College Life

A short film, a magazine and one lousy weekend.

2006-02-26T08:25:00.000-08:00

Another month missing in the archives. I guess I'm getting bored of writing about college. The fourth semester started last month, and I soon found myself in pretty much the same situation I was in the first semester - lots of record work and I haven't even started.

I still don't stay at the hostel during weekends, which are Sunday and Monday now. I can't bear to stay away from my home, my computer, the large part of my music collection which isn't on my mp3 player, real broadband, and a bug-free environment. Well, at least partially bug-free. But then things start to happen, things which can screw your weekend.

The Tuesday that's coming up is more or less a holiday, thanks to intra-college culturals. I was planning to stay at home, and thus enjoy a 3 day weekend. My plans jumped out the window when the associate editor (and one of my few good friends at the hostel) of the hostel's magazine told me that the second issue is due next week, so I'm supposed to stay at the hostel for the weekend and finish my duties as layout and cover page designer. After a lot of coaxing, I managed to convince him that I'd work better at home since I have the necessary software there. The weekend seemed safe.

The next day, the same friend tells me that there's a short film competition being held by Anna University. I was initially enthusiastic about it; we and a few others were throwing around several ideas, and before going to bed, we had a basic idea. Then came the problem of turning it into a film - no one had a video camera that wasn't in another state, other than me. We're supposed to submit the film on/before the first of March. They wanted to shoot the film on Monday and Tuesday. That meant I had to go home, get the camera, and get back long before my weekend gets over. So here I am, at home, making the most of my only day away from the hostel this week. And I still haven't started on the magazine.

And they're over.

2005-12-30T08:10:00.000-08:00

Thanks to some heavily flooded cities and cyclones which couldn't make up their minds, every exam I had remaining got postponed by three weeks. One by one, at that. So, instead of finishing up on the 7th of December, they got over only a couple of days back. Yes, they saw it fit to schedule exams during the season to be happy. I had exams before and after Christmas day. And I was stuck in the hostel all this while. No, I don't know why I always say "stuck" in the hostel. Anyway, being in the hostel = lousy/rare internet connectivity. But I got to play(occasionally) and watch NFS Most Wanted and Prince Of Persia: The Two Thrones, something I can't do with the old GeForce 2 MX card at home. Well, not Prince Of Persia anyway. Now I'm back home. And I just realised that I can't write like J.D. Salinger. Crap.

Five hours of studying.

2005-11-23T07:02:00.000-08:00

Or something around that. Seventy-two friggin hours they gave me and I spent only five of them on studying. Three of them in half-hour intervals. Throughout the cold and rainy night. Two of them in the morning and on the bus. And I felt extreme joy after writing the exam. Why? No, I haven't aced it. I expect the result to be a bit below average even. But I actually found the damn thing interesting. Too late, though. I'm happy I did reasonably well for the amount of effort I put into it. So long, DPSD.

2005-11-23T06:50:00.000-08:00

But I didn't.

Oh well, what the hell.

2005-11-20T01:31:00.000-08:00

I should be in the hostel right now. I should've stayed back after finishing my exam yesterday, which, by the way, was terribly good for a change. But I didn't. I just came back home. For reasons beyond me, my body just didn't listen to my brain. So here I am, blogging when I should be studying, despite vowing not to do so. A couple of days left before my next exam, and I hope to stay back at the hostel at least then. Maybe.

Out of the flood, into the fire and back into the flood.

2005-10-28T05:30:00.000-07:00

That was pretty much what happened on what was supposed to be the day of my last practical exam, 27th October.

It's 7 A.M., and I'm all set to leave for college, a bit disgruntled because the weather is too darn cold and rainy to write an exam. It's been raining all night, and there's news of a cyclone coming through. I look out the window, to see people wading through knee deep water, thanks to all the flooding. I'll have to do the same soon. I get out of the house and see the college bus leaving without me. Trying hard to run, I manage to get hold of the side of the bus... But I slip. SPLASH! I'm floating in the flood, with only my head above the water. The bus stops, I get on, thankful that no one was around to see me, other than the bus driver. But he was busy talking to himself, cribbing. He wasn't in the mood to go to college either.

I take a seat, still dripping and reeking. I take out my mobile phone, only to find it knocked out dead by the water. Sighing, I try to concentrate on the task at hand; studying whatever I can for the exam before reaching college.

An hour later, the bus is about a kilometer from where it started. Why? Because every road the driver tried to take was either blocked by fallen trees or too flooded for vehicles to pass through. The guy finally finds a way, and we're off to college, which is about 45-50 kilometers from the city.

I start getting tense, for I was going to be terribly late for an exam I wasn't confident enough about. So the "fire". I was actually sweating. Either that or I was getting confused between rainwater and sweat.

There were four other guys in the bus, who got on at later stops. One of them managed to contact the transport convener, who also happened to be a lecturer from my department. Exam postponed. When we were in the middle of nowhere. And the driver had to go elsewhere, so we were dropped off in the same place.

Still raining, but the roads were clear. A bus ride later, I was at a place bustling with activity. Lots of buses and autorickshaws. But none would dare go to Mylapore (where I reside), for it was mightily flooded there. I settled for a bus which dropped me of at a place about 20 minutes by walk from mine. I look up, and see that the water level has risen considerably; it reached the hip. I stumbled, slipped, screamed in agony, and reached home after what seemed like eternity.

And that's how you write a post devoid of any kind of entertainment. It happens when you've been through what I've been through that day.

