Colours Forever

Changing Perspectives

2012-01-14T14:55:00.001+05:30

No matter how fervently I talk about sleep being such a huge waste of time, sometimes I do need that long peaceful twelve hours of sleep. And what I really mean by sleep being a waste of time is when I find myself sleeping during the day thinking I’ll be fresh and be able to work efficiently afterwards. But the result is rarely that. I end up feeling all groggy and unproductive for many hours after I wake up. So that, clearly, is a humongous waste pile of unproductive hours I could have spent watching episodes from The Big Bang Theory, or Yes Prime Minister.

So I slept for twelve hours last night – 10pm to 10am. I woke up, very fresh, had breakfast and went for my regular weekend morning walk. The weather was just perfect. It was cold and sunny at the same time. Absolutely wonderful. During the walk, I listened to Dennis Dalton’s lecture on Political Theory. And then I listened to Richard Feynman’s lecture on Physics. The contrast was intriguing, yet they didn’t seem too far apart either. There’s a thin thread connecting the two. And then I thought about the course I was studying here at MDI. And I wondered, surely there’s so much more to life than to learn how to “generate revenue”, or “strategize” to generate the most revenue. So what exactly am I learning here? Am I really learning business management? Honestly, it seems like I’m learning more about people management than business management. I’m not sure if my friends pursing an M.Tech/M.S. have similar experiences, but I have enough reasons to believe that life of an MBA student is very different from the life of an M.Tech/M.S. student.

I was told before I came here that I would meet all kinds of people here. And I thought that these so-called “all kinds” would be a small percentage. I was so mistaken. The small percentage actually constitutes the normal people who behave like er... normal people. And the rest of them are eccentric. Some are complete basket cases, and some are completely psycho. It’s not very easy to deal with them. In fact, it is in such situations you need to “strategize” your dealings with these people if you want to come out of this place sane. But of course, sometimes nothing works with them and you just learn to live with it.

I’ve never been more uncomfortable in my life before. I did spend four years in a hostel during engineering and there were difficult people, and not once did I feel uncomfortable. But here, at MDI, it’s a whole new world. You feel the discomfort tugging at you every moment of every day, and all you wish for is to get done with the course and run away as fast and as far as possible.

But in the light of all the reading and understanding of fields other than management, I’ve learnt to look at it from a larger perspective. If not for generating revenue, or helping the economy grow, or improving the standards of living of people economically, to say the very least, it’s an interesting insight into human behaviour and the application of this insight into conducting business transactions with people. And for that alone, I am glad I’m here.

And of course, no need to mention, the wonderful friends I’ve made here, and some very interesting people I’ve met.

Timetable layout - term 3

2011-12-28T18:54:00.000+05:30

Probably my most audacious attempt at a timetable layout. It was very difficult to resist the temptation of making it a coloured layout. But, a decision is a decision. And I had absolutely no reason to change it. So black-and-white it is.

Yet another fleeting year

2011-12-28T18:41:00.000+05:30

My resolution for 2012 is to not have any resolutions. No resolutions, no expectations, no boundaries, no rules. It's probably going to be my last year of "freedom" if you know what I mean, though I don't see why anything has to change when "it" happens. Anyway, just in case, I've decided that for this year I'll drive my time-machine from the future, park it in the present and make the most of what the present lays in front of me - be a little impulsive. I've got to make my friends stop calling me "mom".

As for last year's resolutions, as with all resolutions, all of them were broken. Except one - do not get married. And with no boyfriend in sight, I can be reasonably sure that the resolution won't be broken in 2012 either.

2011 has been quite eventless, except for my getting into MDI which was, somehow, completely unexpected. Though eventless, it has been a year of self-awakening. The image I had of myself and of the world has faded to give rise to a new realization. And it is with this realization that I'm going to step into 2012 and be the best I can be.

Happy 2012!

Author in the house

2011-12-28T17:46:00.000+05:30

We've now got an author at home! Mum's book about some god-alone-knows-what super-speciality topic is now selling on amazon and flipkart! She makes me so proud.

Long cold nights

2011-12-15T13:06:00.002+05:30

The Thickest Meanest Fattest Blanket I've Ever Snuggled Under

And I'm loving it. Experiencing "real" winter for the first time ever in my life with Gurgaon's nights starting by 5:30pm and temperatures in single digits at nights adds to the whole "MBA experience". When winter was just beginning, people who had already experienced the harsh unforgiving Delhi winters had painted a you-will-not-survive-this picture of it. And I really thought I wouldn't survive it. But it hasn't been bad at all until now. I still manage to walk around the campus at 4am with just a sweatshirt on my regular wear and socks on my feet. But I'm starting to think that won't be possible anymore. The Gurgaon temperature forecast for the weekend says 2 degrees. Last night it was 4 degrees and I could just barely manage to hold the fork while eating maggi at 3:30am at Arcus. With the end-term exams starting in less than a week, I'm just hoping and praying that I'll be hold the pen firmly. And that reminds me, I need to start studying.

Experienced heavenly warmth last night

Timetable Layout - Term 2

2011-09-18T15:46:00.000+05:30

In black and white, as decided previously.
Fonts used: Butterfield Demo (Monday, Tuesday etc.) and Barbarello. See the contrast?

The End

2011-07-19T02:16:00.000+05:30

No more Harry Potter to look forward to. I watched the final movie today, and all the thoughts that I had after I finished the last book came back after watching the movie. After I read the book, I got the feeling that JKR just wanted to get over with the book, even at the cost of sounding a tad bit illogical - case in point being, Voldemort died because he didn't understand how wands work while all this while Voldemort was supposed to be the greatest wizard, albeit dark, after Dumbledore. Surely, Voldemort would know something as simple as that being a genius that he is. I got the feeling that JKR had run out of ideas to finish the story.

And that's how I felt after watching the final part today. The movie was carelessly executed, confident that people would watch it no matter what. The movie concentrated on stunning visual effects than the storyboard or the acting or the screenplay. Especially the screenplay. It felt like a bad cut-paste job. Much left to be desired. But, it's Harry Potter after all. The last Harry Potter movie. So I'm not going to complain too much. Certainly not the best movie, but an entertaining and emotional one nevertheless.

I want to write more, but I just found out (2am) that we have a quiz tomorrow, and I've never opened the book for the (faff) subject. Got to study. Bye.

P.S. I ♥ Snape

Timetable layout - Term 1

2011-07-10T07:08:00.000+05:30

We don't have a colour printer. So I had to make one in black and white. I'll probably make all my time-tables for all the terms in black and white.

Original psd is here (File->Download Original)

Rangmanch

2011-07-10T06:44:00.000+05:30

Yet another party. This one was arranged by us, the juniors, as way of giving thanks to the seniors for such a wonderful welcome party last week. So we had to arrange funds, lights, food, drinks (the only reason most people come to the party...unlimited free booze), posters, DJ and other entertainment. Everything went perfectly well except for the uncle we had for a DJ. The bad DJ spoilt the entire experience, though on the bright side this time we were dancing with known people as opposed to random unknown people last week. Now that a week has passed since the last party, you kind of have an idea who your friends are going to be. There's this bond and trust and a feeling of being protected that's built when you dance with your new friends, especially when there are horribly drunk guys around you who have gone loony.

Now now, don't get me wrong. We don't have a party every week. As far as I know, we won't be having another party for a long time. Besides the reason of increasing senior-junior interaction, this one was more of a training for organizing events on short notice. That's the culture over here - the seniors teach the juniors everything they need to know (apart from academics) while at MDI. But then today when we were performing for the seniors, the seniors threw genda phools at us, created a racket with plates from the mess, booed and shooed us, and that honestly looked so cute. They looked like mischievous little kids who only looked like 24 year olds. Someone told me that post-graduate college is not as much fun as under-graduate college because in post-graduate college everyone's grown older and mature and lose that child in them. But I'm having more fun now than I had in my undergrad college. Today's experience makes me realise that students will always be students however old they are.

That reminds me, no matter what college it is - a college with 99%ilers or a college with 80%ilers - everybody cribs about having to study. When I came here I expected everybody to be nerds always engrossed in a book or some sort of project, but reality was much more real. People do most of their academic studies a few days before the exam, like always. This college is no different from any other college, well of course, except for the quality of students and that adds a whole new dimension to learning - learning from and with really smart peers.

I'm going to stop for now. The party has ended. The sun has risen. It's almost 7 a.m. Everybody's gone to bed and so must I. I will continue my bakar in some other post some other day. Good night.

Reason and Emotion

2011-07-03T11:11:00.000+05:30

Here's a lovely animation about reason and emotion, and how it played its part in World War II.

This is the life

2011-07-02T05:48:00.002+05:30

It's 4:45 a.m. I'm very sleepy and half of what I'm writing right now may not make much sense. But tonight was the best night I've had in a very long time. The Director's Dinner in the evening was just an excuse for the guys and girls to stay out of the hostels. It was also the first weekend when we weren't assigned projects or presentations and would probably be the only such weekend. We decided to make the most of it. From casual talk to discussion to trading ghost stories to playing UNO to playing Mafia to playing Dumb Charades, from four of us at around 10pm to around 20 at 4:30am I don't remember the last time I was with so many new people having so much fun. The boys really are true gentlemen. I don't know if it was the effect of having to offer a seat to the lady when all seats were occupied during the induction week (much to their consternation) or the effect of simply joining a professional course, they are very courteous towards the ladies which is very nice to see. Life over here is very different from my life during engineering, the most astounding being boys and girls being able to visit each other's rooms.

It's been quite a joyride till now at MDI. The induction week that started Sunday evening and ended a week later felt like military camp. Torturous though it was, looking back at that week now brings back smiles, laughter and very fond memories. We couldn't have asked for sweeter or more friendlier seniors and that is what makes living at MDI so much more nicer. The professors are very friendly too and my, what patience and dedication they have. But what makes MDI most exciting, of course, is my own batch of classmates. I never thought I'd make such good friends just 10 days into the course. Of course, when you spend 18 out of 24 hours together it's bound to happen.

In short, it has been a great start and I hope I have a lot of exciting times ahead.

Chalo Dilli

2011-06-04T17:09:00.000+05:30

Just when I was starting to love Bangalore, the journey of my life is taking me to Delhi where I know one thing for sure that an experience of a lifetime awaits me.

From this point on, I honestly have no plan. Well, except those do-well work-hard ones. But otherwise I'm just going to enjoy the ride for a while.

Dilli, here I come, ji.

A Moment of Silence

2011-05-07T21:16:00.004+05:30

For all the colours you've brought into my life, for all the wonderful memories and in spite of all the tears, you will always be missed.

May your soul rest in peace, Punto.

My own little Italy (continued)

2011-04-26T01:55:00.000+05:30

This is a continuation of an old post "My own little Italy". I cannot believe I missed mentioning something so close to my heart. My school - St. Gerosa High School - is named after an Italian saint, Vincenza Gerosa.

Vincenza Gerosa (born in the late 1700s), along with Bartolomea Capitanio, founded the Sisters of Charity of Lovere. Incidentally, Capitanio is another school a few kilometres from my own school. The buildings opposite to my school belong to the Sisters of Charity. They run an orphanage, a primary school for the financially weak and a day care centre, where I was sent for a short period, if I remember right.

I recall now, every once in 3-4 years, our teachers would announce the arrival of sisters from Italy, and when they arrived, we'd have a special assembly for them, with dances and songs and skits. It was a huge deal. We would go the chapel to pray (The chapel is inside the school campus. The building is out of bounds for students, per se, unless you say you want to go to the chapel to pray), but more importantly to greet the sisters from Italy. They were ever so sweet. The serenity and smile on their faces were only paralleled by Mother Superior who'd visit once in a while. I never missed an opportunity to greet her whenever I heard she was there. Her serene smile would make my day. The only other famous person with a smile like that is Mother Teresa. But, I digress.

I think my sister's school too - St. Agnes High School - is named after another Italian saint whom they call "Agnes of Rome", though it isn't run by the Sisters of Charity.

This Italian-ness of Mangalore intrigues me and makes me want to dig deeper into its history as to why so many places in and around Mangalore have Italian names. The Christians in Mangalore are from Goa and of Portuguese descent, not Italian. And as far as my knowledge on Indian history goes, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French and the British arrived in India before the British Raj was set up. So now it's even more intriguing.

Bowled

2011-04-01T18:48:00.003+05:30

Animation of just a second took me more than six hours to finish. I'm excited about tomorrow. I hope Team India wins the cup.

Free! Free! Free!

2011-03-30T00:11:00.001+05:30

And I thought this day would never come. I finally finish the last interview for the MBA admission process. Started with SP Jain and ended with MDI, though I wish I get into NITIE. I loved the campus, the seniors, the atmosphere and what more? It's in Mumbai, the place to be!

But then there's a part of me that wants me to get a job, something inside my head that tells me that a job is the best way to go. The idea of getting paid doing what I love is very exciting; so exciting in fact that I've had thoughts of bunking a few interviews. I'm glad I didn't, because those interviews were a whole new experience of their own, each completely different from the other, but each one just as enriching as the other.

As of now, it's a huge relief to get the whole process over with. I can now read that book without thinking of that current affairs mag I haven't read. I can now watch a movie without worrying about wasting time. I can now take all day to finish my animation assignment. On the flipside, I can no longer give excuses for not finishing assignments. That reminds me, I have a very lengthy assignment to submit on Thursday which I lied about having started. So while I go start the assignment, I give this, for you to ROTFL -

emotion. brain. art

2011-03-25T01:06:00.000+05:30

I've been wanting to share a few things over here for a long time now, but lethargy (and well, laziness too, to an extent) got the better of me. I cleared up my desktop today, finally, and was scouring the internet for wallpapers of the movie Tangled when this expression of Rapunzel caught my attention. The expression intrigued me so much I was compelled to share it immediately. What intrigued me so much about it is that the expression conveys three emotions - fear, wonder and intent - with hardly any noticeable muscle or eyebrow movement, unlike most other expressions which usually show dramatic movements of the eyebrows and muscles. I don't know much about the Facial Action Coding System yet, but the intensity score for the action units that make up the expression is probably an A or a B. Maybe even a C. Think about it that way and the expression doesn't seem so intriguing after all. But I still am very intrigued. I'd like to believe that it takes a certain amount of expertise to get such an emotion on an animated face.

Tangled reminds me of a book I finished reading a week ago. What happens when neurons in our brain get tangled and crosswired? Lots of interesting disorders ranging from the familiar to the unbelievable. Some disorders make us think, wonder and question our own sense of being and our perception of the world around us. The brain is the most complicated and fascinating organ of the human body. One small damage to a tiny part of it and it can make you think your left arm is your brother's and not yours. Dr. V. S. Ramachandran explains it all splendidly in his book "Phantoms in the Brain". I've never found a non-fiction book so riveting before. Here's a very interesting lecture he delivered at UCSD on what is it in his brain that makes him like a certain kind of art. The video is an hour and half, but very engaging. But, I speak for myself. I've always been interested in all things brain ever since the day my biology teacher in school made me draw a picture of the brain as homework that had me wonder, this yucky thing is the reason I can think and feel and reason? Wow! If you feel the way I do, then go ahead and watch it. You won't be disappointed.

Art Thou A Nerd

2011-03-14T18:04:00.002+05:30

If you are, then you are probably already aware of what makes today so special. Today is Pi Day. Yes, today nerds celebrate the mathematical constant pi.

All non-nerds out there, you have another day to celebrate. July 22nd. Because, July 22nd is Pi Approximation Day. A day to celebrate the fraction 22/7.

Or does that make you a supernerd?

Out of harm's way

2011-03-08T14:36:00.002+05:30

The Libyan unrest will forever be etched into my memory, because for me and my family it was personal. My dad was evacuated from Libya only two days ago. Thankfully, he left Zawiyah just before things got worse. Not that things were good before he left; in fact, when I called him up two days before he left Zawiyah he told me that he could hear gunshots outside his house. I was so scared I thought it was best if he just stayed inside the house; getting out of the house even for evacuation could be dangerous. But yesterday's news showed what would've happened if he had stayed there any longer - dozens of civilians were killed.

