Saturday, April 4, 2009

The tradition lives on...

Another set of mid-semester examinations is upon us, meaning it’s been another week full of coffee, gossip, joblessness and, of course, frantic attempts to make some good out of those tests. Speaking of joblessness, R-land has been unbelievably active on Facebook, and not to mention, the preferred activity being those random quizzes that have invaded our Home pages. The conversations in the midnight rendezvous at the canteen earlier used to be the usual “Are these the subjects I really want to study?”, “I should’ve gone to Delhi or Bombay...” or the omnipresent “I want to get committed!”. Thanks to the aforementioned recent developments, these bakar sessions now sound a little different. “What should be your real job?”. “Which city are you/ should you be living in?”. “What is the first letter of the person you will fall in love with?”. For goodness’ sake, even “Which street animal are you?” (I am supposed to be a mangy cur). Facebook was nice and addictive when I first picked it up, but it was the social networking part which made it fun. Poking friends, commenting on their albums, following their status messages- you got to know these people so much better. These quizzes claim to add to the same, but do they? Who’s bothered if I’m a gamma function or an exponential function, or if you’re a stiletto or a pair of sneakers. You can lie your way to becoming a nice bovine creature on the city roads, or boast about an emotional quotient of 138, or claim you’re a real-life equivalent of Charlie Brown’s cousin, and get a handful of guesses as to who your love’s going to be when his/her name begins with an M (which, by the way, every second person seems to be getting). But is that what I really want to know about people? If you say you’re involved in them as just another activity to bide time, I’m OK with it. If you think it helps you connect with people better, I seriously begin to wonder ‘How?’. As insignificant as it may be here, I’d like to ask Mr. Zuckerberg to ponder over this and the suggestion of reverting to the old Home page.

 

Meanwhile, blogging is now officially a fad on campus. So much so that Kondy’s April Fools’ prank involved one, and was quite a rage, might I add! First posts now gather comments I can’t dream of, and cheap publicity is the norm. The new monthly newspaper, YouthZilla, in their coverage of this phenomenon, asked some chips from the old block why they blogged, and what keeps them going. I got that e-mail, too. Pity I couldn’t reply in time. Do read that article for Sushi’s awesome reply. As I surfed through my chat list and found links to at least half a dozen blogs as status messages, I was reminded of my humble beginnings in the blogosphere.

 

My blog began as my vent for all that I couldn’t speak thanks to lack of time/ space/ cooperative audience. But, as the sands of time flowed down, I realised it was much more. It was an endoscope into those great recesses of my mind, a vent- not for arbitrary chatter- but for anything that’s stimulated me , and, of course, a chance to keep writing regardless of my work (or the lack of it) for the magazine. I realised today, that sometime in November 2012, when I’d be a dapper 22-year-old with a mortarboard for headgear and a scroll in hand, there’d be one place I’d look to recount all those little things that made life in the insti as special as it was, and this page would be it- unblemished by time, untampered by opinions, unhampered by incidents to follow- pure as that first drop of rain. After all, as AP so poignantly says, beauty lies in the minutiae.

 

P.S.- All the very best to Dela and Prondu for the Tata Crucible National Finals. I wish the Grandmaster’s legacy passes on to you.


P.P.S.- For all those who're reading this before Sunday, best of luck for the tests. You seem to need it.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wishing fourth years luck for their last TS's? BURN!!!! Although I seriously wonder if we'll be able to save attendance backs this time....
And now you know why social networking can piss off people. Welcome to the jobless world of geeks, which I am so desperately trying to avoid. And wipe that leer off your face.

Murty said...

@ Rapster

Do well, anyway, da. Try doing something you haven't done yet (leave apart a back, please).
This doesn't piss me off, da. People justifying it does!
More on that some other time.

Pranav said...

The blog before the TS... well kinda expected that in spite of a dozen others (or maybe more - sorry have lost count!) that you have posted by now, in a month. and yes all of a sudden we have too many www.some-friggin'-username.blogspot.com
About the facebook quizzes... they are fun, da - Mostly Harmless.

Saagar said...

Regarding the Facebook quizzes and how they contribute to social networking- once someone takes a quiz and chooses to publish the result, the others get to see it. Even if for the smallest of seconds, they are reminded of that person, and try to figure out, in the insanest possible way, what the results could imply. Ocassionaly, that leads to a message on the Wall and notes being exchanged. And that my friend, is what FB is all about. Though I wonder if MZ thought of this.
Keep blogging. You're right. You'll love it as time progresses.
And uh, er, ahem, thanks for the wishes regarding the TS (snigger).
Prondi and Dela- all the best from me too. Make us all proud.

Murty said...

@ Pee-Kay-Ass

Haha! Good to see you finally making a HHGG allusion, da. I know I post too often, but it's OK if you can't keep track- I don't expect all to have as much free time as I make for myself!

@ Lefty

Figuring out what results could imply- strange business, that is. You don't need to look around too much for that.

The Sage said...

I got "M" too..

How you Doin?? ;)

Murty said...

@ The Sassy Sage

No, no, no- Mallika Sherawat it is! :P

Karthik Vaidyanath said...

FB quizzes are fun, da!
In fact, the number of quizzes taken shows the extent of wannabe-ism.
Lie away to glory to publish what you wannabe(which sometimes dsn't make sense; talk of exponential fn,etc)

btw, would the 2012 'dapper' HHH still be wearing Socks and Chappal?
And yes, I did desperately need those wishes for the TS, and happy ghissin!

Murty said...

@ Jetty

Too embarrassed to use your name after April 1, eh? :)

I don't really consider "wannabe-ism" a positive characteristic, I guess.

And, yes, if that November is cold, I will be wearing 'em 'cause it makes sense!

Karthik Vaidyanath said...

embarrassed?naaah!
The world knows that THE Jetty portrays no sign of embarrassment(The blog still being there is a living proof of the same)for being used to fool Others(Yes, with a capital 'O')...
I was a tool, not the victim.
And people love to laugh at others, whoever they maybe( esp, the ones they 'love/like')

P.S.- this isn't me getting senti again...

Vikesh said...

I am thinking of posting again. Its better than FB quizzes in which you get to know you have 17 crushers, though that does make me feel good considering most others only have 14.

Will post soon...

Murty said...

@ Mr. Khanna

Although it has little or nothing to do with this post, do post soon.

Chronoz said...

Enjoyed reading one of your posts after sometime.

Despite their exemplarily arbit nature, I'm getting sick of the "Person A took Quiz B and got Result C". Its losing its fun quotient. I want the old fb back. :(

M for Murthy??

Murty said...

@ Shreyas

I know what you're alluding to, baster. But, every second person is getting M, da.

And, oh, thanks a lot! Although it's part compliment, part insult :)