Those magic eyes in perennial sparkling-glory,
And the vivacious smile that kills each worry,
Have abruptly muted their radiating presence;
Your face now betrays painful silence.

Perhaps fate played its game unfair,
Or you were overwhelmed with scare,
A blitzkrieg of failure broke apart,
All your hopes and crushed your heart!

Before you resign to tormenting depression,
Open your mind to the vehement realization,
That you’re now at the stepping stone of success!
So, learn from your losses and smash all duress!

Pluder that monster of pessimism,
Let hope fill your mind’s wide chism!
For, ghosts of defeat will forever haunt,
But your discerning grin will render them gaunt.

Find inspiration in every facet of life,
Bolster positivity to scrape all strife,
Your mind’s stronger than you imagine,
Equip it like a turbojet engine.

It’s high time you woke up to joy,
From life’s nightmares that made you a toy,
I’m sure you’d have the skies in thrall,
Simply ’cause you’re the best of ‘em all!

P.S.

Written for an enormously-talented close friend who’s going through depression, thanks to life’s myriad games.

Buddy, if you’re reading this – CHEER UP! I’m SO SURE about your success. These temporary setbacks happen for a reason. Just realize why, and come back in action! We miss you!

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"Everything is hostile. The whole place is now a cage, a zoo.
Now this move by the authority is more psychological."

"Where do you see the "technical excellence" that we are supposed to be
receiving here."

"If Smokey gets a fleeting glance at it or has a gut instinct that
something’s not right about your chaddie, you are obliged to strip and
prove your innocence/crime."

Before you glance at the above lines condescendingly, brace yourself.

*Mild-Drumroll*

There’s a hot new blogger in the block. Or rather, on the prowl. He (uh, I can’t conclusively say if it’s a ‘he’, but for sake of convenience, I allow myself to be sued by womens’ lib groups) blogs from an undisclosed location, apparently within the environs of a certain ‘Model Engineering College’ at Kochi (one of the best engineering colleges in the state, for that matter). And there’s a hell lot of caged emotion and angst involved, seemingly for valid reasons.

*Exalted Drumroll*

Behold, ladies an gentlemen, make way for FakeMECian – a home grown blogger from the bustling ‘metro’ of Cochin, Kerala. And he’s no mean deal; he’s a razor sharp tongue and a style that’d even put Adiga to shame. And he’s the guts to put out some gross injustices going on in his educational institution, under an anonymous garb, nonetheless.

*Drumroll concludes*.

Visit the FakeMECian at – http://fakemecian.blogspot.com/

Ostensibly, FakeMECian has taken inspiration from this celebrity counterpart – FakeIPLPlayer. His blog talks about the numerous flaws and foibles going around in his college, which he tries to uncover in a light hearted manner. So, we have exquisite (and insanely-funny) narrations about a (supposedly) unruly Principal of the institution whose hobby is to confiscate mobile phones and laptops and make students live in hell. He reads messages from confiscated phones, and causes immense problems to the students, who are towards the end of it, screwed. Plus, many student-unfriendly and academically discouraging policies are being dissed in a lighter vein.

Having bogged down by these and many such instances, a strict gag-order in-place within the campus, FakeMECian decided to take the law unto his arms and harnessed the power of the Internet to protest against the atrocities.

And he’s hit jackpot.

His blog posts average 30 comments within a couple of days’ of publishing. The first and the most famous post – “Laptop Ban” – has around 122 comments (when this post was being written), and that too within a week of being published. The blog already has 84 followers. And if the comments are to be believed, many of the incidents narrated by the MECian are true. Students, alumni and faculty have posted there comments in the blog posts – most supportive of the MECian, and others pledging concrete action.

Apparently, the Principal found about the blog and conducted an en-masse raid in the Men’s hostel of the college – but in vein. MECian is still continuing his covert operations in full form. And his gang of supporters is growing.

There’s a possiblity that MECian is just another miscreant hell-bent on creating a ruckus: but there’s every reason to believe that the possiblity is baseless. There’s an entire community of students and alumni vouching for the FakeMECian, who’s now being vocally praised as a champion within the college campus. If the allegations raised by the MECian are true, the success of his plan of action is quite guaranteed – the world will come to know of  what’s happening within the college premises and hopefully, corrective action will be taken soon.

Allow me to conclude with a quote by the blogger – and don’t forget to visit the blog and feast yourself with all the juicy details!