The practical exam has been postponed to the 14th of November, which is just a few days before my theory exams start.

A Quest For Pepsi

2005-09-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

Yet another weekend, yet another journey back home. But this time, it's different. I don't take the stinking college bus. Mr. T was kind enough to give me a lift; he was headed in my direction. Right now, I can't be arsed into explaining why he was headed in my direction. Or why he doesn't take the college bus. Right, then...

It so happened that we both were in need of Pepsi, and it so happened that we couldn't find a place which was selling some, because it so happened that we were not looking in the right places, for it so happened that we were taking the wrong roads.

The general idea was to get me as close to my home as possible, I think, and so we stopped at this place called "Spencer's Plaza", something similar to Macy's, (or Forum if you've been to Bangalore. Or Burjuman Center, if you've been to Dubai) but much smaller and uglier. Being bright chaps, we knew they had Pepsi. And as predictable as ever, there was a problem. We were on the other side of the place, and separating us from it were two big roads, and cars. Moving ones. At high speeds too. Not to mention lorries. (Juvenile Delinquent got run over by one recently. But he seems to be alright now.)

We had no choice but to walk around the roads. To get to the other side directly would have taken 30 seconds, but there was no way to cross them. Walking around, it took us 10 minutes. And the Pepsi was the diluted kind. No fizz, no taste, not even cold, and a few bucks more than usual. But it was alright. What wasn't alright was this - On the way back to his car, taking the same 10 minute route around the huge traffic-stricken roads, we spotted something we hadn't before. A shop selling cheaper, colder and fizzier Pepsi. To quote Morpheus - fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.

Apparently, I'm back from an "Industrial Visit".

2005-08-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

That's what the professors at my college called it. On the 18th of this month, we (my mates at college) left for this place called Bangalore, the primary purpose of the visit was to get to know about computer science related companies. We were scheduled to visit four companies, of which we ended up visiting just one - or at least the cafeteria of just one. The guys at Wipro, the company whose cafeteria we visited, said that all other areas of the company were restricted to guests. That's why we ended up visiting just the cafeteria. And the open air theatre. And a conference room where they showed us a small video clip about the company; a promo, basically. But there was something conspicuously missing. Toilets. This was first noticed by a friend of mine who couldn't think of a better blogging pseudonym than Juvenile delinquent. We didn't see any restrooms anywhere. Word spread that even they were restricted to guests...

Anyway, we were at the company only for about 3-4 hours. We had the rest of that day and three others all to ourselves, for we were leaving the place only on the 22nd. We had a nice hotel room, with cable TV, so I got to watch an F1 race after I don't know how long... And what's better, Kimi Raikkonen won the race.

The days were spent eating, window shopping and name-calling. Had real good fun. The return train journey was like icing on the cake, for I took a picture of a forked lighting. I didn't exactly take a digital camera with me for the trip... A friend of mine (allow me to introduce Mr. T) gave his to me for that evening... Here's the photo(click to view full size image):

Looks cool, doesn't it?

FREEZE! You're charged with the offense of celebrating your birthday!

2005-08-15T00:41:00.000-07:00

That's pretty much what I was told by the guy who's supposed to be the "Resident Tutor" (or RT) of the hostel block I reside in. Let me explain...

WEDNESDAY, JULY 27th, 2005, APPROX 3.00 PM

(Which happened to be a holiday. A study holiday - there was a test the next day)

I enter a friend's room, which had become a common room for my friends at the hostel, for a variety of reasons. A variety. A variety so variable you wouldn't believe it. In fact it's so variable that you would never guess that there's only one reason we hang out there.

This room, being the common room now, was quite obviously filled with my friends. No surprises there. I take a seat, and watch one guy play GTA San Andreas with a blank face. No, not his face, my face. And then, while I was watching this guy playing GTA San Andreas with a blank face (On the PC of the guy whose room it was. I told you - a variety of reasons), another friend enters the room with a box. He then placed the box with which he entered the room in front of me. He opens the same box, revealing quite a delicious cake inside it. It was a birthday cake. Now that was a surprise. The guys had got me a cake for my birthday. And so, we "celebrated" my birthday. It wasn't exactly what you'd call a celebration... There wasn't any food other than the cake, no music and no Pepsi. All we did was cut cake.

All this was being recorded, by the guy whom I had earlier watched play GTA San Andreas with a blank face, on his camera phone.

MONDAY, AUGUST 1st, 2005, APPROX 7.00 PM

I'm home for the weekend. I call it weekend even though it is not because it is a weekend for me. The college gets kicks by making Computer Science students come to college on Saturday and stay away on Monday. We have a Sunday-Monday weekend.

I get a call from a friend of mine who doesn't go home every weekend. He tells me that the guy whom I had earlier watched play GTA San Andreas with a blank face had been found using his camera phone and it was confiscated from him by the hostel clerk, who incidentally happens to be the same hostel clerk I've mentioned in an earlier post, whose name was emblazoned next to a very foul adjective that suited him perfectly.

Why was the phone confiscated? Camera phones have been banned in our college ever since the infamous DPS incident. You don't know what the infamous DPS incident is? Try googling it.

While checking out the videos in the phone, the "authorities", quite obviously, found the birthday video as well.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 2nd, 2005, 9.30 PM

(I'm back at the hostel, and it's study hour. We're supposed to study from 9 to 10 PM)
The RT, whom many believe has the proverbial ant farm up his rear, enters my room with a look upon his face which made me want to puke. He looked as if he was about to puke. He then asks my roommate to shift himself so that he can sit on his bed. Incidentally, this RT also happens to be from the Computer Science department.

