Saturday, October 07, 2006

IIT Shaastra - the spirit of engineering - a case study in dumbness

you thought iit students are the smartest people on this planet? you thought iit's are the richest indian colleges? wait till you read this...your thoughts will be shattered, your eyes will be illuminated after staying in darkness and you might become blind. the truth shall be revealed right here right now right way.

last week, iit madras organised a tech fest, called shaastra, a huge event which even had coverage from news papers and participation from colleges all over india. so we went for a physics quiz there. the first dumb statement which the organisers make is "there should be 2 per team, but maximum you can have is 3!"

then after the prelims they announce the results. they want to have 8 teams in the final. to be on the safer side they decide to have waiting list, just in case any team doesnt turn up. guess how many waiting list teams do they have. 1? very very bad guess. 4? closer still far far away donkey! 8? bingo...8 teams in waiting list to fill up 8 places! now maybe i am underestimating iitians...maybe they are too smart...they wanted audience for the finals and hence they put so many in waiting list so that atleast they come!

now what do they do with the audience? they have to entertain them right? so they have audience round in between the quiz. first question...i get it correct...happily i run for my prize and see the guy coming toward me but i dont see any prize in his hand. then when he reaches me, out of his closed fist come 2 popping coffee bites!!!! i am stunned!too stunned to think what to do! i just say "what else should i expect from iit" and walk off. its only later i realise what i should have done. i should have asked a question to the audience myself. "which is the cheapest college on earth? and given the correct answerer 3 chockolates(i already had 1 alpenlibe in my pocket) and say..see even i gave more than the iit" and then should have showed a middle finger to the organisers and walked off from the place, but such good ideas take time to come! neways i was too eager to eat coffee bite to think of such great ideas!

not long ago...iit had held a maths competition called forays. guess what they gave the winners in that competition.a showcase item with all wierd heart shaped things on it. the best prize in that competition was an engineering book. tell me, why do mathematicians need an engineering book?!!

if you are still not convinced that iitians are dumb and iit is a poor college...you deserve to join iit!

but iit gave me something good atleast, they gave me a topic to write about in my blog!


Friday, October 06, 2006

The House of Flying Daggers - the review

normally i dont write movie reviews...but this one's irritated me so much that i have to write one...just to release my frustration.

i dont see many chinese movies, but for some wierd reason i saw this one, although there was nothing special about this movie which would have made me choose this movie...the trailer had some brilliant shots, but all chinese movies have that. neways why i saw it is a question of consciousness studies and i shall not discuss that coz thats outside the scope of our discussion.

the movie starts and the first thing which irritates me is the dubbing. it is so bad (unnatural) that the acting starts seeming bad.

now, i should clarify here, you might be thinking that i dont like unrealistic action shown in chinese movies and hence this movie bothered me so much, no! i went to this movie with a very open mind, willing to accept extra action, as long as it doesnt hinder the script, but this movie script itself has so many unrealistic holes and corny stuff that me and my friend (who slept out most of the movie and later complained that this movie didnt even allow him to sleep properly because of the loud sounds every 2 minutes) looked at each other and started laughing.

let me narrate a scene for you as a proof,

so there is this lady who has been hit by a flying dagger in her heart, by her ex-lover whom she just betrayed. she falls down and then conveniently talks to her exlover before (what seemed like) dying. then her present lover, who had run away comes back (forests keep changing in the background so i presume he comes back from a pretty far off place) and sees that she is lying dead. so he starts fighting with the ex lover, and seasons come and change the time, it starts snowing and the whole place is full of snow....but these 2 guys keep on fighting and fighting. then after eternity, the ex lover realises that he is the member of the house of flying daggers, and that he could have easily shot the lover with the dagger. thats when he takes out his dagger and before he is about to shoot...guess what happens...yes...the dead lady comes alive (she wasnt dead for so long, she was just lying (pun intended)) and threatens if the ex lover hits the lover with the dagger, she will pull out the dagger from her left boob (it has to be that because it cushioned the dagger from hitting the heart) to save the lover and as a result, she will die. so the ex lover is conveniently presented with a dilemma in a very photographic situation.

if this doesnt sound corny to you...and doesnt seem unnatural...u'll love chinese movies...and u shud go watch this one...you'll love it...because apart from being corny and unnatural...everything else is great about this movie..

of course indian bollywood movies are also usually such crap.... remember salaam namaste...a pregnant girl (8 months) doing break dance at midnight? so i guess indian movies and chinese movies are 2 sides of the same coins. needless to say thre might be good chinese movies, i was hoping this was one of them it wasnt...maybe next time id' be lucky!

for me...it was just 10 rs. down the drain... when you've got nothing...you've got nothing to loose!!

Sunday, October 01, 2006

dreamy eyed

yesterday i had one sweet dream
about me having chocklate and ice cream
and flying over new york city
and wooing a girl by being witty

and then suddenly i heard a bell ring
and i also heard a hen sing
and then the sweet dream came to an end
and i was standing on yet another bend

the whole day went without a fuss
i caught the 8 o clock bus
and back i am at my home
nowhere to flow nowhere to roam

tonight i shall sleep and dream again
ill go on a ship ill go on a plane
but this time i shall not be woken
this poem is my last token