Not exactly a post. [ Ergo, something better.]
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[Btw, My hiatus is surprisingly, not due to a writer's block. This is your chance. Enjoy while it lasts...For be warned, Soon, I'll be back. With my regular doses of textual - harassment. Phew, I can't be booked for that] /************************************************************************************************/
My love for tetris has been documented pretty well over here. So I’ll not kutch further.

I discovered N-Blox some days ago, when chappar , wanting to get some cheap highs, was looking at psychedelic visuals on this site. And sent it to me.

Turns out Paul Neave is a brilliant Flash designer, with a passion for Retro games. Kewl. And I found Tetris. Blissh.

The gameplay is superb[ Considering that there's not much scope for innovation]. But as it turns out, Neave is a bit of a N*gger [ Southpark fundaes]. With the sole intent of pissing off fans, he sets out and puts a score_reset which is called at the stroke of midnight.

I could think of only a few possible excuses that he could have.

• Probably to save on diskspace of the scores.txt file. [Wtf]
• To give every newbie a chance to figure on the highscore board. Turns out they already do. Through simple,stupid, “Injection” techniques. [Come on, Man you...]
• “It’s my game.”  ”Respect Mah Authoritah“…[ Awesome ]

Well, the third reason seemed the most logical, and we laud his spunk n all that, but we didn’t like it in principle. He could have at least given people the source code and allow us to tinker with it. But that’s his choice and we respect that.

But, we did want the game.

So, The php whiz from college, and myself, tweaked around the flash file for a while to send the scores to a different location. And the php to receive, process the scores at this remote location, and send back the results back to the flash file. No edits to the gameplay/graphics. Honest.

Did someone miss a beat? Never mind, Let me beat you again.

Me n php? Ha ha…

Well, truth be told, he did both of those. Great work dude, and btw, the Inci site rocks, as usual.

And me, with my stupendous Html skills, set up an oldschool website, which is approximately Web 0.2. So, enjoy Nblox on the site shown below ( while it lasts), and u get to post ur highscore as well.

So, without much ado, here’s N-Blox Reloaded peoples…

Phree Publicity: Check out http://byethost.com/   Free, and Hassle-free webhosting, with php support, and nice technical support as well.

While riding on the internets, and surfing the tubes, I came across this nifty site called Gender Analyzer. Using free text classifier algorithms from a site called Uclassify, this site aims to judge whether a blog/website is written by a woman or a man. A very active research topic.

I tried out using some known standard cases, and here’s the goldmine.

Gosh, I didn’t know that Machine Learning had become so accurate these days. Be paranoid, very.

Incidentally, Chappar, when you were on wordpress, your manliness rating was 83%. Did anything special happen during the transition phase?

A thousand apologies, plus one extra, just in case.

And to those who might think of an oh-so-brilliant, “Look who’s talking !!!”,line. I’m at 71%. Muha ha ha.

P.S: Incidentally again, this is the 2nd in the chappar series of posts, the first one having been written nearly 2 years ago.[hyper-link to click in case you're bored]

Update: Google Hindi translation of this post is too funny. 

excerpt: जबकि internets पर, घुड़सवारी और ट्यूबों सर्फिंग, मैं इस गंधा साइट भर में आया जेंडर विश्लेषक कहते हैं

lol [link]

It has been a phenomenal week.
We bludgeoned the aussies… Vishy is in a freakingly awesome form, having tricked kramnik through a queen pawn opening move that he rarely uses, and perfecting its nuances through various stages. ISRO made us proud by kickstarting the 2 year chandrayaan programme. This even got a prominent mention in one of obama’s campaign speeches. Which was lapped up by mr.nair, even though it was kinda meant to be in a derogatory context.
Sure, there are homegrown idiots who deny the importance of such an achievement.
Commies don’t want us racing with china. Most crankpots question the need to spend crores on what they feel is a non-practical space mission. See,this is just a scientific mission right? , is their argument.
STFU, is my counter argument.
I rest my case.

Drawing on this extensive article; the sole biography of Sir Takal in existence, I choose to limit myself, and write only about his magnificent works, with particular emphasis on some of his recent views about everything of consequence to the neo-modern chinese cult-societies in Bangalore.

