Desolate, Dejected But Determined

The three D's , that make up the title of this post, precisely sum up the situation in which I am. Mid-semester breaks are on and instead of going back home yours truly decided, for the very first time, to stay back here in the R-Land. Though it's just the beginning of an eight-day long break but I have already started to despise the ambiance which I have been subjected to in the first couple of days. The corridors which are always lively and resonant with the shouts of ebullient souls are in a deserted state, giving me a feeling of numbness as I walk through them. The roads which are always busy and beaming with students and vehicles are empty. The street dogs are having a party every night in the hostel corridors, evident every morning from the rampaged state of the waste-collectors placed at the very end of the corridors, growling ferociously every night to express their joys.

There are no people around except for the few noble haddu-matkas who have stayed here and are giving me a silent company on this marooned island. I have plenty of time to eat, to drink, to sing, to dance, to watch movies, to litter around, to study, to surf, to blog and to sleep. But even after having so many options at my disposal yours truly decided to spend his plentiful time on sleeping, CATing, GREying my brain cells, and watching few movies and probably that has led to the second D i.e. Dejection.

The mock tests that I gave have served the only purpose of making me feel nugatory, all my endeavors as a mere chaff, and sometimes aggravating me to an extent that I literally shout on myself. But even after so much of dejection, somewhere I see a glimmer of hope, and perhaps that keeps me going, and with every passing day I become more and more determined to give my best, for that's the only thing that I can strive for, the rest is certainly beyond my reach.

Well, someone has rightly said that the darkest hour is just before the dawn. Though I don't reckon my state as the darkest one but I am eagerly awaiting a lively and a much brighter dawn.

A Moron's Account...

It's really been a long hiatus since I last updated this space with the good, bad and the ugly incidents of my cherished life. The only person to blame for this ghastly act of procrastination is none other but yours truly himself, not to mention his characteristic laziness and his comfort loving bum, which has always been a topic of heated discussion amongst all his well-wishers. So as an effort to atone for my sins of not updating this blog for as many as 52 days, I hereby proclaim to come up with as many as 3 blogs by the end of this month, of course, with the tacit assumption that the current blog is the first of that blogotrilogy. But, after all said and done, the actual reason behind this act of expiation is the fact that I want to keep my crank shafts moving, I want my medulla oblongata to feed my cereberum and cerebellum in the same way as it did a few years back, for I feel, perhaps the time is apt when I need to be on the tip of my toes, amidst the constant flux of events, and writing, according to yours truly, is the best way to expunge oneself of the mental constipation and a veritable mean to stay in touch with the world around. In short, writing keeps one going. So for all those aforementioned reasons I finally resort to this often so neglected activity to keep myself occupied and active in every sense.

Now as I was recollecting the incidents of past few months, I certainly found out a few that have been legen. ..........wait for it..............dary in some regard and that surely deserve a special mention. So here's a list of them-

1) Master Federer Losing in the U.S. Open finals- Now this particular incident was really heartbreaking for me. Considering the magnitude of effort that I put in to arrange for the keys of the TV room to watch this particular match, expecting Master Federer to beat the lanky Argentine, what I actually got in return was nothing but disappointment. But hats-off to Del Potro, no doubts on his credibility as the Champion. He played some of the biggest forehands that I had ever seen.

2) My Jaunts to the Central Library- If I had to mention one significant development that occurred this semester, then , undoubtedly, it has to be this one. For the first three years of my stay here in IIT-R, if I recount the number of times that I visited the Central Library, the resulting figure would barely end up being a double-digit (the data is excluding the usual TBLS that we have every semester) , but that was until this semester started, and my jaunts to the Central Library has become so frequent that it is a matter of utter consternation for yours truly only.

3) Professor A.K. Jain- If the students of Civil Engineering Department, IIT-Roorkee were asked to name the person who they would never forget till the last day of their life and that too till their last breathe, indubitably, it would be none other but Prof. AKJ. His fear coefficient is tantamount to the effect created by an AK-47, the entire batch of students is terrorized by his sheer presence and clearing his course is no less but an achievement that would endue each and every student with a feeling of ineffable satisfaction and happiness.

