Sunday, May 18, 2008
Winners never quit.
The Cosine wave continues. :-)
Cheers !
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Blogging contest !
Sadly, I can't participate due to those pesky terms and conditions, would love to see my other blogging buddies win a cool 1000$ !
Cheers,
Vikram
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Events
Anyways those 3 can wait, I am getting on with this new one just to fend off the powerful demon, the block thing.
Yeah, so like I said, I shifted base. From Bangalore to Noida. New job. And God knows I loved Bangalore. A lot of people don't like it, but I liked that city a lot. It had that vibe about it which gave me a perpetual high. I was staying with some of my closest friends of college and had found a lot of new awesome friends in a very short time. Also I was doing a lot of stuff there, like french class (more friends :-) ), salsa class for a while, and Gym. I miss all those. But to be honest I am quite positive about Noida as well. Heres why :
New places excite me, as in, one can start over and apply the lessons one learnt at the previous place. I learn a lot of lessons, at least I like to think that I do. Anyways getting back to Noida. So a lot of college friends here as well, but we don't stay together, yet. From June/July onwards we will. So that'll be remedied. Staying in a house full of college friends (full as in 5 of us) is always a lot of fun. Noida is hot. The weather. Its pretty harsh. Bangalore scores easily here. However the traffic congestion is much lesser here and one can ride the bike much more happily (if it is evening and the Sun God has decided to be merciful). However the blanket of dust causes its own problems. God why doesn't it rain here (like in Bangalore :p) ?
Anyways. Forgetting that. Good thing about leaving places is that you get a lot of gifts. I got two books as part of these gifts. "The kite runner" and The curious incident of the dog in the night time.
I didn't give a link to The kite runner 'coz it is pretty famous and most people would already know about it. I have found that creative works (movies, books, short stories et al) influence me a lot, at least temporarily, no mostly temporarily. I often go back to the old rigmarole pretty soon. But in the short term they do. Like, I don't know if you have noticed but my writing style in this post has changed a little. Its been inspired by the second book. The most distinct thing about the book is indeed its unique writing and the way the story is told, in first person, by an autistic 15 year old boy. Its quite an interesting read.
The kite runner is pretty amazing as well. More so, 'coz it is the author's first novel.

It inspires a lot of feelings in you and is also informative about Afghan lifestyle before, during and after the Soviet invasion and then the Taliban. Its one of those books people like to call "must reads". Coming to think of that, I haven't read a lot of these must reads yet. Like Shantaram, Atlas shrugged, The Fountainhead et al.

This one is good for its unique and interesting writing style, like I said. I would definitely recommend this book.
Ok, so looks like I am back in my writing blogs groove. Very well. On that positive note, I'll conclude this post.
Cheers!
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Venkat.
Funniest surname I had heard uptil then. Venkat kee ass pe rumal. Or so he was christened.
By Bhawani I guess.Black and round. With a funny smile on his face. Good at debates. Soon I saw him running the atheletics A div or something it was called. That ass and atheletics !!
This guy was made of sterner stuff ! And looks were deceptive.
Further down our time, when the infamous class 2 incident happened. I remember Venga as a morale boosting voice in times which were difficult for all of us, as a class.
Then he formed Pirates !
From there on, Venga was this cool, rebel kinda guy. Who did things passionately. He wasnt particularly tall, a little plump as well, but see him play basketball and you knew what venga was about. In the later years, I have a distinct memory of him walking around with Ghosh saying things like "yum yum".. and other silly rhyming jokes.
I remember walking around Chandragupta dorms and coming across Venkat's table. He had scribbled there : "Great men are not born great, but they become great because they toil hard when others sleep ".
The kitroom incident and then the relegations left a void in each of our hearts. With Venga going in another class and 5 A being hectic, I guess my contact with one of the best guys of
our class became infrequent. It was all downhill from there.
I am sorry for not keeping in touch. If only we could have talked more ..I thought we had all our lives to do that. "Whats the hurry". From how things have turned out..I guess, thats a misplaced notion.
Cheers to Venkat.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Helen Keller
"The two greatest characters in the 19th century are Napoleon and Helen Keller. Napoleon tried to conquer the world by physical force and failed. Helen tried to conquer the world by power of mind — and succeeded!" ~ Mark Twain
Helen Keller Says..
Pessimism
If I regarded my life from the point of view of the pessimist, I should be undone. I should seek in vain for the light that does not visit my eyes and the music that does not ring in my ears. I should beg night and day and never be satisfied. I should sit apart in awful solitude, a prey to fear and despair. But since I consider it a duty to myself and to others to be happy, I escape a misery worse than any physical deprivation.
