Preface, Perfection, Epilogue

Author's Notes
It's been quite a while since I last wrote here. To be honest, I have no real excuse for not updating my blog, considering I've been at home for what seems like ages. My late night flight to the University Of Pennsylvania is in exactly 12 days, which, in the face of things, is just a blink of an eye. Maybe it's procrastinating writer's guilt, freshman's nostalgia or some combination of the two which has brought me back here - but the bottom line is that it's the end of a huge chapter of my life and the start of a new one. Time is continuing to fill pages of the book of my life with stories and memories: some inconsequential and some to be remembered for a lifetime. However, I can't help but try to recap some of them.

Preface
Delving deeper into that metaphor, the first chapter of life was (a very amusing) childhood. Even though it was spread across 3 cities, 2 countries and 1 rapidly growing child, my childhood can be neatly summarized with a few key words - cushioned, constructive and certainly-very-British. If the neatly groomed, innocently eager and perpetually happy Devesh of 10 years ago could ever know what was coming up ahead in life, I can only imagine he'd balk and peer out through his Lego castle. (Yes, he's still clearly very proud of it.)

Perfection
I first saw Delhi Public School International in 2005, when the car I was in broke down en route for the entrance test. The first look of the building I would spend the next 9 years in was a picturesque moment: a few inches of green and white poking out from a beautiful cloud of choking engine fumes rising up in the shape of ghostly skull. It's fair to say I didn't immediately fall in love with the place, but to claim that the constant findings of a boy moping around the junior wing (with a decidedly unhappy expression) as evidence of maladjustment is preposterous. I adjusted perfectly well. In my first week I learned 3 new words that my mother gaped at hearing, discovered shady corners of the class where I could eat my lunch without attracting the indigenous fauna and accustomed myself to the alien procedure of asking before entering a room/drinking water/sharpening a pencil/breathing.

I was one of them.

Over the years, I appreciated the subtle art of staring at textbooks while seeing through them to the floor, speed-writing homework minutes before class and carefully being prepped by the class to ask a teacher to let us free, with just the right words at just the right moment. Several misconceptions I previously held were also rapidly dismissed: the library is certainly not a place of silence and study, ICT classes are very rarely about ICT, the ten minutes of short break are amongst the most important of the day, assemblies persist to be mundane off/on stage, some teachers are so focused that writing board after board of course content is an involuntary process and some teachers are cool enough to agree to sticking 'Caution! Crazy Driver' bumper stickers on their cars.

Throughout all this, my class bonded together closer and closer (perhaps more so after each Chemistry lesson in grade 12) and discovered there was very little we could not do. How many classes can ever say they made a theatre for a zombie apocalypse film in class? Aside from the occasional leaping out of windows or sneaking into auditoriums on French Day (ahem, for the cultural performances of course), there was an enormous amount of personal growth which was abundantly visible when my batch burst forth onto stages dancing, battling (to the Eye Of The Tiger soundtrack no less) and even riding brooms.

During these years of school I found my few best friends who would prove to remain the utter fools and perfect people that they were back then all the way up to today. Guiltily respecting the teachers who had to endure us for equal amounts of time, we've found that it's truly a formidable task to get us to quiet down and work silently. There have been countless 'phone calls' to parents, endless 'minus 5s'  in class tests and even cross-referenced missing paper submission reports in the case of math. Yet, despite all the mayhem, we've managed to pull through and now wherever we go or whatever we do, we'll be forces that can change the world.

As much I as would like to write endlessly about all the people who've changed my life - I can't. There really isn't any proper combination of words that can adequately capture how much I've enjoyed growing up (literally) with all of them. That was made ridiculously clear with the obvious template of Sherlock's Best Man speech underlying my Farewell address given in February this year. A clearly defining moment of my experience at DPS International was during the 'Hey Jude' song and the amazing end to it. Despite the obvious lack of practice (zero rehearsals - thank you procrastination) the song ended with everybody singing along, closing on a great note. It showed us exactly what our school has taught us: We may not always know what we're doing, but when we're all together...we'll figure it out.'

Epilogue
The last official day of school was in the first week of February. Since then we've all been caught up in a whirlwind of college applications, results and decisions. There are many parts of life yet to be figured out, but we're all turning over to a new chapter together. Thankfully, this isn't a book written by George R.R. Martin, so hopefully not too many of us will be stabbed through the heart, beheaded or fed to bears. Thanks for everything, Batch of 201x (very debatable last digit). You've given me everything, and I hope you all achieve your dreams.

PS: The weather is the same up here as it is down there, unless you think your pants and head are at different temperatures. 

Read More

The Life of A Soon To Be Freshman

It's been a very very very long month indeed, inundated with tons of college acceptances and replies. In fact, the past month has been an almost exclusively ritualistic and mechanistic routine of waking up, reading college newsletters on email, replying to alumni messages, checking countdowns for the next scheduled college reply, spending the day reading about unique courses offered within colleges and then finally sleeping, but not before setting alarms to wake up at unearthly hours to check online decision portals. It was brutal. It was chaotic. It was unpredictable. And I loved it.

However now, all that is over (for the most part) and I find myself staring blankly at this screen, mournfully wondering where my adrenaline fueled life has vanished off into. It's quite a strain trying to remember what my life used to be like, before the advent of university applications. I can feel it gradually coming back to me though, when I start playing the piano or the guitar. I recently bought a new electric guitar (SSS pickups and a synchronized tremolo bridge - facts for the enthusiasts) and I spent many a blissful morning and afternoon trailing through tones and semitones all along the fretboard with a myriad of contoured distortion effects. I'm looking forward to one day learning how to properly bend strings - just the right amount - like Gilmour from Floyd, but that's a long way down the road. For now, I'm content with playing alongside simpler tunes.

