Saturday, April 26, 2008

It is surely a male dominated world. The most preferred voice for female lyrics to me seems to be of Kailash Kher.

Monday, April 21, 2008

I love echoes.
I want to hear my name when I call out yours.

Yes, I love echoes.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Lagi Shart?

I had hoped that the IPL will bring huge profits to the BCCI. In fact I thought it will be profitable for even Shahrukh, Preity, Mukesh Ambani, and may be Vijay Mallya too. Though I don't think the last one is as interested in profits as he is in the game and its glamour.

Later on, I thought it would bring profits to bookies too. Of course the players and all were to be benefitted.

But I never knew that it will be Chennai Hot Puffs 2007, my nearest baker, who will be enjoying profits from IPL.

I have been put of my hostel for quite some days for my project work and staying at my project partner Anish's room. It's a almost a small hostel as there are some fifteen people from the same college, most of them from the final year. We have a TV here that is connected to cable through some arrangement unknown to me but which is not completely legal for sure.

And now we watch the IPL matches in one of the rooms, where we all gather in front of the TV, getting a place wherever possible, on a chair, a mat or the floor itself.

It was the first match where it started. Anish supported Kolkata Knight Riders for the match and Abhishek Luthra supported Royal Challengers Bangalore. The bet was a veg puff which Abhishek lost badly. Next day he supported Mohali against Chennai and lost again. The system continued and Luthra had lost 5 veg puffs to Anish till last reported.

Anish has in total won 6 veg puffs by now and hasn't lost any. But now the bets seem to have come to such levels where we are ready to put a puff even on the number of dot balls in an over.

Whoever wins these bets, our bakery owner is sure to win in this game.

Now come to the higher end of it. We'll be soon going to our homes when the series will be in the mid of it. But we want to bet on who will be the winner of the series. So what will be the prize for the winner and how will it be given?

Any guesses?

Whoever loses, will get an e-recharge, i.e. top-up of the bet amount on the winner's phone number.

Howzzat?

I think now I understand the line 'Ye India ka cricket hai bidu'.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Ad(d) value

The little sweet doggy is back with a little girl this time. During the debut match of IPL, the thing I enjoyed the most after Mccullum's innings was the series of Vodafone ads.

The little dog wetting the tickets for envelopes by licking them was an awesome sight. The interesting part is that Vodafone doesn't come into the picture anywhere until you are completely held by the double innocence of the girl and the doggy.

And then, they simply write their message in big letters, such that it reaches every single heart.

I mean, when you watch it for the first time, it sure does.

Even before this, Vodafone has made beautiful ads for their alerts' services, the best one being for the art of living alerts.

Of course, nobody has forgot the 'Kabhi kabhi mere dil mein khayal aata hai' ad where a guy sings one song through out his life and at the end you get an almost statutory warning telling you 'Zyada gaane sunen' (listen to more songs).

I just hope they keep on making such ads, which not only add to their customers, but also make the entire experience of watching TV great.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Torch-Light

There are innumerous ways to come into limelight. Especially when you are in India. But sometimes people use these rare things to get themselves into limelight, like the Olympic torch.

Use of Olympic torch to come to limelight is not really new. It has been pretty usual to run with the Olympic torch in order to get the limelight around yourself. But some people feel that this way, the torch doesn't give the best of its light. And so, they find better ways.

One such way is recently found by our just-arrived sports minister Mr. MS Gill.

Mr. Gill found out that stopping people from running with the torch will not only give him a brighter light in the media, it will also give brighter light to those who are being stopped. Probably that's the reason he has advised politicians and film stars to stay away from the torch.

Anyways, the Olympic torch this time has given light to a number of people, from Tibetans wanting their freedom to Amitabh Bachchan commenting on Mr. Gill, and from Sachin Tendulkar to Rahul Gandhi. And to Mr. Gill, no doubt.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

I just found my religion. I am a Googlist.

First Among Equals

99/100 to this one.

