got tagged by pranav. here goes... :)
Three names I go by:
1) Pradeep
2) Prads (all college friends)
3) Peep (Family)
Three Screen Names:
1) wooster
2) roark
3) code
Three things I like about myself:
1) being practical
2) determined
3) sarcasm
Three things I don't like about myself:
1) fickle-minded
2) lack of sensitivity
3) lazy to the bone
Three things that scare me:
1) narrow passages
2) metal door handles and taps (extremely prone to static!!)
3) my temper
Three essentials:
1) freedom
2) space
3) a convertible car
Three things I like in the opposite sex:
1) their eyes... oh my!! ;;)
2) that soothing voice
3) their ability to understand you amidst all the incoherent talk
Three things that I want to do badly now:
1) fly
2) swim
3) sleep
Three careers I am considering right now:
1) IT Consultant
2) photographer
3) deep sea diver
Three places I'd love to go on vacation:
1) switzerland
2) andamans
3) kerala backwaters
Three kids' names I like (Why?):
1) dinku
2) peep :D
3) pubby :D :D
Three things to do before dying:
1) sky dive
2) become CIO of a fortune 500 company
3) walk in a rain forest
Three people who get to take this wonderful quiz (!!!):
1) still searchin'
2) vinay
3) sabita (so glad you started blogging!) :-)
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Thursday, July 14, 2005
wha..?
i love taking jabs at the media. ample opps to catch them unaware :-)
there was this news piece by NDTV the other day (i target NDTV the way hackers get at microsoft)... reporter was covering a police firing on unarmed villagers in rajasthan and goes on to implicate the villagers for creating a havoc.
reporter: "it is unthinkable to even imagine..." some emphasis!
this reminds me of one more of their goof ups. it was delhi and in winter.
news reader to live reporter: "so tell me, when will the delayed flights be allowed to leave on time?" .....!? we can question the need for a live reporter some other time. :-)
of course, we can catch all their goofiness when they 'let us know they are goofy' during an end-of-the-year-laugh-your-ass-out snippet.
there was this news piece by NDTV the other day (i target NDTV the way hackers get at microsoft)... reporter was covering a police firing on unarmed villagers in rajasthan and goes on to implicate the villagers for creating a havoc.
reporter: "it is unthinkable to even imagine..." some emphasis!
this reminds me of one more of their goof ups. it was delhi and in winter.
news reader to live reporter: "so tell me, when will the delayed flights be allowed to leave on time?" .....!? we can question the need for a live reporter some other time. :-)
of course, we can catch all their goofiness when they 'let us know they are goofy' during an end-of-the-year-laugh-your-ass-out snippet.
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Bas!
honest word of caution. dont watch DUS. not been able to find a reason why that movie was made in the first place. it seems the director anubhav sinha used to make music videos before this. probably he should've stuck to that. i for one would've never bothered to find out about him or his works. can they make hindi movies so predictable!? ok. its a suspense movie. a suspense where you know that if a not-so-popular actor is staring at you for more than 2 seconds, there will be a bullet through him at the third. a suspense where the 'secret agent' placed in canada is murdered and substituted by a vamp in front of the audience. extreme edge-of-the-seat action this.
not to miss the heavy use of electric guitars for EVERYTHING. someone told the music director there isnt any other instrument ever made. feels like you are sitting through a linkin' park concert. of course, its quite a treat to find the visual effects go overboard. suddenly, for no apparent reason the frame zeroes in on the eyes of one character and slides out. a new found graphics effect that the director wanted to flaunt. what a waste of a 70mm frame! and a la X-Files, they HAVE to tell you the location of every scene. rather gripping.
