कल, आज और कल

I've been tagged by THE Thinking Silverine.

The Tag

Two questions from the past, present and future. Answer them and then tag your friends from the blog-o-sphere. Leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and DONE.

Yesterday

Your oldest memories...

Well i'd done a post long long back about my oldest memories. There i'd mentioned that my earliest memory is that of my toenail getting busted by a bully during the time i was living in chennai. The incident happened really fast. I had a quarrel with a dude abt something and the next thing i rem is he hurling the biggest stone he could find in that ground and thus ensuring that i lose the nail of my smallest toe I go home crying ammmaaaaaaaaaaaa and my grandma saw this and then goes out of the house and beats the guy black an blue! Next thing i see is he coming with his Punjabi mom and she beings to shout at my grandma. It was funny seeing her defending what she did even though she didn't understand a word of the Punjabi mixed hindi that the lady was talking!

What were you doing ten years ago?

Hmmmmmmmmm november 1998, If i count back i'd be 12 years old then, so i guess it'd be just another lazy day in school with me having the proud feeling of being in high school now, a minnow among the big guys roaming around. I'm sure Mathew would be roaming about discovering the latest chemical for his Nobel prize tryst. I was having a hard time grasping the things my teachers taught, so mostly i was on the floor or standing in the class. This was also the time that my FIRST romance started. More on that some time later. Aaaaaaaaaaah those lovely days :), when i'd just explore the areas around my home like Safari Al :)

Today

Your first thought in the morning

Well it's a boring day, so why not go out and have a try at the tag that i've in store for me. Now in a net cafe. Have work from 2 PM onwards. Yeah, i'm in B shift, 2 to 10 PM. Boring job, boring life, just living like that.

If you build a time capsule what would it contain?

Time capsule for present is something i'd not like that much. Still i'd put in all the information on Wikipedia and Uncyclopedia and youtube and then all the blog's i've read in ONE hard disk. Then some family albums of all the trip's home from my childhood and yeah, a crate of vodka and lot of chocolates for my sister :D

Tomorrow

This year...

Is going to end on a high note with me getting confirmed as an engineer officially. Yes you'll be talking to Senior Engineer Abhijith from next year onwards(dec 2008 to be precise). Hope to do well in the MBA entrance tests that i've applied for(although my mock tests suggest otherwise)

What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?

14 years ahead..........hmmmmmmmmm............. i'll be 36, so probably with a lovely lady as my wife and 3 pestering kids(yes i've fixed on 3, not as gracious as Mathew). Hope to be a good husband and make my family happy and to be a good dad and fulfill all my kids' wishes.

I tag

Hari 1
Hari 2
Njaan
Quest

Fashionable Heroes :)

For the past few days am in Kolkata. AGAIN! I know i've mentioned a lot about this city in my past posts, but this time i wasn't here for pleasure. I was here for Business, as part of the tour that my company's making all the trainee's undertake before their confirmation. A detailed post will come shortly about the entire tour, but now i'll mention about two movies that i saw in the past few days.

1. Heroes

Me and my friends went to see this movie on sunday. Being in a metro has it's advantages and disadvantages. When it comes to watching movies, the disadvantages take a heavier side. The movie was Originally titled Mera Bharat Mahaan (My India is Great), the film was rechristened Heroes, to avoid sounding jingoistic(source Wiki). They even did a song with the previous title. The theme of the film slightly revolves around the cult classic, The Motorcycle Diaries, the famous film that shows the transformation of Ernesto "Che" Guevara to become the legend. In the original it's the diary that marks the transformation, while in the Indian version, we've two hunks who've to submit a short film to their institute to complete their course in Film Direction. They both desperatly need the degree's to run off to USA for enjoying all the good things in life waiting for them. The storyline doesn't have lot of originality and there's lot of lifting from many popular books and movies. Like for instance there's a scene straight out of five point someone, of the guy wearing the gal's dad's pajama's and then meeting him on the road. I don't know why they needed to make such rips when we've so many other wonderful stupidities shown on MTV and Channel V all day long. The guys Sohail Khan, Vatsal Sheth are shwon to be the kind of carefree youngsters that are now almost in every nationalistic film, be it Rang De Basanti or Lakshya. Both the movies had the hero's going under a transformation and getting the idea to do somethng for the nation. Here they have the transformation by making a film titled "Why one shouldn't join the Indian Armed forces. They start the journey to deliver the last letters of three soldiers who die in the kargil war. These letters are given by the slain soldiers to a TV Journalist who has saved them with him for three long years and when he hear's the titile of the short film, he gives them these letters thinking of making a change in these guys' lives. We are shown even footage from Lakshya with the bofors firing and all.

So the journey begins, we get to see Kuljeet Kaur (Preity Zinta) first who's the widow of Balkar Singh (Salman Khan). She's having a tough time managing the finances with the meagre pension the govt gives her. The guys are convinced when they read the letter to her and she is left all crying. Preity sort of takes off her role from Veer Zaara. Similar situation's similar dialogs. So i wasn't a bit impressed with that. The guys decide that the defense job just doesn't do good for a widow and are still on the positive when it comes to their title and firmly believe that one shouldn't join the forces.

Next comes the other duo of brothers in the story Vikram Shergill (Sunny Deol) who's brother Dhananjay "DJ" Shergill (played by real brother Bobby deol) was killed in action. Vikram was a pilot in the Indian Air Force, he's now in a wheelchair and the story never tells how he got to that chair, other than a small story about Vikram following the enemy planes and getting shot down. The film never shows any real battle scenes. I expected some from the start but then the director wanted to get the emotional side of a war and not the action side. So we've to be happy with the descriptions given by Vikram who's patchy at best. Except for some footage from Lakshya, the movie has lot of ANIMATED Airforce planes doing sorties. Nothing REAL. But the description are a lot more emotional here with a particular scene where they show the elder brother saluting the corpse of the younger brother. It made me remember a photo that came n the papers during the kargil war time when there was a wife, an officer in the army, saluting the corpse of her husband who died in battle and not having one tear in her eyes. I still get a tear in my eyes when i see or remember that scene. Here also the guys decide that the forces don't take care of someone who lost his limbs in battle and leave him to die a painful death. So the title still stands true for them.