He talks to me.

"Were you celebrating your birthday on the 27th of July? I have evidence that you were."

"Yeah, I was. It was quite a surprise. I never expected these chaps to get me cake."

"You're talking so casually! Do you know what you have done?"

I nodded.

He continues, "It is against hostel ethics to celebrate anything. I'm not giving you a first and last warning or something like that. I'm simply asking you to find elsewhere to stay."

He looks at me, expecting me to say something. I just look back at him, wondering when he would leave, hoping that I wouldn't puke. I guess he was expecting me to say sorry or something. Not that I would have if I hadn't feel like puking at the time. He then left the room.

Ever since that day, this guy's been on my back, reprimanding me for something or the other, though nothing as bad as cutting cake.

Holidays at last!

2005-06-10T06:15:00.000-07:00

I have successfully completed a year of college education (well, it depends on how you define success... Let's not go there right now). Considering that the results of my second semester are yet to come, you might think me to be a little premature in saying so, in fact you have every damn right to, 'cause the people (are they people?) who correct these examination papers can never be trusted. Most of them, anyway.

How did the exams go, you ask? I'll pretend I don't hear you. Actually I can't hear you, due to reasons which HAVE to be apparent...

Twenty days of freedom, I have. Avoid going back into an incessant state of sleep, I must. Vigilant, I must be (yeah, I watched Revenge Of The Sith recently. Go Yoda!).

I just realized I know a lot about a lot of rubbish.

2005-04-11T02:10:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, I'm back on this blog. I seem to prefer posting at my other blog these days. Anyways, I just finished one of the second series of internal tests we have this semester. And the paper was on Environmental Science. One of the questions was "Describe waste disposal methods". As I started answering this, I went into a realm of test taking I had never been to before. I entered "The Zone". "The Zone" is something I had long believed to be a rumour. Apparently, once a student entered this "Zone" while taking an exam, he realizes his true potential; he answers questions with a new vigour. Quite surprisingly, something similar happened to me. I couldn't get my pen off the paper once I started answering this question. I have an alarmingly high knowledge about garbage disposal... I hope this doesn't narrow my career choices; for I might end up in a pile of rubbish.

Random News.

2005-02-16T04:29:00.000-08:00

My archives have a month missing. Do I really need to explain why? I don't know the answer myself. My guess is, I'm too lazy to recall everything that has happened and then post about it. Maybe it's not that I'm lazy either. Maybe it's just that I don't want to remember.

A lot of things have happened since I last updated this blog. I got locked out of my room at 3 A.M., my first semester exams passed by, I completed my practical examinations without completing most of my records, the second semester has started, found a place which serves the best cold coffee I've ever tasted, and I reached the finals of a gaming tournament in NFSU 2 after just playing the demo. And I found some friends who aren't too irksome.

How would you feel when a person you just got acquainted with comes to your house, decides he's going to spend the night there, and after you've gone to sleep, switches on your computer, and uses your internet connection to watch movies of ill repute? Yes, I do mean pornography. It happened to me the past week. There was a series of holidays coming up, so some of my friends from the hostel wanted to roam around the city. They needed a place to stay, so I offered them my place. Things were going along fine until one night, when this other guy whom I don't know much tags along with my buddies and spends the night at my place. You know the rest.

I'm back at the hostel now. A friend of mine to whom I'm grateful(yeah, right) has kindly given me access to his internet account here. If he doesn't mind, this blog will no longer be a weekly one.

An adventure of sorts

2004-12-24T11:31:00.000-08:00

Saturday, December 18th, 2004. It was the last day of the week at College, and I, as usual, planned to go home for the weekend. It's 3.50 P.M, and I’m all set to board the 4 o'clock bus. My stomach groans. I hadn't had anything to eat the whole of that day. My hostel provides snacks after College hours, and there usually is a 5 o'clock bus. So I thought, why not have something for the road? Little did I realise that this hunger pang would create a lot of problems later that day.

After a quick snack, I went to my room and had a refreshing nap. It was 15 minutes to 5.00 when I woke up. I took my stuff and left for the bus. While handing over my gate pass to the hostel security, a thought flashed across my mind - What if there isn't a 5 o'clock bus, this being a weekend? Nah. There were bound to be people other than me going at 5.00.

Unfortunately, Murphy's law prevailed. "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it." I did it. It so happened that there wasn't a single College bus at 5.00. It was either stay at the hostel for the weekend or find someway to get to the city(Chennai) and eventually my home, which was 60-70 Km away from the rural area in which my College is situated. I don't know why all Engineering colleges are situated so damn far away from the city. I opted to go home; somehow, someway.

I walked all the way to the entrance of the College, which is quite far from the bus stand. All I could see from there was a couple of people and rocks. Not to mention a lot of sand. The two people were apparently waiting for some kind of public transport, so I asked hem where they were headed and how. They were going the other way, into a nearby semi-city, by bus. They told me that no bus headed for Chennai would stop here. I inferred that I either had to go into the semi-city with them or go the other way to the nearest bus stand which was about 4 Km away.

