Crazy Quilt Crazy Quilt A riot of colour. And shades of grey. My reflections on a Saturday afternoon. 
Articles
To-Do List, Done List
2006-12-18 11:21:00 I am obsessed with making to-do lists and this interesting one has a whopping 150 items on it. I flicked this meme off Terra Shield’s blog. The items in bold are the ones checked done.P.S: I am posting the second meme in a row because I have just written my exams and can't be bothered to tax my brains further and come up with a brilliant post. (So what if i cheated big time. An exam is still an exam.)01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink02. Swam with wild dolphins03. Climbed a mountain {It was just a hillock. I am such a lazy bum that all I can climb is Mt. Ever-rest. }04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive05. Been inside the Great Pyramid06. Held a tarantula07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone.08. Said “I love you” and meant it.09. Hugged a tree.10. Bungee jumped.11. Visited Paris.12. Watched a lightning storm at sea13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise.14. Seen the Northern Lights15. Gone to a huge sports game16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tow... More About: List , Done
1-2-3, On Your (Book)Marks..
2006-12-16 07:31:00 Defender of the earth, Terra Shield tagged me with this meme.1. Grab the book closest to you.2. Open to page 123, go down to the fifth sentence.3. Post the text of next 3 sentences on your blog.4. Name of the book and the author.5. Tag three people.The only non-technical books in my room are my trusted Concise OED and a dog-eared copy of the Bhagwad Gita.So I walk into the adjoining room which houses my personal library, close my eyes, run my fingers across the spines and draw a lottery.Here goes:Amusing Anecdotes on Indian Red Tape– Barun Kumar Sahu"With so many units, there is utter confusion of a high order about what is whose work. For example, drinking water which is so essential for the rich and the poor alike, may relate to any of the following organisations: Planning Commission, Drinking Water Mission, Rural Development, Public Health Engineering, Water Resources, Environment, Disaster/Drought/Flood Management, Health, Geological Survey, Water Commision etc. Such confusion... More About: Book , Marks
Narcissa Is Me
2006-12-08 12:43:00 Quilter's CutI took up blogging on an impulse. I had given no thought to what my blog was going to be like. On being asked to fill the ?Display Name? field on Blogger, I was stumped.Beta of the Plough?Reminds one of A.G. Gardiner but sounds like too much of a spoof.Alpha Tauri?Obvious but too masculine.Belle, The Cat?Witty but too girlish.I was quizzing on the Encyclopedia Britannica right before going online to set up my blog. The last question was an audio-visual clip from the play Julius Caesar. (?When beggars die there are no comets seen?.) The ?last stored value? in my brain ?Julius Caesar? transmuted into ?Julia Scissor? (not Scissors, mind you.) Bingo! That?s a name with the cutting edge and it?s apt for the creator of the Quilt.Catch My StarAnother name that has generated great intrigue is Aldebaran. (See profile.) Aldebaran is ranked fourteenth among the brightest stars seen from the earth. Astronomically speaking, my real name is the Sanskrit language equivalent of ?Aldeb... More About: Mythology , Astronomy , Narc
Of Men and Machines
2006-12-02 10:36:00 You Have Your PhD in MenYou understand men almost better than anyone.You accept that guys are very different, and you read signals well.Work what you know about men, and your relationships will be blissful.How Well Do You Understand Men?I guess with the skewed guy-girl ratio in engineering we learn to handle both men and machines with equal aplomb. Wot say, folks? More About: Machines , Chine , Mach
AWOL
2006-11-16 08:36:00 It’s time to roll up my sleeves and face the barrage. The barrage of questions, to be precise. Varsity exams begin next week and, thanks to the long breaks between consecutive papers, end on Boxing Day. I hereby declare a partial blog hiatus. That is, I wouldn’t practice total abstinence from blogging. (I am so addicted I could sign up for Blogaholics Anonymous.) Instead I’ll Apparate (am I too old to read ‘Arry Pottah?) into the Blogosphere occasionally. To use military jargon- but translate it into another context – I am goin’ to be AWOL. Absent Without Official Leave. Absent from the ‘scene of action’ but without the intention to desert blogging! Adieu, Dahlings..************In the wee hours on Monday, a drunken youngster traveling with his partygoer friends crunched his speeding car into a footpath full of sleeping pavement dwellers. Seven lives were snuffed out. All through the legal proceedings the driver kept flashing his middle finger. The incident reminded m...
