"How much of what we readily identify as 'progress' in urban-industrial society is really the undoing of evils inherited from the last round of technological innovation?"
Quoted from: "Where the Wasteland Ends", Theodore Roszak, 1972.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
यह टाइटल हिन्दी मे क्यों लिखा है??
While I understand that there is a much greater emphasis on ethnicity these days, I do not know why my blogger account suddenly converts my post titles into Hindi - nor do I know how to change it. If anyone has any ideas that could help me choose when I want to change the Title language, shoot me a mail. Otherwise, just shoot me.
Anyway, the topic of today is, Inspiration Expiration. I am required by college to design a piece of headgear for my 3D class, and our teacher has been giving me the toughest time ever. She wants us to take inspiration from anything we choose, convert it into a motif (or a set thereof), and create our headgear. Now, that seems simple enough, doesn't it? Well, it's not. I can think of so many things that inspire me, but I can't create the motifs for them that are simple enough to create, nor can I blend them together. I have had a whole set of ideas that include Animals, Eyeballs, Organic Shapes, Things to do with the Head, Psychedelica, Nikki Catsouras' Car Crash (which is bloody damn gory), Gullwing Doors and the global Phoenix, but there's nothing synchronic that I can see between them.
I know that I could just pout together some 2-bit piece of junk and talk my way around it being a fantastic concept that is 2 years ahead of its time, but that's not how I want to achieve my grades. I was really looking forward to this project, armed with an armada of ideas that one-by-one got shot down during 3 sessions of discussions with my teacher. Why? Because they are all direct and projects like that have been created in the past - she wants something new, fresh, and totally eye-catching. So do I, but now I'm stuck.
Maybe it has something to do with creator's block, maybe it has to do with laziness, maybe I jsut can't think anymore. But I need to submit this thing - complete - within the next week and I don't even have an idea. Someone please help me out.
Anyway, the topic of today is, Inspiration Expiration. I am required by college to design a piece of headgear for my 3D class, and our teacher has been giving me the toughest time ever. She wants us to take inspiration from anything we choose, convert it into a motif (or a set thereof), and create our headgear. Now, that seems simple enough, doesn't it? Well, it's not. I can think of so many things that inspire me, but I can't create the motifs for them that are simple enough to create, nor can I blend them together. I have had a whole set of ideas that include Animals, Eyeballs, Organic Shapes, Things to do with the Head, Psychedelica, Nikki Catsouras' Car Crash (which is bloody damn gory), Gullwing Doors and the global Phoenix, but there's nothing synchronic that I can see between them.
I know that I could just pout together some 2-bit piece of junk and talk my way around it being a fantastic concept that is 2 years ahead of its time, but that's not how I want to achieve my grades. I was really looking forward to this project, armed with an armada of ideas that one-by-one got shot down during 3 sessions of discussions with my teacher. Why? Because they are all direct and projects like that have been created in the past - she wants something new, fresh, and totally eye-catching. So do I, but now I'm stuck.
Maybe it has something to do with creator's block, maybe it has to do with laziness, maybe I jsut can't think anymore. But I need to submit this thing - complete - within the next week and I don't even have an idea. Someone please help me out.
Friday, October 10, 2008
An Account of the Events after Sunday Evening
I had an awesome dream the other evening - epic, actually. It started off with me going to college and getting my attendance from this lady I don't like, so I told her that I'm late cause my mum died, and so she gave it to me (please do not let this shock you, I use excuses like this often in my dreams. It means nothing, I love my mum very much). Then something happened for an hour that I don't really remember too well.
Then, I was vacationing with dad and Mithila somewhere near some beach, and Mithila was like 9 again, and soooo cute (!) and she decided that she was going to go take a swim in the sea, so dad and I took her to the seashore (there was a fort next to the sea, and some steps leading down into the water where we let her off) and she was damn good at it! She went in a fair distance and was grinning in the water, so I sat by the shore and overlooked her safety while dad went fishing somewhere.
Next scene, and Mithila and I were walking down a parth in the forest somewhere just chatting, she was asking me all kinds of questions and I was talking to her etc etc.
Next scene, I'm at the seaside again, and dad and Mithila are sitting a bit far away along the vurve of the fort's sea-barrier watching the scenery and I decide that if Mithila can do it, so can I. So I dive into the sea and swim a niice, long way out, but I am paranoid that the sea will drag me in. The waters are a bit choppy already, and when I get a bit far out my paranoia changes the mood of the sea and makes it rough, with big, strong waves coming in and leaving, pulling me out. I swim with all my might, and I see dad and Mithila walking towards the steps near the fort, watching me every other wave to make sure that I'm safe. I swim hard, but am not making much progress and get a bit more scared, when I see a strong wave coming in and somehow it catches me in it, takes me a bt high in the air and deposits me close to the steps where I swim up and get to dryish safety next to dad and Mithila. Dad asks if I'm ok, and I tell him that I was a bit frightened as we both - nay, all 3 - observe the ever increasing roughness of the sea.
The sky goes from light blue to darker, approaching a storm grey-and-pink as the waves actually start rising fairly high and get choppier than ever before. Dad and I lock eyes, and just as this happens I see thunder storms literally streaking across the sky, above the treeline where dad and mithila were sitting earlier. I point and tell dad to look, and when i look at him he says "I know! I'm writing all this down" as he shows me a thick stack of papers in his hands. "It makes so much sense cause he was a journalist" I think to myself. Dad gets up and goes somewhere, and now the sky has gone deep grey-black, it's Thunderstorm Time. I take Mithila's hand as I see a pretty damn huge wave coming in from the sea and tell her that we have to get to the other side of the Fort's walls Now. We get up and start climbing the steps fast - Mithila's quite fit nad/or energetic, but then I pick her up (she's so light!) and carry her up to the top of the fort.
We reach the top and decide to turn around and look at the wave, which is a lot closer now and so I decide that we have to get to the bottom on the other side of the wall that we are on top of. I see a beautiful Susanne Roshan to my right, about to talk to her child (she has appeared in my dream, most probably, because before I slept I saw a very pretty picture of her in a magazine). I want to know what she tells her young one so I wait a moment, but then I hear garbled words coming out of her mouth and think to myself, how can anyone marry someone with no ability to communicate, even if they are extremely pretty (this thought is vaguely reproduced here, I cant put the feeling in the most accurate words for some reason). Anyway, we take the steps down towards the inner side of the fort, but then I see the shadow of the Giant wave upon the opposite wall, and just shield Mithila from anything that might happen as we press ourselves against our wall.
The wave comes, splashes all over the place, but we are safe and dry, and thanks to our careful positioning we have avoided any personal tragedy to ourselves. The weather is getting no better as I hear more thunderclouds and flashes of lightening - no time to wonder where Dad is right now, I'm sure he's safe, I have to take Mithila to safety. We quickly walk down to the bottom of the wall, and find a set of old rail tracks. I realize that we are at Churchgate (but it doesn't look like Churchgate, it looks like a railroad track emerging from a tunnel inside the fort, but I knew that it was the old part of Churchgate). I know that it's a really dangerous thing to do to walk into the tunnel and risk getting hit by the train, but then I think that no train will be using these old tracks. So I take Mithila's hand and we fearlessly walk deep into the tunnel. Pitch black. Then I see a light inside the tunnel, and I know this is a train. Nothing that we can do, so I tell Mithila to press herself as hard as she can against the wall we've been walking along, and I do the same. Whoooosh! and the train goes past us. When I open my eyes, Mithila's hand is in mine, and we are both very safe indeed. I see two windows on the opposite wall, and it's as if we are looking into the corridor that leads to 5, Heliopolis from outside the first floor windows. I quickly open them, and place Mithila in the safety of the tunnel first, then climb in myself. It is a sort of parallel tunnel, mainly grey marble and not-too-bright white-light. We walk for a bit, and we reach a door with a security guard. Whaaa..? He asks us just what it is we are doing, and I tell him I have no time for this, does he not see the danger that we are all in? I can feel the dream reaching some sort of epiphany, but I'm flummoxed by the guards next movement. He walks towards a door that I didn't notice earlier, with a digital label on it saying "CardRoom". Why would he go to a card room - why would there be a card-room Here? and why would anyone be playing cards right now?! But I know something is wrong with the definition I have in my head - the mystery is cleared soon enough. The door unlocks, and I see the label has the names of the occupants underneath - "Arun Katiyar, Raven". The door opens and it is confirmed! There sit dad and my friend Devika (Raven), discussing exactly how to stop this stuff - dad looks at me as he sees that I've taken care of Mithila, we all smile smiles of recognition.
The scene closes up into a small white dot, and the dream is over.
ASIDE; 20 minutes later, dreaming blackness and nothingness and the white dot suddenly expands again, and I am back in front of the teacher that took my attendance. While I'm wondering if all that really happened, she looks at me and says "I know your mum's not dead - your not getting attendance!" And I wake up.
Then, I was vacationing with dad and Mithila somewhere near some beach, and Mithila was like 9 again, and soooo cute (!) and she decided that she was going to go take a swim in the sea, so dad and I took her to the seashore (there was a fort next to the sea, and some steps leading down into the water where we let her off) and she was damn good at it! She went in a fair distance and was grinning in the water, so I sat by the shore and overlooked her safety while dad went fishing somewhere.
Next scene, and Mithila and I were walking down a parth in the forest somewhere just chatting, she was asking me all kinds of questions and I was talking to her etc etc.
Next scene, I'm at the seaside again, and dad and Mithila are sitting a bit far away along the vurve of the fort's sea-barrier watching the scenery and I decide that if Mithila can do it, so can I. So I dive into the sea and swim a niice, long way out, but I am paranoid that the sea will drag me in. The waters are a bit choppy already, and when I get a bit far out my paranoia changes the mood of the sea and makes it rough, with big, strong waves coming in and leaving, pulling me out. I swim with all my might, and I see dad and Mithila walking towards the steps near the fort, watching me every other wave to make sure that I'm safe. I swim hard, but am not making much progress and get a bit more scared, when I see a strong wave coming in and somehow it catches me in it, takes me a bt high in the air and deposits me close to the steps where I swim up and get to dryish safety next to dad and Mithila. Dad asks if I'm ok, and I tell him that I was a bit frightened as we both - nay, all 3 - observe the ever increasing roughness of the sea.
The sky goes from light blue to darker, approaching a storm grey-and-pink as the waves actually start rising fairly high and get choppier than ever before. Dad and I lock eyes, and just as this happens I see thunder storms literally streaking across the sky, above the treeline where dad and mithila were sitting earlier. I point and tell dad to look, and when i look at him he says "I know! I'm writing all this down" as he shows me a thick stack of papers in his hands. "It makes so much sense cause he was a journalist" I think to myself. Dad gets up and goes somewhere, and now the sky has gone deep grey-black, it's Thunderstorm Time. I take Mithila's hand as I see a pretty damn huge wave coming in from the sea and tell her that we have to get to the other side of the Fort's walls Now. We get up and start climbing the steps fast - Mithila's quite fit nad/or energetic, but then I pick her up (she's so light!) and carry her up to the top of the fort.
We reach the top and decide to turn around and look at the wave, which is a lot closer now and so I decide that we have to get to the bottom on the other side of the wall that we are on top of. I see a beautiful Susanne Roshan to my right, about to talk to her child (she has appeared in my dream, most probably, because before I slept I saw a very pretty picture of her in a magazine). I want to know what she tells her young one so I wait a moment, but then I hear garbled words coming out of her mouth and think to myself, how can anyone marry someone with no ability to communicate, even if they are extremely pretty (this thought is vaguely reproduced here, I cant put the feeling in the most accurate words for some reason). Anyway, we take the steps down towards the inner side of the fort, but then I see the shadow of the Giant wave upon the opposite wall, and just shield Mithila from anything that might happen as we press ourselves against our wall.
The wave comes, splashes all over the place, but we are safe and dry, and thanks to our careful positioning we have avoided any personal tragedy to ourselves. The weather is getting no better as I hear more thunderclouds and flashes of lightening - no time to wonder where Dad is right now, I'm sure he's safe, I have to take Mithila to safety. We quickly walk down to the bottom of the wall, and find a set of old rail tracks. I realize that we are at Churchgate (but it doesn't look like Churchgate, it looks like a railroad track emerging from a tunnel inside the fort, but I knew that it was the old part of Churchgate). I know that it's a really dangerous thing to do to walk into the tunnel and risk getting hit by the train, but then I think that no train will be using these old tracks. So I take Mithila's hand and we fearlessly walk deep into the tunnel. Pitch black. Then I see a light inside the tunnel, and I know this is a train. Nothing that we can do, so I tell Mithila to press herself as hard as she can against the wall we've been walking along, and I do the same. Whoooosh! and the train goes past us. When I open my eyes, Mithila's hand is in mine, and we are both very safe indeed. I see two windows on the opposite wall, and it's as if we are looking into the corridor that leads to 5, Heliopolis from outside the first floor windows. I quickly open them, and place Mithila in the safety of the tunnel first, then climb in myself. It is a sort of parallel tunnel, mainly grey marble and not-too-bright white-light. We walk for a bit, and we reach a door with a security guard. Whaaa..? He asks us just what it is we are doing, and I tell him I have no time for this, does he not see the danger that we are all in? I can feel the dream reaching some sort of epiphany, but I'm flummoxed by the guards next movement. He walks towards a door that I didn't notice earlier, with a digital label on it saying "CardRoom". Why would he go to a card room - why would there be a card-room Here? and why would anyone be playing cards right now?! But I know something is wrong with the definition I have in my head - the mystery is cleared soon enough. The door unlocks, and I see the label has the names of the occupants underneath - "Arun Katiyar, Raven". The door opens and it is confirmed! There sit dad and my friend Devika (Raven), discussing exactly how to stop this stuff - dad looks at me as he sees that I've taken care of Mithila, we all smile smiles of recognition.
The scene closes up into a small white dot, and the dream is over.
ASIDE; 20 minutes later, dreaming blackness and nothingness and the white dot suddenly expands again, and I am back in front of the teacher that took my attendance. While I'm wondering if all that really happened, she looks at me and says "I know your mum's not dead - your not getting attendance!" And I wake up.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
A Trip Into Space
Meg, this one's for you.
.
.
.
Can you imagine being able send a catalog of photos and logotypes straight into space. How cool is that?
Welcome to Project intospace.org; these guys (this guy? - Arthur Stubbs) plan to send 300 'rockets'into space, and each rocket will be able to hold upto 1000 'astronauts'. Each astronaut will occupy a space of 1 square centimeter upon a sheet 25cmx40cm. According to the website, the scheduled year of launch is sometime in 2010, barring the occurrence of 'Acts of God'.
