When friends living a couple of rooms across prefer instant messaging to conversing, it gets me thinking. We seem to be depending more on our virtual counterparts than our real self. Online resources are becoming easier than ever. Talking to people living a few miles away through the internet is quite befitting, but that per se is no real reason to extenuate a meeting. It is essential to realize that the virtual image might not always be consistent with the real one. More often than not, warped understanding ensues.
A couple of years ago, my cousin had written this piece-
"Talking about living, I fear we have reached a stage where the virtual lives are taking control over the real lives a la the matrix. Be it the forums we visit, orkutting we do, online avatars we exhibit, blogging we do, we project a virtual image of ourselves, so much so that incase our real selves ever meet, one may indeed be a tad disappointed to find that the real selves are not as impressive as the virtual identities are."
An articulate thought. Two years from then, not much has improved and if anything, flourishing online resources have just amplified the exigency of understanding this rationale.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Flash!
Firstly, I'll satiate one too many inquisitive friends who couldn't stop themselves from breaking on a wild-goose chase to find out the exact story behind one of my previous posts. That script is fiction. Unreal. Non-existent. Replace it with any synonym that mollifies you. Such plots are contrived when one is bored to death. I would have thought it's simple for you to figure that out. Enough said.
It so happens that I went into a week long hibernation. Incidentally, my last post was also on a Friday. After a week of frenzied activity, I'm enjoying my well-earned break. And a nice one it has been so far. With a good lot of surprising and strange things around me, I'm surely having a wonderful time.
Talking about strange things, I was hit by a deer today in my campus. Imagine peacefully riding on your bicycle, on your way to mess and getting hit by a deer running at an amazing speed. Well, I was going to the Cauvery mess and when I was near Himalaya (That's a building that's supposed to be a mess), a deer rushes in front of me crossing the road. Next moment, I turn to look towards the lawns and flash! I see a deer glaring at me galloping dangerously and crossing the road orthogonally to me. Added to it, there were deers all around apparently on some sort of race to cross the road and I found myself in the middle of their path. Forget about reaction time, in one flashing moment, the deer ran and hit me straight on the shoulders and that's all I know. I lost control of the cycle and it grounded. Much to my comfort, I wasn't grounded. Possibly, I bent down instinctively and the deer kind of hopped off me. I found foot-prints of the deer on my sleeve and that's the only way I knew what happened. There were many who saw this but few who cared as they went about their daily routine. After all, it was a hot day and I wasn't really hurt.
What impressed me much was the view I had of the deer galloping. I was directly in its path and it showed no signs of stopping. One leap, it was on my shoulder and another one had it off me.
I heard about cats crossing the path. But, getting hit by a deer-
Now, Is that supposed to be lucky or something?
It so happens that I went into a week long hibernation. Incidentally, my last post was also on a Friday. After a week of frenzied activity, I'm enjoying my well-earned break. And a nice one it has been so far. With a good lot of surprising and strange things around me, I'm surely having a wonderful time.
Talking about strange things, I was hit by a deer today in my campus. Imagine peacefully riding on your bicycle, on your way to mess and getting hit by a deer running at an amazing speed. Well, I was going to the Cauvery mess and when I was near Himalaya (That's a building that's supposed to be a mess), a deer rushes in front of me crossing the road. Next moment, I turn to look towards the lawns and flash! I see a deer glaring at me galloping dangerously and crossing the road orthogonally to me. Added to it, there were deers all around apparently on some sort of race to cross the road and I found myself in the middle of their path. Forget about reaction time, in one flashing moment, the deer ran and hit me straight on the shoulders and that's all I know. I lost control of the cycle and it grounded. Much to my comfort, I wasn't grounded. Possibly, I bent down instinctively and the deer kind of hopped off me. I found foot-prints of the deer on my sleeve and that's the only way I knew what happened. There were many who saw this but few who cared as they went about their daily routine. After all, it was a hot day and I wasn't really hurt.
What impressed me much was the view I had of the deer galloping. I was directly in its path and it showed no signs of stopping. One leap, it was on my shoulder and another one had it off me.
I heard about cats crossing the path. But, getting hit by a deer-
Now, Is that supposed to be lucky or something?
