oN Campus

When I reached college that day at 10 i could see that a lot of people had turned up , so many cars , so many bikes . But the college was empty , with not even a soul to be seen around . But i knew they were there , battling with math and logic problems , wrestling to get the vocab and comprehension under control . Then finally they slowly began to disperse , and the wait for the short list began . The mood was one of mild tension , but since it was only the first company , i'd have to say the mood was positive all around . And it helped that almost everyone who appeared for the test was shortlisted .

Now began the preparation for the interview . Nithu was tensed and asked for my help , which i ofcourse gave away without much prompting ( ofcourse to any girl ) . It was fun reading the HR forms completed by most of them . Anitha had written that her hobby was to take care of the fish in her fish tank . Well then I began to help rajani write the longest sentence of her life.. which naturally no one could comprehend.

Then at 9 , everyone clambered into the CGPU hall and they dropped the bombshell ... 197 placed...And they began reading out the names of each .. the list had very few surprises , with everyone who would be expected to be place amond the first lot were picked . Mag got , minu got , aish got , the family - punjabi, nami and bugz got .. I was happy ... But i could see a lot of disappointed faces...
Better luck next time guys..

I hope i can atleast appear for one of them...

Why Do We Do ?

Relationships . They are always hard to maintain . My strong belief is that for a relationship to work , atleast one of the parties involved has to make serious effort at holding it together . Thus is the nature of people that they do a lot of things , harmfull to the relationship , hurting , with or without knowing . Sometimes they do things , which they might have recognised as hurting if their heads were clear from everything else . Logic and clarity of minds are things which elude a lot of us , and even when that star does shine upon us , it does with varying intensities and very little dependability . So we end up doing things you know is going to hurt your friends , but that call for check from within is muffled and faint , coming from deep inside , from underneath the heap of emotions clogging the immediate proximity of the conscious mind . So why do we do those things , we might never find out . Some even do not realise they are doing things , which might have even put themselves to shame , if someone was good enough to them to point their mistakes out to them , even at their own cost . But very few of us have got friends of that depth and sincerity . Atleast I am glad I am a one among the lucky . Mag you are the best friend I have got in college . I am so glad i have you to look over me and chaperone my morality (please excuse the usage!!)

Inside Out

Well , how well do each of us think we know each other . We might make the common mistake of thinking that we know quite a lot about ourselves . We think we have ourselves figured out , after hours and hours of contemplation and self exploration , which has finally led us onto the misconclusion that we are basically all geniuses .

Then comes the difficult task of putting all that you know you are onto a two sheet pinned form of a curricum vitae or resume . You sit down in front of your PC or a piece of blank paper and start writing . Sure , name , address , phone number . You have got no problems there they are , perfectly written , in the precise format , aligned well to one side , looking all neat and tidy . So , now that the beginning came out so good , you tend to think that the rest would turn out to be a piece of cake . So Academics . Then it strikes you , how bad a measly 62 odd aggregagte marks looks on paper . Well what can you say , its college and you still could make the cut offs for the campuses . 10th and 12th were fine with marks in the mid 70's .

Well now you stop for a second and think . All that has been written are mandatory , and the interviewer would not even glance at it once . So now you have to write about something that will catch the attention of the interviewers and would turn out to my advantage . Lets blow them away with my variegated arsenal of proffessional software suites . Photosphop . Yeah , i have used it , but its like saying you have used Anakin Skywalker's Light sabre to open a bag of chips . But maybe i could even then impress them if they caught onto it . Operating Systems are fine too , since i have atleast once tried my hand at all windows versions and a couple of linux ones . Skills are a mess . What ever you are gonna write , they are going to kill you for it . So make your own life sentence as light as possible . Finally comes a section to give your interests and achievements , and thats when you realised you have never done anything in your life . And how can you write your main interest is in girls . lol . Well think hard on it ... me still am...

