Thank you, thank you all…

Every once in a while there comes a time in a man’s life, when he feels that he’s on top of the world. The time when his ego is boosted to such humungous levels, that he will almost burst into pieces. The time when he feels that he has accomplished something which reassures him, that he still hasn’t lost that fire within. That he still is what he thinks he is. Ladies and gentlemen, one such time came in my life yesterday, when yours truly took his GRE  and scored a good 1470. And need I say I am happy? True happiness, a true accomplishment after aeons !

It all started with my decision to go for my GRE about a month and a half ago. A little consultation here and there and it was decided that doing my GRE was the most feasible way out of this humdrum. And so, the exam was fixed for the 24th of April. That gave me about 50 days, before finished learning the entire wordlist of 3000 odd words, brushed up my aptitude for those quants, practiced writing essays…All within a span of 50 days. And boy did I rise to the occasion (OK, that’s an exaggeration, accepted but I did study once in a while, believe me). And working hard during the time I had after a hard day’s work, watching movies and the world cup, (No no, Sony’s coverage had nothing to do with my decision to write the GRE, but of course many schools reported students turning the TV off and studying for the final exams after the poor fans found in a match that after one particular break in the 25th over, the batting team was bowling and vice versa), reading novels, eating, sleeping at 10, waking at 7 etc etc., So that gave me about 1 hour to prepare everyday. That is if you don’t take into consideration the time I chat with my roomies, deciding which list to study and so on…

So with all those preparation and stuff, I went confidently to my exam centre yesterday. My exam was initially scheduled for 1 o clock, but since I reached the venue a good one hour earlier, I accepted their offer to take up the test at 11.30 AM itself. But before that I was asked to sign a confidentiality agreement, which forbids me from divulging the questions to others after my exam. Real scary agreement that was.But there is a new thread that comes up on Orkut every month to discuss the questions that were asked that month. Who really cared, anyway…

After this came the big moment, the GRE. Beginning with the essay section, which asked my valuable insights on topics ranging from “A discussion on Science and Art” to “a decision to shelve a manufacturing process in a sock manufacturing company”. This was followed by the verbal and quants sections which, to be frank, I really can’t classify as tough or easy. I barely had time to complete the quants section, and had just 3 seconds left when I answered the last question. Quite time consuming that was….

With that complete, only a few seconds were left before I can get the score. My hands began to tremble, and when I clicked on the ‘Proceed’ button, I expected a moderate score. But what came next was an absolute shocker. I had scored a reasonable 670 in the verbal section, but had also scored a stunning (what are adjectives there for ) 800 in the quant’s section. What a grand finale it turned out to be !

Phew… 

This was a success that had come after a long time. And there are so many of them that I want to thank for this performance of mine. I owe it to all of them…

1st to my folks who have always stood by me,encouraging me in whatever I do and believing that their kid can still deliver stuff. I owe them this whole world. Thank you mom and dad…

The next most important person to whom I owe all this is to this guy, Badri, one of my best friends. He had been the single major source of support and inspiration that I have had in the past so many months that we guys spent together. His words of confidence and encouragement went a long way in helping me prepare with all diligence for this exam. He’s one amazing guy to have as a friend. I owe you big time machi. Thanks a zillion gazillion….

To Dhivakar, my long time associate, another one of my best pals for half a decade now…His words of advice in preparing for this exam were instrumental in making me achieving this score. Helping out with material, giving valuable insights…You had always been there for me man!! Thanks a ton machi…You simply rock …

To Sakthi Kannan, my mokkai partner, who never gets tired of keeping his mouth open for 25 out of 24 hours everyday. Again the support and the attitude that he infused in me is energetic. Always kept that fire burning within me. And also giving his credit cards for paying up for the exams. … Needoozhi vaazhga Kannan….

To Deepak, my alter ego…Infusing the confidence in me. Always being there for me, taking decisions , helping me out of any corner that I’m forced to… I really cannot thank you enough dude…

To my gang here at CTS – Balaji,Deva and Boopalan…If you want to know the attitude that we guys from Anna University have, talk to one of these guys. You’ll know what it really means to have a ‘never-say-die’ attitude. Three cheers to you guys…

To my roomies JB, Karthick, Bhuvaneh for their constant words of encouragement, and also for calling me out to watch TV at all the right times . Thanks guys.

