A few more days and 2007 is history. It is due to this that i thought i'd look back at the highlights of 2007, and look forward to 2008....

Recap of 2K7

My last full year of school!!! (How much i shall miss it)
The Indian cricket team winning and losing two different world cups in the same year.
Passing 11th grade successfully. (I know its dumb)
Our band (if you can call it that) playing at culturals...
BV (cultural secretary) acting DUMB in dumb charades...
Batchmates hooking up with each other.. and others.... I dont need to mention names.. You know as well as i do...
Hmmm.... What else?? New indian woman president??? Cant think of anything else. So lets move on to........

2008!!

Turning 18...!!! Becoming an adult. :)
Legally being able to drive..... vote...... drink?? :)
Board exams.... (Seriously... I am interested)
Going to college... :)
End of school life... :(
Just to emphasise... END OF SCHOOL LIFE!!!
The Olympics.. (Not really but hoping india gets more than 1 bronze... It is an embarrassment)
The U.S. Presidential elections... (I'm not into politics... But look at the bright side.. No more Bush)
World peace.. :)
The development of india into a more developed nation... Jai Hind!!

Its been like an aeon since i wrote something here. A small vacation you could call it. Anyways, i thought i'd put this up after reading an article on the internet which quite amazed me. It said that a normal commuter in urban cities could spend up to 2 weeks in traffic every year. That is 14 days of your year spent in waiting for the car in front of you to move. Also, the cost of traffic around the world in the year 2006 was estimated to be $90 billion. That is, not counting the environmental pollution and damage to human health. The obvious solution for this would be to widen roads so that traffic could move more smoothly. Research says that contrary to this belief, widening roads would do no help in removing traffic congestion as it would result in more cars using the road which would cause heavier traffic. And the situation seems to be getting worse as more and more cars flood roads everyday. Now this was the interesting part. The article had a list of cities which vied for the world's worst traffic. In the list were 3 indian cities, including our very own chennai. The list is....

Los Angeles, USA
Bangkok, Thailand
Beijing, China
Washinton D.C., USA
Dubai, UAE
Cairo, Egypt
Mumbai, India
Calcutta, India
Chennai, India
San Francisco, USA
Jakarta, Indonesia
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Shanghai, China


Most of the traffic in indian and chinese cities is said to be due to the two-wheelers weaving through larger vehicles.
Chennai is on the world stage. I feel so proud....

Its All Coming Up

There always is a buzz around the school nowadays. With a lot of things to look forward to, everyone is busy doing something. Preparations are on for the Annual Day, the Sports Day, the Teachers Day, maybe something else i have missed out on too. The teachers too are involved. You'd see so many of them sitting with the students performing the Annual Day play. Coming from prior experience, i can tell you that half of the teachers there would have no idea of what was going on. The other half would keep fighting amongst themselves as they'd have completely different view points. It is chaos, i tell you!! Poor old Govindarajulu sir could be seen staying away from the commotion and painting designs for the backdrop in the confinements of the physics lab. Then there are the girls of our class, who started preparations for the dance they would do on teachers day "1 whole month" in advance. Yes, you read it right. With so much practice, we're all expecting fireworks on the D-Day. Our respected cul. sec. B.V. is busy allocating students for every teacher. Hehe, and then there is our band. Oblivious to the fact that we have to play. We're not even planning to start practice anytime soon.
Sports day is around the corner, and intramurals are being played everyday. House captains looked tense at this time of the year, counting up their teams' chances at the various sports played. As of now, Bhagi is leading!! Yay Manish and captain Preethi!!
And yeah. I forgot to mention our Chinmayam coming up. No more than 3 schools participating, its not something i want to write pages on about.
Well, with all good things comes some bad ones. This time, not very surprisingly, it is in the form of EXAMS. Cycle tests, followed by the Quarterlies right after all these festivities end. The busiest time of the year i'd say. Everyone on their toes....

Forwards....

As i open my mail box today after a week, i see the usual mails flooding in. I could find just one personal message in the 2 pages of e-mails i looked through. The rest...?? Forwards. These mails are a popular means of wasting your time sending people threats, make-beliefs, and sentimental stories. And these mails move in a chain as people faithfully keep mailing them to every contact in their address books. Only if it was all true......

This girl Pavitra has been in her final year of college for quite some time. She has lost her eyes and needs money. Yahoo, google, and all the other e-mail service providers have alloted 10 paise for every time you forward her story to anyone. By now, she'd be pretty rich if that was the case.

This one was funny. Someone's daughter had a huge hole in her heart. And.... (I guess you'd know the rest)

The president of Argentina got the mail but didn't forward it. His son died the next week. Another recipient lost her job. I wonder what i lost when i didn't forward the message.

