Fools Day

Posted on 01 Apr 2008 under Random

01-04-2008 (DD-MM-YYYY).

April Fool’s Day. You know, this would be a perfect day to ask someone out. I’ll tell you why:

Case 1 (guy likes girl, and girl…)
“I think I like you?”
“What?! Really?!!!”
“Yeah…”
“Oh… uh… wow, I don’t know what to say… I… uh… I like you too :)”
(And they lived happily ever after)

Case 2 (guy likes girl, and girl…)
“I think I like you…”
“Really?!”
“Yeah…”
“Oh… uh… well…. uh…. ok…. honey, I don’t really know what to say… I mean… I’ve only ever looked at you as a friend… I’m so sorry…”

“April Fool! HAHAHA!”

And so, I hereby start a petition to rename April Fools’ Day to Lovers’ Day.

Love is blind and makes us all fools anyway, doesn’t it?

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Sometimes… You’re Just Happy to be Alive.

Posted on 25 Mar 2008 under Journal/Life Updates

Dad arrived in town last Friday morning. He brought with him wonderfully grey rain clouds, lower temperatures, and joy in a month that’s as close to summer as your eyes are to each other.

I didn’t go to college today to prepare for a lab exam tomorrow as well as a small presentation I have to give in class on Friday, but I’ve spent the last hour or so immersed in music, lost in the worlds of the articles in Readers’ Digest (Oct ‘07). There’s been a light, cool breeze blowing in, and the light was just perfect up till a few minutes back. For a few minutes, there was nothing wrong with the world. In fact, there was no world. There was just me, my music and my words, left to ourselves… no college, no lab exam, no presentation, no responsibilities of any kind…

Sometimes… you’re just happy to be alive. :)

PS: Happy Birthday, dad.

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Politeness is NOT overrated

Posted on 16 Mar 2008 under Random

That’s right, folks! Being pleasant when you interact with others is NOT overrated, irrespective of what anyone tells you. There’s this classmate of mine who I have on my Friends list on one of my IM clients. Everytime he opens an IM window, he wishes me a Good Morning/Evening. It’s only after these “formalities” are done that he gets to the point.

Despite the fact that I would have preferred not to mention this, I must say that he’s not the kind of student I would expect to show flashes of brilliance, academically or otherwise. He hangs out with the boys from class who constitute the “rowdy” gang. These are the boys for whom being cool is really important, ego is lifeblood, and gang brothahood means a lot. The bottomline is that you can’t help but feel that if they never really amount to much in life, they have no one but themselves to blame.

And amongst all of that, this boy manages to maintain a good level of professionalism and politeness. It’s a refreshing change from what I’ve come to expect from the high-speed IM life. Good on you, dude!

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Another Toast to Social Networking Websites

Posted on 03 Mar 2008 under Humour

I’ve despised social networking sites for quite some time now… come to think of it, I’ve despised society for quite some time now, but before I go off on a tangential rant about that, let me restrict myself to ONLINE societies.

Dear facebookers, orkutters and just about anybody else who is sad enough to wear such a tag with pride,

  • Thank you for inviting me to join a million social networking websites. I know that unless I have the same people on my friends’ list on a few hundred social networking websites, they don’t count as friends, irrespective of whether we hang out everyday or not.
  • Thank you for making me feel unique when you send me heart-warming greetings every now and then. I used to make it a point to reply to every nice scrap I got till I got confused by the “CLICK HERE TO SCRAP ALL YOUR FRIENDS AT ONCE” link at the bottom of your messages.
  • Thank you for inviting me to join your communities 47 times. I know I didn’t accept your invitation the first 46 times, but now I realize how important your community is to me, and how much it would enhance my life.
  • And while we’re at it, I would also like to thank all sorts of social networking websites that have made it so easy to sign up. I KNOW I don’t remember ever signing up for gazzag.com, yet I got plenty of mails that people have been sending me Private Messages. Out of curiosity one day, I clicked the link in one of them, and lo and behold! Turns out I did have an account there after all!
    (Actually, no, turns out this particular website makes it so easy to sign up that the moment you click on the link in their email, it creates an account for you!)

In celebration of social networking sites, I’ve decided to dedicate this day of my life to them! Three cheers for facezagkut!

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Dear Australian Cricketers,

Posted on 03 Feb 2008 under Rants

You deserved it. All of it.

For too long now, we’ve read about Australian sledging and saying unnaceptable phrases and getting away with it. Glen McGrath’s exchange with Sarwan is probably one of the worst sledging exchanges in the history of cricket. I say “probably” because I’m basing this on a few lists of the world’s most (in)famous sledging incidents. But that’s just one incident. Given at the end of this post are a couple of links you could check out. Notice how most if not all incidents involve Australians.

