What would you like to do?

Friday, February 18, 2005

• The girly non-scream: This can mean anything from "Oh, I am so scared. I need a strong person to support me" to "Oh! A cockroach landed on my head and messed up my coiffure" and "Ahh! I won Miss. Universe" silent scream. From guys, it means "I am a macho man in touch with my inner feminine. Ain't I cute?"
• The Mom/Dad scream: Long prolonged scream of name like so.. "NAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMME" ;). This can mean anything from "Come up here, young lady, and clean up your room THIS instant" to "How DARE you commit credit card fraud without my permission". Not that I HAVE, but it's nice to know, isn't it?
• The "I-am-on-a-roller-coaster" yell (aka the Fear-Factor Wooohooo): It means exactly that! Duh! Also in addition "I'm bungee-jumping/surfing/hang gliding/ parasailing/ jumpin off an airplane..." What it ACTUALLY means: "i am scared out of my mind, but I need to yell in a specific way to show that I am REALLY having fun..." Woohoo!
• The masculine grunt: Only one meaning, people "I am a taciturn, masculine man.. I may be a pig sometimes. Can you live with that?" Seems like it really has no takers.
• The sports screams: These are a whole section in themselves

a) The "You fool, a chimp can do it properly... with eyes blindfolded" couch potato scream of "argh". It's usually accompanied by much gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair.

b) The "Yay. The team won." cheer of the 'winners' watching the game.

c) The team taking a victory lap doesn't usually scream nor does the losing team who is regrouping.

d) The Shoaib Akthar yell of disappointment after his (chucked) ball just missed the wicket/batsman's edge/batsman's head. "Nooooooooooo"... Self explanatory, really.

e) The tennis grunts.. I REALLY don't know why!

f) The tough guy WWF Smackdown challenge. As fake as the whole concept. I am thumbing my nose at you, Mr Vince Macmahon

• The "I've just met my idol" girly scream and faint accompanied by tears of joy. Again, self explanatory, though I have never been able to figure why meeting Brad Pitt or Julia Roberts and shaking their hands is so great a thing that the fans never wash their hands again. Not very, cool, you must agree!
• Finally, "Oprah has just bought me a new house." prolonged yell of joy and tribal dance accompaniment. She's just so fine!

There are so many more screams, that I hate to leave you in this lurch. But we HAVE to move on!

Men are from Uranus Now that I have gotten that joke off my mind, I must confess this... This IS how guys' minds work. No matter how completely sweet, decent and absolutely darling they seem to be. There are very few who'd tell a girl that openly, but trust me Sister.. I know!

Very few guys would admit it, but it hurts their ego when girls can do something without their help! (Am I right or am I right?) And hurting their ego is a no-no. So, girls, please continue doing it!

Seriously, their ego is a very fragile thing. So most guys like to think that there's noone "as handsome, as talented, as intelligent and as charismatic as me" even if he's buck-toothed, balding, has an IQ of 80 and all the charisma of a teaspoon.

I have mentioned the ladder theory in a previous post, feel free to browse through, because I couldn't put it better myself!

Girls gripe "They keep laughing like hyenas at nothing. I can't understand why they become all touchy at small things and they can't take a hint through their tough skulls. They act all macho and tough and then boast about it!"

Girls, girls!! It is all an ACT! :D Okay, maybe there are some who are completely indifferent. but let's just generalise now, shall we?

With all this, I must also add, that guys are be very good friends. They'll stick by you through thick and thin and help you in any way they can. *mushy me!* The hitch, of course, is that you'll have to tolerate their gross comments, at times! And if you're a 'guy pal', you can be sure to get all the details of the girls they're eying... Fun, nevertheless! Especially, when you can laugh at them and give them advice... So that brings me to,

Women are from Sirius: Girls and guys could NOT be more different. Hence, I have taken them light years away. Sirius, is the brightest star in the night sky, and most women like to be the brightest.... I am not saying it works, but it's great having an ambition, right?

The grouse of most guys is that "Girls never understand our dumb jokes." or "Damn. She's giving me mixed signals!" (the reason for many shredded flowers.. "She loves me, She loves me not."

a) Nuh-uh.. They do and they just pretend not to both times.

b) Don't even try to do anything unless you are confident. (Yeah! I am talking to YOU.. Speedo!)

This advice is free of cost, by the way.

