Study Table, Home (Cantonment Close).

Well, its been quite a while since I last blogged, hasn’t it!? Since I have started working I have become so busy that I dont know what to do and what not to do! There are so many things happening in my life and I think its high time I prioritize. I remember that as a student I used to set weekly or monthly goals and more often than not achive those targets.

But since I have started working I have realized how much less time I have to myself! Working a 8 to 5 job sucks so much time out of your life! But slowly I am learning how to maximize the time I have and instead of weekly goals or monthly ones, I have set myself half yearly goals! :p

And I am happy to announce that I have successfully achieved my first one. I got my first DSLR. After a lot of intensive research I bought the Nikon D7000. I hope I get time to use it though!

So anyways, I will keep it short for this time & hopefully my next post wont be too far away.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

0103 hrs

Study Table, half sleepy.

Thinklab ,NUS.

————————————————————————————————–

NOMAD

1 : a member of a people who have no fixed residence but move from place to place usually seasonally and within a well-defined territory
2 : an individual who roams about

———————————————————————————————-

There are an estimated 40 million nomads in the world.

Now there are 40 million + 1.

Yes. I have become a nomad.

The term nomadic is now a common metaphor for aimless wandering. In fact the movement of traditional nomadic people is far from haphazard: it is both predetermined and systematic. Most nomads live in marginal areas like deserts, steppes and tundra, where mobility becomes a logical and efficient strategy for harvesting scarce resources spread unevenly across wide territories.

Now, lets put the above explanation into context (of my nomadic behaviour):

Predetermined : Yes, I knew it quite well in advance that from April 1st 2010 onwards I would be a nomad.

Marginal Areas : Not really. But I did live in yo:HA Boon Lay. I guess that counts!

Strategy : Similar to other nomads my mobility is due to availability of certain resources at the places I have wandered to. Some of the main resources being:  free& fast internet, no rental, 24hr food court nearby, IPL on TV (if possible or youtube also if fine), vending machines, other stuff needed to survive in a civilized manner (washroom, washing etc..) .

So my journey started off after I handed over the keys to the owner of my old place on March 31st. Since then I have lived in Boon Lay hostel, Chiang’s place, GSS room @NUS , Computing lab@NUS etc.  All the time making sure I stick to my strategy.

But to become this mobile, I had to dump all of my luggage somewhere! I have a lot of luggage, accumulated over the last 6 years..I found this storage container in Ayer Rajah Crescent which is very convenient. If any of you are interested check here:

http://www.singpost.com.sg/S3/index.html

What else is happening in my life? —> IPL, Fantasy cricket, Job applications (no interviews though), Sleep, Subway ( its open 24hrs here), TV shows (watching 18 shows).

Thats about it for now. Will blog soon.

0057hrs,  April 22 , 2010.

School of Computing, NUS.

(notice my nomadic nature…where I started this post & where I ended it :p)

Hashim Amla:
“Nothing bad can happen to us if we’re on a plane in India with Sachin
Tendulkar on it.”
Hashim Amla, the South African batsman, reassures himself as he boards a
flight

Yaseer Hameed:
“Sometimes you get so engrossed in watching batsmen like Rahul Dravid and
Sachin Tendulkar that you lose focus on your job.”

“To Sachin, the man we all want to be”
- What Andrew Symonds wrote on an aussie t-shirt he autographed specially
for Sachin

BBC on Sachin:
Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there
is something we don’t know, something beyond scientific measure. Something
that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even
those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When
he goes out to bat, people switch on their TV sets and switch off their
lives “

“But the finest compliment must be that bookmakers would not fix the odds -
or a game – until Tendulkar was out.”

“Tuzhe pata hai tune kiska catch chhoda hai?” Wasim Akram to Abdul Razzaq
when the latter dropped Sachin’s catch.

Brian Charles Lara:
“Sachin is a genius. I’m a mere mortal.”

Mark Taylor:
“We did not lose to a team called India…we lost to a man called Sachin” -
Mark Taylor, during the test match in Chennai (1997)

M. L. Jaisimha:
“The more I see of him the more confused I’m getting to which is his best
knock.”

Glenn McGrath:
“The joy he brings to the millions of his countrymen, the grace with which
he handles all the adulation and the expectations and his innate humility -
all make for a one-in-a-billion individual,”

Anjali
“I can be hundred per cent sure that Sachin will not play for a minute
longer when he is not enjoying himself. He is still so eager to go out
there and play. He will play as long as he feels he can play,”

Matt HAYDEN:
“I HAVE SEEN GOD, HE BATS AT NO.4 FOR INDIA”

“Even my father’s name is Sachin Tendulkar.”
– Tendulkar’s daughter, Sara, tells her class her father’s name after the
teacher informs them of a restaurant of the same name in Mumbai

KUMBLE:
“I am fortunate that I’ve to bowl at him only in the nets!”

