Hues, Strife and Adulations.

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It has been pouring hard since last Sunday in this desert state. Quite mismatching the popular belief of some dust clad city Jaipur moreover seems to be a colorful bustling town with climate not differentiating it much from the New Delhi. Coping with pretty distractions all around is a difficult job! They are all around in lecture halls, design studious, stage performances, shopping arcades, newspapers, magazines and even on course books. Dressed in all peculiar stuff they add color and zing to life and sometime even are a cause of tease from fellows. In the meantime the real purpose of ensuing some great technical knowledge seems to take back seat. But what keeps us on toes is constant competition from counterparts and reminders from seniors about the struggle that life is. Anyhow as we try to set the stage flaming, the crunch of resources which we had got together at our houses keeps us from making a headstart. Once we are equipped with all the stuff and make inroads into the social structures of our new environs, making and breaking with people; being straight and not giving up on our terms, we hope to fire and rock the world around or shall I say we aspire and promise ourselves to Rock On! And as far as beauty, you know what, is considered as architecture students we are simply taught to appreciate and admire everything beautiful. Well just a little excuse for some fun time-pass stuff! Trying to maintain two posts a month!

Signing off!

Freshers' Bash

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Well long time since last post! Its the way you find it in India. You are in alien city familiarizing with new ways and your institution's computer center is in the process of renovation and cyber cafe owners' would allow you use the PC without an identity proof, for you may turn out to be a serial bomber who came to city to ruin its peace and chose to disguise as some architecture student. Anyhow a lot to share. Would start with the latest buzz as the older experiences lie in the yellow pages of my rough notebooks! September 02' 2008, freshers' party was organized for us in the central lawns of the college campus. We all turned up well in time, primarily for the purpose of checking out those beautiful girls dressed in all sorts of formal, casual and well good looking attires. And to our pleasure there was a plenty of those, well compared to what we generally hear of engineering institutions situation is quite heartening in MNIT Jaipur. Soon the formal proceedings started with the arrival of dignitaries that included Dean, Director and other highly placed persons . By the time most of us had settled on seats arranged for the purpose, of course late-comers had to stand through the program though they had privilege of dancing to the tunes. By the time the formal speeches were over many of us were feeling great to be the part of this institution and the facilities and opportunities thrown to us. The real rocking show was open once the Director of institution left the place after welcoming the new-comers and ensuring them of a lot of things including safety from ragging, exposure to newer facilities and opportunities and all those formal wordings! The stage performances included dances, solo and group band performances , some stand-alone performances and more such fun stuff which was largely applauded in general. The performances were nice given the positive outlook they couraged to face a crowd of about 1000 and fared very nice. Though some disappointments were there as some tried to catch the light without any performance! The food made the party a hit with hostlers, who are pretty aware of being denied a food good to taste, who cares for the nutrition if taste is not an ingredient. Well the party was over and it is time for something that most dread, the real ragging - after all the director declared that we are no longer starangers to the institute and we should be "interacting" more with our seniors, hmm sorry our "respected boses". While I was enjoying my dinner a fellow asked me to join him to meet the seniors once under the flood lights that sprayed the whole lawns. Well I will I said and I did. As I made my way to meet the seniors, a group of them surrounded me and tried to infuse little fear. But I tried to remain indifferent though a bit confused of what will happen next. One of them joined me and we walked towards hostel talking on topics like my name, place, hobbies. Soon he was to the topic, he wished me top wear formals which I refused to wear once again. His repeated persuasions were not able to change my mind or probably my ego didn't let me give in. Probably it would be killing my self-esteem if I give in and go for formals. May be I am wrong in choice but the road less taken is always full of uncertainties and some unique rewards, slaps or some special privilege! Lets wait and look out for the rewards that come my way but standing stubborn is my way!

Fuccha in Jaipur

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August 07' 2008, The day broke at 8:15. Daily morning routine followed and I tried to achieve 9:00 am deadline, so as to have some free time before 10:00 am morning class. Wanted to check out Orkut scraps, mails and browse the net before the hectic schedule that was going to follow. The hour past more in circumventing the blocked paths and learning more proxy techniques for a more happy net experience in the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jaipur, as we had to plan for the future! The mathematics class was more than enough to disillusion even most determined student and the 11 am English lecture marred the day as grammar is something that I don't like to study and wish English was merely limited to expression and "feeling", and the same goes for any other language also. The lunch break is always short as the 1/2 hour walk to and from hostels eats into the 1 hour break. Worse is that morning's boring classes make me confuse a Thursday for Friday and I follow wrong schedule and end up cutting short a 3 hour basic design session into 2 hour class. The photography lecture of last hour of academic session of the day was fun as I could have a little nap amidst the boring talk a 3rd year senior shared with us, but what proved to be quite interesting was invitation by our photography instructor to join him at a photo exhibit at KK Art Gallery on Prithvi Raj Marg in Jaipur. We were pleased to go out of institute's walls, sort of jail during initial months of the year, at least for the fucchas, for obvious reasons of ragging! Anyhow we binged upon the opportunity and packed into an auto, 9 in 1 and reached the destination, half hour spent admiring or rather finding flaws in the 25-30 odd photographs. While leaving, we were pleased to fill in the guest cum comment book, our attendance for the day! We, a group of 5; 3 boys and 2 girls walked into Crossword, a book. While I and this girl from Pilani were interested in finding something interesting, other 3 tried to make us walk out at the earliest. Out of the showroom we walked across the road into a roadside nook-and-corner restaurant and ordered Chowmein and some fast food along with soft-drinks, not familiar enough to share beer and no experience of the stuff yet! The food was quite fine but the heavy and boring discussions about mass-bunk and nays and ayes following it virtually divided the united class into anti and pro bunk sects. The hopeless discussion made me gulp down a whole 500 ml bottle of Coke, knowing that it contains pesticide it was brave, or may be I was just trying to make a style statement, the Sir-Utha-K-Piyo style! Brushing aside the topic somehow, we grabbed auto back to NIT, 10 in 1 this time, rapid population growth may be at fault! But the compromise saved us bucks at 10 per head it is and OK deal. The evening in hostels passed over calls, SMSs, reading the new novel (...am modifying into a critic!), music on FM and the stuff of the sort!

