Have You Ever ... ??

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to fee detached from everything in this world? ... detached from everything around you?

Have you ever felt that one down moment when you wish you lived life your way, and your way alone?

Have you ever felt that one happy moment when you were glad you lived a part of your life for someone else?

Have you ever wondered why you can't let some things go, while you can let some others go with such ease that you wonder how you came to be associated with it in the first place?

Have you had that one thing you wish you had said before ... one moment when you should have let your heart speak and not your head?

Have you ever dreamt of that one thing for all your life so far ... but dreams are only as far as you could go?

Have you ever wondered what makes great quotes great, memorable quotes memorable?

Have you ever wished you had been the one there with someone ... or for that matter, been the one there for someone?

Have you ever felt as if you are being torn apart by two seemingly strong forces which you have no way to counter?

Have you ever felt that so much of life has already been wasted on thinking ... thinking alone and not doing?
Well if you have, then you might just be one of those thousands of human beings who wake up everyday, stand in front of the mirror, and ask themselves something that goes 'Have you ever...'
So tell me ... Have you? .... ever ?

The Ones That I Could ...

Had veered off into a small memory trip today afternoon ... realized I had to get back to this small corner of my mind (like really really small) here on the web ... and also to inform that I am lucky that I have not yet been robbed of my music ties (thanks to like-minded friends here, including one of my roomies) ...
[And yes ... details of this huge gap in posting will be presented indeed ... cos I can't wait to place these pieces into the drawing board here]
The memory trip was from all those moments where I was in front of many people ... trying to do something, and gauging whether people felt that I was an absolute 'jackass' or an absolute 'stud' ... ultimately ending up collecting rare pieces of memories into my mind's locker. This was the list that followed --

• Shoghono Gohono Raatri
• Chingaari Koi Bhadke
• Kandhon se miltey hai Kandhe
• Words
• Ae duniya ke rakhwaale
• Right here waiting for you
• Saawan on raag Megh
• Ajeeb dastaan hai yeh
• Lakshya
• Kahin door jab din dhal jaaye
• More Than Words
• Boro aasha kore ...
• Tum -- (Urban Chaos -- self comp)
• Zindaa
• Bikhra hun mai
• Uyirin Uyire
• Teri deewani
• Chaand Sifaarish
• November Rain
• Certain Romance (Arctic Monkeys)
• Drops of Jupiter (Train)
• Kuch na kaho
• Phoolon ke rang se
• Aashayein
• Ab Na Jaa
• Varagai Nathikira (Sangamam)
• Hollow years
• Maaeri
• Summer of '69
• Roop tera mastaana
• Aap ki dua

Some of these were good times, some not so good times (and if I missed out any, will be only too happy to be pointed out)-- but all being something that I was a part of. For those who are reading this, and who know what the list is ... Thank You for all the good times.

The Wait ...

... is still on ...

Would like to believe in this line from the OST of a recent movie

'...dil agar sachcha ho rab sab kar de setting...'

(P.S: That said, I do plan to watch the movie as well ...)

'Why So Serious ??'

I must say that I was nothing short of dying to watch the movie when I went into the theater … I mean, the movie was everywhere – status messages, critics’ reviews, newspaper ads, radio contests. The fact that it shot to IMDB’s top spot in about three weeks of runtime, about Ledger being considered as a posthumous Oscar nominee, about Chris Nolan’s way of tackling an ensemble cast … everything made me visualize the experience of watching ‘The Dark Knight’ as something great, majestic. I must say, it was not disappointing on many accounts, in fact, on most of the accounts.

