Back. I hope, with a Bang.

Woo. Now this is what is called 'Staying out of touch', and that too from my own blog! But I was just out of touch, not out of words! So here we go again! After 8 long months, I plan to restart my blogging! I hope I continue; if not daily, at least once or twice a week. And what made me not blog those 8 months, that's what I'm gonna share! The things that I did, the places that I visited, the friends that I made and more importantly, the experiences that I had.

Since I've got a job in office now, I hope to spend lots of time in front of the computer doing something worthwhile, when not working. The place is different and the conditions are totally different. The last time I blogged, it was sitting in a 3mX3m hostel room, and now its a pretty big office room, where my space only restricts to my table and chair. The people here speak only about work, business deals, quotations, clients, purchase orders, and what not. Here the sweeter they speak with the client, the harder they swear behind his back. The phones keep buzzing, the fax machine keeps beeping and the chatters just don't stop.

So I have decided not to get bothered by them, and just mind my own work, that's given to me, and during my free time, I would blog.

That's all for the time being, will continue the rest later! :)

Sweet Nostalgia Killing Me

With less than a month left in college, I see everyone's status messages being changed to countdown of the days left. When I look back at these 4 years that I spent in college, I get all the sweet memories in my mind. I don't think I have had any major fight with anyone in the college, no enemies; although there have been few bitter incidents here and there. But, that's pretty much acceptable. I have come across some of the most beautiful people over here - I have been blessed to meet them, know them and befriend them, which I hope carries on even after the college. Guys like Basu, Prani, Puppy, Preetam, Rajan, Gogs, Poo, DD and all have been like a family. Whatever happens, you share with them, whether its good or bad, it doesn't matter. And branch-mates like Nitin, Sushant, Shri and Anna have been very supportive right from the time when I started to know them properly. Without Shri's and Anna's notes, clearing these 4 years would be an impossible task. Sushant was always there, whenever I needed any help regarding anything, but mostly academics. One night before the exam, I would go to his room and he'd explain me everything. There hasn't been a time when he would say no if he knew the solution. I wonder if I'll find these kind of guys anywhere down the line in my life. I still remember the first month of the college - I didn't speak much, would restrict myself to my room, but as I came to know slowly, I came to know how good they were and that it wasn't bad interacting with them. Slowly all of us grew fond of each other's company, we sat in one room cracking jokes, making fun of each other (always light-heartedly) and the common profs that we shared. From there till now, it has been a never-forgetting journey. The first month and the last month of the college are the worst, both in their own ways. Its never easy to say good-bye to anyone. Branch and party fare-well which will take place in few days time are going to be one emotional and senti affair. Will keep you updated with it. And all the four year break-up wise, I will post later sometime. 

Dear Shiv Sainik (an email I recieved)

I received this e-mail from a friend of mine. The original writer hasn't disclosed his name, but its brilliantly written and takes proper case of the Thackereys and the Shiv-Sainiks. Read it completely, believe me, you won't regret. Here it is:

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21st Feb 2010.

Dear Mr Shiv Sainik,

I trust you have read Rajdeep Sardesai’s open letter to Mr Uddhav Thakeray
doing the rounds on the internet. Frankly, for two reasons I won’t be
surprised if you haven’t. One, it is in English. And two, it is extremely
well-written and very thought–provoking. If you haven’t read it I suggest
you ask your children to translate it for you. Like the offspring of most
Shiv Sainiks I presume yours too are studying in the most elitist of convent
schools.

But first, let me introduce myself.

I am just a Stupid Common Man. Have you seen the film *‘A Wednesday’*? You
must, even though it is in Hindi. Nasiruddin Shah’s soliloquy at the end of
the film where he spits out his pent-up anger against the system and all
politicians will make your hair stand on end. He calls himself just a Stupid
Common Man. That’s what I am too, as are the faceless thousands and
thousands of us in this city. And like the Stupid Common Man, we are a very
angry lot today; angry at your silly and immature antics, and angry at the
city being held to ransom by your aging leader and his coterie of Yes Men.

I have tried to understand what your core values are, but I am stumped! Let
me spell out why.

Your agitation against Shah Rukh Khan, Rahul Gandhi, Mukesh Ambani and
Sachin Tendulkar turned out to be as riveting as a deflating balloon. Nobody
paid heed to your leader’s call, least of all we Bombay *manoos *who you
have turned into a kind of experimental guinea pigs in the political
laboratory. What kind of wishy-washy, spineless, sloppy fellows are you!
Sorry, Mr Shiv Sainik, the nation did not want an apology from SRK – far
from it. They just want good, edge-of-the-seat cricket. And the nation
showed what they think of your fading leader by making SRK’s film the
biggest grosser in Bollywood. What Rahul G gave you gentlemen was a
resounding slap-in-the-face by doing what your leader has never done – Rahul
mingled freely with the ordinary *manoos* in Bombay. Sachin endeared himself
to the whole country by proclaiming that he was an Indian first. As for
Mukesh Ambani, please await the next chapter.

