Sleep job

It is known that people can do weird things while sleeping. Some talk, some walk, some snore(for that matter) and some sleep peacefully.

I remember many instances of my parents telling me about wild tales which I narrate in my sleep. The last such incident dates back to my tenth class. Parents were amused by what I had ranted to them in my sleep. I also remember that each such uncanny occurrence embarrassed me deeply.

Another thing I have noticed is the way people react to certain situations immediately after waking up. The reactions can be amazingly funny and at times totally preposterous. My earlier roommate was one with an extremely weird reaction. Actually he didn't react at all for the first ten minutes. I can say that because I have a lot of experience of waking him up. Another friend of mine can't help feeling groggy for about 15 minutes. While some of them become very attentive with eyes wide open others tend to be scared if you get a little aggressive.

My own reactions are varied and depend upon how much I have slept. At times I am very attentive and tend to stare hard at the person. My behaviour at that moment is a function of the how sleepy I felt while falling asleep and how badly I need to sleep at that moment. I can remember shrieking at some time as well as laughing or behaving quite normally at other times. But this is just one side of the coin. I must say there have been instances which suggest a different story.

In the last semester a neighbour dropped in to return me a book. I was shocked. I asked him that how he got that book because I didn't remember giving him the book. He said that he had come the previous night and I had been asleep. I had opened the door and given him the book. More shock. I gaped at him and it seemed incredibly stupid to believe such a thing. I tried to recap the events of the night before and this just didn't fit in!

This has happened with me more than a couple of times. May be I am in some different state of consciousness. In that I can only respond to such external stimuli and can't be aware of any other detail. Sometimes it makes me feel weird.

Living by Proxy in the city of Djinns

The decision by authorities to provide every student with a proxy of about 200MB/week has been welcomed by one and all. And why not? Who wants to waste minutes without successfully opening even Google? The last three semesters have been tough for me in the hostel. Being an avid Wikipedia aficionado, the curtailing of basic surfing rights pinched me very hard. After all the authorities boasted about providing the students with Internet and LAN facility, though the former had no utility whatsoever. Only if you were a Computer Science Engineering student, did you get a paltry 100MB per week.

I just completed City of Djinns. It was very heartening to know so much about Delhi, considering that I've spent half of my life here. I realised how ignorant I have been about the city which has such a beautiful and justifiably the most tumultuous history. There are only a handful books which have captivated me by the first page itself. In this the author meets a Pir(a Sufi saint) who tells him about the djinns of Delhi. When the author asks whether he can see them or not, the Pir replies that of course we can say them . But the only reason we don't see them is that we would run away in fear and disgust.

I haven't been able to read any book lately. Apart from The IITians by Sandipan Deb, and another visit to Eloor there has't been much work in this direction. The best part of going to Eloor is that I take a meal at one of the outlets, be it McDonalds, Bengali Sweet Corner or Barista. I generally prefer going to Eloor with a friend. The opinion of two people makes it better suited to select the books(of course two is company, but here three is not a crowd).

But sometimes it pinches me when they are reluctant to eat out. We hardly ever venture out of the campus. At those occasions also, they don't feeling have anything because it costs. Why do people have to be so frugal? There are times when it completely pisses me of. What I don't understand is that people consider eating good food as waste of money. There is not enough sense in them to differentiate between proper and improper use of money. It is good to be careful while spending but it's equally awful to be stinkingly(pardon me but I'm venting my anger) stingy. They rather wait for others to pay for them even for a small meal and the worse thing is that they don't have any sense of returning the favours later.

Criticism apart, I've discovered many new eating joints during the past two years. Though I may crib but more often than not I enjoy hanging and eating out with friends(where ever we may go). There is considerable excitement when going out with friends and the nonsensical discussions we have really set the tone of the outing. Also you tend to devour more food if you are sitting with friends. I've noted that I'm capable of eating only 3 naans but with friends, at times, I can have upto 5 naans! Naturally, with more naans one needs more sabzis and daals. So you can well imagine the gluttony I indulge in.

Before the Devil Knows, You're Dead turned to be a dud of a movie. The director couldn't focus on any particular theme or character. At times the plot lost focus and the movie became a drag with its slow sequences which failed to convey the spirit of the plot.

I saw it yesterday. Pulp Fiction was the first Tarantino flick I saw.(I wouldn't recommend you doing that as you may not be that sportsmanlike) It was very bizarre. I had great difficulty understanding the non-linear structure(and was later rescued by Wikipedia). There was just no explanation for half of the things and were added just for fun and lending the movie its characteristic style. Nevertheless, I greatly appreciated this style.

After Reservoir Dogs and Death Proof this is my fourth tryst with Tarantino's eccentricity. I can only say that my admiration for the director has increased. A simplistic plot proceeds smoothly as various sequences pay homage to the great Japanese samurai movies and other great genres. I noticed one little point of interest. Every so often the camera moved to the feet of a person. It seemed strange to suddenly witness the feet of a person(specially women's) as the movie was going on. Is it the director's obsession or just what they call "reading too much between the lines"?