Saturday, December 31, 2005

Last post of 2005

Posting for the last time this year. blogged like hell throughout - even through the boards. Cannot believe that this was the year I survived the boards, turned eighteen, smoked weed, and took the biggest decision of my life - my career. Pretty good year for me actually, many great things have happened, but the fag end has made me realise something... weird thing is that I realised something I already knew.
All philosophies just try to tell you what the much talked about illusion really is - time, space, identity, existance, reality and/or all of the above and/or a combination therof. These are the kind of guys who claim to have a 'radical' or 'different' approach to the nature of things... blending science with spirituality. Less sane are those who worship stereotyped Gods without questioning the necessity or benefit of doing so. Point being there are certain things that motivate us... certain ideas and thoughts, probably mutating throughout our lives, but always there... some system that our thoughts, actions and bullshit adhere to.
All that is a motherlode of absolute crap. They say one must not look at the past, not be hung up over it, and instead look into the future, look at our potentials, attempt to fullfill our destinies.
Also bullshit. The future does not exist. Think about it. There is nothing there - all you have is your past. A pretty good teacher, has taught you everything you know. A good knowledge bank. Just because your past is not a comfort, you fantasize that your future will be - a totally futile excercize. We shouldn't be hung up on the future, will definately make our present miserable.

The realisation is this - your past is important - it has moulded and shaped you, your past is precisely what you are at the present - your past is your very identity. You shouldn't ignore it just because not doing so may make you sad or uncomfortable. Coming to the motivation, let everything in your past motivate you instead of some arcane philosophy. Seriously, can there be anything better than riding on NOTHING but your expirience... on NOTHING but EXACTLY what you are.

Guess that is how I am going to live out my years from today...

The present comes with a message: handle with care.

woah

Just shocked by the sheer amount and intesnity of R rated fan fiction based on Harry Potter. I mean Hermiony and Ginny making out to be joined later on by Harry, and the whole thing ending up in a threesome in the school library pales in front of the other stories. most of them are by talented people who have, in fact, managed to write in Rowling's style. Many are funny AFTER you ignore the weird sex lives. I mean there are many groups dedicated to exploring the threesomes in potterniverse, and whats morethere is even a story about James, Sirius and Lupin - in their fucking transformed state.
Voldemort/Dumbledore pairings are passe, you must read the atrocious ones like Harry/Molly Weasley, and Hermione/Bill, Filch/Figg (they are both Squibs, and therefore relate), Neville/Crouch (one night when Mad Eye/Crouch is kind of bored) and even a Weasley family fuckfest (Fred/George/Bill/Charlie/Arthur/Molly/Ron/Ginny and Molly cries because Percy is not around).

Just fucking ABSURD.

This is from 'a bad taaste" by Tarie. Actually on of the more tamer ones - nothing but a Harry/Ron/Hermione threesome...

For one thing, Hermione and I aren't just friends anymore. We're more than friends.

We're together.

For another, Hermione and Harry aren't just friends anymore. They're more than friends.

They're together.

And for another thing, Harry and I aren't just best mates anymore. We're more than best mates.

We're together.

And one last thing—Hermione and Harry and I aren't just friends anymore. We're more than friends.

We're together.

We're an us.

Think that is disturbing... wait till your read from this story titled "Absolution" where Snape rapes Harry in a Herios Gamos setting - like a ritual of the death eaters.

'So sweet as he slid inside. So slow, so careful, don't hurt him don't tear him don't make him bleed. Snape sighed, feeling a sense of profound relief when Harry relaxed under him, falling quiescent once again.'

And one last one, from 'all wrongs done' by Maeglin Yedi. figure out what the story is about:

Harry forgot to worry about his own situation or try to figure out what Snape had been talking about, because Snape's robes fell to the floor and Lucius lost his shirt and trousers and suddenly there were two naked men kissing each other hard, their pale bodies pressed against each other, and there was no way in hell Harry could do anything but stare at them.

His cock hardened, and Harry didn't even notice it.

"Enough with the foreplay," Snape breathed, looking flustered, his face wide open with emotion. He pulled back from Lucius, and looked down at Harry, uncaring that Harry could see his thin, naked body and his hard, leaking prick. "We do have a third participant, after all."

Would like to put in loads of snippets from all the stories - but what the hell - have loads of fun googling them out yourself.

Surviving the system

So on the way back from Kahnvel or something, the prof a friend and I were discussing about how the System supresses creativity. They were both talking about the harsh syllabus, the learning by rote shit and what not. You know the argument, as does everyone. Maybe I just wanted to oppose, maybe it had some truth in it, but I just said that true creativity survives the system, and both of them went quiet and deliberated on it. I think I may have a point here, and this surprised me.

