Close Encounters of the Annoying Kind.Part 2.The motormouth.

Storytellers.Man,they are a pain.Especially when you meet one in a train.I did not actually met one but my fellow passengers did.I was travelling from Nagpur to Raigarh in a train.As always I had booked a upper berth.I do that to avoid talking to people and on this particular journey even that precaution was not going to save me.There was this fellow sitting there with the other passengers who started telling stories.At first he was quiet.I fell asleep quite soon after the train started but then constant chatter broke my sleep.I could hear a guy telling a story.At first I tried to listen what it was about.It was something about mythology.I never heard of the characters he kept talking about.And no  it was not even remotely interesting.I mean he was talking about some guys slippers which he wore on a particular day and why he wore a green chaddi with a yellow shirt on a full moon.I was truly irritated but atleast I thought I did not have to fake enthusiasm like those poor listeners below.I was thinking about those guys while his jibber jabber was going on continuously when suddenly out of nowhere,one of the listeners asked him a question.I was incredulous.So the listeners were also of the same mould.They were indeed interested and had questions too.I cursed my luck for falling in this bunch of nincompoops.Anyway I pressed my blanket over my ears and tried to fall back to sleep but thanks to that motormouth and his loyal group of listeners I couldn't sleep properly and had to endure a torturous journey. 

Q and A series. Q1.What is the one life experience that made you mature significantly?

These questions were asked in Quora and the answers here were the answers I wrote there.This is the first part of a series I will continue.

Q.What is the one life experience that made you mature significantly?

A.Once me and my friends were eating steaks in a restaurant in Hyderabad.When the bill came it was Rs3000 for just the three of us.When the time to pay came none of us had cash.We had only cards and the card machine of the restaurant had a problem.So I decided to go out and take out money from an ATM.I went to a nearby ATM and took out the cash and was making my way back to the restaurant when suddenly my eyes fell on a beggar sitting on the side of the road.The road was poorly lit and I couldn't see properly.But what I saw moved me.The beggar was carefully unwrapping some thing.I looked carefully and saw that it was some leftover vadas.The careful and delicate manner of his,which looked like it was the most precious thing he had, almost made my eyes moist.Here was a man who was eating leftovers and I was just coming off from a Rs3000 meal.I was disgusted with myself. I hastened inside,paid the bill and came out to search for that guy but he was gone. Though I do some work for the less fortunates (I started a club of like minded friends for doing charity work few years back) I decided it was time to up the ante and increase the amount of work.I am,these days working on it.

I stand with....

I stand with Paris,France
I stand with Baghdad,Iraq
I stand with Beirut,Lebanon
I stand with Fotokol,Cameroon
I stand with Arish,Egypt
I stand with Mogadishu,Somalia
I stand with Syria
I stand with Palestine
I stand with Sudan
I stand with Libya
I stand with Yemen
I stand with Mexico
I stand with all the people in the world who have become a victim of violence.

As a Muslim I condemn this latest act of violence in France.
A number of terrorist outfits in the world claim to be Islamic but they are anything but Islamic.
The one responsible for the most recent attack, in Paris,ISIS is, as a muslim from Singapore rightly labelled 'Cancer at the heart of Islam'.

They do not represent muslims as they claim.They are a weed that needs to be rooted out.

Islam does not teach violence.
Islam does not tells you to harm others.

The Quran says the following

'Whoever kills an innocent person, it is as if he has killed all of humanity'- Quran 5:32

As a Muslim I am deeply saddened by what these terrorists are doing in the name of Islam.And over 1.6 Billion muslims all over the world feel the same. These terrorists have no religion.

I dream of that day when all of these terrorists are wiped off from the face of the earth.

'The Existential Pleasures of Engineering'.A Review.

'The Existential Pleasures of Engineering' by Samuel C.Florman
is a book about engineering and what engineers feel about their profession.In a very highly enthusiastic tone the author talks about engineering as a most basic impulse of man.He celebrates the fact that engineers have shaped the modern world and staunchly defends it against people who say it has bought more problems than solutions.

        The book starts off with detailing the rise and subsequent fall in popularity of the engineers.He calls the period between 1850 and 1950 to be the golden age of engineers.At this point of time engineers were a respected lot and people termed them as 'benefactors of mankind'. He bought in the industrial revolution with his locomotives,electric power,steam power,mass production and bridges.After that industrial revolution life was never the same again for mankind.Things have improved dramatically for humans.It then goes on to describe the negativity that engulfed the engineering profession during the cold war when the perception of the engineering profession changed from 'benefactors of mankind' to 'Prophets of doom'.One of the chief reasons for this was the Atomic Bomb.

       This negativity then led to the advent of a new type of critic of engineers called the 'Anti technologists' .This is described in the second part of the book.This part describes the viewpoints of the anti technologists who in their criticism have declared that man in his continuing quest of new technology has become the slave of this very technology he created for his benefit.The third and final part is the most exciting part of the book wherein the author answers the anti technologist point of views.He counter questions them and provides some thought provoking standpoints.In addition to defending the engineers from the anti technologists the author urges the engineering community to bring in a measure of sophistication to their profession and life.He urges them to move beyond their profession and bring in a bit of imagination,social concern and culture.He also calls for engineers all over the world to express their love for engineering uninhibitedly.He calls engineering fun and something that gives a 'kick' to a man.

       All in all this book is a must read for anybody who is even a least bit interested in engineers or engineering.The author has an infectious enthusiasm that is visible all through out the book.He celebrates engineering as something that is vital to the very existence of man.If not the whole book the first chapter of part 1 and chapter 11 of part 3 are a must read.

      On a closing note I would like the reader to look up the story of sisyphus who the author calls the symbol of the modern engineer.He says the following regarding the story of sisyphus.'We are beginning to realize that for mankind there will never be a time to rest at the top of the mountain.There will be no Arcadian age.There will always be new burdens,new problems,new failures,new beginnings.And the glory of man is to respond to his harsh fate with zest and ever renewed effort.An engineer's work springing as it does from the most basic impulse of humanity can fill him with existential joy'

My Videos.Part 3.Random

Whatever videos have been left out from the previous two posts I have them here.Some are related to school and couple of them are about travel trips I made.

1.This was when we celebrated Teachers Day during our first year of Intermediate.That was back in 2007.

2.Then came the Teachers Day of the year 2008.That was the last year I spent in my Colony.

3.In my second year our school participated in a large national Youth fest comprising of all the branches of AECS schools.I took part in the Quiz event and we even bagged the first Position.Heres the full account of that wonderful trip.Below is the video I made of the pictures that we took there.

4.In 2007 we hosted  a farewell party for our seniors.I still remember the daily meetings we used to hold,the little arguments and the different responsibilities we had.It was all very exciting.

