The real broadband

Internet service providers have for ages hawked higher downstream access speeds, and the consumer has had little or no idea of which tier actually makes sense for thier usage pattern. They normally find a middle-tier package to play it safe and call it a day, hardly using it beyond the lowest tier's specifications.

As history suggests, this has resulted in service providers overselling their network; claiming to provide 16mbps or higher while knowing that their users would not come anywhere near the sustained usage levels that they've purchased. When a few users actually try and use what they've paid for, they end up on the service providers's blacklist for using up too much bandiwdth and "hurting" other users around them.

What follows is a fairly typical story of demonizing those users by marking them as pirates while also toeing the "network neutrality" line. As a side-effect, the providers also institute a cap restricting users to what they deem to be a arbitrarily fair usage level. Even a user with their plain-jane 8mbps connection can reach the cap in 10-12 days if they max out their connection 24x7 the whole time. Higher tiers will not have any peace there and would have to meter their usage. This problem is exacerberated when users on the 50mbps tier come online. They can run out of this limit within 90 minutes of full-tilt usage!

So with the economy in shambles and provders running to mommy for bailout money, the billion dollar question is this - are there any service providers who actually deliver what they advertise?

I'm happy to say (after years of comcast rule) - YES! Wide open west is an ISP in columbus, OH and they are one of the rare few gems who actually hand out 8mbps connections that really are 8mbps when measured at the edge. My pc routinely shows 1MBytes/sec download speed from multiple sites. If you are lucky enough to have such a provider in your locality, push their names out in the comment area. We ought to make choices with our pockets rather than waste time complaining to the authorities. After all, capitalism has its benefits :)

Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire

For generations, we've bemoaned the chains of british and arabic rule in our "Hindustan" that has ravaged and left us penniless, defenseless and culture-less. In every instance in history, the common factor turns out to be that we've been brought to the world's stage not by one of our own, but by someone from outside our shores. We lived divided amongst ourselves for centuries and were content with the status-quo. We called ourselves marathas, dravidians and so on... We fought each other as pandavas and kouravas. We never managed to unify ourselves to be one of the imperalists, and found solace instead, in fighting them for our own freedom.

All said and done, and looking at who we are today, we stand again at the world's stage - led by another 'foreigner', a videshi - Danny Boyle. It is incredibly ironic that an american who has never set foot in india till he began working on this movie, has been the one who was most successful in narrating the story of today's India. Right from the slums that we try to overlook, to the daily struggle of the deshpande's and srinivasan's amongst us, to the myriad other people who strive every passing day to distinguish themselves from the milling crowd that they are part of and yet wish to conform to the thoughts of that same crowd. The flavor of the real country is here in this movie. What distinguishes it though, from the countless other reality based movies that Bollywood has been known to push out year after passing year - is the message of hope, contentment, of the confidence that pervades every single youngster that he/she will make it in the world; the sense of fiery ambition amidst happy contentment for what they currently have.

This movie is in essence a celebration of what is currently India - no analysis, no make up, and definitely no cliche. Its the thought of seeing oneself in the mirror and saying - 'well, this is me and I like it' :) There is fantasy in there - sure, the movie is after-all, mainstream. It also has the usual drama and politics, but it is in the portrayal of the motions that the people go through when they play these same games, that we find a refreshing change in what we've all come to love as an Indian movie.

The policemen who secretly kidnap and interrogate Jamal in the first place, based on Anil Kapoor's suspicion. The inspector who has grown tired of seeing crooks everywhere and sees the same in Jamal until he starts narrating his story. The sub-inspector, who has no time for this nonsense and just wants to get it over with. The show host who is comfortable in his stereotypes and refuses to allow a nobody to become the star because he doesn't fit the mold. The girlfriend who has to make choices everyday to live in the real world. The child traffickers who maim kids to make an extra buck. These characters are real; we see them every day. Yet, it takes Danny Boyle to make a movie that doesn't forget the story line midway. It takes a person who has never been here, to see the real india of now.

I guess we must be happy that someone has told our story at all; but I've a feeling that India as a country is going through yet another rendition of this same story over and over again - in economics, in trade, in agriculture and even in politics. I'm yet to to see a scenario where we've come to unite under one of our own to reach the world stage. What is it that makes one indian think that another indian in incapable of doing the right thing, or doing it well? I've noticed that once we leave indian shores, Indians are very friendly with everyone except another fellow indian. I've noticed it on more than one occasion. We're also content in letting someone else take our decisions for us. Could it be that deep down inside, we don't consider ourselves to be a first class citizen of the world, having been through centuries of voluntary enslavement? Every one of these statements is a supposition. Yet, I hope that I am proven wrong. We seem to be the best workers, the best 'value-for-money' in the market right now. We're even have the advantage in being able to use english as a language across the nation. Yet, all that is great in India is thanks to the MNCs that sell us a vision of the outside world, delivered by local folk.

