08. Yay!

So here's some good news! Bud's XBox has finally been replaced. He tried to convince me that it hadn't yet, but the name is Bond, James Bond :-P

I am stuck on a mission in GTA IV for the past couple of days and it's getting to me (GRRR). Think it's the last story-related mission, so all the more bugging. (GRRR again!) But yea, I am happy that bud is back into the world of gaming. :-)

Hmmm, I think I'll give it a last shot (today's) now.

-Prash

07. Here I Come To Save The Day!!!

See, the thing with superheroes is that they are SUPER. They can do what no other human can. They can fly, scale walls, shape-shift, become invisible, create holes in walls with a punch, run at the speed of light, elongate their body parts (stop thinking too much, u perv!), stay underwater and breathe like a fish, become huge in size, or at times as small as an atom. The list is endless. Not only of their special abilities, but of themselves too!

 

The past few days have been very super-humane for me! The thing is that I have always been fascinated with superheroes. Not that 25 zillion other people around the world have not been. With me, I feel, it’s a little different. It's quite prolonged! Ever since I was a kid, till now, when I am on the wrong side of the twenties (wish I had the power to stay a certain age! Aah!), superheroes have been an integral part of my not-so-super life.

 

Like many kids, I used to dress up as my favorite superheroes, tight-fitting clothes with the undies over them, cape n all! (They were mighty uncomfortable, I tell ya! These superheroes really have balls of steel!) I even cut out Superhero Logos and attached them to the clothes I would wear! (the ones on the cape never survived for more than 10 minutes! Bah, so much for being a Superhero Logo out of ordinary paper!)

 

So, to cut a long super-story short, I wanted to be a superhero. Uhhh… actually I just wanted to have superpowers! I didn’t really care much about being the protector of the universe, the Earth, my country, state, city, neighbourhood… (you get the message!) I just wanted to have those amazing super-powers! What all could I do with them! I guess I had more mischievous plans rather than heroic ones! (*MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!*)

 

Few of the powers I have always wanted!

 

 

01.  Super Strength:- No explanations required there I guess! Who would not wanna be really powerful, so that you could bash up the neighbourhood bully. Or any bully. Sometimes your teachers also. Anyone who tried to bully you, in any way. And you could get away with it too, because you were a Superhero!!!

02.  Flight:- aah! I was under the impression that I was the only kid who secretly wished he had THAT power. But, unfortunately and sadly, I got to know that almost every kid has had this power on his/her super-wish-list at least once in their lifetime. Again, being able to fly is something that man has been trying to do for ages. As far as I can remember, even Daedalus and Icarus wanted to fly. Now that’s some Greek Mytho there. So, for times immemorial, "Flight" would be man's favourite super-power!

03.  Invisibility:- Now, THAT’S one power I'd luuurrrrrrrrve to have! The power to be able to get all kinda information, without getting caught! The power to sneak up on your 'enemies' without being seen! The power to enter school, even if you were late! To leave house without permission! To see the neightbourhood girl while she took a…. ok ok, that’s enough.

04.  Scaling Walls:- Peter Parker was a guy I could relate to! He was somewhat a loser, a geek, young, and not-so-rich! And he was so cool! I wanted to don a Spidey suit n scale walls! And yea, to add to that, I wanted the ability to spin webs too! (I had a red and blue colored pajama set too, and with the help of a black marker pen and some spidey paper-cutouts and a Spiderman mask, I had the best Spidey suit in my circle of friends! Not to forget the best spanking from mom for doing that. And the dream of being a local Spiderboy just scaled up the wall and FLEW away… AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT. Such is life, I say!)

05.  Elasticity:- That one was on the list for sometime, especially during the years when I used to feel quite vertically challenged, and friends would tease me about being a "bonsai". But when the biological system decided that I shouldn’t remain a bonsai, the power also disappeared from the wish list, at the speed of light! WHOOOOOOOOOSH! (wasn’t much useful anyway! :-D )

06.  Speed Of Light:- The name says it all! I could win all races! ALL of them! I could pinch the local bullies in the places that hurt 'em most, and would just… RUN!! Now THAT would be some fun!! (I could even impress my classmates of the opposite gender! They liked fast people!)

07.  Shape-Shifting:- Yes, I wanted to do that too! There were times when I wanted to be a car, a rocket, a dog, a kangaroo, a dolphin, a bear, a bat, a turtle… How much fun that would be!!! I even wanted to be a mutant for a brief period of time, thanks to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the X-Men. … Then I reached middle school and realized that wasn’t biologically possible.

