Musings Inc.,

Death Magnetic

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 14:07:00 +0000

MagneticA!!!

Yeah! Time for some album promotion. It's a little over a month since Metallica have released their new album - Death Magnetic - and on this side of the globe, a fanatic of theirs is psyched up and proud to promote this one!

The old logo, the old guitars, the old 'long songs', solos, roars, thrash metal, an instrumental, controversies - everything is back! Debuting at #1 in over 40 countries speaks for the power of this record. The perfect bass, thrashy guitars, roaring solos and the right percussion. This record just slams metal onto your face! The only thing that has worsened on this record is their age - but hey, what the hell - we are speaking of Metallica!!

As Velcro once said:

Jai Metallica!
Jai Jai Metallica!!

Read the wikipedia entry here.

Live with Noise!

Ravi

Of Airports, Coffees and Sultan Bazar!

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:58:00 +0000

To the extent I remember, the first time that I had been to an airport was in 2006. I was there to send-off BIL to the Deutschland. (Co-incidentally, it is also the first time I actually sent someone off.) The flamboyance of airports as described in most written works was something that was missing there, but hey, it was built ages ago! So considering that and the fact that it is maintained by the AAI, you really aren’t supposed to expect anything better.

I had tied myself with some expectations for some things that I would experience/use for the first time in my life. As an example, my first wallet – I thought – should be bought with my own money (And I did that). I preserved the very first note I earned. I wished to travel in an aero plane for a major step I would take in my life – something like traveling abroad for further studies or to work, should I get a chance to – and many such things. Unfortunately, the last of the above said did not really happen for the expected cause, but well, it had its own specialty - better not be discussed here!

I am a caffeine buff. I love coffee and tea, though I have special requirements for the way they are made. The best of coffee I had to this day is the one that mom (or dad, occasionally) makes every morning. It tastes much better when you share the cup right in the morning with your family. Apart from the home-made-fresh-morning-coffee, I have a special admiration for the coffee at Minerva Coffee House, Himayath Nagar – and almost it is nowhere else. This precisely is the reason I almost gave up coffee for the two years of my Bangalore episode, save a few times when I had unbearable headache. I wanted to have a cup of it either in the best way possible or I better not have it. On the other hand, tea almost tastes good anywhere, except in sophisticated coffee shops like Barista or CCD or places with jazzy walls where they have Doors or Clapton singing in the background with almost incomprehensible menu cards that say a single cup of tea costs around 75 bucks (+ VAT). And all you get at the end is a *posh* teabag dipped in a mug of hot water and a small cup of thinned milk! I can literally count the instances where I had tea at such places. Coming to the best, yet again, is the evening tea at home and the one I make at workplace for myself. Nothing beats that when you have this strong desire to have tea. Also, a special mention of the Vanilla flavoured tea I used to have at Chaitanya’s (first mentioned here) home. The irony is that he is not used to having tea, but always made a cup for me. The second part of the irony is that he wouldn’t most probably read this post and know of the special confession I just made.

When I first traveled by air, May 18^th 2008, I was in the Bangalore Airport by 5:30 AM. I have this cold desire to have a cup of really strong coffee soon after I brush, more because of the minty feeling that’s left out in the mouth after you are done. Before the dawn broke, as I checked in, I ordered for a cup of Cappuccino at the Airport’s CCD. Something was really special of the overall experience of having the early-morning coffee that day. In the lounge, or may be in that coffee or may be of the overall ambience – of that lightly dense airport in the early hours of the day or may be the enthusiasm of traveling by air for the first time. With the cup in my hand, I browsed through some stores in the departure section.

This morning, Non-Vej (first mentioned here) left for Sultan Bazar - fondly called California by most Americans. (A certain ophthalmologist that she regularly visits believes that California has more Hyderabadis than Hyderabad itself has. So as a token of respect he pet-named California as Sultan Bazar!) The reason why she has gone to California has more weight than anything else in this post – more than my love for coffee or airports. She’s gone to get her master’s from Stanford! Yeah, Stanford University! Something I would so proudly share with all the people I know! All the very major huge mega best lady! All of the world’s blessings and love over you! So this morning, along with her family, I go to the airport to send her off. I was in the airport at around 5 and I straight headed to CCD. Yet another morning in an airport and yet another cup of CCD Cappuccino. It reminded me very much of the experience in Bangalore – something special I thought. All the caffeine lovers should give this a try!

A special mention of another wannabe 'Master' - The Dada of Kingsville - Velcro Karukonda! Loads of all the best to you too dude! Earn more money than what your bro has till now ;-) How can I forget to mention the home visit of another PseudoAmerican - the one and only CS. CS was in India for a month. A couple of weeks in Hyderabad and a couple of hours with me and Vej. The first meet after a couple of years is definitely worth a mention - I was appalled to see this 'kid' in my office cafeteria - In a star spangled blazing sky-blue Superman tee and a tawdry shining yellow short. It was kind of out-of-place, you know, with people around him in decent-enough formals and acceptable casuals. For the kind of apparel that he had appeared in and the renegade that he has always been, I HAD to bow down to his wishes and treat him somewhere outside. This being another time, I won't (hopefully) dare ridicule him (for another year) on my blog. Despite all what I just said above, he has showered his kindness upon me by donating an 'I love NYC' tee and a monumental sack of Kisses! Well... Snickers, Hersheys, Nestlé and Ferrero Rocher too! Thanks bro!

Will see you all very soon!
Ravi

Before I forget, here are some pics of the RGIA:

Show me the &^$%!

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:37:00 +0000

Time is 2:18 AM!

Should I be proud that I'm working overnight(s)?

This has been happening for around 3 continous weeks now.

Being an 'offshore resource', I am billed at around 30$ per hour for around 180Hrs a fortnight.

Thats a wholesome lot of money!

BUT SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!!!

:-(

Ok.. ok! Work is interesting.

The Wall and The More...

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:28:00 +0000

Hello!

Contrary to what many have thought:

I'm very much alive - hale and healthy!
The interest within to blog is also alive.

But I have to accept the fact, the number of times after my last post that I felt like blogging has drastically come down. Except for that handful number of souls who read my blog regularly, most of you might not have observed that a majority of posts here revolve around the daily chores and witty events that happen in my life. So logically / inferentially / derivatively / whateverly it should mean that there haven't been many 'exciting/bloggable' things happening out here.

I am basically a moody blogger. Whatever that might mean; but what I mean to say is that I require a certain 'mood' to blog. A mood which unleashes the blogger side of me (Yet Untitled - one such post, still remains my favourite). There have been moments, intense and worthy enough to materialize themselves into posts. These would have been the posts that most readers love to read and later comment on. While I lost some of such posts by sheer sloppiness, some just did not see the light of the day. While some moments were too personal to be put-up on the web, some were too uninteresting. A couple of them are lying incomplete on my desktop - One of them called "An year in life". It ran too long, both in the time taken to compose it and the amount of content, and is lying lifeless!

Did you ever hear of a Colony Strike? As you must have understood by this time, it's a strike declared by a colony. A couple of days ago, one such strike happened in my neighbourhood colony. A strike intense enough that called for the patrolling teams to monitor the situation. The funniest part of the story is that this was a strike against the Police and the Patrolling squads! Here's a brief report: Venkatapura is surrounded majorly by Police Quarters. To reach Venkatapura, one can take the by-pass lane through Police Quarters and this is the route that brings in a lot of people and consequently a major business to the petty vendors and merchants in Venkatapura. Because the police did not like it or may be because they were majorly pissed off with the general public strolling and travelling so happily through their reserved quarters (the unknown, yet speculated part of the story!), they decided to construct a wall blocking the route - both ways!