Is it correct to say that Indian excellence is safe in the care & nurture of everyone except another Indian? :)

The Chronicles of Nokia!

This is what happens when you bring a media powerhouse (MacBook Pro) with a built-in camera and an imaging-communications device to a certifed geek with wayyyy too much time on his hands...

This is me wondering what in god's holy name I could possibly bring myself to do to get out of boredom; while head-banging to the X-Men OST at the same time.

Aha, I've the perfect solution, but #$%^& where did I put it??? one sec while I find it. @#$%^&*

Now this is what I'm talking about... See? My new phone + 2 MP digital camera + media player + mobile internet device!


Now thats what you call an image within an image...


This is me attempting to do an Adam Sandler like in his new movie - Click. That's all folks!

Guffaws and more

Gee Haw, man-o-man are these the funniest blogs I've come across... they make me almost sad to be in the writer's blok i'm in. But that hopefully won't keep me from me keeping this post as a pointer to the good stuff out there. So, for those who visit along, here's a bit o'the cream thats hard to find :)

http://vinodg.blogspot.com/2006/02/blade-runner.html

The whole http://ketaki666.blogspot.com blog :) Man is that some funny sh** i've come across. Hey Ketaki, thanks for the hours of laughter di. U rock.

http://vinodg.blogspot.com/2006/02/thanks-for-all-hits.html - LOL towards the end... Freakish sh** with the PEDs and the spraying of the whachamacallit :))

yup and http://siddhuw.blogspot.com definitely deserves attention in this department, except the few serious (yech) posts he has.... thank god they're only a few. Satire rules SID... :)


Well, outta time now... will update soon.

Alive today, and I'll stay that way!

I just spoke to my relative. That went well. Well not exactly, but you know what I mean (you means me) . I think he knows what happened, thanks to dad. Poor dad spoke to him in all honesty I guess, but the fact of the matter is that he knows what I think. Which makes things a lot easier and clearer. Anyway it seems as though things will be OK now regardless of what transpired. Life is back to normal. The new week waits for me with open arms and a smiling face. I'm a happy man.

Time and tide hath never waited for one

The DST scandal

Heh heh, I know fer sure that blood in your veins must be runnin along really fast considering that this title resembles a very popular episode captured on MMS involving the misadventures of a couple of sprightly youngings. But.... for the self proclaimed geeks out there, this is an exciting time when a slow old bureaucracy fraught with conflicting thoughts that are powerful enough to cancel each other out moves eventually along the way to progess (no-one has ensured that it won't step back :)) and embarks on a perilous journey to change time itself!

Naah, no-one has yet found a way to time-travel (or no-one has publicised it yet) but good ol' Indiana - the midwest of the midwest is finally switching timezones and surprisingly, is implementing DST! Now, why might you ask, did you need to know this singularly uninteresting piece of information that is obscured within singlularly uninteresting prose. Well...... :) I dont know.

All I know is that this time change thingy is making stuff a little too difficult for me. Changing timezones on all the few hundered machines in the lab, prepping for a DTS (gawd, another acronym!) presentation thats been pushed ahead due to this fiasco and working on 3 sumissions for next week... Do I need time? Nope. I'm cool... I'm cool [the sound of thudnerous rage ensues, accompanies by the sound of crashing glass] (dude, it happens in the movies - crashing glass I mean).

Hmm... singularly uninteresting week :)

Speed up Firefox!

Here’s something for broadband people that will really speed Firefox up:

1.Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

• network.http.pipelining
• network.http.proxy.pipelining
• network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:

• Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”

• Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”

• Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0″. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.

If you’re using a broadband connection you’ll load pages MUCH faster now!

I was also reading somewhere (I don’t remember where now.. I restarted Firefox to check out the above changes) that you shouldn’t make the last “nglayout” change on OSX for some reason. But give it a try– you’ll like it! Of course this also increases the load on a given webserver as it gets more simultaneous requests per browser, but I’d say that the the speed improvement is worth it.

Best Widescreen Thin-n-Light EVER!

