what if money DIDN'T MATTER?

Must-watch video which seeks to simplify much of life's complicated choice-making. All this by asking one simple question.
WHAT IF MONEY DIDN'T MATTER?

Happy Festival of Lights!

Dear those-who-lost-your-way-to-this-blog,

Here's wishing you and your family a very very happy and safe Diwali. 

Early utke nahana, naye kapde pehenna, khoobsurat rangoli banana, achcha khana khaana aur bahut patake burst karna. 

Do take blessings of your elders and stay off Facebook, Email, Whatsapp and spend some quality meaningful time with your loved ones.

While lighting up the Indian skies with festive fireworks, do spend a minute or two reflecting on the air/sound pollution you are causing. 

Also, make a solid resolve to say 'No' to firecrackers produced out of child labor.

Lastly, safely dispose your burnt fireworks. Don't randomly discard them everywhere. 

And, do clean up the streets tomorrow. 

Inniya Deepavali Nalvazthugal. Happy Diwali. Hardik Diwali Shubhkaamnaye.

the HKUST entries: surviving HKUST

We, at Asia's No.1 University, woke up to another email crying tragedy at the subject. One of our freshmen, Poon Kei, a Year 1 student in the Department of Mathematics, died yesterday after jumping off his home in a multi-storeyed building in Tsuen Wan yesterday. From what I could glean off the badly translated version of the Cantonese news article was that the factor that tipped him over was undue pressure courtesy the ongoing midterm examinations. While no one really knows the actual reason, my heart goes out to the family and friends of the deceased and I hope the Almighty gives them enough strength and courage to deal with this unexpected catastrophe.

Meanwhile, to all the living, walking, breathing HKUST camaraderie, please please please do not try aping late Mr. Poon Kei or Ms. Feng Ye or the two dozen other students of HKUST who have taken this ultimate decision to end their lives. Agreed, life is a bitch. Agreed, Professors are morons who overload us with too much work in too less time. Sure, TAs give us horrible assignments which even the smartest Mainlander has no clue about. Last but not the least, the guy who invented the normal curve is the biggest sonofabitch ever to be born on Planet Earth and deserves nothing less than the guillotine followed by a firing squad. But, please remind yourselves these are temporary aspects of life that are going to go away in a bunch of years. Very soon, you are going to be freely walking away from the Redbird and you are never going to come back. These are short-term problems and remember, there are 10,000 of us facing identical, if not worse, conditions and we take it with a smile on our face. 

The fact that HKUST is such a terrible demanding mean mistress is why I love studying in here so much. The seven odd months in a year that we put in here are undoubtedly challenging and stressful. Homeworks, assignments, projects, meetings, presentations, AGMs, EGMs, LLCs, society work, social life...every one has their own cocktail of miseries in life. But, what we need to realize and appreciate is that without hard work, there is no true sense of learning and without learning, there is no sense of achievement. I have personally seen the sense of education in a lot of reputed private universities in India and believe it or not, lecturers lecture because they have to and not because they want to. Students cram stuff and beautifully regurgitate in the exam but ultimately, they have no idea why they did what they did and the whole idea of education fails in such a scenario. But, in HKUST, we are challenged every day, every hour, every minute and only by boldly taking/screwing up such challenges, do we learn. In the words of former US President Abraham Lincoln, only the test of fire makes fine steel. This way we are the finest steel in the region and trust me, if you can survive HKUST, you can pretty much handle everything else this world/life throws at you.

It is extremely easy to write a blog post saying "Challenge is fun. Challenge is cool". But when I'm personally confronted by the heavy workloads common to most students in HKUST, I too would want to kill myself, my Prof and the moron who quoted Abraham Lincoln (in the reverse order). So, here are a few suggestions to cope up with this stress that is so fundamental to our lives:

1) Find someone (friend, sibling, Peer Counselor, stranger) and tell them "I can't take it any more". Let all your frustration out on them (you can apologize later) and start afresh. Talking to someone always helps relieve the mind of tension (Warning: Think twice before you do this with a fellow HKUST student. 99 times on 100, that person is in a worse-off state and is bravely taking it than you are. Every UST student hates when a less busy person cribs about how 'busy' a life he is leading. So do watch it whom you whine to)

2) Talk to your Professor/TA. Tell them you tried your level best but you can't finish the work. Most Profs prefer having a Late Submission to a Late Student. A lot of them are really sweet and will happily give you an extension.

3) If you did horribly in your quizzes and exams and feel that Mayan-predicted End of the World is already here, RELAX. People do way more horrible than you have ever imagined and proudly flaunt it with their friends. Yours sincerely managed a cool 1/10 in his first quiz at HKUST. Put an emo status on Facebook. Go argue with your Prof. Get drunk. Study your arse off for the finals. Do anything but do not blame yourself. You are way more than what your GPA says you are. 

4) Lastly and most importantly, do understand Hong Kong University of Stress and Tension is the most overrated description we can give ourselves. A lot of courses in our University is actually pretty chill. Unless you keep procrastinating like me until the very last day, you should be able to handle UST Terror pretty decently. If you are from Beijing, you should actually be like "Bring it on, bitches". Students suffer more in Universities in Mainland China, Japan and USA. So, stop crying and start working instead.

