"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."
And so the time has come for me to move on to a brand new place to explore a whole new range of emotions and experiences .
I am shifting my blog to Wordpress and can be found there hereafter . Hope to see you around in the future!
http://bnikhil.wordpress.com/
New Exclusive Music Blog
For the few of you who have dropped by 'The Woods ov NickelBlack ' in the past ...please have a dekko at the exclusive Music Review Blog by Tyrant , WDDK and me . Give your verdict ...however good or bad it may be . Thanks :)
Here's the link :
http://makemuzaknotwar.blogspot.com/
Here's the link :
http://makemuzaknotwar.blogspot.com/
A Miracle Drug : for those crazed highs and horrible lows
The subject of this post is something I connect myself very closely with and it’s been a long time since I thought of dedicating some blogspace to this . Those who know me well enough are aware that I have an unusual penchant for Extreme Metal Music ( and I say unusual because my outer appearance hardly fits the bill of a typical renegade metalhead ) . Please note that when I say extreme , I mean REAL EXTREME shit !!!
While I am not going to debate with those who feel there is no MUSIC ( elements of the usual sorts ) in Death and Black Metal , for me MUSIC in general and Extreme Metal in specific are much more than just something to please the aural apparatus . It is more like a MIRACLE DRUG which comes packed in different forms for different moods and for different purposes. Like when I return from a harrowing day of classes , the “ 300+ bpm double bass beats “ of drum annihilators like Inferno of Behemoth , Trym of Emperor or Frost of Satyricon save my tired body and mind from virtually descending in a spiral of chaos . While most would find this aforementioned ‘double bass beats’ or Death Metal noisy as hell , it erases all my worries in a single go as I let myself loose . If chaos can be eliminated only by chaos , this is my own way of dealing with the inner turbulence of my mind . Being in a single room in a hostel isolated from my other good friends , sometimes in times of boredom , music is my only companion . To the extent that some music is always booming through my woofers throughout the day and like the ever-changing shades of the daylight , the music drifts through jazz , blues , rock , metal and an occasional dash of pop . This makes me wonder what this semester would have been like without my uber-awesome sound system considering my otherwise-cool laptop has a substandard speaker system of it’s own . I mean GOOD MUSIC was there for me when I needed it the most !
The inescapable adrenaline rush you experience when your heart pounds and your head ‘bangs’ violently to the beats of Lamb of God , Amon Amarth and Slayer is something only a metalhead like me can relate to . Consider it a sort of trance only that it hasn’t been enforced via a religious ritual or so . Fortunately , a single room provides the privacy for this act of Headbanging which might be otherwise deemed as ‘crazy’ or ‘ nutloose’ by the uninitiated . The vicarious thrill you get when headbanging to a live concert being played at full volume makes you forget you are in Nagpur and momentarily transports you to the metal heavens of Wacken or Ozzfest .
On a personal note , music / metal is one of the common interests I share with my best friends who are by all means equally or more passionate about music than me . At the end of about 4 years with them , I realised the major adhesive of our social interactions in the group revolved around music where each of us maintained a common liking for the same bands while remaining fiercely loyal to atleast one ‘out-of-the-box’ or rather idiosyncratic musical group . I am indebted to them for having played and still playing a huge role by introducing me to more and more of new music by their refreshing recommendations , for without a constant supply of fresh music , I would have long ago junked music or worse still , I would’nt have been able to experience some of the best moments of my life .
Cheers and stay fucking true to METAL !!
\m/
Count Grishnackh
Madras Musings III - The Battle ov the ‘S’ ‘s
If I were to list down the things which engaged my interest and attention majorly during the time I spent a few days back in Madras , it would pretty much have to be :
1. ‘S’ambhar : I saw it everywhere . I smelled it everywhere and hell yeah ! I hogged on it everywhere . Starting from the minute I landed at Chennai Central and had a plate of the ‘ most authentic ‘ sambhar vada of Saravana Bhavan to the numerous sambhars concomitant with the dosas I had at breakfast and dinner time and to top it all the ubiquitous lunch item of sambhar rice . ‘Sambhar Slurpfest ‘ rules my gastronomic priorities hands-down :) here in Madras .
2. ‘S’ilica-Based Nanocomposites : Synthesis of nanosized particles of this material by high energy ball milling was the purported reason I was in Madras in the first place . Research work miles away from the insti. bang in the middle of a semester otherwise marked by an incredibly boring diurnal schedule of alternating between Gtalk ,Heavy Metal , hours of unproductive lectures / labs and the occasional sleep was a really welcome change .
3. ‘S’.. Hadn’t met this good friend of mine for four long months ! And when the opportunity finally came , busy schedules of ‘Work ’ forced both parties to limit the meeting to a fleeting time of 6-7 hrs .However , whoever said 6 hours wasn’t enough time to experience the vibrance of a major city was wrong !! Stopovers at S’s place ( where the sambhar slurpfest continued unabated :D in the disguise of homemade Southie food ) , Coffee Central ( an awesomeMAXX coffee bar in T.Nagar) , Gangotree Chat and offcourse watching the Sun set over the Bay of Bengal at Marina Beach to top it all . Thanks S , for making those 6 hrs the only truly ‘Happy Hours’ I had in an otherwise maddening work-dominated stay in Madras .
4. 'S'leep : Good ole sleep eluded me for 3 nights in a row . After just 7.5 hrs of sleep in over 3 days, on Sunday night , I felt like a walking and talking zombie and thought to myself , “ One more night like this and I am officially ‘DEAD’ “ .
5. 'S'un N 'S'and : The Sweltering Sun and the and the relentlessly humid weather in Madras left me wondering whether I would make it out safely from the city without dehydrating to death . I mean I know what humidity can do to you ( coming from Bombay i.e. ) but it’s a different story altogether here .
I managed to sneak in some time for Marina Beach ( with 'S' ) and Eliiot’s Beach ( with Shawshank ) and mind you for a guy who comes from Nagpur (which is right in the centre of the country far far away from any large water body :) ) the sight of the sea can bring an inexplicable amount of joy .
78 hours in Madras was hence basically a choice between spending time for one of the above S’s which thankfully at times was substituted for time with another S . And in this battle of the S’s , the combination of No.3 and No.5 win hands down :) .
I shall go now and get some of No.4 before I end up writing more mindless blah !
Cheerio ,
Count Grishnackh
1. ‘S’ambhar : I saw it everywhere . I smelled it everywhere and hell yeah ! I hogged on it everywhere . Starting from the minute I landed at Chennai Central and had a plate of the ‘ most authentic ‘ sambhar vada of Saravana Bhavan to the numerous sambhars concomitant with the dosas I had at breakfast and dinner time and to top it all the ubiquitous lunch item of sambhar rice . ‘Sambhar Slurpfest ‘ rules my gastronomic priorities hands-down :) here in Madras .
2. ‘S’ilica-Based Nanocomposites : Synthesis of nanosized particles of this material by high energy ball milling was the purported reason I was in Madras in the first place . Research work miles away from the insti. bang in the middle of a semester otherwise marked by an incredibly boring diurnal schedule of alternating between Gtalk ,Heavy Metal , hours of unproductive lectures / labs and the occasional sleep was a really welcome change .
