Another Night

It is just one of the innumerable night-outs that I have done after coming to K.Most of them were by choice owing to my weird sleeping schedule but the present ones are forced. I have been sleeping in two shifts- one after lectures and another from 6AM to 8:30AM types. This time I'm awake due to the impending final exams and the mammoth untouched syllabus which is springing surprises every time I walk through it. The biggest difficulty is the waves of sleep that sweep me off my feet to the spongy cushion. Let this week pass by as soon as possible though blogging won't help much to my cause this time. I don't remember ever being so keen about (going to Bangalore and) meeting family after the exams are over. I've met great people after coming here and I can say that I'm happy with the people I hang around with everyday. The weirdness quotient which persists in all of my relationships ,either due to me or them has been pretty abysmal. There is nothing much I can say about the surroundings, they're too good to believe.

I love my room[F51]. The pic shows the view from my balcony which is not exactly the much coveted valley view but still tranquil and appeasing. It is on 2nd floor hence quieter, much to my delight. It takes me 101 stairs(up and down both) to reach canteen. For this gargantuan effort, a cuppa is not going to balance the calories and so I've been stocking chips, biscuits and kerala halwa in my room. It has been quite a challenge to keep the ants away and they've been winning hands down so far.I've learned to operate a washing machine which is one of my major learning after coming here. Anyways, 20th evening and I'll be off in a bus to Bangalore with other friends here. I'm looking forward to the Delhi trip this term-break. Unfortunately, New Delhi was rocked by serial blasts today. We've been living with it for ages paying price for the historical blunders. It will be better soon. Rains have started and I'll probably be off to sleep now.

Quixotic Dreams

It was pretty fast. I could still hear the whooshing sound as it passed by. Some things accomplished and some left to desire, fair enough, the game is not yet finished or rather it has just begun. In the game of life, you never know where exactly you stand because you don't know when it will come to an end. It's difficult to make precise calculations about what you've got and what you need to have more. Some dreams remain quixotic but what is hope for? Oh, I have to study.

Insomnia

From facebook minifeed,

Amod joined the group I Stay Up Late and I Don't Do Anything Productive.

1:15am

Doesn't it say it all?! It all started in class XIth, when I stayed up late to study for engineering entrance examinations. College was the place where this insomnia blossomed and remained so ever since then. Gossiping with friends, taking long walks in the dark, tea, coffee, internet, chatting, downloading, talking on phone, making castles in air and what not, I do after 12 AM. I guess I'm not going to be normal anytime soon. That is the way, and I'm okay with it. Too early to sleep now, let me find something to do.

H-life

HYDERABAD MEMOIRS

Dusty streets of Madhapur|My home with 3-side balcony|Parties@ Café Latte | Flashy Biking at Jubilee hills, road no. 36 and Banjara hills|Traffic Police haunting|Frequent trips to McDonalds at City centre (often with Nitesh)|Get-togethers at IIIT|The Ayyappa society road for daily shopping|Parathas@ Rajasthan Food House|Cousin’s trip|Trips to Bangalore for interviews|MMTS, Hitech City Railway station|CL Ameerpet and Workshop at Ragala resorts|Riding back to home for lunch|Winding streets|Pearl shops|Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani|A moment that changed equations|Late night talks on phone|A wonderful experience to remember|Naveen's Village|New year's get together at JD's room|...

sinking

X: ok

wish our 3 yr old frenship ended on a better note

but i hav to be slefish at dis point of time

me: i wish it never ended

ok

Trivia

Tagged by Naresh!

1. LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATRE:

Krazzy 4! Quite Krazzy, was good as long as it lasted.

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?

Everytime I hear this question, I feel like a duck! Whatever I read is on net.

3. FAVORITE BOARD GAME?

Chess, always, forever! After Bhavesh introduced me to Baba's chess, I am quite hooked on to it.

4. FAVORITE MAGAZINE?

Refer #2!

5. FAVORITE SMELLS?

Coffee. Petrol too.

6. FAVORITE SOUND?

Sound isn't music, right? A roaring aircraft sounds great. Screeching tyres is another one. Wind chimes are awesome.

7. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?

To come all prepared and then don't get or rather make an opportunity to do something.

8. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP?

"Snooze. I'll get up at next alarm ring for sure." :D
If I know I have a busy day ahead then I'll get up quickly.

9. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE?

McD - better than KFC even though I'm a chicken-lover. Roadside foods rock as well!

10. FINISH THIS STATEMENT. "IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I’D...?

travel, attend concerts and buy stuff. Can't think of anything right now, in short, live lavishly.

11. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?

No, Ants aren't stuffed animals.

12. STORMS-COOL OR SCARY?

Super cool! A light storm makes me feel better.

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?

Fiat

14. FAVORITE DRINK?

Milk shakes. (not Alcohol )

15. FINISH THIS STATEMENT, "IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD...

be touring Rajasthan and Kerala comprehensively.

16. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?

Broccoli, I know!

17. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?

Any further experimentation could worsen their already dilapidated state. Just to mention, violet.

18. NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN.

Bhagalpur-> Muzaffarpur-> Ranchi-> Gandhinagar-> Bangalore-> Hyderabad
Delhi/Mumbai is next preferred choice!

19. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?

I love watching them all. Racing, cricket, football..

20. ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU.

The guy believes in himself. This belief takes one a long way through.

21. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED?

A thin microscopic layer of air.

22. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN?

Definitely yes!

23. MORNING PERSON, OR NIGHT OWL?

No Fear of the dark!

24. OVER EASY, OR SUNNY SIDE UP?

If I've understood the question correctly, then it's sunny side up.

25. FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX?

Coffee/Tea, Computer with internet, fluffy mattress, music etc. are the prerequisites. Best place is home, I wonder if anybody would differ on this?!

26. FAVORITE PIE?

Hot Apple Pie! Vanilla scoop over it.

27. FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?

Love them all. I prefer fudges (chocolate, almond, cashew anything)

28. OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU TAGGED THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?

Amiya and Jayant. Wishful thinking :D

The 80s boy

The 80s boy is at crossroads. When he grew up enough to understand his surroundings, he saw light-bulbs, scooters, telephones( where you put a finger in and rotate till the end, causing a zirrr sound), none of them functionally existing now. The 80s boy was sent to school where he learned and made friends. Every morning he watched his father with his squint eys, who woke up leisurely, did his daily and household chores, read newspaper and went to office on a scooter. The 80s father returned back in evening and enjoyed a cup of tea, watched TV and discussed politics with an occasional guest. A simple dinner, little bit of family discussion where the 80s father told his son to study, cited examples of successful people with a hope that the son would reach there too. Then they all called it a day. The 80s mother loved her child and wanted him to study and become a successful person. The 80s boy was told to stay ahead in the race. The 80s boy took all this seriously and he looked around and pondered about his life. He thought when he will grow up he would live a simple life like his father, but he found that his surroundings, his house, his town inspires him to achieve something bigger which leads to a "better" life. This pursuit of 80s boy changed his world.

The 80s boy studied and became active at school. He participated in different activities, sports to see how good he can be. The 80s boy saw the 80s girls. He was inquisitive, painfully shy and slightly frightened by this foreign creature. Co-existence brought the fact to him that this new kind of human isn't much different except for her long hairs, candied voice and un-boyish choices. Unwittingly, the 80s boy was attracted to the 80s girl and tried to find out why she smiled or flipped her hair, asked a particular thing and did stuff that was weird from his perspective. The 80s boy was dreamy and wanted to learn more about the outside world which he hadn't seen. His curiosity was his inspiration and his dreams were his motivation. The 80s boy wanted to excel wherever he laid his hands, just like his peers. The small battles became fierce and it fuelled a high degree of self-esteem that sometimes bordered with egotism. Competition, politics, finding shortcuts, peer rivalry, shrewdness were the order of 90s and later, the 80s boy soon got accustomed to it and went on without much difficulties. The 80s boy was headstrong, adamant about what he wanted. He knew he had to swim or he will be drowned in the ocean, either by his incompetence or being pulled down by other. He knew he had to cross the ocean, but what lies on the other side? He could just dream about the other side.

