Thursday, April 28, 2005
Three Point Someone - What not to do at IIIT... @
By Whoosh 2 @ 9:44 am      14 Comments
This one has been a long time coming..

My life at IIIT is nearing its end, and with that comes to a close an epic phase of my life.. My life as a student. But, I really didn’t want my final days as a student to end in such confusion.. But before I go into what all the confusion and crap is about, here is a snap of my institute that I love a lot (I mean, I love the snap a lot) ...




I am the kind of guy who doesn’t like abbreviations too much.. Even the name of my college, I don’t usually call it IIIT.. I instead prefer calling it with its full name.. But oflate, even I am not sure what the name of my institute is.. One day the institute is called “The Indian Institute of Information Technology” and the next day it is called “The International Institute of Information Technology”… It would have made sense to call the place “International” if Maria Sharapova or Sharon Stone were on the governing body, but as per the latest news in the official news bulletin “BackBytes”, the same old professors are going to continue running the institute - So much for being International..

Actually, doesn’t that name suck?? Reminds me of Hotel Balaji International. For all those who need to be enlightened about Hotel Balaji International - when I joined the institute about 2 years back, the hostel wasn’t ready.. Actually, the hostel was just a barren land.. The college had relocated to E-City from Whitefield... Guess the professor initially thought that rats and mongooses (is the plural of mongoose mongooses or mongeese??!!) were going to join the institute and a patch of barren land would be enuf, but as it happened, he was shocked to see human beings enter the institute and was forced to build a building - which was later called “The Hostel”..

But, as it took a good 10 months to build the hostel, we were put up in a 5 star hotel of international repute.. Its name - Hotel Balaji International. And as Chikuado would say, *me sighs*. The manager of the hotel, Mr.Ganesha, was a gem of a person and my blog would be incomplete if I didn’t mention him. Last I heard, he had flicked a good 6000 bucks from the cash register and had eloped with it. Hey, I just remembered, that guy owes me a hundred bucks too.. Well, guess that is a 100 rupee note that I wont be seeing anymore. This reminds me of the movie Serendipity.. But, I’ll talk abt that in another blog…

Ok, for the things that u shouldn’t be doing at IIIT, the first and foremost thing is you shouldn’t act like a jackass in front of your seniors who will be your TAs. The fate of such people is something that I neednt talk about… Actually, I would have been happy if someone had actually given me this tip when I joined the institute, but guess it is too late to complain now.. Now I know why I started off as a Two-point someone. Thankfully, the second and third sems didnt have student TAs and hence I could increase my standing to a three-point somone...

Now for a small flashback... Why did I join IIIT? Or rather, why did I take up the IIIT interview??? Till 2002, I was a pakka Chennaiite - meaning which, the only IT park that I knew was the TIDEL park. When IIIT brought out its brochure, they had printed a photograph on it. The photograph follows..




For all my money, I thought this was IIIT-B. I fell flat on my face and I decided that this is the place where I had to be.. Only later did I come to know that all that IIIT had was just a floor in this building which is nothing but the International Tech Park (ITPL). Grr.. Emaathitaangaiyaa.. Emaathitaanga..

Secondly, this was where we were supposed to be put up during our stay at IIIT. But as I already told u, we ended up at Hotel Balaji International..




Hey, Btw, the only reason we werent put up here was because the institute relocated to Electronics City from Whitefield and nothing else.. I am not blaming the institute here..

There was another snap that actually had me laughing. I noticed the goof up only after I joined the institute though.. The snap was this...




Take a close look at the laptop of the guy second from the right.. He has the log in screen on his display while taking notes in class..Hahaha.. Btw, to the best of my knowledge - in my 2 years stay at IIIT - I have never used my laptop in class except for browsing the net... I dont know what these guys have their laptops open for though...

IIIT will always have a special place in my heart. It was the first time I stayed in a "co-ed" hostel. Infact, it was the first time I stayed in a hostel. The co-ed part of it made it all the more great. But, that lasted only until we were in Balaji International. Surprisingly, the same set of guys who were more than happy to "serve and protect" the women folk from the dadas of Bommasandra, became the Dadas when we moved to the new hostel. Up came the Great Wall of Bangalore between the girl's block and the guy's block. That effectively put an end to some "close encounters of the third kind" happening in the premises.. But, last I heard, the Great Wall wasnt enuf to stop certain "close encounters of the fourth kind" from happening... Well.. as Kamal Haasan would say "Nadakattum Nadakattum".. :)

Oh Yeah, I forgot to mention about a certain thing called the "1000 rupee ID card". Siraj actually had the nerve to say that our ID cards cost 1000 bucks to make.. Yeah, as if! For all that fuss, I dont even know where my ID card is lying right now..

