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L

TGTR is a youth magazine aimed at providing good solid content written primarilyby students and young proessionals on a diverse and relevant range o topics, and

presented in a simple and humorous manner. Unlike other magazines LTGTR providesa rereshing blend o high quality literature and socially relevant articles which are blatantlyhonest. The content is neither journalistic nor bookish; rather you shall nd it invigoratingand stimulating in an otherwise monotonous world. We dont just present acts; we provideopinions and let you choose the ones you like.

LTGTR is not a campus magazine. It transcends beyond the boundaries o our college anddelves into the psyche o Indian youth. It is an endeavor to provide a common ground orpeople to express their own ideas and opinions. It is an opportunity or people like meand you to nd like other minded individuals in a world where even Facebook and Twitter

havent been able to reduce our loneliness. Finally it is an attempt to bring back a culture oreading and writing and prove to you that these things are or the masses and not just orthe elite.

In a triggerhappy world, in an age where the media is known to sensationalize everything,in a culture where making money is the only truth, LTGTR is an attempt to bring real

journalism and writing. It draws on the ideas o the French revolution Liberte, Egalite,Fraternite and combines it with inspiration rom young revolutionaries who used writingas a way to mobilize the masses. In a world where broken hearts, unullled expectations

and death orm a major chunk o our thoughts, LTGTR is at attempt to break away and ndmeaning in lie.

So I can go ahead and without any regrets state, LTGTR is a not just a magazine, it is amovement o the people. It is a revolution, o sorts, aimed at bringing out the rebels in us,getting them to ask the right questions and nd the right answers.

Finally it is meant to keep you happy and entertain you. It is meant to keep the good times

rolling.

Us

We dont need NO education

http://www.scribd.com/sahil_mehta_4http://ltgtrblog.blogspot.com/http://www.facebook.com/index.php?lh=5e967c5b7286a6b70a06e777ac64d359&eu=qrbmc1nSwQQhK_UxlQpdxw#!/pages/Let-The-Good-Times-Roll/149199748443037

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Lets pause or a moment. I know were

all in a rush to get back to some liechanging event or the other, but still,

just take a breath. Hold it. Take a look aroundyou, observe the world. Another year haspassed. Do you see any change rom lastyear? Did you even pay attention to whathappened this year? I you didnt then this isthe perect time to do so.

Personally, Ive probably never had a more

interesting year. I say interesting, not goodor bad, because I am ar too short sightedto understand the consequences o mydeeds in these past 365 days. Yet I can saywith certainty that this year has had atleast 2 lie changing events or me. Butenough about me and you. What aboutIndia, what about the world? How has theworld ared this year? When 2010 started

India was one the astest countries out othe block post the global meltdown. Weseemed ready to break through the speedbarrier in terms o growth. We were poised

KeepTheFlameBurningSAHIL MEHTA

to showcase the magnicent rise o Indian

economy and our strong values and traditionsat the Commonwealth Games. Did we? Everyyear in the budget, the government makesbold statements about how we are going toachieve phenomenal growth rates and howthey will bring prosperity to the people. Thenwhy is it that the number o kids beggingon the streets has increased? Why is it, thatthere is more crime in this country than ever

beore? Why is it, that kids are more stressedabout their utures and careers than at anyother point o Indian history? This year sawboth great triumphs and great shame, butthen why is the only thing in the minds o theIndian public Sheila and Munni?

I recall now a conversation, nay, argumentor discussion i youd like, that our o us teamLTGTR people had. We had actually assembled

in the middle o our exams to discuss thetheme and outlay or this issue. And to writean awesome jobless column, o course. Whatamazed me is that we eventually came up

theeditorial

THE EDITORIAL

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with very little on the issue but went on tohave a 3 hour discussion on the challengesthat India aced and how there seemed to beno solution to most o them. As Vakul summedit up later, we could have gone on or ages andnot reached a conclusion.

Well I have reached a conclusion now. I canalready sense the skepticism in you. You dontreally want to believe that some 20 year oldcould have a solution or so many interlinkedand diverse problems. You argue to yourselthat when so many governments, scientistsand economists have not managed to makeas much as a dent to the shell o poverty thatenguls India, anything this boy suggests willbe nothing short o preposterous, or evenworse, it will be some misplaced idealism othe 19th century. Us kids, we dont understandanything about how the real world works, dowe?

Well, you might be partially right. I probablydont know how the real world works. Andyes my solution is not ground breaking. Itsnothing that you dont already know. But

maybe the ault lies with you. Maybe youvestarted to see the world in such a way that yousimply accept what is. Things will not changeby your constantly criticizing , blaming andswearing at the people responsible and thenshrugging o your shoulders to ulll yourdomestic obligations. I know not a lot o olderpeople read this magazine, but my question isto those ew who do, Whoever told you thatgiving up is maturity?

And thats exactly my solution too. Lets notgive up on our country, on this world, and onourselves just yet. Who says we cant changethings? I could recite thousands o exampleso people like Gandhi, Mandela, Martin LutherKing, Muhammad Yunus and Mother Teresawho have all single handedly changed thecourse o history. Okay, youre not one o these

great visionaries, but you surely can be one othe millions that stood with these people. Byarguing that you wont do anything becauseyou cant change anything on your own, you

insult the millions o people who have stoodup or things they believed in.

One vote cant elect an honest politician, butit will encourage him. Shows him that thereis some support and that next time he mightwin. Standing up to a corrupt policeman may

send you to jail, but it will inspire so manymore to join you. Trying to nd a solution mayrustrate you, but it will give our country somuch hope. I am one o this generation. Ivegrown up reading all these idealistic stories intext books only to see all my elders do exactlythe opposite. Ive grown up seeing peopleignore their conscience under the pretense opracticality. But no more. This stops now.

I may not be able to make a big dierence inthis world, but Im happy making a small oneno matter how much eort it takes. That iswhat we endeavour to do at LTGTR. And i abunch o young jobless college students cannd it in their hearts to have hope, Im sure youcan too.Yes, doing small things individuallymay not have the desired impact. But notdoing anything because no one else is doing

anything about it is simply cowardice.I cannotguarantee that we will have a theme or eachissue o LTGTR, but I can promise you this thisyear we will ocus on nding solutions ratherthan blatantly pointing out our problems andcriticising the ones responsible. Optimismshall prevade every issue.

2010 has been a year o ups and downs,both personally and otherwise. But the one

thing Ive learnt is to keep my head up high.2011 will not be a year when LTGTR simplydocuments history. This year we write historywith our own actions. There comes a time inevery civilization when there is a drastic needor action. I do not claim that we have reachedthere yet but there is no point in waiting orthat time to come. This year we work or thegreater good.

.....................................................................................This year we keep the ameburning in our hearts.

theeditorial

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My riend Sahil has given you people something to think about hasnt he, wellall these problems are way over my head and I choose to ignore most o them.Doesnt stop me rom cribbing about them once in a while, but ya most o the

time I dont really care. So well to stay consistent with my character I shall skip all the talkabout responsibilityetc. etc., and get down to business. What I really want to talk about isthe metamorphosis o LTGTR. LTGTR started o sometime in March to hell with the exactdate by Sahil, Iyer and Rajat. Ater three issues they dumped the plan and got on with lie.Well, that would have been the end o it i Iyer hadnt insisted on restarting the whole thingagain. Sigh! I thank the Gods or that, saved me rom some serious boredom last sem

Anyway the restart was a very small aair, the team was just a six riends. The rst twoissues saw just the six o us writing, also we ripped o a ew blogs Mind you we did takethe authors permission :P. Things have surely gotten better since then, we have a properteam working on each issue now. We are slowly trying to introduce more regular columns.The book review and the character personas have been our most consistent columns. HereI would like to request anyone who wants to author a column to please approach us withhis/her idea. Well I could go on and on but lets end it here. LTGTR is ar rom perect. Andperection is what we are looking or. So all I ask is please read, comment, criticize andcontribute.

Vakul Mohanty

P.S. Wish all the people out there a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Foreword

The following page consists of

vital informaon. Please readbefore connuing further.

