Recollections of Life - Engineering (Part 9)

Hi guys...im back...after a hiatus of about 4 days!!...

Anyways,i was just talking to a friend of mine (Jay) some days back and told him that i'll be writing about BE (Final Year) in the next post. So, he told me what my greatest problem will be. He said that we had so much fun in that one year itself, that it would take me about 10 parts just to write about that year!!...how true...but lets see how i get through the hurdle of telling you guys everything and at the same time not boring you!! So here goes...

BE!!...our last year in college. I remember telling a senior that we had to spend two more agonizing years whereas she had to spend only one. She had said that i would also feel bad when i would leave the college. How true that was i realized later!!

Post placements we had absolutely no worries. The world was our oyster. Or so we thought. All of us were placed in good companies. It was a dream come true for most of us. This, we assumed was our license to freak out. And boy, did we freak out!! It was the most awesome year ever in my life. I got to know lots of people from the other division of Comp Engg and the group expanded. Teachers knew us well, and that was a comfort for me, as they knew that i was decently good in acads, and can scrape through on my own and hence did not bother much. Plus, we were pretty sincere(??). So we had no worries.

The year began with new subjects and an extra holiday in the week, which was our 'Project Day'!! An additional day to goof off! We were in seventh heaven! The duration of our happiness however, was equivalent to the number of girlfriends i've had in my life (ZERO)! The subjects raised their ugly heads and we were scared shitless, atleast i was! But fortunately the teachers were good! We were saved.

The first thing of great importance was that we took to drawing (all of us) in an over-zealous way. This was not the 'ART' kind of drawing. We basically drew pictures about what our teachers said. It was really funny for those who were present (esp. Jay, Kedar, Rashmi, Snehal and yours truly, which goes without saying). We used to draw all sorts of silly pictures while we were being taught and would keep laughing endlessly. Most of the times it was Jay who was my partner in crime!! That year, we were scolded so many times for laughing in class that if ever there is anything in the Guiness Book to record such an event then im sure that we will win hands down! WOOOHOOOOO!! We ended up with so many pictures that we made a scrap book out of it. I still laugh when i see it.

One of our favourite pass times was to go to the canteen, eat POHA and CHUTNEY (if it was available) or MISAL PAV. We used to eat the same things everyday as though we would never get it again!! It was that tasty. We still swear by the 'POHA-CHUTNEY'!...aaah...im hungry just by thinking about it...

The other thing we used to do very often was land up at my place. It was unbelievable fun. All of us used to be there (Snehal, Ajay, Ashish, Jay, Kedar and me of course) and the laughter never died down. We always had something or someone to laugh about! Night or day, it never mattered, we were at my place nonetheless.

The third event was watching movies. It had become a tradition that we must watch a movie on the day the results are going to be announced...just before the results. The best part was that everyone used to come along and the worst part was the we never ever saw the movie properly. We were always under tremendous tension owing to our results.

BE was also the time when we were in college for the longest periods of time...ever!! Once we were in college, some of us, from 8:30 am to 7:30 pm. But, we never felt tired. Being in college had become a way of life and our college was our life.

to be continued...

Recollections of Life - Engineering (Part 8)

TE Sem II !!...Everyone was apprehensive and afraid of it, not because it was tough, but because our placements would take place after the semester ended!! I was petrified. My future looked bleak..i had nightmares about no company wanting to take me! Believe me, its not a good feeling to have!!Hehehe...

But anyways, after the holidays, most of which were spent in catching up on lost sleep, we got back to college! It was right after the new year (our college started on the 1st or 2nd of Jan!!...they actually thought that students will come...hahaha...how wrong they were!!). The semester started and the teachers straight away aimed at our group. They were not going to let us get away this semester. The subjects as usual tried to subdue us but we fought back. We refused to get caught up in the web of studies and getting good marks (except Ashish, Ajay and a few others!!). Our subjects had names like Software Engineering, Systems Programming etc etc which sounded highly interesting!! I thought we could have fun learning them. Well, my hopes ran as high as Mount Everest and i tried to pay attention in class for these two subjects...atleast!! But, no sooner than the teachers started i realized..."ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD!!" and later, after a little more analysis, i realized that in this case there hadn't been any glitter anywhere right from the beginning!!...DAMN MY EYES AND BRAIN!!