5.In intermediate we used to do all sorts of shenanigans.Like one time when one of our classmates threw small stones at a bee hive just to see how the hive absorbs the stone first and then ejects it.But the inevitable followed and one time the bees flew out in anger and attacked the large number of us standing there to watch the show.Two bees bit me and that stung me for days.Another time when one of our most strict teachers was teaching we took a video of him.It was very successful.He didn't notice.Heres the video I made after many years of the actual video we shot.

 

6.School Days are hard to forget.One day during my engineering days when I was reminiscing about my school days I dug out all the videos I had of those days and made a compilation of them.I realized that during our intermediate we took a lot of videos.Heres the compilation.

 

  7.The following two videos are of the trips I made with friends to Puri in Orissa and then to Mainpat in Chhattsigarh.

   

Though I have made a number of other videos they are not meant for public.They are too cheesy to be shared with the public.So they will remain in the depths of Youtube only for my viewing and cringing.

My Videos.Part 2.College Days



Everyone likes his/her college days.So do I.I had some memorable moments both with my college mates and my friends during the 4 years I spent in Hyderabad. Here are some videos I made during those 4 years.

 

1.The below video was taken during our college Freshers day.Thanks to our seniors we had lots of fun on that day and got to know many of our classmates and seniors.One guy named Ehatareen nearly made mincemeat of my feet when he accidentally stepped on them during his dance.



 





2.A trip to the historic city of Bidar was done in the second year.APSRTC buses,autos,donkey driven carts we used them all in this trip.Not to forget one wonderful Andhra meals we had in a roadside dhaba.

 

3.Then followed a trip to Bijapur where we saw the mighty Gol Gumbaz.One of the rare times when I acted crazy in public.My friend Ameen and myself shoted random meaningless stuff when we were in the whispering alley at the top of the Gol Gumbaz.

'Master ji papaji ki patloon do bilang choti kardo' was the most repeated one.

 

3.Another trip to Bhongir Fort.Sitting at the top of the hill overlooking the town of bhongir,my friend Rahmath and I had a thoughtful conversation parts of which I still remember.

 

 

4.'Adsophos' was our college fest and it was 2 days of full fun.When I was in second year I was a volunteer for an event and when Adsophos came again in fourth year I organized that same event.It felt quite good.





 

5.All good things come to an end.In the last days of our fourth year we had a wonderful party at Alankrita Resorts.The cricket match and dip in the pool were the highlights.

 

 

The following videos are about the trips I had with my childhood friends during my college days.

 

1.Nearby our colony in Aswapuram we have this wonderfully secluded lake called Tummalacheruvu. We visited it once and this video is a personal favorite. 



 

2.In my second year I visited suryapet where three of my close friends were doing their engineering.

This video is a compilation of that trip and another trip we did.



 

3.In my second year I visited my friend's place in karimnagar where he was doing his engineering. I visited the mallangoor fort there.One of the toughest climbs I did before Roopkund happened.

 

6.This was perhaps the best trip our gang of friends had till date.8 out of 9 were present and we had some serious fun in vizag.

 

7.This was about Ananthagiri Hills near Hyderabad.Of all the videos I have made till date this has the highest views on Youtube.

 

 



I made a number of other videos during this time about our school and other stuff.I will post them in the next part.If my videos remind you of any memorable incidents please I implore you to either comment below or maybe message me.

My videos.Part 1.School Days.

In my 12th class my brother bought a Digital camera.My brother is a lover of technology in general and photography in particular.So keeping in view his interest with photography he wanted a digital camera having gotten bored with Dad's Yashica and his own Kodak.As for me I was interested in other things.But this digital camera caught my fancy like no other at that time.In addition to taking pics I loved its video taking capability.I took many videos with it.Then I edited them,added some music and made a complete product.These videos of my friends that I made back then remain my best help whenever I feel nostalgic about those times.

Here in this post I present to you some of my earliest videos.

1.Back in my 12th my friends and I hit upon the idea of making a short movie.This was long before the short movie craze took over the entire country.We shot many scenes but ultimately had to abandon the whole thing because we simply couldn't control our laughter whenever the camera rolled.From whatever videos we did have I made this trailer for our movie.This was the first edited video I made and uploaded on my channel in YouTube. This was uploaded in August of 2008.

2.My friends and I formed a gang back in our 9th class but we only started hanging out together and doing stuff in our 11th and 12th class.In connection with the above movie we were to make I thought we will be needing a cool intro for the movie.Even though the movie idea was abandoned I made an intro video nevertheless.Here it is.

3.The below video was made in the spur of the moment.We shot some really good videos of us riding our bikes around the colony and I felt the need to compile them together with a nice song in the background.The result is below.

4.In our 12th class we had a little picnic in the surrounding hills of our colony.This video is about it.

I have since those days made many other videos.Most of them have been about travel and a few were about college.I will be posting them in the following posts.

When my article got published in 'The Hindu' (School days)

King Solomon's Mines is one of my all time favorites.It was one of the books responsible for starting in me a desire for travel.I wrote a brief review about it back in by Intermediate days.The actual article was largely edited and the result was considerably different from what I wrote.But nonetheless I was and still am happy that my article got published in 'The Hindu'

5 Changes I would like to see in Indian railways.

Here are Five changes that I would like to see in Indian railways.


1-There should be a complete overhaul of the classes that exist in our Railways.I think that there is a huge gap between a sleeper class and 3A.Indian Railways should introduce a new class between Sleeper and 3A.Something which is more comfortable and has bit more amenities.No need of AC just basics.

2-The maintenance of toilets of all classes should be improved dramatically.The trains already have a rocking motion ,add to that the unclean toilets and the lack of basic facilities like a proper jug,a faucet and hooks to hang stuff on,the task of going to an train toilet is the stuff of nightmares.

3-More number of Chair car and 2s bogies should be added in most of the trains.Personally I think Indian Railways underestimates the potential of Chair cars and 2s classes.

4-Food quality has to be improved.I have seen tea vendors selling tea in makeshift vessels.I have even seen one guy with a half cut bisleri bottle using it as a funnel.One look and you are no more hungry.

5-Start another system of booking tickets between the normal booking and tatkal.Maybe at double the price and at a weeks advance.

Bonus-Introduce a host for every train.Someone along the lines of a Airhostess.Someone who would help the people with any minor problems like getting their blankets,food, or any other needs.

There is never a perfect time for doing anything!

Just do it!

This has to be one of the best advice ever!

Before you read further let me just put this-Whatever I say here is my opinion and though I am a rookie part time traveller I have travelled quite a bit.

Quite a few people have asked me how I manage time between my work and travelling.I always say the same thing.I prioritize things and when I make a goal I try to execute it as soon as possible.I have consciously tried to remove the word 'dekhenge' from my word.If I want to visit a particular place I immediately make a tentative plan regarding it.I don't say to myself ' zindagi bakhi hai.dekhte hai'  

My advice to all those people who have a passion to do anything is - Just do it.Don't make excuses.You like sketching.Do it once in a while atleast. Don't blame 'time'.You like photography but don't have a good camera? No problem at least start with your camera phone.Just don't sit around and make poor excuses saying you would have surely been a good photographer if you had a good camera.

