musings

An old friend called me up yesterday, took me about 5 minutes to place him, but place I did.
one of the best chats ive had in some time.
feeling sad, and irritable :(
have had some interesting things happening ( not to me though :( ) which i shall update when i get the enthu to post again!

~Somanxo

The 5th line of 23rd post tag

Should have done this a long time ago when I saw it on mittra’s blog, but am a procrastinator so it’s taken this long

The instructions are...1. Delve into your blog archive.2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions. Ponder it for meaning, subtext or hidden agendas...5. Tag five people to do the same.

The post is this one made on the 6th of july  - Cairo Report Continued
And the line is “yeah the pyramids can be seen from the top of my hotel, looks like avery rustic location.”

The meaning is what it looks like. That was my second day in Cairo, on a somewhat rundown comp in a café. Had seen the pyramids the day before from the rooftop of the hotel where I was put up. Still maintain that the area in and around the pyramids is extremely rustic, and smells of horse and camel shit, u gotta go there to believe it.
As to subtext or hidden agendas, there were none. At that point in time, the blog used to be a journal, and my moral support was restricted to the outlaw, and a new found friend, the one in this .

As to people I would want to tag, its really upto whoever reader of mine chooses to get tagged. These I am generally tagging:
EmGi
Sunshine
Bro
Patnaik
Don’t really want to pester nyone else. nyone is welcome to consider himself/herself tagged!
~Somanxo

Coming Full Circle

I once wrote a post on how I see beauty in women here . I once also wrote a post stating my case here . Now its time to come full circle, and move on from the pleasant to the unpleasant. The turn offs. This is generically applicable in terms of friends as well. You can call it a person peeves thing if you so desire. These are the things about people which piss me off badly, mostly just keeping people at an acquaintance level.

• People who don’t understand simple English ( or Hindi). I call a spade a spade, there is nothing to be clarified on that. These are two hypothetical situations, one involving a woman, on involving a man. Ladies first!

Me : I don’t like X.
She : but whats the problem? X is so..( put in whatever nice adjectives u so desire).
Me : I don’t like X. I did not ask you not to like X.
She : I don’t understand you men…
Me : I don’t like X. It doesn’t matter to me if you are gonna marry him tomorrow, still wouldn’t change my point of view.
She : ( Reply still awaited, I hope the point’s gotten across – still hypothetical)

Note : don’t like just means indifferent enough not to want to have nything to do with it. Sort of like a tetanus injection, you get the idea. Think more on lines of jaundice if you want to think of hate!

Now on to guys.
Guy : A sucks. B sucks. C sucks. D sucks. ……. Ad nauseum
ME : (haven’t said nything, mostly coz I haven’t been listening. Only thing that did cross my mind, why the hell were you ever born???)

• The other variety which turn me off within 15 minutes ( tops, that much time is enough) are bimbos ( airheads whatever you wanna call em. The only good things MCP’s did was to invent these terms to counter the feminists) A typical bimbo will have above average looks, be a salman khan fan and would have watched Kuch Kuch Hota hai some 20 odd times. ( for the record, in 7 attempts to watch that movie I haven’t been able to go beyond the interval ) . I forgot to add that in all probability she would have no idea of how to cook, having been too delicate to do any useful work in her entire life except maybe powder her nose. ( with minor changes u can make it his life)

• Anyone saying bad things about food or the necessity of knowing how to cook. After having suffered for close to 6 years at the hands of soulless creeps in the hostel messes and nearby hotels ( just coz food has more oil and spice in it doesn’t make it tasty), having food turn into ashes in my mouth, I now see good food almost like manna ( food from God, literally). I look forward to mom’s cooked food whenever I go home, and in case she isn’t well, I have no issues eating what I churn out. But if someone tells me that food is not important, it basically means that you are not my kind of person. If you have difficulty in making at least one of the choices, then you are cool. If you had to give up one of these which one would it be?

1) Sex vs Food ( remember friends and joey?)
2) Food vs Movies
3) Food vs Computer/Internet

Giving up food is equivalent to eating ur entire life in RK hostel mess, or whichever mess you are part of. Basically to give up all semblance of good food.

• People who cant make up their mind on anything. No explanation or illustrations will be provided as it is too painful.

• Last but not the least, hypocricy . sort of like the fat guy in hitch saying I don’t like fat people, they aren’t health conscious. Saying in hindi goes “ Jo log sheeshe ke gharo me rehte hai, unhe pathar fekne se pehle sochna chahiye” ( those who live in houses of glass should think before hurling stones). If you live in one, and u can’t see it, chances are you wont be seeing me either.

This is after a good morning!
Good day folks!
~Somanxo

General stuff

Some general stuff about this blog and me. Enough queries have been generated as to why its so obfuscated. Guess that’s coz it’s the way I like it.

Sancho is me
Demesne is kingdom
Chtonian realms – greek equivalent of hell.
Memnoch – the devil also known as Lucifer, lord of the morning.

The image might look like its weed leaves, but is not! Have been an enthusiastic supporter of greenpeace in earlier days, but it is my sincere advise to all the readers of this blog to keep off it, and keep others off it, if practical. Not so beer!

Whoever thought of the concept of weekend beer and beer to go with meals did mankind a favour. That remains one of the few things in life I am not prepared to give up. There are a few people in this world, with whom to share a beer on a weekend is one of the best sharing experiences. Of course, there are added activities after that, which sort of depend on who you are!

By now, razzaq is out. So I will resume the great Sunday morning which started with a great irfan pathan hattrick in the first over of the match!

~Somanxo

template games

got bored of the old template so put in some fight to change to this one.
still need to make some changes though, but enough for today.

note : Am surprised that some people expect me to be surprised at all! :P

updated the shoutbox, hopefully one which has a better load than the previous one.

~Somanxo

Interesting times

Been busy for some time, have managed to make my resume, so one thing is out of the window. For all you people waiting to get into IIM Cal, there is good news. The intake is likely to be increased to 300, as per our diro’s republic day speech. Republic day is nice in a way. The pride that one feels in singing the national anthem is unique, and better when not followed by the stupid “India is my country, all Indians are my brothers and sisters….” Pledge. I never did get what the guy who wrote that pledge wanted, mass incest or huge indo-pak relations. Is anyone’s guess.

Began watching the series – The 4400’s. Must say, its after a long time that anything has managed to keep my attention for that long, apart from a few people. Good sci-fi, amazing storyline, a heady mix of men in black, x-files, and a whole load of other stuff. Recommended watch.

The other day, after I got what lappy calls “The Lawnmower cut”, I decided to shave off a weeks stubble. While sleeping after that, the jaipuri rajai that I felt so good, so alive that I am tempted to say that as far as men go, Gillette is the ultimate product company. I mean, the clean and alive feel of the skin after a good Mach3 shave is priceless. Was discussing with m. she said that it was true for girls too, after waxing or shaving. The terms used were slightly different, more on the lines of silk-epil advertising. ( their models deserve a serious checking out… what legs……)

Yesterday my extension cord went kaput. It made me regret the day I started using mittra’s cord and give away my spike guard. As of now, my monitor and cpu draw power from two alternate power sources, which can be sad if power cuts alternate between sources. Thankfully most of my work on the comp is done, and getting cut off from the internet should do marginal good to my job prospects.

