Getting Vocal

The 'Fake' Cities of Syria's Unrest

2011-09-28T00:01:00.000+05:30

It’s been reported briefly by a number of news outlets that a documentary/news show in Syria recently suggested the unrest currently taking place there is not really happening. Instead, they allege it's actually being staged in cinematic replicas of Syrian cities for the Al Jazeera news organization.

That's right: fake cities, built in Qatar by Al Jazeera, occupied by hordes of actors, under the direction of filmmakers to create a false impression of what’s happening on the ground in Syria. Or at least that’s the spin.

Or perhaps more accurately, propaganda. As this post from The New York Times mentions, the station that ran the allegations on September 9 is closely tied to the ruling regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

“Addounia TV is owned by Mohamed Hamsho, who is the brother-in-law of Maher al Assad, the commander of Syria’s Republican Guard and the brother of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.”

The post also links to this video of the broadcast, subtitled in English by a YouTube channel called the Syrian Interpreter and aptly titled "Addounia TV hitting the crack pipe, 9 Sept."

The segment claims that movie-set versions of Syrian cities and public squares have been constructed with the help of American and French directors to dupe the global audience. It’s also suggested that a similar illusion was created in Libya.

“The world and the Libyans were deceived by those replicas that Tripoli fell. With those replicas, Al Jazeera will continue media fabrication and cinematic tricks by shooting scenes of big defections from the Arab Syrian Army and shooting scenes of clashes between some elements who claim being defectors and elements from the regime.”

The report also claims that Al Jazeera has had replicas built of Al Asi Square in the city of Hama, the Clock Square in Homs, and some of the neighborhoods in Idlib. Unconvincing zoom-ins of satellite images purport to back up these allegations.

The construction of a fake city—let alone multiple fake cities—would be a major undertaking. The sheer scale of it makes even the suggestion almost laughable. It calls to mind the climax of the 1974 Mel Brooks film Blazing Saddles, in which a fake version of a town is created to fool a band of thugs intent on terrorizing the locals into leaving. Or the fake war created for TV in Wag the Dog. Or even the theory that the moon landing was filmed on a soundstage.

But if such a monumental building project were to take place, a pretty surreal alternate reality could be created. Maybe the Syrian government could even follow its own line of reasoning and build some fake cities to counter the fake cities they claim Al Jazeera has built. Instead of “staged” conflict, they could film a smoothly-functioning government that respects the will of its people. In Syria right now, a film set in a fake city might be the only place to find such a thing.

--The Atlantic Cities.

The Man who tricked Al Capone and sold the Eiffel Tower... twice!

2011-09-26T23:25:00.001+05:30

Victor Lustig was born in 1890 in what is now the Czech Republic. As a youngster he studied languages. He also studied people: their habits, mannerisms, and especially their weaknesses, and decided to do something in that field instead. By the age of twenty he was a confirmed conman. By the age of thirty he was a confirmed wanted man on the run from police in several European countries. He started over again in the United States and called himself 'Count' because it sounded important. One dupe he conned was Al Capone; the most dangerous criminal in America at that time. The Count knew that the crime lord couldn't be taken in like the others; he would get revenge. Lustig devised something different for the underworld boss.

The count asked Capone to invest $50,000 in a swindle that he claimed he was working on. Lustig promised to double his money in sixty days. The homicidal Capone gave the cash - and a warning of what would happen to Lustig if there was a double-cross. Lustig let the money sit in the bank for sixty days. At the end of that time he went back to Capone with a look of disappointment. He told his investor that the deal feel through. Just before Capone was about to explode, Lustig handed back the $50,000. The crime boss was so impressed with Lustig's honesty (?!) that he rewarded the conman with a thousand dollars. Which is what Lustig expected Capone to do!

In 1925 Lustig was back in Paris with his new friend Dapper Dan, relaxing at an outside cafe. They were in need of money just as they read in the newspaper that the Eiffel Tower was in need of repairs. While others said what was really needed was to tear down the 985 foot structure. Almost immediately the Count thought up a scheme; he would sell Paris' most famous landmark to a scrap metal dealer. He gave himself the title 'Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Mail and Telegraphs'. Dapper Dan would be his secretary. They typed-up letters with Lustig's title printed on them and mailed them out to the five leading scrap metals dealers in Paris. They were asked to come meet with Lustig and his secretary at their room in the fashionable Hotel Crillon. The buyers were told that it had become too costly to repair the Eiffel Tower and that the 7,000 ton steel structure would be sold to the highest bidder to be torn down. They were also told to keep the meeting secret; if the public found out too soon there would be an outcry. The secret bids meant nothing to Lustig. He talked to each client and picked out the man most likely to fall for the scam; the one who seemed most anxious to get ahead.

A week later the chosen victim, Monsieur Poisson, showed up at Lustig's place. He was handed a phony contract that stated that he owned the Eiffel Tower while Lustig was handed a real check. The Count and Dapper Dan quickly cashed their earnings and just as quickly fled France for Austria. Lustig never did say how much he got paid for France's top tourist attraction. Resting in Vienna they scanned the newspapers to see if Poisson went to the police; he didn't. Poisson was too embarrassed to tell anyone what happened. After a month's vacation Lustig and Dapper Dan decided to do it again. This time they used the same techniques but with different results. The scrap metal dealer who was fleeced reported his loss of $100,000 to the police. Once again the Count fled to America.

This time on America, the law caught up with Lustig when he tried to pass off counterfeit dollars. In 1935 he was sentenced to twenty years in Alcatraz prison where he died from pneumonia in 1947. While in prison he was protected from harm by orders from another prisoner... Al Capone.

Memoirs of a Summer Internship.....

2010-11-23T17:22:00.000+05:30

Technically, I was supposed to write a report on my training and how it went… but since the college didn’t require me to submit one, Desai sir left it to me. Last day I went to him and asked him, “Sir, should I write a report…?” he said in his own patented way, slightly lifting his shoulders upto his neck “Tumhari marji, tumko likhna hai to likho nahito dekho bhai …”. And obviously I didn’t write one…ya what the hell…..

So there it goes………it was May 2010……there is this company Mukand at kalwa , where I was inducted for a 25-day training program. Dad got in some jacks to get me in and, there I was standing at the gate of this very very old steel plant which was supposed to be one of the best of its contemporaries. On the first day itself I realized that the first headache I would have to face was the Vitawwa bridge to get there…..for those who are unfamiliar, it is basically a bottle neck under a railway track that leaks of its antiquity. Ok, done with the bridge I am standing in front of this large gate that reads ‘MUKAND’ and I see a lot of workers going in and coming out. I step in; make the gate pass as I’m not yet registered and head towards the HR office. As I walk through the premises it gave me this old feeling of what I was wanting to have the most in my college days; a cool and calm campus long way to the main building. It was a quiet place. The HR office was real creepy…although the HR place is supposed to be the most well groomed place it was a huge turn off. I got it and was kindly escorted by Naveen and got my things done there. Some old guy introduced me to the company and told me that they were putting me in the KSP Mills division wherein I would have to do a lot of documentation work…..sad…I wanted to go on the shopfloor…. Ok , they were basically the ones who decided where to put me in , so without any further questions I headed out. Naveen made a gate pass for me which I still have with me, I was supposed to return it while I left. Some sluggish guy took me to the admin office where I got my id card with just a roll no. written on it and nothing else. It was actually meant for my attendance that was not at all significant and for my meals that were at a ‘very subsidized rate’ as quoted by Naveen. The meals were actually very very inexpensive; in fact I’ve never had a full lunch at INR 6 In my entire life.

Done with my joining procedure I was taken to the so called KSP Mills division. It was a nice place, seemed perfectly like a factory, just what I wanted. I entered the technical cells office and omg, the look that everyone had on their faces was unforgettable. They were blown off their heads. No one actually knew that a girl was coming for training. It was like I was the only girl at the shopfloor in all the three mills, that ofcourse led to a lot of interesting stories. I met Desai sir, a very sweet and kind gentleman. He gave me a review of the entire company.

Basically the company derives its name from its founder whose name was MUKUND, but as it was a very old company, the British came in and named it MUKAND, that way they could pronounce it better. So the company was first established at Lahore in Pakistan but after the partition took place was shifted to kurla and then reshifted to kalwa , hence is called the Kalwa steel plant (KSP). The plant has basically 3 divisions- Kalwa Steel Plant(KSP), Machine Building Division(MBD) and the Electrical division. The mbd guys did most of the machining works. They had very huge machines but was a comparatively smaller section of the plant although they had a new section coming up right near the gate. They basically made EOT cranes and large machine parts like level cranes that are found at ports and large crucibles for furnaces. Our KSP division had many sub-divisions like the Steel Melting Shop (SMS), the bar mill, the blooming mill and the wire rod mill. It also had a short time cycle furnace which I never got to visit. KSP has a lab of its own wherein a lot of NDT and DT apparatus cold be found. I basically worked at the wire rod mill technical cell.

