Weekend plans

You would say "why should this interest me ?" Valid point :-D In a way Im sharing with you whats up here if it matters even a bit. Also, let me use this space as a log for once so that I can check back on Monday how well I did. So here I go...

• Work. I start writing my thesis this weekend. This does not mean I am ready to wrap up. I am working on the last problem and we had tried this with our last publication. We wrote up what we think is the conjecture, worked it out, drew conclusions. So we find and then write out what we find in parallel. Saves time and avoids vain meandering. So wish me luck :-)
Status on Monday: not yet started :-(

• On my PC, I have SUSE 9.3 installed. This is a superb OS. It has an equivalent feature for every application in windows. Looks cool too. But its so slow that I lose patience by the time the terminal opens. So I plan to install Ubuntu. Since the initial installation of Ubuntu is just the core package, it saves space and is faster. We can customise it to our liking. Ill try it out and see for myself. More on this on the Ubuntu webpage. Here is what wiki says about Ubuntu. Done and and it rocks.
  

• Will change this damn keyboard.. hmphhh Ill end up with hardened fingertips otherwise something akin to hobbits hardened feet. Yoohooo my fingers seem to fly!
  


• Meet an old friend. That means catching up on what happened in the past 2 years in her life. That also means watching Home Alone in OAT for the nth time. I am sick and tired of that movie. I guess the company will make up for all that. She simply dint turn up :-| meeting was at 4 she calls up at 5 says cant come. People should keep their appointments or tell b4 hand.
  
• Browse through a book store. I have to get a farewell gift for a friend. I am planning on getting The Count of Monte Cristo. I had loved the book but do you think its a worthy gift? I hope I dont end up buying something for myself. Hazaaron khwahishein par jeb khali. well almost.... Well this was linked with the meeting and so not done :-|
  
• Sleep :-) Blisssssssssssss (The razacsss in Eragon-Eldessst speak like thisss.. draw out the s as in a hiss.. ssssneaky ssscary ) I had the worst weekend in this regard. no sleep at all. not even at nights. stayed awake till 4am just like that. Everyone protested against my trying out pills. so last night i took some cough syrup :-D People have suggested that I instead try the real boozing. he he not that despo yet.
  
• Not miss any of the meals. I tend to do that on weekends. Always prefer sleeping to eating sambar rasam. 2 breakfasts and 1 lunch skipped.
  
• Avoid the naked guy on campus. No Im serious!! There is a psycho roaming around here without his clothes. Apparently he apparates only in front of girls. Even the lady security of our hostel has seen him.. he he she is a nice gentle aunty with high moral values :-D Hope he gets caught soon cos there have been rumours that he chased a girl down a spooky deserted lane. Chennai heat has severely affected him. tut tut.
  
• And then generally chill out and not get worked up. Ahoy weekend here I come :-D
  

Have fun :-)
Now u see how bad I am with resolutions!!! Thats why my new year resolutions also dont work out :-D

Oil spill

'Damage is done' to Lebanon coast

I hope that there will be justice someday against these crimes against humanity and crimes against nature.

Successful elimination of 5 terrorists ?!

Human story behind the headlines

You must have seen the picture mentioned above. For me, this picture is a representative of the war in Lebanon. Its too depressing to be uploaded on this blog. :-(

Gangster revisited..

Daya (Shiny Ahuja) in Gangster was the ultimate lover anyone could wish for. He risks everything for his beloved (Kangna) and could go to any extreme for her, even mends his ways and tries living an honest life. His final gesture to her ( the letter) was heart wrenching. He is the gangster who is feared by all because he is not afraid of death. But in the end, when he is betrayed to the police by his sweetheart, his wails left you bewildered -wails of a man who was looking forward to his life ahead and was thwarted.
Kangna as the alcoholic Simran who desperately seeks for her niche and dreams of a settled life was brilliant. Simran comes across as the woman who loves Daya inspite of him being a gangster and yet loses all hope in him after she loses her adopted kid in a shoot-out. She is on the brink of a breakdown and grabs the first offer of a home which is offered by the creepy crawly Emraan Hashmi.
Kangna was mind-blowing and she is just 19 years old! And what a mesmerizing voice!
Emraan Hashmi did what he does best. One has to admire him you know. He effortlessly makes you hate him which is his job. We loathed him in Murder so easily! He is a good actor in that sense I think. I will watch out for other movies by Anurag Basu henceforth. Really good work.

