Once upon a time

This post is dedicated to the only place I can worship: IITM

People come, people go. A few names stay, many leave.

The only thing that is perennial, is the place.

It watches over all. It sees the generation come and go. It witnesses all the blood, sweat and toil. It cradles the nuances of friendship, love, hate, achievements, let downs, anger, excitement and makes the times the most memorable for the ones who come by.

I have been in this institute for three years now. Three hostel nights have gone by, and I have bid farewell to three batches of seniors, all gems. I have had a fair share of bonding with many, and have experienced the joy of the company, and the sorrow of the goodbyes. I like this place, and I have known that for long. I have seen people trying hard to hold back their tears. I have also seen them cry, and hug each other trying to live together those last few days while realizing that very soon they will all be apart, gone in different directions.

These feelings of nostalgia have surfaced time and again during discussions with friends and good friends (Forgive me for that. The classification is a must!). Every year I read people write about their time at this place, about their friends and how they will miss these most cherished times. I have always related to them well.

But today was different. It was an overhaul of feelings I have never felt before.

I was in my wing comfortably seated on the parapet wall. There was a lot of activity in the quadrangle. Many people are yet to come back for the semester. I could see a few shuttling around carrying their luggage from the security desk to their rooms across the quadrangle through the pathway. Some were playing footer and the rest just standing and chit-chatting.

I noticed a familiar figure, that of a second yearite. I shouted and waved at him, and got the friendly smile and wave back. The smile was a mix of lot of affection and some apprehension, which is I believe, out of some respect that he probably has for me. Before I realized there were a few others who had noticed this howling of mine across the quadrangle. Many who noticed this act continued whatever they were doing. One had stopped a fraction of a second too long for me to understand that he was a fresher. From what I could see, he was done surveying the rooms, and was ready to move in. But what was funny was the way in which he was looking at me, and tried to take his eyes away from mine. There was a strange sense of phobia, anxiety, and excitement that was evident from his mannerisms. I was wondering what would be going on in his mind. What would he be thinking?

It was at this instant that it hit me.

A little short of three years ago, I was in the position that the fresher was in now. There were seniors who were standing in their wing and looking down upon the things happening around in the hostel and passing comments and having a ball among themselves. I thought that I must have been their topic of discussion. My thinking and scope did not let me think beyond this, and I never made an attempt at that moment to speculate if it was something else that they could be discussing. It has been barely three years, and here I am, in the role of those who I admired and looked upon. Time has whizzed by, and I didn’t notice. I am not even sure if I have come even close to what they were. They will still remain the same to me.

A year from now, I will (hopefully :D) be receiving my degree at the convocation. But will I be getting a magical box which will let me preserve all that I have lived in the past three years? Is it possible to live it all again? I wish I could talk to them again. I wish I could make all the friends I have made, all over again. I wish I could live every moment once again.

Though I could relate to everything that was written, spoken, and done at the end of every eventful year by the people who were going to pass out, it was only today that I realized the gravity of it all. Kudos to all those who have lived in these corridors, and wishes to all those who will walk the same in the years to come.

I wish all my batchmates a wonderful year ahead, and intend to make it the most eventful one of my life.

Cheers to life at IIT.

PS: If someone could give me an image apt to put up with this post, I would be grateful.

Purple Haze

It was the first time I visited the Koramangala Haze. Bliss. Truly a haze.

Acquaintance with a road side pisser

I have been thinking of an assignment lately. This came up while a few of my friends and I, were on an outing and noticed a carefree senseless guy pissing on the road side. It would be a good exercise to take a handy cam and walk around the city on a weekend and find random people pissing at the wrong places.

A few questions that I would like to ask people who do not put any efforts into holding the fluids in their bladder and go around pissing on the road side, random compound walls while successfully embarrassing the general public who have a better sense of understanding of common ethics and manners: (mind you! These questions, I plan to ask while they are still in the act)

• Sir, how do you feel while pissing here?
• You couldn’t control eh?
• You’ve been having lot of water lately is it? Or you just had a lot of beer?
• By the way, what is your name sir?
• Since when have you been doing this?
• Where are you coming from?
• Relieved eh?
• How many times have you pissed on the compound wall of your own house?
• Do you, like, piss in patterns? As in, do you try making flowers, animals, so on and so forth with the track of the fluid coming out?
• You are on national television sir! Do you have any message for the viewers?

Once done with it all, I plan to hand them a rupee and ask them to visit the public toilets next time.

I seriously think I should find some time to do this exercise. Should be good fun among other things! :D

Hilarious - or do I find it so?

My friend is talking to his girlfriend over the phone and chatting with me on gmail. She has a dance competition/performance tomorrow and is nervous about it. He is speaking to her and trying to pacify her.

What do I tell him in the chat window?

My friend: juzt now.... ladys called.. speakin to her..
shes lil tensed abt her dance show tmo... so just lil talking.s

me: ok.. pacification of india
in the indian ocean
fuck... that was hilarious
i cant believe I just said that!

Never mind.

8RF

I have been tagged by Aniket, and have stayed so for quite some time now. My work has kept me busy and I haven’t been able to post anything for a while now. In fact, I wanted to post something about my work itself, but lack of time hasn’t let me to. Anyway, if you have the time go through the following.

Here are the rules:

1. Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
2. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
3. Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

8RF about me:

1. I love giving bath to my pets, including cats. That was the case till I almost killed a kitten when I was four years old, and my mother made sure that I knew that the cause was the bath. Since then, I pity the cats. :P. I still love giving a bath to my dog though.
   
2. I smoked my first cigarette at the age of four. My father’s friend put a lit cigarette in my mouth, and left me coughing incessantly for the rest of the day. It made me feel like a man then. It is after ten years, maybe, that I realized that the feeling was just a result of some ads and movies that I had seen. Nevertheless, it was a kickass feeling.
3. Till 1^st standard it was my mother who used to do the drawings which were a part of my homework. Thanks to her spanking one day and asking me to do my work myself, I realized that I was way better than her at drawing, and there has been no stopping since. Now, I sketch sporadically, and some say I sketch well.
4. I ate thirty pickles to save my pride and honor when my uncle kept eating the pickles from my plate. He did it just to provoke me and only after I finished the thirty did I realize that he had eaten only four. Thank god! I did not have to visit the lou like they show in the movies. My digestive system took it all.
5. I think I have the ability to smell the presence of a snake. I am not sure about this, but I have this feeling that I can attribute a strange characteristic smell to the presence of a snake, and have been right on quite a few occasions.
6. Of late I have been obsessed with 100 bullets, and I think that it is the coolest thing that has happened to this planet.
7. I used to enjoy going to the movies alone during a phase of my life. I have not tried it recently. I guess, I will still enjoy it.
8. I had planned a plot to dump some mercury from the broken thermometer into the water bottle of a girl in my school days. I believe it was during my eighth standard. She is alive and healthy, which leaves me with only one conclusion: Thank God! Because recently I realized this.

Now that I am done with stating the eight random facts that first came to my mind, I tag CB, MGM, Paapi, Prasanna, Pi, KV, Varun, and Deja.

Tags taken up so far:

Pi's Mixtape, Paapi, Deja