My SIS's wedding( and... me getting screwed!!)

It’s been long time since I posted something. For once I have a very valid reason. I WAS DEAD DAAM BUSY. My only sis was getting married. And mind you...this is gona be a long one.

God, I started doubting whose marriage it was... my sis was happily chilling out at home and I like a mad man had to zoom through the streets of Hyderabad like a nomad on a hunt for oasis. Never did I have a chance to sit down in a cafe, sipping on a hot cup of irani chai and catching up on things I have missed. As a matter of fact, I did not contact my friends AT ALL.

I hit home base on Aug 15th. Nice day to hit home eh... but then, very contrary to the importance of the day, I LOST my INDIPENDENCE. The first thing I expected my dad to tell me... "Hi. Howz life back at Madurai.” My mom"are you having good food out there. You look like you have been starving for years.” My sis “hey... hows the social life going. Got any jhtkas lately..." Fat chance eh...

I came home after traveling for about 36 hrs. Most of it spent in a bus. I open the door half alive just to hear my dad shout "what took you so long? Freshen up soon; we are leaving to check out the hall and the arrangements." My mom "I need you to come shopping with me. I have to buy a lot of sarees and I need some one to help (read as manual labor)." My sis "I need you to find out a good saloon for john (my bro in law... will come to that shortly) and YOU STINK" There I was, trying to shout aloud "Does anybody understand that I am half alive and I am starving??" But then waste of time... never bothered to ask. I remember not having anything till evening... not even a cup of coffee!!

This marriage has a lot of significance. My sis happens to be the first girl child in my dad's family for like 2 generations. She is also the first grand child in my mom's side. So, I guess you do realize the intensity. To add to this, hers is a LOVE MARRIAGE.

Well most of you would say that love marriages are way better than arranged marriages. I believe that too. But, it is when things like this hit home that it really makes you think twice.

Ours is supposed to an orthodox Brahmin family (supposed to!!). My parents are cool but then relative are always a head ache. My sis goes around marrying a Christian guy, well he happened to be her class mate back at engineering college (the same coll. that I am currently studying). It took us 3 years to come to this junction where she was FINALLY getting married. One thing is for sure... it was very very painful. This pain can only be felt and cannot be shared.

It was a cold winter night (I guess there is something to winter!!) that we all came to know about her love affair with the guy. I, an innocent yet matured 12th grader trying to screw my ass through IIT, remember coming home early (2000 hrs... it was early!!) to chill out as my prof. was down with flu. Never did I expect that that night would indeed turn out to be a very long night. I do agree I had a major hand to play in my dad catching my sis red handed... well I never expected to be of this intensity. But then, it surely turned out to be long enough to screw me the next day cause I had incomplete assignments.

Days turned to weeks. Weeks turned to months. It was a long journey. Now that I look back, I can see how painful it was. Never was a day that did not have my sis and my mom fighting on some crap and I had to blow my top to cool things down 'cause when I say they better listen. This was getting tough on me. I had important things to put my head into but couldn’t 'cause there were people crying all around. I remember my mom saying "how will I show my face to our relatives. They will question us about bringing her up..." the next moment she says "well, all I want is kavitha (my sis) to be happy. Her happiness is all that matters." My mom is still caught in a war of mixed emotions not knowing what to do or whom to support.

Well, 22nd August was decided the D-day. A registered marriage in the morning ('cause my sis refused to change religion) and a big reception in the evening.

Things were all planned but had no one to execute. So when I popped in... I became the scrape goat. 12 days... no sleep, no proper food, no proper bath, no proper shit (the most painful of all... lots of incomplete downloads). I was of course not alone. My cousin HARISH shared my burden. We did have our own share of fun. It’s not everyday that you end up having garam-garam omelet at 2 in the morning out side kachiguda station, Biryani at 0330hrs at charminar and hit the lounge at taj at 0400 hrs just because you have to receive people at 0600 hrs.

Finally on the D-day... the function rocked. Lots of friends popped in to add to the party. I was kinda feeling bad cause I couldn't spend time with them (busy guy!!) but then I was the BRO!!

The funny part was that, I, was getting all the advises. kanna, dont marry out of your religion. You are the man of your family... so you have to carry on the tradition. I was trying to run away from them but they always managed to keep up with my pace. One of them mentioned raja, I know you have a lot of distractions(read as girlfriends!!). But then before you choose anyone check out their gotram and check if she is iyengar. If she is then you can make her your girlfriend else keep her just as your friend. As if I care. My friends and I had a nice laugh on this. I tried explaining a few mamis and pattis about "love is blind" principle for which I got royally screwed. After that every time somebody walked up to me and said anything about this, all I said was I will marry an iyengar vadagalai (supposed to be my sect!!) ponnu!! This did help me keep a lot of people shut.

After a gala time, my friends and I ended up at the coffee shop at Taj Krishna to celebrate a lot of things along with our sponsorer... My mamu!! After hitting home, everybody got together for a late night chat on the terrace talking crap (papa phoenix, terminal disease, illegal phoenix....) I basically was not interested. I was trying to remember the whole story from the beginning and I was feeling god daam happy that everything got over and my SIS IS FIANLLY MARRIED AND HAPPY!!!!