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Ater coming out with 8 issues we eel that this is a good time to introduce some o the peopleinvolved in starting and bringing out LTGTR. This list is in no way exhaustive and there have beenmany good Samaritans who have helped us along the way. For now we shall just mention the most

promiment contributors.

PS While all o these people are students o the same college, its only because we had a common base.Were always on the lookout or interested people who wish to be a part o this endeavour o ours. We donot discriminate on the basis o whether you are jobless or not :P

VAKUL MOHANTY Okay, now Vakul joined us rom the third issue onwards. Hisjoining was a lucky accident or LTGTR since he has gone on to become the mainstay o

the magazine. Vakul exhibits in many ways a range and versatility which has become

the mark o our generation, a generation in transit. A hard core metal head, he can

discuss social causes and sports with the same ease. What strikes me most about Vakul

is the no- nonsense approach he takes towards lie. FYI he plans to take up research

as a career :-O. He also believed in social service, till a little incident happened. Help us

bring him back to the light :PKARTHEIK GANESH IYER What do I say about him? Widelyknown in the world as The Potato, this boy is a true eccentric genius. Our design

expert, he is our answer to all the ashion labels o the world. Gited with an eye or

making things look awesome, lled with creativity and possessing a barely matched

air or writing, the potato is seriously one o the most talented people Ive come

across. I rebirth does happen, then he is Leonardo DaVinci reborn or sure. He hasnt

been able to showcase the best o his abilities yet but the day this boys mood stops

ollowing the lunar pattern, he will change the world.

VIJAY NARAYAN Probably the most grammatically correct o us all, Vijay has also

been a part o LTGTR right rom the start. Vijay combines sensibility with a playulnessthat makes sure that he is never boring. As a matter o act I donno i Ive had more

laughs with anyone else. As or his writing, he writes straight rom the heart and does

not disguise his eeling. Over the time Ive known him Ive seen his writing style evolve

and his versatility increase maniold times. An avid lover o music, he has probably

listened to most English numbers. Oh! Dont get him started on Raael Nadal, he has

a PhD there. :P

RAJAT KUMAR MISHRA Many o the readers outside campus might not know himbecause his name appears rarely inside the magazine but there will be very ew inside

the campus who would not know him. He is our People Guy. I havent yet met a person

who doesnt like Rajat. One o the most sincere and hard working people on the team, healso does what no one else on the team can; talk to people. Very, very high on the socially

concerned scale, he also writes beautiul Hindi poetry. I only he stopped whining. Ah

well! We cant have everything now can we. :P

The People Who Make UpTeamLTGTR

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SHRUTHI VISHWANATH Alright, this girl is pushy, really pushy, but in a good way. Manyo the things weve tried are thanks to her pushing us. While the scope o her interests is

wide, nothing occupies a bigger place in her lie than music and in particular Classical

Carnatic music. Having trained or many, many years she is now on the verge o breaking

into the music scene in Chennai. We believe its only a matter o time. Trust me, her voice

will blow you away.

PRADEEP DAMODARA This dooodh, as he pronounces it, is our latest member. I am

not sure i Im the most qualied person to describe him, but what the hell. This dude is arock-star all the way. He plays the guitar and the girls go all gaga. Yeah, another music

lover. Common thread huh! Anyways, apart rom music, he also has this uncanny knack

o saying something really unny right out o the blue. Again a very talented writer, he has

this amazing particular style o talking which is really inectious. Oh, did I mention, he is a

ladies man. :P

HASITA KRISHNA They say looks can be deceiving and with Hasita,I couldnt agree more. To an outsider, her traditionally good looking ace, the elegant and

sophisticated dressing sense and the sober expressions that usually rest on her ace will

probably give the impression o a quiet, serious person. But boy she can be chirpy when she

wants to. As a writer, her command over the language is quite extraordinary. The best partthough is how personal her articles seem. It adds an extra dimension to her work. Now i

only we could gure out what goes on in her head. :P

SUKANYA VENKATARAMAN The youngest o the lot but certainly among the mostsignicant contributors. She is what I think the contemporary woman aspires to be;

someone who can seamlessly integrate her traditional Tamilian roots with modern

ideology. Always vibrant, always enthusiastic and always ready to take up a challenge, that

is how Ill describe Sukanya. The most vocierous reader, she is the uture o this magazine.

Only downside, she likes Liverpool :P

SANKALP SINGAYAPALLAY It was a real coup getting this guy on board. Rated bymost people on the team as the best writer, Sankalp has the ability to churn out antasticworks o ction one ater the other. The ease with which he puts himsel in the shoes o

the protagonist and his attention to detail are striking eatures o his work. As a person, I

havent had much chance to know him well. But what I have learnt is that do not take him

at ace value. While oten appearing indiferent to things, he really does care about certain

things.

SAYONEE GHOSH ROY Last but not the least by any means, Sayonee is probably thequietest person in the meetings and completely diferent when she gets down to writing

stuf. In the little time Ive known her, I ound her to be a very sensible person who gives

her opinion where it matters. A very descriptive writer, she came up with the column In A

Characters Persona and has been carrying the column since then. Another thing which Ijust realized is how punctual she is. Only complain, too quiet during the meetings, but then

again someone has to act sensible :P

So these are the people who make up Team LTGTR. There are many other who have helped us with variousthings, but I shall not name them here or ear o missing out someone. But let there be no doubts, weappreciate their contributions no less.

And who am I? Im just an ordinary Joe, who works with these awesome people, laughs a lot in theirmeetings and at the same time is doing whatever lil bit he can to make a dierence to the world. I couldbe anybody, I could be you!

Till the next issue, adios amigos and hasta la vista baby!Signing o,

John Doe

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ContentsTHE NEW YEAR DETOX -Vidya RamamooRthyTHE LITTLE THINGS - Sukanya VenkataRaman

WHATS YOUR RESOLUTION? - edocSil

KENNY MCCORMICK - Sayonee GhoSh Roy

Band ReView - PINK FLOYD - pRadeepdamodaRaHITTING ROCK BOTTOM - ShRutiShyam

BEATRICE AND VIRGIL - Sukanya

ONE OF INDIAS BILLION - RajatkumaRmiShRa

INDECISION-ISH - pRadeepdamodaRaDUDE, SERIOUSLY? - VijaynaRayan

LOOKING FORWARD - SoundaRyaSuBudhi

THE FIRST PLATFORM - SankalpSinGayapallay

ICIDE- kaRtheikGaneShiyeR

ON FASHION, GLAM AND

EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS - haSita

Band coVeR -ALMOST SEPTEMBER - infeRniuS

BEST OF FBphotofeatuRe - thinGSwewantchanGedin 2011

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No, this isnt something I read in the latestissue o Femina. Its just a small DIY projectI thought Id share with you in time or theonset o the big two oh one one.

The merriment o Christmas and New Years Eveis now behind you. Pictures o the various partiesyou attended have been stored, shared and likedonline or the whole world and its cousin to see,

and the countless chocolates you received havebeen tucked saely away in the ridge to be secretlycalled upon the day you begin your diet.

The bonhomie that maniests itsel around thisseason tends to give way to a bit o soul searching.Every New Year is a chance or us to redeemourselves, wipe the slate clean, and make a reshstart.

The New Year detox is your riend.

TASK #1: ERASE.Stop living in the past. Let bygones be bygones

and dont hold on to past grudges because theonly thing they bring you is an excess o emotionalbaggage.

Travel light.

TASK #2: BE YOUR OWN SIMON.

I remember reading somewhere about how We alllike Paula on American Idol. I you didnt sing that

well, shed tell you what a antastic stage presenceyou have and that you could always score nextweek.

Were all like that sometimes. We are quick tooverlook our own mistakes and gratiy ourselveswith lots o tiny little ego boosts. Sometimesthese gestures get in the way o actual characterdevelopment.

Be a good critic admit you have aws out loud.That done, do everything in your power to work onthem.

TASK #3: MAKE A BUCKET LIST.

Dream, and dream big. How oten have we read

that the only ones who actually change the worldare the ones that are crazy enough to think thatthey can?

