Psychlic Disorder

Himachal Trip Part - II

2011-06-23T19:16:00.031+05:30

Next morning, we left our camp and went to see Khajiar, also known as 'Switzerland of India'. It is basically a plain field surrounded by trees and mountains. There was a golf course at this place during the times of English. But if you go there in summer, it is more of a picnic spot. The pic here would tell you that due to the adventure activities like paragliding, zorbing etc. it is a famous tourist attraction. I had never tried zorbing, so I did give it a go. Other than that, there was not much to do.
If you get your hands on DvD of 'The Blue Umbrella' which is shot almost entirely here, you would know how beautiful this place is when its not treated as an amusement park, i.e. during winters when its completely hidden in snow. Even the lake is frozen.

After that we took a taxis to Dharamshala, our next destination. The road passes through many villages, so there is not much to look for in terms of natural beauty. But, the villages themselves are good to look at.

Getting there
I did not know too much about Dharamshala. So, after getting there we came to know that Mcleodganj is the place people come to, which is a few km from there. As we got to know at the bus stand, that state transport has bus service to Delhi but all the tickets to Delhi were booked at that point. So, book your tickets in advance during summers.

Staying there
The chances of getting a decent economical hotel were looking slim in the peak season for tourists in Mcleodganj, so we had to go up till Bhagsu to get a place to stay.
There are many good restaurants, so we had dinner and after some roaming around got ready for the next day.

It started raining in the morning, and the view from our hotel was breathtaking, as dense clouds were passing right in front of us at a good speed.
Our initial plan was to see both Mcleodganj and Dharamshala and head back for Delhi the same day. But I was so delighted with the place where we stayed in Bhagsu and the market in Mcleodganj cannot be seen in a single day that I decided to stay for another day. Three more of my friends also decided to stay, the other seven of them were in a hurry, as they did not want to use any more holidays.
So, they booked their tickets for an overnight journey in a bus at a private tour operator at some Rs.600.

Sight seeing
Considering that 7 of us were leaving in the evening, we hired a taxi that would take us to all the important places in the day at Rs.800 per taxi, which I found to be very economical.

The main stops were
1.Church of St. john in the Wilderness (Built 1852)
The setting of the church was very beautiful and it was a perfect start to the day, as the rain made it look even more exquisite.

2.Dalai Lama temple
I had never been to a buddhist temple, and my very first was The Dalai Lama temple. It was very peaceful and serene. We sat there for a while to feel the quietude and we could feel the difference. A hot drink was also offered to us, which we drank and after looking at some amazing statues of Buddha we took off for our next stop.

3. Bhagsunag Temple
It is an old temple and has a history associated with it and the waterfall which is some distance away from it. The trek, waterfall and temple package makes a visit to this place worthwhile.

After few other stops, like Dal lake etc. we bid farewell to our 7 friends and had dinner at a tibetan restaurant. The food was delicious and cheap.

Next morning we again took the option of hiring a taxi and we saw:
1.Triund
It is a place where experienced trekkers start their 14 km trek. The road is not made for a car, and at some point I felt we might slip down the valley. But the view from above was great.

2. Tea Garden

3.Kunal Pathri temple

4.War Memorial

5.Museum of Kangra Art

Special mention has to be made about the market and shops in Mcleodganj. They sell art pieces, accessories, ornaments etc , all from the Tibetan and Buddhist culture. Also, the prices are not too steep. The colourful shawls and woolen clothes are also something to look forward to. As you can see in these photos.

Himachal Trip - Part I (Dalhousie(Panchpulla) , Daikund - Jot)

2010-11-24T16:03:00.030+05:30

Writing about a trip that happened 1.5 years can be frustrating, like if you don't remember the name of a beautiful place which you thought you would never forget in a million years! But thanks to the photos you don't need to pull your hairs out to remember everything about the trip.
So this is the first post about the Himachal trip that we went on, in June 2009.
The most difficult part of planning our trip is, where our trip would be. This is because of the sheer number of friends that are involved. This time around there were around 11 of us, so to take into account the preference of each one, which place a guy has already seen and which place he has not, a time when holidays of each coincide and so on. So after much discussion, the place that was decided upon was Himachal Pradesh, more specifically Dalhousie and Dharamsala. It was the peak of summers and so peak season for such hill stations, where the weather is pleasant, but with a smaller and more adventurous group we would have personally liked to go to a much colder and lesser known place.

Getting there

We booked a train from Delhi to Pathankot, which was an overnight journey. The journey was fun with cards playing, eating the food we had got packed at Comesum at the Old Delhi Railway Station and just the usual fun. Dalhousie is around 80km from Pathankot and we were not sure how we would get there. There are buses which get you there in two hours and many people use that mode of transport but after an overnight journey in the train and due to the luggage we had, we were not in mood to try traveling by bus just yet.

So we looked for taxis, but what we found was even better. It is something called Tata Winger (we had not heard of it before), and to our surprise there was a vehicle that could just seat the same number of people as us. Not more, not less, just 11. We booked that and were on our way to Dalhousie.

We stopped on our way at this place to have breakfast, and the place was cheap and located at a beautiful place. So after what must be a half century of paranthas, we were back on our way to Dalhousie. As this was the peak season we had trouble finding a hotel. Usually the cheapest and best options are the Himachal Touris m hotels, but as this is the busiest time of the year, we could not find rooms there and in few other hotels nearby. It had never happened on previous trips, but we kept on looking and found one that suited our budget. Even after that what I could think of was that we could have stayed at the hotel in the pic (right) for dimes compared to what we were paying at our present accomodation.

Sight Seeing
After a quick shower, we started to explore Dalhousie on foot. The first place on our list was Panchpulla. It was more than 3km from where we stayed and the view was not something extraordinary. We had the same feeling when we reached the spot. It was nothing great, just 5 wooden bridges and hence the name. But so that our efforts don't go to waste, we started exploring the areas around and started trekking to the top most point of a nearby peak, and that was tiring yetexhilarating. Especially because there is no predefined path like the usual treks, and you have to make your own path, which can often get you in trouble. After all the exploring that was possible in the small area, we headed back to the city.
It was evening when we came back. Like every hill station established by the English, there was a Mall Road here too, or otherwise the main place to shop. Something which made me very happy, was a Nescafe outlet nearby. (It has fed us starving IITians for many years)

At the end of the day we started looking for finalizing the one thing that we came here for, i.e. trekking. The charge was Rs.1500 per person, so after a good night's sleep we started early in a taxi to get to the place where trekking started. Luckily, the weather was even better the next day, with rain, and the whole place just sparkled.
We reached the spot from where we had to start our trek, and there were many people who had come to that place, so trekking seemed like a popular option.

The trek was pretty easy, if it could be called a trek. After the initial climb, the whole path was at the same level, though all through mountains, and accompanied with some great visual beauty. Two person who were guiding us carried our lunch with them. It was better than expected.
At night, dinner was provided by them and we had fun around the bonfire and slept in the sleeping bags provided by them.
I would recommend this package for families but not for people who want to go for real trekking. It has all the elements of it , except the difficulty involved.
Though, the fact that we were not tired even after 7km of 'trek' proved that we did enjoy it.

Third Homecoming

2009-10-14T22:02:00.005+05:30

Around 10 months since last post. I thought the time for that to happen would be about 4 months, when the last semester ended. But, staying in hostel , in the worst summer ever (where were the rains !), the thought of writing something did not even cross my mind. The fact that it was a time to do absolutely nothing can be confirmed by the number of movies I watched during the three months. That number is 2. This is about 100 times less than the minimum number I would have liked to come up with.
The Doordarshan series I was planning to write has to be put on hold for a while due to something more, what people might call, interesting. I think writing short posts in between is possible about Doordarshan, I do waste a lot of time waiting for some good amount of free time to come my way and this is how 10 months pass and my blog is not even one post richer.