My transformations!!

Nail in my head
from my creator,
you gave me life...
SHOW ME HOW TO LIVE!!!

-Audioslave

was listening to this song over and over again. Just reminded me of my life here at M*****i. Still figuring out why I had come over here.... PURPOSE.... FATE (Well I don’t believe in fate!!) What else could it be? Then the bells ring... CURSE!!!

Could this be a curse? With the amount of torture I am undergoing here... It surely sounds like one of them. Or could it be training period...

Never thought of that one before. I am probably getting trained, so that I can face the world well prepared. There is a slogan in the INDIAN ARMY...

the more you sweat it out at the training ground..... The lesser you would bleed in the war!!!

Am I preparing for war...? War against what. When would it begin? Has it already begun... and am I looking for the right time to step in. If so, am I training well? Do I have to undergo more mental torture...

***cell phone rings*** Reality check!! There is no fucking war. It is just that I have been curse to come over here.

"With great powers come great responsibilities!"

Am I being trained too taking up great responsibilities? This caption has always done something in my head every time I read that. My mind keeps saying “that one is for you mate!"

***friend calls..."machan! Let’s hit the canteen. Free period da." And the great devil without any hesitation saves the post as draft and departs to the lovely canteen.***

*** Devil's back!! I just got kicked out of class 'cause I got delayed by 5 min (extra chai at the canteen!!) The worst part is that I got kicked out of a class which most people would bunk. So, "I" drag my ass all the way to the class just have my it kicked out. Back to topic***

I guess I have lost my way in between. Too many questions. I forgot what the hell I was typing. Ya!! I was trying to figure out what was happening to me... training, curse, or just fucked up luck!

Luck, do I believe in that? Nope. Never. Those who give up to luck are irresponsible bastards. Luck takes a lot of names. Most commonly used name is GOD. Not that I do not believe in god, hailing from an orthodox Brahmin family I do respect the values installed in me by default but... there is that nagging question "is there anyone up there who cares for me??"

I don’t know whats happening to me,
I don’t know whats going on...
only thing i know... I WILL NOT GIVE UP!!

Fire ball 1

Read this from calculus. Instead of putting a link, I thought I would copy the text. Any ya... "Thanks VIKAS for the info".

This is courtesy of Vikas.....


YEAR 1981:
Prince Charles marries Diana
Pope is dead
Liverpool wins the EPL

2005:
Prince Charles marries again.
Pope is dead
Liverpool wins the EPL

The next time, pope is ill and Liverpool has a more than likely chance of winning the EPL, Camila better be on the watch

Spooked!!

Hope is one which can never be hoped for.

Why does it so happen that when you want something so desperately to happen it never does. And when you actually don’t care about it anymore, it just does.

I was hoping, praying, wishing..... To clear my paper in the revaluation. Although, I knew at the back of my head that it was something not possible (probably 'cause of the place I am) but I hoped it would. The last time I did that was for my IIT results which were 2 years back.

The end results are the same. I did not make it to the IITs nor did I clear the reval.

It was certainly not something I thought would happen. I never expected an arrear in "Analog Communication". I thought I did that pretty well.

Not that I care about the arrear 'cause I feel these are not the right people to judge me and it’s not the first time I had one. The problem here is that it coincides with my Hyderabad plan which I have been planning ever since I landed up in this desert. All the wonderful plans and thoughts just vanish in an instant.

It was indeed a sad evening. Getting blasted in class, finally manage to keep my cool and my friend pops in to give the bad news.

It was a very different feeling. I was pulled into some other dimension. I saw my past life. What I was and what I am. Comparing and contrasting. My mind, blasting with all the expletives known to mankind, pushing me to the edge. Answering all the questions I was afraid to ask, questioning all the questions I dreaded.

I suddenly realized I was getting drenched and my cell was ringing (thanks to the vibrator!!). I hear a voice which was very familiar (I must have been hearing it for the past 14 years of my life!!).

"Yo DUDE!! Whats up? I am having a great time out here. Called up just to burn you up a little." said ARCANE from the other end. Well, he did end up burning me a lot more than he expected to... but that temporarily got me out of the "fucked up" dimension. I told him... you just couldn’t have found a better time to call.

Not for long though. I fell asleep all of a sudden and got sucked back where I left it. Only difference, this was more fearful. Reminded me of Harry Potter. It was like I was in a Pensieve. The difference being that I was not in control. It was a tough ordeal. I got up all sweating and my pillow was wet. I had no idea what was happening.

I could remember every daam thing that happened. Crystal Clear. The positive aspect of this was that it just opened my eyes. It just told me that I was deviating too much (hey... I might deviate so much that I might start following the path usually traveled!)

IS THIS WHAT PEOPLE CALL SELF REALISATION.

Theoretically doing practicals

Had yet another bad day. Not that I care about 'cause I got used to it. This time it was in the lab.
My prof never understood the logic behind my readings. He was shouting about practicality and was saying my reading were theoretically wrong. Well, theoretically you are allowed 10% error margin but then.... this happens to be my college lab with lots of components used over and over again. So... you just can’t expect 10% error to be possible. I was explaining him about the tolerances and he blew his cork. I end up missing my lunch *sniff* and had to sit thought the afternoon in my classroom with 3 hours of boring instrumentation.

