time flies...

it really does..specially when everything's going right. there's a famous quote by the genius mr. einstein, "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity." so when i spent a whole week traveling 2500 kilometers back n forth and holding hands with the prettiest girl in the whole world and came back home, it seemed like a minute, infact a second. i mean where did those 168 hrs go.. it seems like a dream. a dream i wish i had never woken up from.

still, reality is what this is. i'm back here. in the worst place of all. the capital city of india. n going to office again! man, can it get any worse.. being a software engineer sucks. just yesterday i had packed my bags n left for the station..telling all kinds of lies to everyone. i lost track of which lie i told whom. someone was told i'm going on a holiday with my friends. to some i was going to my maternal grandmother for a week. n to some it was just a break i was taking from office! dad left me at the station and as i sat in the compartment i fell a tinge of guilt. you know, you shouldn't lie to your moms.
anyways, i had already found a place to stay at a friend's who was going on a similar mission! it had struck me once, when i had talked to him 2 days before leaving, that it had been a while we both had talked and quite a long while since we met. and that while i'm at his place we could hang out together. but was i not glad he wasn't there while i was! sorry buddy, but i dnt think anyone else can understand this better than you.

after 36 hrs of travel, the impatient journey finally ended. n bliss followed..:)

it a week gone now. n i dont have anything to say. i've woken up. my scientific mind tells me that whatever goes, comes back. maybe it is true for time also. why arent engineers and scientists trying their hands on a time machine. maybe i'll do some research. when i find time. right now i have codes to write for my software company.

i think i should get ready now..dont want to be late for office.

the 4 awesome years of my life..

my third and fourth years in college..

d thrd year was boring. really boring. except fr some csi events i organised along wid nipun n sumit i didnt do nething. dat ofcourse helped revive d csi branch of dce. n led to a tech fest. a first of its kind fr csi.
i met wid an accident.
exams were pathetic. nd so was our fest. it was horrible actually.

nw d fourth year. dis changed me completely. nt so much hapnd. yet so much actually hapnd. d year started wid placements. THE placements. microsoft came first. n i failed to clear d written. dat dejected me completely. i mean how could i nt clear a programming test. i went home depressed. next was motorola. d very next day. dose moto ppl showed up 5 hrs late..! nd i culdnt clear even dat test. d worst part..romit cleared it. nw me n romit have always been competitors in colg. be it acads or placements or even sports. so his clearing d test was a blow. if he cud i thot i shud have too. dat day i cud literraly define what depression is. believe me. i had failed two tests in a row n i was really dejected nw. i cud've killed myself. i didnt want to go home cz i knew i'd go into real depression. so i stayed back. waited fr amit to clear his cognizant interview. he got d job dat day. n he was happy. d happiness of a first job. tough luck fr romit, he cudnt clear d moto interview. n nw it was his turn to go into depression. so i decided to stay back in d hostel n ask him to stay wid us. dat was d only stress buster. we stayed up..had dinner at 12. watched a movie till 5. den slept. n woke up at 7. we had to. it was google dat day. i had lost all hopes by now. only after 2 attempts..!! so google was only a formality fr me dat day. i woke up. brushed my teeth. n cz google pptcame in my way of going home i attended it. n gave d exam. n flunked yet another time. :) neways i went home. i was relaxed nw. much better.

2 days later came cisco. a dream company fr many. splly sumit n amit. dese 2 ppl had been preparing fr cisco fr over a mnth. only fr cisco, literally. well, surprizingly i cleared d written dis time. dn knw how. me atul amber. nw my interview was scheduled at 10:30 in the nite! so i decided to prepare some more. (p.s. a tip: never do dat. watever u'v done is enuf. more kills.) while me n atul were 'ghissing', came yahoo! so we decided to sit in fr it. surprizingly i cleared d yahoo written too..!! i was sure having some day man. bt i was nervous. it was going to be my first interview. so in i went. n wat did i do. i blew it up. i wasnt even called in fr d hr. i cud'v cried dat moment. it was sooooooooo bad. next morning was yahoo. yesi. another written in unix. i blew it up too. nw wat do i say. dis is life i guess. one moment it takes u into heaven. d other moment..into hell.

