Akshay Kesavan writes ...

Prasanna was boring!

2007-11-28T23:36:00.000+05:30

The much awaited fusion show of Prasanna teaming up with first Indian Grammy winner, Vikku Vinayakam, and Trilok Gurtu eventually ended up being really boring. Last time I had been to watch Prasanna when he came to KK Nagar, the place where I used to stay. It was a carnatic concert and he was really amazing, with all those gammaka’s he could generate with his guitar. The show then didn’t have a full house, some ten of us and ten foreigners, who I later heard were Germans. I pitied the poor Chennai-ites who aren’t lucky enough to watch Prasanna play in their very own neighborhood when there are thousands who wish to watch him in Jazz fests in Europe. The tickets were sold out a week ago, and luckily (however now its why the hell did I do it) I had booked tickets online. Thanks to The-Hindu marketing, a lot of them came to know that Vikku had indeed won the Grammy. So all great musicians on stage… but… but… each one played solo! This is one concert I walked in with great anticipation but walked out thinking what a waste of money it had been. Gurtu was on full flow with his drumming kit; with many add-ons was creating 100 different noises with his limbs. But in the end I dint want that, I have seen Dharabuka Shiva also play in a similar fashion so well (that Shiva is also a RJ, keeps putting mokkai on radio, unbearable). Prasanna too wasn’t happy with the acoustics. He said people in Chennai don’t know how a guitar should sound, lol. The show was so boring that people walked out half way. In the end Shivamani came on stage and did try to pull out some entertainment with his hard drumming. It was like trying to give an interesting ending to a very boring story people have been listening to. All I did after the show was to run home and post in Prasanna community on orkut that it was the worst show of his I have ever heard of!

Fire fighting this Diwali

2007-11-08T23:07:00.000+05:30

I was determined to write a blog post today, not because the day was eventful but because this is my favorite festival. The festal mood, the delicious sweets and the loud and colorful fireworks each one contributing significantly to the merriment. Diwali last year so much fun, when all of us pooled in money and celebrated it together at Anand Shankar’s house. Thanks to Guru for the idea, every bit of it was enjoyable, the highlight being Srinath who got hit on his head by a rocket.

I knew this year’s edition had nothing in store like last years. Exams around the corner, so much to study got everyone occupied. The morning was the usual, spent sleeping due to lack of sleep last night. I expected to make it a fun-filled evening when my brother said he is going for a movie with my cousin. Oh god, bro and cousin both gone would leave me all alone with elders. With nothing else to do, I made plans with my uncle to burst everything I bought on his roof. (How unfortunate I could get, Diwali with a 45 yr old uncle: D)

I climbed the 4 floors to reach the terrace and guess what, their entire flat was present there, 6-8 kids, 2 chicks, some 5 elders. Now it was time to have a ball. Each of us took turns to fire, and when we were almost done suddenly I saw the neighbor’s roof burning.

‘Fire!’, I yelled running to the parapet to have a better look.

Everyone stopped and came to see. I quickly picked up my phone and dialed the emergency number which works even without a sim card in phone. It started ringing. I was glad that I could inform them first. The call was picked.

‘Airtel vaadikkaialar sevai ungalai vara verkkaradhu’ was the answer. Oh shit, I had dialed 121 instead of 112. I redialed the correct number, number busy was the answer. Kept trying some 5-6 times. Finally I could hear it ring.

‘Fire’, I shouted. ‘Mandaveli bus stand pakathle’

‘Street peru sir?’

‘Street pearu enna’, I yelled. The lady next to me got shit scared and she started saying Trustpuram… she had forgotten which lane exactly.

I said the same on phone adding opposite to Indian Bank as the landmark. The person there noted it down and put the phone down.

Now what? By now people from the third floor had started pouring water with a pipe that hardly reached the next building. I thought of doing the same with buckets. Quickly I engaged the kids to help me do it. I don’t know what gave me so much energy; I kept running continuously for 20 mins till the firemen arrived. When I started doing it, this 50ish man comes to me and says ‘no use pa, perusa yeriyardhu’. I simply ignored him. Every time I ran to fetch water, I would see some 3 elders standing and having a look at the fire, like its some source of entertainment for them.

‘thalinga thalinga’ I would yell every time and poured in as much water possible fully stretching myself outside the parapet.

