Not quite " Ok Computer "

Only those who have experienced the sort of deprived life that i am experiencing right now can correlate with this posting of mine . So go ahead and feel the mental agony and the harassment that i am going through since the day my "dabba" ( for the uninitiated "dabba" is the desi version for a computer) decided to play the rogue.
The script could not have been more wrong. You pass the entire gruelling, sucking, blood sapping monstrous week without a single holiday. Surviving the tough shedule in the hope that every cloud has a silver lining. The silver lining of a much awaited weekend when you can totally cut yourself off from the rigours of college life, cocoon yourself within the safe and cosy confines of your room and while away the weekend on your computer. The servers ensure that you keep getting the required dose of movies that are opium to a life inside the college campus. Living and loving on radiohead ( the title of the posting gives you enough hint how much i love radiohead) and phish. Ofcourse then there are the scraps on orkut that need to be checked urgently and replied to. And being offline on yahoo messenger is now ( ever since i got a "dabba" inside my room) a concept totally alien to me. Now, without beating around the bush for long i must confess that my "dabba" went bust this friday as soon as i returned to my room after discharging all my compulsory lab duties to the great dissatisfaction of my instructor.
It was working fine as all sane "dabbas" do but then all of a sudden there was a brief flicker and then it blacked out totally. I tried all the tricks in the book to breathe life back inot the system but to no avail. I tried switch swapping ( this is no technical jargon - i just tried to change the plugs into which went the wires), fiddled with the wires, dusted the fans and even cleaned the whole system in the hope that during the process it would just switch on; exactly as it had switched off.Feeling down and out, then came the time for some expert help. Lots of pleadings and requests later, a few men in the know of things landed up in my room for a brainstorming session. The technicalities simply bounced over my head but in a nutshell i knew it would cost me a bomb to get it back on all fours. Stuck up in a state of penury, i decided to accept my fate and condemn myself to a life sans my "dabba". I even tried to falsely console myself. Considering it to be a blessing in diguise, i thought this would give me a chance to dwell upon other important aspects of life which i had till now royally ignored. But then who was i trying to fool ? Could not dare to stand the separation from the "dabba" for a few hours. Looking for greener pastures, i started pestering my wingies for letting me use their systems for a while. Alas! when your comp goes bust people start doubting your sanity as far as handling of the sysem is considered. I was turned away by all and sundry on some pretext or the other. Now after so much of soul searching and pleadings, i finally got Jitu to part with his "dabba" ( he is damn possesive about it) and here i am sharing my mental agony with my so- innocent and some not-so-innocent readers. With Jitu breathing down my neck, i must conclude this blog of mine right now. I know some of you will be laughing and almost rolling on the floor with glee and delight when you come to know of my present state of distraught and agony. Still every dog has his day :( For the more concerned others, please feel free to pour in your suggestions to get my jobless "dabba" back to work

Uncomfortably numb

I guess a lot must have been said and discussed on the blogosphere regarding Shakira's latest release "Hips don't lie". My opinion in this posting stems not from any critical appreciation of the song/video where she shakes her hips like nothing that i have seen or heard before.
Within two hours of my landing inside my hostel after the end of vacations, i realised that we were in the inextricable grip of what can be truly called a "SHAKIRA MANIA". Whichever room i dared to enter, i was reminded of the hitherto unknown fact that the hips don't lie. To bring me face to face with reality there were life size posters of the diva taking a peek at you from inside some of the rooms. The latest kid on the block was here - possibly the best thing to have happened to the world of pop music scene inside the campus since Las Ketchup took the campus by storm. Three months away from the campus and things had changed drastically. Shakira, who just three months back existed only for name's sake, has suddenly assumed an iconic status. And the tide simply refuses to ebb. Nothing before had so captured the imagination of so many inmates before. To an extent only Linkin Park's "In the end" can finish a close second but then it was not "quite so big!" . I don't have too many complaints with the particular video which i believe would have been a chart topper even without the lyrics - afterall its the "out of this world" shaking of the hips that keeps the fan mesmerised and hypnotised. Even if i had, how could it have been an issue of concern for anyone who matters ? Just sample this information that i managed with a bit of googling But it gets on my nerves when it takes on the role of the morning rooster with the hippy song pounding against my ear drums, making forays into my room through the window, through the door and even penetrating the walls. My pleas have fallen on deaf ears and its high time, i start accepting the song as a way of life. But if hips don't lie, then neither do my lips :(

Vande Mataram

At the stroke of dawn when the whole hostel sleeps i was still awake to life and freedom. A new kind of freedom that comes once in a blue moon when you get an off on a weekday. But having watched That 70's show for close to three hours, my eyes had become sore and were giving away. Considering the time as opportune to give my wearied eyes a much deserved rest, i decided to hit the bunker. Alas ! This period of bliss and independence was very short lived. I was jolted out of my bed by the terrorizing banging my door was being subjected to. Cursing under my breath, i opened my door only to find my wingies all decked up for the flag hoisting ceremony @hostel. I was dragged on all fours to witness the unfurling of the tricolor. Bleary eyed i stood through the entire process and here is my pictorial take on the independence day at my hostel.
Unfurling of the flag by my hostel warden. The more enthusiastic ones gave it a standing ovation and the lesser mortals like me were content with the standing part of it. But when it came to singing the national anthem i joined in the chorus. It gave me a great kick as i imagined myself to be a part of the imaginary Indian footer ( iit lingo for football) team singing the national anthem just before the kickoff of the world cup final :D

Then came the best part of the entire show. Distribution of sweets. The melee and jostling that ensued could have scared off any faint hearted fella but then the kind of sweettooth that i have, ensured that i stayed put. I emerged battle hardened and bruised from the war but literally savoring the sweets of my victory.


