Quotes over the ages

There was a time when I used to study from my notebooks more than any text. All that became a thing of the past when in college. Notebooks became more of a symbol of expression during the lectures (often monotonous). One habit that I caught up was writing down a quote on the first page and omit writing down my name. Due to the fact that I didn't have many notebooks during the four years and cuz I might have lost one or two, I could recover only 4 of them:

S5:
Science is an ongoing process. It never ends. There is no single ultimate truth to be achieved, after which scientists can retire. And because this is so, the world is far more interesting, both for scientists and for millions of people in every nation who, while not professional scientists, are deeply interested in the methods and findings of science.
- Cosmos, Carl Sagan

S5-S6, Still one of my favourite quotes:
It's so easy to run to others. It's hard to stand on one's on record. You can't fake virtue in your own eyes. Your ego is the strictest judge. It's simple to seek substitutes for competence - love, kindness... But there isn't substitute for competence. That precisely is the deadliness of second handers.
- The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand

S6-S7, Very meaningful at that time:
My past life seemed floated away to an immeasurable distance, the present was vague and strange, and for the future I could form no conjecture.
- Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte. ( The irony is that I never completed that book)

S7-S8:
I yearn to define my life
Placing faith in chance to meet me in halfway
Back row to the left, a little to the side,
Slightly out of place
Look beyond the light, where you least expect
There's someone special.
- From the song Someone Special, Poets of the Fall

K in a nutshell

Didn't get time to jot down anything on the first day of the trip due to busy schedule. But one thing I've got to mention - It was unbearably hot and humid. The climate in TVM is heaven. So to the second day when mom bought half a dozen handbags and a score of sarees.. I'm not exaggerating. I got plenty of time observing and here goes what I wrote down that day:

Morning:
I realise I'm walking through a city which was once the capital of British India. It seems like the city never arose from the shock of losing the status of capital. Here even the newest buildings are made in 19th century style. In the heart of the city it still breathes the Victorian era. Most of the metros have given up on it's traditions, but you can see Kolkata in 19th, 20th and 21st century side by side. Where else would you find street hawkers, a huge 'new' market housing all types of garments in shops having century old tradition and KFC in the same road. Another example would be cycle rickshaws, the only working tram network in India and the modern metro rail ploughing along the same area.

         
        Victoria Memorial                                       View from New Market

Noon:
Now to some interesting news. I found most of the gals in Kolkata are naturally pretty and fashionable. :-) This requires special mention 'cuz the same cannot be said about southern states. And the best thing is they can be found everywhere, not just in top notch shopping malls.

Afternoon:
I would've died of boredom today hadn't it been for the iPod. My ever faithful music companion always helps in finding better perspectives in times like these. Thank you sis.

Evening:
Parents left me at a saree shop with lots of stuff that we bought and went on to buy some more (Saree count around 15 by that time). The shopkeeper was a hospitable man. His son did B.E & M.Tech in Bangalore, married a Kannada girl and is working at GE, Bangalore now. He seemed very happy to know that I'm going to do M.Tech in Bangalore. He bought us free fountain Fantas too - Yippee!

More photos in ma photo blog.

NIT saga part 2

Sorry guys ..really sorry for not posting it till now...... Hope u guys still remember in the first post........

Before starting the next part, i wanna say one thing- wat ever u may read in the following part is purely imaginary and it doesn't have any resemblance to any living or dead persons....and if u still thing it has any resemblance then sorry Sudeep .. am not responsible......

So after battling the CAT for about two and half hours we were finally out of the hall.....The long train journey and the exam had almost drained the last bit of energy from us ,, and the hot and humid climate of the north kerala was making things more worse...... but still the the happy ending that's gonna happen was making me forgot all those hardships that we faced so far....Like they say- "you are not gonna achieve anything without paying the price for it..."

So our next intended stop was NIT ..but before that we have to fulfil some of the basic needs of human beings... The call of hunger was much more important any thing...So after wandering through the streets for a while we finally reached at the much famed-"SAGAR". hotel...I have never ever before tasted the famous-"malabar biriyani",,so tis is finally my chance..Since living along with friends whom belonged to this part of the kerala and hearing their hyped stories about the famous biriyani......I always wanted to have a go for it.....so another small dream is being fulfilling for me....So when the waiter came I didn't have any hesitation in ordering wat I wanted.....Now here also my dear friend came to my rescue..On hearing wat am ordering he reminded me that since I was taking some ayurvedic medicine I am not supposed to have any non -veg items....His response was so quick tat i wondered whether tat was the final question for any million dollar quiz in which the first one to answer was to carry away all the cash prize.....Thanking him for his remainder and cursing the one who invented that ayurveda medicine I asked the waiter for a veg-biriyani.....Looking to me like i hav asked for a cocaine or something like tat he said a sharp NO... So as i struggled with my parotta and kuruma I saw my friend enjoying his biriyani.... hmm dunno whether you guys have tis experience of having your favourite meal in front of you ..but all u could do was to simply watch .....believe me its really awkard ........... Any how I thanked my dear friend for his concern...

