A Maverick's foghorn!

On the run..

2009-09-19T20:32:00.007+05:30

Hi again!

It must be no surprise to you now, that I make this vain attempt every now and then to scribble a few lines and sputter gibberish so that my foghorn continues to blow. Today's post comes from a compelling desire to share something different that I've been involved with for the past six months. Whilst living in fear of the one-dimensional life of a PhD, I got this unique once-in-a-lifetime shot at indulging in a diametrically opposite activity. I am glad I took it, and now everything I do-I think of, my work, research, fun, Saturday... practically everything has taken a backseat and come to revolve around this one activity. I haven't in 25 years been nearly as meticulous about the way I plan my routine. I haven't devoted so many hours of conversing with myself when out on the streets. I have been training for the Chicago Marathon.

I don't fancy bettering Haile Gabrselassie, I'm not nearly half as athletic. Yet I am about to attempt the ridiculous task of running 26.2 miles, for a cause though. I will be running on 09-10/11 on the streets of Chicago-to raise funds and educate children in India through Asha, a charity. Yes, there is some pain associated with the task of preparing for such a competition. Imagine the thought of having to wake up at 6 am on a Saturday morning, running for hours until you sweat out every drop of water in your body, only to end up with sore knees and blisters on your feet-week after week! But I am doing this because tomorrow's generation stands to gain. So I urge you- to make your contribution, in appreciation of my cause and efforts.

For making a donation, and if you'd like to know more about my training experience, Asha and the marathon, please visit http://www.ashanet.org/uiuc/new/marathon/Vikhram.html

Support me as I try to pull off a Forrest Gump.

TY!

Hi again, facebook.

2008-11-30T00:03:00.000+05:30

A twenty year old acquaintance asked why... had to give in.

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Hypocrisy rules... hic hic ;-)

O tempora...

2008-09-28T06:02:00.003+05:30

The REMINISCENCES brought back fond memories and a smile :-)

We are officially colder than outer space!

2008-07-20T07:41:00.006+05:30

We've finally made it, and word is out-

Cern lab goes 'colder than space'

Certain evidence that there's plenty of room at the bottom, albeit a different kind than his surmise. The only glitch- it takes 27 km of just a little painful electrical circuitry, vacuum plumbing etc etc and 5-7 trillions of electron volts only, to reach 1.9 K (For the uninitiated, the kelvin, eponymous with Lord Kelvin, is the fundamental SI unit for temperature measurement and each signifies the 273.16th fraction of the the thermodynamic temperature at the triple point of water at atmospheric pressure). All this in a bid to hopefully recreate, at sub-atomic scales, what supposedly happened during the Big Bang.

Now Surely, you must've been joking, Mr. Feynman!

For everything else, congrats folks and wish you luck!

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Interesting find from the article - Higgs boson, a.k.a "God particle"

A albino; B black.

2008-07-20T06:19:00.011+05:30

Referencing a true incident I witnessed sometime in the whereabouts of four weeks back or so. Happened during a routine CUMTD ride, from the grocery store for the most mundane purpose of restocking. There are only four of us in the bus. "A" family enters (mom, big "A" kid, little "A" kid) and sits on one of the right row, followed by the "B" family (mom, little "B" kid). They take a seat in front of mine, on the left row. Bus gets going, and in a matter of a couple of minutes, little kids "A & B" get to know of each others' presence and are thrilled. Observer is guessing that they may be classmates from school or play sessions. The "A" kid, as a matter of instinct, walks across and seats himself next to "B". Both of 'em get into their mischievous grooves and the unstoppable giggles ensue. "A" mom just happens to notice and, for what rhyme or reason I'd say, is furious with her ward. The obvious rebuke follows and "A" kid is made to sit in isolation, with only just enough room for the eye contact. "B" mom as a matter of silly reaction deals with poor li'l "B" kid. Observer is shocked, but not surprised!

A few minutes pass.. "A & B" kids start exchanging glances, and their lovely giggles. Observer smiles, is mildly pleased. Gets thinking, as usual. What are they - all of 5-6 years? Their innocence shrugs things off and they bond with each other, irrespective of what they are! Reminds me of a high school poem that was thrust upon us, by William Blake and titled, "The Little Black boy". Little "A" or "B"- all creatures great and small. Observer wonders how wonderful it would be if a few grown-ups could do with losing a lot of their maturity and gaining even just the trifle of the childish innocence..

"A" mom and "B" mom are such perfect archetypes which constitute practically everything that makes up for the social dichotomy. Observer connects this to many of the "B"s in general, who may be feeling basically insecure and, for example, bunch up by themselves at the back seats of the MTD everytime; even despite the "A"s being liberal and totally receptive these days. He thinks the social dichotomy stems from something deep rooted, and may be linked very closely to the economic disparity too. There lies a fundamental issue.

Home town liberal in the running, that glimmer of hope, hopefully, in what could be a landmark event going into the history books. Even so, like all issues "fundamental" for that is why they truly are, this dichotomy could well be irreconcilable.

Observer read somewhere that the pronunciation of the word "colourful" lip-syncs perfectly with the magical "I love you". But there's just so many issues surrounding colour. Also in a recent (genetically one in a million) development, Germany just got a pair of newborn black-white twins.

The futility of so many things, even just "human"! Sigh.

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Sorry about the cliche. Not in the best of "speirit".
Other futile matters - sparrows. Just noticed a little one lying dead on the staircase. Felt miserable.

Illegitimi non carborundum

2008-07-01T13:05:00.010+05:30

Basically, the funda is...

Cost of getting there on time... priceless;
For everything else, there's... er... two-two-one-gee! :)
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Thanks to phdcomics and the second cousin (the Onnu vittu periappa payyan, to be precise) :)

Joie de Vivre

2008-06-19T23:19:00.004+05:30

Perhaps the most suitable title to a post of mine yet and with good reason, I suppose. Today was the second time in two weeks. There "he" sat, at my doorstep. I choose to address "him" as "he" cause I don't have the heart to address "him" as "it" (although "it" would sound rather cute) and, I could not discern "he" from "she" in this case. Plato didn't bother to either, as far as Love and Beauty were concerned in his most celebrated symposium . So, there "he" was, at around 7pm, all of not even a handful but "his" mite mightier than many a might! Just as Cecil Alexander had sung his hymn- All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small,...

"He" was, going on and on. Violently flapping "his" wings, to get that elusive take off on "his first flight" although "he" seemed awkwardly far from it. Chirping away loudly, surprisingly for "his little stature"; I am not sure whether "his" cries were directed at "his mother" for "his" helplessness or that "he" wanted to tell me how unrelenting "he" is and that "he" would certainly make it. But "his" cries were pitiful. "He" had fallen off from "his" nest located atop the wall A/C unit in the apartment next door. Fortunately, "he" crashlanded rather safely; fortunately I spotted "him". For the next two hours, I tried all that I could to help "him" out. I held "him" on my fingers and could see that "his" perch was just about fine and "he" was raring to take off every other moment. Sensing that "his" mum was probably around looking for "him", I could from "her" cries, I left "him" just where "he" had fallen to see if "she" would pick "him up. And didn't "she" turn up within the wink of an eye?!

I have lost count of how many times I have watched documentaries on animal behaviour as if they were just another piece of information but when it happened live before my eyes - mom failing to get son going and hence abandoning "him" to the forces of nature, not very many things get as close to being that depressing. After it got dark and the silence out of the lack of "his" incessant chirping got me, I stepped out again to look for "him". The spotlight (from a torch) was there, and "he" promptly chirped everytime a flash dawned on "him". It seemed comical and cute, out of "he" being excited, I hope, rather than bewildered although I fear the latter was more plausible. Concerned that "he" might have exhausted himself, I brought "him" into the house. "He" felt so much at home. I fed "him" some water which "he" graciously gulped and when I let "him" free in the living room, "he" ran around until "he" found "his" bearings and headed straight for me! It was probably the chill and "he" wanted some warmth- what can better the assurance and warmth of a human palm?

Left with little choice, I decided to turn "him" in at the small animal care centre in the Vet Med School, just as I had done with another of "his" kind not so long ago. Fortunately, a couple of friends agreed to give company and to "his" luck, "he" hitched a brand new ride! Thanks to Arvind and Harini (and Bhu's entertainment), he is now in safe hands. Not to mention Harini's characteristic cuddling of the poor thing* at "his" plight, or beauty I gather :-) , and Anjan's jocular baritone rendition of "Olimayamaana edhirkaalam.." (read "bright future...", a tamil song) to the little fellah. Indeed, after Darwin. After handing him over, I just quipped- what a fortunate chap "he" is, to get a joyride to life!

Mention to be made of my friend Gowri, for her prompt and able assistance on a Saturday evening, in time of need. I remember vividly, and ironically, how we discussed of the disappearance of sparrows from around the Indian households in recent times. All thanks to the advent of the cellphone and illegitimately high signal strength as a consequence of which the radiation levels have driven the Indian urban sparrow to the point of extinction. But, I suppose I've done my bit, the little I could, in their interest.

Onto the higher plane... I don't quite understand the Chemistry I enjoy with small creatures and why this has been ordained. I have done this in the past- twice for sparrows and once for a little squirrel and not a thought crossed my mind. But after today, I'm thinking.... of-

A sparrow's joie de vivre.
"His" mom who abandoned "him" out of despair that I took "him" away from "her". "Her" futility!
And, the futility of humaneness!

Sigh.

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* For once, I choose to call- "the poor thing"!

