Ramblings of a Jaded Mind ...

UDID Registration

2011-06-27T09:52:00.001-07:00

Apple iOS 5 on iPhone 3GS

2011-06-10T05:55:00.000-07:00

I'm back guys and gals!!

2010-09-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

Hello to all you sentient beings out there who have been waiting for me to revive my oh-so-awesome blog! Needless to say, the only reason I decided to write out a new post is because I'm bored out of mind at my internship! It's the last couple of weeks of my job and soon I'll be free from the daily monotonous zombie-like existence. Whew! At long last, I'll be able to become a slave to assignment deadlines, midterm cramming and professor woes ... I know, how awesome, right?! Wrong! Just kidding, it's all awesome and good. Life is going good and I'm spending my days chilling out and working hard to achieve something in my life. I've had a lot to think about over the past couple of months and I've decided to change my ways and become the person God intended me to become. I will ace those papers and blow the exams out of the water, wait and watch!

Peace out,

Ayush

iPod Touch, Em and the Paper

2009-05-22T17:26:00.000-07:00

Yes, I did it. I finally did it. I bought myself an iPod Touch. It's been a few days since I got it and boy, do I love this lovely piece of iPod. For one, it's waaay better than my 3rd generation iPod nano and it's got everything one could hope for in a portable music player: it plays music, videos, awesome games and has all these cool applications (from YouTube to Facebook). I love the touchscreen accessibilty, the smooth navigation system and the ease of typing with nearly no typos.

Also, Eminem recently released his album, Relapse. I absolutely love the songs on this album. They are funny and clever! I was laughing my ass off while listening to Insane and a bunch of other songs. You gotta check them out. Oh, and I'm working on my thesis paper for my computer ethics class. It's due early June and I gotta write 5-6 pages on some controversial topic in technology ... hmm, any ideas?

-| AG

Been sooo long!

2009-04-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

It's been so fucking long since I posted last. Not blogged, but actually wrote something (like my entry "Dry Spell" dated sometime in November of last year). Let's just say that I've been too damn lazy to bring myself to write something meaningful and even posting those 2 crappy posts about the Sesame St video and Internet speed wasn't something I did out of an eagerness to share something cool with you guys but something I did to suppress the feeling of guilt that I've let my blog go dead.

Yeah, been really long since I posted last ... what can I say? It hasn't exactly been the kind of year when I've had ample amounts of free time to kill on the Internet, let alone on my sorry-ass blog. For the first 6 months of 2009 I was mad busy studying for what seemed like a million credits and since March 30th I have been at my co-op 8 fucking hours a day. For those ignorant dumbos who have no idea what "co-op" is, it's a program in my college during which I work full time at a company for 6 months, kinda like an internship, only that I get paid for spending all that time sitting in an office.

These days, I have taken a liking to the show The Sopranos. It's a really cool show and I've been hooked to it for months now. It's about a Mafia family in New Jersey, and what makes this show that much more interesting than the other mafia movies is that the mob boss (Tony Soprano) deals with family stuff much in the same way as everyone else, and goes to see a psychiatrist to deal with his emotional troubles. This show can be very funny at one time and equally violent and disturbing at another time.

-| AG

Meteoric

2009-03-09T18:27:00.000-07:00

-| AG.

Elmo Impersonation

2009-01-08T21:51:00.000-08:00

I found this greatly funny video of a stand-up comedian doing an impersonation of Elmo (for those who are not aware of this "Elmo" character, it's a very famous Muppet from the American kid's show Sesame Street).

-| AG.

Dry spell

2008-11-16T13:47:00.001-08:00

Whoa, will you check out the date of my last post? It says October 1st, which was like 1 and a 1/2 months ago! This blog is in serious need of a rescue from the worst dry spell it has ever seen (and it's seen its share of dry spells, believe me). So I am gonna post this new entry and hopefully keep its spirit alive for some time, before I have to dive in again and save it from another dry spell. But hopefully, maybe I'll get motivated by some odd happenstance for the next couple of weeks and we might never even reach the point where this blog needs to be rescued from the terrible fate of no new posts.

So, what's new? Hmm, let's see ... it's same old shit really. College, midterms, parties, movies, games, music, you get my drift, right? If you don't, well then you're a bloody fool who needs to be in a psychiatric ward instead of being in front of a computer.

Also, I've been following Bigg Boss 2 through the videos posted online on their web site. I must admit that I enjoy this show very much and consider it to be a great past time when you are bored out of your frickin' skull. As for who I think is gonna win, I believe that either Rahul or Raja both have equal chances of winning the show, although I support Rahul and hope that he wins. I'm a little disheartened by the fact that this show will be ending in a couple of days, and that no longer will we be able to shamelessly pry on the private lives of people we have come to like.

-| AG.

2008-10-01T08:36:00.000-07:00

Go over, go under, go around, or go through. But never give up.

-| AG.

Time for some campaignin'!

2008-08-28T12:59:00.001-07:00

-| AG.

A little video for everyone -- for me, anyway

2008-08-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

I bought the new 3rd generation iPod nano last night and lemme say one thing straight up: this is one amazing iPod, a fine piece of ass. It's sleek and sexy exterior is as good as it gets for iPods and that's not all, folks, it plays videos, songs, and just about anything there is to play. The video quality is amazing and the sound quality remains supremely goo-hood.

beauty before age

the new kid on the block

bottom's up

going with the flow

Right now I only transferred the videos that I purchased through iTunes store but I tend to sync more to it just as soon as I get my hands on a good .avi to .mp4 file converter for Mac.

Life's sweet right now. Apple sweet. =)

-| AG.

Malaysia

2008-08-06T08:12:00.000-07:00

I came back from Malaysia a couple of days back. I spent a week there with my family and boy, was it some week! We primarily visited Kuala Lumpur (the place with all the tall buildings) and Genting (the place with all the casinos and roller-coasters). We spent the first half of the week in KL and during this time we visited the Petronas Twin Towers (its mall, anyway; there was no viewing deck for tourists on the top floor), the KL Tower (and thankfully, this one had a viewing deck and I took some pretty snazzy shots of the city and its many skyscrapers from atop) and the Aquarium (where you could even "swim with the sharks" besides leering at hundreds of kinds of fishes). While at the KL Tower, I also zip-lined, an adrenaline-rushing activity in which I "flew" high above in the sky while suspended from a pulley mounted on a cable. It was really cool, and now I plan to take part in bungee-jumping, if I'm able to find it.

on the way to Kuala Lumpur; Twin Towers to the right

view from atop the KL Tower, world's 4th tallest tower

The rest of the week was spent in Genting Highlands, an entertainment city high up in the mountains. We stayed at the First World Hotel, which - according to the large Guinness World Records certificate at the reception - is the largest hotel in the world with around 6500 rooms. There was a big mall, a couple of theatres (I saw Dark Knight and Mummy 3) and an indoor theme-park right inside hotel. The mall was like a mini version of Las Vegas; there were the Statue of Liberty and Effil Tower towering above the shops and fast-food joints. There was an archery range down at the mall as well, and after shooting a couple of arrows off the board, I started getting better and landed each of my arrows in one of the colored circles. Needless to say, we had an awesome time there. We didn't have to go out on the streets and get a cab even once during our stay at this hotel because everything we needed to entertain ourselves was right there inside the hotel (the outdoor theme-park was right next to it as well).

-| AG.

Disc Region: What the hell?

2008-07-17T06:05:00.000-07:00

The actual title of this post should've been "Disc Region, go fuck yourself", but being considerate of all the weak-minded people out there, I didn't choose it; I didn't want someone flipping their brains over after reading the word "fuck" in big bold letters and ending up in coma. Not that I care about losing visitors or people not reading a particular post or about increasing the already over-flowing number of people ending up in coma.

Anyway, I got back to India a couple of weeks back and today I bought the DVD of the movie "Click" and tried to play it on my MacBook. But lo and behold, it didn't play. Even after I dealt the DVD Player software with some feet upper-cuts. So, apparently, I can't play the DVD since it's not set in the region my DVD Player is set in (Region 1, which is for North America). So, I can't play any DVDs bought in Asia (Region 5) on my computer because it's DVD Rom is set to Region 1. The even bigger issue is the fact that I'm not even able to set my Mac's DVD Player to another region! It shows a damn error. Oh, and did I forget to mention that in the Region setting dialog box it also tells me that this is the last time I can change the region? For God's sake.

I'm not gonna change the region now since I don't wanna risk not being able to play any DVDs that I buy in America later on. So, I'm looking around for softwares that would make my DVD Rom region-free. Till then I'd be using my other DVD Player (which connects to the TV) to watch DVDs, as I did for "Click".

No biggie.

-| AG.

The new Transformers

2008-06-16T18:19:00.000-07:00

This is a video of the filming of the sequel of Transformers. "Bumblebee" (the transforming Camaro), is shown as taking a nice hairpin turn.

The filming's taking place on Drexel's campus.

-| AG.

Tiger out, Leopard in.

2008-06-11T17:52:00.000-07:00

After 10 grueling weeks of the Spring quarter, it's about time to take the finals and catch a flight back home. On Friday last week, my last day of classes, there was a scavenger hunt around campus for a class after an exam in the morning for some other class. By scavenger hunt I do not mean feasting on any dead students that may be lying down around campus, but that we had to find certain landmarks (like statues, fountains, walkways, etc.) based on the clues given and then take pictures. The first person to make it back to the class instructor with the right pictures would have to figure out a riddle and if answered correctly, that person would win a bag full of Starburst candy. A person won. It was all fun.

Also, I upgraded my Mac OS X from Tiger to Leopard. One of my friends was kind enough to give me the installation DVD and since Macs don't require any serial key to install, I didn't run into any licensing issues. Needless to say, Leopard is awesome. Apart from the occasional biting and claw action, it's all cute most of the time.

No, really.

-| AG.

Head split in half

2008-05-11T15:19:00.001-07:00

-| AG.

Out now

2008-05-02T22:10:00.000-07:00

See video here.

-| A[T]G.

Stories

2008-04-29T14:09:00.000-07:00

As the hype for Grand Theft Auto 4 grew past its saturation point over the past week, I ended up buying a GTA game myself. The one I got is GTA Liberty City Stories for PSP. And I've been hooked ever since. It's obviously a gazillion times better than the 1st and 2nd installments of GTA that were released like a couple of decades ago, in which a player looked down upon the city and the cars looked hilariously portly, and the people ... tiny little bastards ... don't get me wrong, I in fact did enjoy slaughtering them to bits, but I must say this: nothing compares to doing all that in 3D! So much so, that the game play of Liberty City Stories is just as good as the game play of a friggin' GTA San Andreas on a frickin' XBox or PS3. Believe me, I played GTA 4 on a friend's XBox 360 and after a while when I played GTA on my PSP, it felt almost (if not entirely) similar. What can I say? I love this PSP! (and Rockstar ...)

-| AG.

Deers in the backyard

2008-03-28T01:28:00.000-07:00

Tonight has to be a first for me in seeing 3 live deers hopping around the snow-covered backyard of my relatives' Suburban home at 2 in the morning on a chilly Chicago night. Before this, the only time I saw live deers was when I went to Jim Corbett Park; and at the time the deers appeared really small considering the distance separating their herd from my position atop the "observation hut/tower". Anyway, I never expected to see deers (of all the animals!) when I peeked out of my room's window, but there they were calmly moving around, one of them with its snout to the snowy grass and the other hopping over the fence to neighbor's house while the third took rounds around the backyard. As I stood transfixed on the spot by the window and craned my neck now and then to get a better look at them, thoughts of taking pictures and tapping on the glass window brewed in my sleepy and exhausted head. I did manage to do both, but neither turned out to be fruitful: the pictures came out to be so dark that you couldn't tell the tree from the deer, and the tapping didn't attract their attention since I didn't do it too loudly since I didn't wanna crack the glass or wake up my relatives.

Anyway, I don't know where they came from ... maybe from the nearby farm. I hope they get back to their mamas and papas soon enough before someone rides them over.

-| AG.

PS: Spring Break is about to get over. I return to Philadelphia on Sunday.

PS 2: The soda can next to my computer is empty. I need to go to the kitchen and grab another one.

PS 3: The previous PS was a note to me, it doesn't concern you in any way, unless you are a surveyor who wishes to know what brand I am drinking; in that case, I implore you to stop bugging Coke and take a stand against some caffeinated drinks brand.

PS 4: Actually, I kinda like Coffee and Starbucks, so I didn't really mean it when I "implored" surveyors to bang caffeine brands.

This one's for you.

2008-02-24T19:02:00.001-08:00

If you're a Harry Potter fan, that is. Or someone who happens to possess a sense of humor.

I was thinking of just posting this video and calling it a day, but now that after an eternity I've opened this "Create Post" page, I might as well ramble a bit. Ah, actually, I don't really feel like writing stuff right now; the occasional pain in the left foot is making me quite sick and I don't think I'll be able to sit up straight long enough to finish this entry. But then again, a certain part of my brain is poking the "Write Shit Now" part of my brain to go ahead and keep writing bullshit on this page till my fingers pass out due to lack of blood. Tell you what, while you wait for a second, I'll just hand a jackhammer to my "Write Shit Now" part of my brain and order it to duel that poking part.

