For months I have been skipping into this place to see 'something'........the void has not been filled ever since september .....!!!!
As the year draws to a close ....with time running out ..with our years together sinking into oblivion......
Doesnt our class blog have anything to discuss...........? Have all gone numb....well lemme tag evryone in 'applied' to this questionaire....(courtesy :schreiwardhun):

QUESTIONAIRE
1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
Y do my hair always grow against the laws of gravity!
2. How much cash do you have in your wallet right now?
200+
3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR?
BORE.......
4. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?
The theme of REHNA HAY TERE DIL MEIN (MINNALE )...wen maddy sees dia the first tym ;P
5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?
09847053818>the telecom operator calling me to lemme know f der offers
6. What are you wearing right now?
A white shirt with a green patiala .
7. Do you label yourself?
No......ooo
9. Bright or Dark Room?
Bright with lots of light n air
10. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?
Hope he learns the art of talking LOud some day.....
11. What does your watch look like?
Though gold plated square dials have tried to grab the position of the most special watch of mine ;it has always remained the queen....a silver HMT with Roman lettering that stood the test of times (with me since 1999 ).Most interesting feature of this watch: It stopped running half an hour before both my first X nd XII th board examz...( gets pretty tensed i guess)
12. What were you doing at midnight last night?
snoring off in ma bed ....
13. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?
Lovely friendship is like standing on the wet cement,longer U stay,harder to leaveand if u try to go ,u cant go w/o leaving ur foot print.Sender :JK ,my skool mate .
14. What’s a word that you say a lot?
yaar!
15. Who told you he/she loved you last?(Please exclude spouse, family, children)
Hriatpui,my roomie for 2 weeks @ lh.
16. Last furry thing you touched
RINI's and Hriatpui's teddy bears ...they had lots of dem der...
17. Favorite age you have been so far?
7th ,8th and 10 th were great classes to be in.even my KGs were great!!!
18. What was the last thing you said to someone?
Dont switch it off ,I want it on full speed (to mom)!!!
19. The last song you listened to?
IRUVAR >AR RAHMAN> NARUMUGAIYE(TAMIL)
20. Where did you live in 1987?
mUST Have been waiting in the queue to earth for the right MOM n DAD.(hAV HEArd its a pretty long Q,so might have waited for around an year!!!)(y do i sound like am a 'BAJAJ scooter' which took 6 years to be delivered n early 90's)
21. Are you jealous of anyone?
yeah !!! of ladies in the airforce!
22. Is anyone jealous of you?
any'one'.....poor question...it shud have been 'hwmany?' ;P
23. Name three things that you have on you at all times
My ear rings ,chain and specs(not for dreams)
24. What’s your favorite town/city?
Kollur.(Near Mangalore ,Karnataka)
25. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?
To the postal dept,a complaint
26. Can you change the oil on a car?
if anyone wud be daring enuff to giv der CAr for the same to me, I Will surely do it with pleasure.(Since the q is not wedr i will do it on mine !! ;) )
27. Your first love/big crush: what is the last thing you heard about him/her?
hE has started telling stories recently !
28. Does anything hurt on your body right now?
My spine says "come on! enuff of sitting up answering this! ;)"
29. What is your current desktop picture?
Sun rise at TIGER hILLS
30. Have you been burnt by love?
dOES ice BURN ???

'campus film festival 'and d movies are:

HERE S A VERY FUNNY SMS Igot recently

onam campus film festival
1 canteen news
2 HOD yanu tharam
3senior junior(annan thambi)
4 projectum seminarum pinne njanum
5ayaal supply ezhuthukayannu
6 CSpenninnu EE payyan

7LECTURE marude shradakku
8 nerariyaan CRO
9 semester1 supply 3
10 strike vannu vilichappol
11veruthe oru btech

and the icing of the cake the blockbuster on the last day:
''EVAR ENGINEERS AYAAL?!!''


PS:WHICH ONE WILL YU GO FOR?????

For I've lost my Friend.. I've lost my way..

Dark clouds swept down on my mind..
Strangling my cheer, with a smile unkind..
They thundered and menaced on my bleeding heart..
They hurled on my sorrow, dart after dart..

Trudging through the mist- thick, chill and blind..
I cared nought for what lay 'head or behind..
For Fate stabbed my heart with a cruel knife..
Plundering me of a Friend & joy in life..

O pain & agony! Stop thy wicked play!
For I've lost my Friend.. I've lost my way..

Amidst tears and sobs, I rendered them my tale..
and lo! The clouds wept, and away went the gale!!

The Sun then emerged with a gleam in his eyes,
a smile on his lips, healing all malaise..
Heralding his wake, the burgeoning vale,
unfurled its beauty to the fullest scale!

Flowers blossomed forth and scented the air..
Trees danced in the breeze without a care..
Rivulets and creeks gurgled down the dale..
Birds sang & bees buzzed, adorning the vale..

I beheld this portrait of Nature's bliss..
But beneath I felt something amiss!
This new-found joy had filled my soul,
Yet I had none with whom to share this bowl..

I felt alone, even in a place so charming..
I felt forlorn, in this heaven enchanting..

My joy and my sorrow battled one another..
I stood helpless, for my friend wasn't hither..

Of what use is a joy that one can't share???
Of what use is sorrow that none's ears can bear??

The dark clouds swept down on me again!!
The vale too sparkled to humour me, in vain!!