Dad's evacuation would've been painless if his bag wasn't stolen on his way to Tunisia. Dad and his Indian colleagues were to go to an airport in Tunisia to take a flight back to India. The Indian embassy sent buses and trucks to Zawiya. People would take the bus, and the luggage would be brought in trucks to Tunisia. At the Tunisian border, he had to give up his simcard and his phone! This meant he wouldn't be able to contact us until he reached India. On reaching Tunisia, he found one of his two bags missing -- the bag that had his laptop (months worth of research!) and all the cash. His bag was stolen. Dad was now rendered phone-less and penniless. Dad could manage just one call back home explaining his situation and that he had a few friends helping him out. He stayed in Tunisia for four days until his name turned up on the roster of evacuees. By then all his friends had already been evacuated. His stay at Tunisia, however, seemed pleasant because he and all the evacuees were accommodated at a three-star hotel and were provided with free and unlimited food (both veg and non-veg) throughout the day.

On the fourth day, he boarded EgyptAir (apparently Indian Airlines wasn't the only carrier bringing back Indians) which brought him to Mumbai with one stop at Cairo International airport for refuelling. At Mumbai, the embassy gave every evacuee a free air/rail ticket to anywhere in the country along with Rs.2000 so they could reach home comfortably. Dad was given a 3AC ticket to Chennai that evening. He reached Chennai the next evening. My mum, sis and I were at our native place (Berhampur, Orissa) for my cousin's wedding ceremony all this while which, of course, we couldn't attend. We reached the morning after dad reached, but boy were we relieved to have him back and safe.

Dad is very upset about losing his laptop and all his research work in it, but he sure has kind words for the way the Indian government handled the evacuation process. Mum also agrees that the officials were very supportive when she had called the control centre at Delhi to find out what and how things were being done.

Technopop, anyone?

2011-02-19T21:46:00.004+05:30

Made another track. Not too bad I think. But it's ironic that I ended up making exactly the genre of music -- techno -- that I'm not really fond of.

Melody #3 by ManaMalipeddi

Phineas and Ferb

2011-01-30T00:43:00.003+05:30

Cartoons are the best thing that happened to mankind. After music, of course.

"Mom! Phineas and Ferb are making a title sequence"

Phineas and Ferb is the Tom and Jerry of my adulthood and I have every reason to believe it might soon be the Tom and Jerry of the new generation. I haven't seen a funnier and wittier animated series in recent times. Even the new Tom and Jerry series aren't as much fun. Quite frankly, I don't even like the new Tom and Jerry series. They've turned too violent for my taste. And that is true for most cartoons on TV today. Well, at least, the shows on the cartoon channels in India viz., Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Animax and Hungama. Pogo and Disney/Disney XD are probably the only channels that have good, healthy, fun and mentally stimulating shows for kids. I personally am of the opinion that there is a limit to schadenfreude even when it is a cartoon.

And that is why Phineas and Ferb is such a great show. There are lot of good things about the show, apart from the neat flash animation (If I'm not wrong I remember reading about the show winning an award for the best flash animation) and great comic timing. You see, Phineas and Ferb are step-brothers and they make a great team. The show takes place during their summer vacation and the duo wants to spend their vacation productively. Nothing is impossible, but nothing happens by magic either. And everything they do is for the benefit (or fun) of not just themselves but everybody in the neighbourhood. They don't cause harm to anyone, neither does Candace, nor Doofenschmirtz (thanks to Agent P aka Perry The Platypus). The dialogues are clever and witty. No lowbrow humour. It has also got catchy musical numbers, my favourite being Gitchee Gitchee Goo and Backyard Beach. So you see, it's the perfect show.

Perry The Platypus fights Doofenschmirtz, who wants to destroy the entire Tri-State area

Heinz Doofenschmirtz is my favourite character. His antics are so endearing, not to mention his accent (voiced by one of the creators, ~~Jeff "Swampy" Marsh~~ Dan Povenmire). Wait. I think I like Candace more. Especially that wicked laugh of hers when she thinks her brothers (Phineas and Ferb) are "busted" for sure. Or the cute little noise that Perry The Platypus makes. And the way Isabella says, "Hey Phineas, Whatcha doooin?". Ah well I can't decide who it is. The entire show is just so wonderful.

So, go on then. If you aren't a fan of the series yet, watch the show and join the club.

Motion Graphics #1

2011-01-11T15:19:00.001+05:30

First one. So don't be too harsh.

Double Trouble from Manasa Malipeddi on Vimeo.

Wait. What? It's gone?

2010-12-31T15:14:00.001+05:30

Wow. It's the end of one whole year. One whole year gone by in the blink of an eye. It feels like only yesterday that I graduated from college, that I moved into this house, like Avatar released only a week ago (2010 started with Avatar, for me). It's hard to believe that one year has passed. It's already time to replace that calendar on my cupboard. It's already time to retrospect and introspect while I feel like the year has only begun. It feels like nothing much has happened this year, yet I can talk for days about all the events that have happened in life this year. The realization that this year is at its end feels weird. Really weird. Like this is a dream. Like I'm in the "matrix".

Anyway, fact is a fact, no? 2010 has ended and it is time to look back at those resolutions. Now,

Did I write that song or poem I wanted to write? Hehehe. That's a joke, right? Of course not. But I made music. That is something, isn't it?
Did I stop eating biscuits and maggie? Yes. I'm now eating more Dairy Milk Roast Almonds, more pizzas, more Chinese noodles and more roommate-made delicious food. Call me lucky for having a roommate who is about to get married and wants to "practice" cooking.
Did I learn to find the greater of two given fractions? Yeahhh. Yay to me.
Did I learn to lie? Well, not really, but I've been told I exaggerate a bit much (In my defense, doesn't exaggeration make a boring incident more dramatic and interesting?)
Did I learn a new language? There was too much choice... Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Greek, Latin, Russian, Italian, Gibberish... I couldn't pick one.

As for my new new-year resolutions, here they are --

Make more music
Read all the books I bought last year
Buy more books
Draw more
Make at least 20 elaborate 3D models
Aim high, wherever I am, whatever I'm doing
Do not get married

Looking forward to the new year. I'm excited. And a little apprehensive. A decision needs to be made. A decision will me made for me. Nonetheless, I know it is going to be a very interesting year.

Happy 2011, everyone.

Superrhero, Superrflop

2010-12-30T16:16:00.001+05:30

Dreamworks is outdoing itself. Everytime. As if How To Train Your Dragon wasn't good enough, enough to make me want the movie to win the Academy award this year, now comes Megamind (released in India last week after an agonizing wait). I've heard Tangled is just as good, or some say it's even better than Megamind (I've read reports of Megamind underperforming, and Tangled toppling Harry Potter at the US Box Office). Now I'm not so sure which movie will win it. All the movies in the fray this year as just as good as the other. These movies just keep getting better. And my excitement keeps increasing every time I hear about a new animated movie release.

And now for my brutally honest rant.

I watched two movies back-to-back yesterday, one of which was Megamind and the other an Indian animated-cum-live-action movie Toonpur Ka Superrhero. I decided to watch Toonpur Ka Superrhero to know how far we've come. It's been a while since I last watched an Indian animation movie. While on one end of the Indian animation spectrum we have Alpha and Omega (which did fairly well abroad), on the last picometer of the edge of the other end of the spectrum we have Toonpur Ka Superrhero. I'm no longer going to accept the excuse of Indian animation industry being in its nascent stage after Alpha and Omega and Tinkerbell which have pretty decent animation. Just because these animation movies are targeted at kids, doesn't mean one can throw any crap at them and they'll enjoy it. Kids are not stupid. Toonpur was a pain to watch. The story -- Kid calls his actor dad a fake hero. Dad is hurt. Some cartoons kidnap dad into their "Toonpur" to fight a bad guy. Dad is successful. Dad becomes "Superrhero" in his kid's eyes -- brainless; and the characters bordering on the obscene.

This movie makes me wonder if the people who worked on this movie have ever seen a Pixar or a Dreamworks movie. The characters in these movies are so beautiful, even without a story, I can bet that these movies will still be able to stand only on the strength of their character appeal. Ok, maybe not. But look at Megamind's "beautiful" Roxanne, and Toonpur's "Miss Toonpur" Loveena and you'll know what I mean.

Indian character designers need to understand that female characters can be made to look good/sexy without giving them a huge bust.

What I find ironic in our animation is that while our country is basically colourless (look around, count how often you find colours other than red, yellow and dark blue, besides black and white), the environment in our animated movies are full of mismatching, blindingly bright colours. This is not specific to this movie, but in almost all the animated shorts created by students, that I've seen. I can't think why.

As long as we've got these basic fundamentals of animated movies wrong, Indian animation can never compete with the international releases. They say the Indian moviegoer isn't ready for animated movies yet, but I'm sure if we give them movies that are at least as entertaining as the movies he/she is watching right now, he/she will be ready. And once we get this right, we can then talk about animation boom in the country.

Another Day, Another Melody

2010-12-26T23:40:00.001+05:30

This time a little longer, and hopefully, a little better.

Melody #2 by Manasa Malipeddi

The Sound Of

2010-12-24T03:09:00.006+05:30

Music. My music. My first ever. Composed on FL Studio.

Melody #1 by Manasa Malipeddi

Music Animation

2010-12-14T20:19:00.008+05:30

I've finally learnt how to move to the music. If you're watching this, watch it in HD. It looks so much better in HD.

I will probably replace the previous 'rock' video with a HD version, if that's possible.

Rock

2010-12-10T16:56:00.001+05:30

Learnt something new today -

Something Lurking

2010-12-07T14:28:00.000+05:30

Sharing this ad -- a vacuum cleaner (compressor) ad from LG Electronics, created by Y&R, New York -- for its amazing storytelling.

Hope-oscope

2010-11-27T21:32:00.000+05:30

You know what I'm hoping for right now? I'm not hoping that I get into a college of my choice. I'm not hoping that my exam tomorrow goes well. I'm not even hoping to clear any of my exams. All I'm hoping for right now is to have the worst horoscope a girl could ever have. I'm hoping to be rejected by every family that wants to match horoscopes. I am hoping to find a family that likes me for me. I am hoping to find a man who will accept my idiosyncrasies without judging me. I am hoping to find a man who will not let me let go of my dreams. I am hoping to find a man who will fall in love with me. I am hoping to find that man and fall in love with him.

The Japanese Are Crazy

2010-11-26T23:17:00.001+05:30

But more than that, they are creative. Very very creative. While on the one hand, they come up with the craziest TV shows, on the other hand they come up with the most moving ads (and crazy ones too). This particular ad almost moved me to tears.

No, I'm not spending my days watching ads on YouTube. I'm just digging up and posting old favourited videos that still move me as much as they did the first time I watched them.

Speaking of creative ads, I also loved the recent Indigo Airlines "On time" ad by W+K. Very nicely done. Makes me stop whatever I'm doing to watch the ad.

That also reminds me. The recent Mobile Number Portability ads by Idea that use "No Idea, Get Idea" as a punchline -- very clever. I just wish they'd let Abhishek Bachchan say "That's what" instead of "Get Idea". The ads would've made a greater impact once people got why AB says "That's what". If you watch closely, you'll see "Get Idea" was dubbed later into the ads. Nevertheless, it was clever. Not great, but clever.

Luxor's Frixion

2010-11-24T19:07:00.000+05:30

How much more creative can an advertisement for a pen get? This one is an ad for an erasable ballpen called Pilot Frixion Erasable Gel Pen (introduced in March 2009). Created by Spanish creative agency, Jurgen Berderow. Brilliantly done.

Except for the background music.

Woohoo!

2010-11-15T18:02:00.002+05:30

Mum's a Who's Who!! The certificate reads -

The Marquis Who's Who Publications Board certifies that Himaja Malipeddi is a subject of biographical record in Who's Who in the World Twenty-Eighth Edition 2011 inclusion in which is limited to those individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in their own fields of endeavor and who have, thereby, contributed significantly to the betterment of contemporary society.

I hope I can, someday, make mum just as proud as I feel right now.

Two Days To Go

2010-11-06T16:44:00.002+05:30

Two days to go for the exam. They say you're not supposed to study too much now. So I'm not. I'm doing this. I'm not proud of any of this, but hell this is my blog. Also attempted a stop motion animation. I used only 24 photos. If I had a better camera I'd have made a longer video with better animation.

The Miracle of Life

2010-11-05T14:54:00.000+05:30

The most incredible conception video there is. Genesis by Ramos David.

Happy Diwali!

Chic!

2010-11-02T23:37:00.000+05:30

Gah. I'm jealous. Had to go through my art folder to tell myself I wasn't too bad. Stupid jealousy. But hey, I found this two year old drawing I'd forgotten about in the archives --

This is one of the very few human figures I've done. I've a problem with proportions. Didn't colour it fearing I'd spoil the drawing. But one of these days, I'm planning to start painting. How hard can it be, right?

Music, the greatest good

2010-11-01T22:41:00.000+05:30

Everybody Deserves

2010-11-01T16:06:00.000+05:30

Bored

2010-11-01T03:04:00.000+05:30

at 3 a.m.

Truth or Happiness

2010-10-28T13:10:00.000+05:30

Have you seen what they're selling at amazon.com? This. Which is not such a bad thing. (However, you may want to look at the "Frequently Bought Together" section on the page). What's odd is how people are using it. Read those odd reviews of the product here. I honestly don't know if I should laugh it off, or be surprised, amazed or nauseated. As if that's not enough, there are a whole bunch of weird stuff for sale from deer rears, to Borat costumes, to chicken poop lip-balms, to Hilary nutcrackers. And others I don't even want to mention. Can this world get any weirder? Did such things happen in the old times 50-80 years ago? Or are we just more aware of these things because of the internet?

On a serious note, have you seen these war-zone photos by Joao Silva? Dr. Lightman was right. "Truth or happiness, never both".

Maestro

2010-10-26T00:58:00.010+05:30

There are movies I like for their intriguing stories, there are movies I like for the actors in them, there are movies I like for their sheer entertainment factor, there are movies I like for their profoundness and the inspiration they provide. And then, there are a special category of movies I like only for their background score. And one such movie is The Holiday.

I'm a tad bit too late in watching the movie (it was released in 2006), but there's nothing that kept me riveted to the movie than the amazing background score -- perfectly in tune with the mood of the movie -- easy, breezy, feel-good, on-top-of-the-world, want-to-fall-in-love type of music. Simply amazing. (Sigh. If I were a little better with words, I could've made it sound so so much better).

I have the greatest admiration for people who have the gift of music, be it composing, playing an instrument or singing. I consider them the luckiest people in the world. To create such soul-touching music, or to transport people into another world by their voice, I believe, he/she must be just as great at heart, don't you think? I wish I were good at at least one of these things.

It isn't the first time I liked the background score of a movie. I've liked the background scores of Pirates Of The Caribbean, Madagascar, and more recently Despicable Me, but none of them as much as The Holiday. The music in The Holiday was so good it compelled me to know who composed such mesmerizing music. Found out it was Hans Zimmer, who not only composed music for The Holiday, but also for Pirates Of The Caribbean, Madagascar and Despicable Me! Unbelievable or what.

Hans Zimmer. You rock!

Of course, everybody knows he composed that universally popular Mission Impossible tune, but did you know he also composed music for The Lion King, Shark Tale, Batman Begins, The Da Vinci Code, The Simpsons Movie, The Dark Knight, Kung Fu Panda, Angels and Demons and Inception? I didn't. This man is a genius (I mean, really. He is ranked #72 on the list of the "Top 100 Living Geniuses" published by The Daily Telegraph)

Speaking of music composers, I also like John Powell (the movie Happy Feet introduced me to him) and "The" John Williams (ever since Harry Potter happened), but Hans Zimmer is hands-down my favourite. Better than A.R.Rahman? Hell yeah. (A.R.Rahman is still my Indian favourite though. Don't know if we'll have another Rahman in the country. Ever.)

P.S. Did you know Hans Zimmer is composing music for Ra.One?

P.P.S. "Maestro" is the name of that amazing soundtrack from The Holiday, that is the cause for this post.

So You Think You Can Draw?

2010-10-16T21:01:00.001+05:30

Yes, said my DVD writer. My laptop has the LightScribe thingy. I've been waiting to try it ever since I got this new HP laptop two months ago. Today, I went to the mall, bought two LightScribe DVDs (cost me Rs.60 each), came home, burnt a DVD, turned it around and commanded my DVD writer to draw. It drew. This --

There, that's me on the right. A bunch of my friends and I had gone to an amusement park in Mangalore. We were immensely amused.