Some Ashish or Kirti would add me as a friend on orkut. This request would contain a virus.

I'd not use deodarants as they cause cancer.

I'd not drink colas because they were only useful while removing toilet stains.

I'd not go to the theatre as i might have sat on a needle affected with AIDS.

Orkut would have deleted my account a LONG time back.

If i forwarded those messages, there would have been so many girls who would have proposed to me by now.... :D

I'm tired of writing already. And i've not even read half of my new messages. Some people sure have time on their hands.
P.S.- No offence to people who forward mails. Keep at it.

See you next time. Oh, and by the way, if you dont forward this post to 4374926734 people in the next 1 hour, you will turn into a cockroach tomorrow.
Enjoy!!

Talent From All Around

As the name suggests, this column is about recognising talents from all around . Today's edition talks about two such people........
The madness of 12th sweeps through the whole of the ground floor. Away from all this choose to stay a few people. Two of them are the topic of this post. Hidden in the corner of the class room, these two study, eat between classes, play bingo, and write poetry. And by the way, i'm not talking about P.B. and Pramod (Haha... Them writing poetry... ). It is the amazing poetry of our editor Upasana and her sidekick S.P.L. Nikitha that is today's subject . This was their work during Kanti ma'am's class. All with words taken from what she was teaching.....

Note:- None of these are inter-connected. They were just made using four words which rhyme.

Sin sin
Makes strangers of kin
It is an empty bin
Of all that you didn't win

Pain pain
Makes men insane
Some gain
From this stormy rain

The swan is a bird
Whiter than curd
Its life is absurd
Complicated as a surd

Chinmaya Vidyalaya is my school
It is uber-cool
Anyone who wont drool
Over it is a fool

Profitable profitable
Freedom is a fable
No exit from trouble
That can only double

There were a lot more. Thought this would do for now. If any of you want yourselves or anyone else you know to be the next subject of this column then leave a comment. Till my next entry......... SEE YA...

What was I saying again...??

It just had to happen, didnt it. I sit to write my column, and there... I cant remember what i wanted to write about. And after that, the more i try and recollect, the more i forget what i wanted to say. Come to think of it, i really do suffer from memory loss. Investigating into the matter now, i realise that i've had this problem from my birth. As hard as i try, i dont remember being born. That, which would arguably be the most important moment of life, is not remembered by me. Also, even without remembering this, i and a lot of my family and friends, almost all of whom do not have any memory of my birth celebrate the anniversary of the date every year. Even i celebrate so many others' birthdays. I do remember the days, but i dont remember any of them being born.
I can think of so many other times when this memory-loss-syndrome occurs. Though i feel i have studied everything for my dreaded exams, i dont remember the same answers while writing my papers.
Another annoying time to have loss of memory is when you try to remember someone's name. It is quite an experience i go through when i see a familiar face and cant attach names to them. Even worse if those faces come up to you and ask you if you remember them by name.
I think i might have to check myself up to make sure nothing is wrong with me. And what was i going to write on the blog this time?? I just dont remember.....

Here We Go Again (For The Last Time)

Gaah... Getting up at 7:30 or so. Hearing that bell ring so many times a day. Asking for the football everyday after school. All too familiar isn't it. Back to school life. Our last year (Oh my god..!! We've grown that old??). We had our last school summer vacations till about a week or so. Old friends are/were back in town. Had a brilliant time. How i shall miss these days.... Last year of school....... Our 'decide your career' year. Not like i bother about all that now, but at this time next year we'd be done with our entrances and interviews and would be looking at colleges to join. College!!! We really are growing old!! I'm going to miss school. Especially this one for me, cuz i think this is the 1st time i was in the same school for so long. 6 years. Quite some time. The teachers, getting caught everyday, all the friends i've made in these years. Ah... Will miss it all too much. Well, got to stop before too much nostalgia sets in. Good i got the blog rolling again. Search this space in sometime for my next instalment. Till then.... Ta Ta... :)

LOLZ.....

Another few videos which i really liked..... Amazing. Wish they have stuff like this in India. Have fun... :-)

A Mastercard Moment

Save the best for last?? That's exactly what happened on our beach trip yesterday. It reminded me of the mastercard ads which used to come. So i thought that i might as well make one.

Bus to the beach : Rs. 5

Bubble tea for everyone after a game of football : Rs. 700

Auto ride to the train station : Rs. 170

Train back home : Rs. 5

Laughing your guts out when a beggar on the train starts singing an old hindi love song for devesh........... Priceless


There truly are things that money cant buy... ;-)

I'm Leaving.....