3. ‘S’.. Hadn’t met this good friend of mine for four long months ! And when the opportunity finally came , busy schedules of ‘Work ’ forced both parties to limit the meeting to a fleeting time of 6-7 hrs .However , whoever said 6 hours wasn’t enough time to experience the vibrance of a major city was wrong !! Stopovers at S’s place ( where the sambhar slurpfest continued unabated :D in the disguise of homemade Southie food ) , Coffee Central ( an awesomeMAXX coffee bar in T.Nagar) , Gangotree Chat and offcourse watching the Sun set over the Bay of Bengal at Marina Beach to top it all . Thanks S , for making those 6 hrs the only truly ‘Happy Hours’ I had in an otherwise maddening work-dominated stay in Madras .
4. 'S'leep : Good ole sleep eluded me for 3 nights in a row . After just 7.5 hrs of sleep in over 3 days, on Sunday night , I felt like a walking and talking zombie and thought to myself , “ One more night like this and I am officially ‘DEAD’ “ .
5. 'S'un N 'S'and : The Sweltering Sun and the and the relentlessly humid weather in Madras left me wondering whether I would make it out safely from the city without dehydrating to death . I mean I know what humidity can do to you ( coming from Bombay i.e. ) but it’s a different story altogether here .
I managed to sneak in some time for Marina Beach ( with 'S' ) and Eliiot’s Beach ( with Shawshank ) and mind you for a guy who comes from Nagpur (which is right in the centre of the country far far away from any large water body :) ) the sight of the sea can bring an inexplicable amount of joy .
78 hours in Madras was hence basically a choice between spending time for one of the above S’s which thankfully at times was substituted for time with another S . And in this battle of the S’s , the combination of No.3 and No.5 win hands down :) .
I shall go now and get some of No.4 before I end up writing more mindless blah !
Cheerio ,
Count Grishnackh
Madras Musings II - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Location : Still in Nanotech Lab , MSB 201 , IIT-Madras
Time : 4.30 AM
One more day of hard work gone by and I am beginning to feel dizzy both because I haven’t had much sleep the last 2 nights and also coming to terms with realising the amount of work I have done in the same period . It is indeed true that you never realise your potential till you stretch yourself to the limits . So , I sit here waiting for Saturday to give way to a much-awaited Sunday !
In general , I am always psyched up on Sundays but also have the infamous habit of having never ONCE in the last 3 yrs of my happy undergraduate life do anything constructive on Sundays . If history were to repeat itself today , I fear some serious repercussions on my project . But a Sunday is a Sunday ( and this one particularly promises to be ‘LEGENDARY ‘ ) . So , I’m gonna have my share of fun today !! Time to SUIT UP & BUZZ OFF !
Cheerio !
Count Grishnackh
Time : 4.30 AM
One more day of hard work gone by and I am beginning to feel dizzy both because I haven’t had much sleep the last 2 nights and also coming to terms with realising the amount of work I have done in the same period . It is indeed true that you never realise your potential till you stretch yourself to the limits . So , I sit here waiting for Saturday to give way to a much-awaited Sunday !
In general , I am always psyched up on Sundays but also have the infamous habit of having never ONCE in the last 3 yrs of my happy undergraduate life do anything constructive on Sundays . If history were to repeat itself today , I fear some serious repercussions on my project . But a Sunday is a Sunday ( and this one particularly promises to be ‘LEGENDARY ‘ ) . So , I’m gonna have my share of fun today !! Time to SUIT UP & BUZZ OFF !
Cheerio !
Count Grishnackh
Madras Musings I - MSB 201
Location : Nanotech. Lab , 201 , Mechanical Sciences Block , IIT Madras
Time : 4.30 AM
Waiting impatiently for the last run of the High energy ball mill .Its been 10 hrs of nonstop work here and I can hear the Ball Mill begging me to stop it and urging me to give us both a break !
So it all starts here ; we ( two enthu punters : Shawshank & me :) ) left Nagpur this Thursday for Tam-Land with the mission ( actually Final Yr. BTP work ) of synthesising Al-Mg-SiO2 nanocomposite powders using the High energy Ball Milling facility at IITM ( excuse the technical blah here :) ) . In short , the experiment requires both of us to be awake for most of a 48 hr-marathon operation period of the machine followed by 10 hrs of analysis on the aforementioned results . Needless to say the project experience sounds demanding enough but the real challenge came up when we were told that our accommodation arrangements ( made in advance ) had mysteriously been cancelled and we had two options : to share a really cramped hostel room with 2 other M.Tech students or else sleep in the lab itself . We chose the latter and hence MSB 201 was to be our home for the next 3.5 days and 3 nights . We would work , eat , sleep , drink , surf the net and offcourse even blog from the lab . Initially , sleeping on newspapers or a thin bedsheet surrounded by huge N2 cylinders and multi-crore worth instruments was a wee bit uncomfortable but we were so goddamn weary to fret over all this and decided to instead enjoy the very few hrs of sleep we were getting .
Both of us were overwhelmed by the trust of the IITM lab guys and the freedom they gave us ( two total strangers whose work benefitted none at IITM :) ) within 10 mins of our stay in the Lab . They gave us the full responsibility of the Lab with an individual set of keys too which helped us work throughout the night too . Sadly , our own Meta. Dept. @ VNIT has never allowed us to use certain so-called ‘ expensive ‘ lab instruments by ourselves or ever stay in the Lab beyond 5 P.M. Otherwise , the weather is a bit too hot to be comfortable and the food is too good to miss !
One day gone ...SO FAR SO GOOD !
Cheerio !
Count Grishnackh
The Lonely root ov Three
I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three
The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out ov sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine
For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic
I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality
When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root ov a three
As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer
We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands
Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed
P.S. I conned this from a movie i just saw . Clever shit , isn't it :) ??
Cheerio !!
The Roll ov Morality & Moghe !
On September 5 ( Teacher’s Day ) this year , I was wondering about what this day meant to me personally i.e. if there was truly any teacher whom I respected greatly ( for a final year VNITian like me , this question is bound to generally yield no answers :) ) . I felt strongly about putting down my thoughts on paper but could not owing to several reasons . And this train of thought was fuelled by a sudden contempt for the college authorities ( chiefly comprising of the faculty ) after last week’s ‘UGLY’ unfolding of events in the hostels . So it’s basically the precipitation of a certain solution of thought influenced majorly by some events in the college last week .
Part I : Ov Moghe
In my whole academic life so far , never has any teacher influenced me as profoundly as Mr. D.V.Moghe , a professor who has been teaching me for the past two years in my Dept. in VNIT .
Here are a few reasons why ...
Firstly , He performs the stupendous task of teaching two of the driest ( and by dry I mean REALLY DRY here :) ) subjects in the undergraduate curriculum of Metallurgical Engineering . But you have to ‘see to believe’ the remarkable way in which he infuses energy in the otherwise lifeless subject content . Infact , he has even managed to convince a majority of the students to consider this subject as their favourite or at the least get them to be interested enough to have the heart to attend his classes and the examination .
