What I had been following these days

I have written a similar post earlier! But the things I am follwoing have changed. Here is one more.

1) Fifa World Cup 2006:

It's hard to believe, even for me that i have been watching this thing so ardently but it is true!

I have never been interested in so much of sports before. I have always followed only the finals of the world cup! But this time it was from the beginning! Argentina got out of the tournament today. They were my second favs! Let's see what my Fav england does. It will be so monotonous though if it is a brazil/germany final. It will be interesting no doubt, but this has been predicted since long! I don't like these kinds! Anyway, let's keep our fngers crossed.

2) Airline Tickets:
For going home in december, i have to book tickets now. Have contacted numerous people but later boiled down to "Mitra Travel". It would be wrong to say that I didn't have the mitra-mitra funda in my mind at all, but she gave me no special deal, i think rather a bad deal itself! But what to do. Whatever has happneed has happened.

3) IIFA 2006:
I have been desperately waiting for this, though i have no idea why! Was looking for videos on youtube even before it actually happnened. Till date, no site has come up with complete coverage, but here is i think the best part of the show. Rani-Ayesha-Amitabh in black. The hrithik n salman performances were also decent enough.

4)Google Earth/Wiki Maps: This new site is just awesome. Came to know about it just yesterday.and I have been trying to increase their database for information ever since. You have the option there in which u can put a block around a certain place and decribe it. I have been putting blocks around my kolkata house, nagpur house and my school, my KG school etc etc ever since.

Jo Beet gayi so baat gayi

One of my favourite poems, finally collected from the net!

Jo beet gayee so baat gayee

Jo beet gayee so baat gayee

jeevan meiN ek sitaaraa tha
maana woh behad pyaara tha
woh Duub gayaa to Duub gaya
ambar ke aanan ko dekho
kitne iske taare TuuTe
kitne iske pyaare chhuuTe
jo chhuuT gaye fir kahaN miley
par bolo Tuute taaroN par
kab ambar shok manaata hai?

jo beet gayee so baat gayee

jeevan meiN tha woh ek kusum
the us par nitya nichhaawar tum
woh suukh gaya to suukh gaya
madhuvan ki chhaati ko dekho
suukhi iski kitni kaliyaaN
murjhaayee kitni vallariyaaN
jo murjhaayee fir kahaN khilii
par bolo suukhe fuuloN par
kab madhuvan shor machaata hai?

jo beet gayee so baat gayee

jeevan meiN madhu ka pyaalaa tha
tum ne tan-man de Daala tha
woh TuuT gaya to TuuT gaya
madiraalaya ka aaNgan dekho
kitne pyaale hil jaate haiN
gir miTTi meiN mil jaate haiN
jo girte haiN kab uThte haiN
par bolo TuuTe pyaaloN par
kab madiraalaya pachhtaata hai?

jo beet gayee so baat gayee

mridu miTTi ke haiN bane huye
madhu ghaT phuuTa hi karte haiN
laghu jeevan lekar aaye haiN
pyaale TuuTa hi karte haiN
fir bhi madiraalaya ke andar
madhu ke ghaT haiN, madhu pyaale haiN
jo maadakta ke maare haiN
woh madhu luuTa hi karte haiN
woh kachcha peene waala hai
jiski mamta ghaT pyaaloN par
jo sachchhe madhu se jala huaa
kab rota hai chillaataa hai

jo beet gayee so baat gayee

- Harivanshrai "Bachchan"

Dad had a dream

I was talking to Baba (dad) over phone yesterday and he said he suddenly had a dream. I found it real funny and so i mention it here.
In his words- “I was running here and there frantically regarding your admission, mostly with a bagful of money too. And then finally secured admission in some obscure WB private college he meets the director of the college and that person asks, 'aapke bete ko hum kisliye admit kare?' and I replied 'kuch bhi pooch lijiye, use sab kuch aata hai' "

This was his dream, but I think these points to a lot of things. Firstly there are fathers who are overtly interested in what goes on with the son and try to always guide them. And then there are fathers who are happy with a yes answer to the question "bete , sab padhai wadhai theek chal raha hai naa?". Both are pretty irritating but given a choice, i would have loved the first category!
Baba is a blend of both, though acting like the second one, he keeps a close eye on everything!
Thankfully there was nothing that happened as was in the dream, I didn't have to go running around for colleges neither did i have to pay any huge amount as payment seat admit for my college.
But he did run around for my MS admissions. "Baba, i want a statement of finance", " Baba, i want this document faxed to me by 5 today", "baba, i want a CA statement" and numerous such wishes were immediately done!


