I persisted and ...

this is what the result was -


International Institute of Information Technology. When I first heard this name, i felt it was funny. To give such an institute an international tag just to retain the epithet 'IIIT' some how did not sound normal. The first time i came here and noticed the manicured shrubs adorning the roads, I felt that the institute was projecting an air of artficiality. The first time I looked at my hostel, I was enamoured by its shape, spaciousness and ventilation. Thus began a wonderful journey.

IIIT. What do IIITians think of it? Its like asking what do Indians think about India. Can it be described in 700 words? No way. Similarly, I dont even want to attempt to describe what IIIT means to me. In that case, what are these paragraphs about? They will just give an idea of the average IIITian's life and how IIIT has depicts different meanings on different ocassions.

In the morning, the IIITian wakes up, unconsciously lumbers upto the pc and checks mail. Then brushes the teeth and freshens up. His stomach then cries out in hunger. So he uses the pc to check in which mess he is supposed to nurish his body. After that, He is all ready to go to class. He is taught some stuff using slides projected onto a white screen. Does not note down anything much, as the slides will anyway be put up on the site. Assignment time. Completes the assignment which could be a program or textual answers and then uploads it on some portal before midnight. At the end of that hard day, relaxes by playing some game or watching some movie on the pc. IIIT is about living with computers.

Let us see what happens in a typical academic year. Mid July, its the start of the semester and the end of the summer holidays. For most first years that would mean a change, but not much difference for the other batches who have been staying on campus itself throughout the summer. Registration time and most students are in a dilemma. A wide array of courses to choose from. IIIT is about choice.

A few months into the year, some competitions are held. Generally, a participant would know all other participants personally. Some win prizes. Many are noticed. Thus, living in IIIT is also about being recognised and appreciated.

The start of the second semester. Placements for the final years are on. The salaries being offered are shooting up in a frenzy. While the senior most people celebrate their fortune, the juniors brag about it to their poor non-IIIT acquaintances. Thus IIIT is about feeling pride.

With the advent of the new year, comes the college fest Felicity. A lot of people are involved in its organisation in one way or the other. The organising batch tries to outperform the previous batch. They talk with companies, contact other colleges, raise expectations and then attempt to fulfil them. Many new ideas are realised and implemented. IIIT is about learning how to manage and being creative.

Soon, the academic year draws to a close. Its time for the farewell. The final years look back over the years. They share their memories and reminiscise about the sweet years spent here. Friends, who saw each other's faces for almost every day of the past four years, part with promises to keep in touch forever. Thus, IIIT is about life-long memories and friendships.

Now for some low downs. The student wakes up early in the morning at 6 to do PT and curses his luck. He desperately wants to sleep but lumbers to the class and sleeps uncomfortably there, all the time his mind railing against the 'demonic attendance rule'. After the class, rushes to the mess for lunch. Partially fills his stomach with what is generally agreed upon as tasteless and nutrientless stuff being passed off as lunch. Plays football in the evening, bruises his leg and complains against the lack of a proper grassy playground. Thus IIIT is also about grumbling and adjusting with what you have.

My institute is the place
where i spend my four years
from my memory, will never erase
all the joys and the tears

50 people turn up at midnight
to wish me on my birthday
IIIT is where i listen to others
and also have my say.

IIIT is where i gain in brain
and it is where i lose my hair
IIIT is where i feel many a pain
and also live without a care

IIIT eats up four years of my prime
So, i just hope to have a good time.
To ask what IIIT means to me,
is like asking what you mean to thee.

Tried for the answer to the question below ..

Started promisingly and then suddenly found myself devoid of words. Well, here goes the attempt that died a congenital death.

International Institute of Information Technology. When I first heard this name, i felt it was funny. To give such an institute an international tag just to retain the epithet 'IIIT' some how did not sound normal. The first time i came here and noticed the manicured shrubs adorning the roads, I felt that the institute was projecting an air of artficiality. The first time I looked at my hostel, I was enamoured by its shape, *spaciousness* and ventilation. Thus began a wonderful journey.

And then i found that i cannot express anything lucidly. Everything is jumbled up. So ended my essay.

I dont want to sleep in the class tomorrow (technically today). Hence i slept early. Atleast tried to. But woke up after a futile half an hour. And now i fear i will sleep in the classes once again. Why!! Why!! I dont want to sleep in the class!! :((

This is the question ...

