The Phat of the Land

Tongue of Slip

2007-11-20T02:25:00.000-08:00

A classic case of Spoonerism. During a recent Bible study, the speaker (a close friend of mine) was talking about going for a jog wearing old Nike sneakers and ended up saying "Go jogging with old nickers".
I cant remember the last time I laughed so loud and hard at a Bible study.

Free Rice: Feed The Hungry

2007-11-02T03:27:00.000-07:00

Just came across this site yesterday. It a pretty neat idea...All you have to do is guess a few synonyms, and for each correct answer you give, 10 grains of rice are donated through the United Nations World Food Program (WPF) to feed a hungry soul.
The money that pays for the rice comes from advertisements on the page.
Not only are they out to reduce the hunger thats there in the world, they are also increasing people's vocabulary...which translates into some cool office timepass for me :)

How will a measly 10 grains of rice help reduce world hunger??...so far over 580 million grains have been donated...thats a HUGE amount of rice!!
I managed around a thousand grains yesterday...
So check out the site, test your vocabulary and feed some hungry people!

Prayer

2007-10-05T11:51:00.000-07:00

Lying Beneath a Dream by Anah Aevia

Lord,come tonight with the wind You have created.
I will walk with You through the gates in the promised kingdom.
Your hand in mine,I stand in awe.
Let me not exist in this apathy.
I will drink from the cup and rest in Your arms forever.
I long to kneel before golden thrones and worship.
I will stand beside You as the earth is engulfed in flames.
I will give my all to my King.
Breath of God lift me.
And the seventh seal is broken.
The first trumpet is sounded and there came hail and fire mixed with blood.
A third is burned.
I watch my brothers rise with the stars.
I am never alone.
The sky open and my King comes with the clouds.
Every eye is watching,even those who have pierced Him.
I await Your arrival and prepare Your throne next to mine,my breathren.
You are with me always.
And always I will serve You.
Until the end.
Amen.

Scrabble...I luv this game!

2007-08-04T08:53:00.000-07:00

I first started playing Scrabble when I was in the 4th or 5th grade. My grannie taught me how to play and I've loved the game ever since. Even managed to represent my school at an inter-school Scrabble tournament.

I didnt fare too well there...but it was the first time I was introduced to the official Scrabble words which, mind you, are nothing like the words which we use in our everyday sentences. Works like Qi, Jo and Aa are all acceptable and even have meanings!

Recently I've started playing online at www.isc.ro and tonight I managed to score my first online Bingo with the word 'Prelude' against some dude called 'Viswa'. I myself go by the nick 'ExNihilo' coz sadly, 'Switchblade' was already taken.

Note - A 'Bingo' is when you use all 7 letters(tiles) at once. You get an extra 50 points added to your score.

Above is a screenshot of my victory. I've uploaded it for everyone to behold!
The words in red have been made by me. After this game I got a cool 20 points added to my ranking bringing me to 557 points which isnt bad but its nowhere near the top players who have over 2000 points.

I've got a long way to go!

Beans?

2007-06-17T09:46:00.000-07:00

Today I went out shopping for a bean bag. Always wanted to have one...ever since one of my friends got one in his room during our college days. Used to love sitting on his bag whenever I was over at his place. Now I'm gonna have my own...and its an XXL one at that!

So I'm in the shop deciding on the color of my new piece of furniture...and this guy is talking to the salesman next to me. Here's the conversation they had while I eavesdropped.

Customer: "How much do the beans cost?"

Salesman: (Showing him the foam) "They come free with the bag when you buy it."

Customer: "What if I want to fill my bag with actual beans?"

Salesman: "Yes sir, I assure you the foam we use is the actual filling that all branded companies use in their bags."

Customer: "No, I mean what about real beans?"

Salesman: "Sir, there is no such thing as 'real' beans...These are as real as they come."

Customer: "And if I want to fill my bag with real beans, How much will it cost me?"

Salesman: (Realizing that this doofus is talking about coffee beans) "Sir, filling a bag this size with 'real' beans would be too expensive!!"

HAHAHAHA!!!

I had to go outside the shop to catch my breath!

Overworked?

2007-06-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

Its 11:50pm and I'm still in the office. Im coding for someone else's defect after having completed my work for the day. Just realised that the some more coding changes are required and I might have to stay on for some more time before leaving for home. Thats not all...I've come to work on my bike and its raining outside. So its a 20 km ride back home in the cold and rain only to come back early tomorrow morning and join the rat race once again....do you think Im frustrated??

The day I got assaulted...

2007-05-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

Just finished another year in my life...I'm now well aged and nicely matured at the age of 22. I think since its been more than a year now I'll relate to you the most embarassing thing that has ever happened to me...I got assaulted by a man with a paralysed arm...on my 21st birthday!

So here's what happened....

It was just past midnight on the 11th of May and the birthday calls were flowing in from friends and family when two of my friends from church showed up at my flat to take me out for some early morning coffee...

Since it was like 12:30am I could think of only one place that would be open at that hour. It was a spurious restaurant which operated undercover into the wee hours of the morning, operating behind nearly closed shutters and mostly catering to students who plan on staying up the whole night studying. Not many people know of this joint and its whereabouts are only circulated by word of mouth from one student to another.

So we went inside and waited for a waiter to come and serve us. Apart from being the only eating joint open all night long, this place is also famous for Uttam Kamble aka UK. He is the head waiter at the restaurant and sports an engineering degree from one of Pune's most prestigious colleges. Sadly he has a paralysed arm and thats probably why he works as a waiter at the said restaurant. Hes quite famous among the college students coz he converses in fluent English and is quite friendly....so I thought!

As UK was taking our order, one of my friends thought it would be good to mention to him that its my birthday...UK was very pleased to hear this as his birthday was only a few days away and he said that they should get together and give me a couple of birthday bumps. We all laughed it off and placed our order.UK decided to change our order from 3 teas to 3 special coffees since it was a special day for me...and we didnt say anything so as not to seem ungrateful.

After we were done with the coffee and a few omletes, my friends waited outside the restaurant while I stayed back inside to clear the bill. Since UK wasnt around I decided to pay the bill at the main counter itself...this would mean UK wouldnt get a tip but I thought that would be alright (Id like to mention at this poitn that the special coffee wasnt 'on the house' as we thought it would be....UK charged us for it!).

As I was about to leave with the spare change after paying the bill, UK showed up demanding a birthday gift from me...which was quite ironic since it was my birthday. Seeing the change in my hand he asked me to buy him a cigarette with it...thus clearing his tip and taking care of the birthday gift at the same time. Even though I dont encourage smokers I bought him the cigarette and turned to leave. As I bent under the shutters to leave I felt a sharp pain in my butt! Thats coz UK decided to unceremoniously plant his knee there. I turned around in shock to see UK smiling at me. Then he shouted out "One!! Haha... I told you I'd give you birthday bumps!" as if to start the counting for 21 bumps that he was planning to give me....

I fled the place with what remained of my dignity and my 'friends' laughing their heads off.

Something New

2007-04-26T09:19:00.000-07:00

I know its been long since Ive posted anything here...thats only coz Ive been a bit busy with a new blog at the side...its a pretty good idea and Im really having a lot of fun being a part of this group....

This blog is in no way shut down and I will be back...

Cheers

On the 9th Day of Christmas...

2007-01-02T04:45:00.000-08:00

Seasons Greetings and a Happy New Year to all you peepz out there!

This year was one of my first carol singing experiences ever...and it was great. On the 23rd and 24th of December, a bus-full of us 'carollers' went out to serenade the commoners. After nearly 6 hours a day of singing out loud my throat was sore but it felt really amazing.

We even stopped over at my place to sing to my parents who had come down to India for a short vacation. Apparently our neighbours also overheard us and left their doors open so that they could hear us singing in what they described as 'Amazing Voices'!

We even came up with some carols of our own...dont remember any of them apart from 'I shot the Reindeer..but I didnt shoot Santa Clause' :)

Its really sad that most people tend to associate Christmas with Fat men in red suits and decorated trees without giving even a moments thought to Christ. I mean we would have no reason to celebreate if He hadnt come...
If even a single person would realise the true meaning of Christmas through our singing then our work is done.

So now I'm back at work after my 10 day Christmas vacation...the festive mood is yet to completely wear off...the holiday wieght is begging to be shed and feeble resolutions of going to the gym regularly are already on the verge of being broken.

Thats all for now...Today being the 9th day of Christmas I'm expecting my true love to show up any moment with 9 Drummers drumming and a whole lot of other goodies :)

PS - This is my 50th post so extra warm wishes to all my regular readers....Have a fabulous new year ahead.

