Story Teller

Nothing much..........

2010-08-14T21:55:00.001+05:30

It has been a long time since I wrote about anything. Well partially because there wasn’t much anything going around in my life and partially because I was busy. Actually, I have been cooking for a while now, or I should say helping my friends cook. This activity of mine has left me with little or no time to indulge in writing. Moreover last month my old laptop broke down, so had to buy a new one. New laptop of mine almost took 3 weeks to get delivered. As of the moment I had been living a good life. Enjoying my work, though there isn’t much of it. I have been getting a few offers from companies all over but the thing is that they can’t afford me, that’s really sad. Haven’t been out of Mysore for quiet a sometime now, I really need and deserve a break, but something or the other keeps on stopping me. I am going to end this now, nothing much to write.

Tipsy trip

2010-03-20T23:29:00.001+05:30

Tipsy trip
Sometimes in life it’s good that you live through your days without expecting much from them. It feels good when the events of a day turn out more pleasant then you might have thought.
Similar thing happened with me on the night of 8th march 2010. It was first day of my three day training program in Bangalore. To start with, the first pleasant surprise of the day was that the training has been cancelled for the first two days. This left me with only one day of training and 2 days to enjoy myself. I made plans to go out with my friends to grab a mug of beer. I was excited as I was meeting Reetum (one of my close friends from college) after a long time. But as the day progressed, my spirits has been dampened as I had a meeting to attend late in evening. Nevertheless, I thought I could still make time for a couple of drinks. My meeting got over by 7 in evening and I could make up to pub only by 8:30 (thanks to Bangalore traffic).
As I came across Reetum, first thing he asked whether I wanted to have momos similar to Lal Dai’s. Lal Dai was a guy who used to serve us good buffalo meat during college. I thought he has found a shop that serves good momos in Bangalore. Anyways I wasn’t very excited as I had quit eating buffalo meat during my college years itself. He then told us (Arjun and Tillu) were also there about a place, some 250 kms from Bangalore which served good momos. I wasn’t excited as mode of transport was bike and I am not very comfortable riding as a pillion for longer hours and also, I had office to attend the next day. So, he tried and persuaded all of us, Tillu even arranged for a car.
Then began my very first ROADTRIP. I and Reetum were couple of drinks down by that time. So Arjun and Tillu went and got the car from Tillu’s cousin. We began to move towards Mysore, as that place is about 80 kms from Mysore. So, we thought that it would be good to take some rest at my place and move further in morning. We must have been around 10 kms out of Bangalore when we encountered a demonstration, that road to Mysore was blocked. That was a huge setback for us; as it meant that we’ll have to go to the different road to Mysore, which was pretty far from where we were. But this didn’t change our plans and headed towards Mysore. After asking couple of autowallas, we were finally out of Bangalore.
The highway for Mysore was almost empty. It was nice as I took us only 2 hrs, including a stop at Barista to cover 160 kms. We came to my place and just slept. Though I had called my roomie and asked him to arrange for some booze, but we were so tired that we just slept.
We got up early and headed for our destination. We reached there, and had a look at Buddhist monastery over there. The time we reached was the prayer time. It was very relaxing to hear the Buddhist chants. I wanted to stay there for longer but we had other plans.
We came to the momo place, and had a quick brunch. I had to stick to vegetarian food as it was Tuesday. Anyways we headed back for Mysore, as we wanted to go for go karting and there is a place in Mysore which has all these fancy games and go karting. But to our dismay that place was closed at the time we reached. So we hit the road to Bangalore, and we had lost 1 hr. in coming to this place which was closed. We then headed for this place on the outskirts of Bangalore were they had go karting. Finally we reached there by 3:30 in the afternoon, had a couple of rounds of go karting.
Till the time we were done with go karting it was already 4:30. We headed back to Bangalore to avoid the traffic. But guess what, it was already peak traffic hours. And all of us were staying at different places. By the time I reached my guest house it was already 9. I just went to my room for some goodnight’s sleep. It was one of the most remarkable day of my life.

Something.........Everything

2010-02-14T22:30:00.001+05:30

Hello everyone, happy New Year. It’s been a long time since I penned down something. I had been either busy or too self involved to write anything. I hope you had a blast on New Year’s Eve, well I just gulped down some whiskey with my roomies to celebrate the New Year or you can say to celebrate the salary day.

I didn’t had much work since the new year started, mostly sitting idle at my workstation or trying to learn something new on my own. I had been a bit lonely as everyone else had been busy with their own work. Even didn’t get much time to talk to my friends as whenever they called I was out somewhere and couldn’t take their call. Lately, I have been experiencing what is termed by some people as the ‘Quarter Life Crises’, or maybe it’s just my stupid imagination.

But I haven’t been very happy in last few days; well I wasn’t sad but was kind of disoriented. It felt like there are pieces of my life which are falling apart and it’s not possible for me to hold on to them. I don’t know why and how this feeling has crept inside me; it’s maybe because everyone around me has been cursing one thing or the other. But I guess it’s just that everyone has to live his or her own life and I shouldn’t be bothered about other’s opinions. Rather I should spend more time on learning about things and forming my own opinion about them.

I had been reading a bit, watching lot of things. Sometimes, movies and books are your best companion; they make you see the viewpoints which you might have been neglecting. They may not be related directly to your situation but sometimes it let you be in other people’s shoes and understand things. I guess I’ll be feeling much better once I finish of the tasks which I had started. I had started a couple of movies, books and blogs; I should finish them off soon.