The 80s boy kept on fighting for the best things. He won many and lost many. A loss hurt more than a win pleased, because his pursuit made him feel that winning is just habitual while losing is disastrous. He became mechanical and quantified many facets of his life, which shielded small pleasures that were meant to be just felt. The 80s boy didn't rever the cool breeze falling on his face in the evening, his mind was preoccupied with the work that he needs to finish at night. Time flied and the 2000s arrived. The 80s boy came out of his teens and joined the rat race to achieve "something" wilfully, as if he were not already a part of it. He ran after elusive things and was run out. He went after something aggressively and was stumped. He tried to score maximum but was caught somewhere in between. He was given yellow card for his perceived pugnacity, aptly or otherwise. But, the 80s boy was clever and found his own ways to score in the game of life. Every failure made him shrewd and tougher than ever before. He won battles, one after another until he was bemused about the final outcome. What's there at the end, the other side? He remembered his father living a simple yet satisying life, and look, he himself is living a complicated and a no better life, after all this turmoil. The 80s boy wondered about this world, wondered what went wrong either with himself or with the system? The 80s boy, now in his 20s(so-called quarter-life) is perplexed what is worth running after that keeps him going and most importantly, contented? He earns a lot in this globalized world, still he yearns to earn more by putting up some extra fight. He looks unidimensionally at other 80s boys who are ahead of him and so he never realized that he left many behind him. The big things of 80s like aeroplane, AC, car are commonplace now. There are more luxurious and branded things now, though the 80s boy is fully aware of what he wants and what he doesn't. Still, he's just a part of the race. The 80s boy is at crossroads, once again.

Portrayal

"I'm on my quest to demystify this surreptitious world which is increasingly turning hostile towards my feelings. I wish to strike a balance between my idiosyncracies and the societal trends. I wish to know more and more people all over the world. I wish to get hold of my randomly flowing thoughts and save them, that's why I'm here."

This is how I have depicted myself for last three years on my blog. While it is still not utopia for me, I believe it is high time to express myself in a different way.

my school

1992-2000
:)

Last 3

Experiences for last three IIM interviews ,

Indore | Kozhikode | Calcutta

Update on May 13:

I- Waitlist
K-Convert
C-Reject

rainy weekend

It’s weekend and it’s raining, sounds as good as it should be except for frequent power-cuts. It has been like this for last 36 hours though it didn’t rain heavily. That’s something about hilly areas; it remains cloudy and sprinkles throughout. After a frenzied week at office, I was waiting for this weekend to sleep and think, and yes, I did that totally! Last night when it stopped raining for a while, I decided go out and see the city (hyd). It was in mess- waterlogged (my faithful bike bailed me out every time!), slippery roads and cars splashing mud water everywhere, expectedly. That made me ponder, which city in India is least affected by rains? Certainly not Mumbai, we all have heard of horrible stories about it! Is it Delhi? May be, may not be! Why do I worry about things that have no bearing on me?

Six up!

That's something easy- to pen down six points, six idiosyncrasies of mine that are not very common.

Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. Tag six random people and let them know they've been tagged.

1. I like the mobile no.s that have 2 as their sixth digit. The first four digits are are just codes where you can't do much. Fifth digit depends on the era when you were born.Sixth digit is special. Seriously, I think such mobile owners are amiable person. I have myself chosen such a number.

2. I am always short of one rupee change. If Rs 8 is needed, then I would be having coins worth Rs 7. I dispose off coins from my wallet as soon as possible, hence the vicious cycle goes on.

3. I like sun-set pictures and save them almost compulsively. I prefer sun-set over sun-rise.

4. I save old tickets, passes, receipts etc. I have 3-4 polythene bags full of such things. When I relocate to a different city(which I do so often), I carry them to the new place.

5. You'll not understand my photography skills. I take pictures with a philosophical angle, but alas very few can appreciate that. My friends generally have a good laugh seeing my clicked pictures of empty roads, tree branches, bushes etc. I will quickly take out my mobile and take a picture of something, leaving the person accompanying me bewildered about my interesting find.

6. I frequently and obsessively track things. That means, if I send a courier, I will be checking the consignment no. on website frequently and see where my courier has reached so far. If I have a waiting ticket, I will be checking PNR status every six hours! If I have to transfer money online, I will first transfer a small amount to see if it reached the other side successfully(same amount, importantly).

7. [BONUS POINT] I am obsessed about one song at any given time. It's something that will be running in my player all the time, much to the chagrin of people around me. These days it is "O re piya" by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Prior ones were Execute the Sounds by POD and Tum se hi.