My first FragFest

2006-12-01T21:31:00.000-08:00

First things first....for all you n00bs out there...a FragFest is a gaming event.
And to all the laypersons out there...'n00b' is the shortform for newbie and its used to refer to all amateurs.(Its kinda derogatory too)

So I made my way to my first FF last night...Just a couple of guys working in the same company getting together for a few hours of unadulterated Counter Strike!!
Being an avid gamer I couldnt resist the offer when it came up on the bulletin board.
First thing i noticed was that everyone was introducing themselves only by their screen-names...

So I was like...
Hi Im Royston.
And He goes....
Pleased to meet you, Im RaxiS_ConnoR and this is Drakcul!

And Im thinking...what have I gotten myself into?? These guys are real pros! Im gonna get my butt kicked so badly Im prolly gonna give up gaming for life.
Another first timer, Josin aka :::PinDRopSileNcE>>> was also there.

What followed was 3 hours of amazing gameplay...stuff that Ive missed dearly after leaving the carefree trainee life back at Mysore.

All things said and done :::PinDRopSileNcE>>> and SwitchBlade (thats me) ended up making quite a good team together! Him with his trusted AK47 assault rifle and me armed with my ever present Magnum sniper rifle. Im not gonna boast but I did have the highest number of frags in nearly all the maps...(Guess I did boast just a little :P)

PS - If you n00bs are still wondering...a 'frag' is a kill.

Had to leave relatively early coz I had to be in the office by 8:30 today morning....cripes! Looking forward to my next one :)

Cheers!

"Always fear a sniper unless you encounter him from behind"

Run-in with the Mama

2006-10-19T03:39:00.000-07:00

On my way to work I was stopped by a Mama near ShivajiNagar police station. Along with me another dude on a scooter was pulled over. I realised what the problem was when I saw his licence plate...it was from Madhya Pradesh...my bike is Karnataka registered...

I knew that Mama was going to try and make a quick buck from us. By the time I parked my bike and entered the police station, the other dude had already bribed his way outta the sticky situation.
Mama asked me to show him my NOC while he pocketed the 100 he had just received.

I told him that I didnt need one as its been not more than 2 months since I bought the bike and the law is that you can ride your vehicle without an NOC for 6 months in a foreign state.
Thinking I was unaware of this clause in the law he went on to describe in detail how the law works and how I should have a temporary NOC with me if not a permanent one.
Then hes like,"Ab bolo...1000 rupees ka fine hain...parchi de doon kya?" (Now tell me...its a Thousand bucks fine...do you want a receipt?)

I asked him to wait while I phone my friend who is a police commissioner...Mama got worried..."Yeh karne ki kya jaroorat hain? Woh toh Karnataka ka commissioner hain, Maharashtra ka nahi!"
(Why do you want to do that? He's the police commissioner of Karnataka and not of Maharashtra!)

I continued to let the phone ring...He relented saying."Kya tum yahaan permenently rehne ke liye aaye ho? Agar nahi toh NOC ki jaroorat nahi hain! Tam jaa sakte ho."
(If you're not gonna stay here permanently then you dont need an NOC! You can leave.)

He handed me back my licence and left as I walked away with my head held high and a broad grin on my face!

The score now stands...
Royston - 1 Mama - 0

PS - For those who are unaware of the term Mama...it is the fond name by which we refer to our traffic policemen here :)

Hello God

2006-10-11T05:04:00.000-07:00

Here is a short poem written by a soldier while he was hiding in a shell hole during the Vietnam War.

Lord God, I have never spoken to You,
But now I want to say, "How do You do?"
You see God, they told me you didnt exist...
And like a fool I believed all this.

Last night from a shell hole I saw Your sky,
I figured right then they had told me a lie.
Had I taken time to see the things You made,
I'd have known they were not calling a spade a 'spade'

I wonder God, If You'll take my hand
Somehow I fell that You'll understand.
Funny I had to come to this Hellish place
Before I had time to see Your face

Well, I guess there isn't much more to say,
But Im sure glad God, I met You today.
I guess Zero hour will soon be here,
But Im not afraid since I know You're near.

The signal!...Well God, I'll have to go,
I like You lots... I want You to know.
Look now this will be a horrible fight,
Who knows I may come to Your house tonight.

Though I wasn't friendly to You before,
I wonder God, If You'd wait at Your door.
Look Im crying...Im shedding tears,
I'll have to go now God, goodbye!
Strange now since I met You Im not afraid to die...

Depravity!!

2006-09-29T05:54:00.000-07:00

Greeting fellow netizens...Im Baaaack!! Back in Pune (relocated from Mysore) and back to blogging from my cubicle ;)
It is with a heavy heart that I recount the following incident....

Today morning as I rode my bike to Aurora Towers from where I catch the 9am bus I noticed something....Someone had stolen my speedometer!! I mean they unscrewed it and made off with it!!
I have an Red Avenger that is barely one month old and she has been violated so blatanly!!
The thief also took the time to bend my rear view mirror for good measure. Oh! the depravity of man's evil heart!!
Apparently such thefts are common as Avenger parts are hard to come by in the market. No consolation there...
Gonna take my baby to the service station tomorrow and pamper her. She deserves it after this horrible incident.

Grace

2006-08-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

Can two people who believe in two completely different things ever see eye to eye? Is it possible for them to both be correct in their own way?

Consider Christianity...a 'religion' that has as many different denominations as there as stars in the sky. These denominations differ from one another on the basis of doctrine, traditions and beliefs. Can all of them be correct in their understanding of the Bible or is there just one denomination that has found the absolute truth while the others are living a lie...

If religion by definition is a means of finding God more than just a way of life than Christianity is by no means a religion...coz a Christian with the slightest Biblical knowledge would know that there is no way for a sinful human to ever come to know a Holy God without God sovereignly revealing himself.

So if God is the One who does the revealing, how is it that He reveals Himself to people in different ways? The answer is...He doesn’t. He reveals himself through his created works, which all can see, sense, touch and experience. But much more clearly than that, He reveals Himself through the Bible and through His son Jesus Christ.

So if there is only one inspired Bible (Apocrypha aside...) and only one Christ...then where does the difference of opinion arise? People belonging to different denominations don’t believe in different Christs do they?

It arises through the differences in interpretation of the Bible...Some verses are taken literally, some contextually and some are regarded as mere poetic phrases.
But is this the way God intended His word to be interpreted…in so many different ways? And if He is omnipotent and omniscient then how didn’t he foresee that people would misinterpret his perfect word? If believing a false doctrine can keep you captive to your sins and if it’s only the truth that can set you free then why didn’t God come up with a more foolproof plan of revealing himself?

The answer is Grace! God knows that we are human and far from perfect. He also knows that by our own means and relying on our own efforts we won’t be able to do diddly-squat! His word is perfect…it is we who in our imperfection misinterpret the word and create divisions in the universal church of God.
The Bible provides us everything we could ever need while on this earth, but if we could know Him only through His word then we would never know Him completely. In other words we cannot ever expect to know God completely while on this earth.
As the hymn says…”Were with ink the ocean filled or the sky of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade; To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry nor could the scroll contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky.”
If only the love of God itself were so incomprehensible then comprehending all his attributes (His holiness, His righteousness, His wrath..) would certainly take more than an eternity!

The Bible says that you have to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength; to repent for your sins and trust that Christ alone is an all sufficient sacrifice…this is the gospel, that Christ had mercy on us, died for our sins and saved us by His Grace!

There are many other doctrines like speaking in tongues; the in-depth knowledge of which isn’t essential to attain salvation, though they are extremely important because it is on the basis of these doctrines that the denominations differ.I know believers who speak in tongues and I also know believers who dont.
Any ‘church’ that doesn’t believe in the core gospel is in fact not a church at all! I’m not claiming that it’s ok to believe in something that’s wrong. Its just that God is merciful regardless of who we are or what are beliefs are on certain matters.

God knew that there would be several denominations and He displays His Grace in that salvation belongs to Him alone and there can be believers in the Presbyterian church, the Charismatic church, the Methodist church or the Baptist church…all touched by One God who chose to reveal Himself to whomever He chooses.
The correct knowledge of His word is the difference between a mature believer and an immature one but God knows that not all of us can be Masters of Theology even though we are expected to learn His word and memorise it.
There is an absolute truth in the Bible, but we can only know God completely and absolutely when we stand before Him, face-to-face, and worship Him for the rest of Eternity.

