A new era
1 year ago
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
The humbling at Hampi
It has been troubling my conscience that I have not made the effort to not put up this post, what with taking notes during the trip among other things. A post about a movie review on this blog owing to the sheer lack of contributions is the final nail in the coffin. I am thankful for the same to have awoken me and put out this post.
At around 8 in the night on 11th December, Thursday, I heard Sameer screaming across the corridor for someone to get water bottles along. I accused a group of people leaving this place to explore the world outside without inviting me along. On reaching Sheki's room shortly after, my hunch proved right with the guilty party leaving half an hour from then. After a short debate with myself and quickly stuffing in clothing and a bedsheet, I intruded their plans with my inclusion.
The guilty party in question here was headed by the capable expedition leader Sheki, and also included his pals Rushil, Sameer, Bala, Nishkarsh, Alankar, Mota and now, much to their helplessness, me. We set off on a bus to Hospet which was to reach the next morning. Nothing eventful happened on this trip save a traffic jam delaying our arrival by a few hours. A local bus from there took us to Hampi, already giving us a taste of its awe inspiring splendour on the way.
We successfully gatecrashed into two adjacent rooms of our choice and hired bicycles for flagging off our exploratory endeavors. The day ended with a visit to a few nearby monuments and Bala's lock going bust on him; not to mention the frustrated cursing and failed rudimentary rock-lock breaking attempts that ensued.
Thats the seven of us... Alankar below. Sheki features further below, whom we have to thank the one above for among other things
Notable Quotes
(In the context of the famous musical pillars of Hampi - Stone pillars reinforced with metal to produce musical notes when struck)
Vhora: "Talk about heavy metal music."
Bala: "This is more on the lines of alternative rock."
We woke up early the next day(Saturday) and five of us left on a trek to a nearby hill for a panoromic view of the ancient city. (For the uninitiated, Hampi was the glorious capital of the Vijayanagara Kingdom, now largely in ruins, awe inpiring nevertheless.) Atop this hill, a breathtaking sun rise awaited us. This magnificent experience of viewing the glorioius capital was complimented by a glass of steaming hot chai at the top. The view also gave us our first encourter with the sheer vastness of the city. There were ruins on every side, far as the eye could see, Palace Foundations, Market Places, Baths, Temple courtyards, Public Performance Stages to name a few. A staggering sense of realisation as to how much time and effort was needed to construct a city of such grandeur with mere rock, chisels and bare hands dawned upon me. This feeling of awe only built on us wherever we went for the next 2 days. Each of the innumerable sites situated there was a masterpiece by itself.
Lunch on the second day was had at the Goan Farm, an eatery situated across the Tungabadra river, far enough from the holiness associated with Hampi to be free to cater to non-vegetarian and alcoholic interests. The meal, rather reasonably priced, lived up to everybody's expectation but mine. Why it did not shall be made clearer in lines to follow.
Imagine a city filled with these!
Notable Quotes
Bala: "Eiffel tower is shit compared to this place."
(At the marketplace which was a brothel in its day)
Sheki-: "This is the place where they sold human whores!"
(On the trek, pointing to traps between huge rocky boulders)
Your's truly: "If you fall into one of these, you will die for life."
The third day saw us checking out of our accommodation and proceeding like the other two days on more exploratory quests. By now we had realised that it was absolutely impossible to finish an exhaustive visit to this place in just 3 days. The third day was somewhat of a finger in the eye in comparison to the other two because of the crowds that a festival had drawn in. Something interesting that I have not mentioned so far was Nishkarsh's encounter with a blood brother who was delighted to see his brethren in a land so faraway. This turned into instant displeasure of equal magnitude when he realised that Nishkarsh was on the search for something (..ahem) outlandish. (Grass doesn't grow too well in the deserts of Rajasthan)
Captain Sheki in his element
Notable Quotes
Sheki- "For every book in Deccan there is a library in Lucknow."
