Friday, July 3, 2009

It indeed is puzzling!!!

To begin with, 18 jigsaw enthusiasts of Adobe had managed to make way into the Limca Book of Records last year by solving the largest puzzle in the world (comprising 24k pieces) in the fastest clock time. I was a part of the team and was fortunate to be part of another record in itself (I say this because am not sure if our work shall be put in any record book this time) - assembling a 25K puzzle.
Now, I would put the former as more challenging than the latter for a handful of reasons, namely:
1. We were working on 6000 pieces at a time in the former.
2. We were working 24X7.
3. And we were only 18 (not that 18 isn't a large number)
Anyhow. As the blog progresses, probably some of my opinions may be reversed, but that's fine by me. :-)

Day One: The day starts with a long traffic jam right outside my house and the root of the entire delay is a ridiculously positioned bus that broke down at an angle of 45deg at the U-turn. You just had to be there to be laughing your *** off while getting totally irritated. Anyhow, Adi sir and I reached the venue at somewhere around 10.45ish and thankfully Royce and his daughter had not arrived by then.
(FYI: Royce is the guy who made the world's largest puzzle - LIFE)

So, we're given awesome tees to wear through-out the event. We've already made a lot of fun about the same and so, I am a little reluctant to write anything about it. I do, however, have samples to show you:





















Only God knows what we are cleaning!!! :-)

Btw, we have a walk-in buffet there as well where we obviously are to eat.. :-)

Coming to puzzle solving point:-

In order to determine the strategy to be used while solving the entire puzzle, we decided that each person solves a section of 90 pieces by him/herself and then depending on the time taken, we could either:
- Proceed in the same manner
OR
- mix the contents of "n" number of cells. (spoken like a true engineer/IT person)

Now, let me tell you, I thouroughly enjoyed solving the 180 pieces thing that was given to me. It felt awesome. And the best part was that I remembered solving these sections when we solved LIFE and when we were solving the puzzle online. Some pics of the section during the section solving session:






































And obviously, that's me with some of the blocks that we solved.

I don't have all the pics of the day with me right now so, you'd have to make do with these few only. I'd update this space with more pics as soon as I get them.

So, moving forward. This strategy turned out to be awesome. Within an hour we were done with 40 of the 200 cells that need to be completed. And so change of plans.

We now mixed the pieces of the different cells and then started working, This increased the difficulty level for the simple reason that we now had to work with edges of not one block but with edges of each of the individual cells. But, we lived upto the challenge and completed the section without any problem. I don't really want to delve into the details of the jigsaw strategy and solving and so am just touching upon those as a mere formality. Don't worry if you don't understand whatever I am saying - you could probably walk in to Select City Walk and I could show you the beauty.

Some more pics of the entire day's ordeal:























































I would be working in office for most part of Saturday and so, won't have details about day two. Shall try to be there and will update about the day. :-)

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Daddy's roads..

A perfect and logical explanation for all the traffic jams in India.. ;-)

\Toon\

Thursday, June 25, 2009

I'm real EVIL..

Beware of my Evil Plan!!

Objective is simple: Soul Accumulation.

The motive is a little bit more complex: Love (Yes, it works)

Stage One - To begin my plan, I must first blackmail a news reporter. This will cause the world to swallow nervously, stunned by me. Who is this criminal mastermind? Where did she come from? And why does she look so good in classic black?

Stage Two - Next, steal new york. This will all be done from a medieval castle, a mysterious place of unrivaled dark glory. Upon seeing this, the world will faint, as countless hordes of classic thugs hasten to do my every bidding.

Stage Three - Finally, I must reveal to the world my thermonuclear missiles, bringing about the apocalypse. My name shall become synonymous with fear, and no man will ever again dare cross me. Everyone will bow before my supreme might, and the world will have no choice but to elect me dictator for life.

Don't worry.. I haven't gone crazy. This was a by-product of a random site I was browsing through and decided to publish the results.

