Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Winter Delights



Winter seemingly is here, and its the best kind, where it is winter not so much in temprature, (which I dislike), but in choice of fruits vegatables and food items(which I love).
All those lovely things you have to give up over the summer, Imma having all of them.
For those of you woebegotten lot, who know not of the pleasures of the palate availible in these wonderful months, let me go through a quick run through.
Matar! Peas, wonderfully sweet and succulent ones, the kind that you really love having in a wonderful variety of ways(my favourites being with Paneer or Mushrooms).
Then, the aftermath of diwali is a bhandaar of dry fruits lying around the house, all of which, in the abscence of my brother, it is my sole responsibility to finish. Thus, I chow down on Kaju, Pista, Badaam, and all three together in those wunnerful laccha mixtures.
Ah, but it doesn't stop there. For winter has also brought with it weddings, which, while usually are a pain in the ass, have resulted in me getting two whole box ful of Pinnis!
A pinni is about as punjabi a sweet can get. The whole thing is basically, Dal, Ghee and Sugar, and to add to its great nutritive value, nuts are generously thrown in on the top. It 's the perfect meal, if you may, and I indulge in as many as my currently overburderned stomach will allow.
Ah, but it doesn't end there. There's Keanu ka juice, freshly squeezed, with lovely Keanu's from Punjab, which came along with the wedding stuff(long story).
But the best is still to come. Next week, when the good carrots arrive, then true bliss shall be attained for Herr. Elated One.
I shall have Gajar ka Halwa. Oh yes, I shall have Gajar ka Halwa.

Sunday, November 28, 2004

The Future



I hate thinking about the future, I try to avoid it as much as possible. I realised a bit of time ago that its the most dangerous thing you can do, starting thinking about what ifs, and how would that be. But, its getting harder and harder to do that, when the immediate future, just the next month, could change so much in your life.
Take, for example, the fact that a mere twelve days from now, I could be admitted to my dream college, and just as likely, I could not. That will affect a lot of my future, at least the next four years, and will immediately affect my next month. If things don't go through as I'd like them to, I'm going to be a very busy man, running around getting the rest of my applications off. On the other hand, if they do...
Its hard not to think about stuff like that, let me tell you. You try your hardest to put it out of your mind, but there are constant reminders. There are interviews, there are schoolmates, there are Parents, Relatives and a hundred other random wishers.
Then, there's the whole families birthday coming up. That's the great thing about the rest of my family, they all decided to be born at round about the same time, and left me stranded in September. Ma starts off the celebrations on the third, immediately followed by my brother, on the 4th of December, which one also finds out is the date TheBOFi shall land back in Delhi. A couple of days later, well three to be exact, comes Father's birthday, on the 7th.
So I have to think about that to, but that, gladly is out of the way. I took the opportunity of the house being devoid of parental activity to go to GPM for a shopping buzz, and picked up budday presents for one and all. One less thing to think about.
Then, of course, there are more obvious things to think about, such as "Am I going to Flunk my last Monday Test Ever?" Or, Did they have to make the last one's syllabus Chemistry's worst ever chapter(It doesn't help when your chem teacher claims that it's a really easy course, "Bas rattna hi toh hai").
I just wish these next twelve days would finish, really fast. I'd pray for a quiz or two to come my way, or at least a debate. I need something to distract me, and sitting at the desk to study only makes you think more.
Today, I went shopping, and did ENGLISH WORK! Incredible, you can't think while writing down answers for chapters, at least, I can't. So today went off fine. P-Block was the afternoon entertainment, and again...ugh.
So I thought I'd write about it instead. Better than nothing.
I plan to write a rough guide to DPS, but don't know when I'll get down to that. There are certain traditions, legends, stories and tips that my batch fears will not be passed down, what with the current scenario. To ensure continuity, I thought I'd just write it down, and give it to one and all who were interested.
Anyhow, such is my life.
Oh, another big announcement, if ye are going to comment, which I'm told ye enjoy doing, please do it to the comment link to the left and not the one on the right.
Remember, zort spelled backwards is troz.

