From the chthonian realms

heres to those who say this is a dead blog

2010-06-07T21:11:00.004+05:00

get lost :P,, something will come here soon enough.

for starters... this is what I will be having for dinner

I wanna heal

2008-06-09T22:42:00.002+05:00

I had never thought I would use this space again.

I thought I was through with it, id outgrown the need for it,hell i was just too lazy.

after a long long time, i am doing a rock marathon, whats more.. without getting drunk in the process of doing so, and it feels so liberating. there is something truly liberating about rock, something that a godsmack or linkin park brings out in life...

I wanna heal... i wanna feel.. i wanna go somewhere i belong..

ciao folks

P.S : Rafa's gonna roger federer again at wimbledon

P.P.S : Lewis is gonna emulate senna.. i have newfound respect after what he did to kimi yesterday!

Overheard @ office

2008-04-01T14:10:00.002+05:00

lets call the person X and Y

X - you know Y, the only way to improve things for us is to exchange places with a firang... he comes for a 70% pay cut in a "growing" market and I go at 300% pay hike..

Y - Seriously man, we should do that.. but what will you tell him..

X - Ill tell him its a growing market.. only way we can leverage the opportunity is to change places...

Y - and what will you tell him about the job?

X - You know.. u have to get somethings signed off.. like the Pee Sea En
angrez will ask... Whatsh a pee shee eNN
Ill tell him.. its nothing.. its just like getting a constitution signed off in a small country...

go figure...
~Somanxo

Blogging from office

2008-02-28T11:26:00.000+05:00

Hi folks this is on mobile in a meeting testing whether this works

Return of the King

2007-06-15T21:23:00.000+05:00

not the best way to return.. but nonetheless.. yet another tag

A. Available or taken: Taken(one wonders how or why )
B. Best Friend: Taken by her
C. Cake or pie: neither
D. Drink of choice: Martini rosso
E. Essential item: love, sex, and more of the same :p
F. Favorite color: Red, khaki
G. Gummi bears or worms: gummi bears – nice cartoon!
H. Hometown: Ranchi – the pagalkhana of kanke – I aint from kanke tho
I. Indulgence: Life
J. January or February: Jan.. has the new year party… J
K. Kids and/or names: Lestat de lionheart de marquis de blah blah blah.. no it’s the same one.. and it aint complete
L. Life is incomplete without: me!
M. Marriage date: she will tell u!
N. Number of siblings: 1- lil bro!
O. Oranges or apples: Oranges
P. Phobias/Fears: whats a phobieeaaa? Neva heard of it
Q. Quote: Impossible is not a fact, its an opinion!
R. Reason to smile: it increases ur face value
S. Season: winter
T. Tag 3 /6 people: bah
U. Unknown fact about me: several
V. Vegetable you hate: Brinjal
W. Worst habit: Forgetting to smile
X. X-rays: have u heard of x-ray lenses ? u haven’t? u must be from alibagh :P
Y. Your favorite food: Podi dosa
Z. Zodiac: Libra… the (un)balanced one!

my new laptop

2006-08-05T18:34:00.000+05:00

Hi,
it gives me great pleasure to post this as this means i will now be able to regularly post, especially in the rural areas that i would be visiting, as the net connection would work there also, courtesy gprs :)

pic courtesy my new nokia 6233 :)

what say folks?
~Somanxo

blogs blocked then unblocked

2006-07-22T11:15:00.000+05:00

for the last 3 days, blogs were blocked in india ( reminds u of china.. doesnt it..yeesh )
now coz of the hue n cry raised, they are unblocked..

more when i return back to office.. :)
~Somanxo

work life

2006-07-10T17:58:00.000+05:00

as part of my first assignment i have to cover around 600 villages in a month, then continue and do a thousand more, or whatever i can do in 3 months.

i did 70 odd in 3 days, was an interesting experience.

rural retailers are fun, but the food is not.

would write more, but my stomach doesnt allow me to :((

bye, love
~Somanxo

200th post, and coming full circle

2006-06-30T11:42:00.000+05:00

Hi folks,
this would be my 200th post since starting about 2 years ago. the journey has seen a lot of friends being made, and a lot left down the line. highs, lows and normalities like this one.

having recieved my first paycheque, i still dont have a bank account to put that in, and spend it.
no house to live ( not on a contract anyway) , in short still on folks money.

discovering the first hurdles of corporate life, namely that people suck. they need to be a!@-f!@ed . talking pleasantly doesnt help. unfortunately a lot of them arent professional enough.

nyways, will find a way around this, just as i have so far all my life, though this does tell me why people have three circles, the friendly one, the professional one, and the job one ( this being the variety who wd have a grudge against u - inevitable).

will update more shortly, as the guy whose pc i have hogged needs to use it.

~Somanxo

hello

2006-06-20T11:46:00.000+05:00

hello folks.
ive joined work now, for now it is mostly about induction , learning the ropes etc.

company policies block personal emails, and orkut among other things.
this is fortunately not blocked as yet.

so in a roundabout way i have come about writing my 199th post.
when i do find a house, my 200th will be on the way.

dunno how long or frequently i can continue to blog, but thanks nyways for all the views :D

bhubhaneswar is a nice small place, with good roads(surprisingly!) , and friendly people in my office.

looks like a decent amount of my time will be spent in rural( and coastal) orissa, if things go the way they look like!

adios, more to come.
~Somanxo

of female drivers

2006-04-28T21:49:00.000+05:00

Have been driving in the city a lot these days. So I get to experience female drivers and their wiles 1^st hand. Contrary to popular belief only 10% of these whacko. Now before u start labeling me sexist, u gotta realize that where I am, that’s a compliment. Coz about 50% of the drivers here are whacko. They tend to think that giving a pass is like giving money. I couldn’t believe it when this geriatric bugger driving a god knows how old fiat, hogged the road in front of me for a full 15 minutes. Dint allow me to go frm the right or the wrong side. It was his good luck I was giving a lift to mom. If it had been a grp of my friends( some of em are local whackos, I try to avoid pillioning or taking a lift frm em), we wd have prolly driven him off the road.

Then there is the road hog, the guy with an suv driving at 20 kmph. I dunno why the bastards buy those vehicles. After this come the female drivers. All of them without exception have tried to overtake me, which is a bad idea ( I generally don’t let anyone overtake me). Just coz I am wearing a helmet does not mean I am also a slow driver. I was peacefully ambling along, when out of the blue this scooty thing comes and parks its ass in front of me. It dint help that neither of the females on top of that had a good one.

After that, I dint slow down for that trip. I thought that was the worst. But no. yesterday, while I was going to the city, some female on a scooty decided to dance around changing positions on the road to get past an obnoxious bugger on a suv. Hello? There is a que here lady, no ladies 1^st on the road. This dint last too long, was pretty close to where I had to go. I was about to take a left turn into the parking lot when I am almost hit by…. Guess what.. a lady driver backing out. Still, that’s only 10% of them. The rest drive peacefully.

The guys are mad. A lot are like the old bastard on the fiat, only I doubt most of them grow old to be like that.

A bit off the topic. Got a joining date, not a location though. Will join my first full time job on the 15^th of june 2006. amen to that.

~ Somanxo

long time

2006-04-26T14:47:00.000+05:00

Tis an interesting experience to have the net again, after a gap of a month.

Been a kinda boring 23 days at home, been eating like crazy. I think ive put on 3-5 kg’s. some of my old jeans wont fit me nymore L

And what else, the weather here is great, am not sweating like my previous location. Lets see what happens at the next one, come june.

Time to kill till the 2^nd week of june, and not much to do.

Wont take a part time job coz of the bugging heat, might as well enjoy the last free vacation I have, before playing the corporate rat race :D

~ more from the hands of a bored somanxo.

~Somanxo

good bye joka!

2006-04-02T13:55:00.000+05:00

good bye joka!
for all the good and bad times i have had over here.
a more nostalgic post once i reach home.
till then, its me in a fancy dress for the viewers of this blog :)

~Adieu joka, miss u.
~Somanxo

8 things

2006-03-29T23:49:00.000+05:00

Been tagged by sue .
This is how it works

1. The tagged victim has to come up with 8 different points of their perfect lover.2. Need to mention the sex of the person.3. Tag 8 (or as many as possible) victims to join this game & leave a comment on their comments saying they’ve been tagged.(which sue didnt and hence I got to know about it so late).4. If tagged the 2nd time, there’s no need to post again.

So here goes.

obviously she. ( I respect homosexuality, but no thanks!)

She should fulfill some(preferably all) criteria on my views on beauty.

She should be independent ( I don’t like females who get dictated by peers and family)

She should be able to talk long hours with me ( I don’t care what it is we talk about :D)

She should be a good flirt ( where’s the fun n frolic if u don’t beat around the bush ( or maybe give the bush a whack:D) )

She should give me space to be myself.

She should love me for who I am rather than what I have.

Last but not the least, she should be willing to put up with my falling hair, grumpy temper, and random habits ( a few of them ;) )

~Somanxo

I'm back

2006-03-29T23:30:00.000+05:00

Hey folks,
I am back! Maybe not with a bang, but definitely back.
Certain events have happened in the past few weeks, which caused my post rate to come crashing down, but now I have reached a stage where it cant be helped anymore.
As ujjwala pointed out, I do need to write a few things on these last days here. Indeed, the last days of formal education.