My co-workers were very kind towards me but ofcourse I need not mention the reason. There was Prasad Menon at the M7 level, Desai sir and Choudary sir at the M2 level, Junaid sir at the M1 level , Vaibhav sir at the asst manager level, Sugandhi sir at the junior manager level, Mankar sir was the foreman and Vitthal sir also the same, S R Patil sir and Sawant sir at the draughtman post. I had 3 othe trainees working with me there. There was Deepak from VJTI production engg 4^th year, he was there for six months as a stipendiary sandwich trainee: then there was Pawan who was an MBA Operations Research student and Arvind (Alvin…from Alvin n the chipmunks….that’s the name junaid sir n me kept fr him ) from Manipal production engg 4^th year as non-stipendary sandwich trainees.

It was mostly me, Deepak, Pawan, Junaid sir and Vaibhav sir working together or so. We had lunch together and mostly hung out there, but we also did a lot of serious work on the Shear Machine. Pawan was really calm and cool; he bothered less about his work as he was there for only a few more days. Deepak really troubled me and got me into every kind of trouble that he could think of and I could not. He had a lot of practical knowledge and often bombarded me with a whole lot of questions about things which I never even heard of in the past. It was really tough on some occasions and I would often feel really low. But I’m thankful to him for exposing me to the actual office politics that I’m likely to face in the near future when I would set foot in the market.

The plant was a really old one and used mostly obsolete technology. Tasks that were generally to be done by automation were mostly done by hand. It was although advantageous for me as I got know what the task was actually about….i got to see the core of every mechanism. I mostly worked at the wire rod mill and spent most of the time there. It basically produced steel rods and wires of diameters ranging from 5mm to 32 mm. the steel bars commonly known as charge were first heated well in a BRF(Billet reheating Furnace) also known as the Walking Hearth Furnace. It derived its name from the fact that the billets were moved forward with the help of a walking hearth that had a crank and lever mechanism below the hearth of the furnace. The furnace had 4 zones- preheating zone, heating zone and soaking zone. There was an atomizer at the injector of oil……n so on n so forth….

It was a pleasant and informative experience altogether and I’m really thankful to my seniors for letting me in and showing me around the place. I’m actually looking forward to my next training…..

It all started with a BIG BANG!!

2010-11-21T20:57:00.000+05:30

I caught up with the second season of the famed geeko series....The Big Bang Theory...liked the title track very much.....

Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait...
The Earth began to cool,
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,
That all started with the big bang!

"Since the dawn of man" is really not that long,
As every galaxy was formed in less time than it takes to sing this song.
A fraction of a second and the elements were made.
The bipeds stood up straight,
The dinosaurs all met their fate,
They tried to leap but they were late
And they all died (they froze their asses off)
The oceans and pangea
See ya wouldn't wanna be ya
Set in motion by the same big bang!

It all started with the big BANG!

It's expanding ever outward but one day
It will cause the stars to go the other way,
Collapsing ever inward, we won't be here, it wont be hurt
Our best and brightest figure that it'll make an even bigger bang!

Australopithecus would really have been sick of us
Debating out while here they're catching deer (we're catching viruses)
Religion or astronomy, Encarta, Deuteronomy
It all started with the big bang!

Music and mythology, Einstein and astrology
It all started with the big bang!
It all started with the big BANG!

101 ways to annoy people...

2010-11-19T14:46:00.001+05:30

Sing the Batman theme incessantly.
In the memo field of all your checks, write "for sensual massage."
Specify that your drive-through order is "to go."
Learn Morse code, and have conversations with friends in public consisting entirely of "Beeeep Bip Bip Beeep Bip..."
If you have a glass eye, tap on it occasionally with your pen while talking to others.
Amuse yourself for endless hours by hooking a camcorder to your TV and then pointing it at the screen.
Speak only in a "robot" voice.
Push all the flat Lego pieces together tightly.
Start each meal by conspicuously licking all your food, and announce that this is so no one will "swipe your grub".
Leave the copy machine set to reduce 200%, extra dark, 17 inch paper, 98 copies.
Stomp on little plastic ketchup packets.
Sniffle incessantly.
Leave your turn signal on for fifty miles.
Name your dog "Dog."
Insist on keeping your car windshield wipers running in all weather conditions "to keep them tuned up."
Reply to everything someone says with "that's what YOU think."
Claim that you must always wear a bicycle helmet as part of your "astronaut training."
Declare your apartment an independent nation, and sue your neighbors upstairs for "violating your airspace".
Forget the punchline to a long joke, but assure the listener it was a "real hoot."
Follow a few paces behind someone, spraying everything they touch with Lysol.
Practice making fax and modem noises.
Highlight irrelevant information in scientific papers and "cc:" them to your boss.
Make beeping noises when a large person backs up.
Invent nonsense computer jargon in conversations, and see if people play along to avoid the appearance of ignorance.
Erect an elaborate network of ropes in your backyard, and tell the neighbors you are a "spider person."
Finish all your sentences with the words "in accordance with the prophesy."
Wear a special hip holster for your remote control.
Do not add any inflection to the end of your sentences, producing awkward silences with the impression that you'll be saying more any moment.
Signal that a conversation is over by clamping your hands over your ears.
Disassemble your pen and "accidentally" flip the ink cartridge across the room.
Give a play-by-play account of a persons every action in a nasal Howard Cosell voice.
Holler random numbers while someone is counting.
Adjust the tint on your TV so that all the people are green, and insist to others that you "like it that way."
Drum on every available surface.
Staple papers in the middle of the page.
Ask 1-800 operators for dates.
Produce a rental video consisting entirely of dire FBI copyright warnings.
Sew anti-theft detector strips into peoples backpacks.
Hide dairy products in inaccessible places.
Write the surprise ending to a novel on its first page.
Set alarms for random times.
Order a side of pork rinds with your filet mignon.
Instead of Gallo, serve Night Train next Thanksgiving.
Publicly investigate just how slowly you can make a "croaking" noise.
Honk and wave to strangers.
Dress only in clothes colored Hunters Orange.
Change channels five minutes before the end of every show.
Tape pieces of "Sweating to the Oldies" over climactic parts of rental movies.
Wear your pants backwards.
Decline to be seated at a restaurant, and simply eat their complimentary mints by the cash register.
Begin all your sentences with "ooh la la!"
ONLY TYPE IN UPPERCASE.
only type in lowercase.
dont use any punctuation either
Buy a large quantity of orange traffic cones and reroute whole streets.
Pay for your dinner with pennies.
Tie jingle bells to all your clothes.
Repeat everything someone says, as a question.
Write "X - BURIED TREASURE" in random spots on all of someone's roadmaps.
Inform everyone you meet of your personal Kennedy assassination/UFO/ O.J Simpson conspiracy theories.
Repeat the following conversation a dozen times: "Do you hear that?" "What?" "Never mind, its gone now."
Light road flares on a birthday cake.
Wander around a restaurant, asking other diners for their parsley.
Leave tips in Bolivian currency.
Demand that everyone address you as "Conquistador."
At the laundromat, use one dryer for each of your socks.
When Christmas caroling, sing "Jingle Bells, Batman smells" until physically restrained.
Wear a cape that says "Magnificent One."
As much as possible, skip rather than walk.
Stand over someone's shoulder, mumbling, as they read.
Pretend your computer's mouse is a CB radio, and talk to it.
Try playing the William Tell Overture by tapping on the bottom of your chin. When nearly done, announce "no, wait, I messed it up," and repeat.
Drive half a block.
Inform others that they exist only in your imagination.
Ask people what gender they are.
Lick the filling out of all the Oreos, and place the cookie parts back.
Cultivate a Norwegian accent. If Norwegian, affect a Southern drawl.
Routinely handcuff yourself to furniture, informing the curious that you don't want to fall off "in case the big one comes".
Deliberately hum songs that will remain lodged in co-workers brains, such as "Feliz Navidad", the Archies "Sugar" or the Mr. Rogers theme song.
While making presentations, occasionally bob your head. like a parakeet.
Lie obviously about trivial things such as the time of day.
Leave your Christmas lights up and lit until September.
Change your name to "AaJohn Aaaaasmith" for the great glory of being first in the phone book. Claim it's a Hawaiian name, and demand that people pronounce each "a."
Sit in your front yard pointing a hair dryer at passing cars to see if they slow down.
Chew on pens that you've borrowed.
Wear a LOT of cologne.
Listen to 33rpm records at 45rpm speed, and claim the faster speed is necessary because of your "superior mental processing."
Sing along at the opera.
Mow your lawn with scissors.
At a golf tournament, chant "swing-batabatabata-suhWING-batter!"
Ask the waitress for an extra seat for your "imaginary friend."
Go to a poetry recital and ask why each poem doesn't rhyme.
Ask your co-workers mysterious questions, and then scribble their answers in a notebook. Mutter something about "psychological profiles."
Stare at static on the TV and claim you can see a "magic picture."
Select the same song on the jukebox fifty times.
Never make eye contact.
Never break eye contact..
Construct elaborate "crop circles" in your front lawn.
Construct your own pretend "tricorder," and "scan" people with it, announcing the results.
Make appointments for the 31st of September.
Invite lots of people to other people's parties.