One nice thing about IIIT are the frequent dance parties that we have... aana prechanai ennanna, indha pasangala thaniyaa uttaa, chumma rendu kaiyaiyum thooki indha maathiri aada aarambichiduvaanunga.. Namma "appadi podu", "manmadha raasa" paatukelaam ingai mousu illai!!! :(




But all together, I must say I had a lovely time at IIIT.. After SSN College, this was the place that I liked the most.. Though, I can never say I liked it as much as I liked SSN, IIIT was still special.. As they say, u start to like a place only when u leave it, I think I will grow even fonder of IIIT, as time moves on...


PS: If we IIITians dont poke fun at our college, who will?? All done in good humor and not intended to hurt anyone. IIIT is a lovely place to be in and I had a gala time here...
14 Comments

Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Wow! @
By Whoosh 2 @ 9:25 pm      2 Comments
I actually inspired someone to blog... Hahahah... Check out Sonal's blog here..
2 Comments

Monday, April 25, 2005
Mortal Kombat @
By Whoosh 2 @ 1:14 am      17 Comments
Time: 1 am
Location: KPN Bus, Seat No 13
Place: Somewhere between Chennai and Bangalore
Starring: Vikkki, Guy in seat No 14

I have always wondered; when two seats share the same armrest, to which person does the armrest belong to? Whenever I go to the cinema theatre, this is the first thing that comes to my mind. I start thinking about this till the movie starts, after which I don’t care a damn about who places his hand on which armrest. But yesterday was different. I had to show who was boss…

After my weekend in Chennai, I was traveling back to Bangalore by the 10:30 pm KPN bus. My seat was the non-window seat No.13. In seat 14 sat another guy. Paakarathukku konjam bayangaramaa thaan irundhaan. Matter enna nnu keteenganna, rendu seat kkum common armrest. There started the problem.

Bus kalambidichi.. Naan seekaramaavey thoongiduvein, generally. Oru 11pm kku, driver paatu off pannittu dim lights on pannaan. Oru 1 o clock paathaa, yaaro enna thatti ezupuraa maathiri oru feeling. Ennadaa nnu paatha, namma seat 14 la irukura aalu was trying to push my hand off from the armrest. Hmm.. Seri, ponaa podhunnu solli naan konjam neram kaiya keela vechitein. Then I slept off. Thookathula, my hand must have automatically gone to the armrest, because after a while I felt the same feeling.. Yaaro ezhupura maathiri.. Paatha, once again that fellow was trying to push my hand off.. Enakku vandhudhu paaru kovam, with all my force I pushed his hand off the armrest and placed mine there. Every 5 minutes, he would try to nudge my hand off, aana naan vittukudupeinaa?? Chance a illai..Thiruppi pudichi thalli uttuttu irundhein. Thookam kadakudhu po, innikki indha prechanaikki oru mudivu kattanum nnu solli, thoongaama ukaaralaam nnu nenachein. Approm the prospect of not sleeping and going to the office at 8am dawned on me and it didnt look too inviting. Seri nnu, I just dozed off for a while. Idhu thaan chance nnu solli, that fellow made his move. That was that, This time I had to show him who was boss. I twisted my body to face him. Nudged his hand off the armrest and placed both my hands and one leg on the arm rest leaving him no place to even try to attack me.. Enna nenachittu irundhaan.. Yaar kitta modha try panraan avan!!! HA!

Vikkki
17 Comments

Thursday, April 21, 2005
9847168111 @
By Whoosh 2 @ 9:10 am      20 Comments
Late one night on the 100 feet road, a white Santro zips past the red signals. The Speedometer reads 110. The driver looks to be in a visibly upset state. Looking down he notices that the radio is tuned to 98.3FM. The Radio Mirchi RJ was hosting some programme for lovers. What an irony. He changes the frequency to the All India Radio. An emergency news bulletin is going on. Hearing the news, the driver breaks into a sweat….