Now let me tell you why we are an angry lot. Your creaky gramophone record
about Marathi pride being hurt has ceased to convince us any more. During
your current tenure at the BMC, 35 Marathi municipal schools were shut down.
Is this your idea of pride? Rahul Bose (I don’t think you gentlemen have
even heard of him) in a recent TV interview gave statistics to show that
Bombay has already lost out to Delhi in virtually every department of
administration. Forget Delhi, it is losing out to Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
Is this your idea of pride?

And your flip-flop about allowing the Australians to play in Bombay has many
of us in splits. If you are against immigrants, surely you should be
supporting racism in Australia! And if you are protesting racism in Oz, does
it mean that you have had a change of heart about the North Indians? Is this
pride, or total Alzeimeric confusion? Yes, we are angry at your threats to
paralyse Bombay at the drop of a sparrow’s droppings. And, more important,
we are angry at your wanton destruction of public property. Your loss at
successive elections is enough proof of the adage *“You can fool some of the
people all the time, or all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool
all the people all of the time.”*

Now let me tell you why some countries are great and the others are not.
This will perhaps appeal to you, if you have progressed beyond high school.
You have probably heard of a country called USA – it is the most powerful
nation in the world today. It is so because of the way it allows the human
potential to flower and flourish. Leaders – in politics and in business - in
the US come from all parts of the world. If you ever were an avid newspaper
reader (real newspapers, not the Saamna variety) you will recall that there
was a man called Henry Kissinger. He was a German refugee from the
Holocaust, and he became Secretary of State. That Mrs Indira Gandhi gave him
a bloody nose during the ’71 war is another story. But let me give you an
example that you would probably relate to better. You surely have seen
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s films. He flexes his biceps and can put Salman K to
shame – iconic and breath-taking stuff for your stone-throwing, public
property-destroying foot-soldiers. He migrated from Austria about 40 years
ago determined to make it big in the US. Arnold is presently Governor of
California. And there are several Indians in Obama’s (he happens to be the
President of the US) administration, including a few Marathi *manoos* (No,
Please, Al Gore is NOT a Marathi *manoos*). And their contribution to
American society and economy is just enormous.

The point I am making is simply this: you can throw out the ‘outsiders’ only
at your economic peril. All along you have been talking only about job
reservations. Have you ever given a thought to job creation? Have you ever
wondered why very, very few Marathi *manoos *make it to the IFS, IAS, IRS
and the higher echelons of the armed forces? It’s now high time you gave a
thought to that, AND DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!

Now try to picture this. Bombay accounts for about 35% of the income tax
collections of the country. This you probably know. What you probably do not
know is that companies pay income tax in the city where their registered
offices are situated. Now just imagine - and please try to do so seriously
because we are not talking *kaanda bhajiya* but real big mega stuff – what
would happen if the big 3 suddenly decided to shift their registered offices
to Baroda, or Bangalore, or Delhi? Do you recall the downfall of Calcutta
when Charu Mazumdar and his naxalite thugs ran amok there? And the ruins of
Uganda when Big Boy Idi Amin threw out the Indians? In economic terms it’s
called flight of capital. The Tatas called Mamta didi’s bluff and shifted
the Nano project lock, stock and barrel to Gujarat. That left Bengal gasping
for breath. Mukesh Ambani is already talking of shifting his registered
office to Jamnagar . . . I leave the rest to your imagination.

And have you ever thought what would happen to Bombay if the film industry,
what Bombay is really synonymous with, decided to move to Noida?

Sorry for being harsh on you, dear Mr SS, but I am just a Stupid Common Man
letting off steam against your apathy, utter lack of vision and foresight,
and utter lack of concern for us.

Now let’s see what you gentlemen CAN do. You are controlling the BMC for the
moment. And I say for the moment because I see the Rahul G tsunami in the
distant horizon fast approaching Matoshree. SO IT’S TIME YOU DID SOMETHING
FOR BOMBAY! You have until 2012. Merely changing names of cities and roads
and monuments, and creating an identity crisis for everybody, will not help.
I’ve never heard you gentlemen talk of

· Urban planning

· eliminating corruption, especially in the BMC that you presently
control,

· giving us good roads and footpaths,

· parks and gardens,

· upgraded municipal hospitals and schools,

· uninterrupted water and electricity.

