Randomness Redefined

Zoro

2016-03-07T21:38:00.000+05:30

Sometime back, I was asked to answer this question on Quora. The question was whether Oda-san has portrayed Zoro and Sanji as equals in the anime until the Zou arc. I don't feel like answering the question, but I've thought about why I like Zoro better than Sanji, and why Zoro is one of my top 3 favorite characters in One Piece (after Luffy and Shanks).

Ambition

Each member of the crew has it's own ambition; little is known about the ambition of those outside.

Luffy - to become the Kaizokuo - the king of pirates, which as per his definition is the person with the most freedom on the seas.
Zoro - to become the best swordsman in the world.
Sanji - to discover All Blue and become the best cook.
Nico Robin - to uncover the secrets of the Void Century and, become the best historian and scholar.
Franky - to become the best shipwright and carpenter of the Kaizokuo.
Nami - to draw a map of the world.
Chopper - to become the best doctor.
Usopp - in his own words, he wants to be a brave warrior of the sea, but according to his talents, he is poised to become a world class sniper like his father.
Brook - he seeks to conquer Grand Line but after his rebirth, his ambition is less clearly defined. To meet with Laboon again, perhaps?

Based on ambition and the effort taken towards it, Zoro is the one whose combination of seriousness and how close he is to his target is closest. In fact, among everyone's definition of ambition, Zoro's is the one which entails violence by default. One does not simply play with swords and become the best swordsman in the world. One could argue how Usopp's doesn't qualifies, but if you threw a gun in Usopp's hands and asked him to shoot someone, I'd be hard pressed to be convinced that he would.

Portrayal of character

Being the captain of the ship, Luffy steps up at the most important points in the story; most notably being at Eneis Lobby when he asks Sogeking to shoot the world government's flag down. What. A. Scene.

This scene is testament to the seriousness that Luffy has over his ambition of becoming the Kaizokuo. It is only matched by Zoro's rebuttal when Luffy says he is going to fetch Usopp who leaves the crew, fighting over the Merry. Another great scene. I'm yet to see another character from the Mugiwara no Ichimi displaying the same amount of seriousness.

Aiming to be the best swordsman in the world, Zoro's character comes with an implicit smugness and blood thirstiness. The latter makes his, a very compelling character amongst the Ichimi(most of whose fights involve minimal or no blood thirst). There are many fights where Luffy's life is on the line and he exclaims that he is going to kick the antagonist's ass, but he isn't out for blood. Zoro is. Notable scenes are

Ashura at Water 7 - "You got cocky and said too much, you bastard!"

and Daishinkan at Punk Hazard - "Have you seen a fierce animal but were convinced that it wouldn't attack? I haven't!"

Near death scenarios

With respect to near death scenarios, Zoro has had the most that prompt you to say, "Man, that guy got really fucked up by this dude." The fights with Mihawk near the Baratie, the fight with Daz Bones and the portion where he decides to absorb Luffy's damage from fighting Odz against Kuma are some of the best sections of the story without contention. In each of these, you get to see Zoro being visibly on the edge of death. I'd be hard picked to choose between the three as Zoro's best.

Zoro's biggest badass moment

Fights

Chimping off the previous section, Zoro has had some pretty amazing fights and opponents. Daz Bones and Kaku are among my favorite fights in One Piece. I've always felt that the amount of detail in fights was less (much less!) compared to Naruto which has some of the best fight choreographies till date. But these 2 fights compensate me for it partially.
Zoro's inner peace moment where he can cut steel and not cut a leaf leaves(excuse the pun) me with goosebumps how many ever times I watch it. The huamndrills' challenge comes close.

Inner peace

It is difficult to have a character with such a dark and intimidating personality yet make gags, which the grand master Oda-san pulls off amazingly well with Zoro's lack of sense of direction. Zoro is an amazing character and it's tough to not have him in your favorite characters list. I'm sure you'll agree. :)

Cowboy Bebop

2016-02-28T15:48:00.000+05:30

I’ve finally completed watching Cowboy Bebop. Like most other anime, I came to know of Cowboy Bebop through Animax when I was in school. Late night telecast schedule and curfew for sleep at home ensured I couldn’t watch it while I was in school. In a sense, I’m glad that it was that way because I’m not sure I would have appreciated the show as much then.

I must admit that I’ve previously tried to watch the show only to give up 2 or 3 episodes in, due to the slow pace of those episodes. But this time around, after having had more experience with slow screenplay (watching movies like The Godfather, Everest etc), I got around to completing the entire anime. I haven’t watched the movie yet. I’ll probably watch it over the next weekend.

