Ben_Mario_Piano.mpg

Mario… YES that game from yesteryears wherin you were Super Mario and you were supposed to rescue the princess from the dragon. She was hidden in the castle and you were supposed to go through them and find her.

Today I got a HDD from A.T. and it had a lot of Linkin Park videos and what not. Among other things there was this file called ben_mario_piano.mpg. Since it as in the Games folder and was called Mario, outta curiosity I played it. And it was simply AMAZING. This chap, I guess his name is Ben (since the file is called Ben_Mario_Piano), played the music from the game Mario. WOW. Never seen something so good and nerdy.

If someone is interested in Mario, this file is very highly recommended. The size is about 8 MBs but its worth all of those 8 MBs. The file is loacted at http://homepage.mac.com/mrspleen/.Movies/ben_mario_piano.mpeg.

I should call Mr. Johnson and ask him about Piano. Sounds better than Guitar at times.

Ok this brings back the memories from the game Mario. There were so many secret powerups, and an amazing way to make huge number of lives. It was with the duck. You kill it on the edge of the staircase and jump of its back again n again to gain points and eventually lives. I am still not sure if it was intended by the develpoer (Shigeru Miyamoto) and was a design feature or was it a bug…

I first played Mario when I was in fifth or may be sixth standard on a Nintendo Console. Found it VERY VERY difficult to start with but as time passed by, I got better and better and eventualy one fine day I was able to complete the game and rescue the princess without losing a life. That was some achievenment.

On that very console there were few other games like Contra, Jungle, Excite Bike, Battle City etc. It was fun playing with a controller. Now a days I play with my TVSE Gold and have almost forgotten the feel of a controller. Wish I get that console again to play on…

Links in the post:
1. http://homepage.mac.com/mrspleen/.Movies/ben_mario_piano.mpeg
2. Shigeru Miyamoto

Bugs while typing this peice out were: “n satill amyn secret levels”

UPDATE: Ben Mario Piano on Youtube

Sachin 194*

Scores at the end of Second Day of the First Test at Multan, Pakistan:

INDIA 675-5 (Declared)

Pakistan 42-0 (Still Batting)

Ok so of those 675, Virender Sehwag made 309 something and got out. Hats Off for such a wonderful display of sheer talent. His innings made yet another great knock of 194* by Sachin “the Maestro” Tendulkar look tiny. With this “century” Sachin’s tally reached 33. Just 2 short of making history. Also I read it somewhere that he would have joined the 1337 club of player who have scored double century in consecutive matches.

So the question is, Was Indian team management right in declaring when Sachin was unbeaten on 194? He needed just 6 more and had he been given just one more over, he would have got it.

Just before Yuvraj Singh got out and the innings was declared, Ramesh Powar the 12th man came to the field and he went back. Everyone knew he had a message for the batsmen in the middle. May be the message was about hit few quick runs and declare.

Suddenly when Yuvraj Singh got out and Rahul Dravid call his men back in the pavilion, I thought WOW what a sacrifice by the great man by going back on 194. Had he got his double century, this would have been his fourth overall and first against Pakistan. I thought when Powar come in the field, he would have asked Sachin if they could declare before he gets his 200 and Sachin would have said YES. That’s why batsmen were called back. BUT when I heard the interview and after match press confrence, to my surprise Sachin was’nt aware that as soon as wicket falls, they would declare. Agreed that the game is meant to be a team sport and individual feats should not be pursued when there are so high stakes. But again there were about 20 odd overs to go after the innings was declared and I strongly feel that Sachin should have been given another over atleast to try and make his double century.

This brings me to yet another question. Was Yuvraj Singh responsible for Sachin not getting to his double century? Alright Yuvraj Singh is young, talented but he is playing at the highest level and you should have more maturity and sensibiliy when you are out there. The last few overs of the innings, I thought Sachin was not given enough of strike. There were instances when Sachin would run half way down the pitch for the run and Yuvraj would send him back. As Sabeer Bhatia says “The greatest risk in life is not to take risk at all.”. I think Yuvraj made this mistake. He should have taken a risky run and tried to get Sachin on strike as he was approaching the magical figure fast.

I think Sourav Ganguly was also involved in the decision at some point of time or other. He is a very very good captain and he should have atleast stopped Dravid from doing what he did. He dissapponted me here.

Overall I am very dissappointed for Sachin. He should have got a double hundred and I believe that if we bowled one over less at the Pakistanis, it would’nt have made a damn difference to the outcome of the match.

