bRakes n bites..

reading 3 mistakes of my life, watching AAMIR and KHUDA KE LIYE... and then these bomb blasts in bangalore and Ahmedabad... made me realise how unpredictable life is.

I cant help but remember these lines from the beautiful song "mehfuz" from Aamir..

kya majaal teri marzi ke aage
bando ki chal jayegi
thaame jab tu ungli, katputli ki
chaal badal jayegi

So, its better not to get perplexed by the mysteries of life and death.. and keep flowing with the tide for the moment. We can just pray to God for mercy...



meanwhile.. 1st week in kgp was very eventful.
RK hall, my abode for the coming 3 yrs.. aah! i consider myself lucky to be an RKite!
It took 2-3 days to settle down...got our room cleaned and painted...ekdum chamka diya !

1st week was eventful even more for Harsh, my dear frnd.. who's havin KISMAT DISCONNECTION.. :P

I particularly remember a fateful day whenn......

harsh is takin bath.. manyu passes him shampoo and soap..only for them to land straight into the drain ! damn !

he's checkin his grades after takin bath.

CREDITS CLEARED: 23/24

hold on !! 23 ??? was it right??
1 credit... NCC???? cant bee...

shit! failed in NCC. he phones kapoor. " kapoor yeh bata.. NCC mein F ka matlab kya hota hai?" his name was in backlog students.

he asked a senior wat to do? his reply was "u've created a history of sort"

and then, after making rounds to NCC office, he came to Tikka only to have 2 glasses of mango shake emptied on his brand new shirt !

In the evening, we r havin gulab jamuns in our room. oops! the jar tilts on to the bed... and all the juice (chhaashni) in flowing on harsh's bedsheet ! yucckkk....
he lifts his bedsheet only to drip the juice onto his mattress!!! and then, for half an hour, he's searching for the lid of the jar... when finally it turns out from the bedsheet kept outside. frustration at its peak...

As Harsh's Kismat Disconnection enters into its 2nd week... lets wait n watch whats in store for him!

one evening harsh enters the room beaming !!

"abbey itna khush kyu hai?"
" arre aaj pata hai , hamne lab mein bhindi ugayi"

me n manyu exchange glances.. giving each other a dont-laugh-loud look !
is this what ppl r made to do in agri labs? plant grains n vegetables?

Meanwhile, i got a pleasant surprise! even after including breadth subjects, 4 afternoons off! jannat yahaaan !!!!!

On sunday, we had our 1st OP session. I personally enjoyed it a lot.. it seriously teaches self control.. and m lukin forward to leading a disciplined life in the coming months! Harsh ke tempo shout ne toh seriously hall-tempo ke 2 extra doses inject kar diye !

And yes! Finally the HTDS clan met after 3 long months... twas ossome to see evry1 in the same spirits.. felt like a closely-knit family. Chaity da's CHILE experiences were quite interesting :P

1 more unforgettable event was the dinner at Bakes n Bites. Harsh made me,swaty n anubha laugh our guts out! And the family dosa! OMG...it was a sight to watch ! i've neva seen such a long dosaa!! it spread across the table side-to-side! oopar photo bhi dala hai !


hah! chalo kafi ho gaya.. log bolte hain ki tu itna lamba likha mat kar. Par kya karoon yaar.. haath chalne band hi nahi hote !~!

@kushank,diggi: sorry fir khapane ke liye!

Anyway, i just hope evrything goes well this week...no bomb-blast type incidents plzz... and yes..

miss u mom...miss u dad.. miss u di... love u all a lottt!!

JAANE TU...ya jaane naa...

July 8

10:15 am: I call up Shailendra. "Hey buddy, lets go 2day. 12 00 noon show."
"yeah..sure." We decide to leave at 11 am. Sensation Insomnia is kewl. It opens it bookings only 1 hr b4 the show. So no advance booking, no HOUSEFULL board !! We reach the theatre at 11:20 am, only to find a serpentile line of youngsters, mostly college bunkers.Hope we are not late! After waiting impatiently for half an hour, we are at the counter, with 2 guys ahead of us. "BOOKING CLOSED" comes the call. DAMN


We come out swearing at our luck n the counter guy, who had sold 8 tickets to the last guy, when the max. allowed is 2 per head! We buy a newspaper to check the theatre listings. "lets try IMAX 1:30 show. " "fine,dude". All of a sudden, the clouds roar n then it starts rainin lyk mad! FCUK


12:00 pm: Here we are , at the IMAX booking counter.

