Goodbye #695

This blog is not of any interest to people who have not visited #695. This one is dedicated to my memory. Before I forget it, let me write about my experiences in #695

I was one of the luck 5 people who had a chance to stay In this heaven. On sept 20 2005, After a loooong search for a house, this was the last and only option left for us. If not today, we would be homeless tommorrow. We were totally new to bangalore and had read enough forward mails of how people of Bangalore are. We blindly gave the House owner Mr. Kanthraj his deposit of 85000/- and occupied the house.

The house was a 2 BHK with walls painted with colours which I guess were carefully chosen by the landlord - Yellow, Pink and green. The hall was pretty big. could have accomodated 3 people. One of the bedroom was a bit small and the green cooured bedroom was the one in which I stayed. The House was guarded by 2 dogs. they did their job just as a security watchman does. Sleep all day long. They never barked on strangers, but they barked on stranger dogs ! The house had a monster's face projcting outwards. We assumed that the face of the landlord. many houses had this kind of monsters put in front of their houses. Maybe it reflects the nature of the owner.

Some of the moments I cherished here are :

1. The Name. "Aandal Nilayam" Which I proudly called "House of the Testevoirs"

2. The fierce dog made from Plaster of Paris.

3. Our landlord who always said, "Your like my sons."


4. The two guardians Sophie and charlie (these two are real doggies ). Our landlord used to take good care of his dogs. When he brought food for them he used to call them, " Sophie, Come come come come." "Charlie, Charlie, Come come come come."
It was 4th october, The day had come to pay him his monthly rent. Me along with Nishank went upstairs to give him his earnings. We knocked the door. He welcomed us " Come come come come. "

5. Imagining Rohan's state of mind when a Rat jumped out of the toilet and landed straight on his foot.

6. Watching Nishank fall right on his Bums while trying to kick Rohan.

7. As mentioned earlier, we were 5 people who stayed there. (Officially) One day Our landlord comes and says, "you are 7 people staying here" Amar (a.k.a. Jackie) assumed to be the 6 th one and Sunny as the 7th.

8. The scream of me and Rohan when one of the bed collapsed. were about to sleep after watching a horror movie.

9. Watching Anant perform "His style" Skipping =))

10. The look on Kanth Raj's face when one of my friend brushed his bike to kanth raj's TATA Sumo.

11. Watching Kanthraj Removing the filth from the water logged bathroom.

12. The Great Indian Comedy show watched together at 10:30

13. The late night patte sessions.

14. GPL ( Ga%#d Pe Laath ) to every Birthdayboy.

15. Indoor Cricket.

Let the photos tell the rest.

Anti-forwardism

This blog is a bit too long. But I recommend instead of just browsing, please read it. Blogs are meant to be read :-)

Take a look at one of the forwards I received on Orkut:
IIT Bombay student Anupam Biswas 5th Year Mechanical Engg is suffering from Colukabki (caused due to excessive nabad and depression) a disease very rarely found (3 in a billion). His condition is very pathetic and the treatment is very expensive, obviously his parents are not able to afford his treatment. Orkut has agreed to pay 1 paisa after each time this message is forward. So pls pass on this message to help.

Now, I get really irritated when this sort of a message comes. I knew this was one of those but I wanted to check out how Orkut can pay 1 paisa after each time this message if forward. I typed Orkut has agreed to pay 1 paisa in the Google Search bar.
Most of the content of my blog is extracted from some similar blogs on the net Since after i searched for that string, i got blogsites which had info on this one paisa nonsense :

An IIT Delhi student Anupam Joshi 4th Year Engineering Physics is suffering from Colukabki (caused due to excessive smoking and depression) a disease very rarely found (3 in a billion). His condition is very pathetic and the treatment is very expensive, obviously his parents are not able to afford his treatment. Yahoo has agreed to pay 1 paisa after each time this message is forward. So pls pass on this message to help.

Mechanical Engineering. Engineering Physics (I wonder if there actually is an Engineering Physics course at IIT Mumbai.)
Both suffering from Colukabki.
What is Colukabki by the way?
I searched again and what did I find?
Colukabki is not a disease. In fact If you try searching for this word, you might end up reading this blog !
There's no word called Colukakbi in English.
Of course, there are the more irritating ones, some of which are "If you dont forward thisdon'tu dont have a heart" and the AIDS injection wala. Or the SMS 'Sorry I couldn't ignore this message."I love my Mother" please pass this to 10 friends if you really love your mother'
If the message said, 'If you love your mother, please fwd this to yourself 10 times' would you do it ? Just because fwding a message is a matter of seconds don'ts, dont promote such nonsense among your friends.

Here's One more I got:
"Today is world's Message day send dis message to all ur friends as i have fwded you."
This is what I replied :
"Today is 'world's ch**iya day. Send this to all ch***yas n have a nice day"
Later I realised sending this message made me a Ch***ya too !

Email spam, messenger spamand now Mobile spam ? Yes, it seems. A very reasonable name.
How about an Anti-forwards Campaign? Dont just ignore such forwards. Type a reply:
"Look, I have something called a brain which actually thinks. I can donate a piece of it if you want. Stop sending me such forwards." even if he is your close friend.
Or if the Message says, "Fwd this to 10 people", have patience and send the same message to the sender 10 times instead of deleting it or being a chauvenist and sending it to 10 of your friends.
This, of course, shouldnt apply to all those hilarious and rather useful forwards.

I shall put all "those" forwards I get here from now on. I'd like to name it Stupidoscope, to measure peoples' stupidity.

Stupidoscope :
Observation 1:

Yahoo President Neeraj Sheth....This is Yahoo President Neeraj Sheth Jay Russell, I am sorry to announce that Yahoo has reached its maximum number of accounts two million. If you would like to keep your account for free send this to everyone on your list.This way we can know which accounts are being used and which accounts we can delete.Send this within 8 days and your account will remain free.Once again I am sincerely sorry that I have to do this.Please start sending.Jay Russell,Yahoo Management Renee:WHOEVER DOESN`T SEND THIS MESSAGE YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DEACTIVATED AND IT WILL COST $10.00 A MONTH TO USE IT! TO SEND TO EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST,RIGHT CLICK ON YOUR GROUP AND SAY SEND

Is Yahoo so poor that it starts deleting its accounts ? Do you really feel that yahoo has no other work and thats why it has started to count the number of times this message is been passed on ? Dont you think this act of yahoo will ever want to decrease the number of its users ?

