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It's been a long time since I last posted. These past months have just whizzed by and I am still catching up with the changes. Well, topmost on the list, we have finally moved out of Kanimangalam. 4 years of enjoyment, happiness, friendship, love, grief, tension and what not.. Still remember the Paalukachu at Kanimangalam. Those times with the first 7 of Kani, Thomichan, Sakhav, Achar, Thampi, Jasim, Sheik and Sasi. Still remember, Suma and Pretty getting the salted drinks. Those chocolates as gift. Finally the photo session on the balcony. Sigh... Then the Mafia wars addiction, thanks to KK sir's Docomo stick. The exams, and finally end of 5 years of B.Tech life. The first job, QBurst.. The interview with Ansarji, and thrill of getting thru. Telling him that I would like to the next day instead of that day itself, because I had to celebrate the occasion. Don't know what made me say so that day. Pagalpanti.
Then the next 1.5 years as QA in the Clearspring team. The foodings, the outing, the release tensions. Long working hours before the day of release. Testing out on test, uat and prod. Then, shifting of Densil bhai to Kochi, me shifting to Forum support helping out Angel, then Angel moving to Infy while I switch to Python development. Those times in the PrivateFly cabin, then to the Plusnet cabin. The Tea team. In between, Meher and then someone else. Finally the shift to Vazhuthacad and so on till now...
Now, it's almost a week since the shift to Statue. New surroundings, coming in terms with the loss of Kanimangalam. Finding my feet, literally. Lots of plans for future. High expectations from myself. Don't know if this will work out or not. Hoping for the best. So that wraps up a small synopsis of Kani and afterwards.. Now to the present :P
The internal cricket tournament for QBurst was held this weekend. Went there as a reserve and had to get down in the field as the team strength was low. Too lazy to describe the tournament. For those interested in stats, have a look at http://2012.crikees.com. The rest can continue reading this post. Anyways, two days of playing took a toll on my body. A slight pain still remains on the back as a result of my lethargic fielding and batting. No, I don't bowl even though I am listed as a Bowler in the team description. Also, slept for quite a long time on both days as a result of the tiredness. Unlike the usual weekends, where I keep chatting on Y! messenger and keep reading/liking posts on FB. Hopefully, the body should be back to normal within 2~3 days and then the usually running around. The Avengers is back in Trivandrum theatres, this time in Sree Padamnabha, thanks to the requests posted on their FB wall. I think I should be going for it some time soon. Anyways, who knows what the future holds. Thinking of the future, my Bhootni may land in Trivandrum as a part of her job searching and parents' plan to settle down here in Trivandrum. Hopefully, I should be able to run off to Noida or Hyderabad, once this helluva degree is over, before they actually land here. That way, I am still free of settling down here while I also get to roam India. Plans, plans and plans... Everything is there in the mind, a vague mishmash of ideas, thoughts and dreams. Sigh...
Anyways, back to Statue. Living here as a PG, homely food, lavish single room, easy access to city. Even a Bar opposite the front gate, when I have finally left drinking. :P Hey Bhagwan, vichitre hai teri leela.. Sadly, the days are boring and so I usually look forward to Mondays now, OMG I just wrote the impossible.. I used to hate Mondays, even have a Tee questioning why Monday couldn't be returned back. :D Feeling sleepy for now and so stopping this post...
Until next time..
This is Jo signing off,
Adios

Start of the 26th

25 years of a lifetime, gone within the blink of an eye. Here I stand, feeling the weight of 26th year and with joy in my heart. A really surprizing start, I must say. A least expected token of love/respect from my roomies adn that makes the feeling special. Let's stop beating around the bush and start the entry. :D
Coming back late after work is the current obession for me. I have started to work late hours at office, just to keep count of "8 hours of actual work". That's just my justification for the process. Actually, there's a slight crunch in the deadlines, have been the laziest all through this year. Maybe, it's the excitement of celebrating the New Year with family and now the looming location change. We'll be moving to Vazthacaud, the "corporate headquarters" of QBurst Technologies, within a few weeks for continuing work on my current project. Seems like my laziness has passed on to my teammates, or is it me alone ? Not sure as to if I am the only one responsible for this deportation. Anyhow, leaving that behind for now. Will come back to discussing the pros and cons of moving on some other post, some other day. So I come back late on 23rd, around 11 PM, and least expecting anyone to remember my birthday. So after some freshening up, I sit on my lap to watch some movie. Made Binu copy up 2 Telugu films to watch, and they were so boring that I had to stop after 5 mins. Anyways, started watching some English movie as an antidote.
At 00:00 on 24th, the idiots in room wish me and bring in this