Studying in HKUST doesn't translate to handling all the problems in the world alone. When you are stressed out, talk to people. Only when we hear your problems from you, can we collectively help you. When we read it in the coroner's report, it is too late. Do think of your family, friends and colleagues before you try to go do some cool emo mature stuff.

Once again, I condole the premature death of Mr. Poon Kei. May your soul rest in peace and may this be the last ever time we get an email beginning "We are very much saddened to announce the passing away of our beloved student...".

Sign-off link: HKUST's own version of Gangnam Style. Let's Oppa Engin Style!

live life KING SIZE

iEcstatic!

Hey guys,

Remember the article the fictional Monopoly Club I wrote? Thanks to your overwhelming support on Facebook, I was voted the Most Liked Entry and I received a OMG! Guess what? free iPad 2 :) along with Nitesh and Avishek.

Here's me NOT being the biggest jackass extraordinaire ever(term credits: Sindhu) and thanking all you guys.

THANKS SO MUCH FOR HELPING ME WIN THE CONTEST! :) YOU GUYS ARE SO AH-MA-ZING! :) :) :)

P.S: If you ever want a Like for something, do ask me. :)

OMGGG...Olivia!

Presenting Olivia Natacha, my new found craziest friend. Her reason for this really amazing picture is: Because, I don't wanna grow up! 

Stolen from her Facebook :)

the HKUST entries: ~ oppa live GREEN style ~

Whaddup bitches? :)

How are you guys? Hope you are having a great autumn and enjoying a much-appreciated long holiday(if you are in Hong Kong)

Since my English is still pretty rusty(I can't type a post without backspacing atleast a few million times), I'm going to do a visual post this time. Scroll down to see pictures of the Live Green LLC organized hike to Razor Hill :)

Ctrl+Alt+Del. Shut Down. :)

A really long shot at HKUST

A big huge bunch of housing blocks...Welcome to Po Lam, our promised Land...

Good old Terry Chan..Coordinator, Hall 6 LLCs...fun guy to hang out. Corner of the picture you can see Monkey King.

Po Lam Revisited.

Po Lam Re-Revisited from a greater height.

HKUST & Shaw Center ~

Yours painstakingly...Still couldn't get rid of the Chinese eyes ;) #hatebeingphotographed

HKUST awww...

This is tough. I'm horrible at names. L to R. No idea, Elvis, No idea, No idea, No idea.

Equally clueless but for the handsome one second from left.

Hermann and everyone else :)

Long shot @ Sai Kung...You can see the boats in the distance

Hermann, our guiding light and inspiration-in-chief

You can see Polly, Mona hiding behind her and Terry.

On effin' top of the world...lalalala! You can see HKUST Atrium in the distance.

Sai Kung from the top 

Hermann and Elvis

Elvis and yours sincerely

Attempt 4. Decent picture AT LAST. If I'm in the mood, I can be more picky than Prasho in how I look.

Po Lam. Yam cha...!

Alex.

Why I offered to take Alex's picture.

Wohooo...mission accomplished :) Welcome to Po Lam.

P.S: We missed you, Cho Kam Wa.

StumbleUpon link: Jason Mraz's I'm Yours

Belated Happy Zhong Qiu Festival. 

indian NAZISM

<This post is dedicated to all those wonderful friends of mine, who are girls, and survived the Nazi reign that is Modern India. Come what may, you folks are some of the awesome-est people I know, and life would be very boring without your smiles>

All those neo-Nazis still out there, wake up, you got a new Fuehrer to take orders from. Come to think of it, several millions of Fuehrers to take orders from. Who are they? The cruel heartless 'educated' families of the 20th/21st Century Indian married woman. And just whom are we annihilating this time? The Jews, the Commies, the Americans? Wake up, German volk. We are not talking about eliminating inferior races out here. As we march heads held high into the second decade of the 21st century, let's set ourselves a more nobler target. How about elimination of whole sexes? This is not a call for yet another twisted brainwave seeking the amalgamation of the male and female. On a slightly lower step in the ladder of our imagination, how about we destroy the female sex? Once again, sorry to disappoint you folks, no gas chambers, no Auschwitz or Dachau style extermination. Why wait for the female kid to grow up and then gas her? How about destroying the baby right at birth? You see, no need for machine guns, no need for train wagons, no need for trials. A simple ultrasound scan. If your beautiful bahu is pregnant with a baby boy, indeed it is a Cadbury shubhkaamnaye moment. However, if fate is wretched and she has a baby girl, it is time for a sneak little visit to an abortion clinic. Pay the doctor, get the baby aborted, wash your bloody hands and wait expectantly, for your blessed boy. Welcome, my beloved Hitler Youth, to the mindset of the modern Indian family.

Female infanticide and foeticide is a total eclipse of the India Shining dream. How are we developing if every minute there is an unborn female child being terminated simply because the 23rd pair of chromosomes spell XX? How are we shining if we have such screwed sex ratios all across this nation? Call me thick-headed, but how exactly is this desperate craving for a male kid justified? What are the benefits of a male child?

Agreed, your family surname is going to be continued.  HOWEVER, women change their surnames to coincide with that of her husband as a result of societal norms. Dear uncles, don't pressure your wife to adopt your boring Sharma/Kulkarni tag and your son-in-law might just do that. Aishwarya Rai chose to remain Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan still continuing the Rai lineage. Your surname just a bunch of meaningless characters, and if we can come down a little on the stereotypes, we'll find women are perfectly capable to continue family traditions.

