for those who love to play badam-saat

well.. it's been looong since I wrote something here! Reasons being many! Back with a card game!

A bit (?) of background follows. Sunday evenings have been boring almost always and one Sunday evening I got so bored that I decided to play cards all alone. I hate playing cards alone. I like to play cards in group (of 3-4, not more). These days its just my mother and I who play cards if at all. The only 2-3 sensible card games that we knew of - Rummy, saat-aaTh and memory game - had already been repeated many times and we were bored of playing those again. I love playing badam-saat but with just 2 players it is not sensible to play it as it reveals the entire state of game. I finally stopped (trying to pay) playing cards alone and did a Google search on "two players card games". No doubt, it returned me a long list but that was not useful! First - the explanation of games was in English (:D) and it was going all over and above my head. I finally found one game - which I though I'm understanding after reading it. Then I sat down and started playing it - myself playing both roles - player 1 and player 2. In no time, I realized that I had only "read" it and have not understood even a bit of it! :D Enough, I said. I thought for a minute and I started designing my own game. The game I was just reading about - over the internet - was afresh in my brain and my all time favorite badam-saat was at the back of my mind - and these two together gave rise to the following game. My mother and I like playing it since then. It's simple and enjoyable! And yes, for those who love playing badam-saat just like me, this is a good option if you don't have more than 2 players.

Enough of "prastavana" (background)!! Now, the real game! (Note, after we started playing this game, we just felt that probably such game is already known - just that I did not do a proper search on the web! - in which case it's okay, in fact great! I do not claim any patent ;) but yes it did come to my mind just like that! and above all, its enjoyable!).

In the end, there a dry run for this game. Probably, looking at that first would help, than going through lengthy text explaining "how to play"

Just to summarize, following is how we play badam-saat:

Cards required = 52 (all)

Deal = Dealer will deal a single card to each player and keep rotating unless all cards are dealt. (Depending on number of players, some may get more cards than others, but that is okay!)

"Daav" = "daav" is like a round - one set in which all players get one chance to play. The player with a badam saat (card 7 of suite Heart) card will play it first - keep it on the table face up. Then either clockwise or anti-clockwise, other players will start playing a card or say "pass" and likewise it continues.

Play or pass = A player when his/her turn, will simply check all cards in their hand and check if any of those can be put on table. A card can be put on the table (face up) only if it is sequential to cards already on table. For example, in the beginning there is just one card "badam saat" on table. The only possible cards at this point are "badam chhakki" (6 of heart) or "badam atthee" (8 of heart) as far as badam is concerned. But, this is a game of "satti"s! sevens are kings here! You also can put a card on table if its any of the "satti"s. That means, in addition to "badam chakki" and "badam atthee", one can also put "kilwar satti" (7 of club) or "ispik satti" (7 of spade) or "choukat satti" (7 of diamond) at this point. Everytime, one has to keep in mind what are the least and highest value cards that are face up on the table for all four suits and see if they have any card(s) which are in sequence with those. An elaborate example follows. Let's say there are following cards already face up on the table - badam (saat, chakki, panji, atthee, nasshee, dasshee) (i.e. Heart - 7, 6, 5, 8, 9, 10), kilwar (satti, chakki) (i.e. Club 7, 6), ispik (satti, chakki, panji, chouwi, atthee) (i.e. Spade 7, 6, 5, 4, 8) and no choukat (i.e. Diamond - none). Then the only cards which can possibly be played are - badam (chouwwi, gotu) (i.e. Diamond 4, Jack) , kilwar (atthee, panjee) (i.e. Club 8, 5), ispik (tirri, nasshee) (i.e. Spade 3, 9) and chokat sattee (i.e. Diamond 7). If a player who is going to play next has any of these cards, he/she can put it on the table face up. If a player does not have any such card, he/she will announce a "pass" for this current turn.

