Thoughts (un)LTD

Para-normal Activity and us !

2010-11-06T15:02:00.000-07:00

It must've been a cursed moment when my room mate(Nadu) thought of watching horror movie "Paranormal Activity -2" in theatre. Now this guy who normally watches any and all Hindi movies, suggested this English movie with such an enthusiasm that I had no other option to say yes. I was tempted to ask him the reason but this sudden transition from Bollywood to Hollywood was rather pleasing so I kept my curiosity at bay.

It was definitely a cursed moment when a thought occurred to me of calling my 2nd friend, Narsi.
Since he had been down with cold for quite some time now, it would be a good change for him as well. Of course he said yes. Not only that, he appeared quite bubbling and energetic contrary to his dormant state of affairs.
"Sure, lets go. I'm tired of sleeping all day anyways", were the actual words uttered.
Let me pause for a moment while the reader notes this point very well.

At the Theatre
===========
We established ourselves in the theatre. Movie started.
Nothing happened for 5 minutes...
I was okay. Narsi was okay. Nadu was okay.
Nothing happened for 10 minutes...
I was okay. Narsi was playing with his iPhone. Nadu was probably busy in checking out the babe in the movie.
Nothing happened for 20 minutes...
I was still okay.(I've seen worse)
Narsi was now immersed in iPhone. (die Apple, die)
Nadu was probably busy in wondering whether this was a horror movie or not.

And then it started - so called "shocking" scenes. On the first of such "shock", I was truly shocked ! but not because of the movie, it was because of Narsi ! He was sleeping peacefully amongst all those screams and shattering sounds. I nudged him and he woke up.
"What happened?" asked Mr. sleepy.
"The closet door opened just like that ! and all glasses were shattered !", I replied.
"Okay," said Narsi and went back to being sleepy!
Now here's the point - it really sounds stupid when you try to explain a "scary scene" to someone. And it definitely doesn't help if the subject is a sleepy individual who responds with "oh, OK. Never mind." kinda response.
Things kept happening and I found them more and more stupid as I kept telling Narsi -
"Hey, look - the baby's getting lifted in mid air"
"Wow, Narsi - the lady's being dragged by no one!"
"Holy @%^#, did she just kill them??"

All these exclamations died in 3 milliseconds after being born when I thought of explaining them to Narsi.

However, the true horror came towards the end of the movie, when I realized that Narsi might have been snoring for some time now. THAT moment, for me - was scary!

Technology Wars

2010-10-28T20:59:00.000-07:00

It's been a quarter now that I'm in Seattle-Redmond. Working for one of the Giants of software has its own benefits and pitfalls. But what makes it really interesting is the times, and boy, they're changing fast!
Firstly there's this comparison in Google Vs Apple Vs Microsoft. It's like Mahabharata - but with 3 parties in it! Each company has its forte in a specific field. Google is lion of Web, Apple is the king of device skies, and Microsoft rules the deep waters of Operating systems and Office products. But is it really that?

Microsoft is fighting everyone at every front! they're fighting OS wars, Web-search wars, Phone wars, Developer product wars, Entertainment and Gaming wars - you name it! Lately it's been a war of worlds - especially in the cloud domain. I see Microsoft embracing all technologies and all aspects that software has to offer.

On the other hand, I'm not so sure about Apple. They create fabulous (fantabulous!) hardware and kick-ass apps. But sorry, that's it! They're not embracing the world- with open (read:google) and not so open(read: Microsoft) standards, but rather they're shrinking deep within their cocoon. In the days of seamless interaction of web and devices, I'm not sure how they're going to survive in the long years of "Cloud based" software.

Google has it's own story. It's an exciting company that keeps the world guessing with their innovative(and slightly irritating) technologies. They're definitely embracing the brave new world, with both hands.

Whatever it is- the times are exciting and I can already hear the war cries.
Hau !

"Would you lilke it spicy, sir ?"

2010-10-12T00:13:00.000-07:00

It looked very tempting.
Me and my friend , we were sitting at the table, our mouths watering like Mumbai streets on the night of 26th of July. If I tell you that we are "Recently graduated students who have found the dream job" type of species, the reason would not allude you for a split second.
Being a grad student, only thing which we dreamed about (other than the GPA of course) was good food. So here we were - sitting in an Indian Restaurant - inhaling the beautiful aroma of Indian food - which unfortunately lasted till we took a spoonful.

But let me tell you from the beginning. To cut Dravid's innings into Sehwag's, we were hungry and realised that within spitting distance from our apartment, there exists an Indian Restaurant.
So we marched on and ordered a vegetable Biryani.
"How spicy sir?", was the next question from our western friend who had trouble pronouncing Biryani.
"Make it real spicy", was our brisk reply. We spent considerable time in making fun of so called spicy food in US of A. According to my friend, calling Western food spicy was equivalent to calling Nirupa Roy an Item girl. (Refer: Nirupa Roy, Wiki)

Ah! Birayani came rather quickly. I took a spoonful and started eating it. But my joy lasted for a mere millisecond. the thing was HOT. H-O-T.
In fact, I was almost going to call out for fire brigade!
What the devil they had put into the preparation I dare not imagine, but it certainly brought my intestine to a pit stop. tears flew towards my eyes as my brain started analyzing the damage. What on earth was that? I somehow continued to eat the chilly'd rice, but one department of my brain was already working on possible cause behind this hopeless recipe.

I could come up with few guesses -
A) the waiter had heard our "funny" comments about western spicy food and had decided to settle the question once and for all.

B) We must've looked like real Spartans to the chef, who decided to test latest weapon in his armory on us.

C) Possibly ISI was involved in this incident.

D) !!!!%#$^%#^^&*%^&

I "Love" new Indian Cinema!!

2010-08-25T23:51:00.000-07:00

"Main.... tumhare bachhe ki maa banane wali hoon"

"revolver phek do .. maine kahan revolver phek do "

"Khandaan ki izzat"

These are a thing of past. They are prehistoric. These days hindi films have transferred from Formula number "Dance-song-love-fight" to Formula number "there is no formula".
I notice few very significant changes.

1. Songs- they are not merely melodies meant to be put for lover's assistance. Songs actually carry films forward. Songs have always been a strength of Indian cinema but very few directors used them effectively. (Gurudatt, Gulzaar and sometimes Hrishikesh Mukharjee)
But those days have passed. Finest example of movie carried entirely by songs? - Dev D

2. Regional languages and characters - Historically all characters in Bollywood used to speak "Hindi" - as if India didn't have other regions and people living in it!
Now we have a marathi speaking "babubhai", and panjabi speaking "DJ" in Rang de Basanti, Cosmopolitan Bombay's Parsi and so on. Even the characters speak "real time lingo" and not some urdu dictionary. Amazing. This is what India is about - Diversity. And it is reflecting.

3. Acting and direction - People are acting. Days of stardom seem to be over. Some of the finest performers are setting the screen on fire and directors are willing to experiment.

Bravo !

PS - this post is a result of sudden overwhelming sense of pride.

Gods of our choice

2010-06-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

Ell and Sill were late for the work. There were no two ways about it - either you made it on time or you were late. No negotiations existed in the corporate. Company's rules were simple - do the work properly and get fed, else join the queue wait for higher management's decision.

Ell locked his quarters and hurriedly moved out of the apartment. Sill was struggling to keep up the pace. Finally they were out of the quarters and large queue of corporate was moving like a silver chord shining in bright sunlight.

"I didn't know today would be working day, after all that happened yesterday.", Sill remarked angrily, adjusting her position in the queue.

"Oh, come on. What do you expect? Her Majesty would declare a day off for such a trivial accident? Remember the disaster in mines a few years back? They didn't even declare it as accident." Ell snapped at her. He was looking rather bored.

"Trivial accident? It was Gods wrath. people who died had made a terrible mistake of leaving our lands and Gods punished them. That's why I say you should always visit the temple ...", Sill muttered in Ell's ears. She had a worrisome look on her face.
"Now don't you start again lady. We're fine. Just let the week unroll and there'll be plenty of food in quarters. We are going to have a rocking time ahead."

The queue was moving rather slowly today. Perhaps there was another accident somewhere ahead in the territory of corporate. Ell and Sill never knew what was outside the boundary of corporate. It was place of Gods and only Gods could stay there. Sometimes Gods did visit the corporate, but the visits were unpredictable and Mostly hostile. Corporate had devised a defensive mechanisms against the Gods, but it was futile to fight against the Gods.
Gods were omnipotent. They could destroy entire corporate if they wanted to. Ell had heard stories of such corporates being destroyed on regular basis. He had once seen an entire corporate being destroyed by a powerful earthquake - definitely an act of Gods. Ell and his companions were lucky to survive in their current settlement for months now. The food was plentiful and temperature was not a problem. Her majesty had declared this as a safe place and corporate was working all time to complete the requirements. Everyone worked 24x7 to complete the assigned tasks. Soon the works would be completed and the corporate would relax for a while, but no one had a respite till then.

"Watch out Ell-----", Sill cried with horror as she saw the one of the Gods approaching the corporate. This had never happened earlier. Gods never left the heavens. But something was wrong- people was committing horrible sins these days. Even the priest in the temple had warned of such an apocalypse in future. This was the day.

The queue suddenly disappeared. Everyone was running for defensive shelter in the main Corporate house. Sill made it to the nearest block, but before Ell could come into the shelter ---
She saw Ell getting lifted high into air. One of the Gods had picked up Ell as a sacrifice. Sill could not control herself, she watched helplessly as Ell soon went high in the air and went out of her sight.
*******
"Henry, put it down.", said an affectionate voice of a mother as she ran to catch her 3 year old son. While running around the front lawn he had moved near the garage. In his tiny little fingers was a black ant struggling to escape.

Dream catcher !

2010-04-16T23:58:00.000-07:00

I'm planning to undertake a new experiment - dream catching.
It's a simple thing and yet very unnatural. Let's not go into the scientific realm of dreams and keep it simple. Dreams are very interesting, but short lived. We never make a conscious effort to remember them.
Hence I thought it would be a good experiment to catch some of them live, and note them down. May be reading them later could be fun!
So far I've recorded half a dozen and I'm improvising it already. I've back-traced a few dream segments. Here are few of my goals -

1. I should be able to track down my dreams in detail - as much as possible. Minute details like colors, texture and faces of people whom I meet.
2. Try to remember more dreams, quantitatively. See how far I can go back in time.
3. Try to remain conscious while I'm dreaming. This sounds crazy, but it's possible. This would present a totally new point of view.
4. Finally, try to see if I can change the dreams.

