"Many of your doubts will be cleared early this month." on a fortune cookie picked up from an asian restaurant on the 30th of January! :-| The sensible thing of course would've been to replace 'this' with 'next'.
Also, I know I'm in the midst of a bunch of people growing older, and maturer, and wiser, and generally more boring when the time for a birthday party changes from 12 a.m. to 10 p.m. because they have an assignment to worry about, and then from 10 p.m. to 8 p.m. because they now sleep at 9 p.m. in order to go slave the next day! Of course I know I am not allowed to complain about birthday parties but at least I have been sensible enough to do away with a birthday altogether instead of making it this wish-wash, toned down and sober affair with cliched jokes backed by fake laughter and a general artifice of pleasantries attempting to stifle the boredom of the same humdrum birthday routine for one birthday after another. Anyways, I am quite out of touch with people so it doesn't bother me. So long as they have fun, all is well! :)
I wrote this today because I suddenly got an invitation to attend some party at 10 p.m. and feel terribly uncomfortable at the prospect of going as I haven't been speaking to any of the members of that circle that she's invited for at least a few months now and I am at a loss for what to say to the various people and the birthday girl in general, except of course, 'Happy Birthday!'. If I go too early, there's too many people to greet and talk to as they drop in one by one. If I go too late, then everyone will see me enter at the odd time and get curious to talk to me. Its best to go in just before the cake-cutting, when they switch off the lights, and quietly sneak in at the back. Then wish her at the right time, take a big slice of the cake, then some chips and coke, and keep stuffing myself in a very preoccupied manner so that nobody is really interested in coming anywhere close to me. And then make a hasty exit with some doomsday excuse(its saturday tomorrow so excuses are harder to come by and I haven't found a good one yet. Suggestions welcome.).
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Short story
A shriveled and shrunken old man wearing sunglasses crosses the street urgently on a dark and cloudy day as if god were calling him to heaven from across the street. The devil picks him up from the side.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Middle name
After much thought, I have decided to give myself the middle name 'Candidappan'. I shall henceforth be called Karthik Candidappan Sivaramakrishnan.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
BULB
This is just ROFL bulb by me.
vaishnavi: i am in good spirits now after going to Indian Institute of biotechnology and toxicology.
Have u seen an electron Microscope?
me: yes :)
which one did you see
vaishnavi: used one?
me: scanning or transmission?
12:12 AM vaishnavi: scanning
me: nice
what do you mean used one?
:O
its a microscope
Obviously the one I saw is a used one!
:)
vaishnavi: I was asking if u have used one
me: oh!
lol
vaishnavi: i am in good spirits now after going to Indian Institute of biotechnology and toxicology.
Have u seen an electron Microscope?
me: yes :)
which one did you see
vaishnavi: used one?
me: scanning or transmission?
12:12 AM vaishnavi: scanning
me: nice
what do you mean used one?
:O
its a microscope
Obviously the one I saw is a used one!
:)
vaishnavi: I was asking if u have used one
me: oh!
lol
Vanaprastham query
If anyone has seen the malayalam movie Vanaprastham, I have a question: Why was Kunhikuttan treating his wife so terribly? I don't mean by loving Subhadra. He basically never showed any affection towards her :-? He dotes on his daughter, loves his mother, but ignores his wife, although she loved him :-? Did I miss something?
Opinion on movie: Shaashtanga namaskaram to Mohanlal for his acting! But story was way too melodramatic and fairy-tale-istic I thought. And Suhasini's acting was terrible! Ugh. Poor thing couldn't emote well at all. They should've cast Shobana.
Opinion on movie: Shaashtanga namaskaram to Mohanlal for his acting! But story was way too melodramatic and fairy-tale-istic I thought. And Suhasini's acting was terrible! Ugh. Poor thing couldn't emote well at all. They should've cast Shobana.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
How about a cooking blog?
I've seen some ladies run cooking blogs. I am thinking of starting my very own cooking blog too. While they tell you how to make great recipes, I can tell you how to avoid devastating disasters!
So I was going to have some good old fashioned curd rice with peas. Last week's yoghurt was over so I opened a fresh carton that i'd bought this week. It turns out I'd accidentally picked up strawberry flavoured yoghurt. But a man has to eat, so I thought, "Ah, what the heck!" and poured a tonne of it over the rice and happily mixed it. Then I dumped the peas on top of all that as I usually do. Since I don't wish to waste food, I think I'll be having strawberry flavoured curd rice for the rest of this year.
So I was going to have some good old fashioned curd rice with peas. Last week's yoghurt was over so I opened a fresh carton that i'd bought this week. It turns out I'd accidentally picked up strawberry flavoured yoghurt. But a man has to eat, so I thought, "Ah, what the heck!" and poured a tonne of it over the rice and happily mixed it. Then I dumped the peas on top of all that as I usually do. Since I don't wish to waste food, I think I'll be having strawberry flavoured curd rice for the rest of this year.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Please save the Chimpanzee
It is perhaps a defeatist cause to be writing something like this on a blog that is hardly read. But I have nothing to lose.
See this.