Earlier that night, I was at Coffee Day with Shreya. The same Coffee Day where we had met four years back. (See my previous post titled Avazh to know how I met Shreya). The Tropical Iceberg I had ordered tasted all the better with her around. We spent around an hour there. I needed to go to the rest room and I excused myself for a couple of minutes. When I came back I saw her sitting at the table looking a bit restless. I noticed her cell-phone in her hand. There were two missed calls. Both the calls were from the same number - 9847168111. It wasnt a number I recognized...

"Hey, It probably is just a wrong number"

"No Vikkki. I have been getting calls from this number for the past one week. I know who it is. I spoke to him"

"What? Really? Who is it? And why do you look so tensed?"

"That was Siddarth. My ex-boyfriend. Not met him in over 6 years now. He wanted to talk to me. He wanted to get back together.."

"That's strange. And what did you say?"

"What do think I would have said? I said that there was someone else now. Thats why he keeps disturbing me with these calls... He has also given me an ultimatum. I get back with him, or he will decide my fate for me. I am not sure what he meant by that"
After a while, I left for home. After about half an hour she called me up and said that she had reached home. It was the courtesy call that she always gave - just for me to stop worrying about her journey back to her place. I reached my house and was about to hit the sack when I received a phone call...

"Hello. Is this Mr.Vikram?"

"Yeah. Who is this?"

"This is Inspector Ravi from the KK Nagar Police Station"

"Inspector? ....Yes sir, what can I do for you?"

"We found a cell phone on the road and your number was present in the 'Recently Dialled Numbers' list. The cell phone's number is 9847128290. Do u know this number sir?"

"Yeah. That's Shreya's phone. She must have misplaced it. I can hand it over to her. Where can I come to collect it, Sir?"

"Mr.Vikram. How do you know Shreya?"

"She is a very good friend of mine, Sir"

"Mr Vikram. We found a girl dead on the road. This phone was in her purse and we found your number in it and thats why we have called you. I am afraid, but I think your friend Shreya is dead. "

"What?? What are u talking about?"

"She has received a blow to her head with a blunt object. She has also received multiple knife cuts to her neck. We have found stab wounds in her stomach. Mr. Vikram. We need to make sure that this is indeed Shreya. I need you to identify the body for us. Please come to the Ashok Pillar junction immediately."

"Yes Sir, I'll be there.."
I got into my Santro and floored the accelerator. The Speedometer read 110. The radio showed the frequency as 98.3FM. The Radio Mirchi RJ was hosting some programme for lovers. What an irony. I tuned into All India Radio. An emergency news bulletin was being aired.

"A brutal murder has just been reported at the Ashok Pillar junction. A young girl, possibly in her early twenties, was stabbed to death just a short while ago. Eye witnesses say that she was attacked by a single person, but no information about the attacker has surfaced. The girl has a fractured head following a heavy blow to her skull. Inspector Ravi who is handling the case has refused to comment. The entire area has been cordoned off and tension is in the air. We will bring you further news about the incident as and when we get it.."
I reached Ashok Pillar. I saw her there. My lovely Shreya lay dead on the road. The brutality of the incident made me throw up. Shreya's parents were also there. They had told Inspector Ravi that she had met me this evening and that I was the last person she had met that day. Ravi approached me...


"We are not sure too. We initially thought that this was a robbery attempt. But all her belongings are intact in her purse. All the cash is still there and nothing seems to have been taken. Nobody saw the actual attack take place, but people say they saw a guy run away when they heard the girl scream for help. I am sure someone would have seen everything but no-one is willing to come forward. Vikram, do u suspect anyone?"

"I am not sure if this has anything to do with the case, but Shreya told me that she had been receiving calls from a number. 9847168111. She said that the caller was her ex-boyfriend Siddarth. She also said that she hadnt seen him in 6 years and that he had apparently threatened her to get back with him when she declined."

"Ic. 9847168111 eh? I'll run a check on the phone number and be back"
Ravi returned and confirmed that the number indeed belonged to Siddarth. He had called Siddarth on that number, but he didnt pick up. He got the alternate number of Siddarth from the mobile company. He called Siddarth at his Vadapalani residence and had asked him to come to the spot. Siddarth arrived within 10 minutes. He hadnt seen me before. But, I knew who he was...

"Hello Siddarth"

"Hello Sir.. How did all this happen?"

"We'll come to that in a while. When did u last meet Shreya?"

