GMail Gyaan

Just realized that GMail doesn't give a damn about the dots in a gmail id. An e-mail sent to suraksha.r@gmail.com or su.raksh.a.r@gmail.com or surakshar@gmail.com or s.u.r.a.k.s.h.a.r@gmail.com all comes to me. Hee!

Gyaan courtesy: APP

Get "Orkutted"

Actually care how many people visit your orkut profile? Get chronic depression if the number doesn't increase by at least a 100 a day? Does your every third sentence contain the word "orkut"? And is thinking up ways to increase profile visitors a serious leisure activity?

Then Orkutted's Profile Toplister is probably exactly what you've been looking for. All you have to do is get your profile registered and canvass asking people to vote for your profile to get to the top!

Friend of mine's recently come up with it - and hearsay tells me it might actually work. Worth giving it a shot at any rate! :)

The Things That Be

There are some things that we won’t say and some things that we won’t admit. Like reading in the bathroom. Or licking the ice-cream tub clean. Or telling someone they’re unforgivably dense.

I have exams this week through, but I also have the study blues. I’m just letting the blues take over. While deriving the Schröndinger Wave Equation, I got thinking about why the world is so pretentious, if that’s the word I want. (Sue me.) We weren’t always pretentious, were we? I remember when I was a kid I was blatantly honest about everything. I used to say things as they came to my mind, without processing them and thinking if or not I must say them. I once asked a friend of my mother’s why she was so fat and was it because she loved to eat cheese. Needless to say, my mum was mortified and had to hurriedly say something to save face. That was when I got my first think-before-you-talk-manners lecture. I didn’t understand it then and I don’t understand it now. Though now, I take a couple of seconds before I say something and try my best to be diplomatic. But why must I?

We’re always taught to be nice to people. Say namaste to the elders, enquire about cousins you’ve never seen in your life, smile at guests even though you detest them invading your house at unearthly hours, make conversation with vacuous people because otherwise they will spread word that you’re an insufferable, undeserving antisocial. Ugh. Why can’t I just tell a person to bugger off? Why should I be tolerant and smile at them even though I feel like tearing my hair out in their company? Why, why?!

Some people would say society demands it. But perhaps the society is what we’ve created to keep ourselves in check, to nurture “etiquette” and proper social behaviour. If etiquette is to keep on pretending that something doesn’t bother you and going on as if everything was perfect, then frankly, I’d rather be a social outcast. Society is just another farce. Living room conversation and table chatter.

Subtlety on the other hand doesn’t help much either. To say “I have a little work, I’ll catch you later!” to someone on the phone when you actually want to say, “Listen, mate. You’re boring the pants off me. I’d rather be doing fluid mechanics.” is just postponing the misery. Another call and another excuse and another call. Saying the latter at least gets your message across loud and clear.

Very very few people have it in them to be cut-and-dry. To say, "Save it for someone with an IQ as low as yours." Everyone wants to be thought of as nice and charming, well-mannered and refined. And therefore, we keep the guise up and in the process, forget to preserve our identities and lose ourselves in the whirlpool of make-believe.

P.S: I actually do like Fluid Mech. :|

Ten Things Say Who I Am

Seems to be the season of tags. Tagged yet again by the lovely Dryad! Here it comes: Ten Things That Define Me.

1. Sarcasm.
2. Happiness.
3. Fragrance.
4. Colours.
5. Movies.
6. People.
7. Writing.
8. Travel.
9. Stationery.
10. THIS look. Wazza! :D










I know I could've made it a little more elaborate but slighta no enthu! :P And like usual, I ain't tagging nobody! Partly coz practically everyone there is to tag has already been tagged!! :D

There Is Something About This Man

I saw Guru Monday night. Getting tickets was a nightmare, honestly! I had to set an alarm at midnight, get up, go online and then book tickets for three days later. When my alarm rudely woke me up from the middle of a very deep sleep, I was thinking no movie could be worth doing this.

This movie was. Well, not the movie itself but the man who carried the entire story on his shoulders. Abhishek Bachchan. I’ll say it again; there is something about this man. It isn’t the magnetism that Amitabh exudes when he’s onscreen. It isn’t the kind of charm SRK oozes. It’s something that keeps you hooked to him through the movie - a temporary addiction.