Software Engg (SE) turned out to be a brute of a subject which involved nothing but memorization and memorization and yeah...a little more of memorization!! I obviously did not like the prospects because i have been blessed with a horrible memory!! There was nothing interesting about it and to top it all, i kept hearing from my seniors that the probability of getting outlandish marks (the range of marks falling in this category differs from person to person...for me it meant PASSING with a few marks over the lowest acceptable limit) is very very low. I am not good at probability either, but i did understand that this subject was not going to be a WALK IN THE PARK...or in our case A WALK TO THE CANTEEN!!...

The second subject was Systems Programming (SP). It sounded cool and it would have been cool if it was not for the bumbling teacher we had. The syllabus consisted of Assemblers, Compilers and all sorts of technical mumbo-jumbo which i didn't not understand till the very end!! But, the lectures were awesome. For about 2 months we were being taught Assemblers. For the people who are unaware, this meant about 5% of the portion and about 85% of the time!! It was baaaaaaaad!!As always, the PL's turned out to be our saviours as all of studied in the PL's and we managed to clear the exams.

This semester also was bubbling with extra-currics, as all 2nd sems are usually. Baddy matches, Intechxication, Gathering, Abhivyakti, Robocon etc. all of it was packed into the same semester like sardines packed in a box!! But, this was what we attended college for...apart from the POHA-CHUTNEY of course!!

This was also the year in which Jay was the in the magazine committee of the college!! Now, when Jay was doing it, no one was worried. He's good at everything he does...and sometimes even at things he does not do...hehehe...but anyways, we all knew it would turn out to be one heck of a magazine. And it did!! The magazine was wonderful, but sadly, it did not win the coveted "Best Magazine" prize...but if its any solace, BHAAAAAI...THE MAGAZINE WAS MIND-BLOWING!! :)

The semester slowly but surely came to an end, and put us in the position we had become used to...1.5 months, a huge syllabus and a leviathan task (read exams) looming ahead...but as always, we overcame it and stepped into our final year in college....and man, was it a blast!!!...

-to be continued...

Recollections of Life - Engineering (Part 7)

As i said, there were a few hiccups here and there in the first sem. The first one was a professor called Mr. UmRa (name changed...obviously...but my classmates will realize who im talking about). He was unbelievable. Firstly, he thought no end of himself and secondly he didn't think of us at all!! Sitting in his lectures was going to be tough!...and it was!

Some of his lectures were downright idiotic...i mean, they just did not make sense. One day he managed to prove the AREA = LENGTH! So, for once the tiny bulb in my brain lit up and i raised my hand to tell him this, only to be given the dirtiest look ever. If looks could kill, i would have been skewered there and then. So, i stood up and said "Sir, how can length be equal to area...and the dimensions wont match anyways!!". So he said, "THATS HOW IT IS GIVEN IN THE BOOK AND THATS HOW I HAVE WRITTEN IT..IF YOU WANT TO ARGUE THEN ASK THE AUTHOR!!"...i stood there with a glazed look in my eyes....

But from that day on, we developed a healthy love hate relationship. He loved to pick on me and i hated his lectures. But well, attendance ke liye kuch bhi karega!!

