This and That.....

No reason to be proud

2009-04-26T03:36:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in ages.

This post is to commemorate my post 1st anniversary of not blogging.

Yay to me!

The Times of India

2008-04-14T09:52:00.001-07:00

This is a launch that has been much talked about in the recent past and certainly lived up to its hype. Having read the TOI for the last couple of years in Ahmedabad, I was looking forward to see what they have to offer to the more "news-hungry" Chennai junta.

The front page had a nice personal note by Jaideep Bose, the lesser known editor of the paper. In fact, all the other big papers are known to have popular editors, notable amongst them being N.Ram and Shekhar Gupta. Additionally, Anand's article was very good as well. The rest was regular TOI fare, with some masala thrown in as well. I am told that they have a 3 lakh plus subscription base already, lets just wait and watch if the Hindu takes a hit. Whether the Times can upstage the Hindu as the companion of the filter coffee.

The Feeling...

2008-03-27T15:53:00.000-07:00

Its half past five in the morning and I am up packing. I am back on campus for a brief spell and will go back home after my convocation which is scheduled for saturday. While going through old stuff, I found some old envelopes, hall tickets, mark sheets, doctor prescriptions, railway tickets, airline boarding passes, visiting cards, random scribbles on blank sheets et al.. Packing went out of the window and I spent the last couple of hours looking at this stuff.

I also played a game of cricket and followed it up with a good chat on the floor. I shudder to think that I am never going to get to do this again. Life is going to go back to being orderly and less chaotic. Ahhh. The feeling...

Its over

2008-02-27T12:36:00.000-08:00

Its over! Done ! Finished !

I officially had my last tryst with academics for a long time to come today. I finished my only end - term exam this afternoon. I won't be a student for the foreseeable future, unless I decide to go back and get another degree. I feel numb ! Mixed feelings actually. I don't really know what corporate life is going to be like.

Maybe I will write more later. Right now, I don't know what to say !

Except that its over !

Math

2007-12-30T01:52:00.000-08:00

Cracks me up every time I see it. Its an old joke, but still !

Interview

2007-12-29T06:57:00.000-08:00

I was interviewed by Vaish and here is how it went.

So....here we are, to interview our verrry own Shtudd boy... Mr.Kadalai Gopal...oops..I'm sorry ....Abhishek Gopal... :D...Well, it's going to be tough, but I want honest long answers and juicy answers Mr. Gopal!!! So here goes...

Right, I am all set !

1. Let's begin with your talent, your greatesht talent.....putting Kadalai....now don't deny it!!! It's a fact that you were king of kadalai at one point of time! Not anymore though. So Tell us about your ability, in detail?

You flatter me with such titles and compliments, I must say! There is no ability as such, it is just a way of life :) I am not denying anything, but at the same time, I am not accepting it as well. And it definitely is not my greatest talent, not something I would put on my CV ever. Let us just say that I like talking a lot, and more often than not, it has meant that people around me assumed that I was putting "kadalai" when all I was trying to do was probably make decent conversation about the weather and seeing whether the other person would draw diagrams on my record for me :) Imaginations can run wild, I say !

2. Interesting, but a lot of details are missing! ;-) I heard about a certain incident that happened while you were in SVCE, with a certain "Anjali Sharma"... what exactly happened!!?

Ahhh!! You are well informed, I must say ! It happened years ago and frankly, it was nothing but a prank played by a few friends. They pretended to be someone named Anjali Sharma, and later told me it was a prank. Quite funny, in retrospect.

3. Fascinating,I'm sure there are other such interesting episodes which we will discover soon, but lets talk a little about academics, shall we. Your blog boasts about it and we all know that you are currently pursuing an MBA at IIM-Ahmedabad. You were all set to do an MS if I am right, but you suddenly tripped and landed here. I know for a fact that you never stepped into any coaching centre before you wrote CAT. So tell us the whole story, right from you deciding to do your MS to you landing up in an MBA at the most prestigious institution in India, if not the world.

Its no story, it kind of just happened I guess, one of those things that you can't explain. Yes, an MS is what I had in mind, but a combination of personal reasons plus other stuff regarding the university where I got financial aid compelled me to do an MBA. I don't regret it actually, its been a fun two years and I have certainly learnt a lot here at Ahmedabad. Yes, I did not go to a coaching center simply because it was not pre-planned. And I am decent at Math and English and just went into the exam hall with the intention of giving it my best shot. It cost me 1100 bucks, after all to write the CAT. I had no intention of marking random answers. One thing led to another after that and I found myself with interview calls from the IIM's. I went to the interviews with the same mindset and made it to IIM A. The rest, as they say, is history.

4. Oooohh.....somebody's a brain boy...but oh....don't hate me for this next question! What is your advice to our regular humankind who are attempting CAT next November?

Advice !! Absolutely nothing. Just keep cool, give it an honest attempt and if its meant to be, it will happen !

5. Ok!!!! That was refreshing....So...heading to our next question...What has been the most embarassing moment in your life ever? How did you tackle it?

That's a good question, but unfortunately, I don't have a great memory and I don't know of too many 'really' embarassing things that has happened to me. The incident mentioned in question 2 is one for sure. Others being when I got sent out of class for sleeping and banged my head against the half open door twice. I usually laugh at myself and thereby the situation really doesn't become that embarassing.

6.Hmmmm...Nice.... Tell us a bit about your School and your school life?

School life was spent at Vana Vani inside IIT Madras. Amazing place, lush green everywhere, amazing teachers, friendly students and superb atmosphere. I spent twelve years there and enjoyed every bit of it. I still go back to school when I get time and try and keep in touch with a few of my teachers and classmates as well. School was to me, a home away from home and I enjoyed to serenity of the place as well. I would recommend Vana Vani to anyone simply because of the location and the kind of students who go there.

7.Thats great, though it was a long time ago! You seem ancient all of a sudden. You're what? 22? My.....that's old :P....But no..actually, where do you see yourself settling down in the future? India or Abroad? and wherever you choose, what is the reason?

Sigh ! I do feel old. Yeah, been over five years since I left school. And honestly, I don't know the answer to your question myself. It looks as if it will be India. I want to remain in India simply because it is an amazing place to live. I love the chaos and the lifestyle here. I still have a few months to decide though.

8. Super.... you're a true Indian, heart and soul!!! Okk... I'm boring you....and I'm also getting bored....so last question.....What is the one thing you will do anything in the world for to achieve/do/get......and why?

Strange as it may sound, I don't have those extreme desires at all. All my ambitions have been within normal limits of achievability and I have never really wanted anything very badly. Most things in this world are achievable if you put your heart and soul into it, and if you don't get it even after the effort, maybe it was never yours in the first place.

That was amazing.... Thank you so much Mr.Gopal, for your time and energy! I'm impressed by your answers and most definitely entertained! :D Wish you all the luck and good fortune in the future!

Thank you very much! It was a pleasure talking to you!

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

Do YOU want to be interviewed?

Interview rules:

1. Leave me a comment saying "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and may offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them questions.

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

Cheers

The Elevator Fiasco

2007-12-19T01:45:00.000-08:00

A couple of guys from China called us home for dinner one evening. So off we went, across the river, to a place called Deutz. Li was going to meet us at the station, since we did not know their house. We followed the Indian Standard time and reached a respectable 10 mintues late, but Li outwit us and reached a further 15 minutes later.

When we reached the apartment building, Xing came down to let us in. We trooped into the elevator and were joined by a German speaking Moroccan student as well. Note that the fact that she knew German would assume significance later.

When the seven of us are inside, and the doors are shut, the elevator suddenly decides that it does not want to 'elevate' us to the seventh floor and stops functioning. Moreover, it refuses to open the door to let us out so that we could trudge up seven floors or use an alternate elevator. For ten minutes, we try pressing all the buttons but to no avail. Our cell phones did not work either.

Then, one of us has a brainwave and presses the alarm. Someone outside says hi on hearing the alarm. We say hello to him and he wishes us a good evening and walks off :(. Fortunately, the apartment manager came and tried resetting the elevator and doing some adjustments but that failed as well. This is where the German speaking ability of the girl was useful because, the scene would have been so comical if we, in our broken German, and they, in broken english had tried to converse! So he had no option than to call the technician, who on a saturday evening we assumed, would already be downing his fourth or fifth beer. Note that we had already spent close to a half hour in captivity.

Xing meanwhile realises that he had left rice on the gas to boil. After 30 minutes, he realises this! He calls out to the helpful friend outside and gives him his apartment number and asks him to tell the roomies to switch off the gas. This guy goes up and comes back in ten minutes only to tell us that he couldn't find his apartment. Another five minutes and the fire alarm triggers. We thought that someone had activated this to rescue us. But no! This was because our man Xing had left the rice on. Within two minutes, the elevator doors opened and we were staring at firemen asking us to get out of the building as they had to evacuate it. Five fire trucks in a matter of minutes, an ambulance and a police car. That is what is German efficiency !! Sadly, it doesn't apply to elevators I say !

Dada Rocks !

2007-12-09T02:58:00.000-08:00

Back to back centuries. One at his home ground and one at Bangalore. That too a double hundred !

Sachin not playing, even better ! :)

Go Dada! Go India !

Irony

2007-12-08T14:55:00.000-08:00

I am taking this course on Political Institutions, and for that, I need to write a paper. My topic has something to do with the Indian political system (the politics freak that I am) and I am googling for some information. Guess which site gives me what I am looking for ??
This one.

The United States Dept. of State !!!

Highly ironical I think.

Ah, back to writing.

Cheers

A new month, a new post

2007-12-01T02:35:00.000-08:00

Its december, the last month of the year. Quite a few things happening this month though!

For starters, it is the business end of the trimester and one has work to do in order to pass courses. Such a pain, I say ! Especially considering the fact that I haven't done anything academically noteworthy during the past few months! I have a term paper, a couple of presentations, a couple of exams and numerous other formalities before I leave for India in roughly 3 weeks.

Also, people I know are getting married and settling down in life. I feel so old, *sigh* ! And the worst part is that I won't be able to attend these weddings! Damn, that's a lot of good food that I will have to pass. Here's wishing you a very happy married life.

It feels christmasy in Cologne and the christmas markets have started already. Maybe I will go and buy something. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves and in a holiday mood. My christmas is going to be spent in Madras this year. Last year, I remember, it was spent mugging for end term exams.

Ciao for now. Back to work :(

Chennai 03:11 Pm

2007-10-27T10:53:00.001-07:00

Its an initiative by a few friends. More at
their website.

What is this?

You have to capture what you're doing on Saturday, 03rd November at 03:11 Pm, on your camera and post it online. More at their website and on Suraksha's blog

The American Dream

2007-10-22T13:27:00.000-07:00

No, not me ! I am still very much Indian and study in India as well. The title and the post itself is inspired by a comment made by a friend. We were generally having a conversation about future job opportunities and I was asking her where she would like to work. At this point, the reader is advised to note that the aforementioned friend resides in Uncle Sam's land and is studying towards a MS degree.

I asked her whether she intends coming back and she affirmatively said no. When asked why, she said I will wait till my kids are born so that they get American citizenship before coming back. The logic behind this being that higher education then becomes cheaper. Talk about long term planning !!

Anyway, it raised a couple of interesting questions in my mind. What do you think will be the state of Indian higher education twenty years from now? Will the country be subject to reservation of all kinds, or will we see a more open system which grants equal opportunity to everyone. What I like about the system abroad is the academic freedom and responsibility given to students. One is responsible for everything, right from choosing courses, to obtaining the required reading material, to preparing for exams and applying for a job. Sadly though, in India, the scene is different. There is still a certain amount of spoon feeding that still goes on in the system, well into graduate school. I would certainly like to see more institutes for other majors (apart from the IIMs, and the IITs). Maybe more institutes for Political Sciences, Economics and the like. We produce thousands of engineers each year, but very few graduates in other disciplines. We have only one NID, one IISc, one AIIMS, very few good law schools, one DSE for economics and hardly anything for Political Sciences and International Relations. Instead of opening more IIT's and IIM's, Dr.Manmohan Singh should be looking at other areas as well.