Which reminds me, now 62 days are left to convo. About 45 to getting a job, however much I fuck up. Looking really fwd to a slightly more interesting stay in the rest of the country. Had an interesting pre-placement talk ( also called PPT’s over here) yesterday. Hindustan times is offering a position in ranchi at a decent enough salary. Suddenly an option of actually living at home and eating home cooked food for an year or so before pushing off to greener destinations, possibly with a Honda city mostly paid for, doesn’t seem to be all that bad an option. What say you?

~Somanxo

Technically challenged?

plagiarised.. credit to guy called intel on a kgp forum..
old..but I find it funny nyway.. to add to all the call center jokes..

Take heart, anyone among you who believes you are technologically challenged, you "ain't seen nothing yet".This is an excerpt from a Wall Street Journal article:

1. Compaq is considering changing the command "Press Any Key" to "Press Return Key" because of the flood of calls asking where the "Any"key is.

2. AST technical support had a caller complaining that her mouse was hard to control with the dust cover on. The cover turned out to be the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in.

3. Another Dell customer called to say he couldn't get his Computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of troubleshooting, the Technician discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the monitor screen and hitting the "Send"
key.

4. Yet another, Dell customer called to complain that his keyboard no longer worked. He had cleaned it by filling up his tub with soap and water and soaking the keyboard for a day, then removing all the keys and washing them individually.

5. A Dell technician received a call from a customer who was enraged because his computer had told him he was "Bad and an invalid." The tech explained that the computer's "bad command" and "invalid" Responses shouldn't be taken personally.

6. A confused caller to IBM was having trouble printing documents. He told the technician that the computer had said it couldn't find the printer. The user had also tried turning the computer screen to face the printer, but that his computer still couldn't "see" the printer.

7. An exasperated caller to Dell Computer Tech Support couldn't get their new Dell Computer to turn on. After ensuring the computer was plugged in, the technician asked her what happened when she pushed the power button. Her response, "I pushed and pushed on this foot pedal and Nothing happens." The "foot pedal" turned out to be the computer's mouse.

8. Another customer called Compaq tech support to say her brand new computer wouldn't work. She said she unpacked the unit, plugged it in and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for something to happen. When asked what happened when she pressed the power button, she asked, "What power button?"

9. Another IBM customer had trouble installing software and rang for support. "I put in the first disk, and that was OK. It said to put in the second disk, and had some problems with the disk. When it said to put in the third disk, I couldn't even fit it in..." The user hadn't realized that "Insert Disk 2" implied to remove Disk 1 first.

10. A story from a Novell NetWire SysOp:

CALLER: "Hello, is this Tech Support?"
TECH: "Yes, it is. How may I help you?"
CALLER: "The cup holder on my PC is broken and I am within my warranty period. How do I go about getting that fixed?"
TECH: "I'm sorry, but did you say a cup holder?"
CALLER: "Yes, it's attached to the front of my computer."
TECH: "Please excuse me. If I seem a bit stumped, it's because I am. Did you receive this as part of a promotional at a trade show? How did you get this cup holder? Does it have any trademark on it?"
CALLER: "It came with my computer. I don't know anything about a promotional. It just has 4X on it."


At this point, theTech Rep had to mute the caller because he couldn't stand it. He was laughing too hard. The caller had been using the load drawer of the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder and snapped it off the drive.

11. A woman called the Canon help desk with a problem with her printer. The tech asked her if she was "running it under windows." The woman responded, "No, my desk is next to the door. But that is a good point. The girl sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window, and her printer is working fine."

12. And last but not least:
TECH SUPPORT: "Okay Bob, let's press the control and escape keys at the same time. That brings up a task list in the middle of the screen. Now type the letter "P" to bring up the Program Manager."
CUSTOMER: "I don't have a P."
TECH SUPPORT: "On your keyboard, Bob."
CUSTOMER: "What do you mean?"
TECH SUPPORT: "P, on your keyboard, Bob."
CUSTOMER: "I'm not going to do that!"

Interesting Ad

Came across this on a forum as an instance of jap humor.
rather nice I must say, though it does look more like a spoof than the real thing.

 


~Somanxo 

which one of these - part 2

Ostensibly, the writer of that quiz would have you believe this was it if you wanted to share that specific thing with me.
I really disagree with the beer part...
coffee - just frnd
tea - u care
cappucino - u love me
milk - im ur special person
fruit juice - we are best friends
beer- you hate me
vodka - u like me
wine - you want me

was thinking about a lot of stuff, but unfortunately after a trip to pailan, the local daroo dhabha..senses have gone awry..
will update laters
~Somanxo

Which one of these?

Before going on to the title of the post, lemme take this opportunity to tell everyone that I have 2 quizzes tomorrow, each of 30% weightage. As these will be the last mid terms that I ever give, do send a prayer to the heavenly father, or just pray for me (

Now, apparently what you want to share with me would determine what you think of me.
Though I believe that the answers to this one are slightly wrong, but it is slightly fun. I will still put the question. The interpretation shall be put up later, or mailed individually.
So, which one of these would you share with me :
Coffee
Tea
Cappuccino
Milk
Fruit juice
Beer ( this is one which I disagree most)
Vodka
Wine

~Somanxo

diary of ...

I'm your truth, telling lies
I'm your reasoned alibis
I'm inside open your eyes
I'm you

Remind u of something?
Revisited this one after a long long time, coz of a post I saw about the house that jack built. That reminded me that it had been a very long time since I’d not listened to ny metallica song having favoured the dream theatre and iron maiden albums. But yesterday as I re-started listening to them one by one, I was reminded of the days spent in a wing, quite sometime back. As a matter of fact two of my then wingies of them have blogs named “The outlaw torn” and “Free speech for the dumb” which gives you an idea of how much of a rage it was with us at some point in time.

That apart, life is all set to become hectic, what with exams, ppts and what not, and given the high likelihood of my going off messenger life is likely to become way more professional than I would have ideally liked it to be.

Been watching holmes like crazy. The tv series is quite good even though it shows Watson in a slightly less deserving light than what he was portrayed as in the books.
Saw shark tale yesterday. Amazing movie. Short, sweet , funny and full value for time.

What will today bring?
~Somanxo

Sehwag's interview by Afridi

Saw it on someone's scrapbook in orkut, hilarious
Sehwag interviewed by Afridi:
Afridi : Are Sehwag kitna maarega.

Sehwag : Abey.abhi to sirf yunus aur yusuf ka khaata band kiya hai
.. abhi tera number hai . kitne maare re tuney fours? (yunus hit
22 fours,yusuf 26 ,sehwag 46)

Afridi : Gyarah.nai dus.

Sehwag : Abey sachi sachi bol na to kal double maar dunga.phir
mat bolna bolaa nai tha.