"I met her tonite Sir. She came over to my place in Vadapalani. We had dinner together."

"I thought she hadnt met you in over 5 years."

"No Sir. Who said that? We kept meeting regularly. I used to take her out often over the past 1 year. I last saw her one month back and next I saw her tonite. She wanted to speak to me about something. She called me yesterday and said she would come over to my place. She came and she left just an hour ago."

"Hmm. Achcha. Can I see your mobile phone mister."

"Yes sir. Here you go."

"What is the number of this mobile?"

"9886334223"

"Whose number is 9847168111?"

"That was my number sir. The phone got stolen two weeks back. Thats interesting sir. Shreya asked me about this number this night too. She told me that she was getting calls from that number and that the caller had identified himself as me. She came to my place to confirm if it was indeed me. Has that got to do anything with this murder??"
I took leave of the police. They asked me to come to the station the next morning for an enquiry. On my way back I took out my cell phone. I dialled my house number to inform my folks that I would be late. The phone started to ring at home and the caller line identification was flashing a number that my Mom didnt recognize. She picked up the phone.

"Mom. Vikkki here."

"Hey. Whose number is this?"

"Why? Mine."

"No. It is flashing 9847168111"..

That was when I realized my mistake. My first mistake that night. I had forgotten to replace the SIM card on my phone. It still had Siddarth's SIM in it. I had placed it in when I went to the rest-room at Coffee day to give her those missed calls.

I knew Shreya had lied to me about Siddarth. I knew she was cheating on me. I had seen them together often, but I hadnt asked her anything about it. I knew she was about to dump me and get back with Siddarth and that was something that I couldnt take. That was when I decided that the world wasnt big enough for the two of us. I laid out my plan. All I needed was Siddarth's mobile phone.

Getting hold of Siddarth's phone wasnt that big a deal at all. I just had to follow him around for a while. People these days are hardly careful about their phones. Fooling Shreya on the phone was easier than I thought. Just a gruff throat was all that was needed to have her believing that the caller was indeed Siddarth.

On my way back from Coffee Day, I bought a German Stiletto, arguably a good knife to commit murder with. When she called me saying that she had reached home, something told me that she wasnt at home. I decided to go to Siddarth's place. My suspicions were confirmed when I saw her come out of his house. She took an auto and got down at Ashok Pillar. I followed her closely making sure she didnt see me. I knocked her out cold with the cricket bat. A stab in her stomach and three slashes to her neck were all that it took. She wasnt going to cheat on anyother guy anymore...


Markiv.
20 Comments

Wednesday, April 13, 2005
'Appie Puthaandu.... @
By Whoosh 2 @ 10:59 pm      7 Comments
Anaivarukkum enadhu manamaarndha iniya tamizh puthaandu nalvaazthukkal... :)

Btw, en friends kooda ungalukku Happy New Year sollanum nnu sonnaanga...

[Rajni] Kanaaaa... Indha Puthaandu, Deepavali, Pongal, Karthigai Deepam, Gandhi Jeyanthi, Independence day, republic Day elaam kettu varaadhu.. thaana varum.. Vandhaalum yen-nu keka mudiyaadhu, ponaalum thadukka mudiyaadhu.. Idhu eppadi irukku?? Ha...haa...haaa...[/Rajni]

[Kamal]
Well Ah.. naan..NAAN.., indha naduvula 'iniya', 'magizhchiyaana' adhelaam pottukanum...en neyargal anaivarukkum en iniya tamizh puthaandu vaazthukalai therivithukkola virumbugirein... Amma Gouthami, engai ma irukkei.... [/Kamal]

[Chiyaan]
Engei sellum indha aandu... yaaro yaaro arivaaro... Girlfriend onnu ingai varumaa, yaaro yaaro arivaaro...[/Chiyaan]

[SJ Suryah with karuppu kannaadi]
BF - Best wishes For the newyear ;) [/ SJ Suryah with karuppu kannaadi]

[Jeyam Ravi]
Tamizh Puthaandu marandhein unaale..
April padhi-naalu muzhuvadhum marandhein..
Wish u a happy newyear nee sollu, vasiyam pannaadhei,
Tamizh Puthaandu...... muzhuvadhum marandhein.....[/Jeyam Ravi]

:)
Vikkki


7 Comments

Monday, April 11, 2005
6 vithyaasangal... @
By Whoosh 2 @ 9:16 pm      8 Comments
Spot 6 differences...

