Island Day

A cool, pleasant breeze – indicating that typical North Indian winters are just around the corner and a mildly warm sun – one that just warms up your skin so that it feels amazing when the cool breeze soothes it. A chilled Budweiser and the surroundings green and empty. Four of them sat there, 5 years after having sat there every day for four years. They had just spent half an hour taking a round of each and every nook and corner of the college – the only difference that instead of 4 guys being on 1 black scooter, they were on a black SUV. They sat there for an eternity – talking, remembering. There were cycles of a recalled memory, followed by a homogenous mixture of 4 different types of laughs.
It is important to do silly, stupid things – especially in college life – so that you have memories of it later. Be it a gheri with 5 people on a scooter meant for 2 or 8 people in a car meant for 4, going to a 5 star hotel and ordering the cheapest item on the menu – a fruit ruffle, and sharing it with 2 other fellows or starving on the lake with no money in any of the pockets. Just lying down, staring at the sky, thinking about gastronomy and making some stupid comments about astronomy.
If the afternoon was good, better was to follow. He had once dreamt after watching DCH, that he and his friends with their WAGs are sitting like them in the last scene – a round table and just chilling. He didn’t know that he would see the dream turning into a reality. But before that it was time to go to the 5 star hotel – the new one. Ironically it was owned by a guy with a name which was similar to what they had done to their most loved college lives 5 years ago. 3 of them were there with their W’s. He was the lone exception – not that it mattered much. And this time they didn’t order the cheapest snacks and shared it with everybody. The best part, apart from the company was the ambiance – the best one he had seen till now in the town. And it was here that a degree of completeness was added. Everyone took turns to talk to the one who had woken up when we were getting ready to have dinner. The meaning of long distance calls has completey changed. It used to be a call from 200 kms away and people used to talk loudly on phone. Now its saat samundar paar and we just turn on the loudspeaker. It was time then for the newly added family members (read the Ws) to get introduced to us – they did well!
The party moved on from the latest in town to one of the oldest in town – 5 stars don’t have the flavor of the butter chicken and naan which simple mortals like them aspired for. Here, he saw the round table with chairs around it and he saw the dream unfolding in front of him. Despite suggestions of moving to a comfortable location, he insisted on this table and from then on it was a kind of trance - maybe it was the butter chicken.
Here followed the stories – some short and sweet and some elaborated, complete with dates and venues and yet some where all of them contributed because all were associated it in some way – stories of how singles became doubles. In time, as existences of some living beings were eradicated, the crowd slowly became silent. There was not even a clichéd “Itna sanatta kyu hai bhai” – all deep in thoughts or getting nostalgic or may be everyone was sleepy.
The day was an island. Soon it was time to leave it and sail in the unknown again. After enjoying the comfort of an island, how can the sea look exciting to anyone?

A Roller Coaster Day!!

The day was quite similar to the roller coaster we experienced at Essel World today. The plan was made yesterday and this morning 28 people from our ‘rocking’ division marched from college to Vile Parle station. It was a comfortable journey to Malad Station from where we caught a ferry to the amusement park after a round of photo session. With a nice 50% discount on tickets, we entered the gates of childhood again. After warming up with trivial rides, we came to the big one – Thunder. It is basically an extended version of the swinging ‘boat’ we usually have. The difference is that the boat in this case turns 360 degrees. It also adds more spice to your life by staying for a few everlasting seconds at the top with everyone literally off the seats, shoulders pinned into the safety harness which somehow acts against an important force of nature – the gravitational force. There were 2 more favorites – the roller coaster which went through a water pool drenching you from head to toe and from outerwear to innerwear. The second one was the crazy cars where everyone played around 3 – 4 rounds. Guess all the ‘focused’ MBA students felt good to be just aimless. A heavy lunch (aloo parantha with lassi.. aahaa) was followed by a bowling session(after 2 years!!!!) and a shake of leg at the disc. The caravan moved to another session of getting drenched and a grand photo session. Overall it was amazing fun and the roller coaster moved up from morning 10 to 6. Now it was time to come down a bit.

