Untitled.Lyf

Following up …. now really…

2010-06-08T03:30:00.001-05:00

Ok, the last post was.. incomplete.

That was only the experience. No opinions and gleanings from that episode, which is what follows here.

1. Establish a scale, an overall scale that factors looks, education, money, family etc. Rate yourself on that scale. Say, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai’s hybrid kids, say I am a 6

2. Rate every potential girl on the same scale. At most, you can go to your score + 1 but you can always go till your score – 3 (up to you)

3. Keep a track of the requests sent and received

4. Making sure your profile states what your likes and dislikes, your tastes and expectations is, in my view, useless; because there will be requests from profiles that’s gonna be exactly opposite to them, and the ones who match will never read your profile

5. Every effort invested in this ritual can be better used up at your work, school, home, game, sport etc.

My disappointing run-in with the whole matrimonial sites stems from my own personal dissatisfaction with it. I can’t say it will be applicable to everybody, ‘cos am not everybody.

My parents were quite liberal, but there was a certain understanding amongst us that we knew had to abide to. My sister was married when she was 23 and pursuing an MBA degree. It was more or less a traditional one, the match coming in from a well-wisher of the family, families meeting and the victims liking each other and so on. Rest is history.

I have always told them I not a conformist to the tradition and stuck to it. There were cool too. But when the season of marriage dawned upon me, things weren’t so easy. My mom’s insistence on horoscopes and stuff threw me off a bit. Horoscopes matching between total strangers, and not matching between otherwise compatible people is something I couldn’t live with.

In our society, when the value placed on marriage as an institution is steadily eroding, it is quite obvious that most try to cling on to their ideals in the face of adversity. But at what cost? I have known marriages which were disasters from day one, hastily arranged in the face of an imminent death of a prominent family member, that marriage of my friend to a complete psycho is one example why you cannot predict arranged marriages. Add to the fact that the girl’s parents were, lets say the brainiest of the lot, no not scientists, but advocates somewhere high up.

And few more. Yet people insist these are the proverbial ‘few bad apples’. Agreed. Hence the recent increase in hiring private detectives to do family background checks. Digging up dirt is different from digging up the past. I, for once, stand by this practice. The price involved (not monetary) in marrying off your kids after 20+years of love and attention, to a complete jerk, is too high to not do such things. But then, as a receiver of such privy information, would you consider that a uncle of the brother of the groom/bride’s father/mother once defaulted on a loan and was hence .. blah blah let you affect your decision?

Where will you draw the line?

This is only the family that deals with the marriage. The boy/girl come with their own baggage. Tastes, preferences, education, job, confidence, trust etc determine who, how whom one marries. Do they really?

I now know that having similar likes and dislikes is not necessary for a healthy relationship. Nor does it form the basis of a relationship. All I can say is to each his own. Some guys want their wifey to stay at home, and not work. If you think this is absurd, avoid those guys. They might be hypocrites but not wrong in wanting their spouse to stay back and look after the family.

Guy doesn’t want his wife to earn more than him. And he mentions it. Well, he has clearly mentioned that his ego is big enough to not settle up for such an arrangement. Any woman getting married to him knowing this shouldn’t be cribbing about it. “If she had a choice, and chose him, it’s her headache”. But yes, its difficult to know this beforehand sometimes. I was shocked to know that guys educated in the best of best universities, studying in co-ed colleges, living sometimes with girls in the same house or around, turn around and say they want a girl who has studied only till 12th, better if she was brought up traditionally, strictly no US-educated girls. I can understand why they would have such a preference but whatever happened while living such a life??

Everyone has their preference, there are girls preferring someone who can “afford” their lifestyles while they sit at home and gossip about movies, neighbors and families. Guys who had girl-friends, sometimes one a year, but want a lesser educated girl for wife, who wouldn’t even step out of the house?

Hypocrites all right, but are they wrong in their preferences?

Avoid them if you don’t like them. Isn’t it the same as to changing a channel which feeds you BS? Don’t you already avoid people whom you don’t like?

Following up ….

2010-06-07T04:16:00.000-05:00

It’s something I hate to do. Follow up things I have done, talked about. But then, when is there is no response to the 1st one, what’s the point in following it up??

Sups suggested to not be an attention-seeking blogger. I stopped identifying myself with the term ‘blogger’. No point any more. But then, I find it hard to write and compile stuff, when I know it’s pretty much going to be ignored.

I randomly come across blogs and posts through twitter or facebook. Today was the Cleartrip fiasco involving flyyoufools and thereby leading to Chori and from there to Twilight Fairy. Before that it was JRod and to another blog which had a post on Mohd.Azharuddin’s bid to become the president of BAI.

Twilight fairy’s post on matrimonial blues was something I could relate to having been in that situation for an agonizing 3 months before I think I settled up. I want to add something more to this discussion but let me warn you beforehand that some of it might sound clichéd or repetitive.

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the ring of marriage. On one side we have the current-involved happily (??) married couples with children, theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee PARENTS. On the other side, the young challenger(s), with (maybe) an experience of winning one or two “love” battles, ready to take over from the reigning couple champions.

Ok, BS aside.

I was shocked to see my profile on the site. No kidding. First was the shock that I have finally come to this time and age where there is my profile on a matrimonial site and not on a dating site/so-net site. 2nd, yes there were glaring blunders both spelling-wise and grammatically, unrestricted use of CAPS sprinkled with phrases like “simple”, "down-to-earth”.