Takal doesn’t read my blog, so I presume I am safe. [ Sincere apologies in advance ].

Inspirations: [ with the equivalent deft delicateness of Anu Malik ]

• Appar’s exhilarating review of his best friend’s literary masterpiece.
• A superb book review of “The 2007-2012 Outlook for Tufted Washable Scatter Rugs, Bathmats, and Sets That Measure 6-Feet by 9-Feet or Smaller in India” – the most scholarly book ever written in this field.

There are two kinds of literary critics in this world, one who totally adore Sir Takal’s succinct analogies, and metaphorical embellishments at times, and the others who haven’t read him yet. I proudly say that I belong to the first variety.

You see, when you read Takal ( a metonymic reference to something written by him ), you not only get the perception that the author is trying to convey an issue of importance, but also the subtle realization of the deeper meaning that this exalted mind offers.

Through innumerous surreal examples, chiefly drawn from the author’s experience with life, and his in-depth knowledge of the Bengalurean city-life, as well as his profound insights on global politics[ with a categorical expertise centered around topics related to the Chinese and Tibetan domain ], Takal clearly convinces of a dark and shady conspiracy that the system[ The Indian Government ], is running in the background of a hazy “India Shining” campaign.

Some Excerpts, and a Detailed as well as a Figurative analysis :-

• “I don’t know why I wrote this post. It is bad. Or may be not . I am not sure. “  Never since The Tale of Two Cities, has a enantiosis, the figure of contraries, of this nature ever been displayed in English Literature.  Walking on both lines of the  paradoxical line, he gently prepares the reader for a tumultuous article ahead. He continues….
• “ It was Friday. It was when I went to piss at 4 o’clock that day, that I saw that it was a haze of grey outside . Well, with only work in my mind, I went back and hardly gave a thought to the heavy rain. ” – Metaphors be damned. This is God himself writing. When was the last time you had such a phantasmagoric visual treat lined up for you[ In the most literary, straightest sense possible ].
• “Well, when I came back home, another shitty thing happened. Power went off.” - A powerful, yet hidden message to the Yeddy government.
• “ And it is the engineer’s duty to do everything at the last moment. So, thinking I had all the time in the world, I disregarded the increasingly heavy rain, and started to play candle-lit carrom with Kela.” – Inspirational substance, and a brief hint at an on-going romance.
• “I went and saw to my horror that there were only girlie umbrellas available. But, when I searched properly I did find some black umbrellas. So, I decided to buy it. But wait, I saw the label, and here it was for 667 rupees only. Well, with no time, and having more than a goat’s brain, I decided to adjust with a girlie umbrella for a day( which was available for 220 rupees), I got the umbrella.” - Sir Takal is a champion of the woman’s liberation movement, and he breaks all stereotypes, and urges the reader to do the same. Notice how he assigns a higher price to the “Black Umbrella”. Yes, you guessed it. Sir Takal loves the Afro-American Community as well. He is a maestro in the field of Zulu Dancing, though he is very coy about it.
• “Thus, it should be clear that a torturer is a torturer, whatever language he speaks, and whatever country he belongs to. The driver was talking to people in singular whatever, I don’t remember the word. It was as if he thought he was the lord. It was as if he was enjoying the overcrowding of the bus. I realized what sadists felt like. He was feeling comfortable in his chair looking at the crowded bus. I felt what a concentration camp felt like, and I for the first time sympathized with the Jews, Borat notwithstanding.” – Just two words :- Drawing parallels between a BMTC ride and the Holocaust, Sir Takal takes the reader to an epochal period and drops him there. Also of importance are the tyrannical analogies of the bus-driver, who here is being compared to Adolf Hitler himself.   Did I say two words?.. Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

And this is just one of his works. Imagine the greatness of a man who has managed to put so many critical issues in such an eloquent manner.

I could go on an on, but I do not wish that the reader misses out on exploring Sir Takal all on their own. A chance that everyone must take.

Takal is a genre in itself. Kafkaesque creations seem pale in front of this divine force of literary grandeur.

Some blurbs from some more reputed sources:

• “This is the 98956’th Indian Origin author that I have been asked to review. Please give me a break. God Damn it.” – Shashi Tharoor.