The ‘Drenching’ Ride
Ok. So after getting down from the ferry, Pranshu, Stanley and I took an auto to Boriwali station. Some miscommunications followed which brought us in front of the local which had started moving and which had rest of our group on board. Pranshu – the NDA blood, jumped on the moving train. I had already made up my mind not to risk a tired limb of mine for a Rs 6 ticket. So Stanley and I took the next local. On the way I saw photos for the day on Stan’s Mobile. One that I found strange was that of a Blue colored Nike bag on Pooja’s back. Stan said that he clicked it by mistake. On reaching vile parle, we discovered that same very bag had been left in the train – and it had significant cash, wallets, I Cards and around 4 mobile phones!!! Some coincidence ..huh!!


The Bag
There was a pandemonium outside station master’s cabin who was perhaps enjoying being in the limelight in a regularly mundane routine of his. 2 people had been sent in the next train to the last station - Churchgate where the train was scheduled to stop for few minutes. The timings were being discussed. Key problems areas were being outlined – will they be able to reach on time, how much time will they have to search etc. After gathering more information it was known that they won’t be able to reach on time. Another search party was sent to Bombay Central to intercept the train there on its return journey and try finding the bag. The help desk was in place with real time monitoring being done on the groups, their timings, train’s timings and communication (with 4 less phones though!!). Another noteworthy problem that was at the core of issue was the colossal rush at that hour from churchgate to boriwali. So as a backup measure Bharath and I left for Bandra station to increase the interceptor points of the incoming train (it was a fast local which stopped at few stations only). Never before had I been a part of such a big search operation covering half of Mumbai. The train was scheduled to come into Bandra at 9.14PM on platform 4 (check out the’preciseness’). The timing was too perfect for us when we reached Bandra. We had to change platforms. This was the point where Bharath and I lost contact. I rushed to platform 4, managed to find the right compartment and somehow managed to get inside that also. I penetrated deep into the bogie scanning all bags on the shelf. There was humongous amount of rush – something that I had seen on news channels only. Then I got a call that the bag had been found at Churchgate station and had been deposited at police counter. I breathed a sigh of relief. The roller coaster was coming up again – but there was a small hiccup in between. I realized that Andheri station had come and I was like Abhimanyu standing in the middle of a chakravyooh. I fought – and fought really hard – using every muscle I had ever spent pumping in the gym. The gate was near, people were abusing right and left, I carried on. The train started moving. I believed in myself. I could make it. I pushed people harder. On the gate now. But train had gathered speed and I was advised not to get down. Next thought I got was that I was in for a long ride to Boriwali – back to square one as they say. I touched my wallet to make sure it was still there and realized that I had zero cash with me. The key problem areas had another dimension to it now. It was turning out to be a steep fall for the roller coaster. Luckily for me, the train had turned to slow train after Andheri and it stopped at Jogeshwari(next station). I managed to get down here. After all this, coming back to Vile Parle was a child’s play. So after starting the day with childhood ‘jhoolas’ it was back to a child play. The roller coaster after the full round had come back.

The Summer Tag

The Tags have started flowing in after a brief hiatus..

Fleiger asks me to go down the memory lane and pluck 8 things I cherish about summers/Summer Vacations - things which are difficult to do now because of changing times and we growing up. So here they are. Hope they tickle a memory or two for you too.

• Cricket – Summer Vacation or not, cricket formed a big chunk of life. There were 2 -3 fav places of playing. The big ground across the sector (had to play cross batted shots here), in front of gurudwara (had to play very straight here because of houses around) and the DAV School ground (had to play on the off here). So now you know why I can play all around the wicket. Hehehehe..But the present conditions of the 2 grounds are sad. In dav school ground, many ‘jhoolas’ for small kids, a walking path for old and lights etc have come up so no more cricket there. The ground across the Sector has vanished. There are huge buildings there. Currently British Library sits on top of the pitch I really liked – I hit a six off the last ball to win the match on this pitch.



• Lassi – 2 times a day was compulsory. A pure Punjabi type lassi is one thing which is very very hard to get anywhere else. A lassi a day keeps the heat away. Undoubtedly the best drink for summers.



• Afternoon Nap – Summer vacations, a healthy lunch followed by a steel glass full of lassi, a ceiling fan soothing you and a desert cooler cooling you – a sure shot recipe for an unmatched afternoon nap. Moreover you need it to be fresh for the evening cricket matches.



• Cousins Visit – A regular feature of summer vacations till they permanently shifted to Chandigarh. It was 1 gala time.



• Sleeping under the open sky – When there are AC’s in all rooms who wants to sleep in the open with all the mosquitoes and all. But at one time it was really fun. May be it didn’t use to be that hot as it is now. Talk of Global Warming having an effect on our lives.