I'm (over)done with the tag now. I'm not going to tag anyone, people who haven't done this tag may go ahead and be nice. I'd just like Steve to take up this tag as he hasn't written anything for a long time. See you sooner, Adios!

changing times

There has been quite a lot of difference in my life after coming to Hyderabad. The 13 km one-side drive in horrible traffic has now become 3 km saunter-like bike ride on wide open roads. The earliest person to leave office is now putting long working hours. The weekends that were spent with close friends are now quite lonelier with little or no activity. Frequent trips and some night-outs at IIIT Hyd with old friends have been freshening, giving me an old familiar feel of college life and hostel that sometimes I yearn for. Food, that kept me entertained for most of the time, has now become a need-based requirement and I often miss out on that! With the choice(?) of just one caterer in office, I have become selective(?) about food or lack thereof. Yeah, high proportion of McD and KFC burgers have kept me weighing the same and luckily, the fat hasn’t started showing up yet. I might frequent to ground-floor fitness centre, the moment I see an iota of fatty skin hanging somewhere.

I don’t like staying up late in office. I often stay beyond times, which I never thought of spending in cubicle, either working, or dilly-dallying with some peculiar kind of problem. I can’t imagine myself sitting in office beyond 8 PM regularly. when I’m married with many kids. A good work-life balance is of utmost importance, to anyone who can see beyond cryptic codes, balance sheets and board room meetings. American companies become a difficult proposition as they outsource a lot of work(often back-end) with stringent deadlines to deal with. The time difference of almost 12 hrs is good and bad, good that work goes 24 hrs around the globe and bad when people need to sync up together then someone has to spend nights in office and generally they’re us Indians. After all, money matters for ordinary man.

There has been revival of interests in my life. Apparently, I’ve become a grandiose cell-phone talker and I have started believing that pre-paid is cheaper than post-paid. (There are full talktime cards and Re1 schemes, why was I paying so much rental and 12.36 % tax all these years?). Scrabble, how much I loved it when I was a kid!! Though I didn’t play it enough in those younger years, I’m making up for it now on Facebook’s Scrabulous :). Sadly, there is a bit of fight over it and hopefully scrabulous will remain afloat. I’m eagerly waiting for Adelaide test now. This Aussie-India series have become a real battle, though a bit ugly at times, but it has invigorated the seemingly dull game. Cricket has become interesting again! And just like it, a few other things too!

2007+1

Another year passes by, leaving me more perplexed than ever,

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008

ps- I just spilt an entire cup of coffee on my keyboard, mouse and table. I cleaned but everything is still so sticky. I will just never learn, dear 2008.

ps2- It's a leap year! I'll be drinking tonight.

ps3- I didn't watch the sunset this time, though I used to watch sunset of 31st Dec always.

ps4- December was just great!

su - ozak

I'm done! My first job is over. I've clicked pictures here and there, burnt 3.07 GB of nostalgia and bid goodbye to many. Right now, I've completed all the exit formalities and am waiting for a friend to come. Incidentally, it's one of my friend's birthday today so I don't have to go back home. The ride back home alone would have been melancholic as I'm leaving some really good stuff behind me. It was great -coming out of college-moving to a big city-few friends to accompany-work-learn-be responsible-work-learn- ... . I've learnt more in last 1½ than I did in 4 years of engineering. Learning by experience is the best way to learn.

I was able to sucessfully pursue the dream. It might appear a bit dry that I was just keen on changing a job and called it the dream? Dreams aren't supposed to be such hackneyed stuff. But the way I carried myself loosely in last few years, it was no less than a dream.

I hated outlook before coming to office. I thought it's one of the most useless softwares made my microsoft which complicates things, opens virus attachments unwarrantedly and acts sophisticated to give you a "corporate" feel. It was good to have a mind shift by experience. Software engineer- An insider's view and An outsider's view are way too different. I intend to write it in detail sometime later. Lastly it might be lingering in your mind, why this blog is titled su - ozak? It's a linux command that I used atleast 25 times in my daily work, so it looks apt to name it this way. su is switch user ozak was my linux ID with special admin privileges that I used for logging and doing stuff as a part of my job responsibility that a normal developer was not supposed to do.

