TS 18 Now What

The days passed on slowly...the vacation was a long one. We were back in college in no time, and the few that came late were back by a day or two. Except of course Murali, with his trade mark style had something more "valuable in life" or whatever. While during the time the class seemed to be in a unique unity.

Our class was considered the most promising one, at the same time we were the face of trouble. The criminal minds at work were some where else, but ultimately we were the ones who stepped forward to garner the attention, and get busted in the process. Not that I participated in this bravado in any way other than moral support.

While Murali was gone, I had made up my mind to take thing s in my own hands. I patched up with the people I had put in the backburners. 

The hot topic at that time was preparation for Entrance exams for MBA. We were all overwhelmed by the term MBA. It was a magic word, a word that inspired us to do crazy acts of hardwork and determination, to read and work out mathematics like it was an act of survival...memorizing words and their antonyms,synonyms and all the myms you could think of.

For us MBA was the road to a happy, hep, all prevailing job, guaranteeing money (which we were broke on) lifestyle (chappals to college) and girlfriends(which I wasnt sure off). But Yes, It was like being able to touch a dream world.

Being in the first year, we would only write the Heavenly CAT in the third year, but somehow we got caught up in taking classes through the summer vacations. Which were a couple of months to go. But we lost no time in giving the necessary Gyaan to our classmates, trying to buck up popular opinion (Just to make sure we were doing the  right thing)

Meanwhile, people started feeling the good spirit which rose out of no where, and the common thing seemed to be the absence of Murali. 

"He is a bloody flirt, thinks he is a hero"

"He wants all the limelight, and cant bear it if he doesnt get it"

"Let him come back, we will stop all his hero'giri'"

Everyone had a view on him, and so did I. I confided in Mohan, about the incident just before Murali went, and he too shared that the bugger wasnt more a rascal than what he seemed. 

Murali did come back eventually, but somehow everyone gave him the slient treatment. No body wanted to talk to him, nobody wanted to be seen near him. And some were outright blunt with him. So he turned out to be a hermit. Coming when he wanted, talking to the girls when he wanted something and generally hanging out with the seniors, which again dint win him any brownie points..

Over this time I had only grown fonder of PW, I rarely spoke to her, hardly knew her and yet my undying devotion kept growing. Anything starting with the letter of her name, found its way into my purse,or bag. The same was scribbled over my desk.It had become a open secret that I had the stars in my eyes for her..everyone knew it except her of course.

Mohan kept trying and I guess seema did too, but nothing much was happening on any front..

It was the calm before the storm.

Trip to Mysore!

On sunday the gang went for a trip to Mysore!!! It was awesome. WE left at 7 am in the morning. We took the mysore road for a long drive to Our first stop. That is for breakfast.

The very famous Renukamba Thatte Idli, which was over at Bidri. As expected this place was absolutely crowded with a huge Q in the front of the store. 

A couple of Idlis and vades later we were on our way to the next destination, Srirangpatna. This place is famous for Tippu's palace and the Ranganathswamy temple. Ranganathswamy temple is a temple of Lord Vishnu in a sleeping posture, which is very rare to find. In addition to the posture, the idol is quite large, taking almost the entire space of the Sanctum Sanctorum.

I bought a beautiful stone sculpture of Lord Buddha (Check the snaps) for 200 bucks. From therewe went to have a look at Tippu's Jail, also called as Col Baileys Dungeon. Its about a storey and half under ground level. 

From there the next stop was the Dariya Dalaut, which is a summer palace of Tippu, which is COMPLETLEY Made of WOOD. So delicate that photography was not allowed inside the palace.

By now we were getting hungry so we headed towards Mysore to grab lunch. We decided to go to Lalith Mahal, which is actually a Palace converted to a Hotel. The place was fancy, but we decided against eating there, and went into the heart of Mysore to grab a meal.

We went to the Mysore Zoo next, but in the initial part we were more interested in staring at an awesome chick!!! We were so enamored by her that we were just staring (Guys!!??!!) at her. Somehow we missed her while checking out the tigers. (No wonder you wont find a lot of snaps of the beginning of the zoo!!!) anyway she dint turn up on the cameras, so tough luck. :p

The Zoo was not in the best shape, especially since last years poison deaths that took place in the zoo. The zoo is also not funded by the Government so it was a bit offa dissapointment. 

