The Evolution of a Legacy

I’ve always been meaning to write post after post for my blog, but somehow or the other it just keeps slipping out of my mind. I never have the time to sit down and write what I want to. This post will perhaps do justice to everything I ever wanted to write about since a long time ago.

I don’t know how it happened, but it just seems to me like my life was put on fast-forward. I don’t have any time to actually sit down and do something I want to. Everything, and I mean everything, has been rushed for the past four years.

Every day I dream of going back in time. To the very moment I was born. To re live those days once again. I would die for it. This post is going to be really disorganized and cluttered with memories of my past, and nothing else. My memory is something I never really could understand. Whether it is a blessing or a curse, I’ll never know.

Throughout my life, I was fascinated by many many things. Every phase of my life saw me lose the obsession I had over something that kept me going. Cartoons and video games. The Internet and pro wrestling. Probably the four things that still hold their place on a once populated list.

I was brought up in a way like none other. My parents gave me every freedom possible, and I am grateful for that. You could even say that they spoilt me too much. Irrespective of what way you look at it, I am what I am today because of how I was brought up.

I was playing on Atari home consoles when I wasn’t even able to walk or talk. I’m exaggerating a bit, cause sitting on my cousins’ laps when they played doesn’t really count. But I had the exposure. Maybe that’s what put the passion inside me.

By the age of two, I began to sit and watch TV whenever it was on. I’d watch just about anything. Back then, I used to live in Mandaveli. My grandma was bedridden, and her house was a few streets away. My mom and aunts would only take care of her. So I used to shuttle between both houses daily. My grandma’s house had the VCR and the computer (my very first) while my house had a cable connection. So, at home, I watched Cartoon Network and every Tamil mega serial that aired and at my grandma’s I saw rented movies with my cousins.

Two and a quarter was when my mom decided I was too mischievous to stay indoors. February 3rd, 1993. I joined PS Senior Secondary School. Admission number 7252. I’ll come to that later.

I realize now how drastically I have changed in life. As a kid, I was very attached to my family. I used to long for company. I always wanted a sibling. Even though that wish was never fulfilled, I had cousins. A lot of them. Whenever any of my uncles or aunts visited, I would make sure they stayed at least for two days. Hell, I used to hide their slippers so that they wouldn’t leave. I’ve thrown those slippers into the water tank, the chimney and all. Of the plenty of cousins I have, four of them really shaped my life.

Sindhu and Suman were the first two.

Every year was clearly divided into two for me. The first half, when I was home for majority of the days, sitting and watching Cartoon Network, and going to school. The second half, during my vacation, was spent completely at my grandma’s with Suman and Sindhu.

They would visit Madras every time they had their vacations. I actually used to eat a lot then. Cakes and buns from the bakery outside my street. Ice creams from Arun Ice creams, at least thrice per day. And how much ever chocolate I could eat and not get bored of, from the seemingly endless stash I had thanks to relatives living in the US. I used to fight a lot with Sindhu, for no reason at all, while I looked up to Suman like a mentor. We rented video tapes from a store called PicPac daily. In the afternoons, Suman would watch a cartoon with me, and in the evenings, the whole family would watch a Tamil movie, while after I slept, late into the night, Suman and Sindhu would watch English movies.

I began watching Tamil movies with them after a mean trick. Only five year old mini me would’ve believed that Michael Madana Kama Rajan was the Tamil remake of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I got my first Internet connection then. My aunt was showing the three of us how to use Netscape Navigator and google stuff. I wanted to read about cartoons. Sindhu wanted to read about Princess Diana. I still have not forgotten that because she got her wish because she was older.

In 1997, it was decided that we would move to Adyar, where we would live on the first floor while my grandmother would live in the ground floor with my aunt. This was done so that she could be taken better care of. I was dead against the move. I had too many fond memories of my childhood there and I was unwilling to move away from it. Ironically, the only person who shared the same feeling was my grandmother, seeing she spent decades there raising her children up. The move was never substantiated, because hardly a year later, my grandma fell terribly ill. She got her last wish fulfilled; to come back to Mandaveli. She was admitted and died in the very same BSS hospital which was opposite to the street she lived in.

That one year was one of my hardest. Getting adjusted to a new life in Adyar. Far far away from the place I used to call home. My time on the TV and computer rose exponentially. The only other thing that remained was school. I had demanded my parents not to change my school. Even back in my first standard, my mom wanted to put me in CV. I attended the interview or whatever it was, and told the principal that I did not want to leave my school whatsoever.

By then, Suman and Sindhu were in their senior years in school. So that was the last time I saw them for a couple of years. During our vacation, we went to Singapore. I remember staying up till 3 AM to watch a cartoon that had stopped airing in India when we had a flight to catch at 6 AM. I bought my first ever Pokemon card deck there. Life was changing.

I didn’t feel the absence of Sindhu and Suman in my life because of the other two cousins who shaped my life. Vinoth and Ramya. I spent most of my later childhood with them. We played video games like crazy. I learnt to be street smart from them. I learnt how to play cards from them. I learnt Dumb C from them. I learnt Madras Tamil from them. Beat that. Every single Diwali I can remember, I spent it with them.

Till 1999, I was a very very quiet boy in school. The opposite of what I was at home. I kept to myself. I barely spoke. I just sat in school, took in everything that was taught and everything that happened around me and came back. I was very weak and sickly. I missed most of my school classes because of various diseases. I hadn’t written entire exams. I used to be a REALLY adamant kid when I was young, and the only way to get me to eat medicine was to bribe me. The sheer number of GI Joes and He-Man action figures I have is a testimony to the number of times I’ve fallen ill.

But 2000 was the dawning of a new millennium for me. My health was improving, after finding the cause of my weakness. I was under medication to remove a bacteria in my throat that was sucking my immunity. I had also changed sections because I chose Sanskrit over Tamil as my second language.

7th June 2000 was when I stepped into 5D. I don’t want to start talking about school in detail here. School is something that deserves a post of its own here. If I start talking about it, this post won’t end, so I’ll summarize bits and pieces wherever necessary. In short, I had people I could call friends for the first time, and began to enjoy school a lot more than I already did.

I spent the summer of 2001 in the US. A lot of things happened there. I realized what high-speed Internet was. I finished reading the entire Asterix & Obelix and Adventures of Tintin collection at my uncle’s. I saw a cartoon that I would soon begin to obsess over; DragonBallZ. I came back with a cable modem and had broadband installed at home.

This changed my life more than anything else. I used this new found Internet to browse through Wikipedia. To collect information. I started downloading cartoons, movies and video games like crazy. My experiences with the computer advanced. From learning how to use PKZIP in DOS at the age of seven, I had now reached a stage where I could make the maximum use of an aged Pentium MMX 133 MHz processor with 32 MB Ram.

The next few years went really quick. It was this time when Sindhu left for the US. She stayed for a long time with us in Madras when she prepared for her TOEFL and GRE. Videotapes had become outdated. We rented VCDs and saw every Tamil movie that released during that period. After Sindhu, Suman also left for the US.

