Mind Your LANGUAGE ! Bleddy !

Last week , i went over to my friend's apartments to play cricket and we were discussing plans to go to a movie when all off a sudden , this 40 something gentleman shouted at us , " Mind Your Language !!! " . Uh ? .
He went on to tell us how we shouldn't be using "unparliamentary" words inside the apartments and should keep our filthy chats to the streets . All of us were still staring at him like he was crazy .
And he stared back at us . The staring game went on for quite a few seconds before I thought of asking what exact words we were using . Bleddy . This was the word he had heard one of us utter which had sent him mad . ( Personally speaking , I later realized that he must have probably had a very bad day from his wife :) ) .
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So much for those apartments ; lets consider IIT Kanpur . Yeah , its still one of the best colleges in India . As for the scenario in IITK , a few facts about the spoken word here are :

• The first 40 or so words I learnt in Hindi (during the first few days at college) were "gaalis" , i.e. swear words .
  
• Every alternate sentence begins with bhenchoddh .
  
• The in-between sentences begin with madarchoddh .
• The sentences which begin with bhenchoddh end with madarchoddh and those which begin with madarchoddh end with bhenchoddh .
  
• The few rare sentences which don't start with either of bhenchoddh or madarchoddh begin with either of bosdickey/maakichooth-theri .
  
• If you know what the fore-mentioned gaalis mean , good for you . If you don't , even better . If you still want to know , DON'T ask me .
  
• Yes of course , every sentence has atleast two other distinct gaalis in between the starting and the ending .
  
• Quite a few creative students burn up their grey cells in coming up with new innovative gaalis every week . An interesting example is " Mayya-ki-Bua" , invented by Ankit Agarwal .
• A special should be made of "Madhar-Puttu" , which came into vogue after it was used by a Rajnikanth look-alike in Deepshika , the Hall 2 festival .

For deeper insight into the polite words used by the brightest , most-respected students of our country , two days at a UG hostel in IIT Kanpur is recommended .

RajniKanth

It's been two days since RajniKanth alias Thalaivar turned 57 and he's still the hot topic for discussion here . Two television channels are having month long Rajni-centered programs while MoserBaer has come out with a special RAJNI DVD pack . Various other rajni-centred events have been taking place throughout this month .
Coming to the man himself , it's as if he has disappeared from the face of the earth . Nobody seems to know where he was on his birthday .
Having lived in three different cities till now , I have noticed various views about Rajni - utter devotion from die-hard fans , respect from people for his humble nature , ridicule from ignorant fellows up north , dislike , admiration , craze , etcetera , etcetera . Having seen quite a few of his films , I can't do anything but wonder the way fate has taken him from Bangalore bus stands to the highest position in Star-dom . No hero , be it Amitabh Bachhan or Brad Pitt would have ever enjoyed adulation like Rajni does . From morning pujas to BEER-abhishekams , this chap has seen it all . But to call him a BAD ACTOR will not do justice to Rajni . North Indians , and even people of other southern states have seen only Rajni the SUPERSTAR , only his action-packed masala flicks, which has lead to the misconception that Rajni has done only films of this kind .

One statement a lot of people would agree with me will be : Kamal is an exceptional actor . Let me tell you something else ; I have seen three films starring both Kamal and Rajni and Rajni OUTSHINES Kamal in all the three , purely in terms of better acting . Padhinaru Vayadhinile , Ninaithale Inikkum and Aval Appadithaan . The latter especially needs a special mention as one of the best Indian films I have ever seen . Released in 1978 , it had a female character (beautifully portrayed by SriPriya) as the main protagonist and Rajni donning the role of an MCP . That is Male Chauvinist Pig for those who don't know . Apart from these films , anyone who has seen ThilluMullu will never say Rajni doesn't know how to act . Mullum Malarum , Johnny , Dalapathi , Batsha (The king of all masala films ever) are other films where I felt Rajni gave stellar performances .

Something I've found really amusing in IITK is how ppl seem to find Rajni hitting four bad guys at once as ridiculous while they don't mind SRK chasing a scorpio in a cycle-rickshaw . Heck, every industry part of Indian Cinema has these gravity-defying scenes , be it Bolly/Kolly/Tolly-wood . But no film industry in the world has ever seen a star bigger than RajniKanth . Never will either .