We made it to the famous Vrindavan Gardens, right by the KRS Dam by then. The Vrindavan Gardens are famous for its beautiful Fountains and the musical, light coordinated Fountains. But we couldnt wait to watch the Musical fountains. Again the view from the Dam is awesome. But due to a security threat they have stopped visitors on the dam.

By then it wa time to caboodle back home. So we were off, stopping by at Mcdonalds for Dinner. There is a Cafe coffee day at Madur, and one more after a little while, not to mention the Barista lavazza and Mc dees.

Overall it was a nice trip and we had a super time!!!

:)

   

           

 

            

   

The Sixth Sense

CAll me Crazy, but I have some strange beliefs. Or experiences.

Sometime in my life, I had gone Vegetarian for almost a year. And during this time I experienced a more "Aware" kind of existence. I got less irritated, less bugged up and less bored. I could just sit for hours and still feel content. 

I have always had a strong sixth sense. OR at least I felt it was strong. I'd see something in a dream and it invariable happened similarly, maybe in a week maybe in a year. And this sense was very strong when I was a vegetarian.

I fell ill recently, so I was off all kinds of foods, including meat and fish as well as alcohol. So it must have been around 10 days since I had a proper meat filled meal! But today the strangest thing happened.

I was on my route to a store. There was a two way lane, where both lanes were used to travel in the same direction. I usually take the wrong lane, as the traffic is blocked from the other end. 

Today just 5 min from that particular stretch of Road, Something in ma head told me "NO" to that road. I mean it was like just dont go on that lane today. So just to satisfy myself that I was over reacting to some random thoughts, I took the proper lane. I looked on to the wrong lane and saw nothing problematic. I was just giving up, I saw a huge traffic cop set up at the end of lane, checking the vehicles. And I suddenly realised my documents were not up to date. In all probability, if that voice dint warn me, I would have been caught.

Similar incidents happened thrice in the day, and all were related to traffic cops!!!

One signal I was half way in to the turn, when the red light flashed. Usually I would have passed but I stopped. Sure enough on the other side there were cops.

Again on another signal, a guy in front of me slowed down and got me stuck in a yellow light, which again I would have passed usually. But I stopped. Beleive me or not, the cops on the other end caught the guy in front of me!!!

Guess I had a good traffic day!!!

:)

Nokia 5800 v/s I phone

Ok before you guys think I am showing off cos I gotta an i phone, let me make it clear that this post is inspired by the hopeless and careless attitude thrown by nokia sales guys in their stores.

First of all, I was wondering why the I phone costs so much...nothing spectacularly different apart from the superb touch screen and billions of applications. The bluetooth doesnt connect to most devices, and features like forwarding messages are missing. But still the phone is a real beauty and their is nothing that I know can match its finger sensitive screen.

Or So I thought...

Being a huge fan of Nokia and its handsets, I usually check their latest offering on the net and the stores spread acroos Bangalore.

I dropped in today to check out the Nokia Express 5800 the touch screen phone from Nokia. Supposedly the crowd breaker in the touch screen handheld departments. While I went in, I just enquired about the phone. I asked him how the phone was in comparison to the i phone, and he said "FAR Better". Now this took me by surprise and I moved on to see the live demo of the 5800.

Believe me, it took 3 screen taps to get to the menu. I was already loosing patience, on tapping repeatedly to get the applications running. 5min and dozen taps later, I was no longer bothered to check out the 5800. ITs been a dissapointment to me so far.

Another fact being, most of the nokia (or any brand for tat matter) guys seem to have absolutely no idea about the mobile details apart from camera, wi fi, email, memory and music player. They dont know about detailed features like, camera focus or internet speeds or software versions or compatibility with devices. And the way they explain about the phones is more of a "take it if you want it" kinda attitude.

Strange. I dont know if its just me or is something wrong here.. IT s been a while since I held a nokia and I was kinda looking forward to buying a Nokia. Dont see that happening anywhere soon now...