After getting over the stage1 of disbelief, I had two options: 1. delete the profile, 2. make changes and live with the profile. You’d think I would have gone for one of the two. Wrong. I did both. But the first step only emboldened my mom to create another profile AND keep it a secret from me (which I uncovered ‘cos I personally oversee both my parents’ email accounts, not for eavesdropping, but for maintenance purposes, but you wouldn’t believe me, would you?). Having failed with step1, I had to live with it and to do that I had to make that profile at least correct.

My first attempt at writing ‘about me’ never came through, for that section is blank at most places. I had to enlist my friend to help me with it and she brought along newer insights to this entire business.

1. Lower the search criteria of age from 23 to 21. Ugh!
2. Write a bigger, bloated ‘about me’ that involved literally giving the readers a piece of my mind. No, really. But it never made through either. After umpteen cuts and edits, we decided to give it a more even approach, warding off regular ‘parents’ type to attract the type of girls I was allegedly looking for: independent, working, upbeat non-biotechnology types.
3. Highlighting potential ‘candidates’ and short-listing them.
4. Send ‘like’ requests to the truly ‘seemingly’ interesting types (of which I never got a response)

Then there were the very types I wanted to wholly avoid who kept popping up every now and then in my inbox and my mom’s insistence on one particular girl who had only one thing going, the horoscope and yes, she did MSc Microbiology. Ughhhh!!!

In the end, I never met anyone from there. Never got a chance to take any “express interest” to the next level. All thanks to the fact that I more or less found ‘not-the-exact-ONE’.

Looking back, surely, it was a fun experience. But something I could avoid like the most of my past.

Journeyman

2010-05-15T11:34:00.001-05:00

May 11^th 2010

6:32am

Lubbock, TX

I certainly wasn’t dreaming, at least something that I could remember like yesterday (yummy!!). Instead, it was as if I just got up from a bombardment of thoughts and events. Or maybe I just had a sound sleep. Either way, it was a “Holy Shit” moment. I was planning to leave for the airport by 6.45am. It was 6.32 already and I had to wake up other people too. First call went unanswered. I thought she must have been really tired. So tried again; nope, same response.

I called the next person; he answered and said he’ll come in 5-10minutes. “5-10 minutes!! I just got up” remarked to myself. I told him there was no hurry. Anyway, Lubbock airport is no “3 hours check-in prior to departure” one.

The thing that was plaguing me the most was the weight of the baggage (Random trivia: I used 4 ‘the’s in that line). So after the customary bath and grooming, first thing I did was to check them again. 52lbs. 51lbs. Made certain changes again, bringing them both to somewhere closer to 51.5lbs. Well, screw it if they object to the 2 lbs, I put the chocolates on top in case something needed to go.

7.12am

“Started for the airport”. I was too strung up to be involved in any conversation. Besides, the shoulder bag wasn’t any comfort, close to exploding on my back. I played out imagined scenarios, or “Worst case scenarios that can happen to GB” as I call them, where someone sees the humungous bag on my back and objects to it, asking me to check it in, $50??

We made it by 7.30ish. I literally ran with one baggage piece to the counter. Tried the self-service at the AA counter but to no avail. It didn’t let me and asked me to approach an agent.

Booth 1, operated by a senior guy and a female attending to an Asian couple with a baby, a humungous one checking in. No!! Not the baby, the baggage. Tip#1: Senior guys can be tough nuts some times when it comes to rules. Tip#2: Tip#1 is not a rule.

Booth 2, operated by a relatively “harmless” female agent, and she was already attending to someone before me. She was done quickly, I almost ran to her, bleating. Checked-in, all the way to end destination, yes!!! “Please put the baggage here” – referring to the dreaded scales. Bag 1, 35.. 42.. 47.. 51. Checked. Convinced that today’s my lucky day, I put forth Bag 2, same, 37, 46, 51.4lbs. Checked. Folks, I have just won the battle of checked-in baggage and the chocolates are saved!

After saying the bye-byes and adios to dear friends who came to the airport, I attempted the next hurdle: The security check-point. I was wondering if the “Checkpoint approved bag from Swiss Gear” would actually be accepted by TSA. What if they still wanted me to take out the laptop out of the sleeve? Can I return the bag to Dell saying the bag failed its purpose? Warily, I let it through the big black mouth of a machine to scan my stuff. Maybe they’ll find the secret stash of chocolates and would want me to open them up to see. Worst, they might want me to eat them all to make sure they’re not something else in disguise of chocolates. Unfortunately, they were far too serious for that kinda stuff. End result: I made it through the dreaded security check. Not that I was carrying some dangerous stuff, but still, you know… how *ucked up one can get, just like that?

Flight delayed by 30minutes. No biggie. Few calls, and a li’l breakfast, I was en route Dallas.

10.10am

DFW, Dallas

My connection starts boarding at 10.10am and takes off at 10.40am. I had 10minutes to sprint from B-something terminal to A39. I skipped the Skylink and instead went for the tried and tested method of walking. Ok, honestly, whoever came up with the idea of Walkways, or Walking elevators or whatever fanciful name they might have, deserves a Nobel in Air-transit: cut short my walking distance and time by almost 80 friggin’ percent!!! Just to make sure that I was a dumber while traveling, I asked the Agent at the boarding gate if my baggage would make it since there was no other flight from DFW to JFK and there wasn’t a lot of connection time.

