Edit: It seems this blog format isn't big enough and the right edge is cut off a little. Please click here to watch it in YouTube. Fullscreen it!
All Hail, The SOD Sena is here.
Made in 2007 for Sod's Valfi.
Script and Direction: Kunal Pareek
Camera: Vanitha D'Silva
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Death
I dreamt of Death; she was an exquisite lady. And she said, "Give me your hand."Made in Adobe Illustrator CS3. Inspired from Sandman by Neil Gaiman.
Thursday, April 08, 2010
The Crow Had Two Socks (Storybuilding Part 1)
This is a story about Chaos 2006. Yes, really it is. Just a few days before Rylan fell into a ditch. Quite funny, so read on...
We were all chillin' n relaxin' at IIMA Chaos 2006. We'd already done Western Band, Rangoli, Wall Painting, JAM and a couple of others when we decided that we were clearly not participating in enough competitions. Looking down the list, we saw a certain fixture titled "Story Building, Team of 4".
We thought that it would be some kind of a creative writing competition and so we gathered up 4 troopers – Avinav, KP, Sumitken and me – we decided to enter this. We hunted for and found pens to write with and went up to CR3.
As we entered and sat, it dawned upon us that this was not indeed a creative writing competition. It was an impromptu speaking competition! Even as we struggled to shut our mouths at the realization, we were called up to speak extempore.
It went like this: They would read us a starting line; we would have to start speaking right away and complete the story, each person speaking for 30 seconds. At the end of 30 seconds, they would sound a clap and the next person would have to take over instantly.
Our starting line was: "A Crow Had Two Socks". And thus the story started with me speaking:
A Crow Had Two Socks, but he didn't know what to do with it. So, with his friend "Tripod", he went to the Himalayas to speak to the Wise Baba Moksha. Baba Mosksha uttered only a few syllables in Hindi: "Ka Mera, Ka Tera; (dramatically) Ka Mera, Ka Tera."
And suddenly Tripod had found his meaning in life: He had found Camera (pronounced Ka Mera)! Camera said her life was too unstable without Tripod and Tripod said he was nothing without Camera.
*clap* (Sumitken takes over)
The soon got married and decided to go on a long honeymoon. But alas! On the honeymoon, Camera was caught filming sex tapes!!! She commits suicide out of embarrassment and Tripod was left broken hearted. HE SOUGHT REVENGE ON THE WORLD for his misfortune.
To this end, he formed a boy band with his brothers: The three brothers Tripod, Dipod and iPod formed this boy band.
*clap* (Avinav's turn to speak)
They sang songs and became rich and famous and girls swooned over them, but that was never their plan because *all* boy bands are gay. He had failed at his revenge, so he quit the boy band...
He quit the boy band and consulted his father Apple. The wise old Apple scratched his Adam's apple and said, "de gur gur de nat de phat de gur de bhat."
*clap* (Now KP come forth)
Tripod did not understand. "de gur gur de nat de phat de gur de bhat."
Finally he understood. He went into the forest and found a deer and he caught it's tail and twisted it. Thus, there was a twist in the tale and Camera came back to life and they lived happily ever after!
THE END to applause!
Phew!.. Yeah that was the story we cooked up for Round 1. Someday I might pen down the later rounds as well, which were equally random.
Oh and did I mention that on the way back, Rylan was being awesome. Check him out if you haven't read it already.
Sayonara, see you in Round 2.
We were all chillin' n relaxin' at IIMA Chaos 2006. We'd already done Western Band, Rangoli, Wall Painting, JAM and a couple of others when we decided that we were clearly not participating in enough competitions. Looking down the list, we saw a certain fixture titled "Story Building, Team of 4".
We thought that it would be some kind of a creative writing competition and so we gathered up 4 troopers – Avinav, KP, Sumitken and me – we decided to enter this. We hunted for and found pens to write with and went up to CR3.
As we entered and sat, it dawned upon us that this was not indeed a creative writing competition. It was an impromptu speaking competition! Even as we struggled to shut our mouths at the realization, we were called up to speak extempore.
It went like this: They would read us a starting line; we would have to start speaking right away and complete the story, each person speaking for 30 seconds. At the end of 30 seconds, they would sound a clap and the next person would have to take over instantly.