Nanage Kannada Gothilla!

2006-07-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Its been two weeks since I got here and I've come to realise that its gonna take me more than 2 weeks to get familiar with this place. Still havent got the slightest clue what people around me are saying...but I have managed to learn one sentence in the local language...Nanage kannada gothilla...which means I dont know Kannada!

Mysore is a very quiet city and everyone goes to sleep at 8:30....hence the nightlife is practically non-existent. The laid back locals couldn't care less about whats happening around them. Rickshaw drivers will tell you to walk rather than make a few rupees taking you to your destination. Waiters wont bother themselves waiting on your table!

I have found a very nice place to stay since along with 6 of my college mates coz we haven't been provided accomodation on campus. Its a duplex bungalow and I can't help bragging about it coz at 10k a month its an absolute steal! A similar fully furnished bungalow in Pune would cost you half a year's salary and in Bombay....well no one could rent it coz not many people are that rich.

We also have a maid who is an absolute God-sent. She washes,cleans and sweeps without any complaining....actually she cant coz she only speaks Kannada and none of us can converse with her :)

Still havent got any wheels here. Planning to go book a bike one of these days coz public transport is a real pain!

The company campus seems too good to be true...with an expanse of 335 sprawling acres its one of the biggest campuses in Asia! There is only one multiplex in Mysore and it is in our campus! 4 screens and a new movie every Saturday :)
Ive taken quite a few pics of the place and I will be posting them soon.

The mosquitoes have returned....apparently they have unfinished business with me :(

2006-07-15T06:56:00.000-07:00

After yet another looong hiatus from everything online, Im back and blogging from Mysore where I shall be spending the next year or so of my life working for a software company and earning my bread and butter with chicken as a side dish.
That say...'When in Rome do as the Romans'. Not sure if this applies to South India too but if it does I should be expected to end every statement with a 'da', rattle of a sentence at the rate of 200 words per minute and be have a musical lilt to my speech.

Thats all for now. Mosquitoes are waging a full blown war against my uncovered feet and Im losing fast....

Im Back!

2006-06-14T11:45:00.000-07:00

Been more than 2 weeks since I've been online. Being deprived of a net connection is just too horrible to endure but thanks to Sify, our friendly neighbourhood unreliable ISP, thats exaclty what Ive had to do.
Plus Im way too lazy to frequent net cafes....until its an emergency (overflowing inboxes/urgent mails/birthday e-cards etc..) and I have to drudgingly make the 5 minute trip to the nearest cafe.
Lots of things have been happening since I was last active in blogdom. The whole Da Vinci issue seems to have subsided (people REALLY love controversies!) and has been replaced by the Mika Singh-Rakhi Sawant liplock among other things.

I managed to pen down a short poem a few days ago. It just popped into my head while I was trying to study for my exam :) Will put it here in a day or two for sure...after some editing ;)
But now that Im back, I vow to update this page more frequently. I even have a pending tag to do for Ishi which I will get to asap.
Til my next post then, ciao :)

Cracking the Da Vinci Code

2006-05-18T15:30:00.000-07:00

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the Dan Brown novel titled 'Da Vinci Code' which is fast becoming the talk of the town and has gained the reputation
of being one of the greatest conspiracy theories ever. Lets face it.. all of us love a good conspiracy. Whether it be the Apollo landing on the moon, the real hand behind the 9/11 bombing or even the JFK assassination.

However the book in question has made some very serious claims that have not only fuelled the anger of the Catholic Church but have also placed seeds of doubt into the minds of millions as to whether the basic doctrines of the Church are nothing more than a fabrication.

The story starts of with the murder of a museum curator, Jacques Sauniere. A Harvard professor and a cryptologist (who happens to be related to the curator) are commissioned to decipher the clues left behind by Sauniere and they stumble upon a conspiracy which is the truth behind the foundations of the Church and the Holy Grail. The book has been praised for its "impeccable research" and starts off with stating a few facts about the Priory of Sion and the Opus Dei which are meant to lead the reader into believing that the entire work is based on truth and not fiction.

Some of the clams that the Da Vince code makes

Jesus' divinity is a false claim that was voted in by the Nicene Council.

The Bible is incomplete as Constantine suppressed some documents about Jesus other than those found in our current N.T canon.

Jesus Christ was secretly married to Mary Magdalene and they had children.

Now these claims are quite bold and if there is even the slightest truth in them....it would shatter the foundation upon which the current church stands firmly.

So let’s have a closer look into what the book claims.

Jesus' divinity is a false claim

An excerpt from The Da Vinci Code...Teabing speaking to Neveu..
"Because Constantine upgraded Jesus’ status almost four centuries after Jesus’ death, thousands of documents already existed chronicling His life as a mortal man. To rewrite the history books, Constantine knew he would need a bold stroke. From this sprang the most profound moment in Christian history. … Constantine commissioned and financed a new Bible, which omitted those gospels that spoke of Christ’s human traits and embellished those gospels that made Him godlike. The earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up, and burned."

Thus according to Dan, the Bible in its present form only came to exist as late as the 4th century AD prior to which there were several Gnostic gospels which Constantine conveniently disposed off with. The reason for disposing off with these documents?....they showed that Jesus Christ lived and died as nothing but a common man who was "a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless.”
However many years before the Nicene Council convened, the heretic Marcion argued the Divinity of Jesus Christ by referring to the Gospels that are currently included in the present day bible. If the Divinity of Christ was only voted in the 4th century...how did Marcion ever come up with the idea of Christ's Divinity more than 200 years earlier?

Furthermore, John, a follower of Christ, confirmed the Lord's Divinity in the following passage...
In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn't make. Life itself was in him. So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us (John 1: 1-4, 14, NLT).
This scripture had been dated at 175-225 AD. Thus Christ was clearly revered as God over a hundred years before the Council at Nicaea.

The Bible is incomplete

The second issue is whether or not the Gnostic gospels are what Teabing claims...gospels which tell us about the life of Christ as a mere mortal.
The Gnostics are people who believe that they have some special hidden knowledge and believe in Salvation through this Knowledge. According to Dan, it was Constantine who branded the Gnostics as heretics at the council however history shows that the bishop Irenaeus condemned the Gnostics around 140 years before the council! Once again Dan hasn’t done his homework properly.

Jesus Christ was secretly married to Mary Magdalene

The third claim which Dan makes is that Jesus Christ took Mary Magdalene as his wife and sired children with her. Furthermore the womb of Mary is presented as the Holy Grail which bore the child who carried on the bloodline of Christ! This claim has to be the juiciest part of the book but like the other claims, is nothing but pure fiction.

There are two ways of looking at this. Firstly, the Gospel of Philip which says that Jesus kissed Mary (which was a common way of greeting one another) was written 150-220 years after Christ and is not historically reliable. This is the only piece of scripture upon which the claim has been fabricated and is very little to base a conspiracy theory upon.

The claim that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene (or to anyone else for that matter) is quite absurd when you think about the purpose for which Jesus came to earth. Jesus came to die, not to procreate like a normal human. Why would he take a wife if He knew before hand that she would be widowed and His child left fatherless?

1 Corinthians 7:32 says:
'I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.
But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife,'
Jesus did not take Mary Magdalene as his wife as His concern was not of the things of this world. His main concern was His ministry and spreading the word of God. He did not take a wife so that He could serve God 'without distraction'.

Further research shows that Leonardo Da Vinci, who is supposedly a member of the Priory of Sion, died 437 years before the priory was founded so it would be little difficult for him to have been one of its more prominent members.

As for the Holy Hrail, Dan has gone to some lengths to prove that it is in fact the womb of Mary and not the chalice which Jesus used at the last supper. He has even claimed that the architecture of several churches are designed to indicate the nether regions of a woman(!) thus indicating the true Holy Grail.

Conclusion

On the whole the book isn’t that impressive. Apart from the shock which the reader gets from the content of the book, the story flows in an unusual way with Langdon and Neveu solving the hardest of puzzles that the priory members could come up with, with relative ease.
Dan has struck upon a priceless formula here. Write something controversial and guarantee yourself a ticket to fame. And in this book he has certainly touched upon some very sensitive veins i.e. the reputation of the Vatican and the Deity of Christ.

I see no reason why the book or the movie should be banned, as long as the audiences are well informed about the truth. Otherwise we will have scores of people who know little or nothing about the Bible or church history swearing by the 'Code'.

What does Dan Brown stand to loose by propogating such lies? Revelations 22:18-19 has the answer...

