A few things to unlearn

Since the beginning of time, that I have been able to understand things and people, and perhaps the world, I have started to think that all the good things that we were taught in school, really have no meaning.

1. Wash your hands before your meals?
Almost everyone uses spoons, forks and knives. That small tip might need to be removed from our coursebooks. And even if we used our hands, the food, themselves have so much filth in them these days, that they would need more cleaning and disinfecting than our hands.

2. Honesty is the best policy?
Haha. That one surely needs some immediate attention. Well, maybe, not such a drastic change. "Find and replace" all occurrences of "Honesty" with "Dis-Honesty".

3. Justice is same for all?
Really!! Ahem... Do you even need examples?

4. Look left, then right, and then left again before crossing the road.
In today's world, you can't follow that. Vehicles have taken to the footpaths. You should pray to God before stepping out of your houses.

5. Sources of water?
No. Not wells, freshwater lakes, ponds or rivers. You get water from the tankers that visit your building premises every morning.

6. Constitution. It clearly specifies the limits on the powers of a Government.
I almost had forgotten that one. But, that too, needs to be amended now. Umm. Maybe, it's not needed anyway. The Government is all-powerful, and it can and will override the constitution as and when it feels it needs to.

Thank God, that the laws of physics haven't changed. And the maths that we learnt still works. 

Exams, Results and Dreams

Exams, well, obviously, they are not the stuff that people love. Results; even more hated. And the wait for the results can be sometimes, never ending. How long can you really wait!!! And especially, when you are just hoping that everything turns out good. But, it almost never happens.

Before exams, I have had weird dreams. Really really weird...

"I am writing my exams, and I then realize that I am completely naked. With that realization, I rush out of the exam hall, out into the street, no where to hide. I keep running towards home, and then I wake up."

One of them actually turned into reality. During the class 10 board exams, I was preparing for History. That was the most dreaded subject I have ever had. The next day, when I started walking toward the exam hall, one of my friends asked me if I have got color pencils and threads. I was terrified. I was laughing at the same time, on my friend, imagining how he would react on getting the History question paper, when he was expecting a Geography paper. Soon, I realized that it was me. I would have sweated out the most that day. I flashed towards the stationary shop, collected all that was required for the Geography paper and ran back to the hall, 10 minutes late. I was allowed to enter. And finally, I was able to score 78 in that paper.

At times, I have dreamed about being caught cheating.

By the way, I never cheated during the exams. Ummmm.. there might have been one instance as far as I can remember. I don't exactly remember which exam it was. I think it was in class 8. I had finished my paper, and was looking around. There was a classmate, a girl, and she happened to look at me. I was nervous. I had to do something. She looked beautiful that day. I had to do something. I had to strike a conversation. And then, I put up my hand, and gestured her to tell me the answer to one of the questions. She was happy to help. She murmured the answer. The distance was far, and I was very bad at lip reading. She must have tried 4-5 times, but failed. And then, she explained the answer with gestures. By the way, I already knew the answer. :)

I once tried to take bits of paper to the exam hall, but gave up the idea at the last moment. I guess, I never learnt that art, although in college, we were exposed to all the tips and tricks of the business.

And now, again, I am writing my exams. Things have changed though. One of the exams that carries the maximum weight-age is an open book exam. But still, when it's time for the results, I can feel my heart beating fast and loud.

Long time... Nothing really has changed...

I almost forgot about this place. Not anymore. I will make new posts surface like scams of politicians. I guess, I went into the MMS mode for a few days. But, unlike MMS, I can't really control my lips. I need to speak, and speak out loud, whatever it might be.

Today, I started to study for an exam. The fun thing is, I have to study 4 thick and big books, and appear for 4 exams this Saturday and Sunday. I was under the impression that, the "Engineering Instinct" within me was still intact. The truth is: "It's all gone". And now, I am nowhere, clueless about how I will pass the exams. Anyway, that's boring, isn't it?

The interesting thing? Ummm.. Well, nothing new as such. But, new things would pour in soon, as I rise and shine again after the exams. All this exams affair, are here to stay for some time. So, every few months, I need to study a little bit, and somehow jump over to the next semester. And if I am good at clearing those mighty walls, I could call myself an MS in Software Systems in roughly 2 years from now.

