Welcome Back.
I’ve been gone long. 3 months, near about. 3 months of slack acknowledgment of life’s suckiness. I am hoping for that to change.
A lot of changes took place, yet somehow I am still as indolent as ever. Rains gave into Fall, which gave into Winter. The music playing changed with seasons – Jazz for the rains, Slowcore for the fall, Johnny Hollow (listen on it) and a whole lotta Gothic ambiance for the winters. The lack of good books to read was apparent in much scarce thoughts on the blog. However, I pulled myself up to read Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and I find myself completely blown away. I haven’t read a more complex novel. The writing style, I presume, is part reason for the complexity. I also watched Coppola’s Apocalypse Now and it is an amazing adaptation of Heart of Darkness. If you aren’t much into reading books you much watch this classic of a war movie. I am currently trying Golding’s Lord of the Flies.
A lot of pending DVDs found their way to the screen. Apocalypse Now, Chinatown, Dead Poet’s Society, The Dreamers, El Topo, Everything is Illuminated, Fargo, Silent Hill, and some more. Many old DVDs went into a lot of heavy rotation too – Casablanca, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Godfather I & II, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Good Will Hunting, Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, To Kill A Mockingbird, Vanilla Sky and a lot more.
So, all-in-all, I haven’t done much again. It is high time I do something worthwhile.
There’s lot to write about but words aren’t flowing the way they used to. I feel more and more like Winston Smith starting his diary in Nineteen Eighty-Four, wanting to write, afraid to write, but when he writes it seems more like babble than a meaningful discourse yet the babble makes complete sense.
So I’ll leave you guys here hoping that at least one or two of the old readers would return. While I club my notes and thoughts for a serious introspection of the last 3 months, you keep reading and talkback on this routinely mundane post.
PS. Took quite a part of these three months to redesign this blog. Wait and Watch. Work In Progress.
Showing posts with label Personal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Personal. Show all posts
November 03, 2006
July 29, 2006
A Rush Of Blood To The Head
I am working. Working over ideas. Working on my skills as a designer, developer and a writer. I am working on giving a name, an identity to the work I do. All I need to do is try not to lose attention, it’s the only thing I am good at losing. Things are now in motion that might make some changes. Changes that might be good, hopefully great.
Do Stay.
Do Stay.
July 23, 2006
July 15, 2006
Gone. Will Be Back.
Gone: travelling.
Be Back: July 20th.
Until then, Check out the archives. Starting from the last post. And Comment!
Be Back: July 20th.
Until then, Check out the archives. Starting from the last post. And Comment!
July 07, 2006
Getting Wasted on Frankies
It’s hard to keep up with your attendance at college when you have more important things to attend. Like attending the local fast-food joint/café “Fifth Avenue”, for some quick chicken frankies. Or hatching ingenious plans to destroy the day for Badruka and his cronies (snobs all of them). It’s hard to keep up with classes when you are needed at the college parking lot to carry smoked out Javed to safety. Or when you have to listen to Savage Garden and Mission Impossible 2 OST back-to-back because Rahil won’t lend the CDs to you.
I attended the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (BVB) for a whole year. By attended, I mean that I was a student of Bhavan’s for a year before dropping it for an under-grad in computer applications. My real attendance at college was 23%. I am still surprised at how I got past our screaming principal, Kakade.
We spent most of our day in the college parking lot or the cafeteria. In case of excessive monetary funds we would be chilling out at FAVs (local acronym for Fifth Avenue) munching through Frankies and sandwiches and gulping down cold/hot beverages. I must say I have never eaten anything as HOT as a Frankie at FAVs.
When we somehow happened upon a class it would be either QT (Quantitative Techniques) or Eco (Economics) or a language class (English/Hindi).
The QT professor was a newbie, this job being his first-ever gig. This was about the time when that movie Mohabbatein was out. Suddenly being a Professor became cooler than those frigid tins of coke at FAVs. So the QT professor, the young chap that he was, started acting all RAJ A. MALHOTRA on our collective asses. He would come to class, a sweater thrown over his shoulders like Shahrukh Khan, and a pair of plain glasses on his eyes. He also wore those pleat less pants. Those vanilla-palette shirts. The poor fellow even acted as nothing was out of place with that sweater on his shoulders, keeping his back warm. Even when we tried to bring out the sweater-issue he would deviate us with some deviations questions. The weirdest part was his name: RAJ.
