Not just another blog, or is it?

Clarity of Night short fiction contest

2010-01-07T01:51:00.000-08:00

Aniket aka Micky aka Powerpuff boy had been telling me about this contest since some time. So I'll be mustering my pen/keyboard till the 13th and am hoping I can come up with something respectable, as the folks there write really stunning stories.

You can visit the contest page at Jason's blog over at http://clarityofnight.blogspot.com/2010/01/silhouette-short-fiction-contest_05.html

And yes, blog posts will be more frequent from now on ... really!!

P.S My tweets are more frequent at http://twitter.com/kartikd

A cut too fine

2009-03-16T23:10:00.000-07:00

It's not that I particularly enjoy entering the workplace bearing battle-hardened and war-weary scars around my face resembling craters on the moon. Nor do I intend to be part of any Fight Club and turn up the next day looking like Tyler Durden. When you cut yourself while shaving, you were just zoned out thinking about something, and a nanosecond later yelp in agony. Your face turns crimson red, not because you're blushing at the stupidity of it all, but rather due to the blood gushing out like a faucet.
The next person who points them out will receive a "Do you really want to know how I got these scars?!"

Plaisir d'amour

2009-03-15T23:05:00.000-07:00

Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment,
Chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie.

The joys of love are but fleeting,
The heartache of love lasts for a lifetime.

Sea of Love

2009-03-04T07:11:00.000-08:00

He steps ahead with trepidation,
fearful of the tempestuous sea ahead.
But as he sees her across the horizon,
the seas aren't murky anymore.
There is no need for words,
when their eyes speak volumes.
In the gloaming he watches her afterglow ,
which carries him further than he imagined.

Airport Cliches?

2009-01-01T10:03:00.000-08:00

You know those movies which begin and end in an airport? There are times when you think you've felt and seen it all. But then you visit an airport for real and watch ...

A wheelchair bound paraplegic grandmother sending off her beloved grandson amid crying family members, one of whom is recording the moment on a Sony Handycam.
A gaggle of college students saying goodbye to one of their members who is departing for his graduate studies.
A visibly pregnant woman tearfully bidding farewell to her husband who may not be able to make it for the birth of their child.
The security guard who allows the little girl to bypass the security barriers so that she can hug all her cousins once more.

And of course when one of your own loved ones has to leave for a country an ocean away, there is but a lump in your throat. They say that distance lends fondness to the heart, and it is at the moment of parting that all those wretched cliches turn out to be for real.

Figure this out

2008-12-10T11:18:00.000-08:00

Here are two views of a toilet roll box taken at office

Your task is to determine the possible orientation/layout of the toilet paper rolls in the box using the information given on the carton.
Here's the text, in case the pics aren't clear:

Case Count = 8 Rolls
Each Roll = 9 cm x 30000 cm

For the more calculus-savvy, calculate the thickness of the paper roll :)

For The Beatles fans

2008-09-28T00:10:00.000-07:00

Peter Sellers is such an awesome comedian. The first video is that of Laurence Oliver doing the "Now is the winter of our discontent" soliloquy in 'Richard III'.
The second video is Peter Sellers' take on it to the lyrics of The Beatles' 'A Hard Day's night'!!

You're spending too much time on gmail if ....

2008-09-15T23:22:00.000-07:00

in your dreams you unspam certain messages and curse the gmail team subconsciously for the inefficacy of their spam filter

RIP David Foster Wallace

2008-09-15T01:15:00.000-07:00

It's really tragic. This is one of the greatest writers of the century whose wittiness and irony was unparalleled. The challenging writer that he was, I could never get to complete his masterpiece, Infinite Jest(gargantuan 1074 pages); maybe I will some day. But right now I can't think of anything else to point out other than his amazing tribute to Roger Federer
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/sports/playmagazine/20federer.html

How to act and dance like a complete asshole and yet score a date with Esha Deol

2008-09-15T01:05:00.000-07:00

Be Shoaib Akthar! :D

What would Neil Patrick Harris do?

2008-09-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

Barney on a unicorn ... totally made my day :D

Metallica new album release "Death Magnetic"

2008-09-11T23:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was at Hard Rock Cafe, Mumbai where Metallica released their new album "Death Magnetic". Okay so the band wasn't there at all, we just got to listen to 2 minute previews of each song :) I shall reserve my comments on the album itself until I get to hear it completely...

A band called Echoes played tracks like Comfortably Numb, Coming Back to Life, Highway Star, Sweet Child O'Mine , November Rain , Communication Breakdown, and two originals(which were nice) and prolly some more songs which I had missed. I thought it was a pretty tight act considering this was their first gig! The guy at the vocals was especially good, and kudos to the lady on the keyboards!

In between the listening session, we got to see the MusicMan Mihir giving away CDs to those who were worldy wise about Metallica. Also we had Circles(ex-Sceptre) playing acoustic covers of Metallica. I think they were damn good, and acoustic gigs are always very interesting :)

It was great fun and is always nice to see so many rock music fans at a gig, loved it :D

Coldplay - Viva La Vida Review

2008-09-08T17:25:00.000-07:00

When the media crowns a band as the next U2 or Radiohead, that sort of pressure and expectations are very difficult to satisfy. Coldplay have been extremely successful as far as their record sales as concerned, however there has always been some criticism regarding their formulaic style of music. Their blend of mellowed down tone and contrastingly upbeat guitarwork is catchingly irresistible, but 3 albums later Coldplay is caught in their efforts to expand their range, and please the same fanbase who love their original sound.