Optimism
"Most people measure their happiness in terms of physical pleasure and material possession. Could they win some visible goal which they have set on the horizon, how happy they could be! Lacking this gift or that circumstance, they would be miserable. If happiness is to be so measured, I who cannot hear or see have every reason to sit in a corner with folded hands and weep. If I am happy in spite of my deprivations, if my happiness is so deep that it is a faith, so thoughtful that it becomes a philosophy of life, —if, in short, I am an optimist, my testimony to the creed of optimism is worth hearing."
The Simplest Way to be Happy
"A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships."
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
K
From where do such people come anyway ! Typing k. That too as an acknowledgment. May their wasted souls burn in hell! K ?
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Twenty years from now
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Live to Eat
Here it is : Live to Eat
So happy reading folks and yeah Dig In..!
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Goa Trip Awards
Also a disclaimer at the very outset : The awards have been decided by some established procedure and in no way reflect the opinion of the owner of this blog (where they are being published). Disputes, if any, may be referred directly to Macau (Suyash).
So here goes ::
Lata Mangeskar Award for the best Song of the trip Vikram Sharma for the song Arey Dwarpaloon kanhaiyya se keh do…
Other Nominees –Suyash Katyayani for various songs during the trip
Vasco da gama Award for the best Pathfinder of the trip Aseees Chaturvedi for helping out the bike rider excellently ( and discovering new territory --Champed)
Other Nominees –Uncle Jajodia (for the discovery of the guesthouse in soilim and helping everybody reach there)
Word of the trip Neeraj Surana for coining the word “Tungdu”
Other Nominees –Piyush Kaushal (Beh*&c%#d)
Gladrags Rugged looks Award Ankur Gupta for his famous jockey - boxer pair and stunning Hairstyle.
Other Nominees –Piyush Kaushal, Vikram Sharma
Kadar khan Award for best dialogue of the trip Suyash Katyayani for coming up with “Machis hai….” which still unites the group together.
Other Nominees –Abhinav Anand(“Manin Utni hi tez Chalata hoon jitni sambhaal sakoon”)
“Tharki memorial” Hawas ka pujari of the trip award Abhinav Anand for grabbing a girl in the bus
Other Nominees –Piyush Kaushal (luscious desires throughout the trip)
Cashier of the trip award Satees Perala for shelling out almost 30k in the trip.
Other Nominees –Suyash Katyayani (managing finances)
Femina Miss India Best swimming costume award Lambu for his cute little blue swimming trunks.
Other Nominees –Vikram Sharma(smallest Costume),Ankur Gupta (colorful boxers), Abhinav Anand(jockey negligee cum langot)
Fattu of the trip Shorav jain for his legendary line at Sher-e-Punjab “itne pyar se khila rahe hain ki Fat rahi hai yaar”.
Other Nominees –Neeraj Surana (Chickening out on Bumpy ride)
Michael Schumacher Award for the best Driver of the trip Satya Prakash Biswal for driving the troublesome van.
Other Nominees –Abhinav Anand (hi- speed Biking) ,Suyash Katyayani (van)
Best KLPD (Khade L&@#^ pe Danda )of the trip AAnCO! (Uncle) ZAZOdiA for losing a gal in Nine bar.
Other Nominees –Piyush Kaushal( Kyunki iske dil ke armaan aasoon mein beh gaye)
“Seeta aur Geeta” Award Lambu & Aseees (no comments on this)
Other Nominees –None
Nobel prize in automobile repair Ankur Gupta for dedicating his whole life to machines as a mechanical engineer in IITk and finally using his knowledge and guts to selflessly repair the legendary van.
Other Nominees –None
Demi Moore Award for best striptease Neeraj Surana for his commendable performance in Nine Bar
Other Nominees –Abhinav Anand (nude pics)
Indian of the year Vikram Sharma for fighting for the rights of all Indians to dance wherever they are, whoever they are and whether they want to dance or not.
Other Nominees –MS Dhoni (T20 World cup win).
Helen award for the best Dance of the trip Sateees Perala for dancing a fabulous dance in the baga Beach Shack. Not many of us have seen it but all the eyewitnesses say that it was a magnificent act , a scene worth watching.
Other Nominees – Ankur Gupta(Beach Shack), Uncle Jajodia (Nine bar).
Red and White bravery Award à Ankur Gupta for savings Vikram’s ass from a fat bouncer and Saving Suri’s life when he was drowning. Two brave deeds indeed.
