Mostly Useless

One Little Problem

2011-10-05T12:35:00.002+05:30

I'm just a normal girl who likes a hot guy,
But to confront him is my biggest fear - I'd rather die.
Everytime he walks past ignoring me I want to cry,
And when he gives me a passing glance I go all shy!

I can't take my eyes off him, he looks so good,
I want to stare at him all day, with no sleep and no food.

He's adorable, loving and caring too,
I can't believe he exists, he's too good to be true!

The one time he talked to me, I was tongue tied,
I blushed so furiously, I should have just died!

The first time I met him was the best day in my life,
Please dear God, if only I could become his wife!

There's only one small problem, that I can't get rid,
He happens to be married and has a small kid :(

Girl

2010-12-13T22:34:00.002+05:30

This is the story of a fictitious girl. Her name is not important. Lets just call her Girl.

Girl grew up like any other normal kid, with caring parents, loving siblings, great friends, good education and her fair share of crushes all throughout. Girl was a precocious child, a confused adolescent and a pessimistic teenager. She mocked romantics. She was a tad too defensive. She never dreamed high. She figured that the best way to lead her life would be without any expectations, aspirations or hope. Girl doubted belief, and disbelieved in faith. She did not believe in God. She scoffed at the idea of eternal romantic love. She said love was overrated. She said love was a coincidence.

But all this did not make Girl a cynic. Girl was NOT miserable. She was deeply attached to her friends and family. Girl liked reading, sunset, rain, music and enjoyed every minute of her life. Girl was leading a perfectly happy life.

But Girl knew. All that cool indifference was not natural, it was something she had trained within herself.

She did not dream or hope as she was afraid she couldn't handle disappointments

Being indifferent to both happiness and sorrow did make her oblivious to pain, but it also made her lose out on getting excited for simple joys of life.

She was snide, as she wanted to hide the fact that she cared too much.

She did not want to love as she did not want to get hurt.

She was, in reality, just another hopeless and vulnerable girl. A girl who wanted to be loved and cared for. A girl who wanted to be held and told to that everything was going to be okay. A girl, standing in front of the world, but afraid of asking it to love her. Is that so wrong?

Long Distance

2010-12-13T19:23:00.003+05:30

"So", he started. He paused and looked at her. Shit. Those eyes. He immediately looked down.

She fidgeted with her empty coffee mug. "Listen, this is something I really need to do.. You do understand, don't you?" She reached for his hand. He pulled away and stared at the floor. He didn't want to see her eyes. Or the hurt in them.

"Hmm." He sighed.

"What?"

"Well.. You know how I feel about this."

"See, Aman has been abroad for a year since now and Mira..."

"I don't care about some random friends of yours!", he interrupted her. "This is our life, and we get to decide how to live it."

She was beginning to get annoyed. "So, what is it? Just because you're going to miss me, I have to give this up?"

"Won't you miss me?"

"That's not what I meant."

Silence.

"I'd rather live in his world, than live without him in mine." went the song at the coffee shop.

She started again, "You don't trust me?"

"Don't be silly. It's not a question of trust. We've talked about this. I definitely don't think this will work if you decide to go ahead with your plans."

"So? You don't even want to give us a chance? You're just going to give up?"

"I don't know. Don't we have enough problems between us already?", he said and immediately looked at his watch. She knew that was a bad sign. He hated "these talks".

"Baby, please try to understand", she almost pleaded. "We'll talk almost everyday, we'll try to visit each other as much as possible. Okay?"

"Well if that's what you really want to do, fine. But I'm not entirely psyched about the idea either."

"I want you to be happy for me. Is it to much to expect a little support and encouragement?"

He looked at her. God, he couldn't resist her.

"Fine. I don't want to break up either. Guess we can work out some way by which we can still be together."

She heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness. I was worried you wouldn't agree. I mean I know you're against the whole concept, but I was kind of hoping I'd be able to talk you into this."

"I have no clue why I'm so madly in love with such a manipulative girl. You'd talk me into anything."

"I know. That's why I love you."

"I love you more. Don't go."

"I need to leave now, baby. Tomorrow, same time?"

"What's the rush? Where are you going, anyways?"

"Told you. I have to meet my loser of a fiance in half an hour. Poor sucker is already waiting for me."

"Tell that rich b*****d that he has tough competition in the future."

"Yeah, right!" She giggled and kissed his cheek. Things were going to be so good.

Else

2010-12-13T19:08:00.002+05:30

- A Letter to her future son from an engineer mom(me!)

If you can maintain your sanity when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can not care when all your professors hate you,
But make allowance for their powers too;

If you can lie and not be tired by lying;
If you can sleep in class and not be tired by sleeping;
And yet don't look good, never talk wise;

If you can flirt, and not make girlfriends your master,
If you can SMS - and not make incoming calls your aim;
If you can meet with arrears and A grades;
And treat those two impostors just the same.

If you can bear to read the crap you've written
If you can eat inedible food,
And live with dirty jeans and unclean socks,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be an Engineer my son!

Spoof News: Singh’s Two Minutes of Fame

2010-05-14T10:23:00.002+05:30

This is my first attempt at writing such spoof news. All comments(nice ones, that is :P) welcome

Singh’s Two Minutes of Fame

Hardly two days after a humiliating exit from the T20 World Cup, here’s some news to cheer about for the Indian Team. Mr. Yevano Wazzisname, Managing Director of Nestle India has publicly asked cricketer Yuvraj Singh to become the brand ambassador of popular instant noodles brand, Maggi.

“Maggi has always been a popular youth brand. Who better than a Yuvaraj Singh to endorse it?”, Mr. Wazzisname joked, at a Press Conference at Patiala today. “Maggi has a strong presence in the Indian engineering college community, and who better than Yuvraj Singh to convey the anguish better?” Our reporter wasn’t sure if he was joking this time.

Ms. Anamika Iyer, CMO of Nestle India vehemently denied that the decision was in any way related to the popular joke about Yuvraj Singh and Maggi Noodles that is doing rounds in blogs, Facebook and Twitter.

“It is a fact that Nestle has always been a great social media brand” continued Ms. Iyer, ignoring the sniggers of the reporters, “But this marketing decision has nothing to do with a dumb joke.”
It is interesting to note that this is the third instance in 2 months that Yuvraj Singh is in the spotlight for non-cricket related news. Earlier in April, VLCC had contacted Yuvraj Singh to feature on their Before-Weight-Loss advertisement. Prolific actor Sunny Deol also admitted meeting Yuvraj Singh during an IPL match as he “wanted to learn the perfect scowl.”

The Prince of Patiala was unavailable for comment. However there have been rumors from unverified sources reported that Yuvraj Singh was last seen watching noted Pakistani national level tennis player Ms. Kim Zinda’s match practice.

Update:
In the interest of people who didn't get the connection - here is the joke:

Four simple steps to cook Maggi noodles.

Step 1: Boil one cup of water.

Step 2: As soon as Yuvraj goes for batting, put the noodles in the boiled water and put the tastemaker.

Step 3: Stir till Yuvraj is taking guard.

Step 4: As soon as Yuvraj is back in pavilion, your noodles are ready to eat.