First things first. I now have a job. With bharti televentures otherwise known as airtel in India – the market leader in cellular service providers. Will be joining sometime in june, so will put the posts flowing from home as well (.

Have had other nice things and people happen to me, but that I will talk about sometime later. These last days have been awesome here. A lot of things have fallen into place, a few expected ones, and a few quite unexpected ones(

The next post to follow in say 20 mins is a tag by sue, titled 8 things u want in ur lover.

All for now,
Somanxo( back again:D)

hypothesis

2006-03-11T14:16:00.000+05:00

not being in a state of mind to coherently write too much, i have decided to go into the hypothesis region.

hypothesis: newton committed suicide after he saw this.
he saw all laws he made being flaunted with abandon in movies :))

fyi : it is rajnikanth with the smoke, and not mithun da.

~Somanxo

Pun unintended

2006-03-07T01:55:00.000+05:00

Apart from some people, the two things I will really miss about this place are

something called ipmessenger, it sort of unites the batch, and frankly speaking, its difficult to tell things about it. U need to experience it to appreciate it.

Something called “ A momentary lapse of reason” – its an automated thing that comes up everytime u login to the students page.

A Momentary Lapse of ReasonPuns are little "plays on words" that a certain breed of person loves to spring on you and then look at you in a certain self-satisfied way to indicate that he thinks that you must think that he is by far the cleverest person on Earth now that Benjamin Franklin is dead, when in fact what you are thinking is that if this person ever ends up in a lifeboat, the other passengers will hurl him overboard by the end of the first day even if they have plenty of food and water. -- Dave Barry, "Why Humor is Funny"

As u can see it has its own perking up potential, for sometimes it is very very apt.
Imagine ur getting bugged by some asshole u don’t want to be bugged, then this pops up..
A Momentary Lapse of ReasonOne more word out of you, and it's: Bang!! Zoom! To the moon!!!

You get the idea :P

It is a unique kind of fun, as this place is, and should be treated. People tend to make a lot more out of things than is probably necessary. Much has been said about some things, which do not deserve mention. Some do, and they shall get the necessary attention soon.

Was musing on the tycho’s status message, which reads (-_-) Electric Sheep
Is he an android? Perhaps, but mostly not, androids aren’t supposed to be crazy.

By the looks of things, the incoherent ramblings of Somanxo from the chthonian realms are coming to end of phase one. Maybe the realms shall go away for ever, maybe they will come to haunt me again. Who knows? For life is long, and the world is a small place. A long long time ago, I thought it was too small for me. Looking at what happened to M/s Chawla, I sort of decided that this earth is good enough. But one might end up on some other world, just as a lot of sci-fi authors have foretold. After all technology is changing lives. Slowly but surely.

Amen to conditions suitable for more ramblings from me. And to the end of the chthonian realms, and to life on the third rock from the sun, just a 7 min journey at the dazzling speed of light ( the “c” from E = mc²) from the friendly neighborhood star.

~Somanxo

Reflections on karma

2006-03-06T22:19:00.000+05:00

Its been an eventful time since my last post. Will put up a post on that when the time is right. For now, placement is on at this place. The heat should hopefully soar to the skies and all of us get the jobs we came to this place looking for.

But to generally take some time to reflect on it. This is the end of one phase of life, where choices have to be made or swallowed. The official the end of parental funding to life. As an indicator, all you’ve to do is to look at status messages on gtalk on campus. A few samples are “Just 9 more days :-)” “Its Showtime folks!!” “Time to face the music....♪♫♪♫♪♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫”
And so on so forth, u get the general idea.

Is the karma I’ve accumulated good enough. Or will it come back to bite me in the ass.
As can be seen, not too much time before the hard hit with reality happens. But then, its another one of those inevitable things which happen to everyone who is lucky enough to be born.

~Somanxo

It is done

2006-03-02T11:03:00.000+05:00

100% MBA ( or equiavalent)
just the rites remain. they will be done over the next 30 days :)
~Somanxo

Last exam of my life

2006-03-01T18:19:00.000+05:00

It is tommrrow at 10:30 AM IST.
well wishers do put in a nice thought for me!
~Somanxo
PS: disabled word verification for whom it is a deterrant.

Me, Me and more of me!

2006-03-01T16:55:00.000+05:00

Thanks all for filling in my johari window, for those who might want to fill it, it is here. though i think most of whom would have wanted to fill it have done so! these are the results.

Arena

(known to self and others)

calm, friendly, intelligent, reflective, self-assertive, witty

Blind Spot

(known only to others)

able, adaptable, bold, caring, cheerful, clever, complex, confident, dependable, dignified, extroverted, giving, happy, helpful, idealistic, independent, ingenious, introverted, knowledgeable, logical, loving, observant, patient, quiet, relaxed, responsive, searching, self-conscious, sentimental, silly, sympathetic, tense, trustworthy, warm, wise

Façade

(known only to self)

Unknown

(known to nobody)

accepting, brave, energetic, kind, mature, modest, nervous, organised, powerful, proud, religious, sensible, shy, spontaneous

All Percentages

able (11%) accepting (0%) adaptable (18%) bold (11%) brave (0%) calm (11%) caring (3%) cheerful (3%) clever (14%) complex (40%) confident (18%) dependable (3%) dignified (11%) energetic (0%) extroverted (7%) friendly (22%) giving (3%) happy (3%) helpful (11%) idealistic (3%) independent (7%) ingenious (7%) intelligent (44%) introverted (7%) kind (0%) knowledgeable (18%) logical (25%) loving (7%) mature (0%) modest (0%) nervous (0%) observant (25%) organised (0%) patient (11%) powerful (0%) proud (0%) quiet (3%) reflective (37%) relaxed (29%) religious (0%) responsive (3%) searching (11%) self-assertive (7%) self-conscious (3%) sensible (0%) sentimental (14%) shy (0%) silly (14%) spontaneous (0%) sympathetic (3%) tense (3%) trustworthy (11%) warm (3%) wise (14%) witty (40%)

Created by the Interactive Johari Window on 1.3.2006, using data from 27 respondents.
You can make your own Johari Window, or view Somanxo's full data.

now, a bit of the dark side - the nohari window. This is the link. feel free to fill it anonymously. should be interesting seeing what is my dark side.

thanks again to all who filled it, gonna be useful for some purposes.
~Somanxo

Two thoughts for the day

2006-03-01T11:02:00.000+05:00

Never think, you’ve seen it all, life will surprise you. ( be happy when it doesn’t come back and bite your ass )

A refreshing sleep under her watchful eyes and bewitching smile seems to bring on this desire for more, so will go back to sleep.

~Somanxo

Musings

2006-02-28T21:44:00.000+05:00

Yet another of those crossings in life. Yet another bag of mixed feelings. Yet another place where I leave, feeling empty – no nostalgia, no tears, just a lack of emotion.

Phase 1 : St.Thomas School Ranchi
The place where it all began – 20 years of a tryst with education. Made some really good friends there, some of whom have fallen by the way because they couldn’t fight. That is the one thing I can do better than most people – fight with myself. The seeds of that were sown here, most of my “intellectual” tastes were acquired there. I fell in love with books, got myself a good education( which is the source of all competitive advantage, whether people want to accept it or not). I used to excel at English and the sciences over there, and suck at math( which I still do. ) When the end came, I did well at the boards and gained admission to Dav jvm, the best school in then bihar. Had to make the choice between medical and engineering ( I knew even then that I could do justice to only one thing at a time), chose engineering as the masses of this country do ( more because of the pathetic availability of good colleges for medicine than the lifestyle issues, in hindsight it was the better decision to make). A few good friends came with me, a few fell behind. So did my tryst with biology, till then my 2nd most differentiating paper.

Phase 2 : Dav Jvm, Ranchi
A short stay, marred by what is the most hyped exam in this country. A stupid set of problems, which a few people aspire to crack in their innocence. Does do some good though. Life was good there, and my circle of friends expanded to include females, and a certain PG Wodehouse. Things got sad with an attack of jaundice, which just about screwed the last few days at the place, and caused me to overeat post it to reach a high of about 140 pounds. The end here was mixed again. A few friends came with me, a few fell away. I remember the arguments I had with my folks before making the choice I did. Again, no regrets, for the past is immutable.

IIT Kharagpur, West Bengal
Probably the only institute for which I will feel anything. The place made me an adult. There is a lot of similarity among the guys over there, yet there is so much difference.
My learnings of human behaviour were the most pronounced over there. I also learnt about love, friendship, support through bad times, screw ups and inevitably – the dark side that exists in all of us – whether we want to accept that or not. Actually it has reached a point where I no longer see black or white, everything is grey, the shades of shadiness differ. I fell in love with a place – RKCTM – my second home after home, was my residence for 3 years. A few friends were made, for life ( some people I am sure will have a few shards from my influence on them, and accepted me for my whole cutting edge. Not many, but enough to keep the flame of faith lighted.). The end here was also mixed. No sadness at leaving home, coz of its inevitability, but a definite element of relief at the end of a phase of life( which was not to be) .The usual suspects fallen by the roadside ( remember the song, tanha dil tanha safar? So true!) .