Given, it is a possibility that you might be well taken care of in your final years. HOWEVER, sit back and compare how well your spoilt son is going to take care of you as compared to your lovely daughter. This son included, boys are generally incapable of even making a mug of coffee to relieve their parents' headache. This son excluded, yet these young men are the pillars of strength you parents are going to hang on to in your last years? If you still remain unconvinced, take a leisurely walk to the nearest old age home and strike a chat with the occupants about how they landed there. Atleast then, realization would sink in that a son might abandon his parents in cold blood, but NEVER a daughter.

Even better, you might get a lump sum dowry including a new flat, Toyota Innova and Reliance Petroleum stocks when your boy gets married. HOWEVER, this is a mere extension of the stupid grand Indian belief that a boy outweighs a girl. If you think guys are smarter and worthier, think again. I'm a guy and I have so many girl friends(notice the space between the two words) who are way more intelligent and strong-willed than I ever will be. If you seek further proof, skim through the archives of the Times of India paying special attention to articles on Indian Class X and XII examination results. Every year, since I started taking cognizance of this fact(and grumbling about it), girls continue to outshine boys. Remember, every guy is not worth his weight in gold and every girl is not born to be confined in the fumes of your kitchen.

Those were the most logical reasons I could come up with for the inexplicable Indian craving for a male child. If you remove the logic criterion, I'm sure we could come up with more absurd theories on why female infanticide is acceptable but there you see, these theories come into being WITHOUT the logic criterion.

I conclude this post with an appeal to three sections of people who are most involved in this horrible tragedy that permeates every level of the Indian society.

Dear parents-in-law,

Granddaughters are more beautiful than grandsons. Boy or girl, an offspring of your child is a joy to behold in your eyes. I know grandmothers who cherish their granddaughters and they constitute some of the happiest people I know on Planet Earth. Before you send your daughter-in-law to an abortion clinic, imagine how you would have felt if your mother had been forced to terminate you. Even if your in-laws had been torturous to you, this is no time to seek revenge. Let's all forgive and forget. Let's make this world a better place to live in! :)

Dear husband,

Be a man! You signed up for this when you married your wife. As Aamir Khan tells us, YOUR fricking chromosome decides whether your wife sires a girl/boy. Stop yay-saying to Mummy and learn to love your kid with all you have, regardless of its gender. There are so many couples out there who are without a kid and aching for one. God has given you a lovely gift, don't even think of destroying it.

Dear doctor,

Sorry I couldn't be scathing enough of you. Remember you swore the Hippocrates oath whence you promised to save every life to the best of your abilities. As your ultrasound might tell you, an unborn child has life. It moves, grows and suffers. Society gives you your instruments to deliver life, not death. For heaven's sake, you are a doctor, a mere cogwheel in the huge machine that is human reproduction. Do not play God with the lives of innocent children.

Kudos to all those mothers who have braved abuse to raise their female children. Kudos to all those wonderful families which treat every baby as a wonder by itself. Kudos to all those unknown journalists, administrators and social activists who fight for the cause of the unborn girl.

Give the girl child a chance @ life!

Today's Stumble and the inspiration of this blog entry: Aamir Khan's Satyamev Jayate - First Episode on Female Foeticide

the HKUST entries: breakfast OPTIONS (v)

Achcha subah, lovely humanity and the carcasses of LG7...

I hope you didn't miss me a lot in the last few days. If you did, rest assured I was unable to bear our prolonged separation either. Actually, I was trying to keep up with my reading. I completed Chetan Bhagat's Revolution 2020 and currently am preoccupied, much to Rashmi's annoyance, with The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Today, as you probably guessed from the title, I'm going to discuss breakfast options in HKUST(because I'm really hungry), that I'm aware of. I take this opportunity to apologize to my meaty audience about the lack of information customized to their tastes. Unfortunately for you, friends, my parents happen to be the traditional Mylapore thayir-saadam-manga-thokku mama-mami types and I have somehow been unable to get rid of their herbivorous legacy. So, if this post is too green for you, you know which two human beings to blame (being fair to them, I guess my whole family tree is at fault).

If you want to try out a HKUST breakfast, you have 8 options. Asia Pacific Catering, McDonalds, Chah Chaah Teng, Canteen 2, Cafe, UC Bistro, Park n Shop and Chinese Restaurant(Agrim recommends the pork buns...a little too economically and environmentally expensive for a Tam Brahm like me). Asia Pacific Catering in LG7 offers a pretty sumptuous breakfast meal including Oat Meal, Toast and Horlicks/Coffee/Orange Juice for a mere $13 HKD. Pardon my leaky memory, but from the looks of the other early risers enjoying their breakfast, I guess, it has decent non-veggie options, usually including noodles, ham/pork and a drink. Canteen 2 and Chah Chaah Teng offer pretty much the same stuff but for a $14 Western breakfast, CCT gives you a slice of ham/bacon (can be exchanged for another toast if you can explain it to the cashier), a toast and Horlicks. If you trust Shreya and in particular, her food recommendations(which I think are pretty good), the Horlicks in CCT is extremely diluted and for a good Horlicks experience, you must go to Canteen 2. Take a lift up and go to the Coffee Shop and you'll find plenty of breakfast options awaiting thy consumption. Although most of them revolve around ham, bacon and sausages, there is one meal which includes omelette and coffee worth 15 bucks and is worth a try.

