Wanderlust

2007-06-30T23:19:00.000+03:00

A SHAVE WITH DEATHThough the heading may sound a bit pompous, it was quite bad. In fact, in hindsight, I do realize it was kinda fun as well!! So here goes an account of my adrenaline rush ...Was sitting offshore on a rig, also popularly known as the Grand Museum of the North Sea (aka Britannia, Shitannia, Schraapnoeke and many others) , were 6 poor souls, 3 of whom were awaiting a chopper at 1:

2007-06-13T15:11:00.000+03:00

MY LOOK ALIKESApparently, yours truly bears some similarity to these faces !! Any help to explain in what aspects will be appreciated :)!!

2007-05-28T23:50:00.000+03:00

A CAT's LIFE!!This is an amazing video I found at random!! Oh so cute!!

2007-05-03T00:59:00.000+03:00

A YEAR IN PARADISEIt sometimes amazes me how, being away from civilization and people you know, gives you so much extra time for your own self. A simple comparison would be a weekend in Amsterdam and the last 4 days offshore. Two full days never seem to be enough time to sit down and pen something worthwhile!! Its either calling up friends to make plans for exploring new places which might offer

2007-02-18T19:59:00.000+02:00

Ooh!! KOLKATAOne of the greatest advantages of living far away from home sweet home is the enhanced ability to appreciate and yet have a laugh at our own culture. The Kolkata culture thats ingrained among us from birth manifests itself in all aspects of our life, whether we live in the cosmos of Bangalore/Gurgaon/Noida or in the far far away ("shaat shomudro paare") USA or more recently in UK or

2006-12-14T17:44:00.000+02:00

OF SCOTCH, BEERS, ALES & "ENGLISH"19:15, 12 Nov 2006 -Landed in Edinburgh to the announcements of new security measures in European airports!! Not that it was necessary given the amount of pain and trouble all passengers were anyway going through learning it all out the hard way - no fluids, liquids or pastes in hand baggage!! A boring cab ride, followed by an equally insipid receptionist and

2006-08-20T20:07:00.000+03:00

GENERAL RANTINGS ... LIFE & LOVE Another weekend gone in this city of sin!! Not that I've been indulging in too much sin ... alcohol isn't I'm sure :-).It looked like it would be another weekend in the middle of North Sea getting covered in mud, grime and rain but thankfully does look it'll get delayed till the middle of next week. So how was the weekend ... to put it simply ... LAZY !!Updates ..

2006-07-26T11:37:00.000+03:00

Pictures of PUSS Her place for lazing around (having a view of the handsome ;-) sailors)!!Sleeping Time :-)!! Scratch-Pad(my poor doormat)!!

2006-07-25T23:59:00.000+03:00

A "FURRY FUZZY" WEEKEND Its been aeons since my last post and I'm sure some of you have stopped visiting this blog!! My apologies indeed. It has been more of a lack of things to write about rather than a lack of time, aptly called the "writer's block" (not that I consider myself too much of a writer though!!)Anyways here's a blog about an interesting weekend, which began with temperatures

2006-06-05T22:36:00.000+03:00

A MUSLIM MAUSOLEUM OR A VEDIC TEMPLEWas chatting with a friend of mine yesterday night. He sent me a link on the Taj Mahal and asked me to go through it. Knowing him really well, I clicked on it and it indeed did keep my attention for quite a long period of time!!I would have also questioned the credibility of the articles but these two pictures particularly caught my attention!!Note the Hindu

2006-05-31T09:46:00.000+03:00

A PEEK INTO SCHUMI'S DIARY - MONACO Hello tifosis. I had a bit of a strange weekend, I can tell you. So far I have not revealed the true reason of what is happening to me in Rascasse on Saturday, but quite honestly and obviously I would like to get it all over my chest.To start with, I'd like to thank the Ferrari pitcrew for going on the Planet-F1 poll and voting "No it was a complete accident."

2006-05-19T22:44:00.000+03:00

BETRAYED Just heard the news about about our so honorable education minister being invited for convocation at our alma mater!! Talk of betrayal ... Homer couldn't have possibly found a better example!!As shocked as I was at this psychophancy, I still can't quite believe the decision!! Over and above that it first has to be approved by a host of administrative big heads ... the supposed

2006-05-13T19:22:00.000+03:00

MOVING ON IN LIFE Kolkata, Kgp, Canada ... at times I wonder how 3 chapters of life got over so easily. Ironically, the place which has been the biggest part of this seemingly unreal book, seem to occupy the least time in my mind. Perhaps its an indication of things taken for granted at home!!In retrospect, Kolkata formed the base which subconsciously affects and influences everything in my

