Losing something Precious...

It had been a long time since I had gotten my dogs; about 5-6 years back. But what I remember most was that we had bought them on Oct 2nd..

Yesterday one of my dogs (Rocky), expired. He was having some sort of allergy from sunday and the vet diagnosed it as asthma/congested heart. It was in all probablity a heart attack and we found him not breathing in his den at 9:45 pm... I just hope it was quick and painless for I last saw him at 5:45 pm and he appeared dull yet very much alive!

Seems harsh even now as his body is still where it was found, we need to get some labourers to bury him in our backyard. I cant help feel what effect this is going to have on our other dog: Being of the Doberman breed, the two were together all this while and I hope the other wont give up on depression.

The worst part was that I was the only one in my family to not shed a tear, hell even the neighbours cried for Rocky was just that good! Is it just me or do I no longer have the heart to do something human?? I know I have changed the last 4 months and I care very little for people who have disappointed me.. But the least I can do is remember him, I guess for the rest of my life...

R.I.P ROCKY: 02-10-2003 TO 11-02-2009

Thanks for everything pal, you were loyal till the end!

Last Quarter of Undergrad college!

Its official! Once your midsems end, you enter the 4th quarter of the 4th year (For me atleast) and well this is it: No more midsems in NITK and the chance to be involved in my last Engineer and Incident and most importantly- No more of the college life here which was fun, even as a dayscholar!

The midsems this time? Well with 2 subs you got a 50% chance of getting 1 good and 1 bad- Trust me that is the case in final sem! So it was too, CRD was a major bust and BRD was simply rhetorical but thats the case till the marks are out..

In 2 days the techfest Engineer commences and I got work there, maybe because I want to give to my college something which I can remember for a long time! But I cant help consider the situation in 2 months when its all coming to an end, there is a reason the final sem is called the "Senti-Sem" or sentimental semester..

GATE Keeping!

For some reason my friends expect me to write on the GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) and I find myself indeed writing this. But before I write on how the GATE was for me, let me take this chance to tell you why GATE saw so much more participation this year: SUCKING ECONOMY! I know, "sucking" isnt even a word but sometimes such letters written together make more of an impact..

So with campus placements on the fall and education abroad hit, good ol' GATE had had to be the last resort for quite a few and so when I arrived on the morning of Sunday, Feb 8th, the first thing I noticed was the buses: With the national highway 17 being upgraded into a 4 lane most buses prefer NOT to stop at the dust bowl bus stand of NITK but here most buses stopped and out came major numbers of students and parents (WTF??) alike.. Pretty sure over 700 ppl were here!

If you wanna know what the GATE is, then you are at the wrong place (Click here or here) but hey if you are jobless enough to read more then be my guest!

So where was I? Ah yes, I must let you know I was NOT PREPARED for GATE (Too much Capslock??). What with the apping and placements combined with the midsems and the work for the 2 fests (A not of them soon), and the lack of interest in everything lately, studying for GATE was non-existent! And it was so bad I must have been the only one to not even know the syllabus in its entirety.. And then there was the pattern change!

60 questions, 100 marks with 1/3rd negative marking for a wrong answer. I came there for the heck of it and was major pissed off to learn I couldnt leave the exam hall till the end (9:30 am to 12:30 pm) and so most of my time was spent observing the various specimens of the human species around! But for others in my class this was an important exam for reasons mentioned above, and some were pretty disappointed. Hope the result proves otherwise (Out on March 15th)..

I turn 21

So I survived another year when the clock struck 6 15 pm on Feb 2nd: Big deal!!

Well actually it is a big deal as it was my last bday in college, I wanted to celebrate it loudly but exams resulted in division of the classmates as per schedule and then there was the Car Festival in Mangalore ( Yesterday was the big parade and today is the celebration of colours called Okli, exactly like Holi but a lot more wilder and populous) so nothing eventually happened..

The usual sms tradition continued as the day began at 12 am and I got no sleep till 12 30, then had to wake up again at 1 am for round 2! I appreciate all the wishes but as the day progressed I realised that some friends, hell even just acquaintances, I took for granted wished me while some "close" friends did not- Did that bother me? Honestly no!

After a certain age, this whole "birthday bash" thing loses its charm and I think it was over 5 years ago for me.. Sure you finally hear from some old friends and far-off cousins but I have grown nonchalant over relatives recently.. Maybe its fault that I no longer care what many of the "friends" do, but I think that suits me just fine!

I did get over rs 1k in cash and loads of clothing apparels which is the advantage of having a Bday coinciding with the annual Konkani festivals in Mangalore and I hogged on food like never before, so glad I can work it out in the gym!

So if I happen to be here on Feb 2nd, 2010 I will write but at the rate I am losing interest in trivial matters as this, its doubtful...

The Tale of the Tramp

A friend of mine wrote this down when he was in one of his creative moods:-

I gazed upon the street 
Below the shining lamp, 
I thought it was just plain rags; 
But it was actually a tramp 

I pitied on his condition 
Walked up to his domain, 
I looked into his eyes, 
And felt some distant pain. 

I felt into my pouch, 
Placed some money on my palm, 
Held it for this pitiful tramp, 
And he took it from my arm. 

He opened his mouth to thank me, 
But instead came a cough 
I moved forward to console him; 
But he fell down with a puff. 

He seemed like a god’s reject, 
And I felt pity on this tramp, 
- felt an urge to help this man 
This man besides the lamp. 

I picked him up and 
To the clinic I took him, 
The tramp was now awake… 
But still looked pretty grim 

The doctor came in 
With a pint of the drug, 
He went to the sink 
And put some water in the jug. 

He then took the mixture, 
And poured it down the tramps throat; 
The tramp suddenly felt better 
And I went to get my coat. 

