When I entered into the fifth year of my studies at IIT Kharagpur, I had two dreams that wanted to fulfill before I graduated out of IIT. The first one was a very long standing dream, something that I had constantly dreamt of since my first year in the campus: To attain a CGPA of over 9 (out of 10). When I managed to secure 8.81 at the end of my first year, I knew it was only a matter of time before this dream got fulfilled. I predicted that I would cross the magic-mark by fourth (if not third) semester. But the scare of second semester (in which I managed to score a mere 8.04 and 8.32 leading to my CGPA falling to 8.52) meant that my dreams were far from over. During that time, I had begun fearing inability to maintain my CGPA over 8.5, and thoughts of a 9.00 were taking a backseat. A lot of hard work for the next four semesters, in which I managed an average GPA of about 9.5, landed me at 8.96 bringing me awfully close to my dream. I knew my job was far from over. I recollected the experience of one of my friend, who even after coming numbing close to the magical figure at 8.99, couldn't manage to break into the 9+ club.
My second dream was to secure a job with Shell (the popular name of Royal Dutch Shell plc). Unlike the previous one, this was not a long-standing dream. Although I knew about Shell for a long time, it was only when it came for campus recruitments for my senior batch did I get interested in the company. Shell was opening an R&D centre in Bangalore and wanted to recruit fresh graduates for the job. Before I heard about Shell's offer, I had trouble deciding which company to prefer. I wanted to work for a large company, preferably in R&D related area. I wanted to be preferably based in India, and wanted a job which promised good growth opportunities. Of all the companies I knew that came for recruitments, none of them fitted the bill. I knew that fresh graduates can't be very demanding about job options, so accepting the situation while trying to figure out my preferences was the best thing to do. Thus, when I heard about the job description of Shell, I couldn't believe it as this was exactly what I had wanted from my job. What was more heartening was the fact that not only was their compensation package non-repulsive, on the contrary it was very attractive, much more than what was offered to Mechanical Engineering graduates in India.
Even with such a clear choice in my mind, the work was far from finished. Not only was I far from clearing the hurdle of passing their selection process, I also had to find a way of not getting placed before Shell came for recruitment. The easiest sounding option would have been to not sit for any interviews before the D-day, but even an amateur would say that this can be suicidal. So I decided to sit for HLL, the only company other than Shell where I would have been happy to get a job with.
I was shortlisted for the final recruitment process by both HLL and Shell. HLL was on Day 1 (as they say), and Shell was on Day 2. I fared well in the group discussion round of HLL, and even cleared the first round of interview. Only me and Sneha Prasad managed to reach the second round of interview, which I later realised was a stress interview. The big-shots of HLL did everything to stress me out, but even though I got stuck a few times, I never lost my cool.
Usually, when people come out of their final interview, they expect that they won't get though, but pray that they do. With me, it was the reverse case: I expected to get an offer from HLL, but prayed that I don't. When the final results arrived, I learned that I couldn't make it to HLL. Looking back I feel that HLL wanted a person from thermal background, and while I was from a Dynamics background, Sneha was from Manufacturing background. All this was now irrelevant as I started preparing for the Shell Recruitment Day (SRD).
The Shell Recruitment Day was so much full of events that it deserves a post of its own. However, I will summarize what their recruiting strategy was. They gave a part of case study (background material) for reading the previous day, and on the SRD, the remaining part of it. After 80 minutes, we were supposed to present a 5 minute summary of our recommendations, followed by 20 minutes for questions and answers. The second round was a technical interview where we were grilled on a couple of our research topics for 30-45 minutes. The third round was group work where the candidates had to discuss and recommend a few projects for Shell to fund. Because of some chaos that resulted in last day's recruitment process, the results were held up till 3 am in the night. As you might have guessed, I got selected in Shell along with 16 other students. My joy knew no bounds when I learnt that after getting a 9.52 in the 9th semester, my CGPA finally became 9.02.
The experience of getting a job was most certainly a fulfilling one, and quite surprisingly, in the days to come, I found bitterness in it. Initially, the bitterness was because I came so close to being nobody. If I were unsuccessful at getting a job with Shell, it would have meant that I would have been left unemployed for many days to come. What was more painful was that I would have landed in a job I quite likely wouldn't have enjoyed in the first place. It is said that those who have seen death closely start understanding life a lot. I was not an exception to the rule. Whenever I tell someone about my job they either start feeling proud of me, or develop envy against me. But none realize how close I had been at being nobody. In the days to come, I saw many friends who were still hanging in that empty zone. While all knew that they would get "some" job, nobody knew which one. I saw so many people applying for every other job, with their aptitude taking a backseat. I saw each of those stories as my own, and placing myself in their shoes, felt the pain they themselves were going through. One of my favorite mantra is "Life isn't meant to be fair". For the first time in my life, I understood it from my heart rather than my mind. Things turned out beautifully for me, and I ought to be happy, but something held me back in enjoying things to the fullest.
Keeping these discussions aside, I often find people wondering why I didn't go for higher studies or pursued MBA at IIMs. It has been tough for me to explain these things to everyone, but I think that I should document my opinions on the issue once and for all. Most of the people who know me (but not closely enough) take it for granted that I will be going for higher studies. I must say that I often feel surprised at it as I have never said or done anything that remotely indicates my aptitude or passion for higher studies. The people who assume this about me either owe their belief to my intelligence, or the hard work that I put in studies that gets reflected in my academics through my CGPA. I never knew that using the Grey Matter was linked to going for higher studies. Also, while it is true that most people who put extra-hard work on their academics go for higher studies, I don't see any reason why the former should cause the latter. As a student, I feel that it is our responsibility to do well in academics, irrespective of the career line we choose to pursue later. The reason why I never went for higher studies is that I don't have aptitude for higher education. My experience with research has been that at the doctorate level, people become overly obsessed about a topic of a minor significance, something which I find myself incapable of handling. Also, add to the fact that the best you can do is choose the field of your major research, with the exact topic of your research decided by the whims of a professor you hardly know before start working with him. The atmosphere of indefinite detention also doesn't help. What lies beyond the Ph.D. degree also doesn't thrill me. One either goes for an R&D job at an industry or enters academics. If I were to choose the former, why not choose it at the graduate level (As a matter of fact, I got an R&D job with Shell). The latter is not something I relish. We all have heard about professors who understand their subject very well, but are unable to teach their subjects effectively. Some may respect them, but they get ridiculed by most of the class. This is something that I would not like happening with me. Those who wonder why I didn't go for MBA surprise me even more. Throughout my educational career, I have hardly done anything that would showcase my talent or aptitude for management. So when I have showcased enough aptitude and talent for technical job, why on earth should I move over to a field that I don't even know I would relish or not? I presume most of those who pursue the IIMs do it so because of money. They join the rat-race of getting more and more money, realizing little that money would stop mattering even before you turn 30. This is something that people from all walks of life would tell you. In the end, it is job satisfaction that matters. It is not that I am averse to management; but what is the point in jumping when you have no clue of what would greet you. Adventures aside, I consider it suicidal, not to mention outrightly stupid. I don't know if someone asks me this question again, do I repeat this whole story, or redirect them to this blog post.
Showing posts with label Memories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Memories. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Causal Fallacy
Another great story from Department of Logic.
In today's class we were asked to do derivations using First Order Predicate Logic. One of the problems was very tough and the proof went over a dozen steps. I was one of the first person in class to crack it, and Prof. C. Chakraborti came over to see my proof. After going through, she pointed out that I have made a mistake while applying the exportation rule, and hence would require modifications. After that, she went through the proof by Khushboo (who sat in a seat alternate to mine). When she finished reading it, she told "I was expecting this" and pointed her some error in her proof. When she left, I asked Khushboo what the error was and why was she "expecting it". She told that she had made a mistake while applying the exportation rule just like me, though her error originated from her class notes as against the memory failure in my case. Then, the whole incident dawned on me. The professor is used to seeing one person in a row doing the question, and all others copying it. She attributed the mistake made by Khushboo to this phenomenon and went ahead. Truly speaking, she committed a Causal Fallacy by wrongly attributing Khushboo's mistake to mine. Howsoever improbable this event may sound, it did happen, and thus exposed the fallacy committed by a professor teaching logic!
Moral of the story: Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.
In today's class we were asked to do derivations using First Order Predicate Logic. One of the problems was very tough and the proof went over a dozen steps. I was one of the first person in class to crack it, and Prof. C. Chakraborti came over to see my proof. After going through, she pointed out that I have made a mistake while applying the exportation rule, and hence would require modifications. After that, she went through the proof by Khushboo (who sat in a seat alternate to mine). When she finished reading it, she told "I was expecting this" and pointed her some error in her proof. When she left, I asked Khushboo what the error was and why was she "expecting it". She told that she had made a mistake while applying the exportation rule just like me, though her error originated from her class notes as against the memory failure in my case. Then, the whole incident dawned on me. The professor is used to seeing one person in a row doing the question, and all others copying it. She attributed the mistake made by Khushboo to this phenomenon and went ahead. Truly speaking, she committed a Causal Fallacy by wrongly attributing Khushboo's mistake to mine. Howsoever improbable this event may sound, it did happen, and thus exposed the fallacy committed by a professor teaching logic!
Moral of the story: Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Nerves of Steel
This true story may sound like one we keep hearing in forwarded mails, but don't have any way to verify whether it actually happened.
Last year, during the Training and Placement season of IIT Kharagpur, one of my wingmates appeared for the interview of a major steel company. The interviewer asked the candidates to tell the factors influencing establishment of an iron and steel plant at a location.
This guy thought for a while and told "लोहा बनाने के लिए लोहे का कलेजा होना चाहिए ।"
("To make iron/steel, one should have nerves of steel.")
Needless to say, the interviewer was impressed and he was selected.
Last year, during the Training and Placement season of IIT Kharagpur, one of my wingmates appeared for the interview of a major steel company. The interviewer asked the candidates to tell the factors influencing establishment of an iron and steel plant at a location.
This guy thought for a while and told "लोहा बनाने के लिए लोहे का कलेजा होना चाहिए ।"
("To make iron/steel, one should have nerves of steel.")
Needless to say, the interviewer was impressed and he was selected.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Logic
...Intelligent, Simple and Intuitive.
One of the biggest problems with the generation today is that it considers classroom and the real world as two distinct places, that have no correlation with each other. Specifically, the people today don't think about applying what we learn in classrooms to the situations we find in real life. It can be argued that student life doesn't provide us with opportunites to unleash our creative self. But when it does, aren't the students expected to use the knowledge. One such oppotunity to explore how much theory people put into practice came during a class of "Symbolic Logic".
The evidence I have is quite unrelated to what we were taught, lest incriminating as the lead makes it sound. The beauty of the incident is that it captured failure to use logic in a non-academic problem during the lecture class of Symbolic Logic held on 22 August, 2006. To give a background, the course concerned is conducted as an HSS Elective, with students from virtually all departments, in different years of study taking part. The course is conducted by a faculty by the name of Chhanda Chakraborti, who has very recently written a book titled "Logic: Informal, Symbolic and Inductive". She strongly recommends (buying and) using the book for the course. On the first lecture class of the subject, when a student asked her the author of the book she is prescribing, she politely replied: "...certain C. Chakraborti".
Fast-forwarding to the lecture class held last Tuesday, I was sitting on the first bench with my brother Ankur, sharing the book with him. The row behind us had two girls, both without a book. Since the class strength for the course is about 140, Prof. Chakraborti prefers to circulate the attendance sheet, rather than taking a roll call. On the D-Day however, she had more issues to tackle. The lecture being a double-lecture (with two back to back lectures separated by a short break), the problem of students signing for both the lectures and heading back home during the break was not a possibility she had discounted. So while handing over the attendance sheet to the class, she made it a point to mention that students were to sign only for the first lecture class, and wait for the next lecture where the process will be repeated for the second signature. However, the students had become seasoned TM enough to ignore such advices, and most of them ended up signing for both the classes. Since the attendance sheet was passed on from the other side of the class, the attendance sheet reached me by the end of the lecture. Just before it reached me, it logically went to the row behind me. A girl named Lalita, who took the sheet, was aghast to see signatures on both the columns. She told (to us neighbours), that madame had specifically asked to sign on only column. Based on my past experience and reasoning that if all students signed on both columns, she wouldn't have any option but to accept the page; I noted that she shouldn't care about that warning and for the greater good of humanity (that included her), and sign on both the columns. She, being a very idealist girl, refused to partner us in the crime. Needless to say, almost all except her had signed twice. The sheet was returned to the professor and a good number of students left during the break.
