I heard a lot of speculations about this movie – asteroids, volcanoes, earthquakes, ice age, planetary collision, solar explosion and so on. One of my friends even claimed that all of the above-mentioned disasters have a cameo role in the movie which made me think that our world is doomed indeed (in the movie that is).

We (two of my friends and me) buy a pack of popcorn (NOT each, mind you) and enter the cinema hall. Well, what do you expect? The dance of destruction rips apart the world. Billions of lives annihilated by nature’s fury. But wait! The world governments led by US have arranged some not-so-moral backup plan. Throw in love, family, humanity and some snide remarks and voila! The world survives after all. Or at least, a fraction of it.

The movie has a wide variety of characters, which I usually like. The animation is good, but its common nowadays. It delivers what we expect from a movie of such kind – Humankind surviving against all odds.

I’ll give it a 5 out of 10.

Oh how I hate my mobile phone!

I finish my night shift (preceded by evening shift, though its unofficial) and come home to have the much awaited day off (and night off). It is 8 in the morning and I go to sleep. Ah! Its bliss. But its not meant to last.

A fool I am, to keep my mobile phone in vibration mode and to place it in under the pillow. But what can I do? I’ve run out of ring tones and I’m not in a mood to search for a new one. So, my mobile is in perpetual vibration mode. Now back to the story. The phone rings, that is to say, vibrates. And my head too. Oh no! Call from office. With sinking feeling, I pick up the call. Thankfully, its a minor issue which can be handled by my colleague in day shift. But a lost sleep is a lost sleep.

The sleep continues but the bliss is lost. Its afternoon 1’O clock and now the colleague calls for some clarifications. A discussion ensues. Then another call from another colleague. Thats it. Its official. I lost my sleep. Moreover, I’m hungry.

After lunch (or should I call it breakfast), I get to chat with some friends after a long time. Later, I turn on Windows Media Center. Kailash Kher starts singing Teri Deewani and I slowly drift into sleep.

I’m sure all of you have guessed what is to come next. Yes. Again call from the same colleague. Here is an excerpt:

Caller: So and so person wants you to come to office.
Me:      Why? What happened?
Caller: No idea. So and so team is working here. They think that they “may” need your help.
Me:      Hmm. Are they facing any problem?
Caller: Well. Wait a minute. (Pause) Now they say that there is some problem. Their queries are not working from morning it seems.
Me:      (Speechless)

And more blames pile on the team-that-may-need-me and eventually it is decided that I’ll give on-call support.

The “on-call support” turns into a nightmare when calls start flood in.

Oh how I hate my mobile phone!

I’m supposed to go for night shift today. I got up at noon and so nine more hours to kill. After passing some time in newspapers and browsing, all of a sudden, I got the impulse to watch Sun TV – The only Tamil channel provided by our cable operator here in Gurgaon. Its a long time since I wanted to watch TV and in the rare moments when I glimpsed at TV, I saw HBO or Star Movies.

So I take up the remote and switch it on and whoa! Our second hand (or third or fourth, I’ll never know) TV protests my sudden interest by emitting a persistent buzzing sound. Its quite painful you know, hearing the buzz continuously. I hoped for the best and let it go on for 5 minutes. But damn! It doesn’t stop and I hear the buzz (imagination of course) even after switching it off.

So what to do now? I’m an Electrical Engineer after all. The solution? Switch off the TV and take out the plug (Safety first). Give a not so gentle slap to TV’s left and then to right. Then another round left-and-right. Switch it back on and the buzz reduced by 75%. Good enough eh?

Now, Sun TV at last. Its movie time and the movie is ‘Guru Sishyan’. Its a 1980s release and it has some really good comedy scenes. I don’t even know the names of Tamil movies releasing nowadays, but the current trend is definitely not ‘Guru Sishyan’ type. So I decide to watch the movie and there goes my lonely noon like a tick in the clock.

Finally I’ve managed to start a blog. What with all my “busy” schedule for the past 2 years, this is a big achievement indeed

As always, the idea of starting a blog comes up exactly at midnight. I leap into action and again, as always, my first confusion comes in choosing the blog publisher. I’m somewhat familiar with Blogspot, Live Spaces and WordPress (Thanks to my previous forays into blogging). I end up with WordPress after a brief logical analysis.

Now, what should be my blog URL? I try for URLs which I normally use (that is to say, combination of my name and initials), but to my surprise WordPress reports that they are in use. Come on! What is the probability of that? Then it dawns on me. Thanks again to my previous forays into blogging, the URLs are taken and I’m not in a mood to go back and start all over again. So, ladies and gentlemen, presenting you, iselva.wordpress.com (URL to be pronounced as I,Selva.wordpress.com. Some people used to pronounce my name as Iselva, but those stories are for another time)

Before you ask, my blog name is influenced by Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot. Personally, I’ve never seen a better title for a book.

So, it has begun.