While noting down the dreams, I plan to remain honest about it !

I have a long way to go, especially considering my wake up procedure. I tend to stay in bed for quite some time, and the dreams decay rapidly.
Never the less this sounds fun. I'm expecting some good results in a month or so.

Source of inspiration - "Surely you are joking Mr. Feynman", autobiography of Richard Feynman

Ram Gopal Verma (se) Darna Zaroori hai !

2010-02-14T11:09:00.000-08:00

Ramu, take it easy.
You started it with "Ram gopal Verma ki aag". I kept silence, thinking its an unforced error from a top seed player. Though I saw the movie on a pirated copy in a Volvo - It made me feel cry. I couldn't bear the resemblance of "Sambha and Tambe","dhanno and ghungaroo." Mohanlal just couldn't fit in. With such a flawed dialogue delivery, I kept thinking that Babban must have cut Narsimha's toungue. Any ways, I admired your guts Ramu and pardoned this sin of yours.

But then you came up with a so called horror film - "Darling". this time I just had 1 question.
"Why Ramu, Why?". "तुमने ऐसा क्यों किया हमारे साथ, क्यों~??" . the film was not horror film, instead it was a filmy horror! Esha Deol as an actress is scary enough, then why go and extra mile and make her a ghost? Fardeen Khan - Amen. Even a broomstick can show some facial expressions but not Fardeen. His face remains as plain as his father Feroz's bald head. And the over all film - it wasted my 30 Rs. movie ticket. It was then I had a doubt that Ramu, you're loosing it.

The camera Angles in Sarkar raj confirmed my doubts. The camera was placed at most unusual places - in a corner, near fan, overhead and probably everywhere. "Agyat" was the second last nail in camera's coffin. The camera movements felt like a worm struggling for its last breath. I shall not insult the blogger community by discussing "Agyaat" here.

"Rann" completed the weird camera movement trilogy. What a sheer waste of camera! Ramu,
there is one scene in which I literally struggled to see an actor - It was supposed to be Rajat kapoor. Only things I spotted in the scene were - an object similar to a leg, a sofa and fan roaring at full speed. Artistic? Experimental?

I am eagerly waiting for the next film Ramu, at least it would save me my Ophthalmologist's diagnosis fees.

Bal talk-rey !!

2009-11-17T12:58:00.000-08:00

Does this sound like a familiar name? Rings a bell ?
huh, if not, you must be in a non-internet, no newspaper zone - and especially several miles away from my birthplace Mumbai !

Bal Thackeray - Chief of Shiv Sena - is in headlines again! and this time he's used Mr. Sachin Tendulkar as a ladder to reach the news.
Issue? none rather. It's a bad (yet old) habit of Mr. Thackeray to pull out an issue out of nothing - just like the magician pulls out a rabbit out of an empty hat. Well, I admire his skill in doing so- but not in this manner! What are the objections to Sachin's statement? Let's look -

"He's suited best in his field -cricket and he has no business to enter politics. He has no business to talk about being an Indian first and then a Maharastrian"
Now wait a minute!
"I am an Indian first and then ________ian (fill in the blanks!) ", does this sound like a political statement to you? Raise your hand if you say yes/no! keep it raised if u say Yes, and slap Mr. Thackeray with the same hand if you say No.

What makes me angry here is not Mr. Thackeray's attack on Sachin. It's his view on expressing an opinion. Who's he to decide what one should say and what not?
If by saying "I'm an Indian first" makes the statement political then stating the price of 1 dozen "eggs" would make me a poultry farmer! It is as absurd as that.

Enough is enough Bal Talk-rey, You've made a mistake, better admit it!

Thank you Sachin !!

2009-11-15T17:56:00.000-08:00

Not many days ago, I was feeling down and out.
No particular reason- (NO, It's got nothing to do with me scoring zero in a test. Neither with my jeans getting eaten by a mushroom size cockroach in our backyard.)

So here I was, feeling lonesome and isolated. These days it is barely 5pm , and darkness falls. That gives creepy feeling, and one feels even more distant from dear ones. Evening - not a good time to call home, or friends back home or anyone in India. Damn !

Whoa - I opened the regular-feel-good- pass-time youtube. (I think youtube should be part of anti-depressant or anti-boredom kit. Seriously.) the site recommended me all sort of nonsense including a "OMG !alien attack on Obama" video.

I glanced across and found Sachin smiling in a corner. I clicked on the link reluctantly.
It started with World cup 03 against Pakistan. Then moved on to Sharja 98. Then he was murdering Aussies down under. Some time more, and Warne was sent for a glorious boundary with a mere push of the bat.
Interview moved on, Tendlya started talking about cricket, practice, family, late night long drives and many more.

It was so good to see him talk - Not as a star batsman, but as a veteran in his field and yet so down to earth. I felt proud, happy and bang - better !

Thanks Sachin! You rock!

तानाजी आणि orkut

2009-08-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

तानाजी गोंधळात पडला होता.
आज काल त्याला काही कळेनास झाले होते. परवा परवाची पोरे येऊन महाराजांना काही बाही शिकवू लागली होती.
जुन्या, जाणत्या लोकांना त्यामुळे "पोटदुखी" ह्या विकाराने ग्रासले होते.
"काय म्हणावा आता शिवबाला !", तानाजीने मिशीला पीळ भरता भरता विचार केला. "कोण कुठले लोक, वाट्टेल ते बोलतात. आणि महाराज ऐकून घेतात !. काय वाट्टेल ते चालू आहे ह्या महाराष्ट्रात. जाऊन जरा खबर बात घेतलेली बरी.", तानाजी आपली तलवार हाती घेऊन घोड्याला बाहेर काढावा, म्हणून निघाले.
पाहतात तर काय - पागेत घोडा नाही !
"अहो, माझा घोडा कोणी नेला ?", तानाजींनी आत आवाज लावला.

"आहो, घोडा कशाला म्हणते मी. जरा चालावे माणसाने. नुसते बसून बसून पोट सुटलाय बघा कसं.", मागून आवाज आला.
अजून काही ऐकायला नको, म्हणून तानाजी लगबगीने दाराबाहेर पडले.
"हो - समोरच्या भैयाकडून तूरडाळ आणा १ किलो. आणि विड्या ओढू नका हो। काय मेला दिवसभर धूर.", हेसुद्धा त्यांच्या कानी पडलंच !
******
तानाजी दाराबाराशी आले आणि चकितच झाले. दरबाराचा चेहरामोहरा अजाबात बदलून गेलेला !
"काय चाललाय काय?", त्यांनी समोरच्या मावळ्याला विचारले.
"क्या हुवा साहेब?", तो मनुष्य प्रश्नार्थक चेहेर्याने तानाजींकडे बघू लागला.
"मोंगल शिपाई आणि इथे ! दगा ! धोका !!" - तानाजींची तलवार बाहेर आली आणि ते वार करणार एवढ्यात कुणीतरी ओरडले - " थांबा हो ! तोः आपलाच माणूस आहे."
"आहो पण - मोंगल असेल - उत्तरेची भाषा बोलतोय. तुम्हाला मी सांगतो -", तानाजी जोशात आले.
"नको. महाराजांनीच ठेवलेत ते लोक. त्यांनाच सांगा."
महाराज म्हटल्यावर तानाजी निमुटपणे शोएब समोरच्या गांगुलीसारखे परत फिरते झाले.

विटा, सिमेंटची देवाणघेवाण करणार्याकडे त्यांना विडी दिसली. "बर झाले. सापडला. नाहीतर घरी कटकट.!" असं पुटपुटत
ते विडी मागायच्या विचारात होते.
"క్యా కరత రే తుం !!", तो विडीधारी माणूस बोलता झाला - आणि औरंगजेब दिसावा तसे तानाजी चमकले!
"अरे अरे .. काय बोलतोय हा !"
"तेलुगु आहे तो. विटा-सिमेंट- घरबांधणी ह्यात फार पटाईत आहेत ते लोक. आणि स्वस्त सुद्धा." - एक रिकामटेकडा मावळा कट्ट्यावरून पचकला.
"महाराजांना भेटायलाच हवं...." तानाजी गंभीर झाले.
*****
"या तानाजी - कसं येणं केलं!", महाराज नेहेमीसारखेच प्रसन्न हसत म्हणाले.
"विडी .. नाही आपलं. सहजच आलो होतो. बरेच दिवस खबर नाही महालाची.
"अच्छा . छान . तुमचा सल्ला हवा होता एका बाबतीत. आम्ही computer course करावा म्हणतोय. कुठे आणि कधी ते जरा बघत होतो. तुम्हाला काय वाटत ?"
तानाजी बिचकले. महाराजांना काही भूत-पिशाच्च वगैरे तर ...
"काय बोलताय महाराज ? हे आजकालच खूळ. आपल्याला कशाला हवे हे ? नुकसानच होणार ह्या असल्या गोशीमुळे."
"अरे अरे .. काय बोलताय हे तानाजी-"
"होय महाराज. स्पष्ट बोलतो. आपण आजकाल नव्या नव्या बाहेरच्या लोकांना संधी देताय. उत्तरेकडचे भय्ये - त्यांनी सामान सुमान विकण्याचा मक्ता घेतलेला आहे. गुजराती तर वाणी म्हणून आता इथलेच झाले आहेत. तेलुगु, मंडळी हॉटेल आणि घरकामाचे मजूर म्हणून सगळीकडे दिसतात. मग आपले मराठी लोक कुठे जाणार ?महालात देखील --"

"अस्स. globalization चा जमाना आलं तानाजी, आहात कुठे? युरोप आणि अमेरिकेचे लोक देखील आता इथल्या लोकांशी स्पर्धा करणार आहेत. तिथले शेतकरी आता इथे माल पाठवणार आणि तिथले कारगीर आता इथे वस्तू विकणार. आपली स्पर्धा असणार आहे ती ह्या लोकांशी. पुढचा विचार करायला हवा तानाजी, डोळ्यावर झापड़ बांधून चालणार नाही.
अहो उत्तर,दक्षिण कसलंघेऊन बसलात - सगळच आपल आहे आता. कोण कुठले लोक पोटापाण्यासाठी आपल्या देशात ख़ुशीने का फिरतात ? गरज आहे ही काळाची.
"पण महाराज हे आपले लोक ठीक आहे. computer आणि पाश्चात्त्य लोकांकडून आपली संस्कृती -"
"तानाजी, आहो साधी गोष्ट आहे. twinkle twinkle little star म्हणून आणि cake कापून जर का आपली संस्कृती भ्रष्ट होणार असेल, तर तुम्ही "संस्कृती" कशाला म्हणताय, हेच मुळात चुकतंय. ह्या छोट्या छोट्या गोष्टी मजा म्हणून करायच्या.
आणि computer म्हणाल तर काळाची गरज आहे ती ! सगळी दुनिया पुढे जात असताना आपणही पुढेच जायला हवा.मग तिथे उत्तर-दक्षिण - पश्चिमी असं म्हणून चालणार नाही. महाराष्ट्राला मर्यादा आहे ती फक्त मराठी माणसाच्या हिंमतीची. काय?"

