Book Review: Skyfire (2016), by Aroon Raman

TL/DR: 

The first Aroon Raman book I've read. Met expectations. I'm going to read the others he's written.

Review:
The book started off with two very different issues - child trafficking & weather manipulation - and managed to tie them up well. A well told story in all, with none of the characters resorting to superhuman stunts - keeping the action sequences believable. The plot & story direction was quite predictable from the initial chapters, but it was still fun to read. 

Despite the book being a part of a series involving the lead characters, the author has ensured that it's a fine standalone read on its own - which is great. Bringing in a character from the previous book (Shadow Throne), explaining who he is & not including him in the rest of the book was weird.

The occasional Hindi kept reminding me that this was a local novel. If not for some typos & incorrect phrasing, it'd have been a complete immersive experience. 


Spoiler: 
The standard ego of the villain that makes him explain all his plans to the heroes, and his absolute refusal to just kill them applies in this book too. Not a fan of that personally. The mentioned reasons didn't work for me. Just shoot them all down already.

Link to the review on GR here. Follow me there for future reviews. 
Buy the book on Amazon here.

PS:  I'm also thinking of blogging about my Quillr-building experience soon. Is there anything you want me to write about?

The Wanderer

Sticky feet 

Or sticky ground.

I cannot see.

I try to reason.

I need reason on my side.

I cannot see, of course.

It is dark. And cold.

No option to stop and check.

The darkness is such a place.

You keep walking. 

Or you don't get to.

I pray. That my feet be sticky.

Though I know where I am.

Exactly where I am.

I know the ground 

that sticks to one's feet.

It was a myth. Was.

Not anymore.

I've heard about it.

I've read about it.

I look around. Nonchalantly.

I keep walking.

I see darkness. All around me.

What else do you see,

when you walk in the dark?

And yet, there! A glint.

One more. And one more!

To my left, behind me.

Darker than dark.

That shine the dark alone possesses.

A shrine to the One we don't speak of.

I pray I see two of them. Or four.

Yet three there were.

As was written.

Three giant sections,

shining examples of the night -

each much wider than a house.

each much taller than our city gates.

The gates of Azzen.

Each with the unchanging glint

That consumed darkness

and perfectly reflected it.

It was an impossibility. Was.

The rumours were true then.

Three there were!

Three they were.

I counted again.

My last count. Three.

I drop my prayers.

The ground is stickier.

As is its nature.

I was one slip away

from joining the darkness.

For eons, if not forever.

One mistake away. Just one.

That is all they wait for.

Three there were,

the eyes of the Spider.

The ever attentive, ever focussed

black eyes of the Lord himself.

Focussed on me.

Far removed from logic,

My brethren would say.

Yet here he was.

Lord Spider, Warrior of Darkness.

And I'd wandered into his web.

-

Inspired by this line in the first Malazan book, 'Gardens of the Moon' by Steven Erikson.

"Somewhere in this strange place
a spider waits
for my panicked flight ..."

Reviving #3

It's been a very long time since I wrote anything here. So yea, Hi. How have you been?

Ever since I started working on the Immortal Game series, I stopped writing elsewhere - on football, music or anything else.

This is just an update-type-post, really.

I'm kinda done with the first book of the series now. Does it matter if I send it out to Publishers or not? I am personally not too happy with the output, so I might end up burying the book instead of getting shot down. I have sent a crude version out to a couple of them though.

Whatever, I am going to start writing normal stuff again. Here, that is.

Thinking of (re)starting with "#TheLaymanMusicReview", talking about AR Rahman's recent albums. Or maybe I will write about my experiences with quitting my last job, picking up my new one or the incredibly stress free hours I spent writing. Or maybe about the stress and the worries and the pizzas and the reducing account balance that dominated my non-writing hours.

If you want to figure out if you're a good writer, you should write a book. Articles and fun posts can only tell you so much about yourself.

Haven't told anyone yet, but I just started working on another (possibly) short story today - and no, it's not about either humour or madness. It's mostly a tribute of sorts to two of my favourite authors, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dame Agatha Christie. Will probably publish it here if it doesn't get much bigger than a short story.

