Can typing all day get you dehydrated?

Huff...it's been a long long day before the monitor. Bunked the whole goddamn day's classes just to sort out my blog page. Have I gone insane? Or am I a good-for-nothing net freak? Sometimes I think, why the hell am I doing this? Does anyone even read my pages? And anyways, why should I write stuffs about my life for other strangers to read? But just then, I started to justify myself. I decided that I'm not really writing here for others to read, but rather for me to take out my frustrations, my emotions and also go for mindstorming sessions, as I frequently do. I've found the monitor a great listener and to top it all, it even helps me to solve my personal problems and others that've been plaguing my life, quite well. I realised most of the hands-on HTML that I've learnt as of now is just 'coz of my urge of making my blog pages look good and a li'l different from others. The habit of writing weblogs has taught me to be cordial to people who are reading my posts, it's taught to go out and read others' experiences, it's taught me to relive incidents that've never ever happened to me in my life. Such has been it's influence over my life.

I've a friend called Abhishek Karmakar. He's a pretty fundoo guy, but I like to call him a thinker. He's one of the best pals I've ever had. The first time he saw me blogging, he grew quite excited about the whole concept of it. After realising what it is all about, he himself started to research for some good blogging sites and, I suspect, has even registered in a handful of them. He was telling me the other day that he's tried loads of times "to write something" but simply never manages to conjure up a 'topic'. That was when I started thinking whether I myself too have ever logged into Blogger or Yahoo! 360° first thinking up what I was gonna write! As far as I remember, I've always been spontaneous. True, there are times when some incident occurs that I'd like to let the world know. But in those times, I just make a mental note of it. However, trust me, I hardly ever manage to think it up again when I'm actually before the monitor.

These days, when I'm in college, I can hardly be online for around 2 hours in a day. It's just today that I've been sending & receiving bits & bytes for so long, just 'coz I bunked the complete day of my college. Days when I used to be home, I used to be online for around 12-14 hours each day. All I'd do is blog, read news (that's just tech news, I hardly read anything other than that) & conjure up logics and metadata for my programs. Sometimes I wonder how much man has woven this net around his own life. At least I myself can't think of a day without checking my mails and can't think of a few hours without seeing a computer! God himself knows what's waiting in the future. As of now, I'm happy the way things are progressing. Now that finally I've almost edited my Side Bar to my tastes, now I can go back to mailing my girlfriend. Yeah, I still haven't mailed her a single word :-p. Ohkay, that is it, I'm going....

Are the times changing?

Oh boy...it'd been a tough morning for me. Had started at around 9 and it's well past 11 right now. All this while, have been editing my Template, changing PCs, running around the whole of the computer room, searching & uploading images etc etc...

Well actually, we are allowed to be on a machine for only 50 minutes (yeah 50, isn't that strange? Well, 'guess I can have the liberty to say everything in NIT Jamshedpur is outta ordinary), post which, he'll be revoked off his seat. Moreover, I can't get my roll no re-registered for at least 3 hours after that. So, even now, I'm on a lawaaris PC, every moment praying that I get to keep this seat at least till 12.

Ohkay, now lemme make a list of what all I've incorporated in my page in the past 2 hours :

• Counter - I really love this feature. Never use an invisible one 'coz I feel even the visitor should know how many have already been here.
• Communication Portal - Ohkay, does it sound too Sci-fi? The phrase struck my brain waves & I just typed them out. In this portal, I've made provisions for people to syndicate my Blogs, to email me & a portal (again??!!!) to send me an IM whenever I'm online on Yahoo!
• BlogRoll - This section is basically for my own benefit. Here I've segregated a few of my friends whose blogs I read as frequently as I can manage.
• Sidebar Titles - Changed the headings of various sections in my sidebar. Nothing like rocket science, but I just did them the way I like. SnAp!!