2003 was not a very good year for me. I had just begun watching WWE, something I mentioned earlier, during the beginning of this post. After barely six months, the CAS system came into existence, and the TV became virtually worthless to me. My parents had always gotten me whatever I had asked for. The only thing they had denied me was a video game console, but they had a valid reason of addiction. The Set Top Box was next. I was no longer in middle school. Exams became more and more important. My parents refused to get a Set Top Box fearing that I would not concentrate on my studies. How very wrong they were.

I still think that the loss of TV in 2003 was the last straw for me. It affected me in a mental level that has left me permanently scarred. I began sitting in front of the computer full time now that TV was of little significance. The exams in my 8th std. were the worst I had ever performed. My mom decided to put me in tuitions at the end of 8th.

My school life in 9th and 10th were perhaps the best. I finally had some motivation to study, after years of vettiness. My only motivation was to get into the first list of the now non-existent list system. I worked a bit in school and worked harder in my tuitions and more than that, had fun while doing so. I was the thirteenth person in my class on the first list. By this time, both Suman and Sindhu were studying in the US, Vinoth was working and Ramya got married and moved to the UK.

The cousins who were all more than ten years elder to me were not there for me anymore. But, a new set of cousins were there, only ten years younger. But it would never be the same, would it?

2006 was probably the worst year of my life. And trust me when I say it’s the worst, even when I got that damned Set Top Box in that very year. I began losing my mind. I had a lot of confidence in my friends that they would get into IIT, and for the sole reason that I wanted all of us to end up together in college, I went for IIT classes as well. They took quite a toll on my health, both physical and mental. My body is not built to withstand travel. And, I was never a person who could work hard. I decided to quit the classes. School became hell. I became disinterested in everything.

Why? I didn’t have people around me. My cousins weren’t there for me. My friends weren’t there for me, but I can’t blame them because they were busy preparing to become mindless drones and try their luck at entering into IIT. My parents were not there for me, and our relationship was straining further because of religious issues. I became so out of hand that I even threw away my poonal. I made a lot of bad decisions then.

2007 was a complete reverse. I had changed, yet again. Sure, my passion for cartoons or video games or the Internet or even WWE for that matter was not what it used to be. But now I had something that I had never had before. Hope. Strange things, which I will not explain in detail for the sole fact that people will not believe it and scoff at it, instilled a hope in me that led me to believe in a new realm known as metaphysics. Metaphysics meant that every crazy theory or dream I had over the past 16 years had a chance of turning out to be real. I fueled myself with this new found hope.

From being a silent nobody for 14 years, I made myself known to the entire school in one final year. I lived my dream. I wanted to accomplish something for my school, in return for being my home for those 15 years and I did my part. The tuitions helped, for I had now made a large social circle for myself consisting of people from other schools. It wasn’t an easy task, but becoming the editor of my school newsletter and help organize the farewell party helped. By this time, I had settled in Adyar very well, partly due to the tuitions, because I had friends there. But the farewell brought back memories of my past. Sivakumar sir tells me where to get the cake and ice creams. The very same bakery and the Arun ice creams shop where I used to eat when I was little. Was it pure coincidence? I’ll never know. Four months later, I had achieved my goal. I was the culsec. I did whatever I could for my school. I had cemented my legacy.

And now, two years later, I write this post. Every now and then, the ray of hope seems to flicker. College has severely reduced my level of tolerance. Although I am confident I will not revert back to my fully insane self, I am scared that a little bit of madness might try to show itself. I have come a long way from then. Having lost all four of the passions I once had, I’m living on only one now. My love for competition and culturals. One which stemmed out of the Dumb C I used to play as a kid. It has helped me fulfill childish desires. The PS2 I was denied as a child, I bought with the first time  I won cash at a cultural festival. Hope has a way of renewing itself, I learnt.

Prakash Raj says in Anniyan, that he always holds back his tears and doesn’t cry, because when you cry, you lose the anger and your focus. I don’t know when I will cry. I hope that hope will keep me going for the next two and a half years, or at least help me hang on until I find something else to keep me going.

Luck.

I don’t know how or when my luck changed. But somewhere down the line, it did. Ever since then, I’ve been living on luck. Whenever shit happens, I wait. And I end up getting lucky. Again and again. Over and over.

Let me recollect what happened in the past week.

Jan 22nd. Thursday.

I get my permission letter sanctioned, allowing me to go home, for what might very well be the last time in two months. Then. I fell sick.

Jan 23rd. Friday.

I almost pass out in the middle of lab due to lack of food in me. I visit the doctor, and somehow managed to board the train (in a station in the middle of nowhere) and reach home too, almost killing myself in the cold in the process.

Jan 24th-26th

I stay at home, taking rest. On the last day, head back to college with a severe throat infection.

Jan 26th-29th

Practice for VIT’s Riviera, full and full. It was not even sure whether we’d go, but somehow we did end up leaving for it the evening of 29th.

Jan 30th-Feb 2nd

We landed in VIT at 4 in the morning. The rooms we were given were really nice and well-furnished. 3 bunk beds. 11 of us. In one room. Man that was comical. The events that were held spanned over the four days.

1) What’s the good word

I teamed up with Sridhar. Prelims was crappy. 4 synonyms, 4 antonyms and 2 anagrams. We got 9 out of 10. They started repeating the words for different teams so we had quite a bit of practice. Finals was like a knockout round. Was pretty fun actually. We managed to stay till the final 3, but came only 3rd because one team managed to get everything by fluke, and the other team was obviously better at this (Ninja n Sridhar Rao).

2) SpEnt Quiz

I teamed up with Sridhar and Shreyas and obviously none of us knew anything about sports. There was no question of qualifying but I was really happy that this quiz had a WWE question in it 😀

Incidentally, I had predicted that it would to Sridhar two days prior. Even better was, the day we’d arrived, I was talking to Varun about Bret Hart and corrected him when he got his catchphrase wrong.

The question was and ID about Bret Hart. Needless to say, I am psychic.

3) Radio Jockey

I really wanted to take part in this event badly cause it would have given me the opportunity to use a lot of WWE catchphrases (ARE YOU READY!? For the thousands in attendance and for the millions listening at home, let’s get ready to TUNE IN :P) but I wasn’t able to because I had to run for …

4) Kryptography

This was a new event so nobody had a clue as to what we were supposed to do. Basically the event turned out to be a riddle solving treasure hunt type puzzle. Oh yeah, they provided me with a computer with internet access. Need I say more? Obviously we won hands down. The four rounds were as follows and each had a password.

A cryptic crossword with nice clues.

A graph question that really slowed us down cause if we answered wrong, it would not show for 2 minutes. (I prt scr’d it :P)

One really annoying 3-D picture where random letters would flash if you moved the mouse.

Crappy picture connects with the simplest choice being the right answer.

A Caesar’s box which eventually led us to sending an email to claim that we were the winner.

At the end of day 1, we got to go sit up in front row VIP seats for the ProShow which featured the Raghu Dixit project and Vishal and Shekar. What are the odds that I knew 80% of the songs that they sang. Really, I was surprised.

5) Pixi

Prelims was way too easy. We had to guess a word  (‘transplant’). Finals were decent. We got ‘jewel’ and won first place. Me, Sridhar, Shreyas and CV.

