2007 - A Round Up

    For a start, this blog kicked off in January 2007 and when it is about to complete an year of posting, i should be more than delighted to have had the patience to maintain this blog. It's hard to fathom the fact that this blog has been active for nearly an year.
    As the year comes to an end, some highs and lows what I observed are mentioned below. It might be a bit long, so I put it in such a way that you can see the titles and choose what to read...

         Lows:

- My Guitar skills: My guitarring has gone down really bad and the amount of effort that I put in is an all time low as I approach the end of the year. The amount of progress that I made in a few months last year was too high and the progress this whole year has been very bad. Maybe it's time I admit that my equipment needs an upgrade and my self learning has reached a saturation point. It's ironical that I am playing guitar at the moment and I am still complaining...

- The Great Electrocution: Can't believe I saw death and escaped. The story of my electrocution spread like electric current all over the college. That happened during my Annual Day rehearsal and I cannot deny that I am lucky to be posting now. I foolishly touched an open extension box and got electrified and my guitar completed the circuit. It was then that my body got stiff and went out of control. I could not see what I was seeing and the last thing I could remember was, "Is this how it is, to be leaving your loved ones?" I don't know how i got that thought, but that was the exact thought I got. And then, I remember tripping. The trip that jerked me and forced my hands to leave the guitar and the box (which were tightly stuck to both my hands). As soon as I crashed to the ground, I came back to life, and started saying, "I am alright, I am fine", though no one asked me... got some weird slashes on my fingers, where the skin got heated and opened up .... can't forget those moments ever ....

- Mini Projects: As usual, our mini project was shelved again. Atleast this time, we made a head start and managed to make a mini model of an aircraft, with movable ailerons and rudder, but then the design was completely off and we failed to make the larger model of it. We invested lots of money in that, and it's history...

- Accidents: Well, 2007 has been a year of accidents. I heard of too many of them on the roads and every place imaginable. Infact, my friend Natarajan had an encounter with an electric hand drill which pulled out a huge chunk of his long hair. He was lucky coz the hand drill was so powerful, it could have pulled the scalp out. No injuries atleast. My eletrocution was another accident. And I heard of so many college students being killed in various cases. Too many to talk about.

- Dogs: What happened to the dogs this time? They all went berserk. For a few months, all I could see on the news was incidents of dogs attacking people madly. Sickening...

- Traffic: This year, I finally got behind the steering of my car, and this year has been one of the worst in terms of traffic snarls. Especially the main road leading towards my house was subjected to some extreme traffic problems because of pipeline laying and other junk. The rest of Hyderabad has seen similar traffic problems. This should be a lesson for all those traffic police out there.

- Terrorism: Aah. Here we go. To talk about terrorism is like encouraging a chatterbox to chat. The talk might go on forever. To cut it short, those blasts in various towns and cities, including the ones in Hyderabad that killed so many people in an instant have confirmed that no place is safe. Not India, not USA, not UK, not Spain, nothing is safe. Maoism, having close ties, takes the numero uno spot of the various problems in India. The Bastar region which was considered one of the most peaceful and beautiful places in India, is now infested with Maoists. There are gun battles almost daily, where many people are killed. The rare tribals don't cooperate and the travel routes for tourists are totally unstable and unreliable. Who knows this better than my bro, Srikar, who had a first-hand experience of this.

- West Ham: This needs a special mention as this is a football team that has managed to defeat Manchester United twice within the same year. I never understood why this happened.

- F1: The 2007 season has been the most controversial one in F1. The reputation is falling fast, and it is supposed to be the most watched sport in the world. The malpractices and Info Exchange cases and a controversy right at the death of the championship, something that could have changed the result altogether, were among those things that painted F1 in black.

         Highs:

- Results: This has been a definite high for, with an average of 81.5%, it's a result that I can cherish. The exams have been horribly bad and the results, the exact opposite.

- iPod: I bought an iPod in September 2007 and it's been one of the best things that I did. It has been my companion during my long and boring bus journeys from home to college and back. And it will still be in the future.

- More Gadgets: Well, I even bought a Canon Camera which taught me so many things about photography. Most of the pics in the blog were taken from my camera. And it wasn't just me. Srikar bought a Zoom G2.1U (truly awesome guitar processor), and an O2 Mobile, Barun Muni bought an iPod classic, Natarajan bought an HTC Touch, and this list might go on forever..

- Ambigrams: I started a weird hobby of making ambigrams which explored the inner creativity in me. This was inspired obviously by Dan Brown's Angels and Demons.

- 7777777: This year was full of 7s. With the date taking a 777 form and being the reason for thousands of celebrations, marriages, concerts, etc. My jersery no. for the soccer team being 77 and Harry Potter 7 being released and many more ...

- Metal India: India suddenly became a hotspot for Heavy Metal artists with Iron Maiden opening India to a Brave New World. This was followed by Sepultura, Aero Smith and many more. Ofcourse it wasn't only heavy metal, there was Shakira, and other Pop, R&B, Hip Hop artists, all finding India a crazy-about-music place.

- My Hobbies: They took an all time high, with my interests ranging widely. Guitar, Music, Soccer, Ambigrams, Photoshop, Drawing, Star-gazing, Photography, Travelling, and many more have all taken my life by storm.

- ACE Untd: My new soccer team which was started this year and I am proud that I designed the logo for it. We learnt a lot of football playing for ACE Untd, and though it is undergoing a crisis at the moment, I am sure it will step out in bright colours.

- Touring: I went for trips to Chattisgarh and to South India, and I truly enjoyed both of them. I captured some good moments and saw places that will stick to my memory. It's been a year of sighseeing for me.

- College: Can't believe this is coming under the Highs section. I had lots of fun in college this year. We had an equal share of academics and enjoyment, and I feel one must live like this. Dedicating life to studies is not a good option and sacrificing studies for life is not one either.


As a whole, this year was a good year for me. A few months went by in blink and a few months were slow. However they were, they were good. This year has definitely been a positive one over the last few years. I just hope 2008 will bring out something better for me.

I found an apt description for the New Year. This is a part of the song Brand New Start by Alter Bridge.

We will make a brand new start
From the pieces of our hearts
The break of day is before us;
Cast your sorrows to the wind
Let the highway take us in
As we escape the disorder


And this is from Rise Today by Alter Bridge again.

Yeah
Oh Yeah,
I want to rise today and change this world.
Yeah
Oh Yeah,
Oh won't you rise today and change this world?

That bring this post to an end. Can't really call it a post. A novel would be a better word. Anyway, it's a adios to 2007 and a hola! to 2008, Happy New Year to all!