I have started rambling about mobile games as well. I'll post on twitter when my first post gets published.

One pain point is that there is no money in any of this. #Sucks #SourceOfAllStress

In the short term, I'll probably listen to 'I' this week and talk about it here. Do you want to do this together? Let me know.

What do I do for work, you ask? That could be another post, but all you seven readers already know about it, don't you?

Have you heard this before?

So, I recently saw this video and felt it must be shared as much as possible. Some genius at work, this.

When I share this, instead of looking at what can be done with the relics of Technology, people start wondering if the Imperial March is 'really that simple'.

For you lot, I present this.

Didn't listen to it on Headphones? Tsk Tsk.

Guardiola is Rajinikanth

Why, How, What?

Here's your proof.

Prerequisite: Are you a Thamizh, Football fan?

Guardiola receiving award for inventing Chitti.

Guardiola saying "Andha Aandavane namma pakkam irukaan..."

Guardiola saying "Ulle Po" To Manu.

Guardiola trying Padayappa Salute

Jose saying "Enna Sivaji ipdi panitanga..."

Guardiola saying "Idhu Kuluvaali" and asking for route to Kallipatti

Guardiola and Sammer singing "Kaatu Kuyilu Manasukkula"

Guardiola goes "Ooo Kick Yeruthe..."

Guardiola goes "Ma'am. Just a minute" #Padayappa

Guardiola tries "Pera kettavudane chumma athiruthilla!"and fails.

Guardiola says to Ribery "Naan Oru thadava sonna..."

Malai da.  Annamalai.

From 5 minutes and One Google search. I'm guessing we could map every famous Rajini quote if we delve further. 

Of Google Scholars and Wiki Wizards

Art by Retronator at Deviant

'Wait. Really?'

Peter Tharoll opened google in a new tab and typed 'Amit Rover involvement in murder'. He skimmed through the top two links, one about some hearing about it that happened two weeks earlier and another was a random blog that seemed very anti-political. All major politicians were linked to something or the other in that blog.

He went back to the facebook discussion where people were arguing for and against the fellow. His first googling showed him his manifesto and it looked good. He had mentioned development, roads and schools. So, Tharoll put in a statement supporting Rover for the elections that were coming up. Some random guy named Ajay Pradhan showed up and said, 'but he is being investigated for murder!'

Tharoll didn't have a clue. He told himself that he should have refrained from putting that comment on his friend's post. Now, everyone would know that he didn't know anything.

The case was still being heard. 'Ha, there's a point I can use', he thought to himself.

He went back to the post and started typing out the comment, 'I knew some guy would show up and pin it on Mr. Rover and here is @Ajay. The case is still being heard. Who are you to...' he went back to Google and looked up the top two links about Mr. Rover's major opponent in his constituency, the sitting MLA. He found lots of complaints about how the constituency became worse than it was five years ago. 'Brilliant', he thought to himself.

He started retyping the comment. He was determined to make the other guy look stupid. 'Mr. Rover is a national icon and a possible ministerial candidate. That'd bring a lot of focus to the constituency and development will be forced to happen. Also, the case you're mentioning is still being heard in the courts. Accusing him of that reeks of stupidity and disregard for the Law. Do the words Innocent until proven Guilty mean anything to you?'

Two edits later, he published the comment.

-

Ajay Pradhan saw his notification.

'What? The case is still going on? But I read on that blog...' "Damn it", he shouted at the empty room around him.

He went back to googling Mr. Rover and his opponent. He thought he found something against Mr. Rover when he saw that blog. Now, his comment just looked stupid. He found how the sitting MLA had zero cases against him (score!) and researched more about the case and Mr. Rover in general. He found some accusations about local goondas being protected by him. 'Awesome, I can make something out of this', he thought. He found a random blog post where a lady complained about eve teasing on the roads in one of the arterial roads in the area.

'Mr. Rover's election will only embolden the Goondas in the area to become more shameless and fearless. Read this link about how a lady was harassed by Goondas backed by him. And you want citations for that, I suppose? Read this news from a local media channel. You mentioned that the case was still being heard. Did you see that all the guys who are in police custody are goons working for this rowdy Bajan Raj? There is little doubt who did it, but the law is being arm twisted to protect Rover.