For now, back to studies. I will be coming back soon. :)

Extracts from my Old Diary

The extracts are unedited/uncensored. Really.

31/01/2004

The month of January seems to have stagnated. The biting cold and intermittent rains have lowered down the temperatures. There's no better place than my warm bed and the common room. Right now, I am in a dilemma. I don't know what to do after my B.Tech degree. Of course, the first preference will be the campus selection. But I have a very strong desire to crack the CAT or the XAT.

01/02/2004

A great day as far as the quality of food. The day started off with "Chole Bhature" which was the best of all the breakfast items in the mess. The lunch was also pretty good. And for the dinner, dosa and a treat in GE were on the cards. Ritesh Parida and Rakesh Mallick were present to finance for the dinner. But, I couldn't digest all these things. You know what I am talking about. Pretty uncomfortable.

 03/02/2005

The results of Computer branch is out. Soon, our results will also be out. Sidharth's got quite a good percentage of 71.2%, the highest being that of Rachit Aggarwal's with 85.8%. These marks are elusive for our branch. The papers this time were very tough. So, I would be happy if I score some 70% or above. Most probably the results would be out tomorrow. A very long wait. I am waiting...

14/02/2004

The results are out. And I have got a mere 61%. That was well below my expectations. I was expecting around 65%. Terribly frustrated, I don't know what to do now. I have to get at-least 75% in this semester.

The next semester I got 63%. 

Let bygones be bygones

I stay in Bangalore, a thousand miles away from my home, where I spent my childhood. When my mind is blank, and I am not thinking about work or anything else, I ponder over the past. I know those days will never come back, but to even re-live those moments with memories is truly nostalgic.

Recently, there have been a series of power failures in my area. "Damn it!!! @$#%3 @##@$ @#@$". No other thoughts come to my mind when the lights go off. When it starts raining, I curse the rain gods for the untimely downpours. Everything seems to have changed now.

We used to wait for the power cuts everyday when I was a child. Just before the scheduled power cuts, everyone could be seen getting ready with their snacks, water-bottles and other paraphernalia and walk up to the terrace. Those were the days when I learnt and actually saw the Pole star, the other constellations that we read in our Geography books. We talked about a lot of other things. About animals, birds, the moon and the sky. We talked about school. I miss those conversations. And I am sure that my parents miss that too.

When I was a child, I used to love the rains. I loved getting wet. Everytime it started raining, I made it a point that I had a good excuse before walking upto my Mom, for not using my raincoat. I enjoyed those summer days when it was a routine exercise for everyone to get rid of the mosquitoes every evening by burning mosquito repellants.

We also used to go for a walk after dinner, or played badminton right after our dinner during the winters. The Saturdays and the Sundays had a host of TV programs lined up for us, and everyone had a reserved place for him/her and nobody was late. We had only 1 television set and only 1 channel.

Sundays were really fun, when each vehicle in the house, including my bicycle had their weekly bath.

And now, I let my bike collect all the dust and mud until I give it away for servicing. I curse the mud and the overflowing drains when it rains. I use All-Out/Good Night to drive away those irritating mosquitoes. Even if it's not raining, I put on my jacket, just in case. I don't even remember when was the last time I looked up into the sky. I don't play badminton anymore. I keep on switching from channel to channel and end up watching nothing at all.

Sometimes, I feel sad about all these changes. But, you know what? There's an saying for everything.

"Let bygones be bygones"

An unsuccessful love story

There are quite a few love stories I have been a part of. All of them have been unsuccessful, due to various reasons. Not that I am sad about it. But, when I think about them, my mind goes back into the past and refuses to come back to the present. This story is about a girl who I had met just once, and had talked to her for more than 6 months over the phone.

It all started off with a wrong number. I tried dialing one of my friends, trying to remember his number that I hadn't noted down. I was very proud of my sharp memory those days. Well, I do have a decent memory now as well. Anyway, let's get back to the story. I dialed a number, and when I heard the voice at the other end, I didn't know how to respond.

She shouted: Hello, Where are you? I have been waiting here for more than an hour now. And it's going to rain.

