26/11 is a date that shall now be etched in the memory of every Indian who was alive and witnessed that brazen act of terrorism, yes no coward or foolish act of terrorism as this was particularly marked by flagrant and insolent audacity. Today, almost one month later, India celebrated the re-opening of the Taj and the Oberoi which were dubbed as symbol's of India's resurgence. So do many people say, that India's anger at being hurt is yet again going to be a matter of a few weeks or at the maximum a month and nothing more than that completely ignorant of the underlying fire in India's belly that has surfaced finally and is demanding responses off the bureaucracy and holding the men who must be accountable, accountable for their callousness and inability to capitalize and act upon necessary leads. We might finally shrug off that soft to terrorism tag and demand of our honorable neighbors to finally act and take concrete steps.

This much water has already traversed under the bridge and there is action being taken here and there. Today, as I was watching the classic Jaws II again, I saw Chief Broody being fired by the Amity Town Council for raising an apparently false alarm about a shark that could put the security of the township in jeopardy and what I could relate it to was the sparse news articles in recent days that have cried foul against the extensive media coverage and thus the word witnessed italicized earlier.

There were minute to minute updates and live coverage, exemplified by the 36 hour marathon streaming of live news inspite of impending exams by Darya managing to turn his laptop upside down in the process. Every move of the police and the commandos were put forth to the viewing public. The nation grieved as people fell to indiscriminate firing and wanton bullets took away the lives of innocent people. Reporters crouched in competition to the commandos and captured the movements of the terrorists in the corridors of the Taj, Recorded horrifying narrations of the victims who managed to flee the holocaust in two of India's most luxurious hotels and the Nariman House. Some segments of intellectuals and general public have cried hoarse asking for the media to exercise some self restraint while covering events like this. 

The Broadcaster's Association issued a clarion call for the media houses to exercise self restraint in the process of coverage of the turn of events and not create unwanted fear in the society and throw open a shadow of uncertainty on the society but to little or no avail. It is indeed an issue that everybody ought to be worried about. Continuous live relay of every action of the emergency commando groups etc who had come to combat the terrorists could have done more damage than not. It could even have resulted in people connected with the terrorists giving them information as to how the counter-terrorist force is moving and only helping the already sophisticated terrorists in implementing this systematic destruction of Indian self-confidence with this ruthless blow. 

Didn't the world see a 7/7 or a 9/11. Did we have the BBC or the CNN giving a minute by minute or blow by blow detail of the operations that are being undertaken. The police and the emergency forces cordoned off the site to a particular limit and no media troop were allowed to come close to the site of destruction. This definitely wasn't the case in India and at some points the media had greater and more comfortable access to certain locations than the police or NSG Commandos. Agreed no terror attack on the face of this world has involved such audacity and struck people with so much terror but that is indeed case for more restraint and not more recklessness on part of the Fourth Estate of every society. It is this that the Government also should look to regulate in India more effectively. An announcement by the Association is of no avail, as the regulations are neither binding nor punitive for breaches. Never did we see a professional video of the 9/11 attack and never do we ever want to see a professional video of any other terror attack on India let alone videos of a terror attack. Grow Up Media! Grow Up Security Forces! Be Accountable and make our fort more Secure...

Srini

Every semester has its routine of fun, work, fun, work, fun, work with work eventually taking a stranglehold on its closest competitor and wiping out any trace of that element called fun in the last week especially that which is also called end term examinations. 

With that sense of deja vu did we all shift our rooms to the ground floor at the beginning of this semester but what it turned out just cannot be equalled by any past experiences and can only be beaten by experiences that the future will churn out from its depths. Srinivas Vishven, came into what could be called the biggest shock of his life. He opened his room to mounds and mounds of dust and with his stuff giving Abhay's and mine company in the Corridor of Excellency, had a tough time cleaning and setting up his room infact was the last to set his room up if my memory serves right. Gupte Aditya Milind, the man moved into a room filled with coolers, around 5 coolers found shelter in His Imperial Majesty's Room. Anirudh Kapoor, the man opened his room to be covered with that fine sheet of dust and ofcourse with a spot or two where he could put his feet in a room otherwise filled or rather dumped with stuff to which Abhay and I could lay claim. Debapratim Ray, a little less dumping but loads n loads of dust was what he was welcomed to. Shreyansh Mardia, this ass stayed for a day or two after the end of last term and had his room cleaned and decently set up so he walked in to a room like any other in college but the Shenanigans of the Ground Floor ;) . And what was left of the floor was Abhay Pratap Singh and me, S. Srinivasan, two men whi didnt know what to expect in the room as it was vacated after we left college and safely locked and all our stuff assembled in the hallowed corridors of the Ground Floor.

To me this was a very very memorable semester and I guess it was surely for you all too guys, a bond that I never ever thought I would share with someone in college I do share now with you all. To sum it all up as I have always said, it cant be called a floor in the hostel, it just is a huge room with some partitions in it, so would say those common t-shirts, deodorants, conditioners, shampoo, food etc etc etc...

Bumpat - Yeah, the new derivative of Bum P, courtesy Pranav. That massive godown of food :D ... I really cherish those secret raids that so many of us conducted so many times on that room of urs and cant forget the so many times that we left you squirming on the floor after the Floor tradition had been fulfilled. The Darya - Bum P duels are something that I think the Floor couldnt have done with. The super smasher of hand tennis. Can we forget the times that Bum P's dad was in town, the emergency clean up operations and the hours of scrubbing Bansal's hot plate and vessels.