Spike’s encounter with members of the Red Dragon syndicate, Jet’s connections in the ISSP and Faye’s struggle to stave off her unknowingly accumulated debt keep the plot vivaciously gripping. To have made characters to likable in 26 episodes with a plot that doesn’t dabble much with righteousness or panache as it does with realism is commendable.

Jet Black’s episodes Black Dog Serenade and the one with Alisa were good, but they didn’t strike a chord with me. He's my least favorite character among the lot. Megumi Hayashibara has done a fantastic job of voicing Faye Valentine. Faye is my favorite among them all(yup, even more than Spike). Ed was the most fun character I've seen in a long time.

While rummaging through the interwebz about Cowboy Bebop, I found that there was a plan to make a live action movie of it, starring Keanu Reeves. After having seen him in John Wick, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about his being cast as Spike Speigel. But if it the project does make it off the shelf again, I’d definitely see it.

My favorite episode of the bunch was originally Pierrot Le Fou (Oh, how it changed my opinion about CowboyBebop being slow!), but it was later replaced by Hard Luck Woman. I enjoyed watching Cowboy Bebop. Would recommend, if not for anything else, for the soundtrack!

Aroma

2016-02-09T20:41:00.003+05:30

If you were a person in Asia with a habit of frequently catching cold, chances are that Axe oil is your great friend. Unless you are one of those who prefers the Vicks inhaler, that is. I belong to the former category. What was once a relief during cold, gradually morphed into something that I used to avoid motion sickness. Given that I travel over 2 hours every day, and Bengaluru’s roads have the habit of not being straight for more than a kilometer and a half inside the city, a vial of Axe oil stays inside my bag always. One fine day, I use it on the way to office and shove it into the side pouch where all last minute things and generally my earphones go(think of it as a low latency cache, #selfthoo).

Bengaluru’s weather is nice unanimously if you’re from a place that has both extremes of weather. But if you’re from a place like Chennai, where the seasons are Summer, more Summer and 11/10 Summer, Bengaluru’s winters will bear the curses that you hurl at it for making you shiver. Accompanying your shivering is the coconut oil bottle’s irritating habit of freezing up. That’s what happened to one of the roommates at the Madiwala house. Except that, roommate is insistent on oiling his hair that weekend day. Roommate goes to kitchen to heat the oil up, except that he holds the bottle too close to the stove :D

The bottom of the bottle melts slightly with oil oozing out of the newly created deformation. Roommate grabs one of the unused measuring cups they give with Surf excel(the only other regularly bought provision other than coconut oil at the Madiwala house).

Hacks being hacks, in this case, the bottle’s width being small enough to fit inside the cup, but the length tall enough to tip over the bottle and cup placed on the study table(Is it even morally justifiable to call it, that? Although it sounds better than “Temporary shoving open area” ).

My earphones also being one of the occupants of the temporary shoving open area, becomes a candidate for an oil massage. I try to rub it off using paper and my own oil deprived hair, but the flavor on the oil(oh yes! Did I tell you it was flavored oil?) is too strong. Meh, I didn’t care as long as it was working.

Fast forward to Monday morning, and as usual after I board the cab, I take out my vial of Axe oil, take a pinch drop of it, only for my nose to curse at the pungent nonsense that was the aroma of Axe oil’s eucalyptus, pudina and coconut oil’s fragrant flavor all mixed up. It surely didn’t help with the motion sickness, I can tell you that.

If you’ve read till this, you would've probably realized that there is no point to this post. I’ll just leave you with a moral- don’t fucking heat a plastic coconut oil bottle over a gas stove.

Something that was cool

2015-04-11T22:04:00.003+05:30

So I came across this question on Quora, and wanted to write an answer for it. But the answer I had in mind, was neither far back to qualify as the past, nor did it answer the second part of the question (triviality). However nobody does it these days, or so I think.

This was in the summer of 2010 when I was learning C programming. It was a crash course and our lab had only Turbo C++ compilers. We used to have lectures where syntax was explained and we used to try them out in labs. To explain the concept of loops, we were explained with an example program which printed different triangles and quadrilaterals. Discussion after hours led to a clever combination of using clrscr(), setxy() and rand() function in combination with mod to create so called screensavers, in the form of marquees, shapes that appeared in a random fashion. It was cool then. For people who were just learning to program.

An unexpected visit for the second time

2015-01-29T23:24:00.002+05:30

So this happened last December (2013) that I had to travel to Bangalore from Coimbatore. I had never travelled in a AC sleeper bus on an overnight trip. The scheduled arrival time for the bus was 5 am, so I promptly kept the alarm at 4 30 and slept off. The occasion was that Kurukshetra's Xceed was happening at Bangalore and I was going to help host a quiz.

