The Truant Tales

Firstly, Merry Christmas

VTU, the university our college is affiliated to, has made sure no student indulges in a wild night of parties on New years eve. How did they manage this seemingly impossible feat? By Scheduling an exam on the 1st, they've killed the fun of new year. And that pisses me off.

The regular reader might remember that New Year in our house is a very tepid affair. The tradition of seeing TV with a soda and pizza has to be cancelled . Instead I'll have to study BTD (basic Thermodynamics), the toughest 3rd semester mechanical subject. Instead of gleefully welcoming the new year, I'll have to study one of Clausius' stupid theorems.

But, to let loose a secret, I've been having 'study holidays' for the past 20 days, and its only in the past 2 days that I've touched my textbooks. Apart from the usual cocktail of movies, cricket, tv, books and tv - I've got newer addictions to waste time. There's pub-hoping (don't do it very often, but its often enough), 'orkut'ing and now 'facebook'ing.

I've also wasted enough time making elborate 'study plans' (all of which were dumped by the first hour itself). There's also a comprehensive 'to do' list for the holidays (a tradition of mine. I'd like to see how many I strike out).

Anyway, the last week of the new year has started, and I'm sure you've all started planning for the big party. Lucky B**tards. Have fun while I return back to confusing maths (Damn that Fourier).

Two exams have passed since I last updated my blog. MT (metallurgical and Material Testing lab - sounds complicated but we have to do is stick a piece of metal in a huge machine and note down random numbers) was very easy, with the attenders doing most of our work. But the second and last practical exam after that was CAMD (Computer Aided Machine Drawing - sounds easy, but it is very very tough) was a nightmare. It went off very very very badly.

For CAMD we use a software called Solid Edge for 3-D drawings of machine parts and assembly of these parts. After hours of doing the 3D assembly of 'Plummer Block', the computer hung up on me. Totally frustrated after that, I reassembled the parts and the damn computer refused to save the assembly (A 'cache pointer error' kept popping up, whatever that is). All the attenders came over and checked the computer (Actually they had no idea what was wrong. They just kept hitting the monitor hoping for something to happen). Ultimately, the examiner too gave up. He threw his hands up and promised me the marks. I left the CAD lab, shaken and stirred.



So, I leave you now praying that someday life will be kind on me. Cheerio.

Look who's back. I had almost lost full interest in this dribble of a blog, until they announced that the exams would start in a weeks time. And strangely enough that renewed my enthusiasm for blog writing. October 9th was the last when I had written something original (and that too a degrading piece of poetry). A lot of things have been distracting me from writing an original post - cricket, TV, movies, sports, sleeping, music, a wedding (not mine), the gym and more sleeping. But as said earlier, I suddenly have an urge to write.

Movies! Movies! Movies!

1) Se7en : What a brilliant movie!!! The direction is simply brilliant, the actors (Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt and special mystery star, hint: Verbal Kint/Keyzer Soze) are excellent, the tone is eerie, script is great. A bit disappointed by the abrupt ending. But nevertheless, an excellent movie.

2) The Jerk : The first Steve Martin hit. It kinda funny but has too many stupid jokes to put you off.

3) Fargo : A very likable Coen brothers movie. Lot of black humour abound. William H Macy, Frances Macdormand. Steve Buscemi are great.

4) Rushmore : Another likable movie, if you are a Wes Anderson fan. Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray (especially Bill Murray) are brilliant. The movie isn't that funny, but is still a good watch.

5) This is Spinal Tap : Hilarious. Esp if you're a rock fan. It takes sometime to pick up, but the concerts are very funny.

6) Airplane : An overrated spoof of disaster movies. Maybe it was relevant in the 70's, but I certainly don't approve of its title as the 'best spoof ever'.

All this among many other movies ('die hard' series again, spaceballs (not at all funny), monty python and the life of brian....)

