A poem

To all those people who have loved and lost.

A rose is only as good as hand that chooses her
A poet only as great as the praise from his admirers.
The fact that I like you does not make
you great in anyway.
It makes me greater 'cause I see things in you
that no one else can.

So what sex is your brain then?

Here is a quiz I came across on the BBC website.

It has been claimed that your brain can be either male or female and that may not have anything to do with your actual sex. (Dont ask me how - neurobiology was never my favourite subject). Therefore, it aims to find out the sex of your brain by asking questions based on surveys of male and female behaviour and comprehension ablities. All very scientific.

A bit time consuming but fun. Keep a scale handy.

What is your sex?

As for me I turned out to be just as female as all the other average females who were tested - not one bit of maleness in me. I was slightly dissappointed as I consider myself a techno-geek and all that. Looks like I will have to hit the mascara and rouge now.

P.S. My cold turkey lasted for much shorter than yours, Kate. Whatever have I got myself into?

Seven signs that you need to join the BA

Seven signs that you need to join the Blogaholics Anonymous.

1) You sleep with a notebook and pen next to your pillow. So that you won't miss a good idea even if you are half-asleep.

2) When you reach the end of a newspaper article, you are dissapointed that no one left any comments.

3) You spend three or more hours everyday, tweaking your template.

4) When something sad/happy happens to you, all you can think of is "How can I blog about this?"

5) You think that "friends" is just another word for "people who link to me".

6) When you understand the difference, you realize you have more of the latter than the former.

7) You no longer recieve any e-mail (mostly because you don't reply to any). People who want to see if you are alive just leave comments on your blog.

The Blogaholics Anonymous meets every Tuesday at the 'Z' block conference room at 9 p.m. right after the Orkutoholics Anonymous meeting.

[As a mental experiment, I am going to go cold turkey for a while. If you see a female going into paroxysms screaming 'I want to blog', that would be me.]

Currently listening to
Cocaine - Eric Clapton

I am a stapler.

As a rule I hate quizzes. With their apparently tailored answers, they give you a fake sense of individuality. But they are good enough when you are too bored to think of something original!


INDIVIDUALIST:
You make your own rules and boldly go where no one
has gone before. Some may think you are
arrogant and even rude, while others admire
your keen observations. Not that you really
care.


What kind of blogger are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

This one is interesting for two reasons
1) It tells me I 'boldly go where no one has gone before'. Nice to know that I have imbibed some Star Trek principles.
2) I can't, for the life of me, figure out the connection between a stapler and individualism!


New feature!
Currently listening to Hallelujah by Rufus Wrainwright. (For the nth time, no less!)

Depp rules!

We interrupt the regular transmission to bring you a news flash.

For the second year in a row, Johnny Depp has made it to the FIRST spot on the IMDB's top 25. This rating is based on the search behaviour of over 30 million users of the IMDB. To celebrate this, we present a picture of Depp from one of our all-time favourite movies - The Ninth Gate.


We wait eagerly to feast our eyes on The Libertine and of course, Shantaram. We fervently hope that he drops by in Colaba for the actual shooting of that epic novel.

Beware! Disparaging remarks about Mr. Depp or The Ninth Gate will be deleted. More power to the Deppster!

We will resume regular transmission shortly.

Rage Rage Rage

Sting operations are a crowd pleaser with the hidden cameras satisfying the voyeur in everyone. Of course they have their utility like increasing awareness like the Tehelka tapes or providing entertainment like the Shakti Kapoor stuff. But when it directly affects you things are a different matter.

In the aftermath of the IISc incident, one intrepid reporter decided to try getting into My Esteemed Institute (MEI). She had a hidden camera in her bag and actually managed to get inside the place by giving false names to the security guard. She wandered around the whole institute - the reception, a professors office, a chemical room and even our famed auditorium. She says that her bag was never checked and she was never asked for an I-card. This was gleefully touted on CNBC as a report about how the security at research institutes is lax. She also got into the IIT, Mumbai and wandered around in the some room with a lot of pipes and ducts and was able to access keys to several rooms

How will this incident affect me?

Security at the gates will be tightened. They will check our bags thoroughly. Life overall will be difficult. But that I do not mind.

Did it serve the purpose?

God knows. In my opinion, if someone actually wanted to attack the institute they are a million different ways of doing it –none of which involve the security gate anyways.

Did it benefit the general public?

The first time I came to MEI was when I was doing my Master’s. I did not have a proper laminated I-card then. I just came with the recommendation of my professor. If the guard had not allowed me inside then I would never have able to access the rich library of journals I could not get anywhere else. To use a cliché, coming to MEI then opened my eyes and all I wanted since then was to a part of it.

I doubt that anyone with good reason in spite of having the right documents will be allowed in at all, unless they personally knew someone with a valid MEI I-card. Hell, it will be difficult even for me to go to IIT to use their instruments.

How did it benefit the reporter? A raise definitely and a promotion maybe.

I hope the reporter realises what a loss it is for science in this country if the limited resources that we have are not shared with the general public and especially with the students who come from institutes/colleges that are not as well funded.

I condemn the reporter as mean, petty and selfish and I condemn CNBC for using this cheap ploy to boost TRP's (and therefore advertising revenue).

I hope she rots in the deepest circles of hell.