Saarang usually stands for a few things . Awesome events/shows , Nice stalls, the long drives through the beautiful IIT grounds , hot chicks that show up out of nowhere only to then disappear for the rest of the year and of course for us - super timepass .
This year , the theme for us seemed to be ' Back In our time' . Everything seemed to be better 'back in our time ' . Or maybe we were just able to appreciate them more then . Vayasu aayurichu.
Back in our time , foodstalls were right next to the OAT . Now they make u walk about a km.
Back in our time , Cha was able to watch Decibels and light music without complaining about the quality of the bands. All these pro concerts later , he says they suck
Back in our time , we would go for the rock show without caring who came . This year , I would still have gone if Skid row had come , but they backed out , and - without Ara - no real motivation to go watch Hammerfall . Missed Lone wolf as well .
Signs of the times :
GB actually came and asked Chandler , " Heard ur getting married ? "
Bow liked the 'Maa' song by Shanker, Ehsaan & Loy the most (:-P )
As Gau said : The youth there are ppl that are 7 ( !!) years younger than us .
Still , it was a pretty good 2 days we spent there . Some things haven't changed. OAT is still an amazing place to go watch stuff ( esp if they are free !) . IIT guys still carry around huge backpacks that look like they contain all the world's secrets in them . Shanker Ehsaaan Loy still put on mean show. Bands still sing ' ChandraLekha' . People still do the cell-phone-light-waving thing at concerts - which originated back in our time . Choreo night is still good ( or so I hear ) .
Saarang is still fun.
As usual , I'll close with a couple of mokkai's . As always , embellishments mine.
(On the 1 km walk to the aforementioned food stalls )
Cha : Its amazing how we can still hear the bands playing rock so far away from the OAT
Me : Must be really loud
Adi : Duh ! Thats why its called 'Decibels'
(Examining tickets while standing in the really long queue to get in to watch SEL )
Cha : There's a huge list of items which aren't allowed . Bottles , Bags , Sharp items .......... Pens
Cha : PENS !? Why would they not allow that ?
Me : When they don't allow knives how can they allow this
Cha : ??
Me : The pen is mightier than the sword.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Chennai Open - 2010 !
Rain delaying start of Q/f play by 3.5 hours : A blessing in disguise
Being able to watch all six matches of the day , sometimes 2 matches simultaneously . 5 great hours of tennis : Awesome
Having a Brown stand ticket , but sitting in Green Stand , 2 rows from the front because seats were empty : Happens only in India
Passion for the sport in Chennai , with more than 500 people staying on till the last match was done, at 1 : 30 AM : Unbelievable
Semifinal Lineup : Salivating Prospect
Me Coming on TV : :-)
Watching Wawrinka's one handed beauty of a backhand from 20 Feet Away : Priceless !
Dedicated to Avi :P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update : After an exhilarating , brilliant match between Wawrinka and Sela - Which has to be the second best tennis match I've seen live , next only to this - Catching a ball signed by Tipsarevic and Lu : Icing on the Cake !
Being able to watch all six matches of the day , sometimes 2 matches simultaneously . 5 great hours of tennis : Awesome
Having a Brown stand ticket , but sitting in Green Stand , 2 rows from the front because seats were empty : Happens only in India
Passion for the sport in Chennai , with more than 500 people staying on till the last match was done, at 1 : 30 AM : Unbelievable
Semifinal Lineup : Salivating Prospect
Me Coming on TV : :-)
Watching Wawrinka's one handed beauty of a backhand from 20 Feet Away : Priceless !
Dedicated to Avi :P
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update : After an exhilarating , brilliant match between Wawrinka and Sela - Which has to be the second best tennis match I've seen live , next only to this - Catching a ball signed by Tipsarevic and Lu : Icing on the Cake !
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Diversity - Part Deux ( Or just - Sports , Sports , Sports !! )
[ Edit / Disclaimer / Warning / Whatever ] : This was supposed to be about lot more than just sports , but one hour and all these paragraphs later , I decided that this topic has earned its own post . Not because its so well written or anything , but because it deserved it.. And also because otherwise this post would be HUGE .