~when you are living lost lives , all this ceases to matter `

Lost Lives~

"So . Talk"
"Well , what are your career choices ? "
"Software field ofcourse , then maybe M tech and ofcourse I could just get married . I'm going to get my dad to marry me off to a gulf dude . Then I can work there . "

Well Rahi , best of luck for your plans to teach , get married and have a lot of great kids . Focus shifts now back to my career , for the first time after coming to college . What..? With everyone running about , buying books , attending talks , solving puzzles 24/7 , buying a tie then finding out they don't know to tie it and then running about trying to find someone who does . Well that reminds me that I have to learn to knot a tie and that too well .... ( Are ties costly?? )

So what is everyone so worried about suddenly amidst the fun and frolic of the leisurely paced college life? What could be so demanding as to break this spell ?

Well its season again for a little game of campus recruiting , and ofcourse , the guys are quite right to be worried . And to tell the truth , I am a little worried too . Well its mostly clearing up ( I think) . I have been asking everyone their opinions on the matter , whether to try stick to the civil field or go along with the flow into the IT field . Maybe I'm meant to go into the IT field . But its still troubling me , whether would this make me happy ? Would I be able to get the life I want ? I have confided in some of you about my vague and superficial dreams . So you may think its not worth taking that big a risk for . Who knows . Where do each of you see yourself 10 years from now . But you have probably already prepared some answer to that ( be a satified human being , be a fore runner in the company you are working for and ofcourse make tons of money) . But what if it were 20 years and you were told to take a minute and really think it out without the cliches ? Think of how you will look back at your life at the half way point in your life . Would you have done the 'something' you had always wanted to do . Were you as happy as you expected you to be when you were 20 (now , and btw figure that out now ) . Well its your life and its just beginning , and many things are yet to be figured out properly . Think hard and clear about it .. And ofcourse more importantly THINK ON YOUR OWN ABOUT IT . Lifes lost... and you lost with it...

sCCratccHinGg mAaaa NeRrvesSss

Today after quite some time , I was feeling down , I mean really down . Well as nostalgic as it may have been , it brought to my attention certain things that are missing from life . Definitely i miss System Of a Down . There is no measure as to how it would have helped me when I was desp today . Instead I had to subject myself to the torture of a playlist created by my brother . How i wish i had the oteps or slipknots or hatebreeds . Slayer , to which i never devoloped a taste since it came recently in time where the kind of music under discussion now havent been required for a long time . But if i could get my hands on a geniune slayer i would definitely make it a part of my retinue .

Now since the heavy stuff is missing from my normally stocked arsenal , i had to dig pretty hard . But digging deep enough i found stuff which would do pretty well . Disturbed , another one of those to which i never devoloped a taste came to the rescue . Now i can understand Jonathans fanatic adhesion to the song Down with the sickness . Faithful as ever metallica never let me down ever , nor did it today . Fuel pumped me up enough , followed by godsmack . The heavy noise pollution could not afford to give way for nirvana even though that too could have sufficed for my vent of anger or what ever . But it wouldnt have compared to the current pot full of emotions in me . But very ape found its way into the playlist . The very very very very powerful and gnawing guitars touched the right knots which the rape me would have definitely missed . There used to be a time when i could blast off in my room , unconcerned about the neighbours , but that aint now . Maybe after the shift . I need more sound anyway . This stuff aint powerfull enough even tough extremely loud . Du hast was a mismatch .... it was a happy song..... so had to cut it off the list and fill it up with without a choice rape me.. maybe i oughta run to jonathan house to listen to something there ....

Me out ... Peace to all ya motherfuckers...

The Eminem Show

So I've been posting long in here , but I have never expressed my tastes , in music , in movies or infact anything other than biking and my obsessive interest in girls . So this is a blog for me ..

