Awesomest Outing ever

End of exams mean the day we release a lot of pent up energy and let it all out! The best one so far was two years ago when India played the final of the T-20 world cup against Pakistan and the match was telecast in the auditorium. 2000 BITSians in the top of their voice, shouting and cheering each time India was ahead. It was an awesome day and to say that yesterday beat it comprehensively is an understatement.

15 Guys, right from the moment they left their rooms was out for just one thing, fun, enjoyment and anything that they felt like doing at that moment! The destination was a bar and restaurant in Bogmalo beach, the name is completely irrelevant, but on that day, the place became an extension centre of our campus, with students from every batch and every discipline (even ME students). I was slightly surprised when a bunch of first yearites turned up and sat there inspite of seeing many of their seniors in glory, but that, was late in the night.

We had barely stepped foot in there and our ex-vp started it off, as is expected of him since he has been our leader and the saviour of all those caught inebriated at the gate for the past one year (this time, he himself had taken anticipatory bail to enter the campus whatever be his state when he came back). What were we supposed to do but follow his lead! And follow we did and what followed was perhaps some of the awesomest moments ever.

We danced, smoked, boozed and there were emotional outbursts everywhere. There were shirts removed, people near tears, someone boasting about how much he had gulped down whereas most others did not bother to keep a count (simply because they were not able to!). Liquor was flowing at a rate I never imagined possible and BITSGians showed their true capacity that night! Neat shots of vodka, chains of smoke, dancing to the tunes of remixes, the sound and the sight of the sea. All that was perhaps one of the best ambiance you could ever get for a party and it was definitely fun. Subzero, Vigilante, Shark, Red Devil each had their own moments of glory as we fought, argued, pulled and tugged at each other and shouted and sang freely.

I suppose I must make my own confessions, about a bottle of beer and a cigarette. Yeah, I know, no big deal. Just stuff that I can pee out in minutes and something that's not going to have any effect on me! I hear from expert sources that it is going to take quite something to take me down, so lyt.

Drinks can be a great socializer and I have experienced it first hand now! It is fun to watch drunk people, some expressed sadness for not having celebrated Onam and also his deep love for everything Malayalam and Kerala. There were quite a few "hi"s and "how are you"s and "mallus rock" and "I luove Mallalam" and a lot of Malayalam obscenities being proudly used. Once they realised we were fourth yearites, there was a wave of respect and apologies since they thought they were misbehaving as they were high. Others played pool, swimming on the table whereas some choose to use their hands instead of the stick and the cue ball!

The first yearites were given some treatment, I wasn't around, but they were not messed up since our guys were too messed up for anything! By the end of it, VP and Chullan slept peacefully after throwing up. But rumour has it that juniors forgot to wake up one of their friends, another junior was caught at the gate by the campus security, but it was mission succesful for us fourth yearites! An evening of fun, enjoyment, firsts and serious nonsense! An extra year in campus does help I suppose!

The next morning was one of hangovers for some, time to reflect upon the lost opportunities so far since we wasted three years before we had this evening. I must end with "You not drinking is like someone who can be a ten-pointer, not wanting to be a ten-pointer because he does not care!". THAT WAS SERIOUSLY LOL RONNIE! Now for the most importaant component of all-THE MAN WHO MADE IT POSSIBLE! (PR)Obi Van Kanobi! An unassaming, unselfish fella who has got his doors open for everyone. He cracks GRE with a score of 1520 (OMFG), probably will bell the CAT too (Post compre treat also fixed!!). Thanks machuu! It was simply unbelievably imba and \m/!

Just a prelude

It was one of the funniest days of my life and fortunately for me, I had to make a fool of myself only once and that came very early in the day and so when I am writing this, it is far behind me. But that is where it all started and it was the last exam of Test-1, Electronic Devices and Integrated Circuits. The subject is pretty much the same as short form which I would not mention here as it can be considered explicit. It was not one of my better exams and I would like to stop with that.

The new season of "Big Bang Theory" started off with a bang unrivaled since the creation of the universe! Never thought that the lives of four geeks and a hot girl living next door could be the source of this much humour. Sheldon back to his indifference to human emotions, Leonard trying to cope up with Sheldon and mounting attempts to woo Penny and the Rajesh Ramayan Koothrapalli-Howard team providing extra laughs, with their "moment of bonding when the heat went out!". The season promises to be an exciting one and the fact that protagonists are scientists and and an engineer who cant really talk to to girls, makes it even more likeable!

Next came 'Coupling', a British sitcom suggested by my friends. This was really good with Geoff, a character who knows it all, who has a theory for every possible way a guy can behave infront of a girl, cannot do anything, simply because he freaks out owing to the " barrier!".