To Deepa, for the words of wisdom and constant company that she’s been giving me all these months.

To my davs Sangeetha, who is ready to accept an MS in Industrial engineering in place of an MBA  , Bharani and Doreen…Thanks for all your words of encouragement…

To all you good souls who prayed for me to succeed in this new venture of mine.

Thank you…Thank you all…

 Adios…

Cricket, and the Great Sony Tamasha…

The Cricket World Cup (CWC)  2007 is now midway through its schedule. And in India, we have Sony Entertainment Television or SET bringing the coverage live to our living rooms. A ball-by-ball coverage of all the action that is happening on the other side of the globe. Hey, hang on a sec. Did I say ball-by-ball? Can I really say that about one of the pathetic sports coverages that TV audience have seen in recent times ? Oh no no, that would be unfair on the part of the viewers. Here’s a brief insight on the farce that SET Max does in the guise of a live coverage.

The first reality that strikes you as a mere tomfoolery is the coverage itself.  On many an occasion, you are left to feel that the cameraman has no idea where the ball is – whether if it’s in the hands of the fielder or the spectator.Like this example of Jacob Oram raising his bat to strike a Dilshan delivery, and before you know it, the ball has reached the stands,  ’cos that’s where the cameraman has panned his device to. And if you’re a fan of the Black Caps , you have all the reason to rejoice. But lo, what’s that white spherical thing in the hands of Mahroof? Good Lord, that’s the cricket ball with which these guys were playing a couple of moments back. And if it indeed had hit the stands, which the cameraman led us to believe, what business has it got there in the fieldsman’s hands ?

Oh, you don’t get it silly. The ball hardly went anywhere near the boundary line. It had just managed to cross the 30 yard circle before being snared by the fielder. This is what happens when you bring in people who at the best can follow Jupiter if it moves across a chess board. Bring them to cover a cricket match, and the ball is as good as the proverbial needle in the haystack. And this is not one isolated incident. These guys only need the batsman to raise their bats to pan their cams to the boundary line right away, irrespective of whether he managed to hit the ball at all. Phew, how you wish you had a better coverage !!

Another major irritant is the ads that this channel manages to squeeze in between balls. Yes, between balls – not overs.  Like what happened during the Indo-Sri Lankan showdown. The techno guys where just waiting for Zaheer to bowl a wide before allowing Hrithik to flaunt his Karizma. Another wide, and you’ve Junior B dancing. Grrrrrrrrrr……”Areh, let the bowler complete the over, yaar. We aren’t running away anywhere”.  If this is so during the middle of the over, its worse during the end of the over. They only have to wait till the bowler releases the ball and there you’ve Dhoni, playing tennis before his coach asks him to try his hand at cricket. My patience has already worn thin. And when the match coverage returns, Dhoni has already walked back to the pavilion, and the bowler gets ready to bowl the second ball to the new batsman. Ball-by-ball coverage for you, ladies and gentlemen.

You go absolute nuts when a run out happens. The umpires, the players and the audience await with bated breath for the TV replays.  And time for Preity Zinta to make her presence known. After a good 45 seconds, we return to the play. Instant replay for you. And you thought SET was losing big time ‘cos India was thrashed out of the tournament. Poor you.

If this is so, its no better even during the coverage. You have Peter England taking the bottom 40 percent of the screen and BSNL taking the top 30 percent of the screen. And what you’ve in-between is the live coverage of the match. If you scrutinise your eyes, you can see a white object on a yellowish-brown backdrop. Hey…Why’re the airing a celestial event in a cricket coverage ?Oh no, this is not a coverage of the transition of Mercury through the Sun. Its just the white ball moving across the pitch.Of-course, the batsman is hiding behind the BSNL banner and the bowler behind the Peter England hoarding. And of-course, before you realise all this, you are looking at a bunch of people in the stands, before the cameraman realises that the ball is in the keeper’s hands, before SET realises they should ask Zinta to move on and let them resume the coverage. It’s a vicious circle out there.

And one of the highlights of SET’s high quality coverage is it’s stupid ass tiger.Be it a 4,a  6,a catch, a missed catch,an LBW or not, the batsman was bowled or not, run out  or not..you have this cartoon coming into the picture, with an accompanied music, twisting its arms, dancing,’celebrating the moment’… Did they say yoga was for frayed tempers ???