Here is what I had to say:
Trains, my favourite topic for writing posts, are something that fascinate me as I am a new entrant to this humungous group of rail travellers. Not that I have not travelled before,but that was negligible in comparision to the number of times I have been in a bus, purely because I did not have anybody living as far that I would have to take a train to reach there. But since my father got shifted to Ahmedabad last year I have had many opportunites to travel in train and travel alone, which is always a learning experience as to how you react to conduct and misconduct of others and vice versa, etc.. Here are the three most of terrible/exciting experiences I have had with them, in increasing order, and it is just the part of reaching the station on time.

i. Day-14th August, '08; Train - Kisan Express; Journey - Delhi-Hisar(170km);
Occasion-Raksha Bandhan; Problem-3 day weekend=>Delhi Traffic, Rain

I started from my hostel around 1.5 hrs earlier for New Delhi Station( not that early, I know). As it was a 3 day weekend I could not find any autos which agreed to go the station (it happens, just because of the sheer number of commuters on those days). My cousin was also with me. When we could no longer wait in the rain further(must have been 15minutes), we got in the 620 number bus. Due the rain,jams, red lights and mostly the traffic we reached Janpath with around 10minutes for our train to leave from ND Rly Stn.( this was not the originating stop, 2nd or the 3rd one I think). We got out of the bus. Now it was raining heavily. Waited for auto, did not think we would find anything in the rain, but luckily found one. No other jams or anything till the station, got out of the auto, ran to the station, asked here and there which platform does that train leave from. Got one bad answer, did not find the train there. Asked again, had to go up to the over bridge and when we were coming down the stairs to the correct platform, we saw our train leaving right in front of our eyes. Still, got down quickly, the train had not gained that speed, so thought of getting on the train while it is on the move. As soon as we were about to board it, we heard something addressed to us - 'Datt jaao re, ib to rukkegi, ghani jaldi o ri hai'.
This translated from haryanvi means - Why are you in such a hurry, the train is going to stop. I heard those words, repeated them in my mind, and finally took a breath of relief. The train that we thought was leaving was in fact coming from another station and those were just one of the first few coaches of it (its relatively good speed, when it was about to stop had fooled us). The journey went smoothly in the AC chair car, filled with people, without tickets, occupying the area other than the chairs.

ii.Day-15th July, '09; Train - Ashram Express; Journey - Delhi-Ahmedabad(933km);
Occasion-Homecoming; Problem-Late start, luggage !

In all the excitement of going home after 7 long months, I did not realise how much packing needed to be done till I actually got down to it. That was because I had to take my dusty old computer from hostel room to home (love that computer !!). It is 4 and a half years old, but if I had the choice i would have liked to keep it in my room along with the laptop, which I did for the more than 4 months. Countless number of hours have been spent on that computer, playing games, watching movie, chatting, surfing, and all that with a 40GB memory. Many of friends are still amazed how I survived all these years on that configuration.
So with the train at 3.00pm when all the packing was done, I got out of hostel at 2.00pm. As usual could not find any autowallas willing to go to the Old Delhi Railway Station. I was getting very late now, so the first autowalla that agreed, I did not bargain for a second, but got on it. Late as I was, the auto had to get gas filled. Then around 2.35pm I was stuck in a jam at Daryaganj. Everybody had turned off their engines and the situation looked very bleak. I had to wait for 5 more minutes and then the traffic began to clear. But the auto's engine was not starting !! I thought I am bound to miss my train today. After around 10-15 tries the auto finally started and I reached the station at 2.55pm. Got down from the auto, signalled a coolie, told him to me to the train in 5 minutes. I had a CRT monitor, a CPU, a UPS, a box containing keyboard,mouse etc and two bags of my own out of which the coolie took the CRT monitor and CPU and we started to walk really fast. When we were entering the station, the security guys stopped us for checking the luggage !! I tried to show them the form I had from the institute saying that I have the permission to take the computer with me, but they were not ready to leave me. So i told them, my train will leave in 2 min and I have to go, they asked for Rs.50 and I instantly agreed and was through the security.
The thought that I might have to return with this much luggage in case I miss my train had already crossed my mind, though I was trying to avoid that thought and think of not loosing a bag or a box of my luggage in all this hurry. But the coolie had other ideas. In spite of running the fastest I could, he kept saying 'saab jaldi chalo, choot jayegi aapki gaadi',over and over again. I ignored his comments. And my eyes lit up when I saw the train on the platform. But my coach was still long way away. Even 5 seconds had not passed since I got on my coach, that the train started moving and I made a note to never start this late for station, especially with this kind of luggage involved.
The train journey was good, though I did not expect the weather to be very hot during the night, which it was.

ii.Day-13th October, '09; Train - Ashram Express; Journey - Delhi-Ahmedabad(933km);
Occasion-Diwali; Problem-Diwali !