I youve always wanted to:

Spend a whole day walking on a nature trail onyour own or

Write a novel or

Sing in ront o a really large crowd or* insert crazy wish here *

Do it this year. And maybe this month even, iyoure sure you can pull it o.

The bottom line is Youve waited long enough.Just do it.

TASK # 4: STAY YOU.

People change on the inside with every newexperience and every new conversation. Whileyoure out meeting people and being abulous,remember to put your ideals and belies rst.

Changing yoursel and the way you live is likeputting me in a Control the Caeine supportgroup and having me drink herbal tea or something it just does not work.

These are just a ew ideas I came up with. Hopeullyitll help get the dust o o a weary mind, and make

room or a lot o resh enthusiasm.

Cheers, and have a good year!

PS: When in doubt, listen to John Denver. It almostalways helps.

Save Lady Gaga or the workouts.........................................................................................

Vidya. 19. Taurean. Dreamer by day and even more of a

dreamer by night. Her BFFs are roller coasters, brownies, books

and an unhealthy obsession with Tom Felton. Her pet peeves

are people who match their nail polish with their ouit everygoddamn day and people who believe that lolzzz is a word.

TheNewYearDetoxFeature

- VIDYA RAMAMOORTHY

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The story o the little things is well, not little, but is to be told in any case. The littlethings used to be the little ones which were discovered when we grew up andstarted appreciating lie to be big in their own little way. And then came along the

internet and blogs, helping proclaim the intellectuals in all o us, and the little things losttheir subtleties, and that was one less thing that we had to discover. Saved us the trouble,yes, but there are some things that should only be experienced, not told or laid out in verseAnd so the hypocrisy o this article, yes, I am aware.

Nonetheless, the little things are still the ones which bring about those little moments o

joy that one will remember or a lietime.So, without trying to sound too preachy, here are some o the littlebig things that one

should try in 2011

1. Watch a really crappy movie with a large group o riends. Its worth the laugh and the*moments* thatll be there throughout the movie.

2. Develop a couple o idiosyncrasies, but get over them beore they threaten to becomea permanent habit.

3. Make a ool o yoursel in public. Just once. Its called character building and doing good

to the societyno, really.4. Wake up early enough to watch the sunrise, and watch the sunset preerably by the

beach or on the mountains. And while we are at this, watch the moon on a ull moon nightthrough the leaves o a tree, with a reddish hue. Its beauty like no other

5. Take o on a completely unplanned journey Not just o the mind and soul, no.

6. Eat an entire bar o Lindt milk chocolate. Theres a saying which goes The best thingsin lie cost 20,000 calories.

7. Stay up an entire night catching up with/talking to someone you love. Conversationswell, Im not going to attempt to justiy this one.

8. Rediscover an old song/movie/book. Its introspection, in the subtlest o ways.

9. Help out a complete stranger. You dont always need a reason to be kind.

10. Finally, try out something completely new. What with the world supposedly ending in2012No, lets not go there. It just really helps as an argument or things like these :P wedont really have too much time on our hands now, do we?

TheliTTleThingsSUKANYA VENKATARAMAN

Feature

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Well its December, so I was holed up at home ignoring my parents persistent complains about theloud music I play and scheming. About what u ask? Nothing devious, just plans o extorting enoughmoney in the name o Christmas so that I can buy all that I deem necessary or my existence that would bea bean bags and stu like that . Anyway I was staring an acebook and pondering when I chanced upon abunch o new year resolutions people wishing to be 8 pointers this timestudy hardblablabla..!!!.The gentle critic in me just couldnt resist the temptation o writing something about New Year resolutionsater that believe me when I emphasize on gentle, some o my dear riends would have been brutal.

Anyway here are a ew New Year resolution or college students. I didnt make them up, I ound them onsome career guide site. Yes Im jobless and yes they do dish out such crap. So here we go:8. I will respect all eldersLets see how u can stick to that one?? You will be breaking that resolution right ater the rst test.

7. I will not litter

Ahem ahemI gona steer clear o this one personal reasons

6. I will read more literatureDid u know? Chetan Bhagats books dont really count as literature, and i you are planning to read the

twilight series, well may god save your soul.

5. I will lose weightSeriously, i you have gained weight in college youre a gluttonous dim wit, with no taste mind you. You

are doomed to rot in hell. For urther ino call Dante, he got an express tour o hell.

4. I will cut down my expendituresHmmmi u really want to do that I suggest you dont pay your mess bill. I youre already employing this

divine strategy to boost your coers this resolution is gona screw your happiness. So best o luck with yourmiserable lie this year.

3. I will attend classesI have nothing to say.

2. I will pay attention in classAll the best buddy, hope you get to class rst.

1. I will prepare or lie ater collegeMan, pass the rst set o minors without cooking up insane plans to annihilate the campus. We can talk

about lie ater college ater that.

So the moral o this discussion would be: Keep your resolutions close to your heart and away rom youracebook status updates, saves you rom the pain o coming up with innovative excuses when you screw up......................................................................................................................................................

WhatsYour

Resolution?- EDOCSIL

Jobless

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They say cats have nine lives but Kennyseems to have countless! South Parksmost resilient resident completes the

quartet which is the heart and soul o theshow. Kenny McCormick is a maniestationo the typical smalltown stereotype: thepoor kid, which entails growing up againstthe backdrop o a large amily, unemployed,

alcoholic parents and cold waes or dinner.Hes riends with his ellow third graders,

Stan and Kyle and deigns to acknowledgeCartman solely out o pity. His signatureorange parka, drawn tightly at the ace,mues his speech a lot, making him illegibleto the adults, but his riends understand himperectly when have adults ever understoodkids? But dont go by his mue, his words

are pretty risqu and hes a repository o allthat concerns the birds and the bees. Heenjoys jokes o a scatological nature and iswilling to do anything to earn a quick buck

or impress someone.

However, the most striking thing aboutKenny is his requency o dying andreappearance with little or no explanation.Episode ater episode, its been a longstanding gag to give us kicks by making himkick the bucket, causing his riends utter thatcultstatus catchphrase and bring him back

to lie I wonder i Ekta Kapoor is a SouthPark an? The shows creators, Parker andStone, inact, modeled Kenny on a realliechildhood riend o the same name, nancialstatus, parka and speech characteristics.The esh and blood Kenny had a tendencyto skip school, which Parker and his riendswould jokingly construe as his death andthen ignore this anomaly, when he resumed

attendance a ew days later. And thisattitude had percolated into South Parksuniverse. Which annoys Kenny sometimes,that his buddies take his existence or non

In acharacterspersona

KennyMccormicK- SAYONEE GHOSH ROY

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psychedelia / sakdili / noun [U]

1 seeing and hearing things that are notthere or do not exist usually caused due todrugs

2 o bright colors, strange sounds, etc. likethose that are experienced when takingpsychedelic drugs.

3 PINK FLOYD

Pink Floyd was started in the 1960s

by our university students. Fourunassuming guys, one common tastein music. They took the world by stormwith their psychedelic, progressiveish rock

PinkFloydmusic, and gave people everywhere a genreto look up to. A style o music to drownonesel in.

The band was initially led by Syd Barrett,then by Roger Waters, and then by DaveGilmour till it was dissolved in 1994. Thelineup may have changed over the years,but the music was always as pure as ever.Each album has had its own inherent avorand elements, but always with the typicalbackbone o drugged exhilaration.

Now, lets talk about the music.Drugged exhilaration isnt some random

phrasething I came up with to sound cool.Play High Hopes, lie back and close your

BandReviewLifestyle

- PRADEEP DAMODARA

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eyes. Lose yoursel in the song. Then youllstop sniggering at my owery language. Youwill have been enlightened.

The psychedelia persists through everysong, but the moods/avours changeperceptibly rom album to album and Im

not sure how to describe this in words.Lets see In A Saucerul o Secrets the

mood is more mysterious and mellow,whereas The Darkside o the Moon portraysa more sinister and morose eel. Similarly,Wish You Were Here tends to be dark/reective, while Animals eels angry andresentul, and is clearly antipolitical.

Then comes The Wall. This album eaturedthe songs Another Brick in the Wall andComortably. I you havent heard them, Ieel sorry or you. They are considered thebands most amous songs, and arguably Icontest this their best.