Observation 2:
please forward this msg,very urgent. One of my friend's mother condition is very serious. She needs 4-bottles of B -ve . Contact: gayatri 9841983811. Pls don't avoid this even if u can't help atleast pass this msg to all

If you really care for such messages, before forwarding this message,call this person called gayatri first. I am sure No one will ever do this. I did it once. Called up a person called Seema. The fwd message said Seema works in Wipro and her husband was suffering from some rare disease and wIs asking for help.
So i asked, " Is this seema ?"
Answer : No.
"Do you work in Wipro ?"
Answer :No
"Is your Husband ill ?"
Answer : Who are you ? stop bothering me. And dont call me again.
Well she wazzunt Seema, nor she worked in Wipro and I dont know whether she even had a husband or not. But yes, it was a female voice.
Also one point to Note : 80% of people forwarding such messages have a free SMS scheme. :-)

Observation 3 :
Here I received few facts about the person behind orkut.
This is the mastermind behind Orkut social networking community.
Some facts about Orkut:
1) Orkut Buyukkokten(the creator of Orkut) gets $12 when every person registers to this website.
2) He also gets $10 when you add somebody as a friend.
3) He gets $8 when your friend's friend adds you as a friend & gets $6 if anybody adds you as a friend in the resulting chain.
4) He gets $5 when you scrap somebody & $4 when somebody scraps you.
5) He also gets $200 for each photograph you upload on Orkut.
6) He gets $2.5 when you add your friend in the crush-list or in the hot-list.
7) He gets $2 when you become somebody's fan.
8) He gets $1.5 when somebody else becomes your fan.
9) He even gets $1 every time you logout of Orkut.
10) He gets $0.5 every time you just change your profile-photograph.
11) He also gets $0.5 every time you read your friend's scrap-book & $0.5every time you view your friend's friend-list.
12) Many Global Financial Consultants think this person might become the richest-person in the world by the end of 2009.
13) Finally, this is the best fact. This person has 13 assistants to monitor his scrapbook & 8 assistants to monitor his friends-list. He gets around 20,000 friend-requests a day & about 85,000 scraps a day.

If you observe point 4 : He gets $5 when you scrap somebody & $4 when somebody scraps you.
Dont you feel it is contraciting its own statement ?
Suppose Nishad scraps Rohan.
From Nishad's Point of view Orkut gets 5$ when I scrap Rohan, but when Rohan scraps me, Orkut gets 4$
Seeing from Rohan's Point of view, When he scraps Nishad, Orkut gets 5 $ and when Nishad scraps Rohan, Orkut gets 4$.
Now should Nishad start arguing with Rohan that his scraps are precious than Rohan's since they result in higher profit to orkut ?
Or if the above statement is true, the act of writting a scrap should result in profit of 9$ and there is no need to state that writing a scrap results in 5 $ and receiving a scrap gains 4$. The same logic applies to most of the points stated.
The point 12 says that Many global financing firms have analysed this. Cant they spot such a huge flaw ?
And about the 13th point : No comments :-)

Observation 4 : (Update : 5th Jan 2007)
Look how Stupid people are : even after being a Software Engineer, age more than 22, and still they beleive in such stuff :

Hi ...Orkut is deleting Profiles again message: Dear user because ofsudden rush of people signing upto orkut is come to an attentionnthat weare vastly running out of resources so with in a week any one whodoes not receive this scrap will be deleted of our server . We knowthat you are still using this account We want to find out which users are actually using their orkut accounts so if you are using your, then please send this scrap to every orkut user that you can if u donot pass this scrap to anyone then we will delete your accountJustfollow these simple steps. 1. Click on the "Messages Tab" in youraccount. 2. Click on the "compose mail" option which is the last oneofthe four icons you see together. 3. Select "all friends" 4. Cut andPaste this mail

Some Analysis : Just like Observation 1, Why will Orkut want to delete profiles, It will be more popular if the number of profiles present increase. And even If Orkut has started deleting profiles, Why will it do that in the form of such an informal junk scrap ? If they are the administrators of our profiles, they should clearly know who uses orkut and who does not. They have all the logs stored. Each and every click is logged. I've seen mails from some websites which clearly address their inactive users on their personal email id to use the account or else they will deactivate the account. ( NOT DELETE ).
Can't believe there are such stupids among my friends !!!

Update : 07-06-2007
Observation 5 :
Hi I am 21,student and I earn 50000pm working part time on internet. 3 months back I got a message like this. I logged in to [some website name] checked all offers. I am earning over 50000pm for third month in row. If I can do it you too can do it. Iwish you get the right offer and I hope you will succed. Login [some website name]

I am sure every orkut user must have got this message, and not only once, at least 5 times.
I haven't checked the genuineity of this message, but still I have some points which prove that this is all fake.
1. Now the subject line is very eyecatching, No company ever gives a subject line like that !
2. I earn 50,000 pm. A student earning 50,000 pm. I guess 50,000 is the salary of the Prime Minister of India. Even in a good company like Google, U must be exceptionally well to get a package of 50,000 pm.
3. If a student earns that much, Why will he tell others about it ? If he keeps the secret with himself, He will be the only person getting richer.
4. What about Income tax ? :-P
5. If you visit the profile of the message senders, You will see very cute photos, nicely prepared profile content, and hell lot of scraps saying, "Hi cutee, shall v b frnds ? "

This much is enough to prove my point !

Update: 9-06-2009

1)Mobile

Don't put your mobile closer to your ears until the

recipient answers, Because directly after dialing, the mobile phone would use it's maximum signaling power,

which is: 2watts = 33dbi. Please Be Careful. Please use left ear while using cell (mobile), because if you use the right one it may affect brain directly. This is a true fact from Apollo medical team.