For those of you who don't know it already , Rajni's next film is an animation flick called SULTAN . Now, if this film becomes a huge hit(which it probably will) , probability is there will be Rajni films releasing fifty years from now in animation format . :)

You can like Rajni or hate Rajni , but you can't ignore Rajni . At least not if you are in Chennai right now .

Those Small Small Things....

Ever thought of those small,small things you do now and then which make you really happy for a couple of moments???Sliding down the railing on a specific staircase,having special chai in the morning after jogging , walking along the corridor and suddenly bowling an imaginary delivery at an imaginary batsman ; trying to throw the ball of waste paper into the dustbin ; actually managing to throw the ball of waste paper into the dustbin ; taking a morsel of food into your mouth and revolving it around for a few seconds without swallowing ; sprinkling water suddenly on your friends ; trying to fool your friend telling him there was a quiz during the class he missed ; smelling your cup of coffee before drinking it ; twirling your mobile in your hand with nothing else to do ; singing your favorite song and trying to tap dance at the same time in the confines of the bathroom ...........

Selfish.

Observations :

• Gandhiji was a great freedom fighter .
  
• Paris Hilton is a very active socialite.
• Mother Teresa did a lot of social work .
  
• My roomie , Dhiresh is very good at business matters .
  

Inference:

• Gandhiji did what he did because he wouldn't have been happier doing anything else .
  
• Paris Hilton wants to become more and more famous .
  
• Mother Teresa wanted to change the world into a better place as much as she could .
• Dhiru likes to read about businesses , stock market , etc .
  

Conclusion :
EVERYONE IS SELFISH . PERIOD .
Gandhiji , Mother Teresa , Paris Hilton , my roomie , you , me , everyone do what we do because we want to do it for ourselves . Say , we give 10 rupees to a begger . We do it more to satisfy our conscience rather than to feed the beggar . The fact that these two points are connected is a different matter to be discussed somewhere else . Anyways , my point is every single action in this world can be deconstructed to signify an act of selfishness .



Added After a few days of posting this , the following is what my bro had to say on this:

"This deconstruction is pointless. I could counter it with - there are different kinds of selfishness. The selfish being that hurts a heart. A selfish act that causes negligible pain or damage. A selfish person who massacres millions of people. A selfish person who feeds a hungry person. A 'selfish' person who has such a profound effect on humanity that it changes the very perception of life. Therefore, there are two extremes and between those lie infinite degrees of selfishness to choose from."

TRAINSPOTTING

two words : WATCH IT .

Carnival of FUN -ANTARAGNI@IITK

Poets of the Fall is coming to IIT Kanpur this year . No, I am not bluffing . It's true . If any of you wants to come, contact me and I can arrange an invite for your college .

Arbit - 2

# Screwed Mid-Sem 1 . But not so much that it cant be repaired . Lets see what happens in the second mid sem .
# Saw Trainspotting . Brilliant film . Fucken Style .
# Have read two volumes of Sandman , a graphic novel . Cant wait to finish the rest .
# Stopped playing cricket . Too much of fucking politics going on . Taken up tennis a bit more seriously now .
#Went to Delhi for the first time in ma life . Awesome roads . One doubt for the delhi girls..... ever heard of Salwar Kameez ???........... After all , you aint living in fucken California .
# Got this awesome set of paintings which form the portfolio for the Star Wars film series . Original . For fifty bucks . :)
#Lost my bag in the library . Along with my cheque book , pass book , among other stuff . And the security guard (read SIS for iitk guys) was sitting 4 feet away from it while someone walked away with it . Refused to take a complaint as well . SIS guards sure as hell live up to their name .
#Am doing marketing for Antaragni 07 . Thats our cultural fest here at IIT,Kanpur .
# Ever heard of a band called Poets Of The Fall ? Apparently , it is the next big thing on the rock scene in Europe . Their song 'Carnival of Rust ' rocks big time . And they are performing at IIT Kanpur next month . During Antaragni .
# Started playing Counter Strike . Not as appealing as AOE is . But is still addictive .
# Man who drive like hell , bound to get there .

