White Noise

Point the finger

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Fri, 13 May 2011 13:37:18 PDT

And suddenly I found myself staring at this picture in a random tumblr account:

That is to blame for reminding me that I have a blog.
And this post's existence.

Well.. since I am already here, in the words of John Langrishe -

Only the minimal of civilities.
Hello.
How are you?
A bit warmer today than Tuesday.
The last may be a little too forgiving.

I see now that Blogger has come up with ways to make even blogs like mine look way cooler than they rightfully should be:

Flipcard

Snapshot

Mosaic

Sidebar

Timeslide

Bonus:
Series Recommendations -
Sitcom: The Office (British Version), Modern Family
Drama: Deadwood, Carnivale
Fantasy: Game of Thrones
Crime: The Wire, Breaking Bad

Watch the weather change.
Peace.

The Betrayal

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 09:28:39 PDT

He leaped over the fallen tree and followed his elder brother as they ran swiftly through the forestland in the moonlight. He smiled as he ran. They carried good news back to their besieged camp.

Their town had been peaceful till the enemy attacked. The battle had been raging strong for weeks, with neither side accepting defeat. All able men from his town were sent to battle armed. The brothers had been eager to join. But they were disallowed as they were still young.

Upon their insistence they were assigned reconnaissance duties. They were ideally suited for this mission anyway. They had grown up in these woods and knew it better than anyone in the town. Their efforts had paid off today. They had discovered the enemy’s storage supplies and routes which was vital information.

The enemy appeared out of nowhere. There were thirty heavily armed people. Within seconds the brothers were captured and tied up. His brother was roughly pulled to their leader who demanded they lead them to their hidden base. Otherwise they both were promised a slow and painful death.

He knew his brother very well. He also knew his end had come, thus. There was no way his brother would divulge anything to the enemy. This realization strangely did not affect him. Instead a strange calm descended. He awaited his inevitable death.

But what followed completely shattered this. His brother instantly agreed to lead the enemy voluntarily, if they were both let go after. A deep rage rose in him and for the first time he truly hated his brother. He was aware his brother knew the enemy would not keep their promise. But in his current state, there was nothing he could do.

The enemy realizing that he had no intention to co-operate tied him to the horse which carried additional weaponry. He burrowed his face in the horse’s mane, to hide his tears of his brother’s cowardice and betrayal.

The elder brother led the group through the forest. They were traveling faster than before now. The horse was almost at a full gallop. He vowed to strike down his brother the first chance he got.

It was then he smelled it faintly. It was only the years of exploring this place that he could detect it. He was thankful of his gag for the first time.

He knew that the smell could only be the toxic gas that hung low above the deep marsh.

The enemy was thundering through a poisonous marshland without their knowledge. The horse which was at the end, realized it too late; started thrashing in vain.

He could not hold his breath in any longer. His head was spinning and his sight unfocussed.

Next thing he knew, he was pulled off the horse and hefted onto a very familiar back. He blearily watched his brother also pull a flame thrower from the horse.

The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness were flames.

Flames burning purple.

He smiled again.

The Tunnel

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:15:41 PST

The man awoke. He could not remember falling asleep. The only vague memories he had were of a fight, a flight of steps, a ledge and drowsiness. Everything else was fuzzy.

He looked around. It was late night. He was on a high ledge in a long, dark tunnel. A naked yellow lamp shed a dim glow of light in the distance.

Somehow he felt different. Good different. Except for a slight numbness in his throat, a few bruises on his limbs, he had never before felt more alive or alert.

He sensed her before she even came into his sight. Her delicate perfume and the smell of her hair filled his nostrils with a heady aroma. He could hear the soft musical sound of her footsteps and quite surely, the rustle of the wind through the folds of her dress.

He was suddenly acutely aware of his own heartbeat.

The light from the lamp caught her. He inhaled sharply. She was exquisite. Her hair softly rose and fell onto her shoulders with her every step. The sight was so mesmerizing that he stared transfixed.

It was only then that he became aware of the other man behind the pillar. The discovery had taken this long as all his senses had been captivated by the vision in front of him. Just as the other man started to move, the light of the lamp caught the hilt of the dagger in his hand.

The glint of light spurred his enthralled body into action. Without any conscious thought, he leapt from the ledge; landed on the ground cat-like and rushed between them before either had moved two feet.

The swiftness of these actions took all of them completely by surprise. The mugger was the first to recover and within the blink of an eye, arched and threw his dagger.

The man, still operating on auto-pilot, ducked instinctively. He closed the distance between them and struck out once. And just like that, the fight was over.

He slowly turned around. On its way past him, the dodged dagger had made a slight graze on the girl’s cheek. They were suffused with a dark pink color now. She stood there motionless, wide-eyed with trembling lips.

His senses went into overdrive. His heart threatened to burst a hole through his chest. He felt a deep heat rise to his head. He eyes saw red. He could no longer breathe. The only thing he knew for sure was that remaining there any longer would make his rescue completely meaningless.

He turned and bolted blindly. A seedy bar was the closest building. He stumbled into the nearest stool. The bartender, dexterously wiping glasses, didn’t even look up when he asked:

‘Blood or wine?’

The man did not reply. He did not need to.

The bartender took one look at the bite marks on the man’s throat, reached for the nearest bottle of blood, and pushed it across.

The label ~~read~~ on the bottle read – ‘For Vampires Only’.

I Write Like

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 02:06:47 PDT

Neil Gaiman.
At least the last two short stories, it seems.

And before that I used to write like Raymond Charles, William Gibson and Stephen King - in that order.