A normal conversation

2010-02-04T12:54:00.005+05:30

This is the second comic I created through Make Beliefs Comix(good site and awesome timepass actually!). But before you read the comic - Nerd Alert!!! :D

The image isn't very clear. You can check out the comic here.

My very first comic!

2010-01-12T23:58:00.005+05:30

Thanks to 2 people - one who shared the link of this comic making site with me, and a geek who inspired the theme behind this. The link to this comic is here.

The Three-way Friendship Hypothesis

2009-12-12T21:05:00.003+05:30

I attended the Shankar Ehsaan Loy concert yesterday, and it was awesome to hear Dil Chahta Hai being performed. Got me thinking. No, no, wait, before you roll your eyes, let me stop you right there. This is not going to be a post about senseless ramblings of nostalgic memories. This is something much more deeper and profound than that. This is my analysis of what role the number 3 really plays in friendships. So, without much ado, I herbey propound - *Drumroll * - The Three-way Friendship Hypothesis or as it shall be referred henceforth, The TFH.

The Pop Culture Influence Axiom:
Of course the trio-of-friends-Dil-Chahta-Hai routine is extremely cliched. You know how it goes. Three close friends. Goa. A photo of the 3 sitting in different poses on a cliff. Dil Chahta Hai started it. Five Point Someone celebrated it. 3 idiots will continue it. (Please excuse me if I've left out some others, and feel free to add on)
But the TFH is not the result of cultural stereotype influence for me, I swear. Even before any of this released, I had always been a part of a trio. I can recall atleast 6-7 trios of friendships (I will not mention any names here for fear of violation of privacy) since school, that I've been part of. And I've observed other friendships as well.

The Optimal Number Conjecture:
You see, 4 is too large a number to bond. You have way too many conflicts of interest. Even a usual conference chat can get messy. And 2 best friends is quite a normal routine. I mean you have those kinds everywhere, as well as couples who do the done-to-death 'just friends' phrase as well. No big deal about it. Besides if there's an argument, these 2 have to sort it out all by themselves. But, if there're 3 involved, there will always be one ilicha vai who will always actually patch up things between the two fighting buggers. Ergo, The TFH.

The Social-Mathematical Angle:
As everyone knows, there are apparently Six degrees of separation. 6 halved is 3. And Factorial of 3 is 6. And subtracting 3 from 3 squared gives 6. Get it? Get it??(Ok seriously I've no clue what I'm talking. So please don't glare. Mathematical coincidences are not interesting. Point noted)

And well, there's no conclusion if you're expecting one. This is still work in progress.

P.S: If you think this was my way of expressing getting senti, then you're not entirely wrong.

P.P.S: If you think some of this was influenced by Barney Stinson's explanation for the Three Days rule in HIMYM, as well as episode titles in BBT, then you're not entirely wrong there either.

P.P.P.S: Yes I have an entrance exam tomorrow, and I don't have TV so I can't watch the match, and I really had nothing else better to do.

Update:
A friend who read this post remarked that F.R.I.E.N.D.S disproves my logic. I'd like to point out that F.R.I.E.N.D.S also had two uniquely distinct groups of 3 each.

An ode to Him

2009-11-05T09:33:00.000+05:30

It's the eve of the 5th ODI between India and Australia at Hyderabad. The story of the match was very simple - Sachin Tendulkar scored and the rest of Team India screwed up. Watching this match reminded me of Nirmal Shekar's famous quote - "You cannot penalise a genius for the mediocrity around him". That is precisely what happened today. There was no Team India vs Team Australia - there was only Sachin versus 11 Ozzie cricketers.

Perfect timing for a post I've been meaning to write ever since I started blogging. An ode to the cricketing genius whom I've adored and idolized ever since I started watching cricket.

Highest number of runs and most centuries in both forms of cricket. The big 4 cricketing records. And yet, as one of his contemporary greats famously proclaimed, all his life Sachin has been trying to prove others right.

Yes, I'm an unabashed, self-proclaimed, unconditional worshiper of Sachin Tendulkar and I think he's undoubtedly the greatest cricketer and best sportsman ever to have walked on this planet. Hearing criticism about Sachin gets me all hotted up, every single time.

Why did he have to get out today?
Right, and they call cricket a team game.

Not a match winner
Oh sure, he scores half of the runs required in a match, and the rest of the team cannot even finish off a chase.

Not a finisher
Heck, he's an opener, for heaven's sake.

India loses when Sachin scores a century
India loses DESPITE him playing well and people blame him. Yeah, right!

Should retire
Oh yeah really? Show me one replacement?

Go ahead, anything else? I know he's proclaimed God by his fans(yours truly included), but he's only human, remember?

Yet, I'm not writing this post to try and influence anyone's opinion. I've been standing up for Sachin for years, and if there's one thing that I've learnt from people with whom I've argued, neither opinion will change. Sachin critics will be Sachin critics. But in true Quick Gun Murugan style, I say, Sachin fanatics will also remain Sachin fanatics.

Yes, sport is ultimately about victory, but is that it? How would it be if you had to appreciate a person's game, not caring a damn about anything else? Simple, unadulterated adulation for the genius.

Take a bow, Sachin. We love you, and will always do.

Go get a life, skeptics.

The 'L' word

2009-06-18T19:32:00.009+05:30

Look around you. There might be a lot of circulation of apparently-cool "I think therefore I'm single" tshirts, but love is clearly in the air. More and more people I know are getting committed/engaged/married. Got me thinking. How many different ways are there to describe a couple who's romantically involved?(okay that's a very corny number 1.)
They're seeing each other
They're going out/on/around
They're committed(this is by far the most common I know)
They're in a relationship
They're dating
Her/his boyfriend/girlfriend
They're together/with each other
They're an 'item' :P

Hell, whatever happened to the simple, unpolluted "being in love"? I remember an incident that happened to a friend of mine who was telling about her relationship to her, not-so-subtle, no-nosense, very direct cousin.
Friend : Err.. So I'm sort of in a relationship.. (sort of??)
Cousin : Huh?
Friend : Well, you know.. There's this guy from my class.. And we kind of have known each other for a while.. And..
Cousin : You mean you both love each other, right?
Friend : (blushes deeply and nods vigorously) Uh huh.. Umm.. Yeah..

Why does the 'L' word seem to be so much a cause of embarassement these days? It apparently seems corny and cheesy to say you're in love with someone. To say you're "committed" in a blase, boring way is so much more chic and hip. Tsk, tsk.

Sometimes it's really disguting the way love is treated the way it is so not meant to be. Okay, I'm hardly a die-hard romantic, I'm no Shakespeare's Juliet pining away. I was someone who alternated between feelings of an almost-puking-sensation and helpless-laughter while reading my first ever Mills and Boon(which also happened to be my last). But, at the same time it pains me to watch shows like MTV's Splitsvilla. Though I despised the whole concept of people being made to fall in love on a reality show, I watched the first season, out of curiosity. It was like a regular reality show - lots of bitching, back-biting, plotting, mind games screaming and ultimately very little of the original concept. And at the end of the show, this girl who stayed till the end chose this guy on whom she had had a crush right from the beginning. And this guy, who had flirted with atleast half the girls on the show maintained that they both had had a sort of a connection, all the time. Ptach! Reality ve-ality, rubbish! Makes the ridiculous concept of love in Bollywood movies seem more real.