But it so happened that, the bus ended up reaching half an hour earlier, and by the time the bus had gone past all the alighting points, past Majestic and to the shed, I was sound asleep. That being the last set of beds in the bus, the conductor didn't notice me as well. He was irate and gave me a good bunch of appreciative words as Suprabatham, waking me up at the shed. I got down and it was cold, very cold! I reached the main road at around 4 10 and took an auto to IIM-B. Never really managed to find out where that shed was or how long I had overshot Majestic.

A couple of days back, my cab driver took an alternate route and I found myself crossing a familiar temple to a road under a bridge. Then I remembered this incident. The area was Chamrajpet.

Fun times. If you never ~~failed,~~ overslept, you never lived.

GoIbibo: broadcasting travel plans since God knows when!

2015-01-28T19:04:00.000+05:30

I have GoIbibo app installed on my phone. Never having used it is another story, but today a notification on my locked screen alarmed me!

Who the fish is Rahul? I have had some problems in the recent past because of the previous owner of my current phone number not having updated his number at all online locations, but that was someone called Victor, Rahul was a new name. I was curious; so I went to the Account page and saw this.

Good, so nobody was signed in. Anyhow, let me just click on "My Bookings" anyway. And, to my shock and surprise, there are 2 bookings.

I click on one and I see this: an itinerary for 3 people.

Who these people are, I have no idea. Why is their account appearing on my phone also I have no idea. I think it is a problem with user bookings from Guest accounts on GoIbibo. Well done on privacy and security domains, *massive applause*.

If you are using this app, uninstall it. Who knows, which random person is seeing your flight details?

Counting Stars

2015-01-27T13:33:00.002+05:30

It's been a while since I've written anything at all, so I thought I'd let me guilty feelings take a small break by writing a small piece today. We went to Hogenakkal for the weekend, since it was a 3 day weekend (Bless Republic Day for falling on a Monday).

It has been quite a few years since I had been to a falls and taken a bath at a natural waterfall (6-7 years? I don't even remember the last time, it was with Grandpa at Kutralam I think. Kishkintha doesn't qualify.) But the most enjoyable part of the trip was stargazing.

Chennai and Bangalore are too polluted to see anything in the sky at all, but the sky above the Forest Officers' guest house at Hogenakkal was crystal clear. So many stars visible that I almost cried. I am not a big fan of identifying constellations (in fact, I don't know if I am-- I haven't done it much during my childhood) but identifying Orion constellation was overjoying. The inner kid in me was awakened. I was also able to identify Canis Major with the help of an image that I was able to Google up which showed constellations in their relative positions. It isn't much, but it was fun. I should try picking this up as a hobby.

Also writing. Must write more often. That's all for now.

New things every day!

2014-07-20T15:30:00.001+05:30

I hate this platform. Blogger sucks these days. But it would be such a pity to let this blog die, so I thought I would write something here, now and then. Does anyone even read personal blogs these days? Medium is a wonderful platform, but one doesn't get the feeling of ownership there. Nothing like, "This is my space!".

So, it has been 2 full weeks since I have come to Bangalore. Yaay me. This exact time 14 days back, I was starting from home to the airport. Wow, time runs fast and slow at the same time. You know the thing about which people say? The one where they find money in their clothes and feel happy? Lol, at first I thought how does one even forget putting money in their own pockets. But after coming here, I realize it does happen. And, I also realize that that shit happens only when you wash and fold your own clothes. I found 20 rupees in my pocket today. And, believe me, its more of a relief feeling than a happy feeling. Every day is fun :D

A Short Story

2014-03-03T11:14:00.001+05:30

Two little kids playing tug of war.
Much enthusiasm, much fun, unaware of the strength of the rope.
If it broke, both of them would fall.
If one let go, the other would fall.

How to reach TP-Link Service Centre in Chennai

2013-12-07T08:37:00.000+05:30

For a change, I thought I'd write something useful. I went to the TP-Link Service Centre in West Manbalam, it was quite an ordeal finding that place that I decided to write a post with the route so that someone else looking for it, might find it easier in the future.

Its located in a small dead-end street(what do they call it, cul-de-sac?) called Swamynathan Street. Its not listed on Google maps. If you are going from Mambalam railway station, take an auto, or be prepared to walk for a while.
From the station:
1. Get down the West Mambalam side(not the Ranganathan street side).
2. Find Station Road(which is the one that you'll find as soon as you come out the station and turn left).
3. Go straight through Station Road till you reach an intersection with Lakeview Road. Turn right here.
4. The first left from Lakeview road will be Jubilee road. Take that left and keep walking. There's a small S-bend. Keep walking past it.

5. You'll reach the end of that road, past Anjugham school. Take a right there.
6. The first left again, will be a street called Raju street. Keep walking till you find the 2nd right. That is Swamynathan street.
7. Almost the end of the street, on the left, is a small building called E-caps, which is the TP-Link service centre.

