as I see it

Shawty had them Apple Bottom Jeans [Jeans]
Boots with the fur [With the fur]
The whole club was lookin at her
She hit the flo [She hit the flo]
Next thing you know
Shawty got low low low low low low low low

My alarm is buzzing. Phone speakers singing Get Low on top of their voice and what am I doing?
I am busy listening to what my Angel soul and the Devil soul have to say. It used to happen pretty often in the first month of my engineering days when I had to listen to arguments given by both the Angel and the Daemon about if I should wake up or continue sleeping for a while. As Isaid, Daemon beat my Angel soul hollow and maintained his position as a Champion for 4 years thereafter, not considering the occasional walk-overs given in by the Daemon ;)

It was like a routine for me then. No arguments, no noise, nothing at all. It was like an agreement that Daemon is the winner unless and until he decides to give away a match to the Angel to boost the latter's confidence.

But now it has started all over again. Since I can't afford to sleep as much I want to and whenever I want to (though I put in my best to achieve it) the chain of arguments and counter-arguments takes place every time my alarm buzzes. The Angel knows that my schedule is such that I have to wake up and thus, comes in with the 'Angel Allies' army but the Daemon still continues to fight single handedly. One Man Army ! And all the arguments put forward by both Angel and the Daemon make sense and seem to be pretty logical when you are half-asleep.

A snippet from one of the conversations :

A : Wake Up !
D : No need.
A : Wake Up, you have to go for the class.
D : Don't worry, it is XYZ subject's class. It is nothing that difficult, simple concepts, you can read it some time later and cover it yourself. Continue sleeping.
A : See, you will have a tough time before a quiz or exam as you always do when you listen to the Daemon.

By now, my roommates wake me up so ya it can be said that Angel wins.

But when I am sleeping in the evening and there is no class to attend then,

A : Wake Up !
D : No need.
A : Wake Up, you have slept a lot. You have a submission to make and you should do some bit of self-study and those pre-reads !
D : You can never sleep 'a lot'. There is no limit. The submission is a Group Submission, which means that someone in the group will do it. Self-study is something you can do before the exams. Pre-read, hmm, do it when the Angel wakes you up tomorrow morning.

And the Daemon wins. It has been happening almost everyday and I have bee losing quite a bit because of this on the academic front.

So now today was the funniest of all arguments. I have a mid-term exam tomorrow and the arguments when my alarm buzzes today in the evening.

A : Wake Up !
D : No need.
A : Wake Up, you have XYZ Mid-Term Exam tomorrow.
D : Relax, as Angel said it is a Mid-Term. Even if you are not able to score, you have finals to comeback.
A : NO ! It carries 25% weightage.
D (seeing match slipping from his hands, with utter innocence on his face) : But Angel tell me, how can the poor soul study if he doesn't have a sound sleep. Even if he manages to then how useful will it be if he sleeps tomorrow during the exam just because you didn't let him sleep now.

I woke up ! C'mon its 25% and the Angel is right ! And now I think its high time I start studying and don't let go the Angel's victory in a hard-fough battle over a tough opponent. Trust me, Daemon is the toughest to beat when it comes to my Sleep Battlefield, just like Nadal and his Clay court :)

Wassup ? One very common answer to this question is 'nothing much'. But I am not putting up this post to say 'nothing much'.

So, in recent past I heard this song Neend Na Aaye by Fuzon from their new album Journey. Pretty Good. I have been listening this song on and on for quite some time now.

Next, I got to know about this thing called 'Animoto'. What it does is that you upload photos and music and it will make videos (slideshows with a difference) for you. You can also choose music from the collection they have online. I tried it via their facebook application 'Animoto Videos'. It is a nice app to have. On registering on this site you are entitled to make unlimited number of short 30 seconds video and 1 full-length video for FREE. You have to pay for more full-length videos. I tried it with some of my albums on facebook and I was impressed. The transitions between photos and the way it is shown is good. Moreover, the transition between photos happens according to the tempo of the music !

Moving on, I cribbed about the iPhone for quite some time once I got to know that the 8GB model costs 31k. As is 3G is not available and this hig price makes me wonder if its 'Twice ass fast and half the price' or 'Half as fast and twice the price'. Its not even twice, its around 4times. I don't know how come its so costly here and didn't even try to find out because its not going to help.

I like Mac, iPhone, etc. but honestly there is this one thing I like about Microsoft. It is Microsoft Office and especially, Excel. The more I have been using it (I have to) the more I love it. Excel is perhaps, Microsoft's best creation!

I still keep thinking about rains in Mumbai. Unpredictable. I am also fed up with Airtel's network in Mumbai (wherever I go). Its been days now since I last saw full signal strength on my phone.