So today I was watching a show about Eminem and how he made it big in the Hip Hop scene , which is usually monopolised by the afro-americans . They despise the white folk of america and direct most of the lyrics explicit and all at their white faced , supposed oppressors . So back to eminem . Although he came into my attention in 2000 with his record smashing "real slim shady" , he was pretty famous a year before (but news gets here slow) . So enter a bad ass white guy , rapping around , bad mouthing everything and everyone , making fun of everything and everyone . This was followed by many of his similar antics and the really touching songs among them became jus flukes . Even though many of his earlier songs were , apart from their explicit lyrics , great music , it was rarely acknowledged that eminem could infact make good music . "Cleaning out my closet" was infact very touching , but here , among friends just seen as another eminem track .

The real turning point came with "Stan" and ofcourse my favorite "Lose yourself" . Stan , featuring dido , in one of his best , but that has infact a lot to do with dido and her superb song . But the genius in lose yourself cannot be denied . Not by listener , not by fans , and not by critics . Eminem was here . He was an apprentice (to Dr. Dre) no more . He was the biggest name in pop . R&B stars accepts him , Dre directs him and everyone has to respect him .

Toy soldiers hit it #1 at UK . But its not our style , with neither me nor Jonathan liking it . But "lose yourself " and "8 Mile " has enough steam to push him on for some time more......
So Let Me Get The Fuck Out ...

The Microsoft Curse

Windows . Microsoft windows . This has become one of the biggest names in history . My life is intertwined with the manipulation of the various forms of windows and the hundreds of intricate settings inside it . Windows 98 and XP both have their positives and negatives as far as I am concerned . Windows 98 has become a necessity on my computer since it is plagued by bad sectors and strapped for RAM and video memory . Installing it is easy on the nerves for me , with the installation completed within 15 mins . The drivers and setups are all at easy reach in the D: drive , and that too finishes within 15 mins . So my OS for all diagnostic purposes is up and running . But running on 98 is like riding a Hero Honda CD100 . Somehow it lacks juice , although it can be kept in spic and spank condition , it gets to your nerves in the end . Response is great , with under 10 seconds bootup and 2 second shut downs . Disk Doctor and Surface Scans can be called into action through DOS and everything is fine . But you still feel weak and pre-archaic .

This is where XP comes in . Once you start runnig XP its hard to go back . Each time I abandon a slow XP and go back to 98 , I yearn to return back to the cosy XP base . It feels like a cushion under me . I cant explain it but I feel pampered and a deep fulfillment . But then comes the drawbacks . Since I dont trust my motherboard and that too with enough reason , its mandatory that I run my disk checks . But here is where XP lets me down . Even though it can be done at startups , it is too messy to be done correctly and frequently enough . And XP does tend drag on after a few months or so ( I have'nt had even a single install on any OS last for more than 2 months ) . But being online in XP is soothing . I can open any number of tabs and windows in Netscape or Opera or in Yahoo! or MSN and still expect it to run even after a few hangups . Nothing gets completely stuck on XP .

Linux is something beyond my grasp . So running linux is not an option even though I have redhat 8 and fedora CDs lying around .

So the new hard disk is on and running XP . Lets see how this goes .

Exam Fever

Its exam time . Mag teached me stuff.. poor girl but do i heed .. lol .. nooooo...how can i with still 2 days to go to the exams... I tried explaining to her the working of my studying head.. she understands... but doesnt trust it.. hehe..

Anyway the preps are quite ok ... she taught me well .. thanks to her for that...

Thank you Mag...

Arya Reunion

School can be a strong influence on anyones life . It usually rubs off a lot onto the induvidual lending certain peculiar qualities , each school's different , on the students who spend the major part of the formative period of their young lives inside the walls of the institution , soaking in the principles and philosophies of the school . Almost certainly a mark of the school is stamped on the person for life , making him recognisable as the product of the particular school where ever life might take him .

As for me , I spent the last 9 years of my school life in Arya Central School , Pattom , making it undoubtedly the single most influential institution which has starred in my life , as of yet . Arya evokes different reactions in different ex-students ( or inmates ) . Some who have studied there for just a couple of years , look back on it with mild affection , while others who have spent 14 or so years there despise it so much that they would want nothing more than to be never reminded of those sad years spent at The Arya Central Jail . But what ever their opinion it is a fact that the school has changed them in some way or the other .