ACE Undecided

I know it's been 3 posts since I posted a happy note, and this isn't one either. It all comes down to those Soccer Woes that started with my new semester. Life on the pitch has been miserable as was today's game against the Gunners. That's the team that comprises some good friends of my friend, Yaseen. A very experienced team with players that are highly skilled. My team, ACE Untd, has been having problems ever since we started a string of renovations and changes. They don't seem to be working too well.
    Today's match was a cakewalk for the Gunners. They pulled of a victory with ease. Before the match started, I knew that we will be losing this one. I was only hoping we would keep the scoreline low. We missed out on a few important defenders which quickly proved to be fatal. The passing and movement of the Gunners was extremely simple and easy. Everyone knew where the others were, and one could have closed his eyes and passed to his team mate effortlessly. For ACE Untd, the whole formation was a huge void. There were no passes in the mid and there was a complete lack of switch of play. While the gunners were coolly switching play from right to left and back with accurate long passes and lobs. Their through balls were clean and swift, and they could outplay 3-4 defenders in a single pass. That's something that can be learnt only by experience and practice.
    We MRGI students live in such a hectic world that college is what appears even when we open or close our eyes. In such a mad rush to nowhere, we miss out a few delightful things like sports, and extra-curricular stuff. This lack of exposure to sports has brought ACE Untd to a questionable situation. All team members are separated by atleast 30KM across the city and college is the only place that is accessible. A negligible 15-20 min of practice isn't practice at all. It's a difficult choice between studies and soccer. It's a difficult choice between what we love and what is important. It's a difficult choice between what's easy and what's right.
    Today ACE Untd woke up, when they should have done that a long time ago. We have realized the potential of a simple organised team. ACE Untd has but been a collection of some good players who never learnt to co-ordinate with team mates. Maybe in the near future, when we would have played a good number of matches, ACE Untd would finally become a Team.

Life's Hairpin Bend

Somehow, after abiding the last few days, I can see that life has taken a sharp U-turn and I nearly fell off the cliff. It's been a series of disappointing days with text-books stolen, soccer going bad to worse, college not being enjoyable, and the latest, my guitar's only working pickup giving away ...
   After going through a torrid day today, I thought some guitar work would do good. But turns out that the only pickup that works on it is finally spoilt and it gives a horrible distorted shriek when I play a simple acoustic patch. The patches with some distortion gain are working fine and whenever I switch to an acoustic patch, the amp starts shrieking. The volume suddenly goes up on its own to such an extent that I have to jump and slam the power off, before my neighbour bangs the door. At first, I thought this is a problem with the Zoom 505II that I use, but when I connected my acoustic pickup to it, it worked fine on both acoustic and distorted patches. So maybe it isn't a trouble in the Zoom's electronic circuit or something. The most logical culprit for me is my guitar, which broke into 2 halves long ago, and was reattached. Then the pickups were amateurishly pushed down a bit to help with my lead guitar. Then I found out that one of the pickups isn't working and by switching it on, it is creating more noise. And now, the second pickup has lost its touch and on the whole, the guitar is spoilt almost to an extent of 75%. The only possible remedy is, replacing the old, battered guitar with a new one. And that won't happen any time soon. So, I think my guitar playing has reached a temporary halt which I hate to the core. At torrid times like this, my guitars are what keep me alive, and when they don't work well, I feel like escaping to Hawai or Fiji to spend the rest of my life in peace ....

Beg, Borrow...

... and steal of course. We are no more in a polite world where someone shows enough respect for you and your belongings. A 100 Crore people cannot live without hurting the others some way or the other. Forget about the 100 Crore of filth of which I am a part, think about those 50 odd students in my class who cannot keep their mouths or hands in control. As the story goes, I get a rare text book photocopied by a friend, and carefully place my copy in the bag. What I find in the evening is, the bag has been ransacked (that word comes due to my anger now), and that book is gone. It's so late in the evening that there is nobody around to question. The first real suspect will be a student from the class. What would a guy from another class do with a Computational Fluid Dynamics book?
   And this is clearly not the first time. I've lost my calculator twice and had to keep buying them again and again without anyone to blame or suspect. I've seen friends lose gazillion things just in a matter of a few minutes or hours. If there is one person who is doing all this, he might have already crossed Bill Gates in terms of wealth. Hell knows why such people exist. To make matters worse, there are so many people with so many odd feelings about the rest of them that its not possible to trust anyone with your .... belongings. It's embarrassing to tell such a tale while studying in the 3rd Year of college. But when people are so sick around you, they are supposed to feel abashed, ashamed.
   I am supposed to be completing an assignment at this moment and I am wasting time spilling my heart out to an invisible reader. There is a ray of hope still left in me, a something that tells me that I might get my book back from a guy who would say, "Hey, you left your book here yesterday and I was looking for you .. ". But who knows its my book? It's new and unopened. There's no name on it. Or maybe, the book might come in with someone else's name on it and I am forced to look away. This is really a hard lesson for both the careful and the careless. Once someone has set his/her eyes on your stuff, it's going. No matter what kinda Z-Security you provide it. I carry an iPod Classic with me which mostly resides in the bag and this incident gives me a run for my money. There's a friend who wants his 10year old helmet to be stolen so that he can buy a new one. But he hasn't succeeded yet. Who gives a damn about an old piece of round plastic without a visor? We all want branded brand new stuff. Stealing needs some style. The marks it leaves on the the victim are supposed to be long-living.
Crap! This is heading nowhere. Justice can't come to me without a camera in the classroom. When cameras come to MRCET, it will be 2050 AD, when people can drive cars by simply thinking about the destination, and those cars don't need a road to hover ... in 2007, let's simply hope tomorrow shines for a disheartened soul ...

Drawing and it's complications...

It's obvious drawing isn't easy. It's more obvious for someone who is bad at drawing. But Drawing in general, is too broad to be branded EASY or HARD. There are so many different methods that each of them has it's own distinct features. My type of drawing is pencil drawing which should be considered the simplest, but then, you can draw with a single pencil (supposed to be for beginners like me), or to get some better details, you can use pencils of different thicknesses and different graphite, clay mixtures, all depending on your choice. Again, we can draw using only lines, or we can draw by shading. That's one more choice to make. Depending on the type of drawing, we can chose between lines and shading. Shading can be also done with lines or strokes, so they are not really different. Generally, i use either my finger or a piece of paper to shade. But one important part of drawing is first observing what you are about to draw. You might be drawing a cartoon image, or from a photograph or maybe a real-life scene, or a portrait. Drawing cartoon images are relatively easier because they are already drawn with the same kind of lines and shades. Replicating cartoons has been easy for me, but when it comes to photographs, the whole thing suddenly gets really complicated.
First, I have to find out the shadows, mid range and highlights of a photograph. Sounds simple but it always gets me confused after starting. If there is a black t-shirt and a steel chain worn over it, the t-shirt must be shadowed and the chain must be highlighted, but i often end up drawing the chain first and realizing that the t-shirt is supposed to be shadowed. The steel chain should be left as white, undrawn spaces on a dark background. I have a constant war with the human body parts. Drawing faces and expressions, hands, feet, muscles, etc, are a big pressure on the brain. The right angles and perspectives are to be realized not by drawing but by observing. With a little effort, I can manage with hands, feet, muscles, etc, but drawing faces still frustrates me. Though i know various techniques to simplify faces and get the general structure, they don't help me much. Subtle changes in the eyebrows, eyes, nose, ears, hair, mouth, moustache, beard, chin, jaws, and hundreds of other things can really affect the face that you draw and getting all those right is a big thing to do. Above all this, the orientation and tilting of a face again needs some looking into. For me, drawing a face is the biggest challenge of all and it pulls up more than half my time spent. Drawing faces from cartoons is again simpler and it gets complicated while replicating from a photograph or a real-life one.
Getting the general perspective right is a huge task. Stuff like tables, buildings and other definite shapes have certain changes once taken from a photo. They all look as if they meet at some point at infinity and 3 dimensional understanding of those shapes is something that needs some focus. I solve these problems by using a grid. But replicating them exactly is tough.

Such are a few complications that can be mentioned while drawing. Ofcourse there will be many more about which I don't know yet and only further experimentation and experience will teach me more about this so called art. For me it's more of a science than an art.