SO after the hotel (bitter) experiment ,,we resumed our journey ,, and finally reached the NIT around 3.00...... and the great LH waited us eagerly there.........

to be continued.........(this time the next post wud be much faster)

You Complete Me

There are some times when you just wanna lie down and let the pain creep in.. with wet eyes and heavy heart you just let the helpless slowly intoxicating. My friend recently accused me of being a vishadakamukan even before falling in love. Maybe I am. There comes few times when something beyond our control takes us away from the ones we love. Due to those I've even considered not loving something/someone so much that you cud never say goodbye. No. This is not a farewell message to any gal. This one's for my dear friend without whom I'm nobody.

It's so easy to cry off your sadness. That was the case when I encountered such a scenario in school. But this is a different kind.. We've been laughing off our sadness. Any hint of nostalgia is washed away in a bursts of jokes which leave us gasping for air. It's more the harder cuz everyday you've got to return home and realize you never said how much you would miss him/her. That has left me spiraling down and down and finally drowning in this pool of tears.

Even through all this, the faith that keep me going is my belief - you never leave your loved ones behind. They are always with you. Right there watching the world through your eyes from that little corner in your heart. The corner that never stops beating.

This one's for none other than you. Each and everyone of you. Like the Joker says, You complete me.

:-) Remember the days we used to think Samson sir is the original Joker.


Do you know what's worth fighting for,
When it's not worth dying for?
Does it take your breath away
And you feel yourself suffocating?

Does the pain weigh out the pride?
And you look for a place to hide?
Did someone break your heart inside?
You're in ruins

Now playing: Green Day - 21 Guns
via FoxyTunes

Fade to Grey

It's always the little things in life that you miss the most. College life has given me some really unforgettable moments/incidents. But there are so many little collection of things that I can't remember with clarity. They happened every other day but everyone of them were special like..

• the joy of walking to college everyday with music at your ears
• cutting classes for pretty much no reason
• laughing until you cry at your friends' cracking joke
• the whole days spend chatting in pancharakadu
• the feeling of looking at a person the whole day and knowing you'd be back the next day to do the same
• the smell of rain drizziling outside when you're warm n' cozy in class
• having lunch at Lords though every time we end up cursing them
• all the days when nothing out of ordinary happens
• the innumerable museum sessions when discussions ranged from intellectual to plain PDs
• the mini and main project days..
• my regular presence in bus bay from first year onwards though I've always walked home
• walking back home on the half tarred - half clay road

Flocking

Firefox is the best browser in web-world for me and I've been a faithful follower since the day I first installed it. I've never looked back at IE or more recently Chrome after that unless the webpage demanded it (some sites are still designed to be supported only in IE!).



Then came one day, last week when I happened to see Flock in action. Though it's built on the Firefox engine, the browser has considerably improved features for social networking. The browser is made for the profile. If you sign in to the same computer into email or social networks everyday, this is the browser you should surely check out.

Some of the features I liked were:
* support for gmail, facebook, digg, twitter, blogging etc
* feeds
* media streaming
* update alerts for all of the above
* integration of these features without making much fuss
* Drag and drop support for pics. I draged and dropped that picture directly into this from browser!

On the other side,
* I lost some valuble browsing space in the top due to additional tab
* tried using small icons option as in firefox, but the buttons turned out to be uncontrollably small
* for auto-login, the passwords came up in saved passwords list (I'd used remember me option in firefox. So I never saved important passwords in browser)
* this has forced me to use master password option

Improvement suggestions:
* make it sleeker both at the top and bottom
* integrate gchat instead of facebook chat
* make seperate password list for auto-sign in into features.

Happy flocking everyone..

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Finalest University Exam

I could write a whole story about the Kerala University and it's exams. But one thing I give credit to this institution is the survival skill it builds in students. Otherwise how would I be able to cooly write out a blog on the eve of the exam with modules remaining to study.

Over the years I had noticed a considerable rise in my blogging activity around exam time. It hasn't been much different this time. The only difference being though I'd been writing blogs in ma mind, couldn't jot it down here due to acute lack of time. I'm hoping to make up for that by this one just before the first exam.

So what makes KU exams special? Is it the way in which every time the question paper surprises us by including topics we haven't covered. Or is it the unasuming regularity by which important topics get skipped while short question from some nick and corner become an essay. And sometimes it surprises us by presenting such an exam which chalenges us and we're left wondering why it doesn't happen always.

Anyhow, after passing 7 semesters I'm still as 'not' confident as ever while attempting the first exams of getting a pass mark. All depends on several factors and though our knowledge contributes the lion share, it might often turn out that grace of person correcting could be the deciding factor. Thus let me be on my kneels with a white flag and olive branch held out to that person without a face.

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Now playing: Jars of Clay - Fade to Grey
via FoxyTunes