6) JAM

Basically the style of jamming I follow is just being very calculative. I object when I hear something wrong, and I don’t give crappy objections. Hence the negs I get are not much. My seniors advised me to change it a bit, and said that getting the mod’s attention was the only thing I should be doing.

The round in the prelims had me, Shreyas, Sridhar and Varun apart from 4 other guys in it. I clearly had the mod’s attention because I was jacking everyone on stage.

Finals had 6/8 participants from my college. Me, CV, Amogh, Srinath, Reddy and Shreyas. I was doing great for the first 3 rounds, and then one VIT guy started getting points, not for objections, but for the variation in the rounds. I ended up getting only 3rd, while CV came 2nd and the VIT guy won.

7) Main quiz

It was actually very simple, with a few repeats I remembered from earlier quizzes, so with a lot of team effort, me, Sridhar and Shreyas qualified. We smelt at the finals. Came 5th.

8) Shipwreck

I got Paris Hilton. Acted stupid. Moving on.

We spent the night tormenting CV for not winning because if he had, he’d have gone to receive the prize from Namitha, his favourite heroine.

9) Poetry

The first event of Day 3 had me running from place to place. I had to leave poetry half way because I had some other event. I couldn’t even finish my poem properly 😦

10) Debate

I was originally supposed to team up with Gautham, but since he was not there, I had to team up with Amogh. We did quite well, (topic was ‘moving on’ was a cover for indifference w.r.t 26/11) and qualified too. Quarterfinals la we lost, even though the topic was the best I could’ve hoped for (religion does more harm than good to society).

11) Dumb C

Prelims was really really easy. Me, Sridhar and Shreyas got everything so fast. But in the finals, we came only 2nd because the team which came 1st repeatedly used sounds like which wasn’t allowed, and we pointed it out, and they had to redo, and still they used it. We didn’t want to argue, so we left.

The ProShow had a lot of Tamil guys (Charan, Premji, Badava Gopi, Benny Dayal, Naresh Iyer, etc) among other well-known celebs. I got first row VIP treatment again for winning, and enjoyed the show.

That night was awesomely comedy, because we put random Chinese underwear + cream + curd and all that on CV and Shreyas. If you’re wondering who the random Chinese guy is, it’s someone in the VIT hostel who wore a shirt, and only a shirt, and two of my friends saw something pointing out from underneath it. Mental imagery not recommended.

12) Block and Tackle

Day 4’s first event. I did quite decent for an event I didn’t even think I’d participate.

13) Tinto

We really screwed it up, well, because both me and Sridhar were really tired after all the rest. We got Oprah Winfrey, and didn’t get Russel Peters and Lance Armstrong.

14) Spin-a-yarn

XD I actually won this event because I was funny. My topic was ‘If you can’t convince them,  confuse them’. I spoke about me being expressionlessly funny and all that. There was a tie, and I lost out in the tie-breaker. Still, I managed to win a total of 6 prizes and Rs. 6250 in cash.

Overall the events were great, the campus was ULTIMATELY huge and super. I found the lack of proper food stalls disturbing. The people there were really nice to us, unlike at NIT.

All this while, I had, and still have a VERY VERY bad throat.

We won the overall, and did all our rituals and all that. We didn’t know what to do, as in whether to go back to college or not, since all colleges were supposed to be shut down due to the LTTE issue thingy.

We call up our dean, and he gives us strict orders to come back. We go to the bus stand. Luckily, only few tickets were available. The Hindi team and a few others go back on the bus to college. The remaining of us wait for a bus to go home.

We waited.

And waited.

For nearly two hours, we were sitting on a PLATFORM in the MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. Say that in Tamil, and you’ll realize my plight.

Finally eleven of us hired a tempo van and came home in that. I reached home around 4 AM.

The next day we were supposed to start back for college, but since there was a bus strike the next day, we called up and got permission again to extend for another day.

Today, we got word that there was a huge commotion back in college. Started out in the girls hostel, followed by the guys hostel. We didn’t know what to do, so went to catch a bus back to college. At the last minute, we received word that a circular had been issued saying people can go home and the college was closed indefinitely.

How much luckier can I get, huh?

Countdown

I know my blog has never been updated regularly or even occasionally, but this is that once-in-a-blue-moon kind of day when it actually happens.

I’m officially no longer a student of PS and now my loyalties lie with Sastra. I’ve adjusted very well here, quite to my own astonishment, really. I can actually drink the water here without having second thoughts, and that’s saying something. Turns out I’m as good in oratory and jamming as I am in quiz and dumb c. 😀

It’s been exactly one month since I came here, and a LOT has changed in this one month. People, attitudes, schedules, almost everything I knew or thought I knew in my life.

Well there’s a lot to speak on that so I’ll save that for another day. This post is not about all that. This post is about time.

Ever since I was a little kid, I was very much intrigued about the concept of time and the fantasy which was time travel. I believed in it with blind faith and hoped that it would be possible someday. Hell, I even hoped that I would be the first to discover how to travel in time.

As I grew older and older, my obsession with time also grew. I did my fair share of research, I obtained a lot of info as I journeyed through life. I learnt a lot as time went by.

Once, in my 8th std. IIRC, I read about John Titor. This man’s claim was totally different than most others. He actually gave valid proofs for what he said. Though our timeline might have split into an altogether new one than the one he came from, we still experience a bit of what his would have if ours had progressed into its path. Too confusing for some, but not for me. I believe in his predictions and what he had to say.

One main thing he said was, in his time, the last Olympic games that took place was the 2004 one. His timeline was in the middle of war, so that was perfectly acceptable. But fortunately for us, ours is not. So the only thing with a slight chance of happening is some problem or controversy with this year’s Olympics so that it MAY appear to be cancelled of some sort. That brings us to my countdown to 888. August 8th, 2008, 08:08:08.
Also it’s when I will be returning to Chennai for the first time after coming here. For Scintillations. Something that I worked my entire last year in school for. Something that I hope continues to be a tradition and whose legacy will be carried on for generations to come.

PS: There is yet another reason for my countdown. Only one other person is aware of it I assume, and comparing my memory to anyone else’s is just plain insulting it. 😀

My life and cartoons

Ever since I was born, I was a bit addicted to TV in general. I’d watch anything that came on TV. But cartoons have always had a special place in my heart. The first thing I remember watching was He-Man and The Masters of the Universe. I was around 1-2 years then. I was a big fan of He-Man right from the start… I used to (still do) have around 50 different action figures. Back then, in the early 90s, Cartoon Network used to air only from early morning around 5 AM to 5 PM. TNT used to take over the other half. But gradually, they increased to 5 PM to 9 PM, and TNT was replaced by TCM. Soon, Cartoon Network became a separate channel all by itself.
When I first saw Cartoon Network, I remember that the channel meant for Asia used to air. What I’m trying to say is, the timings and all were given for Hong Kong/ Thailand/ Taiwa and one more country, I THINK Singapore. The ads used to be partly Asian too IIRC.
I’ll review all the cartoons I’ve seen (or atleast those I remember I have seen)…

I was never really a big fan of what people call “classics” such as Tom and Jerry and Popeye. I guess it must be because I’ve seen all the episodes in both the cartoons 10 times. 😀

There was this show called “Thundarr the Barbarian” which I used to enjoy, partly because Thundarr reminded me of He-Man.
See the resemblance yourself. I think it must be the boots.
                 