Secondly , he is one of the very few professors in the whole college who communicates in near-flawless English . Infact , his diction reminds many of the infamous (Word list) GRE-prep book BARRONS .
Thirdly , his sense of discipline might put any army man to shame . In the 3 semesters he has taught us , there has not been a single instance in which he has shirked from his duty. And to complement that , we have responded by never ever ‘mass-bunking’ his classes ( for the uninitiated ; Mass Bunk is an ignominy most of the teachers have to face in the insti . Its a rather blatant way of the students telling the prof. that they don’t give a F*** about them :D . About a week back , he told us about how on the day of his wedding reception he attended the function in the morning and returned in time the same afternoon for his ‘teaching duty’ . Agreed that this act is taking discipline too far but in general it speaks great volumes about his love and respect for discipline .
Fourthly , he is one of the most well-read persons I have ever met . And by this statement , I don’t mean that he is just well-read in his subject field but in all current affairs : from cricket to religion to politics to just about anything . This helps him in peppering his lectures with anecdotes and opinions which keeps us students perpetually interested .
Lastly , on a personal level I have been priviledged enough to share a beer with him when I accidentally bumped into him during my Research Internship in IISc Bangalore this summer . That evening he opened up ( like any man does in the influence of alcohol :D ) to me like a friend and the discussion that ensued was very fruitful .
Part II : Ov Morality
Last week in the insti. The ( goddamn jobless authorities ) spoiled the party for certain batchmates of mine by rusticating them from the hostel for smoking and drinking ( in a rather peaceful manner ! ) in their rooms . This , I feel is the height of Moral policing ; I mean HOW and WHY are the authorities concerned with controlling the habits of 21-24 yr old adults here when they have far better things to worry about . That is a right to which only the student himself or at max. His parents are entitled to .
Part III : The Roll
It all begins in today’s lecture of Moghe Sir who at the end of the class broached upon the last week’s incident for discussion with the students . Firstly , he said he was ashamed of us because we didn’t do anything about contesting this issue with the authorities . It is easier for me to quote him hence “ The authorities have ABSOLUTELY no right to break open the door of an adult male in the college and pry upon his activities ( apparently the students laughed uncontrollably at this :D ) , whatsoever they may be as long as it is blatantly injuring someone else in any sense . If such a thing would have taken place when I was a student here ( in the 80’s ) , the student community would have caused a major uproar and I for one ( smiles ..) , would never have completed my college education had they ever invaded my privacy in the same way as they did now . “ While we were all stunned by his reaction and his overall pro-student take on this issue , he firmly concluded by quoting Lord Macaulay “ MORALITY IS PREACHED ONLY BY THOSE WHO ALWAYS WANTED TO SIN , BUT COULD NOT “ . This peroration of his was not greeted by an expected ovation but I could see that in just one verbal swing he had aggrandized his image among his students to a level matched by none in the department or probably in the college .
Personally , his talk left my mind distracted with the thought or rather the possibility : “ WHY COULDNT THE REST OF OUR COLLEGE AUTHORITIES , FACULTY ( esp. The Director ) THINK ON THE SAME LINES AND MAKE VNIT A MUCH BETTER PLACE TO LIVE IN ?? “ .
Moral of the story : We need more teachers like Moghe Sir in the college and we need them badly and urgently . The authorities have wronged the students and let us down time and again in this period of our 3-year stay in the college . I sincerely believe that the college authorities need to have a major soul-check in the near future so that they can salvage atleast some respect from their graduating batches and the batches to follow .
Part I : Ov Moghe
In my whole academic life so far , never has any teacher influenced me as profoundly as Mr. D.V.Moghe , a professor who has been teaching me for the past two years in my Dept. in VNIT .
Here are a few reasons why ...
Firstly , He performs the stupendous task of teaching two of the driest ( and by dry I mean REALLY DRY here :) ) subjects in the undergraduate curriculum of Metallurgical Engineering . But you have to ‘see to believe’ the remarkable way in which he infuses energy in the otherwise lifeless subject content . Infact , he has even managed to convince a majority of the students to consider this subject as their favourite or at the least get them to be interested enough to have the heart to attend his classes and the examination .
Secondly , he is one of the very few professors in the whole college who communicates in near-flawless English . Infact , his diction reminds many of the infamous (Word list) GRE-prep book BARRONS .
Thirdly , his sense of discipline might put any army man to shame . In the 3 semesters he has taught us , there has not been a single instance in which he has shirked from his duty. And to complement that , we have responded by never ever ‘mass-bunking’ his classes ( for the uninitiated ; Mass Bunk is an ignominy most of the teachers have to face in the insti . Its a rather blatant way of the students telling the prof. that they don’t give a F*** about them :D . About a week back , he told us about how on the day of his wedding reception he attended the function in the morning and returned in time the same afternoon for his ‘teaching duty’ . Agreed that this act is taking discipline too far but in general it speaks great volumes about his love and respect for discipline .
Fourthly , he is one of the most well-read persons I have ever met . And by this statement , I don’t mean that he is just well-read in his subject field but in all current affairs : from cricket to religion to politics to just about anything . This helps him in peppering his lectures with anecdotes and opinions which keeps us students perpetually interested .
Lastly , on a personal level I have been priviledged enough to share a beer with him when I accidentally bumped into him during my Research Internship in IISc Bangalore this summer . That evening he opened up ( like any man does in the influence of alcohol :D ) to me like a friend and the discussion that ensued was very fruitful .
Part II : Ov Morality
Last week in the insti. The ( goddamn jobless authorities ) spoiled the party for certain batchmates of mine by rusticating them from the hostel for smoking and drinking ( in a rather peaceful manner ! ) in their rooms . This , I feel is the height of Moral policing ; I mean HOW and WHY are the authorities concerned with controlling the habits of 21-24 yr old adults here when they have far better things to worry about . That is a right to which only the student himself or at max. His parents are entitled to .
Part III : The Roll
It all begins in today’s lecture of Moghe Sir who at the end of the class broached upon the last week’s incident for discussion with the students . Firstly , he said he was ashamed of us because we didn’t do anything about contesting this issue with the authorities . It is easier for me to quote him hence “ The authorities have ABSOLUTELY no right to break open the door of an adult male in the college and pry upon his activities ( apparently the students laughed uncontrollably at this :D ) , whatsoever they may be as long as it is blatantly injuring someone else in any sense . If such a thing would have taken place when I was a student here ( in the 80’s ) , the student community would have caused a major uproar and I for one ( smiles ..) , would never have completed my college education had they ever invaded my privacy in the same way as they did now . “ While we were all stunned by his reaction and his overall pro-student take on this issue , he firmly concluded by quoting Lord Macaulay “ MORALITY IS PREACHED ONLY BY THOSE WHO ALWAYS WANTED TO SIN , BUT COULD NOT “ . This peroration of his was not greeted by an expected ovation but I could see that in just one verbal swing he had aggrandized his image among his students to a level matched by none in the department or probably in the college .
