Totally jobless

I'm really bored, too bored to even blog. And feeling lonely too. Kaka will be the star of world cup 2006. And GO SOCCEROOS!!

Nightout...of a different kind

Ok. So maybe it wasn't a nightout in the strictest sense of the word, as it should have been. Maybe i crashed(=fell asleep) at 4 am and missed the first hour(that happens most of the time anyways). But the whole thing was so wonderful that i thought it deserved a post.

Until yesterday i had put nightouts for a whole plethora of reasons - gaming, watching movies/sitcoms,mugging, trying to mug, doing assignments, playing (outdoors), reading, farting, loafing, crashing(oops! That doesn't count, does it?).....i'm sure i've missed out a couple at least. And then there was yesterday, one of the most enjoyable of them all, and probably the most meaningful and productive(yeah i'd rate it higher than those high intensity last-day mugging sessions before exams, the only reason for my passing most courses).

One of the numerous cribs about my blogging style (Oh yeah, cribs have been flowing in thick and fast since my last post, with good friend 'xxx' even telling me bluntly to give up blogging, suggesting that my last post about change is worthy only of fetching "change" if showcased out in the streets. It just speaks volumes of my dogged never-say-die spirit that i'm back on the circuit again :) ) is that i meander too much. In other words, people say that i beat around all the bushes on campus before getting to the point. Basically, it boils down to this - i'm too vague and spend too many words farting and getting nowhere (I'm at it again, ain't i? Me likey!!!). Ok that's enough. I get right down to the point, neat and crisp. This post is about Maha Shivratri at the Siva temple on campus. Nothing really exciting, of course. So don't complain at the end that i forgot to put in the climax.

When good friend petre invited me yesterday to go along with him and spend Shivratri at the temple reciting Rudram-Chamakam and the lot, my first reaction was...pack! I mean, i'd been to the place only once in my nearly three years in campus (that too due to good friend petre's persuasion). And now this chap was asking me to spend hours there chanting stuff i don't even know properly. Is it worth it, i asked myself? I mean, although i do the Sandhyavandanam(in short, Sandhi) and all, i'm not really a religious person. I do the Sandhi only because it affords a few minutes of peace and quiet and helps improve concentration. So, the question was, do i really care to do this? Then again, this was the most peaceful part of the semester. I had no excuse, therefore, to give myself to not do something which i hadn't even tried out before. In any case, it's not as if i tuck myself into bed with a teddybear at ten every night. I've been putting nightouts, for reasons listed above, ever since i've stepped into hostel life. So i decided to have a pop at it.

We reached the temple at around 8 pm, petre wearing a veshti(a.k.a dhoti) and me in normal clothing, despite his best efforts to get me into one. I don't know why, but i've never been comfy in a veshti, in spite of being forced into them by mom or grandmom at every religious function. Anyway, as i was saying, we were in the temple at 8, and nothing much was happening. Someone was discoursing about something or the other. I'm sure the lecture was gripping and full of substance, but i could comprehend little. So, after completing one Pradakshinam(i.e one round of the temple) i was at my wit's end. Good friend petre, however, came to my rescue and put fundaes. I don't understand much about these rituals, but the nub was this - the Ekadasha Rudrabhishekam, which basically means eleven abhishekams ( An abhishekam basically means giving a bath to the deity using various, well stuff. More details later) for Lord Shiva, each accompanied by a recital of the Rudram by whoever knows them, was yet to start. So we just hung around looking out for people we could recognise. Our H.O.D, Srinivasan, was there, as also was Nari, our first sem. CS110 prof. Obviously, the omnipresent Bhaand had to be there too. There were also a few other familiar faces. Unfortunately, unlike good friend BoFi, i had no luck finding more "attractive" ways to pass time( Refer to his post on a certain Kali Puja. Don't read the whole post unless you have, like, half an hour to spare. Just find the first occurence of the word 'autistic' in the post, look a couple of lines below that and you should be home).