... for the competition. The conversation begins:

A: I never expected to end up here. but now i feel it is one of the best things to have happened to me.
B: Really!! I just want to get away from this place as soon as possible.
A: Come on, my life was enriched here like never before.

Noo ... this attempt falls flat at its face. Its going nowhere. Guess am not in the mood to be creative now .. sorry dude, maybe we can hash up something in the morning ... But then, why not try once more??

A: I am really happy i ended up here. It has been a cool time here. The years just flew away.
B: Really?? I just cant wait to get out of here. Such a critical part of my life has been wasted here !!
A: Come on da, kya bol raha hain. IIIT nahin hota, to hum dono kaise milte??
C: Thats what na, we are judging the institute by the atmosphere and the students. Lets ask if it has really made us a better person.
A: Arent you a better person now than when you came here?
C: Yeah, the credit for that lies with the students here, not the institute as such.
D: Arent both one and the same?
B: Whatever, my main purpose here is getting a decent job. Thats all what matters.
C: Kya yaar, what about reeesearch ?? Thats the objective of the institute, not the pays that the students may get.
B: Oh yeah, thats why the salary figures are touted at every possible instant.
A: However, life here is cool. You cant expect a better life anywhere else.
C: I concur.
D: Yeah, IIIT has made a huge difference in my life.
B: I dont think i am so senti about it. All that i would take from here is a good job. Hopefully.

I guess this attempt is pretty much better. Will it suffice O' organiser?

Nothing in particular

Wow, my tab-key is limping back to life, was thinking of getting a new keyboard after it had gone into coma :D. Life is hell in linux without the tab key ... Made me wonder, why only one is provided whereas we have 2 each of shift, cntrl, alt which i think i use less then the '\t'. So google has released its 'Talk'. All the status messages and many blogs now proclaim this fact. I ask 'so what'. It didnt look any great shakes and i felt the gui sucks and it doesnt have smileys!!, but yeah the voice quality is good.

I have done away with the Robocup post. Two more posts about the tour will suffice now. One would be entirely about the events of the last day which was yes quite eventful :D. And the other would be a general Japan details post.

Am going to install windows again on my pc, and hence i had to go rummage for a FC3 cd. Thats the worst thing about Windows. Assuming itself to be the sole worker on the system. Doing some sort of preparation for gre exam. When will we rise above exams?? Thankfully am in this insti where exams arent the primary factor in life....

And all this brings back to prominence the ultimate question - What do I want from life? My simple answer, I dont know. Another major question that is flashing before my eyes these days - Do i want to do a phd?? Yeah, i have no answer for this as well. Simply am lost in the maze of decision making. Well, lets approach it from the other end of the road. What do i dont want?? I dont want to spend my life in a cubicle. I dont want to work in a place where the topmost guy would never have heard of me. I dont want to work in a place which follows a strict schedule. I dont want to be stuck with one thing for too long (like while doing phd??). I dont want to have any reason to grumble about. :) I dont want to lead an unchanging life. I dont want to be doing many other things too, but am not clear about them as yet.

He came pacing to the trivia
He stood at the fork, deliberating,
He had to take the decision
which prong would he be taking??

Left or right or should he dare
to take the middle untrodden one?
or should he just go to where
he had just from come??

With the deadline nearing, he randomly takes left
It was not a choice but a fling
He felt no responsibility for future
So his step now had a spring ..

He ran towards his goal
Or so he assumed, until
he reached again the trivial
he has to take decisions still!!

Kshitij @ RoboCup 2005

Am supposed to finish this soon... and i just started. Can write about a lot of things. But also have to make it all relevant, coherent and interesting, and yeah small too. Another major question was, where should i write it. Vim is too drab. Tried openoffice, but it produced the death sentence on my pc (called hanging :P). So i can as well start here. Lets start!!

Multi-Agents is a very interesting field and is particularly useful for simulations and Distributed Intelligence. An Agent is defined as an autonomous entity which senses the environment, analyses its percepts, takes decisions and then acts in that environment. A Multi-Agent System contains many such agents which may cooperate, collaborate or even compete depending on the environment. RoboCup is an international joint venture which promotes research in robotics, AI and multi-agents etc using the two domains called RoboSoccer and RoboRescue (both simulations and involving robots). In RoboSoccer, the team of agents play soccer against another team while in RoboRescue the team of agents need to perform search and rescue operations. The RoboCup competitions are held every year. RoboCup 2005 was held in Osaka, Japan.