After seeing them act, Im looking forward to Woh Lamhe which stars Kangna and Shiny Ahuja. I read a brief outline of the movie and this also promises to be a good love story. But I will not watch it in theatre. I cannot shed copious tears amidst hundred other onlookers. Let me weep in peace if I have to do so :-D
I read the review of Hazaaron khwahishein aisi and I wonder how I missed this movie. I mean I didnt even realise it ever released. Thats the disadvantage of keeping track of only star-studded movies. And then everyone says Bollywood produces only junk. Dont tell me gangster is also an adaptation of some Hollywood movie! So we do have good movies in the Hindi film industry but they are overshadowed by the glamourous ones.
The song that stayed with me after watching Gangster was not Tu hi meri shab hai but this one :

mujhe mat roko mujhe yaar ke ghar jaane do
main hun parwaana mujhe shamma pe mit jaane do

usko paana hi meri zindagi ka maqsad hai
gar wo milta hai mujhe marke to marr jaane do

dil ki aankhon ne meri apna sanam dekh liya
ab isi dar par mere damm ko nikal jaane do

sa re ga me

Have you heard this song "sa re ga me" from the Tamil movie Boyz. It has a lot of spunk.
My tamil is not so great :-D The gist of the song is - think different, reach for the sky and never give up and honesty, mistakes and love are the secrets of success. The music is by AR Rehman and he is rumoured to have charged a whopping 2 crores for this movie and he deserved every penny of it. Its a teen movie and was a shock to conservative chennai-ites. I was surprised at this as other tamil movies are full of innuendoes. This was more direct and addressed many issues. Should I try translating the lyrics here? mmm no I guess. It will be a disaster :-D

Saw gangster

I liked the movie :-) My sympathies were with daya :-(

and I never hated Emraan Hashmi this much!!

It happens only in India

In the canteen today, while I was eating, I heard a firang talking. Thats pretty usual here as there are so many exchange students around from all over the world. But then I heard things like "butt-her naan has butt-her in it and saambhaar and chhatt-nee are south indian dishes". This made me curious and so i turned around to see the firang who was this well-informed and was making it known to others that he was this well informed. It turned out that the speaker was actually an Indian who was with the firangs and was educating them. Hee hee serving comes naturally to us. Imitation comes naturally to us. Almost every phoren-returned Indian has an accent. I sometimes wonder that maybe if they talked in their language, firangs wouldnt understand them and so they mimic and later find it tough to get out of that habit.
Some of the firang girls who come here adapt to the place. Some of them are very gorgeous and some of them are well just plain pale (or gori as they call it) - mousey eyes, washed out hair and stuff ( he he m just too proud of the way we are ;-) )
We had a batch last semester who were seen everyday in very pretty salwars and paayal and danglers and stuff. And saris too!! They had a collection. I cant wear a sari without help !:-D And cant walk in it without help :-D And these firangis were seen cycling in those saris!! :-D
I guess its mainly the excitement of trying out a new culture. But it also helps them in a way. You see letching at girls is also a part of our culture. I once saw a man riding his bike (he was almost in his 40's.. believe you me thats the dangerous species.. they are the major letchers). This firangi girl was wearing decent sleeveless T-shirt and jeans and was coming from the opposite direction on a cycle. He turned all the way to watch her. Ah I so wished that he crash his bike in a tree but then he must have been very experienced in letching.
V-TV's ghar mein maa behen nahin hai kya ad couldnt have been more perfect!
My friend told me about a girl who was eve-teased in a bus. She retaliated by jumping on his feet with her heeled sandals 3 times before getting down :-D kudos. Imagine the pain the man must have suffered for a week :-D Awesome

psst psst.. I still cant access the blogspot but I can still read comments cos of the mail alerts :-D So dont ditch this site please :-D

