Redefining Absentism

How absent minded have you been?

Beat this one :)

Project over and after obtaining a release, I was clearly pleased and the excitement was evident on my face. Getting back to the city which I have grown to love, was definitely something to look forward for.

Chatting with my friend over dinner, we set out to the station to catch the 21:30 train to Bangalore. Discussion was on the current Wall Street collapse and effect it will have on us!

Almost at the station, I had a sudden revelation, something which was probably lingering in my sub-conscience, it popped up - poof. Where is my train ticket. Aaaaaugh, I checked my large plastic bag I was carrying that contained some books and large envelopes having my transcripts. Bah! I remembered giving a print out, and had forgotten to collect it, and that's what was hidden within the deep realms of my conscience, which decided to come out only when I am at the station.

Another neural surge and I remembered reading at the irctc website that failure to carry ticket would involve a fine of only Rs. 50/-, if you had your identification. My pal was still saying something about getting a print from a nearby browsing center.

I was still in the process of searching - since I remember having taken another copy earlier and probably hid it somewhere in the middle of tons of sheets which I was carrying, when another surge suggested, to look in my luggage. LUGGAGE?

Where is my god damn luggage. With a sinking feeling I swept the back of the Auto. No bag. It was peacefully resting in the luggage room back at office. I swore. Asked the Auto champ if it is possible to go and come back in time for the train. He looked at me incredulously, sensing that he was dealing with a mad person, and I was pretty sure he would say - 'Yeah sure, not to the Station but to the mental asylum'. When he realized that I had left the luggage at the office, his doubt vanished and he definitely knew he was dealing with a nitwit - 'You left your luggage? Hold on, you mean are you the one who is traveling and you left your luggage, even a fool will know he has to carry something when he is traveling'. I wished I could explain to him, that well the luggage was not with me, but in the luggage room and after dinner, I was so damn deep in discussion with my friend, that we just got out of office, walked up to the Auto Stand and pronto here we were!! But I knew no explanation would edge that disbelief he had on his face.

Well that's what happened, I walked out of our office to get to the station, left my ticket and luggage and very nonchalantly reached the station to catch the train.

Picture it and damn I still get the laughs when I think about it. ROFL.

Tribute to Michael Crichton

It has come to pass, some of the most fascinating works of man.

Michael Crichton, who died some weeks back on Nov 4 '08, the well known author of Jurassic Park and creator of ER, was an imaginative and real genius who came up with some incredible books.

And about the same time he passed away, Japanese scientists were able to take cells from 16 year frozen mice and were able to clone them. Now they are talking of cloning a mammoth from a frozen baby mammoth found in Russia - 20,000 years old. Phew - it would be awesome to see Ice Age come alive.

Think about it, some of these discoveries were fiction years back. But the fact is that man is progressing, fiction that was fiction 20 years back is becoming a reality.

Michael Crichton will be remembered deeply for his contribution to this world, that has paved man to realize some of the awesome works of this year. I have enjoyed each and every book he has written. Even though producing dinosaurs using this method is far fetched - since there is no known frozen sample of a dinosaur; there is a hope that some day Michael Crichton's fiction will become a reality.

Here's to Michael Crichton - Cheers!