IIM Calcutta or as I like to call it ( LakeSide Institute of Management, Joka)
Most of what happened in Kharagpur happened here at a higher intensity level and pace, with a greater emphasis on grey and dark shades. I possibly have not been hated more as an individual at any point in my life, or loved for that  matter. It has been an intense experience, more like the best( or worst, both mean the same)  daze of my life, which is coming to an end before my tryst with destiny begins again.

What has not changed inspite of these?
There is a core inside me. It is the foolish ideal which a few of us have. For good or bad I believe that there is something which is purer than the shades of grey which surrounds the world. It stands out like a spark, allowing dreamers and other people who aren’t purely materialistic to live and hope. It is that in me which never shuts the door on anyone it has been opened for. The worst thing I have ever done to someone who I have opened  a door into my life is leaving the ball in his/her court and refused to do anything but return the serve. Its like the game of tennis, where all my services have turned into aces. I like to play volleys, I serve to only those on whom I have a hope of a return. If you couldn’t return it coz your leg was broken, I will stay on the other side till you recover and return and serve. I don’t turn my back and run away. That’s something I haven’t learnt how to do, yet. I suspect that it will also happen, killing what remains of humanity I retain inside. There is time for that, for I have always found rays of light to show me the way, which grow into bright beams. I still have to just close my eyes, for those to hit me and restore peace.

I have written this for someone who is afraid I will leave because of misunderstandings. I don’t leave or run away. I don’t think friendship dies because of a fight. If it does, it never was anyway.

The things that have changed.
Innocence – that is lost, forever. I am an adult. The child has died his natural and inevitable death.
Lies – I used to lie earlier. Now I find truth better. There is no need to lie.  Misrepresentation is so much better. People always think there is more to it than it seems. Taking things at face value is simply not possible for some people
Openness – I used to be a snob earlier. Sometime down the line, I opened up. I am selective now, due to scars which people have left – willingly or unwillingly. I am also not as nice as I used to be, though I probably appear more nice now than I did. Ironic.

Yet another uncreative post I suppose, still me though, for all its worth. I do have the ray of sunlight coming from the hummingbird to look forward to, for sometime at least. The vows are worth sometime.

Finally, the most precious thing I have to give anyone is time. Some don’t appreciate it or reciprocate. But it is a function of priorities. They change. Live with it. Grow up. I did. It hurt. It will hurt again. But I will be reborn like a phoenix from the ashes that life will leave me as. Again, and again, and again……… till death do me part..

PS: some of you could fill up the johari window of mine.

~Somanxo

What am I?

2006-02-27T16:01:00.000+05:00

Have gotten free a bit. So decided to go in for some insights.

Since I’m actually trying to listen and care what you folks think of me, I’m gonna need your help here! please go to this page, and pick out a few words that you think describe me best. so when y'all are done, this site is going to make me a small window telling me some stuff, with which I hope to become a better person. Please fill this even if you just know me through blogging. now click and start choosing!! Use anon if u so desire!NB: go here if you want one for yourself too!

~Somanxo

ps: thanks all who filled it already!

Last quiz at IIM Cal

2006-02-26T14:00:00.000+05:00

Had the last quiz and class at IIM cal yesterday. These are some snaps of that. See if you can spot me :P

There's one end term on 2nd and then just the rat race is left, before I can leave for home, and greener pastures than these. Wish me luck, for I am gonna need every ounce of it!
~Somanxo

Notes

2006-02-25T02:21:00.000+05:00

This is for someone who gave me something to do with privacy. See this used to be your private blog. I knew that, and did not tell any of the junta who would be interested. The reasons are obvious.

Life sucks. The ♦ in my ♥ has flown into the night sky.
Today’s the second last academic day of my life.
2 quizzes and an essay.

So many parts of me have died over here, that one more doesn’t even seem to matter.

~Somanxo

edit: that is now some other guys blog. Not that it matters.

Statement Of Purpose

2006-02-24T12:49:00.000+05:00

For all you dudes and dudettes aspiring to get into universities or companies, there is something known as a SOP – statement of purpose.
There was a particularly painful form, which I did not fill, which has this question. The answer follows.

Successful leaders have a clear sense of purpose. What is your statement of purpose?

In order to supply any reasonable answer to this, let me also make my views on who successful leaders in my eyes are. I would say the Osama bin laden, Dawood ibrahim, George Bush Sr. ( junior just had another idiot to contend with, I mean the voters had no choice, if the other guy had won, we would have the same things happening anyway) , Indira Gandhi ( she actually won on a slogan “Garibi hatao” ( eradicate poverty, covertly suggesting that the poor be gotten rid of, something her son tried, and she accomplished in no small measure by dying). Among corporate persona – Jack Welch, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Vijay Mallya, Dhirubhai Ambani, Karsanbhai ( of nirma fame). You get the idea.
Of these, I like only Vijay ( owner of UB – the worlds second largest brewery) and Larry ( owner of Oracle), as in I aspire to follow in the footsteps of these two. There is of course the Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Packers ( sigh!, may god have mercy on his soul).
Henceforth, everything I write should be seen in light of this.

One talks about long term goals. Let me give you a flavour of what mine are. Here! I closed my eyes for a minute and tried to imagine what I would want to be at 55. I came across myself in colourful Hawaiian shorts and a beach shirt having a meeting on sponsoring the next playmate of the year shoot at Bermuda. Err. The rest is confidential.

Lets come to short term goals. You see, I have been duped so far in my life into believing that one should be educated. So like most of the people in India I appeared for 2 such public exams, and unlike most, cleared them. Now what people fail to see is that it has its own costs. Mine is 6 years of my life. At the end of it all, I am in a position where 40 days and 40 nights is not happening. There are some things I want in life. I am not settling for anything less than that. Any job where I don’t get to eat quality food is out. ( sorry McDonalds and subway are at best stopgap arrangements.) Something like a good lasagna every 3 days ( sans the bird flu risk of course) is more like it. No mess or standardized arrangements which make you eat shit with a lot of other people. I understand fertilizer is needed in the country, but that’s for plants, not human beings.
Then we come to other essentials of life – namely alcohol. A weekend beer is a must. Anyone who asks me to give that up, I am not joining. An opportunity to use HLL ( Hindustan Latex Limited) products is also welcome. Apart from these, I really don’t have any other needs, apart from the occasional ( read pref daily, twice daily) shots of Jack Daniels, or Absolut.

Medium term goals – should I even talk about them. But wait, I already have. Refer to this for them.

And to any other evil HR who wants to know my purpose – up yours!
~hope you gets the ideaz
~Somanxo

Who says pictures cant tell a story

2006-02-20T22:21:00.000+05:00

This happened while on the diamond harbour trip.
while the pics of sunrise etc have been lost, the most memorable one is still on, the only uncensorable one unfortunately. the guy in question apart from me is gola.

First, I got this idea, when he started snoring while we were having breakfast. ( nightout, after a party does that to some people :P )

Then, someone had a brilliant idea, since it was going photogenic, to capture a moment, a Canon moment definitely :)

Finally, the man himself joined the action.

so, aint it a nice story?
~Somanxo

Of Harbours and manchild

2006-02-19T09:13:00.000+05:00

Few things have happened since my last post.
Yesterday we went to diamond harbour ( not pearl harbour) to watch the sunrise.
It so happened that I had come out after filling a form at about 3 AM. I went around, saw no one. Then I heard noises from the roof. It so transpired that most of my wingies were having a party on tank top. I joined in too. Then there was a plan to go to diamond harbour to see the sunrise and eat bread gugni there. So 8 of us went there, 2 on a bike and 6 in a Maruti 800, which is a slightly uncomfortable fit, possible only coz me and Krishna were normal human sized. There are some pics, which shall follow with a detailed post. Some of those moments I shall remember for quite some time.

Today I received one of the weirdest salutations of my life “lilttle manchild in iim:P “
Was what a suspected to be fake aiyar bangalorean said. Must say the variety of salutations I get gets eclectic day by day. This one is up there with what a couple of my wingies call me ( “The most electrifying man on campus”). Theirs is more explainable though. Will put up a pic with my fluorescent yellow kurta and black cord ( it is not velvet, why can’t u understand??) pant.

Off to watch the final match of the Indo-Pak series I am.

~Somanxo

Sorry!

2006-02-16T04:45:00.000+05:00

Sorry! That’s the most abused word in English I know of. At least fuck is supposed to be derogatory in its usage most of the time, so technically it is not abused. Will start with a few instances :

Scene 1 : Table tennis match. Hard fought point, your opponents return miraculously manages to strategically touch the net and yet land on your side of the table, giving him the point. He says “ Sorry!” ( at least wipe of the silly grin of your face, I know you aren’t sorry)

Scene 2 ( female perspective ) : Some guy bumps into you intentionally ( occasionally it happens unintentionally too ) , then the same sorry!

I could go on and on. But that is not the purpose. I believe that the reason it is abused is because of convention and values that people have. Somehow a lot of people believe that just saying sorry does it. Typical comments ( usually from females ) “ How hard is it to say sorry?” “ You are being childish, just apologise” etc . What I fail to understand is that how it serves any purpose. If one is really sorry, saying it out loud is the last thing needed, usually some other action signals the intent anyway.