To borrow some old-time fav stuff..
"Pyar kiya koi chori nahin ki.. Chup chup aahe bharna kya.. Jab pyaar kiya toh darna kya??!"

Cheerios!

An open letter to Shahrukh Khan

2009-05-26T09:49:00.008+05:30

Dear Mr. Shah Rukh Khan,
I must begin by stating that I used to(please notice the careful usage of past tense) be one of your craziest fans ever. I was the sort that watched Dilwale Dulhaniya 15 times, knew every single dialogue of Kal Ho Naa Ho, watched Chak De at the first oppurtunity I could get - albeit at a smelly theatre at Coimbatore, sat through Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna(oh and in which the Dev you played was an even more bigger loser than Devdas), saw Saathiya, a movie which had my least favorite actors ever as its lead pair just for your cameo and actually found your gay antics at the FilmFare awards not just tolerable, but hilarious.
And yet, there's some streak in me that made me wish for Kolkatta Knight Riders to lose badly in every match, and all this despite Dada's presence in the team(or was it because of the treatment meted out to Dada?). What's with me? Why don't I have the SHHHHAAAHHRUUKH sense of excitement each time I see your face on television? Why is it that I no longer care about meeting you in person or if your movies become super hits or not? Why don't I argue with my friends anymore for your favor? Why do I smirkingly refer to you as the Bad-Shah? Have you changed substantially over the last few years? Or is it simply that I've grown up?
Of course, all this means nothing to you Mr. Shahrukh Khan. I'm just one nameless, faceless being. But you know what, it actually pains me to be in such a situation. Things were much more easier and life was much more simpler when I was just another adoring fan and you were, well, you. Now, I have started thinking. Which apparently seems like a Very Bad Idea.

P. S : Just to clarify, Fake IPL Player has absolutely nothing to do with my feeling this way. In fact, au contraire, I'm as indifferent to his posts, as much indignant as I would have been a while back.

Regards,
Your ex-fan.

Kasturi

2009-05-13T16:46:00.005+05:30

A few weeks back, around sevenish in the evening, while I was returning home from some place I chanced to see saw a flower-girl. She was sitting on the platform, was about 13-14 years old, and at first sight seemed like any other of the hundreds of child labourers we see every single day. Why I noticed this particular girl was, she had a few notebooks and a geometry box, by her side. She was studying her notes by the light coming from the bright neon lamps of the restaurant near which she was sitting. I was speechless, to say the least. I went up to her to speak with her.

Me : Hi, what's your name?
She looked up : Kasturi, akka
Me : So, which class are you in?
Kasturi : 10th standard akka. I'm studying for my board examinations.

Not wanting to disturb her anymore, I left her at that and came home. I couldn't meet her after that, but this incident left a deep impression on my mind.
How often do we complain about the most trivial of things? We curse if we’re stuck in a traffic jam while traveling in an air-conditioned Volvo bus. We are exasperated if power fails for a few minutes. We get annoyed because of long queues. We complain endlessly about the weather. We get all wound up when our expensive music player’s battery runs out. We whine on and on when our favorite team loses a cricket match. Well, about what not. Have we ever thought about how much really lucky we are when we are compared to the likes of Kasturi? Of course there is nothing at all like helping a child’s education, but the least we can do is realize how much fortunate we are and stay contented. Spare a moment to think about it. After all, life is really short; it’s all what you make of it. So stay happy, live life to the fullest, don’t complain and have no regrets!

A-jogging we will go..

2009-04-21T19:56:00.011+05:30

Going early morning jogging(7.30 is early morning by my standards) through Anna Tower park is a lot of fun. It is healthy(ha ha) and it is so much fun to look at the different kinds of people and of course, comment about them.

1. The Yoga Masters :
These are the ones who do these weird, twisting exercises that hardly fail to capture the eye. It is real fun to watch one, until of course The Twister gives you The Glare. But before scurrying away, the viewer can get a hearty laugh out of it(and hey, which is by the way healthy too!) Which brings me to the next category.

2. The Laughter Champions :
The Laughter Club is an insanely funny concept, it is so much infectious and you cannot help but smile as you pass by them.

3. The Not-so-young kids :
Oh no, not just the 10-somethings whose cheeky grins are so much irresistible that you find it hard to tell them off, despite getting hit by a leather ball(Ouch. Makes you yearn for good old tennis ball cricket :( ) These include 30plus year olds who so wisely decide to play handball, as the board in the park prohibits "playing football, throwball and cricket within the premises of the park". Not a surprise, taking into account that we people are generally considered the undisputed champions of the sport of Loophole Seeking(no offence).

4. The Mating Season Enthusiasts :
It is easy to spot this kind. They are surprisingly well-dressed for the travesties of exercise(expensive googles for an early morning run?? gimme a break!) and throw casual, but carefully calculated glances at prospective GF/BF material.

5. The Couples :
Just the logical next step of #4. You see all kinds. The just-into-a-relationship sickly sweet gigglers. The i'm-ignoring-you-now arguers. The hand-holders. The more-than-just-hand-holders.

6. The Sing-Alongs :
Of course almost everyone who comes for a morning exercise to a park has a music player, but what we are dealing with is our own Eminems, who sound like they're rapping even the highest pitched songs. But trust me, it is great entertainment to jog beside one. Imagine the fun in hearing this - "Chal Chayya.. Hufff Puff Huff.. Ishq tera.. Phew.. Huff.. Mar Gayya.."

7. The Wearer of Pink sweatpants, Cream with little brown flowers Shirt, Fluoroscent Socks and Red Sneakers :
Trust me, Fluoroscent Socks Guy is in a category of his own. Attracts more attention than Redskins in an IPL match.

8. The Silent Observer :
Hee hee, need I say more? :)

My article, in print

2009-04-11T08:55:00.009+05:30

I had sent across an article to NXG, which is a weekly tabloid supplement that comes with The Hindu. And surprise surprise, it got published too! And the icing - I also apparently get a gift voucher at Smart Shoppers! Here's the link to the online edition of my article - Role Reversal
And yeah, thanks to Dad for the inspiration for my 'piece' as Bertie Wooster says, "we journalists" would describe it ;)

Screw Driving

2009-03-31T11:06:00.011+05:30

My tryst with any means of transport has always been a source of entertainment to people around me. Right from childhood, I've been an extremely accident prone person. I just can't walk straight for 100 yards without tripping. There's ALWAYS some minuscule pebble on the road I'm walking on, which I trip on eventually. Picture this. I had once been on a trip to a hill station with my friends. There was this one friend who tripped and fell while were climbing a slope near a lake. Fair enough, could happen to anybody. One more friend slipped on a mossy, slippery surface near a waterfall. Again, perfectly valid, could happen to anyone. But me, accident-prone me, I just HAD to trip and fall down flat on my face, on a STRAIGHT FLAT tar road, full of traffic and people turning back and my friends around me wondering what made me fall while wearing perfectly normal ACG flotters.