Henceforth, as a token of respect to both the wall and Pink Floyd, this wall shall be called The Wall.

Due to the construction of The Wall, all of these petty vendors and merchants got infuriated (the known and widely spoken about part of the story!) and started protesting. All the shops, the roadside businesses and schools in that colony were shut down for two continous days. No deaths or injuries have yet been reported because of this strike but, well, I am not in The Mood to 'create' stats.

Another amazing thing happened in my The Life. I travelled in an auto this morning. Yes, I travelled in an auto this morning. The amazing part of the story is that I was actually offered a free drop. Meaning: The driver would not charge anything for dropping me wherever I want. Only later I realised that there is nothing in this world called a free lunch. The Drop had a catch. The Auto was unhealthily heading towards The Garage. Probably, The Driver's heart poured out with humanity when he saw me desperately searching for autos. The Auto's engine crashed half-way and so were my excited spirits that throve for a free lift. As soon as The Crash happened, I paid the auto-driver whatever the distance and the condition of The Auto deserved (lets keep The Amount aside!). You know, that's when people get to see The Humane Ravi.

Ironically, I saw The Wall while travelling in The Auto. The Auto crashed right in front of The Wall and well, as they say, the rest is history!

On a different note, I wish to congratulate some of my close freinds for having stepped on the American soil to pursue higher goals in life: Kalpana, Siddharth, Bindiya and Sai Krupa are out in the US for their Masters. By the way, The Wish is to congratulate not because they have stepped outside the country but because they wished to pursue higher goals.

Another Congrats! to Veda for having successfully signed a pact with her school staff to maintain peace around.

The Congrats!

So, that's the update from the risky spot. Will meet you all again as soon as I can!

Adios!

One Day In Life

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Thu, 03 May 2007 15:23:00 +0000

I hate to say this but things are not really going very spicy/interesting/rocking/explosive in life. My work-experience is increasing every week. I'm getting more and more used to Bangalore. I'm getting increasingly skeptical about the 'sharpness' of my brain. Speaking about this, I guess I will have to quote some examples. I was just making a simple calculation this afternoon. What is 9204-1253-650? That took me close to 1½ minutes but boy! my calculation was correct. It is 7301. No new posts were seen on my blog in the recent past. One of the reasons for that might be that nothing actually is so interesting/exciting that it is making me write anything new. Then I think about my reappearance for CAT. Well... possible? At times I feel that if I stay in Bangalore for a year more I can avoid all the distractions at home and make it. But I already started missing home. The last weekend I was at home for 4 days and it all of it passed just in a jiffy! I am suddenly forgetting words and I terribly fight within to recall the word. 'Jiffy', just a few minutes ago was one such word. 'Whippy' was coming instead of that! 'Compere' was one yesterday. I had to recall that for a long time. 'Ampere' finally helped me with that! For quite sometime, reading books is another thing that I completely lost touch with. Maybe not enough books to read? No, I don't think so. I just started off with Omertà. (Flicked off from my BIL's collection)

The last few months in office were a little hectic. The team size contracted from 27 to 5. That explains the increase in the work-load. At times you have to stay overnight in the office to meet the deadlines. Not that anything disastrous would happen if you don't, but just to be in the good books of everyone. You know, you kind of start to live for others when you are in a job. Dependencies increase and so do the clashes. Mood swings big time and so do the false smiles on your face.

On one of the recent Fridays, I thought of staying overnight so that I could avoid coming over to the office on the weekend. Naveen said he would accompany me for the same reason and we made up our minds that we would stay overnight. The time was 10 in the night by then. It was raining heavily. (And another reason to stay in the office!) I was feeling hungry and we went to a nearby restaurant, Mayuri. The restaurant is famous for pappu (Dal). True, you get amazing pappu there. But we were not fortunate enough! The server said pappu was over. We had whatever was available and we were back in the office. It was around 11, still raining. I was determined to complete the unfinished work. At around 12, Naveen left to the dormitory. The sleepy look was evident on his face. 5 minutes later, he was back saying that the dormitory was full. Now I was determined to finish my work, but not so much that I would forego my sleep. So we cursed our ill-fate and decided to start to our respective houses in a couple of minutes. It was still raining. We came out of the campus and started searching for autos. Miraculously, an auto driver accepted saying that he would drop us at double the original fare. Wow! at 12 midnight; Bangalore; double the original fare was definitely cheap! As soon as we got in, the meter started running double the original speed. So effectively we would end up paying 4 times the original fare like jackasses. Immediately after figuring out that it was a jacked meter, I got into a fight with him, got down half way and ended up paying 25 bucks! I walked back the remaining distance. Naveen hired another auto to his place. As soon as I entered my room, Hari, my room-mate said that the power had then been off for 4 hours. The entire colony was lighted except our building. The rest of the night was a sad experience with a lot of clapping around in pursuit of killing the mosquitoes. (Even the mosquitoes were there only that night because of the rain!)

First it was the bad news of coming down to the office for the weekend; then the heavy rain outside; then the finished dal in bad hunger; then the occupied dormitory; then the fight with the auto-driver; then the power-cut; the dark night!

Added to all these small frustrations in life you keep getting calls from different banks/agencies/operators irritating you at the really wrong time. You can be patient to a certain level, but at times, the hurdles are broken!
-----------------------------------

"Good morning sir, I'm Jayashri calling from ABN AMRO. We are offering free credit cards; would you like to go for one sir?"

"Thanks a lot Jayashri, but I'm not really interested in one now."

"That’s OK sir, but please get back to us on this number incase you think you need one. Have a great day ahead!"

"Thank you. Have a great day too..."
-Click-
-----------------------------------

"Good morning sir, I'm Vinay calling from ABN AMRO. We are offering free credit cards; would you like to go for one sir?"

"No thank you, I already have one."

"That’s OK sir. Bye."

"Bye."
-----------------------------------
After 3 more calls from ABN AMRO:
-----------------------------------
"Good morning sir, I'm Swathi calling from ABN AMRO. We are offering free credit cards; would you like to go for one sir?"

"Good morning Swathi. Could I say something before we speak about the credit card business?"

"Sure sir."

"Apart from you, I was already called by 5 other people from your bank asking the same question except that your names are changed. Don't you have a list maintained which keeps track of who are disturbed and who are not?"

"I'm sorry sir... I really didn't know this. I'll make sure we don't call you again unless you want us to."

"Thanks a lot. That's really nice of you."

"Thanks a lot sir, have a great day ahead."
-----------------------------------
The next day:
-----------------------------------
"Good morning sir, I'm Raj calling from ABN AMRO. We are offering free credit cards; would you like to go for one sir?"

"No thanks Raj, but can we speak --"

-Click-
-----------------------------------
Business. Respect. Calls. Call Center. Money. Disturbance.

As though this is not enough, you get calls from Hutch as soon as they deliver the 'Hutch bill'. Everyday! As though you would run away without paying their million-dollar bill! I was in such a situation recently. The bill amount was 1253 and the credit limit was 1250. Immediately I get a call from Hutch. And observe the 'Hutch' added before every 'Bill' that comes in the conversation. Respect for their 'Bill' or something?

"Hello, am I speaking to Mr. iamrisk.blogspot.com?"

"Yes. Ravi here."

"Sir, this is a call from Hutch. Your Hutch bill has been delivered to you. Could you please pay your Hutch bill by this evening sir?"

For this same intro, I had three different replies on three consecutive days:

1. "Yeah sure. I'll do it this evening."

2. "Yeah, I'm paying it online now. Don’t worry. I'm not running anywhere..."

3. "One sec... I'll call Ravi..."

