raghav's diary (like anyone wants to read..!!)

Finally....

2006-04-22T13:17:00.000-07:00

First of all sorry to the gods of bloggin that i was out for some time...Whew so i'm back..in a world of bloggers who post every day..here's me who posts once in a blue moon(thats pretty rare i guess)..but yeah people do like my blog.they leave me comments, some dude actually left me a comment sayin i was full of shit. well i agree.( if you're readin

this buddy...well it takes a dog to understand another if you know what i mean).
Why else would i not find time to update this blog. and some people actually come up to me tell me they're actually waitin for the next post..well i'm flattered to say the least. well, i've been busy lately. end sem exams, toefl etc etc..Here's a wrap up of the things that went on..

Heidelberg Sponsorships 2006

The story goes like this. Heidelberg is the biggest, most respected company in the printing industry (kinda like the microsoft of the print world)...machan, its like you need to be in the printing industry and understand the subtleties of printing until you can actually appreciate the beauty and precision and quality of a heidelberg printing press...its the ultimate..!!!!!...
Those guys started their operations in india 50 years ago. to commemorate that they wanna sponsor students to visit the Print Media Academy in Germany. well, they're a sensible lot...so they sent letters to the top printing institutions in the country (of which my dept is a part of..) sayin that they wanna send dudes to germany and they gotta be studious and communicative and all that blah blah blah....so they had this selection process and by god's grace i've been selected to go there...i'll be travellin there with the nine of the best in india(how the hell did they select me then?)....cheers to heidelberg india for this opportunity to visit the mecca of printing. Well comin back to our post..lets see...the interviews were fine..they asked me questions like..

1. Do u help your mom at home?
I really wanted to say: Hey buddy, why do ya wanna know?...your kid don help you at home or what?

2. How confident are you?
I really wanted to say: Well, errr, hmmm....nah...not really..but yeah kinda....

3. Where do you see yourself ten years from now?
I really wanted to say: Oh yeah?..where do YOU see yourself ten years from now?.....

4. Your special area of interest in the Print world?
I really wanted to say: Printing a 20 feet by 20 feet hoarding of Aishwarya Rai and hangin it outside my dept...

Apart from that preparin my resume was quite a job..will upload it online soon..so you can see all my vandavaalams and thandavaalams...but yeah talkin about the trip..they'll pay for everything..visa, transportation, accomodation, course fees etc...so if you want something from
germany you'd better leave me a nice comment or maybe take me out for biryani or something like that...be nice to me buddy..well, i'll be seein the best printing machines in the business..for those of you who arent in the groove..the machines i'm talkin about arent one's that'd fit on top of your lap..actually speakin, a lap around them would leave you panting and puffin...(think big)...i wonder if they've got any nice things ;-) in germany..so far i've heard beer is cheaper than water there..(ok dad..i know you're readin this..but sorry i wont be able to sneak a few cans back)...will be leavin sometime in July.

TOEFL

This was a surprise cuz i never intended to write this before my GRE (now when am i gonna write that..??)..consider this..i booked my toefl on a saturday and wrote it the comin thursday. that was quite a thrillin few days..why did i decide to take that risk...?..everytime i told people i was gonna take the new toefl (toefl patterns are chaning this year) they would give me a nice vector transformation of their greasy visage..all of a sudden their eyebrows would reach an angular deviation of about 375 degrees and their eyes would reach circumferenctial register correction of 6 inches...so after i got this rather scary thing from about six people i changed my mind..i began runnin around lookin for material to study from..i had to still figure out a lot of the differences between the 'ises' and the 'wases' and the 'ings' and 'tions'...some very delightful softwares later i was ready for the test.

on the day of the test....there were a few things i learnt

1. They give you a key but you're not supposed to use it..but after that there's this tall guy with greasy hair who told me to use it to open the locker or something like..i was too tense to even comprehend what that guy was saying.

2. Dont 'look around'..if you know what i mean.

3. Even if you're the onnu veetu machan of Bill Gates's pangaali you'd better treat that computer they give you with respect...those guys know a few neat keyboard keystroke combos to start and end the test and all that...should memorize them..during the GRE ...maybe..

4. On the whole stop thinkin about everything you'd normally think about (example: mallika sherawat, asin , jothika, F1 racing, football, indo - pak relations, nuclear deals between countries, your girlfriend, spidey underwear, that babe you saw in the bus etc etc..)..and think only of the test...

well i remember the moments before i clicked the submit button. the usual heart in your mouth feelin..and then i clicked...seemed like a lifetime before the score came on screen.
243 - 300....thats full marks....:-)...so the dude cracked his toefl after all.....
P.S. waiting for essay scores..:-)

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MOVIES

Well, i did see a few of them..here's the last word on a few that are worth mentioning

Thirupathi: Whew..where do i start..this one's a real perarasu riot. its got some good action and the usual punch dialogues but on the whole........ Crass...

Narnia: Mind blowing stuff...for a fantasy freak like me this movie was a treat..

Being Cyrus: Superb cast, Slick editing, Stylish narration, Cool dialogues (aana enakku konjam indha padam puriyave illai...)