The other interesting question that popped up is that whether the craze to run abroad for higher education will be the same twenty years down the line as it is now? It is a very subjective question and a personal choice for many based on a variety of factors. I am thinking that the craze would still be there but people returning would be more simply because India is a great place to live and work in currently. The economy is growing at a healthy rate mainly due to IT and IT enabled services but slowly, I am hoping that manufacturing will contribute a lot more in the coming years. The standard of living in India is going up definitely and there is more opportunity than there was before.

Aakhir, Dil hai hindustani :)

Choosing a title

2007-10-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

Whenever I start writing a post, the first text box is the title box. Now, I, being creatively challenged grope around for one and come up with very innovative ones likeRandom Thoughts or Tagged and then repeat the same title a year or so later so that the unassuming reader (if (s)he ever bothers to come back) is fooled.

Anyways, this evening, I decided that it was time to pay this dying web page some attention and clicked on new post. And then I sat. The cursor was on the title box and I was lost. I then decided to see if there were any draft posts worth completing but there weren't any that interested me. I then decided to write about choosing a title simply because, then, I could creatively call this post "Choosing a title". * Waits until the applause dies down *

I say that the title box should be kept at the end of the post. You, the smart and wise reader may argue that it is just way easier to omit the title, and come back to it at the end. I, the not so smart blogger would say no, because, I don't like to leave a task preceding the current one unfinished. In simpler words, I wouldn't want to proceed with writing unless I fill the title.

Or, you may just take the easy way out, write about titles, or simply call your post "Untitled" and increase your post count !!

Physics Nobel

2007-10-09T14:22:00.000-07:00

Announced today for some awesome work on nanotechnology. Interestingly, one of them was a German whose name was mentioned in a gathering of exchange students that I attended this evening.

These guys have used the spin of the electron instead of the charge to transport current and alter magnetic fields thereby allowing data to be written and erased on disks. Very interesting I must say!

Read more here

I want to

2007-10-04T13:25:00.000-07:00

- be able to cross the road wherever I please

- Eat street food (read as Pav Bhaji, Bhel Puri and Vada Pav) and enjoy them

- Go to a supermaket and be able to understand what the packaging says. Though, off late, it has been getting better.

- Be able to pick up the phone and call V whenever I want to

- Lie down on the couch at home and be pampered by Mom and Grandma

- Not having to worry about money, paying bills and cleaning, not to mention cooking

- Not stand in a line at every place possible

- Eat something that does not have cheese or butter in it.

Oh, the joys of being in India!! The best place in the world I say.

Cheers

Randomness

2007-10-04T02:46:00.000-07:00

Another month goes by and it is time for another post on this blog. Yeah, I somehow post once a month like clockwork. Sometimes more, but definitely once a month. More recently however, I told myself that I will post more often. Lets see how that goes.

Anyways, the old saying goes, "

When in October, do Octoberfest

or something like that :) If I still have your attention after that, then read on.

I went to Octoberfest yesterday, one of those over hyped things like most of Europe is. Basically, it is just a big fair with rides, reminds me of fairs at Island Grounds in Madras. You get Cotton Candy, groundnuts, walnuts, juice, ice cream and all families come out in dressed in their Sunday best (Ok, it wasn't a sunday yesterday but it was a public holiday nevertheless) and roam about the fair grounds, kids all over the place, parents buying souvenirs and also denying kids their chocolates and things like that.

After a while, I decided to go off on my own exploring the fair grounds and found some innovative ways to make money. Wish I lived in Germany where I could make money like this. I realised that it was time for my train and rushed to the train station to board the last train to Koln. I slept intermittently on the train and as luck would have it, slept when Koln arrived and woke up after we passed Koln. Got off at Dusseldorf, which is about 25 minutes from here, took a slow train back home and reached at 2.30 in the morning. The perils of sleeping, I say !

Auf Wiedersehn

The Cheats

2007-09-14T13:26:00.000-07:00

Expelled ! Mclaren ! I would say deserved punishment. For more read this.

Poor Hamilton. This was seriously his season. Now, he will have that tainted tag about him.

Cheers

From Deutschland

2007-09-12T00:52:00.000-07:00

Hello readers, (Yes, you and you !!)

Arrived in Deutschland about ten days ago and had my first class yesterday. Good fun. Was a light lecture with a lot of laughs in between. We have exchange students from as far as Japan and Argentina as well alongwith Turks, Spanish and Italian students. The new experience is enlightening.

Koln as a city is nothing to write home about. It was bombed during the war and they hurriedly built it back in the 1950's and it isn't what anyone would call an architectural masterpiece. The public transport is good, not as great as London's Underground but good enough considering it is a smaller city. It is a student town, houses the nation's biggest university with over 50000 students. People are very nice and helpful, although in the first week, without knowing any Deutsch, it was kind of hard managing in supermarkets and banks.

My first mis-adventure was the fact that my bags did not accompany me on the flight from Dubai to Frankfurt. The connection time which was originally an hour and 45 minutes got reduced to about 45 minutes due to my Chennai flight arriving late. I transferred successfully, but my bag did not make it. They sent it home to Koln two days later. Sucked ! But there is nothing I could do about it. Thankfully, it came in a good condition unlike a friend's plight with a different airline in which his suitcase was damaged.

I also went into the wrong classroom and sat there for ten minutes before realising that it was a class taught in German :-) Hastily made a retreat. The professor could not pronounce my first name which is good because that will involve less cold calling. Yay !

Also visited some nearby towns last week. You see one place, you've seen them all. They all look the same and are all on the banks of the Rhine. Very picturesque.

Cheers

Radio One - 94.3 FM. And also, why is there no hindi music station here?

2007-08-28T10:04:00.000-07:00

I am hooked to this station everyday. The only time I listen to the radio is when I am driving. Earlier, when I was in madras, I used to listen to Radio Mirchi regularly, mostly because it was a good station and my bus played that on our journey up and down from college. I used to listen to Suchi and some chap in the afternoon talking and entertaining listeners. And the songs were not too bad either.

Recently, Chennai seems to have a new station. Radio One rocks. I enjoy their programmes and its very entertaining, especially between songs. I like their spoof on police in Chennai. Totally rocking. The RJ's aren't too bad either. In fact, I am told that Suchi of RM fame has moved here. Wonder what drew her. Anyway, competition is good for the market. Helps radio channels innovate continuously.

Which makes me think, why isn't there a radio channel that streams hindi music all day long? The answer to that lies in the fact that it does not seem to be a lucrative proposition. Let us look at the target segment. Who do you think listens to the radio?? Mostly, it is the auto drivers, tea shop owners, iron shop guys and the like. Now, the chances of them knowing hindi are practically nil. And if there is no audience, who will advertisers target? And if there are no advertisers, how will the audience make money. There might be a huge hindi speaking population in Chennai, but not all of them listen to the radio. Maybe its tamil which will rule :-)

Cheers

Another Tag - this time its question time

2007-08-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

Was tagged by
Vaish. So its Q and A time. Here I go.

1. (a) Pick out a scar you have.

A scar about 15 cm long on my left thigh.

(b) Explain how you got it ?

Fell off when my bike skid about 7 years ago.

2. What does your phone look like ?

It is a Nokia 6630. Looks kinda big, but I am used to it now. I can make and receive calls, send and receive messages and it acts as a good alarm. Good enough for me !

3. What is on the walls of my bedroom ?

On campus, I have a mirror, a white board with some graph on it. At home, I used to have a poster of Brian Lara. But not anymore.

4. What is your current Desktop picture?

Currently, its a pic of me in a Manchester United jersey that she gifted.

5. Do you believe in gay marriages ?

I can't answer that as I am straight.

6. What do you want more than anything else right now ?

I already am satisfied with everything. Can't ask for anything more.

7. What time were you born?

2:20 am on May 12

8. Last person who made you cry ?

I don't cry usually. Last person was her. Though I was happy when I did. I don't cry otherwise.

9. What is your favorite perfume / cologne

Roger and Gallet (Open). Can't beat that.

10. What kind of hair/eye color do you like in the opposite sex?

Black or brown. And reasonably long hair :) Eyes, no prefrence. Brown eyes would be good though.

11. What are you listening to?

Nothing actually. The cell phone beeping occasionally indicating the arrival of a message. And the fan above me.

12. Do you get scared of the dark?

No.

13. Do you like pain killers?

Anything but injections :-)

14. Are you too shy to ask someone out?

No. Not at all :-)

15. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?

Mmm. This is a toughie. I would say Home cooked rasam with potato curry :-) Rocks. Also thayir saadam. Yay !

I tag

Suraksha

Cheers

A Tag to bring me out of hibernation

2007-08-16T00:13:00.000-07:00

This blog had almost died, and I had committed blogicide, Well Almost.
She tagged me and well, sometimes it takes a tag to write.

So here they are, things I like best

Cuddling up with a book on a dark, gloomy day and fall asleep reading it

Talking on the phone for hours, at all hours of the day and night with her

Doing Crossword puzzles and breaking my head over simple words

Aimlessly surfing the internet and refreshing websites faster than they update them

Irritating people with PJ's, something that I am proud of :)
The smell of wet mud just after a drizzle
Train journeys in India, especially second class. The lush green fields, the different people you meet
Watching Manchester United play, no matter how many times
Driving around the streets of Madras, even though they're becoming crowded by the day

Will post more later.

And I tag anyone who wants to do this.

Cheers

Want to be a cop?? Break rules :)

2007-06-07T00:02:00.000-07:00

An interesting sentence from a magistrate in a Delhi Court. A guy was arrested for drunk driving and in return, he had to manage traffic at a busy intersection in Delhi to make him realise his mistake.

Wish we had more such magistrates who look to correct the individual rather than pain him.

Full article
Here

Monday Mornings :(

2007-05-28T03:38:00.000-07:00

Mondays are a painful day to work. Its the start of a long week and not something that I look forward to normally. Especially if the day is light as today is, you just don't feel like doing that little bit of work that you're supposed to.

Fridays are the same. I am looking forward to the weekend and don't feel like working in the afternoons. That leaves me with Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Wednesdays are boring because you've come to office twice already and you realize that there are two more days to go :(

P&G, where I work in, is an amazing place to spend time in. The work is fun, the people are ossum and the culture excellent. However, I don't like Mondays !

Cheers

An interesting e-mail

2007-04-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

From the Housekeeping office,

"We have found a set of Keys : The loser may please contact the Housekeeping Office @ 4677."

What a judgement !

Cheers

I love Office 2007

2007-03-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

It can do APA referencing, something I have never been able to do since the time I have come here. Professors here are very particular about referencing and insist on APA style. Now that I have Office 2007, it does it automatically. For a change, Microsoft rocks !

Question - Will Bermuda beat Bangladesh

2007-03-23T23:06:00.000-07:00

Even if they did, I don't think our boys deserve to play the Super Eights. A dismal performance to say the least. And all you Sachin fans out there, this was one more example of a situation when he din't perform when absolutely necessary. He should hang up his boots and retire gracefully.

I can go back to hoping that West Indies will finally have their glory days and lift the cup ! And that the Indian team is safe!
Cheers

A Day of Upsets (?)

2007-03-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

India (quite deservedly) have lost to neighbours Bangladesh. And as I write this, Pakistan are well on their way to become the first team to book seats on the plane back home. For players like Inzamam, this would be his last world cup. Sad ! Oh Yeah, they might as well go now as O'Brien has smashed Shoaib Malik for a six as I type this.

Coming to the India match, I don't have anything say as it was a completely listless performance. Its like they din't turn up to play at all. In what was a good Queen's Park Oval Track, they could manage 191 only, that too thanks to the last wicket partnership. Losing 5 wickets for two runs means you don't deserve to be in the World Cup, let alone win it !

I shudder to think of the kind of money that people would have lost today via betting on the W/C matches. Both the favorites were beaten, and comprehensively. Oh wait ! A wicket.. Pakistan need 5 more and the Irish need19. Whattay !! If India bow out, it would be the sponsors losing a helluva lot of money because the viewership in the subcontinent would obviously decrease !

Am off to watch the last few minutes of the Irish Match ! Cheers

Half a term more :-)

2007-02-19T11:55:00.002-08:00

Another half a term and I would have completed the most gruelling part of my academic life ever ! Its probably the most gruelling part for all of us ! 19.75 credits would have been completed. Each credit comprises of 100 hours of work including 30 hours of classroom contact hours. I did some rough math and it turns out that a minimum of 5 hours of work would be required every day of the week throughout the year to satisfy this requirement. All this translates into one word - INSANE !!

