Yesterday was Holi. I love the colours and all, but I don't see the fun in dragging people up and down a drain and plastering their faces with mud. You think I'm joking? I'm sorry, but I'm not. That's what they did to me and all the others yesterday.
I held out till afternoon, after which I decided to surrender myself unto the 'holi'gans. They came looking for me in my room and did not find me. How could they? I had already surrendered myself. But these fools in their excitement actually passed me shouting and singing, without even seeing me. I remember even calling out to them.
Finally after running around all the rooms, and cursing me and swearing that they would give me the harshest of all punishments when they found me, they came down to the front-yard of the hostel, only to see me eating Holi sweets, with a mischievous grin on my 'Holi'-coloured face. They all gave a victory cry, as if they had caught Boo Radley himself.
Then they all lifted me up and ran in procession to the drain that's there right in front of the hostel. That's the place where we all pee, when there ain't no room in the bathrooms.
So they drop me into the drain, and me being thin and all, I fit perfectly into the drain. Then they do the dragging towards the water tank where a few guys are bathing nude in coloured water. As I lay calm, knowing well enough that struggling would only mean more hurt to myself, they kept on pepping the slime on me with all sorts of toppings. So there were a few plastic covers, more slimy dirt (a bit of which went into my mouth and mixed with my 'Holi'sweets), and then more colours.
So by the time we reached the end of the drain, I was barely me. I mean, if I were to screen for a horror movie, I'm sure I'd scare the hell out of the director. I got back to my room, wearing only my U.W., and finished off one cake of soap before I could even get myself to look in the mirror. And finally, when I look in the mirror, Hey man! that's me there! I Love You!
Mar 26, 2005
Mar 24, 2005
On 'Passion of Christ'
Last Lent, Mel Gibson's 'Passion of Christ' was the talk of the town. Given the hype, I too wanted to see it before the Holy week so that I too would be prepared as never before for the Holy Week. But as it came to be, I couldn't see it until after the Holy Week. But what I saw caused disgust, rather than any redemption. A gory and violent movie concentraing on the kind of brutality that Jesus was subject to, failing to even convey in any sense the true significance of the sacrifice that makes Jesus, a different person to look up to. It seemed to me, the point of the movie was to condemn the cruelties of the olden times in particular the cruelties that the Son of God had to endure.
The point about Jesus is that, he did it all for us! Where the movie fails is that, it sort of makes you think, that if Jesus had been subjected to lesser cruelties he wouldn't have been the great man he is. That, as is obvious, is not the point of the greatest sacrifice ever made.
The point about Jesus is that, he did it all for us! Where the movie fails is that, it sort of makes you think, that if Jesus had been subjected to lesser cruelties he wouldn't have been the great man he is. That, as is obvious, is not the point of the greatest sacrifice ever made.
Jesus Christ
He tells us to be like children, and of their innocence! That's what we need to do for no more Columbines! A Return to innocence!
He washed the feet of his own disciples, elevating them! That's great! I mean, in a world where small men have big ego's and big men have even bigger ego's, here's a man,who decides to do things differently.
He died for his friends! When friendship is all about mutuality, here's somebody who'd given up his life, after undergoing harshest of tortures, for the sake of his sinful brohters.
Jesus Christ, you gave me the answers! You saved me, and keep on doing so everyday!
He washed the feet of his own disciples, elevating them! That's great! I mean, in a world where small men have big ego's and big men have even bigger ego's, here's a man,who decides to do things differently.
He died for his friends! When friendship is all about mutuality, here's somebody who'd given up his life, after undergoing harshest of tortures, for the sake of his sinful brohters.
Jesus Christ, you gave me the answers! You saved me, and keep on doing so everyday!
Mar 23, 2005
Another Columbine
It's a sad thing that incidents like Columbine keep occurring again and again. While America sets out to change the world, heal it and all, they are quite forgetting what their children are losing. What with a policy favouring gnrunners and gunmen. I offer my prayers for the dead souls and their parents, and hope for no more Columbines.
And get ready for attacking rock music, teenage counter-culture and the rest as reasons for these.
And get ready for attacking rock music, teenage counter-culture and the rest as reasons for these.
Mar 22, 2005
Watch Out! Here Comes HNLU!
Well I'm sorry I don't have the story with the happy-ending to tell you guys. But I'd say our experiences in Bangalore, told us the choices we made were by no means wrong.