Chithiram Pesidhadi: Now this was a nice movie..i like it when the director has no pretenses about what he's showing..he says its a simple movie and simple it is...!. technically cool ...lighting is exemplary...nice fresh star cast..unconventional ending...the vaazhameenu number deserves the accolades its getting...

Pattiyal: Blood, Gore, Mindless violence...but yeah kinda ok..but not so good..but kinda bearable ..but actually...errr......

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well, so that wraps this comeback post...i hope i update often from now on...keep those comments comin...!!..may the force be with you..!!...exams you ask?..cha cha...ada pathi ellam kettu asinga paduthaadheenga pa...

Am back with another post...!

2005-12-30T08:29:00.000-08:00

oops..sorry..i know its been a long time ..but yeah things havent been too easy...been a little busy lately..but hey people..i'm back and am here with yet another set of adventures..!..i did a lot of things through the holidays and am here to amalgamate all that into one blog..but people..this aint just another blog...its what experts call 'A SUPERBLOG'..( ok ok...you dont have to remind me to shut up..)..
first of all lets start with my...

INDUSTRIAL TRAINING:
whew..the run up to this was gruelling..literally..i neednt remind al of you that the girls of my class are mega (giga, tera) pandus..it beats me as to how they pack all that 'mug factor' into their oily scalps....they went to our venerable industrial co ordinator(also one of my favourite teachers in college) and booked their training dates and companies...we boys were immersed in more wordly pursuits..( well, i was in the sparks rush if you remember)..after the exams the cruel truth dawned on us that we had to go for training as well..me and a few of my buddies put our heads( *combined brain mass less than 1 nano gram*) together and tried to gain entry into a good press..the first press however didnt
inform us that they didnt wanna give us permission. they instead told our sir three days late that they suspected our students of 'industrial espionage'...my ASS...!...most guys who go for training are so busy lookin at the watch or dozing off leaning on some pile of press sheets that they dont have time for the industry..let alone have time for the espionage..we then forwarded a letter to a press in velachery. that too was rejected cuz they were in the middle of some dumb ass audit.(periya nasdaqla varaporanga paaru..audit pannaranga.....)
then finally i got a letter from some press in the middle of nowhere that we had been accepted..the first day i went there to give my letter accompanied by two of my buddies...if you've never heard of a place called royapuram and you're asked to go there for 15 days to a smelly, noisy press..would you even consider it....?(you would probably be plannin wrestling move sequences as the idea was put across to you)..but Me..i had no choice..i gave my teacher a very helpless look..but he said just one thing..

"raghav..go...and you'll realise that some things in life happen for good"
so there i was travellin..to some hell hole..the first day i went for training i discovered there was a direct bus there...(whew wasnt that a relief...!)...as far as the technical stuff goes our presss was straight out of the stone age..all old machines..but we were allowed to play around with them ..unlike our other unfortunate friends who had to jus sit around wherever they went...cool stuff about the place we went to....
1. they allow us to play ping pong with all the rollers and cylinders

2. the super cool MD of that place

3. they give us tea two times a day..( good tea if i may add....)

4. the food at a nearby place..(i put on four inches...)

5. the unit at tollgate..( the place tollgate seemed like some 'star wars' planet to me..far and alien..)..so i had fun having all those lightsaber duels with myself...( i did make a few operators gimme a really wierd stare when i made a classic, nasal, darth vader style "PWOWWWW' on my imaginary saber....)

6.my two friends who accompanied me there...time poradhe theriyalai..

7. a really really cute girl in the accounts dept there(i hope my girlfriend is not reading this;-)

and now for the things that really sucked....

1. the smell and the noise of loads of ink and machines all around you..( but sigh....thats a part of being an engineer i guess..)

2. a place called kasimedu..( smells of shit everywhere..)

3. the fact that the press is not under one roof...( its spread over royapuram, kasimedu, tollgate and madhavaram..)

4. the place at madhavram is a solid 3 hours from my house....my backside flattens out after that long a journey by bus....
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apart from all that..towards the end i knew i had increased my knowledge about the printing industry ten fold..as my sir said , all things happen for the good..i disagree....all things happen for the BEST.. once in two days we met the MD and gave our report to him..as he went through it i could feel my heart in my ass...then he slowly said...
"excellent work raghav..this is what i expect from professional course students such as yourself.."...

and the rest is history...

THE MOVIES I SAW:
i saw a lot of them..no time and space for all of them here..but i'll just include one liners about my take on them..for more in depth reviews meet me..:-)..
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE:" this movie is a must see for harry potter fans..amazing..but some parts leave you asking for more...for eg: the quidditch world cup"
KANDA NAAL MUDHAL: "cute, sensitive, funny, technically brilliant and nice....but dont go if you're not really INTO mushy love stories"
DHAVAMAI DHAVAMIRUNDHU: "should be appreciated for its realistic theme and execution.but strictly for people who use hair dye to conceal the grey"
KING KONG: "breathtaking and awesome...but not for people who wanna 'get it over with' fast......."

HOME DELIVERY: "dont watch this even if its tickets are free and are delivered home on a golden plate..the ticket is not worth the paper its printed on..and i know a lot about paper....."

MR YA MS: "time pass..thats all...few laughs here and there...."

