Bets and pranks

I had changed over the years, and had a sober reputation at BCG. I also had a reputation for giving solid advice about computers.

Recently, our laptops had been upgraded to Windows XP. This was also the time the "transparent laptop" craze was rampant. Feeling fairly sure no one at BCG would be aware of this, I sent out a mail, towards the end of the day, on Friday 1st April 2005. (That should've given it away, but it didn't.)

Hi everyone,

If you're using the new laptops, be sure to check out the Transparent Laptop feature in Windows XP. Here's what it looks like.


Have fun!
Anand

Saturday, 2nd April 2005. 4pm

"Rrrrring...."

"Hello, Anand here."

"Hi Anand, Harsh. Yaar, how do you turn on that transparant screen? I've been fiddling around with the desktop properties, but I can't seem to find it. I would've called IT support, but it's Saturday. I've spent nearly an hour looking for it... (etc. etc.)"

(interrupting) "Harsh, did you see the date on that mail?"

"No. Why?"

"It was sent on April 1st."

Dead silence.

"Oh shit! Good one."

Monday, 4th April 2005. 9am

"Hey Anand, I couldn't find the camera on the back of the laptop."

"What camera?"

"The one that's use for the transparent screen. I know the screen's transparent. So there's got to be one."

Monday, 4th April 2005. 10am

"If anyone other than YOU had sent this mail, I'd have dismissed it as a hoax. But YOU...?"

Monday, 4th April 2005. 11am

"Anand, please tell everyone that it was an April Fool joke!"

"Why Jayesh?"

"They're all asking me to upgrade their laptop to one that has transparent screens!"

Nandu, Tangi, Jani and myself (four IIT-M guys, class of 1996) went for a seminar (Ripples) at Vishakhapatnam. Nandu lives in Vizag, BTW. On our first day, we went in and registered, and couldn't help noticing the gorgeous tall bespectacled dame who filled our forms. We thought no more of it until Nandu walked in to register, and coolly struck conversation with her for quite a while. It bothered me to no end.

We cornered him outside and got him to spill the beans. Her name was Sailaja (he nostalgically uttered) and she was his classmate. The conversation beat around the same bush long enough for us to draw conclusions. Apparantly, she wasn't as good looking at school, but then, college changes people.

That evening we had dinner at Dolphin, a 3-star hotel. It looked rather like a 5-star one, though. In the midst of a rather hearty meal, I hear my name being shouted. I walked up and observer Sailaja surrounded by our gang. Nandu introduced me to her (generous of him) and I greeted her with a

"Yes, I've heard a lot about you."

She was a bit taken aback. "From whom?"

"Nandu, of course!" I looked at Nandu, who'd turned red. I couldn't figure out why, until (after some reshaping of my physical structure) he told me that it was almost identical to the response that Tangi gave her. One was bad enough, and here were two close friends of Nandu telling her how much he talked about her. Nandu's kindof sensitive about this sort of thing. Hmmm.... Something had to be done about this.

The next day, we were having lunch, and Nandu appeared to be surrounded by a gang of girls. (I don't know how he manages it. How, Nandu?) I guess they were taking lessons on the art of diplomacy while presenting seminars, or some such obstruse topic Nandu is famous for. I let out a shout:

"Nandu! Coming now, or do you want to freak out more with the girls?"

There was a pause in conversation, and a horrified look in my direction. I wasn't to be put down. I shot back "Ok, freak out!" and walked out.

I came pretty close to death that night.

But what struck me as most intriguing about the whole thing was how his name and Sailaja's were found written together on the walls of the temple as we were climbing down. I was the first to discover it as we were walking down, and I certainly didn't have anything to do with it, did I?

Postscript: Nandu is happily married to Madhavi as of now. Sailaja's whereabouts are unknown.

I had lost and won some minor bets with Lee. It was time for a major coup. There was an RS/6000 installed at our Computer Center, and practically everyone had an account in it. So did Lee. (And so did Pavithra, but Jani told me to keep quiet about it, and besides, that's another story.) Lee was probably a bit irritated that I interfered with his talk sessions, and I was feeling too bored. We struck upon a bet. The deal was again a challenge on my computer abilities. I had to sneak into his ID within 15 days. The stakes were the crux of it. If I won, I'd get to photograph him with his arms around Pavithra (he didn't mind. Why would he?), and if he won...? Shom picked just the wrong time to walk by. If I lost, Lee would get to photograph me without anything on, with Shom holding my... (you get what I mean). The stakes were steep - for both of us.