4) GREy Day and CAT- After months of dallying I finally chose 9th november as a suitable day for my GRE exam. While the preparations for the GREy day are on, the wily and the crafty CAT also, finally, got out of the bag and 29th Nov. is when I've decided to bell the CAT.

5) Munshi and His Chocolates- After completing his internship in Italy, Munshi was back, and not just back but back with bags full of Chocolates and Wine. From dark chocolates, with 50% cocoa to 99% cocoa, to liquor chocolates, I tasted them all, not to mention a spoon-full of red wine also became a part of my Chocolate fantasy.

So these were the five worth-mentioning-events that more or less sum up what actually I have been upto for the past couple of months, which were otherwise replete with prosaic, monotonous and sundry stuffs. Champion's Trophy is on and I am expecting Team India to do well, especially the Little Man. I wish the Little Man gives his usual best.

All The Very Best to the Men In Blues !!

Adios !

To Dalu- "My Sweet Little Sis"

The sweet little angel is finally all set,

All set to spread her wings in the infinite space ,

All set to take a flight which would be the most defining for her,

I just wish God be with her,

For I am always behind her,

Through the thickest and thinnest of times,

Complementing each other like the Humpty-Dumpty duo does every time.

I just wish God bestows her with the Strength of Titanium,

Determination of the Mt. Everest, Calmness of the Pacific Ocean,

and the steadiness of a cool zephyr.

I just wish she learns to have faith in her own ideas,

even if everyone tells her they are wrong....

I wish her to be gentle with gentle people,

and Tough with the tough,

Have sublime faith in herself and do whatever she feels is right,

scoffing of at the cynics.

I wish she learns to be happy even in tough times,

laugh even when she is sad,

For the ultimate pursuit of life is happiness.

I know she would understand everything I have said,

For she listens to me with both ears spread,

You see so sweet is this Little Sister of mine,

My sweet little “Dumpty”,

All the very best to you from your very own “Humpty”.

The Final Frontier

With the 6^th semester ending I can most certainly declare that yes I have finally reached the last rung of the engineering ladder, my final year at IIT-Roorkee. The thought of being the senior-most in the college not only fills one with a feeling of joy and engenders a strange feeling wherein one wants to be away from the daily humdrum of life with solace being the best companion, but also reminds one of the plethora of responsibilities and the hopes that he/she carries on his shoulders. As far as I am concerned I am happy to reach the last rung but it’s hard to describe the random melange of feelings and thoughts that swirls inside this tiny brain of mine on reaching this epoch. On one hand it’s a sense of achievement of reaching this stage without any hiccups, while on the other it’s a feeling of regret for not being able to achieve few things that I always wanted to. It’s a feeling of having learned so much in the last three years while on the other hand there is a feeling of having not learned everything in the last three years, it’s a feeling of treading along on the right path, the one that I have chosen for myself while on the other hand it’s a feeling of drifting away from things that are dearest-est-est to me while treading along the chosen path.

Perhaps as I dive in the depths of time and reminisce the colourful series of events that have transformed the previous three years as the best years of my life, period when I learned a lot as well as was spurned a lot, period that metamorphosed  me to a completely different person, I just wish that the fourth and the final year carries with it the same vibrant colours infusing in me the same amount of energy and perhaps bring the perfect ending to the delightful  odyssey which started four years ago. As far as my plans for the final year are concerned there are plenty of them, from doing well in academics, visiting some new places, doing well in numerous exams in which I appear next year to blogging more frequently, coming up with a new cartoon blog, proving my mettle in Chaos (in FIFA) next year, getting a good placement and lastly having that much awaited dinner which has always been in my list of cherished desires.

As I finally sign off and leave for my home sweet home in a couple of minutes allowing the curtains to fall on the most awesome, no wait,  legen.........wait for it......... dary three years, I’ll just join my hands, close my eyes and pray god for his blessings, for the year(s) going to come would be the most defining year of my life, one that would shape my future in every possible way. May Time be with me !!