 

Well, the list might go on, but I guess these were the seven most important super-powers I wanted to have. Later on, during the course of my life, I realized that acquiring these powers would be a little difficult, if not entirely impossible. So I decided I could still be a superhero, without any REAL super-powers! I would go the Bruce Wayne/Batman or Tony Stark/Iron Man routes, create some scientifically designed armour suits and vehicles, and still be able to do all the things I dreamt of!

 

Another realization hit. All of this required money and technical expertise. That was great! The only sad part was, I had none. So, I decided to become a scientist. And I studied hard. No no, not my course-books… Comic books! And I kept dreaming, in true Piscean fashion.

 

Later on, I grew older and somewhere down the line the dream of becoming a scientist was kinda lost, and I decided to become a software engineer (thanks to the IT Boom of the late 90's). Uh-oh, hang on. I also wanted to become a doctor!

 

So, I took the decision of opting for a weird combination of subjects for my +2 schooling. The combination that even the best of the best students, the brightest ones, dreaded. They could have a stroke or a cardiac arrest thinking about it! Some were strong willed. They only had nightmares, leading to them wetting their beds at night.

 

I was different. I was a Superhero in the making, after all. So I opted for that dreaded combination. PCBME (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, English.)

 

As you would have guessed by now, I ended up being none. For my "higher studies", I opted Business Management. (It's a different story that my friends and I gave "higher" studies a totally new dimension!)

 

Later on, I became a Radio Jockey. And now, I am a TV Anchor.

 

 

Who am I? I am Confuso-Man!

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Later on, I was exposed to the world of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. There was this deep burning desire to become a rockstar too. But the story of that in some other post. Right now, I gotta go and do some "world-saving" for now! (That means watching Superhero movies and reading my freshly-downloaded-collection of Superhero Comic Books.)

 

 

 

Hmmm… quite theatrical, isn’t it?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

* "Hmmm"ing during the writing of this post:- 

 

Bud: you are weird

me: yes

  i know!

  n i am soon gonna give u solid proof of that!

Bud: ooook

  Umm I look forward to it

 me: hmmm

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Love, Peace n Harmony,

Prateek/Sam. a.k.a Confuso-Man

 

 

© The Humming Buds Dec 2008

06. Huh?!

I am extremely sleepy and I have no idea why I am trying to update the blog in this 'condition'. (yaaaaawwn)

How many times do you do stay up late, even though you are sleepy, for no particular reason? Does it make going to sleep easier, making you doze off as soon as your head hits the pillow? Are you scared what you might dream about? Does it stop you from thinking? Does there have to be a reason?

I am going to sleep now...
Good night,
Prash


(Yea, I know you can't see the pic here. Please don't point out the 'mistake', try clicking instead!)


© The Humming Buds Dec 2008

05. What Would We Do Without You?

See the thing with us buds is that there are some things we are both addicted to. Besides sleeping (yaaawwn) and eating (Yay! Pizza!), this presently includes gaming.

I am not what you can call a hardcore gamer, having recently acquired an Xbox 360, but I do enjoy playing.


(Yes, a girl can enjoy playing GTA IV, Gears of War 2, Half Life 2, COD 4.)


In fact, in the less-than-two-months of owning the console, I have already finished one game--a wonderful surprise birthday present from my bud. :-) (I thought he was buying it for himself... Well, he did buy it for himself too!)

Now my dear bud might think I am doing a little jale pe namak chhidakna by writing all this, but I really am not. (His console died recently, and he is waiting for the company to replace it.) I am actually writing this to... well you'll see why in a bit...

There was a time when I was alien to gaming, except some online games, which you can't really categorise as gaming. And at this time, bud was (well, he always has been) very much into it. Now trust me, and I am sure those of you who have been in the situation would agree, it was extremely difficult for me to really get excited about it, or relate to it in any manner. There were also the "Accha will call you in 15 minutes, am playing abhi" to deal with. Overall not a very pleasant experience for me I must say, especially when those 15 minutes never got over.

(What if I was in a life-threatening situation and wanted to talk to my bud?
Okay, I am a drama queen, shoot me :-P)

Well, now that I have my own gaming console, and some really cool games to go with it, all I can say is, "Sam, I know what you are going through right now." Just the electricity goes while I am playing and I am as sad as a ghost who has just discovered he/she's dead.



I think the Xbox has changed our friendship forever... Oh yea, definitely for the better. Even I get to do the "Will call you in 15 minutes" deal now (sadistic smile).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------







The last 'hmmm'ing before this post:


Me: How much do you miss gaming on your xbox?