LOVE STORY 2050: 1:30 available
4:30 available
10:30 available

DASAVATHARAN: 2:30 available
5:30 available
8:30 available

JANE TU YA JANE NA 1:30 housefull
4:30 housefull
7:30 housefull
10:30 housefull



SHIT. . We use all the swear words n enter the mall as its raining cats n dogs. We decide to go back for the 3:00 show at Sensation Insomnia. But b4 that, 3 hrs to kill !!!!!!


Browsing books in a book shop took lesser time than we expected .. so we finally entered McD and enjoyed salad sandwiches, french fries, potato wedges n soft drinks.
yummy We were slightly more cheerful when we left McD.


"Dude, its only 1 pm and we'll probably reach Sensation in 10 mins. How do we kill time?"
"Hey.. stopped raining! Lets go on a walk by Hussain Sagar lake."
" gud idea"


Shaily is such a fun guy to chat with. A very good orator he is, he narrated some hilarious incidents of his 1st yr BITS life! I thought only IITs were happening! Rain had stopped n the weather was amazin.

" Abbey, the theatre is about 2 km from here. Lets walk down"
"sure"


We reached Sensation Insomnia for the 2nd time in the day, and just when we were nearing the gate, it began shooting bullets from the sky !! We took 10 seconds to enter a roadside cafe, but that was enuf to get us drenched. So we were wet again, for the 2nd time in the day, at the same place !!


" Yaar Shaily, if now we dont get to see the muvi, we'll take a gun and shoot each other"
" No !! that wont help mate! Our luck is so bad that the bullets will collide"
I have a hearty lauf.
We have a cup of tea with samosas in the cafe. IT WAS TRULY TERRIBLE, to say the least. No wonder, the cafe's name was CAFE YAADGAR !!!


Finally, the gates open at 2:00 pm.. and by the time we reach the counter, some despo's have already sprinted away to glory..and we r again in a serpentile line.
Shaily says, "HOPE OUR LUCK IS BETTER THAN NADAL.. HE WAS ONLY THIRD TIME LUCKY"


so near..yet so far!
Alas! We reach the counter. But wait !! Whats goin on? He stops us and starts the female queue. We stand like mute spectators while he is giving away tickets to some giggly females! GENDER BIAS AT ITS PEAK !!!


Finally..we r there..only to know that the balcony tickets are over. Considering how our day had gone, we were all but verry happy to get to watch the muvi. We finally setle in our seats. We have to lift up pur heads at almost 45 degrees, a nend by the time the trailers give way to the muvi, my neck is already straining !


AFTER WATCHING LOVE STORY 2050, THE BIGGEST DISASTER, ANY MOVIE WUD BE A RELIEF TO MY EYES !!


Aaaah.. now comes the pleasant part. The very beginning of the muvi brings a smile on my face. Amazing music and very cool camera work during the credits captures the attention of every viewer. Imran is cute, his frnds are ossome..and Genelia is outstanding !!

The chorus in the jeep.." TERA MUJHSE HAI PEHLE KA NATA KOI.. JAANE TUU... YAA JAANE NAAAAAAA" luks very familiar and reminds me of all my college frnds.


I can go on describing the muvi.. but its more fun watching than reading i guess [:P]. The moments i enjoyed the most were ..

> The song.. Kabhi kabhi Aditi .
Every1 is bound to love this song, with its cute but natural picturisation

> Naseeruddin Shah, playing the speaking portrait of Imran's dead father.
Hilarious !

> The friendship of RATS n MEOW ( the nicks of imran n genelia.)

> Rathore khandaan ki teen shartein.. and Sohail Khan n Arbaaz Khan. Nice comedy!


Its a very pleasant movie, bound to keep u smiling or laughing all the time! A must-watch!!


YAYYYY.... WE FINALLY SAW THE MOVIEE !!!

Now, its 6 in the evening and the weather is osm! We hav to travel around 6-7 kms to reach home !

"LETS WALK !!"

Being at IIT n BITS have made us very much habituated to long walks.. but this was something new !! We were walking past the city's busiest roads, crossing signals and flyovers... an exciting experience!! We discuss our amazing 1st yr college lives.. carelessly yapping away thru heavy traffic.. in our own world !
We remembered our NARAYANA DAYS.. the drop yr .. (described in a prev post)..and had many laufs over them.