King Kong

At 9:42 yesterday night a friend read the papers and noticed a nine fifty show of King Kong. He just ran out of his house, called me in the lift, I agreed and both of us headed out to the theatre. Purchased the tickets at nine fifty five or so, saw that the show was actually at ten, and entered the theatre just as the movie started.

Was one hell of an expirience. Not that the movie deserved the four star rating, three and a half would do, but there were a lot of references to the original movie. So you go to the movie expecting a big King Kong Vs. a T-Rex showdown - and guess what you get - a King Kong Vs. Fucking three T-Rexes showdown. King Kong even breaks the T-Rex's jaws in the same way as in the original. Problem being mammals weren't around in the Jurrasic, but what the hell - even the lost cut scenes from the original movie - sequences that were lost after the original preview, one of that of a valley full of insects which was too gross for the audience to take in was in the 2005 flick. there is also a cut scene of Kin Kong falling off the Empire state, which was cut because the background could be seen through King Kong. Jackson had this in his movie. Pity there was to Pteradactyl though...

There was also this Brotntosaur sequence which was totally Jurrasic Park. Reminded you of Harry Potter and LOTR in many places.

There were many tributes/takes on Titanic. watched Titanic today, the way Ann gets down from the cab, the dolphins in the front of the ship, all the trouble starting with a kiss, the hero named Jack and the fod blinding the ship from the island and the iceberg.

Really long though. Its a three hour movie. Nice expirience. You know what, now that I think of it, pretty cool movie which might deserve the four stars.

More redbullshit

I had Red Bull with vodka. This post basically means I didn't die. In fact, I didn't even get high. Red Bull is this energy drink which claims to "vitalize the body and mind" and vodka obviously numbs your senses. That is probably why I didn't even get high. Red Bull with Vodka tasted more like betadine than Red Bull without Vodka, and for that matter, Vodka without Red Bull. Currently semi-filled with vodka with 7up so guess that explains a bit...



Get more adventurous. Here is a list of the weirdest things to have vodka with.

5) Coconut water
4) Rose Syrup (without any water)
3) Milk
2) Apple juice
1) Rum

Erm... basic question on photography

Here is a picture taken using my mobile camera on the way back from Silvasa at silver Miles.



The picture is actually more than kind of touched up using Photoshop. The original snap is like this:



In fact, almost all of the pictures posted on this blog is edited or at the least processed in photoshop. Mostly to increase the clarity and decrease the file size for faster loading on the web.

Like starting out with this:



And ending up with this:



Much drastic than the change in the tree snap, but makes the pic much better nonetheless. The process is not really important. What is important is that the fact that the photo was manipulated at all changes the authenticity of the photograph.

Sometimes however, when the conditions do not allow for the picture that you want, (since some say that photography is actually in the mind of the photographer and not in nature) you have to manipulate the image to get the picture that you want.

Like getting this:



From this:


Now image manipulation hasn't come about because of information technology. Those familiar with photography know that certain filters and substrata in the films on which the pictures are taken enhance certain colours and supress others. Complex methods of image manipulation existed even before Adobe came along and provided easier methods to do the same thing, along with complex methods to push the limits further.

Taking natural snaps is often crass and unclear without touching up. In this case, photography will be reduced to just aiming and clicking and cameras and films should be manufactured to imitate the human eye as much as possible.
On the other hand, if the final product is aesthetic and pleasing, it does serve the basic purpose of phtography.

Just want to leave this question open: does the final product matter or should it be as natural as possible?

Bus Driver



when the bus stopped at Silver Miles, a friend took this pic of me pretending to be the bus driver.

On top of the bus



Picture taken by a friend of me sitting on top of this bus.

Safe Sex board

Digeridoo



Another australian influence? There are infact two similiar instruments from the area. Wonder what this horn is called. Wonder if all cultures have such huge horns. The Australian Aborigines have the digeridoo for sure. Have to look this up...

Phew!



This post is named phew! because I could manage it only after trying about eight times. Interrupted my blogathon, so I went to sleep. This is what I presume to be a deer made out of wires and cycle seats. Pretty cool, but not easily recognizable.

Spider



Another creation from waste. There are the iron rods as legs, a kadai as the main body and some other vessel as the head. Really simple, but really cool.

Solar Cooker



I also saw my first solar cooker. Not very common, these things. Basically a box where you put food in, something that gets sunlight reflected from this mirror, and a glass covering to keep off dust and insects. Will take terribly long to cook. Remember getting tortured figuring out the complicated edges of the solar cooker diagram in school...