With the self-note I made during my last experience with trains, I tried very hard not to start late this time. With cribbing about the minors going bad, specially the PHL on that day, plus some packing, 1.35pm was the best I could come up with for the 3.00pm train. As always, I could not find even a single autowalla ready to go to the station out of the 10 or so I asked. So, I thought, a better way would be to reach Main Gate and go from there. An autowalla agreed for Rs.25 to go there. I reached there in 5min and started waiting for autos. One autowalla agreed but he was asking for Rs.160, which I thought to be very high. I asked few autowallas but nobody else seemed ready to go there. I dont know whether they are scared of some ghosts living there or what, it is such a good place for autowallas, one would think.
After my offer of going to station was rejected by many autowallas, I came back to the Rs.160 auto and started for station. This was around 1.50pm. Not even 2 minutes had passed since I got on the auto and I could see looong jams near the IIT flyover. The autowalla took me from a different route, above the flyover, which I thought would have less traffic. But how wrong I would be I had no idea. It seemed every traffic light had turned red for me, on top of that, every road was filled with so much traffic, that memories of the worst traffic jams before diwali (in previous years) flashed before my eyes. The autowalla stopped for water in between !! I was in such hurry that I could have driven the auto and left him there, but the new route did not let me do it. I just asked him to hurry up.
In around 1 hr I had reached only India Gate and I had about 20minutes to cover up the rest of the distance. I thought if it was possible to catch that train, the only option from here can be the Metro. I told the autowalla to drop me at Central Secretariat. Somehow, some of the roads were closed in between and had to go through a different route to reach the Metro station. I got off the auto quickly and as haraami as the autowallas are in Delhi, he charged me Rs.150, fully knowing I had no time to bargain for the way shorter distance that he had to travel, than what was initially agreed upon. Anyways, I took my luggage which was a carry bag and a trolley(the fact that it can be pulled on wheels turned out to be great, retrospectively) totalling around 15kg, and rushed down the stairs of the station. I hoped for a ticket counter without any queue, and that is what I got.
I took gave a Rs.20 note, took the token for Chandni Chowk station(Old Delhi station) and the Rs.11 change and rushed to the entry. Got myself checked at the security and was running to the platform, when the policemen told me to get my luggage checked. I came back, got it checked through the scanner. As I reached my pocket for the token, I realised I dont have it ! I searched again every pocket but could not find it. I ran back towards the counter, leaving my luggage there. The policemen told me to get my luggage also. I followed their orders. Paid the fare, got the token , got myself checked at the security (deja vu :) ). Thankfully the luggage was exempt from the security this time.
Metro is never a good way to travel when all you have to is run and you are not accustomed to it. That is because, you dont have time to check, which platform is correct, which exit gate is good for you etc..I asked someone which platform for chandni chowk , and got down the stairs in no time. The metro was there and I boarded it. The Chandni Chowk was 5 stations away, and 10 minutes left for the train to leave. I had very little hope, but the best I could do in that situation now was just to sit and conserve my energy for the next dash that was in store for me. Every time the metro stopped for a few seconds at a station, I lost a little hope of ever catching that train to my home. I finally got down the metro at 3.04pm.
Anyone who has been to Old Delhi Metro station will know what I am talking about, when I say that the stairs you have to climb before you reach outside are never ending. I knew this since I had been there once before. Remember, all this while I was up and down, and running here and there with 15kg of luggage. I ran towards the exit and saw a lift before I could see the stairs !! But the doors closed as soon as I was about to enter. I had no other option but to run as fast as I can, through the stairs. The whole ordeal left me exhausted and completely devoid of any energy to continue my run. But I could not give up, took a long breath, waited 5 seconds and then ran again to the platform. This stretch was even more excruciating, mostly because I did not have any water or food too for dont know how many hours. I somehow reached the platform at 3.10 and did not see a train there. I asked around and was told that the train had left 5 minutes earlier. The pain and numbness in my arms and legs that had vanished in the hopes of seeing the sight of that train returned as soon as I got this news.
Having experienced this for the first time, I was not sure what to do now. I thought of some options for catching the train at next stop, but there was no way I could reach there befire the train. Remembering that the TTs always have few tickets etc with them, I asked one on the station for the next train to Ahmedabad, but he politely refused. As the next trains were from New Delhi Station and he did not have any role to play in that. When I was asking him, a guy overheard our conversation and asked if I wanted a ticket. I said yes. He took me to a travel agent's office, who was sitting below a bush, with a table and a chair. Two of them started to convince me about this bus that leaves at 5.30pm and reaches Ahmedabad at 10.30am next day. It was sleeper class and had only 3 stops. No matter how ok that offer sounded, I would have preferred a sleeper seat in train even if the bus was air conditioned. So, I told him that and he said the charges for 3rd AC ticket in Rajdhani Express was Rs.2400 (without the agent and tatkal booking, it is around Rs.1200). The fee he quoted was almost double and the train reached Ahmedabad almost the same time as the bus. So, the sleeper seat in bus started sounding like a fair deal to me. It cost Rs.950. In between I talked to father and sisters in my home and they started their own mission to get me on a train by exploring other options. While I had to finalise that bus ticket, since it was getting late and I feared even this would not be available afterwards. While I was coming back from ATM to give this agent money for the bus ticket, I got a call from home saying they have booked me a train for 3rd AC Rajdhani Express, at 7.55pm from ND Rly Stn (for Rs.1500). As I got back to the agent, I realised, the Rs.100 that I had given him would go to waste(cancellation charges). That is what happened.
The time was about 4.00pm and I had about 4hrs to catch my train, from a station one metro station away. I bought one bottle of water and slice. Drank them both. Rested for few minutes. And slowly got down the same never ending flight of stairs. But here the queues for tokens and entry were not something I hoped for. It took me more than 25 minutes to reach the platform, another 5 minutes for New Delhi station.
Though my ticket was booked, but I had to still get print out of the ticket which was mailed to me. I was told I would find a place to get that print out when I enter the station. But it was nowhere to be seen as I entered through Ajmeri gate. I asked around and was told that the place is on the other side of the station. So I crossed 16 platforms (I am carrying 15kg luggage all this while) to get to the other side. I searched for 15-20 minutes with everyone telling me different location of where I could get that print out. Somehow it all looked like a conspiracy, just to make me miss this train also. Tired of roaming uselessly, I saw the big market in front of the station and thought I would surely get what I need there.
I did not know that the market was Paharganj ! I was offered all kinds of hotels, and various other stuff, by almost everyone who saw me. In that market also, I was told that I would get that print out at about 10 places, all of which were not correct. At the end of it, about 2-3 different people told I would find it, deep in the main market. I looked at it, and thought it to be the last place I would go at that point of time considering how unlucky my day was. I called up my friend, asked him where I can find a cyber cafe in Connaught Place. After about 10 minutes, I got a call from him, getting the address for it.
I took an auto to go there, cost Rs.30. I reached the place, got 2 print outs which cost Rs.40 ! All this would have been done in Re.1 in hostel. I started to look for auto to get back to the station, but as unluck would have it, I did not find any. So I started walking back to the station(I still have the luggage). At around 6pm I reached the station.
I started to look to the display board to see which platform the train would depart from. But it was still 2hrs away and thus no information. I finally ate something (5 vada for Rs.20 ! ) from IRCTC canteen and reached the platform.
I had about 1.5hrs to spend and could only think of where I would have reached by now if I had not missed my train, though the experience would teach me something about not trusting the Delhi traffic ever (still have soreness in my forearm). I took out Stephen Fry's Incomplete & Utter History of Classical Music in the meanwhile and waited for the train where I would find a bed, I had to lie down for a long time after this.
The journey afterwards was better than expected, with company of 4 other guys. We played cards, chatted a bit, but mostly I was waiting for the time when I would get to sleep. And it was the best sleep I have had in a train.

Warming Up - Nuances of DD

2008-12-25T01:50:00.012+05:30

What makes Doordarshan, Doordarshan..
Is it the excessive hamming that you encounter in every other show..
is it the anchor of the shows who could easily have been the guy who hosts the diwali mela for your mohalla...
is it the graphics that make you feel, that the broadcast you are watching has taken 20 years to reach your television...
is it the sets that make you think that the presenter is there to get his passport size photograph clicked...
is it the way actors react without being slapped or hit( as the scene was censored by DD in the movie to be aired)...
is it the fact that most of us have not watched it for more than 10 minutes at a go since the cable television reached our homes...
But as much as this was a jibe at the shabby production values of DD, it was also a way of venting out the disappointment at DD for not being able to progress with time(if it has done anything, it is to deteriorate in all departments).
With no hopes of seeing it get any better, I shall write about the little things that do remain part of our memories for some strange reasons.
Before anyone had ever heard of what set top box or even cable tv was, there was the big aluminum antenna that brought all the colourful pictures to our tv. But it was not always so colourful. The broadcast was not 24x7 and we often encountered the black and white grains, but even then we thought if we looked at it long enough we might still see some things..

This was followed by what I'd call the rainbow stripes. Never understood why they had those. May be too check if all the colours were ok :P .

Then the broadcast started when everybody would hold their breath , as a little red ball was engulfed by something that looked like two red hands. But the two red 'hands' then started revolving around the ball and it looked like that the tv was warming up, as it slowly gained speed and eventually became clearer and clearer. Yes, it was the logo of Doordarshan, with the words 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram' written beneath it. Now, it was up and ready to entertain.
Another part of DD that it introduced in our lives is the 'rukawat ke liye khed hai' message which was quite frequent those days.
There are also a whole lot of other shows and jingles that I'd like to include in this post itself but would have to keep that for the next post.

New Shows

2008-12-23T23:21:00.016+05:30

Before I proceed on to writing about the Doordarshan series as I had told, I would like to clarify that despite what I said in the last post, there are one or two shows which do have a story line that is a different than the usual shows like Balika Vadhu( a major hit, I am told), which is about the problems faced by a bride in a child marriage or Utaran, a story told from the perspective of daughter of a maid, but I am sure all such shows will go into a different direction in a few weeks time. They just can not resist incorporating scheming vamps into the shows no matter how hard they try. This post shows, how I 'have' to watch serials that I didn't think I would during the holidays and I had to mention the couple of serials that keep me entertained. So here is the list:
Reruns
Now the post is titled new shows but I find that I have more fun watching the shows that I have already watched twice or thrice, like Friends, 30 Rock, Scrubs and Seinfeld(also I don't have much else to do) so this had to be included.