The next and last letter was a bit different, the letter was from Sahil Naqvi (Dino Morea), to his Commanding officer asking for leave. On the way they hav a problem with the bikes and get a lift from the trucks carrying the deadbodies of slian soldies. Again lot of emotion. The CO then gives the guys a letter to his family. The guys are a bit shocked to see Sahil's mom engaged in socialite parties and not caring about the last letter her son sent her. Then she tells the story of Sahil's dad (Mithun Chakraborty) who's left all his normal life and is in isolation since the death of his son. The guys play the part of the dead son and make the man happy.

After the long journey, the guys have a trasnformation and that's the whole thing is based on. In the end they realise that honour and patriotism aren't just punchlines to be used in movies but the real thing.

Lot of emotions, lot of nationalism, lot of patriotic scenes. I'd say i was a bit sad only coz i spent Rs 200 watching the movie. The direction and script could have been much much better, the music is at it's best bearable. The cinematography is awesome. The locations, especially the one's in leh are breathtaking.

Rating : 6/10

2. Fashion

I'd wanted to see the movie the day i saw the trailer. The reasons are many, the director Madhur Bhandarkar is among my favorite directors and i've loved all his movies to date, plus this time he had some really good people in the cast, that inclues my favorite actress Priyanka Chopra. I just love her looks and that's what she uses to her best in the movie. The movie is about the dirty underbelly of the Indian Fashion Industry which we never see, the dirty ego wars between the models, the casting couch phenomenon, the male model world filled with the gays who never allow a straight man to becme a top model and so on and on.

Bhandarkar has done it all in this movie, he's shown every possible reason why a girl should never join this world. The movie is a real showstopper. The story revolves around Meghna Mathur who's from Chandigarh, a small town girl who's having the dream of becoming a super model. When she packs her bags and leaves for Mumbai to join this world, her dad(Raj Babbar) isn't all that happy. She gets here and soon is aquainted to the CELEBRITIES in the fashion world. During that point the movie is so much like page three. Even showing model's being hired to go and become EYE CANDY for parties .Slowly Madhu learns the tricks and comes in one show. During that period Shonali Gujral( Kangana Ranaut) is the reigning queen of the model world and Madhu sets her targets on her and aspires to be like Shonali one day. The film shows what all the models go through; drugs, alcohol, smoke and everything. I wonder why Mr Ramadoss didn't toss this movie through the censor board. During the course of time she meets a guy(Arjan Bajwa), has a live in relation with him. He's a male model who's finding it tough coz he doesn't want to turn gay for some designers. Meanwhile she slowly gets to the bed of the top boss in the fashion world and finaly replaces shonali from her top position.

The second half of the movie show's how quickly a model's life can be shattered with drugs, smoke and alcohol ruling their nights. While camera's and schedules dule their days.

There are lot of censorable instances, especially with the smoke. The film even has a wardrobe malfunction and then the whole media going berserk on the fashion world and how the media doesn't care for the girl whose image gets damaged each time the clip is being aired.

The solid reason why Fashion works is because the script brings alive everything you've read in newspapers or watched on TV as an outsider, to the big screen. That's the talent of this director. The music is apt for the movie with lot of good trance music during the shows and then a lovely romance song too.

I tell everyone to go and watch this movie.

Rating:9/10.

Life moves on..............

I've been away from the blog for a while, heck this seems to be the standard opening line for the past few posts of mine.

This time no dialogs, just letting the pics do the talking

I'm on a pan India tour thanks to my employer. We've been taken around Gujarat, UP and later on to Kolkata, Pune, Mumbai and Delhi. I've finished the Gujarat leg of my tour and done half of the UP tour and right now am sitting in the room of Jayram in IIM Lucknow and blogging this at 2 30 in the morning, while he's snoring next to me. :) The pics are in random order coz i didn't have a lot of time to fix them up.

India's Diverse Driving culture's. This one's from Ahmedabad :P

@ the Harvard Steps (that's what they're called if i rem right)

With the Mr Thampi in LKP in IIM A. Had a great time there coz of him

Striking a pose in front of the Louis Kahn Plaza @ IIM A.

Thampi explaining their midnight frisbee playground locations

Never stop posing for snaps. :D

"Those were the best days of my life - My IIM A Days :)"
Would love to say that :D

A view of the LKP taken by me in my Nokia 6500

I seriously didn't notice this board until the very end, else i'd never have taken these IIM A Pics :)

Thampi after the exhaustive dime tour of IIMA.

A kid Became Gandhi and welcomed us into Sabarmati Ashram when we went there on 2nd October

The Three Monkey's - Sabarmati Ashram again

The Charkha and writing pad that Mahatma Gandhi used

Gandhiji's Room

Gandhiji's eternal message

Maybe the head's bowed down due to the state of affairs in the country he freed

Evidepoyalum mallu restaurant kittum :P

This was a Jain Temple in Kutch Dist in Gujarat that we visited

Most common mode of transport in rural Gujarat. Called as Jhakada :D

The long road ahead............

This is a letter written to Indira Gandhi by Nehru, saw on my visit to Anand Bhavan in Allahabad

Calmly flows the Ganga on a dew filled morning

A Hanuman Temple that we visited en route banaras

Benaras Hindu University - BHU

The temple inside the BHU Campus. It was a magnificent spiritual experience

In front of the Anand bhavan

A peek inside the extensive Nehru personal library @ Anand Bhavan

Me @ the Triveni Sangam in Allahabad

The Golden Buddha @ Sarnath

Errr. Call it what you can :D, just a snap during the training

Onam 2008

Onam 2008 was the best Onam of my life. Period!

I'd never had a onam like this for a long long long time. Only when i was a kid did i get to enjoy the onam like this. You're always special when you visit home after living outside for a few months. Maybe it's because the people think you're a GUEST and behave nicely to please you, or maybe some genuinely missed me being around. But whatever it maybe i really loved this break away from my monotonous work life.