PC World has finally corroborated on the fact i've been screaming all year! The Compaq v2000 series (Including the z type - AMD Turion) is the best widescreen thin-n-light money can buy!

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,120185,00.asp

Check that out and rush to your favourite store to get one today!
(Did that sound like blatant advertizing? Sorry, just cant keep the good stuff to myself :) )

Porsche madness

Me and possibly a model of my future car :)

Disclaimer: Satire is my preferred literary form for informal work and hence, is the tone for this piece of work too. My experience was totally positive and barring a few moments, was one that I will cherish for a long time.

Viva Las Vegas

A Hurried departure from the bachelor pad left vish and me short of our shaving kits and me, noticably - short of a TIE! The one accessory that makes the look of a professional legitimate, was not in my possession for probably the most important few days in my professional career so far. Thus began the trip to the land of entertainment and lights, also known as - Las Vegas. Bright lights, beautiful ladies, casinos of all sizes and shapes and wealth of a magnitude larger than anything that has come by me so far (or left :) )

The sojourn was memorable for many reasons, most noticable of which was the departure itself. Our arrival at Dr. Steele's residence was just short of a photo finish, with Steve screeching to a halt at the exact time Dr. Steele walked out of the house, ready to roll. We found out the hard way that the beautiful Jaguar would be incapable of carrying the luggage of all 5 of us. Dr. Steele then decided to use the Jeep instead. The inital start itself let a barrage of sounds coming from the jeep, most of which was unusual, but was termed normal by the dealership which parted with the vehicle. About 10 minutes into the already timed-to-the-minute journey, boom went the jeep and immediately lost all power, with smoke emanating from the bonnet and the noise replaced by a smooth whirr. The incident led Dr. Bellaver to conclude that the transmission had something to do with this anomaly and how right he was. The drive bar had dropped to the ground and the vehicle was consequently unusable. There we were, out on McGalliard, on the way to Indianapolis, too far from immediate help and stranded in the middle of nowhere. We had to get to the Airport on time and get someone to fix the Jeep.

What ensued what quite simply due to a lot of luck, and some quick thinking. We needed a fast ride into Indianapolis and we needed it fast. Dr. Steele and Dr. Bellaver figured that Steve was somewhere close-by and he had a vehicle large enough to do the carrying. Calls quickly went out to figure out who had his number. Dr.Steele finally got through to him and then we played the waiting game. Simultaneously, calls went out to the dealership, who promised to come as soon as they could, which obviosuly wouldn't be fast enough. Steve came by and soon, we were locked and loaded. Out came the Radar detector and down went the pedal. In a rush of wind, off we were, skeddadling into the traffic, rushing past onlookers, slowing down only when the terrain demanded it and when the "friendly neighbourhood cop" was close-by. And so, we made it just in time to the airport.

It so happened that the day was destined not to be plesant for me (or was it the price to pay for coming to vegas?) I repeatedly set off the metal detector and the suspicious officer gave me the "full massage", patting me down in front of all the people. Even my shirt kept setting off the alarm, for some unknown reason and had me in binds... Reason to blame??? Bubblegum wrapper! Regardless, on the plane, it was mostly uneventful, except for the fact that I spilt a bucketload of breadcrumbs on my fellow passenger and had her wiggle uncomfortably for the rest of the journey and actually made her jump in fright when the next round of food came :)

Down at Vegas, I knew at once, about why this was called the city of lights - Lights of all sizes, colors and intensity shone on us, from sources as varied as can be. Large HD screens, neon signs, plain old bulbs and every surface that was in plain sight had some kind of advertisement! The shock had not yet worn out, when we descended upon the best restaurant in town - Bellagio's. Another round of "gulp - I'm screwed" came upon me, having sparingly used the infernal knife-fork combination before. But, a very "unwind-and-enjoy" environment greeted me inside and people were anything but formal, which was quite contrary to my fears. The environment was formal-friendly, which is the maximum my limited vocabulary allows to describe the place. I got used to it soon and came out liking the environment better than an informal one. People actually felt better that way :) I guess Dr. Steele was right all along - appropriate professional behavior actually makes for a more engaging human interaction, vis-a-vis the "disorganized outlawed look".

