Apparently, two of my latest blog posts got deleted for no valid reason that I can comprehend. Those posts were intact, when I’d logged in early in the morning, to switch off downloads. When I visited the blog at around 11:30 AM today, just before I left for college,  I was dumbfound – two of my latest  posts,  the latest – ‘ഞാന്‍ ആരാ’ one  and the previous ‘iM dA NeRD’ had vanished into thin air. I did everything possible, downloaded my Blog’s database and queried it like a madman using all SQL commands I knew – to no avail. Lost an hour of valid last-minute-prep time to the lost posts. Not a good decision from a future-’manager’, but yeah, the blog comes first anyday! \m/

CC Credits: vramak

After I got back home after today’s exam, I did a bit of research myself. I knew for a fact that WordPress doesn’t delete posts on its own. Then how could the posts  go? Quite likely to be a server-side issue. I must send a support-ticked to my friendly-neighbourhood WebHost (which has been working awesome for me, apart from a few minor glitches like this ).

The incident caught me unawares and bang, I’m in one of those ‘desperate’ moods today. I’ve tonnes to mug, and I’m looking up a few slides at the moment – but this mood-swing (complicated by delicate ‘matters of the heart) has terribly killed my interest to learn.

Now, that has left me thinking. How would a seemingly simple, mundane external event leave me depressed? More than ‘how’, the question could be rephrased into ‘why’. Can’t I ignore the whole damn thing and be happy again? Is happiness an easy choice to make? Theoretically, yes. But at times, it’s way more than a choice. Happiness is a state of mind which has a lot to do with external stimuli, I sadly realized. And stimuli weren’t exactly in my favour. So I had to do something intellectually stimulating so as to rejuvenate my mind. No, I can’t do a song again – two songs a month is way above my quota and, not all the reviews are positive! I can’t post on a dedicated topic for want of time and patience.

So, ta dah, here I am doing another arbit-post. \m/

If you ask me, arbit posts are a lot more fun than a carefully thought-about post. The thought process itself requires significant time and mental effort, not to mention finger-crunching at 75 WPM – but arbit posts are exercises in mental-outpour. I just open my mind to my fingers – which do the typing. So, rest assured, this is a straight from the heart post! Besides, the satisfaction of seeing the vagaries of your mind printed out in nice typeface, in grammatical perfection (not always! ) is satiating to a great extent.

As regards to ‘matters of the heart’, well, I’m in a dilemma. I have to take a decision, an immediate decision on a very delicate issue, a relationship. Yes sir, being a ‘young adult’, I’ve all rights to engage myself in feminine company – which I’ve actually not had for a while now, sadly.   Somehow, the stars don’t seem to be right for me, it seems. I deliberately suppressed my feelings for the fairer sex, after a very embarrassing debacle, and lived as if they didn’t exist – I refused outright to get closer to girls, but I did keep existing female friends and sisters. Maybe its high time I found a person who completes me, I guess. Hopefully, I’ll get the girl of my dreams, soon enough. (Girl, if you’re reading this… lol, you know what to do! )

He gives his harness bells a shake,
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep,
Of easy wind and downy flake.

Ah, time out. Nightout Phase 1 begins!

See, I told you, blogging is the best way to recharge your mind. Wish me luck for tomorrow’s exams. Until then I’ve miles to go, before I sleep! Adios!

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“I want Marlboro!”

Raghav’s words were loud and vigorous enough to scare the living wits out of Sushil and I.  Raghav was Sushil’s friend. The two of us were on our way to CCD after a particularly tiresome day. That was when  a slightly-overweight guy in blue Reebok tees and a queer gait, suitably accompanied by a a steady stream of smoke bellowing upward from his mouth approached us from the opposite side of the road – Raghav. Chaddi buddies, Sushil greeted Raghav with a bear hug (only before grabbing the smoldering cigarette from his mouth and discarding it – much to Raghav’s chagrin) and reprimanded him for smoking publicly in his area!! Image problems, yes!! Now, if you didn’t know, Sushil,  Raghav and I are the biggest hypocrites Planet Earth has seen till date. You’ll know why, soon enough!

Now, it would be a gross understatement to call Raghav an ‘addict’ – he’s a class apart! A ‘clean’ guy until a few months back, his addiction was spurred by jobless days at an equally jobless internship at a company that offered free cigarettes even to passing visitors! Since then, there was no looking back. He’s tried all brands, lived even with tiny butts of used cigarettes when severly afflicted by the melt‘smoke’down ( fund-shortage due to cigarette bills amounting to thousands!), and even perfected all those astounding tricks of smoke-exhalation you see on TV. Yes, the world’s first professional smoker with a GPA of 9.2 (yeah, studies were always Priority #1! )

Until lately, Raghav too had a squeaky clean image at home, like Sushil. Only to lose it by succumbing to his addiction. Unable to suppress his withdrawal syndrome, he went out to get his daily puff and finished a whole pack in a matter of minutes, inexorably forgetting to disguise the acrid smell! His mom was quick to identify the odor and he had to vow that he wouldn’t take another puff.