I'd not really planned to come home for onam. But then my company was sending all new trainee engineers on a pan India trip in september-october and hence i'd to use all my spare leaves or else they'd lapse and go away free. So i thought of surprising my parents and freinds. But then cash shortage made me ask money from dad for the tickets, so that surprise was done with. Then i'd tried to hide my visit from my girlfriend and had hoped to surprise her. Again failed miserably. She seems to read my mind and i couldn't help but confess. :)

Then i didn't hide this fact and posted on our college batch community. Then the posts that followed were really NICE.

So coming to the point. Why i liked this onam was the fact that i spent more time with my family than with friends and i LOVED it. Usually i hated spending time with my family, especially on vacations. Almost all my breaks used to be spent with friends @ Kovalam or veli or some place like that, but miles away from home. Now being away from home has made me miss home and my family a lot and hence this time i was determined to give them some quality time. I loved it.
Spending time with friends also was fun, but this time everyone had time only to discuss their tight work schedules, bad bosses and horrible working hours :). Then the usual vayinottam @ Kanakakunnu palace grounds in the name of Onaghosha paripaadikal :). Went to Uni-Y for a great onam programme. This time i knew a lot less people than before, but then it was fun. Sheer fun.

Then the major thing i loved about this trip home is getting to meet my love. I'd missed her a lot and seems she also did so. I'd hoped to spend 2-3 days at the max with her, but then we made up for the lost 4 months with 4 meets in 8 days :D. That was totally awesome for me. She did manage to surprise me with a gift - A shirt. It seems she's good at picking nice shirts. She'd given me a shirt when i'd first joined for this job, but this time she'd the help of another common friend, and they both managed to WOW me with their selection.

Now i'm at the Chennai Central railway station while posting this, waiting for my connecting train to Cuttack and then back to hell. :) This might be my last onam spent with my family, or maybe the first in the series of onam's @ home. Only god knows.

Some snaps from my visit home.

This is where i started from

Catching a train. But where are the bogies?

A Kerala landscape pic on my way home.

Uni-Yans posin for Snaps - I relived my Uni-Y days once again.

Posing alongside the newbies @ Uni-Y

A kodak moment- Winning the Vadamvali @ Uni-Y

Onaghosham @ Kanakakunnu. Had a great time there.

With the Kalip pose-Atop the Lighthouse @ Kovalam

" Kovalam" or what's left of it

Had this snap taken @ Kovalam. Never seen foriegn kids playing on Indian soil like this :)

Trainil vere pani onnum illathathu kondu engene okke samayam kalanju

Before the theeta malsaram with friends :)

After the Theeta malsaram :)

Ona sadya was great @ home. Mom you're the best :D

Me Myself and My reflections!

Wow the above topic could have become a nice headline for my blog! I'll think about this when i feel like changing my Cogito Ergo Sum :)

So coming to the issue at hand; i've been tagged AGAIN! People would be thinking that i don't have anytime for putting something creative and something of my own! Well partly it's right, i don't get the time for writing a post coz of the stupid work schedule which makes me work from 2 PM till 10 PM.

This time the tag comes from Hari, the new kid on the celebrity blog circuit. The tag is to fill in about some of my thoughts.

I am: A Mechanical Engineer, loving son, an affectionate brother and a dedicated lover! :) Definitely in that order!

I think: Therefore I blog. Or rather, Cogito, Ergo Sum! Look up and you'll know why i THINK!

I know: A lot of people, and a lot of stuff that's never taught in my course! I feel proud that i'm like this!

I want:To crack the CAT and get into IIM A( DESPERATE)

I have: A good collection of books, which i keep on increasing as and when i get time.

I wish: My girlfriend's parent's won't stop me from marrying her for some silly differences.

I hate: A detailed list was published as a tag here.

I miss: My college days! Seriously

I fear: That i won't be able to live upto the expectations of a lot of my friends and family.

I hear: All kinds of music on my iPod and sometimes make others hear it too through my Creative Inspire 2.1 speakers.

I smell: Of AXE Dark Temptation from last Thursday.

I crave: for a peaceful future with me and my family living off good investments i made in the Stock-market like Warren Buffet.

I search: for free stuff on the internet! DUH! That would've been the standard reply! But now after watching Pursuit of Happyness a few days back! I agree with Hari when he says we all search for Happyness!

I wonder: When I'll be able to tell the world "People look up, I've arrived, and arrived in STYLE"

I regret: At times i regret giving up a cushy software job for taking up this one.

I love: My girl a lot! Next in line come my family, rather it's a tie between them!

I ache: After coming to my room after the day's job! Really!! My feet hurt a lot!

I was not: always like this! I used to 75 kg in my 5th semester! Ah those golden days! Now weight scale is tipping close to 3 figures when i stand on it !

I am not: A showoff! Period!

I cry: Very very rarely! Not that i'm the MANLY dude who never sheds a tear! But then maybe i've lost that emotional side of myself when i cried! Last i rem i cried when i saw tears in my mom's eyes while she bade me goodbye @ Trivandrum Central Station.

I believe: That one day i'll fulfill all my wishes and have a happy ending. I've watched Shrek way too many times! :)

I dance: Never! I rem the only time i'd danced was in my college days when my batch did a hat trick by winning the intra college arts fest three times in a row!

I sing: Only when i'm alone in the room and am venting my anger by playing some rock song! Or when my girlfriend requests me to sing stupid love songs! (Have you ever really loved a women is our all time favourite)

I read: A lot! I've added to that hobby by buying a lot with my salary! I'd lost this habit after i'd bought a PC and i'm trying to catch up on my reading skills by reading and reading a lot! I read anything and everything; from newspapers, magazines to books on theology(Yeah! you read it right)

I don’t always: Dress perfectly! Maybe coz my figure isn't the one fit enough, or maybe coz i don't buy good clothes! I've got a lot of criticism on my dress sense. Even now i'm wearing a shirt with a bright Orange Collor and a thin orange stripe running through it! How's that :)

I fight: With my girl a lot! We fight like weekly and then make up fortnightly

I write: almost never, unless i see the sorry state of my blog!