Adi - The fakir, not so much for his knowledge but for his appearance definitely, that ragged cargos, unkempt beard and the shaggy hair. Oh! not to forget the honourable HMC of our floor who recorded the maximum complaints for faulty jets in the floor or ofcourse the dirty loos courtesy bad bad PG's of our floor. The man to go for whatever you want, exemplified by the comment by the anonymous first year come with sutta for collecting your outpasses. I owe it to this man more than anyone else for this sem being as memorable as it was and it shall ever be :) And ofcourse how can I forget my everlasting study partner, the man who will sit and listen to my rambling even if I am studying for Logic or Ethics where both of us none better. The man who can sacrifice the beard he loves so much for friends.

Ani - The God in every respect, God of FIFA, God of Virtua Tennis, God of Hand Tennis, God of Corridor Cricket, God of Academics, most importantly God for all those Gods of the Ground Floor :P . Ani, Anirudh, Kapoorani, Kapsa, persona par excellence, he is wit of the floor personified. More times than not has the floor rolling on the floor laughing about something or the other. The Boston Legal Freak who tries his hand at everything and can come up with the most imaginative differences between insurgency and terrorism :D :D. Whatever said and done the nerd at heart surfaces time and again in Ani, as everyone hunts for the Ani he might emerge suddenly from the two temples of learning 310@AA or 219@MCS only to take part in the fun as if he was always there. The bogey mailer of the floor.

Debra - Debra, the tag that has hung on to him courtesy Amar Singh but nothing can still beat the Sweetie of the floor ;). The man who still hunts for his clothes in that massive pile of clothes on his table and bed and the man who really destiny blessed by turning that page on his notebook as Muksa raided the Hallowed Corridors of Fame. The Bad Boy of the Floor who never studies except after 12 midnight on the day before the exam and who can get angry at the drop of a pin too and he needs that something to go and shit apart from his book and that handwash that he carries and that wonderful dance he performs at various places to get it :P. The super dancer of the floor and the Bengali that arose after Dada's retirement. The biggest victim yet of Anirudh's bogey mails.

Mardia - The stud Dj of the floor. The only man in all this earth that the floor dies to imitate as can cry the various photos on various birthdays especially the one clicked on Adi's birthday. The last soul to be corrupted and to fall in line with the floor. THe man who comes with his impeccable one liners, well not so one- liners call them stud dialogues which immediately make their way to the myriad status message bars of the floor and elicit laughter from the whole college. The super dancer who held the college's breath single handedly in the cultural week and Boston Legal freak next to Ani only. One great quality about Mardia which has to be appreciated is his impeccable ability to do the right thing at the wrong time. Agreed you have to study a subject once you get bad marks in it but then you dont study it on the day u get ur papers but the day before ur next test please. DJ PJ is really unbeatable, the entertainment factor as the floor plays cricket and tennis with both his back pain and soober doober music.

Coming now to the Manchester United Corner of the floor, Ladies and Gentlemen presenting to you The All-Round Guide to Effective Placements at the end of Five Years at Law School - Abhay. Never can a day go by without talking placements or internship. One Man Utd freak like I have never seen before apart from me. Slowest of the Slow returns in tennis giving Darya terrific competition. A stacked up book shelf and the genius mooter whom Mukul Shastry cites as an authority in class while teaching Murder. The first man who stood up for me in this place. You always have a special place in my life Dear Friend, for the various things we have done together and we shall ;) (Stay away naughty perverts).  

Whatever said and done, nothing of this scale would hav been possible without ppl like Bagda, Pranav, Sunny, Aman, Darya and all you people out there...

Oh yeah how can I forget that mighty Rat which forced us to keep our doors shut for a few days, till that F**k Off Rat attitude came in after that holocaust in Abhay's room :D

To sum it all up, whatever said and done as Ani said earlier SAMDAAB + BPADS = Awesome!!!!

Happy Birthday Abhay!! :)

The Red and White Pole

After so many people asked me to write a new post, I thought while I was sitting in Adi's room and witnessing another classic conversation between Chanda and Adi that I must write about this little legend called Chanda Sahib but then Destiny is destiny and it made me change the topic for this post.

To everyone his own, everybody values things that he possesses in his own way and I am very touchy about certain things and those certain things might sound really silly like how the barber cuts my hair. As I summed it up to Debo and Abhay, I cut my hair and this fellow is the most Barbaric Barber that I have encountered yet.

It had been quite a while since I saw these simple equipments put to my head like this ... i.e picked off a table and put to use and put back on the table, had been used to those ones been pushed on a trolley and taken out of sterilizers and what not and wasnt I brought back to the earth by this man Virendra Sen.

History is the greatest teacher say people an d everybody learn from their personal histories and I hope I have learnt mine ... always listen to Mom and cut your hair whenever you go home so that you dont give this fellow another chance to practice with your hair. And there is another saying about History which I hope doesnt apply to personal histories :(( .. History repeats itself.

Virendra Sen was hidden behind those screens and I thought there was nobody in the shop and looked around when he screamed, Kya chaahiye?? and then made me feel comfortable in that chair that went down a few inches as soon as I sat on it, owing to my mass mostly, and then he set out on spraying atleast around 1/2 a litre of water on that dense overgrowth on my head to make it suitable for cutting and I agree with the guy on that as it is really tough to comb that hair when it is dry let alone cut. And then I saw the most bizzarre things happen, things that I havent seen a barber do to me like for instance,

1. Leave me all alone in the shop with half the job done and go enjoy a cup of tea and biscuits

2. Start by identifying the baseline and neatly shaving it off!!!

3. Playing soft music in a barber's shop

4. Identify the rebel hair after brushing off the debris and pouncing on it and going over the whole process again

5. Taking it off and putting it on for around 5 times, the piece of cloth that he wraps you with

6. Wiping off the comb on that same piece of cloth that he has wrapped you with

7. Last but not the least standing right in between you and the mirror and cutting your hair!!!!

And all that I have to tell Mom now is ... I have learnt my lesson :)

Back from the Clutches of the Barbaric Barber who cut my hair with clenched teeth and who went about his job like the gardner trimming the grass and to whom I gave a free hand after seeing what Debo and Pranav got after they asked for what they wanted

Srini

They Came, They Saw and Conquer... did they??

