Music, Technology

Bose® In-Ear Headphones

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I recently had the opportunity to use bose in-ear headphones and I was so moved by the experience that I had to write a post.
Firstly, I wanted to know what the hype is about bose products and why they cost so more. Maybe it was this because of which my expectations were high. These bose headphones are good, but not as good as I expected. If you’re looking for noise cancelling phones, these are not for you. They fight very lightly in the ears but are very very comfortable. I normally use the generic headphones that came with my phone, so I like to keep my equaliser to high bass. The bass on the bose is so strong I immediately had to turn my equaliser back to normal. I started off with sad but true by metallica and the depth of the sound blew me away. The song sounded amazing. Next I moved on to marooned from pink floyd’s division bell. Again, amazing, with the bass just a bit high, overwhelming the mid range. Coming back to life sounded amazing, the bass on high hopes
was physically irritating to my skull and I had to lower the volume. Bose also says on the package that the headphones produce “natural sound” which is not entirely true, as the music sounds enhanced in the low range.
To change the genre I turned to Dire Straits. I started off with So far away, continued to Money for nothing and finished off with brothers in arms. Again, normal songs sound good, the songs with already prominent bass tracks just overwhelm the mid-range. By this time i’ve listened to an hour worth of songs but the headphones are barely noticeable and so comfortable that if it wasn’t for the sound or the wires
hanging off, I would not even know they were there. I am normally not a fan of in-ear earphones, but these are really-really good.
Pros:

  1. Excellent sound quality
  2. Excellent comfort
  3. Good Bass
Cons:
  1. Bass sometimes too strong, overpowers mid-range
  2. Better earphones available within same range
If you listen to a song for the music, the clarity of the instruments, there may be better options available. If you want just loud music with thumping bass, this the the thing for you.

I myself have added the Klipsch Image S4 on my wishlist and will be getting these bad boys as soon as I get my pay at the end of the month.

Hate, Rant

How to become an Upper-Class Delhiite

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I have a habit of bitching about the places in live in, or visit. Here’s another one
After staying in the NCR region for a long time and especially after going to various night clubs tonight, I have compiled here, a list of qualities you must possess to be a true Delhi-ite
1. Always talk in fake accented english, so as to make people think that you’re from outside(some other country), even though you spent most of your life talking in hindi. Talking in hindi now is for foolish, un-sophisticated people.
2. Always dress up in expensive branded clothes with the labels strategically placed so that everyone can see.
3. Always wear cool shades, even if it is pitch dark and you can’t see anything. Fashion comes before the ability to see.
4. Always carry your car keys in your hand with the brand name visible. Talk about how you used your sources to skip the waiting list on the car and how you’re already bored and are thinking of selling it off and buying a new one.
5. Set the ring tone of your mobile to the loudest setting possible and use the latest hip-hop song as the ring tone. Take your time answering the call.
6. When talking to people in public, always slip in words like “canada” or “UK”
7. Always let people know how rich your dad is and how many political contacts you have.
8. Remove all the speakers in your car except the woofer, so that when you pull up on a traffic signal only the beats of the hip hop song are audible to people around you.
9. Cover all the windows with illegal black film.
10. Alloy wheels are a must. It’s a shame to drive a car without alloys.
11. On turns always remember to use the hand brake so as to make a screeching sound with the wheels.
12. Start driving cars at the age of 12, this will help you hook up with the girls in your school.
13. Claim to like rock music, even though you have no idea what rock music is.
14. Go to discos with your girlfriend, pick up a fight with someone who tried to hit on your girlfriend and call all your important contacts to get the other guy/group of guys beaten up.
15. If you’re a girl, wear skimpy clothes and when you go to parties, hug and air kiss all the guys that you meet and know but never talk to otherwise. Change back into traditional clothes before entering home.
16. If you’re a guy, brag about how many girls you have bedded and how things didn’t work out
17. If you’re a girl, brag about how casual sex is for you and not a big deal at all.
18. When paying the bill at a restaurant, open your wallet as much as possible so as to show the Wad of banknotes inside.
19. Buy a BMW/AUDI, get drunk and run over pedestrians/ beggars at night. When arrested, have your rich dad bail you out and resume your spoilt lifestyle.