Our sitting MLA has enough problems protecting the likes of you and me from monsters like Rover. And he has zero cases against him. It is appalling to see how you could support such antisocial elements.'

That looked good. He was getting prepared for a long debate on that thread.

-

PS: Unedited version. Thought of putting this up on the stories blog, but this didn't feel so much like fiction.

Medieval Dreams.

Around 1995, I used to imagine that things would go back to medieval times - and people would fight with swords and shields again - that I would rule an ever expanding kingdom - with a couple of friends ruling neighbouring kingdoms - that every honest citizen of my kingdom would be happy - that I would have this majestic white horse, Chetak, the very image of which would bring hope to friends and fear to enemies - that I would have this uber awesome Queen by my side and we would rule most of the country some day. You know, every hero on screen had a girlfriend, or ended up with one. 

It was my Destiny. I was sure.

Around 1998, I thought I would be the person who would end up inventing the Light Saber. No one else seemed to care much about the infinite potential that the single invention would have. First, I had to create the laser guns used in the movies and then, the Light Saber would be a necessary defence mechanism and the Jedi way a necessary way of life. It amazes me to think how I believed that I would actually change the way the world worked.

I was destined to change the world. I knew that much.

Around 2002, I started filling school notebooks with stories. Stories that would happen in my dreams, that I would see on the streets that no one else cared to observe, that would be exaggerated a little to add that thrill or drama, that usually involved a bad ass villain, an honest hero and how one of the two overcomes the other. It wasn't necessary that the good guys won. I was a Darth Vader fan and I gave an equal chance to the villain. I controlled what I wrote.

I'd decided I'd settle for an Agatha Christie-like popularity instead of riding to war on Chetak. Sounded safer and a lot more peaceful.

These old thoughts, I think they were pushed to some unused area within my brain. There are loads of such areas, by the way. When I fell upon the facebook profile of the Commander of my Infantry units from 1995, it all came rushing back to me.

The Human Brain has infinite capacity for data and...hope. 

It's a shame we all prefer to get a monthly salary instead.

Normal and Beautiful

To know what it was, he had to know what it wasn’t.

It wasn’t magical. It wasn’t the once in a lifetime event that would serve as the spark for the rest of his life. It wasn’t the story for the classics section, or for any other section in that huge bookstore he knew. It wasn’t a story to even be written, for alas, no one else might find it engrossing enough. It wasn’t the fairy tale he had imagined it would turn out to be. It was just normal.

He had talked to her a few hours back. He had planned every word he would have to speak to impress her, carefully considered answers to every possible reply she could come up with and all that, but had slid into that beautiful ride called spontaneity. He couldn’t care less about the actual content of the conversation, though it could have entailed a long, slow, lone death, several years from then. He couldn’t care about what she would think of him either. 

For when he was around her, he could care only about her.

He had always wondered what a perfect life would have. Inclined perfectly for comfort in that corner of his apartment’s terrace back in the coastal city, he would get lost among the stars and merge into the past, the future or the imaginary. He was particular about having that griffin and that wolf for pets. He thought nothing could be cooler. He wanted the weather to always remain what it was at sunrise, with that cool breeze, wondering if the solar energy would be enough to grow all the fruits he wanted in his own garden. He wanted magic to be real, with spells, telepathy and telekinesis just some more subjects to study in primary school. He loved silence and thought no sound can be better. He wanted life to have a melodious but rich theme in the background, to which he could dance whenever he wanted. He wanted people to all be the same, all being kind and courteous to others in word and mind.

In that one conversation with her, his idea of what the perfect world should be changed entirely. He thought it really didn’t matter what the world had. What mattered was what the world would feel like. Right then, he felt as content as he would if he had all of those wishes from childhood and more. All that his world needed was her smile – and everything else just became perfect.

It was just another conversation, a conversation he could have had with anyone else. It wasn’t about love. It wasn't about how they would live happily ever after in infinite care and unbelievable understanding for each other. It was talk that lasted more than a few seconds and less than a few minutes. He didn’t even remember what he had talked about. All he knew was that she enjoyed talking to him as much as he did talking to her. He knew it. He felt it. That was all that mattered to him.