OTHERS:
attended an interview for a german internship andd orientation program..I wont blog about that until the results come..so until that blog..see you all ..and may the force be with you all through 2006..happy new year..!!

24 hours..Three movies...!

2005-11-21T01:32:00.000-08:00

yeah yeah..the sparks blog generated a lot of interest..i had a lot of 'porumai' to sit and write those paragraphs..but it was nice re-living sparks..moment by moment..kinda helps me figure where we screwed up..:-)... lot of people asked me why i didnt update my blog after that..well here's the next post..and first of all..my computer is worse than my grades and my teeth..hard to decide which one is more problematic..now that we're talkin about teeth..here's some raghav trivia for you..i've actually had about six teeth pulled out from my mouth..i used to eat a ton of chocolate per week when i 'was' a kid..(well, i still am..but we'll reserve that topic for later..)
now talkin about the end sems..nothing much to say about them..jus went in, did what i could..actually tried to make my handwriting look legible..(now that deserves a medal..don ya think?)..my friends wil tell you i have the worst handwriting this side of the southern hemisphere..most of the exams were ok..except for a few bloopers here and there..my 8085 processor architecture was something like a cross between HAL and R2-D2..but never mind..he's not gonna read my paper anyway..another blooper in the printing inks paper was that i wrote a whole six pages about dyes and then at last i read the question..it was about pigments..well i kinda almost 'dyed' there but to hell...all that stuff looks the same only..put a few lines here and there and make it look nice..add a few of those hexagons with the lines inside ( i guess they're called benzene rolls or some crap like that...)..and put lots of 'C' alphabets all around that structure and voila..!...you got yourself a diploma in organic chemistry of printing ink...
well after the exams i had the pleasure (AND the displeasure) of seeing three movies on the same day..
MAJAA, SIVAKASI........ and for good measure , and english movie called SKY HIGH..(this one's yet to be released)

MAJAA:

it is by now common knowledge that majaa is the remake of the malayalam blockbuster by shafi called, 'Thommanum-makkanum'.....consequence?.....majaa has something most tamil movies dont have..A STORY... ( and of course a plot).. majaa's strength is its cast...i've always enjoyed seeing vikram on screen and even in this movie he doesnt disappoint you,,after doing anniyan..i guess majaa was a rest cure of sorts for vikram..he essays his role with ease..Pashupathy is undoubtedly one of the best actors we have in tamil..in the past he's been underutilized and been cast as the baddy in all his earlier movies screamin his nuts out...in maja he has the audience in splits throughout. manivannan and vijaykumar are always known for their effortless portrayals on screen..they impress in majaa..asin..kollywood's latest 'blue eyed girl' does what she does best as vikram's love interest..i e ..comes and goes and looks good..the pair for pashupathy...(now where have i seen her before)...vidyasagar's songs are humworthy but the re recording is slightly jarring at times..my favourite song was the soft 'solli tharava'..the 'chee chee chee' song has drawn a lot of flak from people cuz of its lyrics..but a fabulous rendition by shankar mahadevan saves it..another very good thing about majaa..the costumes..this guy called Chaitanya Rao is creating a name for himself in the industry..all vikram's floral shirts are designed by him..as far as pashupathy's pair goes..(now where have i seen her before..?)...vadivelu is his usual self.... loud, crass and tries to make you laugh at times..murali..the malayalam actor who's now become a known face in tamil is the raayar..the big bad man of this movie...he's cool..the fights are great..nice work by the stunt dude..whoever he is..the fight which has vikram against those two goons..RAMUDU and BHEEMUDU in particular is a treat to watch...they keep screaming this ...." AAI POI ADRA..".(telugu anyone?..)..majaa is full of what they call 'timing comedy'..usual dialogues punctuated here and there with some sarcasms and jokes..on the whole a laugh riot....
majaa is the story of two brothers adi and madi (vikram and pashupathy) ..they're adopted by manivannan and they're a bunch of petty theives..they decide to give up theivery and come to a village where they meet vijaykumar and his daughters..he's a troubled man..in debt..and he's incurred the wrath of the Raayar..(murali)...vikram and pashupathy get mixed up in this whole thing when they try to help them..pashupathy develops an interest for vijaykumar's daughter..(now where have i seen her before..) and vikram for..yeah you got that right...The daughter of the RAAYAR himself who is Asin..all the intricasies of how the raayar came to hate vijaykumar's family and all that stuff is shown to you..then there's this part about a traitor within the raayar's house..all that said and done..majaa is the story of how vikram saves the day..beats up all the goons..gets the girl and then alls well that ends well..
where does majaa fall flat...yeah there're a few places..the starting of majaa is very disjointed with scenes being hurled at you..after the first song the movie kinda becomes ok..the re recording as i said wasnt too good..but much better than some of the movies i've seen before..manivannan is shown to have his first peg at six in the morning and he drinks continuously till the end..(man... some ngo promoting non-alcoholism's gonna have a field day..!)..towards then end the story drags and the scenes are painfully long and ful of sentimental dialogues..what began as a laugh riot becomes a mega serial..!on the whole majaa is worth a watch..verdict,,...."NOT BAD"..