I win: Duh! What do i write? I used to win an odd quiz and some debates back in my school days! But that's all in the sweet distant past!

I lose: my temper quite fast! But now i've tried to control it coz i don't wanna be roughed up by 25 workers all knowing how to handle themselves!

I never: Try to hurt my dad! I hate it when i mess up something that he's told me to do!

I always: try to be touch with the happenings in the world, thru net, mobile or what not!

I confuse: my boss a lot! Coz if i don't then he'll know how bad i'm at my work! But how the hell am i supposed to know when the ENGINEERING degree i've didn't teach me much of practical stuff

I listen: Well i used to listen to my friends talk a lot! Nowadays i've to listen to what my boss orders and then listen again to my subordinates telling me how it CAN'T be done

I can usually be found: Talking or browsing on my mobile!

I am scared: of dying one day without fulfilling my wishes, of having a good life as a son, as a husband, as a brother, as a father and a grandfather :)

I need: to prioritise stuff in my life and get some order and discipline to my lifestyle, else i'll die soon coz of my health

I am happy: Coz of a lot of things, a good e-mail, a call from a long lost friend, a good hour on the fone with my gal, a good chat on the net with my sister and a lot of other things!

I imagine: That one day my pic will come on the cover of TIME magazine, like Ratan Tata's came a few years back!

So that's it! Now tagging others:

1. Raouf
2. Lakshmi
3. Mathew

Quote Unquote!

I GOT TAGGED by the GREAT Mathew!

Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! This is what i thought first when i read this Tag in Mathew's Blog! It's a simple deal, nothing that tough!

Jot down 5 of your favorite quotes from the various books you've read. If you don't have the books with you now, googling (Wikiquotes and the like) can be used to find them. Tag five people and acknowledge the person who tagged you.

So here it goes!

1) From Fight Club: Tyler Says "Man, I see in Fight Club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see it squandered. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables - slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our great war's a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars, but we won't. We're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."

I'd say this quote explains a lot of inhibitions in the present angry young man living in any place in the world!

2) From The Godfather : Don Corleone says "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse."

Among my most favourite dialogues ever! Best way to close a business or a personal deal!


3) From The Alchemist : Narrator Says "When you want something - the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

I've found the reverse to be quite true in my life, but then it's always better to believe that this'll come true in my life too! Mera number bhi aayega! :)

4) From Catcher in the Rye: Holden "What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though."

The book was a real good read for me. I'd looked a lot for this book and was very eager to read it. But then it wasn't that great feeling at the end! But then the ideas of Holden do match mine at times(I felt so)

5) From American Wedding: Finch says "Hey i'm gonna give you a little piece of advice: love life, get paid, then get laid. That is the basic philosophy of... The Finch-meister!"

Even though this isn't from a book and this might be RATED for many people, i believe that this is the best advice for any bachelor! Though the LAID part can be omitted :)

So that's it

Now comes the nice part, tagging OTHERS.

I tag:

1. Hari, coz he's too eager to get this tag!
2. Viajero, coz he's an avid reader from the impression i have, so might get some great quotes
3. Hari Vishnu, Same reason as above. Hope he gets time to do it!
4. Abhijith, My namesake junior who's having a good time teaching now!
5. pR@tz, Another guy who's quote list i'd like to get
6. Abhilash Sir, A person with more books than clothes i'd say. So eager to know his take on this.

Missing something???

I'd just this much to say when a friend asked me about my life and work.

Well life pattinakki ennum vene parayam, or i can say i'm doing gr8. First coz th place is a gudaam. No entertainment, getting used to it now. Food was horrible, now used to it. Factory is polluted like anything, bt again got used to it. Now i can say gr8 coz; the salary is good n i've nothin much to spend here as acco is free n food being crap is cheap. Work is in my field, not is an ac room for someone i'll never see, instead i work in a hot factory so that some farmer gets his fertiliser on time n gives a good crop so that we'll all eat n live too see another sunrise.

I guess u got the point.


I don't exactly miss Kerala, though i do at times when i see Trivandrum city in Asianet here. But what i really miss is the carefree life i had in college, i miss being @ home eating good food from mom's hand's. I miss going out with my sister, i miss holding the hand of someone close to my heart, i miss the quarrels with my dad. I miss the days when i stayed up till 2 am to switch on the download, i miss long phonecalls with classmates, i miss goin for quizzes, i miss watching ur class gals n th other good one's in college(i really miss tht, coz my firm doesn't employ gals, unless it's for making tea or for cleaning the floor). What i miss most is the open bypass from Veli to Kovalam and my bike on full throttle.

Ha, Wish i could rewind n play again my college life.


I really wish!

Fill in the blanks__________________!

Before you make worse judgments about the title, lemme tell it's a TAG!

Was tagged just today by pR@tz, and being a boring day at work coz of the weekend i decided to oblige him then and there(another reason being me not blogging so much of late).

So here goes nothing!

1. LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATER: Dasavatharam. Well what to say if you really want a good review of how BAD the movie was goto Hari Vishnu's This POST.

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING: The Kiterunner, by Khaled Hosseini. A wonderful book about a person's emotions. Usually i classify such things as crap, but this book changed my view about this genre.

3. FAVORITE BOARD GAME: If 28 Qualifies as a board game then YES! Else, am sorry am not Vishwanathan Anand to make a living out of CHESS!

4. FAVORITE SOUND: The wroooooom of the motor powering the massive 9000 m3/sec pump just outside my office. Well not fav, but hearing a noise for 8 months straight can make you love it.

5. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD: When my girlfriend ditched me(happened a lot of times)

6. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE: Gwad, it's so early. I usually wake up @ 6 45 AM on general shift days and on sunday's i wake up at 4 30 AM, so that i make it to the mockcat in Bhubaneshwar on time. I must be the most dedicated CAT applicant this year! :)

7. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE. Sorry no Pizza corner's or Barista's in Paradeep. I love the food made at a place called Mariner's Inn @ The Golden Anchor hotel over here.