I'm not being all emotional here about the cuteness of the animal or something. We are wiping off several species everyday anyways, and I shut up and mind my business. But the chimpanzee is our closest relative, and a critical element in understanding our own evolution, and our nature. We just cannot afford to wipe off such a species! Too much information is lost in the process. Of course we can clone them or breed them like we do chickens and preserve them. But that alters behavioral patterns tremendously from when they are in the wild. So while it may help with structural and genetic studies, it destroys considerable behavioral information I think. So I mechanically signed here. I'm feeling kinda desperate right now, so I won't even urge you. Its just some rant.
I also sometimes imagine a world without animals. But I suppose I'll never live to see that day. So its all good.
See this.
I'm not being all emotional here about the cuteness of the animal or something. We are wiping off several species everyday anyways, and I shut up and mind my business. But the chimpanzee is our closest relative, and a critical element in understanding our own evolution, and our nature. We just cannot afford to wipe off such a species! Too much information is lost in the process. Of course we can clone them or breed them like we do chickens and preserve them. But that alters behavioral patterns tremendously from when they are in the wild. So while it may help with structural and genetic studies, it destroys considerable behavioral information I think. So I mechanically signed here. I'm feeling kinda desperate right now, so I won't even urge you. Its just some rant.
I also sometimes imagine a world without animals. But I suppose I'll never live to see that day. So its all good.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Because I'm stranded
My advisor has left for home and is on a two week vacation starting yesterday. That kills all incentive to work because things were already pretty relaxed at work and I was under no deadline pressures. I am reading a book which I enthusiastically took to lab this morning thinking I'd read it there. But we made other plans, and the book is in lab, and I'm at home now. Its too late and too cold for me to go all the way to lab and get it. So I have nothing to do. Hence I'm going to try one of those ramble posts.
I had finished the work for some paper a little ahead of the thanksgiving deadline that my professor had assigned. So that tuesday I was totally idle, and my labmate and friend was bored. The advisor had left for some conference out of campus and would be heading home. He was in the thanksgiving mood already it seemed. So friend and I decided to catch a matinee by slipping out of lab. At the ticket counter, I flashed my asu id in the hope of getting the usual student discount. The issuer replied, "Sir, the matinee tickets are already at the discounted rates so we don't offer any further discount." Embarassed, I slipped my id back in and bought the tickets. As we stepped in, I realised why they were already discounted: There was not a single person in the entire multiplex which had almost 14 screens! That was a little eerie. My friend and I were laughing at ourselves and our vettiness for having come to a matinee movie on a tuesday! Anyhow, we had bought tickets for this movie called Madagascar, which turned out to be a movie which even Miss teen south carolina would find dumb. We were 15 minutes ahead of time and when we took a peak inside the theatre, there was no one! Naturally. So we idled away the time by looking at the various new movies to be released on all the 14 screens in the next month or so. About 5 minutes prior to the movie we entered the theatre again, and to our mortification saw three young blonde kids, and their parents staring at us two young men in disbelief! I literally ran out of the room at top speed because I had burst out laughing at our awkward situation! After uncontrolled riotous laughter for almost 10 minutes, my friend and I decided that it would be best if we kept our faces down and quickly moved to the last row of seats and slid down on our seats and stayed that way till the end of the movie. As we walked in, I burst out laughing again and walked in only after another 5 mintues, while my friend managed to make it successfully.
Today was another such day. No advisor, no work. Labmate/friend and I decided to go hiking on a mountain range in the phoenix area. We took friend's roommate along too. He's this stupid, impulsive and hence hilarious character. Friend and I were going to look for directions on google maps when be butts in declaring he's been to the starting point before and hence knows the directions! We ask him for reassurance at least 10 times and are still skeptical. He's one of those show off types. Anyways, we didn't want to offend him, because he's also one of those short-tempered types. So we decided to take him on faith and hit the streets. We decided to lunch before starting the trek as we were hungry. So I had taken a gallon of water from my home because I drink a lot of water in general and the last thing I want is to fall short of water on a trek. My friend knew about it but his roommate didn't. So we are sitting there and lunching and his roommate declares, "We forgot to get water for the trek." Before I could let him know that I'd brought a gallon he impulsively blurts: "But that's ok. We can asked for a sealed cup of water at the counter." Happily, I ROFLed inside my head at this precious gem! I was imagining us carrying sealed coffee cups filled with water in one hand and trying to do a trek which is rated as strenous! See:
http://www.phoenixasap.com/camelback-mountain.html
Summit Trail. ( Echo Canyon)
Trail ascends through spectacular sandstone rock formations and unparalled views from the summit into Greater Phoenix.
Trail Length: 1.2 miles
Elevation Gain: 1,264 feet
Summit: 2,704 feet
Difficulty: Strenuous
It turned out we had to use both hands at several places as there were some really steep climbs. Let alone that we ended up needing a lot more than just one sealed coffee cup of water!