Watching AB Baby in Guru after Dhoom 2, I was speechless. In Dhoom 2, he practically had no role except for being the cynical, never-smiling super-cop. Here, he transforms from the clueless, hardworking lad in Turkey to a confident, self-assured man who wants to work for himself and make it big. And after he does, each frame he is in radiates with his pride at his work and the brashness of success. When he stands tall on screen, you feel that nothing could possibly stop him.

After all the hype I’d heard/read, I knew Guru had to be good. IMHO, Guru isn’t a great directorial venture. Very very good, of course, but not great. Mani Ratnam, hailed God amongst many, has made more powerful, brilliantly directed films – Nayagan, Thalapathy, Bombay, Dil Se, Kannathil Mutthammital come to mind immediately. I always remember needing sometime to stay still and digest these films after watching them. May be because they portrayed a world peppered with physical violence and brutality. That always has a greater appeal and a stronger impact.

Guru, however, depicts the life of one man who believes. It is this man’s struggle, his fight with the times and his contemporaries, his drive to succeed. There is hardly any physical violence, no gore. It leaves you exhilarated at the end of it – you walk out of the theatre smiling.

Hee!

I have a block. Two, actually. Nose block and blogger's block. *Hides in a hurry* Pliss pardon worsht mokkai.

Yeniway, Happy Pongal and all that. The only things I care about, frankly, are the sugarcanes and the holidays. :D
-----
I'll tell you this: making money out of vettiness is the best feeling ever! WCC cults happened yesterday and today. We placed first in DumbC AND WTGW!! Yay! 2000 bucks!! 100 of which we blew up there on matching anklets and earrings (girl-bonding!) and some amazingly divine brownies! Oh, YUM!

Couple of friends wanted to go participate in DumbC and generally be vetti. We end up there and then I realize I've left my ID at home. *D'oh moment* So we pull a few strings, plead with hospi desk and register. Then my dad had to come all the way from Adyar back to WCC to give me ID. I assure you, he wasn't ecstatic. :|

One thing that really got me was how fashion conscious everyone there was. I mean, all the girls from women-only colleges! Mind blowing - kajal, make-up, matching jewellery, accessories! Gave me laughter cramps to think of how I went to college everyday - get up at 6 15, hurry through everything, dump stuff in bag and bolt out of door to run and catch bus! :P :|
And of course, the reverbs of our useless "dress code" as per Anna Univ rules hit me just then. We get to wear salwars, with below-knee kurta's only and of course, the dupatta - Wow. And people here get to wear SHORTS to college. Knee-length, but still!!

And the politics. Sheesh. People are unbelievable, seriously. I guess, we were the only engg. college people there. And therefore, there was already this bias against us. We come uninvited and what's more, go on to place first in two events. I mean, atrocious no? :P Oh, there was this one team who was both in DumbC and WTGW - they HATED us. Truly. Pardon cliché , but if looks could kill, we'd be dead a million times over! :P
-----

Oh, oh, oh, oh! I'm going watching Blood Diamond right NOW and watching Guru on monday night - yayayayayayay! :P :P And I have a really nice, full long weekend in front of me. Right now, I'm the happiest person in the world!

Five Point Me

Got tagged by Hams - Five things that you erm....may not know about me! :D

5. I hate the icing on cakes and pastries. Except very, very, very rarely.
4. I started reading when I was four-five years old, finished the Enid Blyton children's books by age 9 and devoured Asimov at age 12.
3. I don't wear a watch. I found it sticks to my wrist when I sweat and I hate that. :P
2. I LOVE stationery.
1. I sleep at 10 p.m. every single night before a working day. Unless, I have "academic" stuff to do.

I don't think I'll tag anyone and bug them. :P However, if anyone does want to do this tag, consider yourself tagged and do leave me a comment!
-------------

In the past few weeks, I've been reminded time and again that my taste in music and movies in godawful. :) Don't think will deny that. Anyway, right now I'm looking to listen to new kinds of music and watch "tasteful" movies. So if you have a suggestion, please, please, please drop it in. I'd be grateful! :D

P.S: Gapp, leave an offliner on yahoo IM if you want to. Do not want comment box flooded. :P

And 2007 Is Here!

Happy, Happy New Year to all of you! :)

New year is always a rejuvenation of sorts. Gathering all things undone, words unsaid, promises and resolutions unkept. This day every year, everyone says to themselves, "This year, I'll do it." Sometimes we do it and sometimes we don't. And then there is always the next year. :D To tell you the truth, that's what keeps me going! Phew! :P

Resolutions, yes. Am not going to put them up, because there are very few people who'd get it anyway. :) Restricted access wonly!


