A question of knots

I did it! I finally figured out a permanent fix for that annoying way Word 2008 automatically inserts a space at the end of a paragraph, so that when you copy everything you’ve typed onto something else all those spaces disappear. And most importantly, I figured it out by myself. I know it makes me sound like a bit of a spaz, but then I don’t have to type stuff out all that often. (okay, now that sounds even more old-fashioned. I should stop)

Earlier this week, somebody told me that I’d be the first in our old gang from school to get married. It didn’t make sense to me for two reasons. One, I’m a boy and let’s face it, social pressure comes in a lot later for us boys than it does for girls. And two, there’s no way I’d get married while I’m still studying/establishing myself at work. I’m not willing to compromise on my development as a person.

And yet, and yet, I see so many men around me, somewhat successful in their own ways, settling down to lives of domesticity at fairly young ages. Seriously, there’s something amiss about a man who gets married before 25. (and don’t you dare say there’s nothing amiss, there’s only a Mrs. We do not tolerate poor pjs)

Why do men do it? And not just men, why do people give in to marriages when there’s a whole world out there waiting to be conquered? Why do they give in to moulding themselves to suit the life of a grihasta, when you should really be out there finding yourself? Does anybody out there have answers? Or is it just me, labouring under the illusion that I’ll figure out what I am one fine day in the future?

On a less self-doubting note, the notebook view in Word 2008 is super cool! (never thought I’d say that about a word-processing software)

Going round and round once again

The new Formula 1 season is under way. Brawn GP (formerly Honda racing, (formerly British-American racing, (formerly Tyrrell))) (Man, I do love brackets!) scored a dramatic one-two finish in the season opener in Melbourne on Sunday. And this by a team that almost didn’t make it to the grid, because Honda decided to pull the plug on their F1 program in December last year. Bet there are a lot of people in Tokyo kicking themselves right now, because that Brawn race car was developed with Honda money. And now Honda has nothing to show for it. Poor saps.

Summer is upon us. It’s always funny to watch people agreeing with Al Gore about global warming every April, and then promptly denying it in November. (No really, Madras has had fairly cool “winters” the last few years.) I’ve seen it happen enough times over the last few years. It almost seems cool in a way to blame bad weather on global warming and climate change, without actually knowing anything about either, and then simply crank up the air con. FYI chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant gases are still legal in India, even though there are non-CFC alternatives that will work with existing machinery, forget buying new compressors. So if you’re in the market for a new air con this summer, try to stay clear of those that use R-22.

I’ve been writing a science blog as well over the last few months. Not very regularly, though. If anything, it’s even more irregular than ymitif. Check it out if that part of you which wasn’t quite a nerd, but still liked poking, prodding and looking at things isn’t quite dead yet.

And... ACTION!

It's been a hectic couple of weeks since my last post. I was in Hyderabad for a few days after pongal. Spent some time with my cousin and her family. Good fun, although I didn't get to see too much of the city. I'm a total flop as a tourist, so no surprises there. But what I did see of the city, I like. Naidu did a pretty damn good job sprucing up and streamlining the place while he was in power, and it still shows. It makes infrastructure in Madras seem very outdated (which is no surprise, since MK only has time to change the Tamil Calendar, hold the UPA for ransom, stick up for Stalin and write movie scripts. Who has time to actually govern a state after all that?)

Our college annual day is coming up in two weeks, and I'm directing four skits for it. After Hyd, the days have just disappeared in a blur of meetings, classes and rehearsals. (Meetings, because for a while it seemed as if the function wasn't going to happen at all. Strictly speaking, this isn't an annual day. It's more of a fest for students in all the different campuses of my college. So, cancelling it would be a pretty major blow.

Anyway, it's happening as scheduled so I'm going to be pretty busy for the next two weeks. I just hope I don't reach the point where I stop caring SO THAT IT ALL JUST ENDS!!! The upshot is that all this hard work is going to give me new "insights" into the way people behave, so look out for new posts.

I'm off now. A director's work is never done...

P.S. Many thanks to TheDropper for the list on how to deal with a 1/5th life crisis. I rather like the voodoo doll bit

Very hand-waving, but that's what most comeback posts are

Happy New Year! Yeah, it isn’t exactly New Year, we’re already two weeks in. And I’m sorry that there’ve been no new posts for over a month now. It’s just very easy to go M.I.A. when I’m on vacation.
It was a pretty great vacation though. Hectic, but good fun. We had a class reunion type thing. My dad’s old college batch had a reunion. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet estarra, soupy and a lot of others. I didn’t get to some things I’d planned to either (I didn’t finish more than 4 chapters of the Compulsive Confessor’s book). But I can’t say there were too many dull moments in the last month. Especially not after I started playing Ultimate Frisbee with the gang at evam.

I was working at evam again through most of last month. Went with them to Bangalore on Christmas day, where they premiered their latest production “The Importance of Being Earnest”. Made some new friends, got some pointers from the actors. All in all, good fun. If you’re in Madras sometime this coming weekend, try to catch “The Importance…” You’ll get discounts on tickets at their website.

Now that I’m back in Pune though, things are going a lot slower. I watched Quantum of Solace and Goldeneye this weekend. Quantum… has a somewhat complicated plot, and it didn’t help that I got a very poor print, which had half the dialogues missing. Goldeneye, though, is just plain lame. Frankly, I’m happy they made Bond grittier, less gadget-y and with fewer lame comeback lines after Brosnan.