So goes a very famous Rajnikanth dialogue, "Naa enga Eppo, epdi varuvennu yaarukum theriyaadhu aana vara vendiya nerathukku correcta varuven" meaning nobody knows when I come, where I come or how I come, but I come at the right moment...this line applies not only to the portrayed super hero called Rajnikanth but also to this group of mischief mongers. They attack you and you know that u've been attacked only when see the scars of the battle, they leave gruesome reminders of their presence. This attack that am going to talk about is a serious one. It was yet another day when the Sun chose to spread its benevolent rays upon us, another day when I went to class and the only time I heard Adi's voice was to say Present Sir and then go off to sleep, another day when I stood in front of DMD breaking my head to choose from the standard six items...they struck and they struck big this time. It isn't that run of the mill strike that really can be shrugged off. The target this time was a big shot and the scars, damn they reminded me of the Ku Klux Klan's burning of crosses. We came back ambling to our rooms after that 10.30 order to get back to your hostels and placed our laptop's and began those random researches ranging from SEZ's to South African models :P ... and then we realised one of us had been struck...

The Constitution is the supreme law of the land and nothing against it shall be encouraged or tolerated. If the Constitution is so supreme then what about the man who gives it to the aam aadmi like you and me everyday....shouldnt he be on the pedestal. He had been attacked and I salute him for the way he overcame it...Spirit that deserve emulation or rather spirit that deserves to be tried to emulate coz it isn't you or me ... it's Mr. Bagdi

Hats Off To the man after whose intra moot did the judges run away with wet pants and postponed the rounds to the next day - Pranay Bagdi

The Survival Mantra

It was stiniking hot and in search of breeze, I was driving along the Beach road, at a speed which my mom would raise her eyebrows and dad would look to snatch the key off the vehicle, yeah and suddenly the drive along paradise came to a screeching halt, yes there jumped the devil out of the realms of nowhere, clad in it typical blue berret, with a white shirt and khaki pant on and the letters T.P. pinned on to the shoulder straps. There were 5 more in front of me and 3 behind me. My turn arrived, the devil grinned and I could see that glitter of gold in the corner of his neat set of teeth...Devil asked me, "Why havent you worn your helmet?" I said, "I forgot!" Then the devil came back at me, "Insurance??" I promptly showed him the papers, "Hypothecation??", "Here You Go" said I. The Devil came to the big one finally, "Licence????" as I showed him that tiny piece of paper that enabled me to drive on the city roads, he snatched it from me and put into his pocket and coolly said, pay me 100 and take your licence, and then flashed that scene, Kamal Hassan in the garb of the old man setting his hair Darya style and playing magic with his fingers to teach the police man lessons and I wanted to do the same, 100 bucks for no fault of mine!! but then there were nine more people who were ready to pay and get on with their evening so, with no choice I picked out that fresh hundred rupee note which I had withdrawn from the ATM 10 minutes ago and put it under his nose, and the policeman cried out loud that he doesnt take bribes only to mutter in the aftermath to put it in his pocket and take the licence...Exasperated, I paid and carried on along the Beach road until my friend waved me down near that imposing Gandhi statue on Marina and then there it appeared, dimaag mein chemicals ka kuch hua and i saw them ... the three famous monkeys of Gandhi, only that they had changed their poses now, they gave us a new survival mantra to live today, See All Evil, Hear All Evil but just Say Nothing!

Sportsmanship

This is a topic that comes up time and again, and it gains furore at home only when India is at the receiving end, never ever, nobody raised hell as much as they did when the Men in Blue were in Australia when Harbhajan slapped Sreesanth. The real essence of the term is lost as it merely becomes a retaliation when a particular group of people are harmed. So this topic might even seem highly unlikely for a lot of people, well it isn;t because if you had watched the ODI between England and New Zealand where the Kiwis sneaked a 2-1 lead in a thriller, it wouldnt be irrelevant. It's Euro fever all over and the only demonstration of sportsmanship on pitch seems to be kicking the ball out of play when an opponent player is injured well no one raised the hell when Carlos Tevez was hounded by monsters from the Chelsea side in the Champions League finals for putting the ball out of play to give Chelsea back the possession which Chelsea had ben doing throughout the game which ofcourse rightfully resulted in Drogba's sending off. Yet what's the point, yes George Elliot was adjudged run-out in the recently concluded ODI by umpire Mark Benson after Collingwood refused to reconsider the appeal... Yes you read it right reconsider the appeal, as Elliot and Mills set off for a run, Elliot collided with Sidebottom the bowler and struggled to make the crease and then Bell ran Elliot out and the English made a successful appeal against a batsman who was struggling with injury.

Oh good lord! What has this game come to?? This is the same game where Courtney Walsh on seeing Miandad run out of his crease time and again before the delivery asked the batsman whether he should remove the bails which still stands tall as the greatest example of sportsmanship in the history of the game.