Rant

Worthless Life

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Hello. My life has become worthless lately. Reasons:
1. I don’t go to the gym anymore. My usual excuses are that I go to office in the evenings and wake up in the afternoon so I can only go to gym in the afternoon. The problem is only very expensive gyms are open in the afternoon.
2. I don’t play the guitar anymore. The thing I prided upon doesn’t matter much anymore. It doesn’t matter that I could once play the whole opening leads for the “Hell freezes over” version of Hotel California. My excuse is that the fret board is bent and I can’t find a place to repair here
3. I eat junk food everyday. I eat at nirulas or some other fast food joint everyday. I also have atleast a litre of coke everyday. Weekends are special binge fests with more food and alcohol thrown in.
4. I still spend more than I earn. Though I use buxfer and it has controlled my spendings I still end up spending a lot of money.
I’m still a long way off from financial stability. My only consolation is that I don’t really need financial stability at this point of my life.
5. I don’t ride my bike anymore. In the summers its too hot to ride and in the winters its too cold. When sometimes I do ride my bike it feels so amazing I can’t describe in words. Lights failing, indicators rattling, battery almost dead its in a sorry state. I remember in college I thought I didn’t ever want to buy a car and always ride my bike.
Have I really changed and just trying to believe that I’m still the same and can be the same way still when it’s time to move on?

Weather

Fog, what amazing fog!

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I remember ranting about fog last year, around the same time of the year. Well, this year, the weather was clear till yesterday. Tonight however, was a different situation altogether. When I left office at 4 in the morning, it was one of the worst fogs I had ever seen. I could hardly see anything and couldn’t cross a speed of 20kmph. My only guides were the white markings in the middle of the road which I tried to focus on as I drove my car. Had to use a low beam as with a high beam the headlights reflected straight off the fog and blinded me.

Anyways it took me almost half an hour to get home, which is hardly 4km away. When I did reach and parked my car, it was an eerie sight. There were no street lights, and there was a power cut so there were no lights from nearby houses, but it was surprisingly brighter than usual. It was a full moon and that had a very strange and eerie effect. Everything around me was brightly bathed in moonlight, but even then there seemed to be no single source of the light and i could not even see the moon. The light seemed to be diffused through the fog and emanating from the fog itself. I spent atleast 5 minutes on the streets, mesmerised by the sight before the cold started to get to me and I went home. This reminded me of a scene from the story of the hound of baskervilles, where Sherlock Holmes and Watson lie waiting for the hound in the moorlands of dartmoor. As they say, really eerie.

Rant

Boring days

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Nothing much has been new with life. Had been sick for a week (Cold, fever etc). Have been really busy with work (work in the office, work from home etc.). Want a nice long holiday away from home and somewhere new.
Have been growing a beard and it’s pretty good now. Plan to grow it some more before I shave.
Got a new phone (Nokia E-52) and will post a review soon.

Rant

Pulpy Screwdriver

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This Sunday I came back home quite early and was pretty bored. Decided to watch “Ek Chalis Ki Last Local” for the 10th time. Had some spare vodka lying around (Haven’t had a drink for a month), as well as some Pulpy Orange so mixed the two and the results were quite satisfying.

The movie was quite excellent too! I had already seen the movie many times but the movie never bores me. The movie is based on a few hours worth of incidents but the special quality of the movie is the characters. The characters are not only extremely funny, but realistic as well.
Abhay Deol Plays the role of a guy from Delhi (Nilesh) who recently moved to Mumbai and works at a call center. Like all Delhi people, he considers Mumbai an inferior place and boasts about what he could have done if he was in Delhi. Neha Dhupia plays the role of a (super hot :P) whore who seduces men who miss the last train out of Kurla. Other characters include a devout don, a corrupt policeman, one who thinks he’s Rajnikant, a few goons, a Transvestite Pimp, a Poetic Gay Gangster, a whore turned hit-woman etc. Each and every character gives in a commendable performance.
Guys who have always lived through monetary shortages in the last days of the month will identify with Abhay Deol’s behavior in the beginning of the movie. From deciding what to order at a bar with only 70 Rupees in his wallet (I once has 10 rupees in my pocket and no fuel in my bike; deserves a separate post), to winning 40lacs at a card game, to being almost encountered by Policemen to being almost raped by the gay Mangesh Chhilka one has to watch the movie at least once to see what fate has in store for Nilesh.
Hmm. I am sleepy now. Goodnight!!
Adventure

Out of town..