Also remember Anjali mam saying that I had done a good job when I had drawn the diagram to near perfection.

LPG energy saver

No machine can work without some wastage of energy. There is always an energy leak. If there was no energy leak, perpetual motion machines would be possible.

Now this guy here thought of a weird way to combat energy leaked while cooking - he added two passive heaters. Look at the picture.



Yes, the papad does get fried or roasted or whatever, yes two vessels of water CAN be boiled at once. The chart read:

"The device is useful to save about 3 1/2 kgs of gas per cylinder i.e. 20% of saving of L.P.G. and also it gives economical benefits.

By this simple arrangement of cost of Rs. 100 /- only the cooking items can be prepared with more speed."

Not too sure about the tests conducted to prove the first sentance, but the second proclamation about greater speed is total bullshit.

Look at this picture:



The fact of the matter is that instead of heating one vessel, the contraption is heating three at normal times, and atleast two. Heating four kgs of iron takes more energy than heating two. Therefore, this actually wastes more energy by heating a passive vessal. Stupid mad scientist who came up with this idea without knowing tenth standard physics.

If you wanna minimize wastage, just cover the lid, or put in mirrors around the flames of the stove, design vessals with deep groves where the rim of fire can fit in or something. There are a thousand ways to minimize energy leakage, but this sure as hell aint one.

Friday, December 30, 2005

King Kong

Got a call two seconds ago that I have to go to King Kong. Am on my way now. Will continue blogging about the trip later...

Flower Liabry



That's right, this is the entrance to the flower liabry - a liabry of artificial and costly flowers. Absolutely useless stall. Stoopid stoopid trip.

Kangaroos in the Indian culture?

So there was this exhibition meant for industrial and artistic products by adivasis and tribals, to preserve the local culture, and guess what, came across this kangaroo wood toy/showpiece...



I thought the Indians emigrated to Australia instead of the other way round.

Dragonfly

This is a dragonfly made out of waste. Specefically, three bicycle bells for the head, a chain with the links welded together for the back, some iron rods for the legs, and four fan blades for the wings.

Cobweb broom - I

Entered the stall of useless inventions (bathing machine + heat saver + Cobweb broom) looking at the cobweb broom and thinking of some new kind of firebolt for Potter. Damn HP has fucked my mind... this invention went a long way down the same path.



This is a broom specially for cobwebs (and for lazy people). Another useless invention that was passed off as being terrible clever. Simple mechanism really. The thing at the top revolves, winding up the cobweb around it, when you press a button at the handle.

Beautiful tree



Took the pic of this tree on the way back. Must note that the photograph is manipulated on the computer, which I think is probably very easy to guess.

The bus




This was the bus that survived out trip. Thought I'd never see an orange Volvo post the horrible bus I had got for the Bangalore trip - but I guessed wrong. In fact, this was not a Volvo... but what the hell, it is still Orange.

I hope I will one day travel in a pink-purple radient. Would be funny if I ask for such a color next time I visit a tourist agency. Might draw up a list on how to be a horrible tourist.

Bathing machine for the handicapped

Saw this at the adivasi industrial exhibition at Silvasa. More like Khanvel which is around an hour away. Really complicated and impractical apparatus which I am sure is easy to become dysfunctional and will only work in theory. The display was broken or something because I didn't see the demo both the times I went to the stall.





The principle is that the handicap sits on this chair which revolves and then the brush scrubs him. The inventor probably didn't know that bathing machines exist which are simpler in make, jets come out from all sides and you are scrubbed with automatic sponges like in a car wash and the drying is done by blowers. Can obviously be used by handicaps too...

Pink Elephant

Don't exactly know if the pink elephant phrase is used in the same context as a blue moon, but the phrase was never really alien to me. This was mostly because my favorite toy/plaything/actually lets call it Teddy because that is what it substituted was a pink elephant.



have this for as long as I remember. It is called Bangari which means 'darling' in Kannada. It had a sitting elephant as a companion, a yellow elephant called Sringari think I have lost it, donno what the name means either.

Would it be too gross to go around claiming that I have slept with a pink elephant everytime someone uses the phrase?

Lonavala - Cave carvings



Pretty nice carvings. Thought of taking a picture of a friend blowing the lady in the middle with her legs spread apart in that provocative pose, but since the area was sacred, and more because of the public, skipped this childish thought.

Damn why did God invent sex to squirm in into EVERYTHING. Freud so got it right.