And all that listing stuff - purely ripped off from Cory Doctorow and Isaac Asimov

:P

PS: http://iwl.me/ (for those who did not follow the link above)

Top 50 Foreign Films

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Wed, 12 May 2010 07:18:10 PDT

The top 50 foreign language movies that I have seen, which were released after 1985, are these:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cidade de Deus - City of God (2002). Portuguese
Das Leben der Anderen - The lives of others (2006). German
El Secreto de sus ojos - The secret of their eyes (2009). Spanish
La vita è bella - Life is beautiful (1997). Italian
Amores Perros - Love's a bitch (2000). Spanish
Krótki film o milosci - A short film about love (1988). Portuguese
Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain - Amelie (2001). French
Okurubito - Departures (2008). Japanese
Un Prophete - A prophet (2009). Arabic
La haine - The Hate (1995). French.
Oldboy - Old Boy (2003). Korean
Festen - The Celebration (1998). Danish
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi - Spirited away (2001). Japanese
Låt den rätte komma in - Let the right one in (2008). Swedish.
Le scaphandre et le papillon - Driving bell and the butterfly (2007). French
Mar Adentro - The Sea Inside (2004). Spanish
Nicija zemlja - No Man's land (2001). Bosnian
Bacheha-Ye aseman. Children of heaven (1997). Persian
Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom - Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003). Korean
Chung Hing sam lam - Chungking Express (1994). Cantonese
Lola rennt - Run Lola Run (1998). German
Wo hu cang long - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Mandarin
Madeo - Mother (2009). Korean
Diarios de motocicleta - The Motorcycle Diaries (2004). Spanish
Batoru rowaiaru - Battle Royale (2000). Japanese
Lilja 4-ever - Lilya 4-ever (2002). Swedish
4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile - 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days (2007). Romanian
Tôkyô sonata - Tokyo Sonata (2008). Japanese
Entre les murs - The Class (2008). French
Volver - To Return (2006). Spanish
Kolja - Kolya (1996). Czech
Linda Linda Linda (2005). Japanese
Shi mian mai fu - The house of the flying daggers (2004). Mandarin
Die Fälscher - The Counterfeiters (2007). German
El paraíso ahora - Paradise Now (2005). Arabic
Revanche (2008). German/Russian
Mies vailla menneisyyttä - The man without a past (2002). Finnish
Tenten - Adrift in Tokyo (2007). Japanese
La Misa Luna - Under the Same Moon (2007). Spanish
13 Tzameti (2005). French
Malena (2000). Italian/Sicilian
Irréversible (2002). French/Spanish
Ao no hono-o - The blue light (2003). Japanese
Maison do himiko - La maison de Himiko (2005). Japanese
Yeopgijeogin geunyeo - My sassy girl (2001). Korean
Mogari no mori - The Mourning Forest (2007). Japanese
Chi to hone - Blood and bones (2004). Japanese
Scrap Heaven (2005). Japanese
Bakwji - Thirst (2009). Korean
Gwoemul - The host (2001). Korean

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PS: The list is populated only with the movies whose names I could remember. And of those only those worth getting listed.
PPS: At least one component of the genre of most movies here is 'Drama'.
PPPS: Since rating every movie individually seemed a huge exercise, the list is arranged such that the real good movies are on top.

Top Manga and Anime - Take Two

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 08:29:19 PDT

Repopulating this earlier list of top anime and manga.
Here be the latest ordering:

One Piece [Manga + Anime]
Berserk [Manga + Anime]
Bleach [Manga + Anime]
Naruto [Manga + Anime]
Death Note [Anime]
Full Metal Alchemist [Manga + Anime]
Lone Wolf and Cub [Manga]
Monster [Anime]
Samurai X: Rurouni Kenshin [Anime]
Code Geass R1: Lelouch of the Rebellion [Anime]
Code Geass : Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 [Anime]
Gintama [Anime]
Black Lagoon [Anime]
Black Lagoon 2: The Second Barrage [Anime]
Ubel Blatt [Manga]
Vagabond [Manga]
Detective School Q [Anime]
Trigun [Anime]
Cowboy Bebop [Anime]
Kenichi [Anime]
Gun X Sword [Anime]
Nodame Cantabile [Anime]
Gantz [Manga]
Eden [Manga]
Akira [Manga]
Nodame Cantabile Paris [Anime]
Seirei No Moribito [Anime]
Fruits Basket [Anime]
Hunter x Hunter [Anime]
Avatar [Anime]
Zero No Tsukaima [Anime]
Zero no Tsukaima: Futatsuki no Kishi [Anime]
Fate Stay Night [Anime]
Elfen Lied [Manga + Anime]
Melody of Oblivion [Anime]
Macross Zero [Anime]
Hellsing [Anime]
Samurai Deeper Kyo [Anime]
Full Metal Panic [Anime]
Busou Renkin [Anime]
Blame! [Manga]
Bitter Virgin [Manga]
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei [Anime]
Serial Experiments Lain [Anime]
Afro Samurai [Anime]

In the list:
Underlined ones are continuing, and still going good and strong.
Bold ones are new additions to the list.

Special Mention:
Watchmen - [English/Comics] - would have tied with Rank 7 in the list above.

Along the way while cooking up this list, came across these titles too:

Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood
Claymore
Hajime No Ippo
Samurai Champloo
20th Century Boys

Any of these worth watching?

Random:
Black Lagoon - Third Season is confirmed.
\m/

'Hello', he lied

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:23:59 PDT

For about a week now, a majority of the daytime has been spent in documenting stuff already done, stuff that needs to be done, and the way to do the stuff. Since I have been creative writing for days on end, and also as this blog is somehow turning out to be a place where I report what I have watched in the recent remember-able past, herewith lies one more in the same vein:

In reverse chronological order, here goes:
[Start date - 19/4/2010]
1. Saw Eddie Izzard's - 'Definite Article' (1996) because of a comment about this post - Top Stand Up Comedians - in Buzz. This dude will make the top 15 in the list. Easily. Had forgotten how good he was since the last stand up bit I'd seen of him was years and years ago.