When the next lecture began, and the professor lifted the sheet from the table, she noticed the trick that the students played. In an instant, her jaw dropped and she moved her lips in futility, unable to speak anything. Then, composing herself, she gave a beaming smile to the class, and lifting the mike to her mouth, spoke: "When I gave you this sheet, I asked to sign only once. Now, I am re-circulating the sheet again, and all of you should sign in the second column again. To see if things go differently, I am passing the sheet from other side of the class", giving the sheet to Ankur. Here, Lalita raised her voice and informed the professor that she hadn't done it, donning a proud look (quite unsurprising act to me, and easily foreseen). She couldn't get any appreciation out of the professor, though it was certain that everything said was clearly heard. Anyway, Ankur signed the sheet again, and I followed suit, finally giving the sheet to her. She had signed the sheet only once till now and so, this time she signed on the empty column. She was about to pass the sheet to her neighbour, when I intervened. I asked her to sign thrice as everyone is now supposed to do. She told that she did the right thing the first time, and now again she is doing what was expected of her. Then, I told her to contemplate what she is doing, and specifically think how would the professor distinguish her from those who signed twice in the first lecture and have now left. They would be having two signatures, and so would she; earning her an absent in the second lecture class. She tried to reason, but understood the chain of thought, and (hopefully, I feel) thanking me for saving her from a cardinal sin of not attending a lecture.
And yes, before I forget, the professor became the first instructor to teach me who had the guts of admitting that she "wasn't paying attention in class", asking me to repeat a question I asked in the second lecture that she missed hearing.
End-note: The story goes like this. During the previous double lecture, when she tried passing attendance sheets for the first time, my friend Suman was the first person to sign it (only once). He passed it onto me, and I signed twice. Seeing me take the short-cut, he signed the sheet again, and passed on to the next person. The herd mentality of the class snowballed into everyone signed the sheet twice, and when it reached the professor in the end, she was speechless. Probably she thought it was her fault that she didn't clearly specify to sign only once, and would do it from the next class onwards. Who knew what future holds for us.
One of the biggest problems with the generation today is that it considers classroom and the real world as two distinct places, that have no correlation with each other. Specifically, the people today don't think about applying what we learn in classrooms to the situations we find in real life. It can be argued that student life doesn't provide us with opportunites to unleash our creative self. But when it does, aren't the students expected to use the knowledge. One such oppotunity to explore how much theory people put into practice came during a class of "Symbolic Logic".
The evidence I have is quite unrelated to what we were taught, lest incriminating as the lead makes it sound. The beauty of the incident is that it captured failure to use logic in a non-academic problem during the lecture class of Symbolic Logic held on 22 August, 2006. To give a background, the course concerned is conducted as an HSS Elective, with students from virtually all departments, in different years of study taking part. The course is conducted by a faculty by the name of Chhanda Chakraborti, who has very recently written a book titled "Logic: Informal, Symbolic and Inductive". She strongly recommends (buying and) using the book for the course. On the first lecture class of the subject, when a student asked her the author of the book she is prescribing, she politely replied: "...certain C. Chakraborti".
Fast-forwarding to the lecture class held last Tuesday, I was sitting on the first bench with my brother Ankur, sharing the book with him. The row behind us had two girls, both without a book. Since the class strength for the course is about 140, Prof. Chakraborti prefers to circulate the attendance sheet, rather than taking a roll call. On the D-Day however, she had more issues to tackle. The lecture being a double-lecture (with two back to back lectures separated by a short break), the problem of students signing for both the lectures and heading back home during the break was not a possibility she had discounted. So while handing over the attendance sheet to the class, she made it a point to mention that students were to sign only for the first lecture class, and wait for the next lecture where the process will be repeated for the second signature. However, the students had become seasoned TM enough to ignore such advices, and most of them ended up signing for both the classes. Since the attendance sheet was passed on from the other side of the class, the attendance sheet reached me by the end of the lecture. Just before it reached me, it logically went to the row behind me. A girl named Lalita, who took the sheet, was aghast to see signatures on both the columns. She told (to us neighbours), that madame had specifically asked to sign on only column. Based on my past experience and reasoning that if all students signed on both columns, she wouldn't have any option but to accept the page; I noted that she shouldn't care about that warning and for the greater good of humanity (that included her), and sign on both the columns. She, being a very idealist girl, refused to partner us in the crime. Needless to say, almost all except her had signed twice. The sheet was returned to the professor and a good number of students left during the break.
When the next lecture began, and the professor lifted the sheet from the table, she noticed the trick that the students played. In an instant, her jaw dropped and she moved her lips in futility, unable to speak anything. Then, composing herself, she gave a beaming smile to the class, and lifting the mike to her mouth, spoke: "When I gave you this sheet, I asked to sign only once. Now, I am re-circulating the sheet again, and all of you should sign in the second column again. To see if things go differently, I am passing the sheet from other side of the class", giving the sheet to Ankur. Here, Lalita raised her voice and informed the professor that she hadn't done it, donning a proud look (quite unsurprising act to me, and easily foreseen). She couldn't get any appreciation out of the professor, though it was certain that everything said was clearly heard. Anyway, Ankur signed the sheet again, and I followed suit, finally giving the sheet to her. She had signed the sheet only once till now and so, this time she signed on the empty column. She was about to pass the sheet to her neighbour, when I intervened. I asked her to sign thrice as everyone is now supposed to do. She told that she did the right thing the first time, and now again she is doing what was expected of her. Then, I told her to contemplate what she is doing, and specifically think how would the professor distinguish her from those who signed twice in the first lecture and have now left. They would be having two signatures, and so would she; earning her an absent in the second lecture class. She tried to reason, but understood the chain of thought, and (hopefully, I feel) thanking me for saving her from a cardinal sin of not attending a lecture.
And yes, before I forget, the professor became the first instructor to teach me who had the guts of admitting that she "wasn't paying attention in class", asking me to repeat a question I asked in the second lecture that she missed hearing.
End-note: The story goes like this. During the previous double lecture, when she tried passing attendance sheets for the first time, my friend Suman was the first person to sign it (only once). He passed it onto me, and I signed twice. Seeing me take the short-cut, he signed the sheet again, and passed on to the next person. The herd mentality of the class snowballed into everyone signed the sheet twice, and when it reached the professor in the end, she was speechless. Probably she thought it was her fault that she didn't clearly specify to sign only once, and would do it from the next class onwards. Who knew what future holds for us.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Bedtime Story
Every night as I lay down in my bed to go to sleep, I make it a point to look outside the window from its upper left corner. From the clearing of the trees, comes a bright white light. Though the size of a twentieth of a moon, the aura of the brightness equals that of the full moon. It has a special place in my heart. Just as a full moon reminds a lover of his beloved, it reminds me of my childhood love, the IITs.
The bright light that shines at the top of the tower of the Institute's Main Building has a lot of symbolic value for me. When I am lying peacefully in my bed with the lights turned off, it shines singularly in the desert of darkness. It takes me back to those days in my school life when my only aim was to clear JEE. It reminds me of the single-minded devotion I had for my studies, and even today I draw inspiration from it.
I wonder how many people have the privilege of this view and how many actually attach it so much value as I do. Fortunately for me, this privilege is not a nuisance. Just by shifting my position marginally in bed, I can go again to the state where my mind and my vision go blank, singing me a lullaby. On such occasions, I often remember the rhymes from my early school days as I go into the arms of sleep.
"This little guiding light of mine,
I'm going to let it shine.
Let it shine, let it shine,
All the time, let it shine."
The bright light that shines at the top of the tower of the Institute's Main Building has a lot of symbolic value for me. When I am lying peacefully in my bed with the lights turned off, it shines singularly in the desert of darkness. It takes me back to those days in my school life when my only aim was to clear JEE. It reminds me of the single-minded devotion I had for my studies, and even today I draw inspiration from it.
I wonder how many people have the privilege of this view and how many actually attach it so much value as I do. Fortunately for me, this privilege is not a nuisance. Just by shifting my position marginally in bed, I can go again to the state where my mind and my vision go blank, singing me a lullaby. On such occasions, I often remember the rhymes from my early school days as I go into the arms of sleep.
"This little guiding light of mine,
I'm going to let it shine.
Let it shine, let it shine,
All the time, let it shine."
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Bye...Bye...Monkai
A post after a long while.....I was unable to post for the last few days as I went home and the modem there committed suicide!
Anyways, back in business now in Kharagpur, I have a few things to cheer about. And one of my favourites is the Monkai story.
For the uninitiated, Monkai da is R.P. Hall's fruit-seller. And in addition to the fruits, he is also supposed to sell all other edible stuff like chips, chocolates, biscuits, etc. But what is probable and plausibe for us need not be for the greater good of humanity. This exactly was his opinion about his shop. All the fruit-sellers all over the campus keep a huge variety of eatables and make enough profit. But he somehow chose the divine path.
He decided that it will be better if he did not keep many things, kept them as shabby and old as possible and behaved badly with the students. For this purpose he chose to keep the shop open as less as possible (lest some students come in to buy something), and keep the shop as empty as possible. On entering his shop, what one can expect to find are a month old oranges, a few packets of mixture, a few biscuits of local companies and a few other 'profitable things'. These 'profitable things' include mixture, chikki, and a few types of biscuits. I choose to refer them as 'profitable things' as his perception of profit was to sell things as expensive as possible. As he had little say in goods marked with M.R.P., he chose to sell most of his goods loose at a premium price. What gets sold for Rs. 4 just anywhere else in the world, he would price at Rs. 10, sometimes even Rs. 15! But if some of my friends are to be believed, his ultimate motive was far more complex that earlier thought. There is a very famous true story in this reagrd.
Once, a friend of mine went to the shop to buy some chikki (one of the rare things that he sold that actually found buyers). This annoyed Monkai so much that he said: "What is this? Every time I bring chikki, you people come and finish it (by buying them). This won't do. I am not bringing them from this time onwards". I request any person in the whole blogoshere who understood the philosoply behind this message to please enlighten me.
Anyways, the story went on with a few twists and turns. Those one-off incidents involved a thrashing from the Warden to improve (timing and quality), and one incident in which a student stole his diary in which he kept records of dues from students. The whole story took a new turn this September when the G. Sec. (Mess) took an initiative to give him an ultimatum. He was presented with a long list of items that he had to keep in stock as well as strict timings that were to be adhered to. Everyone knew instantly that this is the end of Monkai. Although the list wasn't very extravagant (most hall's fruit shop even sell more), we knew that Monkai couldn't make it. To add to his misery, a register was kept to record any breach of the ultimatum. Not to much surprise, he faltered. Remembering the list brings into my memory another incident.
My friend Vikas Chandan once visited my hall and decided to buy a Dairy Milk Chocolate. Although Suman warned against it, he reasoned: "How bad can it be?", and went ahead for the purchase. Inside the shop, he couldn't locate any chocolate. Upon asking for it, Monkai took out a bar from an obscure corner. Vikas asked: "Why don't you keep it in display? That way it will sell more." To this he replied: "Its my shop. I will decide where to keep which thing." Vikas was silenced. And eating that was the worst thing Vikas could have done then. It was lumpy and sticky mass that was a duplicate for sure.
Coming back to the story (as well as from home), I was pleasantly surprised by a notice inviting tendors for fruit-shop and informing that a one month notice have been given to Monkai to clear the shop. The RPians couldn't have asked for a better Durga Puja gift.
Anyways, back in business now in Kharagpur, I have a few things to cheer about. And one of my favourites is the Monkai story.
For the uninitiated, Monkai da is R.P. Hall's fruit-seller. And in addition to the fruits, he is also supposed to sell all other edible stuff like chips, chocolates, biscuits, etc. But what is probable and plausibe for us need not be for the greater good of humanity. This exactly was his opinion about his shop. All the fruit-sellers all over the campus keep a huge variety of eatables and make enough profit. But he somehow chose the divine path.
