Dedicated to my long-suffering teammates.
STATUTORY WARNING: In a good deal of this post, I have either exaggerated grossly or played free and fast with the truth. I leave it to the reader to separate fact from fiction.
Getting started:
Forming a team:
The easiest way to success is, of course, putting together a very good team and then sitting back and letting them do all the work. This is not as easy as it sounds. An amateur would get ditched by his teammates after a quiz or two for poor performance. The trick is to pretend that you are actually contributing something. Before the start of the quiz hold forth knowledgeably about obscure popular-culture (that you mugged off Wikipedia for such an occasion). Go through an exaggerated fist-pumping, high-five routine whenever your team answers a question correctly and nod intelligently whenever another team answers a question with a petulant look on your face to show that you would have answered it if only it had come to you first. Unfortunately, some of the best quizzers are usually extremely weird characters - I, for instance, generally quiz with the Nagrath and Kothari worshiping scoundrel (let's call him Teammate 1 - TM1 for short) and the Man Utd. Revering (would be) Intellectual (MRI) a.k.a the Spons. Whore. An extreme form of this sort of team selection results in what my father calls "raiding the nursery" (for the record, he wasn't referring to me.)
Judge a Movie by its Wikipedia article:
The larger the better. No movie with an imdb rating of less than 8.2 is worth watching unless it is either an "art flick" or a "cult movie". God forbid that you say you enjoy watching family movies or rom-coms or some other form of "low-brow" cinema, people will draw away from you and look to the skies as if you said something so sacrilegious that they expect the lightning bolts any second.
Get a signature style:
It can be anything - unending Commie propaganda, just because your good friend and one of the college's best quizzers likes to wear Che shirts or an irritating habit of referring to sit-coms and movies from the 1970s in unheard of languages that are hard to pronounce and harder to watch.
After a quiz:
Allotting Blame:
Blame the Quizmaster:
TM1's favourite strategy. In his own words - "Machawn, watdef**k daw, the questions were arrrbit daw." Another technique is to claim that the Quizmaster had some grudge against you.
Blame your teammates:
My favourite strategy - with MRI usually at the receiving end. During every quiz, there comes a time when, by sheer fluke, you guess the right answer and hesitantly put it forward only to hastily withdraw it on your own. Seize the instance and upbraid your teammates about how they never listen to you, how it's all their fault you lost, how they'll regret it someday when you quiz with someone who appreciates you more, .. blah blah blah... (although the point would have made absolutely no difference to your final position).
Quizzers at IITM:
Can be divided into roughly five categories:
1)The Addicts:
Can be identified by their glassy, unfocused eyes as they wander around (on the few occasions that they leave their rooms) muttering under their breath (URLs of wiki articles). Like all addicts, some have their own private stash - of wikipedia articles saved on their computer in case their supply, i.e. the hostel network connectivity, gives out. Thankfully the addicts form a very small minority in the quizzing community.
2) The Geniuses:
Do not really make much of an effort at quizzing. They are merely well-read with photographic memories and almost total recall, they sail through quizzes(of both sorts) with little or no effort.
3) The "normal" guys
Form a majority of the quizzing community. People who read a lot and have a good idea of the world around them and get through quizzes with a mixture of intelligent guessing, logic and pure luck. A classic example would be MRI.
4) The Leaches:
Leaches come to quizzes with a team picked from the first three categories, employ tactics indicated in the team formation section, and then carry on as if they are the pillars of strength in their teams and go back with their share of glory. A classic example would be yours truly.
5)....... To be continued ?
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
April 28
April 28th : (Courtesy Wikipedia)
1937 - Saddam Hussein is born.
1945 - Benito Mussolini is executed.
1970 - Nixon orders troops to attack Communist centres in Cambodia.
2001 - Dennis Tito becomes the first space tourist.
2005 - The Patent Law Treaty goes into effect.
2009 - Mugaadhi runs around the wing shirtless, shouting at the top of his voice, EMEC is over.
You know you are in trouble when, after staring at the same page for more than half an hour, all that you want to do is take a blowtorch to every motor,generator and transformer on the planet, even if it does push man back to the dark ages. Presenting Electro Mechanical Energy Conversion (EMEC), the reason why quite a few second year "students" of the electrical engineering BTech. programme, IITM, were ready to do murder last semester. EMEC has become so legendary, that even students of other branches become cautious and tip-toe past the rooms of elec students as they wrestle with this monster.