Anyway , yesterday was the first reunion of the 2002 passouts of Arya , held at Hotel Parkfield . Even though planned and executed within a short span of about just 2-3 days , the event was quite a success . Everyone was happy that they 'FINALLY' got to meet their school mates FOR THE FIRST TIME! Anyway there was loads of fun to be had . Everyone was falling head over heels for Anuja , turning the pretty kid into an instant celebrity . ChiChi like always managed to be the centre of a attraction , with her eyes still mersmerising every guy present , and making their hearts flutter with her smile and down turned eyes . I , like always was running around with a camera trying to capture the fun and frolic .

After the reunion we , the guys , decided to go to kovalam . So we started out to kovalam in two cars , racing and swearing all the way , Jidesh flooring it in Sajith's zen and Ashish following suit in my 800 . Once there , we shed our clothes and jumped into the welcoming sea , ofcourse in the close proximty of the most promising chick in the water . So an hour of the wind and waves , interspersed with glances towards the WET gals in the vicinity , left us all refreshed and pumped up . Then finally managing to pry ourselves from the water ( and our eyes from the very sexy gals in the water) we raced back to the city to get a hotel & eat our fills and start back home by 8 . But I still had to get my hands on the pics I had snapped from Manu the very same night . So started a frantic flight to three homes finally managing to download the pics onto a computer and writing it .

So we are all looking forward to the next reunion . Lets hope everyone shows up . This time 72 showed up , out of the 200 aryiites who passed out in 2002 . Next time let us hope for 200 .

Mess Of A Life

As each day melts into one another , I realise I have lost track of time . Its the twentieth day , or close to that , since I have been lost . Water is running out , even after the strict rationing I have been subjecting myself to . I knew water was the most precious of the commodities I could scavenge from the wreckage , limiting myself to a half cup each in the morning and evening . Its been difficult to keep a single direction , walking itself hard . The rough terrain making progress slow , but I know i have to keep moving west and there I have to cross the North-National highway . Even though it barely qualifies to be called a highway with its single lane tarmac surface almost eroded off , it would give me a chance of finding some strain of civilisation . But I could be way off in my estimation of my position , being hundreds of miles off from any sign of civilisation . I now curse each time I remember how foolishly i had started out . Mel was gone now , she could never return . Confusingly I feel very little emotion , conflicting the various thoughts that plague me during the unending hours of trekking . Sleep came easily the last few days , a welcome relief from the start . My muscles have toned themselves to the rigourous pace of the march , the aching has started to fade . I could not fully imagine how i looked . I was amusing myself thinking how my ex-wife and daughter would feel if they saw me now . What would little angeline think of her dad , if she saw me now , shirt in tatters , blood soaked khakis , not seen water in 20 days . I quickly drove away those distant thoughts and tried to concentrate on the present . My shoes would'nt hold out much longer , and the thought of losing my trusted boots frightened me . The terrain was rough and any of the sharp stone would shred my skin off my foot in a second . I had to find something to replace my boot . The evening closing in . I had to find a safe place to sleep away from the hyena and jackals . My eyelids aleady felt heavy , and it was risky to walk in the darkness . Collecting what ever twigs and logs I could find I made camp and dropped down to the hard ground and fell to sleep almost the instant i hit the ground . I knew no dreams would disturb this sleep . Deep .

neSt

All my life i've been shifting from one house to the other and to a certain extent one city to the next . So basically i've lived in five cities and about thirteen houses till now . So its understandable when i say i've never had any attachments to the houses i've stayed in . The current house , even though i've stayed in for about 3 years , is one to which i've had the least psychological attachment to . Infact i still havent seen most of the people who are supposed to be my neighbours , living about 5 meters or so away from my house . Atleast here , through common friends i've come to know some of the guys who live in the vicinity . So thats a fresh and welcome change .

