Miscellaneous post..

Lately nothing much has been happening. I have been frequenting the hostel to get the no-dues certificates. Its a big pain - collecting all these no dues. But I guess its customary. And for those who are unaware, my hard-disk has recovered. It has been resurrected! :D So I have been filling my hard disk with all kinds of movies. Will be buying a laptop soon.. I just hope its not too heavy for me to carry around. :-s

In other news, my hair has been growing at a steady rate. And I have been under house arrest because of growing cases of sunstroke around our area. So mom is being overly cautious. And I am being forced to spend time watching TV and solving sudokus from old editions of Hindu and DC. At one point of time, I was frustrated enough to take up a copy of The Economic Times, but then better sense prevailed because the articles I chose to read hardly made any sense.

As usual, I've had trouble sleeping at nights and hence end up in front of the idiot box. They show quite a lot of crap on television.. never realised it before. Especially the Aap Ka Surrooor trailers! The recent trailer seems to be depicting the Indian autorikshaw-wallahs as superheroes. It is hilarious.. the trailer, in the wrong sense. And I cant wait for the movie to release. Imagine the kind of fun you can have watching the movie in theaters! :D

Have been listening to quite a lot of movie sound tracks. Aakhri Alvida by Strings and mp3 title tracks are impressive. Adnan Sami has come up with a new album as well with typical Adnan songs. The videos are decent and for a change Adnan is not occupying more than half of the screen. Otherwise it tends to become gross especially when the 29 inch TV screen is covered with a fat man dressed in Hawaiian shirts. The Cheeni Kum trailer is also nice! :D

So IIM-K has replied asking me to undergo medical tests and send them a medical certificate saying I am fine, physically and mentally to take up the PGDM course. I'll be leaving Hyderabad on June 13th, report at the campus on 14th. But before I get to go to K, I'll be making a trip to Chennai for my cousin's marriage. So I need to request mom to draw the family tree so that I can at least have a vague idea which uncle/aunt of mine I am talking to. Painful!

In other news, India managed to draw the test match against Bangladesh. Sachin and Saurav scored centuries and are back to "form". I am yet to receive bumps for getting into K. I will be vacating my room soon. And I guess thats it. Life has been a drag lately except for the spate of mails that we witnessed from ug4GN. Thank you IV for taking the initiative :D I'll be missing IIIT.. :(

Quote of the day:

When I was younger I had 2 imaginary friends.. problem was, they'd only play with each other.

PS1: This post itself resembles a PS post. So I dont think I'll be writing any PS-es.
PS2: On second thoughts, I think writing PS-es are fun.. :D
PS3: Watched Initial D -First Stage anime on Animax. Decent plot. Bad animation though.
PS4: Jaffer has hit a century after bagging a pair. Guess he is also back to "form"
PS5: Hope to watch Shootout at Lokhandwala soon.
PS6: Bored. Someone scrap me! Plea of a desperate man.
PS7: Hardly received any comments on the last short story. I guess only sad stories make a good read. hmm...

The Fugitive

He was a man on the run for the past 2 days. He was running.. running away from people; his responsibilities; his past . He was running in search of a new life hoping that he could save himself from those who were chasing him. They were dangerous people - people who were very influential; who could make the townsfolk dance to their tunes.

He stumbled but managed to regain his balance. His thoughts were all muddled up as his past flashed across his mind. His parents; his friend; his love - Susie. He shed a tear as he recalled her; the guilt was eating him up from the inside and was becoming too hard to bear. But this was the price he had to pay to get back his freedom; the freedom to start his life from the scratch.

He was very clever. He knew that they would come looking for him with dogs hoping that they could track his scent. Keeping them in mind, he had rolled in mud to put them off. A smirk appeared on his face when he thought of the clueless dogs losing his scent all of a sudden. Ha!

He ran harder. He had already made plans for his future.. the new future. He wanted to settle in Mexico. He had always liked the Mexicans - very friendly people who lived a carefree life. And Mexican cuisine had always been his favourite. Yes, Mexico it had to be.

He was told by many about a man who lived near Las Vegas; who could make false passports and driving licenses. But he'd look out of place and suspicious if he were to go to him. No, passports can wait, he told himself. Just when he was piecing up his almost picture-perfect future, a voice yelled "Calvin young man, you come back here right now and finish your homework or I swear you'll be grounded for rest of your life!"

He froze. His past had caught up with him. He knew he could not evade it forever as the weekend homework lay in his room. Unfinished. In spite of knowing the answer, Calvin turned to Hobbes and asked, "Are you sure we cannot divorce our parents?" As he trudged back to his room, his mom yelled at him for his dirty clothes. But he knew that deep down in his heart - he was one of them. He was a fugitive.