The only known weapon in the struggle against EMEC is a mysterious, precious commodity known as "Suvinay's notes". Suvinay, our very own B.P. 2 (Branch Position 2) is a nearly mythical being who has the ability to sit through a lecture so boring any attempt by a normal person to pay attention is positively hazardous to health, understand almost everything the lecturer says and to top it all, write notes so precise, they become more widely used than the prescribed course ware. One rumour holds that Suvinay is one of the biggest reasons the myriad of xerox shops around campus are able to stay in business.
Once you do get our marks after a quiz, it is a good idea to quietly put your paper back into your bag before anybody sees it. Arguing for marks is really futile, as according to the lords of EMEC, energy supplied to an ideal transformer is not equal to the energy obtained from it. True story. I'm not kidding.
If I ever do have kids, and if any of them ever feel tempted to take up elec in IIT, I really hope they read this. Doing a course on EMEC ranks right at the top of the list of things that you should go to any length to avoid, above an hour of Mugaadhi's so called PJs and just below sticking your head in a public urinal, even if it means moving to North Korea and changing your name to initials.
1937 - Saddam Hussein is born.
1945 - Benito Mussolini is executed.
1970 - Nixon orders troops to attack Communist centres in Cambodia.
2001 - Dennis Tito becomes the first space tourist.
2005 - The Patent Law Treaty goes into effect.
2009 - Mugaadhi runs around the wing shirtless, shouting at the top of his voice, EMEC is over.
You know you are in trouble when, after staring at the same page for more than half an hour, all that you want to do is take a blowtorch to every motor,generator and transformer on the planet, even if it does push man back to the dark ages. Presenting Electro Mechanical Energy Conversion (EMEC), the reason why quite a few second year "students" of the electrical engineering BTech. programme, IITM, were ready to do murder last semester. EMEC has become so legendary, that even students of other branches become cautious and tip-toe past the rooms of elec students as they wrestle with this monster.
The only known weapon in the struggle against EMEC is a mysterious, precious commodity known as "Suvinay's notes". Suvinay, our very own B.P. 2 (Branch Position 2) is a nearly mythical being who has the ability to sit through a lecture so boring any attempt by a normal person to pay attention is positively hazardous to health, understand almost everything the lecturer says and to top it all, write notes so precise, they become more widely used than the prescribed course ware. One rumour holds that Suvinay is one of the biggest reasons the myriad of xerox shops around campus are able to stay in business.
Once you do get our marks after a quiz, it is a good idea to quietly put your paper back into your bag before anybody sees it. Arguing for marks is really futile, as according to the lords of EMEC, energy supplied to an ideal transformer is not equal to the energy obtained from it. True story. I'm not kidding.
If I ever do have kids, and if any of them ever feel tempted to take up elec in IIT, I really hope they read this. Doing a course on EMEC ranks right at the top of the list of things that you should go to any length to avoid, above an hour of Mugaadhi's so called PJs and just below sticking your head in a public urinal, even if it means moving to North Korea and changing your name to initials.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
A short one
Myth: IIT is well known.
Facts:
A"So where is he studying"?
B"IITM."
A1:ama, oru ITI ambathur la yum irukku.
(Yes there's an ITI in ambattur also)
A2: Oh, did he clear the exam or did he get in through management? (Management quotas in IIT??)
A3:"What is he doing there? "
B:"X engineering."
A3:"Oh! IIT has engineering???"
Myth:IIT students are the most brilliant in the country.
Fact: Abba, that may have been the case, but every year the quality is deteriorating, I say.
Myth: IIT students know what they are doing.
Fact: "So what are you doing?"
"Electrical Engineering with M. Tech specialization in ape-like, sorry applied, mechanics and biomedical engineering. "
"Electrical Engineering? Is that ECE or EEE ?"
"Neither. IIT doesn't have ECE or EEE."
"IIT doesn't have ECE???!!!!!! But even Anna University has ECE!!"
"And what do you learn in your specialisation ?"
Blink. Blink.
Myth: The IITM Campus is one of the greenest in the country.
Fact: At the current rate of deforestation, we will soon be as green as "Singara Chennai". Every time, I hear a new reason to justify the development. Last time it was "Birds can't nest properly in trees.(aside- so they can nest in buildings??)After this we can't build anymore or we would have developed more than 20% of our campus." This 20% is an interesting figure. Firstly, I refuse to beleive that 80% of the campus is habitable by the local wildlife. Secondly no matter how many buildings are built, we are told that the built-up area in the campus is still only 20%.
