Caught in the Traffic

A DIFFERENT LESSON: A motorist who jumped the signal reading the pamphlet on traffic rules at Pattom junction in the city on Friday.

I guess the image says it all.........

For those dumbo's who haven't figured out what this picture is doing in my blog, here goes. The guy wearing check shirt and having the paper in the hand is ME. I had been reminded about this picture, which came in The Hindu a few years ago, when i was caught for the same crime that landed me on the 3rd page of The Hindu and made me a celebrity in my batch @ college.

The Crime : Jumping RED signal @ rush hour in the busy Pattom Junction..

The Criminal(i guess there's no harm in this usage) : your's truly

The Punishment: No fine's, no reprimands, but being made to read a checklist of precautions that one must go through while riding in RUSH hour! This was followed by the CI showing me a few photos of accident victims, i couldn't make out the faces and in some the face was so mutilated that i felt like i would puke there itself.

Seeing this the CI had a wicked laugh(the kind that we see in mythology serials and old films). He made me swear that i will NEVER jump the lights in future. If he had his way i would have spent a day in the Sub-Jail @ Attakulangara and would have been a full fledged GOONDA by now, rather than what i am now(now don't say ther's no difference).

The incident occured when i was in s4, i still remember being called at 6 AM the next day by Simon and his words were not that good to hear, especially when i am trying to catch some sleep. "Aliya ninte padom Hindu 3rd pagil adichu vannirikunnu". Next to call was Aparna who made it a point to 1st inform my mom about the INCIDENT. By the time i came downstairs to get my hands on the paper, it was already being read ALOUD by my sister. I thought that was the end of it. But no, god has a funny way of playing games on me.

When i reached college, the story's cutout was PASTED on the classroom's walls by my very good friends and even teacher's came to know about the INCIDENT (although my FRIENDS had another story and a different caption for the picture). Anyways this incident opened my eyes to the dangers of driving. The pictures that i had seen in the album of the CI are still fresh in my mind. They are the kind that would be censored in any violent movie, mainly coz most of them lacked what made up a face. Some had just gash's in place of eyes, while some were so bloody that it was hard to make out how the person might have looked. To know that such things happen due to the adrenalin rush in most cases is a sad thing. Why risk it, when we can save our life by being slow??

But then all this philosophy goes out of the loop once i get on my bike. The rush of air against my face when going at 80-90kmph is something that can only be felt. To know why guys get killed by speeding, try riding the bike at those speeds.

Believe me you would never feel like slowing down!

PS: For the detailed story on my Traffic Escapade go to: http://www.hindu.com/2005/06/25/stories/2005062516730300.htm

Dhoom 2 Back in Action-I don't think so

After a long wait i took my sister to watch Dhoom 2 today; it's not that i wasn't looking forward to watch it. In fact i was, but then all my friends saw it on the day of release and told that it's a damp squib and watching it will be a total waste of money. But my sister being a mad fan of Hrithik. Well for people who went to this film expecting a action flick, it's a total disaster. The stunts are too much to believe and almost all of them are done with the assistance of rope tricks. But after watching Krrish i wasn't gonna expect much from this.

This time leave out John Abraham and add in his girl Bipasha Basu. Also add in a dash of Hrithik Roshan and a pinch of Aishwarya Rai and you get Dhoom 2! For those guys who went to see some Booty and for gals who went to see Hrithik flex his great Ab's and Biceps it's a total value for money package. The story is totally BULLSHIT, the picturization is truly great with awesome locales like Mumbai, Goa and Brazil. The songs are also pretty good and are already topping the charts. There's even a KISS to keep the audience entertained, but then what i look forward to in a film is a good story to backup the whole thing and that is a great detail to miss.

The film started with the introduction to the greatest thief in the world, Aryan; played by none other than Hrithik. He's supposed to be so good at his job that no police force in the world has seen his real face and they all are kept guessing about his next robbery. Leading the Indian police force in finding this thief is ACP Jay Dixit( Abhishek). He's helped in his efforts by the sexy and smart ACP Shonali Bose(Bipasha Basu). Well if all policewomen in the force wore what she wore to office, there will be daylight robbery coz half the force (the men) will be looking at them rather than work! Also the expected addition to the force is Ali(Uday Chopra). He plays the funny slapstick comedian's role pretty well and has his share of slow motion walks and muscle flexing too. If Abhishek had some appreciable bod, then he would have been flexing those biceps too, am SURE! The Heroine in the story is played by Sunheri(Aish), and boy has she lost weight and got into shape. She looks amazing in the intro scene with a small pair of shorts that hardly covers anything and a top which is better left unsaid.

The story's like this: Aryan is a master thief who leaves his mark at all the robberies that he carries out, it's a mysterious A. After each robbery he stays quiet for some time and then he moves onto his next target. He steals only things which are in Jay's words: Priceless, things like crown's, antiques and such stuff. After Shonali shows a presentation of his targets across the world and then says that the police all over the world is looking for him, Jay comes up with his brain whacking idea that he's gonna come to Mumbai for his next heist. And so they plan to trap him and obviously FAIL. Next they put Aish into his trail as a thief, but in reality she's a double crosser who's put into the case by Abhi to help him, but in the end she helps Hrithik to escape. Finally the good cop catches the bad thief and that's the end of the story!

When you watch Dhoom 2 ,you realize its not about the plot but about high-tech action,beautiful locations,danceable songs and not to forget: our good-looking hotties. There are way too many great locations and a large number of CHICKS. So go for this movie if you wanna get some thrills from cheap tricks played by our own Hero's and they do try to emote a lot of Hollywood movies. There are scenes which reminded me of the bike chase in the final minutes of MI 2 and some really stupid moves, like the one where Hrithik comes out of a water pipe's manhole as if it's a Coke bottle.

Coming to say about Coke, well he makes sure that he gives good airtime to the COKE label and cans!

Final VERDICT:Yeah I didn't like this movie, but it's not the worse of 2006. I think KANK deserves the worst movie of 2006.Don't bring along your brains for this movie-Just sit back and relax as top bollywood stars flex their muscles and toned bodies and try to entertain you.

The CAT that belled me!

Statue of SK Pottekaad @ Calicut

Me n friends @ the entry to SM Street



At the Beach road




Yummy! We all scream for ICE CREAM!!

After having Ice creams @ Baskin Robbins




NB:Sitting on railway tracks in a punishable offence..........yea!

This is what i call .....................Butter Chicken



Look at the shelves with the goodies......



Happy faces with the CAT Admit cards!

So finally it's over, the TOUGHEST exam in the whole wide world; and surprisingly not many found it to be tough! Except for a few, almost everyone i saw had told that s/he did well and was expecting a call from IIM/IIM's. Well what happened to the mother of all exams?? Why did the IIM's make it this simple if they want the cream of the Indian youth to be in their roll. Well the only answer can be this: CAT is not an exam that tests your knowledge, it's one which test how you apply that knowledge and how well you handle pressure!

The quest for CAT began on 17th Night when i boarded the MANGALORE EXP at 2045 and bid adieu to Trivandrum. The journey was fun with me travelling in a train with so many friends after a long time. The seats that we got were in the S8 coach, but still we made it a point to CHECK OUT all coaches from s1 till s10. If the doors of the AC Sleeper were also open, we would have dared to CHECK it out too. Some people found this to be annoying, while many had just looked on helplessly at the numerous guys and gals passing through the corridors. The train went smoothly (crawled wd be a better word) Even though we were in an express train, the speed didn't cross much above the speed that I DRIVE in my bike. I was passing time by reading "How Opal Mehta got kissed, got wild and got a life"; but then it was tough amidst the heated debates that were going on. We had discussions on various issues ranging from "Which institute is the best for CAT coaching" to "Which coach had the best gals". All this and more kept us awake till the wee hours of morning when the last of my buddies left my compartment for their respective berths. I Still remember looking at my watch and saying "gosh, it's 2 am; just 4.5 hours before we reach Calicut". Thus passed the 1st day.