2) APPY FIZZ

Do not drink APPY FIZZ . It contains cancer causing

agent.

3) Mentos

Don't eat Mentos before or after drinking Coke or

Pepsi coz the person will die immediately as the mixture

becomes cyanide. Please fwd to whom u care

4) Kurkure

Don't eat kurkure because it contains high amount of

plastic if U don't Believe burn kurkure n u can see

plastic melting. Please forward to all!!!!!!!!! !! News

report from Times of India

5) Avoid these tablets as they are very dangerous

* D cold

* Vicks action- 500

* Actified

* Coldarin

* Co some

* Nice

* Nimulid

* Cetrizet-D

They contain Phenyl- Propanol -Amide PPA.Which Causes strokes, and these tablets are banned in U.S.

6) Cotton Ear Buds

Cotton Ear Buds... (Must read it) Please do not show sympathy to people selling buds on roadside or at Signals..... Just wanted to warn you people not to buy those packs of ear buds you get at the roadside. It's made from cotton that has already been used in hospitals. They take all the dirty, blood and pus filled cotton, wash it, bleach it and use it to make ear buds. So, unless you want

to become the first person in the world to get Herpes Zoster Oticus (a viral infection of the inner, middle, and external ear) of the ear and that too from a cotton bud, DON'T BUY THEM! Please forward to all this may be helpful for someone..... ....... Please forward to all your near and dear

ones....!

This one came to me at least 4 times before I tried to find out the truth.

Thanks to Kenny Jacob and his article which uncover all the truth I was in search of

http://www.kenneyjacob.com/2009/02/07/mythbusting-fwd-mails/

Some more stupidoscopes coming soon...... as I am waiting for my fatous friends to send me some similar junk.

Crocodile Hunter' Is Dead

1962 - 2006

Today afternoon I was very sad to hear this news.
Steve Irwin, host of the Animal Planet series The Crocodile Hunter, was killed Monday during a diving expedition off the coast of Australia, Sydney's Daily Telegraph reports.
Most of us would ask, Who is he ??? But for me, he was the real Superhero. Man, I was a big fan of him. Never missed his show. When I saw Steve with Terry, I used to think, what a couple. They really enjoy working together. But now, Steve is no more !!! I still dont believe in what i have just typed, but its a fact and everybody must accept it. He was killed by a sea creature called stingray. Usually stingrays are calm and dont hurt anyone. Steve was the 19th reported death by a stingray in the last 100 years !!!!! I still remember when a crocodile behaves in a awkward way, he used to say "CRICKEY !!!!"
I Salute this man. May his soul rest in peace.

Look what the animals want to say on this incident :

SMS Mania

I cant keep more than 25 messages in my Mobile inbox. I also dont want to lose my SMSs.
Before I delete them , let me share some of the funniest messages i've received.

This one was from one of my friend in Kolhapur :

Happy belated holi to you and your family :-) Celebrate wid crackers and diyas… &get drunk! Jst like I am rite now… Merry Christmas once again.

This one was sent by one of my Room mate :
I will not come home today. Please take inside my clothes from outside of house !@!???

From one of my college mates :
Managed to fool the HR :-) Got into Accenture.

The next day :
Main bachpan se Accenture mein jaana chahata tha :-)

This one was from my friend (who used to play Quake a little bit) yesterday. around 20 days ago he was a victim of a mysterious disease and was in ICU. I couldnt stop laughing until i read this :
Health 100
(regenerate)

There were a lot of SMSs which were worth writing here but I have deleted them long ago.
Some of those were :
On 31st December 2005:
Let me be the last one to wish you Happy New year 2005 :-)

One of my friend from hostel blocks sent me this when I was giving a seminar :
Quake ctf snipers game ip 172.155.155.72 join fast

I used to get this SMS at least twice a day :
AOE join fast. 14 14 14

or something like this :
45 45 45


In college days we used to communicate using such numbers. No one other than a NITKian would understand if I say 84 to someone :-)
Some of the codes we used were :
1: Yes
2: No
3: Food Please
8: All hail, King of the Loosers
14: Start the game.
45: You Bastard
55: Evil laugh HAAAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA
80: You have lost the match
84: You are an idiot.


This one i sent to my Mom on 23rd August 2004 which she still has it stored.

I got into IBM

Slash DOT Slash

There is nothing Much to write in this blog, This blog is dedicated to myself. It features the metamorphosis of Nishad at the age of 30 to Nishad at the age of 23.
You will rarely have a glimpse of something like this.
See it yourself and bring a smile on your face :-)

Just before the Slash session !!

What was I thinking about ?

The first Slash !!





The second Slash !
Slash Dot Slash


Inspired by Hitler !!

In great thought.

I dont know what made me cut my moustache in this shape. But I feel this is the style Aamir Khan will use in his coming films.

Metamorphosis complete. I will be 21dahsiN forever.

Even I cant stop laughing at this photo.

Something abtrusive

Recently something shook me and realised that I need to improve my english.
I went through some wordlists from a Competetive exam book and found out that I was a DUMBO in english !!! To get used to that kind of language, I would have to use those words in real life.
So maybe my next blog will look like this !

Last week we had a bacchanal since one of our onsite team mates had come to India. We were maladroit in the stints given to us, so he decided to have a tutelage for 5 days. For the last five days, we got a smattering, but in the end i was just a charlatan. This night I had decided to forget everything and erode whatever comes in my dish. I reminded myself of the forswear of not having any non veg in the month of august. The starters were ordered. Fish Tikka, Chicken Platter !!! (Not to enumerate that a soup comes before a starter ). I immediately reneged what is said earlier. I avow that I am a gourmand and possess a discretion when I see food ! I ate like a glutton and was very happy to finish whatever was served in my plate. I hate seeing the food plate devoid of food. Though this was a bacchanal, I had a covenant with myself that I will follow teetotalism for the rest of my life, so I just snubbed from the rest of the section and concentrated only on Delicious food. The hotel management had done their homework in gastronomy and were gusto in filling my plate. I am in complete oblivion of how much I ate later, But I remember when I got up from my seat I had an effusion that I have gained at least 2 Kgs of weight today. Again from Now onwards a new perjury,
I will be abstinent, and will relinquish all my gluttonous habits :-).