And finally, giving in to blogging on IPL related matter...

2008-06-06T08:33:00.017+05:30

Dhoni in a recent interview, on Lalu's remarks about his hairstyle, endorsements and cricket, ...

"It is important that I have got the attention of the man. I don't have anything to give him back. He is a great guy."

Howzzat?!

As the curtains came down on a good tour for his Super Kings*, GREram and I did a fairly detailed analysis of the IPL and Dhoni, in particular. Both of us distinctly observed that he seems to have the knack of getting his dark horses to perform under crunch situations. His logic behind opting for a Piyush Chawla and entrusting the final over to a Joginder Sharma or a Praveen Kumar during big matches against the Pakis and Aussies is remarkable. It is as simple and skewed as the pressure being on a Hussey to smash a Joginder out of the park for the amateur he is and his credentials' claim to the stakes! And boy, haven't his trump cards fetched him the the jackpots?! Any surprise as to how his so-called "strange" team selections, field placements and bowling changes have played on the minds of his counterparts. Interestingly, despite all the praise people are for this cool head, he actually admits to being tense during those moments but doesn't show that on the field, lest his boys' spirits flag. Got us thinking about the qualities that set apart a good captain from the pyrotechnocrat^ he is.

Most noteworthy and commendable aspect - Sportsmanship. That the Chennai Super Kings walked away with fair-play honours and a graceful huddle in defeat, testify aptly. There surely is something in this cricketer and captain's ability to deliver the goods, beyond Dada's luck, Sachin's trepidation or the fatigued Dravid's astuteness.

To the hopeless romantic (pun intended), having had a joyride on the shoulders of Kumara Sangakkara and Shaun Marsh, and who is ever so hopeful of captaining the Indian cricket team after Dhoni one fine day- dream on, buddy!

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* What a lousy name! Probably has its roots in the trademark of a 43-grade India Cements cement.
^ Ne'er heard such a word. Prosaic license, fair-play policy. Swalpa adjeshtu maadi (read kindly adjust)!

The reality id est Naattupura Paattu

2008-06-05T04:20:00.020+05:30

I watched an interesting interview recently, on the popular Tamil show Koffee with Anu. The featured guests were Dr. Pushpavanam Kuppusamy and Mrs. Anita Kuppusamy. Both of them have cast indelible impressions in the field of Nattupura Paattu. For the uninitiated this is a form of Tamil folk music that is popular in the remote and largely unknown reaches of the countryside. Characteristic to this music are the precedence of the singers' voice over the accompaniments, they use very simple ones and minimally, and the social messages that the lyric conveys subtly but with strong reference to everyday life. Given the scatterbrain I am and my imaginative ways it is probably hard to believe that I was patient enough for an hour of "folk" and "country" stuff, but a handful of things the couple had to share during the show touched me deep down and gripped me.

Dr. Kuppusamy has established himself as a top drawer artist and a true representative of Nattupura paattu. He holds a doctorate in the genre and on the professional front, performs regularly to packed audiences besides singing in films. He also writes most of his songs and given his poetic skills, he seamlessly blends what his fans like with what he likes saying. It is not as easy as I just mentioned, to blend popular folk culture with "messsage" for that seldom goes down well with the folks, and it probably requires the talent of someone like Pushpavanam to do that so effortlessly. However, life wasn't as easy as how he scripts his verses. Kuppusamy, like many others, was born in a house filled with poverty in a small Hamlet called Pushpavanam. Consequently, responsibility came about at an early age. As he emotionally recollected on the show, he would walk 28 km everyday to his school (not the one across the street) just for the sake of selling his father's produce in the market en route for a paltry sum, but that probably meant the world to them! He so humbly complained that it would tire him down and that he would be too fatigued to concentrate on his lessons; in all probability, I'd be dead within half that distance the first time I walked! But he did this day in and day out for most of his schooling. How's that for committment, perseverance, motivation..?! I strongly believe that such underlying qualities are the seeds to assured success in life.

Anita first met Pushpavanam in the university, when he was pursuing his PhD. So accomplished she is in Tamil lexicon and the Kovai dialect that it is practically impossible to identify her as a descendant of the Chambal Valley without her actually admitting. Believe it or not, her life is an absolute thriller, as she had to flee her homeland as a kid and settle down far south when her family was attacked and her grandfather murdered by Bandit Queen and her gang. How she met him is an interesting story and as they shared with Anu, it was all about he being amazed at her Tamil and the way he used to rag her with having to recite his poetry. A few unpleasant exchanges between them over her being a last choice for his co-vocalist, and whatever has followed in their remarkably different lives is a natural consequence of placing cotton and fire side-by-side, as goes the adage in Tamil. Anita's frank admission, of how a person should accept his/her surroundings as they are warmly welcomed by the very same, of how she's learnt every possible handicraft she could for her independence, her vision of liberating women with her own self help group, and a never-say-die attitude are commendable, to say the least.

The rest of the show was by and large about their success stories and milestones in their careers, with both of them singing some of their favourite folk numbers. Each of their numbers had very simple and conspicuous messages that form the pillars of our society's ethos- fighting alcoholism, dowry, female infanticide, child marriage, the promotion of intercaste weddings to mention a few. You may find this to be a rather mundane thing on blogspot (!!!) but I think what is to be appreciated is their approach to the act itself- working at the grass roots in a small way to bring about an enormous change. That calls for no ordinary commitment for it is basically a thankless job. Moreover, they do so without compromising on any element of their music- humour, passion, emotion, poetry... It is worth mentioning that they've played their roles in providing a global presence for their art, viz., through performances at The Vatican and "jamming" with Scandinavians, who they once hosted, and identifying glaring similarities that connect between both these native music forms that are otherwise poles apart! At the end of the day their accomplishments outshine any award that can be bestowed, and probably are the best rewards one could hope for. Ironically though, Naattupura Paattu is an ailing art with few takers today, all thanks to urbanisation.

What if- ...if I could be so blessed with even just a whit of the Kuppusamys' qualities and humility, and seek bliss?!

[Aside: I regularly follow this show, almost every week, depending on the invitees and their relevance to my interests and curiosity. If you're surprised that I do, let me just clarify by admitting that as a grad student I need to set aside time for things that are extraneous to the scope of my research- such as KWA. Nothing extraordinary that meets the eye or beyond about that show, I'd say, but I like Anu's style of chatting with her guests and getting them to open up free-form and do the talking rather than interrogate them over the irrelevant issues in their lives. Some of the most accomplished from various walks of life (including Anu herself, her bio-d has many-a-thing in it to testify that) have featured till date and I've certainly learnt a thing or two everytime. All this thankfully to the point of nearly becoming a fan of Anu and her show but not quite. I'd safely justify my stand thanks to a good friend of mine who is even more closely related to my blog and has absolutely adored her since his days of middle school! ;-) ]

KWA episodes I recommend: SPB - Gangai Amaren, Mouli - Y. G. Mahendran, Dhanush - Nayanthara, Parthiban - Padmapriya, Dr. Kamala Selvaraj, Sachu - Manorama, Prakash Raj - Prithviraj , Kushboo, Vivek - Sangeetha, Jayaram, Unnikrishnan - Pop Shalini, U. Srinivas - Sivamani, Anita Ratnam - Jayanthi Natarajan...
PS: Techsatish archives

Speaking my mind out...

2008-06-04T06:30:00.004+05:30

"Nice post, keep up the good work!" - perhaps the most demoralising and nauseating comment from a so-called intermediate blogger to an amateur.

For your time, effort and pain and a whole lot of nothing you've had to contribute... thank you sir, but no, thank you!

In the name of Art

2008-04-20T10:53:00.011+05:30

I happened to watch a couple of movies recently. I imagine both of them, in their own respective right, deserve all of their critical acclaim. Including whatever came from The Academy, no surprise. Somehow, I beg to differ in the way I'd like to reconcile my views...

No Country for Old Men - by the Coen Brothers.

A cold-hearted zombie-like toss of the coin, followed by "Call It", seems more like a punch dialogue from a typical Tamil film.

Otherwise, arbitness personified.

Fight Club - starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton

Two words - Mindless Violence!
For everything else in the movie, the protagonist could have been characterized as a Rules Ramanujam. It could've atleast scored on humour.

I think I better trust my own instincts, than be affected by reviews.
God save those who fell for Pitt or the Brothers.

C.A.R.S

2008-04-13T20:36:00.002+05:30

இனிய தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு நல் வாழ்த்துக்கள்!

Today's urge to post is all due to an indispensable element of man's modern day urbane lifestyle. Once again, a casual conversation with my wise uncle on the grand occasion drifted into cars. My cousin (his nephew) has just been gifted a sporty hatchback and in the process, they may have to pull the plug on the Accord. Albeit it does appear that my aunt is finding it hard to let go of a machine which has served well and borne them for may a joy ride. My uncle just quipped- that he finds it hard to believe that a modern luxurious automobile depreciates more than fifty percent in just a matter of four years. I couldn't keep my wits about myself and burst out laughing with this comment- ".. that cannot come from somebody who owns the grand fifteen year old Premier Padmini!" I guess he found it hard to resist the sarcasm in my humour and laughed it off. Beyond that, the conversation drifted into the finer details and a few interesting notes, which I've excerpted suitably in the remainder of this post. While this conversation got me sort of interested, I got reminded of a few distinct things...

