A new day has come

And so finally the day came when we left SASTRA...the place where I lost my soul and regained most of it. The past 4 years have been crazy...the place which I hated the most in my life became the place where I made some friends I will never forget...some I might never meet again(sob :( )...but its been one hell of a ride! And so when I look back now...all those times we sat vetti in hostel doing absolutely nothing...sleeping,eating,drinking...bunking classes...eating crappy mess food..avoiding mess food(!)...bitching about the management...taking digs at the dumb ass teachers...skt's bajjis...I guess there won't be any of that now.

For all the people who helped me survive these four years, cheers to you, and I hope you have a blast for the rest for your lives :)

PS: Shit, I'm actually senti!

Another Limerick!

I was sitting in class getting real bored. Our HOD was boring us to death, as usual. And so, I wrote this limerick, dedicated to her:

In this hour of darkness there is no time
As we all wait for the bells to chime
The dragon drones, plunging us into sorrows
With words from here and there that she borrows
Oh! Gone is the youth of prime


If you don't know what a limerick is, read this old post of mine: ClickHere

Black Ice Vs Chinese Democracy Vs Death Magnetic

Three old time rock bands have released new albums towards the end of last year-AC/DC,GnR and Metallica!

Ok, a bit of my background first. After Linkin Park(yikes!) my first foray into proper rock was GnR in my 11th standard. I heard Sweet child of mine on radio/tv and absolutely loved it! I went on to listen to all their big hits and fell in love with a lot of them. Lets move on. I heard Metallica & Ac/Dc on & off in the next few years. Think I probably heard Ac/Dc the first time in the movie "School of Rock"(one hell of a movie, a must watch). I liked Metallica's first few albums better than the later ones(the ones in the 90s)- I loved Black but didn't care much for Load & Reload.
All right?! So lets get on with it!

1.Black Ice (AC/DC)

If you have heard AC/DC before, you'll love this one. Its typical of their style- which I think is plain, fucking, happy rock- no ballads, no desperation, just plain old rock for the heck of it! So lets talk about the songs. The trouble with me is that I find all AC/DC songs a bit similar to one another. And I don't pay much attention to the lyrics(except, of course when its "You shook me all night long..." or "Hard as a rock",wink wink!) The song which was first released is I believe, Rock n'Roll Train, which is awesome. Other decent songs in the album- Black Ice(title song), Big Jack, She likes Rock n'Roll. The title was taken from "black ice"-transparent ice which often proves hazardous and apparently forms in Scotland a lot(Scotland is from where the Young brothers originally hail from). According to various sources, Black Ice has outsold even Death Magnetic, Metallica's latest album

2.Chinese Democracy (Guns'n Roses)

If you were expecting anything which was typical of Axl Rose or the good'ol GnR, then forget it. This ain't anything like GnR ever played before. Its modern all right but didn't strike a chord with me. I mean I know he has spent millions of dollars and over 15 years on this piece of shit, but it remains what it is- a piece of shit. And hey-there is no Slash! The only songs I liked were "Madagascar" & "Catcher in the rye"- both of which leaked ages ago on the internet. The title is I guess a dig at the Chinese government( its definitely a oxymoron). Well its been banned in China anyway,lol. Other songs you can put up with-"I.R.S" & "Sorry".


3.Death Magnetic (Metallica)

Probably the most expected album of 2008, it has ruled the charts ever since it released(like any good old Metallica album!). Unfortunately I didn't like it a lot. Lars keeps banging on the drums a bit too hard, Hetfield's voice sounds fucked up but hey- we can finally hear Kirk Hammett's solos again! The album clocks over 70 minutes which is really long for an album these days! The average length of each song is over 7 minutes- most of modern rock can't even last 3 minutes.

Lets check out the songs. My best friend(who is also Metallica's best fan, I'm sure of it!) suggested that I first listen to "Suicide & Redemption"- an instrumental. Its kinda long and tries hard to sound like an instrumental but fails miserably. I felt the song was desperate for some vocals! I then tried out "All nightmare long" and "The end of the line" - both of which reminded me of some old Metallica 80s song (can't place my finger on it). The songs had solos by Kirk but they were too long for my ears' comfort. "The day that never comes" was kinda decent-its supposed to be a ballad. "Unforgiven 3" sucks big time- its nothing like Unforgiven 1 or 2. In short, the album is full of long songs with solos which don't really gel and Lars drumming away to damnation and Hetfield sounding like a hoarse old man at 45. I guess the album is probably way better than most of the mod rock crap that people listen to nowadays - maybe thats why its on top of the charts! If you are a hard-core Metallica fan(like my friend!), then you might like the album. But for a moderate fan like me- who feels Metallica started losing it ever since "Load" you can skip this one all right. And oh ya this album features Robert "Gorilla" Trujillo as Base Guitarist for the first time.


Album covers: You can check out the three album covers on the bands' websites or Wikipedia. I liked AC/DC's best. The cover for "Chinese Democracy" shows a cycle with a cane basket. Dunno whats that supposed to mean. Death Magnetic's cover has well, "Death Magnetic" written in typical boring Metallica font.


The Verdict:
AC/DC wins hands down with "Black Ice". I can listen to it any time, anywhere, without discomfort. At number 2 would be "Death Magnetic", I guess. Sorry metallica fans. At the bottom, "Chinese Democracy"- and no, no apology! Black Ice is played once a day on my speakers. The other two- I am afraid I need to take treatment for forcing myself to listen to them so that I could write this crappy review(Oh! Review tha kya?!)