It took the writer exactly 26 minutes to print the picture, during which I watched an episode and a half of Friends. I wasn't sure how the print would look on a DVD, considering it was black and white, but gosh the DVD looks great. Takes labelling to a whole new level. I no longer have to label my DVDs like this --

As cool as the LightScribe DVD looks, it still is quite expensive. So I think I'll be using these only on occasions. Now that I've decided to use these for special occasions, I know just what to do with the second DVD. Where are thee, oh third week of November?

My Own Little Italy

2010-09-28T11:36:00.002+05:30

I completed graduation in a place called Nitte. Nitte is a village, in wilderness, cut off by an hour and a half from the hustle and bustle of a city (Mangalore). There is nothing but tall trees all around the college, though we did have a hanging bridge, a waterfall and a beach close by in less than half an hours distance. But will nature suffice for the disco-going, beer-drinking college students of today? Obviously not. That is why I wasn't surprised when a friend of mine said one day, "What kind of a place is Nitte? What kind of a name is Nitte? Ugh. I hate this place. You know, my relatives keep asking, Nitte? Where is that? Never heard of it. The name sounds like no-man's land."

Now now, those of you thinking, "Yeah, me too. Nitte? Never heard of it." Nitte, as a place may not be heard of, but the college was famous in the state, which is the only reason people sent their kids to this forest to be trained to become engineers.

And then one day, Google Maps happened. "Nitte" was the first thing I typed into it, to test if it could find this place from the back of beyond. To my surprise, it did. "Whoa! This thing is cool!" I thought. I zoomed out to see if there were other places I could recognise. Nothing. "Hmpf. This is a forest. Maybe I don't know this forest that well" Zoom out. Nothing. Zoom out. Still nothing. Zoom out. Zoom out. Zoom out. Italy. "Whaaaat? Italy?" Google Maps had taken me to Nitte, a place in Italy. "Wow! I could go to Italy and say I lived in Nitte, and people would know." I dashed out of the room into the friend's room and said, "Guess what? There's a place called Nitte in Italy. Look." "Woww! This is going to be a slap right across my aunt's face."

Cut to today, I was reading about Maurizio Cattelan's provocative, satirical sculptures -- because of this --

A sculpture called "crippled hand" from Italian sculptor Maurizio Cattelan is placed in front of stock exchange palace in Milan September 25, 2010. Credit: Reuters/ Stefano Rellandini

Cattelan's bio read "Born in Padua, Italy". "Padua? Hey, that's a place in Mangalore! First Nitte, now Padua. I wonder what other places in Mangalore have Italian names."

Belman, the bus-stop before Nitte. Could easily be mistaken for Belmonte, a place in Italy and many other countries. In fact, I called the place Belmonte for a long time until someone pointed out it was "Belman" and not "Belmonte".

And how could I forget Valencia, where I spent over 12 years of my life and 11 years of schooling. [Valencia is not in Italy but in Spain (of course, you know that), but it appears it's a very common name for a place. There's a Valencia in Pakistan, also Columbia, Phillippines, Trinidad and Tobago, USA, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru].

So next time somebody asks me where I am from, I'm going to say Italy. *wink*

Come to think of it, Mangalore is a place with funny locality-names actually. But that'll be another post another day.

Update [April 26, 2011, 01:49 a.m.]
I cannot believe I missed mentioning something so close to my heart. My school - St. Gerosa High School - is named after an Italian saint, Vincenza Gerosa.

Vincenza Gerosa (born in the late 1700s), along with Bartolomea Capitanio, founded the Sisters of Charity of Lovere. Incidentally, Capitanio is another school a few kilometres from my own school. The buildings opposite to my school belong to the Sisters of Charity. They run an orphanage, a primary school for the financially weak and a day care centre, where I was sent for a short period, if I remember right.

I recall now, every once in 3-4 years, our teachers would announce the arrival of sisters from Italy, and when they arrived, we'd have a special assembly for them, with dances and songs and skits. It was a huge deal. We would go the chapel to pray (The chapel is inside the school campus. The building is out of bounds for students, per se, unless you say you want to go to the chapel to pray), but more importantly to greet the sisters from Italy. They were ever so sweet. The serenity and smile on their faces were only paralelled by Mother Superior who'd visit once in a while. I never missed an opportunity to greet her whenever I heard she was there. Her serene smile would make my day. The only other famous person with a smile like that is Mother Teresa. But, I digress.

I think my sister's school too - St. Agnes High School - is named after another Italian saint whom they call "Agnes of Rome", though it isn't run by the Sisters of Charity.

This Italian-ness of Mangalore intrigues me and makes me want to dig deeper into its history as to why so many places in and around Mangalore have Italian names. The Christians in Mangalore are from Goa and of Portuguese descent, not Italian. And as far as my knowledge on Indian history goes, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French and the British arrived in India before the British Raj was set up. So now it's even more intriguing.

Wall Street

2010-09-24T19:49:00.002+05:30

So I watched Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. After all the hype and hoopla around this movie, it was such a huge let down. It had such a weak weak plot, or no plot at all I should say. The movie starts from where it left off in the 1987 movie. I didn't watch the 1987 movie, but it seems like it must have been a very good and intriguing movie. I could feel it while watching this movie. Maybe that's what makes this movie even more boring.

You could easily skip this movie and not miss a thing. Wait for the DVD, rent it or download it, but don't waste your money watching this in the theatre. I had such high expectations from this one, especially after Stephen Sackur, THE Stephen Sackur, mentioned this movie in his interview with Oliver Stone. What a disappointment. Sniff.

I wonder if Legend Of The Guardians will release in India. It had better. I'll be watching Beauty And The Beast 3D with Mahi this Sunday, and then next week, the one I've been eagerly waiting for -- Anjaana Anjaani. Ranbiiiiiiiir!!!

Does This Count As Annoying?

2010-09-21T14:27:00.000+05:30

Okay Okay. I know. Another post on Despicable Me. But seriously, if you haven't watched the movie, the least you could do is watch this video. It's the making of the movie, but its got all the best scenes. And then, another scene from the movie everybody loves.

"It's so fluffy I'm gonna die"
I say, Agnes is so cute I'm gonna die.

The song Dil Hai Chhotasa was filmed at...

2010-09-14T15:09:00.000+05:30

Hogenakkal, two hours from Bangalore on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border. Family picnic to celebrate mom and dad's 24th wedding anniversary.

Good Old Days

2010-09-14T14:49:00.002+05:30

"I'm going to meet friends" most often means you're going to meet friends you've made in the college you last went to, or maybe the college before that. How many times does it mean friends from the school you went to? When you're indeed going to meet friends from school, it's always mentioned specially, "I'm going to meet my friends from school", because friends from school are special. You want the other person to say, "Friends from school! Wow! You're still in touch?" They may no longer be your best friends but there's that curious affection towards schoolmates, especially if you've spent more than a decade in the same school, like I did.

And that is why St. Vincent's School blog fascinates me. No, I didn't go to this school. Mummy (what I call my aunt) went to this school and contributes to this blog. After close to four decades of losing touch, students of this school are back together reminiscing their days in school. Pretty awesome I must tell you. So awesome that I had to make a guest post on their blog and let them know how wonderful I think it is. Cool people too, some journalists, some photographers, some social activists, some novelists and published authors and what not. With such accomplished personae contributing to the blog, the posts are a wonderful read too.

I've been wanting to get back in touch with my schoolmates from a very long time. Met a few on Orkut, and then ever since Facebook started overshadowing Orkut, I've been meeting more and more friends from school. Honestly, schoolmates are the only reason I am still on Facebook. Them aside, I really see no point in a Facebook account. I hope to meet them some day. With everybody busy settling down in their lives, many seem to have little time for anything else. So I hope that once things settle down, in a few years, I'll be able to meet them.

It's nice to know what paths schoolmates have chosen, where they are, what they do, how they've turned out. With my school churning out goody-goodies it's no surprise that a surprising number have chosen social work (cool huh?). Or maybe that's my batch because two days ago, a junior from school sent me a friend request and she listed her activity as "drug abuse". Shudder. I hope she is kidding.

What is your story? Are you in touch with your schoolmates?

It's the longest hangover, and it's called...

2010-09-13T20:48:00.004+05:30

The Prutha hangover. It was my best week ever. More than a week after that awesome week I am still thinking and smiling about it. Never thought I'd have such a great time. Of course, at the back of my head I was also worried about the pain Girija amma was going through in the hospital and was hoping she would recover soon. I also felt a little bad for Chinni akka and Vinnu jiju; the family came home to enjoy and even before 24 hours of their arrival here the unfortunate incident happened - Girija amma fell down broke her hip.

Chinni akka, that night, lay silently on the bed, clearly disturbed about the incident when Prutha climbed on to the bed, sat next to her and says, "Mummy, main kuchh bolun?" "Haan, bol chinna", Chinni akka said. "Mummy, tu mujhe bahut achchi lagti hai"

What else does a mother need to hear than her five year old daughter telling her how much she loves her. I'm sure that at that moment all of Chinni akka's tensions and tribulations disappeared and that she had a good night's sleep. I wasn't home by then. Mahi told me about this. It touched my heart so much I had to write about it so one day when I get Alzheimer's disease, I can still read this and smile.

The Week That Was - (Prutha, Mahi), (Mahi, me, Prutha), (Chinni akka, Prutha), (nanna, me, Mahi, amma), (Mummy), (Mahi, mummy, Vinnu, Girija amma, amma, nanna), (daddy), (Chinni akka)

While Chinni akka and Vinnu went to the hospital every day to the hospital to give company to Girija amma while they waited for the operation day which was a week later I had the god-given gift of spending all day (and all night) with the little bundle of stories. Nothing entertains Prutha more that telling stories. Most kids want to listen to stories but this one likes creating and telling them. I'll tell you one about a boy who likes bananas, that made all of us laugh our guts off.

Ek din ek ladka rehta tha. Usko bananas bahut pasand tha. Wo shop se bananas laakar ghar me rakhta tha. Uske ghar ke baahar na... ek tree tha. Wo na... bananas ko tree me chipkaata tha. Wo theek se chhipkaaya nahi to wo bananas gir rahe the.

Laughter all around.
"Tum has kyu rahe ho?"
"Kuchh nahi. Bolo bolo"
"Tum haso mat. Main jab hasne ko bolungi tab haso"
Suppressed giggles. Such a cute little thing she is. Thinks fruits fall down because we don't stick them on the tree properly.

Which reminds me of another story which she told us when she was about 3 years old.

Ek din ek jungle tha. Uss jungle me ek monkey rehta tha. Ek din jungle me ek cat aayi. Wo... darr gaya.

"Ho gaya story?"
"Haan"
"Itna chhota story hai?"
"Naiii chhota naiii"
"To bataao na story"

Ek din uss jungle me ek billi aayi. Wo... darr gaya.
"Uske baad?"

Uske baad ek cat aayi. Wo... darr gaya. Hogaya.
How much more cute can kids get?

Another night, when I was at home, and Chinni akka, Prutha and I were relaxing we asked Prutha, "Prutha, tu badi hoke kya banegi?"
She said, "Main badi hoke moti banoongi"

She was kidding of course. She's already in a career dilemma, "Main artist banoo ya doctor?"

For the rest of my life, the songs Waka Waka, Wavin Flag and I Like To Move It Move It, will remind me of her. And of course, APKGK's Tu Jaane Na that turned into an action song that Prutha and I kept singing over and over and over again.

It was also so nice and amusing to see a little girl making the men of the house (nanna and daddy) do silly things that they wouldn't normally do, in the games that Prutha invented. I say men, because the women (amma, mummy, Chinni akka, Mahi) have craziness as their birth trait. So seeing them do silly things isn't a big surprise.
Not a moment of seriousness when mummy was around. Joke after joke after joke, she kept us laughing continuously. Cracking jokes on oneself is a talent not many possess. Sometimes you wish you could be like her. If there's any other place I'd like to be after my own, it's Mumbai... with mummy, daddy, Anil bhaiya and Chinni akka.

And boy, did I know we are a family of not-just-music-enthusiasts, but real musicians. With daddy, the genius around you can be constantly amazed at everything he does with musical instruments. As if that's not enough, Vinnu jiju also plays awesome guitar. Never knew until he played it here at home. Reminded me of my good old hostel days when Crystal played the guitar and I sang along. Mummy and daddy are learning Hindustani music now. And not just that, they're even answering exams! At 50+ years of age, isn't that awesome?

Wish there were more nights with Chinni akka, Mahi and I having long talks and raiding the kitchen for cupcakes and chocolate sauce at 2 a.m. Bad that she had to spend all day in the hospital every day for almost a week. But there really wasn't any choice. After all, she is the "dil" of her mil.

In all it was one of the best weeks I've had in a long time. Girija amma too recovered surprisingly quickly. She was discharged from the hospital only 5 days after the operation. When she was back home, she showed no sign of pain. You'd think we were lying about her fall after seeing her laughing and talking like nothing had happened. Must commend her strength and threshold of pain.

I really could go on and on but I must stop. I had initially planned a Day1, Day2... blogpost because so many things had happened that I never wanted to forget, but with Prutha around there was no way I wanted to waste time on a blogpost that I could spend playing with her. This is a very long post, I know, but this is a hangover I never want to recover from.

Not that I've had hangovers before. No no. But still.

Peepli [Blogged]

2010-08-15T00:54:00.000+05:30

I don't really want to make this a blog that talks only about movies, but I couldn't help blogging about what I think of Peepli [Live].

Aamir Khan has done it yet again. Made a movie on a pressing current affair, but honestly Peepli Live didn't really work for me. Trying to squeeze entertainment out of something as grave as farmer suicides, according to me, isn't really the ideal way to make the impact that the movie intended to make. One could clearly tell that the moviemakers were trying hard to make a point without being too preachy, but I doubt if they were successful enough. You see, I'm saying this because of the reactions I saw during and after the movie.

In one of the very first scenes, when Naththa's wife shouts at him when he breaks the news of their house being auctioned, people in the theatre laughed. I did not understand why. There really wasn't anything to laugh at - either at the dialogues, or the acting , or the situation. I mean, the wife is clearly upset that they are soon going to be homeless and is venting the frustration on her husband. It really wasn't a scene one should enjoy and laugh at. People were not looking beyond the ostensible entertainment factor. The movie was entertaining only because the tactics that these journalists employ to increase their channel's TRP is, at best, laughable. What I sensed from the audience in the theatre was that people were only trying to get entertained, entirely missing the bigger point - poverty and its exploitation... for TRPs, votes and what not. Or maybe they do their thinking when they go back home, but I certainly couldn't laugh much thinking about how it would be to really be in such a situation. Of course, that doesn't mean I did not enjoy the movie. I enjoyed it, laughed too, but not as much as the other people in the theatre with me.

My favourite scene in the movie has nothing to do with the story of the movie. I loved the time-lapse depiction of the changing landscape from the village to the city; shows us the extreme contrast between a village and a city. Couldn't help being awed and sad at the same time. Awed at how much our cities have developed with buildings touching the clouds, sad that the villages are still drowned in extreme poverty; amazed at how some people boast about darjeeling tea while some people are literally digging their own graves. Couldn't help wondering what these labourers at construction sites must be feeling - building houses they can never imagine living in, building homes for rich people when they themselves are homeless.

Couldn't help feeling a little contemptuous towards journalists though. I don't want to feel such feelings against journalists. They do an amazing job of reporting from the most inaccessible of places, going through hell to reach there and do what they're doing, but I can't help wondering what kind of a job is a job where one only has to report heartbreaking incidents but do nothing about them. As a journalist in the movie puts it, "We're journalists and this is what we do."

That said, in other news, today I finish exactly one year and two days in Bangalore. While there are so many things to hate about Bangalore, there are so many things to love too - the best thing being the weather. It's just perfect. Bangalore is so much different from what I imagined it to be, from how I imagined a capital city to be. It's way below expectations, but I realise that only capital cities or places that are economically vibrant can be like this. So, I'm over the initial shock and am really beginning to like this place enough to call it my second home. The next best thing - movies! I have watched more movies in this one year in Bangalore than I've watched in all my life before I came here. Not just Hindi and English, but Telugu and Kannada as well (thanks to my awesome roommate). Third best thing - shopping! (though I haven't done much of it). In short, yay Bengaluru!