The map is as follows.

Of course, there are parallel streets that you can use.

Isn't it simple?

2013-09-21T20:49:00.003+05:30

"You know I just realized."

"Realized what?"

"That its so simple."

"What's so simple? "

"We need only remember to board the bus."

"Umm, do you need a doctor?"

"Haha, no. Wait, let me explain."

"Listening."

"We're standing in a bus stop. Listening to music. Like usual, like always. Someone comes by, and starts a conversation and you take off one ear of the headphones."

"Okay?"

"Its usually boring. So we go back to listening to music after a while. But sometimes, the conversation gets really interesting. You are enjoying it."

"What does this have to do with the bus?"

"The point is, after a while, that person boards the bus and leaves."

"So?"

"So we must board a bus as well. Not one that the person before boarded, but the one we were originally supposed to."

"What if I forget that during the course of conversation? You said its so interesting and all that."

"Yes precisely. That is why we must always remember to board the bus."

The bus came. They boarded it.

Preparations!

2013-09-11T13:21:00.000+05:30

It so happens that the people over at TNEB took the concept of randomness and its applications in industry a little too seriously. TNEB stands for Tamil Nadu Electricity Board if you didn't know. However the truly random powercuts of TNEB make it so famous worldwide that important cryptograhic applications are now replacing the flipping of a coin with "Whether there is power in Tamil Nadu or not?"

Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. There is this contingency plan for whenever power fails. Its as follows.

Step 1: Check battery level in phone and laptop.

Step 2: Switch off all other plugged in devices on the spike buster except the laptop charger.

Step 3: No matter what charge the laptop has currently, jump for that cord and plug it in.

Step 4: Reduce brightness in laptop to minimum, stop Wifi and Bluetooth. Do the same for phone. Bluetooth might not apply in case.

Step 5: Call dibs on that one plug which is powered by the inverter. If there are siblings, get ready for war.

Step 6: If control over inverter plug is lost, subscribe for a daily mobile internet pack on phone(if you are not a regular user of mobile internet), and plug it in. Tether to internet.

Last and important step,

Step 7: Pray power comes back.

May your survive the power outage, ladies and gentlemen. These are tough times.

One step forward, One step back

2013-07-07T12:10:00.000+05:30

Recently, the inventor of the mouse prototype, Douglas Engelbart died. While there have been many eulogies, obituaries and praises stating that the mouse was the best invention after the computer, I beg to disagree.

Though, it cannot be refuted that the mouse is one of the iconic inventions ever, which almost changed the perspective of a computer, with GUI coming in, made it more user-friendly to the common man, I am going to take the computer geek's perspective here to stand on saying that the mouse is overrated.

Moving one's hand back and forth between the keyboard and mouse? Few things can be more irritating than it. It is funny how Microsoft had to develop a game called 'Solitaire' to make people understand the concept of 'drag and drop'. Who needs the middle button when you have space and shift+space? Page up and page down? Who needs left click when you have Enter? Who needs right click when you have the 'drop down list' key ( the one between right Alt and Ctrl ).

An online experience such as filling out a form, or a list, is almost twice as fast, using keyboard alone than keyboard+mouse. But again all this, this comes from a computer undergrad, who sits in front of the computer almost 12 hours a day, meaningfully during weekdays, and meaninglessly and aimlessly so, during the weekend. Maybe my hands are tuned towards using the keyboard better.

For me, the fundamental reason for moving away from Facebook is the absence of extensive keyboard shortcuts. Just 'L' and 'C' won't do, man! We need better. Twitter and GMail have recognized the potential of keyboard shortcuts and the speed one can achieve with them and have an amazing range of keyboard shortcuts.

All said, I don't hate the computer mouse, I just don't think it deserves the hype that it gets. Especially from the opportunistic pseudo intellectuals who scroll away everyday and come to praise it on the day of demise of its founder alone.

RIP Douglas Engelbart.Your contribution made the computer experience better to the common man.

21 years later

2013-07-06T21:22:00.000+05:30

July 2nd, 1992. My parents' wedding anniversary.

Got my first stipend at Microsoft.

Some days are special, but some are uniquely so. This belongs to the latter.

Visual Treat

2013-06-30T21:35:00.000+05:30

And finally after 3 weeks of its release, we booked tickets to Man of Steel in Hyderabad's famed IMAX at Prasadz Mall. Must say, it was a wonderful experience. After a little hiccups in the route to reaching the theatre, a small comedy of errors, we reached there and met our friends who were to join us for the movie. Here's what I thought about the movie:

It was an absolute visual treat, probably the best movie that I've seen in 3D. I'm a big time Nolan fan, and like him, I don't favour 3D that much. Avengers' 3D didn't impress me. It gave me the headaches. But Man of Steel was different. I actually liked the 3D experience without getting a headache. The theatre was as awesome as it as rumoured to be; though we could've enjoyed a little better had we gotten seats a little farther from the screen ( we sat in the fifth row from the screen and there was no sufficient space between the first row and the screen - poor people whose necks would've hurt sitting in the first row).