Anyways, so we finished lunch and headed of towards the mountains following this chap's directions. As we approached the mountains, he got confused. I said, we should call someone up and ask for directions to the parking. He said, "No dude. That's not necessary. We can see the mountains right. Let's just head towards it and we should be there." Ahem, a mountain range extends over several miles and all roads in phoenix probably lead to the mountain range ultimately. He then started pointing to random houses and saying they looked familiar and he had a strong gut feeling we were on the right track. So friend and I humoured him and we continued on. Eventually we realised we took a road that was actually climbing up the hill! Not exactly our idea of trekking. So after going about a quarter of the way to convince him that his familiar houses were perhaps deceiving him, we took a u-turn and headed back down. Eventually, I got off the car and trespassed into some private mansion, where a dog charged at me and was stopped only by the owner closing the gate just in time, and took directions on how to get there. It sucked that we couldn't all go up together. The friend's roommate gave up at 1/3rd of the way. Friend gave up at half way and asked me to go ahead. I was determined to finish for having taken all this trouble to get here. So I marched on and got to the top. It wasn't all that bad. Friend meanwhile managed to gather some determination and made it 3/4ths of the way. So I met him on the way down and at least down part we did together. It started raining on our way down and the rocks became a little slippery, so that made it somewhat tricky to climb down these steep rocks. Turns out even a monolayer of water is sufficient to make palpable difference to friction coefficient. Friend twisted ankle on one of those slippery rocks. That's not good.
I saw moonam pakkam over the weekend. Thilakan was brilliant as always. I realised that Jagathy can act as more than just a goofy idiot. He was impressive in the movie. I also realised what happens if one creates a movie/story where the main character is killed mid-way. It started off realistic and interesting. Everything upto the killing of the main character was nice. Tragedy in movies is rare, and hence appealing to me. But when the rest one hour was spent in different people taking turns crying it taxed me emotionally, and when they took turns staring at the sea in the hope of spotting a dead body, it taxed me intellectually. Its like having a one hour cookery show and completing the preparation of the dish in half an hour. The rest half hour being spent on showing different people chewing on the food.
Good, so I've killed time and can now go to sleep and pick up that book tomorrow. That reminds me, library has been giving me hell. About a month back I got a notice to return a book called 'Digest of catholic mission history'! I went to them and said, I'd never issued such a book. I also hinted that they could take a look at the other books I'd had issued to rest any doubts they might have on my claims. They agreed to do three searches in their library to see if they can spot it(don't ask me why three!). They've done that and not found the book. So now i've got a notice to pay up for a book I never took!
I had finished the work for some paper a little ahead of the thanksgiving deadline that my professor had assigned. So that tuesday I was totally idle, and my labmate and friend was bored. The advisor had left for some conference out of campus and would be heading home. He was in the thanksgiving mood already it seemed. So friend and I decided to catch a matinee by slipping out of lab. At the ticket counter, I flashed my asu id in the hope of getting the usual student discount. The issuer replied, "Sir, the matinee tickets are already at the discounted rates so we don't offer any further discount." Embarassed, I slipped my id back in and bought the tickets. As we stepped in, I realised why they were already discounted: There was not a single person in the entire multiplex which had almost 14 screens! That was a little eerie. My friend and I were laughing at ourselves and our vettiness for having come to a matinee movie on a tuesday! Anyhow, we had bought tickets for this movie called Madagascar, which turned out to be a movie which even Miss teen south carolina would find dumb. We were 15 minutes ahead of time and when we took a peak inside the theatre, there was no one! Naturally. So we idled away the time by looking at the various new movies to be released on all the 14 screens in the next month or so. About 5 minutes prior to the movie we entered the theatre again, and to our mortification saw three young blonde kids, and their parents staring at us two young men in disbelief! I literally ran out of the room at top speed because I had burst out laughing at our awkward situation! After uncontrolled riotous laughter for almost 10 minutes, my friend and I decided that it would be best if we kept our faces down and quickly moved to the last row of seats and slid down on our seats and stayed that way till the end of the movie. As we walked in, I burst out laughing again and walked in only after another 5 mintues, while my friend managed to make it successfully.
Today was another such day. No advisor, no work. Labmate/friend and I decided to go hiking on a mountain range in the phoenix area. We took friend's roommate along too. He's this stupid, impulsive and hence hilarious character. Friend and I were going to look for directions on google maps when be butts in declaring he's been to the starting point before and hence knows the directions! We ask him for reassurance at least 10 times and are still skeptical. He's one of those show off types. Anyways, we didn't want to offend him, because he's also one of those short-tempered types. So we decided to take him on faith and hit the streets. We decided to lunch before starting the trek as we were hungry. So I had taken a gallon of water from my home because I drink a lot of water in general and the last thing I want is to fall short of water on a trek. My friend knew about it but his roommate didn't. So we are sitting there and lunching and his roommate declares, "We forgot to get water for the trek." Before I could let him know that I'd brought a gallon he impulsively blurts: "But that's ok. We can asked for a sealed cup of water at the counter." Happily, I ROFLed inside my head at this precious gem! I was imagining us carrying sealed coffee cups filled with water in one hand and trying to do a trek which is rated as strenous! See:
http://www.phoenixasap.com/camelback-mountain.html
Summit Trail. ( Echo Canyon)
Trail ascends through spectacular sandstone rock formations and unparalled views from the summit into Greater Phoenix.