Lately, there has been a talk in office about my transfer to Hyderabad. Though the project there sounds good but the very idea resettling at a completely new place seems a bit awkward. I am kind of tired moving around or at least getting the notion that the transfer is on cards. But then there is brighter side to the movement like it is a better place, more opportunities can be grabbed there, I’ll be directly reporting to department head. And looking at both sides of the coin I have decided that if the opportunity strikes I’ll just grab it rather than sitting around like a fool. I am more focussed in my career than ever, it’s maybe because of the fact that in last few weeks I had done nothing much to enhance my knowledge base. Now I want to move on with life and my career rather than just sitting idle and waiting for an opportunity here.

What makes me sad is the recent demise of my maternal grandma. She was a sweet old lady. I don’t think that I’ll be able to forgive myself for not going to her in last three years when she kept asking me to visit her. And to add on to that I was unable to attend her funeral because of my stupid boss who kept on telling me that there is a training coming; which has now shifted to new dates not known to anyone. I will miss the house where she lived for rest of my life. When I look back I remember various memories I had at that place. Me and my cousins all used to gather over there and had lot of fun. Those vivid images of my child hood still flash in my mind. I just wish that wherever she is, she is in peace and she forgive me for not able to meet her in her final years.

I sometimes wish that I could travel back in time and amen the mistakes I have committed, but I guess that is not possible; but I now that I have to be more responsible otherwise I’ll someday wish that I could be in my 20’s again and amen the mistakes I committed then. I don’t want to give that chance to future me.

A year went by

2009-12-19T16:03:00.001+05:30

Yesterday while sipping whisky at night and wondering about what lies in future for me, I suddenly remembered that it has been almost a year since the day I moved back to Mysore. I remembered the day when I received a call in Bangalore regarding an opportunity in Mysore, I was more than excited. In a month’s stay at Bangalore I had discovered it’s not a kind of place I would like to stay. The traffic, congested road, more than an hour of travelling time and sky high prices doesn’t seem to be very appropriate to me. It wasn’t exactly the place I wanted to begin my professional life.
The idea of going back to Mysore really got into me and I started with arranging for my travel. When I actually stepped out of the cab it was like homecoming for me. I still had lot of friends in the training and I met them all on the very first day. Now came the slightly difficult tasks from finding a room to stay to making a name for myself at office. Initial 3-4 months weren’t very productive, especially in terms of my job. I was on bench and rarely had any work to be done at office. Most of my time passed chatting with friends and hanging out at various places at night. Since, I stayed alone; real help came from my downstairs neighbor. They invited me for dinner all the time, we use to go out and party. It was fun.
Then came April, almost 5 months had passed since I came to Mysore and since there was no work for me, my boss asked me to move back to Bangalore. I was shocked and I by all means I wanted to avoid the situation. I even went into a verbal duel with my boss and then finally I was given a project in Mysore. I was finally happy. By this time few of my friends had completed their training and had got posting in Mysore. They wanted me to join them but my house owner was not willing to return my security amount citing very absurd reasons. I had to continue stay at my old place.
Eventually in July after my first project I got a guy to stay in my room and move in with my friends. I was apprehensive about moving out of my old place as it would mean there won’t be as much freedom for me but later it turned out that the move was more beneficial for me. Especially during my second project when I use to work almost whole nights it was beneficial as my team mates also stayed in the nearby areas and they used to drop me to my place after work. The project took most of my alone time in August and September.
After this project, I had told my bosses to not put me into any project till after Diwali as I had plans to two weeks leave for Diwali. When I returned I was greeted with the good news as well as a bad news, the good news was that I had got my role changed to business Analyst and there was an annual salary hike. But then I was taken aback when I was told that my transfer period has expired and I need to go back to Bangalore. I talked to lot of people and was finally able to stop my transfer and instead took a permanent location change to Mysore.
November wasn’t too great I was moving from one project to another; three people wanted me in their projects. They all did the best they could to have me in their projects. Finally I went to the project about which I had no idea what the technology will be. Firstly, I was pissed that the work isn’t according to my new role and secondly the expectations were very high. But the worst happened when I fell ill and had bad toothache and headache. It affected my work drastically. But by early December I was well again and worked all weekends apart from a Sunday when I was in Bangalore to cover up for the time I had lost earlier and to regain my name. I really leave an impression on the people with whom I work. Though recently, I have been very irritating and frustrating especially for my team members. Something is missing in my life; I am trying to find it out. I guess its work that’s taking toll on me.
I have sipped all the whisky thinking about the past, present and the future. I hope the year ahead is better and full of opportunities. I have some plans; hope they work out. It is necessary especially for the control freak like me. I would like to thank all my friends who met me during the year and helped me control my nerves.
Wishing all of you and to myself for the year ahead. Goodbye.

The month of October

2009-10-31T23:15:00.006+05:30

Since I have started working; this October has been my favorite month. The whole month held lot of surprises and a lot of free and family time for me. I got a role change, transfer extension and a salary hike all at a time. But they were not interlinked. Any ways what matters is that I am happy.

