April Blogging Fever

I’m now sure that if I’m at home on study leave I will blog like crazy. Witness the rash of posts I’m making. It’s not like I suddenly have many things to say. It just seems like the most interesting thing to do.

I’ve opened all the windows in my room. There is a strong breeze blowing outside. The area around our house is very peaceful at night. I think I’ll go to the terrace after some time. I will climb onto the roof of the stairwell. We used to have a very nice view from the terrace before the surrounding houses came up. The roof of the stairwell now has the best view.

Our house is almost at the end of the development area. If you look in one direction, you’ll see the rest of the houses and the streetlights. The streetlights are my favourite part. The opposite direction is pitch dark. You might see the headlight of a passing vehicle, but otherwise it’s all dark. Beyond the trees you can see light. The trees provide the perfect screen and the light streams over their tops.

There’s a building coming up some distance away, so now if you look in that direction, you can see the lights from the construction. Another direction, you’ll see sporadic lights from different houses.

I love this place.

Additions to my room.

My room has undergone some changes. There is now a Shakespeare International Conference poster stuck to a wall.

The conference’s official name was Staged Encounters : History, Society, Identity and Shakespeare. I have a poster of it because I volunteered to help with the Conference and then whacked a poster. It looks quite nice. The Conference was also a lot of fun. Sukantada’s paper was brilliant. Supriyadi’s paper was also brilliant. There were other very nice papers. Swapanda’s paper was also brilliant I’m told. I missed it however.

The University Guest House makes awful Chinese (or is it chinis) food. They should be shot for preparing such atrocious Chinese food.

Milonda’s Seminar Brew a.k.a. Chaffee was better than usual. Chaffee is this strange concoction that Milonda provides. It does not matter whether you asked him to provide tea or coffee. He will provide chaffee. It is a strange mix of Milonda’s cha ( Itself a hideous, foul excrement) , very bad Coffee and bits of whatever Milonda was serving before he started making your supply of Seminar Brew. We got cha, coffee and chicken kebab.

The University Guest House provides Coffee or Tea. Their coffee(or tea) is however sometimes contaminated with soup. We once got Tomato soup flavoured coffee and Onion flavoured tea. Their Coffee( and Tea) is worse than Milonda’s.

The only place that serves good tea on Campus is the Hostel Canteen( a.k.a. Sujitda’s). The canteen is damn cheap, and fairly good. It’s not great but it’s not bad.

You cannot get good coffee on campus.

Moving on…

An electricity meter now graces my wall. Yes, you read right, An electricity meter. You know, those things that are kept by the electricity company inside your house so that they know how much to charge you.

I did not have to break open the meter box or commit some illegal act to obtain this meter. DPL replaced all the analog meters in everybody’s house with brand new digital meters. I presume their logic is that Digital meters are more difficult to tamper with. Anyway, the old meter was left lying around, so I whacked it and hung it from a nail. It looks damn cool, I must say.

My room is looking strangely nice.

Spot the Scorpion

Can you see it? Cotched it in my trusty bottle and released it a little distance from our house. Isn’t it awesome?

People…

I am back.

Bangalore was immensely fun. People who missed out, I pity you. There shall be next year. But let’s start from the first.

29th:: Get on Coromandel. Sandeepda and Panu fellow travellers. Bugged by pesky beggars at Kharagpur station. Hijra christens Panu Ei Madhuri. Call her that for rest of the day. Take random pics and vids.

30th:: Reach Chennai at 1800 hrs. Go to Spencer Plaza. Buy Che Tee. Freak foreigners out with Nazi salute in front of Spencer. Get on Bangalore Mail. Go to sleep.

31st:: Woken up by TTE poking me in foot. Says we’ve reached Bangalore. Compartment deserted. Wake up others and jump off train. Head off to IIM. Wake up Harish(who seems to be the Mahadyuti figure of IIM). First get alloted a temp room. Take random pics and vids. Alloted a room in the evening.Go out in the Evening. Go to Hotel Imperial and polish off a whole grilled Chicken each. (Yes, salivate bitches Mwahaha). Go to Zero G. Go back to IIM. Make fun of Harish.(not to his face of course)

1st:: Shifted to different room. Kaichu shows up. Pissed off with Panu for giving wrong directions. Calm her down. Stay in Campus. Watch AmRock till 0430 hrs. Too many death metal bands. Go to sleep. Wake up at 0630 hrs and hear prize winners.