Man vs. Wild - Discovery Channel
Whenever there is nothing worth watching on TV, I switch to Discovery and it is amazing how it has not backfired even a single time(except may be in the afternoon, when its 'woman hour') . While I was doing this, I saw a show which has given me at least something to cheer for. It is a show hosted by a man named Bear Grylls, an ex-military officer from UK, who airdrops himself in a remote location (where the chances of survival are very less ), and shows methods to survive it and reach the nearest settlements of humans. As much as the premise of the show is interesting, it is also quite educational. Though after seeing what happened to Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch's character in Into The Wild), I am not going to let anything in my mouth from an unknown object unless I have a guinea pig with me on whom I can test it. Along with the knowledge about various survival skills and what should be the best decision in a given condition, the presentation of the show is also interesting. This part comes from the search of food and water that he takes on.
Being isolated in a place like deserts of Sahara or glaciers of Iceland it is always fascinating where he would look for food and water. In the little I have seen(4 episodes), Grylls has eaten a monitor lizard(about 4 feet long, killing it by banging it against a tree and then eating it raw), a snake(just beheaded the rattle snake and ate the rest instantly), termites(loves those for their proteins !!),sheep's fat and eyeballs, crabs, sting ray and birds(only a fire needed for them)..and when I checked on wiki I found out that he has also:
"squeezed both elephant dung and partially digested food from the stomach of a dead camel into his mouth for water, ripped raw chunks of meat off a dead zebra with his teeth, eaten maggots off a dead deer, and drank his own urine which had been stored in the skin of a dead snake."
I know this is not the usual form of entertainment for many people out there but for me it just goes to show what humans are capable of when faced with death or losing out on something that is very special for them. All the ethics and all the principles go for a spin.
I know that some of the events are staged and not real, but I'd still recommend it. Who would have thought, a time would come when an Englishman has to go about eating insects and snakes for our entertainment..!
P.S.: I also saw a show about a man's spiritual journey in India, and to my utter disbelief, that man was Jeremy Piven..!!! Never did I imagine that the Ari Gold from Entourage would present a show titled 'Jeremy Piven's Journey of a lifetime' and all this with a straight face.

Jimmy Kimmel Live - Star World
I do not know how the ABCs and the NBCs decide that a person X is going to host the talk show that is going to air on their channel for years. It must be a grueling process, and I think it must involve a sample audience tolerating X's show for a long duration as the larger audience has to after it is given a green signal. But on the other hand, they just require a chubby, not very handsome looking guy that the people can relate to, as I don't think any comedic or acting skills are required in it. The jokes (which are written by a huge team) are not that funny (mostly involves fiddling with video of celebs) and the presentation is not that unique. Same is the case with Jay Leno's, David Letterman's and now Jimmel Kimmel's show. But as Kimmel's is the least experienced I find his show the weakest. But with no good talk shows available I can just get through that one hour as the chats with the guests are interesting. Molly Shannon herself bragging about the massage she recently got from a woman, which was exploitative in nature, or Courteney Cox explaining how while typing a letter in a hurry to the future principal of her daughter's school she typed 'cock' instead of 'coco' which is her daughter's name.

Punk'd - VH1
I have never liked Ashton Kutcher, but even then I find that the pranks are cool and make up a good half an hour. When the same pranksters are used in every prank, I think someone must be intelligent enough to recognize their faces, but I am wrong, most celebs are that stupid.

Yo Momma- VH1
I am including this here just for the originality of the idea. This is a show hosted and produced by Wilmer Valderrama which includes a trash talking competition between regular people to decide who is best trash-talker in the 'hood' and 2 people represent their hoods in one final round. Though, the show could have been interesting but the low quality of trash talking(!!) and the screwed up format makes it something that you can easily give a miss.

Good Old DD days..

2008-12-22T01:08:00.004+05:30

The daily life of any student presents a number of 'challenges' to the person in terms of assignments, exams, shaping your future etc. or in short, balancing huge number of things and still come out on top. I am also of the opinion that the huge breaks that are provided to us after each semester also test us to our limits. The drastic changes in the surroundings, your daily time table and diet, plus the amount of free time that you have at your disposal, after every four months take the form of a new problem that you have to understand, while starting from scratch in order to solve it. You have to know whats boring you, what is the schedule you should follow, what is the reason behind a particular new problem and so on. An example of it would be my weird dreams which have stopped bugging me after I returned to my habit of sleeping late as in the hostel. This brings me to the activity that was supposed to get me through these 4 weeks, but on the contrary its turning out to be quite unsettling, which is watching tv.
This habit has always been one of my favorite pastimes and the fact that I do not have that many movies left to watch on the pc at home made it even more important. Also, I have not been able to watch tv for long hours, as I usually do, since more than a year. But I was in for a big disappointment. The tv scenario has changed completely in the year long hiatus. With the saas-bahu serials booted out, all the prime time slots and TRPs are now grabbed by reality shows. There is not a time during the 24hrs when I can surf the channels without encountering someone trying to make people laugh, or singing or dancing, all this followed by drama from judges or some heart wrenching story of one of the participants. This shows us just what the entertainment industry and to some extent what people in India are, opportunists. Jumping on the bandwagon is not a trait of Indians alone, it is a natural tendency of all individuals, in fact every popular tv series from other countries has been adapted by US in hopes of repeating the feat ( The Office and American Idol are the most successful instances), but they have one South Park or Prison Break to show for every 10 shows that they spun-off. Considering this, it would not be too generous to overlook their recent failures in the sitcom department or many other disappointments in reality shows.
Thus, what is disturbing is not the copycat formats of the shows but the sheer lack of originality or creativity. This presents a very shocking picture(at least for me) of a future where I would not be able to enjoy Indian tv for the rest of my life. This is because as much the situation has deteriorated from the earlier days, even the relatively recent past, where shows like Office Office, Khichdi or Sarabhai vs Sarabhai were introduced, has now transformed into an era where saas bahu serials moulded in the form of love stories are shown and the only thing the other new shows can call their own are the numbers that have to be dialed in order to vote for a participant.
This grim situation also brought feelings of nostalgia, to have grown up in a period where shows of the highest quality were produced. The list includes Buniyaad(the most under rated show), Mahabharat, Malgudi Days, Bharat Ek Khoj, Byomkesh Bakshi, Ye Jo Hai Zindagi, Mungerilal Ke Haseen Sapne, Karamchand, Nukkad, Amul Surabhi, Mirza Ghalib and Hum Log (plus many others), also daily soaps like Shanti and Swabhimaan. Hows that for quality stuff..? It was a time when people like Gulzar made shows for tv with Naseeruddin Shah in it, and every show had one Raghubir Yadav or Pankaj Kapur or another gem of an actor in it. The script was always tidy and gripping with each writer knowing well in advance what was the length of shows as the number of episodes were pre-decided. On the down side, the production values were always low, as not much money has ever been involved when it comes to Doordarshan, in addition to the work culture being sarkaari. So, when you consider the hurdles that the guys had to cross and what they delivered, its truly remarkable.
This discussion should not end in only a single post which brings me to the idea of writing a series of posts on the shows that were part of our life when we grew up, from the mid 80's to around the mid 90's. I m sure that is going to take some time but what the hell, its not like I have to watch anything on tv.

Time to kill..

