Life Of Navin

Many will call me an adventurer - and that I am, only one of a different sort: one of those who risks his skin to prove his platitudes. --Che Guevara

I know I haven't been able to update LoN as frequently as I'd have liked to (or as you'd have liked as your mails and comments have mentioned), especially over the last 3-4 months and this has led to quite a few rumours popping up about LoN (and me). So let's clarify em: Firstly, I'm NOT dead, or sick, or sick in the other sense.... okay, now that we're on a roll, let's move on shall we?

Here's What I Have NOT done over the last few months:

1) Gone back to my home planet
2) Decided to quit blogging.
3) Become a CS Pro and started practising for the World Cyber Games (WCG)
4) Relocated to the Himalayas, and broken all ties with the outer world in my aim to become a philosophical master of mankind!!
5) Become a perfectionist to the extent that I don't feel any of my posts are worth posting (Did someone just say Aamir Khan?).
6) Started studying for college!! (Most important!!)

But yeah, I have been amazingly busy (with a capital B) over the last few months. This semester (3rd out of 8) has introduced me to a whole new world that I'd never imagined, even in my wildest dreams. And hell yeah, I've been enjoying every moment of it!!

And while I'll leave more details of what I've been up to through the course of my 3rd semester for my End-sem "Stuff I Did This Semester!!" post, here's just a sneak peak of what I've been up to:

1) Gotten involved in college affairs as the second year representative of CURSOR, the Comp Sciences student body of my college that I'd briefly mentioned here.
2) Attended a workshop on the Python Programming Language organised by FOSSEE
3) Attended a workshop on Network Security organised by NULL
4) Co-founded a youth magazine, Straight From The Moron (SFTM) and was chosen as editor. Here is the latest issue (Issue 4)
5) Written papers and prepared abstracts for 2 national level conferences, the more notable amongst the two being NullCon 09.
6) Designed half a dozen websites, including two for start-up companies!! Plus one crazy whackjob site for my class which'll go live once the exams are done!!
7) Twitter-ed, Facebook-ed,Orkut-ed,LinkedIn-ed ,Networked.
8) Played CS like crazy, but still at a level which makes the G-force guinea pigs look like supermen!!
9) Participated in a street play.....to very mixed responses:

REVIEWS:

The show was great, and the showstealer was Navin Pai, one of the finest acting talents I've seen in a long time --Critic 1

Navin is the kind of actor you go to when a block of wood is unavailable! --Critic 2

10) Joined the College robotics club and the College photography club (and won the inaugral photography competition)!!
11) Participated in a inter branch intra college event, Tandav, and worked on everything, right from organisation to participation to jubilation!! (we came second in the cultural segment and won the sports segment!!)
12) Bunked loads of lectures so that I could do points 1 to 11

My semester exams start at the end of November, and go on till the 20th of December....so again, there'll be a break from posting at LoN!! :(

But kya karein, I've got a lot to study, especially because of point 12 mentioned above!!

So cya guys in the final weeks of the year!!
cheers!!

Related Posts:
Stuff I did this semester (Sem 1)
This Semester... (Sem 2)

Well, I know its been over a month since my last post on LoN, but there's a reason to that.... infact there are quite a few!! Firstly, I've been preoccupied with loads of other stuff right from college crap studies to pursuing other hobbies like photography, robotics and web designing. Being a computer engineering student, I've been coding like crazy, shifting from platform to platform, and jumping from langauge to language faster than you can say C++. Secondly, I've been facing some serious writer's block. Thirdly, certain complications with respect to my last post have made me question whether posting personal views on a blog are actually apt or not. Fourthly, and coming to the topic (finally), I've been constantly distracted by this certain mod of Halflife, that the world knows as Counter Strike!!


Counter strike is NOT a game... It's a religion!! It has its own rules, its own etiquette, its own X factor. And in case all this sounds like crap to you, just think for yourself: What can be better be getting along with a bunch of friends from around the country and frying some opposition ass!!

Well, for the morons among us who don't know what CS is, here's the Wiki definition:

• Counter-Strike (commonly abbreviated to CS) is a tactical first-person shooter video game which originated from a Half-Life modification by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe.

Well, I guess that's all you need... now get back to not having a life!!

There are basically 2 ways to play counterstrike:

• Against Bots
• Against Humans
  

Now lets just say that playing against bots is only for n00bs!! The real "mazaa" in CS comes only against human opponents!!