Adios !

A Tribute to an Unsung Hero

Well I don’t really associate myself with epithets like being tech-savvy or a gadget freak but I do feel honoured enough to be the proud owner of the ultra-ingenious device which has been with me through the thickest and the thinnest of time that I have been through. This blog is nothing but a sincere effort to pay homage and shower encomiums on my companion of the good and the bad times, my Cell Phone.

Though almost 5 years have passed since I first saw this masterpiece and decided to buy it, the feeling which gripped me over as soon as I became its possessor continues to exist till date without the slightest decrease in the intensity. It was the slimmest of the set that I had ever seen and I almost fell in love with the orange coloured backlight that lit up the cell phone keys as soon as I pressed any button. Though many would argue that my cell phone did not possess the R-World feature that most of the Reliance phones did feature at that time but I would say that I never really required R-World. I wanted something handy, compact, neat, cheap and useable and my cell phone was the perfect blend of everything almost an apotheosis of Perfection. Today in the age of Nokia’s N-series and E-series cell phones, Samsung’s Metal series phones with features that would dwarf out any existing laptop for the matter of fact, I would any time prefer My Cell Phone just because I can easily associate the “MY” thing with it.

I am well aware of the comments that people very often pass on looking at its moribund, dilapidated, decrepit condition, things like its in a state of coma and requires an ICU, that I should dispose it off, buy something new, latest, ornate, flashy with state-of-the-art technology, why am I busting my head with this antiquated piece of dabba which even couldn’t withstand the pressure of 4 missed calls and gets switched off at the blink of an eye and blah blah.....indifference is my inveterate repartee to all such ingenuine comments. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that a continuous string of emotions runs through my heart and connects me to the circuitry of my cell phone. I remember the day when I lost it for the first time. I called up my mommy to tell her about the unfortunate incident and the reaction that came from the other side was astounding. My mother was elated to hear that. She said nothing better could happen than this, and if it wasn’t going to happen one way it happened the other way. My sister called me up and no hii or a hello the first question “Which one are you going to buy this time?”. It felt like the nature conspired against me to part me with my dearest cell phone, but feelings are indomitable and true feelings are indeed insurmountable. The next day I somehow found it back and the memories of the happy reunion are still vivid before my eyes.

I know that its condition is getting worst from worse with the passing time, but the fact that it’s still rendering the desired services is praiseworthy and worth mentioning. The fact that in its present shape its requirement of 24hrs of charging for half an hour of battery life might raise many questions on its resourcefulness but having done so much for me in the past 5 years I gleefully disqualify all arguments that are made against it and just hope that My Good Old Friend continues to serve me in the same way that it has done for so many years. Lastly, when it dies I won’t dispose it off or just throw it away but I have special plans for it, plans that would make my companion a non-living legend !!

Just Another Blog

I am back home for the mid semester break these days and enjoying every bit of it by indulging in what i describe as “Zilch”, except sleeping and sleeping and yes bit of both!!

A week back home , nothing eventful about it, but yes full of incidents worth mentioning from my perspective-

Big things come first. My first journey by “AEROPLANE”, from Delhi to Lucknow. It was just an hour flight of which I slept for almost half an hour, 15 minutes on eating those ninety rupees Veg-Sandwiches, which I only bought to celebrate my first air journey, 10 minutes in looking at the people around, air hostess especially, a tall fair young lady, hair tied in a bun and wearing a blue saree, magazines, seat-belts and last five minutes expressing my gratitude to Wright Brothers for such a magnificent invention.

My sister described me as one of the most hapless souls after I failed to get even a single buzz from some very peculiar type of female species existing on rediff bol, even after trying out umpteen ishhtylish nick-names from my dictionary.