Well, that is it. 'Guess enough of customizations now 'coz now it's high time I mailed my girlfriend :-p. She'd been asking me to mail her a reply for the past 2 days & I couldn't manage the time. Now that I do have got the time, I think I should send her a few lines. Anyways, that is it from me now. Will come back again after I have my lunch :-/. Adios!

The Fight goes on...

It's almost 9 in the morning now & I'm in my college's Computer Center, trying to sort out my blog page. You must be thinking I'm crazy. Well, not quite. Or maybe, yeah, I am. I had my classes since 8 in the morning. Had set the alarm for 7 AM in my mobile, but still failed to wake up. Finally I did wake up, but well past 8, after my girlfriend gave me a missed as a wake up call. I don't blame her either. She didn't know that I had my lectures from 8 today. Anyways, After I was up, i checked out the time and cursed myself for being so careless. However, I suddenly lost all my urge to go attend classes today, so just took up my center Card and headed towards the center.

Well, now here I am, trying to think and decide whether I should continue with the previous design I had or should I conjure up a new alternate one, to mark the beginning of a 'new age'? I'll have to bring in all my important links into the link section, lost my BlogRoll, will have to collect their URLs too. Had posted a list of Tech news sites that I frequently visit. There were links to useful sites that helped me with HTML and various other resources for my blogs, shall have to include them too in my sidebar. Let's see how long it takes me, hope not much. Till then, I'll be all restless and shaky. Just as I'd said, Life's never fair!

Destiny makes me a laughing stock - and it continues...

Damn...damn...damn!! Just as I was trying to sort out the latest look for my page, lights of my college's Computer Center goes off again. It was around 7:30 at night, so I decided to walk all the way to my hostel (a minimum of one n half kilometers away) to have my dinner and decided to come back again after the lights come back. As destiny wanted it, the moment I reached the hostel, the lights arrived with a bang. With a bang, 'coz the moment it came, one of the transformers in our college bursted with a bang :-). Anyways, the mess doesn't open until 8, so just went into my room and waited for the minute hand of my Timex wrist watch to touch the apex. The moment it did, I rushed off to the mess, gobbled up (literally) pathetic food the serve out there & rushed to the Computer Center again. And yes, you guessed it right. The moment I sit on the PC assigned to me, the lights go off again, that ba****d!!

Anyways, right now the machines are running on UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply), but I'm sure I'll have to be up in another 10 minutes. So, it's rather better to leave all by myself than to have to be ousted forcefully (yeah, they really do that too, can you believe it?). Again got classes all day tomorrow. Still, plan to bunk a few! Let's see how things turn up. One thing's for sure, I'm not gonna take a moment's rest until I can get page back up, again! Yeah, you might think I'm too stubborn, but NO, I'm rather passionate about my blogs and my little space in BlogSpot. I'm not ready to surrender and disappear in the oblivion so easily and so soon. I'm gonna hit back in the world wide web, & this time, it's gonna be much much better, I swear. ;-)

Cheers & have fun...!!

Destiny makes me a laughing stock

Life always finds unusual ways of mocking at me. Ohkay, it's true I haven't written a single word for the past week or so. But the punishment I got 'coz of that...oh boy! Had opened my Blogger account today evening just to sort out a few indentations and to add a few links in my list. I had spent hours trying to sort out my page. Check out my post Cool Site... to see how my page used to look before. I'd almost gotten it all sorted out for at least next 6 months to come. And oh boy, just after I had edited the Template and clicked on Save, the damn lights went off. And then afterwards when I loaded my page, all my goddamn entries were gone!! Trust me, if I had a weak heart, I'm sure I'd have to visit the Doc for sure.

Well anyways, someone had said, "Whatever happens, happens for the good." Even I'll try to extract some good out of this catastrophe and shall spruce up my blogs with a new & sleeker look in a day or two to come. Till then, please bear with me :-p.

Life's Little Instruction Book....

Just got a forward from a good friend of mine, Atri Mahapatra. Well, though I get loads of them everyday, I found this one really very intriguing. So, thought of posting it out here in my blog. It's titled "Life's Little Instruction Book..." & has quite a few instructions that are quite satirical while some are cunning. However, most of them are really good. My favorite one is : "Be modest. A lot was accomplished before you were born." Do let me know which one you liked the most!