Prayer Before Birth

2010-11-17T14:26:00.005+05:30

A piece of work by Louis Macneice, this is by far the best poem i've read. It was a part of our syllabus in 12th ISC, i fell in love with the poem the first time i read it.... I'm surprised it has managed to stay with me all these years...could'nt help but compile it here...

Written by Anglo-Irish poet Louis McNeice (1907 - 1963) at the height of the Second World War, In the poem, Louis MacNeice expresses his fear at what the world's tyranny can do to the innocence of a child and blames the human race "for the sins that in me the world shall commit".

I am not yet born; O hear me.
Let not the bloodsucking bat or the rat or the stoat or the club-footed ghoul come near me.

I am not yet born, console me.
I fear that the human race may with tall walls wall me, with strong drugs dope me, with wise lies lure me, on black racks rack me, in blood-baths roll me.

I am not yet born; provide me
With water to dandle me, grass to grow for me, trees to talk to me, sky to sing to me, birds and a white light in the back of my mind to guide me.

I am not yet born; forgive me
For the sins that in me the world shall commit, my words when they speak me, my thoughts when they think me, my treason engendered by traitors beyond me, my life when they murder by means of my hands, my death when they live me.

I am not yet born; rehearse me
In the parts I must play and the cues I must take when old men lecture me, bureaucrats hector me, mountains frown at me, lovers laugh at me, the white waves call me to folly and the desert calls me to doom and the beggar refuses my gift and my children curse me.

I am not yet born; O hear me,
Let not the man who is beast or who thinks he is God come near me.

I am not yet born; O fill me
With strength against those who would freeze my humanity, would dragoon me into a lethal automaton, would make me a cog in a machine, a thing with one face, a thing, and against all those who would dissipate my entirety, would blow me like thistledown hither and thither or hither and thither like water held in the hands would spill me.

Let them not make me a stone and let them not spill me.
Otherwise kill me.

November Rain....

2010-11-14T23:27:00.004+05:30

There is this very beautiful thing about the rains....each and every drop of pure and chill-cold water that falls from above is so fulfilling and so cherishing....Nature is so well spun, each and every season has a nouvuae riche sensation, as if the universe is tangled into such a bondage of complicated and mystified secrets, one could hardly imagine.

I love the rains especially when it rains off-season - an element of surprise, and usually when it does so it rains pretty heavily. Today was one such day, it rained, and , it rained well....the drops were so heavy and gravid...when they fell fell on my face, it took me to surprise to how easily and beautifully each and every single drop of the crystal water demeaned the heavy discontentment that hung around me that moment. It all reminde me of the very well known GnR tune.....

When I look into your eyes
I can see a love restrained
But darlin' when I hold you
Don't you know I feel the same
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
And we both know hearts can change
And it's hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain
We've been through this such a long long time
Just tryin' to kill the pain
But lovers always come and lovers always go
An no one's really sure who's lettin' go today
Walking away
If we could take the time to lay it on the line
I could rest my head
Just knowin' that you were mine
All mine
So if you want to love me
then darlin' don't refrain
Or I'll just end up walkin'
In the cold November rain

Do you need some time...on your own
Do you need some time...all alone
Everybody needs some time...on their own
Don't you know you need some time...all alone
I know it's hard to keep an open heart
When even friends seem out to harm you
But if you could heal a broken heart
Wouldn't time be out to charm you

Sometimes I need some time...on my
own Sometimes I need some time...all alone
Everybody needs some time...on their own
Don't you know you need some time...all alone

And when your fears subside
And shadows still remain, ohhh yeahhh
I know that you can love me
When there's no one left to blame
So never mind the darkness
We still can find a way
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
Even cold November rain

Don't ya think that you need somebody
Don't ya think that you need someone
Everybody needs somebody
You're not the only one
You're not the only one

Yesterday....Beatles!!

2010-11-10T11:18:00.003+05:30

This is one of the best songs ever i've heard..i could listen to it all day...Paul and Lennon hav just got there....it touched the strings of my heart...

It goes like this...

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it look as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday

Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be
There's a shadow hanging over me
oh, yesterday came suddenly

Why she had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday

Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
oh, I believe in yesterday

Why she had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday

Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
oh, I believe in yesterday, Mm

It Could Have Been

2010-11-09T22:43:00.002+05:30

A dark and dreary day it could have been,
A funeral procession,
Heads hung in mourning numbers,
A young woman in infinite slumber,
Buried in rich red velvet and dark mahogany;
Her friends and family in agony.
They ask, "Why did she want to leave?
To go, and make us grieve?"
The thick gray headstone might have read,
Our daughter, Forever, we lay her to bed.
Then they'd walk away, weeping
And she'd just be sleeping...

That was the way it could have been,
After weeks and months, maybe ten
Years would go by, and someone would query
"Who was that girl, so young it was eerie,
That she would want to die,
Even before she gave life a try."
Or ask, "Think of her mother, what must she feel?
Does she still think if this is actually real?
Or does she wish her baby will still come home?"
Even though now her soul might roam
In the wide open world she needed so severely,
Despite the people she hurt so badly...

That was almost the way things turned out,
Death seemed the only way to go about
The confusion inside her heart and soul,
That pain added to all other hurts-the whole
Suffering-that came with the package.
All that bottled emotion turned to rage,
She found a self-destructive outlet,
Her way of screaming, but being quiet
Enough for no one to hear
Her pain, and all that fear
Of dying in that grotesque way,
Wanting to go, needing to stay...

That is not the way things are now,
She has learned, and she knows how
To feel pain and cry, letting it all go,
And float away with the breeze, so
She is happier, her mother doesn't ask "Why?"
Her friends don't wear black, marching by
Her grave, her family doesn't weep
At the memories they so painstakingly keep.
Now, all together they can sit in the sunshine,
Making new memories and laughing away the time.
She loves what life gives her, even if it invokes a tear
To form, she is glad to even be here.

by Molly Hudak

I'm totally bored right now.....but i've lots left to do....

2010-09-13T21:24:00.002+05:30

People who are reading this are probably wondering why i'm back at the blog-sphere after so long...........Well, among the numerous outwardly lamest lame reasons....its basically because i'm bored...in better words......missing out on the exuberant dynamics of my life...

I've lots of things to do......i have an entire machine design assembly sheet to be drawn, a lot of write ups to be completed, clean up my room, visit my cousins in the city, wash a pile of slightly dirt clinched clothes, buy the groceries, make a diet plan for the month (i'm basically feeling a bit down on health these days), buy an emergency lamp (Thursday blackouts), search for research papers for the seminar (trust me .....you don't get research papers on an obnoxiously esoteric topic like 'Submersible Powerboats' that easily...). start making notes or rather at least reading from the college syllabus.....i really want to avoid last minute nervous breakdowns because of non completion of syllabus for exams...and of course i have to go home.

The last two years of my life have been really really busy.....so busy , i just realized yesterday i haven't really been able to do any of the fun stuff that i normally used to do back at home..... When i shifted to pune 2 years back....i thought , ya i know things are going to be very different and tough at a place away from home, but i was really bold back then. I was 100% percent confidant that i would make it work....things would be the same. Mom kept worrying repeatedly about it but i never paid attention...a bit too cocky on my part.

Things have changed a lot...as expected.. and lets say for the better. Living outside your home and away from your parents makes one very independent, bold, expansive, strong willed.... i would say...the most important lessons for life ahead. I'm really happy for that. I think this is the time life prepares you for the challenges ahead...thats enough philosophy.....anyways i made my point.