2006-05-07T21:35:00.000+03:00

F.R.I.E.N.D.S Back again after a really long break which provided lots of "food for thought". There was a whole range of things on which I could have written this comeback post, some being the 49.5% reservation issue, my travels around Canada, thoughts on coming into Netherlands or even the glorious life in Amsterdam!! However, I chose to refrain from all of these just to put into words some

2006-05-01T22:25:00.000+03:00

2006-03-24T08:43:00.000+02:00

RANDOM THOUGHTS FROM A DEVIL'S WORKSHOP The above headline may sound a bit strange, but that is exactly what the strange situation sorrounding me is ... in short, I'm idling my time away.I broke out last week, more out of boredom than necessity. To clarify, I was getting tired of having to work under continuous supervision, not that I really had any urgent reason to hasten the process (my

2006-03-11T09:21:00.000+02:00

TAGGED ...(by DD) Even if the topic bore a semblance of decency, I wouldn't have minded so much ... but to tag a single, ex-IIT-ian, who studied in a boys' school, on this topic, is criminal!! X-( ... But I will have my revenge shortly!!! :DSome weirdo came up with a set of rules which I faithfully publish (read Ctrl C + Ctrl V-ed) ... The tagged victim

2006-03-05T09:45:00.001+02:00

WINTER LIFE ... THE SCHLUMBERGER WAY For the oil hunter, Canada is an interesting place, specially in winters when the most inaccessible parts of a vast wasteland becomes just another driveway on ice. It indeed is a wonderful time since you can start "mining" oil roughly 70m below the earth's surface!! However, as all coins must have a flip side, this too brings in a lot of activity and hectic

2006-02-23T03:44:00.000+02:00

A FEW DAYS OF NOSTALGIA & ADULATION (Part 2) Its been quite a gap from my last post, thanks to the grinding i've been going through the last few weeks. This will probably be my last post in which I'll reflect solely on Kgp, more so because I probably won't be visiting the place for a long period of time to come. There are a number of reasons why I say this but the most important one is that, come

2006-02-10T15:18:00.000+02:00

A FEW DAYS OF NOSTALGIA & ADULATION (Part 1) Its been a tumultous ending to the training programme. It all started with (as Sandy puts it) a "script of a bad Michael Crichton novel" during the final practical. Only that there was no reason to think that this trend would continue for quite some time.The travel agent in India who had initially booked them seemed to be a paranoid schizophrenic whose

2006-02-01T07:03:00.000+02:00

AT HOME FINALLY Finally reached home on 29th. Haven't yet been able to publish a truly adventurous journey back home ... will do so as soon as I reach back Canada.Let me enjoy the few days of ultimate and absolute peace after 5 gruelling months. Ciao!!

2006-01-17T21:07:00.000+02:00

MORE DEAD THAN ALIVE Life in work can indeed get boring, which no doubt has been ruminated upon for aeons. This was the single most important reason for such a long gap in posting. Now don't be misled coz nothing's changed to make it more interesting!!The only thing is now I am done and dusted with all the training stuff and counting down 8 more days before boarding a flight back home. But again

2006-01-01T05:27:00.000+02:00

CHEERS TO THE FUTUREAnother year gone by ... full of hope, activity, fun, disappointments.Some realizations-- Life does not always treat you the way you want it to (diplomatic way of saying Life is a b**ch)!!- Writing is the best way to pour out your emotions.- I will always remain shy in initiating a conversation with people in general (poor me)!!- Alcohol tastes as boring as water; orange

2005-12-30T10:27:00.001+02:00

SOME IMAGES FROM THE PARTYAt the start of the evening - all sane!!Belly Dancing to the tunes of Golle MaraThe smorgasmic platter!!(Notice the fallen object ... indicative of the night developing!! :D )Enjoying the warm winter.(and if you are wondering ... what I hold is not mine!!)Clouds gather on the horizon the day after - time to get back to the drudgery??P.S> Some more pictures to follow soon

2005-12-30T06:27:00.000+02:00

COUNTING DAYS Its 29th December today. Two days to 2006 ... but more significantly just a month till I reach home!!It all seemed such an innocuous statement inserted as a concluding paragraph in the first mail I received from my manager. It went like - "At the end of the 11 weeks you will recieve a well deserved two week vacation" ... little had I realized then how well deserved it would be.I

2005-12-18T23:23:00.000+02:00

HISTORY RE-WRITTEN December 2001, this 'baby' was just starting to learn to walk through the mazes of Kgp!!December 2005, this 'old man' just retired from that fantastic place a few months back!!The similarity between the two, Kgp celebrated its 17th and 18th GC-s inter-IIT, respectively. And most unfortunately I missed both!!But here's wishing the entire team my heartiest CONGRATULATIONS!! To