well, at least they could have not written my age on it. The icing was tictac tablets, courtesy Shekhar's imagination. Anyways, the cake and the tablets felt nice. Having the jab of cool mint in my mouth while the taste of plum lingers on, heavenly to say the least. The cake was cut and distributed for eating. Regarding the bumps, they postponed it till morning since not all of us were awake then. The good thing was, they forgot about it in the morning. :D
Early morning rise was impossible since I slept around 1. Yash called up at 1:05 and I was so fast asleep that I didn't hear the ring. Anyways, got up late at 7:30 and then the mad rush for the cab. Frankly, I should have called up "Idiot" to hold the cab up for me. But then, mind doesn't figure out the way until it is too late. So I miss the cab, now that's an awesome start to the new year, and so thought of paying a visit to my dearest BRO. Made my way to the Spencer's church and spent a few mins conversing with BRO, actually a one-way prayer for the things that I got and would be getting. Then, breakfast at Aruna's. Seems like the hotel has special place in my plan of things. Right from the days in college to the 1st day of the 26th year ;). After breakfast, a walk to PMG and then a bus cum auto to office. A few birthday messages in between, and oh, forgot to write. It was Mom's call that woke me up at 7:30. A wish for her dear nikkamma son and then over to Pop's for his share of wishes. What happened between me and Pop's is still hazy, however this was the first time that we were having an uneasy conversation on phone. God knows, what happened ? Must be the news that Sis cleared her 7th semester with 7.18 GPA. My dear Bhootni seems to be rocking in Bhilai. She's on the way to clear her degree before her Nikkamma brother does it. As if I cared about that, even though Mom and Dad do. Speaking of which, I didn't get through the 7th sem. Results came out a few days back, didn't have the courage to call Mom and say that I failed again. They still expect their son to perform like he did in his 10th and 12th. Leaving that academic crap behind, moving on to the office.
Reached before 9:30, I think. Got greeted by slaps on my back from the cabin mates and then the handshakes, in that order. Went out to fill up the water bottle. I get too damn thirsty sitting in that AC full time. On the way back, I am greeted again with hits, it's with bottles this time from my "Tea team". Came back to seat and started working, albeit for a short time. Well, how can someone be expected to work when it rains slaps on the back from time to time. The sample vediketts were just an aberration, something worse was in store for the evening.
I must say, this was the most surprizing birthday that I have ever celebrated. The "Tea Team" had already planned a cake facial, me being the unknowing victim. I was expecting a cake facial from my cabin mates, at the most. They called up on the pretext of having tea in the pantry. A little late by our usual timing but then better late than never. There was the cake waiting for me, to be cut, to be smeared and to plastered over my whole face. Well, cake facials can be borne without much hassle but what do I say about those birthday bumps. My back was sore with slaps and kicks by the time I was ready for cutting the cake. That too, this was only the 1st and there was another waiting for me after that. So after I cut the cake, instead of getting my lips onto it, I had my whole face touching the cake. aaah, the feel of icing on the face and eyes. Well the idiots even tried cramming it up my ears and neck and they were successful in that too. :P. A few clicks and then off to the wash room for the clean up. Had to spend around 15 mins just to get the cake out of my system. Back to office, like a wet cat with the hair still having the feel of icing on it. Thankffully, someone had turned off the AC and so I didn't have to shiver much. Next thing I knew was being dragged back to pantry for the 2nd edition of cake facial, this time my cabin mates. Thankfully, the celebrations have mellowed down.
Last time, I was manhandled by half the office guys. I was literally carried to the pantry back then. All the while being at the recieving end of the bumps. Anyways, this time the bumps were lesser but still painful for my now-fluffed-up bums. After that, the cake was cut. What was written on top of the cakes is out of bounds to be written here since that would take another round of posts to explain. :P. Anyways, the next facial was completed, harsher and more complete than the earlier one. This one took me around half-an-hour to clear up but thankfully, it was the last. Back to office and then a quick work to finish up a pending task. Not that it was completed by the time it was for me to leave. Anyways, pleaded JK to complete it for me while I ran for the cab, again. This time however, I could catch it. How I reached so early before time is anybody's guess because I was home by 7:20. Next in line was a treat for my roomies. Had to wait for Binu to reach back after office. The bugger had to drop in at his former office for something. So he had us waiting till 9 before we decided to make the move to Zamzam. Reached there, but not soon enough because the place was all choc-a-block with people. So had to settle for Noor Mahal instead. Binu reached by the time we were in front of the hotel. Now that's timing :D.
Dinner was a long affair lasting around an hour, thanx to the slow service there. Had some fun looking at the beauties in there, most of them with someone. :P. How come, the good ones seem to be booked. Anways, back home after the dinner and then a long sleep, I mean real long sleep. Got up at 11:30 in the afternoon yesterday. Well, it is Yesterday since I started writing this post. Thanks to Facebook for wasting the precious hours in between. :P. Woke up late in the afternoon, walked up to Kunnukuzhy in search of lunch only face failure. So walked further till MLA Veg Canteen for the lunch. Anyways, how to expect lunch at 2:30 in the afternoon. Luckily, we, Binu, Shekhar and me, didn't have to walk again. Had lunch and then a long walk back home under the hot sun. Sundar called up asking if we were at home. He came over in a jiffy, if an hour of waiting could be summerized as jiffy ;). Made plans to watch some movie. We were supposed to go for some Tamil film, changed mind at the last moment to watch Jodi Breakers, instead. Well, bad luck seemed to be in sync with us. Wanted to catch an auto to the theatre but no one was ready. Not sure why, so had to catch a bus. The film was supposed to start at 6:15 as per our calculations. We were already late by 2 mins. However, the timing shown was 6:30 when we reached the Theatre. Anjali was the place, SL theatres for the ignorant. Bought tickets and I had to wait while Sundar and Binu grabbed a quick puff or two. Checked weight and it showed 68.3, I think. Must have been my slippers to that extra 2-3kgs... Got in to watch the movie. Must say, it's a one time watch. Entertaining but it dragged a bit in between after the interval. Anyways, the climax was a quick roll-up leaving, at least me, a bit dissatisfied. Made my way back to Kani with Binu, bought few dosas for dinner in between.
Back at Kani, I had a quick dinner since I was famished by the end of the movie. Re-activated my Facebook profile, God know's for what reason. Had a long look at profile pictures of the beauties in my friends list. Then finished up this boring piece of a post and so ends my entry for now.
This is Jo signing off for now,
Adios.