PS:: Now if you think that this reads more our out of the essay books of schhol students, then my most sincere apologies !

Oh deer ! Oh deer !

"All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others".
This Orwellian quote strikes you the moment you go animal hunting inside the Delhi zoo. Here the "more equal" animal being the deer. The first thing that hits you on the face when you go inside the delhi zoo animal surfing is that the deers heavily outnumber all the other inmates of the zoo put together including the humans. They come in all possible shapes and sizes, hues and colours, languages and ethnicity and numerous apparels. However, if you are an "abnormal/paranormal" visitor to the delhi zoo highly motivated to carry out a detailed study of deers and their habitats, you are knocking ate right door. Jokes apart, how many of the enthused visitors (including yours truly) go to a zoological park to ogle at the galloping deers ?? For someone like me, the deers simply don't exist once i am inside the zoo. C'mmon i haven't parted with some precious bucks to see it all go waste on deers! To add salt to the wounds these come with all possible names one can think off -- makes you wonder if the world of animals allows for all kinds of hybrids. Other than the obsolete varities like the sambhar, cheetal, black buck ( of salman khan fame) , there are also those that come with the most imaginative names like the hog deer, the dog faced deer, or even the monkey faced deer ( its damn difficult deciding the reasons behind their weird nomenclature cos they all look the very same). And when the sweltering delhi heat has drained off all your energy , you finally reach where you always desired to be. The placard proudly announces that the cages house inmates like the white tiger, the one horned rhinoceros or the african lion. But then to your dismay the very same placard also informs that these are generally the nocturnal species who venture out only during the nights when the zoo has been closed down. Smart animals !! You are really running into luck if you manage to get a passing glance but then that is the end to the gory tale of deer sighting. Down and out, you return cursing the authorities and wishing that the zoo be rechristened as a national sanctuary for the deers. Thats why i always wondered why the deers never figured on the list of animals nearing the "extinction point". I know this is sadist thinking but then this is what a trip to delhi zoo can do to you :(( . And the pic say it all ;)

Storm in a cup

If Mumbai is the city that never sleeps, then Delhi is the city that sleeps a tad too early. I came to this well drawn conclusion after my two months stay there during my summer internship. The shops generally down their shutters around 9 and so one must learn to move early even if it means braving the sweltering june heat. Well, lemme leave this open for arguments.
To go ahead with my story, we (my gang) were plainly lucky to have gelled together so quickly. We were people hailing from totally different backgrounds - from all the different corners of the country, different eating, sleeping schedules - the only common thread that bound us together was we were all supposed to be "future engineers" undergoing internship at the same place. So one night, out of sheer boredom and sleep deprivation we decided to try out delhi for a cup of hot tea. The clock had just struck thirteen and the dozen of us were treading the deserted road of the capital -- pusa road to be exact. Giving us company was the Door's "Queen of the highway" and stray canines who were totally taken aback by this uncalled intrusion of their privacy by the human species. Amidst all this, we wandered on aimlessly hoping against hope to land up at some dhabba which still had its lights flickering. Having walked on, attracting curious looks from the once in a blue moon passing by vehicle, we went on, for how long i don't know. Then we found ourselves standing in front of a police checkpost all of a sudden and totally unprepared for any eventuality that such a situation might bring up. "Are you people drunk?" .. was the first query the constable at the post shot at us. Who was drunk wasn't easy to tell .. we sure weren't !! And lacked the courage to point it out to the other party.Then another one, only in his bare essentials came out from within to add his unwarranted comment "Masti karne nikle hai sab"....followed by a profanity. We were petrified they won't buy our "looking for a cup of tea" story but then still decided to give it a try. Hoping against hope worked in our favour for a change and they sympathised with us. And to what remains to this day one of the biggest surprises of my life, they actually prepared tea, though not enough, for us and our mission impossible had been accomplished. We were then let off with a warning not to repeat what the constable termed our "daredevilery" in future. Chastened and satiated, we returned to our not so cosy bedrooms and immediately dozed off. Delhi Police -- We want you safe !!

Baptism of the blog

Before my blog formally goes on air, a few words of apology would be in place. I would like to apologise to the imaginary die hard ardent followers of my previous blog that i had put up on livejournal.com. So taking a leaf out of Julius Caesar here I go. "Friends, romans and countrymen !! Lend me your ears!..... I come here to bury my old blog and not to revive it". Formalities over, lemme concentrate on my current blog. There are a few questions that need answering over here. Why the blog title ?? A lot of careful forethought, planning, microlevel dissection and brainstorming sessions had been spent in coming up with this blog title. If you don't believe it then you have got it right! It was purely a product of my impatience and my inability to think creatively. Having tried so many options like "rideronthestorm", "thegreatbeyond", "walkoflife", "stairwaytoheaven" and yes something called "theunknownsoldier", i was feeling totally down and out. At this point of time, as is not often, my creative juices started to flow and i came up with the beautiful (yes it is ! ) title of "flightsoffantasy". Only to be rudely denied with the message "Sorry! already in use". But i was hell bent on getting this title work for me. So off went l,g and h from "flights" and what remained was "fits" and so there you are reading what you are. As for the display name (changeling), i know its a tad ( or too much depending on your perception) shady but i came across this word yesterday itself and so felt it deserved a place of pride.