And ooh, before I forget, Happy Independence Day!

Despicable Movies

2010-08-11T17:14:00.003+05:30

Ahoy! Just in to say if you haven't watched Despicable Me, please do. I've been waiting to watch this for about three weeks, thought it wouldn't release in India, but it did and it was soooo worth the wait. It's the cutest movie I've ever seen in recent times. No. Ever.

When I read in the newspaper about the movie being a comedy, I was doubtful. Kids' comedy, you know, isn't my favourite kind of comedy... As in, Tom and Jerry... they're cute but they don't make me laugh anymore. So when I went to watch the movie, I was thinking Tom and Jerry type of silly comedy. But when I saw in one of the first few scenes, Mr. Gru (the badman) going to a bank named, "Bank of Evil, formerly Lehman Brothers" I knew in an instant this wasn't Cat and Mouse. I must say it wasn't rip-roaring comedy; the movie has those moments where you unconsciously laugh. I didn't realise I was laughing until I... realised. The three little kids in the movie are so adorable, you want to just pick them up from the screen and take them home. The entire movie is just so cute. The story isn't much, it's highly predictable. But it's not for the story that you must watch, you must watch this movie only for its cuteness factor.

So that takes this year's animated movies count (from the industry biggies) to four - Shrek Forever After, Toy Story 3, How To Train Your Dragon and Despicable Me. I still maintain that How To Train Your Dragon must win the Academy award this year. And Despicable Me should go into your movie collection. It definitely is going into mine. And when I say go into my movie collection, I must also say that I still don't own any of the Pixar movies or Dreamworks movies or Blue Sky movies (I own a DVD of Pixar Short Films though, but that doesn't count here). That's how much I liked Despicable Me. I'm telling you. Watch it.

Speaking of DVDs, I am now a proud proud owner of the entire series of Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister. Bought the rest of them today. Can't wait to watch them. Sir Humphrey Appleby is one of the greatest characters to have graced the television.

Also bought Bolt, only because Mittens calls Bolt, "Cujo".

Mint Lounge: I May Not Be An Indian

2010-06-13T11:35:00.003+05:30

Yesterday, this article (http://www.livemint.com/2010/06/11211917/Breaking-news-I-may-not-be-an.html) by Mint Lounge editor, Priya Ramani, was probably the most read and most RTed article on Twitter (Well, it was the most RTed tweet on my timeline). I think it is a brilliant article. It takes a certain amount of courage to publish an opinionated article like that, knowing that she would face brickbats for it. And face brickbats she did.

To me, it seemed like a piece written one day in an outburst of emotion. The title and the tone of the article strongly suggest it. But then I think, the author got it all wrong. None of the things she wrote, mean that she is not Indian.

Being Indian does not mean you must like mangoes. Being Indian does not mean you've to read Chetan Bhagat or Paulo Coelho (I've read their bestsellers, and I'll run a mile away at the very sight of their books). What you wear or want to wear is your choice, being Indian has nothing to do with it. A few Bollywood actresses wear nothing at all. Does that make them any less Indian? I don't watch any Indian soap on air. In fact I hate them from the bottom of my heart. Does that make me non-Indian? Nor do I speak or even make eye contact with people in my compartment while travelling. So I'm not Indian?

No sense of pride when she's made to stand in attention in a movie theatre, but impatience that her popcorn's getting cold. Well, for the lack of another word, I'd say that that is an attitude problem, and still has nothing to do with being Indian. The first time I had to stand in attention for the national anthem in a movie theatre I did not feel pride, but I did feel a sense of renewed respect for the national anthem. After all, the Indian national anthem is known to be one of the most melodious anthems in the world, and that is something to be proud of really. Standing in attention for the national anthem is not about pride, but about respect.

Only girl child can save India? I think it's the mutual co-operation and respect between girls and boys, rather women and men that can save India. Girl child alone cannot. That, still, is her personal opinion. I don't see what it has to do with being Indian. The girl-boy disparity exists all over the world and not only in India.

We aren't the greatest people in the world. True, only a zealot would say otherwise. She never understood Indians' sense of (fake) pride, as she puts it, during the "Jai Ho" phase. Agree Jai Ho wasn't A. R. Rahman's best. I'd also like to say that Slumdog Millionaire isn't an Indian movie, but a movie about India made by a foreigner, and we need not feel proud that it won Oscars. But aren't we happy that A. R. Rahman, with that song, has catapulted Indian contemporary music (the kind I think the author likes since she doesn't like Lata's slow version of the national anthem) on to the world stage? Why shouldn't that make us happy, and proud?

We're always on steroids when it comes to festivals and weddings, she says. Diwali, she points out. Every country has its own traditions and way of celebrating festivals. If she were in another country, she'd probably rant about them too. Few days a year, people get to let go off all inhibition, be themselves and enjoy, and she says we're on steroids. Still, it isn't about not being Indian. The author probably needs to introspect her outlook towards life. Festivals and weddings are happy occasions meant for enjoyment.

Being Indian doesn't mean you've to believe in Ram Rajya. That's what the BJP believes in. I'm Indian and I don't believe in Ram Rajya. I strongly believe in secularism. That doesn't mean I'm not Indian.

Aren't there Indians that invite only about a 100 people to their daughters' weddings? How does the number of people invited to a wedding judge how much Indian one is?

The author has harped on the stereotype that outsiders have about Indians, and tried to fit herself in it. She didn't fit in. Doesn't mean she's not Indian.

In fact, I see it this way. I think she's sufficiently Indian because she came back to India after her master's. It's so much better than studying in India and taking all the knowledge abroad to serve another country. She's aware that India hasn't produced any serious scholars after independence. That bothers her. If she weren't Indian, would it? Dunking non-biodegradable idols into the ocean disturbs her. Doesn't that mean she's worried that we're polluting our own oceans? The very fact that she has pointed out where she thinks we might be wrong is proof enough that she's an Indian who wants change, however right or wrong her personal opinions are. I think all that the author of the article needs to do is look beyond her cynicism and look at the brighter side of things, accept certain customs and traditions. Some things (like Diwali) just won't change. You might as well enjoy them. You'll make memories.

Fly Little Wing

2010-06-01T21:28:00.004+05:30

My favourite band is The Corrs. I was introduced to this band by a video on YouTube. It was a video of a little Korean (I think) girl singing Summer Sunshine so cutely while travelling by car. (Sadly, the video no longer exists) I instantly fell in love with the song and browsed the lyrics and got the song. A few months later, I was looking for some soft music on the internet when I came across a song sung by a woman. The music was the most melodious and harmonious I'd ever heard. It was freely available for download and I did. A few days later when I browsed the lyrics of the song, I found that this song was sung by The Corrs too. The song was "Runaway". The song I had downloaded wasn't the original but by some party singer. Slowly, I listened to all their their songs one after the other, each one just as good as the other. And now, three years later they're my favourite and THE BEST contemporary band I've known. I'd compare them to ABBA, all of whose songs I love.

It was only recently that I watched their interviews on YouTube. And boy was I impressed. Just like every favourite artiste of mine, they're so down-to-earth and humble. They speak of their success and fame as not really a big deal, as if it was a natural thing that happened to everybody every day. They said they made music because they loved it and that they were only fortunate that people loved their music and made them successful. They didn't make music with the aim of becoming huge pop stars one day, and that struck me. I love it when people do things just out of sheer love for it. Of course, people who make such wonderful music must be wonderful at heart as well which makes The Corrs even more endearing.

I recently went through my old files, files created over a year ago. They were mostly artwork, ringtones, recorded songs, attempts at stories and poems, postcards sent and received pictures of drawings in the corners of my class notebooks. I was surprised at all the things I'd done while in the hostel. I wouldn't do half of what I did then, now. And that's only because now, I feel pressured to create artwork to impress people, my teachers, my peers, my classmates. I want them to say it's good. And that has made me extremely conscious and over-critical of myself. That is turning out to be my biggest hindrance in completing animation assignments. It was so much better when I didn't have a deadline, didn't have expectations to cater to, did art because I loved it, when I did it for me, for the love of it, without having to care what somebody else thought of it. It's different now, and I despise it. I'm starting to doubt my ability to survive the animation industry when I have such difficulty in completing assignments. At the risk of sounding cliched, art is an expression of the soul. You can't keep me at gun point and make me do it.

Another reason for the apparent lack of interest in animation, is that I've found a new love interest. World history. And International Affairs. (Ha. What did you think?) I find myself desperately and frantically reading articles on history and international affairs (politics for now, but I want to read up on trade too) (Ironically, this was the part I hated the most during school.) All this reading and documentary watching on YouTube leaves little time for anything else. And by anything else, I mean lunch and dinner too. Yeah. It's that bad. And that's affecting my preparation for CAT too. I can no longer remember the 18s table.

So basically, after all this while, I still have no idea what I want to do in life. What is it that I'm really interested in, love doing, that would fetch me a decent salary? The MBA decision is only because there was no way I would spend the rest of my life coding and thinking about programming languages. I read that MBA is for people looking for a change of field. If there is another option, I'd be glad if you could let me know.

Trick or Treat: IPL

2010-04-26T11:56:00.001+05:30

Boy, did I ever think the Chennai Super Kings would win this season of IPL. I was sure though that Mumbai Indians wouldn't win the tournament. They were at the top of the points table too long to win the tournament. Call it my clairvoyance, or Sod's law, or just plain common-sense. It was too clear that MI wouldn't win the title. And that means I win the bet with my sister and she now has to treat me (The poor little thing doesn't know that I cleverly manipulated the terms of the bet so the odds were on my side. *wink*)

For the first time, I watched so much cricket. I didn't really care about cricket or any other sport for that matter during season 1. But I do have one memory of season 1... singing Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo in the lift with my friends in college to the wrong tune, and my chagrined KKR-fan friends correcting me. Very much like the Kingfisher's Ooh La La La Le Oh ad.

Season 2 was when I was formally introduced to the format and that was when I learnt all about the game. I still wasn't exactly watching matches during season 2. I only watched the second innings of the final match in a room full of supporters of the Royal Challengers while I, all alone, supported the Deccan Chargers. The Deccan Chargers won, but I'd learnt my lesson. That I am an Indian and that means I must belong to a mob. Standing out of the crowd isn't so much fun.

Come IPL3, with a TV in my cute little rented haven which my mom totally despises, I decided to support RCB and watch a few matches (the reason not being the sport, but that I'd read somewhere that some BSchools were contemplating introducing "creative" topics such as cricket, hockey and football into Group Discussions. Yikes!). Anyway, I shook hands with the game, got to know the game better, made a few wonderful memories watching the game (such as the IPLGate, the Zoozoos, Dhoni's lost Maxx mobiles and the apple of everybody's eye, the MRF blimp!) and now I'm all set for IPL season 4 to support yet another team, and yet another set of ads.

That is, if the IPL is not scrapped. What started with Lalit K Modi's tweeting about the details of the Kochi team ownership has now snowballed into the biggest scam I've ever seen. Corporate honchos, Bollywood stars, politicians, the country's so-called "elite" all embroiled in the biggest controversy I've seen. I've always maintained that however entertaining the IPL matches are, it is a huge HUGE waste of economic resources. With more than half the country below poverty line, such extravagant display of wealth only heaps insult on the deprived. What's worse is that the owners of the teams call it a solely-business proposition, which is not wrong, but I'm disheartened to hear that they so blatantly ignore their responsibility towards society, the very reason they thrive and exist. Whatever happened to Corporate Social Responsibility. Why is it that when the IPL was played in South Africa last year, scholarships and gifts were given to children, teachers and schools there and when the game is played on home soil it becomes a solely business proposition devoid of social responsibility? Cricket and IPL's popularity could be leveraged to create awareness, to encourage people to improve their communities and solve issues.

The "breaking" news right now being Lalit Modi's suspension, I heard a reporter on some news channel saying, "After half a decade of friendship between BCCI president Shashank Manohar and Lalit Modi, the BCCI president heaved a heavy blow on Mr. Modi" Uh. Hello. What the hell. What else is Shashank Manohar supposed to do? Grant amnesty because Modi is a friend? If he did that, he'd be accused of favouritism. He suspends Modi and such statements are made. If I were in Shashank Manohar's place and I had to suspend a close friend for nefarious activities, I'd do it. With a heavy heart. But do it, nonetheless. What Modi did was wrong and he must face consequences. A wrong is a wrong. Is a wrong.

Is a wrong.

The Opposite of Pet Peeves

2010-04-06T00:18:00.003+05:30

I understand that it's not very easy to convey emotions and intent
through the written medium for many of us. Trying to precisely convey
those emotions could make it wordy and not many of us are that patient
or good with words. We try and avoid using too many words and
consequently have evolved a multitude of ways to implicitly express
intent and emotion. After over a decade of emailing, over six years of
SMSing and a little under a year of Gtalking with friends, a few
things about informal written communication have made into my pet
peeve list.

#1 hi....................... or ok......................

What's with the million full stops? What are you trying to say with
'.........................'? I understand 'hiiiiiiiii' but what the
hell does 'hi..........................' mean? Three dots, optimal.
Four, maximum. More than that, sound of nails on chalkboard.

#2 i told ma motha tht i cud neva eva do dat

Aaaarrrgh! This really should be my #1 pet peeve. I could slap the
person if he/she were in front of me. Unfortunately, when this happens
the person is always miles away. Those who think writing 'ma' for
'my', 'motha' for mother, 'neva' for never, 'eva' for ' ever' and
suchlike is cool, please, it's disgusting. Makes me think very low of
you. None of the other pet peeves manage to do that. But this one
does. Thankfully, none of my friends do that. Except one. When that
friend messages, I call him back. Just to avoid seeing his messages
that neva fail to get ma dander up.

#3 K

That's the worst reply one could send me. Following closely, is 'Ok'
or any such one-word replies. I've grown accustomed to it though. Even
then, I find it impolite and impersonal. Makes me feel unimportant, as
if the person thinks I don't deserve the energy to type a whole
sentence, or at least, the whole word (in case of 'K'). I'd be happy
if the sentence was complete, as in, "Ok, I'll be there" or "Ok,
7o'clock it is" or even, "Ok, sure." or at the very least, "Ok :)"

#4 This is a sentence that so needs exclamation, don't you think!!!!!!

I confess to being a perpetrator of this heinous crime for a while,
but then one day epiphany happened and it became a pet peeve. I notice
people using exclamation marks when it really isn't necessary. Makes
me wonder what's so wondrous about what he/she is saying. That, still,
is forgivable. What irks me more is the use of multiple exclamation
marks!!!! What do two or more exclamation marks do that a single
exclamation mark doesn't? I'll forgive the use of two exclamation
marks occasionally for greater emphasis, when one wants to show that
one is enormously surprised, but otherwise I'd rather that people keep
exclamation marks to a minimum and if indispensable, don't use more
than one. Use that energy that you spend in typing that extra
exclamation mark for other productive activities. Like inserting space
after a full stop.

#5 "cool when did u go how is ur family good say hi to them" or
"cool.when did u go.how is ur family.good?say hi to them"

Though not inserting space after a full stop in SMSes doesn't annoy me
much, not using full stops at all can annoy me if I'm in a sour mood
already. But miss a full stop in an email or miss the space after a
full stop, the sender, mostly a friend, is sure to see the smoke from
fireworks at my end.

#6 hi....... wat u doin?

A completely harmless SMS. Right? Or so the poor sender soul thinks.
But the bitter truth is that I despise this question. I don't care
what I'm doing, nor do I care what the sender is doing. Think of
another interesting way to start a totally pointless conversation, and
I might fall for the trick. The point is, when it comes to pointless
conversations or gossip, I choose talking over SMS.

#7 :-):-):-)

Again. Why? Why two smileys? Does that show the degree of happiness?
It's not annoying or anything really, but one smiley or ten smileys...
it doesn't make a difference to me. I use only two types of smileys to
indicate happiness - :) and :D . :) when something makes me smile, or
most of the times, just to add some genuine warmth into the
conversation. :D when I'm very happy, excited or when I'm being subtly
mischievous.