I have never been to UC Bistro but Avishek believes they have some of the best breakfast offers on campus that can really brighten your morning. That leaves Park n Shop and a McBreakfast. If you are one of the organized sun worshippers, Park n Shop is your best bet. You can get cereals such as Nestle Cornflakes, Wheetabix, Milo Nuggets and Chocos for just under HKD $30 and fresh milk for $16 a litre which will surely help answer your first meal issue for 4-5 days(unless you gorge some cereals every time you pass by it). However, if you aren't a great fan of cereals, you can always try out my favourite breakfast option. McDonalds! How I fell in love with McDonalds still perplexes me (only yesterday's waitress appeared cute to me), but its No.3 and No.4 meals(no meat of course) always work miracles on my tired body and mind after a long night at the CSE labs. No.3 meal comes at @ HKD $23.50 and includes three hotcakes, a hashbrown and a drink. No. 4 meal is similarly priced but includes scrambled eggs, hash brown and a drink. Apart from these two options, there are plenty of McMuffins, Filet-o-Fish and Twisty Pasta to delight your hungry stomach. If you are feeling particularly adventurous, I would recommend the Jumbo Breakfast Meal which is essentially a combination of No.3 and No.4. Although having a Jumbo Breakfast is one of my greatest ambitions currently, the sight of such a large meal is highly intimidating. If you are ever so ravenous that you end up wiping out an entire JB, do let me know how the experience went. :)

All this talk of food has set my tummy craving for them. While I get ready to leave for my rendezvous at the HKUST Library, do enjoy browsing this website. Stumble of the Day: Enlightened Perspective.

Meanwhile, the Information Systems Office (you need to really screw up around HKUST to get to know beyond SAO, ARRO and GSO) refunded the money lost in my failed transaction at the Add Value Machine the other day. Nice to know such nice people are around in HKUST :D

Until next time, this is You-Know-Who signing off.

Morsmordre.
 

the HKUST entries: Dear Professor...

Hello everyone,

As I'm currently working on the HKUST English Debate Team blog, I wasn't able to think of anything new to tell you. However, here are 34 increasingly creative and admirable excuses to bunk classes that Yoga and I thought of a few months back. Enjoy.

Dear Professor,

34. If you don't grant me leave, I'll report you for sexual harassment.

33. As I missed the 1.20 Lift, I couldn't attend class today.

32. As India acquired its independence from England 65 years back, I don't really think you have the right to force your lecture on me.

31. My Dad's the Director of Homeland Security and he has an arrest warrant for you with regard to terrorist activities. I was at the attorney's preparing your defense.

30. You so remind me of my ex-girlfriend. That's why I'm not coming to class today.

29. As I want you to spend some time with your own family, I will not be attending class today. You needn't come to class either.

28. As my cat overslept, it couldn't wake me up. Hence, I was unable to attend your class.

27. As I'm allergic to the tubelight, I will not be attending class today.

26. As I haven't done today's classwork, I'm not attending class today.

25. As I'm the neighbour of your mistress, I really don't think there is a necessity to attend the class.

24. Seeing how cold it was in the morning, I thought we must still be in Winter Semester and thus didn't attend class today.

23. As I'm get addicted to you, I'm staying away from class today

22. I work part time in the archives of the Institute of Advanced Psychiatric Care. Yesterday, while I was organizing the files, I came across your medical report. To my shock, I realized you are a paedophile in the guise of a Professor. In order to protect myself, I will not be attending class today.

21. Earlier this week, I was in the Discrete Math class. One of the examples said: "If today is a Friday, then today will be a holiday." Today IS a friday.

20. As I was wearing clothes of the same color as the wall behind me, I think you failed to notice my presence. Kindly mark down my presence in class.

19. As the newspaper astrology column predicted you wouldn’t come to class today, I didn’t too.

18. As you didn't like my Facebook status, I'm annoyed with you and will not attend class today.

17. As I felt guilty about not attending last week's class, I couldn't be there today.

16. As I can't find a matching pair of tee-shirt and jeans, I will not attend class today.

15. As the toilet ran out of toilet paper, I couldn't attend class today.

14. I was arrested over the killing of a mosquito. By the time I got back from the court, the class was already over. Sorry!

13. As I killed a mosquito by mistake, I went to the church to confess. I'm really sorry, God.

12. As you will be in class today, I thought I should go to the stadium and support your favourite team. Don't worry, I'll send you regular score updates.

11. As I was attending a lecture on the importance of attending classes regularly, I didn't attend class today.

10. As you had zero balance on your Octopus card yesterday, I believed you wouldn't be coming anyway.

9. The last time I attended classes, I answered all your questions. In order to create a more level-playing field for my fellow students, I will not be attending class today.

8. Today, I learnt how bank loans work. So here's the deal: I miss class today(80 mins). For the next 16 classes, I'll arrive 5 minutes early. K?

7. Dear Mrs.Professor, Sorry to hear that your husband passed away. He really was the finest man I have met. RIP Prof!

6. I overheard you telling your friend that I was irregular and unreliable. You have left me no choice but to stand by your words. I won't be attending classes today as you see, I can't let my Prof be called a LIAR.