I should say that the fact that the title did not have any reference of Batman in it, was something of relevance, and I was only amazed at the way Chris Nolan treated his characters – giving the Joker, Harvey Dent, Batman, Alfred their own place in the script. In an ensemble cast, makers often end up being unable to give proper space to all the characters, The first thing that you realize when you think of it, is that you can remember prominent durations in the movie for all the actors – Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Cain, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale. Yes, there were that many actors and they all were properly pitched in. That in itself is a big thing! Needless to say the individual performances were brilliant. Heath Ledger’s Joker is probably the most brilliant portrayal of a comic-book villain. A lot has already been said about his performance, which was in fact so brilliant, that he received standing ovations in my theatre (and that’s the first time I have seen a villain get that kind of praise). His brutal acts, his delivery of brilliant lines, that psychotic strain in his movements and conversation … he just perfected the Joker in the true sense of the cruel character that Kane and Finger created.

Looking at the other major character in the movie, Gotham City’s White Knight, DA Harvey Dent got another strong portrayal in Aaron Eckhart. Now this character was really critical, as Dent is not an out and out evil personality. His transformation to Two-Face was a result of an overwhelming shock and dilemma. Eckhart has brought that out so well, that in the end when you see the fall of the White Knight of Gotham, you feel something tingling inside you … you want to see more of him. Christian Bale as Batman might not have that intelligence in appearance, and that air about himself as George Clooney did, but his portrayal makes him look like a superhero without any powers, and he has been able to get to that mental dilemma of Batman quite well – two things that form an integral part of the character of Batman. Michael Cain is the best Alfred I have seen, and the lesser I say about an actor of his stature the better it is for me. As Commissioner Gordon, Gary Oldman completes the trio of good that fights the evil for Gotham, and he holds up his end well to complete the portrayal of the trio.

I could not help noticing the fact that, even though it was a Batman movie, Nolan has used batman as a link, to tie up all the major characters, and unlike in other Batman movies, we do not find the caped crusader appearing in every alternate scene, and not emerging victorious at the end (he ends the movie being chased by dogs … I mean that’s out of the box for a superhero movie). The movie was replete with brilliant moments. Apart from the ones where the major characters interplay, there is this one scene where the two ships carrying Gotham’s citizens and criminals are to be blown up (a part of a ‘social experiment’ by Joker). The city people believe the criminals are anyways gonna kill them … but they do not somehow detonate the remote. While on the criminals’ ship, one rugged toughie comes up, asks the police to hand him the remote so that he can finish off what should have been done long back, and throws off the remote into the river. The entire sequence formed a really memorable piece of cinema. Also, the concept of the victory of Evil in its battle against the Good by bringing the Best of the latter down and weakening it to prove a point … how effective a theme to drive a movie! The very essence of Joker’s psychotic cruelty was this, and eventually in the movie when Dent dies, Batman realizes how the Joker’s plan of proving a point by exposing the weak point of Gotham’s Good Forces was successful.

To say more about the technical details of the movie will not be proper for me, as the overall effects in the movie have been point perfect in my opinion. Who can not be overwhelmed by the scene where Batman flies across the skies to capture the mob head business tycoon. Who can not be struck by the scene where Alfred and Bruce Wayne walks down a long corridor, with the ceiling lights switching off as they walk down, and Alfred telling Bruce ‘But I did bloody tell you”. Amazing moments, brilliant performances, brilliant dialogues – everything adding up to produce a whole entity that is greater than the sum. I am gonna watch it again, and try collecting an HDTV softcopy when it comes out. It’s a brilliant piece of cinema, and a most brilliant exit for Heath Ledger. If I were on the panel, Ledger’s academy award would have been a certainty :D

Here’s to The Dark Knight, and all the other efforts that will follow from this same team.

Kya Baat Hai v2.0 ... :D

There is this big banner in front of our apartment here which is making an endearing call for students to join their institute ... by saying this ...

"Failed Class X/XII ???
No Academic Qualification ???
Join Graduation Directly !!!
_____ University"

One needs to appreciate stuff like these :D

Retro does Speak ...

It's been quite sometime since my last post came up, and today's post is gonna be about the reason for this long time-gap. I had been, for the last couple of weeks, keeping myself a bit busy with something called 'Retrospeakt '08' (refer picture for clarifications). It was a project that a group of ex-students from my school (M.P Birla Foundation H.S School) took up -- forming an alumni association, and organizing it's first ever re-union.

