Friday, November 05, 2004

Festival Of Sounds

Scheduled for the 14th, five bands were to play - Chaos Theory, Medusa, Bhayanak Maut, Tripwire, and Groove Lab. CT backed out cuz they didn't have practice. Medusa couldn't find a keyboardist. Tripwire's Ameya had a thumb operation. So the new line-up - Bhayanak Maut, Groove Lab, Aftertaste, St. Inel, and one more band. Then Bhayanak Maut dropped out as hardly any of the origial bands were there.

It stands cancelled as of now. Too bad really, Ritvik (Che!) had designed a really good poster for it -

This thumbnail does the poster no justice. You really need to see the larger image..

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Chop! Cut!! Hack!!!

Yesterday was my birthday. And i got a haircut for a present. Hah! Actually, i'm only half kidding. We'd been out for dinner. I come home and decided it's time to free them wonderful locks. Mom cut off most of my hair first. It was funny really. I trimmed it all and shaped most of it later. And it's surprisingly good for a home hack job.

Saturday, October 30, 2004

RAMfest, Pune

I'm heading off to Pune, for the RAMfest. No, it's no religious gathering, it the first Rock And Metal festival. About 6 bands are going to be performing. Plus, hopefully i'll meet Danny, Dhaval and the guys at Symbiosis.

Anyway, we'll be hawking copies of We ARE The Scene: Vol. One at the fest. We've sold a decent amount in Bombay. If we sell the same amount in all the major cities, then we'll rack up about half a g of sales. However, that is kinda sceptical, since the response from Delhi at the recently held metal fest wasn't too encouraging. But what the heck, eventually, yeah!

The cd cover image. Man, i wish i'd have refined it a bit more. I really need to work on my colors.


Here's a slight variation of the cover, 1024x768.


And what might have been the cover we hadn't had a mix-up with the printer. Again, 1024x768.


Ps, these are all thumbnails. Click for a bigger picture.

Monday, October 18, 2004

ATKTs..

First KT paper today. C#. Not bad. Pretty good infact. I hope to double my mark. from 26, to maybe upto a 60. A 48, atleast.

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Fight Club Is REALLY Calvin And Hobbes!!!

Don't believe me?

Read THIS.

A funny conversation..

A few days back, i read a pretty funny conversation on CnC at dc++

starvingartist: When are they supposed to hit the technology wall? 2029?
vincecool3: 3265
Murphey: 2020, when the human race is wipped out
starvingartist: Ahh. I thought that was 2012.
Murphey: Nah, thats just when 99 percent of it is whiped out cause Bush got re-elected.
starvingartist: Doomsday. Late as usual.


Hah, it was one of those blindsides that comes straign outta left-field. Sign, i have no idea what i'm saying, but that little convo sure had me chuckling...

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

My BEST Near Death Experience...

Sign*. I really should get some new footwear. My floaters really gave me the slip. This time the bank interest would have been too high. Ok, enuff bad one-liners.

There's a speed breaker outside my building, where the buses slow down, and where ppl always get on and off. So this morning as usual, i try to jump on, and damn, my footwear's broken. I miss my footing. I fall, but i forget to let go. I'm dragged for a few meters, before some grey matter kicks in and i let go.

Boy, i look up and a big crowd had collected. I was bruised, but damn, i was so embarrassed. All the ppl i knew in the are were there, the shopkeepers, everyone, I felt like an ass, and wished the earth would open up and swallow me. On top of it, my hair was a mess. Suxx. No seriously, i didn't get and bruises, apart from a shattered ego.

Monday, October 04, 2004

Ripping into Sabretooth - Comic Book Atrocity

Hah!

Sabretooth 1.

Those guys over at The Fourth Rail really know how to smash the nail right on the head.

"And honestly, there's so much atrocity going on in the top 10 books, with Avengers dying off or betraying the team and supervillains raping and killing supporting cast members in Identity Crisis, that I'm not terribly impressed with the deaths of a handful of extras in a book based on a third tier supervillain."

Like i said, Hah!

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Jack the DVD Ripper

I downloaded DVDshrink today, a free utility for ripping and compressing DVDs. Which might be illegal. But i'm only gonna be ripping DVDs which contain pirated movies. So it appears, a greater crime, or two wrongs making a right?