The next day surprisingly the train reach ON TIME and we had to get out of the station in the huge rush that was pretty much caused by the large number to IIM aspirants who were camping @ Calicut from the 1st day. We had a tough time finding our HOTEL. Basically we had 2 places: 1- Ajay's KOORA Hotel with a room large enough to fit the 6 of us and the place that i booked with 2 double rooms for the 6 of us! We decided to 1st look at Ajay's place and if that was found to be good enough, we will stay there. The place that was supposed to be 5 mins walk from the station took us 15-20 mins to find. It was in a kinda deserted place with not much activity around it. We were right across the railway tracks and could hear the horns of the trains when they passed through them. The place looked pretty OK and we decided to stay there. We dumped all our stuff in there and it was 730 by the time we reached the room. After a short break we went in search of a decent restaurant to have some breakfast and we crossed the rail tracks to find ourselves in the midst of the city. It was a place called MAANANCHIRA, remember it pretty much coz that's the only thing i rem other than the place where my exam centre was. So we just walked and found a pretty OK looking restaurant named PARAGON, even though it was named after a brand of CHAPPALS, the food was pretty good and also was affordable. After having our breakfast we decided to stroll around the place and to find the routes to our respective exam centre (6 of us were in 3 different center’s).

Thampi and Afhay had better luck than the rest as their centre was within walking distance and was near the Beach. Manu n I were @ the same centre and it was pretty far off from the hotel. My centre was KV East Hill. I just enquired about the distance and the bus to take to reach there. By then it was 1030 and Manu n me had this deep urge to study sumthin for th next day's exam. So we split and the others decided to try and see if they could get tickets to the new bond film that had released the day before: Casino Royale. I had read rave reviews about it in the newspapers and saw amazing stunts in the TV. We told them that if they manage to get tickets, we shall get there somehow. We 2 reached the hotel @ 11 am and at 1115, Thakku calls n tells that the show is at 1130 and we needed to get to crown theatre ASAP. Me and Manu had just settled down and were going through the old questions. We got out as fast as we could and we had no idea about the theatre's location. Fortunately we got an auto from our hotel and when we had just been through something like 300 mts, the guy says Crown is on the other end of the tracks, do you guys wanna go all way round or would u just cross the tracks?? We stopped the auto and very hesitantly paid the driver 10 rupees(SOB). Rushed to the theatre to watch the very first Bond novel's film version.

Within 10 mins into the movie i understood 2 thing: 1) Tvm theatre's ROCK compared to the one's in Calicut. We were in Crown that was touted as the best in the town and the screen was small and very hazy and the sound was not at all clear. Even in the first row of the balcony we had difficulty in seeing what went on in the movie. 2) The film SUXX big time. The so called no CGI all action adventure turned out to be a disappointment as all stunts were rope tricks and it was pretty evident like that in KRRISH. The new BOND lacked the style and the persona that was needed in a bond and the film had 0 Gadgets. After the film we got out to see other good friends waiting in line to get in. We told them in the best way possible not to waste money over this Piece of SH*T. Then we were told that the BEST BIRIYAANI in KERALA was found @ a place called SAGAR in Calicut. We got into 2 auto's and reached the place. The auto's were really affordable and the driver's didn't cheat the unwary customers like us. The restaurant was jam packed and we had some trouble in finding seats for all of us. After a short waiting period we got tables and ordered Chicken biriyaani's to taste the best in Kerala for Rs 61 a piece. Sadly the food was worse than the film. The best didn't even come close to anythin that was praised about it. We cursed the damn cook and the guy who recommended the place to us (paavam MJ).

After this we spent some time in the hotel and had good fun teasing each other and adding and subtracting surnames. After this we studied something and i managed to add some knowledge about probability and revised the other portions. In the evening we had decided to go to the Beach. We had heard that Calicut was the city which had the beach with most accessibility with the beach being just 2 kms away from the town centre. We did find the beach but to our bad luck the beach was deserted and it was drizzling a bit. We had a good time at the beach, walking along the empty road holding our umbrellas and i really felt like a small kid walking along side my buddies. We had a sumptuous dinner and had trouble walking back to the hotel. We found the city to be calm and their were plenty of good looking gals to be found all through the day.

The Day: 19th Nov, The day that we all had come prepared for. I got up 1st at 530 and by 6 i was all dressed and ready to go. By 830 all of us were ready to leave except Ajay who left alone. All of us had breakfast and proceeded to our respective exam centre after saying our "ALL THE BEST" to one another. I, Manu and Simon reached the centre at 910. The gate to the school was not to be opened before 930 and we got our room numbers from the poster outside. I was inside the centre at 930 and was in my seat by 935. It was nice to be in a KV, a school where i had good memories, even though it wasn't in this school; still all KV's had that special ingredient that made them distinct from other schools.

My class was a primary class and so the benches and desks were small and i had some trouble getting accustomed to the cramped space, where i will be sitting for the next 3 hours. The test procedure began at 10 AM sharp, with an announcement from the PA system welcoming us all to CAT 2006. The voice that i heard was having a very strong North Indian accent and sounded old (probably some prof from IIMK) He listed out the formalities to be carried out and by 1010 we got our answer sheets. We got the questions booklets by 1025 and i was surprised to see that each correct answer would fetch 4 marks and there was only -1 for a wrong. That gave me some strength as i could go on and have some FREEDOM to find my way through in verbal questions where, according to me, a small risk should be taken to get the right answer.

The paper had 5 choices to each question and the surprise was quant. It was the easiest paper that i had seen in recent times. The quant section was pretty simple with a lot of DOABLE questions. After this i proceeded to the DI section, which also i felt to be comparatively easier that my expectations. EU was a section that shattered all my beliefs about how the CAT paper will be. There were 3 passages with 5 questions each, making this the most RC intensive paper in ages, 15/25 questions from RC. That was very tough and with no sure shot mark earners like VA and synonym, antonyms; the going got tough. I had a tough time understanding the passages and this made me have doubts about answers.

At the end of the 2.5 hrs i had attempted a total of 40 questions out of 75, with 10 in QA, 13 in DI and 17 in EU. I was hoping to clear the cutoffs in all sections and was pretty much happy even when i heard that there were people who had done 55-60 questions. I reached the hotel and then went to the MITTAI THERIV or S M Street, to have our lunch and then for some small shopping. By then i had busted almost my entire cash and had to get some money from Afhay and Manu. We had a good time at the street and did some purchases and reached back @ the hotel by 430. Our train was at 1905 and we decided to reach the station by auto. The 1st batch of 3 got an auto and went. The other three: I, Manu and Afhay were stranded and we just couldn't find any auto's to get to the station. Finally we just walked all the way to the station and managed to reach there by 1845 after we trespassed into the station from the back side and walked through the rails. We settled at the station and then were waiting for the train. The Railways again surprised me by having the train reach Calicut at the exact time that was displayed at the station. We got into the coach and this time we had the s1 coach. We had a set of gals and an older couple(parents of a gal) in the seats next to us. We had good fun in the train and roamed frm s1 till s10 in our QUEST. We had a good time with many of us singing songs and trying our level best to disturb the couple's engaged in conversation in the seats next to ours. We were joined in our singing by a few of our friends from SCT and CET and we had a gala time till 1030 when a policeman asked all of us to go to our respective seats. We all slept a bit early that day and when we woke up the next day the train had reached Kazhakootam and was moving fast to Tvm Cntrl. It was pretty good to see the familiar sight of All Saints College and ISRO Rocket on our way back to tvm.

And so ended the Quest for the CAT!

An Inconvenient Truth!

An Inconvenient Truth, is a documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide. I had heard a lot about it from the media and had been searching for the film on the net. I got hold of it last week and downloaded it(illegally of course) and saw it 2 days ago. The way Al Gore presents the facts really made me stand up and take notice of what's happening to the world that we are living and how badly we have affected the balance of the earth.

The documentary is based largely on a multimedia presentation that Gore developed over many years as part of an educational campaign on global warming. The film premièred at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and opened in New York and Los Angeles on May 24,2006. It is the third-highest-grossing documentary in the United States to date. Both Gore and Paramount Classics, the film's distributor, have pledged proceeds from the film to further educational campaigns about climate change. The film, which opened at film festivals, was promoted with tag lines such as "A global warning", "We're all on thin ice", "By far the most terrifying film you will ever see", and "The scariest film this summer is one where you are the villain and the hero".


Rather than simply listing facts in a dry, mechanical manner, the film places its subject in an emotional—and moral—context, with dramatic plot elements. Sprinkled between the charts and graphs are moments of humour and emotion. Al Gore quotes many a personal incident that made him make this film, like his son's death, his sister suffering from cancer and so on.

Coming to the issue that the film handles;The vast majority of climate scientists around the world agree the climate is changing and the globe is warming. 2006 saw the hottest summer in 70 years and the first six months of '06 were the warmest on record - poised to break the record 2005 set of the warmest year on record - worldwide. In addition we are having record rainfall like that we had in Mumbai this year and the last year. Also there is an exceptional increase in the number of Hurricanes and Typhoons that have hit US and Japanese coastlines.

