Pirates of Silicon Valley - movie

It was quite an amazing experience to watch a movie of this genre.

It would be hard to believe that a 9th grader told me about this movie when we had nothing to talk about, at a wedding function. I wondered if he could ever relate anything to that movie, considering his age. Thanks to that kid anyways.

This movie narrates on how two of greatest minds on earth grew up, and end up creating what we are using today, to communicate to each other. I am talking about COMPUTERS.

Controversies apart, I found this to be a great movie to watch, technically. Also on second priority, what excited me the most is when I got to learn the history of the advancement of computers and the secrets that were involved upon.

Terms like 'Mac', 'Windows', 'Xerox', etc have definitely become a part of our life, one should be excited to know the way these inventions came up, to conquer our lives and make it much better. Nobody in the early 80's would have ever imagined an advancement of this intensity.

Dialogues like 'We're here to make a dent in the universe', 'We're rewriting the history of human thoughts with what we're doing', 'information is power', are all so powerful that it I found these in resemblance to the tamil movie titled 'Iruvar' featuring Mohan Lal, Prakash Raj and Aishwarya Rai, directed by Mani Ratnam.

Do watch this movie.

A blog to discuss musiq

Perhaps, this is one way of showcasing our sense of time-passing through musiq.

Do visit my new blog site to talk about music.

http://letstalkmusiq.blogspot.com/

P.S: Do not misjudge me for the incorrect usage of 'music' in the site name and the post. This is done intentionally due to non-availability of the non-incorrect word.

Shortest version of 'Shoe'Napped

One day, I lost my shoes in a bus, on my way back home.

A shorter version of 'Shoe'Napped

Many of my friends commented on the story 'Shoe'Napped saying that it was too dragging, lengthy, etc.

Here is the shorter version for them.

On my way back from office, I lost my shoes in the bus in which I traveled back home. Soon as i realized that after getting down from the bus, I made a decision to go in search of the shoes to the bus terminus, without realizing the fact that I had to travel across 2 continents to reach there. And finally, the shoes were not there inside the bus. I got back home late.

Shoe'Napped' - Part 03 (Final)

I think the title would have brought in a great sense of relief. True ain't?
Here we go.

LOCATION : Bus terminus of "B18"
TIME : 11:45PM

The site was truly amazing. You get to realize the service provided by these transport corporations on such occasions only. Otherwise all we know is to curse them when a bus is late, or any situation for that matter.

There was this table with a bunch of supervisors who had these really huge registers which marks all the technical details, relevant only to them. And according to these gentlemen also, I was an unexpected alien who has entered into their office on such an odd time to take their lives off. Politely, I approached a person over there and I told him that I missed my pair of shoes on the latest service of "B18" (God!! How many times do I have to repeat this sick bus route number?). He immediately asked me if I had the ticket, so that he could identify the exact bus in which I have made the mess. I readily answered with a loud 'Yes' and all I did was to take out a bunch of papers (all of them being bus tickets) from my left pocket.

It took a little time for me to actually identify the exact ticket that was required to be shown to them. But, fortunately this guy asked me to quit doing that, as sounded like had almost found out the probable bus and he was questioning his subordinates in a loud tone if that bus had arrived at the terminus, and the answers given were all doubtful for conclusions to be made.

While all these talks we going on, I saw the very same "B18" entering into the terminus. I got super excited. Can still remember the scene. It was like your typical examination results. Do or die. The result of your investments on time, energy and thoughts for the last few hours, is going to be revealed now. So, you would get to know, if you are doing meaningful things or not. The diameter of both my eyes were at its all time high.

I took no time to tell the supervisor that it was this bus in which I had traveled. He then asked me to go ahead and see if it is still inside the bus. I almost ran like a school kid running out of the school building after the last hour's bell. The driver and the conductor were switching the lights off and were about the close the automatic doors of the bus, and I quickly intervened to tell them that I did so and so, in so and so time from so and so place to so and so place, all in this bus. Again, without any surprise (for me), the bus conductor was able to recognize me. Thanks to my dashing looks even during odd times of the day!! He told me that he remembered me and allowed me to get inside the bus and search for my bag of shoes.

I jumped into the bus with not less than 100% confidence in my heart which was beating as fast as the speed in which my brain works (without any sense, at times) . The shoe-bag was NOT there under the seats. It took time for me to believe the truth involved. I kept looking under all the seats, but in vain. If you think in the other way (or in a sensible way), this definitely should not be of a great shock to me. You leave your shoe on a bus which is used by thousands of commuters on a single day, and you are optimistic about getting it back. I had to tell myself that attempts like these would end up successful only once out of a hundred times.