#8 i no, mana... wt 2 do? wr r v meetn?
SMS lingo. This really shouldn't even be here. It doesn't annoy me.
It's just that in spite of having a qwerty keypad on my phone, I still
type whole words and rarely use SMS lingo. Sometimes, I find it quite
endearing, really. No, not a pet peeve. But I'm going to tell you how
SMS has a deteriorating effect on people who aren't comfortable with
English. They make up their own spellings when SMSing and never care
to learn the real spelling because their work is done. I say this
because of a person who asked me to help him with learning English
told me that not having to care about spelling was, for him, the best
thing about SMS.

Which brings me to the real topic of this post. The opposite of pet peeve.

Remember when a new friend (of the opposite sex) SMSes you for the
first time? "Hi Manasa, what you doing?" is the most common first SMS
I've received over the years. And there was never a time when I
genuinely wanted to reply to such an SMS. I reply, just to be polite
and not to be too snobbish. I have absolutely no interest in the
inane pointless conversation that is to follow after the 'what you
doing' question. Unless, of course, he/she says "Manasa, you are the
best" and I say, "I know... Tell me more :D"

Today, a friend, a new friend (who I never spoke to while in college,
and who I hardly spoke to during my brief stint at Infosys) who I
befriended, after several meetings at my best friend's home, a movie,
some PS3 games video-watching and a photo, sent me his first SMS. It
wasn't the dreaded "What you doing?" question. It was the perfect
conversation starter. It was different. I was impressed. This type of
conversation-starter SMS suddenly became the opposite-of-a-pet-peeve.

Opposite of pet peeve. Whatay long phrase. What's the word or a phrase
that means the opposite of pet peeve? After much brain-racking and
producing zilch, I went to Google for help and found out there really
wasn't a commonly used phrase for it. Though I did find some
interesting words people use to mean the opposite of pet peeve -
Kinks
Quirks
The little things (that make life worth it)
Cheap thrills
Right-ons
Warm fuzzy
Simple pleasures
Secret delight
Undomesticated peeves
Buttons
Personal favourite
Feel-good moments
Soft spot
Pet likes
Turn-on
Fetish
Guilty pleasure

I think 'secret delight' comes close to the opposite of a pet peeve, no?

CAT it out!

2010-03-26T16:44:00.001+05:30

Me: Brain, if you manage to memorize the seventh power of three, I'll give you the square root of fifteen... for free!
Brain: Ha. You think I'll fall for that?
Me: *sigh*
Brain: *wink*

That's how my CAT prep's going. To the dogs. Maybe I need a CATnap.

Angel on earth

2010-03-23T00:44:00.001+05:30

Who's the angel on earth?

Aww... Thanks! But no, it's not me. It's this little girl from Music Ka Maha Muqabla who was also a participant on Star Voice of India. Anwesha Dutta, like I already mentioned in one of my previous posts, before you truly madly deeply fell in love with my blog. Listen to her sing and I bet you'll experience heaven. Too bad her team didn't win MKMM. Then again, since the winners were Shankar Mahadevan's team I'm not complaining either.

Here... the angel from heaven with an earthly mortal, singing one of my favourite songs... Tere Mere Milan Ki Ye Rainaa..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V4NHyjswXM

This is isn't her best performance or anything, but it's beautifully sung. If you want to watch her best performance, listen to her rendition of Mere Dholna/Ami Je Tomar from Bhool Bhulaiya on Star Voice of India. It'll blow your mind away!

It's only words. And damaged eyes.

2010-03-18T13:52:00.001+05:30

Reading is supposed to expunge short-sightedness. Right? Ironically, you see, the more I read, the more myopic I become. The more I feel the need to get my eyes checked. All this while I prided myself on having a perfect 20/20 vision, and now... kisiki nazar lag gayi... literally.

All this short-sightedness is to be blamed on the extensive non-stop reading I've been doing over the past six months or so, with my E63 or the newspaper or the magazine at an eyelash's distance from my eyeballs. Now, totally intending to show-off, I must tell you, as background info, that I've been dabbling in a wide range of subjects, from art to literature to poetry to mythology to drama to music to philosophy to psychology to economics to politics to blah to blah to oh-how-i-love-to-show-off to blah to blah. These 'wide-range of subjects' have nothing to do with what I have to say. It has more to do with my reading articles, mostly editorials, from the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Guardian, Forbes India along with our Indian counterparts such as The Hindu, The Times of India and The Economic Times. You don't believe? While I say all this is as true as Mayawati not using taxpayers' money for her statues? How dare.

Anyway, the point is this. My most striking observation of all this reading is a noticeable difference in the writing styles of Indian journalists and foreign journalists. As a newbie who has just forayed into the world of editorial-page reading, I find articles by foreign writers much easier to understand and comprehend than the ones written by Indian writers or journos. The difference lies in the sentence construction and the choice of words. Give me an article and I might just be able to tell you with a fair amount of accuracy if the article is by an Indian or a foreigner. Not trying to demean Indian journalism or anything (Mera Bharat Mahan!), but I must say, with a heavy heart, that Indian writing has a hint of pompousness and pretentious diction in it. I find most of the times, the sentences incoherent and need to be read twice to be comprehended. They're not speed-reading material. Unlike the foreign counterparts. Be it a Chinese journalist, a Korean journalist, an African journalist, a British journalist or an American journalist, I find the articles by these foreign journalists much easier to discern and analyse. This, only because of their simple sentence construction and choice of words that are in the realm of a literate person as opposed to a person with journalistic vocabulary. Indian journalists tend to use complex sentence constructions and heavy, unusual words way beyond the comprehension of an ordinary literate person. They use words like, "wedbedrip", "fysigunkus", and "xertzing". Yes. They do. No. Don't open the dictionary. These words don't exist. Unless you google them out. Of course, we do have great writers, but the numbers of these 'typical' Indian journalists far outnumber the good ones.

Now now, I'm not against vocab building. I love learning new words. If it weren't for Indian writing I'd never know that 'wedbedrip' meant 'a full day's reaping from a tenant's land that feudal lords demanded from tenants'. Or that 'fysigunkus' meant 'a person with absolutely no curiosity'. Or that 'xertzing' meant 'swallowing quickly and greedily'. But I do think newspapers must keep a check on the usage of such unusual words. At least, newspapers. No. Especially, newspapers. I find it frustrating when I have to open the dictionary more than twice per page/article. I lose the flow of thought and have to reread the sentence or the paragraph again to make something of it. It's ok to have difficult words, but an article shouldn't have too many of them. Articles by foreign reporters rarely, if ever, make me go to the dictionary. Their articles are lucidly written. Which is weird. Because I always thought it would be the other way round. And I think that's the reason why I know more about the other countries than I know about my own. Newspapers are supposed to cater to a huge demography to keep them informed and educated about what's happening around them. Not everybody has a journalistic vocabulary, and not everybody is an English major. Journalists need to concentrate more on reporting comprehensibly than on flaunting their vocabulary. Few Indian journalists seem to be doing that. Journos, when will you ever learn?

Then again, I've no plans to emigrate neither are our journos going to change and I, therefore, have no choice but to combat this issue by equipping myself with 'sesquipedalian' words. Ha. Since I'm also planning to enter the field of business administration, I also need to win the battle of learning to say things like, "We 'repurposed' the product to create 'synergies' and expand its 'parameters'. Please 'interface' with the relevant parties, 'dialogue' with the manager and try to 'incentivize' him and his staff" which in "real" English makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Can't wait!

Of Fourth Estate, climate change and the worst ad ever - part1

2010-02-27T00:44:00.001+05:30

I didn't mean to be so quiet here for so long. In fact, one of my
lesser important new year resolutions was to update my blog at least
once every week. I wanted to make posts on the climate change fiasco,
the IPL-SRK-ShivSena thingie and a few other things as well. And then
one day, I saw on TV, a member of the public making exactly the same
comments on our neighbours being snubbed that I was to make here in a
blogpost on the same day that I wanted to update. It would make me
feel like I was plagiarising those thoughts and so I settled on doing
it at a later point in time, some day in an obscure area of a
blogpost.

I'd been to Hyderabad recently. Finally. Had a fun time. For the first
time, I liked biryani. And for the first time, I was surrounded all
around by men with moustaches. Scary.

People around me always compared Bangalore and Hyderabad, and I always
wondered why. Now that I've seen both places for myself, here is my
ruling - Bangalore scores high on pleasant weather while Hyderabad
scores high on landscape. Everything else is pretty much the same.
Only, Bangalore doesn't have as many men with moustaches as Bangalore.
Score!

My family received news of my paternal grandfather's demise while at
Hyderabad, so we had to make a trip to my native place, Sompeta for
the '12th day rites' after meeting my maternal grandmother in
Berhampur, Orissa. Her dynamism amazes me. Sompeta is just a few
kilometres from the AP-Orissa border, about 40kms from the famed
'Ichchapuram'. It's the first village you see after crossing the
border from Berhampur aka Brahmapur in Orissa. We went to Sompeta by
car. It was an amazing experience seeing rural India with the remix of
'dil to bachcha hai ji' playing on full volume in my ears. Awesome! It
was a Shah-Rukh-Khan-from-Swades type experience. So different from
the world I know and live in. It made me wonder if these women working
in fields were really happy with what they were doing, if they desired
something more and better, did they know there's another world out
there completely different from their own, did they know I was
watching them in awe and amazement wondering how it would be to be
living a life like that. How would it be if all of these people moved
to cities, or if this little village turned into a city? We depend so
much on them. If it weren't for these men and women working hard under
the scorching sun we wouldn't be eating all the vegetables we're
eating. We would be surviving on chocolates. Which still is awesome.

Sompeta is a village. It was only the second time I was visiting this
place. There were few known people when I reached and until cousins
arrived that evening my only source of entertainment was Dork - The
Incredible Adventures of Robin 'Einstein' Varghese. Sidin's book. The
beginning disappointed me. I was expecting so much Sidin. The only
thing that kept me going was it's uncanny resemblance to my own
journal writing style. The style, the voice, same to same! Alas, I
can't provide proof.

Back in the village, I met 98% of my relatives from dad's side. Two
weddings that were in the pipeline before grandfather's demise are
still in the pipeline. The death didn't change a thing. The most
scandalising moment I had there was when a girl told me that she was
'chosen' by the guy for marriage ONLY because she was 'slim'. All the
girls he had seen until then were 'fat' and he and his family wanted a
girl who was 'slimmer than he was'. I heard the whole story with my
mouth open. The guy 'warned' the girl not to grow fat. I couldn't
believe my ears. This could not be happening. Even in a village. Is
that how marriages in villages take place? Just then, an aunt appeared
with another relative who I wasn't acquainted with. She introduced me
to her and then went on to tell her about why my sister couldn't make
it. And then she said, "She is much prettier. She's active and
smarter. Too bad she couldn't make it". It was demoralising. If it
weren't for the conversation I had earlier about marrying for
thinness, I would have spent the rest of the day sulking. It wasn't
the first time somebody compared my sister's and my looks. And no
doubt, my sister is so much more prettier than I am, and much more
outdoorsy and fun than I am, but it still hurts every time someone
does that. It's very shallow of them to say things like that. I may
not have the looks, but I do have other good things about me that
people could appreciate. Anyway, what this relative did was undone by
mum's side relatives the next night when we visited mum's younger
sister's family in Vishakapatnam.

People who say Hyderabad's landscape was good clearly haven't seen
Vishakapatnam by night. The lights there are not man-made, they're
god-made. Like stars on earth. Taare Zameen Par. The road from the
railway station to BHPV is in its own right, an unplanned wonder of
the world. A sight to see. It was so beautiful. Heaven must be like
this. Back to the undo button, my mum's sister said Asin reminded her
of me. Ahem. I'm not that fond of Asin, but I truly deeply sincerly
appreciate the sentiment. And then swoops in my cousin. Deepu. He said
I reminded him of Priyanka Chopra. Can you believe that? Priyanka.
Chopra. Piggy Chops. Our very own, my favourite Piggy Chops. Yay! We
had to catch a plane to Chennai early next morning and had little time
for conversation. Deepu, Sandeep and I slept in a room and we talked
and talked and talked until we heard snores from the next room. I was
surprised how Deepu told me about all those things he wouldn't tell
his mum or dad. Being a good sister that I am, I counselled and guided
him a little. He seemed to get convinced. And I did all this in
Telugu. With negligible helpings of English. Am I awesome or what?

Air India sucks.

Robin Einstein Varghese kept me company on the train from Chennai to
Bangalore. I finished the book on the journey. The story in itself
wasn't so great. There is nothing 'incredible' or 'adventurous' about
the story, nor did I laugh like I've never laughed before, as the book
claims. It is a good book nonetheless, for light reading, when you've
got nothing better to do. I wouldn't buy the next two volumes if I
wasn't truly madly deeply in love with Sidin's writing. What? Who is
this Sidin Vadukut? If you don't know who Sidin Vadukut is, you might
as well go and live in Afghanistan. Or Kazakhstan. Here -
www.whatay.com Read it and laugh like you've never laughed before.

While alighting from the train, I saw a girl and a guy.
Girlfriend-Boyfriend. Public display of affection freaks me out.

With the new people I follow on twitter, most of them journalists, I
can't help but notice that they are always complaining. About the
decisions our politicos are making. It's true, our politicos don't
always make decisions that please all citizens, but I do think running
a country is not easy and it's impossible to please everybody. Would
all these incessantly complaining journalists do a better job if they
were at the helm of running a country? If the decisions bother them so
much, shouldn't they do something about it? Stop complaining, if you
don't want to do anything about it.

Now that I've started ranting about the Fourth Estate, let me also say
that Barkha Dutt, who I had so much respect for, lost some of it after
her interview with SRK recently regarding his comments on IPL
auction. I totally support SRK's views. Sports and politics should be
kept separate. What did the Pak players do to deserve this rejection?
It was highly humiliating for them. And for us. When I heard the news,
the first thing that my mind said was, "Oh no! This is not good" and I
immediately knew we would see a series of terror attacks soon. And we
did. We brought it on ourselves. I'm worried about the Commonwealth
Games and IPL3 that will take place here. We've angered our neighbours
so much it's would be foolishness to think we have enough security to
ward off a terror attack. Was saving some money more important than
our fragile relationship with our neighbour? You can earn that money
back, but will you able to earn trust from Pakistan after the snub?
There's nothing to gain by fighting and hating our

Of Fourth Estate, climate change and the worst ad ever - part2

2010-02-27T00:30:00.001+05:30

our neighbours. Shiv Sena slammed SRK's views on this. So what's the
big deal? Why did the media make it an issue? Would the media do the
same thing if it happened to Rakhi Sawant? Day after day... the media
just didn't get enough. As if there weren't more important things
happening around the globe. Barkha Dutt, you too? :(

So climate change isn't happening. Does that mean you can continue
polluting the environment? Is there something called 'too early to go
green'? Countries need not make carbon cuts as high as 40% or even
25%. Now that climate change isn't happening, we could start with 15%.
It's never too early to mend.

1411 tigers left. I get that. Now what? How is blogging about it going
to help the tigers? What a stupid useless campaign. Apprehend the
people who are involved in killing the tigers. What's the public
supposed to do? There are issues bigger than saving tigers. The 'Save
Fuel' campaign makes more sense to me. Their ads are very good and
effective. They hit you where it hurts the most. The pocket.

Bikini-clad woman and J K Cement. Worst ad ever. What were they
thinking? The ad guys who made it (and approved it) must be total
perverts.

The opposition walked out of the Lok Sabha when the Finance Minister,
P Chidambaram announced a hike in petrol and diesel prices in the
Budget session today. Is resorting to such substandard tactics the
only way to show resentment and disagreement? Sigh. Anyway, I thought
hiking prices wasn't such a bad idea. I don't know if climate change
and environment pollution was on PC's mind when he decided to hike
prices, but it is a good move if that was what made him do it. People
will now judiciously use fuel and contribute towards a greener
environment.

Is there a movie on Nelson Mandela?