The RoboCup Rescue simulation simulates a city which has just suffered an earthquake. Therefore, many buildings would have collapsed, civlians buried under rubble, roads blocked due to the rubble and fires would be raging in many places. This forms the environment for the agents which connect to the server. The agents form the rescue crew who will need to extinguish the fires, clear the roads by removing the blockades and ofcourse rescue the buried civilians. There are three types of agents - Fire Brigade Agents, Ambulance Agents and Police Agents. There also exist three centers i.e Police Station, Fire Station and Ambulance Center which act like communication hubs for the agents. The specified number of each type of agent connect to the server and start acting in the environment. The best way to understand this is to imagine a real city facing the aftermath of an earthquake and the tasks expected of the fire brigades, ambulances and the police of that city. Robocup Rescue is as realistic as that. Each agent can only 'see' or 'hear' upto some limited distance from its position. It has limited speed and can only move on unblocked roads. Hence it wont know where a civilian is buried unless it either hears the cries for help or recieves messages from some other agent conveying the information. The Fire agents can extinguish buildings but they cannot rescue civilians or clear roads. Similarly, ambulances can only unbury and carry civilians to refuges and police can only clear roads. The agents can communicate with each other (like telecommunication in real-life scenario) but the bandwidth is limited and undependable. The job for the teams participating in the Rescue simulation competition is to develop the AI of the agents so that they perform the rescue operations better than other teams. That was precisely my job too. I had to program our Rescue team 'Kshitij' to perform the rescue operations as well as possible.

So, how did the process start? And how did i know about this thing in the first place? Well, I decide to take up honours at the begining of my third year (exactly a year ago :) ) and was interested in AI of the non-linguistics kind. So, the most likely area that was available then in the institute related to Ai other than Ltrc was Multi-Agents of Cde. Found out about Rescue from the official sites, liked it and ended up taking the project. And then did the work go in a planned and effective manner? Nope, not at all. Faced a helluva lot of problems. The 'most major' problem was the lack of documentation of any kind. Rarely was there any way of obtaining some information about the server or the API without actually testing it out by running the simulation. Initially we (then i had two other members also) had some ideas and tried coding the agents from scratch. This went on till dec'04. Being new, i had to find out about every small thing regarding the API by studying the code of the API. A code which had no comments. Most other teams had been participating from 3-4 years and already had a well developed system. However, i finally got the hang of it but then the submission time for the preliminary qualification was dangerously close. And by this time, i was alone in the project. This was when Ravi Jampani came to the rescue (pun intended :P). His immense experience and intelligence helped. Most important was his suggestion to use the basic code of the previous year's winners (a German team). He also wrote the Team Description Paper which was critical for qualification to RoboCup2005. This was in feb'05. We qualified and again I was alone in the project. I was now using the basecode of the previous years winners. Though this meant that i wouldnt have to implement everything, it added the difficulty of understanding their code which was commented in german! Then, it was summer holidays. Now, my whole time was devoted to Rescue. This was also when the server started getting upgraded. The protocols were changed. The fire simulation was greatly modified. The civilian information was made tougher to obtain. Hence, besides implementing the various improvements, i also had to rehaul the whole fire selection mechanism, civilian gathering information etc. Newer versions of the server were being released by them with alacrity. And it was tough keeping up with the pace. Thankful to Yasovardhan who took away the testing burden from me, i managed. And by the end of Jun, we were ready. Then i went to Osaka to participate along with Ravi Sankar and Karteek who were involved with RoboSoccer.

Now, the focus of the story shifts from IIIT, Hyderabad India to Intex, Osaka Japan :D. The RoboCup venue was huge one. Moreover, it was surrounded by the tallest skyscrapers of Osaka. Just imagine :P. RoboCup Rescue consisted of the preliminary round of 3 days (13-15th Jul), semis on 16th and finals on 17th i.e the fifth day. 21 teams qualified for prelims out of which 8 would advance to semis and then four among those would enter the finals.