2. Watched 'Like Totally' and 'Melbourne International Comedy Festival' by Dylan Moran. Added respect for the dude. Bumping this guy two places up in the original Top Stand Up Comedians list. One of the few guys who do not re-use 90% of their material from their first show in all their acts.

3. Watched the latest episodes of One Piece. This still remains as the best anime on the Top Anime list. Eiichiro Oda has still a God status. Berserk is up 50% or so from last week too. Mostly because I realized that Kentaro Miura has restarted drawing Berserk, after a long hiatus where he up and left to professionally learn to play Guitar Hero.

4. Watched the whole series of - The Wire - which according to Wikipedia "has been described by critics as the greatest television series ever made". And I must say, it is worth every single decimal point in the 9.7 rating in IMDB.

5. Discovered that the DVD release of FRIENDS has some decent amount of un-aired footage in every episode. And this realization after having watched the aired version over four times completely. /facepalm

6. A bunch of decent movies - will try to make a honest post out of this.

7. Briefly tried to continue watching Samurai Deeper Kyo. Still does not seem to show any more promise than the usual action anime.

8. IPL. On and off.

9. Simulation Waveforms. In VCS by Synopsys.
[End date - 19/3/2010]

Action Items:
a. Re-populate this anime list.
b. Do something about Point 6.

Random information:
Presently listening to - 'Breath of Life' by Shamindra from the Album: Secrets Of Zen - "Japanese Chill Out" Volume.1

Guess with the picture added and all this post may be of a decent length by now.
/kthxbai

The Hillock

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 02:25:23 PST

The man climbed the rocky hillock. The air was cool all around him. He had been climbing for a long while now but did not feel the slightest bit tired. His mind felt fresh and clear, as it did every time he walked up this place.

As he climbed, he looked at the picturesque town nestling at the bottom. The lake next to it and the greenery at the distance all looked straight out of a scene from a postcard. He had come to this town a few years ago. And had never regretted the move. The bright and lively town looked quaint and delicate from where he was now. The lake right next to it looked impossibly clear and blue.

He walked slowly taking the whole scene in. There still was some way to the top, but he was in no real hurry. He loved this stretch. He felt more alive here. As if all his senses had been amplified. He felt sure if he concentrated hard enough he could hear the pleasant buzz of the town all the way from the bottom. He could make out the color on each feather of the bird that was flying in lazy circles above him. He breathed the clean mountain air and continued his way to the top.

He felt a cold draft of wind on the back of his neck which made him turn and look up. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the bird freeze in mid air.

He felt a distant rumble under his feet then. Several things seemed to happen all at once. The leaves of the solitary tree in the distance stopped fluttering in the wind as though they had been turned off. He felt a sudden chill in the air. The bird started to fly away rapidly. Unthinkingly, he turned his head a fraction to follow its movements.

That was when he became aware of the big rock that was hurtling towards him. It was so out of the blue, that he was completely stunned. He stared at the rock transfixed as it generated more momentum and thundered downwards. As it loomed closer, he felt unable to even avert his eyes.

He cringed. At the last moment, the boulder hit a small out cropping, deviated a bit from its original path and crashed loudly just about two feet away from him, carrying a part of the rocky path along, as it rolled further down along the hillock.

The man had never had a near death experience before. The shock was still too much for him to completely appreciate his good fortune. He continued to watch the rapid descent of the rolling boulder almost involuntarily. He watched it wide eyed as it crashed and displaced a group of huge rocks, a short distance below him. And these in turn, gathered more stones and rubble as they tumbled downwards. Horrified, he saw a rocky landslide form right before his eyes.

He remembered the town suddenly. It was directly in the path of the land slide.

The scene that followed was something out of a nightmare. The magnitude of destruction of the town was enormous. The group of rocks which had been displaced caused the most damage. He could very realistically feel the angst and pain of the townspeople. He could almost hear their screams. The din and clamor was deafening in his ears. The scene was just too much to take in.

Within a few seconds, a huge cloud of raised dust blocked his view. There was a lull that followed. He shut his eyes tightly as if to block the scene from his eyes. After what seemed like a long time, he opened his eyes.

He could not believe what he saw.

The scene in front of him was as picturesque as it was before. The town was nestling safely next to the blue lake. The bird was still lazily circling in front of him. He could once again make out all the color on its feathers.

This time, the man laughed out loud in sheer relief. He realized that he had not breathed in a while now. He gulped in large amounts of air and sighed as he slowly felt his nerves calm. He wiped the tears blinding his eyes and gazed at the town with new-found fondness.

After a while, he turned, looked at the unbroken path in front of him and debated whether to continue his climb.

He felt a cold draft of wind at the back of this neck. The bird froze in mid air.

The man rapidly walked forward two feet. And then stopped.

He felt a distant tremor under his feet. He looked up just as he felt a chill in the air. He caught one last glance of the bird before it rapidly flew away. He smiled.

A tall pedestal stands there on the hillock today. The structure has been built entirely by the huge boulder that crashed into the lake. The townspeople call it ‘The Shrine of the Savior’.