"असं म्हणता ? आम्हाला वयाप्रमाणे जरा सुस्ती आली होती. मन सुद्धा आळशी झालेले! त्याला सोयीपुरातच दिसत होते."
"ही चूक करून चालणार नाही आता. नुसता मराठी मराठी बोलला, म्हणजे काही होणार नाही. आपल्याला काम करायला हवं तानाजी. प्रत्येक कामात निपुणता कशी मिळवता येयील, ह्या ध्यासाने काम केलं पाहिजे. हर एक क्षेत्रात मराठी लोकांचे नाव आदबीने घेतले जाईल, असा निश्चय हवा !. पटतंय का -"

"होय महाराज. मी आजपासूनच आपल्या मावळ्यांना तयार करतो - technology का काय म्हणतात त्याचे धडे गिरवायला हवे सगळ्यांनी"
"वा. चला तर. या आता तुम्ही." महाराज laptop कडे वळून म्हणाले.
"होय सरकार. जसा हुकुम", तानाजी माघारी वळले, आणि दरबाराबाहेर जाणार एवढ्यात महाराजांची हाक आली -
"अरे हो, आणि तानाजी, तेवढा orkut वर testimonial पाठवलाय, तो जरा स्वीकार करा लवकर!"
हे शेवटलं काय ते मात्र तानाजींना समजल नाही !!

In search of true horror !

2009-07-16T23:13:00.001-07:00

I have tried almost everything.
I went online and searched "horror" "ghost" "scary" "gory" "bhoot" and their colleagues.
I tried going through various websites for scariest films ever. I watched most of them but could not manage to get scared.
I even checked out nook and corner of wikipedia - to get the best in the best of horror genre.
They say - Japanese horror is the best. I tried that. I even made my eyes smaller like east asian people to see the film from their point of "view". Nothing. no fear - no goosebumps.

In desperate conditions, I ventured into hitherto unknown territory like Philippine/Malay movies. But to no avail. I called friends, relatives, their friends and their relatives - but I failed to get a movie/ script/book that would make me shiver with fear.

At last, My country rescued me. It helped me to find what I was searching for, and that too without much efforts. That's why I love my country. I merely looked that the thing and I was scared as hell. I had found my true horror. Unbelievable yet a true story. Happening in modern India, in contemporary times. Such a horrible experience that for a few minutes my eyeballs came out of the sockets - simply by the very nature of the content.

Ah, what is it? Here it goes, But let me warn you, please make sure you have a strong heart.

"Utter pradesh Chief minister Mayawati has spent almost 3000 crore Rs. in building statues of herself and her mentors. This expenditure of money in a state which has - more than 5.8 crore people living below the poverty line, highest number of child labourers, less than 50 per cent electrified villages, lowest literacy rate of barely 57 per cent and highest maternal mortality as well as neo-natal mortality"

Poems (Only) for programmers !

2009-06-29T21:13:00.001-07:00

1.
int i=0
char *gist
void *p
But where's my..
linked list ?

2.
C asked C++
How are you so
"rich" !
C++ smiled at
poor old C
"Oh, I just inherited it !"

3.
I can break the unix Shell
I can open Windows too
Why the hell in all textbooks
the function name is 'foo' ???

4.
This is just a poem
yet in beta release
version is 0.1.02
Don't read it -please.

A Harappan news paper

2009-06-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

It's my pleasure to present you an ancient news paper, which was found by my friend and fellow archeologist Alobijakamuni Bibinapokanylija in a hidden chest which was excavated somewhere near the Taj Mahal and great river Yamuna on 21 April 2005. That certainly is another story, but I will at once move to the matter at hand.

So the ancient news paper was published in the Ancient city of Harappa at ancient times. The name of this news paper is "Aylaa". Scholars are yet debating over what it means, but our reliable friend (for name- refer above) conceives that is has something to do with the current Marathi language.

Here is the crux of the matter - a few news headlines for our readers!
SPORTS Section -
B-1 race tomorrow -
Let me reminds our readers that tomorrow after morning sun rise and '3 peacock' standard time, there shall be season's first B-1 race. All participating bullock carts are requested to surrender their bulls after moon rise and '4 owl' standard time. Failure to do so - would mean that the participant will NOT be given free food on any future occasion. Also no participant is allowed to consume tiger blood, goat liver juice or coconut shell powder. These are banned substances.
Regarding the free entries - Only 3 wives and 10 children allowed per person.
See you at the farm tomorrow !

Advertisements Section-
Famous black magician in city, don't miss the chance !
According to our sources, City's famous black magician - "kaaa laaa" is visiting us for a week. He will be seeking patients during his standard visiting hours - from midnight to 'a peacock before dawn'. Please bring your identity tree leafs for the discount. Rates /location is mentioned below-

Standard Black magic - 2 cows, a dog ( barking) and 23 coconuts with water inside.
Western special magic - 2 cows, a cat (barking like dog) and 21 mangos**
White magic - 2 cows (barking like a cat)**
Location - Old burial yard, central burial place.
**special discount on full moon and eclipse

Entertainment Section-
Criminal killing - a review
After many silent weekends, finally we had some fun! Last Friday, we had a criminal killing. The criminal was sentenced to death by stone pelting. And as you might have guessed, we had a full house. Stone sellers had a good business, certainly. As far as the actual performance goes, the murderer was a cold blooded man. Hardly a muscle on his face moved, let alone the melodrama. Plot was not that weak though, Police cried their heart out- a great lead performance llikes of which I haven't seen for many months. And the end - certainly the end was great suspense- as by mistake the assistant jailer was lynched by the mob in a tragic yet rare case of mistaken identity.
My rating - ***1/2
Watch this space for nex------------------------------------------
Unfortunately the newspaper ends here.
Friends, I have already requested to my friend (refer the name above) for more stuff, please be patient !

~ inspired by work of P. L. Deshpande

Not for faint hearted

2009-05-31T14:49:00.000-07:00

Warning - The following work is just a pseudo-reality thing imagined by one and only myself at craziest hour of the day.

When I woke up the other morning, things were great. I said hello to the large praying mantis sleeping beside me. He nodded his plastic head with infinitesimally small force that allowed me to capture the motion within a jiffy. I am not sure whether this just meant- my dream ended abruptly or my mind refused to believe my room mate as a normal human being.

While brushing the teeth, tooth number 24 got stuck with the brush, and my fingers had to carry out the rescue operation. Number 24 was allowed to take paste bath twice, which is against my rule- every tooth gets the paste-bath only and only once. Never mind.

On the term breakfast - since this was a weekday- my brain pondered a bit. Within nanoseconds a report came from neurons - "Available inventory consisted nothing that could be readily used", it had a hint of remorse in it, which satisfied me. Proceeding with the proceedings, I decided to boil few-not-yet-moral-chicken-embryos (eggs) and turned the course to north west.

Bath was an registered event of the day, which involved ritualistic activities and a pleasure sensation of sensing the difference in the temperature. Once done, I solemnly completed the activity log by putting on some clothes.

While I was having bath, I had allowed the unhatched chickens in the bowl to have bath in more than hot water, and they were screaming now. Taking them out one by one, I tried to prepare a sandwich, if you want to know what is the official term for the thing, packed it in a plastic wrapper.

"Anything else, chief?", my brain asks, sensing its about get its morning break.
"No, thanks", says I and walk out of the house.

TCP Jayasurya and TCP Sachin !

2009-05-03T08:08:00.000-07:00

This is a bit of a technical post - let me claim that first !

We have been working on the TCP ( transmission control protocol) in one of our courses this semester. One of the task assigned was to develop a "congestion control protocol".

Suppose you are downloading a file, then our protocol would make your life better ... you can download the file much faster etc etc etc .....
[Techies- I know FTP is involved. But I am talking at transport layer]

Scene : You are downloading an E-book of 10 MB. Here are few of our proposed "protocols"

1. TCP Jayasurya - Your download starts amazingly well, 5 MB within few milliseconds. But stops suddenly on its way, before you've realised !

2. TCP Ganguly - Your download is fast and good. But after looking at the e-book you realise that only pages on "offside" have been downloaded well, pages on left side are incomplete.

3. TCP Dravid - Have you started the download and still waiting in front of your machine? You can go for a movie and check after 3 hours. You would get the best quality e-book- ever !
Moreover , Larger the e-book- better the quality!

4. TCP Laxman - It is reported that this TCP works only with Australian e-books, and that too in very desperate scenarios. Else it just downloads few pages of e-book

5. TCP Yuvraj - Works with small size books. Generally used for downloading previews of ebooks.

6. TCP Agarkar - Please do not use this TCP for downloading. IT is a viral version which doesn't download anything.

7. TCP Kumble - Your link is very slow? still want to download ? Well, this TCP gives it a tough fight- till connection breaks down.

8. TCP Venkatesh Prasad - I think this would upload a file rather than downloading the existing file. Just neglect this as a rouge version of a TCP.

And last but not the least-

TCP Sachin - Your file gets downloaded within milliseconds. But such is the beauty of this protocol, that you feel like downloading another file .....

Useless !

2009-04-27T16:40:00.000-07:00

There is this cartoon strip online.
It has technical- and mathematical humour.
I just loved this one - It shows a mathematician's (or any logical person's) perception of love :)

Couldn't resist the temptation .......