13th: We had decided to go to the venue a good two hours before the start of the competition. But, we did not have any alarm clock with us! Miraculously, by a quirk of fate, i had my cell with me. So, i set the alarm and we slept peacefully. But it didnt ring. And we reached the venue just in time before the start of the competition! But why didnt it ring? Because - though we were in Japan, my cell still followed IST!! :D. So, I had no time to test my agents on their server. Mine was scheduled as the second team to run. And my agents failed to start!! It was gave some weird errors. So, Kshitij got 0 score in the first map. There were 9 maps in total in the preliminary round. Thankfully, I solved the incompatibility issue before the start of the second map. But i had no time to test on their server. So, time came to run for the second map. The agents connected and started. A sigh of relief. Midway through the run, the fire agents crashed due to paucity of Ram. I hadnt equally distributed the load on both the client computers. I learnt all my lessons by the start of the third round and we ended up 3rd in that map :) (An omen?) We were overall 13th at the end of the day.
14th: Went there on time. Tried to start the agents for the 4th map. But they didnt connect!! I have no idea why. Kshitij again got 0. I became so frustrated. Felt anger towards myself, the server guy, the other teams, robocup organisers, the german team, our institute, everyone!! It was sort of intimidating to find the other teams having like 2-3 laptops and team strengths of some 4-6 while we had one laptop for two teams (rescue and soccer3D). Thankfully, a few teams like that of the chairman of RoboCupRescue Simulation were also represented by a single member. At the end of that round however, they called a meeting of all the team leaders and announced that they had run the server of wrong version for this round, hence this map would be rerun again! Wow, I got a reprieve! The ranking of Kshitij on that day for the three maps were - 6th, 4th, 4th. Yeah, it ran on that fourth map and it ran pretty well. Overall ranking: 7
15th: Now, I was pretty confident. Unless, our agents fail to start, we can easily sail through to the semis. Thats what exactly happened. Rankings for the three maps on that day: 3rd, 3rd, 2nd. Overall ranking: 5. Qualified for Semis.
16th: Semi finals. 5 maps were run on this day. Our ranking in each were: 1, 3, 4, 7, 3. Our fireagents were just vacillating on the 4th map, which explains the bad position. Therefore ranking in the semis: 3. Qualified to the finals!
17th: Finals. Whopping 9 maps were used. But the relative rankings of the four teams remained pretty much constant. Anyway the individual ranking on each map: 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 1, 3, 2, 3. Overall Ranking: obviously 3.
Hence Kshitij (IIIT India) were Third in RoboCup 2005 Rescue Simulation League. click .
^:)^

Is a Title required??

It wont be conveying anything about the subject matter anyway. So, the unique concept of No-computers day was held. Am not sure about its success though. Yeah quite a few people did shut down their computer, headed out of rooms etc. But it has not been the success that would have been liked by the people behind the idea. Yeah, its just 2 now and i have started my computer again, 2 and half hours before schedule :D. I had plans of sleeping in the evening, preparing for gre and many such things but what i did was totally away from these lines. Well, anyhow ...
Coming back to the special day, if some big event or atleast many small events had been organised then maybe it would have made more people move away from the intelligent box. Yeah something called cultural night was organised, but i dont think it can qualify as a grand event, atleast not if it is organised in the Old-library seminar hall.... I seriously think the rooms require some unique names. What ever happened to the name-the-hostels drive .... What ever happened to DF !! Whatever will happen to the servers ... with smr quitting and ./nir contemplating the same action ...
By the way, one cool thing was that they did not try to enforce the speciality of the day by say shutting down the servers, closing the labs etc. Leaving the choice to the students means that they assume the students to be mature enough. Which is great ... hope that someday they also remove the compulsory 25 day meal system ... :)

Just saw a pic of mine in the first year ... and i just couldnt believe it. I looked like a school kid literally !! Then i used to think it was an exageration when people remarked that i looked like a kid, but now i know it was true .... Hopefully not anymore :D

As a drooping flower,
soon to wither away,
you were a solitary weeper
your whole world was grey ( this line stolen oops inspired from mltr :D)

Your life was pointless,
with nothing to hope for.
you couldnt care less
you wanted nothing more.