My heart started pounding. I was young then, and the her voice was sweet enough to not make me hang up. I wished I could listen to her voice once more without her realizing that she was talking to the wrong guy. Rahul was probably her boyfriend. And perhaps they were madly, deeply in love with each other. "Which girl would wait for a man for more than 1 hour?", I wondered. And then, I heard her sweet voice again.

This time, her voice was softer.

She said: Rahul? Hello.

I didn't know what to say. I was too nervous. Too scared to even announce that I had dialed the wrong number. I didn't want to speak, for the fear of being exposed. I didn't want to speak for the fear of losing this one chance of speaking to this girl. I knew she would go away from my life anytime, very soon. With a heavy heart, I was waiting for that moment to come.

She said: Hello. Can you hear me?

Ah, her voice was so dreamy and musical, I just couldn't let it go. This time, she asked a question which I could answer.

I said: Yes, I can hear you.

That was the moment when everything stopped. She paused for a moment, perhaps trying to match my discordant words with Rahul's. It seemed like eternity.

She said: Who is this?

That ended our conversation. I hung up. Damn!! I tried to keep her thoughts out of my mind all that day. I tried very hard, but failed miserably. Later that day, I got a call from her. I introduced myself and explained her that I had called her by mistake. She didn't seem to mind. She also introduced her. She also told that Rahul was her brother (Phew!!!). We talked for sometime and then she proposed that we could be phone friends. How could I have said "No".

We called each other frequently, very frequently, almost everyday. We talked and talked, but we never talked about "Love". But, I had already fell in love with her voice. We talked for around 6 months, came to know more about each other.

One day, she called me to tell that she was going to the US. I was sad. She said that we could keep in touch through e-mails. I agreed. We had also met once before she flew out of my reach. We exchanged a few mails after that. But gradually, the emails stopped. I wouldn't blame her. I guess, we both got busy with our lives.

Last week, I was so happy and excited to see an email from her. She wrote to inform me that she was getting married soon. Now I hear that she is happily married. She also sent me a picture of herself and her husband.

I am now left wondering as to why she sent me that picture. Have I missed something?

Friends... Forever

What's a Friendship without fights? What's a Friendship without arguments? What's a Friendship without compromises?

Friends are supposed to understand what you don't say. Friends are supposed to advise when you are off the track. Friends are supposed to keep quite when you are mad. Friends are supposed to be there for you, all the time, no matter how busy they are.

But things change with time. You might not be in contact with your best pal from your childhood. You might have forgotten the name of your best friend in school. And the best friend from college, well, you might just call him up a few times in a year, perhaps on his birthday, or the new year.

Nobody has a single best friend. At-least, I don't have one. They kept changing, all the time, from the childhood days, to school, then college, and now at workplace. The concept of a "Best Friend" is a little flawed for me, at-least I feel so. I believe that, at a given moment, a person can have a pool of good friends, and it becomes almost impossible for one, to chose the best among them.

It might sound as if, today, on the occasion of "Friendship Day", I am trying to make all my friends happy. Well, in a way, Yes. I thank all of them who have considered me as a "Friend", but, also, those who have considered me as their "Best Friend" at some point of time.

I think I can list down a few friends who have been in my pool of good friends.

1. My Sisters (Mausumi, Sushmita): Well, obviously, they have to be among them. Had the best of times when we were children at home.
2. Hara Prasad Sahoo: He was one of the first who I met in Stewart School, and we were perhaps best friends till Class 4
3. Santrupta Mishra: We quickly became best friends in Class 4 and stayed Best Friends till 10th.
4. Shyam Bedback: In college, most of the times, we were seen with each other. Does that mean we were best friends? Perhaps.
5. Samiran Rautray, Ritesh Parida, Ashutosh Bag, Sidharth Gourav Nayak, Kapidhwaja Pratap Narayan Singh (Hope I spelled is correctly): Bet friends in the first year of engineering. Ragging was so fun in the first year. The whole year, we all sort of stayed together all the time.
6. Rishabh Kalra, Saurabh Shukla, Vivek Bhagbole: In addition to the first year friends, the pool kept getting bigger and bigger, and by the time it was my last year in engineering, the boundaries "Circles" of good friends started melting away.
7. Kunal Kishore Malviya, Vijay Kumar, Vivek Dwivedi, Rwitam Mitra, Sagar Mohane, Vinay Suri, Vishal Jain: All of them started to break the boundaries.
8. Nitin Chhabra, Gaurav Paul, Shakul Jugran, Sandesh Kothare, Rahul Jain: Well, those were the close group of friends with whom I spent most of my time in the initial days in Bangalore.
9. A few more which don't really fall into that chronological order: Amit Chahar, Vidushi Goyal, Rwitam Mitra, Debasis Biswal, Rajesh Jena, Santhosh Joshua, Padmaja Dash, Shantanu Singh, Vandana Toshniwal