He could not bring himself to believe that he had lived in this world all along. He was sure everything had changed. Suddenly, reality was more beautiful than every world he had ever imagined.

Chess Writing

I know this is a bloody weird area for me to write on - because I am an average writer and quite an average chess player.

Meh, who cares? Catch me on Sportskeeda, writing about chess - mostly for the advanced beginners.

http://www.sportskeeda.com/author/aswinsam/

I am also planning to start playing the game again. Only this time, I am actually going to learn stuff.

Velayutham Review - Pattaasu!

In two words, Mass Entertainer.

On seeing the trailer, I was a li'l bit scared. I was scared if this was gonna be another thirupaachi (who am I kidding? I didn't like that movie) - but no, this one was good! In fact, I was quite happy at the end of the movie. It's a must for Vijay fans and fans of the masala movie genre (yes it is one now!) - it's a decent watch for the rest.

This is an Ilayathalapathy movie and we know he is not going to be killed or anything and that the good guy will beat the hell out of the bad guys in the end. But then, the movie itself was handled quite well and there was something in the movie for A, B and C markets, and last I checked, only thalaivar movies had the guts to try that.

I was eagerly looking forward to the next scene all the time. The village sequences were funny, Santhanam was mostly brilliant, very talented people like Soori (parota guy), Pandiarajan and Sayaji Shinde had only a small role to play (Manivannan was there, wasn't he?) and do I even need to say this? Vijay was awesome. Darling Genelia was also awesome (as usual). Given this is my blog, I guess that goes without saying. It was awesome that she had a fair share of the screen time - something that's (in general) not very common in mass movies these days. Hansika's role was an example for the stereotypical heroine portrayal so that made it easy for me to compare as well. Saranya Mohan redid Mallika's Thirupachi part but thankfully, it wasn't as useless as it was in the other movie - she did have a role to play as the sister who keeps her brother from going out of the way to help people.

*Spoiler paragraph*

The story as such was cool. A superhero is created by a journalist (Genelia) to create some sort of fear in terrorists, ministerial accomplices and goons - and Vijay happens to have the same name. On reaching the city from his village, his trysts with Santhanam get him involved with some of the superhero moments. On finding his name to be Velayudham, people believe he is the superhero. He saves Genelia when she gets mixed up with the gang and she explains everything to him. "Will he stay and fight powerful people or Will he mind his own job?" forms the rest of the plot. Predictable, yes. And #wellofcourse, it ends with the 'You shouldn't wait for a hero to emerge. Everyone's a hero.' dialogue.

*End of Spoiler para*

Particularly liked the unintentional superhero storyline (Vijay - Santhanam sequences). There was a lot (a LOT) of action, a lot of comedy, less senti, less punch dialogues, only a couple of mokka comedy attempts (kenathukulla thangam type) but even that appealed to some people in the theatre so I can't complain. I guess that kind was for the kids - but decapitation and stuff don't go hand in hand with that, I think. The Assassin's creed stunt sequences were kinda cool - the guy next to me (a fan of the game, he says) said that some stunts were exactly as it was in the game. Dozens of trained thugs and terrorists were no match for a happy go lucky guy from a village - but that's the way it is in mass movies everywhere and this is no different. In one scene, Vijay just walks in and beats the hell out of some thugs in their hideout. I felt some dialogues totally did not go with the scene (hire me!) - and Vijay should do SOMETHING about those caped dresses in song sequences. Talking about songs, the songs were much better on screen than they were while listening to it, though in all, only average they qualify only as 'much better than average' (repeated listening, you see). (except the brilliant Mayam Seidhayo). Chillax was worth tapping a foot to and again, Maayam Seidhayo was without a doubt the pick of the lot (if you take out the embarrassing Chennai tour part).

Umm, what else? Yea I was so expecting some 'trademark punch line' from the movie - you know, the kind that repeats itself a few times - but that wasn't to be. Sureshot hit in cities. B and C markets would be all over the movie, what with a village resident teaching stuff to city dwellers. In all, I might sound critical of the movie because I expect superior movies from Vijay.