She shrugged off, “if you could make it, they will do too”. What was beginning to feel warm and sunny, suddenly turned to embarrassment, did she add a subliminal “oh moron” to the sentence?? Anyway, in the flight, I was surprised that I actually picked a window seat on a 3 seater side rather than a 2 seater. Hmm… reason being my stomach’s pulled off a ‘Bangladesh beating Australia in cricket’ – upset for those who don’t follow cricket or Bangladesh or Australia. Got to my seat, and luckily, the aisle and window were occupied. For those wondering “lucky why”, the middle seat was vacant, well at least till we reached NY.

12.35am

1:35pm EST

One more hour to go. Scratch that, two more. Wait.. why did the airhostess announce it was a 2hr 35min flight then???

End of part 1.

G.I.Joe (2009)

2009-08-10T21:58:00.003-05:00

There are movies which seem ideal candidates for making it to the big screen. Unfortunately, some make it, some don't. You'd think I would probably slam-dunk/bash G.I.Joe, but yes-no.

As an upgrade from cartoon it succeeds. The ideal transformation from a cartoon, lacking logic, but not eye-candy, lacking any genuine acting, facial expressions, and dialogue but not the typical comical delivery of stupid one-liners and 5-second gags. It was just any kids dream come true. Except that, well, only kids and fanboys would love it.

That's not to say the movie is a failure. It would probably break all opening box-office records, become the highest grosser in a big-budget-action-scarce-movie-markets like Asia!

When cartoons are adapted for movies, you expect at least a little bit of expansion for the big screen. Like more human-like acting, proper dialogues, and a decently sketched plot which doesn't stare into your face like a pot-holed filled road. So what if its a cartoon, that didn't stop them from making it a big spectacle in terms of action and fx!!

If only they followed their faithful adaption of the cartoon/comic's aspects like the corny dialogues and action, the evil female trumping the female Joe (or Jane) in terms of sexiness and attitude!

So what we end up with is a decent (if not true) adaption of a cartoon/comic, which falls woefully short for a big screen. What pisses me off is the the probable expectation that we would excuse the makers for all the shortcomings with the eye-candy and fx in the movie.

I would give it 3.6875/10 rating.
8/10 for the fx and gadgetry
9/10 for the delta accelerator suits and the scenes
4/10 for the acting
5/10 for the casting
2/10 for the dialogues
0.5/10 for the logic
0.25/10 for the Neovipers-Rex(angle)
0.125/10 for the BARONESS/DUKE ROMANCE!!!

Hmm.. so what would be in the next adaptation?? What will Zartan do, how will Baroness ditch Duke again and go back to the Cobra?

A Guide to Orkut Testimonials

2009-06-25T23:48:00.002-05:00

There is an easier way to write testimonials for your dear friends on Orkut, or for that matter no sociorking site.

If you follow the guidelines below, you can easily write for friends (and by way of Orkut Testimonial Law #1 which states, "I testimony you, you testimony me"), get testimonials from friends!!

What's more, you can appear on every friend of yours profile page, praising them to heaven!!

Here it is, the guidelines you have been waiting for!

1. Start with exclamations and deep contemplatives like, 'hmmmms, ummmms' and so on
This would cause the reader to believe that you actually thought before you wrote it, which also means, you didn't copy paste it (how would they know!!).

2. Take the name of the person, or his/her nickname which only you know, or feel is exclusive
This shows that you are actually close to the person (doesn't matter if the person in cross-hairs actually feels so or not) and hence you are well qualified to write a testimonial and is worth investing time to read it.

3. Use sentences which mean the following
* that you actually searched the entire dictionary for words to describe his/her personality (no need to mention you actually failed to find words even in www.dictionary.com)
* that in spite of ur comand ovr englsh cud put GRE verbl exm to sham, you wasn't abled to found words for your fraand
* anything else that conveys your friend is un-describable by normal human language (on last count 6,912 living languages) (excluding the remote dialects considered extinct, like Mayan etc)
* that your honest attempt of finding words describing a guy/girl (like good-natured, funny, sincere etc) are total failures just because they are nothing like that

4. Use quotations borrowed from cheap imitations.
This means 2nd hand or 3rd hand, knock-offs, dubious, self-made, misunderstood and misquoted quotes from famous people.

5. Sign off with words that sound like expletives just because they have been repeated so many times in your testimonial

Mind you, these testimonials sound 100 times more original than those stupid testimonials that your stupid friend posted for you thinking it was cool because some other stupid posted it as a testimonial to a stupid hottie in his stupid friend's list which was actually a stupid sms message made from weird characters and most of the time appeared out of shape!!

I am just waiting for the day when there will be a testimonial like this:

"X is my best friend. X is a very simple yet complex, funny but serious guy/girl. And if you don't post this testimonial to 10 of your friends, you will get no testimonials from anybody for your entire life. Y posted it 10 of his friends and he was immediately flooded with testimonials from all his 1000+ friends. Z didn't post this and he was immediately disconnected from the internet, his orkut account hacked, and all his friends deleted him from their list."

Sigh... the pressures of social-networking!

Dedication to Sandman

2009-06-16T00:03:00.001-05:00

Thoughts that race through the mind,
forming ideas and impressions as they rummage through those dark hidden memories

Memories that never see the light of the day, or the tip of the tongue,
their yearning pleas to be heard and listened, go unnoticed,
among the vast amount of spillage otherwise let out.

Banished into the deepest and darkest crevices of the brain,
those poor children of a sinister mind, wait for their night…

Night comes, and when the conscious sleeps,
they take over, spewing their fermented ideas out
taking shape of visuals and sounds never seen, only felt

This is their time, their realm, this is when I sleep.

2 in 2

2009-05-31T02:55:00.001-05:00

I should probably call movies as the next best thing in my life. Next to the original cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory of course.