Anyway, this was the first part of the sapna, analyzing the second part, earlier i thought it was just my father but now i know all fathers of the world are really proud of their siblings!

And another discussion about paying money in some obscure WB college for an engineering admission. Sometimes i have a doubt that is it really worth it, but now looking at the current scenario, I think it does. Keeping even a decent money in mind, you have to rule out all other professions other than Medical, and then news like TCS and Infosys hiring 25000 each during 06-07, it leaves little doubt that these companies will even go to Baba Gop Gapangam Das institute of technology in Jhumri Tallaiya, East UP. (The name is a hypothetical and I guess it is the worst name n place one can have for a college)

So that's it! That was the dream.


HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Anti-Reservation, My Take

Better late than never! Not getting much ideas to blog in recent past, there is no way i can let 1 go!
But this doesn't mean I am just writing one for the sake of writing!
Here we go!
I am against reservation but unlike many i am not against minorities or backward classes!
I Do believe that backward classes and minorities are still suppressed in India! Villages are no different! We, the e-saavy, blogging youth generally always come from posh metros or the so called small towns which are not small anymore! But what happens in Kalahandi(Orissa), Salekasa (chattisgarh) and the tiny villages in UP n Bihar, we don't know!
From some recent interactions I have come to know that India is still NOT shining in these places and lot many more! Caste discrimination is still at large and really bad in all these places!
For that matter all of us(Indians) are still. How many of us can do an intercast marriage without any eyebrow raise of any of the relatives. IMPOSSIBLE.

Generally all the anti-reservation protesters have this grudge since their admission days! Numerous examples have been written as how that boy didn't get to this institute and all but in this I want to thank my Mom as she had always told me to compete for that 250 seats that is available for you and never see the 500 seats and 50% reservation and this helped me a lot!

During my time in addition to the usual 50% reservation there was 50% reservation on the remaining 50% for girls! It was a big blow for me and I still remember how I cried after the counseling on being admitted to LIT. But never has the thought of blaming it on women or SC/ST came to my mind. And later, a prof in LIT had told that this rule hurts in the beginning but it's a blessing in disguise for the 4 years to follow! You have a 1-1 ratio and chance for a girlfriend is almost assured!

Whatever, i think reservation can't help improving the backward classes as the classes in India are based on socially backward and not economically backward an the two are no longer similar. So the general caste will hate the backward class even more, now in addition to the general hatred for the lower caste, they will hate them more for the undue advantages. So there is no use of the reservation + as no party is opposing the motion, i don't see how it will benefit one particular party!

Lastly, thanks to RDB, the youth is coming up so nicely for something! This was a phenomenon which was lost since independence i guess!

Arundhati says

Finally i got one statement which I have been tryin to express for a long long time but nobody can put t better than she does.
Thanks to my brother who sent me this as a forward:

"..the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can enter anywhere and inhabit comfortably. They don't deceive you with thrills and trick endings. They don't surprise you with the unforeseen.. They are as familiar as the house you live in. Or the smell of your lover's skin. You know how they end yet you listen as though you don't. In the way that you know that one day you will die, you live as though you won't. In the Great Stories you know who lives, who dies, who finds love, who doesn't. And yet you want to know again.

That is their mystery and their magic.."

~Arundhati Roy

CARS-Movie Review

Well, my first movie review!
CARS is an animation and the general indian youth mindset somehow is not used to the concept of atching animations and that too in theater! But i love it!
Anyway, coming to the movie. Pixar is famous for it's 3-D animations and there was no less of it here! The scenic nevada desert and especially the shadows and the mountains and the roadsigns was neautifully done! And as in all cartoons, the eyes had to be of big consequence!
I liked the concept because it was something i found myself related too! It was about Route 66. To know what i feel about route 66, read this.
The story is about how a race car gets lost on it's way to California on i-40 and lands up in a forgotten town which was on Route 66. What happens there is the movie.
Mater, the friend of our hero Lightning McQueen, and Sally his love are just awesome! Somehow i feel even the dubbed hindi movie will be really good! Because i felt Stuart Little was much funnier in Hindi than in English! And they can make this one also.

But i still can't give it any star rating! Because i am already biased towards the movie! So to ask for a good opinion, ask somebody else.