Other Nominees –Vikram Sharma(Dancing inspite of a risk of confrontation with a Fat bouncer) ,Samir Gupta (saving neeraj's life on banana ride),Satya Prakash Biswal for keeping his nerves calm while driving during a small feud near calangute,Abhinav anand (maroing chance on a chick while she is with her bf + fearlesslee wearing next to nothing on the beach :P + going to a dangerous place like Titos alone + walking back from titos alone)
Life Time Achievement Award à Samiraaaa for being the roomy of a legendary personality.
Other Nominees – None.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Gao Diaries : Day 2.
Now the Van deserves a special mention here. Had it not been for Satya bhai's nerves of steel and his carefree attitude of : "meein to beita rahunga, chahe jo ho", we would be in serious trouble. The guy's got patience. Truck loads of it. But that doesnt really help an old wimp of a vehicle overloaded with 8 guys to climb a steep slope. Had to get down and walk a little. May the Great Lord kill that cop with a bolt of lightining. Lost the way (Yeah Aaseees was with us this time, what a jinx !). Finally found the way to Baga but sweet old Murphy didn't give his law for nothing.
Flat tire. Ankur's IITK mechanical coming to good use. Reached the Beach, finally ! Again in the water. Damn Hungry. Goan food, yummy. Now people had to split up, the van needed repairs, the group needed money (ATM) also some guys went back home for God knows what. Idyled around on the beach. Took walks up and down. Loads of people. Good fun. Back to guest house.
Nine Bar. Nice place. Correction, very very nice place. Allows stag entry, no entry charges, great music, great crowd. Could life get better ? Nah, but it could get worse. They close at 10. Fools. Back to the beach for a while and then off to : wait for it :: ... yeah : SNB. Saturday Night Bazaar. It was like 1 AM and the place is blistering with people, beautiful people ;). Stayed there for sometime. No, didn't buy anything. Back home.
P.S : Satya bhai was awarded "Swarna padak" for driving the van.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Goa Diaries : Day 1
So I get up, and theres this excited chattering all around. You missed it, people chuckle. Familiar terms of famous eatieries are thrown around. Samir, or was it someone else ?, finally narratted the incident. The hero remains the same (as in the previous trip's first incident). This time driven by an amorous drive. Angry words flew, but its never advisable to challenge a member of a 12 fella group, or so somebody thought. Peace.
First view of a beach and guys are excited, Aaseees clicking away. Happiness ! The journey to was tiring. Reached Panaji at around 1 pm. Professional haggling followed. Finally hired a van and 3 bikes for a reasonable amount. Off to the guest house.
Now Aaseees has a thing with maps. He loves them. Also bridges and villages but lets not jump the gun here. With Aaseees reading the map full throttle, Satisa's bike (with Aaseees reading the map) got lost on a straight road ! Phonecalls followed. Rescued the buggers. Back on track.
House was decent, kinda old. Aunty was very hospitable. Suyash, from hereon reffered to as "Macau", brought fried chicken. God Bless the guy. Ready for the beach..! Beach at night, a little crowded. Everybody in the water. Booze followed. Started our stroll. Plenty of music, eatieres, people dancing all around. One particular restaurant had more rush. Curious, decided to check that out. Ok so three whites dancing there, like on a stage, 2 of them girls. People gawking. "Black-fat" bouncer keeping the "Indians" at bay. Dunno whether t'was alcohol or the patriotic thing I have going on sometimes, decided to test my luck. Urged people to come, everybody declined. Went alone, danced for a while, out comes the bouncer. Exchanged a few expletives, Ankur to the rescue.
Back to Club City. First time I skipped Dinner I guess. In my life ! People say was tasty. Back to the beach. A lot of dancing followed (at a different place). Most people got involved, was great fun. Dancing brings that joy out from within. Back to the guest house.
Day 2 in the next post .. :)
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Story
Tan, on the other hand, is evil, for sure. But then how come he can do what he want ? After all he is just one silly little function. How come he can send people across from negative infinity to positive infinity ? That too in a matter of what, 180 degrees ! Unbelievable, thought our dear friend Theta. So as they say, "Don't complain about the darkness, light a lamp". Theta set out on his journey to find why and how is this possible. With two nice guys around, how come a mean guy can be so mean and get away with it ? So he went, to God.
God was his usual self, smiling in a silly sort of way He smiles. Theta protested, "when you made trigonometry, you sent three guys to call the shots, two of them nice and one evil, how come the evil guy does what he want, and the nice guys don't do anything".