As soon as the fire engine came, some elders were like ‘podhum, fire engine vandhachu’. Without caring for what they said, we continued to pour as much as we could. Even after the firemen came, they had to plan on how they could go about reaching the top. By the time they started work the fire had burned down most of the wood present on their roof. And finally after everything got over this old man walked up to me and exclaimed ‘good work son!’. I wasn’t in a mood to thank him at all. I was very pissed at the amount of indifference shown by other people. It was a time of emergency and no one was all that keen on helping us. This was the least we could do from our side.

I climbed down the stairs to get back home. On the first floor saw two aunties, one was telling the other ‘Pona varshamey avenge kitta sonnom’. What an important conversation it was at that point of time.

Riding back home, I was thinking of the day when in PSBB firemen came to teach us fire fighting at times of emergency. At that point of time I thought a situation of fire is never going to happen all my life. Now it did. I still remember the captain of the team asking us to clap hands once he was done. We thought it was for him, after all he had taken great pains to teach us, but once we were done he said ‘one day you might do fire fighting and save lives, this is the appreciation for something you would do in future’. He also said that in the past 23 years he had taken just one day off for his brothers wedding. It’s not only the military who sacrifice their lives for us, even the one in you neighborhood does. Now I am a proud man, I have already been appreciated for my work long back. All I write this for is to request people not to show indifference and do the least they could to do in times of emergency. Little drops of water makes the mighty ocean, a small thing you do might significantly improve the situation.

Bajaj Advertisement

2007-10-28T00:31:00.000+05:30

This is my favourite video ! i forgive them all ! This is my favourite video ! i forgive them all ! one of my all time favourite advertisement...

A fun way to have 'sex'

2007-10-25T23:09:00.000+05:30

Improvisational drama is drama that has no set script, in which the performers take their cues from one another and the situations (sometimes established in advance) in which their characters find themselves to create their own dialogue as they perform. Improvisational drama is made up on the spot using whatever space, costumes or props are available. And trust me it is super fun.

Sex can also be fun, but it’s always the build to it that makes it exciting and unforgettable. Dramatization can make it more fun; try to enact this scene below… improvise the same and enjoy! :D

(Guy plays the role of the priest and the girl, the girl in the drama)

Girl : Forgive me Father, for I have committed a sin. Priest : What have you done my child?

Girl : I called a man, 'son of a bitch'. Priest : Why did you call him 'son of a bitch'?

Girl : Because he touched my hand. Priest : Like this?

Girl : Yes Father. Priest : That’s no reason to call a man 'son of a bitch'.

Girl : Then he touched my breast. Priest : Like this?

Girl : Yes Father. Priest : Thats no reason to call him 'son of a bitch'.

Girl : Then he took off my clothes, Father. Priest : Like this?

Girl : Yes Father. Priest : Thats no reason to call him 'son of a bitch'.

Girl : Then he stuck his you know what into my you know where. Priest : Like this?

Girl : Yes Father. Priest : Thats no reason to call him 'son of a bitch'.

Girl : Then he pumped me fast and furious. Doing similarly, the Priest says, "Thats no reason to call him 'son of a bitch'.

Girl : YES FATHER, YES FATHER, YES FATHER!!! Ahh!!! Priest : (after a few minutes) Ahh… Thats no reason to call him 'son of a bitch'.

Girl : But Father, he had AIDS! Priest : THAT SON OF A BITCH!!!

(Curtains down...)

(Source of dialogue : Vaquero)

Dhathulk, the unbeatable comedian

2007-10-16T03:24:00.000+05:30

Dhathulk Kamalasenan, also know as Sanjay Kamrudheen is one well known slapstick comedian. His comedies has been cherished and enjoyed worldwide by people of all ages. He is pretty famous among children as well. His illustrious career, spanning four years made the world see the best of comedies. Here goes one of them. Our man studies in a college. This college closes for study holidays a month before the start of exams. So everyone enjoys the first twenty days and then study for the exams. These twenty days are spent playing football, basket ball, visiting the beach etc during the evenings and playing pool during the day. Once while playing pool… Dhathulk: A, do you want a cigarette? A: Yes Dhathulk: take, here (gives the pack, and A lights it up) A: Dude, hold my ciggy da, I ll have to play Dhathulk: leave it on the other pool table da, like this (he keeps it on the next pool table) (A goes off to play his shot) Oooouucccchhhh!!!! (A very very loud cry is heard) Our man comes with a hole in his pants, after trying to sit on the next table, at the very same place where he had kept A’s cigarette!!!