Murphy's law again. Dragging my bags along the dusty road, I reached the "bus stand", which was just a bunch of people sitting on boulders, at about 6.00. The worst thing was, none of them wanted to go to Chennai, and a bus stopped only if there were at least 3 people headed for the same destination. I was all alone in about 15 minutes. About 9 buses passed me by, all headed for Chennai, but none of them would stop when I flapped my arms at them. My arms were aching and my hunger wasn't completely satisfied. It would be dinner time soon at the hostel; I couldn't resist the temptation for food. I turned back and headed toward the College. On the way, I saw four of my fellow inmates who were headed for a nearby restaurant. In an effort to help me, one of the guys suggested that I ask the restaurant owner to drop me on his bike as far as he could. I turned down the offer; I told them I wasn't THAT desperate. On contraire, I was. But I was too tired to walk back again. And then, I spotted a bus coming toward me, seemingly slowing down. I didn't care if it was just my imagination. With a heavy bag across my shoulders and a heavier bag gripped by my sweaty right hand (I'm right handed), I leapt into the bus, as "The Hulk" would do. The bus driver screamed at me. Terrorising experience that. Not being yelled at, I mean jumping on to the bus with heavy bags. I've been yelled at a lot, enough to have become immune to it.

Damn Murphy. The bus wasn't headed toward Chennai. The last stop was a place called Poonamalee. The good thing was that there was a terminus there, and lots of buses went to lots of places. I could get a bus there, I hoped.

I had heard my Dad once tell someone that the Poonamalee bus terminus is one of the worst in the state. I imagined it to be a dirty, broken down place. It was worse. Words couldn't describe my feelings upon entering the place, that too around 7.30 in the evening. There was a lot of smoke, and an unpleasant smell of what I concluded to be a mixture of gasoline and alcohol. Eeugh. Had a chat with a guy who was giving everybody tickets, and found out that a bus to Chennai would leave in about 10 minutes. The store there didn't have Pepsi, or any of the popular drinks. I had to settle for a silvery looking liquid in a green bottle which was what the storekeeper called "Sprite 2". I could've been poisoned; I don't know, I didn't care. I was darn thirsty. It's a good thing I drink fast, 'cause as soon as I finished the bottle, the storekeeper got into a fight with another customer, one which involved long wooden two by fours. I got away as quickly as I could, and boarded a bus with a banner "UPTO SAIDAPET". I knew how to get home from Saidapet. I reached the place at 8.30, when my mom called me on my mobile phone and screamed at me for not staying at the hostel when I missed the College bus.

The rest of the journey wasn't as eventful. Unless you count losing my wallet and then regaining it with an additional 20 bucks in it. No idea how that happened. Someone up there, if there is anyone up there, must love me. Arrived at my house at around 10, ate something, and slept.

Well, the second series of internal exams starts this Monday, I hope to do better than what I did the first time. For that I have to study, for which I have to stay away from the computer. It's gonna be tough, but I have to do it.

You know you've got a lot of work when...

2004-12-11T11:00:00.000-08:00

When you can't sleep at nights. Yeah, I've been having that problem of late. Considering that I have to complete my Physics, Electrical, Electronic, Plumbing, Carpentry and Welding records, coupled with enough Engineering Drawing homework to occupy a normal student for a week (It would take me months... It's not difficult, I'm just lazy), one can understand how much my already disturbed mind would be disturbed. If you've ever attempted to squeeze so much work in one weekend, that is.

We had a model Chemistry practical examination on Tuesday. My status as a "regular" student changed to juvenile delinquent when my record was opened by the professor. Despite my efforts, I was forced to write a letter to the Head of the Department of Applied Chemistry, informing him of my "misdemeanour". I wonder what'll happen next. I've made up my mind to at least get my Physics record corrected before the model exam this Tuesday. That gives me a day to get it corrected. Oh boy o boy o boy.

What do you say when a guy whom you barely know comes straight at you and says "Hey! I need some MP3 English songs. When can I expect them?" ??!! I don't know from which unreliable source he heard that I provided MP3s to hostel inmates. He didn't even bother to introduce himself. This happened near the hostel canteen, after which the guy kept following me till my room, waiting for a positive answer from me. I had to act as if I had to go to the restroom to get away from him. What a pest.

The height of irony - You collect cash as a protest against child labour the same day you are forced to operate heavy machinery in unhygienic conditions. That's what I did on Friday. We have what's called as "Basic Engineering Practice", more commonly known as "Workshop". We get to do carpentry, plumbing and the like. Plumbing isn't too bad if you have strong arms; all you have to do is screw, screw and screw. But you can't screw around. It's a bit dirty; you get a lot of oil on your hands. Carpentry is a tad tiring, especially if you can't chisel wooden blocks to perfect dimensions.

I might just fall on to the computer if I don't go to sleep now...

Never ending excitement. Yeah.

2004-12-05T00:48:00.000-08:00

What do I do when I have 3 whole weeks to blog about? Well, I blog. In a detailed manner at that. In order, even. Don't bother wondering how I managed to remember all the stuff. Call it a super memory. Call it technology. Call it whatever you want. I aint talkin. No, not even when you beg. No way, not when you fall at my feet (Maybe I would if you would be so kind to give me an I-Pod). Anyway, it's not information worth dying for, is it? So forget it.

Now let's see... Sometime during the 2nd week in November, I get a call from a genius friend of mine. We were in the same school, and now we're in the same college too. His first words are "Ranting Human". Any other person in my position would have shuddered and would have started to stammer. Not me. For I knew how he could have found out.

