Blasted By News...

What's up with online news? Here are some of today's news headlines:

• PM visits train station where Gandhigiri began: (courtesy Rediff, where crazy discussions take place)
  Gandhigiri??? I mean, that word is all right (I guess,) in things (can't call it news, right) like "What works? Dadagiri or Gandhigiri?" . I mean, this is The Place where The History started, not a place where a movie was shot...
  Nothing against Munnabhai, that's a great movie, and containing for a change a good message (not to mention good songs). But when we are talking about a state visit to a place with historical importance on the world stage, shouldn't we be talking about Gandhism at least?
  Why don't they just go ahead and call it "Gandhigardi" like "Gundagardi"? That would at least be very western-friendly (which is supposedly new trend in Bollywood). They don't pronounce the H in his name anyways. It will be easy to tell them to change the syllables in gundagardi, way easy to pronounce, right?
  And the header on the news page reads, "PM at the place where Gandhi was pushed out". Gandhi was pushed out? Of What? From Where?
  Are all English graduates at Rediff on a holiday, or are they trying to save some money stinting on reporter staff?


• Dino Morea hasn’t achieved much: (courtesy Indiatimes Movies, yes I read it sometimes when I need a good laugh)
  It's a fashion now-a-days to bash Indiatimes. But on this, I must give some credit to them on two points.
  First: The headline is understated, and rouses people's interest in the news item (well, at least people like me, who want to see what this was about).
  Second: This was a news to me, I thought that Dino Moria hasn't achieved anything in Bollywood. I mean, just name three of his movies for me please...

On the positive note, next part of W.O.M.B.A.T. is up you-know-where. Go and get yourself graded....

Not Weird Day #3

Thanks guys for wishing me no weird day today. Today is good, with a bit of strong winds, and maybe a storm coming in (I can hear the thunder now). The weather is was cloudy today for whole day, not unlike yesterday, the perfect weather to go on a long drive in a car. The only difference between yesterday and today, yesterday the drive was needed because that was the only way to get any moving air at all, and today, the drive would be welcome just for the fun of it.

That reminds me, have you noticed after a speech, when the first person has clapped the first clap, and there's this awful suspense for a moment whether anybody would continue the clapping? Have you ever felt like you are living in that moment?

Ok, I admit. No connection between the two paragraphs, just two things which kept revolving in my head for last few days...

Bet when you wished a non-weird day for me, you didn't wish for non-weird me ;)

To compensate, here's a sneak peak at my latest crush. Go explore...

Weird Day # 2

I am still recovering from yesterday's weirdness, when another weird day hits me with all the subtlety of Peeves...

I woke up early in the morning for a change, so early in fact that I could finish my assignment easily before starting for college (which was good). But don't know how I spent time after that, because I was late for class again (which was bad).

When the class was supposed to start, I was at 1/3rd point, waiting for an interminable signal to turn green (yellow, to be precise). So, I got to class almost 10 minutes late (which was bad, even by my normal standards), but the class somehow started after I reached (which was good).

After the class, I went to get printouts of the assignments we were supposed to submit in lab. While writing my name on the assignments (don't ask why I write my name on printed assignment), I remembered that we were supposed to upload the assignments online, before lab starts in (checking watch) 10 minutes. So, rush out, get a place to sit, start the laptop, and upload the assignments.

We played with beads in the lab (to understand how mitosis and meiosis works) for crying out loud...

And if the day wanted any more weirdness, can you cap going to ATM machine with your wallet containing only some change and your card, and finding out that the machine has gone on blink?

Oh, and Google Reader has decided to add its two knuts... Suddenly I am able to see all the posts from blogs coming on top of my unread list (unread??? why???), one blog at a time from yesterday. Is blogger playing around with feeds, or is this just Google Reader?

Memory Revamp?

Normally, I find myself associating various incidences/people with songs or sometimes entire movies. Like RHTDM is associated with the trip our class had in our BE, because the movie was too famous right then (people actually bought the figurines on the trip which were like the figurine in the movie I remember).

Similarly, DCH is connected with memories of all of the Knights of The Round Table, sitting and watching the movie on my friend's PC. I can still remember exactly where everybody was sitting/sleeping, and what jokes we passed around as we had the dialogs by heart, having watched that movie about 1000 times before.

Each time I hear the song from either of these movies, I am reminded of these incidences...

Today I was listening to a song on my iPod, and suddenly my mind created the whole picture of the road we used to take to get back to our rooms from the office in Hyderabad, during our training. I can still see the whole picture even now, after about 3-4 hours.

But, the movie the song belonged to was released at least an year before I went for training, there wasn't any particular incident which I would associate with the song (the song being a sad romantic one did not help matter either).

So, what cross connection took place? Or my mind is undergoing a revamp, and so just threw on a random scene it found in front of my eyes? I am still trying to understand...