Monday, September 13, 2004

System : Upgraded

Aha, the new 17" monitor looks great! An LG Studioworks 700E model. So it's officially a new computer now, not just a new CPU. Except for the speakers, which were customised for the old Compaq monitor. Damn, will have to get a new set now, or maybe just a power adapter for old pair.

Monday, September 06, 2004

Long Distance to Canada..

No, i didn't call. I'm usually too broke to do so (or maybe too stingy, but i didn't just say that).

Must have been a few weeks since Amrita left for Canada (don't ask when, i suck at dates, don't even remember when my bro left for Russia). Been talking online now and then, but nothing beats speaking on the phone. So i was kinda surprised when she called, even though she'd said she would, cuz i'd thought she'd call in the morning. Forgot to take into consideration the time difference. Just because i stay up all night doesn't mean other people do too.. :-p

Anyway, from what she said, Toronto sounded a lot better than here. She's going to se the CN tower tomorrow. Lol, Toronto is where they shot RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE (review HERE). Forgot to tell her that useless bit of trivia. Hey, if you're reading this, consider it me telling you.. lol, trivia junkie = me.

It hardly seemed like we talked at all. And yet, it showed 6 minutes on the phone. Wow, relativity suxx.. Must, learn, to, slow, time...

Dave Mustaine talks...

Shockwaves Magazine talked to Dave about his new album, The System Has Failed, and obviously the talk veered towards the spat with David Ellefson, the ex-members, and Megadeth's turbulent history.

Mustaine comes across pretty much as a control freak, and it's irritating to hear him trash-talk about Ellefson and the other members in general.

Read it HERE.

Sunday, August 29, 2004

Rock In-dependance..

So i just got home from I-Rock 2004. I didn't know what to expect, and the show ultimately left me with mixed feelings.

Sceptre opened, which was surprising. However, what wasn't surprising was that their set didn't excite me at all. Same old stuff all the time. Their originals Nuclear, Revolution, Quicksand and Charred. Good to decent. Nothing ground-breaking. Plus uninspired covers of Ozzy's Perry Mason, Metallica's One, and some Pantera stuff.

PDV were up next, and a lot more energetic. They had quite a few originals, and good stuff at that. Great crowd response. Also covered SOAD, and Deftones's My Own Summer, which was fucked up. Otherwise pretty neat set. Enjoyable.

Gary Lawyer came up next, in place of AFS. His band was awesome!! Excellent skills, and great showmanship. The entire crowd was swaying as if one. However, i didn't really like the song selection. Enough of Roadhouse Blues and Highway Star (can't believe the crowd still wants this shit played over and over again). Plus Bon Jovi and Creed got a bigger response than any other song played by anyone. So much for a supposedly metal-hungry crowd. But Lawyer was still great, very vibrant, and his band was awesome! The best of the day.

Finally, AFS. Was looking forward to them, 'specially Rushad on the bass, However, they seemed kinda lacking, like maybe the time out had robbed them of something. The covers wee ok, a surprising but screwey cover of FNM's Gentle Art Of Making Enemies, and a good one of RHCP's Give It Away. Originals were decent. Left when they were playing Eager Beaver, cuz i had gotten bored and tired.

Picked up stuff. Autopgraphed copy of Shrapnel's Intellectual Persuit, and Reptilian Death's Total Annahilation. Excellent inlays and production, the former, and some sadistically funny songs, the latter, including Nursery Rhymes For Satan's Children and 5 Easy Ways To Murder Someone. Awesome!
Got the PDV poster too, which is now totally creased and folded. Shouldn't have put it in the bag.

Good show overall, worth my 150 bucks, but didn't seem like I-Rock. Seemed just like a random show happening at some ground. Which wasn't half bad really. Chitrakut Ground. Pretty breezy in there. Was kinda tipsy when i went in, so couldn't see if the chicks were hot or not, and by the time i could, it was too dark. Travelling is easier for me now, no long distances. However, i still miss Rang Bhavan.. :-(

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Small Gods!!

First of all, my review for Small Gods, here.

Second, Jason Rand and Juan Ferferya, the people on the book, actually read it, and took out time to respond to it. How cool is that!! Read it here.

Whadya think 'a that??