Our starting line was: "A Crow Had Two Socks". And thus the story started with me speaking:
A Crow Had Two Socks, but he didn't know what to do with it. So, with his friend "Tripod", he went to the Himalayas to speak to the Wise Baba Moksha. Baba Mosksha uttered only a few syllables in Hindi: "Ka Mera, Ka Tera; (dramatically) Ka Mera, Ka Tera."
And suddenly Tripod had found his meaning in life: He had found Camera (pronounced Ka Mera)! Camera said her life was too unstable without Tripod and Tripod said he was nothing without Camera.
*clap* (Sumitken takes over)
The soon got married and decided to go on a long honeymoon. But alas! On the honeymoon, Camera was caught filming sex tapes!!! She commits suicide out of embarrassment and Tripod was left broken hearted. HE SOUGHT REVENGE ON THE WORLD for his misfortune.
To this end, he formed a boy band with his brothers: The three brothers Tripod, Dipod and iPod formed this boy band.
*clap* (Avinav's turn to speak)
They sang songs and became rich and famous and girls swooned over them, but that was never their plan because *all* boy bands are gay. He had failed at his revenge, so he quit the boy band...
He quit the boy band and consulted his father Apple. The wise old Apple scratched his Adam's apple and said, "de gur gur de nat de phat de gur de bhat."
*clap* (Now KP come forth)
Tripod did not understand. "de gur gur de nat de phat de gur de bhat."
Finally he understood. He went into the forest and found a deer and he caught it's tail and twisted it. Thus, there was a twist in the tale and Camera came back to life and they lived happily ever after!
THE END to applause!
Phew!.. Yeah that was the story we cooked up for Round 1. Someday I might pen down the later rounds as well, which were equally random.
Oh and did I mention that on the way back, Rylan was being awesome. Check him out if you haven't read it already.
Sayonara, see you in Round 2.
Friday, April 02, 2010
Brit Rock. Not Stonehenge.
I went for a concert. I (well technically Grishma) was on the list. We went there and said, "Grishma Rao + 2. We're on the list." And we were given instant access, no entry fee or anything.
I've always wanted to be one of those listey people. It feels nice. And it saves a buttload of cash too. Here are some photos.
Note: I was drinking Coke. Not Old Monk + Coke.
I've always wanted to be one of those listey people. It feels nice. And it saves a buttload of cash too. Here are some photos.
Note: I was drinking Coke. Not Old Monk + Coke.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
You Did What?
I was chatting with Rylan. It went something like this:
R: What's up?
S: I'm meeting gentle KP for dinner.
R: Gentle is he?
S: Yes, ever since he fell off that cliff, anything but the touch of finest silk causes him to groan in agony.
R: Gladly it seems someone has finally topped my ditch-falling. Is ol' Hurr-Durr in town?
S: No, he's in Pune.
R: You think he'd mind if we popped in at 3 AM for chai?
S: I'm sure he would, but I fail to see how that's a factor...
At 12:30 AM, we (Baccha, Rylan and I (Gentle KP had been invited too, but he is a boring twat now)) left Mumbai for Pune. Our mission: To knock on Krishna's hotel room and yell "Surprise!". It was sure to fry his brain.
Along with us was a wondrous choice of music – 2 CDs of Dire Straits, 1 of Santana and a CD of 40 shady pop songs from the 90's. The choice was unanimous and powered of such class acts as Hanson, All Saints and Five, we powered onwards, stopping only once at 2 AM for paanipuri at the roadside (FTW?! I know!).
One beautiful drive later, we arrived at the fair, albeit deserted, city of Pune. We knew not where to go and after driving around blindly for a while, spotted an individual on the roadside. As we skid to a stop near him, trying to ask him directions, he ordered us straight ahead. It occurred to us that he was highly interested in us leaving without delay. It also occurred to us that we had interrupted the man... uhm... midstream, so to speak. Ah, such are the things that happen on road trips.
So, straight we drove. We realized that in Pune, any two points can be reached by driving exactly straight. Atleast the directions given to us seemed to indicate so.
Once again, quite close to our destination, we knew not how to proceed. There was a hotel nearby called Brookside. Rylan and Baccha went up to the reception to ask for directions. Switching to Rylan's first person account: "It was deserted. There was this guy in the corner, fast asleep with his mouth open and drooling, his pants unbuttoned and his hands inside. Now how does one wake up such a man to ask for directions? Poking him and asking him for the next hotel somehow seemed wrong. We went back to the reception and clapped loudly whilst simultaneously turning away as if we had no idea of the source of said sound. The guya woke and took a minute to tuck himself back together before giving us instructions while sporting a massive look of disapproval. It is possible that we interrupted him in the midst of a very good dream."
