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

I'm back in Cochin.

Finally.
Its about time I saw this beautiful city again. I havent been here since august. I was away at Jamshedpur for a few days, then I felt lazy, which is why I havent blogged.

Cochin is just the way I remember it, I know it cant have changed in four months.......!

I'm feeling lazy now, I'll update this later

time for a new post i think. laziness has overcome me. which is quite normal actually.

im in delhi for another two days. unfortunately im going back to loyola after that. which sucks. but.......
the thing bout delhi is.. its clean. especially when you come from chennai.
its noisy.
its polluted.
people make out in lodhi gardens.
people drive like madmen.
GURGAON is NOT in DELHI. nor is NOIDA apparently
Bus system sucks.
Metro Rules
CP is nice.
I'm sick of Priya.
If I see another mall ill throw up.

Five Things I’d Love To Do Before I Die
(In no particular order)
1) See Maiden in Concert
2) Climb Everest
3) Backpack across Europe
4) Go to Brazil
5) Watch Manchester United versus Arsenal at Old Trafford
Five Things I Will Not Do Even If It Kills Me
1) Dye my hair pink
2) Go for a Britney Spears concert
3) Sit next to PITA for a day
4) Pay for the IMOC (thanks Arry)
5) Join the Shiv Sena

Five Things I Do When I’m Away From The Public
1) Air Guitar
2) Sleep
3) Kick the wall
4) Create fantasies involving me playing a vital role in the Man Utd defence
5) Oh, you really dont want to know
Five Fave Sentences/Quotes

"I'm going to my cousin sisters place" - Zothan
"I have no money" Abhinandan
"You suck" Fatso/Loser/Me
"SCREAM FOR ME!" Bruce Dickinson
"Dhan dhan dhan *funky guitar solo*" Me

Five Things I’ll Make You Wish You Didnt Do, If You Did

make me clean up my room
ask me to take a bath
go to a discotheque


Five People To Tag

Mum
Meera
VP TM
VP TN1
Anil

So this little entry is dedicated to books. Yes, those all knowing, ever lasting pieces of paper that you grew up with. Yes, you! not me, you! You person who grew up in an age filled with dinosaurs and hunting was the only other passtime.

I'll admit I never really enjoyed reading until I read Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone when I was 11. The only other books (?) I had read until then were Tinkle, Amar Chitra Katha, Asterix and Tintin.

So then I pick up this wonderful book by JK Rowling cause everyone was raving about it and I didnt want to be left out you see. I read it and liked it. Not loved it, liked it. So I decided to read the remaining books in the series. Up until recently, when it FINALLY got over!

But over the years I read other books. After Harry Potter, I tried reading more fantasy books such as Artemis Fowl (which i absolutely detested). Then I read Lord of the Rings, which I LOVED! It took me nearly three months to finish, because of the fact that I was 12 and wasnt used to English like

"Frodo hath never gone thither, but wished to go hither to defeat the dark lord on his dark throne, in the land of Mordor where shadows lie;but Aragorn, ElfFriend, was always wary that he who went hither, never went thither. And since Theoden King was the burden the men of Rohan carried, but Eomer King rides in battle now, then Gandalf the Grey is using magics to defeat the Witch of Angmar and his EVIL FORCES."

You get the drift.

After which I read random books such as

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the night time and such.

Then I read Adrian Mole, which made me laugh so much that I was clutching my stomach and rolling on the floor. I love the way Sue Townsend writes!

Then I read Eragon. Boring shit. But that didnt stop me from reading Eldest!

I tried reading Frank Herbert's Dune but it was way too boring. So was Heart of Darkness.

Speaking of boring books, try Gunter Grass' The Tin Drum. It is AMAZINGLY BORING AND RIDICULOUSLY STUPID!

Then I read Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men". Brilliance. I loved Steinbeck immediately. I went on to read "The moon is down" and "The Pearl".

The thing that captures me about in Of Mice and Men is George's helplessness over Lennies 'condition' and how he had to resort to such desperate methods to deal with it. It is beautiful. I cried at the end of the book. Steinbeck writes amazingly well..

What are you doing still reading this. Steinbeck writes better than me too (hard to believe, yes)... GO OUT AND READ HIS BOOKS!

So finally, I'm really happy today. Why? Cause United thrashed Wigan 4-0. Its about time we did something like this. We were winning, but not with United class. We were winning nonetheless. But today, woohoo!! WE WON!