Then there were the other classics, which I enjoyed much more… such as

Atom Ant
A superhero show where the hero is an ant who lives underground and does weightlifting and all.

Auggie Doggy and Doggie Daddy
Father and son duo who are very sentimental for most of the time.

Birdman
Birdman lives in his volcano with his pet vulture, Avenger. Birdman’s main source of power is the Sun.

Galaxy Trio
I don’t remember their names properly, but I think I’m fairly right. Vapour man can turn into vapour (I think only his lower body, cause I have this image of a torso floating on top of falling water). He’s green in colour. There’s one episode in which the villain also resembles him, but only red in colour.
Then this huge guy with white hair and pointy ears. He can grow into huge sizes.
Then Gravity Girl who can levitate stuff.

Secret Squirrel (and Morocco Mole)
Secret Squirrel, a detective in disguise (his disguise is a purple hat with holes for eyes)… Morocco Mole’s twin brother is one of the main villains… He wears a turban!

Winsome Witch
I remember only one episode… a little guy and a girl will accidentally fly off in her broom and she’ll be worried. The scene goes like this.
WW: “Oh golly! How can they even guess that the magic word to stop the broom is Timbuktu?”
Kids: “If we keep flying like this, we’ll end up in Timbuktu!”
Winny calls her broom, well, “broom”!

Huckleberry Hound
Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my daaaaarling Clementine… you were lost and gone forever, dreadful sorry, Clementine…

Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines (Stop the pigeon)
Ultimate comedy show… Dastardly will be the one in violet suit yelling at people. Red suit guy will be so scared of everything that he always keeps his head hidden inside his suit. Yellow suit guy will be the one inventing stuff, but I wonder how cause he’s the one who’ll keep making weird noises with his mouth. And who can forget Muttley’s asthmatic snigger…

Dynomutt, Dog Wonder
Green dog with extensible arms and legs and head and tail and what not. The actual hero in this show is the Blue Falcon.

Fantastic Four
A very old cartoon, but it was really much better than all the crap that followed it.

Fantastic Max
I remember this show started on the day of Chillu’s grihapravesham… I missed the first episode. It was a fun kids show… I enjoyed it a lot. Max is this little baby and his doll is FX (a green alien with a pipe for a nose) who can animate stuff and their babysitter is AB. They’ll travel the world in a spaceship which is actually an enlarged feeding bottle animated by FX.

Galtar and the Golden Lance
Another show that reminded me of He-Man. Galtar is the hero with twin swords (sorta like Darth Maul’s light saber). Heroine is this princess lady. Her kid bro or someone will ride a bloody red ostrich and has this boomerang which splits into 3 mini-boomerangs. I never saw this show quite till the end. Only episodes here and there… It came at odd timings… 3 PM or something… I never get home that early 😦
But it made a comeback on the show Boomerang… but it hardly ever came on that, so I never found out what happened to this show.

Goober and the Ghost Chasers
I’ll never forget this show. I always saw it on the paper, but I never saw even a single ad for it on TV. I woke up till 3 30 AM to watch this bloody show when I was barely 8 years old. Typical Scooby Doo type show, but only that Goober, the Dog is actually a ghost or something like that. I don’t remember much, cause I’ve seen it only ONCE in my entire life.

Grape Ape
I’ve seen this show only some once or twice, cause it used to come in between half an hour shows. It was another one of those 2 minute shorts, but it was not as popular as the others. Grape Ape is this huge purple gorilla who knows only to say Grape Ape again and again. A little white dog is the main hero.

The Herculoids
Again, a lesser known 2 minute short. It consisted of this prehistoric family and their battle with aliens and all…
Zandor, his wife Tarra and son Dorno are the only humans.
A rhino, Tundro who can shoot pellets from his horn.
A gorilla, Igoo carved out of stone.
A dragon sort of reptile, Zok, whose favourite combo is shooting eye lasers, followed by tail lasers.
And last but not least, Gloop and Gleep, the 2 EGG-YOLKS! It was a super comedy show.

Hong Kong Phooey
A very new show in terms of chronological order. I didn’t see much of it but it was decent.

Inch High, Private Eye
I have no recollections of actually watching this show, but somehow, the name, the story and characters give me a strange feeling that I have seen it. This little detective is only an inch tall.

Jetsons
I’ve always wondered. Are the Jetsons futuristic Flintstones or are the Flintstones prehistoric Jetsons? Nice show… characters were really funny. There’s one song in it too… Judy will sing along with Jet Screamer. It’s called ‘Eep Op Ork Ah-Ah'(and that means I love you too [IIRC])

Jonny Quest
One of the best damn shows. I’ve seen both versions, the original and the Real Adventures. The original was typical 60s cartoo animation. The Real Adventures ROCKED. Super 3 D graphics and all. Jeremiah Surd, the wheelchair weirdo looked pretty scary in is 3D form at that time actually. Plus, the cast of JQ made a guest appearance in Harvey Birdman’s show. Hadji has a superb monologue in it. Very funny, I must say.

Josie and the Pussycats
Scooby Doo rip off. With musical instruments added minus the dog. The first one was good. The second one where they go to space was good too. There was this funny alien creature that was Melody’s pet which was ultimate comedy too.

Laff-a-lympics
This deserves a huge write up on itself so I will write it last.

Lippy the Lion (and Hardy Har Har)
Very catchy song I must say. Lippy is one crack pot ambitious lion. Hardy is a hyena who has no hope. He is the eternal pessimist. Always saying “Oh dear! Oh my!”

Magilla Gorilla
Bumbling gorilla named Magilla wearing bow tie and hat. I remember one song too.
“We got a gorilla for sale, Magilla gorilla for sale”
“Take him, try him, won’t you, buy him?”

Moby Dick
Moby is a whale. Scooby is a seal. Tub and Tom are 2 fat and thin kids underwater. Not that entertaining and all but good fun.

Mighty Mightor
Tor is the hero of the show. He can transform into Mightor if he uses his club. He has a dinosaur called Tog which can fly. Pondo is the nattamai and Sheera is our village heroine. Kutty paiya Little Rok is her brother who idolizes Mightor and always wears a mask on his head and gets into trouble.

Mumbly
<asthmatic laugh>

Richie Rich
Very famous comic turned into TV show. Again, monotonous for me cause I’ve seen it too many times.

The Perils of Penelope Pitstop
Typical damsel in distress. How dumb can you get? Anyone who doesn’t know that Sylvester Sneekly is the Hooded Claw must be blonder than Penelope. The Anthill mob is always there to the rescue for her.
Clyde – only guy not in blue, he’ll be wearing grey and have an unshaven look, periya don nu nenaippu
Yak Yak – he keeps laughing and jabbering
Dum Dum – he’s plain dumb
Snoozy – he is barely awake
Softy – he is a wimp
Zippy – he runs fast and talks faster
Pockets – he is their local market. pocket kullendhu enna ennemola eduppan!
of course, their car deserves a special mention for all the work it does! 3 cheers to chugga boom.