As far as I am concerned, it is a word to be used sparingly, and with intent. It doesn’t solve anything. I feel sorry occasionally, but rarely express that. If I did start doing the expressing part, family would be much closer. Mom doesn’t need me to say sorry to still love me. Why should anyone else? What kind of relationship is forged on lies and make-believe? Why should one even care?

This is the last post in my series of cynical and bashing a category of people. With this I am officially burying some corpses. Some of those who could have been.

And no, I am not sorry for doing that. Sad, yes.

edit : a couple of edits to be made. first one is now, next will be when and if i ever feel like it.
Few things for which one does not say sorry to me, basically u don't get forgiven. If you were at some level, you have gone from there to being Mr. or Miss or Mrs. Xyz as your name might be.
To list them all would probably mark me as an insensitive SOB by most females, so I will desist from that, the only common thread among all of them is leaving ( even once) without the decency to say good-bye ( when not hampered by anything). I consider it worse than an outright slap on my face? Would you continue to treat someone the same way if they slaped you in your face? I think not.

next edit will be specific. dont know if the intended readers will read it. I dont think they will anyway.
~Somanxo

Bas itna sa khwab hai

2006-02-15T23:47:00.000+05:00

It’s a matter of time. After all, everyone dies right? So what if lifelines are long, etc etc.
So will I .Am I going to become a ghost or vampire? Am I gonna be reborn as a movie star, or as a cockroach? Or is it going to be hell ( somehow, the thought of living among saints doesn’t really feel right!). I somehow don’t think so. So its going to be final. What option does that leave me – make the most of the life I have, so that when I die, I wont think that there’s something left unfinished. I hate “unfinished business”

So what do I want to do? If I die anytime in the next 7 years, I will be mad at myself for these 2 years. So I am hoping to live more than that, much more than that, old enough to sit on a rocking chair in the winter sun in a garden, something like vito corleone. I want to die basking in the sun, quite some time down the line, preferably in the next century :P

Anyways, the time is immaterial. As I stand at the threshold of stepping into a corporate
Life, I have some expectations. There are a few things I want in life. Some decent standard of living, some good position in the organization I work for, a good car ( one that does 160-170 kmph ( ) , a harley. These are the material ones.

Coming to other things, I wish to marry, have kids etc. that part is pretty much human nature. Would like it if I could marry someone who loves me for who I am rather than what I have. High hopes, but then at least hopes should be high.

Highs and lows, passion and more passion before I die, hopefully while at a job!

These are the dreams, bas itna sa khwaab hai!
~Somanxo

What could have been

2006-02-14T23:36:00.000+05:00

Hate. The word synonymous with love in my book. Not same, but very similar, levels of intensity and direction. Today, or yesterday as it were was valentine’s day. Yet another stupid day. I am generally indifferent to these days. I mean, with each day of the year, I discover that today is kiss day, rose day, mothers day, fathers day, wear your underwear over your pants day.. I mean there is no end. Why should any particular day mean anything much. Birthdays and anniversaries need to be remembered to keep some people happy, but at least they happen just once an year.

Valentine’s day is something which usually leaves me more cynical than other days, having lived in usually sad surroundings, which have made the whole exercise useless, apart from wishing other people around – why in heaven’s name? no idea, just coz of some random reason. Prolly just coz it exists. Whatever.

I have decided to dedicate this particular post to those who are the could have been’s.
What could they have been? Good friends for life, friends, lovers, any number of things.
These are people who I started talking, and it went on and blossomed into something which was akin to friendship, only it proved to be not. Somewhere, somehow the track went somewhere and that vanished into thin air. I hate these kind of relationships, and as far as these people are concerned, their lifetime is limited to my whims and fancies. I periodically chop my messenger and orkut lists. Rough estimate : 3 times I did this. About a 100 people ceased to exist for me. Another round is in the offing, this time the casualties will be more of the could have been’s. does it matter? Who cares anyway.
I mean, if people wont return emails and messengers, in this particular world, they might be dead. Why not make it official? Makes life more easy, gets rid of lies, and the could have been’s – in my opinion the most useless and time consuming people of anyone’s life. Remember anyone?

Lesson learnt : learn to forget. Learn to chop memories out from your brain. Learn to not hate people, or specifics. Learn to give up on people. Learn to celebrate independence day, rather than Valentine’s day :P
~Somanxo

happy valentines day

2006-02-13T23:49:00.000+05:00

to all the readers of this blog, and to some others.
have been wished, so decided to wish everyone with the same intensity :P
~Somanxo

Memories down the road of life

2006-02-12T02:03:00.000+05:00

When I was lying down after a few drinks yesterday ( courtesy lappy’s bday, may he live long!), I began having flashbacks of memories. Have had them a few times in this last month. Before I move on to more forms like these , I will try and put in the memories of my life which I have and are mentionable. ( sadly some of the better ones fall into the unmentionables category for various reasons)

The oldest thing I remember is playing on the chest of my maternal uncle ... would be 2-3 years types.  Remember his taking me out on rides all over jamshedpur. Have slight memories of maami as well, of visiting her in the hospital.

Also comes to mind the first entrance test I gave, to st Xavier’s, which I flunked.
I remember thinking that the seats were way too small.

Memories of being made to stand on the bench for the first time coz I was talking to D ( it never stuck me before then that other people could also speak telugu, I used to think it was a family affair )

Of staying back in jamshedpur for some time when my folks left, coz I wanted to stay with granny, and mausi ( ( this would be when I was 4 years old)

Of staying in the crèche when I was about 3 years old. Remember the quarter, which was much bigger than the one we were staying in.

Of setting my neighbors fence on fire with diwali crackers.
Ditto for curtains, and a saree of mom’s ( got a huge lashing after that)

Of breaking my head on a gate ( literally ) on dussehra ( the first time I got stitches, after which in a series I have now been stitched from head to toe)

Picking up a fight for the first time ( something to do with tere baap ki.. kinda stuff, was fun )

Picking up a fight to prevent someone bullying my bro ( was fun the next day in school, the whole say sorry to each other rigmarole )

Strangling my neighbour ( the idiot wanted to pick a fight, he was slightly smaller, went for his neck. Poor chap fainted. Never really messed with me again.)

Smoking dad’s cigarettes with my bro ( the whole flat came to see where the smoke was coming from )

Having a bath at the hot water springs in rajgir ( bihar ) ( I thought what a place, hot water for free )

Shooting an airgun at the yearly fair nearby
Ferris wheels ( I love em even now)

Bending down to pick up my pencil which had fallen, and remarking that IS really had such nice legs  ( I would still put her in the top 10 of girls I’d seen)

Playing commandos in the neighbourhood ( they’d dug these ditches and trenches for setting up an electrical substation )

Climbing the top of the water tank(about 300 feet) ( dad was max angry when he had to come up and get me down, not that I’d wanted to get down )

Catching dragonflies on winter afternoons

The day so much hail fell, that the locality was transformed into Kashmir for a few hours.

The first time I slept under the stars ( used to love doing that in jamshedpur )

The first visit to British council library ( was about 6 then, was my most favourite place for quite some time)

The cholera shot we ( me,bro, and cuz) took when we went to an uncle’s wedding. Me and cuz took it in our arms. Bro in his ass. That shot pained real bad. Still remember his repenting his decision.

Being afraid of injections ( remember creating a lot of scenes, I got stitched a lot, so had to take  a lot of tetanus shots)

Being duped by a sexy nurse into getting a shot taken when I’d fractured my wrist ( man, she put in the injection while sweetly talking about some other shit, never felt more cheated in my life )

Going to essel world.

Will skip a lot of them now, this is getting too long.

The day I learnt how to ride a bicycle.

My first flight ( to Kuwait )

Living alone in cairo ( was an interesting experience, how to have fun by urself)

A few crushes, a train journey spent all night up , and some others.

Howzzat for a life?
~Somanxo

50 days

2006-02-10T16:11:00.000+05:00

50 days to convo, 20 days to end terms, 35 days to placements.
9.68 bucks mobile balance.
0 in one bank account, 4k in another.
2 mess bills due.

How will I manage (.
God only knows.

That apart, life has been haunted by what I call evil hr practices in the corporate world. Wherein a company form looks like an autobiography, only if you are able to answer all the questions, bill Clinton would look like your secretary ( I mean all he did till college was have grass without inhaling, and possibly putting cigars to imaginative uses ).

Here is a sample of all that one needs to write. Mind you, all these are the 1st parts. Later you have to elaborate on how u felt and what u did and what would u do again in case the same thing happens.
An incident each in which :
You led a team on some path breaking stuff ( going to moon etc will do just fine )
You have taken some challenging task which stretched you, basically meaning that it made u move your ass a bit ( this cannot be the same as 1st one )
You have changed the way in which your organization does something ( 90% of all CEO’s have never done this btw )
You have delivered something on a professional basis ( this is at least ok for people who worked)
Oh yeah and the favourite one – have you ever felt the pressure to compromise on your values in a work situation ( what the hell, I don’t have values which get compromised everytime I meet someone. Who are u looking for – raja harishchandra?? )

Yeah, then the pre placement talks. By now all companies sound the same to me, apart from the pay angle. Everyone is the fastest growing company in their sector, everyone is one of the best places to work by some survey or the other ( given enough surveys, u will find standard of living is higher in India than USA) , everyone has the best HR practices – the same ones which result in those questions btw. I almost forgot to mention the future leaders of the organization part ( we don’t hire employees, we hire future leaders, yeesh!)
The couple of ppt’s ( pre placement talks) I liked were those which dispensed with videos ( there is this new trend of videos in which employees are shown to be having fun, wtf are u hiring for – to take us to picnics?? ) and gave a point blank description of their jobs, and emphasized that they were not the company for a glamour job. I wish I get into one of them, calling a spade a spade has its own merits.