Cave Fortress



I don't know if this cave was a fortress or living quarters, but the interiors had artistic decoration, I guess it was just a hall to eat and hang out and stuff. There is this really cool balcony that I imagined would be a nice watchpost but an attack from the top would be easy. The stalls are too bloody small to be rooms or toilets, so I guess all of them were for storage.

Karla Caves - invasion

Bloody people go around spoiling EVERYTHING. There was this really cool cave that these dudes fitted with a door and stuff, making it look more funny than anything else.

Lonavala Goats


I am pretty sure that these are not wild goats. They suddenly showed up to eat the coconut rinds thrown right outside the temple. The Karla temple is spoilt because they painted it. For this reason I didn't photograph the temple, but now I realised that this was all the more reason to do so.

Kalra caves



Remember going to this place really long ago on a visit to lonavala with my family. Been a long time since that but still recognized the place. Pretty small place, almost not worth the ten bucks, nothing to see really except if you are a tourist.

Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear

Lonavala Trip - sleeping on the way



I always fall asleep in transport. Find the motion very soothing. Happensso much in local trains, buses and rickshaws that people actually are afraid to send me alone in case I go to sleep and miss my stop. This has happened only once, because I don't go to sleep if I am alone.

Maybe I am subconsciously a sociopath. I am just blogging this because it is very rare to get a photo of yourself sleeping on your own camera. A friend took this from my doublesixdoublezero on the way to Lonavala.

Seeing red, no bull, a little shit

sometimes I wonder if Alcohol is a placebo. I think that it does have its affect, but can work as a placebo in small quantities. Red Bull tastes like betadine. Emptied a little to drink it with Vodka, which is what I am going to do now - the point being is that I am currently wondering how vodka would taste with coconut water.

If i wasn't scared of going into the public in this state right now - then I would have tried it out. Woul be so funny to have vodka from the actual coconut instead of putting it in a glass first. In fact, the idea is so wonderful that I am going to try it out...

Red Bullshit

Came back from Silvasa, and crashed immediately because I had only slept for a little under three hours in two nights and three days. Slept with my wallet and mobile and everything still in my pants. Got up early morning to find the house empty, and with nothing else to do, thought that I would booze a bit.

Remember a long time ago I blogged about vodka and red bull killing a few people. Here are links of articles regarding this issue on the net.

http://columbiamissourian.com/features/story.php?ID=12825

http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/00000002D1AF.htm


I have just had around 45 ml of Vodka with mountain dew, and I am slowly getting high. I am going to finish of the remaining 45 ml from the 90 ml with some red bull. So if I end up dead, an urban legend will turn out to be true. However, I think this happens to a very few people with some sort of allergy or something. Maybe the testosterone levels go way up and you die... that's like the peanut allergy that some people have. You put in a little groundnut oil in some food and they have an allergic reaction and they die.

Now I will put the urban legend to the test.

Silvasa - Day three.

Stupid lecture, had fun all day long, half watched bluff master on the way home ,swam for half an hour, too cold to to.lerate, drank in the bus, pretty strong but held myself together, didn't get drunk. Pictures and shit later, lot to blog about. Kind of high now.

Silvasa - Day two.

Didn't need to get up early because I didn't sleep. Wasn't tired though because of the drinks and for the fact that I had lied down for a long time, which I think pretty much works as good as sleeping pour moi. Funny to use French phrases in the most unnecessary places. anyway, after getting up we headed out to Khanvel, met the MP, and then met the administration of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar haveli. Had a good time there, and learnt a lot about the administration of union territories. Turns out that the education system is adjoined with that of Gujarat but the Judiciary to that of Maharashtra. Will be non linear because I am blogging as I remember what took place. Earlier in the morning, I had a little vodka, and headed out to play pool alone because no one was there. On day one, I played my first game. This time I was pretty good with the ball, and managed to hit it straight instead of bouncing it on the table. Played a game with this dude, then headed out for breakfast. The bus also stopped at this medical shop on the way to Khanvel, and I purchased Viscodyne because of all the coughing. This was a Schedule H drug that I purchased over the counter without a prescription, and the professor got suspicious and asked me what I had purchased. I replied with a "cough syrup" and he asked if I was coughing, and I said that I was. Later on, I had a little syrup because I was coughing like hell (really) and the exact words of the prof, who suddenly appeared there were "does the medicine need you or do you need the medicine." My exact words were "no Sir, I was tightening the cap so that it does not leak in my pants." His exact words were "Good, or people will misinterpret." I was mindfucked at the fact that the rpof thought I was abusing substances. Then there a few lectures here and there that I slept through, headed back, danced a bit, drank a bit, and played pool with two friends till six thirty in the morning. Actually snooker, and now I know the difference. There was also this trip to a beach where the sea was so far away from the sand that we walked around seven hundred meters away from the shore, and then we could only just about hear the waves. Went on two camel rides, with two different sets of friends, a pretty fun thing to do. Also went horse riding alone, which was fun. Handled the horse pretty well for a first timer, saying this mostly because I brought it to a stop from a gallop without prior instruction.

