"I'm coming home again"

AND HERE I AM.
lalala. I'm here. At home.

So, I missed a train, big deal. I'm very proud of myself for catching the next one out. And moreover, travelling in Unreserved, in a compartment filled with sweaty men. And a couple of drunk guys as well.

Its been quite some time since I visited my own blog, over a month I believe, which is not good for you, because you have been denied wisdom from the only source that ever provided it free of cost.

I'm going to this mood of missing school yknow. I think everyone goes through this phase when they realise that school was about 5 million times better than college. In spite of the increased freedom one experiences in college, you realise that school was much better. Even though I study in a boys college (Shudder) I dont think my views are biased.

Im sure most people of my batch are missing school. Of course, this is also because we were a really cool bunch of people. Everyone was different. You had noni who was the nerd, Meghna giving her good competition, Miccu and K managing to scrape through, Aaby doing well through his last minute preps, Rachith nerding away, and then Nishanth, Adarsh and me bringing up the rear.

Aside from our brilliant academic performances, there are so many incidents which happened in school which I would love to re live. For example, the time when Adarsh fell down while playing football, and then fell down again when he tried to stand up. How much me and Nishanth laughed. We still laugh at him, of course.

Then who can forget the time Elsy maam asked Tapan whether it was Conjunction or Disjunction and he stood up and said, "Injection".

But the thing I miss the most about school is football. Playing football on the basketball court (5 a side) when it rained. Playing those stupid 12 A versus 12 C bet matches.. and all the other ridiculous bet matches..

June National Conference 2008 - Pondicherry

Well, after much anxiety, uncertainty, and risk, we headed off in the direction of Pondicherry the day the Netherlands got thumped by Russia. I think it would be interesting for you to note that we started loading the van with stuff only AFTER the game. After maneuvering the van for some 1 hour in krishna's house, we finally started loading the stuff onto the van. It was heavy and most of us had aching backs after that.

Aside from this, most of the other small incidents are not worth knowing. So I shall just head to the chase. We reached the venue by lunchtime me thinks. It was quite an eventful ride, mostly spent listening to music and sleeping, the best way one can enjoy a road journey.

Well, I'm not going to go into each and every detail of this conference. It was kick ass, probably from a delegate's point of view. But fortunately, or unfortunately, I wasnt one of them. I just killed time at the OC Stall asking people what they wanted, listening to people tell me they wanted Strepsils (which incidentally was sold out in all the medical shops around the venue).

It was different experiencing a conference as an OC Member, enjoyably in some ways, not enjoyable in a lot of ways, where we had to listen to people tell us they locked their keys in the room. Well, people, what you should do is CALL RECEPTION!!! I am not a locksmith. I've been wanted to say this for quite sometime, but I have been refraining.

Aside from some screw ups on the part of the sound system and the projectors, I think most of the conference went on quite smoothly. This fact may seem surprising to you, but Govinda night was probably the best party of this conference. No you are not suffering from visual impairment, I said Govinda night!

Cheers to all the people who attended JNC. I really enjoyed myself. I didnt realise it during the conference, only after it. But hey, happy late realisation I guess!

All future football related entries will find its way to www.nedvedrocks.blogspot.com. Please visit!

Time for a wake up Call

Eusebio, Portuguese footballing legend has just told the world that Ronaldo will rule the world. I do not doubt Eusebio's quality as a player, I would be one of the last few people to do that. After all, it was pretty much Eusebio versus Real Madrid, at a time when Real Madrid housed players like Puskas and Di Stefano. And Eusebio came out at the better end. Ferenc Puskas became one of the few players to score a hat trick in the Champions League Final and lose (or is he the only one, most likely, but I am not so sure)

Yet, for all his footballing talent, he has no idea what he's saying. Maybe he is trying to boost the Portuguese side's confidence. If this is the case, I forgive him.

If it is otherwise, I respectfully disagree Eusebio.

Ronaldo, according to Eamon Dunphy "has gifts, but has no talent". I agree. You see him do his fancy stepovers when there is absolutely no one around him. What is the point? Of course, he also does it against the defenders of Watford, but then again, its almost as if no one is around you.