I'm really impressed with Google's April Fool's this year (the Pokemon mini-game in Google Maps) mainly because a) it involves Pokemon and b) the trailer video reminded me of the immense possibilities of  augmented reality when combined with contextual location services. I was recently introduced to an intriguing development kit for augmented reality mobile applications which runs on both iOS and Android, and I've been tweaking the example modules late into the night ever since. I can really see a future in augmented reality, specially for all those IKEA catalogues and the like which I used to get in London. 3D models of items straight onto your phone just by aiming the camera at the page they're on? Yes please, and let's try and integrate some 3D printing too. Perhaps I'll get to explore all this and more at university. #excited

One aspect of college life that I'm really looking forward to, besides the courses and lessons that I'll be studying, is the networking that you get done as an undergraduate. I've already gotten to know a lot of my future classmates/batch mates and it's amazing to meet such intellectual and diverse people, with such vibrant personalities and ideas. I've never been one for excessive public interaction (ironic, isn't it), but I'm eagerly awaiting more conversations with people of such calibre.

Signing out for now, because blogging at midnight is never a good idea.
UpdateCount = UpdateCount +1;
Internet_Won = true;

Read More

The Final Problem

It's a new year, and suddenly I'm faced with a problem. It's not just any problem, mind you, it's quite a serious problem: The Final Problem. My school's final board exams have finished and now I'm back home...without a single thing to do! Suddenly, from a life of well-planned days and hourly schedules, I have been handed over the reigns to a free life, ready to be directed wherever I want it to. I believe it's time for a little fun.

And so, I've started to pursue all my interests again in earnest. Thinking about interests, the first activity that comes to my mind is programming, almost instantly. Honestly, it has a therapeutic effect on me and helps me relax a lot more than other things. All I really need is my laptop, so I can code anywhere - at my table, in bed, on the floor, or even in the kitchen. *munching on biscuits* I began one Saturday afternoon, cranked up some Def Leppard to really get me in the mood for some work and started with something fun - a mad lib generator. Simplistic enough and it didn't take much time, even with my near obsessive need to create pixel perfect user interfaces. Surprising.

Last night, I spent 15 minutes and made a CIE- friendly quadratic equation solver in Java. You can download and use it here. #advertising

Of course, while programming my mind oscillates between the lyrics of the songs playing and a medley of abstract thoughts. For example, I couldn't help but notice how programming in desktop environments, although convenient, does tend to be restrictive thanks to the myriad operating systems and developer builds crawling across the internet. But the internet itself...that's another story! With the right tweaks, anything on the internet can be viewed by any device running any software.

I couldn't experiment this without the right tools, and hence I taught myself HTML5 and CSS3. A few visually impairing designs later I began to get the hang of it. No, the colour change is not a demonstration of that. However, all this takes time and I'm still exploring. Before I totally lose all my readers, let's switch to something else.

...and that's music! As you could have inferred previously, I love music and it's more integral a part of my life than anything else. Sometimes I think it structures the way I think, but the second I start to think more along those lines a song will start playing in my head. Clearly, musical introspection is pointless. To anybody still unfortunate enough to be reading this blog, I would strongly recommend learning a instrument. It's the best thing you can explore, and if you get the chance to play with other people you'll understand coordination and teamwork in an unparalleled manner. Take it from me, playing the piano and (now recently) the guitar is the most fun I've had in years. If nothing else, it helps keep you from writing your train of thought on a public blog...oops.

Read More

The Real Deal: Being an A Level Student

Being in class XII is an experience one cannot simply just explain. There are so many strange new complexities which present themselves over the course of the year, and it takes quite a bit of head-scratching and puzzling over to get even a small light of comprehension as to what's going on. 

Take for example, the subjects you have to study. Initially, at the start of the year, there is an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction at the thought of studying fewer number of subjects - something everyone in school can relate to. And then...the world turns upside down. Chemistry becomes a subject which can render you so chemically unbalanced that you can soon be found marching up and down corridors talking about 'degenerate complex d-orbitals of electrons in complex ion formation' and other hideous-sounding things. Physics progresses along well until you take your first test. Economics makes you feel incrementally proud of yourself as you count the number of red ticks on an answer (49, 50, 51...) and then brings your morale crashing down with a low final score (8/12).

I remember how the A level semesters began, with two free periods on average every alternate day at the very least. There was a tangible sense of ease: naturally, as these were follow up years to the class X boards which haunted our lives earlier. The young few months of A Levels were kind to us, with little homework, simple introductory topics in new courses and the chance to throw yourself back into competitions and events. But as the year progressed, so did the work.

We've always heard about a 'huge jump in work' between classes X to XII, but it's usually dismissed with a shrug or a 'we're lucky we aren't in Class XII then!' with a side of raucous laughter. But now that we've ordered the dish ourselves, and have realised its enormity, there's one bit of advice I think every A Level student will hand out - "Be ready to hurl, because this food just won't go down easily."

Perhaps the worst are all the college applications, but that's a whole other story.
It's all very confusing for the average student. It's also very taxing. But believe it or not, as the year comes to an end, I'm going to miss being an A Level student.

Read More

The Horror: Hospital Waiting Rooms

Having been recently forced to endure a painful hour and half at a waiting room at a hospital, I can safely say that it is one of the worst punishments you can ever burden one with. It's quite a pain, even with the usually comforting blessings of music, headphones and good company.

The arrangement of chairs in the waiting room is strange: each is amazingly well placed to directly face another, resulting in a necessity to stare into another person's worried face at some point or another. It's not pleasant at all. At first, you're sure you can handle it; indulging in a little staring match is engaging, sure. But slowly, you realise how unnerving it really is. Relentlessly, in every second marked by the ticking of the obnoxiously loud clock on the wall, the other person will stare at you, using their powers of deduction to guess your ailment and just how contagious it is. Naturally, sitting in a hospital, their medical diagnosis can be trusted to be accurate and fair. But no matter what they finally deduce, they will continue to glare at you as if any moment you're going to leap up and burst into a rainbow-hued flame. It's lovely.