God, sympathetically said : "Son, "Sine Theta"/"Cosine Theta" = "Tan Theta" When Good people are divided, The Evil guy triumphs".
Saturday, October 13, 2007
A "planned" trek.
AD taught me the word "floater" and his role in a moving group, also he decided to fill up this role. We were constantly on the look-out for the "two-capped" bike (:p). Speed thrills. Forget the second part of this sentence which traffic guys stick up your minds everyday. It really does. Some racing action happened as was expected. Was awesome.
Reached the spot at around 8 in the morning, and started the trek. Now I have been in plenty of trekking trips before, some involving even high peaks like "Har-kee-Doon" and "Nagtibba". But this one was differemt. As in, there was no "goat-path" which one could carefully follow in the hope of reaching the summit. There were just rocks and grass. Initial enthu got us fairly upto the middle of the hill but thats when things began to look difficult. The "fitter" guys were off finding ways, climbing rocks, and were soon no longer in sight. With two members of the fairer sex in the group, speed was not particularly fast of the latter chunk .
Reached a spot where it was impossible for the "heavy-weights" to continue the journey up. For the ladies it was easier. They, being lighter, could be pulled up relatively easily. Not so for others. Arguments followed. Some people wanted to climb down, others up. Yours truely, with all his prior experience of trekking (:p) was in the up gang, realising how difficult and risky it would be to climb down bare rocks with no rope etc. However there was no option, the way up was no where to be found, we all were sitting on a big rock for a long time, stuck in deadlock. Then it happened.
Godsend (Or have I been watching too much of that Heroes !) Two guys. Self-proclaimed professionals of this way of climbing up (with no path) appeared from like no-where. They gave the group hope. That was all that was needed. Soon we were on our way. Up. However some guys decided to climb down, and some others volunteered to help them do this (Thanks Sameer). The upward bound party started on the most difficult part of the journey with hope. And we finished it. Top of the summit !
Happiness ! Sitting on the cliff, looking down at the rocks which we just climbed. They looked so pretty, so neat, so bare. But we had been there. We knew what they were really like and what did it take to move a complete group safely across a bunch of these giant monsters. Mountains, they are so beautiful. Especially from far. Wind on the cliff was great, clicked a bunch of pictures. The buttermilk that we were promised (that proved to be a driving force for many a soul) was nowhere to be found. But the important thing was there. Water. And then came the extras. Hot tea. Warm Beer.[:p] Two of us decided to share one. Learnt an important lesson. When sharing a beer with another super-thirsty person, take the first sip. People say mountains teach us a lot of stuff. True, true.
Then came the buk-session, sitting on a cliff, now that was a newbie ! Location was new, topics old. Many more pics later we decided to climb down. This was easy. Found the much awaited "butter-milk" enroute. Blessed souls. 10 Rs for pure elixxir. Took pics with the vendors as well.
Reaching down, we looked up at the beauty we just conquered, the hill. It looked so majestic, so high, so awe-inspiring and knowing we had been there right on top and looked down at this road below, on which we now stand, was good. Chatted our way back to the parking lot. Learnt a few details about events in Manipal. Further strengthened my belief of a father's bias towards his daughter (poor sons !).
The way back was a quickie. Stopped enroute for a meal at the local dhaba. Food and soft-drinks after a whole day of tiresome trekking cum rock climbing. Heavenly. AD had to attend 2 parties (this is when another one scheduled was cancelled), so our bike was off. Reached Bangalore in a jiffy. Took an auto from MG road to office. Saurabh was kind enough to drop me home from office, was in no mood of a 2 km walk after the tiring day.
Had loads of fun. Great trip. Thanks guys.
Will put up some pics in the next post.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Of cams and fake smiles
He is like a Cosine. Just too pissed that people get to hear about the Sine first and then remember Cosine relative to the Sine. And any wave like structure they see, they call it the "Sine wave like". Balls, should be the "Cosine wave like".
Whatever.
But when Cosine is actually up for looks, up for display, he is all teeth. I mean, whats that..!
Chandeliers
I mean why design such an elaborate and fragile "bulb" when it is bound to fall and kill someone. Almost always at the wrong time, you know like when theirs a birthday party or a family reunion.
At least thats what they show in their movies and tell in their stories.