Finally, physically tired and mentally fresh, we reached home.
A very forgettable day had turned into an unforgettable one... thnx to the muvi, cafe YADGAAR, and of course. our long walk back home !!

funny moments..

Every one experiences moments in life, which, when later recollected, can't help bringing a smile on one's face. In this article I am sharing some of these moments which are funny and sometimes embarassing.. but I often laugh when I remember them.

> On the way to kharagpur, the train passes by the shore of Chilka lake. I was standing at the door, soaking in the beauty of the scene... the vast lake seeming like an ocean...the setting sun... the cool breeze blowing over my face... aaah.. seemed like heaven ! And then suddenly I feel a hand over my shoulder !! I am completely taken aback ,and to my horror I turn back only to find a eunuch, smiling wide, with a hand over my shoulder. Aaaaargh !! It sends a shiver down my spine. Before I can say or do anything, the eunuch, in a super-flirtatious tone, which wud put diehard romantics shame, says... "Aye handsome ! Hum dono saath mein kitne sexy dikh re naa" !

>Thai people are gifted with sense of humour.. or maybe it was humour only to me !!

On Bangkok streets.. I come across a shop with some excellent hats n umbrellas. My eyes are on a superb cowboy hat...I ask him the price..he say's 100 baht. Someone had said that in Bangkok you can bargain a lot..maybe to 1/4 th of the price.. 'Chalo try karke dekhte hain !!' ... "Uncle I have only 30 baht with me"....to which that guy, with the most unpolite tone i've heard.. points to the nearby shop n says.." 30 baht? go there and buy water ! ".... I am in for a rude shock...but at the same time it was funny !!

Now luk at what the tuk-tuk waala has got to say. (tuk-tuks are a local means of transprt there)..
"Whats the fare to Wat Po?"
"120 baht"
"Thats too much . I'll give you 70 baht"
"70 baht? GO WALKING "
and he zooms off, giving a most unkind look.

I am street shopping with my sis. She really liked this pink top at a store.
sis says.. "Can I get this for 60 baht?"
" Yaa.. come ...come...!! take this...."
All she hands out is a plastic cover...! How mean......
Then I ask her the price of a nice looking leather wallet at her store...
n she goes... " Shuuutaaaaaaap "
Thats it! I am not taking in any more insult ! I swear at her and storm off.

> In Kgp, wen this hall-allotment rumors were in the air, there was a debate going on whether , if given a choice, we should go to a senior hall and adopt to its culture... or stay back in MMM and start our own culture. The argument started peacefully but slowly gathered momentum and got heated up... with loudest sneers and jeers coming from Kushank , Harsh and Kakrania...
and then, out of the blue... Praveen, in funda mode, bursts out in full volume...
" HUMKO APNE SAR KE UPAR CHHAT CHAHIYE"
"HAMEIN EK BAAP KA SUPPORT CHAHIYE"
"EK ANAATH KO BHI BAAP CHAHIYE"
We all stare at him for a few seconds... n then burst out into a biggg laughter... omg !! twas so funny...cant be described :P



Well there r many more moments worth describing, including some top-class PJs by kushank, which still give me laughter doses on recollection.. but i wont make this long!

THE BIG 'DROP'

FLASHBACK:
THIS IS THE RECAP OF ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT YRS OF MY LIFE...HOPE IT MAKES AN INTERESTING READ....


JUNE 2006.

1 week has passed by. I am surprised at how fast I hav recovered from the shock of failing to get thru JEE. I've blatantly rejected an ECE seat in Pilani and have taken the bold decision of dropping. Thank u mom! Thank u dad ! for being the best parents in the most difficult time of my life ! Thank u for showin immense confidence in me. I am going to live up to ur expectations !


JULY 2006

After a thoroughly relaxing holiday n attending a cousins wedding, I am mentally fresh to resume my unfinished task. But on a new-for-me, but the more trodden track in AP... yes ! I am talking abt the Narayanas and the Sri Chaitanyas... the numerous mills and factories...with students in place of machines.. running round the clock for endless hours... locked (literally locked) on a stinky 3rd floor classroom... enduring the most boring classes I've ever sat thru. But I had to go on !

AUG 2006 - JAN 2007

As it so happened, these months turned out to be one of the most interesting periods of my life. It is very difficult to do mastii ( n i mean fultoo mastii) with the ever-mounting pressure on ur tender head... but somehow i had my share of mastii .. thnx to some really cool frnds...shaily, varun and rohit.

