rock rock rocking at india gate!!

Its engi time again..!!though this time it was spread over for more than a week...So the whole group was at the college for the fashp nite.For the lesser mortals engifest is the cultural festival of DCE and the paridhan-fashion parade is the most sought after event of the fest...for very obvious reasons!!It was a sort of reunion for all of us after a pretty long time.the stage was given a new look altogether.the already created dais(OAT) was reserved for the "highly esteemed" guests while a new stage was setup for the models to catwalk.

Like every year, the event was very successful.the students from the medical and the engg colleges put up a very gud show and infact we were able to utilise amber's new cell to its full potential.For the first time a DCE video and a music album has been launched and they were simply enthralling...just waiting for someone to upload them online!!The video and the album perfectly exhibited why any dceite would be proud of being a dceite...the outsiders need to have a look at it!! the event was follwed by a jam session, shortened by an altercation over a girl...as usual!!

It was already 1130 pm when we all started to disperse when all of a sudden (again!!) a plan to visit India Gate came into being.The most surprising part of the plan this time was ajit...the first surprise of the nite was his presence at the fest and then to add to the fun he "eventually" agreed to be the part of the "group". seems the guy is changing or quoting Rajat.."meri sangati me rehke thoda sudhar gaya hai".With 3 cars and my scooter the whole group of 9(this time aman missed out!!) moved towards the India Gate -some 25 kms away though we managed to reach there next day only(at 00:30 am)!!.

It took some time to find a suitable place to park the vehicles and when we found one authorised parking, the thulla asked us to leave for our home for a peaceful nite.par hum kaha manne wale the..!!A while later nipun found a different and safe parking spot...and we could spot some girls roaming even at that stroke of hour(unsafe delhi!!). A whole group of 8 ppl walking together would always seem threatening..the real threatening came to a guy, bargaining there for a colourful nite,when we all decided to race on the lonely road..the two were just terrified in horror and fear.Amit won the race,though his claim was very much disputable...he counted 1 2 3 all while running...the surprising runners up were Romit(good pair of legs) and Rajat(ohh man..how can he run so fast!!).Just to make it a bit clear, it was nearly impossible for 4 of us to even lift Rajat to give him birthday bumps a week ago.However,the result was so only because our "athlete" nipun did not participate in the race...he and amber preferred to walk down the lane.

It was already 130am and no one wanted to leave for home...that nite was certainly to be remembered for a long time...as the group would disperse after 3 months for their job or other responsibilities...but the memories wud remain last long..

Eklavya and MahaShivratri

The much awaited Eklavya released yesterday at the Box office and Rajat had to give the whole big group his birthday treat.The day coincided with Mahashivratri and i had decided to fast after a big gap of around 10 years.As usual, the invitees were made to reach the hall with no time at their disposal and as usual again,we were able to make it.We have perfected the art of making successful last moment plans and infact, now this group includes two new entries.Even the lesser mortals(the new entries) were able to make up because they could not afford to miss a treat from Rajat. The only guy now left out of the group is ajit and its certain that he does not possess those qualities required to be in that group...hopefully he would make it to the group one day--though very unlikely!! So the timings of the show were not fixed as yet and an afternoon matineee was on the cards.The whole group was only hopeful of the next day movie plan.i woke up early that day due to the festival and made necessary visits to some temples and performed the necessay puja.Ma gave me a special attention yesterday, an attention of which only my eldest brother has been the recipient of when he returns home.Kheer, gajar ka halwa, fruits and some other dishes-was to be the diet of the day and ma took special care that i ate properly.

So after getting over with the necessary puja, mom served the special breakfast at 1130 when nipun called up and asked if i was ready for the movie.To his surprise,i replied in affirmative.We had the first day first show tickets for the movie-thanks to Sumit who bought them just 1 hr before the show though he was asked to buy for the afternoon show, as a result leaving the indolent members of the group furious.The only possibility for the goofup could be that he stood in the queque for the current show asking for tickets for the afternoon show--all wondered!!