Perfect Lover tag..

Yeah.. so long long ago I was tagged by Ms.Teal for this perfect lover tag. And finally I have found time, patience and enough boredom to blog about my perfect lover. So here are the rules:

1. The tagged victim has to come up with 8 different points of their perfect lover.
2. Need to mention the sex of the target.
3. Tag 8 victims to join this game & leave a comment on their comments saying they’ve been
tagged.
4. If tagged the 2nd time, there’s no need to post again.

If my parents were to do this tag for me, this is how it would look:
WANTED: A tall, fair, beautiful looking girl aged 24-26. Must be a Tamilian Iyengar of the vadagala sect. (Dont ask me what it is.. I dont know either) Must have good values and morals.. blah blah blah blah.. (My imagination seems to have deserted me. And it sounds rather boring. So I shall stop)

Moving on to the tag, I need to mention 8 points.

1. She needs to respect my parents. And all elders. She should get along well with everyone - friends and relatives.
2. She needs to know cooking. And she needs to know it well! This is very very important. Otherwise god knows what will happen to me. Probably Maggi se kaam chala loonga.. hmm..
3. She needs to have a sense of humour. And by sense of humour, any kind is fine.. be it dry, childish, subtle, obsolete or whatever.. I cant remember all the different types of humour they ask you to fill in the orkut profile.. phew! And she should get my jokes. I should not be in a posiiton to explain the funda behind them. People of that kind do exist, believe me!
4. She should be loving and caring. She needs to stand by me and support me in whatever I do. She also should be knowledgeable.
5. And before I forget, she needs to love kids! And I dont mean love-having-kids, just love kids. I dont know why but I guess it would be fun to have such a girl.
6. She should love talking. Now that isnt something demanding, is it? And she should also be a good listener. That would be fun. If either of us get bored, we could sit and talk! But that would mean both would be jobless.. shit!
7. She should love cleaning but shouldn't be a cleanliness freak. aahhh.. what a great combo! :D She also needs to know dancing. As long as she can dance better than me, its fine. And believe me, I am no Hrithik Roshan. Dancing is something which needs to be learnt in chidlhood. Just like walking, speaking and lying. I want my kids to be decent dancers and they aint getting any dancing genes from me.. but she should not dance too well. Inferiority complex.. ever heard of it?
8. On a side note, she needs to be sufficiently tall - Not 4-5 foot. She needs to be younger than me; fairly fair - not pale though. Domestic abuse is a strict no-no. With women learning karate and taekwondos, I guess I need to mention this explicitly. I dont want to end up with someone like Joey's girlfriend. The one who punches him, remember? No drinking smoking as well.. kaisa zamaana aa gaya.. should be honest as well. Thats important. And English should be the primary language of communication. Or probably Hindi. I'm not very good at other languages - be it Tamil, Telugu, Marathi or probably Malayalam. And I guess that's it. Apparently I am nitpicky.. hmm.. This is the problem with the perfect tag!

So what does she get in return? Here's the deal.

1. Of course I'd also respect her parents. I guess.. :-s :P :D
2. Well, I can also learn cooking to a certain extent. I dont really mind cooking. Its fun when done occasionally. Believe me.. :D
3. I'd like to believe I have a decent sense of humour.
4. And since she loves cleaning, I'll do the dirtying part and keep her happy. My, oh my.. am I considerate or what?! :P
5. I can talk for hours and hours. On quite a lot of things. And most of the times its entertaining - except for once during my K interview when I managed to put one of the interviewers to sleep. I was talking about the Turing machine then. The other interviewer was busy chuckling under his breath.
6. I do act kiddish now and then but since she loves kids I guess its not an issue at all! :P
7. I am a strong believer in playing pranks. And giving surprises. I just love those Kodak moments! :D So I suppose life will be exciting together.
8. Ok, I need to be leaving now since its time to go home and eat ice cream!! :D My kiddish genes are acting up, I guess.. :-<

Quote of the day:

Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.

PS1: Life has been boring lately. No mood to write PS-es. No time also..
PS2: Sorry for the delay, Tealie.
PS3: I am finally joining an IIM! :D
PS4: Marriage is not full of compromises.. its full of sacrifices. Heard it somewhere but cant place it.. :-?
PS5: I am still waiting for your criticism, mythalez! :D

Short story - I

And then she laughed. He always loved that laugh of hers; made him forget all his sorrows. It felt like everything was right with the world. It took him 2 years to garner enough guts to tell her how much he loved her. He proposed to her on a full moon night and she accepted. And just when things were finally looking up, he was stationed at the borders.