2008-12-18T01:18:00.004+05:30

A pretty decent semester (the best one for me, with the least amount of studying :D ) being well and truly over and half way into the holidays...this post was just round the corner. The time I have on my hands on a single day is what I'd get in a whole week during the semester. And since at home I dont have my movies etc. with me..it seems a whole lot more !
Its December and it is the job season for most of my friends. And if someone is saying that the financial meltdown is not hurting India he knows as much about economics as Steven Spielberg knows about making saas-bahu serials. The number of people who are placed as compared to last year's figures are about one-third. And the guys in IITs didn't even see it coming. With their CG already being fixed they couldn't do much to improve their chances and also the last minute back-out , done by many major companies took everybody by surprise. So when you dont have a Shell, RBS, ML, Lehmann, JP Morgan and even Reliance recruiting at the campus, in addition to companies like Mckinsey and Schlumberger recruiting only one or two persons, you know that you are in for some tough times ahead. Try sitting in a room with those who got this rough deal and you'll see that the depression is highly contagious. But I guess all of this has to be taken in stride and just move on. On a lighter note, a good joke doing the rounds is, when you have the US, Europe, almost all the companies of world in debt or losses, where did all the money go !! (Quite difficult to explain to a common man, I think)

Train Diaries

2008-07-26T00:22:00.012+05:30

After one week of getting up really really late, eating piles of paranthas and having enormous amount of dairy products, it was time to leave home and get back to Delhi for the next semester. The feeling was akin to that in some stories that i had read as a child about the boy going to his boarding school and the relatives seeing him off at the station. This was the first time that,due to my father's transfer, my home is so far from my hostel...in Ahmedabad. Nevertheless , the three heavy suitcases were enough to occupy my mind and i said goodbye to my parents.

Gone baby gone...
As much as i like babies..one 'side-effect' of the AC compartment is that whenever you have a child traveling and sitting somewhere close to you, along with his mother..the results are irritating.
In a normal sleeper coach the noises and commotion from all different sources, chai wala, frooti wala..or the train itself,drown the noises that i pretty much dont like to hear too clearly.
So unfortunately, for a large part of journey i got to hear.."No ! Rahul, No..!!", "Do not disturb uncle ", "No..beta upar mat jao..!" , " Chot lag jayegi " , " Kapde gande mat karo !! " etc. etc. He didn't let his mother(or me) sleep continuosly for more than 20 min with once waking her up to ask "time kya hua hai ?" and the poor lady concentrated in the dark to tell him the time and when asked why was he asking he just said "aise hi". All this seemed to me , nothing less than a conspiracy against the mother, as no one deserves to be treated this bad !
But luckily they got off at Jaipur and it was nothing less than heaven from there on.

InDecent-ry
I've always thought that people are more interested in having conversations with fellow passengers in trains than in any other mode of transportation and to an extent i am also open to it. But this time, a bihari couple was sitting across me , who had been in Gujarat for the first time and had their "voily gujarati food". And in conversation with another passenger , the uncle said , "..pet gadbada gaya humara. Ab thoda theek hai warna aaj subah tak to bahut badhiya 'dysentery' ho gaya tha ". The Outlook magazine that i had bought turned out to be even more useful as i dug deeper into it , to pretend that i was not present there.

Alibaug-Day 3

2008-07-07T06:08:00.009+05:30

30.6,Sunday

We checked out of our hotel at 9 am and started back for Mumbai. The real highlight for this day was the water fall some 6 km from Mahabaleshwar en route to Mumbai via Pratapgarh. Due to the rainfall this fall was greater than the previous day and we were the only one bathing in it. The flow was so large that , even if we stood for a few seconds underneath it, it seemed like something is throwing piles of stones from way above with some extra force. The water was always trying to push your head down forcefully. Really 'mind blowing'.
(I am omitting the more relavent photos :P )
The route that we were taking this time was different from the Expressway. This was NH-17 but it was more scenic than the expressway. Other than the various picturesque places in the journey there was one water fall near Pauladpur which looked too good to be true.It was bigger and better in many ways.

We decided to appreciate the scenery and move on while resisting our desire to again bathe in the water fall.
So after that we stopped at Alibaug and though the beaches were good, it wasn't anything out of ordinary. But still the breeze is always nice so we decided to sit there for an hour.
After that our final stop IITB. And , quite obviously we were stuck in a huge traffic jam just kms from it. We got back to Surat the next day.
To describe what the places in the trip were like, i'd just say that the type of place that heaven is made to believe, would have probably been thought of after seeing them.

Pratapgarh- Day 2

2008-07-07T05:19:00.009+05:30

29.6,Saturday

Quite unexpectedly Pratapgarh was the best place in the trip. It is 20km from Mahabaleshwar and it seemed like just a fort when we heard about it. But you realize its uniqueness when you see the altitude at which it is built. It is hard to imagine how it can be constructed in earlier times.
Also once you get on top you have a feeling hard to describe. Because of the clouds all around the fort ,we literally felt like we were in heaven. I will not say much about it, as it is a place which my words wouldn't do any justice.

Next we saw the Lingmala water fall from far away. It was splendid. Once we got closer we realized that the little bridge that passed over the clear stream of water was in fact the same water that some 50 m away turns into a fall 'the lingmala water fall'. Since on that day it was raining heavily the water flow was 10 times the previous day and you could feel the furious water gushing down the fall and making a thunderous sound for quite a distance. The thought that we were planning to take a dip in that water really made us look stupid and lucky(that we didnt go ahead).

Next we saw what was left of Panchgani(also had strawberry lassi). Sydney Point is not even worth mentioning. Though table land was far better. It was almost a cricket ground at the top of a mountain. And there were many such plains on the nearby hills. It was really spectacular.

(This day was full of adventures which i am not describing here)

Mahabaleshwar/Panchgani

2008-07-07T02:28:00.021+05:30

After deliberate consideration because of the number of people involved and the miles that separated us , the Mahabaleshwar trip was finalized. It involved getting over many hurdles like the different intern schedules (some had a 5 day week some had 6 ) , some of the people being incommunicado for some reasons and the natural desires of people to not agree with others. The three of us(me , niraj and gaurav) came back early on friday(27th) from 'the plant' and got on the Surat BDTS express on which we had booked our tickets in the 2S class for a mere Rs.100. The train ride was not that smooth as we had earlier thought , and decided that it was better to travel while standing as the seats which we got were those which faced one more 3 seater and there was no comfortable way to sit. So we stood near the door for most of our 4.5 hour journey which was interspersed with many 'new' items which were being sold by the vendors. Like one month 'old' magazines at half the price, mint leaves being sold in a bundle etc. The scenes of boys playing games like cricket or riding a bicycle after a day's work in the little 'green' villages made the trip ever so wonderful.
We reached 'Mumbai' at 8.30pm and boy was it terrible. We had to get to our friends from our hostel who were staying at IITBombay , and the autowallas and taxis were there to thug us. Somehow we managed to get an auto from Bandra to Powai for Rs.120 (i am sure it should be even lower). After somehow managing to get past the awful traffic especially near IITB and the infamous potholes we reached there. This was my first time there and the city didn't leave a good impression on me. We met our friends after a long time and usual bakaiti started. We also got the information that instead of going through a packaged tour which would have cost us Rs.1300(including stay,food and everything), we were hiring a taxi costing Rs.2000 per day. Though I always prefer traveling without any plans, when with friends, it sounded dearer but till that time there was no other way and the taxi was hired to take us the next day from IITB.
We spent the night in IITB campus and the only thing worth mentioning there is the zillions of mosquitoes and Hostel 12-13.
The hostel 12-13 are something you really have to see it to believe. Everything from the skywalk which includes common room and indoor games, to the hostel mess which is in basement but is in fact on ground floor(!) ..the architecture is amazing. There should be riots to get into that hostel with its superb night canteen.
28.6,Friday
DAY-1
We started at 7 in the morning and took the Pune Expressway. The fear of the Qualis being uncomfortable for 8 passengers was gone as we sat quite peacefully(at least i did). The journey was remarkable largely due of the wide roads and the amazing scenery it forms because of various tunnels and places like Lonavla too in between. Though the toll taxes really take a toll on you , on these wonderful roads, which are to an extent devoid of large traffic.