The Climb

2010-02-01T20:20:00.000+05:30

Miley Cyrus writes the nicest songs. After her Ready, Set, Don't Go in 2007, The Climb is the next song that I can relate to word-to-word. My friends listen to me talk about how I enjoy all the free time I have, the movies I watch, the shopping I do, the people I meet, the things I do. Most of them envy me. If my friends knew my priorities right, they'd know that the things I tell them are only one side of the coin. The other side is a struggle, a battle that I lose every once a while. A battle with myself to remain focussed, determined and motivated. And to believe that this is the road that leads me to that little dream I'm dreaming. Living alone in a big city with no one to tell me what to do and what not to do, having total control of my life, with parents relinquishing all control of me, it's hard to remain focussed. And with my parents putting in all their trust and belief in the decisions I've taken, there are times when I doubt myself and feel totally lost and confused. This is where the song comes, and inspires me to go on. It's not about what's waiting on the other side, but the climb.

Here are the lyrics of that song that inspires me so much.

The Climb, by Miley Cyrus.

I can almost see it
That dream I'm dreaming, but
There's a voice inside my head saying
You'll never reach it
Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking
But I, I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

These struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down, but
No, I'm not breaking
I may not know it, but
These are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, Yeah
Just gotta keep going
And I, I gotta be strong
Just keep pushing on

Coz... There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

P.S. I'll put up the song on a flash player for you to listen to sometime soon. When I have access to a PC. For now, enjoy the lyrics.

Time For New Year Resolutions

2009-12-30T14:56:00.004+05:30

Ooh, I love making new year resolutions! They're so much fun to break. Ok. They are not. I made resolutions on the eve of my birthday and need I say, I hardly ever followed them :(

Now is my second chance. To make another set of resolutions. Except, this time I'm going to follow them. Sincerely. They're imperative for what I've planned for my future. Very important. So here are my resolutions for 2010, not in any order.

Write a poem/song: This one figures in my resolutions almost every year. I want to write a song, or at the least, a poem. No. A song. That's easier, right? I'm amazed at how a poet manages to compare silky flowing hair to a broomstick so beautifully. I can just never do it. This year I'm going to work hard at it.
Stop eating 'unreal food' for lunch and dinner: The only reason this is here is because I just got yelled at for not eating 'real food'. Apparently, maggie and marie biscuits come from a parallel universe and are not 'real'.
Learn to find the greater of two given fractions: Ramanujam is avenging me. I know it. I still remember, that evening, as a little girl learning the beauty of halves and one-thirds when I had invented an easy method of 'sorting' fractions in the ascending order. I had ridiculed the famous mathematician for not 'seeing' the simple method of doing it. Of course, the logic made no sense whatsoever (which took me months to realise), but hey, you can't blame a little girl for putting in so much thought into fractions. Well anyway, Ramanujan was offended and he cursed me to never learn working with fractions and till today, fractions bring me to my knees. And I am not going to let Ramanujam win.
Learn a new language: And it's called Gibberish. I've come to realise it's very useful for a person planning to pursue MBA. Wish me luck.
Learn to lie: I can't lie. Blame it on my birth date. But I need to know how to lie. I've seen the benefits of it. Besides, lying is a creative activity. It needs wit, presence of mind, prudence and creativity. People who can lie make convincing story-tellers. And that is why I need to learn this art form. For animation's sake.

About the year that passed, I don't even remember the resolutions I'd made. I was 21 for a major part of the year and true to the astrology book I'd read somewhere, it definitely was a 'happening' year. Lots of ups, lots of happiness and lots of downs, lots of sadness both at their extremes. New experiences, new insights, it was as if I was given a crash course on life. I hated it, but I managed to weather through it and emerge wiser and confident than ever before. I didn't realise it then, but I needed it for otherwise, I'd have been a lost soul. Now, I know what I want. I know exactly what to do. With the road forward visible with such clarity, I couldn't be more ready to embrace the year ahead.

Wishing all of you a very happy and a prosperous year ahead.

Happy New Year!

Parking Blues

2009-12-12T20:17:00.002+05:30

Does car parking send chills down your spine? Fret no more, because here's a solution. I found this article here. It says,

Dumbfounded at the thought of parking your car in a small space? Don't worry, now scientists have developed a mathematical formula that will help motorists park perfectly.

The formula, developed by Prof Blackburn from the University of London's Royal Holloway College, begins by using the radius of a car's turning circle and the distance between the vehicle's front and back wheels. Then, using the length of the car's nose and the width of an adjacent car the formula can tell exactly how big a space needs to be for your car to fit.

By applying this to basic parking guidelines, one can work out exactly when to turn the steering wheel to slide in perfectly, The Telegraph reported.

So next time you find a small parking place, stop the car, get your pens, pencils, erasers, scratchpads, calculators out, use the formula and calculate exactly when and at what angle you need to turn your car, then find a giant protractor to turn the car by exactly that angle and if you've made no mistakes in your calculation, congratulations. You've successfully parked your car! Parking a car could never be easier and so much fun!

The Little Sacrifices She Makes

2009-11-13T15:03:00.000+05:30

The incident just happened. It's almost insignificant, but what struck me after that is what is making me write this post. Mum had come home for lunch. She wasn't supposed to come home today, but she had to because she had forgotten some documents that she needed at work. While mum was searching for the documents in a folder, I was arranging lunch in the kitchen. I noticed there was dal and curry enough for just one person (We thought there was enough food for two and so no lunch was cooked). Instinctively, I served all of the dal and a major quantity of the curry along with rice on mum's plate and handed over the plate for mum to relish. As mum began to eat, I went back into the kitchen and served rice and the remaining curry on my plate. Since there was no dal, I picked up curd from the refrigerator to mix with rice. I then went to the dining table where mum was having lunch and sat down. When she saw my plate her jaw dropped. "What?" I asked.
"Why are you eating rice with curd?"
"Because I want to eat rice with curd today"
The pathetic liar that I am, mum knew I was lying.
"Did you serve all of the dal on my plate?", she asked.
"Ummm... yeah"
After a second's silence she said, "I'm supposed to do that for you."

That was when it struck me. God alone knows how many times mum compromised with her things just to make me or my sister or my dad comfortable, and the number of times such small sacrifices go unnoticed. We don't even realise that mums do these things. They do all these things without complaining, ever, without even hinting that they're doing it, without expecting anything in return. And what do we give them in return?

That is why they say, "God cannot be everywhere, that's why he made mothers"

Incredible !ndia

2009-11-12T17:48:00.001+05:30

No words. Let the video say it all.

Incredible !ndia.

Pepsodent Bachche Jhoot Nahi Bolte

2009-11-12T17:05:00.008+05:30

If it were in my power, I'd have given this ad an award. Why, you ask? It's because of what the ad teaches children - Jo bhi khaao, sach bataao (Whatever you eat, say the truth) - to be truthful.

Children, mischievous as they are, are always scared of their parents for soiling their clothes at school either due to playing on a muddy playground or due to spilling food on the clothes while eating, more so when they eat something that's forbidden, like ice-creams, ice-candies and chocolates.

In this ad, a little boy (named Satya) spills ice-cream on this trousers and is scared about what mummy would say when she sees it.
His friend says, "What's the big deal? It's just ice-cream!"
Satya replies, "What do you know? Germs, Painful teeth! My mummy loves my teeth more than she loves me".
His friend asks, "Satya, don't you brush your teeth?"
Satya says, "I do. Everyday. But... Orange juice!!"
"Orange juice?"
"Yeah, I'll lie to mummy!"
"Satya from Satya's mouth?", the friend says sarcastically.
"If it fell on your pants wouldn't you have lied?", Satya mocks.
"No."
Satya reaches home. Mummy asks, "Whose pant is it?"
He says, "Satya's! Shall I narrate the story?"

Pepsodent Bachche Jhoot Nahi Bolte. Awesome ad!

Arranged Marriage

2009-10-28T16:30:00.000+05:30

A discussion with a friend today compelled me to make a post on the highly debated topic. This post is not about love vs. arranged marriage. These are just some thoughts/fears I have about the whole process before you tie the knot, be it love or arranged.

How does an arranged marriage happen? The parents choose the boy/girl. The boy and the girl meet, they talk, talk and talk some more. Finding that their expectations from marriage match, they decide to get married. Is that all? Is the matching of expectations all that is needed to decide to spend the rest of their lives with each other?

Honestly, the concept of an arranged marriage freaks me out! Now let's say, the expectations of both the sides are a 100% match. You now see the personal traits and compatibility of both sides. Obviously, when you meet a new person you are nice to the person. The other person will be nice to you too. How do you really know if the person is good or bad. Ok, nobody is a 'bad' person. So let me put it this way. How do I know we're compatible? Do I say we're compatible when our expectations match and there is a good chemistry between the two? The chemistry is always good when things are good. When situations are adverse, that's where it really matters. Will we be compatible when things go bad? Or are we going to fight over the silliest of matters? I know fights are inevitable when two people live together, but it's ok when the fight is over something that really matters. Fighting over silly matters is a big pain. I hate fighting and arguing, and would do anything to avoid it. When I get married, I really would want to know the not-so-good side of the person. More than the good part, it's the bad part that I want to know. Everybody has got good qualities, which is not something that you need to worry about, and bad qualities, which you cannot take for granted. I need to know if I'll be able to put up with the annoying qualities of the person for the rest of my life. Is it possible to know what these qualities are before one gets married to the person? Or is it going to be a surprise-surprise moment after marriage? Of course, marriage is a life-time commitment and one would (at least, I would) accept all the annoying qualities and accept the person for what he is, unless it is an immoral quality that is totally unacceptable.

... which is why I think, personally, I believe love marriages make more sense. I have nothing against arranged marriages. In fact, my marriage would be an arranged marriage if things are as they are at present (You never know the future ;) ). In a love marriage, you know everything about the person, the good and the bad (and the worse) before you tie the knot. You'd have had fights and you would know how both of you deal with it. When you marry the person, you already know how the rest of your life with that person is going to be. Maybe your expectations are not the same, but the love that you have for the person will let you make small compromises with expectations, and make expectations match. To quote Canara Bank's tagline, "You change for the ones you care". The only downside is the heartache when one side refuses to accept certain qualities and the couple breaks up (before marriage, of course). Heartaches are painful and nobody would want to go through them a second time, but a heartache before marriage is better than a heartache after marriage.

Now that I think about it, love marriages and arranged marriages are not so different except for the two facts that in a love marriage you fall in love before marriage and in an arranged marriage you fall in love after marriage/engagement; in a love marriage you choose your partner and then tell your parents, and in an arranged marriage your parents choose a prospective partner and then let you know. It's the matter of how much of the person you know before you tie the knot that makes all the difference.

Bell Bajaao

2009-10-27T20:30:00.003+05:30

It's October and it's Domestic Violence Awareness Month. It's a campaign video by Breakthrough to create awareness about domestic violence which needs to be stopped. I wonder why this video isn't on TV, or is it?

Bell bajao - Ring the bell. 2 from MeltingLAB on Vimeo.

See? You don't have to do something really big to make a difference. Just ring the bell.

Courtesy: A Line of Thought

K.I.S.S.

2009-10-04T15:32:00.005+05:30

Keep It Simple, Stupid. I'm a fervent adherent of this principle. And it helps. Specially at times like this. It's been long since I used my creative juices and created something on Photoshop. Preparing for BSchool entrance exams takes up all my time, energy and patience; and I have little time to do anything else, and that includes eating chocolates too. With so little time remaining for preparation, I expect everything to be grasped, understood and remembered quickly. But my brain seems to take its own sweet time to push things into the permanent memory area. That is a huge frustration. So I've now taken up this policy of "Slow and steady, bell the CAT" and I'm putting the one-liner up every where. Since I use my laptop quite often, a wallpaper to this effect was imminent. So I made one, in a jiffy so I wouldn't waste much time on Photoshop, and came up with this. It's simple and stupid. But I like it!

The Making:
Though it looks simple and stupid, it took me about 20 minutes to finish it. First of all, font selection. It took time to find a font that expressed steadiness. After experimenting with about four fonts, I finally chose Poplar Std since it was heavy and sans serif (I have this obsession with sans serif fonts). The next ten minutes went in colour selection, the most dreaded part. I wanted something soothing and neutral. I didn't want the design to command me, or remind me of stuff, like green (would remind me of greenery and nature), pink (too gay :P), red (are you ordering/commanding me?? :-X), yellow (ewww.. why is that even a colour?), orange (fire!!), black (gives me an I'm-too-serious-to-think-about-colours, unenthusiastic feeling). I even tried chocolate brown, but that would again make me want to go out and buy a big bar of Dairy Milk Roast Almond :( My only option, and my favourite option, remaining was blue! No colour soothes me like blue does. It does remind me of the oceans sometimes, but in a pleasant, calm and serene way. So blue it was. After experimenting with shades of blue for about 2 minutes, colours were finalised. Then came the placement of the text. I had originally visualised the text to span the entire screen, but when I did that I felt as if the words were screaming at me. Besides, my eyes would have to span the entire screen screen, left to right, to read the text (Yes, I'm that lazy, that I don't even want to move my eyeballs :P). So I decided against it and kept it simple, stupid that would be in an aesthetic postion with respect to the four temporary icons on my desktop (For those who don't know, I usually NEVER have any icons on my desktop).

Logo-ish

2009-10-04T15:19:00.002+05:30

This one has been in file from a very long time. Er... did I already post this? Well, anyway, here's the story of how this happened. This was a brainchild of boredom (so is this post :P). I was experimenting with colour combinations on Photoshop. I chose four nice colours, made four strips of them and placed them one above the other. Done. Now what? I'm still bored. I start clicking random buttons on the screen, and suddenly see the little used tool, Polar co-ordinates in the Distort filter. I used the Rectangular-to-Polar feature and the colour strips changed shape! The result looked nice, as if someone had dipped fingers in paint and grazed them against the screen. I now wanted to do more and make it personal. So I looked for a suitably styled "M" that went well with the design and finished it! I now use this picture as my Windows login picture.

P. S. If you're here to comment on how the 'n' looks like a 'd' and spells "Mad", shoo!

P. P. S. If you're reading this on Facebook, please please go here to comment. Blogger is permanent, Facebook is not. I love your comments and would like them to be in a permanent place. Thank you for commenting :)

Sony Ericsson K550i vs. Nokia E63

2009-09-27T00:47:00.000+05:30

I recently bought a "smartphone", a Nokia E63 for which I left a Sony Ericsson K550i. And honestly, my K550i seems smarter than my E63. Not that the E63 is a bad phone, no way. It's just that Nokia E63 doesn't show its smartness in conspicuous ways. The K550i was just a normal phone with normal features, yet it had some features I wish were in my new phone. I love the features of E63, but when it comes to ease of access and the user interface it is no match to Sony Ericsson. If Nokia learnt looking at phones from Sony Ericsson, without doubt they would be one of the best mobile phone manufacturers in the world.

Here's what, I think, Nokia should learn from Sony Ericsson:
Smartness - When a person who's not in my contacts messages me, I see his/her number in the From field. After I enter the person into my contacts, the number doesn't change to the name of the new contact! This is really annoying after using K550i where the name appeared in every place the number had been there! Nokia, where is your smartness?

One-touch buttons - I could do more on my K550i without the one-touch buttons than I can do with the E63. While E63 has specialised customisable one-touch buttons, I could use the up, down, left and right buttons on the K550i as one-touch buttons that I could customise. There was a button on the right where I could list any number of frequently used applications for easy access. I agree, the home screen on the E63 has this option too, but I can list only six applications (nine, if you include the long-press feature of the one-touch buttons). If I list the rest of the applications on the second homescreen, the switching between the homescreens takes longer than my limit of patience with electronic gadgets. There was another button on the K550i that showed me a list of all open applications that I could switch between. I think the feature is there on the E63 too, but what are the buttons for it? Anyone?

Organisation of the menu - I'm sure anybody who has used Sony Ericsson would agree with me on this. Sony Ericsson always has only nine menu items within which all features are embedded. Nokia has a very cluttered and confusing menu. It takes really long to get used to, and most people who have little patience never go through the entire menu. It looks like in an attempt to organise all the features they ended up over-organising. I just wish my E63 had a menu like the K550i where I didn't have to scroll down every time for the rest of the menu.