Idi Amin Chundy and the LAN cuts just waiting to happen:
Quotes:
"You must be the first man ever to go in for a vasectomy and come out with a date." Alan to Charlie in Two and a Half Men
"0.7 is the new 42" - Samaadhi on the life, the Universe and everything.
"I thought of a great way to celebrate my Finnish heritage at home. I'm going to look into opening a chain of strip clubs, and I'll call them Lapland!!!" - Pamela Anderson (from wikiquote)
Facts:
A"So where is he studying"?
B"IITM."
A1:ama, oru ITI ambathur la yum irukku.
(Yes there's an ITI in ambattur also)
A2: Oh, did he clear the exam or did he get in through management? (Management quotas in IIT??)
A3:"What is he doing there? "
B:"X engineering."
A3:"Oh! IIT has engineering???"
Myth:IIT students are the most brilliant in the country.
Fact: Abba, that may have been the case, but every year the quality is deteriorating, I say.
Myth: IIT students know what they are doing.
Fact: "So what are you doing?"
"Electrical Engineering with M. Tech specialization in ape-like, sorry applied, mechanics and biomedical engineering. "
"Electrical Engineering? Is that ECE or EEE ?"
"Neither. IIT doesn't have ECE or EEE."
"IIT doesn't have ECE???!!!!!! But even Anna University has ECE!!"
"And what do you learn in your specialisation ?"
Blink. Blink.
Myth: The IITM Campus is one of the greenest in the country.
Fact: At the current rate of deforestation, we will soon be as green as "Singara Chennai". Every time, I hear a new reason to justify the development. Last time it was "Birds can't nest properly in trees.(aside- so they can nest in buildings??)After this we can't build anymore or we would have developed more than 20% of our campus." This 20% is an interesting figure. Firstly, I refuse to beleive that 80% of the campus is habitable by the local wildlife. Secondly no matter how many buildings are built, we are told that the built-up area in the campus is still only 20%.
Idi Amin Chundy and the LAN cuts just waiting to happen:
| Timings | Reason |
|---|---|
| 2-4 PM | Students are missing their labs and late slots, this can't be allowed. |
| 4-7 PM | Students are not playing enough, this should encourage people to go out and play more. |
| 7-9 PM | Students will not go for their dinner if we allow LAN at this time. |
| 9-11 PM | Grades are dropping too much, students need to study more,this is the perfect time for them to study. |
| 11-11:59 PM | Students have a non-existent sex life. They can utilise this time to masturbate. |
| 12AM-2PM | The present frivolous reason for the LAN cut. |
Quotes:
"You must be the first man ever to go in for a vasectomy and come out with a date." Alan to Charlie in Two and a Half Men
"0.7 is the new 42" - Samaadhi on the life, the Universe and everything.
"I thought of a great way to celebrate my Finnish heritage at home. I'm going to look into opening a chain of strip clubs, and I'll call them Lapland!!!" - Pamela Anderson (from wikiquote)
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Looking back, looking forward: Part 2
Partly for my own reasons, and partly thanks to Gay (Go Gay!), I am continuing my series of introspections (and anecdotes) on the last one year.
I was blessed with, in my opinion, a truly amazing wing this year. Ranging from truly brilliant to truly insane (sometimes, nay, usually both in the same individual), we are/were a bunch of eccentric misfits, nerds, "give ups", engineers to be (I hope!). With company ranging from the grave, (reputedly - but not really)homosexual IMDB guide to the 9 point putting, mechanical engineering loving, hockey playing jock(no,not me ladies ;) ) , you have to try hard to be bored here.
What would life be without PJs? Mere existence. As a certain master once put it "For a PJ, you need a good punch line. People should feel like punching you after they hear it." Although I often fulfill the punching criteria, My attempts have fallen very flat. A typical crack ends like this.
Click to enlarge. Randall Munroe, here I come. Unsurprisingly, my PJs have not conquered the world. They are not ranked among the top topics of conversation right there with "shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--Of cabbages--and kings--And why the sea is boiling hot--And whether pigs have wings" as Lewis Caroll a.k.a. Rev.Charles Dodgson would have put it. Maybe I should concentrate more on punching (sic). As of now, I am content with the sight of strong men running screaming from me when they hear those fatal words: "Listen to this PJ, machan".