Peter Potamus (and So So)
He is a purple hippo who travels through time on a HOT AIR BALLOON!!! He has one special move and that is to holler at enemies. So so is a monkey jalra.

Quick Draw McGraw
ELLLLLLLL KABONGGGGGGG!!!!
Quick Draw is the local sheriff who is actually a Zorro-esque hero in disguise. Baba Looey is his deputy.
“Queeeks Draw I theeenk….”
“Now hoooooold on there baba boy… I’ll do the “thinnnning” around here, and dooon’t you forget eeeet”

Ricochet Rabbit (and Droop-a-long)
Ricochet is a rabbit sheriff who keeps shouting Ping ping ping always. He should try Jamming 😀

Scobby Doo
deserves more space, check the end of the post.

Shazzan
Chuck and Nancy are the brother sister duo in this show. They have a pet camel which can FLY! Their items also include an invisibility cloak, a magic rope and a flying carpet.
Both of them have half rings which when brought together summon the great SHAZZAN!

Sky Commanders
I really have no clue when or on what channel I saw this but it always stuck in my head and I am reminded of this whenever I think of Centurions.

Snagglepuss
“Heaven’s to Murgatroyd!” “Exit, stage left/right”

Snooper and Blabber
Tom and Jerry as detectives with their colours and species exchanged. That’s all.

Space Ghost
Space Ghost is not really a ghost but a superhero. He is pure white and has a black mask for his head. He has 2 arm bands on his wrists without which he is powerless. Turning invisible for him is becoming a white outline of himself. 😀
He has sidekicks too. A brother-sister duo named Jace and Jane and their pet monkey, Blip.

Dino Boy
Dino Boy is actually a little kid named Todd who lives in a world where prehistoric stuff still exist. His bodyguard is this caveman called Ugh and his pet and steed is Bronto.

Squiddly Diddly
Same as Magilla Gorilla but with a purple squid.

Touché Turtle (and Dum Dum)
“Touche and away!” Touche is a turtle which likes to sword fight a lot.

Wacky Races
deserves more space. end.

Yakky Doodle
Yakky is one stupid duck which gets chased around by a Fox.

Wally Gator
Same as Squiddly Diddly which itself is same as Magilla Gorilla but with a green alligator.

It’s the Wolf
Mildew wolf is always after this lamb but a sheep dog will always rescue the lamb. The lamb’s punch dialogue is “it’s the WOOOOOOOOOOOOLF!”

Pixie and Dixie (and Mr. Jinks)
Same as Tom and Jerry but with 2 mice.

Yogi Bear
He’s smarter than the average bear. He lives in Jellystone National Park with his sidekick Boo Boo and lives off picnic baskets and hides from Ranger Smith.

Yercaud trip – the best excursion EVER

originally posted July 15th, 2006

On Thursday night, we left Chennai via Central station to Salem.
The teachers accompanying us were:
Mr. Ramu (A)
Subashini (B)
Srini (C)
Sundari (D)
UV (11th in-charge)
KPK (jalra)

😛

The train ride was good at first, when all of us were nearby. But then, the whole group got scattered. I couldn’t catch any proper sleep there, especially after seeing sparks inside the fan next to me. (I was in the upper berth)

By the time we reached Salem it was so cold that I had to wear my jacket (atleast for me, it was cold) … then we left to Yercaud via van. There were fifteen of us in our van.
Me
Shridhar
Arjun
Gokul
BK
Chappli
Navneeth
Rohit
Sreenath
Sudarshan
Vichu
Sharth
Jeyenth
Raja
Naren

I still don’t know why Mr. Ramu was acting like he was in-charge telling all the vans what to do and getting in on our van the last. Maybe it’s cause UV is too immobile.
The uphill journey was pretty head-spinning… and finally we reached our hotel. The hotel was excellent … comparing this with last year’s “Mysore Palace” or whatever, Mysore Palace was SHIT. We went to have breakfast. The best thing there was Pal Payasam … I loved it. 🙂

Then, we were in our rooms for a while, where we took bath, watched TV, etc.
It’s not even 2 days, and I forget in what order these happened. I guess we went to that Anna Park for a minute, after which we were sent off to some forest-ish garden. Me, Rohit and BK went up those rocky trails and all towards one side end. Pretty scary with so many insects around.

Then we again went to the Anna Park for the drivers’ lunches. There we all had corn and bajji. Back in our hotel after having lunch, something super comical happened.

Our (me, shri, arj, gok) and chappli’s (chappli, bk, dk, navneeth) rooms were slightly lower than the rest of the rooms, which we that was a good thing to enjoy the view. That’s not a good thing, that’s a bad thing cause there were MONKEYS all over the place.
We got scared of them, but Mr. Ramu tried to send us to our rooms, as a monkey tried to scream at us and chase us!!! He told us not to run (WTF can you do if you see some 20 monkeys?) and somehow managed to send us in. We saw those monkeys scratching, doing acrobatics and um… something else too.

Me, Arjun and Chappli were the only ones in our rooms hiding from the monkeys. Why should we have all the fun? So we called Vichu and Jeyenth there. Vichu ran away near the turning itself, but Jeyenth came alone. He left again also. Then I sent SOS SMSs to Sudarshan, GL, AK and Pradhum. Then Jeyenth, Vichu and Sharth came along. We had some fun with Chappli, his cell and a voice mail-box. Then Sudarshan, Vijay, Rohit and Sreenath also came down. We were all trapped for a while, but later managed to get out.

I think we went up to the bonfire next…. it was pretty stupid too. Us boys had to sit right next to the fire and my hair got full of ash -_-
Atleast UV was on our side…. the best part of the “games” we played there.
That guy who organized is one vazhiyal case…
The first game was some crappy game, in which UV helped us by suggesting strategies and all, but we still lost… Pepsi > Coke … Blue > Red
Then we played a game of Dumb C… t’was fun
We got some movies like Poison Ivy: The Last Seduction and all, which in the first place is WRONG!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_Ivy:_The_New_Seduction
It’s NEW not LAST.
Bloody girls, can’t even get their movies right.

We retalliated by giving Naked Gun 331/3: The Final Insult, which I thought no one would know, but got PWN’ed. The game ended in a draw. Then came the tie-breaker during the extra time, which AGAIN ended in a draw.

Then we went to have dinner. Then was the best part. Since we shifted our bed (the one on the floor) from our room to Vichu’s room thinking that we’ll sleep there to be safe from the monkeys, we had no bed. Then we decided to go to AK’s room… this was the best part… their room was so separated that Mr. Ramu did not even know about it!!!!

We arattai-adichified there… me, shri, arj, gok, ak, pradhum, satya and aj. We ordered room service and all for Coke then saw E-C-Dubya!!!
RVD vs. Kurt Angle FTW!!!!

But the strangest part of this was Sharan getting Satyaki’s number and knowing I was with him and calling ME!!! o_0

We played a bit of cards, but then eventually slept off [Shridhar (the elephant) was sleeping along with me, ak and aj (the sticks) in the bed according to Satyaki]

We woke up and left to our rooms where we got delayed taking bath. We rushed to eat breakfast again and then left to those Seats. On the way, there was a huge demand for Cadbury’s Diary Milk. (which I must say am eating at 4:30 in the morning … yep that’s right … I’ve been writing this since 1 AM!!!!)