OK, enough for this post. I'll stop now. But then again, maybe I won't.

Perhaps I will.

-| AG.

Happy Holidays and all that jazz.

2007-12-27T09:39:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas too. Oh, and a Happy New Year 2008.

-| AG.

New line of iPods. Again?

2007-09-11T12:03:00.000-07:00

What's with Apple, huh? Is it the competition or the fervor of its designers that's making them re-design iPods and Macs time and again? If you direct yourself to Apple's web site, you might notice what they did to the 2nd generation iPods. More specifically, what they transformed the 2nd generation iPods into. Yeah, okay, so I agree that they look cool. The thing they are calling "iPod nano" looks like a dwarfed version of the once-on-sale-like-hot-cakes iPod video. And, apparently, they are literally just that, considering that they play videos and stuff. But, thank you very much, I still prefer my "old" iPod nano over the new more ostentatious-looking one.

-| AG.

PS: Less than a week left till departure. Can't wait to leave.

Nostalgia strikes yet again ... this time with a pointed stick.

2007-08-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

Remember, 10 years ago, on the eve of your birthday, you used to go to the market with your parents and buy toffees in bulk? And that you distributed these toffees next day in class? No? Well, I remember my experience.

I remember how I went to the local general store with my Dad and bought about a 100 eclairs. Next day, after the class teacher had announced my b'day, the students sang "Happy Birthday to you ..." monotonously and mechanically, all the while keeping their eyes peeled out for the toffees.

After the song had been sung and the classroom had been rang with scattered clapping, I distributed the eclairs, each student getting 2 eclairs (the "friends" got 4; they also got to gobble down the remaining eclairs). On receiving the toffees (or a toffee, whatever may be the case), the person would respond with a "Happy Bird-day" before swiftly slipping the toffees into his/her pocket, or stuffing them into their mouths.

It used to be so much fun, in a ridiculously childish way. Or so it seems.

-| AG.

The End, is now past.

2007-07-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

Remember in my last post I said that I'd be claiming Deathly Hallows to be an excellently written book by Sunday? Well, I was wrong. I was claiming it to be excellently written by 8am on Saturday, moments after finishing the first chapter and an hour after it hit the shelfs of Delhi bookstores. Shock at the various revelations in this book and the preceding suspense at each of such revelations distinguish this book from the rest in the series. This book wrapped the Harry Potter saga with its last page. This saga was most wonderfully planned, written and concluded.

-| AG

"You and your MacBook were made for each other"

2007-07-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

That's what it says on the opening page of my spankin' new MacBook's information booklet. That's right, I'm at last in possession of a MacBook, which is, to say the least, a beautifully crafted laptop computer. I've just installed Mac OS X and am getting the hang of an operating system which is, indeed, quite different from Windows, a system I've been working on since I was very small; but hopefully I'd have known this new system inside out by the end of tonight. Perhaps then I would be in a better position to write a bit more about this lovely computer, which has a sleek and lovely white body, a built-in camera, a combo drive (with a DVD writer!), an Apple logo that glows white and a sound quality (through iPod earphones) of the kind you can only expect in an iPod.

In other news, I saw the new Harry Potter movie on Friday; it was terrific. In fact, I liked it so much that I went to see it again the next day. Of course, as one might expect in a Harry Potter movie adaptation, there were many elements of the book that were changed or simply done away with. A few changes I liked, others I didn't like as much. For instance, I liked what they did with the Ministry of Magic, the Thestrals, Luna Lovegood, Umbridge, among many other things, aside from the Fred-George's Fiasco scene which they could have made a bit more, well, fiasco-full (as in the book). Other scenes that I thought of as really impressive and which I liked most were (obviously) the Death Eater vs the Order and DA, and the Voldemort vs Dumbledore encounters. I'm planning to go and see this movie again tomorrow with a few cousins. Yeah, I do like it that much.

About Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:

Just a few minutes ago, I checked up this book's page on Wikipedia, and to my surprise I found that a real copy of the book had been leaked onto Torrent sites 2 days previously; and although many Torrent sites had taken the book off, there were still a couple of bold sites which still had the book online. Apparently, this particular version of the "book" isn't exactly god-gifted in quality and many pages are apparently "unreadable" due to bad quality, considering that the buffoon who uploaded the file actually took photographs of the pages of the Deathly Hallows he was delivered early by mistake. Actually, 1200 copies of Deathly Hallows have been delivered early by a particular distributor - "0.01% of all the orders" they say. That's one hell of a mistake, if you ask me. So much so, that Scholastic has sued that particular distributor over it. Now, I happen to be the kind of person who absolutely abhors spoilers and is not at all interested in the illegal internet versions of such books, of a Harry Potter book no less. I believe in buying my own book, and paying for the many hours of pleasure I get in reading it for the first time. So, I'm gonna wait till Saturday to read the book that I'd be claiming to be an excellently written book by Sunday.

-| AG.

Oh my, look at the statistical curves.

2007-06-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

Talk about temperature variance. A few days ago - before the rainfall (or should I say, rainfalls?) - the temperature of New Delhi stoutly stood at 44 °C, a figure splashed across the newspapers as conveniently as the puddle water across an unsuspecting pedestrian by a speeding car. I comically accuse the effects of this temperature on my brain for my previous blog entry, which was perhaps as atrociously titled as it was written.

A few days after that entry, the Rain Gods came to the rescue with thunderous rainfall (or falls, I don't really care); this rain brought with itself as much of a cooling effect and temperature drop as the amount of dust and small flying insects. Only a few hours into the rain, the temperature lowered to 22 °C and simultaneously the tempers too lowered to an acceptable degree of tolerance.

2 days passed and the clouds slowly shifted overhead, with not a drop of rain in sight.

No more rain. No more temperature drop. Only an inevitable rise.

So, as of now, 19th June, the temperature of our city stands at 35 °C. But considering the cool winds blowing outside and the sky darkening at this ominous hour (11:46am), can we expect another bout of rain? That remains to be seen.

-| AG.

So damn hot! (and I'm not talking about Sharapova)

2007-06-08T00:04:00.000-07:00

I'm talking about the outside weather, which is so damn hot and sunny. Usually I tend to use the word "sunny" to describe a pleasant scenario, as in, What a calm and sunny day it was ... you get the drift. But, in my present mood, I use it to give the picture of scorching heat, sweaty necks, screwed up face expressions and an unpleasant exclamation of "It's so damn hot!" that escapes the mouth of every person who is foolish enough to venture outside. In fact, it'd be foolish to even venture outside of the AC room into another part of the house, because the former is the only place where your body won't be subjected to a 100 degrees of heat, which infests the non-AC parts of the house as much as it infests the roads outside.

-| AG.

I'm running out of witty titles.

2007-06-03T21:58:00.000-07:00

I had my Visa interview on Friday, for which I had to stand for 2 hours in queue and had to go through a dozen security checks, which included getting my stuff sent through the kind of conveyor-belted X-Ray machine you commonly see in an Airport. While standing in the queue that moved excruciatingly slow, I blankly gazed at the posters on the wall, winced as my feet started to hurt with all the standing, laughed inwardly at the comical accent of the Americans when they made announcements in Hindi, saw a few people getting rejected, and finally had the security guard telling me to go to one of the 6 interviewing windows for my interview, which lasted 5 minutes and at the end of which I was granted the Student Visa. Everyone -- from the security guards to the consulates to the officials -- was nice and polite.

Also, I saw Pirates 3 yesterday and it was entertaining, to say the least. To be frank, I'm not a big fan of the Pirates franchise, unlike many others I know, who simply adore the first installment. Well, I don't. I don't know what the fuss is all about. I can't make the head and tail of the storyline, although I appreciate the excellent portrayal of the characters such as Davy Jones, Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbossa. Anyway, getting back to the crux of the matter: the third installment. I liked it; it's the kind of movie that anyone can enjoy, even if they don't know who Calypso is, or what Davy Jones's Locker is, or why the Up should be Down at a particular region of the world that is reached after crossing (surviving, rather) huge ice-bergs and a tremendous waterfall.

Also, there are 2 small kittens in my garden. Yes, yes, I know you are probably wondering how swheet and keeyoot they must be and how lucky I am to have them in my house. Well, it's nothing of the sort you may think. Well, OK, so they are kinda cute and orangy but they are little bitches. Why? Because one of them always hisses at me and bares teeth whenever I get too close and another one scampers to the hills. And don't even get me started on their mother. We give that bitch milk each morning, which she quickly gobbles down without a cute meow or an endearing purr. What's worse, even she hisses when we get too close. Hmph! But, it is only out of the goodness of my heart that I don't kick them all out of the house.

-| AG.

What gobbledegook is this?

2007-05-13T11:19:00.000-07:00

I mean, seriously, "bork, bork, bork"? Google, grow up. Please?

-| AG.

DynamiX Reunion (of sorts)

2007-05-11T06:04:00.000-07:00

I had fun. :-D

(Me, Uma, Ankur, Roshan)

(Shashank to the extreme right)

-| AG.

The Pink Flower.

2007-05-06T23:40:00.000-07:00

This hidden gem of a flower had been residing in my garden for the past god knows how many years. I finally managed to acquire a camera that would do its beauty justice. I would say no more, for words would spoil the picture's unmistakable aura.

-| AG.

My adventures with the EMS.

2007-05-01T11:05:00.000-07:00

If you must know, "EMS" stands for Electrical Mosquitoe Swatter, which is my nickname for the contraption that's the shape of a lawn tennis raquet and is lethal (yeah, literally) against those irritating little sons of bitches, mosquitoes. Since its arrival over a month ago, I have put it to some pretty good use, meaning that I've been successful in electricuting over a dozen mosquitoes to death. But, I'd have to admit, it's hard work; although it's the kind of work that gives you pleasure on its completion. You see, since these little sons of bitches are just so overtly annoying and irritating, it is only natural for a person to feel something that's just the opposite on killing them; in fact, one would even feel like he were doing a great service to mankind in the process of wiping another one of these good-for-nothing things off the face of our planet.

Indeed, it is rather satisfying to witness the riddance of an unsuspecting mosquitoe with an electric Pop! and instantaneous sparking. So much so that I've accepted using this "weapon" as my fundamental duty and right - something that would surely down in the constitution if I were to be declared the President tomorrow; in fact, making it necessary for each human to brandish this "weapon" would be the first thing I'd do if I ever were to be made the President. I would take it upon myself to see to it that everyone knows how to use 'em right.

Hmmm, seeing as I myself am an amateur at this thing, I should probably do some more practice with it before making ridiculous promises.

-| AG.

My PSP has Internet too ...

2007-04-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

Enlarge the pictures to marvel at the interface that's as detailed as the one you access through your PC.

-| AG.

The kitten.

2007-04-20T15:24:00.000-07:00

The day before yesterday, when I came back from gym, I was informed by my mother that a cute little kitten had been discovered meowing incessantly in our backyard, and that my father had already given it some water to drink. I couldn't help but feel enthralled. I rushed to the spot only to find the ground devoid of anything remotely kitten-ish. No kitten was to be seen, or heard of. Appearances suggested that the kitten's mother had decided to take it back to where the rest of the family were holed up. I was disappointed and spent the next few minutes making sounds that the kitten might respond to. But no such luck befell me. I returned back inside.

After about 10 minutes, my father called out and informed me of the kitten that was yet again visible in the backyard and making sounds. But these sounds were far from the cute "meow!" I might come across while reading comics or perhaps while watching an animal movie. Furthermore, the kitten itself looked nothing like the kind you may have seen in Shrek 2. It was hardly a week old, and hardly bigger than the palm of my hand. Its body was hairless and its eyes yet to open. It was flopped helplessly onto its side, perhaps because its legs weren't yet strong enough to hold it straight. For a few minutes, I squatted near it and watched with interest, unable to decide what course of action should be taken.

Finally, fearing that someone might step on it accidentally, I decided to move it away from its present spot. I quickly ran inside and asked my mother for a "spare cloth", which she reluctantly handed over after knowing my intentions. I ran back outside, nimbly picked the kitten up with that cloth, and transferred her to a much safer spot. Wondering how one would nurture such a young kitten that's been abandoned by its mother, I decided to look it up on the internet and found some useful information. I immediately understood why the kitten had been making sounds incessantly: it was because it was cold, by the virtue of the thin layer of water that it had been lying in. The guide suggested that I move the kitten to a dry and warmer place, preferably place it on dry cloth and place another cloth on top of it. I ran back to my mother and asked for another "spare cloth". Not too keen to have any of her cloth - spare or otherwise - be used to grasp a stray, dirty animal, she very reluctantly searched around for some old pieces of cloth. Eventually, she dug out a piece of an old curtain. I ran back outside, folded the curtain to make a considerably thick layer and placed it in a safe corner. I went to where I had placed the kitten, only to find that it had crawled sideways to a corner, perhaps in the search of a warmer spot. I gently picked it up and took it to the safe spot. I placed the other cloth on top of it and stood back. The kitten immediately stopped making uncomfortable sounds. It seemed much more comfortable now. In a few minutes, it went to sleep.