Trail Length: 1.2 miles
Elevation Gain: 1,264 feet
Summit: 2,704 feet
Difficulty: Strenuous
It turned out we had to use both hands at several places as there were some really steep climbs. Let alone that we ended up needing a lot more than just one sealed coffee cup of water!
Anyways, so we finished lunch and headed of towards the mountains following this chap's directions. As we approached the mountains, he got confused. I said, we should call someone up and ask for directions to the parking. He said, "No dude. That's not necessary. We can see the mountains right. Let's just head towards it and we should be there." Ahem, a mountain range extends over several miles and all roads in phoenix probably lead to the mountain range ultimately. He then started pointing to random houses and saying they looked familiar and he had a strong gut feeling we were on the right track. So friend and I humoured him and we continued on. Eventually we realised we took a road that was actually climbing up the hill! Not exactly our idea of trekking. So after going about a quarter of the way to convince him that his familiar houses were perhaps deceiving him, we took a u-turn and headed back down. Eventually, I got off the car and trespassed into some private mansion, where a dog charged at me and was stopped only by the owner closing the gate just in time, and took directions on how to get there. It sucked that we couldn't all go up together. The friend's roommate gave up at 1/3rd of the way. Friend gave up at half way and asked me to go ahead. I was determined to finish for having taken all this trouble to get here. So I marched on and got to the top. It wasn't all that bad. Friend meanwhile managed to gather some determination and made it 3/4ths of the way. So I met him on the way down and at least down part we did together. It started raining on our way down and the rocks became a little slippery, so that made it somewhat tricky to climb down these steep rocks. Turns out even a monolayer of water is sufficient to make palpable difference to friction coefficient. Friend twisted ankle on one of those slippery rocks. That's not good.
I saw moonam pakkam over the weekend. Thilakan was brilliant as always. I realised that Jagathy can act as more than just a goofy idiot. He was impressive in the movie. I also realised what happens if one creates a movie/story where the main character is killed mid-way. It started off realistic and interesting. Everything upto the killing of the main character was nice. Tragedy in movies is rare, and hence appealing to me. But when the rest one hour was spent in different people taking turns crying it taxed me emotionally, and when they took turns staring at the sea in the hope of spotting a dead body, it taxed me intellectually. Its like having a one hour cookery show and completing the preparation of the dish in half an hour. The rest half hour being spent on showing different people chewing on the food.
Good, so I've killed time and can now go to sleep and pick up that book tomorrow. That reminds me, library has been giving me hell. About a month back I got a notice to return a book called 'Digest of catholic mission history'! I went to them and said, I'd never issued such a book. I also hinted that they could take a look at the other books I'd had issued to rest any doubts they might have on my claims. They agreed to do three searches in their library to see if they can spot it(don't ask me why three!). They've done that and not found the book. So now i've got a notice to pay up for a book I never took!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Evolution isn't evolved!
Stupid evolution! Why the hell did nature lose wings along the way?! Couldn't there have been some random mutations to permit growth of hands on top of the wings? And all creatures subsequent to birds retained those wings? You know where I'm headed? Yes, I could've been flying now, damn it!!
On second thoughts, if that did happen, would there have been too many flying creatures then making me feel so damn bored of flying about with all those other stupid creatures?
Who knows!
On second thoughts, if that did happen, would there have been too many flying creatures then making me feel so damn bored of flying about with all those other stupid creatures?
Who knows!
Monday, December 08, 2008
2 minute crash course in cooking
I'd bought a can of condensed mushroom soup this weekend. Having returned home late from lab I wasn't in the mood for a full fledged dinner. Thought I'd make the soup. Here's how I did it:
1) Place a large empty vessel on the stove and turn the flame to maximum so that the soup will be ready in 2 minutes to eat!
2)Then, get down to washing a ladle with which to stir the soup, and a spoon with which to empty the condensed can of soup into the vessel.
3) Read the instructions on the back of the can. All this while the pan is still on maximum with nothing in it.
4) Read the following instruction: Heat soup + 1 can of milk. Also read that it serves 4 people.
5) Wonder if I should really be emptying a one gallon can of milk into just 10 ounce of condensed soup.
6) Decide wisely against it but pour 5 cups anyways so that it can be had twice.
7) Dig around in the fridge for some veggies to make the soup tasty.
8) Find a huge bag of cole slaw veggies lying around and discover with considerable shock that it is one whole day past expiry.
9) Decide to get creative and quickly empty the whole bag into the soup only to realise there's so much cabbage it rises to twice the height of the soup which already has 5 cups of milk in it.
10) Decide there's just way too much milk already and wisely avoid adding any more water.
11) Go sit in front of TV while milk reaches a boil and ask roommate whether one should really be adding a one gallon can of milk to just 10 ounce of consensed soup??
13) Get the following response: One can milk implies fill the empty soup can with milk and pour once!
14) Lavish praise on roommate's intellgence.
