My birthday's coming soon - for me 'soon' indicates six months or less. You're lucky you're hearing this statement only two months before.
So but of course, like every year my eyes are warming on a suitable present coming from my parents. This year its going to be the Nikon Coolpix 3100. I had my heart set on the Coolpix SQ - which is incredibly good looking, however the internet reviews claim it takes incredibly grainy pictures and call it a 'boutique' camera. So I'd just skip that!
Now you know why birthdays are so damn exciting...!

Alright everyone - the wait is over.. The final results are in. Here's the detailed scoring:

LimeIce
--- Creativity & Originality : 7
--- Technique : 7
--- Aesthetics : 8
--- Concept & Impact : 7
--- First Impression : 8
Total : 37

Whosane
--- Creativity & Originality : 8
--- Technique : 7
--- Aesthetics : 8
--- Concept & Impact : 8
--- First Impression : 7
Total : 38

So yours truly landed up second.. not bad eh? :D
Thanks for all your good lucks - am damn grateful. And for the curiosity of the finals :P Never seen anyone so excited about its outcome!

You tugged me lovingly,
Inch by inch you proceeded,
You ripped apart my emotions,
My faith in you conceited.

The love we shared now lies,
In modest ashes below,
The smoke disappeared,
But the murder still glows.

The life I dedicated,
So crushed, yet exposed,
Can't erase the inkstains
Thus, you chose to dispose.

My heart is still hanging on,
To the rest of my pages,
The beats come and go,
And each takes ages.

I've tried to stick back,
The tape will always show,
And so will the jagged edges,
For I am now torn...

Got my camera today - totally rocks to the core! Very sleek, fits comfortably in any pocket - decent looking - good functionality and great pictures! What more could a practically seventeen year old want? Would be putting up a few pictures soon.
Went for little shopping today. Checked out the new perfumes and fell heads over heels in love with this one. I think its just launched. I am not perfume crazy - but this one's sure to change my mind about that...
Rohit and Kartik both have real rocking new blogs. I am hoping they update it regularly ;) Do check them out!
Also taking off from school tomorrow. I have to study loads. The rumor is in the air that winter vacations in Delhi are being postponed from December end to January beginning. My fear is, my birthday would have me slogging in the examination room. The rumor goes on to say that somewhere on the CBSE website, February 15th is the date of the Board examination commencement. Imagine the odds of that! Boards happening 20 days before they're normally scheduled to.
Pretty nervous about the kind of time I have at hand. Which is very limited and quite precious. I have to be at Modem 2003 on Friday and Saturday. Would be representing my school for probably four events. The ultimatum from my computer head is that I do this - or loose my Founder's Day award for Best Computer Geek. Well, no, the award isn't called that - but thats what it means, doesn't it ;)
Also getting an award for topping my eleventh. FD awards are very prestigious and a great help as references later in life. So I am all 'cheese' for that :)

Its an exciting day for me. I gave an interview to a nice lady - from Washington for Voice of America Hindi, a radio channel exclusive in Washington D.C. -couple of days back.
It was finally aired there today! Technically, it was the 4th November, but it was 5th here, so don't you give it to me for the late post :)
Check out the interview (Right Click. Save Target As.)
And yea - my hindi sounds very crappy for some reason and I seem to be talking about nothing. But you guys should be used to that by now...

I've been doing practically nothing but shooting everything in sight ever since my digicam has arrived. Even now as I type, the batteries are being charged just to be exhausted again. Call me a freak - but I've only regained the joy of having a digicam after damn long.
Here are a couple of random shots --
The Mouse
The Phone
The Mess
A Classroom Shot

These are shot at the lowest resolution and quality - would post some high-res shots soon.

I also took a lot of neat shots today at school and on the way - but they got messed since my batteries ran out in the middle of transfer and because of some stupid experiments the card had to be formatted. Damn!