I finally went today to the Hutch centre to pay the bill. The payment gateway was down and so was my phone. They have blocked all sorts of outgoing calls. I have paid the amount and the bill would be accepted as soon as the server is up and running. And it's only after that I can make any call. It's been 6 hours since I paid my bill and the phone still shows no sign of any call-making. Mom called up this evening and asked if I have reached safely and if the train was on time. At the end of the call, I said I would call home again in the night. One of my ex-roommates called up and asked why I did not lift his phone (at 6:15 in the morning!!!) and if I was ignoring him. Mr. Creative Shocker has given 7 missed calls. Vej called up and was 'moderately pissed off' that I did not call her after reaching Bangalore. I promised Chaitanya that I would be calling him this night!

Another day ends with the routine chores. A colleague of mine just said a "Bye Ravi!". I have to fix a major issue and report about that to my manager by tomorrow. It's 9:05 PM in my comp. I have to get back to my PG. It’s 1½ KM from here. I have to take an auto for that. A bargain fight with most of the auto drivers again. All this for the not-so-very-tasty-but-no-other-go food in my PG!

Wish me all the very best and all the fun. Will see ya'round.

P.S: To all the rock lovers, check this out: Band of Gypsys

Sid's Rantings and 'Musings'

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 05:34:00 +0000

Sid's take on his experiences with Musings:

M'05
M'06

Cheers,
Ravi

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 19:57:00 +0000

*start*

Ravi: "Speaaakerrr!"
Veda: "aah?"

R: "Sppeaaaakeerrr!"
V: "ammaaaaaaaaaa!!!"
*cries out loudly and tries to run away*
*but I held her tight. HAHAHA*

R: "Speakerrrrrrr!"
V: "Chpeeekul"

R: "Chpeeekul kaadu. Speaaakerr!"
V: "Chpeeekul kaaduuuuuu.... chpeeekul!"

R: "Ess"
V: "Aah?"

"Ess"
"Echch"

"Ess"
"Echch"

"Pea"
"Peeea"

"Eee"
"Eee"

"Aay"
"Kul. Chpeekul!"

"Aay"
"Aaey"

"Kay"
"Kul"

"Kay"
"Kay"

"Eee"
"Eee"

"Aar"
"Aaal"

"Speaker"
"Chpeekul!"

"Speaker"
"Chpeekul!"

"Speaker"
"Chpeekul!Chpeekul!Chpeekul!Chpeekul!Chpeekul!Chpeekul!Chpeekul!"

Ok.

*end*

For those who don't know: Veda is my 2½ year old neice. Extremely cute devil.

Yet Untitled

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 06:28:00 +0000

The forcibly-made-former President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, has been hanged to death. And most certainly this is not going to change the way things are. Except that the number of posts today will increase significantly in the blogosphere, riots will break out for some more days, people will protest in the coming months, I shall continue to download more Metallica FLVs and Wiki gets one more article.

I was glad about the ten day trip to home and it’s been already a week in Hyderabad and the moments are passing even before I realise what’s happening right then. The welcome news was sad. A very close relative of ours expired. Some were glad that she hasn’t troubled her children or husband by getting hospitalized for months or spending months on the bed chanting God’s name seeking the slightest of helps from others. And some others were sad that her ‘time has come so soon’. Her husband (my uncle a.k.a pedananna), who is incidentally a lot into life and its philosophy, accepted fate, but was happy that she passed away on the banks of river Krishna according to her last wish.

So things have returned to normalcy except for the daily rituals that have been taking place since then. I accompanied mom and dad almost everyday during the dinner time. Fortunately, relationships in our family are enjoyable. And so are the relatives. Just for some trivia, dad has 7 brothers and 3 sisters. With that same logic, I have close to 40 siblings (all ahead of me!). And all of them married. Or should I speak of the only unmarried?

Before my sister got married, she was the common target among the group of elderly women in any occasion. The only discussion on earth apart from jewellery, sarees and deaths that these sorts of women can ever have is to pull the legs of the oldest-yet-young unmarried person in the family.

Fortunately or unfortunately, this crown is now on my head.

It all starts off taking the word ‘marriage’. And before you start blushing, the discussion diverts to what bride’s gifts each of the women would give and get. Give is always far lesser than get though. And most of the times, my mom manages to make her presence while this discussion goes on. Her (or any conventional mom for that matter!) stance rises when these close-relatives-cum-GD-women speak about son’s marriage. A discussion of daughter’s marriage involves a lot of ‘you-have-to-give’ dialogues while son’s marriage essentially delivers a lot of ‘we-shall-not-take-anything-from-them’ kind of words. Happily proud, you see.

And the worst part is elder women who have beautiful unmarried daughters never speak all this. Bad.

Apart from that, I got to receive some off-beat comments like ‘You look complete now!’ (God alone knows what was incomplete in me before!), some routine comments like ‘You are getting thinner everyday. Your cheeks are drying up and going inside.’ Followed by an ‘Aren’t you eating properly?’ and some good-old comments like ‘You were thissss much when I saw you 20 years back…’ I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t obvious!

But still, its all funny and enjoyable. It’s a fact that it has really been a long time since all of us relatives are together. Or may be it would sound more apt if I say that I haven’t been to many of the recent ceremonies, functions or these occasionally held get-togethers. Somehow, this time I realised that many among my relatives were getting old. Their energy levels have come down. Most of the kids whom I have seen the last time are now in their higher schools. And unlike how they were before, they all have become silent. Among these tens of transitions that people have made in their lives, careers or education, I’m the only one to go for a job. And I was happy to realise that I was forcibly made the role-model for some of the children of my many cousins. Some others have taken sessions on what I should do next and whom to see as a role-model to grow in life. Well, they meant it when they said that taking up a job is not the last step in your career. And strangely, there is a sense of respect that you get from some more of them when they know that you are in a job working for a company like Wipro. And it doubles when you are not in your hometown, living on nothing but yourself.

Relationships are getting branched. Priorities are driving relations. Food tastes the same. Yet, the lives don't.

Apart from all of this, I spent most of my time meeting friends and doing some ‘to-be-done’ things. I actually prepared one such list before I came down to Hyderabad and successfully executed most of them. At the end of my trip to home, this trivial list of mine looked somewhat like:

~~Convocation.~~
~~Audio system~~.
~~Battery~~.
Wirewash.
~~Laun~~dry.
~~Ticket Cancellation~~.
Change Blog.
~~Hutch Bill.~~
Hit.
Clean It - ~~CD Player~~, Computer.

'Convocation' meant going to JNTU and applying for my convocation certificate. ‘Battery’ is to change the battery of the cordless phone in my house. On a lighter note, I learnt how to play Metallica’s Battery on the guitar. Wirewash is as stupid as it sounds. Actually stupider than it sounds. It is to wash the wires of the earphones of my MP3 player. Yeah. Wash them. Laundry Work. (Which is left half done. And so is the half-strike on it.) Cancel the train ticket booked originally for 26th. Change the template of this blog. Pay my telephone bill. Buy HIT! And finally clean the audio system and computer with Colin.

My trip to home has almost come to an end. And as it always is, some things never change in life. I shall be in my cubicle in a couple of days. Coffee, printouts, meetings, t-con’s, life, from now and on…

By the way, I wish all the readers of my blog a wonderful new year ahead! Have a great time.

Phew...!

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 13:32:00 +0000

An year that changed my life the most. An year of happiness. An year of sadness. An year of music. An year of hatred. An year of tears. An year of designs and colours. An year of friends. An year of changes. An year of joy. Half an year of bachelorhood and a little more of being a kannadiga. An year of memories. An year that marked everything. An year into blogging. And a new dress for my blog. No stats. No nothing. Just a hearty 'Happy Birthday!'.

