My Current Top 5

Vettiness is my middle name. Yes, say what you may, I am ever Lord Vetti. And what better way to relieve myself than listen to some music. I've been slowly making head way into clearing the backlog of songs that I haven't listened to even once and here are my current Top 5:

5. Divinity was born between Blue Wings - Ossein (12.31)

A lesser known american band, people somehow seem to like confusing this band with Opeth!
This song is Totally Psychedellic. Amazingly long instrumental works with just a few lines thrown in. This song totally works for me because of the occasional screams and the trippy feel the song provides.

"...Stride the invertebrates road
Inferiority drifts through your veins
The sunwheel pivots
And your sillhouette is forgotten

Advocate your eyes, Closed
Resperate your mouth, Shut..."

4. Dandelion - Audioslave (4.29)

Its pretty sad that Audioslave churned out just 3 albums. Even though people criticized that their 'sound' resembled RATM a lot, they made sure that they shed that and came up with some amazing songs with beautiful riffs.
'Dandelion' might not have thought provoking lyrics, but the powerful vocals and the addictive opening riff is enough to put this into my list.

3. Have you ever seen the Rain? - CCR (2.41)

Well, which Rock Addict wouldn't be a fan of CCR? This extremely short song has the usually wonderful vocals that you can associate with CCR. An addictive chorus and a flowing melody satisfies me. Infact, the title lines actually haunt me and my brother's heard enough to order a gun to shoot me the next time I sing this out loud.

2. Paranoid Android - Radiohead (6.23)

Yes, I hate Coldplay, I find them to be repetetive, kill me! I prefer Radiohead. They are all that I'd associate with a band that consists of people who've grown up listening to those classical British Rock Bands. Just listen to songs like "Creep", "Fake Plastic Trees" and "Airbag" and you can see where they get their inspirations from. They are how I'd imagine a properly successful 1970s Rock Band would sound like had they continued making music.

'Paranoid Android' has some unbelievably brilliant vocals and the guitar solos are awesome enough to put the song on the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos! I wikied this song and the song structure is apparently pretty unique. Its amazing how much you can learn about a song by simply reading about it in an Open Forum. After I read that, it became pretty obvious that the song sounds like 3 different songs crammed together with brilliant guitar solos uniting them.

1. Sometimes I feel like Screamin' - Deep Purple (7.31)

*Bows Down* Deep Purple is Brilliant, Period.
Though this is one of their more recent songs, It is infact the same Ian Gillian who sang the impossible "Sweet Child In Time" singing this song too.

A totally addictive, haunting and chillingly beautiful riff holds this song together from the start. This song does not have great lyrics but the resonating guitar work and the singing completely makes up for it. This might even make it to my list of All Time Favourite songs!!

When do they transform?

This is not the first day I have been woken up by my angry shouting Dad. I'm sure every one of us, irrespective of what we do and who we are, have gone through that agonosing feeling of being woken up by an angry, grumpy man.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Dad. I strongly believe that there are fewer people who can be more helpful than he is, but there's also the Grumpy side to him. The side that translates every little thing into a loud and annoying scolding session.

Not just my dad, I'm sure almost all dads fit that description. But what is it that transforms a youngster, happily married (if that's even possible) into that ugh-I-can't-stand-in-a-room-with-this-man kinda person? Onset of kids? Rough day at work? Bad cooking by wife? Or is it some reason that my mind can not fathom?

Whatever said and done, I really hope people don't lose their temper at the drop of a hat and for once, just imagine how they'd like to be on the receiving end. When decibels rise, it only causes stress, not only to the person, but also to that harmless cat sleeping away in the corner.

Is it True?

Indeed. The Madras University somehow see it fit to pass me in all of them final semester exams and hence, yours truly is now a Graduate!

Karthik Krishnan H B Com (Corporate Secretaryship)

Boy, that's a lot of characters!

And is this a big deal? In this mad mad world of valueless Under Graduate Degrees, I guess not. To me? Yes, I am sane enough after 3 years in that Unimaginable place and I can slighta see where I am headed in the future.

PS: Yes, Ego trip mood, so I am boasting. I got admits from ALL the colleges I applied to! Times School of Journalism, Delhi; Manorama School of Journalism, Kottayam and our very own Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. I'm heading to Times, the farthest from home! :D

Bleh di doo, Blah di da..

Been a long time since I wrote anything here. Well, not much has been going on as such, lazed vacation. I spend nights trying to watch a movie, but I end up watching Boston Legal or The Simpsons, sleep late -early morning I should say- wake up late, spend mornings strategically planning computer time so that Bro doesn't see through the plan to hog it, evenings contemplating if I should ride all alone till Besant Nagar for Badminton or sit at home and watch, well, Boston Legal or The Simpsons and the cycle repeats.

I really thought once the holidays started, I could watch all those movies I missed and listen to all that held up music in my system, but then you know how it goes when it comes to plans and me! I somehow can not work them out, even when I meticulously plan them sitting on the pot. There have been other things I've planned to do, like make calls for accommodation in Delhi, return that one month due DVD to the store, check out suitcases and similar things and obviously I've not done any of them. It's slighta bummy that I am not doing the things I should be.

I've got only a month in Chennai! :( I'm off to Delhi for my Journalism Course on the 15th of July. As usual, there are the people who ask for goodbye treats and there are people who actually deserve them (*hint hint* Recession!) I'm not gonna bore you with the usual 'oh, i will miss this city, i will miss my friends' and things. Madras is my home and the fact that I know I'll be back in less than 2 years is a decent enough solace.

I am officially blahed out.