All that I’ve heard is the tinkling of shattered glass panes of the IBN
Lokmat office, cinema theatres and of *bhaiyya*-owned taxis, and attacks on
Kumar Ketkar.

And you gentlemen have woken up to the existence of Vidarbha only when they
started demanding a separate state. It just boils down to plain neglect; so
much for your oft-touted Marathi pride. This polemics has ensured your
survival, but it has not taken you very far. You are fast approaching a
dead-end. In fact, when the obituary of the Shiv Sena is written what will
be remembered will not be the flyovers you built, but:

· Bashing up south Indians

· Bashing up north Indians

· Digging up cricket pitches

· Damaging the only world cup trophy brought by Kapil’s Devils

· Enron-Dabhol scandal

· Michael Jackson fund-raiser and the funds that disappeared

· Miandad-Supremo camaraderie

· Flight of capital and business (Hope you read ET. There must be a
Marathi version)

But there is hope for you yet. *Start talking economics* and you may just
survive the Rahul Gandhi tsunami. But above all, please read Rajdeep’s mail.
If you survive you will have Rajdeep Sardesai to thank.

Yours angrily,

Stupid Common Man

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I just hope somehow, by some means, they get this letter, and get try to get some sense in their heads. By now, I am pretty sure Uddhav Thackerey would have read Rajdeep Sardesai's letter, by now. Let's hope they change, or try to at least, before it gets too late.

An Eventful Day

To start off the day, we were called by our major project guide Dr Subhash Yaragal to kick start our project which had been pending for like 4 months now. We just selected our topic last sem and we were to start work on that, but then due to some circumstances, we couldn't work on that topic. Hence, our prof decided to give us a topic something closer to what he had given for M.Tech batch working under him. He told us to cast 36 cubes as reference for the next 72 cubes that we would be preparing in the next 3-4 days, with varying compositions, depending on the cement and admixtures added. Since, there was no power in the morning, we had to shift the work to afternoon. After burning our ass for 2 hours, and getting all drenched in sweat and cement, we prepared 36 cubes and kept them in moulds, which were to be removed from there on the next day.

After doing some work, it was time to kick start our college's annual cultural festival INCIDENT '10 - The Golden Jubilee edition this time. It started off with the inauguration, which contained the normal boring speeches by chief guests, director, dean and Inci convenor Venu. This was followed by a performance by a group of mentally disabled children from Lion's Club Surathkal. After, this there a play of Aladin (this was just to keep the theme of this year's Inci - which was Arabian Nights). The play was brilliantly carried out, the casting was almost perfect, with Dave playing Aladin, Ridhi playing Jasmine, Kau playin Jaffar, Swati playin Jaffar's parrot, Taata playing Sultan, Bhowmik playing Genie(he was superb) and many others. There were these first year girls belle dancing, who were all way too hot. There were also many videos played during the inaugration, created by Media Committee convenors Poo and Prani, they've been uploaded in youtube.com/user/incident10. Do check them out, they deserve a special mention.

After the Inaug got over, there was an inaugural basket ball match between NITK A team and KMC Mangalore, which was won by NITK. Then, the eastern musicals Bandish started. There were 6 teams totally, 25 + 5 minutes for each team. The starting teams were bad. But, the competition picked up later. The first prize was won by Christ College and second went to NITK's own team. I had an awesome time, sitting right in front of speakers, and thumping along with them. So, this was the story of Inci Day 0. Got lots more to come, the next 4 days. Its Haute Couture - the Inci Fashion Show, but not so many teams coming this time - just 4 or 5 of them.

Btw, I forgot to mention that I'm in the Corporate Hospitality committee for INCI '10. We look after the corporate guests like Pro-nite performers, workshop guys and some judges.

When we were attending the Inaug, our director was the one who announced that Sachin scored 200 in the match against SA. I was totally surprised and shocked. My ears couldn't believe the news. I mean can a guy actually score a double century in ODI. But, if it had to come, it had to be from the maestro. He has all the records to his name now. Let's just wait and watch - Next is What!

A Day of Firsts

Yesterday was a day of firsts for me. For the first time, after failing in so many aptitude tests, I got through an apti for interview. It was my first interview, and I was so nervous, and the worst part , I didn't know what to say. I hadn't prepared for it, although I wanted to. The company was L&T ECC Division, they said that they would take 4 or 5 candidates for sure now, while among the remaining, they'll inform the ones they want later, after they do an all-India level selection. So, that means I still have a chance, but my interview was very bad. Since, it was a core company, they asked everything technical, there wasn't a single HR related question. My interview was the shortest. Every other guy they took interview for around 15 minutes, but mine was only for 5-10 minutes. For some reason, everyone's interview was bad, one guy was just sitting their and screwing our case. After all this, finally 4 guys from civil - Aslam(the topper), Varun(another topper), Fayas(smart fuck) and AK(another smart fuck), and 1 from mechanical were selected.