As for the movie itself, I kinda liked it, though it wouldn't be in my "Movies to watch a second time" or "Favourite movies". Definitely felt the tinge of Nolan with the non-linears here and there and the development of Clark Kent as a troubled child. It was a new approach and it paid off, unlike previous renditions which supposed Kal-El to be innately comfortable using his prowess and skills. The development of Zod was good in the way that he was potrayed a little stronger than Superman. The super scale damage was typical of Snyder and was a little taken too far, but it was definitely better than "spinning the world backwards to reverse time" crap. I won't be putting any spoilers here, for the sake of poor souls who mightn't have watched yet.

The story, Goyer's rendition was pretty good and could've done with a little better screenplay. As for the downside of the movie, it was Lois Lane through and through. I mean, what the hell man? She is like this Pullayar kovil (Vinayagar temple) appearing at every corner. It was an eyesore. You don't see Rachel helping Batman defeat scarecrow, do you? The whole point of Lois Lane seemed to be forced and quite unnecessary.

However, it was overall a nice experience and my personal opinion is that Henry Cavill might just be the best Superman yet. Definitely looks super cool in the suit. Looking forward to the Justice League movie, even more after reportedly Bale reprising his role of Batman. Do watch, at least for the 3D :)

P.S.: I don't miss the underwear.

P.P.S.: Hans Zimmer = God. What epic background score! :-o \m/

Pride? No, shame actually.

2013-05-31T10:13:00.000+05:30

This samacheer system is a complete failure and waste of good intellect. I've felt it when I teach the kids, how much good, interesting and important portions are left out in the syllabus. These ten of thousands of centum marks are not an indicator of success. They are indicative of failure. One does not achieve success by lowering the standards. It is like pros playing amateur sports. This is spoiling the next generation.

While it is agreeable that the syllabus that previously existed wasn't the best either, it was surely better than what exists today. The samacheer science book which I have read through, is a complete joke. Those who are proud of your kids scoring centum marks, please reconsider. It is not something great. A kid studying 8th standard can be coached to get the same, in 2 months time. I can vouch for it.

Building such a shaky base is the main reason people slack off in their college. Don't blame the college system and the bad teachers in college. That's not the entire story.

Frankly, much disappointed in the 10th board results that were released today. If 29000 people scored centum in math, what the fuck is special about it? What is there to be announced in news with such pride?

Think twice. Don't throw the education system to the dogs. If not already. These kids deserve better. They are bright. They can learn much more. 75 odd state ranks is not something to be proud of. The kid who scored 498/500 will still probably not be happy because his achievement is split with 9 people in a system that is designed for everybody to pass, not the bright to excel.

*Sigh*.

Who I Am

2013-05-18T09:36:00.000+05:30

Its been quite a while since I've blogged. Writer's block? அதுக்கு மொதல்ல writer ah இருக்கணும் ல? Anyway, this is an attempt at resuming the blog, keeping it going, for this is by far the thing(read hobby ) that has lasted more than one year and I would like to keep it that way. This is going to be more like a rant (Oh dear, already started hasn't it?) but I'll try to keep it as short as possible.

The source of this post came from a face-walling epiphany that I had just a few days back when I was clearing up space on my computer by deleting movies that I had at more than 1 location. I ended up having 2 copies of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban and was watching both to decide which was the better quality, to keep and delete the other.

In came, Sirius Black. I have always loved JK Rowling's characters and their corresponding casting in the movies ( though I hate the movies a lot for their plot deviations, inconsistencies with the books ). I hadn't paid much detail into who played Sirius Black because I was in 9th if I recall correctly when I saw Prisoner of Askaban for the first time and I hadn't seen Nolan's Batman until when I was in 12th.

The epiphany came, when I realized that Commissioner Gordon in Nolan's Batman franchise was Sirius Black here in the HP universe. Quite trivial for someone who'd watched both BB and HP-PoA at around the same time, but I face-walled at my ignorance till now. Then I realized how much difference one pair of spectacles make. Gary Oldman __/\__

Spectacles, have occupied a very important part in fiction, largely due to Superman.

Man + Spectacles = Clark Kent.
Clark Kent - Spectacles (+ hidden costume make overs) = Superman.

Then another epiphany (Double, yeah, tough to handle). The technical probability of my being Superman, was much better than me being Batman.

