Tweet, Buzz and Scrap

It is the era of social networking. I have fallen prey to the evil of facebook,twitter, google buzz, linked in et.al. And as a ritual, i do the following like many others.

Logging on to facebook and checking out others' status messages
Entering google buzz and reading all shit that appears
Opening Linkedin and look for jobs and forums
Reading Gtalk status messages of all and sundry on my chat list
Open an email forward that floods my mailbox every morning

And as a result of these regular exercises...here are a few things from these spaces that caught my attention over the last few days.


Nothing's fair...except in love and war...because in love and war there are no reservations!!

If fire fighters fight fires and crime fighters fight crime, what do freedom fighters fight?

Internet Explorer Six, resident of the interwebs for over 8 years, died the morning of March 1, 2010 in Mountain View, California, as a result of a workplace injury sustained at the headquarters of Google, Inc.

Life was much simpler when Apple and Blackberry were just fruits

It is not length of life, but depth of life.

Live it or lie it

My name is Nithyananda and I am not a saint!

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why they recommend it daily

Every man dies; Not every man truly lives.

There are three sides to any argument. Your side, My side and the Right side.

These eye catching flicks come and go in our lives and i have realized that it is thought provoking and fascinating to revisit them time and again.

P.S: Having started this thread, i would make it a point to bring more of these timely and famous brickbats that catch one's attention from the social networks like a summary, once every month on this blog..

P.P.S: Only the first on that list is my own composition. The authorship of the rest should be rightly attributed to those who created them. I do not take credit for the rest on the list.

2009- A Round Up

That's another fabulous year coming to an end. It has been a roller coaster ride for most of us with the world-wide recession, job turmoils, RIP MJ, Obamotopia, Tendulkar's 20, Woodsaga and a lot more. Some good and some bad. My year wasn't too different. The "one last time" visit to Pilani as a student was a wholesome experience. 15 days of ecstasy filled with assorted "highs". One last shot at The Age of Empires and Fifa, Movies, Sitcoms, Series and more. January and February went by looking forward to and reminiscing from the trip to Pilani respectively.

2009 was the year of Journalism with Digital media coming to the fore with all the might and power. One of those things what we could have done without was the hype that media created for Kareena's saree act or the Woods' bedroom act. Social networking took a new shape with the prominence of Facebook and Twitter. 09 was the year of linking and networking of course. Blogging became popular all the more and personally i was part of that Blogger revolution. The months of March and April indicated some respite after a dull ending to 2008 on the economic front.

I became a graduate in June and the eventual melancholy for missing college days ruled over me for about a month since then. First Job, Heavy work, Coding miseries, Corporate tamasha, Late nights, Team outings and other common buzzwords did buzz past me in the months of July and August. 2009 has been a 'year of reading' for me and I managed to cover a wide variety from Wodehouse, Orwell, Mohammed Hanif, Khaled Hosseini, Forsyth, Ken Follett to Gurcharan Das, Tharoor, Jhumpa and Naipaul. Later parts of the year witnessed a first order ruckus revolving around CAT and the mouse. A 'colossal failure' would more or less capture the essence of the CAT 09 saga. So after calling it 'RIP CAT09' after November, the footballing world caused surprises with the Big Four in England taking a beating. Now, the stage is set for a competitive season overall. An obsession for writing and journalism began to evolve and i started devoting a lot of time on political, economic and social writing in the month of December.

Overall, Not a great year. It did have the good's like the first job, great football, good movies and awesome books. The bad's were there too with RIP MJ, Religion and Politics, Dirty Media, Swayamvars, Hype on Climate change, Costly movies, Costly food, CAT meltdown and more......

Looking forward to a better year in 2010 with better health, better wealth and better knowledge. A Very Happy New Year to all !!

On Humour

I came across this quiz called "What type of Humor is yours" on Facebook and i found it pretty interesting. It was more like those common IQ tests which are famous for asking you a bunch of really unrelated questions and in the end giving a result, apparently derived from your answering pattern. This one interested me though, for the result said that my humor falls into the category of "Humor by Exaggeration".

Talking of humor, i really can't stop myself from mentioning about the nuances in PG Wodehouse' writings. That in my opinion is real humor. I call it so just because i see it covering all types and variations including- "Turn of Phrase", "Pun", "Exaggeration", "Understatement", "Irony", "Sarcasm" and "Satire". What remains to be addressed is the way each person reacts to these types of humor. It is a common observation that some people are aroused when a joke comes in the form of sarcasm and some others may like a simple turn of phrase.

When I see that humor can be classified, defined, debated and discussed, I immediately relate to how we encounter many of these instances day in and day out. Philosophy and medicine have not stopped short of recommendations relating to smile, laughter,fun and happiness as therapeutic catalysts. I appreciate the "Slapstick" form of humor specifically. It takes a chunk of inborn talent for one to be good at slap sticks. I have had a couple of friends whose colloquial discussions include a plethora of these.

These are some points that one could consider when trying to be humorous on any given occasion.

1.To be funny, the humour should be said in a spirit of fun.
2.Humour should be unannounced and told with a straight face (you don't want to laugh before your audience does).
3.The humour will die if you fumble over words or stumble during the punch line.
4.In public speaking, as it is with conversation, the telling of humour should be effortless and natural.
5.To be effective in public speaking the humour should be relevant to the points being made. It is woven into the fabric of the speech.