Half the Eco class was ruined most of the time because it came right after recess. And we attended recess rigorously. This caused us to return to our classes a bit late, 10-15 minutes usually. Plus, there was Rakesh’s awfully distracting entrance in the class every once in a while. He used enter the class last, wearing his helmet and then would sit half-way through the lecture without taking it off. The professor who had already witnessed/annoyed/threatened over this regular masquerade wouldn’t say a word and carry on with her lecture.
The only professors I would ever like were the English ones. Right from school, through junior college and the under-grads I had some great English professors. It is only now that I’ve realized the amount of interest I paid during those monotonous sessions of Keats and Wordsworth. I didn’t like poetry as much as the next guy sitting beside me, which would be Javed most of the time. But it would have been worth the attention that I never gave. At least I would have had a grammatically correct blog.
It is funny how we waste our college days over these moments. These moments of convenience food and parking-lot-adventures. These moments with peculiar professors and their prejudiced remarks. These moments, they become surreal, almost dreamlike after you leave college. But they persist. Funny how these wasted days are perhaps the best days of our lives.
I attended the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (BVB) for a whole year. By attended, I mean that I was a student of Bhavan’s for a year before dropping it for an under-grad in computer applications. My real attendance at college was 23%. I am still surprised at how I got past our screaming principal, Kakade.
We spent most of our day in the college parking lot or the cafeteria. In case of excessive monetary funds we would be chilling out at FAVs (local acronym for Fifth Avenue) munching through Frankies and sandwiches and gulping down cold/hot beverages. I must say I have never eaten anything as HOT as a Frankie at FAVs.
When we somehow happened upon a class it would be either QT (Quantitative Techniques) or Eco (Economics) or a language class (English/Hindi).
The QT professor was a newbie, this job being his first-ever gig. This was about the time when that movie Mohabbatein was out. Suddenly being a Professor became cooler than those frigid tins of coke at FAVs. So the QT professor, the young chap that he was, started acting all RAJ A. MALHOTRA on our collective asses. He would come to class, a sweater thrown over his shoulders like Shahrukh Khan, and a pair of plain glasses on his eyes. He also wore those pleat less pants. Those vanilla-palette shirts. The poor fellow even acted as nothing was out of place with that sweater on his shoulders, keeping his back warm. Even when we tried to bring out the sweater-issue he would deviate us with some deviations questions. The weirdest part was his name: RAJ.
Half the Eco class was ruined most of the time because it came right after recess. And we attended recess rigorously. This caused us to return to our classes a bit late, 10-15 minutes usually. Plus, there was Rakesh’s awfully distracting entrance in the class every once in a while. He used enter the class last, wearing his helmet and then would sit half-way through the lecture without taking it off. The professor who had already witnessed/annoyed/threatened over this regular masquerade wouldn’t say a word and carry on with her lecture.
The only professors I would ever like were the English ones. Right from school, through junior college and the under-grads I had some great English professors. It is only now that I’ve realized the amount of interest I paid during those monotonous sessions of Keats and Wordsworth. I didn’t like poetry as much as the next guy sitting beside me, which would be Javed most of the time. But it would have been worth the attention that I never gave. At least I would have had a grammatically correct blog.
It is funny how we waste our college days over these moments. These moments of convenience food and parking-lot-adventures. These moments with peculiar professors and their prejudiced remarks. These moments, they become surreal, almost dreamlike after you leave college. But they persist. Funny how these wasted days are perhaps the best days of our lives.
July 01, 2006
Bed-Ridden Ranting
You do a lot when you are bed-ridden with a viral. You get up earlier than usual. You read a lot than usual because you are nowhere near the PC. You think. You think when you are eating. You eat consciously. You come up with new ideas, new conclusions about things that doesn’t matter. You abruptly become more thankful than your average. You are thankful to Steve Jobs for the iPod, for letting you indulge in R.E.M.’s Sweetness Follows repeatedly. These songs change with your mood, seriously. You are thankful to Jo Rowling for writing a much-needed dark tale; at least some kids would read, including this 23-year old “boy”. You are also thankful to Chuck Palahniuk and Harper Lee for bringing gore and beauty during this (hopefully) short outing on the bed. This also brings to your mind that some people really think that reading books is uncool and only geeks do that. You digress, since that’s not the case. You are thankful to the ONE EVERYWHERE for bestowing people around you who don’t implicitly worry about your slackness. “I always wonder why did we bother” is gratefully not your case, although “distance from one” did work out few years ago.