• Have a firm handshake.
• Look people in the eye.
• Sing in the shower.
• Own a great stereo system.
• If in a fight, hit first and hit hard.Keep secrets.
• Never give up on anybody.
• Miracles happen everyday.
• Always accept an outstretched hand.
• Be brave. Even if you're not, pretend to be. No one can tell thedifference.
• Whistle.
• Avoid sarcastic remarks.
• Choose your life's mate carefully. From this one decision will come 90per cent of all your happiness or misery.
• Make it a habit to do nice things for people who will never find out.
• Lend only those books you never care to see again.
• Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all that they have.
• When playing games with children, let them win.
• Give people a second chance, but not a third.
• Be romantic.
• Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
• Loosen up. Relax. Except for rare life-and-death matters, nothing isas important as it first seems.
• Don't allow the phone to interrupt important moments. It's there for your convenience, not the caller's.
• Be a good loser.
• Be a good winner.
• Think twice before burdening a friend with a secret.
• When someone hugs you, let them be the first to let go.
• Be modest. A lot was accomplished before you were born.
• Keep it simple.
• Beware of the person who has nothing to lose.
• Don't burn bridges. You'll be surprised how many times you have to cross the same river.
• Live your life so that your epitaph could read, No Regrets.
• Be bold and courageous. When you look back on life, you'll regret thethings you didn't do more than the one's you did.
• Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.
• Remember no one makes it alone. Have a grateful heart and be quick to acknowledge those who helped you.
• Take charge of your attitude. Don't let someone else choose it for you.
• Visit friends and relatives when they are in hospital; you need only stay a few minutes.
• Begin each day with some of your favorite music.
• Once in a while, take the scenic route.
• Send a lot of Valentine cards. Sign them, 'Someone who thinks you're terrific.'
• Answer the phone with enthusiasm and energy in your voice.
• Keep a note pad and pencil on your bed-side table. Million-dollarideas sometimes strike at 3 a.m.
• Show respect for everyone who works for a living, regardless of how trivial their job is.
• Send your loved ones flowers. Think of a reason later.
• Make someone's day by paying the toll for the person in the car behind you.
• Become someone's hero.
• Marry only for love.
• Count your blessings.
• Compliment the meal when you're a guest in someone's home.
• Wave at the children on a school bus.
• Remember that 80 per cent of the success in any job is based on your ability to deal with people.
• Don't expect life to be fair.

This last lesson seems to be tailor made for myself. Life had never been fair to me & even I've now stopped expecting it to be fair. Am all ready and up for struggle for the rest of my life. Amen!!

Yippeee...!! Sourav Ganguly captain again...!!!

It wouldn't have been easy for the selectors, they have made a tough decision. Sourav Ganguly has been re-appointed captain of Team India. The selection committee must have thought hard and long about it, but they didn't have any other option. The choice was between Rahul Dravid and Ganguly. While Dravid's batting remains as solid as ever, victories have eluded him. Ganguly has the results to back him, but his batting has recently wilted under the pressure of captaincy. In the grander scheme of things - a winning Indian team is what matters - the selectors have had to sacrifice a batsman to include a captain in the side! But it might be the last chance that Ganguly gets.

Luck has always favoured the Bengal tiger and it's no different this time. While Dravid had a baptism of fire in Sri Lanka, Ganguly will be leading the Indian team against the weakest side in international cricket at the moment! It will be the perfect opportunity for Ganguly to cement his place as captain once again. India will (most probably!) win the series, but it will be Ganguly's batting that will be under scrutiny. If Ganguly fails to get the runs this time, it might be the beginning of the end. The team cannot carry the extra burden of a captain, who doesn't chip in with the bat, for long. It will be suicidal against quality opposition.