Now for the non MPB'ites -- our school ex students had always expressed the desire for getting an Alumni association going, but that desire has been 'Garfielded' (if you know what I mean :P ). So for this (and some other reasons) somehow the mobilization of all the 14 batches of pass outs had not happened all this while. A couple of months ago ... some enthusiastic people said 'Enough is enough' and decided to take it up on themselves to set the ball rolling. Along came a widely networked campaign for the alumni association -- Orkut, Facebook, Gmail, Gtalk, Yahoo ... you name it, they were in the list. A database was created (yours truly stepped in to the action :) ), and thereafter, contacts started pouring in. After meetings and discussions, an association was finally formed, and the first re-union was conceived. So far so good.

It was end of May when I got to see what was going on in full detail, and the re-union was planned for 29th of June -- in a scale that really needed quite a lot of planning and labor. In came a truly strenuous week of incessant toil -- sponsors, publicity, legal agenda, event planning, fund-raising from alumni ... a huge list. From my little experience, I knew how hard it was going to be for all of us but everyone seemed to be positive about it. What followed thereafter was a series of obstacles that showed how Murphy's law does rule over everything. Sponsors decided to be procrastinating their replies, some said yes but thereafter said 'We are sorry', one ex-student decided to jump in with his contributions only to tell that we have to run the entire event as per his whims (we obviously called him off), it started raining and the school grounds (the planned venue) was out of bounds so we had to shift it inside the hall, people were not very forthcoming with contributions, the media people started behaving as they always do (in fact even worse than they always do) -- in total ... the work of a team of 15 was being done by 5 and we had to see it all go astray every morning. Some things did click however, and the day of the event arrived.


They say honest effort pays all the time. What we saw on 29th was nothing less than testimony to this old adage. Ex-students came in huge numbers, the total amount collected as donations was thousands of bucks greater than the collection throughout June, the good old assembly hall was decked up beyond recognition, people ate to their heart's content, good music, gathering, great fun -- in short an evening to remember.


So what if the badges on our shirts read "Alumini Association", so what if sponsors chose not to pay us because we "had no promise as a group", so what if people had not been forthcoming till the very end, so what if the teachers whom we loved and invited chose not to come, so what if a section of the ex-students did not believe that the people working for the event were not "good enough" -- for all of these, The M.P Birla Alumni Association has it's own legal registration as an independent body, we've got fixed agenda and policies (and they look really stud, believe me), we have our own logo and header, we have our own magazine, we have even our own website ready for launch, and we had hundreds of ex-students say "Dude ... an evening to remember".

On a personal front, it was after a really long time that I got to meet my school friends, it was the first time I saw my brother dance on stage (he does it well indeed), it was yet another successful stint for me at organizing an event, it was yet another magazine that I helped bring out -- but most of all it was a simply brilliant feeling to stand in front of the stage that day, swaying to the music played by one of my friends, and feeling at home at the very place you kinda stopped calling home about 4 years ago.

Here's to "The M.P Birla Alumni Association" and to "Retrospeakt".

Paani Paani Re ...

It started yesterday at 8:30 in the evening, went on throughout the night, and close to 9 o'clock today morning, this was what happened to some parts of the city :P :P


This is basically the entrance to my apartment building. The water level was waist high (for me !! ). The house that you see on the right was (needless to say) flooded, the residents had a bad, wet day. The building towards the left by the way, is a school ... and the kids did have their "rainy day off" :D.

And this is the story of a great number of areas in and around the city.

Water, water everywhere ... on the roads, in potholes, drains, ... whatever you can think of.

Kya Baat Hai ... :D :D

Saw this ad on paper today about a garment mall. M.S Dhoni features in a cool-dude attire (or something like that), points his finger at the readers (out of the paper that is) and says:--

"Aajkal log sabse pehle kapde dekhte hai"

The Weeks That Were ...