End of game = the game ends when one of the players has played all his/her cards and is empty hand now. He/she is the winner for the game. At this point, in a standalone setting, he/she is just announced as winner and they can start playing a new game or they can use scoring (see below).  

Scoring = The players are scored (penalized) based on the values of cards they remain with. The winner will have 0 penalty as he/she has played all the cards. Any other player except winner will sum up the values / ranks of cards he/she is left with - for example, if one has "badam raaja" (Heart King) and "kilwar ekka" (Club Ace) then one will be scored (penalized with) 13 + 1 = 14 points. Here, the suite does not matter but just the value. If scoring is used, the players can pre-decide how many games to play (say 7, 10, etc.) and can accumulate the penalties per game per player. At the end of pre-decided number of games, whoever has least score (penalty) is the winner. Whethere to count Ace as point 1 or points 14 depends on where it is decided to be put in sequence. For example, if the players decide to put it on durri (card 2), its value becomes 1 and so point 1. If players decide to put it on raja (card King), its value is more than raja and point 14. Whatever it is, it has to be kept constant for the pre-decided number of games so that scoring is uniform.

Trick = which card to play in your turn? - It may be possible to have multiple cards in hand which are in sequence to the cards face up on the table. In this case, which card to play? well, simplest answer is "any one"! but the trick here is to play the card which will (help :D) unblock least cards for others and most cards for the player himself/herself. For example, if one has "ispik dasshee" (Spade 10), "badam dasshee" (Heart 10) and "badam raaja" (Heart King) as possible cards which can be played, and if the one does not have any higher value card of suite ispik than dasshee, then for time being at least, one can play badam dasshee because that would unblock (at least help) one's own badam raaja to be played and it has still blocked other ispik cards (gotu, raani, raja i.e. Jack, Queen, King) which are probably in others' hands. This way, one can optimize based on judgements. Note that this is a locally optimal decision.

Now the new game! I would call it "asymmetric badam-saat". The reasons will be clear (I hope!) as we discuss the details. Let's go point-wise just as above. We are considering just two players here, as that's why the game was designed! ;) but it can be played with more players as well.

Cards required = 52 (all)

Deal = Dealer will deal 4 cards each. Let's call the other player as opponent (!). Dealer will also put 4 cards face up on the table. Remaining deck is just kept aside. Note, these could be anything, unlike the four sevens that may eventually turn up in badam-saat game! So, you are set with 4 cards with dealer and 4 with opponent and 4 face up on the table.

"Daav" = opponent gets to play first, he/she will start the "daav". The turn - (whose turn = whether the opponent or the dealer will start a daav) - will keep changing (see below). Right now, for the first time, it's opponent's turn. "Play / pass" criteria is almost same as badam-saat. It is elaborated below. If both the players have announced "pass" then their are two scenarios. If this is the first "all-pass" scenario since the beginning of the game, the players first have to make sure that all four suits are on the table. That means, if the four cards initially face up on the table are "ispik chouwi", "badam raani", "kilwar ekka" and "badam nasshee", (i.e. Spade 4, Heart Queen, Club Ace, Heart 9) then players first have to put the cards from "choukat" (Diamond) suite in order to make the set on the table complete. In other scenario, when this is not a first "all-pass" situation, each player will take a new card from the deck of cards kept aside. In which order should they take the card - opponent first and then the dealer (this matches with original order when the cards were dealt in the beginning).

"who gets to play first" - As I mentioned, the "daav" / turn / who gets to play first will keep changing. In the beginning, its opponent's turn first. When there is "all-pass" situation, there will always be a player (either dealer or opponent, not necessarily always the opponent) who announced "pass" first. This player will now get a chance to start next "daav". So, in both of the above "all-pass" mentioned scenarios (either "get-all-suites-out" or "take-a-card"), it's that person's turn who had announced the "pass" first in an "all-pass" situation.

End of game - This is obviously when either of the player plays all his/her cards and is left with empty hand.