Just in case you wanna check it out, here's the link - http://www.darksites.com/evilplan.php.

Monday, May 25, 2009

The Sleeping Beauty - Ballet..

I had the tickets. I was overly excited. I was having an awesome day. And it was the perfect end - The ballet performance. Yesterday, I was gaping wildly at the pretty-pretty fairy tale like costumes, vividly vibrant sets and humongously talented artists. I was at the IFBC's Sleeping BeautyBallet performance and loved every bit of the I-don't-remember-how-many-hours-spent day.

This was the third act - The Wedding of Princess Aurora and Prince Desire wherein the guests were fairy tale characters like Puss In Boots, Red Riding Hood, Princess Florine etc, who were paying their respects to the couple.
(The pics aren't too good as I clicked these from my cell phone where needless to say, the power of zoom ain't too good. Pardon me.. )
However, something is better than nothing and so to say, I have the perfect pics. In any case, the pic above shows all the couples that are present before the lovely royal couple - King Florestan and Queen Margarete, seated to the right.
The characters standing in the diagnol include The Bluebird and Princess Florine, in blue (obviously) followed by the precious jewels. The third couple standing in the diagnol is The Red Riding Hood with her Evil wolf, who are adjacent to the Cat couple (which I totally adored).

I loved the costumes which made the characters come out alive. Personally, Puss in boots and The White Cat were the cutest couple with the white cat making awesome hand movements to her furry ears imitating the "purr"fect meowwww. They played along really well (so to say..) :-)

However, apart from the finale of "Prince Desire and Princess Aurora", I especially loved the performance of the Blue bird and Princess Florine. Their performance was beautiful. And I have pics to prove it as well.


These guys were awesome on the stage and I was particularly swooned by the manner in which the Princess Florine performed. Was magical. Another pic to add..



As expected, the finale where the Prince Desire and Princess Aurora took the stage was purely white magic. Their steps were perfectly in sync. There were awesome lifts (everyone defied gravity as though it never existed) and there were the perfect transitions.
I guess I don't really need to say the obvious, but still, for record sake - I loved it.

PS. The next time there's an opportunity to see another of their acts, don't be surprised to find me in the audi.. :-)

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

A windy day yesterday...

As I sit in office, I somehow remember the famous Beatles song - "You've got to hide your love away".. and guess what! - the song was written as a reference to the Beatles manager who was homosexual.. eeps.. and I thought the song had a totally different connotation to it.. :-)

Anyway, I was out to describe my windy day experience of yesterday. Gosh! The wind was blowing at no less than 30 nautical miles per hour.. (sry for the exaggeration). I actually was unable to walk straight through out. Top it all, there were trees falling on the roads and tin roof-tops toppling next to where I was standing. The experience was mind boggling if not interesting.
Now, not only did the winds help in bringing some kind of relief from the heat but they also helped in getting a lot of dust particles all around. I literally had an outer layer of dust over me.

All in all.. a day I shall remember forever.. :-)

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Tryst with Pictionary...

On a very lazy Saturday, when my best friend (lets call him Piyush..;-) ) and I have nothing better to do than drive 40 kms to a mall and then realize its too hot outside to be going crazy on roller-coaster rides and its much safer watching a trivial movie, we end the day on a crazier note - playing "pictionary" outside the mall entrance (well, not too crazy for some).
Now, as soon as the brilliant idea struck, we realized that there's no stationary and so, the entire ordeal of climbing the stairs of escalators (which by the grace of Murphy's laws were powered off on the side we had to climb!! conspiracy!!)
Anyhow, we managed to reach our faviorite book-place and after finicking over the post-its and pens (which I seem to have lost and since I break this news on my blog, I shall definitly be punished.. ) for 15 mins, finally managed to buy one pair.. One hurdle crossed!
I skip the entire escalator powered off - walking down path cos it doesn't really hurt climbing down stairs.. ;-)
Anyway, now the interesting part : The game in itself.. :-)
So, the first movie was for me... and it started with...
- Its a one letter movie and the first visual clue would depict only a part of it...