Just then, as a light ray
piercing the grey clouds,
i walked your way
And then walked away

Sleepless in Seat.. :P

What a really busy day it has been. Started in the morning after very little sleep and i had been busy until like late evening. Thankfully, the rest of day has been peaceful and relaxing.

Sometime in the afternoon, i was talking with the VJ of SSMusic, His cameraman and other crew were around, we were the only people in the delab, and then this happens:
HE barges in, pushing doors making noise. We (I n VJ ) look up.
HE: There is a seminar going downstairs, you all go and attend. (he barks at us).
I and VJ look at each other bewildered. I wonder why would he want the music channel crew to attend the seminar!!. Vj grasps the situation and replies
VJ: Sir, I am not a student here.
I lol in my heart. HE doesnt seem to understand.
HE: Go to seminar.. (this time his focus is the guy beside the camera)
I: Sir, these people are from SS Music, they have come here to interview.
HE: Oh, YOU are student right!! GO to seminar.
I go to the seminar and they will what film the empty lab?? With that, thankfully, he goes away with the same buzz that he came in and we resume the conversation. You have to imagine it with the actual accent to understand what i felt then. =))

The template of more than 10 mails i recieved today:
"sir,
i deleted the mail with my password that you sent me.
please send me the login id and pass word"
Yeah, i have diligently solved all problems :)

Having to think about what next to write!! Thats against my blogging ethics. So this post ends here.

Long night ...

Yeah, i am back to form i guess, being awake until so late at night that it actually merges into the morning rays.
Have a lot to convey, but do not understand what it means. Feel something but cannot place what it is... Had a long discussion with Pranav, but i remember it as a monologue. Am listening to a song but not hearing the lyrics. am shivering but enjoying the cold wind.
Am writing a post, but dont know what it is about.
I took the first C-programming lab class today. Yeah, am a TA again ... though it was the first tute, it didnt feel anything new. I guessed i really got used to taking lab classes now especially after the rigorous training provided by the previous sem's TAship.
Who thought of 'ship' as a way of converting objects into the nouns which depict the abstract notions that the objects are based on. In short, who thought of creating the word 'friendship' from friend ??
Its four, time for bed :D

Yet Another Tag post

Yeah she tagged me again .... and i thought this tagging series was over long back .. Anyways, lets start .. by the way, i m back on home turf now :).

Three names i go by:
rama (i have been named so), mythalez(i named myself so), other names are not for public consumption.

three screen-names:
mythalez ( theres no other mythalez in the world ), mythalez, spacer (i almost forgot!!)

things i like about myself:
- outlook towards life
- coolness :D
- inner confidence


things i don't like about myself:
- hesitancy to speak out (when not among close friends)
- inability to stay awake in classes :D
- my weak body :(

things that scare me:
- getting embarrassed
- others trying to console me for any disappointment
- loosing my spects :D


three things i like in the opposite sex:
- intelligence
- taking everything coolly without much ado
- cute with japanese style haircut (hangover i guess :D)

three essentials:
- Spects!!
- friends or family around
- air, water, food etc etc


three things i want to do badly now:
- sleep (tired and drowsy)
- chat with someone good
- go on a vacation

three careers i'm considering:
- computer science researcher??
- enterpreneur (the spelling's right??)
- some sort of consultant travelling around the world :D

Three places i want to go on vacation:
- Some hill station which is not well-known hence not crowded
- Swiss Alps or even Himalayas
- Paris

Three kids' names i like:
- this is a really stupid question. I refuse to answer it. :D

To do before dying:
- Make sure i enjoyed all pleasures of life.
- Invent a potion that would make me immortal and healthy for ever >:) (elixir??)
- third option is unnecessary

three people to take this quiz:
persephone (as usual)
su_cooldude (alas he is not a regular blogger)
the sage (his views would be interesting :D)

This post took a lot of time and effort ... since my mental faculties have been dulled due to the constant enticement of the soft mattress behind me. And i know i have to blog about the Japan trip ... will blog about it soon, need to get my energies back after two weeks of famished survival.

1st Day - 10th Jul - Malaysian Airlines

Today is 16th and a lot of things have happened in between. But i couldnt blog for the following reasons:
1. No time to blog.
2. No access to net.
3. No privacy to blog (i cant type if some one is looking over my shoulder... *turns around to check once more*)
4. No patience to blog ...
5. Overwhelmed by the amount that i have to blog about.
6. Unfamiliar with Japanese keyboards.
etc etc.