My team, found glory at HNLU. We, as a member of the Moot Court Society there commented "Swung the University!", beating Delhi University and GNLU in the prelims, and then GLC-Mumbai in the Quarter-Finals.
But the Semi-Finals saw us pitted against NALSAR in an intense battle, that ended with us being eliminated from the competition. The scores for that round were, 5-4. NALSAR went on to beat NUJS in the finals, and secured the funding offerred by ISRO.
So the point here, is that, we, mere 2nd year students, from a University everyone conveniently likes to write-off, have made it big there, with quite a few judges making flattering remarks of it's two mooters.
The results of other Moot Court competitions held during the past years also show a similar trend. The Runners-Up position at Louis M. Brown National Rounds, the 3rd place at Jessups North-Zone, another 3rd place at Amity and so on.
Hello! Where's the hopeless University some people were talkin' about?
So watch out! Here comes HNLU!
__________
Tagged on Technorati as Catch-22, Neil Stephen Padayatty, Neil Padayatty, Padayatty, NALSAR, HNLU, NUJS, GNLU.
My team, found glory at HNLU. We, as a member of the Moot Court Society there commented "Swung the University!", beating Delhi University and GNLU in the prelims, and then GLC-Mumbai in the Quarter-Finals.
But the Semi-Finals saw us pitted against NALSAR in an intense battle, that ended with us being eliminated from the competition. The scores for that round were, 5-4. NALSAR went on to beat NUJS in the finals, and secured the funding offerred by ISRO.
So the point here, is that, we, mere 2nd year students, from a University everyone conveniently likes to write-off, have made it big there, with quite a few judges making flattering remarks of it's two mooters.
The results of other Moot Court competitions held during the past years also show a similar trend. The Runners-Up position at Louis M. Brown National Rounds, the 3rd place at Jessups North-Zone, another 3rd place at Amity and so on.
Hello! Where's the hopeless University some people were talkin' about?
So watch out! Here comes HNLU!
__________
Tagged on Technorati as Catch-22, Neil Stephen Padayatty, Neil Padayatty, Padayatty, NALSAR, HNLU, NUJS, GNLU.
Mar 16, 2005
Off to Bangalore!
Me... I'm off to Bangalore for the Funding Round of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition. It's to be hosted by the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. Hope we win there. That way we'd be able to get comfortably to the Asia-Pacific Regional Rounds to be held in Sydney this April. Wish Adarsh, Parth and me good luck.
Here's my view on the chances of the team. I feel that Adarsh and Parth are the best mooters that could attend any competition representing HNLU. Both of them's got solid arguments to make, and do so in a convincing manner.
And me... I could claim to be the best researcher (blushes) from HNLU, given the fact that I got the highest marks for the Memorial submitted for the Intra-University Moot.
So there... given all these I beleive that we do stand a good chance, or as good a chance as any team which is participating has got.
I expect to be back in by the 23rd or so. Till then, I'd reccommend reading Adarsh's narrative of our Moot Court preparation at,
Badnera Days - 1 and
Badnera Days - 2.
Here's my view on the chances of the team. I feel that Adarsh and Parth are the best mooters that could attend any competition representing HNLU. Both of them's got solid arguments to make, and do so in a convincing manner.
And me... I could claim to be the best researcher (blushes) from HNLU, given the fact that I got the highest marks for the Memorial submitted for the Intra-University Moot.
So there... given all these I beleive that we do stand a good chance, or as good a chance as any team which is participating has got.
I expect to be back in by the 23rd or so. Till then, I'd reccommend reading Adarsh's narrative of our Moot Court preparation at,
Badnera Days - 1 and
Badnera Days - 2.
Who is Holden Caulfield?
I'm sorry I didn't do a proper intro of Caulfield ol' fella. I kinda thought all ye guys would know him just the way ya know me. Anyway, he's the epitome of Teen Angst, and a favourite personal hero of mine, who had all the wrong things happening to him. He's as careless and absentminded as I am and he too can't stand phonies. So that's him Caulfield.
To get to know him better... here's some interesting reads...
Holden Caulfield's Perception Of The World.
So where do the Ducks go in the Winter?
Holden Caulfield character sketch
Man! Caulfield! You're damn famous. There's a lot about you on the net.
To get to know him better... here's some interesting reads...
Holden Caulfield's Perception Of The World.
So where do the Ducks go in the Winter?
Holden Caulfield character sketch
Man! Caulfield! You're damn famous. There's a lot about you on the net.