SHAMU- The happening weekend part3

Well, i don't think i can do proper justice to the story! There is Shamu and there is rest of the trip!
SHAMU first!
Shamu is a killer whale. Rather it is a group of liller whales with white n black body, twisted fin and is used in sea world San Antonio, Orlando n San diego. Shamu was used in the movie Free willy! For more info on Shamu, see http://www.shamu.com/
Everythihg about Shamu was good, the moment i entered the shamu "believe" theatre, i felt the shamu pulse! And whooosh!!!!!!!!!! here it comes! The shiny black and white body carrying the trainer! for a monet i forgit i was 23 and felt as if i was a kid! They were showing footages from the film too! The show went on for some 25 minutes and i felt every pie is worth it! The ticket was 40$ for the full sea world but i felt just shamu is worth the money and may be even more! But as usual, few agree with me. See the pictures uploaded to get a feel!
A note for vikram: When i come to San Diego, A shamu show is a must!


Now continuing with rest of the sea world story! After Shamu, we went to a ride! It turned u full ulta! 1 was ok, but soon it turned upside down again. and then 3, 4.... by the time i reached 5, i was like if it is not the last one, i will throw up! But thank god, it ended there!!! Everybody was happy but ya everybod was glad to get out of it too! Do i really hate such artificial thrills! I gues i do! I know i can manage most of the rides. I have survived all so far. But i really don't enjoy them! I find nothing good in them except telling others that it was so thrilling! It's so artificial thrill! U can have the same thrill in your dream also! And for one who gets thrills with Jane Austen novels, these look really artificial!

Whatever, coming back to the day events, next we went to one water ride! It wa stoo much rush so we had a 45 minute wait for the ride! There was a small boat which carried 6 people and carried them along a topsy turvy artificial river which had waterfalls and all! During the wait, pranay was pulling my leg a lot and i told him, "dekh le beta, tu hi bheegega sabse zyada". and it was true! click on the heading to see what happened to him! This ride was fun, load sof fun, but ofcourse no thrill!

Next we went for a dolphin show which was also too good but it was made "feeka" due to the shamu effect! Next we went for food and then saw penguins and went for another ride called steel eel. This didn't have any turn ulta so there was no "chakkar" involved but there was a 70 degree all! It was real thrill this time! As it falls, you are off the chair and u r held with just the metal belt which u hold. But the scenery was fantastic!

After that, we went to the sea lion show! This also, u have to see it to believe it! The sea lions and the walrus did a full skit about how to find an old uncle who has gone into hiding! The stage was 2 storeys and the lions did go toeach level and jumped and did all activities! The high time was when the uncle was found, it was a big creamy walrus and it was too fat! The instructor asked, what r u doing to reduce weight? and it actually started doing abs!!!

After yet another ride, it was time's up! It was 9 pm, but i had no mood of coming back! I wanted more of Shamu!
On the way back, it was fun! U just have to ask Harsha how is Dr. Enjeti (her advisor) and u can sit back for hours and listen her talk :) (Just kidding)

Reached back at 2 am and called home! After all i was missing mom a lot! She loves astronomy , and she loves sea! So it would have been actually an ideal trip for her. Missing u maa!

The Saturday- Day 2 of happening weekend

Click on the heading to see the photos! Uploading phots here was a real pain! But don't see it now! Do it when i tell u to!
But well, let me start off!
We started off in 2 cars! Rather both were large ones!
The members:
1) Me
2) Nikhil: my roomie
3)Mahesh: my roomie
4) Sachin
5) Champa
6)Parag
7)Harsha
8)Mukta
9)Amey And
10) Sunil

Me, my roomies n Patil were in one car. Mahesh was the navigator! It took almost 2 hours and after getting lost once and landing up near a river, we finally made it to NASA at around 1 pm!

It was just awesome! The inside museum was pretty tame though ( u have better ones in Science City Kolkata but the NASA tour was too good! One lady updated us about the latest plans of NASA! What foods do astronatuts have seemed to be a favourite question! This is in the pictures. Look out for it! See the pics NOW!!!!!!!!!
By the time we finished everything it was 5:15ish! we still didn't eat even a single bite! Hungry like Hungry Buddha, we head of towards gujrati restaurant thali!
Ummmmmmm, the food was so good and unlimited, though that is one thing which really doesn;'t help me much as i eat limited! But that day i overdid myself! And by the time I had my second helping of Puran Puri and shrikhand, i had become a balloon and couldn't walk a single step! Litellay carring the stomach in my hand, i headed off to Bollywood Cinema6 theater!
The movie Fanaa was ok! If u like Kajol/ aamir/Shero shayari, u will like the movie and there are very few left who like neither! I am one of them! Started hating aamir the day he broke off with Juhi (Post Ishq)!
Another good part was the people in the theater! There were quite a few good looking Paki girls in the theatre and for once Mahesh did agree that Muslim girls look better!

Came back home at 1:30 and slept off gering up for the next day! The best one!