Anyways, since i have started now .. with the semis going on .. i guess i will continue. I just cant figure out how to start. what with my mind filled to the brim with experiences of the different kind. Another major problem is that the recent ones are overshadowing the older ones. But i want to list all of them here ... So to make matters simpler .. i ll start from the begining :D. And i shall tell it in present tense as if it all just happened.

10th-Jul:
Its near 7 pm. And i am still packing my bag. The plane is at 10 and we are supposed to be at airport by 7. But everything was being delayed on this trip. We got visas on 9th evening, with the envelope torn and the passports wet. Immediately had to withdraw money and rush over to get it converted into Travellers's cheques (in really heavy rain if the hyderabadi readers can remember :d). And guess when we got the tickets ? On Sunday afternoon that is 10July!! It was then that i called my non-iiit friends and informed them of the impending adventure. Anyway, lets get back to airport.
Met K and Sha at the airport (My two companions on this trip). (K and Sha is how i called them). Finally entered the airport. It wasnt any great. The baggage passed through that Xray machine with the officials not even concerned. Then we head over to the malaysian airlines officials. Actually we had a big 14 hour stop at KL airport. i wasnt sure what the system was. The travel agent (a bad one at that) had assured that we will be provided a hotel for our stay there (wow!! we had been ready to spend that much time at the airport itself.) But as usual with this agent, a hitch remained. We had to get a voucher. But since that was sunday, he couldnt get it for us. So he asked me contact a person at that malaysian counter. And so i did. That guy assured me that if i go and ask at the visitor's desk in the airport we would be sent to the hotel. I hoped so. Then we went to Immigration check. Our passports had been wet, so the stamp etc had spread over and defaced some pages. Mine was the least affected and K's the most. The immigration guy saw K's passport, refused to accept it and ask K to meet the senior official. That guy was convinced when we showed Sha's and my passport with their varying degrees of pudgings. So we cleared immigration and proceeded to customs. There we inquired about the amount of goods that we can bring back etc etc. After the security check, we ended up at the waiting area with more than an hour to spare for the depature. I was continually getting calls from home and also from K's home (Since he wasnt taking his cell.) I dont know why i was taking mine either, though my brother gave an so-called international sim card i was doubtful whether it would work. Finally at 9:40 they announced that our plane was ready for boarding. So off we went. After walking through a twisted tunnel sort of path, we stepped onto the aircraft. A malaysian airhostess welcomed us in and told us to proceed to our seats. All the cabin crew were malaysian anyway.
Before boarding the flight, Sha was telling that if there was any seat beside a gal, he would take it. I stated my preference as an window seat. K was silent. We entered. Mine was a window seat. Sha's was beside me. And K's was at the other end. And guess who was sitting in the seat beside him! So K could enjoy both our preferences. Poor Sha.
Soon i will blog about the plane trip.

Keep waiting :P

Today will be a first for me in many ways...

This week has been really hectic for me though i didnt have any academic work as such. And today is the day. The first time i would be boarding an aeroplane. The first time i would be going out of the country.
This week i had lots of unique experiences. A hurried trip to Chennai that wasnt planned at all. No, Chennai isnt new for me. The hurried one day trip was. A visit to the Consulate for Visa. The whole process of going to another country even for a small time is so complicated. Got the visa today in speed post after frantic efforts. Fought with time to extract money from the atms and convert it into traveler's cheques.
Not to forget installing OSs in that laptop, taking printouts of the required documents etc ...
So, now we are all set to go. Except a small hitch, the tickets. Need to get them from the agent tomorrow.
Also, i shifted my room. Now i will be enjoying 100Mbps lan. More importantly my pc can go back to linux. But i would sure miss the old wing....
The rain today has been the heaviest since a long long time...

I will be flying away to Japan soon. Wish me luck. And hope that i return well and sound :D

For the nonplussed readers who may ask why I am going to Japan, refer to the post on March 1st 2005, 7:45am. All my work in this summer culminates in the next week.

All this is going to happen only if i get the proper tickets today morning. Otherwise...

Kshitij Rescue would act in Robocup Osaka in a few days.