Backseat Philosophy: - from a new angle!

God bless the chap who came up with the whole idea of 'Thought Experiments'!!

Well, u surely know the deal about Ordinary Experiments.. these could be anything ranging from test-tube acrobatics in a chemistry lab, to jumping off from a flying jet..
In the former, if u fail in the first try.. worry not!.. for there's always a second chance..
as for the latter, our jet-jumping hero, well.. here's an idea - if u want to test gravity, please, oh please, use a simple pendulum!! :P

What I'm trying to say is.. when u do an experiment, u r most likely calling for trouble.. Look at what happened to Ramalinga Raju.. in an abortive attempt to emulate Gandhiji, perhaps, he came up with 'The Story of My Experiments with Satyam'!! poor soul.. :D

These abominable things called experiments come with a free package of risks.. I shudder to think of the effects of an experiment gone wrong.. I'm no heart patient, but the prospect of the danger that lurks behind it certainly gives me the creeps, the jitters, the quivers and the shivers! (listed in alphabetical order)..


Which is precisely why, I'm all for doing Thought Experiments.. its simple.. all u need to do is..plonk on a chair and start thinking out ur experiments.. believe me, Thought Experiments work! Did u know that some of the greatest theories in modern physics were formed based on Thought experiments? Come on now, did u actually think Galileo Galilei dropped those balls from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa?? No..it was a thought-experiment!!
No risks involved.. u need not actually perform the expts.. and the conclusions u form help u to get ahead in life.. u might even win a Nobel..who can tell???

I take it that u must be familiar with motorbikes and how one rides them.. the sitting position is what i'm alluding to.. Take the pillion rider's sitting position.. (as the subject of our Thought Experiment).. Usually, in an Indian scenario, a male pillion perches on the back seat.. with his legs on either side of the bike.. and in most cases, a female pillion sits facing one side of the bike completely..

U may also agree..that it's very important for us human beings.. to examine life from different 'angles'..to look at life from different 'points of view'.. Now, this is not so difficult a business to go about, is it? for eg., if u are a man, and u literally want a different view on life.. du'uh!! just take the female pillion position on a bike!!

I performed this very TE the other day.. My bike was parked outside.. It was night time.. I strolled out into the yard for a bit of breeze, wondering what i could do to view life from a new angle (!?!).. that was when this sudden whim of a Thought Experiment struck me.. I climbed on my bike, crawled over to the pillion's seat.. and sat facing one side completely.. assuming the female pillion position..
and then.. i looked around..

A nameless fear gripped me.. the whole world looked eerie and obtuse (or was it reflex?)!! This position endowed me with a momentary insecurity.. I sat there, looking like a 4-year old child who'd accidentally climbed a tree..and didn't know how to get down.. My head whirled, and i reluctantly imagined how traveling like this would be like..

When I regained my balance, I said to myself- 'Wow! so this is how women travel on bikes.. I empathise with them'.. and accordingly, i spent some time empathising with them..
Now u tell me.. how can u feel safe & secure when u know that:
a) u r travelling sideways on a 2-wheeler the whole way
b) u can't lean forward/backward if ur back aches..gotta sit absolutely still
c) u don't have anything 'real' to grab on to
d) when ur bike overtakes an autorickshaw, u can watch the rickshaw guy sulking/swearing away
e) city buses with disgusting/pointed horns chase u like tigers that go after deer
f) u can never actually say how many potholes lie on the road ahead, and be prepared for the shocks
g) u have a 210 degree view of the chaos and mayhem that is urban indian traffic!'



Whew! These Thought Experiments sure do give u a deep insight into life...See? A mere thought experiment helped me foresee an experience.. and understand the plight of a million pillion women.. The experiment itself, if performed in real time, would have been nothing short of disastrous..

P.S:
** The stuff abt Ramalinga Raju is from a cartoon published in The Hindu.. ahem! I give credit wherever credit is due
**I was still shivering 5 minutes after i dismounted from the pillion seat :P
**@ the picture on the right.. both of them are recipients of Bravery Awards of international repute..

what do yu think

what do yu think?
someone said :

I am who I am. But I'm not who you think I am. Definitely not

Do u think THIS IS ATTITUDE. wHY ? WHY not?

of/off the rule book

It is difficult to perceive ; yes it is ....Faces are the most beautiful and at the same time, the most dreadful masks that masquerade the soul. Many a times we are not what we are.Some one said it right , that no human is his/her true self unless he/she finds her/him selves ALONE IN THE DARK with the knowledge of pure solitude. Expressions , thoughts and almost everything about the person then turns out to be perfectly pure n true.But then none oyher than him/her knows that true self !! Ones ideological n philosophical self surfaces like never before at such occasions. You cease to be the self whom you saw getting ready in front of the mirror that morning.

Shakespeare said it right that we are all performers on the great stage of the world . Etiquette,manners and formalities thus become the syntax of the language called life.Try freeing yourselves from these and you shall no longer be called a 'social' creature-you upgrade yoursef to the sublime position of an ECCENTRIC !!
Dont ever laugh and show your teeth !
Never run wild when you breathe a better space!!!
Walk with short ,yes ...!!! very short steps ; like a cat behind a rat ,slow and silent . Even when you are the eye of the storm ,boil beneath and never explode; like the morning sun who grows wise into the noon , to know that it just cant explode (cos dats not n d rule book)and hence shrink into a feeble being to sink into the horizon for a new morn else where!!! Its hard to remain HOLLOW yet we do...... Its hard to keep that plastic smile ;yet we do.....