One of the best from Jeffrey Archer. Where you feel the pressure building even in your own mind whenever it comes to the election time.

The one mark I reduced is because I felt at times, or may be only one time, it seems that the author has written something just to add a twist and there is no enough reasonability.

But, beyond reasonable doubt, I enjoyed reading this one too just like Shall we tell the President, Kane and Abel, and As the crow flies as the book was extremely interesting even with the amount of politics involved which can be really boring at times.

With FAE, my personal count on Archer reaches 6 and I get a majority out of his novels. Hope to read a few more, and if possible, all, in the near future. For FAE, it's a highly recommended book if you are a Jeffrey Archer reader. As a word of advice, it may be better if you know a bit about the British political system as it will make the novel easier to follow.

Fall of Grand Old Orkut

No more Orkut.

It's not my new year resolution in the middle of the year. It's something that Orkut has done to itself.

Well, to be more clear and specific, we can say that Orkut has become 'facebookised'. And thus comes the fall of the grand old Orkut.

For now, all I'm feeling is that the grand old Orkut got afraid of the increasing or increased popularity of Facebook and decided to go the facebook way, adding a number of applications from music iLike to typeRacer and readingSocial to Bible Verses and IndiaDekha.

Which, I presume, is a bad, bad decision as I have seen a number of people who have found it difficult to cope with the facebook and thus have sticked to Orkut, without even deleting their Facebook accounts, for either they did not care, or they did not know how to do that.

I feel it may also trouble people who were first time netizens and found Orkut the 'simple and best' system to just stay in touch with friends.

Although, on a positive side, the new Orkut may be more interesting to people who were finding it difficult to pass more time on Orkut.

But overall, I think it's a negative thing for the grand old Orkut.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

How to react?

I was supposed to be shocked. And so I was. But the fact is that I was confused too.

Today, when I reached the library gate, I saw the face of our librarian that had become somewhat horrifying and a lot detestable for me. But the way it came to me, that was unexpected by all means.

It was her photo kept at the gate of library, with a garland over it, smoke of an incense stick, and a note that read, "We deeply regret to announce the death of our librarian Ms K Kalaichelvi."

For a few minutes I could not understand if it was truth or I was dreaming. And if it was a dream, was it good or bad? Well, it wasn't good, to say the least.

Cause even though I hated the lady, I couldn't think of something like that happening. It was just, just frustration against what she used to do, and so many people do here. And understanding that, I tried not to think bad about the lady, at least now that she was no more.

But the fact is that I couldn't think much good about her, and in some way, I was feeling a bit guilty for that.

Anyways, the facts were facts, and the hatred was hatred. But now, it all exists in the past tense only. So it's better I forget all those things.

One more thing, I feel, maybe it's only a feeling though, but I strongly feel that the thing she could not do putting up hundreds of boards in the library and using all the good and bad means, (sorry!) she did it when she wasn't there as the library seemed to be in the most silent of the moods today.

Well, now, only my apologies for talking anything bad I did talk about the dead. May she rest in peace.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Google and Googlability

I had decided this post to be titled as Googlability. But since I'm a very literary person, at least nowadays, I let myself have some inspiration and named it Google and Googlability.

What is Googlability?

In simple terms, the ability of a search result to be googled easily is its Googlability.

I haven't yet made it mathematical so that it's just a concept and can be understood easily by anyone.

Now let us take some examples to understand Googlability. Let us start with the Indian Premier League. Indian Premier League is an easily Googlable term. That is, when we write Indian Premier League in the Google search box, we simply get the results related to the Indian Premier League we want and not any other thing.

Too simple. Isn't it?

When do you get results for 'Z' when you search for 'X'?

Sometimes we do.

Let us talk about Mumbai Indians. How many results out on top are for the IPL Mumbai team? Though the first ten results are for the IPL team only but not as many as come for Chennai Super Kings or Kolkata Knight Riders. This is an example of relatively low Googlability.