A quick catch-up

Kisi zubaan par yeh reh gayi,
Aap ko khoya to ruh kho gayi,
Lamho ne kuch ishaaaron se kaha,
Dekh aayi phir koi aur teri ruh lekar.

The time for the next post seems to have been shortened, thanx to an idiot's question. It has been almost a month since I reached back from Kolkata. Par kya kare, missing Mom, Dad and bhootni already. How do I tell them that I love them so much ? I can't call up every now and then, or according to some fixed timetable. I ain't that kinda guy, ki aaj Sat hai, chalo Mom ko phone karte hain, ya phir, it's 6 in the morning, oh Mom ko bulaana bhul gaya. Come on, I am kinda lazy to dial a few no.s even. Leaving that aside, I am still caught up in that web of cough and breathlessness. Thanks, but no thanks, to the Kolkata chill. Waise, it was already there by time we were done with QBurst Day celebrations. Spekaing of that, I don't how the hell I got the guts to get up on stage and shake that booty of mine. That too without even a sip of drink. Coming to drinks, last saturday was awesome. Simi got married, Jose came to Trivandrum and I got stoned pretty bad. pretty bad, in the sense that it could be said to be the repeat of "the last see-off" of the former Kani team. Anyways, got a nice scratch around the hips as a remainder. Haahaa, speaking of which, the scar is quite an irritant these days. :P

Back to track, on to a flashback. Zooming back two weeks. Me suffering from the cough and breathing problem. Couldn't eat or drink anything that Saturday. It was kinda Vaalu season for me. Eat, cough and vomit. Nice rhyming, almost makes me do a Y this Kolaveri right now. A mental note, need to parody the Kolaveri to something more adultish. Focus, machu focus. So had to go to Jubilee hospital for the "dava daaru". Makes me remember the MTV ad in which they search for actors. One of the lines was "Isse dava ki nahi, dua ki zaroorat hai". Can't help smiling at those faces, waah I still remember. Sabaash bacche, kaash yeh yaddaash exams ke time par bhi hoti. :P Anyways, got a blood checkup done. Forgot the most important thing. We, me, Achar and Sundar, went to the hospital at 10 in the night. "10 in the night". Mast time for move around in the city. Sunsaan raaste, akele kuch ladke aur beech mein aaye ek awaaz. "Allah ke naam par kuch de de baba". Just kidding, nothing of that sort happended sadly. Got to the hospital, me having the cough attack at regular intervals and they making fun of the "TB paitient". Saw the doc, she ordered a blood test first and then a small initial checkup. Well, speaking of the blood test, I was the guinea pig for the night. There was this new nurse for the shift. She actually tried piercing one of my smaller veins or was it an artery for drawing blood. Well, it had to be the vein otherwise, I would have bleed a bit more than usual. Anyhow, another sister had to come up to take the blood and the results would have been generated only after an hour or so. So we made our way out of the hospital for a cup of coffee and something to eat. Ash and Sundar had some food, while I had my first taste of black tea, or was it not. Don't remember if what we used to have from the Arabic restaurent at 7th floor was tea or coffee. Moving foward, the results came and I was prescribed a bit of medicines. The cost of which was around 350~400 bucks, my hard earned money down the medicinal drain. :((. And yes, the drip. I had the first drip of my life. The hanging bottle of liquid and those white clean ceilings, waah what a way to spend time in the hospital. Waise, the drip took around 2 hours to complete. Raat ke 1 baje, before I could move back home. So ends the flash-back.

Back to present and the Republic day. Speaking of Republic Day, last time it was a pseudo-patriotic post from my side. This time not even a mention of patriotism. Waah, kya baat hai. Anyways, got up late as usual and had a late, real late brunch. Lots of chatting on YMessenger and then the rush to catch the movie. Sundar was here in the morning. Dude came over to study but alas, my place is/was such a mess that he left after some time. Had a small chit-chat and some plans for a movie. I wasn't excepting that the dude would actually go for it. Anyways, scrolling to evening, got a call from Sundar saying he was going for the movie. How could I refuse the dude, he's been my steady movie partner since I landed back for the "Job" in Trivandrum. Next call from him was saying that he was at the theater and that the tickets would be easily available. I should smelt something amiss right then. But kya kare, I don't follow my intuition any longer these days. A small break. Just checked mail and it seems the Buzzbuzz guys have pulled off something great again. Saw a Kudos which seems just the thing for them.

Now back to my schedule :P. The movie was Lal-e-ton's Cassanova. Well, I made it just in time before the movie started. 6pm and I was still at PMG. 6:15, there I was right beside Sundar waiting for the movie to begin. Must have been my lucky-or was it unlucky- streak. Anyways, Lalettan looks lot younger, thanx to all that makeup. The funny thing was that, when He and Shreya stood together, it didn't seem like Appoopan and Kochumol. ;). Anyways, the movie is masala entertainer, not some solid script movie. You can enjoy the songs, the chase sequences, even the funny dance by Mr. Ton at the disco. After the movie, it was the long walk back to home. Right beside the flyover and thru Bakery junction. Speaking of which, this was supposed to be the Thank-You post. Bcoz each thing that I felt while walking was like a thank-you to the One above, to my parents and last, but not the least, to all mu pain-in-the-ass friends. Maybe I should wind up this post now since it is already more than a page long. :P

This is Jo signing off for now,
Adios

On the forks, again !