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book.

References:
Mona Lisa's Smirk
Da Vinci Code Thruth
And the most important reference....The Bible

Conch

2006-05-14T18:46:00.000-07:00

She walked along the sandy shore..lazily...lost in her own world. Without too many concerns or thoughts to weigh down her mind..she was at peace.She felt one with the ocean and its warm breeze.Absent-mindedly she dug up shells from beneath the sand with her toes and examined them. The colourful ones she pocketed..the less fortunate ones were returned to their resting place beneath the waves.
After collecting nearly a dozen exotic shells (her necklace would be the talk of the class) she was returning back home when she struck her foot against it. It was the most beautiful shell she had ever seen.

Pearly white and shiny.In her mind she thanked the little critter for having vacated and left her with his home. She picked it up and dusted the sand off it. Too big to fit into her pocket with the rest of them, she carried it in her hand.

Then a thought passed through her mind. Didnt they say that you could hear the heartbeat of the ocean if you listened closely to a conch? She pressed the shell to her ear, closed her eyes and absorbed the sound.A part of her knew that the sounds she was hearing was nothing more than the echo of blood being pumped through her ears. The rest of her scorned the learned part of her and delighted in the sounds of the ocean. She imagined that she heard each wave as it broke upon the shore and lethargically retreated back from where it came. She imagined that she heard the breeze moving gently over the water and meeting the land. She imagined she heard the high-pitched scream of a girl....

Immediately she took the shell away from her ear and cursed under her breath.My mind is playing tricks on her,she thought.Thats what you get for being in the sun for too long.Instinct told her to toss the shell away and return home as fast as she could. Sadly following her instincts wasnt her forte. Curiosity had already got the better of her as she drew the shell close to her ear once again.

This time the voice was crystal clear.In an instant the waves seemed to have died away leaving the ocean still as death and the warm breeze had been replaced by a cold wind that made her shiver in her bikini. She was all alone on the beach. Just her, the vast expanse of the black ocean, the cursed shell and the scream which was quickly reaching its blood curdling crescendo.
She was paralysed...She used as much force as she could muster but could not move the shell away from her ear. It had taken control over her.She was its slave. As her knees gave way she could do nothing but lie there on the wet sand, tears running down her sandy cheeks, with the shell pressed against her ear. The scream had engulfed her. The last thing she heard before the darkness embraced her was a second voice. A voice that was much more familiar to her. A scream emitting from the back of her own throat...

A lifeguard found her lying cold and lifeless on the sand. The ambulance was sent for as he fervently tried to breathe life into her dead lungs.Within a few minutes he knew that she had passed on to the afterlife and said a small prayer over her body. Accompanying the body in the vehicle to the hospital he looked at the shell which had been pressed to her ear hard enough to draw blood. With tears in his eyes he held it up to his ear and tried to listen to the ocean that they had left behind.

Happy Birthday to me!!

2006-05-11T16:10:00.000-07:00

This is officially my first post as a major! Yup I've finally crossed the threshold age and its taken me 21 long years to do so.

I wanna thank God for the numerous blessing that Hes bestowed upon me over the last year and for adding another year to my life. Hes been faithful and has kept me going thru good times and bad.(and I've certainly had my fair share of both over the last year)

Had a blast last night with 14 of my friends from church at one of my favourite restaurants. Small chinese place called Chung Fa. The food was absolutely delicious and i got some really cool presents including a song from one of my pals!

My ever liberal mom has now given me permission to start drinking! Now thats what I call a cool mom ;) Not that Im gonna use this opportunity to get sloshed or anything...
Come to think of it, I am now legally allowed to get married too...but thats one 'burden' that I'm not gonna take upon myself anytime soon.

I have a lot to look forward to in the coming year. I should be graduating by the end of June after which I'll try and earn a living in the software industry.Its quite a daunting thought to be working for my bread n butter, and not having worked a single day in my entire life its gonna be a totally new experience for me.

So i raise a toast to myself, to the exciting new opportunities that God has waiting for me in the near future, and to the fact that there still is a remote chance that I may become a full-fledged adult!

Facade

2006-05-10T11:21:00.000-07:00

I look into the mirror, I see myself
Not as I am but as the world wants me to be
My masks are many, Ive lost my true self
In my little world of deceit

When the veil comes off, all thats left,
Is me and my reality
Ive tried to fool the world time and time again
I stand alone, the greatest fool in the end

Its time I loose my facade
Show the world my true self
I know its not what the world wants to see
The world delights in its own deceit

This is me as I am
Love me or hate me..I make no more excuses
I cant be someone else any longer
I just need to be me

Coffee Break

2006-05-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

Due to circumstances out of my control...namely exams, I will be refraining from posting for the next few days unless something extremely important and life-changing should occur.
Til then I shall devote myself to the pursuit of education which is boring and unfruitful .Then again, maybe not....afterall its only a few more weeks til I graduate :)

Confused?

2006-04-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

Hmm here a little something to think about for those who believe in the theory of Evolution.

Evolution

The Definition:
Biological evolution, simply put, is descent with modification. This definition encompasses small-scale evolution (changes in gene frequency in a population from one generation to the next) and large-scale evolution (the descent of different species from a common ancestor over many generations).

The process by which one species evolves into another involves random heritable genetic mutations (changes), some of which are more likely to spread and persist in a gene pool than others. Mutations that result in a survival advantage for organisms that possess them, are more likely to spread and persist than mutations that do not result in a survival advantage and/or that result in a survival disadvantage.

In short the entire species gene pool is moving toward a more stable mutation to better adapt to the surroundings.

2nd Law of Thermodynamics or Law of Increasing Entropy

The Definition:
While quantity remains the same (First Law), the quality of matter/energy deteriorates gradually over time.
Entropy is a gauge of randomness or chaos within a closed system. As usable energy is irretrievably lost, disorganization, randomness and chaos increase.

So doesnt this bring about a contradiction? If every system moves toward a state of greater chaos and disorder...how does the genetic system move towards a more stable state?

Yamaha R1 injured in motorbike mishap

2006-04-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

This is the news article, in its original form. The edited version which appeared in the Times of India today morning had a lot of useless information about an unshaven twit called John. So here is the unedited, unabridged version of the incident...the way it should have been reported

Mumbai:A Black '05 Yamaha R1 rammed into a bicycle at 11:15pm on Saturday on 16th Road at Khar.The bike, which is barely a year old, was returning from a fashion show, cruising on the sea-facing Carter Road, which stretches from Bandra to Khar, but probably failed to slow down after crossing the open stretch. According to sources the bike was on the way to Bipasha Basu's house.

According to the mechanics attending to the 1000cc Yam, the bike is "badly damaged and will be under observation for at least 24 to 48 hours"

"The bike has suffered massive injuries to the right faring but the chassis hasnt been damaged. The front fork was severely bent and took four hours to be straightened."

The bike rider has been booked for negligent driving and causing injury to man and vehicle.The rider, according to eye witnesses, was most probably drunk and could not maintain control of the bike.He slammed the brakes and skid for a few metres before colliding with the cyclist and kissing the road.

"The R1 is fine and there is nothing to worry about," said Bipasha Basu who visited the bike at the garage.The Yam, which had been on the road day and night for a fortnight under heavy traffic conditions, will have to take a break and recover from this horrific incident.

John Abraham was riding the bike.

What a Loser!!!

2006-04-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

Just read in the Pune Times today that a 15 year old got duped in the most obvious way possible.

This dude is on his way home when a total stranger walks up to him and asks him how hes been faring in school. Forget about not talking to strangers, this kid spills the beans on how hes been an underachiever at school.

The stranger tells him that this is because his mother's jewellery is bewitched(!) and only he can exorcise the demon lest it cause him to fail. He even mentions that this demon can kill his parents at any time!!

Wow! Not only is this stranger creative but he seems to have a way with those who have a malleable mind. Right enough the dude brings the stranger all his mom's trinkets and the rest, as they say, is history!

And here I was beginning to think that our future generations were going to be smarter than us. This kinda stupidity is certainly not expected from a 15yr old.

I do hope that the dude parents dont punish him coz the embarassment he gonna face in public is punishment enough!

Tagged...

2006-04-05T12:17:00.000-07:00

1.Grab the book nearest to you, turn on page 18 and find line 4:

Genesis 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old,the LORD appeared to him and said I am the LORD almighty; walk before me and be thou perfect...

Yup..just happened to have my bible next to me :)

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can :

Yup, I just touched my roommate on the cheek, and hes looking at me in a wierd kinda way now.