Watch the PUMPCAST NEWS !

2007-10-15T01:07:00.000+05:30

This is hilarious!!! It's a prank done at a gas station...just watch the pumpcast news, by Jack... Funny video of a news broadcast on a gas pump…

This is one of my favorite videos.

Mobile Television

2007-10-12T00:22:00.000+05:30

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has introduced new ‘TV in mobile handset’ scheme (presently in Eastern and North-eastern India, soon to unfold to the rest of the country) which will enable its customers to watch 8 television channels on their mobile handsets. These include: NDTV, Aaj Tak, Times Now, CNBC, ETV, TV9, Zoom, and Bindaas. This is expected to increase to 32 channels by the end of this year.

Presently this ‘TV in mobile handset’ service is available on certain models of Nokia handsets only; soon to be extended to Motorola and Sony Ericsson phones as well.

Facebook, new medium to protest

2007-10-10T22:43:00.000+05:30

Facebook, one of the growing social networking sites, directly competing with Google’s Orkut is been used as a medium to create awareness against the military regime in Myanmar. The website which is famous for integration of all other web services like blogs (wordpress), pictures (flickr) etc. is now gaining popularity for helping protest against the government.

The last ten days saw a sudden increase in the number of users of the site because the site has a community called “Support the Monks’ Protest in Burma” which creates awareness against the military rule that has been in existence in the country for the past 45 years. About 100k users approximately have registered to support for the cause.

However the growing awareness has been curtailed by the government by imposing a ban on the ISP’s existing in the country. But unfortunately for the government, the monks received improved support. A similar scenario was prevalent in the country around 20 years ago, where in all communication links from the country were lopped off and the rest of the world wasn’t aware of it until about 3000 men were reported to have died in the revolt. There is also news that Jim Carrey is helping raise awareness for the disconsolate state of affairs in the country.

Look at THE STUD!

2007-10-01T00:34:00.000+05:30

Check out this video, look at the confidence level in that guy. If that is the amount of confidence in you, then life will always be your way!

The new 2 bucks coin

2007-09-21T22:55:00.001+05:30

The government of India had proudly released a new 2 rupees coin last year, a coin that is very shiny and is often mistaken for a 1 rupee coin.

Noticeable changes in the design were the map of India had gone, and it now featured a plus like symbol with some dots. The Ashoka symbol also was smaller and was between parallel lines with number 2 written on its right. I had no clue why such a change was made. Anyways governments need to make changes to silly things to leave vestiges. Once a new party comes to power, the bus route numbers change, the tickets change, some target some statues that were built ages ago along the seashore.

But there was more to the change in the coin, read on what Mr. V. Sundaram I.A.S. has to say about the new coin. ‘An assault on the soul of the nation’

Make your trip CHALLENGE!

2007-09-14T02:18:00.000+05:30

Make your trip challenge; connect to 10 different destinations in 15 days time spending only 1000 bucks!

So the funda is, you form a team of 2, each one of you carry only 1000 bucks… you can carry more cash but you are not encouraged to spend them. Your team can start at any location, Chennai, Bangalore or Hyderabad. The starting point and the finishing point are one and the same and the team which covers most villages and travels farthest and returns first wins!

Was discussing with ‘Avadi’ Arun, the other things which you can do if you have spent all your cash…

Travel without a ticket (there very little chance that you will get caught, cause in villages tourists aren’t suspected for ticket less travel)
Beg (lol, you posh kids wouldn’t have done this all your lives, maybe you can turn out to be a millionaire)
Do some kind off stunts on the ground or dance and sing to entertain the villagers so that they give you money.

Actually arun and I being a part of NCC have experienced such difficulties. You aren’t provided with the best of facilities and you learn to live with nature alone. If you are all game, take up the challenge. Good luck!

Sh R jokes

2007-09-14T00:23:00.000+05:30

Studying in a college under Anna University is always tiresome. We get into buses after a hard day, sitting in class since morning. (It’s mandatory that you need to sit in class, and you should also listen; no escaping at all) At the end of the day, you are really very tired (intellectually tired) and you would want to sleep like there is no tomorrow!