• Watering Plants – An activity which relaxes you no extent. After a harsh summer day, take the pipe and pour water over the parched, muddy leaves. The aroma of water on dry soil is unmatched.



• Saying AAA…. in the cooler – I am sure many would have done this. Standing in front of the desert cooler and saying aaaaaa….into it. What came back was a funny sound of the voice being cut by the fan blades.



• Evening Jog – This was not a part of early child hood days but came later during college time. A jog in the summer evening is awesome. No matter how much junk food, samosas, paranthas you have eaten during the day, you literally see it coming it out when, in the dwindling but still warm day, you see litres of sweat oozing out of you. A cool shower after that is even more heavenly.

There are many things like Mangoes, Birthdays, Rasna which I too wanted to write but which Fleiger has already written so in no way these 8 things are the Top 8.

Now the targeting people time. But no pointing fingers here.. Anyone interested can pick up the Tag.. It’s a lovely opportunity. Don’t miss it.

LTA Part VI - Laugh Riot

More and More suggestions are coming from friends to write about ‘that’ incident and ‘that one’ also.. some more of starting a quiz specific to Mechies-04 quizzing about certain incidents. In this 6th part I wanted to write something positive – where we actually studied something in the class, about some good prof’s who made us learn something. But I guess this has to come later as there are some more important issues to be documented first.

This was our group – the group name is hard to disclose here. Let's call it the 'B' group. It included Chunnu, Kunnu, Singal, Thakur and me. In this particular incident Keeda (meaning Bug) was also there – infact not there!!
We had a Subject DI (Seminar and Deptt Instructions) in which we were required to give seminars on some topic – as a group. The B group was scheduled to give it on the 2nd or 3rd lecture only (at the start of a Sem!!!). On the D-Day we hadn’t prepared a thing. I mean not a single line was written which could be spoken. Moreover, Keeda who was also in our seminar group was absent that day.
We bunked the previous lecture and went to the library to discuss the matter. And that half an hour – 45 minutes is hard to forget for any of us. Sitting on the floor in between the racks of books we started discussing it but the discussion which should have been serious slowly turned into laughter. We laughed at our own insolence, at what we were doing or in this case ‘Not Doing’. We laughed without a care in the world, without thinking what would happen a few minutes later. We thought about the ‘bahanas’ we would make and then laughed at how naïve those excuses were. We thought how the teacher could fail us and then laughed about we will be the first in history of mechanical to be failed in DI.
We laughed so hard that our stomach hurt and tears literally rolled down our eyes. We were doubled up and rolling on that cold library floor uncontrollably.
Well, it had to end sometime and it did around 10 minutes from the lecture time. Singal and I were wearing the same dress – black shirt and off white trousers. So it was decided that we would go to the prof and put all blame on Keeda. That he had all the stuff we had prepared – our speeches, the presentation charts etc. Same formal dress would prove that we had come prepared for the seminar but due to Keeda being absent nothing could be done. So both of us went. Singal told, in near tears, that Keeda had got some Liver problem and that he was admitted in Hospital and couldn’t come (Keeda indeed had some ‘minor’ liver problem). The prof also got senti (his son also had some liver problem). He gave us advice about how to drink lots of water and to tell Keeda to meet him when he comes back. He excused us and told to give seminar later. In the class, he publicly told that “members of the group, who was to give the seminar today, were in near tears as one of their friends is ill and hence they will not be able to give the seminar”.
Well, how Singal brought tears in his eyes I don’t know but the ones I had, if they were there, were because of the 45 minutes laugh riot earlier. I don’t think I have laughed more ever again.

LTA Part V - Proxies

Well.. it is difficult to stop me when you start talking of college.
So after getting ‘hints’ of turning this LTA thing into a series and getting positive feedback from everyone.. I can’t help myself from writing more.
The fifth in the series concentrates on the Proxies.

A proxy-friendly class, many students missing and Mr Atul Singal in his true elements. I guess he said yes sir, present sir to roll no. 00601 , 00610 (his own), then 2-3 more roll numbers in 30’s and then Chawla’s(00641) which was just before me. Some were bold and loud..some with covered mouth.. some bending down from almost under the table… and I guess only 1 (his own) with raised hand..(The teacher was not seeing above so it didn’t matter much).
And yes, he was sitting besides me. So when he said “Yes Sir” 4th or 5th time that day.. I couldn’t control it… I laughed out – quite loudly.. the prof called out my roll number.. looked up.. I was still laughing (by now under the table).. and then the prof carried on. Not much of a problem though. At the end I went to him, told him that by mistake I had missed my attendance. Some normal words – “Sote rehte ho kya class mein” etc etc.. and end of a successful class.