15) Comment on the stench that always arises from cabbage.
16) Realise that its not the stench of cabbage but a strong burning smell.
17) Run hastily to switch off gas.
18) Empty half the unnameable unsightly uninhalable mess into a bowl and attempt to taste it.
19) Burn tongue.
20) Wait a minute and taste again.
21) Retch.
22) Make realisations:
Realise that it is the milk that burns if flame is on maximum. Cabbage doesn't.
Realise that cabbage too burns given enough time.
Realise that a pound of cabbage in half a gallon of burnt milk+condensed mushroom soup is not quite creativity.
23) Take consolation in the fact that it was all done in 2 minutes at any rate! :)
1) Place a large empty vessel on the stove and turn the flame to maximum so that the soup will be ready in 2 minutes to eat!
2)Then, get down to washing a ladle with which to stir the soup, and a spoon with which to empty the condensed can of soup into the vessel.
3) Read the instructions on the back of the can. All this while the pan is still on maximum with nothing in it.
4) Read the following instruction: Heat soup + 1 can of milk. Also read that it serves 4 people.
5) Wonder if I should really be emptying a one gallon can of milk into just 10 ounce of condensed soup.
6) Decide wisely against it but pour 5 cups anyways so that it can be had twice.
7) Dig around in the fridge for some veggies to make the soup tasty.
8) Find a huge bag of cole slaw veggies lying around and discover with considerable shock that it is one whole day past expiry.
9) Decide to get creative and quickly empty the whole bag into the soup only to realise there's so much cabbage it rises to twice the height of the soup which already has 5 cups of milk in it.
10) Decide there's just way too much milk already and wisely avoid adding any more water.
11) Go sit in front of TV while milk reaches a boil and ask roommate whether one should really be adding a one gallon can of milk to just 10 ounce of consensed soup??
13) Get the following response: One can milk implies fill the empty soup can with milk and pour once!
14) Lavish praise on roommate's intellgence.
15) Comment on the stench that always arises from cabbage.
16) Realise that its not the stench of cabbage but a strong burning smell.
17) Run hastily to switch off gas.
18) Empty half the unnameable unsightly uninhalable mess into a bowl and attempt to taste it.
19) Burn tongue.
20) Wait a minute and taste again.
21) Retch.
22) Make realisations:
Realise that it is the milk that burns if flame is on maximum. Cabbage doesn't.
Realise that cabbage too burns given enough time.
Realise that a pound of cabbage in half a gallon of burnt milk+condensed mushroom soup is not quite creativity.
23) Take consolation in the fact that it was all done in 2 minutes at any rate! :)
Saturday, November 29, 2008
An idea
It occurred to me that we do not have great libraries in India and books are not very affordable. However, there's a vast reading public in all the major cities, whose home collections if brought together would provide for an excellent library. With this in mind, I am thinking of the possibility and issues with setting up an intermediary, a company which sets up one or multiple offices in a city(depending on the size of the city) which act as nothing but an exchange medium for books in the following way: People can become members of the library on the company's website. They can then upload the list of books they possess with basic information like author ISBN no. etc: When a user request is placed for a book, the search will retrieve all the sources of the book and the edition/year etc: If they are interested they then place a request for a copy of that book. The source can drop off the book at the nearest office of the company and the requester can pick up the book from the nearest location to the user. The company can commute between its various offices transporting the books. The company would be charging a monthly/annual membership fee and a borrowing fee which will be a fixed daily rate ensuring that the source gets a fee in accordance with the number of days the requester keeps the book and the company gets a commission out of each transaction. Any issues with this? If you can think of none and you are person with entrepreneurial ambitions reading this, you are free to take up the idea and start a company.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Another gem I need to remember:
Some of us friends were camping in the Colorado mountains over the labour day weekend when one friend came up with this absolute gem(it loses some of its 'effect' when translated from tam to english but the idea itself is still stud)!:
Why do you think Indian women wear sarees? Way back in the past our great ancestral men realised that all our Indian women bloat up into 'drums' (peepas for those who know tam) soon after they are married. Earning only mediocre incomes they realised they can't afford to keep buying new clothes every year, so they decided to come up with the these 9 yard long sarees so that the women will never grow out of their clothes!
^:)^
Why do you think Indian women wear sarees? Way back in the past our great ancestral men realised that all our Indian women bloat up into 'drums' (peepas for those who know tam) soon after they are married. Earning only mediocre incomes they realised they can't afford to keep buying new clothes every year, so they decided to come up with the these 9 yard long sarees so that the women will never grow out of their clothes!