Tuesday, August 03, 2004

Aliens And Predators

I downloaded the Alien Vs Predator trailer from Jurassic Punk, and somehow, it isnt really what i was hoping for. It seems like your usual Summer Blockbuster, with gunfights and explosions. There's no indication of stealth anywhere, which is what i primarily associate with Aliens and Predators. They slink in the shadows, and stalk their prey, not jump in the open with full guns blazing. The trailer left them with no sense of menace or awe. Ofcourse, i'm not letting this dampen my enthusiasm for the movie.

Speaking of which, check out this hilarious article over Newsarama, where long-time Alien and Predator illustrator Dave Dorman interviews the two of them. Hilarious! It's here.

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Web-Swingin' Wierdness

I couldn't sleep yesterday night. I kept having visions of the wallcrawler swinging through the city. What a rollercoaster rush!
Saw the movie, and played the game. Well, playing actually. I'm hooked on 'ol WebHead.

Tuesday, July 20, 2004

I woke up next to a cat...

...and her name was B. She had a free run of the place, coming and going as she pleased. Ofcourse, she chose not to go out at all. Nishit's room had all the comforts she needed. Food, water, a place to sleep. And even the random tabby that would wander in.
Everything in Nishit's room is probably created by hand, or made out of some junk or knick-knack that we would have probably thrown out. A lampshade of tweened steel wires, cd-carrying cases made of aluminium rods and cloth hangers, his chair a combo of a plastic chair body on top of a big electric box of some sort. And surprisingly, it's all very comfortable and homely.
A lot of odd stuff can be found at his place. I met some kind of a hyperactive monkey-frog hybrid at his place. It's name was Vidith, and it was Nishit's nephew. It was about 7 years old, and had complete about 540 pushups. 5 at a time, ofcourse. It's probably gonna get a new pair of sneakers when it reaches 1000.

Sunday, July 18, 2004

@#!$% Bloody Memory...

I am getting forgetful these days.

Rohit "P-Man" came over today to deliver my copy of PDV's album Compose, Oppose, Dispose. So i go down to meet the dude, and take the cd and i'm gawking at it. He's standing there and i'm standing there, and there's some wierd feeling around. I wonder why he's waiting. Then he blurts out, "K, give me the 150 bucks, and i'll be gone", and it hits me. Not five minutes ago, i put 200 bucks in my pocket, to pay him, and there i'm standing, totally forgetting about it.

I also forgot to post Paddy mama's postcards. Shit, he'd asked me to do that like 3 days back. If he finds out, i'm dead. I'll post it tomorrow.

I went to sleep in the evening, and got up around 7:30. Sometime later, i got a call from Bhavesh, and then it hit me that i had to be over at his place, for a get-together with the rest of the ex-leos. He'd called me up two days back, to tell me about it, and now it'd totally slipped my mind! I spent the rest of the evening avoiding his calls.

And now, some time back, i wanted to go over to Jason's place, to get the Van Helsing movie cd. As usual, i forgot, and by the time i remembered, it was too late.

I suck.

Friday, July 16, 2004

Megadeth vs Megadeth

Oh my god, this is a nightmare! I can't believe the day has finally come when i'd see Dave and Dave on opposite sides!! It's pretty bad when when two fantastic musicians, who have been pals for nearly 2 decades, are going to have to slug it out in a courtroom. It kinda cheapens their image, reduces the respect i have for them.

There's a very well written piece by Dave Mustaine here, where he talk about Megadeth's decline, the fall in sales, and how various other incidents drove a firm wedge between the band members. This piece sounds surprisingly vulnerable, very unlike Dave, who generally has a rep of being an asshole. I guess this is why i'm still very wary of painting David Ellefson as the bad guy here, even though he's the one suing Dave M and Megadeth.

Though now, i pray this is just an alternate reality, and tomorrow morning, things will be all right again...

The search for 3D...

Phew! I spent all morning surfing the net, checking out links to various 3D resources - Models, Textures and Tutorials. It was a hard job, i tell you. My internet connection was really slow today, and Opera kept screwing up for some reason.
Well, i'm halfway through compiling these links. Check them out on the right. Any broken links or bad labels, let me know. Gotta bathe and eat now. I'll be back later in the evening to finish this.
Thanx to Chax for the impetus.

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

My Heart is GREY

Here's one more from the guys at Quizilla - What Color Is Your Heart?

Apparantly, i have a GREY Heart.
Info Grey

I'm a DEAD ALIVE Zombie. What Kind Are You?