Two of my friends here in Champaign are on the prowl for stealing a deal on a couple of cars. They've browsed through all possible categories... hatchbacks to SUVs, two doors to sedans, convertibles to trucks and more! Failing to find one that would sate their likes, they've eased their preferences and have progressed to looking up CARFAX records for a few candidates. It sure does seem like for a second hand car, the choice of a vehicle that can commute, that is not very old, that has a few thousand miles under its belt, that is suave, and that comes at an unbeatable price is perhaps an open problem in optimization. I can immediately draw a parallel with the Indian way of buying cars. Nowadays, I guess there are hardly any that would care to consider seriously the prospect of going in for used automobiles. Unless of course out of diffidence of not having owned or driven a car before, and the fear of even the smallest mishap resulting in that heartbreaking tell-tale scratch. Only for your neighbour to cash in on the sight next morning to knock on your doors, enquire your sadness and offer their condolences, with their characteristic "Yenna iyere vandikki nalla adipattudthu pola irukkae. Ungalukku onnum illiyono? Sowkiyama thaane irukkael? Aparom, oru cup soodana kaapi kidaikkuma maami?"

Since time immemorial "the car" has served as the ubiquitous status symbol. For why else would people in those days rave about their landlords cruising in the Mercedes-Benz, or for that matter the innocent maamis, who were resigned to their households perpetually, refer to the car as Pleasure?! As I continued my conversation with my uncle, he owned off the moment with one of his typical one-liners- "Ah the Fiats... they are timeless, vintage machines", much to my amusement. I visited memory lane for a second time... on how my father had once made the glorious purchase of his Padmini, how we'd anoint her (not with oil ofcourse) during every Ayudha Puja, the thrilling joy rides she'd given us even at low speeds... the countless times the battery had died and I had to lug it on the back of our Yezdi (the timeless one among bikes and still my favourite till date) to the servicing guy.. the smoking-out of the radiator, the second-gear jumpstarts... its a pity that new cars are such touch-me-nots for self-maintenance! No wonder the heavy heart with which he had to give her away for a song, after much and not just any coaxing from the three of us at home, before settling for a new Indica V2. And despite our remarkable experience with the Padmini, I was amazed when my uncle followed suit. My father still maintains high regard for his Padmini and hopes that one fine day Honda, out of god knows what misfortune, would come up with the offer of overhauling these oldies with retro-fitted MPFI engines and synchromesh gearboxes for him to "usefully" invest a lakh on.

On to a different perspective on Cars and their place in our lives, I can relate to a movie a watched with my aunt, uncle and little cousins. Disney-Pixars' CARS was expected to be a funny, loony, cartoon movie, but the architects wonderfully narrated and contrasted the modern American attitude towards cars (and also life). McQueen learning lessons from Hudson, and the neglect of the countryside towns and their laidback, easy go lifestyle touched a few "grown-up" hearts. Speaks volumes, for how what was universally considered a luxury transformed seamlessly into a pleasurable utility for every household, and of course in the extreme the gas guzzling, rubber smoking monsters that some lavish wastefully on. Speaking of the American attitude towards cars, their freeways, motoring and the concept of travelling, I can reminisce a conversation I had with my good friend Hemant here, over fine red wine, and he brought up this classic example from a Kannada movie on how they have captured perfectly the essence of both the desi culture and the american attitude.

Being the mechanical engineer I am, I find it hard to write off these fine timeless beauties, mechanical engineering marvels. After all they deserve their place in the evolutionary ladder of their own kind. At the same time it is hard not to give in, to all that modern day cars have to offer... sadly in some cases, it is all about engineering them to pander to their master's likes. To conclude, I'd like to top it off with a quote that my uncle so aptly mentioned in analogue during the Padmini v/s Accord debate- "Pitt is to Addington, as London is to Paddington".

Reservation

2008-04-11T10:24:00.003+05:30

Landmark judgement, eagerly awaited. Has certainly tipped the scales and triggered off some ripples in the dynamics of the system. Got to wait and watch whether the greater good prevails over vested interests.

As for comments/opinions/ramblings, to whomsoever it may concern- sorry duh, ain't no expertise here. I've endlessly debated this among may social issues with a well-read, wise and elderly gentleman with a few decades of Civil Service under his belt. But as he aptly put it, the "social objectives" of the policy have some merit. Beyond that, thanks to my own "reservations", things are best left to the so-called experts. I Pass.

hasta la vista

Shanno se shaadi

2008-04-05T20:49:00.000+05:30

Yesterday was something... hard to describe, especially because in a year long wait it wasn't hard getting drained out to the point of being lost for words.

~2:45pm.. 'You must be bold enough to make mistakes...'

most inspirational sir, truly!

Shall spend the better part of a few good years to come discovering exactly how, why and wherefore...

Cheers!

Precious "little" comment!

2008-03-23T23:26:00.007+05:30

I got a precious "little" comment today for one of my posts, titled "Legalised bits in Mech Engg." I must admit that for a rather ordinary, inconsequential and innocuous piece of writing, this comes as a total surprise. Speaks volumes for these "people" and their mindsets! Also gives an idea of the plethora of junk, in the name of information, that is floating around in the network. Reminds me of Senthil's golden remark in a popular cult movie of our time- "Information is wealth!" :P

As a litmus test for your time and interest and patience towards my lousy blog, please read all of that comment if you can "here"

I wonder why the proud author chose anonymity... hmm

Matter and Antimatter

2008-03-07T20:27:00.005+05:30

Given the state that I am in now, since the Friday night binge at Jupiter's despite all the work that’s piled up on me, I am all but compelled to write and comment on my humble friend Greram's self-claimed juvenile attempt at penning "short stories". While he says that many a life can be made out of simply stating the obvious and has shown that his writing is consistent with that argument, I hope to clarify this at the end of mine and show that "it is ONLY the statement of the obvious which makes the career!" Ironically, I am going to say a lot on the grand occasion of "International Women's Day"!

Anyway, that wasn't the primary motive of this post. I just wanted to get into my destructive mode, put on an MCP^ garb and creatively destroy a budding writer-blogger's first steps into this new world. But no here's my disclaimer, for I am nowhere near taking my first steps either. I very much doubt if I ever will.

While this fine piece of art has been centred around the social evils of "Adam-teasing" and "Android harassment" which have left the world battered and bruised many times over, the story itself is rich in content and context. Come to think of our safety from the perils of venturing out alone, I can only look back at the sunny days of undergrad when we always did things together. All of the twelve precious stones (Agate through Beryl, Jade and Garnet) were so perfectly set up miles away to shield us from the imminent dangers of Opal. We went to class in groups, to the mess, juicy, canteen, gate, BHEL, Sangeetha's, Wild-West, Akash, Sippy, practically everywhere together... so much so, a strict vigil was in force with the 9pm curfew every night at Opal. Very occasionally, there were these mavericks who'd break the shackles and brave all dangers to go out their way, but as I say so I am reminded of a few golden words of wisdom from a distant second cousin- "men are mostly suppressed by their fear of solitude and, it will only be the beginning of your achievements once you get to conquer this fear". And so they were, these rare mavericks in exception of "the system". But it is still, by and large, a woman's world out there.

As life progresses, supposedly, Greram makes a beautiful case out of the mid-life crisis- what was earlier construed as only the conflict between the all mighty man and his workplace; SHE has found the weakest link in the chain, the chinks in her knight's shining armour and, by God, hasn't she made life ever so miserable?! Benzene deaths, male infanticide, android cycle, andropause, XX, XY, househusbandry, blah blah... the laws of the world real (or imaginary in the context) are so cruel you see. I'm crying out aloud... these MCPs are here... we've been pushed, bent, suppressed to the point of snapping... Newton's third law shall not stay aloof of all this!

Over to the icing on the cake- had to include relativity, matter, anti-matter etc right? The one significant thing this reminded me of the discourse I had once watched on Discovery Channel so many years back in which a wise old theoretical physicist and astronomer goes on to state how teleportation can be accomplished by travelling "faster than a speeding light ray" (I shall now replace this with the jargon FTASL for convenience :) ) from one starting point, through a loop, and back to the same. This way we can accomplish the impossible task of travelling backwards in time and by doing so, we can undo (just like MS Word) all of the miserable things that happened in the past. Just imagine if we could do something to stop the harassment of androids, the benzene deaths, the male infanticide and bring the female-male sex ratio in the society to a 50-50 equilibrium... wouldn't that be a moment cherished? Coming back to the "how-to" aspect of accomplishing time travel, that wise man gave a mouth watery example of how we could make things happen, as follows:

Take a pizza and remove a quarter slice from it; eat it if you'd like for there's little guarantee that you shall come out of this adventure alive. With the remaining three-quarter, join the radial edges so that you get a perfect three-quarter circular cone. Now, your mission would be to start travelling from a point A on the circumference to point B diametrically opposite and do so along the circumference, while your dear snail-paced friend light gets to take a shorter path by flashing straight down to the apex of the three-quarter circular cone at the centre from A and reflect off at an equal and opposite angle in a straight path to B. So the mission is straight-forward: "beat the time light takes, in your smart and only just slightly roundabout path". The analogy here is to the structure of black holes which are very similar to these three-quarter circular cones, and while there is no escape for anything (including light) when it goes down to the apex, the smart android can simply amble along the circumference FTASL to make history! The only other thing he mentions, in a miscellaneous disclaimer of course, is his surmise that in doing so we are most likely to enter a diametrically opposite parallel universe (of antimatter maybe) where things have been ordained to be the way androids would've liked and MEN have had their say. How I wish the android and his nemesis could take the best of both these worlds?!

