Lovely Love!!

This one's for err.... You are the Best

Recently SK and me were discussing what exactly is love and he just refused to believe that it has to be experienced to know what love is. He kept asking for that extra thingy which diffrentiates love from Infatuation.

What is Love? hmmm.. as a person who thinks he is in love... i think i have to try and answer it.

Love is:

Feeling of happiness at the others success, and sadness at the other's grief
Feeling of frustration when u dont meet or see each other
the urge to Keep logging onto orkut every few minutes to chk if she has left u a scrap.
The sense of grief/remorse that overcomes u when u have a quarrel.
Doing something just because she wants u to.
Compromise
That extra thingy u feel when she's with u.

I am sorry Karthik, but to me it seems like u will only discover 'that extra thingy' when u fall in love.. Thats the way the world works sometimes , u gotta accept the truth.
A Feynman quote will settle the issue I think(although its about the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics) : "... for the fundamental law of physics we still need mathematics,"...... "... the more laws we find, and the deeper we penetrate nature.. Every one of our laws is a purely mathematical statement in rather complex and abstruse mathematics... it is impossible to explain honestly the beauties of the laws of nature in a way that people feel, without their having some deep understanding of mathematics. I am sorry, but this seems to be the case."

Dear karthik.. the same with love...it is impossible I think to explain the beauty of it all to a person who has'nt experienced the same. How much ever you may try to quantify it, i think it finally boils down to "that extra thingy" as u choose to call it.

The above was my answer to the question about what exactly love is, but now recent events have occurred which made me realise what a big blunder I had been making. I had completely missed out a point which I now believe is the underlying fabric of love itself!

My B'day is approaching and my Girl Friend, nah my soul wanted to buy me a gift. Nothing exceptional about that, many young people gift each other on birthdays. She wanted to buy me a watch, so that i would stop carrying my mobile to exams and more importantly stop answering when she called (have Done it three times!). And she wanted me to come along, so that I could choose for myself what I liked. Now when we reach there, I am completely taken aback when she pulls out a thick wad of money and announces her budget; which is staggering.

Now there is again nothing exceptional about people giving expensive gifts to profess their love for someone, although I wouldnt advocate it too much since I believe the expense of the gift is in no way a true indicator of love. A gift when given from the heart is much more valuable. So I started berating her for wanting to spend so much and how it was'nt right. Then she reveals to me something which completely bowls me over!
She had been working as a sales girl, doing odd jobs, doing surveys etc to save up the amount for the gift, a gift for Me!! She was without second thought giving away her months of labour, her Blood and sweat literally just so that she could buy me a gift. She could have spent the money going to movies, buying stuff for herself, basically enjoyed the fruits of her hard earned labour. But no, she spent it all on me in a flash. She decided that the joy of giving me something, of seing me happy was worth much more than all that i have enlisted above.
She Had sacrificed all that for me, and that My friend I believe is Love!!

The desire to give away all, the desire to give up on so many of the things you have always wanted to do, just to see that Smile , that feeling of unrestrained pleasure on another person's face!

What else can that desire be called my friend, but Love??

This, I sincerely believe now is the most enduring definition of love!




Hoping to keep this thread going... Further introspection may bring out something even better

Water Trouble!!

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink ;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

Famous Lines ... ones which tell us the primacy of water, the bascic need that it is, and how when not met... All Hell Breaks Loose.

One doesn’t need to reiterate that water is one of the most important of all natural resources, and is vital for all living organisms and major ecosystems, as well as for human health, food production, and economic development. Ever since the first civilization arose in the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates river basins, water has always been a matter of great concern.

And in today's world the single most important concern is water conservation, and that is why the events described below are disturbing and require our careful consideration to find a solution.

Scene One: Bogs, Sarayu Hostel

A Friend brushing with the tap running! I enter and ask him to close the tap.
He 'Brushes' me aside saying tere baap ka kya jaata hai? Insti hi to pay kar rahi hai.
I too Brush aside the incident as an aberration! Surely there wont be too many such people and that too in IIT, we are the educated elite after all!

Soon I discover... apparently not

Two Years Later...

Scene Two: Bogs, Alakananda Hostel

The Freshies have arrived for the new academic session and along with them have arrived the "mataks", popular IIT lingo for the
M.Tech's. They take possesion of half our wing. They appear quite harmless and as is their wont, seem to mug away at odd times and all times. They are all people who like to keep to themselves and hardly ever interact with us B.Tech's apart from the occassional indecipherable doubt about the washing machine's workings etc, which of course is a constant source of entertainment for the wing (because of the accent), but thats a different story reserved for a different day.
But what has caused much consternation amonst the B.Tech's ranks are the new ways these mataks have discovered of wasting.
Water, especially when one of the B.tech's is the Gen Sec of the Hostel who has got gang raped for the lack of water in recent times.

possibility one: matak comes to wash face( yeah they do this regularly.. there's even one who roams around like a zombie at night with his face covered in some kind of face pack) at night before crashing, finds no water... simple solution leave the tap open for the others( Read as Sunt, the bog sec ) to close after he gets up hearing the water flowing in the mornings.

