June 29, 2005

This day in my history...

Today is June 29th 2005, a simple day, no big event, nothing phenomenal,nothing noticeable infact. Thousands of such days crop in and out. Out of 7756 days of my life so far, only a handful of them are momentous and those fateful days have had lot of substance. Leaving them aside, I(or rather we) have lived in vanilla days.Thanks to my daily dairy entry habit, I can dig out the happenings of even normal prosaic days and relive them in my memories. Let me delve in today, traversing year by year.

29th June

1999- Well it was the summer vacation of class IX...school days yaya!Everything was going so swiftly- no troubles, no tension, no exams to crack! but I was so bored of life.

2000- Yeah so complete vella time! Boards over and I had applied for my new school- DAV JVM, Ranchi. To my parent's disappointment, I chose to go away from my home just to prepare sincerely for engg entrances. Classes were to begin from July 10.

2001- I returned to Ranchi today after completing my summer vacations at home. I wanted to stay for some more time, as going back to Ranchi seemed to be a compromise. I reached Ranchi in morning 0600 by bus and then I decided to go for tution. I had my chemistry tution by Tapan Sir. He was simply a great guy, -14 power spectacles, majestic persona and lightning quick calculation speed which always bedazzled me. I never heard any student saying anything bad about him though he was very strict. I always used to be 'characteristically' late in his class, but he always allowed me to enter though no one can never expect such leniency from him. But the tution was cancelled that day, so I came back and did my favourite thing...yeah I slept!

2002- My seat in DA-IICT was confirmed and I came back to Muzaffarpur just two days back after counselling. I was looking forward for college, and excited about my future. Don't remember much!

2003- I was in Mumbai, my father was operated four days back. My friend Danish and my mother arrived just one day back. After weeks of trauma, I was so happy to see my mother and one of my best friends Danish. Danish and I roamed in Mumbai whole day, I will always remember the fun! First we went to my guesthouse, but I forgot to bring the keys and we could not even enter. It was raining so heavily that all local trains either running late or not running. We went to Bandra by bus, got down and got fully drenched in rain. Then we went to Khar station walking and it pouring down so heavily that I cant even see. We took a train to Andheri and after getting down we were haunted by the infamous Mumbai stray dogs, finally we reached his uncle's house.

2004- I was ill:feverish and enlarged tonsilitis. Also I met with an accident few days back, so still I had to go for dressing everyday.

2005- Here I'm today, getting up at 1330, watching rain, studying for RI, enhancing my vocabulary, writing blogs...

Crossing out one more day!!

June 23, 2005

A Road of Relief

Why do I have this false notion that my DA-IICT days are over??3 years over, but don't know why I feel that I've to pack my bags very soon. Probably that's why Nostalgia strikes me so that I remember my fresher days in college often. When I came to Ahmedabad for the first time(June 22'2002), I stayed in Hotel Marvel, Relief Road. I went to Relief Road today with my friend Abhijeet(don't know?? ok he's Babu) for shopping. Relief Road has always been a warm, welcoming and friendly place for me, so I dedicate this whole post to Relief Road.

By definition Relief Road means a road which is opened specifically to relieve the traffic in the concerned part of city. Relief Road was my first impression of this part of country which really amazed me. This was my origin in Ahmedabad and I used to find my ways w.r.t Relief Road. I like Relief Road because this was the place where I did my first few shoppings alone, first place where I learnt to bargain(an art for life, which I'm trying to develop), place where I get damn good quality products at reasonably cheap rates and have never been cheated and last but not least as as an emblem of Ahmedabad. For those who have never been to Ahmedabad, Relief Road is a very busy hustling bustling jostling 1.5 km long road(paved from Ahmedabad Railway Station to Lal Darwaja) with clothes, garment, leather goods, book shops on both sides in bottleneck congestion(quite resemblance with Chandni Chowk, Delhi). The traffic mainly kerosene driven highly polluting auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers travel in jig-jag manner putting pedestrians at a high risk, as I always suffer. All over Relief Road you'll see hawkers and vendors shouting at top of their lungs, agents trying to grip your neck(or hand, or whatever they catch) and drive you to their shops, customers trying to bargain, traffic police failing miserably etc. etc. In one sentence I will describe Relief Road as a street of complete chaos and mayhem with healthy business flourishing between shrewd adroit shopowners and expert bargaining customers in a miasma of vehicular emission, that's how I paint the picture in my mind on this blog.

Talking about todays shopping it was fun.I was answering thoughtfully to all of Abhijeet's inane queries.(Like looking down from Nehru Bridge he asked me which river is this? Two times he was almost crushed while crossing the road). And the best thing which could ever happen, it rained today and I got wet happily. My only concern was my mobile but after putting it in a plastic bag borrowed from some hawker, I jumped out in rain. Despite the fact that heavy rains lashed the market, Relief Road was as chaotic as ever.That's the spirit, and this is an example of management in brawl. In the end I would like to say one thing to Relief Road, What a Relief you have been!!