Aah i am tired typing, but i felt this term Drawing needs a special mention after I recently took up the pencil and the drawing board again, to do one with 4 people standing or sitting in different positions and looking in different directions. All of that, took quite some time for me to get onto paper. And also, i had to draw a certain fort with arches for my dad who wanted to paint that. Now the catch was, I had to do a charcoal drawing with made matters worse and a few matters simpler but it was a whole new experience to hold a unevely shaped charcoal piece to draw something on a huge sheet of canvas.....

AB's Favourties

My favourites of Alter Bridge are these songs:

From One Day Remains (2004 August),
Find the Real       4:44
One Day Remains       4:05
Open Your Eyes       4:31
Burn It Down       6:11
Metalingus       4:20
Broken Wings       5:07
In Loving Memory       5:40
Down to my Last       4:47
Watch Your Words       5:25
Shed My Skin       5:09
The End is Here        4:58
(oops I think I wrote all the songs from the album!!!)       

From Blackbird (2007 October),
Ties that Bind       3:19
Come to Life       3:52
Brand New Start       4:57
Buried Alive       4:34
Rise Today       4:21
Blackbird       8:01
One by One       4:17

AB. Yeah that's the one ...

Well, AB stands for Alter Bridge, my new favourite band who have made sure I spend a minimum of an hour on my iPod listening to them.

From right to left: Tremonti, Scott, Marshall and Myles.

    Plunging into some history of Alter Bridge, the band is American and was formed by 3 members, Tremonti, Scott and Marshall, who all left Creed because of conflicts with the lead vocalist of Creed. The vocalist for AB, Myles Kennedy joined in later and completed the band. They released One Day Remains (which almost became the name of the band) in 2004 (Aug 10th:a day before my birthday) and that happens to be my favourite album. Later they released BlackBird in 2007 October which also had a few hits. By the way, they play Alternative Metal, Alternative Rock, Hard Rock etc.
     Well my favourite persons in the band are Mark Tremonti and Myles Kennedy. Mark is the lead guitarist and his style of play is similar to the metal bands style. He is one the main founders of the band and according to me, the most talented. He writes and composes most of the songs and also gives back-up vocals to AB. Infact, Alter Bridge is named after a bridge near Mark's home in Detroit.
  Myles, the lead vocalist is one who has blown me away. He can sing in 4 octaves and he can cover right from bassy vocals in slow parts to the extremely high-pitched vocals in the fast parts. This also means he should be able to sing the same tune in 4 pitches each one varying only on the octaves but not on the general tune.
    The best part of this band is that they have good rhythm guitar merged with an equally hair-raising lead guitar well combined with drums and bass. The vocals and lead stand right up there. Overall, I like this band because it has a combination of Metallica type of leads and good Hard Rock rhythms. It's a type of genre of that I have to settle with because of my interest in Metal and Rock at the same time.

My soccer woes

Ahh, it's horrible when you can't do what you love to do. I love soccer and I live for soccer. Yet, I am going through a rough patch and it's a clear sign of struggle. I gave a simple gap of a month due to exams and the tour. Now, when I am back on the field, the legs suddenly turn into lead and the shoes are rocks. I can't lift my leg off the ground and a snail can get there faster than me. My shots end up with the ball rolling casually towards the keeper and the passes intercepted 95% of the time. Those 1st year guys who are new to the surroundings and themselves are simply stomping all of us down and going home with 5-0, 6-0 victories. They have co-ordination and inch-perfect precision. God knows who taught them the game. Whenever i get the ball, I start sweating and wondering what to do. I cannot analyze my options and I cannot finish the move. The co-ordination and team work is horrible. Hundreds of soccer woes and no one to answer to them.
I am just hoping my rough patch will get over soon and get down to the field with a renewed confidence. It's shameful to say I am actually in the starting 11 of a soccer team...

The Result

When the exam results were out, I never knew. It was my cousin who told me the result. And all I wanted to hear was that phrase saying, "You passed all". When I heard that, i felt like the whole world melted around me and turned into chocolate. It was soothing to hear the result after experiencing personally the whole set of exams.
    During the exams, it was the oddest feeling I got. I was shivering in the heat and sweating in the cold. I just couldn't realize what was going on with me. The cold was hard and dry and the hands were numb. I couldn't feel the pen that I was holding and I just let the hand do it's job. I never got time to re-check what I wrote. At times, I was so deeply lost in thought that I forgot that I was writing a final exam. An occasional drop of a pen or a cough in the hall brought me back to reality. One thing was for sure, at the end of every exam, I come out with a dejected face and curse myself for writing so foolishly. This happened for 4 out of the 6 exams and I really thought luck wouldn't favour me for a 2nd time. Last time, I spoilt the exams, I ended up topping the class, and this time I felt the tables would have turned.
    Instead, Srikar calls me and says I got 79.3%. I was more than delighted about this result. Now that the new semester has started, I think it's better to keep it on a straight track and let it guide me properly to the exams. I try to get too smart during regular classes and end up knowing nothing by the crucial time. Well, this is 3-2 and the general atmosphere around gives a feeling of foreboding and asks me to keep away from trouble. But trouble comes without calling. We are always stuck in the same damn ship without a compass, and with the captain dead, there's nothing that can be done.

iPod Classic 1.0.3

  Ok, first of all, I am sorry my tour update hasn't come in yet. But it will surely come.
  Well, coming to the topic in talk, the firmware update 1.0.3 for iPod Classic and 3G Nano was released and I finally did my update. I read a lot of things about it. Stuff like photos are not viewable after the update...
  As usual, Apple didn't mention what the update is going to change and they simply say, Bug Fixes. After doing the update I found these changes.
 The TV-Out options have become more open and simpler. As I don't use TV-Out I cannot really say how it can improve life with iPod Classic. But apparently, they have included wide-screen and fit-to-screen options. And last time they unlocked the TV-Out option.
 The click-wheel has changed its performance again for me. It is sticky when you start the scroll and gradually goes smooth and fast. It is still slower compared to other models.
 One great improvement for me is in the Notes. The text files are still limited to 5KB, but then the scrolling is 100 times smoother. Before the update the scroll was as if you are using a 3D software in a 32MB RAM system. Now thankfully the notes are more scrollable.
 Before the Update, while ejecting, it showed a weird funny note like, "Ejecting: You may now disconnect". Now that is gone and it shows some kind of a status bar and when the bar is full, the iPod ejects.
 The CoverFlow has improved yet again in speed. This time they did it by slightly reducing the size of the covers.

  Those were a few things I could notice. Maybe there are more. Only time will tell coz Apple doesn't tell. The battery life must be checked again. I am just hoping it improves. As of now, I have one major problem with the click-wheel. At times, it suddenly becomes totally unresponsive and no matter how you move you fingers over it, nothing happens. Only when you press some button, the iPod starts responding again.

Hi Hyd

I'm back atlast. Safely and happily. At the moment, I am feeling disoriented, seeing Home after so many days. So, I'll be posting a little later. That would involve a few details and photos. These hands are shivering with excitement and i can't type anything now. See you later...

Bye Hyd

The time has come. I am not really excited about my South India, so-called Industrial Tour, but there is a certain level of anxiety out here, which leaves me wondering whether everything will be alright. Last time when I went for similar trips, I was in school, and we were all well-behaved kids who always walked in straight lines, following the teachers instructions even in sleep. But now, things are different. We don't know who'll run where, and who'll get drunk or who'll start fighting. These 20 year olds are totally unpredictable. The anxiety is really biting my head off, and I just hope everything goes fine by the end of 12 days.