Mr. Murphy strikes back..........Again.

Me and some of my friends had a plan to watch a Movie named "Omkara" night show. I was responsible to book the tickets. I came to the office, to check the availability of tickets opened www.pvrcinemas.com and got a message : This page has been blocked by the administrator. (Murphy No 1 )
I knew how fast the tickets get booked at PVR. So I decided to go to the theatre itself and book the tickets. I sat in an Auto. As as the Auto was about to start, I realised that I had just 10 rs in my pocket. ( Minimum fare for an auto in Bangalore is 12 Rs. ) I clearly told the Auto driver, that I had no money and requested him to stop at the ATM right ahead. As he approached the ATM. I saw the shutter of the ATM was down. Machine refilling was in progress. (Murphy No 2 )
I knew one more ATM on the road to PVR. I told the Auto driver to take me to the second ATM. When we reached, there, I went frantic. This ATM was also closed for Money refilling. ( Big Murphy No 3 )
Now I knew there was not a single ATM till PVR and ahead. With no hopes, I sat in the Auto. and told him, ' Plan cancel !! Take me to any ATM first. Then PVR. '
He too agreed. Took me to some ATM in Koramangala. I withdrew plenty of money. Gave the Auto driver his share and hurried back to PVR. There was a queue for tickets at the counter. But I was smarter :-) I thought of booking tickets using the machine installed there. All I had to do was, select the show and timing, select the number of tickets I wanted and swipe my credit card. I started my transaction and found that all the tickets for the show were sold out !!!
( Murphy No. 4 ) I cursed myself. I had come all the way to book tickets and I didn't wanted to go empty handed. So I booked tickets for the next day 10 pm show and came back. When I was back at my desk, one of my friend messaged me," I guess it will rain today" . The first thing that came to my mind was,
'Murphy cannot be wrong. It will surely rain tomorrow night at 9:30 and will make it difficult for me to reach pvr on time."
When it comes to watching a movie, I was already a victim of Murphy's Laws. This was the secong time, Click here to read my 1st time murphy.

This happened on 1st of Janauary. What a way to start a new year.
For those who don't know who this Murphy is :
Click here

Machines dont lie

Recently I weighed myself and to my surprise I found that I am a whooping 80 Kg monster ! Before standing on the weighing machine, I thought I must have lost some weight, I had not eaten chicken for 5 months ! But the weighing machine betrayed me..Or should I say the machine don't know to lie ???
Now the Bird Flu scare is gone, people eat chicken regularly. But I have got a scolding from my mother, No chicken ! But i know i cant live without it. Its like a addiction for me.
After thinking a lot, I have got a solution to this problem after watching a TV commercial ! It was of a low calories sweetener tablets. Every morning people go out (or rather are thrown out by their wives) for jogging. One young man jogs chanting 'Butter chicken, Butter chicken, Butter Chicken' the other one chants 'Aalu puri, Aalu puri, Aalu puri' and a 3rd person is chanting, 'Samosa Chaat, Samosa chat, Samosa chat'.
Its been 1 week now. I go out for jogging everyday (except Weenends.....Quite sincere to admit this) and just like the people in the commercial, I keep chanting,'70 Kgs, 70 Kgs 70 Kgs...... '

Now I weigh 79.6 Kgs (The same machine which tells the truth says so.)

Face to Face with Rahul Dravid

I had gone to Bangalore Airport to receive my aunt and sister. But due to so called 'Congestion' in the sky, their flight got delayed and the time of arrival changed from 9 pm to 10:30 pm. I reached the Airport at 10 pm. I took an entry ticket and went inside the airport's Arrivals section. I stood there watching the passengers coming out of the terminal with their luggage. I saw the joy in the eyes of grand parents receiving their sons and grand sons, Saw tears in the eyes of a mother who saw her son heading towards her from the terminal. Saw a loving hug from a wife when she met her husband. Saw fright in small kids who had just experienced their first flying experience.
In the mean time, I saw my sister waiting for her luggage near the luggage revolving slide. I waved at her, but she was too busy searching her luggage. ( Visitors are not allowed to go near the Luggage terminal) I just stood there waiting for my aunt and sister to collect their luggage and come at the exit gate. I kept my eyes focused on them. After a couple of minutes later, I noticed a man standing next to me. Even he was waiting for someone of his beloved to arrive. I looked at him and his face took be aback. I just stared at him for 2 minutes wondering, "Why is this person looking like Rahul Dravid ??? " I am sure my weird stare must have made him very uneasy. But he must be used to such stares. I couldn't believe my eyes. Why will a person like Rahul Dravid come to a Domestic airport wearing a plain T-shirt, tracks and slippers to pick up someone,, and that too alone !!!!
I was still in a dilemma whether this person was really Rahul Dravid or a look alike ? Then, a person came and took autograph of him. Even I took a paper and took his autograph. As soon as I took his autograph, people started to gather. A security personnel came and took Dravid straight inside, near the Arrivals terminal. My eyes were still focused on him. I couldn't believe that The Indian Cricket team Captain was standing right besides me. As he disappeared from my vision, I realized that I was here to receive my aunt and sister, I looked at the luggage slide, I couldn't find my sister and aunt. I began to worry, did they leave when I was busy staring at Dravid ?!?! I dialed my aunt's mobile number. She was still inside, So I told her Rahul Dravid must be somewhere near her. Even she saw him. After some 5 mins. Rahul came outside with his parents. But this time there was security surrounding him. When he passed me, I shouted in Marathi , "Rahul, West Indies tour sathi Best of Luck re !!! " He just looked at me. Not a single expression on his face.
But still I was very happy because I met Rahul Dravid, and also saw the love and respect Rahul Dravid had towards his parents. He had come all alone to the airport to receive them!