Personally , his talk left my mind distracted with the thought or rather the possibility : “ WHY COULDNT THE REST OF OUR COLLEGE AUTHORITIES , FACULTY ( esp. The Director ) THINK ON THE SAME LINES AND MAKE VNIT A MUCH BETTER PLACE TO LIVE IN ?? “ .
Moral of the story : We need more teachers like Moghe Sir in the college and we need them badly and urgently . The authorities have wronged the students and let us down time and again in this period of our 3-year stay in the college . I sincerely believe that the college authorities need to have a major soul-check in the near future so that they can salvage atleast some respect from their graduating batches and the batches to follow .
30 Hrs in the Good Bay !
Life has been extremely uninteresting and drab for most of the time this semester in VNIT :( . So I decided to set off on an impromptu jaunt back home this weekend . I had a rail ticket booked 2 weeks in advance ( There's a long story behind that , the details of which I spare u :P ) but made up my mind to go with this 'whim' of mine 3 hrs before the departure of the train from Nagpur to the ' Good Bay ' . Considering I was anyways going to screw around another weekend in Nagpur , I felt that 30 hrs @ Home would be a better option instead .
Fortunately , my train journey was fun thanks to the awesomeness of Aggie's presence ( another equally 'whimsical' person here :) ) & infi. rounds of dozing off accompanied by blissful hours on the iPod . On reaching home , my Mom who opened the door was shell-shocked !! She expected the Chauffeur who generally reported for duty at his regular time in the morning and instead found me at the doorstep . Needless to say , Dad and Bro were equally surprised :) .
Later that evening , we all went out to dine at an amazing restaurant serving authentic Oriental cuisine . But the highlight of the evening was undoubtedly BEER which I had with my Dad ( and ya , rite in front of my Mom :) who btw is 'not so cool' about me drinking up ). That beer was definitely SOMETHING :) .
And here I am , 3 hrs before leaving Bom Bahia ( The Good Bay ) to return to the rut of VNIT life :( doing what I do best when I am jobless ...BLOGGING !!
Cheerio ,
" The Destroyer of Lies "
Fortunately , my train journey was fun thanks to the awesomeness of Aggie's presence ( another equally 'whimsical' person here :) ) & infi. rounds of dozing off accompanied by blissful hours on the iPod . On reaching home , my Mom who opened the door was shell-shocked !! She expected the Chauffeur who generally reported for duty at his regular time in the morning and instead found me at the doorstep . Needless to say , Dad and Bro were equally surprised :) .
Later that evening , we all went out to dine at an amazing restaurant serving authentic Oriental cuisine . But the highlight of the evening was undoubtedly BEER which I had with my Dad ( and ya , rite in front of my Mom :) who btw is 'not so cool' about me drinking up ). That beer was definitely SOMETHING :) .
And here I am , 3 hrs before leaving Bom Bahia ( The Good Bay ) to return to the rut of VNIT life :( doing what I do best when I am jobless ...BLOGGING !!
Cheerio ,
" The Destroyer of Lies "
Sometimes Laughter is the only medicine :D
OK....just like this twitter tweet here , everywhere I go , I keep hearing those two dreaded words : SWINE FLU . In the hostel , the campus , in the city outside , the papers , the WWW etc. So much has been said and done about the symptoms of it and how to tackle the same . I personally feel that the media has blown things way out of proportion causing the outbreak of not just the Swine Flu Epidemic but also a concomitant Swine Flu Mass Hysteria . Believe it or not , the latter seems to rule the roost in terms of it's impact on the public . Nevertheless , I do not intend to make this post a superfluous extension of what is already been dished out in the media.
In such an inexorable condition , we can find some respite in Laughter , which sometimes is the only medicine to an illness . So lighten yourself up peeps !
And have a nice and safe day :) .
( from some arbit site ....> )
Some Ways to Catch Swine Flu:
1. Stuff bacon in your surgical mask.
2. Sit next to pig on an airplane.
3. Lick a pig.
4. Convince boss to hire a pig. Share a cubicle.
5. Sniff a pig.
6. Shake hands with pig and don't wash.
7. Take pig on romantic date. Kiss goodnight.
8. Use curly pig tail as dental floss.
9. Order a milkshake. Share straw with pig.
10. Compliment a co-dependant pig until it follows you everywhere.
11. Fill oxygen tank with pig breath. Inhale deeply.
12. Leave pig in your car on a hot day. Take a road trip.
13. Share a lollipop with pig.
:D
The Blackmetaller’s Guide to the GRE :)
Blogging after a long time . Courtesy GRE . Thankfully , I am done with it . An OK score of 1460 ( Quant: 800 , Verbal:660 :( ) .
Although the title of the post gives the idea that the post is a didactical treatise on how to study for the GRE , it actually isn’t . I have just listed the material I used for the same and added my views here and there . Nothing more , nothing less . It is upto thy intelligent self to winnow the useful stuff from the one which isn’t ....
For Verbal :
1. Mugged Barrons ....No ifs and buts here sadly !!
2. Solved all the Big Book Tests . U’ll find a host of new words here too....especially in the analogy questions . Do them !! And chances are you’ll never run out of them during your prep. duration .
3. Read the ‘Kaplan’s Verbal ‘ Ebook.....has certain fundae on how to approach various sections of the Verbal exam . Browse through. The word lists too deserve a glimpse for they are pretty well-organised and grouped .
4. “ 63 RC’s “ . Ignore this one if you are already able to crack the Big Book RC’s effortlessly . Personally , I used to always make a few mistakes in RC’s ...hence I used this ebook. It has an amazing collection of GMAT/GRE level passages . Again , there are so many that you’ll never run out of them !!
5. Prof. M.Krupa Shanker’s Audio Lists ( Only the ‘ Analogies ‘ and ‘ Special Words’ . These are 2 audio files ( 10-15 mins duration ..i think ) . Here are some words you can note down for analogies .....for e.g collective nouns , words related to a particular subject etc. The alternative for this Audio thingie is exploring a Thesaurus , but again , I didn’t have enough time to do the latter .
6 . Lastly , all your efforts in building a strong Vocabulary will remain incomplete if you don’t supplement it with section-wise tests on a regular basis . In the initial period of your prep , do Big Book , Princeton Review CD ( Really Easy !! ) , Kaplan ( A lil scary initially..sum tough words ) and Cambridge . And yeah ..the Powerprep section-wise practice exercises too .
For Quant :
Prepared very little for this section ....
I read through the Fundae in Barron’s . Solved a few examples here and there .
Did the same with an ebook “ Nova GRE “ . And the ‘ ETS GRE Math Review ‘ . That’s it .
Do some tests ( from the CD’s mentioned for Verbal ) and u shud be fine . Mind you , the actual GRE quants are slightly tougher ( cuz they take more time and require a tiny bit more of thinking ) . Avoid making silly mistakes and you should be through with a perfect score here !!
For AWA :
I wrote just ONE essay each for the Issue and Argument types two days before the exam . Was too lazy to practise more . Do read through the sample essays in ‘ ARCO’s Essay Book ‘ . Its an amazing book with samples based on the ETS list of issues and arguments . Get a basic feel on how to approach the section otherwise from the ETS AWA tutorial . That should be more than enough to land you a decent score .