For all the cynics out there, I'd just like to say... Girls just want affirmation. If you're friendly with a girl (and I DO mean just friendly), she won't mind some leg-pulling as long as she knows it's not what you really think. If it is, you might be in SOME trouble mister. Hmm, maybe the ego thing applies equally, eh?

Most girls want to feel special, first and foremost. Girls always have best friends from the fairer sex, because they connect at a deeper level (ie complaining about the people they know!), PLUS the shopping is SO much better! Information interchange is much better as well! (aka gossip)

By the way, for all those people who think ONLY girls gossip... *ding* you're WRONG! Guys do it too.. Only thing, it's called Locker room talk. (PS: I wouldn't like any comments negating it, I've proof!)

Shrutz: Okay that's it from Fraud for the time being. Psycho-babble out. She will update with more of the same, IF it makes any sense to someone! next up "I go and the Eid Mubarak" (okay that as just DUMB)

*squabbles with other voices in head*

First edition

Copyright@2005, Shruti George

Copy-write Shrutz :: 10:50 PM :: 14 Sneaky Remarks:

What would you like to do?

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Thursday, February 17, 2005

Crazy days deserve crazy posts!

Whatta crazy day.

Got up at 6:00 am and wrote record. Fretted about our VLSI test & assignment. Came online to check on my blog, saw a friend on Yahoo and wished that today would be a strike. When I got to college, all the juniors were milling around in small groups and yelling at each other, "when are you coming down?" and the whole atmosphere reeked of... strike!
So, there we all are, sitting for Industrial Electronics (and got an assignment too) and from the farthest corners of the college came the sweetest sounds in our academic life. "On strike, On Strike."
The sir took the attendance and left and meanwhile, the sounds of our temporary freedom only became louder "On strike, On strike, College Union on strike." The next two rounds had CET on strike and SFI on strike.. For god's sake, MAKE up your minds, boys.. What ARE you....girls?
In comes the hero of the day, to explain the cause of the strike. "Suhurthukale, you all know that our fest Dhwani has been cancelled for this semester, by the staff union," (NOOOOOO!).. Suddenly, from outside
Disembodied voice (off stage): (Is that you, God?) "Get out of there, the sir has gone!"

So, there we all were. 10:00 am and nothing to do. We tried going to the Department library and computer centre. They'd shut the doors to us, because we were "supporters". So, Divya and I came home to try and get ideas for a paper presentation.

BUT, I still had to get home. As we were going down the college driveway, two idiots speeding UP skidded and fell over. We were all talking about how foolhardy boys could be, got into the car and backed up 3 inches. Suddenly.. *little crash* Uhhuh, there was a damn motorcycle right behind the vehicle. It's not like he DIDN'T have place to park the bike in. There was only about 100 m behind him, but NO, if he hadn't parked right BEHIND my car, his mind wouldn't rest that night. Since, the bike was still standing, we all debated whether to get out and move the damn thing, when I looked in front. On the right side, was my classmate, astride his Enfield with a very amused smile on his face. That did it. I turned slowly and backed away and wended my way home, considering if, in fact, he'd seen my goof-up.
When I got home and inspected the Uno, it had no left tail-light. Mom was kind of upset, but waved it away. I plugged it to my cosmic karma and tried gluing the pieces back together. No go.
To top it all off, one of my wise guy classmates sends me an sms (must have been as soon as he came out of college) "Come back here. A motorbike owner has said a Fiat uno broke his headlights."
ARGH!

Started looking for some kind of idea on How Stuff Works, none of it really clicked. So, I called up Rishab and he gave me some cartloads of ideas, out of which we used 2. That done, Divya went home and I came online to muck around with my blogaddiction.
I wanted to post up some links and since I am basically a self taught computer nerd and didn't know HTML, enlisted some help. After some atrocious attempts, one of which made the links repeat 10 times with my "recent posts", I finally cracked it and the results are here to behold. These are really good blogs and I will add to them as I get newer ones.
The theme for today's question... "Shruti, are you from Planet Earth?" After a few amusing (at least, I thought so) answers, I have decided to tell ALL... I am Human and I am from Earth, since both my parents were human. So, unless there is some alien abduction story here I am not aware of, or unless I was found by my parents outside the doorstep one day, I am JUST like you. Any dissenters may feel free to do just that!

