Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Las', A Grand Ethos !!

Well, all I can say is this "At last, one of my anagrams has gone down people's throats without leaving a sour taste ! ".

As you may very well have realized, the title is an anagram for something. In one of my previous posts, I had mentioned about posting certain details regarding a "particular something ". Although this is not the right time to talk about it, I will relieve the viewers from going through the agony of figuring it out. It unscrambles to "Golden Shaastra " and the anagram itself, I feel is grammatically correct in a small way. It reads "At last, a grand ethos ". Now the meaning behind this statement is of utmost importance, otherwise the anagram is of no use.

As ethos, by definition is some spirit imbibed in a culture, in this context, the spirit is the 'Spirit of Engineering' with the culture being Shaastra, the annual technical festival of IIT Madras. The year (2008) being the Golden Jubilee year of IITM, it adds significance to Shaastra, making it "Golden Shaastra" and hence, the anagram.

Now this anagram struck me when a Layzee fellow asked me to find an introductory title to one fabled brochure, which forms a very important part of my work for the next 4 months. I started doing the normal stuff-- searching in thesauruses for synonyms of introduction/welcome/greetings and the like. I went to the extent of looking up GRE word lists for such stuff, but finally gave up on them, since none of them satisfied me. In the end, I resorted to what I did best (at least, I claim that) ---creating meaningful anagrams. And Lo ! behold the anagram which becomes the title as soon as it's suggested to this Layzee bugger. It also added the element of thinking out of the box...erm, sorry out of the dice ! Again, full fundaes on this will be put up some time in the future.

Till then, I guess you, my patient reader, will have to wait. But I assure you, it'll be worth the wait (unless, I lose whatever sanity is left in me by that time).

Friday, May 9, 2008

The Chronicles of Fart-nia

Well, I'm back. Sounds cliched, I agree, but let me remind you that I've survived(or at least hope I have) the longest of semesters ever possible at IIT M. 26 credits,Period.

A lot has happened between the last post and the time at which this post will go to the press. Lots of stuff to chronicle and lots of stuff to be censored. And what I am to do in the next few days (and hopefully complete the tasks assigned for myself for the next 3 months) will possible be the most crucial phase of my life at IITM.

Some unique things which I would like to first talk (type) about.

a) Put all nighters for 3 of my 6 end-sems.well this may not be unique but what follows may possibly be. I happened to sleep for half an hour at least in 2 of the three-hour exams that followed. Was woken up thankfully by the invigilators on both the occasions (on one occasion, the invigilator thought that I had put my head down and was in Deep Thought ; pun unintended, and if you didn't understand the pun, get yourself a copy of The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy. You may or may not understand the pun after that, but you'll definitely understand the importance of a towel in the Universe :P)

b)I don't know why I didnt do this, but I DID NOT APPLY for any summer internship programmes(while EVERY person I knew in the institute had applied) during this period except in one case where I accidentally mailed my resume to one of the companies, even though I didn't wish to apply (that's coz I felt that it wouldn't suit my needs. After seeing the kind of people it's taken up for work, I regret it and still feel I could've done a better job and had put the dough to some better use) . I'm wondering yet whether or not I did the most stupidest thing in the world.

c)Got rejected twice after proposing, that too on consecutive days.....Hold it, these weren't marriage proposals, but propoosals to companies regarding Sponsorship for a particular something which I'll describe at an appropriate period of time.

d)Got kicked out of class (well not kicked,that's just for the effect, which I dunnno was effective or not) for sleeping. And the worst is that I went back to ask the prof for attendance at the end of the class, and he gave me since I was honest enough to leave the class. I guess I'm able to feel the situation of the students in my school-days who routinely went through such stuff (except getting their attendance back !) and I think of how much trouble I've got them into. Well, the truth is that half the pranks played in my school had my hand but I was well-hidden due to the "sincere student" tag and the "naughty junta" got caught always.

e)I saw the Lit-Soc shield being presented to Godav Lit-Soc secs and swore that by the end of next year, the same shield shall reside in Jam (oh, yes, I forgot to mention that I was "elected" as the Social Secretary of Jam in between. To those, who do not understand the previous statement, I'm sorry you shall never understand and I wont take the pains of making you understand; unless of cousre, we get the shield to Jam next year ! )

f)Saw a Hostel-Nite marred by 'n' hiccups (well, there were quite a lot who boozed enough to have hiccups too, but rest assured, I was NOT a part of that gang. I stuck to my total teetotaller image and even refused offers of sleeping with someone that night. To clear any confusions, the offer was from a drunk senior and HE was a Male. SO obba, I had to refuse :P). Apart from the hiccups and other cups, it was altogether an almost fitting farewell to an illustrious batch of seniors when the night ended at 5am and the Morning Raga started at 12 am.

g)I saw my plate of Bhel being pounced upoon by a cat, who I guess thought it was chicken (which was imposs, coz I'm pure veg). Maybe the cat had a cold that night or probably it could not think clearly and hence, required 'food for thought'.

h) Yes. I finally made use of the pool in IITM and started to learn swimming the day before this post gets puiblished. Was an amazing experience and a much awaited relief from the Chennai-Heat. One of the local radio stations has somehow managed to get Chennai right with its tagline, "Itha Sammu Hot Machi " aka "This is very very hot, mate". He may probably have referred to the "hit" songs being played but somehow those songs dont 'hit' well on my ears.

i) Finally, I managed to sleep for 11 straight hours in this sem. Don't ask me how, but never before had I slept for so long in IITM. This again may not be unique,but considering the tasks I had to finish that day, no guy (or girl) could have possibly dared to sleep that long. And I seriously thank GOD for somehow saving me that day by getting more than half the work postponed to the next week. And as is usual for a normal fellow in this insti, I hadn't done my work by then either, and put an all nighter to complete that work.

So, I hope you had a not-so-good time going through the life of another abnormal guy, coz if you did have a good time, I'm pretty sure you are abnoral as well.(That's good , join the gang !!) To avail a free copy of my complete chronicles, mail your requests immediately to : paymeforwritingorgetlostdude@nofartsnoarts.co.tv