ARBIT - 1

#Baccha quizzes, major quizzes , surprise quizzes , assignments , mid-sems , not to mention the monstrous END-SEM . The horrible reality of exams is at us ,hard in the face, here at IITK.Not three weeks have passed since third semester started for us and already, you can catch dozens of guys flocking to the library in huge groups . For a change , I cannot criticize them , for I am studying too (though not as much so as to go the lib). We can call it mugging even, I guess.
#Even as much as I want to study hard , I am finding it pretty hard to set aside even two uninterrupted hours for study . Frankly speaking , third semester has been lots of fun . Have started playing tennis on a serious scale. Am going jogging in the mornings; if not everyday , atleast five days a week . Have lost three kgs . Become a "marketing executive" of antaragni - our cult fest. Book club work is tedious,but not exactly boring.....yet. Am preparing quizzes to host in the coming weeks . And cricket .
#Am trying to help the new batch students in adjusting to their lives here .
#Our team comprising of Dhiru-bhai, Pranay and myself came fifth in an insti-level DumbC competition, thanks to a nice effort in the rapid-fire round .
#Have been watching a few old Tamil films . Thalaivar ( for the non-tamil chaps , Rajnikanth) rocks in MULLUM MALARUM . His conversation with Sarath Babu after he is fired is worth special mention . Especially the " Kettta payan sir avan " dialogue ) .
#Saw a decent english film called "Hooligans"
#Read the amazing ' Life of Pi' . Have finished the first two books of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy series . Eagerly waiting to lay my hands on the third . And of course, have read HP7.
#Presently reading 'The Kite Runner' by Khaled Hosseini .
#I don't have any specific reason for writing this post other than the feeling that it had been a long time since I had posted anything here .

INFORMAL INTERACTION - RAGGING IS STRICTLY BANNED !!!

Complying with the directives of the Hin'ble Supreme Court of India, IIT Kanpur has formed various Anti-ragging committees and squads for overseeing the implementation of the verdict with immediate effect ; regardless of which , ragging continues to happen in this campus, only , under the name of informal interaction between seniors and juniors . Though I have refrained from actually ragging the students (making them do obscene impersonations,etc., etc.) , I have tried to know the juniors better by asking them their hobbies and interests . From what I have learned from these conversations with the bacchaas (as the first years r called here) and from what I have heard from my friends, I describe some interesting students :


#One horribly skinny chap who had won four gold medals in gymnastics at the international level . This explains the lack of our olympic medals to some extent I guess.
#A guy who had written more than hundred poems in hindi, but didn't have a single friend to show them to . From what I hear , it took a long time to get this out of his mouth .
#A guy whose hobby was reading novels -he had read less than ten - was a big, big fan of harry potter and didn't know the name of the sixth hp book. Some hobby.....
#Another guy's hobby was watching movies . In his own words he saw more english movies than hindi ones; but couldn't name more than four english films . One more guy's hobby was to make friends. Chap must have been bitten by the orkut bug .
#Four guys till date have given this reply when asked what they do in cricket : "waisey hi , kheltha hoon ! " .
# Thera Hobbies kya hai?? : Novels padtha hoon . Favourite author kaun Hai ?? .......SHERLOCK HOLMES .

PHONE and PHOTOGRAPHY - THEKKADY , KERALA .

Thekkady was the first place we went to on our Kerala trip this summer . The place was bleddy brilliant , but the mallus seemed to be pretty determined to keep Indian tourists out of the place, except for the filthy rich of course . Every single item on sale there was exorbitantly over-priced . And I feel it would be rather better not to talk about the hotels there, which were targeted mainly for the foriegners . Still, there are a few good "home-stay" places available which rent out rooms at an affordable rate . The GreenView Homes was one such place , where we stayed for two days . This picture was taken in the backyard of the place . It is my sister on a hammock . You might think I have altered the picture on photoshop or picasa or something but no, I haven't and I don't know how in hell I got the blue-ish tint . The second one is an edit of the original ; this is the firs time I am experimenting with black and white . Wat Say?

PHONE and PHOTOGRAPHY - YELAGIRI TRIP

Even though I don't have a proper camera , my interest levels in photography have only increased ever since I took possession of my cam-phone , SE w810i . It's camera has the following specifications: 2 MP, 1632x1224 pixels, autofocus, video, flash .
It all started with the trip to yelagiri , during wich I clicked more than 300 photos .





