Aye Carumba :: I'm a boy from India... though old enough to be considered a 'grown-up'... I havn't let go of so many things... the world through my eyes is the world I have written about here :: Of the life and times of Me ::

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Of the failure of man

It is remarkable truly,
That those who believe in the complexities of creationism,
In the verses of the paths of guidance,
In the cycle of life & supremacy of virtue,
In the limitless will of their Gods,
Are the ones to trivialise great matters first,
By creating uss' & thems'
By painting it black & white,
And pretending then to be holier than all.

What then serve purpose,
All those complexities of creationism;
Surely for guidance they were,
But laws they have become.

Friday, July 09, 2010

The Next Phase Of The Ainz Years

In my bid to consciously remain away from blogging about me, me and me, I think I've been quite successful. Barely 2 posts in 22 months! I stopped writing because I did not want to talk about anything anymore, I wasn't sure it mattered or made a difference and there were just too many people doing it.

A lot has changed since I started writing here and looking back now I see quite a difference between me now and me from before. I've been thinking hard of closing this blog down to move away from some of my earlier posts and start afresh. But now I've decided not to. Evolution is natural and from this post on I think I shall consider it to be the start of a new phase of writing. Ever more cynical, sarcastic and annoyed with social networking and virtual noise, I've decided to diversify and roll the ball in a different direction.

The Ainz Years have always been slightly philosophical, political and sometimes a little funny but now I want concentrate on my current interests. And so, in that regard, I'm starting a parallel blog that should take care of my technology and gadgets and gizmos related itch. The Ainz Years shall continue to host my rants about things unrelated to tech and I hope to return to form real soon! ;-)

The other blog is called A.B.A.T.A.G.A.S (pronounced Abatagus)... which shockingly enough is short for 'A Blog About Technology And Gadgets And Stuff'. I'm writing the first posts and shall have the link ready right here when its all set.

So let me thank you visiting and reading and hope you will return here and also check out Abatagus.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Londinium

The thing about Kingston Hill is that its in the middle of no-where... According to the now ex-Mr. Fezio, there are only two ways about it. There is uphill... and there is down-hill. Now both can either aid or delay your journey from either the town center or the nearest Wall-Mart monster nearby called ASDA. The thing about walking downhill one side is that it takes you to the Kingston town center where await all the wonders of the capitalist world in the storm of recession. Now the thing about Kingston town center is that it happens to be in Kingston. That wouldn't have been a bad thing except for the fact that even though Kingston is in what they call 'Zone 6', it is still more expensive than the Queen's crown jewels locked up under guard in the Tower of London. Now the thing about being in 'zones' is that there happens to be a progression of them from 1 to 6.

Zone 1, they say, is most of central London. Now the thing about London is that as you move from center to edge, the zones move from 1 to 6 and so the number of £s you spend just living your life decrease exponentially. Not surprisingly, the Royal borough is immune to this most bizarre rational. So if you happen to find your self in Kingston you'll probably take the down hill the other side and end up at what is called as 'The Great ASDA'. You would've liked it better of course if you hadn't known that its rebadged Wall-Mart but so is life and as you trudge along the 1 and 3/4 million aisles, you'll realize that everything that is anything is also ASDA. 

Now the thing about ASDA is that whatever is ASDA is also cheaper than whatever is anything else. Now mostly thats a good thing but there are times when you pick out that pizza from the freezer and realize that there isn't any cheese on it and then it hits you that the pence' you saved on the brand of the monster may have not really saved you anything at all. Normally that would've been enough to head off back to the store and demand a refund or least a replacement but the thing about going back is the downhill.

The thing about downhill is that from the other side it becomes uphill and that doesn't always agree with your body. Your body agrees more with the bus that runs every 10 minutes all day and all night but the thing with the bus is that is not cheap. The oyster that facilitates your transition from the walk to the ride comes with a charge of its own. It cannot be topped up on the downhill towards the shopping wonder but rather downhill towards the expensive heart of the borough. That wouldn't be a problem on most occasions except for the fact that to charge for a £ you'll have to spend a £.

Now this being England and all, it comes to mind what the f*** am I doing here?!?! Well the thing about being in London is that it takes a flight, shit loads of ££££s and months of preparations to enroll yourself in September. Normally September would be warm but once you land, it being England and all, you realize that its not all that warm and you are going to freeze to death if you don't wear a coat. Generally wearing a coat would seem like a nice idea but the thing about coats in London is that every one is wearing one. Its either black or grey and that doesn't help the mood much.