Afridi : Arey Sehwag sir aap to bura maan gaye.gyaarah maare they
.. galti ho gayi sir. bacchon ko maaf kar do.

Sehwag : Arrey tumhara wo chirkut keeper nai dikhai diya. bahut
pakaa raha tha.

Afridi : Sir wo shayad jaldi mein tha.

Sehwag : Theek hai . kal batting shuru karne se pehle hum unse
guftagu karna chahenge

Afridi : Main bol dunga sir.

Afridi : Sehwag sir ek baat puchu kya?

Sehwag : pucho .

Afridi : apne sixer sab maafi kar diye naa?

Sehwag : Haan .

Afridi : Kya. maaf kar diey. shukriya.

Sehwag : Haan maine to maaf kar diyey. lekin wo dressing room me
Dhoni baitha hai na wo gin raha hai. usko aane do.phir dekho.

~Somanxo

Memorable Quotes of joka

lappy says : you know, I always thought bhosdike was some kind of cake..
imagine him going to flurries and asking " can I have strawberry flavoured Bhonsdike please?"

occasion : someone says yeh aa gaya campus ka sabse bada geela
diaper( not the guy in question): Baasssss! main geela nahi karta!

edit: a lot of these are courtesy palitoz and takluz,who as you might guess are my wingies.
they also should be given due credit in exposing the greatness of joka -souls!
more laters
~Somanxo

The City of Joy

I got the idea for this when someone asked me why my location reads Calcutta for the next 70 odd days now, and about the city of joy in general. Of course in coming to jokaland, one basically had no choice, so it was done. Still remember cursing the profs at B, something I’ve stopped after realizing that professionally I got the better deal. But then just coz you are stuck in a jungle in hope of greener pastures doesn’t mean you gotta love it.

Anyways coming back to the city of joy. There are two primary routes of entering, either by Howrah station( poor people like me would enter this via second class or general compartments of Indian railways) or by the airport at Dumdum. ( for those under the misconception that the metro, which ends at Dumdum is anywhere close to it, it is about a 60 buck fare from the metro terminus to the airport). For those who are not rich, you enter via Howrah. You begin to know its near, when you see a whole load of  run down houses, and a stink seeps into the compartment with the train stopping a lot of times to give a pass to the locals. ( the locals in this state are always on time, a side effect of the commie governments over ages). In this its not too different from Mumbai, the so called mecca for the job seeker, as shown in hazaar hindi movies. The stink of the suburbs is pathetic, especially near the railroad. Of course at the airport, you take a prepaid cab and go wherever. So you don’t notice the difference, as a certain choti of my batch dint, having come to cal  twice on official visits, and having stayed on park street.

While entering of course, most places in this country are sad, so I guess it is unfair to criticize Calcutta on that ground. Contrary to whatever masses of the country think, there exist students who have some budgets even if they study in IIM’s. “Park Street” and “Forum” are the most “happening” places of Calcutta, so most of the time pass that we ever did in the city happened in and around these places. For those interested in a quick tour of the city, a trip around that area will show them everything of interest ( some British Raj buildings, and the Victoria memorial ( couples please don’t smooch over there, you might be taken to jail on charges of prostitution, which is known to happen over there) . ) For people with religious interests, there is the temple at Kalighat ( this is a peaceful place btw). The problem here is just that driving in the city is painful and perilous ( tram tracks infest the roads, and there are processions and stuff like that throughout the year). In fact, if you want to get delayed by an hour or so anywhere, just nudge a pedestrian, and a huge rush will gather near you and chatter away in bengali , expressing angst ( or sympathy if you are the pedestrian, doesn’t matter if you don’t understand shit about whats happening. I have been a pedestrian nudged by a car). A local friend of mine says “ yaar yeh kalkatta hai. Ek aadmi ko choo do, do sau ka bheed ikattha ho jaega do second mein”. I will leave the reader to make what he/she chooses to do out of it.

Coming to the hangout places. At kharagpur ( which is a village by any standards ), we had 2 legal bars( and one illegal), 5 restaurants ( outside campus, 3 inside), two places from where you could get booze at any time of the night. Here, in a place which comes under municipal limits, and located 5 kms from Saurav Ganguly’s residence ( the Puja at his place is world famous in Calcutta, there is a que of about 3 hours to have a “darshan” there, similar to tirupati ), we have 2 places from where you can just order food, one illegal theka, where the food is better than either of the above two and… yeah, we have Woodstock, the place where you can procure greenpeace. We have a few resorts further down, but they serve only preferred customers ( some people had sad experiences, apparently coz of their looks, they were assumed to want more than just beer there).
To have “fun” people go to park street or forum districts, which is a one and a half hour tortuous journey by cab, if one actually deigns to go. Here, cabbies have the delhi wala habit of not going at all if you don’t pay them extra. They assume that since you are a student, you gotta roll in money. Often no amount of money will make them shake their asses. This of course is for cabbies not in park street district. The ones in park street district just ask for 10-20 or no money extra depending on his mood.

Now that you’ve landed in park street, you feel like drinking some draft beer to soothe your nerves. You very boldly go to “Some Place Else”, the bar of the Park Hotel, thinking ki ok boss, I wont drink for a month, but I will have draft beer. But no, you dint go on Wednesday, which is the only day they serve draft beer. So you walk out broken hearted and go to one step up, Mocambo or any such place and have beer and food at rates which you can reasonably expect. Having blown some 500 bucks in an evening ( sans the taxi fares and chocolate excess at barrista’s ), you go back. ( similar charges in the theka come to about 200 per head, with an extra bottle of beer thrown in). So “An evening at park street costs about 700 odd, leaving you with nothing to do over the whole month, if you live on a budget. For those who want a cheaper option and are willing to eat cows, there is a place called “Oly Pub”, which looks like a retro parade, with all sorts of uncles in the bar, and cigarette smoke all over the place. It is cheap(as much as the theka ) , but anything except the beefsteak is close to mess food.

The other hangout “Forum” is what people also called Inox. Apart from the movie itself, some people claim to see the “crowd” over there. I personally agree with Pal, who says that “The Fat Chick”  is an extinct species in most of the country except Calcutta. It is enormous fun though, to see the Bengali family in action. The henpecked husband, the chattermouth wife, and the pestering kids. You can’t avoid em. You will have at least one quarrel every two trips coz of some obscure reason. ( one that we had was coz we’d asked for the A/c to be turned off as some of us were down with cold. Some hoity toity auntieji or bhabhiji decided to show of her Angrezi skills to us. One just thought that suffering and joy knew no language… alas. This also happens if you so much as touch a guy on one of the rickety overcrowded bus. I stopped traveling by bus after a certain 5 foot guy started giving me a lecture thinking I wanted to hit him on his head with my chin).