I was all the time thinking. Lots of people don’t consider the practical error margins. People back here lack the practical touch. Everyone perfect theoretically but totally screwed up practically.
Things look fine on paper but not in life. What would happen without the practical knowledge? That gets me back from where I started.... screwed up education system!! More concentration on mugging things than promoting creativity.

Happens in my college too. Doing a project is great. All my friends here keep talking about the projects they are doing. But, how many of them are doing "innovative" projects.... ZILCH!!
Where has all the creative and innovative inspiration gone? Are we stuck just modifying the existing technology?

Reminds me of my history class.... Krishna Mukharjee maam teaching about renaissence way back in Europe in 15th century.

WE NEED ONE RIGHT NOW. Now is when I hope... history repeats itself.

The BLACK KNIGHT!!

Change is the only thing that is constant!

Keep hearing that all the time. Totally agree with it. Your dearest possession could be lost in matter of hours. Thats what happened to me!! This post is in the memory of my dear bike THE YAMAHA 135.

For those who think she expired...... remove that fucking thought from your head. It is just that i miss her a lot. It was just yesterday that i was crusing on her and now i am all alone.

Continueing from my last post, madurai seems to be a very different place now. Well, i will talk about it later.

I have been with my bike for almost 4 years now. I can still remember the smell of the fresh paint when she came from the showroom. God, i still dream about it in my dreams. She was such a beauty. We sure have spent a lot of time together. Girls usually talk to their teddys about their problems. Well, I talk to my bike and she responds almost immediatly. Everytime i am down she gives me the best rides possible. She never complains even if i rip her at 110 kmph. And there are times when she felt down and i would give her a nice wash to make her happy. We had a wonderful relationship. Over the time we spent together, we started understanding each other very well. Any problem with her, i would know where exactly it is and vice-versa.

There were times when both of us spent time on the tarmac. Those were the days. Experimenting with the wheeli, or probably try out heoric stunts. We used to watch people do it on tv, go on the net and find out how it is done and then try it out. Well, it surely not that easy as it is to read on the net.

We have seen a lot of accidents together. Probably 2 major ones. In one i broke my hand and the other she damaged half her body. But in the end, we both are still doing what we love to do... PUSHING EACH OTHER TO THE LIMITS!!

LOVE YOU!! *snif*

Welcome to the jungle

Here I am, looking out of my window. The view outside is totally new. But, I do see my college building somewhere. How I wish I had not recognized it.

After 2.5 months of vacation, first day at college can be so tough. On one side meeting all your friends is great but then you do start missing your friends whom you have left 1250 km away.

Well, that is my sad tale as of now.

As I look out from my window,
I smell the fresh air of Madurai,
But something is missing,
The air is fresh but has no energy;
The energy, which the air of Hyderabad gives you.

Something sure is missing. I am not quite sure what exactly it is. But as I have said before, there is no place like Hyderabad, so there is always something missing.

First day was bad. Was busy thinking about the good time I had back home.

All those lovely nights by tank bund.
Roaming the streets of old city at 4 in the morning.
Having biryani at 3 in the morning. The nights were lovely.
Stopping outside HI-TECH city and having chat for hours together.
My terrace, which shares my joys and sorrows.
My room which always makes me feel home.
My BIKE, no words to describe it. I really miss her. YAM 135. I hit 2364 km in 1 month and she didn’t even raise her eyebrow.
Traveling triples with a "FAT" gal and a "FAT" guy sitting behind u.
Ripping at 90kmph in happy state with them.
And, ripping at 120kmph on the YAM, by the necklace road.
The mornings by mehdipatnam.
The visits to NIIT.
All the movies with friends.
Biryani again, this time at cafe BAHAR.
Wonderful lassi to top it off.
Mid-night stops at bharath's house.
Fighting for food at 3 in the morning.
Filling my tummy with TIGER biscuit and water.
Making top ramen at 5 in the morning and eating while watching "friends".
Fighting it out in the arena or on the racetrack with Play Station 2 at 4 in the morning.
Sleeping till 1 in the afternoon.
Having breakfast at 3 in the afternoon.
......
......
......
......
......

Lots more, but it makes me cry when I think of all those lovely moments. They all remain as a memory of all the wonderful times I had.

The Change of tide!!

Had a pretty interesting Day. I first get late to office and my dad goes red over me. Well, I thought, give a daam to it and continue with the day. Go to office and check out my simulation. I find to my horror that somebody has deleted my simulation. I sit down and for the next hour and a half stick my ass to the chair and do the design again and ya, cursing the person who actually deleted my simulation.

It doesn’t get worse than this. I am screwed in my office and I have all sorts of people shouting at me. At 1830 hrs in the evening, I am one really tired and wired guy ready to do something radical out of frustration. To my horror, the watchman starts screaming at me cause I did not make the entry while going out. I am fuming and just waiting to get out of there. To my rescue, M calls up and says we are meeting at SPARKS at about 1930.

I reach there at 2000 along with arcane. Had one more frustrating traffic jam on the way. I get introduced to a few people. Well at that point, I didn’t give a daam. I was too pissed off to even respond.