Been about a couple of weeks and more since I arrived ... quite a bit happened ... tried to summarize it ... this is what the kaleidoscope gave me

Nostalgia. IIT memories. Gmail chat, and Orkut. Music, music and lotsa more music. No cable TV, ergo no Euro '08. Home food, and Kolkata during rains. School friends. The M.P Birla Foundation Alumni Association, and 'Retrospect '08'. Spons, publicity, PR, Media, Events -- all over again. Dual bandhs. Arjun Singh's spark of genius and phenomenal eccentricity (read spawning of IIT's everywhere, including an All Women's IIT !!). Oversleeping some days, undersleeping the other. Blogging and writing. City-hopping. And finally ... getting busy in finding out ways to beat boredom, and getting bored thereafter.

Is it somewhat similar for everyone I know ?

Th Ultimate Last Day Menu :D

This was what I tried out for my senti-ridden last day menu ... proved to be a delight

1. Breakfast -- Pongal Vada and Filter Coffee at Tiffany's
2. Masala dosa at Campus cafe in the afty (did not quite materialize however)
3. Chenna puff at Tidel Bakes (evening)
4. Puffs at Guru with Ice Tea
5. Sub at Ascendas
6. Onion Rava Dosa at Tiffany's again
7. Coffee at Guru
8. Frappe at CCD
   
9. Veg Franky at Basera

Now that definitely did cover all the eateries for us. Anyone who can come up with anything else/better kindly let know :D.

ADIOS ... IIT M ... It's Been a Pleasure

On the day when I had finally completed all of my paperwork and submission and all that jazz for completion of my IITM degree, I was sitting at CCD -- the A.C was real good, and after all the flurry of stuff to be taken care of, I had finally managed some time to let everything sink in. In the five or six minutes that followed I could see the last four years flashing by -- as if in snapshots or a slideshow of some kind. It was only then that I could truly realize that it indeed was gonna be the end of nothing less than an era for me. And I am sure, the same feeling would be running through the minds of many -- retrospection and the nostalgia notwithstanding, the real multitude of experiences that this brilliant place throws at you is in itself worth a lifetime.

I can't imagine what I would be today if these four years had been different from what they were. It might have been better, for all I know, and it might have been worse as well. However, I chose to leave this apart and let myself think of all that I have got. I got friends, great and amazing friends, I got to see a wide world of emotions, passion and glory, I got to experience the highs (pun intended amigos) and the lows, I got to learn stuff that I had never dreamt of, I got to do stuff I had never even imagined -- all this within a span of four wonderful years. To be able to experience fear, love, hatred, anger, self control, passion, and indifference, to be able to stand in front of a thousand plus crowd of unknown faces and perform, to be able to head a hundred member strong team to manage a huge extravaganza of an event, to be able to cry at your friends' sorrows, to experience that warm helping hand extended when you are low and down, to get back from there and get your chance of doing something big, to be able to innovate, to initiate, and get a searing pain in the back as you slog it off, finishing it all off with a laugh at one of those jokes that a close buddy of yours might have cracked -- everything ... everything about it all is nothing short of sheer brilliance.


And as one of my friends put it once, its the people who make the place. Nothing could be more true than this. I have come to know (and this I mean it in all earnestness) some of the best people of my life over the course of the last four years. And some of them have become my friends for life. People who are absolutely brilliant in terms of many aspects ... and some who are not (and yet conspicuous by their presence alongside the others) -- people who have taught me stuff, loads and loads of stuff, for me to carry with me in the years to come.

I guess it has all been a long drawn climax -- these last couple of weeks -- in terms of all that has happened in the past four years. It is just amazing to think of what this does to any newcomer at this place -- they come, they see, they do, they learn and unlearn, and they come out to be a completely different set of people. And it has been so much in my case that I can't keep myself from looking back, and thanking everyone for every minute of all these years that went by.