Cant access

I dont know about others but I havent been able to access my blogsite. Is bloggers blocked again or has our proxy reacted late to the ban imposed everywhere else in the country? If so, I hope it does follow the lifting of the ban also. You see things are always delayed here..
Maybe this will get posted or maybe not.
Lemme see

My wonderland

I had once mentioned my dream of a cosy library.
I saw one such place today. The setting was different but equally charming. This house was on the 4th floor. Faces a lake. And a room in this house is alloted for books. A cosy chair and a plush deewaan was added to make it every hardcore bookworm's cosy nest. And the collection there was mind-blowing. They are also avid readers and since they have piled up this collection over a span of 25 years, it was my fantasyland. I had read some of the books and I wanted to read the others :-D So you understand why i was so excited.. some day ill have a house like this. hmmm dreamzz unlimited :-D And they lent me Orwell's 1984 :)


Amulet of samarkhand was very interesting. A cute djinn in it. Its a trilogy so looking out for the rest.
Memoirs of a Geisha was too good. Collector's piece. I dont mind reading it again after a few years.
Want to read Rushdie's Midnight's children. Heard a very good review of it.
Also want to read the Satanic verses (I said this earlier)... heard a review of that too.


Saw Pirates this friday. Slimier, funnier. Understood half of it. Depp as good as ever. Wil see it again sometime and understand the rest of it :-D And there's a 3rd part... And it seems Davie Jones is a mythical character. I mean stories abt him exist. Wil research this in greater detail.

Want to see Omkara.., saw interesting reviews about it..
Heard that Gangster is a good movie.. will watch it after my assessment.

By the way my assessment on 1st. Wish me luck :) Its at 9.30 am. I hope I reach the dept by that time... imagine if the panel is made to wait for the student !! Wish me greater luck :-D
Goodnite!

Amendment to my resolution :-D

What do I do? I have been faithful to my resolution for 7 days. But then everyone around me was tempting me.. So as a result, the books I have in my room are Zahir by Paulo Coelho, a fantasy called The Amulet of Samarkhand by Jonathan Stroud, and by this weekend Ill have a hard copy of Memoirs of a Geisha. So you see its very difficult to stick to my resolution. So the amendment to my resolution is that Ill read these books as normal people do and sleep at usual hours. Thats fine right! :-D

Ebook fair

The World ebook fair is a haven for all the book lovers. I downloaded scores of classics which I would like to read sometime. Although its a pain to read ebooks and I anytime prefer reading a hard copy, I was tempted to read every other book I saw there. Sometime in my life when Im happily jobless, Ill read these. For now, download kar liya :)

Feeling nostalgic. sighhh

I heard glad tidings about my friends from my Master's days and was feeling nostalgic. Actually, I wasn't great friends with them. Just passing acquaintances. But then you remember some people and some you dont.. Was very happy for them :-D It all seems so long ago...
Today was a very remarkable day. I met 4 (!) old friends who had passed out and were visiting campus. Couldnt they have come on different days !!! :-D It would have helped reduce the monotony to a large extent. And mind you, none of them were my classmates and yet I remembered them. So dare anybody talk about my bad memory (or cuppax memory as they say here) :-D

Life has moved on for so many and sometimes I feel mine has stopped for a while, or rather has slowed down a bit. Like I say often

Subah hoti hai shaam hoti hai
zindagi yun hi tamaam hoti hai :-)

( Hey I heard this couplet in the movie Pakeezah too! )
Maybe its just taking a breather for a while and will join the mainstream after this... :-D

Its six days since I have slept properly. Even at 3am, I just lie there and wait for the sleep to come. X-( And thats more terrible than anything else.