And then, I have a pitcher of beer finally arrives. It looks like amrutham ‘cause I haven’t seen any in about 5 months. Have a quick glug and feel the change. The music was bad…. But then who cares. The DJ finally plays some rock. (He starts of with NIRVANA)
I start of a convo with the ppl out there.

For the records, I met the GREAT NON- SENSEI, Sita, Blur, Princess, Sahiti, Neha, M & Arcane of course. In about an hour, it was down to 6 of us. We decided to have dinner at paradise. Amazing biryani. Then we go to NS’s house just to find out that we cannot stay over and settle down at the pavement outside ITC KAKATIYA SHERETON. It took us about 2 hours to decide where to go with everyone calling up ppl they knew. Finally, arcane comes up with a plan. “Desperate times Calls for desperate measures.” So where do we go? My house.

Due to the unavailability of transport, we had to go triples. Me, Sita and Arcane on my poor yam. Arcane comes up with a cranky idea of hitting 100 and I never say no to a challenge of pushing the limits. We hit 90. Me and Arcane happily shouting where as sita shouting out of fear.

Reach home in one piece. Smuggle all 5 to my room without anybody noticing. Get down to some cards and drinks again. I have a whole lot of Vodka again. Something was telling me I inhaled LOT of smoke that night. The packet of 20 was empty. Nice combo of Davidoff, Marlboro and Camel. Went to the overhead tank.

Its supposed to be my favorite place and it has seen a lot of me and it’s the place I usually go when I am lonely. We end up in a conversation about destiny and end result. I inhale a lot more smoke. I must have just inhaled another camel when my tummy said “Warning…. Warning!! System MALFUNCTION!”

I end up stoned, sleeping in my bathroom. Arcane says he took his revenge of 14 years as he belted me really badly. Good for him that I had no pains in the morning. Else he would have been history. I have no idea how the others got out. But, they did. By 0530 hrs, arcane says he packed them off pretty well.

I get up at 0730. Have a mild hangover. Realize that I could not be going for work; I tell my mom I have a headache. Sleep off.

The DEVIL is back!!

For those who are wondering the sudden disappearance of "the DEVIL", that’s probably because of the busy schedule I had. Had a trip down to Malaysia for about a week. Started my In Plant Training (IPT) right from the next day since I came back to India. Though I was screwed really badly in my IPT, I did manage to come back home before 2000 hrs and leave the house by 2005 hrs. Free bird as usual, I went along meeting the good ol' friends, a night show here and there and then finally knock the door of my home at about 0200 to 0300 hrs. Poor mom opens the door half asleep and asks if I had dinner. I tell her not to worry and go back to sleep. She reminds me that I have to go to work tomorrow. That is when I realize I am probably gona have yet another screwed up night.

I manage to sleep for about 4 hrs. Get up by 0700 hrs. All set to leave by 0800 hrs when my dad's car arrives. My dad is very particular about time especially in the morning and does not like to get delayed to office. And I like a good SON see to it that I am NOT the reason for his delay.

Spend a sleepy morning in the library trying to figure more about MICROWAVES. Have a nap in the library and get caught by my guide who reminds me that this is not my college classroom that I can sleep in. I recover from the shock and finally have my lunch, which makes me even lazier. But I see to it that I am busy simulating my design model so that I am well occupied. Before I know it is 1830 and time to go home.

This was basically my routine for about 2 weeks now. Well its all gona change really soon!!

My great trip--- EPILOGUE

Some points I realised from my trip.

1. I am one luck guy to be meeting a lot of big wigs.
2. My mom does not like horses.
3. My sis loves shouting, “are bhaiya…. Is ghode ko roko. Ye bahut tez bhag raha hai” every time she is on a horse.
4. Snow is great and everybody should experience it.
5. God knows how our soldiers live at the LOC where it is even colder than this.

My Great trip--- Last Day!

TRIP END DAYS 6

Started really early. Woke up by 0300. Left for Chandighar. We had to catch the 1400 flight to Delhi. Made it in good time and had about an hour to spare.

Reached Delhi by 1500. Had my flight back to Hyderabad at 1500. Got ourselves checked in.

I thought my trip had come to an end and had seen all I had to but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I was watching the TV where “Wasim bhai” (aka Wasim Akram) was giving a comment saying Ganguly is a good captain (ya rite and I am the president of USA!!!) and then I look around to find “WASIM BHAI” sitting below. This needed no thinking twice. Went up to him, said I am big fan of his (actually I am!!) and said he bowled some of the best balls ever to be bowled in the history of cricket. He was a cool guy wearing a white shirt on blue jeans. He spoke really well. We must have spoke for about 10 min. They had announced the departure of his flight (awe… why does this happen with me!!). I asked if I could have a snap with him, which he kindly obliged. I ran and dragged my sis to take a snap of wasim and me bhai (she never believed that I was talking with wasim bhai). Took a couple of snaps and we bid each other goodbye.

I was in dreamland, thinking about the trip. Just then it started raining heavily in Delhi. God, that was some shower. All the flights got delayed. After a lot of delay I finally got into my flight at 2230hrs. A full 5.5 hrs late.