I was very impressed with both Anderson and Simpson. Pique was pretty okay too. I'm not happy with Nani, his dribbling is good, his shooting is good, but his crosses are poor. As a winger, he should put in better crosses.

So today was Micro Economics. No comment.

Well, that was quite a holiday I took from blogging. I've been away. I had a blast.

So we leave from here on a friday (I dont even remember the date correctly, but I think it was 14th).. and we reach Delhi on Sunday. Over here, Chotumama (who waited 6 hours) picks me up and we head off to Gurgaon. I spend the day there (with beer!) and in the evening its time to leave again.

I go with Meera to Hazrat Nizammudin Station (pardon me if I spelt it wrong) and meet the rest of the chumps there. After that we head off towards Sawai Madhopur (spelling is wrong for sure!) and we reach there at I think 1 in the morning. Our transport from the station to the tent place (I dunno where it was) was by open top trucks. Now, at one in the morning, open top trucks are fun, as hell!! Me, Arjun and Bharat were tripping on The Beatles (rather SINGING Beatles songs) while the rest of the chumps were staring at the stars. Stars were beautiful. Never in my life have I seen so many of them out at night. Zothan wanted to see a ghost, but he was sorely disappointed when no banshee/ghoul jumped out at us from the forest and started drinking our blood.

We reach there in about an hour and we see tents. We see toilets without flushes. We see toilets with gaps in them (for voyeurs). We see everything by then. But fun is just on its way.

Now the next day, while everyone is in plenary and shouting their lungs out (except me and Arjun, who is bathing). I was guarding the bathroom and making sure nobody got in. He's very shy you see.

Anyway, while we were all in our respective places, a tent catches fire. There's loads of stuff in there worth loads of money! The MC gets pissed and we decide to move venue. Not a small task. 350 people for 5 days.. certainly not a small task. But it happens! And we're off to some new venue which apparently was only 40 kms from Jaipur but Arjun thought (and I suspiciously agree with him) that we were in Iraq. I mean, we were transported there during the night, when everyone was asleep, nobody saw anything. And we were taken away from there in the dead of the night as well! What is with that?

Anyway, we are there, the new venue and we are given rooms. Certainly not permanent rooms. There wouldnt be any fun if we werent given new rooms every two days and made to carry our bags around! Hehe. Small joke, I hope nobody got offended.

So that night, we decide (very unwisely) that WE WILL NOT SLEEP! So loads of us machas and machis from Chennai decided to stay awake a view the Rajasthani sunrise, because its so different from sunrises elsewhere. So we saw the sunrise.

Next morning the conference begins.

I just have a few things to say
1) The Jives were amazing. Apparently you can find jives on youtube!
2) The history session was pretty boring (Sam said he was sleepy that day.. anyway)
3) My FLC was the best (everyone says this)
4) My Faci was the best (refer above)
5) I didnt want to leave after the conference (refer above)

So anyway, the night the conference got over, after being kicked in the nose by an OC member (I'm sorry, if you're reading this, I dont know your name). We leave for Delhi (Gurgaon, okay fine!). We reach there early in the morning and I have a fever, so I dont give a rat's ass about anything other than hitting the sack, which I do eventually. I wake up and breakfast (bread and eggs and maggi, for vegetarians) is being served. I eat two slices of bread, which to my mouth (because of the fever) was tasteless.


I go back to sleep and when I wake up again, amazingly, its time for lunch! McDonalds delivery man arrives and we eat McDonalds burgers (obviously, the McD's delivery man does not deliver Pizza's). And then, tragedy!

Due to a host of reasons, 14 of us miss the train back to Chennai (very sad, no?) and ten of us are still stuck between two traffic signals in Gurgaon. Now, anyone who's been to Gurgaon knows that there's no such thing as public transport there. So we try to get ANY form of transport that comes our way.

And salvation comes in the form of a Goods/Cargo auto! So technically 5 of us got smuggled into New Delhi for 300 bucks. All we had to do according to the driver was shut up, sit down and keep quiet! Zothan, Sam, Gautam, Avinash and myself are in this. Sam is from Zambia and he doesnt have his passport with him at the time. Double thrill!

We reach the station late, obviously and we decide to book tickets for a train the next day, which we do.

We spend the night at a house. I dont know who's house it was, but whosoever's house it was, we are eternally grateful! And we also thank Anica for taking us there.

The fact still remains, like Zothan says, we have so much bragging rights for being smuggled into the capital!