He decided that it will be better if he did not keep many things, kept them as shabby and old as possible and behaved badly with the students. For this purpose he chose to keep the shop open as less as possible (lest some students come in to buy something), and keep the shop as empty as possible. On entering his shop, what one can expect to find are a month old oranges, a few packets of mixture, a few biscuits of local companies and a few other 'profitable things'. These 'profitable things' include mixture, chikki, and a few types of biscuits. I choose to refer them as 'profitable things' as his perception of profit was to sell things as expensive as possible. As he had little say in goods marked with M.R.P., he chose to sell most of his goods loose at a premium price. What gets sold for Rs. 4 just anywhere else in the world, he would price at Rs. 10, sometimes even Rs. 15! But if some of my friends are to be believed, his ultimate motive was far more complex that earlier thought. There is a very famous true story in this reagrd.
Once, a friend of mine went to the shop to buy some chikki (one of the rare things that he sold that actually found buyers). This annoyed Monkai so much that he said: "What is this? Every time I bring chikki, you people come and finish it (by buying them). This won't do. I am not bringing them from this time onwards". I request any person in the whole blogoshere who understood the philosoply behind this message to please enlighten me.
Anyways, the story went on with a few twists and turns. Those one-off incidents involved a thrashing from the Warden to improve (timing and quality), and one incident in which a student stole his diary in which he kept records of dues from students. The whole story took a new turn this September when the G. Sec. (Mess) took an initiative to give him an ultimatum. He was presented with a long list of items that he had to keep in stock as well as strict timings that were to be adhered to. Everyone knew instantly that this is the end of Monkai. Although the list wasn't very extravagant (most hall's fruit shop even sell more), we knew that Monkai couldn't make it. To add to his misery, a register was kept to record any breach of the ultimatum. Not to much surprise, he faltered. Remembering the list brings into my memory another incident.
My friend Vikas Chandan once visited my hall and decided to buy a Dairy Milk Chocolate. Although Suman warned against it, he reasoned: "How bad can it be?", and went ahead for the purchase. Inside the shop, he couldn't locate any chocolate. Upon asking for it, Monkai took out a bar from an obscure corner. Vikas asked: "Why don't you keep it in display? That way it will sell more." To this he replied: "Its my shop. I will decide where to keep which thing." Vikas was silenced. And eating that was the worst thing Vikas could have done then. It was lumpy and sticky mass that was a duplicate for sure.
Coming back to the story (as well as from home), I was pleasantly surprised by a notice inviting tendors for fruit-shop and informing that a one month notice have been given to Monkai to clear the shop. The RPians couldn't have asked for a better Durga Puja gift.
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Birthday Buoy
August the 2nd was my birthday. And it will continue to remain so until they do something creepy with the Gregorian Calendar. After that I may have to celebrate it in July or September depending on which way they shift. But I am not going to worry about it until I am forced to. At this moment, I am forced to worry about bigger issues like whether I should be studying or blogging. Apparently I have found a solution. But I won't tell you.
I remember my birthdays used to be very routine till I was in school. Only the faces who turned up and sung : "Happy Birthday To You..." changed but everything else including the menu of the birthday would remain same. I know that my mother will kill me for this as she makes sure that the menu is different everytime, but anyway, since the choice of birthday dishes is limited to 8 dishes with 3 dishes being cooked everytime, repititions are bound to occur every third year. Given the fact that I have a poor memory and I remember very less about my birthdays, and I can't recall any differnce among them. Of all the places I lived, I remember just one birthday celebrated there.
When things become routine, we crave for a change. so when in the first year in IIT Kharagpur, I wasn't hounded for by birthday by anyone, it was a welcome change. I was feeling a lot more human on that day. Though I didn't think much about it, in my sub-conscious mind, it was written in bold print that I love being human on my birthday. That I was no party boy made it simple for me to save myself from being hounded by people to give treats and GPLs.
For those not into any Indian Colleges, GPL refers to the phenomenon of kicking the butt of a person using all the force you can gather, doing it in a group big enough so that by the time you are finished giving GPLs, the guy on the receiving side (howsoever sturdy and with cushoined buttocks) is also finished.
I have never been able to keep terms with either GPLs or treats. The people who "ask" for treat and "declare" to wield GPL are usually the same, and I find them mentally ill. While there is no harm in giving treats, asking for them should never be practiced. Treats are usually asked when a person gets success in doing something big, which usually amounts to money. So no sooner does the person gets the money, he is hounded to part with it by giving lavish treats at the place the receiving group finds suitable. So the happiness comes at a cost.
On similar lines, GPLs are given to people when they are ecstatic. And no sooner than a person has got a reason to be happy, is he reduced to a limpig and weaning lump. This aptly looks to me as the pull down mentality of the masses. If you don't get success, scare the others from success by punishing them for it.
Coming back to my birthday stuff. Now my birthday was without any stuff for the next 3 years. In the second year, I was out to JBNSTS seminar where they presented me with a big chocolate cake and again sung the routine "Happy Birthday" song. There are two things I want to remind everyone are:
1) I hate cakes. One of the reasons I hate birthdays.
2) "Happy Birthday" song is routine. People should invent some other parallel song that can help breaking the monotony.
While these were not the reasons that gave me happiness, it was the fact that they remembered was plaudible (Note that they use softwares for reminding). Even more heartening was the fact that they sent another cake for Ankur. A very interesting thing also happened. To those not inside my friends circle, I should tell that another JBNSTS scholar was Anita V, who because of a few unfortunate events that took place in the first year was mad at my brother Ankur. And she used some law that looked to me like the Principle of Mathematical Indcution from the Cretaceous Era into proving that I am the Ankur. Neither did she sung out of compulsion, she even refused to eat the birthday cake for some vague reason. I wasn't humoured by this. While we were returning back, I made her hold Ankur's cake for a while when I loaded the other baggage in the taxi. She gave me a look of disgust similar to what Mukta gave when she spotted her Lizzy. A small difference that Anita wasn't exactly afraid of the cake.
In the third year again, I managed to escape the public eye by keeping a low profile. Somehow, even very less friends and family members called me. The only thing I remember about that birthday is that I had a mini-treat in which I took along Suman and Hrishikesh and we had Chicken Biryani at Billoo's Restaurant.
This year there was a completely different story. I decided to go to sleep at 11:30 pm. But I was shaken out of the sub-conscious state I had reached by a call from Sarika at 12 midnight. Prateek called at 12:30 and I got an SMS from Chinmay Joshi at quarter to one. So I couldn't sleep before 1 am. And I woke up at six, giving me only five hours of sleep. Note that usually I sleep for about 7~8 hours everyday. I was pleasantly surprised by a note pasted on my door that said "Many Happy Returns Of The Day". It was though anonymous. Usually I would have teared such thing off in a second. But the fact that it was anonymous made me wait. I felt that until I acknowledge to the writer, I should not be tearing it. I left it dangling there.
Throughout the whole day, I kept on receiving calls and messages on orkut. I feel that orkut had a lot to do with such response that day as it keeps reminding of the birthdays and all. Eventhough I had no plans of it beforehand, I decided to give the whole wing a treat. I also decided to invite Addy to it. Here comes the differnce I talked about before in this post. Eventhough I decided to pay the bill all by myself, 4 more wing-mates suggested that they share the bill as they were unable to give any birthday treat owing to vaccations. It was eventually decided that I and Amiruddin share the amount between us. We had a great time during the treat at Little Sisters Restaurant. By mid-night, I had received over 40 birthday wishes. I realized that if such enriching and novel experience is what the birthday offers, I can start celebrating them again.
I remember my birthdays used to be very routine till I was in school. Only the faces who turned up and sung : "Happy Birthday To You..." changed but everything else including the menu of the birthday would remain same. I know that my mother will kill me for this as she makes sure that the menu is different everytime, but anyway, since the choice of birthday dishes is limited to 8 dishes with 3 dishes being cooked everytime, repititions are bound to occur every third year. Given the fact that I have a poor memory and I remember very less about my birthdays, and I can't recall any differnce among them. Of all the places I lived, I remember just one birthday celebrated there.
When things become routine, we crave for a change. so when in the first year in IIT Kharagpur, I wasn't hounded for by birthday by anyone, it was a welcome change. I was feeling a lot more human on that day. Though I didn't think much about it, in my sub-conscious mind, it was written in bold print that I love being human on my birthday. That I was no party boy made it simple for me to save myself from being hounded by people to give treats and GPLs.
For those not into any Indian Colleges, GPL refers to the phenomenon of kicking the butt of a person using all the force you can gather, doing it in a group big enough so that by the time you are finished giving GPLs, the guy on the receiving side (howsoever sturdy and with cushoined buttocks) is also finished.
I have never been able to keep terms with either GPLs or treats. The people who "ask" for treat and "declare" to wield GPL are usually the same, and I find them mentally ill. While there is no harm in giving treats, asking for them should never be practiced. Treats are usually asked when a person gets success in doing something big, which usually amounts to money. So no sooner does the person gets the money, he is hounded to part with it by giving lavish treats at the place the receiving group finds suitable. So the happiness comes at a cost.
On similar lines, GPLs are given to people when they are ecstatic. And no sooner than a person has got a reason to be happy, is he reduced to a limpig and weaning lump. This aptly looks to me as the pull down mentality of the masses. If you don't get success, scare the others from success by punishing them for it.
Coming back to my birthday stuff. Now my birthday was without any stuff for the next 3 years. In the second year, I was out to JBNSTS seminar where they presented me with a big chocolate cake and again sung the routine "Happy Birthday" song. There are two things I want to remind everyone are:
1) I hate cakes. One of the reasons I hate birthdays.
2) "Happy Birthday" song is routine. People should invent some other parallel song that can help breaking the monotony.
While these were not the reasons that gave me happiness, it was the fact that they remembered was plaudible (Note that they use softwares for reminding). Even more heartening was the fact that they sent another cake for Ankur. A very interesting thing also happened. To those not inside my friends circle, I should tell that another JBNSTS scholar was Anita V, who because of a few unfortunate events that took place in the first year was mad at my brother Ankur. And she used some law that looked to me like the Principle of Mathematical Indcution from the Cretaceous Era into proving that I am the Ankur. Neither did she sung out of compulsion, she even refused to eat the birthday cake for some vague reason. I wasn't humoured by this. While we were returning back, I made her hold Ankur's cake for a while when I loaded the other baggage in the taxi. She gave me a look of disgust similar to what Mukta gave when she spotted her Lizzy. A small difference that Anita wasn't exactly afraid of the cake.
In the third year again, I managed to escape the public eye by keeping a low profile. Somehow, even very less friends and family members called me. The only thing I remember about that birthday is that I had a mini-treat in which I took along Suman and Hrishikesh and we had Chicken Biryani at Billoo's Restaurant.
This year there was a completely different story. I decided to go to sleep at 11:30 pm. But I was shaken out of the sub-conscious state I had reached by a call from Sarika at 12 midnight. Prateek called at 12:30 and I got an SMS from Chinmay Joshi at quarter to one. So I couldn't sleep before 1 am. And I woke up at six, giving me only five hours of sleep. Note that usually I sleep for about 7~8 hours everyday. I was pleasantly surprised by a note pasted on my door that said "Many Happy Returns Of The Day". It was though anonymous. Usually I would have teared such thing off in a second. But the fact that it was anonymous made me wait. I felt that until I acknowledge to the writer, I should not be tearing it. I left it dangling there.
Throughout the whole day, I kept on receiving calls and messages on orkut. I feel that orkut had a lot to do with such response that day as it keeps reminding of the birthdays and all. Eventhough I had no plans of it beforehand, I decided to give the whole wing a treat. I also decided to invite Addy to it. Here comes the differnce I talked about before in this post. Eventhough I decided to pay the bill all by myself, 4 more wing-mates suggested that they share the bill as they were unable to give any birthday treat owing to vaccations. It was eventually decided that I and Amiruddin share the amount between us. We had a great time during the treat at Little Sisters Restaurant. By mid-night, I had received over 40 birthday wishes. I realized that if such enriching and novel experience is what the birthday offers, I can start celebrating them again.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Rain Rain Go Away....And Come Agin After I Get My Umberella
Just back after a long weekend. Hoped it would never end. But bad times go and good time come. So tomorrow I will have to compulsarily wake up in the morning, have breakfast, bath and head for my classes.
