Colleges are like that! Looking back, most of the things that we did (rather THEY made us do) make absolutely no sense now, but yeah, they make a part of some fantastic memories.
Ours was a batch that was unanimously horrible with UNIX. We had been working on windows and we have had quite a few visiting lecturers refusing to teach us because we were novice of the first order. What did they expect? Why would a person with a Torvalds DNA structure sit for a lecture on the first hand! Finally we managed to get hold of a professor who would come, ramble in the class and leave. The teacher and the class were unanimously indifferent to each other!
It was this afternoon lecture, hardly a time to learn UNIX or VI, but the professor was busy bragging about VI and its features. Nobody in the class cared a damn. What difference did it make to us? Suddenly he raised his voice (he probably realized that the class was fast asleep) and asked loudly - "Do you know we use the h, j, k, l for navigation in VI? If so, how the hell do we actually type the alphabets h, j, k, and l?” No response. Nobody had probably even heard the question. He suddenly looked at Ashish who had the same 'disturb-me-not-look' as he always had. You there, can you tell me?
What sir, asked the thoroughly confused Ashish. "If we use h, j, k, l instead of the arrow keys in VI for navigation what do we do when we have to type those alphabets?" asked the professor. "Use the arrow keys Sir!” came the brilliant and unadulterated reply.
Never again, as far as I remember the professor asked any questions in our class ;)
p.s. As with most of my posts, names changed :)
Monday, March 22, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Anecdote
It was already 11 and our turn to register our group. But there was no sign of Ravi. Sid, Neeta and me were worried. He had the project reports and without submitting them we would have been disqualified immediately. It was one of those college competitions where a win ensured you could bunk classes for the next 20 days on the pretext of being tired. Obviously! Winning a competition is no mean task even if it’s sponsored by your local chaiwallah. A win is just what it is - a win. And yeah, it nurtured our adolescent egos too.
Our worried faces searched every moving object in the room to catch a glimpse of our 4th partner who seemed to have suddenly disappeared. Frantic searches lead to a dead end and just as we were about to give up, in walked Ravi with our reports and a bunch of girls with worried looks. Until that moment we thought we were the only ones with a question mark on our faces. "Can you guys help?", I heard him shout and looked towards him. "Neha here has lost her purse. She had lots of money in it. We have been trying to locate it visiting every place she went to but no use. Can you guys pitch in for help?" So there lay our answer! As we 3 idiots were finalizing our strategy, our cool-as-a-cucumber partner was busy skirt chasing.....he had probably got introduced to Neha half an hour ago but he spoke of her purse as if it contained his hard-earned money. We were too angry probably because none of us spoke for full 10 minutes. Finally, Neeta blurted out, "Let’s get a horse". We all looked surprised...Horse, what for?, asked Sid. "Yeah, so that the knight in shining armour can ride a horse, locate the missing purse and rescue his damsel in distress", said Neeta to deliver the knockout line and drill some sense into our partner.
Till date we have a field day watching an embarrassed Ravi run for cover whenever we remind him of the incident :)
Our worried faces searched every moving object in the room to catch a glimpse of our 4th partner who seemed to have suddenly disappeared. Frantic searches lead to a dead end and just as we were about to give up, in walked Ravi with our reports and a bunch of girls with worried looks. Until that moment we thought we were the only ones with a question mark on our faces. "Can you guys help?", I heard him shout and looked towards him. "Neha here has lost her purse. She had lots of money in it. We have been trying to locate it visiting every place she went to but no use. Can you guys pitch in for help?" So there lay our answer! As we 3 idiots were finalizing our strategy, our cool-as-a-cucumber partner was busy skirt chasing.....he had probably got introduced to Neha half an hour ago but he spoke of her purse as if it contained his hard-earned money. We were too angry probably because none of us spoke for full 10 minutes. Finally, Neeta blurted out, "Let’s get a horse". We all looked surprised...Horse, what for?, asked Sid. "Yeah, so that the knight in shining armour can ride a horse, locate the missing purse and rescue his damsel in distress", said Neeta to deliver the knockout line and drill some sense into our partner.