Right now, I am just hours away from leaving the place I call home, and it was just a few hours ago that I left Srikar who's leaving to Vishakapatnam/Kirandul. I was so confused with all this. I had this tour where all my good friends are going, and the Vishakapatnam trip where my cousins, and dad are going. I still feel, I would enjoy more with Srikar and co. Anyway, things have been decided and I must leave now!!

LA Auto Show

  Well, this happened last week and whatever I was talking about the Reventon is out in the form of images. Some pics of Reventon and other cars from the show. Hail Supercars!




  That is the Reventon in its true form. It's a carbon fiber stunner. The design has been based on fighter aircraft, and sure enough you can see hints of the F-22 Raptor on that. The wheel rims are like razor sharp blades and those 19" wheels are awesome. That's the 2008 Lamborghini Reventon for you...


2004 McLaren Mecrcedes SLR


2007 Audi R8 (from the leMans Concept Car)

Winter is here

Winter has stepped in and it's time to pull out those old sweaters and coats and whatever warmth you could lay your hands on. Anyway this is Hyderabad, India and the cold here is atleast not as hard as the northern regions. Yet, it has been a dry winter so far and it's been pretty much irritating to write exams in such cold. The real deal is yet to come, but I've got something far more chilling and interesting with me now. Well, the timing of my recent craze of gazing at stars was a bit bad and I missed the better half of the night sky during the Aug-Sept-Oct months. Now the famous and good-looking constellations come into view and the interesting period starts now. I wonder how I had the patience to wait for so many months to wait for these 2-3 months of good night sky.
  Today, we were on the terrace for finishing up with our remaining fireworks stuff as it was the full moon and we followed the tradition. The winter chill suddenly cleared my mind and I remembered the Winter Hexagon and all those winter constellations. I ran home, checked out the latest arrangement of the stars in the sky (at the moment over Hyderabad) and ran back upstairs only to find the full moon dominating almost every other object in the sky. But I could see some spots in the eastern side (where the moon was) which were bright enough to override the moon. And I knew these should be the very bright ones and famous as well. Just as an experiment, I took a 15sec exposure photograph of an area in the eastern sky. To my surprise, though the moon light made the photo too bright, i found many many stars that I couldn't see normally. I started taking more pics in the east and finally found what I was looking for. Easily one of my favourites and named after a hunter, The Orion was out there hanging just over the horizon. I could make out all the important stars and because I was seeing it for the first time in the sky, my blood was rushing. I could see 2 stars with the naked eye just under the bright moonlight, but my camera could see 20-30 stars under the same moonlight. I got the photo and after a bit of tweaking, the stars can be seen with some more clarity than the original. The pic goes down here, and I'll put other pics in the coming days, as the moon loses its shine and the sky goes dark slowly. I must catch a glimpse before I leave for my tour. I can still do it there, but the view from Kerala might change slightly. My previous post explains a lot of things: Here. A paragraph of particular interest to me is this:

I managed to find some interesting things over the internet and i get excited to see them out there in the blackness of the universe. Some of the things i would love to be able to see are, Leo, Orion, Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Canis Major and Minor, and a few more like Taurus. But before that, we need to find this so called Winter Triangle and the Winter Hexagon which has among the brightest stars like Sirius, Betelgeuse, Pollux and stuff.. I have been having a faint idea about the location of Sirius coz, it is the brighest star and also forms a vertex of the Winter Hexagon, and, it forms the constellation, Canis Major, but the problem is, i can't confirm it. There's a bright thing in the east the surely is Jupiter, and there are 2 brights above my head of which, one is Mars and the other might be Sirius. Just can't confirm...

  The funny thing is, though I mentioned the Winter Hexagon and Triangle and so many stars, I couldn't see any of them. The 2 brights above my head were not at all Mars or Sirius. Infact, at that time, when I was looking above my head, Mars and Sirius were just setting down the Western Horizon and I missed them. Now, they travel the whole other side of the earth and will peek out from the eastern horizon. I finally get to see my favourite stars in the sky and this pic below shows one of the best looking constellations during winter. To see the details, click on the image, it gives a 1600X1200 pix view of the photo (only then can you see the faint dots on it!!)



(You will need some patience for the 1600 X 1200 image to load and the red lines show the constellations. The sky you see here is the North-Eastern sky over Hyd at around 2100hrs. The photo has been modified and the contrast ratios might be a bit abnormal. So, don't mind ..)

Egg-Whams again !!

Exams are over! But wait a minute. Why am I not enjoying? Somehow, for the first time, I am not happy though the exams are over. If one writes them badly, then he would generally wait more eagerly for holidays. It's the other way round for me though. My exams were terrible on an average and some of them have been worse, and yet I don't feel relieved when holidays are here. I feel as though there is something missing and there is an empty void around me. It could probably be because of the dissatisfied feeling after the exams but I am hoping I would get out of that soon.

There is a Bangalore-Kerala Trip round the corner and I really wouldn't like my bad mood to spoil that. Hopefully, I can get better after some roaming and a few jam sessions!!

No interest !!

No interest to post anything right now. Later, I can talk about my unstable performances in exams and Lamborghini Reventon... the 3D pic was posted in this blog here... Lambo's Lambs. At that time, I could only get the 3D design, but now, the car is out. Your wait won't be long for the F-22 inspired design of Lambo Reventon!! (and by the way, today is my mom's birthday!)...

Diwali, 2007

I never had any plans this Diwali because of the exams. I wasn't in any mood to study but at the same time, I couldn't enjoy fireworks completely because of the exam tension at the back of my mind. Somehow, I managed to get somewhere in between those and started clicking photos. Most of my Diwali night was spent in this. And here's the result of some of my attempts. First thing, it's all easy talk clicking the button when there's a rocket sending out it's so called Hanging Gardens and Lavenders and stuff... but when you get behind the camera, it becomes so much more difficult. The light comes first as it travels much faster than sound, and we get confused trying to wait for the sound to come and in those milliseconds, we miss out the shot. So I clicked nearly 100 times and deleted atleast 70-80 of them. Finally, the exposure helped me and i got some good ones in the end, though I am not entirely satisfied by what I got. Even then, some shots are way beyond my imagination. The smoke and illumination make Hyderabad City look like a city from Jupiter, thanks to the exposure.

Well, the Festival of Lights has come to an end and I need to get back onto my studies, or else I'll still be in 3-1 for the next Diwali. Meanwhile, these are the outputs of my experiments. But I won't get 75/75 for this exam ... hahaha...

Dare to dream ??

Ok, this bug bit me 2 days ago when I found myself in the one place that I love to be. I went to my favourite musical intrument shop, Khords and was lost in there, as simple as it could be. I actually went there to buy Guitar Strings for both my guitars. Ofcourse, I ended up buying cables and other mini accessories as well. But what caught my attention in the shop was the bunch of new guitars that they had. The acoustics were too good, and the electrics were out of this world! They brought in many many new models of Givson (as they always do), but I saw some unknown brands like Focus and stuff. The real Black Gold was deep inside the shop, the Ibanez with models for both right-handers and left-handers. The latest addition (the fresh stock!!) were 4 large sealed boxes which had actually had Fender Stratocasters in them. I couldn't see the guitar inside, but I could feel it. The box was actually a complete set with Guitar+Amp+other small accessories. The guitar comes with a Whammy Bar as well and the box was priced at a surprising 12K. I thought it would touch the sky.... I know guitar freaks won't leave those boxes alone, but I am sad that I had to do that. Well, the time might come.. who knows?