Strange Signboard Syndrome
2006-11-06 16:25:00 I was under the impression strange signboards were ‘native’ to the scholarly city of Pune. The signs found in and around Pune are a topic of great intrigue; they range from downright inane to brilliant to plain rude, sarcastic or scornful. (Spotted outside a Pune home: “We are vegetarian but our dog is not.”) However traces of the ‘strange signboard syndrome’ can be found everywhere in the world including Mumbai. Read on.· At the nursing home located opposite the mosque in Bandra:An assortment of signboards bearing the names and visiting hours of various medicos has been put up above the façade. One of them reads:Dr. D. K. SinghPHYSIO THE RAPIST Really. No cattle excreta. The painter clearly reads too many SMS jokes.· Last week I was at the Examination building in the University. At the entrance stood a blackboard announcing the retirement of three of its officials. It further read:“May their remaining life be full of happiness and prosperity.”“Remaining” life... More About: Syndrome , Strange , Range , Tran
A Rose By Any Other Genus..
2006-10-31 08:30:00 Taking off from where I left last week,The ?Me? Saga, Act II, Scene II am anIris What FlowerAre You?"You are a very sensual person. You like to experience all the sights, smells, tastes and textures the world has to offer. Ordinary be damned, because you want to do it all."The Me Saga, Act II, Scene IIMea Culpa. Julia Scissor?s apologies to Friends, Romans, Readers and Fellow Bloggers.I will be posting such useless stuff as above till my exams get over. I need to siphon off my creative juices from every possible place and tank ?em up to write ?creative? answers in the exams. I cannot carve a date in stone as to when my posts will return to their usual magnificence. Mumbai University with its fascination for Russian roulette has been messin? around with exam schedules (Nov 14, Nov 21, Nov 27, Dec 13, Christ!) Hasta entonces, I need to put my nose to the grindstone, burn the midnight oil and stop using the assorted clichs that we Indian students use. More About: Rose
Blogger's Block
2006-10-24 19:39:00 One week into the study leave I am well and truly bugged. We have one phaadu (tedious) subject which is a melting pot of three subjects of mechanical engineering, another three subjects of electrical, one of electronics and math to boot. Even as my blog compltes 1K visitors I have nothing happening in my life that is worth putting into cold electronic print. Call it the web equivalent of what newspaper editors call the ?big gooseberry season.? To my rescue comes the easiest topic to write about: MyselfHere?s presenting 10 things about me that are quirky, off-beat or unusual. I bet no one knows this about me.l) I am obsessed with making to ?do lists. I would be crippled without my little black diary.2) For some uncanny reason I keep meeting with freak accidents. Fortunately that hasn?t happened since quite a while.3) I talk with myself habitually. I do it to clear my head (in case it is muddled), to talk myself out of a problem or simply to keep myself from getting lonely. I try not ... More About: Personal , Meme , Blogger , Rant , Bloc
Blogger Girls
2006-10-02 10:33:00 The link to 'blogging chicks' blogroll is way down in the left sidebar. Do join! More About: Girls , Blogger , Blog , Logger , Blogg
Engineers of Con
2006-09-25 02:12:02 Acharyaat paadam aadatte, paadam shishyaha swamedhaya.Paadam sahabrahmacharibhayaha, paadam kaalkramen ch. [A quarter of all learning is obtained from the teacher, the student acquires a quarter from his own intellect, a quarter is received from fellow-students and a quarter accumulates with the passage of time.] Halfway into the new semester internal assessment tests are in full swing. To the students already beleaguered by assignments, submissions and that scourge of student life called the attendance defaulters list, these tests are an additional cross to bear. Too much to do and too little time. So how do young, wannabe engineers deal with it? Well, if you can?t beat it, circumvent it. Assignments are uploaded and shared on Yahoo groups and Orkut. Drawing sheets are stuck on the large paneled windows in the classrooms and traced against sunlight. (Engine ers should be resourceful!) Right before a test graffiti on the desks is promptly overwritten by formulae and derivations. I... More About: Engineers , Engineer
CQ Is 6 Months Old!
