Neel's Lot

Photography

2010-08-28T13:50:00.002+05:30

There is something wonderful about photography.

There’s something about photography that makes it more something from something than the music, painting, sculpture... While obviously not literal creation from nothing, in all these arts, there’s an obvious element of deliberately forming a blank slate. A photograph, in contrast, is not a creation from nothing but a recording of something else. That is, perhaps, why so many people don’t know quite how to react to photography as an art, especially so-called “straight” photography — photography that is, in some sense, of the world as it is, rather than of a world deliberately constructed for the photograph. When the photograph is heavily manipulated, or depicts something constructed specifically for the photograph, we can immediately recognize a sort of creation from nothing. In straight photography, there’s no part of the creative process that is quite like sculpting or writing.

Given all this, I can’t exactly explain where the sense of satisfaction from creating a straight photograph comes from. I think many professional photographers feel the same, judging by interviews I’ve read, in which a jumble of different suggestions and theories are put forth, but none of them seem to capture exactly where that sense of satisfaction comes from. It exists, but in a sense it’s different from the satisfaction that comes from a "from nothing" creation like a drawing.

Trapped in the Mind

2010-06-29T23:16:00.000+05:30

"Is there no way out of the mind?" ~ Sylvia Plath

I wish I wasn't so dreamy whenever I get time. There are some things which don't have answers.

Why is man on earth?
Why are humans so petty? Why can't we all just work together on the things that matter?
Can't you be both happy and informed at the same time?
Why does thinking too much make you feel insignificant?

Can I be younger again?

BBC Booklist

2010-06-02T23:38:00.005+05:30

Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here

bold = read
italic = owned but unread.

1. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series, JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
6. The Bible (not in its entirety)
7. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
11. Little Women, Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
13. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare, William Shakespeare
15. Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch, George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia, CS Lewis
34. Emma, Jane Austen
35. Persuasion, Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernières
39. Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
41. Animal Farm, George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney, John Irving
45. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies, William Golding
50. Atonement, Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi, Yann Martel
52. Dune, Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
62. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
72. Dracula, Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island, Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses, James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal, Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession, AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web, EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven, Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection, Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
94. Watership Down, Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet, William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
100. Les Misérables, Victor Hugo

I think thats 19/100. Would have been more with a few of Wodehouse's in there.
How many have you read?

Kerala cleans up Indian Cricket Again - IPL

2010-04-22T08:52:00.013+05:30

The Shock

When Rendezvous Sports consortium first won the bid for the Kochi IPL team, back in late March, there was jubilation around Kerala on getting an IPL franchise. I was a bit worried though. On the dias with Mr.Modi, Shailendra Gaekwad looked a bit out of sorts and there was a real lack of harmony on the stage.

Rendezvous had just upstaged fat bids from known entities like Adani and Videocon (who has suddenly hit a cash cow, the way they're spending money on ads) by bidding for the unfashioned Kochi city for a very fashionable $333.33. For that kind of money, they could've bought an NBA franchise!

There was a very clear feeling of surprise all across the board. Even in Kerala, where the local newspapers and channels normally latch on to anything even remotely Malayalee, the press had no clue this was coming. Looking through the previous days Malayala Manorama (which is very good at finding Malayalee connections to every damn thing) had not got wind of this bid. They had mentioned Adani, Videocon, Sahara and few others as the ones leading the fray.

The Awe

This was Shashi Tharoor's first ploy. And it worked wonders. It was quite obvious from the start of the woo-ing process of the IPL bid that Shashi Tharoor would be backing any bid that would come for the Kochi team. Initially, there was interest from the Malayalam Film industry through Mohan Lal and Priyadarsan. But when they gawked at the expected bid value and left the fray.

All was quiet up until the day of the bid.

It was only after the ruccus surrounding the bid had died down that people got to know who was behind the Rendezvous Group. And boy was that a surprise. The people were :

1. Elite Group -
A company from Kerala that had been running a diversified business with hardly anything to do with cricket. They have a cheesy website too.

2. Anchor Earth
The mother-ship of the Anchor Switches brand. They're based out of Gujrat/Mumbai.

3. Rosy Blue Diamond
Its a fairly large Diamond company based out Mumbai/Gujrat. They obviously had a lot of money! They potentially have a Dubai connection here.

4. Gaekwads
The name Rendezvous is theirs. They're a fairly big and not so scrupulous business house based out of Maharashtra and the ones with (possibly) the deepest pockets of them all.

5. Shri ram Ship Scrapping Company
What is this guy doing as part of the bid?!

There were others involved in the bid, like a few real estate developers, but thats another discussion entirely. No one was prepared for this kind of a bid coming from this motley bunch of business-men, not even Modi.

The big men of the BCCI, all politics no cricket here, weren't best pleased about it. I'm surprised Shashi Tharoor didn't get wind of this and contact Tehelka and pull off a candid camera stunt. Kerala has historically been a bad place for Indian Cricket - reputation wise. The match fixing scandals of 2000 were broken in the Taj Residency in Kochi.

Modi was a man shown in the media (till then) as a great businessman and smart fellow who got IPL to where it was at the time. Shashi Tharoor meanwhile had no friends in politics and had already been in the middle of a number of silly controversies. The timing of what was to be brought up couldn't have been better.

The Card

The media got wind (I wonder how) of a Ms.Sunanda Pushkar who Tharoor was to marry exactly in the middle of Dr.Manmohan Singh's tour of the Americas. Manmohan was the one who had earlier laughed off silly accusations against Tharoor in the "cattle-class" controversy. The leading man was away and the media had a week to have a field day.

The pictures of Tharoor with Sunanda (which had magically been found only at that time) was quickly added on to the news that Sunanda had a "free equity" in Rendezvous Sports. Interesting that the usage was coined anew. I can't find any references to what "free equity" means. But the use of the word 'free' sent the media into a tizzy as they drew up situations where Sunanda was getting free money as a proxy for Tharoor. Well played Mr.Modi. Great tweet.

The reality of that situation is quite simple. Sunanda Pushkar was hired as the brand manager of the company and she was to get a share of any value added to the company as a result of her work. Its a common practice in start-up companies where you will have a part of your salary pegged to the overall performance of the company. The term is called "sweat equity".

It became quite clear that Modi was under tremendous pressure to kick the Kochi bid out with a view of bringing in a more lucrative state (like Gujrat?) into the fray. The PM wouldn't be able to support Tharoor much longer and he would have to step down. The news channels were quite literally baying for his blood. The less said about Times Now the better. But on his way out he brought to the notice of the Income Tax department that they haven't been doing their jobs right.

How could it be that in 3 years someone could buy a fleet of S-class Mercs and a private jet and NOT be investigated by the I-T department for wrongdoing? As it turns out there is (unsurprisingly) a web of inner dealings relating to IPL franchisees. The documents of which are all safely stowed away in Mr.Modi's house. Modi also owns part of the Rajasthan Royals franchisee through a benamee (proxy).

I really don't care if Kochi gets an IPL team or not. I'm just happy that the gang which runs this is getting investigated at least. I don't expect much to happen. Modi is strongly backed by the Pawar lobby and he'll probably be quietly moved to the side, only to be replaced by another. Before becoming the IPL chairman where was this Modi? Why getting jailed in the US. Where else :P

After all this shit and a very ordinary IPL s3. I have decided to watch only test cricket. It more fun and there is more GENUINE excitement. Not more forced DLF-shitbags.

2010-01-30T23:22:00.000+05:30

Right, so its been a long time since I graced these pages with my typos, so here goes!

A lot has changed in the month and more that I have been away. I got a job and got all my certificates too. Great success.

So first the Job. I have been working for just over a month at Visual IQ which is a good business intelligence platform. VIQ provides marketing analytics to its clients and is pretty good at what it does. So what am I doing there? Yes, I am working on bringing in Social Media Analytics into the mix of data we work on right now. So cheers to me. I like my job. So far so good.

So that has been pretty much the reason for the lull in posts coming through here. Of course the half eye on my other blog also has something to do with it.

Well, I just wanted to write something to get the ":Routes out of Cochin" off the top of the screen!

So Ta,

Routes to get out of Cochin City - 3

2009-12-23T21:18:00.002+05:30

Lastly and finally. If you live anywhere beyond Aluva Town and want to avoid the Notional Highways and move at a decent pace without tension and without much traffic, this is probably the best way forward.

It helps save a lot of petrol because there is no slow moving traffic jam to get through. There are 2 railway crossings where you'll (at worst) switch off the car for 5 minutes.

View Larger Map

Routes to get out of Cochin City - 2

2009-12-23T21:00:00.001+05:30

A very effective way to get from Edappally/Elamakkara to Menaka and back avoiding the bottleneck of the North Overbridge. Any suggestions or better ideas?

View Larger Map

Routes to get out of Cochin city

2009-12-23T20:43:00.003+05:30

Here's a nice way to get from Menaka to Kaloor avoiding most of the traffic. This is most effective when in a small to medium sized car - too big to weave through the jam but small enough to move fast through the lanes.

View Larger Map

Indians - Privately Smart, Publicly Dumb

2009-11-25T17:56:00.003+05:30

We Indians are a queer species. Whats most intriguing about us is that we continue to survive, and in many cases thrive not in spite of the way we are.

I recently drove 500km from Cochin to Trivandrum and back in my puny Maruti 800 and I learnt something interesting which can be best put in the words of V.Ragunathan -"Indians are Privately Smart but Publicly Dumb".

Thee is no better place than the open road to observe this phenomenon.

The first thing you notice is the road itself. While the road was being built, the engineer (who has complete responsibility for the project) is rewarded with more funds in case of a delay. This would be fine if he is to be held responsible for any faults in construction but that is not the case.

So the engineer (literally) makes sure the road takes 20 years to build and will break up as soon as it rains because it ensures he can pocket the most money. He is privately very intelligent. But he fails to look at the bigger picture and as a result the country & its people look like fools to an outsider.

The next thing you'd see while driving down the National Highway (or Notional Highway) is the the number of unplanned cuttings & entry/exit points. Take an example : After a 4 lane road is built, I buy land on its fringe and build a petrol pump. Being on one side of the highway my customers are cut by half since cars on the other side of the divider can't turn into my pump.

So, being Indian, what do I do? I take a bunch of goons, and overnight, I break the divider in a convenient place so that I can do more business. I am now making more profit than my competitor down the road. But the fact that there is no yield to turn your car and the fact that the cutting might be in the middle of a blind turn - leading to countless accidents is none of my concern. Noticing his fellow petrol pump owner raking in the bucks, the competitor down the road copies me and we have 2 unscientific breaks in the divider. Privately both me and my fellow pump-owner are intelligent but publicly Indians, as a people, over the long term - suffer.

At a red light we quickly realize that the policeman is looking the other way and zoom through.

Indians spend far too much brain-power on trying to outsmart the law and gain personal gain when standing together and obeying it has far greater benefit. The people are the only ones to blame since we live in a democracy.

The reason for this besides our inherent disobedient nature is the lack of rules and controls. The rap on your knuckles when you do something wrong is too light. The people are happy because they can be privately intelligent, but they don't realize what they are doing...

Of Old men & Wisdom

2009-11-14T21:22:00.007+05:30

Every man has a story. The only thing you can take with you to your grave is your story. Every story is made up of small instances, each with great value - like the Mahabharatha. Most of us forget many characters and rich plots because we never cared to write them down, preserve them.

I guess the fact that all four of my grandparents were either well into senility (or well beyond) by the time I could understand them has meant I have been deprived of old people and their wisdom.

A good grandfather, if there is such an expression, is someone who can remember the stories but also knows when to say them.

Movie Review - Home (2009)

2009-10-27T18:19:00.007+05:30

Most movies which preach conservation take a "Oh look at the poor panda, its dying :(" attitude to try and convince you to do the right thing. They use the oft mis-used and mis-represented need of people to save the planet (if not for themselves) for their kids. What they fail to understand is that most of the people watching the shows aren't 40 but 14.

Home takes a different view on things. This movie manages to put in front of you not our mistakes but how we made them. While you are busy soaking up the exquisitely filmed scenes of this movie, you are left with a profound sense of guilt and a feeling of "What have we done.... ".

This movie is a visual treat, quite like the Planet Earth series, and has a bounty of aerial shots of some never seen before places & phenomenon. What really stands out is that they don't show only the good or the bad, they tell you a story. A story of how man reached where he is today and how man is upsetting the earth's fragile climate.

8.5/10 By the end, the overall impression I felt was how stupid man is. The Earth, always bounces back from any devastation - only the time it takes is longer than man has. So we aren't destroying the Earth, but only our own existence.