At the insistance of our taxi driver who was a Ganpati devout, we stopped at Vai , which we were being told is one the Ashtavinayak mandir. The mandir looked a little bit like Charanpur of Swades to me, or may all old mandirs are like this , as i have not seen many.
From there we were on a route where Panchgani is before Mahabaleshwar(i was thinking the other way round). So, the sceneries were just getting better and better. We were 'taxed' at Rs. 10 per person and Rs.30 for taxi for entering Panchgani, which was ridiculous in every way. Nevertheless the first thing we saw was Harrison Folly, named after certain Mr. Harrison who built a house there which flew due to winds. But i cant say the Englishman was at fault for building a house there , as the view was breathtaking to say the least. (There was also horse riding for 'kids' where a guy charged Rs.60 for letting you ride it for like 45sec).

From there we stopped at a place to get tea but instead went down a path where we were hearing sounds of water in hope a water fall, but we didnt find it , though there was a picturesque scene of a small bridge passing over a clear stream of water. We dipped our feet in it, but left as we had to get to our hotel and also have our lunch.
We reached Mahabaleshwar and it was raining there. And instead of being foggy it was cloudy, which means what could be mistaken as fog were in fact clouds and they were enveloping all the city. The cover was as thick as a Delhi fog in winters. After some difficulties we checked in our hotel (Hotel Varsha). The rooms were great at Rs. 700 and we had lunch there. Without wasting any time we set out to see all there was to see in Mahabaleshwar that day.
The first place was Lake Venna. It was cloudy, windy and rainy ..so the scene was wonderful.
The next place that we went to were involved a large number of 'points' and it was terrific. There was Kates Point, Needle Hole Point ,Echo Point and Elephant Point, all located very close to each other , the last one being the best of them all.( if you need some info about these find it on http://www.travelpaisa.com/mumbai-hillstations/mahabaleshwar.html )

The other 'points' were completely covered in clouds and our efforts to see them ended in vain. But nevertheless we were quite happy with all that we did in the day and in some ways at our limit in the number of beautiful places that we could see in a day.

Daman

2008-07-04T01:40:00.008+05:30

8.5 ,Sunday
The few markets (the names i ll mention after i see all that i can) had been keeping us busy for quite a number of days. The autos are so cheap when there is a group of 3-5 people that even the most distant markets are approachable on a daily basis. But once in a while you need to get away from the city and we were told that Daman is one such place. It is 80-90 km away from Surat, and i thought of it to be unexplored by the tourists as i had not heard of it as a tourist destination. So, we planned a weekend getaway. But we could not make it on Saturday as everybody slept through it. So we decided to go on Sunday and bunk Monday.
We could not get any prior info on how to reach there or what places to see as none of the localites had been there and the info on websites was all i could gather. So the three of us started on Sunday morning with 3 other people who were doing intern with us but were from different colleges. There was Rajat from IITK,Manish from NIT,jalandhar and Mohit from University of Petroleum,Dehradun. We knew Rajat , but the other guys were new and they were on the trip through him.
Since Daman was not very far we thought of taking a taxi but the price quoted by the tour operator was Rs. 6000 !!! So obviously we took a train to Vapi (which is on the same route as Surat-Bombay) for Rs.33 :) We stood in the 2nd Seating compartment(i had seen it for the first time) and the journey was over in just 2hrs without any discomfort. From Vapi, we took a taxi at Rs. 15 per head to cross the Gujarat border and enter in Daman.

To my surprise, Daman was not meant to be a tourist destination. As Gujarat is a dry state and Daman shares a border with it , the U.T. makes full use of it. As soon as you cross the border the first shop is a booze shop and there are hundreds of them on both sides as you go along. Till we reached the taxi stand i had seen as many booze shops as i have cumulatively seen in my life and number of new brands. We reached there at 2.30 pm and booked a cheap hotel(hotel paradise) and looked around for some food. But all we got were shops serving booze. We were told that 3-7pm is off for the restaurant and bars and only booze is served during that time. Also there are no restaurants there, only 'restaurant and bar'. But we managed to finally find a shop which served food.
We asked around and it looked that the only place to see was Devka Beach. So we took an auto for Rs.6 per head and got there. And what we saw was good enough beach , though the water could have been a little less muddier. There was the usual camel/horse rides, vendors serving bhel puri etc. but the difference was that as soon as we entered the beach there were people asking us 'saab beer chahiye ?' ..!! even old ammas whom i thought would ask for money instead asked the same question.
The waves were ideal for a what a beach should have and we jumped into it in no time. After some 2 hours of fun with the waves throwing us in and out of water we decided that we should explore other things. There was another great moment when a table and chairs were laid out for us right there on the beach and the sun was setting, as we sat there. The waves randomly turned violent and reached our feet when we thought we were at a safe distance from them.
The night turned out to be great as we ate in Hotel Miramar which had a seating capacity in hundreds and a live 'orchestra' which played your requests. And as mentioned in my one earlier post the same stuff that happens when you drink and dance was happening here , and we too joined the large dancing group that was busy enjoying. We also saw families enjoying large amounts of beer with one having a 12-14 year daughter having a glass of her own which was being refilled quite regularly.
The only mistake that we did was to book a hotel before coming to Devka beach . It was 5-6 km from there and autos stop operating after 7pm ! so at around 2am , we thought that if we had booked a hotel we might as well check in , as we had not put any of our stuff in it. If we had not booked it , we could have had a night out , while dancing or on the beach. But as 'unluck' would have it it started raining as we were waiting for something to take us to taxi stand. We waited for a little while under a tin shelter and the weather then seemed absolutely delightful with the sound of sea waves at a distance, and the raindrops falling on the shelter providing a perfect backdrop for any silly talk/gupshup with friends. Though in a few minutes we saw an auto and quickly got to the hotel and slept.
As we planned to return the next day , we got up early and due to my persistence , we planned to see the Twin forts instead of going to the beach again. The forts ,though not greatest that i have seen , turned out to be quite fun as we were the only ones visiting them and the rainy weather made Daman look different from the previous day.

We also went to Jampore beach which was cleaner , but it was silent compared to Devka beach. So after an hour there, we went to Devka beach again and planned to end the trip there.
Though i do not recommend Daman as a tourist spot or a holiday option for a family , we all had immense amount of fun there and the day and a half seemed too little a time to take in the shock that such a place could exist in India or for that matter anywhere in the world.

A Lot Has Happened..

2008-07-04T00:22:00.004+05:30

I feel like i am writing history chapters because the stuff that i am writing about is so old.But still , just overlook the actual date that is being shown, the date I am writing is the one that the posts were supposed to be published.

30.5 , Friday
The rules require us to wear a helmet for safety purposes while visiting the plant. This is the same yellow one that the people working in rigs ,or while working in construction, wear. It does not have a splendid appearance, in fact when i saw it many years ago for the first time i thought that the people dont know how to wear it and hence it is always a misfit. But when i got to wear it on the first day of my training i got to know that it just a makeshift arrangement for any injuries to the head , the outer part is deliberately kept at a certain distance from the head and the there is only a certain thick strip of plastic that is running all around the helmet to keep it in place or to make it tight or loose. This is to avoid the impact on head delivering the force directly to the head, and so that the rate of change in momentum is small , when the impact reaches the head and thus smaller force(the same funda with the seat belts).
Now this helmet , with ongc logo has become a kind of identity while we are here. We have to take it everyday from our rooms in guest house to the plant. And since there is no better way to hold it , and it also protects from sun, we wear it almost all the time while visiting the different units in the plant. But it has a disadvantage , as it gets hot in it..and the sweat drips from the protrusion in the front if you keep your head down and press the helmet against your head ...just like it does with sanath jayasurya or rahul dravid. So I took what I thought was an easy way out and got my head shaved :)

I had been planning it for a long time as i am not a big fan of my hairstyle..may be because there isnt any style in it. I just love it when i can go anywhere without having to do anything to my hair..not even comb it. And nothing beats it than a clean shaved head. Saves plenty of time, less sweating , and the style is there now as you can see the heads turn when you are passing on the street or walking into a restaurant. The only thing missing is a 'bar code' tattoo on the cerebellum , like Hitman ..that seems way to cool.
But i never forget that i live in india..getting a tatto done , that too of your wish is dificult and finding it within your budget is impossible. May be i am just too lazy or may be i know that such things are not possible , that i think about these stuffs.