Getting into the bus, I won’t be finding a seat for myself on most occasions. So I sit next to the Mr. Sh R. (one of the coolest Profs in college)

On one such occasion our man was in a real freaked out mood and there was this junior guy trying to act too smart. He was shouting at the top of his voice discussing with his friends about super cars… trying to show off (this doesn’t mean there are chicks in my bus, maybe he found them hot) and thereby disturbing us.

Our man got pissed.

Sh R : So which is the fastest car on road?

Boy : Sir, (don’t you know this attitude) Bugatti Veyron!

Sh R : So how did it get its name ‘veyron’?

Boy : (Started thinking, why the hell is this man asking me all this?) I don’t know sir

Sh R : You ass****, you do not know anything about cars and why do you show off as if you do, shouting in the bus… better shut up! It is named after French racing driver Pierre Veyron, who won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1939 while racing for the original Bugatti firm.

(That boy never spoke after that, allowing us to sleep in peace)

I was laughing my ass off witnessing this… later he comes and tells me, Akshay I did something this morning, my colleagues fell off laughing when they saw it. This is what had happened

Boy : Sir, good morning

Sh R : Hey, come here (takes off his ID card). What is so good about the morning? (That boy started shivering, he dint know what to do)

Sh R : (gives back the Id) It was just a joke my boy!

Profs confiscating ID’s is a common thing in my college. The HOD’s do this, they take off the students ID and the student is supposed to pay a fine and take it back.

Hope they find a better way to punish the students, this method seems childish!

Mclaren punished!

2007-09-13T23:45:00.000+05:30

Mclaren has been banned from the Constructor Championships and fined $100m said the ‘spygate’ verdict. The verdict also said that their next year cars must be checked for Ferrari’s ‘Intellectual Property’ before the season started.

So finally they have been punished, though I feel the 100m is too harsh on them after ripping their points. The drivers must consider themselves lucky for permitting them to retain their points. Mclaren however claims that they dint use the information, but even then they dint inform the FIA about it. So it obviously means they were up to something with it. I was wondering how Mclaren made such a nice car :D. The thought that they had taken the former World Champion, said they surely will have to make the best car. It was a real good car, but it was Ferrari technology stolen! Hoo-ha!

However the famous news channel TIMES NOW quoted ‘Mclaren fined 100m euros’. Where did the Euro denomination come from?! I wonder who provides the information, and who publishes it without proper verification. I remember last year when I was watching a tamil movie in Sun TV, there was a two minutes headlines break which said ‘F1 yennum ullaga car race pottiyil, Frenchu verar Ferananda Alonsa ullaga koppai vendrar’. Meaning ‘In the world car race event called F1, Frenchman Alonso (actually a Spaniard) won the world cup’.

Anyways good news is that Ferrari will win the Constructor Championships. And I hope Hamilton becomes the Champion. A real prodigy, though I feel it’s too early to comment because he is driving a superb car and we need to watch his performance with not-so-good cars as well. Like our Michael, who won with Benetton (that too back to back titles). Really missing him, that too with SPA back!

For child readers, Moral of the story: Cheaters never prosper!

Its time to Act - Prevention is better than Cure

2007-09-13T00:12:00.000+05:30

If people do not act to curb global warming, the impacts of climate change will drain at least 5 percent—and up to 20 percent—of the global gross product each year. -England Government’s Economic Service Report.

Each day new consequences of Global Warming are being discovered. Some are not even remotely related to the climatic changes. As quoted above, it can even cause an economic problem. But still there is no significant effort taken to curb the menace.

The entire problem starts off with something as basic as Air pollution. The reasons for air pollution are numerous. Burning of Fossil fuels, factory emissions etc. have increased the amounts of green house gases in the atmosphere which trap solar energy. In a country like India, where the population is very high, it’s very difficult to cut down on these emissions.

India, though really far away from the Polar Ice Caps, will be badly affected by the change in Global Temperature. According to the Economic Times report, even a rise in temperature by 2 degrees centigrade would result in 5% drop in Indian GDP.The rise in temperature will result in rainfalls that occur as short, heavy outbursts which will directly affect the agricultural productivity in the country. The snowfall is also likely to be affected. It’s high time the country takes solid steps to solve the larger problem

You can’t bend the rules!

2007-09-10T00:13:00.000+05:30

Jumping a signal when there is no cop can still be ticketed. The Ministry for Heavy Industries is planning to make it compulsory for all cars manufactured in India to be fitted with a RFID tags. This will help track down every vehicle on road.