June 22, 2005

Longest day of the year

Yesterday was the longest day of the longest year of my life so far- 21st June. It was not just the length of the day which made it so long for me, there were other enterprises going on side by side. It was the counselling of the new batch in our college DA-IICT, and it was a reminder that I'm in fourth year now. Nostalgia strikes me often and I remember my counselling on June 24 2002, so much have changed since then like the landscape of college but few things are still the same like my weight. Counselling is supposed to be the day when youngsters see their college, the place where they're gonna spend four crucial years of their life. Parents look more worried than the students themselves which I aptly reconcile.

I myself counselled three families( which includes one family with 8-9 members). The first family(of 8-9 members) was from MP and they had three students to admit!! No idea how they managed to do so, but I had a strong urge to ask but I killed it. The second family was from the AP. The last one was from Rohtak, Haryana and the guy's father was in army and he was trying all his tricks. They all came to my room when I was about to leave and as I bid goodbye to one family other came in promptly and again... Probably it was their inflection and anxiety which forced them to ask stupefied thickheaded questions. I know parents were dazed so I tried to be generous and polite, but sometimes the puerility brought me back to my normal arrogancy. Some of the stupid nonsensical half-witted questions asked to me, my thoughts and my answers were:
A. How far is bathroom from your room?
Why??Are you in a hurry??
20 metres and turn left
B. Mention any three drawbacks of your college.
Why didn't you ask this during proper counselling? Bahut mazaa aata!
You'll figure out more than three very soon.
C. My son got admitted in XYZ coll, should he take admission here?
Why did you come here?for free food?
Anything is better than XYZ coll.
D. Why is there no provision for mosquito nets?
Is your blood too sweet??Come to my hometown, synonymous for mosquitoes.
They don't bite.
E. How many hours should one study here?
Does anyone?
5 hours atleast to stay in race
F. And most idiotic ques: How many hours do you study???
*SHOCKED* me??you mean, me??how does it concern you dickhead?
2 hours per day(big lie!)
G. How much percentage do you get?
*even more SHOCKED* your son wanna compete with me?
ummmm...ummm...we get grades which are not convertible in percentages(even bigger lie!)*turning my face to son* So, how much did you score in your 12th??
H. Do students play?
No, they sweep the sports complex.
Yes even when lectures are on.
I. How often do you go home?
Whenever mummy calls.
Whenever there are vacations.

So this way I concluded most of the discussion. The biggest problem was that labs were closed, and I had to live without internet for most of the time. Probably that's why this was the longest day! Time is passing so sluggishly- RI stuck, CAT prep on but crawling, Summer too hot, no good movies... that's why I'm having so long days. Anyone game for scrabble??

June 10, 2005

Renaissance

Time travels unidirectionally and continually. Life is a chronology of events. Everything fades away with time but sometimes I wonder how some experiences are rejuvenated. There are certain things which follow a fixed cycle of time like day night, seasons, crops etc. which are tenable but at the same time certain phenomena strike back off guard. I remember few days ago a person(ex-tenant) asked me for my number. I gave him my home's landline number. He was bent down to write it on a piece of paper and suddenly he rolled his eyes to look up impressively and said "oh, you have a landline no.!" and I just smiled and replied politely "yeah, it's a reliance landline." So what is the whole idea??? Mobiles have outnumbered landlines, not just in quantity but also in popularity and ease of use. Youngsters, especially girls, have mobiles all the time in their hands. This is the reason why my uncle was surprised to know that I've a landline number too, and settled people these days choose landline over mobiles thanks to radiation, high rates and senility.

One of my online friend wrote in her profile that she doesn't like shorthand sms-lingoed typing, nor do I. At one time it was even a fashion to make grammar mistakes intentionally( i cum for I will come) alongwith raping spellings, but now I see many people showing their faith in english grammar. I agree it saves time, but don't you think it is avoidable, if possible? Thanks to blogging, I'm back to real English. Fashion repeats itself, very true. There was a time when it was jeans, jeans and blue jeans everywhere and now people have shifted back to good old trousers. Thankfully I was never guided by jeans mania, readymade trousers looks good, feels good, costs good and is good. Girls were eager to shed their clothes one time but now I feel that full length trousers/jeans and top have become a feminine symbolism on most general occasions. However skirts are more sexier as they leave a scope for imagination to run wild!

When I was a school kid, I discovered chess and I liked it a lot. I asked my other friends to play with me, and they retorted back " Are you a nerd? Chess is for old people and politicians." and I consider this as a highly offensive and derogatory remark, but time has changed. Now when you hear someone playing chess, the general impression is that the person has intellect, patience and sharp thinking abilities. Playing chess is nowadays not considered to be old-fashioned, thats very good. There is a tremendous uprise in cultural restaurants like the ones where you'll get to feel like village, being served on plant leaves by waiters dressed as villagers. Hubble-Bubble(Hookah) have found a decent place among all classes of people esp. youngsters. These entities were considered outmoded once, but now with time they are back in a city resident's life.