Well.. due to Popular Demand (one scrap on orkut).. I am updating my blog. Not that I intended to let it die or anything, but I just felt like pointing out to those unbelievers, that people DO read my blog (Tony.. you get?)

Anyway, good news from the AIESEC end. Gautam, Zo and I have gotten in. This means (I think it does) that we are going to Jaipur (or are we?). The "Orientation thingy" is on saturday. I shall tell all ye people who are not in AIESEC (take Vishnu, sitting right next to me, for instance), how good it is!

Anywho, the point really being that I finally got a train pass. Now I do not have to wait in the ticket counter and purchase a ticket.. for I-HAVE-A-TRAIN-PASS! (PITA made me say this)

The band front (or back) is going really well too. We now have 4 members .. Cutiepie Chora (Abhinandan), Gautama Buddha (Gautam) and Ram (no name yet) and of course moi.

The french front is going badly, I just realised I want to KILL the language. how unfortunate that this is not really possible

To AJ


"one big hug"

by.. Speed Post? :P

Now. Eighteen. Big Deal. Its just another year!

Beer is good for you!

This entry is dedicated to a person who likes himself to be called "The Eccentric Genius", however his real name is slightly (only slightly) less appealing. Mr Vishnu Dasgupta also known to the guys of Loyola College as PITA.

PITA stands for Pain in the Arse, which he is, but his PITAish powers seem to have reduced. This man is the humour of class, not that he's really funny or anything, but if we didnt have him to laugh at, then we would have to pay more attention to the Curve of Diminishing Marginal Utility or something equally unimportant.

Unlike Abhinandan, PITA does not name dogs or befriend them. In fact, he doesnt do anything to/with dogs (unless you count abhinandan, zothan or me).

Well, the thing about PITA is, he's looking for girls, (just like the rest of us). Where are they? If you're a girl from Chennai, tell me, where are you?

If you're not a girl in Chennai, then come to Chennai (provided you're a girl of course). Drop whatever it is you're doing and study BA French or something at Loyola.

Well.. i think its about time i updated this blog.. seeing as only around 5 people read it. i would be doing a grave injustice to them if i do not.. i think i have exhausted all the amar chitra katha's and tinkles in baba mama's house.. now i have to progress to the cockatiel handbook..

the harry potter book of course i finished.. i enjoyed it.. i dont care what you think.. i enjoyed it.. im listening to nightwish again.. "nemo", mother, if you must know.. its playing on repeat on my mp3 player..

still havent met a girl..

abhinandan is growing increasingly desperate in his attempt to meet a girl, so much so that he's taken to befriending stray dogs.. their names are

1) Spotty (after its amazingly dirty spots)
2) Poopsie (who clambered onto george's bed and refused to get out)
3) Poochie (whom he doesnt like so much cause it growls)

i think he has something for names that start with 'P'

staying awake in micro economics is, as my math teacher would have put it, "a herculean task, my child".. which means is too damned difficult.. i seem to have the power to resist his soporific voice, but for only half the hour.. meaning the half is spent looking aimlessly at the graphs on the board (im sure amma is reading this and going, "both these children of mine are wasting money on so called 'education'")

it matters not, for by then, i think im the only one who's awake in the physical sense, missing in the mental, and completely knocked out in the spiritual!

st ignatius is having a party on tuesday, which means we get a break.. we were planning to go to pondicherry, yes.. to get drunk (to mum : would i ever do such a thing).. now my mum is planning to bring me back from chennai i think..

but she will not succeed i say!

for i am superman!

Experiences at Loyola

Loyola can be strange at times.. It can be bordering on extremely boring (read: ENGLISH LITERATURE CLASSES) or it can be extremely fun (read: bunking Foundation Courses).. well.. my wallet doesnt allow me to roam around chennai so much.. so abhinandan (not my wallet. HE is a person).. decided to go for Harry Potter (read review below).. however, we planned this a week in advance, seeing as it wouldve been really difficult to get tickets, we went to Citi Center (INOX)

Tagged (again!)

1. I love Kamelot

2. My head spins sorry.. never happened

3. I'm arrogant

4. I have to read fiction - in the newspapers

5. I love Manchester United

6. I always get out of the insane traffic jams

7. I admit to the world here and now that im in love with Kamelot and Manchester United

8. I used to sleep


I tag
Arry (sporadicblogger)
Pat
Geet
AJ