Def: Successful Class – The one for which you get attendance.

A new teacher - M.E student who had committed the grave sin of coming to teach 1st Year Mechanical. No white hair/ bald head meant that the Prof was in for a hard time.
So it was Triple E class (Elements of Electrical Engineering). Somehow the prof was able to pass half an hour with everyone on seat. Then started the shouts of “Bas Sir”.. “Sir.. next time”.. “Attendance Sir” ..
Gradually some people got up and started roaming around… the prof was helpless.. he came forward near the benches, kept giving a strange smile and continued teaching to a few who were sitting. Some of us (not me though ;)) went behind to the teachers table, opened the attendance register, picked the pen, marked their attendance and got out of the class. After one did it, many followed. I don’t know how, the prof didn’t come to know that people were marking attendance. He later found out when more than half of the class had marked ‘P’. The rest forced him to fill P for the few blank boxes that remained. The poor prof, never ever came back to teach any class!!

Then there was one Prof. His unmatchable husky voice was legendary.. In the class he was full of energy. With his real life examples he tried hard to teach the finer things of Chemistry. He used to come up to the last bench, sit besides students, telling them how to solve the numericals… That is why whenever you attended his class – there was a rush to sit on the 1st bench – the safest place. But such fights for 1st seat were far and few. Reason – his distinct style of taking attendance. He used to pass on a sheet and tell everyone to write his name and roll no. on it. Once it was tried to write a few absent friends roll no.s also. The ploy succeeded. Slowly it became the norm that 10 – 15 people used to attend the class and there were 60 names on the list.

All said and done, the Professors who had style of taking attendance where proxy was possible must be aware that they are ‘allowing’ it. Doing it they, in a way helped us – not only in completing our attendances but also letting us have so much thrill and fun.. It was thrill – wasn’t it..
Thank you Profs…

LTA Part IV - Turn Outs 2

Presenting the 4th in the Lecture Time Activity (LTA)series
Some more turn outs ..

• The Prof was the same as in LTA part 3. Kunnu and I were short of attendance in this particular subject. We were nearing semester exams and only a few lectures remained. So we were desperate to attend the lecture that day. The lecture before it got mass bunked. So we went to the library to get some books to prepare for the sems. Eventually we spent the time chatting, laughing, cracking jokes – as was the usual case on the Library top floor Reading Area. After a lot of time we suddenly realized that we had the all important lecture to attend and we were late.. well quite late – about 30 minutes!!!!!!!!
  Nevertheless we rushed to L 13, asked permission to get in with around 35 minutes of the class over. The Prof, already with his mind not in good condition after the bike incident some days ago, was shocked again at our audaciousness. He refused.
  
  Kunnu pleaded “Sir.. Attendance short hai.. please let us come”
  
  At this, the volcano erupted. “I will not allow. What will you do?? You will file a case against me in High Court?? Go Do it.. I am not scared. I will not let you come in. I will not complete your attendance”
  
  Before he could ask our names, we ran off from there. I feel for the Prof. because as he was talking about High Court Cases (where did that come from we still don’t know), we were smiling standing on the door. And later while he must have been fuming and taking out his ‘gussa’ at the class, Kunnu and I were having a good laugh in the parking!!!



• Many people must have read this, joked about this but only a few must have experienced this. I was the lucky one to not only have experienced it but being the target.
  I am talking about the famous “Both of You Three. Get Out of the class!”
  
  It was the lecture of ‘Funny English’ ma’am. I sometimes used to note some of her ‘sayings’ to tell it to other friends later. Kunnu, Thakur and I were sitting in the 3rd row and the funny English plus our internal jokes were keeping us happy and smiling. Of course the teacher didn’t like it. And suddenly we were commanded “Both of you three. Stand up”. We (atleast I) was confused while the class was trying to fathom what had been said. Slowly Kunnu and I stood up. The teacher looked at Thakur. “You tooo”. And Kunnu and I smiled – a bit.
  
  After Thakur standing, under the air force of fan, with all class laughter, we were introduced to some more funny English – scolding this time. Now when the whole class around you is laughing, it is hard to control – even though you are standing in the full attention of the teacher. The end result is not hard to guess… Both of us three did get out..