Top Stand Up Comedians

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:21:15 PST

From all the stand up comedy that I have watched, this is the list of comics that I have. The list is arranged in the descending order - from the best to the so-so and less.
[Wherever I could recollect, the name of the show that I have seen them in is also added]

1. Bernie Mac - The Original Kings of Comedy, Def Comedy Jam
2. DL Hugely - The Original Kings of Comedy, Def Comedy Jam,
3. Steve Harvey - The Original Kings of Comedy
4. Cedric the Entertainer - The Original Kings of Comedy
[Mentioned at the top because the whole show - The Original Kings of Comedy, is simply, just simply, hilarious]
5. Mitch Hedberg - Mitch Hedberg Special
6. Chris Rock - Bring the Pain, Bigger and Blacker, Kill the Messenger, Never Scared
7. Richard Pryor - Random clips
8. George Carlin - Random clips
9. Rowan Atkinson - Rowan Atkinson: Live
10. Robin Williams - Reality, What A Concept; Robin Williams: Live on Broadway
11. Bill Maher - Be More Cynical, Victory Begins At Home
12. Dave Gorman - Googlewhack adventures
13. Eddie Murphy - Random clips
14. Dylan Moran - Monster
15. Earthquake - One Night Stand, About Goddamn Time
16. Lewis Black - Red, White and Screwed; Black on Broadway
17. Zach Galifianakis - Purple onion, Between Two Ferns
18. Chris Tucker - Random clips
19. Russel Peters - New york central: Live; Red, White and Brown
20. Jeff Dunham - Spark Of Insanity
21. Robert Schimmel - Unprotected
22. Dave Chappele - For what its worth
23. Jo Koy - Jo Koy Special
24. Pablo Fransisco - Bits and Pieces
25. Katt Williams - American Hustle
26. Joe Rogan - Joe Rogan: Live
27. Jerry Seinfeld - from Seinfeld
28. Brian Regan, Demen Martin, Jim Gaffigan, Sebastian Maniscalco - Comedy Central
29. Dane Cook - The Insomniac Tour, Vicious Circle
30. Carlos Mencia - Take A Joke America; Mind of Mencia, No Strings Attached

Conference Proceedings

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:48:49 PST

About the conference:
SVUG - System Verilog User Group Conference.
Taj Residency .
Wednesday.
11th of November, 2009.

[Prologue: The conference was great. I could actually understand what was being explained almost completely, and that is a rare occurrence during conferences in general. Till lunch it was mostly an introduction to System Verilog and its uses for designers and in verification. Post lunch was mostly on OVM - Open Verification Methodology. Since that was methodology was alien, it was not as interesting as the first session was . But in general the latter half too was appreciated and was received with as much attention.]

Excerpts from the notes that I jotted down during the talks follow. They are mostly one liners from, C. Cummings, the speaker who delivered the brilliant talks in the first session:

[At the beginning of his talk, second point in his second slide]
I would like you all to sit back and listen and not interrupt me at all throughout the presentation.... NOT!!

[On adding assertions to legacy code using bind]
But if your mother and I ever catch you using the bind command to instantiate modules, we will be very angry with you.

[On using bind files properly]
Start using outputs in bind files, then the designer will have very unkind words for you.

[On using macros in defining assertions]
I introduced macros for assertions mostly for the designers. Because they are lazy.... C'mon, you know its true.

[On a question asked in a very low voice, after the talk]
You need to be more assertive when you speak, or we need to get you a mike.

[When his computer switched off suddenly]
I think the laptop feels it will work better with the power cord connected.

[During the time it took to restart]
I can do hand puppets till the comp boots...
[Laughs heard all around]
It doesn't matter anyway. It was only a summary slide.

[When the booting took even longer]
We can take questions from the audience now, without any distractions on the screen... Not that it is my choice.

[Announcing lunch after the talks slightly ate into the lunch time, and people were fidgeting]
I guess there is some food available to the left of this room. I think you can go and have some. I mean, only if anyone really wants to.

[End of the conference, while calling out the name of the last of 5 persons who'd won OVM code books on a lucky draw, after the others called out company first and first letter of the person's name before calling it out entirely]
Since it has become a routine...
Ok.. How many of you are from Flextora*?
[Three hands go up]
Ok.. Does your name start with K?
[One hand goes down]
Does your name have a vowel in it?
[Laughs heard all round]

PS: There were other one-liners too. Most of these would have worked better if one had actually been there.
PPS: The lunch was great. So were the drinks and snacks at the end of the conference
PPPS: Day well spent.

Reasons, Cycling and the Big Banyan Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:47:02 PST

Mostly because of the fact that I presently, as of this moment, have completely exhausted all the anime I had, both good, not-so-good, can't be in the vicinity of the word 'good'; and also because of other smaller things like the fact that I haven't written anything in a very long time; and I just finished Chetan Bhagat's latest dish out - 2 States - and figured, if something like that can get published into a book, the world is prepared to take a post like this any day; general boredom, a really unsteady internet connection from the last two days, and a blank notepad file in front of me, this post comes into existence.

Mostly because of the fact that Sagar(evilsense) bought a new cycle; and also because of other smaller things like it being a three day weekend; more than just two interested people; more than just one new bicycle; not too bad weather plus no rain, Diwali and with it the hope that there would be more than just vehicles on the street, for instance, stuff like crackers etc. ; myself, evilsense and Sarvesh(sakku) decided to go on a one day cycling trip a few weekends ago.

Mostly because after meeting up near Attiguppe, which is, according to Google Maps, almost in the middle from my house(Shankarmutt) and Sakku's(Rajarajeshwarinagar) and travelling along Bangalore University, NLS etc and reaching Sarvesh's place for brunch, we had no distinct routes chalked out to cycle, we thought we would generally ride the outskirts and catch any pools/water-logged areas/other buildings of note along the way - and in the process of doing so reached Kengeri.

Mostly because even after meeting with few relatives of mine in Kengeri and discussing options about nearby places to cycle, the only place that was at a ride-able distance and could be accepted as a tourist spot with some value was the Big Banyan Tree, we found ourselves there at around 2 in the afternoon after about a 7 km uphill climb off Mysore road.

Mostly because the grass was green and so inviting, and our thighs and behinds had known better times, general tiredness, several monkeys that seemed to mind their own business, a vantage place to keep an eye on our bicycles - since two of them didn't have proper locks - and one didn't have a lock at all, a huge canopy overhead by the one single huge banyan tree which blocked most of the sunlight and made the place around real cool, not too many interesting females walking around- the power nap for the next hour felt great.