I'm Superman B-) (because being Batman and Ironman are too mainstream.)

P.S.: The author is a fan of Batman and worships Nolan. Those who are in a trolling mood are strictly advised to study for their semester exams. Thank you.

One Million Digits

2013-04-06T15:12:00.001+05:30

This was a fun thing to do on the otherwise boring afternoon.

I was randomly surfing Quora when I received a notification on a question which I'd seen and followed for its humour a while ago and the answer goaded at my curiosity.

When I went to this particular website, the website challenged me to find the particular HTML page where the actual 1,000,000 digits were present. First the website, mockingly and tantalizingly told me to follow the index2.html and inde3.html URLs, which quite obviously didn't have the million digits.

Now, I was irked. A little Googling hack that I'd learned a while back came handy now. I copied the URL of the website, went to Google, and did this.

When searched with "intitle:index.of", Google displays indexed websites on servers which match the search query, and lo and behold, only one search result. After that, it was only matter of clicking the search result, opening the folder containing the website and viewing the 1 million digits.

Not a great accomplishment or anything, I know, but still, it was fun :D

Brace Yourselves!

2013-03-25T16:21:00.000+05:30

No, this is not going to be a post on Game of Thrones, though I'm eagerly awaiting Season 3, which is about to come out this Sunday. Waiting for a TV series, without reading the book ( similarly with manga and anime ) is quite tough but is, at most times, worth the wait. But then, let me not go into something that I claim that this post is not about.

For the past 2 days, there have some really happy teenagers, whose face reactions remind me of these 2 memes.

Seriously, this is the reaction on the faces of those when their parents hand out the keys to their bikes ( Yes, they have bikes already :3 ) or their smartphones ( Oh, don't even get me started ).

The HSC exams ended a couple of days back and to be quite frank, it is only normal that these kids think that they are freed of some serious burden, responsibility and pressure. However, they do seem to have some misconceptions. There are a few general categories, that these "free-birds"( from some random Facebook status ) fall into.

1. The hyperventilating kind : Okay, maybe you screwed up very badly. So, don't bother hyperventilating every time you think about your exams and not sleeping till the day the results are released.

2. The nervous kind : The genuinely nervous kind who know what mistakes they made, and are quite normal about the acceptance and hope that the mistakes don't cost dearly. The performers come under this category mostly.

3. The "Screw-it" kind : The ones to whom these exams were never a big deal in the first place, because making it a big deal would only make things worse.

The normal ones, if you ask me, are the second kind, but in general, to all 3, "WHATEVER HAPPENED, HAPPENED!". Don't gloat over it.

But what is common to all these 3 kinds is that, they think of college as some haven, where all freedom is unrestricted, they become these cool guys with nothing at all to bother about. That, my dear foolish-youngling, is a very very wrong notation.

I won't bother to delve into the specifics of what may/may not happen, but let me assure, college will be very different from your imagination. All I can say is,

Hypocrites!

2013-03-16T18:54:00.001+05:30

Confessions (n) : A supporting word which follows any institution/city/profession, made into a Facebook page and has random crap in it. It is usually followed by the same name with Proposals, and in some extreme cases, Matrimonials!

Off late, there has been a trend which has quite clearly shown how much percentage cowards and attention-seekers make up the Internet. This has been my viewpoint ever since there has been a plethora of confessions pages on Facebook.

The word confession means you do it to get it off your mind. It means you did something really bad, something that haunts your guilty conscience. You tell it to someone who might

(1) console you telling that it probably is not your fault.
(2) critically judge you, but you probably wanted it; that's why you confessed in the first place.
(3) end their relationship with you because they were directly affected; that probably again, was what you wanted, because you thought getting it out was better than living with guilt.

However, in this new trend, none of these are met. People who post there are either too jobless to do anything else ( Final years of colleges for those college pages ) or attention seekers who post under different names. Sometimes, these people can't even get their facts right in the story that they are cooking up.

Hell, if you are confessing, and you dont like something, you should shout out loud ! You won't name the person to whom the confession is intended, and obviously you wish to remain anonymous, then for what hair, are you posting? I can only think - " attention seeker ".

Sometimes, its so pathetic that the admins of these pages themselves post stuff, to get the barrel rolling. Half of the time, the confessions are not really confessions but supposedly-comic incidents that happened. At most 1 in every 50 is interesting. Others are so void, that even a seal wouldn't clap. And, I haven't even started talking about the Proposals page. What a drag.

However, those 1 in 50, which are really good, provide great timepass for a person who comes to take some time off at Facebook and relax.

To conclude, I think this says best.

To those who post and pretend to lament on these pages : You truly are hypocrites sirs and madams. Seriously, no one gives a fuck.