In spite of all this the USA is yet to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol now covers more than 160 countries globally and over 55% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Still USA is not adhering to this protocol simply because the USA thinks it will cause UNWANTED losses in the form of modernisation of factories and equipments to meet the new stricter emission norms. But they fail to realise that the future is looming upon us and the next ice age will rush onto us, unless we do something about the way we are ruining the planet. Only USA and Australia figure in the list of the so called "DEVELOPED" countries which are yet to ratify this protocol, which may save the earth for our children.

The Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, has refused to ratify the Agreement and has argued that the protocol would cost Australians jobs, due to countries with booming economies and massive populations such as China and India not having any reduction obligations. The United States, although a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, has neither ratified nor withdrawn from the protocol — though their one-time representative, Condoleezza Rice, remarked that the Protocol was "unacceptable" at the time it was presented to her. The protocol is non-binding over the United States unless ratified.

The documentary emphasises these point with SOLID FACTS, rather than scientists giving boring speeches and graphs and charts that make no sense, Al Gore puts the facts in very easy to understand numbers and graphs. He personally explains the melting of various glaciers and ice shelf's, with pictures, video's and audio content. The film includes many segments intended to refute critics who say that global warming is insignificant or unproven. For example, he discusses the risk of the collapse of a major ice sheet in Greenland or Antarctica, either of which could raise global sea levels by approximately 20 feet (6m), flooding coastal areas and producing 100 million refugees. The documentary shows the projected areas that could be submerged by the rise and includes areas like Kolkata and Bangladesh. Water from Greenland, because of its lower salinity, could halt the Gulf Stream current and quickly trigger dramatic local cooling in Northern Europe, pushing it into an ICE AGE.

Now all the scientists across the world have been unanimous when it comes to the fact that the green house gases are being emitted and they do alter the climate by causing unwanted heat to accumulate in the atmosphere. But then some do show reservations as to when the break even point will be attained. Such thoughts 1st came to my mind when i saw "The Day after Tomorrow".
That film really scared me and that was how i started to look for facts, as to how much truth is there in the film. But after some time i had dropped the topic and moved on, until i saw this documentary. The documentary and the film will really push any sceptic of the global warming program to take notice of what's happening around the world. The amount of data that has been collected over the years, the changes that are visible to naked eye all point to the fact that its coming to us much faster than we ever thought about it.

The documentary ends with Gore noting that if appropriate action is taken soon, the effects of global warming can be successfully reversed by releasing less carbon dioxide and growing more plants or trees. But then these are just small steps, major changes have to come in the upper echelons of power by changing government policies and laws.

Visit Climatecrisis for joining hands with the initiative and cut-down your GHG emissions by following the steps in the site for a better tomorrow!

Politics of Clemency

Why is there so much furore over the hanging of Mohd. Afzal, a criminal condemned of masterminding the attack on the Indian parliament - the very symbol of Indian democracy?? Now let's find out a few things about this "innocent" soul who according to many was just at the wrong place in the wrong time. Wikipedia describes Afzal as :

Mohammad Afzal is a Kashmiri accused and convicted of conspiracy to storm the Indian parliament in December 2001. In 2004, he was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of India. The sentence was to be carried out on 20 October, 2006. The sentance is now stayed, after his family filed a mercy petition to the the President.

So if the whole world considers him as a criminal who had the courage to mastermind the attacks, why is he given so much importance all of a sudden?? Why are so many news channels and newspapers taking pains to publish stories against his hanging?? India being a democratic country gives the right to each person to plead for clemency upon sentence of capital punishment.

But here we have a TERRORIST, who planned a attack that led to the death of :

One gunman, wearing a suicide vest, was shot dead, the vest exploding. The other four gunmen were also killed. Five policemen, a Parliament security guard, and a gardener were killed, and 18 others were injured. No members of the government were hurt.

He caused so many deaths and now we have a former CM of J&K ( Mr Farooq Abdulla) saying that the whole country will go up in flames if he's to be hanged, that the judges who convicted him will not live long. This is an open threat from a person who ruled Kashmir for so many years. This shows the level to which a politician will stoop just for gaining political mileage out of such a gruesome act. Who cares how many policemen, military and para-military force members laid down their lives to protect the symbol of democracy that is the Parliament of India.

What was the purpose of this daring terror? If the Parliament were symbolic of the national pride and personality it was an attack on both. If the Parliament were symbolic of democracy, it was crime against democracy. If the seculars would regard the Parliament as a symbol of secularism Afzal attempted to wipe out that very icon of secularism. If the Parliament represented freedom and the rule of law in India he exerted to snuff both. This attack nearly brought India to war with Pakistan in the year 2002, a week after the attack, India mobilised and deployed its troops to Kashmir and Punjab in what was India's largest military mobilization since the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War amid calls from the United States and the United Nations (UN) on India to exercise restraint. If the politicians were serious then, what happened all of a sudden now?????

Now if one were to examine the grounds on which the clemency is demanded, the 1st arguement from his wife is: He wasn’t given a fair trial. He wasnt given a good lawyer. His confession was forced.

Well even if he's innocent as his wife and other supporters say, then why hasn't he opened his mouth even once saying that he didn't have any hand in the attack. Now about the part that he was beaten into his confession, still he's not eligible for clemency as the only violation here can be Human right's violation to a prisoner under custody. But no one's mentioning about that!

Now on the arguement that there would be widespread violence in Kashmir if he's hanged; well that remains to be seen and what any Indian citizen should do at this moment is support the judiciary for taking such swift action on a case that is of such national importance. We should support the justice system and not the dreaded criminals who will be rescued by another hijack like that of IC-814 which shouldn't be allowed in the future and repition of IC-814 is a well founded fear and I think the then governement did a big mistake succumbing to the terrorists demands.

If Afzal were to be given clemency, it would only mean a moral victory to the terrorists, frankly speaking taking away the life of a convicted-terrorist, is a much better alternative than, spending the hard-earned money of the Indian taxpayer, on life-time maintenance of such a terrorist. This is reason enough and exact justification for hanging Afzal. If the politicians can successfully get clemency to Afzal, then it is assured that Terrorism is bound to rise to greater heights and trouble all of mankind.

The family of Kamlesh Kumari, a CRPF Jawan who died in the attack has said that they will return the Ashok Chakra awarded to her, if the president accepts the petition. This the last thing that should happen to India. This would demoralise the million's of troops who secure the borders of our nation and are ready to lay their lives for the safety of each and every Indian. The government should never consider the clemency petition and should set an example to each and every budding terrorist that he wouldn't be allowed to walk away with a few years in jail to come out and commit another heinous attack.

N Korea Joins the Nuke Club

On monday the North Korean news agencies announced that N Korea had become the 8th nation in the world which had Nuclear weapon launch capability sending panic waves across the world. It didn't come as surprise when all nations came up against the tests and condemed the action of the dictatorial N Korean regime. This was particularly clear in the stand taken by the US and Japanese administration. President Bush called the North Korean test “a threat to international peace and security” and condemned it as a “provocative act.” But Russia and China, which have veto power and have consistently opposed tough sanctions, did not signal that they were ready to go along with the American proposal. Britain, France and Japan said they were also pressing for strong sanctions, which the Security Council is expected to debate in the coming days.

Site of the N Korean Nuke test

But then it's a shame that these warnings come from a nation that has conducted more tests than the rest of the world, and was the first and only country to use a nuclear weapon in wartime. The U.S. has signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, but it has not yet been ratified by the Senate. The total tests by the USA come to a whopping 1,030 of which 815 were underground. They have had tests in any and every possible situation and now it is the strongest opposer to nations conducting nuke tests. Take the case of the Pokharan Tests in 1998, India had to get over a huge number of economic and scientific sanctions and it was kind of making the whole nation feel that these tests were unwanted and India shouldn't have carried them out. But then why shouldn't a nation that fully understands the dangers of using nukes, cause the only example of the destructive power of such weapons was demonstrated by the USA in the 2nd World War. This policy of the US is a effort to extend their own hegemony over the world as a whole.

I am not saying that N Korea is the leader when it comes to world peace, but then why condemn a nation when it develops nuke capacity??? I think the method of imposing sanctions will only isolate N Korea and make them feel that the whole world is up in arms against them and actually this might be the PROVOCATIVE action that Mr Bush was saying about.

