In a Cast

I’m getting quite good at this. When the defender kicked my foot instead of the football I was about to hit into the goalpost, he brought about my 4th right ankle injury. Thanks to the boots I wore, its not a fracture. Result: Ligament tear. Fiber cast on today.

1st ankle injury (1991): When I jumped down an entire flight of stairs in school wearing a particularly tight pair of leather shoes.
Result: Hairline fracture. Plaster-of-paris cast on for six weeks.

2nd ankle injury (1999): When I collected a rebound off the board, wearing an oversized pair of Reebok trekking shoes and landed with a sickening twist of the foot.
Result: Hairline fracture. Fiber cast on for six weeks. Shortly afterward, I joined REC Trichy.

3rd ankle injury (2002): When I collected a rebound off the board, wearing the same pair of trekking shoes and landed with the same sickening twist of the foot.
Result: Ligament tear. Elastocrepe on for six weeks. Shortly afterward, I landed my job.

Good omen? I dunno..

[Listening to: Don’t Cry – Seal – Seal (6:17)]

@home

Twisted my ankle when some b*st*rd leapt onto it whilst I was striking a goal y’day. 😦
Dyed my hair burgundy later y’day n’ caught a bus home. I’ll be here for a week of solitude. 🙂

These are a few..

.. of my favorite things:

1. Sitting next to the Bose sub-woofer in Legends of Rock, sipping the amber fluid, watching the video of Gilmour and Waters perform “Comfortably Numb” together at the Live Aid concert, surrounded by dumb(c) friends.

2. Sitting nude on the toilet-set during office hours, reading Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, listening to Joy (Shakti) on my Shuffle, blissfully unaware of my C-210 vibrating merrily away to my PUM’s desperate call.

3. Reclining on my Featherlite chair (back slanted and seat forward) in office, w.blogging with intervals of shut-eye concentrating on the sounds from my Philips SBD-3376 headphones, oblivious to the corporate lingo ricochetting off the cubicle walls.

4. Getting into perfect position with knee bent and executing the single-handed tennis backhand with full follow-through holding stance afterward, watching the incredulous expression on the helpless opponent’s face as he sees the ball zoom low over the net to kick up brown dust as it makes contact with the clay court.

5. Going underwater in a 25m pool and as the silence and diffused sunlight engulf me, kicking off one wall to sail towards the other not unlike a torpedo, as the liquid medium brings about rapid deceleration.

[Listening to: Noori – Peeli Patti Aur Raja Rani – Meray Log (4:30)]

Soccer

Today, I feel worthy of putting up this post. There is only one game I respect, but do not know (yet) how to play. Monday brought with it the beginning of my attempt to add this sport to my repertoire, which currently encompasses less popular tennis, b’ball, baddy, TT and swimming. I bought Nivia boots (thankfully, they did have size-11) on Sunday with the expert help of none other than Impetuous Left Foot.

The last three mornings have found me rising and shining at 6.30 a.m. Deepu and I bike over to the ground on 16th Main (BTM) to play from 6.55 to 7.35. We’re joined there by Rajiv and Vinu. Its the first time I’m interacting with my college buddies on a level playing field (pun unintended). It feels great to play with all of them. Kicha surprised us today by putting in an appearance, though he lives too far away to grace us with his presence oftener.

As for the game, I still can’t send the ball more than a few feet or in the desired direction, but I’m (hopefully) getting there.. The team dynamics I’ve learnt with b’ball are coming in useful. I also played a few minutes as the goalie today and found it quite appealing. It probably had more to do with there being no shots on goal than my prowess tho’ :p

[Listening to: Noori – Peeli Patti Aur Raja Rani – Nishaan (3:39)]

Mafish

This ain’t the first time I’ve exhibited an annoying trait of mixing up topics I intend to blog about, to form a post title. I’m getting better at Mafia, a theory made irrefutable by the fact that the first kill of the day was aimed at me. Conclusive proof came when the doctor (thank you, Abhishek) saved me. Padi played the role of Village Idiot to perfection.

I lived up to the expectation by yet again doing the intuitive culling of Mafia, viz. Patil, who grabbed at the only feasible “Are you the cop?!” solution. His accomplices intelligently cast their die again in the same direction and this time I was rendered a corpse, sworn to Omerta.