Scoring - Well, didn't think much about this. But, a reasonable scoring technique would be just to extend "badam-saat" scoring. Whoever is left with cards (note, there may be cards in the deck kept aside which will be counted in the cards owned by the loser!) - just sum up the ranks of all cards - independent of which suite. Again, whether to count an Ace as 1 or 14 depends on where it is allowed to keep - on "durri" or "raaja". Straight forward enough!

Dry run of Asymmetric badam-saat follows:
Dealer - D, Opponent - O, Cards on table - T
Suites: Dimond -  SD, Spade - SS, Heart - SH, Club - SC
D - deals 4 cards each to D and O and 4 cards face up on the table.
D - has SD1, SS6, SSKing, SH7
O - has SHKing, SSQueen, SH8, SD5
T - SS5, SS9, SD8, SHJack

"daav" 1:
O - can play nothing! Announces "pass" - first one to announce "pass"
D - can play SS6 only - has to play

D - has SD1, SSKing, SH7
O - has SHKing, SSQueen, SH8, SD5
T - SS5-6, SS9, SD8, SHJack

(note, still "daav" 1 continues, as there is no "all-pass" situation yet!)
O - can play (still) nothing! Announces "pass" - first one to announce "pass"
D - now, can play nothing! Announces "pass"
-- "all-pass"
-- "first ever "all-pass" since beginning of the game!
-- meaning, they have to make sure all suites are up on the table
-- only missing on table is SC
-- It's still O's turn as O announced the "pass" first.

O - does not have any card for SC!
D - does not have any card for SC either!
-- (what to do??)
-- (simply continue, pretend as if there was no "first all-pass" yet!)

O, D take 1 card each from the deck
O - has SHKing, SSQueen, SH8, SD5, SC3 (new card!)
D - has SD1, SSKing, SH7, SH1

-- remember, we pretended there was no "first all-pass" yet? Re-visit that decision!
O - "Oh, I have a SC card" plays SC3
D - has no card to play. Announces "pass" - first one to announce "pass"
T - SS5-6, SS9, SD8, SHJack, SC3

O - has no card to play. Announces "pass"
D - has already announced "pass"
-- an all-pass situation (again!)
-- not the first ever since beginning of the game!
-- take 1 card each from the deck
-- continue as all suites are already up...
--
--
--
 

learning new alphaets

These are the new alphabets that came to mind these days..
algorithms
bayes
C++
dijkstara
euler
fibonacci
google ;)
hamiltanion
ieee
jsp
k-means
linux
map-reduce
neural network
os
python
quicksort
random numbers
svm
top k
ubuntu
vc dimension
www
xml
youtube
zombie

the city to which I share some unknwon bond..

My first face_to_face with this city was in 2005. Like many others who join Software companies after their B.E., I too went to this city for my first ever job. Within a couple of weeks, I was wandering on its streets, crossing hallis_and_pallis, walking through n-th mains and m-th crosses, passing juice centers and all_in_one restaurants ending with "sagara". Yeah, that's Bengaluru for me! The way I see it and the way I like it! Kannadigas might still be calling it Bangalore but I love calling it Bengaluru only!

The first thing I liked the moment I entered the city was its climate. It was all good, can't explain or compare it with my native, but it was pleasant and it is always! The next striking thing was - this place is not crowded, like say Mumbai! You can easily walk on streets and get into buses! Next I loved these juice centers at almost every corner of each road! I remember, during my stay there I had continued my fast on Chaturthi every month by relying on these Juice_walas. We used to have 2 fruit juices and a fruit plate on fast_day! :) It's not just that the quality of juice is good at these places but the way they keep the juice center clean and neat, all racks filled with fresh fruits, professional way of handling customer orders, ones in a while the workers wearing uniform as well.. anyone would feel like entering it just like that! And not just juices, one gets all varieties of sandwiches and sometimes pizza also at these junctions. I recently saw an advertisement in front of one such juice center in Koramangala, with a mcDonald's style "Combo meal" that contained sandwich, fruit plate or juice and chips! :)