SIVAKASI:

convincing me to see this movie took a lot of coaxing..perarasu is known for his style of commercial cinema..thirupachi being a hit..he gives us yet another mix of sentiment, song, dance , fight and romance with sivakasi..vijay reinforces his ' mass hero ' image with this movie..there're not too many plus points in this flick..but yeah..perarasu knows the pulse of the people..all the actors who've recently impressed the public and struck a chord with the masses, they're there in sivakasi...the kaadhal small boy, the vaazhavandhaan character from the movie RAM ..(kindly adjust..i dunno his name..)..chitti babu of 'comedy time' fame and bhaskar of chinna pappa periya pappa and selvi fame..bhaskar in particular is a great actor and is very versatile..vijay as i said does what every commercial hero should do..fights well( fights in this movie are great), speaks long dialogues and cries cuz his mother and sister are in trouble..best thing about sivakasi is of course my favourite actor prakash raj..he's the bad dude here.asin as usual..looks cute...sigh..perarasu strikes a balance between sentiment and action and the romance is thrown in for seasoning i guess..the lady who played 'sorna akaa' in dhool is back here as...(now try to pronounce this.....)...MOOLI MUNGAARI...(well obvously i dunno what that means..)..she's the loud mother in law of prakash raj.she's gonna give a few of those prime time mega serial evil mother in laws a complex..:p..great dialogues..after all ...most commercial ventures survive on the so called 'punch' dialogues..sivakasi has a lot of them..
sivakasi is a much easier story to tell than majaa..vijay and his brother are not on good terms since birth..prakash raj is the elder brother and in star wars baashai he 'shows signs of the dark side' from a very early age...:p..there's some problem for which vijay is blamed for..he runs away from home and comes to chennai as 'Sivakasi'..after that he meets and romances asin..circumstances force him to return to his old village and there he sees praksh raj wrecking havoc..after that its all guessable..vijay swears to teach prakash raj a lesson and he does just that..its the usual formula of a set of sequences where the villain is made to look like a third grader in each..alls well that ends well..
sivakasi is certainly a nightmare for those who look for 'meaningful cinema' and all that..but its a commercial winner..every scene has vijay in it and he does something extra ordinary(seriously..you should see that scene where he flies over the top of all those buildings..newton?...you reading this buddy?)..the music of sivakasi is in a word.."LOUD"....the re recording is bad..the 'kodambakkam area' song was ok..foot tapping....verdict...
WATCH IT..BUT DONT LOOK FOR MEANING OR LOGIC..

SKY HIGH:

sky high is the latest offering from the house of disney..its your usual kids movie..super heroes, friends, love...saving the day..that kinda thing..sky high is a very fresh movie in terms of cast and concept..the only known face in that list was kurt russel who played the lead in movies like 'soldier' and all....
sky high is the story of the school for super heroes called sky high..located in the sky..duhh..
now.... the commander and jetstream are the world's best super heroes and they have a son..Will Stronghold...his father hopes that young willie will go to sky high and become a super hero like him..but willie has a small problem...he doesnt have any powers as yet..neverthless he's sent to sky high...the sorting ceremony there is called POWER PLACEMENT..(yeah just like harry potter..)...here the students are grouped into the Heroes or the Sidekicks class...Willie lands into the sidekicks class..he now has to cope up with the pressure of the being the son of the world's greatest super hero and having no powers..sky high progresses with the return of the Commander's one time arch enemy..ROYAL PAIN..(nice name..)..after that what happens and whether willie eventually gets his powers and saves the day is the story of sky high..add to that a good portion of high school stuff like girls, bullies, enemies and ball dances..thats the stuff in sky high..nice movie..it actually got 3 stars out of four in the new york times review..reasons for that include a very nice story..new concept.. good clean humour and lots of fun..there's some nice sentiment and all added..verdict..
NOT FOR THOSE GUYS WHO'RE TOO OLD AT HEART AND THINK COMIC BOOKS SUCK..IF YOU'RE YOUNG AT HEART AND LIKE SOME GOOD CLEAN FUN. ..ITS A MUST SEE..
the closing lines of sky high are great...here they go..they come from willie's mouth..
"what a year it has been, my girlfriend became my arch enemy, my arch enemy became my best friend and my best friend became my girlfriend..but hey.thats high school..!"
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yeah well, thats what i gotta say about those movies.. now sivakasi and sky high actually had something in common..in sky high the hero has super strength and super speed...so does vijay in sivakasi..(or so it seems..)..now did vijay go to sky high..thats another concept for you..!
so until the next post...keep those comments pouring in..and may the force be with you..!

The trail that we blazed at Sparks!

2005-11-10T10:59:00.000-08:00

long time since i posted something. my computer had a problem and i had a hard time convincing the folks at home that hard discs 'cannot' and 'do not' burst open when they have a lot of stuff srored in them. well, lets leave all the unpleasant stuff out fot the time being. the highlight of the past week was Sparks. the cultural event by the CSAU for school kidz. in a word it was GRRREEEAAATT..
we had postponed the event by a week cuz of the 'varalaaru kaanadha mazhai' in chennai..talk about murphy's law..it was sunny and sandy for six days...and exactly on the friday(eve of sparks) it started raining..but the senior executive team of the CSAU of which i'm a part of decided that mazhai or not..sparks would happen..
the run up to sparks wasnt too eventful (of course you'll have to count out the times when those poor first years wanted to murder me for putting 'mokkai' during those meetings..:p)...yeah.. we have a dedicated team this year..guys wanna work..but whats strikin is that the girls worked too...(now thats something to be proud of...:p..)...ok lets leave the gals out of this and get on with this post...we planned seven events..can you get that..SEVEN whopping events on one day,..i
knew that screwing up the schedule was inevitable..but this is what happened on sparks day...