Next, I was surprised to see Ajantha Mendis' 'carom ball'. The first thing that came to my mind on seeing the ball release from his hands was - Where the hell does he get the power from? It is actually 'carom' ball. I tried balling that way few hours back. Finger hurts, ball can go anywhere (on the pitch or away) and number of tips before it reaches the batsman follows no particular pattern.

I have no comments on seeing the news item that said 10 lakh people were present in Chiranjeevi's rally today.

I miss Twitter on IM. Have not been able to make the various twitter clients available to work for me. Perhaps, some restrictions on net here block something. That is perhaps, one reason that I had to write this post.

Neend Na Aaye is still being played, for the Nth time now. But contrary to the title, I think I'll go to sleep now. Have to get up early tomorrow. Very early. Good night folks !

All of you with a Mathematics Background must be aware of the X-Y axis. One of the most trivial things (may lead to confusion at times, but I stand by it being trivial) with X-Y axis is the ORIGIN (denoted with a letter 'O' almost everywhere) and its translation. In simple terms, you can fix your own origin on the 2-D representation and move it wherever you want to. The only difference it makes is that all corresponding co-ordinates change with the same value as the new origin.

What if someone does it to your calendar ?

Yeah, it has happened to my calendar. The origin (a widely accepted HOLIDAY) has been moved from SUNDAY to a THURSDAY ! I have a busy SUNDAY when most of my friends just bump in their heads in the pillow on their bed or just go out partying. I have an OFF on THURSDAY. So when the majority around me (us) awakens on a FRIDAY and starts making plans for a weekend or maybe talk about the new movie that released, I get ready for a long day, because effectively it is a MONDAY for me !

I never really cared about it when I saw markets and shops here and there open on SUNDAYs but now that I am experiencing the same, it feels bit weird at times. Yes, I know that the end statistics are the same, 6 days working and 1 OFF but why a THURSDAY OFF ?

MBA is surely different and it is about work and serious business and not at all like my good old engineering days. A phone call made me aware of Rakshabandhan, something my academic calendar did not mention. Last night when I saw most of my 'usually busy' friends online on GTalk till late I was reminded of it being a Saturday and that it is Sunday the next morning and that its OFF for all of them. After all my classes and quizzes today when I walked out for lunch, I saw a herd of people looking up and shouting. It didn't take long for me to look up and see a 'Matki' tied to a rope and figure out that it is Janamashtmi.

Everything seems so different. I miss my good old college days.

Chuck everything and
Do whatever the heart says,
Those were the days.

Sleep and wake up anytime
Our schedule our ways,
Those were the days.

Eat and drink at the galla
And wonder who the hell pays ?
Those were the days.

Go and play football,
While the sun stays,
Those were the days.

The all so special,
Free time in all four Mays,
Those were the days.

typhoon, arsenious, lazy
a bunch of -
Those were the days.

Those were the days
and these are the days,
anyways :)

PS : Forgive me for the last few short lines. It was not an attempt in poetry. It was a matching game, putting words that end with 'ays' together :P

[Note : The post is cryptic in nature. I don't expect anyone to understand or read it, though, the very brighter minds around me may infer what it is.]

So, there is this box full of 'selected crabs' which for some reason are perceived to be special. Ok, if not special then in some respect or the other perceived to be better than all those not selected ones. So this one crab gets the opportunity to be a part of the 'selected' lot. He is happy to hear that. He knows the time is now and there is bright light all around for him.

And then comes the day when he is dropped into the box. There are so many other crabs in this box and he knows that there are many such boxes all around. Some big, some small and that he has been dropped in a fairly big box. One very peculiar thing which the onlookers noticed was that none of the boxes had a lid on the top. Two gentlemen actually discussed it with each other.

G1 : Did you notice there is no lid on top of any of the boxes ?
G2 : Yeah, I wonder if they would sit in and not try to escape.
G1 : I guess there is no need of the lid perhaps.
G2 : And what makes you think that way? Don't you think they can take undue advantage of the fact and escape.
G1 : No ! because even if they try to, then I am pretty sure that the other crabs in the box won't let him reach the top and jump out. They will make sure that they pull his leg and get him in. And this same concept applies to all. Its all safe mate. Cheers !
G2 : Cheers !

So, our protagonist here - 'The Crab' - has never seen what all he is seeing right now. Well, all this while he has been sitting around on a beach having sunbath with all lovely, 'sweet' crabs. They had a gala time, splashing water on each other, throwing sand balls and making sand houses as well. But things are different in the box now. Very different.

-------------------- IDEA ----------------------

I'll make it a series now. Write more about the crab as time moves on.