In any case, around nine we went and sat down on the platform near the inner shrine, waiting for the Rudrabhishekam to begin, when we would have to chant our stuff. It was as more people started assembling on the platform that i started feeling a bit awkward - i was the only one not wearing a veshti and melveshti (i.e just a piece of cloth to cover your torso). You know the feeling, when you think that you've violated some rigid code and everyone is shooting long and meaningful looks at your trousers. For a moment, i felt like a Palakkad Iyer in Western Australia (ya ya i know it's a bad one but how could i resist? Make it kangaroo in Kalpathy(Iyer village in Palakkad) if it makes you happier) and reproached myself for not giving in to petre's pleas and changing to a dhoti. The simile made me feel a lot better. For now i could tell myself that i've got to get used to it and i'd better steel myself and face the music(well, chanting actually). So, once again showcasing that dogged never-say-die spirit and resillience, i stood(sat, rather) my post bravely.

At about half past nine, the first Abhishekam and recital of the Rudram got underway. Initially, for around the first two rounds, i kept bulbing hajaar(=) as i had undergone only a crash course in the Rudram on the compulsion of my grandmom during my holidays in Cochin. So i kept mispronouncing and missing out on the crests and troughs (you have to listen to the Rudram to know what i'm talking about). So once again i was the target of those long depreciating glances from those who could hear me, which were, thankfully, only my immediate neighbours, as there were some thirty-forty of us in all. So no major damage done.

After a while though, i started getting the hang of it. And then the fun began. I mean, the feeling you get when there are some forty people all reciting something that sounds as brilliant as that is just something special. You really need to do it to get any idea of what it's like. The stuff sounds so beautifully mystically melodious, and the fact that you are contributing towards it, in whatever little way, is a feeling that puts you on top of the world, albeit temporarily ('coz your throat starts announcing it's pain after a while, especially if you're not someone who takes his vocal cords for it's daily morning jog or, for that matter, even a light evening stroll). Team spirit is rich in the air, and you know everyone is infusing just that little extra enthu(siasm) into their efforts. Man, the whole binge was awesome. To be honest, i used to really loathe learning the stuff; i only did it because it was an easier alternative than arguing my grandmom out of it; plus, i had little else to do in the hols anyway. And here i was, actually really enjoying myself. I will not say that it was actully worth spending some 15-20 really boring hours learning the stuff, but it sure came an ace within it.

All the while, i had a pretty good view of the abhishekams, which included milk, honey, lemon juice, tender coconut water and sandalwood paste, to name just a few. Each round of the Rudram was concluded by one of the eleven stanzas of the Chamakam, in order, if you get what i mean. The Rudrabhishekam concluded by 12:30-1, i think, which meant it took some 15-20 minutes per abhishekam, each accompanied, i repeat, by one recital of the Rudram. Then three of us sneaked off to hog some delicious panchamritam( delicious stuff you make by mixing honey, jaggery and fruit), hidden from view in the temple office as there was not enough of it to suffice the fairly big number of devotees in the temple. Coming after that strenuous larynxial workout, it tasted like heaven. The Rudrabhishekam was followed by the usual rituals consisting of the Nivedhyam and stuff, of which i have little fundaes, and culminated at around 2:30 with the Maha Mangalarthi (=Aarthi), a rite performed in a unique and elaborate style in this temple. Then Prasadam was distributed and the evening(early morning, to be precise) terminated.

Then came the only snake in my garden of roses - i was unable to find my irreplacible miami floaters (Also known to some as the "Paati footwear", these unique slippers are the most comfy, trendy and convenient ones i've used on campus. Coming at 50 bucks a pair, they are as cheap as your hawaiis, believe it or not. Bulk(or otherwise) orders may be placed at Arravindan/captain/semi/cd 's room (112, tapti).). I hunted in vain for some 15 minutes before resigning to my fate and sadly cycling back barefoot.