Aside from the delightful company you have, there are many more things that highlight the pain of waiting rooms. Doctors, being the incredibly busy people that they are, handle almost 100 patients a day, at least 50 animals, a few stray aliens and the odd inanimate object and hence often have no time to press the button to call in the next patient. Understandably, it means a 5:30 appointment will be pushed back to 7:15, for the greater good of course. Now you may not be prepared for this, and may just end up sitting aimlessly amongst a group of equally bored and worried patients, each waiting to maul one another to meet the doctor first. No matter how much you may feel like it, do not, under any circumstances, attempt to begin conversation with anyone you do not know at a hospital waiting room.

If you do, you're in for a long, detailed and often gruesome tale about the person's ailment, why they got it, when they got it, where they got it, who they got it from, what it does to them at different times of the day, the worst thing it's done to them, the various forms of medicine they eat and just how lovely their doctor is and how you should never meet him until they're done with him because quite obviously, they're about to drop dead from whatever it is they're ailing from. Trust me, looking away is just a whole lot safer.

It's easy to get bored and simply listening to music on your headphones and counting the number of tiles the overhead false ceiling is made of just doesn't cut it. You need something to do, and nothing around you seems very helpful in giving you it. When a good song comes up, you'll momentarily forget being bored in a wild attempt to control your overwhelming dancing desires and might give in, just to see how the zombies around you would react. If you do decide to, video record and email the carnage to me please.

Perhaps waiting rooms are integral to the functioning of a well - rated hospital, but honestly, I see a lot more practicality in allowing patients barging into offices rather than letting them rot and morph into zombies who'd storm offices anyway. Just some food for thought. Speaking of food...catch you later readers.

Read More

Resolutions - 2013

The end of another year draws eerily close, yet again, and it's almost time to say goodbye to 2012 and hello to 2013. But how will the new year be? This year, things were chaotic, confusing, wild, joyous, fun and frenetic: in short, just as expected. Two thousand and twelve was a great year, and hopefully, the next can give it a run for its money.

With every new year comes a deep, burning desire to change something about yourself; to make a few hundred resolutions. Of course, adhering to them is another thing altogether but it's always admirable to want to. I've already heard a a few resolutions being dropped heavily all around: 'Going to become thinner by March', 'Going to buy myself the iPhone 5S', 'Going to learn how to jet ski for my next vacation to Hawaii', 'Must plan a vacation in Hawaii', 'Will wake up before 9AM at least 10 Sundays of the year' and so on and so forth. Dreamers, all of them, and specially the last one. Give up Devesh.

But despite the general amusement I always place about new year's resolutions, the trend is amazingly catchy. And so, I'm going to make a few resolutions, honestly from the bottom of my heart, to change in the following ways:
- I will not sing while listening to music on my headphones. In public. On a weekend.
- I will not, despite the all-consuming drive I'm sure I'll have to do it, write a paper titled 'A Study On The Highly Volatile and Intriguing Natural Tendencies Present in Adolescent, Aggravated and Starving Teens Preprandial'. Sorry world. You'll just have to wait for somebody else to do it.
- I will not mock Apple's launch of the new IPhone 5S sometime late next year: we all know it's going to happen.
- I will, as righteously suggested by a friend, attempt to grow and maintain my Sherlock style hair for as long as possible or until mum finds out. Whichever comes first.
- I resolutely resolve to abide as reliably as I resolutely can to these resolutions until the resolve is no longer resolute or until I forget the the meaning of resolute. (It's not far off)

As you can clearly tell, I've put my heart and soul into these ground-shaking and momentous declarations that I've announced for the next year, and I'd like to see you try and best mine. Comment away or drop me a message on Facebook.

Read More

Dentistry: The Dark Practice

This week marked the beginning of the winter break, a much needed break from the ardors of school, and naturally, the kind and considerate woman that she is, my mother decided to choose the first day of the vacations to take me to my arch-nemesis - the dentist.

And so, Monday morning saw me waking up early (before 9 A.M), and hurrying around the house in a generally bad mood to reach across town in time for my appointment with the Devil. Despite the havoc and pain he and tools can inflict on a normal day, trust me when I say you're in for it if you keep him waiting. 

10:05 AM. Five minutes late. Sitting outside in the abnormally clean waiting room, gagging on the strong smell of disinfectant, I buried my head into my hands and hoped it was the last time I had to come to this demon's lair. Beside me, there was another poor victim, a young boy with a wide clueless grin on his face. The boy looked happily up at the ceiling, the air of excitement about him just screaming out his absolute obliviousness to his plight. All right, I admit, I laughed under my breath - that poor kid has a lot of fun to go through.

Suddenly, he appeared at the doorway to his torture chamber, his horrifying white cape fluttering behind him in his wake. "I'm ready to see you now", he says, his ridiculously pearly white teeth gleaming monstrously at me, while the smaller, nastier version of his face on an ID card sneers at me from the top of his shirt pocket. I shudder involuntarily. 


One thing about my monster of a dentist which I'll never be able to understand is his wry sense of humour. Maybe it's the soft piano orchestral music that emanates from the speakers in the roof while he unveils his electric saws, or maybe it's the sign above the 1000-watt mega spotlight he aims at my face: 'Smile please!', but something about it is unnerving. Usually, I just to try to focus on not focusing about it.

Inside, rows of metallic tools of unspeakable horror glint wickedly at me, and I avert my gaze to avoid staring at the center of the room, where the throne of pain lies, beneath a high-powered spotlight (which ensures that the Devil never fails to miss a squirm or wince on his victim's faces). Beside this monstrosity rests his chair, which very handily comes equipped with a cup holder, just like those on chairs in cinema halls. I wouldn't be surprised if he kept a cup of  Coke there to slurp in delight while his victims gag and flail helplessly in front of him.

And so, he puts on a face mask to cover his satanic grin and dives into the task of finding just the wrong teeth to whack and locating just the more painful areas of my mouth to prod with something sharp. This time, to avoid having to blink blearily through the miniature sun that is his light, I closed my eyes, and tried to block out the sound of that incessant madman on the piano. Suddenly, the excavation in my mouth stops, and surprised, I open an eye to glare suspiciously at him. He's holding what appears to be a sharpened golf club in his hand, and his eyes are gleaming creepily. 