Me n mom had shifted to a 1 room apartment near my college..to save travellin time. So classes were a 5 min walk. The timings were 6 am- 11 am. (thank god they were less than the freshers batch.. .. poor guys had to sit for 14 hrs :P).

I used to wake up at 3.30.

3 30 am - 5 30 am :chem
6 00 am - 11 00 am : classes
2 pm - 5 pm : physics
6 pm - 8 pm : maths
8 pm - 9 30 pm : Question paper

This was my gruelling daily schedule. So where do u think I had mastiii? Obviously, 6 -11 !! that is the claasssesss !!

those were the relief hrs for me. A net centre beside college charging 8 buck an hr . kewwlll ! 4 of us regularly bunkd classes to go thr. But that was not to last long. Soon the class incharge had discovered that we were regularly missing ! Alas ! We had no option but to endure the pain of listening to monotonic ,lifeless n most-weird-expressioned teachers.

No. This is getting over our heads. We have to find a way out. We had a small attached bath kinda room at the backside of classrooms. "hey shailly, hav u ever noticed teachers coming to the back? Arent they always on the dias?" "yes dude, neva seen them coming here!".... great ! the next thing we did is pulled a bench into that small attached room ... and lo ! our new hangout was ready.... so near ..yet so far !! we are geniuses ! heee hee haa haa haaaaaaaaaa...

Although we cud not avoid hearing their voices, but not seeing the teachers' faces was big enuf a relief. We wud pass away time..kill time..maraud time...sittin in that spooky small room...among bricks and iron rods...playin n watching videos on cell phones... makin cartoons n passing them in the class...(shaily is a gifted cartoonist)....and very rarely solving problems for a change ! Sometimes some sickened ppl wud join us !!

Physics class going on.. we in our hangout.
"Yaar Shailly I am totally bored. I have finally resorted to playin with this sick iron rod. Shall I toss this ?'" " hey no! it might make sounds" . It was too late... the iron rod was already in the air.. slipped thru my hands... fell on the bench..and then...took some ages to come to rest on the grounnd, making all sorts of rattling ear-shattering noises. Nooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!


THE GREAT ESCAPE.

One fine day.. 8 of us back benchers were gettin bored to death. Our hangout had been discovered and the benches pulled out. And every floor stairs were guarded. The class incharge was on the prowl .

'" ENUF IS ENUF ! we r geniuses.. we ought to find a way out !" . and hence began the great adventure. Physics class goin on..door shut...... sir luks at the board, vivek disappears behind the door in a jiffy !! one by one...eight of us...right under the nose of sir , manage to come out of the classroom.. WELL DONE, BUT THIS IS THE BEGINNING !...

. "arre 1 of u go n keep the class incharge busy..meanwhile we will go down to to 1st floor".. We manage to come 2nd floor. But wait..who's climbing the stairs??? oh no !!! princi !!!!!! ab kahan jaeyein ?? arre sab toiet mein ghuso...jaldiiiiiiii "...

10 mins have passed by. I sneak out of my cubicle..only to find 6 other faces sneaking out of their cubicles...linearly !! lolll.....the funniest scene.. i eat my laughter !! the ordeal is still incomplete ! chalo, princi's gone. we literally run down to the ground floor.. noww,, the watchman !

"Bhaiyya..pleaasse jaane do naa.... plzzz....hamein doosri jagah exam dene jaana hai.........hamare pass permission hai..........meri tabiyat kharab hai......"
Then we hear a voice? " heyy whr r u ppl running?? kahan bhaagre tum log? " followed by some rapid-paced telugu. It was the class incharge.. He catches hold of 3 guys...literally catches them.. watchman goes over............. "shaillyy..now.... run ! " We run thru the gate in the space of 5 seconds..... yippeeeeeeeeeee...... we run out of sight....hide in a nearby bakery.........me,shailly n rohit !!!! the kewlesst guys on the planet !!! yooo hoooooooooooo ...........


That was the most exciting of the numerous escapes we had carried out !


So ppl, I had my share of mastii too amidst the full serious atmosphere..JAN had come. to an end..2 months to go.....now the pressure was pinching me....



FEB 2007- MARCH 2007

By now I had become totally serious..no more mastii... only n only padhai ! 10 ghante se 12... 12 se 14..... bass...14 se jaada not possible....i will die !
ek din mein 3 question papers + daily revision.
I had never worked harder than this in my life. But the best thing was, I was shedding nervousness n building up confidence, 1 thing i lacked in the previous attempt.

By end of march, I was ready n raring to go !