I would put a full stop to my rambling at this point as I realize that by having sputtered`` out so many unqualified statements, I am very likely drawing the wrath of many a genius physicist whose sole purpose in life is to impose and immerse himself into the sub-atomic scales which have been hailed as bubbling with so much activity and promise nobody has ever seen or even fathomed, and in doing so, he battles day in and day out and with grants of billions to figure out Quantum Physics' key to teleportation, matter-antimatter, FTASL, time travel, and hence the magic potion that will purge all of the world's greatest social evil. That for me is the cul-de-sac!

Footnotes and References

^MCP - Male Chauvinistic #$% (see also 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

``sputtering - Marc Madou, IC308-NITT (see also)

Legalised "bits" in Mech Engg.

2008-03-06T05:13:00.009+05:30

Accidentally came across this sensational reference which made the day(s) for every Mech. Engineer who successfully passed out from Alma Mater. Come to think about it, we had the luxury of printed and standardised bits for atleast 6 courses :-)

Finding this one masterpiece, by the much revered Kothandaraman and Subramanyan, on the U of I catalog was an absolute cracker.. reminds me of a 5 credit travesty we pulled off a good many years back, just like that!

Frustration..

2008-03-02T06:09:00.004+05:30

... is in struggling to maintain a "Class 10" blog.
It is not a Cleanroom for heavens' sake!

Whose "Call" is it anyway?

2008-02-28T08:03:00.019+05:30

Got the following article in a Macho Rulz email forward, as usual :-) , thanks to Surendran. Saving some words for better use later, I leave this one to mess with your sense of humour. Basically, I gave up on this one completely :D Read and savour all of it...

PS: It may seem too incredible to be true, but I'd take it for its lighter side.. like they say, "all's fair in love and war!" :P

Face-off updated..

2008-02-22T05:26:00.007+05:30

Following up on my radical decision^ to quit the world's most popular, attractive and addictive network (arguably, of course), it appears that I may not be on the wrong side of the tide after all. Remarkably, facebook seems to have recorded its first losses - much like discount bookings in stock market! Are things waning?

Here's the story.

^Checked out of Facebook

Stumble[d]Upon!

2008-02-18T09:46:00.009+05:30

StumbleUpon! made my day today! Here's how. May seem trivial to the bright and the elite, but much to my amusement, I came across something funny yet very thoughtful (given that I am a mechanical guy after all) in a random website hosting these quotes-

(Need I say anything in testimony of one Mr. D.H. Lawrence?)

Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot.

Design in art, is a recognition of the relation between various things, various elements in the creative flux. You can't invent a design. You recognize it, in the fourth dimension. That is, with your blood and your bones, as well as with your eyes.

But better die than live mechanically a life that is a repetition of repetitions.

I am in love - and, my God, it is the greatest thing that can happen to a man. I tell you, find a woman you can fall in love with. Do it. Let yourself fall in love. If you have not done so already, you are wasting your life.

The following (last) one totally cracked me up. Any of my 'chaddi dosths' or fellow NITTwits from pre-Chambana times would certainly vouch, in particular, for my unique sixth sense! Or is it one of the five? :-)

I like to write when I feel spiteful. It is like having a good sneeze.

Three cheers to that grand sneeze!

Till next..

Face-off!

2008-02-15T08:53:00.006+05:30

After much deliberation, I managed to pull the plug. I'm officially off facebook.. true, I'll sorely miss all of those vampires, slayers, superpokes, biting chumps, scrabulous, petrolhead,........., are you interested, name the actors from the hairstyle quiz, you're a hottie, which swear word you are,....... the list never ends!

Motivation- this. Courtesy, Arvind.

Cheers to the facehooked! Checking out...
Adios.

PS: Facebook, hotel california? Bah, humbug!

dé·jà vu

2008-02-15T07:05:00.005+05:30

Here we go again! Doesn't this space seem ever so familiar? I mean six to eight months back I couldn't stop thinking about what I'd post, whether my blog would make impact, how many hot chicks around Chambana would visit (read "stalk!") my profile and silently sight adichify me here around campus grounds... well, well Mr. Prince Charming, we ain't on Mars. Are we? Sigh!

Anyway, for the n-th time I take pride cryin' out aloud- I'm back.. er.. not sure if I'd commit to say well and truly though! And lo beware, my foghorn shall spare none. I mean you've got to have the heart to face it. I know it sucks, but that's the best deal of reality I've got for you. And oh, before I forget, the usual disclaimers.. blah blah... may be deemed, rest assured, in place.. not to mention! :-)

God bless!

PS: Did I start off a sentence, given my immaculate Victorian writing, with an "And... blah blah"? Arrrrrrgh!

Tagged!

2007-07-17T09:40:00.001+05:30

The rules:
1. Players start with 5 random facts about themselves.
2. Post these rules along with your 5 random facts.
3. Tag 3 other people and notify them that they have been tagged.

Well, here's the roster of 5 not-so-random facts about myself..

I am all of 5' and 8" in height. I am NOT tall, NOT really dark enough and NOT at all handsome even by the most remote of possibilities. But I believe there is something about my looks that unveils the smart me.
I believe in the universal concept called "nonsense". If not for nonsense, there never were any "sense and sanity" out there.
I whole-heartedly believe in hypocrisy. Because if not for those good many hypocrites out there, the others wouldn't be achievers. But I don't for any reason support them. Now you know what I am :-) Hyper-critics- Don't call out or you'll be shot!
I'm not a nice guy and my sense of humour is appalling to say the least!
I am a very good driver; I drive people crazy!!

I just hate to.. but.. I've myself rebuked fellow spammers severely in the past but as I'm saying this, I'm out to consciously spam three unfortunate guinea-pigs.

I thus tag- Mando, Venky and Vishwesh.

If you happen to be the curious victim or just a dawdler with the ulterior motive of wanting to trace the tags down to their roots, I link you to this.

Of NIT-T, NI(I)T and ... IT?!!

2007-07-05T10:46:00.001+05:30

Been waiting for quite a while in bated breath, huh? Sorry folks but the recent turn of events (or the lack of any eventful enough) had eventually forced me into hibernation during warm months. Life is taking me through darkness at noon*, and I'm being crushed by this juggernaut of unimaginable proportions into this shell. Not that I have much of a choice or workaround, but I'm just helpless. I guess I'm doing a really shoddy job with (atleast) trying to explain my absence. But what the hell, did procrastination ever warrant an alibi? Thankfully today (with no logical connections to 231 years of July 4 and a free Uncle Sam, not even seemingly), I've been woken up by a bolt from the blues of news reporting. So bye bye Mr. Impasse, and welcome back Vikhy!

Early today morning, I got a couple of pleasant emails over the RECAL informal group network about the enviable placement scenario of my undergraduate institution. A proud alumnus of National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli (Formerly, Regional Engineering College) that I am! It was good news no doubt, perhaps a very significant milestone crossed by NITT and I must commend the director for taking the initiative to bring it all to light. But thanks to modern day journalism and (mis)reporting, big news has come out even bigger and in very bad taste.

Presenting the crucial facts as is from reliable sources...

Exhibit 1(a): TOI says-

NIITian grabs 23-lakh package
4 Jul 2007, 1851 hrs IST, PTI

TIRUCHIRAPALLI: IT education provider NIIT on Wenesday, said that it has struck a highest salary offer of Rs 23 lakh per annum for a student during the campus placement.

The salary was offered by multinational oilfield services provider Schlumberger to a mechanical engineering graduate with a CTC of Rs 23 lakh per annum for posting in India and Rs 44 lakh per annum in case of overseas placement, NIIT Director (Tiruchirappalli) M Chidambaram said here.

He said that the placements during the academic year 2006-07 was one of the best in the country, with over 100 per cent of under-graduate students and 94 per cent of post-graduate students placed through campus selection.

The companies thronging to the NIIT campus include MNCs like Schlumberger, Microsoft, Yahoo, Texas Instruments and IT giants like TCS, Wipro, Infosys and CSC and PSUs like NTPC, ONGC, IOCL, BPCL.

************

Exhibit 1(b): IBNLive says-

Fat pay packet: student offered Rs 23 lakh salary

Press Trust Of India

Published on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 at 18:44 in Nation section

Tags: Salaries, Placements

Tiruchirappalli: A student of National Institute of Technology (NITT), a leading IT education company, has been offered a salary of Rs 23 lakh per annum during campus placement.

The salary offer was made by MNC Schlumberger to a mechanical engineering graduate with a CTC cost to the company of Rs 23 lakhs per annum for posting in India and Rs 44 lakh per annum in case of overseas posting, said NITT director Prof M Chidambaram Tiruchirappalli on Wednesday.

He said the placements during the academic year 2006-07 was one of the best in the country, with over 100 per cent of UG students and 94 per cent of PG students placed through campus selection.

Bakthavatsalam, who heads NITT’s placement cell, said one out of every five students had got two job offers this year. MNCs Microsoft, Yahoo and Texas Instruments and IT giants TCS, Wipro, Infosys and CSC and PSUs like NTPC, ONGC, IOCL, BPCL had approached NITT for placements.

***************

End of exhibits 1(a) and 1(b).

NITT and NIIT? A deemed university for technological excellence and a mere IT education provider? An IT Company? ...pause...hard brakes...screech...crash! I almost got thrown off my seat! It was like the most nauseating feeling that not even my wildest nightmare in seven lifetimes had given me!