Little wonder, that almost all my desire to write has been killed due to the tons of introspection that I am having to do in order to fill these pieces of meaningless shit for most part.

~Somanxo

Cultural misunderstanding

2006-02-08T16:56:00.000+05:00

found this today, max funny I must say

A disappointed salesman of Pepsi (cold drink) returns from his Middle
East assignment. A friend asked, "Why weren't you successful with the
Arabs?" The salesman explained, "When I got posted in the Middle East,
I was very confident that I will make a good sales pitch as Pepsi is
virtually unknown there. But, I had a problem I didn't know to speak
Arabic. So, I planned to convey the message through 3 posters... First
poster, a man crawling through the hot desert sand... totally exhausted
and panting. Second, the man is drinking our Pepsi and Third, our man
is now totally refreshed. Then these posters were pasted all over the
place" "That should have worked," said the friend. The salesman
replied, "Well, not only did I not speak Arabic, I also didn't realize
that Arabs read from right to left..."

~Somanxo

dollar dreams

2006-02-07T23:21:00.000+05:00

There is a variety of Indians who for lack of better words I shall describe as afflicted with the “dollar” dreams.

What would describe most of these? For most part they would be bright ( and not so bright) individuals hailing from middle to upper middle class backgrounds, with aspirations mainly to somehow or the other reach and settle in the USA, Canada or London. There is a small minority of these who go to the US to pursue higher studies in relatively decent schools, and get good jobs there ( this is the community which is among the highest earning ones the US, as a lot of Indian newspapers simply love to report ). There is a larger proportion who go to mediocre schools, don’t get a job and return back to India with “phoren” degrees and fake accents ( remember monica’s friend with the fake british accent ). This is the variety which irritates me no end.

Let me reiterate again, that for some things which one wants to do in life, India is definitely not the country where you might want to live or work. If I were born 10 years ago, I would most probably not even consider living in India because it did not have jobs interesting enough which paid good money. Even now that’s true for a lot of people. Interestingly, there are some symptoms which I shall talk about which are actually not exhibited by the people with cali, but almost always by the fakes.

For simplicity’s sake, lets just call them the McDee m coke lovers. I personally consider Mc to be a good place for cheap fast food, but it seems to have huge aspirational values among a big crowd. More distressingly there is a love for all things foreign, which is disturbing. Branding something Indian second class in India is sort of sad. But then, I guess they buy stuff just for the tag. A friend of mine who went to Paris told me most of the Eiffel tower replicas sold near Eiffel sport the “made in India” tag. How one passes that off as foren, it beats my imagination. The general attitude of some people that all things Indian are bad, and all things foreign are good, is slightly irksome. Thankfully I don’t need to cohort too much with such people.

What does befuddle me is that people don’t even seek to know what they are aspiring to. Personally I hate generalizations of any sort, this falls into one of them. I will end with an example of something which is extremely distressing. A friend of mine used to work for Oracle, Hyderabad. Given that he was the off-shore part, he had to interact with the on-site team in US. On one such interaction, the person at the other end realized that there was a time gap of 13 hours, so he offered to exchange late nights ( they do it alternately.).
No such offers were made by any Indians in US, who did know that there was a time differential. No one offshore expected them to make any such offer. After all they are the “superior” ones, the ones who got away from this hellhole.

~Somanxo

will make a post on why I wish to live in India, and the other acceptable countries sometime. When, I don’t know.

note - more for myself than nyone else.

2006-02-07T03:36:00.000+05:00

things happened which were good, then things happened which were ugly.
a conversation has been left midway, and has to be resumed.
a post is still an idea, has to be completed. this will not be left as a draft coz it will get lost.

Lust,Love and Marriage

2006-02-06T00:45:00.000+05:00

Got the idea for this when I was talking to sue, this being the first of the two posts I said I would write. These are my personal opinions and I don’t think a lot of people would be ready to accept these.

Given my hedonist stance on life, I shall start with lust – the simplest of all these. To lust, the verb literally means to crave for. Generally used for sex, I use it in the broader spectrum of physical needs. At one level, man ( woman) is an animal and lust is an expression of that beast inside him/her. That beast demands the satisfaction of its needs. It asks no questions about who or what is satisfying it. Obviously there are different levels of satisfaction. Its like the difference between having a nice lasagna for dinner and having dal chawal. Hunger is satisfied in any case, and given enough hunger, dal chawal is like lasagna. Should be similar for sex, need for money, possessions and any other so called material desire. Here what is important is that while lust itself knows no reason, as human beings there are definite consequences of wanton satisfaction, be it food (stomach upset) or sex(STDs, AIDS, divorce…the list goes on). But the beast demands satisfaction, and gets it. The price differs.

Love on the other hand, is much more human in nature. Some animals show life long mating ( wolves for instance), but most don’t. Animals for most part are still about lust, and fight for satisfaction of that lust. Humans also do similar things, but now civilization has to some extent prevented lust from having social costs. ( Helen of troy was a long long time ago, as was Cleopatra. Recent wars have been about economics ). One loves one’s parents ( btw my folks are about to celebrate their silver jubilee. Congrats mom n dad. Love ya. Yay!) , ones siblings ( depends on the kind of childhood you had. I love my bro), but that is not what I want to write about. If it is another person, who is not blood I am talking about, how exactly would I say I am in love with so and so… my heartbeat doesn’t actually go up around anyone, if my blood starts racing in my veins, its nowhere close to my brain, and is more again to do with lust. To me, love for a woman would be when I return home in the evening from work to find myself with her, then the world would seem like a great place. If not, I would feel as if I am missing something which has been woven into me, something which has become quite irreplaceable with anything else. It is like getting used to someone so much, that the loss becomes pretty painful. Difficult to quite put it into words, for some feelings are such that words don’t really describe them. Similar to good friends. Time might make you forget them, but their presence cant really be replaced. A weekend beer with X is not a weekend beer with Y, no matter how good a friend Y is. That is the best way I can put it.

Now to the social face of lust and/or love – marriage. I personally don’t think marriage is a really necessary form of showing commitment. True love doesn’t need marriage for survival – it is but a social need. Now, marriage, love and lust can be a combination in these kind of orders :

Love -> lust -> marriage

Love -> marriage-> lust ( I believe a lot of people want this :P )

Lust -> marriage-> love(hopefully) ( weddings with pregnant brides)

Lust -> love-> marriage ( think concubines…)

Marriage-> lust -> love ( arranged marriages? )

There would be some other disastrous orders, but I personally believe that the last stage in any relationship involving marriage should be either love or marriage. Guess that stems from my ( or maslow’s ) understanding that needs – physical, personal, and social are in that order, with physical needs the lowest level and hence highest priority for satisfaction. ( you don’t eat – you die). You don’t feel love for anyone ( you are lonely, pretty bad eh! ). You don’t marry ( frankly speaking do the neighbours and well meaning relatives opinions about you really matter all that much to you? ). But for the society I live currently in, marriage is pretty much a need. I would want that to be the last to be satisfied. The beast will get satisfied anyway, but the human in me demands higher priority than society, and he will get that.

So said Somanxo on “lust, love and marriage.”

Captivated

2006-02-04T22:09:00.000+05:00

Absolutely love em saree’s with those threadbare blouses. The showcasing of curves is really amazing, more so when the view is partly obscured by long trailing and wild tresses. The only reason I like attending weddings (, apart from the food. Wanted to post on some other stuff but have been blown away for some time by one such view.
Could go on and on about the way a good saree really showcases the curves of the waist, hip and thigh… on lines of a certain description of draupadi I read in an adaptation, or on lines of Sita in Ashok banner’s Ramayana – which is an awesome reading by the way, both for Indians and non Indians.

(Sighs)
~Somanxo

New!

2006-02-03T18:07:00.000+05:00

Made two new blogs, which I intend to keep updating regularly.
Will add links from this blog when I get time and enthu.
For now:

Ze quotes of ze somanxo - collection of quotes, poems, jokes which strike me, occasionally my own contributions, more likely to gifts of great people like GB Shaw.

Panoramas of the mind - Collection of pics, of which I have a slightly non trivial collection. A look should give an idea of what it’s likely to progress as.

~Somanxo

Surprised

2006-02-03T00:38:00.000+05:00

I never thought it was possible, in fact it was so far away from the realms of reality that I never even considered it a possibility. Then it hit me like a bolt from the blue, leaving me standing with my mouth gaping wide enough to let a chameleon pop in and eat all the flies that had entered.