Coming to think about the proliferation of nuclear weapons once N Korea becomes a nuclear power, there is reliable proof which says that China is helping Pakistan with its nuclear efforts. But then not a single nation condemns them, why this BIAS when it comes to smaller nations???? Or is it because half of the hardware that US needs comes from China?????? Now the US has close to 12,000 warheads which are capable of destroying the world a 1000 times over, but no one has a voice against the limitation of arms. The policies followed by the US govt across the world are the root cause of all troubles in the world. They were the one's who gave arms to the Taliban in the 80's and are suffering now from their own weapons. I think it's high time that the world community stands up and takes notice of all the bullshit that US is spreading the world over. First the US should stop all the atrocities that they are doing the world over and then start preaching peace to the world

Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??

?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??

Aphrodite/Eros
Take this quiz!

YES!!!!!! Now this is what i am talkin about!

What Age Do You Act?

You Are 24 Years Old

20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.

What Age Do You Act?

Phew! If this is what i act like(and look like) i think am NORMAL!

Classmates - A real entertainer

Well before writing about th movie i would like to tell about how i watched the movie. It was a lazy day for me, and i didn't go for the CAT class in the morning. The excuse this time was " Cough and Cold" and i was really very drowsy from my medicine. But the real reason was that it was raining like hell and i was NOT in a mood to bathe in icy cold water @ 6 AM. So i slept a bit more and then got up at 730. Reached college at 9 am only to find that i had no class in the 1st hour. The second hour was also free and we guys were having our usual discussions, this time about sports in the last few days, it all began with the Indian Hockey teams PATHETIC show @ the world cup. Then we went into EPL and Champions League and it was 1030. At that time i had a idea for going for a film rather than sit in the class and waste my precious time.

So i asked if anyone was coming and had a mixed response, by 1040 i had just 1 guy willing to come and that was Jai, so we went in my bike and on our way to the theatre, we had 4 guys calling us and asking us if we can get tickets for them too. We said we would try our best and by 11 we reached Sree Padmanabha, it was jam packed with guys n gals frm various colleges(guess all had free hours!) We were in a serpentine queue which extended well into the road. By the time we reached the gate of the theatre, we had varying offers for black tickets like 30 for 50; 30 for 40 and so on.

Finally we made it to the interior of the theatre and got to the end of the queue, by then we had the RELUCTANT guys coming in and we had a small crowd from our class. We took 10 tickets and still we hadn't got for 3 guys who showed up late. Now the tickets we had in our hands were the Rs 20 one's; the very front row. I thought we might have to sit in the 2nd row or 3rd, but when we got inside all that was left was the very 1st row. The closest i had got to the screen was th 7th row for ANNIYAN, and that was kinda bad, i thought this is worse and got in. I could see that the screen really is BIG, but now it looked gargantuan.

I took a seat at almost the middle and when i got in A R Rahman's composition of the Vande Maataram was being shown, the whole audience was swaying to it's tunes and it was good to see them do that. After this the picture began and it was really tough to watch it. It was like watching a tennis match from the front row, had to shift my head from one side to other as the characters spoke on screen. It was really tought to see it all together. But then it was great that i could hear every dialog, every joke from the screen(wch is usually impossible due to the audience comments and laughter). So in that way it was good.


Now about the movie: well if you are going for a stereotype campus romance, don't waste your money over this one. Ofcourse it has a love story, or rather two of them, but there stops the similarity from the other CAMPUS films. This film captures the real essence of a typical Kerala college, with lovers, strikes and friendly(and Unfriendly) teachers. I was really happy to see that this was NOT a story based on a engineering college, not that i don't like it, but then being a engineering student i hate the mockery that such films make of engineering colleges and the students who study there. There have been umpteen number of films that show a guy coming from a poor background scoring centum's in all papers and being the hero in the end. I do agree that it happens, but come on; this can't be the story in all colleges.

Ok now coming to this film, it has a good story and surprisingly good casting, each character fits into the role perfectly and there are no scenes to show the bravery of the hero or the eternal love story or anything, i appreciate the director Mr LAL JOSE for doing justice to the script and the keeping in with the story. The story tells us about the bond between a group of friends who during their prime in the college, enjoyed a lot and then come back to the campus after a short span of time. They find that all of them have changed, but then the bond is still strong in them and they still feel for eachother what they felt years before.

The film has all the essentials for a good movie, nice story, good acting, melodious songs and great picturisation and yea, it has the elements of a thriller too. For more spend ATLEAST 20 buks and go watch the film. The film is another must see, if you really wanna get 100% value for the money spent on the ticket.

Friendship...........................& love

Friendship is a word that brings a mix of memories into all our minds, some good one's some bad and some so bitter that you would never want to remember about them and so on.... For me friends are those set of people on whom i have relied all my life. Maybe cause i didn't have much trouble to mingle with people or maybe because i am used to having someone with me as a dear one all my life. All my life i have had friends with me as people who have supported me, listened to me, cared for me, solved my problems and a lot more. But then being a friend is not about doing all this, its about sharing those moments in your life that you can't share with anyone else; be it your parents, your siblings or even your girl/boy friends.

The moments that i have spent with my friends are among the most treasured one's in my life till now. I am quite sure that they will also feel the same about that too. But then the relevance of having friends is not just as a backup to rely on when we suffer from problems, they are also people who should be with us during our good times more than our bad times, because friends are people who are with you when the whole world is up in arms against you.

Why does one have friends?? There has to be something that lacks in all other relations that makes us go in search of a relation called friendshp. Now what can be the options and values that a friend provides but then a parent or a sibling fails to give. For one the small things that we can tell a friend can never be told to a parent or siblings. Maybe at times siblings can be the best of chums and can be trusted with any kind of secret. But that's not the case for every one. I know of bro's n sister's who look at each other like enemies and would do anything to show the other in a bad light. Now the things that we share with our friends are mostly related to our lifestyle and at MOST times it will be about this boy/girl that you are interested in. Now friends can act as messengers or lookouts for that intimate relation to mushroom into something that finally makes you go away from your friends.

I wouldn't call love as a relation, i would prefer it as a feeling. Maybe due to my personal experiences. But then love has always been a feeling for me and it is that feeling that begins with a friendship and then crosses limits of friendship and causes such deep impressions in your heart that you can't think of anything else other than the person you love. Most times this results in people having bad grades and having problems with your friends. But for me it's always resulted in a vigour to perform at my best, it maybe to show myself in a good light or maybe just to prove that i am better than anyone else. This is why love's always a feeling that's been good to me.

Love is a relation that's so beautiful, yet can turn so ugly at times.

This floods my mind with memories of previous relations, yea RELATIONS :P. To be precise broken relations. Someone once said, it's good for friendship to end as love but love ending in friendship is a disaster. For me both have worked equally well and if i were to have my pick i will say the love ending in friendship was much much better than the friendships that ended in love and finally broke off altogether.

For this i will like to confess something here. There have been instances where i have befriended a girl just to see if the above mentioned statement works for me and to my surprise it did work at times. But then as any unsucessfull lover will say, "The right girl for me hasn't come across me till now" maybe cause this is the only dialog to say when you are shattered and there's no one to bring you up. These are times when you hate the relation called love and vow never to go after it again. The vow may last months, but most times it just holds true until you see the girl who proves that butterfly effect is a fact. The flutter of her eyelids can cause a chain reaction in your heart and mind that will end only the day you propose to that girl.

But then what's the use, one day she will dump you for the next best guy. The solution: Never fall in love.

For the optimist there's another solution too: Be the best guy in town

Now decide which side you wanna be with.

Munnabhai Lagey Raho...........

"Munnabhai Lagey Raho" The much awaited film of the year.... But when i saw the small crowd outside Athulya today i was kinda stunned to see that there were hardly 100 people for a film that was supposed to be running full house across the nation. But then what can one expect from the kerala crowd which is traditionally more into action and adventure when it comes to NON-MALAYALAM movies. It is pathetic about the Kerala crowd that we get more people to come for crappy hollywood makeover like Krrish and get so many people and housefull show's.

We were 7 people in total, and went for th 2 pm show. I had huge expectations about the sequel to Munnabhai MBBS and i hadn't heard much about the storyline of the 2nd part, so i was expecting a continuation from where we had stopped in the 1st part. But the director seems to have a entirely new storyline and cast, but there are the usual characters associated to Munnabhai, like the right hand man-Circuit and some other petty thieves. Then ther's Boman Irani in the classical villian type role. Supporting cast includes almost all of the people from the 1st part.

