-2 + 3 = 1

After playing the game for over 17 years, the batsman was preparing for his last innings. It was not his choice to make the next innings his last. It was fate. If he had his way, he would have wanted to play till the end of his life. But he knew that there was little a man could do against his fate. He knew that when he stepped out onto the crease the following morning, it would be the last time he would be doing so.

He had been preparing for this moment for the past six months. He normally didn’t use any material to analyze the bowlers. He liked to take them on the run. But he knew that this was his last. He had to make sure that he ended big. So, very much unlike himself, he got himself all kinds of information on the bowler - how he has bowled previously, what is his speciality, etc.

He knew that only a CENTURY will quench his thirst. But he didn’t know why he needed a century. Just because it was his last innings seemed to be a lame excuse for being selfish. Now, just hours away from the big game, he only knew the end, not the reason. A century would mean the world to him, and his fans. But why??

Not finding any answers to that question, he decided to do one last round of training before he called it day. He was bowled the first ball he faced. It was not that he wasn’t prepared, but the usual concentration wasn’t there. Throughout the evening his shots were below par. It was then that his coach came up to him, and gave him some advice. It was then that he got the answer.

He did need a century. Not only for himself, but for all those who had helped him reach where he was now. His coaches, his friends, his family...He didn’t want to train anymore. He just wanted to take the field the next morning.

When he faced the first ball on the D-day, he knew that all the training hadn’t gone to waste. The balls were the ones he had practiced for. He just hit them to the boundary, piercing them or over them with ease. He was confident in every stroke. He did enough to take him to a century in 1.5 hours. He left the field after making sure that he hadn’t done anything wrong.

Once outside the field, he checked with his mates. He had done everything right. He knew that his would be a well-deserved hundred.

His joy was short lived though. One of his friends brought him the bad news that he had made a simple mistake. He added up -2 and 3 as -1, instead of 1.

There ended his dream run. Now he awaits the result of his match, hoping against hope that the opposition makes some mistake, resulting in his victory.

And he will be waiting and hoping for the next six months.

I knew that Adieu to Mathematics was something that I was not going to like. What I have described above is my last university exam in Mathematics.

Mathematics is not the favorite subject for the most of the students, but I would hold three persons responsible for my extreme love for Mathematics.

1. Remadevi madam, my Mathematics teacher from 1st to 5th std, who made sure that I had the right foundation for playing with numbers.
2. Jayadevan sir, who taught me Mathematics from 12th till last week, who helped me to attack higher level Mathematics with ease.
3. My father, who has been there with me since LKG, making sure that Mathematics was always the subject I enjoyed the most, and the one I always excelled in.

Thank you all.

Supercomputer And Party Poopers

"It can take years to build something, but it will take only a few seconds to ruin it."

Whoever said this, really knew what life is all about. Even though each and every one of us had chances to experience the above, it always comes to haunt you.

Just put yourself in a situation, where you could lose all, or at least some, of your friends one fine morning. All of us in E2 came prepared for this on 25th of August. But our class advisor, by not turning up, gave us the hope that there won’t be any shuffling this semester. We were all very happy with turn of events. We slept well after many a week (weeks full of fear of exams and fear of shuffling). We came to college on that fateful Tuesday, all happy and joy. We cut class and went to play cricket. We were in for a dramatic ending in our last game for the day, when a sms arrived spelling our future.

"We have been shuffled. New class list is available in class."

Leaving the game mid-way, we rushed back to class, to find E1’s staff advisor in our class. We waited until she had gone and entered our class.

I haven’t gone to too many funerals, but I could understand that my classmates were all in grief, as if someone close to everyone had died. As I walked through my classroom to the table where the list was kept, I could see long stares and half smiles coming my way. From the people I got those, I knew my condition before I even looked at the list.

The list bore my inferences. I was to become a victim of shuffling. I was made to join E1. I lost my good friends, who always gave me great company. Almost everyone did lose someone. No one was left unhurt.

Why should there be shuffling, when the people who are to be shuffled feel they don’t need it? Teachers say that it is to break up the gangs. But I can see that the gangs in E1 have been left unharmed. They have either been left alone, or shifted completely to E2. Where else do you hear of such principles other than in our very own CET?