Should one even begin to talk about shops closing at 9, of the huge siesta’s which shopkeepers take, of the fact that people always talk to you in bong, even if you asked a question in hindi? ( there is no Bengali who can’t talk in hindi, though some come close).
In the match at eden gardens, my college contingent had almost come to blows with the people behind us, coz we used to stand up and cheer every Indian boundary ( Apparently, unless dada hits one, you aren’t supposed to stand.). the only cheer for any Indian came when they displayed ganguly’s score on the electronic scoreboard. Oh yeah, when dravid was out, there was such an enormous cheer that it made me question whether India is a country at all??
Sounds like the city of joy doesn’t it?

~Somanxo

PS: hope I don’t have to eat my words. Will have to if I get placed here.
Please pray for me if you are a well wisher.

Innocence -lost?

Does this pic remind you of sometime you might have spent in ur childhood, climbing trees coz it was fun, maybe even to steal or pluck a few raw or ripe mangoes and litchis when you thought you could get away with it?

doesn't it seem so long ago, sort of where you would place this pic in your memory, with you on the tree. I used to love climbing the mango tree I had in my backyard, tho it was more to put up a swing than to pluck mangoes. Besides, the insects really bug you badly when the trees bear fruit.

Had an allnighter yesterday, playing monopoly.This was the first time I played that since having played a few times in the power cuts with my previous wingies in kgp. For those who need to be reminded of what it is, this might help. Was great fun. I won the first game we played, more coz harry stayed in my hotels more than I stayed in his. Remember a pink site called Pall Mall? That was what won it for me that time. Then harry won the next two. After that, the last two games we played resulted in extreme collusions like rent free and revenue sharing agreements, which made it more of duopoly, but it was max fun to make harry give up all his cards.

Far cry from the monopoly we used to play as kids, but addictive fun nonetheless. What more to test your business acumen than to make shady undercover deals :) what say you?

~Somanxo

A forward that worked

Got this sometime back. This is the photograph of a girl, who was the victim of the tidal wave disaster in Thailand. whose family remains unidentified.

Thought it was genuine, so decided to forward it to everyone. Just decided to check on the authenticity a bit. Then I found out that this was indeed genuine. For people who are more interested, refer to this.

Of the so many forwards which refuse to die out, I think this will also get added. already got it 2 times today. No-one bothers to verify anything before sending fwds blindly. Things like these would get lost in the flurry of "send this to 10 people and your true love will message you back".." if you dont send it to everyone on ur list, you will die" etc etc.

Sophia Michl, age 10 of germany was lucky that the voice didnt get drowned out. Someone else might not be. Y destroy the internet with noise and spam?
~Somanxo

No Condoms needed

Saw this sometime back..

The mother of a 17-year-old girl was concerned that her daughter was having sex. Worried the girl might become pregnant, and adversely impact the family's status, she consulted the family doctor. The doctor told her that teenagers today were very willful, and any attempt to stop the girl would probably result in rebellion. He then told her to arrange for her daughter to be put on birth control and, until then, talk to her and give her a box of condoms. Later that evening, as her daughter was preparing for a date, the woman told her about the situation and handed her a box of condoms. The girl started to laugh and reached over to hug her mother saying, "Oh Mom! You don't have to worry about that! I'm dating Susan!

~Somanxo

Strange starts to friendships

Was going through my orkut scrapbook today, when I chanced to see some oldish scraps.
Ive made many strange friends on the internet. Different are the ways of saying hi. My favourite is that of joey's " HI, How'u doin?".
But never did i imagine that something which started like this, could go ahead the way it did.
This is episode 1 of that,probably the most interesting Hi in which I was ever involved, more will come later.
A is me, B keep guessing, upto B to expose identity.I know B will read this. Whether or not B chooses to Comment, it is B's choice.

A : with what uve written about urself.. u dont like fight club??

B:its fine as long as the ego wins-its only when 'goodness' pulls ahead that problms occur

A:how much chance does "goodness" get nyway.. generally hedonism or narcissm wins nyway dont u think so .. hobbes won most of the time.. din't he

B:goodness' does win-when the mind remembers stories narrated by mom during childhood-those of small boys being boiled in hell when they turn wicked!but yes-thats rare,very .and Hobbes' theory is as popular today as it was centuries ago

B::i agree, the fun is in the struggle.but personally,whom wud u like to see as the victor -jekyll or hyde?im not an agnostic,but yes,even i dont believe in hell,so i wont mind admittin hyde was more fascinating.

A:u see.. when a struggle that monumentous takes place.. the winner or loser is no longer important.. pure evil is something i havent seen.. so cant say whether i would back hyde or not.. but yeah i do like vampires and werewolves .. and also a lot of other supernatural things..

so what do you think happens after this?
~Somanxo

laugh or cry?

sometimes, things happen in life which make you wonder whether you should laugh or cry.
had a horrible weekend at nihilanth - the annual inter iit and iim quiz meet. missed the cutoffs in 3 quizzes out of 7 by less than 3 marks, in one we were 1.5 marks behind, and had changed 3 correct answers :(
as if that was not enough, the marginal games continued with a paper in which the prof decided to flunk me by 0.4 marks out of 100
yesterday the performance by pentagram at carpe diem was yet another case of that. Vocals - damn good. Guitar - good. attitude of band - awesome. choice of songs - pathetic. only one recognisable song - we dont need no education, ironically in an educational institute.
other things are also happening in a similar fashion. this mood of mine is rubbing off on some people it shouldnt, and having the effects it would.

Feel like crying,
But the tears wont come.
Feel like laughing,
The feeling doesnt come.
Looks like this will continue,
Till kingdom come.

~Somanxo

Carpe - Diem continued, with some better pics

One of these models had a minor blooper, which made the show all the more interesting. The video is infinitely more interesting :)





hope this does some advertising for carpe diem.
tommorrow there is a performance by shiamak davar's dance troupe, which should be nice.

~Somanxo

Carpe - Diem

We currently have our cultural festival – Carpe Diem going on. This is the second year of it. Last time it was fun, this will be the last fest I see as a student.
This is what happened today, so remember to check out our fest next time...


some issues uploading right now, and some better cam pics will be up later, but a nice letch nonetheless.

will miss this part of college life
~Somanxo

What is it about some songs which moves you?

What is it about some songs which moves you, and makes you want to hear them again, again and yet again. Is it their rhythm, or lyrics? Or is it the way you can relate to them? I think the latter. This is the how. This is the way my life is right now, and is also a quiz :P, see if you know all the songs whose lyrics have been used, or you need to google for them :)

Life so far has been something like this…

Since I was born they couldn't hold me down
Another misfit kid, another burned-out town

Never played by the rules I never really cared
My nasty reputation takes me everywhere

Am I alone in this? I believe not. One is as unique as everybody else!

I look and see it's not only me
So many others have stood where I stand
We are the young so raise your hands

They call us problem child
We spend our lives on trial
We walk an endless mile
We are the youth gone wild
We stand and we won't fall
We're wanted, one for all
The writing's on the wall
We are the youth gone wild!

This is true even now, but some things seem even more true than these, as I move on from one thing to the other, experiencing life for what it is – the essence of existence.