The T9 dictionary text predictions - This I can never get over. The K550i seemed to know exactly what I was going to say. If it offered me the wrong word and I hit a backspace, it immediately offered me the next most likely word I would use which, 99% of the time, turned out to be right! It offered me the list of words in a drop-down box from which I could choose the appropriate word. Though with the E63 I no longer need word predictions what with the qwerty keyboard, the text prediction feature on K550i was the best! I truly miss it.

Mark Several feature - This feature on the E63 frustrates me a little. When I need to select a few items in a list, I have to select individual items, open its menu and then mark each one of them, while in the K550i the Mark Several option would only require 'checkmark'ing the required little boxes that appeared at the bottom-right corner of the all the items on selecting Mark Several. This, I think, is a feature that Nokia should really work on. Nokia, please introduce a Mark Several concept in the phone.

Delivery Reports - A whole section for delivery reports? Isn't that a little bit of an overkill? E63 lists delivery reports in a separate section! In the K550i, a successful message delivery would be indicated by a tick mark next to the message in sent items. An undelivered message wouldn't have the tick mark. Sony Ericsson kept the concept of delivery reports really simple.

Well, there are a few more but these are the main features that I wish were different in Nokia. If you're asking me why I didn't buy another Sony Ericsson phone when I have so many complaints against Nokia, blame the price. A Sony Ericsson phone with the same features as an E63 would be at least 50% more expensive. If it weren't for the price, I'd have bought another Sony Ericsson phone without a second thought. That doesn't mean I like my E63 any lesser. I still love it! E63 rocks! :D

I don't know what to do online

2009-09-24T14:09:00.005+05:30

Internet has revolutionalised the world. It has changed the way people live. In India, however, it does not seem to have influenced the lives of people in a very big way. Yes, people do use the internet to keep in touch with family and friends; however their usage of the internet stops there. I wonder why.

Ever since I was introduced to it at 12 years of age, the internet has never failed to fascinate me. It first started with exchanging emails with my cousin. I then got introduced to the ever-green search engine google.com, and ever since then, there was no looking back. And that is the reason I fail to understand why the internet hasn't intrigued more than half the population in our country. You might say half of them cannot afford it or don't have access. My point is in purview of the people who can afford it and have access to it.

In college, everytime there was an assignment to find out information from the internet, most people groaned. Well, that's probably because it meant more "studying". Most people I know have email accounts they never use. They hardly ever log in to social networking sites. When asked why they don't access the internet often, they say they don't know what to do online! How could they not know what to do online? I could spend hours browsing, reading and discussing online. There is no dearth of things to do online! After checking my inbox, replying to emails, reading online newspapers and feeds on my feed reader, reading blogs, watching videos, appreciating art on smashingmagazine.com and I still have time to stay online, I google-search questions that haunt my mind, or just play silly games on facebook or tickle.com. I never run out of things to do online, and people say they don't know what to do!

I find it incredibly amazing that I can share the silliest of thoughts on twitter.com and have interesting conversations on them. It's amazing how I can stay abreast with the latest information to the minute, and people say they find it boring and don't know what to do online! How is this possible?

P.S. If you are reading this, you probably are among the small percentage of people who use the internet for more than just keeping in touch. I would be glad to know how you spend your time online.

[3rd Nov 2010] Things to do online:
Here's a list of interesting websites that maybe you could check out. Just a few to get you started (in case you're here because you really want to know what you could do online)

If you've got a lot of digital photos on your computer, maybe you could try ShapeCollage that lets you make picture collages in different shapes.
If you want to learn something new you could try SoYouWanna.com - a website that tells you how to paint your room, how to fake an appreciation for art, how to survive in a Brazilian jungle, how to publish a book, how to be a model, or maybe even how to be productive online... just about anything for anyone.
New to the internet, and want to know all the things you've missed? Check these top 35 internet memes of the last 15 years.
There's even a website that says it is dedicated to the bored and unemployed (not that you are), but this site's got interesting entertaining stuff. It's called Fork Party. I like checking the Fail section for laughs.
If you like TV (or fiction - be it watching or reading), there's TV tropes. This website, I must warn you, can be addictive.
If you like art, or even if you want to look at all the beautiful art that people are coming up with, you could try Paintings I Love or Deviant Art.
And then there are the more popular websites like TechCrunch, Mashable for all the technology and gadget news, YouTube and Vimeo for videos, Flickr for photography. There are websites for just about anything one could be interested in. Someone I know learns to cook new recipes through YouTube.
And I absolutely love the Make magazine. The DIY stuff is awesome.
And finally, animation. If you're into it go to LineBoil.

These are just a few websites that I like (I'm not associated with any of these websites). But you could really find anything you want on the internet. Have you tried Postcrossing (where you can trade postcards from your country with someone else from another country)?

There is so much you can do and learn online. I hope I've helped you get started. Happy browsing. And also, be careful.

Artwork with Custom Brushes

2009-09-08T23:59:00.003+05:30

Photoshop assignment: To create a custom brush and come up with artwork using the brush you just defined. I made five, and I'm posting two of them here. The other three don't warrant any consideration for they are below-average pieces of work.

Beware of Twitter!

2009-07-31T02:10:00.001+05:30

There are a million websites out there glorifying Twitter for all the
good that it is doing to the world, so much so that Twitter is being
recommended for the Nobel Peace prize! Twitter is a great site, no
doubt; I myself am totally addicted to Twitter. Twitter has given me
some amazing friends and memories I'll never forget, but a recent
incident opened my eyes to how my addiction to Twitter was having a
negative effect on me.

Here's what happened the other day- I was sitting with my friends in
the lounge area outside the classroom discussing the books we'd picked
to write a review on, as an assignment to be submitted two days later.
Some of my friends had picked Who Moved My Cheese. I'd picked Thinking
About Thinking by K. R. Ravi (an interesting read, btw) and had also
bought Who Moved My Cheese for a bit of light reading. On learning
this, one of my friends said "I have the book. You could've borrowed
it from me. Why did you buy the book?" I replied casually in my
oh-so-enthusiastic tone, "I bought it because I wanted to own it!"
Another friend immediately remarked, "Manasa's replies are so short
and to the point!" There. It struck me. I realised.. that lately I've
been talk-tweeting. Everything I said was equivalent to a tweet, less
than 140 characters! I realised what Twitter had done to me. I'd
forgotten to be elaborate. I'd forgotten that my friends were
interested in details. I'd forgotten that they wanted to know what my
thoughts were. I'd forgotten that they wanted to know every silly
detail. That was when I'd decided that this was it. Twitter was not
going to take over my life this way. Twitter was not going to change
me. Twitter was not going to ruin my almost non-existent communication
skills. So I'd decided to draw the line and limit my access to Twitter
until my brain reverted back to normal-state. I'm just glad that
realisation dawned on me and now I'm back to normal! :D

So people, beware! Twitter has its bad side too.

--
Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

Gems

2009-06-30T14:54:00.001+05:30

I'm finally done with engineering, and my, what a journey it has been. These four years saw a substantial transformation in me. It has changed me from a not-so-confident, not-so-friendly, big-time nerd to a confident, friendly, carefree person. These four years have taught me many lessons of life. It has taught me what friendship really means, thanks to the amazing friends I've made. They've accepted me for me, and have been with me through thick and thin. It's only been a few days since I haven't seen them but I'm already missing them so much.

Here's what I've learnt from the precious gems I've found here:

Amritha - The person who has irritated me the most. The person I fought with the most (after my sister). Our opinions and interests are so completely different, so totally against each other, but there was never a day when we argued about them. My partner in crime. My Siamese twin. She's been there for me all through. She has this uncanny ability to sense when I'm in need of moral support. My best friend.

Deepa - The only person I've met who has the same opinions as I do. People call her a kid, probably because she looks like one, but wait until you are in need of advice. When it comes to seeking advice, she was the person I always went to. She's the one who educated me about boys and their way of thinking :P When it comes to pulling my leg, she has no equal. She's the reason I lost my nerdy qualities for good. She taught me how to enjoy life. She taught me to let go. My best friend. Amritha, Deepa and me were inseparable and were called 'the trio' of the class.

Rashmita - If there's one person who literally took care of me like a mother, that's her. She has this talent of making her point with her sarcastic but endearing sense of humour. It's from her I learnt the importance and how-to of socialising; the learning is still on. If I do have a sense of humour, then all the credit goes to this girl.

Crystal - The defintion of "crazy". Roommate of only six months, a friend from three years. We've had amazing discussions on almost every topic we could think of -- life - the pleasures and pain, religion, world, cultures, arts, music, books, food, science, theatre, people, history, the universe, boys, crushes, love, marriage, dreams, internet, blogging, ghosts, family, friends, movies, the future, secret desires, food, clothes, make-up :P the list will never end. It's from her I've learnt to do what I believe in. It's from her I've learnt that it's ok to be a little crazy and weird.

Sonia - A baby in its true sense. Just like how babies don't care what you think and do things they feel like, Sony is this sweet little 20 year old baby. If someone has to learn caring and sharing, then it has to learnt from Sony.

Bhavna - She'll do anything for her friends. She made me win a silly bet at the cost of her falling sick, only because she wanted her friend to win it. She treats my vices as virtues. I've learnt from her what is to believe in yourself, to believe that nothing is impossible.

Maitreyi - I've realised from her how nice it is to be able to talk in your mothertongue. I'm a little jealous of her in this regard. Listening to her talk in Telugu (unfortunately, we've never conversed in Telugu) I've realised how much I loved and missed talking in my mothertongue.

Arsheed - The guy who's oblivious to the fact that he was responsible to get me out of my shell. We've never had major conversations, but the little thoughtful things he's done for me will never be forgotten. Showed me how little things can make a big difference.

Gowtham - I don't know how and why we're friends. I've never fought with any other guy like I've fought with him. He has irritated me to wit's end, but at the end of the day he's been there for me. He has made me realise what I expect from life and also, what I don't want in life.

Artwork goes digital

2009-06-30T14:41:00.003+05:30

My 21st birthday gift from my parents was the best ever! It was a USB tablet and from then on it was bye bye to artwork on a book. My artwork went digital. Though drawing and painting digitally has lot many advantages over the conventional style, it is far more challenging to draw and paint. It's not very easy, requires a hell lot of patience and perseverance to come up with a decent work of art.

I suck at digital painting (you'll see very soon) and can manage to come up with a decent outline of a picture. My first love when it comes to drawing is the human form. So the day I had enough time to spend some quality time with my tablet, the first thing I found was fashion magazine. I opened it and looked for pictures to draw. I drew many out of which a few are being posted here.

The hair and the eyes are the hardest thing to paint. I suck at both. I tried painting one and you yourself can be witness to how much I suck at it. I tried the hair. They look like strings attached to the head. So I didn't bother to try the eyes. The others are just outlines for me to paint on, but for now that's more than enough :P

Muses

2009-06-30T14:07:00.007+05:30

I watched the movie Hercules a few months ago, and I loved the animation, the look of the characters and the colour combination used. A book and a pencil immediately appear on the table and I spent hours appreciating and drawing the Muses (and their expressions) -

Baby HerculesBaby Pegasus

Artwork - Animals

2009-06-30T13:25:00.007+05:30

I drew these from a book, though animation courses require you to be able to draw looking at animals from real-life.

Self Portrait

2009-06-30T13:09:00.001+05:30

A year ago, before placements could happen, I was thinking of alternative courses to do if I didn't get placed, out of which animation was one of them. What rubbish! That's a lie. Animation was the only thing on my mind. I so badly wanted to get into animation, that I started looking at animation courses and degrees all over the world. I read the pre-requisites to join an animation course, and one of the colleges in the USA (Ringling Institute, if I remember right) asked for a self-portrait. Not that I would join the college, but the pre-requisite sounds like a very professional thing to do. I thought that was something I should be able to do after the course, not before. It almost sounded like an impossible thing for me. Then came the night when I decided that I'd do it. I opened a notebook at 11:30 p.m. and with a mirror in front of me I started sketching. At around 1 a.m. I came up with this.
Of course, it doesn't completely look like me (it was my first attempt, after all, at drawing a portrait from real-life), but a semblance of me exists. The most notable flaws are the eyes (they're too large.. someone even called them frog eyes :P), and the expression (that wasn't the expression I had that night :P). The face should've been a little longer too. All in all, I was very happy with the result, and was confident that I'd make it through the admission process had I sent in my artwork.

The Last Layout

2009-02-12T14:32:00.002+05:30

This is probably the last timetable layout of my life, unless of course I join a course with classes from 9 to 5. This is the last for my engineering course though.

Inspired by all the cool typography I've been seeing on websites, banners, magazines and design websites.

Tagged

2008-10-07T16:29:00.010+05:30

I've been tagged yet again, this time by this little powerhouse called Divlish. This is for you, Devilish Diu! ;)

Aw crap, your iPod's jammed on one song! And you won't be able to get it fixed for a week! What song do you hope to christ it's stuck on?
This song from the Disney classic, Cinderella - "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo". It's such an adorable song!

You learn that your new cable package has the Anytime Movie Channel! Which movie do you immediately flick to?
Madagascar, anytime anywhere.

You walk in the front door and smell dinner cooking! What makes you go, "Oooh, I like that!"?
Chocolate!! Yummm.. I love what my mum makes! She's awesome! Oh yes, I'm capable of having only chocolate (lots of it, of course) for dinner.

What's your favourite season?
I so love the rains. The best part of the whole thing is dancing in the first rains of the season. I miss that so much now.

What's your favourite word?
My favourite word is 'Colour'. I don't know why, but I love it. In terms of word usage, these days I've been using a lot of 'rubbish'. What rubbish! ;)

And your least favourite?
My least favourite word is the word 'mess'. I dislike all kinds of 'mess'. A hosteller would know better. Of course, there are a lot of words I really 'hate'.

If you could be anything in the world when you grow up, what would you be?
A character animator. Everybody knows that! ;)

What's your pet peeve? C'mon, you can tell us! What makes you go, "ARGH!!!!"?
I 'argh' (in my head) when girls gossip. Who cares what she wore the other day?

And finally... Which celeb makes you go all fluttery and swoony whenever you see a picture of them?
Oooh.. Alan Rickman and Antonio Banderas and Meg Ryan!

Great! Now it's your turn to tag some of your friends for this thing!
Tina; Josh Harrow; Amritha and Deepa (if you girls ever start a blog of your own, though I probably know all your answers to the questions ;) )

< hr /> designs

2008-09-13T16:09:00.011+05:30

I participated in the divider contest on Smashing Magazine few weeks ago. I sent five entries, out of which four made it to the website, though it didn't make it to the top 25. Not that I ever expected mine to make it there; I'm just an amateur and would never stand a chance against so many professional graphic designers that participated. I'm happy that mine even made it to their website. It boosted my morale and confidence. Just getting selected among the 1000 designs that they received is good enough for me.

Here are the four designs that made it:

And the one that didn't make it (I'm assuming it was because it was too big for a divider):

If anybody wants to use my designs, they may do so without any restrictions whatsoever, that is why these designs were made.

Read more about it, or see more amazing dividers here: [Smashing Magazine]

Painted Umbrella

2008-09-08T16:44:00.003+05:30

This idea was originally my sister's, who once told me that she would buy a white umbrella and paint on it. I loved the idea and looked for a white umbrella high and low, in vain. All I could find was this colour, whatever the colour is called. So I sat down to draw one evening, and painted it the next evening with silk paint I had in my room.Unfortunately, for me, I never got to use the umbrella, because everytime I wanted to go out and use it, the rains somehow seemed to know that I was going out, and it would stop raining.

EGO by Sebastian Baptista

2008-08-26T09:44:00.006+05:30

Gosh, you have to see this. One of the awesomest videos I've ever seen! There is no limit to creativity, is there? I love typography, and this is how typography was used by Sebastian Baptista in his 40 second video on YouTube.

Time-table layouts

2008-08-13T13:47:00.005+05:30

Here are the four time-table layouts I made for this semester. Now, which one do I choose?

Bookshelf Spectrum, Revisited

2008-07-23T10:51:00.001+05:30

bookshelf spectrum, revisited, originally uploaded by chotda.

I found this beautiful picture on flickr.com. This is so creative!!

Here's what the photographer, K Santos (chotda) says:
"there seemed to be a renewed interest in my old bookshelf photo, so i thought i would show you what the room looks like today"

Uploaded by chotda on 23 Oct 07, 1.49PM IST.