0700 hours: i walk to the MBA audi..its locked..sunil waits( lemme tell you something about this guy..he has a fascination for dead spiders and live tadpoles.he actually took a few to his school in a box)..and poochi (no..he wasnt bought in a box) a.k.a Senthil approaches..me and senthil spend ten minutes cursing the auditorium attendant who hasnt come as yet. we asked him to come by seven..but god knows what he was up to the night before..unfortunately i cant put that swear session between me and senthil here cuz someone might bookmark my blog for objectionable content..

0730: some more first years arrive..and also all those over enthusiastic participants who believe in the supersition that the first person to register for the event has an advantage..whew..they actually faced the pourin rain for sparks.. i was touched..a few others arrived..sri charanya in particular..another rant rampage followed..someone should actually record that gal's voice when she's angry and put it on the pc..you should see those graphic equalizer bands go beserk..anyway..we were all gettin really worried cuz mr. auditorium still wasnt in sight..the sound system guys however arrived on the dot!

0800: out there..its zorro ...no... its probably the batman..nah..batman doesnt ride a bike..it must be john abraham from dhoom....no its..............................................LAKSHMI NARASIMHAN...yeah the guy with the indomitable spirit arrives on his bike carrying the freshly printed banners for the event. senthil is still ranting about mr. audi..more participants arrive,some come in hordes in school vans..i sense that there'll be a good turn out..but what good is a turn out when the audi is still closed..

0830: participants are fallin from the sky..there's a lot of people standing out the audi now..i start gettin a bad feelin about the whole thing.jus then my collins calls..he says two words that gimme more pleasure than all the stuff i've heard in my life (stuff from girls included)...he says..." HE'S HERE"...
the man of the mba audi mutters some excuse about the mrts trains not stickin to timings.well, we forgive you dude..we're too busy worryin about starting the event on time to scold or berate you..
0900:all our computers arent workin. anto's has a problem with the mother board..ramanathan's has a problem with the keyboard..the new keyboard isnt compatible with the old computer. my hard disc isnt fitting into anto's computer..another computer is bought in..it has problems with the monitor.maybe it didnt like the guy who was banging on the keyboard or something like that..the point is..the computer society was having problems with all its computers.some tweaks later one of those ibm's finally staggers and the display appears..by that time we've started manual registration..should commend a few first year girls for havin the teancity to start it..( preethi in particular..;-))..meanwhile the sound is ready and the guys are doin the usual 'check 123 ' thing.

0930: santosh and i are having a fight over who'll declare the event open..the audi is practically overflowing. lenin sends me on stage with the mike and i start proceedings with a line.."welcome to sparks" and thats all...most of the guys were surprised that the motormouth was saying so little..i was too tense to say anymore...my flash presentation rolled to U2's vertigo..finally sparks was underway..
QUIZ prelims start uneventfully..the presentation scrolls by and the audience answers..asad looks on..
meanwhile i loosen up and look around..i was so busy getting things organized that i hadnt had a chance to 'survey' the crowd...as soon as the quiz prelims finished i was on stage again..lookin at that girl there..this girl here...nothing impressive..so i go to the RCC and get the dumb c prelims orgainzed..the dumb c team was a smooth as a ferrari ..no glitches at all...this time i get into the groove while giving them the rules of the dumb c prelims..the audinence starts likin it...:p..

1100: things are going on fine..all events just going on and on..we have a multi session impromptu but in the end make sure everyone gets the question paper..thanks to anto's resourcefulness in actully trying to make our printer work..i said this..
"ok ladies and gentlemen..the CSAU is not only the oldest and largest tech organization here..its also the only organization that has a printer of its own.."
1200:snacks arrive..and the volunteers dig into them like starving vikings...cakes and puffs looked so appetizing considering the fact most of us hadnt eaten since morning. the oddz and end prelims start in the rcc..i call up collins who has just started eating and tell him that the rcc is LOCKED..the poor dude panics, rushes and drops his plates to find me in the OPEN room putting mokkai..(machi if you're reading this..sorry..will buy you a free lunch some time..:p..)

1300: company chaos concludes smoothly..the nepali dude..( or maybe manipur..i dunno where he's from..)..he and vinod do a good job of controlling the 100+ crowd in room 111. some of the teams actually made references to me in their drawings..check this out..there was fitness equipment ad showing a fat guy and thin guy..and the caption was..RAGHAV BEFORE..RAGHAV AFTER..i mean guys..i know you're creative and all but you need eye check ups..i can re commend a good doc..in other words.."who sez i'm fat!"...a very perturbed lenin leaves the audi to prepare for his GRE..

