…and thou shalt not engage in SEX???

Train Engines

Ever wondered what those WAPs and WAGs and WDMs meant on the train engines? Well, finally, I have found what they mean. Thanks Wikipedia.To see the source and lots more information, go here.

Classification syntaxes for Locomotives in the Indian Railways.

The first letter (gauge)

• W-broad gauge
• Y-meter gauge
• Z-narrow gauge(2.5 ft)
• N-narrow gauge (2 ft)

The second letter (motive power)

• D-Diesel
• C-DC electric (can run under DC traction only)
• A-AC electric (can run under AC traction only)
• CA-Both DC and AC (can run under both AC and DC tractions), ‘CA’ is considered a single letter
• B-Battery electric locomotive (rare)

The third letter (job type)

• G-goods
• P-passenger
• M-mixed; both goods and passenger
• S-Used for shunting (Also known as switching engines or switchers in United states and some other countries)
• U-Electric multiple units (used as commuters in city suburbs)
• R-Railcars

For example, in “WDM 3A“:

• “W” means broad gauge
• “D” means diesel motive power
• “M” means suitable for mixed(for both goods and passenger)service
• “3A” means the locomotive’s power is 3,100 hp (‘3′ stands for 3000 hp, ‘A’ denotes 100 hp more)

Or, in “WAP 5“:

• “W” means broad gauge
• “A” mean AC electric traction motive power
• “P” means suitable for Passenger service
• “5″ denotes that this locomotive is chronologically the fifth electric locomotive model used by the railways for passenger service.

Cooking Chronicles

Lots of things have happened in the last week. Major among them are my trip to Wayanad, IBM’s offer letter not reaching me, me learning how to cook (status: still rudimentary, but fast reaching expert levels) and me envying all the people in the world who don’t have an infected boil on their backs (IT SUCKS).

Last week, I was learning to cook. Because of my erratic waking and sleeping hours, I inevitably ended up missing breakfast everyday till Amma finally got sick and stopped making breakfast for me altogether. And so we came up with this idea of making breakfast, at night!

Now, before I entered the kitchen, I delivered a strict warning to Amma in which I asked her to stay in the kitchen but to touch NOTHING during the course of my cooking. Nothing at all. I would do everything. I almost ended up regretting this warning.

First day was Dosa day. Now, the batter was already prepared (thankfully, because making the batter is a really messy work). So all I had to do was pour a ladle full of batter onto the pan and then with the base of the ladle make it into a round shape. It then that I discovered that my unbelievably pathetic skill as an artist/painter had over the years, through my school days and college years, not changed one bit. It was still pathetic. In the pursuit of layering the batter in a round shape, I ended up making maps of India and Africa. One piece even looked like it had an ocean inside it (characterised by a huge area within the layer conspicuous by its absence of batter).

The next day was also Dosa. The same shape creating festival continued, but at the end of it, Amma announced that it was much better than the Dosa the day before. What!! That means the Dosa I had made the day before was BAD???

The next day was Chappati day. Chappatis and some curry made of tomatoes. As usual, Amma could not touch anything once I entered the kitchen. The curry preparation went off peacefully but the chappatis were a different story altogether. No mater what I tried, they just refused to take the round shape we all know chappatis should have. I ended up experimenting in geometry and managed to create lots of shapes except the round shape. I distinctly remember a triangular chappati, a rectangular and a trapezium shaped chappati. But in the end, with lots and lots of ghee and Amma’s impeccable instruction, even this turned out good.

Last day of my cooking before I left for the wedding was Appam-stew day.

Nothing much to report except that the combo tasted DELICIOUS.

Of course it should. I made it!!

Out of Station

Am currently on a tour of Wayanad.

Will reach home tomorrow evening (hopefully, if my cash does not run out).

Boom

Anger. Stubbornness. Irritation. Frustration. Helplessness. Explosion. Senseless. Loss of reason. No more logic. Scream. No more cooperation. Sarcasm. No more obedience. No more manners. No more good boy. No more good son. No more help. Fire. Heat. Inferno. Volcano. Words. Words. Words. Stupid words. Harsh words. Out of control. Wrong words. Rude words. Fear? Sick of fear.