2006-09-09 12:30:04 My first blog, Crazy Quilt, was born on this day six months ago. Lately this site has seen a huge surge in the amount of traffic going from about one to three hits per day to 30 to 50 hits per day. The visitor counter seems to tick away magically like the (faulty) meter of a Delhi auto rickshaw. I am currently working on two new blogs but this one will always be special because it brought out the best and the worst in me. When I started off I had zilch net presence, no HTML skills and no knowledge of the tricks of the trade. I have come a long considering I started blogging on an impulse. To let the cat out of the bag, here?s the story: I did not get along well with a girl in my extended social circle. A cold war sparked off between us * and we used to lose no opportunity to go one-up on each other. One day she announced she had set up a blog. I had given blogging the thumbs-down earlier. But after honoring her request to ?Please visit my blog? I lost no time in setting up my own b... More About: Months , Month , Mont
Take flight, Falcon
2006-09-06 12:15:01 I haven?t been posting much recently. Readers write to me saying they hope I haven?t quit blogging. The reason for this lull was that I had been grappling with personal problems. Blogging was the last thing on my mind. I had been down in the dumps since two months with no real solution in sight and no one to turn to. Not even my best friend. (Why should he help me? He created the problem!)Thankfully, it?s all over now. Not only have I learnt I lot from this experience I am much happier now than I was before it happened. I am not much into Urdu and Hindi poetry but these lines from a Mohammed Iqbal poem titled Shaheen are some of most inspiring ones I have ever read. I had read it in one of his biographies. It keeps going when little problems bog me down. Tu shaheen hai /parvaaz hai kaam tera/Tere liye aasmaan aur bhi hai. You are a falcon; your duty is to soar high.You have greater skies to scale. More About: Take , Falcon , Light , Flight , Falco
T ake flight, Falcon
2006-09-05 18:09:02 I haven?t been posting much recently. Readers write to me saying they hope I haven?t quit blogging. The reason for this lull was that I had been grappling with personal problems. Blogging was the last thing on my mind. I had been down in the dumps since two months with no real solution in sight and no one to turn to. Not even my best friend. (Why should he help me? He created the problem!)Thankfully, it?s all over now. Not only have I learnt I lot from this experience I am much happier now than I was before it happened. I am not much into Urdu and Hindi poetry but these lines from a Mohammed Iqbal poem titled Shaheen are some of most inspiring ones I have ever read. I had read it in one of his biographies. It keeps going when little problems bog me down. Tu shaheen hai /parvaaz hai kaam tera/Tere liye aasmaan aur bhi hai. You are a falcon; your duty is to soar high. You have greater skies to scale. More About: Falcon , Light , Flight , Falco
Aksharkantha
2006-08-22 11:09:01 My personal library, Aksharkantha, got its five hundredth book last month! I discovered this only yesterday while I was rearranging and cataloging books. The milestone was reached by Franklin Covey?s ?The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People? which I bought last month from one of the book stalls at King?s Circle, Matunga. (Better late than never.) The little library I had set up in a corner of my room now has more than 500 new and old books in four languages with subjects ranging from literature to astronomy to history to technology. Which is why I have named it Aksharkantha (Akshar = letter; Kantha = Crazy Quilt.) More About: Shark
Black Diamond
2006-08-07 10:45:03 Stranded at the Khernagar lights I glanced up from the eveninger I was reading and peeked out of the window of the shiny red public transport bus. The indicator above the red light flashed twenty seconds to go.From my vantage point I spotted a girl of about seven, one of the numerous scruffy flower-sellers who dot the city?s crossroads and traffic signal posts. She was clutching a bunch of fresh, white gajras in one hand and some loose change in the other. She was dark, sallow and impish-looking with her long hair neatly braided. Her frock was so soiled its color was imperceptible. It was worn out but not tattered, pock-marked by many-hued patches. She was entreating a young couple seated in a car to buy those velvety white strands from her. After some pleading the deal was struck. The lady started rummaging through her purse for change to pay her. The scene was too commonplace, too clichd, to make a hardy Mumbaikar like me bat an eyelid. ?The scene was too commonplace, too clichd... More About: Black , Diamond , Black Diamond , Lack
My B.F.
2006-08-07 10:45:03 He?s my B.F ? Best Friend. He calls me his G.F ? Girl Friday. And we share a wonderful, wonderful platonic relationship.A fellow engineering student three years my senior, he?s my B.F, Santa Claus and comrade-in-arms all rolled into one. Being the sweet, sensitive soul and the popular man that he is, he attracts women by the droves. So much that his guy friends call him a chick-magnet. I always wonder how he cake-walks his way into people?s hearts. Maybe it has something to do with his being multi-talented. (An engineer and former state level cricketer who is skilled in half a dozen styles of ballroom dancing!)He is also a self confessed bevda (alcoholic.) He had once turned up slightly drunk to a Communication Skills practical session of making impromptu speeches and scored an A+++!So what makes this bevda my B.F?He props me up when I am down in the dumps, reassures me when I am gripped with self-doubt, pulls me back on track when I go astray, prods me to stay put when I am about ...