We then proceeded to catch a bus to Hospet from where we had a booking to Surathkal (or so we thought). The bus mentioned above happened to be extraordinarily crowded. Rushil got into a scuffle with some local thug resulting in his giving up of his seat and Sameer's, the latter's whose was beside two white chicks. (I also failed to mention the huge number of foreign tourists that visit Hampi whom Alankar was very optimistic on getting lucky with)
Finally, when it looked like our saga was coming to an end, we realised our tickets at Hospet were wrongly booked. Our only alternative was a Grameena Saarike (Village headman's) transport bus, 2 hours later. This is where my problem with an aforementioned lunch got rather out of hand. The mashed potatoes that I had had that day, had had my stomach in all sorts of trouble by then. (...a tribute to the .... had had had had had..... sentence, whose discussion had had Bala pissed). The journey took us a few kilometres into the middle of nowhere, where it looked like it was coming to a dastardly end (for me because my upset stomach needed emptying real bad!). Luckily (and miraculously might I add), we managed to get back on course with an empty bus but for us. Our fellow passengers, who were rather numerous before the little problem had lost hope and sought other means of travel. In the nick of time, we reached the Hubli bus station where I sought salvation at a public toilet which was bad, but not something the seventh hostel block toilets hadn't prepared me for. (Hail the unexpected merits of those mind, bowel numbing experiences)
We reached college early the next (Monday) and life presumed as before save the eternal etching of this fabulous trip's memories in our minds, after expressing our sincere gratitude to our captain, Sheki.
Conclusive notable quote
(After clicking 656 photos through the trip)
Sheki: I am tired of clicking photos.
At around 8 in the night on 11th December, Thursday, I heard Sameer screaming across the corridor for someone to get water bottles along. I accused a group of people leaving this place to explore the world outside without inviting me along. On reaching Sheki's room shortly after, my hunch proved right with the guilty party leaving half an hour from then. After a short debate with myself and quickly stuffing in clothing and a bedsheet, I intruded their plans with my inclusion.
The guilty party in question here was headed by the capable expedition leader Sheki, and also included his pals Rushil, Sameer, Bala, Nishkarsh, Alankar, Mota and now, much to their helplessness, me. We set off on a bus to Hospet which was to reach the next morning. Nothing eventful happened on this trip save a traffic jam delaying our arrival by a few hours. A local bus from there took us to Hampi, already giving us a taste of its awe inspiring splendour on the way.
We successfully gatecrashed into two adjacent rooms of our choice and hired bicycles for flagging off our exploratory endeavors. The day ended with a visit to a few nearby monuments and Bala's lock going bust on him; not to mention the frustrated cursing and failed rudimentary rock-lock breaking attempts that ensued.
Thats the seven of us... Alankar below. Sheki features further below, whom we have to thank the one above for among other thingsNotable Quotes
(In the context of the famous musical pillars of Hampi - Stone pillars reinforced with metal to produce musical notes when struck)
Vhora: "Talk about heavy metal music."
Bala: "This is more on the lines of alternative rock."
We woke up early the next day(Saturday) and five of us left on a trek to a nearby hill for a panoromic view of the ancient city. (For the uninitiated, Hampi was the glorious capital of the Vijayanagara Kingdom, now largely in ruins, awe inpiring nevertheless.) Atop this hill, a breathtaking sun rise awaited us. This magnificent experience of viewing the glorioius capital was complimented by a glass of steaming hot chai at the top. The view also gave us our first encourter with the sheer vastness of the city. There were ruins on every side, far as the eye could see, Palace Foundations, Market Places, Baths, Temple courtyards, Public Performance Stages to name a few. A staggering sense of realisation as to how much time and effort was needed to construct a city of such grandeur with mere rock, chisels and bare hands dawned upon me. This feeling of awe only built on us wherever we went for the next 2 days. Each of the innumerable sites situated there was a masterpiece by itself.
Lunch on the second day was had at the Goan Farm, an eatery situated across the Tungabadra river, far enough from the holiness associated with Hampi to be free to cater to non-vegetarian and alcoholic interests. The meal, rather reasonably priced, lived up to everybody's expectation but mine. Why it did not shall be made clearer in lines to follow.
Imagine a city filled with these!Notable Quotes
Bala: "Eiffel tower is shit compared to this place."
(At the marketplace which was a brothel in its day)
Sheki-: "This is the place where they sold human whores!"