Johny's Laboratory

  The External Lab exams just got over, and it's more of a relief that they went smooth.
  Yesterday I had Aerodynamics Lab and supposedly, everyone was scared of that exam. As fate had it, the college bus got very late, and I could only enter the lab at 10. I lost a precious half hour and was wondering if this is the beginning of my end. I chose one random question out of the last two and it turned out to be the easiest of all. I quickly answered everything needed (I didn't even need to do the experiment as there was a problem with the wind tunnel equipment), and left for the viva. It wasn't very good, but i answered a few which I hope will get me through.
  I had the Aircraft Production Technology Lab exam today and though the name sounds interesting, the subject tells a different story. The word aircraft appears around 2-3 times in the entire subject. Anyway, the exam was fine and I managed to learn on the spot, how to read exactly from a Vernier Calipers, and how to make accurate use of the graduations given on the lathe machine. I was doing the expt for the first time directly (that happens every year) and I was quite comfortable with it. The viva was screwed after the external asked me things which I never heard of. When finally he asked me a question I knew, I was relieved and started answering. But then, just as I started answering, he sent me away. I don't know what to make out of that, but I hope something will be done so that I can get a respectable score in the final.
  Well, though there were problems, on an average, it was a good round up of my Lab stuff. That comes especially after missing both the Lab Internals due to sickness, and then re-writing them after a lot of begging and persuasion. Hope the final result shows the Thumbs Up for me coz my descriptive exams have already decided that they won't allow me to write them well ..... who's human ?????

Ambigram Chocolate

Well, we can now see Ambigrams coming out into the open with the new's ULTA Perk placing one on the cover of the bar. As the name suggests, the wafer part is outside and the chocolate is on the inside, just a reversal of the original Perk. The picture above tells all...

Gearing up for ...

... I don't know what. October has come to an end before I even knew I started. I was just talking to Manish about our Industrial Tour to Bangalore-Kerala-Kanyakumari, and never realized I was making a huge mistake with the dates. I kept telling him we will be starting the Trip on October 29th and we'll be back by November 10th. And he reminded me that today is already October 31. I got a jolt and realized we'll be leaving in November and we'll be back in December. Confusion Prevails...
  Before all that, we have these exams to attend to. My Onlines are nearing The End, and my average marks are falling after every exam. At the moment, I can see everything below 15 on 20. That'll be a blow after we get our ever-shocking External Exam Results. Those few marks you lost in the Internal might just pull you back so that you can write the exam again in the next term. I never feared exams, but when there's pressure, even your best friend is a monster.
  Today Natarajan was slightly put-off after Raj Kiran failed to get some notes for him. The way he started talking looked as if our whole group was trying to neglect his presence. I don't like such things to happen but when they happen, they leave you in a tight situation. Any kind of explanation won't work.
  The last post of October comes to an end, and November will dawn in by tomorrow along with a renewed pressure of Lab Externals and Finals. Hope November is good ... may someone show mercy on all of us, kids of Aero, and make this month fruitful (Children's Day coming in .. heheh.)

Classic 1.0.2

  Well, Apple sent a firmware update for the Ipods Nano and Classic, version 1.0.2. I read a few reviews about the update and started feeling edgy about downloading it. The first surprising thing was, the download was 56.6 MB, and an update being so big sounds really funny. That wasn't the only problem. People have complained about various things happening to their iPods after updating. Some said the iPod keeps restarting continuously, or that it is not being detected, or that it isn't getting ejected. As I read on, the list started increasing and I was wondering if this is some problem from Apple.
  Inspite of it's great looks and good sound and perfect video playback, i had concerns of the ipod being slow during the CoverFlow, and during Menu Navigation and the Click-wheel being less sensitive. The recent update claimed that it has improved some of these things and also unlocked a TV Out option. Well the TV Out option sounds pretty useless because we need to buy an original cable from Apple alone. Any other cables don't seem to be working with it.
  Somehow, half-heartedly, I set up the update and now the result is out for me to observe. First thing I noticed was the Menu Navigation which seems a lot faster than before. But then, it still isn't as fast as it's previous models. One more change was that, the CoverFlow has become smooth and sensitive. Sound quality has no change at all. The TV Out option is of no use to me. The Click-Wheel sensitivity improved for 1.0.1 itself and nothing else was done this time. A funny thing I noticed was, while ejecting, the message that comes on the iPod sounds something like it's still in the process of ejecting and yet it is safe to disconnect. Now, if Apple can explain that to me, I'd be happy. All I know is, no experiments till it is totally ejected....
  1.0.2 has improved performance greatly but I must see how this affects the battery life. I'll be waiting for 1.0.3 if it promises me more bug fixes...

The Kimilton Controversy

   This F1 season has brought up controversy after controversy. Looks like Schumacher is giggling to himself that he is thankfully not involved in all this. As per the latest, the very Driver's Championship Title is at stake. After McLaren's info exchange and the sacking of important technicians from McLaren and Ferrari, there is one more twist now, this time, involving BMW Sauber and Williams. McLaren Merc filed a complaint saying these both teams ran on fuel at a temperature lower by around 10 degrees. Sounds like not much of a big deal here, but then, if we have to go by the rules, it does make a difference.
   A lower temperature means, the same amount of fuel occupies a lesser volume and hence leaves some space for more fuel. This way, the driver can run on more fuel and last longer on the track, maybe a 2 pit-stop strategy might take him to the finish line.
   If by any chance, McLaren's case is considered and the BMW and Williams teams are found guilty, they might be docked off their points in the last Brazilian Grand Prix. Because both the BMW's finished before Hamilton in this race, their disqualification means Hamilton moves up and gets more points. This also means, he finishes with more Championship Points than Kimi Raikkonen and wins the Title.

   So, this particular controversy can make things really big and I fear, Kimi will not only lose a hard-earned Title, but Hamilton will win it in an unconventional method and McLaren's brand-image might droop down as well. It'll be like a sad end to an exciting story and a 10 degrees temperature difference will change the winner of the Title many days after the season got over....

Kimi Champion

The latest news, Kimi Raikkonen has just been named Kimi Champion. Sorry, World Champion. Wow. What a day for Ferrari. I wouldn't be surprised if they partied right till the start of the next season. The Driver's Championship has been sooo close this time and I was really expecting the new rookie, Lewis Hamilton to make an explosive start to his career. With the last Brazilian Grand Prix to go, the top 3 drivers were just 7 points apart. Hamilton - 107, Alonso - 103, Raikkonen - 100. At the end of the race, the points are, Raikkonen - 110, Hamilton - 109, Alonso - 109. That is one of the closest ever finishes as far as I know and the P3 finishing at P1 by the end is really great.

Thanks to McLaren's controversial secret info exchange, they were fined heavily and they lost all the Constructor's Points. Ferrari grabbed both the Driver's and Constructor's Championships and finished with a 1-2 on the final race. What more could anyone ask for ?? It's like seeing Micheal Schumacher back into racing for another 10 years....

Previous Post Answer

Well, there was a simple question last post, the answers are ...

O T T F F S S E N --T-- ... they are the numbers 1-10 ..

W T F S S M --T-- ... the days of the week, starting from Wednesday ... don't kick yourself now .... Both blanks are to be filled with T ... simple.

Marooned

It's the right word to use right now coz after missing the whole of last week's classes and going straight for the internals, it feels like crash-landing in an enemy base.. Answering 2-3 questions out of the 5 is starting to become an achievement and the 4 internals we had till now haven't gone as wanted. The 1st exam (APT) was fine and then started the downfall.
Thankfully, this festive time has brought us some holidays and that's gonna be given to well-deserved rest and some music. Let's see if it can happen. My blog's gone to an all-time low with no interesting posts though i managed the 100th post recently.

