Chennaila Cyclone!

chennai le cyclone vandha kaathu
school/college gate-ellam saathu

chumma light mazhai le nananja no baathu
only veetukku vandhu dress maathu!

heavy rain-na road le man-holes paathu
swimming therinja nee swim like vaathu
therilena takkunu shout "aandava kaapaathu"!

- Babynav, Rhapsoder
2.45pm Monday Oct 29, 2007 - Composed in a few minutes of madness!
Chumma Adhirudilla!

ISB's first official ranking

Business India has come out with B-School rankings and this is the first one that ISB has officially taken part in. It ranked 4th, which is not bad for a first time ranking.. But I still feel that ISB ranks way higher. IIM A, B and C are ranked higher in that order.

ISB can only move up from this point as it starts scoring more on Alumni ratings and better job opportunity ratings.

Click here for the article.

The Wonder Years nostalgia

I was watching an episode of The Wonder Years today (yeah yeah.. the mid 90s super hit in India). This was the episode where Kevin Arnold and Vinnie Cooper break up for the first time (at the age of 14). Vinnie had moved to a new school/locality in one of the earlier episodes and then she meets someone. So, in this episode, she breaks up with Kevin. She feels very bad about it, and Kevin starts doing crazy stuff like date another girl just to make Vinnie feel jealous.. etc. Finally, Vinnie tries to talk to him and tell him that she wants him to be her friend.. and Kevin loses it. He blasts her and tells her he doesn't ever want to see her again.

Sounds familiar? I've seen all this happen many times to multiple people over the years. I'm sure most people have. But, it was rather different to observe this now as an adult. I saw childishness in Vinnie in expecting him to be friends with her right away, when she was seeing someone else. I saw childishness in Kevin remaining in denial of the breakup and trying to get things going once again. I saw childishness in Kevin acting hyper and pretending to have fun when he, Vinnie and her new boyfriend land up at the same party. I saw childishness when Kevin tries to hurt her with his words when he felt hurt. All these things seemed so childish now.

Or are they really?

Then again, if I were in his place, I'd probably go through the same emotions. I'd probably be very uncomfortable sharing the same space with a just turned ex. I'd probably get pissed too, if someone who just dumped me, walked up to me and expected me to be a good friend. I might even try to hurt the person back by saying things I would've never have said normally otherwise. Love makes one do funny things. Makes one proud. Makes one sorry. Makes one say things they don't say usually.

So, it brings me to the question.. are we all really that much more mature now as compared to when we were in college? Things hurt as much now I'm sure.

CPC Photoshoot Workshop

The Chennai Photography Club conducted a cool workshop last weekend. Mr. Manohar volunteered to teach us studio lighting. It was good fun to meet the CPC gang again after the Gingee trip. And we also had our first female participant. She was very sportive in stepping in as a female model for photographs when the actual female model didn't turn up. Three cheers!

You can see some of the pictures from the workshop here

Petrol Bunk Fraud.. Once again!

So, after my last fraudulent experience, I decided not to go to that petrol bunk. This time I chose a bigger petrol bunk with much better reputation. The one on LB Road at the corner of Indira Nagar. It even has an ICICI bank ATM attached to it.
Today, I needed some money AND needed to refuel.. so, I pull up into this place, park my car.. ask for 1000 bucks worth petrol, and walk into the ATM booth and withdraw cash. I was half expecting this guy to cheat me.
I walked back.. and sure enough, he was pretending to remove the pump pistol from the car as if he'd finished refueling the car. I checked the display on the pump, and sure enough, it displayed a perfect 1000 BUT WITHOUT THE NUMBER OF LITRES of PETROL DISPENSED. Half sarcastically, I asked the guy why the meter doesn't show how much fuel has been pumped. He stared shocked at me. I then, walked over to the pump, and hit the metal reset button, and sure enough.. the display reads Rs. 700.33 and X litres dispensed. I was so pissed! I sarcastically asked him why the machine ate up the 300 bucks worth of fuel. He gave me a scared look, went and punched in Rs. 300 bucks worth of fuel again and filled up my tank.
I was so pissed, I didn't know what to do. I complained to the Manager there (though I think he was also part of this whole racket). I warned them that if I saw it happening again to me or anyone else, I would go straight to the police.

What do you do with guys like these?? Sigh.. Why do people always want to earn money the easy way? Why not actually work for your bread??
Looks like this is a VERY common happening at least in Adyar

Pics from CPC trip to Gingee

Some pictures I shot during my Gingee fort photo trip with the Chennai Photography Club.. The third picture came out like a Nike ad, except in Apple iPod style!