Shahrukh (quoting Shahrukh from an interview)
“Que: Who do you think as most important celebrity ?
Shahrukh: There was a big party where stars from bollywood and cricket were
invited. Suddenly, there was a big noise, all wanted to see approaching Amitabh Bachhan.
Then Sachin entered the hall and Amitabh was leading the queue to get a grab of the GENIUS!!”

Navjot Singh Sidhu:
“India me aap PrimeMinister ko ek Baar Katghare me khada kar sakte hain..Par
Sachin Tendulkar par Ungli nahi utha Sakte..”

Waqar Younis
“He can play that leg glance with a walking stick also.”

A banner once said-’ I WILL SEE GOD WHEN I DIE BUT TILL THEN I WILL SEE
SACHIN ‘ that quiet defines Sachin-The greatest.

Allan Donald:
“Sachin Tendulkar has often reminded me of a veteran army colonel who has
many medals on his chest to show how he has conquered bowlers all over the
world”

And i remember reading in one of Allan Donald’s interview.
This interview was in Cricket Talk 7-8 yrs ago.

“I was bowling to Sachin and he hit me for two fours in a row. One from
point and the other in between point and gully. That was the last two balls of the over and the
over after that we (SA) took a wicket and during the group meeting i told Jonty (Rhodes) to
be alert and i know a way to pin Sachin. And i delivered the first ball of my next over
and it was a fuller length delevery outside offstump. And i shouted catch. To my
astonishment the ball was hit to the cover boundary. Such was the brilliance of Sachin.
His reflex time is the best I have ever seen. Its like 1/20th of a sec.
To get his wicket better not prepare. Atleast u wont regret if he hits you for boundaries.”

Peter Rebouck, Aussie journalist
“On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt in one of the stations.
The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century.
This Genius can stop time in India!!”

NKP Salve, former Union Minister (This was when he was accused of ball tempering)
“Sachin cannot cheat. He is to cricket what (Mahatma) Gandhiji was to
politics. It’s clear discrimination. “

Andy Flower:
“There are 2 kind of batsmen in the world. One Sachin Tendulkar. Two all the
others.”

Bedroom, Home ( I live in Tanglin now).

It has been quite sometime since I blogged hasnt it!

Anyways yesterday I was making my resume ( its job hunting season again) in which I mentioned somewhere about my blog ( boasting my writing skills! I hope the companies dont actually check this place!). I felt guilt about putting it in my resume; afterall I have’nt blogged in so long. So the resume was the  reason to resume blogging again. (Sorry for the horrible pun-usage!).

So what have I been upto lately? Lots of things….Firstly, I am obsessed with this version of Rock you Like a Hurricane! Check it out:

There is something so good about orchestra and Heavy Metal together !

I have been quite busy with GSS work and academics and job hunting! Well…my tenure as VP is over at GSS but I havent abandoned it. I am still working as a mentor to the committee! Just trying to contribute something more in the last 6 months that I have at NUS. There are lots of issues that we grad students need to fight for at NUS! Anyways there is so much on that..maybe I can write a separate post on the state of the Graduate Student at NUS.

Next to academics. I screwed up my grades royally last sem. My GPA plummeted from 4.5 to 3.9. I can kiss my chances of a first class goodbye yet again! So I just want to cross the 4.0 mark at the end of this semester ( my last one). For that I am targeting to get three A’s. For that very reason I picked up what I thought were the three easiest modules. But sadly fate was playing its dirty tricks on me again. In one of the ostensibly ‘easier’ modules the instructor changed and now its  a ‘ not-so-easy-to-get-A ‘  module. Anyways that means more effort needs to go into studies. I am not playing cricket this semester, so that does save up some time.

Oh ! Btw I totally forgot…I bought a new laptop! Yeah the old Toshiba finally died & I am back to good old Fujitsu. My dad is still using my 6 yr old Fujitsu and strongly encouraged ( read ordered) me to buy a Fujitsu again.

Job! Job! Job!

Yes its J hunting season for me now and I am exploring all possible career choices from: PHd to Photography to Engineering Consultant to Novelist(??!!?) to Work for Agastya (oh yeah…Agas is CEO of a company now..talk of accelerated career growth!!). So yeah..I am still not sure what I want to do, but one thing is for sure…whatever I do …I want to get rich and get there fast….so that I can retire at 40.

And then do what I like the most – nothing!

Anyways time for bed. Need to get to bed. Assignment deadline tomorrow and need to get up and do that! Hopefully this enthusiasm to blog is sustained and I will see you tomorrow.