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Awesome day!
Finally it's here! The one thing I've been longing for. Whoa! I'm so excited! It's quiz time! (Okay, now that's sarcasm, just in case you missed it :P) It's that time of the semester when junta who give a damn for courses, junta who are muggers and RG-dopers alike run around with photocopies of stud notes, slides, graphs and stuff. IIT just isn't that fun without these exams ;P
It's Friday! The weekend's on! Though, it's not exciting in the same level as it used to- what with quiz week kicking off the coming monday.
I'd a very frustrating evening at the field. Came to the room in sort of a down-spirit and became even more angsty to find my hostel junta not behaving properly and they (obviously) bore the brunt of it including a recent online friend.
That said, I was very intent on making up for the day. Had quite a blast at gurunath, tarams, ascendas and bikes and barrels. Tried a new beverage here in gurunath- Red bull. It's completely BS. Over priced and totally hopeless. I recommend against spending bucks on it. Though, if you're like me and don't mind trying out new stuff, you could do it. The taste is decent, goes along the lines of berries. This bikes and barrels is the sort of a pub which has decent music but not really that entertaining in any other way.
I was unbelievable tonight! Imagine walking up to the bartender and asking for a glass of water! He gave me the sort of What-the-hell look. My friend took over and placed an awesome but decently priced order. Having a girl in the group does make things more comfy. We went to the ground floor of the pub where only couples, foreigners and groups with girls can haunt the place. My friend already quite dizzy was giving a flaky look to a hispanic female standing in the corner and she actually came up to him to ask him if he were interested in her. Wow, did he get the jitters! He was speechless and even his not-so-sober state couldn't handle an unknown female. But the girl was nice. She was talking about everything from spain to latin america. She loves hitch-hiking and travelling and India is a part of her travels. She wants to make a sort of travelogue- which is a short film about her travels that she can show it back at her university. We reached the outside of the pub through the hotel-entrance and she took a video and loads of pics. Too bad that we didn't bring a cam. After she went away, I argued like hell with my friend that she came up to him only to take the video and not 'cos he is a lady killer! 'course he never agreed and that went on till we reached our beloved insti. We had loads of fun and really forgot the quizzes completely!
Dinner with pizzas. Back to hostel and back to blogging! As an aside, my hair's all messy. After the disastrous hair-dress it's becoming even more awesome!
I could go on forever, but I feel the math notes on my desk is doing its best to seduce me. Well, I guess, I'll give it a shot!
Ciao!
It's Friday! The weekend's on! Though, it's not exciting in the same level as it used to- what with quiz week kicking off the coming monday.
I'd a very frustrating evening at the field. Came to the room in sort of a down-spirit and became even more angsty to find my hostel junta not behaving properly and they (obviously) bore the brunt of it including a recent online friend.
That said, I was very intent on making up for the day. Had quite a blast at gurunath, tarams, ascendas and bikes and barrels. Tried a new beverage here in gurunath- Red bull. It's completely BS. Over priced and totally hopeless. I recommend against spending bucks on it. Though, if you're like me and don't mind trying out new stuff, you could do it. The taste is decent, goes along the lines of berries. This bikes and barrels is the sort of a pub which has decent music but not really that entertaining in any other way.
I was unbelievable tonight! Imagine walking up to the bartender and asking for a glass of water! He gave me the sort of What-the-hell look. My friend took over and placed an awesome but decently priced order. Having a girl in the group does make things more comfy. We went to the ground floor of the pub where only couples, foreigners and groups with girls can haunt the place. My friend already quite dizzy was giving a flaky look to a hispanic female standing in the corner and she actually came up to him to ask him if he were interested in her. Wow, did he get the jitters! He was speechless and even his not-so-sober state couldn't handle an unknown female. But the girl was nice. She was talking about everything from spain to latin america. She loves hitch-hiking and travelling and India is a part of her travels. She wants to make a sort of travelogue- which is a short film about her travels that she can show it back at her university. We reached the outside of the pub through the hotel-entrance and she took a video and loads of pics. Too bad that we didn't bring a cam. After she went away, I argued like hell with my friend that she came up to him only to take the video and not 'cos he is a lady killer! 'course he never agreed and that went on till we reached our beloved insti. We had loads of fun and really forgot the quizzes completely!