'Acts of God' are defined as war, epidemic, natural disasters, armed rising, and acts of authority.
How Chuckie.. :-)
Well yeah, so the story goes that I was talking to a friend earlier on today and was being egged on to write something new on what seems to have become a highly inactive blog these days. I told her that I'd think of something, but I just went to sleep instead. Lo and behold! when I woke up from a light snooze, I found a very interesting mail in my inbox - there it was, an invitation to be a part of this little adventure. I think its really cool to be able to send something - anything thats not garbage (i.e. trash/rubbish/human waste/stuff that goes into an incinerator/garbage dump - into the deep void that is the nothingness of space. I always liked travel, and now I can at least send something to a place that I've always wanted to visit.
The hard part here is thinking of what image it should be. It could be one of me, it could be an image of my family, of friends, or a car, or lipstick, or a wire-hand, maybe a bucket, possibly a picture of Shiva, anything. I gotta think hard about this one, but not too hard otherwise I'll never be happy with my decision.
I personally don't know who the target audience is just yet, but I hope to find out pretty soon. I don't know if that'll affect my choice of image, but even now I'm wondering what I could send that would change something, no matter how small and/or insignificant it might be. Suddenly this is turning into a long-term experiment - Mmm. Yummy.
Given the chance (and you can have that chance as well, provided you have some basic qualifications - read on), what kind of image would you send into space? What is it that you would want others in a different time or place to see? Would it matter to you, or would it be something that you wouldn't think about? Whatever it is, now I can't wait for it to happen. There are two ways that you can join this adventure;
you could a) Buy yourself a ticket ($2), or a group of tickets ($30) or a logotype ($25) or b) you could write about this project on your blog, and send the link and your image to takeme@intospace.org
If your interested, do check the site out - http://intospace.org/ (or click on the title of the post), and if you decide to be a part of it and read about it from this blog, please let him know that you heard the idea from here. My picture grows in size with referrals.
Peace, Shanti, Ssspaceness.
.
.
.
Can you imagine being able send a catalog of photos and logotypes straight into space. How cool is that?
Welcome to Project intospace.org; these guys (this guy? - Arthur Stubbs) plan to send 300 'rockets'into space, and each rocket will be able to hold upto 1000 'astronauts'. Each astronaut will occupy a space of 1 square centimeter upon a sheet 25cmx40cm. According to the website, the scheduled year of launch is sometime in 2010, barring the occurrence of 'Acts of God'.
'Acts of God' are defined as war, epidemic, natural disasters, armed rising, and acts of authority.
How Chuckie.. :-)
Well yeah, so the story goes that I was talking to a friend earlier on today and was being egged on to write something new on what seems to have become a highly inactive blog these days. I told her that I'd think of something, but I just went to sleep instead. Lo and behold! when I woke up from a light snooze, I found a very interesting mail in my inbox - there it was, an invitation to be a part of this little adventure. I think its really cool to be able to send something - anything thats not garbage (i.e. trash/rubbish/human waste/stuff that goes into an incinerator/garbage dump - into the deep void that is the nothingness of space. I always liked travel, and now I can at least send something to a place that I've always wanted to visit.
The hard part here is thinking of what image it should be. It could be one of me, it could be an image of my family, of friends, or a car, or lipstick, or a wire-hand, maybe a bucket, possibly a picture of Shiva, anything. I gotta think hard about this one, but not too hard otherwise I'll never be happy with my decision.
I personally don't know who the target audience is just yet, but I hope to find out pretty soon. I don't know if that'll affect my choice of image, but even now I'm wondering what I could send that would change something, no matter how small and/or insignificant it might be. Suddenly this is turning into a long-term experiment - Mmm. Yummy.
Given the chance (and you can have that chance as well, provided you have some basic qualifications - read on), what kind of image would you send into space? What is it that you would want others in a different time or place to see? Would it matter to you, or would it be something that you wouldn't think about? Whatever it is, now I can't wait for it to happen. There are two ways that you can join this adventure;
you could a) Buy yourself a ticket ($2), or a group of tickets ($30) or a logotype ($25) or b) you could write about this project on your blog, and send the link and your image to takeme@intospace.org
If your interested, do check the site out - http://intospace.org/ (or click on the title of the post), and if you decide to be a part of it and read about it from this blog, please let him know that you heard the idea from here. My picture grows in size with referrals.
Peace, Shanti, Ssspaceness.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Singapore
Well, it has been long indeed. Back to square one, almost. But with a new city, a new country, and a new (well, almost) language, there's always some more to say.
I arrived here Saturday morning, on arguably the worst flight I've ever had. Stuck in a seat that wouldn't recline (it was 30E, the last row - directly in front of the lavatory), and that offered the aroma's of people's choice dumps in the loo. I asked for a bargain ticket and I think I got it.
Meera aunty came to pick me up (at 6:30am, local time), and took me around to Pearl's Hill. This is where it all started to go slightly off-course. We got there, and the woman at the admin office could not find my payment form. Utter chaos, carefully and expertly handled by Meera aunty, ensued. While I could barely understand a word the lady was saying, Meera aunty graciously man-handled her into finding my papers, and a promise to find out, in detail, what happened to my reservation. We were told to come back at 1 o' clock, when another lady would be here that we could talk to.
So we wandered off to the other side of the road, looking for a place to have coffee and something to eat. We walked over some bridges, with Meera aunty giving me tip after tip after tip, until I was fairly confident that I'd been in Singapore for at least a month. We hit up a 7-eleven, bought a SIM card and a NETS CashCard (this whole place is freakin' full of electronic convenience - more on that later), and decided to call it quits.
We went to her place, where I finally met Vivan and Vikram uncle, and I chilled there for a while. Vivan showed me around Dover Rise (the locality they stay in), and we had lunch - very yummy paneer (margarine) masala, rice and dal, and aloo-gobi. While there, I also mailed my friend Nishant (he worked at Microland), and told him what was going on. He agreed to try and find me accommodation until my term with Pearl Hill (Hostel) began. Next, we left again for the Hostel, where a woman called Rain (I think that I'm quite liking these names.. they have a very nice ring to them!) handled my situation. She knew exactly what had happened, and within 10 minutes,my problem had been solved. With a big thank-you to Meera aunty, a new key (and a/c!)to my room, and 2 Chinese-Korean room-mates, I felt relieved, and then hungry (for food and action). We said goodbye to each other, and I went to find Nishant.
Now, though we'd talked about Singapore and it's offerings while at Microland, Nishant really got deep, DEEP into Singapore's skin and found for us "Bird's Nest Drink" at Chinatown's MRT. This drink is made from the nest of a swallow (now I know why they're called that). The thing about this particular nest is that it is made from the saliva of the bird, which sticks it to a wall or anything else that its nest can be stuck to. The first sip was bearable, the after-taste was not. But we did it, and we have a picture to prove it, too. Ugh.
The next day was a lot less eventful, especially because I spent about 1/2 of it asleep. I like my room-mates. They're gamers, and know where to eat. Perfect!
Yesterday, I went to LaSalle (the reason I'm here, did I mention that?) and got myself registered as a student, got photo's taken, and blah, blah, blah. I met 3 new students, Hanne Eriksen (Norway) and Vy (Norway/Vietnam), and Tanay Vohra. After a quick bite of octopus (I could go on and on and on about the food here, my god!), we went our separate ways, me to my bed, Tanay to his place, and the 2 girls to a hospital for check-ups and the like.
Update: 4 Days Later..
Today was the first actual day of college. It was okay, strictly speaking. I'm gonna have to work pretty damn hard if I'm to jump the foundation year and go straight to Level 1, which is the basic plan. The more complicated plan is finding financiers for the rest of my education here. Luckily for me, I don't have classes on Fridays, so I ought to put those 24 (fine, 10) hours to good use... Today, it was boiling hot again, but then at 11:19am, the sky suddenly cooled down for a moment, and then the heavens really let rip. I thought the downpour in Bangalore was tremendous but this, this is truly a spectacle to behold. For 10 minutes it poured tsunami-style all around the building, and I could see sunlight 3 blocks away! What a sight (!). The lady that runs the place I stay in is a real bitch in disguise though. She was very nice to me the first day (ref; para 1), but this evening, after a tiring walk that lasted an hour and a half, she was hounding me for some nonsensical reason. Her name is Rain, and I think it fits her quite well too. Just as quickly as she began to bother me, after seven minutes she abruptly stopped, said 'okay', turned on her heels and scrammed.
I also went quite broke today, and things are looking like they shall remain this way for the next 2 days, until my account opens up and the moneh flows back in. Man, I feel terrible spending dad's cash, especially when i convert it back to rupees at the end of each day. But enough of the rambling - I've walked like 10km today, and it's about time that I went to bed. Gnight!
I arrived here Saturday morning, on arguably the worst flight I've ever had. Stuck in a seat that wouldn't recline (it was 30E, the last row - directly in front of the lavatory), and that offered the aroma's of people's choice dumps in the loo. I asked for a bargain ticket and I think I got it.
Meera aunty came to pick me up (at 6:30am, local time), and took me around to Pearl's Hill. This is where it all started to go slightly off-course. We got there, and the woman at the admin office could not find my payment form. Utter chaos, carefully and expertly handled by Meera aunty, ensued. While I could barely understand a word the lady was saying, Meera aunty graciously man-handled her into finding my papers, and a promise to find out, in detail, what happened to my reservation. We were told to come back at 1 o' clock, when another lady would be here that we could talk to.
So we wandered off to the other side of the road, looking for a place to have coffee and something to eat. We walked over some bridges, with Meera aunty giving me tip after tip after tip, until I was fairly confident that I'd been in Singapore for at least a month. We hit up a 7-eleven, bought a SIM card and a NETS CashCard (this whole place is freakin' full of electronic convenience - more on that later), and decided to call it quits.
We went to her place, where I finally met Vivan and Vikram uncle, and I chilled there for a while. Vivan showed me around Dover Rise (the locality they stay in), and we had lunch - very yummy paneer (margarine) masala, rice and dal, and aloo-gobi. While there, I also mailed my friend Nishant (he worked at Microland), and told him what was going on. He agreed to try and find me accommodation until my term with Pearl Hill (Hostel) began. Next, we left again for the Hostel, where a woman called Rain (I think that I'm quite liking these names.. they have a very nice ring to them!) handled my situation. She knew exactly what had happened, and within 10 minutes,my problem had been solved. With a big thank-you to Meera aunty, a new key (and a/c!)to my room, and 2 Chinese-Korean room-mates, I felt relieved, and then hungry (for food and action). We said goodbye to each other, and I went to find Nishant.
Now, though we'd talked about Singapore and it's offerings while at Microland, Nishant really got deep, DEEP into Singapore's skin and found for us "Bird's Nest Drink" at Chinatown's MRT. This drink is made from the nest of a swallow (now I know why they're called that). The thing about this particular nest is that it is made from the saliva of the bird, which sticks it to a wall or anything else that its nest can be stuck to. The first sip was bearable, the after-taste was not. But we did it, and we have a picture to prove it, too. Ugh.
The next day was a lot less eventful, especially because I spent about 1/2 of it asleep. I like my room-mates. They're gamers, and know where to eat. Perfect!
Yesterday, I went to LaSalle (the reason I'm here, did I mention that?) and got myself registered as a student, got photo's taken, and blah, blah, blah. I met 3 new students, Hanne Eriksen (Norway) and Vy (Norway/Vietnam), and Tanay Vohra. After a quick bite of octopus (I could go on and on and on about the food here, my god!), we went our separate ways, me to my bed, Tanay to his place, and the 2 girls to a hospital for check-ups and the like.
Update: 4 Days Later..
Today was the first actual day of college. It was okay, strictly speaking. I'm gonna have to work pretty damn hard if I'm to jump the foundation year and go straight to Level 1, which is the basic plan. The more complicated plan is finding financiers for the rest of my education here. Luckily for me, I don't have classes on Fridays, so I ought to put those 24 (fine, 10) hours to good use... Today, it was boiling hot again, but then at 11:19am, the sky suddenly cooled down for a moment, and then the heavens really let rip. I thought the downpour in Bangalore was tremendous but this, this is truly a spectacle to behold. For 10 minutes it poured tsunami-style all around the building, and I could see sunlight 3 blocks away! What a sight (!). The lady that runs the place I stay in is a real bitch in disguise though. She was very nice to me the first day (ref; para 1), but this evening, after a tiring walk that lasted an hour and a half, she was hounding me for some nonsensical reason. Her name is Rain, and I think it fits her quite well too. Just as quickly as she began to bother me, after seven minutes she abruptly stopped, said 'okay', turned on her heels and scrammed.
I also went quite broke today, and things are looking like they shall remain this way for the next 2 days, until my account opens up and the moneh flows back in. Man, I feel terrible spending dad's cash, especially when i convert it back to rupees at the end of each day. But enough of the rambling - I've walked like 10km today, and it's about time that I went to bed. Gnight!
Monday, April 16, 2007
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGHHHHH!!!
sothisistogetallthatenergyouttamybodyandmindthatrefusestoletmestudyordoanythingelseandisgivingmesomeserioustensionandanxietyandgodknowswhatelseandireallycanttakeitanymoreandiwannakillsomethingorsomeoneandtheniwannagotogoaanddanceallweekandgetridoftheIBandofeverythingelsethatsoppressnigmeandifeitherarjunravinarayanorsnehanarayansayanythinglhereandarepussiesanddontstictheirnamesontheirpostsagainthenimgonnakillthemandhuntthemdownagainandbeattheshitouttathatassholemotherfuckersonofacunt.
Thank You.
Thank You.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
An Account of Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th of December, 2006
This is an account of what happened from Friday afternoon right up until Saturday evening when I finally touched down at the Bangalore International Airport... hope this amuses you guys. It ought to make a rather interesting story...
So, we (Hannah and I) left MUWCI on Friday, after a delay of about an hour, with Tom, Annabelle, Francis and Jerome for Pune. We were supposed to go with Zaen, but we were fortunate that we didn't as his jeep just didn't turn up, and then we'd have been completely screwed. By the time we got to Pune, it was about 5, and so we went and shopped Clover centre for Hannah's Golden Virginia (if you dont know what it is, it doesn't matter. Just know that we went to shop for it) and filters. Then, we decided that the time was right to catch a bus to Bombay. So we scuried off to the train station, where we found a busthat was supposed to leave in 5 minutes (it was 5:40 when we got there), and we promptly got onto it. The journey was scheduled to take 3 hours we were told, but after sleeping on the bus for an hour and waking up to an A/C dripping on me and blowing in my face, I was startled to realise that we were still in Pune city. By the time we got onto the highway, it was already 6:45, and so we decided to pull out my laptop and watch Madagascar on it. Soon, we paused at a local rest-stop along the expressway, and hurriedly had a cigarette and pav-bhaji, and we even managed to find a power-point to charge my laptop. Just as we finished eating, our bus decided that it wanted to leave, so we ran back to the bus. As we were heading to it, we found a Mia and a someone-else in a jeep, also presumably heading to Mumbai International Airport. We waved em off, and got back onto the bus, and continued watching the movie. As we were about 2/3rds through the movie, my laptop died a gruesome and unflattering death, and so we fell asleep (I did, at any rate...), and was awoken from my sleep just as it was getting good to the Dadar bus stop scenery. Looking at my watch, I found that it was already 11:15!