0104hrs, 09-09-09

Still there on the bed. (I dont have a study table!! grrr…)

0807hrs, NUS Thinklab, Computer Centre.

Yes, its true that I am in univeristy so early in the morning.

April and May are the months of exams, assignments, stress, IPL etc in most parts of the world. Side-effects of these are varied. Depending on who you are (I guess you will identify few of yours here) it maybe facebook addiction (latest trend), excessive sleeping, insomnia, smoking ,drinking, porn, movie or tv-show marathons, getting addicted to some music and anything else to distract you from what you are actually supposed to be doing.

I have been having some of the above mentioned effects and some more peculiar ones. But before I talk about that I would like to start of with FaceBook (FB) addiction. FB being dominated by students worldwide is a very good indicator of stress levels in student communities around the world. If you have a FB account and have 50+ friends you must have noticed the recent high activity rate on the website, a very good indicator of the April-May zone. Let me talk of three most popular trends I have seen over the last month.

It started with people tagging their friends on one picture, which has like many smaller images of variety of characters we encounter (eg. the flirt, the cutie, the jerk etc… I guess you get which one I mean). Then came the quizzes, with so many random-shit questions – when will you get married? when will I get cancer? and equally shitty answers. And then came tagging lists of things you do and passing them on – the ipod quiz, the other randomly self-indulging- chance of making yourself -look-good-which you are actually not- lists etc.

So anyways yesterday night my friends started doing this 100 truths list and tagged me to do it as well. Some of them cited exam-stress as reason for doing the list, others stated joblessness as the reason. Whatever it is I am not here to analyse the reason behind their doing it. The list itself interested me a lot.

Before I touch on the reason of my interest for the 100 truth list I think I need to lay some more foundation.

I was watching the documentary Religulous yesterday night. Last saturday (earth hour night) I was involved in a fierce debate over definition of religion with some friends and I have been reading Bhagavad Gita. So you can see that I have been spending a lot of time on religion and understanding it (side-effect 1?) . If you are a namesake-Hindu like me (one who doesnt go to temple,eats beef etc etc – which I am not saying are true requirements of being a Hindu, but merely stating social norms) , and you probably are looked at in a condescending manner by your staunch Hindu parents,friends etc then what I say will be similar to what you feel !  I hate those so called religious-people who judge others in that fashion. First of all do they really understand their religion? More importantly do they understand the idea behind religion? Or do they blindly follow what other people have told them to be religious or non-religious? Whatever minute knowledge I have gained through my readings clearly indicates that what people perceive today as being religion is not true. What is it then? – Right now I dont know. There are some ideas I have, but they are not cultivated enough.

Is religion a way of life? Is it a guide to reach god? Is it just an idea? – I dont know. Or may be as one of my friends stated – ” Religion is sum of all egos. ” (for more details ask me  personally on the explanation :p). Anyways I can write a book if I keep talking about religion and even put the hardcore-insomniac to sleep with this discussion, but what I wanted to point out is this:

Religion should be our intuition, an experience. It should not be what someone said. If you look into history of Hinduism (accurately, Sanatana dharma) in the vedic period this is what religion was, an experience. You live your life, experience it , learn what is right and wrong. It was the process that was important ,not the destination. So, say if my friend smokes or drinks or whatever, its his intuition to do so, and I should not be judging him to be non-religious or a sinner.

When Avinash wrote in his 100 truths :

” Do you want to get married? – Yes…..maybe i cannot sustain myself properly currently but will make sure to give my family the highest standards to live in.”

 unlike Agastya who found it funny (not judging you buddy ) , I found it very heart-warming.  The fact that we dont associate such a response from a guy like Avi might make it funny, but I look at it as what he desires, what his instinct says . Knowing him personally, I highly doubt that while answering that question he mentally referred to any religious teachings or scripts to reach that conclusion. Through his experience and what he has learnt in life and through “thinking” himself he reached this conclusion! I would say thats religion ,not accurately, but in a crude sense. That is probably just a small example from day to day life.

Now moving to something interesting! – Did you know there is a Cannabis Religion??? Their tagline – “We use cannabis religiously and you can, too.”  I personally dont find it stupid, because  ” Realty is unique, wise men see it (achieve it) in different ways. ” (Rig-Veda)  If Cannabis is your way to the truth, so be it (right Shanty?)

From all the intense religious stuff to some light stuff – CRICKET – IPL.

18th April , saturday is the day of the season opener for Indian Premier League Season 2 . Great match to start off with: MUMBAI INDIANS VS CHENNAI SUPERKINGS. Where are all you guys watching (if you are)? Avinash has indicated to me that he might live at  Ankur’s place throughout the season! So do you want to watch the season openers at Ankur-Agastya’s place??  Also guys I have sent you invites for the NTULC Season 2 IPL fantasy (cricinfo). Lots of players to choose this time over and more transfers than last season as well! So Do join! If you havent got the invite let me know your email address- will send again!

