OTG is back! Yet again! And etc.

Today in class OTG happened to sit to my left, and Timor to my right. We had an especially boring lecture, and thus were reduced to having to talk to each other. The following conversation was duly recorded.

OTG: So what do you do?
Me: I am in Computer Science.
OTG: Ok, the computer stuff. Ah so you write that..whats that called..
Me: *Wow! With new found respect....* Code. We design the different programs that you use.
OTG: So, can I call you the next time something goes wrong with my computer?
Me: *Ahem* Not, really. I might know what to do, but we aren't really taught that stuff. You will probably need to go to Best Buy.
OTG: Can you help me recover data from my crashed hard disk?
Me: *Ahem ahem* Not really. *Very cleverly.."* Its like asking the guy who designed your car to check your brakes.
OTG: Something.

Things might not have been great, but they weren't bad either. Then, attention shifted to Timor. The magic stroke came. (The word stroke here refers to wishing you would drop down dead.)

OTG : So, where are you from ?
Timor : Belarus
OTG : Which country is that in ?

I was tempted to say - 'Asia', but I just shut up.

Randomly associating, this reminds me of another time, when I had to speak about my country in, yes, French. I had just joined the exchange program, and there was a 2 week intensive French course to bring us all up to speed. So, towards the end of the course, when our vocabulary had kind of built up, we had to draw a map of our country and describe it. My friend Amit and I went on and on. Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Sikhs. Ganga, Yamuna, Sutlej, Cauvery. Himalayas, Eastern Ghats, Aravallis, Vindhyas. Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali. We had succeeded in putting everyone to sleep. Except for this very unhibited Brasilian couple that decided that they really couldn't wait till they got of class (the US is kind of stuck up that way). As someone or the other might have famously said, one never knows when inspiration strikes. There was a flash right there. What is India without the Kama Sutra! 'Poof', the entire class revived from the dead. Like water soaking up a dry sponge. Like oil sliding over, encompassing and lubricating a rusty metal joint. Questions were asked. References were requested. Dates and locations were demanded. Looking at this enthusiastic response, from a sense of public duty, we felt it responsible upon ourselves to offer some live demos, but *sigh* there were no takers :(.

Continuing this random association business, do you remember as a child when your mother used to buy you clothes that were a couple of sizes too big. You had to fold them up around your ankles so that the cloth didn't scrape against the floor. They used to look awkward, and like you couldn't afford decent clothes. You couldn't wait till you got taller and the clothes fit you properly. Do you also remember as a child when your uncle from the USA didn't get you that Columbia backpack that you always wanted? So, most embarrasingly, you were reduced to carting around your books stuffed in your paati's shopping bag. Well people, you need to be embarrased no more. Its all good. Its all high fashion. I don't know what the first trend is called. The second thing is the Man bag. Much of my inadvertant interest in this topic was spurred by this guy I hung out in Chicago with. I shall call him Jean the Jean Man. (The first Jean should be prononced in French, and the second in English. All for a purpose.) From a distance of 25 metres he could identify the brand name, styling and cost of any pair of jeans. Based on this data, further identification of individuals was made as 'cheapo', 'just pass' and 'high maintanence'.

On a more serious note. How many of you know about the Kaavya Viswanathan scandal?

• She is a 19 year old sophomore at Harvard who published her own book at 18.
• Now, she is in hot water because a number of paragraphs in her book have been found to be suspiciouly similar to the writing of Megan McCafferty, an ex editor of Cosmopolitan.

I feel pretty bad for her. Firstly, at 19, she is hardly old enough to handle the kind of publicity that she has been getting. Putting it in a manner that many of my co-bloggers can identify with, she is being 'trolled' by the entire nation. For the next how many ever years she has to live with being 'that' person. Secondly, if she is smart enough to get into Harvard, she is definitely smart enough to realize that copying material will get her into trouble. More generiously, I am sure she is talented enough to not have to rip off other people. I can imagine how it might have happened though. If I were a 19 year old guitarist, I would try to imitate the chords of say Eric Clapton or Steve Vai or whoever. I wouldn't think twice before incorporating them into a song of my own. How could I even imagine that its going to be playing on the radio, and Clapton is going to hear it and sue me? Also, the insane competitiveness of her existence probably pushes her to do such things. Thirdly, she is of Indian origin and Tam Brahm :). I support all people of Indian origin who are doing well for themselves. Further, I doubly support Tam Brahms of Indian origin who are doing well for themselves :).

On a happier note, Pramod Mahajan was shot by his own brother. As they say, weeding out corruption starts at home, and what could be a better way to go about it. If only all the kith and kin of politicians would take the inititative and pump some lead between their misguided relative's heads. Misa Bharati do you hear me? Sudhakaran can you hear me? All you people out there who have politicians for relatives, you know what to do.