:-)

Thou Shall Eventually Becometh a MetalliFan

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 04:46:00 +0000

First Song: No Leaf Clover. S&M. You heard that song just to get rid of my nagging trials to make you realise how legendary and rocking this band is.

Next Song: Nothing Else Matters. An amazing ballad. You wonder... "Ballad from a metal band?". I say... "Check out parts of the song where he sings in two different pitches at the same time. Check the Symphony at the back. Check the...blah blah blah blah...." Next, find the S&M version of this song. Keep going.

First listen to the original song two times a day. Morning before breakfast. Night after dinner. Don’t drink too much of water after you listen to the song or do not go for an over dosage of the song. Follow this for 15 days. Then get back to me. We shall now improve. Let's start the heavy dosage. How about Fade to Black, Orion or Sanitarium? By this time you will get half crazy about Metallica. If you are a guitarist, you almost got into the groove. Also, if you are preparing for some competitive exam and you have a tiny audio player with you, you are dead. Better give up the preparation and concentrate on the songs completely. Be ready to get heavy and heavily crazy!

Turn on the S&M version of Nothing Else Matters. Follow the same schedule for this song also. Then search for another live version of this song. It’s recorded at Live Shit Binge & Purge Tour, 1991, Mexico. Now you are almost in the groove!

Like how I am.

Now hear that. By now, most probably you will feel like listening to that song at nights, just when you are getting into sleep. Like a lullaby. Sometimes The Unforgiven, from the same live series, serves the purpose. When you are engrossed in work, you are listening to Fight Fire With Fire or Battery. Then the Black Album. Load. Reload. S&M. St. Anger. And then the covers. The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited. Another earlier album - Kill 'Em All.

Just think of this - You are in a lift, alone, and you enact as if you are playing a guitar and jump in the lift for the song that’s going in your head. Your friends think you are 'just another rocker'. Your parents think you, and not the band or their songs, are the actual headache in the house. Your dog wags the tail and leaves your room as soon as you get your hands on the guitar. The fellow passengers in the bus request you to reduce the volume on your headphones (even on the headphones!!) during a journey. You wait for people to walk past your cubicle just to bang that head of yours. You get excited and send songs to your buddy just to realise later that she actually hasn't heard that song despite your consistent praises of that song. And later she says "Abbaaaaa... gola!!!!!”(Yes Miss Vej...that’s you!!! x-( ) (Gola = Noise)

If all this happens, theory says "Welcome to Life Metallica".

(A couple of months then on - You got it; Slow and heavy poison)

Now you will feel like exploring the lives of the men behind the Metal Revolution. You will find out in no time that they are actually James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton, Jason Newsted and Robert Trujillo. You will love that 'Kick-Ass' pun of Jaymz. You will be stunned by the way Kirk plays (with) his guitar. Stage presence - Redefined by Jason. Bass God - Cliff Burton. Roll with Lars. You will start downloading videos now. And MORE videos. Then Live Versions. Then guitar. Sound. Noise. Life. Bass Solos. Guitar Solos. The drum roll in "One". Rare Videos. YouTube. Google Video. Concert Collections. Bootlegs. Rare Bootlegs. LiveMetallica. More electricity. Even more Life. More and more Life. "Ditch the problems, I have the best MetalliCollection". WOAH!!

Relish all those moments!!

Anyway, what would you call "Dhoom - 2" if it was released in Telugu? Will it be "Dhoomu - rendu"?

From now and on...

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 13:30:00 +0000

Last spotted somewhere around here, I was...well...searching for 'Someone'. Fortunately, the search didn't last long.

Keep it aside.

Now this has taken a different route altogether. Now the search is for a flat. It is also for some good, healthy investment plan. For ways in which I can exempt tax on my salary. For good food. For ways to do my work better. For helping M'07. (Yes.) For ways of getting back home earlier. For filling up my educational loan. A good bunch of roommates. For finding more people who respect others. For good memories. For a hearty conversation on the phone with my parents and friends back home. To hear those incomplete words and mumblings from Veda. To spend my weekend in a better way. To wake up early. To create that difference. To pour life into my surroundings. And finally to live...

Before some of you conclude that I might really not be enjoying life, let me convey this - No. Life is great! And I'm sure those who know me already got the answer.

Things have changed quite a lot from the time it was decided that I'm going to stay in Bangalore. To be precise, it has been 2 months since I got this news. And more than that since I blogged. Though it was disastrous to hear at first, the trade offs seemed better. Just think of this - How many 'like me' can get posted at an office which is just 1½ KM away from home avoiding all the traffic of the world? To better it off, I realised that we have flexible time schedules with the unsaid rule 'Work. And do what you want to'.

Just to reiterate, life has taken a different direction. Days are no longer called with names. They are either weekdays or weekends. Time is measured not in hours and minutes but in work-breaks. Phone calls no longer stand by minutes but in hours. Dressing suddenly seems to be such a headache. Money is no more in hundreds and tens. Thousands is what we all are interested in (Well, for now). Yet, it is insufficient. Even a thing as small as a "bill" has suddenly become so important! Everything from something as low as a drive in the auto rickshaw to a meeting with an official has a "Welcome to Life!" in return.

Speak about the work life and things are so far so (really) good. And it is entirely different from what we experienced during the first three months in Bangalore. I feel like 2006 has been divided into 'Student - Professional Student - Professional' phases for most of us. The day starts with a hot coffee for most. And all in between is thousands and thousands of lines of code crunching. Interesting meetings (I swear). Work with humour. Luncheons. Printouts. Unyielding discussions. Mailboxes. Drink coffee and swipe out. Compared to some 'Not-any-more-my-colleagues' (My training batch mates) I think I'm pretty lucky to have fallen into a team that I am in right now. Often, I do realise that I'm 'really busy'.

With a hope that things would get better than what they are now in every aspect, I shall return soon. How about something on Orkut?

Ayyo paapam...!

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 14:18:00 +0000

Ravi is thinking more about his future.
He is withdrawing money from ATM's these days.
He is preparing a monthly budget.
Also, he is getting dressed in formals!!
Ofcourse, with formal footwear.
He is prefering fruit juices to beverages.
He follows a time table too!!
Recently, he discovered a white strand on his head.
And another one, a couple of weeks later.
Oflate, he has been advising people about their careers !
Every penny spent is validated and reasoned a hundred times.
A few days back, a kid asked him, "Uncle, can you donate for Ganapathi Pappa?'

UNCLE !!???

Therefore, Ravi has been marked an Uncle.

Moral of the story: Ravi needs an Aunty.

Namma New Life

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 12:04:00 +0000

It's perfectly 24 hours since my bachelor life has started, marked with a send off to my father at the railway station. I don't know how many guys have enjoyed being a bachelor, but I sure have enjoyed it so far. When you have the money you need (and you work with an employer who reimburses every penny that you spend), a map of the city that you are in and 13 years of exerience with city buses, boredom doesn't beckon you, atleast in a city like this. For instance, I don't miss my machine back home. (Isn't that enough?) This one day has left me with, somewhat, a clear perspective of how my life is going to be in the coming days, mixed with a thought of freedom and planning, financially, spiritually and personally.

Nice weather. Good food. Affordable prices. Cheap internet. Above all, not so crowded buses and pretty(iest!!) girls. Thats Bangalore in short. But the traffic jams here are enough to screw your happiness. And when its you're hungry, not even god can save you.

My official training hasn't started, but I hope it doesn't become another lecture-filled semester in my life. The targets that I have to meet in order to stand above all and survive seem tough. But lets see what future has got in store for me.