2nd:: Wake at 1200 hrs. Sen and Arnaab show up. Head out in evening to Corner house. Eat Ice Cream. Head back at 1800 hrs. Hear a bit of Zero and Motherjane. Not too good. Meet some old friend of Sandeepda. Stay up till 0500 hrs. First crappy Karaoke night. Then okay DJ night. Missed Harish doing Johnny Bravo dance.

3rd:: Wake at 1000 hrs. Listen to A Capella bands. Very good. Especially Acoustic Chutney from Christ College, Madras. Watch Kannada play called Jugari Cross. Understood random words. Stay up till 0430-0500 hrs.

4th:: Wake at 1100 hrs. Go out to Commercial street. Spend day there. Have lunch at Koshy’s. Spend evening walking around. Eat Ice Cream at corner house. Eat dinner at Miller’s 46. Best beef steaks in the world. Eat whole beef steak.

5th:: Wake. Leave. dump luggage at Sandeepda’s uncle’s place on Brigade road. Go to Imperial. Eat lunch. Go to Sandeepda’s friend’s place. Go to Cantonment. Catch train to Coimbatore.

6th:: Reach at 0600 hrs. Bargain with taxi driver in tamil. Catch a taxi to Mettupalayam at 0615 hrs. Catch toy train to Coonor at 0710 hrs. Beautiful ride. (Again, those who missed it…Suckers Mwahaha). Check into hotel rooms. Beautiful view of tea gardens. Drink coffee sitting in balcony. Sen frightened by Monkey. Go out for walk. See Sandeepda’s cottage. Lunch at Kurunji. Back, watch TV. Sleep.

7th:: Wake up. Decide to go for walk. Decide to go to Ooty by bus and come down by train. Go to Sandeepda’s cottage. Meet Molly Elliot, the caretaker, and her five dogs. Act as interpreter. Visit Sim’s park for free, thanks to Molly. Scrap Ooty plan. Decide to go to local sights. Get mistaken for foreigners. Freak out person who was mistaken by telling him in tamil that we are Indians. Make up Molly rap.

8th:: Wake up. Walk around Coonor. Visit Sandeepda’s aunt. Very beautiful house. Scrap Ooty plan. Catch train to Mettupalayam. Catch train to Chennai.

9th:: Wake up at 0400 hrs. Get to Chennai at 0530 hrs. Dump luggage at cloak room. Go off. Come back. Get on Coromandel. Very bad seats. Spend whole day sleeping

10th:: Wake up. Spend time. Get off at Howrah at 1330 hrs. Hitch a ride with Sen to Esplanade. Catch bus to Durgapur. Will be back in Cal on 12th Evening.

For details on Coonor trip, please contact Me.

Largo al factotum della citta

Just Listen.

To know what this is about, check out this

Lyrics

Largo al factotum della citta.
Largo! La la la la la la la LA!

Presto a bottega che l’alba e gia.
Presto! La la la la la la la LA!

Ah, che bel vivere, che bel piacere (che bel piacere)
per un barbiere di qualita! (di qualita!)

Ah, bravo Figaro!
Bravo, bravissimo!
Bravo! La la la la la la la LA!

Fortunatissimo per verita!
Bravo!
La la la la la la la LA!
Fortunatissimo per verita!
Fortunatissimo per verita!
La la la la, la la la la, la la la la la la la LA!

Pronto a far tutto, la notte e il giorno
sempre d’intorno in giro sta.
Miglior cuccagna per un barbiere,
vita piu nobile, no, non si da.
La la la la la la la la la la la la la!

Rasori e pettini
lancette e forbici,
al mio comando
tutto qui sta.
Rasori e pettini
lancette e forbici,
al mio comando
tutto qui sta.