Anyways I better get started (my instinct speaking!) on the 3 assignments I need to submit by today evening. I hope Agastya gets his remote working by tonight, I tried helping him over the phone yesterday night, but chances look bleak! As for others keep the facebook traffic alive, its stupid, but entertaining.

0915hrs, 7th April 2009.

 PS: Sorry for the horribly unstructured writing! Havent blogged in a while…hopefully more blogs during the exam period.

It’s a little bit funny this feeling inside

I’m not one of those who can easily hide

I don’t have much money but boy if I did

I’d buy a big house where we both could live

If I was a sculptor, but then again, no

Or a man who makes potions in a travelling show

I know it’s not much but it’s the best I can do

My gift is my song and this one’s for you

And you can tell everybody this is your song

It may be quite simple but now that it’s done

I hope you don’t mind

I hope you don’t mind that I put down in words

How wonderful life is while you’re in the world

I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss

Well a few of the verses well they’ve got me quite cross

But the sun’s been quite kind while I wrote this song

It’s for people like you that keep it turned on

So excuse me forgetting but these things I do

You see I’ve forgotten if they’re green or they’re blue

Anyway the thing is what I really mean

Yours are the sweetest eyes I’ve ever seen

0215hrs, Home.

Firstly. Sorry for the long break I took off my blog. Mid term break at uni now, so I am back!

Secondly. Sorry for not having done the shuffle quiz which I was tagged by Ranajay to do. I will do it soon, promise.

Thirdly. Lets move on from the apologies.

Lastly. Today’ s headlines. Crorepati JhopadPatti ka Kutta ( A.k.A SlumDog Millionaire) wins 8 Oscars. I woke up to Rahman winning the Oscar. I was happy for him like many other Indians around the world.  I thought about it. Slumdog is not even among his best 5 albums in my opinion. If a mediocre album by Rahman’s standards (btw Jaye Ho was rejected by Subash Ghai for his film Yuvraaj) can win 2 Academy Awards, imagine how many he would have won say hypothetically if he was either born in England or the US! Also a not so great ‘ Indian’ album  winnimg an Oscar, says something about the standard of Indian Music. In my personal opinion it didnt deserve to win 8 Oscars, but thats my personal opinion. I guess it was a favorite among critics and masses equally and so it won. So yeah, every dog has its day, happens to be a slumdog this time.

Enough of dog talk, some updates on what happened over the last month or so, during which i took a break from blogging.

In one of my posts- The week gone by -an update , I had listed out the books I had been reading. Now a progress report on those books. The locations of all those books has changed from my books shelf to my cupboard where they have been untouched since that day. More updates in future posts.

Was away at Outward Bound Singapore on 7th-8th February.( All PHOTOS here)

Notable activities there :

1. Failed attempt at being messenger boy .(relevant parties know about this,limited disclosure here)

2. Looked like a fool wearing long kurtas and shorts. (you can see in the photos and have a laugh)

3. Led the GSS team in building a raft and paddling it into the ocean!

4.  And this…..

5. Singing on the bus back from OBS like mad ‘dogs’. Agastya was dignified as usual, chose not to sing. Hisham barked as loud as me. Naveed doesnt do singing. Others all contributed in a way or other. Notable song performed by Michael urf Michelle : I am a Barbie Girl ( on someone’s demand :p)

Apart from OBS, at GSS we have been pretty occupied. Launched New Website. Have few new events coming up over next few weeks- Free Weekend Movie Screening Marathons,  SALSA classes, Trip to Malaysia and a Sports Week.

Talking of Salsa, another update. A russian girl asked me to be her partner for Salsa . She said she would attend our classes if and only if I dance with her. Exciting??  Dont get excited, turns out she is already married ! Par kuch tho progress hai! I guess that event makes me lose a couple of NTULC credits! Damn! Oh and yeah- NTULC is back – bigger and better- we have gone International – NTULC Intl. Pvt. Ltld (NTULC IPL). And I have been asked to be International Liason.

International just reminded me something else, I am going to tour Australia (northern Territory) this summer (winter there). I have been selected on a cricket tour as part of the NUS cricket team! Best part is almost 60-70% of the cost is sponsored by NUS )) . Once back from Australia I will be off for the GSS Summer Trip ( place still undecided – Volcano Diving trip to Krakatoa, Diving in Phillipines?, Angkor Wat / diving?) You might notice that diving is there in all the options, thanks to Agastya. He really wants to dive I guess,but then he is try to overcome his fear (deep water), so its justified! He and Naveed are taking swimming classes also in NUS btw!