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As Promised in Part 1 , we start with more links :D
Gau and Suprema both write about on a matter very dear to my heart : Sports . I'm not going to elaborate on those topics again ( Go read my Comments on their respective blogs :p ) , but I completely understand where they are coming from .
Following sports passionately is an activity like few other . At its best , it has more drama than any reality show , more grace and beauty than many a movie , more passion than pretty much anything on TV , and can rivet you to your seat more efficiently than any bunch of "dont go anywhere , we 'll be right back " lines . At its worst it can be continually frustrating ( but then its your fault for picking a sucky team/player :P ) and sometimes mind-numbingly boring .
It can make you stay up until 3 or 4 am . It can keep u awake until 12 Pm the morning, after u slept only 2 hours the night before and played tennis for 2 solid hours before that . It can alter your normal sleep schedule. It can make you compromise other aspects of your lives . It can even make you think enough to blog about it for an hour ( Result - This post ) !
It can bring out a vast gamut of emotions in You : From Cheer to Despair , From Exhiliration to devestation , From the " I-was-just-glad-I-watched-this " to the "Oh-No-Dont-believe-i-missed-that " . Because thats the thing about sports . Its unscheduled , Its unscripted , Its uninhibited and no one ever knows whats gonna happen next ( Unless ur talking about match - fixing or the WWE , but lets not go there )
We may follow it because we want to see the human body stretched to amazing limits of perfection . We may follow it just to root for the underdog to pull of a miracle .Watching Federer play that sublime one -handed backhand , watchin Kobe completely take over clutch games , watching Messi weave his magic around the opposition , Watching Tendulkar display why he is the master of his craft , Watching Nadal and Verdasco run around like madmen 5 hours into a gruelling match ( etc,etc) might be all the reason we need to watch it , no justification required . And, of course , we may follow it simply because we love the game .
Of course being the dude that actually plays it at the highest level will be like , the best thing in the world . But we cant all be Federers .
Writing/Commenting about it articulately for millions of readers would probably be the next best thing . Unfortunately we cant all be Bill Simmons'
I guess thats why we are stuck playing matches no one watches and writing articles like these which no one reads . But , In the end , thats all we can do : We play for the fun of it ( never mind if its at a level 1/100th of theirs ) . We write because we want to , not becase we have to ( Prime example being me : Not writtten for Ages ) . When that can bring us satisfaction , job accomplished.
Theres nothing quite like the experience of watching a big game live at the venue itself (the atmosphere , the crowd , the undivided attention we give to the game ) . Among my many goals is to watch a live game at these arenas : Staples Center [ achieved] , Wimbledon , Old Trafford , Any Cricket Stadium in Inda [ achieved ]
That being said , the Internet has changed the way sports is being followed worldwide . There is more in-depth coverage of every event now than ever before , what with video footage (You-Tube) and game breakdowns,expert analysis being the norm (ESPN,Cricinfo etc etc ) . Also , Now, every two - bit expert (like me ) has an opinion on everything from " Kobe vs Lebron " to " Should we play cricket in Pakistan" . It has made sharing stuff more common . It has made viewing live events more common , more global ( might be piracy ,but still - Justin rocks . )
For eg : I discuss Bball regularly with Achu and Adi . We share amazing links such as this and this . It makes following the sport much more cerebral .The next time I'm watchin a rockets game , I can figure out why Battier does what he does or How their D rox (and also how their O sux ) . These help us understand better , analyse better and eventually .. Appreciate better .
For people who need greater control and interactivity than say , just using the remote/mouse , Here too more options have sprung up . There are Fantasy Leagues . There are Forums . There are VideoGames .