2005-12-14T07:51:00.000+02:00

A BONG MIND AT WORK No excuses for not having posted so long. No doubt that it has been an extremely hectic last week and a half but more than that it has been a lack of creative inspiration that led to no new posts. Then suddenly a few days back I came across this article, which set me thinking about the fact that I am one of those rare, pampered, sheltered species called the "Great Bong"!!One

2005-12-02T04:40:00.001+02:00

IN A QUASIPERIODIC STATE OF LIFE Have been thinking about my present state of affairs for the last few days, which by the way have been pretty despondent with a whole lot of sleepy never ending lectures. Finally arriveth the much awaited days off, that too three ... sweeeeeeet!!Quasiperiodicity - physics with diverse applications in chaos theory ... hmm, still remember some of the stuff from my

2005-11-25T23:10:00.000+02:00

Continuation from the previous post ...Even the dinner could not take away the boredom!! So started to randomly browse thru blogs ... came upon this amazing one!!http://nitsujcm.blogspot.com/2005/10/beginning-of-beautiful-friendship.htmlIts a chat between an Indian and American ... the settings of a new friendship (or whatever u might want to call it after going thru it)!!Finally stopped laughing

2005-11-25T00:02:00.000+02:00

RANDOM & USELESS THOUGHTS Have been sitting in class for the whole day today ... have finished chatting up with everyone I could have possibly chatted with from the morning, finished reading previously unread blogs, finished playing TT for the day as well and am still waiting for work!! What else would a sane brain do than ponder upon useless things?To start with the immediate - the work for

2005-11-21T11:50:00.000+02:00

REASONS TO BE HAPPY & SAD First and foremost Scholars' Avenue is back!! Woow ... great going guys ... its one of the best things to have been started in Kgp!! And of course a big big thanks to alums like Joyjit and Roy who took enormous pains to "bug" the upper echeleons of Kgp to get things sorted out.Some more reasons to be happy -1. Its become unusually warm out here. After a week of '

2005-11-19T09:25:00.000+02:00

SOME FUNNY MOMENTS IN "SCHOOL"Back from the long break!! Not much of a break actually rather was slogging too hard at work to have any time to post.Its been a real hectic week starting from Tuesday and finally came to an end today. There were exams and practicals as usual ... no wonder people call this "school"!! Teachers try to be nasty all for the excuse of simulating real life environment in

2005-11-11T06:50:00.000+02:00

STARTING A NEW PHASE Its been just less than a month we moved out of our apartment at Red Deer. Needless to say it was real fun there. It was the first time I was sharing an apartment with someone other than my parents. Add to that the fact that we were four young guys together from all parts of the world!! Cooking used to be one of our specialities .... ok ok i know u guys dont want to believe

2005-11-08T07:58:00.001+02:00

IN A WHITE WORLD Its -6 deg C outside at the moment ... one does not need to be a rocket scientist to be able to conclude that water all around is frozen. Its been snowing since last week. Remember the glorious scenes in the movies - heroes and kids, ski-ing and making snow men in bewildering white wilderness; thats really for the movies. The real experience is not quite the same. Spent 5

2005-11-06T09:27:00.000+02:00

MISSION CAPTURE THE FLAG Another day off ... got to have something to do outside this desolate highway town of Airdrie. A sudden spark of creative genius - Lets play Quake!! The suggestion came from a fellow IIT-ian but then this would be whole new game of Quake 3. For those uninitiated to the concept of paint-ball, read on.Sunday morning and off we were to the battlefield. Reached there at 12

2005-11-02T06:18:00.000+02:00

RE-LIVING DIWALI Suddenly DD buzzed me in the middle of the class yelling that we won gold in illu and rangoli. I almost started to write "F*** u" when the words sunk in ... i sat there too stunned to believe!!Diwali ... that festival had lost relevance to me since after Std X!! 4 yrs in Kgp meant an absolute nightmare during Diwali when the whole campus would look condescendingly at us!! Even

2005-10-30T05:20:00.000+02:00

THOUGHTS ON A NEW LIFESTYLE 'There is a saying in my company that goes like "Work hard and play hard".' , said I."Play hard ... at work ... are you out of your mind?? Go to work at 8, slog through the day with a desk full of work, have a few coffees and leave office at 8 again; if you are lucky enough, grab some beers after that. Thats what you call work life, mon ami.", said the voice.'Ah ha ...

2005-10-29T08:34:00.000+03:00

Dunno why I suddenly decided to get hooked to the concept of blogging!! It seemed such a useless waste of time even a few months back. But 46 days of hiatus from all those who matter so much to you can change your outlook quite dramatically, so I conclude.12th Sept - the day I set foot in a strange oasis of snow was kind of strange. Supposed to come alone in a 17 hour long flight, the Mumbai