The Nostalgia Battle

Well, well...I don't know if its only me, but I notice war cries, broken chariots and the lot around the place today, all indicative of some sort of skirmish around these parts. So, I decided to look deeper in and found an intricate and intriguing battle being fought out.

The turf was the crown prince of social networking-Facebook. The gladiators, two of my friends, "Sami" and "Gandhi". The topic of nostalgia is quite naturally our old school, Loyola. While it certainly is one of the best things an ex-Loyolite can be nostalgic about, the out of the blue nature of the posts coming up on my home page is what makes me curious. As another of my friends insists on, events in chronological order goes like this.

One score and seven days of the first month of the new decade, "Sami" makes a random post about how he would love to sit in our former math teacher's class, back in school. Ok...random post..understandable. Boy, I never thought it would set off this chain reaction!!!

Some info on "Gandhi", just so that you have a sort of heads up. He was a prominent figure in school and has been told quite a few number of times that his topics of conversation to random people is often excessively limited to the school. Having been a well known personality might excuse some of his over blown-at-times feelings, but sometimes he crosses that fine line.


Back to "Sami". His post receives a few likes, one of whom is "Gandhi". "Sami" made his post at some unholy hour which is kind of typical of him, but Gandhi probably sees it amidst his daily chore of reading about certain deceased Chief Ministers. Anyway, after a morning class, "Gandhi" posts about a funny incident that happened in the same teacher's class in a senior batch. Maybe it was the trend catching on, but he got seventeen comments and a couple of likes. The comments represented a variety of Loyolites from seniors who passed out long ago to his batch mates. The comments ranges from the appreciative to the disdainful, but "Gandhi" certainly got noticed.

Sami had evidently recognised that the best way to continue keeping his account active and visited was to dish out similar stuff, so he comes up with another post. This is like a general rumination on how great and wonderful life in school was etc etc. with lots of sentimental stuff and good memories thrown in for spice. His post is commented on by six of our batch mates, all adding to the already long post.


I know "Gandhi" to be a persevering and determined chap and his skill at writing has been recognised at various levels. He knows, like all authors, how to tug at the heart strings. He comes up with a rather lame joke cracked by a teacher which was funny for its lameness. The junta chose to give "Gandhi" the brusheroo this time and restricted themselves to just a couple of likes. "Gandhi" did not reach the heights he has reached by giving up at the first instance. He rallied around with another incident involving the same teacher, a lengthy one to tell the junta that he has no intention of being fazed by a few people's attitudes. His endeavors are rewarded and his post garners thirteen likes and four comments. "Sami" had by this time realised the futility of competing with "Gandhi" or the lame nature of the proceedings, or both. He gave up, leaving "Gandhi" the clear victor of the battle.

Thus ends the glorious history of The Nostalgia Battle.

First Sem...:)

It is not very difficult to write about my first semester at IIT Madras. In fact, I can do it in one word- AWESOME!!!

The first sem gave a lot of memories to store in that deep vault in my mind, finding a commendable space among many sweet memories in 18 years. The first of those started a day before the sem officially began, when I started playing football in the hostel quadrangle. In an attempt to demonstrate my goal-keeping skills to my seniors, I banged my head on the goal post, ridding myself of a significant portion of skin on my forehead. To make matters even more interesting, i did not realise I had sustained an "injury" until some fifteen minutes later, when I accidently happened to brush my brow. I was quite startled to find a deep red coloured hand returning back from the forehead trip. In the end, I had to have a stitch, and my misadventure proclaimed to my classmates. On the bright side, a significant number of people got to know that I am pretty enthu about football.

The sem progressed into the second month. Freshie schroeter passed, and I got to represent the hostel in the football team. Unfortunately, our team, though talented, could make it only to the quarter finals. One of the incidents in my life which time shall find hard to efface happened during the freshie schroeter. A match against Godav did not produce much of a cheering squad from my hostel Tapti. The result was that all the people around the ground were godav supporters, and not too many voices to shout "Go Tapti". We were playing rather well on that day, which meant that the ball was in the other half for most of the time, and I was rather lonely at the goal post. Sensing this, a huge army of Godav supporters decided to rid me of my boredoom, though not in the way I would have desired. They gathered around my goal post and started shouting against Tapti and me in particular. I had to endure some twenty minutes of fifty people hurling abuses at me, right in my ear. They started in Hindi and English, until a couple of guys from my hostel tricked them into believing that I was from Andhra Pradesh. Then they started in Telugu, until a few people finally discovered I was Mallu (I have no idea how). They were massively overridden by the gult crowd though, so I ended up adding a few words to my now-stagnated Telugu vocabulary.