(On the trek, pointing to traps between huge rocky boulders)
Your's truly: "If you fall into one of these, you will die for life."
The third day saw us checking out of our accommodation and proceeding like the other two days on more exploratory quests. By now we had realised that it was absolutely impossible to finish an exhaustive visit to this place in just 3 days. The third day was somewhat of a finger in the eye in comparison to the other two because of the crowds that a festival had drawn in. Something interesting that I have not mentioned so far was Nishkarsh's encounter with a blood brother who was delighted to see his brethren in a land so faraway. This turned into instant displeasure of equal magnitude when he realised that Nishkarsh was on the search for something (..ahem) outlandish. (Grass doesn't grow too well in the deserts of Rajasthan)
Captain Sheki in his element
Sheki- "For every book in Deccan there is a library in Lucknow."
We then proceeded to catch a bus to Hospet from where we had a booking to Surathkal (or so we thought). The bus mentioned above happened to be extraordinarily crowded. Rushil got into a scuffle with some local thug resulting in his giving up of his seat and Sameer's, the latter's whose was beside two white chicks. (I also failed to mention the huge number of foreign tourists that visit Hampi whom Alankar was very optimistic on getting lucky with)
Finally, when it looked like our saga was coming to an end, we realised our tickets at Hospet were wrongly booked. Our only alternative was a Grameena Saarike (Village headman's) transport bus, 2 hours later. This is where my problem with an aforementioned lunch got rather out of hand. The mashed potatoes that I had had that day, had had my stomach in all sorts of trouble by then. (...a tribute to the .... had had had had had..... sentence, whose discussion had had Bala pissed). The journey took us a few kilometres into the middle of nowhere, where it looked like it was coming to a dastardly end (for me because my upset stomach needed emptying real bad!). Luckily (and miraculously might I add), we managed to get back on course with an empty bus but for us. Our fellow passengers, who were rather numerous before the little problem had lost hope and sought other means of travel. In the nick of time, we reached the Hubli bus station where I sought salvation at a public toilet which was bad, but not something the seventh hostel block toilets hadn't prepared me for. (Hail the unexpected merits of those mind, bowel numbing experiences)
We reached college early the next (Monday) and life presumed as before save the eternal etching of this fabulous trip's memories in our minds, after expressing our sincere gratitude to our captain, Sheki.
Conclusive notable quote
(After clicking 656 photos through the trip)
Sheki: I am tired of clicking photos.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Pride and Glory
ok... a li'l introduction on what would at least in some way revive this blog...
it's been pretty much dead for sometime now... so, what i suggest is instead of putting up other stuff, people are encouraged to put up movie reviews... i know, it is not something you would have the patience to do... but give it a shot...
i thought this might be good because very often i see quite a few of us asking around which movie would be a good watch and which ones are not worth... so this...
Pride and Glory(2008)
Edward Norton
Collin Farrel
Lake Bell ( the female from first season of Boston Legal)
Jon Voight
this is a story of a Family dedicated to the NYPD... pop - a high ranking cop... one son is a detective, the other the head of a precinct... son-in-law cop under the head-precinct son...
although the whole family is in law enforcement... it's not a family drama... its not a conventional good cop-bad cop movie either...
its like the story writer got confused as to which one of the two story lines he wanted to pick... and it ended up becoming this movie...
only thing i could get in the whole movie was the " WE PROTECT OUR OWN" - the sole motto of the police when they get in a tight spot!
not a movie that you would want to waste your time on, if you don't have it...
considering it was a Ed Norton - Colin Farrel movie... it was a disappointment!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
5th sem
the mudurf*@!^ng college should, in very sheki-like manner - f$#@ itself 2-3 times....
i hope the 6th sem never starts....
i hope the 6th sem never starts....
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
WoW, A Revolution!
We've heard a lot about DOTA, haven't we? The game everyone spends hours at, trying to "impale" the proverbial monster/hero or "hook" the cat to oblivion.