I've been playing this game only for around half a year, and I'm definitely addicted to it!! Counter Strike, like most online activities, is played with a nickname. In my case the nick is not really hard to guess...... its M@dmAx , an alias I've used for over 8 years!!

Now of course' you're probably wondering why this "game" is so special over the millions of similar First Person Shooters out there!! Read on to have your question answered:

CS is a celebration!!: How many of you can truly say that you have celebrated someone's B'day in a truly different fashion?? We can!! CS gives you a million reasons to celebrate life {mainly because you spend a lot of time on the dead side of the table}!!

bloggerformatting at work!!Kunal a.k.a. Neo_HaNgmAN's B'day!!

CS is artistic: If you've ever played CS, you'll know what a spray is..... its basically a design that you paint up on a wall/on the ground. Its function is very very limited yet it is by far the most customised thing in CS. A clan is generally recognised more by its spray than its name!!

bloggerformatting at work!!Example of a "spray" around the bomb

And its a territorial battle after all and what better way of showing the opposition who's boss than by spraying a design over their dead bodies!! Believe me, nothing pisses them off more than that!! CS gives you an opportunity to test you're creative side and create sprays that stand out from the rest!!

Here are a few custom sprays that I've used over the last month and a half!!


CS is Universal!!: One more great thing that CS has done is that it has introduced me to a whole new group of people from across the globe!! Knowing that the guy who just fragged you is from Kolkata, or Delhi and even from out of India is no longer a surprise!! Infact, its sometimes even funny. There was this one time I was playing well into the night and after a looooooong session, I decided to get to bed (at around 3:00 AM!!). I said G'nite to my fellow players and three of them instantaneously asked me where I'm from!! When I told them I'm from India, they revealed that they were from Auckland, New Zealand, and infact it was time for them to head out to college!! Such is the brilliance of CS, that breaks all borders between countries!!

CS is an opportunity to make friends...... its a learning experience.... a celebration..... a toast to teamwork...... and if you ask me, its a fan-friggin-tastic game as well!!

So if reading this post has gotten you excited about the game religion that we call CS, pick up your mouse and start practising your headshots!!

I leave you with this piece of music made completely out of sounds from the game!! Enjoy!!


P.S. I'm seriously hoping my next post comes soon!! :) :)

Over the last few days, I have been afflicted with a strange illness. No no, its not the Swine flu!! But its just as serious!! Let's just call it the "why-am-I-still-single-please-get-me-a-girlfriend-quick" syndrome.You may think I'm joking, but believe me, I'm not!! This is serious stuff people!!

It all started off around a month ago, when a certain grade "A" muggu moron, asked out one of the nicest girls I know. Obviously my first reaction was "Hehe, this bum actually thinks he can go out with her...this is bound to be funny!!".


But I was wrong!! Not only did she say yes, but as the days went by, this guy actually managed to keep her happy, and many people actually accepted these two as a pair!! Now that got me completely bugged!!

Why?? Because in an Indian college, muggus are generally at the bottom of almost every pyramid you can think of, right from the people who can play soccer list, to the people to invite to that late night CS session list, to the most date-able lists!! But the very fact that this freak-of-nature managed to get hooked, while yours truly remained single just blew me out of my mind!!


I want to change my status in Social Networking sites to "committed"!! But here's the catch..... I first need to get committed to a girl. I call my current state a sickness, because I'm pretty sure this is just a temporary phase, and this miserable feeling of being single will go away soon..... Oh yeah, I'm sure!! But right now, all I want is someone whom I would be able to call my girlfriend (for real)!!

Now, studying at a college with an almost negligible female population (by female, I mean 'my type' of female), what sources do I have to get committed?? Well, not many really!! :(

I don't have the balls to just walk upto any girl and say ‘Hi! Have we met before??’ And practically speaking, it is simply impossible to talk to any girl out there on the street. We always hear of stories like - "You heard of X? He just found his love at the mall! And now they are dating ..." Believe me, these fantastic stories only take place in people's fantasies!!This leaves the option of a long distance relationship with one of of my schoolmates..... but somehow, the idea of not actually being close to 'her' nudges me away from this idea.