This is what happens when you cross a blogger on sick leave and a mobile to type notes into. :P

Another note in my mobile. Hopefully, this will see the daylight sometime. Being sick is real boring. You have to stay away from office AC, no drinking cold liquids, can't get wet in the rain and on and on.. However, all this free time gives you something to think about. The funny thing is what you tend to think during these moments are supposed to be never brought up again. For the God-knows-how-many time in my life, i feel sad about losing someone very close. Faces haunt, i learnt that the hard way. Plus if you get to hear "romantic" oldies, it's bound to affect. The low floor buses, incidentally, play melodies rather than tuning into an FM station. Talking about low-floors, they have started to creak, arrive late and seem wanting to some brushing. Leaving their sad state aside, the low-floors remain a cost effective way to reach Technopark. Hopefully, the KSRTC will do something before its too late.
Ah, meandering again. Back to being senti over someone, blah blah blah.. I should bloody stop crying over spilled milk, its high time.. She's gone and you are still here. Look for the next chick to have a crush on. Move on, bro..
Speaking of chicks, trivandrum pulls out a rabbit each time i loose hope and start yearning for kochi or thrissur. Maybe it's the TCS training schedule or is it UST. Ah, never mind. The bottom line is my eyes get beauties to watch.
Seems like i may have to stop for now. It's almost 10 and i got to get up early for the driving lessons. Ah, forgot to mention. My driving classes have resumed and hopefully, this time i'll get thru to the last stage, a driver's license.
It's Adios for now,
this is Jo signing

The Form, the Cup and the Joy

Usually my Saturdays move at a slow pace with nothing much to do other than perhaps sleep away to glory. But yesterday was hectic to say the least, starting on slow note and ending on a cresendo. My day starts at 6 in the morning when my alarm goes off. The day starts, but I don't start until 8~9. Anyways, after a quick freshening up, I had to go to the University for applying for the next season of exams. In the meantime, the Mech boys @ Kani had to attend lab while MA was leaving for small trip around the city. Before he left, MA passed me his brand new World Cup Tee for the day and I should say, it may have just turned the day in my favor, or so I believe. With the World Cup Tee on me, I left for an early morning breakfast at Vikas Bhavan Canteen ~11 am. :D After that, it was straight dash to Kerala University Campus.

The Campus seemed filled up with students, mainly B.Tech, lined for various purposes. The Form counter was having a queque when I reached there. While standing in line, I saw some of my juniors there. Had a small chitchat after which I re-joined the queque. After getting the forms, next in line was paying the exorbiant fees for the bloody exams. When I reached there, Asha a.k.a. Jyothika, was already there. She and a junior were filling up the chalans for payment. In between, I got a call from Sumesh. A bit embaressing to say but I totally forgot to inform him about the dates for submitting fees. Anyways, once again, I made my way to the Form counter to buy forms for him. On the way back, I had to take cash for his fees too. In total, I think, I went into the ATM atleast thrice for withdrawing cash. Back at the Cash Counter section, Asha was filling up her exam form while I had to fill up the Chalans for paying the fees. After paying the fees, I had to fill up 3 forms, namely two for me and one for Sumesh. The most boring part of the whole exercise. With Asha egging me on to finish it up fast, the forms were filled up fast. After that, I dropped them into the B.tech box.

After goodbying Asha, I went to my favorite haunt for lunch, Hotel Aruna. Had a nice veg lunch but sadly couldn't eat much as I drank up a bit too much water just before eating. :( Another thing to make a mental note, Don't Drink water before Lunch, Always After (DDLA, not DDLJ). After lunch, i walked back home in the searing heat. Too tired to do anything else, I started to watch Robinhood (Russell Crowe's) on Anogh's Lap. Watched almost 90% before sleep caught up with me. Thought of sleeping for an hour and then making my way to Sundar's house for catching the Cup. But fate had something else in store. I overslept and got up late ~7pm. Another dash, but by the time I reached India had already lost 2 wickets in their chase. The nightmare of '96 was going to happen again ? Anyways, stayed glued to my seat along with Asharaf till the last run was scored. It was unbeliveable that India had finally become World Champions and what a way to score the winning runs, a maximum from the Indian Captain's blade.

After the presentation, we, me, Sundar and Ash, made our way to Statue for the celebrations. The whole place was filled with people. It seemed like 7pm instead of 12 in the night. The joy was to be seen on each of the faces. The police was having a tough time controlling the crowd as well as the traffic on the streets. Soon the revelery turned ugly after some time and we had to run off before the police batons could kiss our legs and butts. After bidding a quick goodbye to Ash and Sundar, I walked back to Kani. With a smile on the lips and Joy in my heart.

Gooooaaaaal !!

