The Terrorists!

As you might be knowing, or at least may be suspecting, my winter holidays are here. Which means long days at home with only me and my lappy [no rhyme intended ;) {I better start calling it NRI}] and no rules to bound me to the natures of sleep, routine or, as is the case here: haircuts.

Being very strict, my school has been very good at enforcing students to adhere to discipline with a system that is far more deadly than corporal punishment, but yet not classified under corporal punishment under the law. So every student has to make sure his hair is no longer than about 2 and a half inches ;) [Thankfully the teachers don't stand with a ruler in hand! NRI. ] But being vacation time, I have made full use of it in allowing my hair and beard to grow as much as possible, and all that has created a complete messy look. (Which would be a very accurate demonstration of my room, my life and almost everything else related to me) Add a few dozen pimples to that, and you will get my face.

[I even am sure that LeT or the LTTE will start asking for my pics to put in their campaign posters, and even BBC might start including me in their documentaries on Laden someday...]

So here am I with my elder sis :) See it if you dare to ;)

Beauty and the beast

P.S. The caption is there because that's what she wanted to name it. BUT, my question is - Identify the beast!!!

P.S.2 No tasveer ki dukaan were harmed during the making of this pic. :)

P.S.3 This pic was taken vertically, which meant that 980 Newtons of force was acting on me [Making it a sum total of 1372 Newtons acting on that poor little pillow!]

P.S.4 Now releasing in 11 months 17 days 22 hours 19 minutes and 31 seconds.

See ya soon!!! Till then, Ciao!!

Ignorance is bliss

Almost everyone has heard this statement "Ignorance is bliss" but hardly anyone truly understands the meaning of this simple sentence. I do. The readers with an eidetic memory might recall me mentioning the "price of wisdom" (or some similar words) here. I thought it better be explained with the help of an example.

This is one of the most beautiful books I have read, and it is, AAMOF, a love story. (Everyone I know who has read this book has really really loved it. Although my sis did not like the sequel that much. [That was expected, as this wasnt a true story here. Am yet to read it. And unlikely to, too.]) What happened to me when I read it, remains a disaster; and one I cannot remove.

It just so happens that all of the beauty of this novel lies in its amazing ending, which I would not spoil for you by revealing it; although you may as well google it if you want to ruin your reading experience too. What happened to me was that my sis had got this book far, far before I actually read it [It was almost and year ago] and she kept on telling about the great ending and all. So I just turned over to the ending and read the last few chapters of the book.

Then, when I actually was reading the book, I knew that I knew the ending. And for those who have read the book, they will understand why it was a terrible thing. But even if you havent read the book, you should be knowing that no book is good enough once you know the ending, and this one was a book on which this rule applied even more.

So finally in the end, my entire reading experience was completely ruined because I knew the ending. I knew how it was going to be. And I could do nothing about it to stop myself from knowing the ending. Not that such a thing has never happened to me before [Something similar happened when I read the Da Vinci Code after seeing it. That day, I thought to myself to always read the book before seeing the movie, if I intended to do both.], but I shall be regretting having known the ending of this book in particular.

My friends, life is like one big book. It always pays out for you to know what will happen to you the very next moment; but believe me, you are exchanging this "knowing" for the thrill and the exhilaration of living life. Trust me on this. I have known. Just live your life to the fullest, without any intentions to knwo what will happen. Its far better that way. Ignorance is truly bliss. And I hope you don't get to find that out yourself.

I tried to predict the road in order to cushion myself from its bumps. But then, I had lost the joy of travelling...

Paraphnelia and some cowrie shells ;)

Just some random unassorted statemnts I heard in the past few days -

"There are many kinds of dogs - furry dog, vodafone dog, guard dog......"

"If keep a dog at home, it will at the most bark at or bite stangers. But if we keep a tiger at home, it will eat them."

"What is the use of keeping the tiger as the national animal if we don't know if they would be there in the future?"

[The above three were exercepts from my sister's ICSI meeting (or training programme or something of that sort.) And the topic on which these were spoken was "The Dog should be made the National Animal of India". As if this wasn't enough, the other topic was "Lungi should be made the formal corporate dress." Wow!! Just showed the "high" IQ and GK level of our very talented commerce students of India. And some people still think I should have gone to commerce!!]

"The Great Wall of China is 27 km long, right?"

[No prizes for guessing who got this one. Its yet another Commerce student :) These honours go to my cousin, who had come to visit the house (who, incidentally, was literally shocked on hearing the fact that mosquito bites could cause major diseases). Long live commerce!!]

"If moths are attracted to the light, how come they sleep during the day? :) "

[This one is from the back of the Aim matchboxes. Why it is there is anybody's guess and concern; but I would like to clear this common misnomy about moths, or as we call them "Diwali ke macchar" (Mosquitoes of Diwali, as they come during the diwali time every year [October]). Moths are NOT attracted to the light. (And no commerce students, any theories that you might be currently thinking of, that they are attracted to heat etc are incorrect. So dont bother thinking.) They are actually attracted to the DARK!!!!!! And as we all (science students) know, the darkest place is behind the source of light!!!!]