And remember in life something or the other comes up everytime.Do it regardless.There never will be a perfect time for doing the things you like.You have to make compromises and start doing.If you wait for the perfect time,you will never actually get to do the things you like.

In case of unavoidable circumstances may be you can back off for the time being.Step back and try later.Lose the battle but try to win the war.

One of my friends has been thinking of buying a bike for a long time now.Two years to be exact.And he gives the same standard replies if queried about this bike.''I am confused between two models''.''I am confused about the price''.''I am confused about this''.''I am in doubt about that''.''Something has come up''.It goes on.Two major things lacking in people, that I have observed, are 

1.Resolve

2.A plan 

If you wish to do something be determined to do it and make a plan about it.People underestimate the process of making a plan.I mentioned in a previous post about planning.You can read it here.

Personally I make plans for even the smallest of things.Like I made a plan last month about writing this post.And here I am.That goal is accomplished.

This post was inspired by two reasons

1-The number of questions people were asking me about my juggling of my hobbies and work

2-Two individuals in my friend circle who frustrate me the most.They have the talent and the mindset to do wonderful things and all they do is make excuses about why they don't DO the stuff that they only TALK about.This post is for them.

Maa,meri maa,mamma!

              My mom sat on the floor .I rested my head on her lap.The warm sunlight overhead was streaming in falling on us.My mother started telling me a story.The kind of stories that only mothers know.The comfortable place of my head on her lap,the soothing kind of way she was telling the story and the warm sunlight overhead combined to lull me into a sort of dreamy sleep. As I drifted into sleep I could half consciously hear her words slowly disappearing into oblivion.I slept,in that space and time,like I had no care in the world.

               That was in my childhood when my whole family lived at one place in one home.Those were the best days of my life.

              I now live some 1000 km away from home,away from mom.Sometimes I get dreams where I am back in home, back with mom.Awaking from such kind of dreams is the hardest.Though I go home to mom every 3 or 4 months I still find it difficult to adjust to a life without my family.

                My mom is the epitome of patience.I have seen no other person with the kind of patience that she has.I have never seen her lose her temper at housemaids even after their worst behavior.And sometimes when we have some some minor arguments,no matter how angry she is, she still comes back before sleeping and asks if we had enough food.

                 During our school days she used to walk all the way from our home to school to give us our lunch.She was always the one to buy us expensive toys.I remember my visits to our local shopping center to buy stuff.We always came back with lots of things to eat.And sometimes when she went alone I used to wait in home,along with my siblings, for the goodies.She never failed in bringing them. Even these days whenever I visit home she is the first one to go out to the nearby market to bring goodies for me.She doesn't wait for my brother or father to do so.Like my dad says she is an ocean of love.

                    In one Korean drama that I saw it was said that if you love someone one of the best things that you can do for them is cook something for them with love.A mother does this everyday.She cooks delicious dishes with love and care and we ungrateful kids whine and complain.In Islam we have this principle that one shouldn't say even an 'uf' in front of one's parents.

                    As an aside here is an interesting incident that happened with my uncle.One time my uncle ( my mom's brother) was at home in Hyderabad.He works in Saudi Arabia and sends money home to my grandma.One day some guy made a  snide remark at my uncle saying that his mother is wasting his money here in India while he works hard in Saudi. My uncle replied with the quote of the century.He said ''she is my mother.She can literally burn the notes if she wants to''

I have engraved these lines on the slate of my brain and I keep reminding myself about them from time to time.

No amount of words can ever be sufficient for the praise my mom rightly deserves.

Sometimes I wonder 'For such a good mom am I a good son?'

AECS 10th 2006 Graduates.Part 2-High School (6th,7th and 8th class)

High School days

6th Class

               After my 5th class was completed I was very excited about going to High School.It felt good.It felt like I was a big kid now.Compared to my 5th I remember a lot of things about 6th class.There were a total of 6 sections starting from 6A to 6F. We had to choose between two optional languages Telugu or Sanskrit.I chose Telugu as my parents believed it would be useful in our day to day life.In retrospect I am quite happy with that decision.Section A was for all the students who chose Sanskrit and Section B was a mix of half Sanskrit and half Telugu students.The rest of the sections were all Telugu.I was placed in section B.Early roots of our gang FC grew here in this class.

               I met abhishek,swatchithlal,raviteja and deepanjan in this class.We all were in the same section. Abhishek was the chubby kid who was famous for his cute looks.In fact his pet name was Tin tin and he even resembled the famous fictional character. Swatchithlal was the jolly kid in the class always up for a good laugh.And deepanjan was the hyper excited kid always looking for some fun or the other. P. Raviteja whom we used to and still call just 'p' was a quiet and soft spoken kid who was obsessed about buses.His one passion was buses.He used to draw buses everywhere ,in books,on boards and even on benches. We all knew each other pretty well but got closer only later in 10th class and afterwards.

                I had two bench mates in this class.One was N. Rakesh. We had one major thing in common.It was our height.We were short in height and that is how we both got to to share a bench in the first row.Then the other person with whom I shared a bench was Yamini. She was very talkative and I was a very quiet kid but I got along with her fine.Our class leader was Pratyusha Karnati.For most of us the word 'leader' is synonymous with Pratyusha even now.Other people I met in this class are KrishnaVeni,Bharath,S.Sowmya,Sachin Giri (Sachin was the one who introduced to me the game of 'Half Life'.It was one of the best games I have ever played.We both, along with our respective elder brothers used to share a lot of stuff related to computers and games)Himaja,Deepti,Meghana,Sindhu,Sheena Patel,Swetha,Nitin,Raghuvamsi,Pramod,Ravi chaitanya,Lavanya,Ravi Teja,Alisha.

                Our English teacher was Mrs Hema Malini ma'am.She was everything I looked in a teacher back then.She was,kind and understanding.And she taught very well.She is one of my favorites teachers ever.Best thing about her teaching was that she never really confined her teaching to just the school stuff.She used to give us general advice and used to solve our problems.Some incidents that she told us from her personal life spring to mind whenever something similar happens to me.Even after 8 years of leaving school I still sometimes get dreams wherein I am sitting in a class and Hema ma'am is explaining a lesson.She was one of the earliest persons in my life who made a lasting impression.There were other teachers.Some were good like Vasu sir and Joshi sir,Some were quite the opposite.Not going to mention the names here.

                 My Reading habit also started from this class.I started reading tinkle comics given by my dad and later in large numbers by my aunt.My reading was confided to comics in 6th.The school library was very good.And the Librarian Mr Azagappan sir was a nice person.I later formed a good bond with him.

                I used to go to AK Das sir's tuition during this period.Here along with me there was Himaja and Chimayee Jena.Myself along with K.Vinay used to go out and pluck mangoes from the trees nearby and bring them back to the tuition.Aunty with assistance from Himaja  used to cut those mangoes and sprinkled with pepper and salt, used to distribute in the whole class.Those were all wonderful days.