Dinner with pizzas. Back to hostel and back to blogging! As an aside, my hair's all messy. After the disastrous hair-dress it's becoming even more awesome!
I could go on forever, but I feel the math notes on my desk is doing its best to seduce me. Well, I guess, I'll give it a shot!
Ciao!
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
I decide
"I'm feeling so sleepy but I have to go to class now"
Taking a cue from Stephen Covey- "Why do you have to go to class? Is it a have or want?
"WANT? Why would I ever want to go to this dreary lecture? It's have. I just have to go!"
"Why?"
"ATTENDANCE! I need attendance!"
"Why do you need attendance?"
"To complete this course. I have to complete this course to get my degree. I need my degree"
"You need your degree?"
"Uh... yeah. I need to pass out of IIT with a clean academic record."
"Need?"
"Um... okay. I want to pass out of IIT with a clean academic record."
"Hm... let's go back. You want a clean academic record. You want to complete this course. You want attendance. So, You want to go to the class. There you have it!"
... I got off the bed for the 8 AM lecture.
This internal tape is very common. It is so common that overtime, the 'want-to-do' shifts to 'have-to-do'. There are no masters and there are no puppets. After everything that is said and done, the fact remains that it is my choice.
I decide.
Taking a cue from Stephen Covey- "Why do you have to go to class? Is it a have or want?
"WANT? Why would I ever want to go to this dreary lecture? It's have. I just have to go!"
"Why?"
"ATTENDANCE! I need attendance!"
"Why do you need attendance?"
"To complete this course. I have to complete this course to get my degree. I need my degree"
"You need your degree?"
"Uh... yeah. I need to pass out of IIT with a clean academic record."
"Need?"
"Um... okay. I want to pass out of IIT with a clean academic record."
"Hm... let's go back. You want a clean academic record. You want to complete this course. You want attendance. So, You want to go to the class. There you have it!"
... I got off the bed for the 8 AM lecture.
This internal tape is very common. It is so common that overtime, the 'want-to-do' shifts to 'have-to-do'. There are no masters and there are no puppets. After everything that is said and done, the fact remains that it is my choice.
I decide.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
On the sunny side of life
Fresh from a night out and having nothing to do but wait for one hour to go to a class on a saturday morning, I figured the next best thing would be to write. Life is not all fun, but then, who can stop me from writing on the sunny side of life?
Life is pleasing because every morning I wake up, I have a whole new day ahead of me that is fully under my control; an autocrat, if you will.
Life is fun because this place, an IIT, has tons and tons of people of my age and who are in turn very fun to be around.
Life is too good because after all the endless activities, I still get time to be alone and date myself, yes, talk to myself about ME.
Life is exciting because I love my course of study.
Life is interesting because I happen to encounter some stupid, arrogant %$#@ junta now and then, and learn that instead of getting back at them, I can keep my sanity.
Life is amusing because I just happened to understand that I am awake and waiting to go to a class after not crashing for the last 72 hours.
Life is sensational because I partially found out what I was looking for all this time.
Life is thrilling because I'm planning to go hiking alone in dangerous woods.
Life is astonishing because I found out I could actually prove the long established norms wrong, like you "have" to sleep everyday and others.
Life is satisfying because I grew to the idea of controlling myself totally and putting mind over matter.
Life is enriching because I happen to meet people who show me what I'm missing out in life.
Life is endearing because I found the love of my life, which is Me.
Life is great because I'm learning something new every day.
Life is good because the chilling shower awakens me from the slumber.
Life is delightful because I love the cool morning breeze that greets me.
Basically, life rocks because I refuse to accept otherwise.
Cheers!
BTW, got a new haircut and shave that had actually made my lazy pals come up to me to tell me how weird, strange, odd, different, freakish... I look.
The worst one was a quizzical face from a classmate that could only be read as "Why?"
The best one was an ex-classmate startled by my 'hello' and turning to me to say, "Oh, Krishna! I didn't recognize you!"
But, the bottom line is, I love it. So pack!
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