One Sunny Day

We recently had a short-story writing competition in our office. The challenge was to incorporate all four monsoon images in the given particular order. Limit: 1000 words.

1)    2)

3)4)


Now I am not a romantic buff and I dread romantic novels, especially chic-lit ones. Nope, there's no fault in my stars. I was reading Philip K Dick's Minority Report back then. So I decided to pay a tribute to this sci-fi genius. Here' my modest attempt at the short story:

“I have always loved rains,” thought Stella, “even if it hinders the smooth lifestyle we are used to.” 

She looked out to the Red Bridge amidst the labyrinth of water droplets that had collected on the window. “At least it gives the time to admire things that are not man-made.”

The wire-way cleared and Stella commanded her BugMobil to move. She had desired the advanced ThoughtDragon that would fly by itself to the owner’s intended destination. But the lack of money and time played a spoilsport. “Time…” sighed Stella. That’s what she was looking to mend.

The BugMobil halted at an orphanage. Stella climbed out and the car went on to park itself.

“Pleasure meeting you Stella,” greeted Audrey who was in charge of the institution. “You’ve come a long way from your days here. We’re obliged on your decision to adopt one of our girls.”

“I am compelled to. It’s one of the requirements to obtain the past-gear.”

“Being a future-traveller is easy. But keep in mind that travelling past has more nuances” warned Audrey.

They halted near a playground. Stella saw a 12 year old girl jumping and playing in the muddy waters of rain. She felt a wave of nostalgia rush through her body.

“I believe you like Margaret,” smiled Audrey. On getting a nod from Stella, Audrey beckoned TotalTurtle, her robot PA.

“Hello dear. I am Stella, a future-traveller”, said Stella as she introduced herself.

“Hello mam, I am Margaret. Where are you taking me?” replied Margaret politely.

“Home. You may call me Stella.”

TotalTurtle took the digital biometric prints and updated the database as legal formalities were completed in a jiffy.

“Will I get my own bed?”

“Yes, sure”

They thanked Audrey and made their way out of the building. Stella fired a voice command beckoning their ride.

“And a travel to future?”

“Oh absolutely!”

They entered the BugMobil and started towards home.

“You may call me Maggie,” said Margaret and their faces lit up with a smile.

On their way, they had lunch at McRobots, bought a Google ChromeBed, and beautiful Microsoft WearableWindows dresses for Maggie.

After reaching home, Stella asked Maggie to freshen up while she got busy in preparing the new room. Later in the evening, Stella made delicious hot chocolate that she served to a rather gleeful Maggie devouring majestic rain by the window.  Her joy was short lived as Stella pushed a few books towards Maggie.

“Why these?” inquired Margaret.

“Well madam, we’ve fulfilled your first demand. And in order to travel time, you must learn about it” answered Stella.

“Aye Aye Captain!”

                Over the course of next few days, Stella taught Margaret about time warps, space curves, light speeds and importantly the proper usage of future-gear. For practical, they hopped time in intervals ranging from few seconds to a couple of minutes.

“Can we travel further afar? This advanced theory is boring” pleaded Margaret.

“Alright, but be careful.”

Maggie used Stella’s gear and they moved ahead a good 3 hours.

“Ha-ha! This is fun” giggled Margaret. “I could solve all my problems this way,” she added.

“Not all honey” conveyed Stella, now a little serious. Adding further, she said “I want to travel past to undo a misdemeanour. And to obtain the past gear, I must have years of future travel experience and train a child in travelling future.”

“Oh I see”, exclaimed Margaret, “I’d help you in your mission. By the way, what’s this inscription on your gear?”

“It’s my id. 13U2Z. You either acquire a new id or inherit one from your trainer. I was lucky to find a trainer in my guardian.”

“Just like me!”

“Yeah, but you can’t have it as long as I’m associated with it.”

“So what happened to your trainer?”

“That’s what I want to mend.”

                Margaret had now become as good as Stella in time travel. She was also successful in going forward a month. They were now to make the ultimate leap.

“Ok dear. Now’s the time. If you’re successful in travelling over a year, I could go to the Ministry of Time Travel and get a past-gear and what’s more, you could apply for your own future-gear” said an excited Stella.

“Hold on to your hats madam. For we’re going to travel at top gear!” exclaimed Margaret.

