Revelation!

Charming, Amazing are not examples of continuous verbs! In fact ,they are not even verbs. The sentence – She is Charming – would take on a whole different meaning if that were true… it would be in the middle… oh, shut the hell up… ok, forget it!

Anyway, read some words seen on the license plates around here:

2GRLS1BY,

4TIMES,

ALE-*,

BBN-*, BEC-*, BROTAC,

CAN-*,

EGL-*, EMU-*, ENV-*, ETB-*, ETC-*, ETY-*, EVE-*, EVL-*, EXA-*, EYE-*,

FAL-*, FAN-*, FAR-*, FAV-*, FBA-*,

HAL 7, HECK 1,

ITSAS1X,

JADE 1,

NOIKNOW,

PARVAZ, PRINTSOF5, PUGMOMA,

RISASDAD,

SHAYMLSS, SLAMD3, SUZETTES, SW33T3ST,

TOOSWEDE,

WHIPLASH,

and the likes. I leave you with some information on:

License Plates

Once More! Once More!! Once More!!!

On popular demand, …wait a minute! no one demanded this… ok, then scratch that!

One of my ex-room-mates (let us call him SD) enquired of me a couple of days ago if I knew how to embed videos in PDFs using L^AT_EX! I responded (and I’m paraphrasing here) I‘d be highly high if such a thing was possible! And then he said, “Apparently, it can be done by using the package called movie15…” Holy smoly (what the hell does that mean?), I had to try that and yesterday I was so high that I did try that. I had to be high because I see no reason whatsoever why I would’ve done what I did whose outcome is no more thrilling than comparing a poem to a walk on a narrow dirt-trail and which results in just another repeated end-of-the-post-link!

Anyway, the video embedding is pretty simple (no spaces after '\'):
\ begin{figure}[h]
\ includemovie[poster,text={Movie}]{5cm}{5cm}{mov.mp4}
\ end{figure}

It seems to me that any sort of movie (like .avi, .mp4, .mpg, .wmv) can be embedded in the .pdf file. Moreover, the actual video files do not need to tag along with the .pdf file. The only thing that is required is that you open it using Adobe^® Reader and the system you are running has the ability to decode that particular embedded video format. And voila! You’ve got your hands on a dynamic, self-contained, portable document in a file (this sentence construction leaves much to be desired!). Who’d’ve thought that one would live to see this day? Well, fortunately, you have lived to see this day and the proof is:

Dedicated to SG

Awkwardness Glorified!

I had wondered once in a while, why are there so few videos of Surendra Sharma reciting poems on YouTube? But then I realized that I know the most probable answer. He does not like being ‘recorded’ as evidenced from his ‘strong’ words (which resulted in a thunderous applause) to someone in the audience recording the event: “मेरी meri कविता kavita सुनने sunne का ka हक hak उन्ही unhi लोगों logon को ko है, hai, जो jo यहाँ yahaan पर par अपनी apni रात raat खराब kharab कर kar के ke बैठे baithe हैं! hain!” (Only those people, who are wasting their night by sitting here, have the right to listen to my poems!) After that, the camera was lowered but recording continued. After a minute or so, He (visibly irritated) pointed at the camera and said, “मैं Main पागल paagal हूँ, hun, बेवकूफ bewkoof नहीं! nahin!” (I am ‘crazy’ but not stupid!) and a roar of laughter erupted that led to the camera being turned off (as far as I know!).

I had also thought once in a while that it would be nice if there were some interviews of him as I do not recall ever seeing one on TV during my younger years. Though, I did miss one such opportunity at IITKGP in my 5^th year. There was supposed to be a ‘live panel discussion’ with 2-3 poets, including Surendra Sharma (of course!) but it was delayed by more than 3 hours. I did stand around the venue for more than an hour but lost my patience when the event kept getting postponed half-an-hour by half-an-hour by half-an-hour…

So, I was quite elated when I found one interview of him on YouTube today! Here are the two parts:

Interview with Surendra Sharma–Part 1

Interview with Surendra Sharma–Part 2

Now, I think I know why there are not many interviews of him. Apart from the usual reasons, He is like Dirac regarding this aspect – the aspect of giving & evading interviews!

Let us now talk about this particular interview itself. First of all, they should spell the name of the poet right. Second of all, it seemed to me that the host(ess) was too overwhelmed by his presence, was over-prepared & under-prepared simultaneously (like I’m when talking to WS) and did not ‘practice’ her Hindi beforehand. Third of all, some of the answers were just out of the blue for her and instead of ‘adjusting’ to that ‘blow’, kept on asking (pre-prepared) questions that had more or less been already answered! Fourth of all, why the hell am I ranting about all this here on my blog?

Anyway, ignoring the ‘embarrassing’ aspects of this interview, I got to hear Surendra Sharma after quite a long time and am indeed happy about that.

I’ll leave you with this video of Surendra Sharma reciting his much-talked about (in the interview above and in general) ever-green, ever-popular, ever-four lines:

चार लाईनाँ

I am in Love?

A slice of ‘my’ life in Sketchbook ‘format’:

जरूरी काम है, रोजाना भूल जाता हूँ,
मुझे तुमसे मोहब्बत है, बताना भूल जाता हूँ!