We took a cab straight from there to Colaba, as it would be pointless trying to catch a train at that hour, not to mention moderately dangerous knowing the Mumbai janta (Slang for people). We reached my place by about 11:30, greeted by Hannah's inhibitions about my cousins and relatives not liking her, as well as my cousin's dog's noisy uproar. When we arrived, only my mami (aunt)was there, and so we chilled out a bit, and washed and cleaned up. We sat around for a bit, and soon enough, my cousn Hrishikesh turned up. We sat and I talked to him for a bit, after which he decided he was going to retire for the night, and Hannah was going to smoke downstairs. So we went down for a stroll, she smoked one and we came back up, properly de-smelled. We decided that we wanted to finish watching Madagascar and so we did, after which we proceeded to watch as much South Park as our brains could possibly handle. Soon Yashodeep, my other cousin, turned up from his work, and sat down to talk with us. That got over in a bit, and we all decided to get some deserved rest.
The next morning, we got up at about 7:30 (fine, Hannah got up, and proceeded to nag me till I did too), and had a quick breakfast and proceeded to leave for the airport. We got onto a train by 8:40, and were destined to ehaed to Malad Station, in Andheri. However, by the time we got there, it was already 9:35, which meant that I could either take my baby to the airport and risk taking my flight home, or pack her into a rickshaw and head back myself. I chose the latter, much against my will, and packed her off.
Hannah: Babe, I hope that your rickshaw ride wasn't too eventful, and that things went smoothly. Hope that your not too pissed with me, and that you got home safely.
Then, I went bak to Dadar Station, and managed by some lucky chance to get a bus that left, again 5 minutes after I got there. So, I got onto this bus, and sat there. Now, the guysaid that the bus would leave at 10:05, and I got there at 10:00, so I was shitting bricks as I tried to find it amongst the vast set of Volvo's parked in the damned area. Anyways, I got there, and sat down, only to find that the whole thing was completely empty. By the time we left, I'd been grumbling about the bastards not sticking to time for over an hour. I did, however, ahve a jovial teacher that I really liked sitting next to me, so that kept me entertained throughout the journey. Looking at the time when I got into Pune, it was just 2:50. I figured that I ought to find Zaen and Co. at Mocha (DUH!!) so I headed there. I ended up there at about 3:05, and found to my horror that Zaen, Rico and Naina weren't there. However, it was all smooth sailing now - or so I thought. The stupid stoned genie (terminology couresy Zaen Alkazi 1989- ) couldn't help me out for shit, so I took a salt shaker from there as revenge. The salt shaker broke within two minutes on my left foot - a sure sign of bad luck. By the time I managed to actually get Naina to pick up - I was trying her number for 15 minutes - they were all already at MG Road, getting Nain's ear (or whatever else that it was) pierced. I also found out that my mega suitcase had been transferred to Misha, as she was on the same flight back home.So I got into a rickshaw and made my way to Mars-0-rin,where I found a content Zaen and Rico talknig about american stereotypes, and how they are actually everywhere. The time was 3:35 - a long way to cathing my 5:30 flight home. I was quite content with myself, albiet a little dissapointed knowing now that I might have had the time to take Hannah to the airport after all. We decided that a departure time of about 4:00 was good for us all, as Zaen needed to pick up some film from a place 20 minutes in the opposite direction.
At 4:35, we were still on the road, however, being driven by a sleeping (literally, Zaen and Rico can suport this statement) driver. We decided that if I didn't change direction and destination of travel that instant, I would definitely not make it home that day. So I got out, stumbled across the middle of the road, almost got runover by a bus that decided to swerve dangerously close to the sidewalk, and got into a rickshaw driver on speed. I mean it - this guy had pupils the size of the bloody moon man!! And he talked in fast-forward, in a dialect that only the french could understand. Anyways, by the time we figured out that I neede to get to the airport, it was 4:40, and things were looking very foreboding indeed. The guy finally reasied that I needed to catch a 5:30 flight (who needs to give him 10 extra minutes to relax, eh?) and he started to zip through the streets, taking smart ways around signals, buffalows, pedestrians and the like. At 5:00 we were still well within city limits, after having asked the guy how long left and how far away it was for the umpteenth time, I finally gave up all hope of getting there. I consoled myself thinking that it would be a character-biulding experience missing a flight and figuring out what to do next.
I did, magically, however, reach the airpost at 5:15, and ran in to find a very sour Misha teling me to check my bag in and get a boarding ticket for the flight. So, in a rush, I got my bag checked in, and then the lady at the counter informs me that the flight was delayed by 30 minutes. OK, so it was all smooth sailing again. Good news. So I stand in line with my oversize bag and hoody, waiting to hit security check. When I finally got there, all my stuff went through security check, but for some reason, my jacket kept beeping insanely. So did my shirt. So did my pants. So did my shoes. So did my friggin' navel. So, they strip-searched me. I was in the middle oif security getting myself stripped to my boxers, with the damned metal-detector still beeping like nobody's business. They also found a lighter and my swiss knife in my hoody - they were now convinced that I was there to blow the plane outta the skies. Anyways, after quarantining my knife and lighter, they finally let me go. Went to collect my bag and wallet and stuff, and found that my bag was in the middle of 6 security-surds. Was definitely in trouble. One of them came by and asked me if the bag was mine. When I told them it was and that my flight was in 20 minutes, they told me that they needed to scan it again. So there was another hold up. Upon scanning it, I was told that I had another lighter, another knife, 2 forks, a camera, and a bottle of water in it. So i decided that I didnt need any of them, and I started to unpack. That was when I unpacked a bottle of Vodka that I had completely forgotten about. I asked them what to do now. So they cancelled my boarding ticket, and asked me to get another one issued after checking my bag in to check-in baggage. OK. So, I go out, and the helpful geeky guy asks me what I need, so I tell him. It is now 5:45, and I am starting to get edgy again. The guy unnecessarily puts it through the big X-ray machine again, and checks it in for me, and issues me a boarding ticket. That is when another guy runs from the X-ray machine, and demands my bag. They run it in again, and then they ask my to remove the entire contents of my bag. So, here I am, with 15 minutes to go, unpacking a bag filled with all the sins of MUWCI, wondering whether today is the day that I will get busted or not, and whether I will catch that damned flight or not. Finally, the guy searches my bag, and takes a few assorted things out and hands them to me, like my laptop. Rather confused, and not sure whether to be relieved or not, I grab the laptop, and head for security check again. It is now 5:50, and my flight has started to board, says the nasal woman over the intercom. As I go through security again, I am faced with another checker guy who doesn't believe that I got checked before. So, I go though the strip search again, while the guards are going " Zabardast, puttar!!!" . Bastards. By the time I get out, I am informed that my flight has a minute left to go, and so some random dude comes and offers toescort me to my flight. He takes me running on the tarmac to a Boeng 747-600 and before I know it, I'm getting onto the aircraft home - or so I think. As I climb into the aircraft, I notice that the entire thing is empty, and looking at the card in the side-seat, it shows a flight serial different from mine. Going through this whole proscess in real time took about 10 minutes, and as I looked back despairingly at the guy I told him what had happened. Fortunately, he did have a walkie-talkie, and so before the aircraft had a chance to move - it had been sealed and ready to leave, but yeah - he radioed in and told them to wait up.
All said and done, I did finally manage to make my flight, though it was an absolutly on-the-edge weekend - one that I would not like to experience again anytime soon, but one that I am not likely to forget. Thank you two for being a part of it all. Cheers!!
(Oh, yeah, in case you want to know what happened when I came to Bangalore, I fell asleep in the car, and now it's Monday evening, and I just woke up. It's been a very tiring weekend, after-all....)
Guess this kinda stuff isn't just made for the movies, eh?
So, we (Hannah and I) left MUWCI on Friday, after a delay of about an hour, with Tom, Annabelle, Francis and Jerome for Pune. We were supposed to go with Zaen, but we were fortunate that we didn't as his jeep just didn't turn up, and then we'd have been completely screwed. By the time we got to Pune, it was about 5, and so we went and shopped Clover centre for Hannah's Golden Virginia (if you dont know what it is, it doesn't matter. Just know that we went to shop for it) and filters. Then, we decided that the time was right to catch a bus to Bombay. So we scuried off to the train station, where we found a busthat was supposed to leave in 5 minutes (it was 5:40 when we got there), and we promptly got onto it. The journey was scheduled to take 3 hours we were told, but after sleeping on the bus for an hour and waking up to an A/C dripping on me and blowing in my face, I was startled to realise that we were still in Pune city. By the time we got onto the highway, it was already 6:45, and so we decided to pull out my laptop and watch Madagascar on it. Soon, we paused at a local rest-stop along the expressway, and hurriedly had a cigarette and pav-bhaji, and we even managed to find a power-point to charge my laptop. Just as we finished eating, our bus decided that it wanted to leave, so we ran back to the bus. As we were heading to it, we found a Mia and a someone-else in a jeep, also presumably heading to Mumbai International Airport. We waved em off, and got back onto the bus, and continued watching the movie. As we were about 2/3rds through the movie, my laptop died a gruesome and unflattering death, and so we fell asleep (I did, at any rate...), and was awoken from my sleep just as it was getting good to the Dadar bus stop scenery. Looking at my watch, I found that it was already 11:15!
We took a cab straight from there to Colaba, as it would be pointless trying to catch a train at that hour, not to mention moderately dangerous knowing the Mumbai janta (Slang for people). We reached my place by about 11:30, greeted by Hannah's inhibitions about my cousins and relatives not liking her, as well as my cousin's dog's noisy uproar. When we arrived, only my mami (aunt)was there, and so we chilled out a bit, and washed and cleaned up. We sat around for a bit, and soon enough, my cousn Hrishikesh turned up. We sat and I talked to him for a bit, after which he decided he was going to retire for the night, and Hannah was going to smoke downstairs. So we went down for a stroll, she smoked one and we came back up, properly de-smelled. We decided that we wanted to finish watching Madagascar and so we did, after which we proceeded to watch as much South Park as our brains could possibly handle. Soon Yashodeep, my other cousin, turned up from his work, and sat down to talk with us. That got over in a bit, and we all decided to get some deserved rest.
The next morning, we got up at about 7:30 (fine, Hannah got up, and proceeded to nag me till I did too), and had a quick breakfast and proceeded to leave for the airport. We got onto a train by 8:40, and were destined to ehaed to Malad Station, in Andheri. However, by the time we got there, it was already 9:35, which meant that I could either take my baby to the airport and risk taking my flight home, or pack her into a rickshaw and head back myself. I chose the latter, much against my will, and packed her off.
Hannah: Babe, I hope that your rickshaw ride wasn't too eventful, and that things went smoothly. Hope that your not too pissed with me, and that you got home safely.
Then, I went bak to Dadar Station, and managed by some lucky chance to get a bus that left, again 5 minutes after I got there. So, I got onto this bus, and sat there. Now, the guysaid that the bus would leave at 10:05, and I got there at 10:00, so I was shitting bricks as I tried to find it amongst the vast set of Volvo's parked in the damned area. Anyways, I got there, and sat down, only to find that the whole thing was completely empty. By the time we left, I'd been grumbling about the bastards not sticking to time for over an hour. I did, however, ahve a jovial teacher that I really liked sitting next to me, so that kept me entertained throughout the journey. Looking at the time when I got into Pune, it was just 2:50. I figured that I ought to find Zaen and Co. at Mocha (DUH!!) so I headed there. I ended up there at about 3:05, and found to my horror that Zaen, Rico and Naina weren't there. However, it was all smooth sailing now - or so I thought. The stupid stoned genie (terminology couresy Zaen Alkazi 1989- ) couldn't help me out for shit, so I took a salt shaker from there as revenge. The salt shaker broke within two minutes on my left foot - a sure sign of bad luck. By the time I managed to actually get Naina to pick up - I was trying her number for 15 minutes - they were all already at MG Road, getting Nain's ear (or whatever else that it was) pierced. I also found out that my mega suitcase had been transferred to Misha, as she was on the same flight back home.So I got into a rickshaw and made my way to Mars-0-rin,where I found a content Zaen and Rico talknig about american stereotypes, and how they are actually everywhere. The time was 3:35 - a long way to cathing my 5:30 flight home. I was quite content with myself, albiet a little dissapointed knowing now that I might have had the time to take Hannah to the airport after all. We decided that a departure time of about 4:00 was good for us all, as Zaen needed to pick up some film from a place 20 minutes in the opposite direction.
At 4:35, we were still on the road, however, being driven by a sleeping (literally, Zaen and Rico can suport this statement) driver. We decided that if I didn't change direction and destination of travel that instant, I would definitely not make it home that day. So I got out, stumbled across the middle of the road, almost got runover by a bus that decided to swerve dangerously close to the sidewalk, and got into a rickshaw driver on speed. I mean it - this guy had pupils the size of the bloody moon man!! And he talked in fast-forward, in a dialect that only the french could understand. Anyways, by the time we figured out that I neede to get to the airport, it was 4:40, and things were looking very foreboding indeed. The guy finally reasied that I needed to catch a 5:30 flight (who needs to give him 10 extra minutes to relax, eh?) and he started to zip through the streets, taking smart ways around signals, buffalows, pedestrians and the like. At 5:00 we were still well within city limits, after having asked the guy how long left and how far away it was for the umpteenth time, I finally gave up all hope of getting there. I consoled myself thinking that it would be a character-biulding experience missing a flight and figuring out what to do next.
