Triple E

I'm not into reverse advertising. But I've realised that this domain isn't working well for me. Maybe its the so-called 128kbps service provided here. Or maybe it's jus plain inefficiency(of what or whom, the disclosure of which may not lead to dire consequences). So further posts cannot be viewed at your (in)discretion at http://dentedworld.wordpress.com

This was my profile name on orkut, for a few days preceeding Tharoor's forced exit from the UN SG (United Nations Secretary General, for the world-affairs-challenged dudes n dudettes out there) race. I didn't exactly expect people to respond, "Oh, yes! Tharoor, his articles in the Magazine make quite a read." But then, nor did I expect the following responses from fellow orkuttians either:
S: What's Tharoor for UN SG?
Me: Tharoor's the Indian candidate for the post of UN SG.
S: But why you put tharoor for un?..are you related to him?
Me[exasperated! Itching to be at my cynical best]: No, not related. He's the Indian candidate, so I guess, we should be in favour of him.[Yes, dude, he's my neighbour's doctor's friend's long-lost brother!]
R:Why had you changed your profile to Tharoor for UK?
Okay, I'm seriously rolling my eyes now! Why do people act like their dictum's "Ignorance is Bliss"?
A little information hurts these people, doesn't it?
They'd rather get updated on the "who's hot" list in college. "Why know about some godforsaken diplomat who's going to lose anyway? Why bother keeping updated? My IQ's marginally bigger than that of a nitwit, so I'm definitely contented."
Another hilarious encounter when I was in the hostel:
[Anyone keeping up with my blog might have realised that the svce hostel's one of the strong contenders for the inferno-on-earth award, 2000-2006. Owing to this, I settled myself in the common-area (let's call it that, shall we?)]
S: Why are you sitting here?
Me: I was feeling kinda claustrophobic inside.
S: What? Glossy?
Yep, its all glossy inside. The hostel management just found that a fresh coat of glittering yellow paint improves student performance by upto 200%.
This is an ode to all the people I've met, who think looking good, acting dumb, gets work done. Sometimes, it even does. Beats me!
Brings me to the dumbest blonde-Mandira Bedi! When it comes to this, she takes the honours, leaving the other contenders far behind. She comperes (again, for want of a better word, let's call it that, shall we?) "extraaa innings" telecast during match breaks. Ahem, the only extraaa stuff I find in her is err, her assets. Boy, is she good! She plays the part of the giggly-blonde. She is so capable of putting the show out of business. She is so capable of making Powar's quick reflexes seem lethargic, she makes ignorant sound bordering on ingenuity. The first time I saw her speak, I went, "This lady, she thinks she's a brainbox or something? If she does, someone puhleeze go tell her, pronto, that she ain't." These ladies actually take the effort to seem like ignoramuses. Where're we headed?!?

Three posts on the same day is something unusual for me. Power Electronics isn't yet done, nor am I doing any more of it. "Record notebook" as they call it, totally defeats its purpose. Completing it is about as interesting as watching paint dry. Getting it corrected is as easy as getting into Fort Knox. Learning from it takes about as much time as learning Swahili. Not exactly the classic british understatement, are we. I've always pondered over paradoxes. Infinitely finite. Generally specific. Blindingly dark. Exactly how I feel when I think of what's going to happen a year, two years, a decade hence. Certainly uncertain. Reminds me of Heisenberg. Insanely sane. Or was he sanely insane? Maddening ingenuinity?

My comments seem to be stuck at the jinxed number 13. And I don't wonder why.

I sit here, blogging shamelessly, when 3 experiments in power electronics and 1 in linear integrated circuits beckon. But I confess, Hugo Chavez' outburst(was it?) at the United Nations seemed more tempting. Here are teasers of what he actually tried attempting:

"...It reads easily, it is a very good book, I'm sure Madame [President] you are familiar with it. It appears in English, in Russian, in Arabic, in German. I think that the first people who should read this book are our brothers and sisters in the United States, because their threat is right in their own house.

The devil is right at home. The devil, the devil himself, is right in the house.

"And the devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the devil came here. Right here." [crosses himself] "And it smells of sulfur still today..."

"...But the government doesn't want peace. The government of the United States doesn't want peace. It wants to exploit its system of exploitation, of pillage, of hegemony through war..."

And here's the catch: Chavez claimed that Chomsky was dead, even though the 77-year old author was well, most importantly, breathing.
"An excuse for a human"?

He sat down to warm applause, but according to me, his political and diplomatic career have gone for a toss, and in the wrong direction at that.

You feel like you're spiralling downwards to eternity. The strongholds now prove the weakest link. Its, as they say, a crazy, crazy world out there. You're numbed. You can't act. You desperately want to prove yourself. You want to get there. The pinnacle. The zenith. Now its a long way. And now its just-there. You can see the sun glinting off the peak. Its a dog-eat-dog rat race. You feel life's unfair. You feel everyone else is given the unfair advantage. You're lonely. No one understands. You know no one understands. Maybe you just think no one understands. Maybe you're wrong. Maybe it doesn't make a difference. Maybe it does. Maybe this follows Murphy's law-if something can go wrong, need I say more?-and Moore's law. Only here the complexity involved doesn't refer to the chip. It refers to yours truly.
Engineering Ethics just manages to suck the life out of you. Its not like we're these bunch of morons, escaped from an asylum, who need to be taught "honesty" and "truthfulness". The general opinion around here is that we're an irresponsible generation brought up on a life of deceipt, carelessness, irreverence. We need to be taught what is right, what is wrong. We need to be able to classify values, prioritize our rights and duties, blah blah. If you get the drift, this is what it feels like after attempting an Engg Ethics CAT-Continuous Assessment Tests. Another ruse to wreck the student community. Another day, another week, another semester in the life of a totally disoriented student.