Silvasa - Day one

Got up early in the morning and headed over to college in this tiny Wagon R full of 6 friends without counting the driver plus our luggage. It was a nice atmosphere early morning in the assembly hall early in the morning and reminded me of visions. I went out to find some viscodine because I was coughing like hell and was worried that this would spoil my trip, but no medical shop was open so I had a smoke instead, and found that it worked as well. Then we got onto the bus, the luggage was a problem, and I helped creating this problem by packing in the luggage in the compartment in a haphazard fashion thinking there was plenty of room for everyone's bags. Apparently, there wasn't, and we had to unload everything and repack it in a more sensible manner. Probably mirroring the way I packed my bag. Packed my bag in a hurry because I had just come back from Lonavala. Packed the luggage compartment in a hurry because we were already running late, and there was no other way to do it because we were packing it in as and when the bags reached us. We were finally packed and we set out. Sang and had fun on the way, pretty much like the visions volunteer's picnic, only we were not scared of being stopped in our tracks at every toll booth. Had breakfast as silver miles about half way to Silvasa, and later on played on the swings and slides in the garden. Everyone joined in, there was a mini photo session, and all the photos will be blogged later. Then we headed out to Silvasa, we were given good rooms when we ended up there, there was a reception with drinks for everyone, we unpacked, got familiar with the room and sat down and relaxed for some time. Then we had our lunch, and headed out to this adivasi festival. Photos later. There was also this industrial exhibition, which deserves a separate blog. Don't remember clearly if we headed back to the hotel or there was some other place we headed out to, but once we were back, we danced, had a stupid campfire, ate food, played cards, and drank in our rooms scared that the prof would catch us. He didn't. Didn't sleep, lied down in the bathtub for lack of space because everyone had converged to this one suite. Damn I remember, there was also Dudhani lake that we headed to after the adivasi place. Really cool place, but we weren't allowed to boat, which would have been one hell of a treat. Went away from the group with two friends and had a good time and came back. Also went nike, which is our term for a long explorative walk with two friends, and the stars were supercool. Tried to fit them all into my skull again, unfortunately the illusion created was that of the brighter stars being nearer and the fainter stars being farther away, which i knew was a wrong notion and therefore the illusion was frequently distracted.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

How seatbelts cause accidents

There is this labelling theory that people behave in a manner they are expected to. If a child is continuously scolded and told that it is a brat, it will probably behave like a brat. If it is told that it is smart and clever, it will behave like a genius. Should probably not refer to children as its but what the hell.
Happens for us in our friend circles, we behave as weareexpectedto behave for different groups. I switch from funny/witty to silent/neutral observer in different groups, and they are actually contrasting charachteristics. All this is just proof for proving the labelling theory, which in turn is the basis for a new theory; that seat belts cause accidents.

Doesen't wearing a seatbelt show a lack of confidence in your driver? The driver will then be labelled as a reckless one, who will in turn, drive recklessly, increasing the probability of an accident.

Skeptical? Imagine this. You are in the front seat without a seatbelt. The driver weaves around traffic in a slightly dangerous fashion, and you decide, just to be safe, to wear the seatbelt. The driver notices you, loses confidence about his driving, and crashes. Totally possible.

Lonavala Trip

Caught an early morning friend's Qualis to Lonavala. Been there around one and a half years ago, with a bunch of friends. Will come back and blog about THAT trip, because I used to maintain a diary then...
This time, we went to the karla caves, the karla water park, and obviously the guesthouse to sleep and play badminton. The "stumps" we had set up soooo long ago still stands. I find that exteremely cool.

Will blog with all sorts of beautiful pictures AFTER the Silvasa trip. Busy times these. Will not blog for three days now - unless I find a comp in the hotel.

KlueLess update

Spent the early hours of the morning trying to solve the KlueLess game. Damned bastards areou troubling me now, have to leave for Silvasa in twenty minutes, and THIS was what I was doing. Anyway, level 30 is skipped.asp and the secret code at the end is cq409324mj4598. Guess what? Shortcuts exist. Now that will fuck up a lot of people.