• “To reduce such a richly diverse book to a couple of main themes is a disservice, for there is much here to reward the careful reader (notably two startlingly educative essays on the ancient roots of relations between India and China). Particularly pleasurable is Sir Takal’s masterly reclaiming of Rabindranath Tagore’s reputation from the unjust misjudgment of him in the West as a mediocre mystic poet rather than the rationalist and humanist genius and polymath Takal convincingly depicts. But — disservice aside — two principal arguments emerge from this collection: an affirmation of India’s political and cultural heterogeneity, and of the ‘reach of reason’ in India’s intellectual traditions.” – Shashi Tharoor on cannabis.

• “I think of the glorious Tiananmen square days, when I read Sir Takal’s works.” – Long Dong, The Times of China. he continues, “Actually, I always think of those days.” ,he clarifies.

• “I so adore Takal because he posts his articles mostly at the break of dawn. I love to wake up and read Takal, with the cup of coffee in my hand. WoW, Sir Takal. You’re totally on my favorites list. ” – Chetan Bhagat.

• “Pardon me for this infantile indulgence, but pray allow me to savour the poetic mastery of Sir Takal. I fear that if I don’t quantify it into my already vast intellectual cache, I shall miss out on something very special, the stuff that mortals are faintly aware of.” – Noam Chomsky, not on cannabis.

• “TB rules. TB is my hero. TB is GoD .” – Hashish, The Arizona Daily Star .

• “Ashish to Ashes, Dust to Dust” – Sir Takal, The Davangere  Daily.

Normally I don’t recommend authors, but in his case, I doubly do so.

Venture into the unknown,

for there is where true beauty lies,

Do not miss this literary Oasis, O’ pensive traveller,

Not a shadow of doubt, I premise.

Disclaimer:- This post is not a review of this Amol Palekar movie. Which happens to be one of my favourites, btw. It however deals with a similar aspect of life.

Claimer:- Too much fundae_putting for a very small issue. Excusus Maadimus.

Location: A semi-posh hotel in the heart of Bengaluru. Woodlands a.k.a Woody’s it is called.

So here I was, happily staying at this hotel [ albeit at company’s expense, but don’t ruin the moment ], which is supposedly famous in B’ lore for its breakfast. Not many star hotels can boast about that.

Aha, if that’s not enough, there is one more USP to this place. At all the dining venues, this mallu-run hotel plays Carnatic Music to give that xtra aambience effects.                  Yes. Good-ol’ Classy stuff that sits well with most of the senior Tam folk who seem to form a majority of the customers here [ and with me as well - if you still didn’t get the point ].

I think this must be an corollary/extension of that experimental research that, cows gave more milk when exposed to western classical music.

In the mornings, they play Mandolin Shrinivas. The same CD every day. I still liked it.

At dinner, for some weird reason, they play death-note Shehnai/saxophone. Morose funeral-ish stuff. I didn’t quite get the funda, but since the food was quite good, I didn’t bother much.

Well, enough of bitti publicity. Back to core issues. Or the lack of it.

So, one day at the breakfast, the hotel features the Southie menu filled with awesomeness, the Idlis, the Vadas, dosas…. and also some mandatory nuisances like the Upma [ a.k.a Uppittu. as if an alias changes the hideousness ]. And being a devout member of the caffeine cultus, I order a coffee as well. Wait, let me rephrase.

A true-to-Bengaluru-tradition Cothasian fresh, piping hot, delicious cuppa coffee, with a frothy layer as a visual bonus.

Ya, it was something like that. I’m a bit restrained with appraisals.

It was of course sugar-free, to suit the oldies. So, I take the  semi-crystalline, semi-powdery sugar sachet, and pour it down. It made a small hole into that layer, sinking in slowly. Maybe I was already high in anticipation of the coffee, or maybe bengaluru’s   early-morning cold had excited my mind, in either case, this sight brought a smile to my face. I assume the classy people around me thought I was some downmarket crazy oaf. That is, if they hadn’t already thought of that, while I came to have the breakfast in my pair of jazzy bermudae.

To me, however, it reminded of old cartoon characters. When they used to fall out of planes, or space, or anywhere else… Dropping through columns of white clouds, making appropriate look-alike cut-out holes in the process.