The Food Court opened today. Neat place with lots of options, each Rs.30. I had fish curry meals and got a piece of fish fry also, which was worth twice what I paid. Flicked a potato in cream (+coriander/ carrot juice+ macaroni) from Padi’s plate and a piece of chicken from Sibin’s biriyani. South/North options also looked good.

Today, I bid adieu to the life of abandon I’ve been leading over the last few months. I’m gonna cut down on food intake and start playing every morning. Footie beckons.. Vin, Deepu and Rajiv play at 16th Main grounds for half an hour everyday. Its the only well-known sport I haven’t tried my hands at (Yes, I have played **cket!).

[Listening to: Jal the band – Adat – Manchala (3:48)]

McLaren go red!

As one mumbler rightly mentioned (I didn’t have time to post earlier), McLaren’s new livery is just stunning! I can’t wait for March 12th. Check out the pics at this page!

I was undoubtedly the Man of the (Lunch) Break today. In the first game, I was the Disabler and from among seven prospective Mafiosi, I zeroed in on Karthik despite all the confusion (partly created by Expert Village Idiot Santosh) and influenced all others to vote him out. Verdict: Mafia! I disabled the second next round and we won with minimum casualties!

In the next game, I was the cop. I inquired about Saif and found him ‘V’. Afterward, Santosh (again the Idiot) tried to divert blame to Shenoy, but I caused the others to defer to my judgment of Gaurav and he was found guilty! Next, I inquired about Sibin who also turned out to be ‘V’. So Saif/Sibin had to be the Godfather. Santosh (now identified VI) voted for Saif- reverse psychology (so that others would think he was supporting Sibin and vote Sibin out), but I persisted with Saif who was found guilty!

Played a good game as Mafioso also, voting Godfather out and thus, averting suspicion. Made no kills in the last round, knowing Abhishek would disable Padi, which would have been a master stroke if the cop hadn’t inquired about me. Suggested the theory of ‘Godfather’ inheritance, in which Mafia would become GF when the latter was voted out.

Felt good, ‘cuz I really suck at the game in non-villager roles. Even when I’m ‘V’. I seldom go beyond the basic role of convincing others I’m innocent.

[Listening to: Jal the band – Adat – Panchi (3:51)]

SPJ

SPJ Results out y’day. Neville (Ara), George (GDJ) n’ I (Fred- if I haven’t mentioned the Potter allotments) didn’t get calls, which is OK ‘cuz they don’t have tennis courts anyway! But Etchi did (even with 89%ile), which is good news ‘cuz the man’s really serious about an MBA n’ he has no other calls.. Sidhu’s got admitted to ICFAI Mumbai so I hope the Meta bros will rock B’bay, while Gurgaon’s hit by the Weasley Wheezes.. 🙂

I’ve shifted my place to Lower Ground Floor now, away from Fred and Neville. Luckily, Bill (Hari- tho’ he’s now minus his ponytail) in the adjoining bay will keep me from going insane. Y’day’s Mafia participants forced us to use ‘Disabler‘ instead of ‘Prostitute‘ (go figure why), but George and I still can’t get used to it 🙂

Alongwith Sanat and Harry (Raj), Bill has brought a breath of fresh air into my life with OUCH humor. Funnily, their blogs all have ‘creative‘ names! Talking of that, name these places (courtesy Fred, Bill and Harry):

1. An influential man walked SW from B’lore for days until he had blisters on his feet. He stopped and named the place.
2. Everyone is a software developer and addicted to his/her comfy chair.
3. This place has a lot of French mobile service providers.
4. (For RECT eyes only) Which hostel houses the loo for royalty?
5. (For RECT eyes only) Which hostel houses the loo for Frenchmen?

(Answers three posts below)

[Listening to: Vertical Horizon – Everything You Want – You’re A God (3:38)]

Un-mad

Spend three days at IIMB to restore my sanity. Aravind and I took leave on Friday for Lits. Reached there to discover only WTGW scheduled for the day. The drama was an unexpected bonus. NITT’s “All my Sons” was superbly executed by Alfi and team, who came runner-up. TAAQ was pretty disappointing, but Tull followed it up with an amazing concert, which included rare renditions of symphonies by Bach and Mozart. Anderson‘s multifarious talents reminded me of Knopfler and made the experience worth every rupee of the 600 I spent on the ticket. What’s more, I got a Special Collectors’ Edition Aqualung Audio CD!