Our initial stay in Bengaluru was quite pleasant as we were provided with Company accommodation. Real thing started when we had to search for house. I still remember my friend and I going on C.M.H road and 100 ft. road and other areas around Indira Nagar in search of so_called Paying Guest accommodation! We were taking down contacts of agents and calling them at the same time we were trying to find n-th main and m-th cross near some xyz showroom! It was all fun! The houses - all of them - had kind of a similar shape and structure in general. On ground floor, mostly the owner would stay and on first (and sometimes second) floor would be given to the PG girls on sharing. We always wondered the way these houses were almost touching each other and one could easily peek into say the hall of another house and tell which channel they are watching! Initially I was kind of scared by this, seeing it's very easy for thieves for enter the house as they have all connected terraces and balconies! :D Looks like, IT was the main reason that such PGs came into existence. As this was probably not anticipated, all the houses were kind of given extension after years of their construction! We also wondered like how could one shift the luggage in or out of the house where even walking up or down those tiny_width stairs was a tricky thing!?!

I stayed in Bengaluru for almost an year but always felt sad that I missed an opportunity to learn another language! I could not learn kannada partially because I met very few kannadigas (like Mumbai, there are many non-kannadigas here - probably more than the number of kannadigas?!?) and partially because I already had many acquaintances so that I hardly needed to interact with native people. The motivation behind learning kannada definitely came from the fact that BMTC buses would have the route / destination written in kannada script and only numbers mentioned in English. But the sad part is - bus 201 and bus 201D might go in totally different directions! :( So, one has to remember not just the number but also digits after that. So, finally I made some attempts at learning at least the script and ended up learning only "k", "g", and "r' ;) Sometimes, one may luckily get route details put up nicely near the bus stop, but I have found it rarely!

BMTC journey in Bengaluru is fun as I've already stated because it is comparatively easy for one to get into the bus :D I have been traveling by bus in Pune for almost 10 years of my life and have seen people complaining that it's tough to get into the crowded buses in Pune, but I always felt more than tough, it was tricky. But this trick, I never got to use in Bengaluru! :D This was some 5 years back! But, now given that the airport has shifted 40+_km away from the center of city, Vayu vajra shuttles from and to airport is a real pleasant surprise for someone like me who makes plans to visit Pune for GaNapati just 5 days in advance!!

Each encounter that I had with the native people, be they bus drivers / conductors or juice_walas, I felt that they all are dedicated to their job and they do it to their best. Sometimes, I feel motivated looking at them! Specially when I see "vayu vajra" bus conductor giving a royal treatment to someone new to Bengaluru and giving him almost a virtual map of how should he go to his destination! This "Aaha!" feeling is hard to get these days.

Okay, let me stop now and probably share an experience which I had. I got into 201D from domlur to get down at Sony world and gave Rs. 10 to the conductor. She (yes, she!) kept the note inside her pocket (and not the usual money_bag conductor carries) and did not give me the ticket either! Being my first trip to Sony world, I did not know the fare either! After waiting for a couple of minutes, I asked her again for the ticket and she gave me one worth Rs. 6. I again waited for some time to get Rs. 4 back and she did not! I then said - "ticket diya hai, chaar rupaye baaki hai" - to this not she but the driver replied - "ticket diya hai na, bas ho gaya!" Later while discussing with a group of friends, I realized that many had some such similar experience. Then onwards I decided to give Rs. 6 change and get the ticket worth that (to save my money!!) But, one day this funny thing happened! Unfortunately I did not have change and I again gave the conductor a note of 10 on my way back to Dumlur. I told him I wanted to get down at "Dell". He said something in kanaada. Assuming he did not get the stop name (as it is probably not a standard name, Dell company is around so we call the stop "Dell") - thus I tried to explain to him which stop I want to get down at - in Hindi. Then he again said some (other) sentence in kannada. I said - "kya?" to which he replied - "how much?" (:)) I said - 6 and to my surprise, he replied "very good!" and returned Rs. 4! :) It was really a funny experience as he kind of took my test!