I dont usually partake of any of these offerings , but i was playing Nba Live 2001 the other day ( I know , I know its a really old game but its still an awesome game . This was one of the first big [ in those days , anything > 100 MB was big ] files i downloaded off the Internet . It took me many many hours of my dial up modem to get the full game [ Without any Commentary even ] and I dint regret it one bit . I used to play it extensively once upon a time - in school i believe - and have used it numerous times to escape and get way from things when I just need a break . I had to search like a gazillion forums before I could get a patch to make it work in Vista before finally getting it - Yay ! ) and I was struck by how relevant the game still is ( All u need is the latest Roster updates :D ) .
Started a full season ( For the Lakers , obv ) and made it all the way to the playoffs in the matter of a month or so . So im playing playoffs , first round , and i got Minnesota . They sux , so im expecting ez win ... Hour and a half later , I feel like ive been through a battle and survived .. just barely .. Needed maximum number of games to beat em, All of em but one goin down to the final minute , Needed concentration which would have got me a good solid 90% aggregate in college and needed nerves which i dint know existed till then ( all this in a video Game , Imagine the guys that do this for real ! ) . In the end , I won by simply mimicking real life , by putting the game in the hands of Video-Game-Kobe and making it do all the things Real-Life-Kobe does , Injured Pinkie and all .
Yea , Sports rules .
PS : Apologies for all the brackets and the tangential narration style . Been reading David Foster Wallace . That must be it
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As Promised in Part 1 , we start with more links :D
Gau and Suprema both write about on a matter very dear to my heart : Sports . I'm not going to elaborate on those topics again ( Go read my Comments on their respective blogs :p ) , but I completely understand where they are coming from .
Following sports passionately is an activity like few other . At its best , it has more drama than any reality show , more grace and beauty than many a movie , more passion than pretty much anything on TV , and can rivet you to your seat more efficiently than any bunch of "dont go anywhere , we 'll be right back " lines . At its worst it can be continually frustrating ( but then its your fault for picking a sucky team/player :P ) and sometimes mind-numbingly boring .
It can make you stay up until 3 or 4 am . It can keep u awake until 12 Pm the morning, after u slept only 2 hours the night before and played tennis for 2 solid hours before that . It can alter your normal sleep schedule. It can make you compromise other aspects of your lives . It can even make you think enough to blog about it for an hour ( Result - This post ) !
It can bring out a vast gamut of emotions in You : From Cheer to Despair , From Exhiliration to devestation , From the " I-was-just-glad-I-watched-this " to the "Oh-No-Dont-believe-i-missed-that " . Because thats the thing about sports . Its unscheduled , Its unscripted , Its uninhibited and no one ever knows whats gonna happen next ( Unless ur talking about match - fixing or the WWE , but lets not go there )
We may follow it because we want to see the human body stretched to amazing limits of perfection . We may follow it just to root for the underdog to pull of a miracle .Watching Federer play that sublime one -handed backhand , watchin Kobe completely take over clutch games , watching Messi weave his magic around the opposition , Watching Tendulkar display why he is the master of his craft , Watching Nadal and Verdasco run around like madmen 5 hours into a gruelling match ( etc,etc) might be all the reason we need to watch it , no justification required . And, of course , we may follow it simply because we love the game .
Of course being the dude that actually plays it at the highest level will be like , the best thing in the world . But we cant all be Federers .
Writing/Commenting about it articulately for millions of readers would probably be the next best thing . Unfortunately we cant all be Bill Simmons'
I guess thats why we are stuck playing matches no one watches and writing articles like these which no one reads . But , In the end , thats all we can do : We play for the fun of it ( never mind if its at a level 1/100th of theirs ) . We write because we want to , not becase we have to ( Prime example being me : Not writtten for Ages ) . When that can bring us satisfaction , job accomplished.
