Are Live-In Relationships Immoral?

Okay, I will keep this post short. For a change, instead of giving my opinion, I would like to know Your opinion on this controversial topic.

But before you give your views[via replies to this post], do read the following Letter published in the Hindu, a few days ago. Its typed Verbatim.

' It may appear that live-in relationships offer women a lot of freedom but they actually give them no security. It is the duty of the elders and society to guide young girls in the right direction lest society become corrupt and dirty. The Indian marriage system is the best and any attempt to go against it will have grave implications for our morals and peaceful lifestyle. '

This letter was written in response to the recent Hullabaloo going on in the Supreme Court regarding Live-in relationships and allowances[including the misuse of the word 'Keep']. But my question is, if two people decide not to marry and stay together under one roof, is it corrupting our society and making it dirty, as the gentleman says in his letter?

If you are reading the above post, I would request you to post a reply, stating your views on the topic. Thanks in advance.

Games I have Played in 2010

Okay guys, this is my 75th Blog post. Hurray! Cheers! Pass the Lemon Soda. Okay, that’s enough. Its been a long journey so far[over 1.5 years] and I would like to Thank all those patient people who took out their time to go through my blog. Thanks a lot guys. Hope you keep wasting your time like this, erm keep reading my posts like this. :)

In this post, I will not write anything. But I will simply list the games which I have played this year[2010]. Some of them rocked, some were damn good, and some were pityingly lame. Gaming has always been a big passion for me[am an avid gamer for the past 10 years] and its also a Billion Dollar industry. So here goes nothing.

In No Particular Order:

1. Mass Effect: [Action RPG]- 9 out of 10. Excellent Space Adventure.

2. Mass Effect 2:[Action RPG]- 9.5 out of 10. Outstanding. Just go and play it. Period.

3. Gears of War[Action]-7/10. Highly over-rated. Alien fighting. Not My Type.

4. Assassin’s Creed 2[Action, Adventure]- 9/10. Quite good. Lots of improvement over its predecessor. And it has Leonardo Da Vinci.

5. Prototype[Action,Superhero]-5/10. Great gameplay marred down by Repetitive Levels. Poor storyline for what could have been an Awesome Superhero game.

6. Ninja Blade[Action]- 4/10. I installed this one only because I Love Ninjas. And it still disappointed. Frustrating controls, add to that you cannot save in between levels[which take anywhere between 2-3 hours to complete], with 4-5 bosses you need to keep fighting. In short, avoid.

7. Batman Arkham Asylum[Action, Superhero, Tactics]- 9.9/10. This game is Perfect. If you like Batman, there is No way in Hell you can afford to miss this one. If you don’t like Batman, there is still No way in Hell you can afford to miss this one. Great graphics, awesome Gameplay, Fantastic storyline, Superb Moves, Adroit techniques, what more do you need?

8. Matrix, Path of Neo[Action]- 8/10. This is a rather old game[was released in2 005], but I played it only recently. And I liked it. It has nice action moves, and it’s a must for All Matrix fans. Non-matrix fans-better avoid it.

9. Saboteur[GTA Clone]- 5/10. Yet another of those GTA clones. This one is set in 1940s Paris. Which has been taken over by the Nazis. You need to do stupid jobs like blowing their hideouts or racing in antique cars. This game has great graphics, but I found it very boring. Nothing exclusive or special about this one. And some missions are too hard.



10. Dragon Age Origins[RPG]- 9/10. Twenty-Five hours of gameplay, and still counting. You can play this game for 100 hours and still manage Not to complete it. This is purely fantasy based, and has lots of things similar with LOTR, Elders Scroll, Neverwinter Nights, Wheel of Time, and so on. Still the gameplay is very addictive. The only [major] problem with this game is the camera angles which are frustrating to control[Yes you need to change them manually].

11. Desperados 2[Strategy-Wild West]- 7.5/10. This is a sequel to the Highly acclaimed strategy game Desperados which was released way back in 2001, yet boasted of Great graphics and superb gameplay. Now it even includes a Third person view. The game is good, but the story is very poor, and there is not much to do in a mission. If you don’t like Cowboys, avoid this one.

12. Prince of Persia- the Forgotten Sands[Action, Adventure]- 7/10. The Prince is back, into the ravages of the sands. Now he needs to battle sand monsters, Djinns and more. The Prince has quite a few new moves, including the Ability to Freeze water and to Teleport. However this game Doesn’t even pretend to have a story. Which is hugely disappointing considering the impeccable storyline of the earlier Prince Trilogy[sands of time, warrior within and the two thrones]. Throughout the game, you need to run after you brother, and in the end you fight him and kill him. That’s all there is for the story. The action and maneuvers however are superb.