That's KK cramping up to shoot some photos . I don't know how, but some of the trip photos seem to be missing . I shall upload some more , if I come across them again .

TRUST ISSUES with Mr.DOGGY

There are many times in our life when we say, "Damn! It would have been awesome to have a handycam now . " . This was definitely one of those .
Mr.Doggy resides at MT (the local chai shop),IIT Kanpur and pesters the customers for his livelihood . And my roommate, Dhiru-bhai and yours truly were the (un)lucky ones today morning, with a plate of namkeen in our hands . It rather casually walked up to us and sat down staring at us , as if it knew all along that we would give it something to eat , atleast to get rid of it , if for nothing else . What followed was hilarious at the least . Dhiru-bhai got uncomfortable and threw a piece far off and told me it wouldn't pester us again . Mr.Doggy went . Mr.Doggy ate . And Mr.Doggy came back . I was already laughing when Dhiru-bhai took a long piece, bit off half of it and threw the remaining far off again . Mr.Doggy went again . Only, the piece was still in Dhiru-bhai's hand . Mr.Doggy was furtively searching for the piece which wasn't there . And it was at this point that , with a very proud look on his face , Dhiru-bhai said,"Kutthe ko choothiya bana dhiya maine ! " . Mr.Doggy was roaming around the place still searching for the piece , when Dhiru-bhai made an observation , " The dog is now ashamed of it's incapability to find the piece . Hence , it won't trouble us again . " At around the same time , Mr.Doggy decided to come back to us . This time around , Dhiresh got touched and threw quite a big piece , in the same direction as he threw the before one . Mr.Doggy decided enough was enough and didn't move an inch . "Abey saala! Kutthe ne hamko choothiya banaya . Trust issues ho raha hai hamare beech mein abhi ." By this time, we had finised our 'special chai' and it was time for us to leave . We threw the remaining pieces of namkeen to Mr.Doggy and proceeded back to our rooms, sad that we couldn't spend some more time with Mr.Doggy..........classes were starting today .

End Of The IIT,Kanpur Blog

Today I am gonna delete my other blog - Life at IIT,Kanpur . I have reproduced two of the best posts from there . Reading them now, I realise that I have been bashing my college quite unashamedly . The suicide-post is fraught with emotion , or so some ppl have told me . The other one is my reaction to the unbelievable number of exams we have to undertake here .

• Friday, April 13, 2007

  EXAMS EXAMS EVERYWHERE...NO TIME FOR ME TO SPARE

  DISCLAIMER:These are strictly my personal views, those of a person who has spent less than a year here at IITK.Views on the academic system here may vary from person to person.
  
  
  Here at IITK , we have some of the best brains (supposedly) of the country studying---and quite a lot of them leave the institute after four or five years with a degree and very little more.Yes, there are quite a few of them who make the most of their stay here and leave IITK with tears in their eyes and a lot of memories in their minds.Hmm.....i shudnt get started on the different type of ppl who live here....let me get to the point. WE HAVE A FUCKEN HUGE NUMBER OF EXAMS AND A PATHETIC GRADING SYSTEM TO SCREW US MORE.First up, let me talk abt the grading system here- we have 5 different grades possible for each subject-A(10);B(8);C(6);D(4);F(2).
  IN ALL THE OTHER IIT's, the grading system is 10,9,8,7,6,5,4 and 2.As a result of this kind of a grading system here, what happens is that two students who have worked for varying amounts of time and have highly different marks get the same grade.For example, in my first semester here, a chap who got 50 marks and another who got 79, both got D in MTH101.The chap who scored 50 marks will be happy of course, but the guy who got 79 will obviously tend to get frustrated from the sheer unfair nature of the grading.APART FROM THIS, what also happens is that the average CPI also goes down.A student from IITM who has below average CPI might actually end up having higher CPI than an above average student from IITK.But the people outside the IIT's aint gonna know all this............
  