What happened is this. A friend of mine who used to live in the next wing of mine, called LK messaged me on y! at about 5 o clock in the morning ( he’s in Wisconsin.. or some such place in the US, but he still knows it is 5 o clock for me) and desperately asks for some Lionel Ritchie song. I dint have the one he wanted, so sent him hello, and a couple more which seemed to be ok for him. He accepted only that some girl put him up to it, but nothing beyond it.

Just as a backdrop to why this should cause so much surprise, this is a bloke who is a born misogynist, close to a misanthrope, in his undergrad days, he used to talk about marriage being useless and kids being a menace to society. I am afraid this doesn’t quite say it, but it looks like LK’s chink dreams are gonna come true in the backdrop of recent news. Yet another asian uses the great land of opportunity ( see “Harold and Kumar went to whitecastle” to get the proper feel of the statement)

Now to the topics I said I would make a post on.

Why salwars suck?
edit : this is for the readers who dont know what a salwar is. It is an ehtnic indian form of clothing which looks like this most of the time.

The first line of defence most females take to that is that it depends on who is wearing it.
My answer to that is someone like sushmita sen or aishwarya rai would look awesome wearing rags, that doesn’t make the rags good clothes. Just as an example – look at the clothes Katrina kaif wore in boom. Frankly speaking they looked like a cost cutting exercise, but she still looked awesome ( one of the few redeeming features of that eminently forgettable movie). Coming back to the point I was making, does one actually see chicks with great figures showcasing it through salwars. In the 23 years of letching that I’ve been upto, its been extremely limited, and again those females were the kind who’d look good in pretty much anything. Most of the salwars I see seem to be designed to hide rather than reveal. I mean, you cant make out if it’s a 21C or a 36D ( maybe that’s exaggerating it a bit… but u get the idea). As to curves, you can forget it, its like a huge coverall, marginally behind a burqa in obscuring nything u can make out. How can anyone who likes a good letch like something which was designed with the purpose of hiding rather than revealing figures. Something which will put Shabana Azmi and sushmita sen in the same boat. What I like are skirts… or sarees…
~Wistfully remembers some teachers at school a la Sushmita Sen in Mai hoon Na
~ damn all the sarkari buggers who decide on salwars as dress codes nywhere
Why I hate the word cute.

Remember any Johnson and Johnson baby’s ad. Imagine a baby like that in front of ya. Most females I know go “ cho chweet!” and promptly kill the poor baby’s joy by pinching his cheeks and try to smother the kid. Similar is the case with the so called “cute” guy. In any normal blokes understanding, if you have been called cute by a female, that’s the “the end” of any hopes you might have of a non platonic relationship. You might as well be gay. In fact, if you are indeed gay, then it might be better, you can have the feminine bonding conversations and bitch about your boyfriend or crushes. Also act as a shoulder to cry on etc. basically nothing productive, or reproductive is ever gonna happen. The “just friends” tag is slightly better, at least there is a good exit option. But cute is like a snowball in hell, with no scope of a dignified exit. Got one of the worst statements of that type a couple of days back. Comment was that if I were to wear school clothes I would look like a school kid. I was so extremely flabbergasted, I almost choked on my coffee! Being a beast with sideburns and arbit moustaches is so much better, let some bimbo’s go yuck! But at least no one can say hey cutie! ( this sounds so girlie, I am sure will would have loved it!)

FYI – from the Webster dictionary
Main Entry: cute Pronunciation: 'kyütFunction: adjectiveInflected Form(s): cut·er; cut·estEtymology: short for acute1 a : clever or shrewd often in an underhanded manner b : IMPERTINENT, SMART-ALECKY <don't get cute with me>2 : attractive or pretty especially in a dainty or delicate way3 : obviously straining for effect- cute·ly adverb- cute·ness noun
Therefore, to any self respecting male, the word cute is acceptable only as an adjective, even there, the word “fresh” or “nice try” are much better.

As a final word, if a guys described as cute, it basically means one doesn’t have good things like smart, sexy etc to say about him. Generally hollow, more applicable in case the girl doesn’t know the guy. Ex – ooh I think Ed Norton is so cute!! That ways..

Pervert, dirty mind could count as better adjectives ( MCP is about the only adjective I think of which is worse than cute.)

Cute girls have a hope coz of skewed sex ratios in the country. Cute guys ( non gays of course) god save ya!

~Somanxo

Hitz

2006-02-02T16:08:00.000+05:00

Nothing can quite match the elation I felt at this, but it does feel happy in a way to have crossed 5000 hits since having installed the counter. When I first started blogging, I never felt like keeping a counter, coz frankly speaking I never did write for stats. In fact I’d put a counter only after I saw this post on bahadur’s blog (now dead, the blog I mean). Though in terms of tracking softwares, I like statcounter the most. It gives you nice detailed stats about visit length, geographies, paths used etc which often provide interesting info. For instance there is this person in meerut who regularly searches for my blogname on search.blogger. Most visits to my blog come via bookmarks or directly typed addresses. The biggest referrer is Mythreyee, with some 30 referrals in the month of January (.

When my blog started, its header was called “ The life and times of a certain Abhilash Somanchi at IIM Cal ”. That would be I guess the life of the blog, at the end of which I would be writing something like this , with the title – “ So long, and thanks for all the hitz”. Will be difficult, to give this blog up, might start a new one in my corporate avatar, the more acceptable one to the world as a whole, maybe.

It still surprises me that people actually read what I churn out on a regular and uninterrupted basis. Looking forward to churning out sum more, while I am here in the green jungle by the lakeside. What will happen after that? God only knows, or maybe even he/she/it doesn’t?

~Somanxo

Hmm

2006-02-02T00:09:00.000+05:00

Two things happened yesterday.
One – I am not going to watch any more Indian cricket matches, at least test matches if not the one dayers. Never did I feel so betrayed as today. I will not comment any more for I have but caustic words for them. All the best in their future endeavors, but I shall not be supporting them live.

Two – I went to the city after a long time and met a friend after about four months. A lot did happen in this time.

Coming up with a post on why salwars suck and why I don’t like the word cute

~Somanxo

Dreams

2006-02-01T11:08:00.000+05:00

I slept from 6 pm to 8 30 am with a minor break around 4 o’ clock. The break was caused by a horrible nightmare, in which I saw myself on the path of becoming one of those bald blobs of fat with turtle rimmed half-glasses. When I woke up, I was sweating all over. Did some checking out to find that no food was indeed available anywhere, so went back to sleep and miraculously fell asleep again.

Was generally musing on where life is now headed after 17 years in ranchi, 4 in Kharagpur and 2 in Calcutta. Still looking for the elusive happiness, still believe that a beer belly is a joke, still believe that there is hope!

Motivating statement for Feb by Someone…
If the creator had a purpose in equipping us with a neck, he surely meant us to stick it out.

~Somanxo

musings

2006-01-31T18:16:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-30T21:54:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-30T08:22:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-29T13:44:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-28T16:26:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-28T08:42:00.000+05:00

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?

2006-01-26T12:51:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-26T05:52:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-25T23:28:00.000+05:00

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?

2006-01-24T19:58:00.000+05:00

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 ...

2006-01-24T04:03:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-22T14:09:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-21T02:32:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-19T23:12:00.000+05:00

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?

2006-01-19T01:44:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-18T14:58:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-18T14:31:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-17T04:01:00.000+05:00

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?

2006-01-16T19:11:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-14T23:40:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-14T23:04:00.000+05:00

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?

2006-01-13T15:45:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-13T02:08:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-12T16:36:00.000+05:00

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?

2006-01-12T16:04:00.000+05:00

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...

2006-01-11T15:22:00.000+05:00

~Somanxo

se7en

2006-01-11T00:07:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-10T08:19:00.000+05:00

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

~Somanxo

Sunrise at joka

2006-01-10T05:32:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-09T05:22:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-09T03:55:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-09T03:50:00.000+05:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

IF I were to die tonite

2006-01-08T23:03:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-07T19:36:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-06T08:04:00.000+05:00

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?

2006-01-06T01:59:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-05T02:47:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-03T19:02:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-03T01:36:00.000+05:00

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

Of new year resolutions

2006-01-02T07:04:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-01T23:17:00.000+05:00

~Somanxo

More than one momentary lapse of reason

2006-01-01T19:20:00.000+05:00

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

2006-01-01T05:45:00.000+05:00

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

Happy New Year

2005-12-31T21:32:00.000+05:00

Damn! Missed the last sunset of the year!
This year has been unique in that I’ve seen more sunrises than sunsets by a margin. In fact for a phase of about 3 weeks I never saw the setting sun but saw the sunrise with an alarming frequency ( one can say that my share of sunshine has been appropriately cut :P

We are about to start a bonfire for the new year, and try to get as tipsy as possible.
Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous new year.
May the force be with you.
May the source also be with you.
Love,
~Somanxo

Yeh Kahaan aa Gaye hum

2005-12-31T06:00:00.000+05:00

Am listening to the soundtrack of the movie Karz at various points in the movie as I write this, and must confess it has been one of the most haunting tunes I’ve ever heard.

Anyways to come to the point which is something else, think of something that u cherish, love and want to remember till kingdom come. Then, imagine your reaction if someone told you they were not yours, but were in fact fabricated by a loony scientist. Ladies and gentlemen , welcome to dark city. Or so It says in the movie. But going on a more bizarre line of thought, is it really true that the memories you seemingly have are yours and are not controlled by something external to our system. If it were, the saddest part is you can never tell. From within a system to usefully comment on it is impossible. Its like asking an ant ( lets assume for simplicity’s sake it doesn’t understand height) the height of mount Everest.