The Mangatha song in the tea stall was kinda nice, without taking any digs at Ajith (especially because of that). I don't want Ajith or Vijay digs in the comments section too, keeping in line with the movie's sentiment. If you insist on being an idiot, please find another blog.

So yea, how was it, you ask? Thumbs up. Yohan can't release soon enough!
(I don't really care about 3 idiots)

Mythos has begun.

That's the code name for something I've started working on. For the past couple of months, I had been struggling with two book ideas. The struggle was about deciding which book to start working on.

One is a book on changing the world. Another is a book on transforming it.
One is about what we can do in the future. Another is about understanding the past.

Chetan Bhagat's R2020 seems to mildly tread (actually, stomp hard) on the 'changing world' and 'future' parts - including a character name, how about that! So, I have decided to start working on the other one. While I am thankful to CB for making my decision easier, I am not sure whether I should be happy or sad that he thought on the same lines; well, will know for sure if and after I read his book.

When you see me here after, ask me where Mythos is heading. Would help me spend more time on it.

Credit card chahiye?

Simple stuff to try out next time you get that irritating call:


#1
Rep: Sir, I'm calling from Standard Chartered.
Me: What chart?
Rep: Standard Chartered.
Me: What's that?
Rep: Bank sir.
Me: Oh Citibank? Indian Bank?
Rep: Standard Chartered, sir.
Me: Ok ok Axis Bank eh? (can go on till you are bored or till he cuts the phone)

#2 (True Story. happened 5 mins back)
Rep: Sir, I'm calling from Standard Chartered, Sir
Me: What's it about?
Rep: Platinum Credit card Sir.
Me: Not interested.
Rep: Sir, can I just explain for a minute?
Me: Okay.
Rep: Bla bla bla bla.
Me: Doubt.
Rep: Explains
Me: Crazy Doubt 2
Rep: Explains.
Me: Accha, so why are you offering credit cards to school goers?
Rep: Sir, we have a database that says you work with IBM.
Me: No, I go to NPS Indiranagar.
*Line cut*

#3
Rep: Good morning I'm calling from Citibank.
Me: No , no. Not interested. I'm already married. (cut)

#4
Rep: Can I speak to you for a minute?
Me: Can you call me at 2 AM? I am free only at 2 AM every day. Okay?

#5
Rep: Sir, I'm calling from Standard Chartered.

The game here is to use only two responses for all conversations.
a) Why? / But Why?
b) So What?
(Strat Lead inspired)
The person with the highest usage of the above wins.

#6
Rep: Sir, I'm calling from Standard Charte...
Me: Tell me. How much black money do you guys hide?
Rep: Sir this is about...
Me: How much black money do you guys hide?! Talk ME!
*Line cut.*
The number of times the cust rep tries to talk before cutting the line gives his Resilience factor (RF). If a sufficient number of people do this each time he calls, his RF would go down and eventually reach zero.

#7
Rep: Sir, I'm calling from Standard Chartered.
Me: Chubramani? Epdi da iruka? (Subramani, How are you? - As in some old bhagyaraj movie)
Rep: hello?
Me: Paathu evalo naal agudhu. veetla elam epdi irukanga? (How are people at home? Long time no see?)

Goes on with questions like 'did you have your dinner' and 'remember 4th lane in our society where u, me, vivek, ashok, raja, rani, police, thief and all used to play cricket?'. You'll be amazed at how funny you can get.

PS: Used bank names (Citi, StanChart) are actual callers irritating me with calls regarding credit card. So yea, STOP CALLING!

உயிர் எழுத்து

எண்ணத்தை விட வேகமாக கரைந்ததென் நம்பிக்கை...

என் மேல் எனக்கிருந்த நம்பிக்கை.

கடிகார நேரத்தை நிறுத்த முயன்றேன் மாதங்களுக்கு முன்னால். 

மறந்திடத் துடிக்கும் அந்நிகழ்வுகளுக்குப் பின்னால். 

இனி காலம் முன் சென்று பயனில்லை அல்லவா?