If you mind the gap sufficiently enough on the tube then you'll realize that everyone is either reading a paper or listening to their iPods. If on the other hand you don't and do get up, close and personal with the tracks, you will realize that they are too clean for comfort. Normally that would be a good thing, but then you realize something else that makes you draw comparisons with what you left behind and that is exactly the moment when the spot light goes from the conscious to the sub-conscious and the realization dawns on you, as this time you do mind the gap getting into the tube from Victoria to Putney, that...

"DMRC does it better!"

15 to 1

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Friday, November 28, 2008

The Battle of Bombay!

The fires still rage on...

One injured terrorist still moves within the Taj...

NSG airdropping on Nariman House...

125 dead...

Capture them alive...

Make them talk...

They came to die... Make them live... put them in jail... make them live... let them grow old knowing they failed... make them live... let them exist to see they failed... Don't let them die... those bastards have to see us rise... they will fail... capture them alive...

And by the way... where is Raj Thackeray and his MNS goons? They can only break shops and protest Valentine's Day!

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Triumph in the face of absolute stupidity and cheapness!

Well... YES! The govt. not only survived the trust vote but won it in a decisive manner! Yea yea... so there are a million allegations to be made... they bribed... they pressured... and stuff like that... but really... this is Indian Politics we are talking about. How stupid or pretentious do you have to be to say that you didn't already know all this happens all the time anyway!?!

But this is brilliant... now we can finally go ahead with the deal that everyone with an ounce of brain (including almost all of NDA) knows is good for the country. So here is the Roll of Honor... the definitive winners and losers of this most reality-show-like trust vote!

Winner - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh & his UPA Government


He was heckled... he was boo-ed... they even said he is selling out India's national interest to the U.S. but he stood his ground. Mr. Advani... you didn't score any moral victory with your "election speech" during the trust vote... this man did by fighting the odds... taking a chance and moving ahead!

Winner - Samajwadi Party


Once the bitter enemies of the Congress Party, they saw a golden opportunity and grabbed it. What remains to be seen is what personal agenda Amar Singh and Mulayam Singh Yadav will push for now that they have sway in the central government. One can only hope they fare better than the communists.

Winner - The Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee


His party (CPI-M) tried all sorts of arm-twisting measures to prove god-knows-what but he held his ground. Today, they expelled him for having something they don't have at all... Guts!

Winner - BMW or Bahen Mayawati


She dealt a stunning blow when she bought off SP General Secretary Shahid Siddiqui and propped him up in front of the media to claim how the deal was... ahem... anti-muslim and anti-India!

But her true accomplishment is the fact that suddenly... she is on the national stage! And today, she was declared the Prime Ministrial Candidate for the Third Front! AAAARRRGGGGHHHH... Mayawati as PM?!?!?! And the Commies are supporting it... tsk... tsk...


And now... ofcourse... The grand Losers!


Loser - The Left (All Communist Parties of India)


They are probably the biggest losers of this whole scam that they tried to pull off. Losing the trust vote is a good slap on their collective stupid faces. Their argument was that the UPA was not being true to the Common Minimum Program for which the Left was supporting the government and focusing too much on the deal (which by the way, is a secret weapon deployed by the imperialistic Americans to enslave India) and which wasn't part of the CMP anyway! Well... dear comrades... the Common Minimum Program (CMP) is almost 4 years old now! If something new comes up during the 4 years of the government... we should just let it pass by? Saying.. "oh well... lets see... its not in the CMP booklet!" How crazy are you people?!!? Your holy land... the Soviet Union began trailing the west in terms of economic growth and stability from the late 70s because they were stuck up too much on their '5 year plans'. They didn't see anything beyond it. And well.. don't know if you know... but... that country sort of disintegrated!

Loser - BJP and its NDA Allies


So the top NDA leadership gets briefed on the deal a few months ago. Most leaders, including Mr. L.K. Advani say that its good for the country and if need be... they'll support it. Fastforward... July 2008... The left has withdrawn support... they smell a chance... the govt can fall... and all those chairs they had to leave 4 years ago might just get to greet their bums again! Attttaaaaackkk! Mr. Advani forgets all about the deal... he talks about everything he can get his mind to... full spectrum he covers... Arre... if the govt falls tomorrow then the people should know na what he stands for! The fact of the matter is the NDA would have implemented the same deal... very happily... had they been in power. They had started the damn process anyway!

But the nation's interest was not at heart... they yelled... brought a bag full of money... ridiculed the country's Prime Minister and basically showed just how slimy politics actually is. All Mr. Advani wants to do before he dies is become the Prime Minister of this country... and it seems he no longer cares how that happens... by hook or by crook!