Maybe I’m imagining a bit too much. “Much ado about nothing”- ing about a petty issue.

Signing off with a recent chat with Akella. [ Expletives included ]

Me : Hey, I found a house in Wilson Garden. Pretty neat. And near as well..

Akella : So, when are you shifting to a proper house?

Me : Wtf, this house is closeby, has a maid, and a TV as well.      You can’t get properer than that.

Akella : No, I meant why are you staying in a Garden?

Me : You Whore.

Some people never change…

And that is good…

And that is all…

So this is it. The bluesy feeling finally came. Initially, in small doses. But eventually, as time passed, and we came closer to the end [ if you could call it so], the senti-jolts were obvious and caused intense discomfort.

4 years seem to have swished by in a jiffy.

The realization of that, however, came a bit too late[ which was good, btw]. It probably started as soon as Inci got over. Random flashes- scenes from the past years, events of importance, the funner things in life that I experienced here
- appeared at times. And me got all pensive, which is, you can safely say, not normal; considering my nature.
A CnH strip, that probably describes my situation. With due apologies to Watterson.

The last few days were unbearable. Every task that you did in college had some kinda tag associated with it. Last time this, First time that etc. Add to that a whole bunch of drippy farewell ceremonies. The senti-meter kept showing intense readings as the days passed.

/* The F word will be used 3 times in this post, for completely appropriate reasons. Kindly close your eyes just before u pass over it. Thank you */

Well, I was on my way to good ol’ Bengalooru on some work. In this bus called Indira Travels….
Well, I dint find her, but anyways, this is what happened.

Some of my brilliant NITKian Juniors were here,
filled with placement fear,
Oh. Dear Dear….

These buggers are discussing about Turing machines, and other algos. Various placement related stuff.
[ I'd give a million to anyone who'd guess their branch]

Well, to this particular chap, I pose a question.

” It is 5.45 in the morning. You have a 80 decibel voice, and you’re shouting at an angle of 60 deg relative to your seat, about turing bullcrap. Exactly how many people are you annoying? “

Answer: The whole fucking bus…..

Well, if you want to understand Turing Machines, I’d love to teach you.
An awesome description by my friend- Junior- con- comps don – Anirudh
” Turing Machines should be called “SlideFuck” , you know like ” BrainFuck” ,
but this time, with only two symbols, “left” and right”.

There, you nasty sucker… got that…..
If you still have a doubt, then ” One tight slap“.

Cheerio

P.S: I know who you are…. [ grin]

Narcissism should be the state religion.

Some 6 months ago, Sakku Tetris [ Sakkut ™ ], a weapon of mass distraction
was unleashed upon hapless nerds of NITK by the cranberry Zombie
a.k.a The Ghost who Codes, or more popularly known in dcpp circles
as RatPoizon.

Random announcement: Tetris is a part of the bsd-games packaged
in the great archlinux.
[I swear, evil-chappar-sense asked me to add that. Evangelism at its core].

Sure, we’ve all used those hand-helds before. What was it.. Ah . Yes. Brick game.

Laying bricks[ a term totally ripped by Ali G btw], in search for that
elusive long bar, that would just give it to the huge pile that you’d
meticulously planned, with just that one column space. An lo, behold.
Crasheth thy tower, Gaineth thou points.

But there is no fun in that now, is it?… Along came Skld. With his generous
spirit and cranberry heart, he sets up this amazing tetris server in a jiffy.
That too with all sorts of high score updates, linearly graded levels with
higher rewards and ball-shattering speeds.

The best part about Sakkut ™ is that there is no need to complete the tetris.
The faster you get em’ bricks down , the faster you earn, and the earlier
you f’kup and leave.

Now, you might be wondering. Why the fudge is this chap blabbering
about a game that even my dad would consider Victorian?

Aha. I happen to be the highest scorer, my dear… and a whopping 30k+ at that.

For the ones that did not understand even a single word until now, here’s the post in
Sakkut ™ for Dummies Picture Edition.