That was not all. We had to submit a mini-project using VB and Oracle. So, we decided to make an online quizzing application. So, half-way into it UmRa comes up and says, "I heard that you guys are making a quizzing application. I want you to make it for me as i'll be holding an online quiz in my subject at the end of the semester". So we said ok, albeit very reluctantly. But, we were true to our word and were done with the project. He asked us to fine-tune it a little and we did that too. So wehn we went to tell him that he could take the project he says "Arey, i have already taken someone else's project. So i dont think yours will be useful anymore!!"...we were all shocked. I wanted to wring his neck there itself. But sense prevailed and i just said "Sir, this is not fair", but i made sure that the tone had the right amount of dejection and humour! But his incident soured my relation with him to such an extent that even a lemon would have been sweeter...sorry for that one...could not resist it.

The next hiccup was the DBMS fiasco. It was too good. By the end of the sem, we had managed to finish off exactly 2 out of the 6 units. That too was done so fast that i personally did not understand a word of what was taught! But then, the perennial savior, our PL came and the bulb in my brain was just about flickering enough to enable me to cram a little bit!

However, the story did not end with DBMS. The semester was full of extra curricular activities. i had resumed badminton and was playing for the college. Well, i was a part of the team. I rarely got to play but being in the team gave me the rights to bunk lectures whenever i wanted..and i made full use of it. After being out of college due to the matches, i realized that i had no clue as to what was happening in class. I was petrified. I was sure to flunk...but i was proved wrong...thankfully..GOD BLESS GOD!! hehehe...

But besides these, the amount of fun we had in TE Sem-I was unparalleled. It was pure, unadulterated fun. And believe me, if all of us get together even now, the only things we talk about is our college life because that was the reason we all bonded together. With TE Sem-II looming large, we started another semester...the 6th semester, to be precise...

- to be continued...

Recollections of Life - Engineering (Part 6)

Hi guys....im just over my bout of extreme laziness!!...so here i am to write again...

Third year was the beginning of a fun riot for most of us. We knew all our classmates and it was time to ROCK ON! So, for the teachers it was time to try and save their lives and run for it! TE was something that teachers dreaded i guess because they knew the situation only too well. For me, personally it was a time to reinvent my image. Teachers thought i was a good-for-nothing, college-bunking student. It was time to prove them wrong. The only problem was that i was having too much fun to study and hence prove them wrong!!

Classes began and so did the chaos. We were not allotted a teacher for a subject called DBMS. Actually, the one allotted suddenly left. So we were left stranded. None of us thought of it this way though. For us it was free time...in other words BLISS! We used all our time for constructive activities like fooling around in the comp porch, canteen etc etc. No one seemed to be interested in studies except Ashish and Ajay - the only 2 people in our class, possibly, to pay attention in every lecture. But thanks to them, we all passed!! God bless you guys.

Our group seemed to be increasing in strength and the level of our jokes was reducing rapidly (Jay and I being the prime force behind the diminishing levels). The group was as follows :

Jay - Extremely witty, funny, humorous and by far the most intelligent of the lot!!...if you want to learn anything at the last moment...HE'S YOUR MAN!!!

Ashish - Studious to the core, intelligent, teacher's pet (due to a consistently good performance) and will never ever ever be ready to bunk lectures (it changed in final year though).

Ajay - Same as above, except that he was a little more willing to bunk...only sometimes though.

Pranay - The cool dude...will never attend college but will always end with complete files (though they were nowhere close to neat!!).

Snehal - One of my partners in cracking sad jokes, along with Jay of course, intelligent and sharp.

Kedar - A really nice fellow, will be cool throughout the sem and then suddenly start palpitating a week before exams...unnecessarily of course.

Gaurav - He was the butt of all our jokes and fun..but a very sporting guy!!...had a love-HATE relationship with Snehal and Kedar!!...hehehe...

Aashish (yours truly)...i dont think i need to describe myself...that'll be too much.

Anyway...so this was the group...we had lots of fun and studied together a lot...mostly completing assignments and stuff...but it was great fun...the late nights and the fooling around...great fun. TE 1st sem went off smoothly, except for a few hiccups here and there...but they are a part and parcel of engg. So it was ok...

- to be continued...