:)

TS 17: ITs Begun

I stood watching him go. From my room. I stood in shock. Unable to talk, unable to comprehend what happened. Unable to understand why I just listened to disgusting insults that made my spine shiver. Unable to explain the imprint of five fingers and a palm on my cheek...

A slap that changed my life.

Beyond recognition, beyond expectation and beyond everything.

As I stood on my porch, I became intensly aware of my surroundings. The rustling of the dry leaves strewn on the playground ahead of me. The water flowing silently, making a gurgling sound in the newly constructed water duct. I must have stood there for an hour, just trying to take in what happened...

what happened...

It started off with another of the fests, and Mohan, Murali, Seema, Pw, Seema and the gang were in attendance. What had happened was actually weird. We had lost in the most pathetic way ever, and a team from some college in Mangalore had won.  During the post victory celebration party, Murali was insistant on celebrating with the Mangalore team, where he had made some friends. Which obviously did not make sense to me. 

It was already late and most of the girls wanted to go back, and some had already left. I was and still am a hardcore team player, and loosing wasnt a celebration factor for me. But Murali's insistance and emotional blackmail got me to the damn hotel. While most of the others left. Needless to say I had the feeling I was going to get the credit for the same as well. 

And I did. All the way home Murali explained to me what a useless piece of baggage I was, and how he was doing the greater thing in tolerating me. Somehow I had enough of this crap, and I just shut up and allowed his incessant rambling to go on. He went on and on, and told me that I was never gonna hook up with Pw and that was the last straw for me.

Early next morning I made up my mind that Murali ceased to exist for me. I just dint want to be part of this "comraderie" anymore. And I told him point blank the next day. Strangely he took it well. Or so I thought.

He came back to my room in the afternoon on the pretext of picking up some books. He was leaving for the vacations, and I didnt mind much anyway. 

When we reached home, he started off with an ironic and sadistic smile.

Murali- People like you are a virus to society.

Me- ha ha...(I thought he'd go into another of his societal concepts now)

Murali-look at yourself. laughing. Dont have the balls to do anything. Laugh go on.

Me- (I just stared on. All of a sudden I was getting very uncomfortable. Strange)

Muralis mind games went on and on. Hitting me with every phrase like poison tipped arrows.And then all of a sudden...

Murali- Dont worry, its not your fault. Its in your blood. U deserve worse. 

And then came the slap. It was a taunt to me. A challenge to prove him wrong. And I dint rise to it. Even at that moment I could help but admire the way he played his cards. A master strategist. 

I learnt my first lesson then and there itself. Never trust someone so completely and entirely that they have the power to hurt you without even doing anything. I had trusted Murali with everything. I had even left my tried and tested buddies, in a race to catch up with my future. Or what I thought was the future.

While my present was hurting and burning with rage as he left, my sub conscious told me this was just the beginning of a long war. 

Murali had just won the first battle hands down. 

The iphone review

   

Ahem!!!

I thought since its been a looong time gone, I'd warm up by writing a tiny review on the i phone, which my company has awarded me for being the laziest bum in 2008.

Well the phone ranks high on awe value. It is the most beautiful phone I have seen, in terms of clean edges, non protuding side keys, and almost non existent keypad. 

The whole caboodle starts of with your gsm sim card, after which you have to download the itunes software from the net. Install the set up and connect your iphone, and viola the whole thing starts and comes to life. 

However the real fun begins now. In order for your to download "FREE" applications from itunes (mine not being a jailbreaked/hacked phone yet) you need to register to the itune store...WITH YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER!!!

Being a non engineer and anti online trust that I have in these things, I refused to register, only to bow down to the mighty itune application registration form the next day;after the imagine store confirmed that you need to register even for the free stuff!!!

Anyway...for some reason Vodafone guys dont seem to know what they are doing, while the stor tells me to send some crazy messages, which the server responds to by sending me a message in return; the call centre doesnt even know some thing call iphone activation exists!!!

So in all am not able to use the GPRS/EDGE/Internet facility these guys use yet, which again is a vital component to enjoy the i phone features completley. 

As known the blue tooth sucks bigtime, as does the non message forwardability. Camera is decent, music is ipod standard, video playback is good too.