And the list goes on and on and on.  I just can't really put every friends' names down here. Actually, it's a little unfair on my part, if I have left out anyone. But, I could, very clearly see the pattern emerging. The pool of good friends becomes bigger and bigger with your age. And, thus, the concept of having a "Best Friend" is diluted once you are exposed to such a large number of good friends. Sometimes, you can't make up your mind and pick a better friend among a two. At times, you will have to make a few compromises. It has frequently happened to me, that 2 from those friends would call you up and ask you to catch up for a movie. And now, you have to make a choice. When you make a choice, it's definitely hard for you, and it is perhaps hurts the other guy who you ignored. I also, feel the same, when such things happen to me. But then, everything is forgiven and forgotten soon, and then, the next weekend, you get to go with the other friend. And everyone seems to be happy now.

Ah!!! Ok, fine, Let's end this day here. By the way, A very Happy Friendship Day to all my friends, and I hope that I am always there in your "Circles" as a good friend. Don't ever think that I have stopped being a Friend of yours. Even if I don't call you often, even if I don't wish you on your birthdays, even if I have forgotten your last names. I still think about you all when I rest my mind. I still have dreamed about a few. It's just that Life has taken a toll on me, and that I have many many more friends to talk to, and keep my circle growing.

Thanks all, again, for being a FRIEND. Happy Friendship Day.

By the way: Did you notice? That list contains only 3 girl friends, apart from my sisters. I want to make as many girl friends as the boy friends I have. So, anyone interested on growing their pool of friends, please contact me.

Ooops!!! Sorry...

People lose their cool all the time. So do I. I am generally believed to be a powerhouse of patience. People believe that I have loads of it. But the fact is, I don't have that much. :(

Well, yes, I do have a considerable amount it, but at some point I, too, run out of patience. I am only a human. And I am not perfect.

Anyway, Today, I want to say sorry to everyone at whom I was mad in the past. There are quite a handful of people. Friends, at home and at office. I honestly do feel that I should have exercised more caution then, and perhaps I could have handled those situations differently. At-least, I shouldn't have really shouted at them.

It's a little difficult, however, to keep your cool when people all around you behave crazy. When someone is pestering you, it really takes a lot of patience not to turn around and gag them or shout at them. Most of the time I am cautious. But at times, it gets out of control and hell breaks loose on them. Although I am not violent at all, but people seem to get scared or may be very very angry at me when I shout. It's probably because they don't expect me to retaliate ever. They probably feel like I am not the same person they knew, when I am mad at them.

There have been some instances in the past when I was mad and didn't react at all. Well, most of the times I am like that. Nobody wants to be angry. But sometimes, you have to react, voluntarily or in the spur of the moment. I do, however, at times, regret for my inaction when I should have just blasted off the other person, may be even killed them once and for all.

It isn't a big deal, though, if you can easily shrug off that feeling, and get back into a peaceful state of mind soon, when you could go over it again and decide for yourself if it was right on your part to behave the way you just did. It's perfectly normal to get mad at someone as long as you can ponder over it again and if required apologize for your behavior if you think you were wrong.

Well, I guess, this is not new. Everyone knows what anger can do to a relationship. Everyone also knows that ego is not really a good thing to have. That doesn't help in keeping your relationships if you have a short-temper. We tend to get angry on people frequently who are close to us. It doesn't really matter if you shout or not at a stranger or a person who you don't consider to be close to you. They are not an important part of your life. You are probably never going to meet that stranger again or won't have a life-time relationship with that acquaintance. But that doesn't mean that you could go on swearing and shouting at people on the roads. Your conscience will get to you for that sometime for sure.