“Turn up the heat,” said John coldly- no matter what, 'is' a joke. But it depends on the timing of the sentence delivery. You may see how bad it looks when i have quoted it here (disastrously out of context).

To wind up, I confess boldly that I am in the middle of a small exercise to improve my hilariousness and hence the post--which I am sure is itself a huge "Slapstick" to the readers. Hope someone out there likes to read about humor.

Let the reader live in peace......Amen!!!!

Downtown Tadipatri !!!!~!!!!

The merits and demerits of the "Life at the Country Side" is an age-old topic and i have come to discuss the same in this space. And here I am, back from a first-hand country side Experience. This post is dedicated to my visit to a small township on a hillock near downtown "Tadipatri" where i spent my blissful weekend. Tadipatri is a small town located en route to Chennai from Hyderabad and it is worth mentioning that it boasts of UltraTech's largest Cement Plant in Asia.

To start with, i concede to the fact that "Life downtown" is always a better bet than the one which involves the hustles and the hullabaloo of the metro. As part of the "clan" at college which threw tantrums at villages and village dwellers from down south, I have been actively involved in mocking at the way civilizations have, by far, neglected those people, who we are at this point, debating about.

My weekend involved a really splendid outing to my best friend's sweet home near Tadipatri. Nature was at its best and the gated community had loads to offer when I did my first sightseeing around the township on Saturday. The greenery and the peaceful community that inhabited this township, was so new to me for I have more or less grown up in a city, brought up with all the mall culture and other typical metro offerings.

I would like to introduce the four characters in this post who would be henceforth referred to as "Sir TPJ"(Daddy), "Rchie"(Sissy), "Chota Don"(Friend) and "Aunt Bliss"(Mommy). To talk of Sir TPJ, it would be a gross understatement if i just say he is a revered gentleman who commands a respectable position at this Township which nurtures a group of little over 1000 people from various parts of the country. Aunt Bliss is a wonderful cook and she loves cooking " elaborate four course meals" "three times a day". Fresh vegetables for lunch and dinner came from nearby gardens and the delicacies straight from Aunt Bliss' kitchen are worth mentioning. Rchie is the sweet sis who is currently enjoying her summer holidays back home and Chota Don is waiting to join college for his post graduate studies.

The wonderful weekend involved the fantastic walk down the park, delicious food served at regular intervals throughout the day, Malayalam movie on Asianet, UNO Card games, badminton outing, late night wodehouse humor, hot career discussions, dinner time family chit chats, Channel V Music hits, evening time lychee treats, endless football story times and lastly, the marathon Wimbledon final to finish it off. That final was one of the best tennis matches that i have been witness to, till date. A-Rod was at his career best only to lose out to the damned luck (courtesy: Fedex's "Black Magic") at the end of the day. The 5 hour finale bade good bye to me along with this cute family of four who took up the task of entertaining me for the weekend. Needless to say they did a fantastic job out of it and i would fail miserably if i miss out on mentioning the elegant Urbana "Tie and Handkerchief set" which was my parting gift.

This post is purely a tribute to the place and people that made my weekend downtown so remarkable. When it all turns nostalgic later one day, and i go back to turn the pages of my life fervently, these two pages would without doubt be a "highlighted couple" that would keep me entrenched in emotions for ages to come.

P.S: Uploaded a few snaps

Bidding Adieu!!

It's been a while since i wrote something in this space and i would blame my mad-ass workplace for it. Really long since i even got some respite from "coding to glory".

August 3rd, December 14th, January 6th, May 14th...These are some dates that a handful of highly overrated engineers in the country would seldom forget, for these are fixed dates when semesters start and end at BITS, Pilani.

I am nevertheless proud to belong to such a place- Bits, Pilani. But what saddens the thought is the fact that it is all coming to an end. In a way i have delinked myself from that lovely place when i opted for a double semester PS (For people who are unaware of these amazing BITSian terms, read as internship). Technically a student still, until i complete my second semester stint here mid june, I sense a feeling of doom and dismay.

Yeah..I'm gonna miss this place like crazy..I’m gonna miss a lot of things..and if I start listing them down..its gonna go on n on n on...

A few things i would like to mention

ANC, Wing Cricket, GymG Football, Amazing winters, FIFA, Counter Strike, AOE, Common Room EPL, Temple, Sky Lawns, CDC Tutorials, 404,Gandhi::223,Gandhi::223,Krishna::440,Malviya, SAC, Oasis 2006, Pahadi Trip, Sleepless nights, The unforgettable relationships, C'NOT, ICF-PS1, The Sand Storms, Krishna Redi, Kulu Manali Wing Trip, Dualites' lonely world,OT, OR, IPC, My Hercules Cycle, 24*7 music, prison break, RAF Movies, BOSM, Ganga gate, Bluemoon shakes, Bluemoon hot coffee, Sky Lab Cheese Pizza, Late night walk at the staff quarters..............

Yes i am going to miss this place. I felt it as i wrote down some of those million things that would never come back into my life.

The Freedom, The Friendships, The fun, The frolic...All of it seem to have become past when i ponder about them. It hurts to say goodbye...but reality awakens me. I bid adieu but with no sense of happiness.

P.S:An ode to everthing and everyone that came in my life in those 5 years at the best place in the world.

P.P.S:Million faces...Million expressions...Million hearts...Million memories...One place...One love...BITS Pilani!!!!!!!