Apart from the other firsts, highs and lows, that I have acheived this year, this is also the year when I set my first quiz (barring a total washout in 8th standard which had my classmates almost crying beforre my fellow quizmaster and I called it a day) My attempt went something like this. Start early in the day(read 10 o' clock) .Wiki
11:00: Wiki
12:00:Wiki. When will this end?
13:00:Wiki. What did I do to deserve this?
14:00: Wiki. One question done.
15:00:Wiki. Why was I born?
16:00 Wiki. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Question 2.
Ok, so I'm exaggerating.Big deal. It isn't that frustrating. Sometimes it is nothing short of fun. A classic example would be these links: (http://youtube.com/watch?v=KNnX6XRQBec, http://youtube.com/watch?v=lgzbhEc6VVo&feature=related)But never again will I think that setting a quiz is easier than answering one.
One thing, that has really affected me the last one year are the joys of Geek Humour. From the legendary xkcd(some of my favourites are nos 287,356 ,18). Even phdcomics pales in comparison. As far as sitcoms go, all hail The Big Bang Theory. How can you resist such stuff :
Leonard:"A homo habilis discovering his opposable thumbs says 'what?' "
Large bully in caveman costume:"What?"
Sheldon: "You have about as much chance of going out with Penny as the Hubble Telescope has of finding that at the center of each black hole there's a little man with a flashlight trying to find the circuit breaker".
Penny:" I'm a Sagittarius, which probably tells you way more than you need to know."
Sheldon:"Yes. It tells us that you participate in the mass cultural delusion that the sun's apparent position relative to arbitrarily defined constellations at the time of your birth
somehow affects your personality."
Leonard [on Penny]:"Our babies will be smart and beautiful."
Sheldon:"Not to mention imaginary."
All said and done, life at IIT ( and for that matter, life in general), always has some surprises for you. Be it being woken up at unearthly hours to be bummed ( I don't care how you spell it, I'm spelling it bummed) or getting your MA101 paper(for the uninitiated MA101 is a course in the first semester introduced to grind out any thing approaching happiness in first years as soon as possible and convert them into mindless zombies who beleive that Pishkunov is the new 42) and discovering that you might not have to emigrate to Alaska to escape the wrath of your mater after all.
Quotable quotes:
"HUMANS NEED FANTASIES TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE." - Death in Hogfather
"Teenage wasteland, oh yeah! It's only teenage wasteland" - The Who in Baba O' Reilly.
Unquotable quotes:
"PLEASE _LOSE THE __OR." - A sign on a glass door in a hospital. Did they mean "Please close the door without the Doc.[DOC.]" ?
"iTransvestite" - A certain 1st year from my hostel.
@ the above mentioned master. I demand a 50% cut in all profits you make from the crass commercialisation of your page from hits through mine ;).
I was blessed with, in my opinion, a truly amazing wing this year. Ranging from truly brilliant to truly insane (sometimes, nay, usually both in the same individual), we are/were a bunch of eccentric misfits, nerds, "give ups", engineers to be (I hope!). With company ranging from the grave, (reputedly - but not really)homosexual IMDB guide to the 9 point putting, mechanical engineering loving, hockey playing jock(no,not me ladies ;) ) , you have to try hard to be bored here.
What would life be without PJs? Mere existence. As a certain master once put it "For a PJ, you need a good punch line. People should feel like punching you after they hear it." Although I often fulfill the punching criteria, My attempts have fallen very flat. A typical crack ends like this.
Click to enlarge. Randall Munroe, here I come. Unsurprisingly, my PJs have not conquered the world. They are not ranked among the top topics of conversation right there with "shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--Of cabbages--and kings--And why the sea is boiling hot--And whether pigs have wings" as Lewis Caroll a.k.a. Rev.Charles Dodgson would have put it. Maybe I should concentrate more on pun
Apart from the other firsts, highs and lows, that I have acheived this year, this is also the year when I set my first quiz (barring a total washout in 8th standard which had my classmates almost crying beforre my fellow quizmaster and I called it a day) My attempt went something like this. Start early in the day(read 10 o' clock) .Wiki
11:00: Wiki
12:00:Wiki. When will this end?
13:00:Wiki. What did I do to deserve this?
14:00: Wiki. One question done.
15:00:Wiki. Why was I born?
16:00 Wiki. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Question 2.