And as for as the commentary is concerned, it took a couple of replays to ascertain that Oram had indeed a hit a six. And we did this even before the commentators did. But then, when you’ve Mrs. Bedi on the commentary board sitting along the likes of such greats as Tony Grieg and Geoffrey Boycott, you just cannot complain.

I will better watch football. Go Chelsea !

Paranormal Me… :-)

It was just another tiring day, what with all the hard-work (!!)  at office n stuff. Thank God, it was a weekend and I could afford to sleep late into the morning next day. And sleep I did, till I woke up to a unique phenomenon. A phenomenon, a feeling, that scared the sh** out of me !!

I was sleeping deeply, and all of a sudden, I heard my roomies Jayabalaji ans Bhuvanesh talking. The TV was running, and I felt activity all around me.  Oh well, time for me to rise and shine. And so thinking, I try to open my eyes. But strangely, I could not. I waited for a couple of seconds before I tried opening my eyes, but damn, it was no good. ” Holy cow, what is happening to me ?? “. I tried to move my arms, but they are paralysed. I use all my strength to wiggle my little finger, but alas, it was of no use. As a last resort, I try to shout. But I only dreamt that I opened my mouth and shouted my stomach out. In reality, I neither opened my mouth nor managed even a whimper. “Oh My God !! This cannot happen to me !!”.  With this thought, I force all my mind and body into one single task – to open my eyes.

 At-last, after a gargantuan mental struggle, i managed to wake up with a jolt. Everything appeared normal. And if I had indeed flailed my arms and legs, which I thought I did to force me out of my hallucination, my roomies didn’t seem to give any indication of that.

So what the heck exactly happened ?  Previously, myself and Jayabalaji (JB) have discussed about this phenomenon called Out Of Body Experience (OBE), which I had experienced once or twice earlier (I will write a post on this sometime). Was my experience today related in anyway to OBE ? After all, I was fully awake and knew what was going around me, except that my body was arrested.  So it was only natural that I find out the truth.

Returning to office on the monday morning, the 1st thing I did was to look up on this. (That is one of the perks of working in an IT industry – Free High Speed Internet ).  And it was then I hit upon the term known in the medical world as “Sleep Paralysis”.

Now the word paralysis is enough to frighten anyone and everyone. So it was with an apprehension that I went further in finding out what was this strange “New Age” psychosis that has affected me. Here’s my understanding of Sleep Paralysis.

Sleep is essential for every human to give rest to his physical self and revitalise his mental faculty. We all will be in a state of deep sleep , a good 2 or 3 hours after we actually lie down. So if you start sleeping at, say 11 PM, you’ll be in a deep sleep phase at around 2 AM. Now this deep sleep phase is scientifically known as Rapid Eye Movement  or simply REM. REM can occur many times during the entire sleep.

REM is the phase when active assimilation of information takes place. That is to say, it is during this phase when all the data which we have gathered over the entire day upto the point we actually sleep is sorted and assimilated. This is important in remembering things we see and recollecting them when needed. During this phase, our eyes show a rapid motion and hence it is called the REM phase.It has been stated that people with A disorder of REM have a poor memory, but this has been actively refuted.

During the REM phase, the human body normally enters a state of paralysis to prevent the person having the dream from enacting it in reality. Like flailing once arms when dremaing about fighting. And sometimes, this is really rare, the person manages to wake up from his dream in a REM. He is awake mentally. His sleep has completely vanished. But his body is still in a state of paralysis because, physically, he is in the REM mode. This way, though he is mentally awake, he physically is not. He will not be able to even twitch a muscle. The only way to get out of this is to either get back to sleep, which in most cases is impossible, or to wake up. Most, if not all, subjects try to the latter, like I did. And eventually they get out of their REM paralysis.

And back to normalcy.

“Phew. It was not so frightening after all”. Technically , yes. But the reasons for such occurrences do cause some concern. Those of you who want to learn more about the reasons for this and possible outcomes, please click here.

So that’s brings another eventful account of my life to an end. I believe that this will at-least throw some light on a new medical detail which many of you might not have heard of.

Till I meet you again with another episode on another real paranormal event.

Adios…