Then in the form of lady interest we have Vidya Balan, doing a pretty good mimic of Robbie Williams in his unforgettable role in GOOD MORNING VIETNAM, only here it's GOOD MORNING MUMBAI...... Munna is our old self itself with his NOT so intelligent ways and talking style, akha Tapori estyle. He's also got his OWN style of getting things done by hook or crook. The film begins in the same way the 1st began, with a Kidnap. But then the drama and the humour in the 1st kidnap was not matched even closely by the opening sequence. In this part munna is more into Social activities and suddenly has a craze to read about Mahatma Gandhi. His involvement with Gandhiji begins there and then he beings to have hallucinations and see's Mahatma wherever he goes. Mahatma tries to change Munna and imbibes in him the qualities of Ahimsa and Satyagraha.

There are very nice songs in the film with picturizations in the beaches of Goa and also locations in Mumbai. The humour and the dialogs in the film are on par with the 1st part. The story moves in a very nice way and the movie never seemed to drag eventhough the second half was pretty serious and there was less scope for humour. The climax was pretty much unexpected and we had a surprise entry from Abhishek Bachchan. But it wasn't like the stupid cameo he did in Salaam Namaste.

The film is a good entertainer for any crowd and also makes one remember the values that Mahatma had given importance and how much we have forgotton them. I will say this is a MUST SEE for the Genext.

What to do with my evil mind!

It's been a while since i have blogged, but then if i go on explaining about what kept me away from blogger, it will fill this post. I hav another important matter to put in front of all the people who read my blog( i do feel ther are some ppl who do that).

So here it goes........

Today i was on my way back from college. I was in a bus( yea bus!) after a long long time. Today was a very memorable day in my life, for things which have never happened in my life before. Things which i may not be doing again in my life......... But i feel so bad cause i broke so many hearts today, of people whom i consider as friends, some even more than friends.

Aaaah lemme just forget that and get to the core of the issue. All might be wondering why i put such a title for this post of mine. Well here it begins.... As i was saying ....on my way back from college in the bus i was trying to find a seat and after 5 mins into the journey i got a seat, now due to the hectic day that i had i dozed off as soon as i found a seat. In the sleep i dnt know how but i had a dream and boy it sure was a nasty dream. It was pretty beautiful dream, it was a typical day out of my life, i got up at 7 went to college in my bike, reached college at 9. Then onto a boring session at college, with games of football and a lot of occasions THEPPIFYING my friends and the like.. But then towards th middle of the day, the dream took a nasty turn. I suddenly sported a GUN, a waltherPPK(AKA James Bond's gun) and then i went to a class in my college(not mine :D) and then shot 4 of my best ENEMIES in that class in cold blood and then walked out of my class and then killed myself in front of my friends.


Now after i shot myself(in the dream) i got a sudden feeling that i was going to a place that's sooo evil that it fit all the descriptions of HELL. Then before i could see more there was this stupid lorry driver who blew his horn and the shrill blast of the air horn woke me up. :(( i wish i had seen more and got to know what is the punishment in Hell for killing people.

Now i want all of you to tell me if what i saw was something that was EVIL and that if i should be punished for what i dreamt of.


Waitin for all your comments!

The festival known as Exams!

Finally it's over! whew........ now i can have a sigh of relief. Boy that was exhausting. Exams for more than a month, 11 papers in total.......... gosh i havn't written as many exams in such a small gap ever before and hopfully will never do it again. It all started on 20th or 23rd (dnt rem tht) of last month, my first exam in 6th sem. They were all pretty smooth and were over in a span of 3 weeks, simple affair not such a big deal. Some papers really sucked, but 6 semesters in a engineering course do teach one thing: some papers are just like that, no matter how hard you prepare they wd be there to screw u. So learing this truth the hard way in my 3rd n 4th semesters(long story, no time now!) i decided not to pay too much attention to so called NICE papers, namely machine tools, metallurgy, managemnt etc...

Now came the real pain in the @$$ experience, supplimentary exams. I had heard about them right from my 1st week at college, but thought "they are not for sumone like me" and guess what, i didn't have a single back paper in my entire BTech till my 5th sem results came;i knw i hav said this abt 10-15 times in the course of this blog, still it's sumthn that i find difficult to adjust to, so plz bear with me ths 1 time. So in my 5th sem i got 3, not 1 or 2 but 3 papers as supplimentary. For the very 1st time in my life i came to college on days usually spent in sleepin, loafin around, watchin movies n other productive activities. So here i was having 3 backpapers to clear and having pathetic scores in 2 of my favorite subjects(not that thy r too good, jus they are in the SCORING area) Maths n Dynamics of Machinery(DOM). In both the papers i had marks in the 50's. So i committed myself to the foolish act of writing improvement exams for these 2 papers. Many of my frnds with "rich experience" in the suppli dept did warn me that i wdn't get time for my suppli, let alone improvment exams. I thought "no way, i sure wd study and improve my % along with clearing the suppli". One major fact that i forgot while giving the exam fee was that from 9th June the FIFA world cup was begining and the major impact it would have on my STUDY HOURS!

Now here i was with a hallticket to appear for a total of 5 exams from 12th june to 30th june. I still was confident that there is plenty of gap between the papers and i would manage my time well and do well in the exams. So the 1st exam as usual was MATHS and i did a great deal of studies, if 1 module out of 3 is a great deal, then YES! So i went ther studying 1 module on the eve of the exam and the paper was so easy that 'I' managed to write all the questions asked from 1st module, includin the 20 mark and 2 shrt answer questions. So if i could do it by studyin for 3 hours, anyone who did study will surely get 80-90 marks. I was really angry at myself that day.

So went my 1st exam, 1 down 4 to go, next one was Thermal Engg, a paper wch i was expecting to get in the 60's and got 37. But due to a strike on 13th, our exams on 14th were postponed to 30th. So the next in line was Dynamics of Machinery on 16th, a paper wch i was sure to get great marks, and the exam was fairly simple and i hope to get good marks(that remains to be seen). Then came a dreaded paper wch i had hated so much cause of the nice teaching in the class, Metallurgy. I pitched in all efforts to see that this time i clear the paper and i did a great deal of studying. Then only i came to know about this paper. It's really not so bad (Hee Hee) it was jus that i had a prejudice towards this subject and now i found it to be somewhat OK! So i went to the exam with pretty high hopes on 22nd and wasn't disappointed when i saw the question paper. It was as if the teacher had put questions from just the areas i had worked upon. Surprisingly i sat there all 3 hours(that rarely occurs in my case) and wrote almost all the answere to the best of my knowledge.

Beaming with this confidence i went in to the Wipro placement on 23rd, yeah that's another contingency that i failed to address while giving for the improvement exams. So here i was a day after a suppli exam, all dressed up with a perfect executive look and i managed to get the job(more in the previous post).I was really happy after all this and decided to treat myself to a good movie. Yea, movie in between exams; It's quite usual for me and my friends. So we went for KRRISH. I can't find words to say how stupid i felt after watchin such a idiotic movie. Can't describe how stupid the film was. So here i was, wasting a good amount of money to watch a stupid film in a very bad theatre. Aaaaah, sometimes such things too happen.

On 25th,sunday i had my 2nd AIMCAT exam. It was something that i hadn't planned for, but coming to think of it; all the exams in this month hadn't been planned aswell. So i thought why waste a oppourtunity and went and wrote the test. The test sucked like hell and i managed to get a -ve score in the quant section. It was pretty good for my friends, but then why should i regret. Afterall i had come to write it without preparing, and still was expecting a result of around 28-30.

The next two days i studied like a dog, coz the next paper was a nightmare for me from day1 in 5th sem, Industrial Electronics. Being a mechanical student, it ddnt take much time for me to develop a hatred to electronics and it peaked when i got th news of my suppli in this paper. This time i wanted to just get a pass in this paper. Didn't feel that i could manage more either. I had a lot of help from a friend, who tried to induce in me the love of electronics, but i just failed to see her point at most times! So went to write IE suppli on 28th June, it was Ok and i think i will pass this time.

By 29th evening the AIMCAT results were out and just like i had calculated i got a -ve 0.67 in quant, got 6 in DI and managed to get 22 in Verbal. That was pretty good for me, cause:
1-Got the scores that i expected
2-Now know how badly i can screw up in the real CAT paper.
Got a total score of 27.33 and managed a decent 54th rank in city and all India rank of 2048. Though it was a huge drop from 8 and 190 of previous paper, i wasn't that sad, since i wasn't expecting to get a great score.