I did, magically, however, reach the airpost at 5:15, and ran in to find a very sour Misha teling me to check my bag in and get a boarding ticket for the flight. So, in a rush, I got my bag checked in, and then the lady at the counter informs me that the flight was delayed by 30 minutes. OK, so it was all smooth sailing again. Good news. So I stand in line with my oversize bag and hoody, waiting to hit security check. When I finally got there, all my stuff went through security check, but for some reason, my jacket kept beeping insanely. So did my shirt. So did my pants. So did my shoes. So did my friggin' navel. So, they strip-searched me. I was in the middle oif security getting myself stripped to my boxers, with the damned metal-detector still beeping like nobody's business. They also found a lighter and my swiss knife in my hoody - they were now convinced that I was there to blow the plane outta the skies. Anyways, after quarantining my knife and lighter, they finally let me go. Went to collect my bag and wallet and stuff, and found that my bag was in the middle of 6 security-surds. Was definitely in trouble. One of them came by and asked me if the bag was mine. When I told them it was and that my flight was in 20 minutes, they told me that they needed to scan it again. So there was another hold up. Upon scanning it, I was told that I had another lighter, another knife, 2 forks, a camera, and a bottle of water in it. So i decided that I didnt need any of them, and I started to unpack. That was when I unpacked a bottle of Vodka that I had completely forgotten about. I asked them what to do now. So they cancelled my boarding ticket, and asked me to get another one issued after checking my bag in to check-in baggage. OK. So, I go out, and the helpful geeky guy asks me what I need, so I tell him. It is now 5:45, and I am starting to get edgy again. The guy unnecessarily puts it through the big X-ray machine again, and checks it in for me, and issues me a boarding ticket. That is when another guy runs from the X-ray machine, and demands my bag. They run it in again, and then they ask my to remove the entire contents of my bag. So, here I am, with 15 minutes to go, unpacking a bag filled with all the sins of MUWCI, wondering whether today is the day that I will get busted or not, and whether I will catch that damned flight or not. Finally, the guy searches my bag, and takes a few assorted things out and hands them to me, like my laptop. Rather confused, and not sure whether to be relieved or not, I grab the laptop, and head for security check again. It is now 5:50, and my flight has started to board, says the nasal woman over the intercom. As I go through security again, I am faced with another checker guy who doesn't believe that I got checked before. So, I go though the strip search again, while the guards are going " Zabardast, puttar!!!" . Bastards. By the time I get out, I am informed that my flight has a minute left to go, and so some random dude comes and offers toescort me to my flight. He takes me running on the tarmac to a Boeng 747-600 and before I know it, I'm getting onto the aircraft home - or so I think. As I climb into the aircraft, I notice that the entire thing is empty, and looking at the card in the side-seat, it shows a flight serial different from mine. Going through this whole proscess in real time took about 10 minutes, and as I looked back despairingly at the guy I told him what had happened. Fortunately, he did have a walkie-talkie, and so before the aircraft had a chance to move - it had been sealed and ready to leave, but yeah - he radioed in and told them to wait up.
All said and done, I did finally manage to make my flight, though it was an absolutly on-the-edge weekend - one that I would not like to experience again anytime soon, but one that I am not likely to forget. Thank you two for being a part of it all. Cheers!!
(Oh, yeah, in case you want to know what happened when I came to Bangalore, I fell asleep in the car, and now it's Monday evening, and I just woke up. It's been a very tiring weekend, after-all....)
Guess this kinda stuff isn't just made for the movies, eh?
Monday, July 10, 2006
The jeans Small Pocket
The jeans Small Pocket
Originally uploaded by aveek.
The Jeans Pocket. Marvellous contraption, but no one really relises it.
I was watching the World Cup Finals (Viva Azuri!! Zidane is a B*st^rd) when a friend of mine asked me to hold on to his matches, saying he'd need 'em in another minute. So I put them into my pocket, and started to walk along. I started wondering how much pain it was going to be to reach into the depths of my pocket for that tiny matchbox, when alluva sudden it hit me - THAT'S what the the tiny pocket you find in almost any set of jeans' right hand pocket is about!! It's there for nothing except a matchbox.
Think aobut it, thats the only real use that it would have - sureit's been adapted to fit other things. But we all know that it was most certainly not designed to hold most cell-phones, as Motorola might ahve you believe. After all, these things have been around on Jeans when people were holding those monstrocities of cell-phones, that came with a carry-case of their own. They were designed for the working, smoking American miner/worker, weren'tthey?
Jeans were first worn by workers, and the whole drive would be towards practicality, not fashion. The workers needed a place to store a tiny match box that they used tolight things - from ciggarettes to gun-powder, and it was a hassle diving into one's pockets at the most inconvenient of times, so some bright mind must have sown a small pocket into his jeans. Being right handed, thats where it went. The trend obviously caught on, untill at a point, the manufacturers decided that it would be wise to put those little pockets on as standard.
Amazing thing, this little piece of design. Never noticed, but providing a subconscious relief. Ma, the things designers must think of when gonig through the developmental proscess!!
Just thought it ought to be pointed out that one ought not to ignore the tiny things in life that DO make a difference.
Peace.
Aveek
Saturday, July 08, 2006
It's Been A While
It's been a while
Since I could hold my head up high.
It's been a while
Since...
OK, I'm not into the poetry-to-express-yourself on the blog anymore. Enough of that stuff.This is in regard to the appaling fact that I haven't posted in almost 5 months, or some other absurd sounding figure like that.
It's been a month since I got back from campus, assured that I am, in fact, comingback for next year. I am sicerely hoping to rid myself the connection of my2nd years,who are pretty much just plain old coward bastards from the Graduating Class of 2006 - ring a bell, anyone?
Anyways, thats that. The thing is that, I do miss a few people from there, but I just on't think that I was really on the same thinking field as anyone else there. Either that, or it just hasn't hit me yet, which is strange, cause I don't think that it'll ever hit me. I don't even miss the people that I was really close to... not one strand of remorse, guilt(which is not a first), sadness, lust, desire, boredom, nothing. Man, I can barealy even remember what people look like. Sometimes, I acknowledge the fact that there must be something wrong with me. This is not supposed to happen!! I want to ahve funky memories, I want to be able to smile. I guess that its a good thing once in a while to be emotionally detachd from events around you, but man, that has a sucky downside!! I feel like shit!! AARGH!!!
Anyways, enough about that. I finally got to drive, so now I can smirk at my dad as I sit - legally!! - in the driver's side of the car, and fix this shameless grin on my face as I pass him going the other way!! MUHUHOHAHAHAHAHAH!! I've beenwaiting for this since I was 10, and these 8 looookng years are finally paying off. I am going to have sooooo much fun drig=ving around with my frineds for 10 days beofer I'm back off to college. But thats alright with me. Just the knwoledge that I can drive is almost enough to keep me happy.
This is a pretty happy post... and this is where it stops.
Ciao, amigos!!
Since I could hold my head up high.
It's been a while
Since...
OK, I'm not into the poetry-to-express-yourself on the blog anymore. Enough of that stuff.This is in regard to the appaling fact that I haven't posted in almost 5 months, or some other absurd sounding figure like that.
It's been a month since I got back from campus, assured that I am, in fact, comingback for next year. I am sicerely hoping to rid myself the connection of my2nd years,who are pretty much just plain old coward bastards from the Graduating Class of 2006 - ring a bell, anyone?
Anyways, thats that. The thing is that, I do miss a few people from there, but I just on't think that I was really on the same thinking field as anyone else there. Either that, or it just hasn't hit me yet, which is strange, cause I don't think that it'll ever hit me. I don't even miss the people that I was really close to... not one strand of remorse, guilt(which is not a first), sadness, lust, desire, boredom, nothing. Man, I can barealy even remember what people look like. Sometimes, I acknowledge the fact that there must be something wrong with me. This is not supposed to happen!! I want to ahve funky memories, I want to be able to smile. I guess that its a good thing once in a while to be emotionally detachd from events around you, but man, that has a sucky downside!! I feel like shit!! AARGH!!!
Anyways, enough about that. I finally got to drive, so now I can smirk at my dad as I sit - legally!! - in the driver's side of the car, and fix this shameless grin on my face as I pass him going the other way!! MUHUHOHAHAHAHAHAH!! I've beenwaiting for this since I was 10, and these 8 looookng years are finally paying off. I am going to have sooooo much fun drig=ving around with my frineds for 10 days beofer I'm back off to college. But thats alright with me. Just the knwoledge that I can drive is almost enough to keep me happy.
This is a pretty happy post... and this is where it stops.
Ciao, amigos!!
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Backpacking Across the Universe
So, I've been here for over 4 months now, and things have finally become boring. People have gotten used to their mundane routines, and no one wants to step out. Everyone has become the spokes of a wheel, ever in motion, always coming back to the same spot over and over again. Life is stupid. Life is restricting. I don't want to be part of it. I want to live free. I want to act free. I want to think free. I want to be free. And I want others to be free as well.
Last night I asked myself, what am I doing here? Why am I here? What am I getting out of being here? What is it that I really want? What is my purpose in life? Do I have a purpose in life, or is my existence pointless, just a gap to be filled in because we're all just extra's in this huge dramatization of life? I realized that I am doing absolutely nothing here. I sit on my arse and read books, play sports, and help de-weed fields. WOW. Isn't that going to make a difference to everyone and anyone? I realized that I don't want all this information. I want knowledge. It's true. But I don't want the garbage that they teach us in school, college, university, jobs. I want real knowledge. I want to know everything there isn't to know. I want to see everything we think we never will. I want to explore the depths of thought, space, sound, and sense. That is what I want to know. I have no desire to fill my head with 'knowledge' that so many people already know and have already classified. It's a waste of space, when we have everything that we will ever need in the palm of our hands in the form of microcomputers. I would rather that instead of moving through the blackness of the Unknown Thought, holding on far too much to our safety ropes, one of us just let go and took a bold stride into the darkness of beyond and spread the light. At the rate we're going, all we're doing is shooting a tiny beam of light into the vastness, and all that we recover is the infinitely miniscule part of it that blocks the beam. The part directly in front of it - nothing up, down, side to side, after and before it. We know too little, and at the rate that we're going, we'll never pierce this store room of everything that we will ever encounter. I just want to be a light beam and travel to the ends of the universe, and see everything I never will.
Another thing that has really pissed me off is this construct of life. We all live by a set of rules and regulations. Let’s call them restrictions, because that’s what they really are, after all. Society has taught us to think in a specific way, to talk in a specific way, to act in a specific way. Everyone I know just wants to get a good degree, get a good job and own a nice car, a big house and have a happy family. That is their idea of a happy existence. How mundane. Everyone wants to live in a cycle of safety. No one I know is willing to put a stick into the spoke and observe the motion then. No one I know wants to climb trees in the middle of the night with me for fun. No one I know wants to Dive into the pool when its freezing cold, just to see what its like. No one wants to surf the tsunami with me, just for the high. No one wants to stand up and think for themselves. Society has restricted itself from blossoming. We have stuffed ourselves into a box, and cramped our minds into cubes of restricted motion. The worst part of it all is the fact that people create pseudo-happiness when all they have to do is reject the rules. All we have to do is take ourselves out of the box that has been forced upon us for a minute, and we'll see how close-minded we have become. We live in a tiny system. Do you know why Microsoft keeps upgrading? ‘Cause there are flaws in the system. Every system has flaws, and that’s why we move onto a better system, with flaws of its own. With more complex, convoluted flaws, even less evident than the last, but present none-the-less. We need to destroy the system. We need to stop restricting ourselves with these metal constructs, that shouldn't even exist. Every time I meet people, there's always a few who laugh at me, think I'm weird. What they don't see is the fact that I'm outside their world. I am, quite literally, on my own plane. And that is how everyone should be. If we don't like it, then we can revert back, but otherwise what's the point of calling yourself open minded? One of my friends told me that this sounded like it was straight out of some play. What he doesn't know is the fact that we're all part of a huge performance. We are all just actors on a grand scale. Now if only you could walk off stage and into the audience, and watch it with me, you'd see. You'd see the truth. You'd see a more complete picture. What I want to know lies outside, but at this point of time, I can't make it there on my own. I need help. I need someone to come with me. I want someone to come with me. Someone who I can share my freedom with, someone who'll appreciate liberation from liberation as we see it. Someone who'll help me convince more people to take a bite out of this apple. I want someone to get up and walk out of the theatre with me. I wish to know what lies outside this theatre.
I wish to know the truth. I wish to dive, head-first, into the vastness of space, time, and the dimensions. Einstein once said that time was the 4th dimension. I wonder if that’s true. We have become masters of the 3 dimensions. Length, breadth, and height. We have frozen them, and move around in them freely. They are constant, and we move through them, forward and backward, up and down, from side to side. But what about time? Have we managed to control time? We have managed to understand it. Or have we? Is using time to co-ordinate our lives a proper understanding of time? Is it understanding at all? Or is it just usage without comprehension? The sun comes up and goes down every 100,000 times I breathe, so let’s call it something. The 25,00th time I breathe, I should eat a meal. Let’s call it lunch. Is that our 'understanding' of time? I think not. I believe that this is a dimension that we are yet to comprehend. There is more to time than we think. We do not control Time, Time controls us. It pushes us ever forward, despite our attempts to stay still. In order to believe we control it, we have sayings like, "I watched Time pass me by", as if we're a separate entity all-together. But that isn't true. We are all moved forward by this dimension, regardless of our orientation. We do not control this dimension - it controls Us. How does it control us? Is it, after all this, just a mental construct? Is it really a dimension? Have we created it from our imagination, and has it overrun us, like a wild child, and taken hold of the leashes we never knew were around our necks? Can thought create dimension? Can an electrical impulse being interpreted in a different way each time be a machine that churns out a new layer of reality? Or is it a pseudo-reality that we create around us, but that doesn't actually exist?
I want to know the truth. I want to know everything there isn't to know. I want to travel the universe and see everything I know I never will. I want to catch the twinkling of an eye, and put it in a box, and open it every time I want. I want to grab every star from the sky, make a necklace out of it, and give it to the one I love. I want o shoot up and down over to the other side of the rainbow. I want to view the cycle of a star, and drink the milky-way. I want to open Pandora's-box, and know everything. I want to unleash reality upon myself. I want to meet aliens, and communicate with them. I want to gain another's perspective without having an opinion on it. I want to turn the earth inside out, and have a steam bath in the molten crust. In want to bend time, and travel till I see every major event first hand, and create my own understanding of history. I want to go as far as all the money in my pocket will take me, and walk from there. I want to go backpacking across the depths of space, time, and mathematics. I want to find myself in a champagne supernova in the sky. Catch me if you can, I'll meet you at Me.