  Now, coming to the exams part, let me first talk about some other IIT's(info is based purely on word of mouth):
  IITM: In each semester, the students there have to go through two sets of major quizzes and one set of End-Sem exams.From what my friend there says, the chaps there have time for loads of cultural activity(he attends three lit events every week) and to play sports and what not.
  IITB: These ppl have one mid-sems and end-sems.And i have also heard that their cult fest is the best in the country.
  IIT, Kharagpur and IITG also have a system somewhat similar to that of IITB.
  
  Ah....IITK, here i come.
  Coming to the end of my second semester here, the first semester seems almost like an extended vacation in comparison.We did a hell a lot of stuff in our first sem......playing various sports like baddy,footie,tennis,t.t till 5 in the morning sometimes and sometimes further than that.We had innumerable "bhulla" sessions,where we discussed everything from biscuits to business;playboy to placements.....by gawd, i dont remember ever having laughed as much as i did in those days...but i do remember rolling on the ground in laughter.I did bunk classes a bit in first sem as well, but no where near as much as i have in second sem.The main reason is that I had time for myself even after attending all those lectures....some quality time during which needn't have to necessarily do something "purposeful".True, not having a lappy then meant that i had a bit lesser distraction....but i personally feel, lappy or not, this is the way i would have been now.
  IN SECOND SEM, we have only 17 credits, where as we had 21 in the first.But the workload only seems to have increased.We have weekly quizzes in batthi(electronics).And our batch specially has quizzes in almost every other physics tutorial session, where the tutor is more enthusiastic than the students are about the quizzes.I remember on occasion when he announced on a thursday that there would be an hour-long quiz(on a huge, huge portion of the textbook) on tuesday--he counted the days in between on his fingers and told us, with a beaming smile, that we had four days to prepare.If it was not for the fact that he has quite a lot to do with our grades, i would have immediately stood up and questioned him on that last statement of his. We had MEGABUCKS- the entrepreneurship fest of IITK over three of those four days, starting on that thursday and folding up on sunday.I had registered for a workshop which took away two days-thursday and friday.On the next two days, i played in two tiring cricket matches, which took away saturday and sunday.Monday remaining- 4days worth portions to study.........And so it is that, we have atleast two quizzes almost every week and most chaps will be preparing for one or the other.Add to all this the weekly T.A. lab and the T.A homework, apart from the batthi lab and its lab report.Oh yeah, we are given out assignments as well, in maths,physics and batthi, meant to be done sincerely by the student on the day when it is given.ALL THIS AND WE HAVE NOT EVEN REACHED THE BEST PART YET.
  We have something here called the mid-sems here, which induce, among others, paranoia,temporary memory loss, personality disorder,acute sense-loss,etc. NO, i am not talking about the end-sems yet.You will see chaps here studying at 4 o' clock in the morning, walking in the corridor, below the tubelight, who wouldn't notice if a tornado passed by nearby.
  I've personally seen guys waking up at 3 o'clock in the morning--didnt even step down from the cot.....woke up, took the book near his pillow(pre-planning??) and start reading. AND WE HAVE TWO OF THESE.
  WHEN THE END SEMS are still a month away, people start talking of it.And when the end-sems are about 29 days away, they start studying......as the days go by, the tempo increases.....with ten days to go for the end-sems--a friend of mine says that his wing looks like as if someone has died there and there is a state of mourning.Each is in his own custom-made zombie-like state of mugging.
  
  To sum it all up, we have TWO MID-SEMS, ONE HORRIBLE END-SEMS AND TWO QUIZZES ALMOST EVERY OTHER WEEK..........SO WHERE DO U THINK WE GET THE TIME FOR OURSELVES??TO WRITE BLOGS LIKE THESE??TO PLAY TENNIS??SOME TIME TO SPARE...............
  
  WHAT DO U THINK WE BUNK CLASSES FOR??????
  
  
  P.S....all said and done, i still have a rocking time out here, for there is enough freedom here to set your own priorities and live accordingly.........true, ur cpi might get screwed a bit this way, but if u r happy living like that, who cares anyways...
  

• Monday, April 30, 2007

  One more SUICIDE---DARK TRUTH ABOUT IITK???