Home on imdb

Home on mininova

Movie Review - Paranormal Activity (2007)

2009-10-26T17:39:00.007+05:30

To think this movie cost only $15,000 to make! In its first weekend of open release it has grossed $22million. There is a very good reason why it has made movies like Saw VI (which had the worst release in Saw history) look distinctly fake and passe.

After the first half of the movie, I reduced the volume almost to zero to somehow not get scared, but that is when I realized the real horror of the movie. It is the story and the quietness of the movie which scares you. The reality of it all, and the genuineness of the performances leaves you wondering what might happen. Unlike most supposedly "scary" movies which try to make you shake with fake sound effects and grotesque imagery, this movie plays with your mind.

I am happy I watched this movie on my laptop and not at a theater. I am also very happy I watched it in the afternoon and not at night.

Well, if you haven't already heard about it, the movie basically tells the tale of a couple who decide to use a camera to capture the ghostly/demonic/paranormal experiences they have been having at their home.

8.5/10 Simple and straightforward. Scary as HELL!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179904/

http://www.mininova.org/tor/3067454

Movie Review - Brick (2005)

2009-10-26T02:20:00.005+05:30

A great mystery story being played out in a high school setup. There is a good deal of drugs, guns and murder against the backdrop of a suburban school.

The story is well laid out, with a lonely possessive boy (who packs quite a good punch) investigating the death of his ex-girlfriend at the hands of the drug-peddling baddies in the neighborhood.

The script is just awesome and the dialogues are packed with the fast paced wit of old detective stories (which I haven't had the privilege of watching).

Brendon (Joseph Gordon Levitt) is a lonely and possessive late teenage (possibly troubled) boy who breaks up with his girl, Emily (Emilie De Ravin). 3 months on, he gets a distress call from her and decides to check on her only to find her in a sewer. What follows is a classic Film-Noir detective story which is stunning in its still-ness. So much is said in what is unsaid in the movie.

There is quite a bit of violence and a great twist at the end.

I have always wanted to watch a genuine, serious movie based on high school life. This is pretty close to what I wanted, though there is not one shot inside a class. Maybe thats also real.

7.5/10 Watch it. Its a serious movie, so make sure you're in the mood.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393109/

http://www.mininova.org/tor/1765076

Rammstein - Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da

2009-10-16T16:52:00.005+05:30

Listening to music which you don't understand a word of is quite liberating. Rammstein would be my favorite foreign language band and Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da is (on first impression) their best album to date.

They have never been renowned for their deep and thoughtful lyrics and this is, I believe, no different ( If any German folks are out their, correct me if I'm wrong).

Their music is easy to listen to and the rhythms are what sticks in your head. Lyrics have to be remembered, Rhythms stay with you forever. Its hard, smooth and fast ,and before I forget to mention, controversial.

Their single "Pussy" which was released early last month was debated endlessly thanks to the heavy use of explicit content. Personally I like their open flaunting of stupid American "Family Values". I totally loved this album. 8/10!

Keep a Copy of the Pirate Bay

2009-08-18T10:16:00.001+05:30

As many of us downloaders were agonizing at the prospect of the impending change of the Pirate-Bay tracker and the resulting loss of all the millions of torrents on it, someone was kind enough (or crazy enough) to crawl the site and make a database of all the torrents and upload it on TPB.

I heard about it from TorrentFreak but the news about this going to happen was around for a while. All (or as many as possible) of TPB’s torrents were being moved onto the OpenBitTorrent.

The torrent itself is probably too big for me to download on my 30kB/sec download speed. 21.3GB would be big for any speed! It would take me around 2 weeks of downloading to be able to get the whole database. I wish the uploader would have split it up so that I could have kept a copy of atleast some of the torrents :P

All the same I totally appreciate the efforts. Cheers to the Anonymous uploader. And this is the LINK TO THE TORRENT !

Humbug – Arctic Monkeys

2009-07-31T20:56:00.003+05:30

OK! This is an early birds preview of the new album by Arctic Monkeys. My tastes aren’t exactly conventional and I don’t want to speculate on whether this will go on to break any records.

So without making any sweeping judgments for you, my opinion is that the droney voice of Alex Turner sounds just as good as before. Being a sort-of fan of these guys, Yes its worth downloading.

The tracks that stand out – for me – would be Propeller and Dangerous Animals. Propeller is seriously the best track by far. I don’t understand how there can be such a difference in the quality of tracks in one album, though.

Ratings – Mine of course : 6.5/10

[edit]

Before the edit, I had a link to the torrent I downloaded it from. Within 20min of posting this I received a comment (below) from WEB SHERIFF asking me to take my link to the torrent I downloaded it from, off the site.

Being an intelligent person I have now removed the link. You can be intelligent too and download the songs online. Torrent no. 2809220 on mininova.org.

Cheers.

[/edit]

Relapse (2009)

2009-07-15T01:32:00.003+05:30

Its been a while since I posted anything and my net connection being a pain and I have been trying to get around my books for a change. Actually getting myself to write this thing is thanks to the LiveWriter thing which is pretty neat.

Eminem’s new album was released a couple of months back.

There was a time when I used to love the Eminem songs where he used to go around insulting every other artiste I had heard of. Starting with his first big-fat-hit the Slim Shady LP. I remember hearing it blaring out of every Omani college student’s car at one point of time.

OK. He has been missing from the industry for 4 years and not many industry-folk liked the fact that one of their most marketable artistes were going on holiday. All the same, he (like all other rich people in showbiz) had drug issues. This album is something of a post-rehab achievement if you will.

The theme of a rap album is always based on the lyrics and topics. This album is based on madness and insanity. There is a fair bit of violence – but every Eminem album had that. What is missing? Humour.

I guess rap music has the ability to bring out the mindset of a person better than any other type of music. In Relapse its obvious that lousiness was the undertone. There are countless rhymes made with Vicidin (a pain-killer) and a host of other drugs. There is also an overdose of high-level chemistry and biology as well which I couldn’t really connect to, or laugh at.

The best track, IMO, is Stay Wide Awake. Though the themes are pretty much the same recurring ones, the vocalization is more effective. Yeah, that is whats actually missing. Most songs fall flat in a sense. He hasn’t put in the energy he did in older albums. Where is the screaming? Where is the emotion?

Web Development

2009-07-06T09:04:00.001+05:30

I think I should have titled this as development of the Web, but what the hell… This sounds more familiar.

I was wondering how awesome it is that I can sit here on my bed, in the comfort of my room and talk to any person anywhere in the world. Yeah that is more to do with the telephone, I know. This concept of universal coverage was taken a step further by the net.

Not only can I call anyone anywhere but anyone anywhere can see what I have put online by clicking a button. I think the fact that the net was developed in the US has a lot to do with why it has become so user-friendly.

Had it been in Europe, there wouldn’t be a universal English language which could appeal to such a large number of people.

I know it was a gradual thing, but the idea of generating your own content and putting it online for all to see must have been such a novel idea when it was first mentioned. I have a cool video that we took and I can upload it. This is really revolutionary and that all inclusive message is what makes the internet the hot-bed for communism, in my humble opinion.

This is really what Karl Marx probably thought perfect communism would be like. Where the citizens have control over everything and the big monopolies don’t really have a say in how the people use the net.

Americans have contradicted themselves in the way the net is used. On the one hand, there is the absolutely capitalist ideals of purchasing things madly which has fuelled the e-conomy. On the other there is the profusion of free technology, information and entertainment content – legal and otherwise, that is available online.

i wonder what the next big development will be…. Wonder if it will be Ubiquitous Computing – thats when things come online and you can check whats in the fridge when you are at the mall. Of course, the technology is already there, but the prohibitively huge price-tag is an obvious turn off. For it to be a success it has to be communist <surprisingly>

Me, Music and Michael

2009-06-29T18:37:00.002+05:30

It took a while for me to understand the significance this guy has had on my life. When I first heard the news, my first reaction, I will painfully admit, was “He had it coming… “. But then in one of my day-dreams I thought back to my kiddo days.

For all the Mettallica, Linkin’ Park and Limp Bizkit songs I have heard, I know that they were all just passing phases. Their songs sound fake at best and lacked any real quality. They were somehow always second best.

Its hard to quantify what exactly the parameters are for making the list of the 2 most influential music-makers in my life. I can’t number them 1,2. They made songs which I remember and sing along with in my sleep.

They were there with me in my darkest hours of teenage life. Both literally and figuratively because I used to listen to songs when I went to bed everyday. I had a small tape-recorder which I would plug in by my bedside and would listen to the songs till I drifted off.

The first name I got as soon as I thought back. Bryan Adams. He was the first musician who I really followed. I had all his songs at one point – every one of them. He was a genius – though he was a bit old. I just generally like his voice and his songs.

Thought as I might, I couldn’t get another name. Mettalica was too commercialized and I couldn’t relate to their latest songs. Linkin’ Park was all screaming and manufactured angst. Eminem was more of the same. Limp Bizkit have made just 1 likeable album and don’t look like they are going to bring out another Choclate Starfish. Which brought me back to ol’ Michael.

I have never bought Michael Jackson songs ever. Back in the days when music was on tape and not too expensive, it was pretty weird. I loved every single one of his songs on both Bad and Dangerous. Both albums were with cousins of mine and I had copies. I danced to his songs and I sang along with them. Black or White, Smooth Criminal, Beat It, They don’t really care about us, Dirty Diana, Man in the Mirror … I guess its just that I never had to fast forward any song from his 2 albums.

Maybe if I were a bit older I might say the same about Off the Wall and Thriller. The beat of They don’t really care about us still rings fresh in my mind and as childish as it was this was the song that ran through my head during the days of anti-establishment (read school) thoughts…

Well, I think the time was right for his death whatever people may say. From a music industry PoV, MJ saved their ass once with Thriller when the sales were drooping. Now with file-sharing ending the industry as we know it I wonder who is going to save the day…

Laptop Day 3 – Why I am sad on Windows

2009-06-28T10:02:00.001+05:30

I installed almost all the things I need on the system. Windows is not bad and feels fine. I installed all the free solutions to all my entertainment needs. I installed VLC Player for my videos. I still have to install Real Player though. I wonder why VLC can’t play .rmvb…

Then there is the one thing which I missed on my years on Linux – uTorrent! It is by a long long way the best torrent client to date. Its sad that they haven’t released a Linux version yet even though they are open source…

Songbird – a Mozilla based music player had taken my fancy on Linux and the Windows version of it is lighter and easier.

And Mozilla! How I hate IE! I actually gave IE a chance but grew very frustrated by the default settings. Maybe I should give Chrome a chance…

I’ll end by giving 2 very basic reasons about why I liked the Linux I had over the last 3 years.

1. Whenever I had an issue, I felt almost certain that someone else must have had the same problem as me. I would check on the forums and inevitably there would be a solution. When there was no solution you could post it and get an answer in under a day.

2. The best part, though, was that all solutions are free. When it came to reading of awkward formats like .djvu and .chm there were available add-ons (not even separate programs) which I could install with a few clicks (not even commands) and get the job done.

I miss both of these dearly. But anyway I guess this will do for the time being.

After Long

2009-06-27T18:03:00.001+05:30

I’m going to blog now after a long time. In all this ‘gap’ time lots has changed. I have a laptop which has now all but replaced my gigantic desktop. That would be the biggest change you can see in the room.

A while ago I had promised myself that I will blog only if there is something to write about. I guess this pretty much breaks that promise. But maybe this post is about how I just can’t keep promises to myself…

Windows Live Writer

2009-06-26T17:20:00.001+05:30

Well, here goes! A test post from Windows Live Writer.

Coraline - Some doors should never be opened

2009-06-10T20:59:00.007+05:30

I have to say that I am surprised i hadn't heard about this movie. It released in the US in Feb 2009, but it was only a couple of weeks back that I first saw it when searching on top ranked animations on imdb.

There are very very few movies which fall into the category of children's horror. Unlike most kids movies these days, this spends time on scenes and is not about running from A to B saving friends.

This movie is based on a tremendously spooky book by Neil Gaiman of the same name. Though they have made changes to the book, not least in the location, which has been moved from UK to Oregon, it retains the dark & spooky feel.

It is the story of a girl who finds a secret passageway in her new home to a parallel world in which everything is "better" - her parents care for her, the food is tasty and life is always interesting. The only hitch is that everyone there has buttons for eyes. She gets attached to that world but it has many dark secrets...

It was a 3D release and managed to do fairly well at the box-office. The animation isn't Disney regular and is stop-motion. An absolute must-watch. I can't recommend this movie enough.

A DvD-Rip is available on thepiratebay.org - here.

Laptop - Hunter : Part 1 - Do I need Windows?

2009-05-27T19:17:00.007+05:30

Its been a couple of weeks now, and my 4 year old PC is starting to give up on me. I need an upgrade and, since I am at the clichéd "crossroad" of my life, it makes sense to buy a laptop - at last. Buying a laptop is a big deal.