Well, All's well that ends well. Isn't it?

P.S: The owner of this cyber cafe is playing (has been playing, will play) Aashiq Banaye Aapne. Aaaaaaaaaaaarghhhhhhhhh! Himmeshhhhhhhh!!!
P.P.S: For those who didn't understand the title of this post, Namma means "Mana" in Telugu and "Our" in English.

Aashiq Banadiye Aapne

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 09:20:00 +0000

Info - 08/01/07 : This post was orginally called 'Aashiq Banadiye Aapne', later changed to 'Of Wolf and Himesh' and now is again called 'Aashiq Banadiye Aapne'.

The last September, I and Krish were working on our project related work. While traveling to his house I overheard some song which kept me haunting until I went to his house. I hummed the tune before him and soon Krish recognized it. Seems the name of the song is ‘Tere Bin’ from the Bollywood flick ‘Aashiq Banaya Aapne’. Some time from then, we eventually happened to watch that movie.

A few days later, all of us friends were getting back from the college in a 7-Seater. The autowallah turned on his audio system and the song was ‘Aashiq Banaya Aapne’. Music Director – Himesh Reshammiya.

Oh. Good one.

A few more days and for the love of apna Hyderabadi Hema Chandra I started watching a program on Zee TV, which boasts itself to be the ‘Original Singing Competition’ and ‘Musical Mahayudh’. Sa Re Ga Ma Pa was its name. And one of the judges in it was none other than Himesh Reshammiya.

Oh. Pretty famous, this guy is.

Slowly, more than a music competition, it turned out to be a soap. The judges were the leading actors. The participants were the upcoming actors. The audiences were the supporting actors. The crew members of the program were the film makers, the less significant ones. And we, who watched it on the TV, were the fools.

Perfect.

Something was consistently wrong with the entire scene. Himesh bhai did everything except judging. Kissing the participants on their foreheads, commenting, walking out of the program, giving off caps and scarves saying he was ‘sentimental’ and 'superstitious' was what he was being paid for. To my utter shock, one of my friends enlightened me that 30 more movies of this ‘Rocking’ music director were soon going to be released late this year.

Yikees!!

A few days ago, I turned on the television, and I saw the ad of a two-wheeler, Bajaj Platina, with the background song “Jhalak Dikhlaja”. Music Director – Himesh Bhai.

Immediately I change the channel. For the heck of it, it was a news channel and there I see him again, being interviewed. Himesh. Says he doesn’t copy ‘anyone’ (‘anyone’ is the legendary Nusrath Fateh Ali Khan!!!) and he adopts an ‘own’ style of (nasal) singing.

Now it’s Channel V. A group of sparingly dressed models were dancing to some typical Bollywood remix beat. Interesting. Out of nowhere, like a crab which comes out from its hole emerges our none-other-than Himesh Bhai from that group of dancers singing (moaning) some stupid moan.

Yesterday, I was in a local eatery and as soon as I entered, it was a thumping beat that I heard and it’s Himesh AGAIN!! Later we (I + some friends) were in a Hindi cinema and without any shock, I saw Himesh Bhai’s name in the titles again. No matter what kind of a song it is – romantic, sad, tragic, comical, devotional, happy going – the singer is the one and only Nasal Bhai.

Today, while getting back to my house from a local shop, the autowallah switched on his ten thousand watt only-treble audio system and it was ‘Bhai’ AGAIN!!! On top of it, the tape played a bit faster than usual and his voice sucked better than ever.

Now this is a huge problem. This guy is entering into my life neither with my interest or his interest. His best buddy in that same genre of film killing is our Smooching Sweetheart Emran Hashmi.There’s something that terribly goes wrong with me when I hear/watch anything related to Himmesh Reshammiya and Emran Hashmi or only Himmesh or only Emran.

When I listen to a track composed by Himmesh,

1) I muse… “Why can’t this guy sing atleast like me?”
2) I get into a profound depression.
3) I lose my senses.
4) All the self-composed, self-sung songs by him sound like graveyard moans.
5) I get scared.
6) I wonder why I ever get into such a moment of life.
7) I feel like tearing the screen (or) breaking the television.
8) I feel like a low class, good-for-nothing soul.
9) The surroundings get dark.
10) No good news can lift my spirits for a day.

11)I can only imagine Emran as the hero for that song.

If it’s Emran:

1) I loose interest in living.
2) Profound Depression - Part 2.
3) I loose all the hope and trust in relationships.
4) I start to believe that love never exists.
5) And that every person around me has a double-faced existence.
6) My eyes redden.
7) Dope + booze + fag + sleaze sex = Life.
8) I doubt all the ethical values and principles of life that one believes in.

10)I blindly believe that the song has been composed by Himesh.

Please God, save bollywood. Emran bhai and Himmesh bhai. Please.

Currently Listening to: The barking dog outside the compound. Feeling Better.

Hold It All '06 - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Tue, 30 May 2006 21:40:00 +0000

Oh Bhai... Results !!

A pleasant Saturday evening. I was in a cinema with one of my old buddies, biting my nails, expectant that the hero would somehow find and marry the heroine. Several other thoughts invaded me, but nothing disturbed me more than the vibrating cell. I have this weird feeling that it vibrates terribly when 1) It’s a bad news or 2) When the display says in aversion - “DaD”.

Amazed by the odd feeling I quickly opened it from my pocket just to realise it was not my dad.

So, it’s a bad news.

“Arey ravi, results check cheskunnava?”

THUD!!!

Unable to watch my friend enjoying the movie so merrily, I immediately passed the news on and I heard it again.

THUD!!!

To prevent the damn nervous breakdown take over us, we have two options. Either buzz off from the place and go check our results in some cyber café or keep calling our classmates at the cost of getting rebuked from the fellow movie watchers. Unable to bear either the severe tension or the terrible loss of 35 bucks, we decided to stay in our seats and contact our classmates wherever they are spread, the world over.

Now how can it be a life without spice if we don’t get what we want at the right time? And what we heard in our phones surely made us miss a heartbeat.

“The customer you’re trying to reach has either switched off the mobile or is out of covering area.”

“Please check the number you have dialed.”

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

“The customer you’re trying to call is not accepting any calls at this moment.” (He sure is getting balled in front of his parents)

“The customer you’re trying to call is busy. Please stay on the line or call again. Layyeeter.”

Finally I managed to get Krish on the line.

“Arey entha? “

“Neeka?”

“Yeah”

“You got 192 in project and some 70 odd in NN.”

“What about NLP?”

Breathes for some time and finally says “Don’t know ra. Not really sure.”

Another miss. Now NLP is the subject for which the whole class repented for studying the prescribed text. We all should have otherwise gone for Wren and Martin.

(21 days back… )

These were the reactions post-NLP.

“Will JNTU people fail a student in the last semester?. They wont, no.”

“I’m going to Chilkur tomorrow. Join me?”

“Gone. Pakka. No doubt :-( ”

“Let’s video shoot the college next time we come here. We are anyway going to see it the next sem.”

“I heard our college people are only going to correct the papers. Let’s go and ask Nagesh sir.”

“My bro asked for a movie. I should have at least gone for that.”

“Abbay anavasaramga chadivam antha. Thu !”

“Vidya told me that JNTU is conducting instants this sem for the first time.”