So you see, my walking woes were bad enough. When I signed up for driving classes, I sure as hell didn't have any idea as to well, what I was signing up for. Until I finished my college, I had almost only ridden my BSA bicycle, while many of my friends had their licenses. So I decided, if not for anything, I needed an identity proof, and I decided to go for driving classes. And thus started the most terrifying days of my lives. There was this instructor guy, who used to be a police inspector, so I was kinda scared of him as well. My driving classes were a proper fiasco, but hey there weren't half as bad as I'd expected either.
Okay so once while changing gears I almost hit a cow on the road. But hey how on earth did I know I'm not supposed to look at the gears while changing them? And besides, once when I really did change gears without looking, I accidentally switched to reverse gear, and the car was moving backwards without any control. Highly intimidating, if you ask me.
And yeah I almost hit a vehicle in front of me by mistaking the accelerator for the brake - honest mistake, can happen to anyone, except that it happened to me like fifty times.
And yeah, once while I had to take a U turn after crossing a signal, the engine simply switched off (absolutely no fault of mine - this stupid car apparently stops if you don't press something called the clutch before braking - cmon how on earth am I supposed to remember so many rules) and it was a full two minutes before I could get the car started again, while my instructor was cursing his superior and giving me nasty glances. And to all those motorists behind me who were honking irritably -
< philosophical quote > Folks, please give an 'L' board some consideration; afterall, all of you were L boards once upon a time < /philosophical quote >

I dreaded every single of my driving classes, and even more the driving test. But, I managed to pass both the 2 wheeler and 4 wheeler tests(on the first try, hah :)) and this guy who was evaluating actually smiled at me. Lets spare the the beaten-to-death "licensed to kill" cliche and just say I got my DL(and contrary to what SOME people think, I got it on my own merit and did NOT bribe my way into getting it). I was proud, very very proud, even happier than I felt after receiving my degree. And no, I never found the need to exercise my right to drive, and don't think I ever will until absolutely necessary. Public transport is hassle-free, environment friendly, safer, less scarier, and I don't have to keep in mind a hundred rules. I'd rather happily settle down in an auto with my Wodehouse and Radio Mirchi, and besides think about all the haggling fun??!! I know driving is sometimes considered as much an attitude statement as a necessity, but I can perfectly do without it, thank you.

The Name Blame Game

2009-03-15T18:22:00.013+05:30

My name is Iswarya, spelt that way and supposed to be pronounced as "Aishwarya", as in Mrs-Oooh-Acting-in-Pink-Panther-justifies-my-weird-accent Rai Bachan. But, if only life was that simple. Thank you very much dad, so I didn't have to be the first one to answer roll calls and did not have to sit in the first bench in primary schools where the norm was to seat children alphabetically but at the same time I've spent almost all my life spending more than twice the amount of time necessary. And please don't give me that what's in a name rubbish. I'll tell you what exactly is.

Sample Scenario:
Not-so-bright guy who's in-charge of a college competition asks for my name and I tell it.
Not-so-bright guy starts writing labariously - A-I-S
Me : No, no. Thats not how it's spelt. There's no "a" and "h".
NSBG : Huh? So it's just "Aiswary" ? (Duh, very funny)
Me : No it's I-S-W-A-R-Y-A
NSBG : Weird. You know, my second cousin Aishwarya doesn't spell it this way.
Me : Yeah, but you see I'm(thankfully) not your second cousin.
NSBG chuckles and I fume.
And my name come out in the certificate as "Ayshwariya".

And this continues every where I go - School/College application forms, RTO, while opening bank accounts, getting SIM cards, checking office mails, so on.. In fact I hardly ever tell my name these days - I just spell it out. Saves a lot of time and effort.

That's the spelling part of it. The second part to my misery is when people read my name and then call me out. Eeswariya. Ice-variya(Ho ho. Dumbest pun I've known). Eeswar(I get this from Tata AIG/ICICI folks trying to sell me insurance and home loans - "Hello Sir, Am I talking to Mr. Eeswar?" Beats me how they conveniently ignore the last 2 alphabets). And generally most people have one or two nicknames at the max. But I've been called ish, ishu, ishee, isu, ich, ice and what not.

Since childhood, my fantasy has always been to change my name to something. I used to like Shruti a lot, but somehow that fascination died out when I grew up. Anjali is one of my evergreen favorites. I think that's the second most popular Bollywood name after Pooja, but I think I've liked it ever since I watched Amala go "Oru-Eli,Rendu-Eli.. Anjali" in Agni Natchatiram. And of course, my latest addition is Aditi. I mean which girl wouldn't be thrilled to hear a juke-box dedication, especially for her, and that too of a song as endearing and sweet as "Aditi hasde tu zara"!! :P Such a pity, though. My dad told me once that he'd have named me Aditya if I'd been born a boy. In that case, shouldn't Aditi for a girl name have been the most obvious choice? Just my luck to end up with a name spelt like this. Bledy.

So, I've learnt to live with it and even started to slowly not dislike my name. And anyways, Iswarya by any other spelling will still be as sweet, aint she :D

The Awscars

2009-02-25T15:47:00.002+05:30

I watched this year's Academy Awards surprisingly, though I'm not really a fan of awards ceremonies. I've never watched the Oscars. But, anyways I thought I'll watch this year, for ARR's sake. And the genius did do us proud, and it was no surprise to us Indians who had grown up listening to his magical numbers. But it still bothers me that I did not like SM's tracks enough. Okay, Jai Ho is hummable enough(call me crazy but I find Jai Ho's initial few lines startlingly similar to Elam Pugazhum oruvan oruvanuke, from Azhagiye thamizh magan), and O Saaya is kinda catchy too. But is it really ARR's best? Does it really top the brilliance of Vellai Pookal and Narumugaye, the haunting E Ajnabee, the amazing way in which Margazhi Poove takes off where Suprabatham ends, the achingly beautiful Tere Bina and New York nagaram? I'll never know. Maybe I'm dumb to appreciate it, and maybe these bade-bade jury log and all know better. It takes a foreign film to recognise a genius, albeit through non-mediocre, but definitely not the best of his works.

Awaiting to see The curious case of Benjamin Button when it releases here. (okay US folks don't be so smug), and this time the reason is more than Brad Pitt. The plot sounded fascinating to me, and I'm definitely planning to watch it.

And the much deserved best supporting actor for the best villain I've ever seen on screen - The Joker. I saw Batman Begins after watching The Dark Knight, and frankly The Scarecrow was a bit of a dampener. Funny story about how we watched The Dark Knight though. Saw it in IMAX with my colleagues. We were a crowd of nearly 25 people - almost all of us were '08 college campus hires. It started off with this one guy asking out a girl if she wanted to go to the movie as it had got pretty good reviews. And this girl, who couldn't take a hint, invited about 7-8 of her other friends!(Don't ask me how I know this little story - I have my sources ;)) And then well you know how it goes - someone asks someone else and then finally there we were - 25 odd people, of which I'm pretty sure, each person did not know more than 10 people.. It was a whole lot of fun though.