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?

Cricket at the Bhave's residence. I was more engrossed in eating watermelon than watching the match :p

4. Without looking, guess what time it is?

12:15 am??

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?

12:55 am!! Yikes. Time sure flies when your answering wierd questions!

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?

Cathode Ray Sunshine playing in my headphones, Meatloaf coming from my roommates speakers and a Buzzing from my Yahoo messenger.

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?

Having Tandoori and Rotisserie chicken for dinner...YUM!!!

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?

Some of my baby pics that my mom scanned and mailed me. Gosh I was a good looking kid....still am ;)

9. What are you wearing?

A pink frilly frock and booties. Ok im just kidding....the frock is mauve :)

10. Did you dream last night?

I dreamt that I was riding a sports bike that had the firing of a 100cc bike
and I was getting really frustrated! Then there was a major accident between two sports cars just ahead of me on the road.....and then I woke up

11. When did you last laugh?

When I killed Abhinav with a clean headshot in Counter Strike during our last game.

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?

A poster of Vietnam War aircrafts and a poster of an Indian Air Force helicopter. My roommate is a total air-craft freak!

13. Seen anything weird lately?

Saw Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura...doesnt get any weirder than that.

14. What do you think of this quiz?

I think the quiz setter has too much free time on his/her hands.

15. What is the last film you saw?

Saw a few clips of Ace Ventura and 'V for Vendetta' in the theatre.

16. If you became a multimillionaire overnight, what would you buy?

17. Tell me something about you that I dunno.

I once put my fingers into the blade of a running fan coz I thought the blades werent moving fast enough. I was wrong!

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?

Id make sure that its not compulsory to attend lectures in Pune University. This may not impact the whole world but atleast Id save a whole future generation from the torture I had to undergo.

19. Do you like to dance?

I love to dance..but only when the music thats playing is to my liking.

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?

Definitely Megan. Havent thought of a middle name yet.

22. Imagine yout first child is a boy, what do you call him?

Hoe does Pedro sound? Or maybe Barnabas(it means Son of Encouragement)

23. Would you ever consider living abroad?

Been there..done that.. so no point considering it.

24.What do you want GOD to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?

Well done, good and faithful servant.

25. 4 people who must also do this meme in their journal.

Sorry but I aint tagging anyone. This madness must end..what better place than here, what better time than now!

Superman: The Man of Steel Returns....

2006-03-31T09:46:00.000-08:00

YES!!! After a period of more than 23 years, Superman aka Kal-El is back on the silver screen!

The last time we saw our man in tights was when he took on his own 'bad-half' way back in 1983. Since then hes apparently been on a inter-stellar cruise looking for the lost remains of his home town on Krypton. After finding zilch, he comes back to Earth and takes on Lex Luthor (played by Kevin Spacey) and tries to win over Lois Lane once again. Apparently some chicks are too hard to win over...even for Superman.
Personally i dont think much of seeing Superman take on Lex who is human afterall. Its like Spidey taking on ol' King Pin. You never get to see any real action in such a showdown.

What I really wanted to see is a standoff between Superman and his hardest nemesis ever..Doomsday! Now theres a bad guy who can really throw a punch or two. After all he is the only person/thing in the known universe who can kill Superman with ease.

So now its a looong and eager wait til the movie releases. Think its supposed to be out by the end of June.Wont settle for anything less than watching it in the theatre :p

Trivia:
1. Scarlett Johannson was screened for the role of Lois Lane but lost the part to Kate Bosworth who IMO looks much better.

2. Brandon Routh, who takes over the helm of Superman from Christopher Reeve (R.I.P) is from Des Moines, Iowa....the birth place of the Nu metal band Slipknot! \m/

3.
a) The old Superman aka Chris Reeve fell from his horse and was paralysed from the neck down.
b) Apparently the last role played by Chris before his accident was that of a paralysed person in the movie Above Suspicion! Talk about a bad omen...
c) When Chris fell from his horse he was doing a film on horse back riding safety!!
This is officially the most ironic thing to even happen on Earth or on Krypton.
It even beats out John Denver who sang "Im leaving on a jet plane...." and did just that. He died in a plane crash!

The one with taps and memory loss...

2006-03-27T11:42:00.000-08:00

Its been long since my last post but im back. Been so caught up with my project work for the past few days it seems like I'm doin nothing else.

Lots has happened over the past ten days.Saw a couple of movies with friends... read some amazing comic books..had a couple more near fatal accidents but escaped unscathed...studied ALL NIGHT for a test that got postponed indefinitely the next morning...etc. etc.

On the project front..we finally got our design sorted out and getting down to coding...even though we were supposed to be done with our finished product ages ago.

Watched 'Syriana' in the theatre and walked away feeling robbed of my intelligence. Thats an absolutely awful movie that made no sense to me whatsoever. It was basically 6 stories running in parallel that failed to converge very well in the end.
Favourite dialogue in the movie: Matt Damon's son says, "I want Pig bacon!" and I replied in my heart..."So do I!"

Ever wondered...why is it that the taps in most restaurant wash basins never run properly? (example Burger King in Camp) I mean they just trickle even when opened fully! Its so hard and frustrating to wash your hands under the few drops that do come out. Is the restaurant actually making a profit by depriving the customers of tap water??

Well that aside..my memory seems to be failing rapidly these days. Last sunday, my project mates and I met with our guide and came up with a new idea for our product's design. The next day when we sat to implement the same design...my mind was blank! I couldnt, for the life of me, remember what we had discussed the previous day. Even though my mates ran me thru the design again it seemed all new to me!

Now this isnt the first time that this has happened to me. When I had my second major bike accident, (head-on helmet-less collision with another bike) I was knocked out cold. When I came to a few minutes later...I actually went thru the whole Bollywood routine of "Main kaun hoon?" and "Main kahaan hoon?".
The guys who helped get me off the road asked me my name and I couldnt remember it!! I bet they were as freaked out as I was....I mean it spells one thing for certain...Brain Damage!! But I have managed to make a full recovery from the accident...i think :p

Yup...pretty scary stuff!

Apart from that, the weeks been pretty good. Gagan came back from his 4 day long holiday in Kuwait...with cookies for me!! YUM!

More coding and project work to look forward to in the coming week.

PS - Mom, if your reading this... dont worry about the brain damage part. I'm absolutely fine!

Tagged!

2006-03-12T06:30:00.000-08:00

Hmmm.... Looks like Ive been tagged by Rachel. The rules of the game for the first tag are these

1. The tagged victim has to come up with 8 different points of their perfect lover.
2. Need to mention the sex of the person.
3. Tag 8 (or as many as possible) victims to join this game & leave a comment on their comments saying they’ve been tagged.
4. If tagged the 2nd time, there’s no need to post again.

Never actually thought I'd be able to list the attributes of my perfect mate.But here goes....

1. Its gotta be a She.....

2. Shes gotta love the Lord with all her heart, all her strength and all her mind.. ( No compromise on the above two...)

3. The two of us have to be on the same 'wavelength'.

4. Someone who can make me laugh and who laughs at my corniness.

5. A foodie/non-veg lover..... I dont mind if she stays away from meat coz of some medical reasons.... This is one compromise i can make ;)

6. She's gotta be uncomplicated. I hate nakhras!

7. English speaking. Shes gotta converse well and think in English too.

8. It wouldnt hurt if she's cute :)

My turn to do the tagging now...Hehe.... so Ive decided to tag Kaka, Haritha, Salil, Fangs and Arnie.

Success...in relative terms.

2006-03-08T05:41:00.000-08:00

Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
Not one of all the purple host
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory!

As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!

-- by Emily Dickinson

Go my result for the 7th semester today! Managed to score a decent 58%. Its far from an ideal score but I'm not complaining coz I could have ended up with a backlog knowing how unpredictable Pune Univ can be when dishing out marks.

What irks me the most however is the guys/gals who score really good marks but are still greiving coz they haven't topped the University!!
I mean who would be sad if they got 75% in Pune Univ where getting a distinction(66%) is a great achievement?!?
Now I can understand being unhappy after having come so close and then not reaching the pinnacle of engineering....but being on the verge of tears....!?

I heard of one guy who was totally destroyed and became near suicidal coz he was 3 marks lower than the topper in the Univ. Let alone having topped our college...this guy had topped most of the other colleges too.
Such guys should be handed a marksheet that reads 55% at least once in their engineering career. I guess thats the only way the'd ever appreciate the beauty of a 75!