"You are a Dead Alive Zombie. You or somebody that bit you was infected by the Sumatran Rat Monkey. You are intent on killing and shredding anything that moves, unless you're full of tranquilizers. You can't be killed unless you are completely chopped to bits."
DEAD ALIVE ZOMBIE


Yup, that's cool, even though my reason for becoming a zombie was because there was no place in hell, not getting bit by a fuckin' rat monkey...

Anywez, test yourself here - What kind of Zombie are you?

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Watch Glenn Danzig Get Sucker-Punched

Well, this seems to be popping up all over the place.

KC over at The Diabolical Conquest got me to download the video - Right Click, Save As

However, the guys at Post Crisis had the complete story. Danny Marianino, who plays for the North Side Kings, was the man who took down Danzig with one punch, after Danzig put on some asshole-rockstar airs.

About 568 kb, a good download.

Monday, July 12, 2004

Lapping it up

Well, my brother did what i could not. He installed Manhunt, and got it to run smoothly on the laptop. The new laptop. MY new laptop. Hehe. I feel like a 5 year old who's just discovered chocolates.
The 'top's pretty darn powerful, a whole lot better than my desktop pc. It's a PIV 1.7, with 512 ram and a 40 gig hdd. It also has a NVidia 4 graphix card, and a dvr rom/cd writer combo. Cool beans!!
It's my uncle's. He got himself a new one, and gave this to me, along with a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse along with it. It doesnt have a very long battery life, about an hour and a half, but at home i usually run it on direct power.

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

Bush vs Hulk Hogan, He-Man, and Mr. T

The anti-Bush game from EMOGAME...



Click it, dourch.

Friday, June 25, 2004

More Parodies

Yeah, more of them here.

This one, a pretty funny parody of Marvel's superheroes. Focussing on Captain America and Daredevil, along with the Surfer, Galactus, and a few more. Too bad there's no spidey here, but then again, we alread got that.
HEROES


And riding on the wave of the current Indian Spiderman craze, here we have -
The Singhsons

It's only the opening credits that have been spoofed, not an entire episode, but it's a great preview of what we could have had...

Bad Spidey...

While checking out Warren Ellis's diepunyhuman.com, i came across this -
Twisted Spiderman Comic Strips

A bunch of old spiderman newspaper strips that have been redone to come up with some seriously twisted, funny variations.
Just hit refresh to get the different strips.

Thursday, June 24, 2004

Mutants Are Real!

Whoa, newsflash!! Mutants really exist!!
Mutant Here

Hot topic on sites like newsarama.com, yeah, the next step of human evolution and all. Pretty soon, we wont have to go to the theatres to watch X-Men 8. We'll just look out the window..

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

The Great Indain Poll-ution, or, "Vote's up, Doc?"

Aah election day. For weeks, we have had irritating campaings and realms of news space dedicated to this big farce. Well heck, let me be a patriotic Indian and be a part of it.
So i got up early and went to vote. Had to spend about 45 mins running here n there to find out our booth number and all that jazz. I finally have everything in place, and get the ink on my finger, and tell the officer i would like to protest vote (for those who came in late, they register you and put "refused to vote" against your name. That way your voteatleast is safe, no one can misuse it). The officer looked as if i'd asked whether he'd like to be sodomised. So no protest voting. They'd never heard of it. Great. So i wasted my vote, randomly chose of of the lame ass independants who would never win.
What a gyp.

Thursday, April 15, 2004

"Is Your Dad Home?"

I wonder what kind of training telemarketers get. Definetely not enough to remove all those age-old prejudices and conventional ideas.

//Translated from Hindi
TM - "Hi can i speak to the person in who's name this phone is registered?"
ME - "Not at home"
TM - "What time will he get back from work?"
ME - (What the fuck?) "Ahh, late evening"
TM - "And you mom?"
ME - "At work too"
TM - "She's also working? ('doing service')"
ME - "Yeah"
TM - "Any holidays?"
ME - "Sundays"
TM - "Ok, i'll call up then"
ME - "Sure, fine"
<*click*>

It's kinda infuriating how they assume your "father" is simply the one who's earning and everyone else is just wasted at home. I mean, that lady just assumed that the phone would be registered in my dad's name, and didnt even bothering confirming whether it actually is so or not.