But that would be undermining my life. Even so, I shall proudly proclaim today that movies should be entered in the Human Achievement Hall of Fame.

I saw two movies in 2 days, so there’s the title explanation. Up on friday night, followed by Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian on Saturday night.

I am not a reviewer of movies, and in spite of my many efforts, I never get it right either. So, basically, ya, here goes Up.

The best part of the movie, I feel, was the first 5-10 minutes where the entire life of Carl (or the entire “adventure” of Ellie, you choose) is shown. Summarized in the short duration, you get a feel of the life of Carl, who, after losing his one true love, Ellie, ends up the way he is.

Very importantly it also lays down a foundation for the movie, for the very spectacle/plot of the entire movie. Would have been hard to see why an old man could do such a thing as to fill up a gazillion balloons to lift his house in order to fly off to some exotic/mysterious place!!!

Rest of the movie lives up to the Disney expectations of introducing lovable characters (Russell the lovable bumbling kid,Kevin the bird, Dug the dog) and the pitiable antagonists consisting of Alpha and Charles.

Standard fare there.

After the said initial few minutes I actually got bored of the plot until a little bit of action ensued followed by the comedy and then a lot of “emotional” heart-tugging and finally, the happy ending!

Disney movies are so predictable!!

Next movie is the Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian. Honestly, this movie was not on my list of “movies to watch in theatres”, may be DVD. It just doesn’t deserve the sequel.

Honestly speaking (or typing), I can understand why every fan of a movie cringes at the mere rumor of a sequel. Movies like NatM:BotS didn’t need to be made. The plot is stale, same more or less. May be a little fresh sprinklings in the way of “artifacts” brought to life, but otherwise, it’s a definite must-miss in theatre.

The characters are more less the same, and since you watched the first one, you know what to expect. I guess spending $8.75 for couple of new characters wasn’t worth it.

Now that I think about it, it seems even more ridiculous. So this is what I will do, I shall go sleep, and forget I ever saw it, more than the movie, I will regret the 8.75 x 5 that I spent for the movie.

But, it was a fabulous end to the day though. A perfect pot-luck, not-so-perfect hosting, and whole bunch of laughs, who cares if it was at my expense, I enjoyed it!!

Movies I am itching to watch during the summer:

Next up: The movies I was itching to watch and watched.

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist

2009-05-14T00:37:00.001-05:00

Alright, I thought this would be a movie about some love story revolving around music.

Well, guess what!! It was.

Sigh, sappy love story. Actually, can someone fall in love with a person, in a span of a night? That too on a weekend???

Other than that, be warned, there is no playlist here. Just that the two protagonists share a common love for the same music.

And some teenage …. you know… things… like orgasm, and kiss, and under-wire bras and stuff like that..

Yea, but I realized something, I really miss New York. I mean its the perfect place to get lost, in your own world, with nobody bothering you! If only…

And I do like sappy love stories. Unfortunate but true. No wonder, there is no sappy love story in the real world.

Ok, May be I was a little too carried away & Dallas Traveblog

2009-05-12T23:07:00.001-05:00

Huddy didn’t happen. But I am not complaining.

House M.D. Season five ended on the most eeriest and ominous note as possible. I wouldn’t use part-happy ‘cos, I wasn’t really moved by Chase and Cameron’s romance anyway. But the sight of House walking into the psych center, Wilson’s mixed emotions while watching it, was definitely the effect desired in usual season finales of House that we are so used to.

I think September is a long time for the next season (6) to start. But, I have to wait it out. There’s not much of an option, is there?

May be I will keep myself busy with Battlestar Galactica or may be Chuck.

In other news, the trip to Dallas went well. We started on a beautiful Friday night, with a full-moon watching over us, and me remembering Wolverine (the story from the movie). I didn’t want to drive, so I gladly left the duties for my friend. Though I did take over after our extended dinner break, only to return it probably 2 hours later as I found myself yawning to death. (From previous experiences, never drive while I yawn in the night, seriously, I can sleep while driving a motorcycle!!)

Anyway, we managed to bungle up our directions (in spite of a GPS) and ended up reaching our destination at an ungodly 5am-ish. Did we sleep?? NO.

After a couple of brief introductions, we were watching the IPL2 match between Deccan Chargers and Kings Punjab(??) Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to hold on anymore and dozed off to sleep.

Next thing I know, morning, or late morning, we were in a hurry discussing where to go for lunch. When we finally decided, 3 guys, loaded into the car and pushed off to the restaurant where we were supposed to meet our other batch.

Nice, we get a table, take our seats. And… 4 girls and 3 guys. Guess what happens?

Awkward silence. Intros came late. And then it never went anywhere. I was too busy (pre-occupied rather) with the plethora of Indian food (including vada, idly+sambar) along with the more regular biryanis and fried rices, and chicken/mutton curries.

Finding the conversation was heading no where, I headed over for dessert, surprisingly, found fruit salad and kheer. Fruit salad? in an Indian restaurant??

Then came the big embarrassment, the great deed of paying the bill. I don’t know where the hesitation came, but we ended up going dutch, almost.

Next stop, 6 of us (I know, we were minus one) left for … ok no, in between, we went to book tickets for this telugu movie called “Kick”. No, its not an action movie. To write about it would need an entire blog, so am not gonna waste real estate on it.

Next stop was White Rock Lake Park, which we reached after several phone calls, false turns, and an absolute no-trust motion (which I thought was ridiculous) on the GPS. The weather was slightly on the gloomy-but-fantastic side, which meant we could venture out without any bother of sun.