Last night I asked myself, what am I doing here? Why am I here? What am I getting out of being here? What is it that I really want? What is my purpose in life? Do I have a purpose in life, or is my existence pointless, just a gap to be filled in because we're all just extra's in this huge dramatization of life? I realized that I am doing absolutely nothing here. I sit on my arse and read books, play sports, and help de-weed fields. WOW. Isn't that going to make a difference to everyone and anyone? I realized that I don't want all this information. I want knowledge. It's true. But I don't want the garbage that they teach us in school, college, university, jobs. I want real knowledge. I want to know everything there isn't to know. I want to see everything we think we never will. I want to explore the depths of thought, space, sound, and sense. That is what I want to know. I have no desire to fill my head with 'knowledge' that so many people already know and have already classified. It's a waste of space, when we have everything that we will ever need in the palm of our hands in the form of microcomputers. I would rather that instead of moving through the blackness of the Unknown Thought, holding on far too much to our safety ropes, one of us just let go and took a bold stride into the darkness of beyond and spread the light. At the rate we're going, all we're doing is shooting a tiny beam of light into the vastness, and all that we recover is the infinitely miniscule part of it that blocks the beam. The part directly in front of it - nothing up, down, side to side, after and before it. We know too little, and at the rate that we're going, we'll never pierce this store room of everything that we will ever encounter. I just want to be a light beam and travel to the ends of the universe, and see everything I never will.
Another thing that has really pissed me off is this construct of life. We all live by a set of rules and regulations. Let’s call them restrictions, because that’s what they really are, after all. Society has taught us to think in a specific way, to talk in a specific way, to act in a specific way. Everyone I know just wants to get a good degree, get a good job and own a nice car, a big house and have a happy family. That is their idea of a happy existence. How mundane. Everyone wants to live in a cycle of safety. No one I know is willing to put a stick into the spoke and observe the motion then. No one I know wants to climb trees in the middle of the night with me for fun. No one I know wants to Dive into the pool when its freezing cold, just to see what its like. No one wants to surf the tsunami with me, just for the high. No one wants to stand up and think for themselves. Society has restricted itself from blossoming. We have stuffed ourselves into a box, and cramped our minds into cubes of restricted motion. The worst part of it all is the fact that people create pseudo-happiness when all they have to do is reject the rules. All we have to do is take ourselves out of the box that has been forced upon us for a minute, and we'll see how close-minded we have become. We live in a tiny system. Do you know why Microsoft keeps upgrading? ‘Cause there are flaws in the system. Every system has flaws, and that’s why we move onto a better system, with flaws of its own. With more complex, convoluted flaws, even less evident than the last, but present none-the-less. We need to destroy the system. We need to stop restricting ourselves with these metal constructs, that shouldn't even exist. Every time I meet people, there's always a few who laugh at me, think I'm weird. What they don't see is the fact that I'm outside their world. I am, quite literally, on my own plane. And that is how everyone should be. If we don't like it, then we can revert back, but otherwise what's the point of calling yourself open minded? One of my friends told me that this sounded like it was straight out of some play. What he doesn't know is the fact that we're all part of a huge performance. We are all just actors on a grand scale. Now if only you could walk off stage and into the audience, and watch it with me, you'd see. You'd see the truth. You'd see a more complete picture. What I want to know lies outside, but at this point of time, I can't make it there on my own. I need help. I need someone to come with me. I want someone to come with me. Someone who I can share my freedom with, someone who'll appreciate liberation from liberation as we see it. Someone who'll help me convince more people to take a bite out of this apple. I want someone to get up and walk out of the theatre with me. I wish to know what lies outside this theatre.
I wish to know the truth. I wish to dive, head-first, into the vastness of space, time, and the dimensions. Einstein once said that time was the 4th dimension. I wonder if that’s true. We have become masters of the 3 dimensions. Length, breadth, and height. We have frozen them, and move around in them freely. They are constant, and we move through them, forward and backward, up and down, from side to side. But what about time? Have we managed to control time? We have managed to understand it. Or have we? Is using time to co-ordinate our lives a proper understanding of time? Is it understanding at all? Or is it just usage without comprehension? The sun comes up and goes down every 100,000 times I breathe, so let’s call it something. The 25,00th time I breathe, I should eat a meal. Let’s call it lunch. Is that our 'understanding' of time? I think not. I believe that this is a dimension that we are yet to comprehend. There is more to time than we think. We do not control Time, Time controls us. It pushes us ever forward, despite our attempts to stay still. In order to believe we control it, we have sayings like, "I watched Time pass me by", as if we're a separate entity all-together. But that isn't true. We are all moved forward by this dimension, regardless of our orientation. We do not control this dimension - it controls Us. How does it control us? Is it, after all this, just a mental construct? Is it really a dimension? Have we created it from our imagination, and has it overrun us, like a wild child, and taken hold of the leashes we never knew were around our necks? Can thought create dimension? Can an electrical impulse being interpreted in a different way each time be a machine that churns out a new layer of reality? Or is it a pseudo-reality that we create around us, but that doesn't actually exist?
I want to know the truth. I want to know everything there isn't to know. I want to travel the universe and see everything I know I never will. I want to catch the twinkling of an eye, and put it in a box, and open it every time I want. I want to grab every star from the sky, make a necklace out of it, and give it to the one I love. I want o shoot up and down over to the other side of the rainbow. I want to view the cycle of a star, and drink the milky-way. I want to open Pandora's-box, and know everything. I want to unleash reality upon myself. I want to meet aliens, and communicate with them. I want to gain another's perspective without having an opinion on it. I want to turn the earth inside out, and have a steam bath in the molten crust. In want to bend time, and travel till I see every major event first hand, and create my own understanding of history. I want to go as far as all the money in my pocket will take me, and walk from there. I want to go backpacking across the depths of space, time, and mathematics. I want to find myself in a champagne supernova in the sky. Catch me if you can, I'll meet you at Me.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Breakfast In Bed
Its college time again, and life is proceeding at a really quick pace, what with assignments to submit, plays to rehearse, people to talk to, and music to play. Not that I have managed too many of the afore-mentioned activities, but yeah, life is still hectic. Now if you (or I) think that this life is a bit hectic, you have got to see the stress that my second years have to take on an everyday basis. They still have university applications going on, and are getting replies from univs this month and the next. On top of that, they have to submit mid-term essays, world-lit papers, extended essays, and innumerable assignments. Then, as Theatre Week approaches with ever-increasing speed, they have to direct and/or act in their plays, and ensure that they run smoothly. All in all, it is a maddening cycle that they go through each weekday and weekend.
Some of you might know Savina, a really good friend of mine, ever since we were 4 or so. She's here as well, in her second year, and hasn't been spared of this ordeal. You could see, after the first two weeks, that she was taking way too much stress. She looked tired and de-motivated, and thoroughly stressed out. You could see that she wasn't exactly happy anymore, so Deeksha and I decided that we'd do something to make her Sunday a little special. We decided that we'd cook her breakfast in bed. So, the whole week we went about figuring out just what she'd enjoy for breakfast, and made a list. Then, on Saturday, I went to Pune, and we bought everything for the meal. I got sausages, cooking chocolate, Ceres fruit juice, eggs, butter, cheese, and strawberries and cream. When I got back, we decided the menu. It was going to be Sausages and a double sunny-side-up masala egg, along with sliced tomatoes and grapes. There was going to be strawberries, and a huge goblet of Red Grape Juice. And, to top it off, mum gave me the idea of making her Chocolate Truffle!!
So, Saturday night I stayed up till 12:30 and made the chocolate Truffle liquid, poured it in a nice yellow bowl, and set it in the freezer to cool. I then covered it with chocolate shavings and two strawberries to give it that finishing touch. It looked really neat, all swirled with the light and dark chocolate mixes in it. Then, I got up Sunday morning at 7:30, and woke Deeksha up. Together we washed all the other items, and proceeded to make the masala egg, and the sausages. We borrowed a plate, a tray, and cutlery from the cafeteria, and we borrowed this HUGE blue goblet from Tom (god-alone knows why he has it) and proceeded to cook everything. After about an hour and a half of going back and forth procuring a non-stick pan, olive oil, and various other minute details that completed the picture, we had Savina's meal ready. Just as we were setting it all up on the tray, though, she ended up walking towards the common room. So Deeksha went and distracted her in her room, as I proceeded to pour out the crimson grape juice into the goblet. All was ready, and I took the tray to Savina
's house, and we then presented her with her "Breakfast-In-Bed" (fanfare et al).
She was really thrilled. After 10 days we finally saw her face light up, and you could sense the happiness surging through her again. She proceeded to demolish the food without furthur ado, and drank the grape juice like it was wine.... hehe... I found that so silly, but so cute none-the-less!! She is an angel. By the end of it, she seemed almost entirely rejuvinated, stuffed till her eyeballs were popping out, and with a huge grin on her face.
It was a brilliant experience for me as well. I don't know why, but seeing her so happy just seemed to make my day as well. I guess sometimes when you see someone you really care about feeling such happiness, it infects you too, and it keeps you going for the rest of the day. I seem to have noticed this a little, here and there - there are moments where Savina's joy just drifts into me, and I can't help but smile for the rest of the day. I think its people like her that really make life worth living. I just hope that I have people like that in my life forever!!
(Gracias, Savinita!!)
Some of you might know Savina, a really good friend of mine, ever since we were 4 or so. She's here as well, in her second year, and hasn't been spared of this ordeal. You could see, after the first two weeks, that she was taking way too much stress. She looked tired and de-motivated, and thoroughly stressed out. You could see that she wasn't exactly happy anymore, so Deeksha and I decided that we'd do something to make her Sunday a little special. We decided that we'd cook her breakfast in bed. So, the whole week we went about figuring out just what she'd enjoy for breakfast, and made a list. Then, on Saturday, I went to Pune, and we bought everything for the meal. I got sausages, cooking chocolate, Ceres fruit juice, eggs, butter, cheese, and strawberries and cream. When I got back, we decided the menu. It was going to be Sausages and a double sunny-side-up masala egg, along with sliced tomatoes and grapes. There was going to be strawberries, and a huge goblet of Red Grape Juice. And, to top it off, mum gave me the idea of making her Chocolate Truffle!!
So, Saturday night I stayed up till 12:30 and made the chocolate Truffle liquid, poured it in a nice yellow bowl, and set it in the freezer to cool. I then covered it with chocolate shavings and two strawberries to give it that finishing touch. It looked really neat, all swirled with the light and dark chocolate mixes in it. Then, I got up Sunday morning at 7:30, and woke Deeksha up. Together we washed all the other items, and proceeded to make the masala egg, and the sausages. We borrowed a plate, a tray, and cutlery from the cafeteria, and we borrowed this HUGE blue goblet from Tom (god-alone knows why he has it) and proceeded to cook everything. After about an hour and a half of going back and forth procuring a non-stick pan, olive oil, and various other minute details that completed the picture, we had Savina's meal ready. Just as we were setting it all up on the tray, though, she ended up walking towards the common room. So Deeksha went and distracted her in her room, as I proceeded to pour out the crimson grape juice into the goblet. All was ready, and I took the tray to Savina
's house, and we then presented her with her "Breakfast-In-Bed" (fanfare et al).
She was really thrilled. After 10 days we finally saw her face light up, and you could sense the happiness surging through her again. She proceeded to demolish the food without furthur ado, and drank the grape juice like it was wine.... hehe... I found that so silly, but so cute none-the-less!! She is an angel. By the end of it, she seemed almost entirely rejuvinated, stuffed till her eyeballs were popping out, and with a huge grin on her face.
It was a brilliant experience for me as well. I don't know why, but seeing her so happy just seemed to make my day as well. I guess sometimes when you see someone you really care about feeling such happiness, it infects you too, and it keeps you going for the rest of the day. I seem to have noticed this a little, here and there - there are moments where Savina's joy just drifts into me, and I can't help but smile for the rest of the day. I think its people like her that really make life worth living. I just hope that I have people like that in my life forever!!
(Gracias, Savinita!!)
Friday, January 27, 2006
Fire!!
We had a fire yesterday, and it scorched internet hill, where our internet facilities are. However, we got our beaters and our denims and shirts and fought the fire from 11 to 2 in the afternoon. The fire spread for over 5 square kilometers, and it was on lots of flatland, mountainous terrain, as well as slush fields, making it really hard to control. We managed to put most of it out on the flatlands and slush-fields, but the mountainous terrain was really hard. We had to climb about 500 meters on a slippery, 30 degree incline, with the harsh sun beating down on us, and the fire popping up in the most inaccessible of places. As we reached the top, our beaters started to break, leaving us with many fighters, but not much equipment. As Havi(er) and I took our turns with the beaters to put out a small fire near his feet, the wind suddenly picked up, and the flames shot up to over 2 meters. Havi was close e to the fire, so he jumped to the other side. I, however, was a bit further into the ire, and had nowhere to go. So I turned and began to back out. Just then, the wind picked up even more, and I was caught in the middle of the flames. I threw my beater and ran for my life, with my hand on fire. I had, by now, breathed in an impressive amount of soot, and was barely able to breathe. As soon as I was out of the fire, Amiya came to help me recover, poured water over my hand and face, and generally looked over me to make sure I wasn’t in any major harm. She is so sweet...!! I walked down to the med, where I showered, and then the doctor treated my urns with ointment. As a result, I have a smooth right arm, and I have a little place on my head where my eyebrow and hair burnt themselves of. It looks really funny if you notice it... hehe... aside from that, things are ok, we saved internet hill, and now we have a 5 kilometer fire-wall 'protecting' us from future fires. This just means that we have no greenery to look at from campus outside... hehe... but that’s ok. Our internet is still up, no one is in any mortal peril, etc. etc. etc. things are good!!!
I love the fire service!!!
I love the fire service!!!
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Life. In General.
OK. This is either gonna be one helluva long post, or nothing at all, or I might give up midway. But here goes!!
OK, since I got back on campus, things ahve been all opver the place. It's been less than 2 weeks, and a cycle just got over, than I have had huge highs, and a lot of horse-latitude days, as well as these dark spots indicating my lows. The Latter, posted by out pricipal to most of us - some believe at random - to our parents had caused some serious upheaval at home. Man, the last day or two there was so much tension in the iar, to use a cliche, that you could cut it with a knife. I was pretty sure that the longer I stayed at home, the higher my chances of getting into some serious horse poo-poo. Luckily, I was leaving the day after The Letter. Which is a very, very good thing, in my mindm and in the minds of the other relatively non-extremist eople involved.
Then, when I got back on campus, things were really good. I met my friends, we went to Paud, and we were generally in high spirits (no pun intended). Then, over the course of a couple of days, things were fairly in the doldrums, and then, alluva sudden, our high flying hearts (and at times, bodies) momentum came to an abrupt standstill. And then I crashed. There were 2 days of utter agony, emotional upheaval, chaos, paranoia, and the fear that comes with a sense of being totally lost in a place very familiar to you. I still do not know how I passed time during those 2 days, except for a vague notion of twisting and turning around in my bed, fighting all the imaginary demons of my nightmares. All of a sudden, they froze, and suddenly melted into the soft yellow light falling through my window. I was non-pulsed. Then, a sudden wave of heart-warming joy filled my senses. I could see again. In an instant I had been transformed from a bedraggled slave to a sailor cruising the high seas.