8. FUTURE CHILD’S NAME. I'd have to think about marriage first, kid's have a long long time to materialise.

9. FINISH THIS STATEMENT.”IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I’D...Do the 8 things i'd wanna do before i die in the list in the last tag.

10. DO YOU DRIVE FAST? Superfast, as per what my dad says, I've taken a CBZ to 125 KMPH back home. But here i seldom get a bike in my hand so can't say i STILL drive fast! But then these posts are testament to that.

• Caught in the traffic
• Confessions of a fast Driver
• Effects of an Accident
• 1st Drive
• My new Rides
  
• Finally
• You'll be in my heart

Now since i've got a blog with more than one post dedicated to my fast driving, i'd call myself a fast driver.

11. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? : No. I used to hug my pillow when i slept in home.

12. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR? Yet to buy a car with my own money. The first car i drove was a Maruti Zen(old model).

13. FAVORITE DRINK : Vodka with a twist of lime in it. (Recent favorite)

14. FINISH THIS STATEMENT, “IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD… have gone to gym, read books, written blogs, browsed, meditate, gone out with my girl(if she wished)”

15. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?: What is Broccoli? I don't think AAM AADMI in India gets this vegetable @ his home. If you're talking about cabbage, NO i don't like the stem's in it.

16. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE? : Blond. I've always loved the description of Hot Hero's with the BLOND hair, though i think it wouldn't suit my skin tone.

17. NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN. : Trivandrum, Bhuj(though i don't rem since i was 1 yr old then), Chennai(When it was Madras), Bareilly, Thiruvananthapuram, Paradeep.

18. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH.: Formula one, Football, Cricket, beach volleyball(ladies only), Hockey(post Chak De India!)

19. ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU. : Matching wavelengths, I didn’t had to edit this post much. DITTO!

20. WHAT’S UNDER YOUR BED? : Some Debonair and Playboy magazines i bought while i was in Delhi. YES you got it right, am a Bachelor living in a HOSTEL.

21. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN? Definitely! But with less flab and more dedication to all things i choose to do!

22. MORNING PERSON, OR NIGHT OWL? Night Owl. Definitely.

23. FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX? Beach front's. I've always loved sitting in beach's listening to the crashing waves! Don't know why!

24. Of all The People You Tagged This To, Who’s Most Likely To Respond First?: Hari Vishnu i guess!

I am tagging Viajero, Mathew, Hari Vishnu, Abhijith,

Remembrance.........

Lt Sukumar died on December 16th, 2006; the 35th anniversary of Vijay Divas, India's victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war. But strangely he didn't die in a war; he didn't die of a bullet in the chest from a ravaging army, he couldn't even see the face of the man who shot him. He got shot first in the shoulder and as he tried to balance himself he was shot again; this time on his hip and he fell on the ground, face down. Then he had one more shot on his back. He wasn't dead; he just lay there bleeding to his death, for 8 more hours.

Unlike what many people say and most of the world believes, he didn't have his entire life flash in front of his eyes, he didn't even see the faces of his parents, who brought him to the world. All he could see was his unfulfilled wishes. He saw the face of his unknown wife, two smiling kids happily hugging him when he got home one vacation.

He'd never gone to anyone's country and claim that it's his, he never went on a shooting spree on innocent civilians, even though he's an ace shooter himself. He came from an ordirnary family, with quite a normal lifestyle, only he had an extra ordirnary ambition; be an officer in the Indian Army. That was what drove him to be a sainik school student, and then go onto become an officer through NDA and IMA. He had cleared the NDA exam in his first attempt and being a Sainik School student he didn't have any trouble clearing the tough SSB interviews and tasks.

He then got into the NDA and spent the best period of his life. Even though at times the training got more and more rigorous, he always believed in the untold motto of any officer; "Anything that doesn't Kill you makes you STRONG". So he went onto the IMA and then joined the Famous GRENADIERS REGIMENT. After getting into this regiment he was put into service in Jammu & Kashmir for counter-insurgency operations, like many of his brethren.

It was during one such operation where he was on the hunt for 5 terrorists who'd taken over a house and were holding 3 people hostage, that he got killed. He was leading a group of 10 men and being a young soldier with hot blood in his body he went charging ahead, forgetting the dangers, that's when the shots came into his direction, leaving him wounded and halting his charge into the enemy's den.

He died December 16th, 2006, leaving behind lot of unfulfilled dreams and aspirations..................

Tagged, AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This seems to be the month for tag's. Here's another tag, that i got while i was writing my previous one. This was gifted to me by Hari Vishnu and i returned the favour by givin my previous tag to him. This looked a bit easy at first, coz it wasn't that much to think about. I felt i'd do it in a day and that's what i did :). So without much delay the tag; it's about listing 8 items about various topics. So here goes :

Eight things I am passionate about:
1) My Family : My Dad, Mom and sister and i'd like to add one more person to this family very shortly. Err, about 3-4 years to be precise; if we don't experience many probs. If you've read my previous post u'll know the kind of probs i'm talking about.
2) My friends : They come next in the list, though most times they're the one's who help me out with various problems. Since i'm not yet officially married to the person i love; she'd also come in this list and she's among the most helpful friends i have. But then at times it's the other way round too meaning, she's the reason for the troubles :).
3) My rides : It'd be better to say i WAS very very very passionate about my rides. I still love to drive whenever some senior gets too helpful and does the favour of giving me his bike in the hostel here. I'm always a Biker and even though driving a car is fun i still love my Bike.
4) Books : This is my current passion, mainly coz i'm deprived of the pleasures of having a computer or a laptop. So i do spend a lot of time in the world of books. Have a huge list of authors and i usually enjoy reading thrillers. When i'm in the mood for it i enjoy some serious literature as well.
5) Quizzing : Though i feel i'm getting worse at this day by day, i still am very passionate about my quizzing. I still love to relive those moments when i was in college and won a few quizzes(very few thanks to better teams).
6) Multimedia: I'd like to copy this from Hari. He used this word and i'd say i too couldn't find a better word which brings together internet, music, movies and video. These are great passions of mine. I enjoy the time i spend watching movies and anyone who's come to my home or seen my collection of movies and songs would testify for that.
7) Food : Though this comes at the bottom of the list, it doesn't mean i don't give it sufficient weight. I'm among those who live to eat, rather than eat to live. Anyone who's seen me would surely agree to that :)
8) Blogging : Even though i'm not giving it as much time as i used to, i still would say that i'm very very passionate about my blogging. My friends at work would vouch for that, coz they know how much time i steal from them to use the computer for my blog. I'm not writing this to earn praise of sympathy, but i feel sad that i don't do justice to my blog nowadays.