-| AG.

Where's my iPod?!

2007-04-17T04:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, so something really serious has just been brought to my attention: my iPod nano is no where to be found. Although I can see where the earphones are at, I have absolutely no idea where the actual ipod is. I mean, this really is serious considering that I just downloaded 3 awesome songs which I must transfer to my nano. Although I have already listened to them a dozen times on itunes, I still must transfer them to the nano because it's just not the same when listening to songs on a computer. Why? Because a computer cannot emanate the sound effects to the levels that a song is meant to be played at, something which goes without saying in an ipod. So, anyway, getting back to the point, where is my ipod? Have you seen it? Is it tangled in the many networks of the world wide web? Or is it stuck somewhere much worse? I do not know. And ofcourse, neither do you, how stupid of me to even think that you would have even the slightest trace. Hmm, I think I should try and concentrate and use ESP to locate it, or perhaps I should lease a global positioning satellite from the United States Surveillence Agency; that is, if there even is such an agency in operation. Now that I think of it, I have been pretty careless with this particular piece of electronic luxury, the iPod nano that is, not a global positioning satellite. Maybe when I find it, and caress it and pat it, I will pledge never to leave it lying around just like that. Maybe I would be a lot more ~~careless~~ careful with it from then on.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have an iPod to hunt for.

-| AG.

Update: After about 15 seconds of some serious hunting, I found my nano hidden between the many files and sheets in my computer table's drawer. So, whew!

I say, 'tis beyootiful ...

2007-04-09T03:37:00.000-07:00

Some of the many buildings on the campus of Drexel University, which happens to be one of the 4 universities I got accepted into. Looks cool, huh? :-)

(Main Building, over a 100 years old)

(Main building in the background)

(Randell Hall)

(The Quad at night)

(Nice fountain)

(Paul Peck Center)

(The Open-book Fountain)

(a Residence Hall)

(a part of the Hagerty Library)

(Student Center - a place to hang-out)

(Engineering Building - designed by the same folks who designed The Louvre)

(Inside the Engineering building)

(College of Information Science and Technology - or simply "iSchool")

(ceiling of the Theater lobby)

(Dining hall)

(Mario the magnificent - Drexel's mascot)

(Visit this Flickr collection for more of such beautifully captured pictures)

-| AG.

The covers.

2007-03-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

The Harry Potter depicted in this cover seems strikingly different from the Harry we have known and loved for the better part of the past decade. Considering the impossibility of "the task" and the inexorability of "the path", the bruised faces of the trio, the look of shock (or is it of fear and revulsion?) on Hermione and Ron's faces and Harry's determined and brave expression are perhaps understandable. If you look hard, you would be able to spot the grayish-blue ear, forehead and hands of Dobby, who seems to be holding Godric Gryffindor's ruby-encrusted sword and literally and figuratively standing behind Harry 100%. As for the artwork on the extreme left corner, I've a sneaking feeling that that snake is Nagini and that she is being viewed in one of Prof Trelawney's crystal balls -- serving as a sign of how Trelawney's divination would be of some practical use at last. The leaf-less tree outside the Hogwarts castle seems like the Whomping Willow and the white deer on the right obviously represents Harry's patronus, something which would play a prominent role now that the dementors would be floating around freely, what with Voldemort in-charge of who infests the alleys and tortures the innocent.

The UK Adult version on the other hand, doesn't seem to give away as much detail as the children's one. The locket obviously depicts the Slytherin family's heirloom, the one that Merope Gaunt (Voldemort's mother) sold to Mr. Borgin for a mere 10 gallons (that's a wizarding currency, ye ignorant fool). From what I can extract from my memory, this locket served as one of Voldemort's 7 Horcruxes and that it was the last Horcrux that Dumbledore found, only that it had already been destroyed by someone by the initials R.A.B. Although I cannot see how it serves any role prominent enough to land it on the cover, I feel it looks radically aesthetic than what I might have expected it to be, after many centuries of being handed down from one generation to another and a couple more centuries of it being screwed about by the Gaunts.

-| AG.

I proudly present ...

2007-03-21T08:13:00.000-07:00

The secret project I was talking about -- the all new ramjasrkp.com!

-| AG.

PS: I recommend you to use Mozilla Firefox for viewing this web site. Firefox may be downloaded here.

2007-03-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

I never really enjoyed road trips. And the one I just took from Delhi to Chandigarh did nothing whatsoever to change my views towards them. This particular trip began yesterday morning around 6.30am. The object behind this trip was to attend a Pooja of sorts that some faraway relatives had organized. I left the house with my parents, to find the roads pretty much clear of traffic and a light mist (or something that looked like it) hovering around lazily. Around 7am, we picked up the driver from Naraina and then on were on our way to Chandigarh. I had taken care to burn a CD with 79 of my favorite songs that could be played in the car, along with the 200-something songs on my Nano. Being my usual considerate self, I also burned a dozen Hindi songs to that CD, so as to cater to the tastes of those who don't really understand the unique nature of hard rock, pop and rap music -- i.e., my parents (and the driver). On the trip last to this one, I'd copied to my Nano the audio of a movie and of a few episodes of Scrubs; but I decided against doing that this time round, since listening to audio-only versions gives me a light headache, for hitherto unknown reason.

Anyway, getting back to exactly why I don't like road-trips. To this, I'll have to jerk my head towards the pain in the back that results from sitting with the seat-belt on for 3-4 hours straight; this makes me want to press the red button to release the seat-belt and snap out of it; but, of course, releasing this monster is something that's out of question while traveling on the national highways of India -- the same highways where people drive like baboons, and blindly ignore the billboards that solemnly proclaim that "speed thrills, but kills". So, except for the times when the car is pulled over for snack time and for taking a leak, one has to sit trapped in the seat. And since I can't seem to go sleep while traveling in a car, I'm not able to slip into the world of the sub-conscious that's capable enough to put some distance between the Grey cells and the layer of discomfort. During such times, my iPod's the one thing that I can depend upon to puncture the balloon that keeps on expanding with all the irritation.

-| AG.

The world's spinning too fast ...

2007-03-07T14:23:00.000-08:00

Maybe because I've not slept in the past 15-16 hours or because I'm just freaking out in general, I feel that the Earth is revolving with an angular momentum that's much higher than the usual value. Despite these unusual circumstances, I'm contemplating working a bit more on the web site I've been working on for the past month. And no, I won't disclose it's details on this blog since it's a secret project. Although you can be assured that blogging about it's juicier details will be the first thing I'd do the moment the site's online and working perfectly. Until then, die with curiosity in peace. Right now, I'm dying in anticipation of my college decisions -- they're to come around March-end, something which conveniently lies a good few weeks away. I sometimes end up refreshing my application checklists twice or thrice a day in order to make sure that they didn't post the decisions online in the past couple of hours, which, of course, they hadn't. I guess they really are serious when they politely tell me (through a short sentence at the bottom of the page) that I'll know about whether or not they rejected me by the end of March - a long time from now. But then again, that's how I felt when I sat to give my SAT in June of last year. Now it's already time for the announcement of those dratted admissions decisions.

Anyway, kicking that particular nasty feeling out of my mind, I'd tell you about another nasty feeling that made itself at home in my head. It's of irritation. A hell lot of irritation, actually. Oh, if you are a humanoid carbon unit, then you may stop biting those nails of yours because I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about the Windows Update that's eluded me for the past many days, until the point I decided to stop short in the chase with a groan of "Holy Fuck!" This particular update was supposed to alleviate the problem that I encounter while playing Fifa 2002, or so the Microsoft's pathetic web site tells me. The stupid morons have a nice long write up explaining each and every detail of the problem this update fixes in WinXP, the signs to recognize whether this is the problem the user encounters, and a long list of the games this update will make playable in WinXP by fixing this problem; and by the time the person is practically drooling with the success of all the googling around in search of a solution to this issue, he isn't able to find that particular update or patch anywhere on Microsoft's web site. The result being that I'm not able to play that game. So, I installed the Prison of Azkaban game on my computer; a game I completed ages ago, but considering that it's the only game I got that I'd care to play again, I've been playing it for the past couple of days. I've completed most of it.

On a serious note, I'd like to wish good luck to all those who are taking their board exams this month. I hope your hard work will bear fruit. And a belated Holi to all my fellow Indians. My Holi was awesome; I enjoyed a lot -- and I hope that you did too. Some parts of my arms and legs are a light shade of pink, even after all the time spent washing them with soap. Thank goodness that all - or most, anyway - of the color from my face and neck has been washed away. Some remains on my nails and some other places. The white pajamas I wore on that day are so badly bloated that I don't that they'll ever be seeing the light of the day. They now rightfully belong inside the bed with the moth balls. Heh.

-| AG.

Looking back.

2007-02-28T06:51:00.000-08:00

While looking through the pictures of my school's nursery class exhibition, I couldn't help but feel nostalgic. The little kids dancing around the class wearing costumes and makeup, and their parents huddled together near the door, passing encouraging smiles to their little ones; all reminded me of the time I used to be that small and when I used to participate in such activities. I remember this one particular time back when I was in nursery and had taken part in some exhibition-related activity -- my parents had been standing along with the other parents near the door and had been giving me a delightful smile as I moved the different parts of my body along with the other kids, carefully following the instructions of the nice looking class teacher and trying to move with the flow of the other kids, most of whom had their eyes on their parents and were trying to - in an inexplicable manner - make them proud.

Now that I look at a picture of a present-day nursery exhibition (particularly at the one in which a group of smiling parents can be seen) and at the mental recollection of my experience, I realize that although all the human entities in that room have been replaced, the basic nature remains the same. There's an inconspicuous female teacher standing in one corner moving her hands and guiding those who seem to have forgotten the steps, kids dressed in traditional and colorful dresses dancing around, a few parents clicking pictures with their expensive looking cameras, and the rest standing with their arms crossed, sporting big smiles.

-| AG.

No, I'm not dead.

2007-02-24T01:51:00.000-08:00

Considering that this blog's been kept un-updated for the past many days and that I'm not mentally prepared for its miserable shouts that plead an update, I've decided to write some stuff and keep it alive.

OK, so the tubelight in my room had been acting out for the past couple of weeks. It had stopped radiating its SO&SO Watts of light when it was switched on, thus making me reach up to its cylindrical choke and rotate it clockwise and counterclockwise in its socket ... until the tubelight glimmered up and bathed the room in its white light. You see, this little tinkering around had to be done very carefully and it required the tinkerer to concentrate hard on the task at hand -- at all instants and through all states of mind during those instants. No distractions were allowed. What so ever. And the tinkerer had to pull away the tinkering hand the moment the tubelight glimmered up, because if that release was delayed even by a picosecond, the tubelight wouldn't switch on and would make you keep on going at the rotating thing for a few more painstaking seconds. But, now that the bad part has been replaced with a fresh new one, the tube is working perfectly. Now, I don't need to tinker around with it (unless I wish to do so anyway) to make it work. As I type, I can see that little cylindrical choke sitting in front of the keyboard, with its two yellow electrodes sticking out skyward. Dunno, I'm just gonna toss it in a bin and bid farewell to it for good.

-| AG.

United 93.

2007-02-16T09:09:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago, on a night much like this, I saw "United 93". At the end of its riveting 2 hours, I remember being left speechless and shocked. It's kind of hard to describe as to which category of feature films "United 93" belongs. It has the feel and sound of a documentary - yet it's not a documentary, neither is it a movie (at least not in the traditional sense of the word "movie"). "United 93" is rather like a hybrid of those two. And to successfully pull off such a hybrid requires direction of the kind Paul Greengrass seems to be a master in. The wide eyes, slightly open mouth and spasm of shock and sadness on one's face while watching the movie are perhaps evidence enough of Greengrass's mastery. In fact, "United 93" is so gripping and involving that during most of the film I felt like I was physically present inside that plane and that I was observing the events not on an LCD screen but face-to-face. I felt tension and horror when the first of the hijackers jumped up with a shout of "Allah-ho-Akbar!" and stabbed the American passenger sitting in front of him and while all 4 of the hijackers started taking on the plane - with two stabbing the captain and the co-captain to death and taking the controls, one acting as a suicide-bomber and threatening to press the trigger the second anyone tried to retaliate, and another one shouting and yelling to those who dared talk.

Shocked to the core themselves, the crew-members helplessly tried to assure the passengers that everything was going to be alright; and other crew-members tried to haltingly reason with the hijackers to let the on-board doctor take a look at the American who had been stabbed and provide him first-aid. While many desperately called their families and loved ones through their seat phones, some tried to comfort each other with words of courage and warmth. Amidst all this, a few tried to weave together a plan to overcome the hijackers - they began by gathering together things that could be used as "weapons" and grouping together men brave enough to charge the hijackers. They found someone who could fly the plane and someone who was sure that the bomb wielded by one of the hijackers was a fake. Finally, they charged. First, they took down the 2 hijackers that were present in the cabin area and proceeded on to break open the control room's door and pull the 3rd hijacker off the controls - eventually crashing the plane in an empty field in Pennsylvania. The plane did not crash where the hijackers intended it to. And no one survived the crash.