Jaroori kaam hai, rojaana bhool jata hun,
Mujhe tumse mohabbat hai, bataana bhool jata hun!

Something important, always gets forgotten,
I'm in love with you, the proposals forgotten.

तेरी गलियों में फिरना इतना अच्छा लगता है,
मैं रास्ता याद रखता हूँ, ठिकाना भूल जाता हूँ!

Teri galiyon mein firna itna achha lagta hai,
Main raasta yaad rakhta hun, thikana bhool jata hun!

I really enjoy wandering around your streets,
Ways memorized, the destination forgotten.

बस इतनी बात पर मैं लोगों को अच्छा नहीं लगता,
मैं नेकी कर तो देता हूँ, जताना भूल जाता हूँ!

Bas itni baat par main logon ko achha nahi lagta,
Main neki kar to deta hun, jataana bhool jata hun!

I am not liked by others, due to just the fact
That I do good, but the reminders forgotten.

मोहब्बत कब हुई कैसे हुई, सब याद है मुझको,
मैं कर के मोहब्बत को भूलाना भूल जाता हूँ!

Mohabbat kab hui kaise hui, sab yaad hai mujhko,
Main kar ke mohabbat ko bhoolana bhool jata hun!

When ‘n How I fell in love, I do remember,
To fall in love and then to forget, forgotten.

I leave you with the source of these shers:

Sadique’s Notebook

Words of Kindness

Words of Praise

Happy SavingBonds!!!

or as should be properly said: रक्षाबंधन की शुभकामनाएँ!!!

It is the festival where sisters tie ‘Rucky Charm(s)’ on their brothers’ wrists. And so on the story continues… just wanted to share the PUN!

To those, who think the posts based on Sketchbook and Sketchbook-like jokes have lasted way too long, I’d just like to say: Don’t worry! …Some more are in the sketchbook!

DeFest

To Learn is to Live…

…or something like that!

I learnt a new word: Proso…, Propa…, Prospa…, …pagnosia. Hell with that, have a look at this video to learn the new word:

The Colbert Report

So, the word is: Prosopagnosia meaning ‘Face-blindness’!

After I heard the explanation by Mr. Close, I almost instinctively remembered Sora, from the now ‘infamous’ manga Sketchbook (here at my blog), who also has some version of it as is evident from these panels:

Just so you know, Asou(-san) usually keeps her hair tied into two ponytails like this:

Hope you enjoyed these. If yes, then also check out

TDS

Keeping Score

So how many times have I made Sketchbook references in my blog posts? Too many times, you’d say; but to be precise, I’ve lost count!

Yesterday, I found another manga, written by Sketchbook’s author “Totan Kobako”, titled ‘Scorebook’. Do you see the pattern here?

It’s not in the ‘famous’ 4-panel style; it’s in the usual free-style. Though, I think people would still assign Sketchbook’s genre of ‘Slice of life’ to Scorebook. It is pitched as ‘a collection of the author’s works’! But still, what is it about? Roughly speaking, it’s about Baseball – high school level baseball – played by Animals including a cow, a rabbit, a box turtle (does it jolt your memory, huh? huuuh???), a cat (named Miké, sounds familiar? doesn’t it???) and Pii-chan (the chicken, anyone? anyone at all??? )...

Now, you may be thinking there go the Sketchbook-like arbitrary characters & themes, but you’ll be surprised how wrong you are (or maybe not!!)! Find out for yourself by reading the first few pages of the first volume:

Scorebook

Prices of Spices

I have to spend too much time during summer months in PathMark for grocery shopping because of Mall Route Bus’ reduced frequency. To pass the aforementioned ‘too much time’, I like reading the names & prices of spices. Here are some of the interesting stand-outs:

Which is the most expensive Spice?

If you thought ‘Saffron’, let the QI-style forfeit alarm go off! It cost something between $400-500 per pound sometime ago. I’ve not seen it in the aisle this summer, so can’t guarantee the price.

If you say ‘Turkish Bay Leaves’, you are close – It costs around $750/lb.

The winner is ‘Chopped Chives’. If you said this out loud, you are also eligible to shout out ‘Bingo’ right about now. It costs around $800/lb!

Which is the cheapest Spice?

If you said ‘Salt’, congratulate yourself. More specifically, it is ‘Sicilian Sea Salt’ ($17/lb!).

Now for some weird ones (all prices are $/lb if you’ve not gotten used to it by now!):

Ground Cumin (63) & Roasted Ground Cumin (53). Roasted one is cheaper? How the hell did they do that?

Ground Coriander (74) & Roasted Ground Coriander (76). Almost no price difference! OK!

Ground Ginger (72) & Roasted Ground Ginger (85). Roasted one is costlier, makes sense…

Ground Saigon Cinnamon (50) & Roasted Saigon Cinnamon (77). Roasted is way too costly, dammit!#%

Mediterranean Spiced Sea Salt (24) is the most weird one! Don’t you think so? Not because of its cost but because of its name! What the hell does one mean by spiced salt? Don’t you mean salted spices! Because all I see in the bottle are brownish, reddish flakes. I don’t see any white ‘particles’ in the bottle and trust me, I can compare ‘white’ with the bottle of ‘Sicilian Sea Salt’ kept next to it.

Spices