LTA Part III - Turn Outs

On popular demand, trying to continue the LTA series.
In this third part in the series, I try to recall the ‘turn outs’.
The following incident has been written with golden words in the History of Mechanical.
It is such a important one that in part 3 I will cover this only.. rest of the turn outs in part 4.

It was a historic event – which has never happened anywhere. It will not and cannot happen again. This was more adventurous than bungee jumping, more daring than the getting in a lion’s cage. The stars were Trainnn and Jolly’s old rugged bike. Cutting to the scene. It was a humanities class (in 2nd year as far as my memory goes)– the teacher was quite senior and serious one. He was in the class a few minutes early. And of course Trainn didn’t know that. There was some disturbance and noise outside and before anyone knew Mr Vinod Trehan entered the class sitting on Jolly’s bike followed by a bunch of guys holding their tummies and cheering him on. Yes…. Bike in the Lecture room… Try to match that!! It was shock and awe for the Prof. Never in his nearing retirement life would he have witnessed such a spectacle. Train and the outside bunch didn’t realize that Prof was there in the class and the pandemonium carried on for a few seconds. Then sudden silence with muffled laughter in the class. Now comes the ‘bahana’- “Sir. Bike ki Brake fail ho gayi thi”. Considering that I am laughing out while writing this, imagine our condition at that time. Lesson to be learnt - Getting late for the lecture.. and brake fails – head straight for the class with the bike.. hahahahahahaa… Strangely enough the prof allowed Train to sit in class.
Later during the lecture the Prof was just roaming around the class while lecturing. Kunnu and I were busy drawing some graffiti on the register as well as table while Trainn sitting just behind us was busy making notes. Not that he usually made notes but he was under some pressure and limelight after the incident earlier.
The Prof came roaming. Kunnu and I continued drawing thinking he will not come that far (second last bench). We realized a bit late of his continued journey and in the nick of time we turned to the previous page where there was some non sense written. The prof glanced at us and then to Trainnn behind us. Then he asked him to show what he was writing. Train, who was duly writing his notes showed him. The Prof turned to the previous page. Notes there too.. then one more page turned – Now C’mon, how can you find notes on every page???
So the prof turned Trainnn out of the class….
Soon the lecture was over and The Legend was Born
Oh !! And regd Kunnu and me… nothing happened to us.. We managed to say “present sir” a few minutes later!!
And yes, no one tried to maaro proxy for Trainn.. because his name was burned in the prof’s mind… May be for the rest of his life!!!!

LTA Part II - Mobiles

Continuing with some more Lecture Time Activities, here are a few mobile related incidents...

• Teacher ji with all seriousness taking the lecture. I guess he was angry as we had mass bunked last few lectures. So there had been a mild dressing down (not many can afford to give mechies more than a 'mild' dressing down).
  Amongst this slightly tense atmosphere some good fella's mobile rang.. The ringtones were not polyphonic/ mp3 ones in those days... They were shrill and piercing, especially if there is an unordinary silence. So the already incensed lecturer got hotter. The particular fellow was turned out and everyone’s mobile was confiscated and kept on the big table in front of the teacher.
  Now the prof was not going to count the phones on the table, so some of them were still in some pockets. And how in the world is it possible that some idiot has forgotten to turn the phone off before keeping it on the table. I remember it was bhardoo, sitting on the last bench who tried every number in the class. And bingo… soon there was a grrrrrr… on the table followed by a nice hindi song. Few tense seconds, an indication of a slight smile on prof’s face and a big hahahaah from the class..May be it was the fav song of the prof.. or may be he too was reminded of his good ol' college days :)



• This happened a few days back in my cousin’s class. The times have changed and camera phones have come. In our time we used to draw pictures of prof’s. Now they just click it. A student was caught clicking photos of some classmates who had dozed off during the lecture. His phone was confiscated and the teacher asked him to take it from MLG.. now, non-pecobians wont know who MLG is..well, I would just say he is a typical nightmare for students - specially first yearites. The student pleaded “Ma’am you keep the phone, turn me out of class .. anything but don’t give it to MLG. The phone eventually landed in MLG’s hands and I don’t know what happened to the student but the reason of student pleading is interesting. Guess what was the wallpaper in the phone – a photo of MLG’s bald head – daringly taken by the student in one of the lectures... I salute the Dare Devil !!!