Now back to the topic . So its odd that even though i've been in tvm for more that 10 year we havent bought a house here yet . So the oddity is set to end quite soon , surprising everyone from my mom to my brothers . Even though all the transactions are'nt over yet , the wheels have been set in motion and dad has finally signed the agreement and given the advance after a minor mishap which almost spelled the end of the deal before it started . Anyway the danger has passed and its now quite safe , although not completely safe , to start dreaming of a permanent house and maybe a neighbourhood where we atleast know who is living next door to us . But ofcourse the most important detail... there HAS to be chicks around... I wish god were kind to me and grant me that wish!!!

ShAkEn uP...

The news of the drowning of a fellow CETian has left me shaken . More so because of my little trip to the high current waters of aruvikkara the same day and my insane mountain climbing there . But tragedy , it seems , struck somewhere close , but thankfully not that close . News of the ill-fated death has left everyone shaky . Aishu could'nt figure out what she felt , though it seemed like fear to me . My mother was morally shocked . "How difficult it would have been to raise a son so far , to see him lost , after reaching CET , and due to lack of water ???" . How cruelly ironic ? Why should he have drowned because of the lack of water ? That too in a Government run hostel . How would have the mates of the boy taken it . Helplessly watching bubbles come up , while all they can do is stand around helpless . How would it have affected them to see one among their brothers die ? God knows . God help us all . Peace . Time to correct all our mistakes . Do it right people . Life is too short to make silly mistakes .

The Circle Of Life

Why do you wanna go around in circles? We do tend to go around in circles with most of our problems . We say we have a problem . Then we try to solve the problem by lending some logic to the situation , which most probably involves finding a way to clear ones side from all possibilities of self implication , or implication by others for that matter . Then would begin the endless cycle of creating and solving ones own problems . Someone wise must have said ( most probably in a much funnier and interesting manner ) "Once you try stop solving a problem and try to imagine it does not exist the problem may vanish into thin air"(something of that sort) .

Time on ones hand is the biggest enemy one may have during spates of such morosity , you sitting in class and dreaming up , concocting up broths of feelings and emotions ( yuck! ). But times like those offer us the least of choices . You are stuck there with no possibility of escape , with either you there by mistake or with you suffering the insufferable as a means to a favourable end ( like picking up spare attendance ) . Well then there is the chance of you finding a way to brush away the boredom with certain enjoyable class room activities like -
1) running a chat server ( passing paper chits )
2) art design ( drawing nude chicks )
3) cubism ( drawing cubes on the desk )
4) astronomy ( looking profusely at glamour stars of the class )
5) literature ( completing records/assignments )
or even
6) accupuncture ( rubbing your leg over your girls' - highly skilled personel will only be recruited ).

Well how misleading and pointless time can be ?

Beginning Of The End

As I move into the dark , crumbling , damp and downright depressing Civil Engineering PG block class , or 'Kaalapaani' as its called , a cold feeling grips my heart . College life is at another of its many critical turning points , which crowd the short four years we have been given to fulfill all our expectations of college we have been fed all those scwany school years and to gather lifelong bitter-sweet experiences , which we are supposedly gonna look back fondly upon later on in life . Three heart busting and nerve crunching schufflings past , we are still not completely comfortable with our home for the past two and a half odd years . Moving into the smart , dust free , painted (for once) class rooms we are filled with apprehension about the next three semesters . We are finally at the beginning of the end , accepting it or not , no longer a question of much consequence , with just three more semesters to go . Semesters one , two , three .. where did they all go , when did all they fly by . We are left with no memory of them , nothing to punctuate properly the vague mass of randomly flowing time , nothing to remind us of the passage of time , passage of the best years of our life . Will we all look back upon it , our college days , with longing in our eyes , just wishing to relive them , wishing we'd have done better in them , not done then some of the thing we had done , not said some of the things we had said , not hurt some of the people we had hurt ? Bitter about life , high on experience , wiser .. but better off?? , we stand on almost the edge of this vast expanse of a spectacular experience , a wonderful piece of life , and we all swear , swear by all our pride and self esteem , "Make may we our lifes a little better , break may we a little of our deadlocks with egos , speak out may we a little more clearly to those with us of our love , see may we more magnified those little things others try to do to make us happy , and try may we a little hard , just a little harder , to make everyone else happy , for us , and for everyone else ."