By the end of the third term, we are just about ready to give up, if we haven't already ! Third term involves more group assignments than any other term with the quizzes drying up, courtesy MANAC. I shall save MANAC for another post, its a story in itself. Ask any IIM A student about MANAC and tell me what he/she tells you :)

Mid term exams due towards the end of this week. Lets see how they go :)

Cheers.

P.S - Do check out the video in the next post.

Manchester United - The New Era

2007-02-19T11:55:00.001-08:00

Watch this - All Man Utd fans. Some of the greatest moments ever :-)

Been a while ! But I am back

2007-02-04T09:02:00.000-08:00

Yeah i know, I have been saying that once too often, but I shall attribute it to the hectic schedule as always. The third term started with jet lag for me. I had travelled approximately 24 hours halfway across the world and sat in a WAC lecture. For the uninitiated, WAC stands for Written Analysis and Communication, quite a painful course. It consists of 3 or 4 classes and about 3 written reports, all to be submitted on Saturday evening. There is a famous tradition behind all this known as the WAC run. This run is done when people finish their reports at the last possible minute and run from their dorms to the classrooms in order to submit the report. Sometimes, as I personally found out, students are locked up in their rooms and not let out until the last possible minute. All the tuchchas gather in the long pathway from the mess to the new campus underpass and shoot videos as some fachchas run. Its another WAC weekend next week and the case is frigging 27 pages long. And I have a class tomorrow.

I also have a marketing quiz tomorrow, one of the few times in the first year that quizzes are announced. Our professor, voted unanimously by all as the chillest prof here. Where else would you find a professor, who announces a quiz, then feels all guilty about it, gives only multiple choice questions, attaches last year's paper and explains in an email why a quiz is necessary.

Well, am off now. Going to mug (or atleast try to)

Cheers.

New Year is here !!

2006-12-31T21:28:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year !!

I am in Ner York City this time for new year and it has just been ossum. Times square was filled with people on all directions and 12 streets were blocked. Saw most of the sites in this city over the past two days. However, the city IMHO is over-hyped and has nothing spectacular. Off to LA tomo evening..
And yes, I almost missed my flight from Mumbai on 28th. More on that in a later post. Until then, have fun and be good !

Cheers

Sreesanth at his swinging best !

2006-12-20T12:54:00.001-08:00


Easily the funniest thing I have ever seen on a cricket field. Sreesanth was showing his heart, his dance and his bat at Nel ! Someday, Nel needs to be fined for his sledging !! Cheers

Is the justice system in India finally coming of age ??

2006-12-06T05:07:00.000-08:00

In the recent weeks, India has seen some landmark decisions in its courts.

There was Sanjay Dutt, who was convicted under the arms act but acquitted under TADA and his sentencing is due next month. Then, there was former Union Minister Shibu Soren who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his secretary. Incidentally, his first night in jail was a troublesome one as mosquitos bugged the hell outta him !

More recently, Navjot Singh Sidhu, the man famous for his quotes was convicted in an age old case (1988) and sentenced to three years in prison. Earlier, the impression among the general public was that powerful people would never be convicted, even if there were tons of cases and charge-sheets against them.

In my opinion, this trend is changing and soon we should see more and more tainted famous people behind bars ! In fact, the supreme court has quashed petitions from Lalu and Rabri asking all their cases to be dismissed ! Way to go !!

Atleast now, these people will think twice before they do something wrong. I mean, having someone as a union minister, someone who has murdered his own secretary is simply not done!! Alas, the prime minister, one of the most respected people in India has no choice as his hands are tied because he has to run a coalition government.

Hopefully, things have changed for the better now!

The Leading Lipstick Indicator :-)

2006-11-27T06:26:00.000-08:00

Came across this in a quiz yesterday. Was amazed that such a theory existed..
Check it out :)
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/lipstickindicator.asp

From investopedia,

An indicator based on the theory that a consumer turns to less-expensive indulgences, such as lipstick, when she (or he) feels less than confident about the future. Therefore, lipstick sales tend to increase during times of economic uncertainty or a recession

You can just imagine the creative answers it got from the participants :-)
Cheers.

Should Chappell go ??

2006-11-24T02:41:00.000-08:00

I have always maintained that Chappell was never the right man for the job. Recently, I read a news article in which it was said that Sunil Gavaskar also opposed his appointment when Chappell was interviewed.

Well, Sunny seems to have been right on the money as the Indian team is not performing at all. To use an oft-repeated argument, it all started with the Ganguly - Greg spat after the Zimbabwe tour following which things were never the same. Ganguly went, and with it, the fighting spirit in the team. Dravid is a class player, no doubting that. He is also a good thinker, but lacks that X factor which Saurav had. When Saurav was on the field, he was charged up and demanded good performances. I don't see that with Rahul Dravid.

Another thing that is prevalent with the current team is that some players take their place in the team for guarantee and they never seem to be dropped. They consistently don't perform for 10-15 innings and suddenly, one innings they perform and people go, "aaah!! There you go!!." Something needs to be done about this!

There is just too much money in Indian cricket and the performances to match them are just not there! Greg Chappell is paid a lot of money as coach but I don't see any results. And its been a while since he has taken charge. The will to win just does not seem to be there!!!

If this team goes to the world cup with the same attitude, we might as well concede defeat and not play !

Cheers

Memoirs of a WimWian

2006-11-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

Mid terms going on here. I can't believe that its been close to 5 months now at WimWI. Time has just flown by and 25% of my stay here is already over. When I reflect on the things that I have done so far, lots of fond memories have already been formed.

T-Nite will remain on every fachcha's mind long after he has left the hallowed portals of this campus. It is easily the best thing that happens in the first term. A period of bonding, intense competition and more importantly, its 4 nights of complete fun. The mugging is forgotten and the PGP office is generous enough not to schedule quizzes during this week. Those were the times when the entire section used to be present in the classroom even at 3 and 4 in the morning and sleep was forgotten. Needless to say, we caught up on sleep in the classes and this is the first time I actually slept in class. At IIM A, all our classrooms are horse-shoe shaped with 4 rows on the three sides, each at different levels. I sit in the well (or the bottom row), right under the instructor's nose. This works to my advantage because it is not in the line of sight for the professor and cold calling is minimal. Cold-calling is a phrase associated with business school students around the world where you're randomly called in class to answer any question that the professor throws at you. It is fun when someone else is cold-called but believe me, its not funny when the victim is you as I found out quite recently in an accounting class. I was staring into space when the professor asks me something from the case of which I had no idea. I looked blankly at him and he offered me a glass of water :P.

There are other memorable things that have happened here, especially in the dorm. The dorm culture in most dorms is quite strong and your loyalty is first to your dorm, then your section, then your batch, and finally your institute. After the institute comes the loyalty to your girlfriend. Dorms go out to dinner together, drink together, have parties, and also make tempo shouts. Tempo shouting is a tradition where one group out-shouts the other. Mind you, these are not random shouts, but the words have a meaning attached to them too:P

I'll complete this post later as there is a mid term in 5 hours and I need some sleep.

Good night :)

Whattay Match !!!

2006-11-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

Chelsea Lost!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

John Terry sent off.. Half a dozen or so players booked.. Lost to Tottenham by a goal. And Man Utd won yesterday against Portsmouth.. Three points clear at the top!!!

We are well on course to win the title..

Where are y'all, Chelsea fans?????????????

Also, Arsenal lost earlier to West Ham.. All you Goooooooooners, say aye!!!

Bring 'em on!!!!

Go Red Devils Go!!!

Cheers!!

PS- Mid terms from tomo.. :) Wish me luck :)

Happy Diwali

2006-10-22T09:24:00.000-07:00

Another example of where this country's politics is headed for..
Read this

And yeah, Happy Diwali to all once again !!
Cheers

Deadlines and more deadlines

2006-10-16T12:57:00.000-07:00

A deadline is something that is sacrosanct in WimWi. Most deadlines are specified as 23:59:59 and believe me, these are followed. I have become a very punctual person after coming here, if I might say so myself.

The second term here is much more hectic than term 1 in terms of deadlines. Summer placements are around the corner and the campus is very active with everyone applying to companies of their choice and busy filling forms, networking etc etc.

And as is tradition, all work gets done in the last hour before the deadline approaches. I was actually surprised at myself for finishing something about 6 hours ahead of time!! :-)

Which reminds me, such joys are shortlived. Off I go, chasing another deadline.
Cheers

Heights!!!

2006-10-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

Saw this news article on the News Notice Board on Campus. I don't know whether to laugh or be sad. Read on..

Balasore (Orissa):
Sometimes when police talk business, they mean monkey business. This is a story of a simian who has been caged in Orissa for the last five years for, believe it or not, disturbing communal harmony. The seven year-old monkey called Ramu is serving life imprisonment at Remuna police station in Balasore district.

Raised by a Hindu family, he bit some Muslim children five years ago, sparking communal tension in the area. When police intervened, they put him in this cage. Says the officer in charge, Remuna police station, M K Dhir, "The Muslim community people whose children were bitten came here and made a complaint. In order to calm the situation we caged this monkey."

Though caged, police say they treat Ramu well. They say he gets more than two kilos of fruits everyday apart from his usual meal. However, animal rights activists are not amused. Says an animal rights activist, R K Sahoo, "This is a punishable offence and the monkey should be immediately set free in the jungle."

The forest department wants to release Ramu from the bondage, but police officials say they have developed an emotional bond with the monkey and don't want to lose him.

Source:
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/hindu-monkey-bites-muslim-kid-held/24127-3.html

I am here..

2006-09-26T02:55:00.000-07:00

Lots happening in life. I got through the first term here at IIM - A, said by most as the toughest period on campus academically. Term I ended ten days ago, I made a short trip back home for 6 days, and was back in time for the second term to start.

Seniors on campus told us that the second term is lighter than the first, but I am yet to see that happening. If nothing, it is actually more workload than the first term. Hopefully, things should even out in a while. The highlights of term 2 are "Confluence", our inter B school management fest and the summer placement process, both happening in november.

Hectic time ahead though. I also went to a garba event on sunday and it was a lot of fun. Very tiring, but thoroughly entertaining. Being in Gujarat does have its advantages after all !! :-)

Back with more later
Cheers,

World Blog Day

2006-08-31T08:46:00.000-07:00

Today being 31st Aug, bloggers all over the world are celebrating blog day.

5 of the new blogs I like

Rashmi's Youth Curry. I have been reading her blog on and off for a while now, never really commented..

Abhinav Ex IIM Cal. I like his writing.

Ms.V's realistically speaking Another one which I follow sporadically. I simply love the template on her blog.

sidin An ex IIM A grad.. Writes totally hilarious blogs :-)

War For NewsMy current favorite. Gives you an inside view into the functioning of the major news channels in the country. Entertaining read

Cheers

2006-08-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

There are times when you don't know what to say.

There are times when you have loads of things in your mind, but can't really assimilate them into meaningful thoughts.

There are times when you miss some of your friends, but are unable to tell them that you miss them.

There are times when you miss family, when you wish that you were at home, and not having to do housekeeping by yourself.

There are times when you feel that grades don't mean everything in life.

There are times when you feel that there is much more to life than degrees, jobs, money and recognition.

There are times in life when you feel nice, when someone special, stays awake just to keep you company when you are working on a boring assignment.

There are times when you look back at life, and feel stupid for some of the things that you've done.

There are times when you regret doing/saying stuff to people and feel bad at not apologizing for your actions.

There are times when you miss the peaceful lifestyle that you used to lead.

Today was one such time, when all of these thoughts came to my mind!!

Cheers!!

Yay!! The new season's here :)

2006-08-18T03:24:00.000-07:00

The premiership is back. Starts on Saturday. And the Red Devils play on Sunday against Fulham. One more signing and we should be good enough to win this season.
Fingers and toes crossed. Meanwhile, for all you ManU fans, check out their 'away' kit here. Stunning one this time :)

Good luck to the red devils. This year, we have to win the league and show the likes of Chelski and 'Pool who the boss is !!!!!!!!!
Its about time !!!!
Cheers

Tagged

2006-08-13T06:01:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged by suraksha.