I don't want to go online onto some Orkut-like site and ask girls with nice display pics (which generally are not theirs) to "Make Fraandsheep" with me, because frankly, I'm not that cheap and will never fall down to that level!! {why on earth are you smiling??}


And most of the "offline" girls I know are all either taken (some even by these goddamned muggus), while others are blissfully single and ignorant of my condition!!

Most conversations I have with girls look more like interviews, with me portraying the role of the interviewer shooting out questions like: "How're you??" "What are you doing now??" "Met so-and-so recently??" and ofcourse the most popular showstopper "So what else??".......most conversations end within minutes of me popping this question!!

This is usually how things progress at my end. However, there have been exceptions!! And I'm seriously hoping that one of these "exceptions" works out in my favour!! Over the last week, four very interesting girls have given me their contact details....hopefully something clicks!!I have made blunders in the past, which have been totally successful in keeping me blissfully single till date!! Lets just hope that this time will be different!!

With that I leave you.......but before I go, here's the chorus of my current favourite track, Hey Juliet by LMNT

Sniff Sniff... No wonder I like this track!!


P.S. I'm pretty sure that atleast one of those girls-who-gave-me-their-contact-details will read this blog, read about my affliction (and the fact that I referred to them as "exceptions"), label me a despo, and then block my number... There, another blunder :( :(

You've probably heard of this movie called The Gods Must Be Crazy (TGMBC). It is a South African movie which tells the story of a bushman named Xixo (pronounced KeeKo), who encounters technology for the first time in his life, in the form of a coke bottle, and all the (mis) adventures that follow. It is widely claimed to be South Africa's finest movie, and considering its the only South African film I've seen, I completely accept!! :)

There were so many things that I realized after watching this movie. And, as the title of this post suggests, 5 of them are listed below.

1) Fast motion comedy is cheesy.... but fun to watch!!
I'd always had this impression that fast motion comedy is too slapstick to actually be fun. But this movie changed all that!! Yeah, its cheesy, its slapstick, its wacky, but its a whole load of fun!! Not wanting to spoil the fun of the movie by posting the fast motion segments of the movie, I'll simply post the fast motion version of Hakuna Matata!!



2) South Africa is simply awesome!!
Believe me, this movie sigle handedly moved South Africa up by atleast a dozen places in my "Places To Visited Before I Die" list. Sample this: The picture shown below is the location where the climax of the movie is shot..... And right below it is the actual shot from the film. Amazing eh?



3) Globalization is an arsehole!!
I'm pretty sure that you're wondering how I can even say such a thing considering that the very reason that I'm able to write this post from my nook in Goa, India, and you're able to read it sitting in ________ (fill place name here) is due to the amazing phenomenon that we call globalization.

But this movie opens you up to the other side of globalization. It shows how something as insignificant as a coke bottle can wreck havoc in the lives of an indegenious culture. And how a universal language (English) and a common culture have become such an integral part of life, that we cannot accept anything that doesn't conform to our culture!!

4) Coke is evil!!
You might have read that the pesticide content in Cola drinks is higher than the drug content in Amy Winehouse, and have probably heard of bugs being discovered in packaged coke bottles, and even read stories of Coke being banned in certain countries, but TGMBC introduced me to another reason why its probably right to say that Coca Cola is evil. Of course, in the movie the bottle has been used simply as an example, but considering that I prefer Pepsi anyway, you can say that Coca Cola is a huge No-No!! :)

5) Kalahari Bushmen rule!!
I'd heard so much about indigenous cultures, right from the Eskimos at the north pole, to the pygmies in Africa, to the Dayaks in Indonesia but one culture that I have always been intrigued about but never really knew much about were the Bushmen of the Kalahari. This movie focuses a lot on this culture and its cultural values (such as their family system, their way of life etc.). Another thing the movie showcases is the amazing eyesight these bushmen have. All in all, I learnt a lot about this culture that I'd been fascinated about simply by watching this movie. Now I've read up a lot more on these amazing people who're endowed with some amazing skills, both physically and mentally. Would I want to be reborn as a Bushman?? Hell Yeah!!

(Things you have to do to format in blogger!!)I agree with this guy!!

All in all, TGMBC is an amazing movie, and a must watch, not only for fans of the "World Cinema" genre, but also for anyone who is fascinated about learning about cultures other than your own.I'd strongly suggest you watch this movie to understand how much bigger the world actually is (yeah, BIGGER, not smaller as the internet suggests!!).