Long time since I last blogged. So to cut the story short, let's do it with today's account :). An awful morning given the fact that I'm down with fever and cough. So got up early, mainly due to no sleep, but couldn't get my head up. MA and Saar went for breakfast and they bought a parcel for us, Me and Sakhaav Thampi. While they left for breakfast, yours truly found the head to come and have a go at Mafia. Going thru Facebook now reminds of Orkut and it's fake IDs. Anyways, By the time MA was back, I had my fill of Mafia and gave up the laptop to MA. In the meantime, I finished Oye!!. A nice film that was a tragedy but tugged a few strings in my heart. WTF am I blogging ? God knows how I-centric this peice of shit feels like....
Anyways, after handing over the lap to MA, I tuned into FM thru my mofile and it was a treat. Most of the 90's songs were being played and to hear those songs was like....just Chocolate. Got Binu Saar to hear some and let me on the films that those songs were from. Saar is a walking encyclopedia as far as I know. Things ranging from Cricket to Movies, Bit-rates to Torrents, He's the man. Given his looks, the guy packs more than a punch. That's a few words in honor of our great Binu a.k.a Sasi Saar and now back to track.
After a few hours of music, it was back to lap and I can't exactly place what happened in between. Short term memory loss or maybe a side-effect of looming diabetes ;). By that time, it was almost 7 and there was another prograam for me which had totally slipped of my mind. Argentina's opening match against Nigeria. So called up Sundar to know whether he would be available at home, more specifically if I could watch the match over there. Given the fact that Sundar's Dad and Bro are sports lovers makes it easier for us on occasions such as these. So after a quick change, I made off to Sundar's house. Given the fact that I was dead for the 1st half of the day makes me wonder if I could have been more passionate about B.Tech too. Leaving that thought train for another post sometime later...
Landed at Sundar's place a good 1&1/2 min late but thankfully there weren't any goals till then. A few minutes into the game and Heinze's header gave the first goal and tweet from me. Speaking of tweets, Twitter's given a total face-lift to m.twitter.com. It now comes with a reply option along with a new UI. But it loads slow on my phone :(. Back to the game.... After the first goal, the game started to drag, Argentina weren't looking to attack much. Everyone was feeding Messi with the ball and it seemed like a off day for the chap. Veron looked out of touch with the new ball. Sundar's dad told me that the new ball had lesser friction and so traveled faster. Maybe that's why the kicks made the ball to fly over the posts rather than into it. Anyways, during the short interval, I made a dash to the medical shop. Had my prescription with me and few more tablets needed to be purchased. So bought a couple of 3-day dosage, for Me and Thampi. After that, another dash to Sundar's house before the match resumed. Missed another 2 min but the game was looking already settled in favor of Argentina. Messi's attacks were not up-to the mark and the team as a whole wasn't the best that we have seen lately. Given the fact that Nigeria played like high-school kids at times makes it unbearable that the score reads 1-0 only...
After the match, it was time for some paet pooja. So went to Arul Jyoti after a long long time and had a Masala Dosa. My tongue still doesn't pick up the taste and it feels like s$#@ to not to be able to taste ur food. After that, caught a bus that got me to Vikas Bhavan depot and then a small walk to Kani. Over here, Thampi was watching Green Zone and I joined him half way thru the film. A good one from what I saw. After the movie was over, MA took over and next on the card was England's match. MA's an England fan. So he took on live streaming to watch the match. A few minutes into the game and I was bored since no white and blue Jerseys were visible :)... I left for a quite sleep, by that time, MA was bored too and so he handed over the system. Thampi took over before I could get here and so we had another movie session, She's out of my league. Another a so-called romantic flick that's bland to say the least. After that this is what happened.

A F&@^# up Post

Totally random thoughts need to sync for a new idea to sprout leaves. A happening new year for me, seems like a constant high almost. What to blog about is out of the question for now. Just getting my thought pattern synced. A lot of CB tweets seems to have my mind reeling. For a totally jobless, bored writer it may be gr8, but for people like me it seems so annoying. Random tweets to read thru while in a highly tense testing envioronment seems like chore. Heart's happy with the fact that Knight Riders are on the high again. But mind warns against an IPL I repeat. Reading thru those books gives me a short break from despair, White Tiger and Inheritance of a Loss. But the recent lack of water in the taps is another twist on the already paining nerve of mine. On top of these, Buzz is F@#*#$ getting on my nerves. Everytime I open up Gmail, there's a whole lot of Buzzes to be read thru, F&$^$ u Google. Next in the line of firing is the bloody hell Zygna servers. Who the bloody f$%@ dropped coffee on them ?? Can't play a nice game of Mafia Wars after a totally exhausted day @ work. After that comes the relization that I have been shown the brutal naked face of life by my GR8 parents. Had a call from home stating to aim f&*$## higher, finish the F$%^$%^ B.Tech, get a better-paying job. In short, try to be like Liju chachan. WTF ?? I ain't a f%$^%$ machine to score 90+ scores and earn 30+ salary. I F#%%$# didn't want B.Tech in the 1st place, got B.Tech okey-dokey, who the hell thought IT would be such a royal pain in the arse. Got so many Back-logs that my Exam forms are starting to have less space to fill in all details. Damn the formatting for this post. It's a one single tirade against my F&$#^&# messed-up life. Foooooooh, that's done for now....

Now with the good things that have been happening to me. I got The White Tiger and Inheritance of a Loss as gifts for my 24th F&#@* birthday. I saw Naresh Iyer live b4 my eyes with friends by my side. I got to see a gr8 film yesterday, Vinnathandi Varuvaaya. I called up my First Love after so many long years,er.. months. I get to chat with a girl who's got the same thought patterns as me, atleast in terms of Mafia Wars and Kolkata :). Office life's starting to ease a bit around these days. Changed my F*#&*#-up old sandals for a new set. Fooooh, now that really feels gr8 :)... I forgive you, Zygna, for messing up those servers. I forgive you, CB, for those mindless tweets. But I ain't F#$#$% forgiving the Damn PWD assholes for f#$%$^& up my gr8 weekend with no water.

Signing off for now,

Until next time with a few more F#$%#$% and a few more choicest abuses....
Adios

Back to Square 1

The old times are back. Back at Kanimangalam with only half my old roomies. Now that Kani has been passed to our juniors, it feels a bit out of touch to be here. The feeling's there but yet something isn't same. Time has flowed so fast that i can't remember how these 5 years have gone by. Now it's time for me to jump into the rat race. Job hunting is the reason why i'm back here. yet nothing has been finalized. Sleeping my days for now.

