The great Indian wedding...
I am typing this blog out of pure enthusiasm of puting a night out!!! yes!! and this was for a wedding..(a not for an exam strangely ..).I just returned home, after a funfilled and exciting night!! i had no idea of the rituals that were involved in a wedding ceremony. Everthing starting from the mandal design o the crucial mangal sutra has pre and post ritual accompanying it.No wonder that the wedding took all night and went uptill 8 in the morning.i lost all my sleep during the course of last night, so when i returned, unlike the rest who decided to catch up on their lost hours of sleep , i decided to check my mail. "You've got mail" .Yes! thats exactly what gave me the energy and enthusiasm to write this blog. Anyways coming back to the wedding, this, my first experience, was quite an eye opening one!! ya sure it was a lot of fun, especially because i got to meet all my relatives after a long time, but i realised how taxing this whole concept was on every single person who was involved in it, including me. Does it need to be so? Cant we simplifly things a wee bit so as to ease the pressures leading up to such events? Maybe not as simple as in a christian wedding where "I DO" in essence captures the entirerity of the ceremony!!
Overall, an enjoyable experience as long as you are not the guy/girl in the line of fire!!

"Marriages are made in heaven but they got to lived on the earth"

Life : A marathon?

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.
when the sun comes up, you better start running.


I completely agree!!!

disaster at roorkee!!!!!

what a disastrous inter IIT... knocked out in the league phases and as if that was not enough , a fractured thumb to take with me as a parting gift!!!!(yes...i am typing this with my right hand only!!!left thumb is the one which is fractured!!)) kharagpur humiliated us on day one and kanpur repeated that a day later. 4 days into tourney and we are part of the ever increasing IITM cheering squad, who have all been knocked out in the various sports and are jobless for the remaining days. tomorrow is our last league match against delhi , (a dead rubber!!!) me not playing obly!!! this our first practice match for next years inter IIT in guwahati ...this place is really cold 3.5 degrees right now... one of the many resons why IITM struggling here...okies got to go ... coffee waiting in canteen... by the way this place sucks !!!!

The sun is out and Chennai seems a much better place. For one, we are able to practice for the upcoming inter IIT sports tourney in Roorkee. This time last year i was a first year student,shy and quiet ,drained of all my energy and enthusiasm, longing to go home after the completion of the first semester, but cricket forced me to stay put for 20 days more. Amazing how time changes a lot of things!! Last year all I cared about was when this whole ordeal would get over and when i would be in the cozy enivronment of home. I felt nothing despite the loss we suffered at the hands of Roorkee in the finals. but this year the mood is totally different . I have this burning desire within me to go and win. okay agreed, there is a substantial part of me which tells me to go home and relax forget about al this.But i can't do that and I don't want to do that. Revenge is on my mind. The odds are pitted against us. The weather which is going to be a critical factor , is definitely against us. The last one year has been a learning experience for me, in terms of the various pressures i have faced, both on and off the field. Despite the odds being against us, I am confident of pulling it off this time,mainly due to the fact that i look at ourselves , i see team IITM and not 11 talented guys. Like they say, "there is no I in a team".
Roorkee here i come!!!

NATURE.... WOW!!!
One of the most memorable experiences of my life happened yesterday.My exams got over so I decided to go and watch a movie(Potter 4),but unfortunately all shows were running houseful!! So my friend came up with the idea of going to the beach and buoy what a great idea it was!! After having grub we went close to the shore and just stood there gazing at the mighty sea,heading towards us with all its fury as if somebody had angered it. Amazingly enough the night sky was clear and one could after a long time see those tiny twinkling dots in the sky shining gleefully. The whole atmosphere left me speechless. It was after a long time that i had actually seen nature in harmony.All one hears nowadays are natural disasters and there after effects. Its a pity that we humans take nature for granted and dont give it due importance in our daily lives. The setting gave me a sense of calm and satisfaction which was different from anything i had experienced before. Sitting there i recollected all the pleasant momeries from home and life in college. what a site!!!
Fast forward to next morning ,time:0630 am:I get up with aches and pains everywhere due to yesterday's working out. But somehow the previous night's experience was still lingering in my head and although my body had phyiscally given up, my mind was fresh and thats why i could pull off the 5 km morning run. Amazing isn't it, the effect the mind haas on one's body!!

well people have tagged me so.... i need to respond!!
well my life is a mixed bag!!!
1. firstly, unlike most IITians i am left handed, which has its own advantages and disadvantages...
2. my whole day revolves around a single activity...that is crapping!!!!... the day i crap in the morning before going to class , you will find me bubbly and churpy; the day i get it done after lunch the smile will be there post lunch; and those days when it just never happens, you will find me sulking and groaning all day!!!
3.i love playing games..and before you all get awww and oooh about it i am refering to sports!!!
4. on bathing schedules i have nothing fixed.. although definitley have one the day i play...however, over the past couple of days have been having a bath daily,despite not playing..dont know why..although someone might know why!!
5. i just adore the IITM lingo!!! its the best part of it all!!(esp the "slisha" term..can be used universally without giving away the feelings you are going to express in that sentence!!ask ducky for details!!)