Between the silence of the mountains
And the crashing of the sea
There lies a land I once lived in
And she’s waiting there for me.

Who is she? Do I know, I don’t? Do I care? Not for now. For now, there are other choices to be made.
But in the grey of the morning
My mind becomes confused
Between the dead and the sleeping
And the road that I must choose.

The good part is that some things in life that you really, really want…

I ain't gonna eat, I ain't gonna sleep
Ain't gonna breathe,til I see, what I wanna see

What is it that I wanna see? Definitely not what that was about, coz hate consumes you. Passion is so much more interesting. Just coz it isn’t expressed doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. But it is definitely interesting… and confusing.

Nights in white satin,
Never reaching the end,
Letters I’ve written,
Never meaning to send.

Beauty I’d always missed
With these eyes before,
Just what the truth is
I can’t say anymore.’

cause I love you,
Yes, I love you,
Oh, how, I love you.

Then there are those who are left on the way, not because you wanted to leave them, but because time moved on, or you did…

Time can never mend the careless whispers of a good friend
To the heart and mind, ignorance is kind
there's no comfort in the truth
pain is all you'll find

Sounds sort of sad, but it seems to be true for the now. Unless this happens, which is going to take a lot…

I’m looking for someone to change my life.
I’m looking for a miracle in my life.
And if you could see what it’s done to me
To lose the love I knew
Could safely lead me to
The land that I once knew.
To learn as we grow old
The secrets of our souls.

This will probably be true.

Should've known better than to cheat a friend
and waste this chance that I've been given
so I'm never gonna dance again
the way I danced with you

To questions like these…

Now that you're gone
What I did so wrong?
so wrong that you had to leave me alone…

There seem to be no answers, only more pain and introspection, something like this…

Why do we never get an answer
When we’re knocking at the door?
Because the truth is hard to swallow
That’s what the wall of love is for.

Whether that is the truth, or not, I don’t know. Whatever others do tell me, I know that this is as true as whatever one can believe. This is what its all going to be, come what may in life!

Some try to tell me
Thoughts they cannot defend,
Just what you want to be
You will be in the end.

Does it sound familiar? Does it tug strings somewhere?

~Somanxo

This one's for the Biharis

This was one of the first mails ( no this is not a fwd) I got on my gmail account. The author is shashank aka honey, one of my best friends of kgp days. But I think it does capture the spirit of a Bihari pretty well ( I grew up in Ranchi, when it was part of Bihar , when I left, they decided to make it jharkhand ).

Here is the text :

I don't exactly remember who said to me "Ek Bihari sab pe bhari", on the day when i qualified through the prestigious JEE entrance examination.But since then I had many sleepless nights just to figure out whether the "bhari(heavy)" word was meant to be taken as it means literally or it meant what i suppose it means. Hailing from the not so hindi speaking state Bihar, where people are also very good at bad english,i pondered whether we Biharis are really that smart(as we suppose we are).We speak a non recognised version of hindi(Bihari) which is actually a mixture of the local maithili,magahi, bhojpuri,etc,etc(which shows how well we mix with other cultures).How can one forget statements like "Are falanwa ke betwa chilanwa ki beti ke saath raati ke saat baje peepalwa ke ped ke neeche baithal rahe", Or "kapar me bhadi darad ho raha hai", Or "aap ka samajhte hain ki hamko hindiye nahi ata hai", Or...(dont get me into this).Our Engliss is phine too. We can talk in Engliss,we can walk in Engliss and still laugh in Bihari.This is an intro from a very bright(top 100) JEE qualifier,"I am Basesar Prasad phrom Bihad,I am a studentt oph the department oph the Compootur Scince, My hobbbies arde ddrinking wated, playing kirket, nagdaj and suped commanddo dhdruva comics". I don't know whether this unique linguistic behaviour can be taken as a parameter for our smartness(However people from all over India have made fun of it all over India).We have no city left(after partition of Jharkhand) to boast about,except Patna, and for which we can only boast about the exponentially increasing crime rate.My friends have a clear picture of Patna(my hometown), where I dodge about a 1000 bullets daily(as Neo did in Matrix) to reach home safely in single piece and occasionally without being mugged(with the feeling of being "the one" daily!!!).Our police department is the best.Usually the cops come in late at the crime scene and try to figure out what happened,who did it,why etc etc.But here in Bihar our cops know it all, before it happens and take note of it not to be anywhere near the place,just in case people are suspicious, and sometimes its the cops themselves(no suspicions!!).And last but not the least we Biharis never lose in a conversation,whether we know or don't know the topic.Moreover we have developed this "Thethrology"(in bad english we can say obstinatology).So to cut short let me quote a couplet from a great friend of mine,

"Maut ayegi to kya main mar jaunga?
Maut ayegi to kya main mar jaunga?
Hum to Bihari hoon ped pe chadh jaunga".

Who the hell must be having a doubt, really I believe "Ek Bihari sab pe bhari". Dont u?? After all this we are still are surviving and we are almost in every part of India and the world(its damn too difficult in Bihar).P.S. That bullet part is a crap, I am no neo, I have bullet marks all over my body.
By honey, presented to you by :

~Somanxo
P.S. – I also love ( not past tense, still read em )reading nagraj, super commando dhruv. They are awesome. Do give them a try, not all things Indian and Bihari are as bad as people would want you to believe!

A few memories of the village

Some nostalgic moments of the village where I once lived,
some friends there, make I did.
Sylvan retreat it was,
innocenct and sweet life was.
As one moves on in life,
but bittersweet memories one has.


~Somanxo 

Whats in a name?

Was asked this by Sue, when I mentioned it in this post .Also, miss sunshine wrote a lot on that.

Anyways, to the question itself. What is in a name? The answer to that is nothing  and everything ( of course 42 is one of the answers, it being the answer to everything, but lets not dwell on that ). The name of a person, by itself may mean nothing about what the person is, his/her looks, or anything actually pertinent to the person. But what one does with it matters a helluva lot. Let me give an example. When you hear the name “Amitabh Bacchan”, only one person comes to your mind, doesn’t he? This is true across most of the world. In fact, during my trip to Cairo, I found out that the only two known Indian names are “Amitabh Bacchan” and a certain “Mithun Chakraborty”. Only an idiot would suggest that both names conjure up the same image of the person. Moving on to non –celebrities. These days, there is something known as internet chatting which happens through a variety of media – yahoo, msn, gtalk, aol etc (the instant messengers); orkut, friendster etc ( the networking sites); blogs( I haven’t made too many contacts via this route, but some people have!). A lot of people use one or more of these forms to contact and interact with various other people ( mainly of the opposite sex, if you look at the typical Indian male, but depends and changes from person to person). What one usually sees here is a user id ( based on name for most part, or something which is basically what the person tries to project himself/herself as) and if the person is both honest and believes he/she looks good an actual pic of the person.( for various reasons, a lot of people do not display their own picture, this often leads to interesting consequences, so also does displaying your pic ( sometimes as drastic as receiving marriage proposals, if one looks like a sabhya and susheel bhartiya naari))  

Enough of the sidetrack. In such a case, one’s name is of paramount importance. I will start with guys names. If your name is some common one, like Abhishek or Amit, you are dead meat. You have to use some other means of attracting and keeping interest. Moving on to girls ( more interesting nyway ), the kind of image your name conjures up is directly proportional to the kind of messages you get ( that is, if you don’t have a pic on your profile. In which case, the sex ratio of the country is so screwed that your inbox will be filled with “spam” which is intentionally addressed to you). Consider a general name “ Priya” for instance. The first image that would get conjured up would be of Priya Tendulkar of Priya biscuits fame, or something similar to that. Consider a more uncommon name , will not name one, but the real name of sue is something pretty unpronounceable ( she wont talk to anyone who can’t pronounce it). Or for simplicity’s sake, any foreign name. The way it would sound in your mind, the feelings it evokes ( Salma for instance is pretty exotic ) does make an impression. So a name does make an impression.