Friday, November 26, 2004

It's A Royal Shame



You work hard to create a reputation for yourself, your institution. When you walk into other schools for competitions, you're respected, sometimes hated. The tag of DPS R. K Puram bodes well for you, and the confidence it gives ensures that you keep the winning spirit. It's a beneficial cycle. But no, all that is rudely done away with the actions of three wonderful students of a 5000 strong institution.
What do they contribute? What great achievers, aside from a dedicated few, do you get out of our commerce batches? What purpose do they serve, aside from getting drunk at farm parties, and fighting for no particular reasons with each other? But draw the line, please, inside the bounds of our school. But no; as I mentioned, thanks to three wonderful people, not only has much lunch been ruined, but so has my alma mater's reputation, and standing.
What stings the most is not the fact that wonderful people from all over delhi have lost faith in the name of DPS, but our very own principal has lost faith in her own students, and sees fit to send us all letters telling us she's "concerned about our morals". For what? What actions of our batch point to this? None, just the lack of faith provided in plenty to us by the three.
I haven't been upset about much in my years at RKP, but this upsets me. The letter we recieved upsets me. The lack of faith in us upsets me, and the fact that it may even affect any more college interviews I give, just because there is now an undeniable prejudice of every single person in Delhi about the school, that upsets me.
The yellow journalism exhibited by NDTV upsets me, but not so much. I have a very low opinion of those jhola wearing, commie sympathising pseudo intellectual journo's anyhow, so their attention craving actions hardly surprise me, and thus cannot upset me that much.
The fact that commentors ask for links to this wretched thing upsets me. I'd ask you all to stop reading my journal, whoever came in hopes for that. Me and Karan stand united in this, we're not either interested in scandals, or debasement, or rumour mongering, and we simply don't care what constitutes as fun entertainment in anyone's mind. We shall not encourage the debasement of our school, in any way or means. I'm open to poking fun at it, but lets draw the line, shall we? People like Arjun, who think this whole matter is a whole lot of fun, can, in the words of Sir Altitude, "Go Boil Their Heads".
Interestingly, I found out the etymology (how I love doing that) for the phrase "Go Boil Your Head". It is apparently a South Pacific Island insult. Here's where it comes from. See, basically the islanders considered the head sacred, and cooked food pretty much the opposite of that. I guess they liked their veggies in nice salads, as cooking anything made it umm...well...unsacred. So the phrase, "go boil your head" in the local tongue is possibly the worst possible insult you can give. Maanick Nangia, thus, shouldn't go visiting Fiji or Tongo or any such place any time soon, as his propensity for the phrase may get him into a lot of trouble.
My first mock test for Law Entrances is tomorrow. I'm horrificly prepared for it, as I had all of two days notice. Yet, a lot of it is english, easy maths, GK, and logical reasoning. Nothing a good quizzer shouldn't be able to handle. Let us see.
On unrelated, yet happy news, my last and final monday test is, well, on Monday! wOOt! No more monday tests, ever!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I think the spirit of the festival is one of the wonderful things American culture actually has to offer, yet it seems to be the one thing they have failed to export. Instead, we get McDonalds. Blah!

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

The Interview



My UPENN interview was, in fact, today. Things went pretty much as I had predicted them to go, along with an aditional twist to the tale. Now, as I had mentioned, Vasant Kunj, and finding ones way around it has been a bane in my family for a decent bit of time, thus it was suggested that I leave early, just in case I get a bit lost. Fortunately, traffic was brilliant, and the map I had got was very helpful and accurate, so instead of arriving around about on time, I arrive all of half an hour early for the blessed event, and spend the next good few minutes sitting around in what was, I must admit, a very entertaining living room, what with cute Golden Retriever with passing interest in you, and other shiny looking distractions. Thus, I whiled away the extra time without much care or concern, till my interview started promptly at the destined time.

The interview itself went...quite well I would say. Compared to my more disastrous ones, (one remembers the incident where one told big powerful principal that one wasn't too sure about joining her big powerful school, and that her entrance paper had grammatical while matriarch tried desparately to kick the same one from under the table), and actually went off quite smoothly. The questions I was asked were pretty standard, I would say, and unlike PC, no rude shocks were thrown my way. Which is, I would think, the only thing that really surprised me about the whole process, I seemed to have gotten used to being blasted on "Personal Interviews", and this seeming luxury of niceness was quite a new experience for me. Not even a trip question here or there.
Anyhow, one of the things I talked about was joining DPS, and I think I've said this ad nauseum to myself, that one of the greatest accidents that ever happened to me was joining RKP. The scary thing is, I don't even have the sniff of a new admission about me, as I joined in ninth, and I'm pretty much indistinguishable from the 13 year Kaidis.
This is because of the following reason. I'm a part of around fifty or so people in my batch who qualify as half-breds, the mongrels of DPS R.K Puram. Neither new admissions, nor old students, we're the lost-in-between crowd. We've seamlessly become a part of DPS, and don't even consider any other place to be home, wheras for the "newadmins" of 11th and 12th, the school is more of a two year transit zone. Among our great ranks are illustrious characters like Manisha Roy Choudhary, Anant Dang, Myself!, and other strange yet remarkably vocal creatures, without whom our batch would definitely be lacking in fun and loud characters.
We're the mirch ka tadka, so to speak, of the great dal that is DPS, the spicing put in towards the end for that extra bite.
Forgive me for the incessant food metaphors, but this diwali has really picked up my appetite, and I haven't had a morsel in me for half an hour now. I think I'll go nibble on some chocolate.
That is all.