Mar 14, 2005
Caulfield's Phonies
Me and Holden Caulfield's got a lot in common. Just like Yossarian and me. I mean if all three of us could get together, that would most certainly, nearly kill us all.
Anyway, the thing about Caulfield that makes me and he such tight buddies, is his irritability, though not aways consistent, of phonies. And that... is what I'll talk about in this post.
Here's a race that surpasses the human race by their sheer number! Here's a race that's all over the place, but you never get used to them! Here's a race that would kill you all by their mere statements! Ladies and Gentlemen, we're talking about, YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD PHONIES! You know them, you acknowledge them, but you don't talk to them about them.
My favourite phonies include those: who gives expert comments on movies while he watches them (includes 'surrealstic', 'neo-realist', 'film-noir' and the likes), who gives opinions on things he's hearing for the first time, just so that he might appear Stephen Hawkins' big daddy, who says "The climax of the movie is simply great!", in between seeing a movie for the first time, who steals the jokes you said and bursts it out in front of girls without even acknowledging the original joker, who has all sorts of questions to ask in class (his questions are longer than the lecture), has a love-affair he's not sure of and does all sort of phonie crap to show the world, what true love is, who being an alcoholic tells little lambs not to follow his path and so on.
I mean if you just open your eyes and look around, you'll see your neigbourhood teeming with 'em phonies. There's the ones who spent a quarter of the day talking on cellphones in loud voices strutting all over the place, the lovers who are forever showing physical love around the college campus, the ones who try to appear cool in front of girls, the ones who play the hero, all those Bollywood actors and actresses when they are beign interviewed, all those politicians... every one of them. There's a lot more of them. But the task of identifying them, I'd leave it to you.
All this wouldn't be conclusive as to whether I'm a phonie or not. In fact, I too am a phonie at times. You can't help being one with all these phonies around you. But I swear I don't do it by choice.
Anyway, the thing about Caulfield that makes me and he such tight buddies, is his irritability, though not aways consistent, of phonies. And that... is what I'll talk about in this post.
Here's a race that surpasses the human race by their sheer number! Here's a race that's all over the place, but you never get used to them! Here's a race that would kill you all by their mere statements! Ladies and Gentlemen, we're talking about, YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD PHONIES! You know them, you acknowledge them, but you don't talk to them about them.
My favourite phonies include those: who gives expert comments on movies while he watches them (includes 'surrealstic', 'neo-realist', 'film-noir' and the likes), who gives opinions on things he's hearing for the first time, just so that he might appear Stephen Hawkins' big daddy, who says "The climax of the movie is simply great!", in between seeing a movie for the first time, who steals the jokes you said and bursts it out in front of girls without even acknowledging the original joker, who has all sorts of questions to ask in class (his questions are longer than the lecture), has a love-affair he's not sure of and does all sort of phonie crap to show the world, what true love is, who being an alcoholic tells little lambs not to follow his path and so on.
I mean if you just open your eyes and look around, you'll see your neigbourhood teeming with 'em phonies. There's the ones who spent a quarter of the day talking on cellphones in loud voices strutting all over the place, the lovers who are forever showing physical love around the college campus, the ones who try to appear cool in front of girls, the ones who play the hero, all those Bollywood actors and actresses when they are beign interviewed, all those politicians... every one of them. There's a lot more of them. But the task of identifying them, I'd leave it to you.
All this wouldn't be conclusive as to whether I'm a phonie or not. In fact, I too am a phonie at times. You can't help being one with all these phonies around you. But I swear I don't do it by choice.
Mar 10, 2005
A Million Hindu's
My favourite newspaper now sells a million copies daily. Read the new-item at Thanks a million, dear readers.
The Hindu has reached this milestone in its journalistic journey, not without reason. It has over the years done quality reporting, all the while holding steadfast to certain journalistic basics, which most other newspapers today have conveniently forgotten. While the other papers thrive on sensationalism, papparazi stunts, Page 3 glamour and sleaze serving, The Hindu, delivers quality, relevant news, which is unbiased, authoritative and concentrates on the news rather than on opinion formation.
I'd approve and certify this excerpt from the above-mentioned news-item:
"On its part, The Hindu has been striving ceaselessly to reach higher levels of reliability, relevance, and professional standards in offering its readers high quality and varied fare, depth and width of coverage, and enhanced local coverage. Most importantly, it has adhered steadfastly to its core journalistic values of truth telling, independence, objectivity, seriousness, and integrity."