Recollections of Life - Engineering (Part 5)

SE Sem 2!!..it was going to be a tough one (MIT, DS, M-3 being the culprits!!). But well, eventually i realized that it was waaaaaaaaay more than tough!!...

I had started bunking more and my teachers knew me as 'The guy who never attends after the break!'. They also knew me by name. Major disappointment!!

Heres a tip : IF YOU WANT TO MAINTAIN A LOW PROFILE, MAKE SURE NO ONE KNOWS YOUR NAME...NO ONE!!

So getting on, i had friends who helped me out in 'THEIR' traumatic times...hehehe...(its not a typo!!). They helped me with my print-outs, notes and assignments. It was great to have them
around and im forever indebted to them.

This semester also made me realize that i was crazy about music. As in i was hooked on to it. Studying for long hours at a stretch would not have been possible without music. I would listen to really really loud music. So much so, that one day one of our neighbors, from the other building, came out wielding a BROOM and threatened me to reduce the volume (obviously i had to..what with the broom being brandished in front of me!!). But, as soon as she went in, i increased the volume again. She still thinks im one of those useless people who never listen (it might be true though).

Getting back to college. I had never witnessed such a flurry of activities. Abhivyakti, IntechXication, Inter-Dept Sports, Inter-College Sports...the list was endless. I was spell-bound!! But i was busy studying the never-ending IIT syllabus which resulted in my missing all these activities. I felt bad...but it was a choice i had to make.

But due to all the events, the college premises looked more like the venue for some concert...students and teachers thronged to the college (from various colleges), there were people all around. It was superb. It was a spectacle that i was to witness every year for the next 2 years.

But after all the festivities ended, we were reminded that we were supposed to pass the exams too, and not just fool around..Damn these exams!! The first step was the submissions. I copied everything from various sources and was the last to submit the files. One teacher was so shocked at the dismal quality of my work she made me tell her why im "not interested in doing anything properly in life!!!". So, i told her that i was going to appear for the IIT exam and thats why i dont have much time. The look on her face was amazing. First, she rolled her eyes, they became wide, and her mouth opened. I thought she was impressed. Instead, she says "Veda aahes ka tu?" (Are you mad?). Then it was my turn to be shocked.

The same thing happened with all the professors and one by one they scolded the living daylights out of me. Not a nice thing to happen 1 month before the JEE Mains. Anyway, in one such ncident, one prof said "Whats the difference between MIT and IIT!??...Just replace the 'M' with an 'I' !!". I was more shocked than ever and started laughing there itself.

Then exams came and went (badly as usual) and SE was over (finally!!). I was anxious for my Mains results and the SE results (both were bad) and more importantly, i had managed to step into the penultimate year (hopefully) of my engineering...with some subjects pending but nonetheless!!

- to be continued...

Recollections of Life - Engineering (Part 4)

Hi guys...writing after a long time...so here goes...

2nd year (SE) was an anticlimax from FE, for me. I had this idea that i should appear for the JEE again. Some thought that it was a weird idea but my friends and family were very supportive and after a lot of hard work and sincere efforts i flunked. But i did clear the screening exam and missed a rank in the mains by 1 mark!! Yeah, it was terrible to accept it. IIT was a dream, which had been crushed. But life goes on. And more importantly im here to tell you guys what happened in SE...

SE started on a great note. I got my friend kicked out of class for 2 lectures on the trot. I imitated my professor and he started laughing and was thrown out. But, that started a trend that continues till date. I still make fun of profs, imitate them and try and get people kicked out of class; the only difference being that there are about 5-6 people more who are my partners in this crime!

I always thought that though i have got into Computer Engg, i'll be in a room full of geeks, save a few of them whom i knew. But, it was supposed to be the worst judgement of my life. I was in a class full of people like me..everyone loved to fool around. I got to know new people in the first couple of days (and my belief in my ability to remember names returned). But soon, i realized the reason for my confidence. I got to know people like so...

Ashwin - really intelligent
Akshad - really intelligent
Paris - really intelligent
Jay - really really intelligent...