Once again, all of you have a great year ahead - do everything you want to do! :)

You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named 'Bush', 'Dick', and 'Colon'.

- Chris Rock

Hmmm.

Blogger's Meet Around The Corner!

After the previous time, there's another Blogger Meet right next week. Have a feeling a lot more people will turn up after last time!! :) Hopefully, anyway. Sadly, me won't be there coz I'm not in town - in Hyderabad! :D But all you people, surely try and make it!

When? 30th December 2006 (Saturday) around 4:30 pm
Where? Elliots Beach (Opposite Cozee, near the Police Booth)
Registration? Nope, Just walk in.

For more info - check out post on gapp's blog.

P.S: Do post this on your blog to spread the word even if you aren't coming. And try gathering junta - more the merrier!! :D

Change

This is basically me ranting my head off. Don't expect you to be interested or curious. Please do skip if you want to.

You know that thing people keep saying - 'Change is Constant'. Funda, I tell you. Really. It hit me like a sock in the jaw today. It hurt real bad.

I knew this guy way back. Say a couple of years. I say way back, because he's changed that much. And all for bloody worse. The boy I knew was gentle, sweet, kind and very adorable. Now he's just unrecognizable - badly behaved, ruffian types who think rude is macho. Bleargh. I thought of this for awhile and it made me sick. So I decided to let the dead past bury it's dead, to quote.

Sometimes I wish things would change. And other times, I'd give anything to have things like they were before.

I often think if life would've been the way it is if somethings had stuck. If I was as combustible as I'd been four years back. If he hadn't gone. If I hadn't liked him*. If I still had a cellphone. If those three months hadn't happened. If I hadn't done some things. If I had listened when it mattered. If I had said a firm 'No' then. If only could take back words that I said. If shit hadn't happened.

It's a bad moment and a big If...
------
*The guy I liked is NOT the guy I knew way back.

XVIII

Update: Missed mentioning how much a certain hour long phone call the night before my budday made my entire day/week/month. Miss you loads and Thaaaaaanks a million!! :) :) :)

Yippeee!!!!!! I is 18. FINALLY. :)

It's just a number, I know. But 18 is 18. Now I can legally drink, drive, watch A rated movies and generally expect to be treated like...erm...an adult. :P

Still certain people will insist on calling me things like Su Baby, Su Bambino, Kiddo. :| But since those people are super-dooper, I'll let it pass. :P

The day was BRILLIANT. To say the least. Didn't go out, didn't do anything special, but the people I know - they made it all fantastic. :D

12 at night, I got shaken up by my sis who jumped about and yelled like she was turning 18. :) 5 in the morning, my mum calls from her flight and says, "How does it feel to be 18? Big Girl!". =)) It felt plain nice. Not thrilled, ecstatic, just lovely and warm.

And my favourite part...Present time! Yaaaaaaay! :D

All of you guys who wished me, thanks a million! You guys made my week!! :D

Thanks are also due to: V, for the huge chocolate and bounty bars, Gapp bhaiya for the amazon voucher prezzle and big-bro-ness :), Ma for the classy jewellery, H for the wallet and card, Santosh for the lovely, lovely bouquet, Dad for the perfumes and GranP's for the grand!!! :D

That's just about everything! :)

Santosh's bouquet - with EIGHTEEN dairy milks for each year of my wasted life! :P One look and I was all teeth and smiles!! :P :D

The Eighteen. :) I don't think I'll ever again hold so many bars of chocolate at once!

Ma's Presents from Udaipur. Marwadi Ishtyle! :)

Dhoom Machaale!! :D

*Grin MAX*

Am going to watch Dhoom 2 NOW. NOW, NOW, NOW!!! yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!! :P :P

Will update story behind it later! :P

As expected, haven't had patience nor time to update story. Anyway, Dhoom was HAWT. The people in it were, anyway! :P

As a movie, it sucked though. Loads of action, brilliant stunts and gadgets n all that. But NO story whatsoever. Zilch.

And Ash. Oh, God. *headdesk* Like V says, you can melt her and make a bucket. :| Fake MAX.

Anyway, you gotta watch it for Hrithik, the stunts and the choreography and cinematography. Lowe. :)

Thought Machine

I've been very ill the last week - ran a temperature of 103.5ºF, had a massive coughing fit and slept for 16 hours. I’m not in love with the experience of popping pills every six hours, sleeping with your face, neck and chest smothered with Vicks. Ugh!