Next up was one good paper in which i had high hopes, not cause it's easy or anything, but it's amongst the best papers in the whole of BTech Mechanical. The paper is Thermal Engineering and i had a fairly good idea about the subject from the start, and it baffled me when i got just 37 in this, making this my 3rd suppli paper. This was a paper where i was expecting a score of not less than 60 and i got this. Anyways that is past and i put in some effort this time, not that i could do much as i had just one day to study a full semester paper. Still i tried my best with the notes i got in class(yeah they still exist) and with the textbook. I went to the exam hall on 30th with a clear mind and was quite sure that with this i would end my extended exam timetable on a happy note. But then god played a good joke on me and the paper was awful. I just managed to get 1 essay question right and had no clue watsoever about the other 2. Funny thing: There was a derivation which i had studied the previous night, and i couldn't rememeber it. It was something that never happened to me before, cause i study just the very essential things and always remember them. But i think tension got the better of me and i was on a low after the exam. I just prayed to god that i pass this without any problems, coz i dnt wanna go through this vicious circle once again!!

So that was the way my exam festival was; with lots of high's in the middle and finally ending on a low note.

I got a job!!!!!!

So this is how it feels!!!!!!!! Earning your first job, passin a real aptitude test and a real interview. Boy all those MOCK tests were really sitters compared to the real deal. The story goes like this.........

I got to the college at 840, slightly wet from the drizzle today morning. Saw the buddies of my class over there, all in formals. So was i, but i had on a different shirt as i ddnt wanna ruin my prized possession - the shirt i earned from my quiz @ Amrita TV. Had been saving it for so many days now. So there i was trying to put up a good show, so that by the end of the day, i get into WIPRO, a company that started off as a vegetable oil sales company to the multi billion dollar comporation it is now ( i knw many of u ddnt know that fact abt Wipro). Now am not sayin all this cause i got into this company and being loyal to it. Actually am very happy that i got a job and i can rely upon to it if my CAT preparations screw up big time.

So lemme continue with the recruitment process. Reached there and then went to the hall where the Pre Placement Talk(PPT) was scheduled, only to find that the projector ddn't show the image on the laptop and all my friends were trying all tricks in the bag to make it allright. Then i came in the scene, at first even i couldn't do anything. Then as they say "the magical touch" happened and ZAPP! it worked. Now i came to realise the biggest blunders i made today:
1-i ddnt take the audio out cable that was in my table(for the PPT)
2-i ddnt take the 2 photos required(considering th fact that it was me who msgd evry1 in the college to bring them)
So, i thought of all th bad times in my life and prayed to god that this day shdn't be among those. So we tried to make an audio jack in the 15-20 mins we had. Vivek went home and brought some audio jacks, now the only thing needed was the cable. Finally we made a crude arrangement and got the audio working, now the people from Wipro came and lo! they ddnt need any audio out. HOW NICE.

Now the presentation started and all went well till the slide with the salary details came up, i was quite shocked to see that for CIRCUIT branches the salary was 2.04 lakhs a year and for NON CIRCUIT(read mechanical) branches it was 1.74 lakhs a year. Now that was a not such a big issue then as i ddn't have much idea if i will get the job or not! The PPT was good, they told a lotta good things about the company and showed a lot of nice picture as well!

Now came the test! The test was of 1 hour duration and had 50 questions: 15 verbal, 15 Apti and 20 Tech. The tech part really sucked! all C++ n electronics, simply greek n latin to me. Still there were some sitters like "Wat's the name for the junk e-mail that we get??" now with my VAST experience in browsing i got the right answer as SPAM(i knw any kid wd know tht). Then there was NO NEGATIVE marking so i wrote all the questions, except 1. I did well in the verbal n apti part, but was a bit fearful abt the tech part. When i got out i heard people sayin they got 2..........3 right answers in tech, and from my count i had about 6 or 7. So i stood a good chance of gettin thru, and so i did. I got thru the test and then came the interviews.

My interview was scheduled to start at 4 PM, but i was the last person in my room, so it went on till god knws when. The last thing i will do then wd be look at my watch! By then, a good number of my classmates had cleared the tech interview and some had even got over with the HR interview. From my experiences in Stress interviews and Best manager contests that i used to frequent in my college years, i had a pretty good idea wat a HR interview will be like and knew the kind of responces that would get me the job, but then all this only if i clear the tech interview. Finally i got into the room, and was greeted with a bored figure, i too empathised with him, i can understand the plight of a person who is to go through the same routine for 10-15 times in a day. But there ended the boredom and i saw him firing questions at will and surprisingly i didn't do that great! i sucked at questions from mechanical, but i can't do anything if he asks me questions from papers that i passed with the bare minimum 40 marks! He just seemed to know those papers(i have got 3 of those so far in my BTech) and so he just asked questions one after the other. Finally he said "you don't know a thing"; i cdn't think of anything else at that time and i thought it was all gonna end then. But then he had a change of mind and asked me questions from some subjects that i know like the back of my hand, and i did better than the 1st round. Now he seemed pretty satisfied with the way i did and so he went onto ask me about some IT stuff, again i did badly and finally he got that worried look on his face. I got a beat or two off the track and still managed to look cheerful and showed interest in what all he was going to ask. He said "1 final question, tell me the algorithm to draw a line?" and i said a YES!! in my mind and felt like getting up and punchin the air as a sign of victory, but rather i found myslef takin my pen and scribbling what i had learned last semester in my CAD paper. The answer was what he expected, then he said "ok some more questions......". My mind was showing the letters "SCREWED" in multicolor across his forehead. I was thinking why does he want to play games with me again. Then he asked me about the basic features of a CAD software. I thought this chap passed out in 1995, at that time CAD was in the electives of the Kerala University Syllabus, so he wdn't know much. I told some features and then he asked me something i had never heard of! Then he tells me that he worked as the On-site engineer for a project that wipro did for AUTOCAD. How lucky for me, i thought i wd be rejected after this.

But then he said the lucky words " i am passing u onto the next level" I grabbed the form from his hands and ran down the stairs, only to meet my friends who had got there before me, some who were filling it and some who had done all that and now helping others to fill up the forms. After filling it up and pastin my photo(i always have a spare in my purse, HEE HEE)i went to the HR panel and gave my form. I was called in after 3-4 mins and had the interview with the same guy who took the PPT in the morning. He was sitting and offered me a chair. I sat and there i had 2 ppl on either side of me, one the guy whu was gonna do the interview and other this charming lady who was listening to my performance. If i had seen here somewher else, i wdn't be able to take my eyes off her, but here a job worth 15k salary was at stake, so i became the most DECENT guy in that room and answered the questions. They were one's which i was expecting; stuff like why my marks went down after i got into the college, or like what will be a mechanical engineer like me doing in a software firm like Wipro. I did pretty well, and it showed in the guys' face. I got out and was waiting outside, cracking PJ's among ourselves. Then at about 7:15 PM the list was announced, 1st the ppl frm EC, then those from Mechanical, i was just counting how many got and when i reached 8, i thought " oh god, dnt say tht i ddnt make it" and the 10th name was mine.

That's when i felt what one calls absolute euphoria. I was on the nth cloud of happiness!!

Reality hit me when the rain poured heavily as if nature was also cheering with us!

The Beautiful Game called Football!

The greatest spectacle on the face of earth is going to be unleashed in exactly 5 hours from now. The show that millions are gearing up for. The show that has more fans than anyother game in the world. From today the world will witness a shift in the issues being discussed, no longer will people notice which leader gave what starement, or how many got killed in a terrorist strike. All that would matter from today till 9th July, will be who scored, who went down and which underdog got thru to 2nd round and so on. From tommorow people in Thankappan's chayakada to some high tech board room in silicon valley will have just one issue to talk, FOOTBALL, FOOTBALL n FOOTBALL!

I was amazed when few days on way to college i saw giant boards of soccer stars put up by people living near my college. Usually they are least bothered about what's happening in the world, but their support really astonished me. That really conveyed the message that football is something that's universal and has followers from all walks of life. Football is one religion that has followers in each and every corner of the world. Coming to think of it, the caption for ESPN's World cup coverage is "duniya GOAL hai". How appropriate, the world is gonna be just goals, freekicks and corners from now on for 31 days.

All i wish to see on the 9th of july is English skipper Beckham with the golden cup in his hands. I know many will have different opinions about this, but am supportin england this time, not that they are the best, but still i think when it comes to the game, the present english team can beat any opponent. Still i am keeping my finger crossed. What all happens, in the end the deserving team will win and ther's just 31 days and 64 matches that separate us from the final. But as they say it's about the beauty and aesthetic appeal of how the matches are played. Am eagerly looking forward to some great matches and to see who are the new key players emerging from this world cup.