PS: The author had no 'idea 'as to what it wud turn out to be once she penned it down...so she gives you the fullest freedom to take it as a poem ,prose ,poe-rose or a mere snippet of a reflection..

Lesson I learned : When heart really reflects what u think, u never know what wud that turn out to be ....

The Incident

Prologue
May 7. It started as any other day. I got up late as usual. I wanted to play around with the components I had bought for my project. So I called up my project partner and told him to come to the college. Just then I realised that there was a hartal on that day and the college probably would not be open. I cancelled my plans and was sitting at in my room going through the pages of the new ACD textbook that I had bought just a few days ago. That was when my roommate told me that the labs at the college were open. So I called up my friend again and we met at the college. After fiddling with the components in the lab for about half an hour, it was time for lunch. My partner and I left the college and went to the Green Park hotel behind the college which was open. I had half of a vegetable biriyani (I was not feeling hungry) and a Maa (for which I still haven’t paid for. The guy didn’t have any change so I told him that I would pay for it in the night). After that I went to my partner’s house which is located near the Kingani hotel. I sat there till about 3pm after which I left for home alone via the MH road.
Just Before
It was about 3:15(I found out about the time later); I had crossed theMH ground and was near the new Comp. Sc. Building, where a mud road goes to the right. I saw a bike with two people approaching me from the main road. The driver saw me and told something to the pillion rider. He looked at least 30-35 years old. I thought that they were about to ask for directions, so I slowed down and turned around to see them stop behind me. That’s when it all began. The gut sitting behind got down and pulled out a stick as big as a tube light and called out “EDA”. I knew then that I was in trouble and started running towards the main road. Unfortunately, very unfortunately, I tripped on something and fell.
The Assault
The guy followed and started whacking me with the stick. Initially I shouted out, asking him not to hit me, telling them that I was a nobody (at that time I thought that this was because of the hartal). This was like a reflex action, since on thinking back on these events I never felt my brain giving the commands for me to shout and scream. I had probably got two or three hits then including the one which broke my left forearm. Doctors say that the first instinct when you are about to be hit is to raise the arm which you use for everything up for self protection. I being left handed raised my left arm. I was rolling on the ground when I got my first hit in my face, on my right cheekbone. I fell silent at that point. I could only hear a ringing sound. I stopped feeling pain. Even though I was fully conscious, I didn’t feel any of the subsequent hits. The attackers left me on the road.
The Aftermath
I was able to get up though I was very unsteady, I started to walk towards the main road hoping to reach the Emmaus hostel to get help. I was bleeding heavily through my nose. I called up my roommate who I knew was in the college. I told him that two people had beaten me up and asked him to get some vehicle from somewhere to take me to the hospital. He asked me whether I was telling the truth to which I replied affirmatively with a couple of abuses. I reached the main road. I was holding my handkerchief to my nose to stop the bleeding. I saw a man standing in front of the Meter Testing Office there. I asked him if he could help me. He said that he could try stopping any cars on the way. Knowing that cars would be few it being a hartal I left him and ran inside the Emmaus hostel and went towards the first room I saw shouting for help. I told them what had happened and asked them to do something. The pain had not set in yet. I sat on a railing and looked at my hang. It felt broken. I thought that this was the end for my exams. I then went to a bathroom and got the first look at my face. It was really gruesome. My first reaction was “WOW”. The right side of my face had bloated up and was almost like a football. I was bleeding through my nose and from a cut above my eye. My jeans were soaking in blood and so were my hair and feet. My shirt was deep blue so there was nothing much to see. I washed my face and went back to sit on the railings. I told one of my friends there to take a photo of mine. But unfortunately or fortunately for me, he was more cared for my health and got busy elsewhere. I was then moved inside a room and sat on a chair. Someone got a huge piece of ice which I put on my face to stop the bleeding. I told someone to call my father up and tell him about the incident. I talked to him but thanks to the amazing luck I was having, the reception was not clear and he understood very little. My friend had been playing Mafia Wars onFacebook, it was on the computer beside me. My roommates had reached by then. Some others had got bikes. But I felt that I could not get on a bike and reach the hospital in one piece. Then luckily someone got an auto and climbed into it with two of my friends and was rushed into the Casualty wing of the medical college. The pain was starting to grow while I was in the auto.
Medical College
Getting to the casualty wing requires us to go round the statue of a mother and a baby. I was thinking that more serious cases would probably end up dead by the time they reach the place. Finally on reaching the place I went in and sat on a wheelchair, while my friends completed the formalities. It was really an unlucky day for me as the wheelchair I was sitting on didn’t work. I grumbled and uttered some more abuses. My friends pushed me inside and I was taken one by one to various places where some different type of doctor would check on me. They gave me some glucose drips through a needle stuck on my right hand. Some other friends had arrived by then too. I asked one doctor who checked my hand to tell me that it was not broken and I had an exam to write. But he was silent. Once they took of the drips, I started to shiver violently, and it took some persons to hold me down. I was telling everyone I saw to give me some anaesthetic or drug to remove the pain, but it seems that everyone thought that I was a superman of sorts and could endure any amount of pain. I was then taken to another doctor who put stitches on my face. The nurse told me that I would feel the sting of the needle going into me. This made me laugh, of course I was going to feel a needle and thread going into my face. An X-ray revealed that my hand was indeed broken. My ulna bone was in two pieces. A person put a huge cast around my arm which made it almost impossible for me to move. I was shifted onto a stretcher and was being pushed around everywhere. My local guardian, my aunt was called and she had arrived by then. The medical college police had also come and they took a statement. I told them the entire story in detail which they took down.
They told me that there was some scuffle between the MHites and some locals previously on that day. The attackers probably thought I was anMHite since I was walking down that road. I put a sign in the FIR with my right hand which came out really goofy. A lot of my friends came to see me though I remember very little. My staff advisor had also come. After some more X-Rays, a CT-Scan and more pushing about in the stretcher, I was finally admitted into the Casualty ward where I fell asleep. I was being given oxygen and fluids were being pumped into me. I couldn’t open my jaw completely and the movements of my right eye were restricted though I could see properly. There were multiple fractures on the right side of my face. The ophthalmologist felt that fragments of my skull were probably in the muscles and nerves of my eye which were restricting its movements. An orbital CT-Scan was required to get a more accurate picture. I slept rather uneasily that night, making friends with some cockroaches which were crawling about my face.
I woke up the next day and found two of my aunts there. I was told that my father would be arriving from Ahmadabad that evening. I was being attended to by my friends and relatives. I was told not to eat as I had another scan that afternoon. I was still being filled with medicines and stuff intravenously. I probably had more visitors that day than the rest of the patients of the ward combined. I talked to some of them and also sent a few messages. I was able to sit up and look around. One person was screaming out in pain. My bad luck had still not left me, I was taken in a wheel chair for a scan only to find out that due to some problem all scanning had been pushed to the evening. My dad arrived in the evening and I told him the story too.
SP Fort Hospital
Finally that night I was taken to the SP Fort hospital by my father and two of my classmates where a Faciomaxilliary Surgeon came to have a look at me. On seeing the scans he said that there were multiple fractures on my face. I had probably got two impacts on my face and because of that my cheekbone had got flattened inwards and was resting against my eyeball because of which I couldn’t move my eye completely. There was a blue spot on my eye which was due to a lot of blood. I was told to get a 3D CT-Scan and an MRI scan. The MRI scan took almost half an hour to complete and it was really noisy. I was told that my forearm would be operated upon the next day, while the one my face would take time since it was still the size of a watermelon.
The Operations
The operation on my hand was done under general anaesthesia. It was given via a mask. It works really fast. Before I knew what was going on, I was out. The fixed a metal plate inside my arm. By the time I woke up I was being taken back to my bed. I had a crepe bandage on my arm.
The operation on my face took place on the 13th of May. It was a complicated surgery. I went into the operation theatre at about 10:30am and came out at about 4pm. It took about 6 hours. The anaesthetist gave me an injection. It took a few seconds to take effect. My eyes went blurry and slowly I lost consciousness. I had 3 plates fixed inside my face. There were some more sets of stitches. One was right under my eye, another beside it and one inside my mouth. The doctor had to push out the cheekbone from the inside and use screws and plates to hold the thing in place. It was a complete success and my eye was functioning completely. The blue spot had reduced into a red spot.
Epilogue
I was discharged on Saturday the 16th of May. I went with my parents to stay at my aunt’s place. I had spent 10 days total in two hospitals and couldn’t do more. I was told to come on another day to remove the stitches on my arm of which I took a photo when the attender had removed the bandage. I had one giant scar on it. I also had to cut my hair. I was forced to cut it since it was caked in blood and full of all the crap from the medical college ward.