5. As I heard you had a heart attack, I went to see you in the hospital. Get well soon :D

4. As there was a tsunami in the fish pond opposite my hall, I couldn't attend class today. Don't worry, I'm safe.

3. As you said in your last lecture, life is indeed a race. We are competing everywhere from getting lunch to purchasing movie tickets to attending your class. I'm sorry I lost the last one.

2. Sorry to hear about your amnesia. I attended class, remember?

1. Today I'm working part time as a suicide bomber. Keeping in mind your best interests, I'll not be attending class today.

Best Regards,

Sathish  

Happy Bunking! :D

BTW, here is today's URL: Motivational Quotes

Good night, the Blue Planet! :) 

the HKUST entries: Monopoly Club, HKUSTSU

Friends, Romans and Countrymen,

What do a bunch of extraordinarily intelligent engineering students do when they casually meet up after dinner? Think of the next coolest tech-toy which Apple would buy off us? Help solve the Euro crisis with a bunch of mindboggling mathematical formulae? Of course, not. What do extraordinarily intelligent engineering students actually do?

They play Monopoly!

To topic. Do you guys know Monopoly? If yes, read on. If not, please jump to the last paragraph.

Last week, with dear sweet Mom transferring a substantial amount of money to my account (nothing worth making a kidnapping bid, so don't get ideas), I felt the mood for some economy boosting and thus began Operation Mong Kok. Ladies Street in Mong Kok is one of the most fanciful places for shopping and if bargaining runs in your blood, you have discovered Shangri-La. After multiple reconnaissance missions and some decent bargaining, I bought a World Monopoly Edition for 100 HKD with a super cool electronic banking system with card-swiping facilities (Yoga's new found sweetheart). 

And, with this charitable purchase, was conceived the Monopoly Club, HKUSTSU. 

Our first World Domination game was played by Colin, Tony, Thas and I with Tony minting money every time he rolled the dice. By the time, we called quits, Thas was bankrupt and Colin owed me some 20 million dollars in response to the splendid hospitality he received in Hong Kong and Jerusalem. Within days, the LG1 Clinic declared a Monopoly pandemic. Some notable victims include Rd Birdie, Aurelia, Parag, Rajindh and Yoga. Yoga loves his electronic toys and thus is our de facto Banker. Parag plays the shrewd Monopoly genius, defending bankruptcy while building and demolishing houses depending on how close others are to his properties. Aurelia, on the other hand, takes orders from Pyongyang while she plays the game. She buys properties, but she strictly maintains the Hermit Player Status, refusing to deal thereby starving you of the much important monopolies. RdB provides the entertainment factor, regularly conning you with his never-ending witticisms and you-are-my-best-friend deals. Rajindh is our most honest player and offers you less absurd deals than RdB. My playoffs are best described by a sinx curve, forever oscillating between awesome, okayish and terrible luck and I love entertaining my friends in my posh hotel in Hong Kong at a cool price of 11.5 million dollars.

The Executive Committee of the Monopoly Club, HKUSTSU meets on boring weekdays and weekends at the Ground Floor Common Room in UG Hall II. As Parag departs to India in a few hours, we are looking for fun players to join the ExCo. If you are equally crazy about Monopoly or simply wish to recuperate after hours of torturous Safety Training, leave a message on this post or on my Facebook page. We shall discuss your application in our next Empowered Extraordinary Annual General Subcommittee session and get back to you soon enough. Until then, long live Monopoly and longer, the Monopoly Club! :)

Stumble of the Day: 40 Most Powerful Photographs Ever Taken

About Monopoly:

Monopoly is a fascinating game that can be played by 2-6 players. It consists of a square board divided into numerous smaller rectangles. Every rectangle is colored and 2-3 rectangles share the same color. These rectangles contain the names of different places (dependent on the theme) and its price. Each player starts of with a fixed amount of money. Players roll the dice in turns. When a player lands on a rectangle, he can either buy it if it is unowned or pay the rent on the property if owned by some other player. When all the plots of the same color are owned by a player, it is termed a monopoly and he can build houses/hotels on his properties. The rents on the properties go up depending on the number of houses/hotels built on that property. A player is bankrupt when he has no money left to repay the rents even after selling his property. The last person playing on the board is the winner of the game. The game includes rectangles such as Jail, Income Tax, Chance and Community Chest to further build its suspense intensity.

the HKUST entries: air-con inspired ALL-NIGHTER

Jóu sàhn South China,

First things first, I loved Neal Caffrey and Peter Burke in White Collar. Despite re-reading what happens in the last episode of Season 3 in Wikipedia, I confess, I had no heart for the actual ending. Peter asks Neal to run away as he confronts the Department of Justice Committee which was deciding on granting Neal full freedom. He does this for Agent Kramer, his mentor, plans to break up the amazing partnership between Neal and Peter and steal Neal with him to Washington D.C. Not willing to work for Kramer, Neal embarks on his long-planned escape with Mozzie and the Jeff Easton spends the last 1.5 minutes of the episode focusing on Neal's face, revealing disappointment on being separated from the one person who meant the world to him(after Kate Moreau of course), Special Agent Peter Burke. While it was heart-wrenching to see the dream team come to an end, I do particularly relish throwing some choicest expletives at the Kramer character. You are a first-rate !@#$%^&, Kramer, I give you that.