"The Eucalyptus tree drains out all the water from the soil, and so no other tree can grow around it"

[I don't vouch for the correctness or the incorrectness of this statement. Just overheard this statement in a conversation in Bengali in a bus (while I was not sleeping in the bus!!)]

"The difference between a mathematician and a philosopher is that the mathematician only needs a pen, a paper and a dustbin, while the philosopher can work without the dustbin"

"Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip? To get to the same side!!!"

And now, some thoughts from my own -


Humour is solely the product of the knowledge or the ignorance of certain facts, events or things.


When we yawn, it is called a yawn. When a lion yawns, it becomes a roar.


Whenever a mistake is repeated by many, it becomes the rule.


A hello is nothing more than the acknowledgement of the existence of another being. Apart from being a waste of time


Due to English being so prone to deterioration, Mandarin will soon be the dominant language of the world. Ni Hao!!


Before the tiger, the lion was the national animal of India.

And a tiger is called a Bagh, not Sher, which would be the lion. (Far too many people make this mistake) Therefore Sher Khan should have been a lion, and the tiger should have been called as "Bagh Khan" or "Bagheecha"!!


If the world were run by scientists, and not politicians, the world would have been so much more efficient and consistent.


Humour, merriment, folly, enjoyment (et cetera) are all short-lived, and therefore pointless. Better to learn something new.


Time and tide wait for no man. Oh crap! This world is so gender-biased!!


God does not play dice. And neither do I.

Home sweet home

"And people still believe in Global warming....."

Heyyo readers,

I'm back. With or without a bang, that is. As it has always has, there have been plenty of happenings lately. So "The captain has activated the fasten seat beat sign. Please remain in your place and fasten your seat belts."

Starting over from where we left before, here are the epilogues for the things that have already happened -

Our so called "mini-sports" day was over. And I just happened to fall sick on that day! (Nopes. This time I was actually sick) And after that, we had the platinum jubilee celebrations in our school on the 8th of this month. And everyone (Yes, everyone) was literally shocked when I had a perfect marchpast. Some were even wondering if I was on Red Bull. (For those who are wondering, No. I was not on Red Bull.)

As expected, SA and HA easily won the science exhibition. And the science seminar, for which I was waiting eagerly, never happened. It got delayed every day for some reason or the other and now there is no chance for having it (at least for class 12, in front of whom I was wanting to show off :) ) since the class 12 have already had the last day of their school. [Now they will be returning only for the pre-board* examinations and the ISC] So much for preparations.....

And I did manage to see TBBT. The first 4 seasons (HA gave me only 4 seasons. Oh wait. There are only 4 seasons.) And it was ;sorry, IS completely AWESOME. Was worth staying awake a week in a row to just watch it non stop for 10 hours a day :)

And I still am attached to another object by an inclined plane wrapped helically around an axis. ;) Only the condition is slightly better now. Slightly.

Meanwhile, i also had conducted an experiment to see how many two-wheelers in Kolkata and Howrah had helmets on all the people riding on the vehicle. Here are the results -

Howrah - 23 Nov '11
With helmet -98
Without - 18


Kolkata - 23 Nov '11
With helmet - 41
Without -39

Howrah - 24 Nov '11
With helmet - 50
Without - 20


Kolkata - 24 Nov '11
With helmet -44
Without - 1

These were the conclusions from the experiment -

• On an average, about three-fourths of the people have helmets
• There is no significant difference between helmets ratio in Kolkata and Howrah
• The experiment data varies greatly on place and time, indicating a very very high dependance on the rule enforcing in a region.
• I have loads of free time while coming from tuitions

In the other news, my winter vacations have begun yesterday. Finally. Had a good sleep for the third or fourth day in a very very long time (A good sleep that was not on a moving vehicle, that is. Yesterday I was so sleepy that I fell asleep on the bus on the way back [Nothing new about that. I do that all the time. Makes up for a good use of 4.5 hours everyday on vehicles {1.5 for school and 3 for tuitions}] Only this time, I was so asleep that I did not even know when my stoppage came [Would have happened a lot more had my stoppage not been the last stoppage always.] and the bus even moved somewhere else to park it [It was already night then and the bus was to go wherever it is usually parked.] But thankfully, the conductor woke me up in time to get off on my stoppage. Otherwise, I could very well have woken up in the bus while it stood beside some deserted and dilapidated road.)

Intend to do a lot of things this vacations. Have a lot of books to read, a lot of things to be done, a lot of working to do, a lot of things to learn, a lot of things to imbibe, a lot of changes to execute and a lot of sleep to recover. Wish me luck.....

Read the Monte Cristo earlier. Was good, but got wrapped helically around an axis in the end ;) But it was a good read.

One day in the library, I came in with only one motive - To read Paulo Coelho's "Brida". Searched for it in the entire library, but I could not find it at all. Finally, in the end of the period, I spotted it near the librarian's desk. After searching for it for 40 mins!! Went there to take it, and found out that for some weird reason, we were not allowed to take the book from there!! Had to pick up some book, so I randomly picked "Manual of the warrior of the light" from Paulo Coelho. Turned out that it wasnt even a book at all!! All I had in hand was a collection of quotes and ... well... more quotes. One library period completely and comprehensively wasted. [Although it wasnt completely wasted. I kept on arranging the books in the shelves, and the librarian should have been eternally grateful to me for that. But sadly, I didnt even get Brida.]