Money, the driving factor, a win is just accompanied by money, and we want the win at all costs to enjoy the money that the win provides us with....Why is it all so materialistic? Can the administrators spare a thought and bring on a cap on the winnings, the amount being pumped in by sponsors and the salaries??
Will we ever see those days when a fielder in the outfield clearly tells the umpire whether it was a four or a six, a batsman walks if he has nicked the ball and a fielder is clear as to whether he has taken a catch or dropped it ... I just wish we do

Srini

P.S: Adi dont say THAT is sadly the World!

If at all we could lay our hands on some old Economics Textbook, it would still classify nations as developed, developing and under developed and then later on with the sweep of reforms, the countries were classified under two heads only developed and developing with all the under developed and developing nations coming under the developing category. What is this development actually? What does it signify? Does it actually matter as to what state the people live in or what matters is only the green that the country has deposited with the World Bank or various other financial institutions.
Its been a month since I stepped into the swanky new terminal of the Doha International airport with newer terminal coming soon behind the present airport and from the airport as we drove past flashy office buildings in the Old Airport area, and to home finally the only thing that I could think of was, "Wow! This country has got richer." A look at all those buildings lining the Airport Road would really trigger that response from anyone, more so for me who had seen this place last prior to the Doha Asian Games when probably barrels of money were pumped in to make this oil rich country look rich reflecting its state. I had earlier read somewhere that Qatar has one of the largest GDP's in the world and is one amongst the developed countries of the world. So what do we expect? A high standard of living for all its people, terrific infrastructure and life like nothings there to be lost, its all to be won. This was exactly the impression that I carried until one fatal trip changed it all and made me ponder over these questions or rather one look at the by products of development and it leaves us in distaste.
An old garage had been rented out, a fleeting look from the outside makes it look like a warehouse or something but then the real picture inside, it is home, home for around 20-30 Nepali workers. Old villas divided into rooms and home for 10-20 Indian workers. It is this part of the population that constitutes a major chunk of the people that reside in here - Migrant Workers. These are the very souls that contribute loads to the prosperity of this so called developed country and where do they live in, in dingy garages and pathetic buildings. If this is what is the standard of living of a major chunk of the population, what is the use of that high GDP ... these are the people whose hardwork results in that high GDP, results in all the Riyals and yet these are the people who live the poorest lives. So what is development?? Which is a developed country? Where the people live in comfort or where the dollar flows without any hindrance??

The South End of a North Facing Horse

A New identity from the erstwhile Srini Thinks...
I decided enough of Thinking and as I initiated the search for a new title for the blog...I came across this...an absolute masterpiece from Kamal in Dasavathaaram, proving his undisputed stature as the King of Slapstick that he shall remain forever.

I would love to put up a notice along with this change that the title doesnt necessarily mean what it actually conveys, it just goes on to state that the confessions will not be confessions as such but continue to remain as stupid and silly as they ever where...

Srini

P.S: Bagda, changed the address for u :)

Doha Vignettes

Busy with managerial duties in FIFA and Football Manager and havent got anything write up on and feel so nutty...ok its time to decimate the Chelshits now...yeah back 3-0 Rooney and Tevez one apiece and Cech adding insult to injury there :D ... wonderful time really flies here in Doha between 12noon and 1 am. Especially that 6 hours that I have set aside to play these two wonderful games nevertheless, I get dreams of automatically simulated games between Utd and some unknown opponent where I end up losing always *sniff sniff* ... Oh yeah, I did sell Park for 13million dollars to some "Halli" South Korean Club who have names like the Busan Bear Cubs and the Pyong Pang Pink Panthers :P and got Van Nistelrooy back to United for a paltry 7 million pounds :) ... Yep i forgot, Mario oh Mario, the good old game, I finally managed to get past 3-4 and now am stuck in 4-2, the impatient me is unable to get past this level because of the slowish nature, my nature gets the better of me here :( ... Nice debates were building up though, thanks to Ananth, Sid, Bulb, PS 18 and all you muppets in the Man Utd Community in orkut, throwing up some dumb topics and some good debates in the Utd community and ofcourse who can forget Ananth and Sid, those days of IPL with promotion of talent, demolition of reputation and ofcourse The myth of superstardom ;) ... and i do manage to catch something of this city, nothings changed though in these 2 years that I have been away, its all the same only thing is these fellows have found a way to finally make the big guns spend some of their money - hiking the prices of everything in here ... they used to be so cheap last time around :( ... And yeah on a parting note, I live very close to a US Air Base which is apparently on top of the Al Qaeda hitlist in Qatar and I love the way these guys fly their F 16's especially when they dont want to let them rust :D ... Utd v Norwich in the FA Cup Finals now and RVN's first game in the starting 11 too ;)
Bbye
Srini

After all that, ok be mean, gender discrimination and you have other people to thank comments that i got, i had to put this one in too.....this one's to all you people who kept on studying throughout but then also contributed to the fun that we all had in that one year...

Nayanthika and Deepa...the inseparable twins.....I thank the holy lord and my lucky stars that you two came across me...wonder where you two would have been without the efficient guidance of this knowledgable guru...lol....two dynamite packets...laurel and hardy where if you tell one of them something the other says is it true after some time....there are no boundaries between these two and deepa u need to start thinking straight and nayan ... go on strategy strategy...one last shot for u....

Maya.... one person who managed to wake me up in the morning for some days and go for a jog...Hats Off to you .... The Blonde No. 1 who can trigger of peals of laughter with her absurd sense of logic and reasoning in any situation but then when Maya advises u, its serious, just take a look at her and you'll know by the way for the intellectually drained ones, maya is ambika, another partner in crime in class but then she keeps snoring her way to glory in class though

Lagna....oye gender discrimination take this....lazy to the core....always complains....god only knows what she'll come up with the next moment.... Nevertheless an awesome .... stay the same ....nd great started to miss college n all!!