• It happened during early days of mobile intrusion. After one Tutorial, Mr Chunnu was busy talking to his ‘friend’ just outside the Tutorial room. The teacher(a relatively new one) came and asked everyone who were standing outside to get in the class. Chunnu ji still on his phone. Teacher who was about to take attendance asked Chunnu... no not asked..but pleaded, “Rahul. Ab to class mein aa jao!!”. Normally a person would have switched off his phone, be a bit embarrassed and return to the seat.
  But apne chunnu ji said, “bas sir 5 minute mein aata hun.. aaap attendance to lo” (sir, I will come in 5 minutes. You start taking the attendance”.


P.S:
These short names can be sometimes very mind stressing. A few days ago, it took a combined effort of 2 Man Days from Tarun and me to recall the real name of “brownie”, who was in our class. And quite often you see asking yourself “what was chunnu’s real name.. or Jolly’s real name…or Jindal’s first name?”
Once Sinha called at my place when I was not there(non mobile days). My mom told that Nipun had called.. For the entire day I kept on thinking who the hell is Nipun..
Trainnn takes 2-3 calls to respond when someone is calling out Vinod..
And if you are thinking these are made up things.. you are wrong.. everything is true..Still don't believe me.. Try calling me 'Sidharth' next time !!!!

Some More LTA's in the part I...
Analysis of LTA - Part 1..

Analysis of LTA

What used to be one of the time pass during boring lectures in college?
For us mechies (and I am sure for many many others), one of the Lecture Time Activities (LTA) was Paper Ball Bombing – done usually by the back benchers. It included:

1. Precision Bombing – Targets were generally of 3 categories:
   
   
   
   • One who got irritated by such things. Of course how in the world can you leave such a target alone
     
     
   • Who had the reputation of hitting back. This was to start world wars- mostly between 3rd and 5th rows. What better ways for a time pass than being involved in a World War.
     
     
   • Teachers – Not exactly Teachers but Teacher’s Area – going beyond the first benches. Sometimes this was to add thrill and excitement to the proceedings.(Yes, even world wars can get boring at times). At other times, it was accidental. It happens during a war – sometimes civilian areas get hit by off target missiles. Once, one such thrilling shot had landed quite close and prompted the ‘not so adept at English’ teacher to say “Who put this paper here??”
     Put???? Some body tell her we are not in Olympics playing Shot Put here. This is a Damn Bloody War going on here!!!
     OK.OK . This Olympic Shot Put thing is a bad PJ..
     
   
   
2. Carpet Bombing - This involved throwing several small paper balls in air which landed all over the class, quite often leading to mayhem as everyone, including the third world countries.. I mean the first benchers.. were armed now.
   One reason for this was to show it to the world (the class) that back benchers are still the super powers.
   Second reason, to start wars between smaller nations.
   And of course world wars were always the favorites.
   Some times some dare devils in front also attempted carpet bombing on the super powers. The response varied.
   
   
   
   • It could be taking out the enemy completely by precision bombing so that he could not raise his head for another 10 lectures.
     
     
   • Or it could be again a start of Big War.
     
   
   An interesting amendment to the carpet bombing once took place during Holi. Half the class had been immersed in the vibrant colors of the festival while many who had shied away were sitting clean. In fact it was due to them that the class had not been mass bunked. So these clean people had to be taken to the cleaners.
   Hence, it was the yellow, blue, green and red colors of life those were used to carpet bomb the whole class. But this unusual warfare had resulted in some big time casualties for the Super Powers - by the teacher of course... but who wants to be sitting all colored up in the class ??
   

What Future may Hold for such LTA's with Technology so rampant in Colleges
Paper balls from the era of vasco-da-gama...
Bas naam le ke fire karo...and it hits the target
(refer Andaz Apna Apna)

Thanks to Fleiger for bringing to my notice an important weapon which I completely missed out - Chalks... They were the Tomahawk missiles - guaranteed accuracy as almost all of the superpowers were also very good cricketers..They were many times the decisive factors in deciding the war and unlike real expensive missiles, came free of cost...

Signatures..

As I digged into the archives to find an old mail, I came across a variety of signatures which I have used in my mails. Stark contrasts mark the signatures 2 years ago and now... A small collection of them with commentary by the Signature itself..