Would any one of you believe that I wished that my last semester's result go bad! Surprising isn't it. But makes some sense to me. In the whole last semester, I had studied very little. Ask any friend of mine and surely they would say that whenever they came to visit me, I would be engrossed in my game of Pocket Tanks (a computer game for kids 3~10, but I am nuts about it). So with this, I expected to get a bad grade, open my eyes to reality and start studying again. But now, with such good grades, who wants to study more. Equipped with my knowledge of "Law of Diminishing Returns" (courtesy the 3rd semester Economics course), I know that studying any harder won't help much. So I am off to chasing my dream hobbies. But this semester, I find its Blogging (both reading and writing). I have just spent the last 4 hours reading the blogs and now, I am off writing mine (currently busy so : Do Not Disturb).
What surprises me most is that Pocket Tanks is no longer my game. I swear I tried it this semester also, but things won't just work the way they did the last semester. I find it hard even to play a single game, while the last semester wouldn't stop me from playing a dozen before saying:"Now this one's my last".
What more happened today is that I have started to go for swimming. And I am exactly where I was. Shaunak gave me a few more tips, but I assume that he assumed that I already knew swimming and I find myself incapable of even achieving the posture suggested, let alone the strokes.
And what happened more is that I have misplaced (I feel ashamed to admit that I might have lost!) my umbrella. And God isn't as much kind to me as Murphy is. You all guessed right. It rained while I was going to swimming. I and Suman decided to stop under a tree and wait for it to stop. But our guts had a different feeling - that it won't stop soon. And anyway, the angle of the rains was so oblique that the tree was no good. If you are surprised to find that eventually going to swim, so why care, I would admit that your worries are not unfounded, but given the past I sit upon I knew the better decision. Last year I did as you might be thinking and it wasn't much problem till I came out of the pool, dried myself and tried to wore that T-shirt.
For the first time in my life, I hated my own smell. The dried sweat when combines with a complete soaking doesn't cater to any olefactory whims. Anyway, a lesson learned the hard way.
So here was I again after my hopeless stint all set to wear that T-shirt. And well, psychology helps. Being prepared for much worse, I realized that it didn't smell that much and that I haven't sweated it in the first hand. So I came back home and had to immediately switch over to a back-up dress since I was programmed to do so by my parents.
Time came to go to the market. And to tell you, Dr. Murphy is very mean. It rained again and I had a hard time recollecting where I could have lost my pretty old umbrella. What was the last time I saw it.....hmm, looks like it was the Thermodynamics lab where I put it on the chair and then forgot about it.Well, let's check my theories tomorrow. I am more eager to see this theory through than any other theory I ever wrote in any exam.
Would any one of you believe that I wished that my last semester's result go bad! Surprising isn't it. But makes some sense to me. In the whole last semester, I had studied very little. Ask any friend of mine and surely they would say that whenever they came to visit me, I would be engrossed in my game of Pocket Tanks (a computer game for kids 3~10, but I am nuts about it). So with this, I expected to get a bad grade, open my eyes to reality and start studying again. But now, with such good grades, who wants to study more. Equipped with my knowledge of "Law of Diminishing Returns" (courtesy the 3rd semester Economics course), I know that studying any harder won't help much. So I am off to chasing my dream hobbies. But this semester, I find its Blogging (both reading and writing). I have just spent the last 4 hours reading the blogs and now, I am off writing mine (currently busy so : Do Not Disturb).
What surprises me most is that Pocket Tanks is no longer my game. I swear I tried it this semester also, but things won't just work the way they did the last semester. I find it hard even to play a single game, while the last semester wouldn't stop me from playing a dozen before saying:"Now this one's my last".
What more happened today is that I have started to go for swimming. And I am exactly where I was. Shaunak gave me a few more tips, but I assume that he assumed that I already knew swimming and I find myself incapable of even achieving the posture suggested, let alone the strokes.
And what happened more is that I have misplaced (I feel ashamed to admit that I might have lost!) my umbrella. And God isn't as much kind to me as Murphy is. You all guessed right. It rained while I was going to swimming. I and Suman decided to stop under a tree and wait for it to stop. But our guts had a different feeling - that it won't stop soon. And anyway, the angle of the rains was so oblique that the tree was no good. If you are surprised to find that eventually going to swim, so why care, I would admit that your worries are not unfounded, but given the past I sit upon I knew the better decision. Last year I did as you might be thinking and it wasn't much problem till I came out of the pool, dried myself and tried to wore that T-shirt.
For the first time in my life, I hated my own smell. The dried sweat when combines with a complete soaking doesn't cater to any olefactory whims. Anyway, a lesson learned the hard way.
So here was I again after my hopeless stint all set to wear that T-shirt. And well, psychology helps. Being prepared for much worse, I realized that it didn't smell that much and that I haven't sweated it in the first hand. So I came back home and had to immediately switch over to a back-up dress since I was programmed to do so by my parents.
Time came to go to the market. And to tell you, Dr. Murphy is very mean. It rained again and I had a hard time recollecting where I could have lost my pretty old umbrella. What was the last time I saw it.....hmm, looks like it was the Thermodynamics lab where I put it on the chair and then forgot about it.Well, let's check my theories tomorrow. I am more eager to see this theory through than any other theory I ever wrote in any exam.
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Trip back home
I started my journey back to home on 25th June, Saturday. I reached the airport at approximately 2 pm and the Jet Airways flight I had to catch was from 3:45 pm. But reaching there I found that the flight has got even more delayed and will now be leaving at 4:45. I nad no choice but to wait for the flight. The flight eventually took off at 5 pm and I was apprehensive that I might miss the connecting flight from Mumbai. The whole journey was tensed and every minute that went past made me feel more uneasy. Only one thing was in favour of me that I had booked my tickets and luggage as connecting to the next flight and had even got my next flight's boarding pass. When the flight eventually arrived in Mumbai, it was already 5 minutes past the time of departure of the previous flight. My hart sank. But there was a surprise waiting. An on-flight announcement said that all the passengers who are on board and going to Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Indore should report to the ground staff on getting down.
YES! I knew I will be saved. On getting down, I found that a Jet official is anxiously looking for passengers asking "Ahmedabad? Bhopal?". I told him "Bhopal" and he made me stand aside while the others unboarded the flight. As soon as everyone was out, he started searching for a vehicle to get us on board. He got a bus emptied and the five of us were taken to the next flight. As I had not been security checked, my Boarding pass did not had a security stamp. An official just made a vague seal with pen that said "Security Check". I boarded the next flight after being just 5 minutes on ground.
The next journey went quite eventlessly except for the fact that the food was worse than I had ever eaten on Jet. It looked as though they have changed the caterer to Indian Airlines one. The gentleman sitting next to me had already got his son sitting in the window seat that acually belonged to me. I gladly accepted the aisle seat as I felt that the kid appreciated the window seat more than I would. I reached Bhopal at dot 8 pm, just 3 hours after taking off from Bangalore.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Elfun Tour
On the 18th of June (Saturday), GE organized an Elfun Tour (Elfun: Electrical Funds; a voluntary organization of GE employees) for the summer interns. I went with Vivek and Sauvik. Vikas and Prashant didn't come, as they were busy with preparing slides for their presentations. Navjot, as usual, was missing in action.
I reached early and played pool till the journey commenced. One batch (ours) went to a primary school, while the other went to a blind home. We took a GE bus and reached the spot, which incidently was on the shortcut, we take while walking to GE by foot.
The school was a very small one with classes up to 7th standard. We split into groups and distributed sweets and bananas to the children. Then we visited a site where the Elfun volunteers had previously planted trees. Too bad the cows ate them all up as they were not protected with fences.
After this we returned to JFWTC to spend the rest of the day by our own wish.
I reached early and played pool till the journey commenced. One batch (ours) went to a primary school, while the other went to a blind home. We took a GE bus and reached the spot, which incidently was on the shortcut, we take while walking to GE by foot.
The school was a very small one with classes up to 7th standard. We split into groups and distributed sweets and bananas to the children. Then we visited a site where the Elfun volunteers had previously planted trees. Too bad the cows ate them all up as they were not protected with fences.
After this we returned to JFWTC to spend the rest of the day by our own wish.
Monday, June 13, 2005
All's Well That Ends Well
The weekend of 11th and 12th June was again very exciting. On 11th we planned to go to the movie "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" with Animesh, Dipayan and others. But from our group, we could only convince Sauvik and Navjot to come. The rest decided to go to GE. So we all decided that we would go and attend the 4pm show. As we still had lot of time before the show starts, we all went to GE. On our way, we met an IITD guy doing internship at GE itself. On asking why he was coming on Saturday, he told that he came to watch movies. On enquiring further, he told that he saw streaming videos form musicmazaa.com. He also gave a proxy from which we could also check our GMail accounts. Before going to movie, I spent the time playing billiards.
We left at about 3 to Innovative Multiplex. Reaching there, we found that the rest of the people haven't arrived. On trying to contact Animesh, we found that he had switched off his mobile. There wasn't enough time to contact Dipayan. So we three decided to go in when just 5 minutes were remaining for the movie. The hall was overall good with 4 screens, but the screens were smaller than usual. The movie was a good action-comedy and was worth the Silver Class Ticket we bought for Rs. 100/-. Neither of the two other people turned up for the movie.
The movie got over at about 6pm, and then we decided to go back to GE. There we found that Vivek and Co. had already left. While Sauvik sweated out his Documentation Work, I took pains! to transfer all the good jokes from my GMail account to my Humour Blog. We started our journey back at around 9:30pm, but took a lot of time to get back as the buses were infrequent.
Reaching back home, we found none of the others in. Upon calling we came to know that they (Vivek and Vikas) went to Forum for window-shopping, while Thakur and Navjot went to meet their seniors at IIM and won't be back for the day.
The next day, myself, Vikas and Vivek decided to go to Bannerghatta National Park with Navjot and Prashant to join us on reaching there. Since it was a long journey and we had other plans after that, we decided to take Bus Passes. One such pass costs Rs.25/- and is valid throughout the day in all State Transport Buses. We decided to take a bus to Majestic and change for Bannerghatta. But on the Majestic Bus Stand we found that the bus is infrequent and none had come for the past one hour. Fortunately a bus came and people jumped in to fill it in seconds. Only I managed to get a seat while the Vikas and Vixy had to stand. They go a seat after approximately one hour. We reached Bannerghatta to find that it is a lot crowded place. We first decided to have lunch at a restaurant called "Mayuri Vanashree Restaurant". The service there was very poor and the order took a lot of time to be delivered. We also came to know that Navjot and Prashant would not be joining us as that place is very far away from where they were. We wasted 1 hour there and only after 3pm were we able to actually venture into the Park. There was a Lion and Tiger Safari for Rs. 80/- and one with Bear, Zoo and others inclusive for Rs. 110/-. We decided to go for the later, i.e. Grand Safari. But on reaching the ticket counter, we found that the ticket sale is already closed, as there is a lot of crowd there. Two people, who spoke only Kannada, approached us and apparently were trying to black market the tickets to the usual safari trip (the Rs. 80/- one). We thought that it is better to take the tickets if offered at some reasonable rates. We asked for the tickets, and they showed them. I saw that they had three tickets; each of them was for two people. I was caught in a dilemma whether it is justified to pay 100% more for the tickets. With a lot of apprehension, I asked them the price. They said: "300 total". I was ready to jump for the offer, when Vivek said, "But each ticket is Rs. 80/- one, so it should be Rs. 240/-". I said to myself, "Come on Vivek, they are blacking the tickets. What do you expect?” But to my surprise, they agreed. Now I was wondering whether they were Black Marketers at all!