We then trooped over back to "The Venetian", one of the best hotels in vegas. The sheer size and luxury exuded by the place was overwhelming. I was once in the past exposed to such luxury, at the Le Meridien, in Delhi, but this was an unrivaled experience. Vegas is to be seen to be believed! Anyway, we checked in and I began rummaging in my bag for stuff to wear for the night and fished out an old bill for a hotel stay - my last hotel stay in india, before I came to the US. and I was cracking a joke on how they fleeced Air India for the bill. Ironically, when I reached out for the next envelope, I found that someone fleeced me of the money I brought with me to vegas! All $400 of it! Great, I thought - what a welcome... But then,I knew that I was the one to blame, putting it in my luggage instead of my purse. Well, life's like that and I moved on. Crashed onto the bed, to "live to die another day" (Courtesy James Bond) :)

My own first Notebook

This is a Compaq Presario V2310US notebook which is rigged with:
AMD Turion 64 ML - 28 Processor @ 1.6 GHz
512MB DDR 400 Ram
80GB SATA HDD
DVD+/- RW drive
Wireless 802.11b/g with bluetooth
14" widescreen Display @ 1280x768
Windows XP Professional SP2

See and Drool, please :)

Chicago Downtown Pictures

Chicago Downtown, Sears towers on the left (With two horns :) )
BTW, for those wondering what's with the water; it wasn't me :) its lake michigan!



The Adler Planetarium - 75 years old and counting!!!!

AirIndia Around the world

We stood again, at the counter, after being insulted, shouted at, left to wander around aimlessly, and lost for info, and then, fed - probably out of pity; the previous day and yet, there we were... We reached the gates of hell after baggage check and luckily, we got boarding passes for both the legs of the journey :) (I'd actually confirmed earlier on, about this). Then on, Emigration, security clearance and then the wait for the call to board the aircraft...

But that too, wasnt destined to happen without hiccups :) After a while (the duration is fuzzy to me already) we were asked to board the plane and we did, happily, given the chance to leave for one of the most sought after landing strips in the country in the past few days. We were given seats and breakfast and I promptly went to sleep, trying to catch up on some lost sleep in the previous day :)

But when I awoke, I was astounded to see that we hadn't even taken off yet! Half way between the terminal and the runway, our plane was suspended and for the past 4 hours! When asked about it, the airhostess (She was pretty miffed about something.... dunno what) told me in curt words - Bad weather at Mumbai. and Turned away... In retrospect, I guess she'd have answered the same question a million times while I was busy dreaming and so, the weariness...

I went back to my seat and contemplated what next I could do. By then, a few irate passengers pulled the co-pilot, who was wandering around, and asked him what Air India was doing about this... Some pretty tough questions along the line of - Why not put us on another route? Or Bypass mumbai altogether, or put us on another airline!!! were fired and was followed by some pretty useless accusations like - Air india's useless and nothing's being done.... While this ended, we were asked en masse to de-plane and wait at the security encloure... for our "comfort". Well... So, anyway, surprisingly, in 15 minutes, while I was wondering why pati's phone was perpetually busy, they announced that we should board the craft cuz they'd obtained permission from Mumbai airport...

We rushed in and for once, the plane did take off...

Coming up... Part - II

Destination : US

The Srinivasan residence is one that is normally alive throughout the day, owing to self-Staggered sleep schedules; but the night before the first of july, 2005 was unusually silent, surprising not only the requently sleep abused residents of my building, but the neighbourhood dog too! The incessant barking, in tune with Bryan adams was replaced with scratching and whining, almost as if it were confused about the noise being absent and desperately needing its night-time entertainment :)

Such sweeping changes in any place is indicative of either a major event occuring or (cough, cough) the residents moving out. The former is what was ordained to happen the next day and the latter, eventually. The first of july, was a very important day in my life for a variety of reasons:

(1) It was on this day that I, Razer B - scraggy mangy tambram, broke my vows of being as obnoxious as I could be, and actually combed my hair in a way the lesser mortals do. Not used to such abuse, the keratin strands atop my scalp rebelled vigorously... But doused with tons of sticky hair-gel,they almost reluctantly stayed in place...

(2) I've never been the gentleman, 'thank'ing and 'pleas(e)'ing un-necessarily unless otherwise my daily dose of nourishment is at risk ;) but on 07/01/2005, as if on a roll, I went about greeting everyone - inside and outside the American consulate! Everyone from Onyx cleaners to the clerical attendants received generous quantities of my "Good Morning, with an almost idiotic grin spread across the landscape that was my face. I was courteous long afterwards too, much to the chargin of my mother who was driven up the wall with my "Americanised" behavioral shift so much so that; belive it or not - She threw me outta the house and told me to return when I'd rid myself of what she called - the "Visa Shock"!!!