Winds Of ChanGe

The wind was blowing at my face . Body rigid . Senses tense , at their peak , I fly without wings . The road comes on fast at me . As I take the curves I feel the force driving me off my track . I hold on tight to the handle bar afraid , the wheels managing enough traction through the slight jump off the uneven road . I give the throttle a sharp twist sending the bike rushing forward in the sudden spurt of power . I feel the adrelanine rushing . My arms twitch at the effort . My whole body tenses to balance the bike over each curve , tilting the bike, teasing the traction , challenging it . I am trying to pass the car in front . I go in for it . A car is coming from the opposite side . No space to go . I down my gear and twist the throttle . I fly forwards . I can feel the mean machine roaring in fury , majestically with its power. I go head on with the other car . Its is rushing towards me . I am besides the car i'm passing. I lay to one side , leaning on my left hand ,shooting the bike laterally into the gap between the cars . I feel the wind of both cars passing . I duck the rear view mirrors on both sides . Suddenly leaning to the right I'm back straight ..feeling rushed.. feeling great.. glad to be alive .. I ride on ... Its proof you dont need wings to fly .

WorLd??

So it seems Bush is winning the 2004 elections. Frankly I had expected Senator Kerry to win . So did most of my net buddies. But how can anyone predict what the americans would do . Now ,that its almost sure (statistically ,the television is blaring out),what is Bush administration going to do that is going to change the life of millions of people again. They have done it twice in the last term . Watching Rambo III , showed me americans at their hipocritical best . " What are you russians doing here. These are proud people,fighting for their freedom. We made the same mistake . We already had our vietnam ". And some years later we have American special forces running around the same country confused , cursing 'those damn' Muslims for making them part their loving families and fighting jehadis . Now whats left of a country that was devoloping by stride during the mid 70's . How long is it going to take to reuild it all.

But hey ,who remembers Afghnistan when we've got better Iraq(or I'raq for the americans). Saddam ,street smart, had run a country to its peak from god knows what condition. And in a few strokes of master manipulation of media we have 51% of the americans thinking saddam had direct proven contacts with Osama (survey just before the iraq invation ). CNN even had its own snazzy tune composed during sept 11,for a dramatic entry (filmie ishtyle) of the knight Bush. Both CNN and BBC covered the action enthusiastically(in the beginning).Then it just didnt stop.Hasnt,even now.Bombs going off daily,suicide bombers,pampered americans going back home after the unbeleivable stay in the ultra modern city.

Now where are they going to take us. North Korea has already been fixed on . We are going to have a tea party there for sure and soon. And when do we directly come in contact with all this. I mean India does star in most of the possible political scenarios drawn up by Americans(something like India taking over Australia through Sri Lanka in one of the ludlum novels!!),along with pakistan too in some of them. Lets wait and see. Hopefully i'll be in one of those european neutral countries by then .Enjoying the calmness of the lakes and gazing at the clear skies and holding the had of some future beloved of mine.

With a Bowed hEaD..

College next week is going to be something of a carnival , rides and fun , all a part of the game . Aracade gaming , Building design , i do not know what i'd be doing. Both prospects are equally interesting . Both have got their share of perks and turn offs . Both are arenas for showing off one's skills and talents , for bragging ,for boosting esteem and for gaining the repect and awe of peers ,on a scale unimaginable till now.

This maybe uncomprehendable to many . But face it . Guys always need masculine fronts to show off their egos and skills and face them off against each other on a seemingly mindless display of physical strength or skill. Gaming is as close to a duel most of us may get to in real life. Fighting in a real war may not be as romantic as it may seem on a television or in a book . But fighting in a virtual arena with warriors as adept and unrelenting as us is definitely something we could live for for ever. Racing through the roads , burning tarmac , skirting through rush hour traffic at top speeds in mean machine , seemingly risking lives (on mostly a 0-100 health scale),to respawn after a crash losing precious time to opponents , all send the adrelanin pumping right through our viens.