Guess that makes me more of an achiever than these guys at the end of the day. I put in my best and I'm hapy with my performance.... they arent.... guess whos gonna sleep a satisfied man tonight? ;)

D'oh!

2006-03-05T05:17:00.000-08:00

Ever since i can remember I've loved cartoons. Not just the Disney ones...i mean all of em. My elder bro always gave me a hard time about this but I never gave two hoots about him. We used to have regular fights...him wanting to watch the sports channel and me glued to The Cartoon Network.

So I was pretty excited to bump into this page and find out where my favourites rank in.
The Simpsons have made it to the top spot!!...not that there was any doubt about their popularity. Tom n Jerry are at a well deserved second and then its the politically incorrect kids from SouthPark.

Beavis and Butthead came in 32nd?!? Thats pathetic! They are like the icons of American white trash. Thought they would come in at least among the top 10.

Just finished downloading an episode of Simpsons and one of Ren n Stimpy(No. 18).
Gonna watch em now. So til my next post.... D'oh!

PS - Hong Kong Phooey is in the list! Thats prolly the worst cartoon I've ever seen. Its unfunny and outright boring!

The 'Days' are here

2006-03-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

As part of our annual gathering celebrations, we have a few special 'days' in college to break the monotony of the lecture-practical cycle.

Yesterday was 'Tie and Sari' day. Its when all the boys masquerade as men and, as if by magic, the chicks turn into women.
Someone rightly pointed out that '...this is one day when all the not-so-good looking girls suddenly look attractive and the attractive girls look gorgeous!'

            Abhinav and Me at the Canteen

We all came to college wearing our best attire and as you can guess, studies were the last thing on our minds.
I do tip my hat the girls though. I can only imagine what an undertaking it must be to drape yourself with over 4 metres of cloth and then walk around daintily in the heat.

As it turns out this day isnt very well appreciated by the faculty coz its hard enough to control a mob of restless 21 year olds on a normal day.... it becomes a mammoth task to do so when they are in a party mood!

So we hung around the canteen and clicked photos all day long till my cheeks began hurting from all the smiling. Got to pose with all the beauties; cant wait for those pics to develop ;)

I got myself a phunky black tie with 'The Simpsons' family printed on it. Its probably the last time im ever gonna get to wear such a tie. In the software industry ill be expected to wear 'uncle' ties so my Simpsons and Mickey Mouse ties are gonna get passed onto my cousins. My family thrives on hand-me-downs!

Now the next day I'm looking forward to is the 'Wear Your Own Attire' Day. Finally we get to wear ANYTHING we want to college.....officially ;)

The Visitor in the Night

2006-02-25T08:23:00.000-08:00

'It' crawled into my room one hot summer night as I sat at my computer engrossed in my over-due assignment. Seems like this is the season when all creepy crawlies and things that go bump in the night make their presence felt.
I never actually saw 'it' enter but I felt it occupy the space below my chair. This is probably what you would call Extra Sensory Perception.I call it the heebie jeebies!

So instinctively I bent down to take a look at what had come to enjoy my company. And thats when i saw .....nothing. I saw absolutely nothing apart from my own hairy ankles and my slippers; one of them was turned face down.(I laughed a little inside my head thinking of how much this would have irritated my dear old Nana. Apparently slippers that have turned turtle bring bad luck.I was about to find out that Nana had been right all along.)

So I carried on with my coding assignment and tried to push the feeling out of my mind. I barely got a few lines of code down when I felt it around my foot. I nearly soiled myself with fright and I let out a pathetic yelp. Startled, I curled my feet up under myself and shook like a leaf. It took me atleast 15 minutes to uncurl myself from the fetal position and peer under my chair. Still unable to see it, though slightly relieved, I laughed out loud. I did this to try and frighten away whatever it was that had taken a liking to my hairy ankles.

And thats when I saw it! Well, I didnt actually see it but I did notice my slipper move on its own accord. I didnt waste a single second. I grabbed my keyboard, yanked the connecting cable out of the cabinet and began wielding it like a madman in the general direction of my slipper.

With the first swing I struck something. I didnt know what or how big it was but I didnt let that deter me from going gung-ho with my Logitech Easy Keybord Deluxe.I whacked and smacked for all I was worth .'It' was obviously in pain coz it was making unearthly noises which could have indicated both pleasure or pain. I guessed it was the former and continued to let 'It' have it. No invisible creature was going to fondle my ankles and slither away unpunished. I felt a wetness splash against my shin and I guessed the moster was bleeding. As the pounding continued, it lashed out at my stomach but only managed to tear my shirt around my navel. Then after about a minute of mayhem, the noises stopped and all I could hear was my heart pounding in my head.

I opened the door leading to the stairwell of my building and pushed the formless lifeless thing out into the cold night with my foot and slammed the door shut. Slowly I fell to the floor with my back against the closed door and thanked God for small mercies.I could'nt believe what had just happened.

It seemed like a couples of hours before I could get myself to stand up. Shakily, I walked over to my PC. I picked up my keyboard and the 'F1' and 'Esc' keys which had come loose. I connected the keyboard back into the socket and was about to sit down when I heard the noise. A scratching sound coming from outside the closed door....

The Makings of a Perfect Day

2006-02-15T12:09:00.000-08:00

My bro Gags and I once sat down and compiled a list of things that would constitute a perfect day.The following is what we eventually came up with. It is infact completely exhaustive and probably too good to be realistic but what the heck.

Here it is.. the recipe for the perfect day.

1.You got to have summer for it to be a perfect day. So imagine a hot summer afternoon.

2.You can't be outdoors on such a day, can you? So picture yourself indoors.

3.You should'nt have any pending chores to do. You cant have a perfect day if you got work on your mind.

4.You got to be lying down in bed with a television set at the foot of the bed.

5.The fan has to be on, turned up to the max and you got to have a ligth bed-sheet to cover yourself with. Make sure its not too thick.You must have 2 pillows under your head to prop it up. How else are you gonna be able to watch the telly?

((I know this sound great already but trust me... read on. Its gonna get better!))

6.Imagine youself wearing a banian (sleeveless vest) and shorts. The banian HAS to have a small hole in it. (Gagan and I have a good laugh everytime we think about this.)

7. Next, there has to be a cricket match playing on the telly. Perferably an India vs Pakistan World Cup final with India playing at its best; Sachin at strike and hitting sixes off every alternate delivery.

8.Now picture a bowl of cold watermelon slices by your side. Yum! This actually goes well with point 1. coz you don't get watermelon here in the winter and no other fruit will do ;)

9.Last but definitely not the least, it has to be a holiday. Not an official holiday like a sunday but something like a Republic day which comes once a year in the middle of the week and gives everyone a much needed break.

Now any one of these points on its own would be great. But when taken together, they result in a winning combo.So there you have it.An amazingly perfect day!

2006-02-13T16:01:00.000-08:00

I was blog-hopping when I came across a blog by a Roman Catholic girl who has recently converted to Mormonism. I didnt know much about the Mormon beliefs and doctrines. Most of my knowledge came from a Southpark episode where the founder of the Mormon Church of Latter-Day Saints (Joseph Smith) is ridiculed.

So I have been Googling for more info on the mormon church and I'm simply appaled by what I've read so far. This is one of the many pages I found.
Seems like there is an unending effort to pervert God's word in any way possible.

My Googling also led me to another page which deals with the Creation Vs Evolution topic yet again.

Something more to ponder about.

PS - Happy Valentines Day y'all :)

The Cardinal Rules

2006-02-09T11:54:00.000-08:00

You know there are some things in life which dont have to be taught to you.Things like saying "Oh your baby is so cute!" when you actually want to say "Yikes! Who gave birth to that freak!". I mean, no one wants to break a mom's heart with the hard hitting-truth so you are expected to veil the truth with a white lie.

Yet today I came across an individual who apparently needs everything explained explicilty to him. I'm not gonna take any names here but to my anonymous friend... you know who you are. This is for all you guys who are like my unnamed friend.

Rule Number 1.
Never point out to a girl who has hair on her upper lip and say "Hey you have a moustache!!". No dude out there likes hairy girls but you dont need to make a public display of a girl if shes been a little careless.

Rule Number 2.
If you ever forget about rule number 1 and actually say such a thing to a girl, make yourself scarce and avoid that girl for the rest of your life. DONT whip out your camera phone and start taking pictures of her hairy upper lip! You may as well hand her a razor and a can of Gillette shaving cream.

And to the gals, please try and be a little more careful coz not every guy out there is as 'accommodating' as I am.