My apprehensions about life outside Delhi are changing now, it is more of a life out of the cage now, well life on your own! Pros and cons are there but look on the brighter side and you will find pretty girls everywhere (boys for girls!). Just joking, actually such cheesy comments make your writings worth reading and popular! NIT is the place to be, but SPA final application results are still pending... Things are in pipeline, soon it will again be lack or access of resources governing the future course of my ambitions!

Bigmouth Radio

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9:45 pm, dinner is over and I venture out for my night walk! Headphones on, listening to FM on my phone. The evening had passed in chatrooms and in maintaining website. Am in an ecstatic mood by daily standards, and overjoyed at the music being played on the radio. In Delhi I have vast choice of 10 stations suiting all kind of tastes. Starting at 1 I browse through all 10 one by one and again and again as I garner some kind of fetish for the button on the headset wire. Past melodies to Punjabi hip-hop, English hip shakers and some discussions on a "women" radio station, which must be having a larger male audience, about bad state of sports in India all go good with me on this particular day. I choose tu murmurr along the fast music ignoring what the others strolling around would think. during rounds I notice those regular girls in the park, but today there was a "newbie" too. Anyways leaving the diversions as I move along, dancing in a somewhat wacky fashion an old uncle notice me and being overjoyed walk past me at a speed nearly considered to be running. He could not stop himself from grinning at my weird acts while looking straight at my face. I obviously a bit taken aback try to be in control of the things by smiling back generously. Unlike some normal day I take about 8-10 rounds of the park before leaving for the house and feel what the life would have been without radio, which accompanies us almost everywhere due to its poratbility. The media is one old age thing high on my list, simply cause of its reach and innovativeness.

Cricket, Brawl, Outing, Eyegrabbers...

Its 4:15 in the evening, I wake up after a 2 hour long nap in the noon. A notebook with some CSS code scribbled on it lies in front of me with a pen lying uncapped on it! I move to grab it, expecting to modify it a but, only to find Aman enter my house. We sit in the room sharing some talks HTML, analytics, adsense, hosting and all that crap. 15 minutes past it is Shrey joining us, with Divya Prakash following soon! Itsy-bitsy talks on vague issues like tracking mobiles, quantum physics, crime investigations and all that go on till 5:30, when we leave to play cricket in the field near my house. Teams are decided judging the "worth and reliability" of players! Field is set, umpire takes position. Five in a team and six overs to be bowled, everyone expecting his share of bowling. After two overs it is back to square one with a self-proclaimed bowler grabbing the ball to bowl his second spell! We still waiting for our turns with jaws-dropped! Another over and the ball still is out of our reach as the team must confine opponents in a defensible score. Well last over is gifted to one of the stragglers! And the other is convinced with a lollipop "first to bat" offer! First inning ends with a score of 44 in 6 overs, as the well experienced all-rounders toiled to keep the scores low! Innings two begins with a two defensive players on pitch! Ball 5 over one, for teams' sake a struggling batsman is declared "injured" and Sehwag of team walks down to the pitch and starts to script a "match-winning" performance! Wickets keep on falling and runs come in singles! Its last over and once again batting is "gifted" to "weak-links" of the team! Making the game a mockery, they expect a player to hit 19 off last 3 balls! Anyways result was expected! And off-course the poor soul, who was not allowed to ball as well as was declared injured was me only! Unable to control myself and not withstanding this stupid kind of dominance and bias, I called quit! The acts of some guys to control the whole team like puppets occurred to me real cheap. Uttering anger to myself and defending my decision I walk down the street to my home. Somehow I try to divert myself by thinking of an outing, but still anger and probably some jealousy is there! I reach my home and ask my sister to leave for an evening out, Bangla Sahib, District Centre (DC) or Cannaught Place (CP) come the suggestions. We decide to leave for DC, to check out some stuff in a book store and have some refreshments. I take a bath still not able to forget the cricket incident, looking the mirror I enquire myself, "What the hell do you think of yourself? You shit looking, lanky figure expect someone to give you ball and bat as a mercy. If you can not fight for your rights, why the hell you expect others to care for you? Better perform and fight or stay out of the field you are not fit into! But I did protest though it went unnoticed!" Soon we leave, firstly getting some money out of the ATM and then we take a ride to DC. At DC we straight go into the bookshop called "Wordsmith" and start shuffling from one to another books! That's a nice title lets check it out! Oh great cover. Yeah am an expert reader! Some titles, like "Why Men Like Bitches!", "A Girl's Guide To Kissing A Frog.", "Roads To Mussoorie.", were pretty interesting and caught attention. We selected 4 books and left the place! By now it is 8:45 and the place is bathed in lights! We decide to walk around the commercial centre and enjoy a little. Walking around dimly lit high-rises, notorious as "suicide point of west Delhi", checking out those neon lights of billboards and beautifully clad girls was a nice experience, though to my dismay most were with their boyfriends or family members! We wish not to leave but have to reach home soon! So we take our ride back and am back to my intovert self, talking to myself and thinking that "I am the in charge, everything is in my control" putting an end to week long conflicts with my own self that if am on the right track! Thanks my friends for pushing me back to those real life feelings of jealousy, angst, tension, competition, belief and the most important "Believe in yourself". I love you all! Thanks for such a nice evening, some time is now reserved for that Criminal Psychology novel I got!