Speaking of college.....i'm basically half an engineer.....just two more years to go , then i'll be pursuing my dream profession..... at least thats whats planned... but things never go according to plans...so I've left room for unexpected contradictions. College has been really fun these 2 years especially with the group of friends i have...things can't get any better...we hang out a lot and thats how we basically avoid the periodic home-sickness that haunts every migrant student. But of course a hometown has its own magnetism that one just cannot escape. On the brighter side...in a city like pune one can never ever feel down, there's always something to do or some place to go......i mean college is totally fun...like bunking lectures on tuesdays for the vodafone movies, sitting on the last bench in not so important uninformative lectures and blabbering to the our classmates because you know that even they are not listening to what the teacher is saying....in indecent language they call it hooting...but thats not what we do.... sitting on the college stairs for the whole day long......and a lot of other unfruitful activities.... But later on when the circumstantial epiphany strikes..its very difficult to come to terms with the actual stuff your leaving behind.. But this is life and its not a good life unless you enjoy it the way you want it....its like....you don't eat to live, you live to eat.....gosh i'm craving for chocolate. I think i'll leave the rest for the next post....i'm having a sweet tooth which if left unattended would lead to highly unpleasant 'choco-philic' conditions.

You Might Be An Engineer If...

2010-09-13T20:35:00.002+05:30

You enjoy pain.
You know vector calculus but you can't remember how to do long division.
You chuckle whenever anyone says "centrifugal force".
You've actually used every single function on your graphing calculator.
It is sunny and 70 degrees outside, and you are working on a computer.
You frequently whistle the theme song to "MacGyver".
You know how to integrate a chicken and can take the derivative of water.
You think in "math".
You've calculated that the World Series actually diverges.
You hesitate to look at something because you don't want to break down its wave function.
You have a pet named after a scientist.
You laugh at jokes about mathematicians.
The Humane society has you arrested because you actually performed the Schrodinger's Cat experiment.
You can translate English into Binary.
You can't remember what's behind the door in the engineering building which says "Exit".
You have to bring a jacket with you, in the middle of summer, because there's a wind-chill factor in the lab.
You are completely addicted to caffeine.
You avoid doing anything because you don't want to contribute to the eventual heat-death of the universe.
You consider ANY non-engineering course "easy".
The "fun" center of your brain has deteriorated from lack of use.When your professor asks you where your homework is, you claim to have accidentally determined its momentum so precisely, that according to Heisenberg it could be anywhere in the universe.
You'll assume that a "horse" is a "sphere" in order to make the math easier.
The blinking 12:00 on someone's VCR draws you in like a tractor beam to fix it.
You bring a computer manual / technical journal as vacation reading.
The salesperson at Circuit City can't answer any of your questions.
You can't help eavesdropping in computer stores... and correcting the salesperson.
You're in line for the guillotine... it stops working properly... and you offer to fix it.
You go on the rides at Disneyland and sit backwards to see how they do the special effects.
You have any "Dilbert" comics displayed in your work area.
You have a habit of destroying things in order to see how they work.
You have never backed up your hard drive.
You haven't bought any new underwear or socks for yourself since you got married.
You spent more on your calculator than on your wedding ring.
You think that when people around you yawn, it's because they didn't get enough sleep.
You would rather get more dots per inch than miles per gallon
You've ever calculated how much you make per second.
Your favorite James Bond character is "Q," the guy who makes the gadgets.
You understood more than five of these jokes.
You make a copy of this list, and post it on your door (or your home page !)

Nice Story....

2009-06-07T10:59:00.001+05:30

A taxi passenger tapped the driver on the shoulder to ask him a question. The driver screamed, lost control of the car, nearly hit a bus, went up on the footpath, and stopped centimeters from a shop window.
For a second everything went quiet in the cab, then the driver said:
"Look mate, don't ever do that again. You scared the daylights out of me!".
The passenger apologized and said, "I didn't realize that a little tap would scare you so much."
The driver replied, "Sorry, it's not really your fault. Today is my first day as a cab driver - I've been driving a van carrying dead Bodies for the last 25 years...

MORAL:
Do not stick with one job for a long time!

Five Ways to Kill a Man

2009-05-08T14:36:00.001+05:30

There are many cumbersome ways to kill a man.
You can make him carry a plank of wood
To the top of a hill and nail him to it.
To do this
Properly you require a crowd of people
Wearing sandals, a cock that crows, a cloak
To dissect, a sponge, some vinegar and one
Man to hammer the nails home.
Or you can take a length of steel,
Shaped and chased in a traditional way,
And attempt to pierce the metal cage he wears.
But for this you need white horses,
English trees, men with bows and arrows,
At least two flags, a prince and a
Castle to hold your banquet in.
Dispensing with nobility, you may, if the wind
Allows, blow gas at him. But then you need
A mile of mud sliced through with ditches,
Not to mention black boots, bomb craters,
More mud, a plague of rats, a dozen songs
And some round hats made of steel.
In an age of aeroplanes, you may fly
Miles above your victim and dispose of him by
Pressing one small switch. All you then
Require is an ocean to separate you, two
Systems of government, a nation's scientists,
Several factories, a psychopath and
Land that no one needs for several years.
These are, as I began, cumbersome ways
To kill a man. Simpler, direct, and much more neat
Is to see that he lives somewhere in the middle
Of the twentieth century, and leave him there.
-- Edwin Brock

Bootilicious..............

2008-12-30T20:20:00.009+05:30

Back again for diwali.

2008-10-29T13:08:00.008+05:30

Hello everyone,

i'm back in mumbai for diwali..........phew atlast i got to be back home.Home sweeeeeeeeeeeet home. Feels great.

Well, life in pune has been great.......made a lot of friends...........and had a lot of fun..........as in.......... made noise in the library and were ultimately kicked out, climbed up the terrace , nonsense talks, blaa blaa blaa.....

None the less being the Class representative is all the more fun.....it has its added benefits. All the teachers get to know you , all the students get to know you and a whole lot of socialising.

Yeah they are my hostel friends, we have tonnes of fun in our room. Gossip till 3 in the morning, order chocolate ice scream at night, throw water over each other and scream our wits out loud at night disturbing the other occupants of the hostel.....................we care a damn about them.

Its really cold at nights in pune. Ita all foggy in the mornings. I've clicked some amazing pics.

My room-mates are really good.....although i get really irritated because they always study. study study and always study......but when its fun time they're up on their feet.

College is fun. Ours is the mechanical division. We have just 8 girls out of around 62 students. As if it matters. Ours is the most mischeivious class of the first years. They say that non of the faculty was ready to take our mechanical division. And female faculty............noways!!!!. It feels great to say........yes its the mechanical division and mechanical truly rocks.

I'll be back in pune on the 4th of next month although college starts on 3rd. I've got strict orders from the people of my class that i dare not attend college on the first day. We're all havin a mass bunk for the first few days.

My New Life........At MIT.

2008-08-29T12:18:00.010+05:30

I'm back home for a 2 day vacation. Finally got to sit on my pc and lo TT's sms saying "Amalan at MIT Pune!!! ha ha ha" . AAAAAAAAAAA Run for your life.........................

Ok coming back to the point. I'm here to talk about my new college, my hostel and the wonderful city of pune.

MITCOE simply rocks. Its really really really fun being there. The faculty is amazing and the infrastructure is too good. I've uploaded some pics here.

Yeah that's my college building.

MIT campus is a collection of many college - SVV Polytechnic , MIT School of management, MIT college of Arts Science and commerce, MIT School of foreign languages, MIT College Of Engg. MIT campus is situated in between the dense Vetal hills. The campus spreads accross 1.5 kms. There is the Chandralok Garden canteen. The MIT women's hostel is in the campus itself(That's where i stay).

Those are the extra beds that we have placed in the corridor to sit on them and study when there is a lot of disturbance in our rooms. Thankfully my room-mates are really studious and sincere.

And the best part is that there is nothing called ragging in our college, the seniors don't even bother to look at us.

This is the view from my room balcony.

Our college is hosting the ABU Asia Pacific ROBOCON contest . We had the ROBOCON Dahi Handi at our college. Here are the pictures-

The event was fun with Nashik dhol players and a rock DJ. The whole college was cheering. There were different teams from different colleges. The event was basically organised for the foreign student participants of robocon to show them what the indian dahi handi is. There were Chinese female students wearing Ghagraa and the male ones wearing kurta chuddidar and the pheta. The first prize went to the Robocon volunteers boys team and the second prize went to the MITCOE girls team.

The funniest part is that there are just 8 girls in our class out of 60 students because they have made the classes according to our branch- mechanical is known for having quite a few girls. But it hardly makes a difference to me.