Sorry about not posting so long. Been tied up with a lot of work :(

Once you've been tagged, you have to write a blog entry with five complete lies about yourself. That is, five things about you that are completely not true. Not even slightly. THEN hide in the entry a 6th line, something that is absolutely TRUE and the first person to guess which one is true wins :) then tag up to five people you want to turn into compulsive liars too.

Here I go..

1) I bathe with cold water everyday

2) I like all things that have raw or cooked tomato pieces in them.

3) I am scared of birds.

4) I like crowded places a lot!

5) I am not an internet addict.

6) I don't solve cryptic crosswords.

I tag anyone who cares to finish this tag :-)
Regular posting soon!
Cheers

The Best PJ I've heard in a while :)

2006-07-10T14:10:00.000-07:00

I just had to post this.

Qn: Guess what made Zidane headbutt Materazzi.??

Materazzi must have asked him....

"Log Chloromint Kyun Khate hain"??????????????????????????????????????

Courtesy: WimWi fraternity :D

Whattay Final!!

2006-07-09T14:45:00.000-07:00

Italy won!!! Italy won!! yay!!!

But, the most moment of the evening was undoubtedly the red card to France's captain, Zidane.. What an irresponsible and stupid way to end a career!!!

Cheers!!

One week, and still up and running!!!

2006-07-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I've been here a week now and can confidently say that I have survived week one at the toughest B-school in the world to get into!!

This places makes you slog, there are no two ways about that!! And, after spending most of my undergraduate life "NOT" slogging, this came as a surprise, pleasant or not, I don't know!!

There is always something happening here and getting time alone is kinda hard, especially in the first week with orientation and a lot of other activities and all..

Will post more when I get time..
Cheers

Adieu Chennai :-(

2006-06-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

This is it!!! Am leaving Chennai, the city I've grown up in, tomorrow. Leaving for Ahmedabad to pursue a MBA!! This blog may not see updates for a while (not like I am regular otherwise). Have fun! And keep in touch! Thanks a lot everyone, for your support, and good luck!!

Cheers!!!

Main Bhi Engineer Hoon!!

2006-06-17T21:06:00.000-07:00

Got my final semester results yesterday!! I passed!!!! With 88%. So, I m officialy a degree holder!!
What a relief!!! Having survived the unpredictable Anna University!!
Cheers

Impressive - NDA experience

2006-05-31T07:07:00.000-07:00

I went to the National Defence Academy today at Khadakwasla.. For the uninformed, this is a place just outside of Pune set amidst hills and rough forest terrain.. Established just after independence as a centre to train people of the three defence forces (the army, airforce and the navy), it has an area of about 8000 acres and more land around it is available.. 8000 acres is huge.. Real Huge!!!!

I had gone for the passing out parade of the cadets of the 110th course ( a course refers to the cadets who are taken in every term and NDA has two intakes every year, june and jan). Very nicely organised and impressive parade, I must say.. Admiral Arun Prakash, who is the chief of the naval staff, was the reviewing officer and spoke at the function.

Also had time to have a look around the academy, their sports fields, their various battalion buildings and squadron rooms.. They have buildings which have been named after the state which donated funds to build these structures. The main building and the most impressive was the Sudan building, which housed the Chemistry lab and the workshop of some kind.. Named thus because money was given by Sudan as an expression of gratitude because India helped Sudan in some defence related operation. Also other squadron buildings are named after states, I remember seeing Punjab, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan etc..

During the parade, the highlight was the handover of the president's ( who is the supreme commander of the defence forces) flag to the passing out batch. Everyone had to stand and pay respect while the officers in uniform saluted. Amazing feeling.. Gives you a sense of pride, to be there, among so many people, who have done something/ going to do something for our nation, looking at the spirit of the guys there and the elation later. Another highlight was what is termed in NDA parlance as ' anthim patth' or in layman's terms, the last passage. Passage is a very rough translation and it effectively means that its the last step a cadet takes before passing out of the NDA. This is right below a hugt mast, taken from the INS Vikrant or some other naval warship around 50 years ago. This mast has two flags, one being the academy flag and the other being the Indian tricolour. These cadets who walk and take the anthim patth have to salute the mast and then take the last step.. And then , FREEDOM!!! For a month atleast.

The celebrations that followed were in keeping with true Armed Forces tradition, throwing up their caps and dancing around. Each squadron celebrated separately and, the joy was evident on their faces. Three years of a tough grinding routine had finally come to an end..

And for Me, standing there, amidst such people, was a moment which I would cherish for ever..

Cheers

PS : - Pictures when I get back to Chennai :)

Reservation ?? Really??

2006-05-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

Read a post on Sagaro's blog on the reservation issue, and some of his points are worth mulling over.

It is pretty evident, that this decision by the Indian Government, (yes, the guys you and I voted for) to increas reservation has multiple reasons, the most evident being vote-bank politics. Which politician, in a power-hungry country like ours, in which only numbers matter, wouldn't want the vote of nearly 77% of the country's population. Sagaro makes a couple of critical points, he says that the backward classes in question have not had a comfortable life like most of the general quota students and have had to work and study simultaneously in state run corporation schools. Agreed. They probably do deserve help from the government. I don't think a lot of us are against the idea of reservation per-se. Its the way its being/ going to be implemented now which concerns us!

From personal experience, I can say that it does hurt when you see a student, one that has studied with you all through school, been a very bright student, scoring lesser marks than you in one of the entrance tests ( and by lesser, I mean, a good 10 percentile points lesser) getting into an IIM, easily the country's best and most prestigious business school. This, when other classmates of yours have to slog and be disappointed in the end, because their seat has been taken by someone else. Is this Fair?? Is it fair that, in an educational institution of international repute (IIT, IIM, NLS, NALSAR, AIIMS etc..), you have a complete class of students, half of them entering via the back-door so as to say?? An argument that has been put forth by the guys who have used the quota system is that they compete against the general quota guys once they have been admitted. If that is what you want, why don't you compete against the general quota guys for the admission. If you're good enough to compete later, you must be good enough to compete now.

On NDTV, the other day, I saw a medic saying that he was from a poor family and din't have enough money to attend coaching classes to prepare for entrance tests. So, he took advantage of the quota system and now is a doctor. Fair play and well done to him !! These are the kind of people the government needs to be taking care of, providing them with assistance to prepare for these tests, maybe provide them good education at the primary and secondary school level, rather than at the graduate level.

Sagaro says,

Reservations have worked wonderfully in India. In IITs people tell me how these SC/ST guys at the first year are shy and aren’t very sociable, but by four years they are better off and even overtake these FC guys.

I don't necessarily agree with this. The aim of these institutions is to produce good engineers. Developing personalities is something that is upto an individual and happens along the way. There have been a lot of cases where these reserved students haven't been able to cope up with the general category students simply because they haven't got the kind of scores that most of their classmates have obtained in the JEE exam. Meaning, the kind of foundation that the others have is lacking somewhat in some of these students. It's not their fault mind you!! It's the system's fault. A system that says, "Ok, a seat is reserved for you, you don't have to work as hard as the rest, IIT mil jayega!!." Is this the kind of students that a premier institute like the IIT needs?? Remember, the IIT's are branded as the best engineering college in the country and brand IIT has a huge impact all over the world.

Increasing seats is not an option either. Lot of logistics and admin related problem crop up, like increasing classrooms, faculty and hostel facilities. This is not a feasible option, not for a while now atleast.. Also, in a country like ours, getting a OBC certificate is not that hard a job!! Or so, I am told!! :)

So, what is the solution?? Possibly a middle path!! Provide monetary assistance to these students, empower them at an early stage, so that, by the time they reach class 12 or so, they would not require to use reservation and compete with the general category students!!! This, in all likelihood, seems like the most plausible way out of this situation for now!! Though, knowing the government and the way politicians think, one never knows!!

Cheers

You know that you're in India when ....

2006-05-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

-- You drive on the road and a cow suddenly appears outta nowhere!!!

-- You get caught for breaking traffic rules, and escape with either a very small fine or sometimes even talk your way out of it.. Like " I know this politician. that police officer and so on.. "

-- You find people not using the footpath / sidewalk. What is more, when you take a closer look, you actually find that the sidewalk is used for sleeping :-)

-- You drive down an arterial road in a big city, and suddenly have to slow down because a bullock cart is transporting bricks. The bull and the owner are oblivious to the problem

-- You find people using areas behind trees and bushes for relieving themselves!!

-- You see people crossing roads at all places except pedestrian crossings.

-- Auto Drivers indicating one direction but going completely in the other (Chennai specific)

-- Walk along any shopping area and find brands ranging from Mike, Rebook, Adidaas, Radoo all in the same pavement :P

I love the country :)
India rocks!!
Cheers

My GD/PI Experiences

2006-05-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

Lots of people wanted me to write about my Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI) experiences. My first one was way back in February whereas the last one was sometime towards the end of March. So, will just write a summary of each one!

Feb 14, 2006 - IIM Indore Venue : IIM Bangalore

GD - There were supposed to be 9 of us in the group. One person decided not to turn up. Hence, it was 8 of us. Topic for discussion was a case study involving some venture capitalist and some company. Very boring case and I couldn't understand anything :P. Hell, I din't even know who a venture capitalist was! Spoke some amount, din't exactly know whether I contributed to the discussion. Overall, a very average GD..
Rating - 5.5/10

PI - Was a two-member panel. Nice and relaxed interview. Touched upon a lot of aspects. There were technical questions which I was able to answer reasonably well! Also some other general questions on politics and sports. On the whole, a feel good type interview. Answered a lot of the questions.
Rating - 8.5/10

Final verdict -SELECTED

Feb 16, 2006 IIM Kozhikode Venue: IIM Bangalore

GD - Supposed to be a 10 member panel, only 7 turned up. GD was peaceful, about sting operations and the ethics of it, money involved, the like..Spoke decently, a better GD than Indore. Would rate it at about 7.5/10
PI- This was weird. There was hardly any tech. Most of the questions involved politics, and seemed like an extension of the GD. They also confused me and had some fun with me ( This I came to know later). Never mind, I got thro.. So peace :)
Rating - 7.5/10
Verdict - SELECTED

Feb 22, 2006 IIM LUCKNOW @IIM B

GD - Was on how good governance is the most effective way to curb and eradicate poverty in our country. Peaceful discussion. 7 member GD. We ran out of points towards the end. Another probable reason was that the moderators warned us beforehand to let everyone speak. I think we were being extra careful though !

PI - Moving on to the interview part, this was easily my worst interview. I was asked about anything and everything from Diamonds to VLSI to politics to capitals of countries. The number of times I uttered the "I Don't know" phrase would have exceeded the number of cows that Laloo Prasad Yadav possesses. In short, even I wouldn't have selected myself. Although, I must add, the IIM L professors seemed to think otherwise and offered me admission. Which I have regretfully denied :P

March 1, 2006 IIM Ahmedabad @ IIM B

Supposedly the mother of all interviews, atleast according to a lot of people!

GD - Supposed to be a 9 member group, one person decided that IIM A was not worth his/her time and hence, decided not to show up! Meant that it was reduced to a 8 member group and the topic was a case study, typical WIMWI style. For the uninitiated, WIMWI is an acronym for Well known Institute of Management in Western India. Was a fun discussion, I actually understood and could contribute to the discussion!

Interview - Again, very generic. Asked me about everything from sport (I had written that I support MAN U in the form), cooum in chennai, politics in TN, different newspapers in the country, and my project (which for the record was a total fraud project).

Well, after speaking to me for about 25 minutes, these guys decided to offer me admission into IIM A and thats where I am headed this June :)

Will talk about the other two in another post!!
Cheers

Time for a Change?? Really ??

2006-05-05T00:09:00.000-07:00

Its election time in my state and wherever you go, the mood is the same. Debates within family members as to who will come to power, my grandmom asking me why the DMK is not contesting the Saidapet seat, my driver telling me that DMK is going to come back to power, and I retorting saying that Amma will make it again!!

However, over the past three months or so, there are a couple of other parties that have joined the fray, most notable among them being the Lok Paritran about whom enough has been said an written!! Their campaign managers have been telling us to vote for them because they promise change! And eradication from corruption. They don't promise insane stuff like color TV's and rice for Rs.2. Which is great. Its a refreshing chnage from the verbal wars that the two Dravidian parties have resorted to! Karunanidhi on the one hand says Jayalalitha claims to be working 20 hours a day and appeals to the voters to give her some rest from the 8th of May, not for her benefit, but for the benefit of the party. Jaya on the other hand blames the centre (of which the DMK is a part) for not having assisted the government enough during the tsunami and the rains last year.