Other useful material and links :
www.number2.com
www.greguide.com
Dr.Raju’s GRE ( check out the Orkut version of this page otherwise for most recent Quant and Verbal Questions faced by others for an idea !!
500 questions on Antonyms , Sentence Completion , Quantitative Comparison etc.etc. ( all separate ebooks ).
That is about it ...i guess . It resulted in a decent score for me ....and hopefully atleast some of this might help you get a decent or probably a better score !!
Cheers ,
Count Grishnackh ( The Blackest ov the Black )
p.s. In case the readers of this post give the GRE in the future and come out with flying colours , they MUST treat the author or atleast drop a comment here :) .
Although the title of the post gives the idea that the post is a didactical treatise on how to study for the GRE , it actually isn’t . I have just listed the material I used for the same and added my views here and there . Nothing more , nothing less . It is upto thy intelligent self to winnow the useful stuff from the one which isn’t ....
For Verbal :
1. Mugged Barrons ....No ifs and buts here sadly !!
2. Solved all the Big Book Tests . U’ll find a host of new words here too....especially in the analogy questions . Do them !! And chances are you’ll never run out of them during your prep. duration .
3. Read the ‘Kaplan’s Verbal ‘ Ebook.....has certain fundae on how to approach various sections of the Verbal exam . Browse through. The word lists too deserve a glimpse for they are pretty well-organised and grouped .
4. “ 63 RC’s “ . Ignore this one if you are already able to crack the Big Book RC’s effortlessly . Personally , I used to always make a few mistakes in RC’s ...hence I used this ebook. It has an amazing collection of GMAT/GRE level passages . Again , there are so many that you’ll never run out of them !!
5. Prof. M.Krupa Shanker’s Audio Lists ( Only the ‘ Analogies ‘ and ‘ Special Words’ . These are 2 audio files ( 10-15 mins duration ..i think ) . Here are some words you can note down for analogies .....for e.g collective nouns , words related to a particular subject etc. The alternative for this Audio thingie is exploring a Thesaurus , but again , I didn’t have enough time to do the latter .
6 . Lastly , all your efforts in building a strong Vocabulary will remain incomplete if you don’t supplement it with section-wise tests on a regular basis . In the initial period of your prep , do Big Book , Princeton Review CD ( Really Easy !! ) , Kaplan ( A lil scary initially..sum tough words ) and Cambridge . And yeah ..the Powerprep section-wise practice exercises too .
For Quant :
Prepared very little for this section ....
I read through the Fundae in Barron’s . Solved a few examples here and there .
Did the same with an ebook “ Nova GRE “ . And the ‘ ETS GRE Math Review ‘ . That’s it .
Do some tests ( from the CD’s mentioned for Verbal ) and u shud be fine . Mind you , the actual GRE quants are slightly tougher ( cuz they take more time and require a tiny bit more of thinking ) . Avoid making silly mistakes and you should be through with a perfect score here !!
For AWA :
I wrote just ONE essay each for the Issue and Argument types two days before the exam . Was too lazy to practise more . Do read through the sample essays in ‘ ARCO’s Essay Book ‘ . Its an amazing book with samples based on the ETS list of issues and arguments . Get a basic feel on how to approach the section otherwise from the ETS AWA tutorial . That should be more than enough to land you a decent score .
Other useful material and links :
www.number2.com
www.greguide.com
Dr.Raju’s GRE ( check out the Orkut version of this page otherwise for most recent Quant and Verbal Questions faced by others for an idea !!
500 questions on Antonyms , Sentence Completion , Quantitative Comparison etc.etc. ( all separate ebooks ).
That is about it ...i guess . It resulted in a decent score for me ....and hopefully atleast some of this might help you get a decent or probably a better score !!
Cheers ,
Count Grishnackh ( The Blackest ov the Black )
p.s. In case the readers of this post give the GRE in the future and come out with flying colours , they MUST treat the author or atleast drop a comment here :) .
Snake Reverie / Benzene ??
Place : 10 July 2009 , 11.00 AM , Nerul , Navi Mumbai
"I turned my chair towards my window and dozed. Again the words were gamboling before my eyes. ... My mental eye... could not distinguish larger words , of manifold conformation; long ones , sometimes more closely related together; all twining and twisting in snakelike motion. But look! What was that? One of the snakes had seized hold of its own tail, and the WORD whirled mockingly before my eyes. As if by a flash of lighting I awoke...and wrote this post " - Nikhil Balachander
Folks , this could be an after-effect of continously mugging vocab for GRE !!
On second thought however it could also be an inane adaptation of the famous reptilian dream Fredrich August von Kekule (a German chemist)claimed he had and resulted in the discovery of the ring-shaped chemical structure of benzene in 1865. Although some scholars now believe that Kekule's dream was a hoax to avoid sharing credit for the discovery of the hexagonal shape of benzene, it still makes a wonderful story. :P :P
Cheers!
Summer of '09
" Oh when I look back now
That summer seemed to last forever
And if I had the choice
Yeah - I'd always wanna be there
Those were the best days of my life"
Ah....Sigh! I am back to the grind after two AWESOME months in Bangalore . The city , the IISc campus ( where i stayed ) , the clime , the food ( a gastronomic adventure to be precise : put some Chinese from Chungs ( or Chunk's :D ), some unparalleled Italian from Freska's , a much forgettable outing at Cafe Pazcuccino , heavenly Pizza Hut and to top it all the deadly DeathByChoc ( i have died thrice :P )and the gelato at Italicks ( where a certain much-feared Count happily glutted himself with Strawberry Sundae :D ) , and most importantly new-found buddies ( who are the REASON the entire experience was so much more memorable ) have left an indelible mark on my mind . The long walks through the canopied roads to the lab , the mess and back to the hostel , the mess-food :P , Tea-Board , Nesara, Gobi Manchurian etc. followed by infinitely long yaking sessions at midnight in Gym Cafe , associated lukkhagiri ( :P ) at JVH helped maintain an equipoise in my head which was just short of getting holistically screwed by the burden of my research project . This hurriedly-written post is dedicated to Bangalore and the folks ( especially N & S )there !!
Cheers ,
Count Grishnackh
" We're in Manila. Come on, gorilla; this is a thriller "
This pic of a gorilla ( in the background ) is the last pic in a series of photo-posts on Mysore Zoo ( phew!!).
I have tried to use the INVERSE-FOCUS technique of digital photography . Am not so sure if i was successful in capturing the effect . :P
P.S. the title of the post was quoted by JOE FRAZIER ( also known as Smokin' Joe ) , the legendary World Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the 60's .
Curry-Bashing !!
CURRY BASHING : Local Term ( Aussie ) for the hate-attacks on Indians .