The last time i got a call like this, i was pretty morbid.
There was some telemarketing chick asking if she could speak to my dad.
Well no, i said, he's not around.
Could she call later?
No, i said, i dont think you could speak to him.
She was perplexed. Why, she asked.
Because he's dead, i said.

I could literally feel her shock over the phone. I guess it was kinda cruel of me to put her in a spot like this, but i didnt care. She was flusterred and after muttering some lame half-assed apologies, she hung up.

See, i wonder if i should really talk to them like this or not. I mean, this is still India. We may have a modernised exterior, but under the facade, the heart that beats is still black and stuck in prehistoric mode. She was just doing her job, just regurgitating the shit her superiors trained her to do. Not her fault.
But still, i guess since i cant ever reach their superiors, i just say whatever's on my mind.

Next time, i'm gonna ask them whether this is what they have been trained to ask or is it just their assumption.
Next time, i'll be civilized before i get medieval on their asses.

Sunday, April 04, 2004

Reunion

We had a school reunion yesterday. It was neat meeting all the guys after such a long time. I've been in touch with most of my brother's friends, as they would keep coming over, but the others, must have been more than year.
When thing got down to official business, yours truly was, as usual, dumped with all the work. Heh, only time, i get the power, the control. I get to be the moderator for our school alumni group. When i get around to creating it, that is.

Sunday, March 28, 2004

The good Shepard hath save us

Got through with Half Life - Opposing Forces today, and wow, i freakin' tripped on it!! It was such a lot of fun, except for the half assed ending, but still, you gotta love the guys at Valve and Gearbox. Wondering if i should play the original Half Life again, but damn, it'll take a lot of time, and i already got Warcraft III on my hands. I thing i'll skip if for now.
Man i cannot wait for Half Life 2, and i hope i get an upgrade before that.

Sunday, March 14, 2004

And the hyperbole starts again...

"The Greatest Match Ever".
Gimme a break!! The greatest?? Probably unlikely. Ever?? Definetely unlikely.
I can not believe the insane hoopahoola out there about our tour of Pakistan. People are reacting as if this is the last time we're ever gonna play the stupid game. It's mind-boggling. Our already dumbed-down newspapers have just taken a step backward again, and decided to toss all semblance of sensible journalism out the window, and are bending over backwards to bow down to the cricket "gods" and "fans".
Things are really bad. Infact, in today's Sunday Midday, Sunil Gavaskar himself seemed to be unhappy as to how the board supports only the National team, while the domestic circuit is left to slowly but surely rot into oblivion. Well not as strongly as i worded it here, but you get the gist of it. Heck he was still supporting the game, but atleast he had to balls to come out and say that India's participation the Olympics qualifiers have been totally ignored and most of the cricket coverage so far has been extremely trivial and sensationalism at it's best.
Lousy, i tell you. This is a stinkin' mess. The "short" version of the game is 8 hours long, and the "normal" version is 5 days long. An entire productive day was lost in a calender that is already choc-a-bloc with holidays and half-days. A crazy tour like this is the last thing we need.

Monday, March 01, 2004

Return Of The King

Ok, i'm pissed off. Some dude spends x years on some multi-billion earning movie, and he gets an oscar for his "labor of love"??? Am i missing the point here? Isnt the oscars supposed to be free from this kinda sentiment? Sentiment leading to bias?

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Over a Cup of Coffee

Showed a strange affinity for coffee bars today. Though the coffee itself may suck, the ambience is killer. Excellent for catching up with friends, old or new. Barista, Barista, Cafe Coffee Day. That was my schedule for the day.

We collected the invites for our alumni meeting, my school mates and me. Yeah, i had class later, but damn, they never let me go. Wasted out at the coffee shoppe, Yari Road. I ended up paying :( but heh, i guess once in a blue moon i should chip in...