There is every chance that Ganguly will roar back with the bat and Team India, in its current fragile state, is ready to take that gamble. He has done it before, but never in his career has he felt this kind of pressure. It is crucial that he delivers the goods once again. More so, if Ganguly wants to retain the captaincy till the 2007 World Cup. His batting form needs to improve considerably. Although he started the season - after serving an ICC ban - with a half-century, Ganguly has looked far from comfortable at the wicket. During that knock also he looked susceptible and returned to his low-scoring ways in later matches. Ganguly's captaincy record though is unquestionable.

He is the first captain who has won most number of Tests for India, surely he must have done something right for Team India. Selfish and foolhardy he is not! Love him or hate him, Ganguly's record stares in your face and the person who can match his record will have big mountain to climb.

Critics have often pointed to the fact that a good batsman who leads from the front always inspires his mates to go for greater glory. But this is not always true - Nasser Hussain who built a great team was never the team's top scorer, like Ganguly he played several gritty knocks. Hussain believed in grooming players notably Vaughan, Flintoff and Trescothick to lead England to glory while he concentrated on man management. The same is true of England's former captain Mike Bearley who was a genius as captain but hardly ever scored runs, the ECB on their part preferred England to win matches rather than a run-scoring captain who would end up on the losing side. India's case is similar, Dravid might be a great batsman but it's the X-factor which makes a good captain. Ganguly has got loads of it but sadly that's missing in his deputy. Clearly, not everyone is destined to lead even the great Tendulkar found captaincy too hot to handle.

On the whole I'll say, Sourav Ganguly rules Indian Cricket. Without him, it's gonna be tough to rejuvenate the "boys" & well, without the king of the jungle leading the way, how can one expect serenity in the jungle?

India does it Again...!!

Just have a look at the satisfaction on Atapattu's face. Boy...what a farce! First the Indian big-wigs don't see Wright fit enough to continue his term, then they get someone like Greg Chappell who's more interested to put his views forward through to the media than the players themselves and then Dravid becomes the captain of the team despite Sourav Ganguly being back. What the hell are they trying to do here? And now see what has happened! India loses yet another final.

Virender Sehwag, who has had a very poor series, gave India a fighting chance with a 22-ball 48 that shell shocked the Sri Lankans. Sehwag, who has not been at his best all tournament, hit the ball cleanly from the word go. More importantly he found the gaps unerringly and raced along to a flying start, peppering the advertising hoardings from long-off to point with a series of booming drives. Dilhara Lokuhettige suffered a nightmarish over - 4,4,6,4,4,4 - being carted for 26 runs by Sehwag. Anything full went effortlessly over the off-side field, which was constantly changing, and Lokuhettige's best efforts to mix it up, throwing in slower balls, were in vain.

But fortunately for Sri Lanka, Vaas, who had announced his return to international cricket with a series of probing deliveries bang on target, kept his head amidst the carnage. He curved one in to Sehwag and the half-hearted cut shot ricocheted back on to the stumps (62 for 1). But Sehwag's knock had given India a great start - with 62 coming off just 6.2 overs.

Ganguly, though never completely fluent, played a couple of pleasing cover-drives, but fell as soon as spin was introduced. Dilshan got a delivery to pitch on the stumps from round the wicket and straighten just enough to win the lbw decision.

Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh then watchfully shepherded India to 186 in the 36th over before Yuvraj needlessly swept a Chandana delivery to be caught in the deep by Dilhara after making 42 from 58 deliveries. A little later skipper Rahul Dravid ran himself out while going for a run that never existed.

Jayawardene worked hard for his runs at the start of his innings, working the ball cleverly into the gaps for singles. But the right-hander seized the initiative once he had hit his first boundary, which came after he had faced 58 balls. India were left ruing two dropped catches by Mahendra Dhoni behind the stumps - a difficult diving chance off Jayasuriya on 19 and an easier one off Jayawardene down the leg-side on 25.