Before the interview, we found an owl on the way. I don't know how it ended up there, but it was beautiful. I think this was the first time I saw an owl, from this close and that too, uncaged. It was a real cute creature, and it didn't even do anything when I touched it. It was a beauty. While returning from the interview later, I tried to look for it, but I couldn't find it. Managed to take some photos of it, here they are:

Treat at C-X, and Sherlock Holmes

Pups who got placed last semester, had kept delaying his treat, waiting for others to get placed. But, yesterday, he finally made up his mind, that he's gonna give it, at last. So, he shared the yesterday's booze party with Slog. And for all the non-drinkers, and some wing mates, he decided to throw a dinner party. CX or Chefs Xinlai was the place we guys chose. The dinner was pretty good, other than that order confusion with the waiter.

After that, some of us decided to go for Sherlock Holmes movie, which was long pending. It released in India two weeks back, but it reached Mangalore just today, that too with some of the weirdest show timings. It was screened at 10pm. The biggest and the only problem about this show is that, we won't be getting bus back from Mangalore to college after 10.30pm. But, we had Preetam along with us, he owns the Surathkal based Preetam Travels. So, he arranged an Ambassador to drop us back to the block. That was what we had planned, and thankfully everything went according to the plan, and we enjoyed the night out.

Sherlock Holmes was really good. The performances by Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law and Rachel McAdams were awesome. The direction by Guy Ritchie was superb. The scenes where Holmes analyzes the fight sequence in ultra-slow motion, and then in real-time was great. I haven't read Sherlock Holmes, so I don't know what the actual thing is, but the ending did remind me a lot about the film 'The Prestige', like the way he deceives everyone, portraying black magic, which in actual is just pure science. Apart from this, I loved the background score of the film, provided by Hans Zimmer. I'd give it a 4-star. You should go and watch it in theater, at least once.

Musical Nite - Well, not so musical

Today, there was a Musical Nite, organized by the Music Club of the college. We've something like this every semester, or sometimes every other month. But, as compared to the other ones, this one was not so great. Except for a brilliant instrumental, 'Toss the feathers', by The Corrs, the rest all just seemed pretty average. In that instrumental, the fusion of flute and violin was just brilliant, it sounded as close as the original. Apart from these, there were a couple of good performances. Srilekha sang pretty well in Sakhi Re (the tamil version of Saathiya title song) and in another classical fusion. But otherwise, it was a dull evening. There was one funny incident though. While they were performing Dhan Te Nan, one guy just got up from the crowd and started dancing right in front of the stage. He was doing all this, when there were director and registrar of college sitting among the audience. Then DD, Reddy and Somu had to go and pull him out from there. It was funny to see his face, after he was brought, he was completely freaked out. Guess he didn't know that faculty also comes to watch these kind of events.

Apart from this, there was even a performance by my roomie Basu, who sang Zoobi Doobi, along with this female called Naina. Initially itself he wasn't so happy with the song, because the scale had been reduced to -2 from the original one, as Naina was unable to reach to the original scale, and because of this the whole song seemed like a loree, was not happening at all.

From the placement news, Nokia had come today, Slog got placed in it. So again a booze party in the block tonight. And the placed guys are level now, both in the C and D wing of 2nd floor MH, DASA wings to be precise.

Rest, later.

Friends Placements

Today, Bank of America had come to college for placements. They had aptitude test ( C-apti and G-apti), and then three rounds of interviews. I couldn't get through the apti itself, because I don't know anything about C-programming. But, I am still more than happy because some of very good friends, whom I consider equivalent to brothers, have made it. Congratulations to Prani, DD, Somu, Adi, Vinu, Nanda and Thump. They all deserve the job. After the results were announced, we had a huge drunk yard in the block. All our juniors had come, and we guys had a bang. Though I don't drink, its fun watching the guys drunk. Had a blast today. Absolute blast.

Congrats to all the homies once again..... :) :)

Its All Gonna Be Here

Okay, so here we go. This is the place, where I'd be updating about all thats been happening to me in my life. All the music, movies and other things that I like, I'm going to tell you all about them, right here. I'd an earlier blog, but I was never active in that. I hope to be active and kicking in this one though. I don't care who would be reading this, its most importantly for myself, thats what my blog address suggests. A feather-headed is a guy who is absent-minded. Well, I am not absent-minded, no where close to it. But in the long run, you do tend to forget things. So, this is the one I'd be referring to, to cherish the memories. So, lets start BLOGGING then.