Lets see what else can be drummed up in the 10 odd minutes to go before I go to have gugni at the insti gate. That gugni paratha is the best breakfast I’ve had in kolkata, never having had breakfast at flurries, a record which I intend to set straight.

Do watch the chronicles of Narnia. While not as entertaining as the book, it does show what the book said for most part. I am looking forward to the sequels ( hopefully six of them)

In the meanwhile, something which does have some resemblance to the title of the post :

Main aur meri tanhaai aksar yeh baatein karte hain
Tum hoti to kaisa hota, tum yeh kehti, tum voh kehti
Tum is baat pe hairaan hoti, tum us baat pe kitni hansti
Tum hoti to aisa hota, tum hoti to vaisa hota
Main aur meri tanhaai aksar yeh baatein karte hain

Yeh raat hai, yeh tumhaari zulfein khuli hui hai
Hai chaandni ya tumhaari nazrein se meri raatein dhuli hui hai
Yeh chaand hai ya tumhaara kangan
Sitaarein hai ya tumhaara aanchal
Hawa ka jhonka hai ya tumhaare badan ki khushboo
Yeh pattiyon ki hai sarsaraahat ke tumne chupke se kuch kaha hai
Yeh sochta hoon main kab se gumsum
Ke jab ki mujhko bhi yeh khabar hai
Ke tum nahin ho, kahin nahin ho
Magar yeh dil hai ke keh raha hai
Ke tum yahin ho, yahin kahin ho

Majboor yeh haalaat, idhar bhi hai udhar bhi
Tanhaai ki ek raat, idhar bhi hai udhar bhi
Kehne ko bahut kuch hai, magar kisse kahe hum
Kab tak yunhi khaamosh rahe aur sahe hum
Dil kehta hai duniya ki har ek rasm utha de
Deevaar jo hum dono mein hai, aaj gira de
Kyoon dil mein sulagte rahe, logon ko bata de
Haan humko mohabbat hai, mohabbat hai, mohabbat
Ab dil mein yehi baat, idhar bhi hai udhar bhi

~Somanxo

its a useless life

2005-12-30T17:18:00.000+05:00

This is the font I have been using for the last couple of posts, and is downloadable from the link provided, in case you are curious what font it is.

As things stand, I am so bored I might start preparing my cv and revising for final placements. Sort of in a merchant of Venice antonio’s mood. “ In sooth I am so sad I don’t know why…. “ the tragedy is it is really not attributable to anything. It is as if the core of my hedonist existence has woken up and decided to play conscience. When I ask questions like “ what is it you – Abhilash have done after coming to this earth which is worthwhile ? “ And I cannot come up with an answer. Apart from bringing a smile on occasion to a few people’s faces, it really bothers me. I don’t know what I have done, and what I will be doing. The knowledge that I shall not want for money, and be in a position where some dim witted parents will want their daughter to marry me is not something which excites me at all.

So what is it all about? Why does one do anything? I will get some answers when I shall be getting my ass on fire some months down the line, when I shall be looking at targets etc, but for now, the wait is horrible. What is ironic is that I am looking fwd to working more than being in a sane world ( by which I mean that things are normal). Having been driven into a corner where I’d given up grass for 5th term ( which will be done again, the ggp being the lone exception. For the uninitiated the ggp is the great ganja party held every year at the alumni reunion.. u get the idea ) , alcohol doesn’t seem to appeal anymore, movies have long since lost their charm ( I’ve a horrible attention span) and courses having become so less in number that effort is not needed anymore. A few books interest me from time to time, and a few people with whom I chat online keep me engaged for a couple of hours a day, and my wingies who make my evenings and nights sociable, and a few good friends who listen to me blabber on ( some others prolly curse me!)

So, do I really think Ive led a useless life.. of course not! But the point of what has been achieved apart from a couple of stamps is very dubious. At one point in time, I thought I got friends and acquaintances. With time, as more and more friends become acquaintances and people cease to have any meaning apart from being faces, when the history or times that u’ve had with them goes into fading memory, never to return, you realize things have changed.

There was a time when I wanted to be in love, there was another when I was in love. There obviously existed ( still exist ) periods when u just want to fuck it all and go do something crazy (very often u do, the couple I am told of which I rate as extreme – 1) lying on railway tracks, drunk and stoned with another person, waiting to hear the sound of the approaching train before getting up. 2) chasing a cow for some godforsaken reason, and then lying down in exhaustion in the middle of a road ( campus ka road tha so not that big a deal))

Will add more after breaking a few new year resolutions (

~Somanxo

Hum - Tum :P

2005-12-27T18:19:00.000+05:00

As a blogger for slightly more than an year, I never really understood why people cant leave a comment on the blog, they have to let u know offline or on messenger what they exactly feel about it.

This is to do with my last post, as is not usual, the female being referred to read it, and as would be usual is not particularly amused by it. That has been settled though, so instead of writing what I was in the mood for yesterday, will write what I was going to write initially.

As I was saying, me and emgi got into a discussion on variety available to males. She said that in all the photos of my orkut album I look different, which is something which some more people also say. I told her they have been taken at different points in time, with the main difference being lack or presence of a mush or frenchie in various formats. She said that that precisely was the choice. Then me being me, decided to launch a counter attack. This is it.

Girls can have all kinds of hair – long, short, one braid, multiple ones, ponytails, bob cuts, and not to mention the hazaar varieties of designer hairstyles. They can wear any of the n varieties of makeup and makeup aids ( which some meterosexual, mainly gay guys can pull off ). Not to stop here, they can wear anything any decently ( even indecently :P) dressed male wears. If a female shows skin, its sexy, if a guy does so, its gross ( for most part.. ).

Nyways, after this we did dwell on the fact that it is very important which girls wear what type of dress. The conclusion we reached was this : if you are a sexy babe, you can pretty much wear what u want, doesn’t make a diff. but if you are not one, then u shd definitely not wear revealing attire ( the one both of us hate are fat females exposing midriffs with low cut jeans, imho they were never designed to show off the midriff to begin with, the target to be exposed lies a bit lower ( )

This in short is what transpires when two creative and managerial minds of the opposite sex indulge in random baker. Imagine how organizations work with diverse people!

~Somanxo

Random

2005-12-25T04:12:00.000+05:00

Now that Ive verified that one can indeed write in this pseude font, I have to make a longish post. What about is what Ive been thinking of for some time. There was this idea I had of writing one on what I consider sins, then another on a couple of online friends who’ve brightened up my life for some time, and one as a counter response to this.

Had written some severe mcp shit as response, then decided its not worth it. Is sort of pointless anyway. You cant convince a girl that she’s being high handed. She’ll just say that you cant see the point. The standard answer is that I have my values. Ex – a friend of mine recommends jap horror movies to me, loves ed Norton and fight club but says she cant watch no entry because she wont get inspired by watching it. And then of course, “ you wont understand”. So after a point of time, you decide to give it a pass, and stop looking for reason ( I would maintain reason is a very dubiously found commodity among both males and females). But there is one thing, females are indeed more forgiving and accommodating, so prolly what she wrote had a point, but in making it a generalization, she touched that chord in my heart which screams at generalizations and stereotypes. Also the bhaiya part is something most girls do and hound guys with rakhis. I remember wearing some 8-10 rakhis when I was a kid, inspite of not having any sister.

Now that that particular emotion has been worked off, lemme write something which is closer to the normal raving that I do :D

I had a discussion with emgi on the differences between men and women, in terms of looks and variety possible, which I shall put up on my next post.

~Somanxo

merry christmas.and happy bday ross

2005-12-24T20:41:00.000+05:00

merry christmas to all the readers of this blog :p

it was ross's bday today so yesterday nite we had a party celebrating his pain!
this is the story in pictures..

next post on christmas!
~Somanxo

the slugfest begins!

2005-12-23T11:01:00.000+05:00

sort of feel like calling it that.. nyways for those interested Intaglio 2005-06 the fest of IIM Calcutta is beginging today! there will be a series of mind boggling and exciting events (sic) and some nice talks by corporate junta ( this is actually better than it sounds) and of course sunday night(raat christmas ki hai!) show by euphoria which I look forward to.

lets see aur kya kya hota hai
~Somanxo

A Momentary Lapse of Reason

2005-12-20T07:36:00.000+05:00

Peace is not a season; it is a way of life.