I wish The Hindu all success!
The Hindu has reached this milestone in its journalistic journey, not without reason. It has over the years done quality reporting, all the while holding steadfast to certain journalistic basics, which most other newspapers today have conveniently forgotten. While the other papers thrive on sensationalism, papparazi stunts, Page 3 glamour and sleaze serving, The Hindu, delivers quality, relevant news, which is unbiased, authoritative and concentrates on the news rather than on opinion formation.
I'd approve and certify this excerpt from the above-mentioned news-item:
"On its part, The Hindu has been striving ceaselessly to reach higher levels of reliability, relevance, and professional standards in offering its readers high quality and varied fare, depth and width of coverage, and enhanced local coverage. Most importantly, it has adhered steadfastly to its core journalistic values of truth telling, independence, objectivity, seriousness, and integrity."
I wish The Hindu all success!
Mar 8, 2005
More Dagwords
I'm sorry, but I think you guys have to put up with my current obsession with Dagmology*. I found a few interesting Dagwords**, that I thought I'd share with you Dagsters*** so as to enrich your personal Dagosaurus****.
Brawl Waiting - the sudden change in tone when the telephone rings in the middle of an argument between family members such that the harsh ranting becomes a melodic greeting in the blink of an eye.
Exual Tension - the feeling when you see your past lover with a gorgeous new love, and you’re wearing a tracksuit, have not brushed your hair, and are involved in some messy, sweaty task.
Siterature - a word for those particular books that seem to gravitate directly to a shelf near the toilet.
That's all for now.
*Dagmology - (dag' mol o gee) n. The study of Dagwords, their discovery and spread.
**Dagword - (dag' wurd) n. A word that fills a gap in the language.
***Dagster - (dag' stah) n. A person who creates Dagwords.
****Dagosaurus - (dag o' saw rus) n. A dictionary of Dagwords and their synonyms.
Source 1: Richard Glovers list of words that should exist - but don't
Source 2: ABCSydney.
Brawl Waiting - the sudden change in tone when the telephone rings in the middle of an argument between family members such that the harsh ranting becomes a melodic greeting in the blink of an eye.
Exual Tension - the feeling when you see your past lover with a gorgeous new love, and you’re wearing a tracksuit, have not brushed your hair, and are involved in some messy, sweaty task.
Siterature - a word for those particular books that seem to gravitate directly to a shelf near the toilet.
That's all for now.
*Dagmology - (dag' mol o gee) n. The study of Dagwords, their discovery and spread.
**Dagword - (dag' wurd) n. A word that fills a gap in the language.
***Dagster - (dag' stah) n. A person who creates Dagwords.
****Dagosaurus - (dag o' saw rus) n. A dictionary of Dagwords and their synonyms.
Source 1: Richard Glovers list of words that should exist - but don't
Source 2: ABCSydney.
The Dagword Challenge
If you guys have read "Words that should exist", about which my previous post was, then you must have also come across the challenge put by the columnist.
The challenge was for a dagword for a line up (or queue) that always seems to move faster than the one you are stuck in!
Here's the dagword I coined for this particular predicament, you and I have found ourselves so often in - "Iqueue" - reason being the 'i'rony of the 'queue'.
Brilliant! Isn't it? Thank you, Thank you! No mention please!
That success makes me want more and a search on Google reveals to me a Dagword Challenge held by ABC Sydney.
Challenge 93 is for a word for the experience when you hear a word not previously encountered and then, in the days following, hear it again and again and again, almost as if the word is stalking you.
They've even given a sample answer, Lexiconned. That means you won't win the challenge if that's the word that came to your mind. Better find some other word.
Email 702@your.abc.net.au with your answer and you could win a handful of Australian books, including the first edition of The Dag's Dictionary. I don't know whether it's applicable internationally. But I suggest you take up the challenge.
The challenge was for a dagword for a line up (or queue) that always seems to move faster than the one you are stuck in!
Here's the dagword I coined for this particular predicament, you and I have found ourselves so often in - "Iqueue" - reason being the 'i'rony of the 'queue'.
Brilliant! Isn't it? Thank you, Thank you! No mention please!
That success makes me want more and a search on Google reveals to me a Dagword Challenge held by ABC Sydney.
Challenge 93 is for a word for the experience when you hear a word not previously encountered and then, in the days following, hear it again and again and again, almost as if the word is stalking you.