'Are you praying?', he asks with a hint of amusement in his tone.
'No, of course not. Wait, should I be? What's that thing you have...?!"
His horns flash in the light as he dives back in.

Read More

The Dawn Of The World

It's been ages since I last wrote here, and I'm mainly going to blame it on the brute force trauma of a rapidly approaching exam. However, it's equally important to catch up on my writing (as frivolous as it may be) and so, here I am. Not much new has actually occurred this month, apart from a few surprises and an amazingly therapeutic walk one early morning. 

It was completely fortuitous, i.e, not at all planned: Saturday's mechanics class was abruptly cancelled early in the morning. However, luckily, Aman managed to wake up and groan over the phone to warn me. At 6:37 AM. Two minutes after I got ready and reached downstairs. Just my luck.

So there I was, standing meekly in my school uniform, suddenly with nowhere to go on a freezing cold morning. While I paused to think about what to do, I waved meekly at the early morning walking enthusiasts in my complex, happily trotting about the place, silently laughing at my predicament. 

It's simply astounding how many people walk around outside in the mornings. On the streets at this time, the strident bellows of horns are replaced with wonderful silence and the whole world seems a little different. It's a little more secretive, a little more interesting. And thus, inspired by the lines of people chugging along at steady paces around me, leaving behind wisps of frosty breath marking their paths, I decided to join my parents as they went for their morning walk. 

I didn't bother to change my clothes (all right, laziness speaks for itself here), so I pulled on a jacket, changed my shoes, grabbed my phone and headphones and set off. We walked to a large park, boarded the surprisingly long walking path, and started the journey with our hands stuffed into pockets to avoid the chilly wind and the difficulty of finding something to do with them. Admittedly, I spent the first few minutes admiring not the serenity of the outdoors, but the alluring display of my phone with its hundreds of albums of songs ready to be played. Music matches moods and I was determined to find just the right album to fuel my brain as I floated along. Seconds of deliberation passed by, and I walked with my head down, murmuring distant apologies to people who brushed pass me and trees who indignantly whacked me with branches, thick soggy leaves and other carefully chosen artillery. The leaves were especially nasty.

At last I choose. Coldplay's 'Mylo Xyloto' (was there ever any question about it?)  followed by a custom assortment of peppy songs. Finally, I look up, ready to be dazzled by the world and it's beauty... and find myself staring at a wall. Somehow, I strayed off the path and walked straight into a clump of trees near the boundary wall. A quick backtrack shows me that I've marvelously lost my parents, who must have thundered on ahead. Of course, being young still, I did the first instinctual thing that came to my mind: clenched my fist, punched it upwards and shouted 'yes!'

Deciding to walk in the opposite direction (of course to reach them faster, not maximize alone time), my songs start to sound better and my pace picked up. From a brisk, slightly sluggish walk, I started to become a little more energetic. All right, fine. I'll elaborate. By energetic, I mean people began to swerve out of the way when they saw me coming, head bobbing along to my music. Walkers walked quickly to the side, a couple racing on a bike screeched to a halt and peered quizzically at me, and a jogger saw me, picked up his pace and ran flat out in the opposite direction.

Honestly speaking, it was amazing. Nobody was in my way when tried to act out the orchestral masterpiece of Charlie Brown with my hands and nobody tried to kill themselves (actually, can't be certain) when I tried to act groovy to Gangnam Style. Of course, while walking and bouncing I did enjoy the calmness of nature (which I essentially ruined for other early morning enthusiasts) and the tameness of nature, but what really made this a great outing, was the time I got alone to myself for a while. Much needed; much appreciated. Of course, I eventually did meet up with my parents, and ignored their horrified looks as their son shouted 'Hello' from 3 feet away to be heard over his music. But then again, their expressions weren't as bad as the other people standing/walking/lying down, completely stunned at the 6"4 menace romping about their morning paradise. Trust me when I say this: walking - c'est magnifique! 

Read More

Formula One - The Magic

The 2012 Indian Formula One Grand Prix took place yesterday on the Buddh International Circuit and luckily enough I happened to get tickets to go and see the 'heart-racing' event firsthand. And it was amazing. Unbelievable. Magnificent. Legendary. One of a kind. I don't really know if I've given it enough justice by simply describing it with adjectives, so I've embedded the video I took of the starting of the race with my iPhone. (web version only #ThoseWithOutdatedPhones.) 

To venture across the city to the Circuit, we risked travelling in the treacherous Metro. After fifty minutes agonizing minutes of avoiding strange and oddly long stares, enduring nasty elbows to the ribs and listening to mournfully old tinny songs in that lurching metal canister, we finally arrived. And the atmosphere was electric.
Instantly, the growl of revving engines in the distance mingled with the myriad waves of excited talk and ecstatic whoops to form an eclectic orchestra of sounds, at once overwhelming; at once inviting.

A hurried dash through a security, a frantic search for our block and finally we burst open through a narrow passage onto the Grandstand. Behold! The starting grid, resplendent in it's holy natural light lies in wait, the carefully marked positions eagerly pining for their cars. And at last, they arrive, flanked by red-clad pit girls,  engines ablaze, roaring in proud and strident bellows. The cars inch menacingly into place on the track and wait, tethered only by a bright red light, now a little fainter, now yellow, and now suddenly green, and with a crescendo of war cries the army of cars leaps forward, sucked into a vortex of cacophony, speed and pure power.

The concrete stands are no match for this display of incomparable power, and shake with fear to their very foundations. The air is rent with the trailing wail of the heated engines and the crash of the sonic booms ricocheting off pillars and supports. Moving at average speeds of 280 kph, the cars are already halfway across the track once you realize that it was them making all the noise and not a wild, enthusiastic band of metal guitarists with a new found love for 'jamming it up'.

