Thanks, dear Marjan, my faithful friend.

Marjan never fails to send some ever inspiring stuff which could just light up one'slife right away and provoke one to action. SomethingsI found at the bottom of her latest email.

"The fruit of Silence is Prayer. The fruit of Prayer is Faith. The fruit of Faith is Love. The fruit of Love is Service. The fruit of Service is Peace."

"Beware of prejudice! Light is good in whatsoever lamp it is burning. A rose is beautiful in whatsoever garden it may bloom. A star has the same radiance whether it shines from the east or from the west."

Flopping the magazine

This is to announce the successful flopping of the magazine called Automoney, which flopped even before it could be released.
The copy was editted and all done and had to just go through one of the teacher's eyes. I gave it to him. It' still there.

* * *
All my friends and juniors have gone home. Happy hols! I might just publish it in heaven or something, if they have a publishing house there.

Time to change?

Some people evolve their own style of writing over time. Their writing become so characteristic to the way they are. Over time, my writing has evolved, I believe, and many people, surprisingly, have given good feed back. There are times when I rite stuff which is not the usual stuff, which in itself, I believe is not that boring.
The thought that's in my mind is should I stick to write the same way, which is spontaneous, or also include the stuff out side the periphery of my usual writing.

I guess, on blogs, you can write what you want, the way you want. Once you have a regular set of readers, then perhaps, they will start expecting the same kind of stuff. In my case, that category consists of a few but faithful number of people. For now, then, i shall write whatever I want. Guess, I'll do the same, later too.

Deb, your comment made me think. Thanks.

They say them good

Blogger noticed these blogs today:

London Underground Tube Diary
Healing Iraq
Raising Yousuf
Secret Dubai Diary
Tokyo Girl Down Under
the breakfast blog
AOL Hot Searches
The Thinking Blog
Xenomachina

inch by inch.

The day is nearing. The last day 56 students, together as a class, after 3 years. I have been postponing thinking about that last day and the days to come, for days. Today it struck me. Really hard.

Ol' buddy Sol took his last class for us. The first one to be the last, just because its the first class on the first day of the week. Monday 9 am. It was on 'Christianity and the Colonisers'. He spoke eloquently and bravely about how the European perception of Christianity caused the African Cultures to ' Fall Apart'. The bell rang and my heart wrenched. He was the first in the series of teachers to say that final "All the Best" which meant "Good Bye" . No more Sol. No more Afrcian Post Colonialist Literature. No more intellectually stimulating discussions. No more social- upliftment thoughts inspired by the talks on the suffering of African people in the hands of the Colonisers. No more Mondays. They are ending one by one. And my heart pounds hard against my frail rib cage, wanting to burst out and stay back in time. Inch by inch. It creeps in. There is going to be a good bye. And I am dreading it.

---

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Browse Top Cars by "Green Rating" at Yahoo! Autos' Green Center.

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3310: End of story – A new beginning

3310: End of story – A new beginning
(Those who don't know the stories, check this out
http://georgelivestheday.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_archive.html
http://georgelivestheday.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_archive.html)

For those who remember the stories on my 3310, here’s the end of it.
On a not so bad day, except for the exams, I tried being a good boy which led to the end of my relation‘ship-wreck’ with 3310. It had been quite faithful to me for 14 months, save the Display problems it displayed and the lack of energy towards the end of its days (which is marked from a week prior to its vanishing).

March 2 ’07. Mid sem exams. My classmates and I didn’t really care for the test and all of us were in a holiday mood and considered two hours in the exam hall nothing but drudgery. Keeping a careless attitude, I kept my 3310 in my pocket and began writing the exam. Then I realized that it was a dangerous thing to do in my institution as the jobless squad of exam controllers would come and check my pockets and would de-bar me from the exams. So, just the way I’d done in the previous days, I kept the three-three on the invigilators table. The teacher must have blessed me for being so honest, half an hour into the exam. May be she thought “ Missed it!.”