Theres nothing quite like the experience of watching a big game live at the venue itself (the atmosphere , the crowd , the undivided attention we give to the game ) . Among my many goals is to watch a live game at these arenas : Staples Center [ achieved] , Wimbledon , Old Trafford , Any Cricket Stadium in Inda [ achieved ]
That being said , the Internet has changed the way sports is being followed worldwide . There is more in-depth coverage of every event now than ever before , what with video footage (You-Tube) and game breakdowns,expert analysis being the norm (ESPN,Cricinfo etc etc ) . Also , Now, every two - bit expert (like me ) has an opinion on everything from " Kobe vs Lebron " to " Should we play cricket in Pakistan" . It has made sharing stuff more common . It has made viewing live events more common , more global ( might be piracy ,but still - Justin rocks . )
For eg : I discuss Bball regularly with Achu and Adi . We share amazing links such as this and this . It makes following the sport much more cerebral .The next time I'm watchin a rockets game , I can figure out why Battier does what he does or How their D rox (and also how their O sux ) . These help us understand better , analyse better and eventually .. Appreciate better .
For people who need greater control and interactivity than say , just using the remote/mouse , Here too more options have sprung up . There are Fantasy Leagues . There are Forums . There are VideoGames .
I dont usually partake of any of these offerings , but i was playing Nba Live 2001 the other day ( I know , I know its a really old game but its still an awesome game . This was one of the first big [ in those days , anything > 100 MB was big ] files i downloaded off the Internet . It took me many many hours of my dial up modem to get the full game [ Without any Commentary even ] and I dint regret it one bit . I used to play it extensively once upon a time - in school i believe - and have used it numerous times to escape and get way from things when I just need a break . I had to search like a gazillion forums before I could get a patch to make it work in Vista before finally getting it - Yay ! ) and I was struck by how relevant the game still is ( All u need is the latest Roster updates :D ) .
Started a full season ( For the Lakers , obv ) and made it all the way to the playoffs in the matter of a month or so . So im playing playoffs , first round , and i got Minnesota . They sux , so im expecting ez win ... Hour and a half later , I feel like ive been through a battle and survived .. just barely .. Needed maximum number of games to beat em, All of em but one goin down to the final minute , Needed concentration which would have got me a good solid 90% aggregate in college and needed nerves which i dint know existed till then ( all this in a video Game , Imagine the guys that do this for real ! ) . In the end , I won by simply mimicking real life , by putting the game in the hands of Video-Game-Kobe and making it do all the things Real-Life-Kobe does , Injured Pinkie and all .
Yea , Sports rules .
PS : Apologies for all the brackets and the tangential narration style . Been reading David Foster Wallace . That must be it
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Di-Versity
When even the only fellow whos blogs more sporadically than me - Chandler -has 3 posts in 2009 and i have a grand total of 0 , it was time for some serious action ! After rejecting my first and typically lazy thought ( Which was - Even Adi has not blogged in February , Why should i ? ) I decided to buckle down and actually write this
All that remained was to find a topic logical and interesting enough to write on , a commonly recurring problem which I partly blame for this recent lull in activity ( Technical Name - bloggers Block )
So i thought back on all that had happened in my life in 2009 . The only Central Theme was - There was none . So i decided to blog about them all and hence the title of this post
It can also mean im just being lazy to organize my thoughts cohesively but hey its my blog , and no one reads this anyway :( .
Onto the chaos .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009 Started with a bang . First week of Jan always means - The Chennai Open !!! Got season tickets this time and even though it started out with a whimper with Nadal not returning here and then the top seed Davydenko Retiring , a certain
Somdev Devvarman rescued the tournament from fading into insignificance for the local crowd .
It was an amazing cinderella story for everyone to follow and it played out all the way to the final day of the tournament . No classics quite like the Nadal - Moya match from last year , but good stuff nevertheless
This was the last year of the Contract for this event and heres hoping the ATP renew it , Chennai deserves it .
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was immediately followed by the Chennai Sangamam , the Street festival held every year in Chennai around Pongal time . Even though I personally went there every day mainly only for the food ( :D ), this year was bigger than ever before with them even having a night long celebration in VenkatNarayana road , even cordoning off the whole road to traffic and lighting up the street with lights a la those found in Orchard road in Singapore .
Yea , quite unreal . Read this
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is around this part of the post that you might have noticed i do ( or rather dont ) do a lot of the actual description through external links . If your too lazy to click them , dont complain about the quality of this post :-P .
If you do click them and still say my post sucks , well , then u donno how to appreciate diversity .