There have been quite a few mails floating in my class' yahoo group about the elections, TN politics, Lok paritran, some independents, and even Vijaykanth :) I hear that 'CAPTAIN' is contesting all 234 assembly seats!! Wonder how this is going to affect the vote share of the main parties because he is sure to eat into the vote base of both the DMK and the ADMK, but may not win that many seats! Some students of my class have been involved in the campaign for Lok Paritran and have been using the group as a means to campaign. So, I asked them, why should one vote for the Lok Paritran. The answers I got were various, ranging from the young and enthusiastic party, to the educated people, to the IIT brand. But, really, is it fair that one should gather votes based on a 'brand' like IIT?? I don't think so simply because an IIT + NYU education can prepare you for organisational skills and all that, but you need hands-on experience in grassroot level Indian politics to be able to compete. India is a very diverse nation and different people (sometimes members of the same family) voting for different candidates for a variety of reasons!

Whether both LP and Vijayakanth can eat into the vote base of the dravidian parties, we'll find out, come May 11th!!

As of now, after saturday, all the political parties will have their fates decided by the voters of this state! All I can say is that its going to be a closely fought election and that "Yeh Public Hai, Yeh sab Jaanti Hai".. Roughly translated, it means, "Its the public and knows everything"

Cheers folks

The Power Of Democracy!!

2006-04-29T09:18:00.000-07:00

Saw this news story on CNN-IBN this evening. Assembly elections are on in Kerala and in one booth, situated about 2500 mts above Mean Sea Level (MSL) and 60 km from Calicut, there is only one registered voter. This is a remote location nestled among the forests and for just one voter, there are four election commission officials and two security men sitting there from 7 am in the morning waiting for this one man to come and cast his vote. This practice has been going on for years and usually, he comes by 4 in the evening to cast his vote. This time, he had promised to come earlier and it was a funny sight, seeing these officials wait patiently.

He finally came, or rather, the IBN team had to go into the forests to bring him along, and when asked why he insists on voting at this particular election booth, he says that he pays taxes to the government and is justified in his actions. Incidentally, the law is on his side as well, as it states that a polling station should be within a 1.5 km radius of the voter's residence.

Such is the power of democracy! Even a single vote matters ! So, if you guys are reading this and are yet to get voter ID's, please do so ASAP. Your vote might win or lose an election for someone !

Cheers

For Completion Sake:)

2006-04-15T02:28:00.000-07:00

Posting this for completion's sake!! The previous part of this post can be found Here..

Am sorry about the size, please click on the images for a better view..

Speechless:-)

2006-04-12T10:11:00.000-07:00

What started off as a 'lets give this exam a shot because the others are doing it ended up in THIS today' -)

I am sorry about the size. Click on the picture to get a better look!

Cheers :)

The Premiership title race is back ON!!

2006-04-09T11:36:00.000-07:00

Yeah, the race for the premiership is hotting up with Manchester United comprehensviely beating Arsenal at Old Trafford.

Mourinho must be a worried man now!

Go RED DEVILS!!!

Ad--vert-ise-ments!

2006-04-06T07:08:00.000-07:00

As a result of my TV remote conking out ( batteries drained) coupled with my laziness to replace those batteries, I was forced to watch the same channel on TV for the entire day. I attribute this to my laziness in getting up and changing the channel manually. Also, the match on TV wasn't all that bad and it was worth a watch. Yes, even though Saurav wasn't playing :(

Anyways, usually, when I watch TV, I keep channel surfing, especially during the commerical breaks, much to my mom's irritation. She claims that it hurts the eye if channels are changed rapidly. Don't know whether that is true or not, but for the record, I have good eyesight and do not wear glasses or lenses.

But today, I was forced to watch these advertisements on Sahara One. I think that some of these commericals are downright crazy and have no relation to the product that they are trying to sell. I like Airtel's ads. Nice and enjoyable to watch. The entire series, right from the time A.R.Rahman composed the song which became a rage until the recent Shah Rukh Khan - promoted ones have all been nice. Recently, airtel has come out with something called the music shop and it has to be the best ad I watched today!

Other nice commercials that I have liked include the one with Hutch and the dog ( FYI, I do not like hutch with pink now and I don't use hutch anyway). I saw a new ad for lifebuoy soap, one with a kid and all. I think advertising products using kids helps 'cos it grabs the viewer's attention.

My current favorite is the Airtel one !!

On the other side, I can't stand these commercials for beauty products!! Some of them are downright silly and you don't really know what they are selling unless they actually show you the product. The one that takes the cake is the Fair and Lovely ad with kris srikanth in it!! Highly illogical. Or these detergent advertisements where each one claims to be the best!!

Later edit::

Got new batteries!! Won't be seeing ads for a while now!

Cheers

Dada Army!!

2006-03-29T09:50:00.001-08:00

Read about this in today's paper! Apparently, a group of Indian fans have started something called Dada Army in order to compete with the Barmy Army. For the uninformed, the Barmy Army comprises of a group of English supporters who travel with the cricket team to all places.

Maybe time for the real 'DADA' to make a return to the team ;)..
What say guys?? The man is after all a class plyer..

Nostalgia??

2006-03-17T04:02:00.000-08:00

nos·tal·gi·a
1. A bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past.
2. The condition of being homesick; homesickness.

For some, nostalgia is just a word in the dictionary. It was the same for me too. Until a couple of days back!!

I've felt nostalgic about school life quite a few times, but not to a great extent.
I was thinking a few days back, that these last few weeks are going to be the last ones of my academic life at the undergraduate level!! And suddenly, I realised that I would miss college!! Yeah, all you SVCEians out there who are reading this, yes guys.. All said and done, I would still miss SVCE.. Would miss the campus.. The people.. Everything associated with it!!

To add to all this, a friend of mine sent me a link to some pictures of the school campus.. Nostalgic about that too.. Have spent the last couple of days reminiscing life at school and the fun we all had!!

Cheers

Quotable Quotes:-)

2006-03-08T04:58:00.000-08:00

Credit for this post goes to all my classmates of ECE 2002 - 2006 (SVCE).

Some of the gems that my professors have told us over the past three and a half years:-) Sit back and enjoy...
Disclaimer :- The contents of this post are meant to be taken lightly and are not intended to offend anyone!! I am sorry if this offends anyone.

A certain management professor said this!!

You cannot afford to offer yourself to anybody during my class hours"

If u want to go personally by 1.30, go

By the time time will get over

The subject under the topic

do not allow interruptions to yourself

chairman has come today for the day

if not today,atleast by today's evening

all those earlier days was over now

nothing of that kind of thing

dont make my class a moral value

And this latest quote takes the cake! A classmate had actually noted this down and produced it verbatim!

The class started off with him saying, "Occupy the front seats"

And then he goes on to say, "I have been seeing that all of you people of this class are always sitting in the back rows YAAH and HESITATING to come in the front and occupy the so many seats available in the first few rows YAAH.. and you people are always going back YAAH.. So I tell all of you to leave the seats in the back benches and sit in the front seats of the first few rows.."

Apparently, my friend needed an additional sheet of paper on this particular day as my professor was in full flow:-).

Some more from the same day:-

"U cannot take ur leave between the afternoons"...he has more than 1 afternoon in a day I guess!!

A chap walks in late to class and he says, "HOD asked me to absent mark you."

Another professor who taught us in our first year had this to say:-)

He was trying to point out to someone in class and some other guy stood up and says, "Who, Myself??" For that, he replies, "No No, Not myself, but next to the myself :-)"

More in the next few posts.

I've been feeling particularly nostalgic thinking about all these memorable moments gone by!:-(

Had typed this post a week ago, but circumstances prevented me from posting this.

Cheers

Ramesh J (1984 - 2006)

2006-03-03T09:35:00.000-08:00

A dear friend of mine, Ramesh, passed away this afternoon in a horrific road accident. Affectionately known as 'Base', he was an amazing guy to spend time with, always living life to the fullest and having fun! He was all set to go the United States with a fellowship as well!!

Dude, we all will miss you man!! Take care!

And guys, if you're reading this, please please drive carefully!

Today's fortune on Orkut :-)

2006-02-25T01:26:00.000-08:00

In God we trust; all others must pay cash

So, out with the cash guys!!!

Cheers

I can't sleep....

2006-02-24T12:54:00.000-08:00

And I don't know why........

Knotting a Tie!!!

2006-02-12T10:03:00.000-08:00

I went to shop for some formal wear yesterday. Got a couple of shirts, a couple of trousers and came out feeling all good about the money spent!

Now, there was this little business of buying a tie, since I did not own one. Now, ties, I must add are very expensive, which is weird, considering that they have the least amoount of cloth on them!! Such are the strange ways of the fashion world. Once, I was watching this show on NDTV called Bombay Talkies where they were interviewing a well known fashion designer (don't remember his name now). Anyways, the stuff at his boutique costed anywhere from 50 grand to about 3 lakhs... 3 lakhs!!!!!!! That's how much it costs to perform an entire wedding!!!!!!!!!

Anyways, lets not digress.. Now, where was I?? Ahh, yeah!! TIES..
So, i go back to this store, in search of a tie. I find one that I like, and then focus my attention on the price tag. It was something like 799 bucks!! I am like, what??? That's how much a shirt costs, and I am sure that more work goes into making a shirt than a tie.. But then, as I said strange are the ways of the fashion world!!

Coming to the ties, common sense prevailed and I decided against spending 800 bucks on something that I am probably going to wear as many times as Saurav Ganguly is going to score a century. So, I went to an uncle, raided his wardrobe and am back with a few ties.

Yay!!! A good day's work, one might think!!
But, I DON'T know how to knot a tie!!!!
*Sigh*

Note to self - Learn to knot tie!!!!

Later Edit

The fashion designer was Tarun Tahiliani!

Cheers

Google Chat

2006-02-09T11:13:00.000-08:00

Used Google Chat today!
Its an amazing feature!
Trust google to come up with such innovations!
Cheers

P.S - Will come up with a meaningful post soon!! Too many deadlines to meet :(

FED - EX

2006-01-23T05:42:00.000-08:00

At the risk of sounding cliched, the best man on the tour right now is ROGER FEDERER. He plays at a different level when compared to his peers and frankly, I can't see anyone challenging him for the Australian Open singles title.

He just finished beating Tommy Haas, who for his part, pushed Roger hard and actually took it to a fifth set decider. In the first two sets, he seemed like a man in a hurry, winning it pretty comfortably. Then, suddenly, he began to look mortal and made a few errors, resulting in Haas winning the next two sets. In the decider, it was Federer all the way winning it 6-2.

Hope he goes on to win the open, especially with the No. 2 and 3 seeds out!!!

Hilarious!!!

2006-01-22T11:56:00.000-08:00

Far easier than typing a post!! Will put up a more meaningful one soon!!
Cheers

Your Seduction Style: Sweet Talker

Your seduction technique can be summed up with "charm"
You know that if you have the chance to talk to someone...
Well, you won't be talking for long! ;-)

You're great at telling potential lovers what they want to hear.
Partially, because you're a great reflective listener and good at complementing.
The other part of your formula? Focusing your conversation completely on the other person.

Your "sweet talking" ways have taken you far in romance - and in life.
You can finess your way through any difficult situation, with a smile on your face.
Speeding tickets, job interviews... bring it on! You truly live a *charmed life*

What Kind of Seducer Are You?

Happy 2006, random thoughts and more!

2006-01-06T04:41:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know, I haven't been paying much attention to my blog recently. I could blame it on exams and lack of time, but its just me being really lazy!

First things first, almost a week has passed since the first sunrise of 2006 and let me wish you guys a very happy new year. Better late than never, I might add!!

