A tROUble cALLed DS

Dear diary,

      You know what the best feeling in the world is? It is when you start at your hostel at 9:03 to attend DS's class at 9,cycling rigorously, panting furiously ,knowing all the way that you're never going to make it, but with that wee bit of hope that Sir might be late today and you find the entire class outside ,that's when you feel ecstasy.Wait a second! Did I tell you about DS? DS summed up in two sentences would be this.He is like a strict father who wakes you up at 8:50 in the morning 3 times a week by,maybe, pouring a bucketful of ice cold water on your face on a chilly winter morning. You would very well want to shout at him for doing such a thing but you realize you've got no option. Like a caring mother who knows she's got to be strict with her kids, he says,'Sorry Please' even when you are only two minutes late to the class. You would want to shout at him," Come on man! After all that I've gone through in getting up at 8:50 just for you,stopped my morning rituals just for you, this is what I get." You very well know you can't do that.So you silently leave the place, like a defeated martyr.

     Now the worst feeling in the world. You go through all what is mentioned in the best feeling, only to realize that half the class standing out has actually been kicked out for being late.You would start feeling giddy, the world around you starts closing in,You would feel like a blind man who's got his eyes back and loses his gift of sight again(all feelings packed in one).

     This is exactly what happened to me today. One instant, I was cycling furiously, as though I was competing with Lance Armstrong and I find this crowd right in front of G-10. I begged God that it should be my class and from the distance I recognized a tall and a lean guy as Arpit. Lo and behold, that was my class.I was on cloud nine, dancing with joy. The next instant, truth lays in dirty hold on me. This time I found myself on cloud minus nine(there is no such thing as cloud minus nine, I'm using this to emphasize the transition my feelings have gone through).This episode has left me distraught but the urge to get up early tomorrow has only increased.

Bye

LaB SCenARio

Dear diary,
       Yesterday, an amazing thing happened to me.I have,for the first time in this year(academic, I mean), enjoyed doing the practical in the lab.Wait! let me make myself clear, this doesn't mean I hated labs or something; by fully enjoyed I meant along with having fun in the lab, with the friends,of course, I got to do the experiment (contently).
       Let me take you to the labs that we have in the second year,preferably the Networks lab that I'm recently working in.Well, there exists two,No, I guess it is three kinds of people in the lab.The first kind.They are the bosses in the group(atleast they feel they are). Like the way the  Whites, in the 18th and 19th century,felt about their natural dominance over the Blacks,these people feel they are the natural leaders in the group and that without them the group would become impotent.
      Now the second type. They are the ambitious guys( there is no shortage of ambitious guys in the IT.People here are crazy to prove themselves, be it in any field). So what do these people do? They would want to grab as much information as possible from the experiment.So with the 1st type guys standing right infront of the apparatus, these fellows try to get as close to the apparatus as possible, leaning over to see what's happening and in the process irritating the 1st type (the 1st type feels that it is the one doing the saviour role, doing the experiment for the group and then explain the same to the 2nd and 3rd type. Real heroes, I should say).
      The third type. It includes people like me who are fed up with whatever's happening, move away from the group and go to another group and say this to a co-3rd type guy,'wo karne nahi deta hai yaar' or 'Wo kar lega yaar, apan ko tension lene ki kya jarurat hai'. So this brings me back to yesterday.
      Yesterday was like a dream date in the lab with Anmol.It was only the two of us in front of the apparatus (Both of us are 3rd type guys. So,we understand each other better). We did the experiment, sharing the work,in a real harmonic manner(I'm not trying to exaggerate) and believe me, we were the ones who finished the expt. first. Dedicated to all the 3rd type guys.We are awesome.
      Now, back to today. Things in the lab were back to normal; with me taking the avatar of the 3rd type guy. However appaling the reality might seem, I need to accept it and go on with being a 3rd type guy.

Bye.

P.S. I've used the word guys all throughout and not gals becoz gals in the lab consist of only type.Being the minority in the group(there is usually only 1 in the group) and flooded with masculinity, they prefer to stay not too close to the group but they get involved all the same. But what really matters at the end of the day to them is if the reading are correct, is the jugaad sensible, is the file completed with an A on the index page for every experiment.

SAtURnALIA: MEMORIES

Dear Diary,
         The new year's day passed with me staying in a state of mild hangover; I'm not used to sleeping only 4 hours a day and that too,with the entire night spent in aimless wandering along the Ghats. Then yesterday, we had this Saturnalia thing(this was actually supposed to be held on Jan 1 but then rain has played spoilsport). So, this brings me back to the memories of Saturnalia last year.
          You must be knowing that last year, me and my friends had our stall installed at the Saturnalia; The stall went on to become a ,if not a huge success, a success, all the same and we earned a good amount of money. More than money, it is the memories that would last forever. So, last year at this time we were actually going hostel to hostel selling the tickets(Did I just say selling? No. We were actually requesting the people ;the strategy depending on the class of the person we were dealing with. Now again, requesting would be a civilized term for begging) in the biting cold; Southerners like me are not used to living in extreme conditions. It really was fun working together, it has really fostered friendships. Suddenly, we became entrepreneurs, thinking of how we can fool people and make money.One year has gone by,things have changed,I have changed,people have changed groups and groups have bigger.
          This year,Saturnalia was pretty much the same,only we dancing out in the open, not trapped in the stalls. It was a bit awkward watching the boy-boy and girl-girl doing the ballot dance for the romantic numbers(Then again, it was fun). The classes were pretty much the same,I don't think I need to tell you about them,they would bore you, I know. So, that's all for today.