This is one of those times that you realise the sooner you want to get work done, the tougher it is, thanks to red taped bureaucracy. Ok, maybe svce isn't the congress, but organising a self-proclaimed "state-level" symposium's making the railways look like maglevs. I seriously don't see the whole point of it. The papers that come in are so plagiarised, they'll give kavya vishwanathan a run for her money. We've got participants coming in, just to prove that the magical ODs aren't without their reach. The whole purpose is lost. The attitude's defeatist. Nevertheless, if you're in Chennai, on the 26th of August, Saturday, so vetti(jobless) that you're willing to travel 35kms to check out Pulse '06, if you don't mind cliches, be there!
Just in case anyone's been keepin up with this blog(fat chance!), I've been too lazy to gather my thoughts and convert them digitally..sheesh! somethin's gotten to me.
Anna University has once again succeeded in getting 1,40,000+ counts on its site on a single day. Here's how. The semester exam result publication has become a legacy in the Chennai student circles. Exactly 1.6 months after the exams, the convos are knowingly(by those who've studied-all-semester-but-didn't-do-well) and unknowingly(by those who've studied-all-night-but-didn't-do-well) steered towards "Someone I know knows someone who knows someone, who's the someone in AU, told me that the results are gonna be out". Trust me, that does the trick. The site gets like a zillion counts, to the satisfaction of those in the COE. They strike me as dapper maniacs, watching the count go higher, a satisfied smile on their faces. Don't even get me started on the day when the stuff's actually out. Me, managed a decent 82%. Phew!

Myth:
"When you're gonna go for inplant training, trust me, you're gonna be asked to play peon"
Fact:
Hmmm.. not exactly. Day one: read up lighting. Flood lights do not go for toilets, 300 lux for office, 5 lux at night, 10000 lux during day. "Amazing eye. God's gift", proclaims one of the employees.
Day two: learnt how a miniature circuit breaker works. Not bad at all, considering I did learn something useful from the 250 page catalogue.
Day three: You're given a transformer catalogue(they seem to have endless copies of those, catalogues for everything). While leaving, "you've not yet finished your 'training'? I'd never have recommended this company for an inplant training."

Take 1:
This blog is desperately crying out for a new post so here goes(nah! repetition)
Take 2:
Now a blog is apparently abbreviated from we'blog', which means you're logging stuff online. Hmmm..Bad start. Ok, writer's block. What the hell! I've not even started writing. Fine chuck this is full of crap.
Take 3:
27pc reservation in IIM
27pc reservation in JIPMER
27pc reservation in AIIMS
10pc reservation in govt jobs
why not: 27pc reservation in parliament for the educated.
God knows we could do with some politicians like that. What with the elections and freebies galore, people would think we're so reekin' rich. After the elections, though, it's a different story altogether. The only (un)promise fulfilled would have been the cheif minister's b'day bash. Its a different story at the centre. First reservation, then the price hike. About the latter, no one was willing to touch a potato so hot, lest their political ambitions fizzle. The whole thing's a farce. No politician is willing to give in. And when the students actually take the issue to the streets, literally, they're branded as being 'irresponsible'. The tamasha on the political scene just shows how an irresponsible minister, philanthropic till the next elections, can decide the fate of students, or rather, the leaders of tomorrow. What I suggest he do, if he's genuinely for the cause, is introduce a reservation of 27 pc in the parliament, for people who're educated and damn sight responsible than he is. Before I'm accused of plagiarism, I'd like to go on record saying that I've borrowed a bit o' the stuff from one of the 'Game, Seth and Match' articles from the deccan chronicle.
Talking of plagiarism, the media seems to have forgotten 'How Opal Mehta..'. This is coming a bit late, and though I haven't read the book, it still beats me why on earth would anyone going to Harvard want to publish a book on chick-lit genre, a heavily borrowed one too. I've read the reviews and it sounds to me like Main Hoon Na minus Shah Rukh parts.

Its awesome to be back in the Gulf, The moment the plane landed here, i couldn't get the grin out of my face, everything too neat, too glitzy. In fact, too glitzy to be normal. I've been wondering about what makes this place tick. Apart from oil, its the seemingly hospitable environment to the white-skinned, the clannish unity of the people here. Only the previous day had my pracs got over, the ride back home from college was already alien. Here's why: pracs over at 12:15. Waited in the library for quarter of an hour, not only for the want of something better to do, but to escape the scorching 40 degrees. Put my bag in the only 1:00 pm bus available. Waited as the bus got full, fuller, and well, by 1:00, there were students sitting on first aid boxes. To add to this, we had entertainment in the form of radio mirchi, a local radio station. We arrive at poonamallee, after a bumpy ride so characteristic of indean roads, this li'l village masquerading as a town, flags of political parties everywhere, as though mocking the plight. When these people can promise 2kg of free rice, tv sets and other fairytale stuff, is it near impossible to promise better roads, better bus stands, better railway stations, more schools, the list is endless. The DMK, currently in the opposition, has conventiently decided to make its election manifesto that of the ADK's apparent shortcomings, while the ruling party's promised free tv sets too, for fear of being left behind in the freebies marathon. While the former has arithmetic, with more than 4 parties on its side, including the age-old congress, the latter's banking on chemistry to win the elections. Courtesy: NDTV. Another thing i've discovered here, thanks to my parents. Its unbiased, and definitely a welcome respite from the likes of sun music, sun tv etc. Talking of respite, the political party Lok Paritran seems to be a respite, in fact, many a shade better than these conventional political stuff. No soft promises. All they promise is clean, transparent governance.