Amazing Kid #2: Vaishali Raikwad

2008-07-13T20:54:00.001+05:30

Speaking of singing competitions, I also love this naughty little girl, Vaishali Raikwad, from Bhopal. She’s so full of energy! She‘s bold and fearless. I wish I were like that. Here’s one of my favourite performances by Vaishali. She’s singing the song “Cheel Cheel Chillake” from the movie “Half Ticket” on her elimination day (Sa Re Ga Ma Pa - L’il Champs, Zee TV). [You could start watching from 2:25, since the beginning is only conversation between the host and Vaishali]

Amazing Kid #1: Anwesha Dutta

2008-07-13T20:44:00.001+05:30

I had to post this video because it‘s so amazing, it gives me goose bumps every time I watch it. No it‘s not scary! It’s a video of a participant, Anwesha Dutta, from West Bengal singing “Mere Dholna” from the movie “Bhool Bhulaiya” in the Voice of India competition on Star TV. Gosh, is she amazing or what!!
She makes me proud to be an Indian. Way to go, Anwesha.

How A Culture Is Made

2008-05-10T15:12:00.002+05:30

Here's a really nice article on How A Culture Is Made. I found it here: Friday Reflections

Storyline:
A group of scientists placed 5 monkeys in a cage, and in the middle, a ladder with bananas on the top. Every time a monkey went up the ladder, the scientists soaked the rest of the monkeys with cold water.

After a while, every time a monkey went up the ladder, the others would beat him up. After some time, no monkey dared to go up the ladder regardless of the temptation.
Scientists then decided to substitute one of the monkeys. The first thing this new monkey did was to go up the ladder. Immediately the other monkeys beat him up. After several beatings, the new member learned not to climb the ladder - even though he never knew why!
After some time, a second monkey was substituted and the same thing happened. The first monkey participated in beating up the second monkey. A third monkey was changed and the same beating was repeated. The fourth was substituted and the beating was repeated again. Finally the fifth monkey was replaced.

What was left was a group of 5 monkeys that, even though they had never received a cold shower, continued to beat up any monkey who attempted to climb the ladder. If it was possible to ask the monkeys why they would beat up all those who attempted to go up the ladder, I bet you the answer would be "I don’t know - that’s how things are done around here."

Reflection:
Look around you, does it sounds familiar? Don’t miss the opportunity to share this story with others, as they might be asking themselves why we continue to do what we are doing if there is a different way out there!

Dell Inspiron 1525 - A Review

2008-04-26T15:33:00.016+05:30

It’s been 2 weeks since I got a new Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop, and here are my thoughts and opinions about it.

First of all, the specifications:

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T8100 1
2.1GHz, 3MB Cache, 800 MHz FSB
Genuine Windows Vista(TM) Home Premium - with AERO experience
15.4" Widescreen WXGA+ (1440x900) TFT Display with TrueLife(TM)
Design: Street with Custom High-Gloss
Integrated 2.0 mega pixel web cam
3GB (1x2GB+1x1GB) 667MHz SDRAM
250GB SATA Hard Drive
Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Combination Drive with dual layer write capabilities
Intel(R) Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945 Dual Band 802.11a/g 54Mbps Wireless Mini Card
1 ExpressCard Slot, (Does Not Support PCMCIA Cards)
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy Advanced HD Audio Software
Dell(TM) Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module 1
6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Dell Bluetooth Wireless Headset
Microsoft(R) Works 9.0 (Does Not Include Microsoft(R) Office 2003/2007 Software)
McAfee(R) Security Center(TM) – 30 days trial
8-in-1 media card reader
Dell(TM) Keyboard with Touchpad (English)
Integrated 10/100 Fast Ethernet
Internal 56K Modem
RJ-11 Modem cable (AP)
Dell(TM) Travel Remote Control
Noise Isolation Ear Buds
Dell(TM) Media Direct
Dell(TM) MediaDirect DVD Kit
1 Year Complete Cover Accidental Damage Protection
1 Year Telephone Technical Support
Regional Support Within Asia Pacific Countries For Laptops
1-Year Limited Warranty (Next Business Day Service - parts & labour)

Before I write any further, I must also tell you my background of laptop usage. Prior to the Dell 1525, I had used just one other laptop - an Acer Aspire 5102 (with 512 MB RAM, 1.6GHz, 60GB HDD, AMD Turion processor, Windows XP Home Edition OS, 15.4” Widescreen 1280x800 etc etc..) which my parents bought for me a year and a half ago (Oct 2006, to be precise). The laptop was never without problems, and performance wasn’t good either. Well, to put in few words, it wasn’t a laptop I enjoyed working with.

The Dell Inspiron 1525, however, is a laptop I thoroughly enjoy using. From the time we placed the order (through the Dell website), through the processing of the order, and the delivery, it had been a pleasant experience. Yes, the system was delivered late by a day, but they compensated for it by increasing the warranty period by a year. Dell was very prompt at every stage of the order processing; and listened to and clarified our doubts and apprehensions patiently. I, honestly, was very impressed with their customer service.

It arrived in this big box, neatly packed, all safe within the thermocol casing. As you open the box, you first see the laptop bag. This bag has so many pockets you could use to hide stuff and never find it; very spacious you could stuff a lot of things in there. The quality of the bag is as good as it can get, and the soft pad on the handles gives you a feeling of the laptop losing a few pounds when inside the bag. That’s a good thing because the laptop is, kind of, heavy. Removing the bag, you see another box. This box contains all the CDs, manuals (the owner‘s manual is rather thick and has about 200 pages), cables, and other stuff that a laptop comes with. I was surprised to find a mouse, since I hadn’t expected it. There was the Bluetooth headset as promised, a noise-reduction earphone set (in a small black pouch, at the bottom right corner in the picture) and the remote control. The Bluetooth headphones work fine, though they don’t stay tight on my head and hence can use them only when I wear a pony-tail. The Bluetooth connection stays within the room and gets disconnected when I leave the room (that is, go beyond 12 feet, in accordance with the manual). The noise reduction earphones are really good and the ones I mostly use. The remote control, there’s nothing much to say about it really, except that what’s on the manual, with respect to the control buttons, is a little different from what the actual remote control has on it. I assume that the extra features shown on the manual are for 1526 and not for 1525. Nevertheless, as a remote control, it behaves just like it should be.
Now, coming to the laptop itself, it’s a beautiful piece of technology. The speed and performance is awesome. If there is a problem, then it’s because of the formidable Windows Vista, and not because of the hardware. I’d read in a review (by a professional reviewer) that the laptop that they had received had tiny scratches and the paint on the casing was peeling off. So that was the first thing I had checked before anything else. No scratches, no peeling off anywhere. Like I said, it was safely and neatly packed.

The webcam is good and can take pictures of 3200x2400 resolution and videos(not very impressive) of 1600x1200 resolution. Don’t expect what you expect from your digi-cam though. The webcam software also includes remote monitoring, motion detection and time-lapse video. The webcam console has a lot of features built into it, such as audio effects, video effects, face tracking, pan and zoom, and doodling - all fun to play with.

The display is impressive with no colour-inversion from ‘normal’ viewing angles and is susceptible to finger prints. The speaker, located above the keyboard, is normal for a laptop, nothing to brag about. It doesn’t bother me because I use the headphones/earphones 99% of the time. There are these touch-sensitive buttons for the media player above the keyboard that light up only when pressed. I found the volume control button a bit annoying since it responds to touch only once every second, and hence it becomes difficult to reduce the volume by large amounts. I’m able to use it only when I want to make minor adjustments with the volume/sound.

Now we come to the keyboard; the keyboard is one of the best things of the laptop, and for me, personally, there are many reasons. First of all, it’s the softest keyboard I’ve ever touched. That was the first thing I was really ‘really’ impressed with. Second, the layout of the keyboard was the same as the Acer laptop and so I didn’t have to get used to anything. The touchpad is good, can be over-sensitive at times, but not so much to really bother about. You just need some time to get used to its working. With respect to the touchpad, I will have to agree that my Acer laptop was way better.

I’ve used the Media Direct feature only thrice until now. It truly is Media ‘Direct’, meaning, it switches on almost immediately. But.. Yes, there is a ’but’ here. My computer has about 4GB of music, and it takes a lot of time to show me the list of tracks. I, somehow, am not patient enough for the list to load. The only reason I’m keeping the Media Direct feature alive on the laptop is because it uses the visualizations of Windows Media Player 9, which includes my all-time favourite visualization called Vox, which I cannot let go of. I know, it’s crazy to block 2GB of space because of a small visualization, but.. *shrugs* whatever.

About the graphics card, I don’t really have much to say because I don’t play games. I’ve played Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and that worked fine. I don’t know if it made a difference to you, but that is all I can say at the moment.

The DVD writer is very good. I don’t know if it’s because of the previous laptop, but I was amazed to see that writing a 4.7GB DVD took only 10 minutes as compared to 20 minutes on the Acer laptop.

My laptop gives a battery backup of 3 hours, which I'm really happy with.

The cover of my laptop has a glossy design and is highly susceptible to finger-prints. If that bothers you, then don't go for a glossy finish.

That is all I can write for now. If you want to know more about a feature, or have missed something important, let me know, I’ll include it here.

All in all, I’m in love with my new Dell Inspiron 1525, and would happily recommend it to anybody who wants to buy it, without a second thought.

Update [29 April]: Scratch what I said about the touch-sensitive volume control. It's working perfectly fine and I can make any kind of volume adjustment with it. I still have so much to learn about the laptop.

The design

2008-04-10T22:57:00.001+05:30

Front view

2008-04-10T22:29:00.001+05:30

Trip to Bangalore

2008-03-30T14:54:00.007+05:30

This post has been pending since long. Two weeks ago, two of my friends and I and mum and my sister and my friend's friend had been to Bangalore. My roommate and I had been planning this trip since the previous semester, wasting long hours during exams discussing where and when we could plan this trip. We finally got a 3 day long spring vacation (as our American counterparts would like to put it). We planned our trip to spend the three days in Bangalore to simply get away from the monotonous routine and spend quality time with friends. My roommate Cheeky, neighbour and friend, Bunny, Bunny's friend from Bangalore, my mum, my sister and I were there. Neighbour, friend and Bunny's roommate Crystal would've been with us if it weren't for Good Friday and Easter. So out of 4 friends at the hostel, only 3 of us went - Cheeky, Bunny and me. We started on Thursday night by train and reached Bangalore the next morning. Here's a short rundown of our stay there-

Day 1: Our main attraction, Wonderla amusement park. We had the best time ever, all the thrill rides and the virtual reality show and the musical fountain.. just WOW!!. Below are some videos[coming soon] and pictures:

Day 2: We went shopping at Commercial Street with mum and sis, since they would leave early next morning. I bought these:

Day 3: (Window)Shopping with Cheeky, Bunny and Bunny's friend at Garuda mall, Globus and the tibetan shopping area. Bought these:

That same night we (Cheeky, Bunny and me) caught a bus to reach the hostel the next morning. It really shouldn't have been surprising, but I was surprised to see many of my college (and hostel) mates in the same bus.

'to complete' tag

2008-03-03T12:28:00.002+05:30

I got this tag from leo1969. You have to complete the 'sentence'
My ex is: inexistent
I am listening to: the sound of keys being pressed on my keyboard
Maybe I should: be more productive
I love: colours and listening to music
My best friend: is my sister
I don't understand: what I was born for
I have no respect for: people who are full of themselves
I hate: being treated like I'm invisible
The meaning of my screen name is: 'blue' is my favourite colour and 'potion' is dedicated to my favourite fictional character Severus Snape, the potions master
Love is: what you can't live without
Somewhere, someone is: looking for me
I will always: follow my heart
Forever seems: like forever
I never want to: be sad

I would like to pass this tag to Ebbtide, CuteFairy, JoshHarrow. But whoever wants to take this, please feel free to do so.

Kudlu Falls

2008-02-29T17:12:00.015+05:30

Last Saturday, our class spent one of our best moments as a class together. We went on a picnic to Kudlu Falls near Hebri, about 1.5 hours from our college.

We started at around 8:30 a.m. Around 50 of us were present (of 70+ people in the class). We first stopped to collect food packets for the afternoon lunch.

The bus then took us to Hebri, where the bus was suddenly stopped. When asked why the driver had stopped, we got the shock of our lives. The bus won't go further because the road was too narrow and steep. It would be dangerous to take the bus any further. And that meant, we had to walk. We were told that we would have to walk about 2 kilometres. NOT. We realised that we had to walk 4.5 kilometres. And not ONLY walk, but climb rocks, crawl under fallen trees, cross streams and go through thick wood and narrow steep and dangerous paths. We were optimistic that it would be a piece of cake when we were with friends. Piece of cake, my foot. We climbed and climbed and climbed, and the path never ended. We were dog-tired, but kept going singing along inspirational songs completely out of tune from being breathless. Nevertheless, it was fun, and exciting to be experiencing dangerous steeps and narrow paths.We even enjoyed being breathless and tired.

Finally after about 1.5 hours we got the first glimpse of the waterfall. It was like heaven. On seeing the waterfall, energy piped up in us from nowhere.

On reaching the waterfall, we were awespired! It was beautiful! It was more than worth all the climbing and walking. The waterfall, the rocks, the hills - simply WOW!! All our tiredness drained off. We immediately got into the water. The water was so cold, some of us were shivering inside out. We then went under the cold waterfall and had the time of our lives, playing, singing, dancing, screaming - just freaking out under that cold waterfall. At around 1:30p.m. we had our lunch - delicious biriyani and salad.

After lunch, some of us still weren't finished with enjoying the water. So we played ball in the water (while I watched) for a while. It was soon time to go. We again made the 2 hour trek back toward the bus. The backward journey was easier since we mostly had to climb down the rocks and were already familiar with the route. We reached the bus in 1.5 hours. And no, the fun was not over yet. We climbed over the bus and enjoyed a bit over there. It was 5p.m. by then and it was really time to go back.

Oh, the fun and dance in the bus!! And the body-aches and sprains the next day!! It sure was one of the best times of my life. Since then, our class has become so united, so much more caring and responsible. Wow! I'm proud to be a part of my class.

Just yesterday, our class went to a restaurant for being treated by the valedictorian of the class. Though the number was less than the number that came for the picnic, I was amazed to see how free everyone was. So free that they freely told who their crushes were. Amazing, isn't it?

Dan Brown

2008-02-17T14:43:00.001+05:30

I recently finished reading all the four books by Dan Brown. I'm not a review writer, so I can't really write a detailed account of the experience of reading the books. All I want to say that each book is a master piece. I'm really amazed at the amount of research, study and hard work he's put into writing the books. Clearly, he's one of my best authors. I can't wait to read more books by him. Here's the list of my favourite Dan Brown books, in order of my liking:

The Da Vinci Code (This may be a prejudiced opinion because of the movie and all..) In close contention with Da Vinci Code is Angels and Demons. Then is Digital Fortress and finally, Deception Point.

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T15:39:00.005+05:30

Here's the wallpaper I made for this special day - a way to celebrate the people you love.

Brushes courtesy: Jason Gaylor

P.S. I don't have a Valentine yet.

Colour Tablets

2008-02-13T18:25:00.005+05:30

I make a time-table layout every semester. And this one below, is the layout for this semester. I kind of like it, probably because, as you would already be aware, because I love colours.

Six days of college, Six columns

Three Dimensions!!

2008-02-13T17:31:00.002+05:30

I found this amazing website that shows you a few pictures and explains how you could view them in full THREE DIMENSIONS!! It's awesome!! Have a look at it. Visit this link: http://www.3d-conversion.com/howto.html

Wallpaper

2008-02-13T17:21:00.003+05:30

I made a wallpaper for my desktop using 'paths' in Photoshop. I used paths for the first time, and I'm really happy with the result.

Sending Jelly Fish and Octopuses to Finland

2008-02-10T14:22:00.000+05:30

This is my first ever handmade postcard that I'm sending to Reetta of Finland. The postcrosser said, "If you want to make me really happy, sent a self-made card..". So I made her this since she was collecting jelly-fish and octopus themed cards. I hope she likes it.

I discovered my love for the colour purple after this particular endeavour. Purple Rules!!