Bud: :-|
is that a question to be asked?

Me: hmmm


(Okay, maybe that was a little jale pe namak chhidakna.)


© The Humming Buds Dec 2008

04 (a). How The Buds Started 'Hmmm'ing – Bud 1

Do you like stories? I, like hell, do. Be it fairy tales, or Harry Potter, or Lord of the Rings, or Percy Jackson, or Anne Frank, or Ayn Rand, or The Kite Runner, or, well you get the idea (I hope!). Anyway, this is the story of the buds.






How the buds started ‘hmmm’ing




Once upon a time in July 2007, there was a girl who, besides other things, liked to work. And this work sometimes required her to get in touch with professionals, to well, write about their profession for a certain magazine. For that particular issue, a particular profession was chosen.


So, there was a deadline looming large, as always, and contacts were needed. The girl’s boss got her a contact and one of the girl’s college mates messaged her the numbers of two more.


Of the three contacts, only one would talk (no pun intended here). So what this girl did was, she called her best friend who knew someone through Orkut, who might be able to get some contacts.



(Yes, it was a long drawn, agonising, process).



SB (the girl’s best friend) scrapped the guy she knew, and that fellow told SB that the girl could get in touch with him directly. So the girl did just that.


Now this guy mailed the girl email IDs of two contacts almost immediately. And because of the aforementioned deadline, the girl too mailed these two people almost immediately.


Unfortunately, one of the mails bounced back. The girl mailed the guy back and asked if it was possible to get another email ID. This time too, the guy replied back almost immediately.



(You may wonder why all they did was exchange mails, and not other work. Well, you may go on wondering, it’s your wonderment after all…)



Now to the girl’s amazement, she got a reply from the alternate email ID, yes, you guessed right, almost immediately. The other person, whose mail hadn’t bounced back, didn’t reply at all (Grrr).


After some more mails were exchanged, in one of which a number to call on was asked for and the request declined, the girl sent forward a list of questions, which by no means could be called small, and the reply came in, nope you are wrong, this time it wasn’t almost immediately, but wasn’t after a long gap of time either.


Now, equipped with these answers and the replies the girl had already got from the contact who had talked, and of course after thanking them both, she set forth to write the article. After a considerable amount of time (not almost immediately), she opened the mail again and Voila! she read a line she had missed before (maybe she was in a hurry to write the article, maybe she didn’t scroll down before, we’ll never know).



And the line she had missed was, “Just bumped into your profile on orkut. Nice!” Now of course, the girl knew it hadn’t been “just a bump” so, she decided to “just bump” into this person’s Orkut profile as well.



(I could end this story right now and say, “The rest as they say is history”, but the fact of the matter is that it isn’t!)



A scrap was left, a reply came, yes this time it was almost immediately! Another scrap was sent and so on, and so forth. Until Orkut decided that it didn’t want them to continue scrapping without having to wait for some eight minutes or something between scraps.



(You could say that that was the turning point, or you could say that later. I’ll leave that choice to you…)



Now this girl, being the impatient kind, decided that no one was going to ask her to wait, especially NOT Orkut. So off she went and added the person to her friend’s list. Not surprisingly, the person accepted the request, almost immediately.


What followed was another volley of scraps, without the eight-minute interruption.



(You may again wonder why all they did was exchange scraps, and not other work. Well, you may…)



(Without boring you further about how the Internet was otherwise instrumental in the beginning of the ‘hmmm’ing of the buds, I shall jump a little further in time.)



Several days (okay maybe it was just a day :-P), chats, and Orkut scraps later, the girl decided to ask this person a question. This is how the chat went:





Girl: alrite here goes
coffee sometime?










Person: hmmm






And the rest, dear reader, as they say, is history.




(IN CASE you haven’t figured out yourself, girl is me, person is bud. Always good to make things clear, you know, some people, like the ones mentioned in the post below, need things to be absolutely clear for them to understand what it is. Capiche?)


© The Humming Buds Dec 2008

02. Aalas

Hum aalsi hain. Merko neend aa rahi hai.

Tata,
Prash.

© The Humming Buds Dec 2008

01. The Most Obvious Question... Hmmm.

As it is with most blogs and bloggers, the posts usually come after some time has passed since the creation of the blog. So is the situation with this one. So as hundreds of thousands of bloggers write in their first posts, "Here we are, in the blogosphere! Ready, all set, computer, MS Word and all, with our 'baby'!"