That’s not the end of the baseless claims that we have heard over the past week. We also heard that a ‘computer’ was used to shuffle the students, and that it was done on a ‘random’ basis.

But I don’t think that they have made a computer, which can see through peoples’ feelings and split them such that it will hurt them the most. I don’t think that they have made a computer, which not only splits up the gangs (of both guys and gals) in half, but also splits almost all the love couples, such that the hero is in one class, while the heroine in the other.
That’s why we decided to call this brutal computer ‘The Supercomputer’ - the only ‘computer’ in the world, which can sense the feelings of the people around it. We can be proud of the fact that CET is the home for this cruel machine.

Just when we left ourselves to fate, another thing to be proud of came up last Sunday. We have heard of cousins fighting against each other in ‘Mahabharata’. But we had brother fighting against brother, and that too all over the town. I was not a witness to the events that unfolded at Senate Hall, but my friends have filled me with the details.

I don’t want to talk about who did what first, and why he did so, but I would like all the CETians to visit the Orkut community ‘CET Trivandrum’ and read the topic ‘The lowest level’. All ex-CETians are of the same opinion. No matter which group or section you belong to, it doesn’t matter after you have passed out. After you step out of the college, you are a CETian, nothing less, nothing more. People won’t ask you which section you belong to, but only ask which college you belong to.

The college has been suspended for this week. Since it the marriage season, people keep coming to our house to invite us for weddings. And when they come, they ask me. "Don’t you have college today?" I have to give an answer which leaves me in shame – "There was a fight in our college. So, college is now suspended." I have always been (and will always be) proud to be a CETian. But, right now, I am made to feel bad, because my brothers don’t think about what they do.

I know that our world isn’t ideal. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t leave together. If a few people have superiority or inferiority complexes, then let them leave their life alone. Let the rest of us live together, as one big family.

One of the outcomes of this unnecessary fight is that this years’ Onam celebration, which should have been held tomorrow has been cancelled. This festival, which is to welcome one of the greatest kings in history, has always stood for the unity in Malayalees. All Malayaless, irrespective of religion, caste, financial status, etc have always stood together and welcomed Mahabali.

Next year, this time, I will be having the last chance to celebrate Onam with my college mates at college. I hope that, at least by that time, my brothers realize the folly of their actions and come together to celebrate as one unit – CET….

I just wish that CET will always be known for the write reasons.

The Pasture of Lunacy

Before going into this blog, let me explain to you the new title. ‘Pasture’ means grassy land suitable for grazing cattle. ‘Lunacy’ means insanity. Now, you will be wondering what I mean by ‘The Pasture of Lunacy’. Pasture is a grassy land, i.e., it is green. Now, we normally associate green with things related to the religion of Islam, traffic lights, and also, as an opposite of the color Red. Red is symbolic of blood, and hence, violence and such not-so-good things. Hence, we can say that Green, being the opposite of Red, means good. We can conclude by accepting the fact that by ‘The Pasture of Lunacy’, I mean ‘The Goodness of Being MAD’.

If you care to look around, you will see that I have changed the theme of my blog. If you care to scroll to the very bottom of this blog, you will notice that most of my earlier posts are deleted. If you care to visit my Orkut profile, you will find that my profile name is ‘harisankarsa – Undergng de LUNATIC Revolutn’. Revolution represents dramatic changes. And by undergoing the LUNATIC revolution, I have bought about significant changes in my view points about life. In the present context, my future is my priority, and my past is of least importance. That is why I have deleted those earlier posts, which link me to my memories. And, as you would have guessed by now, the change in theme represents the change in my outlook. In short, it is an all new 'harisa'.

The Big bang was caused due to unknown reasons. Countless number of divorces occurs due to unknown reasons. I got an 8 pointer in S3 due to unknown reasons. But this change in me was ignited by known causes. A few horoscope messages, an enlightening sms, quite a lot of disputes and hours of solitary thinking. Mix the above ingredients together, and you have the recipe for one perfect Lunatic revolution.Some things in life are meant to be found out the hard way. So I won’t be giving out the entire recipe here. But I will give you that sms which started it all.