                   
7th class
               7th class was also a good year for me.Initially there were to be six sections and I was placed in the sixth but soon because of less number of students in the sixth section,all the students of the sixth section were distributed and accommodated in the other sections.I was then shifted to C section.Here I met Mujahid who warned me that I came to the wrong class.On asking why he replied that C section had one teacher who was not popular among the students.I came to know about her later but I personally didn't have any problems with her.It was here in this class that I formed one of my earliest 'gang'.It comprised of three boys- K.Vinay,(whom I met in 6th class) BK Chaitanya aka kittu and myself. Vinay was the soft spoken handsome boy in the class. Kittu was excellent in sports and was a big fan of Telugu movies.We three were inseparable back then.We used to hang out together and play together.It was during this time that I first got the feeling of being in a group and someone having your back in case something unpleasant happened. I used to go to Vinay's house a lot.The other person whom I met was Shoaib Rashid.He was a tall and lanky kid who mostly kept to himself.We got acquainted but weren't much of friends.Of all the members of FC I have the most in common with shoaib.
            I remember one time we had a combined class with 7D( I was in 7C).Here I first listened Amulya ma'am's class.Since it was a combined class , Ma'am chose to tell a horror story to entertain the kids.She narrated the story in such a manner that students talked about it years later.The fact that I still remember that episode is testimony to the kind of effect it had on the students.As an aside a strange coincidence happened that time.When Amulya ma'am first narrated the story in that combined class a girl started crying at the end.The next time she narrated the story to another set of combined class,another girl cried.Eerily both the girls were similar in many aspects.Both had specs.Both's seating position in the class was the same.And both started crying at the very same point in the story.Call it childhood imaginations but this incident was fodder for gossip for a long time to come.Though Amulya ma'am never taught me full time she became one of my favorite teachers later.I still try to visit her whenever I am in colony.

8th class
                    This period was a very forgettable one for me.Again I remember much from this period except the fact that my grades dropped dramatically during this period.From 80% in 7th class it dropped to 60% in eight.But apart from that I remember one incident very vividly.It is the only thing that comes to mind when I think of 8th class.Mr Tiwari was our Hindi teacher and I hated him.He was uncivilized,rough and very harsh with the students.One time he was checking the books of all the students.When he came to my bench I showed him my book and it was incomplete.I was absent for a few days before and so my book had a number of blank pages showing my incomplete work.He asked me 'kaha hai work'?
I replied with 'incomplete hai sir'
And out came his strong sturdy palm on my cheek. He slapped me with so much force that my cheek turned red.I sat down and muttered my first expletive in front of anyone.It did that in front of none other than akram. I carried the imprint of Mr Tiwary's five fingers on my cheek for the rest of the day.It caused many curious glances at me when i walked the corridors and went to the water cooler to drink.Thankfully by the time I went home those marks disappeared.

        I changed tutions from Das sir to Mahapatra sir.Here I formed a close friendship with Harsha Vardhan who used to call himself Army man because he had only one goal in his life back then ,to become an army man.We used to go to tuition together and come back together.In my whole childhood two persons gave me lifts on their cycle more than anyone else.One was bhanu during my primary school days and Harsha during my 8th class.I will always be indebted to them for this.

9th and 10th Class in my next post.
Previous post on Primary Class.Part 1- Click here

AECS 10th 2006 Graduates.Part 1-Primary School

Primary School
Pic was taken in 2009 by my brother.

Every person looks back at his/her school with fondness.My case is no different.I love my school.Loved it back when I was studying in it.I love it now.I have so many wonderful memories associated with it.This post is about our batch which graduated 10th class in 2006.And when I say this is about our batch I mean it is about our batch from MY point of view.

The Buddies

              Let me first talk about my group or as some like to call it,gang.There were eight of us back then.Abhishek,Deepanjan,Bhanu,Swatchitlal,Ravi Teja,Akram,Shoaib and myself.(We are nine now with the addition of Kiran later and still a very close knit gang)We use to call ourselves TT back then.I am not going to reveal its full form now as it sounds a bit silly.Later we changed our name to 'Falcons Club' which still sounds a wee little bit silly but  doesn't matter.I met my FC friends at various points of my schooling and I will mention their names as I move from class to class.

Primary School (1st to 5th Class)
            There were separate buildings for students from 1st to 5th class and students from 6th to 12th class.Class 1 to 5 was called the primary school.I don't remember much from this age except a few incidents.I was, maybe in 3rd class and a boy from 2nd class asked me if there 4 balls in an over or 6 balls.I had no idea what he was talking about and sheepishly just told him there were 4.Later I came to know there were talking about the game of cricket which I later started playing.
       
             One of my earliest friends was Akram.We met in 2nd class.In 5th class during the start of the year seating arrangement was being decided.By luck akram and myself got the same bench.We were delighted.But then the teacher asked the class leader,Priyanka Patil to point out any bench where any friends got together.She looked around and pointed us out.That was it,we were separated.We laugh about it even now.
       
             I first met Bhanu when I was in third class.He was the tall boy sitting in the corner row in the penultimate bench.We weren't friends back then.In my 4th or 5 th class I started going to Reddy Sir's tuition. Bhanu was in the same tuition and we hit it off immediately.I have some of my best memories of my primary school days with Bhanu.We use to pluck some kind of wild fruits from the trees behind our school, play cricket together and we used to bring colored sounf to tuition and eat together.
       
              During my 4th and 5th class I used to play a type of Frisbee game with the lids of our tiffin boxes.It was the first time I was playing in a large group.I think I can only remember Sudheer Vasireddy among the those whom I later met. Sudheer was a good friend.We used to play together a lot during our lunch breaks and PT(Physical training) classes.

            One teacher I fondly remember from this period is Mr Raja Reddy sir.He was My favorite in Primary school.As I mentioned before I used to go to his tuition too.Other teachers I remember are Shankar Sir,Prema Jyoti ma'am,Shahela ma'am,Vani ma'am,S.L.Prasad Sir,Prabhakar Sir.
         
            I changed many tuitions during this period.Major among them was Srinu sir's and Raja Reddy sir's.Others are S.L.Prasad sir's and Shankar sir's.My dad was against the idea of tuition corporal punishment so I never went to any tuition where the teacher beat the students.A very calm person and one who never beat any of his students,Shankar sir once,in a fit of anger,slapped me.I did not turn up from the next day.Another time I was looking for a new tuition and somebody suggested Johnny Sir's name.I liked Johnny sir and thought it would be a good idea to go to his tuition.So off I went one fine day to his home.There to my surprise I saw his wife teaching the kids and not johnny sir.During the class she took out a long sturdy stick and hit me with it.I stopped going from the next day.And like that I changed many tuitions. During this time I used to carry a satchel made lovingly by my mom to the tuitions.It was made up of a short towel and two large fiber rings.It was the trend in that sleepy colony of ours.I had it with me for a long time.And in my time every little kid used to wear paragon slippers for intra colony movement.Nowadays it is hard to find any kid with paragon slippers.