Divinity was Born Between the Blue Wings

The day started with the morning at around 8, rather than the usual Afternoon because my sister wanted me to get her something from a shop nearby (Yes, this Always happens to me!) and after I got back home, somehow I decided not to go back to bed. Well, 2 hours later, I was harmlessly playing RCT II on my system when I got this call:

X: Is this Karthik Krishnan of Chennai?
Me: Erm, yes.
X: Karthik, I am calling from Times School of Journalism, Our course Director wants to conduct a telephonic interview right now, are you ready?
Me: Erm, yes. (What else was I supposed to say?!)

. . .

After 20 Mins of discussing things ranging from Politics in Tamil Nadu to Arthur.C.Clarke, mildly touching on whether I am also from the same part of Kerala as him (these Mallus I tell ya!), the Course Director, some Verghese dude, says this- "Congratulations Karthik, You have been accepted into this year's course. You will receive a postal confirmation with other details in some time."

I curtly said Thank You and got back to my game. It took a whole quarter of an hour for the news to actually sink in! Too many thoughts in my head - "I am getting outta home. Is it really THAT easy? Why didn't they conduct a test? Was that a prank? I am getting outta home! One WHOLE year!! Did I cut the call?"

It happened intermittently, I was still not sure if it was indeed a prank, so I checked the number from which I got the call and it looked like a genuine Delhi number. Some Googling later, I found out that it was indeed the number from the Dean's Office. Again, I was somehow resisting shouting at the top of my voice, shouting with joy, mind you.

But it didn't COMPLETELY sink in until I sat on my epiphany pot (my kuckoos!). I actually spent half an hour, singing songs at the top of my voice and feeling genuinely happy. This is what I've wanted since I started the final year in college, to get outta home, I thought I'd write CAT and go off somewhere, but somehow that didn't work out. So I gave Journalism a shot and here I am!

As if I wasn't delirious enough already, a letter from Manorama School of Journalism came in the afternoon post saying these exact lines : "You are ranked 9th in the recently conducted test.. blah di blah.. Your interview is set on the 1st of July, the course begins on 6th July, given your high ranking in the test, we suggest that you come for the interview with your baggage and enroll yourself in the hostel"!!!!

But honestly, is it really that easy to get into one of the Top Journalistic schools in India (TSJ's run by The Times of India and Manorama's run by that Malayalam Manorama Group)? I mean, I am a B.Com Graduate (Hopefully!) who has had completely nothing to do with Journalism Ever, except for a few articles about the things I've been involved in. I've never had any of my writings published, I've never worked for a journalist, heck I haven't worked at all! Aren't there those people who did their UG in Journalism? I really didn't think I would even get one call, but now I am spoilt for choices!! :D

But I am not complaining, as long as I get to spend a year away from home, all alone, living by myself and learning things I had no idea about, I am fine.
Finally, the Big Man up there has acknowledged my existence! :P

PS Don't ask me why I've used that title, that song's my current addiction.

The Insatiable thirst of Mr.Murphy

This is a story of how Mr. Murphy screwed with me on the last day of my student hood.

I went to sleep the previous night planning that I should wake up by around 7, head to the Post Office to send a post by around 9, then leave to college for my last exam starting at 10. It all started well, with the alarm waking me up successfully and me completing my morning ablutions well in time. Just as I was about to save some last minute notes into my phone's drafts, my phone blinked saying "low battery". Strike One. It took me a full 20 minutes to charge up the phone so as to type enough of it and save it all into another phone, leaving my phone to charge. The time - 9.10

I rushed to the Post Office and in the hurry, forgot a document that was part of the post. Being the brilliant genius that I am, I had already sealed the envelope. Strike two. I got back home from the post office, reopened the envelope, put in that document and re-sealed it. The time - 9.25

For the second time that morning, I rushed to the post office and this time, there were 2 people in the queue in front of me and as it would happen only to me, they were ridiculously old. After what seemed like an eternity, my turn came and I finished the posting part. Soon as I got back to the parking lot and kept my leg on the kicker, a certain compartment of my bag flashed in front of me. The Hall Ticket, which was supposed to be in that particular compartment, was not there. (The reason being that while I was returning back home after my previous exam, a generous black crow decided to drop the remaining of its morning breakfast onto my blue bag. It pooped on my bag. So I had to empty all the contents of my bag to clean it and in that confusion, I had misplaced my Hall Ticket!) Strike three. The time - 9.40

I figured it'd be too late to go back home, search for the hall ticket and then rush back to college before 10.30 (The time by which I Must start the exam), so I ended up rushing to college in morning traffic, almost crashing into a gleaming black Honda City. Soon as I reached, I cried out my plea to my one class mate who was as late as me and this passing by stranger told me what to do in order to get the permission to write the exam. I had to go to the controller of exams and write a letter and things. I did and apparently, I needed any one of my professors to sign my letter, validating that I was indeed a student there. As it would happen, all of my professors were invigilating in separate rooms and I did Not have the time to go explain my position to them and get their signature. Strike Four. The time - 10.15

I think Murphy thought he had enough fun with me for one morning, so he just let my 1st semester's English professor walk past me. I managed to convince him that I was an irresponsible oaf to have forgotten my hall ticket and that it wouldn't happen again (It couldn't have, unless I managed to keep an arrear, as that was my last exam) and finally got the required signature. 8 Minutes later, I had my bogus hall ticket in my hand and I was drenched in sweat. All this for a bloody HRM exam! :|

While I was climbing up the stairs to my exam hall, I couldn't help but wonder, the extremes Mr. Murphy goes to screw with someone as innocuous as me!

Where is my woman?

"A Different kind of Poverty now upsets me so
Night after sleepless night, I walk the floor and want to know
Why am I so Alone?
Where is my woman?
Can I bring her home?
Have I driven her away?
Is she gone?"

4+20
CSNY