But the best part is the pure pleasure in touching the huge screen adn flipping it around. The games are cool, with having to turn the phone around to use it as a steering.

Well overall, looking at it in a neutral view I'd say its a pretty slick phone, feels good to have it in your hand...apart from the fact it costs 30k!!!

:)

Like I said!!! am Right

Hello people.

I am write this post with an air of arrogance (bear v/s Salmon). 

Why?

Well, to start off I was very confident of Susans predictions at Astrology Zone, which I have been following ever since 2006, when her astrology pin pointed some historical moments of my life. And I was awe struck.

I have been rambling about how 2009 is going to be my year, and being an aquarian thats a huge statement to make. But that was all based on Susan's predictions. And believe me or not, as predicted that health would be a concern in the first few days of the month, only to turn miracles quickly, heres the proof.

On Friday, I took ill to fever. And was absolutelty in no condition to wake up, let alone the national conference that I had to attend on monday in Mumbai. 

Not only did I attend the conference, I came back WINNING AN IPHONE!!! for some sales event that had been organized previously in the year!!! so there!!!

I had a taken a break for sometime. Felt I was using too much of the phone and the net. So now am back, taking it easy.

Meanwhile, I'd suggest all of you check out www.astrologyzone.com 

Its a brilliant site, if you like a bit of sneek peak reviews of your future!!!

Happy gazing! 

:)

TS 16 Somethings not right...

As we walked up to the classroom, I could feel my 6th sense tingling. I have always had a strong 6th sense, I could expect things to happen, and most of the time it did. Not that I could prophesise things.

Somesh and me took our time. Crossing with deliberate steps across the basketball court, looking at the juniors shooting hoops with the new basketballs in the PT room. They were very much aware of our presence, nodding in our direction as we crossed. We stood at the side lines for a few seconds, and then moved on.

It was obvious Somesh and me would patch up; we always did, sooner or later. And I had more of a need to be with friends than before. My super friend Murali had been giving me problems. And my inflated ego was being bruised and I wasnt being able to digest the fact that someone could point out my imperfections.

It had all started with the college fests and the Pw issue. Murali wasnt a saint, that was obvious. He also had an equally big ego, and it began showing with his ignoring the rest of the "gang" and hobnobbing with the girls. I would say it wasnt an intention, but that was his nature. Where he dint get anything, he dint want to spend time.

That was where his problem with me had started. His estimation of my prowess in many things was way way overestimated. And slowly and suddenly he began to feel that I wasnt helping him out in his overall scheme of things. He couldnt understand that there were somethings which I had a natural talent for, and were nt a part of any disciplined practice. We had many quarrels, at the end of which, he always convinced me that I was doing something wrong and was injust. It was the first time in my life someone was walking over me at will, and I could do nothing about it. 

I would have tried confiding in Somesh. But somehow I dint feel he would understand the stakes, the mind games that were going on, and the whole issue in totality. Though I did tell Mohan, and it didnt make much of an impact on his peanut sized brain!!!

As easy as Murali was dominating me, I was similarly blaming myself and my weaknesses. Half of my problems were because I liked the guy, I found that raging spirit to achieve in him. And the other half was my dependency on him to help out with getting to Pw. So I had made matters worse by blurting out everything about me to him.Murali had a habit of getting what he wanted, and he had built a close relationship with Roshan through me, therby getting vital support for his actions thru Roshan, who was also a super senior. 

But unlike me, the others in the class werent as dependent on him. People couldnt take his attitude throwing, smart ass comments. His views on most of the things were outright unacceptable to the rest of the class, and other batchmates. And in ways they were blaming him for trying to make the "english" speaking people into a seperate group in itself. 

Along the way, rumors were spreading thick and fast. And there were some of the "uncool" gang who had girl friends;Who always told them how "Murali the great" was berating them as cheap, dirty rascals, who had nothing to do than flirt around and boast about it. Tempers were rising, and I was becoming aware of it. But Murali always downplayed it. He never shared what he was up to with me, or anyone for that matter. His chattering with Pw drew me cazy with jealousy and irritation, but I could only hope it was for my good.

It was only a matter of time before the bubble blew, and it wasnt going to be long. In fact it happened sooner and began with me.