The next post would be from somewhere outside the country .... :)

Felt like blogging ...

so i am here. At 3 am. In a few hours i will be home again. And after a few days i will be back here again. The vicious cycle will never end. Or maybe it will end after an year? I certainly hope so.
Life of Pi. A book that has been inhabiting my room for more than a month. A book that wont take more than a few hours to read. A book that is a well known Booker winner. A book that already half a dozen people have borrowed, read and returned to me. A book that has already been reissued from the library for four times. A book i am yet to read.
Attended a FSIS session today. Am quite skeptical of their new hostel-as-house policy. I consider their idea of cramming two boys in a single room outrageous. So do i consider their Masterplan (which has been put up on site in quite an indecipherable pdf).
Suddenly, i stopped writing this post and started reading a blog which i used to consider interesting. But the sarcasm in the latest post was so obnoxious that it totally drove me off. It will be quite some time before i return to that one (if ever)
Sarcasm, one of my favorite forms of dialogue. No, it is favourite. You know what is the best thing to have happened to American-English? The internet. And ofcourse, M$Word. These are annihilating the poor original British english. Read an article by Thomas Friedman who was talking about the rise of the Irish Economy. Ireland now has the second largest per capita income in Europe after .... Luxemborg!
One of the reasons of success other than 'free education', 'embracing globalisation' etc is 'using English'
I am going home in a couple of hours. Oh, did i mention that already??
I hope the rescue is complete for now.
I am signing off.

Confused yet fine ...

Thats how my state of being seems to be. Confused about what? No idea. Just that the whole day i have been doing nothing, seemed capable to do nothing. Lazed around trying to figure what was wrong. The result.. nothing. Why is it that sometimes everything is fine, no troubles, no problems, no tensions, yet you do not feel good. You are surrounded by people, but you seem to be lonely. But no one can tell that anything is wrong because there is no change in your behaviour. Everything is fine but you arent.
The playlist comprises of the whole hindi songs directory. Hence, listened to a lot of songs which are actually good that i forgot ever existed that too on my pc.
What else ( thats the title of the song currently being played, in hindi ofcourse)
Lost into oblivion.
Life is good but can be better :)

June 16, 2005 AD

This is the third time tonight, that i logged off, with thoughts of going to the hostel, only to return to the lab and sit in front of this pc again. Once it was because, i thought i got an idea to solve the problem. The second time it was because my mind was assaulted with thoughts coercing it to try another trick on that program. The third time had nothing to do with my mind or thoughts, it is the rain which has pushed me back to the lab. But yeah, the weather is awesome, especially after the horrible summer that we had to suffer. So, after a long time, i am blogging in the lab.
I actually felt like blogging in the evening, but then it struck me that the blog anniversary must be somewhere around this time. I checked and it turned out to be the next day, i.e today :D.
So, thats it, 365 days have passed since i first blogged.
Thanks Akshay for introducing me to the Blog-world.
Thanks Simeen for giving me various tips.
Thanks Pati for popularising my blog.
Thanks Rastogi for idolising my blog :D.
Ofcourse, thanks all readers for wasting your time reading my ramblings.
Hey, wait a minute, why should i thank the readers ?? Shouldnt it be the other way round?? Shouldnt they thank me for maintaining this wonderful blog that provided them with that most useful way to waste time when they were too bored to do anything else??
After all the thanks are exchanged, ... lets continue.
Thats where this post was saved as draft. This is the first time that a post was not finished in one sitting. The break came because Su was good enough to come to lab to pick me up and take me to the hostel on a bike. Hence, Thanks Su :)
More than required grtitude for one year; this post ends here.

PS: This is the 117 Post. :)

horrorscope ... painistry

First time when it was suggested, i brushed it off as a joke. But then the nagging began. "how will it make any difference to you?", "Just want to know about your health." blah blah yak yak. Finally i gave in. Thought that i would just enjoy the experience. And so we went to a city-renowned palmist. Yes, a Palmist. I often felt that the theory of how-the-lines-on-your-palm-tell-your-future is much better than how-the-stars-in-the-heavens-predict-your-future. And this particular exponent of the former theory is apparently quite popular going by the queue that was waiting for his audience. Since, his place was quite near our house, we took our token, rested at home and came back to that 'palm-house' at just the right time.