Everyone suddenly appeared so cheerful and bright. Things were back to their usual euphoric high, and life was settling down. Then came the confrontation. I had had a quarrel with a friends of mine sometime back, and we had a bad breakup. However, she helped me sort it out, and we were back to being friends again over the course of Christmas. We left each other on a high note, and I called her for her birthday at home, and I couldn't wait to meet her when she got back. As the dayn arrived, I decorated her room with red and white balloons, and left her a present also in white, with a red card. Not that I know why I've written that detail. It seems most unnecessary. When she came back, however, things just seemed to ahve changed within a fraction of a millisecond. I met her, and she didn't look all that pleased to see me, acting quite stiff. This, unfortunately for me, was a sad state of occourance. I gave up on her after a minute, and she just walked away. Throughout the course of the week, however, I realiseed that it was only me going to make an effort to talk to her, be with her, do things for her, and it got to me. Physically as well as mentally, I got annoyed that I was the one putting in all my effort into what was turning out to be a seemingly pointless endeavour. So I decided to just not talk to her - after all, if she really wanted to be friends, she'd have to make some kind of effort as well. The miserable part about that, was the fact that I had no desire to NOT talk to her. After all, i9t was and (I hope) always will be a pleasure to talk to her. So I deflatedly gave up on that plan, and talked to her about it, getting a not so convincing answer. However, I also decided that I let my emotions take way too much control of me, and that I am not going to let them get in my way ever again.
After that, things got a lot better. Not just event wise,. but her and I have also been on good terms with each other, and its become almost entirely like the good times! Again, my social life is going all guns blazin', my academic life is commendable - not perfect, but commendable - and I seem to be taking care of my health, amongst all the other things that make up a happy lifestyle. I seem satisfied, with a huge parcel containing an impressive stash of munchies, pasta, chips, and other assorted foodstuffs, arriving a couple of days ago. I have given up bad habits that I had got into over here, and I am pleased with the pace of my life. Things are, good, and I thank my imaginary God for that. After all, what else is God for, other than to thank for every little thing that aids your survival?
We (NOTE: with no accurate references to anyone that can be identified) got some nice wine, and we're going to have a toast. "To ourselves. For the good life!!"
OK, since I got back on campus, things ahve been all opver the place. It's been less than 2 weeks, and a cycle just got over, than I have had huge highs, and a lot of horse-latitude days, as well as these dark spots indicating my lows. The Latter, posted by out pricipal to most of us - some believe at random - to our parents had caused some serious upheaval at home. Man, the last day or two there was so much tension in the iar, to use a cliche, that you could cut it with a knife. I was pretty sure that the longer I stayed at home, the higher my chances of getting into some serious horse poo-poo. Luckily, I was leaving the day after The Letter. Which is a very, very good thing, in my mindm and in the minds of the other relatively non-extremist eople involved.
Then, when I got back on campus, things were really good. I met my friends, we went to Paud, and we were generally in high spirits (no pun intended). Then, over the course of a couple of days, things were fairly in the doldrums, and then, alluva sudden, our high flying hearts (and at times, bodies) momentum came to an abrupt standstill. And then I crashed. There were 2 days of utter agony, emotional upheaval, chaos, paranoia, and the fear that comes with a sense of being totally lost in a place very familiar to you. I still do not know how I passed time during those 2 days, except for a vague notion of twisting and turning around in my bed, fighting all the imaginary demons of my nightmares. All of a sudden, they froze, and suddenly melted into the soft yellow light falling through my window. I was non-pulsed. Then, a sudden wave of heart-warming joy filled my senses. I could see again. In an instant I had been transformed from a bedraggled slave to a sailor cruising the high seas.
Everyone suddenly appeared so cheerful and bright. Things were back to their usual euphoric high, and life was settling down. Then came the confrontation. I had had a quarrel with a friends of mine sometime back, and we had a bad breakup. However, she helped me sort it out, and we were back to being friends again over the course of Christmas. We left each other on a high note, and I called her for her birthday at home, and I couldn't wait to meet her when she got back. As the dayn arrived, I decorated her room with red and white balloons, and left her a present also in white, with a red card. Not that I know why I've written that detail. It seems most unnecessary. When she came back, however, things just seemed to ahve changed within a fraction of a millisecond. I met her, and she didn't look all that pleased to see me, acting quite stiff. This, unfortunately for me, was a sad state of occourance. I gave up on her after a minute, and she just walked away. Throughout the course of the week, however, I realiseed that it was only me going to make an effort to talk to her, be with her, do things for her, and it got to me. Physically as well as mentally, I got annoyed that I was the one putting in all my effort into what was turning out to be a seemingly pointless endeavour. So I decided to just not talk to her - after all, if she really wanted to be friends, she'd have to make some kind of effort as well. The miserable part about that, was the fact that I had no desire to NOT talk to her. After all, i9t was and (I hope) always will be a pleasure to talk to her. So I deflatedly gave up on that plan, and talked to her about it, getting a not so convincing answer. However, I also decided that I let my emotions take way too much control of me, and that I am not going to let them get in my way ever again.
After that, things got a lot better. Not just event wise,. but her and I have also been on good terms with each other, and its become almost entirely like the good times! Again, my social life is going all guns blazin', my academic life is commendable - not perfect, but commendable - and I seem to be taking care of my health, amongst all the other things that make up a happy lifestyle. I seem satisfied, with a huge parcel containing an impressive stash of munchies, pasta, chips, and other assorted foodstuffs, arriving a couple of days ago. I have given up bad habits that I had got into over here, and I am pleased with the pace of my life. Things are, good, and I thank my imaginary God for that. After all, what else is God for, other than to thank for every little thing that aids your survival?
We (NOTE: with no accurate references to anyone that can be identified) got some nice wine, and we're going to have a toast. "To ourselves. For the good life!!"
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Things That I write on the Back of Letters To My Friend Ragini
After our brief meeting I guess you know
I grew quite fond of you
And somehow I get the feeling that
You grew fond of me too.
Our time was short - nay, it was nil
Yet we till kept in touch
You brought me quite some joy
So thank you very much!
But fate, it seemed, had other plans
for both you and me
And tore apart our little bond
Into Infinity.
But I, for one, do not believe
In fate or destiny
Or maybe I guess I just
Enjoyed your company!
So here I am in the mountains now
Writing you this ode
And I guess I'll just deliver it
To your comfy abode.
I do hope that you read
This little rhyme I wrote
Cause otherwise my effort could always go
Into feeding a mountain goat.
I also hope that just like me
You really feel the same
Or even if you'd not forget
Me or my name.
Speaking of which, I have to ask
In Delhi, what to do?
Cause later on I might come back
For maybe day or two.
I think its time to stop
Writing or I'll go on forever
Talking to you in inane were
That isn't very clever.
- Aveek Katiyar 25 Oct '05
I grew quite fond of you
And somehow I get the feeling that
You grew fond of me too.
Our time was short - nay, it was nil
Yet we till kept in touch
You brought me quite some joy
So thank you very much!
But fate, it seemed, had other plans
for both you and me
And tore apart our little bond
Into Infinity.
But I, for one, do not believe
In fate or destiny
Or maybe I guess I just
Enjoyed your company!
So here I am in the mountains now
Writing you this ode
And I guess I'll just deliver it
To your comfy abode.
I do hope that you read
This little rhyme I wrote
Cause otherwise my effort could always go
Into feeding a mountain goat.
I also hope that just like me
You really feel the same
Or even if you'd not forget
Me or my name.
Speaking of which, I have to ask
In Delhi, what to do?
Cause later on I might come back
For maybe day or two.
I think its time to stop
Writing or I'll go on forever
Talking to you in inane were
That isn't very clever.
- Aveek Katiyar 25 Oct '05
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
It's finally here!!
Hey everybody! This is the third time that I am writing this, because the first two times I was either too lazy to finish writing this, or the computer lost its power before I could complete this. This, however, is going to be my last and final attempt to write my blog. Not that this is going too well, cause I’m bloody high right now, so… hehe… just kidding, dad!
Anyways, thee thing with this place is that one has got to be able to balance his life and his academics rather precisely, so as to actually do well in these quizzes that Arno (my physics teacher from the Netherlands) gives us from time to time. Now, I have been slacking away all of my time, and nothing much seems to have happened to me. It’s a bit strange, actually. Not that I am complaining. The thing is, I now have so much free time and have absolutely no idea what to do with it. I haunt Wada 4, house 9 and 11. Which has led people to the conclusion that I have a teensy weensy crush on someone in the house. Not to say that it isn’t true, but that’s not the real reason that I’m in that house. I really like the people there, and I like to spend time with ALL of them, not just that One.
But now that that issue has been solved, lets move on.
I am sitting next to the hottest girl on campus and writing this particular paragraph. Which implies that I am on a laptop – "What laptop?" You ask? Well, it’s an iBook G4!!! That’s what it is!! Yeah!! Now there’s this insane problem that I have (yes, this is a blog entry mainly about problems and how I deal with them – or don’t.) – is that i know way too many people here, and it’s just that I don’t seem to have enough close friends here. Actually I do, but I don’t feel entirely secure about this stuff. Thing is, if Annabelle stops being so close to me anytime, I feel that I will be a bit hit. I have become rather attached to that girl. She is an absolutely wonderful person, is always there to talk to, and I always feel easy and calm around her. Also Chris, who I am planning to room with next year.
Another thing that I have to do is mail my parents and my sister, who have been missing me! For real!! This is soooooo cool! I never thought that was possible… hehe… however, I am way too lazy to haul my ass from my Wada to the AQ and to sit there and write a mail to the three of them, so… so guess that this blog will have to do.
Mum, dad, Mithila, if you guys come across this, consider this your letter:
Hey guys!! Wassup?? Things here are going great, as usual. I am actually managing to manage (haha!! Sorry, I just thought that was funny…) my time here. And hence, things are actually going more smoothly again. I have stopped bunking my classes, and have found that my time table is pretty cool after all, and have made peace with getting up at 7:00 four times a week and hauling my as to the 1st block I have. Of all the subjects, I think that Spanish is the coolest, followed by psych and then Physics (yeas, you heard that right, I LOVE PHYSICS!!!!!). The thing with the physics class is that I have got the coolest teacher that there is, and the class is pretty much a self-taught class. He goes too fast for anyone to figure out what the hell is going on, but he heaps us with homework, and if you do it (which I have never quite managed just yet) you will be able to solve all the problems that he gives you. However, I still get away with everything I do over there. It kinda reminds me of the class with Mrs. Benjamin, where I’d walk in and diss Arjun for the entire class. Here I walk in ten minutes late, sit down in the middle of an important explanation, and say, “Hi Arno!” loudly. And what does he respond with? He looks at me, puts the marker down, bursts into a little chuckle and says, “Hello, Aveek…” and then proceeds to explain the problem as if nothing happened. Then, I ask for my quiz, and it turns out that I beat Rohan (who is the class genius) again, and he was really bitter about it. So he rechecks my marks, and turns out that Arno has given me a mark too many. So just to piss Rohan off 9 (and to see what my luck is like) I told Arno that I had one mark less than he’d given me, and so, for being so honest, could I have one mark more? And HE GAVE IT TO ME!!!!!!! And that pissed Rohan off even more!! For the rest of the class he was cursing me under his breath. And hen I started drawing cars, and I did nothing for the rest off class, and had so much fun, and Arno had no problem with me what so ever!! Hah!! So awesome!!
Well, that’s it for the time being – I’m in my English class, and I have some work to do right now, so… I’ll catch you guys in a bit. And I promise to finish the rest of this the next time ‘round…
Peace.
Anyways, thee thing with this place is that one has got to be able to balance his life and his academics rather precisely, so as to actually do well in these quizzes that Arno (my physics teacher from the Netherlands) gives us from time to time. Now, I have been slacking away all of my time, and nothing much seems to have happened to me. It’s a bit strange, actually. Not that I am complaining. The thing is, I now have so much free time and have absolutely no idea what to do with it. I haunt Wada 4, house 9 and 11. Which has led people to the conclusion that I have a teensy weensy crush on someone in the house. Not to say that it isn’t true, but that’s not the real reason that I’m in that house. I really like the people there, and I like to spend time with ALL of them, not just that One.
But now that that issue has been solved, lets move on.
I am sitting next to the hottest girl on campus and writing this particular paragraph. Which implies that I am on a laptop – "What laptop?" You ask? Well, it’s an iBook G4!!! That’s what it is!! Yeah!! Now there’s this insane problem that I have (yes, this is a blog entry mainly about problems and how I deal with them – or don’t.) – is that i know way too many people here, and it’s just that I don’t seem to have enough close friends here. Actually I do, but I don’t feel entirely secure about this stuff. Thing is, if Annabelle stops being so close to me anytime, I feel that I will be a bit hit. I have become rather attached to that girl. She is an absolutely wonderful person, is always there to talk to, and I always feel easy and calm around her. Also Chris, who I am planning to room with next year.
Another thing that I have to do is mail my parents and my sister, who have been missing me! For real!! This is soooooo cool! I never thought that was possible… hehe… however, I am way too lazy to haul my ass from my Wada to the AQ and to sit there and write a mail to the three of them, so… so guess that this blog will have to do.
Mum, dad, Mithila, if you guys come across this, consider this your letter:
Hey guys!! Wassup?? Things here are going great, as usual. I am actually managing to manage (haha!! Sorry, I just thought that was funny…) my time here. And hence, things are actually going more smoothly again. I have stopped bunking my classes, and have found that my time table is pretty cool after all, and have made peace with getting up at 7:00 four times a week and hauling my as to the 1st block I have. Of all the subjects, I think that Spanish is the coolest, followed by psych and then Physics (yeas, you heard that right, I LOVE PHYSICS!!!!!). The thing with the physics class is that I have got the coolest teacher that there is, and the class is pretty much a self-taught class. He goes too fast for anyone to figure out what the hell is going on, but he heaps us with homework, and if you do it (which I have never quite managed just yet) you will be able to solve all the problems that he gives you. However, I still get away with everything I do over there. It kinda reminds me of the class with Mrs. Benjamin, where I’d walk in and diss Arjun for the entire class. Here I walk in ten minutes late, sit down in the middle of an important explanation, and say, “Hi Arno!” loudly. And what does he respond with? He looks at me, puts the marker down, bursts into a little chuckle and says, “Hello, Aveek…” and then proceeds to explain the problem as if nothing happened. Then, I ask for my quiz, and it turns out that I beat Rohan (who is the class genius) again, and he was really bitter about it. So he rechecks my marks, and turns out that Arno has given me a mark too many. So just to piss Rohan off 9 (and to see what my luck is like) I told Arno that I had one mark less than he’d given me, and so, for being so honest, could I have one mark more? And HE GAVE IT TO ME!!!!!!! And that pissed Rohan off even more!! For the rest of the class he was cursing me under his breath. And hen I started drawing cars, and I did nothing for the rest off class, and had so much fun, and Arno had no problem with me what so ever!! Hah!! So awesome!!