Yesterday night, there was a thumping sound as if somebody is jumping in the room above me. After I felt I have had enough, I went up to check on my nocturnal neighbour with few other friends who had just then returned from lab. It turned out the rooms on that floor nearest to me are vacant :-D It was 2.45am. We all got scared and slept in the same room. We found today that the sound was actually made by some idiot who was playing her music with heavy bass !!!!! (#$%&^%&*) There is a time for everything. x-( Anyway it was silly of us too.. All said and done ghosts dont exist right! Please dont say anything that negates this :-D

July the 13th

I read a really nice romance novel called How to marry a marquess (yupp u read it right ;-) ) by Julia Quinn. My friend Sanjana had recommended this. (I had been searching for this novel ever since and had failed. And suddenly two of my friends who didnt know I was searching for this got the book issued. Luck! Ok thats asides besides. ) The book is hilarious and very cute. So much that I finished it in 4.5 hours flat in one sitting. I burnt the midnight oil for this and slept at 4 (!!!!) Many people ask me when do I get the time to read. Well this is how I read. Crazy right!
So I have taken a resolution.

I will not read any novels till December.

Will I stick to it? My plight seems to be like the smoker who decides to quit. I had taken this resolution once before and had broken it but let me see if it works this time. If it does, Ill mention this date in my
thesis.

Hey by the way, on July 14th when I was in 8th std, I had presented a rose to the school captain :-D Silly na the way the brain remembers irrelevant trivia!! :-D

Mumbai blasts

Varanasi - Delhi - Bombay. The intentions of the bombers seems to be to incite riots. They have been failing so far and so I get a feeling that they will only get more desperate. The intelligence agencies of our country have been very active. They already had prevented many more such with their raids but India is so vast that its difficult to take care of everything. All we can do is help them. Be alert and keep an eye open for unclaimed objects etc. I remember when after the '93 blasts, we were in Delhi and the city was on high alert. First thing we used to do after getting into a bus was check for suspicious objects under the seats etc. We were kids so the enthu was more. But its logical now to never relax our guard.
These terrorists are not humans.
I wonder how they would face their deaths. In our religion, we believe that when Angel Izrail takes our lives, his appearance is according to the sins we have committed. (Atleast thats what mom said to me :-D). The death is more painful to the worst sinner. Oh I wish their life is a living hell starting from now.
Our prayers with the survivors and the kith and kin of the dead..

Zidane's exit

World Cup finals were ruined for me when Zidane was shown a red card. What a way to end his career! Throughout this tournament he had retained his composure. I was gushing about him as the Mr. Cool to my parents just the same day. Materazzi must have said something really nasty for him to have done this. It looked like a very deliberate act and not just a burst of temper so it must have been something lousy. There are speculations that he reacted to a racial slur (like here and here). Maybe maybe not. It will come out in a few days. I just know that I hate the Italian team with all my heart for this. And Zidane still remains my favourite player.

Races faces

Have you ever felt that the Portuguese look so much like us!! Maybe its the result of colonisation. India has a mix of so many ethinicities.
The Italians remind me of Asterix comics always. Julius Caesar's nose can be spotted without difficulty in the crowd.

Random thoughts

I hate it when people jump queues. I am not even talking about a family man here who always has to rush cos there is always something else he has to attend to, though even that doesnt justify jumping queues as there are others who also have something to attend to. I am talking about college students, who on one hand would go to a posh boutique and be at their politest best to the salesmen there, but would not show the slightest respect to the patience of those who have chosen to wait their turn in the queue.