after these episodes i felt dat dere was actually no hope fr me. nd i shu consider myself lucky if i cud somhow get a job! so i decided to sit fr d next company dat came. flextronics software systems. low pkg. a brand bt nt a big one. ppl didnt want to go fr it. i had no choices. so i sat. n cleared it. d interviews were trying. really. i mean cisco was easier dan dis had only i prepared well..! neways dat was d day i experienced d ecstatcy of d first job. d happiness u get. d happiness ur mom dad get. its hard to describe. it was amazing.
bt it had a bad side effect. nw dat i had a job i culdnt concentrate dat well on other companies. attempts were lessend by an obsolete dce placement policy. n whatever chances i got i blew. meanwhile all my frnds landed up in good companies. d most unexpected reault was amit getting conexant. everyone was waiting fr dat job. only he got. d placements got over fr d timebeing den. we had a lull. den came dose usual classes. mid sems.

my life got a new turn den. i got busy. :) nd i was enjoying every bit of dat new found 'busyness'..:)

den came end sems. n i faired d worst among my frns. i got the lowest score i cud never have imagined. it shook me up. literally. never had i performed so badly.

den vacations came. around new years we decided to go to simla. again d same story. nobody was ready except us four. me gaurav nipun atul. amit got in d last moment nd sumit cancelled d last moment. it was amazing. morning we wake up. nthing on our heads. we dn knw where to go. nipun's at d passport office. sumit is convincing his parents. atul is at d station. we r fighting over d fone where to head. nd d next moment we r sitting in the 2pm train to simla wid our tickets confirmed..! so off we went to simla. it was an amazing trip. d journey itself was so exciting. we were stranded at kalka fr over 6 hrs waiting fr our train. nd we had to literally run on d trck to catch a running train to 'book' out seats..!! nd dat journey frm kalka to simla. between d mountains. it was breathtakingly beautiful :)

new years eve was chilly bt boring. bt d next day we went to kufri to catch up on some snow stuff. dat was an experience. i finally saw snow. real snow. :) we all rode 'pithoos' - a hybrid of horse nd donkey - to d hill. n i even made mine 'run' downhill. i had to hit him on his neck to do dat. it was scary in d beginning bt fun.
d dwnward journey frm simla to chandigarh was hmmmm..d less i say d better. ;) bt we had a great time.

den began my training. nd only i knw how much i enjoyed going to my organisation. :) i used to go dere daily. fought my incharge. daily. dat was d best time. :)
den began colg. d last sem. we had 3 subjects. nd believe me. i attended only 2 classes d whole sem. one fr each of d two subjects. fr d third i didnt attend any. i didnt have d time. :) during our seminar towards d end of d sem, wen i sneaked in to check out who d invigilator is, i told nipun dat dude we'r screwed..its an external. only to find out it was our own IPR teacher. d third subject..!!
den dere was d major project. only i knw hw i did dat. ;) bt it was a learning experience nonedless.

in d middle of all dis, i cleared d adobe written. dat felt amazing. i really got some confidence back in me after dat. bt i lost out in d interview. a one hr gruelling session. :( still i regard it as a high point.

bt m going to aricent nw. m a software engineer dude..:) so it'll be work nw. no more colg masti. i'll miss all dat. bt lets hope job d turns out to be fun. d worst part is d habit of 'doing nothing'. it'll have an effect m sure. i just pray it doesnt get me fired one day..!! ;)

the 4 awesome years of my life..

my second year in college..

the second year of colg was different. it was different frm d first year. n frm d past years of my life too. it saw a new me. i did things i had never done before. never dreamt of doing before. the third sem examinations, for one, sucked..cz of math..'abstract algebra'..! nd stats of course. i literraly had to 'learn' some problems of algebra to pass in the exam. stats was beyond my comprehension.