Ater The Final Cut, Roger Waters let theband, and Gilmour led the group to theirnext album, A Momentary Lapse o Reason.

This album is a slight departure rom thebands usual style o music, and I personallydont like it much. A momentary lapse oreason on their part perhaps.

The next album released was The DivisionBell. Ladies and gentlemen, my avouritealbum. It has Coming Back to Lie and High

Hopes, their best tracks IMO. And the overalleel o the album is aithul to the bandsoriginal avor o music. A good thing, i youask me.

The live tour in which the band playedsongs rom The Division Bell, The Darkside

o the Moon, and some o their most amoustracks was christened Pulse. WATCH. THE.CONCERT. Shine on You Crazy Diamond isnot something you want to miss.

Ive only covered the more wellknownFloyd albums here read: those which Ivelistened to. So dont hate me, Im not speciallike them. And Im no authority on this.Each album has had its own style, but hasalways been typical Floyd, with the powerto indulge, iname, or carry you away into adierent world.

There are some things you cant really dowithout eeling insufcient, or like youvemissed something important, or you justdidnt do justice to it. And talking about PinkFloyd is one o them. So dont take my word

or it. Go, download, listen.Some o you may have gotten high on

alcohol. Or on that kick rom the rst dragon a smoke.

I have been high on Floyd...............................................................

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Deep blue sea. Man eating sharks.Poisonous jellysh. Seaweed thatcoils around your legs and drags you

to the murky depths o the ocean. Thosewere the visions swimming in my head theday beore our rst meeting with the scubadiving instructors. To be completely honest,I was petried. That I had to rely on anoxygen tank to breathe. That we were ,in allprobability shark bait Ill admit, watchingJAWS a ew days beore the trip....NOT a goodidea .. My cousin, Vijay, my brother, Ashwin

and I, had just set camp in Goa.On Day One o the great underwater

adventure, we studied and wrote a theoryexam. Extremely exciting Dont read toomuch into the last line..Sarcasm is reallyhard to pull o via text. We had to cheatto pass!. We ollowed it up with a heavylunch needless to say...more exciting thanthe exam and underwater lessons in a

nine eet deep pool, with two o the mostpatient people Ive met, Gary and David,our instructors. We learned to assembleour scuba gear, tanks and signal each other

underwater again...we just copied oneanother. We wore wet suits, ippers, masksand snorkels the whole ensemble, and

waddled around the poolside pretending tobe graceul ducks.

Day Two comprised a combination opainul ears, bloody noses and sharp rocks.With one hand on our masks and the otherbehind our head, we clumsily backippedo the boat into the ocean. Every twoseconds, we were instructed to equalizepop our ears as we descended to the depths

o the oceandid I mention...dark and murky. There was absolutely no sound underwater,and because o very poor visibility, we werebarely able to see more than two metresin any direction. We climbed down theanchor line and explored a ship wreck, theSS MARY which had sunk in 1948, causingthe untimely death o its captain Ill givethe guy points or sticking with his ship in

its nal hour..Dying,however..... We didntmanage to catch a glimpse o his skull. Wedid however, notice one thing. Fish tend toswarm towards really old, moldy structures

hiTTingrocKBoTTom

- SHRUTI SHYAM

Lifestyle

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that have sunk to the ocean bed sixty yearsago. Swimming in a group was quite difcult,as we struggled not to bang into each other.Swimming too ar away rom each other wasalso a problem because we kept losing eachother, and only the ashes o colour o eachothers ippers kept us all trying to sounddramatic alive. As we swam with colorulsh, and held sea cucumbers, the pressure

gauge in our oxygen tanks dropped romtwo hundred bars to hal its capacity and werealized it was time to surace. All the whilemy nose bled like a leaking tap. Thanks a lot,weak sinuses. A Frooti, banana and manybiscuits later, we jumped back into the seawithout our equipment. Our tanks andscuba gear were thrown into the water, andwe learned how to put everything weight

belts et al, on underwater. We sank backinto the depths o the ocean while Garypatiently taught us a variety o underwaterskills removing our masks and clearingthe water rom it while sitting 13 metresunder the surace o the water, removingthe regulator out o our mouths still notsure why one would want to do that!, andbuddy breathing oering the other diver

your spare regulator in case he ever runsout o air. Forty Five minutes passed like abreeze, and we got back onto Sweet Lipsapparently theres no pun intended....its the

name o a sh, our comortable woodenboat, manned by Jockey, our boat man. Ateen minute boat ride onto the mainland,anchoring the boat onto the beach andunloading our equipment, prepared us tohog like never beore. Our aternoon siestadragged into the evening and beore weknew it, Day Three had arrived.

Day Three taught us how to navigate

underwater using a magnetic compass, andswim against the seas stormy current. Weencountered crabs, lionsh, angel sh, sweetlips and a lot o angry looking sea urchins,which threatened to poke us with their sharpspikes as we swam past narrow gullies in thesea. We learnt how to hover underwater,and make ourselves buoyant, using ourlungs. The instructors took photographs o

us trying to stay upright, underwater theonly proo we have that we ever went scubadiving. The day ended with us going backto the diving acility and lling up papers toreceive our diving certicates. I am now theproud owner o a diving license, which holdsa special place in my wallet. Next underwatermission: Swimming with the whales, PigeonIsland.

...................................................................................Shruti Shyam is a 2nd year student o

ashion communication in NIFT, Delhi. Herhobbies include photography, swimming,painting, eating and sleepinga lot.

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To tell you what the book is reallyabout, would be spoiling the wholething. To tell you that it is about the

two characters Beatrice and Virgil, well, that

would be an insult to your intellect and mine.But then again, Beatrice and Virgil are theprotagonists over here. The only dierenceis that there isnt just one Beatrice and oneVirgil but there are, or rather were, hundredso them. The theme is something all o us areamiliar with, something all o us unitedlycondem but it is shown in such light whichdescribes the exact agony, that it sends

shivers down your spine, almost literally.The plot doesnt unravel until the end but

when it does, you realise that the author hasbeen telling you whats going on right romthe beginning. I you have read Yann Martelsrst book, Lie o Pi, you wouldve realise thathe does get very descriptive, sometimesannoyingly so. But you would also haverealised the importance o the description,o creating a scene in the readers mind,which is this The connections are alwayslet to the reader to make. The story is not

blatantly put out. There arent surprises thatspring up in regular intervals to keep the

reader engaged. There are philosophicalquotes, a touch o wisdom and a truth abouthumanity to keep you going and there isocourse, curiosity. However, in the end,when things begin to all into place, you willrealise the ingenuity o his writing and storytelling skills. And you would then go back,ip through the pages, and reemphasize onthe connections, delving as deep into them

as you would want to. So, in a way, you writethe story or yoursel and hence need everylittle detail that he gives you.

The story is deep, in so many dierent levels.It makes you think. But at one point, theonly thing that keeps you going is curiosityo what might happen next. It seems likeanectodes and metaphors which are ood orthought, but why would you read a book oction or that anyway? But once you nishthe book, you realise that its worth it. Thestory unolds in a rather beautiul way andand makes us bow down in shame becauseo how we pretend to understand, when weactually dont and havent. It makes us realisethe depth, and the brutality, that was.

A must read, most denitely.

..................................................................................

A work o art works because it

is true, not because it is real

BookReviewBeaTriceand

VirgilSUKANYA VENKATARAMAN

Literature

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The aim o this column is to tell the

extraordinary story o the ordinary people o

India, or it is they who make the country. For

this edition we interviewed Dr. Dinesh Kumar

Dubey.

Dr. Dubey currently works as the ChieVeterinary Ofcer at Maitrty Garden zoo inBhilai. Dr. Dubey completed his M. Sc. romthe College o Veterinary Science and AnimalHusbandry, Jabalpur MP. He then went onto complete his diploma in EndangeredSpecies Management rom Kent University,UK.