Well, that’s it for the time being – I’m in my English class, and I have some work to do right now, so… I’ll catch you guys in a bit. And I promise to finish the rest of this the next time ‘round…
Peace.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Taken A Gamble
I finally got p*ss*d off with work at the garage.
*SHOCK* *SURPRISE*
Well, the thing was that I just got absolutely no new ideas, no new procedures, no nothing from there, except taking the cars out every morning and parking them (a total movement behind the wheel of 10 meters each). The only thing tat kept me going there for a couple of weeks was the awesome sound of the twin exhausts of the Volkswagen Beetle, more commonly known as the Bug. That, and the cheery (and somewhat mad-cap) conversations I'd have with the mechanics there... It was an interesting experience the first time around, but this was O.D.ing on the stuff, so I gave up on it.
Just as I thought life will become interesting with all the free time on my hands (3 weeks) dad drops a bomb-shell on me... Damned again!! He told me that he was talking to Anu - a friend and colleague of his from his days at Indya.com, when we first shifted here - and she needed some help with some desk work at her newly set-up office. While all this was fine, he, uh, "quietly", dropped my name and general joblessness into the conversation, and so she said "Why don't you send him over to work for me? That way he can use his 3 weeks".
I really don't mind, but I wanna be with my friends, who are, of course, jobless till next weekend. I've taken a gamble, saying that in a week, everyone will be coming back at the same time as me, so I may as well go for work. Thing is, I realized yesterday (which was my first day at work, by the way) that while we can all meet up in the evenings, I have a HUGE friend network who I gotta say bye to in this city, and even though the job is 5 days a week, I wanna meet Diya during the weekends, so I have no time left to meet everyone else at all... Bummer.
So here's my battle plan - for 2 outta the 3 weeks I'm gonna work my butt off, show Anu that I'm a great worker and I will finish whatever work she assigns to me (the very nature of which, everyone knows, is utterly boring, but it cant be helped, I guess...) and hence (I hope) will make her say YES quite easily when I ask her if I can take the last week off to meet my friends an all. If necessary, I'll even take some work home and finish it. That's the price that I'm willing to pay to properly say bye to certain people. I'm crazy. Don't ever hire me...!!! OK, I'm kidding. Please do hire me when I need a job, money, a place to stay, a feeling of belonging, and all that jazz.
So there's my gamble. Just gotta see if it really works out. Feel free to guide/cajole/correct/destroy my thoughts and strategies.
Oh, and if you post, do leave your name so I can thank/curse you, depending on the final outcome of the situation.
Till then, I look forward to your views on my super-complex-yet-simple life...!!
*SHOCK* *SURPRISE*
Well, the thing was that I just got absolutely no new ideas, no new procedures, no nothing from there, except taking the cars out every morning and parking them (a total movement behind the wheel of 10 meters each). The only thing tat kept me going there for a couple of weeks was the awesome sound of the twin exhausts of the Volkswagen Beetle, more commonly known as the Bug. That, and the cheery (and somewhat mad-cap) conversations I'd have with the mechanics there... It was an interesting experience the first time around, but this was O.D.ing on the stuff, so I gave up on it.
Just as I thought life will become interesting with all the free time on my hands (3 weeks) dad drops a bomb-shell on me... Damned again!! He told me that he was talking to Anu - a friend and colleague of his from his days at Indya.com, when we first shifted here - and she needed some help with some desk work at her newly set-up office. While all this was fine, he, uh, "quietly", dropped my name and general joblessness into the conversation, and so she said "Why don't you send him over to work for me? That way he can use his 3 weeks".
I really don't mind, but I wanna be with my friends, who are, of course, jobless till next weekend. I've taken a gamble, saying that in a week, everyone will be coming back at the same time as me, so I may as well go for work. Thing is, I realized yesterday (which was my first day at work, by the way) that while we can all meet up in the evenings, I have a HUGE friend network who I gotta say bye to in this city, and even though the job is 5 days a week, I wanna meet Diya during the weekends, so I have no time left to meet everyone else at all... Bummer.
So here's my battle plan - for 2 outta the 3 weeks I'm gonna work my butt off, show Anu that I'm a great worker and I will finish whatever work she assigns to me (the very nature of which, everyone knows, is utterly boring, but it cant be helped, I guess...) and hence (I hope) will make her say YES quite easily when I ask her if I can take the last week off to meet my friends an all. If necessary, I'll even take some work home and finish it. That's the price that I'm willing to pay to properly say bye to certain people. I'm crazy. Don't ever hire me...!!! OK, I'm kidding. Please do hire me when I need a job, money, a place to stay, a feeling of belonging, and all that jazz.
So there's my gamble. Just gotta see if it really works out. Feel free to guide/cajole/correct/destroy my thoughts and strategies.
Oh, and if you post, do leave your name so I can thank/curse you, depending on the final outcome of the situation.
Till then, I look forward to your views on my super-complex-yet-simple life...!!
Monday, July 11, 2005
A Collection of Random Thoughts, Limerick Style
My creative juices won't flow
My originality valve says 'no-go'
But my hand still quivers
It shakes and shivers
To write creatively once more.
I'm looking all around me
For something to inspire or confound me
But all I see
Is mediocrity
And a picture of some old Swami.
I don' know what sense this'll make
But Jesus, gimme a break
Cause all I want
Is to quietly flaunt
My genius and hence earn some cake!
I see a Prancing Horse on the table
To stitch it, I know I am able
But the irony within
Is I support McLaren
So why stitch one from Ferrari's stable??
Dad got me mints a-plenty
I counted - I got more than twenty
So I had my fill
And gobble 'em up till
The boxes were all but empty.
I heard a car driving too fast
And I thought to myself,"Blast!
If only these fools
Could stick to some rules
They'd not die before their time was past.
My mum here has got no mention
So this one demands your attention
As her thoughts overflow
With bread, pastries, and sourdough
Ah, what to make? There's HER tension.
My (bitter)sweet sister, too
Has been forgotten, I'm sure, by you
But I still believe
That you must not grieve
Over a silly mistake or a few.
Where is the tunnels-end light?
Will I come into the night?
I wonder which way
I should now foray
Should I flee or should I fight?
This nonsense to you must be jarring
To the uninitiated, even scarring
So I essay
To stop right away
This limerical poem that was starring:
ME!! My Dad!! My Mum! My Sister!! Mints!!
- Aveek Katiyar 10:05 PM
11 July '05
My originality valve says 'no-go'
But my hand still quivers
It shakes and shivers
To write creatively once more.
I'm looking all around me
For something to inspire or confound me
But all I see
Is mediocrity
And a picture of some old Swami.
I don' know what sense this'll make
But Jesus, gimme a break
Cause all I want
Is to quietly flaunt
My genius and hence earn some cake!
I see a Prancing Horse on the table
To stitch it, I know I am able
But the irony within
Is I support McLaren
So why stitch one from Ferrari's stable??
Dad got me mints a-plenty
I counted - I got more than twenty
So I had my fill
And gobble 'em up till
The boxes were all but empty.
I heard a car driving too fast
And I thought to myself,"Blast!
If only these fools
Could stick to some rules
They'd not die before their time was past.
My mum here has got no mention
So this one demands your attention
As her thoughts overflow
With bread, pastries, and sourdough
Ah, what to make? There's HER tension.
My (bitter)sweet sister, too
Has been forgotten, I'm sure, by you
But I still believe
That you must not grieve
Over a silly mistake or a few.
Where is the tunnels-end light?
Will I come into the night?
I wonder which way
I should now foray
Should I flee or should I fight?
This nonsense to you must be jarring
To the uninitiated, even scarring
So I essay
To stop right away
This limerical poem that was starring:
ME!! My Dad!! My Mum! My Sister!! Mints!!
- Aveek Katiyar 10:05 PM
11 July '05
Friday, July 01, 2005
Dormant
Dormant. Yes, that is what this blog has become. I am hoping to change that in a bit, but until then, well...
Reason: I've been grounded till I go to M-UWC-I, so I ahve no access to the computer. My friend is posting this for me... I ahve asked her to type this, so dad if you're reading this, NO, I did not illegally get on the net, ok??
Will try to update in a bit. See you guys around!!
Reason: I've been grounded till I go to M-UWC-I, so I ahve no access to the computer. My friend is posting this for me... I ahve asked her to type this, so dad if you're reading this, NO, I did not illegally get on the net, ok??
Will try to update in a bit. See you guys around!!
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Kryptonite
I grew up in a land far away
Where it was hot and always day.
We had two suns – one here, one there
That illuminated our planet everywhere.
But our Krypton was dying fast
And we had long since seen the last
Of our peaceful lives;
Our husbands, children, friends and wives
As everyday we could feel
The ground no more on even keel.
Earthquakes in plenty were felt
Lives were lost, and many lost their wealth
As buildings, cars, and planes were taken
By the surface which was a-breakin'
And so one fine man with money plenty
Went down to his basement, which was empty
Except for one large box,
Large enough to hold a fox
And took from it a cylinder slender
And over a year he took to mend her.
For he was a powerful man
A scientist of the Yakooboo clan
And was aspiring to be a family man.
The year before, he was inspired
(By the first tremors ever fired)
to go home and see his wife
to give up work for family life.
But he knew his world would pass
Before he had breathed his last,
Gone west, KAPLOW!
And he thought, "Wow!
What if I'm still there
When this planet gives us the scare
Of our lives by blowing up?
Will my kids be safe from the rut?"
And so it was that he made
A cylinder shaped ship made out of jade
And rubies and diamonds and such
But it really couldn't fit in much
Except a child or two
But he thought that space for one should do.
And so it was that one fine day
That he became a dad in the Year of the Lay
And just a month had passed
Before the tragedy came at last.
At semi-dusk, after a fine sunny day
The ground finally fell away
"This is the end!!' he thought.
So quickly he went down and got
The spaceship, all glittering green
And put in his son, serene,
Because the child knew not
Into what he had just got
And to save him from fate's horrible berth,
His dad sent him to planet Earth.
The ship went rocketing into the sky
Its tail bidding the doomed planet goodbye
For the instant they were out of sight,
The planet blew up with all its might.
But the little boy, he went on
Full of life, though his world was gone.
And a month or so down the line
While everything was going fine
In a small town in southern Cal.
A wife (whose husbands name was Hal)
Chanced to see a shooting star
Fall from the sky next to her car.
"Hal!!" she screamed, terrified,
"Oh my god! I nearly died!
For had I been at that spot
A second ago I should have been shot
By that bullet of tremendous size –
Hey! Wait, do I see eyes
Hidden in that smooth, hard shell?
Let's go see if the thing is well."
And so they walked fast
To the green object the sky had cast
Upon their yard that very night
Thrown at Earth with Krypton's might.
"Open it! Open it quick!"
her voice was calm, her tone was slick.
With anticipation in their eyes
They pressed buttons of the largest size
Till they heard a loud 'POP'
And when they looked at its top
What should they see?
A gurgling, squirming baby!
"He's so tall! Look at his eyes!"
"Oh my god! Jesus Christ!"
"Thank you for this blessing, O One above!
We shall give him all our love!"
"But look, he came from the stars!"
"No matter! Now he is ours!"
"Oh Hal! What shall we name the lad?
Henry, Michael, Steven, maybe Jad?"
To which Hal replied with ease
"Clarke Kent his name will be."
And so it was that the couple fair
Got a child, from God knows where.
Clarke's life in school was fun;
He got to play and run
All across the grounds everyday,
Clarke Kent was here to stay!
He always did well in class
And answered only when asked.
On the track he was a sight
He overcame obstacles with his superior might
He could jump higher and run faster
He could even hold up the P.T. master!
His strength was his, a trait
Of Clarke Kent's physical state.
So for many years life went swell
Everything was good, his family well.
Then one day he felt a change
In his already potent range
Of ammo, guns and the like
Of great hearing and amazing sight.
He heard everything in the hall
And he could see through the wall
He could jump high as a pole
If anything moved
Be it a leg or a hoof
Well, he could sense it all.
All this he confided in his best friend Kate
[Who, incidentally, was his date]
That night at dinner, when
He heard a crash and then
Some people screaming so he ran
To the upturned, blazing van
And ripped open the door and went in
To the fierce, scorching din
And burst out with husband and wife,
Both in his arms, both very much alive.
Yet he, amazingly enough,
Wasn't even hurt by the boiling stuff.
By this time Kate arrived on the spot
"Goodness gracious me!" she thought
"My dear Clarke! You're still alive!
And you saved both husband and his wife!
But what is this? You are unburnt
By that flaming van upturned!
And how did you get here so fast
And jump over that five-storey cliff and last
Out without breaking a shoulder
Even though you landed on this hard boulder?"
Clarke thought for a while
And then he said with a smile
"It must have been the Calcium C
that my mother gave me
that enabled me to take a leap
from so high up upon this heap.
But I don't feel normal, I don't feel fine.
I'm going to ask dad if he's truly mine
Because these traits do not show
In mom, dad or my bro.
I know there's something here not right
I don't need fantastic sight
I'm sure not everything does indeed fit
But Kate! Come, lets eat a bit
For I am famished, and hungry too!
And I was thinking, are not you?"
At the end of dinner he asked her out
And she said "Yes! Without a doubt!
Where shall we go next time we meet?
Must we go somewhere to eat?
I wish to see the stars and moon
And orchids and roses in full bloom."
To this he said "I know a place
Where we can gaze and gaze at outer space.
A little field behind my home
Where we can both be alone
And I was wondering if - "
"Shhh! There's my older brother Biff!
He really hates you
And all the things that you do.
Why don't you drop me now
And I'll get home somehow."
And so it was that after dinner,
Clarke felt like a real winner.
He had a girl, he had a life
And he saved that husband and wife.
And now in the nights later hours,
He wanted to know how he got those powers
So he asked his dad
"Why can I se through the wall?
Why can I hear everything in the hall?
That I can jump high as a pole
That I achieve all my goals?"
To which his father softly said
[Because he was sick in bed]
"Ah Clarke, you're old enough now
To know when and why and where and how
You came from the stars unseen
In a spaceship glittering green.
You know that box in the garage
Saying '1974 in March'?
That box holds your ship
And a clip we found at your hip.
We took you in from the stars
As though you were one of ours."
And then he proceeded to extract
A chip colored silver and black.