And I also encourage you to read the third article which, admittedly, has been written by an Indian. It does make some valid points, which I’ll state in my own words:

  • It appears that as long as they’re the ones sledging, they should be allowed to get away with anything, including calling the Sri Lankans “black monkeys” or “black cocks”, but if they’re sledged at, they run to the authorities.
  • Why is it that calling others “bastards” should be allowed internationally if it’s not such a big deal in Australia, but calling others “monkey” should not, though it’s less than an everyday insult here in South Asia?
  • The Australians claiming to have played the 2nd test in “the spirit of the game” is pure bullshit. Cricket is a gentleman’s game, Mr. Ponting. Not one where you claim grounded catches and celebrate.

Anyway, here’re the links:

  1. Ten Most “Hilarious” Sledging incidents in World Cricket
  2. Some Classy Cricket Sledging Incidents
  3. Aussie Sledging and other strong arm action leads to reaction: What is sauce for the Goose is Sauce for the Gander
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Filler.

Posted on 28 Jan 2008 under Random

I have an idea.

That’s it.

You’re not going to find out any more about it for now, because I don’t trust you all.

(Just kidding)

(No, I’m not)

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Girl Power!

Posted on 19 Jan 2008 under Life, Random

How long will we let our “customs” come in the way of our sisters and daughters leading a fulfilling live? Why do we live physically in the 21st century and sentimentally in the last century? How long shall we curb their potential and restrict them to being doting housewives and all-sacrificing mothers?

Why do we raise our daughters with the thought of dowry in mind? I had the chance to read an article by a woman recently where she described a harrowing experience in which the mother of a prospective groom took her out in the sunlight to make sure she was really as fair as she appeared indoors. Ridiculous! Let us also not forget how parents are willing to give huge dowries to sons-in-law who are well-off and preferably working abroad. Women may be lucky to get such “prized catches”, but please remember that even men may need to be similarly lucky to get understanding, wonderful wives.

It’s sad to think that in a modern and progressing India, there are still families where grandmothers tell their daughters that their grand-daughters have studied enough, and it’s time to look for a husband now. From a young age, girls grow up seeing their brothers being given preference and importance, and accept this as a way of life. Unfortunately, they come to accept the thought that they’re worth less than their male siblings. And even more unfortunately, thanks to their lovely and overbearing families, they incorporate these same values into their lives when they marry and have families of their own.

I personally dislike feminism a tad bit more than I dislike male chauvinism and false shows of machismo, so such a post by me could be thought of as a pretty big deal. It’s time to wake up. Women are capable of doing most things as well as men; and in some cases, doing things better than men. Let your daughters and sisters breathe. Give them choice, freedom… give them life!

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I’m in a generous mood, so…

Posted on 13 Jan 2008 under Humour

My last post was published on Dec 21. If I waited another 8 days, an entire month would have gone without my having blogged. I was seriously considering doing that, but since I’m in a generous mood right now, I hereby offer you a post to enjoy, and allow you to bask in the glory of my writing. So, here it is:

This is a post.

Bask away.

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The results are in, the show’s over.

Posted on 21 Dec 2007 under College, Journal/Life Updates

Breaking my tradition of pre and post-exam blog posts, last semester, I just went ahead and wrote the exams. I was hoping to have done well enough to get 75% or more, but when the results came in a couple of days ago, I was shocked at my result. I’ve scored 82.8% this time, and topped my section (ECE-1). Only one other boy from 3rd year ECE (a boy from ECE-2) scored higher than me, and he got 83.2%, just 3 marks more than me in total (621 vs 624 out of 750). Needless to say, I was stunned. I was almost in shock for a few minutes after I got my result. Also completely needless to say, I’m ecstatic.

However, some of my close friends haven’t done particularly well, and it was quite heart-wrenching speaking to them on the phone or chatting with them on IM. I know it’s very silly of me to feel guilty for having done well (and indeed, I don’t) in these exams but I do wish with all my heart that my friends had done better. I know some of them really deserved to have got much better marks than they did.

While I do not feel guilty about having done well (as I said), I still feel humbled and down-to-earth. I hope I do just as well this semester, and I hope my friends do well as well. Here we go with yet another semester of college.

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Everything changes, but not quite.

Posted on 10 Dec 2007 under Random

Nothing is constant except change. Then why is it that I always have the same answers to a lot of the questions people ask me, even though they’ve been asking these questions for months/years now?

  • How are you?
    I’m fine, as always (alternate: I’m fine, I’m always fine :) )
  • What’s new?
    Nothing (alternate : not much )
  • How’s college?
    Boring
    (alternate : shitty)
  • How’s your love life?
    What love life? (Alternate : Don’t have one)
  • How’s that girl in your class you like?
    I don’t exactly like her. But she’s fine. (Alternate : She’s fine.)
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