Anyway, after all that I’m finally getting better. So yay!

Things have been sailing along pretty nicely, what with my cousin and niece staying over for a week. It’s been super fun! Cuz and I’ve caught up on a lot of “stuff”. Déjà vu!

Long conversations remind me of my yahoo chats with sagaro. Someone reading them would go mad. I’m sure. While at one level, they seem deep and thought provoking, on another plane, they just seem silly and ridiculous. I don’t understand why. Cuz and I spent 5 hours talking about this. Sheesh. But all the same, I always enjoy these conversations. Because they always make me think and I can convince myself that “deep” thinking is productive use of my time.

I often think about why the young people were so pissed off. They aren't satisfied with anything anymore. A bike a sixteen, a car at eighteen, a degree at twenty-one, a job after that: somehow that was a matter of course. And if you had to do without you were strange. Inferior. I mean, what's a life without these right? I say what's a life without fantasy. Without spontaneity. Working your fingers to the bone for something you don't even want that much isn't done. These are the ideals of the generation gone by. For many, these are the minimum expectations of life. But then there must be something else too. That thing, precisely, which makes life meaningful. Memorable. And that is nowhere in sight. But a few are still seeking out that which is meaningful in life. For a young person, it is better to have false ideals than no ideals at all.

I’ve also been learning Italian for awhile now, from my mum. I’d also attended a couple of classes with her. And then her teacher says that I can do the Level 1 exam and go to Level 2 directly. Awesome no?! :D Molto bene!! :D

And then Nanowrimo. I scrapped my initial, pathetic attempt at a novel. I suck at fiction. Big time. I spent two weeks writing 13K odd words of fiction. Now in two days, I’ve written 14K of non-fiction. Pretty darn amazing what memory can do. And it’s so much easier to put down things like they happened, to talk about real people in your life. Real.

But then someone said, Some memories are like butterflies. If you pin them down to a page, it takes the life out of them. Hmmm. Something to think about. Or not.

Wasted Life

Update: Just woke up. CANNOT believe I slept off and forgot to go to a friend's budday treat. Damn Me!!!!!! :O :O Can't get any worse! *mutters darkly*

Not that it was much else before.

Anyway, all I've been managing to do is get up around 9, eat breakfast, read the papers and talk with my mom the first two hours of my day. Then write for awhile, lunch, write some more and sleep. Then catch a movie. :| It just sounds SO vagabond. :|

This weekend I saw The Shaolin Temple, did the Godfather marathon, Forrest Gump, Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi and Don(the older one).

Oh yeah, I also bunked college on Saturday. A friend and I discussed the current..umm...book that I'm writing. For like, half a day! He was a huge help! He actually shared a lot of his deep, dark secrets and said I could use it in the book if i wanted. We had a wonderful time! It's about two people called Aaradhana and Raghu. I've no idea what genre it comes under - but I'm writing it like a mishmash of things that I've encountered in RL. I still think my writing sucks. :|

Hoping life'll improve enough to make a post out of it.

Oh Well, What The Hell...

Diwali is over and done. Phew! It's been a long, exhausting, frantic and ultimately super-fun week!! :) I've no idea why, but this Diwali seemed newer and somehow more satisfying than ever before. May be because, last year's diwali was marred by a lot of not-so-nice things.

Anyway this year was extra-special because 1. I'm in college. :P 2. My 2-month niece had her first Diwali at our home 3.I had a 10-day holiday. :D :D Traditions are what make it helluva lot of fun- fataka from Parrys, lights and diyas at home, paati's bakshanam, new clothes, waking up at unearthly hours, this big family-type get together at home, cousins......I'm just feeling so warm-fuzzy about it! :P I love my family!

It's been a perfect(ly) exhausting week! :)
------
My baby niece.....She's the cutest! :)

-------
I watched Don this afternoon. Was super!! :D :D :D SRK can't compare to AB of course....but the movie in itself was wow! Slick and amazing cinematography!
-------
I'm currently reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. It's wonderful! :) It's like this motivating thing you get all boosted up reading. Surely worth a read.
-------
Think I'll give NaNoWriMo a shot. I feel like doing something and working and being busy. Life is getting a little banal, actually. :| And I want to write - not randomly, but coherently and well. This is a good opportunity to let myself do it. I'd love it if you'd all give your suggestions and erm...also criticisms and ideas! Thanks!

