Saturday, December 25

Uncle Mess @ KZP

It has been one month and I'm back again with an interesting (for all the foodies out there) post. If you are not a food lover, you can stop reading this post and go to my older posts. Just kidding.. I always wanted to use this "If you're blah blah blah, then stop reading this book and go screw your gal friend" disclaimer.. Now read on..

The person who said "We cannot appreciate light unless we know darkness" is really a genius. Personally, I've never been a food-lover until I came to NITW. The messes we had in NITW are the one and only of a kind and they are the worst of that kind. Here the regular menu is bad and the special mess menu is worse. The curry combos in NITW messes can be seen nowhere in the rest of the world. Can you ever think of a Bhindi-Aalu-Tomato combo? Or a Brinjal-Aalu-Tomato combo? Or can you ever think of eating a curry wondering what veggies might be in there? All the 5th mess (Narmada mess) boys were exposed to these kinds of bewildering experiences every other day. And I am one of those lucky bastards for the entire 4 years of my engineering

Hence the reason for becoming a foodie after I joined NITW. It's not just me; I'm with those hundreds of foodie-converted boys from NITW hostels, whose number is increasing exponentially every year. And we all were desperate for a food-joint on that NH-202 that would satisfy our taste deprived taste-buds. News about new food-joints, restaurants, messes near NITW used to spread like pandemic in the campus and the NITW faculty faced competition from the students in those joints. Personally, I started getting jealous of the people staying near KZP leaving for home during weekends.

Amidst this chaos and desperation, some day-scholar fellow told us about "Uncle mess" one day. This uncle (I dunno his name) had his small mess running at his home. His wife (we used to call her "Auntie") cooks the food and this guy manages the business. But this place is a bit far to walk from the campus. The first time we went and tasted the food there, we were "Oh my God.. where was this place hiding till now? And who are those lucky bastards eating here regularly??" I'm not a fan of KFC, but the food at this mess was really finger-licking good. Actually, it was neighbor's-finger-sucking good (I'm not gay, for the record). But there's the drawback: far to walk from the campus. So only the day-scholar lucky bastards were enjoying auntie's recipes and we were stuck again in the Narmada mess

Many people from our class stayed in the hostel itself during the summer after my second year. The best (and the worst) thing about NITW in summer is that the messes are closed. It's best for obvious reasons and worst as Warangal scorches up with heat in summer and we will get roasted like tandoori chicken given considerable time spent outside. And we don't have any alternative for food in the college, except for the canteen fellow who rations the lunch quantity as if he's serving holocaust and war prisoners. Anyway, we used to manage the lunch in canteen and would visit Uncle mess for dinner

The best part about Uncle mess is that he charged 18 bucks for the dinner. And no need to mention, almost everyone staying in NITW during summer would come there. Even some faculty (whose family were out of town, I guess) used to come there for lunch and dinner. Around 6 of us would go together and have dinner in one batch. We were not gluttons or something, but we would have a hearty meal and return to the hostel

I still remember that one day when 6 of us (I, KD, Madhu, Rajesh, Shravan(not sure), Kishore) took one table and started eating. The curries were so good that the 6 of us have finished 3 basins (big ones) of rice and gave the empty basin to uncle for another round. He was surprised by this and didn't return with rice until we understood the situation and told we would have curd and finish the dinner. That was one funny (and embarrassing) incident I recall whenever I find myself gluttonizing over food

Sometimes, Uncle and Auntie would visit their native place and inform us about the closing of mess for a few days. We used to feel disappointed and think about the other food joints for dinner. And as it happens, they all sucked and we would go to Uncle mess again when they returned. Who would prefer restaurant/fast-food to home made delicious food??


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Saturday, November 27

The "Eco-unfriendly" encyclopedia

Hello everyone.. not much delay this time (only one month).. I'm back with some "stuff"..

Today, I saw this board in my office wash room.. it says "We are Eco-friendly organization, please co-operate in this regard". Well, I see that board everyday, but today I was rather observant. I see many individuals, organizations, companies, industries, factories claiming themselves as "Eco-friendly" (btw I still cannot figure out how factories can be eco-friendly). This eco-friendly fanaticism is becoming much popular lately.