Unreal tournament , you are a warrior send to fight in the tournament . Your strenght and brutality are legendary .You have to fight , fight to show you are the best , to crush your enemies , to win .. the tournament.. Or Counter-Strike , with weapons feeling as real as any game ever , you could feel the M4A1 Maverick Carbine being cocked after a reload almost right in your hands your head cocking from the effort, you could feel the reloaded cartridge being jammed into the gun with the hell of your hand and feel the resistance of the cocking mechanism against your fingers . Bursts of two or three ,sending you back in recoil, catching the opponent in the chest and head , you running away from assaults reloading your gun frantically , desprately trying to stay alive till the gun has juice again to pump lead into the heart of your opponent . That is power. Power in its rudimentary form . You are a warrior , one of the elite....You are a virtual gladiator and the crowd roars at you "You are the best" from the aisles.. You are the legendary .. you are the best ... you are a Gamer...

Awarenes : Prelude

As I was riding through pattom one fine evening , enroute to my T.I.M.E classes, needless to say not on time , I happened t o see a familiar face walking by on the road . Looking closely again ( required cos I would'nt even notice a guy , even if he jumped in front of my speed monster , unlike gals whom i could within seconds place from my extensive data base , even from a partial view of the tip of their shawls ), I saw that it was my class mate Roshan . So I slowed down and went to him , and quickly realised he was excited about something ( My interest suddenly skyrocketed since it looked like it involved gals ).

"Where are ya coming from man..?"
"Loyola college.. woww.. it was fun (something of that sort).. you really should go .."
"What does it involve?"(does it involve meeting chicks?)
"Thats a surprise!!"(wowwww.. that means lots of chicks!!)

Now this started me on a quest to get into the next batch of the Loyola College "Self Awareness and Devolopment" camp , which was into the third batch (already full) . So everyone was excited about it , those who completed it were virtually jumping (hopping) around campus , meeting up with 'loyola'mates of theirs from the various batches. Mag promised me to inform me as soon as the next batch ( specially requested after the incessant demand ) , was posted up in CGPU . In the meanwhile the other three batches of campers were frolicking around , with enhanced people skills ( hmm... meaning hi's to everyone ) , boosted confidence ( read anugeetha's sudden break into class conversations and occasional group trips to the snack bar to have a sip-up ) , and newly made friends ( hema and kittu step into the kalapani for the first time in their lives to see roshan ) . Finally the notice was out , or on the way to get out , and mag rushed to me with the news . So me and kulu , he forsaking his college bus ride , started to run frantically to the CGPU to get there before the forms ran out . Mountain climbing , repelling , sliding , panting we reached the CGPU door . Ahhh.. the forms were still there . We were in . We would get to go to the famed camp , to improve our personalities , to meet chicks , to have unlimited amount of fun ( guaranteed by satisfied costomers )....

We The People

We the people. It does catch the imagination of the population , firing up the patriotic zeal in the volatile minds of the youth of a nation ,which is still with bright memories of a fight , a fight of a nation for its independence. You sit in a theatre and watch Shah Rukh Khan being transformed from a Non Returning Indian ,walking around with his ever faithful aquafina ( how many times have we seen it in real life , so real !) and slowly feeling the fires of righteousness lighting up , slowly and steadily , finally manifesting itself as tear filled scene where he finally realises the hardships of the *real people* ,handing out all the money he has to an apolegetic farmer who can't even feed his children but treats his guest like 'bhagvan'. I have to hand it to them ,because this is one of the moments where the movie finally sets itself to a good rhythm and pace. From there on even the ever screaming ,wise cracking mass of mostly fist years , who formed the majority of the theatre population ,were silent ,sitting on the edge of their seats ,hanging on to every word coming out of the talented actor ,each one vibrating with patriotic flair and those coming out of the not so talented but gorgeous actress. The songs in the movie had everyone clapping their hands to the beat , showing yet again how A.R.Rahman can entice listeners whether he does more movies than we can imagine possible or not . Chala was, like always in a bad mood , but that did not deter any of us from having fun ,during the carefully constructed hoaxed visit , Roshan disgusting meenu with his descriptions of the dead rat and CJ late by half an hour like always . In the end though the bad acting of the actress finally caught up with the movie , destroying one of the *nail biting* scenes , when she with close eyes 'chanted' ,"please dont go , please dont go" , to finally see that Shah Rukh had gone . It was better , to have him go and complete his 'Nasha'(NASA) lauch ,ripped off from countless movies , but ripped off reasonably well. So no complaints . All in all the movie is what it says it is - a serious movie which tries to break the mould of masala movies ,one which doesnt compromise good film making ,just to make a fashion statement . Go watch it if you dont mind long old hindi dialogues which you may have heard a thousand times . "Sanskruti...Parampara". Jai Hind!