RFID expands as Radio-frequency identification, generally used for identification of products. These tags are usually small in size and can be easily fitted on any object. They transmit radio waves which can be used to detect the specimen. This system is already popular in several countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.

The introduction of these tags in motor vehicles is basically to regulate the traffic. Since each and every vehicle is tracked down, traffic rule violators will be spotted and fined automatically at the nearest toll plaza. The increase in motorists in the country has already made it impossible for traffic cops in certain areas to regulate the traffic. The use of this technology will surely revolutionize traffic regulation in various parts of the cities where the traffic is unmanageable. However implementation of this technology in the cars already on road is going to be a tough task for the government. Though the entire plan is an expensive affair, it will eventually prove beneficial for the entire country saving a lot of time for everyone.

The Last few days

2007-09-07T23:37:00.001+05:30

The final year of college is turning out to be good fun, especially because we are allowed to play for the last 2 hours on all days. At least today we had free hours, yesterday it was proper subject hours and we somehow managed to get permission to play for solid 3 hours! Everyone has turned a shade darker in the past few days.

Today was shit hot; it was utter madness to play. Today’s highlight was our teacher requesting us to listen in the first hour. She was like “please listen at least for half an hour, am I not letting you free during my 2^nd hour” lol, I never ever dreamt this would happen in SVCE!

And during our 5^th hour (totally 7 hours a day), which was supposed to be last hour for today because we had permission for the remaining hours this is what happened.

Students: Sir, enough sir. We ll have to go.

Sir: Enge pa?

Students: To the ground sir, we need to go and catch the center pitch or else computer science students would take it. (Seeking permission like we are going to attend another important lecture which one can’t afford to miss)

Sir: Its only 1:20 pa, only 20 mins up. I ll take class for another 10 mins and will let you go.

Hahaha, what a life it is! College has become so much fun. The only pissing off factor is you ll have to catch the bus at 7:20, and it’s really irritating to wake up so early. Anyways the best days are always gone, so surely next year I might be sitting at work and thinking ‘How much fun it was in college which I thought sucked badly. I could take off whenever I wanted to and happily sleep off at home. A day off now will cost me 1000 bucks loss of pay!’

Waters turns 64!

2007-09-06T22:32:00.000+05:30

After a day off yesterday, it was a lazy morning today. College these days has become good fun because you get to play during the last hours. However these things are coming to an end though, because the PD has told us that we can’t get the equipments once the 1^st years turn up. But the thought that you need to catch the bus at 7.15 to get to college creates enough depression to bunk.

At times lack of attendance motivates you to go. Today was one such day I had to attend because I had already missed several Thursdays. But this morning one thing that caught my eye was a big picture of Pinkfloyd’s ‘The Wall’ album’s cover printed in the supplement paper saying its mastermind turns 64. Happy birthday Roger!

Thanks a million to him, what an album it is. How amazing it feels to listen to ‘Comfortably Numb’, (especially when drunk: D) it goes hello hello hello… whoa, what a feeling it gives! ‘Is anybody out there’ mm, needless to say another superb feel-good song. And of course my favorite ‘Another brick in the wall’, the song was used as the theme song for the play 5 Point Someone, by Madras Players (another reason why I loved the play). The narrator says “we started drinking vodka, smoking grass and listening to Pinkfloyd”. How much I can relate myself to this! I remember KK saying, you like a narration only if you are able to relate yourself with it, putting yourself in the narrator’s shoes. True indeed!

Hey you, this is another great song. If you haven’t listened to it, its high time you do. These are not merely good music you can enjoy, the lyrics, and the philosophy that goes with it making it the ultimate music. Anyways thanks to George Roger Waters for one of the greatest albums ever made, which still continues to rake in millions (both money and audience) as the paper says.

We don’t need no education!

2007-08-28T22:35:00.000+05:30

We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

One of my favourite songs, by my favourite band Pinkfloyd

Always wanted to stay out of class trying out diff things.. started with ncc in yr 1, finishing with sankhya in yr 4! Whoa, what a long journey it has been

Avadi keeps saying ‘namba laam od le kodi katti parandhavange’

Year 1, college started on oct 1^st, I still remember the day. I was in L batch. College life started picking up, I had just joined NCC to get a hang of it. November comes, Advanced Leadership Camp :) arrives, off to panagarh (pana – snake, garh – home ; in Sikkim) for a month.. I get back, college has closed for study hols.. lmao!