V’e la risorsa,
poi, de mestiere
colla donnetta… col cavaliere…
colla donnetta… la la li la la la la la
col cavaliere… la la li la la la la la la la LA!!!

Ah, che bel vivere, che bel piacere (che bel piacere)
per un barbiere di qualita! (di qualita!)

Tutti mi chiedono, tutti mi vogliono,
donne, ragazzi, vecchi, fanciulle:

Qua la parruca… Presto la barba…
Qua la sanguigna… Presto il biglietto…

Tutti mi chiedono, tutti mi vogliono,
tutti mi chiedono, tutti mi vogliono,
Qua la parruca, presto la barba, presto il biglietto, ehi!

Figaro… Figaro… Figaro… Figaro…Figaro…
Figaro… Figaro… Figaro… Figaro…Figaro!!!

Ahime, (ahime) che furia!
Ahime, che folla!
Uno alla volta,
per carita! (per carita! per carita!)
Uno alla volta, uno alla volta,
uno alla volta, per carita!
Figaro! Son qua.
Ehi, Figaro! Son qua.

Figaro qua, Figaro la, Figaro qua, Figaro la,
Figaro su, Figaro giu, Figaro su, Figaro giu.

Pronto prontissimo son come il fumine:
sono il factotum della citta.
(della citta, della citta, della citta, della citta)

Ah, bravo Figaro! Bravo, bravissimo;
Ah, bravo Figaro! Bravo, bravissimo;
a te fortuna (a te fortuna, a te fortuna) non manchera.
Ah, bravo Figaro! Bravo, bravissimo;
Ah, bravo Figaro! Bravo, bravissimo;
a te fortuna (a te fortuna, a te fortuna) non manchera.
Sono il factotum della citta,
Sono il factotum della citta,
della citta, della citta,
Della citta!!!
La la la la la la la la la!

JUDE UGI Theme Song

Our exams ended on the 12th of December. To spend pent-up insanity, we decided to have an end-of-exams party. Bunch all got together at friend’s house. Had random discussions. Got Briyani from outside and ate it. Entertainment at lunch consisted of Weird Yoga on Sanskar, Weird Knee brace ad on Sanskar, Wacko Prosenjit fight scene, Crazy Rajnikant fight scene.

After-lunch entertainment consisted of extremely hilarious YouTube videos. Inspired by these marvelous pieces of brilliance we decided to make our own War Song. And it goes like this

(J-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-DE)

We UG 1s are fine, Benny Lava
Our sem exams are done, Benny Lava
We couldn’t come up with a line, Benny Lava
Give us some weed and wine, Benny Lava

Have you been high today….?

Why are we acting gay….?

Some people one day said-
“We wish you all were dead”…

We’re going out to pee on them tonight! (repeat four times)

It is not complete yet. It shall soon be. Also we have made up wacko war dance to go with it.

This is a rehearsal of the song. Statutory Warning:: You might die of laughter.

Nice ain’t it.

Oh Well, wherever, wherever you are….

Iron Maiden’s gonna get you

Yes. Iron Maiden shall get you, no matter where you are.

If you have just crawled out from under a rock, or are one of those who think Justin Timberlake is a rock star Then Know that Iron Maiden is a Metal God. One of the most influential and successful Heavy Metal bands in history, Iron Maiden have contributed to the rise of Heavy Metal in a way that very few can match. Part of the NWOBHM, Iron Maiden have gone on to become one of the Ubergroups of Metal and Rock.

Why this sudden outpouring of praise? No reason, Just that since the Honours papers are over, I have been blowing my eardrums out by listening to Iron Maiden and Dloading their songs.