Now, facts aside.. It just occurred to me today if there's any organization which claims itself as "Eco-unfriendly".. This hypothetical organization says "We are Eco-unfriendly, we hate the Eco, Eco's totally uncool, The last person with whom we make friends is Eco". And what might their wash room boards read? "Use the toilet paper as much as you want, We have lots of bamboo around" or "One paper might not meet the requirement, think again.. With a shit-smelling ass on your back, saving trees is not really your problem right now" or "Couldn't solve the su-do-ku on this square? Try another puzzle on the on-coming toilet paper, we have 4 difficulty levels".

And in the printer room, something like "We encourage one-sided printing, We actually regret why HP made two-sided printers and micro-printing machines".. on the paper-boxes "I'm desperate, use me pleeez". And in the email signatures, "Never think twice before printing this e-mail. Have printing problems? Click here" or "Our organization is committed to the best practices in order to become the biggest customer for paper industry"

In this "Eco-unfriendly" organization, every goddamn notification would come as paper circulars with people delivering them to each employee. And there would be much clarity if the circulars have captions like "Our vision 2012 is to hire the largest facilities staff in the business" or "Take a photocopy and share this with your colleagues, A combo of HP photocopier and paper really makes life simple". Also, PPTs won't be much encouraged, and chart presentations would be applauded saying "Why Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V when you can write and draw?" or "Use your hands, buddy.. Ask for marker pens and charts, we have the largest facilities staff in the business to serve you"

Now, enough with this hypothetical stuff, let's speculate what if some companies we have in the business now start this "Eco-unfriendliness".. Kimberly-Clark would start making "120 GSM toilet-paper" and "Executive-bond toilet-paper" with captions like "Loo-paper for the executives, comes with an executive touch" or "Thicker, cleaner, much better and lasts longer". Microsoft would have to give MS Office free with Windows as no office buys the software. Adobe can stop its work on Acrobat reader. 

Wonder what would happen if Wikipedia goes "Eco-unfriendly"!! I think after that, some final surviving pieces of bamboo would be kept in museums under the "fossils" section..


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Thursday, October 28

The Palmist effect

OMG it's been two months since I posted on my blog. In fact I couldn't select a topic to write. It's like there are so many items on the menu and I'm pondering over each dish forgetting that at EOD, eating is all about pacifying hunger. So I was enlightened in a restaurant 2 days ago and here I am, back with some "stuff" to post.

The first time I read a book on palmistry was when I finished my intermediate and was writing these engg entrance exams, one after the other. I happened to find one "Palmistry for beginners" book at my aunt's house and I went through it, without contributing much memory to it. Actually, I was trying to read my hand based on the book and I couldn't find many lines on my hand to get a proper reading (For eg., my destiny line wasn't properly developed back then). Well, I don't remember much about the self-reading I did that time.

In my engg final year, I happened to read that book again during one of my Weekend+Monday visits to hyd. This time, I went through the book pretty seriously and I even prepared a notes on the important points and some illustrations (I still wonder what made me do that). After this somewhat serious reading, I took a self-reading and astonishingly found some points, which I thought were uncommon in people, matching close to my personality. And when I returned to college, I started reading others' hands just to check the correctness of palmistry. I've been with this habit of accepting many things only after a satisfactory first-hand verification since my schooling days.

My experience in reading others' palms in college was exciting, memorable and amazing. I was rather surprised at the level of enthusiasm people show to get a reading. And they found the readings strikingly close to their personality (I call these "hits") and this encouraged me to read other books like Cheiro palmistry to get a better understanding on the subject. I've been developing palmistry more like a hobby since then and I still give readings if someone asks.

Coming to the topic, I observed some points while I was reading others' hands. One is that people try to think about even the most general of predictions as specifically tailor-made to themselves. For eg., If I tell someone "You have good intuitive power", they talk about it positively and lo, I have a "hit". In fact, I told many people that they have good intuitive power, which is an attribute found in everyone. Everyone has intuitive power, and the "goodness" of this intuitive power is entirely subjective. Everyone thinks they have "good intuitive power"  and that they have a hunch in discovering hunches. That's the reason why we have lot of gossiping and conspiracies on every other damn thing around us. 

