My First (Five) Tags

My first tag... or should I say my first five tags? I have gone straight from Rookie to Ace in one post (One of the few “Ace in a day” in history of the world). Thanks Silverine. This is one big post, so grab some coffee before you start reading. Got some popcorns too? Then here go the fiTags:

5 people who top your shit list and why...

I don't hate any person/persons so strongly that I would want to kill them, or at least hit them on sight. But yes, there are some people whom I wouldn't want to meet in this life.

• George R. R. Martin: The reasons are detailed here.


• Politicians: Those who have made the reservations/caste thing a laughing stock of the nation. The laws made by them are just enough to show their vote bank that they are doing something for downtrodden, without the actual needy getting the benefit out of it.


• Fanatics: In any flavour. Let it be religious kind who think theirs is the only religion and only god in the world, or “movie star fan” types who just disrupted whole Banglore, while saying that government was at fault their star died; they cause at the minimum embarrassment and at extreme inconvenience to the world at large.


• Sonia Gandhi: I am not xenophobic and I (grudgingly) even respect her as a shrewd politician, but then the Sacrifice drama is being played one time too many for my liking.


• Mukesh Khanna: Bhishma in Mahabharat was excellent, as was the voice over in Hanuman. But then, even if you copy others to make a so called Indian Superhero, there are some things which you shouldn't do: The Hero having a girlfriend who hates or isn't even aware of his normal person avtar (cliché, ask Luis Lane or Mary Jane Watson), a power hungry scientist (clichier, "paaawar") and a villain who was a good person who turned bad (clichiest, everything from Star Wars to Green Goblin).

Close Brushes with Death/danger:
At least 3 times in my life, I have had death knocking on my door, luckily I was outdoors at the time.

• We are playing “Hide and Seek” in our yard. I finish counting numbers, and turn around to see all my friends standing on the railing looking at something. That's when I realise that while my back was turned, and my eyes closed, a cobra went past my back to our garden. Now I am a confirmed ophidiphobic.


• My first bicycle. I am riding the bicycle on the road for the first time. On the slope, I lose control hitting a pole. Just the second I fall down, a minitruck rumbles by my head


• Me and my friend are on a camping trip with a group. While on the road to Arthur seat, with backpack almost equalling my weight, I slip on the jungle trail. I slide towards the valley about 6 foot before catching a tree with both hands. Otherwise the swift descent was a definite ticket to a swifter ascent.

5 Preferable modes of suicide, in descending order:
There is only one, and I am trying that now, by old age.

5 Guilty pleasures:

• Chocolate, I love anything that has chocolate in it.


• Chandoba, Champak, Secret Seven et al. kids' books. I love the stories of Vikram and Vetal.


• (Re)ⁿ reading Sherlock Holmes. I can recite the whole plots with all details (except the names, I am bad at remembering names)


• Salty Moong Daal, for interested people, you get this from Haldiram's. I can finish 500 gm packet all by myself. It's a legacy from my family, like my liking for coffee.


• I am a Wordsmith. I love coining new words, even when that is by joining two words together for ease of use. (e.g. FiTags = five + tags)
  

5 things you never want to forget:

This section was getting a little too big to be made a part of the post. An entire post on this (or maybe 2-3 posts) coming up soon.

5 things you wish to forget:
There are 3 or 4 such incidents. The most harmless and the only one I can disclose without embarrassing the parties involved: my IIT-JEE results (or no-results, whatever you say).

5 really exotic dishes you have tried:

• Vegetable Pulav (exotic on the account that I made it for the first time, with some exotic ingredients from Mixed Veg)


• Tiramisu (made by my brother, but not exotic for that reason, but for the taste)


• Chilli Tofu


• Kaateri Vaangemasa, a kind of fish, I think. Sorry, can't translate the name.


• Some fish I tried in a Thai restaurant in San Jose, forgot the name.

5 crushes/loves in your life... in chronological order

• Aishwarya Rai. She is so beautiful, and very elegant. A perfect lady.


• Emma Watson, the perfect Hermione Granger.

Can't remember any more.

Strangest dream you ever had:
I don't remember most of my dreams after the morning after, but the strangest one must be the one containing me, my friends on a trip to somewhere, which included a time travel somewhere in it, where we all travelled to Medieval times and got lost in Pune.

5 most valued personal possessions:
Not in any particular order:

• My Sony Vaio laptop: My latest acquisition, and believe me, it is great.


• My black i-pod: second latest, preceding the vaio by about 2 hours.


• The Mug I got from Museum Sinsheim, showing a concorde.


• My DSC P-43


• My book collection: increasing by day.

5 favourite superheroes..... and why:
I don't like Superman, because he is too invincible. I don't like Dark Angel, or any of the X-Men, because they are too dark sometimes. But I like,

• Peter Benjamin Parker/ Spiderman: A geeky Superhero if there was one ever. Most human of the lot.


• Tintin: Not exactly tights and cape clad hero, but the first man on the moon. A Belgian young reporter who reports less than he solves crime. When his team of rum-loving, quipping dog Snowy, Captain “Blue-Blistering-Barnacles” Haddock and the Prof. “slightly hard of hearing” Calculus gets on your case, believe that you are busted. Tintin has probably pulled off most escapes from improbable situations.


• Asterix: With his menheir delivery buddy Obelix (“these romans are crazy”), and the village Druid Getafix (“No obelix” “because I fell in the potion when I was a kid, I know I know”), he is the super duper (secret potion guzzling) Roman bashing machine. And oblique references to recent history (he tells Cleopatra to call the French if Egyptians ever need something like a canal to be built) make it a funnier read. Just don't get on a pirate ship when these people might be on the sea, and keep Cacofonix well tied up and gagged, and the sky will not fall on your head.


• Phantom: “Phantom is The Superhero” (an old jungle saying)


• SWAT Kats: T-bone and Razor are one of the first characters/people who started me on my addiction to everything that is flying. I spent many an afternoons (4.30 pm) lying on the couch watching Cartoon Network, just to watch Turbokat foil the Pastmaster's plan once again, and turn Commander Feral into a seething volcano.

Now comes the interesting part. 5 people I tag: Bharath, Deepa, Figo, Kani and Khushal.


Quote of The Day:

You're not Superman you know.
- Aunt May