I had managed to fuse everyone together and condense them into one person. So i thought they were all the same anyway! But they were and still are all very different...

I dont remember much about SE 1st sem (I'm blessed with a horrible memory. I can't much besides names and numbers) except the all important STRIKE against the fee-hike, which started in our college and sent ripples through all engg colleges in the city! I was a passive participant. I never came to college, but fully supported the people who helped in keeping the college closed for a week or so. God bless them all!!

But about SE, I do remember some teacher shouting "AREY LIKHOOOO NA" (Write it!!) incessantly, meeting a guy with a girls name (HE is now one of my closest friends), looking at people staring at a really good looking teacher who taught us only for a week, getting to know new friends, last minute submissions, copying the notes, print-out that took ages, printers that were as old as (or older than) my grandmother, the ratio of printers to students being close to 1:18237482136 etc etc. And to my credit, the more important things (read : REMEMBER-ABLE THINGS) took place in the 2nd semester.

- to be continued...

Recollections of Life - Engineering (Part 3)

Continuing our tradition of harassing the teachers and making fun of them, we were heralded into the 2nd semester. The first day was, as usual, a laughter riot!! One of our teachers came in and said "Hello..im Mr. Rajan!!" and we collapsed. I made a comment about her having a gender-identification problem which she heard partially. She threatened to kick me out of the class if i did not stop laughing. But the worst part was that even when she was scolding me, i was smiling and trying my level best, not to laugh. That was a bad experience. But little did i know, the worse was yet to come..in the later years!

'Result time' approached and every day we heard rumors about the results being declared. Everyone was shitting bricks! People were really scared. Our first results!! And our seniors had already traumatized us by saying that the results are never good. Many of my friends lost their nails, owing to the constant chewing!! I tried to think what would happen if people start chewing others' nails ..hahaha ...would that be a sight!!

I remember the day of the results vividly. We were attending a maths lecture when one guy came and shouted "Results mil gaye!!" (The results are out) and without sparing a thought for the teacher, all of us left and the poor teacher was left standing alone in the class. After that it was assumed by one and all that the remaining lectures need not be conducted!

Some students came out smiling, some weeping, some totally devoid of any emotion and a few of them came out leaping and screaming that they had flunked only in 1 or 2 or 3 subjects. I got my marksheet and saw the marks. I expected my percentage to be mentioned...but there were numbers scribbled on it. Due to a total lack of skills required to calculate my marks (skills required = Maths!), i was blank and had no expression on my face!! I asked my friends to calculate my marks and got to know that i had done reasonably well. I was happy. The day ended in Pizza Hut with all of us fooling around and celebrating. Everyone had done well.

Second sem was to see many more incidents like that one i described earlier. This time too, it would be Ankit initiating the riot of laughter. We were on our way back to the classroom after eating a little more than was required. We were pretty late and wanted to reach as soon as possible. There were a lot of people on the stairs. Ankit decided that it was up to him to make way. There was a girl in front of us who refused to move. She was definitely going to be Ankit's victim, i thought. And she was. As soon as we approached her, she turned around. And Ankit being what he is, loudly burped, right in her face! The look on the girls face was prize winning. She shrieked "Eeeeeeek...YUCK!!" and moved away...making way for the kings...as Ankit put it. And we, the kings (of the empire of 'Belch'istan) went up the stairs laughing and guffawing. I have never been involved in any incident like that ever since. But, these incidents made engineering what it was, as Barney in 'How I Met Your Mother' would have said "Legendary!!"

The sem passed by in 2 months, the shortest FE 2nd term till date and it was exam time. Our routines changed from doing tomfoolery all day long to studying throughout the day (and night). It was time for all of us to slog our butts off which would prevent us from being in FE again. After a gruelling sequence of exams, thanks to the likes (or dislikes) of M-2, App-Mech, Graphics, Elex and App-Sci 2, i did not know if i'll clear or not. But nonetheless, the exams being a thing of the past, all of us started meeting again and fooling around even more. But we knew that after FE, all of us would be in different streams and classes and meeting each other would be infrequent.