Loser - Shahid Siddiqui (Ex General Secretary of the Samajwadi Party)


Well... Mr. Siddiqui, no matter what you say... we know you've been bought... You were claiming at the top of your voice, till the day before your sale, how the deal is good for the country... yea... the media existed 5 days ago too and recorded that as well. And now suddenly "your concience" grew up from somehere? To specifically claim that "muslims hate America and this deal". Two words for you traitor.... FUCK OFF!

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Thursday, June 12, 2008

The Law of Mind-boggling Simplicity

Something strange is happening here....

Why is it that when you absolute don't care about something... it starts going your way... as opposed to when you really really want something to go your way it almost never does?!

I've sort of experienced it way too many times... thats why... at certain points in life... I like being angry... cause that brings in the feeling of 'not caring what happens'. Its not always a good thing but once that hesitation, that fear of caring goes away... you're free... the possibilities are endless and it all gives you such a rush!

And the reason I write "Something strange is happening here...." is a little similar to all that below it and a lot different too...

Earlier I used to write here regularly... updating all posts and writing all sorts of thoughts... hardly anyone ever visited... and now that I almost NEVER write... and I'm getting page hits like crazy!

The great thing is... I care and I don't... and so whatever happens... its all good! :-D

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Lord Ainz of Ramz

Its been 6 frekkin' months and 2 days exactly to this day that I last wrote anything in this blog. A lot... lot... fucking lot has come to pass but I really don't think I have the strength to go into any of that (whatever strength I did have is being used to keep me fight the sour throat and running nose; courtesy of the changing season).

I thought it would be a smashing idea to write about something else that I did after a very long time. Played Civilization III!!! :-D

This time around... I decided to do a lot of things differently... I selected a random map (not standard size Earth as usual), selected Romans as native civilization (not Indians but of course I renamed them Ramzanions) and let the computer decide the other civs. Also, I made it a point not to cheat in this one (after such a long and easy time I didn't use the pay 10000000 cheat).

Therefore its been quite an experience. My native continent has three large land masses. One I share with the Americans, one is held by the Greeks and one by the Egyptians. The game started off well.... but by around 1758 BC, suddenly, my treasury fortune started declining. This also contributed to the overall standing of my civilization. After a brief spike in 500 BC my power kept declining (vis-a-vis the power of the other three civs of the then known world). The lowest point came around 200 AD when my civ went broke and I had only about 7 modest cities. The Americans to the north had grown up to be the most powerful civilization of the known world. The Greeks to the south and the Egyptians to the west occupied the 3rd and 2nd positions respectively but were comparable in size to me. The American on the other hand were spreading all over the place. They had inherited fertile land whereas the bulk of land that I explored and claimed for myself was covered in thick forests. This also partially was responsible for my slow growth.

Then something happened.

The Americans, having covered all of the north started sending settles through my territories to the open land explored by me in the south (above the Greek land mass). It pissed me off but by now I had a few key advancements in technology and my military was almost the same size as the Americans. I had a Republican government and out of pure need for money started selling the Printing Press technology to all civs on a per turn gold basis. This started the economic revival. Meanwhile I was getting close to discovering democracy. The American sent three settlers with escorts down south and established three cities. I countered then by going further south and establishing two cities. One to cut off the Egyptians from my land and the second to cut off the Greeks. I was also able to encircle the American cities but there still remained free land there. For that the Americans again launched three settler units with escorts. Also, with them they dispatched about 12 worker units.

As the American units were crossing through my territory, I decided, rather instantly, to ambush them and capture the slaves. America was the most powerful nation of the known world and mine the weakest. but my units were well placed.

The War (200 AD - 600 AD)

I attacked.

Two turns later, I had killed the three American military escorts, captured 14 slaves. Two more turns later, the frontier American city of St. Louis fell to my Horsemen. I renamed the city St. Louis RZ to signify the new masters. In the south I launched a 4 unit army (2 archers, 1 horseman and 1 spearman) from the post city of Ainz to southern American cities. Whatever units I could find I pressed into service. Surprisingly, the American army didn't have surplus units for an instant counter offensive and it wasn't much after the fall of St. Louis that 2 Swordmen units crossed the border. Till then, I was able to bring in two additional horsemen to the northern front. I barely managed to repeal the Americans when 2 more sword men approached St. Louis RZ. The fighting on the Southern front was going badly with 2 losses for every victory for me.

I sent for peace but the American demanded the surrender of St. Louis RZ. Telling them to get lost I relaunched a 4 unit army from Ainz and positioned right outside the American cities in the south. Also I was able to reinforce my forces in the north and managed to defeat the new American units there. The War entered a stalemate will I once again sent an envoy for peace. This time the Americans readily accepted.