Ok, so I'm exaggerating.Big deal. It isn't that frustrating. Sometimes it is nothing short of fun. A classic example would be these links: (http://youtube.com/watch?v=KNnX6XRQBec, http://youtube.com/watch?v=lgzbhEc6VVo&feature=related)But never again will I think that setting a quiz is easier than answering one.
One thing, that has really affected me the last one year are the joys of Geek Humour. From the legendary xkcd(some of my favourites are nos 287,356 ,18). Even phdcomics pales in comparison. As far as sitcoms go, all hail The Big Bang Theory. How can you resist such stuff :
Leonard:"A homo habilis discovering his opposable thumbs says 'what?' "
Large bully in caveman costume:"What?"
Sheldon: "You have about as much chance of going out with Penny as the Hubble Telescope has of finding that at the center of each black hole there's a little man with a flashlight trying to find the circuit breaker".
Penny:" I'm a Sagittarius, which probably tells you way more than you need to know."
Sheldon:"Yes. It tells us that you participate in the mass cultural delusion that the sun's apparent position relative to arbitrarily defined constellations at the time of your birth
somehow affects your personality."
Leonard [on Penny]:"Our babies will be smart and beautiful."
Sheldon:"Not to mention imaginary."
All said and done, life at IIT ( and for that matter, life in general), always has some surprises for you. Be it being woken up at unearthly hours to be bummed ( I don't care how you spell it, I'm spelling it bummed) or getting your MA101 paper(for the uninitiated MA101 is a course in the first semester introduced to grind out any thing approaching happiness in first years as soon as possible and convert them into mindless zombies who beleive that Pishkunov is the new 42) and discovering that you might not have to emigrate to Alaska to escape the wrath of your mater after all.
Quotable quotes:
"HUMANS NEED FANTASIES TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE." - Death in Hogfather
"Teenage wasteland, oh yeah! It's only teenage wasteland" - The Who in Baba O' Reilly.
Unquotable quotes:
"PLEASE _LOSE THE __OR." - A sign on a glass door in a hospital. Did they mean "Please close the door without the Doc.[DOC.]" ?
"iTransvestite" - A certain 1st year from my hostel.
@ the above mentioned master. I demand a 50% cut in all profits you make from the crass commercialisation of your page from hits through mine ;).
Monday, May 5, 2008
Looking back, Looking Forward
The end of my first year. A momentous occasion. A time for laughter, a time for tears. A time for working, a time for sleeping. A time for freaking out, a time for hanging on to that little scrap of sanity left in me. If you struggled through that load of piffle it essentially means I'm putting pseud to kick some life back into this 'ere blog.
I thought that I would write a post(s) on the last one year - introspection, retrospection, and all that.
Some things never change:
Episode 1:School 1:
Even at a young age, I realised that not everything was well with my name. Joseph Joseph. It tends to attract queries. From the kindhearted "Are you sure you wrote your name down right, son?" to the curious "Joseph Joseph?? Of all the names on Earth, why that?". Of course, I wasn't always called that. If you are unlucky enough to have an elder brother in the same school, it kind of adds up. Thus I was christened "Mathew's brother". The ultimate injustice of it is that among all the common teachers that we had, only one called him Jojo's brother.
Episode2:School 2:
Day 3. My maths teacher (who has no idea who my brother is, has never taught him, and to whom even I am a comparative stranger ) calls me ....."Mathew". This is it. The Universe must be conspiring against me.
42
A conversation between me and one of my teachers:
"What's your name?"
"Joseph"
"Joseph what?"
"Joseph Joseph"
"Yes I heard that. Joseph what?"
"No ma'am, double Joseph."
"W. Joseph?"
We draw a merciful curtain on further events.
Episode 3: IIT:
I have just joined the hostel, I haven't even loaded my stuff in. I am sitting outside, reading the paper, when suddenly this guy comes up to me, grasps my hand and says:
"Mathew! Hi da machan, long time no see. How are you? You look different da. Shaved, Put on some weight too. "
Me:"Ah well, you see ...I ..um...am...well..ah...not Mathew."
However, there are some moments of change too. Sample this conversation with Prof. Rajesh Narayanan, who never did teach me.
"What's your name ?"
"Joseph."
"Gowtham ?" (For those of you who are wondering how Joseph can possibly sound like Gowtham, you have no idea how much like a seal with fish in its mouth I sound with my braces on)
"No, Joseph."
"Oh! So you are Joseph Joseph??"
AT LAST. Fame.Recognition. I have moved out of my brother's shadow!