The end of FE gave rise to ambivalent feelings in me...Happiness for stepping into the world of Computer Engineering and sadness for knowing that i wont be able to meet all my friends from FE as frequently. So, with a heavy heart i stepped into Second Year, not knowing that i would find friends who would change my life forever. But still, i maintain, 'FE IV Rocks!!' And on a more general note 'FE Rocks!!'

to be continued...

Recollections of Life - Engineering (Part 2)

Hello everyone...im back!!...after a short break of 2 days!

Back to engineering..FE started in all earnest with everyone of us trying to be as sincere as we could portray ourselves to be! The time span of our sincerity was analogous to the life span of a fruit fly (just for your information..its not too long!!).

So there i was, in a class full of people who came up with astronomical figures when asked how much they had scored in 12th. I seemed to be one of the few people who were lucky enough to get in. I got in on the basis of sheer luck (god bless the people who decided to conduct the 3rd round of admissions!!). The class seemed to be a perfect blend of students from all over India. There were people from Nagaland (Hi James..where the hell are you??), Delhi, Kerela, TN, Gujrat etc etc. It was going to be awesome.

The first person i met was a guy called Ankit, who is one of the most enigmatic people to have around. He comes up with the worst jokes ever cracked in the history of mankind and is great to be with to discuss all your problems. He was in my batch. I thought that atleast i wont get bored!! :)

Then there were Pranay, Kedar, Ajay, Ashish, Gaurav, Kunal, Pranil etc etc. Initially, there were small groups in the class. But then came the turning point. The inter FE cricket match. No one knew about it. Our class apparently formed a team on their own and the lost the first match. When we all got to know about it, we told ppl to have selections (which were held at 7:30 am!!!..WHO THE HELL WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT??) Anyway, the new team, comprising of people from the earlier team and a few new ones like Ankit, Kedar and me represented FE IV!! But after the matches our class really gelled together and from then on there was only one huuuuuuge group.

We all were always looking to trouble our teachers and took every oppurtunity to make them look like fools. We also got scolded a lot for that, but that was a price we were willing to pay! But all in all, it was great fun to trouble innocent profs who thought that they knew how mean and notorious we were...but they were wrong..as usual !!....

There were some incidents that i can never forget. I was going to the canteen with Ankit and there was a girl coming down from the canteen on her Scooty. She seemed to be a learner and both of us were quick to spot it. But Ankit was the first to react. He said "Just see this..." and with that he went and stood right in the middle of the road. Now, the road is pretty steep and the girl was coming downhill. With an idiot standing right in the middle of the road and laughing, she could not do much but keep honking. Ankit did not budge. She swerved off the road in an attempt to avoid him but in doing so managed to avoid the road itself entirely. The next instant we saw her on the ground, hands and legs flailing and muttering curses at Ankit while he stood there laughing and pointing fingers. It was hilarious. That was the first time i felt...IM GOING TO DIE LAUGHING!!

to be continued...

Recollections of Life - Engineering (Part 1)

Hi there readers...good to see that at least some people are reading my blog!!...that too without my telling them...hehehe...keep it up!!

Anyway, back to my recollections...the next ones are about my stint with engineering. After my 12th boards and an agonisingly long wait of 7 months, our college, MIT Pune, started on the 17th of Sept. 2003!!...For me, it started with a bang...literally. My bike (i had a Scooty back then) helped me a lot in creating the bang!! As i was going to college, a nail went straight through the front tyre, causing a really loud bang! Thats how my engineering started with a bang. After half an hour of waiting i finally reached college...just in time for the Principals address (i realized after the whole thing was over that it was called 'PRINCIPAL's ADDRESS' but everyone else spoke waaaay more than what the principal said).