Its been a good week, actually, an excellent first week of 2006. I am currently in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh attending a conference on VLSI design. Well, I primarily came to the conference because I needed a change and I am thoroughly enjoying it! Met a lot of people, went out and saw the city and its changed since the last time I was here was in November 1999. To top it all off, I am having a lot of fun at the conference itself. Whoever thought that a conference was only for old people and techies who have nothing better to do, think again! Its been organised very well, with a lot of entertainment provided by the sponsors. ATI are the chief sponsors and they have a stall with an X Box 360 and some really cute models :-P. Needless to say, I have been spending quite a bit of time at that particular stall (Playing games actually, lest you dirty minds think otherwise). That apart, the entire setting at the Taj Krishna and the conference is amazing. I've met a few people who I never thought I'll meet and its been good.

I also had started a post regarding some of my observations on this city, but I haven't completed that yet and will post it up soon!

Digressing to a completely different point, I have a few decisions to make, I am hoping that I don't have to make them for a couple of months atleast, and I also have to finish a lot of pending work that I have been putting off for a while now!
For those who did not understand the last paragraph, don't bother! It's just me rambling!!
Happy 2006 everyone!
Cheers

P.S - Am typing this from the lobby of the Taj and hence limited internet access. Shall put up a much longer post when time permits.

One year on...

2005-12-26T09:31:00.000-08:00

One year ago, on this day, a killer tsunami struck the coast of Southern India causingmassive loss to both life and property. I was watching NDTV just now, and they carried a special episode from Karaikal, on the eastern coast of India. Actually, all through the day, NDTV has been airing specials on the aftermath of the tsunami and taking a look at how life moves on for the people affected by this terrible terrible disaster.

Even though I wasn't in any way affected by the wave, I know a classmate of mine, originally from Cuddalore, whose family business was ruined by this wave and its taken them quite a while to rebuild it from scratch again. Another friend of mine had a narrow escape on ECR on Dec 26th 2004. There have been numerous people who were affected both directly and indirectly by the tsunami. As I was watching NDTV, A.R.Rahman and his troupe of singers including Sivamani, the percussionist were performing in Karaikal free of cost, just to bring some joy among the locals living there. It was really nice to see the children smiling again, the people thoroughly enjoying the music and for a few hours atleast, leave their troubles and agonies behind and savouring the moment. Another story that I saw on NDTV Profit was from Nagapattinam and how the government had set up a fixed deposit of Rs.5 Lac for children who had lost both parents in the disaster and Rs.3 Lac for all those who had lost one parent. Also, many offers have poured in from generous minded folks willing to sponsor a child's higher education. I believe that adoption is also an option, but the government is playing safe and letting NGO's, and reputed ones at that, handle the entire situation.

In Cuddalore, there was a story of a 9 year old boy, who had lost his entire family except his little sibling,all of 3 years old. The problem here was they had been separated on the fateful day and the baby was handed over to the first person who was willing to take her. Now, Tanveer, is on a mission to find his sibling.

On one side, we have families trying to rebuild their lives, and moving on with things, living in government provided shelters and waiting to move into permanent houses, and on the other side, the darker side, we have stories like Tanveer's, for whom the bitter and painful memories of Dec 26th 2004 haven't diminished. Such stories do tend to move you and I can only hope that no further hardships occur and that these people will also be able to lead a normal life and most of all, enjoy living! Sometimes, I wonder, at how fortunate we are.

Today has been a day of mixed emotions, some good, some painful, a day of remembrance, a day spent in saying thank you to the Almighty for having helped these people tide over the last one year, a day of hope, a hope that the souls of those unfortunate people rest in peace, a day of sorrow and grief for some, a day of happiness for some, happiness in the sense that one year has passed and that things can only get better from now on!!! Its a sad memory indeed!

One year on....

IBN

2005-12-22T06:18:00.000-08:00

IBN has been launched and is officially on air from last friday (16th of December). I don't get it in Chennai and I am calling the cable operator to find out why!

For the uninformed, IBN is the 24 hour english news channel started by CNBC and at the helm is Rajdeep Sardesai, the journo who quit NDTV last April. His wife, who is also a journalist is helping him with the channel and the website is pretty well designed as well! Slight touches of NDTV, but then, some of NDTV's men are working here as well! Bhupendra Choubey, who used to cover the BJP in NDTV is chief political corrspondent (or some thing like that), Anubha Bhosle is another familiar face, Prabhakar Kumar is another. Also, ex headlines today man H.R.Venkatesh is with NDTV and works the parliament beat.

One interesting section on the web page is the blogs section where some of the people at IBN blog about their job. Incidentally, Rajdeep also has one and his first post is on the launch and the behind the scenes work involved in starting a news channel!! And it gets updated everyday! So, give it a read when time permits!! There is also a section named your voice in which blogs are quoted! So, yeah, seems a nice initiative from IBN.

Cheers

Googlism

2005-12-19T05:29:00.000-08:00

Its something that I found online.
Googlism is a site using which you can find out what Google.com thinks of you, your friends or anything!

Try this! Its fun!

Yeah, also, my exam has been deferred again! What else is new??

Fanoos

2005-12-08T23:44:00.000-08:00

Fanoos - What a name to give to a cyclone/storm. Wonder which language and what it means??
Fanoos has advanced and is likely to hit the Tamil Nadu Coast soon. I just hope everyone is geared up and no loss of life or property occurs. But seriously, I don't think this state can take another bout of rains! Its already cloudy as I type this!

Click here to view the cyclone three days ago!

Cheers

Another One??

2005-12-04T10:42:00.000-08:00

Reports are saying that one more low pressure region is forming in SE Asia and may move in the direction of India and strike the coast of TN and Andhra (don't know where).

Keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't happen and the weather men are wrong like they always are. Seriously, this city can't take another bout of rain! Its already overflowing!

But, the satellite picture doesn't look too good, does it. :-(

P.S - I have circled the areas which look scary!!

Tagged

2005-12-02T01:04:00.000-08:00

I have been tagged by Archana and here I go!!

7 things that I plan to do:

Study for my exam on monday
Back pack through Europe
Climb Mt.Everest
Start playing tennis once again
Understand the significance of the number 7 in tags
Watch a football game at Old Trafford
Complete this tag

7 things that I can do:

Talk non stop on any topic
Prepare for monday's exam
Watch the Lok Sabha proceedings without getting bored.
Solve the hindu crossword
Spend hours online playing scrabble
Tag atleast one more person
Finish this tag

7 things that I can't do:

Understand the significance of the number 7 in tags
Play Quake
Dance well :P
Stand next to a bird ( The flying kind!!!!)
Drink plain milk
Understand the purpose of the GRE
Understand how the US university admission system works

7 Words I use most Often:

LOL
Ok
ahhhh
alright
Hey
Oh
Yeah

7 blogs(untagged ones) that I wish to tag:

Camphor
S
Zydar
Brownie

and anyone else who is willing.

Cheers

Cricket in the Rains!!

2005-12-01T12:53:00.000-08:00

The last three matches in Chennai have been disrupted due to wet weather and its high time the BCCI took note of this fact. Matches should not be scheduled in Chennai during this time of the year.

Sharad Pawar is the new president and I hope that it makes a difference. There is another test match beginning in about 7 hours time. I sincerely hope that Cyclone Baaz either finds an alternate route or stays put in the Indian Ocean for a few days.

Cheers

Goodbye Laloo, Welcome Nitish!

2005-11-22T10:12:00.000-08:00

The Bihar verdict is out!! The voters have spoken!! Its been a vote for change this time in Bihar with the Rashtriya Janata Dal( RJD) alliance virtually wiped out of power in the state. Out of the 243 seats in the Bihar assembly, the National Democratic Alliance comprising the Janata Dal United and the Bharatiya Janata Party bagged a whopping 145 seats, well clear of the magic number of 122. The blame game has started but it was refreshing to see Laloo accept defeat gracefully and welcoming the new government in Bihar.

As far as the media coverage goes, it was extensive with every news channel wanting a chunk of the limelight. I even noticed that the different news channels were jostling over who gets to talk to the winner first and it ended with Barkha Dutt of NDTV dragging a NDA MP and filming an interview with him. It was also surprising to see Rajdeep Sardesai on CNBC. He has joined the channel and is currently involved in launching a 24 hour English news channel called IBN. Lots of ex NDTV journos are now involved in it and are helping Rajdeep as well. Hoping that it launches soon, because for Indian Politics, Rajedeep Sardesai is the man to watch.

On to other happenings and the India V South Africa match was abandoned in Chennai today due to persistent rain. Sad, considering that I had gone to the stadium and had to return disappointed.

The biggest challenge that the NDA has is to improve Bihar. The big question to be asked here is whether anyone can ever improve Bihar to a large extent and put Bihar on the path to recovery. Its a question, which will be answered, perhaps as time passes.

Cheers from a very wet Chennai!!

Heights of desperation??

2005-11-19T12:30:00.000-08:00

I was orkutting in general and found some scraps in girls' scrap books that really speak of these guys' very low self esteem. Call it weird/funny/desperate, I think it speaks volumes about the heights of desperation that these guys are going through.
Some excerpts from random scrap books:

hi..thought of scrapping becoz im badly n need of freindz...n ur profile 2 is impressive..just check out mine n decide...but whtever it b plz do scrap back...me waiting.......

hiiiiiiiii
know me no na i know how can u know me if u wanna then add me up.
one compliment u looking graet a typical indian girl

Hi xxx... yyy from zzz. Came across ur profile. Nice 2 c u. Like 2 be in ur buddies list. Will u add me to it? Scrap me n we'll know 'bout each other

And this one takes the cake!!!

Hi ,

I am xxx here from yyy.

Tell me abt ur self!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you knw tamil language!!!!!!!!!

eppadi iruuka!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DDDDiiiiiiii

Disclaimer:
I have just picked up some random quotes and have no intention of offending anyone.

Cheers,

WHAT????????

2005-11-18T04:28:00.000-08:00

Roy Keane has left Manchester United Football Club!!!!!!!!! This is the latest news and the most shocking piece of news I have heard in a while!

Apparently, the future at the club was untenable and after playing for tweleve years, it was time to move on!!! Getting Michael Ballack to Old Trafford seems to be even more important now!

More on the story later!!
We all will miss you KEANO!!!

*Later edit:The Manchester United website has some more news and quotes from Sir Alex, David Gill and the man himself.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson said:
“Roy Keane has been a fantastic servant for Manchester United. The best midfield player in the world of his generation, he is already one of the great figures in our Club’s illustrious history. Roy has been central to the success of the Club in the last 12 ½ years and everyone at Old Trafford wishes him well in the rest of his career and beyond”

Roy Keane said:
“It has been a great honour and privilege for me to play for Manchester United for over 12 years. During my time at the Club I have been fortunate to play alongside some of the best players in the game and in front of the best supporters in the world. At all times I have endeavoured to do my best for the management and the team.

"Whilst it is a sad day for me to leave such a great Club and Manager I believe that the time has now come for me to move on. After so many years, I will miss everyone at the Club.

"I send my best wishes for the future to the management, players, staff and supporters of the Club.”

Chief Executive David Gill said:
“Roy has been a towering figure at the Club for over a decade. His dedication, ta
lent and leadership have been qualities that have marked him out as one of the true greats. On behalf of everyone at the Club, we wish him every success in his future career.”

I am still in a state of shock. It was a common rumour that Roy was leaving at the end of the season and all Man Utd fans were prepared for that. But, so early and suddenly!!! Astounding! He din't even get to play a farewell game at Old Trafford!!!

Its Exam time.. Again..

2005-11-15T12:32:00.000-08:00

Yeah, its that time of the year when one is required to prove to the university that he/she has gained something over the past few months. Its exam time again folks! Its 2 in the morning and my exam about 32 hours away and I am not even close to being prepared.

Shall keep updating as and when time permits
Cheers everyone!

Minister without a portfolio

2005-11-07T10:04:00.000-08:00

News came in this evening that Natwar Singh has been stripped of his Foreign Ministry portfolio. Apparently, the official reason was that there would be a conflict of interest since the committee set up to probe the Volcker report would have to contact the United Nations Officials via the External Affairs Ministry. Clearly, Natwar Singh then could not remain boss.

However, he has not been asked to leave the cabinet. Which means, he still gets Union minister treatment like a free bungalow, free telephone calls every month, and other allowances that only union ministers are eligible for. And whats more, he doesn't have to discharge any duties till his name is cleared.

Talk about leading a relaxed life!

Normal Service Resumes!