  It must have began quite a long time back. Probably in his eighth standard or something! Maybe even in the same coaching institutes that some of us have studied in. Now, I don't know if Jay Bharadwaj studied in Matrushri or Sharma or even if he took coaching from eighth standard itself, but what I do know is that he committed suicide by placing his head on the railway track at the entrance of IITK. It was the second suicide since I came here last year and the fourth in less than 16 months. Feelings are varied on the campus and debates and discussions are being carried out in corridors and rooms, but for the most part , NOTHING is being DONE actively.
  I had just written my physics exam and come back to the hostel. With a plate full of food and an empty stomach , I sat down to have my lunch as one of my friends plonked down opposite and said,"rey, bharadwaj chanipoyadu anta ra.....adhe ra, aarozu ACA (andhra cultural association) lo kalisamu chudu..."("hey, remember bharadwaj, the chap who talked to us that day...heard he has committed suicide!"). I didnt remember the poor soul then and neither do I now, but I DID feel sick to my stomach from the sad news and I returned my plate of food almost untouched. Some guys sitting nearby were laughing and joking about the suicide and calling Bharadwaj a coward and what not. HAVE WE BECOME SO MATERIALISTIC THAT WE DONT CARE IF ANOTHER STUDENT FROM THE SAME COLLEGE , A CHAP WHO HAS GONE THROUGH THE SAME THINGS THAT WE ARE GONNA TOMORROW,...DIES??? Over the next two days , I saw more students joking and laughing about the incident, while I wondered what his thoughts must have been while waiting for the train!
  
  
  I have since come to know that he had been extensively browsing sites on how to commit suicide for the past one month. Pity. And what followed his death was even more pitiful -
  An e-mail was sent to all the students announcing the "tragic event".
  A condolence meeting was announced. IT WAS A JOKE. The director came on stage and read out the e-mail that he had sent earlier, mentioned Bharadwaj's tenth and twelfth class marks and concluded with a thank you. THAT WAS IT.the condolence meeting was over, even as most of bharadwaj's friends were just arriving. PATHETIC.
  The HoD of the civil department, in which Bharadwaj studied, gave out a statement to the tune of ," He was JUST an average student. " Was this boys life so dispensable, so forgettable that we do not even want to mourn him? Is ANY life dispensable? I dont know what HE mean't, but not many students are surprised.This new HoD of the civil dept here, Professor CVR Murthy, is seen as an idealist for whom nothing less than perfection will do. I've heard that he was a dhussa (ten pointer ) for ten semesters straight and that even his wife ran away with one of his PhD students unable to bear him.
  The much-talked about three-tiered counselling service here is in reality, only a front. The three tiers are supposed to be the student guide, the faculty counsellor and the college shrink. We don't have anything to do with the faculty counsellors, except inviting them to our hall day and some cultural events, which many students look upon as waste of money, as we have to provide them dinner as well. The shrink visits the college once in a while and an e-mail is sent to this regard, which is deleted by the majority of the students without being read.
  Oh yeah, we've got this new ANXIETY HELPLINE as well. Ten professors or so are available for counselling 24/7. But, say a guy is sitting lonely and depressed in his room....what are the chances he is gonna go and look up the number of the anxiety helpline on the notice board and make a call to a prof? Would he be able to complain abt one prof to another?? Talk about his deepest feelings to someone whom he hardly knows and is a prof as well???
  
  
  I have heard that one more suicide was attempted yesterday, but that he was saved. And I heard some students commenting that this fella must have probably not made enough research on suicide.Some of them were even discussing about the better ways in which he could have died.
  HOLY SHIT!!!
  
  I DONT SAY SUICIDE IS RIGHT, but we should examine the reasons which led him to death. And we should act, act fast.The grading system can be changed, for starters. Any student who has to repeat a course he doesn't like at all for three or four times is bound to get frustrated and depressed.
  
  
  An excerpt from a blog written by a friend of a student who almost committed suicide:
  

  “No, finally she didn’t jump. One professor courageously called out to her from his window and asked her to move away from the tank. She heeded that call, maybe even at that point she could not think of defying a professor. I wonder what all went through her mind? Who can tell? She must not have been more than 20 years old... maybe even younger.

  “Her parents refused to let her drop a semester. After all she was a success; she had no right to fail. She tried harder. Her mother stayed with her. Finally they took her back and let her drop the semester. Her friends were happy that they were not weaklings like her. I haven’t seen her around since then. This successful place (IIT Kanpur) has a remarkable capacity to block failures out. She is not missed.