Look at that picture carefully. Wtf. Colour ASCII Art, that too with your alias. Dude. Its 2008… Wake up…
And speaking of aliases, how many do you have, man?…

Once you’re in, all that strikes you is one illustrious list of extraordinary gentlemen who have dedicated their precious NITKian schedules towards Sakkut ™.
Several cold wars, semi-trained Zulu Dances and a cut-throat competition in 8th block has led to the compilation of this awesome list.

Lets dwell on this page for a while [ grin]…
8 out of top 10 scores. 30k. Not bad. Mission accomplished.
The 28k score happened to be when I was in a major inebriated state.
[ There, the first time that I've mentioned that I was high, on my blog.
I will not even attempt to chronicle my stupid endeavours under
the influence of substances.
Self Suck-Dingy.... ]
For details read N.R’s alcohol blog.

A new section started by the Rat. For practical purposes, lets call it the tetris blog.
Or shall we call it the Never come out the room-Yet report sensational news- Journalism?.. Hmmm…

Ranging from motivational speeches to Soma/me during the famous
( Sakkut ™ Wars ) ™, to kick-in-the butt orders for Dha to join, or claims that a certain evil soul did some nasty hacking, or arbit couplish stuff, that only the gossip-freaks would be bothered with….

The best part about Soma’s style of playing was the cool and the panache with
which he deftly manoeuvred.
@ Soma:- It’s lonely at the top…. [ evil laughter]…
The modest Rat however fails to mention that he himself is an accomplished player, however owing to the sudden influx of jobless junta, he fails to appear more than once in that list.

Now the golden moment. What lies within such a heavily guarded fortress, so charmingly entwined with the tales of the geeks, so dazzlingly depicting the brilliant set of conquerors?…..
Well, Sakkut ™ of course….

What is provided here is a sample of the way the game ought to be played. It might appear too fast, and could be confused for an animation gimmick. Well, lets be frank here.
There was some post processing. Irfan view is an awesome image editing software, and a new discovery advp does a good job at creating animated gif’s. But having screen captures at 1 sec intervals, what with that piece of software running on my lousy Tony, some glitches/ time lapses are bound to happen.
What is interesting is the level of F’kup’s that happen in level 9. One mistake, and Sayonara…
Without further ado, a humble demo…

" Prison time is slow time.Sometimes it feels like stop-time.
So you do what you can to keep going...
Some fellas collect stamps.Others build matchstick houses.
Andy built a library."

Logik , Soma, Dha, RatPoizon, and evilsense played Sakkut ™.

Thanks to Dha for this. It taught me how to use animated gif's in blogs.
Thanks to Google for being there as always. Thanks to Photobucket
and Imageshack for hosting.
And readers, watch this image, while I make a silent exit.


Kudos to John Battelle for being the first John on Google when
searched for John.
Yup, he beat John's Gospel, John Lennon, John F.Kennedy ,
John Deere and John Abraham too....
And juniors, might want to set up their own Sakkut ™.

We are alumni now..........

P.S: My Blogger theme sucks.
All those awesome animated gif's that took me ages to prepare have been mercilessly
chopped off.A better way to read an elegant looking post would be to subscribe to my rss
feed via Google reader, or via the email service provided by feedburner.
[ Marketing is the cheapest job genre ever.....]

P.P.S: WordPress sucks,, a bit lesser though. Lesser chopping.

P.P.P.S: This is getting irritating, isn't it....

Cheerio
 

The SPCB called me yesterday. So here is a round up of some oddities that happened in the past week.

A tiny confession. I’m pretty nonchalant about the Indian political scenario. However, when I was glancing through the online edition of the Times of India[ I'm not keeping well these days ], I couldn’t but help notice this.[1]
” Rahul Gandhi washes himself with soap and incense after visiting Dalits”.
Scrolling down to check out the audacious person who could come up with such a statement, I was kinda perturbed to see Ms.Mayawati Naina Kumari’s name.[2]
Ok. Lets analyse this profound political conundrum using the now famous cheapness rating[TM].

The contenders would be
1. Rahul Gandhi[3]: who has allegedly performed ablutions with the choicest of soaps and all the perfumes of Arabia[ An exaggerated Macbeth joke. Pray pardon, and continue reading], in order to sanctify himself from the visit to dalit homes. thereby rendering useless,all the election mileage that he was supposed to get from such random visits, as leader of the youth congress, and general secretary of Indian National Congress, and as Rajiv Gandhi Part II etc.