This is my classroom. I sit on the first bench as usual.

As of now life is good. But i'll have to study well.

In Pursuit Of HAPPINESS !!!

2008-08-09T20:20:00.001+05:30

We convince ourselves that life will be better after
we get married, have a baby, then another.
Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough
and we'll be more content when they are.

After that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with.
We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.
We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our
spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer
car, are able to go on a nice vacation,or when we retire.

The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now.
If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges.

It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you haveand treasure it more because you shared it with someone special,special enough to spend your time with...and remember that timewaits for no one.

So, stop waiting
--until your car or home is paid off
--until you get a new car or home
--until your kids leave the house
--until you go back to school
--until you lose ten pounds
--until you gain ten pounds
--until you finish school
--until you get a divorce
--until you get married
--until you have kids
--until you retire
--until summer
--until spring
--until winter
--until fall
--until you die

There is no better time than RIGHT NOW to be happy.
Happiness is a JOURNEY, not a destination.
So -- work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching.

Some Bead-o-mania Links

2008-08-08T12:42:00.003+05:30

Since people always keep asking me where i get these beading ideas, i decided to put them up here :

http://beadsbymail.com/projects.htm

http://www.beadage.net/

http://www.beadjewelrymaking.com/bead_project.html

http://www.beadstylemag.com/BDS/Default.aspx?c=ss&id=100

http://www.stepbystepbeads.com/sbsbeads/projects.cfm

http://shop.interweave.com/store/categoryB.aspx?Technique=Netting

http://www.beadingdaily.com/freeprojects/projects.aspx

http://www.allcrafts.net/Jewelry.htm#freeprojects

http://www.beadingtimes.com/beading_project.htm

http://crafts.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Free_Beading_Pattern

http://www.craftbits.com/viewCategory.do?categoryID=BEA

Some of my favourite projects :

http://beadwork.about.com/cs/beadworkstitches/a/africannet.htm

http://beadwork.about.com/library/weekly/aa042798.htm

http://www.beadjewelrymaking.com/Arts_and_Craft_Idea/flower_project.html

http://limjackie.blogspot.com/2006/04/simply-hoops-pattern.html

http://beadwork.about.com/library/weekly/aa122997.htm

http://beadwork.about.com/library/weekly/aa110397.htm

http://www.craftbits.com/viewCategory.do?categoryID=BEA

Bead-o-mania

2008-08-07T11:52:00.012+05:30

I've been getting quite a lot of time by myself these days so i gave way to my favourite hobby of beading (with a little help from the internet ofcourse). All my friends are playing busybees in their lives- Aishwarya's gone to Manipal, Krittika's busy with her articleship, Aditi's gone to Manipal too, Madhura's studying for her jee'09, Suppi's going to Dubai. Well in a few days i'll be a busybee too.

These days my mood is getting all crafty. I've been playing with beads for a long time and the time has come to showcase my most beautiful creations. Although my photography techniques aren't all that good, but i've tried my best to capture them in a clear way. This page is particularly going to be interesting for Aishwarya , like me , even she's all ga-ga over beading.

So here's presenting my creations :

The Small White Necklace

The Small Black Necklace

The Collier avec des perles en hématite(French)

The 3 best ones

The Cecile

The Mandala

The Golden Flower

That's all for now. I shall post some links for bead lover's (special referrence to Aishwarya) in my next blog.

Holidays are Fun............Holidays are Boring.

2008-07-31T12:12:00.008+05:30

Finally my admissions are done and i'm getting bored at home. Well not because i have nothing to do but because i have so much to do that i can't think of where to start from.
Well i just took admission to MIT, pune for mechanical engg . Sounds good.

Infact great to me.

Excatly what i wanted...........A great college and a great field complimented with a beautiful stay in a beautiful city( Obviously you can't really compare pune with mumbai 'cause mumbai is always the best).

HoHum!!!..........So i've been doing some really cool things during my post examination and post admission vacations.

To start with i did some great beading projects. Like the one below. This beautiful white necklace took exactly 7 hours and 15 mins to complete. Thanks to www.beadinginfo.blogspot.com/.

And another one................

Then i made some nice designs on my hand with mehendi. Yeah that was for my aunt's function at Nagpur.

Then my Mom bought me the Advanced Mechanix Game. Its truely amazing and so much fun.

I created a warship, a train engine, a helicopter, a fighter plane, a robot, a crane, another crane, a sawing machine, a digger, a satellite receiver, a vintage car etc etc etc.

Then i took up photography on my way to pune and nagpur.

I remeber that's from Khandala station.

I've still got lots to do.

i'm gonna miss all of it in pune. That's life.

Shock for the Nation !!! (Believe it or not)

2008-07-18T20:17:00.001+05:30

Do you know that India is the richest country in the world!
Right now, India is the richest country in the world! Wondering how?
It's really amazing.
It's due to Mr. G Vaidyaraj, who donated all his wealth, about which he
actually did not know.
He is a descendent of Raja Krishnadev Raya from Mysore district.
For the last 300 years or so, three stones were worshipped in his
house.But nobody tried to see what it was, except this person, who is a
lawyer by profession. One day, when there was nobody in his house, he
took the stone out to see what it was that they worship.
Due to the dust deposited on it, from many many years, it looked only
like a simple stone.
But when he touched it, some portion of the stone was cleansed.
And he saw a bright ray of light.
He saw something which attracted his attention. And he was amazed when
he cleaned all of them.The whole room was filled with light.
He discovered they were diamonds of about 4600 carats each.
He informed the Govt. of India and the news is censored with its
security.
It's now deposited in a Swiss Bank.
The cost of single diamond exceeds the GDP of USA + UK .
India can buy virtually 7 developing nations.
Even World Bank does not have enough money to buy it.
One diamond costs thrice the debt of World Bank over India .
One such diamond can buy 10 Bill Gates to you.
And the World Bank has proposed the Indian Govt. that it can pay India
in Installment if it wishes to do so.
India 's GDP is 34.25 billion dollars.
Bill Gates property is 95 billion dollars approximate so that is the way
'nature changes'.
Our Prime Minister has refused to sell it.
He said it will be sold or mortgaged for credit when we need it.
Otherwise right now we have no problems.
You can go through Times of India with a small column on it a week ago.
Star TV presented a 115 min documentary on it about 15 days ago.
The Hindu with its half page article in it.
After that it was censored as classified.
Another good news is that in the Desert of Thar a deposit of Oil and
Natural gas have been found. This stores what Kuwait has in its
stomach..
India can go with this ONGC energy reserve with another 30 years.
And moreover it can export it to other counties.
It's incredible!! But true.
An Indian boy in his 12th standard has disproved Einstein's 'Theory of
Relativity'.
Shocked? Read on...
Sudarshan Reddy has theoretically proven the existence of a sub-atomic
particle, which can travel at speed greater than that of light, thereby
challenging one of the fundamental postulates of the 'Theory of
Relativity'.
In his recent research paper submitted to the Institute of Advanced
Physics (IAP) at Trieste ( Italy ), Sudarshan has proved the existence
of a class of sub-atomic particles called leptons', which can travel
faster than light.
The international physics community is shocked by this discovery.
Dr.Massimo Martelli, President of the IAP has this to say about the
paper submitted by Sudarshan. 'After long, careful and critical
analysis, I can confidently say that Sudarshan's re search papers show
tremendous leap in our understanding of physics. His investigation
mounts up on 'leptons'. His work builds substantially on the work of
Einstein and others in the field of relativity.'
When physicists from Princeton University tried to measure Sudarshan's
IQ with an IQ-meter (at the American Embassy in Delhi ), the meter broke
down.
Sudarshan, incidentally, is the brother of Madhu Reddy, the Indian whiz
kid who developed an operating system superior to Microsoft Windows.
We should all be very proud of these boys.

2008-07-17T01:24:00.003+05:30

SEAGOING WORDS TAKEN FROM HUMAN ANATOMY

Arm - part of an anchor
Belly - the part of a sail that bulges out from the pressure of the wind
Bottom - underside of the hull
Breast - docking line leading at an angle of 90 degrees from the side of a vessel
Brow - gangplank
Bum - two-masted lateen-rigged craft of the Arabian region; aka boom
Butt - end-to-end planking joint
Buttock - line representing a vertical section of a hull parallel to the centerline
Cheek - side piece of a block
Chest - box containing cargo, usually tea
Chin - lower portion of a vessel's stem
Bow - curve in a river or channel
Eve - loop at the end of a line
Foot - lower edge of a sail
Hand - member of the crew
Head - forward part of a vessel; also the toilet
Heel - lowest part of the mast
Knee - angle used to connect timbers or beams
Knuckle - sharp angle or bend in a hull
Lip - coaming
Mouth - opening to a bay, harbor, river, etc.
Neck - part of an oar where the loom or shaft meets the blade
Nose - stem of a vessel
Palm - part of an anchor, also a sail maker's tool
Rib - frame
Shin - to climb a mast, rope or spar
Shoulder - projection on a block or mast
Throat - the forward or inner end of a gaff; the corner of a gaff sail between the head and the luff
Tongue - block of wood between the jaws of a gaff
Waist - central part of a vessel

When Laughter Cures , Why Not Laugh?