For complete archive -
http://xkcd.com/

K(S)now wh(ite)y and her 7 friends

2009-03-07T22:02:00.000-08:00

There's this girl
This "poemish" blog is for her!
========================

Once there was a lil' child
she had seven friends!

Who n How n When n What
Where -why- which were their names!!

She used to play often with them
n they were her best pals :P
she wished she could use them more
at her onsite calls !!

To and fro she thought on things
till dizzy went her head,
se7en friends were still with her
Off she goes to bed!!

at times she asked why
"why'm like this?"
Why simply looked at her
n blew her naughty kiss :P

One could see the lil' girl
confused, "Ah, i'm a waste" :(
"naah" - said I at this point
I know she's still the best !!

Words

2009-03-05T15:25:00.001-08:00

The visitor looked puzzled.
But he had seen nothing like this before. It was truly a strange place. "So they were not joking after all", he exclaimed to himself with a loud chuckle. "What a place ... What a place!", was the murmur a fly near him would have heard a thousand times.

"What is it !!", his patience was planning to leave him. "Ahoy,... anyone here?"
Visitor shouted at top of his voice. His voice echoed off the corners.
"Yes please. What do you seek here?", a sudden voice appeared behind him.
"Who are you?", visitor was clearly not ready for this.
"I am sudden." the voice said.
"What a name !"
"yes, it might appear strange to you, but "strange" can not appear here. He is with "busy".
"?? you alright?"
"No. Alright is a friend of mine". said the voice." you are in Words Cantonment. All words live here. You can find anyone here!".

"Oh that means i reached the place correctly !", the visitor rejoiced."Actually i am on a mission here.I wanted to explore this place".
"sure, let me call Omniscient.He can tell you everything." and sudden disappeared only to re appear with Omniscient - A wizardly looking man.

"Do all words live here?", asked the visitor.
"Yes. Almost all. There are places for them. Engineering, technology and their relatives live in the far eastern colony. They are joined by the science and her disciples.
Politics, sociology and their alliances live in the southern part.But the largest colony here is of Literature. It has spawned over many miles."

"What about the convicts, jail etc?"
"Words like Bastard, Fuck have been put in jail depending on their severity. And a few words have been put into life imprisonment".
"How about graveyard?"
"Well, words like Thou, Thee are placed in graveyard. There are a few other martyrs too. Very few have died early and even less were killed or murdered.", Wizard spoke.

"Ohh, that's sad. What do normal words do for living ?"
"We generally visit websites, authors, clerical staff. Major employers for us are students and children though. But student and children pose a danger too."

"Danger?", visitor found the term amusing.
"Oh yes. They make spelling mistakes. Our hospitals are always full. Certain words like "Practice","advice" are regular victims." Wizard had a gloomy look on his face." In the era of email, words are getting amputated heavily. People do not care to provide even nice working conditions for words anymore. Fortunately the advancement of technology - tools like spell check exist which are miracle medicines for words."

"Oh, yes", said the visitor.
"Anyways, what brings you here?", inquired the Wizard.
"Well, I was in search of a few words. Can you please tell me where to find them? I know they'll be here.", Visitor looked hopeful.
"Sure, whom would you like to meet ?"asked the Wizard.
"Truth, Honesty, non- violence to name a few."
"Well, Then you need to go into the Museum. They are extinct now.", exclaimed the Wizard.

A Question paper in "bollywood Mathematics"

2009-02-10T09:02:00.000-08:00

Working as a Math lecture assistant inspired me to come up with a question paper for Maths.
Check out !
you can write answers as comments :P

====================================================================

Q1. Find length of Kanoon's hands. ( formula would suffice, show the work for full credit)

Q2. Find length of Thakur's hands. Can u correlate this to q1?
(Hint: consider Limit H->0 and H->infinity)

Q3. Dhanno runs at speed of 32 km/h. How fast should basanti scream so that her voice reaches Viru before dakuu captures her?
(hint : speed of sound is peculiar in Ramgadh. )

Q4. If viroo's hands weigh 2.5 kg each, how much is total weight of Abhay, Bobby and Sunny?
(Hint: 9845334435. That's Hema Malini's phone number.)

Bonus - extra credit
Q5. If salman unbuttons his shirt at 1 button/sec, how many buttons would he unbutton till Vajpayee speaks a complete sentence?

Snow - Close encounter of 2nd kind!

2009-01-20T16:58:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been waiting long for a snowfall.
There were a few hoax calls before in Raleigh, and we were fooled then!
But tonight was different. My roommate(God bless him!) was vigilant for whole night. He kept watch on the weather like a master sailor looks out for land in sea.
It did snow, and how!
The picture was taken through window at around 9.30AM other morning.
What followed after is a predictable event and I don't want to bore you with the yore!

Being from Mumbai, where snow is only seen in fridge, that too when the defrost is not functioning well- I am enthralled by the snowfall !!!
What made me mad with joy is the 1st sight of snowfall! It's certainly one of the most beautiful things. Snow falling from sky, the warm tickling on the your face, the feathery touch of snow - just Wow !!
I'm glad for this experience!
Ahem .. Here's a secret - Do you know what are snow flakes?
snowflakes are actually pop corn that falls from heaven when Gods watch movies :)

Death of a ghost

2009-01-01T11:56:00.000-08:00

He first couldn't believe that he's no more. Everybody seemed to ignore him which was a sure sign. But he could not accept it as it was usual to be ignored during his lifetime.
So it took him a great deal of laborious experiments to arrive at the conclusion that he was a real ghost. Unlike many stories he had heard, he found his new avatar interesting.

1.
He started walking randomly towards the town, still thinking about the times when he was alive. "I could meet them perhaps", he thought with a gleaming hope.

Arriving at a corner, he noticed children playing there with tires and stray rubbish.
"want to talk?", he asked in an eager voice.
They looked at him and smiled. "yes, sure".
Oh, so they can see me!
"What are you doing at this hour of time.. ", he questioned the boy who looked about 12.
"Ah, nothing. just.. doing nothing really", boy chuckled.
he made a move towards them and sat on an empty wooden box.
They chatted about nothing for about 5 minutes.

"What were you doing there in jungle, so late?"
"Well .. don't be afraid.", he took a deep breath.
Boy looked puzzled.
"I am a ghost", he replied without thinking.
the boy stared at him for a full minute and looked disinterested. he started to walk away.
"Hey, don't be afraid of me", he assured the boy.
"Hell, you want me to believe that thing? anyways I'm not superstitious Sir", the boy snorted back without looking at him.

2.

He wandered about the town for some time.
some chawls, few old houses, gutters filled with filth - everything just looked perfect!
Nothing has changed and nothing will change.
"watch out .. what you doing here?", a harsh voice appeared out of nowhere suddenly.
"nothing. just came to see my house" came his cold reply.
"Well then go in and sleep! what are you doing outside!", constable asked with curiosity, which looked out of place for his profession.
"I .. ", He paused for a millisecond. What harm can he do to me now?Let me take my chances.
"I am a ghost", he replied in same cold fashion.
m"Saala, galat time pe mazaak karta hai", constable started from police dictionary.
"I'll put you in jail and then you won't do such nonsense again. Get lost!", muttered the constable and turned away.

He was bewildered. How could they not believe me!
" Hello, I AM A GHOST. I really am one" he yelled back at constable.
The guy turned back."OK. perhaps you are. What is the proof that you ARE a ghost.Go, get one and then talk to me."

3.

He had known this place too well. After all he had spent almost all of his evenings at this chowk.
"Temple, Ah this will be a reminiscence with my past. The pujari should recognize me!", he thought with a hint of satisfaction. How important was the identity crisis now!

"Namaste", he bowed to the old man.
"Do I know you son? Your face looks familiar to me.", replied the old man with suspicious looks.
"but of course swamij! I .. I .. ", he was much surprised to say anything.
"No it can't be you! You were dead...", suddenly exclaimed the pujari with his head falling back.
" I am a ghost, swamiji.. whatever you said was true!", he replied with a strange note of joy in his voice.
"Oh .. son", pujari regained control over him as he glanced at the opportunity."I'll tell your wife and son to do a Pooja here.That should give you salvation soon". The man's eyes gleamed with scene of Pooja and the Dakshina he would get after that.
"Oh, no need swamiji. I like it this way. It's ideal for me, to see world this way", our man jabbed back at the pujari with haste.

" Haramkhor!", pujari let go an unholy word at the holy place- perhaps one for the day."Get lost and be never seen again in these holy premises", were the last words he heard from the pujari.

4.

Now he was tired. But more prominent feeling was of shock and disbelief.
How could they!
No one clearly can imagine how identity crisis can overwhelm a ghost, so we leave him there with his sorrows.

the place he came to was not a well known one, neither it would profit from being one.
It smelled of liqueur and alcohol, drugs and gunpowder. He shuddered at the thought of being there alive. How nice that he was a ghost himself!
Slowly anger creeped in his mind.
Anger, which he had for such people. Anger kept quietly in his unconscious mind when he was alive.
he kicked a bottle in fury. Two men heard it and checked him.
"What's wrong fellow? Need a douse or two?"
He kept staring at them with fixed gaze.
"Hey", said one goon to his chum."Look at him. He's the same guy who died a week ago in the blasts. I knew him! He's a GHOST", he cried in horror and started to run for his life.

"Cut it out. What harm possibly can a common man's ghost do to you!", said the other one with indifference.

And that was the death of the ghost.

As a common Indian

2008-12-13T17:55:00.000-08:00

Don't they feel ashamed about this? It is really disgusting to see the reactions of these politicians. May be because -they live in another India. Where there are cars to travel, bodyguards to protect and money to be squandered - is obtained without any struggle.

These people know it very well that they are miles away from any train which might contain RDX explosives.
They are never going to enter a railway station or a Cafe or a city footpath where a bomb can explode anytime.
At any given moment - safety is not a concern for any of them.
Shameless leaders(?) like Vilasrao Deshmukh and R.R. Patil - who took the Mumbai terror attacks as a "regular incidents" prove the already proved fact again - India for politicians is different from the India we live in.

And ofcourse the bomb blasts - Mumbaikars are now used to them! Goevernment can in fact officially declare a bomb scare like "heavy rains" warning in any city of India....

We are destined to be common- acceptable.
We have no special status - acceptable.
We are supposed to do common things and live a common life - acceptable.
But it is simply unacceptable, as a citizen of India, that anyone can come here and kill my countrymen - Simply not ACCEPTABLE.