To begin with, this whole summer I had been working day and night(yeah, I mean it); and at some inner level I was getting restless and wanted to be out of office for sometime so that I can relax and set my priorities. First moment to unwind myself came when one of my friends from college popped in and we went on a crazy trip to Ooty (crazy because nothing was planned; we went to the bus stand and boarded the first bus that was dashing out of there). It was fun; though only two of us were there we enjoyed in the best ways we could. But I guess that was not enough; I needed some more time. I knew that the project that I was working on is getting over; so I took that opportunity and decided to be at home once the project is over and booked the tickets for the diwali vacations. I was hyper excited because in 16 months of my job I had been home for only a week and secondly my brother was also coming; it had been more than 2 years since we last met.

Finally came the day I was supposed to leave; that was 1^st October. I was all excited from the mere thought of being at home; but what scared me was the duration of journey; it is 12 hours even when I take flight and I have to change the mode of transportation 6-7 times including the local travel. But I didn’t give it much thought and started my journey. After staying in Delhi for a few hours (Which I spent in meeting my best friend from college); I was home. And then started what I can term as, “best days of my lifeJ” . Home was fun as I got chance to sleep a lot, which was required for my tired mind and body. Also I indulged myself in all the home made delicacies which I had been missing for all this time. But most of all I liked spending time with my parents; I had been missing them a lot. During my stay at home I wasn’t talking to my friends much due to certain reasons (sadly I can’t state them here). As the diwali approached, I was getting sad as end to my vacation was coming up and really I wished I could stay for a longer period). But I guess we have to move on. A couple of days before diwali my bro came to join the family for the festival. The whole family was together after more than 2 years; and we all had a gala time.

The diwali went by with the family and then came the time to bid adieu to my family, I didn’t wanted be back at work but I wasn’t left with any option. So, the journey began to be back in Mysore ASAP. It took me 13hrs to reach my flat and I was tired. But to easy my tiredness I already had plans. I along with my 2 other friends got 1.5 bottles of whisky to celebrate diwali. That day I realized my drinking capabilities, but what disheartened me was that there was no effect after consuming so much alcohol apart from the fact that I got a good sleep that night. The big surprise was waiting next day at the office; as I was going through all the mails which I had received in last 17 days (most of them were of no use), I came across a mail which stated that I had received a role change; I was made an Associate Business Analyst now. I was more than happy on reading the mail; but there was a problem, none of my bosses knew what will be my new responsibilities. Well first day ended in lot of excitement. Then the bomb was dropped on the second day, I was told that I will have to move to Bangalore as my term for transfer has expired, the news took away all the excitement of the role change. For rest of the week I was just waiting for the call from Bangalore to confirm my transfer.

Apart from work I was having parties every now and then; I had been out of town for quiet sometime so I had to go places to announce my return and get drunk, that was the only satisfaction in my life now.

The second week was also slow, I would just roam around, have a chit chat with a few people as there was no work for me. Then I thought of getting my transfer cancelled, so I went to my super boss and told him my situation; he already knew about it and he also wanted me to be part of his team. So he asked me that if I can stay in Mysore, I was more than happy to hear this. I readily replied in affirmation to his offer; then began the process to extend my stay in Mysore. As promised, he came up with the good news on 29^th October that my transfer has been extended and the new project is suppose to begin in early January and in the mean time I can work as software engg. (that is if I wish to). I was ok with this. In the mean time there were talks about my roommates to be transferred, but they declined the offer.

On the last day of the month, as usual I went late to the office as I had nothing to do. I was excited as it was salary day. But what increased my excitement that there was a mail stating that my salary has been hiked in view to match the industry standards. This made me really happy; but the happiness was eclipsed by the fact that there was an increase in the It also, which eventually made the hike look mere. But nonetheless whatever hike it was, it set our mood to party for the day. The last day of the month is just going by, sitting at room lazily doing nothing but watching movies and planning about the stuff I need to get. That’s what I say is the perfect end to the not so perfect month.

Last few days

2009-09-21T01:24:00.002+05:30

It has been a long time since I wrote anything, and to be very honest with you all I wanted to write but time didn’t permit to indulge in writing. Last few weeks had been good but really hectic at work. I had been working like an ass, clocking anywhere from 10-20 hrs a day; after which I used to be left with little time and almost negligible energy to indulge in other activities. To start with, I remember the weekend of 6^th September; that weekend I was supposed to be in Bangalore for Alumni meet but my work and my body didn’t permit me to do so. I had a perfect plan laid out; I was suppose to leave for Bangalore early morning, spend a day there and come back by night. But destiny had something else for me I guess. That Sunday I did wake up at 6:30, but my mind asked me to get back to bed and forget about Bangalore. And fortunately I listened to my mind; because that evening I eventually went and played squash for the very first time in my life and I loved it. I guess it was after years that I indulged in some physical exercise. It was nice. And later that night I treated myself with some delicious Chinese and Thai delicacies. Sometimes I believe that you have everything planned out in life and life has something else in store for you and to be honest many a times it’s a wonderful thing. Then after working for the whole week, I began feeling uneasy on Friday afternoon; and by evening I had fever. I eventually went to the doc, on Saturday. The doc checked my condition and put me on injections and antibiotics; it was sad as I was bed ridden. I didn’t move out my bad out much for 2 days. And I was stinking after 3 days in that condition. Finally, had to go office on Monday as there was some important work. Then came the most dreadful 48 hrs of my life. I went to office on Tuesday at around 9:00 am; at that time little I knew about what I had in store for next 48 hrs. I came back by 9:00 pm had my dinner and around 9:30 pm my boss called me to office for some important work, I worked till 4:00pm and went back to office at around 10:00 am on Wednesday morning. That day I worked till 7:00 am Thursday morning. I was totally wrecked by that time. Then eventually got some rest on Thursday, as I went back at around 2:00 pm that day. Friday was also tiring; though there was not much work for me to do, but we were waiting for an important call till 8:00 pm at night and once the call were over we had to sit for another hour to finish off some work. On Saturday at 00:30 am my boss called me to work on Saturday; though I was not interested I had to go. Once my work was done my colleague called me and asked to do some changes and said that there will be another call in 15 mins. That was my tipping point; I did the required changes and switched off my cellJ. Then we went out that night and had a nice dinner. Then came Sunday that is today, well there wasn’t much to do today, I spent most of the day at room, then went to my friends place in evening and from there we went to watch Dil bole hadippa, the movie was pathetic. That’s how my life had been for last few days, though not very dull and boring; but there is nothing interesting either.