How did I get the songs? Don't buy the CD, idiot! Whats p2p for? If you like the songs, and feel you wanna help the band(who are fuckin' millionaries anyways) you can buy the cd. Until then, visit isohunt.com
For those about to rock....we salute YOU!

Programming in Indic languages

I wonder why no one programs in an Indian language. Why isn't software localized to a greater extent in India? Do you have to know English to be a programmer?(Check this out) After all the masses do not speak English in India. Its only the middle and upper classes that do. People in China use entirely localised versions of operating systems, programming tools and other applications. Why aren't the people in India doing that? Have you ever seen an Indic keyboard? I mean a keyboard with Hindi characters(devnagari script or wotever!) In a country with only around 65% literacy(most of the 65% can probably only sign their name, forget reading/writing in English!) most of which read/write/speak in their native languages, software systems in the native languages would have a tremendous impact on people.

I googled "Programming in hindi" and stumbled across the Hindawi Programming System(http://hindawi.in/en_US/index.php) This is a project which aims to develop Indian language versions of C,C++,Lex and DOS. Currently they support three languages-Hindi, Gujarati and Bengali. Their version of Indic C is called Shaili Guru. But the surprising part is that Hindawi's website is available in only one language- English! I have no idea how successful this project is.

Another instance of Indianisation of software is the Bharat Open Source System(BOSS)-an initiative by the Indian government to develop a localised version of Linux with support for Indian languages. Its developed by CDAC. Again, I have no idea if people are actually using it.

I think the reason programming in English is preferred because English is still a favoured language in India. Unless you speak English, you cannot get a white-collar job. That seems odd in a country with 18 official languages and hundreds of dialects and not so official ones. I guess english serves as the common mode of interaction between speakers of different languages. You can manage with hindi in most of northern india, but once you come south your only hope of getting to people is english!

Slave to routine :(

I have always prided myself on being eccentric. I mean,when I was rated 4% normal on some crappy Facebook app I was overjoyed. However, suspicions that I was a prey to routine have been confirmed. I, like a majority of people on this planet, am a slave to routine. Sob!

I spend 10 months(or more) of a year in this place called Sastra. I'm so used to living in this hell-hole that I start feeling uneasy elsewhere!(even at home,sad na) Here is my schedule:

College days:
-Get up around 8, if i'm attending college. Else get up at 11/12/1
-Have coffee, skip breakfast 99% of the days
-College: Sleep in class/ Chat wid ppl/ Read a novel
-Lunch
-back to boring old class
-Evening: College over! Come running back to my room, drink tea and collapse on the bed. Laze around till dinner time
-Dinner-avoid the mess 99% of the days
-After dinner: the day starts now.Wake up to what the world is doing.Chat with people. Surf the net. Check my mail. Watch a movie. Etc
-Sleep, atmost by 2am

Weekends/Holidays:
-Get up atleast by 12, in time for lunch, which gets over at 2
-After lunch, hit the bed again
-Get up at 5pm, drink tea. Day starts now
-Laze around till night

Boo Hoo. And I thought I was different.

WTF IS GOING ON?

Although I no longer stay in Mumbai I still have fond memories of the place. Mumbai was probably the only place where I felt the safest at any time of the day- or night. Not anymore.

Terrorists in VT station. I mean, imagine, you are buying tickets and some mad caps start firing randomly. WTF do u do?

Terrorists in two of the biggest hotels in the country. Both are landmarks. The Oberoi is one of Mumbai's tallest buildings. And the Taj Mahal, right beside the Gateway, is an excellent piece of architecture. Was, rather. Last I heard its top floor was burning.

This attack was not just a collection of bomb blasts. It was and is much more. Their sole aim was to create fear in the minds of the aam Mumbaikar. And they have succeeded. When I first heard of the attacks I was like "Oh fuck another series of bomb blasts" but hey, thats not what this is. These terrorists have attacked the very fibre of our country. And its not still not over. Hostages are still being held in the two hotels. Its like an entire city has been brought to its knees. And this city is Mumbai, the biggest and most populated city in our country, known for its resilience.

What do we do? What can I do? I'm writing a blog. How the hell is that gonna make a difference, eh? Cos every small voice matters. India is after all, the biggest democracy. I personally feel like torturing to death each one of the terrorists with my bare hands. But hey, thats what they want. Spreading hate and fear.

Just look at our country's politicians. Up till now, responsibility for every terror attack has been dispensed like bloody birthday gifts. I saw Shivraj Patil talking like a doddering old ruin and Deshmukh warning the people of Mumbai to stay inside. He said the police are fighting! Goddamn it is that all they can say? Didn't the world see how USA reacted after 9/11? And this is like our millionth terror attack. How much more before our politicians wake up and realise this is serious business and you just have to forget vote banks now. Please.

One would ask what can the government do about this. They can do hella lot more. Manmohan has proposed the creation of some kind of national security agency. For the first time the opposition has not pointed fingers at the UPA or ATS accusing them of negligence. Its time for all of us to come together and take a bold stance. The Muslim clerics need to do more than issue fatwas. They need to eradicate the dirt within.

The fact that the terrorists asked only for british and american tourists proves that this is indeed a global threat. Leaders from all over the world have condemned the attacks. Compensations have been announced. After a week or two Mumbai itself would have forgotten the gory details. That should not happen this time. We need to wake up. And real fast.

Let us support Raj Thackeray

Hehe haha....don't be shocked!

Check this out: http://o3.indiatimes.com/supportrajthackeray/