Monday, November 22, 2004

Informal Interview



Day after, I have my informal interview for University of Pennsylvania. I have as of this moment, no idea where it is, and how to get there. I'm waiting, and continue to wait for an email that may adequetly explain how on earth I'm supposed to reach a farm house somewhere in Vasant Kunj, and also one that will explain what is it exactly that I need to take along with me.
The interview itself doesn't worry me, but there is a sort of weariness about what's going to happen on wednesday. It's all sort of predetermined. I'll get my stuff in order, after school, and claim to head off. Mother will see my condition, decide that I'm looking like a complete Lukha, and change five hundred things about what I'm wearing, before deciding I am presentable enough to leave. Then, I'll probably hitch it to office, from where I'll get the car to drop me to the place. I shall have to leave before time, because we will inevitably get lost, because its impossible to be on course for a farm house in Vasant Kunj, after Sainik Farms, its the most confusing place in Delhi to get around.
After that, my predictive skills stop. I have no idea what I will be asked, whether it'll be fun and light, or an inquisition taking me apart. Either way, I'm game.
The CAT was yesterday, for all of ye who didn't know. I hope Amon, and whoever else took it did well, and give my brother company, so that he can rag them next year. I remember what it was like last year, for bhaiyya, when the damn thing got cancelled. Total KLPD. One hopes and prays no ruddy mafioso don decides to leak more papers this year, for crissakes, let some people give it off their own accord, what.
Speaking of papers, our Monday Test today had the additional contreversy of the Pen Down syndrome. My class, after much counselling, decided against the whole idea, which is a good thing too. This is no time to take panga with the school authorities. I'll save that for the Three Hour English Monday Test (Full Course) they made so that we couldn't enjoy our last few days of school. I don't like it when people tell me I can't enjoy life, so lemme see what fun I can have.
I can, of course, do a repeat of my class 7 paper, and write it in verse(also something my brother did for his pre-boards). I can use my new found skills in writing subversive messages in between text, and put ek hazaar double entendres into the whole shebang. But then, I'm always open to some more wild suggestions, and look to the wise advice of my seniors for support. TheBOFi, Keerthi, Manu, any suggestions?
Because, seriously, you can't not be allowed to have fun in a time which is the least fun life can possibly be. Otherwise, dimagi haalat theek nahin rehti, and you run the risk of turning into Boss, or other depressed cases.

Aisa nahin kar sakte


I'm tired of hearing this phrase. Over the last three years, I've heard it all the time, for every kind of social sitiution. Aisa nahin kar sakte, you can't behave like this, you can't get this done, you can't you can't. Its like some great chant of adulthood. Well, I don't buy it, not just yet. For three years I haven't, and so far there hasn't been a single time I haven't been able to work around the unwritten diktats of society, school, or social interactions. So a message to all of ye, your going to have to work a lot harder to break me just yet, I refuse to go down without a fight. Tum jaante nahin, ham jaise Dheet insaan kam hi milte hain.

Friday, November 19, 2004

How The Stupid Eleventhie Ruined my Life



Y'know, the video business has gone on long enough, and I've pretty much not cared about it, because aside from a few extra visitors to this blog, searching in vain for the thing on the net, and a lot of questions from pretty much every school student in Delhi, it's not really affected my life much. I am a pretty self-centered chap, and don't care much for world issues, so I kept out of it, everyone had already exhausted the topic to death, as it was.
But no, now things have changed. This foolish commercie and her activities have had now disastrous consequences on my life, and quite frankly, I hope she burns in some form of hell.
See, here's what happened. Once our Principal came to terms with the whole incidident, she decides that this is just a result of discipline in school being shot to death (and not that of a brainless airhead's great ideas). She took to getting the school back to order in much the same was as George W. Bush took to straightening out the world after 9 crazy Jehadi's crashed two planes into the world trade center. Thus, Madam Chona went on discipline overdrive, and started her crusade(not the mathematical kind) by banning cellphones. Now, this again didn't affect me in the slightest, as I do not own one, leave alone bring one to school. Then, we got to hear a lot of lectures, about how we're all morally bankrupt, and how we're not going to get our character certificates unless we behave, and again, I don't care much, because well, I do behave. But then things started getting a bit nasty. Uniform checks are becoming very regular, again not much of a problem, as I'm now pretty used to wearing the tie(being a school appointment), and have no other hassles. Thus, me was still unnafected.
Yesterday, unfortunately, was the straw that broke the donkey's back. In another effort to up discipline, our school dispersal goes madhouse nuts, which basically means, in a roundabout nutshell, that due to each set of buses being sent off at a time, ensuring that one gets even the slightest opportunity to chat up their friends on the way out, my bus now leaves 15-20 mins later than it used to, back in the days when things were normal. As a result of this, I reached home on Friday at the unsightly time of Two Thirty, and didn't have my lunch till a quarter to three. I had to wait, ladies and gentlemen, till a QUARTER TO THREE before I could partake in my afternoon nourishment, and this quite frankly is way too late for lunch.
And its all this foolish 11thies fault. Her shenanigans have resulted in the delay of my lunch, and I can't think of anything else that could be worse.
Actually, I can, and if concerned teachers do random checks on my house during dinnertime as a result of extra discipline checks, then I don't care who's granddaughter she is, she'll be on my list(Y'know, the Uzi one). There's only so much a chap can tolerate, and a delayed lunch just crosses the line.
See, I'm all for freedom, as long as it doesn't impinge on the rights of others. If little-miss-big-mouth wanted to have her fun, she could at least have kept it under wraps, but no...and now I and a lot of other people must suffer the consequences of her actions.
But as I am loathe to say.
Ah, well.
Such is life.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Been down that Road again



Today, I had my first Full Length CBSE mock test at tutes, and it was one of my math tutor's specials. The questions on calculus were damn near impossible, and I was really kicked that I'm actually passing in the paper, and may even get 50-60 odd. This is good news, as
a)The CBSE paper will be nowhere near as tough
b)I gave this with minimal preparation (where was the time)
c)Four o clock after a busy school day on a right handed desk are highly test-conducive conditions.