Stuff to be included:

Harsh Sir not making thru ISB and MDI and CAT %iles

Dewang Mehta

Rising Rupee

Varishu Bhaiya

S.G. vs A.T. Case 2

Ok,

Another of those stupid stories about him.

There was this book “The Goal” who belonged to one A.A.. I happened to go with him on a trip to IIt Kanpur and he carried the book with him. I read 3/4th of it and when the trip was over, A.A. took it back as he had his interview for a MBA exam. I told him not to give it to anyone else as I wanted to complete it.

He gave it to someone called A.T.. Again the same thing was repeated, I told A.T. to not give the book to anyone as I wanted to complete it.

But who listens to me, he gave it to A.S. and now I wanted it desperately. So I called up A.T. about three-four times and asked him for the book or atleast talk to A.S. so that we could arrange a meeting and I can get the book.

I konw I was thinking about me all this time but the story is not about you thinking about yourself but about how not to lie.

Ok so its been three days since I told A.T. to helpme get the book and everyday he is supposed to call A.S. and arrange for something but he could’nt call.

Today I was lucky enough to call up A.A. (A.T. asked me to do so about another book) and I planned to go with A.A. to A.S’s place to get the book finally. So the story is sorta over by now. I goto A.S.’s place and get the book and thats it.

A.T. comes online and here is the conversation I had with him…

ME (12:13:58 AM): tune A.S. ko phone kiyA?

A.T. (12:14:11 AM): yeah

ME (12:14:22 AM): so?

A.T. (12:14:43 AM): whn do u want to collect it

ME (12:14:54 AM): usnay kya boa and when did you call him?

A.T. (12:15:22 AM): he sed he will be over with it by today , so u can take whnever u want

ME (12:15:50 AM): waise when did you call him?

A.T. (12:16:00 AM): abhi night mein

ME (12:16:05 AM): ok

And end of conversation. If anytime I get to know that A.T. was kidding, I would delete this post and apologie to him but as of now what it seems to me, here was the entire episode.

So the entire thing ends up with A.T. lying to me on my face and me getting book. Thats the end of it and I guess its a happy ending. As they say All’s Well That Ends Well.

Bloody Blood Donation

Varishu Bhaiya is not well. He has some problem in his Heart’s Valves and hes at Escorts and will be operated upon by Dr. Trehan. Dr. Trehan is THE BEST cardiac surgon in Delhi. I wish good health and speedy recovery to Varishu Bhaiya.

Ok since Varishu Bhaiya is at hospital and he needs an operation, they recquired blood for him. The rulez at hospital asy that they would give blood from the bank for the person who is ill only if you deposit four units of blood. So it was Sudhakar, Me, Romi and Varun who were to donate blood.

Before I forget, I as told by Romi that Dr. Trehan is the only person in INDIA who isn’t paying Income Tax. Pretty cool move by Indian Govt. to attract people back to INDIA. Kudos.

Ok so we reached Escorts and went to the Blood Bank. I was weighed and I am 76 freaking KGs. WOW Thats huge amount of weight to have on you I guess. Anyways other thing, my blood was tested to be A+ and I always thought it was B+.

Ok and the needle that they use for taking your blood out, is as thick as a refill for a ball point pen, Can scare anyone but to tell you the truth, it doesn’t hurts much. Ok now when you are inserted a needle to take the blood out, you are supposed to pump your fist to help blood get out. Please do NOT pump it fast nahin to you would also be blacked out like me. I did’nt knew where I was and what I was doing. Anyways in the entire process I lsot consiousness twice and I don’t want to talk about it.

Best part about falling down is you get to get a lot of attention. Hope Varishu Bhaiya gets well soon.

Apart from that Nalin went to that company called Amdale which called me for naukri. They are giving 2500 bucks for a month and expect us to work for 6 months of same payscale and then they would review our performance and then see if they want us or not. Crappy company. No more words about it.

What else? dunno…

India Wins Finally !!!!

So India finally wins a match after loosing the previous two. It was again a good match with even competition and the difference between the Winning Team and the Losing Team was the temprament and the way they played. Rest all I would say was equal for both of them.

Talking of cricket, I have a question in my mind. Today after we won the match there were firecrackers around my place and people where whistling, celebrating. I know I am a DIE HARD Indian and cricket fan but do we have to celebrate THIS way after every win over Pakistan? I don’t remember any firecrackers after we defeated Australia which may people say is the best team in the world. My point of view on Australia differs though. I think they are a bunch of overhyped individuals. So firecrackers on India winning a cricket match. How can I put an end to this crap….????