Bye   

GHaT pe NEW YEAR

       First of all, I wish you a happy and a prosperous new year 2012.The new year celebrations I had yesterday was entirely different from the ones I've had before.There was no cake, no TV telling me when the clock would struck 12, no music and most importantly, there was no planning. It was set outdoors, and the best place in Benaras would obviously be the Ghats.
       It all started this way. I was, as usual, doing the planning as to how I could make the celebrations memorable, and then,Patidar comes with this idea, out of nowhere, that we should be going to the Ghats for the celebration. Initially, the idea seemed a bit irrational,but later it went on to be a real big hit.And so, Ghats it was, and we started off at 7:30 and were at Assi Ghat by 8:00. Then we traversed the entire length of the Ghats on foot having fun all the time( I never thought Ghats could be so much fun; but I guess with friends, any place is fun). Had dinner and then waited for the clock to struck 12.Coincidence was that, many of my other friends also made to the Ghats and it was like a big gathering of the Trical 2nd year by 12 in the night.
      Strike 12 and we were all dancing like mad,hugging ,wishing each other a 'Happy new year' (I was always having this feeling that (I was somewhere outside my hostel,what with half the branch being present there, you are bound to feel this way). The foreigners were all the time, clicking photos of us, it was all new to them, I guess.
   The rest of the night was spent in searching for places to rest a bit; with police almost shooing us away from the place once, cuddling together to generate some heat and live the night(It really started to get cold when it started to rain at about 2:30 in the morning)
      Somehow spent the night and at about 5 in the morning, we went to the viswanath mandir (I didn't have the dare to bathe in the ice cold waters of the Ganges but Patidar and Bhaskas Anna managed to do that) and then at 6:30 we went to the other side by boat to watch the sunrise.The clouds were too thick for the sun to come out, so there was no sunrise as such, but it was nice all the same. And then, the bird watching(both the migratory and the foreign........ you know what) was really awesome.Came back home at about 9 in the morning and could only manage to get inside the Razai and doze off.
      Now, when I look back at this thing , I would remember this as one of the best New Year celebrations I've had in my life. Thanx a lot to my friends who made this memorable.

hAPPy B'DaY CArLoS...

           I'm sorry. I shouldn't be calling Carlos Carlos, atleast not on his birthday.But, the thing is this, Trical has christined him Carlos, he will be. Now the important thing, a very happy birthday to you, Carlos; OK, Kanishka Gupta.
           25th December; Jesus Christ landed on this planet to rid the humanity of its sins and teach them the Art of Living. 1991 years later(+6days), 31st december; God sent Kanishka Gupta(later to be known as carlos, by his followers) to this planet, to become a Guru, one of his kind, to teach people how (not) to live.
         The GPL yesterday was awesome; watching people hit him with such energy,vigour, fury; as though they were taking revenge on him for having their parents killed by him or something, proved how much we loved him(please don't mistake this to us taking a grudge on him.No.Not at all.
        So, once a happy birthday to you to Carlos.May you celebrate many more birthdays like this(with the GPL included, of course) and may you live your life happily( and let others live as well)


P.S. If you happen to be carlos, go ahead:
       Arey bhai, on this auspiscious occasion of your birthday, I would want you to take a few resolutions in your life:
   1. Please don't come into my room with your unwashed face, straight from your bed, asking for the paper. That really is horrible.
  2. Smile a lot. You really look good when you smile.
  3. Read the above 2 points once again.
  
 That's all and May GOD BLESS YOU

              The alumni garden party held at our hostel today made me realize one very important thing, the fact that one day we would pass out from this college, and somewhere 20 years down the lane, we would be here having a get- together, talking about old things, and digging the memories back.
            
              It was really nostalgic watching them tell to their wives and children ( you must be wondering why it is men telling their wives and not the women telling their husbands, you must remember that this is an IIT and IITs have a real scarcity of girls)," It was in this room that I stayed, it was in this mess that I ate"and many other things; But mostly we were actually staring at their daughters , girls of our age and enjoyed the sudden inflow of  the feminine race into our hostel.

             It was what followed that I really enjoyed. We, sitting in the chairs meant for the alumni (after they cleared off, of course), lazing in them and talking about how we'd be doing some 15 years from now, in our thirties, with our wives and children.It really was hilarious. I really would miss the life here, when I leave this place. But, right now, with my friends,in the place I love and I'm having the
 'Time of my life'.

CoNfessions oF A hOMe siCK GuY

        This sort of a feeling, that I've got used to, by now,  usually starts from one day before my leaving to Benaras. Now that I'm going to leave tomorrow, the feeling has only just started. The main symptoms include a queasy feeling in the stomach, getting lost in thought(usually thinking about what I had done in the past days of my holidays at home, the fun I had, the fun I'm going to miss), not talking much to anyone etc. etc. Cure, I guess there is no cure to this, you only need to get used to this. 
         Studying at a place 30 hours far from my place ,Vijayawada, I know that I'm only going to come back home at some time around March. Sad as I might seem at leaving Vijayawada, I know that 3 days from now I'd be enjoying life with my friends at IIT-BHU. It is only during this transition period that I go through all this sort of stuff. I'm not some sort of a loner who stays different from the others. No.  I've had some of the happiest memories of my life at IIT-BHU with my friends. 
        Unlike my other friends  get excited at the thought of coming back to college, I, on the other hand, usually spend time planning how to extend my visit to home , making a one week holiday into a 15 day visit, 3 days to a week; like I have just done ( the fake certificates that I'm going to bring support the fact that I've had typhoid, but all I've had during this one is fun). Maybe it's becoz of the bond I share with my place or my parents, brother, friends who hold me attracted to this place,  I continue to be one of those home loving guys who loves spending time at home.