Thoughts

• Thinking back on all that had happened, it was truly a terrible but great and somewhat weird experience.
  
• I was beaten up by accident due to mistaken identity.Some MHitewas supposed to get what I had received. But this is CETlife. Probably not the CETlife we imagine but this is one thing about the four years in college I would never forget...
• The attackers only had the intention to hit. They came, They whacked, They went. Thankfully they didn’t steal anything. I still hope a coconut falls on their head and they die.
• The pain was not that immense and even though I had a bunch of broken bones and whatnot, I was still able to stand up and run to safety. I got a bunch of scars and now I have metal on my skull \m/. Due to some twisted luck, there was no damage to my brain(no way of finding out!) or my eye.
• I only missed one exam, it was a choice between one suppli or writing 12 exams together in the next semester, which would have probably given me a whole set of supplies. Writing with a broken hand is not easy.
• It put a certain things in perspective. Like pain. And the times we laugh when we see on TV people crashing in cars and bikes doing stunts and breaking a bunch of bones.
• My hair was among the big losses I faced. Not to forget the medical costs which came to more than Rs.1.15 lakh!
• A broken right ulna and a tripod fracture on the right side of my skull with a large segment of bone depressed inwards. I have a total of 4 metal plates in me with a bunch of screws. Who would have thought I would have recovered in just 20 days!

ANNE FRANK - If any one has the book " the diary of a young girl "please do lend

Chk out this article from Hindu on ANNE FRANK

http://www.thehindu.com/mag/2009/06/07/stories/2009060750070200.htm

Tawa wars!!!

The world is changing..
I can feel it in the wind.. I can smell it in the air..
The sweet smell that wafts by.. flirts with my nostrils..
Yes.. the time has come..
It is now that I must make haste.. I must act quickly..