As i write this blog post , my brothers and sisters in Australia are going ' down under ' the ignominy of being the victims in horrendous racially-motivated attacks . In what seems to me like a ' Us-vs-Them ' conflict stemming from the xenophobic attitude among some of the Aussies who feel threatened by the overwhelming influence young skilled Indian Graduates are having on their economy , enough has been said by the Aussie Politicians about these incidents not being racially motivated but ‘opportunistic’ crimes against Indians who are primarily seen as a ‘soft & weak’ target . For a potent government , issuing such statements which strictly brands a section of the people as ‘ soft and weak ‘ is deplorable .
Yesterday in one of the newspapers I read that Aussie kids as young as 10-12 yrs of age have been reported to have called Indian adults by derogatory terms on the streets and other public places . The point I am trying to bring out here is that such incidents will become rampant in the future if these young kids are not sensitized to ‘racial equality’ in due course of time . I personally have no idea whether it is just Australia or that such events do occur in other countries and are going unnoticed . While some amount of distress on the part of the native population towards the foreigners is understandable , incidents of this kind wherein innocent Indians are stabbed brutally with a screwdriver are simply unacceptable . I pray for the welfare of the entire Indian student communtiy Down Under which is reeling under a cloud of fear and uncertainty right now and also hope that the Indian government and the youth take a strong stand on this event .
Bangalore Blues
Ah!! What an awesome week this was !! It all started last sunday when i was pulled out from my typical languid couch-potato- like state ( my comfort zone :P ) at home and thrown (literally!!) into the mandatory summer-project groove . So , i took a bus from Mumbai to Bangalore ( a not-so-bad duration of 15 hrs ) and landed at IISc . For the unitiated , IISc ( Indian Institute of Science ) is a 100 year old premier research and science education situated on a 440-acre lush green campus in Bangalore . I was allotted a room not in a hostel but a Guest house and without a doubt , the Guest House is amazing like the pic will tell you . Besides the Guest house , the mess here is amazing . Never knew ( esp. After 3 yrs of Hostel food in VNIT ) that mess food could atleast match the satisfaction of Home-food .
After 5 days of hard work in the project ( which btw is super-exciting but super-tough too ) , i finally got a chance to chill out outside the campus today . Whoa ! The city impressed me to no limits. If i were to make a list of the fantastic things i found in this city it would be :
1. The Buses .... pretty good . Either equal to or better than BEST of Mumbai .
2. The Malls .... amazing . Definitely better than Mumbai .
3. The Chicks in the Malls and in the surroundings...the best these eyes have ever seen :D
4.The Rock n Metal Culture ....it runs in the blood of the youth of B'Lore for sure . I walked into a McD which was full of families and the usual Bachha party and the music being played to everyone's enjoyment was “ System of a Down “ etc. Where else my friends can you see such unabashed public appreciation for Metal Music ??
Went to a shop on Brigade Road ( recommended on Facebook ) .The shop had a bloody collection of shirts , posters , caps and wat not of every frickin metal band that has ever existed . Even the rarest of the Black Metal Band T-shirts were available all under one roof . I have checked out Metal T-Shirt Shops everywhere Mumbai , Madras , Nagpur , Delhi and even Himachal but abs. No match for this place !!
THIS IS THE METAL CAPITAL OF INDIA ( undoubtedly !)
5.The Pubs ...almost one springing out in every corner of the city . Heavy Metal Pubs inviting you to pitchers of beer or be it the usual Hard Rock Cafe , Sports Pub , Guzzler's Inn etc.
6.Etc. Etc. Etc . :P
This was my 1st week in B'Lore and it was mind-blowing to say the least . Have 8 more weeks to go . Lots of work surely , Lots of fun too hopefully !!
Ah... i am tired . After a day of pigging on pizza from Pizza Hut ( after 18 months :P ), Juices , Shakes from various parlors , 'Cookie Man ' Australian Cookies and Ice-cream , McD's etc.etc. And lastly writing this painfully long blogpost , I finally decide to call it a day .
POLY-TICKS !!!
Polyticks , a neologism derived from Politics, n: [Poly "many" + ticks "blood-sucking parasites"]
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~Richard Armour
It is the election season everywhere and here too in VNIT , the student council elections are scheduled for next week ( Considering our College’s notorious reputation for impunctuality , i wouldn’t be surprised if it is held 3-4 months later :P ). I , for one am really AMUSED by the scenario this year , primarily because my batchmates are the candidates in question and secondly , believe it or not a record number of 38 guys are fighting it out for just 10 ‘coveted’ posts of the VNIT Student Council .
The last statement would have definitely cracked you up ...in the sense . You are left wondering , either there are just too many guys who wish to stand up and make a difference to the college and it’s functioning or there are just far-too many attention-hungry , thoroughly-confused souls who wish to just add some zing to their not-so-happening college lives by this medium .
Here are a few famous quotes which rush to my mind whenever i think about the elections in VNIT and politics in general .
1. The general attitude of a VNIT student voter :
“ Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against. “
2. My attitude as a VNIT student voter :
“ I'd like to vote for the best man, but he's not even a candidate. “
3. On receiving a mail cum manifesto of a candidate for the Acad. Sec stating categorically “ I do not want your vote , I would like to earn it “
“ In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant. “
4. My predicted reaction at 7.30 PM on the 13th of April 2009 when the results are finally announced :
“ When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it.”
5. When posed with the question as to why , WHY IN GOD’S NAME would 38 guys from a single batch of students fight pointlessly for 10 posts , WHY again ??
“ There are far too many men in politics and not enough elsewhere.”
6. In general :
" During a campaign the air is full of speeches - and vice versa. "
In reference to Points 5 and 6 and after listening to many speeches in person by the various candidates as to how they would like to fight for the changes they had envisioned for a better VNIT , I wonder how these ‘CANDIDATES’ are suddenly infused with this newfound passion of reforming VNIT. Why couldn’t they take these issues ( which supposedly are so close to their heart )up individually at various times throughout the year . Why all of you and all of a sudden NOW ??
Note : the author wishes to convey his views which may or may not be POLITICALLY CORRECT and apologises to anybody offended ( subject to if any of the candidates ever read it i.e. ):P
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~Richard Armour
It is the election season everywhere and here too in VNIT , the student council elections are scheduled for next week ( Considering our College’s notorious reputation for impunctuality , i wouldn’t be surprised if it is held 3-4 months later :P ). I , for one am really AMUSED by the scenario this year , primarily because my batchmates are the candidates in question and secondly , believe it or not a record number of 38 guys are fighting it out for just 10 ‘coveted’ posts of the VNIT Student Council .
The last statement would have definitely cracked you up ...in the sense . You are left wondering , either there are just too many guys who wish to stand up and make a difference to the college and it’s functioning or there are just far-too many attention-hungry , thoroughly-confused souls who wish to just add some zing to their not-so-happening college lives by this medium .
Here are a few famous quotes which rush to my mind whenever i think about the elections in VNIT and politics in general .
1. The general attitude of a VNIT student voter :
“ Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against. “
2. My attitude as a VNIT student voter :
“ I'd like to vote for the best man, but he's not even a candidate. “
3. On receiving a mail cum manifesto of a candidate for the Acad. Sec stating categorically “ I do not want your vote , I would like to earn it “
“ In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant. “
4. My predicted reaction at 7.30 PM on the 13th of April 2009 when the results are finally announced :
“ When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it.”