  There's a small thing I would like readers to solve. Here it is ...
  O T T F F S S E N ___
  W T F S S M ___     .. just fill the blanks.

100, Normal health and exams

After a week of pain, bed-rest and a blocked nose, I can finally smell good health. All those medicines must have worked really hard to get me back onto my feet. And to announce, the 100th post in my blog, I feel really proud. Yes, you can raise the toast, but don't expect me to pay for the Champagne. A 3 digit accomplishment wouldn't mean a 6 digit bank account. Anyway, now that I am back into action, college also gets underway and along with it, exams. 'Tis no time to celebrate when internals are ready to bite at your heels.

Down with the Sickness ...

Well, what started as a tiring day on 7th (previous post) has continued on as sick days even till today. I over strained myself on that day after an early morning soccer match and then a long jam session and now I am having to suffer. I got ill the very next day (on 8th) but managed to go to college. After a complete sleeping day at college, I came home with fever. That fever hasn't left me yet and I am still struggling with body pains, temperature, Cold, and Cough ..... hope I can get well fast. I have a constant fear of missing the internal exams that will start soon.

Music/Soccer/Music/Soccer/Music/Soccer ....

Oh God!!... what a day it has been. Clearly the longest day of my life. It all started when I was dozing peacefully hoping that I could sleep till noon. I suddenly got a call from a friend asking me to come to a Soccer Match at Rail Nilayam. I was late for the match but managed to play the last 20 min as a substitute. Was a very good match though we lost 4-3. We made some good movement and all players had a kind of zeal in them to play good football rather than simply score goals. The formations were very bad with no player sticking to his role but still, there was a co-ordination among the players that left no space for the opponents (Railways soccer guys). The MGIT and MRGI guys together played the match against the Railways...
Overall, good match. But after going home, I got a call from my bro and he asked me to come over to his place so that we could have a jam session. I drove my car out and reached his place. We had a long a tiring jam session and after lunch the effects started to show (of tire).. and now, after reaching home, my eyes barely open and my fingers barely moving, I somehow managed to type this post. Today will surely be an "early to bed" day and i hope i can rise early tomorrow....

iPod hW s,.L!

Well, my iPod days have started and the last few of them have been a blur. I just couldn't realize the speed of the clock ticking away as I spent time on the new Classic.
First of all, it's an 80GB thing which I might take a few years to fill. (just kiddin').. the interface is has been stepped up and looks very cool, but it's definitely slower than the previous models. The Main menu is the slow one with the animated AlbumArt on one half of the screen. It's not exactly slow, but it takes about 0.5 secs to show up the menu when you move in from another. It's takes another 0.5secs to enter the new CoverFlow menu. It looks exactly like the CoverFlow in iTunes and once loaded, it feels really nice to scroll through the Covers. The music quality is pretty much the same. I couldn't feel any real improvement in the playback. The EQ presets are not fun coz it's a long process getting into the Equalizer and they cannot be changed to our style. The video playback is really cool and smooth and it's the best thing that I liked in this model. The iTunes converter was really taking a long time to convert simple MPEG formats and moreover, once converted, the audio was completely lost. I heard of cases where the audio-video sync was having a lag, but in mine, the audio was gone totally. I was a bit worried about this but fortunately, I found a software that works just fine. It converts almost all formats (including FLV and SWF) and does it very quickly without any lag or loss in audio. My Video Playback just got better. The clarity, even at 0% brightness is great and I am really enjoying the overall performance of the Classic. The battery-life is one that has to be tested because I am connecting the Classic almost every evening and in turn charging it up. But my approximations tell me that it could come upto 10-15 hours and not more than that. But the specs say it comes to 30 hours. I hope I am wrong.
The extra stuff available is fun to use, but everything has to synced in from itunes. Hardly anything can be done on the iPod itself. But I don't wanna get into the details of that.

Anyway, this craze will go on for a few days and later, it will slowly subside. All I can say is, Patience can do miracles ...

Just tell me if you understood the Title of this post.

iPod!

Finally, my much anticipated iPod dream has come true. And it's a pleasure to look at that sleek and black, chrome finished body of the iPod Classic. It's fully loaded with a 80GB capacity and a nice LCD screen to watch my fav videos and photos. Everything else is as usual as any other Apple product, so I don't think there would be any stress about all that, like MP3 quality and stuff...
Well, excuse me, coz I gotta spend some time with my new Gad here, so next post, next month...

Till then, enjoy these photos that show how my thing looks like... mind you, I took the photos at such a close range and in such a hurry that, they got kinda blurred... maybe the Classic wanted to appear classic on the photos..

Another small thing, would you mind reading the title of this blog like an ambigram (ie, by tilting your head 180 degrees??).

2-0

  That's definitely the score I will love to see anytime. That match between ManU and Chelsea was expected to be a thriller. They are 2 Championship winning teams. But somehow, Chelsea were down right from the beginning. They never really looked like scorers and ManU kept attacking and attacking and finally got the breakthrough with Carlos Tevez's first goal for his team. It was a delight to watch that diving header. Soon it was pretty obvious that Chelsea have given away the match to ManU. They just weren't attacking. Instead, they kept making more and more fouls on their side. In the end, Mikel got the red light for his harsh tackle and that totally destroyed Chelsea's already poor match. Their new manager, Avram Grant must have missed out on adding the fuel to the fire, coz it never burnt. At the close, ManU won a silly penalty appeal and made it 2-0. Enough to seal the match and enough for me to rejoice.

  Inspite of that, i feel a bit sorry for the Chelsea team, they must be really missing Jose Mourinho and his firey tactics. I hope it's not a slump for another 50 years! Chelsea woke up when Mourinho came and gave them the Title after 5 decades, and his departure shouldn't let Chelsea go back to sleep again. It spoils the fun element of the EPL.
  And look at Arsenal! While other teams are fighting for a win, the Gunners and cruising with 5-0 kinda victories. Looks like ManU and Arsenal are gonna have a pretty tough fight this season.
  Our EPL standings look like this at the moment.

Lambo's Lambs

I wouldn't call them lambs coz they are Bulls!!. But just to make that perfect title, i had to do it. Anyway, Automobili Lamborghini has stepped up their old Murcielago again and this time they came with a GT version. They are talking about some updated BF performance which has added a few more horses to the power. Nice pic they got here, and that is along with the design of their new Reventon. Looks a bit futuristic, let's see how far that gets real. They seem to be really trying to put everything under covers so that it springs at us suddenly, just like a Bull!

2008 Lamborghini Reventon



2007 Lamborghini Murcielago GT660

Touch iT. HEAR iT. SHARE iT.