Ah!!! I am just talking gibberish. Let's come straight to the point. People, again, I apologize to all of you on being rude or for getting mad at you. To make all those people feel a little better,

"I shout at those people who I consider close to me, hoping that they would understand why I did that"

By the way, Friendship day is round the corner. Those of you who are willing to revive the jagged threads of our friendsip, get ready. :) Happy Friendship Day in advance.

Random post at midnight

Image courtesy: Wikimedia

I was talking to a friend today. He said, "People update their blogs only when they are sad and gloomy. When they are happy, why the heck would they want to sit in-front of their computers typing out their thoughts? Rather they would hang out with friends, have a beer, watch a movie and enjoy their nice time."


Well, I do agree.


I recently started a chain mail and added everyone on my contact list (at-least those I remembered). This time around, the response was pathetic. The last time we did a similar thing, Google had blocked my gmail account for a day stating that the limit of the number of mails that could be sent in a day was crossed. They said that I had sent more than 500 emails for that particular day.  

Dumb!!!!! 

This time, the chain hasn't even been able to collate even 15 links. That's understandable I guess. People have settled now. Some married, some too busy with work and some have perhaps forgotten their old friends. I am not complaining though. That day, I was a little low on work, so didn't know what to do. I was bored of Facebook and Twitter and then I remembered all my friends. :D

The Last SMS - contd.

That wasn't actually the Last SMS. After that day, when we met for the first time, I explained her the whole story, ummm...., not the whole, only a part of it. I didn't tell her that I had any feelings for her. I said that it was just my friend's mischief, and there was nothing more to it. And she believed, at-least, I believed she did. And then, we started talking again.

After our final exams, we(I and my friends) packed our bags to leave hostel and college forever. It was our last day. We hadn't quite planned out our journey back, so, were short of time. I couldn't meet her before leaving, though I was dying to meet her the last time, perhaps, the last time ever. We had a train to catch. I was somewhat saddened by the fact that probably we would never talk again either. She was still in college. I was cursing my friends for not being able to arrange tickets for the next day.

After a few good byes, and hugs, and a few tears, we left the college premises. Somewhere within my heart, I still had the hope of seeing her the last time. Perhaps, she was waiting for me at the railway station. I was nervous. We reached the station. My eyes rolled in all directions. I couldn't see her. I looked at my watch again and again. There were still a few minutes left. All the time, I was expecting a call. I had told her that I would be leaving today. "How could she forget?", I thought.

Our train had already arrived. I wanted to give her a call. But, somehow, I couldn't. I didn't know what to tell her. But I wanted to say, "Why didn't you come? Why didn't you call?". 5 minutes before the train left, I gave her a call in the hope of listening to her voice for one last time. The phone rang, I was still thinking what to say. It kept on ringing. "She must be on her way", I thought.

And then, a voice answered, "The number you have dialed is not ......". @##$#%

I tried once more, still no answer. I was still on the platform, my eyes fixed on the entrance. The train started moving. My friends called out. I felt like crying, felt like running back to the hostel. But I knew I have been expecting for something that would never happen. She would never come, I knew that. Dejected, I boarded the moving train.

I got on the train, settled myself. My friends thought I was sad for my other friends and college. They thought I was already missing the hostel life, and made fun of my. I was in my own world. I was looking at my phone all the time.

After sometime, I typed in the words, "I Love You, I always did, from the very first day we met. Sorry and Goodbye", and sent it to Ms. 291. THAT!!!! was the last SMS.