Lake, photos, silly antics, feeding ducks, and more photos, swings and a lot of walking. After a brief supper at a chaat place, having dosa (yes I know, chaat and dosa) we left for the movie and walked out with a huge headache. Lucky amongst us was the guy who actually dozed off mid-way.

So, then, at around 1am, we went downtown for some pics, and on the request of one of our adventurists (girls incidentally), ended up at a pub and me having a So-Co on the rocks first time since New Year’s eve. While there were ladies (respect) dancing with umm.. something that resembled poles, which kinda closely resembled pole dancing (and also strip dancing, except they already stripped to something considered close to minimum and weren’t going any further). But it closed within minutes so, we jiggied a bit (which means moving bodies.. sorry trunks and necks to the rap music) and left for our respective homes. Ok, no, we actually went to the terrace of our 5-floored friends’ apartment and tried to take few snaps but since it was way too foggy, decided otherwise.

Day 2. Wasn’t that great to begin with. Slept till 12pm after intentionally ignoring incoming calls from the girls side that wanted to disturb our peaceful sleep. But, having had to heed (phew) the calls from un-ignorable stomachs, we finally (after a lengthy, no super-lengthy) discussions, decided on a biryani place.

Reached, ate to stomachs’ fill and left for Galleria Mall. After the customary window shopping, the brave ones amongst us ventured into ice-skating (minus the costumes) and had real fun which I guess teased the girls into committing to it themselves (not all did).

After a successful 15-18 rounds (lost count) without falling on either my ass or my teeth, I managed to step out of the rink victorious and photographed (we all were photographed actually).

Then, the some grocery shopping at an Indian place, started finally, at 9pm back to Lubbock. This time I was carrying the driving duties, which I performed remarkably well by missing couple of exits, a toll way (for which we still await the consequences), and after about 4 hours of driving I started hallucinating winged horses (I refuse to call them Unicorns for the fear of being ridiculed) and shiny lights, I decided to pass over the mantle to my fellow driver. Slept. Reached Lubbock after a tumultuous post-my-driving-drive with extreme fog and high speed winds.

Came home. Unpacked, arranged and slept.

So ends my weekend. And so does this post.

Wow! I never thought I could do a travel-journal!!!

Bubbling

2009-05-07T23:38:00.001-05:00

I had a good two morning sessions in the past 2 days. We had a seminar series and to myself occupied I resorted to something. Now, I want to post the details here, but I don’t have a scanner for that…

I did an impromptu extempore-kinda, essay writing too on “career changes”. Too bad, I need a scanner to put that up too..

Which begs the question, why the heck don’t I have a scanner. Aayega (will come), abhi (now) I got a 22” inch beauty. Good deal.

So, next up should be a digi-camera. After that, GPS followed by a car. (Shouldn’t it be the other way??)

Ok. May be my online-retail therapy is going too far..

Riders of the Kolkatan Night and a House

2009-05-06T00:22:00.001-05:00

If there was ever a bollywood script written to suit SRK, it would have been pre-IPL and IPL2 itself (script would be perfect if actually KKR went on to win all their games from here on).

I feel sorry for them. Not just because McCullum is absolutely in the middle (muddle) of it, but no matter what they do, it’s just not working out for them.

T20, by its nature, is fickle. No well demonstrated by my beloved Deccan Chargers themselves. But, even they have their days too!! What about KKR!!!

In the other news, if ever there was a script to unite (ok, this is for House M.D. fans) House and Cuddy, episode 23 (Under my skin) is the one. I was one of those disgusted fans who felt betrayed by their apparent coziness at the beginning of the season (or was it last), primarily, because it appeared so concocted, and then because it seemed forced upon the viewers.

Yes, they are a match made in heaven. But, you also need a script to make that sound right, and proper. And this episode succeeds in just that. I was actually contemplating a delay in writing about it, ‘cos I knew my hormones would probably take over in praising it to the sky, but I just couldn’t resist!!

Why would I want to write about House? Suddenly?

Well, if there was one thing over the past one and half year, I really looked forward to, regularly (in a life that has gone dry without things to look forward to, consistently), it was/is House. Why, I don’t know. There are facets of House which resonate with me (people would disagree, one wouldn’t) and its just awesome to see House wade through all the muck created by one’s own opinion and behavior.

May be I should add one more requirement to my potential “more significant other”, should have, willing to watch House M.D.

May be, I am naive, may be I am stupid, but then, what’s life without it??

Alright, I will tag this as crap. Don’t be disappointed!!!

Avoid

2009-05-04T22:29:00.001-05:00

ing

blogging, ‘cos I know the next thing coming would smack of extreme sorry-ass whine combined with a completely fresh self-destructing maniacal post.

Hence, I avoid.

Wish I could put it in less funny words. LOL.

Cricket: India’s Favorite Pass time

2009-04-23T22:04:00.001-05:00

If you are an Indian and you are having a conversation, 65% chance says that its about cricket. In that 85% probability says its about Indian cricket. In that 85, 35% would be about actual cricket, rest, everything off the field.(1)

No wonder, IPL can have such a huge effect amongst those Indian cricket crazy fans. But if you follow the above statistic, you can very well understand what’s the post going to be about.

The (in order to avoid whoring of traffic by using the keyword, let me refer to the “sensational-inside-out” blog of one f’u’ke ipl player) blog has caused quite some consternation amongst the team management and not to mention, the bechara Mr. Baazigar.