What we haven't heard of is another game of epic "shag" potential. WoW is the ultimate noob heaven. Here is a game where how good you are has no bearing on your thinking, hand-eye coordination or decision making abilities. What a heaven-sent! A dim-witted, hare-brained buffon (ahem... peACE can name someone here?) can beat Hanni/Datta/Adi given sufficient time. (and Xp - the elixir of WoW life) Why bother honing your thinking ability? All you need is infinte patience and the inhuman power to fight boredom at every level. This is what a typical WoW game looks like:
1) Find some poor creature of lower level than oneself.
2) Kill poor creature, making sure to strip its body bare of any useful items. Stringy wolf meat anyone?
3) Find more poor creatures and repeat steps 1,2 ad infinitum...
4) Find still more poor creatures and repeat step 3 (by extension, steps 1,2)
5) Occasionally, find some being much higher in level than you and beg him to give you some "quest" to take your mind of the incessant boredom
6) Perform "quest" that invariably involves steps 1,2,3 and 4 to be repeated several excruciating times over.
7) Gain ONE precious level of experience. Congratulations, you've got 2^1024 levels to go. See you on the other side of infinity.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention how NITK has adapted WoW. We keep one computer as the server. This computer contains ALL the data - Individual player's levels, quests etc. The whole nine yards. Every once in a while, the computer crashes. Hence the server has to be reset. Poof! There goes your hard work and 10000 crit kills. You've just been demoted from level 60 (It took literally months to reach - the higher levels take exponentially longer to cross) to level 1. All your hours spent wondering where to find your next quest from or how to enhance damage by 50 points, down the electronic drain. If by some miracle the computer behaves itself, the game's ruling "committee" decide to reset the servers anyway. Me thinks someone spent WoW time in class (trying desperately to reach 75%) instead of being dutifully glued to their monitors. How dare he? The shame! Luckily the "committee" understood the person's problems and decided to give him another chance. Phew! They just saved his life.
Silly me. I almost forgot to mention the inspiration for this article. A group of WoW addicts are heading back to college almost 48 hours early to, guess what? Play WoW. They intend to be at least 20 levels above the rest of the riff-raff before classes start. A lead to last? I doubt it. The server will crash anyway.
What we haven't heard of is another game of epic "shag" potential. WoW is the ultimate noob heaven. Here is a game where how good you are has no bearing on your thinking, hand-eye coordination or decision making abilities. What a heaven-sent! A dim-witted, hare-brained buffon (ahem... peACE can name someone here?) can beat Hanni/Datta/Adi given sufficient time. (and Xp - the elixir of WoW life) Why bother honing your thinking ability? All you need is infinte patience and the inhuman power to fight boredom at every level. This is what a typical WoW game looks like:
1) Find some poor creature of lower level than oneself.
2) Kill poor creature, making sure to strip its body bare of any useful items. Stringy wolf meat anyone?
3) Find more poor creatures and repeat steps 1,2 ad infinitum...
4) Find still more poor creatures and repeat step 3 (by extension, steps 1,2)
5) Occasionally, find some being much higher in level than you and beg him to give you some "quest" to take your mind of the incessant boredom
6) Perform "quest" that invariably involves steps 1,2,3 and 4 to be repeated several excruciating times over.
7) Gain ONE precious level of experience. Congratulations, you've got 2^1024 levels to go. See you on the other side of infinity.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention how NITK has adapted WoW. We keep one computer as the server. This computer contains ALL the data - Individual player's levels, quests etc. The whole nine yards. Every once in a while, the computer crashes. Hence the server has to be reset. Poof! There goes your hard work and 10000 crit kills. You've just been demoted from level 60 (It took literally months to reach - the higher levels take exponentially longer to cross) to level 1. All your hours spent wondering where to find your next quest from or how to enhance damage by 50 points, down the electronic drain. If by some miracle the computer behaves itself, the game's ruling "committee" decide to reset the servers anyway. Me thinks someone spent WoW time in class (trying desperately to reach 75%) instead of being dutifully glued to their monitors. How dare he? The shame! Luckily the "committee" understood the person's problems and decided to give him another chance. Phew! They just saved his life.
Silly me. I almost forgot to mention the inspiration for this article. A group of WoW addicts are heading back to college almost 48 hours early to, guess what? Play WoW. They intend to be at least 20 levels above the rest of the riff-raff before classes start. A lead to last? I doubt it. The server will crash anyway.
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