She smiled and her eyes twinkled in mischief. He just wanted to prolong the moment but suddenly, he felt dizzy and things moved out of focus. He woke up with a jolt and found himself in a dark room; not a speck of daylight. He did not know where he was; he did not know for how long he lay there. The last thing he remembered was the grenade falling right in front of him. Yes, the grenade! He tried moving his hands and legs, and was relieved when he found out that he could move them; with some difficulty of course.

Sameer talpade belonged to the establishment of Rajputana rifles. He had been stationed near the borders as soon as the war had escalated. A week later, orders had been given to take over the enemy bunkers en route to Pt. 6785. And like his colleagues, he had mastered his fears. The nation came first, even before her. As he made inroads into the enemy territory, everything came back in a flash – the good times they spent, the tiffs they had and the stupid names they called each other with. And then fell the grenade; blacking him out.

After a lengthy contemplation, he concluded that he had been caught by them. He was now a PoW. He had to think hard; he had to think fast - so as to make good his escape before they returned. As he felt his way across the room, he could hear footsteps. He tried finding any sharp-edged metallic piece; just one slash near the throat – it would be quick, subtle and slightly messy. Suddenly the footsteps came to an abrupt halt. Did they spot his movement? Impossible! He was very good at stealth. And then he heard another set of footsteps. As he prepared himself to lunge out and get at least one of them before it was too late, he heard, “Sameer. I’m sorry to say, you’ve lost your vision. The grenade was very powerful and exploded very close to your eyes. They could not take it.” And then it seemed like the whole world came crashing around him. “Crying is good. It helps you get rid of fear and frustration”, she once quipped.

She had passed away a month ago in a car accident just before his orders arrived. But then he had been taught that the nation came first before everyone. And everyone included her.

As Sameer strained his eyes to cry, he realized that his tear glands had deserted him. He could sense the doctor standing right in front of him with a puzzled look. After what seemed a while, he asked, “Doctor, did we capture Pt. 6785?” He replied in affirmative. And then they needed no second invitation as tears started rolling down his cheeks. The harder he tried, the more uncontrollable his sobbing became. He muttered a thank-you to the doctor who replied, “You are very lucky to come out of it alive. Someone out there must be praying very hard for you”.

She was smiling again.. and laughing.

He called out, “Nurse, can you give me a shot of morphine?” as he prepared to go back to the world where he could see - where he could see what he wanted to see.

_____________________________________________

PS1: Brickbats and bouquets are welcome. Any suggestions to improve the story line are also welcome. Suggestions for the title of the story are also welcome.

PS2: Went for the informal IIM-K meet at CCD. Was fun. And interactive. The seniors seemed pretty cool and definitely non-geekish! K looks like a fun place to go.. :D Cant wait for 3rd week of June.. :D

PS3: Hard disk crashed!! At home and at room! My posts, short stories and lots of other stuff - vanished! :((

PS4: Still feeling senti about leaving IIIT. I guess that has been the general opinion throughout the batch.

The one with the batch trip

And so finally, I get down to writing about the batch trip when all has been said and done about it already. Anyhoo, we started on 17th April and made our way to Nampally from where we boarded the train. Since we did not have enough berths reserved, we ended up with a 3:1 ratio. Just like the students:PC ratio in IIIT.. :)) We took turns sleeping while the others chatted among themselves. And by night, we had enough berths reserved. In fact, I got a whole upper berth! woo-hoo!! :D


The next day morning, we arrived at Delhi. We got awesome rooms. AC.. big beds.. AC.. nice bathrooms.. AC!! A freezer.. and of course AC. Food offered was also very decent. Simple, yet decent. Then we started on a small tour around the city. Saw all those important political and historical stuff.. you know Parliament, Rashtrapati bhavan, Qutb minar, India Gate and Karol Bagh. We visited the Lotus temple as well, and outside Lotus temple almost the whole batch bought the Rs.10 goggles which were being sold outside the temple premises. Here you can see yours truly posing with all the goggles he can wear at a time trying to pass himself off as a salesman. (I demanded the pic be taken before they could arrange any more glasses.. :( )

The next day we started our arduous journey to Chandigarh which took us 8 hours by bus. Now chandigarh is the most beautiful city I've ever seen. And no, I am not exaggerating. No puns intended either. It is by far, the cleanest and most organized city I've ever come across. And as I said earlier, the city is beautiful in every sense ;) And they've got some of the best mango juice makers.. :D The Chandigarh rooms were decent as well. And we went for boating!! It was fun and exciting boating with friends.. :) We also went to some rock garden. Very informational it was. And boring.