Today was an energy drainer. Been out since seven in the morning, and just entered home sweet home - at 7:15pm. My head's playing Ring-a-roses along with my churning stomach. You can almost imagine what I feel right now... but try all you can, you can't even come close to the exact feeling.
Went to Modern VV today. Participated in Digital Music. I didn't even know how to use FruityLoops - and Vaibhav (my partner in crime) thought he knew until he actually got down to doing it. Those weirdo's had two participants in one team but only one headphone - crazy! How the hell can two people make music with one headphone!? Is the other one supposed to have psychic powers or something.. weird!
The day progressed to a lot of other things and totally drained every drop of energy from my body - and now I feel worse, considering I have Modem to go to tomorrow also. I wish I didn't have to - but dammit, I'm pretty stuck. Have two events tomorrow, and can't back out.
The traffic in Delhi is horrendous. It took us forty five stupid minutes to make it from Vasant Vihar to Barakhamba Road - when it only took us twenty minutes the other way round. I swear man - the traffic is a killer! I wonder what so many people have to do on the roads at the same time?
I am absolutely dying to see Matrix Revolutions - some jerk at school spilled that Neo and Trinity die in the end - and you know what.. that makes me a jerk too - disclosing that on my blog :P
Had anyone seen it yet? If you have, boy - I envy you... grrrrrr...

Here's the first photo I took from the new cam of myself. Its been optimized both in size and quality to make this an easy download for you :) If you find my face merging into the back, or blurry - its because in this image, the camera is the subject, not myself. If you notice, the camera has more sharpness as compared to the rest of the picture.
And I look super dumb - but trust me, I have dumber pictures ;) So I had no choice!

I've had a very, very long day. These two days in themselves have really taught me the importance of holidays. Now I will surely appreciate the free time I get much more than before.
Reached school at 9:00am from where we headed for Modem '03. Reached around 10:15. On the way, had a major argument with the teacher-in-charge and an eleventh-grader. The issue was participation for the 'Digital Video' event. This guys just popped in from nowhere and claimed that he had been selected to represent the school for the event when Vaibhav & me were already assigned long back.
Anyway, it took me a whole hour, in vain, to try and convince him to go back home. Eventually he ended up participating anyway. Which is good, since I left the event a half hour earlier because I had a tremendous back-ache sitting on a very uncomfortable chair.
Participated in 'Web Design' - the site totally ruled. Used a lot of sensible photoshop - but I guess the judges were not looking for that. Blasted that totally too. Was a disappointing day seriously, everything backfiring bigtime. Infact our entire team couldn't do anything. I don't know who to blame - since I myself couldn't do anything - what can I say about anyone else at this point?
The nice thing that happened to me while I was there was that I met a girl called Gursimran Arora. That freaked me - never in my life could I have imagined there was another girl in Delhi - leave aside the rest of the world with that name. Have come across quite a few Gursimran's... but Arora? Nevah! I took her number and told her I'd call her soon - I will really. I need to convince her to change her name ;)
I also met Arnab & Aadisht who were quizmasters there. I have a feeling both of them were extremely uncomfortable talking to me - I could've sworn Aadisht thought I bite. He was saying something about this blog being very bitter when someone interrupted. I wonder what else was in store for me :P
Met another nice girl called Ridhi who apparently was in 10th grade but talked high philosophy. In the beginning I battled out her philosophical findings - but realized I was a bit too tired and a lot too unarmed to go ahead - so I spent the next few minutes just nodding and agreeing. But she made me happy for the simple reason that she made sense.
Its been long I crashed into someone who made sense - and who was female. Anyway, lunch was a Subway sandwich and although it sounded good - it didn't taste all that well as it normally does. Anyway, we got free around 6:00pm and I didn't have the energy to stay on for the prize distribution - yea, like I was getting one ;) - so left right then. Then went to GK to buy some clothes - but didn't find anything and ended up with nothing. Plus I was in school uniform and that was very uncomfortable in the night (It turns night at six nowadays).
I don't know where the car went next for I reached home at 9:00. And its practically 2:00am right now. I hope there are no more symposiums lined up for me - my studies are suffering terribly and so is my health.
Tomorrow people, my eyes won't see the morning - they won't open until afternoon. Just imagining all that sleep is making my eyes go heavy. Good Night.