Copy-write Shrutz :: 7:47 AM :: 4 Sneaky Remarks:

What would you like to do?

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Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Confessions of a Sore Loser

"I am Shruti George, and I am a sore loser." I take a deep breath and sit down on my revolving chair.

Yessiree, this is the story of my life. I love doing things, but I am constantly wary of the fact that I might in fact make a fool out of myself SOMEWHERE. Which is not to imply that I haven't had more than my fair share of blushes, but that's digressing from the point...

I remember the first competition I went for. It was the idyllic period of second standard and I went, rather optimistically, for Solo Song. My cousin, in a stroke of even more optimism, taught me "Bimbo" by Jim Reeves. Being 7, I found the song funny; I believe I was giggling at "Bimbo, Bimbo where you gonna go-eo?"... The moment came... and went amid strains of "Sa re ga ma" and people singing "aaah" as if they had a toothache. Classmates called me Bimbo for AGES afterwards. Not really an experience one needs to remember when you are trying to outgrow the "awkward" phase!
(At 13) Me (humming a song under my breath. )
Friend: "Oh, is that Bimbo? You were SOOO cute when you were in 2nd standard. So, what happened?"

13... a momentous year. When children become teenagers. Some grow up. Some don't. (Those, usually are guys... DON'T get me wrong!) Those arguments, they've a massive mental impact. I hated losing those too!
Boy: "nyaa nyaa nyaa Girls are useless. They can't do anything"
Me: "That's not TRUE. We are much better than you." (This was my feminist phase)
Boy: (ensues calling me my nicknames)
Me: "Oh you're so immature"
Boy: (throws chalks at me)
... Okay, maybe I didn't LOSE this one! But, could you tell me, why I still felt sore?

At 15, 10th standard boards. Sore loser Shruti was upset for a whole week after results were out. To add salt to injury, there were people muttering to the effect "She's crazy. I would have KILLED for her marks." Well, I nearly killed all right... the examiners!

At 16... IIT-JEE. Veni, vidi, Dormivi. Hey, I hadn't studied anything. But, damnit, I still felt sore about not doing well.

A spate of exams followed, I did equally badly in most. Got stuck in CET. Still am a sore loser. This blog is a warning to my compadres. Don't do better than me. It doesn't matter if it is exams, or competitions or some silly little wager. I can be VERY sore about it! I have voodoo dolls and I am NOT afraid to use them!

Copy-write Shrutz :: 8:24 AM :: 5 Sneaky Remarks:

What would you like to do?

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Monday, February 14, 2005

In order to prove that there were, in FACT, some audience members!  

Copy-write Shrutz :: 7:04 PM :: 0 Sneaky Remarks:

What would you like to do?

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Srijit of TKM holding the audience (or what is left of it, especially Karthick) spellbound! Hey Auster, side profile good enough for you?  

Copy-write Shrutz :: 6:59 PM :: 0 Sneaky Remarks:

What would you like to do?

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Audience having a gala time... Special mention of Anonymous 

Copy-write Shrutz :: 6:56 PM :: 1 Sneaky Remarks:

What would you like to do?

------------------------------------- Then there was correction...

My wonderful committee plus Vandana sweating it out! :D Lots of question papers... not enough time! Argh! Where's Superman when you want him?

Copy-write Shrutz :: 6:52 PM :: 0 Sneaky Remarks:

What would you like to do?

------------------------------------- Drishti-2K5! Best Manager!

The hundred-odd people writing BEST MANAGER in Room 303- Mech Drawing Hall. Specially, do notice... people clutching their heads and asking if they could leave

Copy-write Shrutz :: 6:49 PM :: 1 Sneaky Remarks:

What would you like to do?

------------------------------------- It's All Relative!