Sadly, It seems acceptable to our Govenrment and politicians as a lot.
Naseeruddin Shah speaks as a common man about Terrorism & Government in "A wednesday"

Dear PM !

2008-11-27T20:29:00.000-08:00

Dear Dr. Manmohan Singh,
As you must be aware there was an incident in a city called Mumbai, where several people were killed. Nothing special, I agree. These days there are one or more bomb blasts happening around.
I also know that you are a very busy man and have numerous meetings everywhere.
But i really have a problem and I do not have an answer to that question, thought I would tell you !

At this moment- these terrorists have created havoc in Mumbai, my city. People died like mosquitos. Many brave policemen lost their lives. Amongst dead were elite, less and lesser elite, and ofcourse the beloved target of terrorists- the common masses!

I know, Government, police force etc. are unable to protect common people like me. Ofcourse there are many important ministers, actors, businessmen to be protected with Z+ security.
So there are generally not many left to protect people like me!

My question is - "How do I protect myself and my family?"
I cannot kill anyone nor have I taken any NCC traning. Say a terrorist approaches me- What am I supposed to do?
Logic tells me that this situation should have been prevented in first place. How can a terrorist enter my city and threaten me at a gun(that too a semi-autometic)point?
So I consider that as a life threatening situation.
I say this, because when I leave my home each day- a bomb can explode, terror can strike from all 360 degrees. Trains, officeplace, theatres, railway stations - everywhere I am alert these days.
Anyways, that's not very important- at max I might get killed.
Even if that happens, please answer my question in public. Someone else might be able take necessary measures.

tuely,
Not at all important who!

PS - Could you please tell me a good place where I can get an AK-47, preferably at discount rate?

The Idiot - By Dostoyevsky

2008-11-07T21:52:00.000-08:00

Few man can portray human beings like Dostoevsky does. He's the master of masters.
Even the great Einstein had once said, "Dostoevsky gives me more than any scientist, more than Gauss".

"The Idiot", often considered as one of the greatest work of Dostoevsky, proves this-and how!
The master portrays truly amazing image of a man whom they all call an Idiot.

Dostoevsky's motives for writing The Idiot stem from his desire to depict the "positively good man"- Prince Myshkin.
By making Myshkin a paragon of kindness and humility, Dostoyevsky shows what can happen when such a man is confronted by society. Myshkin frequently confronts society's norms with his "idiocy", which is merely his apparently naive approach to life. However, it is merely a search for truth in human relationships, he is not naive about what others say to him and about him, he merely assumes they're true because human beings should have no need for falsehood. The prince frequently faces various social turmoils throughout the novel, petty arguments and ridiculous assumptions. Unfortunately, the "idiot" cannot save himself from society and fails in the end. [description from wikipedia]

Myshkin is indeed one of the most beloved and truest character in literature. A child at heart, naive and ever kind - closer to being a saint.

I wish we had a few Myshkins amongst us right now, amidst all the hatred littered all along.....

Bead & the Bea(r)d

2008-11-07T15:38:00.000-08:00

I was going through my photo album when a particular photo attracted my attention.

<--This, I realized is indeed a special photo!

A tiny drop of an unknown source of liquid object sharply entangled into a thick and dense clot of beard. Beautiful as a bead !
well, Look closer and you might even find the image of photographer captured inside the "bead".

The model for above photo is undisclosed and protected by the same thick dense hair!
I am thinking of sending this for Pulitzer prize .....

हरवलेली माणसे - lost

2008-10-26T22:47:00.001-07:00

हरवलेली माणसे
-------------------

फार पूर्वी TV वर एक प्रोग्राम लागायचा - " आपण यांना पाहिलात का ?"
त्यात कुठे कुठे हरवलेली माणसे दाखवायचे. आणि आता TV बंद करायची वेळ झाली ही सूचना नकळत मिलायाची.

असाच विचार करताना मला एकदम आठवण झाली की कुठे जात असतील हे हरवलेले लोक?

हरवलेली माणसे नक्की कुठे जातात?माणूस हरवतो म्हणजे नक्की काय होते?
काय करतात त्यांच्या घरातले? अचानक आपले माणूस असे नाहीसे झाले की कसे वाटत असेल?

आपण नाही का जाहिराती बघतो -"हरवला आहे. वय - १४ वर्षे. सावला रंग. कृपया संपर्क साधावा - " आणि एक फ़ोन नम्बर .
बाहेरच्या अफाट जगात आपले कुणीतरी फसलेले आहे, माणसांच्या जंगलात कुठे तरी अडकलेले आहे ही किती असहाय्य भावना असेल.

माणसे रोज येतात आणि जातात. रेलवे स्टेशन , बस स्टॉप, सिनेमा घर अशा असंख्य ठिकाणी अगणीत लोक आपल्याला रोज दिसतात. त्याम्ध्येच असतात का हे हरवलेले लोक ? असा विचार केला की रोजचेच बिन चेहेरयाचे चहरे अचानक ओळखीचे वाटायला लागतात.
शून्य नजरेने कुठे तरी टक लावून बघणारा तो कोपर्यावरचा वेडसर मनुष्य कुठून आला असावा हा विचार दिवसभर डोक्यात घुमत राहतो. आणि संध्याकाळी त्याचा वेडसर चेहरा तितकासा वेडसर वाटत नाही.

बाकड़यावर दिवसभर बसून राहणारे कुणी वृद्ध गृहस्थ कुठूनसे आले असावे? ते दुपरिसुद्धा तिथेच का बसून असतात?

भिरभिरत्या नजरेने आजुबाजुला बघणारी छोटी मुले - नेहेमीच कशी स्टेशन वर पडलेली असतात ? "हट" असे म्हणुन जेव्हा आपण त्यांना झिडकारून लावतो, तेव्हा त्यांना कसे वाटत असेल?
घरी जायचे असुनही ज्यांना घरी जाता येत नाही, अशी छोटी मुले काय करतात?

आपण असे सगळ्या जगात एकटे. कोण कुठले काहीच कल्पना नाही. केवळ "अन्तर" ही एकाच मिती उरते मग.
हे किती विचित्र आहे !

मला माहीती नाही. पण "हरवलेली माणसे" ही कल्पनाच फार भयानक आहे.

एक दुर्घटना - Accident

2008-10-10T16:38:00.000-07:00

Now.. It doesn't take a nuclear reactor to create a mishap. Marvels of modern technology can do it within no time.

I mean it was all going perfectly. In fact a matter of few minutes and it would be over.
But the regular stuff went horribly wrong.
Poor creature was melted after keeping it inside a Grill at about 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
We tried rescue efforts but it was already too late.
The thing had taken 33rd degree burns and was deformed beyond recognition.

We had to believe our eyes somehow and console ourselves.
It was a fine blue plastic dish before going in !!!!

This is what happens when you keep a plastic dish in a grill.
The dangling tentacle looking thing is molten plastic.
I am really choked up to continue writing !

Image !!!!!

2008-09-20T21:44:00.000-07:00

This was just another photo till i posted this on Orkut.
And as soon as I posted it - I got several replies from people saying that this snap is pretty "cute". I have always wondered what this word means exactly !!!
And now here I stand searching the cuteness in my own photo .....

A wednesday... YO !!!!

2008-09-13T00:21:00.000-07:00

Well it's hard to believe!
Watched 'A Wednesday' - again a good movie!!

It's fast, grippng and very "smart" !
Tahaan is already there, Last Lear coming up next..
They are coming like Tendulkar's boundaries- all in a row :D

Ladies and Gentlemen - we present - Hindi Cinema!!!

Mumbai meri jaan ... Yo !

2008-09-11T01:34:00.000-07:00

I must have really liked it like anything ...
otherwise why would I restart my machine at 4.30 AM in the morning and write few lines about it?
This is just about the perfect movie of this genre - and it's just too good !
well, please don't read this if you still haven't seen "Mumbai meri jaan"
What's so special about this ...

-> There is no central theme, and yet a very powerfull , gripping storyline revolving around few lives
-> Kay Kay , the guy gives such an amazing performance!
-> Paresh Rawal, he's given the policemen a new look, realistic as well. Few his scenes just stand out
-> Irfan khan and the angle his character brings into the story

Screenplay and script as well, they are again top notch
And Last but not the least - Song at the end, well that's just - ______________ !!!!!!!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen we present to you, "Mumbai meri jaan"

immunizations or inhumanization ?

2008-08-30T12:51:00.001-07:00

This one has a circular pattern.

Hey , don't worry, just read on. Its not about some geometric function or a linked list. But just a label!

It so happened that the (N+1) vaccinations my family doctor had done - were insufficient. So I was told by a NCSU medical record assistant. Now before I could complain anything, they handed me a piece of paper - " there you go. Meet so and so on so and so date." and in a realllly nice tone - " I'm afraid I can't explain why".

So I took and appointment( yes, even if you want to say hi- you need an appointment). On the given day I presented myself to the mentioned person.

"well .... ummmmm", ZZZZZZzZZZzzzzzzzz she goes thru the pages and suggests that I would need 3 Vaccinations and a PPD test for Tuberculosis.

"But I do have a chest X ray.. and that's perfectly normal....." I protested rightly becasue my doctor had done the X ray thing in Mumbai.

"yesss, I understand, but we need the PPD test.. So please come on ___ day."

OKKK. And right there without any kind of hint- she stings me twice on right arm with a sharp needle. Ladies and gentle men - I'm proud owner of few Measles and Diphtheria vaccinations!!!

So finally i reach the clinic with the PPD test done.

the nurse checks the PPD. " Ohh, I'm afraid you would need a Chest X-ray."

I couldn't believe my ears. Did she say the chest X RAY? that's what I had given them!!!

This tooo much. Or did I say I have "a toung X ray" last time?

Or did she think that it was some one else's - may be the doctor's chest X ray?

Or do they think that we paint X rays by ourselves back there in India- for 5 Rs??

Or may be, X ray's gonna reveal that I'm a mutant exposed to Galactic radiatyion pattern???
Or does an Indian X ray has expiry date of some kind????

I really don't understand the rules here.
But the funniest part is - neither do Americans!

*PS - this was confirmed as the lady called me after 10days and told me - Nothing's wrong with my chest X ray!!

Kissa @ Burger King

2008-08-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

Why on earth would you think beaf is veg? I just have no clue at all. All we did was - to order a cheese sandwich at a Burger King. And the follwowing conversation took place.