This sense of desperation that's hanging around is gonna take hold soon. So before that happens, I gotta get my pants up and start running around. What else to write, oh yes, got a new mobile, Nokia 2600c from my cousin. As a gift for, I think, finally completing the B.Tech course. The mobile seems gr8 for now. Haven't tinkered around much with it. But the experiments will soon begin... Let's hope it gets thru.

Much of my thoughts, these days, seem to center on the last 2 yrs of B.Tech, no offense to the others. Feeling sad and yet relieved at the same time. Got some things left to do at college.

Another thing, this Friday, I went to college with Jasim. He had to get Sherry's course completion certificate. The sight there was unbelievable. A fight had just taken place. Some of the juniors had been playing truant for the past few months. So the seniors and their batchmates got togather to teach them a lesson. And what a lesson it was. A well planned, throughly executed stuff, like those done by kings... Took out the ones to be taught and showered them with kicks and beatings. "Ghosts of kicks don't understand words" as Javed Jaffery would say. Anyways, seems that they have finally learnt their lesson. If not, we could be seeing repeat telecasts of the incidents soon. All this excitement had to happen after we had left :(..

That's all for now...
Signing off.....

Touch Up

Had nothing better to do for now. So thought of touching up my blog. Searched around for templates, edited a few ones, mixed and mashed up the rest.
The final result lies before thy eyes. Before you tread my path, be sure to backup the old template in case something goes wrong. In mine, it did a thousand times and over, just kidding. But yes , had to redo it all more than once.

Finally that B.Tech classes are "OFFICIALLY" over, time's come for the last few stuffs to be done. Had record submission today, extended once again, courtesy God know who. The model exam starts in 2 days. Retests are left for the 2nd series. Anyways, enjoying to the hilt these days. Mood changes still remain and are erratic as before, but light's shining bright at the other end.

Long list of exams remain. Backs and regulars, God knows when i'm gonna complete these. Starts @ 22/5 all the way till 8/7, Roughly 2 months of study and tension. No way, at the most a few days before the exam, maybe...

Anyways, looking forward to the end of the B.Tech era and the first steps into the Big Bad World.

Adrenaline Min 14/12/08

Night surfing till 3 in the morning leads to headache in the morning. I learn this the hard way. Got up at 10, freshened up and had breakfast at 11. Came back and checked out the new laptop in our possesion. Got friends of Achar(Asharaf) dropping in on us. Came over yesterday night from idduki. They have their main projects to complete. Can't believe how deep these guys are. Hats off to their friendship. Anyways, While checking out the lap, found new s/w and "muvies". After that,a long session of "Most Wanted" & "2 Thrones". Went out for lunch and then some time for house hunting for the guys. There's a huge batch of guys and gurls coming over soon. After coming back, another long session of "2 Thrones". Then time for Tea. "No Studies" for 2morow's CN and MC papers.
Next in line was Movie time. By the time we came back, Shakav(Bibin) was back from his tution for TTA. Cracked a few jokes and a jolly time after which we started the movie. A Mallu one (boring to say the least). Time flew and before we knew it was 9. Then out for dinner to Bakery. Mother's Kitchen, my favourite haunt back in PP days. Had a new combo for a change. Iddiappam and Beef Chilly. Bought Parcel for thambi.

Now for the reason why I wanted to blog. On the way back, we, Me and Jazz ( the twins), caught up a race b/w General Hospital and Kunnukuzhy. There was a Uncle, around 35-40 maybe, on a CT 100. He was in a hurry to get home, or was it. So he was accelerating like hell. Jazz wasn't gonna let go and so he too pushed the throttle. We carried on till NUS, by that time, the 150cc showed its muscle power. We were ahead by a small margin. By the turn to Kunnukuzhy, uncle got in front. He thought we'r going straight, so he says Good Nite b4 firing on after turning. We, especially me, were suprised at that gesture. Anyway, we turned too behind him. Yet he wasn't gonna let go of his lead. So we followed him, thinking he was gonna go till police quaters, i.e a race to the end. But alas, he turned far earlier and we were left wanting. Then to home, sweet home.

When we reached there, Bibin was waiting for Jazz to drop him to Station. The guy stays over for the weekend and then leaves for home. Anyways, he left for thrissur and I came upstairs. There another round of Most Wanted was waiting for me. But b4 that, I had to pen this one down. This wasn't supposed to happen till 12 in the night. In the meantime, since Sherry's lap was also here we sat down for a session of our old "Prison Break" series.

Time flew and b4 I know, it's time for sleep. So finally a piece of mind is out and now for sweet sleep.
ASta la Vista Baby....

Journey thru kerala

A New entry to my online diary. This one's about my all kerala trip for 3days. From the lush Campus of NIT,Calicut to the scenic hilltops of Vagamon. This was supposedly a official trip to NIT's Fest TATHVA '08 but then you know plans change and people flounder. The trip started on the night of 23rd, Oct. These below paras would describe each phase in detail( as much as i can recollect).