This is the favourite sentence of my VLSI sir..
Every first hour on Mondays and Wednesdays and fourth hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, this person comes striding through our open doors and pretty much makes all our hearts race our food to the pits of our stomachs. He definitely has the most interesting hours to teach in, and interesting is NOT a simple enough word to describe him
Time for back ground Info
Our sir is tall and stoops (ie we have to perforce look upto him) and curly hair which is only rivalled by his moustache... A soup strainer! He is an IISc product, which is nice and all that, but our usual grouse is why he didn't go to some other college to scare the living daylights out of the students. He definitely knows what he is talking about, but we don't. And even if we do, we are too scared to tell him that we do.
Well, so, in comes sir and....
*clink* That was the sound of a pin dropping. My usually boisterous class becomes hellishly quiet. Every pair of eyes is turned on sir with a kind of ghoulish curiousity. There's a reason. The second you go on to Blank mode (which is the mode in which most Engineering students function), he goes quiet. Next sentence is sure to put you into the direst straits "You, penultimate one." Unfortunate boy looks up and points to self, "No next to him.".. "No, next to HIM.. Ahh you, Nice girls going outside, right?" Whereupon, the victim turns a nice shade of brick red and wishes the earth would swallow him up.
His first speech to us should be an ample indication. "I will be teaching you VLSI. You don't have to attend classes. Just tell me you are bored and I will give you attendance. You have to submit an assignment without copying. If n people copy from you, your mark will be divided by (N+1) (Maths class!). Even if your answers are wrong, otherwise, I'll give you marks nearer 10. I would like it if you answer my questions. You must not talk in my class or let your mind wander. It disturbs my concentration. Don't be tensed."
"Yessir"
"If you have any complaints, you can send an email from an anonymous address. Your seniors did that"
"Yessir"
"Okay, let's start..."
By this time, the class as a whole were holding their breath and hoping the sounds of their hearts rapidly beating was not to be misconstrued as an interruption.
To break the monotony, sometimes he comes to the lectern and asks us questions. Silence greets him. Noone wants to answer. So he catches the topper. Poor topper. He says something. Sir doesn't look satisfied. He catches on next unsuspecting boy.
Time for next speech. "You must not be more than 15 minutes late for my hour. I will not let you in. If you're early you can sit in the back, otherwise you have to sit in the front."
Needless to say, the next day, ALL the boys came early and sat in front! Lesser trouble that way, and it saved them the walk when sir caught them, for losing the thread of their attention and told them to sit in front, ANYWAY!
Next question about MOS capacitors.. *clink* The pin falls again. All the students find something very interesting in their notebooks. Time for next speech..
"You people don't know anything. Did you understand what I was teaching?"
Muted Yes-sir's follow. "So why don't you answer me? Topper?"
"Sir I didn't understand everything."
"So if the topped understood 60%, an average student will understand 6%"
By this time, we're all looking at the watch hoping we could make time go faster.
"Children, you shouldn't be tense!" (hah! That's a laugh)
He says that, because he doesn't know what my class does when they're not tense. Throw paperballs at each other during class hours. Pass their AKBA newsletter (Applied Kallippu Boys Association). Draw. Sleep. Complete records. Trust me, sir, you don't need to go there!
He then proceeds to draw diagrams and write equations on the boards. Someone very timidly asks "Sir, isn't the voltage negative?"
"Negative & positive voltages are all relative. Electric fields are relative." and he launches into a detailed explanation which completely confuses us, and by the end of which, noone wants to tell him that!
Time for last speech. "I am very disappointed in you. If you don't answer any questions, the sessionals of the class will suffer. It's all relative."
Parting shot? "Prepare for a test for tomorrow"
"Thank you sir!"

Copy-write Shrutz :: 5:21 AM :: 8 Sneaky Remarks:

What would you like to do?

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Sunday, February 13, 2005

When the CAT is out...

On my desk at this moment: "The Eagle Has Flown" By Jack Higgins..
Quote."He put the phone down and went and got himself a malt whiskey, a squat powerful-looking man with white hair who wore steel-rimmed spectacles." Unquote. (may I add, I have not changed any word or punctuation mark)
I don't know about you, but I find that sentence deeply disturbing! Must be the effect of Verbal AND Reading Comprehension, in a single day, at TIME. Let's point out the inherent fallacies of the argument, from a CAT perspective! *adjust non-existent spectacles*

Logic & Data Interpretation
Q) What is the implication of that sentence?
a) A Malt whiskey is a squat, powerful looking man
b) White hair wore steel-rimmed spectacles
c) Both (a) and (b)
d) Jack Higgins was, at the moment of writing, under the influence of said malt whiskey!

All Malt Whiskeys are Squat Powerful-looking Men. No Squat powerful-looking man wears steel rimmed-spectacles.
Assignment... Find out the conclusions of these assumptions.