13. Prison Break Conspiracy[Action, Tactics]- ?/10. To be honest, I just played this game for a few times, and then deleted it. My friend remarked it’s a great game, but I found the controls Horribly frustrating. Everything else about the game seems to be okay, so I will try it again in future someday.

14. Civilization V [Strategy]- 2/10. I cant believe how people find this game to be so good[it got a 9.2 rating on Gamefaqs]. Its horribly lame. Doesn’t even come close to the Age of Empires series. Its even worse off than Age of Mythology[which was released way back in 2002]. You just choose a hero[Gandhi for India], build a civilization, form pacts, and just sit around trying to figure out inane ways of keeping your population happy. That’s it. Just forget this game.

I may have played a few more, but can’t recollect as of now. Will not be playing much for the next few months[due to MBA exams], but will probably try my hand out at Crysis 2[releases next year], Max Payne 3, and Metal Gear Solid 5[which will hopefully release for the PC this time]. Until them, keep rockin, Gamers.

Different Kinds of CAT Aspirants

Okay guys, I admit I have been lazy in posting. But I have been busy, honest. Now with Exactly one month to go for my CAT exam[7th November], I decided to write a Sarcastic account of CAT aspirants.

As you may know, the Common Admission Test[more commonly known as CAT] is the only medium to gain entry into the Prestigious IIMs[Okay, not strictly NRIs can get in through GMAT, but lets skip that]. And it is conducted once every year, though from 2009 onwards it has become a Computer Based Test[CBT] so it is conducted over a window of 20 days. Of course, by now all the 2.5 lakh plus aspirants are working hard to crack the CAT and get a seat in the hallowed portals of the IIMs. But many of them differ in their attitude and way of thinking[preparation wise]. So let us divide them into 5 Broad categories:

1) The No-Nonsense, 99+ percentile Getter: These guys are serious. The champs, and the ones who have the highest probability of making it to IIMs/Other top Bschools. They don’t rest till they solve as many mocks as they can, and gather tons of 99+ percentiles to their credit. They refuse to budge down, unless they have solved every possible question they can, and are ready to give it their all. No wonder they end up being successful. On the down side, even if they get 1 mark less than they should have, All Hell ends up breaking loose for them. There are guys who get 150 out of 180 and still remark-‘I could have scored more. I screwed up 2 ques in DI’. Some aren’t satisfied with 99.5 percentile. They still want more. Is there any end to greed[even if it’s a positive one]? The same trend continues when they enter the IIMs. Even if they get 0.1 lakhs less[pay package] than they should have, they raise a Fury. And they are guys who broke down just because they did not get into a Famous Investment bank. Hmm, interesting take.

2) The Casual One: This guy takes his mocks and other MBA exams casually. He is not that serious as Category 1, and in most cases even the result does not matter him. He is like-‘Milta hai to Theek Hai, Nahi Mila tab bhi theek hai.’ In one word- Nonchalant. Such guys seldom manage to get into a Top bschool[though they can definitely get in 2 tier and 3 tier bschools], yet they remain indifferent to it. Many of them have a job[say Final year engineering student] and think that they can crack CAT later in the future if not now[though that seldom happens].

3) The Frantic One: This guy is always busy, but nobody knows regarding What. You will always find him surrounded with books, Mock Test papers, CAT Preparation CDs, Vocabulary building books, GRE material, Vedic Maths, and what not. But the thing is, he scarcely anything due importance. He is always shuttling around from one place to the other, has little time to talk with anyone[lest he spends one minute less on his preparation than he should have], ignores most people around him, and finally becomes a recluse. Such kind of people rarely succeed, and if they do, it’s more a matter of luck than of effort.

4) The Over-Confident One: The World is his Portal, so what is CAT in front of him? Nothing more than a minor exam which is waiting to be cleanly swept by this Supremely confident candidate. He doesn’t bother with his mocks or preparation. He knows that he can easily score 99.9 percentile on the C-day[the day when he will take CAT]. He knows he has magic in his fingers[and thumb, to be used on the mouse in order to tame the CAT]. There is possibly no way in which he can select a single wrong answer. And the reason for his Confidence- His belief that his innate Managerial skills can help him solve any problem. But when he fails to make the cut, he uses his Magic Finger[and Thumb] to blame every possible person or thing on Earth, apart from him[and his preparation]. Of course the World conspired to bring about his failure. What else could be the reason?

5) The Under-Confident One: Can this guy be left behind? He is surely appearing for CAT, but doesn’t have the slightest doubt about the fact that he is going to fail. He is positively confident that he will end up screwing the exam, even 6 months before the exam takes place. Nothing can make him change his mind. And he doesn’t even bother to prepare, since his can predict his destiny of Supreme Failure. Fortunately for him, he doesn’t end up proven wrong[unlike the guy from category 4]. So he is satisfied and remarks-‘I knew it all along I wouldn’t make it.’

All the best to all CAT takers from my side. 