2006-02-05T12:53:00.000-08:00

Homer Simpson: "I'm a Rage-a-holic! I just can't live without Rage-a-hol!"

My darling Beulah

2006-02-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day of our annual literary event 'Epiphany' in college. The preparations have been on since before December and this year the event is on a much bigger scale than ever before.

I was heading toward the Scrabble event to help them set up the room today morning when i got stopped by some third year volunteers. They wanted me to participate in the creative writing event. The event required two participants per team. Luckily Neha Holay had just entered college and we decided to take part together just for kicks.

We were given one pic and one phrase. We had half an hour to write creatively about the pic and then another half hour about the phrase. What they didn’t tell us was that the phrase had to be linked with the pic in our text.

We were handed the pic of a healthy cow and our creative juices began to flow. We decided to use the element of horror in our text coz half an hour just isnt enough to get something humorous onto paper.

We decided against writing about the slaughter house coz that seemed too mundane. Instead we went on to describe how Beulah [that’s what we named our cow ;) ] felt about her first milking experience.

I’ve never had so much fun writing about a cow before. We were literally in splits as our story unfolded. We described in gory detail how the cow felt 'violated' by the farmer who went about milking her in a cold methodical way. We basically got into the bovine mind and let the words flow.

When the half hour was done we had a pretty nifty story. However the phrase given to us was "For Sale: Unused Baby Shoes"
It took us quite a while to think up a story that was convincing and at the same time logically connected to Beulah's narrative. So we ended up writing another narrative from the farmer's P.O.V about the death of his son from tainted cow's milk!
[Beulah's revenge].

Guess the judges liked our line of thinking as we walked away with the second place prize! 1000 bucks worth of vouchers from Spykar jeans. Pretty good for a few kicks if i should say so myself.

The Lion, The Witch, The Wardrobe and Turkish Delights!

2006-02-01T10:03:00.000-08:00

We have surely entered the times of movie-adaptations with the LOTR trilogy and the run-of-the-mill Harry Potter movie series.

I went for the matinee show of The Chronicles of Narnia today. I’ve been waiting to see this movie for a while now ever since I saw the poster at Inox announcing its release.

Got a call from Stephen at 9:45 am telling me to rush to the theatre for the 10am show coz he had a ticket for me. By the time I left my place it was already 10! I finally reached the theatre at 10:25am, picked up my ticket from the gatekeeper and rushed into the hall exactly at 10:30.

Luckily I hadn’t missed much as the fun had just begun with the kids having discovered Narnia in their wardrobe.

The movie was a real treat to say the least. The character animation and the battle scenes were amazing and the scenic beauty of New Zealand added to the aura of Narnia. The story seemed to be rushing a bit but that’s what you expect when an epic saga is ported to the silver screen.
The gospel allegory and symbolism was also hard to miss with the innocent lion ruler Aslan’s sacrifice for the guilty Edmund depicting the sacrifice of the sinless Christ for guilty sinners like us. The kids have also done a very good job in portraying their characters. I must say I loved the beaver with his British accent!

This is definitely one well made film that will leave you waiting for the next installments to be released and is well worth watching on the big screen.

My rating: 8.5/10

The Massacre of a Good Name

2006-01-28T11:16:00.000-08:00

One of the many things that I’m eternally grateful to my parents for is the name they gave me. Royston Carlton Vaz!!

Royston is of Old English origin, and its meaning is "Royce's town.” According to 1990 U.S. Census, Royston is an uncommon male first name as it was not ranked for males of all ages.(As you can see I’ve done a bit of research).

It’s unique and pretty cool if I should say so myself. Sadly there have been several people over the years who have ripped my good name apart with their mispronunciations and sheer ignorance.
I’ve come to accept this as a part of life now. No use fighting a lost battle.

So here it is. The list of my different ‘aliases’.

1. Roy Singh: I kinda like this one. Don’t know exactly how it came about but it didn’t last for long.

2. Roy Sen: Two of my roommates are Bengali so some bright spark assumed I’m Bengali too and revised my name.

3. Roy Chen: As Chinese as this may sound it’s actually the mallu version of my name. Believe it or not a lot of people think I’m mallu!

4. Royasteen: Modification of my name credited to Jacko – my ex-roommate.

5. Roystrone: Our multimedia professor came up with this mispronunciation a few days ago.

6. Roy Chand: Thanks to Sanatan who bestowed this title upon me. Sadly he didn’t stop there. The name was revised again and now quite a few guys call me Chandu.

7. Roystvan: Don’t even ask how this one came about. This is part of the sheer ignorance I was referring to earlier.

8. Roystein: Pronounced like number 3 but spelt differently. This is how my name is usually written on my bills and other documents.

Apart from these major ones there have been several minor mistakes which have been overlooked over the years. I can only begin to imagine what im gonna be called next.

Chapter 2: The Torture Chamber

2006-01-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

FOREWORD

I know its been long since Chapter 1 but i just didnt feel inspired until today. Sitting through a boring two-hour lecture of 'Advanced Computer Architecture' apparently inspires me like nothing else. A lot seems to have happened between the bookslinger pursuing his 'Final Exam' and this scene in the torture chamber. Havent given it much thought though but i guess the bookslinger did conquer his goal and move on in his quest, just as i did finally write all my papers and move on to the second semester. Still waiting for my results!

CHAPTER 2

The bookslinger slowly opened his eyes. He'd been asleep for a long time. Just how long, he had no idea. Time seemed to have its own pace in this place. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the dimly lit chamber. The pain seemed as real now as it did when he was brought bound and gagged into the room. He knew what was about to take place and a part of him wished for the bliss of ignorance.

Then it happened. The Professor walked into the chamber. This Professor like the rest of his alien race was a master of torture and lived solely for the sadistic pleasure of watching pain being inflicted on others. The bookslinger tried as hard as he could to gather his senses. It took more than a mere mortal to withstand the attack of a Professor. 'And I certainly am no mere mortal', whispered SwitchBlade as the alien beast opened its mouth and shouted out...

"Pipelining Techniques for Parallel processing!"

The bookslinger's body writhed in agony. The words stung his mind like a whip to bare flesh. This Professor was apperently extremely good at his trade. Bravo! thought SwitchBlade to himself. The sick realisation that he was cheering on his torturer did not ease the pain.
He tried to recollect his training. The lessons of 'Mind over Body' which he had breezed through. He knew that he had to remember every last bit of the course if he had to make it through this torture alive.

"Overlapping Execution of Instructions!", yelled the Professor and SwitchBlade tasted blood and bile at the back of his throat.

He did not know how much more of this he could take. No amount of training could have ever prepared him for this onslaught. Then he saw them out of the corner of his eye. His holsters and his reference books lying at the corner of the room. If he could only loosen himself from his chains and get his hands on them....

"Resource Utilization as a Performance Factor!"

A fresh wave of agony hit the bookslinger. The pain filtered down through the rest of his body as the words slowly sank into his sub-conscience. His thoughts began to wander now as the darkness slowly enveloped him. 'So much for my training!' he mused as his body worked its own mechanisms to deal with the wounds. He welcomed the darkness and the painlessness it brought. Whether he was slipping into death or merely a stupor, he really didnt care as he closed his eyes and once again, embraced nothingness.

Speechless Part 2.

2006-01-16T08:20:00.000-08:00

Sudnya (of the sex + drugs = rock n roll fame) has struck again. This time in a slightly different vein though.

Today is IIT's birthday (Happy Birthday dude!!), and a few of us went over to his place with a cake to surprise him. After the food and drinks were done with, it was time for some project talk.At the moment we as a project group have been reading thru 'Windows Programming' by Charles Petzold. This book is the absolute authority on the subject.

So heres how our conversation went:

Me:"IIT, we'd better read thru some Petzold!"

Sudnya:"Hey! I'd like to drink some petrol too...."

I dont think i need to say anything further.There seems to be no stopping this girl!!

Disclaimer- The author of this post does not mean to offend anyone with his narration of true incidents. Its solely meant for entertainment purposes.

Please Dont Feed The Monkeys!

2006-01-15T11:25:00.000-08:00

The age-old argument of whether we evolved from single-celled organisms or began our existence in the Garden of Eden continues...
I know there are several agruments on either side of the Creation Vs Evolution debate and I just came across these quotes while surfing the net.

Its amazing how we have progressed from a society that once believed that we are God's Children to a present generation that believes that we are descendants of apes!