  “But I am still shaken. I don’t want to end up there, no matter what, whether I am successful or not. I want to slow down. And I want to get out of this ‘successful’ place. It is so lonely; it has such little tolerance for people like her, and perhaps for people like me. I feel trapped in my success.…”

  #end of excerpt#

  Another excerpt :
  

  A reputed educationist and counsellor, Dr Amrita Das, maintains that perhaps not many realise that today students are swimming in a different ocean than the one in which their parents swam. It is not marks alone that matter now, it is important to have a smart mind too. That comes from participating in extra-curricular activities, nurturing creative hobbies, spending time with friends and learning social skills. In other words, by letting children just be. It is not only IQ but also better EQ (emotional quotient) that counts today.

  A request that a student had made at a counselling session continues to haunt Dr Das. “This young girl told me ‘please tell our parents to also remind us of our competencies and not just of competitions’.”

  #end of excerpt#
  

  
  Jay Bharadhwaj was from Hyderabad, from Ramaiah institute---which makes him connected to some of us in a minute fashion.Last year, 50,000 students wrote JEE in hyderabad.Total was 3 lakh in India.Doesn't this tell something???I've also heard that quite a few students who committed suicide in IIT's were from Andhra.....weird coincidence???

  I have got some suggestions, but i am pretty sure none of them will be enforced anywhere in the near future.....

• The no. of mid-sems can be reduced to one.
• Compulsory attendance be enforced in lectures, of say 70 % or so.
• Amount of gaming be controlled.
• Some useless,unnecessary courses be scrapped.Phy lab and chem lab to name some.
• Most of the tutors are useless and hence, the tutes are a waste of time we can't afford.It will be nice to see tutes being scrapped, but since THAT won't happen ever....I say they be reduced.
  

Coming to the end of this post, I have a request for all of you......We as Indians have to stop treating college children as babies and try to control what they can do and cannot do. Let them make their mistakes and let them learn.Please tell your relatives and friends who have great expectations from their sons to let go of their children, let them dream of their own......I wonder how many sportsmen,singers,artists we have lost just because some fathers failed in becoming engineers, and wanted their sons to fulfill their dreams.

DISCLAIMER: A lot is based on hear-say.....I didn’t mean to offend anyone by this post. If I did, I apologize. Its just so frustrating to see young lives wasted like this.

The Blogger Question And My HAIRCUT

As everybody who has been in touch with me will know, I had very recently cut off my long hair (well, somewhat long ) and come to college with short hair which made everyone here hesitate to decide whether it really was me . But how the fuck can this bleddy website know about my image-changing haircut ?

My blogger question was :

The hair from your last haircut ... what would it say about your new style?

WHAT SAY???



P.S. :Speaking of hair and haircuts, here is a nice piece I read; my emotions go somewhat along the same lines - http://vinodg.blogspot.com/2007/07/con-hair.html

Nice Book Names

Just now I was looking at the books I had bought in Chennai and brought to Kanpur, and I realised how much the name of the book influences whether I buy it or not . The five books I had bought were :

• "I AM NOT A CROOK " -by ART BUCHWALD . (Rs.20) -The quotes were part of the name.
• The LONDON HANGED : Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century - by PETER LINEBAUGH (Rs.50)
  
• TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA - by JULES VERNE(Rs.25) . If this name ain't interesting , I wonder which one is .
• THE WAY THAT WATER ENTERS STONE - Stories by JOHN DUFRESNE .
• SHIVAJI ROA to SIVAJI - by ' Thiruvarur' GUNA . The first Tamil book I have bought . The motivating factor : RAJNIKANTH . Surely, any book about THALAIVAR has got to be interesting .
  
• CRIME AND PUNISHMENT - by FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY . Even though I already had this exact same version of this novel, this was a steal at a mere forty bucks . And I also like the author's name a lot-Dostoyevsky has a rather nice ring to it .
  
• THE PARTNER -by JOHN GRISHAM (Rs.40) . I bought this book strictly based on strong recommendations and it has quite exceeded my expectations .
  

Yeah, I GUESS THE NAME OF A BOOK MATTERS QUITE A LOT . What SAY ?