possibility two: a matak wants to take bath, opens tap to check for availability of water , and by jove a miracle... it really is available. Matak about to go inside the bathroom, but hey whom should he see coming? His neighbourly chum with whom he simply has to discuss the days events , all with the tap running of course. All the time My Blood Pressure runs higher. I do cut in on their "sweet nothings" and close the tap, but the callousness shocks me!

possibility three: This is the worst kind. Matak shaving/brushing with the tap open. I tell him to close the tap, he looks at me as if I have spoken "words which should not have been spoken", as if I have committed Blasphemy. I am given a stare which would have done Courtney "Stare" Walsh proud, and I am forced to beat a hasty retreat whispering to myself... whew a close shave!!

More than the water wastage, its their complete lack of concern and appreciation of the severe water shortage that plagues this institute which bothers me. And what is worst is they have just refused to learn, inspite of repeated warnings/requests both polite and harsh. We are at a complete loss to set right this situation. Of what use is all this education if all it makes you do is
behave even worse than an animal! What else can you say about a person who takes being told to close a tap as a personal slight, as a slug fest which has to be won no matter what?

What do you with such people? Pray, I guess... oh God please knock some sense into them.

Maybe I should give them R.K.Narayan's story about Raju Guide who gives up his life for the drought stricken people of a small village? Maybe they should read Coleridge who describes poetically the misery of the ancient Mariner...

But Maybe such people are'nt just worth the effort? Maybe the only thing to do now is to replace all taps with the push-release type (found in trains), It actually seems like a decent enough idea since even when people are trying their best to close the taps in between mouth rinses etc, their is always a certain time when fresh, clean water just goes down the drain! I would like a few comments about this idea... and if the railways can succesfully implement it, why cant we??
Surely the inconvenience of a tap which keeps cutting out the water is insignificant compared to the huge benifits involved? It will also encourage mug usage which is at a minimum at the moment( Usage of Stored water instead of the running variety)...

so please do get back to me as soon as possible.


Note: This is not to say that B.Tech's are perfect, and all the problem is because of the M.Tech's! I have just taken their example because what is described above is what exactly happens in my wing. This has not been written to offend anyone.

What A Loser!

The Last Two weeks have been bad for me.... I have lost everything! well almost...

Lost My calculator(what is an engineer without his tools?)

Lost my emerald ring. My pati gave me that one.

Lost my Black Beauty (My cycle which has seen me through many a trial and tribulation.... my trusted steed... riding it felt as smooth as this )

Lost my UPS.. it stopped working.. as dead as a dodo....that counts too! All APC abusers may go here

My Mobile Lost its voice...has'nt stopped vibrating though( some +ve ! huh)

Lost 170 marks in GRE.

Lost my pen... thats nothing new.( My friend's wondering if I ever owned one?)
ok, I Lost Sunt's pen!

I suspect quite a few things will join the above if I ever get down to cleaning my room. I wont!

This has gotta stop or I will lose my mind.

Time to lose myself in Play... Bye

Important Dates

a Long Long time ago.... 21 years and a few months to be precise

I Was Born

much dint happen for a long long time again....

fast forward to 5 years ago...

she sat next to me in the bus Sigh! Sigh Again...
The whole school used to sigh...
when she used to pass by!!
The look on my friends faces.
I could almost hear them crying... Him???? no, lets think positive...
I could hear my friends say...ya he's a greek god...If anyone, had to be him! thats much better.
and you know the best part?? she knew my name!

3.5 years Ago:

I begin my Assault On that most prestigious and the the most demanding undergraduate entrance exam in the world called the JEE (sood thanga mudiliya??)
...i dint say that, The Hindu did...chk it out
After 6 gruelling hours, its over...i come out unscathed

3.4 years ago

On Top Of the World!!

Me on a train, with the JEE results to be announced. call up my aunt from some arbit station on the way to Hyd from delhi
result : successful
The rest is just a blur what with the congratulations and the adulation. sigh; those were the days!
Grant interviews to future JEE aspirants, most of them girls.
I then chart out My masterplan for conquering the world in just three easy steps:

1. Win President Gold Medal for topping in IIT
2. App to MIT/Stan and get an MS
3. Come back and start earning truckloads of money

3.3 years ago:

Enter IITM,The excitement of staying away from home, of living alone.... no interfering , just complete freedom!
Like the grub for a month...(a record according to my friends)
Make n friends... have a blast
get a worst level nic with a worrrrst funda.....khatta, and dont ask the funda.
Made to Watch and provide the background score for my first err.. X rated movie lets say; by a concerned senior(at my lack of knowledge)
learn hazaar new stuff, have fun trying out for NSO selections in different games (make it in 3)