Talking of Agastya and Naveed, just reminded me to do an update on my friends. Most of them are pretty busy and are rarely in touch. But of whatever I know they have been upto, here is a brief update.

Agastya has been comfortably drunk/high/numb/asleep and learning chinese (kyun?)/swimming/MTbing/bodybuilding etc.

Suchit has been  racist, giving excuses for his rapidly increasing weight, learning German (kiske liye?) /Guitar/ GRE words (3 G’s)

Vanga has been Vanga. Only difference, now  in India.

Avinash has got room in NTU finally, applied for tuition fee loan in his last semester (spent money drinking to celebrate approval of his loan, smart boy ) , planning to work as Insurance Agent soon.

Ranajay has been BLOGGINGabout cockblocking/DevD/Super CNY/ Legen-motherfucking-dary drinking escapades. and yeah going to Work.

Shantanu has been stuck in a viscious cycle :  Broke ->Hibernating -> Designing -> Money-> Beer + Smoke + Carls Jr ->Broke -> Hibernati……..

Ankur has become NTULC IPL Emperor.

Deepak has been making a fool of himself, 2 of his ex-gfs got married, has been attempting to build muscles (1.618), recovering from gym fatigue and has now been blogging for more than an hour!!!!!!

The End.

0329hrs, 24th Feb 2009

Home.

550pm, Home.

India’s new summer national pass-time is back in the news and on the television. Two days to go for the second auction (at goa). Recession hasnt seem to affected IPL in anyways! With Kevin ‘Switchhit’ Pietersen getting a base price of a whopping 1.35 Miliion USD , Michael Clarke  1 million USD and Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff   950,000 USD.

More details here:

IPL Auction LIST

If you thought ” Manoranjan Ka Baap“, was an amazing ad to promote the season 1, check this out for season 2!

By the way sorry for not blogging for so long. I will write a separate post soon about y i didnt!

6pm, Home

4th Feb 2009, Wednesday.

Read the awesomely witty interview here!

0312hrs, Couch.

Abhi thodi der pehle mai suchit ko Night rider bus stop dikha ke ghar wapas aa raha tha ki mazedaar hadsa hua. Mujhe apne ghar aane ke liye beech mein ek multistorey car park main 3 manzil upar aana padhta hai jiske liye har dafa lift hi le leta hoon. Har baar ki tarah aaj bhi mai lift ki taraf bada.

Ab 10-15 metre ki doori mein lift nazar aa raha tha aur mere aur lift ke beech mein ek chapta tha jo bhi lift ki taraf ja raha tha. Woh lift mein ghusa aur meri taraf muda, main 3 metre se bhi kam ki doori mein tha aur mujhe laga saala mere liye lift ka darwaza khula rakhega. Usne meri taraf dekha aur jaldi se lift bandh karne ka  button daba diya. Saala Chutiya Chapta, haraami, m******……. aisi kaafi gaaliyan mere mann mein aayi. Ek hi jhatke mein mai seedi ki taraf bhaaga jo mere bagal mein hi thi! Maine yeh thhan li thi ke mein usse pehle upar pahunch jaoonga aur saale ka chehra dekhoonga.

Main poori tezi se aur apne lambe taangon ka fayada uthate hue seediyon se upar bhaaga. Mai usse 2-3 second pehle pahunch gaaya aur uska lift se nikalne ka intazar karne laga. Lift ka darwaaza dheere se khula aur woh bahar nikla aur mujhe dekhte hi chaunk ke wahin ruk gaya. Maine uski taraf dekha aur nana patekar ki tarah hasne laga… Mujhe lagta hai chutiya darr gaya tha. Woh jaldi se muda aur doosri taraf nikal gaya. Saala chapta, aukaad dikha di maine uski. Aur phir mai mast ghar wapas aa gaya. bahut mazaa aaya uski lene main…

Iske alaava bhi aaj kaafi kuch huya. Subah utha…dophar ko shaayad…haan dophar ko hi…1 baje ke kareeb. Phir thodi der aise hi tv dekha aur phir tayyar ho ke NUS ke liye nikal gaya. Aaj NUS ke cricket team ka chayan tha isliye mai bhi chala gaya. Suchit bhi shaam ko NUS aane waala tha. Cricket khela. Shaam huyi aur tab tak suchit bhi aa chuka tha, hum dono gaye aur PGPR mai faadoo bharateeya khaana khaaya. Uske baad maine suchit ko thoda NUS dikhaya, library gaye, bollywood pe ek kitab bhi maine le li aur uske baad GSS room mein ja kar baith gaye. Thodi der padhai ki aur phir youtube mai kuch video dekhe.  Uske baad bus leke mere ghar aa gaye.