Q. what do you do if there's an engagement in the morning and you have a flight to catch at night?
A. keep singing and dancing till its time for your flight.
Q. how do you add a twist in the tale, when all you have to do is see off our brave duo at the airport?
A. make the newly engaged go onto a lonely trail. that way they get kidnapped by terrorists.
NBA pros can take a tip or two in slam dunk from our stunt masters. hero 1 passes grenade to hero 2. hero 2 in turn catches it, removes pin and throws to hero 3, who happens to be airborne on his bike. hero 3 catches the grenade mid air, right at the spot when he's above villain's sun roof. hole in one! score!
if all four heroes leave the same house and reach the same stadium at the same time, why arrive in four different cars, all parked out of line, one behind the other? and looks like Ford expects movies like these to help it earn brownie points the way james bond did for aston martin. cant even say ha!
so why would anyone want to watch this movie? well, they would if they didnt have a prior booking for any other movie and have driven 30kms out of the city with the purpose of watching a movie come what may!
Bas!!
not to miss the heavy use of electric guitars for EVERYTHING. someone told the music director there isnt any other instrument ever made. feels like you are sitting through a linkin' park concert. of course, its quite a treat to find the visual effects go overboard. suddenly, for no apparent reason the frame zeroes in on the eyes of one character and slides out. a new found graphics effect that the director wanted to flaunt. what a waste of a 70mm frame! and a la X-Files, they HAVE to tell you the location of every scene. rather gripping.
Q. what do you do if there's an engagement in the morning and you have a flight to catch at night?
A. keep singing and dancing till its time for your flight.
Q. how do you add a twist in the tale, when all you have to do is see off our brave duo at the airport?
A. make the newly engaged go onto a lonely trail. that way they get kidnapped by terrorists.
NBA pros can take a tip or two in slam dunk from our stunt masters. hero 1 passes grenade to hero 2. hero 2 in turn catches it, removes pin and throws to hero 3, who happens to be airborne on his bike. hero 3 catches the grenade mid air, right at the spot when he's above villain's sun roof. hole in one! score!
if all four heroes leave the same house and reach the same stadium at the same time, why arrive in four different cars, all parked out of line, one behind the other? and looks like Ford expects movies like these to help it earn brownie points the way james bond did for aston martin. cant even say ha!
so why would anyone want to watch this movie? well, they would if they didnt have a prior booking for any other movie and have driven 30kms out of the city with the purpose of watching a movie come what may!
Bas!!
Friday, July 08, 2005
computer 101
learnt a few things about computer hardware yesterday. firstly, its important to clean your computer regularly. if not, you might end up giving a roach a free bangalore-chennai trip.
just as important - if the cd drive is stuck (quite possible if its not used for a year), using a knife and a pair of scissors to jerk the tray out is a very very bad idea. it screws up the knife edge. homes hardly double up as operation theatres. not advised. but now i can gladly warn "don't try this at home" :-) oh yes, there's that tiny little hole one can poke a wire into to eject the tray. but that works only if the eject button fails. what good is it when the motor has given way? could hear the overawed expression of my roomie... with the thinner end of an incense stick into the drive's pinhole he cries out "its pushing me out man! its pushing me out!" hated breaking the news to him; thats what the switch is supposed to do to that stick.
it was a valiant fight the drive put up. refused to open up! but the scissor and knife episode (which is a bad idea by the way) did have its effect and the tray relented. managed to yank it half way out. made sound like a ratchet. (cd drives have ratchets too!?) thats where it put its foot down. a real stubborn ass! could hear the motor hum everytime we tried to eject the tray. yes, the tray moved too. about half an inch each way. sliding a cd into the drive in such a state was suggested. but having had similar experiences with floppy drives, my knowledgeable self quickly dismissed it without argument. utterly preposterous. we might as well continue yanking at the tray. i did contemplate using my foot for support. but then, it wasnt my drive. taking the drive to a repair store seemed most intelligent at this stage :-)
why all this ado? well, wanted to install the dsl modem driver and get going online. a flash of brainwave hits roomie and decides to get the cd contents onto his flash drive from a local cafe, only to realise that windows98 requires a USB driver too :-) and where does one find this driver? i ask my roomie. "why, its in the drive itself!" of course! where else :-)
just as important - if the cd drive is stuck (quite possible if its not used for a year), using a knife and a pair of scissors to jerk the tray out is a very very bad idea. it screws up the knife edge. homes hardly double up as operation theatres. not advised. but now i can gladly warn "don't try this at home" :-) oh yes, there's that tiny little hole one can poke a wire into to eject the tray. but that works only if the eject button fails. what good is it when the motor has given way? could hear the overawed expression of my roomie... with the thinner end of an incense stick into the drive's pinhole he cries out "its pushing me out man! its pushing me out!" hated breaking the news to him; thats what the switch is supposed to do to that stick.