On the outset, I must first echo the "happy" emotions that erupted for this (seemingly) benign piece of news is intended for good reasons. NITT has been a front runner among 17 of its peers as a leading tier-1 engineering school in India, one of the few there are. Obviously a boy wonder grabbing such an offer is bound set off ripples the size of the not-so-long-forgotten tsunami. But thanks to a few over-enthusiastic geniuses (the media people of course), this whole thing comes out utterly embarrassing, and a very bitter one at that.

Alright the accusation has been made. We obviously know who the culprit might be. Probably TOI has been all too compassionate towards the Vision/Hearing Impaired, and even encouraged them with all confidence to cover such BIG stories. I am not joking. When curiosity prompted me to pay a second visit to the article later in the evening, the stats on TOI proudly read some 94xxx against the number of views for the article, placing it besides a few "blasts here and there" and "the UK crackdown of the bad doc network" (both of arguably much lesser import) as the TOP STORIES of the day. How tragic of all of them?! I have, thanks to my being educated to lead a sophisticated life, inculcated the habit of keeping myself abreast with prolific news-tellers. I have heard of sensationalism, yellow journalism, news making-breaking whatever, gonzo stuff and much more that place many a doubt on these news-tellers. Honestly and frankly, their stuff is by and large incredible and questionable at best. Now I know there's so much HEARSAY!!

The ratiocination act-
Looking beyond just the (let's say) inadvertent error which shall soon be followed by a very curt and diplomatic corrigendum as the cover up, the case presents a two-fold issue. Firstly, the news reporting system in India (perhaps universally) is pathetic. Yes we know that the poor reporter and his accomplice with the lens are running for their lives and are n-fold likely to jump the gun and miss precious detail in their desperate bid to come out with breaking news updates. Atleast the editor could ensure correctness using that thing of his six which, unfortunately, is not so common.

Secondly, it is a very shocking piece of reality that institutes (even the reputed technological ones) have to face. Whilst they've been denigrated to the ranks of IT training schools and IT companies, their outreach towards junta is best not spoken about. Even the well-informed sources are well and truly ill-informed! It may appear insignificant for T-schools on their list of priorities alright but they certainly have to take many a big step towards ensuring their rightful presence in the social circles. Branding of institutions is a daunting task that the big names in the academic circles are waking up to nowadays. The wild west has somehow stayed up all these years and been smart. But the situation back home is appalling.

Something needs to be done, perhaps right from the grassroot levels of both institute branding and news reporting. But I am happy enough to just expend my energy and words being the cynical me, rather than imploring a few zillion deadweights.

Concluding act-
1. I'm back.
2. News people suck.
3. News people totally suck.
4. News people will anyway suck.

As a (seemingly) less important gesture.. dear dude who bagged the 23/44 goose with the golden egg- hearty congrats and condolences. It feels awful enough being the baap!

-----------------------
*Darkness at Noon - by Arthur Koestler is a great novel. Certainly recommend it as a must read.

PS: In the midst of all this botch, I somehow happened to notice one good (perhaps unheard of) source which presented the facts of the case accurately enough to the much depreciated acceptable standards.

Exhibit 2: DNA (India)-

Student gets Rs 23-lakh salary package

PTI

Wednesday, July 04, 2007 19:51 IST

TRICHIRAPALLI: Technical education centre NITT on Wednesday said it has struck a highest salary offer of Rs 23 lakh per annum for a student during the campus placement.

The salary was offered by multinational oilfield services provider Schlumberger to a mechanical engineering graduate with a CTC of Rs 23 lakh per annum for posting in India and Rs 44 lakh per annum in case of overseas placement, National Indtitute of Technology (NITT) Director (Tiruchirappalli) M Chidambaram told reporters here.

He said the placements during the academic year 2006-07 was one of the best in the country, with over 100 per cent of under-graduate students and 94 per cent of post-graduate students placed through campus selection.

The companies thronging to the NITT campus include MNCs like Schlumberger, Microsoft, Yahoo, Texas Instruments and IT giants like TCS, Wipro, Infosys and CSC and PSUs like NTPC, ONGC, IOCL, BPCL.
***************

End of exhibit 2

Atleast there's one smart storyteller out there....

Done and dusted!

2007-05-01T08:49:00.001+05:30

cricket
/krkt/ n.1 ME. [(O)Fr. criquet grasshopper, cricket, f. criquer crackle, of imit. origin: cf. (M)Du. krekel cricket, f. imit. base.] Any of various jumping, chirping orthopterous insects of the family Gryllidae; esp. (more fully house-cricket) Acheta domestica, formerly a familiar insect living indoors near fireplaces, ovens, etc., or (more fully field-cricket) Gryllus campestris, found in meadows etc. Also (w. specifying wd), any of various other insects related to or resembling the crickets.Comb.: cricket-frog a small N. American tree frog of the genus Acris, noted for its clicking call; cricket-teal dial. the garganey.

---------------------------------------------------------
Excerpted from Oxford Talking Dictionary
Copyright © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Lightning has beaten the odds and stuck thrice at the same place! The kangaroos are cock-a-hoop over the pitch; punter's men have done it again; their sledging shall ramble on; a pigeon is fluttering away into the oblivion called retirement; a "class" act has concluded and the curtains have been brought down on Lara's theme; the blue billion are aghast; and the marathon world cup has finally ended, in dramatic fashion! The inevitable has happened and proven that it is inevitable after all!

ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 kicked off in style.. it had all the ingredients to make it the most happening tournament ever... and more, for it was being celebrated in Carib style! But I suppose certain things about it, which many didn't fear initially despite their imminence, were a foregone conclusion after all. A 2 month long carnival turned out to be too flat (as the pitches in zone are), and failed to capture our excitement. More or less the kind of thing which can spoil your road trip if all four tyres on your car were to burst in unison! Men in blues were dumbstruck by the blues next door.. bookies ran amuck, endorsements faced a burnout, our men ran for cover behind the Wall.. much to the disappointment of well.. er.. just about everybody under the sun I guess. But atleast the blue billion were fed some food for thought!

Besides India and Pakistan's shocking knock out from the league, the remainder of the tournament was by and large uninteresting. The Aussies simply shoo-ed off all skeptics and went about their task with surgical precision.. the kiwis came a cropper largely due to injuries and form woes, SA were at waterloo yet again, England had a bunch of stand-up comedians in their camp, the Windies appeared to have big goodbye to glory days for good (and Lara has finally hung up his boots!), Lanka were anyway second best and ofcourse there were a few alsorans to make up for the motley crowd.

I stopped stopping by the union to catch the live feed the moment Dhoni tried his exquisite late-cut off the wizard on his first ball, on a middle stump line, only to be shown the door for wonderfully guarding his wicket. Wish he could show some heroics from behind the stumps! Alright, agreed it was a pathetic show by a lackadaisical bunch of freak shows... but what beats me is that even the other teams literally sucked! The final was no better.

Imagine the FIFA World Cup final being contested for 60 minutes.. or a 3-setter for the men's championship at Wimbledon.. 28th April had all the makings of a sad day for a gentleman's game. Weathergods permitting, the Aussies took charge with a belligerent Gilli - I almost sank in my seat at the imposing target they set. Futile hopes had been pinned on the lions, their pride, the swashbuckling Jayasuriya and of course the wiz. But their roars were tamed down to a hush! The sledgemasters had fixed it all.. in the way they know best.. beating the living daylights out of their opponents. Glenn has come out the better of the Bonds and the Malingas even at twilight, as one star called Irfan has already dropped 20-odd K's in his prime! Sri Lanka did put up a decent fight, but this one was just a bridge too far for their might.

It is nothing new for the World Cup championship game being one-sided; with due regards to that, our glorious campaign of 1983 was arguably the most nail biting encounter, besides of course the 1987 rubber. But the on-field drama that happened some 3 overs before the finish shall never be digested. Of all 24 on the ground, the umpires evinced maximum concern over light and had to bring the game down to a grinding halt. SL were chasing a random infinite number, Ponting knew no clue of the revised target he was defending and the umpires went to sleep over the course of things! The live feed had all the ingredients of a parody in it... the Aussies huddled up in jubiliation, the batsman were amused at being offered light and instructed to take it (more so like the compulsory electives we've seen in college :D ), ground staff hurried on to the field to prepare for the presentation ceremony... GREram was laughing his ass off on Cricinfo's jokes at the proceedings and I was gtalk-ing with him through all of this.. when suddenly the umpires played foul. They apparently wanted the last 3 overs to be played out the next day.. quite a match it would have been, poor ol' cricketers losing a precious Sunday, the World Cup decided with nobody to cheer from the stands! Wonder what brainwaves were tunneling between he minds of Steve Bucknor and Aleem Dar?! Fortunately the captains intervened and had the issue done and dusted away with.

Even the presentation ceremony was nothing near interesting, for the Aussies seemed to be totally bored at having won three in a row! Glenn had a fitting farewell to bid, but that apart, the whole affair appeared to be some bungled up, and mismanaged one as those symposiums we've seen in college. All in all, it has been one forgettable experience. GREram summed it up aptly when he said "It is a travesty of a world cup final!"

I only pity that wretched soul some seven seas away from home, who sits in a lab under artificial light, fights against a stubborn and artificially intelligent entity that just won't behave, and whose only hope against hope hopen this spring, besides eternal sunshine, was to find solace in the world cup and unwind at the courtyard cafe!

Alls well that.. well.. ends!

Ignorance ain't bliss..