Eeew!

Note Capitalization of E in Eeew! :| Check the IM transcript out. It's pukey. I'm NOT amused.

eew_boy: hey wait
eew_boy: hey suraksha
eew_boy: epdee irruke
suraksha r: whos' this?
eew_boy: wait
eew_boy: don put ignore user
eew_boy: i dont know you
suraksha r: then?
eew_boy: but want to talk to you
eew_boy: please
suraksha r: why?
eew_boy: i dont know
eew_boy: i wanted to
eew_boy: i know its not right
eew_boy: but still i wanted to
eew_boy: i m feeling kinda lonely
suraksha r: so?
eew_boy: im not flirting and all
eew_boy: jus wanted to talk
suraksha r: you know it's not right...but you're still doing it
suraksha r: that doesn't say a lot
eew_boy: sorry i wanted to talk to you
suraksha r: you are
eew_boy: you are doin final year engg in svce right
suraksha r: erm....first
eew_boy: ohhh
eew_boy: which branch are ya in
suraksha r: eee
eew_boy: ohh okkay
eew_boy: can i add you on orkut? will you be my best friend?
suraksha r: huh?
eew_boy: okay i think you are not interested. friendship with you would have been very nice.
eew_boy: seri byee
eew_boy: jus wanted to talk
eew_boy: byee
suraksha r: ciao
eew_boy: carry on

P.S: eew_boy is NOT the id. just my pseudo. bleargh!

D'oh!

Update: Abhi, surprisingly, has found part 2 of the D'oh pic. :P

Holden Caulfield kills me.

P.S: Today, I realized I'm totally, totally proud of and totally, totally adore my brother. :) Family Rocks!

Lessons Learnt

It's been a few weeks since I started college. Obviously, it's way different and I'm getting used to it. :) Meanwhile, I learnt (apart from acads):

1. However much a gel pen refuses to write, you do not blow into/out the refill. Chances are 9.9/10 that you'll end up with a black mouth/lips/teeth and look like you're obsessed with extreme gothic fashion. *feeling stupid*

2. Never attempt to multitask and manage mechanics notebook, bag, ice-cream and hair all together. Result? Yellow streaked hair and a butterscotch flavoured notebook. Soggy, I might add. *feeling extremely foolish*

3. The bathroom is used for various other reasons than for its own purpose. For giggly girls to meet up and comb their hair together (we need company, you know!), for girls/boys to hide in there and come out exactly when the cute guy/girl of their life is passing by (hello?!) and also to discuss gossip of utmost importance a.k.a why and what exactly that boy was talking to that girl or why that really pretty girl has to be a bitch. (d'oh!) *going WTF!*

4. Murphy's Law actually works. Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. In accordance with this, any day you wear a white salwar kameez is the day it will pour cats-and-dogs, leaving you're mum wondering where the brown salwar in the wash came from. *waaaah!*

5. Engineering graphics is not just about nice 2D and 3D shapes. It's also about ruining your eyesight by seeking to measure out 1mm, 3mm, 5mm etc with a drafter. Whattay freakin' PAIN! *irked*

6. Feesoeletic Yeffuct = Piezoelectric effect. *whattey accent, I say!*

7. There exist people who wear candy pink lipstick to college, deliberately make their hair messy and fling themselves at the seniors. They also believe it's uber-cool and uber-sexy to be doing these things. *puke^infinity*

8. Orkut is a marvel. Oh well, to some extent at least. Now, I know some 20 people from my year who aren't in my class/dept through orkut. It's always, "Hey! You're Suraksha right? I'm so-and-so...we scrapped on orkut, remember??!!" :) :)

9. You can be super-hawt, super-brainy and super-eloquent. Yes, I'm talking about one person. It takes work to be that, though. *pictures person...sigh*

10. It's not every class that has cutey-cute guys. Some have majo pazhams only too. Like my class. *sigh.....*

Notwithstanding all of this, college's been pretty fun so far. Made a great set of friends, so I guess that's made it funner and all the more tolerable!! :D Classes are, obviously, not great. But I'm surviving. Optimistic senior souls tell me it's not for long. :P

Great friends, super icecream in canteen, big brother in same college - pretty neat scenario...only hope it gets better!

EDIT: For everyone's benefit, NO I did not get ragged! :P Yet. :P