But there was a catch. For, you see, I'd accepted the bet for the simple reason that I'd already sneaked into his ID! Well before he'd logged in for the first time, I knew it would prove useful and took a copy of his SUID shell. He could change his passwords all he wanted (once he used 'iaminvincibleandinvulnerable' and another time, 'andreking' - and was trapped by my trojan horse). But to give an appearance of realism, I waited 13 days - undaunted by his jibes saying that I was giving up.

I'm not sure he ever found out it was preplanned. Sorry, Lee!

On the morning of the 14th day, I gathered a bunch of guys (and Lee, of course) and asked Lee to log in into his account. He was greeted with a message - my message - saying that a mail was being sent to Pavithra explaining the complete details of the bet. Lee was understandably horrified. Not only had he lost the bet, but the matter was being conveyed to the concerned party in the most disastrous way possible! (Actually, I'd sent a far more toned down version of the mail that he saw). He bunked classes, waited for her to come to the CC, got her to log in, and deleted the mail before she could see it!

To date, he hasn't taken the photo, but we're still optimistic.

It began in our second year at IIT Madras (1993). Shiuli Ganguly was an M.Sc. mathematics student, and Anand Thomas Lee was my classmate. And Lee (along with a lot of other people) had a rather high opinion of the lady in question. (He still maintains it. I got a mail in December 1996 saying that he'd tracked her down). However, the same opinion was not held of my computer abilities (understandably so). He bet that there was no conceivable way I could get a photo of Lee and his sweetheart together - by means fair or otherwise. Actually, I lost the bet due to the time constraint, but I did have my revenge.

One fine Mardi Gras (IITM's culturals) in 1993, I was roaming around with my camera when I spotted Shiuli. Mustering all the courage I had, and more, I asked her if she would pose - for the Best Face of MG Contest. She did, parting with a "You've made my day!" I sincerely hope I did.

The next step was Lee. I knew there'd be no point in just merging two normal photos, so I got Lee to remove his shirt. He posed on the terrace of our hostel - topless. I got him to stand so that the shadow would roughly be in the same direction. Unfortunately, I'd loaded only a black and white film. But that eventually made my task easier.

I was working for the campus magazines as publisher. That more or less gave me free access to considerable resources. I insisted that images needed to be scanned for the magazine, and managed to push in these two photos for scanning. Now I had all the resources I wanted. Pulling together all the image processing tools on the campus (Autodesk Animator and CorelDRAW! in particular) I set about removing the background from their images. Since I'd run out of time for the bet anyway, I had worked out a master plan by then. I put them both in front of the IIT gate, photographed the monitor and got what looked close enough to a real photo - though black & white.

Our holidays had started by then. (That's what gave me so much time). I had cautiously obtained Lee's home address (as well as Baddy's and a few others', so he wouldn't get suspicious). Once the grades were announced, I looked up his and sent an innocent looking mail to him. Except that it was an unsealed envelope, marked "Personal & Confidential".

Dear Lee,

Your grades for this sem are blah blah blah. Life's fun here. BTW, I'm enclosing a copy of the photo you and Shiuli took near the gate. The whole class is shocked at your courage in baring yourself outside the gate! I know you asked me not to send this home, but I've marked the envelope "Personal and Confidential", so it's OK. Shiuli's wondering why you haven't replied to her for so long. Weather's fine here blah blah blah...

Anand.

As I expected, Lee's mother opened the mail! From what I here, it took him two days to convince his family that it wasn't really him standing topless with a girl near the gate.

The contents of this page are recollections of the author. The author humbly apologizes for any factual error - they are unintentional. The author also apologizes to anyone whom this page inadvertently offends. All of it is in the interest of fun, and the author hopes you will magnanimously forget and forgive. He also thanks you in advance.

Having said that, I must add that I've fully enjoyed all the pranks I've played, including many that I haven't documented below. I hope those that were the butt of them didn't mind too much.