3:30 AM. Finally we arrived at Krishna's hotel. Story: It's his birthday and we need to surprise him, so reception should not ring his room. Backup plan: If they insist on ringing, then we'd say to tell him that Sir Bulla-bhai had come to meet him :D
Reception did not indeed call his room and we stood outside ringing his bell in sets of 5 beats. There was no response from within and we heard the TV on, the inhabitant had fallen asleep whilst watching IPL apparently. Clearly we had reached our destination correctly.
About 100 rings later, finally Lord Ludi awoke and opened the door. "SURPRISE!". And oh man, the expression on his face was priceless. It was a mixture of disbelief, astonishment, round-eyed "WTF?" and speechlessness. We should have carried a camera.
So to answer the question in the title, we went on an impromptu midnight road trip and turned up at Krishna's hotel at 3:30 AM, thus successfully frying his brain and having a hell good time driving on the expressway. That is all. :)
R: What's up?
S: I'm meeting gentle KP for dinner.
R: Gentle is he?
S: Yes, ever since he fell off that cliff, anything but the touch of finest silk causes him to groan in agony.
R: Gladly it seems someone has finally topped my ditch-falling. Is ol' Hurr-Durr in town?
S: No, he's in Pune.
R: You think he'd mind if we popped in at 3 AM for chai?
S: I'm sure he would, but I fail to see how that's a factor...
At 12:30 AM, we (Baccha, Rylan and I (Gentle KP had been invited too, but he is a boring twat now)) left Mumbai for Pune. Our mission: To knock on Krishna's hotel room and yell "Surprise!". It was sure to fry his brain.
Along with us was a wondrous choice of music – 2 CDs of Dire Straits, 1 of Santana and a CD of 40 shady pop songs from the 90's. The choice was unanimous and powered of such class acts as Hanson, All Saints and Five, we powered onwards, stopping only once at 2 AM for paanipuri at the roadside (FTW?! I know!).
One beautiful drive later, we arrived at the fair, albeit deserted, city of Pune. We knew not where to go and after driving around blindly for a while, spotted an individual on the roadside. As we skid to a stop near him, trying to ask him directions, he ordered us straight ahead. It occurred to us that he was highly interested in us leaving without delay. It also occurred to us that we had interrupted the man... uhm... midstream, so to speak. Ah, such are the things that happen on road trips.
So, straight we drove. We realized that in Pune, any two points can be reached by driving exactly straight. Atleast the directions given to us seemed to indicate so.
Once again, quite close to our destination, we knew not how to proceed. There was a hotel nearby called Brookside. Rylan and Baccha went up to the reception to ask for directions. Switching to Rylan's first person account: "It was deserted. There was this guy in the corner, fast asleep with his mouth open and drooling, his pants unbuttoned and his hands inside. Now how does one wake up such a man to ask for directions? Poking him and asking him for the next hotel somehow seemed wrong. We went back to the reception and clapped loudly whilst simultaneously turning away as if we had no idea of the source of said sound. The guya woke and took a minute to tuck himself back together before giving us instructions while sporting a massive look of disapproval. It is possible that we interrupted him in the midst of a very good dream."
3:30 AM. Finally we arrived at Krishna's hotel. Story: It's his birthday and we need to surprise him, so reception should not ring his room. Backup plan: If they insist on ringing, then we'd say to tell him that Sir Bulla-bhai had come to meet him :D
Reception did not indeed call his room and we stood outside ringing his bell in sets of 5 beats. There was no response from within and we heard the TV on, the inhabitant had fallen asleep whilst watching IPL apparently. Clearly we had reached our destination correctly.
About 100 rings later, finally Lord Ludi awoke and opened the door. "SURPRISE!". And oh man, the expression on his face was priceless. It was a mixture of disbelief, astonishment, round-eyed "WTF?" and speechlessness. We should have carried a camera.
So to answer the question in the title, we went on an impromptu midnight road trip and turned up at Krishna's hotel at 3:30 AM, thus successfully frying his brain and having a hell good time driving on the expressway. That is all. :)
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Solar Flare in Ultraviolet
If you close your eyes and look directly at the Sun, this is what you see. In Ultraviolet.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
IPL Madness
Live IPL matches are amazing fun. We were 4 rows from the pitch and I danced and shouted all night long. Here is me (carrying sign). MI lost in the end, but by then I had switched loyalties :D ... also RC had better cheerleaders.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
His Majesty, Sir Kunal
I am the great, one and only, totally magnificent marvelous all round good guy. Yes, I am Sir Kunal.