Agreed I have been a Computer Science student for quite some time now, but I never really kept abreast of all the latest news from the computer market about prices etc. So its been a good experience learning about how things stand in the laptop market.

Since I am not counting on Windows for anything else except gaming, I don't really need to worry too much about the new Windows 7 which is said to be released fully by December this year.

I was not really interested in the netbook idea as it was going to be my substitute for a proper PC. What I was looking for was a system with

4GB RAM
Good 2GHz + processor, Intel preferred
Graphics card if its not too expensive
not more than 3Kg weight.

Here's a short round-up of my findings on the roam online from an Indian base. I guess there are better deals to be had and more to found on the road but then this really is the first stop for me.

My first stop was Acer. I have to say it was a very poor advertisement for a product. Agreed they don't have an online store solution, but it is so unfriendly and even incomplete! eg. the most important part of the online search would be the prices. Here's what their "pricelist" page looked like. So as a result, sadly, I can't really say anything about their laptops or prices. I wouldn't mind taking a look around Palarivattom where there is an Acer store and asking for the prices, but I have to say I am a bit turned off.

Now, in a bid to check out some of the less popular brands, I took a glance at the HCL L(e)aptops. (Hey they are Indian after all!). The HCL Leaptop T39 seems like an amazing laptop for its price. I was mighty impressed with this one. Its loaded with Ubuntu 8.10 default and that obviously brings the price down.

The question is whether Windows is needed for anything?

I believe that Microsoft has done only 1 bit of software well and that is MS Office. Office is so good that it was the only MS software on Mac that people really appretiated. None of the other competitors (not even Apple) have been able to better it.

Another part of their ever so small arsenal of reasons-to-use-MS would be ASP.net. There are some reviews online which say that the Linux environment Mono is not without its issues.

Oh well all these issues for another day then!

Avoid Dooms Day! pretty simple really...

2009-05-19T10:16:00.006+05:30

Are you going to flunk an exam because you slept off too early? No problemo! Just reset your memory and you'll be good to go. Reboot yourself in a parallel universe! This solution, by Saibal Mitra, pretty much defines why I am starting to like Quantum Mechanics so much.

At the root of this theory is the Many-Wor lds interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. The gist is that atoms can exist in many states at the same time. So technically there are multiple realities in parallel (simultaneous) universes.

Ok. It seems like just another one of those interpretations of quantum mechanics which gave rise to sites like this. So let me explain. Think of a machine which can reset its memory to a previous (backed up) state when it encounters a glitch. Suppose, the computer learns that there is an impending asteroid strike (my favourite) which has been scaring us over and over. Now suppose the machine resets its memory.

An observer sitting next to the machine can verify that the "same machine" will still face disaster after the reset. But from the perspective of the machine's reset memory, the state of the universe in the many-worlds scenario becomes "undetermined". After all, for all the machine knows, the reset occurred for a mundane reason, such as a crash of its operating system.

Now, all the undetermined possibilities are open to the machine. So, the machine, it has been dealt a whole new set of cards. It starts afresh. So to the machine it has switched to a parallel universe. The probability (to the machine) that the reset was because of an impending asteroid strike is close to zero. So by simple probability, the chances that its in a new and free world are more.

If we had brains where quantum uncertainties were entertained, we would all be aceing our tests, getting into the top universities and scoring the most amazing girls.

Download New Scientist April 18 Edition here!

Indian Elections - Random Round-up!

2009-05-17T13:36:00.010+05:30

The Great Indian Election is over. The smaller parties, most of whom would want to be on the winning side, are literally "Talking to the hand". In the post election Govt. forming frenzy - an unavoidable side-effect of the multi-party system - let me put a word in, on the goings on. Both good and bad.

While the Americans have had their problems with hanging chad s over the years, we Indians have done remarkably well with our indigenous Electronic Voting Machines. It has increased the confidence of the people in the voting process. Though ballot-box stuffing is a thing of the past, booth capturing is still a problem in many areas. In West Bengal 5 polling stations had re-elections as alleged booth capturing or EVM malfunctio n took place.

Online, Twitter was alive with the reactions (and news) on the election results. Helped by the fact that it was Friday night in the US, the #indiavotes09 tag was the hottest trend on Saturday. What we must learn from that is that more than the elections themselves, the netizens are more interested in the results, with people likening it to watching a humdinger of a cricket match. The online interest was so large that the Election Comission site crawled to halt. Of course you can't attribute that just to the traffic!

Candidates updating their status online was not so common to find. While they were all trying to woo us during the campaign, quite like Obama, they faded away once the results started coming out. All except Mr.Shashi Tharoor, who was active online as he gave his reactions on Twitter. His enthusiasm was lapped up by the netizens, who have him jotted down as a favorite for the post of External Affairs Minister.

At the end of the day, you have to say that controversies were much lesser than in other elections, though they are never really absent. The current Home Minister, P.Chidambaram (sitting as thoughtfully as Shashi Tharoor is above but probably for different reasons), won from Sivaganga (TN) after a recount. How it is possible for a candidate to gain 4000 votes on recounting when we use electronic voting machines, I will never know. It looks like this case will spend some time doing the rounds in the court.

I'm just happy that we won't be having (too much) haggling and "buying" of MPs. I never was a fan of UPA or NDA. One looks to please non-hindus while the other looks to please hindus. Both have their main leaders from lands far away. Both have a real lack of progressive ideology - the Congress ideology being "do whatever it takes to be power").

Well, this time the UPA don't have any excuses (read CPIm) to blame for any lack of progress and development.

Cheers to India and thanks for all the fun (and fish?)!

2 Harihar Nagar - Lacking originality

2009-05-13T21:00:00.008+05:30

Before I begin: I don't normally watch the "new age" Malayalam movies. They have lost their charm, and their humour. The dubbing, in general, has become horrible as well.
I watched this movie because this is the sequel to "In Harihar Nagar" which was one of the best comedies I have seen - in any language. Of course, like any self respecting malayali, I believe that malayalam comedy is the best. Good British comedy comes in at a distant second while American comedy is mostly slapstick or stand-up and lacks the recall value that a "Thomas'kutty Vittodaaa!!!" has. What follows is less of a review and more of a solution to the "to watch or not to watch ?" question.

Firstly, comparisons to In harihar Nagar, which was released in 1990, would be unfair to the movie. Its made in a different era, and Lal's recent movies have all been similar to this - they've all been part of the cliche - youth = colourful, vibrant, lots of hair on the head, 'cool' clothes. This movie is not different as it tries to connect to the younger audience again, except the actors are all 50+ now!

To his credit, Lal has tried to make up for the lack of mobility and genuine youth with an overdose of humour. We shouldn't forget that the older movie was one with 2 distinct parts. The fun-and-laughter 1st half and a second half where a new and terrible villain, John Honai, is introduced. I felt the violence was one of IHN's strong points because you will find it in stark contrast to the first half.

In this movie though, in an attempt to keep the rating at 'U' (I presume), there are very few scenes of violence and absolutely no scenes which you will remember for too long. None of the villainous characters show any negative intent. The protagonists are not even restrained in captivity.

(All ratings are on personal parameters)

Acting: 5/10
Many scenes with great potential were wasted. These guys were never great actors, so Lal should've omitted scenes requiring such great effort. Lakshmi Rai as the girl is terrible, just terrible. Thank God she has only a small part to play.

Comedy: 9/10
This score is helped hugely by the above mentioned overdose. Lal has taken special care to disrupt all serious scenes with jokes.

Story: 8/10
The beginning is very lame but the end more than compensates. An O.Henry twist. Well done.

Picturization: 3/10
The movie suffers from the same problem as other recent malayalam movies. They are too focused on peoples faces and less on the scene. When the "acting" isn't stellar, it looks so... wrong!

Music: 5/10
No originality in the songs. The rehash of the epic "Ekanda Chandrikey!" is dissapointing, frankly. They could've used less techno and picturized it in a more realistic way.

Overall: 6/10
Its not a movie worthy of a theatre ticket, but is defenitely fun to watch.

Its a decent attempt to use older original ideas.

PS : By the way, why not rate the In Harihar Nagar movie on IMDB?

Taking Chance

2009-05-12T19:28:00.006+05:30

There are countless war movies based on blood and gore in the name of reality. There are still more which sympathize with the grieving families of those at war. And some more about friends and foes on the battlefield. But this is definitely the first to look at it from a refreshing, if sad and respectful, angle.

Taking Chance is a simple story of a higher officer who decides to escort the body of a fallen PFC back to his home half-way across the USA. The story has no twists or turns - its very straightforward in the message it tries to convey. About how everyone respects a soldier, whether they know him or not.

Patriotism is not about infamous "acts" or torture. Its not about beating the drum and shouting out. Its about respect for fellow countrymen. T movie shows that in a very soft-spoken manner. Kevin Bacon has given a stirring performance as the senior officer.

There is absolutely no violence - the opening scene where the soldier is killed, is not shown, only audio. The emotions are all understated and many times I have to say that an elegant tear welled up in my eye.

Great movie.

Download the torrent here!

5 Centimeters per Second

2009-05-12T15:54:00.007+05:30

I have been reading manga and watching anime for 4 years now. I thought it was about time I moved away from the famous anime's and go in search of something thats particular to my tastes.

One of the things which I have found to be very disturbing about the whole anime culture in Japan is the overwhelming leaning on the shinigami/mecha theme. Its always a death god or a robot. There are very few animes which tell a good story based on normal people.

I started with Initial-D, which is The drifting anime. Its very old and is hugely popular and successful. But even so, its still basically the same underdog story as in Bleach and Naruto. I was distinctly unimpressed after I finished watching the first stage. After reading that the following stages are based in a big way on the same characters in Stage 1 returning with faster and better cars, I was turned off.

All this while I had ignored Japanese anime-movies (I'm not sure what else to call it). They are 1 to 2 hour long movies which are illustrated in quite the same way as the episodal animes. Well, the reason I'm saying all this is that I stumbled onto one such movie called Five Centimeters Per Second.

5 cm per second is by far the most expressively illustrated anime I have seen. The use of light & shadow, movement and stagnation, its all just brilliant. The best place to read the storyline would be the Anime News Network.

Its the story of Tono Takaki and Shinohara Akari, who were close friends but gradually grow farther and farther apart as time moves on. The metaphors used to show time, space and love are amazing. A first time experience of great animation.

Go ahead and click here for the torrent download!

This is our time

2009-05-12T13:44:00.002+05:30

I have a lot of time on my hands now. A very real need is there to use it well and have something to show for the time spent. I keep thinking, what is it that I am to do with my life?

The one sentence that comes to mind every time I have nothing to do but dream is, "The true test of a man's character is what he does when no one is watching".

I have a lot of time, now that college is over. So the main achievement to be taken out of this time should be the improvement to my self. Along the way I will gain some skill and technical knowledge since that is the medium, but the final goal is something much greater.

Over the last 4 years, I have gained a lot of unwanted things in my day-to-day routine. Taken on a lot of unwanted baggage. Never again will I get this kind of time - to improve.

But the way is full of stumbling blocks. The first is with the medium. Whenever I sit down to do anything - be it studies, reading, TV, blogging or programming - I am struck by the same question, "Is this the best way to use your time?". Once the question is posed then what follows is not productive. I end up chasing after different things in my mind without actually getting down to doing anything.

The second major stumbling block has been the moods. Bad moods. Good moods getting upset by small things which may happen - mom saying something, current cuts or headaches. All small things which have to be overcome. Addiction is another problem. Anything in moderated quantities is a good thing. When it goes beyond that, its dangerous to your life.

This is our life. This is our time. Use it. It never comes back. never.

Peer Pressure

2009-05-11T20:27:00.003+05:30

I have been a staunch fan of The Pirate Bay. There are many reasons for that. One of the main ones is that it is free - in every sense of the word. I am free to do as I please with the torrents. There is no fear of being kicked out of any community if my ratio doesn't work out right.

As is evident, I used to remove all my torrents immediately once the download completed. Like a friend of mine put it, I had a chronic case of "Hit-and-Run". In the new web structure, one has to add content to the web since "you are the source". It just struck me, that if I don't add content, at least I shouldn't just Leech off others.

Many torrent sites have rules which make it mandatory for you to maintain a ratio of at least .3 to qualify you for membership. Of course it makes sure that all torrents are properly seeded, but at the same time it adds what I call "peer pressure". Thats the pressure to maintain your ratio above the cut-off, and its especially bad when you are competing against super-seeders. Your download speeds are way high but the uploads aren't in much demand as people would prefer the faster seeds, leaving you with a dirty Ratio.