I came out of the bus with my heads down (like a doctor coming out of the operation theater, when his patient is dead) and told the bus conductor that the bag was not there inside and must have been taken by somebody. I still could not digest the fact that I have really missed my shoes, mainly because the toughest part was to end up reaching the terminus, than finding the bus and searching inside it, considering the time of the day you have done all these. I announced the end result to the conductor and the driver and headed back towards the exit gate of the terminus.

But this time, I was not as disgusted as I was when I came to know that the shoes were left missed out in the bus itself. At least, a sense of satisfaction was there because of the effort and the adventure that took place the last few hours.

LOCATION : Bus terminus of "B18"
TIME : 12:00AM

Now, an ever tougher task ahead. How the hell do I reach back home? I had no clue on how far I was, from the nearest landmark that I knew, to guide myself. The road was nearly empty and an auto-rickshaw approached towards me and the driver asked me the place that I wanted to go. I told him that I wanted to go to the broadway terminus, and he demanded me an amount, which I thought was high because of two simple reasons.

• I had no idea about the distance I had to travel to
• I did not want to spend such an amount after having leaned on to the losing side of a battle which started because of a minor defect on my mental reflex

But this time, I told the auto guy that I do not want to give such an amount as I have traveled a long way from nowhere to here and having ended up losing my shoes. He then reduced the amount that he quoted and headed back. And this was the conversation.

Auto Guy : What was the price of the shoes when you purchased this pair of shoes?
Me : 1500 bucks.
Auto Guy : Why did you travel all the way for shoes that costs just 1500? You should have returned back home and should have had a good sleep.
Me : Its ok. Thanks. I would consider the auto fare as sight seeing charges for the northern part of the city (with a lot of embarrassment within inside)

I reached home at around 1AM.

What a tragic day!!! And what a tragic suspense to this story!!!!

'Shoe'Napped - Part 02

Where were we? Okay. Yeah. Here we go (keeping in mind, our BGMs).

LOCATION : AAAA XYZ
TIME : 10:10PM

I start walking back towards the bus stop which is a very few meters away. But it definitely wasn't a very short walk, because you have made a real blunder. What could turn out to become a bigger blunder is the fact that you make a little bit of a foolish attempt, and you still get back home sometime in the midnight without your bag of shoes. Wouldn't you end up thinking,

"At least you could have had yourself a lot more time to sleep after all the mess that has happened till now"

I cursed myself.

In the mean time, I called up the boss of my house to say that I would get back home a little late, as I had extra work at office. (Who is going to monitor me? But at least I was a little guilty about the fact that I was not truthful)

As I approached the exact point where I got down from the bus, I saw another "B18" approaching me (Gosh! Is this bus a part of my fate? You actually tend to think about your fate only when you are being screwed). I was excited to see that. But something else seemed to have bothered me. What was it?

Zooming my sight into the board which displays the route number and the destination, I got to realize that this bus is not heading towards what I thought would be the usual terminus that the majority of buses would be heading to. 95% of the buses would have its end point as 'the broadway terminus', and I had made a small calculation in my mind thinking that it would take a total of one hour to carry out my stupid and so-called "effort" after that "effortless" and "silly" act. But...but... this mighty "B18" goes to a place which is beyond the broadway terminus.

Cursing myself again. What else could I possibly do? 'Difficult' was becoming 'very tough' at this moment. I got into the bus and was waiting for the bus conductor to give me a ticket. Gathering money from my pocket to prepare myself for this. Before I got a ticket, I got a call from Rakesh and he said,

"Hey. I went back to the bus where I got down and I could not spot your shoes there dude!!!"

I knew the answer myself. I replied to him saying that I had realized the same and am on a leap towards a mighty hunt over the very same pair of shoes. He must have thought if I was a fool of 21st century or something. Never mind all these, when you are capable or doing mistakes, that too when you learn something in life. The bus conductor came towards me and I explained him the fact that I left my pair of shoes on the previous bus, and would want to go to the bus depot to see if it is still under the seat where I sat. He was kind enough to understand my situation and rightly understood, the place where I wanted to go to, and gave me a ticket. This bus was decently crowded.

Again, I could sense that some of my co-passengers gave a weird look at the way I was dressed up. It started disturbing me and I shouted at all of them saying,

"Hey. What are you all looking at? Are we all going to attend a party tonight? Then why the hell are you people discomforting me with such looks?"