            Summer days used to be so interesting back then.Either my family used to go to Hyderabad or we used to stay in colony itself.Long days of staying back in home and watching cartoons on TV.More than anything else I remember the stillness of the colony in the afternoons of a summer day.The deserted roads,the dry plants,the warm wind blowing,the hot sun overhead .These are the things I remember.

            One tragedy to strike early in our batch was the death of a batchmate.I think in 3rd class,Khaja babbar died in a car accident.We were sad and confused at the same time.I had only talked with him once or twice.
           
           Coming to marks the one thing I remember was I got 20/20 in social studies in all the five Unit Tests that were conducted in my 5th class.And then in half yearly exam I got 50/50 and again in annual exam I got 50/50.Overall I maintained a 100 percent record in social studies.My love for social studies started early.One common feature in the school was that a bench was shared between a boy and a girl.My bench mates used to change with every class.One of the best bench mates I had was Harika.She was a polite girl and was a good person.I still remember her earrings which were very beautiful.Her friendship with Divyasri, another one of my bench mates was very famous back then.          
         
             Primary school days ended with the end of 5th class.I was happy and a bit apprehensive at the same time.In 5th we were the seniors of the school.And we enjoyed it.But now in 6th class we were going to become the juniors once again.

People I remember having met during my primary school days-
Bhanu,Akram,Sudheer,Priyanka Patil,Viju,Vicky,Vinod,Vijay,Randeep,Immanuel Raju,Harika,Divyasri

The next part will be about High School.That stage of our life which shaped us for the future.
I urge any readers from the batch to share their incidents in the comments section.

A few more clicks of primary school here

Know Your Thermal Powerplant.Part 2

The first part (Know Your Thermal Powerplant) received quite a good feedback and I got a few suggestions and queries from my readers for the second part.
        One of them was by Sumedha who suggested the idea of combining all the pics that I used into a single picture so that it can be shared more.So here it is.

           And from another of my friends Mohi I received a few queries which he requested me to answer here so that it benefits others too.All the questions asked by him are here followed by my answers

Q.At what time in a year the plant would be running at full capacity?
A.The plant always strives to be run at full capacity irrespective of the time of the year.The points on which the load of a plant depends is
1.Internal wellness of the plant like availability of all the equipment
2.Availability of coal.For example in the recent times when some companies lost their mines to the government and their plants had to be shutdown.
3.The schedule assigned to it by a load dispatch center.Looking at the conditions of the Grid a certain load is assigned to every power plant.It has to follow it.

Q.Normally how many units are operated simultaneously?
A.If a plant has 4 units all the 4 units are run simultaneously except when there are problems like the above mentioned points.

Q.What are the number of Breakdowns in a month on an average?
A.It depends on how well made(erected and commissioned) the unit is.Also it depends on the operation of the unit.For example a unit  may have had 3 outages in 12 months(0.25/month) and another may have had 15 outages in 12 months(1.25/month)

Q.What is the source of water?
A.Rivers or if a plant is located near a sea shore its sea.

I thank sumedha for her suggestion and Mohi for the questions.

Know Your Thermal Powerplant.

70% of India's Power is generated by Coal based Thermal Power Plants and yet majority of the general public knows very little about them.

One of the comments that I got related to my previous post about Powerplant(Power Engineers) was how it helped a person know what goes on inside a powerplant. That got me thinking.I know of many people who have no idea of what a thermal powerplant does and how it does what it does.So here I am dedicating an entire post about a thermal powerplant.This is essentially for people who have zero idea about a thermal powerplant.

Q-What does a Thermal Powerplant do?
A-Generate electricity

Q-What is the fuel used?
A-Coal or Gas (This post is about a Coal based Thermal Power Plant)

Let me start with a few pictures.The plant that I will be talking about is a 250MW Unit.

This is a typical Thermal Power Station.What do you see? People who have no idea are, maybe wondering what those buildings house.Let us see, in different pictures some of the  parts.

That building houses the Boiler. A few questions now.

Q.What purpose does a boiler serve?
A.A boiler is where steam is generated.

Q.Why is steam required in a Thermal Power Limited?
A.Because steam is the main driving medium.It is the medium which drives a turbine.

Q.Why does a turbine needs to be driven?
A.Because turbine shaft drives or rotates a shaft inside the generator

Q.Why does a shaft needs to be driven inside a generator?
A.This has a long and a bit complicated answer but lets just get a basic idea.Just know that if you rotate a conductor inside a magnetic field,current begins to flow inside the conductor.So we have a magnetic field already created in a generator.Only thing we have to do is to rotate a conductor in that magnetic field.This is achieved by the generator shaft.This is how current is generated.(The turbine shaft and generator shaft are coupled.When turbine shaft rotates the generator shaft rotates.The turbine shaft is rotated by steam.Steam is produced by a boiler)

Q.How is water heated in boiler to produce steam?
A.By burning coal.

This is the turbine building.It houses the steam turbines and other equipment like pumps etc

These are the chimneys.Now a simple thing needs to be explained.When coal is burned in a boiler furnace,products of combustion are produced.These transfer the heat to water and then they have to be removed.These are sucked out by a set of fans known as Induced draft fans.They suck the gas and eject it out through the Chimneys.

There are other fans like forced draft fans which provide the air needed for combustion in furnace.

Now let me make this clear, coal is not burned as it is.It first crushed into a fine powder, as fine as the talcum powder used in our homes.And Primary Air fans are the fans which lift the coal powder and throw it in the furnace.

This is how coal is transferred to the boiler.From these conveyors coal(size is normal here) falls into the mills( also called crushers or pulverizers) where it is finely crushed.From here,as I mentioned before,Coal powder is lifted by primary air fans and then taken to the furnace where it burns.

Many people draw blank faces when this description comes up.This is nothing but the capacity of a plant.This 1000MW is actually the sum of 4 units of 250MW each. It is generally written as 4x250 MW Power Station. Let me explain what it really means.At any given point of time of the plant's running it produces 250MW of power.So it is not 250MW per hour or per month.
(MW is Mega Watt)

And these are Cooling Towers not chimneys. These are used to cool water.

I hope I have made at least a few things clear for the people who had no idea about a powerplant.If there are any questions I would love to answer them.

Protect Your Heritage

My Web Resources

Every person has certain internet surfing habits.In this post I am going to talk about mine.

For Travel research and planning
-www.indiarailinfo.com
I keep trying different combinations to nearby places to check out the best possible route and trains.For that purpose this site is a lifesaver.
-www.wikitravel.com
Why?- See,do,sleep and other sections this site offers.
-www.lonelyplanet.in
Why?-Because Lonely Planet.Enough said.
www.Indiamike.com
-A very big Forum for discussing almost anything about travel in India.I am a senior member myself.