Till date we have a field day watching an embarrassed Ravi run for cover whenever we remind him of the incident :)
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Advertising (non)sense
A beautiful model walking out of a water body in a flaming red bikini. Can you guess the advertisement? Let me give you some options -
A) XYZ Beauty Soap
B) IJK body lotion
C) OPQ Hair shampoo
D) ABC bikini makers (I have never seen them but still!)
E) None of the above
The right answer - E. It’s an advertisement for JK cement. Yeah! As Sachin knocked us all crazy with his double ton I couldn’t help but smile at the JK cement advertisement that were being played on air. Will somebody explain the connection between the bikini girl and the product? I couldn’t figure any.........but I think they got what they wanted....I will never forget this ad. After all it takes a different kind of genius to dole out that kind of crap!
p.s. Meanwhile hail the god of cricket...he makes even an unenthusiastic cricket person like me to move to the corner of my sofa seeking divine intervention.....even the gods would have been busy watching him yesterday!
A) XYZ Beauty Soap
B) IJK body lotion
C) OPQ Hair shampoo
D) ABC bikini makers (I have never seen them but still!)
E) None of the above
The right answer - E. It’s an advertisement for JK cement. Yeah! As Sachin knocked us all crazy with his double ton I couldn’t help but smile at the JK cement advertisement that were being played on air. Will somebody explain the connection between the bikini girl and the product? I couldn’t figure any.........but I think they got what they wanted....I will never forget this ad. After all it takes a different kind of genius to dole out that kind of crap!
p.s. Meanwhile hail the god of cricket...he makes even an unenthusiastic cricket person like me to move to the corner of my sofa seeking divine intervention.....even the gods would have been busy watching him yesterday!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Poetry Time
I had posted this before but most probably it got lost with my Yahoo 360 blog. One of Ogden Nash's gems and a personal favourite.
Love is a word that is constantly heard,
Hate is a word that is not.
Love, I am told, is more precious than gold.
Love, I have read, is hot.
But hate is the verb that to me is superb,
And Love but a drug on the mart.
Any kiddie in school can love like a fool,
But Hating, my boy, is an Art.
Love is a word that is constantly heard,
Hate is a word that is not.
Love, I am told, is more precious than gold.
Love, I have read, is hot.
But hate is the verb that to me is superb,
And Love but a drug on the mart.
Any kiddie in school can love like a fool,
But Hating, my boy, is an Art.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The perfect reply
Gift of the gab with the correct quantity of wit and sarcasm thrown ....I hardly know folks who have that trait. It's sheer pleasure to listen to such people.
Was talking to Nikhil after a gap of years.....
Nikhil: Life's cool...US is being good,it held onto me inspite of the recession...that wasnt really easy ;)
Me: :). Hey, by the way hows Niharika?
Prolonged silence made me realize that I had struck a wrong note......Damn! I thought. I should not have asked that question......The errie silence continued before Nikhil delivered the knockout line that said eveything -
"You never marry the person you first watch Casalanca with"
Inspite of the sad undercurrents I ended by doing a WOW.I really couldnt help it!
Was talking to Nikhil after a gap of years.....
Nikhil: Life's cool...US is being good,it held onto me inspite of the recession...that wasnt really easy ;)
Me: :). Hey, by the way hows Niharika?
Prolonged silence made me realize that I had struck a wrong note......Damn! I thought. I should not have asked that question......The errie silence continued before Nikhil delivered the knockout line that said eveything -
"You never marry the person you first watch Casalanca with"
Inspite of the sad undercurrents I ended by doing a WOW.I really couldnt help it!
Monday, February 1, 2010
A sweet ordeal
I was travelling from Pune to Mumbai and inspite of waiting for 45 minutes when my bus didn’t turn up I realized something was amiss because usually the buses run on time. On enquiring with the conductor of another bus he told me I had booked the wrong ticket. I had booked the tickets for morning 05:45 instead of an evening one. Imagine a 24 hour time format lover like me making such a stupendous mistake! There wasn’t any time to lose, I decided to fret over it once I had figured a way out to resolve my stupidity. Thanks to Anu who dropped me immediately to the main bus depot I caught a bus just as it was about to leave. But there was a catch! There weren’t any vacant seats, if I decided to take the bus I had to travel standing for the 2.5 hours of my journey. I opted for it. Usually a decision haunts you only after its taken….sigh!!!!!!