I repeated a mistake which I committed long ago when I read Paulo Coelho’s By The River Piedra I Sat Down & Wept. I read another book of his, Eleven Minutes, knowing that I don’t belong to that esoteric group who understand this genre and yet again I slept for 2 hrs after reading it. My head felt so heavy as if Paulo Coelho himself hit me with a sledgehammer as a comeuppance for committing the crime of not only picking up his book but also reading it. Though I did not understand much of it but there is one thing that I understood “We can either be a victim of a situation or We can be an adventurer in search of a treasure that is unknown”. I think after reading this book I became a victim in search of a treasure that I later realized belongs to Master Coelho and his disciples only.

Queen Pankumari rules our house when it comes to Entertainment and TV. Women Empowerment and Emancipation is the motto everyday and NDTV Imagine, Colors, Sony, Star Plus are the tools to implement it.

“Slumdog Millionare’s” actress Frida Pinto in contention for the role of the next “Bond Girl” in the upcoming 007 movie, courtesy India TV. India TV further says “It would be a proud moment for India if Frida Pinto plays the role of the Bond Girl as none of the Indian actress’s in the past have been lucky enough to darn this coveted role”. INDIA TV ROCKS!!

Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal enter the quarterfinals in the Champions League, following them are Barcelona, Porto, Villarreal and Bayern Munich. Awaiting for some serious football action. FUDGE IS ON!!

Lastly, I got this new epithet of being diplomatic in my words. Circumlocutions are what I have been indicted with and Politics is what I have been suggested to seriously consider. To this I would say that I prefer being called a diplomat than to be called “Extremely Emotional”.

Leaving for R-land on 15^th. Cognizance from 20^th March. Some great FIFA action in store for the hallowed Ganga Gamers. ALL THE BEST!! (of course to myself only!)

Winds of Change...

The month of Cupid is actually about to get over and now i have began to write this post which i actually intended to post weeks before. This classy case of procrastination can only be attributed to my apathetic behaviour towards my very own brainchild , which i narcissistically referred to as the "Mavericks Space".

Almost 55 odd days have passed since i last wrote something, and finally it's today that i decided to break free from the fetters of laziness, climb up the ladder of craziness, put my thinking cap on, and overcome what a "sweet" friend of mine regarded to as the "Writer's Block". So from where should i start considering the gamut of details that i have inside this tiny brain of mine.

Lets start from the start.

January, marked the advent of a new year , engendering new hopes , people making resolutions which too often turn out to be too ephemeral, and the month which ultimately brought some halcyon moments for yours truly marking the end of a gruelling survey camp. Then came the registrations and as usual the same old classes in the hallowed Deparment which seems to be suffering from a bout of gerontocracy since 1847. I certainly regard January as the month of "novelty" for the degree of newness that it brings to each one of us in thoughts as well as in actions. While i speak of novelty in actions i do mean it and i have a classic example to justify my point. It was 31st January, and i was to visit the "sweet" friend of mine the next day and at the same time had to inform my mother about this stating that the sole reason for my visit was to meet my "sweet" friend. With gargantuan courage and copious optimism i called up my mommy and asked for the permission. I don't know what went through my mother's mind, was she impressed by my courage and positivity, or did she listen to me properly, or was she really moved by my veracity, but what came as a reply from her side was perfectly affirmative. I must confess that the conversation that i had with my mommy certainly introduced in me a new confidence and led to a manifold increase in my faith in the person whom i trust the most in this universe. So that was January infusing a new confidence in yours truly.