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Down the Memory Lane

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Whole day on the Mall and now we are sitting in a restaurant in Shimla. Its quite evening but we are supposed to have early dinner as we are heading back to Delhi after a 8 day camp. Will not be discussing the camp at this moment as I believe that journeys themselves are far more interesting then destinations and this particular journey has a special place in my memories. At restaurant we were advised by our teachers to avoid going for binge eating as on way down the hills it may not be a good appetite but as always we are tempted by the sight of delicious food. We eat plateful and hop on to the bus, this one is a semi-deluxe unlike the Volvo we had arrived to the place in. And fortunately eat had windows that opened. I grab the seat on the last row just beside window and don't allow my friends to go for the window seat, even though they tried to persuade me in every possible manner. On the seat next to me sat a friend of mine, this girl is the one with whom we have shared a large part of our school life and have enjoyed very much. In some 30 minutes bus makes its initial moves while we all are chatting looking out of the window, some shutterbugs are interested in grabbing every possible second and preserving them so to be looked back in the future. As of me am very much trying to be happy as I know that the following day will be difficult to past because of some post travel pangs. The memories are hard to get around with and a feeling of something being lost captures you. Looking out of window I am feeling a bit uncomfortable now, the excess food, delicacies are proving to be troublesome. I ask my friend to allow me to open a little more window as I would be needing it very soon, but she seems uninterested. I warn her of the "consequences" but to no avail. the bus moves down the hills and paths that curve like some snake entwined to bark of a tree. My troubles grow and it is uncontrollable now so I go on vomit, and unfortunately a lot of the stuff falls on window rather going out of it. thankfully it is not on me and just a seat is wasted. I have no other option but to vacate the seat and go for some other options. Meanwhile I try to make her accept that its her fault but moreover not wishing to blame her. In hurry I throw my jacket out of the bus window, partially to grab some eyeballs, as it is human nature to try to be in limelight. Now I fumble the racks on the top of bus and get my bag. Use it as bedding and I have to spend whole night sitting in the bus's corridor. I miss those scenes out of the bus's window but thankfully in the bus there is a lot to check out. Many are still not able to sleep and busy in various activities. The guy who was sitting beside me seems to be troubled lot as he has to sit beside the shit! The other on the second last seat is busy listening to music on his walkman. Some are toying around with mobile phones and others are chatting in whispering mode! A senior is pleased to get a head massage from a senior girl! While for some am an amusement as they are consoling me by repeatedly offering help and other stuffs and asking questions like, "Why did you throw your jacket?". Night passes quite slowly and our teacher came to check twice or thrice in the mean time, and every time I had to wake up as I was lying in the corridor! Morning around 5, the sun has started to shine in distance on the Grand Trunk road. Those who had slept early are out of sleep now and are busy waking up others and speculating how much more time before we would reach the ISBT. The bus is rapidly traversing the distance and pesky smell at a landfill hints that we are in Delhi now. We start gathering various belongings. In 15 minutes, as we are saved from the usual traffic jams at the bypass, we are at ISBT. Off the bus we are collecting our baggages and helping others reach for theirs. Sir asks us to check out for conveyance back to home. And I decide to go for an auto ride with two girls who lived nearby. We get Rs. 100 as travel allowance but the rickshaw ride cost only 80 bucks. So we save 20. In the way we decide to use the money to have an ice-cream party, but the idea does not materialises actually and the Rs 20 remain with me as am the last one to get off the auto andhave to pay the bill...

The party is due and I will be more than happy to go for it, even if I have to pay the interests on the money!