^:)^
A couple of gems:
Just so that they are registered in my memory(:-|):
"Stable relationships are for horses" - Gautam Prakash
"Stable relationships are with horses, after all you can ride a horse" - Satya N Vishwanathan
"Stable relationships are for horses" - Gautam Prakash
"Stable relationships are with horses, after all you can ride a horse" - Satya N Vishwanathan
Thursday, November 13, 2008
A game I like
It was 6 in the evening on Halloween. I was waiting for a bus at some isolated place in order to get home. The stop was deserted except for a young mom with a cat's mask waiting with her kid who was in the costume of 'hulk'. As I approached the bus stop the mom started staring at me. Being November it gets dark early and it was just about dark then. I thought she might be suspicious and to put her mind at rest I was walking about far away from the seats at the stop. One could see youngsters in costumes galavanting about. It reminded me that I must go to downtown later that evening. So many people gather on that one street that it really is more crowded than the mumbai station. Its a sight worth absorbing because usually the people keep a goods train distance from each other. The bus was being unusually late; one would think it was getting into its costume for the evening. I could see the mom turn back and throw quick furtive glances in my direction now and again. But I got tired of standing and went to sit down anyways. I sat in the seat farthest from her. As we waited, the kid got restless. Eventually, he struck conversation with me, and having heard me for a while the mom got friendly too. Meanwhile, a man jumped the waist high wall that defined the parking space of a fast food store behind the bus stop and approached us in haste. Before we realised what was happening, he pulled out from behind him a big bag of chocolates and said, "My wife thinks this kid has the cutest costume she's seen all evening and wanted to give this to the boy." The mom accepts it gratefully, but abashed by the unexpected kindness. The man jumps back up over the wall and departs in his car. The kid plays around with the bag of chocolates while the mom and I get acquainted with each other. Time flies by during conversation and the bus arrives. As we get in, the driver pulls out a bag of chocolates, shows it to the kid and says, "I just picked up this bag before the beginning of this trip so you're lucky kid." As we are seated in the bus, we are given company by a couple of drunks, one of whom was a guy intending to sell drugs to the college students at the mall close to campus(I know because he showed us the stuff in the middle of happy conversation). At the next stop, a couple of white trash people walk in. The lady has just enough teeth to prevent the jaws from colliding. The man is hunched enough that if you put a mirror to his face, you can see the outline of a dome from the side. As the lady sits down, she is feeling around in her purse for something. I presumed it was a vanity case, because that's the only thing I've seen women ever feel around for in their handbags for during bus journeys, apart from cellphones. She pulls out a candy, and hands it to the kid saying, "I don't know how it got in there, but that's for you kiddo!" The kid must've been pleased with his good fortune because he was all hyper in the bus and doing various antics that had me smiling and indulging him with attention from my cell phone camera. I got some really neat snaps(one of the drunkards can vouch for that!) considering the bus was moving and I didn't exactly have image stabilization and a tripod to work with. So the drunkard asked the mom is she wanted to give her email address so that I could send it to her. I made no offer because I thought she was somewhat the shy sort. She smiled and said nothing. After about five minutes, while I was still indulging the kid with my camera, she asked for one to be taken with her and the kid together. I knew the email address was coming. Five minutes later she passed me a little piece of paper with her phone number on it. Coincidentally, we were getting down at the same stop. She asked me to call her so that she may give me her email address to which I could send her the photos if I would. I agreed to that and she quickly disappeared in the opposite direction to which I had to go in.
Later that evening I went to Mill Avenue, the downtown. I went with a book in hand because there's a bookstore (Borders for those of you familiar with it) nearby and I had a feeling that I would get bored of the costumes. I took a quick scan of the two sides of that street. It was mostly what I'd seen in the previous two years: Young girls in slutty costumes showing plenty of meat, guys in scary costumes, and kids in cute costumes feeling a want of attention from all the elders furiously trying in vain to catch each other's attention. I went into the bookstore and sat reading till the store closed. As I sat there, I thought of that mom and her kid who were merely returning from the kid's school as on any routine day. It amused me to think of the curious game of Chance in which the kid got completely unexpected gifts of chocolates from strangers whom he'd never asked for "Trick or treat?", photographs of himself to admire from another stranger, and compliments on his delightful costume from drunkards and drug peddlers, while in stark contrast there were gathered the several hundreds crowded into this one street desperately seeking attention, and may be a bit of 'luck' in their own notion of it.
Here are some pictures:
Later that evening I went to Mill Avenue, the downtown. I went with a book in hand because there's a bookstore (Borders for those of you familiar with it) nearby and I had a feeling that I would get bored of the costumes. I took a quick scan of the two sides of that street. It was mostly what I'd seen in the previous two years: Young girls in slutty costumes showing plenty of meat, guys in scary costumes, and kids in cute costumes feeling a want of attention from all the elders furiously trying in vain to catch each other's attention. I went into the bookstore and sat reading till the store closed. As I sat there, I thought of that mom and her kid who were merely returning from the kid's school as on any routine day. It amused me to think of the curious game of Chance in which the kid got completely unexpected gifts of chocolates from strangers whom he'd never asked for "Trick or treat?", photographs of himself to admire from another stranger, and compliments on his delightful costume from drunkards and drug peddlers, while in stark contrast there were gathered the several hundreds crowded into this one street desperately seeking attention, and may be a bit of 'luck' in their own notion of it.