Day 4. Dumas Chopati

2008-05-19T01:17:00.002+05:30

17.5 , Saturday
Dumas chopati is the nearest beach here. It roughly takes 15 min in an auto and costs Rs.10 at max. We had heard that it is again only a place for the couples and not that good. And it was correct.
The beach was again full of couples and large families. Here also I saw the habit of eating and picnicking on the ground, and believe me the conditions here are not even close to how great they are on the bridge. The beach was full of rides on camels, horses or simply some rides for everyone. So,if the ONGC bridge can be a picnic spot , this is a famous tourist destination. But I advise you to go there on days of Full moon as the waves and the tide will be more on that day and you would not have to travel large distance for actually going to the sea.

Day 3. The Gas Terminal + ONGC Bridge

2008-05-19T00:34:00.003+05:30

16.5 , Friday

Today was our first visit in the field in the plant and the place to start that is the Gas Terminal(GT). It is the place where the two 36" & 42" pipelines from Bombay High travel 200km in sea and 40 km in Tapti river and reach the plant. I had no idea that the amount of gas it processes (roughly45MMSCMD) is distributed to so many industries. Companies like IOCL, Reliance, KRIBHCO, BPCL, Essar, Gail ,GGCL, GSPC which are in the vicinity are all dependent on it.(This is a dream place if you are looking for a chemical or even some other industries). Rest of the gas is sent to the famous HBJ pipeline. Mr. Verma in the Control Room in the GT was the most helpful person you can come across. He did not leave even a single doubt in our minds while providing the overview of the plant, with the field trip of the GT where we actually saw how the gas comes in and how it is distributed. Though we had to travel at least 4-4.5 km to see all of that !

We realized only in the evening that the Tapti River is only 100-150m from the place where we are staying. So, we decided to go to the ONGC bridge. It is just a usual bridge built on the river long time ago. But in the evening, it is the most happening place around. The weather in the evening is always great here and even more so at the bridge, with wind blowing at speed which is many times that of our famous wind-t. The bridge is always shaking with hundreds of trucks crossing the bridge during the whole day.
It is almost a couples only zone, except for the families which treat the bridge as picnic spot...!!! People park their cars or bikes right on the bridge and enjoy the view for hours without even bothering to turn on the parking lights of their cars. I am amazed that no accidents happen even after this carelessness. Another thing that people told me before coming here , but I had to see it for myself was ,that people in large groups bring their own food in the cars, spread a sheet on the footpath on the bridge and start enjoying their picnic..!! I do not think that happens anywhere else... But I could see why so many people came there. Even I liked the place too much. Nothing beats the refreshing air and the moonlit river....

Day 2. Training Starts+River View

2008-05-18T03:04:00.002+05:30

15.5 , Thursday

The training started officially for us and for many people doing engg. or MBA(wtf..!) from other colleges. What the MBA people would gain out of a gas processing plant is a mystery to me. But I concluded that no matter what a person is pursuing as his career(BCom,BBA,MBA etc.), if he's a ONGC ward he would have done a training in the plant.
The first day was just some paper work and introduction to some safety measures.

We learned to operate the Self Contained Breathing Apparatus,which for layman are the cylinders with masks used to provide oxygen in case of a fire etc. The sound that the mask makes was so Darth Vader like that I did not want to go back to breathing normally.( It was also similar to the one made by the astronauts' suits).

We were put up in the River View, the ONGC Guest House in the evening. It was surprisingly good,with ACs in the common room and dining room. The food was good at Rs.15 for breakfast and Rs.30 for lunch and dinner. At that price, it is the best and the most balanced food in terms of nutrition we have had other than my home. We have sabzi,dal,rajma or chole or soya, dahi, rice, roti, papad, salad, kheer and most importantly ice-cream for our lunch and dinner. So , we are not complaining on that part. And one interesting fact is that on the dining tables here, you would find sugar instead of salt. Just emphasizes how gujaratis love to have sugar more than others. And this is to compensate the strong spices in the dishes that they dont put in the sugar.

Day 1

2008-05-18T02:24:00.002+05:30

14.5 , Wednesday
We entered Surat with kilos of stuff and the plan to do the training which would keep us busy for at least the next two months, but we did not have any idea where we would be living during all these weeks. More than that , we did not know anybody here, so getting a house seemed almost impossible. In retrospect (and also as many people said) it was foolish of us. Our only hope was getting accommodation in the ONGC township. So we took an auto,went to the nearest hotel with reasonable rates and put our stuff there, so that we can arrange for our accommodation.

The hotels here deserve a special mention. I dont know much how much of tourist spot Surat is , but the number of hotel,guest houses ,lodges that you will see near the station is just crazy. I bet the whole of surat can fit into these hotels.

We stayed in Hotel Citizen. The rent was Rs.600 with many facilities including 'Free Masaj Service' which we came to know after we booked our room. If you are looking for still cheaper rooms then look for guest houses like Uday guest house or many more like it,which will provide you a bed in an AC dorm at Rs.110 per night !!

We waited till the offices would open i.e.9.30 and then went straight to the ONGC ,Hazira plant which is quite far from the station.

Till now..
What I liked-The roads are wide and with flyovers built in excess, the traffic was smooth. After having to deal with autos in Delhi for a number of years, the prices here seemed very cheap. The autos run on CNG ,but the prices are exactly half of what anybody would charge for the same distance in Delhi. Also you have to see it to believe how clean the city is. The roads are almost shiny and dust-free.
What I disliked-nothing till now.

The desperate visit to the plant proved fruitful for us, as Mr. Arora,who was our in-charge at the training center, turned out to be a really nice person. He arranged for us to live in the guest house in the ONGC township near the plant for a few days or in some quarters from the next day onwards.

In the evening Niraj,another of our friend, joined us and we just roamed about looking for something good.

For dinner we went to Lagan Gujarati Thali which was around the station area. Obviously , we had gujarati thalis. It was very different from anything that I have ever had. There were way too many sabzis. The food was very spicy but for the first time I had dal and chhole which had sugar put in it. The puris were smaller than my thumb in diameter. The best part was the mango pulp which was so sweet that you can have only a few tea spoons. The food you can eat was unlimited. And all this for just Rs.60 !!!!

The first day ended for us while watching the Jayasurya innings vs Chennai Superkings with 11 sixes. So all in all the first day was way better than I(or the mumbai indians) had hoped.

Surat

2008-05-18T02:02:00.002+05:30

I am finally in Surat,entirely due to the requirements of my college,which is an industrial training after completion of 3rd year for a minimum of 50 'working' days. Now I can elaborate and waste my time about the ridiculous rule which will make me repeat this training or do another training for 20 days even if I am one day short of 50days, but i will refrain from it due to the obvious fact that the concept of logic is alien to a better part of administration in IIT Delhi.
The way everyone is desperate for intern of his/her choice before the end of semester is good enough to keep you amused for a good number of days. Every few days you get to hear cases,where a person who did his last year's intern in Australia is doing his intern this year in Ankleshwar or any such place. Thus,I did not keep my hopes high and for me ONGC, Hazira was almost the best I had hoped for in India.
Despite the fact that I have 'lived' in many places in India , I have not actually traveled to as many places as others. So,coming to Surat was new in many ways. I had not been to any place in West India before. Also the fact that my mode of transport was train made it exciting. Trains are quite normal to many people but I try not to waste any momnet when I m traveling in trains (I was traveling in train after 7 years ..!!)