Anyhow, with that over and done with, I was damn kicked. Doing a lot of math, and actually managing to get some of it right gives you quite a bit of a boost, so I had full adreneline rush while heading back home. Furthermore, the Autowallah's tried to stiff me, and I don't like paying for anything, really, so I told tell all to go to hell, in more choice words, and decided to walk it back.
Only, I didn't want to reach home late, so somehere around IIT gate, I decide that I might as well get back a little quicker, and the only way to go is Jog. Besides, when very loud, very pumped up music is running through your pod, its exactly the first thing that pops into your mind. Besides, you want to prove to yourself that ages of sitting around and stuffing yourself silly with Mithai and other tidbits hasn't made you into an out of shape vegetable, and you wish to prove to yerself that you still go it in you to do a Three Kay jog back home, without having your legs complain. Because, of course, these are the only physical part of you that qualifies as better than the below average mortal being According to another really vela online quiz, which consisted of exactly one question (please state your date of birth), my sexiest organs are in fact my knees.
Well, they damn well did, and I jogged the whole way back without as much as a mumble from me legs, and with the weather the way it is these days, one did not even overheat on the way. Alltogether, a good work out on ze way back. Damn straight, I'm not a flabby fatty who can't manage a run. Me proud.
There are those, of course, who will say that one must be insane to jog 3 clicks back home after a three hour maths paper. To them, I'd just like to say, Nyah Nyah, you try doing it. Buncha fatties, all of ya.

Boom! It exploded!



Remember I had mentioned that one of my greatest recurring nightmares was exploding geysers? Well, this evening, I walk into my bathroom, and discover that my geyser, recently repaired, was leaking again. I reported this to mother, in manner of general indignation over the horrible state my bathroom is generally in. The fittings are just crap.
Anyhow, I was much surprised to find out the reason for the like. While I was at school (as you must have guessed by now), the whole thing exploded, caught fire, and is now well and truly kaput.
Which is a damn good thing. It was a terrible geyser. The thing took a minimum of half an hour to heat up water, and didn't make it very hot at all. To add insult to injury, it claimed that it was saving 15% of energy while doing this. Helluva lot of energy it saves when you have to turn it on the night before so that you can have a bath in the morning. Blah!

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Online Quiz



I don't usually take online tests, but a nice book one seemed too much to resist.




You're One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest!

by Ken Kesey

You're crazy. This has led people to attempt to confine you to a safe
place so that you don't pose a danger to yourself or others. You feel like you pose a
great danger to the man (or maybe the woman) or whatever else is keeping you down. But
most of the time, you just end up being observed. Were you crazy before you were
confined?



Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.



Who'da thunk it?

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

The Tuesday that Wasn't



Today was just not a Tuesday. For the umptillionth time this year, the Monday Test was held on tuesday, and we had full Monday timetable, which meant that for the umptillionth time this year, we missed our physics lab. This also means we're all going to fail in physics, but that's another long, and painful story. Till then, we'll all just have to figure out what the last topic was.
Thus, we went on today, like it was a monday. In all effective purposes, it was the first day of the week, only Monday's gone, and as the Kat Stevens song goes, Tuesday's the Day.
It hit me deeply, because the nice comedies that come on monday are not coming today. The entire force of the universe, in effect is disturbed, and it had a profound effect on my subconcious this Tuesday morning, where I had some of the strangest dreams I can ever remember, and its only the really strange ones that you do remember.
The dreams, of course, are none of your business and you will not get to know them, unless you prove yourself to be cute and charming, with a dazzling smile.
This condition is now recognized all over the blogging world, as it has been found that what most regular computer users are in fact interested in is girls with charm, and dazzling smiles, rather than Mozilla Firefox. Of course, Mozilla Firefox is a means to an end, and proficiency in setting the thing up will be regarded in little or no circles as a tool to impress these girls.
However, as the case often is with us poor sodoff teenage guys, the girls are never impressed.
I did have a point here.
This is what happens when you change around the world's great order, just so that you can hold your silly little Monday test, of which I have heard, today was the penultimate for that of Class 12.
Which basically means, a week later, I may be giving the last monday test of my entire life.
Aaah....bliss.