Piratebay (et al), on the other hand, are more gracious. So,as a service to pirates and to other fellow peers (cyborgs etc are welcome), I hereby pledge to seed a majority of my torrents to a ratio of 2!

Vuze (Azureus 4.2)

2009-05-11T20:03:00.004+05:30

Last week I decided it was time to upgrade myself from the lousy BitTransmission, light-weight client, to something considerably heavier (and better) as I was to find out.

My first reaction was to see if Mu-torrent had a Linux version, so that I could continue my pirate activities using the same ship I had used on Windows. Since it didn't I realized I'd have to use Wine, which would be too slow, my system being 4 years old. Well, I use Ubuntu but still like to be pampered a bit - sadly my computer isn't one to indulge me.

So I went about hunting, and found Vuze or Azureus 4 (as it will be better known for many years to come). Linux applications are slowly moving to the Windows way, with easy-to-install .deb files for my Ubuntu. But I could not find a .deb for Vuze - and instead did custom install with a tarball instead. Its always nice to have a tutorial, isn't it?

It looks good, and controlling the up and down loading rates is easy. Q-ing torrents in a proper order isn't as easy as in Mu-torrent, or maybe I just feel that way because of my slow computer. After a few hours of use with Firefox on the side, the computer hangs for a bit - which was never an issue with BitTransmission.

Except for the problem that Vuze isn't exactly a butterfly (it really slows me down) the features are impressive. I am, of course not in a position to rate the HDtv options thanks to my modest 256kbps connection.

All in all, from a lay-user PoV the Vuze is not too different from the other torrent clients. Its still a bit of a way away from being as good as Mu-torrent. I have to try out Deluge and a host of others before being a good judge.

Though my rating will be un-informed and irrelevant to anyone who doesn't "enjoy" my circumstances, I give it a humble 5/10. I'll use it for a while now that I've started.

A Pirate for Life!

2009-04-19T16:00:00.002+05:30

Its only now that I read the various threats against these guys and by God, their replies are hilarious and i must say - to the point. :D

Not many people around the world would tell the lawyers of Dreamworks their honest opinions in such undiluted language...

It is the opinion of us and our lawyers that you are ....... morons, and
that you should please go sodomize yourself with retractable batons.

and sign off with a :

Go fuck yourself.

Polite as usual,
anakata

Also, as a reply to Warner Bros.

We are well aware of the fact that The Pirate Bay falls outside the
scope of the DMCA - after all, the DMCA is a US-specific legislation,
and TPB is hosted in the land of vikings, reindeers, Aurora Borealis and
cute blonde girls.

Taking on the world's stupid corporations which just have no clue how to make money in the digital age - THE PIRATE BAY ROCKS!

You Are No Greater Than Your Thoughts

2009-03-27T19:04:00.002+05:30

A thought is the only lasting matter in this world. Its the only thing that lasts in its existing form even after you are long gone.

This is something which I have been wondering about for a while. Its come to mind now because I've been struggling to concentrate on my papers on hand. How can I control my thoughts? How can think of what must be thought about?

Well I did a bit of reading and came up with some ways to do this. If I can be at least partially successful it'll be one small step for me et cetera.

Use Your Consciousness

There are many thoughts we think about unconsciously. There isn't much we can do about that just yet. But the things we choose to think about - that we can control.

Your life is not just made up of the actual events that happen when you are alive, but rather how you feel about what happens to you. Depending on your personal belief systems, you recognize that you have anywhere from partial to complete control over the physical happenings in your life.

Predictions

2009-03-18T19:48:00.002+05:30

I must be insane to spend a whole 40 minutes blogging today! But I just have to give this a go!

My Barclays Premier League predictions for the end of the season - - just to see how accurate they may be. (Of course there is the added bonus of being hailed as Nostradamus :P)

Well, no point in predicting weekly scores because they make no real difference in the big picture. Since my aim is "to be hailed as Nostradamus" I guess I have the freedom to be cryptic.

Final league positions:
Manchester United, (+4)
Liverpool, (=) GD+1
Chelsea, (=)
Arsenal

The last game of the season will be very important. For Liverpool it'll be against their bogey team this season - Tottenham Hotspurs. A draw.

Manchester United will pay dearly for lousy passing against Arsenal. hey won't lose a game outright but will drop more than 2 points.

Essien = hero.

Arsenal will have a very strong end to the season with a few high scoring matches. Arsenal v Manutd to be a high scoring draw.

Well I guess thats all for now. I just hope these predictions turn to be all screwed and ManUtd play the most mediocre football. I hope Torres and Gerrard set the footballing world on fire and Liverpool get the double.

Dare to dream?

Where are the Protests?

2009-03-18T19:40:00.002+05:30

A little redundancy never hurt anyone! So here's my blog post from the Cochin Open Coffee Club

"Just done watching the news today! Only one part of the news really interested me, though. Its now time for AIG to pay their executives their huge bonuses!

AIG, as you all must have heard, almost went bust before the US govt., quite benevolently (and obviously quite hastily) decided to bail them out with a package of no less than $85 billion of taxpayers money, followed by another package of $40 billion.

Now, the company is in a bit of a fix, with their executives' contracts having been written up before the crisis and all, these guys still need their $450 million in bonuses. If paid, it would be the most undeserved pay-checks ever meted out in business history! Its like saying, "Right boys, you've lost us $61.7 billion. Lets make it a nice round figure shall we! "

Somehow, one thing thats missing from the entire situation are the protests! Forget India, if it were in Europe (France especially) we'd have a huge rally or something asking for these executives to be put in jail! Of course there are some people who are raising their voices, including the "Messiah" Obama, but even he says "he will look into the matter"

The public has been too quite for their own good. No huge protests, and thats surprising - considering how many jobless Americans there are!! There are a few disjointed voices, but in todays world,

"If it ain't in the news, its as good as it never happened."

Busy Times!

2009-03-18T19:31:00.002+05:30

Not too many posts over the last few days, and I've been busying myself. The project still has a bit of documentation work to be done and I'm not helping much with a few tests to handle.

Friday will be my last day in college - proper. We have a Farewell (Party?) apparently, but I have no idea what to expect. I just hope its a bit better than the farewell we had in school, what with suspensions et al. But Kerala is too nice a place for that :|

Oh and by the way, all those who read this by email - It'd be nice of you to follow me. I just added the follow widget. (God, that sounds so lame :D )

Buy Yourself a Job! The Real Bubble?

2009-03-10T06:59:00.004+05:30

Interesting topic, I say. Today's Scott Adams Blog got me thinking...

" ... can you compare unemployment rates across the decades?"

His argument is that nowadays you can "buy yourself a job" whereas earlier you couldn't, and thats why the unemployment numbers aren't as inflated as they were during the Great Depression.

"...But what happens if the economy sours and all of those people who appear to be working at their small businesses are actually using their savings to stay afloat?.."

If these people, who are basically busting their savings to appear employed, were actually unemployed (as they would have been), only then can we have a straightforward assessment of the economies around the world (especially the US).

I feel the real reason for the big bust (of the bubble) was that no one saw the real unemployment numbers till it was too late. Which means no one really noticed how many people couldn't pay their dues till it was too late.

kaboom!~~

2009-03-05T18:48:00.004+05:30

Thats the sound of the pressure getting to ya!

Today was the day of the fateful mid-term project evaluation! And it was - we-ll - not good but not SOS-bad either.

I wish i didn't have to be so last minute. I keep thinking I'll get the ball rolling and dig into all the course-work today,tomorrow, the dayS after... never works does it?

And now the pressure is probably starting to get to me! I have a huge test tomorrow. Huge because its on 3/5 modules of a "Distributed Systems". Now, the abbreviation is DSC. So my full form isn't quite right is it? I think I should stick to calling it "Distributed" and smile to myself about my private joke.

There is still a mountain of work to be done over the next 50 days or so. Immediately though, this weekend I have a treat to attend, shivratri to enjoy, new people to talk to ....

jeez this is precisely my problem ...

Parental Advisory, Explicit Content!!

2009-03-01T21:51:00.003+05:30

Q. Which sign was made mandatory after a heated campaign by an organization better known as the Washington Wives? The first product to have to carry the sign was named Danzig. The organization has come under repeated criticism because there is no fixed standard for the application of this sign. Initially, the warning was thought to have a detrimental effect, but of late research shows that the forbidden-fruit-syndrome is catching on! What sign is this?

My first "Parental Advisory, Explicit Content" cassette was Limp Bizkit - Choclate starfish and the hotdog flavored water, back in the days when I used to like them - when I was happy but loved their hate. Now I full of frustration but love to love.

I still remember how scared I was when I had to get Dad to pay for it! I know, now thinking back I wonder why I had to buy it with Dad around, but then when you're in 9th grade and where I was - no surprise...

It was so cool to have a cassette with uncouth words in it! That cassette has long since disappeared and now when I'm downloading stuff online, I never think about the warning. Almost know what to expect from whom.

The PMRC (Parental Music Resource Centre) - the hopeless wives behind this all, if they had their way would have the the warning in audio before each song so that even downloaded songs would warn kids of the dangers of uncivilized words...

Yawning

2009-03-01T21:16:00.004+05:30

Lets face it, having nothing to do but 'trying to' study is boring. The funny thing is that I'm supposed to be busy with my final year project!

There are so many things to do really. I have another month of college life, another 2 weeks for the project, a load of papers at the end, and I - of all people- announce that I'm bored. Hm...

I just can't seem to excite myself with anything. No, not the perverted excitement, but the adrenaline rush you get when you do something like going on stage, laughing a lot with friends, watching an amazing movie.

So what is the problem? What should I do? I just can't seem to take the initiative and start doing anything. What is wrong with me nowadays.

Lousy lousy Neel.

Harmon Oscar Nelson's backside

2009-02-23T10:52:00.006+05:30

This deserves a pretty big post. Not because Slumdog Millionaire sweeped the Oscars but because all the Indians nominated actually won something! After much debate and discussion on how good the movie actually was and whether it deserved any award, there it was...

Even with all the bad acting and sluggish story-telling, the unbelievable character swings and repetitive dialogues, the Danny Boyle movie got the Academy Award. (More famous for being Harmon Oscar Nelson's backside) And boy did it win!! Winning 8 out of 9 categories it was nominated in, it is now in esteemed company. Quite surprising really, considering what an ordinary movie it was.

Out of all the other nominees in oh-so-many categories the ones that I actually saw were The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Dark Knight. Brad Pitt was OK in the former, while Heath Ledger should have won the Best Actor for the Joker in the latter - he was that good!

AR Rahman got his 2 awards for some mediocre work - and I am sure all of you will agree that his best work has been in Tamil cinema. It was heartening to see him getting recognized globally - the sales of his albums are in the world all-time Top 10!

The last word though goes to the 1st Malayalee to win the award! Rasool Pookkutty! He's obviously going to be overshadowed by Rahman, getting air-time on Indian channels just because he received the award before Rahman. A shame really.

So the Oscars are done and dusted! Time to (belatedly) go and download/watch all the winning movies....

So until next year!

Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree

2009-02-16T20:27:00.000+05:30

I bought this book a while back from Reliance TimeOut and I had reservations about how good it would be. If beauty was only skin deep, then I was a fool to think the book was any good.

Its one of 4 book s in an "Islam Quartet" by Tariq Ali, who is a man of many words of Pakistani and British leanings. His more recent books have been takes on current affairs - Iraq, Pakistan, India and other topics.

This struck me as a pretty different book (or series of books, to be more precise). It dealt with Islam in Europe and how, in those days, it was the European Christians who were the so called "Fundamentalists". We have studied in history, of how great Islamic civilizations existed and, in some ways, still do exist today. Not having heard of any better way of getting to know this side of a people, I thought I'd give the book a shot!

Its a brilliant book, as far as I have read anyway! Its informative - which is one quality I was truly interested in. But its not all bland history - He's taken liberties with reality wherever necessary. The only fault would have to be that its very difficult to make out where the fact ends and the fiction begins...

"Over the embers of one tragedy lies the shadow of another..."

the puzzle that is 'Me'

2009-02-11T21:15:00.001+05:30

1. I hate being alone.

2. My moods take an unpredictable amount of time to change.

3. I can look scary when I'm angry. Mostly because I don't say what I'm thinking, but its there for all to see.

4. I don't become emotionally attached to anyone easily. But if I do become attached, then I am very difficult to un-attach.

5. I like a good story. In a book or a film. It doesn't have to have a happy ending. In fact it doesn't need an end at all. I love story-tellers.