And is it just me, or the Oscars this tiringly boring every year? Maybe it helps that I have a greater probability of knowing inside jokes of Bollywood than of Hollywood. I am an unabashed, self-proclaimed Bollywood lover and obviously I did watch the telecast of last year's filmfare awards hosted by Shahrukh and Saif(and the reruns too, hee hee). I still remember me and Teju giggling like schoolgirls over the phone as we discussed the duo's never-tiring Kantabai antics on stage, SRK mocking Saawariya, Darsheel, teasing Saif with Kareena(ah.. how i miss all the teasing in college) and what not. Sigh. Maybe it's like eating tofu - you need to acquire a taste to start liking them..

Life, actually

2009-01-30T19:11:00.002+05:30

Cut to PSG Tech reunion, 10 years from now.

A : Hey! Long time, what you doing now?
B(could have been A's lab partner in college) : Did my MS and now I'm a senior test lead at _______. You?
A : Hey, that's great. After my MBA, I joined as a HR manager with your rival concern! In fact, we actually have an opening, in case you're interested...

X : Well, I work as a Principal Technical Associate Design Architect..
Y : That a fancy name for Software Engineer?
X : Err, hmm yeah.

Duh. Ask a question about anyone's work and you realise that you do the same damned thing all day too....
Really, do we all want to become bored-to-undeath office zombies, all of us doing nearly the same thing for the entire life? Don't get me wrong - I'm not criticizing any particular profession, in fact I'm not even generalizing, lets say I'm just talking for myself. I know it's a cliche, but then everyone really has to realise the difference between WANTING and HAVING to do something. And trust me, nothing's harder and more important than knowing what exactly you want from life.
Oh and as long as we are in this line of discussion, there is this movie called "Dasvidaniya", which released recently. I haven't watched it yet, but from what I heard from my friends discussing it, seems like a must watch. It apparently showcases a man's last 10 wishes and how he goes about getting them done. I thought it to be very relevant to life. I mean c'mon simple, day-to-day stuff, that you've always wanted to do. . Nothing fussy - just a short, private list. It can be crazy, wacky, ridiculous, but it would be YOUR list. I'm seriously considering beginning to write one pretty soon. .

Listen to your heart, guys. May not be the most practical thing to do, but atleast there'll be no regrets..
Sample this as a possible dialogue between our very same characters..

X : And to think that lousy paper we presented in our college days was the inspiration for you to research quantum computing!!
Y : Heh heh, I know. And hey thanks for that early edition CD of your album.. You guys are terrific :)
Z : Yep, forming the "BANNED" was a great idea afterall ;)
(My over imagination will be the death of me :D :D )
Sigh. Dreamers get no where. Okay folks, back to writing code. Spare a moment to think about it, though :)
Cheerios.

Whatever

2008-11-26T18:28:00.004+05:30

Today, I returned home early as I fell sick. Now, if that seems like a seemingly insignificant statement, well it is not. That's gonna be the central theme of my post(no don't worry, not the falling-sick-part). Or rather, that was what gave me the idea to write this.

Because today, at around 6.00 P.M guess what I saw? I actually saw sunset. For a few wonderful seconds, everything almost froze as I saw the silhouette of birds against the sky with its usual hues of mild red, yellow and orange, with just the tinge of purplish-light-blue as gradually the sun sunk into the horizon. I had no idea that witnessing one of the most beautiful happenings in the universe, would cause me so much pain, but it did. It hurt badly for a while though I still can't exactly understand why...

Now, before you start yawning, I'm not gonna complain about life and the way it is and how we don't have time to appreciate things around us and a whole lot other cliched stuff. No. Though I could rave about saying that nothing could beat the pleasure of watching a sunset with a sunrise in your hand(obviously I prefer filter coffee but that was my you-call-that-a-joke????-grooooaan line), I won't. Because nothing spoils the beauty of a wonderful moment more than regret.

"The sun is the same in the relative way, but you're older.. "
Sorry guys, did not mean to be morbid. Cheerio.

P.S : And if all this sounded cranky, silly, random and incoherent, well that was the way it was meant to be.

Pehle saat impressions of someone who's hearing "Pichle Saat Dinon Mein" for the first time

2008-09-12T14:48:00.003+05:30

This is how the song's lyrics go. Impressions in bold. Rough translation in italics

Meri laundry ka ek bill
Ek aadhi padhi novel
(My laundry bill, a half-read novel)

Err..

Ek ladki ka phone number
Mere kaam ka ek paper
(A girl's phone number, a paper related to my work..)

Huhhhh???

Mere taash se heart ka king
Mera ek chandi ka ring
(A king-of-hearts card from my deck, my new silver ring..)

Pichle saat dinon mein maine khoya
(I lost all of these in the last 7 days..)

!!!!(searching wildly for the person who gave me the song)

Kabhi khud pe hasa mai or
Kabhi khud pe roya
(I sometimes laughed at myself and at times cried at myself)

Yeah, you have perfect reason to.. It's the first signs of insanity

Present mili ek ghadi
Pyaari thi mujhe badi
Meri jeb ka ek packet
Meri denim ki jacket
(A watch which I got as a gift, my denim jacket)

*baring my teeth* well, the tune is sorta catchy though..

Do one-day match ke passes
Mere naye naye sunglasses
(2 passes for a one-day match, my new sunglasses)

Pichle saat dinon mein maine khoya
Kabhi khud pe hasa mai or
Kabhi khud pe roya
(I lost all of these in the last 7 days.. I sometimes laughed at myself and at times cried at myself)

Seriously, this lyricist is either gone bonkers, or maybe I am not profound enough to understand all this??

Kaise bhooloon saatvaan jo din aaya
Kisi ne tumse ek party mei milwaya
Kaisa pal tha jis pal maine tumko pehli baar dekha tha
(I can never forget the 7th day, when someone introduced you to me at a party.. What a moment it was, when I met you for the first time..)

Ah now we get to something conventional.. Okay... And?

Hum jo mile hai pehli baar
Maine jaana kya hai pyaar
Maine hosh bhi khoya, dil bhi khoya
(I realised what love was, when we met for the first time.. I lost my consciousness, lost my heart)

Ooooh... So THIS was what it was all about!!

Kabhi khud pe hasa mai or
Kabhi khud pe roya

Ha ha ha..

Maine pichle saat dinon mei yeh sab hai khoya
(I lost all of these in the last 7 days :))

Whoa!! I love this song!!!

Nought Ones

2008-09-01T19:42:00.001+05:30

According to Wikipedia
"During the twentieth century, it became common to separate individual decades as historical entities in themselves. Particular trends, styles, and attitudes would be associated with and define different decades of the century, and thus the names of the decades themselves have come to be synonymous with them"

So here we are, a confused lot, at the fag end of the Zeroes decade. (Now if you think that sounds dumb, What else could you call a decade which comes after seventies, eighties and nineties? Besides it's kinda cute in a way)

Anyways, WHAT are we?