U just think its the opposite of University .
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here , Chandler disrupts my thought process by pinging me on Gtalk and as a result , Im just going to shamelessly paste the convo here in lieu of an actual Paragraph
(11:41:10 PM) Chandler: black star?
(11:41:42 PM) Chandler: have u forgotten stars are all bright and glittery??
(11:41:47 PM) arjunjeyaprakash@: Eh ?
(11:41:56 PM) Chandler: ur status msg was black star
(11:42:17 PM) arjunjeyaprakash: yes it was
(11:42:24 PM) arjunjeyaprakash: song name ..
(11:42:35 PM) arjunjeyaprakash: and besides what do u have against black stars da
(11:42:37 PM) arjunjeyaprakash : racist fellow
(11:42:42 PM) arjunjeyaprakash :)
(11:42:43 PM) Chandler: ROFL
-- Next song comes on --
(11:42:36 PM) Chandler: dei, clark kent is superman da.. not lazlo bane :D
(11:43:10 PM) arjunjeyaprakash this is the song they copied for Scrubs !
(11:43:19 PM) Chandler: copied illa da nonsense
(11:43:34 PM) Chandler: the song was made for scrubs.. have u seen the video? it was shot on scrubs set
(11:43:42 PM) arjunjeyaprakash@: potato p0tato
(11:43:55 PM) Chandler: u'll make a horrible lawyer da
(11:44:03 PM) Chandler: sure ah oru case kuda win pannamata
(11:44:09 PM) arjunjeyaprakash@gmail.com/Home: Of course i will
(11:44:17 PM) arjunjeyaprakash@gmail.com/Home: ill plead temporary insanity :)
(11:44:24 PM) Chandler: rofl
Enough of this insanity .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since this is shockingly going to be longer than I expected , Im going to split this into two . ( Yes its a flagrant effort to increase my post count , so what :P )
In Part 2 , I plan to :
Anyway , stay tuned
All that remained was to find a topic logical and interesting enough to write on , a commonly recurring problem which I partly blame for this recent lull in activity ( Technical Name - bloggers Block )
So i thought back on all that had happened in my life in 2009 . The only Central Theme was - There was none . So i decided to blog about them all and hence the title of this post
It can also mean im just being lazy to organize my thoughts cohesively but hey its my blog , and no one reads this anyway :( .
Onto the chaos .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009 Started with a bang . First week of Jan always means - The Chennai Open !!! Got season tickets this time and even though it started out with a whimper with Nadal not returning here and then the top seed Davydenko Retiring , a certain
Somdev Devvarman rescued the tournament from fading into insignificance for the local crowd .It was an amazing cinderella story for everyone to follow and it played out all the way to the final day of the tournament . No classics quite like the Nadal - Moya match from last year , but good stuff nevertheless
This was the last year of the Contract for this event and heres hoping the ATP renew it , Chennai deserves it .
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was immediately followed by the Chennai Sangamam , the Street festival held every year in Chennai around Pongal time . Even though I personally went there every day mainly only for the food ( :D ), this year was bigger than ever before with them even having a night long celebration in VenkatNarayana road , even cordoning off the whole road to traffic and lighting up the street with lights a la those found in Orchard road in Singapore .
Yea , quite unreal . Read this
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is around this part of the post that you might have noticed i do ( or rather dont ) do a lot of the actual description through external links . If your too lazy to click them , dont complain about the quality of this post :-P .
If you do click them and still say my post sucks , well , then u donno how to appreciate diversity .
U just think its the opposite of University .
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here , Chandler disrupts my thought process by pinging me on Gtalk and as a result , Im just going to shamelessly paste the convo here in lieu of an actual Paragraph
(11:41:10 PM) Chandler: black star?
(11:41:42 PM) Chandler: have u forgotten stars are all bright and glittery??
(11:41:47 PM) arjunjeyaprakash@: Eh ?
(11:41:56 PM) Chandler: ur status msg was black star
(11:42:17 PM) arjunjeyaprakash: yes it was
(11:42:24 PM) arjunjeyaprakash: song name ..