The French Kiss

Wake Up! Wake Up! sounds in my ears. I pick up my mobile to check time, its just 8:30. We have to leave for submitting the form, said my sister. After some initial hesitation I wake up and went to bath, followed by breakfast and a quick look at the newspaper. Its 9:40 and we leave. The night long drizzle has taken a break. We hire an auto-rickshaw to the Lodhi Estate. The morning rush hour traffic and water-logged roads led to traffic snarls at some bottlenecks. After some time the rickshaw is racing on a Delhi Cantt road. The area has a special place in my heart because of many childhood memories associated. The beautiful boulevard is lined with trees on both sides and is like an urban oasis, maintained by the armed forces. The stretch ends at Dhaula Kuan and now the auto driver takes a different route to avoid the heavy traffic on the Ring Road. He drives through the diplomatic by lanes of Chankya Puri and wades through some roads named on very historic characters. Driving in this area is never recommended unless you are very good at keeping track of roads or are using a highly reliable GPS tracking system. Meanwhile the rain starts again and water begins to fall on me from the sides of the auto. It is Lodhi Gardens on the right so there should be our destination but we are a bit confused now, we ask a number of people but no one seems to know the where-abouts of our destination . Somehow we manage to reach the place, it is Alliance Francias de Delhi. From outside the building seems to be quite posh and we are pleased to go "inside", as rains can intensify at any time. Across the main gate we find long queues of people gathered to submit forms even such a rainy day. The crowd is exceptionally hip and all the very best kinds of fragrances are in the air. People with a wide variety of attires are difficult to overlook and everyone has his/her distinct style. The gate-keeper at the administrative section seems to be a fool to most of the people around. We get a form and fill it and ensure that everything is done. Now we start to wait for our turn, which is supposed to come on a "first-come, first-serve" basis. We are number 45 on the list and number 20 enters the block, we are pleased that we will be free before lunch. But a discussion is going on at the door! "What is this red list and blue list?" ask some inquisitive girls to the gate-keeper. Red ones are people which are pending since last Friday and blue is today's list and as per "first-come, first-serve" blah-blah the blue ones ought to wait till the red list ends. Everyone in the blue list is now perturbed as they are dragged 64 something points in this race! A lot of confusion continues, while people keep on getting disillusioned and leaving the place to find some solace from all the trouble. Many occupy the tables at institutes's cafeteria while others grab seats in the auditorium. Mobile phones come for some handy entertainment, many are now busy chatting with their friends, listening music and playing games. In between we are surprised to find some groups chatting in fluent French as if endorsing the institutes's credentials, these are the students at the Alliance. The day seems to be getting hectic with every passing moment as most of us are not accustomed to waiting a lot, the only good thing is that there is no dearth of interaction and a lot of cultural information is available. A whole lot of informative posters on all possible places, people from different backgrounds, including kids ageing around 12-13 to moms of two! Most have one point in common the lack of managerial skills at the place, which proclaims itself to be the French embassy in India, though it is a cultural centre established by government of France. Its 12:40 and lunch time begins which will end only after 2 in the noon. Meanwhile we go for little snacks, majorly to pass-time and give rest to our feet, as we were standing for the whole day now. After the lunch we are very hopeful that the whole procedure will end soon and we will be able to leave the place very soon. A whole variety of thoughts are coming in my mind now, different plans, I need to this and that, this thing is a must and the likes. In about 50 minutes comes our turn, and my sister enters the administrative block to submit the fee but she is surprised and somewhat perturbed to know that the timing she insisted for are not available. She asks the contact-person for other timings suitable to her but to no avail. So very un-heartedly we have to drop the seat and leave the place. On way back she opts to go to her office and in the way we keep on talking about some other ways of learning the language and getting directly to the next level which begins after about 2 months. It is past 3 and sun is at full glory once again the auto is pacing on south-central Delhi's beautiful yet confusing streets. Humidity has started to take over the pleasant weathers of the morning and I am thinking about the weekend which seems to be going to very humid as MET department at Delhi has predicted unusual heavy rains over the whole week. At Dhaula Kuan we take a very long curve and join the road race on the Ring, the major artery in Delhi's road-network. Lovely to find some gasps of wind helping chill us as the auto speeds at around 60-70 kmph. In the way she leaves for her office and I continue on my way to home, the industrial landscapes of Mayapuri and regular lifestyle in many residential colonies has started to wash the memories of the French Kiss in the heart of Delhi, though I wish to retain them for a long time. I keep on thinking somehow I must be part of such legacy....

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Cosmopolitan...

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People make a city... And city is surely not a mass of land defined by boundaries, it is something made of people, cultures, commerce, infrastructure and more... Taking a city to ransom by identifying it to particular community is not the right approach. In recent context proclamation of Mumbai as Maharashtrian bastion or last year's incidents of "unhomely" attitude towards students from North-east in certain Delhi University colleges. Such things only spoil city's cosmopolitan image and do little good. As far as the issues like increasing burden of population on resources is considered, better ways of tackling such problems include expansion of city's infrastructural limits, decentralization of resources and job opportunities, increasing living standards across the country and more such positive steps despite going for unruly attitudes and a negative approach...