Desserts are best served last, but in this case, the dessert is an entire course in itself. This is just a prelude to one of the most funniest, strangest and awesome experience of my life so far! T1 was over, the last semester on campus for some of my friends, a recklessness that comes with being in the final year- all that meant that we decided to get out and.................................

Ramblings

I cannot bear the pain,
Anymore I will be slain,
For nothing holds me here,
No one for whom I care.
Seen them all disappear,
My heart heavy with wear,
Ensnared by arrogance, fed by greed,
Throw away we did, all good deed.
Aware I was of the future coming,
Complacent I was and did nothing,
Never tried to stop, never I told,
Alone I am now, adrift in the cold.
Now I realise, the greatest sin
isn't ignorance, but inaction.

End of the world

There are a few reasons I think the end of the world is near. Many are logical-

Global Warming-> accelarated by deforestation, growing number of vehicles, increased use of fossil fuels (2 thermal power plants are commissioned every 2 weeks in China alone)

Population Explosion-> religious leaders are calling for having more kids to increase their strengths. More pressure on resources like land, water, food, jobs etc. This will definitely lead to more conflicts. The next world war could well be fought for water

Diseases-> new diseases are appearing regularly, some cause more panic attacks than infections, but some could well be the next bubonic plague or flu epidemic of WW1. Viruses are evolving and bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics. Add to it viruses and bio-weapons being created for a new type of war.

Our lifestyle is simply not sustainable. We will run out of resources eventually, air and land and water will become too polluted for us and there will be NOTHING left.

Some other reasons are moral. I think human beings as a species have outlived their utility to this planet and it is time someone else took over. We have been blinded by consumerism and materialism and this is exploited by those in power to keep us docile while they satisfy their greed.

Selfishness and greed-> large corporations, in their effort to make huge profits turn a blind eye to the human cost. All they want to do is protect and serve their investors while they destroy the lives of entire communities or even countries. Nigeria is a case in point where the abundance of oil has destroyed the country. Almost all of Africa has a similar story of looting and plunder by foreigners while the indigenous people have suffered.

We have lost our sense of what is right and what is wrong. We are not able to make up our minds about what is good and what is bad.

lack of conscience-> we have become accustomed to violence and crime. We do not think twice about things that we should not be doing. We are no longer hurt by the suffering of others, we have lost our heart. We have achieved a machine like detachment from nature and hurting others does not seem a bad thing to do these days.

Support for mediocrity-> although excellence cannot be achieved always, glorifying mediocrity and dubbing those who do succeed as 'nerds' or 'uncool' or 'sad' fellows is something that must be avoided.

It does not have to be a killer asteroid or disease or war, but there is definitely going to be something that will cause the end of the world as we know it, end of a world dominated by humans.

Rain, sleep and morning classes...

Monsoon this year has been a disappointment in most parts of the country and even here, it has remained cloudy most of the time, but it has not rained much. When it does rain, who does not love to curl up under a blanket and pretend to sleep and put-off the day's work. It is one of the simple pleasures of life that we all enjoy.

It was such a morning today: curling up under the blanket was highest on my list of things to do for the day. But not everything happens the way you wish. It was a Monday morning! Even Garfield, who had nothing to do apart from sleeping and eating, hated Monday mornings. So do all of us! Monday mornings are heralds of another week of endless classes, more to study and labs and worst of all, lectures where I do not understand anything thanks to the skill of the instructor or maybe my own inability to grasp the subject.

But the rain made it even worse! What can you do except wake up and go for classes especially when there was a chance of a tut test at 8am! For 4 hours, from 8am to noon, I went through the motions. The only thing that made me get through those 4 classes was the promise for what was to come after that. No, not lunch, which is always disappointing, something we BITSians have got used to. It was a looooooooooooooooong afternoon nap. Oh yes, it was awesome! 4 hours of classes washed away by 4 hours of blissful sleep.

Afternoon naps are awesome and this sem, with no classes in the afternoon except on thursdays and fridays, I am making the most of it. A far cry from my previous semester when one lab or the other had its doors open for me! I can never forget those days............ Wait a minute! Oh my God! A two and a half month long vacation has removed the memories of those days and I feel better, now that those days and its memories are far away!

New Sem, new people-Same old story

This semester, I am doing my E&I courses, but it all seems a bit new and strange. Maybe because lots of my batchmates have gone for PS-2 or maybe because I still inhabit the world of lectures and tuts, with the shadow of surprise tests looming over my head (must not forget the 2 Tests and compre that will be heading my way) while most of my friends are searching for novel ways to spend time since they have completed their electives already.