Your medication includes 4 different drugs, two of which are anti-histamine and moderately sedative, which is bad since you are not able to indulge. The sedatives start to rock you to sleep in a quarter or so of an hour. The only downside is the fuckin’ weakness. You hate being weak even as you are all raving about Superman Returns and have already got the tickets for a Sunday afternoon show – IMAX 3D. Catch you there, hopefully, F-13. This is the second movie where you got the seat #13, M:I:3 rocked, hoping the same from Bryan Singer.
Your medication includes 4 different drugs, two of which are anti-histamine and moderately sedative, which is bad since you are not able to indulge. The sedatives start to rock you to sleep in a quarter or so of an hour. The only downside is the fuckin’ weakness. You hate being weak even as you are all raving about Superman Returns and have already got the tickets for a Sunday afternoon show – IMAX 3D. Catch you there, hopefully, F-13. This is the second movie where you got the seat #13, M:I:3 rocked, hoping the same from Bryan Singer.
May 10, 2006
Pause
|| This is a pause.
I've been busy lately. I've been writing. Two Tests. Will return, pretty soon.
Proximamente.
I've been busy lately. I've been writing. Two Tests. Will return, pretty soon.
Proximamente.
April 24, 2006
April 07, 2006
Hapless in Hyderabad
or How I Stopped Worrying and Started to Write
The days were rocking slowly and the nights were short. The crappy speakers on the sideboards of the huge computer table were squeaking tinny sounds that heard something like Pearl Jam’s I am Mine. Some days are meant to be wretched. The daily weather ticker on a local website announced the temperature. 38 freaking Celsius. It also proclaimed Hyderabad was the hottest frying pan in the whole country on that day.
The 1984 vintage air cooler was blowing arid waves of torture in my direction. It was the year that I did nothing. And I perfectly know that the previous statement is crap because it is impossible to point out the year being pointed out. I push next on my playlist. Sting’s Fragile. This one at least complemented the weather, as in didn’t make you feel more humid. I put the song on repeat.
I have been hitting the return key for the past 10 minutes to register the results of a boring little program I wrote in PHP. I peered over the book in my lap. At this pace I would develop my dream project in about 10-12 years. I slammed the book shut and opened another. It was Kevin Sampson’s Awaydays, an excellent debut novel which would later encourage me to see Green Street Hooligans and read Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch.
Deeply immersed in good Scouse accent, football matches and gore I was thinking about the one thing I always think about when reading a book. I wish I could write. I wanted to write something. It could be anything, the only prerequisite was readers. It was a no-brainer that who would read my crap, no one. So there it was, always in my mind yet it never happened.
Rewind << I have written before.
My first real writing was a collaborative piece of work with my younger sister, Arshiya. I was 9 or maybe 10. It was a short story about this guy called Massey and how he meets this ghost who shows up every now and then. Just like today the story reflected a lot of what I’ve been reading or watching. Those were the days of sci-fi and space adventures. Massey, the protagonist of our story was actually a hero of another sci-fi book we were reading. Anyway, the joy of writing a full story was great, but it was read by only two people, me and Arshiya. We both happened to be the only creative minds in the house.
I close Awaydays.
I think again, of writing about my life. In thinking I come up with the idea of writing about “years” past. I also come up with the format - Yearly or half-yearly set of events written under the title of a song much heard in that part of the year. And so I keep this idea in my mind and so it came to be.
Presently.
I write them now as I have thought it out. I have stopped worrying who would read. I still am the only creative mind in my friend circle, the only one holding creativity in high esteem. At home everything remains the same too. Still I am going to write. I will write as unbiased and as truthful an account as I can or want to. I will also take the pain of offline-ing my friends who are now spread around the world, and tell them to read at least a single entry.
It is but hope that keeps the world running and the writers writing.
About the day described above, it was a summery day in March 2004 and today it is yet another summer day and the city has recorded the highest temperature in the country. I have just finished reading Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch and I am listening to Sting as I end this little write-up. And yes he is still on repeat.
P.S.: The 7 songs series is coming soon to this weblog or a feed reader near you.
