Modern Myths

Posted on 06 Jul 2008 under Humour, Life, Random

Modern myths are quite amusing really. The things people say to cover their asses. The problem is that people perceive too much, and sometimes, they just expect too much, perhaps from themselves or perhaps from others around them. A lot of times, we let others expect a lot from us, and instead of living up to the standards we set for ourselves, we live up to standards set by others. The sadness is that we are so engrossed in pleasing everyone else and listening to what they say, that we tend to ignore the little voice inside us that tells ue what WE want. In time, that little voice goes silent because you’ve stopped listening to it. Anyway, I’d rather not go off on a completely different train of thought here. I’ll stick with my original theme…modern myths. Here are a few of them…

  • Companies have Upper Cutoffs as well as Lower Cutoffs in their written tests. To be honest, I don’t think this is true. Why would a company have a higher cut-off? Why would they want to deny themselves of the cream of students who appear for the candidacy for their job offerings? Someone once said that most people come up with the explanation of “upper cutoffs” because they can’t deal with the fact that they didn’t clear the “lower” cutoffs. To be honest, I don’t know what’s true. If I ever get into the HR Department of a company, I’ll be sure to let you know, though.
  • The more additional sheets you take, the more marks you score. I don’t think this is true either. If at all anything, it acts as a placebo. Yes, there may be some few cases where a very lazy examiner may give marks to a paper that seems to be “heavier” (physically) than most others, but in general, I think we get the marks we deserve. The third year, first semester was one in which I had developed an intimate relationship with most subjects and enjoyed them. I scored higher than almost everyone that sem. This last sem, I disliked most subjects and never knew developed anything more than a polite acquaintancy with them. Having said that however, I seek not to undermine the importance of presentation in a paper. The neater you write, and the cleaner your diagrams, the more marks you are likely to fetch. Your paper’s evaluator may be in a bad mood, but a neat paper certainly does make its own impression.
  • You get selected in companies if you don’t read for them. This is not a very common myth. In fact, I was just told this by a friend of mine who just came online who claims that Infosys is “that kind of company” in which you’ll never be selected if you prepare for it. I don’t see how this is possible. Perhaps a lot of students who “prepared” didn’t get selected but felt that others, who didn’t quite “prepare” as much as them, did. Again, it’s a case of sour grapes. Logically, I can’t see how preparation can harm your chances of success. Without preparation, all you have on your side is hope and luck. Be reasonable, people, and use some of that common sense that God gave you.
  • I am not an alien, and my future plans do not include total domination by revolutionalizing the way people watch TV. I guarantee you that this is a myth. It is also the reason why I don’t discourage people from watching too much TV (you can never watch too much TV!) and listening to (c)rap songs (u can neva lisn 2 enuff hip-hop, dog!).
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And So It Begins

Posted on 02 Jul 2008 under Journal/Life Updates

Well, it happened two days later than I expected it to, but I’ve finally got my braces put today. We’re doing the lower jaw first, and though I don’t really feel any pain right now, I can feel the pressure on my teeth giving me a tingling sensation. I’ve been warned though, that I will probably feel a little pain tomorrow, and I might need to take a painkiller or two. Well, at least I can’t say I haven’t been warned.

Now, I just have to get used to the feeling of external pieces of metal being stuck in my mouth.

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Back in Black (and Red)

Posted on 27 Jun 2008 under Journal/Life Updates

So I’ve finally got my internet reconnected today on another ISP. I now have no download cap, and do you know what that means? It means I can’t download anything unless I back up the music off my computer onto DVDs or something and create space to download more. :P

Anyway, another update is that I’ve started down the path towards getting braces. I’ve had three teeth from my lower jaw extracted already. Let me tell you something… the worst thing I’ve ever tasted is my own blood. It’s not so much just the taste as it is the overall flavour of it. It’s disgusting. Gah! I had one tooth removed today, so that means I’m going to be tasting it all day tomorrow. Joy to me.

PS:
Update about broadkast.net email. I’ll get it done in about 3 days. Just need to get other things done first. If you catch me online, buzz me… need to talk to you about something anyway.