5. When posed with the question as to why , WHY IN GOD’S NAME would 38 guys from a single batch of students fight pointlessly for 10 posts , WHY again ??
“ There are far too many men in politics and not enough elsewhere.”
6. In general :
" During a campaign the air is full of speeches - and vice versa. "
In reference to Points 5 and 6 and after listening to many speeches in person by the various candidates as to how they would like to fight for the changes they had envisioned for a better VNIT , I wonder how these ‘CANDIDATES’ are suddenly infused with this newfound passion of reforming VNIT. Why couldn’t they take these issues ( which supposedly are so close to their heart )up individually at various times throughout the year . Why all of you and all of a sudden NOW ??
Note : the author wishes to convey his views which may or may not be POLITICALLY CORRECT and apologises to anybody offended ( subject to if any of the candidates ever read it i.e. ):P
All Burnt .....
I write this post after seeing yet another film based on one of the greatest crimes man has been involved in : The HOLOCAUST ! The film in this case is ' The Boy in Striped Pyjamas ' . While the viewer may almost give up on the movie realising the entire film just reiterates what has been shown time and again before , the portrayal of the entire phenomenon of the Holocaust and its widespread impact on an innocent 8-yr old's mind is touching . But the reason the movie is truly wonderful is the unexpected ' TRAGEDY ' which unfolds at the end and takes the viewer completely by surprise . Do watch it folks ... and lemme know how you find it !
Other Holocaust-films I have watched and recommend strongly are :\
1. Schindler's List
2. The Pianist
3. Sophie's Choice
4. Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage (or Sophie Scholl – The Final Days )
5. and most recently The Reader
Of Bullshit , Maids and Chicken !
In case you are wondering if I have gone nuts totally and am dishing out some jibber-jabber in the title of his blog-post just to seek the attention that i never got , HOLD ON !!!
A word-to-word clarification of the relevance of the title :
Bullshit : YES--> Many might find this post as bullshit !!
Maids : NO--> I am not a pervert and this post has nothing about me fantasising about maids! :P
and thirdly CHICKEN : NO --> no relation to the post except for a dig at the author who has very often 'not-so-fondly' been called one for his timid nature !!
But most of all , the title is my take on a recent blog post of my dear friend ( also a prolific blog writer ... BE ENTERTAINED @ http://blahblah-etc.blogspot.com/ ) which dealt with his experience of last week's IRON MAIDEN LIVE @ Bangalore .
So , Here I am travelling all alone from Nagpur to Mumbai ( my home ) after a long and 'EVENTful' week . The train has just halted at BADNERA and so has my torrent of thoughts . Amidst the noisy bonhomie around me , I 'enigmatically ponder' over what the last week has been like for me and decide to give direction to my random thoughts on paper .
I backed out at the very last minute from an exciting plan to attend the MAIDEN concert , a plan which had been eagerly rolled out by me and a few close friends over a month ago . And while they had the best time of their life at Bangalore , I 'happily' spent my time sleeping around in my hostel room back at NGP . It happened so that i simply went into a ' PSEUDO-DENIAL' mood ( one responsible for my long history of ugly backouts ) just around 2 days before they left which techincally is an inexplicable mental barrier which just dint allow me to think otherwise. While T,S, WDDK might laugh this reason off as another of my failed attempts to be ' independent' , this is TRULY the reason . The initial fervour and excitement somehow seemed to have fizzled out of me . Call me a MOODY GUY or watever !!
I am an ardent devotee of extreme metal music ( music very extreme and harsh to the common man's ears ) and i do listen to MAIDEN but truly I am not as crazy about them as I would be of a lesser known Norwegian Black metal Band ' SATYRICON ' who graced Mumbai earlier last year . I am really happy my friends had a blast in the moshpit , pampered themselves to great food and icecream ( DBC especially ) etc.etc. and i feel bad that i cudnt be part of those fab. moments , but BELIEVE IT OR NOT , not once did i sit sulking in my room thinking over my decison to miss MAIDEN for apparently no CONCRETE reason !
I quote a good friend which aptly describes the mood here :
" Sometimes JLT ( just like that ) is a good enough reason to do or not to do things " ( Aggie aka Weasel King , Source : DC Private chat dated 17-02-09 )
I have experienced the moshpit and the raw heaviness of LIVE METAL MUSIC . I also realize that i would be insulting IRON MAIDEN by comparing their ( 20,000-strong crowd )concert to SATYRICON's ( 2000-strong crowd ) gig . But the underlying emphasis thruout the post is that of a 'PERSONAL CHOICE' which may/ may not seem right to others but it somehow seemed right to me ! ) . As pompous as i may sound for making such a statement I would like to consider this as a meek reply to rest claims of me having a long-ugly history of backouts and being a spoilsport of some kind !!
On a rather dramatic finishing note , I would defintely have preferred to know that my close FRIENDS ( who have stayed with me for the past 3 years i.e. ) atleast would judge me better . More so as a guy who would on any day hang up his boots and soak the rain on a WET road with his friends than travel all alone along a DRY path in a quest to be different !!!
A word-to-word clarification of the relevance of the title :
Bullshit : YES--> Many might find this post as bullshit !!
Maids : NO--> I am not a pervert and this post has nothing about me fantasising about maids! :P
and thirdly CHICKEN : NO --> no relation to the post except for a dig at the author who has very often 'not-so-fondly' been called one for his timid nature !!
But most of all , the title is my take on a recent blog post of my dear friend ( also a prolific blog writer ... BE ENTERTAINED @ http://blahblah-etc.blogspot.com/ ) which dealt with his experience of last week's IRON MAIDEN LIVE @ Bangalore .
So , Here I am travelling all alone from Nagpur to Mumbai ( my home ) after a long and 'EVENTful' week . The train has just halted at BADNERA and so has my torrent of thoughts . Amidst the noisy bonhomie around me , I 'enigmatically ponder' over what the last week has been like for me and decide to give direction to my random thoughts on paper .
I backed out at the very last minute from an exciting plan to attend the MAIDEN concert , a plan which had been eagerly rolled out by me and a few close friends over a month ago . And while they had the best time of their life at Bangalore , I 'happily' spent my time sleeping around in my hostel room back at NGP . It happened so that i simply went into a ' PSEUDO-DENIAL' mood ( one responsible for my long history of ugly backouts ) just around 2 days before they left which techincally is an inexplicable mental barrier which just dint allow me to think otherwise. While T,S, WDDK might laugh this reason off as another of my failed attempts to be ' independent' , this is TRULY the reason . The initial fervour and excitement somehow seemed to have fizzled out of me . Call me a MOODY GUY or watever !!
I am an ardent devotee of extreme metal music ( music very extreme and harsh to the common man's ears ) and i do listen to MAIDEN but truly I am not as crazy about them as I would be of a lesser known Norwegian Black metal Band ' SATYRICON ' who graced Mumbai earlier last year . I am really happy my friends had a blast in the moshpit , pampered themselves to great food and icecream ( DBC especially ) etc.etc. and i feel bad that i cudnt be part of those fab. moments , but BELIEVE IT OR NOT , not once did i sit sulking in my room thinking over my decison to miss MAIDEN for apparently no CONCRETE reason !