Bangalore is a pretty nice place, it just needs a bit of self-policing to make itself nicer! Hyderabad, I'm pretty sure it would be nice and I've hordes of Hyderabad lovers around me. Biryani is good nonetheless! kill -9 0

Hoax

[October 19th, 3:30 PM]
The blaring fire hooter soon became intolerable. The sloths in various cubicles got up rubbing their eyes and asking each other incuriously,

"Hey, what happened, fire?"
"Some other floor should be in flames!"
"I can't see any smoke!"
"We shall wait."
"Aaah, I don't wanna go down the stairs."
"It must be the fire drill. Let's wait!"
"Someone could be smoking near the smoke detector."

When a few energetic souls rushed down to stairs, others too dragged themselves down to the earth, hoping to see atleast some floor in flames so that their momentous effort is not in vain. As we reached down, we were surprised to see the big crowd already present there. It was easy to feel the excitement and palpitation. No one was having a clue to whatever that happened, but everyone was looking at the big building from different sides and angles searching for flames or smoke! I guess people were striving to be the "first person" to spot the fire so that they can shout in the middle. Minutes passed, everyone was restless as there wasn't any fire and the building had the same platitudinous aura in the afternoon sunshine. A while after,the bomb was dropped!! After some coaxing,the stern-faced security guy announced "There's a bomb somewhere in the building!". Now, I truly feel he shouldn't have said somewhere. Again a round of speculations,

"Bomb. Who put it?"
"What kinda bomb?"
"It's in sixth floor. The security guy told me."
"It may be in the parking area, 1st floor?"
"If the still girders melt, the whole building will collapse."
And to top it all,
"Can it be a human bomb?".

I just love people! They can be so "un-funnily" creative at times that you got to salute them! Everyone was smiling and speculating, it was like a festival. Soon police vehicles arrived, and now everyone thought it's not a prank (or who knows, a high-level prank!). Security guys had a tough time moving people away from the building, they all wanted to see it explode I guess. People had mobile phones in their hand in Video mode hoping to shoot a video of the bursting building( and sell it at high price to Aajtak, NDTV et al!). It took 3 hours to search the building. The excitement soon died down and everyone was tired due to standing in sun. Some were sitting in lawn, some roaming around the pathway and so on.Personally, I was more worried that if it really explodes then all will run at once and there may be a stampede!(They won't stand and shoot the video for sure!) The boredom got better of me and I decided to move away to a friend's house nearby. As it turned out to be, there wasn't any bomb. It was just a hoax! We resumed to our work merrily.

Who would like to bomb bored working souls?

Qualcomm Interview Experience

I remember frantically searching for job interview experiences on net when I had to go through one. I became lazy, once I got the job and forgot that I should post to help out others. Here’s my interview experience at Qualcomm, Hyderabad for the job of DSP Engineer.

// Posted on March 23, 2008 in backdate.

The process: There will be one/two round(s) of telephonic interviews to select candidates for onsite interview. There will 6-7 onsite interviews generally on the same day, of which typically 5 are technical and remaining on HR and career aspirations.

Qualcomm Interview

October 12, 2007

Hyderabad, India

Round-I: KG, Manager

Duration: 45 mins

Questions

Tell me about yourself.

Where are you working?

What are your job responsibilities?

Long discussion with various questions on job, questions on clearcase etc.

Why do you want to change your job?

What are your technical skills?

You don’t like to do Build & Release?

How good are you at C and C++? What do you prefer?

What is object oriented programming?

What is encapsulation & polymorphism? Examples.

What kinds of variables are found in C?

Explain static & extern with the help of an example.

What is difference between static and global?

Showed a code segment and asked various static/global variable related questions, compiler level questions.

Round-II: SK, Manager

Duration: 25 mins

Questions

What are you working at presently?

Why do you want to change your job?

Questions and contradictions followed

You’ve mentioned in your CV about JTAG emulators. Explain.

What tools do you use in your job? Explain them!

What scripting languages you know? Explain with examples.

Describe your job responsibilities.

Discussion on various aspects, discussion on this job that I applied for

Round-III: KK, Senior Enginner & SSV, Lead Engineer

Duration: 70-75 mins

Questions

What are you working at presently? What tools do you use?

Discussion on Linux commands and clearcase fundas and platforms( Unix/Windows)

What CM tools do you know?

What are your job responsibilities?

What are the steps involved in compiling a program?

How are objects files (.o) used during compiling?

