Pensieve 2.0

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As you can see, majority (Yeah! Right!) of the people have voted for The Pensieve than The Surreal Me.

I am deeply disappointed with the number of people who voted. I know many of you who read my blog are too lazy to comment. But this was just a matter of 2 clicks.

Anyway, I have to yield to the winning entry and change the name of this blog back to The Pensieve.
Only this time, it will be Pensieve 2.0.

You can expect the change with a changed theme in a week.

Please be aware that this is still a work in progress, and there are a few kinks that I need to iron out.

I will probably change the theme and the blog will undergo extreme makeover from its current look. I may even change the name. I admit that it was a rather hasty decision to name it, but I now think that it should have been better. The punchline remains, because that’s what I mean to write. But my friend pointed out (and I too felt) that “surreal” was too vague and disinteresting a name.

What do you suggest? Should I retain “The Surreal Me”? Should I revert to “The Pensieve”? Or should I go with another name. I have opened a poll in the left sidebar. Please vote.

So please keep that in mind when you update your blogroll. I would suggest not updating until the poll is closed in 15 days. The older blogspot address will automatically redirect till then.

Thank you for your patience.

Lads and Lassies,
Presenting the new face of “The Pensieve”. A new face calls for a new name too. I call it “The Surreal Me”, because I think of myself as a unrealistic dreamer.
As they teach you in mathematics, i is not real. This holds true for the I that I am.

I have migrated to a personal domain, and was simply lying that my blog was dead. In some way, that was true also. “The Pensieve” is dead. And “The Surreal Me” has risen from its ashes. At least three people fell for it. Rinchen even went so far as to send me a Facebook message demanding an explanation.
I started the buildup from the comments two posts ago¹. I must apologize to Ajith for having used him as a bait for this. Apparently, an offhand comment will not stop me from writing. (I say “apparently” because I myself am not sure. That conclusion is purely empirical.)

Anyway, I did give some clues:

1. I said I may change my decision next year.
2. I took the Blue Pill. Those who have watched “The Matrix” several times can say that by taking the blue pill, you remain in wonderland.

A few words about the transition. I have redirected my earlier blogspot address to here, so that won’t be a problem for the time being. The links won’t be broken. But I would appreciate if you can update your blogroll with the new address. The URL is http://blog.deepakiyer.com and the Name is The Surreal Me. You don’t have to worry about the feed. I still use the feedburner address for this. But it is better to cross-check. The feed address is http://feeds.feedburner.com/deepakiyer

Once again, thanks for being amazing readers. And please do comment on my future posts.
Finally, thanks to my good friend and classmate since 8th standard, KP, for suggesting the wacky punchline.

1. My new year resolution was to celebrate April Fool Day 4 months earlier :P [↩]

I thought about this very hard.
I think this is the right decision.

I have become increasing annoyed with this pile of bullshit which I make you read every fortnight. I cannot do it any more. I want this blog extinct, or at least dormant. Henceforth, I am not going to waste my time on this blog. It is a painful farewell to all my readers. Sorry guys! And thanks for being an awesome bunch of readers.

There are many things which prompted me to do this. First of all, I have better things to do now. Secondly, I think my writing quality has been deteriorating of late. Thirdly, I have what I’ll call a writer’s topic block. Whenever I think of writing, I can think of no other topic but some of my old memories or whatever bland things are going on in my life. It has become so monotonous even for me.

Maybe I will regret this and come back some day. But today I am feeling no regret on shelving my blog. What I will really miss will be you readers. But who knows what is in store for us? I may be back a year later for all that matter.

So this is it guys. No turning back from now.
I take the Blue Pill.
So long…Farewell…Auf Wiedersehen…Good Bye

It’s nearing a month since I last blogged. I know some of you(Okay..it’s only me) are looking forward to reading the remaining parts of the story, but unfortunately I’m facing what I’ve only heard as writer’s block. My draft story has deviated so much from what I wanted to convey that I forgot what I actually wanted to write. The story is not moving towards a conclusion. (I now realize that such stories are not my piece of cake)
Hopefully I will find my story again in a couple of days.

There are too many things pending for me, including some things I promised to some special people. I really need to speed things up.

Meanwhile, I turned 24 on Sunday. Time is running so fast.. Sigh!

After several months of teasing, bullying and coaxing, my brother finally decided to start his own blog.
He calls it Lothlórien. And he has one of the most confusing names for his blog URL too - logaems.blogspot.com
I asked him what logaems means…This was his reply.