To pay the doctor, 
I got up from my couch; 
I paid the money – 
Right out of my pouch. 

Then as we left, 
The tramp thanked me, 
He took out his stick... 
And waked away slowly 

He left me on the pavement 
With a goodness in my heart; 
I had just helped a man 
Who lived with fits and starts 

Later that night, 
I walked to the nearest bar 
I felt very elated as, 
I had healed a man’s scar. 

I grabbed a seat, 
And got me a glass of wine 
Reminiscing ‘bout the tramp’s domain, 
Where the lamp still shines 

I reached out for my pouch, 
As I started to leave; 
You see – this pitiful tramp… 
…was also a thief! 

                                    ---AmC 

Nice huh? I liked it and hope you did too! There is a lesson to be learnt here but as you can tell from this earlier post (Click Here), I didnt learn it!!

Something Funny!

Today being my birthday I decided to just out up a few exceptional jokes I noticed in the joke column in my blog..

1) Newspaper Clippings

Washer. Owned by clean bachelor who seldom washed -- $100.

Snow blower for sale. Only used on snowy days.

Free puppies. Part German Shepherd, part dog.

Cows, calves never bred. Also, one gay bull for sale.

Free puppies: part Cocker Spaniel, part sneaky neighbor's dog

Full-sized mattress. 20-year warranty. Like new. Slight urine smell.

Found: dirty white dog. Looks like a rat. Been out for a while. Better be reward.

Nice parachute. Never opened. Used once. Slightly stained.

Free Yorkshire Terrier. Eight years old. Unpleasant little dog.

Tired of working for only $9.75 per hour? We offer profit sharing and flexible hours. Starting pay: $7 - $9 per hour.

2) Fortune Cookie says---

 -- Passionate kiss like spider's web. Soon lead to undoing of fly.

-- Virginity like bubble. One prick, all gone.

-- Man who run in front of car get tired.

-- Man who run behind car get exhausted.

-- Foolish man give wife grand piano. Wise man give wife upright organ.

-- Man who walk thru airport turnstile sideways going to Bangkok.

-- Man with one chopstick go hungry.

-- Man who scratches butt should not bite fingernails.

-- Man who eat many prunes get good run for money.

-- Baseball is wrong -- man with four balls cannot walk.

-- War doesn't determine who is right. War determines who is left.

-- Wife who put husband in doghouse soon find him in cathouse.

3) Blonde's Alligator Shoes

A blonde was on vacation in the depths of Louisiana. She wanted a pair of genuine alligator shoes, but didn't want to pay the high prices.

After unsuccessfully haggling with of one of the shopkeepers, the blonde said, "Maybe I'll just go out and catch my own alligator, so I can get a pair of shoes at a reasonable price."

Later in the day, the shopkeeper spotted the young woman standing waist deep in the water, shotgun in hand. She took aim at an alligator, killed it and hauled it onto the swamp bank.

Lying nearby were several more of the dead creatures. The shopkeeper watched in amazement as the blonde flipped the alligator on its back and shouted in frustration, "Damn, this one isn't wearing any shoes either."

Chinese New Year at Cx!

Firstly, Happy Chinese New Year for all who care! 2009 is the year of the Ox and well, its a good way to have a zodiac based on animals and not star constellations..

So why the interest for me? Well I learnt that the food chain Chefs-Xinlai have opened a fusion restaurent "Cx" (Although the "C" looks pretty different) in Mannagudda and yesterday I happened to be in the vicinity only to learn that they had a Cantonese Chef brought here for a week (Jan 26- Feb 1) and had actually made a menu for this week only incorporating the guy's original chinese recipes: No people, Gobi Manchurian is NOT chinese, its actually an Indian creation believe it or not!

I thus decided to go there yesterday afternoon and was really surprised by the extent of "China" they brought in here: The outside is full of Chinese paper decorations in the shape of the famous Paper lanterns, Dragons and Chinese Letters and just outside the inner area is a small outer section with a couple of tables and the setting is in accurate chinese style (Watch any of the chinese martial art movies and you will see the tables and the walls in one scene atleast), but the real treat is inside..

I guess air conditioning is a given these days but what about Chinese herbs and aromas giving a soothing fragrance to the decor? Speaking of decor, more paper decorations hung from the ceiling and, according to the waiter atleast, the background song was from a recent film of a very famous chinese actress Ariel Lin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Lin). So far so good, I was already impressed with the extent of originality and the waiters looked chinese but thats true for most dhaba's also here lol..

In comes a waiter with a special menu and the regular one, I didnt even open the regular menu! The special menu had 4 sides of food items and most of it made me think of american tv serials where they talk about the food and I go- WTF is that?? Not this time! The waiter patiently explains to me what all the food items are and its gets tougher to decide what to take the longer he talks..

Finally i decide on a course of Chicken Dumplings (Starters), Spicy Chicken in Royal Thai Sauce and the Chinese Festival Special Fried Rice (Although I also wanted to try the Kwaithyao/Meifoon for the main course)! The starters were excellent in the sense that they were delicious with no frying and also light on the palate while the Saucy Chicken was succulent like hell.. The main course was Seafood endowed with Prawns, Fillet fish, Squid, Crab and something I am yet to identify along with Blue cabbage, green tomatoes and blood-red carrots.. My best thought was the table ware: The plates were real different in shape and the dumplings actually came in a steam basket:-

Here is the Thai Chicken:-

Sadly I got no pic of the rice items as I had them parcelled, but the icing on the cake, and it actually didnt spoil my mood, was when I was leaving the restuarent and the owner tells me to come again- IN KONKANI!! Now he pretty sure heard me speaking in konkani as I was talking there but I was surprised at that..

If you want a treat of the actual chinese eating experience (Or atleast as close as I got), head over to Cx, Mannagudda main road!