Reached Hyderabad at 0030 and that marked the end of the trip.

My Great Trip--- Days 4 and 5

DAY 4

Day 4 saw the trip become serious. Temperature falling really fast. I was at Delhi two days back where it was soaring at 40c and now here I am in manali where the temperature was near 6c. We went to a place call “snow point”. We had to rent an overall, which looks like a space suit minus the helmet in movies like Armageddon. With gloves and stuff, it was as if I was in full gear for a mission. With that thought we neared my destination.

It was finally there. A white colour substance, which is at a temperature of 0c and is very brittle in nature. I saw SNOW (tada….). The feeling was great. Climbed about 4 mountains, thanks to the NCC training and the KAITILAPUR camp. But the only difference is that I climbed rocks and here I am climbing snow. Wow!!! It really was great. After about 4 hours of snow and thanks to the weather which now became really worse (I climbed the mountains when it was pouring like hell!! Not an easy task.) We returned. I was frozen and I could not feel my palms. Putting my hand in a mug of hot water gave very little relief.

Later in the evening we went for shopping.


DAY 5

It started at the right time. I got up at 0900. Got dressed up and ready to go by 1000. Today we were going to a place call “SOLONG VALLEY” to do some serious adventure stuff. I was going to Para glide. But, when I am around it always turns out the other way. We reached the place just to realise that they had closed the Para gliding for the past 2 days due to some bullshit government rule. Later he said skiing is available. I did not think twice. I am going to the top.

The same rule applied here too. You need to rent a horse to go to the top. This time my mom was strictly against going on a horse. So, my sis and I set off. On the way there was some shooting going around. Didn’t bother about that. Went all the way up.

Got strapped to the skis. My first time was not bad. I balanced perfectly but had problem stopping so I had to fall down to stop it. It went along like that and finally I could stop well too. The guy was impressed and said I learnt it really fast. Was skiing for about 3 hrs. On our way back we stopped at the shooting spot, as my sis was really interested in it.

We stopped over. Suddenly, I thought I saw HRITHIK ROASHAN walk past me. I thought I was dreaming. Somebody shouted from the back…. “are vo tho Hrithik hai”. That is when it struck me I was not dreaming. I walked along with him to the set, which were about 500m away. Man, he has great arms. Too good. He also had a good hair do. I took out my cam but the security guy stopped me threatening me that he would snatch the cam. So kept it down. I walked back to same place I met him initially and took out my cam. Thanks to my advance cam (NIKON COOLPIX 4500) I got a shot of him. That was with full zoom. We were ready to go that is when my mouth had dropped again.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA looks sick on screen but right now, I was drooling. She was daam gorgeous. She was wearing a blue ghagra and hey….. She was daaaaaaaaaaam SEXY. Could not get a shot of her. But then seeing them itself is a great thing.

My Great trip--- Days 2 and 3

Day 2

The day started pretty early. Got up by 0700 and was ready by 0800. Left for Chandhighar by the morning flight. Reached by afternoon. Had a wonderful Punjabi lunch. Went out in the evening to a place call ROCK MUSEUM. Man, the place was great. Mr. Nek Chand, the creator had actually created a museum with things we usually through out. Right from broken tiles to broken electric plugs to broken pots. You name it and it will be there. We later met the created himself. Padma Shree Nek Chand was an ageing man in his early 80s. One look at him and you would know that sitting at one place is something he does not like. A man as active as a teenager in his 80s is not a sight you usually find. His room was the proof. He sure is a collector. He had a broken radio and stuff which people consider trash. Had a small chat with him and said good-bye to him. Had a yet another meal at the SASE (Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment) guesthouse. Good sleep is by default.




DAY 3

One more spoiled morning. Had to get up early and leave. Left for Shimla at 0800. Lots of travel. Reached shimla by evening. Wonderful sceanary on the way. Lovely mountains all along. Reached Shimla by evening. The whole town is put along a single high way. Its like every one lives on the main road. Stayed over for the night. The next day went to KUFRI, which is the highest point in shimla, at about 10,000m above sea level. Went above on a horse.

Whats common between a horse and Bajaj Pulsar?? Both of them are hard on your balls. Rough ride but then had a good time. Got to see a lot of places from the top using a telescope. The places included an apple orchard, Indo china border, the last Indian military point, etc. Went along with my mom and sis. My dad preferred walking his way through as he had a bad back. My mom was shouting all along that she would get down and start walking and was asking “aur kitna dur bhai….. aur kitna time lagega” probably a million times. The name of my horse was “laloo” named after our great railway minister Laloo Prasad Yadav.

The interesting part over here is that I found a “MICROWAVE STATION”. That is probably the highest microwave station.

Left for KULLU directly from there. Reached there by 1500hrs. Stopped for shopping. I bought the trademark Himachal Pradesh Cap.

On the way we stopped over at a place called MANIKARAN. It is a Shiva temple having hot springs. It was daam hot and to make things worse it started raining. It’s a wonderful place. With steam coming from all over. A must visit. It gives the impression of the real Shiva temple in the foot of “kailash parvat”.
We later left for MANALI. Reached there by 2200 hrs. Checked in and slept. The weather was daam cold.