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Fly in the Web

Posted on 25 Jun 2008 under Journal/Life Updates

The World Wide Web, which is often considered the same as The Internet, can be a tricky place, especially if you’re a fly and the spider’s out to get you. Wow, that was a lame metaphor!

Anyway, this is just an update to everyone. I don’t have internet at home right now because I’m shifting from Hathway to BSNL Broadband. I’ve been waiting for the last 7 days for them to connect it. Today, I found out that the modem we had from Hathway is not compatible with the connection BSNL is going to give us. That means I’ll have to apply for a modem from BSNL after which they will give me a connection, which is likely to take a few more days. In the mean time, I might get to access the internet from my aunt’s house now and then for very short periods (as I’m doing now). But this is only for checking mail and doing other important things. For anything that might require me to be online for some time, it’ll have to wait till I get the connection at home.

PS:
To the chap who wanted the @broadkast.net email ID, I’m working on it. I will be able to get it done within about 2 days of getting an internet connection at home. I know I could have emailed you about it, but I’m lazy.

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The Complete Geek

Posted on 20 Jun 2008 under Journal/Life Updates

When I was much younger, I had a root canal in one of my teeth, and the dentist put some permanent cement over it. Well, it turns out that the cement wasn’t permanent after all, because a few days back, when I was chewing gum, some of it came back, hollowing out a portion of my tooth. Since my sister had to have her braces checked up, I decided to go with her and get a refill of white cement (or whatever it’s called). The dentist took one good look at my lower jaw and said right away that I need help, and “help” turned out to be a euphemism for “braces”. So yeah, I, 21 years of age, am going to get braces sometime within the next week or so. I don’t really mind because in the long run, it’s much healthier for me to get this done right now. I am expecting the treatment to last about an year. You know, this really completes my geek look:

  • Glasses : check
  • Thin, wiry frame : check
  • Love of computers : check
  • Single : check
  • Still a virgin : check

and finally,

  • Braces : check.

Now, the only thing I need to do is to use really long words, grow some (more) pimples and become pale white in colour. Yay.

PS:
After writing this article, I realized I’m using a stereotype. So, just to clear my stand on the whole concept of stereotypes and where I think they should be stuck, I’d like to say that though I don’t think stereotypes really do exist in such a large scale in society, they’ll still fun to use when writing. Meow, and have a nice day.

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The Writer

Posted on 16 Jun 2008 under Journal/Life Updates

To start off, I should say that I don’t write a lot of short stories. I write fragments. I write incidents, observations, I paint still scenes and memories with words, and to be candid, I do it quite beautifully a lot of times. I’ve written about three or four stories so far, and they’ve involved almost nameless characters. My stories highlight just some aspects of my characters’ characters. I haven’t been able to create a complete person yet. I see hues and colours of a persona, and I use it as best I can to create a body, a mind that I can control for my story.

I also find it difficult to fill in the details. I don’t know where I should set my stories. Most of the books I’ve read have been set in the western world. In fact, the only books that I’ve read that have a completely Indian setting would be books by Chetan Bhagat (”One Night @ A Call Center” and “Five Point Someone”). When I think of a character, why do I start chanting off Christian (or Western) names for him/her?

There aren’t enough stories set in and around India, and the few that are, aren’t really very good. I need to take my writing and give it a shot in the arm. I need to maybe restart from the basics, and see the big picture of what I’m trying to write rather than the technicalities. Maybe I should do more than one draft. Maybe I should look closer to the world around me. Maybe there are stories here waiting to be told?

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Changes

Posted on 10 Jun 2008 under Journal/Life Updates

For the past couple of days, the wind’s been carrying the smell of rain. Sadly, for the most part, all we’ve got is the smell, and nothing more, wafting in temptingly. It rained a day or two ago, and it was quite fun to stand out on the balcony with tiny droplets of water falling on me. Lately though, we’ve been in the midst of a pregnant pause of high humidity that doesn’t quite seem to be ready to give birth to some precipitation.