Mostly because we still had time to kill after, and one of us remembered that we did pack a camera, and a general interest to see what the fuss about the tree was all about, to check out the graffiti on the bark - some of those signatures in impossible places on the tree; and because the single tree sprawled over 4 acres by itself; and the hope that there might be some of the above-mentioned females around; we walked through and around the tree.

Mostly because the guard-person had got tired of telling people off about things they should not be doing - which on later realization, he probably had mugged from the huge list that was displayed on a board with a green background - at the entrance of the tree; or probably he was just bored; he told us a few details about the tree - details which I could have done better justice to if I'd written this post earlier - about how this was the second biggest banyan tree in India, how the existing Shiva temple in the center was the place where the original trunk was, how it was over 450 years old, and it has some 2000 odd off-shoots that are twined together and nurtured, so that they can continue to grow, about the 4.5 odd acres, and other such numbers and data I can't quite seem to recollect now.

Mostly because the above-mentioned hope wasn't held up, and the realization that we were about 25 odd kilometers away from my house and similar two digit numbers to the others'; and the fact that the thighs and the behinds were starting to get accustomed to the walking on the ground; and the fact that it was Diwali which expects some attendance in the house when one is in the same city; we cycled back - sagar, sakku and me and reached home - in that order.

Mostly because this has gone on longer than I thought it would, I am ending the post here.

PS:
Raw data:
1. Total distance in one day = Over 50 km
2. Date = October 17th, 2009
3. Start time = 7:00 am
4. End time = 6:00 pm (4:45 pm- 6:00 pm)
5. Cycles used =

Mine: Cannon barrel: Bought Jan 1, 1996, Cycle seat inserted on 16th Oct, 2009.

Sagar: Hero - New Age Hawk. Bought 2009

Sarvesh: Hercules Ryders. Bought 2009

6. Exact route taken* = (insert Google Map snapshot here if it is ever taken)
7. A few random pics* = (Just the one actually)8. Previous cycling trips = The Bicycle Diaries

*reasons heartily used to delay the post

About the Big Banyan Tree:
1. Size = 4.5 - 5 acres
2. Age = 450 odd years
3. How to reach: Drive on Mysore Road beyond Kengeri, take a deviation to the right at Kumbalagod junction and proceed for 7 km. If approaching from Magadi Road, turn left at a spot with a clear indication between Tavarekere and Chennenahalli, and continue for about 6 km.

Blogofractal

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:04:57 PDT

Remembered having scribbled this as a draft of an illustration/comic for an article in the magazine. I stumbled upon this after a long time. Its blogged here to do some justice to the fifteen minutes that I spent on it. [Click here to biggify]

[Read all the tweets in this page anyway- http://twitter.com/shitmydadsays]

It really ain't

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:01:37 PDT

The Partner

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:40:40 PDT

The man followed the old geezer. The old man limped, probably from a bullet wound. It was hard to say, as most of his left leg was swathed in old bandages that looked like they hadn't been changed in years. They walked in silence. The path they trod did not seem oft visited. But it seemed that the old timer knew exactly where he was going. They kept good time regardless of his limping.

The man bowed his head and thought. It had been about two years ago that he had taken on this mission. His peers hadn’t wanted him to. They had more or less accepted that his captured partner would have been killed by now. And even if he wasn’t, the chances that he could be found, and if found, that he would still be sane were very slim at best. But the man couldn’t be persuaded against. He and his partner had always worked as a team. They were the best agents the company ever had. If there was any chance of rescuing the captive, he was their only shot.

The man had left no stone unturned. The capturers knew his comrade was very valuable. And his whereabouts had been kept very private. But years of doing what he did, finding people with information, and extracting it came as a second nature to him. But this time around though, it hadn’t been easy at all. He was one of the top in his line of work, and it had taken him this long to find this place.

He had found the old man in the smallish village at the foot of the small dense hillock, they were presently walking through. The old man was the only one who seemed to have some idea of where the building was, which through the fragments of information the man had obtained, was most probably where his friend was being held.

The old man turned sharply to the left and pushed through an overgrowth of vegetation, and in a clearing, hidden from the path, there was a creepy, medium sized building. It appeared self sufficient from the looks of it. There was a water pump, a generator, cut up wood. But it looked deserted and seemed out of use for months now.

Mostly by habit, the man circled the place once slowly. He found no signs of recent human activity anywhere around. He entered the building and quickly scanned all the rooms. It appeared there had been about three people, mostly guards.

This definitely felt like the right place.

He discovered the hidden door behind the wardrobe quite easily. He had noticed the faint scratch marks on the floor the moment he’d walked in. He shoved the wardrobe aside, picked the lock, and walked down the dark staircase that followed.

There was a very heavy iron door with a huge bar keeping it closed at the end. There was a small latched opening at the bottom which he assumed was for passing a tray of food and water.

He lifted the bar and pulled mightily at the door. It creaked and opened slowly. He stepped inside.

It was the gloomiest room he had ever seen. There was no source of light except a very small opening almost close to the ceiling. There were broken pieces of what might have been a table or a chair once. There were a few threadbare rags in a corner. The rough stone walls all around felt creepy and cold.

There were two things that drew his attention though. One was the faint blood stains on the floor and the wall. It seemed it had been hastily cleaned up after, but he knew where to look, and he found them without much difficulty. The other item of intrigue was a strange contraption that was made of pieces of wood and cloth. It was hanging from an out jutting in the stone wall. It looked like a pouch, with some sort of a lid.

He walked a couple of steps and looked inside it. It was empty save for some minute bread crumbs at the bottom. He shut the lid and looked around the stone walls once more, taking in everything. The he closed his eyes. He thought.