Today we need to know how to make ourselves more Googlable if we want people to register our presence in the online world. Being Googlable is especially necessary for those people and organisations which are googled by people and which need to be seen or heard by the people in order to advertise themselves.

We can say Googlability comes from a balance between uniqueness and generalisation. While you go out in the cyber space for an identity it should be as unique as it can be and that without losing its general identity.

Today I am happy that my name is Googlable enough and gives results on the first page of Google. After all, Googling is all about the first page search results.

Ethically Correct?

The so-called reshuffle of the UPA government's ministries has been done and there has been very little to talk about. In fact the way Congress has once again ignored its youth brigade is one thing almost everybody is talking about.

The PM-in-the-waiting Rahul Gandhi has not been given any ministry and simultaneously the HIgh command Sonia Ji has released a statement declaring he didn't want a ministry himself.

And although Jyotiraditya and Jitin prasad have been given ministries, there is a big question on why was the much popular Sachin Pilot not given a ministry.

Anyways, the question of ethically correct or incorrect lies somewhere else. It's about the former Chief election commissioner M S Gill being given a place in the ministry. The question is that is it right to give a ministry to a person who has been on a top post where the holders of the post are expected to be entirely neutral. Will this not raise a question on the political leanings of the person?

I agree that Mr Gill has done his work with complete neutrality, that is, to the best of my knowledge. But his inclusion in the ministry can surely leave a wrong impression on the other election commisioners who may lean more towards parties expecting a benefit from them after the completion of their tenures.

In fact this has taken place when an election commissioner Navin Chawla is already in question regarding his involvements with the BJP.

Apart from this, there is one more question that confuses me. Is it that the UPA government itself has doubts about this act of theirs? Because I find no other reason for a highly qualified beaurocrat like Mr Gill to be assigned a state ministry, even with an independent charge. Why wasn't he given a cabinet post is something that creates more confusion.

Monday, April 7, 2008

SRK. The brand and the businessman.

I was never a fan of Shahrukh Khan, the superstar. Probably because of my nature of trying not to do what everybody is doing. Or may be because of my taste in 'different' type of movies. Probably this 'taste' of mine can be explained by not only the movies I watch, but also the ones I leave. Om Shanti Om and Race being in the top league of the latter.

Then the times changed, and I started liking the work of the Khan. Actually I had loved his work in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai itself, but I started really admiring the actor after seeing Swades. Then came the undoubtedly wonderful Chak de India and I admired him more.

But I never became a fan of Shahrukh Khan, the actor. Still, Shahrukh Khan, the brand and Shahrukh Khan, the businessman, are making me his fan.

A few months back I got the inner and outer world of Shahrukh Khan. It was one of the things that brought the change. The way Shahrukh Khan presents himself, the I-don't-care-what-u-think attitude has always appealed to me, but the things he told in his inner world almost touched me. I still remember a few lines of his from the CD, which say "Nothing in this world is permanent. This is, hundred percent, a lifetime of it's own. It has a beginning, and it has an end." I do not know if those dialogues came out of some dialogue writer's pen, which does not hold a very high probability, but I started watching out for almost everything he says in public and I found myself being a fan of him.

Once I had got a point in a debate in my hostel that Shahrukh Khan is a person who has established himself and now after doing a lot of crap movies, (sorry fans) he is one person who can risk doing a Paheli. I very much agreed to the point. In fact, recently I read he admits that his friend Vivek Vaswani had asked him to 'first become a star and then become an actor'.

And now, the brand SRK has jumped into an all new area with the IPL. He has finally become a complete businessman now if he was not yet one.

His ways of working are also clear from the fact that he did not have any awards for his home production Om Shanti Om as it is clear to him that it will only be a bad for his image to win a prize for such a crappy movie. Of course, I do not doubt he could have got it had he tried it.

Well, now that I am almost a fan of him, I can talk a lot about him. But I think it's enough for now.

By the way, I'll surely be waiting for the new image of my favorite brand SRK at 'Kya Aap Panchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?' while singing karbo, larbo, jitbo re.