The 23-year old can now add ‘The Black Pearl’ to his list of supporters, with the 56-year old telling Reuters: “Ronaldo has nothing to prove to anyone, he has proved his talent by being the top scorer in England.

"He has proved it by winning the Premier League, by winning the Champions League, with Manchester United.

"Now he is here in the national team but it is different. He is part of the group, it's not Cristiano plus 10, it's not about him, it's about the team of 11 players.

"That group mentality is good and good for him. He can concentrate on the football and it helps keep his feet on the ground.

"He can become the best player in the world."


Rubbish. He can never become the best player in the world. He's a lousy cheat who dives at the slightest physical contact. If he doesnt want to play a contact sport, he should play badminton, or practice diving for the Olympics. He has already proved his capabilities in diving on the football field.

You would never see Eusebio do that. You would never see Cruyff do that, nor would you see Maradona or Zidane do that. To call Ronaldo the greatest player in the world, you are comparing him to people of this calibre. People who can change a game within the blink of an eyelid. He is not in this league, nor will he ever be there.

Ronaldo is selfish. He plays for personal glory and not for the good of the team. I quote Eusebio

"Now he is here in the national team but it is different. He is part of the group, it's not Cristiano plus 10, it's not about him, it's about the team of 11 players.

"That group mentality is good and good for him. He can concentrate on the football and it helps keep his feet on the ground.


Now, in this message, I think Eusebio himself is telling Ronaldo to play with the team. Eusebio says it was Ronaldo + 10 with United. It certainly was. And now he's telling him to play with the team. So this makes me feel that Eusebio's statement was to boost the Portuguese team's morale.

But Sir Alex Ferguson, 10 Premier League Medals, 2 Champions League Medals and 5 FA Cup Medals, still thinks that Ronaldo is bigger than the team. He's okay with the fact that Ronaldo is scoring goals and his team are winning. So am I! United winning, makes me happy no doubt. But Ferguson is not securing the team's future.

He is being selfish. He has only 3 years left to go (or so he claims, but for convenience sake let us assume that he's leaving after 3 years). All he wants to do in those 3 years are to win as many trophies as he can. He wants Ronaldo because Ronaldo, for all his selfishness, can win you games against the weaker teams. He's got Scholes, Rooney and Giggs to win him the games against the larger teams.

Ronaldo, by taking 40397609 shots against say, Wigan, will score twice. Now taking so many shots does not necessarily mean that all his shots are on target, or the fact that he is in any position to score when he takes these shots. Ferguson needs these kind of players to win him these matches.

Why did Ferguson sell Van Nistelrooy? After a trophyless season (I really dont call the Carling Cup a trophy, no offence to the Tottenham fans), Ferguson himself wasnt sure of his own future. Would he get sacked? He realised the team's dependence on Van Nistelrooy for goals. He sold him. The result? They won the Premier League!

It is absolutely disgusting that a manager of Ferguson's level should be so petty as to only think of himself, and of course his lovely Portuguese assistant, Carlos Queiroz. Why else do you think such untalented and useless players like Nani are making their way into Manchester United's squad. It is widely believed that Roy Keane and Van Nistelrooy left the club mainly because of Queiroz' involvement, the fact that he is almost regarded as manager of the club. It leaves me disgusted as a Manchester United fan.

The fact that Ferguson is pushing Queiroz to be his successor at United is terrible. I would much rather someone like Mark Hughes or even Roy Keane (given his time) takes over the managerial reign at United. I pray they do.

Intellectualism

Hello, oh you of inferior intellect. I tower over you, because I know more than you. I know more about places such as Timbuctoo, I know more about musicians such as Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Wagner and Schiller, and not to forget, dear old Mozart.

I know more about football (unless you are Nishanth), which is the only sport in the world worth watching. I am opinionated, yes. And I couldnt care less for your opinion, but this doesnt mean that you should dismiss mine, oh no!

You know why? Because I am an intellectual.

Not the Adrian Mole kind of intellectual. I am the powerful intellectual with (currently), a beard.

Muahaha.

Now, I plan to take over the world. All I need is your "co-operation". You keep digging in random places for oil, when you strike oil, I shall build oilfields there.