So the 7 of us had to reach the hall within an hour.Ajit had already cancelled his entry--no surprises on his part!! 4 of us reached the hall well in time-3 minutes before the start of the show!! but had to wait for the organiser of the treat to arrive.As usual, the movie had already begun when we entered the audi.Wonder which was the last movie in which i saw the star cast...missing the first 5-10 min of any movie is also a part of the fun!!

The movie was made alive by some awesome acting of Big B and little bit of fun from munnabhai...no wonder he was presented with a Rolls Royce by the Eklavya team.He again proved why he is called the shahenshah and why no baadshahs however strong, can stand tall to him.Though the crowd surrounding us found it a bit diffcult to understand what was happening...the movie was really faadu in their terminology. The movie was a short 2 hour movie with some people always waiting for some "scenes" to be shown...unluckily there were none.

So after the movie,everyone was hungry and with a brief outing at the lifestyle mall we ultimately headed towards the small chat shop in the rajouri market...the restaurant at the mall just had an extra zero in their tariffs!!Rajat confirmed me twice about the fast before ordering something though still he seemed unconvinced.Everyone ordered pao bhaji for himself and the only thing i could do was to see them gulp that down their fat stomach--they did not even have the courtesy of asking me...maybe they wanted to play safe!!

After the snacks, we headed towards our home...as i was already feeling hungry, i made a dash towards food as soon as i reached home.Ma served the special lunch and i ate more than i would do on any normal day...in the evening drank the delicious thandai and finally again the special dinner before retiring to the bed...

At the end, the day went very nice only that i missed the pao bhaji!!

the climax--season finale

the first three parts of the trip: the tour to Kharagpur and puri , my first day at iit kgp , the last two days at iit kgp

here goes my last part of this series:

After the forgettable iit kgp trip, we had planned to go to Puri via bhubaneshwar after a halt at my cousin's place there. we being new to the place decided to go along wid a group of 4-5 students going there.before that, we had to wait for arnd 2 hrs and miss 2 trains to get our travel fare reimbursed(A part of it was reimbursed...) and even before that we had to walk up to atleast 5kms to get the ticket photostated,the top engineering college boasts of only 2 xerox machines..and dat also in the "tech" market(outdated technology..) which remains closed from 2 to 5 during daytime(Left ka raaj hai...)... only later did i get to know in the evening that there were 3 more machines in the campus and surprisingly, the students we asked did not have any knowledge of that(kaise engg karenge...!!)...

So those 5 guys were with us .Now only one of them possessed the money for tickets and ironically the others had an altercation with him and hence idiotically left him at the college.Finally travelling in second class with a general ticket,some arguments with the TTE and getting down before the destined station was all a new experience at a place where we failed to understand oriya and the locals failed to understand us...finally with some difficulties we were at my cousin's place...

It had already been 5 days since sumit took a bath though the figure was 3 for me...so i had already planned to spend a comfortable time in bathroom...but that guy..he is just too aalsi..even my bro is nothing in front of him...and this all when he is not a hosteler...kya hota tab to..neways he still preferred only to wash his face...aadha devdas to ban chuka tha..with big beard on his face...so had a gud brkfast after 3 days..i got my tummy flat just within 3 days..itni mehnat ki thi banane me kambakht...they can easily make VLCC a run for their money. Now my cousin arranged for us a visit to a very famous temple there...it was some 400-500 yrs old and constructed without the use of any cement..the stones were somehow fixed with iron rods..another story of marvellous indian artists and architecture...there were 108 small temples within that big temple and where "pandas" catch hold of u as soon as u enter the temple..on the pretext of darshan and puja with a "nominal" charge...I am quite a religious guy but still not dat desperate to have a look at the idol from 20 cms...even 100 cms is a fine distance for me to get an aashirvad from god.I was told since my childhood that they have a very long range!!...par sumit..he is a big athiest...even bigger than my bro..i used to think ki wahi bahut bada nashtik hai...i dont think sumit even paid obesience there..wonder he wud say one day.."aaj khush to bahut hoge tum??" though hopefully for other reasons...