What struck me as most impressive, however, was the speed, precision and ultra efficiency of the pit crews during pit stops. In less than four seconds, each team effortlessly switched out four full tires, cleaned the front visors, cleared the exhaust pipes, raised and lowered the main chassis, prepped the front nose of the car, handed the driver a bar of chocolate (well, they could have if they wanted to) and, in the case of the impressive display team McLaren put up, changed the steering as well. Wow. Three to four seconds. That's the amount of time I would take to wave hi to somebody from the driver's seat!

Clearly, the F1 race was one experience I'm going to cherish for a very long time, and one which I can hopefully repeat again in the future. It's been inspirational in its own way as well, which would be evident if you saw me trying to take the wheel of the car on the way back, and it makes me think about how difficult the sport is; how much training the drivers need; how amazing it would be to drive one of those cars! As for trying to replicate team Red Bulls' 2.6 second pit stop for Jenson Button? Right. Time to smile and wave readers. Just smile and wave.

Read More

Let The Sky Fall

  

The new James Bond movie, Skyfall, is near, and it's theme song is so amazingly melodious that I simply couldn't resist embedding it into this entry. Adele and Paul Epworth have together created a sublime masterpiece and one which plays every morning chez moi without fail! The manner in which the original James Bond riff beautifully blends into Adele's reverberating voice cannot be accurately captured by any amount of words.

Speaking of Skyfall, perhaps one of biggest events of October would be Felix Baumgartner's jump from the heavens towards Earth. How he ever managed to convince himself to rocket upwards into space and then proceed to plummet down into the earth's atmosphere is utterly perplexing, and naturally, incomparably awe-inspiring. As thrilling, globally acclaimed and novel as the experience was, and despite other claims across the internet, I still find his choice of words to mark the occasion perfectly suitable: 'Aaaaaaaaaaaah!' However, considering that he crossed the speed of sound, it's probable he didn't hear a thing!

In other news, Apple is predicted to release it's iPad Mini this week, which should be interesting. Considering that Steve Jobs resolutely stood against tablets the size of the Galaxy Note 2, Apple will certainly have to think hard about how they intend to pitch their new product. And finally, after what seems like decades, Microsoft has re-entered the realm of technology with Windows 8, which to be honest, looks refreshingly appealing with it's tiled interface and colourful menus. The only problem I could think of was the awkwardness of manoeuvring through the new operating system using existing hardware, like traditional mice, but the new Wedge keyboard and mouse look promising. 

Students from Paris are here, on the second part of the French exchange program at my school, and it's great to finally meet all the people I've heard so much about! Talking to my new amis has shown me just how different commonplace events can be in the eyes of another. It's fascinating. And at the same time, slightly scary. 

I recently added a whole new set of songs to my favourite playlists, including new types of genres, like songs by Train. Change in temperament? Change in outlook towards life? Or perhaps the most likely - a change in the restrictions placed to determine the acceptability of songs to listen to. Until I find the courage to blog again, cheerio, or as my new French friends in school might say, aurevoir!

Read More

On Top Of The World!

It's so unimaginably large.

Wow. I'm in shock. This is something so inexplicably overwhelming that the news itself still hasn't properly sunk into my mind as yet. But yes, I'm overjoyed! Computer Studies Top In The World! It's so difficult to actually comprehend that its an award for coming first in the entire world. 

I really have to hand it to the IT department at school - this year, it's really outdone itself. Two World Toppers in 2012, and in Applied ICT and Computer Studies nonetheless! Yeah, people simply cannot say we don't study in IT/CS anymore, can they? [With great teachers, comes a great responsibility to top] Quote now available for plagiarism. 

All right, since words to describe my feelings are rapidly crumbling into meaningless ashes in my mind, it's time to change topics. As this is a hugely delayed blog post, I have to lot to cover: alors, au travail! The iPhone 5 is out and I'm really impressed with its visual design as a standalone phone, especially the smooth edges and the beautiful speakers. Made entirely of glass and aluminium, this iPhone is going to be one you have to handle with care, although if you have got one, the odds are you would anyway, with or without knowing that!

One relieving bit of news I recently read in the newspaper is the widely appreciated decision to add on two more coaches to the Delhi Metro trains, from an earlier 6 to a much more comfortable 8. Honestly speaking, this is a welcome change, specially for students like me who have to lug about backpacks, water bottles, lab coats, charts and even plastic guns (cue Teacher's Day nostalgia), and have barely any place to stand let alone fight viciously in glaring wars with other travellers to get a nice dank corner. Two more coaches mean more place, more seats for the bulkier passengers and more eclectic assortments of bobbing heads to chuckle at from my vantage point at 6"4. Wow. I'm a 'metrosadist'. 

Summer officially finished a few weeks back, and now, as the earth lurches around the sun in its endless orbit, winter approaches. Winter is an important season for me, with multiple meanings for me. Winter banishes the glare of the sun, tinges the world a light shade of grey and maroon, dances in the crystals of frosty breath, mocks those with Boards exams, brings out the irony in listening to Coldplay and most importantly, allows untempered consumption of hot chocolate. Ah, the warmth in frigidity is amazing. It might be easy to see how these oxymoronic phrases can be attributed to literally being happy at 'the top of the world', although, in retrospect, maybe not that easy. Until next time, listen to Coldplay, avoid talking about 'grassroot levels' and beware of Science Week.

Read More

A Torrential Downpour of Life

If you haven't been to Delhi this month, don't bother trying anymore - it's more or less a gigantic puddle of water. Looking for us, the inhabitants of this modern day Atlantis? Splash, splash and splash, there we are right there, feebly wiping omnipresent droplets of water off the coats and plastic bags we sensibly use to cover our heads while dashing madly through streets. Despite being pelted by the almost daily outbursts of tears from grey clouds above, Delhi-ites are still remarkably oblivious to the forecast that is termed 'rainy' and still insist on proudly romping about the city without umbrellas. That's us - always well prepared! 