Monday, December 26, 2005

KlueLess

One of the most amazing online puzzle games I have seen. KlueLess was designed for the IIM-I festival called 'iris' and the contest ended with the festival way back in November, but I guess the website has been kept alive because of the response. The puzzle even showed up on NDTV proft.

Here is the link in any case: http://www.iimi-iris.com/iris/irising/klueLESS/

You have to think of EVERYTHING while solving the game. Look closely at the URL, the title of the picture on the page (right click + properties), the text that shows up in the title bar and even the HTML source coding of the web page (this only in the thirteenth level). Scry (a suitable term from the new wannabe mythology) for the details EVERYWHERE in the page. Ignore or overlook NOTHING.

I have hit the dead end at level 13. I know this is a stupid thing to do, but I just want to take a note. If you are going to solve the puzzle, or even try, stop reading right here, because I am going to post the answers to the level I have crossed so far.

Level 1: Got stuck here. Didn't know what to do or where to click. The first page itself told me how difficult the puzzle would be. I just let my mouse explore the picture, and a hyperlink showed up over the gate. So click on the gate.

Level 2: Simpler than level 1, just click on the text that flashes as soon as it does.

Level 3: Just the name of the fest. Type in 'iris'

Level 4: The title bar had 'guess', and the url had 'style', so I thought it had got something to do with Jeans, till I typed in the name of company founded for top-gun pilots, the manufacturer of ubercool and ubercostly shades, ray-ba.

Level 5: Replace the text "usethisspace" with the word "cobain" in the url on the address bar.

Level 6: didn't recognize the stupid boomer tatoo creature as satan, but what the hell, type in 666 and proceed.

Level 7: Probably the most difficult one so far. Also, as the level claims, perhaps the simplest. Because we expect an elaborate deception, we overlook the simplicity of the level, making it particularly difficult. Will get you stuck for a long time, till you just try level8 out of desperation. Stil didn't get it?
Go there.
Till didn't get it?
Fucking etard, type '8' instead of '7' after 'level' in the url.

Level 8: Use a handbook or the net to translate the morse on the road. username/password = metal/pixel.

Level 9: Something for the fans of the Da Vinci code. The fibonacci sequence shows up, and the text is an anagram for leonardo. Leonardo is the answer. Put in leonardo instead of texttwist in the url.

Level 10: First type in level10.jpg in the url because the picture shows up with a level9.jpg for some reason. You see the Audi symbol, and therefore change the url to audi.asp.

Level 11: The login/password is shown below the keyboard. Just superimpose it on a normal keyboard, and the login/password that emerges is fifth/quint.

Level 12: Will stump the shit out of you. You need to interpret the picture in the correct manner. Would have been better if they had just put another picture of Satan or an eagle in the picture. The username/password is hotel/california.

Am on level 13 now. Will see if I can solve any further. But am going to Lonavala tomorrow, so I donno.

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Cablewallah strike

Apparently the court passed an order to ban all depection of sex and violence on screen. The cablewallahs have retaliated by blacking out all the channels claiming it will be impossible to moniter all the 150 or so television channels at the same time. The point is also that even if they do monitor, they will end up blocking most of the channels most of the time anyway.
The problem is that to whatever extent sex or violence is depicted over satellite networks, local cablewallahs screen soft porn in the cable channels, and these channels are driven by the politicians that speak out against sex and violence in the satellite networks in the first place. The funny thing about this is that most of these soft porn flicks start with a dedication to god and a prayer. Funnier part is that the said soft porn flicks are locally made.
Its like evolution. Channels that push the limits survive, so networks will depict just a little more sex and violence than the competing networks, and the amount of depiction will progressively increase.
The only thing we can do to stop this is, to use the words of the government, not get "corrupted"
Funny thing is that only those who are immature would like to watch mature content.

Christmas

Slept most of the day after the party. Also read Eldest in the early hours of the morning which in earlier years would have been spent enjpying Santa's gift.



Pretty blank now, preparing for the one day Lonavala trip tomorrow, and the three day Silvasa trip day after tomorrow. Had a merry christmas. Joke doing the rounds is Meri Christmas, teri christmas and sometimes teri bap ni christmas. Donno why I just wrote THAT.