6. i attend most classes.. with an ATA(awake to asleep) ratio at about 7:3
7. i can speak four languages with equal fluency(i am sure some people who read this will contest this point with me!!) and in a place like IITM that really helps..
8. as far as acads are concerned i believe in constitent input gives continouous output theory!! however despite all this i find it difficult to stick to this statement due to the other stuff i keep doing..
9.i own a guitar but dont play it ..quite a common feature amongst IITians
10.i refuse to change my mobile connection despite the terribly poor network and serviceit provides...
11. despite the incapapbilities in my computer to support fifa completely..i play the game and i am pretty good it at too..
12. I just love f.r.i.e.n.d.s... got it stored (all seasons=18.2GB) on my 80 GB hard drive!!!
13. my taste of music is not specific. i listen to what makes me feel nice now..it could be a song form DDLJ....or it could be one of those bob dylan numbers or one of those GnR hits..
14. i need 6 hours sleep in a day to keep my system running ...
15. i love the mess food only on saturday nights when BBJ is served with eggs..else i am always on the lookout for company to either go to dhaba or order a Pizza!!
16.i just love my life at IIT, irrespective of what others say!!
17. Ahh ..forgot this one:I cant type very well as you will notice from the number of typos and spelling mistakes in this blog... bottomline is all that matters!!
will complete this in the next edition.....
to be continued...
stay tuned..

A MIXED BAG.....

aha!! 13 down 9 more to go... for those of you who didnt get that, forget it!! Finally after a long time I have got the time ,energy,( the comma before this parenthesis is called an Oxford comma, if you didn't know!!) and the mood to blog again. My exams are still going although I have got a respite of two days before they steamroll over me.And there we go... it raining again in chennai!! phew!!! The city is (literally) overflowing with water and the rains just don't stop . They keep pounding away on this marsh and drowned land as if there is no tomorrow!! A one day international washed out, schools and colleges closed(I don't know if anybody is complaining about that!!) and the overall city has a very gloomy feel to it. Hmm..What else has happened in the last two weeks that I stopped visiting this portal? Let me see...Aha yes !! Sourav ganguly has been shown the door!! Its finally happened..After long deliberation amongst majority of the Indians decided that its time there was a change at the top and the wall deservingly was given the added responsibility of leading a nation.
And yesterday the man from T&T surpassed the gutsy aussie southpaw Allan Border as the world's highest test run getter. If any body in the world still actually is a follower of west Indian cricket , its truly because of the aura and class of this man brings to the sport. When he walks onto the field ,the whole atmosphere changes to one of high energy and enthusiasm and that in a nutshell says a lot of the caliber of the man.. Who has seen the sport decay in his region through his playing years...Kudos to Lara,for shining despite the darkness surrounding him

dhanian?? rikky?? Virgin??(and yes in this we dont capitalize the first letter!!!) Well they are the names of the same guy... And yes that's me!!! This one the most interesting aspects of life in IITM. Once you are here, your "name" is what people here want to call you by and the "nickname" is the name your parents gave you. In fact the tradition is such a long one that , when a alumini of the institute, Shri Kumar Suryanarayana, president(R&D), Biocon,had come to inaugurate Shaastra '05, the director, under whom he had been a student, introduced him as "frenchie", a name which kumar was very proud of would seem funny for an outsider, but life becomes so much simpler with nicks. Take for a example a situation, in our hostel where we have two guys with the same "nicknames",Anand. But the nick system has removed all the confusion. One guy walks like duck ,so ducky is the "name" and the other dude runs to taramani every time he gets the call of nature,so taramani is the "name"!!
I presume that there is science behind this seemingly absurd naming system. It has been proven that our picture memory helps us recollect stuff longer, than by simply reading or reciting it a hundred times. So every nick has a funda, and through that funda(however dirty it may be, it has to be funny!!!) we remember the names of people: spanky; funda: he spanked a girl on the back side at school. Can you forget this guy's name now??The nicks are not restricted to students , some profs( who tend to make sure that they leave a imprint on whom so ever they teach.. You know what I mean!!!) like for example "kballs" is K. balakrishnan, and so on..
Irrespective of what is in store for me in the future, I will never forget the "names" that I got at IITM!!

Despite the gloom of the earthquake in kashmir, the deluge in chennai and rest of south India, the average Indian is consoling himself with the following thought:Aged 32, he is back to his best!! Yes I am talking about the great man himself... Sachin is back!!
That enthusiasm, that excitement in those watchful eyes reveal it all. He seems to be carrying new found confidence on him wherever he goes. I don'tknow what is the relation he has developed with me and a billion other people over the past 16 years (and counting!!) but he is able to bring a smile to our faces every single time when he walks out there and makes his bat do the talking. He makes us all proud of the fact the fact that we are Indians. For the past few months cricket had taken a backseat in the lives of most Indians. I had stopped watching the game, atlhtough I kept track of the ashes. The ganguly -chappell drama further drew me away from the sport. But lo!! The first ODi against Sri Lanka and the buzz is back again!! Why?? The answer is simple: Sachin is BACK!! India wins!! A few days later, at Mohali the carnage continues, and people are asking ... "Is he actually 33? Playing like when he was 16.." The newspapers are out with headlines like " Indian juggernaut is on its way"and "team India can do no wrong". Amidst all this pomp and jubilation(its festive season,DIWALI TIME!!!) , a man sitting at home in kolkata watching the drama unfolding, must be wondering,"mera number kabh aiyega??"
HAPPY DIWALI EVERYONE!!!
lets all celebrate the return of a champion!!!