We, who were lucky enough to be around the start of a millenium.
We, who transitioned from gawky adolescents who barely understood the meaning of "Y2K bug", to street-smart 20-somethings who could teach those programmers a thing or two about edge test cases.
We, who consider it a weekend wasted if we did not go out with friends, to the same overpriced malls or multiplexes.
We, who earn(and inevitably spend) more than our parents ever did.
We, who inspire cola companies to come with catchy, smart phrases like "youngistan" (and amusingly enough, "junglistan").
We, who are treated to so-called reality shows on television where people are MADE to fall in love (*rolling eyes*).
We, who are independent, smart, inquisitive, and yet in many ways precarious and vulnerable.
We, who don't think it's cool anymore to succumb to peer pressure and instead think having our own sense of identities is the in thing.
We, who are connected to literally the entire world and yet are so lonely.

We are the Zeroes(no pun intended, as usual). Cheers to us.

Hyderabad Views

2008-08-11T21:46:00.003+05:30

This one's sort of overdue.. More than 7 months well-SPENT at this place.. Think I'm qualified enough to write about it ;)

PS : I couldn't think of a smart enough title and no other word seemed to rhyme with "blues" so this stupid title stays.

1. Autorickshaws - "Shared autos" here are a supemely funny concept. Quite accustomed to those 8-10 seater vehicles at Chennai which bear the same name, it gave me nothing less than the shock of my life to see SEVEN people travel in a normal autorickshaw. That driver-magician fellow manages to put up with 3 other people sitting in the front with him and wheedle through the traffic and the steep, sloping roads(shudder!) effortlessly. But seriously, they are really so damned reasonable that you tend to overlook the life-threatening danger factor. So imagine how I'd have felt when someone here out told me that I may have to bargain a bit with these generous minded, kind souls. Heck, I hail from Chennai, the land of brilliant auto-drivers who when asked to go to Central/Egmore railway stations demand 35 bucks more citing an even more brilliant reason - "Madam.. Luggage and all, extra money madam.. " Luggage i believe! WHY else would I be going to railway stations at 2 o clokc in Chennai's sweltering heat?? But I do miss all the haggling though. Sigh.

2. Traffic - Grrrrrrrrrrr. Next topic.

3. Language - Way to go rashtra bhasha! In fact, in hyd i think you run a greater risk if you know telugu and dunno hindi, rather than the other way around. Other parts of Andhra, I've no clue of course. But I've never faced any issue in Hyd, atleast. I've always managed to ward off people who speak in telugu with a "naa ku telugu thelidu" (i used to think it was "thelsu ledhu" before one of my friends bared her teeth angrily at me) and thereby force them to speak in hindi. And yeah, my hindi improved a great deal. People I know are nice enough to tell me that my hindi doesn't have an accent. Yeah, yeah I know. Sarcasm is sort of contagious out here.
And err well.. I know language is a sensitive subject(no pun intended).. Whatever I told here is meant to be taken lightly..

4. Necklace Road - Undoubtedly my compromise for Bessy out here. (though of course nothing compares to Chennai's beaches, still something's better than nothing). Eat Street is good for the..err..view and it is indeed sort of romantic in its grubby own way, even if you could excuse the mediocre food there. If only they clean up Hussain Sagar a bit.....

5. Food - Ok, ok I know I'm technically not supposed to speak about food in Hyderabad without tasting Hyderabadi Biriyani.. But seriously, the restaurants here are awesome! Of course, veggies do have like far far lesser options and it doesn't help at all to have non-vegeterian friends who rave on and on :( But guess what? Hyderabadi Biriyani's terrific taste is apparently a myth. Everyone whom I know who've tasted Hyderabad House's biriyani say there's nothing extra-ordinary about it. Thank goodness for that. So, seems like I'm not missing much actually.. :)

6. IMAX - I didn't know what I liked more about The Dark Knight - the joker or just the experience of having watched it TWICE at IMAX ;)

7. Climate - I dunno but I'd almost always unconsciously associated humidity with rain. Wit no offence to the place I still love the best, in Chennai, if it is summer you sweat and if it rains, well, you still sweat. The after-rain-effect here is simply terrific, that you feel you cud almost forgive the pathetic roads that make you wade through ankle-deep puddles.

Hyderabad rocks!!! (Yeah.. It's quite a rocky place)

'Cell'ebrating hostel life

2008-07-28T15:41:00.007+05:30

Hostel N block terrace, sometime in 2nd year maybe.

Me and my friend 40 are discussing the intricacies of life one night(actually we must've been discussing the guys we had a crush on mostly). One junior is over the phone and is pacing up and down the terrace. Man, whats with this walking and talking simultaneously, I still don't get.
She's obviously putting kadalai(frying groundnuts, flirting, whatever you call it) and very very obviously new at it. No we did not eavesdrop but you can always tell. You can see the signs. Talks for ten seconds and grins sheepishly for the next fifteen.

When've we ever let anyone in peace. So me and 40 edge closer and start talking to each other but loud enough so she can hear.
Me : Hey what's with you.. I really don't see what you talk about for 4 hours at a stretch..
40 : You stay in a girls' hostel, with so many people around can't you find one friend to talk to? Do you always have to call up some random guuy and flirt with him?
Me : It's all because of these fancy service providers. Started off with this demo or dealer cards or whatever and look at the state of youngsters..
40: Absolutely no responsibility in life. Look at how you're wasting your parents' hard-earned money..
And we go on and on..

That girl is uncomfortable for a while, looks at us furtively, starts fidgeting and FINALLY realises that we're indeed talking about her. She runs away to her room. Mission accomplished :D

Gosh did there really exist a time when we did not have mobile phones?! Cheers to those wonderful devices :) :)

Tech Memories

2008-07-17T00:26:00.004+05:30

Scene 1:
Place: Hostel mess. Time 8.35 AM. Day : Aww some working day at college in 7th sem
Others : Hey both of you.. Aren't you gettin late?
Teju : Ish is here.
Me : Wil come with Teju. Besides I need my coffee.

Some ten or fifteen minutes later we're in campus. Neither of us obviously know which classroom to go. Some kind soul replies to our messages(my guess is Nutty.. if she had attended that day of course) Data Mining is the first hour. Someone is taking a seminar while Nat sir is looking at that poor person benignly as always.
Nat(still smiling) looks at his watch, then at us, then at the watch again. We both try to look as innocent as possible.
Nat : Yes? Late again?
Teju : Actually Sir, what happened was..
Me, intervening : Sir.. ID card.. Forgot
Nat : Both of you forgot?
Me thinks - Shucks we forgot to decide who's turn it was "to forget" today.
So I rush forward : Sir she forgot, I went along with her. Had to return back to hostel Sir. (as an afterthought).. Sir, hostel room 4th floor, sir.
Nat(unconvinced but still smiling) nods his head.
We go to the last bench and continue our discussion as if nothing had interrupted it in the first place.

Scene 2: Night before some damned exam
We've one photocopy of the notes which 3 of us are sharing. (well, it was economical and we always studied together anyways)
Me: Damn everything. We'll get up early tomorrow morning. Or we'll go and ask someone to teach us on our way to the exam hall.
Teju: Lemme sleep for just 5 mins. I promise I'l get up.
Preethi: Shoo both of you. So what this compiler thing does is..
(Idiot is a nocturnal creature. Me and Teju can't think straight after 11 PM. And she can't wake up before 8 AM)
Teju: Listen. Small break ok. We'll watch Kal ho na ho video alone..
Preet: Hey and we'll listen to this song also na...
Me: Hey and lets just watch this scene in this movie...
Preet throws the photocopy away.
Sigh. I know. We were terrific influences on each other.