The last SMS

There was a girl in my college. She was in my class. And her Roll No. was 291. Mine was 294. The guy with Roll no.  292 left college after some days. And Roll No 293 was a great friend of mine. After the first year of college, Ms. 291 and I were enrolled into a new class. Mr. 293 was now out of the story. Well, Mr. 293 actually had a greater part in this story, but I chose to cut short his involvement in this affair, in our affair. In the new class, there was no one between 291 and 294. I thought, someday, I will let her know my feelings when we were alone. I was sort of sure that there was destiny's play in all this, and the whole world was working towards getting the two of us closer to each other. See, we both got into the same class after the first year, and Mr. 293 was left behind. :D

Being in the same class meant always being in the same group of friends, lots of chats, exchanging notes, coffee breaks and snacks, phone calls, sms, emails and a few lunches and dinners. When we used to go out for project work together out of our campus, I always insisted on having dinner at some good place. I had already prepared a list of nice food joints near our campus. She never gave in and said her friends would be waiting at the hostel. Though I always had my proposal ready, I was actually waiting for the appropriate time and opportunity, which never came. But I never gave up hope.

I never got a chance to know how she felt about me. I never asked her. I was afraid. I made my best efforts of  hiding my feelings for her. Actually, I was, and I still am, quite good at it. We were almost at the end of the semesters of the 3rd year of class, when something changed in our relationship. Ahh, I can't forget that day. And I can't forget the culprit as well. Mr. 013. All my friends knew about this girl. Mr. 013 also knew about our affair. He is still a good friend, but I was very angry at him that day. 4 of my friends, including Mr. 013 were celebrating someone's birthday. No points for guessing that the main attraction of the party was, THE WHISKY (some brand, that's not important though, but I remember), and not the birthday boy. He was forgotten after we each landed a few kicks on his back. And there was an oversupply of it (whisky), enough to make us lose our minds. I had already lost my sanity. I could only hear the music playing on the computer with half closed eyes and an empty glass in my hand. Well, I was also thinking about Ms. 291, but I still wasn't insane enough. I thought, alcohol gives you that rush of extra courage, but I needed a few more pegs to get to that stage where I could even think of surviving a fall from the 11th floor. Just then, my phone beeped. It was an SMS. As soon as I took it out of my pocket, Mr. 013 snatched it from my hands. He read out the contents of the SMS aloud. It was from Ms. 291.

"Hey, wassup? I am bored with these stupid girls, care to talk?"

I had to reply back. So, I asked Mr. 013, to return my phone. He said that he will reply that we were drinking and I would call her once we finished the alcohol. All my efforts of getting my phone back went in vain. So, I just let him do whatever he wanted and said, "Go ahead". We had a little conversation.

Mr. 013 : Why haven't you proposed her yet? Are you afraid?

Me : I am not afraid. I think she already knows how I feel about her, but I am just looking for the right time.

Mr. 013 : What the hell? It's been 3 years, and you are still waiting for the right time? Anytime is the right time for this stuff. So do it today, right now. Else I will.

Me : No, please. I will take my time, I am not in a condition to talk, else I would have called her up right now. You always get me pumped up. Thanks.

The very next moment, I was back to my senses, when Mr. 013 thrust my phone into my face, which said, "Message Sent". After a few clicks, I realized that the damage had been done. Mr. 013, sent "I Love You" to Ms. 291, from my phone. Damn!!!! Doomed forever!!! That night, the whole night, I was awake, waiting for my phone to beep again. But it never did. That was the last SMS.........

Graduated !!! *After College*

4 years of engineering was fun. Each and every day was as enjoyable  as the first or the last day of college and hostel. But now, things have changed, for good and bad. Hostel life, I guess, was a great experience for me. When I look back, through the hazy memories, I can still clearly re-collect some moments which can never be forgotten. These incidents will one day become stories for our children which we would narrate again and again. Those four years were like a vacation for me, of course, I got a B.Tech Degree. :)

1. At college, ANYTIME is PLAYTIME. There was no fixed playtimes for us. Be it a weekday, exam day or a weekend, in a minutes notice we could make two teams for any game. Cricket, Football, Volleyball, Carrom, Chess, Age of Empires, Counter strike, Water Games, Discussions, Debates, and a lot more. We played it all.

* But now in the corporate world, we only get weekends. :(

2. Dinner, Lunch and Breakfast were just words for us. There was no fixed time for all these. We stretched and skewed the timings so much that these words lost their meaning. We just ate, anytime we liked, and anything we got.

* Out here, we have fixed timings for everything, even for a smoke and tea.