1315: Jam finals start.i initially play it safe..let asad do the talking but as the game progresses i loosen up and begin wisecracking...both asad and me do a great job as moderators...audience was in splits throughout the show..it did take a long time to finish but duh..when you got me on stage things are bound to get delayed..especially after one guy there keeps making references to me and my shirt..(thanks for choosing that shirt dad...).one of the catch phrases for the jam finals was.."Raghav is King"..thankfully asad stopped with that...senthil's buzzer rulezz.. that dude's gonna be famous some day and i some awards ceremony i'm gonna go up to him and call him 'poochi' in front of all the presspersons:)..vijay and others did a good job of the prelims..

1500: dumb c couldnt have been smoother than that..suda and harini conduct the event nicely..i look on..posing for photographs..and convincing students and teachers to stay..

1600: the quiz begins. cool quiz team this year...i dunno much about this event..could answer a few questions during the whole thing..being around asad and senthil has certainly helped hone my quizzing talent..for years i used to wonder what was goin on..but now..i can answer two or three q's outta thirty in all quiz prelims..:p..
one incident happened during the quiz and i still dunno why...i walked into the auditorium and the audience roared. duh....i know i'm famous and all that..but roar just because i walk in..i thought i'd finally done it.. i.e given everyone mental disease with my idiosyncracies....well, i knew it was a matter of time before this happened..but out of the blue something blue and long hit my face..it was a perk bar..on the display on the stage i could read the words.."GEORGE BERNARD SHAW"..god only knows what was going on..all i know was that as soon as i got that ..someone snatched it from my hand...

1700:snacks arrive again and this time i dig in like there'll be no dawn..some of the students watch my eating style and are repulsed..a group of girls convince me to give them their prizes early.i call a very reluctant sri charanya and anto on stage to give away the prizes..man..it required some real good persuasion to convince sri charanya to give the prize..but yeah..in the end she agreed...navina storms in with some story about the teacher not willing to see her project..jayashree comments on my shirt..balaji sits with a nice book..studying i guess.. collins does a pro job of impromptu and web D finals..they go on nicely

1730: oddz and endz start..goes on nicely..i really take a few of them apart..in shipwreck its tough to answer the questions i pose..i had some fun with a few teams..jacking them right on the spot..as usual audience in splits throughout the event..i felt sorry to have disappointed ganesh and the oddz an endz team but hey..the audience loved every minute of the 2 rounds we were able to have..

1835: well, to end the day..Mr and Ms sparks...i have to hand it to this all female team..they somehow came up with the finalists..even after disappearing during the morning session and we frantically hunting around for them...so we have five contestants..the first round was again shipwreck, again stupid questions from me and asad..but the audience likes it as usual....
the second round is a prop round where a guy calls me on stage and hits me with a broom stick..well, i havent seen the audience so happy in a long time..thats what many people have been wanting to do to me for a very long time anyway..:)...

1900: finally the valedictory starts and a very tired gokul anna distributes the prizes..he's been waiting from four..karthik anna, shankar anna and sriram anna put up with my larger than life intros..i give a not so formal vote of thanks..
and in the end i thank the audience for putting up with me..
" how do they do it"....i guess i'll never know....
after that the usual rituals of praising and group photos is finished with..we strike a few poses for the lens..the audi is cleared and a very tired raghav takes a 23c home..on the way back i send messages to all volunteers thanking them for their support in conducting sparks..fine... so thats it for now..couldnt give too much for this post..am busy with exams..will post again on the treats of sparks soon..:p...
so until next time....may the force be with you!
and check out http://www.csau.blogspot.com for the pictures!

2005-10-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

thats stil me

the week that was...

2005-10-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

well, back from a gruelling week. this blog is becoming popular..thanks for all the loverly comments that you guys and gals leave me. this week wasnt very
eventful by my standards. had three practical exams

1. Micro processor and its applications : the previous night i was so busy seeing S J suryah's A AA ( an absolutely sick movie..full of double entendre) that i didnt study for that lab. as all of you would probably guess i was too absorbed in Nila's 362436 to be bothered about the 8085 processor :p..but anyway i had some time to put in some last minute prep and my ramifications proved to be enough for the exam..i did get some shady looks from that lab assistant when i entered a few minutes late but that was nothing compared to the look few of the girls gave me when i finished my program and walked out first..!!...well, what did they expect.thanks to some punya in my previous birth i got the easiest program in that whole list.

2. film assembly and plate making lab : non printing students will fail to understand the subtleties of this lab but let me put it this way..i thought we were supposed to build a wall but they ended up askin us to lay two bricks instead..but my time slot was the last one. had to wait for two hours slumped over a high stool until my turn came..those two hours actually seem amusing when i think of them now.i spent the first hour writing three lines in my answer sheet..that was the so called brick layer procedure..! after that the next hour i spent alternating between counting the number of times my teacher screamed to the recounting my favourite cartoons in my mind ..:p..