2005-11-06T11:12:00.000-08:00

Manchester United finally put in a performance that was long awaited this evening at Old Trafford. Their opponents -- the premiership champions and seemingly invincible Chelsea. It was over a year ago that Chelsea last suffered a premiership defeat. Incidentally, that was also in Manchester.

It had been a tough 7 days for Sir Alex and his side as Man Utd got comprehensively beaten by Middlesborough 4-1 last weekend and then by Lille in the Champions League in midweek. Captain Roy Keane ( who is injured btw) got into the players and criticized them for their lack of committment and desire on the pitch. But, it seemed a long shot. I for one, did not expect United to beat Chelsea because I thought that Chelsea just had too much quality in the midfield with the likes of Essien, Shaun Wright Philips, Lampard, Joe Cole, Duff, Makelele, and Robben.

We started well, kept up the momentum, scored a goal through a wonderful header from Scottish international Darren Fletcher and soaked up the pressure from Chelsea in the final third of the match.

The victory brings us within 10 points of Chelsea with a game in hand. Thats against Wigan Athletic, who are new comers to the Premiership and currently lie second above United and below Chelsea. I hope that this is the turning point of our season and this win enables us to put together a good string of results and hopefully catch Chelsea

GO REDS!!!
Cheers,

Another Test, more interesting though!

2005-11-03T06:58:00.000-08:00

Global Personality Test Results

Stability (83%) high which suggests you are very relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic..
Orderliness (43%) moderately low which suggests you are, at times, overly flexible, improvised, and fun seeking at the expense of reliability, work ethic, and long term accomplishment.
Extraversion (56%) moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.

Take Free Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

trait snapshot:
rarely irritated, positive, tough, non phobic, fearless, likes the unknown, self reliant, high self control, confident, trusting, strong instincts, prudent, optimistic, willful, likes parties, prefers a specialized career, takes charge, altruistic, strong, high self concept, adventurous, practical, thoughtful

Looking at the results, I would say they are reasonably accurate!
Test courtesy Brownie
Cheers,

Its the festive season, but......

2005-10-30T11:57:00.000-08:00

Its that time of the year again! Diwali is coming up in about 24 hours and so is Id/ramzan later this week! So, its celebration time for a lot of people all over the country and to those desis living outside India.

However, this year in itself has been characterized by quite a few calamities resulting in a lot of people losing their lives. It started of with the Tsunami (techincally, it was in 2004 but still.. ), then there were the hurricanes Katrina and Wilma (nice names for hurricanes!!!), the POK quake, the floods in Mumbai (Bombay), rains in Chennai. There have also been other terrorist attacks both in London and in New Delhi. Not to forget the train accident a couple of days ago in Andhra due to the rains!

So, while we celebrate, it is only fitting that we take a moment to remember the poor and innocent souls who lost their lives for no fault of theirs.

If you're planning to celebrate and have fun, please remember that there are so many people out there who have been deprived of their near and dear ones and who can't celebrate!

Happy Diwali and have a wonderful time this festive season!

Cheers,

Egpytian Hieroglyphs

2005-10-24T05:50:00.000-07:00

My name in Egyptian!!!
Cheers,

My name using Egyptian Hieroglyphs!

Script by

The brain test

2005-10-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

Another one of those online tests!!

Abhi, you are Left-brained

Most left-brained people like you feel at ease in situations requiring verbal ability, attention to detail, and linear, analytical ability. Whether you know it or not, you are a much stronger written communicator than many, able to get your ideas across better than others.

It's also likely that you are methodical and efficient at many things that you do. You could also be good at math, particularly algebra, which is based on very strict rules that make sense to your logical mind.

2005-10-16T11:28:00.000-07:00

Taken at around 11 pm. Courtesy Sanjeev.
You can barely see the mechanic in the background.
For details, refer previous post Here.

Cheers,

A Tiring day, I must say!!

2005-10-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

Yeah, Saturday was a pretty tiring day and I was totally gone when I came back home. Hence the delay in the post.

I had to go to college inspite of the fact that it was a saturday. To make things worse, I had slept only at 4 am on Fri night, wait, scratch that, make it Saturday morning. Hence woke up feeling all groggy and was still in a somnolent state as I trudged into college. I had two tests, part of the Continuous Assessment Tests (CAT) as the SVCE junta call it. And in between these two, we had a gap of about 2 hours. I had to run around to pick up a few photocopies, get records signed, meet my recommenders and a whole lot of other work. And even though I had 2 hours in the morning before the first exam, yours truly hadn't touched his books and hence had to spend the time sleeping/studying/looking around, not necessarily in that order.

First exam done and I had given a reasonably good paper. Started work on the aforementioned photocopies, records and recommendations et al.. Yeah, I had to have lunch also in the middle since I was starving. I had gotten up late and had hence missed breakfast. Another task at hand was to prepare for the second exam. Anyway, I got around to doing most of these things and gave a good paper much to my surprise.

Boarded the bus and got some much needed shuteye. Sleep is the most refreshing thing! The level by which one's concentration improves after a nap is amazing. Ok, Enough digressing. Back to where I was. Yes, I am back home and eat something and settle down on the couch to watch a football match. A friend of mine calls and says lets go to Landmark. (Btw, for the uninformed, Landmark is a huge bookstore in Chennai). But before that he said, he needed to go to the ATM for withdrawing some cash. Since he didn't have a bike at that moment, it was decided that I pick him up and we first visit the ATM and then make pur way to Landmark. Mind you, the time was 7.35 pm already. I leave asap and reach RK's place (the friend is RK, Btw) and we head towards Pondy Bazaar. This ATM was somewhere close to Maya's plaza and it was on the right hand side of the road. RK suggested that I take a right some 100 metres before and just park and wait while he goes to the ATM. This is beacuse there was no place to turn opposite the ATM. Being the wise guy that I am, I rode along slowly on the bike on the wrong side of the road looking around for a place to park. I had completely forgotten that there was a police station next to the ATM.

Well, a plainclothes cop caught me and demanded to see my license. I demanded to see his Identity Card and he produced one. Likewise, I returned the favor producing the Driver's license. He was drunk and high and was talking as if he was the head of the police force. All I could do was humor him and by this time, RK had also joined in. He demanded 110 bucks and told us to go into the station, get a challan(or whatever he called it.. don't really remember) and pay at a mobile court on monday. We were getting late as it was past 8 already and we din't know when Landmark would close. Our man then launched into a long story about he finishing B.A in 1971 (Congratulations, Mr. Head Constable) and that he had a son who was about our age pursuing Engineering in Jeppiar College. ( Well done, Mr.Son of Mr. Head Constable, you make your papa proud!!). RK found this bit funny , I must say. I wisecracked saying, "We are also like your son, can't you let us go this one," for which both Mr.Head Constable and RK launch into vociferous laughter. Anyway, we humored him and then paid him 50 bucks by which he probably would have gone to the nearest wine shop and gotten himself another "quarter". I know people, its encouraging corruption but then, it was getting late and we din't want to go through a whole bunch of paperwork.

This done, we finally made our way to Landmark and reached there by 8.28. Went in and we were done with our work in 5 mins. Both me and RK were browsing through the books section till the landmark people decided to shut up shop and switched off all the lights. Time for us to leave. By this time, we were both reasonably hungry as well. Made our way to Sweet Chariot, just across the road from Landmark at the Ispahani Center. Had something to eat, and finally I dropped RK off at about 10 pm.

Did i say finally?? Well, that was what I thought as well. Was looking forward to going home and watch the highlights of Man Utd playing Sunderland. But alas! It was not to be. My vehicle developed a flat rear tire near little mount and the time was about 10.15. I had to wheel the bike for about a kilometre and half till a petrol bunk. Unfortunately, the shop there was closed, (why blame the poor shop owner, it was saturday night, he probably would have gone off for a nice booze or a movie with his lovely wife) and I decided to call Sanjeev whose house was quite near. Sanjeev came and we decided to park the bike at his place and then come and take it the next day. As luck would have it, at about a distance of 300 metres from the petrol bunk, there was one puncture shop that was still open, mind you, the time was about 10.45 now. On removing the tube, this chap said that there are 4 punctures, one fresh one and three at places where the stickers from earlier puncture mendings was peeling off! He said that I would be better of buying a new tube. Logical, yes! Except for the fact that I would not be able to buy a tube at that unearthly hour. This man offered to buy me one from a house of some mysterious person who will not talk to customers. The deal was that both me and him go to the guy' place but I stay out of sight. Sounded maha shady to me. I refused telling him to mend the punctures and that I would have the tube changed at my convenience. Sanjeev, thanks for giving me company dude! I owe you one.

Got the bike mended at 11.30 and drove back home all tired and irritated. I wanted to post this yesterday but was just not upto it.
Phew! This has ended up being a long post, though I din't intend to make it one!
If you are still here, thanks for being patient.
Cheers,

I am an easy rider!!??

2005-10-14T07:55:00.000-07:00

Got this from some blog when I was randomly blog-hopping. Why don't you guys take the test as well!

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Cheers,

Untitled

2005-10-07T22:53:00.000-07:00

I couldn't come up with a title:-D.
Anyways, been pretty busy with a lot of stuff lately, mainly applying stuff. This thing just takes up so much of your time!! Will post soon!!
have a great weekend
Cheers,

Chappell vs Ganguly : Is the saga over??? - Part 2 of a two part post

2005-10-01T00:28:00.000-07:00

To continue from where I left off in Part 1, there were other allegations levelled against Ganguly. One of them was that Ganguly spread tall tales about stuff that Chappell supposedly told him but Chappell denied these things by saying that Sourav only targeted middle order batsmen as they were the people most likely to replace the skipper in the Indian Line-up.

Chappell concludes by saying
"As I said to you during our meeting in Colombo, I have serious reservations about the attitude of some players and about Sourav and his ability to take this team to a new high, and none of the things he has done since his reappointment has caused me to change my view. In
fact, it has only served to confirm that it is time for him to move on and let someone else build their team toward the 2007 World Cup.

This team has been made to be fearful and distrusting by the rumour mongering and deceit that is Sourav's modus operandi of divide and rule. Certain players have been treated with favour, all of them bowlers, while others have been shunted up and down the order or left out of the team to suit Sourav's whims.

Ladies and Gentlemen ( and third sex too!!), the jury is out on this issue. And I guess, time is the best judge on all these matters.

**Updates**

Freddie Flintoff has spoken against Ganguly by calling him arrogant and terming him "Lord Snooty". Read the full story here.

Sunil Gavaskar on the other hand has spoken in favour of Ganguly but as he himslef admits, he has seen very little of Ganguly.

**End Updates**
And I am sure this is not the last we are hearing about this!
Cheers,

Chappell vs Ganguly : Is the saga over??? - Part 1 of a two part post

2005-09-27T23:33:00.000-07:00

I would think not!!! Judging by the run of events today, definitely not! Chappell and Ganguly were called upon to present their respective cases in front of the BCCI's special committee. This committee consisted of noted names like Ravi Shastri, Sunny Gavaskar and BCCI (*so called*) administrators like S.K Nair and Ranbir Singh Mahendra, the president. Also present was past BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, though I can't understand why he was called.

A quick flashback as nothing of great significance took place today. All the action took place over the last few days!

It all started with Saurav Ganguly telling the media after the first test match in Zimbabwe that he had been asked to step down by the coach. This was later denied by Greg Chappell in his by-now-famous E-mail to the BCCI president. More on that later.
This was the beginning of what would turn out to be one of the most hostile and much publicized confrontations in Indian Cricket's long history.

This done, soon after the Zimbabwe tour ended, Greg Chappell fired an email to the BCCI defending his position in the entire matter and also voicing his views on the current state of the Indian team and its captain. This was a 6 page email that was leaked to the media (sources unknown :-))

Greg Chappell begins by saying that he had never asked Sourav to step down but to rethink his position after the end of the series. Ganguly had asked him for his opinion on his current batting form to which Chappell replied, "I told him that I thought he was struggling as a player and that it was affecting his ability to lead the team effectively and that the pressure of captaincy was affecting his ability to play to his potential. I also told him that his state of mind was fragile and it showed in the way that he made decisions on and off the field in relation to the team, especially team selection."

He goes on to say that Ganguly used to make frequent changes to the team and that his frame of mind was not proper and this reflected on his decision making skills both on and off the pitch!

