Epic Terms Old and New

Epic - not to be confused with The Odyssey, or the Ramayana, this is just an expression that expresses that something (anything) is very good!

Bestie- this is not a beast, but a human you like. Confusing part is, there could be more than one best, and grammar takes a best, sorry, backseat.

Bro- it's unisex, and is derived from brother, a term commonly used to describe brothers in early 21st century. Some centuries ago, Pardner was a similar term (in the Cowboy era in the US of A).

Awesome- this could be an ice-cream, or a chicken tikka, and does not necessarily have to be a view of the Alps.

Awww-  this term is reserved for exclusive use by the fairer sex. No one knows what it means, but we suspect it means cute.

You can add more, and improve the General Knowledge of the general public.

Swinging the Vote

I was watching a bit of the election results and "analysis" on the news channels. Results of Maharashtra and Haryana state elections in India. There are a few things that I concluded.

1. Modi is a vote-puller.

2. Rahul Gandhi is a vote-killer.

3. All others are in-between.

4. Pawar may finally be forced to stay away from power.

5. MNS seems to be headed nowhere with their anti-UP, Bihar rhetoric.

6. Young voters are increasingly voting more intelligently than the old ones (our gen) used to.

7. Better governance than the current one is a near-certainty.

A Rocking Party

As part of my regular forays into the India Habitat Centre, I forayed there once more last evening. As part of my portfolio of work, I am in charge of alumni relations (sounds a lot better than 'affairs'). And what an event it was. Hats off to our student team who organised it.

The hall started buzzing so most of the speeches got drowned-but who cares for speeches in such an event anyway? A lot of our faculty gamely turned up, including two goras- from Britain and Grenoble, France- and one of our alums who is now a faculty member at University Of San Diego, USA. (In a Hindi-film like coincidence, this alum was also an alum of Georgia State for his PhD and took a course from my brother who teaches there!)

There were young and middle-aged guys and gals (though the gals did not LOOK middle-aged, I should emphasise, in case they take offense), and a great mix. I am not referring to the beverages here. It was unadulterated enjoyment, of the kind that happens when friends meet their friends, in large numbers, and make new acquaintances, like we did. Over 300 alums turned up, and stayed till late.

We also did these at IMT Nagpur, and I got to meet and interact with quite a few interesting people as a result. Of course, it also becomes the genesis of fresh ideas, but even if it does not, in the here and now, it is a wonderful experience. Cheers to all alums of all institutes. Do go back sometimes. You will not regret it.