Eight things I want to do before I die:
Well lot of things:
1) Be able to be there when my wife gives birth to our children.
2) Start a firm of my own and be a good employer.
3) Be able to fit into a size L t-shirt. That's a wish i'd love to make come true.
4) Have a Hayabusa, Ferrari and a Rolls Royce Phantom in my garage.
5) Fly a fighter plane and if possible gun down a few people from my last post.( i know it'd take someone like Ratan Tata to do so :), but then its a dream list)
6) Goto the Swiss Alps, Caribbean and Hawaii for my honeymoon and extended honeymoons.
7) Become a writer of repute and be able to live off my royalties :); now that's definitely a dream.
8) Earn a noble prize in Physics, Literature and Peace respectively, thereby being the 1st person to do so :)

Eight things I say often:
1) M***e
2)P***
3)Oh F***
4)Naaaaaaariiiiiiiiiii(when i'm addressing a very close friend
5)Harami(New title for close friends in hostel)
6)MC, BC( for closer friends in hostel)
7)Sorry(yeah i say that a LOT)
8)Love you(only to one person)

Eight books I’ve read recently:
1) Catcher in the Rye
2) The Godfather
3) The Prophet
4) All quiet on the Western Front
5) Wheels
6) Atlas Shrugged
7) Love in the time of Cholera
8) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Eight songs I could listen to, over and over:
1) Hotel California - Eagles
2) Nothing Else Matters - Metallica
3) Yaaron Dosti - KK
4) Kadhal Rojave - SPB
5) Aadat - Jal
6) Tum Se Hi - Mohit Chauhan
7) Devasabhatalam - Yesudas
8) Truly Madly Deeply - Savage Garden


Eight things that attracts me to my best friends:

1) That i'm a good problem solver.
2) They find someone who won't beat them down when they make fun of me
3) They will get free rides on my bike and car
4) They would get sound advice on anything under the sun.
5) They would get a patient listener.
6) They would have someone who'd be there anytime they want, any place they want.
7) I love them for whatever they maybe, even if they turn to be backstabbers.
8) We bitch about people whom we hate, and i am VERY good at that.

Eight people I think should do this tag:

1) Hari
2) Abhijith
3) Njaan
4) Freebird
5) Renji
6) Sreehari
7) GWBE
8) Rohin

Hatred and Me????????????????????

After a long loooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnngggggggggggg gap i'm tagged by someone. :). I'm quite happy because that gives me something to write in this blog other than the misfortunes happening to me! What could i say, even though i was happy to accept the tag from Mr Njaan(What a funny name, isn't it?), i won't say that its a happy tag. It basically is about:

(1) Posting about 5 different characters you hate.
(2) Passing on the tags to 5 different bloggers.
So without much yapping about how much i hate to tell the public about my objects of hatred, i'll start:
1) Phonies: They are right on top of my list because these are the kind of people who don't deserve a life from my point of view. They don't live for themselves, they live to make others belive that they are SOMETHING IMPORTANT. I used something with the understanding that they are what we say in malayalam as SAMBHAVAM. They tend to believe that the world revolves around them and they are the best thing to happen to the world after cell phones. They are of many kinds, guys who behave differently when a hot chick walks in, Managers who don't work and then show up on the site with all kind of instructions when the top management appears to inspect the job, people who ditch you when u need them the most, people who take advantage of you for wrong reasons, even people who show off their costly spare parts in front of a not so welcoming audience and enjoy that glory and so on and on..........

2) Reality Show Anchors and Judges: I differ a bit on this with Njaan, he hated everything associated with it, while i believe that some of the participants are genuinely talented, but the anchors are really really crap and so are most of the judges. Some are outrightly stupid and will give anything to make the audience cry, while some are so rude that they want me shove a spade up ther @$$.

3) Gossipmongers : People who spend their lifetime making false newsreports about others and take pleasure in making others' lives miserable. They could be saying anything from who someone is going out with or even may go upto who somebody slept with the previous night.

4) Perverts : These are guys who take pleasure in doing abnormal things, like Mr Moninder Singh who love to do things that one wouldn't even wish that his enemy got. These people have no right to live in this world, if i were the ruler of the country, i'd lynch them personally and then hang them on a noose so that nobody dares to do this.

5) Casteists/Religious Fanatics : People who bother so much about the caste and religion so much so that they'd kill for it. I'm personally against anything to do with caste/religion. This maybe due to the fact that i've had a few crushes broken because the girl wasn't from my caste/religion. YES, Indian GIRLS do think about all this while falling in love(at least gals in TVM do). I've had numerous proposals being dumped by the girl because i was from a different religion or caste. These things are way too old and way too stupid to be observed now. Maybe for some religion is a good thing, it gives them direction and maybe means of living, but then nobody has the right to take lives in the name of religion. This is what i belive and personally i hate people who propogate such kind of thoughts , even if it is my ex-girlfriend.(I'd hate her more for other reasons)
I've been postponing the publishing of this post for a long long time, mainly because i didn't find enough in my head to fill the post with. Yeah, maybe my work has made me hate less or maybe that i'm too unattached from anyone i hated a few years back :)
I don't know whom i should tag in this, coz many people whom i blogroll have already done this tag, or are tagged by others. Still i'll tag some:

1) Hari Vishnu : Coz he gave me another TAG while i couldn't complete this :)
2) Viajero : Someone who's new among my readers, so here's a welcome gift :)
3) Abhilash Sir : I'd love to hear about his list of hatred :)
4) Gasmuttai : An adorable senior, who seems to have forgotten about his blog, so be a reason to start off again.
5) Sreehari : He too seems to have forgotten his blog, maybe the s8 exams are making his so.