“Vendetta?? No way. We are either too lazy or too busy to take action against such atrocities even if it questioned our own Privacy. We got assignments and home works to do. So lets get back to our “busy” life and do nothing about it.”

A.M.D.G.

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‘Kowdiar Lights’ is a two part series. As the name inexorably suggests, the series is about some  stuff that happened over the past week during my visits to this very posh part of Trivandrum City called Kowdiar. For dummies, Kowdiar is home to  countless chicks, some of the richest people in the state, super-awesome roads (by Trivandrum standards, that is!) and of course, one of the worst Cafe Coffee Day‘s in India!

The gold plated needles of my Bosch watch glistened under the evening ‘Lights of Kowdiar’ (which have a special aura thanks to the ‘international’ feel of the place – Golf Links residents will know better!). 3:50 PM, it read. I was twenty five minutes early to my ‘appointment’ with Aravind – Ol’ buddy and one of the most brilliant, talented and humble guys I’ve ever known! I’ve been his fan for a while, and when he invited me for a ‘treat’ at CCD that day, the last thing I could do was to resist. I thought I’d be late as always for the treat, but like bolt from blue, my post-noon Computer Networks lab session was canceled. Ergo, I was free (and jobless) by 2 PM! Despite stringent attempts to kill time by choosing a birthday gift for a friend and browsing through random magazines at the public library, I couldn’t do much to solve my joblessness quagmire. Thus, for the first time in years, I reached somewhere on time ahead of time. Half an hour ahead.

Within no time, the jobless monster resumed attack in full swing. I criss-crossed the wide avenue in front of CCD countless times, faked calls, fired texts and what not! Tough luck, the usually packed CCD was near-empty and there wasn’t a single good looking girl inside! Besides, I was out of cash, ergo, I couldn’t go in alone. To cut a long story short, I was harried, haggard and ultimately pissed-off like the proverbial ‘water-water-everywhere-not-a-drop-to-drink’ guy, when I got this call.

Nature’s call.

It all started as a ‘pressure variation’. Going by the good ol’ Boyle’s Law, I decided that Volume would be inversely proportional to pressure, and ‘devolumation’ (now, don’t look that up – it’s just another random word!)  could wait, for the volume will decrease with pressure. Not for long. In a couple of minutes’ time, the pressure mounted to unmentionable proportions, leaving me at wits’ end! Along came clarity of thought and a stingy teaspoon of truth – Boyle’s law was applicable only for gases!! I had no other option, but to let go of all the pressure through a very healthy outlet!

CCD had a loo, but getting in would mean sacrilege, considering my precarious finances, for I would have to stay there once I got inside! Naturally, I followed my instincts and did what any human being would resort to – I ran in search of clearance, right into the nearby lane – Belhaven Gardens. The surreptitious signboard beguiled me into assuming that lane to be poor man’s colony – an impression suitably flushed out (if you will pardon the pun) by a swanky BMW SUV parked near an equally surreptitious house! There were people everywhere, the houses were posh and tall with large boulevards – each sporting a minimum of two overpriced sedans! I’d be  kicked in the arse  straight by PC408 at Museum Police Station if I’d pee here! My mind was blank, and I ran. Or rather, I walked at a brisk pace. Running was out of question, a wrong step would lead only to involuntary release of all my body toxins, and that was the last thing I wanted!

Somehow, escaping pregnant glances of passers-by, I slipped into a sublane. Perfect place, I first thought. Relieved, I’d barely opened my zip, when I saw this mini lorry parked at the other end of the lane. The driver opened the front door and jumped out to  smoke a joint. He was walking towards me. Cursing lack of privacy, I resumed my pursuit further through this sublane, ending up in Devaswam Board Junction. Much to my relief, I noticed a tiny bride-type road at one corner of the junction. That road was the one few people would give a second thought about. With all might my self control would permit, I ran towards the decrypt lane!!

All hopes of peeing there was dashed by a makeshift teashop swarmed by a motley crowd, at the mouth of the lane. I hadn’t seen them before, they weren’t there!! How in the world could they apparate into that area at the very opportune moment?!

Without losing faith, I clutched my bag and casually walked inside the lane. There might be a way out! (<– Pun)  Sweat was oozing from all parts of my body – not just because of the tiresome sprints from Kowdiar to Devaswam Board. My mind was blank and eyebrows contorted in painful scorn, as my body shivered with each step. This was the ultimate test of self control. I thought I’d just let go then and there. An inner voice was the only guiding light, now! I walked for about a hundred metres and reached a tiny bridge, surrounded by some undergrowth. There were houses flanking my right side and the left side was a solid stone wall.