“Where are you taking us?”

“Wait and watch.”

Margaret was nervous as she had never before attempted time travel on such a scale. She programmed the gear and pressed the ‘Go’ button.

                It was a sunny day. The sky was lightly overcast but one could easily feel the warmth of sun after a spell of rain. Stella felt a sense of déjà vu.

“Wowie!” cheered Margaret, “I’d always wanted to see a rainbow across the red bridge.”

Stella’s heart started beating faster. She felt a premonition of what lay next. As she turned, she noticed a guy walking towards Margaret with an electro knife. She let out a scream: “Maggie! No!” and jumped towards the guy trying to snatch money.

Margaret turned back in time and ducked to save herself. The bot police immediately sprang into action and caught the robber.

Margaret’s relief was short-lived as she noticed a pool of blood near the ground where Stella was lying. The emergency bot doctors declared her lifeless. Stella’s body was taken by the bots to the inspection centre. Later they’d arrange for funeral and notify Margaret of the details.

The events had occurred too soon for Margaret to collect her senses. She wanted to undo it all and go back in time. If only she had travelled wisely.

Margaret rushed to the old Victorian building off the corner.

“This is Ministry of Time Travel. How may I help you?” asked the receptionist.

“I want to register myself as a future traveller,” said Margaret. She had made a decision.

“Do you want a new ID?”

Maggie looked at the gear in her hand and answered “I will use 13U2Z.”

As is the case with me, I didn't win. But I am satisfied at trying something different. I also threw in an easter egg for my favourite space ranger. It's easy if you try ;)
Do provide your feedback. If you wish to, you may download the PDF format from my Google Drive.

Windows XP in Windows 8 using Hyper V

Even after Microsoft announcing the end-of-support for the Windows XP, we can't forget the legendary OS. Future generations will be bereft of the charm Windows XP created. Enough said, I thought of installing XP as a VM in my Windows 8 Enterprise edition. Nostalgia.

I followed this cool article on technet blog to get started with a Windows VM. I had my XP Pro SP3 disk handy. So following all the steps, it was evident to select the below option to get started with the familiar blue screen setup.

But alas! I didn't choose the path of least resistance. I selected the first option to install the OS later.

Setting up a legacy network adapter and later connecting to, I found that the VM wasn't recognizing the DVD drive! Stop. Restart. Same error.

"Boot failure. Reboot and select proper boot device or insert Boot Media in selected Boot Device"
Boot device - check
Boot media - check
Boot failure - uncheck!

How to get over with it?

The problem was evident that the VM wasn't recognizing the media. So I played around and found solution on the Menu above.
Select Media -> DVD Drive -> Capture D:\  (or whatever your CD drive is)

Restart and viola! Shed your tears over the evergreen (or should I say everblue?) XP setup screen.

Cheers!

Bhugda Khaijaiin

I can write endlessly on nostalgia. To me, it’s the strangest feeling of all. You can’t hate it. Neither can you fall in love with it. It pops out at times you don’t expect it to or worse when you are not prepared for it. Consider this. You are busy in a meeting and your brain ticks! The nostalgic impulse rushes at the speed of light and no, you have no control over the outcome of emotions. That’s the reason why you see many of the folks smiling at a serious point or shedding tears when the company has its growth being manifested. I bet you have just recalled a similar incident and if am not wrong, you are smirking your way through ;)

Today when I talked to my Amma (grandmother), a similar nostalgia ached through my heart. I have not visited my home for over a month. A job in a distant city and the difficulty of booking train tickets during vacation have added to the woes. I prefer to converse with her in Sindhi, my mother tongue. I believe one should imbibe the language he or she is born in. I have grown up with grandparents by my side and that has made me love my language. It brings me closer to the culture I am hereditarily a part of.

It is summer here and she has put forth some set of rules. Recall a typical Indian motherly figure showering advices (rather commandments) with oodles of love. Us mein baayr na nikar jaiin (Do not go out in the sun). Baairi bhaaji na khaay jaiin (Do not eat outside vegetables, which symbolises non-vegetarian food). Duddh vathi kare kha (Buy some curd and eat). Kheer thado pi jaiin (Consume cold milk). Bhugda Khaijaiin (Eat roasted chick-peas). Amb-chaavar kha (Eat mango with rice – and that’s what my weekend plan will be). Ghar mein hi vetho rahe jaiin (Remain in home).