2008-06-30T14:45:00.004+05:30

Laughter is the best medicine for depression. It is not only a human being who has a sense of humour but even our Darwinian ancestors have it, as shown by experiments. Laughter reduces pain and worries become lighter.

Students can remember scientific facts and even enjoy grammer if put in a humorous way. Doctors and dentists make patients laugh to make them feel that their problems are not important.

But the facts reported in The Times Of India under the column , "The Speaking Tree" by Anurag have to be taken seriously. It is the case of Norman Consins, editor of the Saturday Review, who was given up by doctors when he had an acute problem of degeneration of tissues. Once he was told that he did not have much time to live, he left the hospital to live in a hotel and enjoyed life by regularly watching cartoons such as those by Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and episodes from Candid Camera. He slowly recoverd and returned back to work. When he ahd a heart attack after 15 years, again he just laughed himself back to health.

A person who has the ability to laugh takes the joy of life seriously and the person who cannot laugh takes the burden of life seriously.

Laughter is a gift of love from God. It is a medicine withoout after effect. It is champagne without intoxication. It is an expression of the will to live.

So keep smiling.............;-)

Award Winning Constructions!!!

2008-06-26T01:07:00.008+05:30

Laloo Prasad Yadav's Medical Entrance Exam...........

2008-06-16T10:37:00.002+05:30

Here, according to an e-mail doing the rounds, are the answers that Laloo Prasad Yadav wrote in his entrance exam:

Antibody = against everyone

Artery = the study of paintings

Bacteria = back door to a cafeteria

Benign = what you be after you be eight

Bowel = letters like a,e,i,o,u

Caesarean section = a district in rome

Cat scan = searching for lost kitty

Chronic = neck of a crow

Coma = punctuation mark

Cortisone = area around local court

Cyst = short for sister

Diagnosis = person with slanted nose

Fake labour = pretending to work

Hernia = she is close by

Hymen = greeting to several men

Lactose = people without feet

Lymph = walking unsteadily

Microbes = small dressing gown

Pus = small cat

Red blood count = dracula

Subcutaneous = not cute enough

Tablet = small table

Varicose = very close

Vein = at what time ?

Leaving Me To Lament!

2008-06-11T12:21:00.000+05:30

I had composed this poem long back after my std 10 examinations in my vacations.....when i had nothing to do at home(as in .....no IIT classes, no school, nothing to watch on TV but reality shows).
It goes like this......................

It was my class 10 examination
I sat still drenched in perspiration,
I really needed an inspiration
Of someone who came for invocation.

Nerviousness, anxiety, fright,fear,
I felt them all at once
But then I called out to my Lord dear
And he tought me how to balance.

At last I got my question paper
It exceeded the lenght of a scy-scraper,
My anxiety grew all the more greater
And the memory of my brain got fainter.

Somehow I picked up all the courage
And started writing what I knew
When a stupid cat In the window did manage
To break my concentration with her 'mew'.

Alas! Came the time to hand it over
By that time my mind was getting still fervour
I kept on writing till the last moment
But they snatched it leaving me to lament.....................

LP v/s My School Teachers............

2008-06-07T12:29:00.001+05:30

Yesterday I was listening to Linkin Park's 'Given Up'. Its a wonderful song.................very good lyrics .......................good beats...............but suddenly half-way through the song , that fellow starts shouting like a mad bull.......................my ears went half deaf that time. It reminded me of my teachers in school - they too have contributed a lot in making me deaf.

They never actually shouted as such................but i could feel the impact much more deeper because i used to sit on the first bench.......ALWAYS.

My school teachers were the best of the best......................each of them were one of their own breed......................

Ramakant Sir (our class teacher, physics teacher) : "So now but then also, it's a TERMS we're having."

Mrs Shanti Raghu (our mathematics teacher) : "Which ever the way......." and many more sentences left halfway. And ofcourse her favourite target...................." Yes soumalya, tell me how will u solve this sum. They might have tought u in your IIT classes no?".

Mrs Reshmi Kali (our new english teacher) : " Please Class 12.............. please..............................class 12.........................please class 12............."

Mrs Sudha (our chemistry teacher) : "Where is that Raje girl ? I don't see her in class today ?" (she means Rucha Raje).

Mrs Usri (our biology practicals teacher) : "Dharmishta............... Dharmishta ...............Dharmishta.................".

Mrs Deepti Vimal (our very sweet biology teacher) : "Are you all understanding ?"

Mrs Aditi Banerjee (our ex-chemistry teacher) : "Whenever i'm out to teach some class, I find myself in class 12 A." She was a mobile dictionary.

Spectacled !!!

2008-06-05T17:43:00.000+05:30

Seeing the world through my new pair of glasses.................

All throughout my life i've been too proud of my just so perfect eyesight. At times i did feel the want of glasses................just for fun. Glasses...........though only smart ones.................make one feel studious.And now i actually got them.

Yes.................now its a reality of my life---------

'I've gotta wear a pair of glasses all my life .'

I went to the optician, got my eyees checked and lo.............he said that i hav a number. He said its -0.50 for both eyes.

Initially i was excited, as it was a totally different thing that was going to happen. So i chose one of the best and the smartest frames available.

After 3 days i got them done and now i'm wearing them.

Its a totally different world that i see through it. In fact i'm now seeing two different worlds- one through my glasses and the other sans my glasses. At the border of these two worlds, there is a swivelly effect. I guess I'll take some time to get accustomed to my new vision.

But its fun....................once you get habitual to it. I look completely different. Infact, now my sister mockingly calls me "Double Battery". I used to call people that when i didn't have glasses. Funny...............the arrow from my bow is aiming at me today.

I enjoy wearing them now................but i dunno if i'll do later............because then it gets troublesome to take care of it everywhere you go.

I'm the only one in my family to get spectacles. My sister was more excited than me. She wanted to choose the frame for me...................but she was choosing the delicate ones which i knew i wouldn't be able to handle.

I'm still trying to get over this new change in my life................

Nostalgia.........My Friends........The Best Of The Best

2008-06-04T00:49:00.001+05:30

Since i'm finally done with all my entrance exams(there were atleast a dozen of them..........engg and medicine...........and of course architecture too), I now get some spare time to write about my wonderful days(i mean "WONDERFUL" days ) that i spent in Singhania School.

The School is ideally the best school that i have ever attended all my life ( though its no compare to Apostolic Carmel Convent School, Bandra, where i spent 7 years ) . That's an obvious feeling for a person who has just been pulled out of the suffocating environment of Lok Puram Public School............................the school is not 'bad'.............the students are.................though terribly unbearable and unreasonable.Thankfully, i was in LPPS for only a year....that too unwillingly. You see, we just shifted in my 10th standard to thane from delhi and were searching for a good school............the rest is history............

Anyways here we are talking about Singhania. Honestly when i was in LPPS, this Singhania school was a dream school for me (Theory of Relativity). At that point of time, i felt so succumbed to the chains of LPPS and its so called cheap student crowd that i terribly required a getaway from there.

Then Singhania happened. I truly cherish the moment when i decided to join the school because now i realise that had i not done so i wouldn't have made such precious and rare 'TRUE' friends.

My wonderful friend circle in Singhania that i value so much consisted of people like Aiswarya R, Krittika S, Aditi K, Madhura P and the list goes on and on and on.............

The one in the pink jacket in the above pic is Aditi...................my soul saviour in LPPS. We both were fresshers in LPPS and preferred staying aloof...................yes aloof from the LPPS crowd. so we became very good friends and entered singhania too together. We were both initially put into the different sections, after a whole lot of confusion and section-shifting i finally was put in here section. But i didn't like the people there so i switched to the A section again 'FORTUNATELY'. The D section was one big hell..................but Aditi wanted to stay there and so be it. Being in different classes , our attitudes changed. But that hardly matters. We both will always be friends.

Coming to my strong pillars in the 'A' section who have strived hard to raise my volume from 'Infrasonic' to 'audible' levels...................yes they are Aiswarya and Krittika ('tt').