So it's no surprise to see people scampering for cover at the first sign of rain, ducking their heads and sprinting into each other. Neither is it much of a shock to see cars and trucks determinedly barreling down canals of water, soaking unwary pedestrians to a delightfully soggy pulp. However, this last week, the reign of rain has suspiciously subsided, leaving all us here warily peeking up at the sky in case there's a sneaky drop or two still in store.

Teacher's Day happened last week, and besides the fact that the show went off brilliantly and more or less as planned, I'm just glad everyone had so much fun. It's one thing to practice like crazy all over the place in school, but it's an entire thing altogether to have the audience itself laugh along with your jokes and cheer in tune with your performances. And of course, riding a broom on stage in front of the most dangerous people in school: that's definitely a once in a lifetime oppa-tunity! (#GangnamStyle for life!)

Clearly, from the last pun, it's more than obvious I'm obsessed with a whole set of new songs, ranging from old techno songs to recent random Korean pop songs. I've actually found a whole horde of old things to relive once again, from my favorite songs of ''ye old times' to old family home videos to laugh dementedly at. It's going to be a very enlightening month. Then again, this last week has really been an eye-opener for a lot of things, including, but not limited to, the things one definitely does not need to take for a school competition to another city. TV remotes, pillows, plastic packets of dental floss, 12 cell phones: no thanks, I'll pass.

Due to some 'miscommunication at unknown ends' I ended up missing one of the biggest computer events of the year and honestly, I'm quite hurt. I may not get the chance to attend next year and I just missed this one. Maddening. <shakes head in horrific self-loathing>

Along with some other interesting things (including one long conversation), I also finished something else - reading Douglas Adam's 'Mostly Harmless'. Not surprisingly, I deeply sympathise with his dismay at the ending of the incredible trilogy. Despite the fact that it ended on an obvious high, in a parallel dimension, with multiple renditions of characters and a cameo of another one of the potted plant's reincarnations, I wish the book didn't have to end. Sigh. Oh well. On to my next book. <makes Spock sign> Live long and prosper.

Read More

The Konami Code to Success

All right, I admit. I said I wouldn't blog till my exams were over. But honestly, you give a guy a long weekend, a suspiciously simple Chemistry test, and nothing but Physics to look forward to on Tuesday and he's bound to crack and start hopping about all over the place, eating buckets of food and pulling his hair out. So you can trust me when I say this: you're lucky I'm just blogging. 

Anyway. It's been an interesting week full of exams. I had two amazing math tests, which were thoroughly entertaining, and an english paper which I went over with a magnifying glass before I dared to start writing. (#EvilEnglishMondayTest). I can't wait to see my English teacher's reaction when she see's how I circled, underlined and rewrote in gigantic letters, 6 out of 8 of the words in a question. ...On seconds thoughts, I'd rather not.

An amusing virus spread through the virtual realm of Facebook today, in the hilarious form of 'What's App For Facebook', and sent itself to everybody by means of automatic invites and notifications. I think it's simply remarkable how some certain people <Ahem, I hope you're listening from your 'Corner of the Web'> could even click on such links when it's more than painfully obvious that it's referral spam. Sigh. What's the world coming to?

So my schedule these last few days has been more or less the same. Wake up at around 8, collapse yawning in different rooms of my house for 45 minutes, answer the SAT QOTD, eat something, open a book and glare angrily at it for a while, eat some more, watch Criminal Minds on TV, return to trying to make my books float by mental willpower, eat chocolate biscuits... and repeat until you get to a point where you would happily watch the ceiling fan rotate, just for something new. Congratulations. That's where I was last week.

On another more i-mmensely (nope, not a typo) random note, I recently upgraded my Mac to OS X Mountain Lion and honestly speaking, it's amazing. I deeply love how Apple manages to get the intuitive feel of an operating system just right; certainly something Microsoft seems to have forgotten with Windows 8. Safari 6.0 has exceeded expectations, especially with it's new Develop menu and web development tools. iTunes is doing well, considering I added 150 new songs to it in an hour and left it to try to create me a Genius playlist with the mood 'happy', although the inclusion of Linkin Park's Powerless didn't really speak well for it. Some things will never change.

One of the greatest surprises of the week was the discovery of 'Mostly Harmless' the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy trilogy. Yes, trilogy. Douglas Adams is right up on top with Bill Bryson and P.G.Wodehouse in my humour reading and I'm simply astonished that I can once again get lost, quite literally, in the world of Arthur Dent and the not-so-important planet of Earth. <!-- Controlling random outburst of joy -->

As much as I would love to keep going on and on about complete and utter rubbish, I'm afraid my time restraints think otherwise. So until I write again, remember one thing forever. Procrastinate now - don't put it off. 

Read More

Browsing Through My Mind

Nothing like a like a little browsing in tough times.

Having recently been pushed to investigate the realm of browsing, it's now evident that these four (to the right) are the most popularly used. Firefox is efficient with its add-ons, Safari is perfect with OS X integration, Chrome is beautiful with its simplicity and Internet Explorer... well, it's a wonder it still exists. My personal favorite is hard to isolate - it depends on its environment:

• Google Chrome on Windows XP/Vista/7/8. 
• Safari on OS X Mountain Lion (and previous builds)
• Firefox on older systems (any OS really)
• Internet Explorer when I accidentally forget to change the default browser, have a heavy concussion or am feeling particularly suicidal.

So. Now that I'm done with the technical part of this entry, it's time to move on. Hopefully, readers in favour of the amusingly coined term 'terrible technology' are still reading. My midterms are coming up and I'm feeling unusually preppy whenever the thought comes to mind. It's quite peculiar - the build up to any exam is undoubtedly a maddeningly irritating period of time, but the actual exam itself is almost always dollops of fun. Or maybe not. I've been told that's just me. <cough> <cough> Moving on...

The London Olympics are now finally staggering towards the finish line, having already 'bolted' through sprints and heats, 'shot' their way through rifle events and 'phelt' the adrenaline of swimming. As of the time of publishing this entry, the real Lord Of The Rings, the almighty Sauron of sport, is the United States, and India, looking upwards hopefully with four medals, closely resembles Frodo: barefoot and stumbling, but equipped with the potential to rise far far higher. #LOTRforlife!