My Great Trip----- Day 1

PROLOGUE

My trip started off pretty early. With not more than a day to spare, well what the hell, I was already in a vacation mood. Landed in Hyderabad on a hot afternoon on 20th of April. Was as tired as a laboured donkey. But then nobody spares me. I was dragged to shopping along with my mom and sis. One piece of advice, NEVER GO SHOPPING WITH LADIES. Its daam boring and I almost lost my mind. My sis was asking my opinion of what to buy and what not… from a guy who was really tired and desparate for some sleep. Sleep and I don’t go well together. Had a few hours of sleep and off to the airport to catch the 0600 flight to DELHI. The 21st of April shall go down as a one of my big days.

DAY 1- DELHI

The flight took off by 0605. Slept off initially just to be woken up by a gorgeous airhostess who wanted to serve a box of goodies. (There are many more ways she could have served me but then I was with my family!) Landed in Delhi by 0800hrs.Went to the BHRAMOS guest house (thanks to my dad!) had breakfast and was all set for the big meet with Mr. PRESIDENT. We had an appointment for 1400hrs. It was to last for about 10 min. So, got dressed up for the big event and left for the Rastrapathi Bhavan.

We had to report at the main gate at 1345hrs. We were there by 1315. Told the security officer about our appointment and we were given a royal welcome. Cleared about 4 levels of security checks and finally reached the reception. We were directed to a grand room, and severed with some really good snacks. The guy who served us was just as if he came out of a movie from the mughal-e-asam. He looked royal.

The Rastrapathi Bhavan is truly a palace. It has got 360 rooms (I could sleep in new room for an entire year!!!!). I was amazed by the interiors. It’s just like walking into a movie showing a palace. Man…. My mouth was wide open. A red carpet, which leads right to the prez office. Man, I just couldn’t believe it.

Subedar Major Ramakrishna, Head president guard, a well-built guy in his early 40s met us at the waiting room. He enquired if we were carrying any gifts or cams or mobiles. Thanks to the prior info we didn’t carry any of those. He gave a green signal and we were taken to the office. The doors opened and I put my foot into his office.

There he was. Wearing a traditional suit, sitting in a corner of a magnanimous room. God, I thought the RB was great but then the best room is surely the prez study room aka his office. He greeted us with a “ hai buddy!!!” I was amazed just to realise that he was referring to my dad. We sat down. Before we started, he asked us if we wanted some tea, which we gracefully denied. He started off by explaining about his garden (I have no idea why he did that!). I was looking around his office. Found a number of books. Once he finished his explanation, he enquired about me and kavitha (my sis). I told him, I was doing my 2nd year in Thigarajar College of Engineering. He had actually come to my college about 2 months before he became the prez. He remembered that and said it was a nice college with a good campus. All except me had prepared questions, to ask the prez. Kavitha was the first to go. I was meanwhile thinking what to ask him.

Then it hit me as if it were a meteorite. Why not ask about the Indian educational system. There I went all out on the IES (to understand this, it is mandatory to have read my previous two blogs on IES) and the prez for the first time had no answer. I had bowled him out for once. But then this feeling was short-lived. He came back saying that we have to change only the primary system so as to induce creativity. That was end of my turn and my mom took over from me. I was looking through his stuff and found a book on NANOTECHNOLOGY. That’s all I wanted. The next one was from me with a techi question. Was asking him about the nanotechnology. He showed me a pic of a peacock saying that it resembles nano-powder. I went in with the re-buttle, putting out facts about nano-tech. (thanks to my RF-lab in my coll.) Was talking about the fabrication and stuff and he seemed to be very impressed with it.

This is where he asked my name again and what I was doing. He said I better contact IISc for this. He said he would gladly write the reference letter for me. I was on top of the world.

The 10 min appointment went on and I realised that I was there inside for about 45mn. We took a snap with him. Still waiting for the snap. Will post it once I get the pic. We asked him if we could roam around the RB and he gladly approved.

We went around the RB, seeing lots of things. Right from the Durbar hall (place where the PM is installed and other stuff), Ashoka hall (place where they give out the gallantry awards), the museums showing the gifts which delegated from other country have given to the president, the Mughal gardens, etc. Man, it was so daam good.

As always, good things always come to an end really soon. Even this came to an end really fast (we were there for about 3 hrs.).
We later went to the India gate and sorojini market for some shopping. Had fun. Had my dinner in Mc Donald’s and back to the guesthouse. Had to leave for chandhighar the next day.

Bloody EXAMS!!!

Who the fuck would have devised something like exams. Every fucking year for the past 16 years (two times a year for the past 2 years!!) I sit down, at the max a day before my exams and slog. At the end of the day I clear it off with a decent score! Is this what the education system has become?

The reason for my frustration is my electromagnetics paper. I know its a great subject. It used to be my favorite subject back in 12th and I used to top my coaching classes in EM. But then, fast forward..... Here I am, cursing EM. Two years back I would have never even thought I do this. I would have considered it a sin.... cause I was a big fan of physics. Well actually I still am. Every daam thing in this god daam world has physics. No subject to beat it.