6. I am not good at hiding my feelings. So I walk away when I don't want to show people what I feel.

7. I hear everyone. I listen to those i feel matter.

8. I find humour where most people don't.

9. I love dreaming about what might have been, should have been or will be.

10. I keep thinking and dreaming. So i talk to myself a lot. Too much time alone is a bad thing.

11. I love arguing. Especially if the person at the other end can change my views on something.

12. I don't like people who say that I can do something when I know i can't.

i wish i DON'T

2009-02-10T21:10:00.002+05:30

"
- Enjoy watching someone fail
- Lie to keep someone happy
-Waste my time with people I don't like
- Judge someone's habits
- Feel apathy about things that should matter
- Laugh at unfunny jokes
- Wonder if I am loved
- Lie about liking someone
- Spread my political convictions around
- Waste my time looking for the good in people I don't have to like.
"

Nice Day?

2009-02-09T21:02:00.002+05:30

What happens on a nice day?

Do you win the lottery?
Do you find money on the sidewalk?
Do you see an old friend?
Do you finally stop seeing that one person who you reserve all your loathing for?
Do you have the most productive and energetic day ever?
Do you have a lazy, hazy day doing nothing?
Do you see your favourite football team win in style?
Do you see your least favourite team lose miserably?
Do you discover someone else shares your tastes?
Do you have a meal and realize that was the best damn meal you've ever had?
Do you laugh more than you talk?
Do you spend every second with someone you like?
Do you see something rare happen?
Do you see a life saved?
Do you get free t-shirts?
Do you read a good book?
Do you ace a test?
Do you organize your desk so it looks unbelievably neat?
Do you get a good night's sleep?
Do you get an unexpected compliment?
Do you look forward to tomorrow?

Have a nice day.

appreciating disability

2009-01-03T19:16:00.003+05:30

To really appreciate what it feels like to be blind all you have to do is to try and get through 1 day, or even half a day, awake and with only 1 eye patched up.

You can still see, and even so you feel so helpless when one of your vital organs have been taken away from you. The reasons for this is another fairly long story so I guess thats not important.

I'll be back to 2 eyes, although with sunglasses, soon. But what I experienced in those few hours, I will never forget.

free as in free coffee & sigmund freud

2008-11-20T11:11:00.006+05:30

everybody has humble beginnings! richard stallman started off with his printer, i started off with a presentation !

(i love comparisons where i come off with more hair than i have now!)

well a couple of days ago (as usual, i'm late on the blog) i went to the school round the corner from my house to talk to a bunch of kids about free software by virtue of being the only soul in the vicinity who was, fortunately or unfortunately, doing computer science engineering, was in the final year and was at a great college.

it was the school's computer club and there was a class-room full of kids from 5th to 9th and 10th - about 45 in all. from the outset i saw it as a very difficult proposition to get the small kids to understand about the concept of switching over from a free and pirated Operating System (read windows) to a free and not-pirated Operating System (read linux). so i thought about focussing on the fun stuff...

i was in appropriate attire - lousy cargoes and my "free" Linux T-shirt!

like all events its about want you take back. i got 4 things to take - the first 2 were realizations.

first, would be that to get a kids attention you have to use analogies he/she understands. i garnished the presentation with as many original analogies as i could. the one which i did borrow was from a mr. randy pausch and i'm sure he would be only too glad about my plagiarism. analogies ranged from cricket to food, if you were wondering to what extent i could go!

And next would be that kids are very intelligent nowadays. whether its just the internet or whether having tech savvy siblings/parents, i don't know, but surprise surprise a good number of them are already using free software (and were aware of that fact - in 5th grade!!) - albeit on windows. they've heard of the vlc player, mozilla firefox and even open office (though they have used only the first 2) .

there were some unexpected material gains (read goodies) for me from this whole thing...
i got my evening tea (though i normally have boost - secret of my energy :P ) and along with that a book as well! the unexpectedness-grade goes up a notch because the book was a sigmund freud! (i'm pretty sure it wasn't intended for me)

so all in all - worth my while :D

catted

2008-11-17T23:29:00.005+05:30

just back from Kozhikode after writing the CAT exam, the most selective exam in the whole wide world.

it was an OK exam. i say that despite the fact that no exam is ever "OK". the entire experience lasted all of 35 hours. up, down (on the map) and all the way back home.

if you are looking for a description of the two and a half hour ordeal in the exam hall, you're at the wrong place. on the other hand, if you are interested in an examinee's take on everything kozhikod'ian (if there is a usage) over the last day then read on mates (make sure to use an aussie accent with the 'mates'.. prevents the gay-ness)

cheap

kozhikode is one of the cheapest cities i have been to! now i can't compare it to far flung cities like calcutta or bangkok, not becasue i don't know them, but because of the suddenness of the change. its just a 4 hour train ride from cochin city - which is in a way comparable in cost of living to places which are far flung e.g tokyo :), and to reach a place as cheap as kozhikode is something unique.

a one and a half kilometre ride in an auto-rickshaw set me back only Rs.10! i would've given him 20 just because he was such an honest guy who runs by the metre!!

the people are nice and that, from someone who has stayed in cochin, is saying something. it just gave further backing to the theory that:

" people become nicer as you go further north"

this rule holds absolutely true only in keral, as far as i know. any addons about theories in other states/countries are welcome!

the picture is one of my many unlawful acts i performed. hehe.

i still don't understand the ban on taking pictures at railway stations or airports. it makes you a silent observer unable to do anything to capture your moments! this picture was of the train we were taking to reach there, as we got off.

there were people at the test centre varying from the very determined and brilliant, to the ones who came just for the fun of it. (i would probably fall somewher in between the two). there was one particularly interesting chap who marked 120 answers in the OMR sheet blindly when there were only 90 questions in the answer sheet! sheer genius!

i don't think i did this well enough to get anything out of it. another year till the next CAT. till then, meow.

2008-11-10T19:53:00.002+05:30

hm.. my blog is long way away from the hey - days a few months ago.
the number of posts has dwindled and so have the comments (naturally).
i also lost the awesum layout and design i had.

i have an exam tomorrow on advanced architecture and parallel processing.

wonder how thats going to pan out.

well... nailin' palin...

2008-11-02T11:23:00.002+05:30

why oh why america???

the Masked Avengers, a radio pairing notorious for prank calls to celebrities and heads of state, notched its latest victory Saturday when it released a recording of a six-minute call with Palin, who thought she was talking with Nicolas Sarkozy.

Throughout the call, which was making the rounds in U.S. political circles by day's end Saturday, Palin and the pranksters discuss politics, pundits, and the perils of going hunting with Vice-President Dick Cheney.

"We have such great respect for you, John McCain and I, we love you," Palin gushes, evidently unaware she's speaking to an infamous Quebec comedian named Marc-Antoine Audette.

At one point, Palin even comes close to confirming her intention to one day run for president, when Audette slyly remarks he can see her taking over the big desk in the Oval office.

"Maybe in eight years," she replies with a nervous chuckle.

Over the course of the interview, Palin doesn't seem to realize she's being tricked until Audette comes clean near the end of the call.

"Ohhhh . . . have we been pranked?" she says, in her inimitable style. Seconds later, Palin's aide can be heard taking the phone before the line goes dead.

Throughout the conversation, Audette drops plenty of clues that something's amiss.

He identifies French singer and actor Johnny Hallyday as his special adviser to the U.S., singer Stef Carse as Canada's prime minister and Quebec comedian and radio host Richard Z. Sirois as the provincial premier.

"We should go hunting together," Palin offers when Audette professes a love of hunting - or, more precisely, killing animals. "We can have a lot of fun together while we're getting work done. We could kill two birds with one stone."

Audette then jokes that they shouldn't bring Cheney on the hunt, referring to the 2006 incident in which the vice-president shot and injured a friend while hunting quail.

"I'll be a careful shot," responds Palin, who praises Sarkozy throughout the call.

"I look forward to working with you and getting to meet you personally - and your beautiful wife, oh my goodness," she says.

"You've added a lot of energy to your country with that beautiful family of yours."

Audette then tells her his wife, Carla Bruni, a singer and former model, was jealous to hear Sarkozy would be speaking to Palin. "Give her a big hug for me," Palin responds.

Audette goes on to describe Bruni as "hot in bed" and claims she's written a song for Palin, the French title of which translates as "Lipstick on a Pig." In English, Audette says the song is about Joe the Plumber.

Finally, he mentions a notorious Hustler video titled "Nailin' Paylin," describing it as "the documentary they made on your life."

"Oh, good, thank you, yes," Palin replies.

"That was really edgy," Audette says.

"Well, good."

In an interview Saturday, Audette told The Canadian Press it wasn't easy setting up the interview with Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate, and described the accomplishment as the pair's biggest triumph to date.

"It really took a lot of work," he said.

"We had to go through the Secret Service, the people in her entourage. It's the biggest coup so far. We're proud to add (this prank) to our top hits."

It took the pair, known for securing surreptitious interviews with celebrities, politicians and heads of state, five days to set up the call, Audette said. The secret to getting powerful people on the line? Time and persistence.

"I wanted to see how (Palin) was on an intellectual level," Audette said, comparing the latest prank to the duo's crank call with pop idol Britney Spears.

"You can see that she's, well, not really brilliant."

In a statement Saturday, Palin's team said the vice-presidential nominee was "mildly amused" to learn she was the victim of a prank.

"Gov. Palin was mildly amused to learn that she had joined the ranks of heads of state, including President Sarkozy, and other celebrities in being targeted by these pranksters," said spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt.

"C'est la vie."

Audette, too, was contrite afterward.

"I hope we won't have a one-way ticket to Guantanamo Bay."

The well-known radio prankster duo of Audette and Sebastien Trudel have most recently tricked Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger. Other celebrity victims include Spears and Bill Gates.

In 2007, they conned Sarkozy himself by impersonating Prime Minister Stephen Harper. And their 2006 call to former French president Jacques Chirac was rated by the BBC as one of the top 30 all-time best moments in radio history.

Known as the "Masked Avengers," they've been popular on the Quebec comedy scene for a decade.

The Avengers, who have a regular show on Montreal radio station CKOI, will air the full interview on the eve of the U.S. elections. It can also be heard in full on their website www.justiciers.tv .

shaastra day1- the journey to the ends of endurance

2008-10-01T14:43:00.004+05:30

oh boy ..

its been a stuggle getting to where i am rite now.... :)

train

after a 12 hour train journey accompanied by great ppl as well as some unwanted co-passengers (like the arse-hole in the side seat who kept complaining about the noise we were making, and of course the cockroaches) we finally made it to chennai central.

measly dinner the night before..
4 hours of sleep because of some wierd reason on the perch-berth.
teh Rs.6 coffee served in a cup the size of theone used to drink khaava in left a bad taste in the mouth early in the morning...

taxi(van??)

after a lot of hagglng (mostly lead by chitts, sadu and febin.. if i knew what the van guys were saying i might have got involved.. ;) )we finally set foot on the hallowed grounds ( :P ) of IIT Madras... almost a day before the SHAASTRA 08 really starts...

this part of my life is called walking :P

its about 3km from the main gate to the hostel...
there were in total 84 -3(jeff,kadi,vinu) waiting for the buses which give a free ride round the campus to mahanadi hostel...

one bus came .. one bus left with around 50 ppl and 100 pieces of luggage..
i wasnt one of the 50 and my 2 pieces of luggage weren't part of the 100 ...
so a group of vagabonds in kenneth, sweetin,et al and myelf set off to make our own way...

the only problem was that we made a new way and ended up 2km away from where we wanted to be...

a bus saved the day and we reached ..

right!

man there is a lot more to write about the happenings of the day.. i am now 1/3 of 1/2 of day 1/5

but if i spend my time writing then nothing new will happen ..
so i must be off...

thnk gd its friday

2008-09-27T01:35:00.002+05:30

great, this deserves a post!

my net is back up at home.. and just in time too.. !

i will need it very much to search for material for my seminar report!

happy as hell today! <>

i love listening to singles by unheard of bands.. and i'm doing that right now ..

www.hypem.com is a great site :)

if i were to get into football, i gota say i'll feel most happy at a club like arsenal where kids come up the ranks... and probably would be happiest as a scout.. :P

manu chettan and meera came home today.. the net getting better was due to advice from them... thanka

i want to wake up early tomorrw :P

sleep is sweet

2008-09-26T11:22:00.003+05:30

my posts are becoming like the premier leagues in most of europe and not like russia or brazil! i post at the half-way point of the day...

well ... sleep is a great feeling, i wonder why i cant sleep more often!

if ever there is an organism that we should advertise when we meet aliens it would e the ant... they are attacking my room ruthlessly :P

there is a mersey side derby coming up on saturday.. god i hope keano scores..

night race on sat-sun in singapore.. hope raikonnen puts his shit behind him and becomes an owl... he may flop miserable considering how much he loves sleeping :)

2008-09-25T11:38:00.005+05:30

a post everyday to keep track of the days passing by...
today was a day when as of now i lost count of the number of times i didn't want to do what had to be done..

the internet connection at home is still down and so i am left to post from college. which is not such a bad thing coz i get a lot of time while i'm here. and plus the net connection here has become a bit faster.

i need to go and give the car for servicing by the end of the week. i am a bit worried about how the cows at the service station will treat my pedal clip add-on. it looks great but as far as i know, only i can drive with it easily. the clips have made the pedals a tad too wide i think. so now when the below average driver stomps on the brakes, he ends up stepping on the accelerator as well. can't be helped :P

read an article on sarah palin and how she has become some sort of icon with brit women. and to think it was written by hasan suroor... half a side on the hindu editorial page. she's a hockey mom and apparently that means driving your kids to the hockey games.. yeah right :P

oh well.. i have DSP tomorrow. don't really think it was money well spent. so i guess i'll look to the future with hope :)

oct1-5 shaastra. though i haven't qualified for shit and don't have a bed to sleep in, i am supposing it'll be worth it... i need to fix up my camera and its lcd screen for 3k or else take some1 else's camera!! planning to make this into a slog.. (shaastra log) :P with all the pics and posts about the event.. hope it doesnt become a damp squib for me... :)

the news channels are making a big deal out of guru-greg giving advice to the aussie team about how to 'tackle' indian batsmen :P jeez! do you actually think it'll make such a difference! what weakness of sachin and laxman are they going to get to know that they already don't... and anyhow this is something that happens all the time.. we kicked greg out of work, let him earn a living!