Like a warrior drawing his sword, i raised the ladle..
i shoved it underneath the dosa..
and before the flame of the stove blackened the underside.. i swiftly flipped the dosa.. and tossed it back on the tawa..
triumphantly, i withdrew my ladle..
Thus, Dosa side-A was saved..

i admired my work.. enchanted, i beheld the golden-brown glow of the wafery crispness..
then, i looked up the chimney.. and raised my hands in thanksgiving..
'Thank you, Roy Plunkett (of Kinetic Chemicals).. Had it not been for you, we'd never have had the delight of using Non-stick Cookware!!'

Seriously, non-stick tawas 'rock'..( dosa-'kallu'..hehe)!!.. they're coated with teflon.. which means.. no matter how little ghee/oil/butter u add to the tawa, ur food does not stick on to it.. so, u can save on calories n stuff too.. wow!!
Hey.. isn't it quite ironical... that inspite of the Teflon Revolution... cookery-show-aunties are so fat these days??

Anyway, that being a side-issue.. i thought i'd discuss it later.. during breakfast, perhaps.. "who's fat and who's not" has always been a favourite topic since our non-stick arrived..
And as i waited for the flames to add their finishing touches to Dosa side-B, i turned my thoughts down memory lane..

It was 8 years ago.. i stood in the kitchen with a ladle in my hand.. my head held high.. (bcos i was trying to smell and assess whether the underside was blackening!!..).. suddenly, the dosa started behaving in a very odd manner.. it coughed and spluttered.. being a helpless 12 year old boy, i ran to fetch my mother.. she came and took over..

armed with the ladle, both of us struggled to pull the dosa away from the tawa.. it was a tug-of-war between the flames and us.. Fire was claiming the underside for itself.. and we started de-plastering it in every possible way.. (The tawa was a non-Non-stick type!!)

But alas!.. the dosa had stuck on blindly.. it was a battle that we lost.. tawas can be very demanding when they grow old.. so we put our foot down, and decided to do away with the monster.. We ordered a brand new non-stick tawa which serves us to this day..

I looked at the non-stick tawa beaming with pride..
But Shock! Horror! Disbelief!! My flashback had come with a price...
Fire was back with an evil grin... to reclaim Dosa side-B!!!

A K*zh* Mootha Adventure

Because some have taken offence to the usage of the word k*zh*, I am repostin this post after some censoring. The original can still be found at my blog nitishn5.blogspot.com

May 02, 2009: This was today four of us, KMG, TGT, TVT and myself N5 decided to explore the darkness that lay beyond the much heard but little known region called Alathara. We began our journey following the road not much travelled by CETians, going towards Alathara. On the way we passed big towers that were coming up, tall in defiance of the countryside, great structures looking out to the sea. Onward we walked, without a target, following the same worn out road, leaving behind the hills which had great castles and palaces of the rich and famous lying in between the shacks and hovels of the downtrodden. A lot more of them were coming up here, leaving us amazed at how crass capitalism was destroying our countryside.

Then as we turned around a bend in the road, we caught our first sight of the great Akkulam Lake, glistening in the sunlight in all its majesty. Alas, for we were at a junction with two choices, to go either left or right. We searched for any signs which would tell us the way forward. But then the blistering heat of the high noon took over our mnds with the help of our k*zh* and we took the beaten road to the right. We advanced forward, ambling along the shores of the stately Akkulam Lake passing by many wonders, natural and manmade alike.

Soon we found our beaten track merging into the great NH Bypass. The road that carried vast amount of traffic at high speeds which left us amazed. We satiated our thirst at a wayside shop with lemon juice and soda and rested our feet. The keeper of the shop was amazed to hear of our journey till now but we told him that it was just the beginning leaving him dumbstruck. Others bid us good luck for our adventure. We bid them goodbye and turning south walked along the Bypass till we reached the bridge crossing the Akkulam Lake. A long bridge was this, spanning over 369 metres and built over six years, the construction being led by a woman chef engineer. We traversed the bridge slowly, marvelling at the beauty of the mighty Akkulam Lake. And slowly and steadily we had finally crossed. We looked back and the beginning of the bridge gleamed far away in the distance. We rested a little in the shade of a mango tree. Its branches were teasing us with bunches of its fruits hanging just out of reach. With the heavy motor traffic of the NH Bypass road to give us company and protection, we strolled ahead, viewing the many factories, car showrooms and other sights alongside the dusty road. We had a small lunch at a decrepit hotel offering only rice meals after which we walked till we reached another junction.

But there was a road sign here which read:

Kovalam 19 k.m.

Veli tourist village 2 k.m.

We were well aware of the limits of our k*zh* and with a sea wind cooling our minds, we turned west again, walking towards the other greater lake, Veli. We first reached the Kochuveli Railway Station. This was from where many long distance trains started. We found the Kochuveli-Bikaner Express lying at the first platform. We were now walking right on the railway tracks, filling our eyes with the majesty of the grand Indian Railways. We crossed the tracks and after a right turn and then a left turn we stumbled upon Veli. We entered the park and saw the various carvings and sculptures it had on display. With a little more rest we moved towards the beach and stood facing the wide open Arabian Sea. We strained our eyes hoping to catch a glimpse of any big ship but to no avail.

