hamster huey and the gooey kablooie

Things that happen once in a lifetime

2005-07-27T04:42:00.000-07:00

I remember the first time I said “I love you” to her, she gasped and I wondered, “do I really ?” . After a lot of interospection overnight about the “do I really” part (invloving lot of tossing and turning in the bed and also sitting next to the window for an hour and staring at the stars), I thought “may be I do”, but my may be was converted to a strong yes the very next day.

My previous relationships (read heartbreaks) made me think that everything about “made for each other” is nothing but Horace’s imagination.

I am not saying that we are perfect, but that’s what makes it so much better. Like she once said “our perfection lies in our imperfections”. She taught me that Love is not about not fighting, but about fighting and making up. Its not about not having any other attractions but about being committed to each other through everything. Most of all she has taught me the importance of respecting each others’ “space” in a relationship (Yes, like you all guessed by now that she’s my guru :P )

People often ask, What’s love ? Well according to me, It's that sense of oneness between two people that flows from an open, meaningful exchange of thoughts, feelings and affection. But far more than that, intimacy is what gives a feeling that they're no longer just a 'me' but also part of an 'us'. In fact, it's what defines the shared life.

If you people think that I am a goner then yer damn right, the past few months of my life have given me so much and made me realize how lucky I am (the luckiest guy in the world perhaps ??!!) .

Day of days

2005-07-27T04:17:00.000-07:00

Historian Stephen Ambrose, whose best-selling book Band of Brothers was turned into a successful TV mini-series, has died aged 66 after a struggle with lung cancer. Band of brothers has always had a special significance in my life. It is undoubtedly one of the best TV series to be aired ever.

BAND OF BROTHERS tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army. Drawn from interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as soldiers’ journals and letters, BAND OF BROTHERS chronicles the experiences of these young men who knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear.

Band of Brothers is a ten part mini-series, based on an elite rifle company hat follows the Easy company from their boot camp in camp taccoa to the airborne landings in normandy to fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and capturing Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest at Berchtesgaden. They were also a unit that suffered enormous casualties, and whose lives became legend.

The best part about BoB is the way they have captured the real horrors of war, the bond between fellow soldiers, they pain the agony and also the moral side of the war itself.

"Day of Days" and "Bastogne" were two of my favourite episodes from the mini series. Here's a 'sneak peek' at the two episodes:

Day of Days

Planes carrying thousands of paratroopers cross the English Channel into French airspace, where German flak causes the pilots to drop them in a less than safe and unorganized fashion.

Lt. WINTERS lands alone in a field, soon joined by a Pvt. JOHN HALL (Andrew Scott) from another company. Having lost his rifle in the jump, Winters leads the anxious Hall off to find their units, carrying only a knife. They link up with a few more Easy Company men and ambush a German horse-drawn supply convoy. In a nearby town, Winters finds Easy's Lt. "BUCK" COMPTON (Neal McDonough), who tells him 90% of the company is unaccounted for, including their commander -- which puts Winters in charge. Winters is then asked to lead an attack on a cluster of German artillery pieces nearby, which are probably firing onto the seaborne infantry trying to take Utah Beach. Winters deploys his small group on the entrenched enemy positions and eventually takes four artillery pieces in succession, disabling them with TNT. The euphoria is tempered, however, when Winters finds Pvt. Hall dead, killed by machine gun fire. The mission is successful, but Winters looses his first man as acting company commander.

Breaking point

Having held off the German attempts to overrun Bastogne, Easy is now faced with the task of taking the nearby town of Foy from the enemy.

Company First Sergeant CARWOOD LIPTON (Donnie Wahlberg) tries to hold the company together as they withstand several fierce artillery bombardments, during which several Easy veterans are killed and maimed. Sgts. JOE TOYE (Kirk Acevedo) and BILL GUARNERE (Frank John Hughes) each lose a leg. This precipitates an emotional breakdown by Lt. COMPTON, who has to leave the line. Morale is further dampened by the incompetence of their commander, Lt. NORMAN DIKE (Peter O'Meara). Lipton warns Capt. WINTERS about Dike, but Winters is well aware of the problem and can do nothing about it. But when Dike freezes up during the crucial attack on Foy, Winters sends Dog Company's Lt. SPEIRS to relieve him. Speirs successfully leads the taking of the town, and Lipton is happy that Easy finally has a true combat leader again.

BoB is a must watch for all the WW II enthusiasts and also if you want to see some exceptional piece of acting and realism.

what quote fits you ?

2005-06-28T02:13:00.000-07:00

i took the test after seeing it in ranjitha's page

Your wise quote is: "Our greatest glory is not
in never falling, but in rising everytime we
fall" by Confucius.
Yes indeed, you see true strenght can only be
seen when a person has "fallen". Only
then one can tell how they will handle it. Just
don't make others fall so you can know who they
really are. You on the other hand may be a very
quick recoverer and don't let people bring you
down. You are your own, and you're find with
that. Emotional issues is something you handle
rather nicely.

What wise quote fits you?(pics) UPDATED

i am still trying to figure out how does this quote fit me ??!!

Chest number graffiti

2005-04-13T05:04:00.000-07:00

The day we entered SSB (Services Selection Board), Bhopal, as usual we were all given our chest numbers. It’s a very old system where each candidate is given a chest number (its basically a cloth with a number written on the front and the back side, it basically makes the system fair as the evaluating officers don’t know your name while giving you points) which changes with every level of the interview you cross. Before the screening test, my chest number was 30; the cloth was a white one with numbers painted in black.