Of course, I shouted at all of them from the inside of my mind only. I would not want to get chopped. Had to keep all my expressions and thoughts completely shut, and just be a little positive of the fact that I got the right bus at least.

Time on the watch was ticking faster but I felt that my time was definitely not. I took a wide look at all the other passengers in the bus. They all must be heading back to their homes for a peaceful sleep after a warm day. I knew it for a fact that it was only me in the whole bus, who had done something and is doing something foolish. What to do? Negative thoughts go through our minds when we are under pressure. All that I was waiting for, was this whole event to get over ASAP, no matter if I succeeded or not.

The bus passed across the broadway terminus. And I was just thinking that I would be reaching the terminus of "B18" in a few minutes. It went on and on and on. It would have taken around 30 minutes since I crossed the broadway terminus, and it still didn't look like I was anywhere close to reaching that place. Suddenly, the bus conductor poked me and told,

"This bus would actually take a longer route to reach its terminus. I would advise you to get down in the next stop, and take another bus (he told me a bunch of numbers and none of them were catchy to me at that time) from there. It would help you to reach the place faster"

I had no other option but to readily obey his words of wisdom. At least someone was there to understand the situation and guide me. I also had no clue about the place where I was, at that time.

The bus stopped then. He told me to quickly get down from the bus and catch the other one that was approacing us from behind. All I had time to say was a small 'thanks' to him, but it meant a lot to me. I got down right then from the bus, and then ran to catch the one that he asked me to. Boarded it, and again, all the passengers were puzzled to see a creature like me, at that time of the night. Cannot help it myself. I didn't even have any time to think of what was actually going on, and went to the conductor straight away to ask him for a ticket to the terminus.

Seems that this bus just passes by the terminus where I was supposed to go, and he told me that It doesn't stop there. Now, again, I briefed him about what happened, and told him that the conductor of the previous bus suggested me to get into this one, so that I can reach there faster. Surprizingly, this man was also kind enough, gave me a ticket, asked me to sit down for a few minutes, and told me that he would poke me when I am supposed to get down.

Phew!! Look at what all I had to go through because of one silly mistake and an even sillier decision to undo my silliness.

LOCATION : AAAA XYZ
TIME : 11:00PM

I think conductor gave me a ticket which costed one grade higher than the minimum fare. So, i got myself into a conclusion that this was yet another ride which is gonna eat my time. The conclusion was rightly done. After a lot of yawns, the conductor called me and when I went towards him, he told me to go to the bus driver and request him to stop the bus near the terminus.

I went and stood behind the bus driver and looked at his face through the mirror. I think he was heavy, and sported a pretty big moustache. Boy! This isn't the guy whom you wanna give your request in such a bad situation. Still, I had to do that. Asked him if he could stop next to the terminus and he readily answered that the bus would not stop there. Again, I briefed him on what happened, and he said 'okay'.

Few minutes later, he stopped the bus and pointed at the bus terminus and told me that this was the place where I wanted to go to. I thanked him (as usual) and got down from the bus. This time I was pretty sure that I need not travel any distance further away. I crossed the road and went into the bus depot.

Guys!!! It was truly an amazing site on such a 'not-so-amazing' situation. It was a huge bus terminus. Hundreds of buses parked like matchsticks.

(To be continued......)

'Shoe'Napped - Part 01

My typical day-to-day routine (when this incident happened):

• Wake up early
  
• Jogging
• Get ready for work
  
• Workplace (till 7PM)
  
• Basketball (till 9:30PM)
• Get back home and sleep

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED ON ONE FINE DAY:

After an excellent session of basketball, I and my friend Rakesh headed back towards home and had to take a public transport bus. We both get to accompany each other till half way, and, after that, depart towards our respective localities. Ideally, one of us need to hop into two buses to get back home each day. It was my turn to hop that fine day (which later turned out to become not just fine).

Back to our screenplay. Rakesh and I had an usual light talk, as we traveled together in a bus which was only half occupied by passengers. I keep my formal clothes (that i wear to my workplace) in a bag, and a pair of black, formal shoes (which is rightly to be acclaimed the hero of this story) on a plastic bag. The way I am dressed at this time of the day is a little weird, I should say. Dirt patched T Shirt, sport shorts, and sport shoes. But even after realizing this, I got no regrets. All that you think of, at that time, is to reach home ASAP, take a shower, have dinner, and reach your dream world in the 600th second after you gulp your glass of water, post dinner.