The day when I almost bought a bike

2009-08-15T00:55:00.002+05:30

Sometimes it happens that the end of the day isn’t what you have thought. It happens that if you start a day with a good feeling; you want to end it that way. And when your start is boring then you don’t expect much out of it

Well, something similar happened with me today. When I got up, I was a bit lazy as I had been online whole night (well almost). And it was slow and boring holiday, as I had nothing much to do I was just kind of relaxing. About mid afternoon, one of my flat mates called me up to tell me about a bike on sale. I had been planning to buy one for a few days no; but was quiet taken back by this sudden call. But I was game for it and decided to check it out. So, once he was back we went to this mechanic and had showed my flat mate Jaat the bike in question. And Jaat seemed to be pretty satisfied with the bike and its price tag. So when we asked the mechanic that can we have a look at it, he said that he would arrange for it in the evening. So we went back and were just waiting for the call. Meanwhile I had told my parents about the deal and they seemed to be a bit reluctant about it; especially my mom.

But I was still up for it; as dad seemed to be fine with it. So, the guy called up at 5 to enquire whether we are ready with cash and all the documents and we said yes. He said that he’ll call in sometime, once the other party comes. So we waited for some more time. Eventually, I had to give and tell Jaat to take the other flat mate to the laptop shop as he had intentions to buy one. Around 6:30 I again went to the dealer, he said that the other guy would be coming in 15 mins and that he would give me a call once the bike comes. I was ok with this as I had no other option.

Within 20 mins that guy called up; I along with my roommate Awasthi went to check the bike. I rode it and was quiet impressed; had almost made my mind to buy it. As I finished with the test ride my bro and my parents called me up. I first talked to my bro, and as he was listening about the bike he wasn’t much interested in it, but still he gave me a go ahead. Then I talked to my mom, and she just asked me to make my mind about buying this piece of scrap (in her language). But I was still interested. Then I checked the bike’s number; it was from Bangalore, I didn’t like that thing and then I came to know that I’ll be the third owner that was the final blow and I decided to pull out of the deal. Awasthi also supported me.

So I came back to my room and wasn’t quite satisfied. But when I told my bro and mom about the deal they seemed to be happy. This cheered me up a bit.

In another 5 mins I received a call from my ex housemates and they asked me to join them for dinner. I was all happy as I would get to meet their daughter. She is just a darling. Anyone would love her when they’ll meet her. So they came and picked me up. I was hyper excited. So once I arrived at their place I got to meet her; she was prettier and livelier than ever. We had some dark chocolate pastries. And we decided to go out for dinner, I decided to treat them as they had been really nice to me for 7 months and I hadn’t given them any party for my birthday. So we arrived to this lovely place for the dinner. We had a couple of beers followed by dinner. It was just amazing; the whole setting. And they told me how they met for the first time and all. I loved all of this. I even met one of my colleagues who was there with his wife, but didn’t stick around as I had a beer on me, it wouldn’t look nice I thought. But I got a big blow when I saw the bill. I knew this bill going to leave huge holes in my pocket; but I thought that it would be worth it. They even asked me to share the bill; but I turned down the offer.

Finally we moved out of that place; by this time their daughter had fallen asleep. She is a 1.5 year’s old little angel.

It was a day to remember. Sometimes life is just amazing, it’ll make you sad and happy at the same time, it’ll force you to make decisions that you don’t want to take, it’ll teach you lessons that you don’t want to learn. Life is simply amazing. I love it.

Absurdly Abstract

2009-08-08T22:35:00.015+05:30

Life is so silly, when you have all the thoughts you want the only thing extra you have is a brain full of ideas which is not allowing the thoughts in question to flow out. It's stopping them; it's like you are on a crowded platform and you are fighting for your way out but you are unable to move out because of all the rush that is there on the platform.
Yesterday we had a project contrib. party; it was nice as everyone was telling the famous stories based on their experiences from college. My boss was also there, and he is the boss everyone would want. When we are behind schedule, ha tells everyone that it is a weekend lets go and party. For the first time I had vodka with lime cordial, it was nice. from the time I had decided to quit drinking I have been trying new things; most of them had been good. The funny part was; when we were chased by dogs on our way back. It was fun.
Today I saw Harry potter 6, it is the worst movie of the series. First time it happened with me that I had read some novel and I am unable to recall it by watching the movie. It sucked big time. Sorry to all the Harry Potter fans, there was nothing nice about the movie.
Last week something very funny happened, I had been going through an emotional turmoil. So I decided to go for a conference call with three of my very good friends from college. But I then realised that two more of them were going through some emotional stuff. i had to remind them that the call was about me.
I am still waiting for my sunglasses, they are sitting at the showroom but I am don't have any free time to go and collect them. I am feeling sick of working so much.
Finally decided on the dog specie I want to have, it will be a Labrador or a Golden retriever. well actually loved the Lab in the movie Me and Marley. A must watch for the dog lovers.
I haven't finished my blog on Adi, I think he is gonna kill me someday.
I am planning to be home this diwali, I don't know whether I'll be able to make it or not. But I desperately want to be home.
I know if you are reading this; either you must be laughing at my stupidity or would have been cursing me for this. But this is somehow important to me I know; I wanted to write something.
Life is boring, life is lame,
Life is bitchy, life is same,
It's just that I am feeling a bit insane.