Another thing I did today was a lousy attempt at making the template for the BLOG. I wanted to make one in whites and grays. NO BLACKS. I today somehow thought that the White text on Black is not that good afterall. There are huge numbers of colours available today in the market and on the WorldWideWeb. Tried my hands ast it and I think I would make it but it would take time. I think my BLOG would be more than a BLOG. I would be making it in the shape of a personal page. Lets see what can I make.

Sleepy…..

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Bored

Ok an update after so long.

Today me getting bored like hell. Nothing to do.

Todays Merits…

1. INDIA batted poorly in todys match with Pakistan and completed the 50 overs with 244 runs on the board. Might be enuf. Might not be eunf. Time will tell.

2. Talked crap with Priyanka. I think shes angry with me now and she will never talk to me again.

3. Nalin came back from Chennai and had a good interview there. Lets see what happpens there.

4. Downloading The Simpsons and its been more than a couple of weeks when I started downloading it.

5. A lot of results came out and surprisingly Aditya and Gaurav did’nt make it to IIFT. I dunno if they are rejecting people like Adiyta and Gaurav what kind of people are they looking at…

I just konw that sitting at home for about six seven months now has killed my creativity and entusiasm. Whos responsible? ME? Yes I believe I am the sole person responsible for the entire episode. I should have known whom to trust and whom to not and should have thought. I tend to make decisions in haste and I later have to regret on them. I will try to be more relaxed and thoughfull while talking or making conclusions.

Ok Time is about 8:21 PM and just talked to Kunal. One of his contacts is supposed to get a website done which according to me would take HUGE amount of webspace. Atleast 500 Megs and it means HUGE amount of investment. I am not sure if that person would be willing to shell out this much money for the website. Kunal says what differnce does it makes to us? I say simply if the person drops the idea, we would be left with no website to develop at all. So its important that we should talk to the person and get the thing done in an amount that is feasible for him to pay.

INDIA lost the match. 🙁 But still it was a nice match and kudos to Pakistan who played really well and got it for their country. Cheers to Pakistan on a nice win and Good Luck to both INDIA and Pakistan for the next match.

Saurabh – Advertisements

Advertising

Mark Twain once said…”Many a small thing has been made large by right kind of advertising.”.

Here are few posts that I made and were related to advertising world…

12 March 2004 : Advertising


And since this page is about advertising and this blog is about me, I have included a list of all the adverts I find good and yes there is also a list of not so good advertisements.

+ Close Up (Kya Aap Close Karte Hain…)

+ Electrolux

+ Microsoft

+ VIP Strolleys (Bye Bye, Bye Bye)

– BJP/NDA for General Elections 2004

Last edited on 21st May 2004

Stratagem ’04

Ok, so for the last few days, I was outta Delhi. I went to Kanpur, IIT Kanpur to be precise. They were having their annual tech fest and I went there to participate in Computer gaming event called Stratagem ’04. Until today, I wasn’t sure wat was the meaning of the name Startagem and as I was updating BLOG, I looked on dictionary.com and found the real meaning located at http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=stratagem. Nice name I must say.

25th Feb. 04

Today was the day when we were supposed to leave for Kanpur. I got the reservations a day earlier. Me, Ashish Anand and Aditya Takiar were supposed to go to Kanpur. Kunal was already in Luck now and he said he would reach there by himself.

Anyways the day started at around 4 A.M. with me getting ready for leaving to the Railway Station. The train was scheduled to leave at 6:30 A.M. Took an auto from here and shared it with some ass who said that you don’t have to reserve the seats for going to Kanpur. I didn’t notice it them when he said it but I realized it later. Ok reached the station at around 6 and called Adi and asked him when he’s reaching there. I confirmed the platform the train was arriving on. Adi came at around 6:05 and we went into the station and as usual started hunting for people. Ashish also came soon and we realized the train was about 2 hours late. So we spent those 2 hours playing Chess, Eating and talking about strategies about Q3 and CS.