Then we went back to the hotel and left for Salem. The trip was pretty nauseating, with Jeyenth throwing up. After reaching the station, something super funny happened.

Srikrishna, KS and Siddartha were near a coffee stall. A beggar approached them.

Beggar: Could you buy me some coffee (IN ENGLISH!!!)
S/KS/S: o_o
Beggar: I’m an intergalactic space traveller. Today I’m in Milky Way, tomorrow I’ll be in Andromeda
S/KS/S: o_0

They then recited the story to us, and then tried to show that guy to me, but the guy had vanished.
All of us: 0_0

The train journey was pretty cool…
First I was playing cards with Arj, Rohit, Shri, Nitish, Shreyas, Prasadh, Narayanan and DK.
Then I was hearing songs with the Zombie.
Then stupid Mr. Ramu made me sit with them girls.
Then I sneaked back in to the other end and played Dumb C.

I gotta admit, I finally found someone who’s as good as me (if not better) in guessing movies: PRADHUM!!!!
Me, Arj, Vijay, Gok, (Naren || AK) vs. Shri, Pradhum, Satya, AJ

was really good. Then we finally came back to Central, where I went off to the other end again and was talking to Chappli. I guess I was the first one to step out of the train!! 😀

We all split up after that, and as usual, I came online as soon as I reached. 😉
I was transferring the video to my comp as I started to write this post… which started at 1 AM and ends now at 4 AM!!!!!

The past 2 days were some of the fun days of my life

originally posted May 16th, 2006

Last Saturday, Amogh had come back from B’lore for his vacation. He had planned to come only on Monday, since he had a class on Monday, but pre-poned it when his class got cancelled. On Sunday night, he came to my house to stay as his dad had to go to B’lore on an official trip. We played some games of Worms (both World Party and Mayhem) and then went to sleep at about 12. Notice the went to part…. cause we didn’t sleep even a bit untill around 5.

We had a fun time for 5 hours discussing mainly about the times we had in school (I love recollecting old memories :D) and I showed him some of my group photographs I had (lkg, ukg, 1st, 2nd, 5th-10th). Later, we discussed about the chances of 11 A winning the Intra-school culturals next year, and how we could try to win, seeing as most of 10 D’s prize-winners did not make it to 11 A.

On Monday morning, we woke up at around 10:30-11, and then left to Sharan’s house around 12. Poor Amogh, I made him walk a bit too much. First we went towards the Besant Nagar Bus Terminus side, but Amogh wanted to buy a DVD to write, and since we couldn’t find them on that side, I took him all the way back to Vannanthurai bus stand.

At Sharan’s house, we met up with Shridhar. Arjun came a bit later, and we all had lunch, and I finally took Artemis Fowl 4 and The Alchemist. Swami and Sharath met up with us a bit later. We were contemplating whether to go to the theatre or the beach. Finally, I had to give in to the others and go for the movie.

Swami and Arjun went on Swami’s motorcycle to drop it off at Swami’s dad’s office. Then, Sharath and Shridhar left walking, with me closely behind them (cause I got slowed down by the rest). Then behind me, Sharan and Amogh came. We stopped near Swami’s dad’s office and continued walking as a group till the complex where Amaravati/Snowfield/etc. where. There, we managed to get one auto for all of us. Arjun sat with the driver, and the rest cramped in the back.

We reached the theatre and called B Sriram (not gundu bee, the other one) and Vijay. They reached just in time for the movie: Poseidon.
(mini rant starts here—)
People in India hype cinemas like hell. A bit crappy, but still. I mean, first, there’s absolutely NO grammar…. and they add extra stuff to make it better, which is probably not even real.
eg. Poseidon is billed as Titanic 2 ….. it has nothing to do with Titanic, except for the fact that both happen to be ships. And Poseidon is a remake of the 1972 film, The Poseidon Adventure. It makes me sad.
(mini-rant ends here—)

The movie was pretty good, especially the sound effects. I liked the John Dylan guy a lot. Me and Vijay were trying to figure out who the hero and villian were… but this film had neither. LoL
We predicted so many things, like in each room they go, one will die and in the end, only the kid will survive, etc. But in the movie, most of them did survive, except for the chef, his girlfriend and the heroine’s dad. Plus, the heroine’s dad looked familiar ….. finally found out where I’d seen him before. He was Cash from the Stallone/Russell starrer, Tango and Cash (one of my favourite movies, I should say).

At the movie, we had a pleasant surprise in meeting Hari, who was sitting in the next row! After the movie, we had the best time. Swami took B’s cycle and left with Arjun to Sharan’s house while me, Hari, Shridhar, Vijay, B Sriram, Sharan, Sharath and Amogh went in Hari’s car.
8 (1 if you count the driver) of us cramped in one car ….. that almost beats our former record in the auto!

Hari and Amogh sat in the front. Vijay, B and Sharan on the back. Sharath, me and Shridhar on their respective laps. I had to remove my slippers and squeeze in since I was in the middle. Mayhem ensued with Hari’s CD player’s remote in Amogh’s hand. After like many minutes listening to songs by Eminem (I like only Ass Like That from what we heard) we reached Sharan’s house finally. There, B’s cycle had a problem, which we later fixed. Then, we had to leave as Sharan had to go out.

Instead of B, we had Swami with us, minus Sharan. Hari dropped them all and dropped me and Amogh at my house. I told him to come back and join us. He came back in 1/2 hour and again, we spent a lot of time talking, but not as much as the previous day and slept relatively early.

The next morning, we woke up and Hari left for his house early. Me and Amogh were on the computer till around 3, when Amogh went to sleep. Hari came back at 4:30 and we left for the beach. Played football with the gang for some time. After that, me and Vijay went to eat some corn….. while the others waited, or so we thought.

They had apparently got fed up of waiting and had gone to eat sweet corn themselves. We had lost them, but I thought they might head out for frankies…. <.<
I took Vijay towards the frankie shop and they were not there. Meanwhile, the others had left to drop Amogh at my house (where his dad was waiting, and he had left with him). Me and Vijay continued on towards Vannanthurai Bus Stand where Vijay waited for a 47A. We were talking for a while and then he got on one which finally arrived. Just as I was crossing the road to go to my house, I saw the others cross this side…… @_@ they had also come to this bus stand. I found them and they told me that Amogh was in my house. I then bid them farewell and left for my house…. where I’m writing the lengthiest post in my blog I think I’ll be writing for the next few months. I’m a lazy person … :p

Pisces FTW!!!!