This time unfortunately sankhya has consumed quite a bit of ods, even though I managed to get attendance for the free hours I bunked.

Prabakaran counted the number of hrs of od taken, and has said he is not gonna give me anymore of them… he said ‘achu pa, don’t bring anymore of them’

Adding fuel to fire was SGB, who said ‘sir, na ivana coll pakarthey illey’ lol… true... was busy with sankhya, maybe this is my last association with math. That’s they reason why I was all enthusiastic to take it up. Must thank the all juniors, who worked their ass off, maybe to cut class but eventually we did pull off a successful sankhya :D

Now I guess for the next 2 days my song would be…

Be, what you wanna be, taking things the way, they come,
nothing is as nice as finding paradise and
Sippin' on Bacardi Rum.

Off to pondy, on an official vacation.. to jipmer culs.. cmc was great fun, hopefully this is good fun as well... am sure it will be good fun as well thinking about the prevailing liquor rates there…

Girls, more mushy…

2007-08-20T13:59:00.000+05:30

I am not a person who enjoys a lot of mush, but at times I do. Thanks to this female friend of mine for coming up with this… Hear is the superb one… “Whenever with you, I have the irresistible urge to put my head on your chest, and hold you tight, knowing that all I am feeling is mine...." True indeed, girls read and enjoy a lot of mush. But I really dint expect this… when the above was conversation was going on, my kiddo cousin comes to me and said she ll give me a mush line too… I was like, wtf… u read mush too?! Yeah, I love it! This is how it goes… “Sometimes when I sit back and see what I have and don’t have, I realize I have you which equals not only what I do not have but all I wish I could have, because you mean the world to me.” (Me with a confused smile…) I am sure 80 percent of the guys in college wouldn’t have even heard of the word mush! But almost every girl would know what it is. They would surely know what chemistry is. Not that mush is sissy, just that men don’t learn things about relationships.

My Independence Day

2007-08-15T01:36:00.000+05:30

Last year I was in college doing parade. It was good fun being a part of the NCC, you celebrate special days like the people in Army; flag hoisting, and then saluting the flag, marching etc.

So this year I wanted to do something very different when a superb idea occurred to me, WHY NOT LISTEN TO THE RADIO? THAT’S HOW OUR GRANDPARENTS AND THEIR PARENTS WOULD HAVE GOT THE NEWS THAT INDIA WAS INDEPENDENT.

So I took my mobile phone, fixed the headset and started listening to the radio when a message flashed…

‘If you are married or if you have a lover please ignore the following message…

Happy Independence Day’

Oh my God, what a new perspective to the Independence Day! The day that’s been celebrated every year to show the world that we are no more slaves of the British government, we are Free Men! We ‘selfish’ youth, who have never been through those times when people without food and water fought with the Britishers, eventually kicking them out of our country, seldom realize the importance of these days. All we care for is a day off; we can sit at home and relax watching special programmes on TV!

After deleting the message I turned the radio on, the one in my mobile phone… the music started playing and it stopped immediately for a second. ‘Delivery Report: Message Sent’ appeared on screen, the report to some message I had sent in the evening. I only wished I had another radio at home, which is not a part of a mobile phone. All irritating interruptions stopped in sometime after really pissing me off that I deleted all sent messages; removed all reports etc.

By now the time was 23:55 and I was happy that I wasn’t disturbed at the right moment. I started flipping channels and I stopped at one that was playing AR Rahman’s Vande Materam. The perfect song for the right moment! I closed my eyes, turned the lights off and was lost in thought thinking of every movie I had seen about the ‘Freedom Struggle’.

Maximum goosebumps per square inch happened during the next song ‘Ippo Kappal Yeri Poyachu’ from the film INDIAN. Every word, every line, every stanza was so beautifully written, and put into tune in a superb way. The March beat still adding to the goosebumps. How they would have felt at this moment, exactly 60 years ago. How they would have jumped with joy, hitting the ceiling. They were slaves no more; they were free men from then. No foreigner to dictate terms to you. You do what you want to do.

Oh wow, how good it was to live those moments. I surely did enjoy every bit of it, only wishing I was alive then to celebrate the independence!