A Promi-Sorry Post

First Blogger (beta) kept me from commenting on some of the blogs, which took some time to solve.

Now, Google Reader has gone on a blink. So, I am not being kept up-to-date on updates to the blogs. I am relying mostly on my blogroll, which shows who have updated their blogs in last 24 hours (or at least, it is supposed to, but has some weird algo for it). But I am not able to check it quite as often as I like, and so, I may not be able to comment on some of the new posts, as I may not be aware of their existence.

Sorry for all people who (I wish) are/were waiting for my comments, I promise I will check the blogs more often, and will see what happened to Google Reader as soon as I get time.

And no jokes about "blind-sided" eagle please. Even if my eyesight is bit of a question right now, my talons are pretty much perfect...

Bracketed In Boredom

I love Orkut. I mean, ask my friends... I am normally online there, padik is the term my marathi-speaking friend(s?) will use. And let's face it, my contact with 90% people I know and am in contact with is due to Orkut (out of remaining, 5% is blogging).

Anyways, praising Orkut is not the point of this post. The point of this post is, as much as I love Orkut, there are some things I hate like anything there.

e.g. If I get the donut every time the server is refused one, I would have by now changed the orbit of earth single-handedly. And that's saying something, as unlike some of my friends, I cannot even change the direction in which a Luna is going.

Also, I need not mention the new type of spam there, "Join this community, join that community" etc. etc. Like all forwards, I forward requests to join a community only if I find it worthwhile and/or funny (to date, only "Sorry Shaktimaan" community holds the honour for obvious reasons).

And when I am looking for just fun on the communities there, I get drawn into crazy topics, (which provide fuel for posts like this and this). But today, after watching "The Colbert Report" (more about it later) for about 2-3 hours, spoiling for a debate (read fight), I go to check the communities, and I find... nothing. Nada, nüll, zip...

First I visited the community of my... err, community (the religious community/ caste I belong to would be better choice of words here I guess). It is normally useful for 1-2 good topics (not counting those where you are supposed to chose a rose for person above you) where you can really get your gloves out of the cupboard. But today, I find just one topic being debated ("Kissing in Public"), where the second post by the person who started the topic, mentioned that "It's a personal choice" and third one said, "[but]we should reach a common verdict, 100% yes or 100% no". And I am not in a mood to get into a non-debate just now...

And if anybody is keeping a score, I am sure about 50% of this post is in brackets [just goes to show how bored I am to count this statistics (that's 1, rather 2 more brackets now)]

Nostalgic....

Remember the days

• When watching a movie on VCR was a special event?


• When Aamir Khan was a chocolate Hero?


• When every boy dreamed of dancing in slow motion in tea farms?


• When cycle races were popular even though nobody had learned about Tour de France?

Yes, I recently got "Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar"...


And while we are nostalgic, does anybody remember the antics of a soldier (who didn't know the WWI was over for 20 years) and his buddy? Or what "hornophobia" or "hornmania" is? And how to milk a "G-O-Oat... Goat"?




P.S. If anybody got the references in last para, you are a person after my own heart...

There goes my last excuse...

And I thought I would tell you that this is why I don't update the blog as often as I want to...

On other hand, haha there to all my friends who say I am too lazy...

You Are 32% Slacker

You have a few slacker tendencies, but overall you tend not to slack. You know how to relax when the time is right, but you aren't lazy!

Are You a Slacker?

Marathi-Italy Bhai Bhai

There always has been a hypothesis that Marathis and Italians are connected genetically and linguistically. It dates back to the time when our ancestors realised that "Italy" seems to be derived from the word Vitthal (or Ittal colloquially) which is the name of a major god in marathi. Also, in recent times, there has been some research showing that driving habits of Italians and people in heartland of Marathi (Pune) are very similar.

But now, in a lucid moment when I woke up in the dawn yesterday, I have found an irrefutable proof that converts the hypothesis into theory. To wit:

• In marathi, the exclamation "Baap Re!" is commonly used one (The word baap means father in marathi.)


• The most common Italian expression we hear is "mamma mia". Now, consider the fact that mamma in Italian is "mother" (and also that kids worldwide are calling their mothers mamma now-a-days). Also, add to this that "mian" in hindi means "husband". So, the expression means, "Mother's Husband".... same as "Oh father!"

Eureka, amici!!!


Update:
Thanks to Iyer Education, we found a phenomenon not explained by our theory. On thinking about it, we have updated the theory...
Italians are maternal cousins with Marathis and paternal cousins with Sindhis. So, they share the name endings with parsis (though most common marathi name is Kulkarni, it is pronounced with "Ni", not "ni").
But, Italian is their mother-tongue after all, which supports the theory.

I guess we have plugged all holes in this theory now... Grazie, amico!!!