Sunday, November 14, 2004

Tikka Day



No, this wasn't the Paneer Kind. This was full fashion Bhai Dooj ka tikka. The major problem with these things is that they take place in the morning, and the day after the day after diwali, patakas are still going off, and you really want some sleep, because you haven't had a good nights rest in ruddy ages. Thus, we you are dragged out of bed to get ready, you're not all that appreciative of the whole concept. But, anyhow, life goes on, and Bhai Dooj will be around long after you're gone. I, of course, will live on in spirit, and it'll always pretty much bug me, but that's another story.
Another wonderful thing this year was that Tikka location was at my Tau's house in...DLF! Which involved a long journey across the seven seas, and disrupted NHAI flyovers of Delhi-Gurgoan. Anyhow, as a lot of you will be aware, I'm not much fond of the suburban life, and my opinion doesn't seem to change much, every time I visit. Nasty place. Too far from the city, methinks.

Right, so we reach, and there's the slight problem that my sisters haven't. They will be late, they say, so me and my cousin brother sit around like twits and wait for them. There are three who are still in town, and must put Tikka, and of those, only one has graced us. Papa, meanwhile, had very punctual sisters (my Bua's), and they all very quickly finished their Job. Thus, papa beats a quick retreat back home as he has to cook , while I am left in the lurch with my cousin brother. Around twenty mins after Papa leaves the house, cousin sisters arrive five minutes between each other, and we finish our Tikka responsibility. Except, now we can't leave, as Bua must chat with other Buas, and me and cousin brother are now forced to sit around, and politely smile while all my cousin sisters, and their mothers and my Buas discuss labour pains, contractions, and other pregnancy related things.
Basically, not the best Tikka Day experience one could ask for. Anyhow, got to meeet me cousins in entirity after ages, you lose contact with em when they're all aged, with young kids, and busy.
So that ends the festive season. As usual, its been busy enough to keep all thoughts of any serious studying away, so will have to get down to it tomorrow. Id will have to get the boot, at least in my family, we can't celebrate everyone's festivals now, can we?

Saturday, November 13, 2004


"It's a Long Story"



Me king of the World!
Hehe, just thought I'd blog this picture. Seemed too nice to leave out.
Why am I doing this? Like so many other things thesedays, "it's a long story".
Went for Vidz's Budday lunch today. A somewhat belated Happy Birthday to her, as this year, the Diwali Greetings stole her thunder(and we thought it wasn't possible). She was in a bit of a glum mood, with the backfiring of the festive season, and what (k)not. Hope we cheered her up a good bit.
Also met Prasan(bloglink on side) ages after we last annoyed quizmasters together at quiz. Law school has ravaged the poor childs mind and soul, he's turned commie, and shows up with Jhola in hand, and long hair and mustache. What has come of this world, I ask you, when college turns fine young men into socialists, even outside of the Jhola-touting confines of Delhi University.
I'm just so dissolusioned right now...
Oh, well I'm not. In the wise words of Lennun, La lah-lah-lah life goes on.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Happy Diwali!

By Far the most Colorful Blog you'll ever see. All the best wishes for today, to one un all.


May Laxmi bring riches into your house

May Ganesh eat laddoos on his mouse


Generally have a blast. And try not to blast em crackers, gives me a headache.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Carnival



The second and final day of my last ever School Carnival was yesterday. Although, one cannot say for sure that it will be my last ever, as quite a few ex-students, who just can't seem to give good ol' DPS up bunked classes, ran away from families seeing them after four months of college, and generally cutting away other responsibilities to be there. It is heartening to see that Manu Saxena can make up excuses about leaving on a 3: 30 train to Hyderabad to get out of his afternoon lecture, and make it back to school. It gives hope to the least of us.
Anyhow, on to the actual event. The thing started off slowly, very slowly. For the first half hour, the DJ was for some reason playing Shaadi music, the soft slow kind which plays at receptions while everyone is getting tanked up, or waiting eagerly for the food to come. After generally realising that this was getting nowhere, the chap finally turned on the music, and made full use of the mountainous set of amps provided to him.
The DJ, was, of course, in true DPS carnival tradition, worse than the one last year. Okay, fine, he was better, but his style was really cramped by the fact that
a)He played Dhoom Machale five hundred times
b)He was continuously interrepted by idiots who wanted to make it known to 2000 adrenilized dipsites, much angered by the moron stopping their dancing, that they had lost their wallet/watch/camera/mobile/other expensive article and would really appreciate it if we all stopped whatever the hell it was that we were doing, and looked for it. Such an atmosphere of hope our juniors live in.
c)He had to end the thing, on force, at 3 PM sharp, and his last few tracks were, quite frankly, terrible.
Aside from that, it was all good. We danced a decently large amount, and I managed to screw my neck over for the fourth consecutive year, of DPS carnivals. Fortunately, its a much stronger neck now, and its not that badly done over, should be allright by the afternoon.
For a mighty large, and varied school, there sure is a lack of variety in dressing, I must say, of the students. Pretty much everyone turned up in some form of Jeans/T-shirt combination, and I was looking kind of out of place in Kurta-jeans, which strangely enough, no one else wore.
Other notable fronts in the fashion department were Ishita (Flower-girl) and her Dorothy Shoes (if she clicked em together, she'd go back to Kansas), and of course, Shravan and his falling jeans, which Copal wanted to take off post haste. Jeans aside, some junior did oblige with his shirt, and did a Salman Khan while dancing. Hats off to the chap, nasty bugger made the DJ stop for a good five mins, he should have been tomatoed decently for that.
Right, so everyone was in the "last time ever" frame of mind, and were on picture patrol, taking group snaps left right and center. I'm doing the great service of taking snaps from everyone's digicams, and putting them all onto one nice CD. Ain't I the best?
The day did not end, however, with the ending of the Carnival. This is because it ended at 3 30, and nobody in their right minds was about to give up after that. Besides, I had birthday present shopping to do, and in my clearly exhausted condition, I decided to walk to Priya, thus indulging in a watered down version of a banned pastime, The Priya March. The actual Priya march, does not, I have heard, involve much of marching, and is conducted on large trucks, which carry the pseudo marches to Priya. I, however, prefer my techniques better, and would actively participate in it again. Anyone care to join me?
Around the end of the carnival, Vidz (for whom I attempted to buy the budday present, instead failed miserably, and decided to have ice cream at nirulas with assorted company instead) showed up towards the end, and went on to watch a movie with PC, Karan, Daffy, Manav and Smita, which later resulted in big big trouble. This is what happens when you go watch Garfield and ditch your friends. Blah!
Not only that, Smita and Daffy for some reason decided to get on PC and Vidz's case, in a fashion that was much reminiscent to what happened to me in Camp, in class 11. It goes something like this.
"You're really close friends, are you sure you're just friends?"
"So why won't you go out with her?"
There are no good answers to these questions, for the simple reason that they will all get you in trouble with Vidz. lets face it, its a nasty game to play.