-------------------- IDEA ----------------------

The crab for now observes that most of the other crabs have a TAG on their shoulders, which bears a special bar code. He, on the other hand, has no such TAG as yet. He wonders if the other crabs are superior, more special ? He is not sure though, if the other crabs think that way as well.
But one thing that took our crab by surprise was that the other crabs were after his life ! They just wanted a TAG on his shoulder as well. They tried there level best to put on some TAG or the other on his shoulder. So many TAGged crabs and our UNTAGged crab. Poor Him. All the TAGged crabs are trying to put on a TAG on him.

He wonders W H Y ? Of what he knows he is in 'The Box' which is supposedly a box that contains some 'selected' crabs. Is this how the 'selected' crabs are ? Why do they behave this way ? What makes them think the way they do ? And how come those few crabs resort to doing the same ? Is he abnormal or the others special ?

[PS : Don't try to infer please. OK, if you so desperately want to decrypt it then a hint lies in the conversation between G1 and G2]

And so when I am in hostel, today is this one day when I wake up early. Its Rakshabandhan today, so I woke up early, 1 hour before my normal routine and then 30 minutes snooze and then finally up. I somehow felt good. Looking out of the window was refreshing. Cool breeze hitting my face, ripples in the lake that I could see, birds calling my friend by her name 'piu, piu, piu'. After 5 minutes of stretching I go to the washroom to see all doors open, only one or two people in there.

It happened for the first time (@ SP) that I did not have to stand in a queue to take bath ! The song being played in my mind was the same that plays everyday - Jame Raho (TZP) but then today it was the second half of the song. Yaha alag andaaz hai... while usually it is Kyu duniya ka naara..Jame Raho...

And soon I realized what my flat mates think of me when there was a bang on the door and the guy outside started shouting

Guy : Kaun hai andar..
Me : Prateek
Guy : Abey bata yaar..
Me : (in my mind) What do you mean :O ?
Guy : Abey batao..kaun hai ?
Me : Prateek yaar...
Guy (angry) : Mat bata...baitha reh..subha subha dimaag kharab kar raha hai...
Me : :S :S

So, I go back to my room, get dressed and my roomie who just woke up sees and literally shouts - ABEYYYYY !!! (looks at his watch) ITNI JALDI ???? :O

This is what I call 'stereotype'.

Now while walking to college, I decide to write this post and I come to class and guess what ?
There are only 4 people in class, I am the FIFTH one !! For the first time did it happen that I reached the class and saw so many others coming in and then the faculty.

The wait is a bit boring :(
But then today I didn't have to get up and start with a 4X speed but rather it was 3/4X.

Class begins and I sign off :)

[Note: The post may not have 100% accurate information and most of the data given may be fictitious. Why? What why ! C'mon it is my blog !]

So, what am I doing and what keeps me busy ?

Not long ago I get to know that this blogger with alias Guttu has posted a review of my blog on his blog (http://www.thinknonsense.com/bb/2008/08/03/as-i-see-it/#more-294). Before I go any further, I would like to thank him for doing it. Next, about the points he gave to my blog, there was this head titled 'frequency' in which I got the lowest and that is 5/10. Of what all he says I agree that I should post more often but then one needs time. There are times when you do have some free time but then often at such times I go blank and don't force myself into posting.

So, again the question, What keeps me busy ?

Basically, I am a student doing my MBA and I guess that somewhat tells about why I got a 5 under the 'frequency' head.

Talking about the past, engineering days, I had ample time but then there were many other things that I was more interested in.

One more thing, I feel that if one tries writing when he doesn't really feel like then what essentially comes out is his work, the jargon he uses all day, in a very peculiar form.

Believe me I am trying hard not to use all jargon - terms like demand, supply, consumer surplus when I very well can relate it to Guttu suggesting me to post more often - which I often tend to do almost everywhere.

I don't think one can help it. Your brain and ears are so used to these terms (plus this is what you are going to listen every now and then) that you tend to apply them in every scenario.

In a post I posted long back regarding my Design Project, I did mention the OpenGL fever me and Aatish fell prey to. glutFcChalein(), glDinner(), etc.

Just that now its moved from technology to a different stream.

When I go out and buy anything (even a melody), then just before paying, the first thing that comes to my (others as well, and we even say it at times) mind is to say "Why should I pay? You add it to your Assets (Accounts Receivables) and I will add it to my Liabilities (Accounts Payable) and its done". Horrendous ! right ?

I remember myself explaining the demand supply curve and how to tap consumer surplus to the canteen fellow with DIAGRAMS ! It happened when we asked for Bhindi and he said it is not available because there is huge demand for it. Now whether he got it or not, I tried my best to explain him concepts I know !

Ok, so I see the 'Low Battery' notification and I don't have my charger here with me, so here I press 'Publish Post'.

PS : Forgive me for the extra dose of lameness towards the end and I know your facial expression is something like :S but then its my normal self. Isn't it ?

Say What ! and I say 'So what' :P