The pattern of the faint blood stains indicated a fight. A fight indicated that his partner had escaped, or at least tried to. But this was a perfect locked room mystery. There was only the iron door and no other points of entry or exit. This did not seem like a place of interrogation, and since it appeared that the prisoner was being held here the whole time, there was no need for any guard to enter the room. He opened his eyes. They rested on the pouch which was swinging back and forth gently

And then it hit him. He smiled for the first time in years.

He heard a sound and turned around and saw that the old man had followed him and was peering interestedly into the room.

The man asked the old geezer – ‘So, partner… what did you do for water?’

The old man gaped and stared at him wide eyed for a few seconds. Then he grinned hugely. He stood up straight and stretched his limbs. He took a cloth and rubbed his face clean. He cast his wig aside and ran a hand through his hair, grinning still. The change was astounding. No one would have believed that he had been a septuagenarian seconds ago.

He stared questioningly at the man, and shook his head in resignation when the man pointed in the direction of the faint blood stains.

‘And?’ he said.

‘And… this, here’- the man said, pointing to the pouch –‘There is no way that you would have been given so much bread every day, that you needed something of this sort to store it in. You ate only a part of the bread and stored the rest here for sometime, didn’t you? And when you had sufficient amount stored, you probably started eating less and less each day, and leaving the rest in the tray. And then, probably, you completely stopped eating the bread given to you. The guards then would have had to come in to investigate or throw your dead body out. That’s how you escaped, right?’

The look on his partner’s face confirmed his theory.

The man smiled again. ‘But water would not have lasted all that long. What did you do for that?’

His partner bent down and lifted a piece of broken wood, and went to the far side of the room, speaking as he went. ‘Knew I should have cleaned up the stains better, but I wanted to get out of this place pretty bad by then.’ He pushed the wood between two stones in the wall and slowly water began to flow along the length of the wood. ‘Slightly cracked a water pipe’, he said, cupping the water flowing in his hands. ‘Discovered it within the first month in this hole itself’

He turned around and faced the man- ‘By the way, how did you know it was me? I thought the disguise was perfect. Not one single guy in the whole village had the faintest idea.’

‘You can’t disguise a person’s eyes’, the man said.

‘... and also… you have been limping on the wrong leg ever since I met you, partner.’

Trainspotting

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:28:00 PDT

Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed- interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing sprit- crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing you last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that?

The lines above are the reason this post came into existence. (But in that post.. there was nothing sarcastic.. only the idea of itemization of everyday things was borrowed)

By the way, I never knew there was a second half to the above thing.

So why did I do it? I could offer a million answers, all false. The truth is that I'm a bad person, but that's going to change, I'm going to change. This is the last of this sort of thing. I'm cleaning up and I'm moving on, going straight and choosing life. I'm looking forward to it already. I'm going to be just like you: the job, the family, the fucking big television, the washing machine, the car, the compact disc and electrical tin opener, good health, low cholesterol, dental insurance, mortgage, starter home, leisurewear, luggage, three-piece suite, DIY, game shows, junk food, children, walks in the park, nine to five, good at golf, washing the car, choice of sweaters, family Christmas, indexed pension, tax exemption, clearing the gutters, getting by, looking ahead, to the day you die.

If this was there in the original movie, I don't remember it at all.
Just one of those things that are really huge to tweet.
Random post. Real heavy lines though.
Hail John Hodge.

Gmail: Set status here [Part 2]

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:06:29 PDT

After having seriously considered putting up a blank post tagged Life is still like that, for about 10 minutes, I thought since all the gchat status message space is being occupied these days... I would just put up random lines here that probably might have been put up there:

These follow no particular order. They make no particular sense too.

Been to Hyderabad. Attended cousin sister's wedding. Came back. That's about all that happened.

Read the Watchmen comics. The only non-manga comics till now. Liked them better than the movie. The movie wasn't that bad to be fair too.

Read Ender's Game. Best science fiction I have read till now. Though the only others I remember reading are Asimov's 'A Child of Time' and Arthur Clarke's '3001, The Final Odyssey'. I do remember reading a book about sci-fi short stories, but its too far into the past and all too vague.

Saw Harry Potter -and the Half Blood Prince in Inox, Forum. Liked Ron and Luna's acting. Liked the scene with the fire and Inferi in the end. The rest of the movie was trash. Re-reading the book to get over it.

One Piece and Bleach manga are reaching amazing heights these days. And if you in any way like anime or manga, I would really recommend that you start on these. Naruto Shippuden is not too bad too. But the first two over shadow this.

Been watching a lot of Joe Odagiri's movies. Yet to see one movie of his which was not downright brilliant. Saw Dream last. New respect for the dude.

Watched the second season of Black Lagoon. Hate that they stopped at that. It was really good.

Watched Trigun. Liked it better than Gun vs Sword, which is of the same genre.

Started watching Samurai Deeper Kyo. Seems better than Buso Renkin. But still don't feel it measures in any way up to most other anime series that I have seen

Read A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follet. The last paper back I read. Again, since I mostly used to read bits of it on the bus, and it was not all in one sitting, it didn't feel all that great.

Have a Wilbur Smith(Wild Justice) and a Arthur Hailey (In High Places) now. Yet to start either. Miss reading books in one sitting.

Saw the trailer for Dexter 4. Hate that no decent serials restart in the near future.

Listening to Tool after a long time. Sounds good.

And from 11:10 pm to 11:17 pm these are the only things that came into the mind.

Life goes on.

Sigh!

PS: Gmail: Set Status Here was posted April 16th,2008. Thus the [Part 2] in the title.

Evacuation Drill - Advance Notification

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:53:04 PDT

And there was a mail titled: "Evacuation Drill - Advance Notification" about a couple of days ago.