The other day, I was at an office outing and rather enjoying myself, which is quite a feat. An air of tediousness is often found hanging about office outings, mainly a result of minions completely confused in the informal, yet officey environment.
But I ofcourse, had no such problems. I said what I thought and held back no words coated with uncertain sugar. I could freely speak my mind, for I am brave and unconcerned with appearances and also I had recently quit (the very same office job).
To prove my point, I walked up to one of the many vassals and called him a reproductive organ. Why? Because I could. Because that is who I am. Sir Kunal.
But the inevitable mundane conversation grew tiresome. Off I went exploring the hills and soon came to a group of giggling women at the bottom of a small, albeit vertical, cliff.
Women exist to be impressed by my awesome skillz. Thus, in a bid to perform said impressing, I challenged them to climb the cliff. This was all a part of my secret plan to get them to dare ME to climb the cliff. While wearing floaters. And slightly inebriated.
My secret plan succeeded.
"Poof," I said, with a touch of "I could do that with one hand tied behind my back". I accepted their challenge knowing that once I succeeded, they shall swoon all over me.
I took a few seconds to utter an wicked laugh to myself and wring my hands in an evil manner. Muahahahahahaha. Then to the climb.
And so I climbed. Up and up I went and before I knew it, I was 40 feet in the air. I could feel the aura of swooning-ness emanating from them chicks below. I could feel the earth and rocks in my face as I slowly turned to face the world from my awesome vantage spot. This is EPIC, I thought.
Yes, finally! I shall be king of all I survey! Off with their heads!
Alas! But unfortunately I underestimated my rivals. No doubt utterly jealous of my success, one of my competitors had hurled rocks at me from above in an effort to undermine my efforts. And the worst part is that he did triumph.
And down I fell to the ground, scraping and screaming all the way. "Crunch" was the sound I remember. Ouch. By a miracle, I had avoided becoming the Late Great Sir Kunal, but only by a miracle. Foiled by some confounded minions. How embarrassing.
The world then proceeded to go black as I was cooking up a rescue story (in which I was the hero) to tell the world, lest they accuse me of being an inept climber.
...
Cool story bro.
The other day, I was at an office outing and rather enjoying myself, which is quite a feat. An air of tediousness is often found hanging about office outings, mainly a result of minions completely confused in the informal, yet officey environment.
But I ofcourse, had no such problems. I said what I thought and held back no words coated with uncertain sugar. I could freely speak my mind, for I am brave and unconcerned with appearances and also I had recently quit (the very same office job).
To prove my point, I walked up to one of the many vassals and called him a reproductive organ. Why? Because I could. Because that is who I am. Sir Kunal.
But the inevitable mundane conversation grew tiresome. Off I went exploring the hills and soon came to a group of giggling women at the bottom of a small, albeit vertical, cliff.
Women exist to be impressed by my awesome skillz. Thus, in a bid to perform said impressing, I challenged them to climb the cliff. This was all a part of my secret plan to get them to dare ME to climb the cliff. While wearing floaters. And slightly inebriated.
My secret plan succeeded.
"Poof," I said, with a touch of "I could do that with one hand tied behind my back". I accepted their challenge knowing that once I succeeded, they shall swoon all over me.
I took a few seconds to utter an wicked laugh to myself and wring my hands in an evil manner. Muahahahahahaha. Then to the climb.
And so I climbed. Up and up I went and before I knew it, I was 40 feet in the air. I could feel the aura of swooning-ness emanating from them chicks below. I could feel the earth and rocks in my face as I slowly turned to face the world from my awesome vantage spot. This is EPIC, I thought.
Yes, finally! I shall be king of all I survey! Off with their heads!
Alas! But unfortunately I underestimated my rivals. No doubt utterly jealous of my success, one of my competitors had hurled rocks at me from above in an effort to undermine my efforts. And the worst part is that he did triumph.
And down I fell to the ground, scraping and screaming all the way. "Crunch" was the sound I remember. Ouch. By a miracle, I had avoided becoming the Late Great Sir Kunal, but only by a miracle. Foiled by some confounded minions. How embarrassing.
The world then proceeded to go black as I was cooking up a rescue story (in which I was the hero) to tell the world, lest they accuse me of being an inept climber.
...