I had gone to the wet canteen to call up my friends when I noticed the distinct colours and pattern of chest numbers of the people around me. Some of the guys had yellow on black, the black ones looked very attractive as they had all sorts of stuff written on it. I thought we had a choice of colours for the chest numbers we wore, and obviously, as the black ones were “neat”, I went up to the person wearing it and asked:

“Hi! Which course?”
“10 + 2 TE (Technical Entry) “
“How did you get that cool chest number? “
“I am a selected candidate and the plus below the number indicates that I am undergoing medical examination,” he said with a grin, looking at my chest number.
“So you haven’t undergone screening yet? “ He asked, obviously because of the colour of my chest number …
“No I just got here, I have it tomorrow”
“Well then, best of luck”.

I got some valuable piece of advice from one of my juniors (H K Singh) who had come two days before me on the group discussion as we sat down in our barracks at 1 ‘o clock in the night, I couldn’t get much sleep that night. The next day I found myself sitting right at the back bench (NO! it wasn’t my choice) during the thematic appreciation test (TAT) and with our record batch strength (300 guys) the last bench was really far off from the screen. After the TAT and GD got over, we waited anxiously for the results and half and hour later I was wearing a new chest number!! This time I had 7.

After all the Psychs (Psychological Test), Apti (Aptitude tests), TATs, WAT (Word Association Tests), GDs, PI, GT (Group Task) and conference, we were waiting anxiously in the hall for the ultimate result. The vice-president (Col K P Singh) came to give a final lecture and how we should not be disappointed if we didn’t make it… Then came Maj. Kaushal (a great guy, one of our GTOs who actually made me think twice about joining his regiment if I got through). I was shocked when he said:

“Chest number 5”
“Chest number 10”, where the hell is chest number 7?? I thought , reviewing what had happened , PI was good , GTO was a dream , apti was great , psychs it was the god damn psychs !!

“Do, you mind getting up, young man ?” Enquired Maj. Kaushal. Get up? Of course I could get up, pack my bags , go the station , whatever you say sir , as if it matters.

"Congratulations, I am sorry I missed your number"

Does that mean I am selected ?

“Wow!! I exclaimed”

I finally got I was longing for the day I got to the wet canteen, the selected candidate chest number, I even got to choose the number, 23. Yes I was Michael Jordan now! I compared the graffiti on my chest number to my friends, here are some that I remember:

“Jatt they that!!”
“This is for 4 rajputana rifles”
“At last, last attempt!!”
“NDAaaa – NDAaaaa!!!”.
“We live by chance, love by choice and kill by profession ”.
“Second to none”

The morale was quit high, no more tests, no more tension , no more rejections (that’s what I thought) . H K Singh got selected too (he is in Naval Academy, Goa now) , he was there to congratulate me as soon as I got out of the conference room. That night , I took of my chest number , and scribbled a few lines of my own :

“ This is for 9 Para SF”
“If I die in combat zone, box me up and send me home, pin my medals to my chest, tell my mother I did my best”
“COMMANDO!!! – for CDO wing , Belgaum “
“IMA here I come!!”

I can never forget those 12 days of my life, the friends I made, the heart breaks (after the medicals), the wet canteen , Brig Saxena, Drinking vodka in the barracks and sleeping in the ante room. I hope someone deserving is wearing my chest number and is motivated by what I wrote.

This blog is dedicated to Cdt. H K Singh (dude you rock !! ) and Ankit Sood ( koi baat nahi yaar , we will get colour TV next time !!)

Colonel puff

2005-04-04T05:23:00.000-07:00

"I am colonel puff and i am drinking for the first time" .. Oh my gawd ! What am i doing ? - some of the thoughts racing through my head when i started the game ..

Venue : Greens , HSR Layout

Occasion : Sid Sir leaving for Pittsburg and so a "final" get together before the adieu

Day : thursday 31 march (i knew that i have office the next day )

Situation: Almost everybody is high , i have had three beers and ready to sneak back home.

"Hey lets have a colonel puff before we go home !" Sid sir shouted , "Yeah lets do it " , i shouted back , knowing the obvious target would be Abhijeet , i sat back grinning at abhi .. . "let him do it" , Karan Shouted from nowhere . After a lot of yes and nos i agreed ..

As its a drinking game , the obvious aim of the sport is to get the player drunk , If you make a mistake , you have drink the entire glass in one go and start all over again. After 4 unsuccessful attempts and a trip the loo , i finally got it right .. or did i ?

Anyway the next thing i remember was that it was abhi's turn , here is when things started getting a bit hazy , I remenber him making mistakes and starting over again a lot of times ... but then i dont know how , it was my turn again .. "I'll show you how it is done !!" , I yelled , obviously i did not know what i was doing , but then i drank a bit more "I am hic ! colonel puff drinking for the second time !"..

The next thing i remember is that i was being offered lemonade by abhi .. or was it harman ? I dont know if i drank anything , but karan's bed was very comfy .. "Hey how did i get here , baaah who cares " .. were my last thoughts before doozing off ..
The next day was an adveture on its own , but to let you know .. I did not turn up at the office ..

on your marks .. get set .. poop (hey what happened to my gun !!)

2005-03-17T01:20:00.000-08:00

Well , here goes nothing ..

I chose the name "hamster huey .. " not just because it is calvin's favourite bed time story , but also because its outright wakchy !!

I just hope blogging helps me improve my writing skills , which never existed in the first place .. Well, everything has to beging somewhere .. just didnt think that i would let other's make fun of my writing like this in public ...

cheers