Out Loud

2013-02-27T19:13:00.000+05:30

There is a guy. You notice him, but there isn't anything that is either queer or intriguing about him. Funny thing is, you can't take your eyes off this guy, and you don't know why. After a short while, the guy notices that you are watching him, there is a glow on his face. He approaches you. He doesn't introduce himself, but apparently is delighted to talk. The conversation begins.

He talks about you, he talks about his queer ideas, views and opinions. You begin to realize the reason for being sucked into this guy. As the conversation begins, you feel the unusual. The stuff he says isn't just out-of-the-way, they are eerie, probably creepy. You realize that he lives in a fantasy, a fantasy where he is happy, a fantasy that he has become one with, probably like the Matrix.

You slowly start to recount, and not only the creeps start, but also it is haunting. You want to leave, but you can't. You don't know if you are just too afraid, or that what he says might just make sense. The fantasy is inviting, tempting, but you know that once you enter, you can never come back.

Would you take his offer? He is probably just dreaming out loud.

This post is dedicated to CBC ( Chennai Bloggers Club ). There was a discussion about favourite songs. This one is one of my all time favourites. Enjoy listening :)

The Calm and the Storm

2013-02-03T21:29:00.002+05:30

Finally, Kurukshetra 2013 ( K!13 ) has ended. It has been a truly wonderful ride. Planning, coordinating, question research, meetings, splits of laughter at random things ( excuse for relaxation ), proof-reading, goof-ups, the joy of breaking milestones, the pleasure of hearing compliments on the questions, and the satisfaction of successfully hosting 4 events! Riddles of the Sphinx, Sherlock!, Reverse Coding and SciTech quiz :) It has been exhausting at times, tiring at others, but still very enjoyable.

Yes, the calm after the storm has come.

Somehow, today, the day after K! 13 has ended, I feel like Sindbad. Sindbad went on each adventure, surviving the storms and other dangers, finally returning home safe. At the end of each adventure, Sindbad would swear never to undertake such an adventure again, believing he preferred the calm to the storm. But then, an adventurer's heart is an adventurer's heart. The calm gets boring. Sindbad goes on another adventure.

I like to compare myself to Sindbad. Today, the day that I've waited for all the frenzy to end, has been uneventful. I am quite bored. Gearing up for another adventure? Let us see. From the start of my blog, all my posts have been for something at least, if not nothing. But for the first time, I have written this with no rhyme, nor reason, no point nor purpose, no message no moral; only because I'm bored. Waiting for Techofes! Before that, assessments, here I come! ( the adventure that I deserve, but not the one I need, right now) :-P

I Just Dont See The Point!

2013-01-25T20:42:00.001+05:30

This has been as much on my mind as much as it has been in the recent news. I would have had to make a few disclaimers before starting, but then, who cares ? When there is utmost care, there is controversy. When will there be not?

This post is about 'Viswaroopam' and all that is surrounding it. I think there are a few valid points on my mind.

1. I am no die-hard fan of Kamal Hassan, but I like his acting. Some of his movies like Panchathanthiram, Pammal K Sambandham and Vasool Raja MBBS are timeless comedies. Epic, how many ever times you watch 'em. Having this in mind, I think there ought to be some respect for the man before you starting yelling, "Ouch, my sentiments are hurt."

2. The movie's censorship certificate was signed with a Muslim on board. If his sentiments were hurt, it would have been an issue with the censor board. I just don't get the point, so let me iterate what I've understood.
--> I haven't seen the movie, same goes for you.

--> I don't even know if I'll like the movie if I see it, same goes for you.

--> I dont think Kamal Hassan's itinerary goes like, "Today : make 2 scenes hurting Muslim sentiments."

So, what's wrong ? Which sentiments of yours exactly got hurt yet ?

3. Who exactly do you represent ? 100 % of your community ? Every single one of them ? All their sentiments are hurt ? How do you know ? You took a poll ? You asked them ? You know it by Divine Intervention ?

4. Maybe, it is all true. Maybe the movie does contain such scenes. But there is a way to handle all that. Let the movie release, observe the first day reviews, and if people feel so, then go ahead; ban it. Even permanently then. But what idiocy is this to ban a movie even before it has released ? Aren't you just being narrow-minded and skeptical ?

5. Every single rationally sane person has equal amount of respect for all religion and believes that the ultimate goal of all religion lead to God. Any person can judge if some particular sentiment has been hurt or not.

6. Kamal Hassan has been a man surrounded by controversies; public and private life. His different attempt at DTH release before theatrical release, was an attempt at publicity definitely, but the controversy surrounding that, would've been acceptable. The controversy that is going on right now, is the last thing Kamal Hassan would've ever wanted.