Just watch the trailer. You will feel the tension.

-| AG.

Blank | knalB

2007-02-06T11:56:00.000-08:00

Damn! And I thought I'd be able to nicely illustrate how the word "Blank" sees itself every morning in the mirror. Stupid alphanumeric keyboard ... Anyway, the past 24 hours have been rather eventful -- a little too eventful for my taste. But since I've no control over the effects that are caused by my causes, I cannot really handpick the events that'd be in accordance with my taste guidelines. Damn you Einstein, Newton, Aristotle, Galileo, and scientists slash philosophers of the like. Why couldn't you come up with a universally accepted equation that would describe the behavior of every single particle on this very vast planet of ours and of those not on it (except that I don't really care about the extra-terrestrial particles)? Like, why couldn't I be provided with a single equation that would tell me how and what exactly would happen if I did this, and what would happen if I did that; where "this" and "that" are variables, not constants -- as might have already been deduced by someone who has a brain that has dimensions greater than those of a green pea. This imaginary equation will invariably lead me to a path on an imaginary space-time graph (on which, I act as a single dot - maybe even something smaller?) that's devoid of every mishap and silly thing conceivable to my wild side. This path would be devoid of my almost falling off my bike while I rode back home from gym because I couldn't control the bike since I had a soda bottle in hand and no where on the bike to safely tug it in; this path would also be devoid of the silly operator at Cornell who's not so good when it comes to Indian accents - and consequently not good enough to correctly write out my name when I spell it slowly and carefully (like I would to a 1st grader) and ends up with an "Ayush Gubda" only to be irritably corrected by me, "No, not b and d, but p and t - as in phone and telephone", eventually getting me to the international admissions office where I end up talking to someone much more experienced. Dhank Got!

-| AG.

What separates a Nano from a Shuffle.

2007-02-01T00:13:00.000-08:00

Many things do. To name a few:

1) Nano provides gapless playback for music files that've been mastered that way. While a Shuffle, interestingly, does not.

2) Nano's capable of playing music even when it's connected to a computer; unlike a Shuffle.

3) Nano lets us search the music files (though not the pictures). A Shuffle, obviously, is no where near capable enough of performing such a task.

4) Nano sorts the music files into various playlists, categorized by album/artist/genre, etc. This greatly helps while looking for a particular song or artist. Backed up with this feature, one can feel bold enough to load up dozens of audio CDs - something I never felt like doing on my Shuffle.

5) Nano's got a Clock feature that displays time from all around the world (over a hundred cities from Asia to Europe, Atlantic to America, and more). Other features include stopwatch, calender, contacts, notes, and games.

Some obvious differences:

6) Nano's got an LCD color screen - unavailability of which (color or otherwise) distinctively separates a Shuffle from the rest in the iPod family.

7) While a Shuffle has to be bodily connected to a PC through USB for syncing, a Nano uses a thin white lead for that purpose.

8) This 2nd generation Nano came with new earphones - and as advertised, they do seem to fit rather snugly. The sound quality remains just as outstanding as the one resonated by its 1st generation counterpart.

-| AG.

Silver Beauty - with gapless playback.

2007-01-30T17:44:00.000-08:00

It's just past 7 am and I've been a proud owner of an iPod nano for over 2 hours now. There's an indefinite number of things that I'd like to gush out in excitement about this lovely little thing. But, I'm just too excited to collect my thoughts and write them out right now. I'll dedicate a full post touching upon each one of those things; but not until tomorrow. Meanwhile, why don't you take a look at these pictures I took?

-| AG.

Peanuts.

2007-01-28T12:30:00.000-08:00

I'm not talking about the cartoon character Charlie Brown. Nor am I referring to roasted peanuts, which are usually sold in small packets. I'm partial to ones that are sold on roadsides and perhaps the ones which are (these days) nicely packed in plastic and made available in shops. A muffaliwala Stand is in itself an interesting thing to observe, either from distance or close up. This rickety stand displays an assortment of edibles, all of which are stashed together in a manner to give the Stand a full look. The towering lantern standing amidst adds to that look, while serving the purpose of illuminating everything with its characteristic yellow light. A set of rusted old balances forms a critical part of this all; a little show of balancing the weights and the packet is done, although - in most cases, anyway - nobody cares whether the two balanced each other or even if the right weights were used. All that matters is that the packet should look nice and fat and that the peanuts inside should be worth the money spent. The four ugly wheels that act as the Stand's foundation often go unnoticed as the person hurriedly moves away with the packet stashed in one hand, just itching to crack open the peanuts and gorge on the little things (commonly known as muffalis to us Indians) that lie inside - like a polar bear may lie in its snowy den during hibernation. While on foot, unavailability of a pocket big enough to hold the packet or of a detachable third hand, can make it rather pestering to crack open the peanuts and toss what's inside into one's mouth. Therefore, I only get to enjoy my peanuts while sitting (or lying on the bed, as might be the case) with a bowl - preferably a plate - full of muffalis yet to be eaten. Within 10 minutes, not a single un-cracked one is to be found in the forest of peanut covers; thus making me refill the plate with handfuls from the big fat paper bag, which, after a while, doesn't remain as big and fat any more.

-| AG.

Nano cravings.

2007-01-26T04:09:00.000-08:00

If all goes as planned and nothing - neither something very big (like a meteorite) nor something very small (like a photon of light) - intervenes, I'd be in possession of an iPod nano by this Tuesday (not Monday, as stated earlier). But, as of now, nothing's confirmed and therefore I should make it clear that I bear no responsibility for the crestfallen looks on the faces of those who might have had a chance of having a go at it, and didn't because I somehow failed to possess one. Actually, my father's going to Dubai on a business trip tomorrow and he has somewhat assured me that he'll bring back a Nano. Uh, now that I think of it, I haven't really specified which "screenwala iPod" he should buy from there; anyway, I'll make that clear tonight - a 2 GB Silver iPod nano. So, keeping faith in the hope that he's able to conveniently find a Nano in the backwaters of Dubai and bring it back to India without being hounded by the custom officials for a duty, I can sleep tight and dream of the 2nd generation iPod nano. Well, my iPod Shuffle has been good to me since July of last year and I'm really passionate about it for its sleek looks, great sound quality and battery life; but, I feel the craving to lay my hands on a Nano - because it's just so effingly sexy! Perhaps over half a billion people worldwide share that craving with me. What with a $149 price-tag for a 2 Gig iPod with an efficient battery and the options for playing music, storing and viewing pictures and listening to audiobooks, who can blame me for transforming into a hopeless romantic at the first sight of this beauty?

-| AG.

Birthday.

2007-01-24T08:23:00.001-08:00

Aditya, a dear friend of mine, invited me over to his house to celebrate his 19th birthday; I gladly reciprocated. So, around 1 pm today, I left my house on foot with nothing but my mobile phone and a couple hundred bucks in my wallet. Since the cars were conveniently unavailable, I only had the option of commuting in an "auto". After a 15 minute ride - which turned out to be more bumpy than usual - I paid the driver off and strode towards Aditya's place. Music and laughter greeted my ears as I climbed the stairs and entered the terrace (where the "party" was in-progress). Handshakes and hugs were exchanged as I met Aditya and others. After a while, someone proposed that we give bumps to Aditya (this had already been done the night before and once again that morning); we boys enthusiastically took this opportunity and grabbed him from his hands and feet, swaying him up and down; with some giving him a few innocent kicks in the butt.

This was followed by dancing and we shook our legs to the songs played on Adi's computer; the girls kept sitting, to which I shouted out, "There won't a party without the girls dancing!" Some heeded me and came on the "dance floor", although a few more had to be dragged off the walls and brought forward. Shortly, the cake was cut and Adi's face nicely smeared with the cake's cream. Meanwhile, my driver showed up with the car and I decided to show some of my friends a "burnout" - in which the car remains stationary for a moment and the tires rotate, giving the car a skid and a lot of varooming. That went pretty nicely. Anyway, then we ate food, talked and danced a bit more. As darkness fell and most of the people left, we played a variant of antakshani - we never reached a conclusion, though; all I heard was a dozen people singing incoherently and laughing raucously.

-| AG.

Gone.

2007-01-22T03:45:00.000-08:00

As January slowly seeps away into February, the application season will gradually reach completion. Most of the applications have either been submitted online, or mailed through speed-post (which, I hope, would stand up to its name and actually deliver those packages to their right destinations and well, deliver them fast). With only a week left till UMich's deadline, I'm still juggling with the idea of whether or not to apply there. Ignoring the fact that it does not offer need-based financial aid to international students, I'd have already applied there anyway if their servers hadn't been so crap. Over the past months, I've gone through many apply-online databases but none have been so crap and full of shit as that of UMich. Even if you manage to upload your essay documents and enter the basic information in the form, you are never (and believe me, that means never) able to open a particular page of the application as a whole - the Firefox's window just sits there with the words "Connecting ..." and the partially loaded form. Many a times it even shows HTTP server errors. Dunno, if this continues, I would be forced to mail (urgh!) the application forms through the so-called speed post (which, till now, had only been reserved for mailing teacher recommendations and financial aid forms). Or maybe I'll just fax it before the deadline and post a confirmation copy by mail. Maybe I'll call UMich and get their opinions on how to proceed. The admissions staff at these universities is usually very helpful. I particularly like the ones at Brandeis and Duke - accommodating and friendly all the same.

Even when the application season gets over, the wait for the application decisions will begin; which (as many have happily assured me and I've been kind enough to heed without resorting to sarcasm) will be nerve-racking and the one that'd be inducing insomnia. I've started experiencing the latter; no sign of the former, though. Now, I gotta go and get a hair-cut.

-| AG.

With no offense to Mac lovers.

2007-01-20T13:26:00.000-08:00

-| AG.

French lessons.

2007-01-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

Remember the French lessons I mentioned a couple of posts ago? Well, they're going well and I'm starting to have fun pronouncing French words and learning how to speak like a French native (a kilometer close to that way of speaking, anyway). Actually, I've had to change my batch since I missed a couple of classes in my earlier batch, due to a cousin's marriage and a trip to Jammu. So now I've gone over the content of the first 3 classes twice, meaning that my those basics have been particularly reinforced in my limbic cells. Also meaning that since I grasped them rather well in my earlier batch, I'm the only student in my second batch who has a rather good grasp on the content of those classes. So, I've picked up something of a reputation among my batch mates because of that. Which means that they often look at me whenever the instructor asks a particularly boggling question in French. I'm often able to answer back but sometimes when even I don't know the answer, all I can say is répétition svp (Repeat please) or je suis désolé (I am sorry). And since most of the people present there don't know the meaning of either of those sentences, they hopefully look back at the instructor (Marc, an African chap) as if I've been able to answer satisfactorily. To this, Marc often smiles and goes back to teaching whatever he asked about.

Tell you what, personally I think that Marc is a lot better than Archana in his approach to teaching. Marc is more of a practical teacher while Archana is more of a theoretical one. Marc often brings with him things that'd make the situation more of how it would be in the real world. For instance, in the last class he brought copies of tickets, boarding passes and passports because we were going to learn about how to speak about them and their exchange. In one class, he also filled 6-7 cups of coffee, tea or water from inlingua's coffee center and brought them with him; as we were going to learn about their French names and the sentences in which they're most commonly used.

Fun, indeed.

-| AG.

Words fail me.

2007-01-11T00:10:00.000-08:00

That's how I feel when I think about Prison Break. It's better than Lost, and that's saying something. It's better than any procedural drama I've ever seen. Till now, I've shown Prison Break to a couple of my cousins; and it managed to leave each one of them speechless. It'll surely be a sensation in India, if it ever were to be aired here.

My advice: watch it; from season 1, episode 1.

-| AG.

Instantly Porsche.

2007-01-04T05:48:00.000-08:00

I came across an excellent documentary video of Porsche's Cayman sport coupé. You may watch it on Porsche's web site [Films > Broadband]. The video (titled "Inspiration") is pretty long and it may take a while to load itself completely in your browser. And make sure that your speakers are on. I'd love to know how you feel about the video (and the car). My feelings? A car that's truly a Porsche (pronounced: Pour-sha).

-| AG.

Living life at the speed of light.

2007-01-01T14:19:00.000-08:00

No illustration can capture its aura. You've to actually ride on a beam of light to experience its speed. It's been a long time since Christensen Roemer observed the moons of Jupiter and noticed that the time taken by the moons to rotate about Jupiter is not constant which would have been the case if light's speed had been infinite; therefore concluding that the speed of light must be finite. No wonder it would take a person on earth 8 minutes to be aware of the fact that all of Sun's fuel has exhausted, would it ever happen. No wonder when we view the universe we only see what had happened in the past. No wonder Stephen Hawking illustrated his book with the space-time diagrams of Light Cones.

-| AG.

2006 - Came and went.

2006-12-30T15:07:00.000-08:00

It almost seems like yesterday when I posted this and bid farewell to the year 2005. Now, it is time that I bid farewell to 2006 and welcome the year 2007 with open arms. I'd just like to wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year 2007 and hope that it has something wonderful in store for me, you and every other reader of this web log. I'd be spending tonight partying at a club and I hope you all will enjoy this night in a way that would be memorable for the weeks to come.