Nidhi.....it all started off with that Hey Srini...wat's up?? ceiling stuff ;) .... a friend par excellence....bagdi of rlb and the only one who asks me to call mom whenever i dont look alright....remember madam its ISD...and she says cut down on ur lassi and call mom...haha....hats off to u nidhi

meher....hyperactive piece of non - stop talking....slow down slow down...let others understand wat u r saying but then one of the very few persons who can put their point through inspite of talking so fast...and also force everyone to go out once in two weeks atleast.

Aayushi....the proud DPS girl..who vanishes to Delhi in a moment and reappears in Jodhpur in another..wonder how much the Railways earns thanks to you.....talk slow you too ok...

THere have been others too Mukherjee...the motee, Ruks...the angel with the broken tooth ;) .... Shreya Garg....and all

Thanks for having made the year as much fun as the rest :)

Every time a year passes by we tend to review it but this time around neither did i realise that a year had passed, nor did i feel the need to review it as it had felt like a lifetime than a year...but then thank you kapoor for helping me write yet another blog....instances were galore in this one year and listing them would be a very tedious process but then there are a few people especially a few guys who have really made a change,

Ani, the ultimate tension diffuser, can get humour into any situation and have you in splits when you would have really liked to bash a person up, stop taking that belly and u'll do a whole lot of good to the world and yourself, the nice nerd who finishes first always, going to top for sure though...be the same da kapsa, that element of fun would definitely be missing without you

Mardia, the man without whom there could possibly be no fun, no offence there mardia, he is a quintessential part of every event of fun and joy and with his terrific one liners and the opportunities for *mediation* that he provides me with, he simply rocks, stud boy of the batch

Abhay, don't worry, u can add this to ur CV and it will enhance your opportunities to getp laced, one heck of a friend who cares about his placements a lot, terrific sense of timing like that last one at Khas Bhag when Mardia asked, was that meant to be a joke and abhay says no its a riddle, now answer....u rock aps

H.I.M Aditya Milind Gupte, my saviour and partner in crime in class....justified by Asha Bhandari's refusal to take a combined viva inspite of our joint project. The big bad 21 year old virgin of the batch...wonder how i would have lived in the floor and the class without him and his impeccable wisecracks...i still remember how the circus got over and how everyone becomes adi's best friend at times that too with a big hug, in great spirits always ;) keep being in great spirits my friend and stop that smoking pleaseeee

Bagdi, Bagad, BAgda, Minor, the list of names keeps going on courtesy kapsa, the ultimate friendship material that anyone can come across in life, wonder how i would have crossed one year without him or whom i would have told things that i have told him, his logical solutions to situations can make u laugh at first and then u realise the sense it had in it and doesnt mean to be funny but then his actions can have you in splits like *Saawariya :D* u make life simpler da bagdi...rock on and keep pulling me on

Titsa, Atit and a very bad one courtesy RLB - P sa, Pranav, the storehouse of information ad secrets, takes it all in and never lets it out and never shares his secrets bad boy....i've told u dont do that...i've done psychology not u ;) ... neway looks for *fun* always and in everything....keep rocking on titsa

Debo, the footballer par supreme inspite of not getting a penalty on target...never mind debo u still are the best...an indispensable member of the erstwhile Repeat Study Group also an indispensable member of the hostel fun group....can get in anywhere and come out of anywhere, can get up and question Amar Singh only to be told u dont know anything sit down... go debo go, score next time around we will still be cheering for u, until u get it in the back of the net ;)

Sunny Baba, the ultimate words of wisdom that flow out of his mouth can make no sense at times but at times....they can really pull you through....thanks to you i came out through the toughest period i faced in the one year that has whizzed past...and i came through unscathed with those motivational speeches delivered by His Holiness....the only guy i have ever screamed at NLU for no fault of either of us ... Keep preaching sunny as i know their value more than anyone else....

Aman with your sense of logic and ethics which often pulled adi and me through, thy incomparable academic knowledge and much more for which we the humble ones bow in submission, aptly summed up by Shonty, "And God created Aman"

then the guys like Avi, Anish, Param, Chanda with his Chandaisms, Bum P with his irrelevant arguments for the unholy sporting teams and icons, Darya with your relentless streaming ;) ... u all have made the one year as much fun as it can be and have provided a glimpse of what the four years would be which have me raring to go back to that same old place and slog it out for 4 years just for all this fun :)

The next one.......shall come soon

TIll then

Srini

Proxy

A very trivial issue, giving proxy attendance in class when someone else is absent...............my first attempt turned out to be a blatant failure, where the teacher was convinced but then great Mardia spoilt it by calling for his attendance immediately thereby planting that little seed of confusion in Amar Singh's mind ending up in Abhay not getting attendance for that class....then scene shifted to CG....Sanjay Pandey with his dose of sleep inducing lectures on Article 14 was all set to go as he began taking attendance, 489 went the call....Present Sir went Anirudh with a copious influx of that element called laughter which prompted Pandey to look at him...Ani calls and says Srini, u give for Abhay, he has seen my face......and then came the moment...that very moment I knew would boost my confidence to go on and build upon the beginning....that very moment which would help more people benefit as they dont lose out on that important thing that we die for in college - ATTENDANCE, the elixir of NLU life.... my mind braced for that ultimate occassion....the heart started beating faster....this shouldnt be happening...i should be calm as i call out for the number....soothing myself and speaking to myself....the moment was arriving....524...525...526...527 ..... YES SIR..... I'd done it...yes it had been done....in one moment of swift technique....a technique that I had observed for quite sometime now practiced by Ankit, Prithu, Anirudh, Darya.....I had done it...my first successful proxy....and nature acknowledged it too as the after effects of the earlier nights sandstorm stirred .... billowing up clouds of dust and the real elixir of life descended upon earth in tiny droplets from the heavy water bearing clouds

However trivial it was, it made me write another one ;)

Srini

Hostel Rocks!!!