In my case, my surname is pretty rare, and hence I get the id’s I want, so no issues there. Most people I’ve met cant guess my ethnicity, and most that know me claim I am nothing like my ethnicity and background would suggest. But then life is a psychedelic ride for me (

In real life, what you do can change your name from just a name to something special, something which is a brand. In real life I don’t know of any abhishek or amit. They are called by surnames, or if even they are stuff like kumar etc, then nicknames, which can be anything, but usually tell you something about the person. What makes the difference is what you do with it. Mr. Bacchan made his name into what is called an iconic brand ,and cursed a few million Indians with bearing his name for life. Where I come from, Amit Kumar and Abhishek Kumar are so commonplace, you begin to think John Smith is a joke.

Coming back again to what it is all about, a name is what you are referred to. One should be proud of it, and if its unpronounceable, take advantage of it. The top 5 known people on campus are generally called by their surnames, though their names are also known ( yeah yeah my name is also known here :P ). But then, its about making your name into an experience, something which can be done over time, by deeds and actions.

I love my name ( also my surname, lends it more uniqueness). I like some people with middle names and long names ( makes it interesting, you gotta interact more with such people to remember their names, else you forget). Mostly I like people who love their names.But I still maintain that a name is just a name. what you do with it matters, these days you can be known by id’s too, imagine being known as needtothinkharder, or padhaku. Such things have been known to happen.

So, does it matter? or not?
These were my two cowries, you are free to add a few dimes to that :P .
~Somanxo

one of those things...

~Somanxo 

se7en

Another plagiarized tag, one on which I had begun quite some time ago, but used to get stuck.

Seven(plus three)things I plan to do(in no specific order) before I die!

Skydive
Bungee jump
Scuba dive in some sylvan coral island
Go hot air ballooning
Drive on the Autobahn in a Porsche
Visit these:
All seven continents, Kashmir, Yellowstone national park, grand canyon of Colorado, Rain forests of Amazon, equatorial forests of Zaire, see the London fog, the Swiss Alps, the canals of Venice, the dykes of Netherlands, the great barrier reef and some kangaroos, koalas and duckbilled platypuses.

Play the most favourite game on earth
Become a CEO!
Do something like CRY or otherwise, make an impact on unprivileged children.
File for bankruptcy, or make my company do so.

Seven things I can do!!!

Cook a decent, occasionally tasty meal! ( I can make a perfect half-fry-- sunny side up)
Do repeated addition faster than a lot of people ( never learnt tables, this is so much faster)
Have a conversation on a wide variety of topics ( the more esoteric the better, the less course focused the better)
Change my look every month ( don’t believe? Check this . non orkut users, sorry!)
Get a few people to read this, and tag a few others ( just you wait :P )
Do a decent personality analysis using the persons handwriting ( graphology )
Sleep like a log.

Seven things I can't do!...(YET!)

Stop procrastinating endlessly
Watch most movies without forwarding if I watch them alone
Attend a boring lecture/talk/workshop without sleeping
Stop getting addicted to new games! ( the list goes on… also get re-addicted, currently fifa2002)
Jog for any good stretch ( the machine in the gym is so much better, tells u the calories – better motivator)
Tell left from right instinctively ( am terrible at directions, ask nits.. )
Organize my room and keep it that way for longer than a week.

Seven things that attract me to the opposite sex!( there is no specific order of these)

Looks – for more see this
Smile
Personality, lemme put it this way, I should want to have coffee with her and also want to talk about something while at it ( ie not feeling that a mistake has been made )
Flirtatiousness
Responsiveness
Name ( usually ends in “a” for most females I get attracted to :P )
Ethnicity ( go figure :P )

Seven things I say most!

Less
The helloz!
Hmm
Wokays!
What the hell!
Wtf
Ok

Seven celebrity crushes!

Sushmita sen ( she won the contest! Aish was second)
Aishwarya Rai ( remember the Hi! I’m Sanjana – pepsi ad )
Salma Hayek ( 10/10 , purrfect latino babe )
Hrishitta Bhatt ( not a big celebrity, but damn good looking )
Jyothika ( ditto)
Isha Koppikar ( one of the classiest lasses to have hit bollywood)
Neha ( not dhupia, real name shabnam movies fiza, kareeb )

Whew! Took more time than I thought it would!

~Somanxo

Some one's math homework

Guy got a zero, but I think the answer deserved something for originality :)


~Somanxo 

Sunrise at joka

While few days of my stay in this sylvan place remain,have discovered this new toy to play with -picassa. Aint the sunrise and effects awesome??



~Somanxo 

Of Ganguly

Saw this quote: I have tremendous respect for Sourav Ganguly - Raj Singh Dungarpur.
here .
This is part of the by now well known Ganguly saga.
Yesterday, I saw this article on cricinfo which features ganguly speaking about playing in the 2007 world cup.
I find this whole episode both sad and funny. But before I say anything about that, this is what I have to say about the man in question.

Saurav Ganguly – The man with the second highest number of one day centuries, during the late 90’s and early 2000’s arguably the best one day batsman. Has reached almost all multiples of 000 runs in less matches than Sachin Tendulkar. High point of his career was probably the series at Toronto. What he accomplished with “genine” “all round” talent over there has not been accomplished by any cricketer before or after him. A pale shadow of his former self he is now, having struggled against almost all kinds of deliveries for some time.

But I still believe he should be part of the Indian one day team. If he is chucked out, at least have the likes of Raina and Gambhir play – pure batsmen, with arguably a better claim to batting than a certain Mohammed Kaif, who NOM to him, is described as the most over-rated player by a few of my cricket loving friends, and I tend to agree with them.

We should not have half measures. Ganguly is a great batsman and should be given a proper walkoff . 2007 world cup might be too far, but the least he deserves is to growl for one last time and show the world what the Bengal tiger is like. What is being done to him in the test team now is a joke.