So, as i said earlier, nothing sensational about this post. Just the same drab, boring stuff dished out again. To sum it up neatly, same shit, different taste. But it was an experience i so wholesomely enjoyed that i felt i must chronicle it. Imagine, being in a temple (outside Thirupathi) for close to seven hours, till three in the morning! You really must try it sometime!!

The constancy of change and vice-versa

Why am i doing this? Why the hell do i test myself in this brutal fashion when nobody is threatening me at gunpoint? When i know for a fact that i am going to loathe each and every minute of the process and find the fruits of this excruciating experiment too bitter for my taste. Why, oh why am i writing this post?


Well, read on to have a peep at my attempt to find the answer.
( As a matter of fact, to be absolutely honest with you, the beautifully short sentence above is actually a substitute for a page of extremely painful fart i had cooked up originally. The alteration was forced as people then refused point-blank to read my blog. Hope this effects a change of mind.)


There is to this tough question, as almost always, a trivial solution. One of the reasons i have set upon this tricky task is that this site is really rotting with no fresh entries for about four months and a half in spite of fervent and frequent requests,pleas and threats from it's many anxious patrons demanding some action at the battlefront. Sift the evidence, i mean. Three comments on my previous post. Thats right. THREE. So here comes the respite for all those diehard fanatics. You can now stop chewing your fingers looking for that one last bit of cuticle to bite off and immerse yourselves into yet another treat for the intellect, the spirit and the soul.


There is no point denying it. The previous para, except for that site-rotting bit, is as blatant a lie as you will find on this blog. I mean, one out of the three comments was written only because i commented on that commentee's blog, and he felt obliged to return the favour. And another, believe it or not, was an advertisement to a blog on the stock market!!! So the thing must go further than that. Let us therefore endeavour to swim into deeper seas in quest of that elusive solution to this mystery.


So why does a person do something which he knows he is not going to enjoy or find useful? However hard the actual answer may be, it think it may be summed up in one word, or any synonym of it : CHANGE. Change, i believe some big shot once said, is the only constant thing in the world. People need change, even from things they enjoy a lot. Need for change makes people do crazy things. I mean, look at me for instance. Here i am, wasting my time on something i normally hate doing, with a report due tomorrow. I can think of a million things i would rather do in normal circumstances. But the fact is, i need a break from not writing blogs, even though it ( not writing blogs, obviously), is something i love doing.


There is, i believe, in most of our lives, at any given instant, an equilibrium. It may not last long, but while it does, it does. An equilibrium whose state defines which activity and in what proportion will give one maximum satisfaction, constrained obviously be the maximum free time available. An equilibrium which brings order into our lives, which keeps us sane and healthy. An order, essentially, which is critical for our existence. And then there is change.


Change may be temporary or permanent. A temporary change is one which does not affect the equilibrium state mentioned above. Just the odd spell of rain in chennai. Only the irregular variation from everyday routine. My writing this post, for instance. This is the fuel which keeps the equilibrium state running strong, the food for one's imagination. Permanent change, obviously, is one that changes the equilibrium state. Permanent change is one of the truest things of eternity, for it proves that not even that supposedly, and by definition, unflinching quantity, equilibrium, can escape the single invariant entity : CHANGE.


Change, in short, is the lone thumb rule that life has given us (apart from the second law of thermodynamics, of course :) ) to go upon. It is the only thing which is common to the lives of all those billions of people inhibiting this planet. Anything with imagination in it just cannot thrive without change. This is the wisest and truest thing i know. I must finally state that i have only touched upon the realms of a very deep philosophical problem, just looked at it as simplistically as possible. The true answer lies a lot further down, but one has to make a start somewhere, some sort of an attempt at least.


Ok then. So long. I sign off leaving the reader sincerely hoping that this particular whim of mine is only a temporary change.

Non-existence of/and interesting stuff

Well, as you can see, there are two ways of reading the title of this post. Although most readers will find the 'of' version of the title more apt, i am "against hope hopen" that somebody will prefer 'and'.