(G)Olden days re lived

Its been 8 months now, leaving the college and working for a company. In order to survive in this kind of world, had to restructure my language, change the way I dress, sleep early, get up early, get a clean shave everyday and many more. I hate this kind of life, wish I were a student again. The time has not run out yet, but if I continue living like this, life is going to get miserable for me.
A couple of days ago, I was supposed to go to my college for my Convocation (Degree Awarding Ceremony). I was really happy to visit my college again. So were my friends. We quickly made a plan of going there. We were some 10 of us. Most of them decided to book a room at Surathkal (3 Km from my college) and stay there. Wooo, these 8 months have surely changed them a lot. I was firm of my decision of staying at the Hostels Final Block. I wanted to relive the old days. Harshal and Swaroop also agreed. I had informed my juniors about my plan and my decision of staying in the hostels with them. Even they were happy, I had to pack my bag, so i just asked swaroop what he is gonna take along with him, Here's the Gtalk Conversation :

me: hmmmmm
bag main kya kya lene waala hai ? :)
Swaroop: 2 chaddi. 2 baniyan. 2 T shirt. 1 pant. (1 pant angawar)
me: :)
Swaroop: 1 towel. 1 toothbrush. 1 toothpaste. 1 shaving kit
tu ?
me: mi pan same...........except toothpaste :)

When it was decided to relive the olden days, why not pack the bag accordingly ? There were things which I purposefully didn't take along with me.
Tooth paste was just one of them. Old Habits die hard.
I reached the College at 6:30 am. I called up one of my junior Omkar (a.k.a. Yakku) He was awake already. This is a very rare scene to observe, someone awake at 6:30 am on a weekend and that too in a hostel !! The main gate was closed, but a sideway was always open in the mornings. But we opted to climb the gate as we used to do while coming back after 10 pm. By the time we reached the Hostel gate, he was there at the entrance to welcome us. Even we were surprised at his enthusiasm to meet us. Yakku is a fatso, and stayed on the 3rd floor. But still he had come down to escort us to his room :)
The Convo was at 3 pm. Till then we got fresh, I used Yakku's Slipper, Yakku's Tooth paste, Put my mobile to charge on Yakku's Charger. Old Habits Die hard.
For Breakfast, we went to our college canteen to eat the only item which has kept it open for so many years, 'Open Dosa' Maaannn That was delicious. i met most of my batch friends in the canteen itself, and all had ordered Open Dosa. Old Habits Die hard.
I had some pending work at the College SBI bank, so I went there, did a jugaad for a pen from one more junior, Rodge. When i was back, ppl were making plans for lunch. Mess food was never good, but there were many options now, When we were in the college, the pocket money we got was very limited and having delicious food was never an option for us. The juniors had started asking us for a treat, i said, " I am going to Ganesh Canteen, Anybody interested ?" Half of the Junta turned back. Still some of them were ready to come with us. (Ganesh Canteen is a very simple canteen where we get Boiled rice and fish curry for 12 rs, and an extra fish fry for 12-15 rs) I loved the food. It was only rice and curry on a banana leaf, but the days when we used to have frequent trips to ganesh canteen had added more flavour to it. Bird flu made us ditch the Plan of Tikka Hut. The regular procedure which we used to follow was, Have food at Ganesh canteen, go to Melting Point, have juice and come back. This time also we followed the same. Old Habits Die hard.
By the time we reached the hostel, it was 2:30 pm. Swaroop decided to take a nap. And i decided to play Quake :)
Convo was to begin at 3 pm and Me and swaroop were still in the hostel, i woke Swaroop up, he was sleeping as he used to sleep in his room, The only garment on his body was an M sized shorts. Swaroop got ready and we started to head towards the Auditorium, it was 3:10 now. I got calls from my friends saying where are you, convo has started. it takes 5 mins to reach the auditorium from the hostels. While I was going, I noticed a strange but a familiar phenomenon, It had been just 3 mins since I had left the hostel gate, and now I was sweating very badly, My face was already wet and had started to become oily, I remembered the old days, this is what I faced for last 4 years, and never complained, and today, only 3 mins of Sun tan made me uncomfortable. When I reached there, I saw Ajit going back to the hostels, Reason : He was wearing a T-shirt and only formals were allowed, not an unsusal sight to see. We went inside, had a seat, there were some speeches delivered. We noticed, that the director was someone else. During my stay at the Institute, at least 4 Directors had changed, so getting the degree from a new one was not at all surprising. Some of my friends had come Drunk to receive the degree, Old habits die hard. The ceremony was a very formal one, but still the students tried to add some humour by whistling while the degrees were being awarded.

Once the ceremony was over, i rushed back to the hostel, Jugaad a Comp and as usual started my Quake sessions. Then we had a plan to visit the beach.
The Beach was a very interesting place to visit, some of the reasons were, the Sunset, Big Ships, Watching birds that fly and birds that walk on the shore :)
We sat on the usual rock, and enjoy a little bit of everything.

After the Sunset of the sun and the birds, we headed for Mangalore. Had food at one of the most expensive hotel in Mangalore "Pallkhi". Had ice cream at a very special place for special people, Iceberg.

We Came back to the hostel at 12 am. Some of us were tired, even I was, but I did not wanted to spend the rest of the time sleeping. So I again made a Jugaad for a Computer and started Quaking. some of my batchmates joined me in the frag session. We played till 4:30 in the morning.