We paid them the money and started to get in. But the security guard at the gate stopped us. He started arguing that these tickets are not valid, as the sale had already stopped. Now I knew what soup we are in and how we were duped. But again I was wrong. To my surprise, the people from whom we got the tickets came forward (instead of running away) and argued with the security guard, saying what looked like meant that they have exchanged (!) tickets. The security guard was not convinced and he fetched a lady officer. She was also not impressed by the tickets and I got ready to nab them if they try to flee. Eventually she turned us out and we got back our money from them. Not being able to go to Safari was a big setback for us after traveling 3 hours and a big let down. We got the usual Zoo tickets and got inside the zoo. We talked to the same lady officer and she told that the sale of tickets had been stopped, as there seems to be already enough people to last for the day. She convinced us that if we came back at around 4pm, she would herself search for the possibility of any more tickets being issued if the crowds subsided. We went about the zoo, though in a very bad mood, but still with a little hope. The zoo wasn't very well maintained and the animals seemed very distressed with their situation.
We reached the gates at around 4pm to look for her and found her standing outside the zoo. As the entry to the Safari was from inside the zoo, it looked a foolish idea to go out and talk to her. Soon she went out of sight in the crowd and we found her out standing at a lot more distance far from which it was not possible to call her. After spending 10 minutes thinking what to do, we decided to go out and meet her. She listened to us and again went to the last bus to enquire whether any seats are empty. Then she talked to many other people and finally got us three tickets for the Safari ride. We were delighted beyond our expression powers.
Inside the bus, we managed to find just three places and took our seats. The Safari went well with our viewing Deer, Bison, Bears, Lions, Tigers and White tigers, all roaming about our vehicle. In the apparently last stop, the White Tiger Safari, we stopped by a pond to see the tigers play in water, just near the bus. Then, as we decided to move out, we found that the bus won't start owing to problems in the Self. The guide informed us that it might take another one hour, as an empty bus has to be summoned to let us out. In the meanwhile, they tried many ways to start the bus. First they asked another bus to push it. But the Grills (meant for protection of the vehicle from attack of wild animals) were a deterrent. The grills collided first and it meant that they would yield first, followed by glasses before the bus actually gets going. Then a few people decided to get down and push the bus, but the risk involved was very much and this was also abandoned. After about half an hour after the beginning of the ordeal, an empty bus arrived on the spot. I knew it was safe to go out in the open (in full view of the wild beasts) as a few forest guards were coming to us, smiling and probably unarmed. We changed buses and left for the starting ground on full speed.
We got into a bus going to Kormangala. We changed over to another bus to Majestic in Adugodi and decided to go to Cubbon Park. On reaching there we found that the park is already closed for the day, as it was very late (nearly 7:30). We took a few photographs of the lightings in Vidhan Saudha. Then we proceeded towards the High Court opposite to it. In a nearby lane, we found that it was a small eat-out place. It was very quite and not very crowded making it ideal for enjoyment. We first took Sugarcane Juice and found it very good and took another serving. Then we had corncobs. We found a park nearby and walked in it blissfully for an hour.
Then we got in a bus to Shivaji Nagar. This bus stop was a lot better than Majestic as there was order and a lot of information displayed, in addition to an enquiry counter. We took a bus to Marathalli and there we changed another to Whitefield. We had our dinner at Bengali Mess (Mayuri was closed by then), and the food was very poor quality. Then we came back and slept, as we had to go to office the next day.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
A Weekend Worth Mentioning
The weekend of 4th and 5th of June was another one worth mentioning. We had a late start to the day with all of us waking at times that suited us best. Nobody was sure what to do that day, as there was a rift between whether we will stay in Bangalore and explore, or go out. Finally, I decided that I better go to meet Apoorva, whom I had promised to meet, but dared not call, as I couldn't find a way to meet her. So I called her and it was decided that we would meet in M.G. Road. The others decided to go to GE instead.
I left at around 4:30pm after considerable delay, as I waited at wrong place for the bus. I remember missing two buses due to this. After approximately half and hour, I realized my mistake and took the right bus (320F) to M.G. Road. It dropped me on the nearby road from where I crossed over to M.G. Road and waited for Apoorva. I had to wait for nearly 30 minutes before she came.
We first had coffee at Cafe Coffee Day and later pizza at Pizza Corner. Although the prices were insanely high at both places, the Coffees (at Rs. 30/-) were more value for money as they gave a very rich feeling. The pizza we had was a normal Non-vegetarian one but it cost us Rs.185/- for a regular sized one. The service was also very poor. We had to wait a lot for first giving the orders, then getting our order and later even to pay the bill. I began my return journey by 8:30pm.
On reaching back I found the rest of the guys have still not come. They came back very late by around 11 to 11:30pm. I found out that they dropped in the Mirchi Restaurant for their dinner and ate aplenty. Some of them also drank Vodka, as it was very cheap there.
The next day, Sauvik found that he has an upset stomach owing to his obscenely unhealthy diet. So he was grounded for the day. This crashed all the plans of visit to places like movie, Forum, etc. As Dipayan also had visitors, the trip to his place was also ruled out for this weekend. So at the end of lunch, everything was astray. I decided that today also I would have to manage by myself. I called Amogh and asked whether I can come to his place today. He was affirmative. So I quickly got dressed and left for Kormangala. I changed bus at Marathalli and reached Silk Board, which is near Kormangala. Amogh came on his two-wheeler and picked me up.
On reaching his home, I was greeted by his parents and his younger brother, Ashwin. They were very hospitable. Even though I said "No" for almost everything, the managed to feed me mangoes, salted nuts and Dosas before I went shopping with them across the city.
There also, they fed me ice creams, and after shopping for a while, we had our dinner at a place called "Halli Mane", which literally means "Village Restaurant". Although the place was full and packed to capacity, they decided to eat at that place only, and the reason was evident soon. The place had excellect food. For Rs. 25/-, we took a thali that had Cream of Tomato Soup, Chhole, Pulao, 2 Tandoori Rotis, Papad Chips, Salads, Curd Rice and a sweet. The quality was exceptionally good for such a mass scale production. After the food they dropped me at M.G. Road and I left it at the same time I did the day before. Reaching back, I found that they had no story to share as they all spent the time sleeping.
Friday, May 13, 2005
Travel to Vishesh Bhaiya
While I planned to go to Bangalore, my parents insisted that I take a SIM Card there. I opposed the idea as I felt there is no need for a new SIM as the current reliance SIM was working fine. But they were adamant and I had to bow. But I forced the condition on them that they will have to find a SIM, as I won't be having any local proof of identity.
They worked around the problem nicely by suggesting that I collect it form Vishesh Bhaiya (younger brother of Manisha Bhabhi). They found out his phone number and address from her and asked him to get one SIM from me. He agreed. I was supposed to collect it from him after going to Bangalore.
So here was I in Bangalore on 4th, with a settled life and nothing to worry about. So I called him up on his cell no. I reached Shruti Bhabhi (obviously his wife) and she told me that Bhaiya is not there and will be getting the SIM card on his back to office.
I had no hurries. My job at JFWTC left me with little time to visit the city during the night and I also learnt that it would be atleast a one and half-hour journey. So I told them to have the card and keep it till I collect it the coming weekend. Shruti Bhabhi insisted that I stay at their place for the weekend, which I was not sure to accept or not at that moment. So I borrowed some time.
Later when I told about the phone call to my father, he was very upset by the fact that the SIM card hasn't been purchased till now, but I calmed him by saying that it would have reached their place my now.
On Friday again, I called Bhaiya to find Bhabhi again with the same promise that he will be bringing it today. This time I was also taken aback. I didn't knew to trust her or not, and I showed my discontent. She told me to relax and I conveyed that I will be coming to their place on Saturday morning, to which she requested that I do it early and have breakfast with them. I accepted the offer.
Next morning I woke up early, and after having a bath proceeded for their home. I had enquired about the route and was told by Ishwar Singh (the owner of Kothari Complex) that I will have to get down at KR Market and its a very short journey from there. The place will be some 23 kilometres and it will be less than 2 kms from thereon. Shruti Bhabhi gave a slightly different account by saying that KR Market is about 7 kms from their place. As she herself was not sure, I decided to first reach KR Market and then decide on further conveyance. Ishwar Singh told me that 90% of the buses going towards Marathalli go to KR Market and it looked true as I boarded the first bus arriving. The conductor enquired my destination to which I replied "KR Market". He took 7 rupees. It was a bit surprising as inside Whitefield it took approximately Rs. 2/- per km and here he's asking even less that 0.5. The journey was very long (approximately 14kms taking 1.5 hrs) but comfortable as I got a convenient seat. I found out that everybody refers KR Market by saying "Market". I wondered if it’s the main market of the city.
On reaching there, I knew I was lost. I had no idea as to which bus to take, as I couldn't read what was written on them, and to add to the confusion, there were more than 6 ways out of market. I had to take help from locals, to which a gentleman suggested that I take Bus No. 15 to reach Padabnabh Nagar. I had no idea how big the place was as Vishesh Bhaiya's address also included the line "RK Swamy Layout" in it, which by itself can by a big place. But no one had any idea and I decided to first reach Padabnabh Nagar first.
I waited for the bus at the required place for approximately 15 minutes, but no Bus No. 15 came. I got frustrated and decided to take an Auto-rickshaw instead. I told the Auto-Rickshaw driver where I wanted to go. He insisted on going by Meter, as he was not very sure of the address. He even asked another Auto driver to confuse me even further by saying:
"There's no RK Swamy layout in Padabnabh Nagar. There is RPC Layout."
This was bad news for me. I had no option, but to make a call to Bhaiya to enquire about his residence. I found out that he himself is new to the place and doesn't have any idea of KR Market. He confirmed that its RK Swamy Layout and suggested that I take an Auto to Hill Side Hospital as I am confused. But I didn't like the idea, as his residence being 7 kms from Market would convert to at least Rs. 80/- for Auto-Rickshaw travel. But I had my options running out. Fortunately this time, luck was on my side.
As soon as I walked out of STD PCO to catch an auto, I saw a bus numbered 15A come and stop behind it. The auto-rickshaw driver saw me with confused eyes as I went behind the auto to catch the bus. The next part of the journey was very pleasant as I enquired to my delight that Padabnabh Nagar is the last stop. I got a window seat and I waited patiently for the journey to end. Around half an hour later, some 8 kms from Market, I saw a sight that caught me cold. I saw a building named "Hillside Hospital" whoosh past by the bus. I jumped to my feet immediately and made for the gate. Fortunately for me, the bus stopped just 100m from that place.
I called Bhaiya from Hill Side Hospital, only to find that he lives just behind it. I heaved a sigh of relief as soon as I reached his home.
Monday, April 04, 2005
Reunion C/O PGDIT
Throughout saturday (2nd April), I was expecting Pragya and Sarika to turn up any time, but I was disappointed. At snacks time, I got a call from Pragya that she along with her friends are coming from the night train and will be reaching Kharagpur bu 3am in the night. The train was right time and they had to spend the night on the railway station but managed to find a place to sleep and get fresh for the morning. They came to RP Hall by about qaurter to eight and upon enquiring them I found that they still haven't eaten their breakfast. When I asked them to proceed for breakfast, they told me that they are waiting for one of their seniors (Samir Sathpathy) who is currently doing his MTech from IIT Kharagpur. They were 4 people, Sarika, Pragya, another Pragya (Shrivastava) and one of their batchmate. After he arrived, they along with Anirban Sinha and Prasoon Kumar proceeded for Harry's for breakfast. I decided to eat my breakfast in the mess itself as I know that Harry's serves no good and on top of that I had filled too many things for sunday breakfast.
After breakfast, I informed Suman that they have come, and proceeded to Harry's to join them. The breakfast came very late and was horrible in taste. Although I didn't eat it, I deduced it from their expressions. After breakfast they had coffee and then we proceeded to main building to find out the venue for the test. It was supposed to be held in F-127, to our relief as we were apprehensive that if it were in Vikramshila or some other place, we would have to go back a long distance. After bidding they bye for the manwhile and wishing luck for the test, we came back. I went back at 12 (when the exam was scheduled to get over) and found that Anirban Ghosh waiting for them already. He told me that Anirban Sinha told this to him and he's come to meet them. They refused to say anything on their performance, but on pressing told that it was upto their satisfaction. we had to wait again for their senior and Anirban Sinha, after which we took them to a brief walk to the Central Library. Later we proceeded for lunch at Sahara. The food was OK and we decided to stick to vegetarian menu as all the girls were vegetarians. After the lunch, they all proceeded to spend the rest of their afternoon at their senior's room in JCB Hall (B-212). I came back to my Hall to enjoyed my long missed siesta.