The filmi music industry now has a new track to its name - and fame... an infamous track called 'Sutta Maar Le' from Love in Nepal - the Sonu Nigam starrer. I am greatly taken aback by the very lyrics of the song... for those of you who don't quite get it - its 'Smoke a Ciggie' in english.
Talking about influencing the young minds.. the song's just what the doctor ordered!

On my way to school today in the sad rattly DTC bus I saw an interesting sight. A man walking his dog on this fine chilly winter morning stopped casually next to a heap of construction material and looked the other side as his dog relieved itself and urinated over the same.
Its not something we don't see every other day. Infact it has become a very common sight, at least where I live. I wonder how the owners of the new built house would feel when they'd realize the reason why bricks hold so well together is not cement alone - the credit can be shared by hundreds of neighborhood dogs who contributed their pee for the cause.
It makes me wonder if any part of my house has any elements of dogpee - eeyuck!
Gross!

I'd let the pictures do the talking for today...

This is a story of three guys and a girl.
Not so fresh in grade twelve they envied the guts of those who did things against the school authorities and got away with it. Days went by and as the end of school approached, they wishes they too had memories as such to cherish for the rest of their lives - to tell their kids years later that they too had the guts to go against the acceptable.
People mocked at them for not making the best out of their school life and for not being a part of the party. The agitated four finally master planned an idea, that had now become a somewhat dream.
It was a simple plan really. The four to escape from the school while the gates would still be open early morning as the buses came and went. They would have the time of their lives, painting the city in all hues and making history for their respective to-be-families. They'd come back right before the last bell of the day hits and escape from the portals in the schoolbuses. No one would suspect a thing. No one would know they did the unacceptable, except those who matter. No one would mock again. A dream just waiting to come true.
So one morning the four reached school cautiously in their respective transportation forms. Many had before done what they were to attempt that day and all had succeeded blissfully. They too would. Hopefully.
So they met at a secret spot and smiled at the thought of their location a few minutes later. Silently they escaped the schoolgates. Once outside, they rejoiced and danced. Finally - it had been done.
They needed to get out of there and fast. The girl waved to an approaching three wheeler. It promptly stopped. A schoolteacher peeped from inside, held them by their ears and took them back where they belonged.
The punishment was suspension for two weeks. A dream unrealized - but hope is never lost.
This, but of course is a true story - and this happened on Children's Day 2003. Thats today. The entire school had a great laugh this morning. I for one, am still giggling...

Stop rubbing your eyes in disbelief - your favorite - or not so favorite blog is now sporting a new layout. Orange is the color of the season friends - so enjoy it while it lasts.
Done in half hour flat - but took a lot of time to setup MT to accept it. So tell me man, how is it!?

I've had the pleasure of being in touch with so many of you for the past few months. I think its time for payback ;)
Most of you, infact all - have showed keen willingness to adopt Movable Type for their publishing needs. However, most find it very tedious to set it up and even worse to maintain it. Not all of you have domain names or hosting spaces. So here's a perfect solution. These people show the generosity unmatched by anyone I've seen by far.
They setup the MT for you, give you about 100mb's of 'free space' and allow a gigabyte of transfer each month! Unbelievable you say? Check them out!
And you better get your blog up fast - you've now lost the biggest excuse you ever had :D

So here's another big news. I'm officially the guest colomnist for IT Lokam - a computer monthly in Malayalam!
Writing is something I've learnt to love and computers are something I've loved to learn - so hell, here's a deadly combination! Check this out - and its all the better that you don't know Malayalam ;)

I didn't exactly catch much of the Lycra MTV Style Awards, but when Fardeen Khan got the most stylish male actor award, I think I could've just fainted...
He looks like a drug addict, and I have just no words for his dad - Feroz Khan. Its damn surprising that after the entire drugs mess he got himself into, people still find him stylish.
If you notice, he can't stand erect, his eyes are always half droopy and he never comes properly shaved. His new movie - Janasheen - is a shameless display of vulgarity and half-drunk women. Popularity shmuck...
My vote goes to Vivek Oberoi - so what if he wasn't nominated and wears stupid clothes? He looks good, dammit!