-| AG.

Not much to blog about.

2006-12-25T11:25:00.000-08:00

Yeah, well, I don't have much to blog about. But seeing as my name is dangerously dipping in Karan's list, I might as well update this blog with a new post. These days, my mind is occupied with the applications and the American Drama "Prison Break". My brother brought the whole season one of Prison Break on his laptop from his college; and I have spent the better part of the past week watching it. It is a show about how a structural engineer named Michael Scofield decides to get incarcerated in the prison named Fox River to get his older brother (Lincoln Burrows) out of there. Since Michael designed the prison, he has access to its blueprints and is thus able to easily navigate inside the prison and plan an escape. Lincoln is actually innocent and he was framed for a murder he never committed.

Enjoy your holidays.

-| AG.

Crap happens.

2006-12-19T07:23:00.000-08:00

Yeah, crap does happen, if only occasionally. The chances of its occurrence become dangerously high when a bunch of lunatics populate the cabin right next to yours in a down trodden train carriage. I, being an audience to such a feat of stupendous stupidity, couldn't help but feel irritation of the magnitude conveniently same as that of the amount of the stupidity of its situation. It all happened when I along with my family decided to travel in a train to J and K, then actually did travel in that train, and while holding onto my life during the geometric progression of the jerks the train took, experienced weird sensations of the temper rising to the highest degree and then staying there for a couple of hours. And why would I feel that way? Because there were a dozen college kids who seemed to have confused the "A" in "am" with the "P" in "pm" and laughed and talked loudly at 3 am as if they were sitting in a sun-soaked garden and over a plate of peanuts, trying to make sense of their pathetic little lives. Yes, that can be irritating. No doubt, crap happens.

-| AG.

Je peux écrire en français maintenant!

2006-12-13T05:45:00.000-08:00

You may need to stop by here if you are not acquainted of the beautiful language that is French. Although I must admit that my written French is very limited at the moment since "written French is radically different from spoken French" (as Archana, the lovely instructor, told us on the 2nd day) and my course's primary focus is on the spoken one. Anyway, I'm having fun.

At long last, I've gotten all my teacher recommendations forms back (for Stanford, that is) and I will be mailing them tomorrow after I accost my Principal and make her sign a document. I got to know a lot about myself from those recommendations and I hope they will do the trick. I will be submitting the rest of the Stanford forms online today and tomorrow. The deadlines for the rest of the colleges is in January so I won't be sweating it out for them right now.

Thought for the day: Screw 'em thoughts.

-| AG.

Brrr, it's cold.

2006-12-09T04:42:00.000-08:00

Yeah, it is cold. Damn cold. It's making me wear a jacket inside the house ... Although it's not so cold in the afternoon, it is rather cold in the evening and at night it is really cold. Hmmm ... the use of the word "cold" is excessive, I better use some other word for it from now on. Anyway, shifting from the topic of the winter breeze, let me tell you about my French classes at inlingua, which I joined last week. There are around 9-10 people in my batch and they range from 18 to 38 years in age. It is pretty fun and the instructor is pretty interesting. For one, speaking English is severely limited and we have to communicate in French. Also, it is the "speaking" course which means that there is no writing involved. We learn to speak in French. It is all very fun. I'll write more about it some other time.

- AG.

Laugh or STFU.

2006-12-06T13:42:00.000-08:00

=| AG.

Erm, nothing in particular.

2006-12-01T03:51:00.000-08:00

Standing on the brink of the weekdays and just hours away from taking a dive into the weekend, I can rightfully declare the past week as rather satisfactory. It started with the results of my SAT ONE exam which I retook on November 4th; I gained 80 points over my last time's score with a 730 in Math (97 National Percentile) and a 650 in Writing (90 National Percentile). And yes, I get a sadistic pleasure in showing off those percentiles since they are perhaps the only way of conveying the goodness of the scores to an audience who is so very used to judging everything on the basis of it's percentage. Anyway, after SAT scores, it was time for the pleasant realization of the presence of some sort of license in my wallet to occupy my mind. Now, as I was quick to mention to my father, I was officially allowed to drive the car - I'd the consent of the Transport Department itself! One more month of looking over my shoulder and I'll be considered responsible enough to handle the car on my own without the need of the driver to stick along. Besides that, I also had the feeling of nostalgia occupying my mind when I went to my alma mater today and provided a helping hand in conducting DynamiX's annual computer symposium. I also handed over my recommendations forms to my English teacher and I hope she gives 'em back soon. That's that.

- AG.

A little here, a little there.

2006-11-23T14:41:00.000-08:00

Tuesday fell on the day of my B'Day, which was spent rather enjoyably. The afternoon and the evening were spent shaking a leg or two with a couple of friends in Basant Lok's RPM. I also got the pleasure of watching Casino Royale, which I don't see myself reviewing in the near future; although I must say that it is rather good. The night was spent dining at Vasant Kunj's Grand Hyatt with my parents (since there were only three of us, we decided on a large pastry to act like the "cake" and it was very tasty). Along with that, there were SMSes wishing me "Happy B'Day" to be reciprocated and I happily did this little nicety.

That's that about the 21st. Let me move onto the consequent days that composed mainly of filling the learner's license forms, getting the photocopies of the passport attested and finally rushing off to the Transport Department's office only to find that the timings of its operation as stated on its website are stark deceiving since any apathetic observer would think that if the office remained open from 9:30am to 4:30pm (as mentioned on the website) then he would stand a chance of getting his application submitted, his learner's license test taken and in 2 hrs get his license stamped and ready to be abused. But, the bespectacled royalties sitting on the other side of the counter have a completely different mind-set encoded into their limbic brains. According to them, if I want to "gat yaar leesance" then I have to submit my application before 1pm since their "bank claasis at van pm"; so, a person like me who usually tends to follow logical deductions based on the information already present would think it to be safe to reach the TransDept office by 1:15pm and get everything done in 2-3 hrs. And since that's not how stuff works, I need to go to the "leesance aaphice" again tommorrow and reach there by noon.

-| AG.

Order of the Phoenix!

2006-11-18T07:06:00.000-08:00

The teaser released yesterday and in a few minutes I got past the video-ripping restrictions set and uploaded the video onto YouTube which was unusually slow in procsessing the video; I am making it available here (exclusive!):

//Original post begins now

OK, so contrary to my earlier claim that I'm no longer fanatically interested in Harry Potter, I’m practically jumping out of my chair while I wait for my pathetic broadband connection to download the teaser trailer of the fifth movie in the Harry Potter franchise. Actually, it's just the 10 seconds out of the actual teaser trailer that'll be released on 20^th of this month. To tell you the truth, I'd almost forgotten that Order of the Phoenix movie was actually being painstakingly made. While waiting for 20^th, you can satisfy your part of the brain that's addicted to the whole Potter phenomenon by watching that clip from the teaser below:

- AG.

PS: Also, the trailer for Spider Man 3 is out and I must say that it's really excellent. I'd suggest you to watch it in HD; the effects are much more pronounced and terrific in this format.

//Original post ends now

Title field left blank.

2006-11-14T11:35:00.000-08:00

As I sat inert at quarter to 1am, I said to myself, Now that I've some free time to collect my thoughts, I might as well post on this blog and break the brief spell in which it lay dead. What with all the standardized tests to be taken and applications to be worked over, I really couldn't spare much thought to updating this blog with so much as a pathetic little post. Unfortunate as it is, even now I'm not completely free - I'm yet to take TOEFL the following week and I'm yet to run off to school (again) and accost my maths teacher and order her to fill out the recommendations. Once I'm done with TOEFL, I'll plunge headlong into thinking up eccentric ways in which I'll get through the day that's been pinned to my head as my "birthday" - that is 21st November, by the way. Had one cared to ponder over the other literal meaning of the word "birthday", he'd have snorted at the whole prospect of celebrating a "birthday" since it would have been the day when the person would have been born again and again every year: Nov. 21st, 1989 - 1 year old ... Nov. 21st, 1990 - Poof! *and born again* 1 year old ... Nov. 21st, 1991 - Poof! *and born again* 1 year old ... something like a Phoenix, one might say.

- AG.

Waning magic ...

2006-10-27T16:08:00.000-07:00

Years ago, I used to read Harry Potter books with zeal and enthuse, outside in my garden under the warm and pleasant sun with the pleasant realization that there were still a couple hundred pages of the escapades of Harry left to be devoured. It was the time when the magic of the boy wizard had started to take over the muggle-world and when JKR had started to buy new vaults for stuffing all the dough she'd started to make (at an alarming rate), what with Harry Potter movies, games and anything conceivable to the mind of the profit-seeking characters holed up in their lush offices at the top of their lush sky-scrapers. I read Harry Potter books twice, thrice, wait ... I've lost count of how many times I read those books that're enough to make the most verbose authors blush and yell, "But my novel's full of scientific research, not the imagining of a woman!" Really, point noted. The long wait for Harry Potter movies to be released in India used to piss me off and I'd to satisfy my hunger for Potter with, ah, un-authorized CDs; but I used to watch them on theater when they released and it was all pure fun for me, no matter what others said about the movies being nowhere near the books. I told them to go fug themselves as I bought the original DVDs of the same. The long gaps between the release of the books was painful and I used to satisfy myself - like 50 billion others, perhaps - by combing JKR's and MuggleNet's websites. I was so influenced by Potter that I even made a website dedicated to the Potter-phenomenon (I never got the chance of uploading it though, and I'm glad I never did ... the website was very immaturely designed: I was only 13). But that was back then. Today, I don't feel as attracted to Potter as I used to. I blame JKR's tendency of popping off too many kids - and consequently delaying the release of the novel - for that.

- AG.

I hate fire-crackers.

2006-10-20T07:39:00.003-07:00

Fire-crackers accompany the festival of Diwali in the same way ketchup accompanies the cheese burgers of McDonalds. And although the ketchup makes the burgers more desirable and give humans the inexplicable pleasure of squeezing the red liquid out of the packets and hearing an occasional rasping sound, the crackers do nothing whatsoever to add fun to this great festival of ours. Well, OK, I understand that whatever those public-welfare stickers and posters say about crackers, Diwali cannot be visualized without a kid holding hands over his ears and with a wincing expression watching a cracker go off; but still, I hate crackers and regard their use as over-rated and something we'd get rid off. Those small meek crackers that go off with a Pop! are fine, but those big ones that're perhaps enough to drown out a hydrogen-bomb explosion are what make me kick the shit out of the snickering kids who blow them off. Just an hour ago, while on my way back from gym on my bicycle I was occasioned with such an explosion followed with my usual reaction of "Holy fuck!". If I'd been an inch closer or had my bicycle's velocity been tad lesser, I'm sure I'd have been sucked into the craters made in the fabric of space-time by that explosion. But, what the hell, I cannot do anything about it, now can I? So, instead of critisizing and maintaining my usual pessimistic attitude towards anything that's not directly profitable to me, I'll smile and wish you all a very Happy Diwali!

Play safe,
- AG.

2006 SLR McLaren ... Pure Exhilaration.

2006-10-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

In this video, this baby was cruised at 310 km/hr.
Just listen to the engine roar.

- AG.

Ride.

2006-10-16T07:18:00.000-07:00

What happens when your father has a business friend who owns a Škoda Superb? Why, you ride in that car ofcourse! Unless you are unfortunate enough to have been endowed with a defective brain like someone who once commented on this blog. So, this morning me, my father, and Mr. Malik went to Gurgaon in the Superb that Mr. Malik drove. Mr. Malik has a reputation of being a fast driver which makes riding with him a lot more fun. First, some quick facts for the uninitiated: the car has automatic gearing system unlike a standard Indian 5-gears car; the car is an elongated version of Škoda Octavia and from what Mr. Malik tells me, he got the car specially imported to India back when it was not available here. Mr. Malik really opened 'er up on the Vasant Kunj highway (NH-8) where he got a speed of around 160 KM/hr and it was just pure exhilaration. On the same highway, I have driven my car at 90 KM/hr but in Superb it was something else. We reached Gurgaon at 11am and after an hour long meeting (during which I ate sandwiches in a fast-food restro), we were on our way back to Vasant Vihar. While going back, a cop hailed and we stopped the car. Seeing that the car was a luxury sedan and that it didn't have a Delhi number, the cop (most probably looking to make some easy money) asked for the stuff no one would even care to lug around in the car (in this case, the air-pollution check papers). After 5-10 minutes, Mr. Malik slipped him a Rs. 500 bill which the cop smoothly slid into his deep pocket. The car, the bribe and the sandwiches made this ride a memorable one indeed.

- AG.

A (special) friend.