Reading Comprehension
Read the above sentence (the one in blue) and answer the question
Q) What can be the summary of the sentence?
a) He put the phone down and went and got himself a malt whiskey, a squat powerful-looking man with white hair who wore steel-rimmed spectacles
b) He put his malt whiskey down and got himself a phone, who wore steel-rimmed spectacles, a squat powerful-looking man.
c) Nuts... Totally
d) Why are you submitting me to this torture?

Verbal
Q) If WHISKEY:MAN, then
a) Spectacles: Horn-rimmed
b) Hair: Spectacles
c) Powerful-looking: Hair
d) Phone : Malt

I hope you scored 100 Percentile.

Copy-write Shrutz :: 3:02 AM :: 6 Sneaky Remarks:

What would you like to do?

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Friday, February 11, 2005

"Warning: Blogs can be read!"

For the past 2 weeks, I have come to realise, people are READING my blogs! The freaky part is, they are not the faceless, nameless entities of cyberspace, but people I know... from college, and they usually come up to me and say, "Hey, Shruti, you have a blog!"
"Uhhuh.. Yeah I use it to rant about my pathetic little life.. Do you MIND?" Unfortunately, sometimes it IS the people I write about! Hey, I always name that good guys. If you have your name in my blog, that's a honour! You MUST be happy with the portrayal, nah?
I have also realised that Google has a massive crawler! Type certain keywords & "Random Jottings" turns up, and that includes names (Hmm! You know who I am talking about if you're reading this! I DID say great things about you...) Hey, but it's all peachy.
Why do I Blog?
My blogs at a certain time reflect my mindset at that juncture... I do not carry grudges to the grave. The blog is simply an outlet for pent-up steam and a very effective one at that.. (Warning: Blatant Product Placement!)
Here are the testimonials of some people who blogged...
Blog for your health!!!
Xavier Marquess (25, Male) "I was a 90 pound weakling! Then I started a blogspot addy and 2 months later, I am still a 90 pound weakling. But now, I can sure spell well and I have a job at a typewriting institute! Thank you Blogger.com."
Blog to meet new friends!!!
Virginia Vixen (18, Female) "I was always a shy girl with big geeky glasses and itchy mouse-fingers. But after starting to blog, I've realised that my pathetic life is actually APPEALING to my readers! Thanks to blogger.com, I've met other people of my ilk!"
Blog for Wealth!!!
Lionel Dumbell (56, male) "I was a no-good loafer who did not want to work. After registering for a blogspot address that I never use, I have an excuse for not working. I am blogging... and they pay me for each person who views the site. I'll get around to it tomorrow. *yawn*"
Blog to blog about blogs!!!
Shruti George (20, female) "I made you all read a blog about a blog, right? How cool is THAT??!"
Toodles!

Copy-write Shrutz :: 5:00 AM :: 9 Sneaky Remarks:

What would you like to do?

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Monday, February 07, 2005

V-Day Chatter

Countdown.... 7 days...
Oh WHO cares! A long long time ago, a poor and little-known bishop married lovers without knowledge of the Emperor and he faced death. In the 21st century, Valentine's Day is an excuse for commercialisation. While I was tapping away on my keyboard, (Note to self: Must get life, apparently they're quite cheap!) I heard an ad on the TV, (which is always on 24/7) which went "Get your Valentine a diamond!". Sure, why not? Just direct me to any guy who'll buy me a diamond ring..!
To the question "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.." here's the detailed list.. Flowers, jewellery, chocolates, a card, a dinner at a fancy restaurant, pricey presents....
Not to put it too blatantly, I hate Valentine's Day... Why?
1) At 20 years of age, I doubt that anyone knows what 'love' is. So, why make a fool out of yourself every year with another person just to 'celebrate' Valentine's Day?
2) I hate the colour pink. I also can't reconcile myself to the fact that the mascot of love is a chubby little baby, wearing a diaper, and running (flying?) amok with a bow and arrows!
3) Any sentence that begins with the words "I love you..." is VERY bad news!
4) The sentence "You make life worth living" is the more overrated romantic line. Life should always BE worth living for its own sake, no-one or nothing should be allowed to hold that power over you.
5) Mushy = Crappy!!
Now that I have given you all a dose of philosophy, I am out. Feel free to discuss what a cynic I am... I enjoy it!
"Love & Kisses"
PS: I just got to know that one my childhood friends is getting married soon. I wish her all the luck and happiness in the world! Congrats..
PPS: I am NOT so mean after all, aren't I? ;)

Copy-write Shrutz :: 7:06 AM :: 7 Sneaky Remarks:

What would you like to do?