For all such big atheists Puri is one of the four religious places called "char dhaam"...it is famous for its beaches and the historic Jagannath puri temple(though only later did i get to know that it was just another name for Lord Krishna when mom told me abt it on returning back home..usse pehle i thot ki may be some other Indian God).

so we boarded the bus to puri in the afternoon and it took us around 2 hrs to reach there...the tiredness of past 2 days was so much that it was difficult to even open our eyes..the 2 hr trip was some solace...we booked a room on reaching there and straightaway headed towards the beach..the crowd was already enjoying the high waves of the sea..it was my second time at the beach and sumit's first...so he was a bit scared to go inside the water.After walking at the beach for some time, then a photo shoot, we moved to have a clash with the waves..though with our backs to it...after some time it appeared as though we were being pulled towards by the sea.i was told that the sea also had a liking for jewellery and other similar items..no matter hw tight they are to your body,the sea will snatch it from you.. and so my mom did not spare even the very tight rings i was wearing...i had to force sumit into water..he was quite scared and did not want to brk his fast of not bathing...it was a big fun there..it compensated for the kgp disaster..though the saddest part was that i had to be wid a guy...a trip to beach wid a gal wud be the most fascinating one,i think...

So after an hour at the sea and half an hour at the hotel bathroom, we moved for the famous Jagannath temple...again it was an example of marvellous architecture though a big victim of human vandalism...the lifestory of Lord Krishna inscribed on the walls of the temple was highly fascinating...just did not get to know when the planned half an hour got converted into more than hour under the mesmerising effect in the temple...just did not want to leave that place...something was holding me back..poor sumit..he had to bear wid me...As a result we got delayed for our train and had to rush thru our dinner...and just managed to reach the station in time....

finally we were on the train to be back at home..sweet home.. after a week..the 36 hrs at train were also full of fun..did not feel bore at any instant with a 4-5 aged kid with us...he seemed to be big flirt..managed to get along with 2-3 girls of his age in the same compartment in no time...sumit again was pretty lethargic here also...kitna bada aalsi hai...so now am back home just recalling the whole story again and again to my friends and family members and they just dont stop making a fun out of it...

The last two days at iit kgp

The first day showed the trailer of what was in the store for us for the next two days. The nite on the first day was peaceful only after i packed myself tightly inside the blanket...b4 that just cud not figure out what was happening...the mosquitoes were constantly buzzing in the ears..and now ghus ke dikha do blanket me..finally woke up quite early arnd 8 only to find that still there was no water.sumit and i had already chosen the latter option of vikramshila..2km away...situation in the flat had gone from bad to worse..ab to gaane se bhi kaam nhi hone wala tha...but as i went into the garden i saw people using water pretty abundantly...on investigating found that they were using the water from the neighbour's tap through the big hole in the broken wall..terrific jugad..the neighbours had already locked their flat and went away..they were some locals only...i also followed suit...after getting ready at the flat, sumit and i moved to vikramshila...in an hour there was to be a lecture from Wing Cmdr. (retd.) Rakesh Sharma-first Indian to go to space- at the kalidas audi just nearby.but the line was just too long...i saw such a long line b4 the ration shop of the harkat bania in hindi movies..the audi was full in no time and ppl had to leave dejected..HOUSEFULL...to fill an audi of 50 seats here is a mammoth task...the seniors have to force the fuchhas to sit in the audi or face consequences but there the audi of arnd 300 seats was full in no time...that also without any force...this was all the while we were looking from a distance...we also wanted to be in the audi par abhi to brkfast karna baaki tha..so what if the options were very limited.

After attending the last half hour of the lecture,the whole day was pretty boring...there were not many events to particpate in...but the evenings were all set for some fun..the lecture by Mr.Alyque Padamsee: India's leading advertisement guru was very hilarious..though the students there were very peaceful with only some rare in between hooting...the maximum came when an ad of KS condoms was being shown-the ad was thought of by the guru...and people demanding to be shown once more...He showed the importance of the IDEAS and how do they change the world thru some examples...the lecture was followed by a mesmerising sand animation show by Mr.David Myriam....and followed by the whole nite awakening for the programming finals...we had to sleep hungry that nite or rather the next morning...we slept at 5 and woke at 7 when the acco guys started collecting the mattresses and blankets provided.