These days, I've been scouring the net for information about Apple's infamous september keynote address, hoping to find some scraps of information about the new iPhone. I'm hoping at least some of the rumours of true, because piecing together whatever's lurking around on the net, it seems to have been put together with the image of an armoured tank in mind. Unless of course, shatter-proof, drop-proof, scratch-resistant, smudge-resistant and dust-repellant screens are pleasing to feel against one's ear. Who knows. Anyway, until my midterms rumble on by, it's arrivederci to all of you. Till then, inspect mutiple elements, don't divide by zero and keep your shoes in eyesight. They're very fickle.

Read More

Seven Curious Minutes of Horror

NASA has done it again: they've sent another Mars Rover to the crimson surface of Mars. Another Rover. To Mars. In search for habitable conditions for future human expeditions. Oh my god! The crazy space buff that I am, I just had to blog about it.

Sized at roughly the shape and build of a fairly large SUV, this new Rover, aptly named Curiosity, gets the enviable right to romp about the dusty terrain of the red planet, free to trample over what it likes, free to endlessly whirr about in circles and free to gaze up the Earth and moon. It's mind boggling. But what really takes the cake has got to be the completely self-intuitive, on board computer based, automatic landing system which activates itself once Curiosity penetrates the Mars atmosphere...and lands on its own. 

All right. So maybe I might be the only one holding my breath during the seven minutes the Rover remains out of radio contact while landing. Quite understandable. But the larger implications of this expedition are large enough to even make the most science detesting, wiry-haired and mentally unstable recluse put down his or her book about The Reasons Behind Suicide or something equally sinister, and rub their eyes in shock. Human expeditions to Mars. Hooray. More food for thought.

Read More

Kilothought: The Grand Millenium

If you could spot the painstakingly-difficult-to-come-up-with trio of hidden numbers in this blog title, then a thousand points to you and a virtual up-top! If not, never mind. You'll be forgiven, eventually.
So anyway, this is a much delayed blog entry on a whole range of topics, running the entire gamut from the 2012 London Olympics to my 1024th PageView on Tales From The Platypus. Nudge, nudge, time to raucously applaud!

Personal logs first. I've had a largely competitive last few weeks, having leapt into the foray of debates, quizzes, crosswords and online inter-DPS events. And well, at least some of them have been successful. I don't really know what to say about them: their results have gone from mostly dismal to near exemplary. I guess the average of the two is the only diplomatic way out, so combined they were all just 'mildly satisfying'. Moving on.
1024+ PageViews! <insert large never ending waves of applause here (I can dream can't I?)> It's good to know that somebody reads what I write, even if they do so reluctantly, with skeptical looks, bored open-mouthed expressions and fingers itching to press the delete button in their email inboxes, all the while wondering how or why they subscribed in the first place. To all of you, a large bow and gracious thanks. Yes, if you are still reading this, you do deserve it.
I recently saw The Dark Knight Rises, and it was undoubtedly one of the most amazingly epic, superbly thrilling, succinctly humorous, visually impactful and 'oh-my-god' awesome movies I've seen in a long long time. Clearly, I've been waiting to say that for a long time. Kudos to you Christopher Nolan. That was some seriously classy work.
The Olympics are finally underway and for some reason, when I saw the multi-coloured rings swing down atop the Tower of London, the LOTR theme song played in my head. Confusing, yet amusingly suitable. Real 'ent'-ertainment. Anyway, exams coming up, so time to adjourn my writing and fix up with my books: hooray. Sarcasm? Try to figure it out!

Read More

Oh My God-Particle!

The Higgs Boson. The God-Particle. The (actual) answer to life the universe and everything. As I am, undoubtedly, very late in rambling to my heart's content on this amazing particle, I'll just have to shorten the entire mess to five words - 'live long and prosper, Boson.'

Anyway, it's been a long and hard last month. I've had an onslaught of school work, a barrage of revisions on a <cough cough> debate, a cascade of events to peer quizzically at and a rampage of new topics in school. Frankly, I think the last is the most daunting.
One of the biggest shocks is definitely chemistry. Organic chemistry has officially arrived, but this rainy season doesn't have a discernible weather pattern. It's astonishing just how much can actually be done in forty two minutes of a chemistry class. (Hold on...forty-two?)

I think after all I've learned and relearned in the last few days, confusing emotions 'argon', leaving behind only a strong desire to wash my brain in the kitchen zinc. Maybe that's why I renamed my iPhone to 'Titanic' and watched it sync. Honestly, the rumors must be true - when you find confused chemistry students, you have no option but to barium.

Punny jokes aside, I recently had an enlightening conversation with a friend of mine. After idle talk, the most intriguing phrase happened to pop up in conversation - 'Pass the lasagna'. Of course, the thought of multi-layered thick cheesy Italian cuisine instantly wiggles its fingers tauntingly at my imaginative senses, effectively rendering them helpless, but the philosophical aspect of the words is almost as pleasing.
The fact that despite how much goes on life, at any moment we choose to look at, amazingly, there is still time to care about preciously small things like passing over a dish of lasagna (cue drool). Heartwarming; frankly, quite relieving. 

This large serving of a dollop of philosophy may certainly be a surprise on many a plate, but then again, what's the dark knight for if not for introspection and enlightenment? In fact, so strong is this empathy that I even considered staying up even later to find out where the sun went. But then it dawned on me.

Read More

Expensively Rustic Gold

Article Name = Who, What, Why: How Greece may switch currencies
Web link = http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18279522

Greece has been tumbling faster than water droplets would when angrily flung out of water bottle towards their target. And honestly, it's frightening. When entire countries begin to spiral out of control, simply because of their own internal debt and 'fiscal misallocation', one cannot help but wonder whether such daunting terms would find some way to haunt us personally as well.