A Boring Start Of The Weekend

A much reformed day, with a very much normal routine. Weird dreams involving school fellas and teachers as lead characters brought me out of the sleep. For some time I kept on thinking about the recent good news I got through e-mail and then came my DCE role no. I was disappointed for the centre being very close to my home. Anyhow in the wake of early morning dreams I decided to reply to the recent scraps from old mates at school and coaching institute. Large part noon passed listening to the music and keeping an eye on the status of download that had troubled me through the week. Evening began with a stroll with a friend, talks hovering on things like what in and after next 20 days... That's quite usual for us to boggle our brains on such talks. The later part of stroll was marred by phone calls from his friends, none the less we decided to part ways to our houses. In the way kept on thinking about his comments on my looks and so decided to go for a make over. At home an hour went passed in checking out the latest Roadies episode, which was quite boring. Next I visited the hair saloon, an much monotonous hair style and over-grown stubble forced me to go for a clean-up act and here I was in here again after 7 months or only twice in last 13 months. This time I decided to go virtually bald and regretted it a little later on, but as to everything I managed to find a positive side with this new leaner look also. At home little criticism came to acknowledge my latest visit to the saloon , as if I had only came back from some pilgrimage. The IPL match provided some entertainment on this boring Saturday evening and the chemistry book did the trick by landing me in sleep, to wake up later only at 02:15. And here I am posting the remains of the day...

Signing off, hope tomorrow is better than today!

Another Interaction With Delhi.

Last Sunday, I had my engineering and architecture entrance exam. But the post will loosely move around the proceedings of the day. I almost didn't sleep the whole night. In the morning, we took bus till Dhaula Kuan and then an auto-rickshaw to the exam centre. the auto-rickshaw driver zipped it along the southern boundary of Delhi's central ridge reserved forest. The ride extended into the beautiful by-lanes of the New Delhi. Mesmerising roads lined by a large number of trees and a lot of infrastructure development projects underway. I got few glimpses of the under-construction Airport Express Link of Delhi Metro, the line is supposed to provide fast access between New Delhi Railway Station and Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport with top speeds reaching 120-135kmph. Further we moved to Connaught Place, the central business district of Delhi. It wore a deserted look on early Sunday morning. Next came ITO, crossed Yamuna and then the ride along eastern bank of the river. A lot of activity is taking place along the banks of river, majorly in view of coming Commonwealth Games of 2010. Across the road opposite the river front stands the exam centre. A filthy smell disgusts me throughout the tests. And yes the top floor syndrome continues here also! Add to this I got to sit on the first bench in the paper one. In the paper two the room changed to my happiness, I was no more on the first bench and the pesky smell was gone. Paper two had three drawing questions and the last one was to create a colourful composition of some season. But as I started attempting the question I realised that time was very less and I will have to make something very quickly, so I just didn't gave a thought and started sketching a girl, I think as she would be about 20-22 so girl would be appropriate word, followed by a tree then her companion to fill the space. I just started filling the colours, but soon realised that two eyes were glued to my creation. Oh this was the invigilator, to make it less obvious I sketched two kids, giving the hint that they are Mom and Dad and not some romance ridden couple!In the meantime I completed the exam in the best possible way. after the exam I was not in mood of a bus-ride so went to take Metro. About 2-3 km from exam centre was Shastri Park Metro station. I reached there by Rickshaw and the Metro station was one of the best in Delhi. More importantly you get to see a lot of hip crowd, air-conditioned travel and all the best facilities at almost no cost. For the first time I used Metro to transverse across Yamuna and reached first interchange station and so passed about 20 stations and I was at my destination Tilak Nagar. The whole way I kept on thinking about a lot of stuff including web-pages, evening with friends and more. At home I took some rest but could not resist calling up a friend to meet soon, later in the evening we enjoyed browsing on net, some PC games and a little walk. Rest is only schedule, but living in Delhi is a bliss!