2. The ever charming Lady, Ms.Maya, a.k.a Pachydermus Proliferatus[4] : For having supposedly found out about innocent Rahul’s bathing rituals,items in his bathroom, and other issues privy to all. Being on the spying side of a phone-tapping controversy seems to have given her some experience. Do we call this tap-tapping now[ for lack of a better pun]?….

A word of advice to Madam Maya. Please do take a bath once in a while. We the electorate are sensible enough not to attribute it to such inane stuff.
Ok, the previous suggestion was a bit hypocritical of me, since I don’t follow the practice of regular bathing myself.
But then, I’m not a dirty politician, am I?….

3. Me: For having dwelled on this bulldung for two whole paragraphs, when the solution was so evident. Mayawati feared losing her prized possession. The dalit votes. Her recent policy, simbly great by any modern politicians standards, seems to be

Brahmin- Harijan Bhai Bhai,
Everyone drinks together Chai.
Swalpa Lingayat and Swalpa Vokkaliga for extra high,
Whaatai, Whaatai..
[5]
Now,lets see.. Where did Rahul go wrong?.This chap is one of the most honest politicians[an oxy moron, sorry] in recent times. Honest maybe not in deeds, but in words at least. The Doon school’s charm is still visible when he speaks. For those are not statements masked with fear of the supreme Holy Mother of congress. He points out critical mistakes in Indian political history, most of them committed by the Nehruvian clan themselves. Pity Kapil Sibal had to bear the brunt of the ever-wicked Karan Thapar, trying to justify such wise thoughts as coming from a kiddish nansy-pansy person.

But, alas. Soon he will be one of them. Already getting diluted, delving deep into election dirt, propagating nonsense, touring every vote-hotspot of India. India has lost one more Leader….

Now, the results.
Its obvious,isn’t it?.. Its my blog;I win…I am the cheapest of them all….

Politics and economics are quite the sapphic pair.So how could I leave her out?
One more news headline…[6] [7]
” Researchers at Wharton Business School have carried out the study and found that inhabitants of richer nations are happier than those of poorer countries”.
or in Noob terms, “Money can Buy you happiness”.
My, My. And it took buggers from Wharton to figure that out?. Wtf.
I’m a pretty fiscally challenged person myself. I would have suggested this much earlier. Damn,
if only I weren’t so frigging busy…

In local news, but of much more value, We the Batch of 2008, were presented with nitk logo-ed silver rings. A symbol to connect us all, the brethren, the sistren, and the couplen.
So after all the possible jokes spanning from Captain Planet, The Ring horror movies, Semi-lewd wedding fundae, Nursery rhymes, Suffe-”ring”[ Sir, You're the best. We now know where the Nitkian gets his/her Pj'ing spirit from] etc, we set out as blazoned warriors, all ready to face the world in all its glory, or as one friend points out, “To come out in Flying colours”.
Oh.. wait.. There are still some more days left before I spew that…

And, for the outsiders, and the juniors who dint know. EnC Don Ajay the Great, went on to win both the golden medal, and the golden ring. The best outgoing student of our batch. Tronix rocks macchi…

Cheerio…

P.S: Zippidee Doo dah…

INCIDENT’08, was poised to be the best inci ever[ ya, the same line repeats every year]. More Cash = Better bands,More events,Bigger Prizes,Loads of fun.. INCI discussions started off with the choice of themes. Some frenchie suggestions to the tone of C’est la vie [ That's life], and “Let there be Delight” were rejected coz they were too corny, or vague. Then someone came up with “Join the beat”. Either that it was too good, or probably that we were running out of time, in any case, this was unanimously chosen. And what with that awesome retro disco lookin brochure backdrop[ I bow to thee, Mashaal n Co, for that n I2J ] to justify it, there was no lookin’ back.

Inci was on…

Publicity[Highest number of participants], Marketing[Largest Budget ever], and a Bindaas website(s)[speechless]..

.….Many months later

Some days before Inci…
Committees assembled. AF starts working on college ambience[ Yes, you folks can brag about it.You rock]. JuggyD’s Master Plans. Soni arranges. Gupta high on LSD
[jus kiddin].