My answers seemed to take forever to complete and I found myself keeping the teacher waiting in the class as all the others had left by then. But the sweet chimes reminding the end of drudgery hadn’t been sounded.

Finally, they did.

'em little things in life

Little things in life give so much pleasure. It just leaves you dumbfounded when something as simple as a letter from a loved one just turns your day upside down. Rather, the sunny side up. I love letters. Handwritten ones. Whether it’s written with hatred or love, comes secondary. It’s very special when there’s love flowing all through it. I got a letter written in red ink from my sister which made me feel, after all, what matters the most is how much you love and how you care for others. And honestly, it makes you stop loving with limits. There is not a thing that holds you back any more and that freedom to love is something, I feel, everyone should experience at some point of life; if not, life is incomplete. Perhaps you are thinking that there is no one who would love you like that. The solution is simple, why wait for somebody to love you that much? You go ahead first. That isn’t easy, but you ought to try. What’s wrong in loving someone?

Are they just one of us? Or them once us?

During the Psychotic Seminar on Ladies Cykologi, which happened last week, I got a chance to chat with ol' Sole and Paddy. Sole had just presented a paper on Women's writing and i apprecitated him for ending it on a constructive as well as postitve note, rather than just bash the ladies in retaliation towards many who were doing that through their papers, with the Hood of The Department Ms.Goldie in the lead (she got quite emotional and was applauded loudly by the mostly female audience). I had no regrets on attending the seminar. It was interesting to see how life was on the other side of the fence.
Coming back to Paddy and ol' Sol, we had tea together were I laughed when they cracked some joke in Tamil. We talked just like I would talk to anybody in my class. They were out of their Guru-garb and were just plain human beings, perhaps a bit senior to me. They seemed to have been me, once upon a time. (Do they miss being like us? Nothing is forever). They also treated me like a friend and answered my questions regarding the novels they were handling in klass. Paddy gave me a great perspective on how to read David Malouf's 'Fly Away Peter', which I thought was filled with very boring nature descriptions (Oh, but not as bad as Thomas Hardy). He said, that Malouf expected us to imagine the landscape, make it real the way he saw it, so that we could get an insiders view towards it. Now, that suddenly seemed something beautiful to do. An excercise for my empty brain, which would stimulate my imagination and creativity. Thanks Paddy. I still think your classes are academically enriching with all those points you expect us to discuss. And Sol, you rock with all those descriptions on Post Colonial literary works. I wish more people listened to you guys in class. They'd gain much more from you all than the Abnormally Psychotic Classes. No offence to Cyko, cos that's the field I'm going to be in!

Announcement: New Magazine.

For all those who are feeling quite strongly about the way the system is functioning, or rather malfunctioning... here's an outlet. I'm attempting to vent our concerns, in many ways through a News Letter called :

automoney

It's going to be a satirical magazine in collaboration with BHL. I'd love to get more ideas, comments, thoughts and issues which we can raise up. Actually, this magazine will concentrate, step by step on issues which are of concern, but are down played in our institution. Those who aren't from the institution can also contribute, if you are that jobless. Please spread the word. Thanks.
Mail your stuff to:

editors.automoney@gmail.com

We appreciate humour and would like to have a lot of it. But then, you write the way you want. Sarcasm accepted.

Thanks!
Low profile guy and BHL.

The Sound guy of music

The Sound guy of music
By the end of two years being in the Kul team of the institution, one reaps many benefits as long as one is willing to interact. Knowing the ‘sound guys’ when you go for a fest and take part in a stage-music event, helps you in many ways. First of all, you get all the equipment and, generally, how many ever mics you want. Then you don’t have to worry about the kind of sound that comes through the PA , as they’d manage it because you have already gone and said a warm hello to them and have asked the guy to assure us of a good sound. Actually, genuinely recognising their work and their ability and letting them know about it, creates a friendship between you and them because they know that you actually are grateful for the service they did, which most people often find hard to remember. Then there is the fact the, you ask for more or less volume, they’d do it gladly for you. It IS important to say a thank you from the heart once the programme is over, irrespective of how it went.
I forgot to do that at the Jaw-Chef fest. Wanted to say thanks to Joe who gave us an awesome sound and output on the PA. Thanks to you Johansson, if you ever happen to read this.
***