The 'troubler' in the above pic is Aiswarya and the 'troubled' is Krittika. Looking at the above pic, one can very well guess what their futures are gonna be...............

In the 11th standard i was a complete introvert, not wanting to expand my vistas to making newer friends, but gradually in the 12th standard, as i came to know these two wizards of 12 A my social life at Singhania actually started gaining momentum.

Aiswarya....................she is one person you just can't afford to miss out on. She is very very very hard working and tries her very best to get what she wants..........i bet she studied more than me for the competitive exams. Her favourite line- " Oh! That's soooo obnoxious....". I have had a wonderful time with her. She has tried very hard to bind the people of 12 A .( remember the sports day......) Extremely down to earth and hates hypocracy. She can call me at 2 in the morning and go on talking for hours about her time spent with krittika and me........obviously because krittika sleeps early at night....................and i sleep tooooo late so i'm available at that time to receive her call. In Aiswarya's words i'm 'Nocturnal'.............i agree too.

Krittika ( the famous double T of 12 A )...................she's the 'chatter- box' among us. She keeps talking about everything in the world...........a great company for extremely quiet people like me and i have enjoyed every word spoken by her. A great football fan and keeps talking about it at the drop of a hat, eventhough we non-football lovers cannot make any head n tail out of it. She is extremely studious and doesn't leave a single line unread................correction 'unlearnt' from the text during the exams. Even now when her counterparts are enjoying their vacations, she is busy attending her accounts classes. Hats off to 'TT'..........i haven't even seen Madhura study so much.

I feel extremely melancholic at the moment when i think that we are all going to be scatterd somewhere in this world and maybe we won't even meet after this................but i guess this is life.

To conclude, my journey at the Singhania School has taught me how to live life. I have now realised that one year can change you completely( those who know me , have seen the difference ) .

--------- m@YuR1

A Thought Provoking Extract From The Vedas............'Rig Samhita'

2008-05-25T20:04:00.000+05:30

This is a very wonderful extract from the Rig Samhita............I came across it when i was reading 'Myth=Mithya' by noted mythologist Sir Devdutt Pattanaik.

Origins

In the beginning,

There was neither Being nor Non-Being

Neither sky, earth, nor what is beyond and beneath.

What existed? For whom?

Was there water?

Death, immortality?

Night, day?

Whatever there was, there must have been one

The primal one (God?)

Self-created, self-sustained, by his own heat,

Unaware of himself

Until there was desire to know himself.

That desire is the first seed of the mind, say seers

Binding Non-Being with Being.

What was above and what was below?

Seed or soil?

Who knows?

Who really knows?

Even the Gods came later.

Perhaps only the primal being knows.

Perhaps not.

(Rig Samhita)

What is this life if full of care..................

2008-05-24T23:39:00.000+05:30

"What is this life , if full of care.......................

We have no time to stand and stare........."

I often think that in today's fast paced life, how much does one think about oneself and his own needs. Everyone around around is competing in this rat race to earn more and more money and all the more fame, as if these are the sole factors that govern one's existence in the society.

If given a thought, we come to realise that this is how we have shaped the thinking and behaviour of the society itself.................we are the society, if we have to change it................. we have to first change ourselves.

In this short span of our lifetime, we aim to and most importantly wish to do sooooooooooo many things.............some of which we know that are peactically impossible to achieve. Who knows where we might be in the end of it all................

But still , every one has ambitions and their fulfillment in life is very essential for our well-being.

The first and foremost thing in life that one must do, is to realise which dreams he can achive and which he cannot, and then plan towards the fulfillment of those dreams that he knows he can achive.

Thus.............one can achive what he wants leading to a sense of fulfillment in life nad this very feeling of fulfillment leads a man to live life to the fullest.

God has given us a wonderful means of living and we should make optimum use of our talents and skills.

"SATISFACTON" is the spice of life. Nowadays, we see so many people engaging themselves in high-profile jobs that give them an excellent salary............................. but can we guess, how many of them are actually happy with their jobs?

Most of the young generation today is only after the materialistic pleasures of life..................they do not see the real values of life.

Oftentimes, our desires and interests might not shell-out enough money and appreciation as we had ever expected, but as i said earlier...............the ultimate thing in life is satisfaction.

So what if a female wants to be an engine driver, so what if a male wants to be a make-up artist..............................the society might not approve of these combinations, but these people who do what they believe in are much more happy and satisfied in life than the rich and elite who have all the must-haves in life.

Now people do not ask what you do..............they are more interested in knowing how much you earn,

but one day will come,

when the society will realise what is important in life,

and what is not...............................

How 'LEO' I Am................

2008-05-22T13:13:00.000+05:30

Strong souls have willpower, weak ones only desires.
The ruler of Leo is the Sun. The glyph is generally thought to represent the tail of the lion. It can also symbolize the heat or the creative energy of the Sun.
The Leo is a dominant, spontaneous, creative and extroverted character. They possess grace, dignity and an expansive personality. The lion is king of the animal kingdom, and an appropriate symbol for Leo who tends to dominate his environment. Ambitious, courageous, strong willed, positive, independent, self-confident are all words that describe the Leo traits.
Leos were born to lead and are most effective when in a position of command. Leos are straightforward and uncomplicated individuals who know what they want and pursue it with enthusiasm and a creative spirit.
They are not easily daunted, and will persist through the most formidable of circumstances.They tend to be stubborn, and will hold onto a belief, or stick to a course of action through thick or thin.
Because of their positive nature, they tend to expect the best, and when things don't turn out as they had expected, they react immediately and badly. Although, they may suffer from short bouts of depression when life doesn't meet their expectations, they bounce back quickly and move on with their normal cheerful and demonstrative nature. Leos walks forward always, head held proudly and face turned towards the sun.
Positive Traits
Leos possess a strong positive nature and don't shrink from any adverse circumstances. Leos like to live on a grand scale. First class is the only way to go and luxury is comfort. In personal relationships, Leo is open, sincere, genuine, trusting and generous.
They are direct and to the point and lead with their emotions. Leos are proud people, with an idealistic and humane nature. They are basically outgoing, happy, kind and generous. Self expressive, intelligent and broad minded, they are philosophically inclined.
Negative Traits
Quick tempered, blunt and nasty when they have been affronted, they are deeply hurt by malice or hostility. Leos can be too sensitive to personal criticism, and when their dominance is threatened they can go into a sudden rage.
Weaknesses
The importance of image can be seen as self-centeredness, their love and demand for power and recognition can often be overbearing, and a Leo's love for excitement and doing things in a really big manner can lead them to loathe the ordinariness of every day life.At times, their dominance and confidence can be seen more as arrogance and conceit.

Ooh..........That's how I am.

"Why are we scared to die? Do any of us remember being scared when we were born?"

2008-05-22T00:41:00.000+05:30

..........Death is a Dialogue between

The Spirit and the Dust.

"Dissolve" says Death—The Spirit "Sir

I have another Trust"—
Death doubts it—Argues from the Ground—

The Spirit turns away

Just laying off for evidence

An Overcoat of Clay.......................

Fear of death is natural if you feel threatened in some way - after all your survival instinct is an essential drive. However when fear of death becomes a preoccupying obsessive thought then something needs to change.

If you are constantly ruminating about death, or if the mere mention of the word 'death' makes you feel anxious then a natural concern has gone too far. An overriding fear of death stop you living life properly now!

The thought that some day we won't be around any more can be hard to comprehend and cause fear and even panic. Or maybe it's the process of dying that is feared. Obsessive fear of death may originate from witnessing the death of a loved one, or even being traumatized by something on TV!

A proper perspective on death can add joy to life Putting death into its proper perspective can allow you to see how an occasional awareness of death can add to life, making living much more enjoyable, fulfilling and meaningful.

We live in a world where for many of us death has become a taboo, something to be brushed under the carpet and ignored. Occasional awareness of death is a great motivator to do better, take life by both hands, dismiss pettiness and live more fully.

Only Boring People Get Bored..........

2008-05-21T13:12:00.000+05:30

Are you bored, I’m not. I’m too busy doing interesting stuff to be bored. For everyone else who’s bored. take a look at this bumper list of pointless timewasters and relieve the monotony of your life a small bit.

Blink wildly and then close your eyes really tight for an interesting light show.See a variety of blobs, stars and flashes. Try to make out shapes and see if your subconscious is trying to send you a message (perhaps that funny shape is saying, 'send all your money to me.)

Use your secret mind power.Pick a passing by and try to use your mind power to command them do something, like drop their bag or knock into someone. The law of averages dictates that sooner or later one of your mind commands will come true, so you can convince yourself that you really have super human powers and waste even more time trying them out.