Finally!

I heaved a sigh and unzipped my fly. I took my mobile from my shirt pocket and held it in the right hand, mouthing a a voiceless conversation just to avoid an embarrassing situation, if any passer-by were to poke his nose into my privacy! As I was about to relieve myself, a crumpled old figure walked towards me through the other end of the bridge. I froze. She, presumably, couldn’t see that I was about to pee, thanks to a melange of foliage right in front of me!  Gradually an casually, I turned ninety degrees, phone carefully clutched to the ear and pretended a phone call. I didn’t give another glance to the old lady. As I saw walk by me and get ahead with the corner of my eye, I didn’t waste another moment!

I swerved faster than Schumi’s Ferrari and peed into the foliage like a madman!!

That was *THE* BEST peeing experience I’ve ever had – an enjoyable process that took almost thirty seconds to complete and made me lighter by a kilogram or so! I closed my eyes in deep relief and zipped my fly, only to hear a muffled voice and open up!

It was a fseven year old kid, peeping at me through the iron grilled windows of his house – the kid was laughing his arse off, he apparently had been witness to the entire incident!

I smiled an embarrased smile to this ‘PeePal’ and ran back to Cafe Coffee Day!

The woods were lonely, dark and deep, and I had people to meet!

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I ought to do a tag a month,now! Tags are  refreshing and rejuvenating! So I stole this one from Sriram! Nothing special, I just have to answer a few questions this time – new readers will know a lot about me from this post. Old ones might already know a lot, but just read through. I know you’re jobless. Why else would you visit my blog?

As the title suggests, it’s an understatement to call this HUGE!

1. Last beverage – Frooti!   (It was my lunch, that day! )
2. Last phone call- Vidya Chechi
3. Last text message – Vishnu
4. Last song you listened to – Black or White – Michael Jackson *sniff* Amen to his soul!
5. Last time you cried – A month ago… due to ‘matters of the heart’,in solitude!

HAVE YOU EVER..

6.Dated someone twice? – Yes (10-15 times, actually! )
7. Been cheated on? –Loads of times!
8. Cried yourself to sleep? –No, per se.
9. Lost someone special? –I miss a lot of people, yes.
10. Been depressed? – I am depressed as I write this post! Depression has so hopelessly become a part of my life!
11. Seen ghosts –Duh!!
12.LIST THREE FAVORITE COLORS.
Blue, Red, White

THIS YEAR HAVE YOU
15.Made new friends – A lot!
16. Fallen out of love – Nopes
17. Laughed until you cried – You bet, I’ve lost count of that!
18. Met someone who changed you – Hmmm… maybe.
19. Found out who your true friends were – I knew it ages ago.
20. Found out someone was talking about you –  Came  as a pleasant surprise
21. Kissed anyone on your friend’s list – Er… I choose to avoid this question for fear of prejudice!
22. How many people on your friends list do you know in real life ? – 90% of them
23. How many kids do you want to have – Two. A lovely guy and a sweet girl.
24. Do you have any pets – Nada.
25. Do you want to change your name – I hated my name once, but Now I’m in love with it. So the answer is: NO WAY!
26. What did you do for your last birthday – Well, It was among my happiest birthdays… Got a record number of gifts and cards, and of course studied for my series exams starting the very next day!
27. What time did you wake up today – 7:10 AM. Mom woke me up reminding me to do household chores for a change!
28. What were you doing at midnight last night – Reading ‘Roots‘ by Alex Haley. AWESOME book!
29. Name something you CANNOT wait for – Day 1 @ IIM Ahmedabad *Sigh*
30. Last time you saw your father – two hours ago, when I was bidding him goodbye.
31. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life – Ah.. lots *sigh*
32. What are you listening to right now – Dreams on Fire: Slumdog Millionaire (I’m in love with the movie’s soundtrack!)
33. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom – A lot of times! There’s a junior in my college, of that name.And there’s my favourite blogger Thomman – whom I’ve talked to at school!
34. What’s getting on your nerves right now? Certain very nice people in my college who’re making my life hell for no reason whatsoever!
36. Whats your real name – Neo – after I chose the red pill! (DUH!!!)
37. Relationship Status – Single
38. Zodiac sign – Scorpio
39. Male or female – Male
40. Natural Hair color? – Black
41. Hair color now – Kinda dark brownish to black.
42. Pet Peeve – The want for intellectual freedom, which I don’t get
43. Need Glasses- Nope, wearing glasses is a nightmare for me!
44. Long or short –Er… is this question about some body part?
45. Height – Five eleven
46. Do you have a crush on someone – Used to have loads, none right now. It’s pointless
47. What do you like about yourself? – The fact that I can write reasonably well.
48. Piercings – None.
49. Tattoos – Aaargh!!
50. Righty or lefty – Right.