(11:42:35 PM) arjunjeyaprakash: and besides what do u have against black stars da
(11:42:37 PM) arjunjeyaprakash : racist fellow
(11:42:42 PM) arjunjeyaprakash :)
(11:42:43 PM) Chandler: ROFL
-- Next song comes on --
(11:42:36 PM) Chandler: dei, clark kent is superman da.. not lazlo bane :D
(11:43:10 PM) arjunjeyaprakash this is the song they copied for Scrubs !
(11:43:19 PM) Chandler: copied illa da nonsense
(11:43:34 PM) Chandler: the song was made for scrubs.. have u seen the video? it was shot on scrubs set
(11:43:42 PM) arjunjeyaprakash@: potato p0tato
(11:43:55 PM) Chandler: u'll make a horrible lawyer da
(11:44:03 PM) Chandler: sure ah oru case kuda win pannamata
(11:44:09 PM) arjunjeyaprakash@gmail.com/Home: Of course i will
(11:44:17 PM) arjunjeyaprakash@gmail.com/Home: ill plead temporary insanity :)
(11:44:24 PM) Chandler: rofl
Enough of this insanity .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since this is shockingly going to be longer than I expected , Im going to split this into two . ( Yes its a flagrant effort to increase my post count , so what :P )
In Part 2 , I plan to :
- Bring some order and somehow relate all this together
- Continue to provide more external links for reading :P
- Make some earth shattering revelations
Anyway , stay tuned
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Cross - Talk
I was reading that ^ ^ , there was this knockabout cross - talk act where , and I quote " Its one of those Pat and Mike things. Two birds come on in green breards ..... ".... Actually its too long , go look it up .
The gist is two people .. well .. cross -talking and poking each other with umbrellas. Anyway the below post is loosely inspired by that ( Without the remarks being prefaced with words like "Begorrah " and "Faith and begob" , as in the original, of course :P )
As always this post is mostly the result of an overimaginative mind . Based on that criterion alone I think Calvin would have made a great blogger . But i digress .. Onto the dialogues .
-----------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------
George Washington : I cannot tell a lie .
Jack Nichoson : You want the truth ? You cant handle the truth !! .
-----------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------
Marvin: I think you ought to know I'm feeling very depressed.
The Joker : Why So Serious ?
-----------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------
Damien Hirst : The power of the Gray Skull ..
He - Man : Hey , thats my line !
-----------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------
< anyone > : < anything >
Wumpus : lol .. ... So ? ..... *Yawn* .... Cool .... lets go there ... Who here has seen < insert random un-interesting thing here > ? .. Blah Blah ...
-----------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------
( Overheard between the voices in my head )
Q : Why would the coding for Wall -E been really easy ?
A : Because its only one line : System.gc()
-----------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------
(Shamelessly plagiarized )
CATS : All your base are belong to us
In Soviet Russia all our base are belong to You !!
-----------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------
And finally ...
Readers of this blog : Whats all this nonsense ?
Me : Its all part of my new slogan : " Humour will save the world . "
(That's loosely based on this )
Readers : Ha !
( Bertie Wooster : "Ha!" is one of those things it's never easy to find the right reply to - it resembles "You!" in that respect )
Me : (Suitably Searching for a comeback ) At least the links were interesting
Readers : So ?
( Bertie Wooster : "So!" is another of those things which it's never easy to find the right answer to. Nothing in the way of a comeback suggested itself to me, so I merely lit a cigarette in what I intended to be a nonchalant manner , though I may have missed it by a considerable margin ... )
Me: ( Assumin nonchalant air as above )
Readers : And this post is supposed to be humorous ?
Me : yes ..
Readers : LOL . Now THATS funny .
Me : :(
-----------------------------------------------x----------------------------------------
Got Any ?