Some intros…

Mulki- son of a beach[ partner in crime]. Budling- Quizzesh, and Littax. P n Me – Birdwatchin, n other mischiefs. [Ya, we were the best, ob. Thnx anyways]. BabukiAand-”Fresh” n Frooty, n always short on coupons. VPdaMan- Jubilant n Responsible. SheldytheBird – SACrificed inebriation. Desai – Hospitalized everyone. Aggarwal- The short Matador. Shenoy – Order ! Order ! MmnOstee Pls. SidDaHermit – Cartman@inci – Super awesome kewl. Appar – DePressed Panda.Devarisi – sirigannadam gelge.G the Hoopla kid – was a treat to see Jinga Play.Murali – Hurrah for Pulse, and easterns.Kattige – Gay-ming .
If your a committee-con and your name isn’t in this all-praising list, either I’m out of lame-puns, or I’ve to belt you for some reason. Join the Beat.

1. Informalz- Sorry to say, this has been the worst informalz in the incis that I’ve seen, and judging by the remarks of the seniors that happen to visit during inci-time, extends to the incis that I haven’t seen as well. It lacked that pizazz, that extempore nonsense, that knack of keeping the crowd involved, and mostly turned out to be cricketing sessions between committee members. The very fact that NITK junta chose JAM over informals [ which is good btw ] , is proof enough. Anyways, it was way,way better than FREEFALL-which lived upto its name. So, no significant harm done..

2. Xpose & Photography cLub: Due to certain observations made by certain people of merit, this section has been removed. Photography Club simply rocks man.. You guys are the best.. 
3.Inci Force- Last year, the worry was “Who’ll police, the police?”. This year,it was mostly ” Where’s the Police?”.
——————******************************————————–
It is at this juncture that I sadly mention the cheap, and indecent attitude shown by the NITK crowd towards the Shankar family. We boast of being the best of the best, the cream and other such hogwash, but even that basic civic sense, courtesy towards invited guests is not present here. Some third-rate bastard[ the most appropriate word possible], chooses to insult Jun.Shankar’s sis, n mother. Get some dignity,people. It is highly unfortunate that when I say this to the NITK junta, since I’m one of them, even I’ve to bow down in shame.

Desperation, I call it. Hooting at every other female that comes on stage, with the choicest of words. Ok, almost everyone does it at various degrees. I don’t claim to be a saint either. But, public decorum is what is asked for, and I think we being all intellectually sound, and future responsible societal creatures n all that, should at least keep these tiny facts in mind.

Everything’s never rosy,I agree. But these tiny blemishes stood to ruin such a well crafted fest, and it was something no one wanted. Anyway, people soon realized, and the gem that was Jun.Shankar continued his show. Hats off to you, man. For the full-house show at SJA, and for the packed house Workshop in the morning. We can’t thank you enough.

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Gen Review:

Some critiques are already floating around, the good ones being wanderlust’s , N.R’s, n kittis Choose to read them.

Yours truly being the workshops convenor, supported by His Holiness Saint-P, had only one thing in mind before Inci. To bring out a transformation in the way workshops@Inci were perceived by the audience. And if I’m not mistaken, we did succeed[ 5 / 6 ]. Owing to a brilliant reco from Saranya, a kite making n flying workshop materialized. And kudos to Choukkar for introducing us to a genius in Mr.Akhtar Husein, who conducted the Nature Conservation workshop, the success of which many were skeptical about[ many=me], but in the end turned out to be one interesting session.

Koochie the kid beat me to set up the sand modelling workshop.[ Kannada Sahitya Sammelan, Same spot, One day difference]. I don’t give a damn. It was one of the best fun events this college has seen. Mr. Srinath,Venki n team, from Manipal were very friendly and receptive to our requirements, and spread their message through the huge structure that they’d built.

The greatest committee’s extra-ordinary members,generously helped by P’s friends went on to build “The Taj Pyramid”, which saw intermediate forms of the globe, Petronas towers, an Onion, Ditchable Failure, and finally Ta-da….

