Hi All, I am back

It's been quite a long time since I blogged. Quite a few things have been happening around me. Now things have settled a little, and finally, I got some time to take a deep breath. Had been real busy for the past few months. And as everything has an end, I am hoping that this (not being so busy) doesn't end so soon.

A few days back, I was a little sad and taken aback when someone told me that I was ignoring everything else for work. But the good part is I realized that it was actually true. I also realized that I was not getting enough sleep and rest and that, in a way was really getting back to me. Thanks, "whoever" it was. Actually, 2 of them.

Ok, enough said. 

• Amit Chahar got maried. Congrats Amit and Asha. Lets meet soon. Sorry I couldn't attend your marriage.
• It was Amit Kunjal's birthday yesterday. I actually wished him a day in advance.
• Happy Birthday Shakul Jugran. Calls for a treat.
• Happy Birthday Debasis Biswal. Come to bangalore once and we will have a blast, all expenses to be borne by you of course. 

I recently went to a remote rural school on an official visit. It was a joy ride. The weather was perfect. But the best part of it was interacting with students and teachers. I didn't know the local language (Kannada), but that didn't matter. I was surprised to see almost all of them conversing well with us in English. I am not sure if I was that good back then. Students even in the 7th grade looked so very young. They made me look really old. Brought back old memories. Came back and added a few friends from school and college on facebook.

One day, away from office, city traffic and among the children was worth spent. Looking forward to more such trips in the future, now that I am trying to reduce my working hours :) (Seriously.....@"whoever(2)" Believe me... I am not a workaholic, it's just that someone needed to pinch me to wake me up).

Emotional Atyachaar - Beware

Hey couples! Beware!! Next time when a hot chick or a handsome dude approaches you to ask for directions. If you know the directions, give them just that. Turn down all their requests of going for a dinner, even a coffee. This just might be your partner spying on you. :@

I guess, everybody would have heard about this reality show where people spy on their partners. It's a nice concept actually, but I guess, it doesn't fit in rightly into the Indian scenario. I mean, it's my guess of course, that, given a chance of a free meal, at-least 95% of us would go for it. Though, the stats from the show suggest that almost 99% of the partners are not loyal.  But, is it a big deal? To some, may be. Obviously everybody wants his/her partner to be loyal. But, as far as I can think, or analyze, it's not a big deal for the couples of today to err or have an affair(short-term) out of their commitments. I have seen many people break-up on petty issues than this. Seems that "Loyalty Test" is the ultimate test for couples before they actually carry on with the relationship or tie the knot.

Spying on your partners is fine. And perhaps, the show has helped a few couples to know about their partners dark side. But is it right to make this a public affair? And that too on the National TV? True, for some, this might well be a fitting revenge for their cheating partners, but what about the poor guys who just thought of having a good time??

As somebody rightly said on the show, "I am not somebody's paycheck". The TV channel has no doubt generated a large viewer-ship for it's season II which will be starting soon. I love the show anyway, but I think there should be a bit more censorship. Don't disclose the names and faces of people. And may be they shouldn't air couples who are not yet serious about their relationship.

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.