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Friday, February 04, 2005

Dead Man, U tell no tales?

What do you tell someone who thinks you are
a) 5'8" tall
b) dark
c) have black shoulder-length curly hair...?
Moreover, he comes to your college and looks around for a Shruti answering to that description?
Maybe, I ought to start from the beginning. I'm a member of Orkut.. may I add, ADDICTED member of Orkut. Orkut is a friends network affliated to Google and is quite cool. Since the time I joined, I made some friends from a college in Trivandrum, SCT (Sri Chitra Thirunal College of Engineering) They're a friendly lot, and were all given open invites to Drishti! Some of them turned up on the first day, we met and it was nice. One of them came the NEXT day, to play at our Games Arena. I just dropped in, looked around and left. That evening, I got a message and a call from a person who wanted to know if this was "Shruti George?" Sure, it is! So, who is THIS? So, he told me...
Some days later, on Yahoo! (tm) Messenger, he informed me that my Orkut profile picture was VERY misleading. (It IS mine.. in bad light) He'd been looking around for a tall, dark girl with loose dark hair around the college and during the closing ceremony.. Alas!
So, the ONLY answer to the first question is!... "SURPRISE!"... Wrong on all counts!!

Copy-write Shrutz :: 1:47 PM :: 10 Sneaky Remarks:

What would you like to do?

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Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Update for the Terminally Masochistic