U know that I am localized around the things that i’ve been aquainted with, these 3 years…

its yet another LOTR stuff..

Look… i am tryin to prove something ,not to u, not to the world

but to myself….I am proving to myself that i am something

which i am not for the time being….

So this is how i got that name…?

i was thinkin about the web browser for my mini project

then i thought about gollum…a browser in Linux or somewhere then came the idea of multiple pesonality…

Friendzzz say that i behave a little odd and different(tell me whether this word fits to this context) at different situations or places….

There comes SMEAGOL……The stinker (into context)

strrev(”SMEAGOL”); (Means reverse the word)

There you go.

The result is logaems.blogspot.com

I couldnt convince myself to have another name and I WONT..

afterall its the content that matters to me…

You won’t find anything there right now, because he hasn’t posted anything there. But in the future, you will find some stuff. I can bet anything that 90% of his posts will be related to Lord of the Rings, Hitchhiker’s series and Dan Brown. The chap is so crazy about these three.

As for me, I went too deep into the Blogger Hacking area, that I don’t find time to post. I plan to start another blog (purely technical) about customizing Blogger.

So long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye.
Will post later.

Today, my favorite author and her favorite wizard Harry Potter turn another year old.
Wish you a very happy birthday Jo..keep writing with that wonderful quill of yours.
And Harry, Happy Birthday to you too, buddy.

An owl is on it’s way carrying my birthday gifts for both of you. But I’m afraid that owl is a bit confused about wizarding addresses. So don’t blame me if it doesn’t reach you, Harry.

CV Sesha Iyer
Born: 1914
Died: 5th July 2006

It is curious that all the great moments you had with and the great things you’ve heard about a beloved person flashes in front of your eyes when you part ways with that person.

The great family tree spanning 17 generations that he had made and had memorised in his mind.
All the great stories he told me about the independence struggle in which he was a part of.
The time when he once fell down while crossing a creek with me on his shoulders as I was a kid.
The time when I once made him run from street to street because I wanted a lollipop and no other candy in the world.
The moments when my mom narrated the way he brought them up using only his wits when they were almost bankrupt.

My grandfather said goodbye to the mortal world after living a great 92 years. He was lucky that he breathed his last on the laps of his son.

I called my Grandma to console her, but it was me who broke down into tears.

Dear Grandpa, you may have bid adieu to the world. But you will remain in my memories till it’s time for me too to go. I will always remember you as the most indefatigable person I have ever known, and a doting grandfather.

I won’t weep now…I won’t ask you to rest in peace…because I know you won’t rest…I know you will be busy even when you are with God.

After all, for the prepared mind, death is but the next great adventure.

Well! This change in topic is partly because I want to break the monotony in the previous few posts. Better put, Republic day was the perfect alibi for me to change topic.

I started loving the Republic day right from my childhood, not mainly because of patriotism (Not that I’m not patriotic).
One reason was that it was a holiday.
Second and the main reason was that there was this republic day parade telecast live on TV. It was indeed a treat to see the soldiers marching to the tunes of the bands and tanks, missiles, helicopters and fighter planes zooming past.

The entire parade takes place in the main vista of the India Gate in New Delhi. India Gate was constructed to commemorate the Indian Soldiers who died in 1st World War and the Afghan Wars. The names of the soldiers who died in these wars are inscribed on the walls.

I always feel a surge of energy going through my nerves when I see this. I wanted to be a soldier. I had this desire in one corner of my mind, but never got the determination to be one.
First thing, I am not that healthy and muscular. They would chuck me out of the NDA the moment I enter.
Secondly, of course, my mother was absolutely against the concept of me being a soldier. “You are a brahmin”, she’d say, “You don’t have enough nerves to be a kshatriya (warrior)”.

Pondering on that, I doubt whether it were those vehicles of destruction which enthralled me. No. It was a different feeling. A feeling of pride on being born in my motherland. This Republic day was just a splinter which would rekindle the fire back to its grandeur.

Reminds me of the sanskrit adage

Janani Janmabhumischa Swargatapi Gariyasi

which means “Mother and Motherland are greater than heaven”

Love you mom…
Love you India….

I know it’s 11 hours past the New year eve now. Nevertheless I would like to wish all my fellow readers a very fantabulous 2006. May this year be the best in life for you.

At 0000 hrs on 1st Jan 2006, I was driving through MG Road after seeing my brother off at the train station. And I was awed by the crowd that had gathered there. The entire Brigade Road was closed for traffic to accomodate the crowd gathered to celebrate there. Pity… I missed that party.