3. Drinking and smoking made people happy and gay. If you didn’t have a hangover next day, you weren’t drunk. Throwing up and to be drunk again was a sign of strength. It was admired.

* You puke once in your office party, and your organization bans alcohol in office parties forever. After the smoking ban, people have to walk out of the campus/building to get some air. :(

4. Six weeks of attendance. That means, in the whole year, you work for 12 weeks. There was a relaxation of 2 weeks as well, if you could think of a nice excuse. The rest of the time, you could be sleeping, watching movies, playing Far Cry, or just gossiping, you had so much time to waste.

* 35 holidays a year!!! That’s ridiculous, when the hell shall I find time to chill out? Office life doesn’t give you time to breathe, let alone a chance to get drunk.

5. Worn out jeans, torn Tees, and Bathroom chappals took us everywhere. Party, lectures, Exams and Interviews. Washing clothes was something which had the least priority for us.

* Formals, Shoes, Ties and a Laptop in all seasons have to be carried 5 days a week. And the weekend’s most important agenda is “Washing clothes”. I hate it.

I can go on writing about things, how they were and how they have changed. Well, I am not complaining about the present. I just want to say, “Wow, how great were those 4 years of hostel”. Now after college, I have responsibilities, towards everything. I have grown up finally. “I have GRADUATED”.

Lost in Chandigarh

Well, I don't remember exactly the sequence of events, but I don't know how I missed to write about this one. We almost made headlines some years back when I was in college, NIT Kurukshetra. It was a college tour to Chandigarh, a part of our Environmental Studies curriculum. The whole of electrical batch packed in 2 buses.

I don't even remember the names of people who were involved. As far as I can remember there were 6 of us. Rishabh, Kapi, Vivek, Amit, Rahul Singh and Me. We had already decided that we would somehow escape from the group and have beer even before we started. It was a hot afternoon. A bottle of beer was the need of the hour. For lunch, we were given an hours time. As soon as we heard that, we rushed towards a place where we could get all we wanted. It wasn't long enough before we had the bottles in our hands. Some "aloo parathas" and "samosas" was all that we could manage in an hour, we thought. After 4-5 gulps of the liquid, all of us went into a mild state of trance, out in the air, on the streets of Chandigarh.

The next thing I remember was a policeman standing besides me and staring at me. We never knew that it was illegal to drink in the open in Chandigarh. We never bothered to inquire. Then we could also see a bigger crowd surrounding us. I could also see some people with cameras pointed at us, perhaps the press. And suddenly the bottles were snatched from our hands and we were asked to follow a policeman who escorted us to the control room, saving us from the press and the people. Phew, I could see all of us sweating profusely now. The lunch break was almost over and we were quite far from the group and our professors. We knew we would never be able to make it on time. Thoughts about getting thrown out of college, parents wrath and making the headlines made us nervous. And finally, we managed to call some more people from the group who came in time to deal with the police. Sagar and Dheeraj rushed to the spot in 15 minutes.

By that time, the police were completing the paper works, inquiring about us, taking down our addresses. When it was Kapi's turn, I couldn't control my laughter. He started mentioning some imaginary address, a strange address, of-course non-existent. They had also confiscated out ID cards, which was returned to us after-wards. After all this, we were taken to a hospital where a doctor asked us some questions and we answered (don't remember what). He then announced that we were not drunk. This was all a part of the process just to make sure that we don't land up in tomorrow's newspapers. The policemen were very co-operative and Sagar and Dheeraj also helped a lot in finally taking us back to the group. And the excuse was, "Lost in Chandigarh". No one was cross-questioned.

When we returned to our hostels, there was a sense of pride for all that we went through. We were the talk of the hostel for that day. That day, it was fun.I think we had some more beer when we were back.

But, when I think of it now, I feel sad. I am sure that it could have been worse. That was 4 years ago, and we were just engineering students. But for our luck, this incident was not somehow publicized enough to be known to our profs, parents and others, and we were saved.

2nd November - One more birthday

It's Happy Birthday for someone.

Happy Birthday.

As far as I can remember, birthday bashes used to be very violent for me while I was in college. It always used to be fun, with so many people running in at the last second before the clock struck 12:00.