The next day morning we started for Kullu Manali - our main destination. We had no idea it would take us 15 hours to reach there! But the journey was a roller coaster ride. We took breaks, shot a few snaps, and enjoyed the natural beauty the mountains had to offer. Did you know that the water was ice-cool even at noon? They called it spring water or something of that sort. Then finally we reached Manali at 10 PM. The dogs in Manali are very strong. And furry. Each one looked like a hound. Scary.. :-s

So finally we reached Manali.. the rooms were awesome! Not a single room had a fan but the room temperature was quite low. They provided us with quite a few rugs to keep us warm. The next morning we took off for snow point which is en route to Rohtang pass. And for most of us, it was the first time we saw snow. It was by far, the most memorable part of the batch trip. The mountains almost seemed to touch the sky. I guess I am running out of words to describe the experience. It was worth taking all the pains. So at snow-point, we saw quite a few yaks. Here in the pic, you can see Tipo playing the cupid between the lovely yak couple.

We all got turns to try skiing. I, for one, was as good at snow as I am on land. Clumsy. And before I forget, there is nothing better than eating steaming Maggi when you're freezing to death.. :D We then went on tyre rides where you get to slide down a 30 feet slope on a tyre! Its primitive, but its exhilarating! :D Tyre rides were fun. Soon, our feet had become numb. I guess it was the snow some of which had managed to make their way into our shoes. So as we sat there, with our shoes and socks removed, our naked feet resting on the warm rocks.. it just felt great! :D

On our way back from snow point, we stopped near a waterfall - Krrish shooting was rumoured to have taken place there - to have our lunch. It was chiller than snow point thanks to the cold winds fluttering across the plains. But it was a great place to stop. Lunch was once again pretty decent. We took quite a few snaps beside the waterfall but I am going to stop putting any more pics because firefox is acting up.

That night we had a bonfire set up. Songs blasted on the speakers as everyone let their hair down. (I know I dont have much hair, but thats just an expression!! Nitpicks!!) Thankfully none of the video cameras caught the author shaking his leg. But my leg got stomped upon quite a few times as I tried to gingerly avoid the over zealous dancers. At the end of the day, I had been stomped 22 times - highest scorers being Sairaj and T3. (For the next 2 days, I had difficulty walking as I my toes ached. )

The next day was somewhat forgettable. So moving on, we finally made it to Agra - our last stop. Watched the Agra fort, ogled at the foreigners, took snaps with monkeys and then ogled more at the foreigners. Then we moved on to THE Taj Mahal. But somehow I guess you need to be in love to really appreciate the structure because I didn't really see what the big deal was! :P And then I saw a phirangi couple with tears streaming down their cheeks as they kept staring at the monument. And I was trying my level best to suppress a giggle and ended up chuckling a lot. Thankfully the place was crowded enough.. #:-s

So that was that. Our return journey to Hyderabad was uneventful. Did quite a bit of shopping. I recently discovered my love for shopping.. or rather bargaining.. :D Especially be it the peta shop or the jerk-ins, my friends dragged me along for some bargaining.. :D Its fun.. bargaining.

Some of the memorable moments..
ITEM Raja B.Tech Honors.. hu ha hu ha.. :D
NPK and the ladies toilet scam
Batchu and his little strip tease.. :))
Cards!! Least count.. bluff.. rummy! :D
Bargaining! A guy quoted a jerkin's price as 750 and 5 minutes later he was running behind us begging us to buy it at 300! :D
The bottle fights in the bus! Poor Raja.. :D

PS1: Peta doesnt stand for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Its a world famous sweet in Agra.. ;) that's how the salesman marketed it!
PS2: The mineral water bottling industry made a huge profit during our batch trip.
PS3: I finally decided to upload pics in orkut.
PS4: And my IIM results are out. I got into IIM-K. Yes, I am slightly disappointed, but on hindsight what would I do after going to A!?! :D And for the kind of preparation I did, I really doubt whether I deserve IIM-K.. :))
Ps5: Relieved that the results are out. Am yet to get out of the relief stage..
PS6: Everyone else performed pretty well. 4 of them are into A.. which is cool! :D
PS7: People have started leaving the campus. Right now my wing wears a deserted look. Wonder what I am doing here still.. :(
PS8: The book kiterunner is the most asimov (awesome) book I've read in a loong time. Thank you Geetha and Sameera for suggesting the book. Its a must read.. MUST read.. go read it.. Its available in the library! :D
PS9: I am done with a short story. Need more polishing. Finished it in an hour! Surprisingly.. probably the next post will be a short story.