After a long time, I finally lost control. Did something without thinking it over. Spoke words upon words without thinking them over.

I guess it had to happen sometime.

No, I am not going to apologise for what I did. But I just thought how it would be if I apologised. Shit, it is impossible. To imagine and to do.

Is it because I am a guy or because I am an asshole?

Check these out

Title:Shadow of Doubt
Album: The Vision of Escaflowne : Original Soundtrack 2
Get it here.

The song starts with a single instrument. And then they add another instrument, offbeat. And then a third, again out of beat with the first two. Just trying to concentrate on the offbeat instruments simultaneously is a musical delight.
Towards the end of the song, the pattern repeats, but this time with four instruments playing out of sync with each other but somehow with a certain harmony between them. One can get on a high with just this one piece of music.

Title: Fatal
Album: The Vision of Escaflowne : Original Soundtrack 3
Get it here.

A short song (2 minutes) consisting only of whistling. The tune is divine and smooth and has no instruments interrupting or enhancing it.

Title: Max’s choice: Duty vs. Passion
Album: Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
Get it here.

A man has to choose between his duty and his love. He needs both to live and without either, he is lost. One of the best in-game tracks from the second installation of Max Payne.

Travelogue

Ranchi to Ernakulam via Kanpur Central, Delhi, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Bhopal, Itarsi, Kalyan, Panvel, Madgaon, Manglore and Kozhikode (Calicut).

That is 4 days of train journey condensed into a line. Add to that a night at a hotel in New Delhi, watching the Germany – Turkey Euro semifinals (with the inevitable screaming and shouting and abuses at 2 in the morning), the maniac like food spree in the Mangala Lakshadweep Exp (Banana Fry and coffee, repeated ad infinitum), the beautiful and almost Kerala like scenery of southern coastal Maharashtra and Goa (except for a certain non-abundance of coconut trees and banana plants), and lots and lots of tunnels which finally start to bore you and the grand entry into Kerala amidst heavy and brilliant rain, and you have a travelogue.

Prodigious Diablo

Today has been a day of discoveries. First I found out that Ubisoft is indeed bringing out a new game in the Prince of Persia series. Great. MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. It has been tentatively titled Prodigy.

And the second is that Blizzard is bringing out Diablo 3. Lots from Blizzard stables this year then. They already have World of Warcraft : Wrath of the Lich King and Starcraft II slated for release. And now Diablo 3. Nice. I am loving it.

Farewell, 374

My last blog entry from my college. Am leaving this place tomorrow.

As usual, packing is a bother and I haven’t started yet. Unlucky is the man who is allotted my room the coming semester. He will have to:-

• Remove all the waste papers/boxes/food wrappings/bottles from the floor.
• Clean up all the cobwebs which now come below the level of the window.
• Exterminate the room of its insect occupants and then clean up the dead insects below the bed.
• And do some misc cleaning.

And so, I dedicate this post to room number 374 which has been my residence for the past year and to lobby 5 in which my room is. The days we spent screaming at 2 in the morning about how the other guy plays worse DotA than anyone else (and in the process waking everyone in the lobby), the days we spent trying to cram in pages and pages of notes the day before the exams, the days we did insane things and had all the fun in the world will forever remain in my memory (till I forget them of course, I am only human).

Room number 374, I bid you farewell. May your new occupant take better care of you than I ever did.

Adios.

Train Pain

Flash News: Train no 3351 Dhanbad Alleppey express has been cancelled from the 22^nd of June to the 30^th.

Flashier News: We had booked out tickets for the 24^th.

Future course of action: Take the Swarna Jayanti Exp from Ranchi to New Delhi (24 hrs), stay overnight and then board the Mangala Lakshadweep Exp from Hazrat Nizamuddin which Will take me to Ernakulam in around 51 hours.

Just when I thought that leaving the college would end all my miseries…