That's it for now!

Is this a PORN magazine?

Don't be so surprised at the title of the blog, this was the question asked to me by a bystander while i was buying a Malayalam Edition of India's premier magazine 'India Today'when i went to Bhuvaneshwar last sunday. It happened when i was buying this issue :)

Hope now u know why someone who doesn't know Malayalam would comment like this when he goes just by the cover picture. Well what more to say, the magazine tells about the way SKIN(or rather SEX) sells in the film industry, and i guess that's the bottomline when it comes to selling the magazine as well.

I've always been a big-time reader of India Today. For the last 10 years or so, i've not missed a single issue. It's only after i've come to Orissa that i've given up on that habit and moved onto Outlook and Frontline. The reason being that India Today has turned more into the skin show kinda magazine that i never expected it to be. Off late there are more number of SEX Survey's that alarmingly say that the Indian youth is going down the drain and all. Being part of the YOUTH brigage it deeply hurts when such a post comes in a respectable magazine. The most recent survey i got my hands on told that 60% of all girls in the age group of 18-25 DRINK alcohol in INDIA. I wonder who supplies them with these figures. It's these figures that've always made me believe in the saying i once heard in a GD practise session "78.92% of all statistics are made on-the-spot"

How true!

PS: This isn't a post to escape the long gap for not blogging, i'd love to tell that i'm busy with work and all that yada-yada, but then the fact is that. My workplace hasn't been that liberal with internet usage off late :)

Birthday blues

Today i celebrated my 22nd birthday. Well it'll be wrong to say that i CELEBRATED, plainly because i didn't celebrate anything. Not because i don't like the idea of celebrating myself getting old or because i'm a snob who hates such celebrations. But then there were two main reasons why i didn't like the idea of CELEBRATING my birthday. One being that i'm not in the best of financial conditions to celebrate anything, let alone give my friends at work a decent party. Second being i'm not in the best of mental conditions for any kind of celebration. The financial conditions got so bad mainly due to my bad management of my salary. I ended up spending a lot more than i'd planned when i went to Kolkata. I more than 3k for the books i bought. I'd planned to buy around 1000 bucks worth of books and save the rest for my birthday and also for my now-cancelled leave to go home. But after getting back happily from Kolkata i'd a really bad week. It started with me being down on one day because of the extreme heat in the plant. The temperature in the town in around 40 deg and due to the conditions in the plant it's 5 deg more inside the plant. All this took a toll on me and i had a real bad time on tuesday evening and on wednesday morning i'd so much pain in my body that i couldn't get up from my bed. I decided to have a day off from work and just sleep thru th day. After spending half the day sleeping, i just got up and had some water. Slept again till evening and then went to see the doc. I'd told my problems and she first asked me if i'd fever. When i said no, she asked if i'd been out too much in the sun. When i replied positively, she said that i was suffering from sun stroke. WOW. Now that's something that you only get to hear in hi-fi fashion mags. I was elated bt at the same time worried too. She said i'll be ok in a day and it was good on my part to take rest. After this i had an ok kind of week. Only the usual pump getting a vibration problem and some gearbox getting oil leaks i had a tension free week. Now while typing this post from my mobile i'm watching Lakshya, the Hritik starring action picture about the transformation of a young man from a carefree guy to a military man with responsibilities. I don't know why but i felt i'm also getting the same kind of transformation. Not that i'm in a war front, but this will be the closest i'll get to a war front. These scorching temperatures, the squabbling workers, being far from home, missing my friends. All this. I know i'm comparing somethings that are far far apart. But then why do i feel so, i don't know. I got up today to my girlfriend calling me at 5 AM. She'd set a 12midnight alarm to wish me but it ended up waking her at 5. So i got my first wish of the day from her. That was a great thing for me. I just don't how to explain but i think guys and gals in love would understand. Actually it wasn't the first wish, I got a few wishes at midnight. But then i slept at 1 in the night after watching the film 'Shooter' in a senior's room. I saw a lot of scraps in my orkut scrapbook and also got a few messages in my phone. All these make me happy, but then now the boredom hits back. The day is going on and i don't know how i'll celebrate in the middle of all this. It's just another boring day in orissa :)

Longest weekend of my life

The title may look like the one in Five point someone, the day where Hari and his friends Ryan and Alok meet with so many unfortunate incidents. Well in my case it isn’t as bad as that. But then that’s fiction, this is life. It all started when I got to my OFFICE :) on Saturday, 13th of April. It was the off day for my boss and technically I was the section head for the day:P. I was pretty happy about this, but if I knew the things what were in my way I’d never have been so keen to take up that position. It was the first time since I joined IFFCO that some SERIOUS responsibility had been given to me. Earlier it was always one particular unit in the section that I had to take care of, either a heat exchanger or a filter or a scrubber or something like that. Never had I got charge of the entire reactor with me, the maintenance of the world’s largest phosphoric acid plant was under me for a day. Yahoooooooooooooooo wanted to shout this from the top of the fume stack. But then what to say, something aren’t that good. It started when I got to know that one coupling had broken and that too in a critical place. It was a small flexible flange coupling that I’d always seen only in drawings in my s4 and s5 classes. These things were what we called as small fry in those days, things that were easy to draw because they had a symmetrical shape and weren’t having too many ratios to remember. If you get the shaft diameter, you can get the flange diameter, based on that you choose the number of nuts and bolts, and based on that you get the flexible packing thickness. But here the problem was that the gearbox shaft had a bigger diameter and the motor had a smaller shaft, so for this bit I’d to redesign the coupling. Also due to years of use, the shafts were worn off from their original diameter. The actual dia was supposed to be 160mm, but around 4-6 mm was lost. So while fixing the new one I’d to make sure that all these factors are taken into account. Being the senior-most with the least experience in the plant has its share of disadvantages; you’re always looked upon by the subordinates, either with jealousy as someone who got ahead of them through some more years in a better college or as a knew-it-all. It’s also very difficult for me to manage my temper with these people. Some are utterly lazy, typical to a govt job. They know that they won’t be dismissed from their jobs and so that job security is what makes them lazier. Some are worse, who tell me to stay away from any job and telling that even if I don’t do anything I’ll get paid. At times I also do these things, like now when I’m sitting in the library and updating my blog:). It isn’t a healthy practice to bunk one’s responsibilities, but then working in a chemical factory isn’t that motivating. At times you do need to take a break off from work to recharge your batteries.