I am having fun i think, should have experiened all this long ago, so much for staying at home This is Life!
then reality strikes..... i want my mommy... sniff
Quizzes come , get screwed, and then the truth dawns... Conquering the world isnt exactly likely
Make my peace with acads, mug to survive becomes my motto.
and ya... before i forget, start losing weight (credited to the mess grub rather than for my passion for exercising)

9 months ago: My first SMS Date
I meet her ( Not the same her as referred to above ) at saarang. What a girl!! i have a crush on her within the first few

meetings (in groups mind you)
work up the courage to type and send those fated words "Will You come out with me?" via sms. she accepts. yipee... yahoo...
Go and see 'Black' and then walk around in the IIT campus (nature walk she calls it, but i wasnt observing much nature except...)
P.S: and then there were many! ( with the "many" referring to the number of dates.... the other option is'nt possible here atleast in IIT)

Aside: Thank You God! You have finally answered my prayers, took your time though!

Notice many guys getting tagged... taking the liberty to answer a few of the questions... helpful when you are'nt exactly bursting with ideas.

5 songs I know all the words to:
Dire Strait's Romeo and Juliet, Beatle's She Loves me yeah yeah!, I wanna hold your Hand!, Imagine I am in love with you (Ya, Love does things to ppl) & Hallowed be thy name

5 Snacks I enjoy:
Kesari, sakarapongal, Ladoo, mullu murukku & dahi bhalley( a delhi delight)


5 Things I would do with $100 million dollars:

1 Hoard it and use my bank balance to get married
2 buy her tonnes of gifts
3 buy myself a ferrari
4 build myself and her a house overlooking the ocean
5 take my family on a world tour


5 places I would run away to: (necessarily in order of preference)
her house
my house
Rio carnival
Disney land
cant think of any other place


5 favorite shows:
Byon kesh bakshi
Tehkikaat
Different Strokes
Small Wonder
The plannets funniest Animals

5 greatest joys:
Seeing her
Eating
Sleeping
Class getting cancelled
Passing a course with >= B grade... a rarity, thats why
A sixth Joy... riding My Black Beauty ( My 14 year old Street Cat.... Got stolen recently! May those rascals never sleep again.... pidari, rasculite, echal kala paradesi pasanga... My Blood Boils!)
Btw: all the abuse is purely pointy's... lest he accuse me of plaigiarising his work. Thanks to him for letting me use his creative outbursts!

5 favourite toys:
My comp
My Mobile
My Digi Cam...
A pen to continually twirl about my fingers
A pencil to continually twirl about my fingers(sorry had to do it to make up the numbers).

Being the best you can be

After 3 years of studying at IITM, after getting thulped time and again in the quizzes by practically everyone most of the time(i did come first once!, a miracle), after seeing the stud things stud junta(read as practically everyone but me) do here, i think i can quite be forgiven for not predicting a very bright future for myself, for not being too confident of my
abilities (whatever little i have...(see it shows, the low confidence)). it also resulted in me not showing too much enthu for my studies, how does it matter when you are gonna be last anyway reasoned my tired brain! So it went on like this for quite a while, with equilibrium having been firmly established( w.r.t both my Branch Position and my mind). Now the readers
will have to bear a digression which doesnt really have a bearing on this topic (but this is my blog and I do as I please). Saarang came, the IITM cul fest for the uninitiated, and I as is my wont was wandering around looking at all the "sights" and sounds that make saarang the great event it really is! so what did i see? It was a girl I had met recently at a marriage and a really smart one at that ( how did I know you may ask,but take my word for it... i recognise intelligence in others when i see it... 3 years in IIT hasnt been for nothing after all!). anyway we got talking. It turned out that she was planning to come to the show by KK with all her friends and asked if i would like to come! needless to say i jumped at the chance and brought along all my wing members (and boy did we have fun), ok anyway we all became good friends and started meeting regularly at the beach etc. Then it so happened one day, that one of the girls had a problem with her computer, which i thought was trivial and told her how to solve it... and she said the magic words.. you are so intelligent! boy did it sound sweet. and time passed the girls actually assured me that i was pretty brainy. After the initial feeling of euphoria of having been called brainy eased and i got back to earth, I started thinking( ya i do that sometimes), maybe i really was brainy(ok a little), maybe i wasnt the dunce i had convinced myself to be. Then the answer hit me, it was relative grading at work again, my bane for so many years at IIT.
Then in a flash of lightning i realised the truth of it all!
That My existence on this earth wasnt a complete waste after all, someone could actually find a use for me. I realised it doesnt matter whether you are good/brilliant when compared with others. It is basically 'You Vs You' out there , you Win when you never Quit, when you always fight not necessarily to be the best,but to be the best you can be and to do the best you can do! In the final equation that is what counts and matters. Its ok if you dont make an earth shaking discovery, or earn tonnes of money, but its not okay if you dont work hard, its not ok to set lower goals for yourself, and most importantly its not ok if you dont enjoy the most beautiful thing of all... Your Life!
I urge all you people like me who at some point of time have felt like giving up, to try and put fight once, just once and you will realise there is much satisfaction and joy to be derived from the fact that you tried your best!