Diwali is tomorrow, but for the usual reasons, this year family is not celebrating, so one will, for a change, sit at home and...umm...well I don't know what I'll do actually, can't remember the last time I was at home the day before, and the day of diwali. Usually out visiting people. But, such is life.
I may write about the whole festival thingummy tomorrow. For now, adoo.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Access Granted



WooHoo! I love it when this gets repetetive. We won access, the whole shebang, edging out DPS VK, thanks to our inne se bachche of DPS Vasant Vihar. There was a really nice looking bigass winners trophy, which we walked off with, along with several other plaques and related items.
Related items include things like vouchers for 300 bucks worth of anything at a Reliance Web World, and, a scientific calculator, which arrived a bit too late.
On a personal note, I won the GD event, which I was made to go for, missing out on first day of Carnival at DPS. Thus, its a damn good thing I won, otherwise...one would have been hazaar pissed.
As I said, I did win the Group Discussion, and was told that I was pretty much a shoe in. I had great fun, however, and this usually results in victory. Besides, I was bound to win, for certain other reasons that were residing in my pocket, (she still hasn't lost an event). The topic for the finals, I must say, was quite a boring one (Business Process Outsourcing), and it was only the formation of an anti-DPS VK Cartel between me and Ankit Sud from AJP that made the event the interesting scope of random abusing, and debunking that it turned out to be. (I have noticed that a lot of the words I now use in my blog feature from the Delhi Times crossword of that particular day. Strange.) The prelims were far more fun, where I went on to prove that Bill Gates was in fact born in India. The full story to that is a long one, and like so many other things, loses its flavour when not told in person.
Ah, anyhow, I win this thing, and for the prize, these people have the strange sense of humour to give me the book "Public Speaking for Dummies". Seriously! Give the losers, or even the third place chap that un, but for crissakes, if I've won the damn thing, one should hope I know a thing or two about public speaking! The prizes were equally dumb for other events, giving Programming winners C++ for dummies, and the like. Jeez.
Right, so with all the auguries of competition out of the way, its time to concentrate on the less intensive fun things in life, such as Tomorrow's Carnival, at DPS. Its been a long time coming, hasn't it? After its over, all we'll have is the farewell...
Ah, I can't resist.
Chalte, chalte, mere yeh geet, yaad rakhna.
Kabhi Alvida na kehna, kabhi alvida na kehna.

But for now, adieu. But a minor promise, that I may or may not keep, that this blog will not die in college, oh yes, it shall live on.

Monday, November 08, 2004

Access Denied



The second day of Access didn't go so well, but then, it went well enough for school in general, so nyap nyap nyap, basically.
Anyhow, here's the low down.
I came third in crossword, which is good as I got a podium, going in as team two from school. Our team one, won, which as also good, cos we scored a nice load of points over there. Thanks to our gamers, who got a dopieta, we've got a slim 300 point lead in the final tally, so lets see how that goes.
I've got a GD tomorrow, for which I'm missing day one of the school carnival, so I'm really hoping day one will go quite spectacularly boringly, as its mostly a lot of gassing about with L-G of Delhi coming. GD is my speciality event, so I'm kinda hoping I manage a position in it.
Ugh, enough of competitions, it boils the blood. Actually, it doesn't, they're great fun, but only as long as you're taking part in them.