ME:" Do you have cheese burger?", Now i am no blind and it was written that they have such dish on menu. I was just making things sure.
Guy at Counter: Owwe we Do 'ave 'em.
ME: "Could you get me a veg cheese burger?"
Guy: "It is veg cheese burg'.
ME: Okay, how much?
He started punching the machine - Wrrrrrrrrrrp, Burrrrrrppp- khatackhkk etc.
ME: "Ohh, is it pure veg?"
Guy: "wass that? Pu... wat?"
ME: "Puuuure VEGETERIAN... No meat, chicken, beaf-"
Guy:"Ahha, 't 'as beaf- itis cheese burger."
I mean what is this? If you think beaf is veg, you might as well think Vivek Mushran is Bollywood superstar !!!
Certainly not fair Uncle Sam, I'll have my revange soon - I bet i shall.
Dare you come to Mumbai and order a Vada Pav !!

A photo of another kind..

2008-08-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

This picture summarises a day;s work. The blocks represent our university buildings in a map. Looking closer you would see a few of them "Crossed" and circled. These represent the building visited by me and my friend nadu. Others are yet to be examined by the above mentioned duo.

The sole purpose of the building hunt was job seeking! We were unable to get any temporary job straight away, so we did this 'Brute force' Job seeking by visiting each building in campus- and believe me, its pain. First we struggled to find the entrance and then we struggled to find the department. As soon as we found one, we got immediate replies- No; we're sorry;no place;we're full ....

Now the soothing part - everyone was really attentive. They listened to us ( one of them was a professor and another was a head of some department!). So we felt slightly better.

The photograph was captured during day-1 of the job hunt.

in US of A

2008-08-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

So finally i'm here in USA and getting time to scribble a few words online.
There are a few things which i really wanna share, and few more things which are worth telling.
But the circumstances and the future tells me that i better keep'em for future!

Blogging takes a break and slogging begines... shortly.
till then there are many things to do.

Kau, wake up and start dreaming !!!!

I think now I understand what love is... at least partially!

2008-08-02T11:21:00.000-07:00

That's it... there's nothing more in the post.
For me, after looking for the definition, it stops here.
The way I understand love, satisfies all of my socio-mathematical equations.
And I am thankful to someone for helping me in finding the meaning :D

A typical Goan conversation....

2008-07-21T23:46:00.000-07:00

Now here's something i love about Goa, my native place.
Have a look at this conversation.

A: Kaso aaasa ? baro maare? (How you doing? doing good?)

B:hay. hau baro aasa ... sushegaat... ( yeah, i 'm fine. relaxed....)

blah blah blah about everything else and they come to main topic.

A: Niste kite haadle ? maka aaj kaiichh miluna mare.. :(
( any fish u've got? I've got absolutely nothing, in a sad tone)
B:hay. Makaibi maatshi sungta milli. saamki baarik. ( I've got just little prawns and nothing else)

Now the best part - this conversation took place between a Pujari ( Hindu priest) and my uncle while we were doing abhishek to Bhagwaan Shiv in a temple.

You might think this is blasphemy or hypocrisy. But it's not... It's just how we Goans live....
Eating fish - drinking fish and living with fish.....

Expenses!!

2008-07-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

A single day of trekking -> 114/- Rs. including everything
A single day outing in Mumbai (anywhere) -> 300-400/- Rs. including everything except shopping.

A single cup cold coffe at Durga and ultimate usal pav + unlimited timepass -> 30 Rs. including extra pav.
A single cold coffee and sandwichish looking object + almost unlimited time at CCD --> 100/- Rs including rush.

A moment of madness and gushing wind blowing on top with raindrops falling everywhere --> comes free along with smile on first time trekker's happy face.
A moment of madness resulting a bag in your hand , that contains 3 jeans and 2 T shirts -->
2000 /- Rs and still counting......

Eshhhhh........

2008-04-24T02:06:00.000-07:00

It's been many days, and further zeroing makes it months.
We've been bitten by a new bug!I'm yet to describe it, but its got to do something with names.
better start with an example.
Listen to this conversation
/**************************/
A: Hiiiiiiiii
B: hiiiiii
..... blah blah and more blah
A: so me feeling Boresh Borkar these days
B: yeah me too Boresh Bhansali !
..... some more serious blah blah and blah
A: c ya ! bayesh bacchan now !
B: me too kaltesh kapoor !
/****************************/
This is what a general NaamKaraan would look like. These are the golden rules- like Robotics.

1. Each verb shall have "esh" suffix with it. No matter what, this is a must have.
2. Following the 1st rule, you need to add a surname to verb. And unless exceptional case, it should start with the same alphabet! like Boresh should have a surname with B.. and so on
3. Following above two rules, you can play with them however you want !!
4. Ususally bolltwood stars feature in surnames. Khannas and Kapoors are regulars.

Now comes the real best part ... - regionalising them
look at these -
kamesh kumarswami
chalesh chelappa
lookesh ( slightly unpopular) luktuke
Goesh Goyel
"Coolesh Kulkarni "
The 'Esh' part has a seperate history, and we'll need another past for that !
So go on ... tryesh Striker!! ( remember the provision for an exceptional case !! )
PS --> Well - this is a creation by a punaite gal, and i sallute her for this !!!
bole toh ...Salutesh Salunkhe!

these days - a different mathamatics

2008-04-17T05:41:00.000-07:00

Many have left, still many more to go. The days are numbered. Wish I could divide them by infinite activities and reduce them to zero!
But on the contrary, the activities and interests' count is tending to zero here,and thus days are tending to infinity for sure.

All the interesting variables are going either static these days or they are not part of this equation...

I'm living with no non linier behaviour, every term has got a simple nature.
Forget imaginary number, I do not even have a irrational looking being here.

And I dread this so much. Because the result is sure, dull and boring.
My equation these days sums up in a single quantity – Zero.

एक पुणेरी अनुभव

2008-02-21T06:28:00.000-08:00

मला तशी पुण्यात राहून चांगली दोन वर्षे होत आली.पण अजुनही अस्सल म्हणवेत असे खास पुणेरी अनुभव आलेले नाहीत. ह्याचा अर्थ पुणेकर माझ्याशी ’तिळगुळ’ घेतल्यासारखं बोलतात असा मुळीच होत नाही. आता, ह्यात चूक माझीही आहे- नाही असं नाही.मी तसा गावापासून लांबच रहातो. त्यामुळे ’नमुने’ भेट्ण्याची शक्यता तेवढीच कमी होते. पौड रोड, चांदणी चौक, औंध अशा मागासवर्गीय भागात हे नरपुंगव कधी भट्कत नाहीत

पण अलिकडेच एका व्याख्यानाला जायचा योग जुळून आला. विषयही अस्सल पुणेरी - "भांडारकर रस्त्यावरील वाहतूक खोळंब्यामागे परकीय शक्तीचा हात आहे काय?"
पुढे " प्रचंड गर्दीचा दुसरा आठवडा" असंही लिहिलेलं दिसलं.
"कमाल आहे हो! दोन आठवडे चालू आहे हे व्याख्यान...मानलं पाहिजे", मी बाजूच्या एका वॄद्ध गॄहस्थांना म्हटलं.
"अहो कसला दुसरा आठवडा?.. ’चावट कुठला’ नाटकाचा बोर्ड आहे तो. त्यावरच चिकटवलंय हे व्याख्यानाचं",तो गॄहस्थ म्हणाला.

"काय सांगता! भलतंच!"
- हे दोन शब्द उच्चारल्यावर मला जाणवलं, की मी चुकून एका अद्रूश्य टेप रेकॉर्डरचं PLAY बटण दाबलंय.

"मग! काय अर्थ आहे ह्याला सांग बरं तू मला. एवढा ज्वलंत विषय, आणि त्या पुढे हे असलं वेडंवाकडं शोभतं का!", तो मनुष्य आता उभा पेटला होता. "रक्ताचं पाणी आणि हाडाची काडं करून आम्ही स्वातंत्र्य मिळवलं, ते ह्यासाठी?..... काय?"
"स्वतःच्या जीवाची पर्वा न करता हजारो लोकांनी बलिदान दिलं ते, ते फ़ुकट!.... काय?"
" अरे आज तुमच्या एवढ्या पोरांना शिकता येतं, कुठेही बिनधास्त ( त्याने ’त’ पूर्ण उच्चारला) फिरता येतं, ते विसरलास का तू?"

"नाही, म्हणजे काय आहे आजोबा...." मी त्या मनुष्य रूपी टेप रेकॉर्डरचं 'PAUSE' बटण शोधता शोधता म्हणालो.

"आ जो बा?", तो मनुष्य एकेका शब्दावर जोर देत ओरडला.
आता स्वतंत्र्य लढ्यात भाग घेतलेल्या माणसाला २००८ साली ’काका’ म्हणता येतं, ह्यावर एखादा जीवाणुसुद्धा विश्वास ठेवील असं मला वाटत नाही.आणि देव आनंदची गोष्टच वेगळी आहे.

"तू मला आजोबा म्हणतोस?"
"मग तुम्ही काय स्व्तःला शाहीद अफ्रीदी समजता काय?", मी हा डायलॉग मारायचा मोह टाळला. मला ’१९४०-५०-६०’ मधील क्रिकेट, ह्या विषयावर चर्चा नको होती.

"रोज पंचवीस दंड आणि वीस उठाबशा काढतो. न चुकता, काय?", आजोबारूपी काका म्हणाले.

"ह्यं ह्यं ह्यं..... ", मी ठेवणीतलं हसू बाहेर काढलं.

"हसतोस काय तरसासारखा? रोज व्यायाम करीत जा. अरे शरीर म्हणजे कसं, तजेलदार हवं. ’मारुती भुते’ हे नाव ऐकलंच असशील....."
’मारुती भुते’ ... नाही. database पूर्ण शोधूनही मला अशा नावाचा एकही रेकोर्ड सापडला नाही. पण नाही म्हटलं, तर मारूती भुतेपुराण चालू झालं असतं.

"वा! मारुती भुते महिती नाही,असं कसं होईल? आमच्या घराच्या खालीच त्यांचं साडीचं दुकान आहे! अप्रतीम माल मिळतो तिथं...." मी हल्ला चढवला.
"साडी????", काकारूपी आजोबांच्या तोंडातून फ़ेस यायचा बाकी होता. वरणावर पिळलेल्या लिंबासारखा त्यांचा चेहरा झाला.