2008-08-25T02:21:00.001+05:30

a professor is someone who talks in someone else's sleep
-W H Auden

Deepika Singh July 20, 2000

2008-08-23T02:30:00.000+05:30

Growing up in India, a woman acquires many facets to her personality, if she is lucky! If not, she either lives silently bearing the societal tortures, or she just doesn’t realize she could have been in another situation. Sometimes I feel the latter would have been the best way to be.

Interestingly, there are many in the last situation who are utterly happy with whatever they are, however they are treated. Or is it that they do not realize that it could have been otherwise, and since they have no model to compare with…

I was born in Bombay, spent a few years of my growing up years there, some in Calcutta, some in Madras and some in New Delhi. Only one of bears the name I associate the cities with…Bombay is Mumbai, Calcutta is Kolkatta, Madras is Chennai. But that has no bearing on the subject matter of my thoughts. My thoughts are about how I was brought up to tie my hair tight in braids, oil dripping from them like I had drenched myself in the rain; I had to cover myself up from head to toe in Salwar Kameez, was allowed no freedoms which came naturally to my brothers’ lot. And then I had to bear the constant reprimands of my parents for some or the other matter, like fights with my brothers for example, for which more often than not, they were guilty.

I was not the women/girls I mentioned earlier in this monologue – the women who just don’t realize that there is some problem with their situation. From the many recollections I have of my growing up years, I clearly remember that I felt cheated, and angry at what I was made to go through. I could not well understand the gender differences then, so this treatment confounded me. I had begun to feel that the problem must lie with me – as a person, which caused my parents to repress me, treat me like a common servant.

Years later, when innocence had faded away, and the lonely heart had begun to understand that there’s always more than meets the eye in any given situation, I began to comprehend and forgive all for what they had done to my indomitable spirit.

I was a brilliant child. From the first moment I took up a book in my hand, I excelled at what I did. I have no recollection of this, but so I am told. Yet, I went to a “government” sponsored Hindi-medium school and my brothers went to convents. I wore clothes bought at cheap stores, while my brothers were dressed for the up-market culture. My brothers got their favorite foods to eat on demand, and I used to serve them while they ate (I thought it might be pertinent to mention that my brothers are ten and eight years older than me). Yet, I served them with their favorite goodies and watched them eat. I ate last, even though I never went hungry.

I was never allowed to go out and play in the streets like my brothers used to. I hated that. I was not allowed pocket money to buy me a good lunch at school. I was not permitted tearing up notebooks to make boats that my brothers would float in the clogged rainwater on the streets. Then there were the birthday parties, which I never attended. And there the birthdays that were celebrated with a long list of guests – but they were not mine, they were my brothers’. And there were birthday presents that came from my parents, whether or not we had a birthday party, but they went to my brothers. That must have hurt. But I do not have memories.

There were countless other things – like sleeping on the floor, my demands for “golgappas” being met with stony stares, being left behind when my brothers were taken out for a ride with my father in his new car, the walk along Bombay’s beach – which I sat and watched from our apartment window, the games that I could never participate in…

I am amazed that I have not been damaged psychologically. Because I am not the woman I mentioned when I started off, who never even understand that what’s happening to them could be wrong.

Back in the days I am talking about, I used to cry out loud and fight for what I thought was my right. I am sure I was hurt, but again, I don’t have recollection of that. Today, when I think back on those years, all I do is shed silent tears, without the hysterics. With the years, the memories have faded, but the pain remains.

kick off!

2008-08-18T23:35:00.002+05:30

and the English premier league is off! it all started this saturday.

sunderland 0 1 liverpool

very good start to the season for liverpool in my opinion. hopefully this is a sign of some efficiency creeping in. playing without mascherano, lucas and babel, stevieG invisible in midfield, train stopping defence from suderland, they still managed to sneak a win albeit thanks to the brilliance of xabi alonso and torres .

almost all through the 1st half 'pool were playing the long-ball game. it was totally unrewarding (not to mention daft) - when the main asset of your main striker is pace and the opposition are defending VERY deep. booooringgg!!

this was andrea dossena's first game in the league and i think benitez told him "Boy, in england we play a very direct and fast game" . he took those words to heart and kicked the ball hard and long from left corner to right, stupidly a 1000 times. dumbo.

one main reason for the lousy 1st half was damien plessis. he's young . he's a good DM but he cant pass the ball. and on a day when gerrard was invisible, the 2nd man in midfield should have really steppd up to the plate. it may have resulted in the long ball stategy. xabi alonso came on for him and things changed.

i hope this performance from xabi alonso means that benitez will quit this cribbing about barry. ok. barry is a good player. but once masche comes back, why barry!

i would've posted a link to the goal and some other stuff but apparently youtube doesnt seem to have any footage <>

2008-08-14T00:12:00.000+05:30

2008-08-14T00:07:00.000+05:30

randomize (infinity)

2008-08-13T23:28:00.004+05:30

my creative muscles atrophied for whatever reason.
great song. american pie.the original from don mclean. great song..
i wonder what my girl is gonna be like..
its kind of difficult when you feel alone when you are surrounded by people.. mom's can be imaginative if they want to be.
"I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news,
But she just smiled and turned away.
I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before,
But the man there said the music wouldn't play."

what would you deserve if all u get is what u earned during the day. who would be living in a big house? and who would be in a shack or on the street?

patterns - simon& garfunkel

2008-08-12T00:44:00.001+05:30

The night sets softly
With the hush of falling leaves,
Casting shivering shadows
On the houses through the trees,
And the light from a street lamp
Paints a pattern on my wall,
Like the pieces of a puzzle
Or a child's uneven scrawl.

Up a narrow flight of stairs
In a narrow little room,
As I lie upon my bed
In the early evening gloom.
Impaled on my wall
My eyes can dimly see
The pattern of my life
And the puzzle that is me.

From the moment of my birth
To the instant of my death,
There are patterns I must follow
Just as I must breathe each breath.
Like a rat in a maze
The path before me lies,
And the pattern never alters
Until the rat dies.

And the pattern still remains
On the wall where darkness fell,
And it's fitting that it should,
For in darkness I must dwell.
Like the color of my skin,
Or the day that I grow old,
My life is made of patterns
That can scarcely be controlled.

long time

2008-08-11T22:40:00.002+05:30

i've been spending most of my postig time at neelnair.blogspot.com,have to take a seminar on information retrieval 2mrw..hell. spent the whole day writing 2 assignments. over at last. linux bugging me. current cuts are no good. old family friend's dad passed away, really old guy. always use the hood on the raincoat. india lost in cricket. we got gold in olympic shooting. some punjabi headstrong arse-hole. reminds me of cronaldo. dickhead.

2008-08-08T23:03:00.001+05:30

everyone is right
and no one is sorry
that is the start and
the end of the story

2008-08-08T22:40:00.001+05:30

all the things we have lost as the time slips by
whats my calling
the lights of the city call me as i lie
i am falling

musicological madness

2008-08-05T08:26:00.001+05:30

a few days back my friend reminded me of my great life ambition

playing the guitar...

well not just the guita actually, any ol' musical instrument will do...
i was talking about it for a few months and then the fad passed...
it was a no event, but this time i'mreally gonna learn...
if not this sem at least in the next..
and if not in the next sem then before i join for work or whatever after college..

hm.. this isnt exactly going where i had planned but what the hell... might as well write about it..

the thing i came closest to learning how 2 play was the flute!! i actually joined the school band at one point of time.. 7th grade i think it was, and blew my heart out into the flute...

i still have the heart but the flute never gave a hint of making a sound. so i went back to my 'h'art classes which havent helped much. i still need to label my scenery pictures for them to make any sense...

so if anyone has a spare guitar [or one which you'd want to donate for some crazy reason] feel free to pass it on... and you never know what you might hear... haven't you heard? late starters make great music... look at bryan adams ;)

my new blog for all my musical expeditions.. and finds !
http://neelnair.blogspot.com

2 great songs

2008-08-04T02:54:00.004+05:30

a single by nada surf Nada Surf - L'aventurier (Indochine)
loved it!!
have a free listen [you can thank me later] :)
love the way the sound moves from side to side! its like the beginning of 'dude looks like a lady' ;)

and here's another one
Tricky - Council Estate (Drums Of Death Remix)
again have a listen ..

free

2008-08-04T00:25:00.002+05:30

why do we download music and movies online?
think of yourself from the point of view of the creators.
its shameful.
the only consolation for me is that i'm indian and a student and hence can't afford any of this shit.
thank you americans for putting the pennies in the jukebox.
:)

2008-08-02T21:16:00.001+05:30

2008-08-02T21:07:00.002+05:30

early people get worms

2008-08-02T00:39:00.003+05:30

reaching early for something doesnt pay off.
he was not an idiot who said the early bird gets the worm. because he was damn right, all you get are worms.

i tried to be early for something today. for a change maybe. or maybe because i thought it was worth it. mostly becaus ethe people we were meeting had some value for their time.

i waited for half an hour for the others to turn up. i wouldve gone on with the meeting but the 'stuff' was with them. rewinding now, i feel i shouldve taken the material from home myself.

anyhow, i called them up after waiting for a half hour. what if they were on their way, my innocent mind thought...

as it turned out the rest of them were hanging out in cocoa tree. good for them. hope they all had a great time. god bless you all.

i value my time. and so will you when u get so little of it.
a friday evening is not meant to be spent waiting for people on top of cocoa trees.
i moved on.

piece of advice : worms leave a bad taste in your mouth.

recognition

2008-07-31T20:45:00.002+05:30

most of us work for one thing. and that is recognition.
there is no gain if after busting your gut, no one notices.
very few people are willing to do work purely for cash and no appreciation.

beat your own drum.
boom boom.

milk your work for every last drop of appreciation you can get out of it and then you will realize how little you have to work

how to make a homemade bomb

2008-07-29T21:20:00.002+05:30

Home Made Bomb - Click here for more free videos

since so much fuss is being made about bombs..
here's fun looking bomb... dunno what the ingredients are though...
the explosion is of HUGE magnitude... much greater than i expected...

thendis slow down

2008-07-28T01:30:00.005+05:30

(very few people will actually understand the title.. you are forgiven for thinking its greek)

today i was planning on going for the batman movie after writing the aimcat. but luckily we ran into some lack of interest and decided not to go. instead we went to my friends place and had lunch.

i wish i had my grandparents around. actually, not MY grandparents because they were old. very old. and so they died. ok whatever ...

so after lunch, we finished writing out the constitution for The Illuminati! for all of you who dont know bout The Illuminati, its the quizzing fraternity in college and we're a slightly mad bunch of people. to get a bank account for ourselves and become a recognized organization (after 5 years officially working underground) we needed a set of rules.

now, most of the other orgs have a set of rules, but as far as i know they deal with only mundane things. not worth the time taken to read through them. well this constitution is well worth your read. it has a lot of loopholes (which were purposely left) . sadly it won't be available for public viewin unless i give you the link. tough luck :P

as it turned out it was a good idea to not go for the movie becoz, in keeping with the tradition laid down in ahmedabad and blore, some theatres had bomb scares. except that nothing exploded. so like a friend said, it was a sunday, even the bombs went on holiday.

cochin city hasnt had any terrorism in its history. the most terror ever from here came form an idiot who sent a threat to the president, trying to get a girl, who rejected him, into trouble. the girl just so happened to be an alumnus of our college as well.. very lame guy. the guy wasnt from our college. if anyne from college sent a threat theyd be clever enough to cover up their tracks better than a herd of elephants atleast. please.

i'm owling tonight.