I think it was me who got tickets for the both of us, and the time came when I had to get down on one particular junction to catch another bus. While I was supposed to jump off from the footpath, the Bus Conductor politely asked me

"You are the one who purchased the tickets for the both of you. Have you given the other ticket to your friend?"

I had to reply to him with a smile saying,

"Oh yes. I have given him, his ticket."

Waved a smile back again at Rakesh and happily got down from the bus (I liked the responsible behavior of the bus conductor).

Soon as I hopped out, I saw another attractive looking bus with the route number "B18" (Is this bus the villain of the story?), which must have been occupied by around 10 to 15 passengers, maximum. Got into it with a little bit of an excited expression on my face (I prefer to board a bus on that time of the night where I would not want to give trouble to my co-passengers by standing or sitting next to them, after a rough and tough game of basketball, that too in humid cities like Chennai. I am happy to have avoided using words like sweat, dirt, odour, etc)

Like many screenplay oriented Hollywood movies, I would like to give u with a flash, the time of the incidents, so that we are on the right track. No popcorn or telephone call should distract us, right?

LOCATION : ABCD XYZ
TIME : 9:50PM

Back inside our bus ("B18". Yeah. The camera just zoomed in from an angle in which it showed the route name with a flash and then it took a mighty swing on the sides to show me from the windows. This is where I realize I should get into movies, even though the idea might sound extremely familiar), I just got to sit comfortably (even though it is just a 15-20 minutes journey), and commute after I stepped a few seats towards the front, where the conductor was sitting, to get my ticket. And then, I got a call from a friend of mine, and I picked it up to know that it was a conference call comprising 4 of my friends. As usual, all of us bitched about our work and working routine (even though I completely enjoy the freedom I had) and there was this particular point of time where my friends insisted me to include another friend of mine on the call. I had to put that call on HOLD mode, and dialled a number, when I realized I had to step out of the bus immediately, as I have reached my locality. I UNHOLDED the call and told my friends to hold on for a second, and got down from the bus immediately.

Just imagine this in a filmy style, in slow motion. When I was leaping to take the last step to get down from the bus, something flashed on my mind.

I also had a plastic bag on my hand which had my black formal shoes in it.

By the time this realization happened in ultra slow motion, I was out of the bus. :-( . Heart started beating a little faster (Ofcourse). Had to confirm the fact that I have definitely become a loser right now (acknowledgement, you see), took a few more fractions of a second. While these fractions of the second were happening, something else flashed on my mind.

Did I leave the shoe bag on the other bus in which I came with Rakesh?

The answer is definitely a Yes or a No and both of them had equal weightage, according to my tensed mind, at that time.

Quickly picked up my mobile to tell my friends what happend and I insisted them that I would call them back later. Call disconnected even faster. Now, my mind started to swing again. Had to think really fast. The fact that the answer could be a mighty Yes made me walk towards my home. Even your common sense would suggest you to do that. Why would you wanna follow that bus when you can only walk, and you haven't confirmed that the answer is a No?

While I was walking back a few steps away from the bus stop, I called up Rakesh to find out if he had gotten out of the bus in which we came. Just to check under the seats or somewhere, If I had missed it there itself. I would have been nice if it happened that way. Told him what had happened. He said he had gotten down from the bus and told me that he would go back to the bus to see if I had left it inside there(He gets down on a bus depot. So this is logically possible). Call disconnected, and this was the time I had to scold and abuse myself for what I'd done, until something evident flashed on my mind.

When the bus conductor asked me in person if I had given my friend his ticket, I recognized I had the shoe bag on my hand when I answered him.

This was clearly evident. I was pretty sure that I had not misplaced my shoes on the first bus and my shoes must be happily traveling now on that "B18" bus. And this time, I scolded myself even more. Again in a dilemma.

What am I supposed to do right now? Should I get another bus following this to go to the bus depot and give a good try? Or, think reality and get back home? (abusing myself more)

This time, I took a decision as fast as I took the other decisions.

LOCATION : AAAA XYZ
TIME : 10:10PM

Yeah I have decided. I am going to give it a try. I am going to follow this bus, no matter how late it is. Just an effort. Why not?

Imagine all your reconcilation BGMs (BackGround Music Scores), or your Slumdog Millionaire BGMs. Time to fight back. Pulling up my socks. More than the fact that the possibility factor for getting back those shoes is at its all time low, I liked the fact that I took a decision. I am a person who can even kill myself in situations like these where dilemma plays the role of a super hero.

And here i walk strong (with a little bit of sadness, ofcourse) towards the same bus stop to catch the next bus heading towards the bus depot of our infamous "B18".

(To be continued.....)