Will he make the comeback to put other comebacks to shame? Or will he go like a whimpering cat – the way quite a few people have left the Indian cricket team?
Only time and the southpaw from Behala  can have the last laugh. Who will it be?
I hope it is the tiger.
~Somanxo

PS : I am not a big Ganguly or Bengal fan. I think Sachin is the best cricketer ever.
I am a Rahul Dravid fan. I think chappell was right in showing the finger.

Haloscan commenting has been removed

whats with haloscan, why does it have to get rid of earlier comments?
no more haloscan. Thankfully I had backed up.
~Somanxo

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

IF I were to die tonite

I got the idea of this from this . It got me thinking on the five things I would want to do on the day I die, if I knew I was gonna die that day. If something like American beauty or Saw results in my death, nothing I can do about it.
So here goes, I am gonna die tonite, so these are what I will do in the day.

1.Go and meet my parents, and tell them that I do love them, especially mom.
2. Ditto for loved one, and playing the most played game on this planet.
3. Have breakfast ( ghee dosa + podi and sambhar) at home with parents , have  lunch with friends ( pref. professional wale) at a good meal hotel. Have a candle lit dinner with my loved one in the balcony ( and cook it together)
4. Tell my kids, and a few loved friends that I love you even if I have been an SOB with you on a lot of occasions.
5. Read jonathan Livingston seagull, alchemist, and a few memorable passages of my favourite books.

The end.
~Somanxo

200 things you might have done

Saw this list on a lot of blogs, so decided to make one for myself

Here's the thing. Everything that I HAVE done is in BOLD. It is interesting to see how interesting your life may be.
82/200 is what I end up@ 23, so still time to catch up!How do you fare?

01.Bought everyone in the pub a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula.
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said ‘I love you’ and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Done a striptease
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long, and watch the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game.
17Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Touched an iceberg
20. Slept under the stars
21. Changed a baby’s diaper
22. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
23. Watched a meteor shower
24. Gotten drunk on champagne
25. Given more than you can afford to charity
26. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
27. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
28. Had a food fight
29. Bet on a winning horse
30. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
31. Asked out a stranger
32. Had a snowball fight – hailstones, not snow
33. Photocopied your bottom on the office photocopier
34. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
35. Held a lamb
36. Enacted a favorite fantasy
37. Taken a midnight skinny dip
38. Taken an ice cold bath
39. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
40. Seen a total eclipse
41. Ridden a roller coaster
42. Hit a home run( equivalent anyway)
43. Fit three weeks miraculously into three days
44. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
45. Adopted an accent for an entire day
46. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
47. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
48. Had two hard drives for your computer
49. Visited all 50 states(or 27-28?)
50. Loved your job for all accounts
51. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
52. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
53. Had amazing friends
54. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
55. Watched wild whales
56. Stolen a sign
57. Backpacked in Europe
58. Taken a road-trip
59. Rock climbing
60. Lied to foreign government’s official in that country to avoid notice
61. Midnight walk on the beach
62. Sky diving.
63.Visited Ireland
64. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
65. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
66. Visited Japan
67. Benchpressed your own weight
68. Milked a cow
69. Alphabetized your records
70. Pretended to be a superhero
71. Sung karaoke
72. Lounged around in bed all day
73. Posed nude in front of strangers
74. Scuba diving
75. Got it on to “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye
76. Kissed in the rain
77. Played in the mud
78. Played in the rain
79. Gone to a drive-in theater
80. Done something you should regret, but don’t regret it
81. Visited the Great Wall of China
82. Discovered that someone who’s not supposed to have known about your blog has discovered your blog
83. Dropped Windows in favor of something better
84. Started a business
85. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
86. Toured ancient sites
87. Taken a martial arts class
88. Swordfought for the honor of a woman
89. Played Counter-Strike(game was D&D) for more than 6 hours straight
90. Gotten married
91. Been in a movie
92. Crashed a party
93. Loved someone you shouldn’t have
94. Kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy
95. Gotten divorced
96. Had sex at the office
97. Gone without food for 5 days
98. Made cookies from scratch
99. Won first prize in a costume contest
100. Ridden a gondola in Venice
101. Gotten a tattoo
102. Found that the texture of some materials can turn you on
103. Rafted the Snake River
104. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
105. Got flowers for no reason
106. Masturbated in a public place
107. Got so drunk you don’t remember anything
108. Been addicted to some form of illegal drug
109. Performed on stage
110. Been to Las Vegas
111. Recorded music
112. Eaten shark
113. Had a one-night stand
114. Gone to Thailand
115. Seen Siouxsie live
116. Bought a house
117. Been in a combat zone
118. Buried one/both of your parents
119. Shaved or waxed your pubic hair off
120. Been on a cruise ship
121. Spoken more than one language fluently
122. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone
123. Bounced a check
124. Performed in Rocky Horror
125. Read - and understood - your credit report
126. Raised children
127. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
128. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
129. Created and named your own constellation of stars
130. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
131. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
132. Called or written your Congress person
133. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
134. …more than once? - More than thrice?
135. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
136. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
137. Had an abortion or your female partner did
138. Had plastic surgery
139. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
140. Wrote articles for a large publication –Imzine :P
141. Lost over 100 pounds
142. Held someone while they were having a seizure
143. Piloted an airplane
144. Petted a stingray
145. Broken someone’s heart
146. Helped an animal give birth
147. Been fired or laid off from a job
148. Won money on a T.V. game show
149. Broken a bone
150. Killed a human being
151. Gone on an African photo safari
152. Ridden a motorcycle
153. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100mph (greater than 100 kmph anyway )
154. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
155. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
156. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
157. Ridden a horse
158. Had major surgery
159. Had sex on a moving train
160. Had a snake as a pet
161. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
162. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
163. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
164. Visited more foreign countries than Indian states
165. Visited all 7 continents
166. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
167. Eaten kangaroo meat
168. Fallen in love at an ancient Mayan burial ground
169. Been a sperm or egg donor
170. Eaten sushi
171. Had your picture in the newspaper
172. Had 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year in your lifetime
173. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
174. Gotten someone fired for their actions
175. Gone back to school
176. Parasailed
177. Changed your name
178. Petted a cockroach
179. Eaten fried green tomatoes
180. Read The Iliad
181. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
182. Dined in a restaurant and stolen silverware, plates, cups because your apartment needed them
183. …and gotten 86′ed from the restaurant because you did it so many times, they figured out it was you
184. Taught yourself an art from scratch
185. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
186. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
187. Skipped all your school reunions
188. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
189. Been elected to public office
190. Written your own computer language
191. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
192. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
193. Built your own PC from parts
194. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
195. Had a booth at a street fair
196: Dyed your hair
197: Been a DJ
198: Found out someone was going to dump you via LiveJournal –yeesh!
199: Written your own role playing game
200: Been arrested

~Somanxo

Interesting URL's

A few urls, all of these work by the way

1.Who Represents? a database for agencies to the rich and famous: http://www.whorepresents.com
2. Experts Exchange, a knowledge base for programmers: http://www.expertsexchange.com
3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island:
http://www.penisland.net
4. Need a therapist?
http://www.therapistfinder.com
5. Mole Station Native Nursery:
http://www.molestationnursery.com

~Somanxo

Are We becoming spacers?