2008-07-28T01:25:00.001+05:30

boring

2008-07-24T17:40:00.006+05:30

today i spent some time just wondering what to do with my time. i normally end up doing this when i have a decision to make and don't know what to do. of course there won't be anyone to ask, for advice.

i have a seminar to make/conduct.. (either way)
the topic is called'STANE : synthesized surfaces for tactile input'. so all the best to me. its worth 50marks in the semester.

its tough making a ppt for 15 minutes when you think about it ... hm..

so this post ain't gonna be worth much. i'll end it soon enough.

just one last word. html is an easy language to edit. i am technically supposed to have studied html in 10th in school. but its only now that i have started fooling around on it. all the results are here for all to see.

a blog a day keeps the fog away.
think clearly.
happy blogging to all of you!

off season

2008-07-23T18:41:00.004+05:30

for football crazy people, the worst time of the year is now... there's absolutely nothing to talk about. the dreaded hiphenated words : off-season...

the pic on the side though is just some crap movie where they try to scare you with ghosts. but the real off-season is way more scary than that.

its a time when people sit online waiting for bits of news from the big players and clubs and transfer rumours. rumours which are more often than not, full of shit...

rumours of 100milliion pound transactions when the players involved are blissfully oblivious to the ruccus made in the news.

thank god cricket doesn't have an off season like european football. when people don't play in england, they play in australia. and india plays everywhere all the time, so thats a relief.

and this particular off season has been more 'off' than most... with liverpool (as well as other english clubs) making NO big money moves. rafa benitez is busy trying to buy the best out of the rest even now. maybe they are still recovering from the $40m they spent on torres last season.

the spanish giants, oh ok, giant, barca ( the other giant is having it 'real' slow) bought their set of players for the season and offloaded their most heavy burden (pun intended), ronaldinho,to ac milan.

hell i just hope things heat up pretty soon or i'll be sleeping through the next year...

i guess the funs over

2008-07-22T22:03:00.006+05:30

before you know it big television houses like sony and zee will start bidding for the exclusive rights to air the proceedings of the lok sabha.

lets just compare it to a fewBlockbusters in the near past...

it was far more exciting than this years wimbledon, which was, lets face it, a bland baseline slugfest, exciting than a dry F1 race, kismat konnection, england v SA and any other pieces of entertainment you can think of...

the congress and the upa have thus won the confidence vote and we're gonna have a nuke deal. sadly that doesnt mean anything to us in kerala. we are already totally dependednt on hydroelectricity to run our mixer-grinders. and nuke or puke we're still gonna have power cuts when the monsoon is bad here.

i'll probably not have to feel the repurcussions of this deal in my lifetime. or maybe the deal will have immediate effects with the petrol prices going up soon. one of the clauses in the deal states that we're not sposed to look america in the eye about their foreign policy and run behind them into the war if they decide to attack iran.

even if there are secret clauses that say we have to do a belly roll in front of all american citizens theres nothing that can be done now. manmohan obviously has no problem doing the belly roll. he's probably already used to it. i sadly am not.

Metro Station

2008-07-22T08:00:00.003+05:30

metro station album!

they remind me of sum41 with more techno.. the comparison with sum41 is only because of the tempo.. i love these guys (in a very straight way ;) ), its been a while since i really liked all the songs on an album (for different reasons)without having to try too hard..

dunno if anyone has heard of a pretty dumb american tv series called hannah monatana... well the band members have bro and sis in the series and so they got together...

the song that got them a sign was shake it which is one of the okok tracks on the album... i like the others better.. california, 17 forever

on second thought maybe they don't sound anything like sum41...

the book vanishes

2008-07-21T20:00:00.002+05:30

registration for a new year in college is always a pain, especially when you don't have one of your library cards,and even more 'special'ly when a library book is lost...

the elephant vanishes by haruki murakami
aptly named... if even elephants can vanish then why cant one measely book :P ... the librarian wasn't interested though..
it was the first time i had lost a library book and i hoped it would be enough that i just pay the money for the book... and it would be over. keep hoping lad... keep hoping..

the way to go about it is to BUY the book and return it to the library and till then the fine just keeps mounting... holy cow batman! what did i get myself into??

i went to the book shop from where the college orders all their books but this particular one (and this particualr one only) is not there.bummer. now what?

apparently only a handful of copies were ever brought here in the first place and our college bought 2 of them (of which 1 vanished thanks to my houdini qualities). the book shop (name starts with 'D' and ends with 'C') said that they see no reason to get these books here...

so a humble request to all readers
whenever you go to cochin city... just pop into DC books and just ask for the book 'the elephant vanishes' by haruki murakami...
don't worry,they won't have it..
butu if enough people bug them about it they may order more of it and i won't need to sell my house to register for the next semester

thanks!!

kismat 'dis'konnection

2008-07-21T17:18:00.005+05:30

its very rare that you feel at least in some little way that your life is like the movie you just saw. in this case totally disconnected.

after a gruelling two and a half hour AIMCAT test i wanted to do something to just get my mind off my troubles :P

so off we went... sadashiv, uma, rini and moi, to watch kismat konnection.

sridhar was crowded... with a big 'C'rowded. i wanted to watch this for the simple reason that both shahid and vidya balan look good. period. but i did expected something better than what i got, i mean come-on !!

we walked out half-way through the movie.. i think this was the first time i have ever done that! i always tend to make sure i get my paisa vasool :) anyhow i'll give a quick overview(coz thats all the movie deserves) of the half i saw... so no spoiler warnings... hehe

like all movies which are supposed to be 'fun' it starts with shahid kapoor the 'cool' guy waking up late in the morning... now, when will bollywood grow out of this waking up late thing... what follows is the regular love hate (or should i say hate,love) relationship we have all seen a billion times over...

it meanders to a point where vidya balan is leaving the country (canada) with her soon to become hubby, and shahid kapoor stupidly standing around... INTERMISSION

the jokes are pretty flat.. they're all (no exagerration) all DAPJ's... there is a huge dose of superstition and religion as they tried hard to keep the dehati audiences entertained... i on the other hand was less than amused..

that was part 1 of the movie. then left and went for a walk along the marine drive... not so good as we didn't exactly have much to talk about. i was tired and my comfort level was low (if there is such a thing). so then we all split and went our separate ways after boring each other for another half an hour (or was it more). it was raining on my way home and even with a raincoat and other great waterproofing inventions at my disposal i somehow managed to get wet...

if i was in the movie i would've stopped the scooter looked up and started talking to god... thank god my life is not that lame... ;)

all in all my day also got dis-connected.. just like the movie..

beep beep beep

indian demo'crazy'

2008-07-21T00:17:00.004+05:30

i'm not much of a political analyst, especially not indian politics. india is one of the few countries in the world where the multi party system is pushed to its breaking point. every regional party has a base in their state. and that means there are parties that don't contest national elections that have a huge say in who becomes the countries rulers.

what happens because of this is the govt is almost always a coalition and coalitions are like promises, they are meant to be broken.

even by india's political entertainment standards, the last week or so has been the equivalent of bumper harvest for the news channels.

the horse trading has been so open its disgusting.

there's the speaker saying he won't resign and vote with his party. theres shibu soren with his 5 mp's getting promised the coal ministry, his son getting deputy chief minister of his state and 2 deputy cabinet ministers, all for 5 votes. there have been rumours of amounts as high as 50crores which is approximately $12 million offered for a single vote for the bill!

hm.. well at least its fodder for the news.. at least some part of our economy is benefitting.. :)

i actually started writing this post trying to make the whole situation clear cut for me... its pretty clear to me now.. but theres way too much to write and waste my time..

may the team with the best and most expensive horses win..
the race is day after tomorrow! dont miss it! live on every indian news channel!

hiatus

2008-07-19T08:00:00.002+05:30

its been a while.. and a lot has happened!!

my last post was about a month ago... but i gave been inspired and feel like getting being the emperor again...

i guess i'll start posting slightly more regularly now...
hm..

happy birthday to me

2008-07-19T03:32:00.005+05:30

to all people who didn't know my birthday was on 9th july
so belated happy birthday to me!
i hope i won't need to spend another wiating for a bsnl guy to come and fix my net connection.. what a bugger..
he took forever to come.. and thanks to him my entire day got ruined..
my gifts and cards and wishes staggered in during the day till after a few days..
in fact i get wished even now

well i expectd the day to go like it did...

wake xxxx dont remember actually

wait till 1800 - with the phone guy saying he'll come in the next 15 mins every 15 mins...
1830 - he finally comes and fixes up the connection.. what a relief..
2100 - go out for dinner with mom , uncle and aunt... come back and crash..

happy birthday 2 u
happy birthday 2 u
you actlike a monkey
and you look like 1 2... :D

Day 1 of euro 08

2008-06-08T13:54:00.004+05:30

7.6.08 – Day 1 of Euro ‘08

Its been a few days since I last posted. It’s been a hallmark of every thing I do lately. Very excited and interested when I set off but after a day or two I get bored of it. Then it takes a few days for me to get back my initial enthusiasm.

Tomorrow is my cousin’s engagement.
Good for him, I must say.

Had dinner at their place. Not too bad, chapattis paneer et al.

The morning was spent mostly reading up stuff and sitting online – a healthy mix.

i missed the opening ceremony and all the "yay euro is starting at last" hype and show because of this dinner. very glad :)

well anyhow as if to make fun of my enthusiasm to run home and sit in front of the tele and waste my time, they throw up one of the most drab and uninteresting games ever.

SUI 0 1 CZE

just the 1 goal from vaclav sverkos who came on as a sub for the giant jan koller. i was wondering why they took him off, koller. but then i guess they didn't want a repeat of the WC when koller scored and then went of injured in the very first game. clever move though coz sverkos took his chances well.

for the most part it was blood and thunder. send the ball into the box and hope the strikers can do something with it, maybe lay it off for the mids. nothing by was of class or flair. i guess i just wacthed the wrong game. hm.

PORT 2 0 TURK

i slept off
i hear the match was fun.
two new kids scored the goals. pepe of course is no "new kid". chap plays for real madrid and is a "real" talent. attacking defender. i like him. raul meireles (i think thats his spelling) well he cam on as a suband did he needful.

cronnie was quiet for the most part except for 1 jinking run.

31/5/08

2008-06-07T23:56:00.002+05:30

late submission :)

Sleeping most of the time
Woke up at 9 or some boring time like that.

After the usual morning pointless wanderings, I realized time was moving forward even though I was pretty much stuck where I was 2 hours ago.

Noon! And I was off with my sister to the city to pick up her new glasses. As it turns out the power of the new ones are exactly the same as the old ones. She already has contacts and I really didn’t/don’t understand the logic behind having another pair which looked just as dorky (though cute -it must be said :-)

Squirrels are becoming friendly with the residents here. Nice to see them running around, but not so nice when we have to clean up their poop in the car porch.

Termites spread themselves by coming out of the ground and laying eggs as small irritating flying things. Or so my dad told me. Don’t blame me if I’m wrong. Well they were all over the car porch today. They live only for the night and are attracted to the light.

Sadly we have our car porch light on all through the night I guess its so that the thieves who come to steal our car at night can see the car is small and not worth stealing. These flying things’ wings got into the A/C of the car. Now everytime you turn on the air-con, wings fly out of the vents. Very organic. Not so good if you’re allergic to wings and have to drive.

The Story of My House

2008-06-01T23:02:00.002+05:30

House (no- not the TV series)

I live in a house which started its life when I was all of 7 years old. It’s been, sadly, pretty much neglected for most of its 14 year existence. The 4 of us (family) were in Oman and elsewhere till a year back, while the house, sadly again, was fighting for survival in the dense forests of Kerala.

So the battle was fought over these 14 years. Man struggled to keep his small but hardworking enemies at bay. He was mostly disadvantaged by the fact that he could wage war only during a 2 month window.

4 gladiators emerged from the thick foliage in June, unfailingly, year in, and year out. (The number was always fluctuating though in reality 3 would be a fair estimate) The fact that the building (yes building, because it looked nothing like a house in those days) was not in any condition to live in didn’t help the morale of the younger troops who ended up feigning asthma and other horrific illnesses to keep away from the battlefield.

The heavens conspired against us as well. The 2 months of June and July are the months of the monsoon in Kerala. It’s either very hot or it’s very wet.

At the end of these 13 years the war was nearing an end. There was no clear winner, of course. But by territory-owned the standings would be:-

1. Termites
2. Ants
3. Spiders
4. Rats
5. Man
6. Squirrels

The battle was finally ended in typical American fashion, with Man ramming home their advantage of size and power. In 4 months of frantic work the house was made livable – painting, furniture et al.