Day Of The Jackal

He came pounding down the dirt trodden path at brisk pace. He looked around with his keen eye spotting his prey for the day . His sunken beady eyes glared out from under those protruding bones of his forehead. He stretched his limbs and body menacingly , freeing it from the strings of long inactivity of the previous night. Walking up and down , he analysed the flat expanse of dry , rugged terrain in front of him . He picked his line of attack , going over his action plan again ,making sure that his chances were good for a quick and clean kill . He looked at up at the sun ,guaging the time by its diuranal motion. The time was near,he could feel it . The day was hot . He licked his lips , feeling his saliva soak the dried skin ,making him feel instantly better. He used his furry paws to scratch his itching neck . Turning slowly he walked ,with neck hung low ,eyes down , conserving energy , searching for a comfortable place to lay in wait for the right angle of sun and for his hunting partner for the day to come . He sat there hidden from view from his prey , making murmuring sounds deep from his throat.

I was feeling tensed , unexpected at it was to me , it was making my palms moist in the mid morning sun. I knew I was safe for the moment , but I had seen the jackal come, reconnoitre and make his way into the shade . I could feel the tension among the other poor animals with me. They too could feel their time was close . Perspiration was running down the neck of each of the females with me . They could see that the hunter would go for the weaker female . I moved to their side and tried to calm a couple of them who were particularly close to me . I could see that one of them was taking long labourious breaths . I tried to calm her , or she would'nt have a chance at survival . Freezing in tense situations was a wide response I had seen among them . But today that would spell their definite doom , because the hunter today was as relentless and cunning , as he was fast in picking out the weaknesses in his prey.

Yes ,today was the fifth semester survey lab examination . The time was mid morning . We , a batch of two boys and 6 girls were waiting outside the civil engineering laboratory building , lazing around in front of the dirt laden roads . I could hear someone taking deep breaths . Turning around I see Anjana filling her chest with long inhalations and calm exhalations in a futile attempt to calm her jumpy nerves. Arathi was cool as ever , atleast on the outside . But i could feel her hand turning cold in mine. Finally after a while the time was here to see the result of what the constant conspiring of the external and internal examiners had churned out to make to make us sweat and toil in the hot sun and finally burn out our intellects and imaginations and still not reach a plausible result which may atleast lay to rest our fears untill we get out of the lab. Ofcourse the question appeared simple enough on first glance , but ofcourse , why would they do that ;give a simple question ? I had all the observations I needed , each of which i had painstakingly taken ,making sure each were correct to the nearest second .*what for?* Resuming the juggling i had left off an hour earlier, with the trignometric relations , on the plain figure , I used up all the imagination i could muster to improvise towards , at the least , a plausible answer. But needless to say nothing came out of the skillful manipulations and assumptions I made to dupe the examiner into overestimating my mathematical talents .

In the end I was probably better off than the others, Anjana having to manufacture readings and most others way off the mark with their *genuine* calculations. Lets wait and see whether all my innovative *creative* calculation methods pay off. *Varaan ollathu vazhiyil thangilla!*