I quote a good friend which aptly describes the mood here :
" Sometimes JLT ( just like that ) is a good enough reason to do or not to do things " ( Aggie aka Weasel King , Source : DC Private chat dated 17-02-09 )
I have experienced the moshpit and the raw heaviness of LIVE METAL MUSIC . I also realize that i would be insulting IRON MAIDEN by comparing their ( 20,000-strong crowd )concert to SATYRICON's ( 2000-strong crowd ) gig . But the underlying emphasis thruout the post is that of a 'PERSONAL CHOICE' which may/ may not seem right to others but it somehow seemed right to me ! ) . As pompous as i may sound for making such a statement I would like to consider this as a meek reply to rest claims of me having a long-ugly history of backouts and being a spoilsport of some kind !!
On a rather dramatic finishing note , I would defintely have preferred to know that my close FRIENDS ( who have stayed with me for the past 3 years i.e. ) atleast would judge me better . More so as a guy who would on any day hang up his boots and soak the rain on a WET road with his friends than travel all alone along a DRY path in a quest to be different !!!
I now walk into the wild ......
One more movie-related post here !! :P
I am a great admirer of cinema and watch a lot of movies almost on a regualr basis . But seldom has any movie affected me to an extent that i need to re-examine MY LIFE and try to relate the ideologies shown in the film . In other words , i have never been so profoundly affected by a movie so as to 'learn' something truly meaningful . I am talking about the movie ' INTO THE WILD ' released in 2007 based on the true story of the American wanderer Christopher J.McCandless who adopted the pseudonym of ' ALEXANDER SUPERTRAMP ' while he travelled . The emptiness of the material world and the American Lifestyle which revolved around him caused him to break away in totality from the same and move on to live a life of solitude . The movie so breathtakingly captures every single moment of this great journey which oozes freedom and peace at it's every step . The movie ends on a tragic note but not before firing your mind into a self-thought and introspection process .
QUOTES OF CHRISTOPHER WHICH INSPIRED ME ( a few quotes have been added to an already compiled list available on the net ) :
"I read somewhere... how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong... but to feel strong."
Two years he walks the earth.
No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road. Escaped from Atlanta. Thou shalt not return, 'cause "the West is the best." And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage. Ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the Great White North. No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild.
— Alexander Supertramp
May 1992
"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."
"Surely all Americans have the right to give their money only to those causes which they support. But what kind of society has this created? A society where the ignorant reign. A society where enlightened must hold their tongues. A nation whose politicians must profess half-hearted devotion to an ancient fable or face the disastrous consequences of speaking their true mind."
McCandless writing on religious fanaticism in The Emory Wheel student newspaper, October 1987
"Some people feel like they don't deserve love. They walk away quietly into empty spaces, trying to close the gaps of the past."
"The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences."
"If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed."
"Rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth."
— Chris expanded on the original quote by Henry David Thoreau
"Mr. Franz I think careers are a 20th century invention and I don't want one."
- from the movie exclusively
"Greetings from Fairbanks!
This is the last you shall hear from me Wayne. Arrived here 2 days ago. It was very difficult to catch rides in the Yukon Territory. But I finally got here. Please return all mail I receive to the sender.
It might be a very long time before I return South. If this adventure proves fatal and you don't ever hear from me again, I want you to know your a great man. I now walk into the wild. Might be a very long time before I return South...
I now walk into the wild."
— Chris McCandless, in postcard sent to Wayne Westerberg in Carthage, South Dakota, from Alaska
"...henceforth will learn to accept my errors, however great they be..."
— Chris McCandless' journal from Alaska, written weeks before he died
"I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!" — FINAL QUOTE
QUOTES WHICH INSPIRED CHRISTOPHER :
"There is pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep sea and the music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but Nature more."
— Lord Byron
"Rather than Love, than Money, than Fame, give me Truth."
— Henry David Thoreau
"It should not be denied... that being footloose has always exhilarated us. It is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations, with absolute freedom, and the road has always led West."
— Wallace Stegner
Leo Tolstoy books "I want to go up to them and say Stop,
don't do it— she's the wrong woman,
he's the wrong man, you are going to do things
you cannot imagine you would ever do."
— Sharon Olds, May 1937
(In the movie, Chris reads this to his sister, Carine, outside the restaurant)
"If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, the possibility of life is destroyed."
Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
"I have lived through much and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet, secluded life in the country with the possibility of being useful to people..."
— Leo Tolstoy
"...the sea's only gifts are harsh blows and, occasionally, the chance to feel strong. Now, I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong, to measure yourself at least once, to find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions, facing blind, deaf stone alone, with nothing to help you but your own hands and your own head..."
— Bear Meat by Primo Levi
Death's a fierce meadowlark: but to die having made
Something more equal to the centuries
Than muscle and bone, is mostly to shed weakness
— From "Wise Men in Their Bad Hours" by poet Robinson Jeffers (As quoted by Louis L'Amour in his memoir, Education of A Wandering Man, a book Chris had with him in Alaska)
SLUMDOG sucks .......!!
Yes folks ........ SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE ...the same movie which won four golden globes and unfortunately may end up winning an OSCAR or two also ....!!
Few minutes into this 'celebrated' cinematic work and you realise it just isn't worth a quarter of the current hype . It is a gaudy mosaic of all the wrong things about Mumbai or India in general . I agree that there is no hiding from the truth and that the beggary and abject poverty depicted in the film is 100% true . But what annoys me is that while every coin has two sides Mr.Boyle has conveniently chosen to show only the side he feels would be heart-rendering and appealing to the audience in the West . Yes , the story is inspired by Vikas Swarup's Q & A which is set in Mumbai's slums and there would be no scope to show the 'economically-stable' part of India but the sheer inauthenticity of the film as a whole would be crystal clear to any person who truly knows 'Mumbai' and this is something which Mr.Boyle can do nothing about as he is not an Indian . In my opinion , he has hardly seen the 'Real India ' ( quoted from young Jamal's Dialogue in the Taj Mahal scene in this film ) !!!
And if the making of such an imperfect movie wasn't enough , the film continues to win awards everywhere which has led me to lose faith in these so called ' Institutions of Cinema ' which claim to award the best of the best in the realm of film-making . It’s a shame that the media hasn’t seen through this ruse and is hailing “Slumdog’s” Oscar nominations to no ends .
I have read enough of Danny Boyle and others associated with the movie saying that the movie is dedicated to Mumbai and India in particular . Every such statement of their's repulses me greatly as it is a CARICATURE ( no better word strikes me in this context ) of India's lagging third-world side masked under a pseudo-feel good-theme just to rake in a fortune and awards of course ....!!
Lastly , i sincerely wish that A.R. Rahman wins an Oscar. ( and that is something he deserves not for his work in 'Slumdog' which i personally feel is pretty ordinary compared to his several other earlier compositions )