Scene 3: Apsara Theatre - Chak de India
Me and Teju go on and on : "The next dialogue he says would definitely be this....." "Hey the next scene this girl would..." "Yeah I know he does look old... "
People around us are irritated. Hah. We're too much used to people glaring at us all the time to be bothered.

Scene 4: College canteen
Me(to canteen vendor): 2 coffees.
Sathana: Hey I think I'll need one more coffee di.
Me(surprised): Machi I got both the coffees for myself only.

Scene 5: Coimbatore railway station, 9.58 PM.
Cheran express to leave in 2 or 3 minutes.
Teju(to all of us - guess it was me, preet, shiva maybe) : Hey. Small problem.
Me: What?
Teju: Actually guess I forgot my ticket at hostel. (yeah it's apparently a "small problem")
Us: WHAT!!!!!!
Teju(grinning): Yeah. So what do I do? I'll hide when the TTE comes? And later on I'll adjust with you girls. I can't pay a fine and all.
We're too much dumbfounded to respond.
And later on me, preethi and teju did travel without proper tickets in a suburban train in Chennai and ALMOST got caught by a ticket checker who let us off(for some reason which I still don't understand)

Scene 6: Me and bala at our respective homes at Chennai watchin a cricket match.
Bala's SMS: Your Irfan's(Pathan) got a haircut and he looks pathetic.. Ha ha ha ho ho ho..
My reply: Adangu. Hair-e pochu

So.. When do you know it's ......?

2008-07-09T20:36:00.003+05:30

I saw Jaane tu ya jaane na this weekend(and no this blog's NOT a review of the movie..) Rather, the title's just inspired from the caption..

So.. When do you know it's corporate life??

DISCLAIMER : The author of this blog loves her job and workplace, so any comments are not to be related personally at all. Read this for the heck of it, cos thats the precise reason I wrote it too ;)

You start using jargon like "no issues at all" to even friends, instead of the simpler and much more better sounding "paravala machi".

You won't believe it, but you can't actually type SMSes without looking at your mobile anymore!!! All those 4 years of extensive training in the last benches of college gone with the wind.. Move over cell phones, IM is the new way of life.

Your maximum physical activity in college would've been waking up and comiing to campus(and only if and when attendance demanded it, of course). But you start becoming Joeys and Chandlers of your company foosball tables. Right, and similar analogies for other games.

Dilbert and dogbert seem funnier than usual.

You're surprised, but you aren't a coffee addict anymore. Yeah you read it right, cos addict is an understatement. You drink more coffee than water.

You become better bloggers. Well why wouldn't you, of course you've one more topic(albeit lesser time) to write about ;)

You become responsible. Period. After years and years of spoon-feeding it actually turns out to be a welcome relief to do something REALLY on your own for a change. And if you step in expecting otherwise, well.. welcome to the real world, Neo.. (I know this was more serious than the rest but couldn't resist)

Before sigining off, here's a famous saying we've around here which goes - Work is a four letter word spelt P-L-A-Y ;)

Enjoy the work you do all of you, give it your very best and don't forget to have a great time :D
Cheerio..

Friends forever

2008-06-16T17:05:00.003+05:30

August 2004(well i don't remember the exact date.. i'm not very good with dates.. errr.. no pun intended ;)), I stepped into PSG Tech as a confused teenager not really sure about what I would be doing the next 4 years of my life in that dilapidated building(yes I think A block was definitely never renovated since the college was built and that must be a good 50 years back). And apart from everything else, I was moving to a hostel for the very first time. I had no clue whatsoever on what to expect as I'd heard a good many horror stories about hostels.
Now that I think of it, life did change quite a bit for me those 4 memorable yrs and they definitely were the best times of my life.
So thought I'd really write something serious this time. I'm dedicating this post to my friends and I promise I'l try not to go too much maudlin so that you don't fall asleep. This would seem more like a personal diary entry. I'm not mentioning any names but I know that each of my friends to whom I'm dedicating this blog, wud read this and wud relate to something in the list below. And that something wud, again, relate to more than just one of my friends ;)

People, thank each of you so much for ...

... the times when you made me feel that all I had to do was come rushing to you when I had issues and you'd do every single thing possible to bring back that smile to my face.
... that cake.
... telling me I was worth what I got and atleast trying to make me lose some of my self-doubt.
... the train journeys, long walks, midnight talks, movies, hundreds of outings and millions of coffees.
... the arguments we had, just for the sake of the fun we had while arguing with each other, even if we did agree on something :) and thank you others for putting up with our arguments.
... being possessive on me and even telling me that, not doubting an inch that I could take you for granted in that event.
... for believing in what I'm capable of, more than I did myself.
... the intellectual, philosophical, sensible as well as the useless discussions.
... the little things you did everyday to make me realize how much you cared for me, and for being patient enough even when I did not reciprocate to your expectations.
... letting me know that I meant so much to you.
... taking so much care of me when I fell sick.
... hearing a song I liked, just because I liked it.
... forcing me to hear a song, just because you liked it ;)
... understanding my silence better than my words.
... the days we bunked college together, just so we could watch tv shows which we liked all day, uninterrupted.
... being frank and firm with me when you had to.
... standing up for my sake in a group, in my defense.
... explaining a concept minutes before an exam, just because I did not study it, though you had loads of other work yourself.
... the tremendous amount of trust you had in me.
... talking endlessly about things we had in common and also about the ones we did not.
... for the extremely stupid games we played.
... respecting and not misunderstanding my right to my privacy.
... the fights we had and the making up we did almost instinctively.
... even having hurt me, or else I'd still have been the child I was.
... being yourself and letting me be completely myself when I am with you.
... the photo we took together.
... that last parting hug.
Finally, thanks for putting up patiently and untiringly with me all these years :) :)

These are just few i could recollect among many. I always felt it's pretty much easy to say someone is your friend. It takes a lot more conviction to state you're someone's friend. And I'm just glad I can say that I am indeed one of your best friends. You all mean a lot to me. And yeah, now that I've given you so much credit you better gimme a treat :D
And yeah I won't be this senti from next time :)
Keep rocking..

Yeah, sure :D

2008-06-04T23:54:00.001+05:30

An old RD joke before I begin..

An English teacher in her lecture said, "Two negative words always make a positive, but it is not true vice-versa.You can never have 2 positives forming a negative." A backbencher immediately shouted, "Yeah, right!!!!"