Incomplete knowledge is seldom good but complete knowledge is seldom gained.

Once again refugee?

Once again, I don't know my future. A few more months at my base where I have been for the last quarter to four years. And I will be somewhere for a few weeks. And then, somewhere else. And I hardly have any idea of either of the places.

After all, having an idea is not what matters.

I used to have a home, a school and a group of friends, like everybody else. Or like all the guys lucky enough to have a school, to be precise.

And then suddenly a day came when I no more had a school. A day I used to wait for, and a day I have detested after that day. That day took away the times with those friends of school and then, even I left my home to come back every 6 months as a guest.

Well, almost.

Then I reached Kota and had an year of coaching with some of the school friends around and some new ones. And it was a wonderful life. During my drop at Kota, I enjoyed one year of friendship, experienced one year of life, and simultaneously did one year of preparation for engineering entrance.

Well, almost. ;)

I finally got into a 'reputed' college as a result of one year of my 'hardwork', with no friends from my home this time. But then there were new friends. Like always. And sometimes, better.
After almost 4 years of stay in college, I had a friends' circle and a lot more circles. With and without girls. With and without boys. But there has been my 'Mohalla' with me all the time, except for the third year when I was in a different block. Something I know I'm gonna miss for long. May be for life.

I have had some of the best friends in college. And a big number of acquaintances with whom I have been involved with. With almost 1200 students in my year of B Tech alone, I doubt the number of people I know, at least their names, would be any less than 1k.

And there would be many of them I'll be missing at least some time in my life, for some reason or the other.

And Now I'll be leaving it all.

To stay in some place I do not know. As I've got a reputed company. I know I'll be having friends again wherever be the place I go but I doubt I'll be having such great days again with those friends. In fact, for the start, I'll be a refugee again. One in the refugee camp where everybody is new to the other and nobody knows where to go.

Ok. I think I'm not talking much sense. The fact is just that many things are going to become parts of history now. And I'll be missing it all. Just wish I get some of the present friends while getting my job. That is all I want for now.

Well, almost.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

It's all fake

I had read a post of the same title by mirage a few days ago. It was a pretty serious post about pretty serious issues. But what I'm going to write here is not that serious. It's just bits and pieces I have collected from here and there. Mostly from my own college.

Today I saw a girl roaming with a guy in my college. So what?? Nothing with that. They were simply standing in the 'lovers can stand here' (only that much, that too luck favoring, of course) zone of our college. But then I realized there was an old guy with them, the biggest ******** of college. (don't count the stars, all the words that need these stars can be used) He gave them a piece of their mind saying it was not a place to stand there and all the crap I could only guess from their faces. (that was when I saw what all was happening) Finally, after a few minutes, he asked them to move from there.

And they moved.

And he called the guy back and asked him, "Where are YOU going? Let her go, and you do your work."

If only you let him do it.

Logic: he was 'saving' the girl from any problems that could happen.

Fake. Isn't it?

The girl was almost on the verge of crying. She moved in the direction I was moving. (Of course I couldn't stand and see the drama taking place) Soon I realized the girl was moving in the opposite direction again. Back to the same place. The guys were both out of sight. Hopefully, she would find the one she wants to. And not the other one.

Fake again?

I remember on the day of Shankar Mahadevan concert in our college, our teachers were busy controlling us. A few of them were simply standing and trying to look happy. And then, at the same time, I could see their spouses standing on the other side of the barrier, trying to look the same happy.

The students can't dance together cause of the protection theory. But sad is that even teachers can't have the privilege of staying together if they cannot sit in the chairs.

Like good teachers.

I see guards whistling on each and everything they see. Or dont' see. And students doing their 'work' through it all.
Center for technical support banning sites and students working through proxy sites.
CTS banning proxy sites and students finding new ways to get through. And still failing in the continuous assessment exam of 'networking'.

I do not find much of truth in this world.

Or in myself.

It's all fake.

PS: I'm not a pessimist. The fake, to me, is just as interesting as true is.