Pretend you're a robot.Walk down the street with mechanical movements, adding 'zzzzzt' sounds with each motion. Pretending to have a motor broken in, say, your left hand can add at least 30 seconds more entertainment.

Rate passers by.Secretly award passers by marks out of ten as you go along, offering (unsaid) expert criticism over their clothing, hairstyle and footwear choices.

Repeat the same word over and over until it loses its meaning.Pick a random word out of a magazine and say it aloud to yourself until it becomes a meaningless set of noises.

Pinch yourself.What is pain? Why is it unpleasant? There's nothing physical about it - it's all in your mind. Plus, after pinching yourself for awhile, boredom will seem nice next to being in pain.

Try to swallow your tongue.There's not much to say about this one. It is possible, but really stupid.

Get yourself as nauseated as possible.Best achieved by looking straight up and spinning around. Try to be so dizzy you can't even stand up. This is also entertaining due to the "makes boredom seem a lot better" effect.

Some Very Good Oneliners.................

2008-05-20T17:02:00.000+05:30

"A single death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic." - Joseph Stalin

"Great thinkers have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds." - Albert Einstein

"I know I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?" - Tom Clancy.

"I think animal testing is a terrible idea; they get all nervous and give the wrong answers." - Peter Kaye.

"In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them." - Johann von Neumann

"Never waste a lie when the truth will do." - Jack Clancy

"Remember to always be yourself. Unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

"Stupidity, if left untreated, is self-correcting." - Heinlein

7/5th of all people do not understand fractions.

99% of lawyers are giving the rest a bad name.

Character is what you are. Reputation is what people think you are.

Success is..........................

2008-05-20T00:28:00.000+05:30

At age 4 success is . . . not peeing in your pants.

At age 12 success is . . . having friends.

At age 17 success is . . . having a drivers license.

At age 35 success is . . . having money.

At age 50 success is . . . having money.

At age 70 success is . . . having a drivers license.

At age 75 success is . . . having friends.

At age 80 success is . . . not peeing in your pants.

The Power Of Feminism

2008-05-19T13:42:00.000+05:30

In his discourse Sermons In Stones, Osho says, "The prolonged condemnation of feminine qualities has seeped deep into women. It is man's conspiracy to prove himself superior, which he is not. Man is deeply aware that women has something he doesn't.

Osho adds, " A women lives five years longer than man, an overage. This means she has more resistance, more stamina. She's sick lesser, heals quicker. And men go mad twice as often as women. Despite these scientific facts, the superstition continues that man is stronger. Only in one thing he is stronger - his body. He is a good manual worker. Otherwise, he feels depply inferior. To avoid that, the only way he sees is to force the woman into an inferior position. That is the only thing in which he is more powerful: He can force her to accept an idea that is absolutely false - that she is weak."

To prove that the woman is weak, the man condemns all feminine qualities. But, in fact, woman has all the greatest qualities in her. Whenever a man awakens , he attains those very qualities that he condemns.

The woman is more loving. The man has not shown greater love than a woman. Love has its own strenght. For example, to carry a child in the womb for nine months needs strenght, stamina, love. No man could manage it.

Love, trust sincerity, truthfulness, authenticity - these are all feminine qualities, and they are by far greater than any qualities that man has. But the past has been dominated by man and his qualities.

In war there is no use for love, truth, beauty or aesthetic sensibility. In war, you need a heart stonier than stones. You need simple hate, anger, and madness to destroy.

In 3000 years man has fought 5000 wars. This too is strenght but not worthy of human beings. This is strenght derived from our animal inheritance. It belongs to the past. Feminine qualities belong to the future. If men and women can live these qualities, the day is not far when we can transform this world into paradise.

Marine Engineer..........In The Making

2008-05-15T18:58:00.000+05:30

One of my friends from SeaFolks composed this wonderful poem that truly potrays the spirit of a Mariner. Its very close to a Mariner's heart as it speaks out every bit of his soul.

Here's the poem......................

with a

MIND

as free as

the ocean,

IMAGINATION

as limitless as

the sky,

ACTIONS

as wild as

the wind,

HEART

as pure as

the dew,

and

SPIRIT

as unshakeable as

the earth,

i'm a marine engineer...

...in the making!

A Ship That Sails

2008-05-15T10:10:00.000+05:30

I'd rather be the ship that sails

And rides the billows wild and free;

Than to be the ship that always fails

To leave its port and go to sea.
I'd rather feel the sting of strife,

Where gales are born and tempests roar;

Than settle down to useless life

And rot in dry dock on the shore.
I'd rather fight some mighty wave

With honor in supreme command;

And fill at last a well-earned grave,

Than die in ease upon the sand.
I'd rather drive where sea storms blow,

And be the ship that always failed

To make the ports where it would go,

Than be the ship that never sailed.

Dumb Laws

2008-05-14T23:06:00.000+05:30

It's illegal to walk down a sidewalk and knock a snakes head off with your cane.

Mustaches are illegal if the bearer has a tendency to habitually kiss other humans.

Children may smoke, but they may not purchase cigarettes.

No one may sleep on the beach at night.

A $50 fine will be levied on anyone who allows a couch to sit in their carport.

Drivers of power-driven vehicles who stop at pedestrian crossings are liable to a fine of up to five yuan, or a warning.

Members of the state assembly cannot be ticketed for speeding while the state assembly is in session.

Tattooing is illegal unless it is done for medical purposes.

It is illegal to cuss about another.

Hard objects may not be thrown by hand.

Couches may not be placed on outside porches.

The color of house and garage doors is regulated by city bylaws (a purple door get you a fine).

It is legal for a man to beat his wife on the courthouse steps so long as it is before 8:00 pm.

No one may sing the alphabet on the streets at night.

Persons may not sleep on a road.

It is illegal for two adult men to have sex in the same house as a third person.

The fire department is required to practice fire fighting for fifteen minutes before attending a fire.

All couples staying overnight in a hotel must have a room with double beds that are at least two feet apart.

May is Steelmark Month in which all citizens should observe with the appropriate ceremonies and activities.

One may be fined up to $100 for using profane language in public places.

It is illegal to have over 16 women live in a house together because that constitutes a brothel.

Raw hamburger may not be sold.

It is illegal to leave baggage unattended.

Billboards are outlawed.

10 Stupid Questions

2008-05-11T12:03:00.000+05:30

10 stupid questions people usually ask in obvious situations and some equally stupid answers. Go get them...
01. At the movies: When you meet acquaintances/friends
Stupid Question: Hey, what are you doing here?
Answer: Well,it's so hot, there were no cool cabs, so I thought I'd watch some advertisements in the cool comfort of the theatre.
02. In the bus: A fat girl wearing pointed high-heeled shoes steps on your feet
Stupid Question:Sorry, did that hurt ?
Answer: No, not at all, I'm on local anesthesia... why don't youtry again or should I try this time.
03. At a funeral: One of the teary-eyed people ask.
Stupid Question: Why, why him, of all people.
Answer: Why? Would it rather have been you?
04. At a restaurant: When you ask the waiter.
Stupid Question: Is the "blah, blah, blah" dish good
Answer: No, it's terrible and made of adulterated cement. We occasionally also spit in it.
05. At a family get-together. When some distant aunt meets you after years
Stupid Question: Munna, Chickoo, you've become so big.
Answer: Well you haven't shrunk.
06. When a friend announces her wedding, and you ask.
Stupid Question: Is the guy you're marrying good?
Answer: No, he's a miserable wife-beater, insensitive lout... it's just the money.
07. When you get woken up at midnight by a phone call.
Stupid Question: Sorry. Were you sleeping?
Answer: No. I was playing cricket for India at Sharjah and just when you called, Salim Malik was betting with me that Pakistan would win. What do you think?
08. When you see a friend/colleague with evidently shorter hair.
Stupid Question: Hey have you had a haircut?
Answer: No, its autumn and I'm shedding...
09. At the dentist when he's sticking pointed objects in your mouth.
Stupid Question: Tell me if it hurts?
Answer: And while I'm telling you, you tell me if I bite.
10. You are smoking a cigarette and a cute woman asks.
Stupid Question: Oh, so you smoke
Answer: No, it's a miracle... it was a chalk and now it's in flames!

Nail In A Fence

2008-05-11T11:36:00.000+05:30

The following is a short story that my teacher told me on my last day of school. I have taken it as a lesson for life, and i hope it will others who read it too. There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the ! day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence He said, 'You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say 'I'm sorry', the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. Friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us.