The 28-year-old Jayawardene shared a 125-run stand in just 117 balls with Russel Arnold, who took on the Indian attack to score 64 from 63 deliveries. Jayasuriya provided the foundation for the total with an entertaining knock which featured nine boundaries. He reached his 10,000-run landmark with a pull for four off Irfan Pathan, thus following in the footsteps of Sachin Tendulkar (13,642), Inzamam-ul-Haq (10,933) and Sourav Ganguly (10,020).

To top it all, Dravid blames it all to the Indian Batsmen. All you need to do is check out the ScoreBoard to realise how badly he himself performed.

Well, anyways...I guess it was all inevitable. I admit that I'm a die-hard fan of Sourav Ganguly but, I'm saying this with utmost unbiasness, he is the best captain India has ever got and he's the still the best around. That guy has to undergo a lot, had to prove his weight at each and every juncture of his career. I just hope people now just give him a break and let him play his game without thinking of getting the nation's flak 24x7.

(Source: Indiatimes Cricket News)

It's gonna be an aweful day, it seems

Well, I don't know what's been happening to me. Maybe it's weather change, maybe it's 'coz of the water here in college, or maybe it's just my own negligence...last night was so damn aweful. Had pains all over in my body, nose was running severely, had a temple splitting headache, eyes were watering like a fall, the whole goddamn body was shivering, was sweating buckets all day. Was feeling so feverish and yet, didn't go to sleep till around 1 in the morning. Just couldn't sleep...had so many things going on in my mind. Just couldn't close my eyes and retire into trance. Well, as any other normal human being does, popped in a few tablets before I went off to sleep. In the morning, though the pain's gone and the fever too came down quite a bit, still the cold persists, shiverings still there, don't feel like doing a thing. Had just one lecture today of Maths at 9 in the morn, bunked even that and came over to the college's Computer Centre so that I could cool myself off a bit in the AC. Was supposed to visit the Doc today, don't feel like doing even that. It feels if I even leave my chair, I'm gonna fall apart in pieces. Boy, it's the just start of a new rigorous day...dunno how I'm gonna fare the rest of the hours.

Finally almost all my tools are up now.

See how happy I am? Well...finally I figured out how to put My Yahoo! Bar on the sidebar and also incorporated a counter. I must thank my friend Jeremiah for telling me about Imageshack. It's a great site to host images in. Almost each and every image you may find in this page of mine have been hosted in Imageshack. Can't even now remember how many pics I've uploaded out there - must be hundreds ;-)

Well, one thing that I'd like to see in Blogger is a tool to search other people's blogs too using certain keywords or interests. I don't know, maybe the feature's already available out there somewhere, it's just me who's a dumb-ass and can't find it! Anyways, on the whole, I'd say Blogger gave me much much more satisfaction than Yahoo! 360°. Keep rocking, guys...!!

Cool Site...

I must say, I'm falling in Love with Blogger. Here's a screenshot !! I've been tweaking this page for the past hour or so. I feel blessed that I know at least as much HTML required to make this site unique and presentable but yet not to lose it's identity and purpose. Must say, I never got so many tweaking options in Yahoo! I'm still an amateur here 'coz I'll need to know how to post pictures in the sidebar, wanna post a counter and also put my yahoo! status button in my page. I'm still working for it. Hope to get them up in a day or two. And I also hope you do come back to check what's new in my page.

However, I'd really appreciate if you could help me out with how to use Java Applets in BlogSpot and would also like to know if you've got any suggestions for me, as well.

That is it for now. Have Fun and keep rocking! Cheers !!

My First Post !!

Hmm...have heard of this place for months now...or maybe even years. But never really thought of joining it. My first site to post my blogs was Rediff. Next went on to use Yahoo! 360°. Life was pretty good out there. Rediff wasn't really up to the mark, but loved Yahoo! I still am using that as my primary Blog Site. It's just that today suddenly got to read a friend's blog titled The death of a salesman on BlogSpot. I really liked the looks and the way things were presented there. So thought of using this service myself, for some time. If I love it...surely I'm gonna use it all my life !!