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As I Go By That Lane

                     
               As I go by that lane,
               Memories spring up
               Like the mushrooms after hard rain
               Bringing in new life,
               And taking me away from 
               The pretentious and monotonous life
               That I'm now struck in. 
               Oh! how I wish
               I could go back once again.
               Oh! how I wish
               We could all be together once again.


               As I go by that lane,
               I see kids having fun
               And in them,
               I see fragments of you and me,
               For, a part of my soul 
               Still lingers here
               Yearning for redressal.
               Oh! how I wish 
               I could go back once again.
               Oh! how I wish
               We could all be together once again.


               We still meet,
               In the name of reunions
               But where has the warmth gone?
               Seems to me,
               You people have learnt the way of life
               But I still happen 
               To be a child at heart
               Searching for what we call redemption.
               As I go by that lane,
               Life springs up in me
               Making me complete.

machine lab 'HARKATE'

NOTE: In the interests of the people appearing in the photo, it isn't being shown to you. So please stay with me as I take you thorough the details of the photo.


Dear diary,
          The photo being talked about was taken (secretly though) at the Machine Lab. All was natural with the photo except for the guy at the left hand corner of the photo who is actually the only one posing for the photo; Well, that was me and I was the only one in the photo who knew about the cam in the mobile prior to the photo being taken.
        Now what's special about the photo? The central character in the photo- It is the feminine characters that take central position in the lab( an elaborate survey for the status of the labs at ITBHU can be had at http://diaryofaditya.blogspot.in/2012/01/lab-scenario.html)- happens not to be a student but but a Ma'am(The name is not being taken for obvious reasons) who was, well, teaching the curious kids( curious about what??) about the experiment. In our otherwise dull and uninteresting Machine Lab, Ma'ams like these provide a respite to the students and act as a source of inspiration for the students to work in the lab and as an end result, ask her doubts; It is only when you know something about the experiment that there arises a question of doubts.
        Coming to the last week; Unfortunately for us( or is it fortunately) the autotransformer given to us turned out to be faulty and it took us one hell lot of a time to realize this. Ma'am was with us most of the time helping us.No. Trying to help us, herself learning things along with us. Interestingly, people like me and Vishal who are members of the ' Disguised Unemployment Mitao Andolan'- Naturally, when you dump six or seven students in front of an apparatus that would need the efforts of only two or three students, people like us had to take measures like this in the interests of the group- happen to take an active part in the proceedings of the experiment.
        It is here that I'd want to tell you about my theory' The Dark Room Theory' which goes as follows: 'You Leave a man in a dark room for a very long time, then any ray of sunshine that might enter the room would be bliss for the man; however tiny the hole might be and whatever be the time of the day: be it the noon sun, the early morning sun or the fading away sun; it is sunlight all the same'. I hope the analogy in our lives at IT is understood.
      It is true not only of our group, but the Machine Lab scenario( In Ma'am's presence), more or less remains the same. Again, a reference to 'The Dark Room Theory'. 


Bye.

P.S. A special reference to Vishal who through his mobile managed to capture the photo with sheer cunningness and timing. Sorry dude, the effort couldn't be put to proper use.

TRiCaL 'DuRBaR'