Ok the wait was finally over and the train arrived. It was a sight of horror to see about 300 Bihari lining up in front of the doors of the coach that was supposed to be reserved for us. Anyways I instantly knew that there was going to be some fight with those unbathed-for-dunno-how-many-days biharis. I finally managed to get hold of the door and I was struck between a lady and her kid and a Bihari. Had to kick and hurt a Bihari in order to help the lady get it. Finally I was in after struggling for 15 minutes. Reached the berth that was supposed to be reserved to me and saw HUGE metal trunks lined up there. Anyways Adi also reached the place and finally when the train was about to move, Ashish also made it. We thanked god that we were alive and started settling. We were amazed to saw how biharis would smoke bidis, won’t bath, spit wherever they fancy, sit anywhere they want. We had to verbally abuse biharis and made sure that we didn’t have anyone else seating on our berths. We occupied the top three ones in a compartment. And the best is yet to come; Ashish found out that he has lost his purse when he was trying to board the train. It had around 2000 bucks, his driving license, petro card, college I card etc. We were sad for him and he was looking as if he was given a shock of his life. To my amazement I found out that my wallet was also missing. I mean I am one of those people who would take care of things and be careful but I lost it. I had around 500 odd in there. BAD beginning. We even thought of getting down and returning home. Adi was laughing at all this time. Bloddy Takki. Damn the journey. It was like hell. It was HOT in the train and I had to take my shirt off and all. There were biharis all around me and they were smoking and made journey even more miserable.

Finally we reached Kanpur at around 4 in the evening. As soon as we came outa station, there were about 15 Rickshaw wallas around us asking where we wanted to go and there were few auto wallas that were asking if we wanted to go to IIT etc. They were charging 100 bucks and they said get a “parchi” form Prepaid booth and etc etc. We walked outta station and finally after negotiating a bit we managed to get an auto for just 60 bucks. And I was wondering if auto wallah is ready for 60 bucks, they how come the Sarkaari Prepaid booth is asking for 100 bucks. So we finally boarded the auto and we set off for the IIT.

The roads (if I can have the liberties to call em road) were BAD. As bad as they could get. I don’t remember traveling on as bad roads. I felt like I was dirt biking. The auto driver was I guess on a suicide mission. He would scare the hell outta me every time he overtook any other vehicle. Also I guess it was compulsory for him to abuse every driver he went pass. Was a fun trip. So after around 40 minutes of dirt biking we were there in front of the IIT Gate. Sign of relief.

More to come soon.

The Pianist

So an update after so long. Was kinda busy and was down for about two days. Will talk about it in the post and if you are reading this, get ready for some “constructive” criticism.

Ok let me start with today’s incident at IMS. Today was the last official class of the year at IMS for my batch. That means I will miss a lot of people and lot of very good friends. I think before everything else, I would list their names. Here they are in Alphabetical Order (and if you don’t follow Alphabetical Order, people would complain ki mera naam neeche kyon. Nah no one would. Had they been like complaining sorts, I wouldn’t have included their names here). Ok here goes…

– Abhinav ????

– Abhishek Mishra

– Deepti ????

– Divy Suneja

– Jyoti Sahu

– Kunal ????

– Parikshit Ranavat

– Punit Sehgal

– Pradeep ????

– Prashat ????

– Prerna ????

– Priyank Gupta

– Rajatesh Kumar

– Saurabh Khosla

– Sudipto ????

I would like to say if I miss your name here, PLEASE PLEASE let me know and I would include them. And let me tell everyone else that list is NOT complete at all. There were a lot of people whom I would like to stay in touch with.

P.S. “????” doesn’t means that they are all brothers and sisters or relatives of any sort, but I dunno their surnames.

Ok now today’s incident. It was a Maths class and a teacher from IMS NOIDA was here to take the session. He knew Aditya Takiar and Ashish Anand. Well all said and done, right after the class ended, a guy walked up to the teacher and asked if he could play the Piano lying in the corner of the hall. If you are surprised ki bhai IMS main you guys go to study and what is a piano doing there. Ok, since it was music, I was instantly curious. I wanted to know how does that chap plays and I talked to him and asked if he learnt somewhere or anything like that. He said he used to play at school. And the moment he started playing, I was AWESTUCK. He was so good at it and best part, he knew the Titan Soundtrack (the 8th or 9th symphony of Beethoven). Man I was so impressed that I wished I hadn’t stopped playing my guitar. For one moment I even thought I would go back to Mr. Johnson and ask him if he can teach me Piano. Rest assured people I would be starting my guitaring days soon. And there are people around me who have started learning Guitar so inferiority complex ;). So keep your eyes open for the next Santana or Bryan Adams.

Ok enough for time being, following are the stuff that I will be adding to this post.

Quake 3

Seats at IIMs

Entrepreneurship

Teachers @ IMS

and may be anything else too.