~Somanxo

The one of many

2005-12-20T03:38:00.000+05:00

Hi all..
As I return from home and post the one of many.. incidentally 100th post from my alma mater, I am just reminded of the fact that I never blogged when I was here. Tis a pity.. then again perhaps not.. only time will tell.. instead of blogging and thoping my fundae on anyone foolish enough to venture into this space I just terrorised people around me when I was drunk..as a few people will testify...

abhi to cheddis ke tinku aur thandi me bike ride ke baad woh beer kidhar gayi pata hai nahi... sun rahe hai woh gaana jo shaiad hamare liye kuch waqt baad hi sach hoga " humein to loot liya :P "

nyways thats that, now to the answer to my previous post.
This was something I would have posted long back, if I had not been taken in by nfs most wanted, which I would say has given me a better kick than a lot of things... Thats about to end tonite though, blacklists 3,2 and 1 shall be eliminated ( lola are u reading this :P )

The concept behind that, for the non matrix fans is in one sentence " In order to bend the spoon. you have to realise that there is no spoon". In slightly more complex english - it is all an illusion.
more sometime later ( within the next 24 hours). but havent you ever wondered if it isnt all an illusion, that there is something ( or someone) missing in the whole picture.. I for one have thought on occasion that it is all a sham, given the copybook way in which my life has gone so far.. in more than one aspect. Sort of boring and meaningless.

but then again, maybe not. who knows :)

continuing on my random tone so far... At the begining of my last term as a student ( I aint doing a PhD, I dont need no education...at least not anymore) I feel impatient.. for this phase to end.. and for another ( hopefully one to do more with this song... not in the same vein though ;) )

I just found a very old favourite song.. these are the lyrics.. try to identify the movie - ( hint ..song is sung by SD Burman)
allaah megh de, paanIi de, chhaayaa de re raamaa megh de
shyaamaa megh de
allaah megh de, paani de, chhaayaa de re raamaa megh de

aankhein phaade duniyaa dekhe, hai ye tamaashaa
aankhein phaade...
aankhein phaade duniyaa dekhe, hai ye tamaashaa
hai ye vishvaas teraa, hai terii aashaa
allaah megh de ...

allaah megh de, paani de, chhaayaa de re raamaa megh de

this song is yet another of the religious ( semi religious..whatever) category which I seem to like inspite of being an agnostic (ironically.. btw I do like some of the vedic hymns )

and another one.. which used to be my +2 morning whatever u wanna call it - humko man ki shakti dena... that song has max senti value as far as i am concerned.. used to be a nice opportunity to observe decent looking chicks singing ( u get the idea :P) { in my school, it used to be us guys who chanted- our father in heaven after some arbit PT } used to like it more in rainy days... when the whole exercise happened inside class.

Had a nostalgic attack on one morning at home. Had gone out for a morning walk ( and sutta) at about 7 30... saw school buses of both my schools pass.. felt a strange kind of empty feeling.. dunno why.. sort of innocence lost ..or maybe a return to innocence... who knows..

signing off..before I put more arbit bakar..
~ Somanxo

Hmmm

2005-12-09T04:09:00.000+05:00

Yesterday after giving the Ecofirm end term which ended at 7 30 pm I started playing nfs most wanted and kept at it till 3 30 am. It is after a longish time that I have spent that kind of time on gaming. But it was absolute delight.

A thing to ponder, which I shall try to answer in my next post, which incidentally would be my 100th post
Does it tell you something? I thought this is very profound :D

~Somanxo

4 down 3 to go

2005-12-05T19:07:00.000+05:00

Had a combined assault of commercial banking, business valuation and Managing retail all in one whammy, but I refused to buckle and give under. Now 4 are outta the way, 3 remaining. will take em on, Like always :D

~Somanxo

random musings, perhaps not so random

2005-12-03T22:26:00.000+05:00

To the couple of posts which I wanted to write.. about the effect of internet chatting on my life, of missing people and relationships which lose basis out of touch and then about the Ledhus: Lath,Sumit,Maddy,Gabru,Anuragva,Honey,Bishwa,Kelu,Frustu, and Ghoda.

For a long time now, since about 2nd year middle, I always had a chat partner, someone with whom I would chat for long durations, often late into night. Listening to music that I liked, surfing the net or reading whatever novel I was into at that point in time. Occasionally watch a movie in the background or play hearts or solitaire. This sort of blended in with my nocturnal lifestyle. It was a routine often broken by parties, movies or other times when I hung around with my offline friends, a group of whom I will deal with in this post. But it was a routine nonetheless. I always had withdrawal symptoms when I went home and led an internet free life, or when one of my partners in crime did the same. Because of these I gradually reduced this, to the point now where it is minimal, as of now I have no chat windows open, and even the heights I reached here in cal was about 5 windows, 2 of which were open due to work. The point is that this had become a part of me, of what I did, of my needs. Still is, but to a lesser extent and the reasons have changed. Once it was that I had to chat, now its more to do with whom. There is one thing in this respect I would like to add. I never met/phoned any of these chat friends ( nor was interested in that ways) during my 2nd and 3rd years at college. Since then I have met a few, mainly pagalguy and orkut contacts. The thing is that those I met do not seem too different online and offline. This is something which frustu said was not possible. I don’t know what his exact experiences are, but I feel they arose because of a lack of understanding. If you talk long enough about a wide variety of things, you tend to reveal the way you think, and that sort of sums up who you are. So I now chat only with people either whose thinking I like, or whom I like for what they are. Still does cause withdrawal syndromes though. Has been reducing with time, I do think that these days are numbered. Will probably go back to emails, the way I started in 1999, by creating my yahoo account.

The next part is about people with whom you lose touch. Much as I would wish for the gulzar song “Haath Chootein bhi to rishtey nahi toota karte” to be true, I find it to be very weak. The people I lose touch with, but remember sort of go lower and lower in the recall segment. Its like data going from the RAM to the hard disk, only this is not data, but people who were in the RAM for a good reason, of relations which were like active processes taking up processor space because the task manager did not shut them. The end result is similar to a program crash – the process goes, the data goes from the RAM to the hard disk and you get an error message saying “ This program crashed because of some unknown reason. Would you like to send an error report?”. Something similar has happened to me time and again with people. These lines from the same song “Tune awaaz nahi di kabhi mudkar warna, hum kayi sadiyan tujhe ghoom ke dekha karte.” sort of echo the sad truth of life for me.

So much so about friendships and relationships, will now talk about one of my best group of friends. It all started in July 2000, the first day we had all landed in kgp. We were in the 1st year hostel – JC Bose hall of residence, in the first floor of F block. I was in room 206. Lath and Sumit were in 207, maddy and some bugger in 205, ghoda and frusty were known to me prior to coming to kgp. Honey was in 209 with someone whose name I now forget. Gabru opened the wing in 201. Bishwa and chetan in 204.Kelu and anurag joined the group later. Anyways, it started when we started putting bhaat in the corridor, introducing each other and generally trying to find a sense of something, being the first time most of us were away from home, a group of teenagers for most part. That was the beginning. These are the people and how I would like to write about them.
Will do it in a roomwise ordering.

Gabru – otherwise known as sanjeev. The gaon ka banda from a village near patna. He did things which were laughable and funny and often made him the butt of jokes – the most hilarious one being the time he drank a bottle of phenylated water which honey had kept for cleaning his room. Some other unmentionables are there, but he always had a great attitude. Most things he smiled off. Having said a lot of things about drinking and smoking to me, he turned into a heavy non teetotaler in final year.

Bishwa – He of course stayed with me during my entire stay, in first year and then as a wingie in the best wing I have been part of and the only one to which I would like to return some years down the line - RKCTM. He’s stood by my side through thick and thin. He’s gone to bring daroo for us, inspite of not drinking himself. Throughout 3rd and final year he was party to all the times we went out to eat coz the mess was horrendous. Got senti in the final year sento session in a very memorable way. Eminently avoidable and uncontrollable when he had bhang.

Maddy – the cheerful guy of the group and my partner in beer and navy cut. Things changed later but he is still deceptively pensive at times. And a soul more carefree and a listener more keen I have not met. One of the best people I bonded with and saw similar souls.

Lath – love hate is what I had with him, though it changed over time, but that is part of why I like him. He’s himself for most part and things, and that is very irritating (mostly when he gets drunk coz he couldn’t stand it most of the time, I still doubt I would have a night long daroo session with him!)

Sumit – the prof. The acha bacha of the wing. He used to get up at 3 am to study. Always had his cycle in a usable condition and lent it to you. Had more bhat with him outside kgp in ranchi, one of the few people for which that is true. But then my friendship with him was also a very arbit and special thing. One of the most sincere and honest people I will ever lay my eyes on, will remember him for that for a long long time.

Honey aka shashank – the only other ledhu from our wing. He and I had the only two tapes in 1st year, me having gotten one in dp break. Most of what we shared was a love of old hindi music, cricket and bhaat. Went to his cousins wedding in patna where I was treated to the traditional bihari welcome and affection. One of the best trips I have ever made, and the welcome which honey gets from his rather large family is enviable ( and yeah, he’s also carefree in a way which would be difficult to match for most people.

Now to the non wingies who were part of the group.

Anuragva – the bihari kid who got baptized by fire in kgp. We literally ragged him and tried to kill his innocence ( remember the hritik poster :P )
We failed, but he grew as a person sort of echoing my own innocence lost story, and created a few stories of his own. Fun, friendship and yeah he never kept track of money, he only thought in terms of kitna beer aaega ie 60 bucks = 1 beer.
Kelu – like Anurag, his baptism was through gaining knowledge of things he knew nothing about. It started with clearing his concepts on what oral sex was, which sort of led to his nickname which stuck. Currently pursuing an MS, he’s one of those nice chaps you can rely on, not letting down friends.

Will write about ghoda and frusty later, its high time I got back to commercial banking.

~Somanxo