Dear diary,
         What you are looking at happens to be the Trical 2nd year 'Durbar' in progress. Like in every Durbar, we have problems to discuss, a king to pass judgements, minister(s) to advice him and sometimes mock him, representatives among the 'Janta' from various groups and Of Course the vast majority 'Aam Janta'. The central figure in the photo, the one delivering the 'Pravachan'- There wasn't even a bomb drop silence in the crowd- happens to be Mr. Pallav aka. Pallu, taking the role of the king in this drama called Durbar. The kingship wasn't bestowed upon Pallav by his predecessors ; Owing to the CR mishap last year, the branch was left without a right leader to lead the branch and Pallav with every quality of a to-be-Neta happened to be the best bet for the post. And the bulky figure to his side happens to be his right hand ( left hand, I guess, he happens  to be standing to his left); Amandeep aka. Sardar.
        Coming to yesterday; It wasn't much of a discussion, it was a disclosure mostly; Pallav and his team were disclosing the details of the freshers; location , food, booze and stuff. The call for the Durbar starts with the king's men going room to room informing the Janta about  the meeting " Oye meeting ho rahi hai, bahar aa jao". The crowd slowly starts moving towards the location; some halfway through the movie, some forcibly woken from sleep, some starting to initiate a process called studying; All of them cursing the kingsmen under their breath.
         The Durbar finally started off with the Janta trying its best to disturb the proceedings. Amid chaos and confusion, Pallav tries to put forward his point, sometimes trying to hush the audience; mostly in vain, which turns out to be a reason for the sneers and giggles that follow. But against all odds, amidst comments( mostly personal), he raises his voice, takes the pretence of an 'angry young man', reveals the details of the fresher;  with enthusiastic leaders from every group trying to put in their point and hence their dominance in their group.
         Whatever, Durbars like these are fun, a general get together- In this busy 2nd year life, people from different groups rarely have fun together) and are never productive; A consensus is rarely reached.


Bye.

TRue DiViNiTY

Dear diary,
         Today I made a visit to the VT( The BHU one) after quite a long gap; a month and a half, I guess. This time the visit was, partly out of devotion, but mostly out of sheer necessity ; It is one of those times when you are in a foul mood( mostly for no reason and my pointers, they have succeeded in aggravating my foul mood), that you decide to go to God's abode to find solace. ( Sorry God, I might be sounding materialistic but there is nothing I can hide from you).
        So, well, I  went to the VT. There was this one sight that really moved me. He was a popular figure there for he had been performing there from quite a long time. Well the local gazal singer was the one who moved me. He was like any other singer, only he was blind. I've seen him perform once or twice before but this time I was quite observant. The pleasant smile, the serene look on his face made me want to go sit there for a minute. There was no audience to his performance there was only me, Patidar and some old chap siting beside him watching him play; People going about only offered him a glance and went on with their making wishes to God. He wasn't aware of our presence, any amount of audience wouldn't have made any difference to his divinity.
         Here was a man who, inspite of his disabilities was offering himself wholly to God, with no intention of fame or the many other things that artists receive, and look at me, perfect in shape but still fretting and accusing God of injustice for the pointers I received. Now it was my pointers that was the reason of accusation, at other times it was about my being a mediocre and not a Rockstar( which was needed en route to fame and fame means a lot at IT-BHU) or my not being in some other famed IIT, there were reasons galore. Now here was something I could learn from this man. There was no big reason for happiness. You can  be happy only if you are whole. I wouldn't talk of spiritual blabber like detachment from self or losing interest in material happiness, but this much I've realized:
  ' You can be happy only if you are content'
     Now being content wouldn't mean being in the same petty state, not wanting to change and cheating yourself to believe you're content but would mean  staying whole inspite of the ups and downs you encounter in this voyage called life.  
    Once again I've realized that life is the best classroom for me to learn things.


Bye.