पण ते पुढे काही बोलणार एवढ्यात मी गडप झालो.

Wish

2008-02-21T00:07:00.000-08:00

"I want to marry a blind girl..."
कॄपया कारण विचारु नये, ते सांगितले जाणार नाही ह्याची नोंद घ्यावी.

माझा पहिला मराठी ब्लॉग

2008-02-14T20:34:00.000-08:00

आज तरी एवढंच पुरे!....
थकायला होतय ऱाव

good(!) morning!

2008-02-12T23:39:00.000-08:00

You have come to 5*, may be because some the residents there are your friends, may be because the supply of H2O has ran out of pipes.
Anyways you are in. And after a much guaranteed entertaining night session of Yahooing, you sleep peacefully in one of the horizontal looking bedlike object.

The morning signifies its presence when people start moving around you like vivacious zombies.
After waking up early you find- the alarm has ditched you, you are already late.
Toothpaste in the house (the only thing that makes some people grin) has finished its avatar on earth and it has given up the ghost.
Your irritation quotient increases.

Now the geyser has its sweet revenge – the chap simply doesn’t "feel" like heating up the water.
Don’t ask for reasons please, every geyser has its own day and night.

Your irritation quotient again increases, now like a non linier curve with positive slope…

Meanwhile a gentleman in formal dress takes your leave and goes out of the house – when a fully clad object is still horizontal and snoring.
You can hear a semi- human shape is leaning on bed, in a semi NAMAAZ pose. Like practicing a satanic cult
Umm… at last the water is warm; you enter the bathroom like a shivering tropical animal on a cold day.
Damn – the soap is playing hide n seek. Everything is just AGAINST you.
As you can hear some sounds "8?"... "11…"
You hasten up the pace. On any other day water playfully embraces your body and you can enjoy the warm sensation with pleasure.
Not today- today you are part of fire brigade squad. Within seconds the "Snan" is over and you are out.
You have planned out the tasks ahead-
Wearing clothes- 10seconds
Combing the random hair or two – 4 seconds including the time deciding which part of hair to comb
Collecting stuff and shoes – 30 seconds excluding tying shoe laces
COOL!!!
Apparently not so cool-
The penultimate nail on your not so furnished coffin – You realize that everyone else in 5* is just hovering around- with no hurry.

The old Hindu saying comes into your lukewarm brain ..."Time is infinite and Atman is immortal".

The other entities in 5* are just following there forefathers’ advise at 7.53 AM in morning, clad in semi garments.
No one is in hurry, things going on with a pace which is hardly any pace.
You begin to wonder, pinning you not so lukewarm brain with questions like-
"How on earth they are going to make it?"
"The gentleman in that corner who takes eternal time in brushing teeth, can he comb his hair in timely fashion and get out?"
"Can the semi human form get ready in this impossible looking nuance of time?"
Petty you…..
The irritation curve is rising exponentially now, probably out of the graph paper.
At last the golden word are uttered- "Abey kutte, late ho raha hai".
Finally a hoard of gentlemen and a not-so-gentleman looking object moves out of the house.
A piece of bed sheets and quilt is quilt sleeping in a corner with fan roaring at top- you feel the cold by merely watching the fellow sleep.
The watch is showing almost 8, and you have left the house with very little hope of catching the last bus.
Well, it may be an abnormal morning in your house…. In 5* that’s the benchmark way of doing things….

-Kau

GLOSSARY:
5*: our house

A mad story

2007-09-18T00:30:00.000-07:00

There was this boy- ABC. No, his actual name was ABC.
He was totally unhappy with it, and tell me who would not be? He had all right to be unhappy with it.But his mother and father never realised his problem. Both of them- they had quite okay names- 'gangabai' and 'Chhotelal'.
" Why on earth you named me like a standard English chart?", ABC would ask his parents often.they never felt anger at his question but simply smiled, looking at each other. One fine day he decided enough is enough and left his house. " Let me find my own way. Enough of this boring life", he said to himself. But 2-3 other friends also Happen to hear him. Anyways that's not in the scope of our story.
ABC started his journey at bedewed (east), besides the Kebab corner where you get fresh lime juice 24 hours a day. ABC tried not to look at the Kebab's but he couldn't help looking at a glass full of mango juice. "What a lovely piece of work this table is !" ABC thought. "If I learn this then I can also make such beautiful piece of wooden work'. He approached the shop keeper with a yellow T-shirt.
" Please teach me how to make Kebabs. " ABC asked the shopkeeper.
"Never mind son, you'll pass in the next exams", One of the Kebab's said calmly.
ABC was frustrated with this…. He caught a train and decided to get down at last possible stop where train doesn't halt.
Well, the boy was lucky indeed - Ticket checker caught him travelling without ticket ! But when ABC started crying and made sounds similar to Hayena,
Ticket checker had no other option but to take him home. TC's little daughter was fascinated by hayenas. She had a big schoolbag !
ABC was tired by all these events. All he wanted was a new name and he had ended up here! In a TC's home - with a inane girl who loved Hayenas!
" It's all your fault Kau, you just can't write a good story", ABC told me with an expression of disgust on his face.
" I agree totally", I said with a sigh.

An O and the TV series

2007-06-06T03:02:00.000-07:00

Not too long time ago there was this O.
He got fed up of the rudimentary changes happening in the universe around and decided to watch a TV series.
Now its not at all easy for an O to watch TV series considering the environment on their planet.
It’s a very well known fact that O's do posses great intellectual ability - and our O wasn't any exception to this.

So his 67 friends were naturally worried about this new development
"Shall we ask The Big O about this ?", O's 53rd friend asked O.
"What can he say? No one has ever done this!" said O's 89th friend.
the 67 friends were obviously not in order, you see.
Then there was great chaos all around.
"Ok",said O in calm and clear voice."Let's face this grave situation. There is no point in running away from it. Some way or other I am going to watch this TV series . Also it means I'll have to refrain myself from using my brains. No logical thoughts should develop in mind during this period. All rational thinking must be Stopped at once.Similarlly-"

"-But this is impossible! One cannot stop logical thinking on purpose… and … and .. This is wrong!!"
"That's the beauty of this situation! For the first time in our history, we are facing something which does shut down your brain completely, without making you Aware of this! And if I'm not wrong, slowly you begin to like this ' shutdown of brain'.", said O excitedly.

"And why would you want to do such horrifying thing for Big O's sake?" - O's 42nd friend was upset.
"Good question. I'm doing it as an experiment, nothing else. But people do it rather willingly. They think loss of freedom , essentially freedom of mind, freedom of thought, as a desire. Most of them do not even realise this. They are trapped into a web that's so carefully built that entrapment is never visible.
Though you might think this situation is impossible - it is occurring very fast and effectively."

"that's weird… no one wants to loose freedom and get enslaved", muttered O's 28th friend.
"Not so, my friend. Look around , and you'll find a planet earth. Peep into their lives and you'll know how knowingly/ unknowingly people loose their Freedom- happily. Not only they loose it, they crave for this loss and …and …" O hesitated for a moment.
"What?" exclaimed someone.
" They call it as enjoyment, luxury and comfort." , said O with disgust and walked away.

- Written by O.

PS - One of the critics on Planet Zoof termed this story written by O, as highly improbable and just another wild imagination.

Duniya...

2007-05-30T22:27:00.000-07:00

there are few kind of people in world..

Ones who judge you by face, looks and appearance

Ones who judge you only by face, looks and appearance

and the ones who judge you not only by face but also by looks and appearance.

in short -- "Duniya shakal parr jaati hai" :))

- Now don't ask me who made me realise this and how !!!

beta and zeta -1

2007-05-18T04:27:00.000-07:00

1.if you are very normal, say X then there exists a similar normal Y for you.
unfortunately, say you are not so normal.
You are not extraordinary but simply abnormal...wierd may be.
like a greek alphabet -zeta

Now this zeta knows very well that any if he pairs up with any XYZ, life's going to be miserable!
And zeta knows for sure that there is no such abnormal beta for him in this world.
Even if there is any, its difficult to find her, right?

So zeta just wonders... and on ..and on....
How come these people stay together with each other?
(basically he means HOW CAN they STAND each-other? because zeta would be unable to stand any ABC or XYZ ..)
zeta might(as i don't know for sure) be dreaming about his Ms. beta ; But he doesn't let others know.
And what can he tell them as he himself doesn't know if there is any beta !!!

So our hero .. zeta thinks marriage is hopeless system where two (or more ??) people face each other for years...

is zeta wrong ?

kya zeta ko uski beta milegi??
:))

chhoti si baat :)

2007-04-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

"Kehte hai na , jo hota hai acche keliye hota hai"
"everything happens for the best"

"Everything happens for the best. It's not always true. We all know it inside, all time.
But but saying it aloud would make us feel pessimistic.
By saying everything happens for the best, we make ourselves comfortable.
And we can face the situation with (forced?) smile.
This is the trick!!"

-danni

That's something i was/will be afraid of saying aloud.

thanks.. dil se .....

she..

2007-04-16T05:49:00.000-07:00

she was hardly 5 .
I can't say she was well dressed, but whatever she was wearing was definitely miles away from
being beautiful.

She came right in front of me, I was listening to FM.
Also i had medium (kurkure pack) stuffed in my empty hands.

She : de na ...

I didn't hear it initially because someone was
yelling in my left ear...
Then i realised that poor child was begging.

Me : kya chahiye ? kuch nahi hai rey mere pass
She pleaded with innocent gestures.
She: Nai , de , kuch bhi chalega.

I really thought she was very pretty- she indeed was !!

Me: yeh wafers le le ... khatam kar..

Suddenly she chopped back," Paisa dena hai toh de , nahi toh kuch nai chahiye"

All her innocence was transformed into harsh reality.

GOD !!!

Lukkachhuppi

2007-03-29T03:29:00.000-07:00

< Before I even start writing,plz ignore the spelling of lukkachhuuppi. >

Well, we are alright.
Although there's me here, I have to write "all".
Kaustubh , Kau and Kauti.
Sounds funny,doesn't it ?
But there are three of us. Always. Everytime.

I have figured out their characteristics also.
They are basically all children for sure.