So much so that they have convinced me to take a beautiful, artistic electric lamp for a killing machine. How they affect our minds, these movies and stories and blogs and everything.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Spams
So how did this celebrity spam mail, if you like, manage to outwit the carefully coded filter ? Ah it was simple, the actual "spam stuff" wherein the senders usually advertise viagra and stuff was shown using an image and the body of the mail was quite harmless as if written by a teenager to his buddy. Not trying to sell anything, not having any "keywords" etc. However the meat was in the image which clearly listed out prices of various aphrodisiacs and also had the name of website selling this stuff. All the information conveyed and the police (the spam filter) was caught napping.
Some creative rogue eh..!
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Here's to the crazy ones..
The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things. They push the human race forward.
While some see them as the crazy ones,
we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world, are the ones who do.
Mail to batch, from EPFL, Nearing the coming football tourney

It is a matter of deep concern that in our 4 year history at IIIT, we guys have come close to winning plenty of tourneys but have never actually won any single sporting cup. As must be known to all by now, The Football tourney of this semester has been announced. I know many of us are not at college right now, some of us are abroad, while others are in various cities of India doing their respective internships. However, we still have a sizeable presence in college and some of the key players of old times are still at the place where all the action is going to be.
A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a batch, long suppressed, finds utterance. This moment is here, now. We might be famous amongst our juniors as people who did the max. "bakar" in campus but this is our chance to show them, We can play Ball too. I call upon all concerned in campus to give it your max. Sleep,Movies, Comp Games, Chatting etc would go on forever but the Inter Semester football tourney is now, only once and then it'll never return, atleast for us. When we will be fighing together against a common adversary for a common goal. We take pride in the unity and spirit of our B2K3, what good is this spirit if we cannot muster enough courage to fight together when the odds are stacked up against us.
All this may seem to be bantering of a fool who sits on his desk and asks others to sweat it out, but trust me, Never in history of our batch Was So Much Owed By So Many To So Few. I myself would love to come and play with you, but that is impossible, however I don't think that, that really matters. You guys, in campus, are there and now. Forget your small number, forget your past skills. The moment is in your hand. The moment to embed your names in the annals of glory of B2K3. Grasp it. Practice and Practice hard. No adversary is strong enough to beat B2K3 if you have practiced enough, as a team.
Let other batches know, that B2K3 will not go down without a fight. We shall fight on the 25 yard line, we shall fight in the mid field, we shall fight in the flanks and in the centre, we shall fight in the goalpost; we shall never surrender. Make them jump through hoops to earn every single point against B2K3 and let them wonder how when a batch, reduced to just quarter of its actual size can still fight on, like a Giant. Let them marvel at our spirit and let them look at our batch with admiration. Only then, the true glory would be ours.
Batchmates in college, I have nothing to offer you now but blood, toil, tears and sweat.Practice and Practice hard..
Only then will eternal glory be yours.
All the best..The Best wishes of our entire batch are with you always..
-
Vikram
P.S : Parts of this mail are borrowed from famous sources but these were the best words I could find to convey my feelings right now.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Holi Party
However when you are abroad the love of "anything Indian" naturally is very high. The Holi festival and the way we celebrate it, has certainly not much parallel in the rest of the world. Also when you are abroad, the enthusiasm to do your "Indian thing" is all the much more. Thus was formed our fellowship of "Holi Celebrations" here at Lausanne. The fellowship consisted of :
and also Trivedi. Just that I couldn't find any pic with all of us in it. Also as all he did was sit around (:p) so no much qualms on excluding him..!
The first job of this fellowship was to orgainse holi celebrations and then a dinner or snacks maybe. But it looked like Sauron had his messengers far and wide. We visisted a variety of Indian, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi shops but could not find our beloved holi colours, or gulaal to make it clearer to my Indian audiences. After this initial debacle the fellowship was quite disheartened and the "enthu" had abated more or less. However a series of events led to yours truly letting his spanish flatmate know about Holi and her highness confused my "enlightening session about Indian festivals" into some kind of an invitation to some kind of a holi dinner party. Whats more she was gracious enough to rattle of the exact details of hers "conjured-up" party to everyone in the neighbouhood. More importantly she did mention about this to Rishi's flatmate and he in turn asked Rishi about it. Now, Rishi being a member of the holy holi fellowship was well aware that after the initial losses, the fellowship was just doing what it did best (yes sit on its bottoms) and there was no party. Now, this was heading towards disaster..!
Like in the famous LOTR, seeing the need of the hour, the fellowship swung right back into action. The rest as they say is history. Also as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll allow some JPGs to do the talking now. You can find the pics here :
Please note that, all this was cooked by the holy holi fellowship from scratch.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Work Like..
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.