 

Well,  I can go on and on, telling all the readers what we intend to do with this blog, how this is going to be a vent for our pent-up emotions, how this will become our "Dear Diary", so that we can "express our opinions" to all the readers and the world alike. But then, maybe not.

 

 

So, without further ado, o reader friend, let me tell you what this is all about.

 

 

Nothing.

 

Yes, yes, u read it right! This blog is actually about nothing! There are no strong views that we intend to convey through this blog. No political heavy duty stuff, no crying over relationships, no critical analysis of random subjects. Nothing fitting this description.

 

This is just a place where 2 best buddies write! Yea, JUST write! "And what is it that you will write about?" you may ask! The answer to that very intelligent and quite obvious question is, ANYTHING!

 

Ok, lemme be a little more conclusive in what I am trying to say here. See, the thing is, this is just a simple blog. Both of us, the authors, henceforth known as the Buds, are best of friends. Of course, since we are two different people, we DO have two different brains! ("Thank you, Einstein" I hear u say! *snigger snigger*)

 

And as it is commonplace for two free-thinking, slightly irreverent, mildly creative, supremely wild (at least in our own minds), unconventionalist friends, we have our own sets of agreements and disagreements. But apart from all this, there is one thing which is common to both Buds.

 

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is… Hmmm.

 

No no, I didn’t forget what I was going to write, nor did I start thinking randomly all of a sudden. Actually what is common between us IS Hmmm.

 

Hmmm.

 

Yes, that sound. That word. And mind you, it has to be spelled in that same manner! One "Aech" and three "Ems". Hmmm.

 

It’s a divine word, and the divinity of its sound is even bigger!

 

One word, and it has multiple meanings! And it is, by far, the most-used word in our conversations, as abusrd or as intelligent they might be.

 

I am completely in love with this "Hmmm". It conveys so many different feelings. Its like that one potion that can cure all diseases, if a potion like that exists! Its like the "masterkey that opens all the locks in the world" that we used to read about in comic books and pulp-fiction! Its like that one "anaar" that can heal "sau beemaar"!

 

 

It can be a way to greet someone.

Bud 1:- "Hi! Good morning!"

Bud 2:- "Hmmm"

 

It can be an affirmation.

Bud 1:- "You going to office today?"

Bud 2:- "Hmmm"

 

It can also be an indication that one is thinking about the subject of discussion.

Bud 1:- "So, what's your opinion? Was that right or not?"

Bud 2:- "Hmmm…" (followed by the opinion, but of course!)

 

It might also be an exclamation! An indication that one, or maybe both, are surprised, excited, happy, whatever!

Bud 1:- "I am going shopping today in the evening!!!!"

Bud 2:- Hmmm!!!

 

Well, sometimes, it's also a response to a joke too!! (this one JUST happened while writing this post)

Bud 1:- "…… comparing Dutch and Indian weddings! LOL!! :-D

Bud 2:- "Hmmm!!!" (followed by a 'Lol'!!!)

 

Yet, sometimes, and very interestingly, a volley of "Hmmm"s becomes an entire conversation!!

Bud 1:- "Hmmm…"

Bud 2:- "Hmmm."

Bud 1:- "Hmmm, yea…"

Bud 2:- "Hmmm, "

 

(please note that proper punctuation here always helps in conveying the appropriate usage!!!)

 

Quite interestingly, we are hooked on to this "Hmmm". See, I cant even call it a word! Its hard for me to do that! It seems almost blasphemous to do so! It's far too divine to be labeled as a "word"!!

 

Well, at least I know that I am definitely hooked on to it! And its not just between the Buds that the "Hmmm" is experienced. It happens during conversations with others as well, verbal and literal alike. In fact, if I remember correctly, my bud picked it up from me.

 

In fact this "Hmmm" has been so deeply linked with me, that some people think I have some kinda illicit thing going on there with it!! (*snort snort*)

 

On my Orkut Testimonials, Facebook Comments etc, people have not failed to mention about this "Hmmm"ing quality of mine. It almost seems they got me married off to "Hmmm".

 

Not that it feels bad! Some people sing, some dance, some race… some do some things not appropriate to be mentioned here (hoping that they are being safe, though!!!)… I simply "Hmmm".

 

Actually, now WE "Hmmm".

That’s the way it is. And that’s what we are going to do here as well. Just sit back, relax, talk… and "Hmmm".

 

 

 

I think I'll go and have some pizza now, and watch a nice movie.

 

Hmmm, nice idea!!!

 

 

(See what I mean!!!!!)

Love, Peace n Harmony.

Prateek/Sam.

© The Humming Buds Dec 2008