4 exams gone, 2 more to go. No great achievements or disappointments. Waiting for 19th when I would be leaving this "mistake of god" place and make my way to heaven... HYDERABAD. I am truly frustrated living in this place called MADURAI, trying to adjust to all the weird ways for the past 2 years.

Have a great vacation lined up for the summer. Going to have 2 months of vacation, which is the longest vacation, I am going to have in my entire engg. Career. It’s starting with a trip to the north with family. Will be hitting LEH, lots more. Well the highlight of the trip..... Will post that once I have been there!!

Well time to hit the books and screw my balls again. Another break... but this time I would be back soon!

BREAK!!!

Well, i am on a break right now. Have my sem exams going. Would start posting as soon as my sems get over. Till then.....

Traveling Soldier!

"I look at my face in the mirror,
I wonder what I see,
I'm just a traveling soldier
I'll be all I can be

But Right now.... I just want to be free
I wanna be all I can be
.........................................

Though they say I am a failure
Do they know who I can be
If you want to know who I am
YOU JUST HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE!!

-traveling soldier

These lines have had so much impact on my life! Heard them first when I was in 9th I guess. Lyrics of the song traveling soldier from the movie thamuddu. A deluge movie, the movie was ok, but the song was the best. Not many Indian songs come with such strong lyrics. Moreover, this song was sung in English. A tradition followed in most of pavan kalyan movies, where songs are sung in more than one language.

This has been the story of my life. Well, not entirely but it surely had played a part. Expectations are one thing you would always want to stay away from. But, expectations are the one which drive you to your goal. Its more or less the motivating factor. It is always good to know that atleast someone thinks you could the right thing for a change.

I have always known there is something inside me thats gona get me to the top. Its my brain, which I am proud of. It acts in a very interesting way sometimes. The time of need, when you have to do something, the crunch time, that I have realized the power of my brain.

I have heard a lot of people say that most of our brain is not used. Only a small portion......blah blah blah. But then, when the time comes, I have felt it. The power of my brain. It so hard to understand the working that it scares me sometimes. Its more like "did I do this?"... "Did I think about this?" I don't have a clue of what happens, but it just happens. My dad happens to be a scientist.... Is it the genes that are showing up? Well I have no idea but the strange behavior surely proves that I am designed and destined to do something big. Its more of that gut feeling that something big is gona happen and I am gona be on top of it. I just know it!!

But, thanks to the fucking Indian Education system, talents are not Appreciated. They just test your memorizing capability. No wonder I don't fit into the system. Where has all the "gaining knowledge" gone? I thought we study to improve are self and know more about the stuff around us. How do we get to know all these things if we waste all our time memorizing things and vomit it off at the examination hall and forget it the instant you leave the hall. Is this the standard of education we are proud of? No wonder people are leaving INDIA and headed to places like US where their talents are respected. And we call it brain drain. Does anybody care for them when they are in India. NO. They get to know about their worth only after they leave the country. And once they have proved their worth in a foreign country which has supported them very well, India calls them back. Why would anybody return? India only wants finished goods, it does not care about nurturing talents.

It is this system which get me on my nerves. Lesser mortals, with no knowledge at all, who are the kings and queens of memorizing score the best marks and show off as if they have conquered Pluto. That is when true talent is questioned. It is definitely not a situation to be in. You know you are better than them, but it is not the right time to strike. As the song goes "if u want to know who I am...... You just have to wait and see."

I, for the reason not known to me, waiting for the right moment. The oracle says to neo in the MATRIX, " I see the signs on your face, but you are waiting for something, maybe a next life." Is this what is happening in my life. Am I also waiting for something? If I am, when would the destined time arrive. How would I know...... Yet another million questions go unanswered!!

When i LOST her!!

I was searching..... In vain. Looking all around, with my heart pumping as if it had springs underneath. Looked everywhere.... In vain. It was as if the sands of time had stopped flowing or was it my mind thinking faster than the time it self. I was destined to protect her. I failed.

I was suddenly sucked into the past as if it was a vacuum machine. I was reliving my past. I could see my self, taking an oath that I would protect her. An suddenly I was back to the present with a heavy load at the bottom of my tummy. A horrifying thought just passed by mind with paralyzed my body. Will I ever see her again. What will I tell the people who trusted me t protect her. Then my mind went blank.


It took some time to re-boot my mind. It was not willing to be operated again, after such a thing had happened. It took me some time get it back to working stage. Nothing could be achieved by panicking. Thats what I told my mind and the magic worked. My mind was back into action.

I started analyzing the situation. Two process were running. How to find her and what to do if I don't. Though they were running parallel, I had a hunch I will find her. As my mind was still making the assessment of how bad the situation was and what could possibly be the aftermath, I strode into action. Went and asked a Couple of people. Well trying something is better than doing nothing. I found out who else sat in the same place as we did. Luckily, they were a bunch of my seniors who sat as the sameplace after I left. I enquired about their whereabouts and found out that they would be in the seminar hall at about 1450. It was 1300hrs now. I knew I had to wait but my mind would not.

I started thinking how it all happened. I had asked one of my close friend to take care of her and I left for the preparation of my multimedia competitions. This was at 1100hrs. Was sitting at my room giving our presentation a final touch. It was not until 1245 that I saw him. He walked straight into my room. We discussed about the latest additions to our multimedia project. I realized we were missing something. I asked him where she was. The reply froze me. "I thought she was with you!"