As the first rays of sunlight penetrate the glass windows of my five day old room, I sit uncomfortably on the matted floor listening to One Thing, awaiting the blessed moment when my clock displays "07:00 AM". I call 7 AM a blessed moment for a reason. This is the precise team when the shutters go up on McDonalds. On a regular Semester day, this would mean the end of my nightly academic workout, but why would I wait all night simply to have breakfast on a holiday? Smart question indeed.

Here's the dumb answer. Earlier tonight, or more accurately, today morning, I take this long walk to Seafront Cafetaria in the hope that I would top up my Student Card and thereby get the Aircon working. Usually, Seafront buzzes with a lot of student activity but today clearly wasn't going to be an usual day. I go up to the damn Add Value Machine, push in my card and cajole it to accept my 20 dollar-bill. The HKUST Add Value Machine is a "stubborn mistress", as any experience UST student can tell you. It is extremely volatile and PMSes a lot. However, today, it obediently gobbled up my 20 dollars. I wait for the machine to do its arithmetic and update my card and bingo! what do I get? A Card Error. Okay, I intelligently look up to the Cash Insertion Slot and wait for my 20 dollars to reappear but no such thing happens. The HKUST AVM is a grand display of brawn overpowering brain and for the immense volume the stupid thing occupies, it achieves almost nothing. Soon, realization strikes my head that the AVM was probably a COMP101 course project and exception handling is not taught until COMP2012H which the designer most probably never reached. Anyway, I try my luck with yet another 20-dollar bill but I seemed to have offended the Lady. She resists my advances, and I walk back dejected to UG Hall V. I don't pass a soul on my way back and everyone seems to be sleeping. So, I grab a bottle of Coca Cola, update my sob story on Facebook and embark on my back-to-back White Collar watching session.

I somehow, manage to pass 2.5 hours watching Neal and Peter and here I'm dressing up for my McDonalds' No.4 meal(no meat...relax Tamil Brahmin Association fellas) with Orange Juice(L) and yet another try at breaching the defenses of another "stubborn mistress" at LG7. With some luck, I might have 

my way and some comfortable sleep courtesy a functional air-conditioner. 

Joyful sunrise yet again.

Until next time, good night, sweet dreams, and screw you, Kramer and AVM.

Our previously agreed upon secret package: Bored.com Funny Photos

the HKUST entries: kongratulasons

This post is dedicated to my lovely super smart juniors from GIIS, KV CLRI and KV Ashok Nagar and my friends from UST.

Congratulations, everyone, on your spectacular 48x, 47x scores. It is really heartening to see such outstanding achievements from all you guys. I sincerely hope you maintain these high standards of academic excellence and become extraordinary assets to your university, work organization and country.

Meanwhile, congratulations to Bhuvana Jagan, Chinmayi Nadiger and the other super smart nerdy fellas who cracked open the titanium entrance gates of Nanyang Technological University. For those of you whose inboxes are yet to be graced with an email from Dr. Lalit Goel, don't go all depressed and spam our Facebook News Feeds. A lot of NTU successful applicants end up in NUS, so there's still chance that you get into NTU. In the worst scenario, NTU screws up, don't worry for in the words of Late Professor Randy Pausch (Carnegie Mellon University), "brick walls are there for a reason. They are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop people who don't want it badly enough ". There are plenty of awesomer universities like HKUST that respects and rewards your talent. So, cheer up! :)

Also, congratulations, Usha, Pranav Prasad, Shreya Saha, Lynn Wu and Aurelia Fediana :). Usha, my sister, has started working in Sankara Nethralaya as a Research Assistant starting this week. I look forward to some expensive tech-spending after I get back, Ushe :P. Pranav is a wonderful friend and an awesome debater. He has been a long-standing member of EDT, HKUST and is graduating this year. This smart Chennaiite has been scooped up by JP Morgan, Hong Kong where he'll begin coming July. Shreya is currently working on her groundbreaking Shreya Saha Theorem, the weirdest mathematical invention ever. Jokes apart, Shreya Saha has officially renewed her HKUST scholarship with some wonderful performances in her final examinations. All you, Mainland ladke, watch out for the Kolkata-Kuala Lumpur K(C)onk(c)orde! Lynn and Aurelia are visiting USA and Germany in the summer. While Lynn is visiting Stanford University as part of a service learning program, Aurelia is visiting the Fatherland on an month long exchange program. Best of luck, you two. Hope you enjoy San Francisco and Munich respectively.

On a slightly un-congratulatory note, here's wishing my Host Family(comprising Tony Chan and Monica Chan, Lise and Shen) and all of HKUST a fantastic summer holiday. Have awesome fun and I hope to hear some fabulous tales next time from you all :)

As I'm on the verge of breaking the "he-writes-so-long" barrier, this post shall be terminated here.

Good night, Stana Katic dreams ;)

Keeping up with the tradition established in the previous post, here's is the next URL - HKUST Summer Hangouts. To all those depraved souls still languishing in HKUST and HK, if you ever want to get a break from active industrial training and job hunting, check out the link. Entertainment shall always be provided in HKUST to those who need it (Albus Dumbledore, don't sue me please)

rendezvous

Dear Planet Earth inhabitants,

Whatsup? How is everyone? Health alright? Sweethearts okay? Stocks in the green? Okie, read on!