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Fun Exam

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April 13’ 2008 I wake up early at 4:40 A.M. Having slept quite early the previous night it was difficult to avoid this time of solitude, so I decided to open my book and give it a quick reading, just some last moment revision of long unread topics. I had to sit for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) later that morning. The book acted as sleeping pill and I was back to sleep in next 45 minutes. Later I woke up only at around 6:45 A.M. Soon I rushed for some early morning preparations of the exam. Where are those pencils, eraser and pens? Oh my God, Where is the roll no.? Some freak activity starts in search of the hall ticket. Under that seat or in the box, probably on computer table, no must be in that cupboard. Some 15 min pass and tension grows, but I somehow manage to keep calm! 5 more minutes and I am pleased to find it lying entangled in wires behind my PC! Meanwhile I did all other arrangements and went to bath. Bath took around 40 minutes followed by a 15 min breakfast and TV session. What? It is already 8! The exam is set to begin at 9 and in ideal conditions it prescribed to reach the centre in 20 minutes advance. I leave for the exam centre, my dad accompanies me. We hire an auto-rickshaw. The driver rides pretty cool, everything seems to be very fine. The sun is at its usual shine, wind is blowing quite calmly and everything seems to be perfect. Punjabi Bag intersection and a left turn on Rohtak road, Delhi Metro’s construction work is in full swing. Heart starts jumping. I got to clear this exam or some fine engineering or architecture this time. How can I miss the chance of planning the city I live in! Thoughts come and pass. The under-construction Metro stations bear the tags of name of the place. Madipur, Paschim Vihar (East), Paschim vihar (West) and here comes my exam centre. Just 20-30 meters in from the main road stands my JEE centre for 2008. A whole lot of crowd has gathered there, students and parents, tensed and hopeful. There is a line for entry into the school. I wait for my turn, as I enter the centre an invigilator confirms my identity by checking the hall ticket (Thank God, I was able to find it earlier in the morning). I check for my room, bull-shit it’s again on second floor. I always get a seat at the top floor of the exam centre. Anyhow after climbing those stairs I find my room and enter to find most students already present there. I was in time; invigilator instructs me to take seat and explains the rules and guidelines to all present. We fill in particulars on Question paper and answer sheet and wait for the time we would be allowed to open seals and start answering. And here goes the bell. I start attempting questions from Physics section, meanwhile looking around to find everyone glued to his/her paper. I tried to show a similar dedication and worked hard to solve those pesky questions in Chemistry. Mathematics paper was a bit of surprise as it was easy by IIT standards. Meanwhile I apply that age-old trick of doing questions in rounds (we leave questions not done in first attempt and come back in accordance with ease of level). I also tried to maintain the balance in attempt rate of all three sections, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. 3 hours pass, not quite fast but at a very normal pace, paper – 1 is over. Now there is a 2 hour break during which no one is allowed in the exam centre, so I decide to go for a stroll in nearby areas and find something to binge upon. After walking some 1-1.2 km I spot a juice shop and prefer a Mango Shake. Probably that was only refreshment locale in that colony. On my way back an ice-cream helps me beat the heat of Delhi’s lovely summer. But to my disappointment only 45 minutes have passed and I would have to wait outside the centre. In the way it occurred to me that my attempts in Chemistry were far below desired levels, so I planned to concentrate on Chemistry and Mathematics in later half of the paper. At centre I find my parents waiting for me. I argue with them for coming there as I did not wish any one to wait for me, partially because a 3 hour wait is not worth in that kind of season and also I wanted to do “everything” on my own that day! So I passed rest of time of the break convincing them not to wait for me and playing game on the mobile. At 1:20 P.M we were allowed to enter the centre once again. In the room I wait for procedures to begin by passing time by playing game on my mobile. Soon the invigilator enters the room and I submit my mobile to him, once again same procedures begin. After the bell everyone is once again engrossed in completing the test. I start it with Chemistry, followed by physics and Mathematics. To my elation Mathematics paper contains good amount of geometry and questions which we can do by deriving the whole thing from base. At the end of the exam, I am happy having performed in a much better way. Though I know I will not be clearing off Chemistry cut-off and would not be eligible for counseling session, but still am happy with kind of performance I fared with. Out of exam centre I switch on my mobile, it searches for network and before I could call my father, my phone rings. It is Rohit, my friend in Dehradun, Uttrakhand. He throws the well known question, “How was the exam?”, and the talk goes on. Later I grab an auto-rickshaw back to home. That dirty chap or rather I would prefer to call him powerless play-toy, leaves the beautiful avenues to go for a short-cut full of hiccups and bumps! So I prefer to look into the papers rather checking out the surroundings which I would have done in the other case. 30 minutes am back to home. Later an evening with friends and PC and some television translates into a well spent day.

About the exam I can just say the best paper after class X boards. No sleep, no girls, no distractions in the exam. Exam proved to be pure fun because of my original ideology of going by the concept and attempting only to end in certain correct response. The exam boosted my morale and now I am more than enthusiastic for the next paper in the queue, as I intend to crack it with a bang!

Creative Friend

Image courtesy :silver.and.gold on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

A very hip begining of the day. Niyati, a very good Orkut friend of mine showed me her creative work and I promised her to post that on my blog. So here it is. Cheers to my very good friend, who has always been distinct because of her lively and cheerful nature in all this time.

Sometimes i feel so lonely
As if all are gone
Who were sittin next to me closely
I found nothing when I turned around
In search of something I turn round 'n' round
Something has changed
As if i m exchanged
Exchanged with a lonely soul
Who has nothing but tears n all
I miss those days when I was small
When I used to hide myself on mummy's call
Gone are those days when i was happy
Now my loniless follows me to make me unhappy
Many times I tried to friendship the world
But no one responded when I called
Still some hope is left in my heart
To get back all my sweethearts
But when I get my happiness
I am gonna miss you my loniness.

In exception to my blog policy the poem featured on this post is not copyright free. The poem has been used with permission from Niyati, the author of this poem.

Friendly Rival

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The event dates back to February of 2002. I was a class VII student then. Earlier that week I had received a letter from Hindi academy. I had won third price in an essay writing held in the summers last year. I, with my parents, boarded a bus to Mandi House. The felicitation ceremony was to be held there in Hans-Dhwani auditorium. Elated I reached the place in time, only to find a friend of mine had also won consolation prize. It double-folded my happiness, my long time rival was floored by me on a "level-playing" filed, as there was no so called impression on invigilator's mind. I had surpassed by friendly "rival". The joy of earning a position in a national level competition combined with surpassing a long-time friendly "rival" was something really difficult to hide. On my way back I was lost in thoughts, we were not coming back to our house but instead were going to relatives' place and that was the thing I disliked. Next day morning I reached the school late and to pleasure my friendly "rival", Ravinder was also late. As we thought about the punishment coming our way and the day ahead, we saw our Hindi teacher coming to us. As she approached she hurled some straight words to both of us, "Shame on you guys. You couldn't even spare even this day! There your name is being announced in the morning assembly for all the good reasons and all this only to find that you fools are late". A short grin passed our face as we realized the situation of our teacher, she couldn't leave us back at door and it was our gate-pass to school despite being late! We looked at each others' face and then followed our teacher with drooping shoulders and a pale face, as if to hide our elation. In school corridors we walked hand-in-hand and at stage we posed like heroes of the day, establishing the trend of not being punctual as a great style statement. And hence we proved, "A friend in need is a friend indeed".