2007-04-15T12:00:00.001+05:30

Today was a special day for me.. supposedly so, as is the case normally with every April 14 for a Tam Brahm (just in case I forgot to wish you, "Iniya Thamizh Puththandu Nalvazhthugal"), for during each and every one of the blissful 22 years of my 23, I've been treated to some of the most mouthwatering delicacies of my mom's culinary skills.. Maangai Pacchadi, PoLi, Vadai, Poosinikai-Kadalaikai kootu to name a few. Fortunately for me this time around, it was to be some "pazhaiya soru" with "puliccha moru". And so like every other day, my frustrations were compounded and I was in my usual foul mood. But for the sake of the occasion, I placed a few calls to home and relatives to lighten things up.

Later in the evening, I attended a carnatic concert, performed by Padmasri Sudha Raghunathan, with a few friends. As is the case with a bunch of grad studs (by and large given-up-in-life cases), the session was filled with cheerful badger and jibes at our comical state (fortunately for me at C-U, I'm not the hot favourite for their pranks as the case was during Trichy days of yore). Much to our surprise, there was a grand dinner buffet with soda, salads and desert to round off the occasion. But coming to more important things, it happened to be my first "hi-profile" concert. Within a few moments after the invocation/welcome/intro of the musicians, they proved more than convincingly as to why they are true virtuosos in their respective speciality.

I have watched such performances on the silver screen, but I must admit that being out there live, observing the artistes provide soulful renditions of divine compositions, and experiencing the feeling of getting elevated from ground level closer to divine portals is a completely different and thoroughly refreshing experience. My knowledge of music (particularly classical), the Ragas, the Thalas etc is at best "naught". Yet, when she sang some of the Anamacharya Kirthanas, I could remember very well, having listened to them as a kid generally during Gokulashtami celebrations at home. Fortunately for me, the lack of a musical background ensured that I just listened and enjoyed every moment of the programme, without a discerning ear and critique. The duel between the mridhangam and morsing in the middle was particularly electrifying and had every one of us enthralled. Says who that classical music is lacking in vigour or not stimulating?

After two and half hours of forgetting the world, my lab, homework, grad life and everything, I am now reminded of the conversation I had, on music, with my uncle, the day before I flew for joining grad school. I was protesting with him that western musicians reach out more and have a strong message to put forward much simpler terms, in contrast with the abstruse language of our very own carnatic musicians. (No offense towards anybody though, for I only base my views on the consequences of the lack of understanding a certain profound art form). My uncle brushed away my argument by bluntly stating that the former are more concerned with the most basest of human instincts. I do not wish to dwell any more on this opinion and attract brickbats for myself. Today, however, I realised how true he may be. I just sat and listened to things and lived the experience. It is so pacifying yet stimulating at the same time. No wonder my uncle was spot on, for he certainly is more worldly wise than I am. To summarize and put things into perspective on a lighter note, I'd like to recall and draw a parallel with Kamal Hassan's comical punchline from Pammal K. Sambandham- "... Adhu ellam anubhavikkanum da, aaraikka koodadhu" ;-)

To conlcude, the experience has affected me and left me completely refreshed, and with an ironical thought... in pursuit of post-graduate enlightenment, I am chasing a wild goose which supposedly lays golden eggs with which I shall build castles (hopefully not in the air).. at the same time I am able to associate so closely with such a profound art (science, say, for all art is but...), yet my aptitude for this wonderful science and its unfathomable depths is fundamentally zero!

Now I know what it is like being illiterate.
And.. ignorance is certainly not bliss!

Bottomline.
_______________________________________________

About Chicago

2007-02-09T06:15:00.001+05:30

Hi! I'm back again... after a not-so-long break of 2-3 days... ;-)

Today's space is reserved for a review of my trip to Chicago, as I had mentioned earlier in dampened spirits that I'd write about it. If you ask me what gives me this sudden inspiration to write about that, for after all Chicago is truly a great place in its own right, with a great history about it, and it doesn't really depend on patronage from you know what kind of people..., I'd blame it all on the weather. Over the past week or so, the midwest has been engulfed by a protracted cold storm and its raging flurries, to the point of life almost coming to a standstill. Whereas when I was in Chicago, barely three weeks earlier, I was treated by fine weather and had a memorable experience...

To start with, my first few days in Chambana as I've already bragged about, were boring. Thanks to Sushanth and Co., and kulli's stopover plans, I got sinister ideas. I took my "ever dependable" pal a whole week to figure things out (actually he never really figured out anything!) and I was off in a flash, on the friday evening LEX. Thanks to his brilliant sense of directing newcomers, I ended up getting lost from my local bus ride (supposedly to Lincoln Park/Armitage) at the right place! ;-) And the moment I met up with them late in evening (kulli was still jetlagged and starved of sleep), the party began. We had a night-out party at his friend's place nearby and I got introduced to many of his cohorts. Some Miller Lite, Martini, Tequila and good ol' hindi party music kept things afloat. 5:00 am- job well done, thank you very much, good night and bye everybody.

The next day began at around 1:00pm or so... everybody (with the exception of an insomniac) had slept a log. As usual, we we short of ideas and so it was Saturday at Downtown Chicago. That was where I got to see a good many wonders... the drive beside Lincoln Park by the side of lake Michigan, and then onto Michigan avenue- the prime avenue of downtown... Chicago Tribune, The Ritz, the Water Station which is a lone survivor of the great 1900 inferno, the bridge on the river Illinois... and a few other tall boys among them. We spent a good deal of time shopping some random stuff at the malls out there... I happened to meet Vaibhav, a long time friend from NPS, with whom I hadn't spoken in like 6 years! Of particular noteworthiness is the G A P showroom, where we were holed up for over an hour for want of an evening plan. Thanks to some genius getting a brainwave, we carried on to go Bowling. I was a once-upon-a-time accomplished 'underarm bowler' with many back-to-back strikes to my credit, but I realised the hard way that after 4 years I had little grace in this sport! ;-) Some tortillas and pizza to fill-in-the-blanks and we were out by 8:00!

The night still young, we thought of watching a movie, and thanks to an excellent suggestion from one of his ever so knowledgeable friends, I ended up sleeping through my first movie ever, an animation at that, in all of 22 years. The verdict was unanimous- Happily Never After! But it was just 11:00pm yet. I went along with his friend Rohit, who was accommodating me at the IIT dorms. I just did a few random things, met up with a couple more friends (Sriram and Jathurshun), had a chat, plus did some random stuff before deciding to retire for the night. Barely 10mins later, we got a called to a sports bar.. okay, so get ready, drive down across half the city and end up reaching there some 5mins before closing time. Nothing much happened, getting kulli into the car turned out to be a gargantuan task, and the three of us (Sriram, Rohit and I) had to walk down the streets of Chicago during the cold, wee hours of the night. And the fun part was when I went to Sushanth's place to pick up my stuff... kulli stole the show with her melancholy wails - "I don't like grad school; I won't do my assignments; I won't pass out from grad school!" Lol!!

Sunday was a great experience.. It was Bhogi and we decided to go to the Lord Venkateshwara Temple at Aurora. The drive was smooth (we cruised at some 80-odd mph), and kulli treated our ears to her mellifluous voice along the way. It took no more than an hour to reach there, and I was completely enchanted by the place. The temple is beautiful, it has all the amenities for the American way and yet retains the best part of our Indian traditions. For the first time, I had been to a place where all Gods had their own exclusive Sannadhis, all of equal import. I had never expected to find this several nautical miles away from home! And now for the best part- I came to know that the Aurora is famed for its brilliant roster of South Indian cuisines. And so for Pongal, it was all of Venn Pongal-chutney, Vadai-Sambar, Puliyodharai, Thayiru Chaadam and Oorugai- Semma Vettu! ;-) That was like the fulfillment of a long time dream, especially after missing good home food for days, and the days to come ;-) We got back, a little stressed out for lack of sleep. Some went off to watch the Chicago Bears in action while I just did some random stuff for a couple of hours before packing off.

At around 4, I said goodbye to all- kulli (she had her flight on Monday), Rohit, Richard, Jathurshun, Sriram et al and left for Union Station. Sushanth, for once thankfully, got me the the place in the nick of time. Just before leaving, I got a chance to walk by the Sears tower, stare its magnificent rooftop up somewhere in the heavens, obscured by the haze of the clouds, and took one last pic before adios ameego to Sushanth. And then, I got back again to a damp Chambana amidst torrential rains, late in the evening.

And that is all I have to say about Chicago, folks!

Oh Hell, how much more ThermoD?!!!

2007-02-07T07:47:00.001+05:30

This time around, I am posting an article I received, by chance, as a bulk forward from a good friend of mine. Not to be dismissed as any random forward though. Needless to say any more, for this piece shall speak for itself. Just read on...

The following is an actual question given on a University of Liverpool chemistry final exam.

The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues via the Internet, which is why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.

Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law that gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that, if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell.

Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell. Because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay constant, the volume of Hell must expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Sandra during my freshman year, that "it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is endothermic and has already frozen over.

The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is extinct...leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being - which explains why, last night, Sandra kept shouting "Oh my God."

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A".

As an afterthought to yet another of my reckless antics..

2007-02-02T05:14:00.001+05:30

I am feeling terrible today. Much of it I would attribute to the faulty monitor of mine, at my office desk with the CEG - Beckman Insti. I was prepared for a decent take-off today but as it turns out, I am grounded indefinitely until my secretary gets a new one installed. Of what use is a few gigs and some more of raw and supreme computational power when you don't have the primary accoutrement to interact with it, in your desperate bid to tame its unyielding nature? And so I am jobless all over again. It just seems like the vicious circle which the poet, Ogden Nash is renowned for ;-) In my case, more than just a double-ended pun... more of a all roads lead to Rome (joblessness) curse! So let me flip myself back to the sinister face of the coin...