It has been a long time since words have been etched on this blog. I apologize for this irregularity in posting but tell you what, I study in Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, famously the (U)niversity of (S)tress and (T)ension (UST and UST, get it? Perfect sense of humour. Muahahahha!) Needless to write, I remain forever drowned in this bottomless abyss of homeworks (dare you laugh at it...work done in home IS technically HOMEwork...please don't give the oh-how-high-schoolish-patronising-look), programming assignments, written assignments, portfolio presentations, quizzes, unit tests, research papers, midterms and finals.

Spring 2012 was a particularly troublesome one. I did five courses, 18 credits, and in a nutshell, they were demanding enough to ensure I didn't crash onto my bed before five AM every day. Add to it EDT, JUDC, Badminton, Cricket, Veggie Survey, TEDxHKUST, SLOT, Service Learning...not much of time indeed. So, dear Reader, I'm really sorry for starving you of your intellectual entertainment. Casually glancing through my Calendar, I see a lot of ! (Android /\ White Collar /\ Castle) (Chapter 1, COMP2711H, Logic) days, so I'm sure we are going to have plenty of blog-entainment downloading your way.

Until next time, sayanora !

P.S: Hereafter, I sign off with a StumbleUpon link...so here it goes, the story of how a taxi driver finds the greatest moment in his life...
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2nxmly/:196XsnPNJ:c$L3e_YD/5pwn.com/must-hold-in-the-tears.html/

férias em Macau

Olá!

This week, HKUST decided to improve its Student Social Responsibility and gave us a week long Easter break(for those who watched the Hunger Games, it is that period of niceness which the rulers grant to the tributes before locking them up in the forest). Desperate for some change of scenery from Room 4221, I took this break as an opportunity to get to know some real China and Hong Kong. This post is an account of my trip to Macau SAR, People's Republic of China.

REACHING MACAU 

After working on a really horrible assignment in template programming late on Monday night, I decided have some real crazy fun. So, when the JoJo gang of girls(Aurelia, Sathurshini, Shreya, Olivia) asked me if I wanted to join them in Macau, I joined almost immediately. 

D-day begins with Olivia deciding to spoil my sleep bang on at 5:15 AM with her phone call. At 6, I pass by yet another of the countless AGMs that dot UST Common Rooms and meet up with Aurelia outside Hall II. We spend the first five minutes eagerly, next ten ambivalently, final fifteen angrily waiting for our beautiful colleagues Shreya and Olivia to materialize. Finally, they do turn up in beautiful white dresses and we set out for Choi Hung. They arrive excitedly and I sleepily at TST, grabbing a small meal at McDonalds and waiting for our fourth little princess, Sathurshini to arrive at the rendezvous.

Soon, we make our way to China Ferry Terminal and board the New World Ferry to Macau. Post immigration, "whoo-ing", "aah-ing" and snapping pictures, I fall asleep to the gentle rocking of the Victoria Harbour only to wake up to the sound of honking ferries in Porto Exterior of Macau Special Administrative Region, People's Republic of China. Welcome! :)

FIRST SIGHTS

We get out of the Ferry Terminal at a complete loss about where to go. A guide approaches us, promising us a splendid trip of Macau at a princely 900$ in a stretch limousine. Being on a tight budget, we refuse him politely and steal a map from one of the Information Desks.

Finally cooking up a 'plan', we proceed to a bus stop and board a bus to Olivia-Alone-Knew-Where. Laughing intermittently at our own hopelessness, we jump off the bus at Senada Square where we begin Operation Second Breakfast. We spread the map on the table, ask a few locals and improve our looking around strategy. Meals consumed, we walk to the St.Dominic's Church. It is a simple church in Portuguese style with confessionals, statues of St.Francisco, etc and Olivia dazzles us all with a lecture series on Christianity. 

We move on to the Ruins of St.Paul, its crumbling crypts and beautiful Portuguese-style entrance. Apart from underground crypts, St.Paul's also plays host to some enchanting Christian sculpture, artifacts and paintings. While Shreya stands determined to cram all about Portuguese architecture at one go, Sathu and I, decide to go hogging. We end up in a shop selling sugarcane juice and corn. Good food, really expensive though.

MACAU MUSEUM

Completely used to full-on air-conditioning in Hong Kong, the sweltering heat of Macau forces us to take a power break to discuss further plans. We break into a few malls just for the heck of it. Soon bored of retail therapy, we leave for the Fortress. Located at the top of a really steep slope mere seeing which discourages Olivia, the Fortress, is famous for its massive cannons, picturesque scenery and cooling environment. It also contains amidst its sprawling complex the Macau Museum which gives viewers a really good understanding of the history and development of Macau from both the Chinese and Portuguese perspectives. It makes extensive use of technology to connect with the past, and boasts of seriously cool exhibits about the Macaunese way of life. Half an hour later, we climb down the famed slope for lunch at Pizza Hut(yeah, we were hungry as hell).

TO BUNGY OR TO NOT BUNGY?

Following a sumptuous lunch of lip-smacking pizzas enveloped in fine hospitality, we continue with our planned trip. The Visiting Professor of Chinese Archaeology from University of Calcutta, Shreya Saha, suggests visiting the Ama Temple and we spend the next one odd hour figuring out Macau's really confusing bus routes. We realize bus stops are hard to find, and finding buses that stop in bus stops is even harder. After taking the wrong bus, we double back up and end up in the historic Ama Temple(the temple that lent Macau its name). We roam around aimlessly and Shreya wins me with her incense-lighting skills. And then, the talk started!