I’m off for now. Happy pongal y’all!

The one with the chrome grille

Exams are done. Another semester has passed. I’m four months older, but I have no idea how much wiser I am for it. Actually, I’d say I am considerably wiser. This has been one very busy sem, so if anything I’ve learned that things do not get easier with time :D

I read this article about the Fiat Linea today. Fiat will launch it sometime early next year. It will go head to head with the Honda City, Ford Fiesta, Maruti SX4 et al. And honestly, I think it’s the best looking car in its segment. There’s something about Italian cars. They’re beautiful. No other words. Just beautiful. Even the ones that aren’t easy on the eye will end up grabbing your attention. I guess it’s in their blood. The Italians have been masters of aesthetics and proportions ever since da Vinci put brush to canvas. You’ll never see something as radical as a Swift or as boring as a Corolla roll off an Italian assembly line. (Even the really boxy ones like the Fiat 124/Premier 118 have some redeeming qualities. They look noble and imposing from some angles) It’s another matter that until recently all those pretty Italian cars would break down at a moment’s notice. But they’ve been getting better all through this decade, which is a good thing. Art that you can live with.

One thing that struck me about the Linea is the fake chrome grille. Very few modern cars can actually pull off a full chrome grille. Some do away with the grille all together (A-Star, Spark), some have a barely-there grille (new Fiesta). Most have chrome bordering a black/body colour grille. But chrome on the Linea looks elegant, not overdone.

It reminds me of our car back home. We have a Premier Padmini/Fiat 1100-D. When it was launched back in the ‘60s it had a full chrome grille too. I love that car. Just thinking about it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and nostalgic. The fact is that older cars have soul. Some quirks that you get used to, that make them more endearing.

Call me old-fashioned, but I’d much rather have a column-shift than a floor-shift. You can actually feel the gears in this car slot into place, instead of the slick-but-vague feedback an 800 gives you (and I can’t really compare it with anything else, since these are the only two cars I’ve driven) Yes, it is very underpowered. But how fast are you going to go in the city anyway? You barely floor the accelerator and you’re already at the next signal. Or there’s some fool cow on the road. Plus, the engine’s simple enough that pretty much any mechanic anywhere can fix it. And it’s much safer than half the vehicles on the road. I don’t see any reason why I should get a new car.

In other news, I’m reading the compulsive confessor’s book right now. It’s very light and breezy, like her blog. And I like that the protagonist doesn’t refer to herself in the plural in the chapter title, the way eM does in her blog. I guess we all do that from time to time. It just seems more flattering to refer to yourself in the plural. (Note to self: If I do write a book as well, I can’t title the chapters “The one with…” I need to come up with something new)

My ticket back home is still in RAC. Hope it gets confirmed soon. Fingers crossed!

The one with the background music

The semester is winding to an end, and I’ll be back home in exactly six days. And the weather is just as glorious as ever. In fact, it’s even colder now and I’m starting to appreciate things I didn’t mention in my other post about the winter. Like even though the water coming out of the geyser can be scalding, it’s actually better this way. Or that concrete is a reasonably good insulator (Okay, fine. There’s nothing romantic about the temperature going below 10°C at night. Happy?)

Really, there’s very little to upset me right now. Yes, my exams are going on. And yes, there is that extremely crazy terrorist attack on Bombay (which seemed to have ended, but not quite) But then, exams are a part of life when you’re a student. And as far as Bombay goes, well, just remember that far more people die on the road in that very same city every year. I mean, yes it is a despicable act. But how many of your freedoms are you willing to forego in the long run, to defend yourself from something that may or may not happen? Remember that at the end of the day most people are living longer, healthier and happier lives on an average. If you live in urban India you’ve got a better chance of developing diabetes than of dying in a terrorist attack. What do you say about that?

All I’m saying is that let’s not go overboard here. Yes, we need to take some action. Yes, we can’t let this keep happening. But tackling terrorism needs a change in the whole system, a change in people’s mindset. Cursing the terrorists and then promptly forgetting everything about it when the crisis blows over won’t cut it anymore. And since my blog isn’t the place to talk about this kind of stuff, I’ll stop here.

I watched Casino Royale again last week. And ever since, I’ve been compulsively listening to the title song, “You Know My Name”. Hell, I’ve even made the chorus of the song my ringtone. I’ve realized that what life really needs is background music. I guess every blogger must’ve been tagged at least once to make a soundtrack for his/her life. But just think how cool it would be if you could have the Mission Impossible theme playing while you work on a tough paper. And then have the Ode to Joy play after you hand in your answer sheet and walk out of the exam hall. “Danger Zone” when you’re stuck in rush hour traffic. Think of the possibilities!

Maybe all those iPod junkies have the right idea. Create your own mood wherever you go. And with the insanely huge memories that these portable players can have, it isn’t bloody difficult. And they have earphones, so that what’s in your head stays in your head. (Now I know what I want for my next birthday!)

Hopefully, I’ll squeeze in another post before I go back home. But if I don’t, this is my last post of the year from Pune! (And that’s what you should do with life itself. Make the little things seem big so you actually want to do them :D)