Whilst going through the posts, you can understand this is more masala than you can get in any Mallika Sherawat movie, or for that matter any typical bollywood movie. Then move onto the comments.

You will now see why I call cricket India’s favorite pass-time. My Mom and myself (incorrect grammar brigade, sod off for now), often fight over cricket. She louuuuuves Sachin Tendulkar, and me, even though I love his cricketing shots, not a huge fan. So, when Sachin scores, it’s always for the records, which is enough to provoke her, raise her BP (I hope my sister doesn’t file an FIR against me for “intentionally causing bodily harm”). Many of my friends (especially school ones) always had issues with me, not “TOTALLY” supporting the Indian team. Or for even not showing enough liking.

Ok, enough banter. Now, please go through the comments. I reckon people actually love that blog. It’s not about cricket. It’s not about bats or balls, or heck even cricketers, on the field that is.

People are flocking to it for the juicy bits. Some think its true, some think its not. Either way I hate comments. They like it for the non-existent/existent rumors and things that are called so. They want to see the inside-view. Some. I guess others just want to dig up some dirt. Few, to feel that everybody is like them (even the Gods of Cricket).

Ok, seriously, having a chat conversation, a phone conversation has seriously ruined my train of thought.

But you get it right? People are digging up for dirt. To read dirt. Which was exactly the media/tabloids been dishing out so far. So, now this blog is doing it. So??? Point not taken.

Oh by the way, sometimes, reading those blogs make me feel alien to the cricketers I adore so much. Does anyone else feel this way??

Or I am just confused?

Promoted!

2009-04-20T23:35:00.001-05:00

I have been upgraded from Medical Research Technician to Medical Research Assistant.

It will be 3 months tomorrow, yet, I think my hard work paid off (or my Prof’s generosity!!).

People can be really happy, except me, who can dig up something to mourn here too. My experience with rapid rise in ranks hasn’t been too well. “The faster you rise, the greater you fall”, couldn’t have been more appropriate in my case, with reference to my job as a student assistant at one of the dreadful places in …. a university.

But, then, things were taken out of hand. Here, not so.

Ok, for those wondering if the position names actually mean a demotion, here’s the thing;

Med Res Tech: All hands, no brain.

Med Res Asst: Hands, brain and a mouth (to supervise students)

Let me explain in detail. While I was a technician, I really didn’t need to use my brain a LOT. It was kinda manual labor that people do, you know like fixing pipes, or laying roads or masonry, things like that. There is a technique behind it, a skill, but you don’t need to develop the idea behind your skill.

I do experiments, as instructed, as required. I thought I was giving my brain a well-deserved break from having to read journals, research papers, etc etc. Things went well in the first month. By the 2nd, I was getting bored. Not to forget the fact that I was worried I might rather end up dumber than before.

So, things moved, now I need to read up on papers, stuff, come up with ideas, analyze results and stuff, you know, kinda a step higher, using my brain. And also, I get to take care of the students (summer and otherwise) in the lab. I won’t of course mother them or baby-sit them, but … you get the point…. right?

I willed myself to post this. Don’t wanna let things flow past me again.

IPL – 2

2009-04-20T23:17:00.001-05:00

Now, IPL’s around, so I gotta take it on.

Either bashing it up for ruining Shane Bond’s, Craig McMillan’s (etc etc) careers or for the cricket played.

This time, I am not going to be so harsh on it.

Deccan Chargers won. Hyderabad is excited. Hyderabadis are charged themselves (weird, in spite of all those power cuts!!), and of course, the official newspaper, Deccan Chronicle, just can’t stop filling pages with anything and everything related to our pyara DC.

Ok, lets see. Bangalore Royal Challengers (BRC- wait, shouldn’t it Bengaluru Royal Challengers?? where’s the frigging PIL against IPL!! Come on no-work-offended-time-passing-money-wasting-wannabe-headliners do your thing!!!), 1st match against defending champions, Rajasthan Royals, won. Sorry, trounced the latter.

Next, BRC was trounced by Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who in turn were defeated by Mumbai Indians, who by all means, would lose to RR, who in turn would register their first win, after being defeated by BRC, who lost to CSK, who lost to MI, who will lose to RR … wait.. didn’t I just say that. See, the vicious cycle?

So, DC, who beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), will lose to BRC, who lost to CSK, who lost to MI.

So basically, the ultimate match to watch is the 6th match of IPL between KXP and KKR (the battle of losers).

Hmmm, interesting. I like Ms.Zinta, but I also like McCullum, who unfortunately, is the Chief Rider in the stormy (K)night.

I know, I know, the analysis is incomplete and not to mention ludicrous. But, if RR win against MI and BRC over DC, you know where to come for your predictions.

So long, enjoy your IPL.

IPL megatravanza on factfree sponsored by Google ads, beside the blog. Bringing the stupidest ads to your irrelevant blogs!

Advani to consult seers on key national issues

2009-04-11T21:12:00.002-05:00

Advani to consult seers on key national issues

The BJP’s Prime Ministerial read more...

~~Darn.. No time to work on it.~~ Made time.

Ok, Whatever happened to separation of church (read religion) from Governance??

What next? Consult astrology to take key decisions like testing nuclear missile (which they can’t now) or dealing with Taliban crossing the border? Or another Mumbai attack-like situation???

And he’s being denied an opportunity to debate with PM Manmohan Singh. Now, I think that’s really bad on the PM’s part!!!

My views on religion, religious cults, and following is quite anti-. I am one of those people who think the caste/religion question should be eliminated from any application (unless you are applying to a religious post, but even then, its useless) that has got to do with education/job opportunities.

