The Lonesome Road

Ok. I’m back. Been a lazy set of days - the last few days of vacation. Then the final semester of engineering college.

Most of my applications have been sent off. Hope to receive confirmations in the next few days. Here’s hoping for a postive response soon.

There’s been more than enough said about the tsunami and it’s effects - so I really won’t harp on about it. I hope for peace for the survivors of the disaster - survival usually brings about a feeling of guilt in such cases. Be in peace.

Finally, here’s wishing everyone a very happy new year. Seems a bit cliched - especially at this time.

So long…

It’s official - I have officially crossed over to the Dark Side. I am now the proud owner of an Audigy2. As he gave it to me, Anshul mentioned that there was no going back to a SBLive! after hearng an Audigy - and believe me - he’s right. There is a tangible difference in sound quality. Spent all evening rehearing all old favourites. Good fun.

Had a blast in Bombay. Went roaming, book buying and generally having fun. Also got my hands on a couple of nice books - Modern Operating System and Introduction to Algorithms. Absolutely invaluable reference books.

Well - pretty sleepy now. Will sign off.

Tata…

I head of to Mumbai (also known as Bombay) tomorrow morning at 0700 hours. Going there to post my applications and meet a good friend. Back here on 24th evening. ( Hmmph - There he goes again. No posts for the next three days or so - The Blog).

Signing off now - have to go sleep. Need to get up at 0600 and leave arounf 0645 if I have to catch my bus in the morning.

‘Night all.

India is busy playing Bangladesh these days. It seems so sad - it’s like watching a match where everything is predecided. The Bangladesh bowling is pedestrian, and the batting is nothing special. Add to this the type of pitches we have in the sub continent and the match simply becomes a setting for the Indian players to make records.

We crushed Bangladesh in the first test. And I’m pretty sure the second test will end tomorrow at the latest. We made 540 in the first innings. Their batsmen showed some spunk and managed to make 333 in their first innings. It wasn’t enough to take them past the follow on target - and the Indian captain had no hesitation in making them bat again. But their batsmen had been through enough. They have collapsed to 118/9 - and India have 2 days to get the last batsman out. Barring a miracle, Bangladesh has no chance of winning.

In other cricket news, Glen McGrath is back with a bang. He scuttled the Pakistan batting order in their second innings by taking 8/24. Pakistan were shot out for 72. Now that’s something you don’t see every day.

Ah - cricket.

The Dark Ages have returned to Pune. In the previous election, some of the promises the Opposition party made were the providing of free power to farmers and the waiver of interests on all loans to them. The ghosts of those decisions are now returning to haunt them.

The MSEB is owed a lot of money by the state - the figure runs into a few hundred crores. Now the figure is all set to rise as the state will have to pay MSEB a lot more for the power usage. There was a lot of debate between the parties that have formed the government if they could afford to continue giving free power once they came into power. After a lot of heave and pull, the populist view won out and the free power continues.

There are two major problems in this scenario. The government is cash strapped and the farmers are indiscriminate in their usage of free power. Not only is it costing a lot in terms of money - it’s also causing ecological problems in terms of lowering ground water levels.

Why am I so bugged about the whole thing - here’s why. Due to this ‘gift’ from the government, Pune now suffers from a 3000MW power supply shortage. There are no plans to construct new power plants to take up the load and buying power from the grid is very expensive. Pune was exempt from these rolling blackouts as it provides a large amount of revenue. However, the power shortage has reached such a state that the MSEB has no choice. Pune now suffers from 3 hours of power cuts 5 days in a week. The only saving grace is that the timings are fixed and they start and stop the power in exactly 3 hours.

Anyway, putting all this aside - it’s been a busy few weeks. Exams and all are finished and the results are due in Feb. So relaxed till then. We’ve also had a large number of guests - and been to 3 weddings in a week. In the last wedding - I didn’t even know the people who were getting married. Was dragged there by my parents - and since there was no power at home - I went

Had a blast with the guests. One of them was a 4 month old baby. It feels great to make a baby laugh - something amazing. And this kid was the limit - I’d get him to laugh and the moment I started to take a photo - he’d look at the camera - make big eyes at it and make a very suspicious face. Finally had to take a video of him laughing

Have a bad head cold - so if this post meanders - forgive me. My nose is blocking the pathways to my brain.

Well, it’s good to be writing again. Will try to be a bit more regular now (Yeah right - The Blog)

Ta-da-da-ta-da! That’s all folks!

Hello. This is the blog speaking. This is to inform my “readers” that I am on strike. Seems that the “author” of this site named me aptly. Till he and I can work out a solution to the number of posts that should be put up in a week - the strike shall continue.

I think something is wrong though - he did not raise a hue and cry when I gave him this news. In fact he seemed pretty pleased. Went away muttering something about his exams….

Well then - I have given him a deadline of 15th December to come to an agreement and so far he seems willing to stick to that date.

Here’s hoping for the best - it is getting lonesome over here….

The Blog.