So began my journey..err...standing journey.
15 minutes into my journey a teenage girl walked up to me and asked me to occupy a seat reserved for her sister who would have got in late. Happily, I obliged. That saved 30 minutes of standing. When the girl's sister walked into the bus from another stop I reluctantly vacated the seat. As I was standing, a very old grandma looked at me and smiled. I smiled back too. I was now in the self-abusing mode, cursing my stupidity about overlooking such a simple fact while booking the ticket (Yeah, I had delegated this task when I had more important things to do). As I cursed myself in all the languages I knew, the smiling grandma opened a Tiffin box and gladly offered me a paratha as she added "You might be tired standing. Why don’t you have this?". I was flabbergasted and again I obliged. Now a paratha wasn’t a bad offer for I needed all the strength I could gather ;). Just as I finished having my paratha an auntie nearby asked me to sit on her seat's hand rest. I muttered a thanks and declined but she wasn’t to listen. I HAD to sit. She asked where was I going to get down and why hadn’t I booked a ticket? I told her my destination and the reason cleverly disguising my stupidity as urgency. By then we were almost 2 hours into the journey. The bus took a halt and people got down for their various businesses.
When we all assembled back, a mid-aged uncle walked up to me and asked me to occupy his seat as he was finding it inconvenient to sit in the small seat since he was obese(he told me exactly that). I argued till I lost. I am not exactly fond of chivalry but then how many times do we demean ourselves to make someone else comfortable? Not unless we are sure to score a point and increase our self-deprecating-sense-of-humour quotient. But here was man who was offering me his seat because he thought I was too tired to stand. Reluctantly, I did as he wished. Fortunately it was the last leg of my journey.....because I couldn’t help but feel guilty.
Finally my destination arrived and as I got up to leave I thanked all those good Samaritans who just made my journey memorable! I got a feeling that people are essentially good and this goodness manifests in such experiences :)
So began my journey..err...standing journey.
15 minutes into my journey a teenage girl walked up to me and asked me to occupy a seat reserved for her sister who would have got in late. Happily, I obliged. That saved 30 minutes of standing. When the girl's sister walked into the bus from another stop I reluctantly vacated the seat. As I was standing, a very old grandma looked at me and smiled. I smiled back too. I was now in the self-abusing mode, cursing my stupidity about overlooking such a simple fact while booking the ticket (Yeah, I had delegated this task when I had more important things to do). As I cursed myself in all the languages I knew, the smiling grandma opened a Tiffin box and gladly offered me a paratha as she added "You might be tired standing. Why don’t you have this?". I was flabbergasted and again I obliged. Now a paratha wasn’t a bad offer for I needed all the strength I could gather ;). Just as I finished having my paratha an auntie nearby asked me to sit on her seat's hand rest. I muttered a thanks and declined but she wasn’t to listen. I HAD to sit. She asked where was I going to get down and why hadn’t I booked a ticket? I told her my destination and the reason cleverly disguising my stupidity as urgency. By then we were almost 2 hours into the journey. The bus took a halt and people got down for their various businesses.
When we all assembled back, a mid-aged uncle walked up to me and asked me to occupy his seat as he was finding it inconvenient to sit in the small seat since he was obese(he told me exactly that). I argued till I lost. I am not exactly fond of chivalry but then how many times do we demean ourselves to make someone else comfortable? Not unless we are sure to score a point and increase our self-deprecating-sense-of-humour quotient. But here was man who was offering me his seat because he thought I was too tired to stand. Reluctantly, I did as he wished. Fortunately it was the last leg of my journey.....because I couldn’t help but feel guilty.
Finally my destination arrived and as I got up to leave I thanked all those good Samaritans who just made my journey memorable! I got a feeling that people are essentially good and this goodness manifests in such experiences :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)