  From the past few days, I have been searching extensively for something that would solve my audio blues. I have always been a die-hard listener of music and that is going a bit beyond my control now. I am getting desperate now. That 1 hour I spend in the college bus is a bumpy ride with nothing to feel other than the potholes and craters. If i had some music to add to that, my bumpy ride would get bearable. Well, I have found out a lot about these music players, especially the all-time favourite, the iPod. We all know about the heavily common Shuffle, or Nano or Classic or any other that i might have ignored. But what has struck me the most is the new iPod Touch. It has brought in some excitement and along with it, some curiosity.
  Well, i don't know if you want to call it the new revolution of iPod or a degeneration from the iPhone. For me, it's both. It is an upgrade and a downgrade at the same time. It looks very much like the iPhone, but is slimmer. It doesn't have the phone options like cam and stuff, concentrating on the audio part alone. But not entirely. It has a Safari Browser and Wi-Fi connection enabled, so that you can share your stuff. You got a 8GB or a 16GB option which gives you plenty of space but not as much as the 80GB or 160GB Classic. The interface is good but reviews have complained that the touch-screen is not as exciting as the iPhone and they have found flaws in the video colours. You gotta tilt your Touch away from your face to get those perfect colour tones. Different pieces have shown the same defect, so looks like the Touch comes with a tiny flaw. Its surely a great leap in the audio crazy world, but it certainly is not a lot better than the iPhone which comes at the same cost and more options, but with a reduction in storage space.

  For me, this sounds exciting but personally, I would not be having much of a chance to share stuff with others, so the Wi-Fi is only a show-off. The Wi-Fi stores and all that crap might be needed to download and that's hell of a pain more than downloading stuff simply from the computer. The internet browser looks fine, but I gotta find out more about it. Instead of all this, i would be very much satisfied to listen to my favourite tracks and watch my favourite videos and pics on the 6th Gen.. Classic stuff...

Take over the World, IndYEAH!!

  India has leaped suddenly. Amidst all the security issues and political issues, the field that's jumping ahead is the sporting field. How does it all happen suddenly??
  We have seen India get some recognition in the Soccer Arena finally after winning the Nehru Cup and then seen progress in Tennis, Hockey and other sports and now, after a long sleep, the cricketing world has woken up to new heights. Being a non-follower of cricket, I can't say how much India had gone ahead of other countries over the past years, but I know that they didn't do well in the recent World Cup at the West Indies. Now, at last, the young and energetic team has proved it's mettle by outplaying some of the best teams in the game and that too, in the new Twenty20 format. Looks like India is taking small but efficient steps towards all-round glory. Isn't it obvious that it should? We form 1/6th of the population and definitely, standing among the top is not a difficult task at all. Congratulations to the entire Indian Cricket Team, the Captain, Dhoni and a special one to Yuvraj Singh (for those lofty 6 6's in 6 balls - forgot that 666 strikes terror in the hearts of the English??) for bringing home the first Twenty20 WorldCup. Felt good to see that unnerving final end on a positive note for us...

Way to go !!

Ganpat all the way !!!

    It's happening live right now, guys on the street, totally gone crazy and wild. The drums are banging (couldn't use a word to fit the sound), and the people are dancing for those 250BPM rolls... the truck is loaded with Idols and people and the lighting is awesome. The light is being run by a generator which has been placed in an auto and the auto is running alongside the truck to keep the wires connected. Now, that's a hell of an arrangement. The music is blaring as I type now, and i can feel the excitement that the people down there feel.
    As this high adrenaline festival comes closer to the end, the security needs to be stepped up coz, we all know how many guys turn up for the Great Immersion. Well, let's hope everything goes safe this time. People die anyway, falling into water and drowning, but this time, the bombscare might get more people on their toes, ready to flee and spread havoc .....

Fiiiniiish !!!!!

       A temporary delight has just come underway, and i can rejoice the end of the first and second internals. It has come after a long wait and i don't know why we so eagerly wait for the exams to be over. Humans love to be tested by Nature and yet, hate to be tested by similar humans. Who the hell has the right to test others?? Nobody can be called perfect so that he can judge others. But if we don't wanna get chucked onto Mars or Pluto, we gotta follow a few things we hate to.
   Anyway the exam fuss is something i never understand. We hear of people coming close to nervous breakdowns and insomnia during exams. And here is me typing proudly saying i give a damn about all these things. For me it's just another day. But once the clock starts ticking in the exam-hall, the whole world is suddenly different and i am partially lost into whatever i am supposed to be thinking about. Well, i don't know if that's the right way to be or not to be, but now, I can turn my attention to other things in hand. The marks aren't great, so there's nothing much to rejoice about, but still, end of exams lightens the mood considerably well.

Fallout ! Chaos !

     2 days ago, everything felt perfect, and now, life seems to have fallen out of place. Things are happening at a chaotic pace and I am tried of it now. First, my hand in music is slapping me back and I am struggling to get along. The samples are not coming out right and the stuff we did earlier also feels bad now. It's kinda frustrating at this point. Maybe I must try out after i feel a bit better.
      My soccer days are coming out bad as well. Last 2 days have been horrible. Though I was able score and create chances, I feel like I just lost the most important match of my life. My stamina fell back suddenly and today I just couldn't force myself to play. I completely lost interest and didn't want to touch the ball. I hardly got a few touches today, and that proves it. I was sitting for most of the time and guys around me could see that I was lost somewhere else. I wish I were somewhere else. I wish I could forget that 1 hour of play...
     My college is also going way out of sync. I can't understand what's going on in class. And the lecturers keep repeating, "Is that Clear??". My head nods a "Yes" as if it were involuntary and not listening to my brain, 'cause my brain is saying something else. Control Systems has gone totally out of control and till I pull myself together, I am never going to get things done. Atleast, on the brighter side, I just got 19/20 in today's exam. Not the way to study, but a way to get along....
     I must put an end to this chaotic life and find some peace...

So, peace...

A blank post - For The Lost Soul ..

Piece of Mind

     I woke up to that sharp alarm of mine, only to realise that I am no more free to do what I want. College finally calls and it's one necessary evil. Shouldn't call it evil really, but after a long beautiful flight, it's painful to crashland to reality. Exams add the fuel to the already raging fire...
     Life changed over the holidays. It became customary to give a deep thought to everything. Now suddenly, things are moving very very fast, it's disorienting. I would just like to step out of the car and take a breath, but it's moving so fast, it'll kill me if i get out.
     With music, soccer, exams and college, all biting me at my heels, i can't keep up the pace. Maybe some peace of mind would do before i lose a piece of mind ...

Instincts work sometimes

      Yes they do. This is the last day of my precious holidays, and I must admit it started worse than I thought. We were supposed to be playing a Football match at Gymkhana grounds today, and right from the beginning, I had a bad feeling about this match. And some cruel thing with horns was mad with glee, trying to convince me that the match is a disaster. Well, the demon won today and he was rolling on the floor, laughing at me because I went for a match that would never happen. This being the last day, I wanted some final action before I would be back to banging my head to books and walls. All these days, my head was banging to soccerballs, and heavy metal..
      This is an early morning post, so my mind is fresh with oxygen and disappointment at the same time ... let the evil fade.. I'll come back.

This time, that year.

      Let's roll back in time and see what I was doing at this time last year, that is in 2006 September. Ah.. I just remembered. It was a holiday time, but where was I ?? What was I doing in college? Oh yeah. We were busy, and I mean it. We were damn busy, especially my friend (Natarajan) and I. We were organizing a so called National Level Technical Conference called AERODYNE '06. Let's get the details right.
     We started off exactly a month before, on August 10th, 2006, a day before my birthday. I still remember that day, when a sir came to our class and asked Natarajan to help him out with a certain Brochure he was making. It was looking horrible from my view, and I think Natarajan would agree with me. It was completely yellow and printed on very average paper. Natarajan immediately went for editing it, he suddenly came back to call me. I wondered why, and I found out why. We were actually designing all the artwork required for the conference, like posters, invitations, brochures, ads, etc. That was day 1 in Aerodyne and it went on through August, September and the saga finally ended when the conference ended on October 6th. The conference was a medium success and the part it lost out completely was on Lan Gaming, which was a total disappointment as Sudershan and Chakradhar spent so much time networking and getting the games installed on the lab systems. All other things which we organised like parachute design, aero-modeling and stuff, worked well, and we had some innovative competitors as well.
     The day it ended, I was completely dazed and felt like rejoicing. We stayed back in college and launched ourselves on Quake III, NFS, and stuff. Those 2 months of Aerodyne were really some time of my life, but I was made to repent all that because, we missed important classes and also exams. We were not given good internal marks inspite of our heavy efforts in making the conference a success story. Who in the world would come to college during the holidays, and on sundays, and stay back till 9PM during working days, work for hours on the computer, travel around, spend money, personally wrap invitations... phew! let me take a breath... Our internals let us down, and I even missed an important lab exam because of a football match at ICFAI Tech.
  This time, that year was bad, and though I did so many interesting things, I wish I don't get over involved in anything that would cast a shadow over my daily ongoings..