3. printing machines lab : this is the big momma of all labs in my course..it was good...got a good print quite easily.. had something like a verbal sword fight with my teacher during the viva..but thanks to my gimmicry i was able to get away with some real bloopers .....!...:p

thats it about the labs...as usual friday compsoc meeting ..but before i went to the meeting something happened..i was walkin along the road abutting the
vivek audi when all of a sudden a ear shattering screech rent the air..a million possibilities careened through my mind. dragons? ghosts? ghouls? blood
reavers?...nay..!...it was our student advisor ..the stickler for discipline ..but yeah he does tend to overdo it sometimes..
he: who are you people? ( same volume)
me: ( i puffed up my chest and said proudly) we're from the dept of printing technology
he: do you know what an endowment lecture is? (same volume..:p)
me: (i began to mumble but apparently his holiness didnt want to hear my definition)
he: GET IN!
me: (you mean get out..?)...huh?
CUT ....NEXT SCENE...
i was in the second row of the vivek audi surrounded by the most powerful ppl in the univ..and on the stage was a huge banner and and few people ( average
age 70) ..the banner said Padmabhushan Dr. VC Kulandaisamy endowment lecture..the lecture had the topic..Science and Technology:shifting paradigms...it was quite interesting with the speaker Dr. Rajasekaran Pillai ( chairman of UGC) touchin a few interesting angles to the whole knowledge engineering cornucopia..one thing i learnt from this lecture..i have now seen the face of the person who's name is etched on the front of our dept building..the great academician,world renowned hydrologist and Ex-VICE chancellor Dr.Kulandaisamy....great man..a man like none other!!..
ciao guys..c ya next post..may the force be with you..!!

ghajini galatta

2005-10-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

as the name of this post suggests i saw that movie yesterday. murugadoss's take off on the Guy Pierce starrer 'memento' should be commended ..his last two outings dhina and ramana show his steady learning curve..ghajini is stylish and crisp. anthony continues to mesmerize with his stylish cuts and joins..song locales and picturization are ok ..but hey...!! what more can you expect from murugadoss..harris jeyaraj is beginning to get on all our nerves..songs are ok but his re recording is jus as usual..gibberish mumbled with a tune..( osalemenamesae....!!...) get what i mean..?. :p..
surya stuns with his performance both as the mentally affected one and the suave sanjay ramaswamy..girls goin ga ga over the latter..don blame them..he does look very good..asin is cute ..not much to say about her..she does her part and walks away..nayantara fails to impress..she's either gotta shed some of those kilos or wear stuff that camouflages her bulk..the X machi song in particular is an optic nightmare..assaults the eyes..and her dubbing doesnt seem to suit her at all..
the villain ...pratap singh....great to see him in this role especially after his forgettable appearance in thotti jaya ( remember cheena thaana.? )..he's great especially in the climax and in the boxing ring scene.incidentally he plays a double role in this movie..as two equally bad brothers.
the movie does have its flaws..for instance..surya is shown to be the owner of a famous mobile company but apparently no one in india has seen him..including corporates who come to a party....(duh)..
the story is as follows..
surya ( sanjay ramaswamy ) is in love with Asin..asin decides to do some good to society and of course gets in the way of a criminal kingpin ( pratap singh )..asin is killed and surya is injured..surya begins to suffer from short term memory loss courtesy a 'thunk' on the skull by the villain. even after this surya tracks the baddies down and kills them..nayantara joins him in the process and helps him complete his revenge....
well..thats it for ghajini..see you..next post soon..
may the force be with you..!!

2005-10-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

what i can do with photoshop...

ranjith's rants..

2005-10-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

what does one do when he sees a poster outside the canteen that has a photo of a cool dude with a french beard(well all dudes with french beards are
cool..like me!) and has the following text...ok this is what was written..
//*
-he runs businesses in two different countries
-he owns stock in major fortune 500 companies-he invests in hot properties in india
-he is jus 23 years old and he's a ceg alumni..catch him in a 1 hour power talk ..."its all about money..its all about business"
*\ok after reading this i had two options..
1. attend the printing inks class that guarantees instant cures for insomnia ( its actually being researched...:p)
2.cut that class, skip lunch and attend this so called power talk..
no points for guessing that i took option 2..i actually dragged a few of my class guys too..so there we are..at the tried and trusted vivek audi..and mr ranjith
baba (baaaaabaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.........!!!!.....) walks in..he looks the works..tweed suit,power tie,guccis..he got on stage..and kept promting us for a good morning until we touched a decibel level of 200..man..!! ..he's got spirit...then he began the basics..attitude, confidence etc..(blah,blah)..then came the bombshell..he just said very simply.."i'm planning to give away a hundred rupees"
..and he walked to the edge of the stage and stood simply.. he said it so fast i doubt whether anyone heard it and understood (i heard but didnt understand..:p)....there was a defeaning silence of about two minutes..and then a girl walks up to stage and walks away with
hundred good old rupees..!!!!...( if only i had concentrated instead of lookin around in the audience..;-)...)..so after that he said.."opportunities are like
this..they hit you when you least expect it.and so..keep your eyes and ears open."
the floor was open for questions..some dumb questions later i asked my question.. this is how it went...
raghav(me): sir..i have a question.it may seem a little stupid..
ranjith(him): great..stupid quesiotns make millions of dollars these days..!!audience:..ROOOAAARRRR....
raghav: ok sir..i have the attitude , the confidence and the right mindset to make millions and i wanna be rich....WHERE DO I START...?
ranjith: good question..more then where to start..tell me..why do you wanna make money
raghav: sir..i want to project myself to society in that way..just like how people are looking at you now..i want people to look at me after twenty years..
ranjith: whats your name..
raghav: Raghav..
ranjith : Yadav...?
raghav: not yadav..ra- GHAV..!
ranjith: ok ladies and gentlemen..raghav here thinks differently..this is something i havent heard in a while..
audience: awwwww..
ranjith: raghav tell me..how many rich people do you know..
raghav: i know bill gates, steve jobs, azim premji ( blah blah..i was actually being helped with this list by a guy next to me..if you're reading this,thanks
buddy..:p..)
ranjith: good..you have the list right..now tell me..do you know how they became rich..
raghav: nope..
ranjith: now go home and read their biographies and look at the fine details..
raghav: will do that..
ranjith: doesnt sound like you will..covince me..say yes...
raghav: YESSSS..!!!
ranjith: come on raghav..i know you can do better..
raghav: (i raised my voice) ...YYYESSSSSS..!!!
ranjith: gimme your best shot..
raghav: (i stood up on the chair)
ranjith: great..now tell all those below you that you will start a million dollar company and become my competitor..
audience: ( they're all bewildered..!!...i loved the looks on a few girls' faces....:p..)
raghav: I'M GOING TO BE RANJITH'S COMPETITOR...YES......!!...( it was a scream..the audi shuddered..)
ranjith: thats the spirit...!!! great..
audience: ROOOOAAARRRR..........
....................
so thats what happened ..should mention a dude called muthukumar ..he was great..he came up on stage and showed some great spirit..on the whole
the lecture was great...it was very motivating..i feel very sorry for the all those pandu guys and gals who didnt come for it cuz they were afraid that they
would miss one hour of clas..and last but not the least ..to the organization who organized this..hats off to the SME..the society of mech engineers...until next post..may the force be with you..keep yours sprits up..!!..