The journey
Me and my friend Gaurav were to board the August Kranti Rajdhani from Nizamuddin Railway Station at 16.55. The beginning was good as the train started at the exact time. Nothing much happened on the train ,except that despite our tickets being for 3rd AC, 2 persons did not board the train,so we enjoyed the luxury of 2nd AC in terms of space.(though due to tatkaal booking and the rule that the ticket can be booked only till the destination i.e. Mumbai,our tickets cost as much as a 2nd AC would). The food was not that great in the Rajdhani. Though I had the Kulhar wali dahi and badaam soup for the 1st time. We woke up at 5.15 am and reached Surat at 6.30am. (A suggestion- dont look out of the window when you are about to reach Surat near Tapi river. You will not like it.)

'Canada on Strike' videos...

2008-04-22T16:53:00.001+05:30

What what video- the original one
What what -Butters version
Numa Numa -somewhat related to my last post
Sneezing Panda -cute
Prairie Dog- for dramatic effect
Star Wars Kid-the force is with him..
AfroNinja-plain silly
Laughing Baby-yes, the same one on the ringtones...cutest
Chocolate Rain-how can this song get bloody 20 million views..has anyone sat through the whole of it..?

talking of the videos with million views on youtube..cannot forget If you come today (so kitschy...) and Indian thriller(funniest desification)

Shall we jump...

2008-04-22T02:41:00.001+05:30

The power of dance is not realized by many people. For people who are shy, there is a feeling of 'i wish i could dance' every time there's a possibility. But as always they forget the amount of effort that has to be put in for learning dance, if they are not natural dancers. It is the same case with every form of art. And one thing which I know is that, the guys have got a rough deal here. This is because almost every girl I know can pull of dancing just with her grace/elegance ..!! and the people who are gifted among the boys is a very small minority. Though, I would not say I m gifted , but I m also somewhere in that minority.
There was a party where I went to yesterday night. It was at a disc and there was an open bar. Though I dont think much of the night life here in delhi but I like going to these places so that I can dance. But like the last time we had this kind of party, the amount of booze guzzled down by everybody is way over their limit. And obviously this leads to the kind of dancing that we generally see in weddings when relatives/uncles whom you did not think could as much as shake a leg , are ruling the stage with steps straight from a P.T class in school. In the party that we had, the same thing happened like in the previous year and everybody's idea of dancing after some booze is literally jumping up and down and that too without a sense of the beat. And for some reason whenever I dance(not jump) I have to have some sort of steps to go with it and most of the times its not good for me as I am the one left out. This is what made me not wanna dance/jump at the party. All his stuff that I am writing about dancing/jumping is probably the result of that missing that chance. And as usual , the girls were dancing much better than the guys.
note:Having a mediocre talent in terms of dancing is the thing to look out for. Either you can impress someone by showing your moves or you can be so cute/funny in your dancing that people will like it.
Coming back to the treat,I think it was awesome. The puking was way less than last time and also personally for me since I danced with girl(s), no matter for how little time. Gosh,that makes me sound like one real despo...but I m not,so I think its fine.

(post) diwali dhamaka..

2007-11-15T02:16:00.001+05:30

this diwali was no much different than earlier years , except some members who could not be there this time..but still there was the same pleasing combination of gifts, sweets,relatives and crackers..and pollution.

one thing that was different were the jams all over delhi.there was no way you could get from one point to another without taking more than twice the time it usually takes in peak hours..from an overview, it looked like a hollywood movie where a comet is about to hit the city and everybody is fleeing..anything that operated on land seemed to be fixed on road..
you could have walked faster than any motored vehicle(i had to do that for 2 kms)
the picture below was taken by me at 1 am of a place which is usually deserted in the night ..if it is not visible i can tell you that there are scores of people sitting on buses and hundreds on foot..

now i m over that but the workload that i have for the next 2 weeks is pretty huge..i spent all my time during diwali thinking of the work ahead..and when i got to
switch on my pc after diwali..the hard disk crashed

..since then i have not been able to do a single thing..during the next week i have 5 term paper and 5 presentations left..i cannot think what can be worse than this.i have no idea what the profs want from us..the thought of going through it gives me shivers..but i think its better not to think of it..so i think i ll go and work on it and hope i emerge out alive after this ordeal..see you on the other side

my first post..

2007-10-07T03:56:00.002+05:30

So , its all coming together.I've managed to create my first blog.The time it took me , believe it or not was more than one year.I started to think about it after my the summer break after my first year. A three month break ! a ridiculously long break by any account ,after managing to survive the minors , majors, assignments etc. which were thrown at us by the professors even before the recovery period for previous such setbacks got over.The idle state at such a time gave thought of writing blogs of mine, a new trend which I thought was catching up at that time.I didn't know much about it at that time and still don't.But the thought stayed on.The reason why I didn't do it for all this time was primarily the speed of net connections in our hostel rooms, which I must say can make even the most atheist person to pray with all his heart for a better net speed.But I've somehow managed to create the blog and think keeping it regular won't be a problem.This is my first post , so I think I can be excused for a long post , so here I go.
The name for the blog 'Psychlic Disorder' came to my mind for the frame of mind and the sort of things that are going on in my life right now.As usual , this semester also started for me with a resolution of keeping organized, proactive and up to date with everything around me .But with half of the semester over, my room is again a mess,the class notes are complete (but only for classes which I've attended, which is a small fraction of the total ), I've submitted assignments (only which I know of) and financial matters are worse.The pocket money is in my 'pocket' only for the time from my home to hostel.Then it has a mysterious way of getting out of there
and leading me to wait for the next time when I go home.The things which I had to do , but kept on hold are too many to count.And a personal problem cropped up a few days back (though it seems to being solved in a few days).So the disorder in my life is haunting me semester after semester in a cyclic way.And hence the name for the blog.
The name nihilAnth which I sign for the post will what would come under the category of what you'd call 'tentatively titled' or 'without putting too much thought' for those of you who know me.
But there is a reason why i chose it, so I'd keep the explaining part for it to some other time.
Since writing blogs is a new thing for me, I would talk about a related issue which I read in a magazine recently.In the 30th Sep edition of 'Brunch' an article by Seema Goswami titled 'virtual reality ' talks about how we want our personal space in our real life , but open up so easily to strangers in cyberspace.An observation , which I find to be truer for us Indians.She says that we would not invite our neighbour for cup of tea but spend hours in chat rooms and so on with strangers.The columnist is not able to find any reasons for this kind of behavior.A part of it is also due to the fact that unlike many of us she is scared of going into chat rooms 'coz for her it full of pedophiles and perverts.But I am sure that even those of us who are not so suspicious will also find the trend striking.This was and is still not true for me for I find it equally difficult to open up in both the situations.But what works for me is that many of the people open up easily in chat rooms and places like orkut etc. , so it builds more trust from either way.
The primary reason for it is I think the word 'strangers' itself.The fact that you can talk to them , get their perspective , not care for being judged at all and with minimum possibility for meeting them in real life gives a lot of options to us.Ever looked in a google chat ? the 'remove' or 'block' option is just one click away but in real life breaking up with a friend is something with I think I don't need to tell how hurtful it is.Also in chat rooms and such places , only the best parts get through to another person.I am sometimes amazed at wit of some people who I know , when they chat.
So as we are getting more net dependent ( marriages around me are being fixed up on matrimonial sites these days) , I think this trend will continue, the boxes that we live in further accelerating our departure from real world.
Now, something about what has totally gripped the nation again : Cricket.I sort of knew that India will not be able to survive the attack of kangaroos in the first few matches, but to see them go this easily was disheartening.Hope , they get their act together soon enough.
Its 5 am in the morning now,and I have some other stuff to do.I hope to sleep before the sun rises.I also hope I get my act together soon enough.