This pic shows the Aerodyne '06 team on October 6th, when the ordeal was finally over after working overtime for 2 months...

My day out

I spent another day of out home today, and thats Kalyan's house again. We continued our attempts to get a few songs in our grip. We are constantly improving but we are constantly ending up complicating the songs. We finally finished the full cover of Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day after we recorded Nabeel's mesmerizing voice. One loose end tied up there, but we had to play What I've Done by Linkin Park and Toh Phir Aao from Awarapan. Toh Phir.. has been heavily edited and cut short to a Ballad/Rock Mix which ends up as a different version from 3 versions of the already edited song. Anyway, getting all the things right was a pain in the rear, and we had to call it quits as hunger came calling. Just a coupla days are left this vacation, and we haven't gone very far except learning a few things about music.
One thing I learnt, thanks to my experiments, was damping the guitar sound. I got it by mistake and I liked it. Suddenly, things started opening up and I realised how they get that particular damped sound in a few Hard Rock tracks. That's me and my music on this Friday of September. I am getting tired so fast, and I feel like listening to Wake Me Up When September Ends. Maybe, some good sleep will do.

Hobbies to die for !!

Something told me I must write, so I will.

To begin with, I must talk about that soccer match we had against, MGIT (Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Tech). It was pretty sudden, and I was told about it only yesterday, and I doubted if we can really do anything in the match. We went without practice for nearly 10 days, and the effect could be shown on the field. Anyway, prepared to face the worst, I took off. Some of the guys were looking huge and aggressive, and I started to think again. They are from MGIT, and I had a strange feeling they were gonna show us some real football. Match kicked off, though later than I wanted. As I expected, our ACE Untd was looking a bit Un-United today. We took a lot of time to get down into the game. The field was extremely slippery, fresh from dew, and the ball was skimming with lack of friction. Once we got the hang of it, the whole scene changed. The first real chance we got was when the defense left me out completely. (they are not from MRCET so they forgot to mark Johny!!) I got a good pass from yaseen, and aimed for the corner of the post. The wet ball got took too much swing onto it and curled towards the keeper and he managed to get a hand, but then, the silent hunter, chakradhar just had to nick the ball in to make it 1-0.
Till then we were beginning to feel we might falter, but the MGIT defense was surprisingly weak and their game was going out of shape. We were already playing one of our worst team tactics there, and were yet dominant. Soon, we were finding our feet and began moving around better. Yaseen missed a penalty, but within a minute managed to cover it by taking a weak shot and the slippery ball just sliding out of the GK's hands. We got one more goal from chakradhar after I gave him a dying pass from my weak left foot. He managed to convert that into a goal. 3-0 up, we were beginning to experiment. I moved right and yaseen came left. Faizan (happy birthday to you!), moved up from the defense. Srikar managed a cross from the right side, and yaseen sent the ball straight in. 4-0. We started getting confident now. All we had to do is concede no goals. Manish had to do atleast 2 good saves to keep us ticking. Half time came and I could see the disbelief in the MGIT players' faces. They surely wouldn't have expected such a shocker. Nor did we, come to that !!.
We changed from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 in the second half and tried our luck. Playing from the left again, I was totally horrible. I slipped twice and lost control of the ball many times. Chakradhar noticed, and asked me to move right. Within a minute of that, I gave a great cross in, and saw Chakradhar unfold one of the best headers I ever saw live. It was easily Goal Of The Match, and he was Man Of The Match. He just completed his hat-trick. Funny thing is, all of Chakradhar's goals started from me. First a shot, then a pass, and then a cross. His part was nick, shot and header. Each time, we scored in a different way, and that added to the already elated spirits. We couldn't get any more in the second half and this was the second time we managed a 5-0 victory. We played 5 proper matches, and we scored (3+3+2+5+5=) 18 goals in them, letting in only 1. Even Manchester United would be extremely happy with such a result, judging by their horrible current form.
That was the match I wished would go on for ever. One hobby to die for ?? "Football". Bang comes the reply.

Within a few hours of the match I had to rush to Kalyan's place for another jam session. After a lot of analysis, we found certain faults in ourselves and went on. Near the end of the session, we got things into place, but postponed all our recording work to tomorrow. Hope it works out quickly. I was home by 2:30. Pretty quick session we had today. Music, the other hobby to die for!

Well all this hobby business has left me gasping for breath now, and right now, I am so unstable, I might fall before I complete this post! More to come when I wake up!

Indian Idiots

It is a record that we could complete a full song within few hours and perfect it. We managed to do the song Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day. The drums and bass were setup in FL Studio, and the rest was our handiwork. Most of the guitarwork credit goes to Srikar and the recording and mixing to me. This one was done without the vocals to it as both of us are not really good singers. But within a few days, we might even get the vocals part done and complete the song properly. So, the song can be downloaded here - On Srikar's GooglePage. We made one or 2 changes after that, so the one that you might download is like a crude version. Listen and enjoy... fill the vocals yourself if you want.

Aag and jam ?? Bad Combo

Srikar and I were stuck in a big mess after we went to Kalyan's place for a jam session. We had to start off by going for a movie at the nearby Cine Planet. And after watching a movie like Transformers, I must confess that Aag was one of the worst I ever saw. I couldn't believe it, but I was actually yawning in the theatre. I was getting bored and it was not just me. Everyone were practically waiting for something to happen but nothing actually did. I didn't watch Sholay, so I can't compare the original and the remake. I was pretty much bored with the storyline as well because I didn't find anything new in the plot. The songs were nauseating and I couldn't bear to hear or watch the songs... it was a truly bad experience and I was surprised to know it was the first day coz, there was hardly any crowd compared to the usual standards. Maybe a few actors acted well, but I was too busy cursing myself for coming to the movie.
After that forgetful experience, we finally got down to do what we came for and got along with our jam session which was alright. Slowly the co-ordination is improving and one day it might finally sound right and perfect. I hope that day comes before I get out of college. After doing practically nothing the whole day, I am still tired now and I would prefer to blog some other time...

Brand Ambassadors ...

Welcome to the Live Blog!. Things happening around me as I type. Srikar is at my home now, and after a full day of jamming, we got this crazy idea. We just piled up all the electronic junk we have and took a photo of that. And the photo is here on the live blog. We are still jamming here and many songs are underway....

One small task I am putting up here. Just try to tell all the Brand names that are present in this photo. I know it is difficult because this pic is of a lower resolution and seeing all the brand names is nearly impossible. If you find that too difficult, then atleast try this one. Try to give the list of all the gads that are present there. Mind you, there are a few things that are hidden (but still visible)...