In my last post, I had briefly referred to my friendship with the likes of some very illustrious men of yesteryear, and how I knew them... I am actually reminded of this very popular joke of the famed thambi comedian Vivek, from the movie Minnale, which goes as follows...

Vivek has been dumped by his pal Maddy, who is crazy about his proposed gal- Reema (HOT!!). Maddy jumps a signal, crashes under a lorry and gets going in search of her while Vivek is left squeezing the juice out of the drishti kazhikkara elimbichcham pazham under the lorry. A brief verbal altercation follows between him and the driver, before the traffic cop arrives at the scene for his share of the pie... Vivek builds up the scene beautifully with his usual nakkal-nayyandi-thanamaana style and has the cop and the driver literally at his feet by claiming- "Enakku I.G. romba nalla theriyum" (I know the I.G. very well)... but his tryst with trouble had to be more dramatic and so he also adds on- "Aana avarukku thaan enna theriyadhe" (But he doesn't know me at all!)... the result that followed was natural, I don't think I need to even describe his state after that :-)

For a more accurate, and dramatic description of what I just mentioned, you can check out a clip containing that sequence from Minnale

Now, the reason why I've quoted this is... basically I know, some of the illustrious men that I have mentioned above, very well... aana avangalukku thaan enna theriyadhu! And Prof. Einstein couldn't have probably cared any lesser for me! ;-)

So with due regards to my maligned friend GREram, who knows me well though, I would like to openly declare that my last tryst with entropy and availabilty before I got sinister ideas yesterday was some 4 years back during Trichy days. And GREram has gone many levels up onto a higher plane and articulated, in sublime form, his take on how enigmatic entropy is. With a new and profound reverence to his perspective, I am all but compelled to direct you to his blog- Mercurial moods (Enigmatic entropy)

Thats all folks!! ;-)

The availability paradox!

2007-02-01T08:27:00.001+05:30

I am suddenly gripped by a burning desire to write... joblessness as usual. I don't really need to go through the whys and wherefores of being so frequently jobless (not merely in the literal sense, of course), since I've already complained enough in my previous posts. So much so, that even I have become sick of repeatedly being in a jobless state of writing about my being jobless. Awright, thats enough of playing around with recursive gimmicks! :-) So my state of perennial joblessness (not to be mistaken for steady state as by nature I claim to be versatile, dynamic, vivacious, etc etc) coupled with the fact that I am a wanderlust, makes my thoughts wander beyond the realms of sanity... at grad school, you have to do this on a routine basis in order to prove a point or two and get your name prefixed with the coveted, elusive "two magical letters and a dot". While I casually generalize, you must not mistake me for being insane; or for that matter I am not claiming to be the only sane chap around. I just wanted to let you know, that insanity is fast catching up with me, by using the most imprecise, uneconomical and hyperbolic choice of words and expression. Now you know that there isn't even a mathematical chance of ruling out possibility of my being eccentric! ;-)

Now that we've got off to a good start, its time to consolidate. Let us touch upon subject matter and analyse...

A couple of days back, I was in the most common state of joblessness and resorted to watching a B++/A- grade thambi movie. Basically the protagonist wasn't an anti-hero and his chick was HOT, so it was a decent thing for timepass alright. But somewhere in between, I unfortunately had a quick chat with GREram at his best - reading up some blog by a seemingly not-so-eccentric but in all probability a yet-another-very-eccentric friend of his (I can safely count on you for not getting a quick cross-reference towards me - yet-another-friend of GREram for I believe I have already supplied you with a well-posed problem of determining my state of mind, and obviated the need for that with a reasonably strong disclaimer). Touching upon sensitive matters like the zero-circle-infinity connections, and presented his Mundane Philosophy with compelling reasons and examples, in a very witty and entertaining fashion. Although the crux of the matter was discussed in a state of mabbu, I would give it a lot of credit for the ultimate conclusion drawn that "nothing means anything to him". Except of course for the one thing I'd like to point out to him that his "the shape of zero is the stroke of a genius" funda is a li'l bit flawed to this extent that in the extreme limiting case of an infinite circle (r~inf.), we end up with a straight line! I don't wish to undermine his claim by any means, since the shape of zero to me is like the most obvious. That is self-evident truth for me! :-)

Hmm.. seems like I've wandered too far, thanks to my fantastic habit. I suppose you are still puzzled at what mundane things like the zero, circle, infinity etc etc have got to do with "The availability paradox!" I am sorry to say, that if you actually had hopes of such a connection, even a tangential one at best, you have also unfortunately crossed the barriers of sanity as I am walking you along. So let us well and truly revert to subject matter, this time around.

The compelling urge that I started off with (and didn't quite manage to touch upon yet) was a random login to Gtalk. For some weird reason, I found my entire list of friends to be available! Alright, I know that it is not a unique spectacle for even such an occurrence has a substantial probability associated with it, but I am trying to look beyond just that... like I said, crossing the barriers of sanity to prove blah blah blah... More than just the uninteresting mathematical connection, the "Available" hit me like a buzzword, thanks to thermodynamics. I am naturally inclined to this line of thought process for I am well and truly mechanically aptituded, as I have already posted earlier.

In thermodynamics, we spend eons of time in trying to understand Energy and its associates. An axiomatic zeroth law, a qualitative first law, two quantitative second laws, the death of perpetual motion machines and consequently our limited ability to do work, and the third law. A few wise men like Joule, Kelvin, Planck et al had stopped at that, fortunately. But I'm afraid there was this one slightly more mischievous friend of mine by the name of Clausius (infamous for the Clausius inequality for non-quasi-equillibrium and irreversible processes), who had to perform a complete autopsy on entropy, free-energy, spontaneity etc, to finally state that since the universe itself is a naturally occurring spontaneous process, all energy is not completely usable, irrespective of the form it manifests itself in.

Okay, I have somehow managed to state the underlying certainly-not-so-mundane-philosophy behind my claim, with the least damage inflicted, to the best of my capability. I will now go ahead and apply this concept of availability<1 (it is a perfect inequality, mind you) to what I observed of the status of my friends on Gtalk. I do not know in what form each one of them intended to say that they were available. It is quite obvious that they were here to chat, present physically at their desk, but I have no idea about what their state of mind was and what kind of talk they wished for. Some like it smooth, some hard while others go well with a heady mix of both, but all of that is extraneous to my analysis. I claim that they were NOT available, even if sitting at their desks, staring blankly at their chat window with blinkers on.. The reason is quite simple and obvious- they were involved (at levels of varying intensity, obviously) in a spontaneous act, which has a positive entropy associated with it, which is accounted for very well by their availability being less than 1. Now if you are wondering how I am trivially connecting a highly involved Thermodynamics funda to a mundane and low-impact activity like Gtalk-ing, I would like you to consider my friend- the late Prof. Albert Einstein's proof of mass-energy equivalence. So whatever the matter be, it is ultimately a manifestation of raw energy and hence the availability paradox holds!

If that still weren't enough to convince you, don't get started off thinking that you are a tough-skinned hard nut to crack. If time permits, look up one Werener Heisenberg who proved beyond any element of "doubt" of the absolute existence of uncertainty of both position and velocity. So that implies that all of my friends were matter waves and in any case associated with their own values of uncertainty in position (I don't really care about velocity and momentum here, for we are not dealing with rocket propulsion!) and consequently their complete availability is uncertain and very much open to debate! ;-)

If I were to generalize this (I don't know how sane or insane) philosophy of mine, it may become quite apparent as to why an artist doesn't at any point of time have all his talent available for use, and hence produces just "the one" masterpiece in a lifetime instead of "a" masterpiece every time.

And an even more compelling, though insane, thought- whenever your prospective girlfriend (or boyfriend for girls) comes forward to tell you that she (he) is available, you now know that it may not entirely be true. So beware! ;-)

Closing note...

It is my utmost belief that anybody trying to validate a claim, should do so by himself complying with his logic, and thus prove how worthy he is of his salt. I would at this juncture just go ahead to state that my presentation of this theory is a testimonial in itself- it is a hare-brained act of spontaneity, much of my intellect and sanity (perhaps all of them) were not available in the very development of this hypothesis, and it was lacking (at least partially) in subject matter anyway! ;-)

I sincerely hope that you haven't managed to read all the way through to this point. If you have, God save the world from yet another lunatic!

Finally, I'm left wondering.. why did I have to go through all this, when I could have instead buzzed on one of the seemingly available pals of mine and rather made a more worthy expenditure of my time?

The dawn of a new era of.. well.. er.. joblessness for me.. Lol!!

I don't really know what to title this one as..

2007-01-26T02:05:00.001+05:30

It is yet another Thursday, this time the 25th of January. The time is 2:35pm I don't know why I am mentioning this as it is of no great consequence anyway. At grad school, they say that you are neck deep in work.. if you aren't, something is wrong.. big time! And as a matter of fact, I am presently jobless, so jobless that I have slipped into an introspective mode- the one thing I have always dreaded, for I am an introvert, whether I like it or not, and it isn't a very pleasant feeling to get back into what happened, when it happened, how it happened, why it happened and etc etc. Trust me, on this one atleast. So now, that I have ascertained that I am slipping, beyond my control, but all within conscience, into my weakness, I am compelled to write. To write about my fantastic experience of flying some 10000 miles, how I was looking forward to it and how it turned out to be cold and anti-climactic... Well, nobody needs words to complain.. the thought process works things out naturally for you, but somehow, I am lost for some 4-5 words.. I really don't know what to title this one..