Have you ever talked to someone and you realise you know whats coming next?

Thats called Deja Vu. Not really. But it can be classified as Deja Vu. You wouldnt know, because you're not intellectual.

Do you get the point of this blog entry?

I am the world before I am a man

I was a creature before I could stand

I will remember before I forget,

Before I forget that.

And we keep the trophy! After the game at JJB where that idiot Cristiano Ronaldo scored from the spot and the LEGEND RYAN GIGGS Scored.

This is the difference between a legend and an idiot. Ronaldo did not influence the game one bit aside from that penalty. Whereas, when Giggs came on there was a noticeable difference in the way United played the game.

Ronaldo has never played against big teams. He never will. Against Barcelona, Paul Scholes did it. You can rely on these players, Scholes, Giggs, even Carrick to an extent (he wont get you a goal, but he sure as hell knows how to pass a football).

Whereas Ronaldo does NOT know how to pass a football. He scores goals, I admit. And I think he is only useful to such an extent that he scores against weaker opposition. Last season, he got THUMPED against Milan. We gave him too much importance.

Ronaldo has scored against Arsenal (I know all the Ronaldo fans will say this), but thats 1 goal!!

Lionel Messi showed Ronaldo exactly what a "World Class" player is. It will be disgraceful and absolutely disgusting if Cristiano Ronaldo wins World Player of the Year or even European Player of the Year. He may deserve it, you say, on goals scored, but you really need to see against which teams he scored these goals.

Ferguson sold Van Nistelrooy for the reason that the team relied too much on him. If he applies the same logic, then its time to sell Ronaldo.

Granted. We were battered in the first half. But second half, we came out on top. This is a fucking ridiculous decision by the crappy linesman.

Michael Carrick clearly tried to move his hand AWAY from the fucking ball. Are you blind linesman? Are you crazy? Or were you born in South London?

Its a ridiculous decision. Any Chelsea fan who tells me they deserved to win will be shot. First half, they were better. Second half, we were on top.

There's always a song for every mood. People listen to Oasis when they're blue. And Coldplay when they're YELLOW!

Haha. get it?

well seriously though, moving on, we look at - *drum rolls*

KESHAV RAJENDRAN'S FAVOURITE SONGS AS PER MOOD LIST

Song Mood

1) Johnny Quest Theme Song - Reminiscing about Class 2
2) Hallowed be thy Name - All time favourite
3) Holy Wars, Master of Puppets, Ride the Lightning - Pissed off
4) Killing in the Name of .. - Rebel
5) Wander (Kamelot), Fade to Black - post relationship
6) Pull me Under - deep in thought mood
7) Pull harder on the strings of your martyr, A Gunshot to the head of trepidation - Hate Mood
8) Way I are - Have I gone mad? mood

This city is getting hotter. Its pretty unbearable nowadays. Recently we were watching the news at around 11.30 in the night and it showed "Live Temperatures" - Chennai 30.4 degrees Celsius. Its quite horrible actually.

Aside from our latest Cluedo addiction, Joseph and I arent doing anything other than laze around because of the heat.
Its too hot.
Way too hot.

So today, we went to Vivs. The Vivs famous for its Chilly Beef. I like Indian Chinese food. But really, I think Vivs is a little overrated.

But anyway, the food is okay.. and we really cant cook, so we dont have a choice, but I'll still grumble.

Joseph has decided he wants to go to Mumbai.

It might be a place not many people like, but I absolutely love Bangalore.

Twice before, have Zothan and I planned a trip to Bangalore, both of which failed. Third time, with Megadeth ticket in hand, (atleast mine and PITA's) we head to Bangalore.
Incidentally, the train was the same train abhinandan dhakal, (sikkim boy), had missed a couple of weeks back. So we decided to reach 2 minutes PRIOR, thats 120 seconds mind you, to the time the departure is mentioned on the ticket.
However, the Indian Railways disappointed us by ensuring that the train left half an hour POST the time written on the ticket. Thank you, Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Megadeth undoubtedly was awesome. Anyone who said they sucked (all the people who werent there, ie) can jump into a bucket full of water and old underwear.
They were fucking brilliant
Setlist:

sleepwalker
wake up dead
take no prisoners
skin of my teeth
washington is next
in my darkest hour
a tout le monde
chris broderick solo spot
hanger 18
tornado of souls
symphony of destruction
trust
peace sells
burnt ice
Holy Wars.. The Punishment Due/Mechanix Medley

Undoubtedly Peace and holy wars and a tout le monde had the most number of people jumping around (a tout le monde too, yes)

Motherjane was brilliant.. loads of stuff from their new album they played.. interesting sounds.. sort of like a sound make over for them. it suits them.. brilliant stuff!

