Off to the Mountains - Part 1

March 2008.

Life was boring and work was disgusting. As usual. And then a sudden thought of making a trip to Gangtok and the Himalayan Range surfaced in the eyes of

Diwakar (he is a skinny fellow but got lots of energy..for extra curricular activities err..)

Mayur (a very decent kinda..but slowly waking up to the rage of the machine..I am assuming that if he changes at this rate then 5 yrs down the line he might as well be the rowdiest of the gang )

Kaushal (our own big baby..he has this bad habit of holding ur hand when he speaks to u..and that gives a gayish kind of impression..having said that he is one guy who gets in the fun n frolic mood no matter what)

And myself () ..

The foursome decided to kick off the trip on a lonely Thursday night. Took a couple of days leave from office and planned accordingly ( Plans were shattered in the most horrendous manner..You will know why..)

We booked an Indica to take us from Kolkata to Siliguri. It generally takes around 8-10 hours so we set out at around 8 PM hoping to reach siliguri by around 6 in the morning.

Time: 10 PM

Place: Still on the airport road stuck in a terrible traffic jam.

No wonder we were cursing each other on being late. The traffic was so badly snarled up that we barely moved 2 kms in almost 2 hrs. Murphy's law could not have been more appropriate. The small Indica crashed into some damn ditch and the gear box started behaving obnoxiously. That was around midnight. And to add the icing on the cake, at 3 AM in the morning we realized that we had a punctured tyre. Somewhere along the way by god's grace we found out some guy who helped our cause. 1 hr of frustating wait as he repaired the tyre and we sipped cups of tea at 4 AM in the morning.

The road trip went on and on but Siliguri seemed to go farther away and away. Finally after an agonisingly long and tiring trip ( It was damn hot and with all the dust and sand storms kinda blowing ), we reached Siliguri at 5 in the evening. (thought we'd put Indian trains to shame).
We did not want to waste any time there so we quickly went to a roadside restaurant and stuffed ourselves. And the next hour or so was spent trying to strike a deal with a travel agent for a 2 day package in Lachung and Yumthang. At the end of it all, the deal did not seem fair to us so we decided to go to Gangtok and then finalize our plans there itself. We went ahead and took a shared cab (Its like a jeep sort of thing which can accomodate around 15-16 ppl). Four of us cramped in one of the rows and with the twisty turny valley roads, everything seemed to go wrong. We were stuffed in there like 5 guys sitting in the backseat of a Maruti 800.

Finally reached Gangtok at around 9 PM. Checked into a hotel and booked a jeep for the next morning which would take us to Lachung and Yumthang the next day. It is not easy to visit both the places in a single day but we were already running so late that we had no other choice. All the plans made anyway and next morning the real trip would start.

The weather was awesome in Gangtok. It was chilly and windy and we were already shivering in our rooms. That was probably a sign of things to expect in the next couple of days. The chilly gusts made us feel amazing. Having said that, we were already very exhausted after a full night and then a hot and humid day on the road and it was not long before we had retired to our beds for the day.

Not at all the ideal start to the journey but hey...

The trip begins here..!!

Murphy's Law | The Best Of

It has always been famous. And it always finds itself relevant to any context. Had once read the 3-in-1 volume "The Complete Murphy's Law" by Arthur Bloch. Got hands on it again yesterday flipped through the pages. It is one of the funniest easy going types book and yet so sincerely true to such an extent.

Murphy's Law explains the truth of man's existence: that if anything can go wrong, it will.

There are hundreds of laws quoted inside but a few of them definitely deserve a mention here. The compilation is the manifestation of the wit and wisdom of some of the most demented technologists, bureaucrats, humanists and anti-social observers, prepared and presented with the purpose of providing us all with a little Karmic Relief.

Some of my favourites below:

RUBY'S PRINCIPLE OF CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.

WILLOUGHBY'S LAW

When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will.

JOHNSON'S THIRD LAW

If you miss one issue of any magazine, it will be the issue which contained the article, story or installment you were most anxious to read.
Corollary:

All of your friends either missed it, lost it or threw it out.

LUBARSKY'S LAW OF CYBERNETIC ENTOMOLOGY

There's always one more bug.

SPARK'S RULES FOR THE PROJECT MANAGER

1.Strive to look tremendously important.

2. Attempt to be seen with important people.

3.Speak with authority.

4. Don't engage in arguments, but if cornered, ask an irrelevant question and lean back with a satisfied grin while your opponent tries to figure out what's going on - then quickly change the subject.

5. Listen intently while others are arguing the problem. Pounce on a trite statement and bury them with it.

6. If a subordinate asks you a pertinent question, look at him as if he had lost his senses. When he looks down, paraphrase the question back to him.

7. Walk at a fast pace when out of the office - this keeps questions from subordinates and superiors at a minimum.

H.L. MENCKEN'S LAW

Those who can - do.

Those who cannot - teach.
Martin's Extension:

Those who cannot teach - administrate.

KATZ'S LAW

Men and nations will act rationally when all other possibilities have been exhausted.

ETORRE'S OBSERVATION

The other line moves faster.
OBRIEN'S VARIATION ON ETORRE'S OBSERVATION

If you change lines, the one you just left will start to move faster than the one you are now in.
Kenton's Corollary:

Switching back screws up both lines and makes everybody angry.

LAWS OF APPLIED TERROR

1. When reviewing your notes before an exam, the most important ones will be illegible.

2. The more studying you did for the exam, the less sure you are as to which answer they want.

3. 80% of the final exam will be based on the one lecture you missed or about the one book you didn't read.

4. If you are given n open-book exam, you will forget your book.

BREDA'S RULE

At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle arrive last.

KNOX'S PRINCIPLE OF STAR QUALITY

Whenever a superstar is traded to your favourite team, he fades.

Whenever you team trades away a useless no-name, he immediately rises to stardom.

HADLEY'S LAW OF CLOTHING SHOPPING

1. If you like it, they don't have it in your size.

2. If you like it and it's in your size, it doesn't fit anyway.

3. If you like it and it fits, you can't afford it.

4. If you like it, it fits and you can afford it, it falls apart the first time you wear it.

FINMAN'S BARGAIN BASEMENT PRINCIPLE

The one you want is never the one on sale.

BALLANCE'S LAW OF RELATIVITY

How long a minute is depends on which side of the bathroom door you're on.

Over-the-Top: 5 cars that take luxury and performance to new levels

Now thts called some luxury cars! Amazing.

Over-the-Top on Yahoo! Autos – Pictures, News

Of Chaos and Eternal Night

Finally got hands on this more than a decade old album from Dark Tranquility and man does it rock!

I first heard DT a couple of years back in college. More precisely put, it was one of my best buddies Kenny...thts his nick ofcourse and he is an awesome guy. Bloke is pursuing his MS at Boston and is an awesome vocalist (read heavy metal, death, roaring et al). During one of those regular coll fests, he roared off with DT's own "Wonders at your feet" form the album 'Haven'. I was just amazed at the melodic and extensive use of keyboards and somehow it was a new genre for me and I just loved it. DT has put together some awesome numbers in that album..my favs are Egodrama..Feast of Burden and Indifferent Suns. And that was the only album from DT which I had listened to.

Coming back to present, just heard the songs from "Of Chaos.." it is one of the most stunning Swedish death metal acts. Michael Stanne and Niklas Sundin's guitar have the ability to flash and dazzle into melodic and stunning songs. "Away, delight, away" is so melodic and memorable that its still playing in my head. Just about every song in this record makes so much sense with its music and lyrics that it enhances the listening experience. My expectations and DT's credibility just got a boost :)