The vow was broken the very next day, as he conveniently got himself a ‘Wills’, on his way back home after dropping off his sister at a reputed IIT coaching centre near CCD. That was when we met this dude. He mouthed the sudden urge to have perhaps the world’s most popular brand of cigarettes – his favourite, for the sake of stress release, he said. The mention of  ‘Marlboro’ set the ball rolling.  Sushil was a carbon copy of his chaddi-buddy, sort-of. But he hadn’t smoked in a while, and his image was still intact. He too wanted to get a high, and with firm resolve he seconded Raghav and proclaimed the mission – The Quest for Marlboro!

The term ‘quest’ in this context might seem hyperbolic, but yeah, Trivandrum is a very sleepy town, if you didn’t know! One still had to go the long contorted route to get a piece of ‘decent’, branded stuff. We didn’t know where to start off, but we were sure to find what we wanted, Kowdiar was the place to be in! We thought we’d start off with the melting pot of  ‘hanging-outers’ – The venerable CCD!

We’d barely walked over to CCD, when Sushil found this pack of guys smoking, standing next to a car. Before we could do anything, he ran over to one of  them and asked:

“Dude, you studied in my school right? Isn’t your name Sidharth?”

Sid: “Yup, that’s me. And hey, long time bro! “

Sushil: “Dude, where in TVM would you find a Marlboro? Pretty damn urgent!”

Sid: “Just head over to Grand Bazaar, at Style Plus. You’d find your stuff! All brands under the sun… you name it!”

Sushil: “Thanks a million, dude. You’re a lifesaver!”

I could see Raghav’s face light up in glee. So was Sushil’s. Thus, we walked through Belhaven Gardens (yea, the pee-place! ) and walked over to Devaswam board junction. They knew about the pee-story (which, ironically happened hardly a few days back) and were pulling my legs. I did my best to divert their attentions, non-smoker that I am. Pro-debater that Sushil is, he started quoting from “Thank You for smoking!” and other pro-smoking stuff. I had to shut up!! The dog’s tail would forever be curly! (പട്ടീടെ വാല്… ).

After a few minutes of walk, we reached Grand Bazaar. By now, Sushil had lost all his initial gusto for fear of image. Even Raghav had lost his courage, as a result of which, I had to lead the pack into the store. To my friends’ glee, there, all those packets were stacked right near the counter, by the wall! They were ogling at them the same way the three of us stared at this hot babe at Belhaven Gardens! Marlbro, Davidoff, B&C… all of ‘em were there, stacked in neat plastic-coated packets.

Raghav was far from satisfied, though. The packet that read “Marlbro” had a subtitle which read “lights”. As the name meant, it didn’t have the ‘kick’! He started a semi-fight with the salesgirl over the lack of Marlboro and even pleaded with her. By now, all the customers were staring at us! Sushil, with his ‘image’ problem, coaxed the dude into buying the Davidoff. Then again, our stingy Raghav tried the sales girl to sell him just a couple of loose cigarettes. The lady was visibly angry when she said no, so Raghav and Sushil shared money and bought a Rs 110 – 20 cigarette Davidoff packet! This is how it looked:

Sushil and the davidoff: Yeah, smokers die young. These guys never understand!

Anyways, we ran out of the store after the purchase – only to realize another folly. There was no lighter/matches to light the cigarette with! Raghav went inside again in search for a lighter but alas… The classic ‘water-water-everywhere’ scenario! A belligerent  ’പെട്ടിക്കടക്കാരന്‍’ (shop keeper) came to the rescue with ‘kadak’ matchsticks. Then came the problem of  ‘where to smoke’. The ‘Jaggus Kitchen’ right opposite to Style Plus was the answer. It housed a baskin robbins too! However, the very ‘friendly’  rates forced us to retreat – to a nondescript by-lane! (I was reminded of the ‘pee ‘incident in the recesses of a similar lane!) Then, like cannibals feasting on human bodies, they ripped open the packets and wildly picked up those objet’ d death!

Luck clearly wasn’t favoring them even now. Lighting up the matches was a hard job – the wind was blowing high and fast. Sushil now made up stories of how he lighted cigarettes amidst high winds. Surprised at the magnitude of that blatant lie, perhaps, Lord Vayu pulled the winds back and the cigaretted were lighted. It was fun to see the dudes exhale air!! Raghav and Sushil had very distinct styles of blowing smoke rings in the air! Sushil’s lips contracted to a very funny form as he did that – was damn funny!! Now, both of them started the next part of the bluffing saga. Sushil started by boasting that he’d smoked 40 joints, straight. Raghav wouldn’t agree. He countered by saying that his personal record was 50… LOL!! The bickering continued for a while until I intervened and solved it. After smoking a cigarette each and sharing  a third piece 50-50, the pack was shoved back into Sushil’s laptop bag and we walked back to CCD.

Then came the problem of where to store the packets. Both of them wouldn’t take the packet home, for fear of parental detection! Finally Raghav chose to keep the packets in a consensus, after wild plans including loosely selling cigarettes at 5-apiece!!

After walking both the dudes back to CCD, where they smoked away the remaining 17 pieces in the packet, I walked to the bus stop. I reiterated my forever-philosophy in mind. If the dudes don’t control their habit, they’re sure goanna learn the hard way…

Smoking is injurious to health!

P.S.

The incident is real, but names are changed to protect identities and ‘images’ of certain ..ahem… very respectable people!

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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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