2006-10-12T12:35:00.000-07:00

What is friendship? Loyalty? Commitment? Or just a word with many syllables? I really cannot define friendship … actually, in my opinion no one can define friendship because it is not a term out of your science book but a deep feeling that can hardly be objectified. So I get an SMS from an old school-friend who tells me how he felt sentimental when he pondered over the times he and I had spent when we were in our tweens. He tells me that he cannot easily forget that time since I was his first true friend … someone who shared the good and bad times with him without flinching or moving away. I told him that even I cannot forget all those memories since without them I won’t be left with an identity. We spent the next half hour sharing silent laughs over our antics that drove the teachers crazy; how we used to be the “jungli jaanwars” of our class; how we used to scare away half a dozen bullies with the bond of friendship we had nurtured to maturity; how we used to stand united in the face of adversity …

Then came the unfortunate reshuffling of the sections and we drifted apart … he went his way and I went mine. I often ponder over what would have happened if we never would have been separated ... what wonder might have taken place ... what personality we might have endorsed ... then again, maybe fate planned it that way ... to make me the person I am today.

That friend's name is Aditya Deorha.

- AG.

It's that time of the year again ...

2006-10-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

... and R.K.Puram's Sector 8 market was too crowdy yesterday. I must correct myself here: "crowdy" might not be the most appropriate word; "congested" is perhaps more condesending and appropriate. Besides the irksome market-holders who have taken the liberty of extending the display of their products to a couple of kilometers in front of their shops, there is the problem of the presence of too many cars, autos and stray animals on the slime filled not-so-wide roads of the area. I would never have went to that market with a 20-feet long pole (with a wide rectangular board fixed at one end) if the right part of my brain wasn't throwing a hissy fit over how messy my hair are. Therefore I had to go to that market to get a "trim" job. Owing to that day being the eve of India's (one of the) most hyped festivals Karva-Chauth, the market teemed with hopeful females standing - or sitting, as might be the case - in lines to get the weird green stuff plastered in weird patterns on their hands. Diwali, India's most hyped and enjoyable festival, is around the corner ... the time of the year when we literally burn away thousands of bucks in a burst of carbon monoxide and try to push our luck on Delhi's atmosphere which is consequently pushed to its limit.

- AG.

Oh, really?

2006-10-04T13:20:00.001-07:00

I know what you are thinking about this blog: "First Global Warming, then Particle Physics and now this drivel about our Universe? Sheesh!". Oh well, I want you to know one thing: I like to expound my knowledge or anything new that I learn. And since it is my blog, I can blog about anything I want; so dear reader, kindly bear with me. If you think these posts are dauntingly long and deep enough, you should see my notebooks filled with all that kind of stuff (most of it is perhaps out of your scope of understanding). Anyway, maybe this knowledge will help me while I am at college ... which reminds me of the SAT 2 Test that I have on October 14 at American Embassy School. I have done most of the studying and I hope to get a good score. Those masses who are not agnostic, pray for me. A brownie for each who does! Which reminds me of the Brownian Motion which is the random and irregular motion of small dust particles in water ... Einstein used the concept of this motion to provide physical evidence for the existence of atoms (which actually mean "indivisible" in Greek) ... Geez, here I go again, I better sign off before I bore you all to death.

- AG.

Interesting Universe.

2006-09-30T05:14:00.000-07:00

The interesting thing about our universe is the extent to which it is mind-boggling; mostly because so many people have opinions about how it works and exists. Some say that it is static and unchanging while some snort and contradict them with an air of arrogance, saying that our universe is dynamic and ever-changing. Some say that our universe had a beginning and that since everything succeeds a cause, our universe must have also begun by some “First Cause”; while some adamantly ignore the idea of a beginning of the universe on the grounds of the involvement of too much divine intervention and stick to the belief that the universe was always there. Some believe that the universe is infinitely large and that infinite stars are uniformly distributed across it in equilibrium, while some believe that the stars are always falling towards each other owing to the gravitational force of attraction.

The search of the universally accepted picture of the universe has been going on since 340 B.C. when Aristotle postulated in his book On the Heavens that the earth lay at the center of the universe and the planets (5 were known at that time), the sun and the moon rotated around it in circular orbits, in their own spheres. Over the centuries, models changed minds, authority changed hands and understanding changed its level from crude beliefs to holistic proofs. The throne of the center of the universe was handed to the sun, the circular orbits became elliptical and the boundary of mankind’s observable universe was eliminated. While Galileo proved Aristotle’s idea that heavier objects fell faster than the lighter ones wrong, Newton postulated the universal law of gravity in his book Principia Mathematica that explained the movement of heavenly bodies around the sun and sparked the belief that the universe was dynamic. While Christensen Roemer showed that the light traveled at a finite speed, James Clark Maxwell proved through his equations the existence of wave-like disturbances in the electromagnetic field that traveled at fixed speeds. While Newton’s laws of motion eliminated the existence of an absolute space, Einstein’s theory of relativity eliminated the existence of an absolute time and dramatically changed our ideas about space and time (according to his theory, time wasn’t separate from and independent of space and that they both combined to form an object called “space-time”). While Edwin Hubble observed the night sky with his telescope and saw that the galaxies were moving away from each other, John Mitchell theorized black holes: massive and compact stars that would have such strong gravitational fields that would pull back the light leaving from their surface therefore making them black voids in space. While Einstein explained how the force of gravity affects the photons of light, Newton satisfied himself with the belief that light was a wave and that gravity won’t have any affect on it at all.

Now, is it just me or do you feel that our universe is interesting too?

- AG.

1 generic humanoid carbon unit please.

2006-09-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

If you are a new iPod owner and you also happen to have made yourself aquainted with the fact that Apple has revamped its range of iPods, you must be feeling pretty pissed right now. No? Well, I am. Why? Because I bought an iPod Shuffle a couple of months back for Rs. 4000 that holds around 120 songs (512 MB) and what I see now? An even smaller - rather infinitely smaller - iPod Shuffle that holds around 250 songs (1 frickin' GB) available for Rs. 3600!

Not that I crave to get my hands onto anything as sleek and small as this iPod, god me no. As of now, I am happy (more than that actually) with my present iPod, so who cares? The sound quality is amazing and the battery life is amazing. So, the new iPod can go and eat Bart's shorts.

Also, I accidently (yes, really) happen to be (or, was) the 4242 visitor to my blog. For those ignorant blurbs who don't recognize the significance of the number "42", let me give you a crash course in mysticism. According to Douglas Adams, the number 42 happens to be the ultimate answer to the life, the universe, and everything.

- AG.

Blogger and AdWords.

2006-09-26T04:32:00.000-07:00

First of all, I would like to give Blogger a swift kick for suddenly ending the redirection to "blogger.com" from the domain "blogspot.com", which means that now I have to specifically go to "blogger.com" whenever I need to access my blog. It might not sound like such a big deal to you, but it is certainly a big deal for someone who has become used to typing "blogspot" and pressing CTRL + Enter whenever he needs to access his account. So, sometimes my dear fingers instinctively follow that routine and my eyes stumble onto this page, which is nothing short of irritating. Now that I have gotten that rubbish out, I get a kind of a sadistic pleasure from watching a lonely Blogger employee (large glasses, neatly-pressed shirt, pens in the shirt pocket) feeling crestfallen after reading that I want to give him a swift kick. *cackles like Mr. Burns*

On a brighter note, I am experiencing the perks of having a close contact with someone who works at Google, in my case: my father's close friend's daughter. And since every Google employee gets a free AdWords account, she has so kindly granted me access to it. The primary use of this account would be promoting my father's company, and since I can make 1 more account, I have even started promoting this blog ... for free! Yes, I know you feel jealous. Go ahead, break a vase. *cackles like Mr. Burns*

When you start coding too much in HTML, you often tend to write a love poem along these line ... Roses are #FF0000. Violets are #EE82EE. All my base are belong to you.

- AG.

YAWN!

2006-09-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

So the number of squirrels that used to reside in the tree (that lazily leans over my garden) seems to have increased to a modest number, probably due to the mating season (whenever that is for squirrels), because at any instant of time, 2-3 squirrels can be spotted in my garden, either sprawling in the flower pots or nibbling on the minute particles of "food". Although I might not be bold enough to say that this routine of a bunch of squirrels is highly interesting, I can say that it is mildly interesting, atleast to a person (namely, me) who is sitting in one of the garden chairs and with eyes half-closed and a thin smile, is apathetically observing the squirrels going about their duties with a resolute enough to bolster Darwin's theory of natural selection and the survival of the fittest. Sometimes (actually, I did it only one time) I approach the squirrels (with the dexterity and nimbleness only justifiable in a Mission Impossible movie) and try to make some "human contact" with these cute and furry creatures. What happens next is most predictable: the squirrels take a trajectory to the safety of their tree. I once peeked into the hole and saw that there were 4 small rectangular boxes and the poster that said "Home Squirrel Home". Just kidding. What? You actually believed that bed and poster part? Man, you have been watching too much Tom and Jerry, or are you hooked to Stuart Little? ;-)

Anyway, catch you later.

- AG.

88-years old Coin.

2006-09-13T00:26:00.000-07:00

While digging around my grandma's room, I came upon this dirty big coin. On peering closely, I saw that it was a Re. 1 coin from 1918, way before India became a sovereign country. It has the picture of George V on one side, and the words "One Rupee India 1918" on the other. All in all, it seems very aristocratic, pretty much like those British coins.

(George V King Emperor)

(One Rupee India 1918)

- AG.

No Title for this Post.

2006-09-10T01:46:00.000-07:00

Note: The F-word has been used excessively, which might strike as somewhat un-characteristic of me. So, if you would rather not further pollute your mind with my explicit language, I would advise you to leave now.

So, I went to attend this university seminar with a couple of my friends. Despite the nice arrangements (nice seats, nice air-conditioning, nice-looking reception girls, etc.), by the end of the first hour, I felt like chucking something very heavy and jagged at the speaker. Why? Because he was a dipshit, that's why. He spoke with a fake accent, he was balding and fat, he screwed up in mid-speech and his jokes could have been rightfully placed at the bottom drawer of a cabinet marked "Mankind's Poorest Jokes". Anyway, I couldn't take that crap anymore and so I left an hour early. I caught an auto from outside the building and went directly to Priya, from where I contemplated walking home after roaming around for sometime. When I had hailed the auto and asked that dipshit about the price he had said "Paacheese" (that's Rs. 25) and when I got to Priya and handed him a Rs. 50 note, the fucked up asshole just smiled and as I asked why the fuck wasn't he giving me the change back, he smoothly said, "Rate paachaase ka tha". D'oh!

Anyway, Priya was packed, something predictable on a Sunday afternoon. More nice-looking girls. I bought a sugar-free Red Bull and went to check my E Mail at Relaince Web World. After that I went into this clothes store and as I was boredly drifting from one display to another, this girl came up to me. And she was fucking tall! She had to be atleast 6' 1'' ... at 5' 10'', I felt like a hobbit. Anyway, after some time I left the store and consumed the last drop of Red Bull. I needed something more to drink. So, I went to McD to get a Diet Coke. I know what you are thinking, how the fuck can I consume Diet Coke after drinking Red Bull? Yeah, well, that thought flashed through my mind a couple of times ... but, what the hell, I bought it anyway. Now, as I massage my stomach, I feel that I should have done otherwise. My stomach feels like a volumetric flask in which some careless student mixed two of the most strong acids without any reservations. Burp!

Polite as always,
- AG.

Hawk and the Hole.

2006-09-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

"From the age of 14, I knew I wanted to do Physics because it was the most fundamental of the sciences ... " - Prof. Hawking

A documentary on Black Holes (featuring Stephen Hawking).

- AG.

Particle Physics is for jerkoffs.

2006-09-06T07:42:00.001-07:00

Indeed, I feel it is, to put it mildly. Why? Because the equations are just too long and tedious; there are just too many assumptions and uncertainities; and the number of elementary particles is just too high (24, are you kidding me?). So, I feel strangely attracted to Quantum Physics, the arch-enemy of Particle Physics. Quantum Mechanics defines the behaivour of things which are so small that they disobey the present laws and coventions of Particle Phy. For example, a car that is only a few millimeters in lenght. It is just too small. The traction will go to hell, and the engine will get nicely screwed up. Overlooking such practical examples, let me elaborate on Q.P. in the way that is considered more, ah, traditional. Q.P. actually tells us about the behaivour of elementary particles inside the atom. Like, it says that electrons do not revolve around the nucleus in definite paths (something P.P. comfortably claims), instead the electrons "float" around the nucleus in the form of electron clouds, and we measure the probability of finding an electron at a particular instant around the nucleus. So much for the basics. Now, what makes Q.P. really interesting is the phenomenon of Quantum Computers, an idea proposed by Richard Feynman in 1982. According to Feynman, a quantum computer is an unimaginably powerful computer that can be made from a single molecule. It utilizes all the 32 states of an electron, unlike a modern day computer that uses only two of them, i.e., 0 and 1. Right now, there are just too many problems and practical issues which come in the way of developing a working prototype of this kind of a computer.

"Nobody understands quantum mechanics." - Feynman

I beg to differ.

- AG.

Mundane Monday.

