Part 2

I have this thing for even numbers ;) NO! I'm not a geek... Even numbers always sing a sweeter song to me as compared to odd ones. When Padmini, a close friend, recently shared this sentiment with me, this just re-iterated my belief in even numbers. My life has always been better at multiples of two. I became an AITSE scholar at the age of 12, played state level football again at 12, appeared on national television in class 10 and at age 14 and the incidents go on and on. It's nothing like a cooked up superstitious fetish for even quantities; it's just what I have always experienced. Welcome to the 2nd year... :)

Moving away from the class room complex or famously the CRC was something that took a lot of getting used to. In the CRC, each and every person of our batch from every department was present in a single and a pleasant architectural complex. The pleasantness was mainly due to the fact that all the six divisions were visible the moment we stepped out from our class. This made the breaks between classes all the more enjoyable. I could easily shout out the latest buzz up from my E division down to Rahul in the A division and the buzz would spread like fire! All the pretty faces from our year could be seen all at once.. ;) But as they say, all good things come to an end. CRC was awesome fun, but there were newer avenues to explore- for example- THE CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT..!

The civil engineering department was the cornerstone of the temple for two reasons- firstly, it is located at the corner of the temple main road... :D and secondly, it boasted of all the big shot big named professors who had spent the better part of their lives preaching in the temple. The twin departments- CED and AMD had an aura of their own. They had funds enough to run their own college and resources matching a state cabinet minister. They were the dons of the college. Consider the present situation- The honorable Director, Deputy Director, Dean-Students welfare, Dean- Faculty Welfare, Dean- Alumni Activities- all belong to the twin departments. No wonder I felt dwarfed during my initial days there, only to realize later that these people have the caliber to change my life forever. Did they do it?? We'll see.

I knew only half the people on a personal level in my new class. I knew these were going to be my classmates for the coming three years, but that fact never fired me up to strike a connection. One third of them were localites, making them automatic friends. Apart from them, I knew maybe 10 people more and that seemed enough. In a class of 48 people if you know 30 people, you can surely win an election... ;)

However selfish it may sound, that was how i thought about people at that time. Potential votes. Politics had gotten so much to me that every move of every person used to automatically register in my brain along with it's political implications. Let me give you an example- I am thirsty. Girls generally carry water. I asked one girl for water. There could be three possibilities- 1) she has water and she gives it to me.. 2) she had water but she drank it all before I asked.. 3) she says she doesn't have water. So option number 1 would mean she is in the bag; option number 2 means I need to work on this one; option number 3 says 'no chance dude, she ll never vote for u!'.. I know what you are thinking. Such levels of objectification point to a condition where people call u 'sick' without any visible sickness. I just couldn't help it. I was sick, and I needed treatment.

The concept of vaccination can be said to be the 2nd biggest achievement of mankind, the 1st obviously being the condom. Vaccination usually involves putting up the weakened form of the disease causing pathogens and creating an antigenic effect. My sickness needed that antigenic effect and the cure to my political narrow minded attitude was none other than the most awaited event of the year- The Elections! :) :) :)

The worst part about winning an election is the possibility of losing the next one. Once you taste power, losing it can be the biggest blow you can experience. Hence we were more than determined to win these elections than ever. Lists started pouring in, probabilities were being calculated, potential candidates were being located and the buzz was back! I was given the responsibility of juniors. As Rahul was the candidate from my class, I had the liberty of ignoring my class and concentrating on the other branches and the first year. I made it a point to introduce myself personally to each and every localite junior and explain to him/her all the necessary stuff. When I look back at my decision to take up the first year, I always thank myself for that for it gave me the opportunity to meet, interact and get to know such a diverse mix of people. Now that I have completed my course, I am still in touch with many of them and consider them to be amongst my good friends.. :)

I have always experienced that when we look forward to something very eagerly, when we plan it with our full potential, when we just want it to be perfect- It always gets screwed up! I mean, we were all set. Local+CB+Bihar+NESA+AP plus some others were all set for victory. It was going to be a clean sweep! Apart from two classes, our alliance was winning in every class and all our people were going to be in the council. We had counted, and then recounted all the numbers and were eagerly waiting for the elections. What could possibly have gone wrong?? We could see Bisvajeet Kumar as the GS and Vishnu sir as the CS. But politics, as i mentioned earlier is not a game where everything goes according to plan. Out of the blue, we heard about a fight in the canteen front area. A serious fight between some final year guys over a petty issue caused havoc in the campus. The purpose behind this fight was obviously to influence the elections. Sadly for the planner, the event was ignored for the moment by the faculty till the election. That bit the opposition very hard and they influenced another fight, this time outside the campus near the coveted Galla! The faculties had now seen enough. The elections stood cancelled- indefinitely!

It was like the end of an era. People lost the purpose of coming to the temple. The villains were silently smiling their widest smile and rubbing their hands in anticipation. We'll come back to them later. Personally, I was completely dejected. So much of effort had gone into the election that I dint even have the heart for a smile for a couple of days. No one knew what was going to happen. There was this mixed air of anticipation and hope. Meanwhile, the election setback reminded me finally of a fact- I also have to study! So much of work had piled up and I was way behind in my studies. By the time I reached level, I was totally exhausted and needed a break, maybe an outing. ;)

The civil engineering department makes you work very hard. The course ain't that tough, but you have to slog for weeks together. Giant tutorials, endless sheets and a continuous submission regime always keeps students on their toes. In spite of all this, the civil department is envied by one and all. As a trade off, I may call it, civil engineering involves some really interesting study tours. These tours can be credited with laying the foundation for long term friendships and a really close bonding between classmates.

