That Switchbox of Horrors

Every year, The Simpsons feature a Hallow'een special called The Treehouse of Horrors. It generally features a scarier storyline, where one of the characters, or sometimes even the entire human race dies or is destroyed. It's very cool, something to look forward to. This year, in a rare treat, Star World showed 12 of these specials in a six hour marathon as a part of their Hallow'een programme.

And I missed it!! Thank you MSEB, you incompetent, lazy, good for nothing, useless bastards! I was able to watch the first episode, a part of the second and a part of the second last, but the rest was lost in power cuts and cable outages resulting from power cuts in other parts of town. Once again, the MSEB screwed me over. Damn, I hate them!

PS: My apologies for the lame title.

Only in Pune.....

..... can you have an eight - hour power cut on Thursday for "maintainance", and a five hour power cut on Friday because of a "fault".

'Tukaram Maharaj Mhantyat, "Saadhu Sant Yeti Gharaa / To Chi Divali Dussera / To Chi Divali Dussera / To Chi Divali" CHUP!!! "Dussera!"' Vaaryavarchi Varaat, Scene I, Act II.

Everybody Runs

Yesterday I saw Minority Report for the first time. Nothing unusual in that, you might say. But then this was my 11th attempt to watch this movie.

It is a long and sad story.Me and my friend Akshay had decided to go watch the movie way back in SYJC. So we went to the theater (Alka, I think) to watch it. That day, however, the theater had sold out (which is pretty unusual for Alka). So, not knowing that this was just the beginning of a sick little game Fate was playing with us, we set off for the theater again the next week. But, as we got there, we realised we did not have enough money for the tickets, and had to go back home again. By the next week, the movie had left theaters (but, as the papers hadnt taken cognisance of this, we made another wasted trip to Alka). So we tried to borrow a VCD. We were able to see half the movie, but the second CD just wouldnt play. So we rented another VCD, from another library. Unbelievably, this one wouldnt play either. Well, I thought, we'll just wait for it to come on TV. In March, it did. It premiered the day before my Economics exam. I had to console myself with seeing half of it once again. The next time it came on TV, the MSEB decided to honour us with a power cut.. And the next time, our beloved cable operator chose that very moment for a cessation of his services. And the next time, my TV decide to stop working. And then Akshay and I made another failed VCD attempt (the lights went off at his house this time).

Afetr finally seeing the movie, my joy knew no bounds. I had survived Fate's vendetta against me! I had overcome two years of bad luck. I had proved that with perseverance, anything is possible. And I totally hated the movie.

I'm Famous!

Yesterday a totally random girl (never seen her before) came up to me in College and said Hi. She then congratulated me (and I dont know what the heck for) and giggled. I looked behind me. She smiled and walked away. Finally, the respect and adulation I deserve. Yay!!

Confessions of a Trendily Dressed Teenybopper

Trawling the net today (why shouldnt I, Sunday ko Internet free hota hai) I came across this article from three years ago in our favourite rag, the Pune Times.

Its painful to reopen old wounds, but I must say, this one article caused me more mental anguish and pain than most other things that have caused the aforementioned. Imagine yourself as a young, naive 16 year old, in his first year in college. Imagine that you are desperately trying to be cool, to fit in. And now imagine yourself being viciously slandered in a (then) widely read and sort of respected newspaper. Teenybopper, they said. Trendily dressed young collegian, they said. Why not PYT, while you are at it? I became a pariah among my peers. My circle of friends shrank considerably. I instantly metamorphisised (in public opinion) from a cool guy with anti-establishment tendencies to a Pg-3 personality. I have only just started living it down. And to top it all, I didn't even say that stuff. I was misquoted! (But more on that later). Damn you, Pune Times!

So now you know the reason for my strong dislike of the Pune Times. So, my advice to all you people out there is, the next time you see a Pune Times reporter who wants your opinion on your quizzing club, or your socially productive activities, or your favourite eating place, run!!

(Disclaimer: Some details may have been changed to provide for a more interesting storyline. Any resemblance to existing publications and articles therein is fully intentional. The author apologises for any inconvenience thereof, ope exeptionis.)