Attila's Instruction
Always remember to pillage before you burn.
Sorry for not being on the scene for a while, busy with Shaastra - You can read in order to know all abt it (almost all) - and I was also busy with the "other" stuff (Scroll down below to see). Also I decided that I will not remove that thorn, today, tomorrow or forever (until it becomes too unbelievably painful). It will stay there, so that it can remind me always that life is not a bed of roses as I knew it. It is full of thorns too.

Guess what, my ignoble paper Ignobel enough among 25 others to get selected to the finals (I also must mention that the co-ord for that event is a friend of mine. The papers in the finals included topics like Research Paper Metamorphosis (plain english : how to put a paper in a research journal), propulsion using Human Flatulance (yes Shit Gas propulsion), Quantum Finance, Wavelet Theory to prove animals are stupid, Proper arrangement of items on the mess table (in Hostels) in order to minise energy consumed while moving them. I unfortunately did not get any of the prizes, only a special mention because one of the judges thought that the idea was plaigarised from someone (btw did I mention that the judges were professors from various departments and this paper presentation was held in a very formal manner, albeit funny and hence held a good crowd ?)

More about Shaastra. There was this event called the How Things Work. (anyways I didnt get selected in it). But the point is that they showed a video called "The way things worked". You all would have seen Tom and Jerry cartoons where Tom devises some elaborate trap for Jerry, going something like, a ballon bursting, which pushes a ship, which drops a heavy ball, which presses a scissors, which cuts a rope holding a huge safe.... Well this was something like that (its real) and it lasted some 30 minutes. It also used a lot of fire and chemical reactions. The same ppl who created this also created an ad for Honda accord on similar lines, except that it used part of the Accord only. Couldnt get any web references... While watching them, the entire auditorium was like "oohs" and "aahs". Amazing they were, they truly represented the The Spirit of Engineering....What more can I say?

There was also the Video Conference with Kevin Warwick. He was in HK at that time. I missed the beginning, but it was an amazing tet - e - tet. Very informative and lotsa Q & As in the end. He insinuated that he mite come to Chennai next year. Apart from it, I participated in other events, but never did proceed beyond the prelims as my mind was clouded with other details.

Of course, how can I not mention Gaming, I did put two nite-outs, played a lot of Quake 3 Arena (I mean a LOT), I also tried my hand at Age of Mythology, will definitely switch over to that from Age of Conquerors which I was playing till now.

That ends the last Shaastra that I will ever Xperience - my last Xperience of a Spirit of Engineering. The memories will still linger with the Shaastra T - Shirt that I will definitely buy, cannot be forgotten

Signing Off