Deportmental Fixation

Deportmental Fixation

My friend told me a deplorable story with the Deportment of Cykologi cast as the villain, yet again. For the end semester practical exam, the second year students were asked to bring school students as subjects. They claimed that they were to make it authentic experiments. 60-70% of those doing Cykologi courses are not from Bangalore and do not have many contacts locally. In spite of this limitation, they were asked to bring school students as subjects (or guinea pigs), that too on week days. I wonder why the department which studies human psyche did not even pay attention to simple things like the difficulty for out station students to fulfil this requirement. So students ran around in a frenzy trying to get school students.

Many disguised pre-university course (PUC) students as High School-aged subjects. Some bribed people to come. Some walked in to a near by school with their powerful contacts and loaned the students for an hour. Towards the end, there was such anger and frustration among the students that they began cursing the department loudly in the college corridors. The anger touched its peak when those who could not find school aged subjects were allowed to conduct experiments on the usual subjects (friends, mothers, friend’s friends, etc), without any punishment, unlike threatened by the Deportment before. Towards the last batches, anybody and everybody were allowed to bring a subject of their choice.

What injustice! First, they threaten to cut Assessment Internally Continuous marks if the subject was not of the required age, causing dissatisfaction and frenzy among students due to the mounting difficulty and inconvenience in a city not their own. And in the end, once they had been through all the trouble of bribing and fancy dressing friends and strangers, the Deportment just overlooked those who didn’t even care to at least attempt following the rules. This was absolutely thoughtless of the Deportment of Cykologi and at least in the future, should not act like a stubborn child when it comes to trivial matters like these. And if they act stubborn, they should stick to what they say and not become partial and let some students not care for the guidelines, which are at the first place, crazy. I wonder what kind of a fixation a Deportment forms as it develops over the years in to a fully grown, still stubborn child.
***

The other side of the curtain.

The other side of the curtain.

(Thoughts from the seminar)
One is so easily susceptible to believing and accepting someone else’s beliefs and ideologies in such a short time, how much ever you used to oppose them. It is so difficult to not believe when they convincingly state the facts while drawing a curtain over the other side of their argument, often narrowing the visions of those who have not gone to the other side of the curtain. It is the easiest to fall prey to such one sided arguments when there is no one else to bring up the other end of it, which often appears sugar coated and goes down easily, unlike truth which tastes like bitter medicine.
***

You and your neighbours.

In my sixth grade, came a new guy. His name was unusually long for any person from our community (which is notorious for giving weird names to their new born children. Eg: Flubbeesh). Mr. Moncy (There! I told you), our class teacher, who was a strict but funny man, asked him his name during the introduction at the beginning of the academic year.
"Jerrin Antony Joseph Thottaan".
"I didn't ask all your neighbours names, just say yours", said the 'strictly funny' man.
The class laughed away.

11 years later, I came across a person who taught in a famous college in the Pub city. Name?
'Jesus Milton Rousseau S.'
My best buddy asked me, on telling her, about him:
" Does the 'S' stand for Shakespeare?"

With little children after a long day.

After the long wait and the sweet victory at a fest which was everything but "KALA" (hey...perhaps, it was 'kaala'), I asked BHL if he'd join me for a programme where I thought I'd have to be alone. The programme was to be with kids and entertain them with songs stories, games and all that, while their daddies and mummies sat next door in a garden saying "I still do" (It's the Valentine's thing coming up). BHL, to my suprsie agreed and as usual we had a great time talking about a wide variety of things, from salt to camphor, to use a local term. The journey to Indira's Nagar was great, though we ended up paying the Autoguy through our nose!