While we were coming back from Sahara, the news went out that Gymkhana Election results are out and the RP Hall pact has been defetaed. Arindam Mukherjee was to be our new VP. We found him on our way back and congratulated him. He was accompanied by a procession that was giving a loud tempo shout.
I joined the Pragya & co. later in the day when they came to my room at about quarter to 7 in the evening. I learnt that they spent their day at the senior's room and later were joined by another senior who came from Kolkata to meet them. They were also introduced to Pankaj Uike who is another student from Bilaspur.
Fortunately or unfortunately only Pragya, Sarika and Anirban came to my room while the others remained at Bidhan Chowk to arrange for the return conveyance. I offered my guests Maggi which they gladly accepted. I also had my Slam Book filled by Pragya. Later we went to Suman's, Anirban's and Prasoon's room for a brief period. Then we all went to Bidhan Chowk for joining others and having dinner.
We found that they were sort of harrasing the poor girl (Pragya Shrivastava) by asking uncomfortable questions like their choice of bride and her choice of groom. We stayed there till 8:30pm after which we proceeded to Little Sisters for dinner.
At LS, we decided to have a feast and even Non-veg dishes were ordered. The dinner was good and later we came back to RP to catch the Taxi that was waiting.
On our way back, I came to know that Sarika isn't much interested in joining the PGDIT programme as it is a diploma course and not a degree course. She's keeping it as a last resort if she is unable to find anything better.
The other Pragya (Shrivastava) wanted to meet my brother and I wondered how Ankur would feel if I tell him that some strangers (to him) want to meet him. She also requested me to sing the "2441139" song which I promptly refused saying that I will sing it for her if she clears this exam and comes to IIT Kharagpur for the next year. Her voice was still child-like and it reminded me of Rahul Pal, who also has child-like voice.
After breakfast, I informed Suman that they have come, and proceeded to Harry's to join them. The breakfast came very late and was horrible in taste. Although I didn't eat it, I deduced it from their expressions. After breakfast they had coffee and then we proceeded to main building to find out the venue for the test. It was supposed to be held in F-127, to our relief as we were apprehensive that if it were in Vikramshila or some other place, we would have to go back a long distance. After bidding they bye for the manwhile and wishing luck for the test, we came back. I went back at 12 (when the exam was scheduled to get over) and found that Anirban Ghosh waiting for them already. He told me that Anirban Sinha told this to him and he's come to meet them. They refused to say anything on their performance, but on pressing told that it was upto their satisfaction. we had to wait again for their senior and Anirban Sinha, after which we took them to a brief walk to the Central Library. Later we proceeded for lunch at Sahara. The food was OK and we decided to stick to vegetarian menu as all the girls were vegetarians. After the lunch, they all proceeded to spend the rest of their afternoon at their senior's room in JCB Hall (B-212). I came back to my Hall to enjoyed my long missed siesta.
While we were coming back from Sahara, the news went out that Gymkhana Election results are out and the RP Hall pact has been defetaed. Arindam Mukherjee was to be our new VP. We found him on our way back and congratulated him. He was accompanied by a procession that was giving a loud tempo shout.
I joined the Pragya & co. later in the day when they came to my room at about quarter to 7 in the evening. I learnt that they spent their day at the senior's room and later were joined by another senior who came from Kolkata to meet them. They were also introduced to Pankaj Uike who is another student from Bilaspur.
Fortunately or unfortunately only Pragya, Sarika and Anirban came to my room while the others remained at Bidhan Chowk to arrange for the return conveyance. I offered my guests Maggi which they gladly accepted. I also had my Slam Book filled by Pragya. Later we went to Suman's, Anirban's and Prasoon's room for a brief period. Then we all went to Bidhan Chowk for joining others and having dinner.
We found that they were sort of harrasing the poor girl (Pragya Shrivastava) by asking uncomfortable questions like their choice of bride and her choice of groom. We stayed there till 8:30pm after which we proceeded to Little Sisters for dinner.
At LS, we decided to have a feast and even Non-veg dishes were ordered. The dinner was good and later we came back to RP to catch the Taxi that was waiting.
On our way back, I came to know that Sarika isn't much interested in joining the PGDIT programme as it is a diploma course and not a degree course. She's keeping it as a last resort if she is unable to find anything better.
The other Pragya (Shrivastava) wanted to meet my brother and I wondered how Ankur would feel if I tell him that some strangers (to him) want to meet him. She also requested me to sing the "2441139" song which I promptly refused saying that I will sing it for her if she clears this exam and comes to IIT Kharagpur for the next year. Her voice was still child-like and it reminded me of Rahul Pal, who also has child-like voice.
They went to the station by around 10:15pm to catch Azad Hind which was due to leave at 11pm. I came back to my room to sleep after another tough day.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
The Great Indian Railways
My weekend was full of adventure. Well, first of all it started on thursday instead of friday due to a real "Good" Friday. On the morning of 24th, my sleep was terminated by a call from my dear sister Nidhi, who asked :
"You are coming to Dhanbad, Na?".
Poor me. I got blackmailed by her innocence.
Although I was not quite sure how I could make it, I felt that I should have gone to Dhanbad. But I had to say "No" to her as I knew that the day ahead has two labs, the second of which having 2 experiments to do instead of 1, making the job even more difficult. But seems like luck was by my side (or my sisters' side)!
After reaching the Hydraulics Lab, we were told by Prof. Maiti that we have to do only one experiment today instead of two. I knew that this was my opportunity. I decided to hurry on with the experiment, so that completing it before schedule, I can go on to catch the 1650hrs train.
But the experiment proved to be pain fully long. I was able to complete the experiment only by 4:10pm, and told my friends to do the submission on my behalf. I ran for my room, packed my luggage in a record time of 3 minutes, and left the room for the station. The only bit of planning that was a part of my plan was that I wrote "Adra-Bhaga" on my palm to remind me of the station names I can't afford to forget. In the meanwhile, I tried to contact Ankur to ask whether he would like to come, but he didn't answer the ring.
I embarked on an cycle-rickshaw for station, but didn't call anyone as I myself wasn't sure whether I would make it or not. Reaching the Railway Station on dot 1650hrs, I tried to vaguely recollect which train I was supposed to catch that will take me to Adra. My memory failed me and I had to buy a ticket of the 1710hrs Kharagpur-Adra Passenger that looked like a safe bet. Seated comfortably in a window seat of the train, I waited for it to move, as I called Ankur (This time just to inform(!) him that I am going to Dhanbad. It appeared that the last time I called him he was out for Snacks.) and Mamaji to tell my plans. Mamaji reasoned to tell that I may be fortunate enough to catch the Adra-Bhaga local. But this was not to be!
The train refused to move as the clock ticked by. I leant from fellow passengers that the train will proceed only after Neelanchal Express will depart (to the same location, Adra). I dimly recollected that this must have been the train I was supposed to catch on the first-hand. I decided to continue with my journey on the same train as I thought it to be a bit too risky to go for a ticket of Neelanchal, which was about to leave any minute. By the time the passenger train's wheel cranked, it was almost 5:45pm.
I waited as the train leisurely strolled towards its destination, but another surprise awaited me. One of the passenger told me that all the train on this route are running late because of a faulty line on a river bridge. I was already beginning to feel the heat of the problem as the train started halting on stations for unusually long time. The gentleman sitting opposite me was very doubtful of the possibility of my catching any train that day as he believed that there won't be any train remaining for the day by the time we reached Adra. Other passengers had similar views. To add to my misery was the fact that the train halted at a very remote station (Ondagram) for eternity. Bhaga being just under 40kms from Adra, there wasn't anything I could do as people were apprehensive of the possibility of even bus services running on the route during night-time. At this time I started preparing for spending the night at an unknown destination without eating dinner. Never in my whole life have I slept without eating anything, but if this was to continue a bit more, it was going to be my first time.
It was quite late by the time the train started. And in a while, we reached the aforementioned bridge. It was in a real bad shape. Nevertheless, the journey continued and I was happy as long as the train was moving. But another bad thing started happening. It started giving passes to other fast trains on the same route. I was fortunate to have a few knowledgable passengers who told me when the train halted at a station (Jhantipahari) that Purulia Express will also halt on this station for a while. As I had passenger ticket, I was not entitled to board an Express Train, but the way this passenger train was running, I had no other option.
When I got down on that station, to my surprise I saw many more familiar faces, the most familiar being Orko Kundu. He was going to Adra itself to meet his sister so he had lesser worries. The others were hoping to catch Patna bound South Bihar Express, though a few didn't even have a ticket, while the others were unsure of the time. They just hoped that the train gets delayed so that they can go on with their journey. I managed to find a place to sit on the train, while the others had to keep standing. Their misery didn't last long as Adra was just 35~40 minutes from that station.
Disembarking from the train, they found South Bihar Express standing on the platform and about to leave. I was again left on my own, and decided to first have something to eat. I found a snacks-stall, and found only boiled eggs worth trying. I bought 4 eggs and immediately ate two of them, keeping the other two for the rest of my journey.
The vendor was a gentleman who enquired why I was in so hurry. I told him that I plan to reach Dhanbad. He told that all the trains to Bhaga have left and I should try reaching Dhanbad via Assansol. He told me that South Bihar Express goes via Assansol, and if I am lucky, I will catch it. I ran for the ticket counter and immediately bought a ticket to Dhanbad via Assansol, naturally after confirming what the vendor had said.
As I started my journey back, climbing the bridge to go on to Platform No. 4, I heard the announcement of the South Bihar Express leaving the station. Chill ran through my nerves as I ran as fast as I could. By the time I reached Platform No. 4, three such announcements had been made. I found the general bogie just in front of me, but it looked packed. I peeked in to see whether people are just standing on the gates or is the bogie actually full. The person on the gate whiffed my purpose and commented :
"Come on in. The Coach is Empty".
I ran along the direction of the train to find that even the Sleeper class is flooded with people. I decided to take the chance and boarded S4 Coach that atleast had the space to stand. Within a minute, the train whistled off to Assansol.
This coach was also packed to capacity. I barely managed to get a place to stand. But I was counting my days as the TTE was steadily marching his way towards me. I waited for doom to strike as he kept on checking tickets, alloting berths and imposing fine. When he reached our coach he was slowed a little. This was because almost everybody had a grievance.
Some of the people, I learnt, were KGP students who were going to Patna. The two boys had confirmed tickets, while the girls had wait-list ticket. One of them was a First Year B.Tech., while the other was a First Year M.Tech. Atleast they had a seat to sit on. There was another passenger in the adjoining bogie who boarded the train without a valid ticket and creating nuisance. He pleaded to the TTE in a very Bihari accent:
"I know that it is wrong to board the train without a valid ticket but what can I do! It so happened that today was to be the day I didn't had any money to buy tickets. You may have a look into my purse. Please understand."
The TTE looked at him with confusion and disbelief. But he was hardly able to do anything. He continued his work asking others for ticket. When he was busy asking tickets to some nearby passengers, with his back towards me, I decided to move on to the adjoining compartment. When he was done with checking ticket for the remaining passenges, he asked announcingly :
"There was a boy standing here. Where did he go?"
I froze, keeping my back towards him. Fortunately he didn't pursue his quest long and I heaved a sigh of relief.
I gathered from the fellow passengers that I may be fortunate enough to catch a train in Assansol as there still might be a couple of trains left in the night to come. But the trouble was that many of them were long distance trains and hence I might not be allowed to board them. I decided not to worry and continue till Assansol.
"Let's face the demons as they come. Why make your life hell when you are still living?" I said to myself.
I reached Assansol by about mid-night. I stepped down to plan the remainder of my journey. I enquired from a lacal standing on the platform whether any train bound for Dhanbad is due in the night. He pointed to the train stationed on the same platform. I was jubiliant. I confirmed it from a passenger sitting inside the train and to my relief, he too was going to Dhanbad. Within 10 seconds of my climbing the train, it rolled on. I felt like Harry Potter did when he first embarked on the Hogwarts Express.