Sat’day had Dumb-C. Bhargav ditched us for some training and we had real bad luck. I had to mime the words “circumvent” (got) and “convene” (didn’t), and the movies “The Apartment” (got) and “The Philadelphia Story” (didn’t) in 1.5min total. It wasn’t good enough to qualify for the finals and we met similar fate at the Quiz which featured stalwarts who cracked more than 20 of 35 q’s. We managed only about 15.

The Jal-Shivamani concert more than compensated for my first DC failure. Farhaan wasn’t good in the beginning and the Shivamani afterward stole the limelight with an incredible 45 straight minutes of unreal percussion. Then Jal came back on stage to do ‘Aadat‘ with SM on the drums (his and Jal’s), pads and whatever vibrated, and it was just awesome!

Sunday was the last day, but it was no less entertaining in the least. All three Tinto prizes were won by NITT teams, but the bad fortune continued for Thakur, me and Abesh. We even missed Pictionary, which looked pretty good! But as usual, our spirits were elevated by The Ramp of Fire. The Dance events were captivating too. NITT put up an excellent show depicting Yin & Yang, but sadly were not rewarded. They made up however, by winning the Unmaad Overall Trophy!! I introduced Sanat and Raj to basic Mafia and we plan to meet up someplace on weekends to play the variants 🙂

[Listening to: Vertical Horizon – There And Back Again – Lines Upon Your Face (5:28)]

AISSE Math ’97

Today, somebody reminded me of my 10th std board exam math paper, which I cracked with 15 min to spare. I remember sitting back with a satisfied grin on my face for the remainder and then walking out slowly. The birdsong never sounded sweeter. As was the custom, my friends crowded around to ask how it was. I replied simply “100%”.

It was only a couple of days later, when I was discussing the paper with my pal that I found out a 6-mark geometry question. Even tho’ its been 9 years since, I cannot forget it.

It was a ten line long polygon construction problem. At the end, the question continued, requiring the student to construct a similar polygon with a side given. I’d missed this part, which carried 3 marks. It was plumb-easy and I’d had enough time left to do it thrice over.

The results came a month or two later:

English (Course A) – 76/100
Hindi (Course A) – 65/100
Mathematics – 97/100
Science – 95/100
Social Science – 83/100

I’d still scored highest in my school in Math, but so had four others. We got a certificate for being in the top 0.1% of AISSE Math ’97 test takers. The final nail in the coffin came a few days later, when I discovered that the highest CBSE Math score that year was 98%. Nobody has scored 100%.

That was the day I came closest to committing suicide..

[Listening to: Parikrama – Open Skies (5:45)]

iPod problems

I never was pro-iPod. I remember p*ssing off Gaurav when he extolled the Shuffle’s virtues when it was released. When my bro-in-law presented me with one, I palmed it off to Dad and stuck faithfully to my Transcend JetFlashM. Then I was presented with a Shuffle again, this time by Vithal. This time I decided to try it. I already had rechargeable AAA cells and a charger (I find that more convenient during travel), and preferred it to charging with USB ‘cuz I don’t have a PC at home here. I also hated their system of storing songs in unrecognizable formats, retrievable and modifiable only by a unique PC.

That unique PC was my work PC. A few months ago, it stopped detecting/charging the Shuffle. Its just DEAD. When I plug it into another PC, it works (charges). I searched online for a solution to this problem and discovered countless others suffering alike. Apple probably made the system so complicated ‘cuz of anti-piracy et al, but its such a pain in the ass. My JetFlashM was so much better. It had only a paltry 256MB, but at least I could juggle songs by merely copy-pasting with Explorer or Nautilus instead of using the iTunes crap. I still use WinAmp anyway to listen to songs. I used to respect the Fruit, but no longer do. They are no better than Mammon.

1. My-sore
2. Cozy-code
3. SIM-La
4. P-earl
5. La-pis

[Listening to: Shakti – with John McLaughlin – 03 – What Need Have I For This – What Need Have I For That – I Am Dancing At The Feet Of My Lord – All Is Bliss – All Is Bliss(29:02)]