I was meeting Anupama after a long time. The last time she was in town, my bro was all set to fly off to Russia. So i couldnt met her, and didnt really talk either. Well, i should consider myself a little luckier this time. She called me. Sure, it was after one month of being in town, and sure it was because she was bored and she suddenly remembered she had my number, but what the hell, i'm not nitpicking...
Anywez, this was round two of my coffee day. Progessing and getting better.
Man, i spent most of my time discussing political ideology and a lot of what would be construed by other people as "nothing". But damn, it was a fun session of "nothing". Man, i was enthralled by tales of NLS. Law suddenly seemed a lot more fun. Doesnt mean i'm gonna cut back on lawyer jokes though...
This was where's we'd met the last time. That was probably about a year back, if i remember correctly (and more often than not, i dont, atleast not dates). Heck, we sat at the same place we did last time. Deja vu, like some voodoo. So i gave her King's.. ummm.. %@%$... cant recall. Anywez, she got me some stuff to read too. I can tell you what, but then i'll have to kill you. I dont think you'd like that.
We left sometime later, wandered around, and ended up at Cafe Coffee Day. Heh, still seems so damn funny when i think about it. From one hub to the next. I dont even know if there's any difference in their coffees, but who cares! I never have any out there, not when mom makes some of the best coffee this side of the moon.
And then, talking to her is such a lot of fun. i can say some of the most inane and confounding things, and i can rest assured that i wont meet a blank stare. That is something i'm not quite used to, so i'm often at a loss. Aah what the heck, learn and evolve.
Like while we were waiting outside for her friend to pick her up, we had a talk on whether it's worse to purposely ignore someone or to simply not be bothered at all to the extent of not even acknowledging them. Before you say a word, it's not the same. Think about it...

Sunday, February 22, 2004

Group?

I reflect back to the fracas that happened during Byte-IT 2003, our college fest, the first edition. When i was primarily the one raising a racket. Due to a few, handful of people taking all the decisions that would affect all the others. I didnt like it.
Now, i see a similar thing hapenning. All the work has been designated and assigned by a few people. Half of the group do all the work, and the other half do not care. Once again, i feel like an outsider.
I reflect back to the beginning of the project, when i was aprehensive working with such a big group. I did manage to quell those thoughts, but maybe, i should never have been a part of the group. I do not fit into big groups, especially when it comes to work.
i guess i'm a loner by nature, no two ways about it.

Saturday, February 21, 2004

Fans And Passion

I've been wanting to get this out for quite some time. We have a lot of rock music lovers around, a lot more than are actually represented on online forums. Most of them just listen to international bands and stay away from the local scene. I guess the music on the local scene really isnt good enough to draw new fans in. Bands may cry about the lack of support, but they need to clean up their act before they can draw any new blood in.
What i'm trying to say is, things dont become good with people patronising them, but rather, people patronise things that are good.
And it's high time our local "rock-gods" understood that.

Sunday, January 25, 2004

Killing Spree!!!

Xan Kreiger ate dust today. Yes, i ran though him without giving him even a chance to fight back. Ofcourse, i used god mode for the last four challenge rounds, but that was because i'd gotten pretty bored by then. No really, it wasnt because i was getting my ass kicked, no sir, it wasnt so.

Tuesday, January 20, 2004

Yet another fruitful competetion

Yowza!! We won again!! And this time we won proper!!
The Jawaharlal Intercollegiate Shield, i believe, was the proper name. A big, huge, freakin' shield. It was great carrying it around, all over the place, and into college. Too bad there weren't a lot of people around, but what the heck!! Sajitha's getting it to college tomorrow, and i'll be taking it home for a day. Heh, will proudly parade it around to all, and hopefull, like Jerry Pinto said, it will attract a lot of feminine attention. Then again, in our college, you never know it that's a good thing or not..

The competetion itself wasn't really much of a real competetion. There were just three teams. I'm thinking the reason for low participation these days, may probably be an overkill of events and fests, but then again for every student who participates, there must be atleast ten who are waiting for their chance. I guess there isnt much inter-departmental communication happening in colleges these days.

Btw, the topic was "Capital Punishment Is The Best Deterrent For Heinous Crimes". I spoke for it, and my partner spoke against it.

Wednesday, January 14, 2004

Gutterment

I'm really disillusioned today. There was a time when reading a newspaper would have been entertaining. Not anymore. All it serves in doing now is raising one's blood pressure to heights previously unheard of.
The first page of the TOI itself showed the incompetence and sheer apathy of our government. The savages who vandalised the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute last week, were only held on bail. No doubt, they will be out within a week. No one in the government has bothered to condemn the attack. Instead, those fuckwits have gone ahead and banned the book by James Laine. Such a kneejerk and ignorant reaction i have not seen till date. Apparently this is an open invitation to legions of chaos. If you do not like something, burn it down. The government will side with you.
Then i turned the page and read about the rickshaw union calling for a strike on the 20th, for an increase in fares. This is as hypocritical as the government's stand on freedom of speech. It saddens me to say this, but the actions of a few taint the whole. With rampant unchecked rigging of meters, plus an increae in fares, looks like bus no 11 will be used a lot shortly.
All directly related to the budget. While electronics and travel and similar shit is now cheaper, as usual all the price of essentials has been hiked. Long live our gutterment.