It was all due to a little comment. Being a blogger, one would say I frequent blogs. And I do. And I happened to stumble upon a blog which interested me because of its name. Upon reading it, I was damn sure it was the blog of that friend. I made the stupid mistake of leaving a comment on the blog, and with my blogger username too. BAM! All he had to do was click on my username to access my profile, see this blog and figure out who it could be.

I came to know from him that there are a lot of bloggers from our College. That fact didn't bother me much, though.

Monday, November 15. I head back to the College and its miserable hostel after my short vacation. I knew I would have flunked in Math. I didn't give a damn. I never did. But for some reason, I couldn't help feeling sick. One by one the other papers came, and I averaged a 75% in all of them. Except English. The one paper I knew I would be happy to receive, the one paper the professors hadn't corrected. I had to wait another day.

It was kinda funny, in a way. There's this guy who sits next to me. We share pretty much the same interests, and have pretty much the same views toward life. He's the only guy in my class with whom I can have an intellectual conversation. What I didn't get to realize is that we don't have the same views toward academics. He turned out to be the top of the class, and I sitting next to him, flunked in Math. In fact, he beat me in every other paper we got that day.

But I had something to live for. The next day, we got our English papers. As I had expected, I got 90%. And my good buddy, the only guy I can have an intellectual conversation with, got 85%. We were the top of the class. It felt good. But I came to know later that 90% is the highest in English in the College. That didn't feel too good. Why? 'cause the only guy with brains wasn't second to me. Just because he had committed an error, not a mistake, an error, which anyone could have done, he wasn't second. It wasn't his fault.

That performance in English brought me some revelations. There were some guys I knew in my College before we enrolled. Most of them usually just said "Hello" and went about their work when they saw me. After the above incident, all these guys started bootlicking me. What a bunch of phonies. I hate phonies, just like Holden Caulfield. Yes, the Holden Caulfield of "The Catcher In The Rye" by J.D Salinger. I read it recently. I'm assuming you've read it.

The next week was murder, I tell you, MURDER! With zillions of records to submit, one can imagine my plight. I was never one to submit record work on time. Or after time, either. My 12th grade Biotechnology teacher once told me that I might have some sort of mental block when it came to writing records. She had good reason to think so, considering the fact that I never got my record corrected. It didn't hamper my grades thanks to my teacher.

And almost every day of the week, this friend who found this blog would come into my class, and talk about it. We had interesting discussions, on blog design, etc. But I didn't like the parts where he nearly leaked out stuff to my classmates.

The 3rd week, i.e., the past week, was okay, but for the fact that my mobile/cell phone started acting up. That meant no free SMS. That meant no intellectual conversations. Damn technology. "It could destroy you, drive you mad. It could set you free." - Max Payne, but not relating to technology. But it fits just fine.

The lack of a phone improved the speed with which I finished library books. I finished both "Airframe", by Michael Crichton, and of course, "The Catcher In The Rye", in 3 days. But I'm still in the process of reading "The Ground Beneath Her Feet", by Salman Rushdie. The College library has a neat collection of Rushdie books. I'm also reading "Step Across This Line", Rushdie's collection of various essays and articles from 1992-2002.

My fellow boarders at the hostel get frequent qualms when they see me reading books instead of doing something useful. I don't know what they're problem is. Whether they're really worried about my future, or just that they're jealous, is a case to be investigated.

Just before I left for home this weekend, my roommate did something. Heard of those electric fly swatters? In a moment of euphoria, I presume, he hit me with one. Boy, did it sting like hell. Did I mention that he was the one responsible for the final blow to my phone? It cost me a 100 bucks to fix it. It would have been fixed for free if hadn't touched it. I'm gonna reclaim the cash from him on Monday. I sure am.

The End Of Days

2004-11-11T08:38:00.000-08:00

No, not the movie. I mean its the conclusion of the mid-semester exam days. Three days, with two exams on each day. Fucked up in Math due to overconfidence, did a real smooth job in Chemistry. Totally rocked in English (ON A SUNDAY!). English here is nothing like in school, i.e. the text book we have doesn't contain prose, poetry and all that bull. It's something like a Wren & Martin book. In other words, it's my kinda book. According to most students AND our professors, English is supposed to be very tough. I can't understand why they seem to think that way, considering the fact that I'm gonna score over 90%. And they say that its tough to even pass. My arse. I'm not very humble am I?

Engineering drawing or graphics was ok, not too bad not good either. Ever tried to shoot a very large bear at point blank range but missed? Physics was something like that. It was DAMN easy, but I, not being too good with drawing semi-circles in freehand, wasted a lot of time on a single question and ended up with an incomplete answer sheet. The computer exam was equivalent to a history exam, lots of memory power needed. I only have a wispy memory of it, like a dream that you want to remember but forget. Wrong metaphor, I don't want to remember that exam...

I finally got to show my skills at basketball to my inmates... er... hostel mates. My joints seemed to have rusted though, and my back was throbbing with pain for 3 days. All this during the exams. I've also realized that I've improved a lot at Table Tennis/Ping Pong since my school days. In addition, my friends feel I'm prescient, even though only in case of insignificant events, like who's gonna visit the loo next due to diarrhoea. Please don't puke.

The food has become good, either because I've gotten used to it, or because they've actually improved the cooking. Probably the former. Frogs have stopped using my room as an obstacle course, bugs have stopped bugging, everything's blissful. Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? Oh, it's true, it's true. Except for the grasshoppers, ladybugs, and some hard-shelled bugs in the bathroom, there aren't any left. I washed my clothes for the first time this week. Caught a terrible cold, thanks to the incessant rains. The same rains which left me without clothes for a day. I had to do unmentionable things to hold out that day...