Iron Maiden’s songs are not your typical Sex, Drugs and Rock’n'Roll songs. They take their history and literature seriously. I mean, Just look at some of the themes that their songs deal with…

• The Iron Maiden ( a 17th century torture device)
• The Phantom of the Opera (A gothic novel)
• The Prodigal Son (The New Testament guy)
• Murders in the Rue Morgue (An Edgar Allen Poe story)
• Hallowed be thy name (dealing with the feelings of a man about to be executed)
• Number of the beast (Against Satanic Rituals)
• The Flight of Icarus (From Greek Mythology)
• The Trooper (about the Battle of Balaclava in 1854 during the Crimean War)
• Quest for fire ( based on mankind’s discovery of fire)
• Where Eagles dare ( Based on the Clint Eastwood movie)
• 2 Minutes to midnight (based on the Doomsday clock)
• The Duellists (Bruce Dickinson is a fencer)
• Alexander the great (based on the great conqueror)
• Fear of the dark (supposed to be based on Steve Harris’s fear of the dark as a child)

and of course…
Rime of the ancient mariner. The entire poem told in a 14 minutes heavy metal song. Head-banging poetry. So cool, I love it. Harris managed to get the poem into a heavy metal song.

Of course, All of Iron Maiden’s songs have some theme or other, These are just some of the songs I’ve heard or have. Not an extensive list I know.

And it’s not just the themes…the innovative riffs, beautiful guitar solos, the structuring of the songs, I could go on and on.

Of these my Faves are Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Hallowed be thy name and Number of the beast.

Could someone get me Iron Maiden’s song “Iron Maiden” from their album “Iron Maiden”? I can’t find it anywhere except on sites which only let me listen to it, not DLoad it.

PS: Anyone who disagrees with my opinion of Iron Maiden shall be eaten alive by me. You have been warned.

PPS: If you don’t know about the themes in the song, use Wikipedia.

Random, nonsensical post.

Winamp:: It really whips the Llama’s ass.

Yes, I am a Winamp user. I do not like WMP. It’s good but nothing compared to Winamp. Especially after v5.5 The plugins available for Winamp are just too cool. And the new Bento skin is just uber. But the feature that I really adore in Winamp is “Global Hotkeys”. You can control Winamp with the Keyboard, no matter which software you’re using. Add to the fact that it sits nicely in the System Tray….

Check out the Bento Skin

The pictures of the mouse have unfortunately not come out well. In fact, they have come out awful. So no pics of mouse.

However…..

We do have pictures of a calotes in the Bougainvillea.

A Pink Chrysanthemum

My room has been cleaned by me. This is a very rare event. It only occurs due to a combination of various factors like Sudden bout of Insanity, Sudden increase in External Influences, the Movements of some random quark in the center of the multiverse…. You get the idea.

The domain has been scoured. Fire and brimstone have done their work. Junk has been abandoned, Junk has been moved to higher levels, new booby traps have been set up.

Stuff has been re-arranged.

This process usually involves Sweat and Blood. This time also Blood was offered to the great deity of cleanliness. I hurt two fingers on my right hand while cleaning out some shelves. The spartan bravely continued with his task and silently bore the pain. And is now blogging with injured fingers.

Will post picture…maybe.

PS:: Pics of mouse will be up shortly.

PPS:: Wondering what the post has to do with Pink Chrysanthemums? Absolutely Nothing.

Mouse in the house

My latest pastime… trying to catch a mouse. No, I have not become insane. No, I am not a cat.

This mouse has been in the house for a few days now, well weeks actually. We bought a mousetrap. It hasn’t worked so far. We’ve cleaned up all the junk on the floor. ( This process usually involves moving all the junk to a higher level ) The mouse just moves to another room. It started out with the kitchen, moved on to my room, and then moved to my sister’s room. So today I decided, Enough is enough, Time to catch it with my bare hands. I started taking all the shelves apart. It ran up the Electric Iron’s power cord onto the window sill. I caught it, it slipped out of my hands and hid under the bookcase. I poked it with a scale, it ran up the Electric Iron’s power cord onto the window sill. I caught it, it slipped out of my hands and hid under the bookcase.Repeat performance twice. Then it climbs up the leg of the cot, and jumps towards the door. I had locked it so it couldn’t run away. It hid behind some plastic bags, I flushed it out. I caught it again, It slipped out of my hands again. Then it finally managed to squeeze under the door and get out. My sister’s room looks like it’s been demolished by a monster truck.

The mouse is actually pretty cute. It has pink ears, and is small and goes around the place sniffing at everything. It’s also very soft. I wonder if I could keep it as a pet.