கனா கண்டு கொண்டே இருக்கிறது மனம் இன்னும், 

அது கனியாது எனத் தெரிந்தும்.

பகுத்தறிவு அதை ஒதுக்கக் கூடப் பார்த்தது; 

இறுதியில் ஒதுங்கியதோ என்னறிவே. 

மண்ணுலகில் எதுவும் செய்ய மறுக்கிறேன். மன உலகிலும்.

வாழும் நாள் முழுதும் அடைந்து கிடப்பதென்ற முடிவில், நான்.

The Jan Lok Pal

Things I like about the movement:

a) It has brought people out of their indifferent lives to at least SAY something about politics.
b) It's always better to have more people getting involved in politics.
c) Intentions to 'make the country better' are commendable.
d) Anna Hazare's determination at this age - Respect.

Things I don't like about the movement:

a) Fasting unto death: I remember the time when I was five or six and my parents refused to buy me some board game. That was the last time I threatened to fast unto death. I am amazed at the no of people who believe that it is a type of non violence. No type of suicide attempt is - and all this sets a bad example. I hope it is not followed by some crazy loon going "Hey, vote for this anti-corruptive leader or I'll die fasting"

b) I guess most people who turned up on the streets are probably literate. It would be awesome if they vote as well. Then, they wouldn't have to worry about not letting the Govt handle everything and give a share of the  ruling power to the public. Doesn't this defeat the very purpose of electing a Government? Here's a fun fact: YOU elected it. YOU decided that voting for one of the two major parties alone would "keep balance" in the state / country. Remember that when you vote in four days.

c) Whatever I like to believe, the hard fact is this - Once this ordeal is over, people will happily go back to their own lives (not saying they shouldn't). Not sure how many are going to follow up and this could end up being as misused as any other law we have. On the other hand, if it does work...even in pieces, I'd be extremely happy.

If only all these people would come out and rally against poor choice of CM/PM/President, poor quality of ration items because of illegal hoarding, high levels of corruption in each and every govt and private organisations etc etc... If only they don't accept those things as a 'way of life'...

d) "Why don't you go out and rally people for all those 'everyday' things?", you might think. That's because solutions are far more difficult for those problems and I keep thinking about them all the time. Let me know if you come up with anything... and it's silly to rally / advertise etc without any point of action.

In any case, if I go around shouting, say, "Stop bribing Traffic Cops and RTOs" or if I sit in front of a ration shop with a "Stop passing stones as rice and sand as sugar" banner, will you join me?

South Park

Though I'd heard much about this series and have seen Eric Cartman's pic as the profile picture of many a people on Facebook and before that, Orkut, here's one thing I didn't know till I started watching that online.

That show is the very definition of genius.

I am just watching Season 4 now, but to take topics that most people would find offensive to even mention in public, make a show mocking (not mentioning... MOCKING) it and making people laugh at it is pure guts and genius.

And yes, I agree. Eric Cartman rules. "Screw you guys, I'm going to Mumbai."

The Mobile phone

Flashback, in Eastman Colour:
Location: A Big Classroom, Coimbatore Institute of Technology
Year: 2007

A guy is bored to sleep in the last row of the class, while even in that state, he keeps messaging... The three thoughts in his head at that moment: "Damn, useless class...", "The mobile phone is the best invention of the 20th century. Wireless magic." and "(in four-pieces-style) 100 free messages per day... Not enough..."

Then, a mortein smokeless coil keeps rotating on screen (clockwise, of course (get it?)) till you are brought back to the present.

Present day:
The fan in that room is disturbed by the strong breeze coming in through the window. Even the big moving shadow of that fan on the wall doesn't distract that guy from his thoughts.

He looks at his phone in disbelief. His bank has stopped sending him the 'daily-balance-in-his-account' message. That was the last difference between his phone and an alarm clock.

His Nokia 2690... it is but an alarm clock now.

Macro macro

Macro Macro, looming right
In the morning... Oh the fright!
What immortal hand or eye
Could score in that fearful quiz-ze-ry?

In what distant deeps or biz.
Lay the answers of thine quiz?
On what wings dare I aspire?
What the hell, dare C's the higher?