But, that doesn’t happen. I can’t speak of other states but the fact that caste based politics is a huge thing in my home state of Andhra Pradesh depresses me to an extent that I wish I could just desist from voting.

Anyway, during election times, even Sanjay Dutt becomes an idiot.

An Idea

2009-04-11T16:59:00.001-05:00

It’s really great that I could actually retain this idea even after conceiving it like 2 weeks ago.

Ok the inspiration for this idea came from my Professor’s question. She came into the lab and pronounced an Indian name as best as she could. I did get what she was trying to say (so she was good).

She had received a resume for application towards a post. And, as is the case nowadays, it was from an Indian. She didn’t know what the particular applicants’ gender was. So she asked me.

So?

She did address me as Ms.B… at the very beginning of our conversation about my job. So I know how it is. And this happened before too, and I was in a similar predicament of addressing a potential HR manager whose name was given, and I had to choose between, Mr. or Ms. I went for the tested but unsafe Dear Sir/Ma’am, in cases where even Google couldn't help me.

Anyway, so the idea is a website which basically searches from a database, what gender a given (user entered name) name is. Simple. Right?

Then, I thought, how am I going to compose such a database. Well, for one, all you need to do is ask (mass-mail) your friends and their friends, and their, to go to the site and enter their name, and the gender (as one of my friends tried to do with her surveys).

Hmmm, fair enough. What makes you think there won’t be spoil-sports? Well, this is where another idea fits in.

What my end of work would be is to compile the list of names, and to analyze the repeats. This works on the principle that not everybody is an a**hole to spoil the database. So when a user enters the name, and searches for it, there will be a statistic showing how many in database have been marked as male or female by the contributors. Simple.

So that leaves the decision to our hapless global user who wants to know whether “Anantaraman Lakshmi Narsimha” is to be addressed as Mr. or Ms.

If you actually noticed, the example in itself presents a new problem. Names that involve multiple words of possible different genders. What do we do in that case.

Well, I haven’t thought about it my shower yet. But I guess now I have things to wonder about while showering.

Any suggestions and eager-beavers are welcome with their comments. Please help.

Oh by the way, if anyone knows that there is already a site that covers this issue, let me know. I really, honestly, didn’t do my research.

EDIT: http://www.gpeters.com/names/baby-names.php

Free database for finding genders. There are couple of paid ones and one site where I encountered some error.

Why is it factfree and why is Lyf Untitled???

2009-04-11T16:29:00.001-05:00

Really, how many of you (if there is a ‘many’) actually thought, why do the name and url point to two different things?

I am willing to bet that no one did. Actually, I doubt if people even paid attention to them.

Anyway, after probably spending close to 3yrs online with respect to maintaining a blog, fancy usernames and fancy names for the blogs reflecting your mood, I think I have started ignoring these “finer” details about it.

What matters is the content. Right? Fact-free is for the fact that there are no facts being dished out here (well, not always, mostly). It’s clearly an “opinialog” and opinions are not to be confused with facts. There, I have justified the URL.

Coming to the untitled part, well, it’s simple. This blog has no fixed theme. It’s basically the untitled.*** file that’s created when there is no fixed content. (Random was used way too often to be repeated here again)

and Lyf just happened to be the perfect 3 letters, attributable to a filename extension (usually, there is always .mpeg/.divx/.docx extensions with four letters) and also that this is my lyf.

What you usually don’t find here is the internet-english lingo that’s common in this part of the world. Hopefully, full formed sentences, with full words will be the flavor (don’t bank on ‘full grammar’ though)

Now, the real question. Why, if at all, am I clarifying this, so late?

Hopefully, after the numerous false starts of the past, I hope, now at least I can start on a clean slate and most importantly stick to it.

Revive…

2009-04-04T01:53:00.001-05:00

Reasons for not blogging (though no one wants to know)

Lazy
Avoid cribbing
Unnecessary public display of affliction
Work

Reasons for returning to blog

Can’t change few things in my life
Though I don’t exactly have any ground-breaking new stuff to blog about, I am confident I will get there
Just for fun
Random

This must be the biggest loser comeback entry ever.

………..

2008-12-31T18:58:00.001-06:00

And a Happy New Year 2009!!!!

FIA

2008-12-06T01:40:00.001-06:00

Federal Investigative Agency.

I am excited!!

How this might be used (if it ever forms) is really worth giving a thought. I need to read up first on what’s federal and what’s state (right? close??) (I had to refer to Wiki for what I needed to know from my 6th class Social Studies-Sorry Christopher Sir, or was that 7th, then Sorry Simon Sir).

But will it work? Will the State powers bow down to a powerful federal agency that can (be manipulated from the centre???) effectively root out any partisanship shown towards potential terror elements for the sake of vote-bank politics? (all big words I know..)

Terror attacks have happened in the past, (I am not undermining the Mumbai incident) and then after each of those attacks, all that has happened now has been said and done. Words like “enough”, “tired”, “dirty politicians”, “security”, “save us”, “dog”, “cat” (and spelled differently) were used. Candle light vigils, rallies, were conducted and attended. Words like “spirit”, “resilient”, “soul” were thrown at us to chew on and swallow and digest and then excreted only to be fed on it again. (Eww..coprophagy!!!)

News channels invited “experts” and “victims” alike, gave us “exclusive” interviews and super-exclusive pictures covering even the minutest event of the tragedy. Specialists of “News networks” conducted special programs, debates inviting already pressurized citizens, angry youth (and adults above 25, below 35), seniors who described peaceful times of the yore, children who questioned about their future. Quite an ensemble [en·sem·ble n. A unit or group of complementary parts that contribute to a single effect.. (from dictionary)] I say.