neways this was d first time i wen to a colg fest other than our own. in fact i attended so many of dem. d first one was perhaps mamc. den came lhmc. i remember we had our last mid sem on the last day of the lh fest. nd boy..was the whole DCE present dere dat nite! i was tired dat day after d exam n didnt want to go. bt nipun forced me to. n wen he forces u'd better go..its better dan killing urself u knw..;)

so we went. nw deres something abt lh. dere r gals. plenty of dem. al alone. i mean deres a dearth of guys. nd dce is always dere. as dey say.."gali gali me nara hai..lh humara hai"..! ;) so guys decide to ask out gals fr a dance. u knw deres a kinda competetion dat starts out dere. it becomes an ego issue..!! if ur in lh u 'have to' ask a gal fr a dance..or ur branded sissy..! everyone is doing it. as if lh has d only gals in d universe..! nd as if everyone is going to get a gal dat nite just by asking her to dance wid him. :D

so me n nipun thot of doing d same..! ;) bt we didnt have d guts. atleast i didnt. so we were dancing alone. i mean just me n him. nw dis guy got attracted to dis gal dere, somewhere in d crowd, nd decided to ask her fr a dance. n boy he went. nw dat was showing sme guts man. n guess wat. d gals (dere were 2 of dem) agreed..! nw dere were many hunks frm our colg who had been trying to 'get' a gal since evening. n of all nipun got one..!! dat was an achievemnt. :) nd he gladly invited me too. so we 4 were dancing. till d party got over. den quite the gentlemen way we both bought d gals a couple of drinks. kanjus dat we both were we could manage only a couple of cold coffees, if m nt wrong..:D den we chatted. it was a long chat. actually it was nipun n dat gal manisha (whom nipun asked) who did most of the chatting. i was just too shy to talk to a gal.
one i cudnt believe dat i was into 'such' a thing..i mean dere were gals sitting wid us nd talking to US..!!! nw dat was something new to me. i had never talked to girls except to d academic bright ones in my class..dat too for notes..! neways d chat got over. n v decided to leave. nipun n d gal exchanged numbers too. i didnt have a cell back den. bt i still took her no. how cud i leave dat chap alone wid a gals no..!
nw as we left lh we found a couple of frnds nd decided to head to india gate. the 'awaragardi' over, we left india gate fr home at 2.
sunday i asked dad fr a cell..! n dad was surprised (obviously)..why in d world did i need a cell. nw how cud i tell him dat nipun cud get a gals no nd he must be sending her msgs nd i cant..!! neways dad refused.

nw monday was funny. it really was. it was class as usual. morning 9 am. nw it was a 2 hr class. easy. d problem was nipun didnt show up. nw dat got my brain working. was he out on a date wid manisha. had she asked him out. where cud he have gone. boy i couldnt concentrate in class. nw i wanted to call him up. bt dat wud show my desperation. so i didnt. finally at 12 dis guy turns up.
so i go up to him n start a converstaion..only to be relieved to find out dat he woke up late. phew..! :) c i was not going to go out wid her neways. bt why shud he if i cant man..!! dats d issue..;) neways dis guy did go out on a date wid her later. good fr him. nd nt so good fr me. cz once before dat i had called her up n asked her out. n she gladly refused. ;)
sooo dat was a big lh episode. big cz dat was something i cud never have imagined myself into. n something i promised i wud never get into again. bt dat was d end of it. i never heard frm dat gal again. nt sure abt nipun..;)
3rd sem got over in all dis mess. exams sucked. i got a bad score.