Well, again, much to my mother's consternation, it didn't go away!!! I guess it happens to the most of us. I 'recovered' a bit after a few days, when the Srinivasan homestead was gripped with another issue - The B.E admission fiasco. Preethi, the usually confident, studious and so far illustrious student was thrown suddenly into spasms of doubt concerning her future; despite scoring a radical 91% in one of the toughest examinations in the country! Such was the condition that she had to consider options that she wouldn't have even touched with a foot long pole!

To B.E Continued...

21 things Indians do when the return home from the US :)

Sorry Fellow bloggers, I desparately wanted to update this blog... Wanted to publish my experiences Couldn't get the time out of my so far busy, but totally worthless schedule... So, here's a forward, which I thought at one time remotely fell into the catrgory of funny, in a weird way... So, feel free to check this out, in case you haven't seen it already...

An NRI does the following when he/she gets back from the US:

21. Tries to use credit card in road side hotel.

20. Drinks and carries mineral water and continually speaks of one's health.

19. Uses the deo so much that he doesn't need to take bath!

18. Sneezes and says 'Excuse me'.

17. Says "Hey" instead of "Hi".
says "Yogurt" instead says "Curds".
Says "Cab" instead of "Taxi".
Says "Candy" instead of "Chocolate".
Says "Cookie" instead of "Biscuit".
Says "Free Way" instead of "Highway".
Says "got to go" instead of "Have to go".
Says "Oh" instead of "Zero", (for 704, says Seven Oh Four Instead of Seven Zero Four)

16. Doesn't forget to crib about air pollution. Keeps cribbing every time he steps out.

15. Says all the distances in Miles (Not in Kilo Meters), and counts in Millions. (Not in Lakhs)

14. Tries to figure all the prices in Dollars as far as possible (but deep down the heart multiplies by 43 times).

13. Tries to see the % of fat on the cover of a milk pocket.
12. When need to say Z (zed), never says Z (Zed), repeats "Zee" several times, if the other person unable to get, then says X, Y, Zee(but never says Zed)
11. Writes date as MM/DD/YYYY, on watching traditional DD/MM/YYYY, says "Oh! British Style!!!!"
10. Makes fun of Indian Standard Time and Indian Road Conditions.
9. Even after 2 months, complaints about "Jet Lag".
8. Avoids eating more chili (hot) stuff.
7. Tries to drink "Diet Coke", instead of Normal Coke.
6. Tries to complain about any thing in India as if he is experiencing it for the first time.
5. Pronounces "schedule" as "skejule", and "module" as "mojule".
4. Looks speciously at Hotel/Dhaba food.

Few more important things "they" do

3. From the luggage bag, does not remove the stickers of the Airline by which he traveled back to India, even after 4 months of arrival.
2. Takes the cabin luggage bag to short visits in India, tries to roll the bag on Indian Roads.

Here Comes the Ultimate one.......

1. Tries to begin conversation with - "In US ...." or "When I was in US..."!!!!

Killin Time

The Statement above could be slightly misleading in the fact that it is not the author killing time, but the other way round! Strapped for every second and lunging at everything that lets out an inkling of being anything close to important has become second nature ot a person who was once known to give a complex to sloths and would be colder than the temperature at Mt.Everest, when under sever duress...

Sigh.... One good thing at elast, is the fact that in the results released yesterday, I managed to score a good 86% and I suspect, I'm class topper, until I find out that my less-than-ideal perusal of the page turned out to be what it was threatening all along... Incorrect!

Anyway, gotta run.. I was supposed to meet my cousnellor at 10:30 today and its 10:40 now!

Flippin around in TN

Most People have a great time travelling or touring (for the stiffly british) and do so with elan (those who've planned their trip well). In my case, it was neither. A kicking, screaming and slightly delirious me got on very reluctantly onto a train that bore a name (pallavan) deceptively similar to the excuses for transport we call buses in chennai; travelling towards central Tamilnadu, to temple town called trichy (tiruchirapalli, for the connoisseur). And the ride was just as bad. Notwithstanding the jolts, bumps and shuffles that are an oh so common part of the experience we indians patriotically call a train ride, abominations of structure and character almost always seem to gravitate towards our general direction everytime we ride on these trains. Or it probably might be that we (I never take the blame solely :-) ) are a bit too sensistive to be travelling in public.