(Back to the present)

With the 21-day past memories getting hold of me, we rode to my place and soon switched on the computer hoping everything is green in the future. My instincts were still warning me about a probable deadly moment ahead. Sweating profusely, we opened the site and as expected, the monitor threw a “Page cannot be displayed” on us. After several not-so-tiring tries, we finally got the page and started entering our friends’ roll numbers. (A bad news about your friend is always soothing before yours and reduces the impact when you realise that yours is a bad one too). Realising that not one had screwed up one’s result so far, a spark of hope lit in us making us feel that we fall in the same band too. Finally after a deep breath, I decided to see my result and YEAH!! I passed :D in NLP. Looking at my happiness, the tension doubled in my friends face, but we soon believed that both of us have made it.

By default, a conventional engineer should never worry about his result so much as we did now, lest he has a semester-full of exams to be written again. But when the whole world around you knows that you are soon going to an Infosys or a Wipro and your parents are proud of you for that, you have no other option before checking your result except to sweat badly.

Whatever it is, I have finally cleared all the JNTU examinations at the first shot, my lowest mark being a broken 44 and the highest mark being a decent 86. Now that no more tensions are left for a significantly long time in the future, I need some rest.

So here I am, with this first blog post-engineering. Took quite a lot of time to get out of the laziness and the writers block!!

Still, life rocks being a lazy worm too…

Orkut Says...

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 09:35:00 +0000

Today's fortune:
Your mentality is alert, practical and analytical

Sometimes... you've got to believe them. After all, good fortune is always true .

And we fared well... At least on the pretty good friday!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 14:02:00 +0000

Friday - 14th April, 2006
Sixth Element

Hands with Roses. Dancing Couples. Sparkling Saris. Flashing Cameras. Blinking Lights. Booming Boxes. Scrunching Beats. Unlimited Drinks. Colourful Dresses. Spiky Heads. Banging Fists. Fagging Cornerheads. Bopping Groups. Whirling DJ...

It sure is a party scene, but definitely had another message for all us fourth years... 'Hey idiots... you're all doing this together for the last time in your life!!!'

Oh! Ooooo…

I am not a party animal, neither do I want to be one now, but time has just now taught us that it’s the end of MGIT’s share of fun in life!! So before I get over the hangover…Here’s the sneak peek…

Expectedly unexpected (??) was the SMS I received from Nirupa on this 11th saying that we have our farewell on 14th at Sixth Element. And the following 2 days were filled with a marathon of messages and calls between the juniors and seniors about this completely unexpected and supposedly “to-be-celebrated” occasion.

The day started at 9.30 A.M (= 11.30 A.M IST). Soon after the regular Hi’s and Welcome’s, we, the seniors, were asked to give a short introduction with a couple of words on our life in engineering too. And soon the placement officers and lecturers in us woke up giving golden advices to the juniors. I don’t know why but we felt as if we were the oldest species of human beings alive on this planet enlightening our juniors.

‘Make sure you get placed before it gets too late…’

‘Don’t mess up with your attendance…’

‘Study well… Have fun at the same time too…’ (And that person did neither anytime in his life)

‘You are the next ones to be kicked-out of the college…’ (!!??!!)

‘Do what you like to do. Never do what you don’t like. Always do what you like to do. No matter what happens, do what you like to do…’ (Finally, do it 4 times)

Some have taken life-time decisions…‘I am no more Chaitanya, I’m Krish …’ (Changing names eh?? And by the way “Krish rocks”!! :p)

One confessed his crush too… (Thank you thank you :”> and by the way, Musings and MetallicA Rock!!!)

To top it all, the DJ adds special effects to our already messed up speeches (a.k.a golden words).

A round of paperdance followed the intro round and sadly, the championship legacy still continued. Deepthi still remains the paperdance ace champion of our class and I’m still the (ace) runner-up. I wonder as to how she could still maintain her frame so well!! And now I understand its purpose :p. (For the record, we were at the same positions for our fresher’s too… just that our partners changed. Venu Madhav (Sr.) to Rakesh (Jr.) for her and Deepika (Sr.) to Hari Priya (Jr.) for me)

The DJ kept reminding us of the running-out time and “soon” (=1 ½ hour) the lunch started. And then it was a round of disco a little while later. The DJ did a commendable job too…

Ok now… nothing special here… The same old songs, the same old steps, the same old dancing groups, the same old drinks, the same old lights and the same old fagheads. Just that we took the video better than ever. And to enlighten you about our expertise in this field, we have taken it in two angles (a.k.a two cameras – and sometimes even we are spotted in the video.).

And now it was the juniors’ turn to evaluate and treat the seniors. We had certain titles like “Mr./Ms. Intro”, “Mr./Ms. Paperdance” and “Mr./ Ms. Outing”. A Nirvana (Our college fest, not the rock band. Please.) T-shirt autographed by all the seniors was auctioned and finally Chaitanya bought it for a whopping 3 grand. Man!! He is getting richer these days!!

Time passed and it was a marathon of hugs and pecks all over. People started moving all around and almost everyone, no matter how close or not they are to the other person, embraced each other and a wave of good-bye’s swept us.

We spent the rest of the evening outside the building chatting until the guard threw us out of the building. Slowly the junta started leaving and it was only the 6-7 of us classmates. We refreshed our senses and selves at a nearby eatery and BAM!!! We are back home…

Offline, I’m sure it must have been day that had the highest number of messages and phone calls exchanged between the seniors and the juniors. It was definitely a good alchemy that existed among all of us these 3 years and it at the end, it got a deserving felicitation too.

Speak about the fun you’ve had in a day or the dejection of parting forever, you can’t have a farewell better than this. Thanks guys. Love you and miss you all…

P.S : Hehe.... End of the day, to my utter amazement my 'dear' juniors honoured me with an on-the-spot "On Popular Demand" award... :p. Sounds good eh?? "Ravi Shankar - On Popular Demand !!"

Just Another Stumble...

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 07:47:00 +0000

Check out these too...

http://www.infonegocio.com/xeron/bruno/italy.html
http://www.infonegocio.com/xeron/bruno/yesno.html
http://www.infonegocio.com/xeron/bruno/olympics.html
http://www.infonegocio.com/xeron/bruno/adam.html
http://www.infonegocio.com/xeron/bruno/farwest/flash.htm
http://www.infonegocio.com/xeron/bruno/horror/flash.htm

Hold It All '06 - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 19:51:00 +0000

Musings 2006

It's 20 days and my blog is still not updated. It's 20 days since I've even had lunch in my house. It's been almost the same time that I could peacefully work on my project. 20 days and I still haven't cleaned my computer desk. 20 days since I even chatted late night till 4. Its been the same time that i even freaked out with my friends. The same number of days and I couldn't play those "a few tunes" on my guitar (with the horrible tuning ever discovered). These days have squeezed us (read I + some others) from every little part of (something called) "fun" that we ever had in our lives.

Enough of this boring introduction. I'm trying to be, but I can never be a great writer (Give anti-comments to the poor soul to make him a happy one).

Musings 2006. Finally. Has. Been. Released. With the same old importance in the college. But with an enthusiasm bundled a zillion times more in us. Reason you ask?? The first one being, It's getting better everytime and so is it this year too. Second - the overall Perfection Coefficient (as we call it) increasing drastically (The more you correct the printer about the inter-word spacing, comma's and full-stops (and the more he bawls you) the higher this coefficient is). Third - Just for the heck of it. Otherwise the para sounds incomplete. Fourth - We worked hard than ever. Many realised what I was doing can best be termed as 'over action' but some later must have (must have) seen that it was actually necessary. Fifth - This was the best graphic theme that I could bring out for the magazine in my service for the mag. Sixth - No ads on the back side of the coverpage!!

