses and the Bollywood heartthrob is likely to be the Chief guest to inaugrate this three day bash.

~~ Terrific sponsors who have supported the fabulous event includes HCL,Satyam,Witco and a lot more. Also featuring media partners like SS music,Radio One,Pagalguy.com...
( I've just mentioned few of the innumerous sponsors)
The entire list of sponsors - http://instincts08.com/sponsors.html

~~ As already mentioned, an alfresco live rockshow by the band Scrath on Thursday eve

~~ The whole show culminates with the Choreo night on Saturday the 8th

~~ Myriad volunteers, on campus foodstalls and lot more...


And for Chennai people to commute to SSN through college buses, check out for busroutes - http://instincts08.com/bus.html

With a laborous organising crew spending backbreaking days and sleepless nights to make it a successful and an I-cant-believe-what-am-seeing event, Instincts 08 promises to be a cracker of a cultural festival.So, fasten your seatbelts as the adrenaline pumping action filled Instincts is all set and raring to go !

When the God of luck smiles on you...

After speaking to the daughter (12th grader) of my dad's close friend, my mind was clouded with thoughts that have been shrouded…

Had luck and fortune not been my allies in my 12th grade, I would’ve ended up in the same college, but as a candidate taking up an unworthy undeserving reserved seat. Phew, those torturous moments when my school principal loathed me in front of everyone ( not that I cared) and deeming a group of elite students as the strong prospects of getting the maximum marks, and terming me as a headstrong talent-wasting taking-advantage-of-parents-absence guy. Sweet revenge. And revenge becomes more sweet when you don’t have an idea of taking revenge but end up having taken a glorious revenge. I wasnt even studying as a normal person will do normally.

And I used to curse those role models that I was asked to look upto in order to succeed. The first three months of 12th grade probably set atone a thumping year, but it never materialized. I know there would’ve been myriad raised eyebrows and unbelieving gasps from people who were close to me and who knew my preparation all along when I announced my new marks, bigger after revaluation. Just try telling them subadesh deserved the marks that he got finally, and you will leave with bruised eyes or a swarm of expletives. And for the greater part of people who will never accept anything written above, I don’t give a fish.

Me, S.Gowtham and lot others were discussing nothing more than the capitation fees in various colleges till the public exams. The most nightmarish situation (I pray no one should get into) that I got into but recovered finally was that on the day before chemistry exam, at 10.00 PM, i had 400 more pages to go in organic chemistry ( that carbon crap) . The value of cut off marks in 12th is largely under weighed and consequently, it is not bothered about by teachers and students alike. And those smart, prudent students who revere only cutoff marks will finish off the exams as a piece of cake. And those unfortunate chaps who are narrow minded to take into account only the total marks and the parallel praises that he ll get from his school and relatives will have to choke and finally get into an average college ( anyway we ll end up in the same IT company eventually, but that’s a different thing) !

And yeah, resuming what I actually intended to say…

She said she had been told stories about me being a hardworking brainy fellow and also that

she has to look upto role models like me in order to succeed and obviously she would’ve cursed me.

See … History repeats…!