2006-01-13T12:46:00.000-08:00

The New Year came and went. Almost two weeks have passed since we sincerely (and perhaps religiously) made resolutions that we promised ourselves we'd stick to. The X'mas decorations have all come down off the walls and the trinkets have been stored away til Santa drops down our chimneys again next year.

The 'Season of Love' is now over, our true loves having given us everything from a dozen pipers piping to flightless birds in pear trees.We have already started to forget about the birth of the Saviour, which is why we had a celebration in the first place. We have gone back to our mundane lives, tryin to work off the extra pounds we put on from eating all those Christmas sweets.

In short, the festivities are over,the gifts have all been opened, holidayers have returned home and the colleges are full once again.We have officially moved on.

Stereotyped!

2006-01-06T11:06:00.000-08:00

This one goes like this.. Im sitting at Sudnya's place(shes my project partner) and we are online. She happens to come across this community which deals with all the misconceptions that people tend to have about certain groups.

For example, its a misconception to think about a pot-bellied boozer who ends each sentence with 'men', every time you hear the word 'Goan'!

We smile at it and carry on.Few minutes later she turns to me and says..

Sudnya: "Hey, have you ever tried grass or any other drugs?"

Me: "No.Why do you ask?"

Sudnya: "Since you like Rock music i thought you'd be into drugs!"

Its on rare occasions like these that I am left totally speechless.Im online right now and Ive joined a community called "Why are girls dumb?".

Can you blame me?

2006-01-05T13:19:00.000-08:00

Check this out. It really cracked me up.

'If you are a vegetarian, why are you being mean to animals by eating their food?!'

The Undisputed King

2006-01-04T15:26:00.000-08:00

One of the books that I'm currently reading is a collection of short stories by Stephen King called Everythings Eventual. King, as I have come to realise, is one of those few authors who actually inspires me to devour an entire novel in a single sitting.

The first King book I ever read was Firestarter. It was from my mom's collection of novels and she recommended it to me. That was my first taste of the macabre and ive never stopped wanting more. One of the most notable traits of King is his ability to take the most innocent scenarios and turn them into your worst nightmare with unseeming ease. I have friends who have actually had nightmares after reading King books!

Inspired by the Lord of the Rings trilogy, King has completed his own epic saga called The Dark Tower (a personal favourite). The 7th and final book of this series was released recently.The entire series has taken in excess of 13 years to complete and King has done a very fine job of it.

Several of his bestsellers have been ported to the silver screen. Of these Ive seen The Green Mile, The Dreamcatcher, Carrie, The Shining and Misery. Its quite sad to see the way his work has to be compressed to fit a 2 hour feature film. It was chilling to read how the dangerously deranged Annie chops off Paul's legs and then proceeds to weld his bloody leg-stumps with a blow torch in 'Misery'. The movie however only shows Annie (Kathy Bates) breaking his ankles with a mallet. I guess u have to judge a book and its movie on seperate merits but they could have been a little more true to the book and showed atleast a little blood.

Another thing that never fails to amuse me is the way in which a writer like JK Rowling can become a multi-millionaire by the sales of just one series of books while exceptionally gifted writer like King never tastes such widespread fame through numerous works which are far superior. Im not downplaying the calibre of Rowling but lets face it, shes just not in the same league as the undisputed King!!

New Year's Resolution

2006-01-02T13:38:00.000-08:00

The Christmas season has come and gone and the new year has been ushered in. Having had another accident on my bike recently I think my new year's resolution should ideally be to not fall off my bike anymore. I doubt if my body can take anymore of this torture. This time I got away with just a few minor bruises and a stitched up knee.All Thanks and Praise goes to God for saving me from serious or even fatal injury!

What surprised me the most was that my mom actually allowed me to get back onto the bike after it came back from the garage. I was convinced that i'd have to travel by bus for the rest of my student days.
This time the accident wasnt my fault!! Stupid Indica driver overestimated my ESP. I was supposed to sense that he was about to turn his vehicle into my path . Probably thats why he didnt take the truble of indicating the turn.
Maybe i should refine my resolution a bit since 90% of all my accidents are not my fault at all. (the remaining 10% will no be discussed here as they fall out of context of this particular post!)

I,Royston, therefore resolve to assume that every unknown driver on the road is daft until proven otherwise. Better safe that sorry!

Jaadu ki Jhappi

2005-12-21T14:20:00.000-08:00

Heres something that happened during my recent study leave. I had reached a point in my studies which any struggling engineer can identify with. The point where you begin to wonder if time has finally stooped in its tracks and you are reliving the same moment over and over again... the point where you would gladly rip off your own limbs to have something better to do... the point where you feel your intelligence and liveliness getting sapped away from your brain.
Basically the peak of the study leave.

I was really frustrated after having spent the entire day in front of some meaningless book without having anything added to my already shallow reserves of knowledge.And it was at this point of time that I felt that a hug would be real fine and dandy. Just a general hug. Not from anyone in particular.Normally mom would be around to fulfill my hug needs but as a hostelite this was one hug that I was not about to get very soon (and I was definitely not going to hug one of my roomies!!)

So I messaged SueAllen (one of my oldest and bestest friends) telling her how I was lagging behind my schedule and how desperate I was getting. At the end of the message I mentioned about the hug to her.Prompt came her reply with a hug as an attachment.

And that was all I needed to kick the horrible mood I was in. I mean ive received a lot of messages with hugs and kisses at the end but this one was real special.I was back to my books in no time and I was actually able to get some quality studyin done. Pretty cool huh! Thats the magic of a hug via sms!!

Chapter 1: The Bookslinger

2005-11-29T12:18:00.000-08:00

A saga of myth, legend and cramming before the exams!

Chapter 1

The Hooded Stranger fled across the Desert of Study-Leave and SwitchBlade the Bookslinger followed...His well used reference books nestled cozily in their holsters which criss-crossed about his waist.His hall ticket neatly folded and placed in his breast pocket.

The path he followed was one that had on several earlier occasions been trod by Bookslingers on a similar pursuit... to conquer the Hooded Stranger. Not much was known of this stranger apart from his name. 'The Final Exam' was what he was called by the ancients. A name that has haunted every Bookslinger over the ages and SwitchBlade was no exception.

This was a path he had willingly chosen to follow, knowing fully well the consequences of failure. SwitchBlade knelt down in the sand and rested, his body moaning with fatigue and hunger. He surveyed the Desert around him. The company of friends and the warmth of his loved ones were now nothing but a mirage in the scorching heat of the noon sun. Now he was alone. All he had to keep him company were his maddening thoughts.

His mission to conquer the 'The Final Exam' had turned him into a maniac. A thoughtful yet focussed maniac."Only a week left before I catch up with my Stranger", mumbled SwitchBlade to himself. His speech was less coherent than ever before. Endless weeks in the Desert of Study-Leave did that to you. Lesser Bookslingers would have lost hope by now."But not me!", he thought to himself.

He had no aides on this mission. Only his trusted reference books. Their well-used pages falling apart and their lines marked with fluoroscent ink, the books had come to his rescue several times in the past.They would not fail him this time either.He prayed that they wouldnt....

A quick swig from his waterbag and he was ready to go once more.He picked himself up off the ground and dusted the sand from his denims. Onward he pushed toward his Hooded Stranger. To conquer his Goal. To taste the sweet taste of freedom. The distance that seperated him from his destiny shortened with every step he took.What lay ahead... only time would tell.....

The Last Tenor

2005-11-28T09:14:00.000-08:00

Had a dream last night. Dreamt I was singing Con Te Partiro in true tenor style well enough to give Bocelli a complex! Guess this is what happens when you (try to) study too much!

Meatless Day!!

2005-11-26T11:51:00.000-08:00

25th of November is Meatless Day!!
I've always celebrated this day by eating a lot of meat! The logic I apply is quite simple. If every living person were a pure vegan, would the people who campaign for Vegetarianism have any purpose in life? I mean, they would be totally jobless! They would have nothing to give speeches on or rally about! Hence i celebrate the day by giving animal rights activists and campaigning Vegans something to live for!! Long live the memory of Sadhu Vaswani!!

Personally, I dont believe in the Vedas but to all those who are practising Vegans (and are Hindus), please take a look at the following link. I dont mean to make fun of anyones beliefs but this is something that demands an answer and i would love to hear what people think about this.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jainsamachar/message/621

New Blog Spot!!

2005-11-23T12:03:00.000-08:00

This is my new blog spot. Decided to leave blogsource coz they cant format stuff for peanuts. Am gonna continue posting here hence-forward-onwards.

If you wanna check out any of my old blogs they are still available at www.exnihilo.blogsource.com