Scary Movie 2

It was Halloween at the other side of the globe and so we decided to watch a scary movie after dark since the next day was a holiday. As the sun set over yet another drizzly day, we found our way to Addie's place. We chose Addie's place cause otherwise he wouldn't turn up after hearing that we planned to watch a scary movie. He gets damn scared, and right enough when he heard about the movie he tried hard to come up with excuses about why he couldn't watch the movie. We had to pin him down and block the exit to the room. Then he closed his eyes and announced that we couldn't stop him from sleeping. In the end Richa, Bala and myself ended up watching the movie.

The start wasn't that scary more so cause we experimented with different players/decoders and different instruments to play the movie. The problem was cause we watched the original movie 'Dark Water', which was made in Japanese. The subtitles came with a delay. And the delay got bigger over time; it started out with less than a second delay an towards the end it was about 5+ mins. After sometime we had to remember what had happened as we tried to match the subtitles with what had happened. The movie was open to interpretation till the subtitles finally came to unravel the mystery. But we got along fine.

The moie was more spooky than scary and it did have its moments when we tried hard to wake up Addie to watch th movie. I was one of the many ppl trying to frighten him. But then I showed my true colours. It was towards the end of the movie that Bala's phone rang and I jumped up :-)

Delhi Half Marathon

Was attempting a sub 2 hour run. Managed it in 2 hours 10 mins :-) Yippie...
My mom, sister, brother in law, aunt and cousin were at the finishing line :-)

Plane and simple truth

We went to the terrace of our office building which overlooks quite a bit of bangalore. From there w could see the airport runway where planes were landing and taking off. a friend then narrated a story which took place in 1985.

His uncle was coming to Bhopal from Raipur, so he had gone with his dad to the airport to pick his uncle up. Sometime around the arrival time they saw the plane hovering above the airport. They waited for an hour and the place was still hovering above. The airport authorities did not tell them what the issue was. After some time the plane disappeared. When they again inquired from the authorities they were told that the plane is going back to Raipur.

Later in the day they managed to get through to the uncle. He the narrated the sequence of events. It turned out that the wheels of the plane were stuck. So they were trying to unlock the chamber. However by the time they reached Raipur they managed to open the wheel chamber and landed safetly.

"But why did you'll go back to Raipur", asked my friend's dad. "Well", said his brother,"The airport in Bhopal did not have a firefighter engine".

The Original Macintosh

Anecdotes about the development of Apple's original Macintosh computer, and the people who created it. Check it out here.

Beauty and the Abstract

"Einstein didn't try to make relativity strange. He tried to make it true, and the truth turned out to be strange". Thats what the article titled 'Taste For Makers' says.

This friend was telling about this clay figurine she made a couple of years back. And that her mother likes it cause its a bit abstract. She described the posture of the figurine and subtly implied why it took that pose, which made me wonder. She was just trying to make the figurine as close to reality as possible; it wasn't abstract; its just that reality turned out to be a bit abstract.

I plan to capture/shoot the figurine in all its abstract reality; that is if she allows me to :-)

The Glass Window

I was at home in Nagpur a couple of weeks back. Our home computer was pretty ancient and so we decided to upgrade it to the latest fancy stuff for mumzee and pops. I specified the specs and when it came to the CPU cover I chose this one which was transparent on one side baring its soul for all the world to see. The shop owner got the setup assembled and then sent one of his boys to our home to setup the system. I tried the setup before I left for bangalore to double check that everything was working as desired.

When I later inquired from mom as to whether she was using the system, she said that she is not gonna turn it on till the computer guy sends one of his boys to turn it on for her. When I asked why, she said that she had peeped into the transparent window on the side of the computer and saw that that some sockets at the end of the wires were not connected to anything. I told her that its ok since those sockets were not being used but she said she would only switch it on when the computer guy would come and check the mystery of the dangling wires.

I shouldn't have gone for the transparent cover :-)

Scary Movie

I saw this scary movie over the weekend called '1408'. I watched it at home. Was alone with the lights off... and it was raining outside... so it got a bit chilly.

1408 is the room number of a hotel... the room is supposed to be haunted and this ghost story writer (who doesn't believe in ghosts) keeps going around visiting haunted rooms and sleeps in them for a night... the first half was a bit spooky before they started showing anything... just the music and small sudden starts... felt a bit cold (cause of the rain outside) and then watched some other stuff in between before continuing with the movie. :-)

the second part wasn't as spooky as the start... After the movie I decided to call people up and also watched another movie called 'The lives of others' to shake the spookyness off me. :-)

Its mostly the sudden starts and those subtle things that can get to me.... once in a theatre I was watching a horror film with a confident look (to show friends that I wasn’t scared :-) and then suddenly something happened and my leg jerked and I kicked the seat in front of me really hard... I actually jumped in my seat and made some sound too :-)

Then ppl from the row in front turned and looked and me and said, "Bhai... movie tere liye nahi hai... Ghar Ja" :-) was damn embarrassed...

The Interview

"I am willing to do anything it takes to make the company successful whilst maintaining the highest standards of excellence required from the job", objectively stated the resume in all its shakespearean glory. "Whilst", Sridhar laughed to drive the point to us sarcastically, as he read out loud the resume he had just received. At that moment in space Sridhar was the software architect of a startup we worked in. His laughter peaked as he stressed, 'He is willing to do anything for a company, ANYTHING ???'. The resume was of a fresher who seemed to have put a lot of adjectives and declarations into it, not knowing what it really mean't. So Sridhar decided to replicate the young guy's words and put it up on a notice board in our room for all to see, and he laughed again; sarcasm spilling over for anyone to consume. That was three years back.

A couple of days back I took some interviews along with a colleague to fill a requirement for our company. We couldn't decide who to choose from amongst two candidates. They were similar on most counts. We went through the various criteria again and again and each time we came out with the same decision; we just couldn't boil down to one of them. Then my colleague suggested that he would discuss with one of the managers to see if we missed any criteria that could be the deciding factor. "See who is cheaper for the company", which we found out and then the two of sat down to decide again. "So Alistair you decide, what do you say", the words took form as uneasiness set over his decision as it had already done to mine. We discussed a bit and decided that it was better to be fair to the candidates and so we to called them for a couple more rounds of interviews.

The Bicycle Thief

"Bhaiya", his voice cracked through the delirious monotones that overwhelmed his thoughts. "Mera cycle kissi ne le liya, aapke gate ke bahar hi rakha tha", he continued, trying to regain composure, trying to recap the routine sequence of events that he had followed day in and day out; cycling from his home to the homes of the various ppl he worked for; cooking their food, cleaning their houses; learning to live with his position in the hierarchy of social interaction and financial status. "Ab main kaam kaise karoonga, main kya kaaronga", the question drifted away from his humble frame, drifted away for anyone to answer. His economical means of transport was whisked away from under his seat; without warning, without remorse; We decided to give him some part of the money to buy a new bicycle, his finances unable to handle this disruptive event.

As the hands of the clock followed their monotonous paths, ticking their tocks over the next few weeks, he started to get a bit more lax in his work. The frequency of leaves and undone chores increased. We spoke to him about it but found that it had little effect, as he always seemed to be battling with time. He continued to cook good food but fell behind in other departments. We tried to find a mutually beneficial barter between us, but it was elusive; as elusive as the bicycle thief who had given him the itch, and he had begun to scratch. The itch had metamorphosed and was mainfesting itself in his uneasiness to live with his position in the hierarchy of social interaction and financial status. The Bicycle Thief had struck again.