Big.. Bold.. Colourful.. Confident.. Excited….. yes I have finally stepped in the big bad world.. I am not afraid of anything as I proudly ignore the impossibilities…



Some months into the job.. lots of work has sobered me up… so a little less loud.. less bold… and did you notice – that extension number has gone.. I hate any one calling when I am working (specially the PL calling with more work).. The email has come up – just mail me.. I will check it(or ignore it) when I get time… but still the impossibilities are out!!!



The Fonts are to a bare minimum now….Though I want people to know more about me.. but it shouldn’t be much evident…. But my thoughts are clearly on display – in the conspicuous Red… Thankyou’s and regard’s are out.. I don’t give a damn about it.



I have stopped thinking… so the thoughts go out…There is no excitement and color in life… I am dull and boring… just carrying on with my routine life…. A tinge of blue here and there says you are still living…




Finally… why the address.. is anyone going to post you love letters.???
Why the company name and IBU name… everyone inside the company knows where you work.. and the ones outside won’t understand what PLES, PLM means anyway!!
I have matured enough… The regards are back… and only necessary info is provided..



Just had a look at what I was 2 years ago… Aawww… How stupid I looked….
I wonder how I will look some years from now.. hope I don’t grow old… but guess I change with the changing life of the user…

Time Flies...

It was a weekend dedicated to cars. From Tokyo Drift to Gone in 60 Seconds(I hadn’t seen both of these) to NFS Most wanted. It was a strange feeling carrying my laptop to my cousin’s place. It was only a couple of years ago when I used to take my hard disk to their place to give them the latest songs, software, movies etc (of which my college hostel was one of the greatest source).
And this week end I again went to them, this time it was my turn to be the recipient and get some movies and games from them which incidentally are coming from the same hostel rooms, from which it used to come some years ago. It was an experience of coming far away in time. Something which we couldn’t have thought happening some years ago. Desktops and hanging hard disks replaced by sleek laptops and miniscule pen drives. There was a time when one of we five cousins would sit on my Pentium 1, playing PC-MAN, others shouting and cheering away. Yesterday, we connected our lappies with a LAN wire and slammed our cars against each other while racing for the top spot. It was a time to realize that times sure have changed. But one thing, which I guess has not. Having not played NFS for past 2 years, I thought I had gotten over it. But, when it is there on your comp, it is still very difficult to start your computer and resist the Need for Speed. So whereas on one hand I had the feeling of being carried away in time, NFS sort of balanced it out by taking back to the old times.

Living in the Past

I move down the steps, open the gates, move to the car, put on my goggles, put on the songs and slowly move out on to the beautiful and butter-like road. All the ingredients of a normal college day. The time is over 9.00 A.M so I am, as usual, going to miss the first lecture.

The goggles are a bit hazy, so I remove them to rub on my T shirt ..Tie.. why am I wearing a tie on my T shirt?

I park my car, sway the bag over my shoulders and move towards the building.

There are high chances that the Prof. was 5 minutes late, as it is the case with first lectures especially on Monday mornings. And 5 minutes is too much time for the whole class to get out of the lecture room, make it to the canteen and have our own attendance there. Some brave souls would be sent to the get the ‘absentees’ from the lecture room.

As I enter the building, I expectedly find a Pin drop silence. Yet another mass Cut. But wait. No one is absent. Everyone is there. But no one is shouting or throwing chalks or paper planes. I get a wry smile before a sit and open my mail box.

A pop up informs me of the meeting. I collect my notepad and pen and move towards the conference room.

“Only 1 bat. Where’s the heavier one?”.

“Which ground today?”

“Where are the Damn Hostellers. Still in bed?”

“Bedi, you will come 1 down!!”


“Sidharth, make sure you close all the bugs by 1.00 today”


“No! I want to open today”


Lunch Time. I am sitting at a dirty table and half broken chair devouring the tandoori aloo parantha with a bucketful of butter on it. It doesn’t satisfy me, so I shout at the top of my voice and call for another one.

I wave at my colleague standing 20 meters away but He doesn’t see me. So I call him on his mobile to show where I am.


Its 5.00 PM. My gang tells me the evening plan. We will be gathering at the usual meeting place – which incidentally is my house. Then a visit to the plaza on the bikes, a round at the ‘Geri Route’ on my car, then going for some gapp-shapp(chit chat) at lake, finally a chilled thick chocolate and night out as my friends’ parents are out of town.

A sudden requirement has come and I will have to complete it by EOD (End Of Day)


My mother calls asking about when I will be home.

“It will be a night out”, I tell her.