Trivandrum -> Koikode
We, Me, Jasim and Thampi, left for koikode on the TVM-MNGLORE EXP on the night of 23rd. It was raining like hell and we were all soaked to the skin. Jasim left late as He was coming to Thambanor by bike. He had to get money as well as food for us while me and thampi caught seats for us to sit, you see traveling thru general comp. has its disadvantages. We got to the station by bus, took the tickets and waited for jasim in the train. He came after a few minutes with parcel for us to eat. My fav, Chapati and Peas Masala, was on the menu. We had our dinner b4 the train left, washed up and curled onto the seats for a goodnight sleep. But then this is the gen. comp. and so as soon as it was time for the train to leave, a multitude of travelers besieged the train filling up its every nook and corner. And there went our hope of having a good night sleep. Somehow we managed to catch a few hours of sleeps in between. For the rest of the time, there was a book for Thampi, newspaper for Jasim and the radio for me. By the time we reached Koikode, we were all damn tired and somehow managed to get off. On the station, we met some of our junior guys who were there for the same "official" purpose. Thampi and jasim are natives of Koikode and so we were intending to go to either one's house for freshening up. Thampi then left for his home while me jasim and Abhishek, S3IT, headed in Jasims' direction. Another journey was to begin.

Koikode(Jasim's) -> NIT,Calicut
We, Me, Jasim and Abhishek, came to the bus stop, had tea and then got into our intended bus. There was some waiting but then we had a cute babe for all of us to vainokkify and so time passed. Finally after completing a journey of around 45 min into "pattikaad", jumping over holes and splashing around of water, we reached jasim's house. There we met his Mom, Dad and Sis and her two children. We freshened up, had a wonderful koikode breakfast, beef curry, patiri and iddiappam, my mouth still waters while writing this down, and were beginning to get out when the rain gods wanted to play "kabaddi" again and google was up taking snaps of the events below. That forced us to wait and finally, Jazz called up an Auto. Then we, especially me , had the most wonderful experience of a roller coaster on the road. The rain seemed unrelenting but we pushed forward. Somehow we reached Mukkam Junction, from where Ajay, S3IT again, picked us and brought us to NIT campus.

NIT,Calicut ( TATHVA '08)
We were already late but then we got registered for the "TUX of Wars" and sat for the prelims. Somehow we managed to answer most questions, and why not when we had Jasim pulli on our team. But when we got the key, our hopes were dashed since the answers showed another way of getting around the questions. We were hoping, against hope, that some PRO guys would check since there'r always more than one way to get things done in Linux. After a few moments of rest, we got into the next competition, "KODER KOMBAT", and since most of our college guys were in this competition, we decided to have fun rather than just serious coding. So we, GECIANS, got around and sat with each other hoping that one of our teams would make past the prelims. There were talks of helping each other out and we seriously tried but then we were no match for the "Bhujjis" from IIT's and the NIT's. There ended our, Mine And Jazz's, foray into Tathva competitions.
In between these times, I met my ex-classmate Merin, who incidentally is doing M.Tech in Information Security in NIT, over there. We exchanged news regarding our old classmates and then she showed us the NIT Campus ( or rather some portions). We had Noodles "from Mini Canteen"( nvr try it out for ur stomach sake) and then back to the Common room where all GECIANS were staying after bidding Merin goodbye. She showed us where Deepak sir & Vineetha Ma'am were staying. We met them after some time.
We were hoping to get back to Erathupettah for Ajna's Brother's reception by 3:00 afternoon next day. But then "what Man Proposes, God Disposes". There was a heavy downpour which made us abandon the plan and we headed back to the Common room with the rest of the guys. There was a party in the common at night ( a small one with us GECIANS and three other guys from Chennai and pondicherry) and we had a lot of fun and frolic. While the rest of the guys were already asleep or starting to do so, our party came as a jolt. They got up and moved away to find a another place to curl up but alas, given our voices, that was a hard one to come by. After the party, pranks were on the menu. So we decided to call customer care and play a prank on them. We called them up, connected the Malayalam department and then spoke to them in Hindi. The call center people were puzzled and we had a jolly good time in seeing them try to help us out.

NIT,Calicut -> Ernakulam
The next day morning, the same thing happened. There was heavy showers and the whole of Koikode( at least the bus stand and Railway station area) were flooded. So we had to postpone again till 10 am. Then we left for Thampi's house from NIT after bidding our newly found friends a warm goodbye. On reaching Thampi's house, Me and Thampi freshened up, and all three of us,Thampi, Jazz and Me, had breakfast. Then under slight drizzle, we left for the station. On reaching there, we found that the next train to EKM was at 12:30 pm and so we had another session of "Bird Watching" at the station. When the train finally came, we were more than pleased to see it. So finally away from the "English weather" or was it ? During the journey, the rush was far greater than what we anticipated given our previous experience. So somehow, bearing all the shoving around and the never ending drizzle, the three travelers finally reached EKM North(by 5:00 pm) from where we alighted and made it to the Private Bus Stand for the next leg of the journey. On the train, we had a field day in making fools out of our other friends who were also reaching for the reception,but from Trivandrum. They actually believed we had reached Ajna's house long b4 they had and we're waiting for them to arrive. But little did they know our actual plight.

