How many Volume Controls does it take to get some sound??

A rather big title for the blog, but this is the question I have been having for some time now. In the morning, I just put on some music and for some reason, there was no sound coming out of the computer. I knew that this was a problem due to some sound control settings. I set to investigate this particular problem and found that I had to deal with volume control settings in at least 5 places beginning with the volume control in the tray bar on the right hand corner of the screen. This particular control also has some sub-controls for wave files and the cd player. Then came the sound card with its own set of sound control settings. Then there’s Winamp which provides a multitude of sound control settings. To add to all this, the speakers are not behind in this volume control race. They proudly display their own volume controls too. After turning the volume settings to maximum in all these places, I still wasn’t able to get any sound. Turns out that the headphones I had connected to my speakers also had one of these godforsaken volume controls. I am thinking, what the hell…it takes 5 settings to get the frigging sound.

Man, why on earth would you need so many settings when one would suffice? I wish Mr.Gates can answer the question. And god help you if own a laptop. The laptops have a separate sound control of their own (esp the Think Pad ones) which are not related to the other sound controls at all. I don’t see how listening to music is a pleasurable experience if one has to go through all this torture.

On a different ending note as usual, I swear I saw this in the gym. A guy was cycling away to glory and also reading a book at the same time. I am at a loss to explain why someone would attempt something like this. Someone care to clarify this?

“Train”ing Days

In the last 2 and half days, I have travelled about 31 hours in the great three tier sleeper coaches of the Indian Railways. And as always, the second class compartment journeys are “always” interesting. The word “reserved compartment” is a joke though. In a bogie capable of having 72 people, there were at least 100 of them. All the possible places for seating were taken up. I am only thankful that there were no farm animals in my compartment. On a trip to Delhi once, I was fortunate enough to see a shepherd take a few of his sheep through the reserved compartment. And I am not joking.

I have always hoped that there will be some pretty girl sitting somewhere near me in the train. Unfortunately, that has yet to happen in my 25 years of existence. There are always some pretty girls on the station when the train arrives, but they all decide to get into the bogie at least 10 bogies away from mine. Needless to say, I am always stuck with older ladies or whining kids. The return journey was no different. For a change, all the seats near me were filled entirely with women. But wait, Fate is cruel. These women came from all the ages except the age I would have preferred them to be in. There were 2 whining girls, two mothers and 2 old ladies. No pretty girl anywhere in the picture. As a probability, I would hope that at least 1 in 6 women would be in the age range I hoped them to be in (Gang!! No wisecracks or the kiddo jokes here).

Now whining kids I can bear. But not old aunties and ladies. At one point I was crushed between two of them. One of them opened up a book and started praying. Now, I have no issues per se with anyone praying. But I don’t prefer someone praying in my ear. So I put on my music and started listening to Nirvana. Just then the tone and pitch of the praying also increased to near screeching levels. Even Kurt Cobain’s incessant hate rants were no match for this lady’s baritone. It was only 2 hours later this prayer stopped when one of the kids started whining. The only time I am thankful to the whining kid. This lady also turned on the light at precisely 3.05 am, for what reason I don’t know. I beseeched her to switch off the goddamn light. She refused, so I did it myself. This lady also woke up at precisely 6 am and started chanting again and woke me up. Then she started talking to me and our conversation went like this, right in the morning.

Aunty : So, where do you study?
Me : I stopped studying, I don’t engage in these activities anymore.
Aunty: So what do you do?
Me: I work.
Aunty: So where do you work?
Me: I name the company I work for.
Aunty: So where do you work?
Me: I name the company again.
Aunty: So are you a software engineer?
Me: No, I am in chip design, (a smirk on my face)
Aunty: So how much do you earn then? What’s your salary?
Me: I survive on whatever they give me.

She looks at me with sheer disgust and stops the conversations.

And this was how most of my weekend was spent, tackling the train people. However, the one day stay in Solapur itself was very good. Had a lot of great Marathi food, met my aunt and my nephew and remembered all the summertime spent here with my cousins as a schoolkid. It sure was nostalgic.

The gym exploits……

The intrepid explorer has been jogging away to glory in the gym for about 6 weeks now, continuing from the earlier jogging exploits in the nearby park. So far so good. Joggin’ in the gym is much more peaceful. No more obstacles from the uncles and the aunties. Only one small problem. I happen to have issues with gym covered entirely with mirrors, especially when I am jogging; I hate to have a mirror in front of me. I don’t want to see how I jog nor am I interested in seeing my own mug/face while I am jogging. To echo Rajjo’s feelings here, I happen to see my own mug right in the morning while shaving and it’s not at all a pretty sight. I’d rather have a poster of Monica Bellucci or Maria Sharapova in front of me.

Secondly, I also happen to have issues with some of the music that’s being played in the gym. I hate bhangra music. Period. I don’t want that kind of music in the gym. Gym is not the place for the bhangra. People interested in bhangra are very well welcome to frequent the discotheques. And there also happen to be a few Bryan Adams obsessed people in the gym. I don’t want to listen to “have u really loved a woman” when I am jogging. I would rather have a “comfortably numb” or a “smells like teen spirit” on the speakers. But then again, Bryan Adams is melodious compared to bhangra. And for certain reasons that will not be disclosed to the reader, I am called the celebrity of the gym. I was awarded this title within 30 mins of me entering the gym on the first day.

And on a different note as usual, the weekend was good. The gang came to the rescue on a rather sombre Friday evening. Trust the gang to be there when their presence is required. Listening to Coldplay in Devil’s car late in the night was a very good feeling. I still think Speed of Sound is arguably their best song. And Dhi only one turned 26 on Saturday and the kiddo1 turned 25 on Friday. May both you guys live many a year.J