J K Mandir

Beautifully constructed, J.K. temple is a boon to the devotees. Built by J.K. Trust this architectural delight is a unique blend of ancient architecture with the modern. The even-level roofs o the mandaps have been provided with adequate ventilation for sufficient light and air. Among the five shrines that the temple has the central one s consecrated to Shri Radhakrishna and the other are adorned with idols of Shri Laxminarayan, Shri. Ardhanarishwar, Shri Narmadeshwar and Shri Hanuman. (Source : kanpurcity.com)

I was pleasantly surprised by this quiet , clean place situated in the middle of kanpur city . I never expected to see such a beautiful place in the big dirty dustbowl that kanpur is . It gave ample oppurtunity for photography , though it was sad that I had only my phone-cam (SE w810i) . But the photos that came out were far exceeding my expectations, thanks to the brilliant lighting , I guess . One other photo I liked a lot was (check out the reflection) :

your LIFE will be in SHAMBLES...

I have just come back from a trip to Tirupathi (not Tirumala, mind you) and am bleddy tired, but can't resist recording this eventful trip. We started of early, at about 6'o clock and reached Puttur at around 8-15, including me driving for about 50 odd kilometres- my first long distance drive. Had breakfast and left.Spent half an hour trying to locate the chap whom we had gone to meet, Mr.Ramana. My mom sat down to discuss various issues with him including my future and my brother's future. while Mr. Sols and myself, we went to a mokkai-comedy film curiously titled "DUBAI SEENU" . Mr.Sols clearly enjoyed this film to the hilt, as was evident from the curious glances the other members of the audience gave him....for he was laughing non-stop throughout and not too softly at that. We went back to Mr. Ramana's office , called SPAVC-Sri Padmalaya Astro and Vasthu Center (I am not too sure abt what the P stood for though) . Apparently, my Mom wanted him to give me some counselling and put me back on the right track to success . He tried in vain as I retorted to his apparently "in-depth analysis of my life with the help of Uranus, Mars and Venus,etc." with questions which, of course, seemed quite clever to me. It was at this point that he uttered for the first time," If you don't understand what I am saying, your entire life will be in shambles! I have seen so many students ruining their lives in front of my eyes.". I burst out laughing and he thought I was going along with what he was saying. He must have been quite impressed with his 'shambles' statement, for he repeated it atleast two or three times, before he gave up . At this juncture, he turned to my Mom and said," veeli ni yevaru valla marchanu kadhu ma." (Ivangala yaaralayum thiruttha mudiyadhu ma/ No one can change these fellows) . They decided that bringing about any change in me then was quite impossible and turned to other important issues such as how Saturn was playing around with my Mom's life . I didn't speak another word till my Mom turned around to me and I was already outside by the time she said ," Pothama?" (Kalambalama?/ Shall we leave?) . Unfortunately, their discussion was not yet over and I had to wait for an hour in the car before she came out of the office, having discussed the futures of everybody we knew well enough to have a horoscope of theirs with us. It didn't end here- we had to pay a visit to Mr.Ramana's house- one more formality. Finally, we left . After a short break at Puttur again, we left for Chennai.

The journey started off nice and quiet, though it was not to be that way for long . Around ten minutes into the drive, we saw heavy lightning strike down on every side. In a matter of seconds, the whole goddamn area was engulfed in rain. I have NEVER seen rain which was so sudden and yet so heavy. My Mom believes she hasn't seen anything like it either. It was like as if we were driving through a wall of water. Visiblity was down to less than two meters. And as sudden as was its starting, so was it's ending . We were quite shocked and somewhat thankful that this frightful rain had stopped when we noticed the strong smell of DIESEL in the car . Diesel was leaking from the tank. It was scary to see the diesel spurt out every time the accelerater was pressed . We carried on slowly till we came to Tirutani and it took close to an hour to sort out the problem satisfactorily . What should have been a journey of two and a half hours took four hours , but we were safe and back at home .

As for whether my life will end up in 'SHAMBLES", we'll have to wait and see.



P.S : Mr.Sols is my brother-driver. He joined as a driver in our household around 10 years back and is now much more of a brother than a driver . And as for my blog name , this is an iconic dialogue from the Rajni starrer "Chandramukhi " .