Kaustubh -
This fellow is decent, neat chap who always tries to follow the public.
He never questions the people openion and simply goes with anything Normal, without thinking.
Kaustubh behaves in all situations ,specially in functions and parties etc.
He is rarely persent though, comes and goes rapidly.

But he has to be there in certain situations like ..
1. I nfront of guests
2. Senior team mate in Office
3. At weddings and similar stuff

Generally he's the one who helps me in these situations !!!!

But at the same time ...
If local trains are late Kaustubh gets frustrated easily.
He doesn’t like to miss the bus either.
Walking down the path for no reason sounds absurd to him..

Kauti
The only thing about which kauti is serious in his life is "nothing".

Kauti is a naughty child you can say.
He loves to make fun of people, tease them and laugh out.
He's ready to make fun of himself too !!
But he's child off course, so isn't mature enough.
Kauti looks at each and every situation he faces with humour and simplicity.
But he often doesn't realise that people donot have same views….

And a continuous chatterbox… I have hour long conversations with him… all funny ..
Nothing serious...
Kauti's always present. I don’t have to search for him.
He just comes out!!! In fact some times I have to hide him !!

Kauti would simply wonder at many things it train doesn't come on time.
He wants to miss the bus all time…….
And walking down the path (with someone along) is dream come true for him !!!

Kau
A very complex character I must say…..
I wasn't in touch with him all this time,
But suddenly we are best friends now.

Kau can't be defined as such- which is the best part about him.

Kau thinks all the time..
He thinks about this world, about himself, about people around him..
He wants to ask lots of questions to too many people……
Hoping that atleast of them would simplify things to him….

Kau likes to do unusual things…
Or rathar usual things unusually….
He's just different….. And confused like hell !!!
Weird behaviour is all that you can expect from him most of the times...

He used to poke his nose sometimes with his inquisitive mind and social theories…
But I never paid much attention to him during my early years,
But these days his voice is predominant.
I simply listen to him and we have discussions, quarrels, ecstacic moments….

Kau doesn't realise that train is late…..
Kau doesn't mind waiting for the bus…..
Kau would go on walking with or without any one ..all along..

But that's how we all are….
Playing Lukkachhuppi…
Funniest thing about this game is I know where they are hiding
And they know this too!
Still we continue to play the game……...

there's no title

2007-03-15T03:21:00.000-07:00

"i wonder why
i wonder why i wonder
why i wonder
why i wonder why i wonder
...."
that's all I have to write.

Primes

2007-03-05T04:39:00.000-08:00

The number system has infinite numbers.
All enjoy company of each others.
Some are multiples, some are factors, some being roots of others.
But a few are destined to be alone.
Not their fault though, they enjoy being different.

Prime numbers
No one chooses to be with one, except a few fellow prime numbers.

The journey in search of a prime might take long time.
On top of it you have to judge the number with harsh criteria to determine whether he’s really a prime or not.
Because if he’s not, then seeker might expect prime number’s behavior from a non-prime.
This would be disaster.

Another thing separates these primes from others is their behavior.
It’s very different.
It’s neither good nor bad, but just different!!

They have few peculiar tendencies as well!
Primes are seldom interested in factors, roots and related stuff.
Primes have fate of their own, at max they can be dragged with the natural one.
But the one belongs to all and none at the same time.
Primes have no company and walk their life alone amongst the crowd of infinity.

But primes really enjoy being different.
I think a prime only can understand other prime.

Normal numbers always wonder how primes live their life as normal are always surrounded by numerous numbers.

Similarly primes also wonder-”how the hell these normal numbers manage with all this stuff around?”

Best thing is; however close two primes may get – they still remain primes!!!!

Idiot!

2007-02-28T02:59:00.000-08:00

Idiot = a grown up credulous person with innocent mind.

Love Actually(means)

2007-02-14T11:49:00.000-08:00

A: So what’s up on valentine’s day?
B: hehehe ( maha typical nervous smile)
A: ???
B: well , want to propose to ‘ _______ ‘
A: cool !! but are you sure you Love her etc …….
B: Offcourse!!!! I love her yaar…. Just love her too much…
A: 1 sawal hai ( with slight guilty feeling)
B: huh? ( ask quickly expression)
A: how do you know you love her? What do you mean by love?
B:hey , please don’t start at least on valentine’s day!!
I can explain you actually,
But anyways you won’t understand that.
A: (confused , puzzled as usual)

Currently I’m like A.
Just thought over the concept of love between 2 people
And could’nt get the exact meaning.
Waiting for explanation from all experienced people!

2007-02-13T01:27:00.000-08:00

I miss my camera
Puzzle: If a 2 eyed person feels better than a 1 eyed person, what is the value of camera?
No wonder this puzzle has remained unanswered since it was first created.

It is rumored that the creator was given a slow and most torturous death existing at those times.
Any ways, this all was just to confuse readers,if there are any.

Point is – I miss my camera.
No I’m not a classics photographer and my current activities with camera,
do not permit me to be one either !
But still when my eyes capture a few moments, my brain cells start tickling my brain.
They want those moments to be captured forever.

That’s why I miss my camera.

And believe me these moments are not of type “once in million”
They happen almost weekly, if not daily.
And however I try to memorize them, it’s just not possible.
Some details are always lost somehow.

That’s why I miss my camera.

You want an example of such moment?
Look no far (from me)
I love the moment when I brush my teeth and at the same time try to talk to my roommates over an interesting topic.
----------> :D
Demanding situation!!!

My teeth are happily in contact with the toothpaste and at the same time crying with agony when the brush bullies them…
And at the same time my tongue is waggling with immense enthusiasm to babble out Kaustubh’s opinion about some “AXZ “ issue.
When my roommates announce “brush your teeth first and then talk” I can imagine how they must be enjoying(!) the site.
Unfortunately I can never see this amazing picturesque phenomenon.
Alas!!

That’s why I miss my camera.

Another example is the typical face my friend makes when we make fun of her.
It’s a real SAD smiley… but very happy actually!!
The SAD expression on her face is the smile of innocence…
When her face makes the SAD smiley she is actually happy and we can sense this all through her smiley!
The way her mouth turns into a " :( " is really a moment I can never capture fully!!
Now someone tell me how to capture this all in your memory?

That’s why I miss my camera.

Another moment I want to detail out in my memory is that of my grandparents.
It’s simply worth watching when they tune on the TV and get engrossed into any mythological serial.
It doesn’t matter to them whether the so-so actor is present as God Shiva .. he is acting like a mule or he doesn’t even look like Balasaheb Thekare’s Shivsainik….

No.

They are totally immersed into the story.
They believe he is Shiva.
I just love thwe way they watch these serials.

And I miss my camera……

But the deeper I think,
I want to miss my camera!

BUG !!

2007-02-12T03:05:00.000-08:00

hey i just found a bug in blogspot.
It's allowing me to write my blogs in future !!
WOW ....i can post a blog dating 13 Feb 2007 on 12th Feb 2007 !!!

okay now onwards
Back to the future.....

Leaving 5*

2007-02-12T01:13:00.000-08:00

FEB 1st. Leaving 5* ....
( we lived in an house in AUNDH -pune for about a year [Feb06-Jan07]. We/every one called it 5*.
one fine day,we decided to shift to kothrud on FEb 1st 2007.
Some of the content might be off reference.... but that's how it is.)
written on 1st feb 2007

I am not exactly “shed those tears once in a while” type person.
Still today I feel disturbed somehow.
And I do require strong reasons for being disturbed.
Normally my state of mind is happy-happier-happiest.
And that’s how it should be for a software engineer earning good enough salary living with college friends in an excellent city.

But I am digressing. The reason why I am feeling sad today is really very different!

We are leaving our old house (I hate to term our house as merely ‘Room’)
We are leaving 5*.

The specialty of 5* starts right from the name itself!
Though we think it is self explanatory, many won’t, because it’s got a nice history.

Q: Why the name is 5*? (1M)
A: there lived 6 gentlemen happily in this house. When question arose of naming the same,
One gentleman (few have doubt whether we can call him so) came up with idea of ‘5*’.

Well, answer is not complete yet. But doesn’t this remind you of some of the classic answers we wrote over the years!
The logic behind 5* was-: 5 gentlemen + Mr. STAR (Tarkesh) = 5*

5* apartments was/is/will be one of the best possible abode a pest/gorilla/human/dinosaur can get.
It’s simply huge.
We never felt space crunch unless number of people staying went above 12.
The house always seemed to welcome everyone anytime.
Now I don’t know whether it’s simply our nature or the house allowed us to express this generosity towards everyone, probably a mixture of both.

I still remember the wee hours on fine working day when I heard a voice which was distinctly distinct and not from 5*.
But then calmed myself down and started guessing who this “Visitor of the day” could have been?
Being in 5* always gave me a sensation of being in a joint family.
Hustle bustle, noise, fights etc.
Now I must admit that few of us have been given vocal chords which are gutsier than badminton racket’s guts.
So we don’t need third person to call it crowd!

Its getting difficult to pen don now…
5* doesn’t have the ambience of a polished house
It isn’t really in best of the conditions either.
5* can’t boast of good furniture, hell it doesn’t have a single chair !!!
Forget about beds.

But it has something more to it.
It’s really a kind house.
Simple and beautiful.
Small yet big inside.

And then I suddenly realized 5* is not a house.
It’s a mind-set.
Our mission is to convert every single house, where we are going to stay, into a 5*.

2007-02-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

Identity.
Sometimes I wonder.
Why are a few people gifted?
As Dostoyevsky rightly said there are very few people original; rest are ignorant / “wise” fools.
Under which category do I fall?
How can I determine that?
And what if (I know this is highly wishful thinking, but ...) I am really original and not realizing it?
What if I never realize this in my lifespan?
I would certainly prefer that over being any type of fool.
Ignorant fools are at least happy. I am calling them Ignorant because they are always in the dark curtain of ignorance.
It simply makes life simple for them.
So is not the case always with wise fools, who know that they are not original.
They desperately fight with the disturbing fact. And fail to accept their mediocrity.
This dilemma causes agony.
But essence of life for majority of population is this “fight against mediocrity” by one means or other.
Often those who successfully emerge out victorious of this arena are again termed as Original.
But Original are those who don’t have to fight this battle in first place.
But I am drifting from the main topic.
What is my status? Do I have originality or am I simply ‘ ‘?
Face without any identity?