Pisces – Your Love Profile

Your positive traits:You’re very tuned into your lover’s feelings – and always doing something caring. Sweetness – you’re the most romantic person your partner has ever met. You get easily swept away and are a total delight to fall in love with.Your negative traits:You are super duper sensitive and find it hard to get out of a sad mood. It’s difficult for you to tell your sweetie no, even when you should. You often tell your partner what they want to hear, instead of being honest. Your ideal partner: Is straight from a fairy tale – the man or woman of your dreams Is a total romantic, with an artistic or creative side Loves to express their love to you, in all sorts of unique ways Your dating style: Dreamy. You like traditional romantic dates, like picnics in the park and candlelight dinners. Your seduction style: Fearless – you try what your partner suggests, no matter how unusual. Loving. You’ll take your pleasure second, if necessary. Internal. A lot of your enjoyment takes place within your head. Tips for the future: Be more realistic. Your romantic ideal is nice, but it may just not happen. Let go of your fear of rejection – it’s holding you back from being with your true love. Open yourself up to a new love. The person you think you want make not be the one.. Best color to attract mate: Seafoam green Best day for a date: Friday

You are 73% Pisces

The best nightmare I’ve ever had

I never knew I was this imaginative, but if I could possibly dream about my dislike of my parents’ mania for homams, LB, Chrono Trigger, Alaipayuthe and all, at the same time, then I must be mental.

This happened after 5:30 AM this morning. I know cause I woke up and my mom told me it was too early.

Dream scene 1:

Me, a guy and a girl (names not mentioned) and Robo (from Chrono Trigger) are in some kind of apartment  seeking shelter, I presume, with my parents (I think it was them).

Something my parents said made me say “Ridiculous” to which the girl responded it sounded exactly how Kartik Kumar  says it in Alaipayuthe. Then the guy also says something and the topic is changed. Later my parents want to conduct some homam and call some 12 sages or something. There is a knock on the door and the 12 of them are already here. They leave some 6 odd shaped objects on the outside. I let them in and the guy and Robo stands guard inside the house while me and the girl stand guard outside.

There is a blast inside, and we get thrown out. The girl gets blasted off farther away than me, and everything is pitch-black. The girl  shouts out to me saying that
I have to light those 6 objects or something. I go to each of them and light 5 of them and then ask, shall I bring Robo for back up? She says how can you when his head is in my hands. (Apparently Robo had also been blasted and his semi-circular head was being used for protection)

I light the last object from where I was (at the 5th one) using the last matchstick I had, Sudarshan style. (You know, just scrape the matchstick on the box with your thumb and fling it)

But the time it takes seems so long and then I realize the horror of my mistake. It is eventually lit, and then it all seems so obvious. I realized what was so special about this symmetric arrangement.

The girl stood up and she hadn’t been lying (it was the head of the guy, not Robo in her arms). She transformed into this mega-boss and attacked me.  She was taunting to kill me, and I betted her to. She did and instead of dying I woke up in my bed (this is also in the dream only) . Many people I knew were there, INCLUDING LB!!!!! Then I get an sms from Sharanyan or something to go to school, so I go there. There I meet Shridhar who wants a book from me, to which I say I didn’t have. Pradhum and Sharan were there as well. That’s all I remember.

Really crazy dream.

It’s My Life

I don’t know why or how, but I’m pretty sure I’ve become a mere shell of what I was a few years ago. Till my 13th birthday, I was just about average as the next human being on this Earth. But that fateful day, February 27th 2004, I lost all hope. It was exactly one year from that day that I began watching WWE. I became a fanatic of WWE since that day and the coming into power of the CAS made me go insane! There were rumours that it would return back to how it was for almost half a year. So I kept praying … praying to God that STBs would become obsolete. One of my friends even said it would happen on my 13th birthday, so I waited and waited. It never happened. I lost all my faith in God. I became a pawn to my emotions, I lost all control of my emotions. From that day, only 2 emotions governed me – happiness (which I rarely came accross) and grief. The rest was all an obsession.

I grew up with a lot of bad memories. My past is not one of good memories, the bad memories outweigh the good ones. My mother had 2 elder sisters and a younger sister and a younger brother, both of which whose children were born in 1999. My father was the second youngest of 8 children. The result —> I was the youngest in my family for several years.

Usually, the youngest child always had it’s way, but not me. I had to sacrifice a lot of things for the sake of my cousins (I have a lot of em). I remember very clearly, when I was 2 years old, my aunt introduced me to a computer, and I quickly became so used to it that it became my life. I was introduced to “The Net” when I was 4 or 5. Back in the day, I had a shitty slow dial-up connection and my aunt was showing me how to use it. My cousin sister wanted to look up something on Princess Diana while I wanted to see something about a cartoon. I never did get to see it.

I always longed for a sibling, but I had only my cousins to put up with. I’m not saying my cousins were mean to me or anything, infact they used to care for me a lot.

I lived a very sheltered life for a long, long time. I was a victim of so many diseases. I used to fall sick so very often. Believe me, I have never written more than 2 terminal exams in my 1st, 2nd and 4th stds. In my 3rd, I never wrote any of them. I also ate only rice and chips. Although I blame my mother for not correcting me when she had the chance, I know I am to blame. (reminds me of a tamil proverb – 5il valaiyadhadhu 50il valaiyadhu)

Since I barely got to go to school or even outside my house, I had no friends for a long time. I had no siblings either. I was alone. The year 2000 was like a gateway to me. The new millennium dawned in front of me like I always wished. During my 4th to 5th std. holidays, I was on medication for some strepto cocci bacteria that caused my repetetive illness. I was a lot better than I had ever been when I entered my 5th std.

The teacher made us stand in height order to arrange our seating. I remember so clearly, when I first made a friend, Shridhar. If you’re actually bothering to read this whole thing, thanks for being my friend. But good always comes with bad. Ironically, it was the guy standing between myself and Shridhar who introduced us to each other. That guy was Ashwin. I’ve never got along with him, and it continues to stay that way. We will only remain on the same side if we’re facing a greater evil which requires both of us coming together.

I had 5 amazing friends, Shridhar, Sharan, Gokul, Amogh and Arjun throughout the years of schooling. If you’re all reading this, thanks for all you’ve done. To quote Bryan Adams, “those were the best days of my life!”

In the holidays between 5th and 6th std.s, I got a broadband connection. That turned my whole life around. Till that day, my computer’s sole purpose was for games, but then, it opened a portal to a whole new dimension. I used the net for so much research. I was hooked on to Wikipedia like a leech! I thrived on the info I got. My computer became an obsession, it became my life. My parents were seriously worried about me, so they locked my computer in a room. But “NOBODY COULD STOP ME”!!! I would somehow manage to find the key, wherever they hid it.

Being an only child, I had noone whom I could really converse with, seeing there’s a 10 year gap between me and the nearest cousin in terms of age. Chillu doesn’t count, he’s a second cousin. I treated my computer as a sibling, and my computer became my life. I don’t know what brought about the depression in my life. Was it the loss of TV, which was once my life? Or was it because I became all philosophical and started brooding over the ultimate question of life? My hatred for religion also butts in. Back when I was a little kid of 5 years, my aunt (who is VERY devoted and religious) used to make me sit with her and meditate and say all slokas. How could someone like that develop such an aversion to hatred?

The reason is quite simple… since I had nothing to do at home, I used to like going to school. My family always went to the temple at our native place every year atleast once. Invariably, atleast one day of school used to get cut by this.

If anyone still remembers this… I was absent on the first day of school of 7th std. The day when Iyer told our class the story of Jack The Ripper. From then on, I never went to that temple except once and that too only for my sister.

With my new found hatred towards religion to fuel me, I continued with my life. The eternal question of why I was destined to live and why couldn’t I just die lingered on. I believe that there’s a supreme force which shapes our destiny and all, but exaggerating it and celebrating it is out of the question. Just think of me like a Jedi.