The children sat on the turning thing and swings and slowly we got close to them and it went on for an hour, effortlessly, by God's grace. We played Follow the Leader (his idea), then an instant improvised game: What-occupation-am-I-acting-out? which wasn't all that heavy as it sounds. then we taught them, the songs "Telephone to Jesus", and then when we went indoors- "I want to be your friend a litle bit more". This last song was awesome with all the uncles who were there to helP JOINING IN THE SUPER KIDS ACTION. wAS FUN, MAN..

The dinner was great and we all had to our necks fill. Yeah, uptil our necks. Afterall, the dinner was the main attraction of the programme. At least that's what Vinay and Tom said.
We walked through silent Indiranagar, which is noisy by day, in search of a bus. But BHL's idea was to take a cab to Koramangala. He was the rights. We got one all the way to my bus stop and then we parted ways. Good night. It was great fun and filling.

migration and settlement- the prototype of humanity in a class room

In the beginning of first year, nobody wanted a fixed place in the class room. All were free birds and any teacher who even dared to impose a particular place for the students of a noisy class were met with threatening glares and mumbles of strong dissentment.

I'll sit where I want. This isn't primary school. We're grown ups.

Months passed. Today I look around the class. Everyone's on the same seat as yesterday. Looks like their behinds have been stuck to those 38 year old benches. There is a fear to move to another seat,beside a class mate whom one hasn't talked to much. Fear of alienation, fear of talking to a class mate outside one's own group. Nobody wants to befriend another who's been in class but seems like a stranger, just before going out of the college (it's the last year).

Some months ago, a gang of friends "reasoned" with another group of friends why that place belonged to them and how they'd got used to it. The latter group were so cross that they mumbled and walked off.

People migrate for a while. Then they setlle down. It's been the same with life, the same with humanity. Communities of people migrated thousands of years ago and settled somewhere, at a point of time. When other migrants came along after a while, initial settlers flinched their eye brows. Sometimes, it led to wore. thank God, that can't happen here. But it's all the same. Even in life Passionate lovers settle down for one specific lover at some point of time. Most people stick to a particular job at some stage, after shifting many jobs.

And, I realised, the human community, shows the same characteristics wherever they are- be it a class, or in life, or anywhere. Migration stops at some point of time. But it need not be pleasant to all.

OE - Beginning with the Seventeenth century.

Find them:

There's a lot in a NIL pint-oh not again, it'll scatter all over! So ban a teacher who can wear saddam's shoes and walk beside Paddy fields along with King Sol who's against Edward-the Last, of the neighbouring country, besides being a buye(r).

If you've found them, congratulations, you can keep quiet now!

Smokey.

It is just funny when your lecturer smells of cigarette when you greet him in the college corridor during the break.

Journalism Class Script II

Recently, the bunny came and told me an inccident which would qualify to be presented under Journalism Class Script II:

A very active student from the Bachelors classcomes running into the staff room and asks Beloved Mr. NR, "Sir, Sir, I want to go to the UK and study when should I write the IELTS exam?"

"Uh.. when they hold it."

Hope she writes the exam.

* * *

Sir talking about Sports Reporting in Class:

"Anyone knows the National Sport of Pakistan? Anyone?"

"Cricket Sir!!", attempts a backbencher, which carried a a typical immature teenage american phrase "Duh...!" as the subtext.

"It's Hockey , ok? It's hockey", he revealed and added, " Atleast one thing they both agree on."

3rd year English textbook on google books

Did anybody ever know that you get to read third Year Optional English text books on google books? Sign in with your google account and study fortheexams online. Why buy the books, anyway?
Instructions:
Go to the google site. Press the 'more' button and then the books tab and go ahead searching for your book.
I got it while searching 'Sashi Deshpande' for an assignment. Try a person from the EuropeanLit book and I'msure you'llfind the other book there too.

Here's where you get Text and the Worlds.
Indian Lit:
http://books.google.com/books?q=Shashi+Deshpande&as_brr=0

European lit:
http://books.google.com/books?lr=&q=The+handsomest+man+in+the+world&btnG=Search+Books&as_brr=0

Enjoy Fellas. Print me a page when you print one.