Monday, July 14, 2008
License to Kill .... ( Or Vice Versa ? )
James Bond may have a license to kill, but even he would have given up in frustration if he was trying to get a license from an Indian RTO .. Or he would have prolly done the smart thing and hired an agent ( Yea, i know he himself is a secret agent , but this is a diff kind of agent )
Of course the only reason I'm giving that kind of build-up is because I finally got my license to drive a 2 - wheeler recently . And I did it without a middle man . And the fact that I'm proud of that effort shows how tough it is and how much the system sucks ( Conversely it could also show how little it takes to make me proud, but let's not go there )
Of course, driving in India is an experience in itself . A client of mine who had come from UK once said that the only place he's seen driving worse than India is Turkey . Now I'm not sure if thats a insult to India or to Turkey , but I definitely know its not a compliment to either :-P .
A RJ on Mirchi once compared driving in India to a video game . After some analysis, I decided that the only game that could fit was "RoadRash" ;) , sans beating up people with rods and chains of course(well ...... for the most part) .
Road-Rash
Where else can you find suicidal dogs, irate cyclists , confused cows and even more confused pedestrians competing with vehicles for road space ? Where else would traffic be held up just cause a two-bit politican is passing through ? ( See this proves my theory that no smart person who could do something about it would voluntarily drive through the traffic :-P )
Where else could you get illegally cut off by Schumi-Wannabe Auto drivers, and then you end up getting an earful of the choicest local lingo for your trouble , maybe even a "Ootla Soltu Vantiya" comment ? ( Sorry , that defies translation )
Forget sentient beings , when funeral processions for corpses block the roads , you know you've got problems. As Gau would say , its "cadaverous" !
[ Edit : Achu sent me this link on reading this post .. Hilarious ..Watch the pedestrian stoll by nonchalantly , directly in harm's way @ 0:35 and Watch the white car in the top center of screen at about 1:35 ]
In the US you have 4 lane Freeways . In India you would have 2 lane ( 2 under construction , inconvenience caused is regretted ) free-for-all ways .
Are they Safe ? Err ... At least they aren't boring ! Gotta watch out for dogs ,open manholes, random old women crossing the street , speedbreakers that pop up with no warning and that guy in front who just went from 100 kmph to 0 kmph so he can eat at that dhaba that just went by .
Of Course, I'm exaggerating . Things are neither that bad nor that unsafe here . And people are very helpful . If you are lost , you only need to ask the nearest passer-by and he/she will definitely show u the (right ?) way .. In fact, they are soooo helpful that they will do this even if , or in some cases especially if , they have no inkling what place you are asking directions to, or even if such a place exists.
"Go straight, take the fourth left 'cutting' after the signal ( all this while his hand usefully gesticulating to the right !) ... Will only take you 8 minutes saar"
And of course , where else could you see
Of course the only reason I'm giving that kind of build-up is because I finally got my license to drive a 2 - wheeler recently . And I did it without a middle man . And the fact that I'm proud of that effort shows how tough it is and how much the system sucks ( Conversely it could also show how little it takes to make me proud, but let's not go there )
Of course, driving in India is an experience in itself . A client of mine who had come from UK once said that the only place he's seen driving worse than India is Turkey . Now I'm not sure if thats a insult to India or to Turkey , but I definitely know its not a compliment to either :-P .
A RJ on Mirchi once compared driving in India to a video game . After some analysis, I decided that the only game that could fit was "RoadRash" ;) , sans beating up people with rods and chains of course(well ...... for the most part) .
Road-RashWhere else can you find suicidal dogs, irate cyclists , confused cows and even more confused pedestrians competing with vehicles for road space ? Where else would traffic be held up just cause a two-bit politican is passing through ? ( See this proves my theory that no smart person who could do something about it would voluntarily drive through the traffic :-P )
Where else could you get illegally cut off by Schumi-Wannabe Auto drivers, and then you end up getting an earful of the choicest local lingo for your trouble , maybe even a "Ootla Soltu Vantiya" comment ? ( Sorry , that defies translation )
Forget sentient beings , when funeral processions for corpses block the roads , you know you've got problems. As Gau would say , its "cadaverous" !