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Today, we had an out of town trip after a long long time. It was a refreshing experience after the monotony of Malls and 8 lane expressways. I have to admit though that the trip would have been better on bikes.

The place is called Damdama lake, near Sohna, Haryana. It’s around 40km from Gurgaon and the road is a 2 lane normal Indian road. The last mile is a single lane and mostly mud.

Music, Rant

Why I will continue to download pirated music

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A few days back, I felt the sudden urge to download a few Dire Strait songs. I’d been hearing about online music stores a lot and felt that for some good songs, less than 1$ is a price worth paying. Come to think of it. A few years back an album cost much more than it does now if you buy and download online. You don’t have to leave your computer and your song is there in a few minutes, and all legitimate. Unfortunately,
I didn’t have such luck.

I started with the tab in windows media player that I always saw, but never used; the media guide. I remember how it always pestered me to select an online store during install. I looked all over in vain but it would only give me youtube links for songs that I searched. No store, no song. I tried ITunes next. After I completed the registration process, I was informed that you can buy music online only if you are in the US, or hold a US credit card. I tried amazon, napster everywhere, I had no option to buy music.

Finally I went to torrentz.com, downloaded the whole album for free in fifteen minutes. I have learnt my lesson and I would prefer to spend my money and waste my time elsewhere.

Music

Brothers in Arms

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This is an amazing song I’ve been listening to a lot recently. The song maintains the original Dire Straits‘ bluesy and laid back guitar-based sound. The keyboard portions are reminiscent of the style Richard Wright used around the Dark Side of the Moon era.

These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day youll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And youll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms

Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
Ive watched all your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms

Theres so many different worlds
So many differents suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones

Now the suns gone to hell
And the moons riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But its written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
Were fools to make war
On our brothers in arms

Rant

Too much to do, too little time

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Lately I have been feeling that I’ve been trying to do too much in my life but don’t have enough time to do it. Time flows by like a river and boredom is a thing I haven’t experienced for a long time. Here’re what I do all week.

During the weekdays, I wake up at 12.30, go out for sometime, come back home at 2, take a bath, play games from 2.30 to 3.30, do a little office work, have my lunch at 4, leave for office at 4.30, come back at 3 in the morning, watch seinfeld and listen to music and sleep at 4.

Saturdays I wake up around 1, play games, watch tv and then go out at around 5 in the evening, roam around cp, relax with a couple of beers, have dinner and come back around 1 at night. Watch a movie or play games and sleep around 4 in the morning. Sundays are similar except that I have to take my parents out instead. Add to all this my chronic laziness.

Here’s a list of things that I really want to do but am too lazy to start or continue

  1. Play guitar and learn some new songs. Watching my guitar gathering dust makes me want to hate myself.
  2. Start exercising again. Shoulders drooping, belly likewise.
  3. Start using my bike more and avoiding the car. I really love my bike and it’s gathering dust.
  4. Watch some good movies. I’ve some really good classics downloaded for months but haven’t watched them.
  5. Read some good books.
  6. Study for my ccnp exams. It’s high time I studied for these exams, otherwise my last exam’s validity will expire.
  7. Ride the metro more
  8. Watch travel and living more.
  9. Read the newspaper.
  10. Play GTA IV more often so that I can finish it and buy a new game before my graphics card goes obsolete.
  11. Meet old school friends who are in the same city but I haven’t met them yet.
  12. Just sit and relax and do nothing for a change.

Whenever I think of these things and how my life has changed for the worse ever since I started working, I start hating myself.

Seems like my life has no purpose.