Shaastra, the tech festival of IIT Madras descended pleasantly upon the insti. It showcased a variety of innovative tech in a variety of fields. It facilitated a good number of lectures for the science and technology buffs by leading figures from the industry as well as the field of research. I was a hospitality volunteer and gained a lot of work experiences during the five days of Shaastra '09. Hospitality was mainly concermned with providing accommodation and help during the events to the participants. I still recall carrying dusty mattresses four and five floors to make rooms habitable for participants from across the country.


The sem progressed into a deluge of quizzes, assignments and presentations. I have never considered academics to be any sort of a stronghold for myself and won't be in the near future. The trend was aptly reflected in all my papers as I crawled past with below average marks. Others whizzed past me with varying degrees of super grades, while I was left with an usual sense of-no, not disappointment-ordinariness, because that is what happens in my everyday life.

In retrospect, all I did for a majority of the first semester was play football, read a few novels and sleep.


I briefly and frequently toyed with the idea of checking out the much touted great leveler called alcohol but I never got to tasting a drop of it for I don't know why. Time flew by, carrying me along, till we came to the end of November and the end semester exams loomed up like a bleak grey mountain. Serious and desperate last minute studying ensued, with nights and days merging into each other in a sleep deprived haze. I wrote exams the way I have done all my life-hoping for the best, though not quite prepared for the worst. In the end I managed three of Bs, a C and a D, resulting in a GPA of 7.47, what I like to call the Boeing GPA.

Back home for the winter hols, and looking forward to seeing insti again. :)

Yet Another Disappointment

Yet another disappointment for this young gooner, who saw yet another gunners side flatter to decieve in a clash with one of the "Big Four". Having lost to United and the newly empowered City, Arsenal needed to hold its own against the mighty Chelsea. But what happened at the Emirates stadium on that Sunday evening was one of the worst performances from Arsenal in a few seasons. Arsenal was clearly overwhelmed by the significance of the match as well as the quality (and quantity) in the blue jerseys. It was quite simply a case of men against boys, a fact that Arsene Wenger denied. Arsenal lost spectacularly 3-0 to the current table toppers, to remain in third. The defeat, coming after a 1-0 lss to unfancied Sunderland, clearly shows that Arsenal is not quite up there with Chelsea and United.

The November Curse struck Arsenal yet again two weeks before the match, depriving the gunners of the serivces of ace striker Robin van Persie. The absence of the Dutchman was clearly felt against the Black Cats and was sure to be felt against the Blues. The man replacing van Persie, Eduardo, carried a lot of expectation on his shoulders and......turned out to be the worst player on the pitch. Eduardo, was fed admirably upfront in the first half, getting the ball just outside the box. Eduardo conveyed to everyone his lack of ideas on the day, shuffling arond,waiting for God knows who fiddling around, till Terry or Carvalho was kind enough to relieve him of the ball. Eduardo seriously needed to move the ball around and get himself moving around the pitch. Once the game progressed and Chelsea started to dominate, Eduardo became just an exhibit at one end of the park.



It was not like one department in the Arsenal team failed to function properly. Clearly Chelsea were the better side and they trampled the Gunners out of existence. Nobody was particularly at fault for any of the Chelsea goals. Les Blues emerged triumphant out of a no-contest to go eight points clear of the gunners.

The usually creative Fabregas was effectively subdued while Arshavin was given no ball or space to make an impact.In fact Arshavin got so frustrated that he resorted to blocking Cech from taking a goal kick late in the match. Bacary Sagna could not pepper the box with crosses as he usually does, and when he did manage to put a few through, there were no forwards to meet them. Nasri had an off-day, and kept losing the ball, as did Fabregas with astonishingly loose passes.