:)

Here comes another weekend and I start my journey in this beautiful city! Be it army area near HAL airport or be it residential area like Indiraganar / Koramangala or be it some IT park like EGL or even shopping area like Forum / Garuda - Bengaluru is all the same and special in its own way!! This feeling I somehow (and unfortunately) do not get in my Pune, as I feel it totally different in say Sadashiv Peth against Koregaon Park or Senapati Bapat Road. I like roaming in the city.. just like that!!

I'm sure I'm going to miss Bengaluru when I'm about to leave!

Be the change..!

When I was in school, my mom and I used to go for shopping at Tulashibag, Pune. There is one restaurant named "Akshay" in Tulashibag (actually, there are two, "Akshay" and "Agatya"). I always used to force my mom that we will go and eat something. She used to answer in a typical way - "apan doghinnich kai jaayache?" (meaning: just two of us?) Then, I used to ask - "ho, mag kai jhaale?" (i.e. Yeah, so?). Then she would say - "baba asale ki jaau" (i.e.we will go and eat when my dad is with us). I never understood this answer then. As a kid I felt, we have money to buy items there and we can go and eat. Then, why can't we go? This incidence happened lot of times those days.
Later, when in S.P. College, I never took tiffin box with me. I in general don't like to carry many things and the college bag with books and usual stuff was more than I wish I would have carried. One of my friends always offered me a share from her tiffin and I hardly accepted that offer. The consequence was she also stopped bringing tiffin and we started to eat out at "Vrunda's snacks center" near Tilak Road. We never got too much pocket money then - it was enough for me to get bus ticket to and from my college and few extra bucks. Then, we started saving money. We used to walk some distance, for example I would walk from S.P. College to Swargate and then took the bus, thus saving @ Rs. 2 or so. And then spend this money eating at "Vrinda's" and many other places near SP. We were not doing anything wrong and of course our families knew about this. My father felt good to see that we were adjusting in whatever pocket money he gave and still enjoying by saving some money. My mom expressed surprise and her reaction was - why don't you take tiffin box and eat it. I will give enough for you and your friend. I never understood what makes the difference? I was anyways not asking for extra money from home. And I was happy the way we lived then! Later on I realized that her concern was not about spending money but about we eating outside - again "Just two of us"!!
Later I understood what her concern exactly was. She felt: girls / women should not eat outside when not accompanied by boys / men. When I heard this for the first time, I burst out laughing. I didn't find any link between "eating" (outside, to be specific) and "being with someone". By the way, I have heard many of my friends saying that they cannot eat alone, as in they always need someone accompanying them when they are having food. But, my mom's concern was not this. And thus I couldn't relate at all.
After many years, I went to Bangalore for job. For first few days, we were alloted to that branch of the company which was far away from the place we stayed. I like to start work as early as I can and finish it at the earliest so I used to go to the office by 9.30 am and get back as early as I could. That time, we used cook dinner for ourselves at our home but breakfast and lunch, we used to have in the office cafeteria. This far-away branch had provision only for lunch. By the way, I also have a habit of having heavy breakfast and then for the whole day, I can stay without eating anything :D So, I always used to either make something for myself early morning, at home or to just go to some "xyz sagar" restaurant-sweet mart-juice center (btw, in Bangalore, at almost every km, you will find a restaurant which has a name that contains "sagar" in it. We had "Krishna Sagar" located at Marathahalli Bridge near our home. And these restaurants also serve sweets, juice and what not!) So I used to eat there - my favorite onion uttapa and some juice.. at least thrice a week. When I told this to my mom, she still had her typical reaction! And I reacted saying - I cannot make breakfast at home everyday.. so leave it!
Then this incidence happened sometime last year in IIT. I went to BJC (H5 juice center) to have mosambi juice (btw, alone). And after some time I realized people were staring at me. They would come there, stare for a while and then put their order and get things and leave. I then recollected that for first few days at "Krishna sagar", the waiters there were also staring at me. I was not able to understand the reason. I ignored and decided to forget this incidence. After few months, I went to D-Mart for shopping and as always, I went and came back walking. Thus, I was tired, moreover I had missed evening snacks in the hostel. I went to Gulmohor restaurant and ordered cold coffee and sandwich. Guess what? There too, I was welcomed by that same "staring look" by almost everyone. This time I could not ignore. While they were preparing sandwich and coffee for me, a sudden thought flashed in my mind - "Just two of us?" Oh! so this was the reason for their staring. I was there all alone and that was not expected? My mom also always reacted in such a way as if it was not expected! "Yes, may be" - I said to myself. I ate, then left and called at home - usual once a day call - mom asked me - what I was doing - and I told her - just came back from D-Mart, had sandwich at Gulmohor and now heading towards hostel. She asked - "with whom?" I said - "Why are you asking this? you know right, I usually go for shopping alone. I don't call anyone." (and that also meant I went to Gulmohor alone) Then she was again surprised. (This is really strange. She knows that I do only what I want to do. and still she gets surprised at every such incidence!) But, for the first time, I felt irritated that day; by this weird rule or convention or whatever they call it. I remembered a scene from a hollywood movie (I think, it is from the movie "50 first dates"). The girl there was sitting in a restaurant and having her breakfast. I felt, oh - so there they don't have any such weirdo rules!
Sometime back, I read a quote saying - Be the change you want to see in the world. I liked it a lot and I was wondering if I will be able to do that ever. Today, one hour ago, I went to Badalu's canteen to have food, and unfortunately no idlis, wadas and samosas were left. So, I decided to go to Gulmohor cafe. I went there, ordered and sat on a table with a firm mind. Everyone was staring as always. But, I had found answer for myself, to the question I had - whether I will be the change I want to see in the world. Yes, I was that change. I was sitting in a restaurant alone, no male accompanying me for food. I could stare at them the same way they did as if I was asking - what a weird thing you are doing by staring at me!! I had ordered Pav Bhaji and enjoyed it at the fullest!