Ten Reasons why I love watching sports in the hostel rather than the preferred comfort of my home:
1. There are 6 people crammed into an area where there usually is one person and the noise levels can never be matched by anything else.
2. A high decibel speaker at full volume can be engulfed by the nooise created by 2-3 throats when a century is scored, match is won or a goal is scored.
3. There are some who end up on the winning side and some on the losing side and the way the case is taken adn how the losing side retaliates.
4. The way all enmities are forgotten and sports is celebrated.
5. The jumps and the exultation in the moment of adulation inspite of cramped up space.
6. The food material meant for one person gluttonised by 6-7 people and the way it vanishes in seconds.
7. The know - how and useless knowledge shared....useful for the moment eys but never later...like why the batsman's leg must point towards square leg or why Federer should have gripped his racket higher.
8. The bullshit stories that come later like why Ani's dad would buy Manchester United...because he wants to meet Rooney and Ronaldo frm the fact analysed by Ani that the Glazer kids get to meet Rooney and Ronaldo easily.
9. The oohs and aahs that accompany the close misses.
10. Finally, the greater bond that develops on the aftermath of the game irrespective of who wins or loses except in the cases of ppl who r highly unsportive....

Well....thats for now...Thanks for the idea Nidhi....beat boredom for 1/2 an hour ;)

P.S: Kapoorani :P hope u r happy again ;)
Srini

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!

The very word that is a cornerstone in the annals of the English language. The word that signifies gratitude and acknowledgement of a benefit or favor.....today D was like am gone, just like the Arsenal fan Debo the other day when Arsenal managed yet another draw to hand United the top slot in the league....well coming back to Deepa or D, she was like I have a CG Project and my Pol Ob project is bull shit .... am gone and i wont attend classes, i'll miss them because i'll sleep....well she isnt exactly a soothsayer but anyway I came up with a comforting tch tch tch ... don''t worry we are all there for u and she came up with THANKS, this put me into thought mode. I had always assumed and presumed that Thanks was a word meant for formality meaning u use it in a place where u intend to be formal. You say Thanks when u intend to be formal or mean it from the deepest depths of your heart for instance yours truly's previous post. Now D am not taking your case here but just an example to prove my point. I have always been of the opinion that there shouldn't be the word that starts with a T and ends with a S and has H,A,N,K in between in other words there shouldnt be Thanks in certain relations where u start to completely adore the person, take Zaf for instance....one reason why I took more to him was this was what he said when I said Thanks sometime in the beginning of the first sem, "Yeah be more formal", now this was like a stunnin revelation to me that there are more people who share this opinion. Moving back to Deepa and analysing this situation here, Deepa calls me her Best bro! Thanks for that Deepa but lets move on to discuss the thanks that u had said earlier, Deepa is like one of the goody goddiest girls around here who is there right next to me in class, breakfast, dinner and lunch and during all free - time if at all we get any in this temple of academic excellence. And this tiny little creature says Thanks....i did try to tell people early last sem, but to no avail and gave up to adopt the "np". THen where does this fault lie, is it because people feel everything has to be acknowledged and given its due credence, is our society where everything has its own demarcated boundary which it cannot exceed or is it that remnant of the British which has stayed on with us for 60 years and seems set for more - FORMALITY and Courteous .... watever it is
It is dumb to say Thanks to someone you know is there for you because:
1. He/She wouldnt have done it expecting your thanks
2. He/She won't refrain from doing you a favour next time just because you didn't say a thanks this time
3. He/She will definitely not carry a grudge against you just because you didnt say thanks...this especially for those who have this habit...is there any instance where a person carried a grudge against you just because you forgot to say thanks

Thanks might be the symbol of being genteel and my calling for removing it from close relations might sund absurd to some and a murder of courtesy and good behaviour to some but then to me it is just proliferation of that essential thing where people do things for you and not quid pro quo - brotherhood.