Our k*zh* took us further south as we walked towards the beach of Shankumugham. We ambled along the beach with our pants folded up to our knees and our footwear in our hands. Befriending the dogs basking in the beach we moved forward, sometimes sighting crabs and other creatures in the beach. Littered along the beach were many bottles of alcohol which we tossed into the sea. Regrefully, we also found a few persons depositing their feaces in the sea. Inspite of al these distractions, we were progressing slower than we expected since the sand obstructed our speed. But we walked onward, crossing small creeks that joined with the sea. Finally we were close to our destination. We had reached within viewing distance of the Indian Coffee House building at Shankumugham. We found a bottle of red paint which we used to mark our presence and of our college’s on the new seawall constructed to protect in face of anther tsunami.

Crossing the beach we entered the ICH and ate and drank to our fill. We then walked towards the sculptures, one of the man resting on his back ever gazing at the sky and the stars and the other one of a beautiful mermaid sun bathing, basking in the glory of all nature. And so we came to the end of our journey with our k*zh* now satisfied. We took a bus back to the hustle and bustle of the city and back to our daily lives.

This was a mail i received recently.thot f posting it here.

College Reunions V/s Facebook! 

Staying in touch has always been a choice. Either you said yes to that and connected with your old pals regularly, or you said no and moved on to make new friends. But there is always that thought in your mind that makes you wait for the college reunion to happen each year. It's like you subscribed to these invites when you walked out of those college corridors. College friends have a strange presence in your life, though you may not see them or talk to them for years. A chance sight of a balding man on the road suddenly brings about the recollection that this is the guy who paid for your food when you ran short of dough in your sophomore year. 

There is another side to this. With increased tools at your disposal to keep in touch, the pull of college reunions are no longer what they used to be. Take for example, my colleague Donna. She says, "Why do I need to go to college to meet old pals? I can do that through Facebook!" Now I think she's got a point there. With social networks, you can keep in touch with your old friends throughout the year. You can know the crests and troughs of their lives, you can see pictures of how they evolved from gawky twenty-somethings to mature parents. It's all there for you to explore. 

So the question is, should you take up that invitation from the college and be there? Or are you content keeping in touch with your friends via networking tools? It's true that we are constantly running short of time, so that college trip might well be a little heavy on your work schedule. But, at the same time, a trip to the campus which stood witness to the making of the person you are now, is time well invested. What would you rather do, be there at college reunions or stay in touch via Facebook?

the 'G'rand 'P'icture of 'A'pplied-electronics..

I happen to know two people... Arjuna and Krishna... they're fellow engineering students.. krishna is the all-knowing omnipotent one.. arjuna is his friend who admires him endlessly... (hey, now wait a minute.. this sounds a li'l familiar... aha!! mahabharata.. bhagavat gita.. bravo!! u're a genius..)

krishna is a very knowledgeable fellow.. encyclopaedic, if i may use the word.. he talks abt technology, business, global issues, sports, philosphy... and arjuna simply gapes at him for his sheer intellect, speechless.. awestruck.. inebriated with the nectar of krishna's raw magnetism...

then one day, something happened that turned the world upside down.. no, not an earthquake or a tsunami.. no, no..not a hurricane either.. just take away the natural-disasters-category from ur mind..

arjuna had asked krishna a question to which he had no answer...
none at all..
krishna blinked.. (but blinking didn't help him find the answer either..)

this was what happened..

Krishna: (finishing lines of prev speech).. and that's how nutrigenomics promises a great future for mankind...
Arjuna: (dazed, awestruck, dumbfounded etc..):.. wow, krishna.. wow!!
K: (very unassumingly).. yes.. its great, i know..
A: krishna... krishna, can i ask u something?
K: sure..go ahead..
A: krishna.. what's ur GPA??
(silence)... (krishna thinks he didn't hear the question properly)...
K: er...my what... arjuna?
A: dude.. ur gpa...

Krishna thinks hard.. finally shakes his head.. and says, "dude.. i don't have the foggiest idea what u r talking abt.."
The world stood still.. Sea waves stopped in mid-tide and turned around to look at krishna.. the winds halted, surprised and shocked.. a guy trying to kill himself by jumping off from a flying jet, paused during mid-fall to wonder at what krishna had just said.. he had not heard of GPA..

A: Du'uh??!! krishna.. u've not heard of gpa??
K: ok now.. enough of this non-sense.. u r just bluffing.. well, what's this gpa anyway??
A: (takes a deep breath).. krishna... GPA.. is a way of life...
K: carry on..
A: u see.. GPA.. is like this philosophy that runs the wheels of the world..
K: eh??
A: well, how shall i explain it to u?.. GPA is like the universal answer to any question... ANY question..
K: Arjuna! u've kindled my curiosity.. kindly enlighten me..'
(psst..above line adopted from translation of Srimad Bhagavath Gita..hopefully blogger.com won't arrest me for copyright violation!!)

Arjuna: like i said.. GPA has all the answers..

Arjuna elaborated thus...
"Any question, my dear krishna..
Why did the chicken cross the road?..GPA..
How shall i find a suitable life-partner?.. GPA..
How to allot electives to students in CET?.. GPA..
Which brand of underwear should i buy?.. GPA..
God!!! Why me???.. GPA, my dear child..."