Neeche food court mein khaana pack karva liya tha aur phir ghar aa gaye. Khaane ke saath philum(chalchitra) bhi dekhne lage… ” A wednesday” dekhi …badiya pitchar hai yaar…mai doosri baar dekh raha tha! Yeh scene sabse sahi tha:

Uske baad hum Night rider ki bus stop ke taraf gaye…Jaise hi hum pahunchne waale the bus nikal gayi…agli bus aane ko 20-25min the isliye humne socha jaake chai pee lete hain. Pata nahi phir thoda sa mijaaz badla aur hum 7-eleven chale gaye..suchit ne Hot Chocolate le liya aur maine rang birangi barf waali ice-cream le li. Thodi der hum bus stop pe duniya daari ki baatein karte rahe, suchit choclate ki chuskiyaan lete hue aur main apne barf ko chooste hue.. Phir bus aayi aur chote sahab nikal gaye aur uske baad lift mein kya hua aap jaante hi hain.

Ghar aaya socha gaane sunoonga…saale vishnu ne phir mere kamre se mera external hard disk le liye. chutiya lene se pehle poochta bhi nahi hai. Har roj jab ghar aata hun to sota rahta hai aur mera hard disk kamre mein rakh kar darwaza bandh kar leta hai. Aaj maine use msn  pe gaali- galoch bhej di hai hai ki abse meri cheezein aise na liya kare…Saala chain se mujhe apni cheezein bhi istamaal nahin karne de raha…

Aaj ke liye  kaafi hai..Tho yeh tha mera Shani-vaar. Ab dekhte hain ravi-vaar kaise jaayega.

0349ghante, Wahin pe

18th Janvari 2009, Ravivaar.

0131hrs, Home.

First of all sorry that I havent been posting anything for quite some time now. Today finally I have got some time to just recap the week gone by briefly.

Monday. Classes started at Uni. Also some work for GSS. I designed the new poster for Welcome Party (posted it on tuesday). My classes are in evening from 6 to 9. First class was good, Indian Prof, SK Panda. Didnt go to gym…so decided to workout at home. I am using suitcases,bags etc as weights at home now :p . Not bad actually…they are pretty effective, basically, the tougher it is to grasp a weight, the more your muscle develops. Btw turns out that cute girl I mentioned in my post last friday is one of my friend’s roomie. I was warned by my friend to stay away from her. I saw that girl on that day, but didnt bother to go say hi. I was late for class anyways.

Tuesday. Second class for the week- Power Electronics. Again Panda. Nice chap, turns out he is deputy head of Mechatronics Masters Program. I am thinking of asking him for part-time research assistant job. Need some cash urgently. Stupid NUS -Office of Finance are not returning my 1000 bucks of tuition grant refund! Once poster was done I uploaded it everywhere..the facebook group..my blog…forum…etc.Naweed and me decided to make a robot.

Wednesday. Third class in a row.Damn it. Application of Mechatronics. Horrible Prof. Cant understand what he is talking. The man needs speech therapy and english classes! I ignored him and read some Robotics book and messaging Ankita all the while. I dont think she knew I was in class. :p I left class half way when he gave a break, Naveed the sincere student he is, decided to sit through 2 more hours of  nerve-twisting torture.Left for library and worked on some business plan. Got back home around 11 and did some bullshit for sometime and then went to bed.

Thursday. Yes. Fourth Class. Neural Networks.Awesome Prof. Best Lecture Notes I have seen in my life as a student here. Agastya (minus long hair + ear stud + spikes) arrives. Earlier in the day he had called and said he would be coming for class. I was surprisingly not surprised at his new appearance. Dont know Y? During this lecture prof showed two videos which I would like to share here. Real interesting stuff!

Came back home and did some exercise. Then watched telugu movie ‘ Vaana’ . Good songs and locations. Nothing else positive in the movie.  Havent been able to watch live cricket matches since classes started. So i watch one hour highlights every night at 1:32am on Star Cricket. Now has become a routine.

Friday: No registered class. Went to gym. Met Agas there. Was reallyyy hungry, so went to BK at arts canteen. Amazing view from top floor of arts canteen!!!! Good food as well. BK, Thai food, Coffee joint and cosy sofas, view of sea in the distance. Then went to library to get some books. Was supposed to print posters, but then decided to attend Agastya and naweed’s class – Sustainable Product development.  Nice module- project based. But I want to take neural nets so not taking this one ( cant take 5 modules..that will be too much!)….Anyways during break went to canteen where we decided to meet up on sunday for discussing some robot plans and the other 2 guys have swimming classes. They went back to class, while I went back home to check whether Home Team NS is open for public or not. the last 2 times we went we had to return due to some ongoing- league over there. Anyways today was open and I informed everyone to come down. 10 people . We waited almost 70 min to get our lanes- Super Rush! Then we played. First game was so so.. Second game we played EEE team vs Rest of Waste. As expected we thrased the Rest badly. Vanga was in form and the EEE spirit brought the best out of most of us. I was average. Bowling finished and we all dispersed. Ankur challenged to beat EEE team next week, same place, same day, same team!! I am looking forward to that. ( Guys any pictures of bowling?? Please pass on..) Got chicken pie and chicken puff from FairPrice Express. At the moment of typing, those were still uneaten, but the aroma tempting me to end my post here.