Arsenal were clearly put down and jumped upon with hob nailed boots by a superior Chelsea. The result was as much of a tactical victory for Carlo Ancelotti as the excellent display of football by Chelsea.

Arsenal went on to lose 3-0 to City in the League Cup as well, making it three defeats in a row. When will the Gunners start firing on all cylinders again?

Football@iitm

The atmosphere is charged...a mob encircle a round plot of land...a hundred pairs of eyes to witness glory made or lost...a hundred minds willing a few others on...a hundred tongues wagging eloquently in anticipation of more work known as bragging....welcome to football at IIT Madras, where the beautiful game has as much passion involved as you can find elsewhere.

Its not about the players, its not about the score...its just about the crowd. Wins, trophies and points are secondary in the football circuit of the "insti". The game is played for the masses, for those who come to cheer for their hostels. This prioritisation is repaid by the patrons as they "put enthu max", so to speak into each game that has anything to do with their hostels.

Almost all of football in the insti are inter hostel events. The passion and grittiness of inter hostel rivalry lace each contest.As a "veteran" of seven inter hostel matches, [:P] I'm slowly but surely coming to grips with the dynamics of football at IIT Madras. Matches are usually held at hostel quadrangles or at the Sangam ground. The ground would be surrounded by a whole lot of people, the "cheering squad", the inmates of competing hostels. The "cheering squad" don't cheer as much as mentally disintegrate the opposition, hurling out chants designed to crack the toughest of minds. Its on the quadi that I learned the basics of sledging, the art of cheering for your team by abusing the opposition. As cries of "Godav(or any other hostel) ki maa ka..." render the air, even the most dormant of freshies can't help but be enthused by the hostel spirit that charges the atmosphere.

Football is one of the more "refined and pleasant" ways of getting to know your seniors and bonding with them. Each hostel will have one or more "stud" football players, the unanimously acclaimed best of the hostel. Playing three or four times a week, the seniors get to have a good luck at the budding talents in the new batch, and see who all would be fit to don the hostel jersey for a variety of sporting events.

What makes football a joy to play and watch in this intensively competitive academic setting is the passion and love the people have for the game. Quizzes may come and go but nobody misses a game if they can help it. That is the love of the game a peculiar hostel spirit has inculcated in every hostel mob.

Why My Choices Make Me Happy

This part of my life..... this part right here? This part is called "being happy". I believe that happiness is a state of mind. We choose whether we want to be happy or not. A person can have all the comforts of life and still be unhappy. Happiness is, in plain economics, managing scarce resources for maximum benefits. What the benefits are is left to the person to decide.

All throughout the eighteen years of my life, I have strived, like everybody else, to keep myself happy. But I have never measured happiness in grades, money or acceptance by others. I have had only one yardstick- to have maximum fun. I have realised that what makes me happy is to be myself, to be an independent thinker and not to strive for anything but to have maximum fun- let everything else take care of everything else.

I make choices that I hope are rational, decisions which I hope will lead me to “greener pastures”, avenues which, I hope, will be great fun to explore. I do not believe that everything happens for the best. I believe that I can do anything to be the best. I know I can count on myself to make choices that will make me happy.

Living a life aimed at having fun can have its drawbacks too. I, in the course of having fun, have neglected stuff that others, correctly or incorrectly, termed as important. I have invited the wrath of a host of people, people who are important to my life, a whole lot of people who come under the category of family, friends and teachers.

At different times, my definitions of happiness are different. Sometimes, it is being curled up with a good book, otherwise a movie, or hanging out with friends. All these acts which give me happiness are acts of my own free will, acts which I have decided to commit, and not those which have been imposed on me. Some activities are fun, disregarding whether they are of my own will. This includes activities like writing an essay (depends on the topic, though), reading a literary work, or even solving math problems.

I would like to end by quoting a character from a popular sitcom. “When I am sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.”

Deer and Girls

Life in IIT is fun. Super fun in fact. Pseud to use the insti lingo. A major part of the fun is provided by seniors, who, in their quest to have "friendly interactions" and"Personality Development Programmes (PDP)" make life heaven or hell as you may choose to see it.

A few weeks in the insti, and one realises that it is a sort of honour to be "hit on" by seniors. So here is the latest news from that front. A senior, on learning that I am a MA student, and assuming that all MA people speak well, asked me to compare the deer and girls in the campus.