FIRSTS.
51. First surgery – to fix my mangled left clavicle – was an experience.
52. First piercing –None yet!
53. First tattoo – Don’t remember – was some removable one.
54. First best friend – Godly
55. First sport you joined – Cricket
56. First pet – A hen. We used to have four of them at home.
57. First vacation – Trip to Delhi, when I was in 7 years old. Barely remember anything about it now!
59. First crush- Name’s Lakshmi. Now, there’s a whole blog post about it! I still see her around
60. First alcoholic drink – None yet! Sworn teetotaller here.

RIGHT NOW.
61. Eating – A sweet laddu (At 11:26 PM, mind you! )!
62. Wearing – A grey tee with “No Fear’ emblazoned on it, black pants (from school) [Why would anyone wanna know this? ]
63. I’m about to – Code away to glory! I’ve found my true calling.
64. Speaking to – I’ve kept my chat client (Pidgin) off at the moment. I don’t chat when I blog.
65. Waiting to – talk to someone special (If you’re reading this, call me now! Dying to listen to your voice! )
66. Want kids? – Not in the near future
67. Want to get married? – Ditto.
68. Careers in mind? – Wanna be a pro-blogger-cum-coder-cum-filmmaker-cum-entrepreneur!

WHICH IS BETTER WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX?
69. Lips or eyes – Eyes.
70. Hugs or kisses – I love hugs. The warmth of the female body as it presses on to you is GREAT!
71. Shorter or taller- Shorter
72. Older or Younger – Not older anyway.
73. Romantic or spontaneous – Hopeless-romantic
74. Nice stomach or nice arms – Arms will be fine. The tummy must be okay.
75. Tattoos or piercings- Nada to both.
76. Sensitive or loud-  Loud to a certain degree. Sensitive also is as nice.
77. Hook-up or relationship – Relationship
78. Trouble maker or hesitant- Hesitant

HAVE YOU EVER.
79. Kissed a stranger – Nopes and NEVER!
80. Drank hard liquor – Won’t do that in my lifetime!
81. Lost glasses/contacts – Haven’t owned any yet and hope not to!
82. Sex on first date – Not yet. But Not so early, anyway.
83. Broken someone’s heart – Very much. Parents being on top of the list.
84. Had your own heartbroken – You bet!
85. Been arrested?- Was close to being so a couple of times, but escaped!
86. Turned someone down –a couple of times.
87. Cried when someone died – Frequently
88. Got someone into trouble intentionally –Hmmm… naah!

DO YOU BELIEVE IN.
89. Yourself – Started to lose belief, but I still cling on to myself
90. Miracles – Yup!
91. Love at first sight – I even dreamt about it the other day !:|
92. Heaven – too far-fetched, but being religious. yes.
93. Santa Claus – NO WAY!
94. Kissing on the first date? – Probable
95. Angels – Metaphorically, yes.

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY.

96. Is there one person you want to be with right now? – Sure!
97. Had more than one boyfriend/ girlfriend at one time? – No and never.
98. Do you believe it’s possible to remain faithful forever? – It is.
99. What’s the one thing you cannot live without? – Friends and family, Computer, Internet
100. Posting this as 100 truths? – Err… I confess that two or three points at the most, are mildly inaccurate. Apart from that, there are about 97 truths here. Honestly.

There goes! Bored? Jobless? Be my guest and take this up! Please acknowledge me when you do it, btw.

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I’ve been interested by the american festival of Halloween for long. Halloween costumes go a long way to add on to your panache and looks (and even make you ROTFL, at times). An awesome halloween costume won’t necessarily look spooky: I’ve even seen Alien and Space-Age costumes here at Ventura County, California!

There’s this GREAT Store at the area called Ventura County Halloween Store. One visit, and you’d be totally bowled over by the sheer amount, depth and awesomeness of the halloween costume collection there! With over 10,000 costumes, decorations and accessories, you have all the freedom to virtually configure the Halloween look of your choice – definitely a one stop shop for all Halloween needs.