We got ready by the time the open software event had to start.our software was one of the 25 entries selected for the final round...we made it to top 5 though we cud not finish in the top 3.i had planned to leave kgp in the afternoon but had to miss 2 trains due to the long line b4 the finance tent for the reimbursement.The kgpians openly smoke sutta in the campus, the missing beer bottles were the only consolation.After standing in the queque for 2 hrs, we finally managed to complete the formalities..prepared to leave for puri via bhubaneshwar.Bus was to be provided for ferrying the participants to the station..but later.. "due to some technical problem the bus facility has been withdrawn, particpants are reqd to make their arrangements on their own" announced the loudspeaker just when the passengers started fuming while waiting for more than half an hour for the bus....adding to the frustation were the rickshaw guys who added the nite charges to the already hefty fare to the station...some students got along with us to bhubaneshwar and then began the trip to bhubaneshwar...in the next post...

My first day at iit kgp

the first part: The tour to Kharagpur and Puri

First of all congrats to all those engineers who have passed out through the college and all the best to the budding engineers and the others aspiring to reach there.In these 3 days i felt that JEE was not the only difficult thing to be crossed...the students have to fight for their very survival...

Already seen the inflation in the fast developing economy -that also in a Left controlled state- we entered the campus and reached the KSHITIJ arena, an arena full of tents-finance tent,acco tent,control tent etc...(dande gaad rakhe the...and it took them 3 days to do that!!)the line was pretty long even in the early morning for the accomodation b4 the finance tent-good to c so many ppl coming frm diff parts of the country to particpate in the fest.So the 2nd yr guys were busy filling in the receipts for acco and "openly" smoking the sutta...our turn came after an hour..the pressure was building up..i knew hw i was controlling it...neways got the receipts and the room no. but still had to wait for half an hr for the taxi to come and take us to the room around 2 kms away.

the outer view of our flat

The hostel rooms were full by the time we reached the campus-the flux of the participants was unexpected-so we were alloted flats or rather "haunted flats" at one of the ends of the campus. The flat was surrounded by a beautiful garden with all sorts of wild plants in it,prominently the cactus and some others which i dn knw(im not a botanist after all!!) and the shrubs..i cant call it grass...yeah there was a plant with some flowers also!! As we entered the three room flat, some 25 ppl were already there getting ready.I already had pressure bulit up..so made a dash towards the toilet but one toilet for 30 ppl is never sufficient...there was already a queque waiting outside it.i started bantering with a 2nd yr acco guy abt the life at kgp but my mind was still wandering at the other end. Then suddenly a howling voice came from the toilet side..

"kya hai yeh, bathroom me kundi b nahi hai"...

and prompt came a sarcastic reply from one of his team memmbers

"ye koi khazana hai jo kundi lagaye"

and then there was a boisterous laugh in the room..me still wondering isnt it more imp than any khazana?? when complained about the situation later in the afternoon at the arena to an acco guy,he repeated the same dialogues of HeraPheri jokily,

"subah sandaas jane ka hai to singer banna padega ya phir darwaza pakad kar baithna padega nahi to 2 km door vikramshila ya kalidas audi ke toilet par..."

and seriously said that we have to "adjust".

Continuing from the morning story...

The guys told that the toilet did not have a flush either....the situation was really bad..i enquired the acco guy wid me abt this and he seemed totally clueless...fortunately i got my turn after 15 min of hard work...so relieving...the scene inside was just too much...neways later i had my bath and sumit was still waiting for his turn...as soon as he got his turn and came out, the taps went dry..lucky fellow!!the other guys who were left did not have any other option but to wait..for the water to come...it started coming within half an hr...

After getting ready,the next destination was the food restaurant...we heard b4 coming that there were many restaurants in kgp so fooding wont be a big prob...but after visitng them,the highways side restaurants wud be much better thn these....as a fachha(cousin of my friend) there put it,"ya to aankh band karke khao,ya baatein karte khao...maine to 3 din se kuch nhi khaya" said it all...the dce hostels can take a leaf out from their buk(the food here in delhi hostels is much bttr than that at kgp)...the whole day was full of events with a enthusiatic and fascinating lecture from a Nobel laureate Prof Kevin Warwick over neuroscience.The lecture was followed by an American band with the kgpians getting mad over the fat vocalist(poor kgpians!!...)....