In case you are wondering what a spacer is, In Isaac Asimov's Foundation/Empire/Robot series, the Spacers were the first humans to emigrate to space. Now, while we haven’t actually been settling the galaxy abroad, there is something which is so eerily true today, which was never true for absolutely anyone ten years ago. There is a machine and an invention which takes up your time and space in a way that would cause breakups in relationships if it were another human. Yes, I am talking about the computer and the internet.

A characteristic of spacers was that they abhorred contact with earthly humans ( risk of disease etc), but in the most advanced spacer society on a planet called solaria, things had come to such a pass that they avoided contact among themselves. They used to meet using devices which projected their perfect three dimensional images in the other persons room, something called virtual reality in today’s human jargon. We are not there yet, but the signs are there. How many people do you talk to via the internet? Ten years ago, the problems of long distance relationships was not as pronounced as today. Internet chatting and dating have become a part of urban lifestyle.

Today, humans have a part of their lives online in what is called the world wide web, in various forms. Almost everyone has an email id these days. Mail has been replaced by email. We are moving to a virtual world. Will we also go the spacer way, stuck in high individualism, where others are relegated to machines? Or will we evolve differently?
Only time will tell.
~Somanxo

Of the gold jacket and mine

Saw Happy Gilmore yesterday. Its been years since I wanted to see that movie, and I will say that it was one movie I regret not having watched earlier. Adam sandler is imho one of the best actors, I mean the way he has me laughing throughout his movie, not allowing me to pause or forward, or plain give up ( which as I discovered earlier, was what I had done with 21 grams a couple of years ago – unwatchable, dunno why people think its great). Happy Gilmore ( like billy Madison which is also crazy) is a story about a nice poor guy winning against a snooty rich guy, actually a bit more – it’s about a “ganwar” winning the gold jacket@ the masters.

I have to go to the city and collect my jacket, I think its time procrastination was set aside and that recovered, so today I shall go to park street district come what may and tell the horror stories of that later!

~Somanxo

The thrills of free fall

Have you ever considered skydiving?
It could be you doing this…


Imagine the kind of high you would get while in the fall, the high that can come only from the thrill of free fall, you falling towards the earth at a breakneck speed. It is the highest speed achieved by man outside of spacecrafts with a terminal velocity of close to 500 kilometers an hour ( might be slightly off here, am not a big fan of exact statistics, they tend to be boring ) , faster than any car can take you ( or Schumacher for that matter), faster even than any military aircraft.. in fact the best one can do while still in the gravitational pull of the planet earth. Strictly speaking, you would also attract the earth, but by a quite insignificant amount, so if your parachute doesn’t work, its splat!

For people who would prefer safer avenues (relatively speaking) there are some similar kicks. Try jumping into the ocean at no moon nights if you happen to be near an area where the sea has luminous organisms. They start glowing when the water around them is disturbed ( by your jumping). Just go to the deck and jump in, the ocean glows around you, and you get the added thrill of watching an explosion of lights. This is something I intend to do some day, this is what I learnt swimming for.

For people with a lower risk appetite than this, there is bungee jumping or just plain diving, which would look similar to these.



While these would also generate the thrills of free fall, your life would be much safer.
Worth it, wouldn’t you say?
~Somanxo

If you can see this, your eyesights certified by Somanxo

Do you believe in love at first sight or should I drive by again

Of new year resolutions

There are a few things I have not done in life, apart from the obvious ones, I have not done skydiving, bungee jumping or
Para-sailing. I have not seen a kangaroo in my entire life. Ok, not even a Koala bear. I have not successfully propositioned anyone for anything of material consequence. I have not quit smoking.

But on the other hand, I did quit grass for most part, though it did come at the price of quitting ghas-phoos too for most part. I have seen the light show at the pyramids, and seen mummies too. I have seen the Nile, one of the greatest rivers of the world. I have finally been on an airplane. I also have been on a roller coaster and Ferris wheel. I have jumped into a swimming pool. The feeling you get when you let go of everything and make that leap is something I would love to do again, again and again and not grow tired of it. I have been on a steamer in Howrah, which is one of the few good things about cal. I have also written a lot of arbit stuff!

Now to come to the point of doing something which people do every new year – make resolutions, and generally toss em out of the window sometime later coz they are not upto it. The moot point is – why? Why does anyone need to make a resolution on new years day and then try to do something. I mean, if you really want to do something, you can shove the date up whatever and go ahead and do it. If you don’t wanna do it, you wont, you are just fooling yourself ( given you don’t tell other people your resolutions hopefully!). I never made any new year resolutions, never liked the concept per se. I do like the thanksgiving, diwali and lohri concepts – namely eating turkey ( or chicken ) , bursting firecrackers and lighting a bonfire :P. I did make a few resolutions and have some success at those mainly coz of achievable ones. Some of course die somewhere coz I am not upto it. But then “ impossible is nothing, it says i m possible “
Here’s to everyone’s new year resolution this year, I personally resolve nothing, will continue to be the same :D
~Somanxo

new years party in pictures

~Somanxo

More than one momentary lapse of reason

For every credibility gap there is a gullibility fill. -- Richard Clopton

For every credibility gap there is a gullibility gap. -- Senator Stuart Symington

For every human problem, there is a neat plain solution -- and it is always wrong. -- H. L. Mencken

Finagle's Fourth Law: No matter what occurs, there is always someone who believes it happened according to his pet theory.

Few young men of high gifts and fine tastes look forward to entering public life, for the probability of disappointments and vexations of a life in Congress so far outweigh its attractions that nothing but exceptional ambition or a strong sense of public duty suffices to draw such men into it. Law, education, literature, the higher walks of commerce, finance, or railway work offer a better prospect of enjoyment or distinction. -- Lord James Bryce

Feminists say 60 percent of the country's wealth is in the hands of women. They're letting men hold the other 40 percent because their handbags are full. -- Earl Wilson

FAITH: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks, without knowledge, of things without parallel. -- Ambrose Bierce

Examine the contents, not the bottle. -- The Talmud

Everything should be as simple as possible, but no simpler. -- Albert Einstein

Everyone is a genius at least once a year; a real genius has his original ideas closer together.

Brains x Beauty x Availability = Constant.

Everyone has talent at twenty-five. The trick is to have it at fifty. -- Edgar Degas

Every man has his price. Mine is $3.95.

Every man of genius is considerably helped by being dead.

Every man who is high up loves to think that he has done it all himself; and the wife smiles, and lets it go at that. -- James Matthew Barrie

Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists of not exceeding the limit. -- Elbert Hubbard

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Drunkenness is the vice of a good constitution, or of a bad memory! of a constitution so treacherously good, that it never bends till it breaks; or of a memory that recollects the pleasures of getting drunk, but forgets the pains of getting sober. -- Colton

~Somanxo

aaaaaaaaaa

Dinner with my cousin..
Happy new year to some who don’t pick my calls..
So on so forth
~I don’t know who