[ Edit : Achu sent me this link on reading this post .. Hilarious ..Watch the pedestrian stoll by nonchalantly , directly in harm's way @ 0:35 and Watch the white car in the top center of screen at about 1:35 ]
In the US you have 4 lane Freeways . In India you would have 2 lane ( 2 under construction , inconvenience caused is regretted ) free-for-all ways .
Are they Safe ? Err ... At least they aren't boring ! Gotta watch out for dogs ,open manholes, random old women crossing the street , speedbreakers that pop up with no warning and that guy in front who just went from 100 kmph to 0 kmph so he can eat at that dhaba that just went by .
Of Course, I'm exaggerating . Things are neither that bad nor that unsafe here . And people are very helpful . If you are lost , you only need to ask the nearest passer-by and he/she will definitely show u the (right ?) way .. In fact, they are soooo helpful that they will do this even if , or in some cases especially if , they have no inkling what place you are asking directions to, or even if such a place exists.
"Go straight, take the fourth left 'cutting' after the signal ( all this while his hand usefully gesticulating to the right !) ... Will only take you 8 minutes saar"
And of course , where else could you see
stuff
like
these ?
So there you have it. That's driving in India for you . I Guess in the end , there's nothing to do but , as this beautiful song from Morcheeba goes - Enjoy The Ride
On a different note , been way too busy of late .Tennis, Work, gym & general ooru suthifying left me no time to be vetti . I started this post on 14th July and am ending it now (hopefully) on 3rd August .. In the interim , I have become slightly better @ tennis , watched a few s0-s0 movies ( Wanted , Sarkar Raj, 21 ) , some good movies ( Dasavatharam ), a great movie (Kung - Fu - Panda ) (twice) , made several failed attempts to watch another great movie ( The Dark Knight) for a second time , had office shifted to siruseri , almost bought a new phone , listened to a whole lot of great music on launchcast , watched a Rajni movie first day ! ( Kuselan - which was seriously very disappointing ) , clocked over 50 km a day on my bike , Got Drenched a few times in the rain :-D , Bored the hell out of everyone everyone reading this , read 4-5 books , also bought a book ( Thud! - Terry Pratchett) , saw two plays , played frisbee and even went for a swim in the sea .
It was while returning from one of those outings that I got pulled over by a cop @ 1 am for routine papers checking .. Ironically, this was the first time in 7 years of driving in Chennai , that i got pulled over & it came not one week after i finally got the license ! License to kill or kill for a license , I'm just glad I din't get killed that night for lack of one :-) .
P.S : If you're wondering about how unusually well - punctuated this post has been , its thanks to this .
these ?So there you have it. That's driving in India for you . I Guess in the end , there's nothing to do but , as this beautiful song from Morcheeba goes - Enjoy The Ride
On a different note , been way too busy of late .Tennis, Work, gym & general ooru suthifying left me no time to be vetti . I started this post on 14th July and am ending it now (hopefully) on 3rd August .. In the interim , I have become slightly better @ tennis , watched a few s0-s0 movies ( Wanted , Sarkar Raj, 21 ) , some good movies ( Dasavatharam ), a great movie (Kung - Fu - Panda ) (twice) , made several failed attempts to watch another great movie ( The Dark Knight) for a second time , had office shifted to siruseri , almost bought a new phone , listened to a whole lot of great music on launchcast , watched a Rajni movie first day ! ( Kuselan - which was seriously very disappointing ) , clocked over 50 km a day on my bike , Got Drenched a few times in the rain :-D , Bored the hell out of everyone everyone reading this , read 4-5 books , also bought a book ( Thud! - Terry Pratchett) , saw two plays , played frisbee and even went for a swim in the sea .
It was while returning from one of those outings that I got pulled over by a cop @ 1 am for routine papers checking .. Ironically, this was the first time in 7 years of driving in Chennai , that i got pulled over & it came not one week after i finally got the license ! License to kill or kill for a license , I'm just glad I din't get killed that night for lack of one :-) .
P.S : If you're wondering about how unusually well - punctuated this post has been , its thanks to this .
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