2006-09-04T04:08:00.000-07:00

Japan has developed these cute little robots that can taste wine, in the sense that they can identify the finger-print of the wine by sending an infra-red beam through the bottle, and not in the sense that they can consume the wine and then tell us what is what. Alright, I know that Japan has always been famous for rolling out robots of different shapes and sizes that can perform tasks that were previously thought to be limited only to humans, but doesn't it seem a little out of character for a baby-ish robot to carry out tasks like consuming alcohol (literally)? Yeah, well, along with carrying out the task that has made it famous and its creators millionairs, it also pips out some comments. Hmm ... Eliza in the making?

-| AG.

One of 21st Century's best treats.

2006-08-31T16:07:00.000-07:00

Lord of War is an excellent movie for anyone who is just hoping for some time-pass to someone who is really looking forward to watching an intelligent and well-made movie. The movie is so exciting and enthralling that I can hardly summarize it for the sake of this blog. You just have to see it to love it. The movie is basically about how Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage's character) transforms from a nothing to a successful guns and ammunition trader. Nicolas Cage's interesting and funny narrative is one of the best things I like about this movie.

After watching National Treasure, I had thought that Cage won't be able to beat his performance but he proved me wrong in Lord of War. I have already seen the movie 4 times. Go and get it today on DVD (or if you have a nice broadband connection, you can just download it)! The following trailer might give you a good idea of what to expect.

Also, I came across this funny clip from the movie The Weather Man, another one of Cage's masterpieces.

-| AG.

The Cola Geyser.

2006-08-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

I tried out the same trick in my garden (with satisfying results). Maybe because my Diet Coke bottle was a lot smaller or because I didn't add half a dozen mentos in quick succession, my geyser didn't go so high. Anyway, it was worth wasting 3/4 th of the coke in the bottle and 5 mentos. Well, mentos weren't such a waste since I consumed some of the added ones later on. But they had become really hard by then. I even recorded the whole thing on my camcorder but I can't tranfer it onto my computer since I am not able to locate the driver CD.

I have also been uploading a couple of videos onto You Tube. I uploaded this Britney Spears Pepsi Advertisement and it got around 85 views in the first hour. Now that's what I call popularity.

-| AG.

Impossible? Nawt!

2006-08-27T03:33:00.000-07:00

Since it is easier to find a nice and interesting video than brainstorm and write out an entry, I will be posting atleast one video every week. Satisfaction (and entertainment) is gauranteed since you can depend on me to post only the best from my booming stock of time-pass videos (most of which have been courtously ripped off from You Tube). The one you see above is perhaps the only Adidas commercial I have ever felt like watching more than twice. It is just so effingly perfect. If you are watching it without headphones/earphones/speakers, then I would suggest you to GET ONE AND STICK IT IN THE JACK! The sound effects (blade and sword sounds) add a lot of fun to this Ad.

In case you are wondering how I managed to "rip" videos "off" You Tube which only provides the options of viewing and sharing videos, you might want to read what I write henceforth. What I did was to first download the utility "VideoDownloader" for my FireFox Browser (IE User? I cannot help you ... Go ahead and Google), after that I saved the "flv" file of that video onto my hard-disk. Actually, the file I downloaded from You Tube didn't have any sort of an extension, and I had to add the ext. ".flv". After that, I used the software "Super" that let me convert that FLV file to AVI/MPEG. Go ahead, may the ripper be with you.

Next video: Diet Coke + Mentos = A Geyser!

-| AG.

Either my shorts are shrinking, or I am getting taller.

2006-08-20T00:29:00.000-07:00

I came across this Live Cam website that has live views of various parts of the world, Times Square in New York, for instance. They provide streaming video (that do not require a buffer every 10 seconds) and many Jerk-Picture-Cams views. My personal favourite is Times Square's streaming video.

--

Presence of crying babies at a Cinema? Understandable. Presence of crying babies in a nursing home ward? Understandable. Presence of crying babies in a barber shop? Capricious, cryptic, baffling, bewildering ... in short, not understandable at all. So, yesterday I paid a visit to the barber's, literally, since I had to shell out money for it. Anyway, after waiting for some time, during which I listened to a couple of morons talking about something I rather not mention here *rolls eyeballs*, I was beckoned over by the barber. I sat down on one of their unique chairs that sat admist a pile of hair. After nodding to the instructions I gave, the barber started the drill. Everything was going as usual till that baby so rudely started crying to which the person cutting his/her hair tried to calm him/her down. And I was thinking, Dude, he is only cutting your hair ... so what's with the freakin' wailing? Anyway, it was very irritating and I was just glad when its mother took it out.

Also, I saw Kabhi Alvida ... and although I hated Kabhi Khushi ... I kind of enjoyed this one. Despite what others said about the movie, I think it was pretty good, in terms of music, direction, acting and locations. Story? It was OK, not the most thought-through movie I have ever seen, but still, according to the usual Rona-Peetna standards, it was ... alright. As far as I know, the movie has already done some solid business nationally, and internationally.

-| AG.

Weekend ... came and went.

2006-08-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

Alright, so right now I am staring at the blank white space ... trying to think what to write. Actually, it is not so blank anymore since I have now entered 158 characters and the number keeps on growing (203 characters). I visited the school day before yesterday and met a few people. It was fun. Due to I-Day celebrations and lack of classes, there was a rowdy crowd in the corriders and anywhere that had a square feet of free space. I met some of the Dynamites (for the sake of fullness, that's what we call the DynamiX Members) and it was fun talking to them. I hope they will take care of my beloved DX and prevent it from getting covered up by the sands of time. I met a few teachers too and hinted that I will be coming to school this fall to make them fill up my University recos to my satisfaction, or else ... Heh. I received a package from the Washington State University. I spent some time looking at the college pictures. That's all I did on Saturday, unless you wish to overlook the fact that I meticulously deleted some of the songs from my iPod and loaded some new ones onto it.

As for Sunday, I spent the morning studying for SAT and the afternoon watching TV and working on my college essay for Cornell University. Actually, I have been tearing my hair out for this essay for many days and I finally managed to jot down a 450 words essay in an hour, after many revisions and scratch outs. I spent the evening working out at the gym and waiting in the heat for my car to show up at the club. I spent the night eating food and watching Legally Blonde. I also spent some time hunting for my iPod earphone's ear-puff. After a decent amount of squatting on the floor and cursing under the breath, I found the little bastard comfortably lying under my table. This is my last set of ear-puffs: I lost the first set in London.

Now that I have typed 1861 characters, I am going to sign off.

-| AG.

1910.

The Three Sisters.

2006-08-09T03:43:00.000-07:00

iPod Shuffle, MacBook, iPod Nano. My cousin (who came from Washington last week) bought this MacBook for $1300. He got Nano for free. iPod Nano is as small as Shuffle and it is way thinner as well. The sound quality of the Nano is as mind blowing as that of Shuffle. You get these Dolby effects when you increase the volume. I will have to give Apple a pat on the back for their special iPod ear phones. This 2 Gigs Nano holds about 500 songs.

-| AG.

Have you ever heard of Davy Jones?

2006-08-05T05:30:00.000-07:00

Had I watched Dead Man's Chest in London's IMAX Cinema, I would have been enthralled. Although my mother would have freaked out watching the disgusting and slimy creatures and characters of the film. But, as fate had it, I never got to watch it on the green screen of that IMAX theatre. Instead, I watched it on the non-IMAX gray screen of PVR Priya today with a cousin of mine. The movie experience was great.

For one, the hall was pretty much empty considering the number of days since the movie was released and the number of Bollywood films that were released recently; which means that there were no annoying families or crying babies who would have managed to piss me off no end. For second, the movie itself was great, as you would have infered from what I have written already. The movie is funny, interesting and really well made. You will find yourself tittering at the antics of Johnny Depp and others during the whole film. Davy Jones, although very disgusting looking, has been portrayed as a very powerful character. The CGI effects are especially well directed. The sound effects and music are also impressive.

-| AG.

PS: Remember that baby girl I told you about in one of my earlier posts? Well, she has been named "Nysa" and is getting cuter by the day.

Back from London.

2006-07-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

My visit to London was mostly about travelling underground, walking on the sidewalks, sitting in open two-decker buses, roaming in the downtown and visiting various tourist attractions like Madame Tussauds, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge (popularly confused with the London Bridge), London Eye. In short, it was fun. I wish I could have stayed a few more days. The people there are courtous and nice and you can always expect a "Thank you" or "Have a nice day" from someone. Their good driving sense makes walking in the city hassle-free. If you want to cross the road, and you are standing at one end of the Zebra Crossing, an approaching car will most certainly come to a halt for you to cross the road. There is absolutely no honking on the roads. I didn't hear even a single horn going off, although I did hear many "Whoosh"s or "Varoom"s near a freeway. Yes, the cars drive very fast on those highways.

We travelled mostly by Underground Tube while going from one place to another in London. The Tube is spread across London and you can find a station in almost every part of the city. London Tube has evolved over the past 30 years and is very organized and efficient. Only New Yok Subways come near enough to it. Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Waterloo, Brent Cross, Golders Green, Charing Cross, are some of the names of the places/stations that got stuck in my head as I travelled there (or through them) almost everyday of my visit. Piccadilly Circus emulates the Times Square.

Inside the IMAX Cinema, just before the show started:

Central London houses the Buckingham Palace, Madame Tussads, Harrods and the other must-see places. While in C. London you will notice crowds of people commuting on foot. Almost every other girl I saw there was a pleasure to ~~look at~~ gawk at. You will also notice that almost every other person is listening to an iPod. iPod seems to be as popular in UK as it is in the USA.

The Buckingham Palace:

Aye, I bought an iPod from there too. Which iPod am I? iPod Shuffle, hands down. I have already loaded 3 of my Audio CDs onto it, in addition to a number of songs I downloaded. The battery life is very good. The sound quality is excellent. The design is very sleek and a pleasure to look at. I have nicknamed it, "Gods Own iPod".

I am standing behind Johnny Depp and that Chinese woman:

Bond, James Bond:

London's air is as fresh in the afternoon and evening as it is early morning here in Delhi. Also, there is good sunlight there till around 9 PM and it is as dark at 10 PM as it is here at 7 PM. And no, I did not have jet lag. Although I did spend the day before sleeping for 12-13 hrs .. what with all the walking and flying. More pictures soon.

The City of London (or a part of it) as seen from the London Eye. You can notice the latter's shadow if you have a keen eye:

Mind the Gap.

-| AG.

Going to the Land of Harry Potter.

2006-07-11T01:31:00.000-07:00

No, I am not going to Hogwarts. Instead, I am going to the United Kingdom with my family. It's a 6 day trip and we will leave this Saturday morning by British Airways. 4 days will be spent roaming around London and admiring its beauty, and the last 2 days will be spent in Manchester, where my father has some business to take care of. We will most probably catch the 2 and half hour Piccadilly train (or Virgin Trains) from Lon to Man. The Holiday Inn Hotel in London seems to be particularly nice. I am also looking forward to watching Superman Returns or Pirates of the Carribean in London's most famous IMAX Theatre, London IMAX Cinema. Until all four of us got the Visas yesterday, it was all very volatile. I was apprehensive about the Visas. Anyway, we got them without any hassle. God Bless the UK Visa Officer.

I will post the pictures when I return.

-| AG.

@!*%$@!!

2006-07-07T04:22:00.001-07:00

Outlook Express sucks! In preventing / blocking spam messages that is. Why, oh why, does MSOE need a separate utility (that is needed to be downloaded, and it is non-MS) to block Spam in Outlook Express? @!*%$@!! The Inbox is usually filled with E Mails about Viagara (however it is spelled) and well, some other things concerning a particular human anatomy. I am glad I don't have OE as my primary mail agent. I have G Mail ... which fortunately comes with an inate Spam-blocker. *strokes it fondly*

I will most probably visit Ramjas tommorrow (that is, if it is open tommorrow .. is it 2nd Saturday?) .. I have to collect my Rs. 500 and will most probably have a nice chat with the Principal about the future of computing at Ramjas. And I have to take care some other things in the DynamiX Lab.

Oh, and I saw Godfather Part III. Nice movie. Al Pacino is a great actor. And so is Andy Garcia.

-| AG.

It's a Love-Hate Relationship.

2006-06-30T07:54:00.000-07:00

With Firefox that is. Although I love Firefox and prefer it over You-Know-What for nearly-infinite reasons still sometimes I feel like kicking Firefox on its behind, an idea that would have surely materialised if Firefox had been a walking-talking personality and not just code that patiently waits to be ordered around by the person sitting at the keyboard. Now, why would I hate Firefox when over 70 million people sing its praise? Well, for some reason Firefox doesn't come (atleast the one I have didn't) preloaded with an eclectic array of plugins that are required to tranquilly display a website and not irritating boxes that innocently tell the user to download that particular plugin. As I am too impatient (perhaps lazy too) to download each and everyone of those plugins, I usually switch over to You-Know-What Ver. 6 that predictably devoids the need to download plugins and displays the website without any ado.

Condoning such trivial issues in Firefox, I would like to share with you one of my more positive experiences with the same. Football fanatic that I am, I usually feel the need to know the scores while I am at my PC. So, I downloaded the Firefox-Google-Joga Fifa World Cup enhancement for my Firefox. This enhancement not only displays the scores in the taskbar but also provides a serene football theme to it. Also, whenever someone gets a Card or some match begins, it pops up a window that proclaims the same. It all happens in real time and accentuates the dynamic nature of Firefox.