Christmas

So am in a room full of friends and we are not even sleping. It's the middle of the night and this computer is the only source of light in the room. Dogs are barking, people are solving weird problems, and I am blogging. It's chirstmas right now. And I am on a high. Not because its Christmas, but because the universe fell into my head again. I went to this place near yogi hills where we were sitting on thsese park benches and the stars were visible. There wasn't another shooting star, another internal big band which started me bklogging in the first place, but I at the least imagined seeing all the stars in perspective again. Made a friend do it too, and she swore. IT is fucking disturbing, and if you haven't felt it yet, I think that you should try feeling it sometime. I am a little sleepy and plenty distracted by the disturbances in my room, so I may be blogging a little blatantly and a little incogerently, but here is the deal about making the cosmos fall into your head:

Step I: Look t the stars
Step II: Imagine them as being more than a sheath of the sky over the planet
Step III: Imagine them in perspective, its impossible to actually do so, but imagining it should have the desired effect
Step IV: Look at stars as burning globes of fire and acknowledge their scale

NOW suddenly put your hand in front of you, your hand will feel so fucking large, and you will feel like you have infinite power.

Will probably go to sleep now. Nice times, these.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Christmas eve

Went to the local store to purchase a pen, and noticed that the counter was laden with toys. Realised then that it was christmas eve and what it once meant to me. Back then I used to recieve visits from Santa, before Santa broke it to me that he was Santa if you get what I mean. It used to happen once a year, and I used to put in a pillowcase instead of a sock, and more often than not the gift was hidden elsewhere in the house. I remember my earlies christmas gift as being a watch and an arm band. Still have them around, but lost many of the later ones.
Today, I am going out to celebrate christmas with friends. Although this is just another excuse to celebrate.

There are some parents I've seen who interpret Christmas as a ploy by the foreign poweres to get them to export (or in some extereme cases, even "dump") their commodities into Indian markets. I think it would be atrocious if these foreign powers started to claim that it was India's ploy to first export Indians and then the custom of Diwali gifts. At the same time, look at the revenue generated by Indians in the whole season. Handicraft workers who would have otherwise gone with a jobless winter now can make Santa costumes, caps, trees and whatnot. The point also being that saying Christmas is just a marketing ploy is being non secular, wherever there are Christians, the birth of the Christ is bound to be celebrated. These are probably the kind of people who think Christianity itself is a ploy (which in fact, it used to be in the colonial times, when the ministers used to go around converting Indians and showing them the "right path" and the soldiers following for the protection of the ministers and the church, merchants following to provide for the soldiers, and the Raj following to overlook all of this.) To think Christianity is a ploy now would be unfair to the religion, but I have seen Christian Principals of schools having cheap allegations thrown against them - that they are trying to convert students. In fact, any Christian who advocates his religion is under threat of being blamed with an intent to convert.

We Indians (should I say Hindus?) make it a very difficult thing for minorities to survive.

The moot point is that today's party - a celebration of Christmas - will have about zero participation by Christians. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Music in our pockets

Ever wondered about the sheer amount of music the youth carries around in its pockets everyday? Think about this. Boomboxes, then walkmen used to be a big thing, but in today's world of file portability, multi-platform conformity and supercompression, the youth ends up carrying around SO much music.
Today, for example, I had a 6600 with a 512 memcard, 380 MB of which is brimming with music, along with an mp3 player with a capacity for 256 MB. 635 MB of music approximates to 182 songs, which in turn approximates to 736 minutes of music. Over twelve hours of music right in your pockets - and each song you have handpicked.

And all this apart from a pocket radio. Someone should research this and the consequences.

And one more thing - not a SINGLE song is paid for.

Democracy or Dictatorship: Which will work for India?

This is the assignment I wrote, along with the comments of the professor. I think parts of it is stupid, but here is the unaltered version. Would have liked to explain the concept sugested in the end more.

Democracy or Dictatorship: Which will work for India?

Democracy or self governance exists so that the people of a state have a say in the administration and functioning of that state. IT hopes to enable the people to govern themselves, at least in principle. In practice however, self governance is nothing ore than a fairly transparent illusion. (Good) Especially in India, with indirect democracy, no Citizen really feels that the government is in his hands.
Dictatorship, strikingly opposite in its principles, gives no illusion and instead the dictator governs the people in an absolute regime. An ideal situation would be a benevolent and unambitious dictator, but an unambitious dictator is not likely to be a good one. (Good) Men of power want only one more thing - more power, (Matrix Dialogue) and hence no dictatorship can survive for very long. The history of mankind is a testament for this. Dictatorship will be easily criticized, targeted by foreign powers (especially in the present times of the United Nations driven by the United States) (V. Good), revolted against and more probably than not, overthrown.
Funny thing here is that while people resent the existence of absolute power, they do not resent the illusion of self-governance even if they recognize and acknowledge it. This is the chief reason why democracy does not world - DEMOCRACY CANNOT WORK IN A NATION OF LAZY CITIZENS. (Good) (Some famous dude I forgot said this).
People fail to realize that self-governance is so large a responsibility that our lack of democratic drive harms not only us but our neighbors as well. We take pride in our freedom, in our status as the world's largest democracy, but blatantly abuse our rights because there is plenty of room in democracy to do so.
The problem runs deeper. the flaw is not in the government but in the people. The responsibility of responsible citizens does not end at the ballot box (or, for that matter, an overthrown dictator) but extends beyond to a genuine contribution to the system. An ideal form of self governance, according to me, would be in the guise of participatory democracy. (Good)
This concept rides on the IT wave, and there is sufficient infrastructure already in place to make this idea an immediate possibility. The functioning is as elegant as i is simple - online voting and discussions of bills and laws. Basically a larger parliament with real-time participation from the citizens. Obviously there is room for abuse, glitches are bound to occur, but this will take democracy to a whole new level, and this, is what, I think, will work for India.