Music in my head, rythm in my soul

The New bands in my playlist include heart (Good classic rock), Judas Priest (Good metal), Collective Soul (a relatively new band with a classic feel to it, like Coldplay), Doobie Brothers (great southern rock), Alice Cooper (Classic Rock 'n roll) and Jefferson Airplane (Psychedelic Rock. Why did they ever become Jefferson Starship?)

The day before Halloween

I turned a year older recently (and none the wiser). Turning 19 is nothing special, no new privileges added. As luck would have it, I had tests that day. But that didn't stop my friends from kicking my ass (till my posterior went numb) in the canteen and then asking me for a treat. A very sophomoric tradition that'll continue because maturity isn't something we engineers pride upon.

The 'beautifuler' game

There's way too much cricket happening. India Vs Australia (India lost) then India Vs Pakistan (India won the ODI, looks like we'll win the tests too), Australia Vs Sri Lanka (Aus won) then Sri Lanka Vs England (looks like SL will win), Zimbabwe Vs West Indies (Who cares), not to mention the domestic 20/20 Indian Cricket League (ICL) going on. Whew. The great news is that I've got tickets to watch the India Vs Pakistan 3rd test in Bangalore for all 5 days at throw away prices (my friend relative is a member of the club). The bad news is that the tests go from the 8th to the 12th and I have an exam on the 11th. The solution, I attend on the 8th ,9th ,10th , 11th (afternoon onward. The exam is in the morning) and 12th. Mom's not too pleased that I won't be getting enough time to study. To my utter disbelief she didn't buy the 'exams come and go, but Ind Vs Pak matches come only once a year' routine.

I'm super excited about the match. 40,000 people attended each day in Delhi test, 60,000 in the Calcutta test and I'm expecting about 50,000 people in the Bangalore test. What an atmosphere.

And finally, Someone's big fat Indian wedding

Indian Weddings are a colourful affair. There's dancing, food, loud loud music, colourful attires, the old timers recollecting the old times, the youth teasing the bride and groom, and the parents shedding tears of joy which slowly turn into tears of sorrow when they see the bill. But I'm usually a damp squib at weddings. The loud music and the incessant dancing gives me headaches and I become particularly snappy when I'm cornered by some unknown chatty relative. Some moments at the recent wedding party included:

1) An elderly gentleman whose acquaintance I've never made before, come up to me and proclaims "What kind of fashion is this? You looks like a drunk goat", obviously referring to my goatee. I was bemused to hear about fashion from a person who wears his pant up to his chest and because of this he walks like a penguin.

2) Every person who greeted me starts off small talk with 'How is engineering?'. From experience, I know that this would lead to questions about whether me choosing mechanical over computer engineering was such a wise decision afterall. Usually I reply with 'nothing special' or 'its going on and on', but these thwart our conversation. But what worked with an notoriously chatty relative was the reply "Engineering is tricky. While I don't ming Mechanics of materials or Maths or even Manufacturing Processes I have trouble with Basic Thermodynamics. For example, when Clausius' inequality is applied to an open diathermic system undergoing a polythropic process, which of course is P into V raised to a constant n, and to this is Gibbs' equation is applied, the smallest change in entropy isn't entirely ...... ". After a few minutes of this incoherent dribble, he said "Oh, I'm sorry I think I'm needed by the priest.". And I never saw him again in the function. Lucky me.

3) Its hell being a 20 something bachelor at a wedding party surrounded by aunts and uncles waiting to fix you up with somebody. My cousin learned that the hard way. Aunts would come up to him and say "Go talk to that girl over there" or "doesn't that girl look pretty?" or even a blunt "Marry her..". Poor cousin of mine. He was too polite and would only shrug or say 'not now'. But this wouldn't deter the entusiastic aunts who would suggest more names and hound him with more personal questions "What kind of girl do you want?", "working or not working?"....and so on. Pity him.

Wow, Never realized how long the post was. This is what happens when a dormant mind wakes up after nearly two months. Cherio.