Looking around, i saw quite a few familiar faces..but that was the problem. I only remembered their faces and not their names. I had always been proud of the fact that i don't forget names and faces, but that confidence had obviously left me when i needed it the most. It was scary. I went through a series of visions in which people came up to me and said "Hi, how are you?? Long time..." and then the most dreaded of all statements "Remember me!!??"...and then my face became red with embarrassment. But nothing of the sort happened...thankfully.

The first day was nothing great...some boring speeches, some prof saying "...the mighty MIT....", something being said about some 'WHALE IN THE OCEAN OF STUDENTS...' (or something like that...clearly i was not paying attention!!...but there was some whale somewhere...)

Then, college began in all earnest the next day. Finding my roll number in a list that spanned the whole blackboard and one more was a challenge. I thought "Is this the challenge they were talking about in the inaugural speech??"...but i was assigned to FE IV...nothing of any significance then. But when i went in the class, i saw 3-4 friends of mine. I was happy to meet them (and to remember their names). That day onwards began a journey that i'll never be able to forget.

Some people have a knack to be comedians, some to be leaders, some to be great at studies, some to make friends instantly. I had none of them. And no one in our class had all these qualities. But, together our class was great. We had our share of jesters, the goons, the reticent studious ones, the comment-passers etc etc. One thing we lacked was our share of girls. There were about 4 girls in our class...and 70 boys!!...it was going to be tough for the poor girls. 1:17.5 is hardly a ratio to be comfortable with. And more than the girls, it was going to be tough for us...and boy was it tough!!...

To be continued in the next blog...

Recollections of Life - Junior College

College...as opposed to school was something of a phenomenon in my mind. I was in awe of the whole college atmosphere even before i entered it...thanks again largely to my elder sister. She always came up with coll anecdotes about what happened at college, how the profs were etc etc. I was mesmerised!! College was supposed to be a great place...or so i thought!!...

After the strictness of school, the lenient discipline of college made me take college for granted...BIG MISTAKE!! In the end, i escaped with minor injuries after my battle with college (11th and 12th)...the most severe of them being my scholarship, which was granted really really late. By late i mean almost 3-4 months late!! ;)

By the time i knew it, the two years of college were over in a flurry of activities...fooling around, studying for the IIT-JEE, studying some more and a little more of studying. Oh and yeah, a little more of studying. But, strangely, i thought that the IIT studies were great fun. I got to solve the problems that seemed challenging and that was exhilarating for me.

But, i also kept up with my sports...Badminton was my new favourite...as with the other sports, it gave me a sense of individuality. I could do what i wanted to within the rules of the game. And even made a record of sorts by being hit by the shuttle on every possible part of my anatomy...ranging from the eyes and head to my ...what are you guys thinking...to my stomach!!..But still, it was fun.

Getting back to college, nothing of great importance happened save a few incidents, which apparently were more important for my friends as i would give them a constant source of laughter. I would either trip over a steel truss that even a blind man would have avoided, try and sit on a stool that were never there (i actually thought it was there...i was not trying to grab attention...seriously), get unbelievable scoldings from the profs and on top of that attend college only twice a week..that too only for practicals (because of this most people in the college knew me and i dint know more than 5-10 people...but on a more optimistic note...I WAS POPULAR!! ;) ) As a result the college authorities threatened to not give me my Hall Ticket for my boards...but ultimately, i won the cold war...and got the hall ticket and with that i got a bonus too...horrendous marks in boards!! :)

The next step was engineering...but for that i guess you guys will have to wait till the next post...till then...enjoy!!

- Aashish

Recollections Of Life - School...