it was a valiant fight the drive put up. refused to open up! but the scissor and knife episode (which is a bad idea by the way) did have its effect and the tray relented. managed to yank it half way out. made sound like a ratchet. (cd drives have ratchets too!?) thats where it put its foot down. a real stubborn ass! could hear the motor hum everytime we tried to eject the tray. yes, the tray moved too. about half an inch each way. sliding a cd into the drive in such a state was suggested. but having had similar experiences with floppy drives, my knowledgeable self quickly dismissed it without argument. utterly preposterous. we might as well continue yanking at the tray. i did contemplate using my foot for support. but then, it wasnt my drive. taking the drive to a repair store seemed most intelligent at this stage :-)
why all this ado? well, wanted to install the dsl modem driver and get going online. a flash of brainwave hits roomie and decides to get the cd contents onto his flash drive from a local cafe, only to realise that windows98 requires a USB driver too :-) and where does one find this driver? i ask my roomie. "why, its in the drive itself!" of course! where else :-)
Monday, July 04, 2005
walking the plank
* graduating from b-school
* getting a job of my liking
* living on my own
* doing things i liked most....
hmmm sounds like fun! but relatives think otherwise. or maybe they think i've had too much of fun! i have begun to dread the weekend trips i make home. wanna give them a lowdown on my life, the office party, the long drive i went on, the new friends i made here in chennai, et al. but they beat me to it. sometimes i wonder if they can see the happiness on my face and read it all. 'son, we think its time you settle down. we have this proposal coming our way and....' i blurt an exasperated 'what the...!' and hear no more. i say they are jealous! the whole bunch of them.
by living true to Darwin's theory, they have done their bit to this world by furthering their blood, but now they insist on me following suit. my brother getting married last year, hasnt advanced my cause one bit. of course, the countless sinister looking and sounding 'beta, you are next!' that followed soon after. and to think of it, i consider them my well wishers!
they claimed logic in their demand. 'look, there are so few eligible girls in our community nowadays!' i wonder if i missed some early-bird bonanza or am at a clearance sale. attending a cousin's wedding was no less a nightmare. 'you are their second son is it!? what are you doing now?' seemingly harmless question this, but 'running away from you!' is the best answer one can give. have a polite, jaw-aching conversation with relatives i wouldnt care to remember and hear them talking behind my back 'you know, he's done his MBA. he just returned from the US. his elder brother is married too.' hullo! am i invisible!? by now i am feeling like a sitting duck, or a bleating ba-lamb at the butcher's block. raise my head either way and find huge bindi-stamped mercenaries giving me that snearing look...
'you are well educated, have a decent job. what more is it that you want to do!? whats wrong in getting married!?' eh? what? do i even need to answer that? i am sorry, but i would like to know if i am the only one who fails to see a logic chain in that. its like finding rakes with SE and NW on the same train but i get a feeling i am in a minority. of course, there's that random dose of senti from grandparents thrown in for good measure. 'as long as i can move around, i would like to do so and see you married.' what the...? but they are not done yet. there still is that last gasp of life left in me. parents are only glad to pitch in. 'son, if there's someone on your mind let us know. we are quite open to all these things nowadays' aarrggghhh! by now i am counting the hours for my train back to chennai. but i must say, my parents seem to be more optimistic on this matter than i am!