Due to the lack of anything better to do and an official all-free day today at school, I joined a couple of friends in their Chemistry endeavours. Now, I am a commerce student, and I might know what to debit in the Balance Sheet, but Chemistry is a long-lost love. Hence, when the sheer smell of acids hit my nose, I almost fainted. Almost.
The motive was to make 'Aspirin' - the ultimate headache buster. So off we all set to find the various acids and equipment. A very curious interesting experiment indeed. Had a lot of fun in the process and learnt loads.
Still, knowing their history, one of them had managed to smuggle a 'Dispirin' inside and grinded it into powder incase the Aspirin failed. I think that was a smart move, considering as we gave one last look to the little china heating over the tripod and saw that our Aspirin had supposedly taken up a violet color - we knew exactly what would go before the teacher.
Makes me regret I didn't take science...

A little help from my friends
What would you think if I sang out of tune,
Would you stand up and walk out on me.
Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song,
And I’ll try not to sing out of key.
I get by with a little help from my friends,
I get high with a little help from my friends,
Going to try with a little help from my friends.
What do I do when my love is away.
(does it worry you to be alone)
How do I feel by the end of the day
(are you sad because you’re on your own)
No I get by with a little help from my friends,
Do you need anybody,
I need somebody to love.
Could it be anybody
I want somebody to love.
Would you believe in a love at first sight,
Yes I’m certain that it happens all the time.
What do you see when you turn out the light,
I can’t tell you, but I know it’s mine.
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
Do you need anybody,
I just need someone to love,
Could it be anybody,
I want somebody to love.
I get by with a little help from my friends,
Yes I get by with a little help from my friends,
With a little help from my friends.

This song is stuck in my head since the past couple of days. Its the theme from The Wonder Years. I loved that show. So much so, that a couple of days before I raided the entire internet and finally found a site which had practically all the transcripts of the show.
I downloaded them all on my Palm. Can't believe I've got all those cool shows with me. Kevin - the leading character was probably my first crush. He still looks adorable in his old pictures. I did catch a glimpse of the grown-up Kevin in Austin Powers as Mole. Sure as hell can't digest he's the same guy.
Guys are much better looking when they're younger...

Last night were the Founder's Day awards at school. I bagged the coolest ever awards. It was a chilly night but the whole ceremony made me feel damn warm inside - very encouraging...
Merit Certificate for Standing 1st in Commerce Stream
Merit Certificate for Excellence in Computers
Merit Certificate, Rs.3000/- and Gold Medal for K.C. Mahindra Award
(Inscription on the Gold Medal)
(Gold Medal)
Merit Certificate, Rs.5000/- for Saloni Kapur Khanna Memorial Award
The entire school faculty was there along with the parents of all students. Arun Shourie was there as the Chief Guest. Shook hands with him ;)
That was one big high!

The latest is that a guy from school, all of seventeen is getting married on the 3rd of December. News has it, that its the last wish of a dying grandfather to see his oldest grandson tie the knot before he bids this world goodbye.
The guy has stopped coming to school since one of his good friends leaked the news and the whole institution is just anticipating his return to load him with teasings and mockery. The arrangements have of course begun.
The legality of the marriage is in question and so is its success. No one really knows if its really much of a marriage, or more of a contract. It also flies in the air that although the knot shall be tied now, the girl will only live with him once they've finished education - which is predicted to be another five years.
At this age, when infatuations and crushes shift by the second - getting married is really a matter of amusement.
Or is it?