Swaroop and Harshal were watching Taxi 9211 in the other room. later i too decided to watch the movie, so i started it from the first, and by the time John Abraham was in the scene, i was fast asleep and snoring. suddenly i woke up, realised that i cannot watch the movie any longer, switched the comp off, and prepared myself to sleep. My Preparation : Pillow without a cover , Bed without a Bed sheet, and a fan revolving above my head. Thats all. And i loved it. Old Habits die hard.
I woke up at 8 am. I saw Yakku faar away in the corridor brushing his teeth. I was surprised, our juniors are very sincere i thought, And they were.
For Schumacher, Sunday is Raceday, For Me, Sunday is Dosa Day.......in my whole final year, i have never missed a dosa made on sunday. It was delicious. And i used to have at least 2 of them. This time, i had no mess card, no balance in the hostel office, but still i had warned Shetty (the mess in-charge) that i will be coming and whatever ur swami says, i am gonna eat 2 dosas :) Even he agreed. He knew me since First year, i was one of the people in Shetty's list who eat limited things as if they are unlimited. After a Dosa session i again went back on the jugaad Comp, and started playing. Old Habits die hard.
MY friends from the Hotel reached the hostel by around 10:30 am. they asked me,"Abhi tak nahaya nahi kya ?"
I rightly said ," pagal ho gaya hai kya? Sunday ko nahane??"
Let me Do a confession here : In my 4 years which i spent in the college, there wazzunt a single day, when i took a bath and went for lectures. All the baths i took were either in the afternoon or nights. and those too alternate days. People hold record of staying in the hostels without having a bath for continous 11 days.
Now a days, i take a bath daily before going to the office, but today, i was in the hostel and i wanted to act likewise. Swaroop and harshal also agreed,Since harshal had a train journey ahead, he was bound to take a bath.
In the Afternoon, we gave our juniors a treat. i had asked Yakku to jugaad a sandal for me. He gave me his sandal. During the treat i noticed, Yakku was wearing his bathroom slippers. I felt really bad. gave back yakku his sandals, but he refused. After the treat, we bid goodbye to Harshal and came back to the hostels. We were to leave by 9 pm. Like every college, we have a small Food supply unit right in front of the hostel.We called it Sunder(the owners name). We get many egg items over there, and everyones favourite- Maggi. And according to the procedure, after this, Sugarcane juice from Mustafa is a must. After our Pet pooja,we went to the blocks, did our regular activities, for the last time. Some of us just browsed through the LAN, i played Quake :), Some burned CDs, some watched things which are meant to be seen by everyone in the hostels.Old habits die hard. Everyone knew this was the last time. Nothing like this in the future. We packed our bags, and headed for surathkal.Before leaving, Sujit told me, he wanted to go to the main lobby. I just realised, i had come to the college, tried to do everything i did in 4 years in just 2 days, did almost everything, but how did i miss the Main lobby, the SAC (Open air theatre). A college is incomplete without a Main building and i missed out going to the same. Maybe because i didnt like the college as i liked the hostels, or maybe it was just i forgot, about everything, but i still wonder, how did i let this happen. Anyway, we ditched the plan and started to walk for surathkal..It was a 3 Km journey, but it was a memorable one. we had covered the distance on bikes, cycles, bus, cars, but the on foot experience was different. Me and swaroop had once come to the college from surathkal on foot at 11 pm with rains pouring heavily. Bid Surathkal a last Goodbye, Nothing like this in the future, and no chances of coming back and having fun.

Before ending my blog, let me thank all my juniors for their love and respect for us Especially,

Yakku (For a lot of things.)
Tadwalkar (For lending me his Room)
Rodge (for lending me his pen, which i still have in my pocket :-) )
Ghanshyam (For lending me Toilet accessories :-) )
Paratwar (For lending me his soap :-) )
Aadarsh Pai (for lending me his PC)
All others who were with me during my stay at the college.
All the Quakers of Final Block who played with me.

Quaker Forever

From the Far Reaches of my Mind
The Arena Beacons to leave everything behind,
Escape Reality and enter a Warriors World,
Where I am Invincible, Immortal and A Quaker
Forever....

21dahsiN

The Shock of Life !

I woke up at 7:45 as usual, went to the office at 8:45 as usual, started doing my work as usual, had lunch as usual. Came back and started my work. I was feeling a bit sleepy, so I tried to adjust myself in my chair a couple of times. I do this almost everyday to scare away the sleepiness in me. But today something really amazing happened. Its a very simple thing and most of us have experienced it. But this one was of more intensity, and more shocking.
You people might have guessed what had happened. I got up from my seat for the Afternoon tea, went to a team mate and tapped him on his shoulder and ZAP ! He screamed, so did I. He got angry on me and said, ,"that wazzunt funny at all, Now stop poking me with ur pen " . I said," I didn't have a pen, it was static electricity maybe."
He couldn't believe it. "How can someone hold static electricity of such high intensity and discharge it on ME !!" I said, "Forget it lets have coffee." By now we could see faces from different cubicles staring at two of us. We went at the coffee vending machines, I took my mug close to the machine and pressed a button and again ZAP !!! " Holy Shit ! What the hell is happening??", I just threw myself away from the machine, and wondered, am I not discharged yet ??
By now I was afraid to open the door too. Somehow I came back to my seat, and with some fear in the heart, touched a metal structure. Thank God, now I am fully discharged now. Wow what a experience. I have sustained many electrical shocks in my life including one from a electricity pole on a road. But this static stuff something really scary (for me at least) and as much funny too.

Now some science behind what had happened.

Static electricity is the imbalance of
positive and negative charges.

When I rubbed myself on the chair, I got negatively charged. And now when I started touching neutral, but good conductors of electricity, the charge began to flow and ZAP !

I smile again :)

21dahsiN

Cream Roll

I am not a school going kid now. I am not a college going student now. I am not a teenager undergoing graduation now. I am now earning money. All the (g)olden days are gone. Wish I was still a kid. Wish I could still enjoy the holidays after the unit tests and terminal exams. Wish I was innocent as I was in my childhood :-)
One day I was going back home after my office hours. I stopped at a bakery. The showcase displayed a variety of cakes, buns, sweets. But eyes were concentrated on something else. I saw Cream rolls. You may feel this is crazy, but its true. Some of you might even not know what a cream roll is. But for me, it was like finding something I had lost a decade ago. I still remember the childhood memories, Some children cry for sweets, chocolates, GEMS, Cadbury. But I cried to get a cream roll. I cried when my mom used to take me to the barber to have a hair cut. She promised to give me a cream roll. At school, Saturday used to be a half day. My mom used to pack cream roll in my tiffin.



Now those days were gone. Slowly even I forgot what a cream roll was. But when I had a bite of it at the bakery, Ummmmmmmm I cant describe the smile it brought on my face. I paid for the cream roll to the bakery guy. It was for 5 rs. 10 years ago, it costed me 1 rs 50 ps. Time has surely changed and prices have gone high. I couldnt find a proper pic. of a cream roll. Hope you get an idea about what food item i was talking about.