Cool story bro.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Internet Deaddiction Camp
Okay, I finally admit it. I'm addicted to the Internet. I'm sitting here in a not-completely-uninteresting class writing this blog, which totally and completely (redundancy required) proves my point.
Luckily, just this week, internet and video game addiction was downgraded by the psychiatric-powers-that-be (in the US) from a nicotine-type addiction to a more benign "case of lack of self-control" (like gambling).
Redditing , YouTubeing (Yes, there is an "ei" in there) and social networking (even though I don't use Facebook!) is really taking up too much of my time and in the war of the real world vs. the anonymous one, there's too much of a rush in learning about new, fascinating, amazing (though sometimes disturbing) stuff about the world.
Till about a month back, it was quite under control and I actually did work a *lot* through December and January. But now that workload's trailed off, I've transitioned from "sit in front of comp 18 hours working" to "ditto-but not working".
So, I've decided to quit, almost-cold turkey. I begin this new week with an aim to get online time under control again. Thus, all online activities, including watching videos of any kind, shall be permissible only betweek 2 AM and 6 AM.
Basically, my love for sleep and my internet addiction can fight it out and in the end, I'll have time for everything in the real world, thus making me the winnah! :D
Okay, best of luck to me. Bye now.
Luckily, just this week, internet and video game addiction was downgraded by the psychiatric-powers-that-be (in the US) from a nicotine-type addiction to a more benign "case of lack of self-control" (like gambling).
Redditing , YouTubeing (Yes, there is an "ei" in there) and social networking (even though I don't use Facebook!) is really taking up too much of my time and in the war of the real world vs. the anonymous one, there's too much of a rush in learning about new, fascinating, amazing (though sometimes disturbing) stuff about the world.
Till about a month back, it was quite under control and I actually did work a *lot* through December and January. But now that workload's trailed off, I've transitioned from "sit in front of comp 18 hours working" to "ditto-but not working".
So, I've decided to quit, almost-cold turkey. I begin this new week with an aim to get online time under control again. Thus, all online activities, including watching videos of any kind, shall be permissible only betweek 2 AM and 6 AM.
Basically, my love for sleep and my internet addiction can fight it out and in the end, I'll have time for everything in the real world, thus making me the winnah! :D
Okay, best of luck to me. Bye now.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
All Is Full of Trips
I just spoke to His Majesty, the Lord Ludi Krishna Ramkumar to found out how KP is doing. Oh wait! Do you know what happened to KP? OMG you don't know? He fell off a cliff! Really!
I ain't joking he really did fall off a cliff! I mean... who does that?? So no he is all battered and bruised and lying in bed. Apparently he can hobble now, oh it won't be soon before he can actually walk. I'm sure he's secretly enjoying all the attention that has been bestowed upon him.
But anyhow I digress. I had called Krishna. Now Krishna has this astounding ability (bordering super-power) of never being where I think he his. Drawing on my vast repertoire of previous observations, my consideration set for his whereabouts included such locations as Pune, Bombay, Germany (you may think this does not happen often, but it is so) and Manipal.
He was at none of these locations. He was instead at Nagpur. Watching a cricket TEST match no less! I mean... who does that??
Anyhow, the point I was trying to make is essentially this: I hope that in the near future I have enough money and time to randomly hop off on trips whenever I fancy (which will probably turn out to be every weekend).
One of the great side effects of this is ofcourse that when people call me, I can say stuff like "Oh yeah, I'm in Leh. How's life?"
:)
I ain't joking he really did fall off a cliff! I mean... who does that?? So no he is all battered and bruised and lying in bed. Apparently he can hobble now, oh it won't be soon before he can actually walk. I'm sure he's secretly enjoying all the attention that has been bestowed upon him.
But anyhow I digress. I had called Krishna. Now Krishna has this astounding ability (bordering super-power) of never being where I think he his. Drawing on my vast repertoire of previous observations, my consideration set for his whereabouts included such locations as Pune, Bombay, Germany (you may think this does not happen often, but it is so) and Manipal.
He was at none of these locations. He was instead at Nagpur. Watching a cricket TEST match no less! I mean... who does that??
Anyhow, the point I was trying to make is essentially this: I hope that in the near future I have enough money and time to randomly hop off on trips whenever I fancy (which will probably turn out to be every weekend).
One of the great side effects of this is ofcourse that when people call me, I can say stuff like "Oh yeah, I'm in Leh. How's life?"
:)
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