To all my amigos -- "We shall be Heroes one day ... and all shall Watch".

Laaeeff ...

I have only a couple of weeks more to stay here at this brilliant campus that has given me so much. Close friends and juniors have started leaving for their vacations -- many of them I dunno when I will be able to meet next. The goodbyes and the adieus have started. I dunno what will happen when my batchmates start leaving -- my heart is already a bit heavy, my mind morose, and my mood nostalgic. The last thing of consequence that i need to do here, which goes by the name of BTP, is kinda proceeding weirdly. My last simulation will take about two weeks to run (which is insane), and my guide has disappeared from the scene for about 10 days. My thesis has just started, and looks like quite a bit of work needs to be put in now. Neither has my visa proceedings been taken care of, which keeps me a bit tensed as well. Night outs, department labs, Tiffany's lunch, dinner somewhere, the maddening Chennai heat, Microsoft word, FLUENT, long hours spent staring at the computer ...... Life.

B to the T to the P .... BTP

(Earnest request to all readers: Please believe in what follows, so that there is at least one forum where people are convinced that I have indeed worked for the BTP, and feel relieved)

Necessary Definitions:
1. BTP - Acronym for B.Tech Project (though there are many alternative expansions for the same). It is supposed to be a chance for students in their final year to apply stuff that they have learned as an undergraduate, in their final year. (The author wishes not to comment on what kind of a 'chance' it is, what 'students' do, what kind of 'stuff' and how to 'apply', and (for some) ... 'final' year ? )

At the very outset, let me remark that there has been few occasions when one single thing has troubled me for almost one whole week, and I have been at it for really long hours with no results. That, combined with the fact that the deadlines are drawing close, and an apprehended suspicion that I have not worked at all for my BTP, is what finally almost drove me crazy today ... and the only escapade I could think of was to write about the situation here. Ergo ... here it is.

My project is on the Hydrodynamics of High Speed Catamarans (for the uninitiated, its about the fast moving two hulled boats that you must have seen in movies and on TV). When I got my project, I was told that I would need to do a lot of literature survey as High Speed vessels was a relatively newer area of research. I was also told about the major tasks that I will need to perform as a part of my project. I did the survey, got a couple of papers, and two books which provided me with exactly what I needed. "Bingo!!", I said to myself. Alas! only if I knew what was to come.
Having gone through the entire thing, I got a better idea of the work, and when I went and spoke to my guide as well, I thought I had a fair idea of the project. Then came my first presentation, by which time I had only just started working -- so not much to show apart from my survey and groundwork. I was able to put in a good presentation with that itself.
By the second presentation, which was almost over a month later, I had to show results. I had worked on whatever scheme I had figured out, and got a huge amount of data from a series of simulation runs in a software called SEAWAY. It took me three days of back-breaking work to compile and analyze this data, and prepare my presentation. It was then that things started getting different.
During my presentation, the faculty on the panel asked me some questions, and surprisingly for me, I found myself struggling with the answers. It was then that I realized that I was not quite on the right track, and somehow my guide did not realize it earlier as well, so even he had not interfered and clarified my misconception.

Let me now be a bit more specific.
For my project there are primarily three parts--
1. For the ship geometry and the velocity given, ind out the equilibrium trim angle.
2. For this trim angle and also for no trim state, run the corresponding motion simulations in SEAWAY ( a software package).
3. For this trim and also for no trim, compute the resistance using cfd techniques in FLUENT (a cfd analysis package).