Duck!! Quack Quack

Saurav Ganguly!! Quack Quack

I couldnt.. Tell me if you could...

:)
Vikkki
8 Comments

Thursday, April 07, 2005
Bangaloooru! @
By Whoosh 2 @ 10:09 am      7 Comments
Bangalore is soooooooooooooooo beautiful when it rains.. Today was LOVELY!!!

:)
Vikkki
7 Comments

Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Kaathirunga Kaathirunga, Kaathukitei Irunga.... @
By Whoosh 2 @ 9:25 am      12 Comments
Alrite people.. I have to admit that I am still waiting, and I wonder how much longer I need to wait.... My friends have found it.. I am yet to..

It all started with A some 12 years back. Then came R. R and another A happened at the same time... But R was more close to becoming it.. When S came into the picture, things looked different. But when S actually happened, I didnt want it. Just didnt feel correct. I am still thankful I made the correct decision then... J made the entry at this point. J seemed soooooo correct and perfect. But, unfortunately for me, it just didnt click. J was followed by D. V also entered the scene at around the same time. But that was when I was hoping P would be it. But I later found out that P wasnt quite the answer. It was back to D and V. At this time, i chanced upon a different A. But that was short lived. Over time D and V have also faded...

Right now, I have decided that my search will either have to be terminated by some external influence soon or I will have to do some terminating myself...

I am waiting..

PS: All those for whom this didnt make any sense.... Freeya vidunga!!! :)

Vikkki
12 Comments

Monday, April 04, 2005
Spandan @ IIIT!!! Let's Log Out.... @
By Whoosh 2 @ 9:57 am      7 Comments
Wo man.. Had a nice weekend after such a loooooooong time...

Last week was a hectic one, but the nice part was that it ended on a great note.. Spandan, IIIT's annual "culturals" (if u can call it that - it is more like IIIT's annual 'everything')was held over the weekend.

My week started with the NFS (Need for Speed) competition, where I came in 3rd (he he).. Then came saturday.. The college was bright with orange colored Spandan shirts everywhere... The treasure hunt event started at 10 am. Pradheep, Kamya, Sonal and I teamed up. I called up Abi and asked her to come.. Konjam neram scene potaa that she has to go to work. Appuram she too joined us in full formal clothing (It was the first time I saw her in formals).. At the end of the 9th clue, we were ahead with 2 clues to go and with a 45 minute lead.. And then we blew it.. we got stuck in that clue and we didnt win :( .. Congrats to Gopi's team that won the event...

The same day we had Dumb-Charades (Dumbsi - for all us localites)... This time it was Pradheep, Abi, Sonal and I. I did the miming and the team was really great, given that this was the first time we played it together - they were able to understand most of my mimes... The first movie's name was "The Incredibles", the second was "Home Alone", the third was "From Russia with Love".. The fourth movie was fun.. I had to act out "Meet the Fockers"... I wasnt quite sure how to act it out... Yeah Yeah... I heard you.. I ultimately showed "the symbol"... but being very nice people, my teammates couldnt decipher the name of the movie.. :). But the funniest part of the entire show was when a friend of mine was asked to act out "Anaconda". The poor fellow thought it was some pre-historic ape man and he acted out like one.. No one in their wildest dreams would have guessed he was trying to act out an "Anaconda".. Man, that was funny...

That night was the Programming and Algo contest.. This time, Abi and I paired up and Kamya and Pradheep paired up and we made a team of four. The questions were very interesting and we got some good solutions for the problems... I dozed off at around 2 in the morning but Abi was awake till 6 and so were Kamya and Pradheep.. These guys again got up at 8 or something and worked on the code.. I leisurely got up at 11 after Abi sent 8 missed calls and 2 sms'.. Well, we ultimately could upload only 2 solutions before the 1 pm deadline...

Oh yeah.. I totally forgot.. We practiced for a dance, but we couldnt put it up because of lack of preperation.. Velai romba adhigamaa irundhudhu last week.. So, andha plan veenaaapochi!!

The culturals went off nice.. Donny's guitar (Bow!!!), Gaurav's song (Bow!!!), Pankaj's Congo (Bow!!!), Arshad's telugu song and Srini's dance were all lovely....

It was probably the best weekend for me @ iiit!!!

:)
Vikkki
7 Comments

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