From insects to amphibians… things just get worse.

2004-10-31T00:50:00.000-07:00

When was the last time you had to hound a frog all around your room? Ive been doing so for every day in the past week. It all began on a fine Monday evening, with a cool breeze and light rain just the sort of weather in which youd like to snuggle up and take a nap every few hours but not when you have neighbours like mine at the college hostel. For reasons unknown, my roommate and the chap next door to us started a pillow fight. Nothing wrong in a pillow fight once in a while, perfect to release pent up energy. Unfortunately, things didnt stop there. One thing let to another, and soon people were jumping in and out of my windows (we live on the ground floor). And then, the grand finale. Water fight! The guys made a whole lot of mess on the floor outside the rooms, splashing everyone in sight with water from the bathroom. Luckily, I was curled up with my P.G Wodehouse (Jeeves Omnibus No. 4 to be precise, consisting of Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, Jeeves in the Offing, and Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves) inside my room, away from the battle zone. It would have been helpful if Jeeves had been present

What has this got to with frogs? Well, everyone knows that there are snakes and frogs and other forms of animal life around the hostel grounds. They normally stick to the outside, but I guess the rains must have made the frogs come inside (but dont frogs thrive in water? Theyre amphibians, arent they?). My room was the only dry room on the ground floor, and I presume thats what the frog wanted. It was a tiny frog, nothing to be afraid of, unless you puke the moment you see something slimy leaping from place to place like the Agents in the Matrix Reloaded. It took 5 guys and nearly and hour to get the frog out of the room on the first day. None of us wanted to kill the poor thing, so we were having problems getting it out. Since then, the frog has been visiting us every day, even though weve barricaded all windows.

The bugs seem to be getting bigger. I spotted a HUGE black beetle while in the shower. I wish I had taken up biology I cant differentiate between the harmless and harmful bugs. Maybe I could take photographs and post them here so that one of you could identify the creatures.

FLASH NEWS We are going to have our internal assessment exams this week, one of the exams being on a SUNDAY (Blasted buggers), its out of the question for me to come home from there to post on the blog (for a detailed explanation as to why this is not possible, read this post.). Good news is that the week after that, Ill have five days to myself.

Other than P.G Wodehouse, Ive also been reading Salman Rushdies The Ground Beneath Her Feet. Its quite an entertaining novel, throwing rock music in a new light.

Another advantage of being a hosteller is that Mr. Physics professor has a soft spot for us fellows. He doesnt mind us coming late after lunch since we have to go to all the way to the hostels mess to eat.

Engineering drawing horrid. I stayed awake till 3.00 A.M to complete some work the professor had given us. And breakfast is served only from 7.30 to 8.00 A.M. College begins at 9.00 A.M. Imagine my condition. Just imagine. Its not that hard, and it wont take a while either. Fills you with the utmost pity doesnt it? I thought as much.

Chemistry is something we have to learn by ourselves. The professors not too good. Ask him a doubt, hell say he would refer and tell you later. Ask him later, and you get a response You have to cope up with subject yourself by studying! All this is there in your text book. You look in the text book, and if you still dont get it, ask someone else. Not our professor.

English class the one with the guy who teaches grammar consisted of a heated debate between the professor, my good friend & I and a few others regarding selfishness, whether all acts done by a human are selfish. It absolutely rocked, but he couldnt complete that days portion thanks to my argument...

I wonder if my room will be infested with frogs on Monday

Who says College is easier than School?

2004-10-24T02:12:00.000-07:00

It can be easier in terms of the amount of brain power needed to get through, but surely not in terms of work. This is supposed to be college, where students are supposed to be free from excessive writing that they had to do school. Not quite. In fact, there's quite a lot of homework, yeah you read that right HOMEWORK they give here. My dad was quite surprised when I told him about this. Apparently, his college, i.e IIT Madras, never had such things.

I think I've mentioned about Engineering Drawing (or Graphics) in one of my earlier posts. It's one of those subjects which are interesting when you don't have to do any work with your hands. It was like that initially, all you had to do was imagine and visualize points and lines and planes in different dimensions, apart from sketching those visuals on a piece of paper. What I didn't know was that you had to draw very, very clearly, and accurately, which takes a long time to do. And I don't like anything which takes a long time to do. I'd rather draw pseudo-anime chicks. Yes. Really.

I also figured out that a large percentage of the boys (no, I'm not a bigot, only the guys are bad) in my class are quite naive when it comes to computers. We have a "Fundamentals in Computing" practical class, where the professors give us a list of operations we have to carry out. There are guys who don't even know what a mouse is. I was looked at in awe when I opened Microsoft Word and did the given work. Computers are not yet ubiquitous, or so it seems...

Eagerly awaiting for news about Mr. Physics? Sorry to disappoint you, but the guy came off clean this week. He does have a weird accent as a matter of fact, he keeps saying "chich on the chich" after he presents a slide-show. We figured out that it meant "Switch on the switch". Maybe the guy has a lisp or something, I don't want to discriminate. As I said earlier, I'm not a bigot.

There is one good thing about the hostel I keep forgetting to mention - Cable TV. Now I can watch all the pay-per-views in peace. Pro- Most hostelites like watching wrestling. Con - They don't want to watch English movies or sitcoms. Most hostelites are from Andhra Pradesh, so they like watching Telugu movies and channels. Damn them. No, I'm not a bigot.