den came 4th sem. in d beginning of which i got my cell phone. :)

nw dis is one sem which makes me proud. i did d greatest thing i cud have. participated in a fashion show. nw dat is tough. believe me. first the selection. i got to knw of the trials for d show. it was to be a major attraction of our cultural fest. so me n amit decided to give it a try. nw amit had already participated in a fashion show before, in d first sem. so he was confident of making it. i was damn nervous. i mean think abt it. its strange. a judge is standing in front of u n u walk towards him wid all confidence, style nd watever. n he selects or rejects u. so we went fr d trials. nw amit was all dressed up dat day. a nice blazer clean shaven n all. i wore a cardigan wid a week old beard..nd a mismatched pair of jeans..!! boy i was really looking pathetic. we showed dem our 'walks'. nw one thing amit sir is knwn fr is his walk. its different. u cant imitate him. yaar uska style hi alag hai..:D so as expected he got thru. i didnt. he was elated. i was sad. so i went up to dis judge n askd him wen is d next trial. nw fr d next trial i went prepared. shaven, new tee, matching jeans n wat nt..:) this was d final trail before d team wud be decided. amit came casually..cz he knew he had already been selected. unfortunately fr him..dis time i got selected. he didnt. i was elated. he was shocked. nd sad.

so practise began. my partners changed very frequently. dn knw y..bt whoever gal was paired wid me, left..;) some politics transferred me frm the ethnic (my favourite) to the theme round. nd after 2 partner changes, i finally got a new one 2 days before the fashion show. actually 1 day before! nw dis gal was pathetic. i mean in terms of her walk. although i was nt a model myself bt in dese past few days of practise i had learnt how to walk nd pose n all dat. so i was a prof nw..;) we were disgraceful together. n our first practise was only in the morning of the fashion show day itself..! so we decided to work. after a long gruelling practise our walk got so synchronised dat it cud put models to shame. :)

neways..the hour arrived. boy was dere a crowd. till date i havent seen a crowd as big as dat day in dce. dere were 7 particpating colleges. nsit mait lhmc mamc nit-k ucms nd dce. d dce performance, speaking honestly, was pathetic. dere were many blunders in d previous rounds. den came our theme round. boy dat was THE moment. walking on d stage wid d biggest crowd staring at me. dat scared me to death. my heart was beating so fast it cud've jumped out of my throat onto d stage..! bt i walkd. n everyone saw. n i walkd good. :) i knew. i cud tell. boy, dat was a day. phew! bt it was amazing. dat was undoubtedly the most memorable day of my college life. :)

a few weeks later we planned a trip to vaishno devi. nw deres a thing abt our group. u wont find a man of his words. i remember before the final mid sem we had like 9 ppl ready to go. wen d plan was ready dere were just 3 left..!! me nipun n atul. somehow we roped in romit. so we four left. a scene at the bus stop wid d conductor. we nt getting seats. an accident near panipat on d highway. our driver running fr cover. we left stranded at the highway fr 6 hrs. police asking us to go home. hospital. boy..it was d beginning of our trip..! we somehow reached katra..6 hrs late obviously. nd began our trip to the holy shrine at 8 in the night. wat a trek. :) it was amazing. we reached bhavan at 2. den went to bhairav mandir. n left fr d dwnward trek at 6. it was awesome. at 10 wen we reached our guest house..dat was d last we remembr until we woke up at 4..! dat was some trip. d homeward journey was easy though. :)
nd den d exams. dey sucked. adc splly. i nearly flunked. i got d worst result. thank god it was over.

vacations started again. dis time it was training which kept me busy. nw a new assosiation started. me n sumit. dis was d first of our team when we trained together in the same organisation. later we were to train tgether in all companies. nd den join d same company as well after college. ;)

the 4 awesome years of my life..

my first year in college..

i "lived" dese past 4 years of my life. words cant describe the 'awesomeness' of my college life. it transformed me completely. changed my way of thinking, my way of living, my way of dressing, my way of everything. it tought me so much. it made me go thru hell it made me go thru heaven. showed me the kind of crisis i could get into and could get out of. gave me new frnds..frnds for life.
i culdnt get just one thing during dis time..dat was a bike..;) i had to live in a dtc bus, nt dat i am regretting, nd the bus pass was no doubt one of my most prized possesions. costing only 62 bucks for 4 months (!!) it actually made life so easy..nd made me rich by 14 bucks everyday..! :)

i still remember my first day at college. actually d day before the first day was my first day..! the orientation day at 30th july 2003. i didnt attend the orientation in the newly constructed library..it was sooo boring. who would sit fr 3 hrs in the hall wen the weather outsde was just sooooo awesome. it was raining.