So IT HAS BEGUN. Hoping to see a great World cup.

Petrol becomes dearer !!

Am overcome with rage over each and every policy this govt makes. It's as if they are hell bent upon making the life of Ordirnary man miserable!! They say they are a govt that stands for the rights of the "AAM AADMI". But not a single move that's taken by this govt's done any good to any AADMI, let alone the AAM AADMI. The govt says the price hike is inevitable and that the international crude prices are what drives the prices high. But if we look at the prices of petrol in the countries around us, we are among the higest paying customers in the world market. Does anyone care why???

Well that's coz there are so many duties and taxes being levied upon customers like me. I still remember there used to be a sweet time when petrol was Rs 20 a ltr. Yeah frnds, ther were times like that. But now we are fools who believe that the petrol that we fill costs the Rs 50 that we pay for it.

The main reason that the govt's giving for the rise is that the international price of crude oil has reached $70 per barrel.Now lets do some calculations: From a Unit Convertor i got hold of in the net, i found that 1 barrel comes close to 159 lts. And $70 comes to Rs 3200. So that means 1 ltr comes to Rs 20. Now that's for crude and no matter how much the cost of petrol refining be it can't be 1.5 times the cost of crude. So the price of petrol should be lets assume Rs 30 per ltr(Am just assuming, coz i dnt knw wat's th refining cost).

So this means we pay about 40% of the petrol cost as TAXES!!! That's GROSS injustice, especially in a DEVELOPING country like India. We arn't a developed economy where the people can afford to pay such high taxes! The govt should cut back the tax rates or completly abolish taxing of petroleum products (i knw tht's a bit far fetched :D)

I wd surely love to have those Rs 30-35 a ltr era once again. Wat do you ppl say??

Another quota debacle

It seems that the govt is not gonna end the quota issue that easily, if we are to believe the comments from the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment (News From CNN IBN). If her words are to be believed then it's gonna come in private sector too. Not only education they are givin jobs for free too!!

This is just as i projected in my previous post (do we need reservations). The govt is moving just like i thought. They waited till the students agitations get cooled and now they have started to make the move to halt the Indian industry which had picked up some pace due to good initiatives from the govt and the world scenario as a whole. But all this would now come to a standstill as the govt is going to put in their sweet words and say " We aren't gonna force it on anyone, but it's social responsibility".

Yeah Social responsibitlity my ASS!! They do things to make half the population suffer so that the other half is OK. Is that wat SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC means???

The preamble of THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA says that

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

Well the 1st thng JUSTICE, i don't think anyone has heard about it being served anywhere in India, as we can hear from the numerous murder cases in which the killers are let go after years of litigation.

Then comes LIBERTY, yeah that's there in plenty. Truckloads of it, but only to policemen and to people high up in the ranks of power. Everyone saw what protesting students met with when anyone has the LIBERTY to have a demonstration, in a country that got its freedom through such peaceful and nonviolent protests. But now it seems those same leaders whoose forefathers did these agitations, turned a blind eye when students were lathicharged and protesters were gunned down with water cannons.

No one said anything about EQUALITY for a long time until this bill came up in parliament. Now it seems the people in power tried to read the constitution and just got their eyes till the PREAMBLE and already the whole country is shaking in its aftermath. But sadly they just seemed to notice this one word EQUALITY, and they are doing everything at hand to prove that they are the upholders of the CONSTITUTION.

Now if they continue in the same spirit and execute the rest of what is written in it, this would be the greatest govt that India has seen in recent years, but my instincts suggest otherwise. Now they have been in power for just 2 years and there are lotta happenigs now itself. The bills are being passed so fast that the media can't keep tabs on the proceedings of the Parliament. But the president sure reads all the bills before signing them. That's another rare feature of the present Indian administration.

If this goes on the people in power would have a free march till the next elections, in which they would say "we gave your seats you give us votes". Now the thing that they miss is that more than half this country is made up of so called unreserved GENERAL category and that if they wish all these MP's would never see the steps of parliament again. But yeah they know the public in India, the India where only the lower caste's go to cast votes because the upper echelons of society are, in their words "too educated to waste time on this". So the govt's safe on that front too.

Let's all just pray that the govt doesn't have such brainstorming ideas on other social issues also.

Tough break for Gunners

Arsenal lost to Barcelona in the finals of the UEFA Champions League. Sob!! It's tough to take for the Gunners but they really made a heroic effort tonight. I was so confident that gunners would take this year's trophy after Henry's free-kick from the right flank was headed in by Campbell! What a beauty it was to watch! Really gave me the feeling that we would have the trophy at Stade-de-France tonight.

But it's a tought break for Arsenal this time. Especially after Lehmann was sent off for bringing down Eto'o! I would say from that moment onwards Arsenal didn't play to their potential. Then came Eboue's yellow card for We did great by putting pressure on Barca in the first half, but then we lost the player who got us to the finals-Lehmann. It was a tought decision from the refree's part. The match had a point of interest only when the first goal was scored by Campbell. Then at the half time, we had Arsenal leading 1-0.

But things changed a lot in the 2nd half, Arsenal had the lead but the question was "Can they keep it?" Now the pressure was on Arsenal, we were a 10 man side, and we had a lead to defend. To have it all the rain began to lash in like anything. Barca began their series of attacks at the box and suddenly things looked as if our defence was stumbling. ALongwith that we had a yellow for Henry, which did look like a serious tackle.Towards the middle of the 2nd half we had a string of chances in corners and freekicks, but none converted to a goal. Then came the equaliser from Barca to square the scoreboard. Arsenal looked weary and immediatly after the euqaliser Barca scored again, this time it was from Belletti. It was a good goal, tight angle, beautifully placed. Now the Arsenal fans were trying to breathe life back into the stunned players. But things were way out of bounds now. With just minutes to spare for full time, the game seemed to drag on for ever.

Arsenal nearly made it but it was always going to be very tough once Lehmann was sent off. They won't bring home the cup but Arsenal fans can be proud that we reached the Champions league FINALS. This win surely will boost Ronaldhino's confidence and i am sure we will get to see more action in the world cup.

Can't wait for it to start!!

Anti Reservation Woes!!!

It's sad to note that the anti-reservation protests are turning violent and still the govt. hasn't made a sound statement about the anarchy doled out on the protesting students in Mumbai and Delhi. It's pathetic to see policemen beating peaceful protestors who just raised their voice against a just cause. They were not there to protest against lack of infrastructure in colleges, or to raise their stipends. They were there for EQUALITY for all, so that the future generations of students in India wouldn't have to suffer the stupid decisions being taken byt populist governments and minister's who hide behind a veil of statements like "It's upto Parliament now!!" .

But there was one other side to all these protests that many missed. It was the sad plight of many sick people who came to the hospitals to be treated by the doctors. I don't know why the doctors refused treatment to these people. They didn't do anything to bring in the reservations, many of them don't even know why the doctors are having a strike. It is gross injustice to these poor people who have no other way out to get treatment. Almost all of them can't afford to go to private hospitals. The doctors should make it a point to see that in the course of fighting for justice, they are also being just to their duties and carry out their responsibilities.

The protests are happening all across the country and it's sad to know that not a single protest march or a meeting was held in Tamilnadu and my state KERALA. Maybe majority of us are not having any problems to this quota issue. But i would like to see some action on the part of the government seeing that so much has happened just when the minister concerned came out with the proposal, so what will happen if the real bill is passed.

That's a question which provokes my thought process and i am sure each of us will be thinking about the answer to it in near future.

Results are here!!!!!

Finally the elections in Kerala are over. Hooooooo, now let's take a breather and analyse wat's in it for ordirnary guys like me. Well the Left's got a clear majority and they wdn't have any trbl forming the govt. Now the heated discussion going on is: who's gonna be the next Kerala CM. Today the central commitee of the CPI(M) made a statement that the next CM would be chosen on May 13th, i dunno why ther's still speculation as to who shoud rule. From my viewpoint VS deserves full credit for this win and he should be rightfully given the post. But it's not sure who would be in front of the governor on the day of the oath-taking, so me keepin all options open.

Then come many issues that the left hs been voicing it's opposition to, mainly the Fees problem in the Engg. colleges and other issues like the Kochi Infopark, Tvpm technopark expansion, inviting private partners for developing the Vizhinjam harbour etc.