In a bid to show their seriousness hired the legendary electronic music artist Brian Eno[Remember the Windows 95 opening tune?] to produce the album. The opening track, Life in Technicolor clearly shows his influence, and is a clean post-rock sound. Cemeteries of London is a clear cut Coldplay track, and yet has a refreshing sound. Lost! features haunting keyboards, interspersed hand-clapping and Chris Martin especially stands out with a simple message that it's okay to be lost sometimes.

Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love is a splendid track, and the way the parts are segued is lovely. In my opinion this is one of the best songs of the year. However, the album starts going downhill from this point onwards. The attempt to sound different leads to insipid tracks, save for Strawberry Swing.

Finally, this is clearly a much superior effort to the pale X & Y, yet the mark that the band seeks is very distant and will require some soul-searching before that can be attained.

Shiney Ahuja at rediff.com

2008-09-05T07:31:00.001-07:00

In case you don't know me, I'm second from the right in the pic :)

Unknown sports - Part 1

2008-09-04T05:39:00.000-07:00

I just found out that there's a sport played in IIM, Bangalore and Ahmedabad called Tsepak. Here's what they do: it's like playing volleyball but only with your legs and head. It sounds ridiculous so I pulled up a youtube video of it

Chroming

2008-09-03T21:34:00.000-07:00

Here's an attempt to make a comic strip xkcd-style using Paint.
And for the xkcd easter egg, place the mouse pointer over the image :)

De-stressing

2008-08-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

The other day in a Mumbai local train, I saw a man writing down "Hare Ram Hare Krishna" over and over again in a notebook. He was murmuring the phrase in sync with the scrawling, and clearl y his concentration on the task was rather immense. Was this his way of de-stressing himself after a long arduous day? I really don't understand how concentration is connected with calmness and meditation.

As far as I'm concered, I'm just happy to put on songs of Simon & Garfunkel or Sigur Rós. The latter's 'svefn-g-englar' is THE song to listen to, when you want to relax! :)

Bangladesh's national anthem

2008-08-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

In 1905, the state of Bengal was partitioned by Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India. This was highly resented by the people of Bengal and the famous Rabindranath Tagore penned a song "Amar Shonar Bangla", a tribute to Bengal. Needless to say, this helped in rallying the cause for unification, and it did happen in 1911.
Bengal was partitioned again in 1947 and renamed as East Pakistan, which declared independence from Pakistan, called itself Bangladesh and heaped enormous costs on India in the process(but you all know of that).
Now Bangladesh adopted "Amar Shonar Bangla" as its national anthem, which is ironical considering that it was meant for a united Bengal!!

Consent?

2008-04-03T23:37:00.000-07:00

Check out this short film by Jason Reitman:

Now if that was funny and preposterous and ridiculously unrealistic, then check out this article:

WOMEN should have to sign a contract before sex to combat false rape allegations, if proposed new laws are passed in South Australia, an MP says.

"Perhaps this parliament could devise a contract which men could carry around in their pocket, next to their condoms," she said during a speech to Parliament.

"There could be a waiver should a man meet up with a woman who has had a couple of drinks before they engage in sexual intercourse.

"The contract may contain the name and address of the women, with her driver's licence number, so that the man can see the signatures match, clauses that state that the woman has or has not been drinking or taking drugs – licit or illicit – and that she consents to foreplay."

Whatever?

2008-04-02T04:24:00.000-07:00

Just for curiosity's sake, the title of this blog comes from this video:

The monk who sold his soul for a ferrari

2008-04-02T03:50:00.001-07:00

I don't get why people dig Robin Sharma, DeepakChopra and others of their ilk. All that they do is preach simplicity, austerity and other virtues that are really hard to follow. And I bet they're laughing their way to their swiss banks("So long, suckers!") , while the masses attempt 'yogic levitation' for 5 hours a day.

Here's a better philosophy: Life is an orange.

Chew on this, Robin!

Information overload

2008-03-26T02:33:00.000-07:00

Is there something like too much cricinfo? Is it true that every Indian male is obsessed with this site and checks out the stats of cricket players all day? Do they keep F5ing away in the browser(not ready to wait for 65 secs) in cricinfo, and keep a rediff scorecard open in the next tab, because the latter refreshes more quickly? And then browse through prempanicker's blog for further analysis and buzz?

I wonder what will happen when the IPL starts!

Juno

2008-03-24T03:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes life can really suck... the fairer sex may get knocked up inadvertently, and other half may find out that they knocked someone up inadvertently. You feel so screwed that you need to barf every minute(and that's not just because of the six pounder in the belly). In times of crises like these, it matters to have a clear head and a 'real' dose of practicality around ... that could be your own brain, maybe that of your best friend etc ... but finally what matters is to listen to your heart.

I think Juno is a such a breather of fresh air in the teenage-pregnancy-boohoo world that is mostly depicted. The first impression of Juno(Ellen Page) is that she's just a smart-ass wisecracking girl, with the eclectic taste of an underground indie artist. But there is more to her; her maturity in taking such important decisions, her ability to cut the crap and solve the problem at hand. Her parents also depict a portrait of how parents should be portrayed, the calm-headed attributes that Juno has clearly inherited.

And then there is her love for Pauli(Michael Cera of Superbad and Arrested Development fame) which is so true, "You're so cool and you don't even have to try". The 'song' ... two people in love, playing together the song of their life in perfect synchrony of their heart beats(!).

The other important aspect of this movie that struck me was Mark's character, to never forget your passions in life and always think through any decision that you make in life.

A thousand words from me cannot do justice to such a beautiful film, need I say more?