Before I go ahead with the blog, I'd like to clear up some minor points. Last time I used the word 'Masochistic', my friend referred the dictionary, *ulp*.. I do NOT mean that! I use the word the same way I'd use sadistic. No such connotations attached.. at LEAST, I hope NOT! I am in no way to account for the weird taste of all you folks out in cyberspace. Well, now that you have thoroughly researched the meanings of both words 'masochistic' and 'sadistic' (I KNEW that http://dictionary.com was a good link to give you!), let's get cracking... Whoops! I didn't mean that either! "Oh my mind, whither goest thou?"
So, what happened to me after 26th January? Aren't you curious to know? So, how much time DO you have to spare? And is your heart upto it?
Looking back at the week, I am happy I didn't know how packed it was going to be at the start of it all..
After 26th, we had our inter-semester cultural fest, Sargam for 3 days- 27th, 28th and 29th. In the middle of all this, I was scheduled to present a paper at MBT.. That was the doing of my friend from that college. Every evening, Sandeep used to call me, "Hey Shruti. So you're coming for Cynosure, right? Your paper has been selected! You are participating for Best Manager, okay.. I've been telling ALL my friends about you." So, NO pressure, huh? Nope! None at ALL! ---> (:-S) That's me after that conversation!
Anyways, back to the short history of the week! 27th wasn't too bad. Went to college, mucked around the Union room with nothing to do other than present the Personality Prelims question paper to some people and ask them to take enough photocopies. It was to be held the next day, but I wouldn't be in college. Made 16 questions for it.. (call me for the details!)
Meanwhile, I got hoodwinked into something I have no inclination towards. My only shyness to perform is my singing. Somehow, the idea of standing before everyone and singing doesn't enchant me as much as letting my mouth do the talking! Unfortunately, this senior of mine, who is distantly related to me (in the way so many Christians are.. 4th cousin or so!) asked me if I could. I told him I would if he would. Well... He did! And got first too! Whoops! To top it all, he gave me a 'demo' about how he thought I was a 'woman of my word'.. Anyways, Western solo was only on Saturday!
Then, I thought of participating for Hindi recitation! Great idea! I've learnt so many Hindi poems in school, that I can recall about 15 of them without any problem, and quite a few more I know partially. I am kind of partial to Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar', though. So, the poem was to be "Bharatiya Sena ka Prayaan Geeth"
In the electronics seminar hall, I kept looking closely at the judge. It was deja vu all over again. I KNEW I had seen her somewhere! But WHERE? Suddenly, it came to me... This was my sister's old classmate from school! She has a twin sister! I began bugging the guy in charge to ask what her name was? I got her life history in the meantime.. Working at VSSC.. etc etc! After the recitation, on the off-chance I went and asked her if she'd studied in KV Pattom with a Tripti George. She had! I told her I was Tripti's sister.. "Shruti! how is Tripti?" Well, that sewed up the competition, right? Anyways, I got first for that, and NOT because of any manipulation too... contrary to what ANYONE might say! *looks around sharply!*
At 3 pm, I dashed off to Divya's house to do the Powerpoint for our paper. It was finally over, at 6:15, after a lot of phone calls from my mom and 25 slides later! I was heartily sick of DNA Computing by the end of it! Back to home for some R & R!
The next day dawned bright and sunny. I was busy chewing my nails. After all.. NO pressure, nah? Went to church (friday thing for mom) and picked up Divz, Vimitha and Reshmi at Ulloor(late) and made our way to MBT. MBT is in the Mar Ivanios campus and is very pretty. Modern buildings and amenities, especially when you come from CET. CET, of course, is well-known just because the students are such 'spars' (Yay! CET!) We registered for the paper and there was Sandeep AGAIN! His mobile was permanently stuck to his ear. Maybe I ought to introduce him to my juniors? (:D)! Annette was at the desk. It was great to see her. The college was full of my KV buddies and juniors. It felt good!
Their seminar hall was great. It had a good projector and a fast computer. We uploaded our presentation and were slated for first wtih Vimz and Resh following us with Halo Networks or Airborne Internet.
But before that, we had our BM prelims round 1, which was an exam. It was dead easy, especially when compared to the one I had set, but had lots of GK questions which I had fun with. Quant was easy, Verbal was VERY confusing, after half an hour we went back to do our paper.
Our presentation went on well, except that we pretty much read off the Powerpoint, since we didn't have enough time to dwell on the developments. The professors were very interested and asked us a lot of questions. One question, from a student, I can't forget "If you have DNA, how can you be so sure, you won't make a new organism?" Divya promptly handed me the mike while I was formulating an answer that did not contain the sentence, "How dumb are you?"
I had to be content with, "That's a very obscure question. We need millions of DNA strands for the 'production' of one organism. We're only using much less here and replicating that." Of course, DNA in a test-tube is present EVEN when someone draws blood off you. Does it matter?! No! Divya told me later "Here people are trying to clone animals for AGES, and this dude thinks we will make an animal by ACCIDENT!"
Vimz and Resh had a killer powerpoint. Reshmi's dynamism was, as usual, in evidence. Vimz was her restrained self.
I met one of my childhood friends (from 5th standard) there. Very nice! He had changed a lot, and he assured me, so had I.. 10 years, I better have, right??!
Next up, BM Second round. Vimz, Resh, Balasubramaniam and I had made it through with some 6 MBTians. It was a Mock press round. First try, I got Richard Stallings, FSF guy. I gave up! Then got Jayan! Oh yeah sure!! I talked in some Malayalam. I guess the judges took pity on me and asked me questions in English. First one was "Where were you till now?" I informed him that I had been abducted by aliens and I met Elvis Presley in The UFO. I guess only one judge got the allusion, he was grinning from ear to ear! The kids were looking confused. I then fielded questions about my favourite costumes (bellbottoms), favourite actress (Sheila), favourite current actress (Manju Warrier). One smart alec asked me which actress I would like to get married to. I involved him in a long and pointless discussion about polygamy and the law and how he thought I was lying because I had died and gone to Hell. Suddenly, those sweet words! Time up!
Reshmi got Mallika Sherawat. She did well, till she said that she was the 'boyfriend from the Girlfriend'.. Uhuh! Vimz got Molly from "Bobbanum Molly" She didn't know where they lived, which class she was in, where she studied and who the third character was. But her answers were very funny!
Soon after was the third round, which was a GD. Resh and Vimz and 3 MBTians were in one group with the topic: Should India opt for indigenous technology or import?" They did well! Balasubramaniam, I and 3 other MBTians, including my school junior in the other. Our topic was : "Is the IT Sector taking away investment from the rural sector?" I just went on chattering away to glory! After 2 minutes, Balasubramaniam thought he better interject. It went into debating! Some audience asked me if I was on Boost! (I am running out of exclamation marks!!!)
The GD was an elimination round and all 4 CETians made it along with 1 MBTian! Now it was time to be stressed out. But first.... LUNCH! After lunch at their canteen, we got into our mental stress round. They locked us in a room with some volunteers and gave us some puzzles. It was real fun, but too little time! Here's one question!