Dr. Dubeys inspiration to work as a vetcame rom his mother. His mother was acaring person and had deep compassionand love or animals and birds, a love that heinherited. His ather was a school principaland was oten posted in the remote jungleso Madhya Pradesh. Dr. Dubey thus spenta considerable amount o his childhoodin close proximity to the exotic beauty o

wild lie. His mother and his childhoodexperiences have gone a long way inmoulding him into the man he is now. Heondly recollects the memories o him and

his mother eeding birds, leaving out wateror them and observing them or hourstogether. The emotions he eels are clearlyvisible in his eyes.

Dr. Dubeys work involves breedingendangered animals in captivity, tendingor them and then reintroducing them intothe wild. The zoo he works at is also involvedin research into various diseases that theseanimals are prone to. They also strive togenerate public awareness regardingthe importance o wildlie and get theminvolved in the wildlie conservation eort.

Dr. Dubey describes his work as personallychallenging, but adds that his love oranimals and will to protect wildlie makesit enjoyable or him. When treating sickanimals he has to take utmost care to see toit that the healthy animals arent aected.Tending to aged animals is also a challenge.Their needs such as diet, medication etc.require special attention. Also, handling

these animals is difcult as old age tendsto make them more aggressive. He goes onto say that whenever the animals get sickespecially a lion or a tiger the whole sta

ONE OF INDIAS BILLION

dr.dineshKumarduBey

People

- RAJAT KUMAR MISHRA

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is under immense pressure, or they willneed to answer to higher authorities. Heappreciates the support o his amily, hiswie Rajni Dubey and his son, or helpinghim through thick and thin.

In the course o his duties, Dr. Dubey has

been involved in several touching as well asdangerous incidents. He recounted a ew orour benet:

In the early part o his career he wasworking in Nandan Van, a zoo in Raipur. Alioness was caught and brought there, buther paw had been badly injured by the trapused to catch her and the wound had turnedseptic. She was in a critical condition, butater an operation she was able to recovercompletely. She Shankari later became oneo the oldest lionesses to live in the worldand passed away 2 months ago.

On another occasion Dr. Dubey had to treata lion with a severe dental inection. However

anesthesia couldnt be used because o thelions bad liver. Dr. Dubey extracted thetooth when the lion was still in its senses.Yes, danger is there he says, but with thenecessary precautions one can avoid uglyincidents. He also stresses that there is

no point in being araid, or ear serves nopurpose.

When asked about the condition o wildliein India, he says the scenario isnt as dismal asit appears to be. People involved are alwaysalert and ready. The negative publicity bythe media is an insult to the eorts o thesepeople, or it portrays only their ailures andnone o their successes.

As we let Dr. Dubey his parting messagewas: Everybody should spend at least sometime to protect these animals who cannotexpress their pain or sorrow, else we risklosing these precious gits o nature.

..................................................................................

People

What do you do i you know you want something, but until you know what it is, you dontknow what it is you want, so you end up wanting something about which you know nothing,always with the remote possibility that what you want is not what you want?

You set out to satisy this need, but until you know what youre looking or, you dont know

where to search, so you end up searching or something or which you dont know where tolook, always with the remote possibility that what youre searching or doesnt exist.

Then you sit and think about the craving, but until you know what you crave, you dontknow what to think about, so you end up pondering on something about which you dontknow what to think, always with the remote possibility that what youre thinking isnt whatyou should be thinking about.

Finally, you sit and write down your thoughts, but until you know what youre thinking,you dont know what to write about, so you end up scribbling something about which you

dont know what to write, always with the remote possibility that what IM writing is notwhat YOU should bother reading.

Go nd something better to do. :p....................................................................................................................................................................................

Indecision-Ish- PRADEEP DAMODARAJobless

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So there I was, sitting at the dining table ona Sunday morning reading the jokes in thepaper say what you will at, lazy, orangecats are always hilarious when I noticed thesupplement. You know, the nonsense thatgets printed on ashy paper with pictureso supposedly seductive looking Bgradeactresses.

On said ashy paper, was a rather delightulor lack o a better word article named 3Mistakes o the Decade Apparently a playon the name o some cheap, random book.

The authors name escapes me predictably,a very orgettable one. I do rememberreading about him in the past though. Youknow, the leader o the NEW breed o Indianauthors. One o those IIT and IIM graduateswho decided that being investment bankers

just wasnt good enough or them.

But I digress. The writer decided that atthe end o the decade, it was time andapparently loads o un, because the articlehad a picture o him on the side smiling likea 1000 watt advertisement sign to remindthe country o its worst mistakes this decade.

And the winners are I you like, you canpicture Scarlett Johannson or some otherblonde bombshell saying this whatevergets you going

1 The Agra Summit July 2001

2 The Godhra Riots Feb 2002

3 The Commonwealth Games 2010

For a variety o reasons, Ive decided tocomment mainly on the last one.

Take your pick rom the list o reasons:

1 The rst two occurred when I was tooyoung to even know or care about what washappening to the country.

2 Generally when there are 3 mistakes/options...the author intends that the 3rdwould be the biggest.

3 Im lazy read point 2.

The Commonwealth Games 2010 A disaster all the wayYeah... tell that tothe 101 medals that we won, and all the newtalent that sprang up and enough has been

Dude,Seriously?- VIJAY NARAYAN

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said on why it is so and yet you still keepwriting about it. The games cost too muchPrinting stu like that previous line alsocosts quite a bit, did you know?, most othe world doesnt even care about them

sure, the US, China, Japan and most o

Europe is not part o the Commonwealth.For someone who keeps writing about howwe shouldnt ollow the western countries etal., you seem to really want to do stu thatgrabs their attention.

There was rampant corruption, it didnt

change the sporting culture in the countryAgain...101 medals, ring any bells?, therewere quality and hygiene issues As you

have pointed out in all your books, this isIndia...what have you come to expect? FYI,Secunderabad railway station is supposedto be the cleanest railway station in Indiaever been there?, India got its worst PR indecades internationally No, the worst PRwas when an IIT/IIM graduate decided thathe could write well and should thereore...become an author. He actually managed to

write 3 or 4 o them!, the government hasstill not punished the culprits and, rankly,

the athletes would have won their medals

abroad even i we didnt host them we won101 medals in 2010, 50 in 2006....and sinceyouve also mentioned that there has beenno change in the sporting culture... I wonderhow we managed it?.

Under the garb o good intentions, one othe biggest scams in independent Indian

history was executed Try as I might, Icant disagree. *sni*. The only silverlining is that the scam was exposed and it

somewhat changed the publics passive

attitude towards corruption. More scams

have come out since, and people are

ollowing the story, waiting or the culprits

to be punished this time. It is an expensiveway to fx things, but may still be worth it.Im sorry...were making headway when itcomes to curbing corruption... and its still

a mistake? Im sorry, Ive lost track o time...since when has corruption NOT been thebiggest problem in this country?

Seriously, how do you call peace talks andcommunal riots mistakes o the decade?Thats as bad as saying that Justin Bieber is

the Artist o the Century!! Ok... Ill admit... itsnot that bad but still!. True... they werentexactly the happiest times or the country...but to call them mistakes?

You want mistakes? Ill give you someexamples.Government not legalizing marijuana.

MISTAKE

Letting Himesh Reshammiya act. MISTAKELetting Rakhi ka Swayamvar inect our

televisions. MISTAKELetting the Twilight series release in India.

*BIG* MISTAKE

My point being this... you want to be criticalo our country, do it in your books. Dont letit take up precious space in the paper. Just soyou know, they could easily have t pictures

o 2 hot models in the space that your articletook up. Perhaps even three i they were sizezero... Think about that.

NOTE TO AUTHOR

While the tone o the above article mightmake you think I dont like you, I should let youknow Im a huge an. Ive got a smashingly

original idea or a novel that you can write.Its about a young pale looking girl who getsinto IIT. On her rst day she alls in love withthis hot 10 pointer nerd who turns out to bea vampire.... Im telling you.... Its going to belegen.....Keep waiting or it...!!

......................................................................................

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Standing still,I realizeThat here goes another year,Closing in to its expiry dateAnd thus I reminisce with a tear,Some o the unpleasant events I hate...

At this juncture,I haveTerrible incidents to put behind,So many people to orgive,Adverse moments not meant to rewind,But heartelt apologies to give

Thus looking orward,I resolve...