People with professions that would give the term "contemporary", a new dimension are a common sight. Everyone from clouts to pick-pockets are an essential part of the atmosphere, with the occasional cop thrown in for the ambience. Then come the ones who purportedly are ones trying to eke out an honest living; barging in uninvited into reserved coaches, hawking their goods brazenly, much to the consternation of the legal occupants of the coach. The TTE does nothing to "shoo" them away, so to speak. If its out of a sense of pity, its lost on me. And putting up with external irritants is only half the story!

The Second class train compartment is either a cleverly orchestrated circus or a foul sense of order gone chaotic! I desperately hope its the former, everytime I get on and realise its the latter everytime I get off! One expects people, who live in close proximity with most other people for a large part of their lives would develop a sense of coridiality, a sense of one-ness with other people. But I guess crowds inspire the exact opposite emotion. A guy who picks his routinely abused-swollen-to-the-brink-nose throughout the journey and deposits the contents on your shirt and makes like a smile when you catch him; a lady who tries to occupy twice the space she'd normally require and a bawling kid who finds everything an invitation to demonstrate his max volume are unavoidable!

Whew! Thats brought out all the spite... For the now very quizzical blog reader (you've read this far??? Amazing!) Who might be wondering what this is all about.... Fact of the matter is, that I was on the receiving end; not once, not twice, but a whole six times in a matter of a week and a half! Repetetion alone, I'm sure you'd concur, is enough to inspire distaste towards it. But the whole experience was one that was illuminating, to say the least. My once in a lifetime adventure through the "shining" cities of South India turned out into an adventure allright, but in unexpected ways.

Bangalore saw a smiling neo-adult drop down onthe station, one fine saturday evening. Expecting the garden city to be teeming with "wild-life" in the night scence, he expectantly set out to sample the goods on store. Alas, what he found made the curd rice at home seem like a delicacy (Thats on a later blog ;-) ! Having almost seen most of the city on foot, he concluded that bangalore was one hyped out palce and nowhere near as cool as it claimed to be; a fact corroborated by an ex-party animal based in delhi, who also happens to be a Business analyst with Cognizant Technology Solutions, working his a$$ off in Chennai at the moment. The friend he was chaperoning was bitterly disappointed too, making it a let down in ways more than one.

An escape bid to well known waters to salvage what they could, was the only highlight of the trip. Spencers, The ol' Eliotts and A few Go Karts, topped off with the dependable MGM saved the day! Weary from his recent travails, the intrepid traveller thought he was done. But alas, again, his adventures were only beginning... Indian Railways decided to gift the frequent traveller with what they do best - a new strain of a virus bred in captivity, within the annals of the pantry car they ostenatiously claim to be the next best thing in passenger comfort!

Smitten, the intrigued adventurer experienced what hell had in store for those who sinned... Already travelling again, and wracked for four continuous days, the brave adventurer was on the end of his tether. The second train trip was in his own words - "The toilet trip". He was uniquely poised to inspect almost every lavatory that the indian railways laboriously built into the train and believe it or not, he even had a top 10 list, with the one four compartments away topping the list! He arrived in quaint Trichy, disshelved and only a shell of his former self; quite like voldemort was, after lil' harry was done with him! Let alone the temples in "temple town", he hardly saw out of the room he was confined in, with the attached bathroom, of course :-) One fine Sunday, he threw in the towel on Indian Railways' hospitality and probably doing the only sane thing so far, attempted to get to a hospital.

Fate, it seemed, was against our poor adventurer. The doctors in Trichy have a unique policy, which goes something like - "Sunday holiday"! After trudging through the streets for an hour, in search of anyone capable of helping, from physicians to chemists, when the tunnel seemed darkest, an angel in the form of an auto driver came to the rescue, recommending the only 24hour hospital in miles and offering to take the aggrieved soul there, for a handsome fare though. Our adventurer was left exchanging unplesant conversations with needles and bitter tasting concoctions built to kill the virus and a apart of him, in the process, for a couple of days... Antibiotics, they said, is your only hope... They kept their word and finally, the young man, wracked, disshelved and tired, came out alive! The sense of gratitude was overwhelming and he thanked every diety he knew....

By now, I'm sure that even the least endowed soul on this planet would know who that adventurer was - me! I still had another journey to make on the accursed trains - back home! Though it was uneventful compared to the ones earlier, the story was the same (see Top for description). Having gone through hell and alive to tell the tale, our adventurer decided to let heroics be and promised himself that he would concentrate on matters far more important than fame and adventure - The Visa interview... but here he is, blogging away, to keep those memories alive. From one adventure to another, this blogger knows not what peace and sleep is :-)