So I’d planned such a break last weekend, it was a weekend which had a Monday as holiday. So I’d planned to go to Kolkatta. The city had a special place in my heart because the last time I went there, even with the uncomfortable ride I had, I’d enjoyed the time I spent in the city, with its British era buildings in esplanade, Museums, huge parks, zoo’s, not-that-great-looking-but-functional metro rail system, good looking gals, rosagulla’s, sandesh and other sweets, fish curries, communists who talk at lengthy why Nandigram isn’t a problem and that Prachanda will be a great PM in Nepal, Elgin road bookstores, Esplanade road-side shops selling anything from key chains to shoes, taxi’s that never charge as per the meter, Kali temple @ Kalighat, infamous hand pulled rickshaw’s, aspiring Ganguly’s and Baiching Bhutia’s playing around the Maidan area, high tech office building’s in salt lake, City Centre at salt lake with the Inox, Eden Garden’s with the huge Knight Riders’ posters. All these are things that would make anyone want to visit this place. As I mentioned before I’d visited Kolkatta last month, I had wanted to write about the worst train journey of my life, but then the beautiful city made me forget all the pains. This time I had come prepared and even though I had to get the ticket in Tatkal quota, spending more than twice what was the normal fare, I was willing to go. I found just one more person willing to accompany me and that was my roomie Nagendra. We both took the night train to Kolkatta that arried at 5 AM, after having spent some time in the waiting hall, recharging our cell phones and discharging ourselves:), we hit the road and took the 1st bus to Esplanade. Even at 9 AM not many restaurants were open; maybe Sunday’s are late openings for the shops in Kolkatta, or maybe we were just in the wrong area. We finally decided to have breakfast in a hole-in-the-wall kind of restaurant after a long search to see if we had some good place open. Surprisingly the food was better that what we expected. After filling our stomach’s we went to the Victoria memorial. We were quite early and being a Sunday the crowd’s weren’t there, except the lover’s who held hands and other parts right from the morning:D. By 10 AM the museum in the building opened and we walked into a collection of paintings and photographs that took us back into the 30’s and even early 18th century in some cases. We traced the history of Calcutta city in the Calcutta Gallery. It was the best section in the gallery from my opinion, because:

1. It was an air-conditioned section
2. It had very descriptive footnotes on each photograph and painting explaining what it was.
3. It had a very huge collection of souvenirs from many collectors.
4. It showed how the 1st capital of British India was shaped and what all struggles took place to have control over it.

After spending a good part of the morning here, we went to the destination that I had planned to visit after my last trip. It was Crossroads, the bookstore in Elgin Street. I loved the place right from the time I stepped in, such a neatly stacked and well arranged bookstore, with shelves and shelves of classics, bestsellers and what-not. It had got all the books that one would need. It had been the reason why I’d got back to my old habit of reading. I spent a good time in the store. I was very very happy to find that the manager remembered me from the last time, when I had asked for Hitchhiker’s guide the galaxy. He had looked crestfallen when he found that they didn't have such a classic piece in sci-fi. So when i went the next time i casually asked just to see if he remembered to get that book. To my surprise he got me the 6-in-1 collection of all the stories of Hitchhiker's guide. What a dedicated manager:), After this we decided to go to the famous park street. Bought a couple of stuff for friends back @ hostel, or else they'd have us branded with all the kitchenware if we forgot them. Then on the way we went to Netaji Bhavan, it was a nice experience. With a lot of memorabilia about Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and the INA it was again a great experience to see the photos which depicted the creation of the rebel wing of Indian freedom struggle. Then in the evening we went to the Kali Temple in Kalighat. The temple was full of devotees especially due to the Bengali New year eve. We managed to spend some time there without being bugged by the pujari's who're hell bent to make you do some kinda offering. All these travels were made possible due to the Kolkata Metro rail. Its nothing compared to the Delhi Metro, but then for something that was started off in the 80's i'd say its a great engineering and technological feat. The metro has convenient timings and has stations at almost all major locales. Also a ride to the taken is on the Tram. Its something that'll make you completely forget that you live in the 21st century. Its truly a legacy of the British era, that the communist sarkaar is still operation. After visiting the temple, we had one more place in our itinerary and that was to visit Eden Gardens. We had seen it in the morning from far, when we were going around Esplanade. We had heard that the Australian's in Kolkata Knight Riders were having their practice sessions in progress in the evening and when we reached esplanade we could see two of the four floodlights lit. It was an amazing sight to see the largest stadium in India(maybe the world interms of cricket stadia's). We reached there and tried a lot to get in, but the security persons were letting in only the people from media, that too after a very strict pass verification. As we were cursing the security, SRK and others in IPL it started to rain, with a very forceful wind blowing across the stadium. In the wind the giant posters of the Knight Riders in the top of the stadium got torn and i had a smile(ente revenge) muhuhuhhahahhahahha.

After this we took a cab and reached Howrah Station, there i took this beautiful view of the Howrah Bridge, thus ended the longest day in my life(errr typo, longest weekend of my life)

Street shops in Kolkata, a nice way to spend evenings


Rickshaw pullers in Kolkata-Something that i don't agree with

Wi-Fi @ Cuttack Station

Victoria Memorial @ Kolkata

Taxi ride in kolkata

Me on top of the books!

Bird Watching(and some background watchin as well)

For more pics goto my Orkut Album
PS: If some of the terms in the post above aren’t understood by non mech readers, its NOT my fault, you were the one who didn’t want to take up mechanical engineering, not me:). As we used to say in college, You see the difference between Man And Machine, We Don't!!! & Machines rule the world "We rule them "