Nice try. Sli max. T for me. Whatever.
"Put intro."
"My nick is Joseph"
"Joseph what?"
........
Quotable quotes:
"The hornier he gets, the cornier he gets."
- The RG of a certain legendary IITian
Homer Simpson on life:
"The answers to life's questions are not at the bottom of a bottle. They're on TV."
"Three lines that will get you through life:
'It was like that when I came here.'
'Cover for me.'
'Oh, good idea, boss!'"
"What's the point in going out? We're going to end up back here anyway."
I thought that I would write a post(s) on the last one year - introspection, retrospection, and all that.
Some things never change:
Episode 1:School 1:
Even at a young age, I realised that not everything was well with my name. Joseph Joseph. It tends to attract queries. From the kindhearted "Are you sure you wrote your name down right, son?" to the curious "Joseph Joseph?? Of all the names on Earth, why that?". Of course, I wasn't always called that. If you are unlucky enough to have an elder brother in the same school, it kind of adds up. Thus I was christened "Mathew's brother". The ultimate injustice of it is that among all the common teachers that we had, only one called him Jojo's brother.
Episode2:School 2:
Day 3. My maths teacher (who has no idea who my brother is, has never taught him, and to whom even I am a comparative stranger ) calls me ....."Mathew". This is it. The Universe must be conspiring against me.
42
A conversation between me and one of my teachers:
"What's your name?"
"Joseph"
"Joseph what?"
"Joseph Joseph"
"Yes I heard that. Joseph what?"
"No ma'am, double Joseph."
"W. Joseph?"
We draw a merciful curtain on further events.
Episode 3: IIT:
I have just joined the hostel, I haven't even loaded my stuff in. I am sitting outside, reading the paper, when suddenly this guy comes up to me, grasps my hand and says:
"Mathew! Hi da machan, long time no see. How are you? You look different da. Shaved, Put on some weight too. "
Me:"Ah well, you see ...I ..um...am...well..ah...not Mathew."
However, there are some moments of change too. Sample this conversation with Prof. Rajesh Narayanan, who never did teach me.
"What's your name ?"
"Joseph."
"Gowtham ?" (For those of you who are wondering how Joseph can possibly sound like Gowtham, you have no idea how much like a seal with fish in its mouth I sound with my braces on)
"No, Joseph."
"Oh! So you are Joseph Joseph??"
AT LAST. Fame.Recognition. I have moved out of my brother's shadow!
Nice try. Sli max. T for me. Whatever.
"Put intro."
"My nick is Joseph"
"Joseph what?"
........
Quotable quotes:
"The hornier he gets, the cornier he gets."
- The RG of a certain legendary IITian
Homer Simpson on life:
"The answers to life's questions are not at the bottom of a bottle. They're on TV."
"Three lines that will get you through life:
'It was like that when I came here.'
'Cover for me.'
'Oh, good idea, boss!'"
"What's the point in going out? We're going to end up back here anyway."
Monday, January 28, 2008
The Courtesan
The Long one
She came. Like the sun in the morning, like the birds in spring, like the end of a class of Inorganic Chemistry. Lusted, craved for, she surveyed her domain like an empress of old. Dominant.Demanding. Authoritative.And yet gentle, beautiful and exquisite. I watched in awe as she swept by me, her enchanting dance mesmerising me. I soaked in the heavenly song she was singing. I listened as she spoke in a language that seemed alien but recognisable. I paid heed while she talked of mysteries wondrous and varied. I laughed with her as she poked fun at all manner of things (including herself). I smelt the sweet fragrance of her perfume.
In the beginning I struggled, trying to match my puny abilities with her unmatched skills. I learnt the difference between the ordinary and the excellent. And then, I stopped. I just let her pull me in her wake, aiding her in what little way I could. Finally I spent one sleepless, feverish night with her, speaking with her only to watch her lover walk away with her. The next day I saw her again. I was tired and worn out but she retained all her life and vivacity as she led me for one last dance through the night, and broke all my limitations as I reached for perfection.
And now, it is over. She has left me, but not for ever. And as I sit and try not to dwell too much on the magic of the last few days, I know that she was, is and always will be SAARANG.
The short 'un
The most awaited event of the year. The pro shows rocked!!! Got raped in word games.The quizzes were really high level. The Newsletter was awesome. Grub stalls were decent.