Me - A guy, man, ladka, aadmi ...
Piyush - Frantically waving his hand ... signaling me to stop all the blabbering... and with artful strokes of the pen, draws the next clue.. :P



Okay.. my chance to blabber away to glory again..

Me - Police, theif, gun, bullets, goli, kill, victim...
Piyush - Again the hand is waved frantically and the look that he displayed - "God! Cant this girl appreciate art!!"

Time for new clues...



Me - What is this supposed to mean!!
Piyush - Forget it!!!!

Now...time for the finale...



This one did it all..

Me- Hands up!.. Surrender.. SERENDIPITY!!!!
Piyush - Finally!!! :-)

We shall now on change the rules of the game... the game shall be timed and I shall be putting up the times as well.. especially cos Piyush has a chronograph.. (and I love pulling his leg abt it by calling it a chrome-powered battery watch.. and him getting all - girl u have no idea how cool a watch this is look/speech)
Now, in case any one else wants to play, lemme know... I need to practice...

Friday, April 10, 2009

This one's for you - Bhavya...

Now, I must admit that this dedicating-a-post-on-a-special-occasion kind of post is a very Bhavya thing to do and so, one for her on her last day in the Adobe 4th floor arena is a must.

Beginning from the very beginning, she was one of the few people I was introduced to when I joined and ever since we've been real good friends. She has an amazing regularity/punctuality when it comes to going to the gym. Gawdd..she is one bag of inspiration when it comes to loosing weight..I have seen her going down 4 sizes atleast in the last 2 years.. and top of that, her lunch plate every single day comprises only veggies and dals... (on some occassional days you'd manage to see a piece of dessert in it.. but those are seriously very rare..).
Not to forget, she is one helluva bold person - mess with her and you've had it.. Her poking techniques (am sure Abhinav shall miss those) are truly unique and to add to it, say anything to her, she blushes. She can literally turn a shade of pink in less than 2 seconds. And now it seems as though this post is turning into a testimonial, but who cares!!
Oh, and there was this one time when she came to my cubicle very sleepily.. (this was on a day when we all were staying back in office and that too not for work-related reasons and I presume Bhavya was in a bad mood or was really tired or for some different reason altogether ) and sat on a vacant chair and hugged the teddy bear that was kept in my cube and slept off for some time. I shall always remember that scene.. :)
Another very interesting feature of this babe is her awesome bowling style. For details and visual appreciation, I have attached the video below. This is not exactly her style but very close to it...


She is one person, who would not get offended when someone jokes around with her. On occasions when she is called "Dabbo" or "Hidumba" or what not by the one and only Akash, she would yet again blush and her cheeks would get to the color of the ball that she is holding in the video above. And well yes, she writes really well - her blog says it all.
Oh well, once upon a time, she sang the so-called 'bhajan' - Bol na halke halke.. frm Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.. and Ashish and Hemant started clapping in the typical bhajan manner... a sight to remember..
And now that she is all set to walk into a new phase, the excitement in her is awesomely evident. The amazingly girly talks that we've been having for the past few months ever since her marriage has been fixed, the talks about clothes, jwellery et al shall form fond memories.

Anyways, at the end of it all, all that I would like to say to her is that everyday as I walk to my cubicle and dont see you wandering in the lobby with the phone in your hand, I or rather we all shall miss you a lot...
with loadsss of love and luck..
hope you enjoy the new phase of your life to the fullest...
muaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh...

PS. I guess this would be one of the longest posts in my blog!!! Bhavya, all thanks to you..

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

5 consecutive days... 5 marriage-related-function days...

Now that I am through with the 5 days of shaadi attendances and appearances, I am left with:
- pink toenails
- a hoarse voice
- a new hair cut
- mehendi on my hands
- a bandaged foot
- 11 dozen bangles (I started off with the same number!!)
- a broken heel (of my shoe)

and yeah.. innumerable memories...