PoST eLeCToRaL ReSuLTS: THRouGH MY eYeS

Dear diary,
          The results are out. The fate of the 5 states (atleast for the next 5 years) that were restless for the past 2 months (on account of elections) is out. Celebrations for some, dilemma and introspection, as to what went wrong, for others.
            Let me tell you what the first thing I did yesterday. Finished my daily chores,and then went online to check the live counting of votes in UP; one of the 5 states that was into polls that interest me coz I partly stay there. Not that I'm an active follower of politics or something but to forcibly make myself take an interest in the running of the country.
             The results did not startle me. Neither did they surprise me. They weren't my exam results to make an emotional impact on me.  Right then, SP was leading with 196 seats with 202 needed for clear majority. The exit polls predicted almost the same result. So, No surprises there. Prior to the exit polls, I always thought Mayawati had a vote bank large enough to be able to clinch the CM post once again. And why had I thought this way? 
             True, in her 5 year tenure, she was apathetic to the plight of the state, making sure it was in the same state as, when it was handed to her; The only change I've noticed in Benares in my 2 years of stay was the completion of the flyover near DLW( And the work happened to start  3 years prior to my coming here. 5 years for a small sized flyover. Now that's progress.) . Otherwise, the city lies in its own state of neglect. She did have time, though , for the tons and tons of artefacts of elephants( Other than being her party symbol, I see her being particularly drawn towards these creatures), of herself; Now this is weird. I always thought statues were made of people' Jo shaheed ho gaye'. But why she fancied to see herself in stone and in such large numbers  when she is such fine health( I mean she has no fear that she might die in the near future, like Karunanidhi, maybe.), God knows. But people still developed a liking towards her, fondly calling her Behenji. That she would come to power was what I've heard from many people in Benares. Hence my expectation.  
           Now, Rahul Gandhi; How has his charishma failed to deliver for the congress? I'm no political analyst. Let me put this straight. He failed to realize that people weren't that naive to be able not to see the difference between a prince constantly eating in Dalit's homes to give the world the pretence of a good caring ruler and a real ruler who sees to it that no Dalit goes to bed hungry; with only water to satisfy his hunger.
           All the newspapers today have been shouting this : Congress losing its grip in many parts of the country. Other the landslide victory in Manipur, there was nothing positive that Congress could take out of this. Maybe the 2G & the CWG scams has got us thinking:' Do we have no alternative to the most corrupt, money thirsty UPA Sarkar that is, Of Course the  largest single unit in the country.' That is for the 2014 elections to decide.
        Will the SP solve all the problems in UP and make it one of the competent states in the country. That, I can't say. I'm not from this part of the country, So making vague guesses would be gross. But, for now, we can only hope that the power transfer in UP & Punjab brings about real development in the next 5 years....


Bye.

X BoaRD eXaMS: MeMoRieS.

Dear diary,

                   4 years ago, on this day, my X class Board exams got off to a grand start, with Social being the first exam. I still remember how nervous I was; Whatwith 5 textbooks and tons of syllabus and my disinterest in Social (only Economics interested me), I was prepared for a disaster. However, the exam later turned out to be an easy one ( all of them were and still continue to be) and I managed a 92.
                 Yesterday when I'd gone to drop Akhil at the examination venue ( my brother has his X Board exams starting from yesterday), I've noticed that things haven't changed one bit. Anxious students; With signs of fresh sindhur on their foreheads, smiles on their faces, not completely natural but partly due to nervousness, the last minute discussions. Anxious parents; giving last minute advices to their kids, wishing them good luck, assurances that God is always with us. The scene on the whole would resemble this: Ambitious kings and queens sending their little princes to the battlefield; to fight a three hour war which when conquered would define their entry into manhood( A X pass student would be considered a man, I guess).
              It's funny how 4 years can change your position in the battlefield. As I was watching all this melancholy happen, I was actually looking for myself in the crowd; how 4 years ago, I was the one who had to take the test, how fastly time has flown; Ironically, time doesn't appear to flow faster while it is actually flowing, it is only after time has passed that we realize that time had flown faster, and my yearning to go back into the school days was there once again. It isn't that I'm not happy with time right now, it is only that schooldays were more fun, less of responsibilities, more of expecations about the future; it is easier to expect than to actually go into the future and live in it.
         Sadly though, I can only drop him only on one of his exams( Akhil has his next exam on the 16th and I'd be off to Benares on 12th). 
         Why haven't I written to you these 10 days? No reason in particular. My stomach has been venting its anger on me for having dumped incongruous stuff into it, thanks to my mess there. My liver has got infected with bacteria, so my doc says. Whatever, wish me a speedy recovery.


Bye.