--> Very Good. Just perfect.
--> futuristic concept. Well explained.

Seventeen posts in forty five minutes

That was some intensive non stop blogging. Guess I have two more posts to go. Blogged most of the important pics I took at Kelve beach. There are almost no pictures of people. None have been blogged at least. Just noticed that many of the pics are disturbing - corpses and bones. May paint a grim picture of Kelve beach, but the place is beautiful - things like the bones and the decomposing dog are only oddities that deserved to be blogged.
So many posts that I think this is one of those rare occassions where a single day goes beyond the limit of the ten posts on the main page. Good thing about the archives.

Dead dog - II



Another view of the dead dog. The dog had not died with its mouth open, but the tender areas around it had decomposed quicker than the rest of the body, making it look as if the dog was snarling in death. Hair was flying all around... really sickening feeling.

The bone collector - IV


Now a cattle ertebrae. Found in the midst of really large scary holes of unknown burrowing creatures. My guess is a porcupine or a relative.

The bone collector - III


Now the upper hind limb of a cattle - aain, probably the same one.

The bone collector - II


Now a lower arm bone of a cattle - probably the same creature, but was found in a different part of the beach.

Shadows of mine - II



Another shadow pic. Was walking on the beach with my shoes in my hand - and was using the shoes as bags to collect stuff.

One more thing, never take anything on the beach for granted, and be very carefuly before you deem it fit to step on something. I stepped on this leaf, expecting it to crumble beneath my feet. Instead it was full of thorns and dead stiff. Nearly killed my toe.

Dead dog - I


So I suddenly come across this rotting dead dog that isn't smelling too much.

The possiblity of burying it just occured to me.

Oddities at Kelve - II


Most of the sea shells were minisicule, and in fact, at some parts, formed a layer over the sand. Was a nice feeling walking over a ground of sea shells. However, there were some exceptions to the rule, relatively large sea shells that stood out.

Traces in the sand - IV


I do not know what kind of the creature this is, but judging by the hole in the middle, could it be another one of those psyched out starfish?

Traces in the sand - III


Another more - I'd like to use the word "dhinchak" - starfish. Notice the hole in the middle again, and the extra long arm.

Traces in the sand - II


A starfish. Notice the whole in the middle... know that was for the mouth/anus, but on dry land? Is it that stupid? Is it reflex? Are reflexes stupid?

Traces in the sand - I


Eels I guess. Sometimes it is difficult to make out if there was a bunch of baby eels or a starfish left behind on the shore. The longest eelprint I saw was over two and a half feet in length.

The bone collector - I



I guess this is a cattle bone and not that of a marine mammal, although whales do wash up on the shores every now and then. This is based on the finding of a vertebrae in another part of the beach. Point to notice is how the critters have cleaned the whole thing.

Shadows of mine - I


It is a little difficult to understand how a shortage of photons creates a color - but all the other colors are brought about because of the wavelength. Irrelevnt point being that I like to photograph my own shadow, so I guess that will become a series as well.

Oddities at Kelve - I


Appreciate the size of a state transport bus stop at Kelve.

The Beach - IV


Funny where your train of thoughts take you. Took this pic of a bicycle in a setting where the sun is obstricted by what I call the tall fir trees. My mother's fried once drew a 'sunset through the trees' painting, which did not win a prize or something and achieved a remark that went "the view of the sun is obstructed by the trees"!

The beach - III


The sand is like dried on top because of the sun, but wet underneath. You leave two inch deep footprints behind, the sand curls around your toes in the most satisfying way. You go deeper in if you are heavier.

Reminded me of Legolas - who walked over snow without leaving footprints.