France won :-D mainly cos of their luck and strong defence I think. I dont have any preferences for the finals as I have been supporting both the teams. But I think Italy has a better chance.. good strikers, good defence, and energy. Enjoyed the world cup :-) However, after it gets over, Ill have no more late-nights and will have more productive days. Enough of these hangovers :-D

I am reading a fantasy novel called Eragon by Christopher Paolini. Its about a boy who stumbles upon a legacy of Dragon Riders and is made a Rider himself. He starts on an adventure akin to Frodo's adventure in Lord of The Rings. The book is interesting and un-put-downable. Though, having read LOTR, I end up finding similarities and making comparisons. That is a disadvantage. Still, these days the book is the treat at the end of the day after crunching numbers :-D


I am yet to find a honest doctor. So no wonder I have zero zympathy for them.

Italy won :-D

La Italia prevails :-D
As you know the match starts at 1230am Indian time. So I stayed up that late for the semis. I have never stayed up this late for my research. So by the time 90 mins were over, it was 215am. Anyway halfway through the extra time, we have a power cut ( !!:-(( %&@#$#$#$^ ). And so we missed the goals. How unfair can things be!! Luckily one girl had a radio on her mobile. Thats how we knew that Italy won in the dying minutes. Before that, a friend (kutz) fooled me with 2-1 result in Germany's favour ( Never ever believe him. He is the devil incarnate. hmmphhhh )
It must be a mourning day in Germany. They played well throughout the tournament :)

ahaa

France won :-D I saw Zidane's magic for the first time.
My desired outcome..
Germany vs Italy- Italy wins.
France vs Portugal - France wins..
And WC goes to France :-D
Lets see.

FM, V and Evey

Its a long time since I have posted my tuppence on the blog instead of linking to other sites. So here's what I have read, seen and done these days for anyone who cares :-)

I read The Fifth Mountain by Paulo Coelho.

There is a passage in the book where he says that we can learn three things from children - to be happy for no reason, to always be busy in doing something and to ask for what one wants until he gets it. Why do we lose this wisdom when we grow up? Evolution goes backwards?
This book was about a prophet who has been entrusted with bringing the people back to the flock. In trying to do so, he faces many hardships, escapes to a different country, struggles, settles down, finds love, loses it, his world is destroyed, and he rebuilds it. This book says that God leaves it to us to make our decisions. But at times I wish I knew what path has been set for me beforehand. But the thrill of living life would no longer exist right? I waver between indecision, confusion and exasperation most of the time :-D
***********
Then I saw V for Vendetta

Remember remember the fifth of November,
the gunpowder, treason and plot
I know of no reason why
the gunpowder and treason ever be forgot.

This movie is set in the future and is the story of a girl called Evey who runs into a man called V, who wears a Guy Fawkes mask. He, like many others, had been tortured in a detention camp by a totalitarian government twenty years ago. He now plans his vendetta and kills everyone responsible for the crime committed against him and others and he also brings about an uprising in the people. Somehow I feel I am not doing justice to the movie here. But I can say this much - Dont miss this movie.

Fear, freedom and confidence are more than words, they are perspectives.

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

Behind the mask, there is more than flesh. Behind the mask, there is an idea Mr. C and ideas are bulletproof.

These are the few dialogues I remember. There is an awesome dialogue when V introduces himself to Evey where he uses heavy-weight words starting with the letter v and its very beautifully and craftily put together.
V is played by Hugo Weaving (Elrond of LOTR). He is brilliant. Throughout the movie, he wears a mask, yet he is my favourite hero. Mind-blowing dialogue delivery and what voice!! He is such an impressive character without even his facial expressions to aid him.
Evey is played by Natalie Portman. She is as gorgeous bald-headed as she was in her blond curls. Superb acting.
This movie is actually an adaptation of a comic series by Alan Moore published in Britain in the 80's. Wiki tells you more about the comic. I am searching for this book now :-)

********

Italy entered the Qfinals. (Everything is fair ;-) :-D And France is through :-D Was thrilled to read about this the next day. Missed the match :-(
I am supporting France, Argentina, Portugal and ofcourse Italy in Qfinals. Looking forward :-)