Before I go offline…few more things…tomorrow meeting Suchit at NUS…some work..at 330 got University Cricket team trials….evening house party at agastya it seems…Agastya will be at Attica i think…Sunday meet naweed and Agas, discuss about our robot and I would like to see Agastya swim ( have seen him run, play cricket, bowl…can it be worse?? and how? …just kidding agas!)

Other facts.

Reading List presently. Will keep you updated on my progress on each book weekly)

1. Academic Texts. 5 of them. :p

2. Service robots.

3. Leonardo’s Lost Robots.

4. The Dain Curse & The Maltese falcon  ( Both Mystery Novels)

5. Great Sanskrit Plays.

6. Mahabharata : Book 1 : the Book of the Beginning.

7. Bhagavad- Gita  As It is

8. Camel Club

Yeah I read a lot of books simultaneously!

Songs I was addicted to over the week:

1. Jalte hain from Sorry Bhai.

2. Emosanal Attyachar and Nayan Tarse, DevD.

3. Nee ToliSariga from Santosham (telugu)

4. Mad World, Both Gary Jules version and original by Tears for Fears

5. Aakasha Ganga from Vaana (Telugu)

6. Octavarium by Dream Theater.

7. Downloading DELHI 6 SOUNDTRACK, heard its good. Rahman again.

0224 hrs, Next to untouched Chicken Pie and puff!

Saturday, January 17th 2009.

2358hrs, Dining table@Home.

Been a bit busy last few days so wasnt able to post anything. Anyways today I thought I would just post some quick update before going to bed. Need to wake up early tomorrow!

Well today was pretty interesting. Most of the day had GSS (Graduate Students’ Society)  work at NUS! In the afternoon went to the International Student Orientation. Good opportunity to meet new grad students and make friends. We also promoted GSS and its events. Our next event is NUS WELCOME PARTY 2009 at Bora Bora Club, Sentosa on 24th January 2009 ( Any of you interested??) ! So yeah, we sold a few tickets for the party and also got people to become members of GSS.

Met this girl from India……super-cute!!!….Hopefully I will see her around somewhere in campus! :p …hehe

After that we packed up our booth, counted the money we made (I think arnd 800 dollars), gobbled some free food that was there and then made a move to GSS room. We had a meeting at 6pm. We discussed about the party and other events we were planning for this semester.

We decided probably to go for a cultural trip to Malaysia in Feb. Everyone suggested a lot of places. Michelle suggested A Famosa. So I guess most probably we are going there! (Anyone been there?) Btw we are going to Bali in summer…fully sponsored trip..yaaay!!

This is the last weekend of holidays…from Monday got classes!!….and GSS work!!…but I will try to post regularly….thats it for now (Its short by my standards I knw )

0013hrs, Still dining table

January 10th, 2009, Saturday.

2213hrs, Home.

“My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can.” – Cary Grant

After today I completely agree with the great actor Mr Cary Grant.

Today was a good day. Not that I did anything exceptional, but because of the fact that I occupied myself the entire day, a rarity for months. I woke up at 8am.

Sun was shining bright, which made it a ‘ Good Morning ‘ for me. Somehow whenever the sun shines bright I  feel energised. I guess that fact  justifies my name. To maintain allegiance towards my new year resolution (to get the perfect body) , I had decided to go to gym today. But like a good aspiring bodybuilder I needed to have the so called ‘ Power-Breakfast‘ . Having gone through numerous sites yesterday night I had decided what I was going to have for breakfast. I had a multiple-egg omelette, whole-meal toast, ” low fat milk + oatmeal + raisin +banana + apple + apple cranberry muesli cereal ” and coffee. That breakfast itself was enough to exalt me to a state of euphoria.

Shit, shaved and showered.  Then with a clean-shaved face and flashing a big toothy smile I made my way to the bus-stop. Then I had the first weird moment of the day.