Sitting in Hong Kong, listening to Aurelia declaim her intention to bungy jump off Macau Tower and excitedly second her is really simple. But, when you stand before Macau tower and take in its height and realize the gravity of what you are seconding...you start having second thoughts. A thousand questions grapple your mind, and every step you take towards the tower is more unsure than the previous. "What if the cord snaps? What if the operator decides to doze off? What if you swing against the tower and crack your skull? What if I die?" I ask Aurelia and Olivia. We spend 15 minutes on the banks of a lake outside the Tower wondering if we should do it. Trusting in the infallibility of destiny and mechanics, I decide to take the jump. However, Olivia wishes to extend her visa on Planet Earth and we leave for the final lap of our Macau journey - the Venetian Macau.

GAMBLING AT THE VENETIAN MACAU

More confusion and half an hour later, we pass by the enormous Galaxy Casino to reach the expansive, expensive Venetian Macau. For Mong Kok-lovers like me, it was clearly way out of league. Yet, with the guise of professional gamblers with millions stagnating in Cayman Islands, we enter the Venetian Macau. As in the tag line of the Venetian, the smell of money is there for all to see. Golden shade interior designing, expensive lighting, international brands(Gucci, Prada, Swatch, Levi's...you name it, it is here), we take in the sights. We travel up to the Canal(a small canal made to resemble the canals in Venice) and watch the boatmen in Gondola(small boats) entertain their travelers as they crisscross the bridges over the Canal. Sathurshini, Shreya and Olivia get lost in the swarming masses and we find them half an hour later. We go to the casino and try our hand at the slot machines. We test the treacherous waters with a $10 bill. Unimaginable glee clouds our face as we encounter our first win. Encouraged, we try once again. And, we lose. (An important lesson at $2 a person - money NEVER does come free :P).

BYE BYE, MACAU

A casual glance at the grand ornate clock reminds us it is 7.30 PM. We catch a shuttle bus back to Macau Ferry Terminal. It has been a long day for us, but for the casinos of Macau, it is just the beginning of a long night. Different casinos like the Sands, Grand Lisboa light up brightly luring potential gamblers to try their luck. We rush through Macau Immigration at 7:50 PM and scramble for the 8 PM ferry back to Hong Kong. As we board the ferry, it honks its great horn preparing for departure. As the ferry turns around the waters of the South China Sea, I look sidewards at the Sands, smile at what a memorable day it has been and drop off into the soaring abyss that is much-deserved sleep...

P.S: We couldn't have bungy-ed anyway, it costs a cool 2488 HKD...3188, if you go for a video recording of your crazy moment :)

the HKUST entries: a veggie-tale

Hello, everyone! This might seem hyperbolic but I definitely lead the most exciting life in HKUST. Nope, I’m not on the verge of proving Einstein wrong nor do I practise bungee jumping from the Academic Building. I do something more trivial yet more daunting. Yeah, I’m a vegetarian.

Living off rice, vegetables and fruits was a cakewalk for the first seventeen years of my life in India and Singapore. When you add HKUST to the equation, that’s when things go haywire. UST has ten regular restaurants(Bistro is way expensive!), yet there is hardly a dozen decent vegetarian options. The only things Seafront can offer your starved taste buds is Cheese Sandwich(which is good!) and canned drinks. Take two lifts to LG7, and looking at the flashy screens and gigantic menus, your optimism begins to climb. However, the APC menu will only bring tears to your eyes. GRB is better, offering 4-5 dishes but only the Fried Rice and the Mushroom Noodles qualify as something worth your Octopus swipes. I survived LG7 my first few weeks hoping, one day Milano would open and solve all my problems but I was disappointed. Milano did open, and they could just add an overpriced pasta and much later, a delicious pizza to my threadbare menu.

Fingers crossed, you take the escalator up and the best McDonalds can do to quench your hunger pangs is offer you some Fries, an Apple Pie and a Large Coke. Your growling stomach pushes your lazy legs three floors up to LG1 and voila! you have the delicious option of having steamed rice with ONLY spinach. Initially, exposed to wonderful food back home, you sniff at it, but down the Sem, you start worshipping the queen of vegetables, the blessed spinach. Talk a small stroll and Chah Chaan Teng’s famed rice noodles are worth a try occasionally. Hungry for more, you take the escalator up to the posh-looking Chinese Restaurant and their awesome noodles can save your day(don’t fall for the soup; usually contains pork). Or if you are lucky, you might just be able to catch the last plate of “fandai sikh jai” or a Mushroom Toastie at the cafe. Warning from the experts: Don’t overuse this vital oasis. The Cafe hasn’t changed its menu in the last three months and frequent visits will only prepone the dreaded moment when the weekly Aloo Gobi becomes a taste-sore.

Surely, you don’t need to hold a PhD in Math to realize that with 2 meals a day over 100 days a Semester, the probability that one gets bored of the food is almost 1.  So how did I survive to spread the green tale? Lots of Indomein noodles, weekly visits to Sai Kung and TST and of course, wonderful friends with amazing moms who send food for me.  

Concluding remarks...

“Dear HKUST, you are awesome but please improve your veggie standards. Yours desperately, The Veggie Society”

P.S: I did try taking meat. The disastrous consequences inhibit future culinary innovations.