Having a name like Nympho helps. :D Here goes my extempore.

1. I have seen very few girls in the campus and slightly more deer.

2. Deer come out on the roads more in the night, but the girls behave in a diametrically opposite manner.

3. Deer are more near the boys hostel, but the same cannot be said of the girls.

4. Deer abound in leafy, bushy areas, but so far I haven't been able to lure any girl into those regions.

5. Deer can be found all around the campus but the girls are restricted to sharavati and the library.

6. Most deer have horns, but I am yet to meet a horny girl.

7. Deer are more forthcoming and friendly than a majority of the girls.

8. "Misbehaviour" with deer may be injurious to health, but no loss occurs when the same happens with the girls.

9. All deer walk on four limbs, but I am yet to see a girl in campus on all fours.

10. Yea...girls wear clothes.

A report

This was a report I wrote in school last year. lot of my friends, rightly or wrongly said it was rather good.... So, enjoy!!!

To
The Principal
Loyola School.

The summer camp, which has been scheduled for the standard 12 has finally got an ideal site to be held on. A committee comprising of seven members of standard 12 visited the Rampur village, 15 km north of Trivandrum city. This scenic spot can be reached by bus and takes 30 to 45 minutes from the school.

The committee in charge of picking the site had decided that the spot should be scenic, picturesque, hold possibilities for recreation and above all, have friendly and welcoming natives. Rampur fit all these requirements. It is scenic and pleasing to the eyes. It also holds possibilities for trekking, rock climbing etc, which I am sure will be of utmost interest to my classmates. Even though a resident of the area said that seventeen people were killed last year while involving in these adventures, most of think he is joking. It had been agreed that the village should have connection with a main road leading to a town or city and the village headman informed us that there was an accessible main road leading to a town. The people of the village did not appear to be bothered by our presence and the village headman welcomed us all.

The camp is proposed to be held on a large expanse of undulating land,just outside the village. The whole place is quite beautiful, with three or four streams flowing by the site. There were supposed to be three more, but they had dried up by the time we arrived. There are small doughty hills on the outskirts of the site, which somehow reminds me of a bull terrier, and so promises plenty of good trekking and climbing. I just hope it doesnt turn back and snap at our heels. There are some steep slopes which shall be a challenge to the best of us and some rough rocks which can hurt if you dont do it right. The valleys are beautiful with a wide variety of plants with lot of biological diversity which would have made our E.E teacher shed tears of joy. There are plenty of plants which we havent seen elsewhere. One of the committee is a botany genius and told me the names of all those flora but I have forgotten all of them. The whole scene suggests the simple, wholesome and ideal lifestyle of the villagers.

We outlined our plans to the village headman, seeking his approval. One of his "advisers" was sceptic of our plans but even the headman thinks he is a joke, so we wont bother.

The village headman agreed to show us the main road and this he did by pointing to a brown dusty, crooked path (and I am understating it). We had not seen a single vehicle in this village and our taxi driver had not heard of the place and this put a bit of a dampener on the main road.It is untarred and the altitudes vary sharply with distance and was quite unfit for motor transport. One of us pointed out that the above arguments are reasons enough for it to be declared a main road. His argument was accepted without dissent.There is an old, almost dysfunctional post office along the main road. Nobody has received or sent any form of communication through the post office for well over a decade.It is still alive as it sells paan and allows its customers a lot of credit.

The local people are friendly, warm and receptive. Till now we have not received any concrete proofs of cannibalism in the region. Safety is another over-riding factor that works in our favour. Only a dacoit out of his mind would even think abut looting a place like this.

Finally, the village headman, impressed by our orderly conduct and fine disposition,consented to host us. We drafted an agreement which said as much in three languages, but found the headman illiterate. So we drafted another contract without arousing much suspicion and had the headman put his thumb impression on it. By that agreement, he has given all of the village ,a total area of 54 acres , to the school. You can now start building an indoor stadium there.

The whole village smacks of innocence and has clean fresh air which will make us healthy, hopefully wealthy and most improbably wise. We are looking forward earnestly to the summer camp.

Yours Sincerely,
Basil James.