-| AG.

The Baby. The Party. And the SAT Score.

2006-06-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

Many interesting and blog-able things took place over the week and I must say that it has been perhaps the most blog-able week, what with my cousin having a girl child, me attending a very entertaining rain dance (yes, I actually danced in artificial rain) and the announcement of the notorious SAT scores.

Beginning with the baby, it is a very cute, lively and tiny thing I have ever seen. Once you stand beside her crib, you simply cannot move off without snapping a couple of photos and recording a couple of videos. As of now, she has been named (and rightly so) as "cutie pie" and her actual name is yet to be decided upon. I suggested a couple of, erm, un-common names: Tarini and Himangini (both of whom I know personally, so it wasn't such a brain racking job to comfortably suggest the most unique names from the lot). Her mother and the baby were moved out of the hospital (or should I say "nursing home") yesterday and both are healthy and fine.

Moving on to the Rain Dance (which took place on Saturday at Vasant Vihar Club): it was an event which was decided to be attended at the last minute, when I stepped into the house at 8 pm (after gym) and distractedly suggested to my parents that we can attend the Rain Dance which is supposedly a worth visiting event. So, after a hurried change of clothes we left at 8:30 and found ourselves in the Club. Although I was intially reluctant of dancing under the towering sprays, but when I came back to the "dancing area" after looking around, I saw my parents dancing so I plunged in as well. And it really was refreshing and invigorating. I danced with my mother (my father kept dropping out of the "Rain" to take pictures) for the next hour till a "walk the ramp" segment started in which 7 guys and 7 girls (chosen from the crowd) were made to walk and dance on the ramp in order to compete for a couple of stupid titles. On the whole, it was a memorable event.

Now, the SAT I scores which were announced just yesterday. I got 700/800 in Critical Reading and Math. The National Percentiles being 90% in both, which actually means that I am in the top 10% of all the people who gave SAT. I was expecting way more in Math. Anyway, they are okay for me.

-| AG.

I said there will be a post on Robots. I lied.

2006-06-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

Car lessons began a few days ago after a week's delay and I finally get to drive around town at 60 Kmph. 4 days into the lessons and I can already drive smoothly without any apprehension about breaking the gear by changing it without pressing the clutch. By now, I have cruised around (in the Learning Car, ofcourse; without the Learner's License, ofcourse) India Gate, Shanti Path, Vasant Vihar, Saket, etc. Let's just say that actually driving a car on road is way off than driving it on a PSP. On a PSP you don't have to worry about getting deported after snuffing up someone. When I asked my driver-teacher about it ("What would happen if I rammed someone's car while learning?"), he distractedly assured me by saying, "Satija will take care of it". Anyway, on the whole it has been a memorable experience and lets hope my father allows me to drive the family cars (1 Indigo, 2 Esteems) soon.

In other news, I bought a Nokia N70 and it was worth every penny spent. For the un-initiated, what makes this mobile really articulate is its twin cameras (one on front, other on the back). Although the front camera isn't very clear still it is useful while taking pictures of yourself; and Nokia programmers have rightly named the behind camera as the "main" camera. Apart from the cameras, the mobile is useful in other ways as well (Yahoo Go!, Mobile Blogging, for instance). The picture and video quality is excellent, and I really mean it: It is excellent. I recently recorded a better part of the Ecuador vs. Costa Rica match (from TV to Mobile) and while watching it on the mobile, it seemed like I was watching it on a camcorder. Perhaps this makes the mobile's worth of Rs. 18,000.

- AG.

This old, tattered copy.

2006-06-07T00:08:00.000-07:00

I recently went to Himachal Pradesh, and to Chandigarh on the way back. The trip was originally supposed to be one of my father's business-car-trips but he decided to pull me and mom in this time, so that we could "enjoy" HP. Himachal sucks. Thats the only conclusion I come upon after spending 1 day in a deserted hotel which sits facing the road which is frequented only by majdoors and juki-jopri wallas. Anyway, the trip wasn't such a waste because we went to Chandigarh on the way back, and as most of you must already be knowing, Chandigarh is a nice place. A nice standard place with a lot of nice girls. Father had some work in sector 17 and while searching this particular sector, I enjoyed myself by inwardly laughing at my driver's pronounciation of "17" as satara. While Dad spent his time at the office, me and mom looked around the shopping area. We went to a nice fast food resteraunt and ordered pizza and burger. After eating, we looked around a bit more and I bought The Godfather from a sidewalk seller. Yes, I am referring to this novel as the "old, tattered copy" which it indeed is. I am just glad that none of its pages are missing for that would have spoiled the fun of reading this intriguing classic. The novel comprises of 9 sections which have been categorized by the author as "Books". It tells the story of Don Vito Corleone and his powerful Italian Mafia Family settled in the New York City. The book is highly interesting and I must advise each and every one of the voracious readers to devour it in peace. I would advise the soft readers to keep off it as some of the incidents in the book are pretty brutal. Sarkar is loosely based on this epic and now that I am in the middle of completing this book, I am looking forward to watching its critically-acclaimed movie version.

A bit about Mission Impossible III:
In sweltering heat, I went to watch the highly anticipated Mission Impossible 3 with my brother. PVR Priya was swarming with teenagers, all lining up to watch M:i:III. I met a lot of my friends from school. The movie was good and sported a Lost theme, which was to be expected of J. J. Abrams, who is the creater of the same. With an enigmatic start, the movie soon rolled into action, with Cruise jumping around either shooting or cutting wires or wearing masks. It is a nice movie and I would recommend any Cruise / M:i fan (or otherwise) to go and watch it.

- AG.

Nostalgic Bickerings.

2006-05-29T08:04:00.000-07:00

First things first, I hate my CD Writer and Burner since they take a period equivalent to 20 long minutes to fully erase a CD-RW; and in the corresponding temper vs. time graph, temper rises as time increases. In order to avoid dangerously high temper, I usually tend to use the “Quick Erase” feature most of the times, when I feel that the customary multi-session schedule is not working as expected.

On a brighter note, I have started reading The Da Vinci Code; although I haven’t been able to see the movie yet, considering the stupidity of the PVR Priya management which decided to rather show X Men 3: The Last Stand than Code. What’s more, the only other quality theatre that is premiering the movie in South Delhi is PVR Saket to which I very occasionally go to, owing to the distance separating the center of mass of my house and that of PVR Saket. Priya would have surely amassed a fuller house for Code than they did for The Last Stand. Fools.

A few days back, I had dinner at TGI: Friday’s (Connaught Place) with my parents. Though I must say that this particular “dinner” was unique, since TGI does not have any regular meals that you may expect at any regular Indian restaurant. The pizza was good; the dessert was especially good (I forgot the name); the music was good too. Oh yes, they also had their walls covered by an assortment of inanimate objects ranging from a cycle to a Red-light to the pest-sprayer used in farms.

Interesting, eh?

-| AG.

PS: Ya Ali from Gangster is a nice song. And I don’t really hate my CD Writer and Burner.

Robots and Aircrafts I

2006-05-15T02:56:00.000-07:00

Lately, robots and sleath fighter aircrafts have been attracting my intellect, thereby making me aware of the developments in their respective fields. Owing to the magnitude of each, I will be posting 2 separate posts pertaining to each. Presently, as aircrafts are hovering around in my cerebral region, I will discuss them.

A 103 years after the Wright brothers made their first "controlled, powered, heavier-than-air" flight, aircrafts have evolved phenomenally in power, design and agility. Defense aircrafts such as the F/A - 22 Raptor and the B-2 Spirit are touted as the dramatic leap forward in technology, considering the mesmerizing features they sport, I will agree hands down. F/A - 22 Raptor, the aricraft envisioned as the ultimate air superiority fighter, is equipped for ground attack, electronics attack and signals intelligence. According to a National Geographic interview, Raptor is so fast that it will pass over the adversary aircraft even before it appears on the radar. In the interview, the army test pilot refers to it as "the mighty duck", the concept behind it being that a normal flying duck will get shot easily by the hunter, but this particular duck is so fast that it will get away before the hunter can even lock his aim on it. The B-2 Spirit aircraft is equally evolutionary.

In the commercial airplane industry, Boeing and Airbus are the largest aircraft manufacturers, with revenues of $52.4 billion and $34.4 billion respectively. Boeing has 49% of orders for civil aircrafts and it is also the second largest defense contractor. Another interesting air-wonder is the Tilt Rotor aircraft that is capable of vertical take-offs. It has the speed of a normal turboprep airplane and uses rotating propellors for lift and propulsion. Due to a shady history of the Tilt Rotor aircraft, it is under experimentation and is not commercially used.

National Geographic (December, 2003) has a stack of defense and commercial aircrafts' photographs. The close-up shots of the F/A - 22 and B-2 are particularly nice.

- AG.

What. Ever.

2006-05-07T05:01:00.000-07:00

With MTNL Broadband set up (after much frustration, cursing and wicked schemes to blow up MTNL headquarters) on the new laptop, I decided to hop around the Internet a bit more than usual, in order to cherish the victory of my structured thinking over the complexities of the ADSL Router. What I did find on my hopping spree was a feedback form from RamjasRKP's Website that said "I really liked this website" and a bunch of other not-so-notable crap which included downloading a (bad quality) trailer. Shifting off the hopping spree, I will lunge into the discussion regarding the Return of the King DVD I rented last night in celebration of successfully sitting for two and a half hours at ~~one of the worst schools~~ the Examination Center for IP Entrance Test. The Test was alright, better than others anyway.

Despite the number of scratches and marks on the back of the DVD, I was able to play it without any irritating flickers or stops. ROTK is a spell-binding movie, to say the least, though I must confess that I didn't feel this way when I went to see it at the theatre a few months back. The absence of crying babies and silly exclamations perhaps added to the unmistakable aura of Peter Jackson's legend. I particularly enjoyed the Rohan-Gondor-Sauron War (surprise, surprise!). The movie is an unforgettable eloquence consisting of twists and turns, Orcs and Men, Nazgûls and giant Eagles.

"A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship ... but it is not this day. This day we fight!"
- Aragorn, son of Arathorn.

-|AG.

Tap, Tap. This thing on?

2006-05-01T06:46:00.000-07:00

From Kaavya Viswanathan's much publicised plagiarism coup to Alexander Graham Bell's much unheard-of support for Eugenics, there is a lot to write about. The irony being that I will discuss neither of the extremities as they do not interest me as much as they did a few days back. I will settle on the Rain. The Spring Rain, the Winter Rain, the Monsoon Rain, whatever you may refer to it as, I will take pleasure out of its existence this way or that. Though I tend to feel just the opposite ("aggravated" is perhaps the right word) while standing outside in the rain, in the company of a dozen others who budge around under the sidewalk-shed trying to get out of getting drenched to the skin. But, generally speaking, I like Rain. I feel content on hearing its soft drumming and I often, depending on the hour of the day, walk out onto the porch and feel the cool breeze that accompanies this capricious phenomenon. It inspires me and tells me how beautiful this World is, and I instantly feel good about being a part (geographically speaking, I might not even count as a speck) of this Universe. Perhaps its only human to feel this way. Perhaps everyone does feel this way, with the exception of a few who distractedly wave it aside and say with heavy sarcasm, "Oh, My God! Water falling out of the Sky and going into the sewers. How very interesting!"

-| AG.

Enter Title Here.

2006-04-22T16:31:00.000-07:00

It is 5 AM by the Wall Clock (and 4:30 AM by the tiny Windows Clock), but I am awake enough to type without confusing "i" for an "o", which reside next to each other on a standard alphanumeric keyboard. This particular post is special, if not extraordinarily distinctive. For one, it's the 50th post, which means that I am liable to a meaningless dance to a meaningless song for a (seemingly) meaningless reason. For second, it succeeds 3 essays (2 Published, 1 saved as Draft), and believe me when I say this: It is the highest number of essays I have ever cared to write (in a row) and boldly consider them as essays at all. For third, my vocabulary is at an all time high. I can now make sense out of abstruse words without confusing them for their mundane counterparts. Though the thought of SAT takes the living daylights out of me, I still manage to "devote" a decent amount of time everyday to its preparation. Just yesterday, as if motivated by a sudden momentary impulse, I went to School, to discuss SAT with my English Teacher (Ms. Gilani), or perhaps I should just settle down with the memory that though the discussion didn't revolve much around SAT, I still managed to get her views on the essays I had written. "They are fine for me. I don't know what the Foriegn Univs are looking for.", is possibly the only statement that was predictable, after the unpredictable 30 minute wait for her, and the unpredictable ease with which I managed to dodge out of my Chemistry teacher's sight. For fourth, it is the only post I have ever (and ever will, hopefully) typed with the middle finger of my right hand; it is substituting for my index finger for the time being, as the latter got injured in an unforseen accident involving a sharp-edged computer table and a pack of irritating mosquitoes.

It is 6 am by the Wall Clock (and 5:30 am by the tiny Windows Clock). Time to sign off.

-| AG.