To use everything I learned,In enhancing the New Year,So that all complexities are spurned,Showering peace in this liesphere...

LookingForward- SOUNDARYA SUBUDHIBidding goodbye to old sorrows,I take joyIn welcoming a new 365 days package,With new resolutions to ulll,And new missions to manage,Endorsed with a renewed goodwill

Delighting in the new treasures so near,I take a moment here...In wishing that every day,O this muchawaited year,Reveals a new happiness at bay,To everyone I dear..............................................................

Ciao! Tis is Sound...oops...I mean Soundarya.[ I blame my impish friends for this confusionin my very-own-name!] now about me, I am more of a peace loving person and believe in thesaying to live and let live. I fall into the book-worm category which inevitably makes me a harry-potter-and-twilight-crazy- freak and I prefer having few trusted friends around me instead of a

big, unreliable gang. I just cant stand self-centredness but really admire altruism in people. I ama true Cancerian to the core. And just so you know, I love sleeping right through physics classes(I just dont get that subject!)P.S:- I love purple. Give me anything in purple and I might make you my best-friend :P

Feature

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TillDeafDoWePart

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Till Dea Do We Part or Till Dea as we ondly call it in BPHC is the battle o the bands conductedduring PEARLThe cultural est o BITS Hyderabad. Though just an edition old Till Dea sawan amazing crowd o musicians perorm in its rst edition, and the stage has only gottenbetter. The winner o Till Dea gets the opportunity to open or Dark Tranquility pioneerso the Melodic Death Metal. Till Dea Do We Part promises to be the biggest musical event

organized by any college so ar in Hyderabad, so be there. Either hit the stage and rock theplace or the join the sea o headbanging metalheads \m/.

For contact inormation and other details please look up the acebook pagehttp://www.facebook.com/?sk=nf#!/pages/Till-Deaf-do-We-

Part/106482246083339?v=wall

http://www.facebook.com/?sk=nf#!/pages/Till-Deaf-do-We-Part/106482246083339?v=wallhttp://www.facebook.com/?sk=nf#!/pages/Till-Deaf-do-We-Part/106482246083339?v=wallhttp://www.facebook.com/?sk=nf#!/pages/Till-Deaf-do-We-Part/106482246083339?v=wallhttp://www.facebook.com/?sk=nf#!/pages/Till-Deaf-do-We-Part/106482246083339?v=wall

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The little boy waited or the train to pass

beore he decided to jump onto thetracks and cross to the neighboring

platorm. As he watched the boys shapeclamber up, he realized that there was noword in the English language to accuratelydescribe the lads appearance. The trouserswere torn in several places along the thighand were unequal in length. In act, it lookedlike they were worn the other way around.As the boy got onto the platorm, he realizedthat the let leg had a long scar, rom the kneeto the ankle and this was why the trouserswere worn the way they were; the right sidecovered until the heel.

Beore he could complete surveying theboy, something else in the station caughthis attention. For a eeting moment his eyes

were drawn to the sway o a womans handholding her daughters. They seemed ratherhappy, he thought and with a view rombehind, he judged the woman to be rather

attractive and the girl to be around ten years

old. Her hair was bouncing like it had a mindo its own and seemed like it wanted to getaway rom the child. He couldnt understandwhy anything or anyone would want to getaway rom the girl. Her careree aura seemedto be calling him and he almost movedbeore a random blend o thoughts lled hismind and he realized he needed to ocus.He gave the motherdaughter pair one lasturtive glance and looked around or thelittle boy.

He wasnt hard to nd as the station wasrather empty. It was rather unusual or thistime o the day but the realization that itwas the New Year dawned on him. He wasamong the ew in the city who didnt believein the Gregorian calendar and the day was

just like any other. The boy seemed to belooking around the platorm or his dailyrations. Food stuck to the wrappers or theletover pieces o chips in a packet, though

TheFirsTplaTFormSANKALKP SINGAYAPALLAY

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little, ater scavenging rom an eclecticvariety o bins, should make or a substantialmeal. He looked at his watch and saw thatthere was more than an hour or his trainto reach the station. The boy was ranticallylooking through a dustbin and it was

understandable; there was hardly anyoneon the station to eat, waste ood and throw itaway. As he started walking up the staircaseto cross over to the platorm, he watched theboy sit down, unsurprisingly on the groundand eat. There was no reason or him not touse the bench as it was empty. Had therealready been someone else on the bench,established social conventions would urge

street urchins such as him to steer clear o theapparent higher breed o humans who sawt to use the bench but there was no reasonnow, apart rom the inherent acceptance ohis place in the social order as a undamentaltruth o nature.

A ramshackle o a plan ormed in his headas he descended the stairwell onto theplatorm where he would board the train

that would take him to saety. The city, withthe police and the child protection groupsand other selrighteous groups o people,wasnt sae or him. He just didnt knowwhy people couldnt accept his alternateapproach to acquiring a state o inexplicablebliss. The world had to be divided into rightand wrong and or some unknown reasonhe had to be placed in the wrong category.He had to get away, i not or his saety, atleast to get the clutter out o his head.

There was no reason to suspect that thegirl would tell. She seemed to understandhis problems and everything that he hadexperienced. He too had sympathized withher problems and her pitiul state at schooland home. She was constantly bickering

that he was taking her or granted and wasnever really empathizing with her. Perhaps,it was a hint he had thought, at somethingdeeper and grander. When he decided to

show her, in his rather unique way, he wasreprimanded. He elt there was somethingwrong with the simple premise on which theworld was built and unctioned. Nothing inhim elt there was a reason to run and hide.

Then again, the hiding was a small price

to pay. I he decided to stay back and ghtit, the repercussions would be severe. Onthe other hand, i he ran away or a while,something else would take his place in themuddled minds o the world and he wouldbe sae. But it was the interim that worriedhim. He wasnt sure i he could live with thetrauma. Logical he might be, but a calmmind wasnt something he always had but

the sight o the boy made something clickinto place.

He shed out a wad o notes rom his pocketand oered them to the boy as he walkedtowards him. He liked dealing in silence. Theboy accepted the money and didnt havethe aintest idea what to do with the money.For an hour he just sat on the bench with the

boy sitting on the oor looking up at himonce in a while and counting the money. Anannouncement regarding the arrival o histrain was made and he stood up. He tookhold o the boys wrist and walked with himinto the train. There was no reason to worryabout a ticket; a couple o notes would workne, just like they did with the boy. As he tookhis seat, he looked at the boy and thought

he should reconsider the joy o the New Yearaccording to the Gregorian calendar; therewas going to be a new beginning in his lie.

...................................................................................

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Bzzz.bzzzand so on, you get thedrit.

The noise never really stops. Irreverent,guileless, shameless, the ies continued theirmeandering, like Brownian motion all overagain. Their tiny wings, almost translucentin their intrepid ight across meaninglessdistances apping uriously, like there wasnothing more important than getting across

to the next target, but could not rememberwhat it was. The thousand compoundeyes ick incessantly, watching or signs omovement, or signs o danger, or even theaverage runothemill ruit y wishes twothings, to live to see the coming o the greatround ball o re in the sky, and to be theproud i late sire o a new, young batch oruit ies. Nobody wants to die a virgin. Not

even ies.A rolled up newspaper comes into sight,

sluggish in its languid path across the generalscenery, like that dame titanic hersel, and

crushes the y in her mighty ardor. Havingpicked up the y in her traversal across thetoilet, she proceeded to embed it in thenearest available wall, adding one y to thetens o thousands already present, somelimbless, some wingless, all lieless. Guidedby an external orce, the newspaper did onlywhat she was made to do, or she was notyrant, nor racketeer; merely one who told

their tales.I sat on the dingy toilet seat and had at

the various ying paraphernalia providedor a diverting and engaging experience.Ater all, shit can be so much more. Thenewspaper in my hand protested, groaningand sagging under the inuence o mymany ministrations. Ah, what could I do?They rarely put anything worth reading in it

anyways.Im out, I yell, at the teeming hordes waiting

to get in. Poor ellas, asking or a hole toshit in, everybody wanted one these days.

iCide- KARTHEIK GANESH IYER

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I walk past, my sunken eyes going over theeects o last nights revelry, and o thenight beore that, and, well, you get the gist.An overpowering odor o cheap perumeand wasted alcohol lls the air, until thesensitive person starts choking in it. Then,to the depressing menagerie o smells youalso add putrid vomit. Then you take a deepbreath and walk out.