I was not exposed to such kind of violence before I stepped into the holy land of Kurukshetra. I didn't even know that there was such a custom on earth. Well, the first year, I escaped somehow. But, the next 3 years, apart from the kicking and beating, people pouncing on my debit card, I, kind of got used to this. Now, for me and most of my friends, it is a feeling of pride to be kicked on the back, without crying out loud. Well, after the beating, many people just walk away, boasting, "Dude, You could have done better. Wait for your b'day and I will show you how is it done".

To name a few, well, Sidharth, the greatest boaster in such a situation. And then, there were people who eagerly wait for the guy's b'day who had landed the most dreadful kick on his, and then there were people who just did some foot exercise to get some midnight snacks, and for some it was a party where one could get some free smokes. College life can never be forgotten, I miss those birthdays. :)

Our Rules for RPL

First things first : What is RPL??

Any wild guesses? No? Ok, here it is, Roomies Premier League.

The name has not been in wide use, but I think the rules of the game remain the same, no matter where the game is being played. Let me give you a brief history of the game.

First year in hostel: Under ragging period, we were so terrified to even peep out of the windows in fear of our dreaded seniors. So,  after college, we had to put ourselves inside our rooms, locked up from outside. Checked and double checked!!

During this time, the foundations of our version of the game were laid down. Although, the game has it’s roots deeper than that, I will only talk about the rules that we officially had incorporated into the RPL.

1. Teams: As in any other game, here also we had two teams. But, the uniqueness was, the number of players in a team was never constant. Depending on the availability, or rather the willingness of our roomies. During exams, we had teams with as low as 1 player on each side, while on the other hand, during the start of our semesters, the number of players would sometimes even rise to 8 on each side.

2. Venue: Most of the time, it was inside our rooms. However, at times, when the teams got bigger than the rooms can accommodate, we moved out into the corridors.

3. Equipments: We are talking about cricket here. So we would certainly find similar equipments that are used in ODIs and Test Matches. BAT: Our definition, it just had to be hard enough to hit the ball without falling apart. Be it a real bat, a broken leg of a chair and when none of the above were available, we managed to get a wood piece from our mess which would have been burnt away to cook our food that night. BALL: A tennis ball preferably, a plastic ball was also used sometimes, in some versions of the game, some teams were often seen using a football. :) No definite rules here. OTHERS: None. Oh!! for wickets, we had chairs.

4. Format: Just like ICC now-a-days has at-least 3 versions of the game, we also had 3 versions of the game. ODIs: These were single matches, which were to be played till the end, and were supposed to be the shortest version of the game. Tests: A bit longer version, these matches took anywhere between a day to 5 days, to be completed. Series: A series of never ending matches, where the same teams meet and keep a record of matches won and lost. This was the most preferred version of the game since we could brag about our stats, records, make fun of others’ performances.

5. Rules: Now the finer details of the game. These rules were the most important. They were followed by each and every player honestly, though sometimes, the match had to be called off, not because of bad light or rain, but because of differences in opinions since we didn’t have an ICC like organization who could sort out the problems.

A. How to get a batsman out?

In addition to the normal rules prevailing in international cricket, we had amended the rules to suit RPL. Here they are:

• One tip one hand out
• 3 consecutive body touches (ball hitting your body, a replacement for LBW)
• hitting the ball directly to one of the walls
• 3 consecutive misses

B. Bowling rules ?

• Under-arm compulsory
• Speed limit – 60 km/hr
• Body line bowling allowed
• Negative tactics were encouraged

C. Runs?

• One run if you connect the ball with the bat
• No sixes allowed, you are out if you hit a six
• For fours, you should ground the ball at-least once before it hits the walls
• 0 runs if you don’t hit the ball
• No running between the wickets

D. Match abandoned due to ?

• Lunch, dinner, breakfast or class time
• Power failures during night matches
• Disagreement between players (no umpires!!)
• Ball hit out of the room through the windows/balcony
• A broken bat

I might have forgotten to add other rules of the game. So I kindly request anybody and everybody who are familiar with the rules to add to this list. RPL rocked. I miss them so much.