( Sing along..) Well the blog is back... I'm ready to write.. OK.. Gotta get the rest of the lyrics... Yes.. The blog is on the run again.. And after a very extended vacation.. The last time i wrote anything here is on the 25th of March... Anyways... Back to the more important blogging matters..

We conducted a farewell for our seniors a few weeks back... (Yeah!!).. A pretty good achievement considering the fact that we have never had a farewell in our school in quite some time.... It went on well... There were intense preparations for a week... Where's the food? Where's the cake..?? Congratulations to all the people who put in hard work and money. Special thanks to our commander in cheif for the event, Kareena, and her sidekick Varun, without whom nothing would have been possible ;-) ... There was singing.... there was dancing... Loads of fun... Dont really expect to get 1 back from our juniors (sigh...) Life is unfair.. Oh... Forgot to mention... My photographs were compiled to make the memento/gift for them :) ... A little boasting doesnt hurt.. Does it??
Here are some of the piccas... Wanted the performances too... But havent got a copy yet... So will post 'em up when i get them...

Our 13 kg Block Of Beauty

Seniors

Group Pic (With me giving a disgusted/wierd look)

Not The Best Pic Ever... But The Best I Have

Collage.....

Hoo Haa India??

It just had to be. After its 2 defeats out of 3 matches, our highly(over)-rated indian cricket team is on its way back from the west indies. And after the Bob Woolmer incident, a few members of team would be breathing heavily as they return. But this was expected as the team played with a total lack of interest. They deserved to lose and thats what happened. Ppl are now cribbing about india being unlucky. Why? Because the umpire didnt give a few LBW decisions or something. Now the only ppl i feel sad for are those who spent their crores on making ads for the team which have become a complete waste now. Its about time we stopped giving such importance to a game played by 10 countries of the world and shift focus to other sports. Here are a few of the snapshots of our team and its suporters. Enjoy....

LOLZ....

The title is dedicated to a friend of mine. About who it is, if you dont know then keep guessing cuz i dont think i'll be telling you anyways. I really wanted to put this on the blog after i saw it. So have fun... Watch..

Holi!!!

Yes. The time of the year when you find colour on the roads, colour on people, colour everywhere. Sad that this year it was on a sunday and we didnt get an extra day off from school. But nevertheless, holi was loads of fun, really tiring, and the best part about this year's holi celebration is that there is almost no colour left on me now. I just thought that i'd do something different on my blog and give you the scoop on why we play holi. Most of you would be like 'Oh.. Boring..!!'. But i just want to do this anyways. There are different stories on the origin of holi. They are given below...

In Vaishnava Theology, Hiranyakashipu is the king of demons, and he had been granted a a boon by Brahma, which made it almost impossible for him to be killed. The boon was due to his long penance, after which he had demanded that he not be killed "during day or night; inside the home or outside; not on earth or on sky; neither by a man nor an animal; neither by astra nor by shastra". Consequently, he grew arrogant, and attacked the Heavens and the Earth. He demanded that people stop worshipping gods and start praying to him.
Despite this, Hiranyakashipu's own son, Prahlad, was a devotee of Lord Vishnu. In spite of several threats from Hiranyakashipu, Prahlad continued offering prayers to Lord Vishnu. He was poisoned but the poison turned to nectar in his mouth. He was ordered to be trampled by elephants yet remained unharmed. He was put in a room with hungry, poisonous snakes and survived. All of Hiranyakashipu's attempts to kill his son failed. Finally, he ordered young Prahlad to sit on a pyre on the lap of his sister, Holika, who could not die by fire by virtue of a shawl which would prevent fire affecting the person wearing it. Prahlad readily accepted his father's orders, and prayed to Vishnu to keep him safe. When the fire started, everyone watched in amazement as the shawl flew from Holika, who then was burnt to death, while Prahlad survived unharmed, after the shawl moved to cover him. The burning of Holika is celebrated as Holi.
It is also said that later Lord Vishnu came in the form of a Narasimha (who is half-man and half-lion) and killed Hiranyakashipu at dusk (which was neither day nor night), on the steps of the porch of his house (which was neither inside the house nor outside) by restraining him on his lap (which is neither in the sky nor on the earth) and mauling him with his claws (which are neither astra nor shastra).

In Vrindavan and Mathura, where Lord Krishna grew up, the festival is celebrated for 16 days (until Rangpanchmi in commemoration of the divine love of Radha for Krishna). Lord Krishna is believed to have popularized the festival by playing pranks on the gopis here. Krishna is believed to be complained to his mother about the contrast between his dark colour and his consort Radha's fair colour. Krishna's mother decided to apply colour to Radha's face. The celebrations officially usher in spring, the celebrated season of love.