Came February, the month of Cupid and more recently the month of Bajrang dals and Shiv Senas. For yours truly it was the month of meeting my "sweet" friend, giving mid-semester exams, month of penitence, month of sponsorship's, month of some really good brain racking quizzes, and yes the month of Pokemon aka Pikachu. February began with an eventful morning when, i , after many a days witnessed the serene alpenglow, surpassing the beautiful-est of beauties. The ambience as well the whirlpool of thoughts inside bestowed me with a feeling of being in empyrean. The series of events that followed certainly made me feel better except the last one and perhaps the one before it. The next few days were the days of academics exemplifying the arrival of mid-term examination, a quarterly phenomenon coercing people in R-Land to actually put on their thinking caps. Midterm got over and came the sponsorship's and there started the vicious cycle of running after professors for details and contacts of the recession hit corporate world. Amidst all this career-defining events came the ever so familiar LitSec quizzes, organized by LitSec pepole, hosted by LitSec people, Participation from LitSec people apart from few hapless souls with supreme optimism, and finally Won by LitSec people. So that's how almost two thirds of february went past. The last few days gave me an opportunity to polish my "Head Shot" skills in CS under the name "Pokemon-Terror Ka Doosra Nam" and more recently "Pikachu-Pikaa Pikaa Pikaa".

So that's how things have been for the last two months. To end i hope that i get over my bout of procrastination and rejuvenate this Space for i believe that "It Is A Mavericks Space".

Movie With Masti.........

My worst movie experience till date has been in Kota, while i was in class 11, when i witnessed one of the greatest oops!! wrong adjective, one of the longest bollywood movie of all time LOC. Star-studded with a special attraction when our very own bollywood Jawans freely used expletives to express their vent for our neighbouring country, though I couldn't comprehend even a single, thanks to the superb sound system of the theatre in which i was and the ever so familiar beep-beep-beep-beep. To add to my experience was the seat on which i was sitting plus its location, an iron bench located just at the entrance of the theatre. Though J.P. Dutta tried every possible formula for his movie, even including the name of umpteen Gods mentioned in the hindu mythology, but still he did not succeed and the movie was a big failure and as far as i was concerned it gave me a backache which kept me on bed for a day or two. After that i pledged never to watch a movie in Aakash, the dilapidated old theatre almost in a defunct state now.

Now this new year myself along with my friends went to Haridwar to watch Ghazini, need not to mention how excited each and every one was to watch the movie. Chitra, the theatre named, it was almost the size of a single storeyed house from outside, in a decrepit condition, cobwebs embellishing the walls, red bettle stains hither and thither, in short in a condition that in no time reminded me of Aakash. Here again to add to my misery came everyones decision to buy a stall ticket, though Barra showed some resistance but Baddy listened to none. I was silent for the images of Aakash were floating in my mind, the only hope for me was the movie, and Aamir's presence was a like a silver lining in the dark cloud. I kept myself engaged talking to Bhrigu Raj about the movie, trying to divert my attention from the ambience which in no time was flooded with hundreds of people, all eagerly waiting for the door to open so that they could rush inside to occupy their seat which followed the system of FIFO, First In First Occupy.

Atlast at 3:13 the door opened, with sincere adjurations to God of my safety, i jumped and in no time the wave of enthusiastic crowd took me inside and their i was taking long breathe standing inside Chitra, so chillaxed as if i had won a battle, but a feeling of apprehension was still over my mind. The seats were wooden this time with iron supports, so i would say something positive for me. I occupied a back seat and instantly the lights were off and taaaaaaan-tanaaaaaaaaaaaaa it was Ghazini time. Aamir appeared on the screen and the theatre echoed with whistles clappings hooting, people cheering each and every manouevre of his. Truely a great atmosphere and something that i missed watching a movie in a mutliplex with the crowd their sitting as if they are watching some sort of a stage play. Certainly the mutliplex crowd need to learn atleast some part of it. For the next two and half hours the whistling and the clappings just grew louder and louder in intensity and at the end the theatre just echoed with a tumultuous uproar. What an ending i witnessed, not from the movies perspective but from the crowds point of view, what a superb ending the crowd gave to the movie. It surely turned out to be a much better experience than what i had expected but as far as the movie was concerned Aamir was good, but the movie OK, i certainly expected something better from Mr Perfectionist and the Tollywood action scenes better suits their movies only not Bollywood!!

P.S.- Anushka for me is better than Asin....I love her dance in Dance Pe Chance.

P.P.S.- HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF U!!!!

P.P.P.S- HAPPY BIRTHDAY DALU!!