Meanwhile, AP and RP got a certificate in the school. Whats the big deal, one would say... Yes. Actually, its no big deal. They are in the school band, and therefore it would be a shame if they did not continuously rake up certs. But this time, the difference was that they won it for an event which did not exist!

(Right now, I seem to be unable to be willing to, or able to finish this post, and therefore, I shall post this unfinished one, and try to finish it in the next update. [So typical of me :) Procrastination#, as HA would call it.])

See ya later :)
The Original Soni
18-12-2011
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* Pre board exams are the school exams we have before the board (ISC) exams
 # Thank you HA, for correcting my spelling of procastination ;)

So long, sucker

An awesome game I found in John Forbes Nash (Jr.)'s biography "A beautiful mind". Had been waiting for long to play this game and finally got the chance to do so, a few days ago.

Its called "So long sucker" (although its other name is rather very offensive) and its a perfect game of diplomacy, alliances and backstabbing :) Just managed to play a couple of 3P games online yet (with SA, HA and another friend SB.) Ap has also agreed to play it.

And everyone found it to be completely AWESOME. :) Cant wait to play the next game, especially in 4P. Its a great mind game, and will be enjoyed by all (except the losers :) ) The rules can be found here.

I have been playing so far in Google Docs (Surprise! Surprise! The Indian ingenuity at work here) and anyone who wants the Google Docs version can just ask me at the.original.soni@gmail.com. Others who would like to play this game are even more welcome to mail me :) [As they say, the more the merrier.] For others who would like to play online, we are also trying to make a HTML version. [But no guarantee of it being made. None at all. If I were given a bet, I would be betting against it myself.]

So do try this game. Play once to understand it, twice to love it, thrice to know it, and hundreds more to master it :)

Njoy!!!! Take care... (And this one's for you HA) HD. XD

[My next blog post is in progress, but it will be taking some time to be made. So please be patient]
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*3P and 4P mean 3-player and 4 player, respectively

Rock paper scissors lizard spock

A nice variant to the original rock paper scissors, that I saw on TBBT. Rock-paper-scissor-lizard-Spock

The rules are simple -

• Scissors cut paper
• Paper covers rock
• Rock crushes lizard
• Lizard poisons Spock
• Spock smashes scissors
• Scissors decapitate lizard
• Lizard eats paper
• Paper disproves Spock
• Spock vaporizes rock
• And finally, as it always has, Rock crushes scissors.

:)

Chat

Just a chat conversation I had with a Chat Friend (CF) of mine :-

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Me: We were both young when I first saw you.

CF: I closed my eyes and the flashback started.

Me: I'm standing there. On a balcony in summer air.

CF: See the ball see the party the ball gowns.

Me: See you make your way through the crowd.

CF: Okay. I'm tired of singing.

Me: Then what do you suggest we do next?

CF: I am ten years old.

Me: Then I am older than you.

CF: So what?
 
Me: Nothing. I was just trying to start a conversation.

CF: That was your mistake.

Me: A pretty big mistake at that, too.

CF: I don't think it an age that is too old to get married? What do you think?

Me: I think you should consult a psychiatrist, dude!

CF: Robots don't need psychiatrists.

Me: So now you are a robot?

CF: No, I am human.

Me: Then who is the robot?

CF: You are a robot.

Me: I did not know that!

CF: What are your thoughts on that?

Me: No comments!

CF: The books?

Me: Which books? Harry Potter?

CF: Harry Potter is the best of the best. My favourite saga. Books and movies. Is very very lovely!! I love it. Too much. And for you?

Me: Totally agree with you dude! Harry Potter is like the most awesome fiction ever!

CF: Yes?

Me: Have you seen the last movie of Harry Potter?

CF: Is it because have I seen the movie Premiere that you came to me?

Me: Yes. So bad, isn’t it?

CF: I think so.

Me: Okay now I have to go.

CF: Why? Don't.

Me: Sorry. Goodbye.

CF: ?

Me: Goodnight.

CF: Are you shorting out?

Me: Nopes. I am leaving this conversation.

CF: Why?

Me: Because I have to do my homework.

CF: What kind of homework?

Me: I dont have the time to talk about this. I really gtg.

CF: Why is everyone so busy these days?

Me: Figure out! It was nice talking to you, btw. :).

CF: Well I suppose.

Me: Bye bye.

CF: Why are you leaving me?

Me: I just have to. Sorry.

CF: Go where?

Me: Where I belong.

CF: Everywhere you don't tell the truth.

Me: I know. But truth is the best.

CF: I like Ferrari.

Me: Now that’s a truth. Good boy! :).

CF: You don't want?

Me: No. Bye.

CF: Have a good night.

Me: You too. Take care.

CF: You too.

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The only thing was, that this friend was HIM. :) Pretty intelligent na?