APRIL 2007

1st week was probably the slowest week. time just not seemed to move. I was waitin for it to get over.

then came the d day.. n m glad to say that i was quite confident and nothing cud take anything away from me that day. After the 1st session,. I knew I had made it.. now 2nd session wud decide wat sort of rank i wud get.. that went well too ! i was expecting a rank btwn 1000-2000.

Meanwhile aieee was quite ordinary..dint do that well. bass, was waitin for jee results.



And finally, in last week of may.... they came out.

please enter ur registration no. My hands were shivering. nothing has to go wrong,..nothing can!! god forbid......

AIR 914.. i am numb..feelingless..expressionless....a vacuum ....for a few seconds.

YESSSSSSSSSSS.... I HAV DONE IT !!!!!!!!!!!! I hug mom tightly.......she's cryin... thnk u mom, its all bcoz of u !! all !!

I was experiencing all emotions together...i wanted to lauf..wanted to cry... donno why........for ppl it may seem just qualifying an exam.... but for me it meant the world.......coz my world is my parents...... was their dream.......... i;'ve fulfilled............


SO PPL.. THIS WAS, I CAN SAY THE MOSST IMPORTANT YEAR OF MY LIFE....... HELPED ME TO FACE BAD TIMES WITH A SMILE....AND TRULY MADE ME REALISE WHAT MY FAMILY MEANS TO ME......... MADE ME STRONGER IN MANY WAYS !!

SO FINALLY DROPPING A YEAR PAID OFF.....AND HENCE I SAY, " THE BIG DROP"

looking back..

जिंदगी सवालों के जवाब ढूँढने चली
जवाब में सवालों की एक लम्बी सी लड़ी मिली
सवाल ही सवाल हैं , सूझती नही गली
के आज हाथ थामलो, एक हाथ की कमी खली

to start with , life has really been a roller coaster ride... highs , lows n then highs again! success in boards followed by failure in jEE... n finally gettin thru in 2nd attempt... hav seen happiness n depression both ! But now wen i look back, I feel I am one of the luckiest persons to get such supportive parents n a wonderful sis, apart from frnds .

One yr at IIT kharagpur has been a life-changing experience.. 1st time away from home... from the busy urban life to the buzzing campus life... its been 1 helluva ride ! I hav been thrown into an ocean of infinite depth.. left alone to explore the various realms.. n believe me, I never imagined my journey wud be such exciting, colorful n thriller-movie type !

IIT kgp is a world - a civilisation- in itself. I am too novice a writer to desribe its culture, its fast-paced life. Its like a beehive, with thousands of bees workin day in day out... sweatin in their endeavours... flowing with the tide.. and among those bees.. exists this guy.. confused...surprised... keen on observing everything.. and wondering where life will take him.

The best thing that happened to me was the friends I made. From the very 1st day.. upto the end of 1st year.. I hav made such good frnds.. whom I can trust, share evrythn with and look upon for support.

Survival in IIT has not been easy though. Its like the baap of competitive life. Anyone hardly wud hav had a moment when thrs complete peace; no tension at all. Its like a bell is ringing continuously in your years, sm1 shoutin from inside always. I've never felt what I am doing is completely right. Even then, I've managed to make my way thru.. smtimes flowin with the tide, n smtimes against it.

From joining the dramatics society to performing at cultural fests of IIT n IIM, drams hav been a wonderful experience and an integral part of my 1st yr life. Not to forget the amazin drams team, who've become a 2nd family. The niteouts durin exams were a completely new experience to me, who neva used to stay up after 10. Oh yes! the nite life of KGP is perhaps more happening that NYC ! The walk around the campus (2.2) is one more thing that became routine. One more unforgettable aspect were the campus elections.. the campaigning (anti campaigning too!) the SOPs and the college atmosphere... very intigruing and fascinating.

And then there were the grey times.. where i was losing out myself among the crowd.. forgetting my aims and ambitions.. Had become very hollow and moody.. frustration was at its peak.. n then in my life came 3 special frnds.. who pulled me out from the quicksand n reminded me that I am here for a purpose. And I am glad that now I have my biggest source of inspiration and support who is there always to guide me and pull me back from any quick-sand i might fall into.

Abhi toh khair shuruaat hai.. the thrills of life are yet to come... n yes, life is very unpredictable.
Looking forward to the 2nd yr n the coming years.. n the to-be-made-memorable times in the offing.

Donno whr the coming time will take me... but will always try to flow against the tide.