Associative Learning

One more recipe (or non-recipe if you would)...

Egg Fried Rice

Ingredients: Some eggs, Rice, Vegetables, any spices you want.

How not to make it:
DON'T add all the stuff together in a bowl and just put it in microwave. You will need to make the egg fry in a different pan, and rice in different bowl and add them together.



Now, my biology professor tells me, that by a process called "Associative Learning", I will next time (if I want to survive) be less lazy in cooking something new. And I will know that not all my new recipes work (unlike the famous Coffee-icecream).

But, let me tell you that Associative Learning doesn't survives first contact with nature. After lugging a bag full of folders, a laptop and a jacket around for 2 cloudy (and hot) days, I finally decide to lighten the load, and keep the jacket (which is in way every time I need to get anything out of my bag) home. Now, that's a classic example of Associative Learning, and adaption at large.

Result? You must have guessed it by now. The same as my eggs and rice fried together...

Priorities

I knew Ryen had some human traits. I guess he too is human after all (Ok, at least part human).

This is one more of the things that make us similar. I am missing my dear niece today.

P.S. More info on Ryen here. The current storyline starts here (actually here, but that might be a bit too much of background).

P.P.S. While we are on webcomics, here's a good tribute to 9/11.

Recipie( and a r)ant

Ever wondered what to do with the coffee remaining near the bottom of the pot, when it is a bit too less to drink with cream and sugar, and a bit too much to drink just like that before going to bed? Here's a recipie for you:

Coffee-Icecream

Ingredients: The irritatingly small amount of coffee, chocolate ice-cream

1. Take some chocolate icecream (vanilla might also work) in a bowl.
2. Pour the coffee over it, making sure you pour it uniformly over the ice-cream. (just for the heck of it)
3. Enjoy...



And while you are enjoying this, just ponder on why people send forwards? I mean, I enjoy good jokes/ good forwards, but the best way to ensure I will delete the mail ASAP is add the lines "Send this to n number of people and..." (Fill the blanks with anything). I am a tempter of fate, and I proudly attribute the fact that I am single, the girl(s?) I love have never called me, I have never got any Good News (note the caps) in under 5 minutes etc. to the fact that I never forward such mails.

Ok, to the point... I get two forwards from an acquaint. on Orkut today, the first a general one with the usual reminder and the other one stating that "Mumbai ICSE books mention Bhagat Singh etc. as terrorists" (Please to check, I doubt this highly). What got my goat about this was the last line in the mail said, "Please be a good Indian, and forward this to everybody instead of sending the usual love/fun forwards"

I guess this is one of the moments for Savepoint, right?

How Many Times

How many times

- Have you just gone on and on in "Rainbow Six", and realised after somebody shot you that you haven't saved the game for last half an hour?

- Have you passes treacherous traps, ran along the walls, swung across ropes and poles, dodged blades and saw-wheels, only to encounter so many sand creatures that you cannot kill them and reach the savepoint it opens (thus wasting the effort of 3 hours if you quit in frustration)?

- Have you gone on a perfect sortie, sunk more tunnage than ever, put a fish amidships the destroyer without getting spotted... then you come to periscope depth and get sunk by hitherto unknown destroyer which just cropped up, thus turning the perfectly executed mission, to all hands lost, just because you forgot to save, pushing your luck?

- Have you said something like, "Ok, I just heard what I said, and that sounded so crazy/mad/something totally unlike me"

- Have you clicked the "Send" button, and then felt the courage of sending the mail drain away, giving way to doubt?

- Have you pushed disconnect button on your cellphone, and immediately realising that that wasn't right?

So, I guess we agree with Ethan, we need savepoints in life...

That said, I need a savepoint before this post, because...

Now You Know

Now you know, why you read my blog. If you disagree with anything this says... well, I didn't say it.

You Are a Snarky Blogger!

You've got a razor sharp wit that bloggers are secretly scared of. And that's why they read your posts as often as they can!

What Kind of Blogger Are You?

How do you know...

How do you know you are extremely bored?

- You finish individual pieces of ice from your take-away glass from McDonalds, after you finish your coke, sucking each piece with the straw to the lip of glass and then eating it...




Totally out of context with this post, but somewhat connected to the previous one: Just read a quote, which about sums up...,

But then I guess I always built romances in my head better than in the world - Geographer's Library

For All Single Guys

In my endless search for perfect dating techniques (not to mention a date), I came across this great video. I loved it, because to paraphrase Joey, "what's not to like in that? Subject, good... Narration (aka tips)... Good... Rowan Atkinson... GOOD..."

Oh and by the way, any other tips are always welcome. [Of course, they don't mention anything about coffee, but that would be I guess in next lecture ;)]



P.S. Yes, chalk me up as another fan of YouTube.