Some have reverted to serious gaming, others are preparing seriously for the next set of exams for their higher studies and if what I hear is true, there are nerds who go on as if life does not go ahead unless you study your textbook everyday. There are also those fighting (rather desperately hoping) for placements to pick up pace here. I am thankful to God that I am a dualite and will pass out only two years from now and this is keeping me away, albeit temporarily from the placement fiasco. There is also the wise but desperate guy trying to woo a girl to pass time! (biriyani from Calicut anyone?)

Until this semester, my corridor in the hostel had some of the proest gamers in campus along with the most committed insomniacs. Get up at 4 am to take a leak, you will see (or atleast hear) someone working their best in FIFA or AOC or CS or maybe a newly released movie or just rock music! That is commitment. Salvation, Godfather all have left their rooms and are doing their PS-2.

There is something else that I miss too. Having Joe Sunny just around the corner was fun, I miss his calm n cool demeanour, I miss the effervescent Adityan and I miss the always reserved but "happy to help" Arif. Inspite of all this, life goes on. A new season in EPL has begun, Vishnu aka Lovely_Rascal is back to what he does best (irritating me and getting hurt in the process) elections are around the corner, a new batch has joined (a bit too stupid since I heard one of them saying 'I didn't get into any club or department. That is seriously bad for me'. Not his exact wordings as he said something in hindi which meant something like his life is so ****ed up), tests have begun and instructors are back to their boring best. Two new mess contractors, who I must say are better than the previous ones we had, although not by much and it might a bit too early for judgement. Well, there are certain things that do not change. Life goes on here as it always has. Got to go, rumours of a surprise test in tomorrow's tutorial!

Spare a thought for the runner-up

There is something more painful than losing, it is losing and ending runner-up. It simply makes you want to kill yourself. You rue those moments when you could have killed it, you want to go back in time just this once, you wish you had done something just at that specific moment and then when you come to realise that it is all over, you wish you were never there and had not put up a fight. I have had such close calls in my life, albeit in my own world of quizzing and school life were a moment's mad rush just ruined everything.

I hate close calls, not because I hate the lost nails or the adrenaline rush, I feel really sorry for the poor dude who just gave it everything and still lost and its even worse if the person who lost, deserved it more than the person who actually won. Such was the case with the Wimbledon Men's Finals of 2009 that pitted Andy Roddick against Roger Federer who was on the verge of becoming the most successful Grand Slam player of all time.

I am delighted that Federer won his 15th grand slam, but somehow, I am not able to focus on that. My heart goes out to Andy Roddick who took the fight to Federer and infact, Federer was looking a worried man on more than a few occasions. Bad luck, Andy, because having to serve from behind in the final set was a handicap that you could have done without. Just to put things into perspective, Federer had not broken Roddick’s surve until that final point of the match and had won his sets on tie-breaks. Just compare that with Roddick, who broke Federer twice and won the 1st and 4th set on the back of those breaks. Federer won and it is great and he has reached somewhere no one has ever gone before and to him, this is just the beginning of setting new frontiers for the next bunch of tennis players waiting to be come up the ranks. But, spare a thought for Andy Roddick who played the game of his life and for the third time lost out to Federer in a Wimbledon Final.

Kipling really meant it when he said

If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same


and incidentally, these are written on the players' entrance to Wimbledon!

Our Downfall

If the world as we know comes to an end, reasons could be global warming, war or terrorism or economic meltdown. Whatever the name given, it all comes down to some of the simplest feelings that make us human: selfishness, greed, lust and jealousy. These are inalienable feelings and so one might argue that since these feelings are present in every one of us, the end of the world is bound to happen.

I think it does not have to be so, since the control of these feelings can lead to a happy life for all of us. If we are able to free ourselves from the clutches of these feelings to some measure, the world can survive. However, if we do not find it in us to overcome these feelings, we better brace ourselves, for the end of the world is much nearer than we think. We are in a world ridden by crises- poverty, hunger, conflicts- the root causes being our feeling of self and ego.

Some find it beneath themselves to use public transport, others build palatial houses to feel good and hear others praise and sing songs in their glory, many are busy making money as it has become the ultimate end for them rather than the means to live. Heads of state and executives fly around in private jets and limos whereas most of the population break their backs for 3 square meals a day. Religious leaders, blinded by their own version of teachings, instigate conflicts and declare war, killing thousands each year. It is a strange irony that faith was invented by man to hold himself up straight during times of struggle, but that has now become the main cause of conflict. We must also remember that no religion in this world propagates hate, rather all of them preach acceptance and tolerance.