Krishna: (dazed, awestruck, dumbfounded etc..).. arjuna, i never realised all this...
Arjuna: don't worry krishna.. u r perhaps the only person in this world who hasn't heard of gpa..there's still time.. to catch up with everyone and learn the ways of the world..
Krishna: Arjuna, but u haven't thrown light on what GPA stands for.. what does it all mean, o arjuna!

Arjuna takes another deep breath.." Its a long story.. Years and years ago..when good men still walked on the earth(??).. GPA was called Grade Point Aggregate.. a mere indicator of students' academic performance (in KU exams)... later on, it gained so much importance that it was used as a "General Policy for (any) Allotment"... it was seen as unfair by a vast number of people.. but they were too timid to protest against the policy... later, they suffered, as they saw their "Genuine Passions Attacked".. their passion for knowledge.. their true aptitude thwarted.. they were denied the electives they asked for.. the knowledge they craved...BUT they were too timid to protest..
This remained so for a long time.. till the rules became rigid.. till it was too late to question the authority.. a big "Goodbye to Protests and Arguments.."..
gpa has ruled our college lives ever since.."

Arjuna finished his speech rather dramatically.. Krishna was overcome by nausea..
He cleared his throat..(for it had become choked.. well, y else would anyone clear their throat dammit??).. he mused for a while, and collected himself...

Thus spake GoPAla Krishna:
Remember, my dear Arjuna.. To survive in this college life and in the web of mundanity that the GPA spider (Genetically Programmed to be Atrocious) has spun.. it is not enough to have worldly knowledge alone.. it does not suffice to read the newspaper everyday, build up ur general knowledge, develop ur extra-curricular interests.. it doesn't spur u forward.. all u need to do is score well in Kerala University's "extremely fair" exams.. get a good gpa.. and do the practical thing.. You are known by ur gpa.. as a number.. just as prisoners r known by a number in jail.. U r trapped inside a bubble... gpa is ur only way out..

Super lyrics

The Toxic Waltz - by Exodus

Here's a new dance craze
That's sweeping the nation
It's called the Toxic Waltz
And it's causing devastation
You're jumping up and down
Like a psycho circus clown
Slamming with waltzers
All the way around
You get caught up in the whip
Thrown into a flip
You aim for someone's head
To stain the floor red
Give someone a kick
To prove you're truly sick
Bounce back from some blows
And blood runs out your nose
Flailing round and round
And you're injury bound
Waltz it up!
The pit is it!
You can take your chance
On this rough new dance
If you dare!
To dive in!
There are some that try
But they don't survive
They don't hit!
'cause they're wimps!
And this exercise
helps you brutalize
With us!
Exodus!

(chorus)

Everybody's doing the toxic waltz
Kick your friend in the
head and have a ball
Come on and do the toxic waltz
And slam your partner
against the wall
Everybody's doing the toxic waltz
Good friendly violent fun
in store for all
Get up off your ass
and toxic waltz
If you hit the floor
You can always crawl!

Used to do the monkey
but now it's not cool
The twist and mashed potato
are no exception to the rule
So don't be a dunce
and dance like a runt
Just throw your elbows
with good friendly violent fun
don't start to cry
if you get a black eye
just dive back in
and give another try
but too much action
may leave you in traction
so you better get insurance
no matter your endurance
flailing round and round
and you're injury bound
Waltz it up!
The pit is it!
You can take your chance
on the rough new dance
If you dare!
to dive in!
There are some that try
but they wont survive
They dont hit!
'cause they're wimps!
And this exercise
Helps you brutalize
With us!
Exodus!

(chorus)

Everybody's doing the Toxic Waltz
Kick your friend in the
head and have a ball
Come on and do the toxic waltz
and slam your partner
against the wall
everybody's doing the toxic waltz
good friendly violent fun
in store for all
get up off your ass
and toxic waltz
if you hit the floor you
can always crawl!

Get up on your feet
Don't look so obsolete
And thrash like an athlete!
Don't sit there on your ass
Don't look like you
got too much class
you'll be harassed!
You know we guarantee
This is the key
So rage or get the third degree!
You begin frontal assaults
and start your somersaults
And do the toxic waltz!
Do the toxic waltz!
Do the toxic waltz!
Do the toxic waltz!
Do the toxic waltz!

Nineteen-nineteen to the dozen

Once upon a time, Ashok Leyland gifted CET with a beauty.. a highly fashionable, state-of-the-art, roaring bus, (which will be the subject of this post).. the "KRV 1919"!! Hear one, hear all! This bus runs through the winding lanes of Trivandrum everyday, transporting a hundred ( that's right..a hundred, mind u! choke! suffocate! die!) engineering aspirants to their alma-mater..

There are rumours that it has even been given special mention in the "History of the Kingdom of erstwhile Travancore"!!! Initially i was made to believe that the registration number of the bus had something to do with its year of manufacture!

so, this bus is like this huge rectangular box, carelessly balanced on six wheels.. When the bus starts, it'll appear as though the wheels and the body have a difference of opinion and threaten to part ways!!.. but i assure u, it gets worse when it gets moving..

It seems that 'Ground Clearance' was given a lot of importance in those days..when u see the 1919 coming from a distance, it reminds u of the latest edition of Fashion-Week Paris.. the tyres are very showy, and if u pay attention, the wobbling from side to side and the mini-skirtish look of the body r enough to give u the memory of the best cat-walk ever!! The seats are rock solid, with metallic frames designed to suit the tastes of an engineering student.. when the bus passes over a little pot-hole, u can feel ur ribs rattle, reminding u that u r still alive..worse, when its time to screech to a halt and the brakes are applied(?), u feel as if forty-three amateur violinists were rehearsing poor Beethoven's Last symphony right beside u!!

