'The Blue Dart', and other stories

It has been about 4 days since I last posted. I intended to post yesterday, but immediately before I was about to compose this particular post, I came across a very very scary blog. After going through this partiular scary blog, it took me about 24 hours to recover from the trauma it caused me. Those 24 hours have just concluded, as a result of which I am now nearing a state somewhat fit to compose another post.

What you see here is a dart. It is a dart I own. I, for certain obvious reasons, call it 'The Blue Dart'. It might look like other darts, but it is not. It is no ordinary dart. For it is a blue dart. It is also a magnetic dart. Which means instead of having a pointed tip, it has a magnetic one.

"So why has he posted a picture of a blue, magnetic dart on his blog?", you may be inclined to ask. And I would only be too pleased to give you the answer. 'The Blue Dart' that you see in the picture helps me do my research. What my research is all about, and how I got involved in it, you will soon learn.

It all started a couple of days back, which was about four or five days into my summer vacations. The first four or five days of my summer break had been fun. I enjoyed the new-found freedom. The freedom from studies. The freedom from following a set schedule. In short, I enjoyed my first five days very much. But as time went by, I started getting bored, and by the end of the sixth day, I was absolutely fed up with the absence of things to do. "Manu," I said to myself, "you need to get yourself some work." And so I decided to do some research. Nothing heavy or intellectual. Just some simple things that will make my days seem less wasted than Mr. Suri's.

The next thing I needed to do was to find out something to do research on. Being an imaginative guy, that problem didn't trouble me long, and I soon found a ready solution to it. This is how I do my research.
1. I take my blue, magnetic dart, a notebook, and a pencil.
2. I close my eyes.
3. I throw the dart in a random direction.
4. I see if it sticks.
5. I write down in my notebook whether the dart stuck or not.
6. If necessary, I maro fraudy.
7. I move to another room
8. I repeat steps 1 through 7.

I usually take about 60-70 readings in a day. The algorithm I follow, which you see above, is simple and linear, and needs minimal thinking. It is, therefore, stuck to strictly. I try to do my work with intense concentration and dedication. According to the rate I am currently moving at, I should have about 1000 readings, taken all over the house, by the end of a couple of weeks. Once that is done, I plan to do the same at some of my friends' houses, and by the time the vacations are complete, I shall, and I say this with much confidence, have a nice thick report ready on the average incidence of magnetic materials in South-Delhi homes.

On an unrelated note, I saw an absolutely amazing and extremely entertaining music video yesterday. It was by a group of two full-grown surdarjis who call themselves the Balle Balle Boyz (inspite of them being full-grown surdarjis) and the name of the song was 'Chak De Saturday'. I say it was a very interesting song because throughout the video, the two surdarjis were running around large halls and into doors marked with the days of the week, wearing long, black trench-coats and recreating stunts from 'The Matrix' series. Between running and recreating stunts, they were also repeatedly saying stuff like, "I love only Saturrr-day!", and I, to be frank, found their multi-tasking abilities quite impressive. My friend Mr. Aseem Suri, who has been talked about earlier in this post, and who has great knowledge and expertise on such subjects, says that the video is typical of the Balle Balle Boyz, and that some of their other songs are even better. He even named a couple of them which he thought were worth a look, and which I am currently downloading.

Besides that, not much has been happening. I recently met Ms. Tara Kaul, Mr. Maanick Nangia, and Ms. Smita Misra over lunch. Tara, I do believe, has already been introduced on this blog. Maanick (which I, for a long time, spelt as manic, but now spell as babboo) is a precious gemstone/beast of burden depending on personal preference. To know more about Smita, click on her name.

I also met Mr. Karan Misra and Mr. Manav Kapur a couple of evenings back. As is bound to happen when such people get together, the conversation veered to weird topics. Somehow we got talking about the absolutely atrocious songs that have, over the past few years, found themselves a way into Bollywood movies, and which one was the worst of the lot. Inspite of the extent of competition present in this particular field, we were, by the end of the conversation, able to reach consensus on a clear winner, although after much deliberation and arguement. I shall, for the moment, exhibiting uncharacteristic good taste, refrain from naming the song.

Till next time, may the force be with you.