My turn came, we entered after 'removing our footwear'. He was around 50, corpulent and domineering.
(All the conversation has been translated from telugu to english)
He: Are you studying?
Me: Yes, Engineering.
I tenderly offered my right palm, he just glanced at it before he started off on his list of insinuations.
He: Why are you losing interest in your studies ??
Me: (bewildered!! what!! wanted to reply(WTR): i havent the faintest clue what the hell you are talking. True, i havent been studying much, but i am managing pretty well) Reply: erm...cough
He: You are depressed and have lost interest in studies.
Me: (depressed!! I havent been more jollier in my life!! WTR: dude, get ur facts right) Reply: cough... no (a squeak)
He: I am asking you
All this while, he has been scratching on my palm with his reynolds pen, highlighting the lines and curves on my beautiful palm. He ended up making it look ghastly.
And then, relief came in the form of a courier service, who came to deliver a credit card. He wanted a signature and the Pan number or passport number etc. Our man did not even bother to get up. He signed, wrote his telephone number and asked the courier guy to be content with it. The courier guy persisted saying that telephone number wont do, Pan number, Pan number. Our guy joked saying, "Do you people really need the proof of my existence, dont you know me?". Our man brusquely brushed away the poor courier guy and resumed the study of my palm. By this time, i had got back my senses, and wanted to get the hell out of there. He continued...
He: Health is totally fine.
Me: (WTR: If there is any problem with me, that comes under health. Shall i show my medical report and prove it to you?? Get something right dude!! ) Reply: /:) (raised eyebrow.)
My escort: But, will his health be all right??
He: Its totally fine. The problem is his depressed mind.
Me: (WTR: Now, you accuse me of being a psychosomatic!!!) Reply: Stoic Silence
He: You have chances of going abroad in the near future.
Me: (gloating. well, he is bound to get something right afterall.) Reply: Straight Face
He: You may fall into troubles relating to love.
Me: (WTR: Come on, get real. I dont even have a love-life.. is that the trouble you are talking about?) Reply: /:)
He magically produced a ring from nowhere, and put it on my finger. I wanted to snatch it off immediately, but i waited till i was out of his sight.
I finally left shaking my head in disbelief at this strange ordeal.

Supposed to sleep, so i blog ...

blogging has been quite infrequent in these holidays. Just four posts in the month of may :o. But, how does it matter :)
My mind is quite alert and happy to be awake. My eyes pain as if some thorns have replaced those cones in the retina. Eyes, that reminds me of spectacles. 12 years, from the time they opened in this world (hindi filmy??) my eyes had been sharp and great. Many times, i had been summoned to search for that fallen minute thing on the floor, an earring, a screw etc etc. Then, i found the world around me getting blurred gradually. In that unlucky 13th year of my life, i got my spectacles, with powerful lens, -3. Yeah, in my case the eye-lens-power saga started from -3. Many people may strive for years yet not reach this coveted figure. But i kick-started from there, and now have doubled it, almost. These 8 years, the spects have become an inherent part of me. Travelled through all those shapes, huge rectagles, oval, large rectangles, squarish, thin rectangular, plastic lens ... never tried those darkening ones though.
Well, the thorns, i mean the cones are intensifying their protest, i better heed their cries. Keep the spectacles on the table, jump into the bed and sleep another fitful sleep.

This tagging business ...

With ref to this post
Am supposed to answer a few questions. So lets start.

1. Total number of films I own on dvd/video:
A. Me!! Owning stuff?? Must be kidding. Btw, i think there are some cds/videos at home, i dont remember of what :D

2. The last film I bought:
A. Refer to the answer above.

3. The last film I watched:
A. Star Wars - Episode 3 - Revenge ... in theatre, Fight Club on pc (couldnt finish due to 'unforseen circumstances'), Mass on Tv (yeah, I survived #:-S)

4. Five films that I watch a lot or that mean a lot to me:
A. Shrek
    Sixth Sense
    Life is Beautiful
    Forrest Gump
    Dil Chahta hai
    Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (:D oops, this makes it six)

5. Tag five people and have them put this in their blog:
A. Now this is tough. I can tag them, but will they even consider it? Also, can we tag people who are already tagged (though it wont serve any purpose) ?? Anyway, here go the five people -
persephone
my friendly sage
M$ guy
and so on and so forth :D

ps - why is this tag-thing related to movies only ????