To be absolutely frank with you, i have precisely zero enthu in writing this post. I have nothing to blog about and no clue whatsoever, at this stage atleast, how i am going to keep your eyes glued to your monitor screen for the next few seconds, or minutes, depending on the length of this post. But, due to sheer joblessness and an acute shortage of better pastime (one can only play so much fifa, dash it, especially after losing to muggesh twice on the trot, and da vinci code ended up falling spectacularly short of delivering what juntha promised it would, although the plot was still spicy and exciting) , i have been driven to the dashboard to try and engage the attention of the modest number of patrons to my blog for a few precious minutes (yeah, after such a long and drab para, made lengthier by this observation, this blog will take minutes, and not seconds, to read). Whew!!! What a long sentence!!!

One cannot find better evidence than the preceding lines for the fact that i really wasn't joking when i said that i have nothing to write about. And i am forced to assure you that i am yet to strike an inspiration. Hang on. Let's see. Hmm... oh... nah... hmm... ah... hmm... nah... hmm... oh-ah........... dammit. Unfortunately, this inspired flow of thought has been interrupted. It's time for sandhi, grub and L.M finals. And i shall take this opportunity to gleefully remind all non-taptians, especially those smart alecs who patronisingly smirked their a**es off at all those "unfortunate maggus" who got into tapti, that we are in with a very good chance for a maiden lit-soc truimph, thanks to spirited all-round fight by several patriotic taptians. Yeah, that's right. GO TAPTI!!! TAPTI ROCKS!!! Keep reading, though, for the thought process referred to earlier will, hopefully, bear fruit, sooner, i am sure you wish, than later.

Hello....i'm back and with some bad news. Tapti has failed to get placed in L.M, in spite of a very good show. The lead singer Shankar was just amazing and got a special mention. Although there is some respite in the fact that Mandak too failed to get placed after a mediocre performance in which Bha was the lone star, the fight for lit-soc is now on. Alak, the deserving winners, were just on a different level. I mean, they were just so professional that they gave the judge not much choice. The second and third places, to Saras and Godav respectively, were as obvious to most as the fact that it snows regularly in Chennai. I may sound extremely biased and seem a very sore loser, but that's what i honestly feel. Even offhand, i can mention atleast a couple of performances that were better than Saras and Godav.


Ok...getting back to less controversial and more relevant matters, where was i before L.M? Ya, that's right...hmm...ha...ah... hmm...nah...hmm...oh...ah-ha...bingo...yippeee...yoo-hoo. YES. This is it. That's straight from the feed-box. What i'm trying to say is, well, it's official. I finally have a topic to ramble upon. Here it starts. The real stuff.


Let me be frank with you. The flash of inspiration still eludes me. But, hidden in that very candid confession, are the goods. If somebody can write about something, can i not blog about nothing? That is, is not nothing something? Do you concur? Fine. So far so good. If you are with me so far, i am sure you will agree that, rephrasing, all that i have said so far is that everything in the world is something.


Where does all this crap lead up to? It results, i assure you, in some staggering arguements. Let me put it this way. Doesn't the statement 'X is not equal to Y' increase the probability that X is equal to Z, given that Y is not equal to Z? Specifically, isn't the fact that your hair isn't maroon (i hope) evidence in favour of the fact that your hair is black or white or brown or blonde or any other non-maroon colour? Whew!


This is, in fact, the gist of the not-so-famous ravens paradox, i think it is called. It basically says that the statement that "all ravens are black" is logically equivalent to the statement "all non-black-things are non-ravens". A red apple, for instance, is a non-black-thing, and when we examine it, we observe that it is a non-raven. So, by the principle of induction, observing a red apple should increase our belief that all ravens are black!!! Gelett Burgess succintly summarizes this problem as:

" I never saw a purple cow

But if I were to see one

Would the probability ravens are black

Have a better chance to be one? "

The aforementioned concept of the perception of non-existence, as a matter of fact, finds it's seed in the fundamental ancient Indian concept of Abhava, as any proficient Indian philosopher, say, for instance, the BoFi, will inform you. It's a refreshing and radical way of going about things, i feel. Well, this time around, i have nothing against the channel of reasoning as i find it perfectly sane and logical (unlike, you will recall, in the case of murphy's law).