after the orientation got over we went to our classroom following 2 of our favourite proffessors..mr. MS nd mr. RAKA..;)
i made frnds wid 'mangu' who gladly gave me a sheet, to fill in our details and a photo fr the orientation, after borrowing it from aman..!
den came d 'd-day'. 1st august. my 'first day' at college. man i culdnt have my breakfast properly. i was so damn scared of this ragging ghost. nd what did i do wen i reached colg. "aa bail mujhe maar"..! a classmate, suneet, was being ragged by a senior. unaware i went up to him nd shook hands and asked him who dis guy was..!! good for suneet, the senior got pissed off and sent him away..cz now it was my turn..! den, as i went to my classroom a classmate, negi, nearly ragged me..!

my first days were fun. i was not ragged dat much as me n mangu had found quite many places in our BIG campus to get a hide as soon as the class got over..! nd even wen i got into trouble, my "ineptness" at doing what my seniors asked me to saw me home easily..but very embarrassed though..;) it was fun. nd it was soo much fun wen i would find 'fuchchas' of my year itself nd rag dem..only to tell dem later dem m a fuchcha myself..!! :D

my first grp was strange..me mangu suneet rakesh sunil..dn knw how..!! den i got some new frnds. my grp later was me romit nitin nd sushil. nice grp. we wud have lunch together. at times go nd play pool or cricket or volleyball wid other classmates.

i was never the mastikhor guy wen i enterd colg in my 1st year. i was more of a nerd..a book-'reptile' infact who had only studied in his past 2 yrs. my dressing sense was pathetic. i couldnt talk. confidence 0. dat was me. the only thing i was confident of was my acads! so masti in dose days fr me was doing nothing..! dat was something new fr me. the first sem was nice. i got used to doing nothing..nd later i was to realise how important a part it was going to play in my life..;)

as d 1st sem drew to a close, sushil got transferred to nsit. after a long time i had found a best buddy..nd he was leaving..nd dat hurt.
i also made new frnd..the nipun..! nd surprisingly he lived near to my house. the first sem break after exams saw us going out for the first time for an absolutely awesome movie..'tehzeeb'. dat was quite an experience..! before that it was only at the freshers nite dat i had stayed out for later than 11PM (the first time fr me). staying out late at nites was later to become a habit for me..:)
d winter vacations were boring. i even took up my books to reappear fr iit but den gave up. i didnt want to waste an year of college.

vacations got over and 2nd sem started. our class was in the most secluded corner of dce. once in class we could never tell what was happening in the campus. and it took a good 15 20 min to reach class frm the gate..!! bt we had begun to have fun now. got to knw more ppl. we started to play cricket a LOT. d field was near to the classroom. dere were times wen the teacher wud come to the ground itself to call us into class..!

nd dere were times wen a math teacher wud be running behind us, we literraly playing hide n seek wid him, to get his students back into class..!! nd dere was a time wen a dear frnd wud propose to a girl frm the cellfone of a frnd. only to angry her so much dat she wud go as far as the men's room to get hold of him nd nearly slap him...!! ;) it all happened. and it was fun. the syllabus as i rembr was bad. dere was a lot to do nd no time. i nearly flunked mech science.
that was d first time a attended a fest. my college's fest. it was awesome. we had so much fun. stayed up in the pg of chinmay till 3 i guess..nd atul got some lessons on 'facts of life'..;)
as far as girls are concerned, i never talked to any. i just couldnt. my shyness would'nt allow me to. but one thing is clear, the girls i used to admire the most den are the ones i now hate the most and the ones i used to nt like r the ones i admire now nd respect..
nd ppl say dat first impression is the last impression...!!

neways dat was d end of the 2nd sem nd an eventful 1st year.
vacations were boring. didnt do nething. sometimes sitting idle scares me..!
neways
3rd sem came.