I know this is getting really repetitive, but consider it a weeklong series of insights I've had into myself. Trust me, they'll all vanish soon enough, and I won't bother myself with them for another good load of time.
Anyhow, this is it. I'm a stubborn ass. Many people know this, and have commented towards the same(though not on this blog). Notable among these people is my Educational Counsellor, Mamta Sharma, who as a direct result of my stubborness had to spend one of her saturdays writing my recco letter, as I sure as hell wasn't going to write my own. This is a part of my stubborness, you see, if I think something is wrong, that is, if something conflicts with certains RULES I have set for myself, no amount of reason, or sweetening/buttering is going to make me change my mind. This conflicted majorly with two of my great five rules, and that's a bit too much, really. Even one is enough to set off my mule like attitude, but two, and you've got yourself the provobial rock and hard place.
Anyhow, so here are my current, five hardcore rules for life, the universe, and everything. They're little unbreakable things I set for myself, so that I don't have regrets, because what I've come to realise is that what hurts you most whenever you start thinking (which unfortunately happens quite randomly, and excessively, go ask Skaran) are regrets, things you wish you hadn't, or had done. With these maxims, I ensure that I can almost never have done anything that goes against what I felt I should have.
I'd like to remember them, when I grow old and senile, so might as well right them down, what? So here they are.
Rule 1 : Honesty : I used to be a pathalogical liar right up to age six, where I am told I would lie for the sheer fun of it. I regret that, so I no longer lie. I've never cheated on an exam, or monday test, or whatever. Is it wrong? Who knows, but it hurts my ego to lie or cheat anymore. And I've got one hell of an ego.
Rule 2: Honour: Very important rule. You'll run into people all the time, to whom you will be indebted, because, hey, people are nice and do wonderful things. Some people, anyway. It is then, of utmost importance to honour them. Secondly, and more importantly, honour thyself(doesn't that sound all formal and greek/latin?). Its useless living a life which you don't want to live, just because you feel you're going to get ahead.
Rule 3: Respect: Much related to honour, but not completely. When you honour something, it sometimes an obligation, with respect, it never is. Go out of your way to work/encourage/generally touch hands and feet of that which you respect. I feel very strongly about that, and hope that I will continue to do so.
Unfortunately, I also have a very teenage, headstrong belief that you should go out of your way to abuse that which you do not respect, which I'm hoping I'll grow out of in time. Otherwise, hehe, I'll live in interesting times.
Rule 4: Bhavya's Talisman: I've given myself a Talisman. Whenever you are in doubt over your course of action, think, will this make me happy in the short or more importantly, in the long run? Will what I am doing matter at all to my happiness even a week from now? Will it eventually hurt my happiness? When you've answered these questions, you'll realise that there's no sense in doing that which pisses you off. Even at the price of success, and I'm someone who LOVES success.
Rule 5: Do not EVER let anything disturb you during your meals. Unless someone's suicidal, or there's a medical emergency, there's nothing so important that it can't wait for after lunch/dinner/breakfast.
Damn straight.
These five have kept me happy for two years now, and I don't really remember being pretty happy before that.
I guess I just respond better to being a rigid, stubborn ass.
As many people have heard before
Ah, well.
Such is life.

Sunday, November 07, 2004

Lazy Sunday Afternoon



I've often read that you can put subliminal text, or information into most forms of entertainment, and get away with it. Conspiracy theorists have gone on about how our movies contain advertising, propoganda, secret cult messages, and everything in between. Its remarkable any of us have a mind of our own, anymore, with all these messages being sent into our poor little minds.
On the other hand, you have the secret cult-like clans or societies of Dan Brown, which delight in putting subliminal text into more common and open information for the sole purpose that nobody understands it, save a few smartass souls. One would think that you'd have to go through quite a bit of trouble to start doing such things, so I thought I'd start giving it a shot on Blah!
I'm going to becoming a minion of the anti-christ, or some other such nonsense, and transpose secret messages to the rest of my bretheren, who of course, don't read my blog.
This is a remarkably stupid idea, of course, but lets see how many of you spend half a minute scanning through this entry for little secret references, and cryptic messages.
Anyhow, I've been told over this last week by the smarter gender about how males are generally a dumb and senseless lot, which I agree with, and how most of them are royal jackasses, which I'm still in quandry over.
The dumb lot, however, is undeniable. Proof of the same drops daily like Manna from the Heavens, feeding the feminists who wander like Nomads through the Sinai desert. Take for example, the latest titbit(The Americans, who are a lot more prudish than they think they are, spell this word tidbit, as during the victorian times, they thought the word alluded to obvious female body parts) I came across related to the male reaction to a Whale that Exploded in Taipei, Taiwan, which boggled even me. I mean, videos are one thing, but this just took the cake. Go read both articles, if you've got the time, they're not very large.
If you read P.G Wodehouse, which is another thing I've been doing this weekend, aside from qualifying for Crossword Finals at Access 2004, you will confirm your suspicions of not only this, but another universal truth.
To make up for traditional male stupidity, so that the human race can survive in some relative peace, women have been made crazy, so as to let them put up with us. Each one I have seen (okay, I haven't seen too many, but still...), is crazy in her own special way. Of course, when you're in a large school like DPS RKP, these ways often overlap, so you can start broadly classifying them.
However, I will not do this.
You may, however, try.
What are comments for, eh?
They're certainly not for flame wars/telling me that you're stalking me in school.