Clarke took the chip in his hand
[It was stretchy like a rubber-band]
And planet Krypton materialized
Right there in front of his eyes.
And then he saw a man just like him
Say "Hello son, I'm last of kin.
In fact, I'm you're dad,
And I know you think you're going mad
But listen give me some time
And then everything will be fine.
You were my only child and I
Wanted to save you even if I died.
So I sent you to Planet Earth
Whose sun's enormous girth
Would give you powers that no man
Could ever have had, or ever can.
Use these powers well my boy
For they are no ordinary toy
These powers you must not waste
Use them to good taste
I know you will, because you are wise
I could see it in your month-old eyes
Good-bye my son! Miss you, we shall - "
At which point father Hal
Said "Oh me! Oh my!
You Kryptonites can fly!"
Clarke did not believe his dad –
Which was rather sad –
Because daddy did point out a fact…
But now it was time for Clarke to act.
He set off at a sprint towards the mill
Just beyond the very next hill
And when he reached the fall
He jumped, and didn't come back down at all.
"Oh my god! I'm flying! Its true!
Dearest father! Thank you! Thank you!
I shall use my powers well
To save the good, and send the rest to Hell!"
And with that, Clarke flew away
And has not returned till this day
Leaving his belongings unfurled
Along with a ship from another world.
Clarke Kent by day, Superman by night
Does his very best to fight
All who do not heed law today
In a country called the U.S.A.
His superior hearing, his ability to fly
His power to fry you with his naked eye
Shoplifters and terrorists alike
Are no match for his super-human might
The cities guardian angel is he
Buzzing around, busy as a bee.
There is no crime he cannot stop
He is the ultimate super-cop.
Upon crime he has a hex
He wears 'Chaddies' over his spandex!
He can stop a plane and sink a ship
He can carry the world on his hip
Should there be a crime
My name they call
I'm 'Superman' to one and all.
- Aveek Katiyar
Where it was hot and always day.
We had two suns – one here, one there
That illuminated our planet everywhere.
But our Krypton was dying fast
And we had long since seen the last
Of our peaceful lives;
Our husbands, children, friends and wives
As everyday we could feel
The ground no more on even keel.
Earthquakes in plenty were felt
Lives were lost, and many lost their wealth
As buildings, cars, and planes were taken
By the surface which was a-breakin'
And so one fine man with money plenty
Went down to his basement, which was empty
Except for one large box,
Large enough to hold a fox
And took from it a cylinder slender
And over a year he took to mend her.
For he was a powerful man
A scientist of the Yakooboo clan
And was aspiring to be a family man.
The year before, he was inspired
(By the first tremors ever fired)
to go home and see his wife
to give up work for family life.
But he knew his world would pass
Before he had breathed his last,
Gone west, KAPLOW!
And he thought, "Wow!
What if I'm still there
When this planet gives us the scare
Of our lives by blowing up?
Will my kids be safe from the rut?"
And so it was that he made
A cylinder shaped ship made out of jade
And rubies and diamonds and such
But it really couldn't fit in much
Except a child or two
But he thought that space for one should do.
And so it was that one fine day
That he became a dad in the Year of the Lay
And just a month had passed
Before the tragedy came at last.
At semi-dusk, after a fine sunny day
The ground finally fell away
"This is the end!!' he thought.
So quickly he went down and got
The spaceship, all glittering green
And put in his son, serene,
Because the child knew not
Into what he had just got
And to save him from fate's horrible berth,
His dad sent him to planet Earth.
The ship went rocketing into the sky
Its tail bidding the doomed planet goodbye
For the instant they were out of sight,
The planet blew up with all its might.
But the little boy, he went on
Full of life, though his world was gone.
And a month or so down the line
While everything was going fine
In a small town in southern Cal.
A wife (whose husbands name was Hal)
Chanced to see a shooting star
Fall from the sky next to her car.
"Hal!!" she screamed, terrified,
"Oh my god! I nearly died!
For had I been at that spot
A second ago I should have been shot
By that bullet of tremendous size –
Hey! Wait, do I see eyes
Hidden in that smooth, hard shell?
Let's go see if the thing is well."
And so they walked fast
To the green object the sky had cast
Upon their yard that very night
Thrown at Earth with Krypton's might.
"Open it! Open it quick!"
her voice was calm, her tone was slick.
With anticipation in their eyes
They pressed buttons of the largest size
Till they heard a loud 'POP'
And when they looked at its top
What should they see?
A gurgling, squirming baby!
"He's so tall! Look at his eyes!"
"Oh my god! Jesus Christ!"
"Thank you for this blessing, O One above!
We shall give him all our love!"
"But look, he came from the stars!"
"No matter! Now he is ours!"
"Oh Hal! What shall we name the lad?
Henry, Michael, Steven, maybe Jad?"
To which Hal replied with ease
"Clarke Kent his name will be."
And so it was that the couple fair
Got a child, from God knows where.
Clarke's life in school was fun;
He got to play and run
All across the grounds everyday,
Clarke Kent was here to stay!
He always did well in class
And answered only when asked.
On the track he was a sight
He overcame obstacles with his superior might
He could jump higher and run faster
He could even hold up the P.T. master!
His strength was his, a trait
Of Clarke Kent's physical state.
So for many years life went swell
Everything was good, his family well.
Then one day he felt a change
In his already potent range
Of ammo, guns and the like
Of great hearing and amazing sight.
He heard everything in the hall
And he could see through the wall
He could jump high as a pole
If anything moved
Be it a leg or a hoof
Well, he could sense it all.
All this he confided in his best friend Kate
[Who, incidentally, was his date]
That night at dinner, when
He heard a crash and then
Some people screaming so he ran
To the upturned, blazing van
And ripped open the door and went in
To the fierce, scorching din
And burst out with husband and wife,
Both in his arms, both very much alive.
Yet he, amazingly enough,
Wasn't even hurt by the boiling stuff.
By this time Kate arrived on the spot
"Goodness gracious me!" she thought
"My dear Clarke! You're still alive!
And you saved both husband and his wife!
But what is this? You are unburnt
By that flaming van upturned!
And how did you get here so fast
And jump over that five-storey cliff and last
Out without breaking a shoulder
Even though you landed on this hard boulder?"
Clarke thought for a while
And then he said with a smile
"It must have been the Calcium C
that my mother gave me
that enabled me to take a leap
from so high up upon this heap.
But I don't feel normal, I don't feel fine.
I'm going to ask dad if he's truly mine
Because these traits do not show
In mom, dad or my bro.
I know there's something here not right
I don't need fantastic sight
I'm sure not everything does indeed fit
But Kate! Come, lets eat a bit
For I am famished, and hungry too!
And I was thinking, are not you?"
At the end of dinner he asked her out
And she said "Yes! Without a doubt!
Where shall we go next time we meet?
Must we go somewhere to eat?
I wish to see the stars and moon
And orchids and roses in full bloom."
To this he said "I know a place
Where we can gaze and gaze at outer space.
A little field behind my home
Where we can both be alone
And I was wondering if - "
"Shhh! There's my older brother Biff!
He really hates you
And all the things that you do.
Why don't you drop me now
And I'll get home somehow."
And so it was that after dinner,
Clarke felt like a real winner.
He had a girl, he had a life
And he saved that husband and wife.
And now in the nights later hours,
He wanted to know how he got those powers
So he asked his dad
"Why can I se through the wall?
Why can I hear everything in the hall?
That I can jump high as a pole
That I achieve all my goals?"
To which his father softly said
[Because he was sick in bed]
"Ah Clarke, you're old enough now
To know when and why and where and how
You came from the stars unseen
In a spaceship glittering green.
You know that box in the garage
Saying '1974 in March'?
That box holds your ship
And a clip we found at your hip.
We took you in from the stars
As though you were one of ours."
And then he proceeded to extract
A chip colored silver and black.
Clarke took the chip in his hand
[It was stretchy like a rubber-band]
And planet Krypton materialized
Right there in front of his eyes.
And then he saw a man just like him
Say "Hello son, I'm last of kin.
In fact, I'm you're dad,
And I know you think you're going mad
But listen give me some time
And then everything will be fine.
You were my only child and I
Wanted to save you even if I died.
So I sent you to Planet Earth
Whose sun's enormous girth
Would give you powers that no man
Could ever have had, or ever can.
Use these powers well my boy
For they are no ordinary toy
These powers you must not waste
Use them to good taste
I know you will, because you are wise
I could see it in your month-old eyes
Good-bye my son! Miss you, we shall - "
At which point father Hal
Said "Oh me! Oh my!
You Kryptonites can fly!"
Clarke did not believe his dad –
Which was rather sad –
Because daddy did point out a fact…
But now it was time for Clarke to act.
He set off at a sprint towards the mill
Just beyond the very next hill
And when he reached the fall
He jumped, and didn't come back down at all.
"Oh my god! I'm flying! Its true!
Dearest father! Thank you! Thank you!
I shall use my powers well
To save the good, and send the rest to Hell!"
And with that, Clarke flew away
And has not returned till this day
Leaving his belongings unfurled
Along with a ship from another world.
Clarke Kent by day, Superman by night
Does his very best to fight
All who do not heed law today
In a country called the U.S.A.
His superior hearing, his ability to fly
His power to fry you with his naked eye
Shoplifters and terrorists alike
Are no match for his super-human might
The cities guardian angel is he
Buzzing around, busy as a bee.
There is no crime he cannot stop
He is the ultimate super-cop.
Upon crime he has a hex
He wears 'Chaddies' over his spandex!
He can stop a plane and sink a ship
He can carry the world on his hip
Should there be a crime
My name they call
I'm 'Superman' to one and all.
- Aveek Katiyar
Monday, May 09, 2005
The Return Of The Silver Arrows
No, I'm not talking about some new fad in amazon warfare. I'm talking about West McLaren Mercedes, Kimi Raikkonen, and his mind-blowing pace.
The Spanish circuit (Circuit De Catalunya) saw the comeback of formula-1 giants McLaren-Mercedes - something that wasw coming for some time qith the super-competitive pace of the new McLaren of 2005 from the beginning of the season. Kimi Raikkonen stormed through the length of the 4.62 Km track to come third in the first qualifying session, and then took to the track yet another scorcher during second qualifying to gain pole position, while team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya could only get a mere 7th, though still ahead of the two struggling Ferrraris of Michael Schumacher(8th) and Ruben Barrichello(16th).
As the five red lights went out to start the Spanish Grand Prix, Kimi got of to (yet another) flying start, pulling away from title leader and second-placed Fernando Alonso by a second in the first lap.
But this wasn't just a one flying lap by Kimi - he kept this blistering pace up through the entire race, moving a second aa lap quicker than Fernando, and two seconds quicker than almost everyone else. His McLaren team-mate JPM, however, had a very interesting race, spinning most mysteriously through turns 7 and 8 but making a fantastic recovery and proceeding to pretend nothing happened at all.
By the first round of pit-stops, Kimi was 26 seconds in fromt of Alonso, which got him into andd out of the pits still ahead of him, though only just. However, Alonso still had to stop for fuel, so Kimi was under no real threat.
By about lap 35 Kimi lapped a most stubborn Barrichello, who almost refused to move over when the Silver Arrow of the Finn shot by him:
The other Ferrari had absolutely no luck either, with reigning world champion Michael Schumacher, who was fighting for 8th place with McLaren's JPM, was exiting the pits just as the two Mclarens of JPM and Kimi Raikkonen respectively bored down on the Scuderia Ferrari, Kimi lapping JPM and in the proscess cutting off Schumachers exit, giving JPM the advantage by lettting him follow just behind his team-mate to get the btter of Schumi. Michael was finally beginnig to look good, when he suddenly had to pit for a deflated rear tyre. Things got no better for hime either, as on his outlap while on a quick right hander his front-left Bridgestone also deflated, throing the front of his car into the gravel and severely damaging the under-carraige and the side pods of his Ferrari.
The German ace limped back to the pits to retire shortly afterwards.
By the second round of pit-stops around lap 49, Kimi Raikkonen had stapmed his authority allover the Catalan circuit and over all the cars and their drivers. The last time McLaren had won here was thee hands of another Fying Finn - Mika Hakkinen - and Kimi has kept the Finnish flag flying high.
Kimi has earned his Champagne, and may he win every race there is. All hail the next world-champion!!
The Spanish circuit (Circuit De Catalunya) saw the comeback of formula-1 giants McLaren-Mercedes - something that wasw coming for some time qith the super-competitive pace of the new McLaren of 2005 from the beginning of the season. Kimi Raikkonen stormed through the length of the 4.62 Km track to come third in the first qualifying session, and then took to the track yet another scorcher during second qualifying to gain pole position, while team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya could only get a mere 7th, though still ahead of the two struggling Ferrraris of Michael Schumacher(8th) and Ruben Barrichello(16th).
As the five red lights went out to start the Spanish Grand Prix, Kimi got of to (yet another) flying start, pulling away from title leader and second-placed Fernando Alonso by a second in the first lap.
But this wasn't just a one flying lap by Kimi - he kept this blistering pace up through the entire race, moving a second aa lap quicker than Fernando, and two seconds quicker than almost everyone else. His McLaren team-mate JPM, however, had a very interesting race, spinning most mysteriously through turns 7 and 8 but making a fantastic recovery and proceeding to pretend nothing happened at all.
By the first round of pit-stops, Kimi was 26 seconds in fromt of Alonso, which got him into andd out of the pits still ahead of him, though only just. However, Alonso still had to stop for fuel, so Kimi was under no real threat.
By about lap 35 Kimi lapped a most stubborn Barrichello, who almost refused to move over when the Silver Arrow of the Finn shot by him:
The other Ferrari had absolutely no luck either, with reigning world champion Michael Schumacher, who was fighting for 8th place with McLaren's JPM, was exiting the pits just as the two Mclarens of JPM and Kimi Raikkonen respectively bored down on the Scuderia Ferrari, Kimi lapping JPM and in the proscess cutting off Schumachers exit, giving JPM the advantage by lettting him follow just behind his team-mate to get the btter of Schumi. Michael was finally beginnig to look good, when he suddenly had to pit for a deflated rear tyre. Things got no better for hime either, as on his outlap while on a quick right hander his front-left Bridgestone also deflated, throing the front of his car into the gravel and severely damaging the under-carraige and the side pods of his Ferrari.
The German ace limped back to the pits to retire shortly afterwards.By the second round of pit-stops around lap 49, Kimi Raikkonen had stapmed his authority allover the Catalan circuit and over all the cars and their drivers. The last time McLaren had won here was thee hands of another Fying Finn - Mika Hakkinen - and Kimi has kept the Finnish flag flying high.
Kimi has earned his Champagne, and may he win every race there is. All hail the next world-champion!!
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