“A boy proposed to a girl. She rejected him. Even though he was snubbed, he wasn’t sad. Seeing this, his friends asked him – “How can you not be sad at a time like this? Don’t you have feelings?” The boy replied – “Why should I be sad? She is the one who must be sad. I lost the one, who never loved me. She lost the one who loved her the most.””

In the present state of my blog, I will be voicing my opinions about the world, about my life, about anything I see around me, and of course, my first love, LOVE. And I will not be restricted in my words, because I am insane and I am expressing myself on “The Pasture of Lunacy”.

101 things I would like to do...........

Somethings in life can be forever....Here are 101 such things I would like to do.

01) Swim with wild dolphins
02) Climb a mountain
03) Take a Ferrari for a test drive
04) Be inside the Great Pyramid
05) To Say ‘I love you’ and meant it (Actually,I have done this one already)
06) Hug a tree
07) Bungee jumping
08) Visit Paris
09) Watch a lightning storm at sea
10) Stay up all night long, and watch the sun rise
11) See the Northern Lights
12) Go to a huge sports game
13) Walk the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
14) Grow and eat my own vegetables
15) Touch an iceberg
16) Sleep under the stars
17) Take a trip in a hot air balloon
18) Watch a meteor shower
19) Look up at the night sky through a telescope
20) Have an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
21) Have a food fight
22) Have a snowball fight
23) Scream as loudly as I possibly can
24) Hold a lamb
25) Enact a favorite fantasy
26) Take an ice cold shower
27) Have a meaningful conversation with a beggar
28) See a total solar eclipse
29) Ride a roller coaster
30) Hit a six out of the ground
31) To dance like a fool and not to care who was looking and to be proud of it
32) Visit the birthplace of my ancestors
33) Actually feel happy about my life, even for just a moment
34) Have three hard drives for my computer
35) Visit all the states of India
36) Love my studies for all accounts
37) Have enough money to be truly satisfied
38) Have still more amazing friends
39) Dance with a stranger in a foreign country
40) Watch wild whales
41) Steal a traffic sign
42) Take a road-trip alone
43) Rock climbing
44) Midnight walk on the beach
45) Sky diving
46) Never to be heartbroken longer than I was actually in love
47) In a restaurant, to sit at a stranger’s table and have a meal with them
48) Milk a cow
49) Pretend to be a superhero
50) Sing karaoke
51) Lounge around in bed all day
52) Scuba diving
53) Kiss in the rain
54) Play in the mud
55) Play in the rain
56) Do something I should regret about, but don’t actually regret about it
57) Drop Windows in favor of something better
58) Start a business
59) Fall in love and not have my heart broken
60) Have a sword fight for the honor of a woman
61) Be in a movie
62) Crash a party
63) Love someone I shouldn’t have
64) Be on television news programs as an “expert”
65) Get flowers for a person for no reason
66) Perform on stage
67) Buy and play with a favorite childhood toy.
68) Sing loudly in the car, and not to stop even when someone is looking
69) Write articles for a large publication
70) Pilot an airplane
71) Ride a horse
72) Sleep for more than 30 hours
73) Visit all 7 continents
74) Apologize to everyone I had hurt,even if its after decades
75) Communicate with someone without sharing a common spoken language
76) Be stranded in an island
77) Take 100 push-ups
78) Go without food for 5 days
79) Make food from scratch
80) Miss being eaten by a shark
81) Buy a house in an isolated place
82) Be in a combat zone
83) Perform in place of the college band
84) Name a constellation of stars after me
85) Survive an accident that I shouldn’t have survived
86) Drive any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph
87) Fire a rifle, shotgun, or pistol or any gun for that matter
89) Sleep through an entire journey
90) Have my picture in the newspaper
91) Go back to school
92) Have a cockroach as a pet
93) Kill and prepare an animal for eating
94) Write my own computer language
95) Think to myself that I am living my dream
96) Build my own PC from parts
97) Sell my own artwork to someone who doesn’t know me
98) Have a lemonade booth
99) To die thinking about dying
100) Discover that someone who’s not supposed to have known about my blog has discovered it
101) Discover that one such person found out that this is a modified version of their blog.............