Chemistry - The professor doesn't seem to have any experience with using chalks on the board. Only a sniper could see what he writes. And I sit in the first row.

English - Speech class is just getting better and better. There was a guy who spoke about democracy in India, as compared to other countries. I wasn't listening to most of it until I heard the words "sex" and "rape". This guy has some guts, talking like that in front of a class with a number of women and a senior professor. I guess he has the right to freedom of speech, after all, he was talking about democracy.

SO WHAT IF I'M A BIGOT!!!

Well whaddaya know? It was a fun week!

2004-10-17T07:52:00.000-07:00

If being on the run from nagging professors bugging you to get your practical records corrected can be considered as fun. That was pretty much the only problem I had the whole week, besides the bugs in the food. Unfortunately, being a hostel student and not a day scholar, the hostel's mess is the only place I can rely on for food, unless I try fasting. But the food was good again only on Saturday, and the whole place was cleaner than usual. In fact, it was so good that I went for a second helping. It almost made me wonder why I complain to my parents about the food. My theory is that, that's what they (the warden and the guy in charge of the mess) want us to think. That's why they do it on Saturdays, the day when most students go home for the weekend. Shrewd bastards.

The Physics professor strikes again! I don't think he can stop making an ass of himself at least once a week. On Tuesday, midway through his class, guys in the last bench were chatting amongst themselves. After reprimanding them a bit, they guy starts talking about his life history, how he did his Ph.D. in Physics at a time when there were no computers, how he has 20-25 years experience etc. Then he says "Yesterday one boy was trying to teach me a lesson! In my 20 years I have never experienced such a disrespectful fellow. He is trying to tell me that it is possible to measure 31 centimeters using a 30 centimeters ruler! Does he think I'm a fool?!". Probably everyone in my class thought he was one at the end of that speech! I can't believe that this guy actually HAS 20 years of experience in the field of Physics. I'm being merciful enough to not mention his name, though I have to say that these were the words of the Head Of The Department for Applied Physics at my College. Sheesh.

We had a substitute teacher for Maths one day, and it was then that I didn't understand Maths for the first time since I joined the College. The substitute couldn't explain the concepts properly, possibly because she came unprepared.

Coming, to English, my favourite subject in College. We have three professors for the job, all three are extremely good. There's one for speech and letter-writing, one for pronunciation, and on for grammar. The guy who does speech is simply brilliant, probably the most affable professor I've come across. We have a "Speech Class" every week, where 4-5 of us have to speak on any topic of our choice. Public speaking is something I've done only once before. My mother feels that I'm good at written English, so I should be good in speaking it as well. I might be with friends, but facing an audience? While writing I have time to think and choose my words, but while speaking, words come off the top of my head, and I might end up saying something stupid. I wonder what topic I should choose when my turn comes...

Next week I'll be home early. Friday and Saturday are holidays due to a couple of festivals. Only four days of College! Yay!

Six days of misery? Not exactly.

2004-10-10T09:49:00.000-07:00

Six days of hell would be more like it. Alright! Alright!!! Maybe I'm exaggerating it a bit. After that first day, things in college didn't turn out to be too bad. Mark my words - they didn't turn out to be too bad. They were still bad, of course. I initially thought of posting a day by day recap, but then that would be pain to read, plus time is short. Time is very fucking short. That's an oft repeated line in Stephen King's "The Langoliers", which I picked up from the college library. Right. On to business.

Forget the lack of taste and variety in the food available at the hostel, the least they could have was hygiene. There are bugs all over the place. Someone in Canada found a fried bug in a packet of chips? That's nothing compared to the food I eat. I get fried ants in my chips, boiled ladybugs in my milk, and some unidentifiable flying insects in my soup. No flies. One guy commented -"They say this college food is pure vegetarian but right in front of us they make non-vegetarian food." But the food was actually good on Saturday, and they cleaned up the place after a couple of requests from me. But the bugs don't stop with the mess, they attack the rooms and the bathrooms too. I've encountered more than a 100 bugs in just 6 nights, of some 6-7 different varieties. It's a good thing that my roommate brought his boots. Thank god the spiders stick to the plants outdoors. They're HUGE.

Thursday was a VERY bad day for me. A hostelmate nearly ran off with my wallet. He had come into my room to clear a doubt. Five minutes after he flicks it he comes back to me saying that he took my wallet thinking it was his. My guess is that he couldn't do anything with just a 10 rupee note, so he returned it. Next, another hostelmate breaks my high-tech flashlight in an attempt to see how it works. Then another guy spills his milk over my pants. Horrid day.

I've a new interest in Maths now. It's the easiest subject so far in college. There's also a class called "Fundamentals of Computing" which exactly is what is says. It's probably the most boring class since I already know everything there is to know about computer fundamentals. And the teacher hates people who know it all. I guess that's the end of me. Another new class is "Engineering Drawing" or "Engineering Graphics". It's really good, a very specific language for engineers. All the blueprints of buildings are engineering drawings.

It so happens to be that the Physics professor's not such a bigshot after all. He's the kind of guy who makes empty threats, and then returns to his normal self. By normal, I mean abnormal, 'cause this guy ain't normal at all, by human standards. One day, his class was right after recess. One of the girls of our class got stuck in the ladies room... and guess what happened next. Mr. Physics tries to save the day. Considering the fact that this guy is big, I mean really big, one would expect him to easily open the door from the outside. NOT. He huffed and he puffed but he couldn't blow the door down. Then this puny little girl comes along and she does something with the door, and voila, it opened. So much for being big. I also got word from the senior students of the college that the guy only acts like he's big, but he's just a bug.