For Timepass/gyan
www.9gag.com
-Brings out the latest happenings in the world in a humorous forms.Also you can find out which all important memes are trending worldwide.
www.listverse.com
-One of the earliest sites that I used to visit.It had lists long before it became cool.Has many sections including books,mysteries(my favorite),science and Technology etc
www.cracked.com
-Humorous articles that will have you laugh out loud.
www.quora.com
-Very good question and answer website where I give and take information

For cricket updates
www.cricinfo.com
-No other website offers the quality of writing this site does.

For my blog related stuff
www.indiblogger.in
-A community of bloggers of India
www.blogger.com
-Platform of my various blogs

For movie reviews,recommendations and lists
www.tasteofcinema.com
-Very high quality lists about world cinema

For Restaurants Reviews and Menu cards
www.zomato.com
-Gives good recommendations and mainly I can find the menus before I visit a particular restaurant

Visit to an Underground coal mine.

A few days back I had the opportunity to visit an underground coal mine thanks to my friend Abhishek. He is an Engineer in Singareni Collieries in Ramagundam and through proper permissions he arranged a visit for us(two more friends bhanu and swat) on a Sunday.

      When we reached the site abhishek led us to a work room where we were provided with helmets,shoes and overcoats.A battery operated fully charged headlamp was also provided to each one of us.From here we boarded a small train that stood on an inclined pathway which descended into the mine.As the train started its rickety descent into the mine all I could think of was the game 'Half Life' which I used to play in my childhood.The walls shone as the light of our headlamps fell on them.Here and there there were huge gaps in the wall.I asked abhishek what these gaps were and he explained that those were the gaps left after all the extraction of coal from there was over.

      We soon reached a level from where we left this train and took another one.It went still deeper into the mine and somewhere around 250 meters from the land surface level we stopped.From here,abhishek informed us,we needed to walk in thick sludge to reach the actual boring machine.We walked along the brightly lit bore of the mine.Along the side of the mine there was a conveyor to remove the coal from the boring machine.Also there was a huge pipeline running along the wall for creating a draft.The walls were wet in places with small streams of water running down along them.This water was mixing with the mud in the ground to create a very slippery and dangerous ground to walk on.We trudged along carefully,our headlights shining their lights ahead.There were overhead bulbs in some places and it some places they weren't. As we continued our progress into the mine we came across a compressor, its loud noise filling the whole mine with a doleful sound.We moved along and ventured deeper into the mine.Since it was a Sunday no usual work was going on and we met only a handful of people while going in.At one point we were the only ones in a long section and we stopped. Abhishek suggested we all turn off our headlights just to see how it will be.We did so.Everything was pitch black.Nothing could be seen.Here I asked what happens if a miner's headlight's battery charge empties before he gets out? He said all he could do is wait for someone to come or maybe get over to a nearest phone and make a call to the surface.

    We resumed our walk after this brief stop.We reached the end where we saw the boring machine.It reminded me of the movie 'Total recall' We looked around here fro sometime.There were two technicians working on it. Abhishek engaged in some conversation with them regarding a problem they were having.This gave us an excuse to see the machine in action.After spending some time here we started to go back.We had a bus to catch in the night so we were in a bit of a hurry to go back.Along we went through the passages and again passed that sombre compressor and reached the train station.All that walking took us 4 hours.We took the train and rode to the top where fresh air greeted us.A miners job is one of the toughest and we all could personally see why.

Close encounters of the annoying kind.Part 1.Snoring chacha.

                 Travelling in a train in India can be quite an affair.It depends on one's luck.If you are lucky you will have an uneventful journey and maybe meet some good co passengers.But when your unlucky stars have aligned and the force is not with you,expect to have some close encounters of the annoying kind.

                  On one of my most horrible train journeys yet,I happened to meet an uncle who I think had a jet engine in his nose.While he was flying his jet plane in the dark skies of his mind,the sound of the engine was traversing into the real world through his nose.He was sleeping in the upper berth and I was the unfortunate one sleeping in the alongside upper berth.I tried everything to wake him including coughing loudly and making a few 'hmm' noises.But to no avail.I looked around at the other passengers trying to gauge how they were feeling but in the darkness I couldn't make out anything.There were a few restless silhouettes changing their sleeping positions now and then.I greatly regretted not bringing my Industrial ear plugs with me.I couldn't sleep the whole night and the next morning at 5 am I reached my destination.Showering my thanks to the god almighty above who did not make the train reach late,I left that jet-plane-in-the-form-of-human being to himself and said a few prayers too for the next person to occupy my berth.

                From then onwards I always carry a pair of industrial grade ear plugs with me whenever I travel.

Be a 'man with a Plan'

One of the best pieces of advise I came across some time back was from a horrible dark comedy by the name of 'Pain and Gain'

There is a section in it in which a motivational speaker says the following.

'Be a man with a three finger plan'

'Get a Goal'

'Get a Plan'

'Get off your ass'

Simple really.It sets up the three stages of Goal setting,Planning and Execution quite wonderfully.

I follow this personally.And I don't miss to mention this particular piece whenever I take any classes for my Juniors back in the Institute where I did my PG Training Program.

One thing not to forget is to write down the first two steps somewhere.Having a proper written data of your goals,plans and your progress goes a long way in maintaining your enthusiasm and it will be firmly embedded in your subconscious mind.

And one of the best way to do this is have a wall bulletin board.This is how I keep track of my goals and progress.

Top Five Muslim Scholars you should know

           In the recent years the image of Islam has taken a beating due to the various terrorist groups wrongly claiming to be followers of Islam and doing the god's work. Everything good thing about Islam is overshadowed by these terrorists and the world believes Islam to be a religion of intolerance and  backwardness.However this was not the case always.Once upon a time,called the golden age of Islam,It was at the forefront of the values of tolerance and equality and also in the field of science.     To raise awareness about this period and the scholars who came then and afterwards I present this small list of Five Muslim scholars who everyone should know.
   
             In the period before the European Renaissance unfairly called the Dark Ages, much of the world thinks that there was no progress made in science.But in the Islamic world which was spread over the middle east , a golden period of science and learning was taking place.It was accelerated by the Caliph Al Mamun who started arguably one of the most significant movements in the history of mankind,the translation movement.The translation movement led to the growth of a number of scholars in the golden age of Islam and directly and indirectly influenced much of the modern world.
Here is the list of top five famous scholars of the Golden Age of Islam and after.This post has been directly influenced by Jim Al Khalili's book 'Pathfinders'

1-Al-Khwarizmi
Some of the many reasons why you should know him:
   Suppose you are given a equation to solve.For example
                           2x-10= 90
the first step to solve this is,as most of you will have learnt in school,adding 10 on both sides
the equation then becomes
                       2x-10+10= 90+10
This step of adding/subtracting to cancel terms was first described in Al-Khwarizmi's book-'The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing' This step is known as Al-jebr.By know you must be getting an idea about where I am going.The term Algebra is derived from the word Al-jebr.In this book Al Kwarizmi presented the first systematic solutions to linear and quadratic equations

Areas he is known for:
Mathematics,Astronomy,Geography

Legacy:
A crater on the moon is named after him.
In 1983 the soviet union issued a stamp commemorating Al khwarizmi's 1200th birthday.