If you got that (and liked it) go ahead reading :D

"Yeah, right" ( or even "yeah, sure" ) is an integral part of my vocabulary, and it really means a lot to me (pun definitely intended). Said with the right amount of sneer in your voice (which doesn't sound too obvious), they convey a lot more than any number of lines of explanations, and very smartly at that. Imagine how useful it is to get across your point in a matter of a few seconds rather than drivelling on and on (ahem.. psg lecturers.. hope you can take a hint) But of course, it is purely contextual and it is up entirely to the perceptive powers of the receiver to deduce your wicked, implied meaning. While IMing or texting you can always use them along with italics like yeah, right that would be simply great(but that kinda spoils the effect, doesn't it ;))

I find these words a beautiful way of expressing sarcasm. Sarcasm is really an art in itself. Some people try being sarcastic and end up looking stupid or terribly obvious. Yeah maybe it's just one step away from blatant rudeness, but if you can appreciate the humor and intelligence in a sarcastic remark, there's definitely nothing more enjoyable.

Come to think of it, there're different ways of telling the golden words, though. Lemme just list a few which all of you must've experienced or used. The most common way is you can drawl out "yeahhhhhhhhh" lazily and finish it off with a quick "rite", smiling all the while. This is much more obvious and definitely indicates the person is bein sarcastic. The most recent example i can think of is that of my friend sneering "yeahhhhhhhhh, right" today when I told that I generally don't spend much ;)

There's also this way of telling "yeah, right" with just a hint of exasperation, shaking your head very slightly meanwhile. You can always roll your eyes or lift your eyebrows for that added effect.

Or else there's this case where you can pause after a short "ya", nod your head seriously and then follow it up with a normal "right" and most importantly, telling it with an absolutely straight face :-|

And also there's this way of impatiently telling "yeah right" and quickly moving on to the next topic. This, combined with the extremely handy "whatever" produces an awesome effect of disinterest, though the sarcasm part is lost slightly. ("Whatever" can be a separate topic for a new post, a terrific one at that, altogether, so I leave it at this here :) )

And before I become a victim of way number 4, I'll quickly sign off as I know I'm beginning to sound like a "how to learn to be sarcastic in 10 minutes" kinda tutorial ;)

Be good, stay happy.. Cheers :D

Mayhem at MAC

2008-05-22T13:02:00.002+05:30

Some 10 of us had gone for May 21st's chennai vs bangalore IPL match, out of which were 6 hyper excited, spirited, patriotic(umm..city-patriotic) alzeonz.. An IPL T20 all-night match.. And at one of the best cricketing venues filled with probably the best ever cricketing crowd.. What more could one ask for?? Well maybe, maybe for a better quality of opposition.. Say something which actually matched CSK"s standards.. Afterall, bangalore was hardly a challenge and definitely nothing about the team was royal(yeah yeah, i know.. the entire crowd was more over confident than the team themselves)..

This summer was the hottest ever(atleast thats what chennaiaites keep complaining year after year) and obviously we all had, at some time or other wished for some respite. But definitely not in the form of winds and clouds and darkening skies at about 4 o clock that day.We went sulking and grumbling and praying alternatively on our way to Chepauk, while it kept drizzling happily. Mother Nature sure has a nasty sense of humor.

As an anti-snob venture we took the gallery tickets, and we were glad we did so, as thats were all the fun and action always is.. Quite reminiscent of last benches in PSG(sighhhh... nostalgia ;) )And thats when the entire enjoyment began. The ambience was nothing like we'd seen before. The ha-we-got-better-seats smugness and the ah-you-poor-folks pity with which we watched the huge crowds trickling in, anxiously looking up to the clouds every few minutes, relief that it was not gonna rain afterall, the excitement of watching the players coming for their warm up - everything was an experience in itself. And of course, there was our own private entertainment part(euphemism for - generally making a nuisance of ourselves to others) that we're so much used to doing in theatres, restaurants and other public places and so it didn't seem much of a novelty, only more of a routine event for us ;) . The best part was that of course, the entire stand was full of like-minded merry-makers that made our enjoyment even mor enjoyable ;)

Of course I needn't dwell on the match part too much as all of you(except perhaps people who supposedly call themselves anti-IPL) did watch CSK's fate. Dravid's batting was probably the one single thing that made SOME of us applaud whole heartedly, while others fiercely gave you-traitor glares.

Oh yeah and for all the hype given to Dhoni ("madurai veeran dhaane.. avana usupi veeta neeye" song playing in the background when he came out to bat amidst cheers of dhoni-dhoni-deepika.. yeah the deepika part was screamed by an alzeon only, in case you're wondering) he sure did live up to the expectations and the auction price. Keep it up, highest-paid IPL player. You better "mind it", machi. Next time there's no guarantee that the bottles would be plastic and that they would be thrown only after the match..

A terrific, once in a lifetime experience for all of us and we sure as hell made the best use of it, whatever the result turned out to be. But yes, there was no denying the fact that we felt for sometime in the final few overs that rain would definitely have been a better option when compared to raina (uh sorry.. it's just impossible and ethically not right not to put mokka in an alzeonz group blog)

Overheard while returning : Machi, bangalore PLAYERS kooda nala dan aadinaanga inniku ;) ;)

Deja Brew

2008-03-18T14:42:00.000+05:30

I decided my very first blog would really be a tribute to the essence of life (atleast mine) - COFFEE. To tell that I'm a compulsive coffee addict would be a bit of an understatement. I'm one of the countless people who silently bless the goatherd who accidently discovered the magic of coffee, when he apparently stumbled upon some red berries. (or so the legend goes) Yeah yeah, you can scoff all you want, all you anti-coffee health freaks, and ridicule me for collecting useless trivia, but let me tell you this is every bit sacred to us coffeholics(what a nice word that is) as lets say, the apple-falling-on-Sir Issac's-head incident was to scientists for decades to follow. (Yeah I know, it's bit of a hyperbole. I adore Nirmal Shekar so you can see where my writing style gets it's influence) . While we're at it here's another bit of trivia.. New York Stock Exchange actually started off as a humble coffee house.

With due respects to all coffee abstainers in the world I still don't understand how people can actually manage to survive an entire day by drinking tea, milk (with whatever in it) or even worse, FRUIT JUICE the first thing in the morning. No offense meant folks.. Tea simply isn't my cup of coffee. I've heard coffee doesn't actually help you stay awake, in fact after the temporary period of briskness it actually induces sleep.. Well, I'd rather have an extra coffee or two, than an apple which has been medically proved to fight sleep.Oh and i HAVE to mention a quote I read somewhere. "Decaffeinated coffee is like kinda kissing your sister.." Really, whats coffee without caffeine??

And coming to personal favorites, gimme good old south indian filter kaapi anytime. All those cappuccinos, espressos, frappes, lattes, instant coffees cannot simply beat the taste of freshly brewed filter coffee. And yes, I used to adore instant coffee when I was very very young. Only later on did i fall for the charms of filter coffee. It's almost like the transition from liking boy bands to bryan adams. You just get more sensible, you never know how and when :)
Hey and do I have to mention something like a disclaimer? Something like "Coffee is good but only when taken in moderation" types? Just for the satisfaction of the anti-coffee health conscious folks? But then, lets face it.. Which of those would've read beyond the first few lines? So I stick to what I believe. So here's to us, coffee worshippers.. We rock!!
Oh and a coffee PJ before i conclude.. What neutralises a workAHOLic? Answer : Caffeic acid ;)

Cheers :)