But I had other worries cropping up. I had to switch off my mobile as there was no network connectivity till Assansol. To add to my misery was the fact that I had forgotton to bring my Mobile Charger which meant that I cannot afford to leave it on without any connectivity hoping it finds a network. I tried to contact Mamaji (in Dhanbad) but outgoing calls were not allowed. I was again losing hope. If I reach Dhanbad to find that all the STD PCO's are closed, how will I contact them? I didn't had their address to reach their on my own.
Here again the luck was on my side. As soon as I disconnected the call to the Reliance Service, the phone rang, call being from Dhanbad itself. I briefed them that I have left Assansol and am on my way to Dhanbad. He asked from which train am I coming. I was clueless. In the hurry, I had forgotton to see the name of my Hogwarts Express. I had to ask the fellow passengers to eventually tell him that I am coming from Ranchi bound Vananchal Express.
He said : "Excellent", which meant to me that I need not worry any more. Now the fact dawned on me that if WickC came with me, he would have reached home a lot earlier than he actually did.
I reached Dhanbad at around 1:15am and was readily welcomed by my Mamaji. The journey henceforth was quite pleasant, and after a tasty dinner, I said goodbye to the most memorable journey of my life spanning approximately 9 hours in 4 trains.
"You are coming to Dhanbad, Na?".
Poor me. I got blackmailed by her innocence.
Although I was not quite sure how I could make it, I felt that I should have gone to Dhanbad. But I had to say "No" to her as I knew that the day ahead has two labs, the second of which having 2 experiments to do instead of 1, making the job even more difficult. But seems like luck was by my side (or my sisters' side)!
After reaching the Hydraulics Lab, we were told by Prof. Maiti that we have to do only one experiment today instead of two. I knew that this was my opportunity. I decided to hurry on with the experiment, so that completing it before schedule, I can go on to catch the 1650hrs train.
But the experiment proved to be pain fully long. I was able to complete the experiment only by 4:10pm, and told my friends to do the submission on my behalf. I ran for my room, packed my luggage in a record time of 3 minutes, and left the room for the station. The only bit of planning that was a part of my plan was that I wrote "Adra-Bhaga" on my palm to remind me of the station names I can't afford to forget. In the meanwhile, I tried to contact Ankur to ask whether he would like to come, but he didn't answer the ring.
I embarked on an cycle-rickshaw for station, but didn't call anyone as I myself wasn't sure whether I would make it or not. Reaching the Railway Station on dot 1650hrs, I tried to vaguely recollect which train I was supposed to catch that will take me to Adra. My memory failed me and I had to buy a ticket of the 1710hrs Kharagpur-Adra Passenger that looked like a safe bet. Seated comfortably in a window seat of the train, I waited for it to move, as I called Ankur (This time just to inform(!) him that I am going to Dhanbad. It appeared that the last time I called him he was out for Snacks.) and Mamaji to tell my plans. Mamaji reasoned to tell that I may be fortunate enough to catch the Adra-Bhaga local. But this was not to be!
The train refused to move as the clock ticked by. I leant from fellow passengers that the train will proceed only after Neelanchal Express will depart (to the same location, Adra). I dimly recollected that this must have been the train I was supposed to catch on the first-hand. I decided to continue with my journey on the same train as I thought it to be a bit too risky to go for a ticket of Neelanchal, which was about to leave any minute. By the time the passenger train's wheel cranked, it was almost 5:45pm.
I waited as the train leisurely strolled towards its destination, but another surprise awaited me. One of the passenger told me that all the train on this route are running late because of a faulty line on a river bridge. I was already beginning to feel the heat of the problem as the train started halting on stations for unusually long time. The gentleman sitting opposite me was very doubtful of the possibility of my catching any train that day as he believed that there won't be any train remaining for the day by the time we reached Adra. Other passengers had similar views. To add to my misery was the fact that the train halted at a very remote station (Ondagram) for eternity. Bhaga being just under 40kms from Adra, there wasn't anything I could do as people were apprehensive of the possibility of even bus services running on the route during night-time. At this time I started preparing for spending the night at an unknown destination without eating dinner. Never in my whole life have I slept without eating anything, but if this was to continue a bit more, it was going to be my first time.
It was quite late by the time the train started. And in a while, we reached the aforementioned bridge. It was in a real bad shape. Nevertheless, the journey continued and I was happy as long as the train was moving. But another bad thing started happening. It started giving passes to other fast trains on the same route. I was fortunate to have a few knowledgable passengers who told me when the train halted at a station (Jhantipahari) that Purulia Express will also halt on this station for a while. As I had passenger ticket, I was not entitled to board an Express Train, but the way this passenger train was running, I had no other option.
When I got down on that station, to my surprise I saw many more familiar faces, the most familiar being Orko Kundu. He was going to Adra itself to meet his sister so he had lesser worries. The others were hoping to catch Patna bound South Bihar Express, though a few didn't even have a ticket, while the others were unsure of the time. They just hoped that the train gets delayed so that they can go on with their journey. I managed to find a place to sit on the train, while the others had to keep standing. Their misery didn't last long as Adra was just 35~40 minutes from that station.
Disembarking from the train, they found South Bihar Express standing on the platform and about to leave. I was again left on my own, and decided to first have something to eat. I found a snacks-stall, and found only boiled eggs worth trying. I bought 4 eggs and immediately ate two of them, keeping the other two for the rest of my journey.
The vendor was a gentleman who enquired why I was in so hurry. I told him that I plan to reach Dhanbad. He told that all the trains to Bhaga have left and I should try reaching Dhanbad via Assansol. He told me that South Bihar Express goes via Assansol, and if I am lucky, I will catch it. I ran for the ticket counter and immediately bought a ticket to Dhanbad via Assansol, naturally after confirming what the vendor had said.
As I started my journey back, climbing the bridge to go on to Platform No. 4, I heard the announcement of the South Bihar Express leaving the station. Chill ran through my nerves as I ran as fast as I could. By the time I reached Platform No. 4, three such announcements had been made. I found the general bogie just in front of me, but it looked packed. I peeked in to see whether people are just standing on the gates or is the bogie actually full. The person on the gate whiffed my purpose and commented :
"Come on in. The Coach is Empty".
I ran along the direction of the train to find that even the Sleeper class is flooded with people. I decided to take the chance and boarded S4 Coach that atleast had the space to stand. Within a minute, the train whistled off to Assansol.
This coach was also packed to capacity. I barely managed to get a place to stand. But I was counting my days as the TTE was steadily marching his way towards me. I waited for doom to strike as he kept on checking tickets, alloting berths and imposing fine. When he reached our coach he was slowed a little. This was because almost everybody had a grievance.
Some of the people, I learnt, were KGP students who were going to Patna. The two boys had confirmed tickets, while the girls had wait-list ticket. One of them was a First Year B.Tech., while the other was a First Year M.Tech. Atleast they had a seat to sit on. There was another passenger in the adjoining bogie who boarded the train without a valid ticket and creating nuisance. He pleaded to the TTE in a very Bihari accent:
"I know that it is wrong to board the train without a valid ticket but what can I do! It so happened that today was to be the day I didn't had any money to buy tickets. You may have a look into my purse. Please understand."
The TTE looked at him with confusion and disbelief. But he was hardly able to do anything. He continued his work asking others for ticket. When he was busy asking tickets to some nearby passengers, with his back towards me, I decided to move on to the adjoining compartment. When he was done with checking ticket for the remaining passenges, he asked announcingly :
"There was a boy standing here. Where did he go?"
I froze, keeping my back towards him. Fortunately he didn't pursue his quest long and I heaved a sigh of relief.
I gathered from the fellow passengers that I may be fortunate enough to catch a train in Assansol as there still might be a couple of trains left in the night to come. But the trouble was that many of them were long distance trains and hence I might not be allowed to board them. I decided not to worry and continue till Assansol.
"Let's face the demons as they come. Why make your life hell when you are still living?" I said to myself.
I reached Assansol by about mid-night. I stepped down to plan the remainder of my journey. I enquired from a lacal standing on the platform whether any train bound for Dhanbad is due in the night. He pointed to the train stationed on the same platform. I was jubiliant. I confirmed it from a passenger sitting inside the train and to my relief, he too was going to Dhanbad. Within 10 seconds of my climbing the train, it rolled on. I felt like Harry Potter did when he first embarked on the Hogwarts Express.
But I had other worries cropping up. I had to switch off my mobile as there was no network connectivity till Assansol. To add to my misery was the fact that I had forgotton to bring my Mobile Charger which meant that I cannot afford to leave it on without any connectivity hoping it finds a network. I tried to contact Mamaji (in Dhanbad) but outgoing calls were not allowed. I was again losing hope. If I reach Dhanbad to find that all the STD PCO's are closed, how will I contact them? I didn't had their address to reach their on my own.
Here again the luck was on my side. As soon as I disconnected the call to the Reliance Service, the phone rang, call being from Dhanbad itself. I briefed them that I have left Assansol and am on my way to Dhanbad. He asked from which train am I coming. I was clueless. In the hurry, I had forgotton to see the name of my Hogwarts Express. I had to ask the fellow passengers to eventually tell him that I am coming from Ranchi bound Vananchal Express.
He said : "Excellent", which meant to me that I need not worry any more. Now the fact dawned on me that if WickC came with me, he would have reached home a lot earlier than he actually did.
I reached Dhanbad at around 1:15am and was readily welcomed by my Mamaji. The journey henceforth was quite pleasant, and after a tasty dinner, I said goodbye to the most memorable journey of my life spanning approximately 9 hours in 4 trains.
Monday, March 21, 2005
Debugging
Sunday was as peaceful as can be, except for the planned treat at night.
The treat was again cancelled(not postponed) due to illness of one of the chief guests! I half expected it. What I feel is that it was still the other chief guests' mysterious illness that persuaded the other chief guest to say it. Anyway, I have decided that further treat will be a strict NO from my side.
Poor WickC! He still thinks it to be true. And I feel sorry for what a bad day he had. Losing the competition, not being able to attend the lectures, treat cancelled, no reservation available for Holi, and on top of it the chance of his only sister's marriage in the middle of End-Sems.
The highlight of Sunday was the debugging of my good old Third Year Project, the bug of which has been elusive for the last 2 months! I decided to give the program another try in a desparate attempt to show it to my Guide. I put in some flags inside the code that will get printed to show the progress of the program. To my surprise the program worked!
I retried removing the flags, and the program crashed as usual. So I have to live with a creepy flag (a variable that gets printed actually), that is useless in the program code. I started with my further work on it to extend the capabilities further into the 'Graphics domain'.
Today (Monday) was another peaceful day. Only 2 lectures owing to cancellation of lectures by Prof. Ramanujam and unavailability of Prof. Maity.
Prof. Dhang assumed villainous role today by giving an assignment that required a lot of tedious and repitative work. It was a real horror.
I have decided to visit Jamshedpur with Ankur during the Holi vaccations. But the sad part is our beloved Bhabhiji will not be available as she is going to her mother's place. Let's expect that Sonu bhaiya is atleast present.
The treat was again cancelled(not postponed) due to illness of one of the chief guests! I half expected it. What I feel is that it was still the other chief guests' mysterious illness that persuaded the other chief guest to say it. Anyway, I have decided that further treat will be a strict NO from my side.
Poor WickC! He still thinks it to be true. And I feel sorry for what a bad day he had. Losing the competition, not being able to attend the lectures, treat cancelled, no reservation available for Holi, and on top of it the chance of his only sister's marriage in the middle of End-Sems.
The highlight of Sunday was the debugging of my good old Third Year Project, the bug of which has been elusive for the last 2 months! I decided to give the program another try in a desparate attempt to show it to my Guide. I put in some flags inside the code that will get printed to show the progress of the program. To my surprise the program worked!
I retried removing the flags, and the program crashed as usual. So I have to live with a creepy flag (a variable that gets printed actually), that is useless in the program code. I started with my further work on it to extend the capabilities further into the 'Graphics domain'.
Today (Monday) was another peaceful day. Only 2 lectures owing to cancellation of lectures by Prof. Ramanujam and unavailability of Prof. Maity.
Prof. Dhang assumed villainous role today by giving an assignment that required a lot of tedious and repitative work. It was a real horror.