Born-Died: 
780CE-850CE

2-Ibn Al-Haytham
Some of the many reasons why you should know him:
His book on optics 'Kitab al-Manazir' or the book of optics was read by and greatly influenced European scholars like Leonardo Da Vinci,Galileo,Rene Descartes and Johannes kepler.His theory of vision was very influential and inspired many other works of later centuries.Some call him 'The Father of Modern Optics'

Areas he is known for:
Optics, astronomy, mathematics, meteorology,visual perception and the scientific method

Legacy:
The crater Alhazen on the Moon is named in his honour.Also an asteroid is named as Alhazen

Born-Died: 
965 CE-1040 CE

3-Ibn sina
Some of the many reasons why you should know him:
He wrote the book 'The Canon of Medicine' which is about health and diseases. It remained a standard medical text in Europe and the Islamic world till the 17th century.Even now in colleges of India and Pakistan it is followed as Unani system of medicine.

Areas he is known for:
Medicine,Astronomy,alchemy,geography,geology,psychology,logic,mathematics,physics,poetry

Legacy:
George Sarton, the author of The History of Science, described Ibn Sina as "one of the greatest thinkers and medical scholars in history.His portrait hangs in the Hall of the Avicena Faculty of Medicine in the University of Paris.

Born-Died: 
980CE-1037CE

4-Ibn Khaldun
Some of the many reasons why you should know him:
 He was regarded among the founding fathers of Economics,Histriography and sociology.Historian Jim Al Khalili goes on to say that when compared with Adam Smith,the man many economists of today consider to be the father of economics,it is Ibn khaldun who is more worthy of the title.He wrote the 'Muqaddima' which is a treatise on human civilization.He was one of the first who called for creation of a science to explain society.

Areas he is known for:
History,historiography,economics,sociology

Legacy:
There is an Ibn Khaldun award given by Tunisian Community to any Tunisian/American whose works constitute a direct or indirect service to community.

Born-Died: 
1332 CE- 1406 CE

5-Al Jazari
Someof the many reasons why you should know him:
 He invented the camshaft and the crankshaft.It is one of the most important inventions in the history of mankind.A crankshaft is a mechanical part that can perform a conversion between reciprocating motion and rotational motion.Internal combustion engines used in vehicles have these to covert the reciprocating movement of the pistons into the rotary movement of the tyres. He also made many automated moving devices which later may have influenced Leonardo Da vinci.He wrote 'The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices'

Areas he is known for:
Mathematics,Mechanical Engineering,Inventions,Art

Born-Died: 
1136CE-1206CE

Based on the feedback I receive I plan to write about a few more scholars.

Book Recommendations.Part 1

I am starting a new series whereby I will be listing the good books that I read.

Book Recommendations- The top three books I read Recently.

            'Today a Reader,Tomorrow a Leader' so said Margaret Fuller,the first full-time American female book reviewer in journalism. And Abraham Lincoln said "The things I want to know are in books. My best friend is the man who'll get me a book I haven't read." So without much further ado let me get into the good books of everyone here by suggesting the following three amazing books.

3-Hot,Flat and Crowded by Thomas L Friedman

 This is book is by Three time Pulitzer winner Thomas L Friedman is about the State of Affairs regarding Global Warming,Globalisation and the growing Population.And What the United States could do to counter it.The title is about the convergence of Hot(Global Warming) Flat(Globalisation) and Crowded(Population rise).Friedman discusses the measures United States has to take, to stop the onslaught of the three factors.Along the way he shows various scenarios regarding the energy situation in the world and what the future holds for us.Though the book is primarily about what the US can do, it has a lot to offer to the readers from other countries.A must read for anyone related to Electric Power generation.

2-Good to Great by Jim Collins

Widely regarded as a modern classic of management theory, Good to great by Jim Collins is about how some companies with their unique factors make the transition from good to great.He defines what 'Greatness' is and with great detail Jim and his team give the case of a handful of companies which made this transition.The book became a huge bestseller, selling four million copies.

1-Outliers by Malcom Gladwell

Do you know Your date of birth could be a factor in deciding if you will be successful in life.No,I am not talking about astrology here.Malcom Gladwell in his book 'Outliers' offers a very different approach in explaining the reason behind great people's success.With examples ranging from the National Ice Hockey Team of Canada to the culture of Korea,Malcolm Gladwell moves around the globe giving you facts and information that will leave you astounded.Prepared to get shocked and enlightened at the same time.Let me leave a teaser question for you.What do Bill Gates,Steve Jobs,Vinod Khosla,Steve Ballmer,Eric Schmidt and Paul Allen have in common apart from the fact that they are giants of 21st century ? Answer-They were all born in the 50s.What is the significance of that? Read the book to find out.

Bungee Jumping!

                     I looked at my feet. Half of them were on the platform and the other half were hanging in the air.The drop was 83 metres.My heart was throbbing and my breathing became shallow.

                       I was standing at the edge of India's highest bungee jump platform. I felt the harness around me as it clung to me. Till the time the crew was giving me the initial demonstration of the exact way of jumping I was fine but as soon as I made my way to the edge I became painfully aware of the true extent of this extreme adventure activity. As I had my first glance at the drop, my breath was sucked away. My first reaction was to back away from the jump. Beads of perspiration formed on my forehead. Slowly as they glided over my skin the whole world around me came to a standstill. I was terrified. There was no denying that. I asked the crew to give me a moment’s time so I could steel myself.

                     My mind went back to the day I had actually decided to someday do this bungee jump. Me and my friends were sitting in a roadside dhaba and on television we saw a guy do the bungee jump. I remarked that someday I would do it. I was met with laughs. Someone asked why would anyone do this. For the answer I thought of George Mallory. When a reporter asked him about why he wanted to climb the Everest. He replied simply with 'because it is there' I said the same for the jump because it is there and also because I can.