Explain assembling, linking etc. from compiler’s point of view.

Do you remember your B.Tech courses?

What is static and dynamic process?

Explain about processes. What are threads? How many types of processes? How process transition takes place?

Explain about memory allocation. Explain Physical and Logical addresses.

My computer has a word of 2^16 but at once only 2^10 can be read. How will it be written in memory?

You’ve mentioned about scripting. What do you know? Which scripts?

Write a script for [Scenario].

Explain the logic.

What other logics can be used? Can you optimize your script?

Write a script for [Scenario].

Optimize this script.

Write a script for [yet another scenario].

What is your experience in Perl and Shell?

What are make-files? Write a make-file for .

Round of questions on make-file, questions on rules, target, prerequisite and directives, build-avoidance etc

What do you know in DSP?

Explain your B.Tech. Project (OFDM)

Long discussion on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing and various aspects of implementation.

What is IFFT? Why is it used in OFDM? How are orthogonal signals generated? Show us on paper.

What is encoding? What is interleaving? Give examples. Show us on paper.

What are error-correcting codes? Explain and give examples.

What is Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)? Why is it used?

How is a QAM signal generated?

What is the phase difference? What is constellation diagram? Draw constellation diagram for 16-QAM.

How is the shape of constellation diagram decided? What are its implications?

Draw some constellation diagrams and explain. What are the phases in a 4-point QAM? Why not 0 phase?

What is hamming distance? Minimum hamming distance?

You know MATLAB? Tell something. What have you done on MATLAB?

You know CCS? What have you done on that?

What assembly language do you know?

Discussion on job I applied for..

Round-IV: SB, Manager & SG, Lead Engineer

Duration: 45 mins

It was mostly on my present job, work responsibilities and challenges. I was asked to give various examples and how I would respond in various hypothetical scenarios.

Various questions on Linux commands and scripts

What is your biggest contribution so far?

You’ve worked and seem to be good at Linux but how would you adjust to windows development environment here?

Round-V: AB, Lead Engineer

Duration: 40 mins

Questions

What do you do?

Explain make-files.

What can you do with make-files?

How is assembly language different from normal programming languages?

Write an assembly code to compute factorial of a no.

Optimize it.

Can you further optimize it? Make assumptions.

Discussion on my would-be job responsibilities here, if I’m selected

Round-VI: VK, HR/Staffing Specialist

Duration: 20 mins

Round-VII: DB, Director

Duration: 20 mins

Discussion on job, relocation, career aspirations etc.

September

How was my september? Anything worth to remember? Yes, in bits and pieces, but yes, nonetheless. I got rid of something which I shouldn't have ever accumulated at the first place.

The month started with a hopeful note. Few years back I had the beginning of a dream, but it was so far far away from ever becoming a reality that I couldn't dare to dream further. For a signifact part of this month, I chased it down, edged closer and closer but I still have some covering to do.The last day of the month was quite special. I met a very close schoolfriend after almost six years and ask me, was it fun? It was a blast! I wasn't quite in touch except few small, hasty yet conducive chats on yahoo messenger that was called for when one side was bored and the other busy. When you meet a old friend after many years, you discover so many new facets of changed lives. It almost felt like I was in a different world than them and suddenly the two worlds have united with their own characteristics intact. And yeah, I got the same old remark that goes like "Hey, you've not changed at all!" which is a mild way of putting "Hey, there's still no improvement in you. Why? I was expecting a bit, but that's fine, there's still time. Good luck!". :)

Hyderabadi Biryani never tasted so good!

My blog has become a dlog(deadlog). I haven't posted anything in last three months. The misery is graphically shown below.


As one would make out from this graph, I started blogging quite enthusiastically but it dried down later. The graph needs to plunge upwards in coming days.

For the time being, I'm posting some pics of Ooty and Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary. I went there last to last weekend and the whole experience was fabulous.





The cottage where we stayed!