Millenium, I'd never heard of them before, but they got the crowd moving amazingly well!

JYG was good.. a bit off on that day.. but enjoyable nonetheless..

TAAQ, I missed.

Prestorika, Ive never exactly been a huge fan, but they seemed pretty tight with their music..

Casino Blues.. I missed most of their stuff, but they did a good cover of U2's Where the streets have no name..

pentagram, I didnt bother.

BUT I FUCKING LOVE BANGALORE!!

Today, I wandered off into this blog, the link to which I found on Ankita's. It was about Kerala. All about Kerala.

I love my state. I love my city more. My city is Kochi, for those of you who don't know. I get the piss taken off me for being Mallu in this city (Chennai). But its okay. I'm a "patriotic" mallu. As Sriram (in an inebriated state) once put it, "Malluism is a way of life".

So true. Once a mallu, always a mallu. Loads of people who go abroad always think of their state. Its because of the natural beauty of the area. Nothing else.

The ugly side of Kerala, however are the hartals. I hate hartals. It paralyses life in the city. Its become better more recently though.

The funniest thing I ever saw was the ruling government's response to why they declare so many hartals,
because the people enjoy it.

I laugh at them. I hate governments, whether in Kerala or here.

They are useless. They do no productive work.

And then we crib about them. We put them to power next term by not voting.

"Its not like it'll make a difference though, cause all politicians are the same".

Enter politics. I would'nt mind. I would'nt let my country down. I love my country. I love my state, and most of all, I love my city.

Living Alone - Part 1

Well, I have shifted out of my uncle's place into a place that is relatively closer to college (by about 45 minutes). A quite interesting place it is. Its a house with about 8 bedrooms, bath attached and TV, So you rent out a bedroom with your friend. And hence I do that, and my room mate goes by the name of Joseph.
Its quite a different experience in the sense that I never really had to worry about the most basic things in life - the newspaper, drinking water etc. Now that I've moved out I do have to worry about these things. So I have just ordered a subscription for the New Indian Express or The Indian Express, whatever it is called here. I'm not a fan of the Times of India, nor am I a fan of The Hindu, and there's no way I'm going to subscribe to the Deccan Chronicle.

Hahaha.

So anyway, I moved here on friday the 29th of february. This is a very clever move, you see, because now, no one can barge into our place next year or the year after until we finish college demanding a treat for "One year of time in the house" or "Two years of time in the house"

Chronicles of Chennai - Part 1
For those of you who have lived in Chennai for sometime, you would know that autorickshaws are an essential part of life in the city. You hate them, but you need them all the same.