The left has made it's stand very clear on the Engg. fees issue when they were in the opposition, but i don't know how they are gonna appease the public and at the same time be nice to the managements as well. That's one issue on which i would like to see some reaction from the new government.

Another vital issue is the development of Tvpm and Kochi by getting help from private agencies, since the day the deal was put on paper, the left has been voicing it's protest saying that these agencies won't do justice to the public of Kerala. Moreover the state secretary Mr Pinarayi has spoken outright that he would never support such a move if he's in power. So all these words make me wary if such initiatives taken up by the previous govt. wd be continued with the same spirit and enthusiasm.

It's nothing new in Kerala, each new govt. shuns the initiatives taken by the old govt. The congress did that to LDF's Manaveeyam program in 2001, and so i don't expect the left to act different. But what me and the millions of other's in Kerala would definitely like to see is that, Kerala should get it's right place in the political, economical and cultural map of India. Being the most literate state in India, anyone would expect Keralites to do wonders in the field of Science & Technology, but that hardly happens. Similar is the case in any field. I know people can find exceptions like tourism or education, but still what i feel is that our state-God's own country has the potential to do a lot more. So let's just hope that the new govt. would carry out the duties with full righteous nature and help our state to top in all respects.

Last but nt th least, i would like to see what Sakshi, a program in Kairali TV would show from next month onwards. For people who watch it, there is no need for an introduction to the eyes of sakshi that always keep on looking for trouble and injustice. For me that's the best program aired on any Malayalam channel. It showcases the pathetic conditions of the roads, lamps and other public utitilities and also points out the mistakes blurted out by our EX-minister's, MP's and MLA's. I just hope that it would continue with the same spirit and vigour when the UDF was in the ruling benches and that we would still get to see what kind of conditions people around us live in. But my hopes hav dwindled because Kairali is a channel owned by the Left parties and i just don't know if they would have the same freedom of expression that was there when the left was in the opposition benches.

Looking frwd to a new, bright and refreshing experience in our state-God's own country - KERALA

Do we need Reservations???

The reservation system has been in place for close to 60 years now. When is someone in the government finally going to get the brains to say "Reservation doesn't work, lets get rid of it." Seems like every few years the enternal cesspool that constitutes our government finds new ways to screw us, the students as well as citizens of India. I am someone who would personally "BENEFIT" from the so called new quota for OBC's along with the exsisting reservations for SC/ST, but then why should i voice my opposition to such a move. Well firstly the governments that ruled India for so many years have had nothing to do with the interests of the minorities and the socially and educationally backward communites, this reservation system is just a method for them to garner votes from the minorities and that is exactly what happened in the years before, we can't blame any one party of being populist when they come with sops for some particular sections of the society.

But the present UPA goverment is doing all bad things at the wrong time, all their so called initiatives to protect the interests of the downtrodden communities is just a farce to gain political milage. They first started off with this issue by having a ruling to have 50 % reservations to Aligarh muslim university, since it's a MUSLIM university. The govt has shown that it is against the growth of India as a knowledge superpower, this was clear when IIMB wanted to start a campus @ singapore and the govt. opposed that move, but had to give in later.

I think this is a prelude to the proposed bill on community reservation in PRIVATE sector. This will affect lakhs of eligible people while the present decision is going to affect only a few thousands. So i think it's really time for the public in general to come up in full force against such stupid populist decisions.

Now with the polls loomin in 5 states, the timing of such a decision is clearly understandable by even a 5 yr old child. The govt needs such populist reforms to stay in power and they would do anythin to get power. Such a govt would only result in the downfall of the growing economy and would cause a setback to the educational institutes like it did when it tried to impose the family planning program back in the late 70's. People have come out in huge numbers including the people who belong to OBC's. That clearly shows the anger and frustration of the people towards the goverment's moves.

Now why should the people who benefit from the quota come against it; there are two main issues.
One is that the quota is for OBC's in general, which means the so called creamy layer is also part of the OBC's. That would mean that people who are already well-off would get more reservations to study @ premier institutes at the cost of other students. So the people who are REALLY backward stand no chance of getting the benefits. Those on the lowest rung of OBCs referred to as the Most Backward Class, feel that this fresh initiative will be taken over by the creamy layer and those who should be the real benificiaries would once again be left out. So the govt should frame rules to decide as to who is backward and who is not, and they shouldn't make it just on the basis of a income certificate which can be obtained from the offices by bribing the clerks. They should come up with a foolproof plan to find whoever is deserving.
Second issue is about the degrading of the standards of such institues which once had the crème de la crème of the student community will now have to cope with the students who come with not so great academic qualities, this would cause additional trauma to the students who get into the colleges on the basis of such reservations. Another issue that will cause trouble is that the overall prestige of such institutes would come down along with their name and reputation.

It is sad to note that with Other Backward Classes (OBCs) comprising more than 50 per cent of the electoral votes, no political party is openly opposing it. Only the students are coming in large numbers protesting such a ridiculous move by the govt.
Yesterday night within hours of announcement of the government's decision to hav the reservations in these institutes i got a mail from one of my friends frwd to him by students of IIT Kharagpur, it was about signing an online petition against the governments proposal to have the reservations. Within 8 hours of the HRD minister announcing the move, they had more than 3700 signatures, i was the 3702th person to sign it. Today when i looked it had crossed the 7500 mark. That is the amount of dissent against the govt's move.

It is not just the 20 central universities and the IITs and IIMs. Educational institutions like the six central medical colleges including AIIMS, National Law School at Bangalore and Indian Institute of Mass Communication will all have to comply with the reservations most likely from next year on. The IIT's are set to lose around 1300 seats in the general category, the IIM's close to a 200. The JNU is gonna lose more than 2000 seats, so will other universities and institutes having international reputation.

What the government should have done was to create the number of seats going down to reservations as additions from this year, that was what President APJ Abdul Kalam had to say on this issue, Then the students in the general community needn't worry since their seats would remain constant.

But i still strongly feel that it's high time the govt. got rid of the reservation, which is totally against the secular principles on which a country like India is modelled.

To join the protest, sign the petition here.

All are welcome to post their comments about my views.

IQ,EQ,SQ, Wat more????

Wat to do, am all alone tonite, to tell the truth i was online for about 3 hours tonight and i didn't have any1 to talk to, so i thought why not spend some time to stir up the intellectual in me, and so i ended up taking some of the so called IQ tests nd stuff which every 10th website has.
But when i look at it, i find that there are some real good one's and one can actually enjoy wasting time online.

So based on my experiences with the tests, i have come up with my personal choice of the best three online tests to waste time :D.

On number 3 I have Nerd Tests with their ultimate test to find the NERD in you. Well i do accept it that some questions were really stupid, but overall the test is worth taking. My score is exact 50%.
.

And i liked the way they ended the test;

50%-What does this mean? Your nerdiness is:

Somewhat nerdy. I mean face it, you are nerdier than about half the test takers.


Moving on, on number two i selected Personal DNA Report, It is one good test that test's the real intellect of a person. There are some great questions and i liked the way they have the answering method, by using slider and 2D graphs so that one has more room to give in the exact blend of what he/she is.

They found that i am an Advocating Builder.

You are a Builder
You are detail-oriented, cautious, and practical, making you a BUILDER.
You are excellent at focusing on the concrete, functional elements of things, so you're good at making things happen.
Pursuing novel ways of doing things helps you to be efficient.
You're great to have on a team, as you understand how things work and don't let your ego get in the way.
You're perceptive, down-to-earth, and realistic.
You don't see a need to commit to a set routine or schedule—you'd rather improvise a little.
Although you may doubt yourself sometimes, you have the skills and the curiosity to pursue broader adventures.
You like to consider a lot of information before making big decisions, and you think about that information in realistic, thorough ways.
You don't concern yourself with flashy styles or surface appearances—you're far too sensible for that.
If you want to be different:
Think more abstractly about things without abandoning your valuable sensibility.

Ther's lot more to the test that these few lines.


My Personal Dna Report


Onto the numero uno, i have selected The Inner hero test. I chose this as the number one, as this is the only test that focusses onto the humane side of one's intellectual capabilities. So that made it "the one above". Regarding my score, i did fairly well, was selected as a WIZARD!!!!.

My Inner Hero -
Wizard!





There are many types of magic, but all require a sharp mind and a cool head. There is no puzzle I can't solve, no problem I can't think my way out of. When you feel confused or uncertain, you can always rely on me to untangle the knots and put everything back in order for you.



How about you? Click here to find your own inner hero

So there goes my say about the test on net.