Meeting the SVCE Hod

2007-08-13T16:20:00.000+05:30

Unfortunately (for us) this time internal marks are strictly according to the CAT (Continuous Assessment test) marks. So we fixed an appointment with the head of the department so that we could meet him and request him to do some moderation. We (me, aditya, atul, anjana and ninja) went to college.

Hod: Please come.

We: Sir, this is our critical semester and we will have to apply for universities abroad, so please moderate our CAT marks.

Hod: No, nothing can be done. I could have told this over the phone yesterday but I wanted representation. So your representation is well taken, we expected this. We will surely discuss in the hods meet next time.

(Wtf, after we travel 40 kms to college)

He kept telling us that we all already knew internals were according to CAT marks and that we cant expect them to moderate every time. (The only thing that was running in my mind was, why only the so-called toppers get full even after failing, this isn’t fair at all)

Me: Sir, my Power System Analysis marks are not according to the CAT marks.

Hod: What is your university reg. no.?

Me: 5005 sir.

Hod: Give me your CAT marks.

Me: Sir, CAT 1 I got 4!

(he started laughing his ass off)

Hod: yes, then?

Me: CAT 2 I got 20. And CAT 3 I don’t know.

(By now he realized I am one of the under dogs)

Hod: Third time you got 8, and attendance 2.

(With a ‘you are not going to lose the university rank with these internal marks’ kinda look. But not my fault though, I remember seeing a nice attendance percentage. Maybe this was subject-wise attendance and I missed a lot of PSA classes)

Anyways we already knew we were fighting a losing battle, so no point arguing and we got back home after a long ride to college.

It’s always pretty common that we are made to slog even for the pettiest of things like getting records signed. Why wasn’t the phone call considered as representation? I remember once I was absent for a lab and I took my record the very next day after doing my experiment, the in charge madam never bothered to sign at all and I ended up getting 0. She never listened to me, so that I could explain that I had been to this NCC camp and I came back only the previous day and I couldn’t have finished it before this. My Class Counselor asked me to tell her politely, but someone needs to listen when you tell! All voices unheard!

All this a part of college fun. To be remembered how great going to college was.

Dream or Reality?

2007-08-11T01:04:00.000+05:30

Was chatting the SVCE's wikipedia, the one and only Ram Kumar today.. of couse he isnt a wiki, cause the content cant be edited. Anyways this is what happened. me: am online without an hard disc in my comp. ram: how come? me: using ubuntu da. ram: what the f is that? me: (laughing my ass off) hahaha, i am surprised i know something which the great ramkumar doesnt. lol.its a type of linux da. Everyone else would have been like 'oh ok', but here was the difference. He is no ordinary person, he is The Ram Kumar... ram: so what does ubuntu mean? me: (thank god i had seen it mentioned on the cover) ubuntu is an african word that means humanity to others.! I go off to bed thinking of Rajnikanth's BABA caption that says 'known is a drop, unknown is an ocean'. true indeed!

After two years… The First Post!

2007-05-10T02:23:00.000+05:30

Here I am, Akshay Kesavan writing the first post for this blog I created two years ago. Actually thanks to Ganesh, he was the one who had invited me to post in BOTHACK then. He told me he writes a blog and wanted me to post in it.

I agreed, later too lazy to post. (At times you miss great opportunities in life; you don’t regret... you move on [:D])

Every year came a new blog, during my summer study holidays. This was the first... 2005 summer! The year after this came Vaquero, and in 2007 came the most successful of all, asktheacharya! But a little attachment to this URL, maybe cause it has my name. The only reason why I made all these, to kill time at home during the study holidays when no one accompanies you to hang out and it’s very hot outside and you need to stay indoors.Three blogs in line, how to market it. [;)]

Standard Operating Procedure

1) Start working and release product no.1

2) If product no.1 doesn’t click, release product no.2

3) If product no.2 also doesn’t click, release product no.3

4) If product no.3 clicks and becomes a big hit, advertise product no.3 alone

5) Make product no.3 even more popular

6) Now slowly release product no.1

Trust me this works. I can give you an example. The book ‘Angels and Demons’ wasn’t a big hit until ‘Da Vinci Code’ was released.The publishers started marketing the former with a caption ‘Before the Da VinciCode, the world lived on Angels and Demons’

Welcome

2007-05-09T22:51:00.000+05:30

Hello and welcome to Akshay Kesavan's Weblog !