A wish come true.. :)

When you like a celebrity, you tend to read / hear / watch more about them, be it their interview in some magazine or on some TV channel or be it in some books or internet or any information source like wikipedia etc. All that creates an impression of that person on your mind. You tend to think in some specific way about the nature of that person. If they speak rudely / politely in some interview (after editing and all), you tend to believe them to be the same in their real life. If you know about how they have spent their childhood like which place, what kind of atmosphere etc., you tend to make some conclusions about their behavior or their stand in some particular situation.

Well, but is that all correct what you expect and conclude? Btw, just a bit off-track.. but this is the heterogeneous data that you have been purposefully collecting / have indirectly accumulated with you, on which you try to find patterns - well, data mining in everybody's life! :)
okay, back on track.. so are all these patterns found correct? I don't think; they will mostly be wrong. The reason is simple. They are "celebrities" - it's said that, celebrities never tell truth. They will speak anything and everything that helps them get sympathy / appreciation from common people so that it will somehow help them grow in their respective fields. Hmm.. I believe in this, and still I always had a hope to find at least one person who is celebrity but still is true at heart, someone who is true to himself/herself, someone who will behave as an ordinary person when in crowd and not like a celebrity, someone whose presence will make you feel being closer to them and not widen the distance between you - an ordinary one and them - the celebrity. I was just hoping to come across someone like that, and guess what! I got that beautiful experience yesterday at spicmacay!