A seemingly harmless auto
Being an outstation student, there are some parts of the city you cant navigate yourself through. For example, I might know Nungambakkam or Velachery, but I really dont know T. Nagar. So today when I went for an appointment to an organisation called Hand in Hand (check out their website http://hihseed.org/). Their office is in T.Nagar; so now I travelled to Mambalam by train. From there, I didnt know how to get to Radhakrishna Road. So I went by auto.
Now the thing about auto is, they'll rip you off, the auto drivers. Always. He charged me 50 bucks and I didnt have any option because I didnt know where the place is. So I reached the place and I realised that it shouldve only cost me 30.
So I say (in a combination of bad Tamil and Malayalam),
Me : You charged me 50 for this.
Auto D : Standard Rate
Me : I know its not the standard rate
AD: It is, check the fare list.
Me: Fine, give me the fare list.
AD: I dont have the fare list.
Me: Why?
AD: hahaha
Me: Come, lets go to the cops (an empty threat, most auto's are owned by cops in Chennai)
AD: hahaha
Me: Listen, I'm a student, its the end of the month, you cant do this to us poor students
AD: I'm an auto driver, its the end of the month.
Me: You make a profit out of the standard rate, why charge more.
AD: hahahaha *drives off*
This is why you hate auto drivers. So while going to T Nagar bus stand from Hand in Hand's office, I had to take another auto, and I was surprised when this guy said thirty (Mambalam station is close to T.Nagar bus depot).
I was travelling and this guy gets a call and he very nicely says, "One minute" (in Tamil). So I say, Okay. He says something in Tamil, which sounds like this
"Ah? Enaa? oh.. ange ithu pakkalam... aa? AA! AAAAAA! 400?! AAA"
I have two friends, Srestha and Advik who are from Delhi and when they came to Chennai they thought they had to add "aaa" to everything you say. So for sometime they were giving directions to auto drivers like this - "Left aa, Right aa"
Anyway, so the guy hangs up and then we go on and he turns to me and asks me "Tamil teriyuma?" (Do you know Tamil?)
And I say, "Konjam" (little)
He shakes his head and I'm sure he's thinking "These non - Tamils"
But he turns round and tells me that he's getting and Indica. He tells me that he's planning to run a taxi. I'm glad he's sharing this with me, someone he met 5 minutes back. He asks me "Is it a good car."
I'm not exactly a car freak, but you dont need to be to answer this simple question.

Well, I joined this facebook group recently which is called "You know you grew up in India in the 90's when..."

I joined it because I grew up in India in the 90s, yes. And this was one of the points on the group's "description"
Captain Planet was your first introduction to environmental consciousness.

Its very true, because of Captain Planet I realise Pollution was BADDD and to REDUCE, RE-USE and RECYLE!!

Now I thank God Captain Planet existed. Now its very sad, because Captain Planet is like the saddest of all super hero's in the world. He gets hit by any kind of pollution, his powers are zapped. Now in every episode, the "Planeteers" call Captain Planet twice. The first time he is summoned, he gets hit by pollution and this is what happens

Captain Planet: Oh no, toxic waste, am weak.. ughh!!
Planeteers : Oh no.
Bad Guy : Haha.
Captain Planet : Must recharge, the power is yours
*Off he goes to get a beer*

Then again they summon him, this time again he gets hit and then the Planeteers pour water on him and he kicks bad guy butt.

An interesting conversation I had with a friend from Delhi on MSN Messenger.

1/13/2008		9:54:59 PM		We're taking over this messenger.		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		why hello there
1/13/2008		9:55:14 PM		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		We're taking over this messenger.		pillage the village and trash the scene
1/13/2008		9:55:32 PM		We're taking over this messenger.		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		take a bath and your body will be clean
1/13/2008		9:55:53 PM		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		We're taking over this messenger.		take a crap and then you will be free
1/13/2008		9:56:17 PM		We're taking over this messenger.		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		float like a butterfly, sting like a bee
1/13/2008		9:56:37 PM		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		We're taking over this messenger.		but you better not crap all over me
1/13/2008		9:57:32 PM		We're taking over this messenger.		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		this lock can be opened with a key
1/13/2008		9:57:42 PM		We're taking over this messenger.		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		i need to take a pee
1/13/2008		9:57:58 PM		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		We're taking over this messenger.		ok
1/13/2008		9:58:18 PM		We're taking over this messenger.		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		oh,gay
1/13/2008		9:59:06 PM		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		We're taking over this messenger.		a bay
1/13/2008		9:59:23 PM		We're taking over this messenger.		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		a play
1/13/2008		9:59:37 PM		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		We're taking over this messenger.		sun ray
1/13/2008		10:00:38 PM		We're taking over this messenger.		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		why, pray?
1/13/2008		10:00:52 PM		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		We're taking over this messenger.		just say
1/13/2008		10:01:17 PM		We're taking over this messenger.		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		time for oyu to pay
1/13/2008		10:01:25 PM		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		We're taking over this messenger.		no way
1/13/2008		10:02:03 PM		We're taking over this messenger.		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		D C B A
1/13/2008		10:02:47 PM		Keshav in the sky with diamonds		We're taking over this messenger.		oh yay