And the more refined version;

Life is boring yet is game,
Life is bitchy, not always the same,
Maybe I am feeling a bit insane.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S. II

2009-07-18T22:41:00.022+05:30

ADI

Now here is the story of my friend Aditya Mukhejee aka Adi. If there was a concept of best man in Indian weddings then I am sure Adi would have been my best man. It’s not because he is only clever and funny at the same time but he is also my best friend from college and he has been through my thick and thin for last 4 years at least. I won’t say that Adi and I became the best friends the moment we met but our friendship evolved over the years especially the time when we decided to be the roommates in for the third year of college.

So, let me tell you a bit about Adi. Adi is a big football fan (he can miss friend’s b’day party for a college football game), he love’s chocolates, he hates studies but he is very intelligent (that kept him away from all those D’s in the college) and he is an excellent person (well that is the reason of our friendship).

But today when I move back in time and try to find out the precise moment I met this guy, I am unable to locate it. I have few memories of the first month of college. I remember, this guy was not well during first few days and we played a prank on one of his classmates (in that prank I was the gunda). Our friendship started in second semester of college, when we found out our common hatred against studies. We used to hang out on exam days and have dinner outside while the rest of the guys were in hostel were preparing for exams. I also started eating chocolates again because of him.

During the end of second semester when it was being decided who will move with whom; Adi decided to come with us and this time I was in support of Adi as I had better relationship with him then the other ‘potential targets’.

Second year was not the best for anyone of us. Adi had to share his room with the so called 'thief', though I never supported his theory at that time. And he suffered huge financial losses because of that guy. But we had some good moments also, like the ones in which he is cooking excellent food (fish and chicken were his best recepies, but sometimes he used to spoil them, when Joy wanted to experiment with food, then cooking used to be a nightmare for Adi), the ones in which we went out for Maaza on hot summer afternoon, or the ones in which we used to play pranks (I still remember one of the prank we played on Reetum, actually we all had understanding that anyone of us can use anyone elses stuff; once Reetum got some expensive facewash he was very proud of, and just for fun we used it; when Reetum saw us he made fun of us saying what are you using and when we told him what we were using his facewash his expressions were worth a sight) and many others. By the end of second year we guys had decided to move to our college hostel. Adi was to be my roommate, there were some ground rules laid which were never followed.

When we moved into same room that was the time when our friendship actually grew. We started discussing on various topics and our thoughts never matched, we never liked the same girls (well that was good, as one major competition was already eradicated). During early third year, I was moving through a difficult phase of my life and Adi played the role of perfect roommate and a good friend to pull me out of it. I don’t know where I would have been, had Adi been not there in my life. But he was also very demanding, he deleted the testimonial posted during summer holidays as I didn’t write him one. He never let me rag the juniors as he was responsible for their well being, sometimes these small issues created tiff between us, but we were very understanding and buried our hatches as soon as possible. In sixth semester I got my PC to college and then began the marathon movie nights (we used to watch all the movies we could lay hands on, though our taste in movie isn't exactly same but we managed it pretty well). Adi was also a huge fan of computer games, he once missed the second session just to play some soccer game on PC. Sometimes he used to sit all night long to play computer games (because when all of us were awake he hardly got any time to play it). Being an avid football fan, he had habit of taking part in various communities on Orkut and used to be awake through the earlier hours of day just to keep posting his thoughts in those communities. We all found this habit a bit irritaing, but then we couldn't have done anything to stop him.

By the end of the third year 'Ruchit’s curse' came true, but on me only. I always used to tell Adi "to study or you’ll flunk" but as the fifth semester results rolled out, most of us saw decline in the grades but Adi passed (that too with good grades) and I flunked :(.

While I was buried deep in s**t, Adi was making use of his time, by being the bass guitarist of the college band and playing volleyball (he was awarded best lifter in an intra college event). I never missed his match or his performance (he would had never let me miss any of those). Then came the end of the third year, we were all busy to get the internship in the best possible place we can, and we were bit serious about our careers.

When we came back from internship we all had lot to share, our experience, our knowledge etc. But more then that we had to plan our future, and this led me, Adi and Joy to various long walks in the campus discussing about our future. On these walks, half the time used to be spent on the various maggi points we had in and around aur campus. These joints became our regular addas for our evening snacks and dinner. During this time we used to discuss everthing possible from future to sports to politics etc etc.