Thursday, November 04, 2004

The Case of the Stairs



Here's a fun thing, for all those rumour mongers who love to proclaim that I'm nuts. I am not crazy, by the way, I am in fact the most sane member of my illustrious family, and definitely the most stable. All I have is a few little eccentricities, all of which I am aware of, and this is one of them, which is starting to become quite a major one.
See, it all started around around end of class eight, when Ma got tuberculosis. Now, if any of you don't know, TB is one of the most horrid diseases to pick up, it practically disables you from an active life, without doing any serious damage whatsoever, you just become too tired to do anything constructive, and the medicines that take care of this actually only succeed in increasing your symptoms. It's not a very fun time at all, and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. If anyone wants to go into medical research, chuck cancer and miracle cures for AIDS, take care of TB first.
I've developed digression into an art form, haven't I?
Anyhow, so as Ma was sick, and Papa was really busy with work around that time, and Bua had a hospital to Run, and my Grandmother was also very very sick, I was pretty much taking care of both of them for that time. This was made significantly tougher by Ma's stubborn refusal to have any of her gazillion knock-out pills, and quite frankly, in the same position, neither would I. They're horrid, and make you feel really bad, and don't seem to have any significant effect at all.
Anyhow, she eventually did have to have the stuff, cos we all forced her too, and it left her feeling quite knocked out most of the time. So, for a period of around a year, I had grown used to escorting her up and down the stairs of our house.
Now, habits once formed, die very hard, especially when you have slight obsessive complusive tendancies. So two years after Ma's all better, whenever she's at ground floor, and I'm going up, I sort of coerce her into going up the stairs with me. Now, this isn't a bad thing at all for anyone else but my mother, but things are now starting to get worse. I've noticed this in school, and other places, that whenver a staircase presents itself, and company is there along with me at the bottom/top of it, I feel an uncontrollable urge to take company either up or down with me.
This, then, has become a problem for poor unfortunates. I now have a paranoid compulsion to include people in my sojourns up and down the F-Block staircase, and while for the better part, company is willing, occasionally are quite reluctant, and must be forced.
At the end of the day, it's comforting to know that for even this matter, come what may, in the end it is my mother's fault.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

I'm on Drugs



Well, I'm not. And those will not be my last words, by a long shot, and as much as I would like to think so, I am not, in fact, a Golden God.
But I did have a very strange day today. Around some time after the break in school today, and sometime during the physics lab, I started getting this mellow high, reminiscent of the Beatles songs I've been listening to a lot(Try combining Strawberry Fields and Across the Universe in your head, and see what the world feels like to you). Thing have appeared to jump out at me all day, and not in the Boo! surprise kind of way, in the sort of, "look here's a three D movie, everything's in an extra dimension to you" kind of way.
Anyhow, so I exit the lab, and I've got this strange smile on my face, the kind that wants to jump out, but is restricted by the sheer smallness of your face. Since I had no particular reason to be overjoyed, and quite frankly, I was not overjoyed, I have no idea why it popped on, but everything suddenly seemed very alive. Another factor that helped was that both Copal and Damini were absent today, so there was nobody to tell me that I was plotting something evil, and that I should stop smiling immediately(these are the kind of things I have to hear on a daily basis).
So, anyhow, this lasts about twenty minutes, and then I'm back to general smileyness, right uptil this evening. Then, as I'm walking back from Tution, on the IIT road, it happens again, probably trigged by nice music, and suddenly all the things I generally blank out with loud enough music start hitting me right in the face. Thankfully, these are not cars, but twigs and branches from hanging trees, the smell of the ground, faces of people passing me by, the absolute comfort of my new pair of pants, that sort of stuff. I bet if there was an orange wall infront of me at that moment, I would immediately have said "Look, an Orange Wall!"
Suddenly, I'm able to think and listen to the music at the same time, and for the first time in a long time, thinking didn't lead to dangerous things for me.
Its been a surreal day, and I have no idea why. Sometimes, life just throws these at you, for funs sake, to tell you how little you're using your senses.
Unfortunately, we're a bunch of creeps and never listen, so we'll get back to our dull lives of studying, and the general hum drum activity that surrounds us, in some vain hope that it'll lead us to security and happiness.
Or maybe it will. As with so many other things when you're just seventeen, only time will tell.

Monday, November 01, 2004

Bhej Deeya Saala



It is finally done. My first college application has gone, and on Sixteenth December, saare forces may not be tenaab, but the Khanna Household sure will, for then, my first college desicion will come out.
Yesterday was Halloween, and I got not one but two scares, once I returned from Exun. I'm hoping both were tricks, and not a treat.
I also have to write a report about what I've done as an appointment over the past six months. Should make for decent reading.
I have nothing much to say today. So I won't say anymore.