Chuck the Thanks

Srini

The Birthday Post

Yeah, this one is straight from my heart and one of the very few times when I am going to deny that very few people alone of knowing what is going on behind the huge facade. Yes, my birthday, the completion of the 19th year in this life. Well, I came back to college for my birthday from Delhi to learn that some men who have become so essential for my life in this place wouldnt be there to share the joy of this moment - Abhay, Adi, Aman, Ani, Mardia, Nath, Pranav....all out to have fun in Goa and Delhi..... yes, felt very very bad that these guys wont be there to share the fun and was feeling pretty low, Bagdi and Sunny with me in the hostel trying to put things in place for the regular hostel rituals for a birthday...Thanks all those people who asked me to not be disappointed because of this half - empty hostel and Nidhi especially for giving me that shoulder to lean upon and Adi for taking my ranting over the phone and then came the stroke of midnight as Vivek, Adarsh and Zaf walked in to join in on the celebrations...thank you three of you....it seriously meant a lot to me and lifted my mood so much.....ok now moving away from the senti part, the phones started ringing and as i kept on answering the calls, impatient Sunny, pulled the phone out and put it in his pocket and didnt let me answer my DAD"S CALL....all for the cake...the cake which was all over my face and hair only...oh yeah Dad, you need to get me a new Debaj t-shirt, this one is gone....then watched Hustle upto 2 in the nite and went of to sleep only to be woken up at 6.30...yeah u read it rite imagine 6.30 in the morning....and i strictly told mom, call me after 7.30 only and woke upto 8 missed calls from various people who realised that such a soul existed only on the 5th of March and wished to disturb my sleep....then trudged into class...and slept through the first two hours to be woken up...a rude awakening there which said Pol Ob presentation next class....dont ask abt the presentation though.....then ohk nothing great just another normal day where i beat bagdi 10-3 in FIFA and suspiciously the connection was lost in the next two games...okok chill they were even stevens....and oh yeah, I had to answer this unusual number of phone calls nd say a billion thank you's. Then again, Mom, Dad, Grandparents et al love you all, thank u girls for those wonderful shirts love u as always.....Bagdi nd Sunny....couldnt have imagined the day without u 2....Vivek, Adarsh nd Lzafeer again....u made my day again.....Team India for having thrashed the Aussies in their own backyard....Man Utd for making it thru to the Quarters.......last but not the least ..... u 7 asses who werent here.....u just made me realise how much friends matter in life :) ....... and as I end this post Happy Birthday Nidhi!!! This one is for u :)

Srini

P.S: Dedicated to all those whose names arent in the post too!!

"Wanna love you longer, you still turn the fire on" - Please Forgive Me, Bryan Adams

I still remember the first time I actively took to her and today I stand addicted to her...can't spend a day without talking about her..she has sort of become this raging passion for me. I still remember not the date but the events clearly, it was that India - Pakistan Quarterfinal of the 1996 World Cup and dad was so tensed as Mohd Azharuddin and co were fighting it out and Venky Prasad was still breathing fire, he took me out of the house thrice just to avoid watching the match and it was on this day that I saw her, not that I hadnt seen her earlier or maybe call it this was the first time I really noticed her....Oh my God!! Lost my mind right then and right there and yeah I was 7 years old then, u r right. Love has no boundaries right...here you see it a 7 year old chap in love. Coming to her, she has evolved over the years, grown older, looks better and has widened her horizons achieving more than what people thought she could with her own share of controversies and yeah biaatch...i hate her she has had this ultimate privilege of being associated with God Sachin Tendulkar for so long :D....and today she stands towering over everybody in her field and ofcoourse sweetest of all...yet i fail to realise what is that special thing in her that only makes me want more of her.....and make me love her more everytime I hold her, encircling her with my arms, as she melts in me and we immerse in that indelible journey called life....anyway coming to her, she is this sleek cylindircal figure with the right curves and the right bends that makes you go mad...makes you die to just hold her in your hands for a moment and yes I have been doing this very thing for 12 years now...just dont realise 12 years whizzed past where India have put in 3 more World Cup stories of Sorry Next time around for sure and yet you have never failed me, not made me wait once, not made me go back disappointed, that massive shoulder that I can forever lean upon and the taste that you lend which erases all bitterness that i might have.....I just have a single prayer to the Almighty, Just dont separate you from me, I cant imagine a life without you, every significant event in my life and you have been there, birthday, right in the party giving my friends the time of their lives with your ineffable energy, sister's wedding, right through the marriage, cheering everyone up who seemed a tad tired insisting on the importance of the occassion, my making it to the law school, centre of that party getting everybody into that trance inspite of the dirty stench of insects and pests, me in lawschool, centre of my very existence in the middle of this nowhere....Never would I want to be separated from u and I would like to tell you.....Yeh Dil Maange More!!!!

Love You Pepsi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)

Cheers
Srini

"Cricket can never be friendly" - M.S. Dhoni

The Indian skipper made this statement based on the recent incidents like the Roy- Bhajji episode and the Roy - Ishant episode in the ODI's etc. This is the situation that the game has come to. A game where the sole aim was to have fun and score runs and whichever group of 11 guys had more number of them being declared winners. Today, squash balls, iron bats :P, titanium blades and what not have diluted and are diluting the essence of the game let alone that dirty art called sledging. This is one of the biggest effects of what ill can competition do to you...this can be seen anywhere and everywhere, all competitions are started with the ultimate aim of promoting learning, knowledge and brotherhood most importantly. Today, we see it very differently, competitions are there to be won and to win anyone does anything as long as it goes unnoticed, as simple as not sharing points with your opponent who could also be a very good friend in a debate, shielding your tactics from your own friends in an intra - college event, or worse knowing the weaknesses of your opponents and playing to them rather than to your own strengths. This is the highly unhealthy scenario that is present in the world. Competitve SPIRIT which used to be the essence of a competition and which still is in words alone remains in words only and not in action. The very spirit that would enable the third component of BROTHERHOOD is dead in competitions, people can go to any extent or in other words, people can Cheat to Win, which turns out to be the saddest reflection of reality. Not surprisingly did Sir Don Bradman once say, "If he did it once, I would warn him, if he dared to do it again, he would never walk into the field until I play" when asked for his opinion on the now - Australianized art of Sledging adn today we stand at a stage where a man proclaims that the sport can never be friendly.