I was goddamn clear on the 2nd and 3rd, and did not realize the 1st step's necessity. Turns out that was the starting point, and I had been doing without it :)

Once again, even after this realization, life was no easier because Mr. Murphy rules everywhere.
I started working hard on developing iterative procedures (using the MATLAB package), and tried running the CFD runs without any trim angle. Since then, till date, none of my computer simulations or programs have yielded the correct results.
1. In a polynomial with positive roots, upon substituting positive numbers, I am getting complex numbers -- and I can't figure out why the hell.
2. Fluent just refused to run the simulation on my computer, stating some 'Memory allocation error' (for which I tried a lot changing the settings of my comp .. but ... Mr. Murphy is the man)
3. Finally today afternoon, Fluent worked on one of my friend's computer, and guess what ... the solutions are diverging.
4. Meanwhile, tired with the more involved and complex iterative procedure, I tried a simpler one, which btw was done in a book in form of equations. After following exactly the same sequence of steps, I still am not able to match my results.
5. Unless I get the trim angle my Fluent simulations won't run, my meshing of geometry will not happen, and my SEAWAY simulations won't run. And unless I figure out what's wrong with my iterative procedure, I can't get the trim angle. So ... clearly I am in a "sli situation".

I have tried hard, and tomorrow I am going to meet my guide and tell him all of this, albeit in a greater detail. I can only hope that his comments help me get through the problem. However, that can only happen if he does believe that I have done substantial amount of work. In case he doesn't, then ... well , I dunno :)

So much for now ... much more of BTP stuff will be up sometime soon.

P.S: Any person reading this, and having any word of advice or expertise on Matlab/Fluent, please leave a comment, so that I have one more person to seek suggestions from.

When Saarang Happened .....

It took a rainy day with very little left to do, and the completion of another Lit-Soc event for the semester, to come up with this post on one of the biggest things to have happened in my life – named Saarang. With the knowledge that it’s long overdue and also that even though one can never forget the experiences, some details might go off here and there, let’s just get to looking into one of the better organized versions of the mega event.

When you are a Core group member for an event that involves over 60 lacs of money, over 8000 people, and celebrities and media presence, it goes without saying that your life will not be peaceful even by the farthest stretch of imagination. Handling over 40 events, workshops, lectures, and demonstrations – there were times when it just felt as if the sky will fall on your head any moment now. The mobile phone just did not stop ringing, and at times I felt like crushing it with a road-roller – even though the prospect of answering calls of unknown numbers and getting cute voices from the fairer half talk to you (even request you for stuff) is not to be forgotten. There were meetings, lots of them, and at times we ended up talking so much that when finally it was all over it felt as if our jaws still retained some inertia, and ‘not talking’ seemed to be such an anomaly. All in all, it was a brilliant realization of what ‘slogging your asses off’ really meant – and we use it so trivially for whatever level of work we put into something J

Personally, this Saarang was a different thing altogether for me. On the run up to the four days of festivities, I was not quite happy – because all my plans of performing with my band in my last Saarang just fell apart at the last moment. I was sad – so sad that when I first came to realize that it’s not happening, I cried. However, the excitement and tension of the approaching four-day-festivities made me forget all about the sadness. We tried out many new things this year, and the prospect of whether they will be a success or a failure, kept us occupied to a great extent.

This Saarang I also happened to see how a couple of ideas can change an event of such a big scale in a radical manner. It was our primary objective to integrate aspects of Indian culture and arts into our events, and when the idea of ‘Saarang Village’ came up, in a very rudimentary form, we took it up without any hesitation at all. In about a month’s time, the entire idea was shaped up to as much detail as possible, and turned out to be the biggest success at Saarang ’08. It was an instance where I saw how the dedication and enthusiasm of a small group, and their will to do something different, transformed a plain and simple idea into a full fledged, successful project.

Hmmm… enough about organization I guess … let me now think of all the things good and bad happening in the four days … (highly personal, but for some, might make a good read :P )

1. Day one, watching the band Udaan perform for LM Groups -- Saarang Light Music contests are legendary, and this band from Madras Christian College just set the standards higher with their melodious own compositions. Good music always comes way up on my list, and listening to these guys sing really made my day.

2. Sanjeev Kapoor on ’30 things to eat before you die’ – I felt so proud to have been able to organize the lecture, and give the Saarang people about 80 mins of looking at mouthwatering dishes from all across the country, and know about their nitty-gritties.