I walk down the stairs, tripping over them inmy eagerness to conorm to gravitys whims.Outside, the day is what people might havegone as ar as to describe ass good. Pleasant,breezy winds ingratiated themselves downyour exposed neck, and young dogs chasedbitches in heat with undisguised ardour,and this applied to not just the canines. Mynether regions itched, and I was thankul

that urine itsel had antiseptic properties.I ound a bicycle nearby, with no lock and a

post it on it. Gwan, it said. This is me bicicyle,dont yotouch it. Keep yer bally hands o

me preperties or words to that eect. In anycase, I removed the note, delicately placedmy delicate ass on the cycles seat, andpushed o.

Mumbai is one o the lords own creations,I maintain. Original sin, and all that. Jazz onthe bay, too. I cycled through slums andsideways, through dilapidated highwaysstrewn with garbage conorming to all sizes

and descriptions, broken bottles o cheapbeer, crushed cans o sot drinks, glassshards rom broken windowpanes, stainedwith mustard and kajal, used condoms,unused condoms, letover ood, brokentubelights, spoilt transistors, their leakybatteries contaminating all that was around,plastic bags, newspapers, old examinationanswer sheets that schools had sold o to

the nearby bhelpuri vendors, banana peels,requently with attached bananas, that dogsleapt upon, ought over territorially and thenate together.

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I cycled though a section o town devotedto the wholesale purchase and subsequentsale o electrical goods, then one thatcatered to the needs o the rich and poorregarding bathroom ttings and otherassorted hindware, then one lane lled

with shops, i you could call them that,where people anxious to house their idolscould avail themselves o those marbleconstructions designed to meet such needs.It was a bit ironic, though, that the sameshop housed its idols on a humble woodenledge. I cycled onwards, coming to a derelictshop that contained unnished sculptureso local politicians, now broken and hollow,

some upturned and some burned. Noexplanation was needed to explain how theygot that way. I continued pumping at thepedals till the shop was out o sight. The onlyconstruances that remained unblemishedwere some ganesha idols, waiting or theirrst lick o paint.

The grand tour continued, and my acultiesseemed to be diminishing. I had cycled into

unknown, uncharted territories, where eventhe dogs seemed to think o me as an alienpresence. The surroundings bobbed anddimmed, like the eeling one gets, the rsttime on a erry with a drunken captain. Itseemed very quaint, the people stepped in alively sort o manner as I approached them ata reckless pace, the trafc signals positivelydanced as I approached. Even the trafc, withall o its customary hustle stopped to swearin an enthusiastic sort o way as I passedby. The sounds and lights bobbed up anddown, twinkling and blurring as i wove myway through a crowded marketplace wherethe racket was so loud that it reminded meo some very shy business.

I was conscious o a dull ache in my legs,

but it didnt really connect with anythingthat I was seeing, hearing or smelling. Withsome horror I realized that I was climbingup a yover. The whole thing seemed very

Fiction

placid, as i i was watching somebody elsecycle up a yover. But then again, ater threesleepless nights, everything seems like anout o body experience.

I navigated my way through the wholestrip o concrete saely, took a right turn,

then a let trn, then another let turn, andone more, and ound mysel climbing thesame yover again. Soon, I was at the crest,and commenced my downward journey,when I realised that all the trafc had goneabsolutely crazy and started their travels inthe opposite direction.

Stop! I cried, waving my arms andgesticulating in a manner designed tocapture attention. This did not seem toaect them much. Indeed, one crazy womanactually shouted at me or cycling on thewrong side o the road. I earnestly contrivedto convince her o the dreadul olly on herbehal, but her reticent manner would haveput o all but the very best.

Well aware o the predicament that I was in,

a bus or some similar large vehicle had takenthe chance and crept up cunningly behindme, and proceeded to administer a ratherorceul impulse concentrated at whateverpart o me it could establish contact. Uponimpact, the bus seemed to start spinning,as did the yover, the angry woman, thestreetlights, the hungry dogs, an onion onthe road and the road itsel. With an alacrity

I wouldnt have thought possible o it, theground rushed up to meet me.

As the pain started exerting its presence,and waves o blackness started to wash overme, I remember what it was that had beennagging me all along.

Shit, i thought. this is real.

.....................................................................................

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OnFashion, GlamAndEverythingThat

Matters- HASITA KRISHNA

Isit at the dressing table, waiting to bemade up. The show will begin in ourteenminutes sharp, they say. Fourteen minutes

may seem like a very short period o time,but it is extremely precious in the world o

ashion where there is no stopping once youhave begun the race. Times like these are theonly ones you get to contemplate lie, your

job and what these mean to you.

And so I contemplatemore out o an urgeto cash in on the available time than out onecessity. I think o the days when beautyand simplicity were mere reections o thepurity within. I look at my ace; maybe one

long time ago it had a trace o that simplicity.I look into my eyes and look or the personIve grown to believe is me and Im not sureo that person still exists.

Nine minutes.

A wave o nostalgia wraps around me likethe blanket that I need to keep mysel warmnow. I think o the simple person that I was. I

think o the times when I knew I was beautiuland did not need constant reassurance. Ithink o the times when I wanted a careerin modeling, o how my parents were theonly people who believed that I couldmake it big in this twisted world. But whatI remember with utmost clarity is standingat my doorstep, promising my amily that Illcome back soon.

Ten years it has been, and my preciousmemories are slipping away. I no longerremember what colour I had painted myrooms walls in, or what my mothers rasam

tasted like, or what my sister looked like in aplait. Ten years it has been since work tookover, and relationships shited places likedunes.

Three minutes.

My makeup man has arrived. As he paintsmy eyes kohl, I take a long look at mysel andtry to preserve that bit o me that Id like tobelieve is still let in me. Suddenly, sittinghere doesnt seem all that worth it. I have togo out there and bring these clothes to lie.I have to make them speak while my ownheart struggles to remain silent.

Fiteen Seconds.I wait near the opening. My time tocontemplate is up. I have to go up there andmake a mark in the only world that is nowmine.

But as I step out to cheering crowds anda ramp that looks t or a queens walk,everything else ades away. All that matters

is that the spotlight is on me, and or thoseew seconds, the world is looking at me.Again, everything begins to make sense.Again, all the glitz and glam seem important,even vital. And yet again, the addiction thatkept me here or so long takes over. This ismy home.

Welcome to the world o Haute Couturewhere beauty is only skin deep. Then again,

beauty is all that matters and leaves youcraving or it all over again.....................................................................

Fiction

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Almost September is a Hyderabad based band comprising o Himadri Chakroborty - Vocals, RahulRumalla - Guitars/Vocals/Backing Vocals, Akhil Kodamanchili - Guitars, Anubhav Mehrotra -

Bass, Vamsi Pavan - Drums. I rst saw the band perorm at the IIIT Hyderabad est in 10. With

most o the band playing either Thrash or Death their sound was really rereshing. Almost

September has some really nice guitar work and an awesome drummer. They also perormed

at PEARL10 in BITS Hyderabad, where they won the battle o the bands. Their lyrics also show a

high level o maturity. I would personally recommend you to listen to Frieda, my avorite song.

Almost September project themselves as a band that is not bound by the constrains o genre,

though they do have a alternative/progressive ell to their songs. You can listen to the songs o

their new album on their ReverbNation page.1- HOWD YOU GUYS COME UP WITH THE NAME ALMOST SEPTEMBER? HAVE YOUCHANGED THE BANDS NAME BEFORE?

This was supposed to be a band secret o sorts. But once in a while we reveal it. Take yourguesses, whats in a name anyway? No, weve never changed the name, we have stuckwith Almost September rom the start. I you stalked us enough, it would be very obvious.Please dont stalk us.