Unless we learn :

to overcome our basic instincts and realise that we are all equals

to tolerate and accept each others right to live, faith and freedom and

to stop considering only ourselves, the world will end, and it will happen soon.

Che-from revolutionary to capitalist tool

The funniest thing that I saw in the year 2008 was a person wearing a T-shirt with the image of Che Guevera and using what looked like an i-phone or a PDA. I doubt whether he even knew who Che Guevera was let alone what the man stood for and his work. You see a lot of such people, who just want to show off and to impress. They pretend they are macho or intellectuals and use certain philosophical sounding words without even knowing their meaning and purpose. These are individuals with nothing to claim as their own except their dad's VISA power and are desperate for attention.

While dwelling on this topic, I would also like to discuss about those who use Che's name for spreading violence. Various organisations use his image and perpetrate crime and violence in the name of the revolution. If that comes against a government that has been treating its people unfairly or against rulers who are inept to govern a nation or whose intention is only greed, it must be justified. But when this violence comes against a democratically elected government that is functioning decently and that too for unreasonable demands, like the ones raging in our north-east for example, it is simply exploiting the image to give authenticity to their own anti-national activities.

I really do not care whether a person uses an i-phone simply because every person has the right to do whatever he wants with his money and time, but my request is, do not insult a great revolutionary like Che in the way I mentioned in the beginning. I also do not care whether an organisation believes in revolution, but when you spread violence, it must have its valid reasons and must not use images, names and the memories of TRUE revolutionaries to give authenticity to a struggle that has no meaning and purpose except political manipulations and destabilisation of a legitimate government.

Double Standards Abound

The whole world is obsessed with equality and human rights, advocated mainly by the west and agencies in Scandinavian countries do their own bit by writing damning reports about third world nations for the violation of human rights and the absence of freedom of expression and speech. An amnesty international report was severely critical of India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan for its apparent lack of respect of human rights. The report said that the new anti-terror laws passed in India and the retention in custody of over 70 people for more than 2 months without trial were uphauling, Serious cases of human rights considering that India is the only nation to have tough anti-terror laws whereas the Unites States have been providing 5-star accommodation to Afghanis and Iraqis in Gitmo and Abu Ghraib.

The violation of human rights in India is a serious matter and we do have our own agencies looking into the matter. More troubling are the matters in several other countries, but when the world's biggest muscle power provide mute permission to the worlds greatest human rights violation, no one can really do nothing about it. An entire population in the West Bank and Gaza are being exterminated by Israel while it is being watched by the international community. Israel is taking four times as much water as the Palestinians from a vital shared aquifer, Israelis use 240 cubic metres of water per person against 75 cubic metres for West Bank Palestinians and 125 for Gazans, and in some areas of West Bank, it is as low as 10-15cms per person according to the World bank (The Hindu, Friday May29, 2009-"Israel: 80 per cent of West Bank water for Israelis"). A wall has been built to protect Israelis from attacks across the border, but what this has only achieved is the siege of a small strip of land supporting thousands of people, who are simply going to die due to lack of basic resources.

Last Christmas saw some of the most horrifying attack on a group of helpless population by a nation that is growing fat from the cash inflow from the United States(Israel has long been the biggest beneficiary of US aid) which can simply trample upon its helpless neighbours with the ease of crushing a fly. Is not this a violation of basic human rights? May be this does not involve the violation of our freedom to speech, which I think is the only type of human rights violation that is considered by these international agencies, for they highlight cases in Burma, China, Iran etc with great emphasis.

The media also follow up, but all this is merely a cover-up of the actual violation basic rights that happen in the west. Discrimination on the basis of race still exists and immigrants are still looked down upon. Cuba still suffers from the US blockade, a remnant of the cold war era and one based only on ideological difference. Amnesty International was founded on a newspaper article that emphasised the quote "I detest yourviews, but am prepared to die for your right to express them." by Voltaire. There may be differences in our belief, religious, political or others, but you have the right to express them and also practice any belief or ideology and in the case of Cuba, communism the offending ideology. Isn’t that an internal matter and one that should be left to the island-nation's own decision?

A resolution was moved to investigate war crimes in the recent conflict that ended the LTTE reign of terror in Sri Lanka. All that happened was that a decisive government felt the moment was right to end a bloody struggle waged by an organisation that has left thousands dead, (not to mention a former Prime Minister of India) and also acted as the beginner and inspiration for the new mode of terrorism and insurgency that is threatening the entire world. The enthusiasm and interest shown must be appreciated, but what about what is happening Gitmo, Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan? Don’t they amount to any rights violations or require any investigation into war crimes?