P.P.S: Apart from the title and this Post-postscript the whole article is exactly 666 words. Coincidence or demonic intervention.
The 1984 vintage air cooler was blowing arid waves of torture in my direction. It was the year that I did nothing. And I perfectly know that the previous statement is crap because it is impossible to point out the year being pointed out. I push next on my playlist. Sting’s Fragile. This one at least complemented the weather, as in didn’t make you feel more humid. I put the song on repeat.
I have been hitting the return key for the past 10 minutes to register the results of a boring little program I wrote in PHP. I peered over the book in my lap. At this pace I would develop my dream project in about 10-12 years. I slammed the book shut and opened another. It was Kevin Sampson’s Awaydays, an excellent debut novel which would later encourage me to see Green Street Hooligans and read Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch.
Deeply immersed in good Scouse accent, football matches and gore I was thinking about the one thing I always think about when reading a book. I wish I could write. I wanted to write something. It could be anything, the only prerequisite was readers. It was a no-brainer that who would read my crap, no one. So there it was, always in my mind yet it never happened.
Rewind << I have written before.
My first real writing was a collaborative piece of work with my younger sister, Arshiya. I was 9 or maybe 10. It was a short story about this guy called Massey and how he meets this ghost who shows up every now and then. Just like today the story reflected a lot of what I’ve been reading or watching. Those were the days of sci-fi and space adventures. Massey, the protagonist of our story was actually a hero of another sci-fi book we were reading. Anyway, the joy of writing a full story was great, but it was read by only two people, me and Arshiya. We both happened to be the only creative minds in the house.
I close Awaydays.
I think again, of writing about my life. In thinking I come up with the idea of writing about “years” past. I also come up with the format - Yearly or half-yearly set of events written under the title of a song much heard in that part of the year. And so I keep this idea in my mind and so it came to be.
Presently.
I write them now as I have thought it out. I have stopped worrying who would read. I still am the only creative mind in my friend circle, the only one holding creativity in high esteem. At home everything remains the same too. Still I am going to write. I will write as unbiased and as truthful an account as I can or want to. I will also take the pain of offline-ing my friends who are now spread around the world, and tell them to read at least a single entry.
It is but hope that keeps the world running and the writers writing.
About the day described above, it was a summery day in March 2004 and today it is yet another summer day and the city has recorded the highest temperature in the country. I have just finished reading Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch and I am listening to Sting as I end this little write-up. And yes he is still on repeat.
P.S.: The 7 songs series is coming soon to this weblog or a feed reader near you.
P.P.S: Apart from the title and this Post-postscript the whole article is exactly 666 words. Coincidence or demonic intervention.
March 29, 2006
Not-So-Live and Exclusive From SXSE
Link to Flickr Chennai Set!
Un viaggiatore prudente non disprezza mai il suo paese
(A wise traveler never despises his own country)
(A wise traveler never despises his own country)
One thing I always do when I travel out of my city is comparing the destination city to my own. And this comparison leads to one conclusion. My city is the best. I haven't travelled like Marco Polo or some. In all of 23 years I've been to just 4 cities. Bangalore, Mysore, Delhi, and Chennai. I've also been out of India but that was when I was too young to even spell out the place I've been to. So that doesn't count. And out of all the 4 great cities I've been to only Bangalore came close to Hyderabad. But that's a different story, so enough of that. Now to Chennai.
Chennai is one of the biggest Metropolitan cities in India. It is also the capital city of the state of Tamilnadu, which is just below my home-state, Andhra Pradesh. Throughout the train-travel I did what I do best, clicking pictures and reading. The pictures came out nice. And the reading came out nicer. The book - Animal Farm by George Orwell (Read my views here).
I arrived on the Chennai Central Station on 24th March at 7:30 AM. Arriving, I got myself to some work that I had in Chennai. Chennai happens to be the city of my ancestors, that is my Great-Grandfather and many before him. So I was bound to camp at one of my relative's. Anyway, after-work I slept off half the day. Had lunch. Had dinner. Slept.
Next day. Hit the beach. 6:00 AM. Don't know swimming. So just stood in the waves. :D
Took some great pics at the Beach. And that's it.
Yea. That's what all enjoyed about Chennai. Other than enjoying the beaches of Chennai I spent my whole week visiting relations in and around Chennai. What a waste of time. I got to eat a lot. Actually much more than home. The people there literally fill you up till your necks with food. And then they fill some more.