Oh, and that's not all..there is the return trip home, which starts with half a dozen hefty boys pushing the bum of the old beauty whilst the driver tries, cries and practically dies to get the engine kicking into a roar...and what a blessing it is to be chosen as one among those half a dozen of boys!! i envy them..i envy them all!! grrr..
Also, the 1919 has a distinct style of acceleration..its show of power..well, in the process, an unfathomably huge cloud of black smoke drifts out of the exhaust..that for the vehicles behind the bus, it'll look as though the power cut had come 3 hours early..and all calls to mobile phones within the region would be thwarted with an 'out-of-coverage' response!!

All in all, it's worth a bumpy ride!! I do make it a point not to miss the bus the moment i know its gonna be KRV 1919..the unpredictability, the team spirit, the emotion..priceless!!
Ashok Leyland, we owe u a lifetime full of rib-rattling pleasure!!

LINE OF FIRE

A real story ...A conversation between a Soldier and Software Engineer in Shatabdi Train .... .....An interesting and a must read ! GOT IT FROM AN ORKUT COMMUNITY

Vivek Pradhan was not a happy man.. He was the Project Manager and still not entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought, he had tried to reason with the admin person, it was the savings in time.

He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use.

'Are you from the software industry sir,' the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop.Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car.

'You people have brought so much advancement to the country, Sir. Today everything is getting computerized. '

'Thanks,' smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a look. He always found it difficult to resist appreciation.

'You people always amaze me,' the man continued, 'You sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things outside.'

Vivek smiled deprecatingly. Naiveness demanded reasoning not anger. 'It is not as simple as that my friend. It is not just a question of writing a few lines. There is a lot of process that goes behind it.'

'It is complex, very complex.'

'It has to be. No wonder you people are so highly paid,' came the reply. This was not turning out as Vivek had thought. A hint of belligerence crept into his so far affable, persuasive tone. ' Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in. .

'Let me give you an example. Take this train. The entire railway reservation system is computerized. You can book a train ticket between any two stations from any of the hundreds of computerized booking centres across the country. Thousands of transactions accessing a single database, at a time concurrently; data integrity, locking, data security.
Do you understand the complexity in designing and coding such a system?'
The man was awestuck; quite like a child at a planetarium.

'You design and code such things.'

'I used to,' Vivek paused for effect, 'but now I am the Project Manager.'

'Oh!' sighed the man, as if the storm had passed over,
'so your life is easy now.'

This was like the last straw for Vivek. He retorted, 'Oh come on, does life ever get easy as you go up the ladder.
Responsibility only brings more work.
Design and coding! That is the easier part. Now I do not do it, but I am responsible for it and believe me,
that is far more stressful. My job is to get the work done in time and with the highest quality.
To tell you about the pressures, there is the customer at one end, always changing his requirements,
the user at the other, wanting something else, and your boss, always expecting you to have finished it yesterday.'

'My friend,' he concluded triumphantly, 'you don't know what it is to be in the Line of Fire'.
The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realization. When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised Vivek.
'I know sir,....... I know what it is to be in the Line of Fire.......'
He was staring blankly, as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse of time.
'There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night.
The enemy was firing from the top.
There was no knowing where the next bullet was going to come from and for whom.
In the morning when we finally hoisted the tricolour at the top only 4 of us were alive.'
'You are a...?'
'I am Subedar Sushant from the 13 J&K Rifles on duty at Peak 4875 in Kargil. They tell me I have completed
my term and can opt for a soft assignment.
But, tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier.
On the dawn of that capture, one of my colleagues lay injured in the snow, open to enemy fire while
we were hiding behind a bunker.
It was my job to go and fetch that soldier to safety.
But my captain sahib refused me permission and went ahead himself.
He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the safety and welfare of
the nation foremost followed by the safety and welfare of the men he commanded...
....his own personal safety came last, always and every time.'
'He was killed as he shielded and brought that injured soldier into the bunker. Every morning thereafter,
as we stood guard, I could see him taking all those bullets, which were actually meant for me.
I know sir....I know, what it is to be in the Line of Fire.'

Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of how to respond. Abruptly, he switched off the laptop.
It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a Word document in the presence of a man for whom
valour and duty was a daily part of life; valour and sense of duty which he had so far attributed only to epical heroes. The train slowed down as it pulled into the station, and Subedar Sushant picked up his bags to alight.

'It was nice meeting you sir.'

Vivek fumbled with the handshake.
This hand... had climbed mountains, pressed the trigger, and hoisted the tricolour.
Suddenly, as if by impulse, he stood up at attention and his right hand went up in an impromptu salute.
It was the least he felt he could do for the country.

PS: The incident he narrated during the capture of Peak 4875 is a true-life incident during the Kargil war. Capt. Batra sacrificed his life while trying to save one of the men he commanded, as victory was within sight. For this and various other acts of bravery, he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra,
the nation's highest military award.

Live humbly, there are great people around us, let us learn!
"Winners are .....
too busy to be sad,
too positive to be doubtful,
too optimistic to be fearful
and too determined to be defeated "..........