Schooooool...that was a word i hated till i was in the 5th standard. I used to hate getting up in the mornings...by about 6:30 am...it used to be especially difficult in the winters. Obviously...i mean...when someone comes to wake you up in the butt-freezing winters just to tell you "Get off your butt...go and have a bath and go to school, you lazy lout!!"...then its just about unbearable. More so for a LAZY LOUT like me. :)

The people in my colony still remember me as the kid who used to cry his lungs out in the mornings and wake up everyone in the colony...though listening to the me wailing was not exactly the alarm bell they wanted...but still...crying out loud and telling people about the horrors i was about to face was something i had to do. And my neighbors, their neighbors and their neighbors and so on...were the people who had to face the music (in my case 'cacophony' seems more appropriate than 'music'!!). But thankfully i had tolerant neighbors who did not make evil plans to split open my head , gouge out my eyes , hang me upside down from the terrace , try and get me stuck in the lift or any of the like. God bless them all...but may he also remember that they should be as tolerant as they were if i have to be in the same situation ever again!...Intuition tells me this time they wont be as tolerant!!!

But school for my sister was always better. She used to get up on her own, get ready and be there for the rickshaw-walla to come and pick her up...while i was still dozing in the bed. The next 15 mins of my day were filled with shouts, scoldings and looooooooud wails...from me of course!!!...I HATED SCHOOL!!!

I used to try and make every excuse to get myself out of that damn place. I remember once i convinced my mom that we were not supposed to take bags to schools ; only the tiffin was required. I was mighty proud of my achievement (i was in 1st). The sole reason for doing this was that i knew that if i dint get my bag i would have to stand outside the class and not study for the rest of the day. That was one day when i went to school happy!!....but alas...my happiness did not last long. I was scolded really badly (i was prepared for that...but not for what happened later) and then i was told to share a book with someone and sit in class. I got it left, right and cen....well lets presume some more left...hehehe...and it left me scarred for life...not scarred by the ways at school...but by the inability of my mind to think of such a grave situation in advance.

Anyway, as time passed i grew up and my hatred reduced. It does not mean that i started liking school...i just was hating it less. But that was mainly because i became friends with some classmates who are friends till date. I got acutely inclined to SKATING!...it was great...going at dizzying speeds...seeing people fly past...and then falling down scraping your knees, elbows...and the most painful...seeing your butt and knees lose their shapes after every fall!!...it was bad...but i enjoyed it more than school...my sis accompanied me here too...i guess everything i have done in life was with the intention of copying her...but she cleverly introduced me to many such things and got out of it soon.

Time flied by and before i realized...i was in the secondary section...and still skating. It was fun. From 5th onwards i realized somehow that school was not that bad. I had actually started enjoying it. It was great fun. Fooling around in the corridors in the recess, playing dodgeball on the ground, the fights , the annual sports days , meeting more friends and stay overs at their places etc etc. All in all school was a great place to be in. By the time i was in 9th, i was so involved in all sorts of sports that i lost interest in studies (not that i had any interest earlier...but still). Thanks to sports i had gone for State level athletics and to Punjab for the School Nationals in Skating. It was an awesome experience. It was more like a picnic. Such events teach you how to survive with meanies and how to live life on your own. But still...its great.But it was a painful experience too. And it was especially painful for our team, because we lost 11-0 in roller hockey to J&K!!!...(stop laughing and making snide remarks!!). That loss left another scar in my life...on my talents as a hockey-player!!

But i dont know how and when i got so attached to my school. So much so, that i actually miss it now. School days once gone, can never come back. But, the fun that i had at school was the bestest (this is another aspect of my learning at school...i learnt words that we are usually not supposed to use...hehehe...we all know them by now). So, in short, all that i am and will be, will be wholly and solely be due to my alma mater - Karnatak High School, Pune. It was and still is one of the best schools in Pune (though im sure its ranking and position reduced substantially when i was there). All my success are indebted to my beloved school and i'll always be proud of my school and its achievements.

- Aashish

Hey ppl..heres my first blog...i have absolutely no idea what to write here. So i suggest one thing...give me some ideas about what to write...and i'll try and write stuff...and your comments on anything and everything are welcome...always!!...

So hoping to get some good ideas...and hoping that you guys are also hoping that i come up with some good stuff...

Cheers,
Aashish!!