                    So finally in my recent Uttarakhand Adventure Trip, Bungee jumping was the last and the most thrilling activity planned. After a week of trekking and rafting the time to do the ultimate adventure activity came upon me. All of that conversation played in my mind and with Mallory’s words ran inside me I was ready. Ready to jump off. I told my instructor that I was ready and he started the countdown. Three. My breath started heaving. My muscles clenched. Two. I bent my knees to take the proper position. My hands were now tightly holding the harness near my shoulder. One. I propelled myself and jumped. My hand dug into the harness and into my own skin. I fell. I fell with the acceleration of gravity. What was happening I knew not. The ground was rushing towards me with alarming speed. My mind all the time was in a trance. This trance was broken suddenly by a jerk as the bungee expanded. Whatever fear was left was gone now. Fear turned into exultation. I unwrapped my hands from the shoulder harness and shouted at the top of my voice 'Yes'! My voice echoed in the surroundings as I made a gentle arch in the air. I spread my hands outwards and shouted again 'Yes'! I had done it. I conquered the initial fear and made the jump. That moment of joy was the purest joy I ever felt. Slowly the bungee settled down and I hung there rocking to and fro gently. As I let down my hands and was hanging upside down I felt a sense of calm and serenity overcome me. Soon I was received at the bottom and a badge was given to me certifying that I had guts. The feeling of ecstasy that I felt during the jump is exactly why I travel and do these adventurous stuff

Horror.One of my Favourite genres. Part2

Continuing from my last post.
     Along with horror stories I have been watching horror movies since my school days.It started with Aahat, Sony's horror series.The best thing about Aahat was its theme music and the opening animated sequence. Zee horror show was another show which too had an equally chilling theme music.The skull at the start of the show used to terrify me more than the show itself.

     The following movies are some of my favourites.I like psychological horror which involves little to almost no gore.Slasher movies don't interest me and I don't bother watching them.

-Ring,the Hollywood remake.

Ring was a great movie which reignited my interest in horror.Its ending remains one of my most favourite horror moments.After 'Ring' I started looking for horror movies.

-The wicker man by Robin Hardy

This was the most recent horror movie I saw and this is a horror movie like no other.Other horror movies have normal events taking place and then things turn for the worse.But in 'the wicker man' from the beginning you sense a undercurrent of foreboding.And there are no sudden sound effects,everything is shown so casually and normally.And yet as time passes by you can feel the helplessness and the desperation of the lead character.This film is not easy to forget.

-The Exorcist by William Friedkin

The story of an exorcism of a young girl has some spine chilling moments.The spider walk down the stairs was one such.The theme song tubular bells provided the perfect atmosphere for the movie.I was once narrating a horror story to a friend and along with I was humming this music in between words.After a few minutes into the story he stopped me exclaiming that I was unnerving him.

-The shining by Stanley Kubrick 

This has a superb premise.The sense of isolation is one of many factors of a horror movie and shining excels in it.The three characters are shut off from the world and the effects of the isolation slowly start showing in the main lead.Jack Nicholson's acting adds to the already tense setup.

-The Thing by John Carpenter

Again isolation plays a main role here.The research station in the Arctic plays a perfect part as the background of this masterpiece. 

-Alien by Ridley Scott

The opening sequence where we first see the spacecraft and then slowly the different parts of it remains one of my Favourite opening sequences.The stillness and the lifelessness of the craft provide a prelude to the coming events.
  

-The Blair Witch Project

 It remained with me for a long time.The whole premise of a group of students documenting a trip to a haunted forest to investigate the rumours of a witch was very interesting.The camping scene was truly terrifying.Nothing is seen except the expressions of the actors as they listen to some unusual sound coming from the forest around them.When I was camping in the hills of Uttarakhand all I could think of during the night was this movie.

-The Birds by the great Alfred Hitchcock. 

 Birds will never look the same again after you see this movie.Back home we have a lane which  is lined with trees on both sides and every evening crows crowd the branches and caw continuously. The last time when I was walking there all I could think of were the birds of the movie 'Birds' It was a bit unnerving.I chuckled to myself thinking of the effect the movie was having on me.

-The sixth sense by Night Shyamalan.
The story of a boy who could see dead people has a scare a minute.The twist in the ending is one of the best ever.

Some other movies which I like

-The Village by Night Shyamalan

-The Others by Alejandro Amenabar

- Jaws by Steven Speilberg

-Night of the Living Dead by George Romero

-Ju on.The Grudge by Takashi Shimuzu

-Scream  by Wes Craven

-Session 9 by Brad Anderson

-Signs by Night Shyamalan

Horror.One of my Favourite genres. Part1

What makes horror stories so interesting?
Is it in the chills that pass through your spine.Or in the electric feeling that you get on your skin.Or maybe because of the scares it provides.Or maybe simply in the atmosphere of paranormal. The supernatural,that realm that lies on the border of reality and fiction,that space whose existence is acknowledged by some and scoffed at by others,has an undeniable truth to it that it creates an interest. Doesn't matter if you like it or hate it, it elicits a strong reaction nevertheless.I was drawn to horror stories right from my childhood and used to read a lot of them.I like the atmosphere created in those tales of terror.And they make the imagination run wild. Horror stories have always fascinated me.
         I used to read a lot of them during my school days.Some of the earliest stories that I have read are some of my favorite too.It began with Stories of Algernon Blackood and Ambrose Bierce. Blackwood's 'Wendigo' was one of the reasons I got lured to this genre.The atmosphere of suspense and mystery it creates is unmatched.The bleak climate,the swamps of Canada,the cold,a group of hunters and a mysterious creature.The story stayed with me for a long time.It made me hungry for more.And more I did find.Ambrose Bierce's 'The Damned Thing' again about an unknown being was an excellent read.
         My favorite compilation of horror stories was a book by Ruskin Bond 'Ghost Stories of the Raj' It had stories of British and their supernatural experiences with the natives. Though not any one story stands out it is the combination that sends the reader back to the days of the British Raj and their thatched bungalows,lonely forest rest houses and hunting lodges.It is one of the reasons I have a fascination for the forest rest houses left by the British in the jungles of India.
         And then there are stories by Edgar Allan Poe.I read a few,among them 'The pit and the Pendulum' stands out. More than the stories I liked his horror-poem 'The Raven'. For all the readers I suggest you read it after 2pm in a lonely cottage somewhere in the middle of a jungle.The essence of the poem will flow out then.Stories of the master of horror H.P.Lovecraft I have read a few.His creation Cthulhu has become an Internet sensation lately.I still have to read a lot of his stories.
        And then there are stories whose moments got imprinted in my mind but I don't remember the name of the story or the author.Like the one about a young man and his young lady friend he makes across the street.The twist in the ending is one of the best I have read.This particular story was a big hit at many storytelling sessions we used to have back in our school days.And the one about a hunting expedition gone wrong due to a supernatural sighting in an abandoned hunting lodge.Or the one about an out of the world object found in the ruins of a house in the jungles of Burma.I am still trying to find these stories.I hope to find the names someday.
My interest has not subsided even now and am still reading horror stories.

Apart from the above mentioned stories the following are some of my favourite stories
-'The monkeys Paw' by WW Jacobs
-'The most dangerous game' by Richard Donnel
-'The country of the blind' by HG Wells
-'The Signal Man' by Charles Dickens
-'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' by Ambrose Bierce
-'The Willows' by Algernon Blackwood.

Look out for my next posts on Horror movies and Horror story telling sessions we used to have.