Other good examples for this general-but-misleading lines are "You are a cautious person" (Everyone is cautious), "You are independent" (Everyone is a mixture of dependent and independent nature), "Your family has effect on you in choosing your career" (90% of people in India have this situation). All these lines become "hits" for the palmist for obvious reasons.

Another thing is that people accept some things which they really don't know if they have those or not. For eg., If I say something like "You have difficulty in choosing friends"; Even though the other person is not sure whether he has that difficulty in choosing friends, he doesn't really find it difficult to recall some goddamn incident in his life where a friend pissed him off real bad. And now, since he recalled it successfully, he nods and the palmist has another "hit". To be honest, we really don't know about ourselves deep within and we would become saints or god-men if we really knew properly about ourselves.  So, after a considerable number of general-prediction "hits" from the palmist, the other person starts doing this ignorant "hit-giving" business.

Well, the lines given by the palmist like "You have a good intuitive power", "You have difficulty in choosing friends", etc., are not supposed to manipulate the person taking the reading. In fact, some lines on the palm actually refer to those qualities. These references are so obviously general but on the contrary, the other person deludes himself thinking they are specific to him. When I look at my hand now and try to decode the lines, I see myself laughing at the generality of the reading.

All this stuff I discussed now is only from my observations while giving readings. I validate these observations whenever I read a hand and every time they fall right in place. I find this "Palmist effect" so amazing that I sometimes wonder why people even bother to get a reading of their hands just to delude themselves.

It's really a weird world we live in !!


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Monday, August 30

Some "stuff"..

So I'm back again with some stuff. Stuff, ha.. this word "stuff" is a really a tricky one.. I've been seeing it getting paraphrased very creatively I could never imagine. I have seen people giving the word "stuff" as an alias for many things depending on the situation. For instance, during my school days, "stuff" meant the normal stuff, like papers, pens, pencils, sometimes chits during exam and sometimes snacks. Well, I still wonder how people started "stuff" for paper chits and snacks.. hey wait.. why the word "stuff" for snacks? As if you were not supposed to eat snacks and hence coded it into "stuff"? I think some heavily pampered fat-ass school kid fellow might have started this "stuff" word for snack. Anyway, we used it in that way and sometimes I still use it (for unknown reasons.. may be childhood really has a profound impact on us throughout our life.. Hey, this is Sigmund Freud's "stuff".. not mine)

And when I came to college, "stuff" meant many things. Hey, it's not what you are thinking, at least in this stage. In college, "stuff" meant intelligence, talent, etc., (If you studied in an AP intermediate college, you could know that I'm not faking) For eg., some lecturers used these kinda statements "This boy has stuff", or "Mm, this girl has stuff" (intelligence, talent here also.. I too was confused at dat "Mm" initially.. but I believe people meant that way). So in college, everyone has this "stuff" up to some extent and after that only some people had this "extra stuff" (like extra talent, luck) that pushed them much forward than the rest

Now comes the graduation. I can think what you are thinking. And buddy, wait for some more time, it's not the same thing again. During my graduation, "stuff" initially meant movies and stuff... What, did I use "stuff" just now? Ok, it meant movies in the beginning, and after some days, it was you-know-what kinda movies. And then, "stuff" meant drink: alcoholic and non-alcoholic except water and fruit juices. Also, many people used "stuff" for money and dope.. "Do you have some stuff?", "Can I get some more stuff?", "Which stuff, Desi or American?", "Nah, I am bored with regular stuff", "This stuff is making me crazy, man", etc.,

These statements mean differently in different situations. But you ask anyone this "You have stuff?", they know what exactly you are asking for. This word "stuff" is like the words "God" or "devil".. even though there are  many look-up values, the other person would know the exact thing you were referring in that context. It's a magical word, it need not be explained, just a "stuff" is sufficient and no confusion. I would say it's the most effective way of communication I can think of. For eg., I have this kind of chat many times

Person A: Stuff?
Person B: Yep
Person A: Send, pl :)
Person B: Yea, sure :)
And, sending.....
See? Simple, plain and yet, effective

Well, I was telling here only the look-ups used by men, I dunno how and where women use "stuff". Sometime back, I heard (actually I eavesdropped) some girl saying to another "We kissed and stufffff".. I was like "Wtf.. girls use 'stuff' this way, I never saw a man who used 'stuff' in this context". And what's that "stuffff" with multiple f's? She meant the "stuff" went for a long time? Or  she was hinting it's the f-word she's referring to? Hmm.. I really cannot understand women

Anyway, nice "stuff" on this "stuff", eh??