I also vowed that if I knew that I was going to die, I’d kill myself before that happens… just to prove that I have my life in MY hands and not in that supreme power’s. I like debating a lot. I could argue and argue and argue for hours together, and that became my hobby when there was no proper TV. I’ve argued with my parents a lot of times just for the heck of it. I’ve got a really big ego and I believe that I am the king of all I see. So if you disagree with me, prepare for a verbal battle with me!

With no TV(not really no TV, but no worthwhile TV), I turned to music. Music is one of the things I still have interest in. I still can name a few songs that I’d never forget – … Baby One More Time, Bring Me To Life, Broken and It’s My Life. I don’t know if it’s because of my character that I like dark and emo songs or have the songs made my character. Pretty confusing. I can probably give the lyrics of a few songs, which alone would tell a lot of my life than this post could.

Maybe it’s due to my Piscean nature I’m so dreamy and out of this world, but I really tend to dream on and on. I practically live in the future and brood over my past, thinking nothing about the present. I don’t know why, but I always have a feeling of Deja Vu once in a while. I always get confused between my dreams and reality. It’s like I’m hanging on the thin line of reality and imagination. I don’t know how this thought came to me, but I have had this feeling that I’m really a time traveller who’s got his mind wiped by the people who sent me to this past and am waiting for some event to trigger my memories. Call me crazy, but that’s what I believe in.

I’ve lost all interest in life, and everything it had to offer. I’m hardly on the computer, and studies is the only thing keeping me going. I’m still waiting for something in the future that would set me right, back to the way I once was. I’m hoping for too much, but I’d really like to come face to face with myself, a self of mine who is travelling from my bleak future to set things right.

There are probably a lot more, but at present, these lyrics will suffice:

“We’ve been dreaming
But who can deny,
It’s the best way of living
Between the truth and the lies” Within Temptation – See Who I Am

“I’ve been dreaming for so long,
To find a meaning
To understand.
The secret of life,
Why am I here
To try again?

Will I always,
Will you always
See the truth
When it stares you in the face?
Will I ever
Will I never free my self
Breaking these chains?” Within Temptation – Jillian

“You took my heart
Deceived me right from the start
You showed me dreams
I wished they’d turn to real
You broke the promise
And made me realise
It was all just a lie” Within Temptation – Angels

“I fear who I am becoming
I feel that I am losing, the struggle within
I can no longer restrain it
My strength it is fading
I have to give in

It’s the fear…
Fear of the dark
It’s growing inside of me
They won, they will come to life
Have to save…
Save my beloved
There is no escape
Because my fate is horror and doom” Within Temptation – It’s The Fear

Me and against the Music (part 1)

"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here (Hogwarts)! ~ Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

I remember the time when I was young, I used to despise all forms of music. It took a few years (4 or 5) and a bit of persuasion from my cousins to start liking it. I started off with film songs (tamil). I used to watch tamil films like crazy when my cousins were around, but never really cared for the songs. But a few songs were actually good, and being the record-whatever-I-see freak I am, I used to record songs from DD 1. (mind you, I was 5 and only my grandma's house had a VCR, but no cable)

At the same time (1995-96), my cousin sister, who was going to her 11th std. tried to make me give a chance to listen to a few English songs. She even recorded an audio casette for me, which got lost when I shifted my house in 1998. Her attempts were not working though, as I had not acquired a taste for English music … yet.

Fast forward 5-6 years. The millennium was really a new beginning to me. I had changed a lot. During my 4th to 5th std. vacation, I went to Singapore with my cousins and my mom. We stayed with a relative, who showed my Real Player 4 or 5 IIRC, the first version which had a theme with blue being the most abundant colour. (The previous ones had an icon of a speaker and was mostly greyish) (I'm sure it wasn't 6, cause 6 was dubbed G2, which released IIRC after I came back)

The first ever music video (English) I ever saw was "…Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears. I used to love that song. And I hope this is an answer to the abysmal question I get of why I'm a big fan of Britney. The answer is for sentimental reasons, since she was the first artist I listened to.

When we came back, I got my cousin brother to download the song for me, which he did. For the next few years, that was the only song I knew in English.

Then, when I payed a visit to the same cousin brother in Mumbai, I got a chance to listen to my second-ever song. I didn't know what it was, but ironically, it just had to be another song by Britney. It was "Oops… I Did It Again", which I promptly sent to myself via e-mail.

Later, in 2003, just before my birthday, I got hooked into the WWE (which I should say was pretty late, considering that the very same cousin brother mentioned above used to treat it like a religion and tried to get me to watch it). I was impressed with some of the songs which were used as entrance themes for the WWE superstars. With my newly (actually, I knew it 2 years earlier) found knowledge of P2P, I downloaded some of them and loved them. I remember the first 5 themes I downloaded….
1) Shawn Michaels – Sexy Boy
2) Motorhead – Time To Play The Game
3) Finger Eleven – Slow Chemical
4) Breaking Point – One Of A Kind
5) LIMP Bizkit – Rollin' (Deadman Mix)

As the days went on, I began to like WWE a lot. During my exams, in March, I saw my first ever PPV, No Way Out. (which is a Feb PPV, but since India was 3 weeks back in time)
The PPV's theme song was "Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence.
It instantly became my favourite song (at that time), and Evanescence, my all time favourite band.

Later, I visited my cousin at Mumbai in my holidays. He was watching TV, while I was on the floor drawing or something like that, absent-mindedly singing Bring Me To Life. Imagine my surprise when I heard the TV sing the same. That marked the first time I saw the video of Bring Me To Life.

The next 2 years were the time I spent most of my time getting songs. I had a wide collection of songs of various artists/bands and genres. Then later, I got an iPod from my aunt. That was one of the best gifts I've ever got in my life. Sadly, my computer was an Intel Pentium MMX, 128 MB Ram, 133 GHz, and I was on Windows 98. Then on some day (I've got it marked in my diary, too lazy to check) my computer finally died after so many years. The one week I spent without it was literally hell. Finally I got a new computer, and got my iPod up and running. I owe half my songs to my cousin, who also got an iPod along with me.

Then, in the later half of 2005, I don't know how, but I just remembered 2 songs which my sister recorded for me on tape. They were "Mysterious Girl" by Peter Andre, and "Mr. Boombastic" by Shaggy. I accept that it took me a bit of research to find out them completely, but I really don't know how they got into my head after 10 years.

The pleasant surprise I got here was the fact that I share a birthday with Peter Andre.

Then recently, I changed my internet scheme to one which provided me with no download limit. I used this to my advantage and started my mad download spree. If you saw how much I downloaded within the last 3 months, you'd go mad trying to count it. 😛

Then lastly, I finally found out the tape my sister made, and downloaded more of them. They're really great. Then moving on to the latest band I heard, "Within Temptation". I was introduced to it by my friend, who like me was a BIG fan of Evanescence. She turned heel on Evanescence by siding with Within Temptation. But after sometime, ironically, I also did get to listen to one of it's songs, which I should admit, was pretty good.

This is the end of part 1, and maybe later, I'll finish part 2.