Psst.. I've noticed all of you who've been very very kind to link me on your blogs have linked to limeice.com instead of the .net - maybe you oughtta fix that ;)

I want to live in a house
Thats made of tender leaves
That smells of love and hope
That lives in the grove of trees

I want to drive a car
That revs my senses anew
That follows the limits right
That knows what road to choose

I want to watch television
That shows only purest love
That sings my lady's heart to me
That gives a glimpse of the heavens above

I want to wear those clothes
That no one can critisize
That makes me look more happy
That can contain my soul's size

I want to open that refridgerator
That cools me from inside
That keeps my thoughts fresh
That absorbs the chill down my spine

I want all those material things
That can make me spiritually strong
That can emotionally bind me again
That stay with me all my life long...

Its raining marriages here in Delhi. Rediff confirms the figure of 12,000. Can you imagine that - every place is Delhi is hooked and booked for the night and many people ought to be party-hopping.
I can almost imagine the long queues lasting upto a couple of hours outside the farmhouses and the jampacked parade of baraats. Infact, as I type this - the music is quite prominent in my ears of a baraat in progress.
The mandirs and gurudwaras, the caterers, the designers - everyone's oughtta be making big bucks tonight. They oughtta earn a month's fee out of one night alone. I wonder if where Jupiter lies tonight really would make all the 12,000 marriages a grand success.
I also think Delhi would be at a great lack of horsey's for the night - perhaps some people would have to hire elephants or something for the grand entry. Maybe even donkeys - beggars can't be choosers.
The beauty parlour's oughtta be hogged with women of all shapes and sizes begging someone to fix their Sari's or adjust their lipper. The DJ's would make a trillion bucks tonight. The sky will be lighted with fireworks like a second diwali.
Matrimony surely hits the ceiling for the night.
As for me - I'll just sit back and hear the music...

Modern School is holding the Winter Carnival next month - the 21st December to be precise.
Apparently - Parikrama, Silk Route and Tant-rikz are supposed to be there to perform live for a range of audience. The last concert our school held was the Viva craze which really turned out to be too jam-packed since it was free entry.
This year however, its paid.
There are also a variety of stalls - game, display and sale - scheduled. The fest starts from 11:30am up till 10:00pm.
I am rubbing my hands together in anticipation.
Remember - you heard it here first!

While I am getting congested with the marriage season and making sure you undergo the same while you're on my blog lately, here's something thats surprisingly refreshing. Its called Bride-foo and contains a regularly updated blog of the progress on managing a wedding. With cribbing ranging from caterers to photographers to sharing ideas on the wedding cards and cakes - it makes you want to rush to Texas to be a part of this seemingly fairy-tale wedding.
They also mention the honeymoon flip-flops with Just Married printed on the plastic straps. Cutely hilarious...
The funny thing is the brides there do all the preparations themselves. Here in India, they just sit and look pretty and stick themselves to the phone all day chatting endlessly to Mr. fiance. I think something so special requires extreme involvement when it comes down to the couple undergoing it all - after all marriage happens only once in a lifetime.
Or at least thats what you think when you're getting married for the first time ;)

This really intrigues me. Why is the entertainment scene all clouded with phoren women nowadays? Are we implying that we Indians have a certain fascination for the whites - or the very complexion?
Suddenly movies are full of baywatch babes and music videos are cluttered with skimpily clad gori's.. I never though we could run out of skimpily clad women - why do we need those gori's to spice things up then?
Even the events are raged by such examples. I just caught a glimpse of a gori doing the Laila number from Samay at the Mrs.India event. I guess Isha Koppikar and the likes are soon going out of business considering the item numbers takeover by these foreigners.
I tell you - each normal looking phirangi lass I see on the roads these days looks like a prospective dancer to me. Talk about Indian fantasies..!