Here are some pictures:
I feel an emotion is a feeling
A discussion with a friend got me wondering 'what is a feeling?' I thought for a while and the only thing I could conclude was that the feelings are different forms of vanity. But in a sense that might be trivial because all things might ultimately boil down to that. So I went to the lord who provides all the answers. Google's first worthwhile hit was wikipedia. It taught me a valuable lesson in tautology.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Reality professor
Below is a picture of a note that was stuck on one of the professor's doors during his absence. The numbers beginning with 'B' are room numbers in which he might be located. Below that is other places where you might find him available and open to discussion:
Friday, November 07, 2008
Shop till you shop
I just thought of a nice line to represent the consumerist women:
"I'm going shopping for clothes to wear when I'm going shopping for clothes."
"I'm going shopping for clothes to wear when I'm going shopping for clothes."
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Aaj kal, mere kuch pal
I've been tagged by Silverine. A few years down the line I fear my memory might not permit me to do such tags so it is very fortunate that I received it now.
The Tag
Two questions in each category answer them and then tag your friends from the blog-o-sphere. Leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and you are all set.
Yesterday
Your oldest memories...
The oldest memories that 'I' can recall are probably from the third standard. I recall having a fat friend called Jaganath whom I really admired for some reason(yeah, oldest memories are like that only!). I had a friend called 'Vaidish' who was the principal's son and I was strangely excited at being his friend. I viewed the principal of the school with the same kind of awe with which a religious man might view god. So I was pals here with Jesus no less, and always felt a special thrill to be going around shoulder-to-shoulder with such an important man! Then what I have a very vivid memory of is this incredible thing called 'soya milk' which used to be served chilled in little steel containers at the lunch hour from a steel drum for Re. 1 by one of the 'aayah's . There would be a mad rush for it, and that drink always felt like ambrosia to me. I never lost my desire for it but they stopped the supply that year or the next :( I also remember our 'pochaiah' ringing the bell after every period. (I believe that was his name and he was actually the peon, but I was for a very long time under the impression the guy who rings that bell is called 'pochaiah'.) I also remember a guy called 'Sunil' who was actually the school watchman's son. I have a distinct recollection of his face with his half-chipped front tooth. I remember his clothes were always very yellow(we had to wear white shirts). I knew he came from the hut behind one of the classes. I understood that he was poor. I remember feeling sad about it. I remember him as being an extremely fast runner. I greatly admired him for that. I wanted to run like him. I also remember that this other guy called 'sohail' used to beat me in running. I must've taken my running very seriously back then.
What were you doing ten years ago?
I was a stranger in my own home :( Perhaps many of you don't know this but I was in the US during my 7th because my dad had to come to the US on some research assignment for a couple of years and he wanted the whole family to be with him for the last year before returning. When we went back, I was quite lost. I remember that when I first went back to my school, I came across my third standard teacher. I knew her well so I wished to make a salutation. But I didn't know whether to say 'hello' as I was used to saying or to say 'namaste ma'am' with the hands pressed against each other as we were used to doing in school. I think I ended up saying hello with my hands pressed together. I had a hard time in school that year having become very stupid from staying in school in the US I suppose, and my ambitious dad sent me to sanskrit and mathematics tuitions. I hated the mathematics tuitions because the teacher was a tyrant but I liked the sanskrit teacher so I really began to enjoy the sanskrit subject. Apparently, I had a terribly american accent :( Till my last day in school I used to be mocked for this incident which occurred: On the first day I resumed school, which was a little late, the class teacher asked me to stand up and introduce myself. I gave my name. Then he asked me where I stayed. I replied, "Yellareddyguda" and the whole class including the teacher was in suppressed grins. Apparently it sounded very funny in the american accent. I tried very hard to get rid of the accent after learning that. But the sad part was I never knew there was an accent so I didn't know that I actually sounded different from others. In my head I thought I was speaking exactly like them. So for a while during that year I used to check with friends after random periods of time to see if I was speaking normally yet :(
Today
Today was an interesting day. I had lunch with my groupmate, his girlfriend and his girlfriend's groupmates. The whole lunch we sat discussing politics and had some interesting discussions. I had on an earlier day got sucked into helping out with some propagating materials science event in the evening. On that day I thought it would be fun to help out, which it was but then I also really wanted to work today because I was trying to understand some results so I was a bit disappointed about that. However, there was some work I had to do for collaborators that was going to do me no good and I got done with that so that pain's out of the way and I can deal with my work in peace the rest of this week. Also, I am currently listening to 'aaro viral neeti' by KJ Yesudas. I just love the man's voice! Wish I had a voice like his.
If you build a time capsule what would it contain?
Time capsules are too hard to comprehend, but taken to mean what's most precious to me, I'd say my family.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow I hope to do the work I didn't do today.
What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?
I don't think so far ahead any more. I am happy I'm not in a position where I can answer that question. I am afraid of being in a position where I can answer that question. Also, in general, I'm finding it very hard to think about the future. I find that my notions of 'the future' are very vague. Although I say stuff like, "I'm looking to graduate in two years" to the most common question asked me, the truth is, I'm not looking to graduate in two years. I have no idea when I want to graduate. Its not something I think about seriously. I also find it pointless to think about questions that reach so far ahead. The complex network of possibilities almost make the question seem absurd. I bring this up because I also find this to be the case with the near future. I am highly unable to think about the future in a sincere way because I realise that in truth I can't even define my present state of mind and the present course of action I'll follow. Making plans for the future seems a futile waste of time. Those are my present thoughts on the future.