And then, Britney Spears became the headline in India. Barrack Obama became a national hero. People become more concerned over a reality show. Besides that, there were the regular issues like fuel hike, shortage of cooking fuels, pollutions, crowded cities, drying up of rural areas (literally and figuratively), jobs, lay-offs, and of course the economy. Not to forget the small inconveniences like global warming, Al-Qaeda (which have, not surprisingly, become common vocabulary much like Dairy Milk, Duck Tales, Sachin Tendulkar, cable tv, beauty pageants, backstreet boys of my growing up times).

Ok, so where are we. No, that’s not an intended joke. Where are we. Exactly at the same place as before. Will we be at the same place later, from now?

I don’t know. May be then I will be the senior citizen invited to speak about the peaceful times of this era compared to the troubled world war 3 times of the future.

Disclaimer: Despite my best efforts of being true to the tragedy that has happened not just in Mumbai, but in every one of our lives, I might come off as a rather wannabe hip-finger-pointing-armchair-reformer. Yes I am. For now.

Dostana (2008) Theatre Release Yash Raj Films

2008-11-15T23:17:00.001-06:00

Pardon my title format, it’s a fallout of my work-habit.

Indian movies are maturing. And how fast! Either I wasn’t watching properly or I didn’t realize the shift in movies from traditional tear-jerkers and the outright moronic to bold and liberal.

Dostana is just one of those movies which make you sit up and take notice of the direction the movies are headed.

Let me make one thing clear. This movie is not an advocate for homosexuality. Rather, it makes subtle fun of it. But that’s not the point.

You might have of chick-flicks, and then skin-flick was only reserved for movies belonging to B and C-grade. But now, skin-flick is official the “IN” thing. I am not complaining, I just noted the amount of skin (read bare) (both male and female) on show, and I was wondering, was it because the shoot was in Miami or was it shot in Miami because of the costumes??

I will leave John’s role for the “ladies” to comment on, and Abhishek is kinda ok, so to say he was more hamming than acting, especially for the “gay” scenes. But then, ahoy! It succeeds!! I haven’t heard people in a theatre laugh so much, and for the most part of the movie. Call it clever script, or brilliant direction (is it screenplay too?? am not an expert) and was I the only one to notice the subtle parallels drawn to present turmoil in the housing market and couple of other one-liners???

Priyanka was, ok, honestly, HOT. From the day I opened the delivery package containing audio CDs of Dostana, I was literally ogling at the pictures inside the case. Oh God!!! Suddenly, this transformation of Ms.PC has obviously caught me off-guard will her exponential oomph factor. But, where the male lead was actually split 50:30:20 between Abhishek, John and Bobby, the female lead was comfortably in PC’s able hands with a ratio of 85:10:5 between her, Kiron Kher and her aunt (that Kitty from Detective Karamchand???)

I wasn’t sure of what I would blog about. This movie had it’s moments. The bad ones I mean. The same old cliches (that John’s line about something called “Dostana” bluh!!!!!!!)

Over all, this is a fun movie. And should be regarded as just that. Fun. Don’t read too much into it. You will end up spoiling the after-taste.

Yes, Boman Irani was funny in his small role and Shilpa Shetty seems to have magically gained a skin and bones (aka “Size 0” personality -not that she was anything more earlier.. but still).

Obama-Nation/Obamania/Obamanized

2008-11-04T23:28:00.001-06:00

He came.

He spoke.

He conquered.

I must honestly say, I wasn’t exactly a huge fan of this smooth-talking guy (to-be Mr.President, who will answer the emergency call at 3am in the morning). I just remained a spectator, though to remain so took a huge effort, not to be swayed by the wave of Obamania raging across the USA.

He never addressed me, an alien on a student visa to this country. But still, the participation in this thoroughly involving election was too tempting to just ignore.

Congratulations Mr.Obama!! (I still can’t figure out the December 15th funda of electoral college voting). May you lead the USA from the dark times into the light, helping most, if not everybody, in the world.

John McCain’s conceding speech was one of the best I have heard him give (which aren’t too many). He had many things against him, including Sarah Palin, I wouldn’t exactly blame him entirely for that.

The world awaits. The world awaits. Will the US of America deliver what is expected from it? Can Mr.Obama do it?

“Yes, we can. Yes, we did.” rang out in the night.

Now, for the real challenges, Mr.President and its people.

P.S. You should have seen the expression of the women in the audience. It was as if they were caught in some kind of trance. A trance like state induced when a parade of Gucci, Prada and etc etc.. products being displayed by George Clooney himself. Yeah, no wonder this guy won 55% of the women voters. LoL.

Lot to talk…

2008-10-29T22:09:00.001-05:00

but no time.

Seriously.

I can’t believe I will be spending the rest of my life like this!!!

9.30 to 5.30!!

Friends?

2008-10-20T00:50:00.001-05:00

Am having a real tough time understanding them.

Social-Life: I know it’s not second life. That much.

When you type now instead of not and add ‘a a’ instead of ‘a’, you know it’s time to sleep.

Especially when the number of hours you slept through a picturesque trans-NY/scenic Hudson rail route is a fraction of the duration of the travel, and the rest of the time was spent in either writhing in pain and nausea or solving ‘the case of the silver earring’.

By the way, how the bloody hell can one start a conversation and continue it with a random stranger???