I cant really describe any of the days in full detail right now and so all that I'd say is that - enjoyed every bit of it... :-)

Saturday, January 31, 2009

The Moment of Truth

Last week, I was watching the serial - "The Moment of truth" and man!, you need balls of steel to be sitting on the hot spot. Grueling questions or should I say answers to those questions and to make it all the more worse - you have to face your friends and family right there while you answer.
For those of you who haven't had the opportunity of seeing the show, I'l draw a snapshot.

There is one victim (read the contestant!) and he is asked questions which he simply has to answer in a yes or no. Sounds simple, yeah it does until you get to know that prior to the show, the contestant goes through a polygraph test wherein he is asked some qsns and the results of the polygraph tests are not told to the contestant. Then on the show, the same qsns are repeated and if the contestant answers these correctly (as determined by the polygraph), the contestant keeps winning!. Simple enough but now comes the interesting part - the questions...

A few qsns that I remember from the show:-
1. Have you ever stolen money from a sub-ordinate?
2. Have you prolonged having kids with your wife cos you were not sure that you love her?
3. Have you ever smuggled anything into the country?

And to all those questions, the contestants had answered a "YES"!

The guy who was asked the second question had his wife sitting in front of him when he answered. Imagine the plight! The wife was asked whether she would like him to continue playing or quit and all that she said - "I want to know more"..

Its strange but true - a person would rather let out his true feelings when he shall be rewarded monetarily than when he is not. Whats the use of all the money when ur own wife shall not want to be with you.. (oh well... u never know - maybe he actually did not want to be with her.. and that shall be another story altogether).

I was just a little taken aback when I saw the entire episode. For me, I'd rather do something that I'd be proud of. I would definitly want to sit on that hot seat one fine day and say a NO to all those qsns (though am sure then that episode would not be aired as there would be no gossip.. at all ) but to me - spice is not always the spice of life!!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Nursery Rhymes

I am with my cousins these days and have full access to all the textbooks of the first standard and am enjoying those. It refreshes your memory and brings back all the nostalgia... (aahhh...an awesome feeling). The best thing - you know everything!! (A feeling that does not come to me always ;) )
Coming to the point, I have always loved nursery rhymes/fairy tales and right now, I got to read so many of them...and my all time favourite:-

Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened the birds began to sing,
Oh wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?
The king was in his counting house counting out his money,
The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey
The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,
When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose!

I used to sing this rhyme a lot when I was a little girl and made sure my bro also knew each its words by heart - though am sure he doesn't remember any of it now!!! Yesterday, while I was repeating this in a loop, my grandmom also started humming the same. I was astonished - and the first thing I said with a surprised look on my face - "Aap ko bhi yeh aata hai??" (translated - "You also know this one??" ). Its such a legacy and somehow gets imprinted into the memory and imagine retrieving it after some 70 years.. truly amazing!! I hope I am able to do the same after such a long time as well...
Anyway, now I gtg.. loads of work pending...

PS - I really want to know if you haven't heard this rhyme before reading this piece.. do drop in a comment if u haven't :)

Friday, January 2, 2009

Crazy Funky Junky hat...

No na na no no no... I do not have a hat-fetish all of a sudden. Before reading this post, have a look at this video and pour in the comments..
Its a small dance sequence performed by 2 young girls - Alex and Harper (presumably best friends) of Wizards of Waverly Place fame, who start this cute thing as soon as they spot anyone wearing a "hat". So, the next time you see a hat... start the same!!!
The lyrics:-

What's that a hat
Crazy funky junky hat
Overslept hair unslightly
Tryin ta look like Keira Knightley
We've been there weve done that
We see right through your funky hat

Well, according to me, its a very cute and teen thing to do and so blogged it in here... hope you like the video..

For details, you can watch the program - Wizards of Waverly Place which is aired on Disney Channel, Mondays to Fridays sometime after 8 o clock.. (I cant seem to remember the times of shows...)

PS - Holidays are the best thing especially if you can watch all such stuff...