A Few Pounds More, A Few Pounds Less
2006-08-07 10:45:03 ?Aha!? A friend who bumped into me three months after disappearing off my radar beamed at me with surprise and admiration, ?You seem to have lost weight.? Her words felt like nectar poured in my ears. I was actually feeling lighter; unmindful of the fact that I had done precious little to deserve the ?compliment?. Later in the day I ran into another long-lost friend. ?Has anyone told you lately you have put on?? he asked looking at me with concern and dismay. I felt put off and puzzled. I buzzed the female friend I had met in the morning. ?Arre, don?t worry?, she said reassuringly, ?guys always think that way.?(If my maternal aunt?s advice is anything to go by, guys think thus and a lot else. Her having two sons and no daughters puts me at the receiving end of all her motherly words of wisdom and persistent badgering.?Use a honey and lemon face pack. It?ll work wonders on your complexion.??Boys prefer only slim brides. If you remain the way you are, you would never get a suitab... More About: More , Less , Pound
Manna From Heaven
2006-08-07 10:45:03 Raindrops are such funny things.They haven?t feet or haven?t wings.Yet they sail through the air,with the greatest ease,and dance in the street,wherever they please.- Anonymous The rains are well and truly here!The monsoon is virtually the third season of the tropical subcontinent.The season of unexpected power failures, overflowing drains and pot-holed roads. The season of piping hot pakoras and steaming cuppas of chai. Cheers!(Image:http://www.praktica-users.c om/img/pics/mk_raindrops.jpg) More About: Heaven , Mann , Anna , Manna
Monsoon Blues
2006-08-07 10:45:03 Another night has passed but it barely seems to be a new day.With the downpour unabated we have seen no sunlight since three days. The Rain God has been too generous.It pours. Just pours. Spurt after fresh spurt barraging the already rain-swept streets. Sporadically, the wind joins forces with the torrents.The metropolis doesn?t care for sun or rain. Life ticks here, perhaps, faster than the clock. When the showers ebb a little, a motley group of boys plays football in the slush. The hawker selling roasted corn cobs makes brisk business. Happy, shiny young couples sit by the promenade taking in the spray of the sea and the drizzle. When the torrents return everyone scampers back to their cubbyholes.The rain usually makes me feel happy and renewed. But a glum feeling overwhelms me today. It doesn?t help to have had a rough day in such gloomy weather. Sad, stung and scathed, my spirits are as dampened as the world outside. There is a chill in the air. From my window, the world is a s... More About: Blues , Blue , Monsoon , Mons
What's in a name..
2006-05-30 12:48:00 In an introductory lecture on computer programming,Prof: ?C language ka naam ?C? kyun hain?? (Why is C language named so?)(Effect: Some blank faces. Thinking caps put on.)Student1: ?Dennis Ritchie, the inventor of ?C? had temporarily named it that while the language was being developed. The name was however not changed later.? (Effect: Some skeptical looks, some nodding heads.)Student2: ?When Roentgen accidentally discovered X-Rays he had arbitrarily named them ?X? indicating that they were an unknown entity. Today there is nothing that we do not know about X-rays but the name has been retained for convenience. The name of C language has stayed on for similar reasons.?(Effect: Some gear up for a protracted discussion, some feel enlightened.)My answer: ?A? and ?B? programming languages had been introduced before ?C?.(Effect: Peals of laughter.) More About: Humor , Name
Fire and Flower in Spring
2006-03-12 15:26:00 ?The brushwood fire's smokecoaxesmorning's blossoms?- Haiku poem by Japanese poet IssaSpring is well and truly here. This part of the tropical subcontinent south of the Vindhyas does not witness the procession of the seasons the way the North does. Spring is just prolonged winter or the herald of summer. Nevertheless it is as much an outcry of colour here as anywhere else in the world.Traditionally spring means the heady murmur of bees, the tiny mango blossoms and the call of the cuckoo. This city being the Lego-land that it is, the only visible sign of the advent of spring is the nearby coralberry tree framed by my window. Devoid of its leafage it is an outburst of red, as if on fire. Spring - celebrated for its gentleness and sweetness - is not done without its share of fire and flame. The flame of the forest or palash and the laburnum are as much a part of the lore of spring as the mangoes and the bees. (Kinshuka, or the blossom of the palash, is red like the beak of a parrot s... More About: Mythology , Seasons , Nature , Flower
Picture of a Dog
More articles from this author:2006-03-07 20:55:00 Sherlock was all of five weeks old when I first set my eyes on him. He was quite a cynosure with his black eyes and flawless white coat so hard to come by in his breed. I decided to call the little imp Sherlock ? the one with white locks.Sherlock, my pride and joy, is a chocolate Labrador. He was not a day older than six weeks when he arrived at his new home, our tiny Mumbai flat. Skeptical looking visitors would ask us if he was vaccinated. Or toilet-trained. Friends and relatives chipped in with their recommendations on pet care. (One dog-owner even suggested that we let the dog relieve himself on a piece of newspaper. And - once he gets used to it - preserve the paper to use it as a moving toilet. I wish I could tell her that dogs are known to imbibe the habits and personalities of their masters.)Today at two months of age Sherlock is a charmer. He leaps and frisks around to my delight. The little devil enthralls everyone with his display of sheer leela. He looks the spitting ima... More About: Dogs , Pets , Picture , Sherlock 1, 2, 3, 4 |
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