Since this has been about the most `happening' thing here for a while now; and since this usually involves some movement away from the well set route from the main building to the cubicle; and since it has been a long time since the last post and waiting for some divine inspiration seems like a waste of time; and since this is compilation time plus since this monitor is a CRT, and also since there is no decent room among the aisles to follow this advice... [The alt-text in the original strip reads: "'Are you stealing those LCDs?' 'Yeah, but I'm doing it while my code compiles.'"]
... I created a new virtual desktop, named it Arbits, invoked MS Word from Linux and started from - "And there was a mail...".

As the story goes, It was just another Thursday yesterday. For all practical purposes, it could have been a Tuesday, and none the wiser. This would be the direct result of all the working days mashing into one entity called the Weekday. And then there is the Weekend entity. And thus the week is constituted.
I digress. For good reason though.

As stated, it was just another Thursday yesterday. It was the compilation time again. I had decided to use it to return a library book that I had borrowed. The only purpose the book had served, for about three months, was to add about 138 gms to my bag, but since I had got a much thicker Ken Follet novel - 'A Dangerous Fortune', after serious thought, decided to let this one go.

Along the way from the library, I met with a few people who were on the way to play table tennis, and I decided to go along. We went all the way there, through the drizzle that was falling from the heavens all around us, and just as we managed to find some rackets that could be remotely identified, from a few angles, as being used to play table tennis at some point of time in their lifetimes; this guard runs up to us and says that the centre needs to be closed down as there is a Fire Drill in the main building - which is a five minutes walk away. I go that place to play after more than a month, and I get shooed away because of the fear of a fake fire spreading to an unconnected building, two furlongs way, through the now steadily falling downpour.

The best part was when, moments before we were ushered out, another guard ran into the changing rooms, and together both guards started banging on the door of this dude who was having a bath inside. It's a pity that I couldn't stay to watch the person's expression, as he was kicked off half way through his shower.

I spent the evacuated time sitting near the parking lot, under a sheet roof, watching the rain fall on the parked cars, and waiting for some guard to call me off from there, as evacuation protocol dictates, in no unclear terms, that all personnel should gather only at the front of the building. Mostly, since they were all too busy fighting invisible flames, or pasting post-it notes, all of which were scribbled with the grim message "Evacuation - Fire Alarm. Do Not Enter" on everything that can be called as doors or windows, I was left undisturbed.

Anyway.. the story ends with the guys coming back to play fifteen minutes later, under one huge umbrella, and me joining them... But that would be tagged 'digression' again.

Guess this is enough build-up to copy paste the mail that I had sent to the new hire email group, about a year ago, after a very similar fire drill exercise. The compilation should be done in another few minutes anyway.

The mail follows:
________________________________________
Subject: Re: Rescue Operations - Part 2
From: "P N, Aniruddha"
Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 21:29:47 +0530
To: [all new hires]

Things learned:

0. In case of a real fire - DO NOT use the stairs immediately.
a. Sleepwalking snails cover the same distance in a shorter time period.
b. It is just a stampede waiting to happen
c. The fire alarms are really loud, and most of those seem to be concentrated near the stairs
d. The surrounding people are good conductors of fire

So, this is what you do:
Relax in your cubicle and think of a good status message along the lines of 'brb.. building in flames'; check the latest news; random xkcd, or whatever else makes you happy - till the smoke gets so thick that you can no longer see the monitor -

Then:
1. Take the lift. Feel real happy because for once at least you can look at something else except your shoes or your mobile
2. If 1 is not an option, get to the terrace and wait for a fireman with a makeshift ladder - it is way cooler to get down that way.
3. None of the above + no other creative ideas - like using ropes and imitating Tarzan, using Sharingan imitating Sasuke etc. + then give up, put on some music to shut out the sound of alarms, sigh and go to 0.
[But by now a., b., and d. are taken care off - so it's a 75% better situation]

:P

Happy weekend ya'all,

Kampai,
Aniruddha P N

Statutory Warning: All described actions to be carried out at your own risk

PS: I thought of putting a J at the end of the mail, but I figured a warning would serve a better purpose.
___________________________________________________________
In response to:
________________________________________
From: [undisclosed sender]
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 4:39 AM
To: [all new hires]
Subject: Rescue Operations

Can some one summarize how many people got affected due to the emergency? How many got rescued with no injuries etc
________________________________________

Of miles and stones

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:34:54 PDT

This is the...
And to all the people who took their time off to look at the blog, comment, criticize, correct, complain, compliment, discuss, debate, elaborate, feign interest, follow, LQTM'd, meh'd, LOL'ed at, snigger, praise, peruse, turn their nose up at, teach..
Thank you!
Thank you very much!

Still life.

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:14:58 PDT

Simulation time.
Pencil on paper. Inverted. Colored.
Fifteen minutes well spent.

Twitter is over capacity.

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:43:04 PDT

This is what happened when I tried to login to my twitter account:
Name this pic:
I could only come up with:
1. Twitter : A whale of a problem
2. Twitter : Sleeping with the fishes
3. Twitter : Four moronic birds
4. Twitter : Fail Whale

Got more?
:P

Firefox 3.5 Beta Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:22:56 PDT

Firefox usually updates automatically every time there is a new release. The only difference is the look of the home page this time around:Looks like it came right out of a sci-fi manga.

PS: The only difference from the other version, that I can see right away, is the 'Open a new tab' button on the opened-tabs bar has gone pale, compared to the bluish color previously.
PPS: Everything else feels the same.
PPPS: YAY! that its been raining cats and dogs for about two hours now.

According to brilliance...

