The Entertainer*

I am the entertainer, the idol of my age
I make all kinds of money when I go on the stage
You see me in the papers, I've been in the magazines
But if I go cold, I won't get sold
I get put in the back in the discount rack
Like another can of beans

I am the entertainer and I know just where I stand
Another serenader and another longhaired band
Today I am your champion,
I may have won your hearts
But I knew the game, you'll forget my name
I won't be here in another year
If I don't stay on the charts.



Taken in New Orleans :)

Road Tripping

I never really understood my fascination with bikes. What was it about them that made me just yearn to posses one of them?
It doesn’t help that I’m just 5 feet 3 inches and weigh around 50 kgs. I look puny on a bike and not one of the guys I know will willingly lend me the keys to his bike.
I have to bully and persuade then to part with it for just a few minutes... but those few minutes... totally worth it.

To feel the powerful thrum of an engine, to be able to have 140 kilos of mean metal under your control and to feel the wind whip my hair is completely worth the astonished stares of the people on campus AND my mother’s scandalised words when I told her about it.

Unfortunately, she is so scandalised that she won’t buy me a bike. She wanted to know what I would do if the bike stopped and I can’t hold it up. I don’t know what I’d do either. Hopefully one of those curious onlookers would give me a hand... yeah sure. They’re probably thinking ‘serves her right’.
And advertisers for bikes don’t help either.. . Whoever gave Pulsar their tagline- thank you very much. There is no way I can ride one of your bikes without hearing ‘definitely male’ in my head. Not helpful.

And I have to remember that I weigh just around 1/6th of a Harley Davidson v-rod (that bike is so drool worthy!!!) forget about pushing it around... I doubt I can even keep it vertical.

But, in spite of all these petty problems, I’m thankful to friends, brothers and classmates who have parted with their bikes(rather reluctantly, but nevertheless) and a special mention for kantha- I’m sorry that my gear shifts make you grind your teeth but I love you for trusting me with your huge and shiny yellow bike.


- the Gypsy Biker

Summer's here!!

Bringing with it water fights, ice candy, mangoes, iced tea with lots of sugar, long sleepy Sunday afternoons, fruit slushies, and lazy gatherings under trees near parking lots ;)

Blah

Blah

The only song that seems to be,
The one and only mystery,
Is the sun that shines throughout the night...
To take us through eternal flight.

Planets and stars and celestial things,
Are the ones that to my mind bring,
The thought, the deed, the eternal flings
Take flight and soar on majestic wings.

The fools , the tools, the abysmal blues
That make it hard, that make us choose.
The hidden truths, the untold lies,
That seeks the depth of unseen eyes.

Superstition, superiority,
Magicians and majority
The coffee brewing in the sea,
Disaster and calamity.

Sinking ships and failing fiends,
Bottled fears and tainted schemes
Tremors heartless ,treachery wild,
That stunts the growth of nature’s child.

Rainy days that seem to shine,
With heart and mind and soul divine,
While seas and sands and heavens roar,
And faith survives forevermore.



written during mind numbingly boring classes of power system analysis and Engineering machine design. hence the title.

General Knowledge

As some of you know, I’m part of a foundation which sends poor Indian kids abroad to have fun and make friends.(At least that’s everyone who is not in the foundation thinks). Anyway, every year a few more people are inducted into the foundation to become trainees, and to get through they have to pass a couple of tests.

While creating question papers and organising things so that everything goes smoothly on the day of their tests is not exactly a lot of fun, correcting their papers most certainly was.
Especially the 10 general knowledge questions that were asked, just 10.. And the answers were unbelievable!

Take this one
1) Born in Honolulu , Hawaii, this person lived in Indonesia during his early years .His middle name is Hussein.a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, he has served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. Who are we talking about?

The answer is, as most of you know, Barack Obama. But, did you pause to think that it might have been MF Hussain, Zakir Hussain... or even better, Saddam Hussein ??! When did he study at Harvard?

Or, how about this one..

2) This 140 km structure was built in 1961 and broken down on November 9th 1989. Also known as the “mauer” it was protected by a group of people called ‘grepos’. What are we talking about?

We were talking about the Berlin wall, but apparently the people who were answering the paper were talking about other things.
The answers were.... The Great Wall of China! If it had fallen down in 1989 I bet most of us would have heard about it. Or how about the Eiffel tower? Apparently that’s 140 km long. Use your head people, there’s a reason you have brains you know.

3)What was presented by France to the United States in 1886, to represent the friendship established during the American Revolution?

Ans: the Statue of Liberty. But some people were thinking out of the box, and the answer I like the best was – a diamond ring. Apparently someone thinks France and US were planning to get married.
3) But, my favourite—what is the collective noun for whales?

Have you heard of a swarm of whales? Or a herd of whales? Or a class of whales? (Someone thinking along the lines of ‘school of whales ’)

All these answers make me wonder why do we bother to call it ‘General Knowledge’?

Connecting with Joey

Examinations bring out the Joey in me. (Joey as in the guy from Friends the sitcom. Not a tiny kangaroo.)

Here’s the situation, you figure.

Scene 1: VTU 5th semester exam

Piggy1: describe a motor and write down its fundamental points with regard to a) the starting operation..
Piggy2: What the heck? Which subject is this?? Please tell me I didn’t study the wrong thing again!!
Piggy1: hold on, I‘ve heard about the motors part..
Piggy2: motor? Generator? Starter? Rotor? Hello??
Piggy1: you can do this.. Come on ‘ a starter is something that starts the motor..’
Piggy 2: we are so totalled.

Scene1 with Joey: Joey is trying to guess the object-

Gene: You put this in your coffee.
Joey: a spoon! Your hands! Your face!
Gene: It's white.
Joey: Paper! Snow! A ghost!
Gene: It's heavier than milk.
Joey: A rock! A dog! The earth!
Gene: Pass!


Scene 2: Viva during practical exams-

Person with weird moustache: how many poles does a transformer have?
Piggy1: 2.. No wait its 4. Ya, its 4. I’m sure of it.
Piggy2: don’t make up stuff. You’ll only lose 2-3 marks if you say I don’t know.
Piggy1: no it’s 4. Go ahead.
Me: four, Sir.
Weird moustache: A transformer has no poles I say! You should be more thorough with your basics!!

Scene 2 with Joey:
Joey: Who knows what I might say this time?
Chandler: If only there was something in your head to control the things you say!


Scene 3: What I fear might happen during placements!


Joey: In my spare time, I, uh, read to the blind. And I'm also a mento for kids.
Interviewer: A "mento"?
Joey: You know, a mento. A role model.
Interviewer: A men…to.
Joey: Right.
Interviewer: Like the candy?
Joey: As a matter of fact, I do.

The Very Beginning

Here goes!

For a person who believes “when doing something, go the whole way” jumping onto the blog bandwagon is not an easy task.

For those who want to know, here is the objective of this blog in a large nutshell:

To write for my very own enjoyment. To NOT take myself seriously, to make silly mistakes and then to say that I’ve learnt from them. To try and possibly capture the funny and poignant moments of my day and transfer them in their entirety.

To put to use my camera to capture some of those poignant moments and let all of you share in them as well. To do a lot of other non-sensible things, so that my split personality can finally revel in the freedom of being as whimsical and goofy as it wishes to be.

This blog is dedicated to family, friends, food and fun- all the F words in my life!