This pretty much spoiled the morning for me. Ended up observing only bad shit. Some executioners hacking a tree to death. A sadistic BEST driver-conductor combination not willing to wait one second for a guy who ran 5 minutes to catch the bus. Fukk, i decided to doze off, or i'd have been a wreck by the time i got to college.

Saturday, January 10, 2004

Sauce And Biscuit - Highlights Of The Brabourne Trophy

I won the consolation prize today, at the 62nd Brabourne InterCollegiate Elocution Competetion, held at the Ismail Yusuf college.
Consolation, n. A solace; alleviation of misery; what helps to cheer; what gives comfort.
What?? I should be offended! But i'm not, as i also got 250 bucks as a, heh, consolation. Heck, makes me wonder how much the winners must have got.

The highlights of the day were ofcourse, not what happened on-stage, but rather, what was happening off-stage. I got some samosas in a plate, and promptly spilled the sauce/chutney syrup all over my pants. it was brought to my notice by a slight wetness in the seat of my pant, and looking down, a saw a thin line of sauce. Thinking that's all it was, i wiped it off. When i got up ever so slightly, to look at the chair, i was horrified! I was sitting in a sea of sauce!! It soon penetrated right upto the interiors, if you get what i mean. And just then, we were asked to get up and sit in the front row. Talk about bad timing. I was so greatful i had worn black jeans. I could just imagine having to scoot about on my rear all day long if i had worn those cream trousers, like i had originally planned. I spent the rest of the time thinking if this was how females felt if they had their periods...

And biscuits. I nearly choked on the one i was eating when they announced my name for the, uh, concolation prize. Heheh. I was totally caught off guard, very clumsily kept aside my bag and plate, and went onstage to collect the price, hoping my hands were clean enough. Hope the audience didnt notice anything out of the ordinary.

The competetion itself was over quickly, with 12 participants. I suppose most colleges were busy with the NAAC thing, which explained the low turnout. We were given 7 topics, two hours before the event. I spoke on "Mall Mania", the only one to do so, while Sajitha, my team-mate, spoke on "Empowerment Of Women's Rights". The others were "Sachin And India", "Today's Food Habits", "Peer Pressure On Today's Youths", "Terrorism Destabilizes The World", and "Unlimited Growth On A Limited Planet". No one spoke on the last one.
The dude who came first, spoke on food habits, and the dude who came in third spoke on Sachin and India. They were both from St.Andrews, and they won the overall token trophy, third time in a row for the college, and second time for the dude who was numero uno. Infact, our chief guest for the evening, Jerry Pinto, had won the individual prizes three times here, and the team trophy twice.

Wednesday, January 07, 2004

New Year's Meal..

I cooked my first meal of the new year today. Wait, i made that masala rice yesterday. Hmm, but that as with my mom lording over me, so it doesn't count. So yes, today i cooked my first meal of the new year - mixed sabji for the afternoon. Actually, it was meant for the night too, but with the people dropping in today, it didnt last.

Without much ado, here's the recipe -

potatoes - 5
onions - 3
carrots - 3
beans - about 30
a few garlic pods.
And spices as per your liking.

Peel all the vegetables, chop them up into cubes/pieces/however-you-like-it. Put them all into a big cooking vessel. Pour about six spoons of oil. Heat. Stir. Add spices. Add salt. Keep stirring. Add a few more spoons of oil. Stir some more. Cover it and let it cook. Smell it. Serve. Eat. Enjoy.

Friday, January 02, 2004

Into The New...

Wow, what a start to the new year! Days should be like this, carefree and stoned. Nights too. Yup, especially when you're lying outside the bathroom half the night.
We also had a pre-new year's party celeberation. "Once Upon A Time In Mexico". A full two months after my birthday, and a month and a half after Danny's, we treat the gang to a movie. On the 31st morning. Hey, like they always say, better late than never, huh?
And i must be one of the minute minority who liked Eva Mendez more than Salma Hayek.