The Bhugda part hit that mother lode of nostalgia. I rarely had roasted chick-peas, popularly known as Chana in Hindi, during my 15 month stay in Mumbai. Not that I am extremely fond of it, but the memories of it during my school days make it a food to remember. Amma keeps telling how she relished having bhugda in her school days (and that’s before Indian independence). She and her sisters used to fill their pockets with bhugda and daakh (black raisins) on their way to school. Now at the age of 83, she grinds them and consumes the powdered avatar. I recall watching TV or reading a book while involuntarily devouring them.  I recall Amma instructing me to have some after having fried things (She has this theory that if you consume water after having oily/fried things, you will develop cough. The way out is either to wait for like, half an hour or to bridge the gap by consuming ‘safe’ things like biscuits, papad or chick-peas among other stuff). I recall my mother keeping some of them with a little jaggery in my tiffin box. I recall mouth-watering laayi (Chikki for you) made out of bhugdaas and/or khaajas (groundnuts) during Diwali. I recall the stories of horses having them and that that being responsible for their strong legs.

So many memories in such a little pea! We do take as granted the little wondrous elements of life. I don’t know if I’d be having bhugda soon, but yes, they would always intrigue me as carriers of nostalgia. Forget coffee. A lot has indeed happened for me over Bhugdaa.

Dexter

"Guilt Can Be A Killer"
These were the words that caught my attention when I was on the prowl for a killer TV series on IMDb. The answer was pretty bloody: "Dexter" 

I am a lazy guy and wanted to leave my search to where it was, but a newly found acquaintance informed of the series (all 5 seasons) soon to be telecasted on Star World. There it was. TV is something I can take care of. And begin 7 March 2011, my bloody quest started and how!! It was the title theme that gave me hunches: 'This is going to be one hell of a show you'll ever watch!' And as is with most cases, my hunches didn't disappoint me :)

Dexter is a story of Dexter Morgan, a guy who gets unusual feelings for blood. He takes up a job as a Blood Spatter Analyst at the Miami Metro PD, but that ain't enough. The thirst for blood makes him restless, so it's now on Harry to control the urge of his adopted son and give it a new direction. The speed changes to velocity following a certain set of rules better known as Harry's Code and Dexter is now on the prowl for bad guys who escape the system, only to be punished by Dexter, the power saw to the people.

The most fascinating part of the story is of course Dexter, who portraits  the INTJ character seamlessly. The unusual thought process, the code following, the oh-shit look on dealing with emotions, the self-talks and the cold look are all signs of a perfect INTJ! 

I'm in love with Dexter and am sure you'll be too. And if by chance, you ever want to rid the society of bad guys, make sure you follow the first rule: Never Get Caught, because:

INTP??!!

I boast myself of being an INTP, but it suddenly occurred to me that most people visiting this blog  may not know what an INTP is.
So, just let me give you a brief overview of my personality type, better known as INTP.

INTP is one of the 16 MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) personality types categorized by four parameters or functions as popularly known.

1. How they focus their attention or get their energy (extraversion(E) or introversion(I))
2. How they perceive or take in information (sensing(S) or intuition(N))
3.  How they prefer to make decisions (thinking(T) or feeling(F))
4. How they orient themselves to the external world (judgment(J) or perception(P))  

 

So, just combining I, N, T and P functions from the above set, you get me..TADA!! Intoverts usually are quiet and self-contained. Intuitive persons depend on their sixth sense more than their five senses. Thinkers prioritize brain more than heart and Perceivers go unplanned, reacting spontaneously to situations. And as you may have guessed, others are opposite.

 INTPs generally theoretical and abstract, more interested in ideas than in social interaction. Others see us as quiet, contained, flexible and adaptable. We like to develop logical explanations for everything that interests us and have an unusual ability to focus in depth to solve problems in my area of interest. Often skeptical, sometimes critical and always analytical, INTPs are generally what many term as weird, absurd or geeky.

Love us or hate us, we are what we are. And there goes a famous quote:

"When I'm good, I am Good. When I'm bad, I am Better." 

If you still don't get what an INTP is, don't worry. There will sure be more to come of it.
Cheers :)