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 07:23:58 PDT

.. the Manga/ Anime I have read/seen till now:

1. One Piece [Manga + Anime]
2. Berserk [Manga + Anime]
3. Bleach [Manga + Anime]
4. Naruto [Manga + Anime]
5. Death Note [Anime]
6. Full Metal Alchemist [Manga + Anime]
7. Samurai X: Rurouni Kenshin [Anime]
8. Nodame Cantabile [Anime]
9. Ubel Blatt [Manga]
10. Vagabond [Manga]
11. Kenichi [Anime]
12. Gun X Sword [Anime]
13. Gantz [Manga]
14. Eden [Manga]
15. Fruits Basket [Anime]
16. Avatar [Anime]
17. Macross Zero [Anime]
18. Akira [Manga]
19. Hellsing [Anime]
20. Busou Renkin [Anime]
21. Black Lagoon [Anime]
22. Blame! [Manga]
23. Bitter Virgin [Manga]
24. Elfen Lied [Manga]
25. Afro Samurai [Anime]

PS: Found half of this list lying around... just added whatever else came to my head.
PPS: The list doesn't include other famous titles like Dragon Ballz, Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bepop, Inuyasha, Fate Stay Night, Full Metal Panic, Full Metal Alchemist: Part 2: The Brotherhood, Gintama, Seirei no Moribito, Code Geass, Detective School Q etc. 'coz I haven't seen enough of these to fit them into the list.
PPPS: Got nothing good watch right now. Looking around for some decent anime (not necessarily from the list in PPS). Suggestions welcome.

The Bottle

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Tue, 26 May 2009 09:15:22 PDT

The man knew this place like the back of his hand. He probably could sketch each rock, every tree, the anthills present here from memory. He trod the pathway unfeelingly today. Mechanically. Noticing nothing. His legs carried him without any conscious effort on his part.

He swayed a little as he walked. He gripped the bottle in his hand tighter. It had been a long time since he had been to this place. He stopped a moment and took a deep swig of liquor from the bottle.

Random scenes started floating in his memory. He started to walk without realizing again. He had always been lonely in his life. But he had never felt alone. It was only after he got married and had his first child, he had realized that his life had really been empty till then. He was happy for the first time in his life.

The scenes in his head ware clear and the images lifelike. He was holding and feeding his son while the toddler was gazing at the moon. He was holding his kid’s hand as he walked his first steps. He was blowing air into the wheels of the tricycle, as the child impatiently danced around him. He was teaching him the alphabet from a ridiculously huge chart. He was trying to explain division as repeated subtractions. He was correcting the loops in the ‘g’s and the ‘y’s in the boy’s cursive writing book. He was waving his son a bon voyage, as he left with his mother on a ship - a trip on the sea - which had always been the boy’s dream; using all the strength he could muster to keep his tears hidden. He could, as clear as day, hear his son’s choked voice assuring him that he would explain in detail every little thing that occurred on the trip. He could see his wife smiling, as she put an arm across their son’s shoulders. He was watching as the ship drifting away beyond the horizon.

The images became muddled and blurry then. It was like in a tragic movie fast forwarded. Headlines from various papers about the shipwreck. Delays in the search and rescue teams. Body counts. Missing people. His son and his wife among the feared dead list. Mourning and cries. His first drink. His tenth. His hundredth…

The cold sea breeze hit him then. That broke the images and brought him to the present like magic. He stared into the calm sea for a while. His mind was surprisingly clear for the first time from a long time now. He had always loved this beach. He had fallen in love with this place about the same age that his son had. The family used to come here as often as they could. This was a secluded and an unheard of place. It always felt peaceful here. He felt that he belonged again. The raising and falling of the waves calmed him. He stood there for a long time. He slowly began to feel that he could heal. That, at last, he could accept that his family was gone.

By force of habit, he raised the bottle to his mouth. The moment the liquid touched his lips, he felt disgusted with himself. His child would not want to see his father like this. No one would. He had let his sadness ruin his life long enough. He ran a few steps on the sand and threw the bottle as far as he could into the sea.

He felt strangely light. He took a huge breath and exhaled slowly. He could feel the pain of his loss start to ebb away slowly. He sat down on the beach and looked at the reflection of the moon on the waves in the distance transfixed. The waves lapped at his feet every now and then. He felt that he was a part of nature.

After a long time he decided to leave. He would change everything. The beach had done him a world of good. But there were just too many memories here. He decided that he would go to a far off place and start a new and sober life all over again.

He stood up and turned around. The bottle lay in his way again. The sight of it somehow made him angry. He picked it up, all set to throw it into the sea again.

But this bottle felt different. It felt slightly old. He looked at it. It was opaque, dark and corked. It was not the same bottle that he had thrown away. He pulled the cork off, and realized that it had a letter within.

The moonlight was not really bright. But the man didn’t really need anything more. He did not even need to read till the end of the letter.

It started – ‘To Daddy…’.

He could recognize the loop of the letter y in his sleep.

The Party

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Sun, 17 May 2009 09:02:19 PDT

PS: 'Cos even small ideas are publishable too'

noreply@blogger.com (Dha) — Fri, 08 May 2009 07:12:22 PDT

PS1: TINAMITE: The internal online quarterly magazine of the company
PS2: Before I knew it I had a mail saying -

Aniruddha: Welcome to Tinamite team and we look forward to working with you.

As a part of the 'working with you' I was to write an article to - 'enthuse many more TIers to become a part of/ contribute articles in many ways to TINAMITE'.
PS3: The article is pasted exactly as it appears in the magazine.
PS4: The article below took the least amount of time to post to the blog ever. I just 'selected all' in the original article and middle-clicked in the create-new-post window. :)
PS5: Editing the article in blogger - even adding this PS - is screwing up the entire arrangement of words and images. That is the reason for the existence of this post.
PS6: The background in the original article in the magazine is white.
PS7: TINAMITE May 2009 Issue

Update: The pictures in the post below had to be modified as the original pictures were linked to the company's internal site. :)