The Maverick's Mind-Space

At last, I've completed my GRE. I never thought it would be so difficult. Having written CAT, I felt GRE would not be much of a burden. But it really had me taxed a lot. Unlike CAT, where you can omit the questions you don't know, GRE smirks at you with a mind-boggling question which you will have to attempt in order to go to the next one. I also learnt that to do well in GRE, you need something called luck, which I've never had for the past few years; not without a prefix 'bad' attached to it. Anyways, it is over now. Let bygones be bygones.
The most important part of the prep. was the wordlist. I tried every method to memorise the words; methods ranging from the conventional 'mugging up' and the 'roots method' to the most unconventional but popular 'Norman Loose method'. Here are some of the words I memorised using the 'Norman Loose' method.

pastiche- imitation of another's style in musical composition or in writing.
"What do we say when someone copies another's music? He has 'cut..copied..and PASTED"

hegemony-dominance
" Strikingly similar to Tamil "Ejamaan", meaning 'leader'"

husband- use sparingly, conserve, save
" I've watched many movies where the husband is a miser. (Its a loose connection; But anyways..I couldnot find a better way to remember it). This word always reminds me of the graffiti 'Before marriage, a man yearns for a woman; after marriage, the 'Y' becomes silent'"

monarchy, oligarchy etc.. relating to govt.
"Rhymes with tamil 'Aatchi', meaning 'rule'

hardy- sturdy, robust
" Now...Dont ask me if 'Laurel' means 'lank' or 'gaunt'

Well, there are so many other words. But Iam planning to publish a book on how to remember GRE words using 'Norman loose' method, and I dont want any copyright problems later..

Welcome aboard, my regular readers (?? I don't know who they are, but the no. of hits just keeps increasing that I assumed I have regular readers!!). Iam so busy preparing for my GRE that i couldn't think of anything new to post here.
So I present you this article written by me. It appeared in a magazine called Torq. Believe me, I didn't beg the editor of the mag to publish it. Thats just because I was the editor of the mag. :)
Read on...


When I was searching for a topic to write an article on for TORQ, I heard about this strange person. His name was Nitin, an Automobile engineer who was destined to speak in palindromes. The date of Nitin’s birth was 28.11.82, which is a palindrome in itself. His palindromic dad, Ramar, and palindromic mom, Saras, named their son Nitin. Everything in Nitin’s life was palindromic. His mother-tongue was Malayalam. He did his graduation in Anna University.
Having heard about him, I contacted him and told that I wanted to meet him. I challenged him that he would not be able to talk to me in palindromes for 10 times or more. The next day when I went to meet him, he was dozing on his sofa.
Here is the conversation:
(Nitin dozing)
I: Nitin! Nitin!
Nitin: Is it I? It is I.
I: Drowsy, eh? How about a cigar?
N: Cigar? Toss it in a can. It is so tragic.
I: Okay, Nitin. I’ll now show you a picture of a car. Identify the car.
(I show him the picture for a second and take it back)
N: Was it a car or a cat I saw?
I: Oh my! Okay, look at it again.
N: Hell! It’s a Toyota still, eh?
I: Have no doubts. Be sure of your answer.
N: A Toyota.
I: That’s right. But how did you identify it?
N: A Toyota’s a Toyota.
I: You had been to AutoFair 2004 recently, isn’t it? How did you feel?
N: I was sad; No Hondas saw I.
I: What is your opinion about the sales of Honda?
N: Must sell at tallest sum.
I: Did you see anything special at AutoFair?
N: Hey, yeh!
I: What was it?
N: Race car.
I: Amazing! You’ve won the challenge, Nitin. I accept defeat.
N: Now, sir, a war is won.
I: One last question, Nitin. How are you able to speak in palindromes so skillfully?
N: Because if I didn’t, I would sound something like this: “ Siht ekil gnihtemos dnuos dluow I