They've even given a sample answer, Lexiconned. That means you won't win the challenge if that's the word that came to your mind. Better find some other word.
Email 702@your.abc.net.au with your answer and you could win a handful of Australian books, including the first edition of The Dag's Dictionary. I don't know whether it's applicable internationally. But I suggest you take up the challenge.
Mar 7, 2005
Dagwords
No... You got it wrong. It's no badword, this dagword thing. It's simply a word which should exist, but doesn't. Still don't get it... Oh well, I guess I should explain.
Have you ever had the feeling that you were in a situation and you didn't have the right word to describe the situation? Have you ever felt that suffocation, that uneasiness that stems from your inability to pinpoint the situation in a single word? If you didn't feel it, you're probably dumb, and if you did feel it, then here's an effort to fill the gaps in language.
Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting... The Dag's Dictionary!
Here, you'll find that what you've been seeking!
If you wanna know more on Dagwords, read this month's Wordspeak column on 'The Hindu', written by Anand : "Words that should exist"!
Have you ever had the feeling that you were in a situation and you didn't have the right word to describe the situation? Have you ever felt that suffocation, that uneasiness that stems from your inability to pinpoint the situation in a single word? If you didn't feel it, you're probably dumb, and if you did feel it, then here's an effort to fill the gaps in language.
Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting... The Dag's Dictionary!
Here, you'll find that what you've been seeking!
If you wanna know more on Dagwords, read this month's Wordspeak column on 'The Hindu', written by Anand : "Words that should exist"!
Narain Karthikeyan
Fantasy-land... I dreamt of him coming first. I guess that's too much to expect in any first race. Maybe even Schumacher had times when he didn't finish on the podium. He sure had them.
Still it's feels like... you know, the times when Sachin fails to make a century after you'd made ball-by-ball calculations of how he would reach there.
Anyway he did good. Three Cheers and Best of Luck to him.
Still it's feels like... you know, the times when Sachin fails to make a century after you'd made ball-by-ball calculations of how he would reach there.
Anyway he did good. Three Cheers and Best of Luck to him.
Mar 6, 2005
We love Divorce's!
"WHEN marriages last, they go unnoticed. The tabloids blaze forth only about divorce and separation!" says, V. Gangadhar, in his article Golden Jubilee in The Hindu, Sunday Magazine.
A thought indeed. Back in Kerala, Malayala Manorama takes immense pride in blazing forth about Malayalees and divorce. For instance, when Boris Becker divorced his wife, Kerala's leading daily, proudly displayed in size 48 font the headline, "Becker Divorces his wife for Malayalee Girl!"
Bizarre, isn't it! It seems some girl who had her roots in Kerala, was the reason Becker divorced his wife and Manorama, had reason to be proud. God save this world!
A thought indeed. Back in Kerala, Malayala Manorama takes immense pride in blazing forth about Malayalees and divorce. For instance, when Boris Becker divorced his wife, Kerala's leading daily, proudly displayed in size 48 font the headline, "Becker Divorces his wife for Malayalee Girl!"
Bizarre, isn't it! It seems some girl who had her roots in Kerala, was the reason Becker divorced his wife and Manorama, had reason to be proud. God save this world!
Mar 3, 2005
Hello World!
Hello! How's it all out there in the real world. Is it still rotations and revolutions and all? I mean is night still dark and day's bright?
What! Oh! Thank God! It hasn't changed much. I hope it doesn't too.
Well... I always knew it wouldn't change too much. That's why I took this break. That too for good reason too. I was working on the Memorial for the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition. That means hard-work. That coupled with certain other complications that cropped up, I was unable to meet you guys in BlogWorld. Anyway, that's past, and now I'm back. Happy blogging!
P.S. Tony Pierce says not to give excuses for not blogging for days. It seems nobody is interested in such things. Oh well... skip this post if you must.
What! Oh! Thank God! It hasn't changed much. I hope it doesn't too.
Well... I always knew it wouldn't change too much. That's why I took this break. That too for good reason too. I was working on the Memorial for the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition. That means hard-work. That coupled with certain other complications that cropped up, I was unable to meet you guys in BlogWorld. Anyway, that's past, and now I'm back. Happy blogging!
P.S. Tony Pierce says not to give excuses for not blogging for days. It seems nobody is interested in such things. Oh well... skip this post if you must.
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