One of the reasons I’m looking forward to the rain is that the rain signifies a change in the weather. A change in the weather generally brings about a change in my mood. Grey clouds are beautiful, especially when polished and accentuated with wonderfully cool gusts of wind. Perhaps this change will cause me to change quite a few things I do during the day as well. It might also bring about a change in attitude. I got my result recently. I scored 72.5%. While that’s not bad, it certainly is quite disappointing. In the next few months, not only do I have to prepare for my end-of-semester exams, but also for my CAT in November. Those of you who are unaware, CAT stands for Common Admission Test, the entrance test I need to clear in order to be eligible for the second round of admission into the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), arguable the best B-schools in India. Maybe the change I’m looking for is a change in my attitude. I won’t elaborate more though…

Warm regards.
(no pun intended).

PS:
10 points to the person who know the artiste(s) who sang the song in my title. There may be many, but I have only one in mind, and you need to guess that one.

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The Indian Premier League

Posted on 02 Jun 2008 under Random

I was watching the final match of the Indian Premier League yesterday. One of the defining moments (in my opinion) of what the IPL has achieved was seeing Yusuf Pathan hugging and celebrating with Shane Watson. Considering the recent tensions between Indian and Australian cricketers, that moment was something special to me. I was already emotionally high after the win, considering I’d been supporting the Rajasthan Royals to win, and it went down the wire right down to the last ball. I don’t watch a lot of cricket, but when I do watch it, and when the match gets interesting, I get really involved. Yesterday was no less, and I went through a rollercoaster of emotions at the fall of every wicket and at the loft of every sixer over the boundary ropes. And then to see how players from different countries have come together to play as a unit, overcoming barriers not only of nationality but also language (Yusuf Pathan cannot converse very well in English, and I’m pretty sure that Shane Watson can’t speak Hindi very well) was just that little something special. Go ahead, call me sentimental. I guess this one time, I don’t really mind being called that.

I was also reading an article pretty recently about how successful the IPL has been as far as TV viewership is concerned. The article went on to explain that the evening saas-bahu soaps took quite a beating. Anything (almost) that does that is welcome on my TV screen. What this means is that cricket has gone from being a game watched by boys and men to a game being watched by the family. I don’t think half the women watching it care too much about the actual game as they do about whether it was Shah Rukh’s team that won or Preity Zinta’s. The bottom line still remains that cricket, even in this somewhat vulgar, in-your-face glitz and showmanship, has become accessible to newer audiences. It’s certainly one thing when your mother and you sit staring at the screen and she celebrates everytime a Rajasthan Royals wicket fell, and you jump everytime Yusuf Pathan hits a six. In the end, all that mattered was that the better team kept their nerves and won.

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Rohini

Posted on 29 May 2008 under Journal/Life Updates

It’s been really pretty darn hot this summer. Temperatures have soared above 40° C here. There was a slight lull for a couple of days in between, but over the last 3-4 days, it’s been hellish hot. I was talking to dad about it, and he said that this stage of the summer is called ‘Rohini’. It’s apparently the peak of summer that starts towards the end of May and leads gradually to the summer monsoon rains, which start around the second week of June or so. Wow, and I’m right in the middle of it.

I’ve always wanted to write a post about summer here. There’s this one thing a lot of people might have felt and never really paid much attention to. You’re never really fully dry in summer. In the morning, right after showering or bathing, by the time you dry yourself off with a towel, you’ve already broken into a bit of a sweat because of the heat. So, you go right from being fully wet in the bathroom to being somewhat wet with perspiration for the rest of the day. (All this is assuming that you don’t really spend time in a comfortable air-conditioned room of course).

The summer’s also had its toll on my computer, which has begun to get hot very quickly and switch itself off. Out of desperation, I’ve moved the box to the top of the table in the hope that a little extra air circulation might help in moving the hot air away. So far, my GPU monitor hasn’t shown much of a difference in the temperature of the 3D card, which is still hovering between 56° to 58° C. I’m just going to observe whether it switches off if I start doing some graphics-heavy work, such as playing games :P

And that’s it for today. Time for my bath :D

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The 19 May Post.

Posted on 19 May 2008 under Random

There were many things I wanted to write about today. I had quite a few ideas and thoughts about what to write about today. The problem is that every time I came to write something, the electricity went off.

India’s facing a bit of a power shortage, so…

Apart from that, I’m in the middle of a crisis of sorts.

I’ll post a better one soon.

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