Ernakulam -> Erathupettah
Next leg of the journey was a 3hr Bus trip to Erathupettah. The drizzle was always around us as if "Google" was mapping out our footprints on kerala soil. We had to stand for most of the journey, but what's the loss if we had so many beautiful achyathis for company. There were so many getting up and down that we, especially me, lost count of time and when we reached our destination. In Erathupettah, there was good news for us in form of Abu, S7 MEC, who incidentally returned home an half an hour before we landed. He picked us up and we got to Ajna's house. There we met up with the rest of the gang which included, Thomson, Binu, Arathy , Anu(S7 EC), Rizwan and his friend. They all had landed by 5:00 pm, had food and were waiting for us to get there. We( Me, Jazz and Thampi) met the Bridegroom and the Bride. We wished them, chatted a bit and then onto the main business. We were hoping to have a lot but the travel had dampened our appetite. So with what our stomachs could manage, we inserted food and then made it to upstairs. I forgot to mention earlier but Ajna's house is like palace with huge rooms and posh interiors. The view was breathtaking as the house sits firmly on top of a hill with a bird's eye view of the area. We were supposed to return that night itself to trivandrum but then. By the time ,we started to think of getting out it was too late. The icing on the cake was that it was the bride's, Ayesha, birthday next day. So there was a small party at 12 in the night after which we 5 ( Binu, Thampi, Me, Jazz and Thomson) left for Abu's house for the night. We reached soon after. We met his mom,dad and younger brother there. His mom got us hot black tea for the night. After that, we had a good sleep and got up late. There was a small plan to see VAGAMON hills and we all agreed. After having breakfast at 11 am, we left in Abu's car for the main stop.

Erathupettah -> Vagamon Hills
On reaching Erathupettah, we got a direct bus to Vagamon Hills.It was supposed to be half an hour ride. The ride to the top was breathtaking, to summarize it, but truly it was magnificent. The view, the chill , the journey and all the other stuff were simply great. The road snaked it way thru the hills, with small waterfalls thru out the road. As we gained to the top, the temperatures dropped, to think of shivering at 2:00 pm in the afternoon. Jazz and Thampi were clicking away to glory thru the entire journey. On reaching the top, we first had lunch from a hotel on the top. The rest of the trip can be subdivided into 3 parts :
Mottakunnu -> This was our first stop on the vagamon hill range.A series of hills lying high and reaching out for the skies. Here we saw clouds brush thru our faces. The chill was there but so was the adrenaline rush. The scenic beauty took our breaths away. We criss-crossed thru the hills till we reached "The Dam" where we had some rest with feet in cold water(aah.. aah..).While crossing thru the numerous streams flowing b/w the hills, we caught some "ATTA's" on our feet and had a nasty time getting rid of them. Finally after wandering about for an hour or so and absorbing the beauty, we left for the next spot.
Pine County -> The place where Pine trees were grown( silviculture, I think). The place was starting to feel cold as it was almost 4:00pm. The ground was covered with pine leaves and the place was wet,really wet. We moved around the pines until we found a small waterfall. The whole place was eerie as the winds whistled thru the Pines. We felt as it was gonna rain. Forgot to tell, but for the 1st time in 3 days, we were seeing a clear weather. The skies were clouded though. After wetting our feet and fighting with the "ATTA's" for the umpteenth time, we returned to the entrance and onward to the next stop.
Suicide Point( Suvisesham Point for our guide auto-driver) -> The place where the vertical wall was seen. It should have been Suicide Ridge, rather than suicide point. The place was a small trek of around half an hour from the entrance thru the surrounding hills. The place seemed lonely, since it was already late, around 5:30 pm. We came up to the ridge edge. The Sky seemed below us and the clouds seemed to rise from the bottom of the ridge onto the place where we were standing. There we shouted our lungs dry to hear some echos but to no avail. Since the last bus was supposed to be at 6:15pm, we had to hurry back. There at the entrance of the Suicide Point, we sat for more than an hour but no raksha. So we started moving in the direction of Pine County.

Vagamon Hills -> Kottayam
While we were walking on and cracking jokes abt each other, a bus approached to the opposite dir. We somehow managed to stop it and reached Elapara. This was supposed to be another stop of out tour itinerary but due to lack of time, we had to forgo it. From Elapara, we got a Bus to Muttada and then a connection bus to Kottayam, which we almost lost b'coz of Jazz's nature calling. On reaching Kottayam, we had a hell of an entry into the town. Nearing the Stop, our bus put a sudden break after we heard a crack. It was that a Swift had ploughed into a Esteem in front of our eyes. Everyone got down and rushed to the site. The Place was real mess with the esteem headlights out and the Swift's front gone flat. The police reached there within minutes, which for me was a novel thing. They caught the guys in the Swift, took them away and then the traffic cleared. While we nearing Kottayam, there was a plan to go for film since the next train was around 1:10 am. But since we reached by 9:30 pm and no new films were playing, we let go of the plan and headed for the station. Nearing the station, there were again instances of rash driving but fortunately no accidents occurred. It seemed Kottayam was on a high for the night on Sunday. We reached the station without anymore trouble. The lady at the ticket counter was cute and so we all stopped to have a look while Thomson led the pack to buy the tickets. After that, we searched around for a place to have dinner. But on a Sunday night, there was none open. Finally a shopkeeper directed us in the opposite direction to a tathkadaa. We ate appam and kadla curry. to say the truth, it was far better than what some hotels out here sell. All of us had our stomachs filled to max. Then back to the station where the bird watching session continued for another hour. Then all of us were tired and so we came to the platform. There we slept in the waiting room until 1 am. Finally the train came.

Kottayam -> Trivandrum
The train was 20 min late and it was so full that we had no place to land our feet. Yet somehow we managed to get in and find a place to stand/sit. The rest was another sleep time until Trivandrum. On reaching Trivandrum, we waited at the station until all the fellow female passengers (< 30) left the building. Getting out, first thing we did was have tea from the roadside shop and buy newspaper. From there to the bus stop and finally heaven in tvm, our own sweet KANIMANGALAM.