If you went all TL;DR style,

I think the ban is stupid. I don't agree with it. Who knows? Maybe even a few Muslims might agree with me. All things said, this is only my personal opinion and hence, if you don't agree with my viewpoint, I'm sure we can agree to disagree.

I really hope to watch the movie and decide for myself whether sentiments are hurt or not!

Farewell 2012.

2012-12-31T18:41:00.000+05:30

Farewell 2012.
Every year has been different in its own way, and 2012 hasn't definitely been the best, not even by a longshot. It has been a long, weary and trying year and definitely a good many lessons from it.

1. Shit happens.

Yes, not everything happens as per one's expectations. One can either sit, mope, cry out loud, attract sympathy and blame Fate or one can get up, brush your own shoulders, move on.

2. Disappointment is ephemeral.

Disappointment is a waste of time. Expectations are common of everyone, but when what is expected doesn't happen, coming down with disappointment is a very good way to waste time.

3. Depression is self-created and self-destroyed.

Be happy with what you still got, even if its the size of a coin. What you lost, might be your fault, but you still have, is definitely your talent.

4. Luck is a bitch.

Luck has a queer way of favouring someone when they are completely not dependent on it.

5. There are moments.

Here and there, in the dark corners of life, find the fleeting fireflies, those moments of true happiness and joy. Remember them, for they are worth remembering.

6. Life goes on.

Whatever happens life goes on. Don't ever think that the road has ended.

7. New-year resolutions are a waste of time.

Just because the calendar date changes from 31/12 to 1/1 doesn't mean, and somebody asks you, "Dude, any resolutions?", doesn't mean you gotta give 'em one. If you were gonna start doing something, any time was a good time. If you waited until today, saying, "I'll do it from the new year!", believe me, from experience, it hasn't been so very successful.

8. Finally, you are you. You are fine, you are perfect in your own way.

Have a good year ahead! I hope to, too. Welcome 2013.

His Idea of a Perfect End!

2012-12-02T10:39:00.000+05:30

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 34; the thirty-fourth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for the month is "Of-Course, I'm insane"

Charles sat in the balcony of his villa, sipping his morning tea. His mind was immersed in thoughts. He had been so, since he saw his face in the mirror that morning. He was thinking about the past 25 years and all that he'd been through. He was having a dialogue inside his head.

"Was it really worth it?", he asked himself.

"The fun part or the aftermath?"

"Overall. I don't even remember where it stopped being fun."

"Oh of course. It was 25 years ago."

"Anyway, I have to put it down somewhere."

"Biography?"

"Nah, autobiography. Can't trust anyone these days."

He set out to get himself his laptop. His full name was Charles Westmoreland and he was 65 years old. In his prime, he had lived a life that was certainly 'Larger than Life'. His adventures, travels and discretion was what had been keeping him alive for so long. For, one does not so easily disappear and is never to be seen again.

Charles first sought out to detail his travel course, how he exchanged the money discretely, the property he'd bought in places where he could escape three times over before the cops could even come near his home. After making a full mental count, he started typing his first chapter, "In the past 25 years, I've been to 47 countries. But I am no voyager. My name is Charles Westmoreland. But I'm better known as.........."

He didn't feel the need to watch out for publishers. He had already stirred up the news once. He was prepared to do it again. But only this time, he had already decided the outcome. They should never get to him. He would do it himself.

He had stopped running for the past 5 years. The cops had almost given up. They only put up a show that they were still on it by proposing silly and bizarre theories once in a blue moon but frequent enough that people wouldn't start asking questions. However, after all this time, he felt that he had lived enough. He wanted to end on a high note. And, his idea was nothing short of brilliant.

He didn't exactly have to work to survive. Money was never a problem. Discretion was the only problem. He had plenty of time to read. The classics, the fiction, non-fiction what not. He didn't need a biographer. He could do it himself, he thought.

After about a month, when he had finally prepared and revised the draft, proof-read it. He put it in a carefully sealed package and sent it out to a publishing house whose editor he knew to be a big fan of him. The next part, was the tougher.

He had prepared 3 bottles of whiskey. He couldn't drink a sip! His life reeled in front of him. After all, he'd lived enough. Without friends, without relatives, without a family, it was too much. Loneliness was getting to him. This was the best option that was available.

A gunshot was heard. Charles Westmoreland had shot himself in the head.

The next day, the editor of Bloomsbury was in for a surprise. He opened the package that he received and the title read, "Of course, I'm insane! I'm D.B.Cooper"

P.S.: This is a fictional account of the unidentified individual who hijacked a Boeing 727 and got away with $200,000, who was never to be found again, identified only as D B Cooper. His supposed name Charles Westmoreland, is inspired by Prison Break, a TV show that I loved.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. Introduced By: Jayashree Srivatsan, Participation Count: 2