The King Khan

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Shah Rukh Khan, i.e. the SRK or the King Khan is the name of the mega personality that virtually rules the Bollywood . The guy rocks bollywood. He simply mesmerises by his acting skills. The diversity of roles he has played through his acting carrrer in last two decades simply leave us speechless. Innocent youngster in Chamatkaar (1992), an aspiring engineer in Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992) showcasing problems and troubles , revengeful son in Baazigar (1993), simple young in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (1993), passionate lover in Darr (1993), sheer romantic in Dil Wale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), great romantic portrails in Dill To Pagal Hai (1997) and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) an eternal lover in Devdaas (2002), superb performance in remake of Don (2006). Started career from TV shows like Fauji (1988) and is now ruling the Bollywood, The Delhi guy defines rules in his own ways, has an exclusive sense of humour and mind-blowing stage presence. He has managed to rule hearts while doing commercial cinema. Lately he started choosing roles according to his age and now his performances have striked chord with public. Last year Chak De India (2007) and Om Shanti Om (2007) were excellent performances. His performances of early years are breath-taking and leave you in pools of positive thoughts.

Just A Fling....

It is 8:15 pm, I am waiting for bus back to my house with 4 of my good pals. We were just out of an extra class we became a part of because of school's recommendation. Earlier in the day we had attended classes in school, went back to the house, had lunch and then came to join these extra classes. The optional classes were more of fun for me than any serious studies. We used to study Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics in that coaching institute. Biology class was sheer fun as it was hard to understand a single word, Chemistry was like "ya am getting what you mean to say my dear sir", Physics teacher was smart personality, and I guess all Physics teachers emphasize on looks and maintaining a good outlook, Mathematics classes held once in a week and we were pleased to be part of them as sometimes it proved to be fun to be part of a puzzle solving race. Later after the class was over we would run out of the institute often grabbing copy of the school edition of newspaper, which we had no claim over. After that we would run towards the bus stop and wait for the bus to come over while we would turn the leafs of newspaper and curse editors for not including magazine issues in school versions. In the meantime bus would arrive and we would jump to grab every bit of place left available in already over-crowded bus. In the bus we would have to bear the pesky smells rinsing out of the bodies of daily wagers. We would be enjoying the ride by pushing each other on fellow passengers, quite stealthily. While the breeze flowing through window would relieve us of the bad odours and smoke, meanwhile we would be pleased to imagine if that girl in the scooty ad in today's morning newspaper was here or if that hottie of school had agreed to join us in these extra classes. A friend would leave us after three or four stands, while we would still continue our pursuit for a seat. As the bus would move past jam-logged streets we would go down the memory lanes and laugh at the stupid but valid questions asked by an intelligent student during the Biology class today. As the bus would crawl out of the jam we would be pleased to have found some seat. Now the bus is pacing on Delhi's streets everything is calm and no one is talking, probably too much exhausted to utter or just ignoring the sheer waste we would rather be sharing. In about 20 minutes we would reach our destination, only two of us left now. We would walk down towards our house discussing the changing landscape of the city and next day's plans...

My Chemical Romance

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Spending a lot of my time preparing for my exams these days. Schedules are made regularly and stretched too. Chat sessions bring much needed relief and colour to life. I have started to love chemistry chapters for obvious reason that it fetches easy marks. One thing I like very much about chemistry is the colours we come across while playing with different compounds. During night study sessions many a time I remember of times when we took pride in ignoring our teacher's words and thought her to be a freak. But off late I myself am becoming a freak because my chemistry with chemical compounds has started to work and colours are all over my mind creating numerous virtual rainbows and washing away many unwanted past thoughts too.

Pink Panic

Image Courtesy : Gabe Photos on Flickr, check terms before using image.

Last evening my friend came to my home, simple regular rides and strolls. A kick and scooter starts, we perch on it and it move out in lanes around my house. A few metres and he throws a straight question, "what is menstrual cycle?" Firstly am taken aback, nothing but, "what?, who?, why?..." to answer him. He tells asked just because a friend asked him. By now ready to answer the question I start reminding him of class X biology chapters, and all the itsy-bitsy details. Though being a purely scientific topic, it was a bit awkward to talk about; each line ended in a "ummm...", "hmmm..." and such words giving away my awkwardness. Somehow I managed to explain to him and move on and what followed were jokes from his mobile inbox, some laughs and giggles and we ride to our friends house, like zip zap zoom flying dust off the road and feeling ourselves to be kings of streets, remembering scenes from movies like The Fast and The Furious...