What brings them back in action? We have not reached at a saturation level where nothing else can be invented anymore, but then why do we redeem outdated stuff? One reasoning I propose is that we may not pretend but from inside we consider too much modernization as a fad and we have some sense of cultural heritage. We accept new world of ATMs, wi-fi readily, but we do not wish to let go what our previous generation has accomplished. This way we maintain a delicate balance between modernity and old practices and extract the best out of both worlds.

June 4, 2005

Just a talk

I'm feeling lonely now, I just wanna talk. No serious stuff, no crude philosophy, no hidden implications, no thought provoking, just a simple talk, afterall blogs are meant to exchange ideas.I have never read any book apart from glancing upon coursebook and few others. Last night I took midnight walk with Bhavesh, and then me and Vivek were talking near GF junction(not EF, its GF). I said "I wanna read a novel", but dont know which one to start with. Since I'm impatient so I wanna start with a 200-250 page book. Bhavesh suggested Harry Potter series, though it doesn't appeal me much but still I feel that I need an easy one to start. Vivek proposed 'The Alchemist', pretty good one. Its not that I'm completely ignorant about books, but I've never shown the courage and patience to finish a book entirely. So people please suggest me a good book to start with.

Sadly Orkut is blocked in our college, all those thing which are imbibed in our life are taken away by college. They don't allow chatting simply because it consumes bandwidth. What's the use of bandwidth anyway? They blocked parlis when it was getting familiar with DA-IICTians and Orkut which was so deep-rooted in our social lives. We are basically online bugs, ICTians, dwelling in e-world, thinking like a computer and yet our arms are cut. Naresh rightly said that the spice is lost. One US airlines filed a petition against Jet Airways, India that they are directly related to Al Qaeda and should not be allowed to operate in US, and their supporting evidences, guess what they say "since Jet Airways (India) Ltd was planned and started in 1991, it has been funded by Al Qaeda 'Specifically Designated Global Terrorist' Dawood Ibrahim". Firstly these developed leader countries exploit poor countries and take all their wealth away and then they accuse without proper vindication.Ironically the accuser is itself named Jet Airways, may be they are facing identity crisis.


Tonight a booze party is planned which if realized will be my first experience(apart from useless beer). Lalla the pioneer, Anna the experienced, Kunal Sengupta the host, Zubin the newbie, me the newborn and we'll find one more to set the hostel ablaze.I have heard that people do very funny things when they drink for the first time, so tonight if you are beaten up or your clothes are torn apart by me without any proper reason, just stay cool. However I always think that people get high, but they act more ... let's see if its true.
You guys know Peter leko??? The hungarian chess legend... he's on a 'commiting blunder' spree. He has put himself in 'mate in one' position in a drawn game. Poor guy...they are publishing a book What is wrong with Peter Leko?? Chalo, I wont make you feel bored anymore..signing off bbye

June 2, 2005

And life goes on...

Yesteryear have gone by and life has changed. So much has happened, so much has transformed, sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter, happiness, sadness and all flavours, and life goes on. Come what may, life must go on.

I love blogging and for last one month I've been away, but life goes on.

There are people whom I've disliked for genuine reasons and I had to ask them for help... and life goes on.

There are trains by which I never wished to travel, and I had to... and life goes on.

I've studied some courses and learnt a lot, but could not reflect it on my marksheet... and life goes on.

There are people whom I loved, respected and satisfied and they die without giving me any chance to return all the favours that I was bestowed upon since the beginining of my time... and life goes on.

Someone important in my life is feeling pain and I am sitting by them helpless... and life goes on.

Someone gave me life and gives up life ...and life goes on.

It did not rain when I wished so ...and life goes on.

Someone stood by my side helping me a lot ...and life goes on.

Someone loves to talk to me and consider me as a true friend, I'm thankful to them ...and life goes on.

A giant wave of destruction chases people and kills them, drowns them, take them away ...and life goes on.

Power goes off before you could save your documents ...and life goes on.

An explosive revelation, mental agony, trauma, RECURRENCE and everything goes blank... and life goes on.

Nostalgia strikes, something missed, something gained, something to retrospect... and life goes on.

So many opportunities lost and still hopeful... and life goes on.

Someone is traumatized and life springs back to normal for them and it goes smooth ...and life goes on.

Planning to call up a old friend and catch up with all that happened since we lost contact ...and life goes on.
People offer help, sympathesize, offer help again, maintain a distance, restate their helpfulness, avoid and finally forget ...and life goes on.

Someone serves painstakingly with dedication and when the the job is over, they are asked to leave and they find a new job...and life goes on.

Someone throws a party and the evening becomes lively, thanks to them ...and life goes on.

Time passes ...and life goes on.

Plans fail without fail ...and life goes on.

But we are strong and accept whatever comes, because life must go on. Life does not go on forever, and your last breath may be the last one. This is the time.