But the time I'll remember most in my life is during our trips to Mussorie and Shimla. We went to Mussorie during our third year when Adi's cousin came from Delhi during historical snowfall of 2007. It was my first experience of live snowfall. I loved it. I even teased Reetum and Sid after our visit who were in Dhanbad for some presentation. I was joined by Adi, Joy, Jaitley and Adi's cousin on that trip. We stayed for two days in Mussorie. The funniest part was of the fall of Adi on our way down from Gun hill point. It was just amazing,

Even better was trip to Shimla, we planned to go to Shimla and Chandigarh around 4 during evening and had to leave that night. Me, Adi, Joy and few other people went for that trip. Everyone except 3 of us came back after 1 day stay in Shimla but we hanged on there enjoying our solitude and The Mall Road of Shimla. It was fun. Though the journey back to Doon wasn't very good (especially for Joy, but I enjoyed every bit of the trip).

We had our Placement week in mid 7th Semester; Udit and I were lucky to be placed on the very first day of the placements. Joy followed and got placed within a couple of months. But Adi was not placed until late March 2008. And the worst part was that he not sitting for any company. He was waiting for a good company and his chances were depleted day by day. This thing really got on my nerves and I used to always tell him that atleast sit for the company. We were all worried as Adi was worried; though he never showed but I could always understand what he was going through during that period.

Once Adi was placed, then I felt like there were no worries in my life. I was happy for him. We all had maximum masti after that. Though our days of college life were numbered; we enjoyed them to the fullest. though towards the end of the college life we had a big fight for a nonsense reason. he still sometimes tells me that I overareacted then but I just let that pass. I don't want to remember the worst part of our college life.

But Adi missed the Graduation ceremony that followed 15 days after college; we all missed him, but i guess there weren't any options.

We have been staying at different geographical locations since then but I guess we are there to listen to each other and to help each other. This is one of those friendships which I would like to cherish for whole life.

I can't imagine were I would have been without a friend like him. Well actually I don't want to imagine I guess.

Hey ADI, thanks for being there man..........

A Change

2009-07-18T22:28:00.005+05:30

After staying alone for a one whole year I finally decided to move with my friends next weekend. This decision doesn't seem to impress me now. The day my friends moved into their new apartment they have been nagging me to join them; they have even got the rental agreement in my name. But somehow I was unable to move because of my owner as he was creating problems in retuning back my advance that is equivalent to my one month’s salary. So I had decided to hold on for a few more weeks.

But yesterday suddenly a guy came to see my room and confirmed it; I was at first shocked as no one has shown so much interest in my place. But after sometime I started to think whether it is right decision or not, I have been staying alone for a past one year and I am not a person who adjusts with everyone around him very easily. I don't like changes and interference in my lifestyle. But since I have known these people for quiet sometime now, I am looking forward to the new change my life has to offer.

I hope everything will be fine. And everything will go as planned, and as my stay here in Mysore is not a long one, there should not be any major issues.

Wish me luck for a new chapter in my life.

A weekend to remember

2009-06-15T22:17:00.009+05:30

On Monday as usual I was planning with my friends for the weekend (this activity helps we forget about the hectic week). And we planned that we will be drunk, but this time only two of us will be there as the third guy was going for a vacation. But come Wednesday and there was slight deviation in plans, as the other guy had plans with his girlfriend. I didn't like it, because this would have left me without my weekly quota of booze. And worst of all he had asked for my laptop for the night, so I felt as though I'll be left crippled. But when I gave it a serious thought, I was happy as he'll be dating the girl at his place and all the arrangements were to be made. Then came the Friday night, and I planned to spend it at my friend's place, so that we can arrange for the date in the morning. We both were full of ideas, and at last we agreed on the settings that were to be done at his place, so that the place looks beautiful.

We drank very little at the night, got up early in the morning (by early i mean 10 here). Got ready and were out of the house by noon. It was raining lightly at that time, but there was lot to be done so we decided to move out against my will. Then we went to More Megastore, as we can get everything over there, and I had to buy Maggi noodle and bread(these are my staple diet). We had a list with us, and we moved from one section to another in search of our stuff. But our first target was the wine shop, I was so happy being there that I didn't wanted to move out. But there were time constraints also, so we selected the wine and carried out the shopping. We got scented candles, juice, wine, my grocery stuff and some other things ;). the idea was to make the date perfect for the girl. I was practicing for the future. While we were shopping, I had the feeling that everyone knew the plan and smiling at us, especially the sales people. Once we were done with the shopping, we moved out. It was still raining, so we decided to first go to the room and keep the stuff there and then carry on with our lunch plans. By the time we were ready to move out for lunch, it was raining heavily. And I was so upset, I hadn't had anything since morning and it was already 3pm. He had to pick his girl at 4pm, and we move out of the house at 3:45pm to buy some more stuff to eat. And since there was very less time I couldn't eat anything, I was thinking why I became part of such a plan at first. I was so upset and hungry. When finally he went to pick his girl, I went to Pizza hut and had a lovely meal.

Then I came back to my room and started reading 'Gone with the wind', it is a nice book and I had plans to finish it off that weekend. Around 8pm I received call from my friend, that the Pizza hut guys aren't picking up the phone and his girl wants to have pizza, it was still raining at that time. But somehow I gathered courage and went to Pizza Hut, I inquired about their phone, they said they can't deliver right now and I'll have to take the pizza with me(I was shocked). my expressions were similar to that of my colleague who was dating a guy. I knew both of them and I cursing myself whether I was the only one tonight left without a date. The look on the girl's face was as if one of her relatives has seen her on a date. By this time my pizza was ready and I rode towards my friends place(mind you it was still raining). I won't say that I was drenched, but I was wet enough to feel the chill in the atmosphere. When I reached his place, he came out of the room and took the pizza from me and thanked me as if I was a professional.