The Eurozone has been swimming in a sea of loan receipts and IOU's, and many of the PIGS are dangerously teetering on the fragile borderline between order and chaos. Interestingly, an opinion greatly championed in other countries is the simple cost of production of the currency which is causing many issues in the countries themselves. Ironically enough, the cost of producing a one euro coin is 56% more expensive than the cost of a 100 euro bank note. No wonder the Greeks are stashing euros in safety deposit boxes and under mattresses and cushions.

Greece has a long way to go. It has to be able to sufficiently catch up with more stable Euro economies like Germany, although criticism on that one in particular is long due. Unfortunately, numbers and statistics and thrown in the faces of the Greeks almost every minute of the day: absolute budget deficits, the falling rate of monetary value, the probability of currency withdrawal, the probability of loan defaulting, the probability of a bestowed title of bankrupt, and perhaps the worst, the ever high probability of asking another country for complete and total domineering reparation. Like Rome. That would be amazingly ironic.

The reason why this is an article to follow is the high level of importance economics has in our lives. Unlike the sprawling equations of chemistry, the jumbled variables in math, the twisted proofs in physics and the computer-oriented study of ICT, economics is all around us and can be seen, felt and witnessed in action every single second of the year. In fact, the Greece calamity may in fact be minuscule in the face of larger economic crises, but since all giant leaps start with a single tentative step, there's no better place to begin than the Union battered by El Toro!

Read More

The Future Seems Black

Article Name (BBC) - RIM Delays Blackberry Launch and cuts 5000 jobs
Link - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18631702

This is a brilliant article I just read on BBC news and one that is certainly based on a topic I intend to closely follow for a while. But the question is - why? Research In Motion, or RIM, is the company that manufactures, owns and develops the dull black bricks they call Blackberries. But what is so immensely rib-tickling is the severe trouble facing the company that is so wonderfully embellished and accented in this article.

One reason why this topic, which can further be referred to as 'The Demise of the Fallen", is such a great one to follow and read more about is simply because it's relieving to know that not all is lost and that some semblance of normality still exists outside of this city. The reason why some people choose to waste large dollops of cash on Blackberries in Delhi is perhaps the most hotly debated discussion which can be initiated and deliberated upon anywhere and anytime. Hence, just as a soldier checks his magazines before war, a barber scouts his victim's hair before leaping in and a writer carefully procrastinates before composing, an active participant in this ongoing omnipresent discussion must be well aware of the facts he or she can add to his arsenal of verbal ammunition. 

'Not satisfied'. This is what the RIM's CEO had to say about the company's products, according to article. This scenario is remarkably similar to one in which the Captain of a ship disembarks, faces his vessel and begins to open fire in a thoroughly enjoyable and violent fashion. 'Brutal'. This is the term used to concisely and accurately sum up RIM's financial performance and creative competency. It's hardly surprising news considering the fact that it lost more than 43% of it's revenue this year. Note to self: try to incorporate these hilarious short sub-headings in used writing style to create as much of an effect as desired.

This article, like many of the same kind, is typically straightforward, factual and data-oriented. Perfect. Nothing better than skimming through a shortly paragraphed, lithely composed, stylistically written and well spaced article while pausing only to laugh at some further dismal performance values, charts and comparison reports. RIM, the future indeed looks black for you, and I will be charting your fall 'berry' closely. Pun intently intended.

Read More

The Reichenbach Fall Effect

So. The end of June, or rather, the end of summer, stealthily stalks near. You can tell it's taunting you, creeping silently on tiptoe just beyond your reach, dancing and twisting and laughing with exquisite pleasure, sardonically grinning and tormenting you. Fall is a season unlike any other. It lacks the joyous life of summer, the miracle of birth of spring and the incomparable warmth of family in the winter. It is the black raven of seasons, the haunting howl of the wolf and the shrouded green eyes of mystery.

Good. Now that we've established what an unpleasant and mind-numbingly disturbing period of time we are about to endure, it is equally important to gauge the value of the season we just spent senselessly frolicking in meadows or lying face down on tabletops like vegetables. I've written a lot of entries about summer, and how it's 'going to be great'. Let's think back, carefully, and ponder in hindsight. Was it? Cue drumroll, collective build up of voices and the omnipresent comedian drummer: ba-dum crash! NO! It wasn't.

Perhaps you're confused, perplexed, or worried even, about why you don't share these feelings. You may have been for instance, emphatically screaming 'yes, yes and yes', smashing things in frenzied excitement, or even hollering in russian over the phone to your closest friend during the last group cheer. Well, if you were, I'd advise a doctor or psychiatrist. Immediately.

Unlike most other long vacations, summer is probably the only one which can instil the Material Rejection Syndrome in a person's mind. Yes, you may certainly Google it if it pleases you. This effect, once imprinted in a mind grows at an unimaginable pace, causing you to vehemently detest even the most enjoyable experiences of your life, and unfortunately including ice cream and singing cats, and will make you seriously downplay their significance. This is a highly contagious mental state is most commonly and most easily transferred from one person to another at the end of summer where mournful wailing and shaky whimpers are all too often heard. The only prerequisite for transmission of the condition is severe emotional breakdown- equal in magnitude to the realisation a day before school starts that one has far more homework than one originally assumed. Curse that one.

The only thing that triggers this reaction more effectively is long term and incessant exposure to the colour red. (And you wondered why there was no life on Mars.) On earth, this can only be tested in one scenario: an interview with a bull from the ring. Naturally, we'd need sufficient proficiency in the famed language of Bull, but there have been rumours that men across the world are becoming increasingly skilled in conversing in Bull. ( Source: Wives, mothers and sisters across the globe).

Perhaps this could be an interesting field of further study and experimentation. In any case, it has provided a perfunctory explanation for the repulsively banal nature of this year's summer. In short, once infected with the Syndrome even dancing atop the Eiffel Tower with Micheal Jackson to a live performance of 'Staying Alive' would appear to be as appealing as waking up on the floor covered in bile and feathers. Unfortunate. And rather icky, don't you think?

Read More