P.S: Lately, I've not been able to decide on which topic I should post next. It's like that rat joke where the rat, shaking its head not able to decide which nut to eat, eventually breaks its neck. Can you folks suggest me some topics?

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Friday, May 28

2nd post of the month

Yes.. this is 2nd post for this month.. of-late, every fourth person is asking me "Why are you not posting?", "Is your blog dead", "So when is the funeral service? Shall we bring flowers".. no limits to sarcasm.. and when I check my blog now, I can see only one post in April and May. This is not the way a blog should be maintained.. I need to post at least once in ten days or so. Well, I take resolutions.. and no one knows if I stick to it or not.

It is really easy to take resolutions and give suggestions. On the other hand, following those resolutions and taking the suggestions is hard. I won't be talking about following resolutions now.. tell me who criticizes himself in his own blog?? So lets talk about giving suggestions and how people might react to the donation.

Some suggestions given by people are really stupid. Take for eg., when I had this fever and cough, many people have suggested "Go to a doctor", "Go and see a doctor", "Why are you not going to doctor?". The tone of these suggestions sounds like "Go to hell", "Go and see the devil", "Oh you are still alive, why don't you go to hell?". Some advise as if the patient doesn't know who a doctor is and when to consult him. They don't even ask if he has visited one. Honestly, how do you respond to such suggestions? I usually point to the medicines beside my bed to them when they give such kinda advise. And I dunno how they feel about my reaction, but many say "Oh.. nice.. so what medicines did he prescribe?" and they check those medicines. The funny part is that, they cannot even pronounce the medicine's name properly. And some, instead of checking the name, check the expiry date !! I think only in some 70's pharmacists might have sold expired medicines.

Another kind of suggestion, is regarding the present market, especially, IT industry. Even your servant maid comments on IT industry as if she had some 10+ yrs industry exp and freelancing now. I dunno if its the half-baked stories by local news papers or some kind of "personal hunch", but many people have their own "mark" in expressing their opinion on IT industry. Some people frown on the mention of growth in IT, some shake their head in disagreement and say "IT industry is hopeless. See Ramalinga Raju for eg., IT industry is hopeless". I cannot infer the logic in their statement. Some say "These days computer can be learned  in any training institute (What the hell is "learning a computer"?). You can even learn at home by yourself. On what skill-set are IT companies hiring?" I think these people have picked up a word "skill-set" and are using it wherever they need to fill a void. 

I agree that these people do not have any slightest idea on what they are suggesting and why they are doing so. If they really dunno about the topic, why are they advising in the first place? No one asked their opinion.  Moreover, this advising stuff is not out of empathy or philanthropy.. this is just to show us that they have "some knowledge" on the topic. I think they know that they are becoming fools by saying this crap, but they cannot resist themselves from advising.

I have mentioned only a couple of scenarios. We find many instances where people give us really silly suggestions that have no logic and common sense. And I cannot figure out how to react to such suggestions.. whether to simply smile and ignore them, or to answer them in such a way that they would not be daring to discuss on that topic again.. no idea. I have come across many of such people and nobody ever tried to discuss the same topic for the next time. Well, I dint react in the same way to everyone, but I dunno what changed their attitude towards me.

May be as Paulo Coelho says "When we want to achieve something, the universe conspires in helping us to achieve it"?? The universe is conspiring to help me?? What the **** !! And why did I put those asterisks?


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Saturday, May 8

Airs of clarity??

Airs of clarity?? Really?? The wondering itself is full of confusion, where is the "clarity" now? I guess I need to stop questioning now and start some "Causal Analysis and Resolution".. wow.. QMS seminar is working on me at this hour..

After reading my last post, a friend of mine asked me if I was drunk when I was posting it. Honestly, I wasn't.. and obviously not now.. that post was the words which popped up into my mind when I laid my hands on the keyboard.. may be it was just the reflection of my mind.. confused, dazed.. even I was surprised looking at my post that day.. 