2005-10-09T06:54:00.001-07:00

during the unicef radio assignment..

2005-10-09T06:54:00.000-07:00

the only non tech guy in the csau..MEEE..!!

2005-10-09T06:52:00.000-07:00

doing what i do best(at the eureka valedi..)

2005-10-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

The SPIRIT of AGNI

well, another agni jus finished and my dream run continues.agni has always been a great platform for all of us especially for the first years to have some fun, let their hair down and showcase their talents..

enough of the formal intro..lets come to what i did at agni..i wuz there for the prelims of all the quizzes.the cine quiz,buziness quiz,general quiz, harry potter quiz( don even ask!)...but of course i flunked royally in all of them..didnt expect to qualify anyway..there's this group of dudes and dudettes who're always there in all the quiz finals...how they do it is a quiz in itself:p...but learnt a lot..

here's a sample..

if No.44 is the US postal service which is No.1....

answer: Walmart...we're talkin the fortune 500 here...

well, if you're scratching your brain as to what the fortune 500 is ...well dude..seriously consider a brain transplant...(well, i heard they did one of them some time back on animals.you could volunteer to be the human test specimen)

well, then..lets come to the competitions reserved for lesser mortals..the solo singing was a cool thing as usual..i sailed through the prelims singing 'konja naal poruthalaiva' with my usual gimicry and special effects..that must've bowled a few first years over...they surely would'nt have expected a crass stage speaker to sing...:p...the finals were tougher..good singers..great songs..i sang my patented 'oru poiyavadu sol' from jodi..it was great..good response..the audience roared during the opening and closing strains...finally they announced the results and i won..i didnt expect to..considering the fact i was shakin and trembling lookin at the audience during the finals..its a weird feelin..i've not been scared of an audience in a long time..:p...

the debate was a different story..thirteen participants...sailed thro the prelims..topic for the prelims was 'should india host the olympics'...i feel i didnt do justice to the topic but the reason i was among the four finalists had more to do with my sureness on stage and sheer arrogance..:p

finals was great..oldest topic in the business..'does science kill or cure'....it was a field day for me..havin spoken about it already in many stages..i kept jackin one of the speakers until he gave up and the judge told me they were running out of time...consider this..we started about science and then went on to porn ( aw..come on...u don need to screw your nose up that much..your face is a masterpiece already:p)..i won eventually thanks to my 'never say die' spirit on stage..should work on that..some audiences dont like my arrogance on stage..

the light music show was great..suttum vizhi got good response from the crowd..oru maalai was splendidly rendered by hari..great show on the whole..it was host performance so no prize..

variety was where we fell short of the gold and had to settle for the silver..we did well on stage and our act was hilarious to say the least..but a rib ticklin performace full of double entendre by the mechanical guys overshadowed us..we got good response and our act was clean...

the choreo nite was great.and the firework display was screamworthy..man...some of the dances were great.especially the new and improved solomon twisters..well alls well that ends well...agni was great again..good for all of us....so till next post..may the force be with you...!!

2005-10-03T11:24:00.000-07:00

well, after reading through a lot of blogs i've finally decided to start one for myself..this blog will be my online diary of events and will sum up my cracks on pain,love,hate,fear,passion,anger,calmness,peace,delusion,delirium,happiness,
sorrow...the frowns and the smiles, the ups and the downs...
please feel free to comment..hate mails are welcome too..
its a great feeling to be loved..but its even more greater to be hated..hate requires a lot more of the person's grey matter :p...