He also added and I quote :
"I also told Sourav that his nervous state was affecting the team in other ways as he was prone to panic during pressure situations in games and that his nervous demeanour was putting undue pressure on the rest of the team. His nervous pacing of the rooms during our batting in the final plus his desire to change the batting order during our innings in the final had also contributed to nervousness in the players waiting to go in to bat. His reluctance to bat first in games I suggested was also giving wrong signals to the team and the opposition and his nervousness at the crease facing bowlers like Shane Bond from NZ was also affecting morale in the dressing room".

Chappell further goes on to say that based on all these above mentioned observations and some other comments from fellow team members, he is of the opinion that Sourav should consider stepping down and allow some other member (Rahul) to lead the team and look ahead to the WC 2007!

Coming to the most shocking part according to me! The feigining of injury during the practice match against a weak Zimbabwe 'A' side!! According to Greg Chappell,
"The following day Sourav batted in the match against Zimbabwe 'A' team in the game in Mutare. I am not sure of the exact timing of events because I was in the nets with other players when Sourav went in to bat, but the new ball had either just been taken or was imminent when I saw Sourav walking from the field holding his right arm. I assumed he had been hit and made my way to the players' area where Sourav was receiving treatment from the team physiotherapist, John Gloster.

When I enquired as to what had happened Sourav said he had felt a click in his elbow as he played a ball through the leg side and that he thought he should have it investigated. Sourav had complained of pain to his elbow at various stages of the one-day series, but he had resisted having any comprehensive investigation done and, from my observation, had been spasmodic in his treatment habits, often not using ice-packs for the arm that had been prepared for him by John Gloster. I suggested, as had John Gloster, that we get some further tests done immediately. Sourav rejected these suggestions and said he would be 'fine'. When I queried what he meant by 'fine' he said he would be fit for the Test match. I then queried why then was it necessary to be off the field now. He said that he was just taking 'precautions'.

Rather than make a scene with other players and officials in the vicinity I decided to leave the matter and observe what Sourav would do from that point on. After the loss of Kaif, Yuvraj and Karthik to the new ball, Sourav returned to the crease with the ball now around 20 overs old. He struggled for runs against a modest attack and
eventually threw his wicket away trying to hit one of the spinners over the leg side.

The next day I enquired with a number of the players as to what they had thought of Sourav's retirement. The universal response was that it was 'just Sourav' as they recounted a list of times when Sourav had suffered from mystery injuries that usually disappeared as quickly as they had come. This disturbed me because it confirmed for me that he was in a fragile state of mind and it was affecting the mental state
of other members of the squad.

When we arrived in Bulawayo I decided I needed to ask Sourav if he had over-played the injury to avoid the danger period of the new ball as it had appeared to me and others within the touring party that he had protected himself at the expense of others. He denied the suggestion and asked why he would do that against such a modest attack. I said that he was the only one who could answer that question.

Rest in part 2
Cheers!

Dress codes, mobile phone ban, What next???

2005-09-19T01:21:00.000-07:00

Anna University has done it again!!!(don't think that it is fit to be called a university anymore, more like a prison) Quite clearly, there is a generation gap between the VC of the univ and the students of today. I don't think anything else would explain the actions taken by him and mentioned in the title!!

Recently, he announced a bizzare set of rules that would apply to all the 230 odd colleges that are affiliated to this Univ. That constitues like most of the engineering colleges in the state barring the IIT, NIT and a few deemed universities. Banning mobile phones during lecture hours is one thing, imposing a blanket ban on them is another. What rights does the university possess to tell me when and where to use my mobile phone?? I agree that its use can be curbed during the lecture hours but not during my free time!! Does the university pay my bill?? Considering the fact that most of the colleges are located outside the city limits, cell phones are essential as many a time, delays can occur on account of traffic jams and students need to inform their loved ones at home in order to reassure them!!

Coming to the dress code part, this is the most ridiculous rule I have ever come across. Fine, I agree that students should dress conservatively but this doesn't mean he tells us what to wear. This move seems to be a sexist one according to the girls because it prohibits them to wear anything other than Salwars. Tell me, does this mean that guys will stop ogling at them and concentrate on academics. Students who study regularly will continue to do so and people who don't won't change their attitude overnight and start concentrating on their books just because such weird rules are imposed!!! It doesn't spare guys as well, we apparently are not allowed to wear jeans!!! What!! Why!!! Reason given is that engineers are professionals and should dress professionally. I mean, its the brains of the engineer that matters and not the appearance in the end!!! Most college goers are teenagers or people just out of their teens, they shouldn't be told what to wear!! At an age where they are allowed to drive, drink leaglly, elect a Prime Minister, use credit cards, the last thing they want is for someone to tell them what to wear!!! I think the univ should stick to imparting education and not moral policing. Parents know best and when they don't object, why should the Univ?? Do you really think that this rule would be followed by students?? I don't think so as the only thing that guys wear is their unwashed faded blue denims.

Instead of wasting its time on such trivial things, the Anna Univ must concentrate on improving the standards of
1. Question Papers

2. Evaluation System ( The less said the better!!)

3. Supporting colleges by providing infrastructure

4.Good quality faculty

I could go on and on!!!!

Footnote:-
Quote from the Anna Univ website. Read it here

Its been pasted here for easy reference!!

Taking its penchant for disciplinarian education a step further, Anna University has banned the use of cell phones and prescribed a dress code for students in all engineering colleges across the State from Thursday.

It will also take a serious view of any film-based cultural events being held in such colleges, Vice-Chancellor D. Viswanathan told The Hindu .

The restrictions will be in force in 227 engineering colleges, apart from the university's four constituent colleges where a ban on camera phones is in force. The varsity has dispatched letters to the effect to the institutions. "There will be no military-like strictness in implementing the rule and institutions have been asked to go about it in a phased manner," Dr. Viswanathan said. Students violating the ban will be warned and then proceeded against according to the code of conduct rules.

The dress code states that students should not wear jeans, t-shirts, skirts or sleeveless and tight-fitting outfits and enjoins them to dress conservatively.

According to the Vice-Chancellor, while certain outfits detract from the seriousness of academic pursuits, cell phones, especially those that come with cameras, cause problems on campus and eat into valuable lecture time.

THE ASHES HELD ALOFT

2005-09-17T17:59:00.000-07:00

this might be on everyone's blog!!! But what the hell!! :-P

The Ashes are back with the English!!!

2005-09-15T22:23:00.000-07:00

For all you non-cricket lovers out there, forgive me for posting about the ashes twice in a row. Well, this post is slightly behind time but what the hell!!! Better late than never!!

If you haven't already heard it from someone, hear it now..

THE ENGLISH HAVE WON THE ASHES !!!!!!

Michael Vaughan and his team have totally outplayed Ricky Ponting's men and have beaten them comprehensively to bring the ashes back to the Northern Hemisphere after a gap of 18 years. Ricky Ponting was gracious in defeat though accepting that England were just too good for them. A quick recap:

Lords - England beaten comprehensively by a margin of over 200 runs! I was like, this is going to be another one-sided affair with the Aussies steamroling the Englishmen.

Edgbaston - A thriller which went right down to the wire!! England should have won easily but Brett Lee played a heroic innings but England prevailed winning by the slimmest margin of 2 runs

Manchester - Again a thriller, the Aussies were forced to hang on till the last ball, infact for four overs, McGrath and Lee survived Harmison and Man of the Series Flintoff. Match Ends in a draw

Trent Bridge - This was a superb performance by England and they won this by 3 wickets

The Brit Oval - It was all down to this one test match. England needed to avoid defeat to get the ashes and that is exactly what they did. Another fact which helped was that it rained quite a lot and a lot of time was lost to that.

Never again will umpire Rudi Koertzen remove the bails to such a loud cheer. England had done it!!!!! And the ashes were back!!!!!

What a thriller!!!!

2005-08-29T00:09:00.000-07:00

I am yet to recover from the nervy thriller that just ended in a deserved victory for the home side. For all you people who still do not know what I am referring to, I am sorry to say this but you guys have missed some of the finest test match cricket this generation has ever seen. Not yet got the funda??? Its the ashes test series that is presently on between England and Australia with England being the home side!!!

For those who don't follow too much cricket (and I doubt if anyone like that exists), the ashes is a legendary test series that is played between england and australia for the ashes urn!! I am not going into the funda of the legend and how it was named the ashes etc.. Maybe I shall leave that for another day.

This current edition of the ashes is a 5 match series being played at various venues across England. The first match was at the "mecca" of Cricket, ie, Lords. This test match was won in a rather convinving fashion letting us all believe that it was going to be another one sided serious with the Aussie juggernaut rolling ahead and crushing England and regaining the ashes. But, the rest of the series, so far atleast had something else in store for us. The next three test matches at Edgbaston, Manchester and Trent Bridge were real thrillers. They had everything in it, brave batting, superb bowling, bad umpiring decisions, good fielding, some excellent catching, match winning or match saving knocks, you name it!!!! The one at Edgbaston was won by England, the victory margin being two runs.

The next one at Manchester was even better!!!!! It was heartbreaking to see England not being able to clinch this one as a defiant Ricky Ponting played one of his best innings scoring 156 and then Brett Lee defending for all he was worth to keep England from winning the test. All England needed here was 1 more wicket and they would have been home!!!

The fourth test which is the most recent one and just finished an hour back had Australia with their backs to the wall again and this time, the English made sure that it remained that way by winning this one. This time, the margin was three wickets!!!!

Am really looking forward to the finale!!!

Cheers

Goooooooogle Talk

2005-08-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

Google has come out with their own messenger software and have appropriately named it Google talk . Check it out Here. Apart from its simple and sleek looking interface, it has a free calling facility. Its still in Beta though and emoctions are not yet available. Give it a try and drop me a line at abhi.gopal@gmail.com
Cheers,

The Bangalore Trip - Day 1

2005-08-25T00:32:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a multi part post and I am posting the first part here.

Its been ages since I have blogged. Its been ten days since I have returned from my short trip and I guess I should have blogged earlier. Its just that life has been moving at an extremely fast pace these last few days that I haven't really had the time to really sit down and organise my thoughts (yes, i can see you people grinning and wondering, "What thoughts???").

Well, coming back to where I started from, the Bangalore trip was awesome fun!!! Three other friends made the trip with me and this included RK, NR and Mrigank Sharma. We left on wednesday night and reached Bangalore Cantt Station in the early hours of Thurs Morning at about 5.10. Its been ages since I have been to Bangalore and the first thing that I noticed about Bangalore was the weather. At that time, it was pretty chilly weather. RK and me were wearing shorts and were having a tough time holding bags and also putting our hands in our pockets. We took an auto to CMH road where RK's friends lived. We woke those poor fellows up at an unearthly hour and stacked our bags there and grabbed some shuteye. This keeping in mind that we had to report at WIPRO's HQ located at Electronics City which was about 25Km from where we lived and an hour's commute considering Bangalore's worst traffic situation. (More on the traffic situation later). All of us woke up in an hour and grabbed some breakfast and boarded an auto to Wipro. At first we thought that this auto driver was following a roundabout route considering the time it took. But later we found out that it was the shortest possible route.

We reached the conference venue at about 9 and completed the necessary formalities relating to registration and obtaining food tokens for all the three days ( very very important). I won't get into describing the mundane details of the conference itself but it would suffice to say that we had an enjoyable time and spoke to a few people from our field itself and gained very useful experience which I am sure will help us in the future.

Day 1 was came to a close at around 5.30 in the evening and we left for MG road (For dummies and first timers, there are only three roads in Bangalore that are worth visiting and these are MG road, Brigade road and Commercial street, the first two being perpendicular to each other). I had to meet a couple of friends there and RK had to meet his old classmates. Once we reached MG, RK left to join his friends while the three of us went to meet my friends. We chose Barista as our meeting point because it was the first thing that we set our eyes upon. One of my friends was from the Indian Institute of Science (IISC) and he gladly offered to show us round campus and hence we boarded an auto to IISC. We saw the hostels, ate dinner at the mess ( which I must say was very very good again) and ended up walking a good 8 kms around the campus and managed to see about 30% of it at best. Our day done, the three of us boarded an auto back to CMH and spent about a couple of hours chatting and getting to know the other guys who gladly offered us their apartment for the weekend.

This was Day 1
Will post about the remaining days a.s.a.p
Cheers