Well, this post has certainly dragged on very monotonously. It's high time somebody put an end to this insipid babeling. To quote our H.O.D Dr.Srinivasan when he interrupts, and puts an end to, our wednesday double vitto class at 4, saving most of us from lunacy, "Thank me, i say!!"

If anything can go wrong, will it?

Come on. All of you must have guessed what this post is all about. I mean, who hasn't heard of the legendary Murphy's law? Ok. For all you non-murphiles, the Murphy's law states that -
"If any darned thing can go wrong, then it definitely will, dammit."

So does the profound statement written above have a strong base? Are all those millions who swear by it (i shall, for simplicity, and other reasons, refer to them as murphiles throughout this post) justified in doing so? The answer to this question, fortunately or unfortunately, is not blowing in the wind. This question is, i believe, as open to debate as the axiom(?) from which it originates.

Of course, any murphile will have at the tips of his fingers innumerable cases in favour of the law. Well, i'll say he/she better do, for what other reason can be there to believe in it? I mean, can anyone out there prove it to me? Rigorously? Not a chance. I'll admit, though, that i am a fairly faithful murphile myself. I do attempt to console myself when the weather is rough that there is no point in worrying, 'cause nothing and nobody can stand up to murphy. One simply shrugs his shoulders, takes in the situation with a pinch of salt, and gets on in life.

Can you not see the flaw in the reasoning? Is one not making murphy the scapegoat here? Does this approach not strike you as the simplest escape route from difficulty? I mean to say, if one stands up to the obstacles in one's path and fights one's way through the storm, will not one be better off? Instead, all one does is give up and blame it on poor ol' murphy. It's a simple fact, i am sure you will agree, that the deeper you are in a pit, the harder it is for you to climb out. That's fairly obvious. More distance to travel. It's also obvious that it's easier to go down into a pit than climb out of it. Gravity, what? So all murphy did was just rephrase the gist of the two facts written above in a form convenient for all escapists.

And the beauty of the whole binge is that the more one believes in murphy's proclamation, the more true it becomes. I mean, all that is in favour of the statement is good, solid evidence. And where does all the evidence emanate from? Why, from experiences, from people who believe in the law. Do you not find this as fascinating as i do? Who knows, if murphy continues to have such solid support as he does today, such blog posts doubting the law may cease to be written some day in the future.

One can, i feel, however, put the law to good use. What i think murphy tried to convey to the world is that if times are bad, one must be constantly vigilant and work harder than normal, because there is no easy way out. I interpret it only as a warning and an urge to push on, not a factor of comfort or an excuse for failure. Because, stand up and face it, there is no exuse for failure.

So be a murphile if you like. By all means. I have, as i implied earlier, nothing against murphy personally. Just be open to the dangers of misinterpreting this most brilliant and insightful statement.

Bitten by the blug

Oops.........i have started my first goddam blog post with a spelling mistake in the title itself. Or have I ? Well, i might as well inform the reader right away that any pun, however vague it may be, that anyone finds in any of my blogs is purely intentional.

What the title tries to convey is that i have been bitten by the blog bug. Elucidating the point further, when a chappie finds that everyone around him is doing something he has not even tried out, it is but natural that he takes the cue and tries a hand at it. It's just too tempting to resist. Well, that's how my mind works at least. And i am grateful to it for that, mind. I mean, i have got through 3 semesters without cupping a single course sheerly due to this one particular feature of my thinking : slog when everybody around you slogs.

So it is only natural that i shove all this drivel up your nose, although i desist any activity that involves usage of more than 10 keys on the keyboard ( 10 keys, btw, are needed to play fifa 2k5 to a decent degree of proficiency). Now that i am at it, i couldn't do better than to make a few elementary points clear to the reader. Hallo Sie. I am Ravi K. This is my blog, my pensieve. Read it at your own risk.

Pom Bahoo.