I also want to post more about English classes, but maybe later. Time is very fucking short.

Unpalatable food. More than just warm nights. Tight schedules. But it was alright.

2004-10-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

It was a rainy Thursday morning when I reached my college, all set to move into the hostel. I had the whole day to myself, so I decided to take a little campus tour on my own. The rain had left quite a few puddles on the grounds, making it difficult to move around. I managed to find the library, and was delighted at the number of computers there. I even saw some of the senior students chatting and reading mail. At last, a place where I can blog for free, I thought. But bad news was headed right around the corner. There were only two computers free at the time, and both had Linux as the operating system. That didn't bother me much, I had some previous experience with Suse and Mandrake Linux versions. The problem was that I couldn't surf. Every time I tried to, I was asked a username and password. Hitting cancel didn't do any good either. I waited till one of the Windows PCs were free. But even in those I had the same problem. I couldn't even use Yahoo! Messenger.

I found the librarian and asked him what to do. The guy says to me that I need to register for an account to access the internet service they had. And registering costs money. WTF??!! This is a goddamn library! Every other college I know has a free internet service in their library! I finally got they guy to use his username and password so that I could browse. That was just a waste of time. They have this slow, OH SO slow internet, that even google.com only opened after 5 minutes. There was absolutely no way I was going to pay for internet like that. So I'm afraid I can't update this blog on a daily basis. But a library is meant for books, and in that aspect, it was well stocked. They even have a subscription to New Scientist! I spent some time refreshing my Photoshop skills with the books they had on it. So moving into a hostel does have its advantages, I guess.

I never used to crib about food. I didn't mind eating anything I could get my hands on at home, sometimes I didn't mind not eating at all. But after a day at the hostel, I was craving for better food. They make only the spicy and the sour types of food at the mess. Nothing sweet or even remotely tasty. Not even the water was good.

That night I got a permission slip and a gate pass so that I could get out of this miserable excuse for a hostel for the weekend. Saturdays aren't usually holidays, but thanks to Gandhi Jayanthi, the birthday of our beloved Mahatma Gandhi, this one was. Sleep was something difficult to achieve in the heat of that night. I was awake the next day at 6.35 AM, even though I had never woken up before 11.00 during my 6 month long holiday. The bathrooms had only cold water, which was ok with me considering the heat that morning. Took a quick bath, managed to swallow some cold rubber like dosas (termed "rice pancakes" by NRIs who've set up Indian Restaurants), and then I rushed to the first class of the morning. Mathematics wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Physics turned out to be a disaster, and it used to be one of my favourite subjects. The professor was nowhere near to being amiable. He treated some of the students in my class as if he were a pezzonovante. I guess he could be called a .90 caliber bigshot considering that he's been teaching Physics for 20 years. But even such pezzonovantes should have limits. Later in the class, he tried to crack jokes to awaken the dormant part of the class, which consisted of everyone except the students seated at the first row. At least I think he did, for there wasn't even a murmur when he spoke.

The lunch break was for 30 minutes, one would think of that as adequate, but not for me, and other hostelites. Our mess is situated in the hostel buildings, which are quite far from the classrooms.

The last 3 periods were for Electrical and Electronic practicals. Since it was the first day, we had nothing to do for the most part. After that, I was home free. Went to my room, got my stuff, got the ticket for the bus and got the hell out of there. Unfortunately, the bus broke down in the middle of the way, and I had to improvise. I was starving when I finally reached home. But at least I did reach home.

Dreary Pants

2004-09-28T09:10:00.000-07:00

College begins this Friday, and I have to move into their hostel on Thursday. I went shopping today with my mom for clothes to wear during my stay there. We went to this shop called RMKV which was initially an all ladies wear shop, but now has a section for men too. They have an awesome collection of shirts & tees compared to other shops, and at affordable prices too. But when it came to pants, eeugh.

It's the same in every clothes store. I'm not talking about jeans, but pants. And Khakis. Why don't they have any varieties? It's always the same colours. Only black, grey, a kind of navy blue, and cream. And some brown too. Why? When shirts can come in multicoloured designs why not pants? I hate wearing brown and cream pants, so I buy only the other three types.

My mom says that other colours won't look formal enough on pants. But formal itself is only based on what people decide. So why can't people start a new trend of formal, like yellow, or even red pants? At least a dark, blood red if not just red.

I ended up buying a couple of checked shirts and a pair of black pants. Black is slimming, right?

Oh, and this is my first post via email. I guess email's gonna be a good way to post when in college.

Just a week to go...

2004-09-23T23:20:00.000-07:00

My days of complete freedom are about to end. In just a week, I'll be heading off to College. Since it's quite far from the city, I'll have to stay in the hostel they have. Hopefully, they have a proper Internet service. Otherwise this blog won't see many days - or nights.

Drat. Foiled again.

2004-09-11T08:33:00.000-07:00

Someone up there doesn't seem to want me to start college. Due to some court cases and other technical problems, all engineering colleges affiliated to Anna University now have to start on October 1st. Another 20 days to go. I wonder what I should do till then?

College to begin yet...

2004-09-07T04:00:00.000-07:00

This blog will be a record of the next four years of my life, hopefully starting from September 13. That's when my College is scheduled to start.