But even nearly a year after we occupied these lands, the underground network is still strong….

The defeated creatures still inflict heavy losses on the ruling class….

Any bits of food are ambushed by the Ants who live in the walls. Any bits of wood are attacked by the Termites who live below the house.

30.5.08

2008-06-01T05:44:00.003+05:30

A very long day…

Woke up at 0100 hrs. You can’t wake up much earlier than that!
Dinner was the left-over butter chicken from Tandoor, i.e.lunch the day before. Yum!
The house was asleep and so I had to watch something on my comp…

“Shaurya”

Hindi movie.
Indian version of “A Few Good Men”.
Rahul Bose.
He always has a way of approaching movies… he’s somehow almost the same as he was in a couple of others…
I like him…
The perfect Yuppie…

So I was through with one movie…

That’s the thing with waking up so early… Lots of time… Do anything you want…

“The Wonder Years”

Bronze Age series about a kid called Kevin growing up in white America, in the ‘60s, with his hippie sister, fairly retarded brother, predictable mom, and pissy dad…
I always liked history. “History” -- not like “What were the reasons for the British to use pig fat on their bullet cartridges in India in 1857?” (or was that cow fat… hm… don’t remember now… )

I remember watching the first season and the last episode of some other season when I was in 6th… it was such a cool story… he was kissing girls in 6th … wow! (ok well it wasn’t all that surprising… or “wow” :P)

Anyhow I’m done with the first season of that!... in the end he dances with Winnie at the school dance…sigh… 

Cycling!

4km… 0630 hrs… lovely!
The village is at its scenic best at this time… finally started liking my place… 
There are just about enough things to look at and like…to take your mind of all the things you don’t like…
Kerala is good…

Breakfast

Right… I’m onto my 5th heading of this post!(world record)
Boiled Franks and bread… yum again!

Cochin Unversity of Science And Tech

Off to the university then with mom… to get my sister’s migration certificate and TC… (why can’t she just go and do all this … and shes here on holiday too )
I could’ve gone alone… but the infinite respect and help you get from the office staff when you have an old (don’t tell mom ) and respectable lady with you, can’t be measured…

Only 1 out of 5 govt. employees I met today treated me like I was a KGB agent in Washington… (well the cold war is over, but like I care )

PG Wodehouse, Sleep

IPL Semi-final 1-- Rajasthan v Delhi Ddvls

Watched most of the game… started as expected with both Asnodkar and Smith firing away… Smth then got injured… Kaif came out to run for him…
Turning point- Maharoof picking up 2 in his first over… both Swapnil and Smith out… anyhow, Watson and Pathan set the ball airborne… and they ended with 190+ on the board…

The bowling of the Royals was a joy to watch… just seeing Warne letting them rip for one more time… this is why I watch cricket… 

Sigh-cling

2008-05-15T10:03:00.005+05:30

here's a post i had half completed a while back...
another late submission which i now feel is more complete, relevant etc.

"its red and it has a bell and 18 gears! i feel like i'm back in school....

if anyone of you is wondering why all of a sudden i've decided to expound on the virtues of cycling, yes, you guessed it right.. i have bought myself a cycle!"

this was what i had written and then subsequently left on the day i bought my cycle.
haha.. very romantic etc bout the concept.

2008-04-02T03:11:00.005+05:30

The Revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin

2008-03-31T23:25:00.007+05:30

According to the Bushido Shoshinshu (the Code of the Samurai), a samurai was supposed to commit oibara seppuku (suicide/hara kiri) upon the loss of his master. One who chose to not honor the code was "on his own"... a ronin.

Among the most famous ronin are Miyamoto Musashi, the famed swordsman, and the Forty-seven Ronin.

The revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin.... The tale is true, and has been described by one noted Japanese scholar as the country's "national legend."...

In 1701 two daimyo, Asano Takumi-no-Kami Naganori, the young daimyo of the Akō Domain (a small fiefdom in western Honshū), and Lord Kamei of the Tsuwano Domain, were ordered to arrange a fitting reception for the envoys of the Emperor in Edo, during their sankin kōtai service to the Shogun.

Asano and Kamei were to be given instruction in the necessary court etiquette by Kira Kozuke-no-Suke Yoshinaka, a powerful Edo official in the hierarchy of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi's shogunate. He became upset at them, allegedly because of either the small presents they offered him (in the time-honored compensation for such an instructor), or because they would not offer bribes as he wanted. Kira treated them poorly, insulted them or failed to prepare them for fulfilling specific bakufu duties, offense was taken.

While Asano bore all this stoically, Kamei became enraged, and prepared to kill Kira to avenge the insults. However, the quick thinking counsellors of Kamei averted disaster for their lord and clan (for all would have been punished if Kamei killed Kira) by quietly giving Kira a large bribe; Kira thereupon began to treat Kamei nicely, which calmed Kamei's anger...

However, Kira continued to treat Asano harshly, because he was upset that the latter had not emulated his companion; Kira taunted and humiliated him in public. Finally, Kira insulted Asano, calling him a country boor with no manners, and Asano could restrain himself no longer. At the Matsu no Ōrōka, the main grand corridor which interconnects different parts of the shogun's residence, he lost his temper and attacked Kira with a dagger, but only wounded him in the face with his first strike; his second missed and hit a pillar.

Kira's wound was hardly serious, but the attack on a shogunate official within the boundaries of the Shogun's residence was considered a grave offense.The daimyo of Akō had removed his dagger from its scabbard within Edo Castle, and for that offense, he was ordered to kill himself by committing seppuku.Asano's goods and lands were to be confiscated after his death, his family was to be ruined, and his retainers were to be made ronin....

Of Asano's over three hundred men, forty-seven and especially their leader Ōishi—refused to allow their lord to go unavenged. They banded together, swearing a secret oath to avenge their master by killing Kira, even though they knew they would be severely punished for doing so.

However, Kira was well guarded, and his residence had been fortified.To quell the suspicions of Kira and other shogunate authorities, they dispersed and became tradesmen or monks.Ōishi himself took up residence in Kyoto, and began to frequent brothels and taverns, as if nothing were further from his mind than revenge. Kira still feared a trap, and sent spies to watch the former retainers of Asano.

Oishi began to act oddly and very unlike the composed samurai. He frequented geisha houses, drank nightly, and acted very obscenely in public. Later Oishi's men bought a geisha, in hopes he would calm down. This was all a ruse to rid Oishi of his spies.

Kira's agents reported all this to Kira, who became convinced that he was safe from the retainers of Asano, who must all be bad samurai indeed, without the courage to avenge their master, after a year and a half. With the thought of them being harmless and lack of funds from his "retirement"; he then reluctantly let down his guard.

They Attack

Two years later, when Ōishi was convinced that Kira was thoroughly off his guard,and everything was ready, he fled from Kyoto, avoiding the spies who were watching him, and the entire band gathered at a secret meeting-place in Edo, and renewed their oaths.

Thursday, December 14, 1702),early in the morning in a driving wind during a heavy fall of snow, Ōishi and the ronin attacked Kira Yoshinaka's mansion in Edo.They split up into two groups and attacked, armed with swords and bows. One group, led by Ōishi, was to attack the front gate; the other, led by his son, Ōishi Chikara, was to attack the house via the back gate.Once Kira was dead, they planned to cut off his head, and lay it as an offering on their master's tomb. They would then turn themselves in, and wait for their expected sentence of death. All this had been confirmed at a final dinner, where Ōishi had asked them to be careful, and spare women, children, and other helpless people. The code of bushido does not require mercy to noncombatants, although it doesn't forbid it.

Ōishi had four men scale the fence and enter the porter's lodge, capturing and tying up the guard there.He then sent messengers to all the neighbouring houses, to explain that they were not robbers, but retainers out to avenge the death of their master, and that no harm would come to anyone else: they were all perfectly safe. The neighbours, who all hated Kira, were relieved and did nothing to hinder the raiders.

After posting archers (some on the roof), to prevent those in the house (who had not yet woken up) from sending for help, Ōishi sounded the drum to start the attack. Ten of Kira's retainers held off the party attacking the house from the front, but Ōishi Chikara's party broke into the back of the house.[21]

Kira, in terror, took refuge in a closet in the veranda, along with his wife and female servants. The rest of his retainers attempted to come into the house to his rescue. After overcoming the defenders at the front of the house, the two parties of father and son joined up, and fought with the retainers who came in. The latter, perceiving that they were losing, tried to send for help, but their messengers were killed by the archers posted to prevent that.

Eventually, after a fierce struggle, the last of Kira's retainers was subdued.Of Kira, however, there was no sign. They searched the house, but all they found were crying women and children. They began to despair, but Ōishi checked Kira's bed, and it was still warm, so he knew he could not be far.

The Death of Kira

A renewed search disclosed an entrance to a secret courtyard hidden behind a large scroll; the courtyard held a small building for storing charcoal and firewood, where two more hidden armed retainers were overcome and killed. A search of the building disclosed a man hiding; he attacked the searcher with a dagger, but the man was easily disarmed.The ronin gathered, and Ōishi, with a lantern, saw that it was indeed Kira—as a final proof, his head bore the scar from Asano's attack.

At that, Ōishi went on his knees, and in consideration of Kira's high rank, respectfully addressed him, telling him they were retainers of Asano, come to avenge him as true samurai should, and inviting Kira to die as a true samurai should, by killing himself. Ōishi indicated he personally would act as a second, and offered him the same dagger that Asano had used to kill himself.

However, no matter how much they entreated him, Kira crouched, speechless and trembling. At last, seeing it was useless to ask, Ōishi ordered the ronin to pin him down, and killed him by cutting off his head with the dagger.They then extinguished all the lamps and fires in the house (lest any cause the house to catch fire, and start a general fire that would harm the neighbours), and left, taking the head.

As day was now breaking, they quickly carried Kira's head to their lord's grave in Sengaku-ji, causing a great stir on the way. The story quickly went around as to what had happened, and everyone on their path praised them, and offered them refreshment.

On arriving at the temple, they washed and cleaned Kira's head in a well, and laid it, and the fateful dagger, before Asano's tomb.They then offered prayers at the temple, and gave the abbot of the temple all the money they had left, asking him to bury them decently, and offer prayers for them. They then turned themselves in....

As expected, the ronin were sentenced to death; but the Shogun had finally resolved the quandary by ordering them to honorably commit seppuku, instead of having them executed as criminals. It is known that each of the assailants ended his life in a ritualistic fashion.

Each of the forty-six ronin did kill himself on Sunday, February 4, 1703.

2008-03-31T23:11:00.003+05:30

2008-03-30T21:20:00.000+05:30

2008-03-30T21:13:00.000+05:30

A measure of Control?

2008-03-30T01:07:00.000+05:30

Quite often we find ourselves with many negative thoughts going through our mind. These trains of thoughts can become very powerful as we endlessly repeat them in our mind. The problem is that that the more we focus on the thoughts, the more powerful they become. Therefore, it can become very difficult to stop these endless cycles of thoughts.

The problem is that sometimes we attach ourselves to certain ideas and problems, and we subconsciously get a kind of pleasure from going through a certain problem / issue. If we subconsciously keep inviting the thoughts, we will never be able to stop them. Therefore, the first stage is to make a clear and conscious decision to stop the repetition of the thoughts. Be aware of their negative impact and don’t allow them to come any more. This conscious step is an indispensable stage in controlling our thoughts.

When we first try to stop the thoughts, it seems very difficult because they feel such a strong part of our mind. Therefore, the second stage is to feel that the thoughts are separate to our self. When a thought appears in your mind, look upon the thought as coming from outside yourself. This is a very powerful way to reduce the impact of thoughts on our mind. Once we realise our thoughts are separate to ourselves it becomes possible to stop them.

Who is it who listens to thoughts?

Try and discover the origination of your thoughts. Whenever a thought appears, just ask yourself, who is it who is thinking this? What we do is to try and discover the source of thoughts. Through asking this question we realise that there is an “I” which can decide to accept or reject thoughts. By asking this question we will be able to stop the thoughts as soon as they enter. You are not a victim of your own thoughts, it is you who either rejects or gives life to thoughts.

We need to be vigilant and watch every thought that enters our mind. As soon as we see a negative thought enter, we must immediately discard it and refuse to follow it. The more we follow thoughts, the more difficult it becomes to stop them later. Therefore, it is best to catch them as soon as possible.

“Wrong thoughts are inside us just because we identify ourselves with these thoughts. If we identify with something else, immediately they have to leave us.”

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SURGEONS must be very careful
When they take the knife!
Underneath their fine incisions
Stirs the culprit —Life!