The biggest techfest in the country just got over...Yes shaastra 2005, a student organised fest, having the ISO 9001 stamp, just got over. As usual the hype that is created evry year around the events at shaastra is tremendous thanks to the PR courtesy the HINDU and aother media partners. But after the event is over i am wondering what all the hype was about..
Ok fine, agreed that this year the bascule bridge project that was taken up by the students of IITM was completed succesfully but apart from that there was little to look forward to over the 4 days at Shaaastra, and this me an IITian speaking ....
the thing that bugged me the most was the ignobel prizes, an event aimed to be rip off on the actual paper presentation(which by the wway was scrapped this year..!!!!). For god's sake this is techfest , not a Saarang were entertainment is the ultimate aim!! shaastra is one of the few techfests in the country which is catered to the needs of the undergraduates exclusively. It gives them a platform to come out with their ideas and present them for further analysis.
But scrapping the paper presentation and encouraging the ignobel prizes , i am not sure whether
what the organisers are thinking..
whatever it is a drastic rethink in strategy is needed so that Shaastra truly is what it claims to be!

ah !! finally it has rained in here today! Wait the rains .. let me see what comes to my my mind instantly .. hurricanes ... hmm... yes katrina and then rita!! Isn't the US having a bad time or what ? katrina had left new orleans completely shattered and yet another one turns up to take a shot at houston. I dont know whether iam right or not , but i feel that all the fury mother nature has throwing at us(the tsunami first, the hurricanes, the mumbai floods..etc) , is purely the effects of GLOBAL WARMING. Its as if nature has woken up from sleep, and is extremely upset at the mess that we have created. So its just getting the house in order!! we keep hearing and talking about the fact that we need to do something to solve the global warming problem. But rarely do we see or hear about action being taken to get over the crisis. The surge in the prices of oil has had some effect on the big enrgy guzzlers of the world. I think it has finally dawned on them that , there is no alternative but to look towards other energy avenues to meet their energy demands.
Despite the fact that in recent yearsthere has been a weakening in the stranglehold that america had over world affairs, i still feel that unless the texan and his bunch of goons are not convinced to move away from oil, there shall be no use of any measures that are taken. After all, the USA is the biggest consumer of oil in the world. i think its time we actually put ideas into action and invest in developing technology, or else the oil tap might just run dry before we have developed any other option to shift to . Hey, Bush, are you listening????

The last time it happened was when i was born , and now it has happened again when i have turned 18....THE ASHES ARE BACK HOME!!! Finally the Aussie juggernaut has been put to halt!It has woken up the whole world,who were bored and sick of seeing the kangaroos flying high! This ashes has been by far the most closely fought series in a long time in world cricket.The series has brought back crowds to cricket grounds in england and with the english winning it and restoring lost pride in every english fan's heart, cricket should see a major revival in the country. The defeat of the aussies has raised a big question in everyone's mind;has the mantle of champions been passed on? I think it would be wrong to jump to such a conclusion, but the thing that we can say for sure is that England has become a force to contend with in world cricket. An interesting thing that was noticeable during the ashes was that the average age of players in the two teams. While the Australians playing XI had players in late 20's and early 30's,the english players were mostly in the early to late 20's. This clearly indicates where that the english are here to stay!!

It will be interesting to see how the Australian selectors react to this "shocking" defeat. Almost every player will be under the scanner, with the exception of shane warne and maybe to a certain extent Adam Gilchrist. Ricky Ponting must have never seen this coming. Just two months back ,his captaincy was being praised by one and all and now he is being battered from various angles for his "irresponsible " judgement. Only time will what will be the fate of these defeated warriors and their commander....

I get the feeling that there is an imaginary wall being bulit up at the center of the country which is clearly demarcating the north and the south. This divide in culture , attitudes is now, affecting every single individual's daily lives. People's perception of a person is affected greatly by which part of the country he hails from. ( it is extremely prominent where iam studying right now!!!) . A general impression what a guy form the south will percieve on meeting a northy goes like this: an arrogant , bully , who is extremely self centered and has no sensitivity for the opposite sex,a pervert, to sum it up in one word. The northy 's first impression will go like: a coward , who is too shy to say anything, will keep his thoughts and feeling to himself , basically a pushover . this divide is increasing rapidly due to the sudden influx of wealth into the hands of the youth, thanks to the call center boom in the country. The feeling that "they are different/inferior from us" is mostly prevalant among today's youth, who are fuelling the growth of ths feeling , by irresponsible acts and misdeeds. For a country like ours, which take pride in the fact that we possess cultural diversities and yet are "one" , This is very sad development.