I am assuming those who have read till this paragraph are willing to proceed further and if yes, they know about Aarati Ankalikar-Tikekar, Hindustani classical vocalist belonging to Gwalior gharana. If you don't, google on her name. Here is one source. When it comes to music, since I was child, I was more attracted towards marathi old songs - bhaavgeet, bhaktigeet, naatygeet, movie songs and old hindi songs - mostly bollywood music. As no one from my family or even from the largest possible set of relatives ever learned 'm' of music, classical music was way too far for me. The only bridge which connected me to classical was via Bhimsen Joshi's casettes which my uncle used to bring as he liked them and via natyasangeet - which I feel is sometimes classcial music based. (I might be wrong, I still am very weak in those technicalities of Hindustani music.) In such setting, forget about listening to people like - Kishori Amonkar and other gems of classical vocal.
I don't exactly remember when, but I once watched a short T.V. performance by Aarati Ankalikar-Tikekar. That was my first ever face-to-face meet with classical vocal, I guess. The 2 things I liked then - her voice quality and that she is beautiful. - See, how dumb I was then to understand classical music!! I didn't understand how well she sung and what was her approach to presenting that particular raaga, but all I could get is - she is very enthusiastic while she is singing. (I hope, I can understand little more now.) But, to be frank - her fresh face is the first ever impression that I got about her. And, coming back to this again, I purposefully started seeking information about her. I made for myself some image of how she is, what she feels about her art, what is her approach towards classical music, how is she as a person, and many such things. As I never started classical training for myself seriously and could hear her as a part of SareGaMaPa (marathi), when her non/semi-classical songs were rendered by the participants and once when she herself was present as a judge and had performed. I always had a wish to watch her performance live.

And then I saw this poster at the hostel about "Spicmacay" performance. I went there yesterday. It was for the first time that the performer (like Aarati Ankalikar-Tikekar) was walking through the audience and heading towards the stage to perform. She was as fresh and enthusiastic as she was in the first T.V. performance which I had seen. She started apologizing for being late though it was not too much delay. And, this made me feel closer to her - a feeling like - yes, this is how I had expected her to be! One prediction was correct! :)

Then she spoke about what she feels about "Hindustani Classical Vocal". These days, when people feel worried about the future of classical music, which seems to be kind-of lost in the crowd of other types of music, she was very determined on her views. She quoted one of the saying of her Guru - "Classical music is not for manoranjan, but it is for Aatmranjan". I liked it a lot. She even said that classical is really not for the mass but it is meant for the "class" audience and those who are dedicated to it, who have understood the true sense of classical music, they will be happy even when just 10 people come to take that experience as against the mass going towards other kind of music. But, while speaking all this, her face was filled with calm and quite expressions as though she knows the ultimate truth and there was no reason to fear / worry / explain / make her point. And, one more prediction was correct!

Well, her performance was so nice that someone like me who really is too weak in classical music, can't even find perfect words for it. She explained a 9.5 maatraa taal in such a nice way!! It was a new thing to me, and initially I was confused when I was trying to make the beats with my hand. But, after she explained it, wow!! :)

Yesterday evening thus blessed me with 2 wonderful experiences. One of course, my wish of watching her perform was fulfilled and the other, I could find someone who is a celebrity and true with themselves with almost all my patterns and conclusion turning to be true!

(Note: Photo taken from here.)
Note - above photo link seems like a dead one

oh my dearest scooty pep plus!