I have decided to visit Jamshedpur with Ankur during the Holi vaccations. But the sad part is our beloved Bhabhiji will not be available as she is going to her mother's place. Let's expect that Sonu bhaiya is atleast present.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
I can't catch cancer
I read an article today that taking tomato sauce in your food reduces the chance of getting Pancreas Cancer. This looks like a good news to me considering my great love for the same. I hope that the study extends the same results for other forms of cancer so that I can be assured of a healthy life.
Today was also the viva of Forming lab and I did pretty well, getting AA grade. I wasn't expecting it as I debated with the research scholars over their definition and conceptualization of Slipping and Sticking Friction. One thing that struck me most is that as soon as I entered the viva room, a research scholar asked,
"Are you from Bhopal?"
I was amazed and said "Yes", but kept minding my own business to not ask how he knew. Looks like he's also from Bhopal, but i don't remember seeing him anywhere.
There can't be any confusion over Prof. S.K. Pal's memory. He seems to remember the name of all students of the batch, a rare feat considering the only other person with such memory is Prof. Ramanujam who have been seeing all of us since 1st year.
WickC seems to be breaking all the shakles that restrain him from becoming a "Devdas". He has started acting like a 'majnoo' since the last few days, and seeing his blogs only heightens the fear. The hints in the blog is so clear that if by any chance she reads it, she will know for certain that its written about her. God help him.
Suman and Nasir can't seem to gather enough tempo to go to swimming. They haven't been to swimming in the last one week! According to Nasir : "It no longer solves the purpose."
I wonder what the purpose was and how was it fulfilled in the last sem.
Yesterday I got a mail from JBNSTS regarding this summer's Talent Enrichment Programme. They are going to Bangalore this time and what better opportunity can I have to join them being in Bangalore myself. I replied immediately saying that I can join them only on the weekends of 11th, 12th, 18th and 19th. Lets see if they allow me. Suman pointed out a good (I am not sure if its good or not) possibility that myself being available only on weekends when most of the institutions will be closed, I will be joining them only for picnics and fun. But the trouble is that I might be the only one from my batch and hence might feel lonely.
Vikas Chandan's GE training has been confirmed. He's got the letter and got his replacement in the form of Shailesh Chandrol. Chandrol's stars are high.
I haven't been to Carlos since the last 2 weeks and now I feel that I won't miss it any anymore.
Today was also the viva of Forming lab and I did pretty well, getting AA grade. I wasn't expecting it as I debated with the research scholars over their definition and conceptualization of Slipping and Sticking Friction. One thing that struck me most is that as soon as I entered the viva room, a research scholar asked,
"Are you from Bhopal?"
I was amazed and said "Yes", but kept minding my own business to not ask how he knew. Looks like he's also from Bhopal, but i don't remember seeing him anywhere.
There can't be any confusion over Prof. S.K. Pal's memory. He seems to remember the name of all students of the batch, a rare feat considering the only other person with such memory is Prof. Ramanujam who have been seeing all of us since 1st year.
WickC seems to be breaking all the shakles that restrain him from becoming a "Devdas". He has started acting like a 'majnoo' since the last few days, and seeing his blogs only heightens the fear. The hints in the blog is so clear that if by any chance she reads it, she will know for certain that its written about her. God help him.
Suman and Nasir can't seem to gather enough tempo to go to swimming. They haven't been to swimming in the last one week! According to Nasir : "It no longer solves the purpose."
I wonder what the purpose was and how was it fulfilled in the last sem.
Yesterday I got a mail from JBNSTS regarding this summer's Talent Enrichment Programme. They are going to Bangalore this time and what better opportunity can I have to join them being in Bangalore myself. I replied immediately saying that I can join them only on the weekends of 11th, 12th, 18th and 19th. Lets see if they allow me. Suman pointed out a good (I am not sure if its good or not) possibility that myself being available only on weekends when most of the institutions will be closed, I will be joining them only for picnics and fun. But the trouble is that I might be the only one from my batch and hence might feel lonely.
Vikas Chandan's GE training has been confirmed. He's got the letter and got his replacement in the form of Shailesh Chandrol. Chandrol's stars are high.
I haven't been to Carlos since the last 2 weeks and now I feel that I won't miss it any anymore.
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Remembering The Past
Yes, the treat was cancelled. Sneha being the culprit. She was indisposed. I have heard many times of people getting indisposed on the pretext of giving treats, but this was the first case on receiving treat!
Initially I couldn't understand why on earth were we having a treat on thursday as on friday, both RP and SN have an off-day. But I was convinced by the fact that all people aren't like me! All weekends are booked for Hall-Days and they didn't want to miss any by going to the treats. Thursday swimming went quite eventless except for the fact that I developed strain near my ankle. But still, I again failed to do a 20m at a stretch. Oh God, the wait is painfully long.
Back from swimming I had to complete my CFW assignment on Rolling process. Although it was a solved example in a book, it had to be done on my own as the results used in the book were not derieved in the lecture class.
Later in the evening I went to Billoo's for dinner and ordered my usual Chicken Biryani. It was great. After dinner, I went to Chhota Tengra to collect my photographs that I had requested developing and printing. I seemed to finally like someone's work on my photographs. All the shop-owners of photography shop at Tech-Market don't do their work seriously. Here I got developing for Rs.15/- and printing on 6''x4'' @ Rs.4/- each. The prints also came good. In addition to that he gave a free album to hold the photographs.
On my way back, I met Avik Sarkar, Siddhartha Talapatra and Co. near Puri Gate and they asked me if I would like a booze. I plainly refused. Were they serious or not cannot be said for certain, but it is sure that they also decided otherwise and came with me to Tech Market where we separated. They had to buy Cold Drinks and I had to do Laundry stuff and a bit of shopping for the rainy day ahead. The rains lashed when we least expected it to and continued well into saturday as I write.
Going through the album, I can't help remembering all the good old moments I had spent with my friends. Starting from my trip to Indore(Photo with Shaunak, Supriya and Amrita. Anushree can't even hold the camera still while taking a photograph) to our own Home's House Warming ceremony. I remember spending time on the gate with Neha and Rolly, and can't help feeling sad for Neha who lost her mother just a month ago. I hope she could concentrate well for her JAM paper and passes with good marks. There is no use hoping anything for Rolly as she has a reputation of messing everything around. At best I hope she doesn't land into any trouble.
Then I remember the Nehli treat photographs followed by SF photographs. The photograph with Addy should have been taked from a closer distance. I remember Richard Stallman's publicity stunts at Kshitij and then my GE treat to the wing. The Saraswati Puja photographs went bad due to bad light. Then comes the Hall Day Photograph with Addy, Sneha, Swati and WickC. Swati seemed to be dozing off even at 10pm. But her smile is contagious for sure. Sneha on the other hand was wearing a beaming smile (Teeth Count = 32.00) that went well with her white dress. Addy and WickC seemed to be wearing fake smiles (I don't think that I was putting too much weight on them causing them pain!). WickC ordered the Hall Day photograph for remembering the good old days, while Addy on the other hand knew his limitations with such stuffs and decided to have the scan only as he would lose the photograph. I am a bit annoyed with the photographer who didn't print the first photo with my Bhopal friends.
Initially I couldn't understand why on earth were we having a treat on thursday as on friday, both RP and SN have an off-day. But I was convinced by the fact that all people aren't like me! All weekends are booked for Hall-Days and they didn't want to miss any by going to the treats. Thursday swimming went quite eventless except for the fact that I developed strain near my ankle. But still, I again failed to do a 20m at a stretch. Oh God, the wait is painfully long.
Back from swimming I had to complete my CFW assignment on Rolling process. Although it was a solved example in a book, it had to be done on my own as the results used in the book were not derieved in the lecture class.
Later in the evening I went to Billoo's for dinner and ordered my usual Chicken Biryani. It was great. After dinner, I went to Chhota Tengra to collect my photographs that I had requested developing and printing. I seemed to finally like someone's work on my photographs. All the shop-owners of photography shop at Tech-Market don't do their work seriously. Here I got developing for Rs.15/- and printing on 6''x4'' @ Rs.4/- each. The prints also came good. In addition to that he gave a free album to hold the photographs.
On my way back, I met Avik Sarkar, Siddhartha Talapatra and Co. near Puri Gate and they asked me if I would like a booze. I plainly refused. Were they serious or not cannot be said for certain, but it is sure that they also decided otherwise and came with me to Tech Market where we separated. They had to buy Cold Drinks and I had to do Laundry stuff and a bit of shopping for the rainy day ahead. The rains lashed when we least expected it to and continued well into saturday as I write.
Going through the album, I can't help remembering all the good old moments I had spent with my friends. Starting from my trip to Indore(Photo with Shaunak, Supriya and Amrita. Anushree can't even hold the camera still while taking a photograph) to our own Home's House Warming ceremony. I remember spending time on the gate with Neha and Rolly, and can't help feeling sad for Neha who lost her mother just a month ago. I hope she could concentrate well for her JAM paper and passes with good marks. There is no use hoping anything for Rolly as she has a reputation of messing everything around. At best I hope she doesn't land into any trouble.
Then I remember the Nehli treat photographs followed by SF photographs. The photograph with Addy should have been taked from a closer distance. I remember Richard Stallman's publicity stunts at Kshitij and then my GE treat to the wing. The Saraswati Puja photographs went bad due to bad light. Then comes the Hall Day Photograph with Addy, Sneha, Swati and WickC. Swati seemed to be dozing off even at 10pm. But her smile is contagious for sure. Sneha on the other hand was wearing a beaming smile (Teeth Count = 32.00) that went well with her white dress. Addy and WickC seemed to be wearing fake smiles (I don't think that I was putting too much weight on them causing them pain!). WickC ordered the Hall Day photograph for remembering the good old days, while Addy on the other hand knew his limitations with such stuffs and decided to have the scan only as he would lose the photograph. I am a bit annoyed with the photographer who didn't print the first photo with my Bhopal friends.
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Dhang Zindabad
Another day nears end as I write. Yesterday I had a fantastic day at the swimming pool, but I couldn't go today. This is because my Bio-mechanics professor Nirjhar Dhang decided to take an extra class at the end of his usual 2 hour lecture. We all were outraged, but couldn't do anything. But soon things turned out to be different as after the first hour, he offered Tea and Biscuits to all, and instead of usual 10 minutes break, gave a half an hour one! And after taking another one hour, he gave away snack packets for all. Hence, we had only 2 hour class overall and got so many benefits. Maybe I don't regret missing my swimming.
Vikas didn't come to Bio-mechanics class today. He had his GE interview. If he gets selected, he will be getting Rs.30,000/- for working for 3 months training. Although he deserves this, I feel sorry for the students who got better training than that alloted, but couldn't change because of reluctance of our T&P Incharge. I sometimes feel that the T&P Incharge post is more suited for Prof. Souvik Bhattacharyya rather than Suman Chakraborty. The former is a lot jollier and a lot more helpful than the latter.
Vivek still is sad about something and my gut feeling is that its because of Prasoon issue. He can't seem to forgive himself for hurting his dear friend. He's too sensitive.
Today we experienced super-sonic teaching in our Applied Thermodynamics class. Prof. Ramgopal was in so much hurry and speaking at so much speed that I seemed to feel that there are sonic booms coming out of his mouth. He gave an assignment which none of us has any clue how to do. He didn't even give complete data for the problem(We are expected to find it over the internet).
Vikas didn't come to Bio-mechanics class today. He had his GE interview. If he gets selected, he will be getting Rs.30,000/- for working for 3 months training. Although he deserves this, I feel sorry for the students who got better training than that alloted, but couldn't change because of reluctance of our T&P Incharge. I sometimes feel that the T&P Incharge post is more suited for Prof. Souvik Bhattacharyya rather than Suman Chakraborty. The former is a lot jollier and a lot more helpful than the latter.
Vivek still is sad about something and my gut feeling is that its because of Prasoon issue. He can't seem to forgive himself for hurting his dear friend. He's too sensitive.
Today we experienced super-sonic teaching in our Applied Thermodynamics class. Prof. Ramgopal was in so much hurry and speaking at so much speed that I seemed to feel that there are sonic booms coming out of his mouth. He gave an assignment which none of us has any clue how to do. He didn't even give complete data for the problem(We are expected to find it over the internet).
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