And that’s not all, there are Halloween Express and other accessories for all Halloween needs ever imaginable – for parties, role playing be it even for the play at your school – the Ventura County Halloween store has it. Part of a 200 store retail chain, there are branches at Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley too! The ambience of the store, again is wonderful with an utmost friendly crew who’d take feedback from you and get the perfect costume ready. Again, if you’re worried about your costume being in sync with the times, rest assured, cause these people know what’s hot and what’s not!

What’s more, with over 15,000 sq. feet. of shopping space in full decor, not to mention great prices for all your costumes. If you’re in California, Halloween Store is the place you HAVE to visit if you wanna make this halloween memorable, trust me!

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This time I’m tagged by 3 people, namely Abhi chettan, Thomman, & Sriram. I profusely thank them for choosing me, for tags always come as respite for the topic and time-starved blogger!! And FYI, this tag was done ages ago.

This time, it’s all about the past, present, and future. All compressed into two questions each.

YESTERDAY

My Oldest memories..

Ah, Good ol’ days with parents... I guess I used to enjoy my life to the fullest, back then. Life was uncomplicated. There was  nothing to worry, when your mom and dad would cater all my needs and look after their baby! Like Sriram, I remember toys! I too had tonnes of them, and I used to love this yellow-ambassador car, which was my favourite. I’d caused an exasperating tantarum when I lost it!

The most vivid memory of my childhood happens to be the funniest one too. This must have happened when I was about two years old and was of barely ‘walkable’ age. That fateful evening, I was playing with all my toys in the drawing room. I don’t remember properly, but it was a holiday mom and dad were home. They were elsewhere at that time, probably troubleshooting some odd recipe of dad’s! Dad has this habit of  cooking up (if you’ll pardon the pun) some ‘innovative’ recipes which eventually get trashed (puns galore!) by Mom. Anyways, the door of my house was wide open and I suddenly had a feeling to get out and explore the environs I’ve never seen till date! Gingerly, I crawled out to the verandah and got out.

Ever watched ‘Baby’s day out’? Funny movie right? What if you are the baby that goes out to the big bad world? I was doing just that. I don’t remember anything of this, but if parents are to be believed, two year old I opened the gate by myself and walked out (or rather, crawled out) into the street! Legend has it that a neighbour who ventured out for a stroll found good old me prowling around in all fours and safely returned me to Mom’s hands. I have a vague memory of getting beaten up black and blue that day!

Ten years Back:

That would be March 18th, 1999. I guess I was writing my Fifth Standard Annual examinations at Loyola. Ah, good old school days! Fifth was a magical year in my life. For the first time in my life, I inched closest to the top most rank. Sweet days of academic success. Days long gone… *Sigh*! The very next day my exams got over, we went for a trip to Ooty. Memories of the trip bring in pangs of nostalgia!

TODAY

Your first thought in the morning

I didn’t sleep well last night – for, after a long time, I spent some quality time watching quality movies that lay unopened in my ‘Downloads’ folder, not forgeting to make efficient use of the 2-8 Unlimited Download gracefully gifted by the most benevolent BSNL Broadband. After a quick cat-nap from 5 AM – 7.45 AM, I groggily woke up, with an alarm flashing in my mind. I had to switch off downloads!

If you build a time capsule what would it contain?

Hmm… First, I’d raid my friend Arun‘s 1000 DVD strong Movie-TV series collection. Next, I’d go on a downloading spree and get the best of all music genres in the world and fill a hard disc. With all that done, I’d keep all my family photo collection, personal files, stuff I write every day, backups of my blog, my favourite books, et al into the ‘capsule’ and stash it away for eternity!

TOMORROW

This year…

Thanks to sweet ol’ recession, I might be hunting for placements this time, next year. If I get through the holy grail of all MBA exams with a decent percentile (most unlikely!) I’d be doing a cross-country race across the country, attending B-School GD/PIs (hopefully a couple of them or more at IIMs). In any case, I’d be blogging away to my content, for sure!

What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?

After 14 years, I’d be 34. In all probablity, I’d be half-bald! My ‘jataka’ speaks of me reaching ‘staggering heights’ (hopefully not on top of the coconut tree, if you will pardon the PJ). In that case, I might be married (happily, I hope) with two sweet children: A boy named Prasanth & a girl named Krishna. I’d be the CEO of the firm I founded and I’d be working from home… So all the time in the world for my family!

I know it’s too late to tag, but I’m flinging the noose to Cris Chechi. Not tagging anyone else, cause they’re not goanna follow it anyway!

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