One day, I went to Grahak Peth, Tilak Road, Pune. I parked my scooty pep plus (:P) in front of Grahak Peth, in the parking area ofcourse! Then I purchased a few things and there I met a friend. She invited me to her home to stay overnight. I tried telling her that I will come some other day, not now, and stuff like that. But she kept on insisting. Then I went with her. She stayed near Grahak Peth itself. Next day, when I was about to go back to my place, I went to Grahak Peth parking area to get my scooty pep plus. It was not there! In fact there were no other vehicles parked there!! I was tensed. I didn't know whom to call / contact and get my scooty pep plus back! Then I called my dad and he said, go to the nearest police station and register a complaint. I went to Perugate Police Station. There the inspector / hawaldar / whatever told me - They had taken my scoopty pep plus!!!! I started arguing - why did you do that? I had parked it properly in the parking area. I have license. I showed it to them. They said, you parked it yesterday, so P1 was applicable, today it's P2.
..... Then I woke up.. Thank GOD, it was just a dream.. my scooty pep plus is safely standing in my society's parking area! :)

sometimes.. taking risk is important!

"Boys are very much "bindhast".. they take risks.. "

"They never plan things as such.. they are always like - will see to it when time comes..! :) "

"But that's why they know much more than we girls do..!!"

We used to have such discussions in PICT.. a couple of days back, following incident happened..

we were discussing about what we should do for our course project.. we - meaning myself and one of my friends who is a boy.. we had shortlisted a few topics and we were about to finalize one amongst them. I said that we should do something which most of the people have done in past.. so that if we stuck up at some point.. we will get help / advice.. and thus the project won't get screwed up! :) He wanted to go with another project which was full of uncertain things.. there were so many things to explore before we could have given a proposal for the project.. but the thing that I felt most was - irrespective of those uncertainties, he was very firm on taking that call..

I thought to myself.. may be this is the reason why boys know much better than we girls.. they explore things.. they take risks.. they won't follow traditional path and won't end up doing something very common.. they show that guts..

well.. thinking of going for the same project that he is insisting.. ! Sometimes.. taking risk is important.. may be it will prove to be beneficial in long run..! :)

It happens...!

It's Bhaaubeej today! We had Diwali holidays till Padwa, i.e. no holiday for Bhaaubeej. We had an 8:30 am lecture today i.e. every Thursday. We (few of the stupid fellows of our class) came back from home yesterday itself in order to attend today's class. We went and it was declared that there won't be any class today!


Let's go exactly a week back - last Thursday. Sir announced that we will have a quiz on next Saturday, i.e. Nov 1st. Few of our classmates said that they will be extending their stay at home after Diwali and will come back only on Monday, i.e. Nov 3rd. Sir was angry hearing this. He expressed his anger saying - How can you go for such a long vacation? I will be taking lectures and you also plan to miss them during your long holiday - and things like that.


Let's go one more day back. While I was telling my parents that I will have to come back on Padwa, there being lecture on Thursday, they advised me to ask Sir if he will be conducting lecture for sure. I was afraid of asking this and next day when Sir was angry with the long holidays that people are taking, I decided better not to ask anything about the lecture. We (I repeat, few stupid fellows of our class) thus decided to come back on Padwa and attend the lecture being conducted on next day.


There were few logical reasons behind this:

1. I obviously get bored when I stay home for a long period. I need some work / something to study. I can's sit idle at home doing timepass for more than 3-4 days. And till Padwa, I already had 5 days long vacation, which was enough for me.

2. We don't understand much in the subject so it's better that we don't bunk the lecture just to stay at home. If we attend it, we will understand the things.


** Reason 2 is applicable to all those (stupid fellows of our class) who came for the lecture. **
** Whereas reason 1 is applicable only to me! (I guess) **


.. and the result is -- we- few stupid fellows of our class- proved ourselves to be stupid.


I have few questions:

1. Was being such a stupid necessary?

2. Why couldn't we (stupid people) think little wiser (??) and could decide to bunk the class (afterall it was an 8:30 am class!)

3. People say - you get used to things like - bunking lectures, late submissions, non-positive marks in exams, screwed up vivas etc. - when you complete your first semester in IIT. Then why couldn't we get used to all this?


Following are my answers:

1. Yes, this is the way I am.

2. I don't think that is something "wiser" to think about.

3. When people can't change the things / situations, they "get used to" them. I will not.