...and life moves on as pink panics don't leave us.

Happy Birthday!

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Today I wish happy birthday to my dear sister, Manisha, a.k.a Guddu. Well am not gonna share more of her nick names, which am very fond of, because she is going to kill me for that. She turns 22 today, but still a stupid small kiddo. Some wishings come from my way - may you get whatever you desire in your life, become a little mature and more proactive. Consider this post to be a little birthday gift from me.

To my readers I urge you to leave your birthday wishes here.

An Unpublished Diary Entry!

September 18-19’ 2007
01:19 IST

Dear Life,
Today I was awake at the time when people suggest it is good to. Actually didn’t sleep through the night, worked on the PC trying to study while listening to music and downloading online books. Later reverted to designing Active Server Pages and was happy to see some actually great results coming my way. A really good sunny morning to begin your day with, or was it the effect of Dill Mill Gaye (DMG) and DMG Community. After some early morning hustle-bustle like watering the plants it was some free time. I killed time just wishing it is 08:15 as early as possible. Newspaper was little help in the mean time. At 08:15 I went out for my morning walk and thus started my auto-suggestion session. Today sun was shining bit more harsh for a September morning and I too was not much enthusiastic and in connection of my positive spirit. Some part of my past was clinching me badly and I was becoming desperate too get rid of it. I was trying too console myself in every possible way, ready too cross all limits just to get a life I saw daily in TV serials, movies, read about in articles... But all in vain as negativity had taken over by now and I had given up (thinking weird but fancy things like writing worlds’ most creative suicide note!); with little hope still trying to get myself back. Back to home by 09:10 and I find a program on Discovery Channel showcasing how our brain makes us deceive others and even ourselves. I thought a little on the whole idea and it occurred to me as if our past bears no value in present but carrying it with you can have bearings on your present as well as future. I concluded it is not worth repenting over the past and it is better to concentrate on future and make people happy. Mean while I fell asleep while watching the television to wake up only late in the evening at around 18:30. Straightaway went to have bath (really stupid, but can’t help it!). Later spent some time on PC updating my project and tracking stock market’s today’s changes. Finally here come my favorite TV serials DMG and Love Story and yes the ‘dinner’(actually lunch too), both providing some great stuff today. A night walk followed by few Mathematics questions and am back with my PC, DMG Community logged in my Orkut account. Spent some time writing and reading threads in the community and now it is this time (02:17) and still am not feeling sleepy. Don’t know what will follow but will try to study a bit more and yes DMG and my project will be there...

- Manik

Cross Connection

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Last night while chatting my friend, Nilabh, shared with me his SMS chat, with his mobile girlfriend. In the chat while his words were quite cautiously crafted, the girl emerged boldly to take lead. She was not hesitant in talking about smooches and public display of affection and thereby Nilabh was taken off-guard. She seemed to be the girl who everyone would desire. Their chat showed how well they could communicate, understand and solve each other's problems and insecurities. It was difficult for me to believe that a mobile prank, of sending a random message to a common friend's acquittance, will result in such serious commitment. Even unbelievable is that they haven't met in real till date. Even though I am still doubtful about it but still happy for him as after a long spate of about 5 "serious" crushes he is in for some stability in life.

Dedicated to my dear friend - Nilabh, of frog-dance fame, a hip-hop fan, a foodie and little-bit roadie too... ...its enough now lets come back to reality, actually a psycho senti, emotional guy.

No personalised feedbacks this time, comment here only.

Lorem Ipsum

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam tempor tristique turpis. Nunc tincidunt vulputate ligula. Mauris tempus porta magna. Integer et risus ut felis sagittis viverra. Quisque quis lorem. Nam tempus lorem. Donec bibendum, orci vitae tincidunt lacinia, leo massa faucibus eros, quis gravida massa sem id lectus. Proin.

Just got a random thought, what LOREM IPSUM meant? Quite regular to see these words but still never bothered to find its meaning. And when I did, I was astonished to find that this paragraph, which I found quite troublesome when using many popular publishing wizards, was not that vague as it appeared. Having a history of over 500 years and withstood the changes in printing and publishing industry the paragraph is now a standard dummy text for printing and typesetting industry. The text is used simply for the reason that it is very less likely to distract people focussing on text layout because of unreadability. Moreover it has more-or-less equal distribution of characters and so on.

So fellas, everything is not that vague as it appears!!!

Further reading at - Lorem Ipsum

My New Year Resolutions : Day 1

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Like always and almost everyone I too made some new year resolutions. Nothing special, but an old itinerary I made in late August of 2007. So here goes the list and what happened to it...

• Wake up on or before 9 in morning : Obviously, I failed.


• Check for some early morning television : Oops another failure*


• Study for atleast 6 hours daily : Day 1 was partial success, but day 2 was a tragedy!


• Leave everything and roam around after 7 in evening : It got to be a success as I got Traveller's Foot Syndrome!


• Television after 10 : A huge success, how could I miss those shows?


• Night Browsing : Hit for my nocturnal being, proofs are here only!

Still I keep on moving as that's the best I can do, making 1440x1024 claims to give 1024x768 results. It was an average begining this year. But who cares if results are gonna be good???