"True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation." - George Washington

It is indeed a fact that friendship is like wine, the older the better and what better than to chill out with friends for a day in the middle of nowhere and accelerate the aging of that elixir of life. It was late Saturday night or rather early Sunday morning, chuck it whatever u would call 3 a.m. in the Amir Ali halls that Nath and Aman came across that idea of going to Osiyan for the day and Nath screamed out my name and said let's go and it was decided we would find one more who could ride a bike and leave by 11 the next morning on two bikes and explore Osiyan. Aman disturbs my sleep the next morning at precisely 11.03 am by continuously banging on my door and says chalo Osiyan and turned out that there were more than 4 ppl going. then we set of, 8 people in an Innova + 2 bikes which made it 12, a treble of the initial contingent and there i started of on a fun journey with Mardia on the bike, initially very very apprehensive due to Mardia's inability to start the Pulsar, my comfort grew in tandem with his confidence and control of the bike, with him proclaiming us Roadies, we waited for the rest to catch up with us at the petrol bunk and I called Nayans after an agonizing wait and she proudly says Oh we saw u at the bunk we are near Sucheta Kripalani School and then we set off, we took a doubtful turn which luckily turned out to be right, found out that the Sucheta Kripalani School was a good 20 kms ahead of us and finally reached Osiyan....oh I forgot we also almost got killed by a lorry, Mardy trying to overtake the lorry and the lorry turned suddenly sans any indication, we survived and crossed the lorry when Mardia said, "m#(@&$(od, indicator nahi hai". Yeah we reached Osian and climbed the dune, a huge one, a mammoth one which made all of us decide - no more exercise for a week and we boy oh boy what fun we had on the dunes. Meher and Rukmani digging for treasure on top of the dunes :P, Arjun rolling down the dune and getting up coated with a fine layer of sand, lifting Deepa up and launching her into the sand, burying Meher and Deepa in the sand and ofcourse clicking pictures and me moving away so as to not disturb Arjun's thought process ;) I got it my son, was just playing along...and then we came back on another eventful journey with intelligent Mardia losing okok almost losing his way and we as in the Innova having to halt thrice to let mardia catch up with us, Mardia in the end turned out to be a safe and sexy driver and Nath taking the former only touching devilish speeds of 110 and ofcourse a fun filled lunch at 6pm in a nondescript Hotel baba ramdev with Kaju in every damn thing (Yuck!!!) and a trip full of pepsi, friendship and fun.......Thank You Guys, that was some unadulterated fun!!!

P.S: cant end this post without thanking His Imperial Majesty Aditya Milind Gupte for having kindly consented to give us his dearest possession and help us complete the trip - his bike.

“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honours and remembers.” – John Fitzgerald Kennedy on the event of dedication of a library to Robert Frost in 1963.

Its been 7 years since anybody let alone an Indian was honoured with the nation’s highest civilian honour – the Bharat Ratna. Is it an indication of the lack of the men of quality that we produce or is it a shameful reflection of our blatant failure to honour the men who have done us proud. Not that there has been a dearth of men who have served the nation and made it proud in the last few years. The last person to be bestowed with the honour was former President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and there has been this huge void after that. It would be highly unfair to say that Indians haven’t been performing at that level that is required to gain the recognition of the poitical big wigs of the nation who decide who is worthy of a Bharat Ratna. There were quite a few names that were thrown up in the run-up to this years Presidential Honours on the 26th of Jan and there were two names most prominent amongst the list, that of former Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee and Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar. Why were the two of them denied the chance of being anointed with India’s highest civilian honour, is it because they didn’t match any set criteria, if so who sets the criteria…these are questions that ought to be answered by those policy framers of India who in the end sadly decide who is fit for national hours. A. B. Vajpayee was one of India’s most successful Prime Minister, under whose reign we almost managed to develop more than what we did under the Socialist and Fabianist Congress reigns of decades and Sachin Tendulkar, leaving aside all my love and affection for the man is a cricketer par excellence who needs to only answer himself and not any dumbass critic who is jobless and thus pokes a comment at the master. Atal was the man under whom India first touched heights of economic growth under whom we managed to push the wretched inflation below 5% and push our economic growth above 7%. Sachin is the man who has seen India through various critical moments in the lush green arena with his bat doing the talking slated in the 22 yard strip of dust. These two men APPARENTLY didn’t deserve the highest honour that the nation reserves for its citizens who have served the nation par excellence and better than the rest…..Reasons anyone???

P.S: This one is not for my friends who are aware of my love for Sachin and can do nothing but mock at my discussion of him deserving the honour, say whatever you want he is right up there and not you.

Srini

Ethical Fallacy

To lawschool i came and now i sit reading Ethics, or rather Aathics as the professor pronounces it . it is very well known that 2+2 is 4 but then people say that ask a lawyer and he could give it to u the way u want. A lawyer can give u 2+2 the way u want and yet u teach him Ethics, ethics to be applied in the profession, imagine after the 5 long years that I huff and puff and take a case where i wld have to defend a criminal who would have for sure killed the victim or defend a corporate client who would have been exposed and been an unfortunate part of that 1% of white collar crimes exposed, I would apply ETHICS, whatever Bentham, Mills, Kant and co. had thought and written years ago to apply in a simple case, the most basic ethical principle is that everything happens for the good, oh yeah the criminal who killed his foe did it for the good of the family of the deceased who might have as well lost their sole breadwinner and yeah the corporate client who swindled money from his office accounts did it for his good but did he do it for the good of the majority of the ppl in his office or the ones that would have benefitted........yes, the point is what is the point of studying ethics...............further what is the use of studying PROFESSIONAL ETHICS in the 10th semester, that twilight of the lawschool innings where almost everyone is placed and rarely would want to go to class......Its time to poke or rather superpoke those benign souls that govern the framing of this syllabus and wake them to reality, tech us something that we would use...not gobbledygooks like this!!

Srini