I was sitting alone at the bus stop. I saw an old man  at a distance, walking towards the bus stop. As he trudged his way towards me, I imagined how it would be to be that old, like a withered leaf, as pale as death. He came and sat next to me, a wrinkled-face man,  with a stooped posture, he looked to be  around 80+ . I admired the fact that he was strong-willed enough to roam around alone, but sad that he didn’t have any company. I stared at him, he stared at me, no words exchanged. I don’t know why I was staring at him,  but I know what I was staring at. I was staring at his deep eyes, wrinkle-contoured face, but more than that maybe I was searching for a 80yrold image of myself  in him. Screech!! My bus had arrived and I made my way into the bus, yet still thinking about the old man. I got the closest window-seat and immediately looked back at the man before the bus could zoom off. As the bus left the busstop, the old man smiled at me, not as toothy as mine, but a sincere one. I guess he also had mirrored his younger-self in me or probably not. Whatever be the reason the old-man and the bright sun had made my day.

The gym was practically empty. Three other people were there, making the total tally 4. One gal on the treadmill, whose face I couldn’t see as she was facing the window the entire time I was there. Yeah, she had a good derriere (ass). Another guy, who looked liked a veteran bodybuilder powered away at the gym machines. He was surprised at all the innovative exercises I was doing, which are with courtesy due to the extensive research I have been doing in the last few days. The third person reminded me of Vanga. No, he was not that thin but his mannerism in the gym was Vangaesque. He spent 90 percent of his time looking at the mirror admiring himself. And no, his body wasn’t even good. The guy had a paunch for gods sake! Then made my way to the shower. Then the  second weird moment of the day happened.

Old man at the shower room

In the corner of the room was the old man, the one who is always at the gym shower room whenever I go. He sits there always, motionless,speechless and ghost-like. I decided to take his picture. He didn’t react. I went to the shower-area and put my towel over the door. I had forgotten shower-gel, so I turned around immediately to get it…..he was gone. I was taken aback, he had gone so quickly and quietly. For an instant my mind wandered on thoughts of whether he was a ghost, but then I had taken his photo,had’nt I? I assured myself he couldnt be a ghost.

Went to Cheers and got myself two chocolate milk dabbas and gulped them down, as protein replenishment. Had an uneventful lunch at Engineering canteen and moved my ass to the library after that.

Random browsing at the library computer for next few hours. Some interesting things that I learned today:

- Robot fish (Video)

- New two-sided cricket bat, which will be used by David Warner (new Delhi Daredevils IPL recruit as  well) in upcoming matches in Australian Domestic Twenty20. Picture below.

Two sided bat for twenty20 cricket by Gray Nicholls

- Saw the Betfair pink pigeon race as part of  the Jane McGrath Pink Day at Sydney Cricket Ground. The pigeons were named after Channel 9 commentators like Tubby (Mark Taylor), McGrath, Warnie, Ritchie etc. Bill Lawry also a commentator is apparantely a pigeon entrpreneur! Anyways against all odds Tubby (the fattest pigeon) won the race, that too in record time of 52 min approx. More details here : Pink Pigeon Race Australia. Video at Channel Nine WWOS website : Cricket- Pigeon Pink Race link.

- Glenn Mcgrath might have retired, but his son, James Mcgrath, 11yr old is starting off. He was seen bowling to Hayden at the Milo cricket tents at SCG. Hayden, in the bad form he is , was bowled by McGrath Junior as well. Later on Hayden was heard joking, ” He is already quicker than Glenn, but the line and length is also there!”

When I shutdown the comp I was in for a surprise. The computer went in a very sci-fi movie-ishtyle computer generated voice , “ Initiation Shutdown Sequence in 1 minute. ” Hmm…Well atleast NUS library did some fancy change to their otherwise pathetic computer terminals. And yeah they started a computer registration system, like our EEE-ihub in NTU.

Meanwhile in Chennai, Sachin Tendulkar toyed with Saurashtra bowlers in Ranji Semi-Final match and retired after his century,ostensibly ill, but in reality I guess he was bored. Scorecard : Scorecard : Mumbai Vs Saurashtra.

Before I returned home I went to the arts canteen to have a cup of tea. It was raining. Great weather. Mast Chai. I sat at the edge of the canteen,very close to the rain, with a view of the beautiful Pasir panjang  Harbour. Third moment.

Rain in the air...Smoke on the water.

Smoke from the ships was rising against the falling rain forming smoke-clouds over the sea. I mumbled, ” Rain in the air, Smoke on the water, Kya pata Kal ho Na Ho.” I looked at the girl, she was staring at me, I did the same. She was gorgeous, sitting there in the canteen with her hair waving in the sea-breeze. It smelled of rain , it smelled of smoke, it smelled of wet mud – a brilliant amalgamation which resulted in a sensory explosion. I continued looking at her, and then suddenly she left with someone. I had a “You’re Beautiful – Moment” (Video)  I slowly shifted my gaze towards the horizon in the distance, imagining the non-existing sun set.

“Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer the goal.” – Elbert Hubbard.