There is another story about the origin of holi. Kamadeva is a god of love ( the indian version of cupid). Kama's body was destroyed when he shot his weapon at Shiva in order to disrupt his penance and help Parvati to marry Shiva. Shiva then opened his third eye, the gaze of which was so powerful that Kama's body was reduced to ashes. For the sake of Kama's wife Rati (passion), Shiva restored him, but only as a mental image, representing the true emotional and mental state of love rather than physical lust. The Holi bonfire is believed to be celebrated in commeration of this event.

(Zzzzz...) Get up!! Its over. Hope you had the patience to read all the way upto here. Hope you liked it.

And The Winner Is....

2 days into it, the holiday mood has finally sunk in. Get up late (very late), go out, aspirin, lots of tv and the computer, NO STUDIES... Aaahh.. the joy. And late notice, but congratulations to our leaders. Shriram and Nikitha our SPL's. Eashwar and Ekta (i think the track-cutting race helped you become) the sports leaders. BV, a.k.a. Zubin (the 'propper') and Ananya, C.C.A. leaders. Upasana and Akhilajyoti are editors. There's no boy editor, showing how much my fav teacher Valsala ma'am loves the boys in our class. Varun-Sridevi, Manish-Preethi, Varadaraj-Amritavarshini and Ashwin R-Priyanka are the house leaders. Wish them the best of luck!!

Last One....

Yes... A sigh of relief as the exams come to an end. This time tomorrow we'll be starting our holidays. Unfortunately our miserly school gives 6 days after the end of an academic year. But you have to accept it. What else can you do?
As i have computers tomorrow, the time i am spending now can be called part of my practical preparations for the exam. Its not part of the portions, but what the hell... Have to finish some of the stuff still. But that can wait. I'm doing more important stuff now. Yeah!! 11th over tomorrow. Good riddance.
Ok. Its about time i got back to my studies if i have plans to pass tomorrow. So will write again after the exams. Wish me luck. Bye

Who's It Gonna Be??

Hello all,

As the time counts down to the announcement of the new leaders there is a lot of talk in the class about who should and/or will be next year's leaders. The sure leaders modestly say that there is no way they are going to be selected. The others keep guessing, with some hoping that they are chosen too. Everyone gives their predictions. The arguements are endless. Few of the posts which would look already occupied are the girls' SPL leader (Nikitha.... duh!!), the guys' sports leader (Do i really need to say who its gonna be), a few others also. Seems like it will be between Manish and Varun for the guys' SPL spot. And there are quite a few ppl who you know will be leaders, but not really sure for which post. There is the occasional news that PB will be our SPL. And though i'd really love that to happen, i dont think that it's too much of a possibility. Ppl are anxious to know whether they win their bets (Oh yes.. there is large scale betting going on too). So as we wait for the final decision, i wish all the hopefuls all the best. Keep your fingers crossed... It might just be you. :)

Movie Review: Salaam-e-Ishq

Rating -

Comments - Time is precious. Dont waste it. Dont watch the movie!!

Last Friday's trip to Inox to see Salaam-e-Ishq was a complete waste of time. Not only was the movie bad but i spent about 150 bucks travelling to and back from there. The direction was bad, the acting on the whole was terrible, the movie is a copy of an english movie.... doesnt seem i enjoyed it too much, does it? The only good things about that evening were :-

1) I still haven't paid for the ticket (Ssshhh.... No one tell shreya).

2) Devesh's dressing sense (The stars).

Now about the movie...

3) The music is pretty good. Atleast much better than the movie itself.

4) Anil Kapoor's dancing skills

5) Sohail Khan's part is FUNNY.....

6) Govinda's acting was good i felt.

The rest of it was pretty much shit. So if you have seen the movie, i guess you feel pretty much how i felt. If you haven't, then please save yourself the money and the time and dont watch it. For now, watch this trailer (the movie looks much better at this length).

Cheers...

Jai Hind....

Whats up ppl,

I know i know.... Its been a long time. Better late than never. This time i promise i'll write more often(I'm serious this time). Well, i thought i'd start off by writing about the trip we made to the Cancer Institute on Republic Day. Had to get up early in the morning on a holiday(sigh...!!). Travelled from school on a bus all the way to the Cancer Institute in Adyar. We put on a small cultural show with singing, dancing and acting. We also distributed sweets to all the people present there. It ended up being a really nice day, a chance to do something to bring a smile on the patients' faces. I'm off now. And i'll catch up very soon. So until then,

Good bye and jai hind!!

The girls doing a jig

Gk doing his thing on the guitar

The Interact Club choir singing

How could we forget the group pic??