friends until yesterday who evoked an eye of censure through dad's bifocals are today pieces of human treasure. all them are either betrothed or have gone ahead and taken the plunge. examples of ideal sons is what they represent today!
it was rather amusing to watch my group of friends at a friend's wedding. almost every one of them present there with their significant other (certainly better) halves! i could hardly contain my pleasure when i told them about my latest escapades, weekend getaways... somewhere through those tanned faces i saw a shade of green creep up :-) my ears began to take shape of that of Mr. Spock. 'man! we (it no longer is 'i') would love to do such trips yaar, but.... she is busy when i am free and...' poor bloke gets a whack before he could go any further. ouch! told them about the andaman trip and the other treks that i've lined up for myself. never knew they had such long tonuges. wow! so many red carpets :-)
* getting a job of my liking
* living on my own
* doing things i liked most....
hmmm sounds like fun! but relatives think otherwise. or maybe they think i've had too much of fun! i have begun to dread the weekend trips i make home. wanna give them a lowdown on my life, the office party, the long drive i went on, the new friends i made here in chennai, et al. but they beat me to it. sometimes i wonder if they can see the happiness on my face and read it all. 'son, we think its time you settle down. we have this proposal coming our way and....' i blurt an exasperated 'what the...!' and hear no more. i say they are jealous! the whole bunch of them.
by living true to Darwin's theory, they have done their bit to this world by furthering their blood, but now they insist on me following suit. my brother getting married last year, hasnt advanced my cause one bit. of course, the countless sinister looking and sounding 'beta, you are next!' that followed soon after. and to think of it, i consider them my well wishers!
they claimed logic in their demand. 'look, there are so few eligible girls in our community nowadays!' i wonder if i missed some early-bird bonanza or am at a clearance sale. attending a cousin's wedding was no less a nightmare. 'you are their second son is it!? what are you doing now?' seemingly harmless question this, but 'running away from you!' is the best answer one can give. have a polite, jaw-aching conversation with relatives i wouldnt care to remember and hear them talking behind my back 'you know, he's done his MBA. he just returned from the US. his elder brother is married too.' hullo! am i invisible!? by now i am feeling like a sitting duck, or a bleating ba-lamb at the butcher's block. raise my head either way and find huge bindi-stamped mercenaries giving me that snearing look...
'you are well educated, have a decent job. what more is it that you want to do!? whats wrong in getting married!?' eh? what? do i even need to answer that? i am sorry, but i would like to know if i am the only one who fails to see a logic chain in that. its like finding rakes with SE and NW on the same train but i get a feeling i am in a minority. of course, there's that random dose of senti from grandparents thrown in for good measure. 'as long as i can move around, i would like to do so and see you married.' what the...? but they are not done yet. there still is that last gasp of life left in me. parents are only glad to pitch in. 'son, if there's someone on your mind let us know. we are quite open to all these things nowadays' aarrggghhh! by now i am counting the hours for my train back to chennai. but i must say, my parents seem to be more optimistic on this matter than i am!
friends until yesterday who evoked an eye of censure through dad's bifocals are today pieces of human treasure. all them are either betrothed or have gone ahead and taken the plunge. examples of ideal sons is what they represent today!
it was rather amusing to watch my group of friends at a friend's wedding. almost every one of them present there with their significant other (certainly better) halves! i could hardly contain my pleasure when i told them about my latest escapades, weekend getaways... somewhere through those tanned faces i saw a shade of green creep up :-) my ears began to take shape of that of Mr. Spock. 'man! we (it no longer is 'i') would love to do such trips yaar, but.... she is busy when i am free and...' poor bloke gets a whack before he could go any further. ouch! told them about the andaman trip and the other treks that i've lined up for myself. never knew they had such long tonuges. wow! so many red carpets :-)
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