Then I went to my room and continued with the novel. By this time one of my neighbors called me up for the dinner. He was going out and he invited me also. When we reached the restaurant, my friends roommate called me up to pick him as my friend has locked the room from inside. My neighbor who was enjoying his drinks had to accompany me to pick that asshole(I was really furious at this time, but since the guy would have left in a couple of hours I didn't gave it a serious thought). But that hour turned into three hours and my friend didn't came, I was little anxious by this time, so I gave him a call. But to my surprise he cut the call saying wrong number. Oh God, I hated my friend now. Then his roommate slept at my place.

My friend came at 7 in the morning to pick his roommate, since his roommate was sleeping he wake me up. He seemed very happy. I just asked him a couple of questions, and his answer was negative. I told him I'll never help him as my help was of no use. Then happened the worst thing, as my friend left, his roommate got up and asked me drop him at his place. I had to do so against my will. When I dropped him I also picked up my laptop and started watching movie as I reached at my place. One of my college friend was suppose to come to Mysore to meet me and most of my day went by in sleeping and waiting. When he came, we got drunk and slept.

This is how one of the most memorable weekend of my life went by.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

2009-05-14T21:53:00.027+05:30

Geetika

Well today I will tell you about this girl Geetika.

Geetika, she has been nagging me for over 4 years now to write a testimonial on Orkut, but I have been giving her every stupid reason I could. The thing is that I can't write all about people I like in such a small space, so I decided to start this post where I can write about all the friends who matter to me. And whenever I think about my friends Geeti's name strike me first, so I am starting with her.

I remember the summer of 1995, when I joined St. Clare's Se. Sec. School. There I was in 5th A and I met her on the first day of school. I instantly hated this girl, she had kind of attitude which I couldn't stand. We were more like classmates only during first year. Whatever fun we used to have was more because of our common friend Aakash (my best friend during those days).

In the second year our sections were shuffled, but Geeti, Aks and I were in same section. I being more serious and studious kind of person, didn't interacted much with many people in the new section. But being acquainted with Geeti for over a year now, I found a friend in her. But I always thought she was just a normal friend as she was friendly with everyone. In the mean time I had developed good friendship with many other people like Prasantha, Abhiuday, Meenu, Sunny etc.At the end of the session Aks move out of the school (I hated that moment).

Then we moved on to 7th, as Aks move out the school I started hanging out with my new friends, and then there was entry of three more people in my friend's list, namely Shalini, Anirudh and Shobit. Now I had many friends in the class and we were now a group of friend, we always used to hang out together during recess, played during free classes, did all the masti anyone does in the school (I still miss those days, I wish I could relive them).

Come 8th and Abhi(Also, one of my very good friends) left the school, but by this time I was so comfortable with the others that I could handle the pain of loosing a friend. Now I shared a good relationship with almost everyone in the class. By this time Geeti and me had become very good friends but still we were unfit for the label of 'Best friends'. We were still exploring life in our own ways, had our own set of friends (though half of them were common), indulged in different activities during school. During this year Arts and Science exhibition was also organized and all of us participated in it (this was the time, when I started liking her). She was among the very early crushes (and also the ones those couldn't survive 1 week). But I was not gonna go and tell her anything about it. I didn't knew how anyone will react if they come to know of this. I wasn't the only one who had crushes, many other friends of mine also shared similar feelings, but for someone else.

Then we moved on to 9th class, our section were shuffled again. This time Geeti and I were in different sections. Shalini left the school, Prasantha, Meenu, Vishal were in another section. I was only left with Shobit and Ani in my section. I tried to get my section changed but in no vain. This was the most dramatic year of my school life. I saw power, possession, friendship, betrayal, love all in one year. But this year I also met a person who became my very good friend, Utkarsh. Initially I didn't like him much, but later on he turned to be a great pal. Also, 'She' entered my life,I am not quoting her name because I don't know how 'She' will react to it. But 'She' was the one girl I could do anything for, I loved her, liked her and adored her, even Utkarsh did the same [:(]. But leaving her apart, there wasn't much change in my life. As Geeti was in other section, we used to gossip rarely. She also tore my shirt this year (yes, we were fighting and she pushed me, i got stuck in a nail and my shirt was tore), it was an issue in our class at that time. This year as I was falling in for a girl, similar feelings were shared by Geeti, but for a guy, who had recently joined the school (in her section). His name was.....I don't remember, but the whole school was talking about it.

And then came 10th, time for my first boards exam. I moved out of Agra this year. My father got a transfer, so we moved to Meerut. This was the time that I started feeling very lonely, I was taking time to adjust to the new surroundings that I was put in. The way of living life of the students over here was very much different. I kind of started missing all my friends in Agra. But I was in touch with Shobhit and very few of my friends had known that I was moving to Meerut. This was also the year when I wrote my first boards exams. I don't remember the exact time, but around this time of my life I made a call to Geetika (thanks to that call, otherwise I would have missed the opportunity to be in touch with such a nice person). And gradually we started sharing letters. The other two years went by pretty fast, I now had friends in my new school, so I started liking in here.By this time Geeti was a very good friend of mine, we exchanged calls, letters and emails pretty frequently.