Have u gone thru the photos yet, if not, DO IT NOW!

The story of a Happening Weekend!

It was a hapening weekend for me after infinite boring ones! Well let me start here with friday!
There will be 2 other posts on saturday and sunday!
Friday started of with nothing special. But suddenly Sunil Patil ( A friend, stays in Casa Del Sol apt) calls up and asks if i want to go to mall! And now that was a dumb question to ask as i am always ready for these kinds of things!
As soon as he kept the call, a thought came to mind, can we walk form the mall to the cinemark multiplex? And the answer came through google maps! Yes, it's just 0.3 miles and there is walkway available!
But now the next question, bus will leave us to mall, what about coming back if we go for a movie! The answer: Impossible, the last bus is at 6:30, the first show we can catch up is 4:45, unless we walk back 3.7 miles!
Another question, will Patil agree to walk back? No answers as yet! With slight doubt i start towards the bus stop, meet Patil on the way and ask him!!! he says he was waiting for somebody wierd like me who will dare to do such a thing!
So everything set. We go to the mall. I buy a floaters! Then we go to Cinemark theatre for Da Vinci Code. The movie was not bad, not good, helped me refresh the book!
Walking back was fun! After having an icecream break at Cold Stone icecream parlour, we head back to home! On the way, we cross a golf course and suddenly we see golf balls all around us! I was just thnking whether i should pick one n go, i see a ball comes flying towards us!! it was the place where the first shot usually falls!!! Just missing me the ball hits ground and i run away!

That was all i did on friday! The cold stone banana spilt with fresh strawberry was just awesome!

Austin Trip

Again a change from usuals. It's no more musing.
Let's begin. It was last friday,19th may. we were supposed to present our projects to NI!
We set off at 7:30 am approx! Me, Bharath (My Controls grp collegue/friend), Waqar (Dr swaroop and Dr. B's student), Indrajeet (a sitarist and a friend of Dr. B) and Dr. B himself .
On the way we had loads of coffee and a new thing called Kolache . It was okay dokay! I din't like it much!

Indrajeet was supposed to go for some radio function, we left him at someplace and went ahead to NI! The most funny thing as u enter NI is the flags, they have US flag , texas flag and an NI flag!

Well, the company was good! And we were greeted downstairs by their controls head Jeannie.
Well, not exactly the head but she was some boss! A PhD from MIT and one of the very few women in control system! The lesser the said about her the better! Hi-Fi fundoo and always excited to work.
Then came Ram, our one point contact! It seems NI is a good place for PhD's to work for!
Then our sessions started! It was almost 10:30! Dr. B started speaking about his paper and somehow the people got so interested in it that it continued till 12:15! Then we had a lunch break! People hate these lunches but i really like them! It was brown bread cheese and turkey sandwich, cookie , coke n chips! I neither had the coke nor the chips but still it was quite filling!
Then our turn came! Bharat spoke first! Then it was me! But i had nothing new to speak, as the slides i had prepared were already covered by Dr. B, it was justa repeatation! So i skipped lall that and moved into my software! There were the usual, oh, that's good and all such things but it was all hidden under the beauty of the theory lecture that Dr. B had given!
Then Ram gae some ideas of hi own as to hwo they are going to productize this and then the meting ended!
Now the usual discussions about world cup football started! And as the group assembled there had 2 argentine, 1 brazilian, one Venezuela guy and 3-4 indians, the argentine and the brazillian kept talking for minutes on all that! These american care only for American football!

Me and bharat were pretty pissed off with our efforts being wasted but as soon as we came out, Dr. B seemed to be very happy! He said it was the best resposnse they had ever given and they really seemed serious about all that unlike anytime before!

We then went to pick indrajeet in an Indian Restaurant swad! It was a gujju run restaurant! we ordered chaat and bhelpuri's!!! I somehow felt it was too spicy. That created a laugh amongst thers as to how can one change so quickly! But one thing i really liked there was a certain action by Dr. B! We were all eating from all the plates! And once i was eating bhel puri which Dr. B wanted. while handling him the plate i forgot to take out my spoon out! And he ate from that!
It wouldn't hve been very surprising if i had been in Surathkal! There, asking for seperate spoon is considered to be a disgrace! I felt old habits die hard! after all, he was alos in IIT for 4 years!!!
On the way back, we were dicussing some hifi control system stuff and i was really enjoying!
But suddenly we all heard bharat snoring!!! He was deep asleep! Coming back was fun, we were elated and Dr. B was cracking nice jokes all the way!
Overall, it was a good trip! But ofcourse, a ONE MAN SHOW