You might ask me if I have a different mindset now. I really don't know the answer, but many things have happened after later that made me feel lighter. Much confusion has cleared out, had some confessions and ruled out some impossibilities, that "chaos" thing has almost disappeared now. Last week, I got this sata-usb adapter and connected my cpu's hdd to my laptop.. I almost cried after it was successfully connected.. I was badly missing that hdd for some 8 months. Surprisingly, my mind has become fresh and clear after this episode.. I really cant figure out whats my voodoo with hdds and laptops..

So whats so special about that hdd?? Come on, it was my 4yrs collection.. movies, sitcoms, songs, what not.. it was my entertainment channel for 4 yrs. One fine day.. actually it was a very bad day.. my monitor had got repaired and lo !! my motherboard bios rom got screwed up, and hdd got separated from me.. could not get a sata-usb connector even after searching rjy entirely.. shopkeepers were pleading under oath that they never heard of such an adapter.. Welcome to RJY.. here supply runs the demand.. u need to buy what is available.. u cannot really get what u want..

I would not say I missed my hdd completely, but missed that carnatic music collection I had in it.. listening to BalaMurali daily is making me cheerful and is keeping my spirits high.. I really missed it all these days.. BalaMurali will definitely get BharataRatna one day.. he already has the next civilian honor PadmaVibhushan.. he is a genius..

Hold on.. What am I doing?? I really wonder at myself.. now I am speaking like any other person.. dry, nonsense in sense of humor, where has all my 'knack' gone? This dry person is not me.. definitely not me.. definitely not me.. I am not some horse or ass (not arse.. donkey) to cover myself in stripes and become a zebra (phew.. bad one).. I am a human, and I dont need some skinny skin to cover my ass (not donkey).. proud to be different.. yes.. Definitely.. Maybe (I added that 'maybe' coz it sounds like a film title.. dont take that part literally).. aha.. now back to form..

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Friday, April 9

Non-musings

This is really crazy.. I am not able to acknowledge the fact that I didn't post anything since October. Actually I posted one in November and my good friend Irfan advised me to delete it !! Not really a controversial one, it was regarding some soft-skill training I had at Oracle during my incubation. Any way, I deleted it within 2 hrs of posting. This shows how fast people were getting updated with my blog ;)

In fact, I almost forgot to update my blog.. Hail KAL (Korean Airlines) for keeping me busy. I think I got some kind of "Writer's block".. I always wanted to start writing on something, then I do this musing, musing and musing on that and finally end up reading wikipedia at odd hours like this. Then I started to realize I am really confused..  and the movie "Deconstructing Harry" made me worse.. I was successful in identifying myself with Woody Allen's character in that flick. Oh my God !!
Thanks to Arun, my classmate and colleague, I saw some link of his blog 3 days back and got inspiration to resume posting in mine.

The funniest thing is that, when I clicked on "new post" button now, I had this strange weird feeling.. its like telling sorry to your girlfriend when you came to know that she came to know that you had banged another chick who never came to know that you have a girlfriend.. Don't think I am sick or paranoid, but sorry my dear blog, forgive me for being unfaithful (!!) to you.. Oh my God.. wats this.. I gave some stupid comparison earlier and I am now asking forgiveness from a 'blog'.. I really need some medical help..

I think this genius(read as silly) movie "Leader" is the reason for my craziness at this moment.. what a sensible(read as senseless) film.. CM having a girl friend, meeting her daily for date, even proposing to her, and giving speeches in assembly.. this is the 4th film of Kammula I dint like(he made 4 films till now).. watching this film sacrificing the elixir of life(sleep) at this time is really sensible(read as senseless).. the only thing I liked in this film is the heroine.. Richa Gangopadhyay.. what a beautiful(read as beautiful) girl..

No musing to muse upon.. no topic to debate upon, my brain is now half-empty (read as half-filled).. I am feeling as if I am in metamorphosis since May 2009.. dunno when I would become a frog from this tad-pole avatar.. and speaking of avatar.. no.. we will talk about it some other time..

See how I am drifting from one topic to another.. if I dont stop now, I might end up reading wikipedia till 5 am.. so good night.. Subha ratri.. Shabba Khair.. hmm.. I think I will read about KBC in wikipedia now.. then Amitab may be..

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