And what boulder & what dart,
Could you throw right at my heart?
And just when my heart began to beat...
Another quiz? Friggin' neat.

What the answer? what the chain,
In what furnace was my brain?
What the concepts? what dread graphs
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars looked down on their peers
Who watered heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the book make thee?

Macro Macro, looming right

In the morning... Oh the fright!

What immortal hand or eye

Could score in that fearful quizzery?

-
A variant of 'The Tiger' by William Blake.

Crazy day. Really crazy day.

Ok, So I got up to news of two friends getting injured - one of them actually woke me up.

I learnt what crying from your heart means - that was the dream I was in before I woke up - and I am very sure I'll never forget that. Like ever.

I got a personal worst score in the macroeconomics test I so proudly blogged about. Gawd I am scared of it now.

I woke up once again... this time in the library with a book about movies in hand - I know. I don't remember taking that book from the shelves. Also, I went to the library twice in one day - most people don't go there even once. Got several leads on a project I am working on.

I saw a very cool movie that ended a while back, wondering about the looming macro end term in parallel and if I'd pass that subject. Just when I thought I couldn't score any less.

Heard the news that a friend of mine got placed at a different b-school, and that another one got a new job.

Laughed at myself for the thousand plus nth time for joining this college school. And oh, there are like a forty dead honey-bees in the corridor outside my door.

Like a wise man once said, 'This is the best of times, this is the worst of times'.

Game Theory in Macroeconomics?

I am curious.

Today, I attended a quiz in Macroeconomics... There were ten multiple choice questions, 5 questions that required very short answers and a graph to draw. I, of course, didn't prepare one bit for the exam...as usual.

I set out like solving a Hindu Crossword. For example, there were two questions with similar options.

If A = B, then C or D
If A = 1- B, then C or D

Picked same answer for both in the sense that one of them would be right. The person who corrects it would be obviously confused... 'how could even the dunderhead-est student possibly think that both questions could have the same answer?' ...but that's game theory for them right there. I was somehow trying to get that one mark, one way or the other :)

Even when I worked out what each word in the question paper meant (big bang theory helped. seriously.) and worked out what the answer could be (in vain, of course), it took me about 30 minutes to complete everything - yet, I was the third or fourth student to leave the room.

If one didn't know anything, that's the maximum effort one could have put in the exam hall - 40 minutes (giving 10 more minutes for slow readers). On the other hand, if one knew everything, he would have left in ten minutes or so. So, leaving out the people who give up and leave immediately, the majority of the batch should have left the exam hall between 10 and 40 minutes. But they didn't. They stayed on.

Oh, I never understand these humans.

Yea Ok

I truly and deeply hate it when there are a gazillion things to do to get a useless degree and you don't want to do any of them. Not one. And the best part is, no other college is any better. Some are far worse off.

Some things I don't like and MBA has:
a) PPTs (presentations)
b) Cases
c) More or less pointless assignments (I think SMBDP assignments would be useful...but I don't understand that stuff)
d) Mandatory attendances
e) Lectures after which I know I learnt nothing
f) People who like all of the above
g) People who don't trust others
h) Closed book Exams
i) Awfully high importance to placements and grades
j) There's nothing here about anything I wanted to learn. All the good stuff, I can do only outside the course hours and stuff (brilliant talks, real projects). This course is about making money. Urm, maybe I took the wrong course and have no right to blame anyone. Whatever.
k) ...and oh, add to it frikkin' lectures at 8 frikkin' AM.

Some things I like and MBA has:
a) Urm..... DC?
b) Not opening a book and still be able to lurch along.
c) Some fun people

Some things I wish MBA had:
a) Any level of focus on real issues. So much so that a prof used to kid, "If I hear anyone tell me 'but in real life', that's all..."
b) Anything that's fun to learn. No, I am not talking about movie making and stuff. Even with interesting subjects, the academic procedures around them make them hell.
c) Want to go out there, change something and say 'See, I did this.'

So people, when you ask 'hey how's college?' and I say 'yea ok', don't push it any further :)

Phoebe: What's with all this negativity?

Nitrodamus: Oh cut the crap already.

Chandler: Can this get any more boring?