ATM

This blog is a tribute to the inventors of the ATM. Most of us think that the full form of ATM is "ANY TIME MONEY" Practically speaking it is right. You will find the correct full form of ATM as you read through this blog.

As is often the case with inventions, many inventors contribute to the history of an invention. In the case of the ATM, Don Wetzel invented the first successful and modern ATM in the USA, however he was not first inventor to create an ATM. In 1939, Luther George Simjian started patenting an earlier and not-so-successful version of an ATM.

An automatic teller machine or ATM allows a bank customer to conduct their banking transactions from almost every other ATM machine in the world. Don Wetzel was the co-patentee and chief conceptualist of the automated teller machine, an idea he said he thought of while waiting in line at a Dallas bank. At the time (1968) Wetzel was the Vice President of Product Planning at Docutel, the company that developed automated baggage-handling equipment. The other two inventors listed on the patent were Tom Barnes, the chief mechanical engineer and George Chastain, the electrical engineer. It took five million dollars to develop the ATM. The concept of the modern ATM first began in 1968, a working prototype came about in 1969 and Docutel was issued a patent in 1973. The first working ATM was installed in a New York based Chemical Bank. (dahsiN's note: There are different claims to which bank had the first ATM, I have used Don Wetzel's reference.)
"No, it wasn't in a lobby, it was actually in the wall of the bank, out on the street. They put a canopy over it to protect it from the rain and the weather of all sorts. Unfortunately they put the canopy too high and the rain came under it. (laughing) One time we had water in the machine and we had to do some extensive repairs. It was a walkup on the outside of the bank. That was the first one. And it was a cash dispenser only, not a full ATM... We had a cash dispenser, and then the next version was going to be the total teller (created in 1971), which is the ATM we all know today -- takes deposits, transfers money from checking to savings, savings to checking, cash advances to your credit card, takes payments; things like that. So they didn't want just a cash dispenser alone." - Don Wetzel on the first ATM installed at the Rockville Center, New York Chemical Bank from a NMAH interview.
The first ATMs were off-line machines, meaning money was not automatically withdrawn from an account. The bank accounts were not (at that time) connected by a computer network to the ATM. Therefore, banks were at first very exclusive about who they gave ATM privileges to. Giving them only to credit card holders (credit cards were used before ATM cards) with good banking records. Wetzel, Barnes and Chastain developed the first real ATM cards, cards with a magnetic strip and a personal ID number to get cash. ATM cards had to be different from credit cards (then without magnetic strips) so account information could be included.

Thank You Don and Luther for making us to shift from the cashier queues at the bank counter to longer queues in front of a ATM.

HNY06

It was 1st of Janauary. I had just come back from my hometown, the salary had been credited, and the best thing was, it was SUNDAY. After a noisy 31st december, i woke up late (as usual) . One of my friends called me and said he was coming to my house. i said, " Great ! Come fast, i've heard that there is a theatre near my house. It always shows the latest released movies at a very cheap rate. we will go there for a movie." My room mate also agreed. By the time my friend came and i got ready, it was 12:30. We thought, If we were to go for a movie, it would have started at 12:00 or before that. No point going there now. so we decided to have lunch at some hotel nearby the theatre, roam around and do a bit of shopping and reach the theatre by 2:30 pm.
We went to a hotel, had our lunch. Then we went to a ice-cream parlour. took a Jumbo ice-cream. There we came across some marathi girls, who spoke to us !! ( Finding marathi girls in Bangalore is rare, and they talking to you is still rare) With smiling faces, we left the place. We went to a T-shirt shop, did window-shopping and came out. At another shop, i bought two really cheap t-shirts.
It was 2 pm now. we decided to take an auto to the theatre thinking that :
1. If we reach early, we will be the first ones to get the ticket.
2. The next show must be at 3 pm and not 3:30 pm
3. If we dont get the ticket for the coming show, we will surely get a ticket for the evening show.

We took an auto and headed towards the theatre. The Auto driver said," 15 rs Lagega, meter nahi lagaunga". We said, ok. Take us to the theatre first. He raced his auto and took a sharp left. later he stopped his engine and cruised on the steep road. We cursed that auto driver. He was going to earn 15 rs without any efforts. Finally we approached the theatre. But wait ! where is the crowd ? There was not a single person moving towards the theatre. Huge Blue tarpaulin sheets covered the theatre premises. We peeped through the sheets to see that half of the theatre had collapsed and people were working on the other half. After moving a bit ahead, we learnt that the theatre was closed for renovation. "But i saw one movie last week here ! " my friend said. We looked at each others faces and cursed the theatre. Even the auto driver was laughing at us. We told him," Now put your meter on and take us back home " He agreed and took us back home. Even he felt pity of us and he didnt take the 15 rs we promised him to pay earlier.( again very rare in Bangalore)
"No more going out today, lets have a sound sleep on the first day of a new year" said my roomie. I was so depressed that i decided to go to the company and do some work.

What a nice start of a New Year !!
In case you are still wondering what does the topic mean: Happy New Year 06