The whole album can be found here: Ootacamund

Twenty something

Wow, I just realized that the title of this post can be associated with my age but I'm not gonna write about the quarterlife crisis stuff now. This tag I have got from Steve's blog and I think it's pretty simple stuff- answer twenty somethings. Here's what I feel about it:

1. Pick out a scar you have, and explain how you got it.

Okay!!The scar is on my right elbow, hence not much noticeable. I got it back in April 2001 probably. I was returning from a marriage party with my cousin(he was in class 9th then) to his house. Suddenly, we decided to race to home(in order to prove our supremacy over each other :D). The lane was peaceful and lined with tall eucalyptus trees. We both were running hard neck-to-neck and suddenly: black out!! Those dim fluttering streetlights left me obscured in darkness and my quandary probably took a little more time. I stumbled acrossed something, a stray piece of rock or an elevation in the ground, and next moment I fell flat on stomach. The reflex action brought elbow infront of my face and that was the point of impact. Hence I got the scar, which I mention in official forms now, when asked for physical identification mark.

2. What is on the walls in your room?

Tranquil light sky-blue coloured paint. I think it was a good choice of colour by my landlord. No posters on the wall now, however I don't mind putting one in future.

3. What does your phone look like?

Silver coloured MOTORAZR V3. I got it from my brother. The phone is overall good.
Positives: Nice grip, Wide Screen
Negatives: Bad UI design, Low memory space

A little off-topic information about my phone-using-career here, regarding my phones and service providers:



4. What music do you listen to?

Shall I refer you to my present previous post? :D .Needless to say I'm more Floydian than anything else on the offering. I listen to all those rock, metal, punk, old hindi, new hindi etc. I don't listen to pop, reggae, hip-hop etc. My iLike statistics might help:

Recently Played
Most Played
Fan of


5. What is your current desktop picture?

Laptop(Home): A pic I took from caged vehicle in a tiger park here in Bangalore.
Office PC: A pic of Delhi Metro by someone

6. What do you want more than anything right now?

Its 0025 now.Play scrabble with Steve, Sarat and Bobli...Or go for a walk... Or talk to some old friend on phone.. or.. I would have liked to do a lot of things now. There's a lot to make up for and a lot to do further.

7. Do you believe in gay marriage?

I presume gay includes lesbians also context-wise. So?? Let them marry and live happily thereafter. If one of my friends is up for it, I would surely attend his/her marriage but I'm gonna crack PJs there for sure. :D

8. What time were you born?

Between 1755-1800 as far as my mausi remembers :))

9. Are your parents still together?

My father lives far up above. My mother lives with me.

10. What are you listening to?

Post War Dreams - The Final Cut - Pink Floyd.
With me attending Aerosmith concert on June 2nd, I should rather be listening to them. Ain't it? But I'm addicted to addictive addictions.

11. Omitted!!Steve.. where is it?? You fool!

12. The last person to make you cry?

I don't really remember if I have cried in 2007. Probably not. Last year, I cried when I left college forever. I cried just after coming out of college gate, stopped for a while to take a good look backwards, and moved on.

13. What is your favourite perfume/cologne?

I'm not very fond of perfume or cologne. If I have to choose between two, I choose the cheaper one(price-wise not quality-wise :D). Presently I have this Charlie-SILVER-Revlon. Don't laugh, the bottle is almost full and I've to use it.

14. What kind of hair/eye colour do you like on the opposite sex?

I like girls with shining hair.Long, black and free-flowing.
I like cat-eyed girls, however funny that may sound. I probably don't notice eye-colour. We don't find blue-eyed-girls here, do we?

15. Do you like pain killers?

Noye! I don't like taking medicines of any sort unless absolutely necessary. It's addicive as far as I know. I already have many addictions. :D

16. Are you too shy to ask someone out?

I vary. I've asked out just befriended girls and at the same time I've not asked out girls whom I've liked for long. The latter causes sadness and the former has been quite exhilarating at times.

17. Fave pizza topping?

Almost all! Anything with cheese (I'm not said to be like mouse without a reason :D)

18. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?

It's summer. Icecream! I was thinking of getting one today. Right now, a dry fruit sundae would be great. Thanks!! (thanks for asking, I will satisfy myself with cold water now.)

19. Who was the last person you made mad?

I have no track of this. Do let me know if you turned mad after reading all this trash. :)

20. Is anyone in love with you?

I don't think so! I haven't done anything to have this by my side.

Hey, done!! It wasn't as laborious a work as it seemed to be at the beginning. I was probably intimidated by the number 20. Now I will let the generousity flow just like I picked this tag myself from Steve. Let me fly away now! You guys take good care of yourselves and finish this tag soon.