But anyway, as the saying goes it is the stuff within that matters and others are merely supercillious. So here is how Jan 1. 2007 happened for me.

3:30 am IST - Chennai Intl Airport sounds the last boarding call for BA 36.. I am on it, settled comfortably into my seat. I am saying "comfortably" because I had to be comfortable at any cost.. an 11hour long non-stop haul is no joke and it is not a very fun-filled experience by any means, on any given Sunday; although in my case it happened to be a Monday! :-) The flight is very normal, BA serves good stuff, and the flight attendants occasionally mumble out instructions even in Tamil! We land at Heathrow some 10 minutes or so late, but thats not a big deal really by flying standards.. But we only land 10mins late. We get off some one-and-half hours later. Talk about one terminal of the world's busiest airport, with all of its 25gates not able to free one for an international carrier, and that too their own! So it was pretty much obvious that I had to miss BA295 which had a mere 100mins connecting time. But they accommodated me on the 297 so I didn't really mind. With some 2hours of connecting time, I had a good glimpse of Heathrow... in all its spledour during Christmas and New Years' time. I'm not surprised at all why people hail it as a marvel.

On the 297, I had been given an auto-upgrade to exec. class - what more could anybody ask for on an economy fare, during his first time? So it was 9hours of getting pampered all the way to Chicago. There was some 'good food for thought' and a whole lot of wine served on board. The gentleman seated next to me was an Indian as well and he had been flying since 87.. so he had loads to speak about... and some specific to Baltimore. But I didn't mind for BA took good care of me.

At Chicago, we landed on time approximately. I don't even know when we did. Sunset had occurred by 4:30pm itself and it was dark anyway, so it didn't matter. I got through all the formalities quickly and went on to receive my next big surprise by the luggage carousel. BA had lost my bags! What was I to do, whom to go and ask - the massive machines or the tall towers?! People around me were not surprised, as if it was a routine thing for them to lose bags and so they told me not to worry. I checked into AA and took the short, turboprop to CMI.. the thought of losing my bags had totally overshadowed this 26min experience and I was just waiting to get off and see if my bags made it this time atleast. But yeah, the only thing I vaguely remember of this journey is the airhostess very animatedly demonstrating the lousy safety instructions, besides the deafening noise emanating from the massive turbines from the back; it was perhaps predetermined that I had to be put on the last seat of an empty plane! :(

At CMI, let alone my bags not making it, I landed into an empty airport. I haven't ever been to any place so empty that I have all of some 2000 sq.ft to myself. I am not claustrophobic by nature, but I felt very ill at ease. There wasn't even an attendant readily available, for me to lodge a baggage claim. I didn't even have a nickel to call anybody. Somehow, after exploring just about everything there is in the terminal, I located a toll-free booth and called a taxi to come down and pick me up.

Cont'd. on another Saturday, the 27th of January at 9:00pm...

At some 7:30pm (of January 1, remember.... and that is my best surmise, for every piece of me, including my watch, ran on IST as always), I had a ride around a deserted, but not as bad as a ghost town, looking C-U.. and it wasn't anything out of the ordinary to be spoken of. I had gone through arguably the most elaborate preparations, spread out well over six months. But landing into an empty town, without my baggage was not the kind of honeymoon-like experience I had envisaged, even in the wildest of my dreams. And too add salt to my injury and rub it deeper still into the wounds, I didn't get to see my bags for another four days. Who would have ever thought that he'd come in to the brave new world and live his first few days in filth?! (From an alternate logic, it seems to be very synonymous with the funky, hip-hop and anti-foppish ways of the land) and added to all this, the bitter cold out here... aight, I think I've over-exaggerated :)

But since I came down there wasn't much activity for the first two weeks, and so I had the opportunity to plan my first act of escapade to Chicago. But the postmortem for that shall feature in my next post since this one is particularly outlined to be yet another embodiment of my wailing.. :)

So long.

The moment of Truth!

2006-11-19T12:43:00.001+05:30

It was Saturday, the 11th of November. A typical autumn morning for Bangalore- cloudy and pleasant. The newspapers reported of “dark and stormy nights” nearby, but Bangalore was just as placid as anybody could expect of it. I must remark that, in the past few months, I had personally weathered raging torrents of a tempestuous phase of my life- to the point of enough is enough! I knew the end was near. But that wasn’t the point; it was more about the outcome- was it going to be the opening of the gates for the road to hell? -so they say; or was everything set to vapourise into a dreaded anticlimax?

There wasn’t anything particularly remarkable about my start for the day. I forced myself out, against the will of my resilient body parts, from the cosy comfort of my king-sized mattress, went through the excruciating spells of my parents’ banter over my chores as usual and rushed to the lab. I had been well over a month into my corporate life – Vikhram V.S. (Project Assistant, Compliant and Bio-systems, IISc), and was anxious to draw my first pay check. A no-frills life in Bangalore and my uncompromisably prodigal ways with the phone had been strangling me by the scruff of my neck. I was desperate for some room and cushioning, to get into a comfort zone. And so, it was a good time for realising a month’s compensation- for toiling against convention, beating the odds and making the impossible into reality through seemingly logical surmises.

Okay, now that was not the dreaded anticlimactic ending I was talking about… only just a prelude to the great big happening that followed…

Excited about my temporary ascent by a few bucks, I left for home early. On the way, during the bus ride, I was pondering over how rationalistic a figure I was to hand over to my mom, besides how much to reserve for the phone bill, a hands-free headset, data cords and other inexcusable indulgences. It never quite hit me that it had been nearly two weeks since I had done what was expected of me for the ad-hoc processing, and it was now just a matter of time…

Grandma opened the door at 2.00 pm. I could notice an unusual sparkle and excitement about her normally grim expression. I didn’t really take that seriously though. If at all there was something, my dad would have already blown the whistle on it. He isn’t the kind to sport cheap thrills and surprises.

But I realised there was something when she ushered me into the Puja room and handed over a grey envelope from “#$%”. My eyes lit up instantly and I could see my gleam of hope, flash in all its resplendence, from the dull grey cover! My heart went for a dash; my palms suddenly felt numb and chill, as if I were sneezing through my worst bout of cold for hours; butterflies in their flight did hula-hoops all over my tummy; and memories flooded my cranium beyond capacity. I knew this was the moment of truth! I had waited for six months, pored over gigabytes of fundae and information, spent a few hundreds on useless long distance calls, and relived the trying experience of having my app reviewed all over again. And now the verdict was approaching me, FTASB! (for the uninitiated, it is a lazy jargon for Faster Than A Speeding Bullet)

I wasn’t prepared for this high speed chase. And so I took my time, with heavy gasps of breath. The metabiophysical reactions in my body rewound the clock backwards, and I found myself confronted by a roster of hostile questions-

Why did it have to be June 8?
Why not the 8-point someone at ITC?
Why not IIMB?
Why not Stan?
Why rediff?
Why that one particular grouchy chap?
Why me?!!

Alright that’s enough dude! Just open it.

When I opened the package, my most dreaded fears very nearly came true. There they were - my small blue booklet, intact; and the all important cert., battered and bruised as if out of a washing machine! It spoke volumes about their contemptuous attitude towards me, and us all.

My first instinct was to just look at the first available page in the booklet- nothing; next page- nothing here either; third page- not even a dot of ink! At that moment my heart came to a grinding halt; I almost sank in my posture! Go to the last page- no sign here too. Was there more to the already over-convoluted twist? The back-cover page- there was just this green sticker bearing the 4 ominous alphanumeric characters. Did they imply that the “pink slip” I got was for GOOD?

Of the few moments that followed, my memory is blotted and I don’t know or remember how but they just happened… I regained my composure, got back on my feet and virtually visualised the matrix of all my body parts before taking any action. I still don’t know what gave me the ridiculous brainwave that there are 36 pages in all eligible to get “stamped”, and that I had just covered no more than barely one-twelfth of the probability. And so I garnered all my will power and strength and patiently started flipping each and every leaflet. I even looked for invisible ink and UV marking! After all I am a mechanically aptituded technocrat. One by one I scanned- pg 2, pg 3, 4, 5.. ..10, 11, 12, 13- stop!

Voila, there it lay! Carefully nestled and concealed from everything, including a normal man’s sight or oversight rather. Six months of my sweat and agony in waiting, all for a 3-by-5 stamping! But I will take that, for it was well and truly my tryst with “The moment of Truth!”

I have one important question, which has been eating my head since, to put forward though – why page 13? Aren’t they the ones who contributed the infamous triskaidekaphobia to the rest of the world?

My experience closely relates to that of my project partner and good friend GREram who himself had to go through three full-fledged attempts. I suppose his summation of the whole thing- "Wham! Slam, Thank you Ma'am!" says it all. He will surely agree with me and wonder as to how, especially after 4 attempts, 2 failures and a "pink slip" between the two of us, we remarkably made it!

In the end, after perhaps a perfect ending with an anticlimactic flavour to it, I can only look back at an excessively quoted, ridiculed, clichéd saying of a few wise ol’ timers – All’s well that ends (well)!

Period

Wanna know why?

2006-11-19T10:39:00.001+05:30

I am here for a reason; and I am here for good.
I crave for freedom from the shackles I have on;
by Jove! I shall make noise... lots of noise!
You have naught for a choice
than to listen to my god-damned foghorn.