As I posted in one of those previous posts in the Musings' Blog, we did have everal "First Times" in Musings this year. A video being compiled, a central theme for the graphics all over, a different layout for the messages from the BoD's etc.,

-------------------
BREAK (I continued composing this post after a break of 10 days... so make all those 20's into 30's) (And i even forgot how I was about to continue)
-------------------
(To know more about Musings-is-great, please see the magazine directly. I have no patience to describe that it is 36-24-36. Time is 1:09 AM)

Musings this year was somehow more interesting than ever. It's not about the magazine that I'm speaking. It's among the editors and the board that the chemistry was fine-tuned. Of course, we did have our share of brickbats thrown over each other and this part of the program was sponsored to you by the second years. Siddhrath balling Chetan - Chetan balling Sid in front of Shiva - Shiva revealing all this to me - I shutting my mouth as theres no use trying to pacify these guys - Well, some things never change. Somehow, the cribbing part of M'06 has taken it to a new level of understanding between the team members. About their abilities, I mean.

Pain - Nightouts have worked wonders this year. We had fun, we experienced the pain in sleepyheadedness (if that word ever exists). While some experienced the pain in missing their dearest moments of life, some experienced the pain in missing classes and attendance while some in missing their favourite food too. The whole thing of working together with your 100% in it, I could say, could be one of the reasons as to why M'06 is The celebrated issue so far. When it comes to getting it all together, you see the real pain. The names for the art pieces get mismatched and sometimes, we lose them too. Some highly-recommended-articles-by-staff from the students make their way directly into the magazine, without a coma being removed from the original article. But when the editors tried escorting them into the mag, they turned out to be entirely different ones. Sometimes, we felt the titles themselves be better changed. Getting it all done in a way we wished was one of the things that left us happy this year. Absolutely no issues from the staff and management. Hey... and dont forget to check out "Hit Parade".

End of it all, I thought when I was with only myself and when it flashed in my mind that I can never work for the magazine again... it felt 'Oh...Yes. Thats true. Never Again'. No more nightouts. No more class-bunks. No more printing press. No more late night chatting. No more photo sessions. No cribbing and no more confusion of selecting and rejecting articles. I'll miss it all. More than anything, I will miss my team. As Sid penned it down, M'06 is An Ode to Penmanship. But for me it could actually be An Ode to Friendship or An Ode to Companionship. That's an inner catchline for a few of us too - if you can call it so.

With all this and without any hesitation, I say Musings 2006 is the best issue till date. In our view, it's also the best a group of 6-7 can get in a period as short as 3 months!!

A bow to all the M'06 Team Members, Raji Reddy Sir, Vikhyat, Abhishek, Nayeem, Balraju and Kumar @ Karshak Printers and all those who were directly or indirectly involved in getting this thing out.

A special mention of Kalpana, Siddharth and Triveni is inevitable. Hey Sid, don't you think we've set that new "bar" which you were craving for ?

Thanks guys - We've finally done it!!

P.S: My sincere apology to Keerthi for mismatching her name in one of the art pieces. The second colour artwork under the name "Vishal - Third Year MMT" has actually been made by Keerthi. She's the same person who sketeched the 8th B/W art piece.

BRB

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 05:44:00 +0000

Hey!! I'll be right back.

The Humble Note Acknowledged

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 05:23:00 +0000

And I'm happy for this.

http://thelostchapter.blogspot.com/2006/03/humble-note.html

Cheers Buddy!!!
Ravi

A day at VNR

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 12:59:00 +0000

At the first place, for all those who are wondering what the hell VNR is, its an abbreviated abbreviation of Vallurupalli Nageswara Rao Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology. In short they call it VNR VJIET and an even slothful head calls it VNR. (How about calling it as only "V"?? Give it a thought and call up on my prized possession).

Anyway... a dim-eyed glance on my college notice board the other day made me gracefully limp towards it. Reason?? Ofcourse yes, a well-designed poster. Printed in bold faced king-like letters on it was CONVERGENCE, the technical symposium of VNR. Searching for something which would be compatible with my senses and interest, I found this sweet little word called "Spidy". As usual, Chaitanya was asking me for the 980936434738923rd time in his life that we should present a paper. Well, I'm not fancied with searching Google again and again, I thought. Now to put it in simple words... Spidy is a web-designing contest. And web-designing is something which I have lost thrice in my college because it was over-professional for the illiterate judges (mind you - this, on a serious note).

My hunt to locate VNR started the day before when I asked Srikanth (a.k.a Zaaffar a.k.a Pulla a.k.a G.Gurram a.k.a Refill a.k.a [many other names which I no longer remember]) as to how to get to that corner of the city. His answer was an eye-opening one. "Go catch the college bus". With a raised eyebrow, all I could say was "Thanks ra". And this bum ditched me saying that he would accompany me the whole day, but unfortunately because of a prior appointment with Mr.Bush (who was visiting Hyd'bad this day), he cannot make it. Finally, he tells me online saying I should board a bus at Rathifile, morning 8:30.

Apprehensively approaching the girl in blue at the bus stop (which was supposedly called one, with a few about-to-blow transformers beside it) near Rathifile , in a shuddering tone, I ask her

"Excuse me..."

"Yes?!?"

"Has the VNR bus left??" "

"Hmmm...no...not yet" and suddenly she roars "Hey hiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Shwethaaaaaaaaaa"
Thanks ma'm. I got what I wanted.

Finally, I handed over two suicide attempted notes to the conductor and within an hour, there I am in VNR VJIET.

Awesome place. The sports complex looked like an indoor football stadium. The facade of the main building resembled Ramada Manohar. The college has its own music club. Good Canteen - Tasty Food - Cheap Prices. Comparatively good looking girls. Pleasant enough to stare for a second :p. The environment was clean and green. Enthusiasm and life all over the place.

After having a luscious breakfast in the canteen, accompanied with a not-so-great coffee, I started to search for the place where I had to give my presentation. After climbing two (or three??) floors, I come across a volunteer who says:

"Spidy?? "

"Yeah... can you please show me where is room no-"

"Have you registered for the event?"

"Am I supposed to?"

"Yeah. 50 bucks" (which actually sounded like '50 bugs')

Back to square one. I had to go and register at the same place where I actually started off from. After registering, climbing two (or three again??) floors was one big PITA process.

The event started off almost an hour and a half beyond the scheduled time. Not much to speak about this part, except for the kind of weird and stupid questions I asked the other participants like "Why is there an empty space at that point in your page??" "Why this colour?" "Why didnt you use frames instead of tables?" "Why not a head to head comparison between Linux and Windows??". Not to boast about, but I should say, I did it pretty well. It was clear, concise, short and sweet from my side. I justified all what I have done, accepted when plagiarised content, gave reasons good enough for alternatives used(or unused).

After we were done with the presentations, all of us MGIT/CBIT participation junta moved on to the canteen. It was 1 by then. Had lunch, went to the library, checked some Digit magazines over there and were back at the entrance of the building, in search of a loo. Eventually we all released the angst left in our pangst's (courtesy-Sid) :p and strolled to the seminar hall for the valedictory function, in a hope of taking something valuable while harking back to our home-sweet home's.

The valedictory function started off somewhere at 3, and we all sat in a row, tensed and commenting on all the unnecessary dump possible. The irony here is that each one knows that the other is tensed and each one behaves as if one is cool. And the saddest part; each one praises the other saying "Your website was the best... undoubtedly you're the winner."

After a half an hour long wait, finally the compere comes to the web-designing category.

"Spidy. First prize goes to... Ravi Shankar of MGIT."

YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. I was excited. Not that I won the website designing contest, but I won some "own" money for the first time. We were asked to go and collect the prize amount from some other room. After letting this news out to all my friends and waiting for some time, we all buzzed off to the canteen. That was when the music club of VNR, which calls itself "Crescendo" started playing "Vakrathunda...." from Colonial Cousins' album. Though not an exceptional cover, its O K for a slight evening relaxation. The entire area round the stage was filled with volunteers and students relaxing all over. The scene then would have made a good photograph :p. Not really impressed with the performance, we all started our journey back home. I was too tired to go to Euphoria(at Vasavi), which was on the other side of the city.

2 hours in the journey and I was back home blogging all what you have just read, with a hot cup of coffee beside me ;).

The week that went by...

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 18:39:00 +0000

The week that went by had many interesting things in store for me.

First of all, I congratulate, well, myself, for having completed Atlas Shrugged, the baap of all philosophy novels. After reading it by parts in almost all the bus journeys that I made in the last 4 months, I have come to a conclusion that a novice reader should never make an arse out of himself/herself by going in for such a heavy novel. But one character that really inspired me a lot in this novel was that of Hank Rearden, a herculean in himself.

For close to a month, I did a deep research equivalent to the depth of Google's web. Analysing all the possible ways in which 2000 bucks (which was actually planned for something else) can better be utilised, I finally decided to enter into the world of masthi, mobiles and messages, gifting myself a cute little Motorola C115. During this process I realised I can better be an actor rather than becoming a Software Engineer. Had to do a lot of naatak for that though ;). But its memory capacity screwed my happiness bigtime. PM me for further details :(( (Well, if youre really interested. Are you?? Tell me, are you??)

The Mirchi Factor:

Radio Mirchi was another thing that kept me happily busy the entire last week. On the first day, Chaitanya (who accompanied me till almost till the last round) was late as usual to the audition centre just(just(just(just))) by one hour (well, thats his --> fate, reloaded. The tyre of bus blasts when he gets into it or the autowallah takes him round the globe telling that it is the shortest route or if everything is fine, he wakes up late, finally blaming it all over me :p.) The bum was kicked out of the audition centre and was asked to come the next day. The first two rounds were blind auditions, where we were asked to speak the way an RJ speaks. Then we had another 2 rounds of personal interviews.... where the "cool" interviewers over there asked all kinds of weird questions like... when was the last time you boozed, why dont you smoke, when was the last time you ever cried and did you ever have a broken relationship etc etc... Basically it was fun all the way. Out of the three interviews that I attended till date, I should say that this was the most interesting and hatke interview that I had. What makes me really proud is that though many experienced radio artists and dubbing artists attended the interview, most of them didnt make it through and being inexperienced, 2 other guys (Chaitanya and Adi) other than I from my college made it till the penultimate round and I could clear even the last round. But sadly, my father gave me a lovely option of choosing either to stay in home or to go for this job. Sadly, he wasn't really interested in I doing a job while I'm still pursuing my engineering. (Neither was I, but it was just a part of my part-time job junt).

Now if you have the slightest feeling to congratulate me or better if you feel like treating me or if you think we should go on a holiday to Switzerland for my achievements, PM me, call me or send me an E-mail. I dont mind what way you would like to
do that :p

My eyeballs have already popped out half way off their place. And I think its better I rest for sometime now.

BTW... Musings '06 - An Ode to Penmanship

Enlightenment Dose - 1

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 08:05:00 +0000

A small break from my super long posts. TIme for a life enlightenment dose.

Speak to express, not to impress.
Dont ASSUME. To assume is to make an ASS of U and ME.

Holy me!!

The M.A.Ts of India

noreply@blogger.com (Ravi) — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 20:42:00 +0000

(In the following post, you can interchange CAT with RAT MAT BAT XAT EAT... whatever you want... Its just that each exam screws you at a point never before.)

Its exactly a month ago that I relieved myself from probably the toughest and academically the most difficult phase, so far, in my life. January 15th. Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi (Better known as FMS Delhi) conducted its entrance exam. Though it marked an end of management entrance exams for me, it was not so for the nation. On February 26th Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS, Mumbai) is conducting its entrance examination.

Well. Enough of the time table.

Probably one of the most admired modes of selection of students for management courses in India has originally been started by the IIM's, way back in the 60's. Generally conducted on the third sunday of every November, Common Admission Test, better known with its petname "CAT", which is also the first phase of selection process for the management course, has been the beast that only smart brains in the country could kill soft. The test consists of sub-sections wherein the candidate is expected to show equal competence in all the sections. The following sunday is generally IIFT's day, as they conduct a test of their own for an admission into IIFT. Equally busy are the follwing sundays for different b-schools, almost till the end of February, where tests are conducted for admissions into the management courses.

In all of these exams, similar selection processes and elimination strategies are adopted. Post entrance test, students who qualify are called for a Group Discussion, where majority of people who turn up are eliminated. Those who clear even this round are called for a round of Personal Interview. One can expect some mirchi here, in the form of some of the most stupid and weird questions like "Why is your tie not made of silk?", "How many buttons are there on you shirt and why only that many?". Completely subject oriented questions like "At which point is the function (some really complex function, calculus oriented) disontinuous and why?" are suddenly shot without giving any clue that the topic is being changed. A round of personalitydrilling is also carried out by the interviewers. Only those who sail through all these rounds can step into the prestigious management institutions of India.
Analysing this process, I wonder if there could be any other mode of selection so pure, refined and transperent as how it is for CAT. Luck absolutely has no role to play in it and so is it even for blind prayers. Only the cream can make it through. The history of B-School admissions has always shown this. CAT 2005 replayed the show and has once again proven its standard big time that a simple coaching is not enough to get you through.

So whats there to listen so much from this loser who didnt even get a single call from the 909290138931287 exams that he has written so far??. Well... only losers can clearly tell you what you can lose at what point of time by doing what :p. Can winners do the same? ;). Certain guidelines and simple strategies can help work wonders in CAT, but only when practised at the right time.
> I'm sorry if you dont, but you should really have a working brain. And when I say WORKING, it should be really working!!
> It really gets simple to crack CAT when you atmoise the whole paper. See it as a set of 120 questions where you are asked to mark the top 40 easiest quesitons making sure that you score approximately and requiredly well in each section.
> Mocks are the best field where one can judge oneself. I made a dumba** out of myself thinking that they really don't matter. The more you sweat the less you bleed. So its better you carry out as many experiments on your strategy as possible and evaluate their efficiency immediately.
> If youre a person who really gets tensed during the exam time, forget CAT for the last 2 weeks. Just F O R G E T. Concentrate on your sem exams instead. And for all the cool heads who really dont get tensed whatever the situation, try diggng and byhearting new forumale with certain routine question types (Dont mind even if its the night before the D-Day). It really thrills you and fetches you some "nice marks" if the formulae learnt before night help you in recognising a certain type of question.
> Smart Strategy is the only key for cracking CAT. So spend a higher amount your time more on it rather than mugging up formulae and practising questions.

Start with a section of your choice, if its Quant, scan the paper in 5 minutes flat and mark that 10-15 workable questions. Spend your half an hour on them.
For DI, adopt either "Some of All" or "All of Some" strategy. Dont forget DS at the same time too...
If its Verbal, go ask your mentor. He can guide you better. But if you have excess of verbal talent, get back to me.

> Avoid dumb guessing. Guessing is synonymous to choosing the most comfortable and soothing way you want to die. If you want to, try going for smart guesses wherein the generally possibility of an answer is checked and 2 of 4 options can be eliminated.

It's more a student learns from experience in such examinations than in "CAT-Cracking" guidelines and many more articles like this. So at the end, apart from these few general points mentioned above, follow what works for you.

P.S: Any sane head who has got a real taste of CAT will not leave it unachieved. So guys... get going!!