I tag:
jk
Ramku
ED
CC
Turkey/Hari/Babe(if you guys still write on your blogs?)
The Tag
Two questions in each category answer them and then tag your friends from the blog-o-sphere. Leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and you are all set.
Yesterday
Your oldest memories...
The oldest memories that 'I' can recall are probably from the third standard. I recall having a fat friend called Jaganath whom I really admired for some reason(yeah, oldest memories are like that only!). I had a friend called 'Vaidish' who was the principal's son and I was strangely excited at being his friend. I viewed the principal of the school with the same kind of awe with which a religious man might view god. So I was pals here with Jesus no less, and always felt a special thrill to be going around shoulder-to-shoulder with such an important man! Then what I have a very vivid memory of is this incredible thing called 'soya milk' which used to be served chilled in little steel containers at the lunch hour from a steel drum for Re. 1 by one of the 'aayah's . There would be a mad rush for it, and that drink always felt like ambrosia to me. I never lost my desire for it but they stopped the supply that year or the next :( I also remember our 'pochaiah' ringing the bell after every period. (I believe that was his name and he was actually the peon, but I was for a very long time under the impression the guy who rings that bell is called 'pochaiah'.) I also remember a guy called 'Sunil' who was actually the school watchman's son. I have a distinct recollection of his face with his half-chipped front tooth. I remember his clothes were always very yellow(we had to wear white shirts). I knew he came from the hut behind one of the classes. I understood that he was poor. I remember feeling sad about it. I remember him as being an extremely fast runner. I greatly admired him for that. I wanted to run like him. I also remember that this other guy called 'sohail' used to beat me in running. I must've taken my running very seriously back then.
What were you doing ten years ago?
I was a stranger in my own home :( Perhaps many of you don't know this but I was in the US during my 7th because my dad had to come to the US on some research assignment for a couple of years and he wanted the whole family to be with him for the last year before returning. When we went back, I was quite lost. I remember that when I first went back to my school, I came across my third standard teacher. I knew her well so I wished to make a salutation. But I didn't know whether to say 'hello' as I was used to saying or to say 'namaste ma'am' with the hands pressed against each other as we were used to doing in school. I think I ended up saying hello with my hands pressed together. I had a hard time in school that year having become very stupid from staying in school in the US I suppose, and my ambitious dad sent me to sanskrit and mathematics tuitions. I hated the mathematics tuitions because the teacher was a tyrant but I liked the sanskrit teacher so I really began to enjoy the sanskrit subject. Apparently, I had a terribly american accent :( Till my last day in school I used to be mocked for this incident which occurred: On the first day I resumed school, which was a little late, the class teacher asked me to stand up and introduce myself. I gave my name. Then he asked me where I stayed. I replied, "Yellareddyguda" and the whole class including the teacher was in suppressed grins. Apparently it sounded very funny in the american accent. I tried very hard to get rid of the accent after learning that. But the sad part was I never knew there was an accent so I didn't know that I actually sounded different from others. In my head I thought I was speaking exactly like them. So for a while during that year I used to check with friends after random periods of time to see if I was speaking normally yet :(
Today
Today was an interesting day. I had lunch with my groupmate, his girlfriend and his girlfriend's groupmates. The whole lunch we sat discussing politics and had some interesting discussions. I had on an earlier day got sucked into helping out with some propagating materials science event in the evening. On that day I thought it would be fun to help out, which it was but then I also really wanted to work today because I was trying to understand some results so I was a bit disappointed about that. However, there was some work I had to do for collaborators that was going to do me no good and I got done with that so that pain's out of the way and I can deal with my work in peace the rest of this week. Also, I am currently listening to 'aaro viral neeti' by KJ Yesudas. I just love the man's voice! Wish I had a voice like his.
If you build a time capsule what would it contain?
Time capsules are too hard to comprehend, but taken to mean what's most precious to me, I'd say my family.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow I hope to do the work I didn't do today.
What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?
I don't think so far ahead any more. I am happy I'm not in a position where I can answer that question. I am afraid of being in a position where I can answer that question. Also, in general, I'm finding it very hard to think about the future. I find that my notions of 'the future' are very vague. Although I say stuff like, "I'm looking to graduate in two years" to the most common question asked me, the truth is, I'm not looking to graduate in two years. I have no idea when I want to graduate. Its not something I think about seriously. I also find it pointless to think about questions that reach so far ahead. The complex network of possibilities almost make the question seem absurd. I bring this up because I also find this to be the case with the near future. I am highly unable to think about the future in a sincere way because I realise that in truth I can't even define my present state of mind and the present course of action I'll follow. Making plans for the future seems a futile waste of time. Those are my present thoughts on the future.
I tag:
jk
Ramku
ED
CC
Turkey/Hari/Babe(if you guys still write on your blogs?)
Sunday, November 02, 2008
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