That was the first and last war for the next couple of centuries but forever changed the nature of things to come. From the fourth most powerful civilization Ramz (mine) became equal to America far surpassing Egypt and Greece. The Americans stopped southern expansion and started consolidating that they had. The Republic of Ramz then made way for the Ramzanion Democracy and I (Ainz) became President from Prime Minister as head of state. My economic fortunes also started rising with extensive trade agreements and discovery of new civilizations (The Germans, French, English and Russians). The first highest trade agreement reached (combined from all civs) over 230 gold per turn.

Ramz was on the rise. The next couple of centuries were peaceful with huge gains in technology and exploration. My power stood at double that of the next most powerful civ (Egypt, followed by Greece, America, Russia, France, England and Germany). There were no wars and the only one (involving Ramz and America) came to be known as 'The War'.

The game was going peacefully. Way too peacefully.

First World War (1950-1991)

I decided to take the small continent where New Ramz was located completely from the Russians and the Germans. I had three native cities there and one Russian city (Novgorod) had defected to me. For the first time in many centuries, I decided to raise an army. Old naval vessels were converted into new Transports and three were stationed off the Eastern Ramzanion Seaboard. Two destroyers were made and deployed towards the targets. I decided to attack both Russia and Germany together, but 32 Cavalry units was a tall order. So first I decided to take out the two German cities (Munich & Heidelburg) with 8 Cavalry units in one transport supported by the 2 destroyers and 2 bombers based out of New Ramz. This would be like a training dry run for the future Ramz -Russian war. I started making Cavalry units in all cities that were done with current projects with the intention that each city will make at least 3 Cavalry units. The first transport was loaded and launched escorted by a destroyer.

Meanwhile, Egpyt and Ramz (Me) signed a 'Mutual Protection Pact'. Anyhu, So I landed my forces and in a barrage of bombardment from bombers and destroyers invaded Overseas German Territory. So successful was the campaign that I suffered no loss and both German cities fell.


The captured territories in 1961.
Notice at lower left- Yellow:Egypt, Green:Greeks, Red:Ramz, Turquoise:Americans, Brown:Russians, Orange:English, Blue:Germans & Pink:French

But there was a catch.

Germany had a Mutual Protection Pact with England. This simply meant that when I invaded Germany, the English declared war on me. I further found out that if I responded to the English with war, the Greek would attack me because they had a Mutual Protection Pact with England. So basically, I let opened the pandora's box. I wasn't worried about the English, they were too far away, but the Greeks were neighbours... powerful neighbours!

But the war against Germany had gone too well. I left 1 cavalry unit in each captured city and re-loaded the remaining 6 back into the transport (RZS Hercules). Escorted by the destroyer RZS Hurricane, I headed south to capture the English Overseas Territory Island (a small Island with two English cities). I started reinforcing my border with Greece in anticipation of certain war. I tried to make peace with Germany, but they wouldn't. My other destroyer (RZS Spirit of Ramz) also started trailing a Greek Frigate off the coast of New Ramz. Finally I reached the 'English Island' and from the Hurricane let loose a volley of bombardment as my forces were offloaded. The Greeks declared war. I invaded with 6 cavalry units and promptly captured Herakteia. But from then on started the 'War of Offenses' with the Greeks. The Greek military wasn't a push over and every turn launched a strong counteroffensive for every offensive tactic by me. Greek Knights clashed with my modern Cavalry and at one point I was shocked to see a modern Greek Cavalry unit ride up to attack Herakteia! We both kept reinforcing our forces turn after turn. The only difference was that Greece was loosing units while my units were being rendered in-effective (at one power point).

Meanwhile, the world was going to hell! Everyone started declaring war on everyone else (not on me though) and large military forces started moving all over the place.

Finally, by 1959, after many turns of attacks, the Greeks ran out of reinforcements and I was able to lay siege to Sparta and Ephesus.

Sparta and Ephesus under siege in 1959


I prevailed and captured the cities and Greece agreed to a peace treaty.


Sparta RZ and Ephesus RZ in 1961


Meanwhile, I successfully took the English Island and once again, because of the success of the mission, revised objectives. I reloaded the Hercules with 3 cavalry units (leaving 3 on the Island) and decided to invade continental England. I decided to take the port city of Warwick.


Captured 'English Island'

RZS Hurricane dominated the seas and sunk 4 English ships while Hercules landed the invading party. Warwick fell the next turn and became Warwick RZ. The English sent reinforcements (conscripted Riflemen) but decided instead to settle peacefully.


Captured Warwick (notice RZS Hurricane on the left)


All three civs (German, English and Greek) agreed to pay large tributes per turn as war damages and I decided to withdraw from World War I. That was the year 1970.... and I hadn't had my war with Russia yet....



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