We reached the room only to find that the taps were still dry...the next day story over water in the next post...the friend's cousin who came along with us to the room had difficulties to return back to his hostel as even he did not know that such a place even existed in his campus...

finally with the day's tiredness, the whole bunch of 25-30 ppl went to sleep fighting the mosquiotoes....

the story continues: the last two days at iit kgp , the climax-season finale

The tour to Kharagpur and Puri

I have just finished my combined tour to IIT kgp and Puri and am back to home(finally!!) to share my 'experiences' i faced there. I have divided them in 4 parts:- the train to iit kgp, my first day at iit kgp, the last two days at iit kgp, the climax-season finale.

here goes the first part:- the train to iit kgp

So i boarded the train early in the morning at 630.I along with my friend sumit was going to iit kgp for the fest KSHITIJ (it was supposed to be a fun trip considering the ennui in Delhi) and then a trip to Puri.This time the scene was quite different.The trip was scheduled 10 days back unlike other last moment trips and also we were pretty much on time to board the train.The coach we were in was almost empty and we had occupied 4 out of the 6 seats available at our disposal.Since the train had to pass thru some infamous areas of UP and Bihar, we had already chained the luggage well though i saw some nice however failed handwork of a person taking away a blanket in front of our eyes.The guy took away the blanket under the cover of another stolen blanket when the owner's eyes luckily caught him.The owner let off the guy for his excuse"galti se aa gaya hath me"!! My mom had already taken away the little bit of jewellery I was wearing.

The toilets in the train are also worth mentioning. They were certainly of the times India got independence-okay, i am exaggerating a bit here but still they were atleast 20 yrs old-when Manmohan singh started economic reforms-very shaky.one hand was busy holding the rod. The whole day in the train passed peacefully by sleeping, playing cards and discussing other mundane things when in the evening the train almost filled to its capacity at mughal sarai. The bihari babu who along with his family joined us there seemed to be a man of "principles". Both of us were sitting on the window seats when in an acerbic tone, he asked us to vacate those seats as they were reserved for him."yeh seat chod dijiye, ye hamari hai"-as if he had bought them.I 'politely' asked him, "aapko yahi baithna hai?" and prompt came the reply,"haan bilkul,chaliye aap apni seat par aa jaiye.."and soon we were in the corner with all other people nearby having a nice fun over the issue.Actually the way this babu spoke made the scene hilarious.As soon as he took over,the first thing he did was to close the windows and then to our surprise started "stripping"- fortunately not the mallika way but he used a towel.He even removed the inners from his body.However soon he was in a t-shirt and shorts.

As the nite fell,all prepared to go to sleep.Falling asleep was a bit risky as the train was in Bihar e and also after i saw the afternoon cameo.These guys dont even leave the slippers...I had to tie my shoes to the fan.So now the bihari babu was in the middle berth with sumit and I in the other middle berth and upper berth repsectively.Lalu ke raaj me bihari babu pure apne ghar jaise mehsoos kiye.As the darkness grew, the snores of the babu got stronger and louder, making all the more difficult either to sleep or remain awake. Anyways some how the nite passed and we were at the world's longest platform-1070 metres in length and with no direction boards to follow. The kgpians had informed that they wud be there at the station to receive us but we cud not find a trace of them. So we decided to take the rickshaw. The campus was about 5 kms from the station and the rickshaw guy asked for an amount for which i cud have easily commuted to and from my college and home on any vehicle except auto(with auto...it wud have been one way fare).Infact, that amount was fixed-as i came to know later.The ricksaw passed thru the 'main roads' which i wud say were even less wider than the delhi streets.I did not find even a single direction board the whole way and it was very easy to get lost in the labyrinth the guy took.In all, I felt even my village was certainly better than this only it did not have an IIT!

This continued even as we entered the campus.The main gate of the campus was pathetic...it was difficult to even read the name of the college.Then the admin bloc read-IIT KHARAGPUR- Dedicated to the service of the nation (in italics). There were no signs of any fest going on in the campus(until we reached the main arena)-no sponsors' banners, no fest banners-compare with the delhi colleges where one wud find as if he has entered the office of the sponsor rather than a college hosting a fest.

Then began my first day at IIT KGP---coming up in the next post.