After 12th I decided to take a year break to prepare for competitive exams and Geeti had decided to go on with her graduation. But somehow I liked the idea of taking a year of to prepare for IIT (now please don't start laughing). I know it was a bad decision. But this was the year when actually our friendship started. I remember, it was a couple of weeks since I was in Kota and I got a call from her mother asking me to call her. She had just joined the college and wasn't liking it much (because of ragging). This was the actual start of 'the' friendship. And gradually we started calling each other regularly. We started sending each other cards on almost every occasion. The following year I moved into college but our relationship was still the same. At that time she was seeing a jerk. I dunno what she found in him or for that matter what she finds in any of her boyfriends. Our relationship continued to be the same, but calls were less frequent as I didn't have the cellphone and the nearest PCO was a kilometer away.

In the second year of college, my parents finally gifted me a cellphone and I was so happy (though sometimes I hate cellphones now days). This year I was hooked to the phone almost all the time. We use to call each other 2-3 times a day and use to talk about anything and everything. If someone would have known us at that time they must have thought that we were going around (almost all my friends thought so). But we never thought so, we were enjoying our relationship. We were contended with what we were and never dared to take a step forward. Towards the end of the second year her relationship was on rocks and then she always use to call me to crib about him. I always use to tell her to leave that guy but she never listened and she is still the same. She always asks for the advice but never follows it. She always listens to her heart in the matter of relationships. I hate that thing about her.

When I moved to the third year of college, she was almost done the first guy in her life. But during this time there was another guy who helped her with getting over the first guy. I call that guy as Mr. Google (I took that name from his orkut profile). I hated that guy like anything. She always use to tell me about him but never ever mentioned that they like each other. It was Shalini who told me, when I met her after third year. Though I had always suspected this but Geeti never told me, and I was disheartened by this. But somehow I revived, because I knew that she was happy and that mattered to me. This relationship didn't last long, and I was very happy when she told me that. Towards the end of the year we met finally after a gap of about 7-8 years. I was really happy to see her. She was in Delhi for her TOEFL and I was there for my summer internship. We spent a day together.

By the start of fourth year, her college was over. She has got admission in some Israeli university and I was busy with my studies and placement. Finally, she left India on 16 Oct 2007 and I got placement. I had mixed feelings that day. Since I had 24 hrs net connection at college, I was in touch with her pretty regularly. My college got over with so many calls and chat sessions.

When I joined the job, we had net access for limited period only and it became nearly impossible for me to chat with her. So the frequency of emails increased a bit. By the end of my training she was in India for a month long visit. I could not meet her because of my professional commitments. But during this time she found a new friend from some community on Orkut, and from what she use to tell me, it was quiet evident that she likes this guy. He was always there for her. As soon as I cleared the training I got net connection so that I can stay in touch with her. By this time I was pretty fed up of the comments made by people about us, so we had a long session in which we discussed that whether or not we have feelings for each other. And we both agreed to it that we had crush on each other at some or the other moment in life but are interested in someone else currently. And here we are today, still the bestest of friends and we are still not 'together'.

I guess in our story there will never be angle of love. There will only be angle of friendship.

Well this is just my side of the story, this is what I know and think about her. So, please don't reach to any conclusions reading this.

P.S.: You all are requested to avoid asking questions about the name of the guys from me and Geeti, kindly don't intrude her personal space.

2009-05-08T23:35:00.001+05:30

Desire...........A Poem

By this time you all know that I am working in an IT company. I am still a trainee over here, and I must tell you it's not at all easy. Especially the tests part. Here is what one of my colleagues has to say about the test schedule in a form of a poem.

I have taken permission from this person to post his poem here.......

'My Needed Desire!'

At 7:30AM sharp,
With a face full of carp,
With an intent to snore more,
Sorry said the Alarm clock, you have an exam once more.

To fight with all my might,
To get all the answers right,
Still there were logics running out of my sight,
And the chances of a re test were looking bright.

It is quite painful to get a low score,
Moreover when you find others scoring more,
All of a sudden you are left at the shore,
Yet you are called for the next sessions lore.

At the first sight of this campus there was a lot to desire,
Gone all, when every second there is a test to fire,
No time to play, no time to rest,
Everyday I hear is Perception and TEST!

Give me a break, I badly Require,
It is nothing but my converted and needed 'desire'.

-By Rohit Sehgal

2009-05-08T23:33:00.002+05:30

Work................It Sucks

Wo..........I still remember that date.......16 Oct 2007, it was the day when one of my best friend left India to persue higher studies.

It was the day when I got the result for the only backlog I got in my graduation.

But above all it was the day when I got placed in India's best IT company. I was so happy when the results of the recruitment process were announced, as I was the first person from my batch to get the job (my name was the first to be announced while declaring the results)!!

I felt as if I was the King of the world. From that day college became just a formality for me. Apart from my major project nothing else caught my serious attention.

After that how those 7 months passed away I don't know. My computer gave me company in those 7 long months that were filled with boredom.

After those 7 months came the day when I was to leave for home. I was suppose to leave on 16 May 2008. It was the night of 15 May...I was busy chatting with my juniors in hostel, as I didn't know when would I be able to meet them again. My room mate was busy copying his data from my system, as we had only one system in our room, so everyone's data was kept in my system only.

It was 3:00 am of 16 may 2008, when he finished with his data copying work. I logged onto my gmail account to delete all the SPAM (at home I rarely used internet!!). But as I logged in I saw a mail from my recruiters stating that I have to join the company on 16 Jun 2008. I was a bit depressed as I had plans for my stay at home and I thought that I'll get atleast 2-3 months at home...

Watch out this space for more............