Crazy for cricket, Crazy in my head

I was crazy to stand in a 2 Km queue on a shivering cold morning 5 am just to get one ticket for the India South Africa match on saturday at Chinnaswamy stadium. Thank god i had my friend with me who was as much excited as me to get a ticket. No food, no water, we stood there for more than 6 long hours. Finally i got the ticket at 1 Pm. So did my friend. the ticket cost me 200 rs. and more than 6 hours of rush and congestion.
If the rush was soo much for a ticket, how many people will be there for the match ? Its a day/Night match and the best thing is , it is on saturday. so sunday we have for rest. Such a moment comes once in a decade. When i got the ticket and came to the company, showed it to my team mates.they were obviously jealous of me :) Yesterday one of them had said ,"There is no chance to get a ticket if u dont stay at the counter the whole night." Since 1 ticket per head was sold, there were enough tickets to get the queue moving and make me the proud owner of one ticket. If i plan to sell it in Black, i could earn 1500 rs easily, but i dont want to miss the first match of my life, that too INDIA-SOUTH AFRICA and a DAY/NIGHT on a SATURDAY. The seats for 200 rs are just steps, but the fun is double than the stands. If you get to see the match, try to spot me :) coz we will be right at the boundary line fences.
The day before this match, My company had sent me for a induction programme at a very expensive Hotel. I said, its better to go to a hotel for a free Lunch than sit idle in the company. Many of my friends had come to the hotel. As i stepped near the reception, i saw a bag which had 'Sachin Tendulkar' printed on it. I looked around, and i found many bags with the Indian cricketers names on them. I couldnt feel the ground beneath me. I knew why i was able to see the luggage. I said to myself, " What a luck i have brought with me !! The Indian Cricket team and Me in the same hotel !! " During the training i was in the conference room but my mind was wandering near the reception hoping to see the Master Blaster. As soon as there was a tea break, i ran down with my camera, Again what a luck ! the Bus was waiting at the entrance and all the cricketers were getting inside. I guess very few people get a chance to see the superstars soo close.
The team had just finished a quick meeting and were on their way to the stadium for practice. Couldnt believe, i saw all of them !! and the master blaster waved at us ! Oh, God (and my company) , thank you for this day !! Once the bus left, we all went back to the conference room, had another sleepy session...when we were about to leave the hotel, we saw bus coming straight to the hotel. "Damn, they are the South Africans !" someone shouted. I once again took my camera and began taking pics of the players.
What a day it was...and whats more, i had the ticket for the match tomorrow !! I went home, showed the pics to my friends....one of them said, " these snaps are of no use.......you are not there with any of the cricketers here" . Suddenly i realised what i had done......." Why didnt i realise this when i was taking snaps ??" where was my mind ??? i had a once in a lifetime chance to take snaps with the cricketers and i had blown it up. My friends started laughing at me............" You get snaps from some website and claim that u had clicked them......how do u prove that u were with the cricketers ? "
I had no answer for this....i kept cursing myself, i knew what a golden opportunity i had missed. I kept browsing through the photos to find myself somewhere, i could find nothing except a photo with their luggage. In case you are still laughing like my friends, see this photo . Believe me, i was there.

This happens to everybody

It was wednesday morning and tomorrow was my company Picnic to a resort. I was very happily surfing the net inside my cubicle. Everything was going fine, and suddenly at 7:30 pm i get a mail from My team leader, XYZ- Failed !!! (FYI - XYZ-was a work assigned to me a month ago and i had finished it and submitted it for User testing.) It had come back and the deadline for it was saturday ! And on top of this i was supposed to go home friday night (14 hrs journey) to attend a marriage. The picnic was mandatory and i was supposed to go with the team, no excuses. I was totally out of my senses.
I asked one of my team mates what to do ? He calmly said,"Relax ! Dude, this happens, and had happened to me too ! worst than yours. And after all you are new to this project, they wont blame you." This gave me a bit of strength. But still, my legs were shaking. Today i was supposed to leave early and do a bit of shopping for my Mother before I leave for my hometown. Finally i decided to wait till 8:30, hoping to finish as much work as I can. Then go with a friend to do that bit of shopping.
At 8:30 i was not able to do it, now i was really frustrated. I got out of my office, decided 'Come what May, I will not Stay' called my friend, we both went to a shopping complex, but it was already 9 pm and it was about to get closed. After a bit of roaming, we came to a Metal mart. He too was in a hurry to close his shop. I saw a Bajaj OTG kept outside, i asked him the price of it. He made me listen to his Loooooooong cassette about the product. Without opening the box, i grabbed the OTG and said,"I'll take it."
The next day(Thursday) , got up at 5 am, went for the stupid trip.It wazzunt that stupid as i had supposed....My office girls were just like those in my college, but in the resort i saw many unknown faces (i dont know where do they hide when inside office ?!?) I forgot what had happened yesterday and enjoyed the resort facilities.(Since this is a sad post, i wont mention the happy times i had at the resort :) ). We came back at 9:30 pm fully exhausted. Went home, had food and slept......Tomorrow was going to be a veeeerryy loong day.
On Friday morning, i came to the office at 8 am (I generally come to office at 10 am) With empty eyes, i had a look at my Monitor and the papers besides them......"How am i gonna finish this all before 6 pm and catch my train ?" (remember i told you i was supposed to go home friday night ?) Anyway, my cubicalmate is a good buddy, he knew my dissapointment and promised me that if it doesnt finish before i leave, he will stay in the office on friday night and complete is before saturday. I thanked him, and started to work. (He was in the office before i entered at 8 am). By lunch time, he was ready with the solution. As the day progressed, my assigned task got solved, and finally my tension was relieved.
Now it was 2 pm and according to me the work was over. I gave it back for review. and took a deep breath. i wrote a mail to my collegue saying that i will not be available on saturday and sunday (though they are holidays, My team has to work 24x7 ) and gave him my submitted work details, got out of the office by 6:30, packed my bags and boarded the train. Now no more worries till monday. Reached home safely, attended the marriage, Mom was happy seeing the gift. On sunday evening again i was travelling back, monday will be a great day i said to myself.....i finished the tension filled work in time after all.
In the meeting i gave out my work status and it had already passed the testing stage. (Hush) Now my Team Leader said," You've Finished XYZ just in time, but what about ABC ? it has already crossed the deadline !"
Now tell me it was all my fault. How didnt i recognise that the deadline was so near ? My cubical mate said," Not to worry, I will do it for you." (He was there in the office at 8 am even today)
After the meeting was over, he said, " Did you notice the tension we have in our project?" I said," No i have not noticed the tension in the office, but i have surely seen the 'Everyday' you spend in the office. Thanks for the help."

My First Blog

Hello people,
This is my first Blog. I am still not sure about what a blog means ! but still, i am just posting what all comes at my fingertips ! i am now a software engineer, but still i feel i am a kid, i love watching cartoons and playing computer games.