MAD rush

Exam: Multimedia and Application Development

Everyday's new. Everyday's unique. And this was no ordinary day...by any means. Multimedia and application development(MAD,lol)...I was caught in the confusion of MBE, MELP and Linear predictive whatevers and before I knew it I'd missed the Bus! I knew I wasn't late at the stop nor did I take my eyes off the road for that long. Wow, bad days usually started after noon.

Starting up a brand new (effing) day....
Went back home with Hakeem for a coupla hours extra study. Started at 10:30 again and luckily got a seat in a stinky old RTC bus. Took a short look at the textbook and slowly drifted off into a micro sleep(this happens only during exams). Woke to a sudden jolt to my nostrils, I almost puked. The guy next to me(who'd boarded the bus while I was in dreamland) was
literally breathing Alcohol! To add to my pain I wasn't sitting on the window side either....

I reached college after a gruelling two hours. There I spent half the time revising and the other half biting my nails. I had a feeling I'd F up in this exam too.
I was wrong. Exam went well today! A 10 day breather now before my next exam, I'm going home!

I'm all smiles today!

ironic...

I never switch off my computer. Ever. The coming exam's freaked me out totally and I had to give in to the pressure. I'm sitting right there and distraction's just a power switch away...

Anyway,I was reading under a zero watt bulb and decided to test my Camera's prowess once again. Switched to manual mode and set a 30 second shutter for this one. I set a 10 second timer and dashed to the chair to pose with my textbook. Admired my dirt cheap camera once again and fell back into study mode.....

It'll be over soon....

KCR called off his fast. Come on man! One more day and JNTU would have cancelled our exam!
It's 21:00 now, and my preparation for tomorrow's exam.... just half the syllabus. I've just hit a new shameful low in academic ignorance....

Exam in 17 hours from now, meaning an effective prep time of about 10 hours. Did a lil math in my head, it should be enough. Provided I don't waste three more hours here watching Malgudi Days and waiting for red flags on FB....

uhuh, Wikipedia!!!

Wikipedia is the answer to everything. Assignments, exams, projects...whatnot. But I guess wiki hates reality TV too. I searched for "Splitsvilla" and had the laugh of my life... Enlarge pic to see what I mean.

Woh din bhi the...

The 90s were a period of transition. India was transforming- Cities were evolving and so were the people. I was a kid and I have some very vivid memories of this period, like the now extinct Opel Astra I used to gawk at, or the Ford escort with it's unique 'sheepish smile' grill. Other memorable cars from the period include the Tata Sierra, Estate and the iconic contessa. Malls were unheard of. A 'street' called Abids and a few at Charminar were the de facto avenues for shopping. There were some big retail outlets too but were out of reach for most.

Television saw remarkable growth in the 90s and was initially dominated by DoorDarshan to be later replaced by other private networks. Some of my favorites from DD include School Days, Alif Laila, "the mile sur..." commercial and many others. Private networks gave us classics too, Filmi chakkar and Hum paanch were laugh riots. Oh, who could forget those "Asian sky shop" ads. Anhonee and Aahat deserve special mention. Both had spine chilling theme music.
DD Metro introduced me to chip n Dale rescue rangers. Then came ZEE tv's Disney Hour with Talespin, Ducktales, Aladdin, Little Mermaid and the new Goof troop, Darkwing Duck and Bonkers. I even watched the telugu versions on disney Sandhya!
Actually I could write a whole series of posts on disney features. Next...

Indipop. Bombay vikings, Baba Sehgal, Remo, Sonu Nigam and many others were instrumental in shaping the indipop scene. Even Shiamak Davar in his short stint gave us a couple of memorable tunes before moving to Dance. Then came the sensation that was Alisha Chinoy. I still have that "Made in India" cassette Dad bought more than a decade ago! The genre now has moved to trash remixes with vulgar lyrics or crapped renditions of good movie songs.

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We have better cars now.Audis and BMWs are the new benchmarks for 'rich'. The shift is now towards 'sports centred' sedans and SUVs. Apna Sachin drives a Ferrari Modena and some guy in Mumbai bought a Lamborghini Murcielago. I even saw a Maserati recently at a filling pump nearby. Malls...they're everywhere now, no description needed. Music has diversified and we've made great inroads into fusion, trance and even hip hop. TV is a different story. Some are hailing the new "reality" shift. I completely despise it. Young idiots battling it out for a karizma(go get a life dude!). Girls speaking filth, rona dhona antics in competitions for TRP...I donno if it's just me but I hate reality shows. And I've never seen a single episode.

Some videos I found on youtube...





This song by Vikas Bhalla is so sweet I remember the lyrics more than ten years on! Some good chap uploaded this video on youtube(bad quality though)

Old Man and the sea duck: My favorite Talespin episode.



More like a lesson in living for small kids, this 1934 cartoon feature is memorable, and who could forget "Mehnat karney sey kya fayda?"




An ode to friendship. Those watching for the first time are bound to fall off their chairs laughing. For old timers though...the quirky choreography is no problem. It's pure nostalgia for me...



A quick search on youtube is all that is needed to relive the great decade that was the 90s.