I had to attend my mathematics class, I had an attendance lag. But I was somewhere else. That is when the aftermath fell on me. It weight me down I was trying my best not to crumble under pressure and keep my cool. The time was moving slow. The hour passed very slow. Finally it was 1450. The bell rang and I shot out of the class like a bird released from captivity.

I was there. Saw my seniors. Venkat, Santosh and Neeraj. Venkat initially signaled santosh that I was there. They all came out, saw my sorry face. They enquired what happened as if they did not know anything. After listening to my sad story, I expected them to give me a lead. I thought they would help me find her. Life is never fair. They started making fun of me. They were rubbing in the fact that I could not protect her. I was already feeling bad, they were making it worse.

I suddenly realized, they would not do this. They knew how serious the situation was. Although they were know for their "take it light" attitude, they wouldn't do this to me. UNLESS, they knew where she was. I bugged them up and finally started searching santosh. I COULD FEEL HER.... IN HIS POCKET.

I finally found my mobile.

(NOKIA 3200, its my first love. We have a lot of memories together. It single handedly pulled me out of my pitiful fate in madurai by helping me keep in touch with my friends. Guys.... You know that with out you I would have been in the mental hospital by now!!)

The Declaration!!!

Life can be so complicated sometimes. I was just telling one of my friend "life is a game.... Play it." She asked... Is that why u play so rough. Though I did not take it seriously that time... It came down to me at bed time. As usual, I went into my deep thinking process ( sometimes I think I can make a good spectrum analyzer!!), I was recollecting what she had said. "PLAYING HARD" now that's something I HAVE NOT done. I have been seriously thinking of pushing my life "to the limit." Well something tells me, it high time I did it. I have no idea what made people think I was playing rough with my life (except that I ride the YAMAHA at 110kmph!!) Well... Here it goes... "From here on, I, THE DEVIL, have decided to take my life more seriously and not play around with it. I feel that the time has come to work on my talents and start developing it. It is high time I started pushing my life to 'the limit'." PHEW!!!! Trust me, that wasn't easy. Well I have got through with the documentation part. Its time I start putting it into reality. Now that's something which needs to be worked on, because the history has it, I am a little poor about the implementation of my great plans. But this time I am all the more determined and I know I can do it. Come on guys, I need your support too. Arcane, better comment on this. I will keep you guys updated about the status of the mission. Any sort of tips are welcome folks!!!

The Great Marathon!!!

"Run, run, run, till you fall dead." That was the key word today morning. "Protect the nature, prevent tsunami" was the caption. It was my college's annual event "THE GREAT MARATHON". It spreads through a distance of 10km. Its starts from my favorite movie theater.... The "maplai vinayagar theater" (the only theater in madurai to show English and Hindi movies!!) all the way to my college ground. The day started of pretty early (considering the fact that I usually get up by 8) when I got up at 0430hrs. I had about a dozen people waking me up right from 0400hrs. My roommate Kumar got so pissed of that even he joined the marathon because he had lost his sleep (I should be made the head of promo). About 850 boys and 300+ non-males (as I call it... cause they don't qualify to be called gals) had turned up. The fact that they were giving free t-shirts had attracted a huge crowd. The non-males were given caps and had just 4km to run. As there were only 400 t-shirts available for taking.... it was given in the order of seniority and it ends up that none of the 2nd years from my department get a t-shirt. (Although Kumar got one... it looked as if he was wearing a kurtha!!! he is a skinny, small guy!!) So he gave his to another of my friend heament... who is quite the opposite. So I started off the marathon at 0630hrs. Did start with some boost and enthusiasm which died down pretty quickly and it was down to business. I tried concentrating hard on my running and apply all the tips learnt from the NCC camp attended in secunderabad. It reminded me of Lt. DESHPANDE who used to train us in physical fitness.... he is on big son of a b****. He used to make it hell for us by making us RUN (not jog) about 7km everyday. Anyway back to marathon, I did manage to keep my cool and ended up a cool 69th(nice number eh!!!) place. But then if only I had not slowed down drastically in the middle segment, I would have bagged a better position. Did check out a lot of my class non-males who were stareing at me cause I was running with shorts (unlike hyd, people don't roam around with shorts here) and was doing a good job by running fast and giving them that "whoosh of wind" as I passed them. It was as if a bike traveling at 200kmph had just passed by!!! Did manage a lot of turn-arounds!!! Completed my run by 0730hrs. I was half dead and my calf muscles were killing me. Came back to the room and was into deep slumber within no time.

Got up in time for the lab. This part is very interesting. " I got humiliated again in lab" but only this time it didn't make a difference to me. I just told the prof "talk to the hand". Will elaborate more on MR. MANSOOR ROOMI, head of image processing lab, and unfortunately my lab in charge. Just because I had pasted a Xerox of a simulation (using PSIPCE) he gave a 20min long lecture, thoroughly humiliating just to receive an "I don't care a daam" look on my face. The day ended by having a nice chat with a group of guys from my class over a hot cup of tea in the canteen.