At first, I tried my best at most of the events. Nice try I succeeded though. Gave up in the end and just had fun (and did a little volunteer work). Put night-out (stayed up the whole night) for Scrabble finals as main quiz went on at the same time( and same venue ;( ). I was a bit subdued the next day, but the rock show changed all that.
One down, FOUR TO GO.
For those of you who STILL (????) don't understand, the two descriptions are essentially the same). Which goes to prove I guess that we invented language to hide what we mean (L.M. Montgomery).
Quotable Quotes:
"We rode on the winds of the rising storm,
We ran to the sounds of the thunder.
We danced among the lightning bolts,
and tore the world asunder."
--Robert Jordan
Crossroads of twilight
I guess that would be one more way of describing Saarang.
"You look like a million dollars. All green and wrinkled."
--Wanda the Fish
Friday, December 21, 2007
The Hitchhiker's Guide
No, NOT to the galaxy. What do you do when you are stuck in the middle of the Institute of Infinite Tension, the day the end sems end? A few tips from the authors of that outstanding book The Hitchhiker's Guide To IIT from the publishing houses of Her-saw Myner on how to spend your time if caught in this dangerous place at this dangerous time.
DON'T PANIC.
Play a relaxing game of football. Gathering people to play with you is a task with variable difficulty- depending on what hostel you are in. This can range from beating on a few doors/ making a few calls to walking around with a loaded Kalashnikov, swearing at the top of your voice.
Watch a movie/sitcom. The LAN network in IIT is legendary. Any movie produced in the last 50 years worth its salt can be found on it. Approach a Master Movie Watcher (MMW) - easily recognized by the bleached skin after hours of radiation exposure.
Fart. A favourite activity of many IITians. "fart" is a verb which means to discourse at length on obscure topics or to talk nonsense . Although a good deal of what is discussed there is meaningless, some really brilliant ideas can result. There are different levels of farting.
The beginner (think padawan) can only blabber for a few minutes and it's obvious that he is just trying to fit in. The expert (think jedi master) can talk for hours on end on pretty much any topic under the sun without boring anybody . Farting is best done with all levels of farters present. As sessions can go on for hours, the reader is advised to take plenty of supplies to ward off hunger and thirst.
Stay away from the wing "muggo". You will find him moaning about how badly he has done( when he is going to top the class) and going around asking everybody how they have done( after the exams!!!!). If you see him approaching you, duck off. Not doing so is a GRAVE mistake.
If you do get caught, keep a blank expression, glaze your eyes over and hope for the best.
Stay cool, stay calm.Have Fun!
Author's tip:Order an approximation of the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster before you enter.
Quotable Quotes:
"Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
Today is the last day of your life so far.
Today is the first day of the rest of the mess."
-Wanda the Fish
"Life- loathe it or ignore it, you can't like it." - Marvin the Paranoid Android.
DON'T PANIC.
Play a relaxing game of football. Gathering people to play with you is a task with variable difficulty- depending on what hostel you are in. This can range from beating on a few doors/ making a few calls to walking around with a loaded Kalashnikov, swearing at the top of your voice.
Watch a movie/sitcom. The LAN network in IIT is legendary. Any movie produced in the last 50 years worth its salt can be found on it. Approach a Master Movie Watcher (MMW) - easily recognized by the bleached skin after hours of radiation exposure.
Fart. A favourite activity of many IITians. "fart" is a verb which means to discourse at length on obscure topics or to talk nonsense . Although a good deal of what is discussed there is meaningless, some really brilliant ideas can result. There are different levels of farting.
The beginner (think padawan) can only blabber for a few minutes and it's obvious that he is just trying to fit in. The expert (think jedi master) can talk for hours on end on pretty much any topic under the sun without boring anybody . Farting is best done with all levels of farters present. As sessions can go on for hours, the reader is advised to take plenty of supplies to ward off hunger and thirst.
Stay away from the wing "muggo". You will find him moaning about how badly he has done( when he is going to top the class) and going around asking everybody how they have done( after the exams!!!!). If you see him approaching you, duck off. Not doing so is a GRAVE mistake.
If you do get caught, keep a blank expression, glaze your eyes over and hope for the best.
Stay cool, stay calm.Have Fun!
Author's tip:Order an approximation of the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster before you enter.
Quotable Quotes:
"Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
Today is the last day of your life so far.
Today is the first day of the rest of the mess."
-Wanda the Fish
"Life- loathe it or ignore it, you can't like it." - Marvin the Paranoid Android.
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