The Magic workshop [ All you want to know, but no tricks explained], kept all of us eagerly waiting for the next trick. Jun.Shankar, charming as usual, with his radiant smile, n that spark in his eye, managed to captivate the audience[the female ones, in particular]. We were literally amazed when Ronnie the Great, and Gokul the Bald, performed tricks, using “magical” powers hitherto unknown to them. Ya, sure, We’ll be calling you guys next year.

Casino Reuda, the weirdest of all names, with the added twist of having a “partner switch” clause attached , turned out to beat all previously held Inci records, and if it were not for the fact that most couples were working in some darn committee, we’d have broken the currently held IE record as well.

As per most accounts, I was shabbily dressed, and did not match in elegance to Her Majesty. Extremely sorry about that.
In any case, it was amazing fun, albeit extremely complex, and that chap shouting insane mexican chants at random times dint help much.
My first western duet dance ever,this is something I shall certainly remember for life. Thank you.

Team Mangalore is one creative bunch of hobby kite enthusiasts, who have been in this field for years now. They had got the largest kite in India, “Kathakali” and we were in awe witnessing its whopping extent. Seeing loads of colourful kites flying above the NITK beach, was truly one beautiful sight. I was running to the beach to catch it, and in the meantime,got some 10 calls to come and check it out. Ya, Mulky , you can give me a treat anytime you want.

The remaining workshop has not been reviewed intentionally.

I thank all of Team workshops, who were there at all times, the work being official, or even stacking up sand, having fun at the beach, or running around to get arbit stuff from random locations. It wouldn’t have been as good, without your support.

Ok, So much for bragging, and pompous claims. Lets start with the Inci review now..

The events that I attended were very few, and I was pretty choosy about them. Qualified in India quiz as a part of the trio [Logikittashish], and came last in the finals[ Drumroll missing]. Really good quiz, but one small piece of advice. Every quizzer in India is not a TAMkid, in case you dint realize. So, while the M.S.S , n Visa Balaji bits were fine, asking trinity questions about Cholan and Pandyan weirdo temples are not. And,before you jump, I don’t know my history, and I don’t give a rat’s bottom.

JAM, this time had house full response, and Brat was surprised to see that. I did not participate, but did something that I love the most. Threw paper balls at Mr.Kaya, along with an accomplice, for something stupid that he uttered.
Highlights: Kaya’s robot dance, the arbit girl forgetting to dance each time, Jenna Jameson in Agra, Attempted Objections to JAM Master flirting excessively with a participant[ did not happen, though].

And Yay, Bharat Darshan was gay.

And I got to see UV dance, which I’d missed during ENGI. It was unique, not the best of things, but certainly well done. Thank you Mr.D, for your request, and for mentioning only workshops in your inaugural speech.

My KK concert, Pulse, Eastern Musical feelings have been sufficiently captured in the posts mentioned above, and also in my comments that follow there. Some left over bits.

All Hail BIT, and that classico-vocal Genius. Pulse -

@ Megha: Whate Voice, lady. You remind me of Ronnie James Dio.

@ TamBrahm Google Kid lookalike alias Death Metal Vocalist: We were completely deceived by your appearance.

@ The guy with the red Jackson Guitar:- Can I have it?

@ Bhoomi’s Lead Guitarist: Applause, Bow, The Corna.

Some rumours were floating around. Pai is here. Pi is High. Pi is jammin with his new guitar. etc etc.
Happened to meet him at SAC. Apart from that weird beard, he hasn’t changed much. And his lady, the Blue Les Paul was indeed gorgeous. He gave me this Comic-Con badge[ The exhibition that this lucky rat went to, in the U.S].

Ya, It looks worthless, but that’s what all souvenirs are, right. Its the person, and the occasion that makes you keep it. And keep it, I shall.
After chatting for a while, he made a dash for it, luckily missing the Fashion Show in the process.

And finally,To sum it up,

We chose Life, Colours, the sunny side, and to Join the Beat.

Incident will be in our memories for ever, for the efforts that we put in, the masti, the let-your-hair-down-freaking out , childish pranks and sheer dumb guts to reach for everything fun, and succeeding.

37 days remaining, the countdown begins. Was mental before, now senti too…

P.S: I did not mention the inner core, coz INCIDENT’08 speaks for their efforts, and that they would not find it punny.