XXII
____ = II

VIII

Think of them as matchsticks! Correct the equation by moving one and only one matchstick. Plus you can't change the operations! Send answers to this blog!
After this, we had our physical stress round. This was a Treasure Hunt around the college. We were given coloured slips of paper that directed us to different locations, solving puzzles in half an hour. The route was different for everyone. They were quite easy and I went along okay. The students found us very funny and spent their time laughing! Volunteers, holding Munch boxes (no chocs!) would give us the next clue and the final puzzle would have to be solved. My clues took me from the Canteen to the Main College Gate, the Main Lobby, the Library and finally to the Statue of Jesus. There we got the final clue, which involved balls. By this time, sweat was pouring all over my forehead and I just wanted to lie down and sleep. Somehow, I got myself to to do the puzzle by visualising what Sandeep had told ALL his friends. (And he HAD too, everyone kept saying "Oh so YOU'RE Shruti, heard about you from Sandeep." The best comment was one I got from his best friend! "You're wearing the same dress as those photos. That's how I knew who it was!!") No pressure! None at ALL!
Anyway, by some freak of nature I was the first one to hand it all in and I advanced into the last round! Balasubramanian and the MBT junior, Aravind made it too. The last round was a Case Study. I got one involving V-Guard stabilisers. Did quite well and fielding questions was easy too!
After all this work, we came second for the paper and I came first for Best Manager! Vimz and Resh came first for the Paper! A clean sweep for CET!... AND I got 2000 bucks!! Way cool day! Didn't have a prize distribution ceremony, though, because all of us had left and I had to go to college to pick up personality answer sheets! Then I made my way back to Mar Ivanios, where Sandeep gave me the certificates and the money.
29th was an anticlimax! It was terribly busy too. I got to read the answer sheets! It's another long story if I explain the answers! Suffice it to say, they were excruciatingly punny....! One guy only had this to say "I want to die in 5 years."
Plans for next 10 years? "I will be dead!"
Most adventurous thing you've done: "death!" "standing on a terrace with a grape balanced on my nose." "Dating two guys at once"
The judges encircled the controversial answers to give the finalists some bad time...
Other sample answers
Question: Tell us something about you.(20 words or less!) "You is a three letter word, it has 2 vowels...", "Mind full of fun and belly full of XXX-rum".
Question: What is the question you have never heard or will never hear? "What's your underwear size?", "Are you a virgin?" "This is that question", "Do you love me?" (how pathetic) "Do you have a girlfriend?"
Question: Whom would you like to be stranded on a desert island with? "Pamela Anderson, I will extract silicon from her and make transistors and signal for help." "Selma Hayek, because she knows a lot about life and a deserted island"
Question: How can you tell 'N-Sync and Backstreet Boys apart? : "You can't.. They're both gay." (I agree!) "Bloodstreet boys and Red Sync!" (Dude was seriously considering death!)
Question : Your fairy godmother has given you the threads, and the groovy ride. There's only one hitch. You're in Trivandrum. Where will you hangout and why? Remember you got to back by 10 pm. "Coffee beanz, because the only 'goodlooking' guys in Tvm hang out there" (A matter of opinion, kiddo) "MH" (puhleese!), "CET"!!
Question : Your excuse for not submitting your assignment on time? "I study at Career Launcher, not TIME"
Question: You are a contestant at a beauty pageant. They asked you what you want for this century. World peace has already been taken. "No war!"
Question: The most important person in this millennium "Sri Krishna, what capacity".. (THIS millennium!)

Well, you get the idea. Needless to say, all these got the writers into a LOT of trouble! The questions for the finals were even more convoluted. Here's one... "You wrote your thesis on how the egg came before the chicken. But new research has shown this is NOT the case! present your excuses before a press conference!"
One I am proud of began "You have an Attention Deficiency Disorder.." The guy asked me "What did you say? I wasn't following you...." Kind of self evident, eh?
After 90 minutes Ashok aka Swamy was crowned Mr.CET and I was beat....!
PS: I got 1st for Western Solo!!! Que Sera Sera!!

Copy-write Shrutz :: 8:31 AM :: 6 Sneaky Remarks:

What would you like to do?

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