2- HOW LONG HAVE YOU ALL KNOWN EACH OTHER? HOW DID YOU MEET?

Almost all o us in the band have played with each other at some point in the last 4 yearsprior to Almost September. Vamsi and Anubhav played together in Ethereal Rush. VamsiAnubhav and Himadri were playing together in Groove Juice, and when that projectlost steam, they were looking to start up a new project. Vamsi and AkhilexSkrypt www.

AlmostSeptember

BandCoveRPeople

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- INFERNIUS

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reverbnation.com/skryptband had shared a lot o musical ideas which hadnt had a chanceto be worked on earlier, so he had us all meet up and it took about 15 minutes beore wewere all more or less committed to orming the band. Our philosophies ell into place veryswitly as well. And when Akhil moved to Canadato apply and audition or music school,Rahulwho was a reelancing at the point was brought into the picture. And in the summerthe band turned 5 piece or the rst time when Akhil was back or vacation. Now most the

band is scattered across the lands o the west.3-WHAT GENRE OF MUSIC DO YOU CONSIDER YOUR WORK TO BE? WHO ARE YOUR MAJORINFLUENCES? ( BOTH FOREIGN AS WELL AS INDIAN BANDS THAT YOU ADMIRE )

We just write music which seems cool to us at the point o writing it, whatever that maybe.

Genre is really or the listeners to decide so they may organize their music libraries. For mostartists, clearly, it seems to work out, but or us it was just a restriction. Genres imply toomany things and expect certain things rom both a sound and image point o view, so we

just dont really care or the concept as an everyday thing.

As or major inuences collectively, it would be Tool, Porcupine Tree, Textures, Animals AsLeaders, Guthrie Govan, Incubus and A Perect Circle.

About the bands we admire, there are a ew too many to list. But the Indian bands welook up to are Avial, Native Tongue, Thermal And A Quarter, Junkyard Groove, Joint Family,Undying Inc, Zero, Them Clones, Panatella, Buddhas Babies Blown, Motherjane and Shaair+ Func.

4-WHEN DID YOU FORM YOUR BAND? WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO MAKE MUSIC TOGETHER?

Early summer 2009 was our rst meeting. Were all riends rst, band mates second. So we

rarely look or inspiration to make music together per se, we just eed o each others ideasthat were inspired rom where ever they were inspired rom and create a sense o motivationor all o us to take the songs orward.

People

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People

5- WHAT ARE THE MAIN THEMES OR TOPICS FOR MOST OF YOUR SONGS?

We like to put some thought into the message o the song, and have the whole picture speakwhether it is zoomed into or not. We dont impose any o our themes onto the listerners ownphilosophies, but we do have pretty strong opinions and will be as sarcastic as needed .Yin/Yang, Nothing Special, Doppelganger and The Peace song are semicynical perspectiveson lie/society. Dumb n Drummer is denitely one o our most psychedelic songs. Freida

and Hug the Cloud are the 2 songs closest to love songs that we have. Yes, we write lovesongs. The themes o our music are actually very obvious so, the songs that have not beendescribed are or homework.

6- HOW HAS COMPOSING MUSIC TOGETHER AFFECTED YOU GUYS PERSONALLY?/CONNECTION AND BALANCE BETWEEN YOUR PERSONAL LIVES AND THE SONGS THATYOU WRITE

Our understanding o each other personally as riends and as individual has deepenedas we write music together, because all were really doing is putting ourselves opinions,

statements, questions, blabbering, irritations etc. all in the language o music out on thetable and deciding how we present all the raw stu as a whole unit as a band in a song. Wevedenitely had some bad runs, and have chucked about an EPs worth o material along theway, but all in all the lessons learnt havent been orgotten. We attempted to write songsin some weird ormats and some weirder ones just didnt work out, but our next eort willprobably be much more aretched while being more solid rom our perspectives or sureand hopeully more recognized.

7-WHICH SONGS DO YOU PERFORM MOST FREQUENTLY? DO YOU EVER PLAY ANY COVERS?DO YOU HAVE A SET PLAY LIST?

We play all our songs at every show unless we have a time limit, in which case, we try andmaintain a balance between playing songs that weve been playing a while and songs thatwe would have nished more recently that havent had much stage time. Covers: a ew oncein a while. We tend to pick covers either or the challenge that they are to play or/and justhow much we enjoy listening/playing them. Covers are a airly insignicant part o AlmostSeptember.

8- HOW DO YOU GUYS REHEARSE AND PRACTICE?

We had a couple o jam rooms along the way, but most o our writing and hang outswhich is

super important to build band chemistry, we eel happened were at Anubhavs place. Thereis a silly little sotware called Pyros drums or something like that, which basically lays out asuper lo drum kit on a computer keyboard. Now...guitars/bass vocals are pretty easy tohave in a room, but suddenly we had this kit, and vamsi somehow played it pretty much aswell as he played the real thing. So, that is how we jammed... a lot! Currently, were on hiatusand we have some plans o attempting a long distance band writing process, but more onthat when it happens!

9- WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE AS A BAND?

Getting laid. We also had some rough times with line up changes, not so much each time, butthat we had to deal with about 56 line up changes over the year. Its all part o the package.

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10- WHATS YOUR ULTIMATE DIRECTION FOR YOUR BAND?

Getting laid. Being kick ass buddies and making music.

12- WHEN IT COMES TO LIVE PERFORMANCE WHOM DO YOU THINK IS THE BEST?

Porcupine Tree is denitely one o those bands which is way up there. But really, whenthe music is good AND recognized as good, the perormances seem to be best as goodsupplements! When the perormance is any better than the music, then, its not about themusic anymore. Which is ne, i theyre not pretending otherwise.

13- WHAT DO U HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE RISE OF POP?

Pop is just popular shitnot with a negative connotation. Always been there. Just becameexponentially pervertednow its shit with a nice dose o negativity with the advent otechnology because now everyone can make music. Everyone is capable o learning whatmusic is about and eventually make it, but not with technology, thats just bullshit. Assumingmusic to have melody, harmony and rhythm as the main pillars and lyrical content andsuch being supplements to give music a more obvious meaning in a language we all know,

playing around with computer stu to make a remix or a bunch o random sounds puttogether with some cool eects isnt not really making musicalthough it CAN be cool!increasingly rarely. Pop is ne, its okay to be pop...its ok to be whatever, really...as long asyou are who you are and being honest about it. This brings us back to genres again;

14- ANY LAST WORDS?

Are you going to kill us? This is a long distance interview, you know...

People

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BestOf

FBSAVYASACHEE JHA A book and a burger, a riend who is a girl, a bolt o red lightening, andmy head awhirl.

ANEESH VARTAKAVI Girls always wanna talk...the problem is they dont wanna talk aboutstu that guys wanna talk about!!

BALA KOTESHWAR KOLLURI I theres something like a Nobel Prize or Crisis Management,

no one deserves it more than VVS !!! Take a bow Laxman !!!ANIKET SHARMA Wo bewaa na tha yuhi badnaam ho gaya,Hazaro chahne wale the kis kis se waa karta.. :P :P

SUHAS SRIVASTAVA Initially i was tryin to gure out the exact moment when my lie got soucked up. Den my dad ound weed in my bag...

TANMAY Z SHAH Youre so stupid that they cant even explain it to you in lameman terms..

ABHINAV PANDEY Diplomacy : telling someone to Go to Hell in such a way, that they lookorward to taking the trip :P

REVANTH CHAUDHARY rajnikanth gits santa all his presents !!!!! i hope this one wasntcracked allready...... # ngers crosed #

SHASHANK LAHOTI The best way to kill/hide someone is to EAT THEM!

JAHNAVI MEHER 10 years ago the words gay wedding just used to mean a happy marriage!!!

ABHILASH MEESALA To the optimist, the glass is hal ull.To a pessimist, the glass is hal empty.To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. :P

NISHI SEKHAR A ash o brilliance is no guarantee o victory!!SHILP VACHHANI Finally legal eh?hatt....you are never legal in gujarat!!

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ThingsWe

WantChangedIn2011

EDUCATION FOR EVERYONE.

photo courtesy - Swagat Yadav

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