I ate a lot of sea food. I never ate that in Hyderabad. I gobbled up prawns and fishes. I wiped out boxes of famous Chennai sweets, Dum ka Rote (or something like that).
I never got to see all those gadget-shops people talked about here. I also roamed around the city and also went to the Chennai Citi Centre (its still under construction) and the Spencer's Plaza. Some malls. I went to Landmark to find a nice book (was looking for v for vendetta graphic novel), but I found none. I checked out the DVDs but none of the collections impressed me.
Overall, Chennai was a great place but should visit in winter-end. And avoid relatives who plan to feed till you burst.
That's All Folks! Gotta lose some weight.
P.S.: Will be posting links to Flickr! sets soon.
Chennai is one of the biggest Metropolitan cities in India. It is also the capital city of the state of Tamilnadu, which is just below my home-state, Andhra Pradesh. Throughout the train-travel I did what I do best, clicking pictures and reading. The pictures came out nice. And the reading came out nicer. The book - Animal Farm by George Orwell (Read my views here).
I arrived on the Chennai Central Station on 24th March at 7:30 AM. Arriving, I got myself to some work that I had in Chennai. Chennai happens to be the city of my ancestors, that is my Great-Grandfather and many before him. So I was bound to camp at one of my relative's. Anyway, after-work I slept off half the day. Had lunch. Had dinner. Slept.
Next day. Hit the beach. 6:00 AM. Don't know swimming. So just stood in the waves. :D
Took some great pics at the Beach. And that's it.
Yea. That's what all enjoyed about Chennai. Other than enjoying the beaches of Chennai I spent my whole week visiting relations in and around Chennai. What a waste of time. I got to eat a lot. Actually much more than home. The people there literally fill you up till your necks with food. And then they fill some more.
I ate a lot of sea food. I never ate that in Hyderabad. I gobbled up prawns and fishes. I wiped out boxes of famous Chennai sweets, Dum ka Rote (or something like that).
I never got to see all those gadget-shops people talked about here. I also roamed around the city and also went to the Chennai Citi Centre (its still under construction) and the Spencer's Plaza. Some malls. I went to Landmark to find a nice book (was looking for v for vendetta graphic novel), but I found none. I checked out the DVDs but none of the collections impressed me.
Overall, Chennai was a great place but should visit in winter-end. And avoid relatives who plan to feed till you burst.
That's All Folks! Gotta lose some weight.
P.S.: Will be posting links to Flickr! sets soon.
March 21, 2006
SXSE: South by Southeast
No. It's not about SXSW. I ain't that lucky to go SXSW. It's about going South by SouthEast. Chennai.
Tomorrow I'll be leaving for Chennai. Will be there for a week or so. Most probably I will be back by 29th, hopefully. Apart from the Beach (read: crowded place surrounded by water on one side) I'll be hitting the China Market over there, maybe will buy me some CF cards, a good 1GB card will work gr8 with my Canon Powershot A80. 1GB = 700 pics approx. (1024 x 768 that is).
While I'm gone, do check out: My Amazon Wishlist, My Other Blog, My Flickr (Chennai pics will be there). Also check out V For Vendetta in the nearest IMAX/Cinema. We are not lucky over here. It's not yet released in India.
Do come back to this page again, will be posting photos and videos from Chennai, ASAP. By ASAP I mean as soon as I can get a PC hooked up to the net. Till then its Adios.
P.S. And PLEASE do not forget to COMMENT.
Tomorrow I'll be leaving for Chennai. Will be there for a week or so. Most probably I will be back by 29th, hopefully. Apart from the Beach (read: crowded place surrounded by water on one side) I'll be hitting the China Market over there, maybe will buy me some CF cards, a good 1GB card will work gr8 with my Canon Powershot A80. 1GB = 700 pics approx. (1024 x 768 that is).
While I'm gone, do check out: My Amazon Wishlist, My Other Blog, My Flickr (Chennai pics will be there). Also check out V For Vendetta in the nearest IMAX/Cinema. We are not lucky over here. It's not yet released in India.
Do come back to this page again, will be posting photos and videos from Chennai, ASAP. By ASAP I mean as soon as I can get a PC hooked up to the net. Till then its Adios.
P.S. And PLEASE do not forget to COMMENT.
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