3. Soundarya Rajnikanth’s lecture – this is really one unforgettable experience -- the car stopping, the lady coming out from the car, my hands going forward to greet her and welcome her to Saarang, and people around me (including myself) just looking at her. The ICSR Main Audi was erupting, with whistles, and ‘ooh’ s and ‘aah’s all round the hall.

4. LM solo on day 3 and 4 – sentimental values, as this was the only event in which I could participate, taking some time out of the core chores. Five mins of practice, a mild cold, and a minor hitch to attend to just before my performance – I still managed to get into the finals! In the finals again, I did both of my songs without any lapses whatsoever (something I feel was interesting because the cold had worsened overnight).

5. Lucky Ali and Karthik – There was a time when I used to worship Lucky Ali, and there I was standing and posing for pics with him. Karthik, on the other hand, is the reason why I got into listening tamil songs after saarang. The core train on stage, the flutist in Ali’s band, the renditions of ‘Pehla Nasha’ and ‘Parde me rehne do’ by Karthik and his troupe, the ‘mobile swaying spectacle’ in OAT – it was all nothing short of an indelible impression.

6. IIT M team winning choreo – I guess the statement is self explanatory. With an event that big, every college puts in months of effort to crack it. I saw the team putting in enormous amount of hard work, and to watch it all pay off was something different in itself.

7. (Many people claim that this is false but this really happened) Before the LM solo performance, a girl from a renowned Chennai college came up to me and said that I sing very well. As I had not yet gone up on the dias, I was a bit surprised, and I told her that I haven’t yet gone in. Then she said that she remembers me from last saarang, remembers my performance at last Saarang. (I guess I need not say that it made my day)

8. Prestorika pulling off ‘Fear of The Dark’ – to say that the O.A.T almost exploded will be no understatement whatsoever. I for one went crazy when they pulled off a small gig by leaving the stage and making a re-entry to play Maiden.

There will surely be many more such moments which at the moment I fail to recollect. However, at the end of the last pro-show, when we were sitting on the O.A.T stage, and looking at the empty galleries all around, it felt brilliant. I would go to any lengths to recollect and savor that moment once again. The countless phone calls, the night-outs, the discussions and meetings, confused cords coming up to you and asking stupid questions out of nervousness, all the core team fights and bickering, those brilliant moments of the day, realizing whatever you did not want to happen have happened, realizing thereafter that the situation has been set right by some way or the other, realizing that you are jumping to the tunes of a popular hindi number with a girl you’ve never met before, watching the quietest of chaps head bang to Metallica and Maiden, staring mesmerized at the crowd that has gathered to watch the show you’ve worked hard to organize, standing in the middle of a mismanaged crowd in a small corridor and wondering why the hell did you take this job up, getting criticized, getting shouted at, thereafter watching others support you as they shout back for you – it goes on and on.

As I had told in an interview with an ET reporter (my one and only media mention btw :D ), if someone is really close to you, you want everything happening to him/her to be good, to be grand—and for all of the organizers, Saarang was that special someone in our lives. And boy we put in some effort to make it grand eh ! :D

Orkutism's again ...

Once again ... Orkut's own way of putting up 'Today's fortune' ... my profile had the following statement

'In God We Trust. All Others Must Pay Cash'

(which kinda reminded me of this tagline on one of our department t shirts. I guess it was the CSE dept shirt, which read 'In God We Trust. All Others We Virus Scan')

Once again it totally defied my reasoning as to how statements like these can be called 'fortune for the day' or something like that
Speaking of Orkut ... the typical antics of many Orkut users have, for quite sometime, been attracting my attention - in terms of their peculiarities. I have decided that I will dedicate a section of my posts to these, thus continuing the thread 'Orkutisms'.

(...also, to myself, I have made a promise of a couple of articles .. on the last couple of months in my life where lots happened, and lots did not. So there it is .... )