Saputara, was our first destination. Before hand, we knew that it was a mini hill station on the Gujarat-Maharahstra border; beautiful, serene, quiet. Along with the 2 day surveying exercise, the trip to saputara provided our class with plenty of firsts. It was the first of the many mad bus trips, first time that the class came to be as one, first time a serious incident took place in our class, first time i felt that my class can also be fun! The game of street football, the memorable khadi-kho, all the naming of people with the awesome-est of names, some of which are still actively used, the night-out at our room where we played dumb charades full night. Those are the things I'l always remember and cherish. But, most of all, above all these things, Saputara unveiled the most colorful individual alive. Lokesh was born!

Yep, you heard it. I agree he was born some 21 years back, but that was when he released himself of all the inhibitions. He was like a genie waiting to be freed! For the first time in my life, I saw his bright side. Till date, there has not been a single dull moment with him. As Rahul always says, he dreams of a sense of humor matching lokesh as he already possesses all the other goods for required to score... obviously not a goal... ;)

Well if you are pondering over the reason for such specific references, I feel these incidents have become a part of my identity. Each and every experience has taught me something and I hope you are able to relate with these incidents at some level.

THE STUDENT COUNCIL was still nowhere to be seen or mentioned. There were a number of rumors and whispers doing the rounds. One news was that the faculty will announce elections with a notice of one week, giving practically no time to the students to exhibit their political prowess. Surprisingly, an entire semester went away without the student council. The faculty recognized the convenience and the extent of ease with which they could run the system. Discipline was evident, as no one was in power. They used all these facts to their advantage and introduced the dreaded nightmare- SELECTION!

Selection brought an end to the political reigns of almost everyone in the college. I still feel strong opposition at that time could have forced the faculty to re-think and maybe, just maybe the present situation might have been better; but factors like lack of interest and other priorities like a decent job and the in-valuable time with friends made the system to suffer. Students no longer had a say in the system that basically was all about them. The definition is simple- A student representative is someone who is selected by all the students and not by the grades he gets. I knew it was all going to suck!

The 2nd trip to Mount Abu made my mind even sicker. The groupism was so extreme that I felt we did not belong there. If saputara seemed like heaven, mt. abu was hell! Everything about that trip was bad! Half the class fell ill after that and the cold wars which began there still exist. Life was becoming bad... An odd number was approaching...

This paragraph comes with a warning. Some of the readers, especially the fairer sex, might find it hard to digest; but the ugly truth needs to be unveiled. I don't seem to understand the problem with girls. 2nd year taught me a great deal about them. They seem to have a problem with every thing we do. If we bunk a class, if we don't bunk a class, if we like them, if we don't like them, if we talk to them, if we don't talk to them, if we pay attention, if we don't pay attention, if we smile at them, if we don't smile at them, if we ask them out, if we don't ask them out... and the list goes on! They have a problem with any and every thing we do. They are the real world vampires who are sent to suck every drop of blood from hopeful guys and empty their pockets to the limit of poverty and helplessness. God save 'man'kind!!

The new student council was a boon for localites. Localites are generally class toppers and Varun Rajani exploited his gold medal grades to become the cultural secretary. Vishnu sir became the treasurer and Sparsh was ours... It was a tight slap on the faces of those who had planned the entire ugliness before the elections. Lets say they got a doze of their own medicine. I got the first taste of event management when I worked along side varun sir and vishnu sir in the sponsorship team. The post of a dance night co-coordinator gave me real time experience of managing an event. That sparsh also gave me something I will always cherish... THE FUNKY MONKEYS!! The most amazing dance group ever... More on that in the next post....

2 years had gone by... and I already felt the grey in my hair increasing... The faces I recognized int he first year were more familiar now. Each face told me a story, as always, the difference now being that I knew more about them. I knew the cunning ones from the sweet ones. I knew the sharp ones and the lame ones... I started getting a grip of things... I started to feel in control.... There was this satisfying feeling about everything... I had good friends, great people to learn from, awesome seniors... Positivity all around... I had a good feeling about life.. But as I've stated earlier, all good things always come to an end... For now though... Life was good... :)

part-1

I don't know how to begin this blog. Someone told me that a blog is all about being honest all the time, so honestly, I don't know how to begin. What i do know, is that this blog is going to be a medium to tell the world all that I have learnt. Suddenly the question comes up- Why would the world be interested in my experiences?? Some pondering over this thought makes me decide my answer- The world is usually interested in the story of all fuck-ups! Why?? To learn from "the experiences" or to take pleasure in the pain of another person. We'll see.

I'll cover this in four different parts, this being part one. Since most of the stuff that I learnt the hard way was in college, this story is divided into four wonderful years. A short summing up of the story before that would be " a guy with a cherished schooling waiting to venture into the avenues of this big wide world, falls abruptly on the first step(more on that later) and is recovering ever since....". A part of me thinks that 'the fall' was the best thing to have happened to me. For starters, it made coming to 'the temple'(aka SVNIT) the aim of my life. The first thing in a nude man's mind is always to cover himself up. Yep, I did cover myself up, probably in the classiest tuxedo's available. Or so i thought... :P

After one full year was I again able to think highly of myself. Obviously I had made it to the temple, beating thousands of enthusiasts to it and shining on the cusp of a wonderful career. The confident walk was back, the nerdy moustache was lost and so were my geeky ways. On my first day at the temple, I was so excited that I brushed my teeth thrice and had a 30 minute shower-which is still a record! The buzz was that I was admitted into the most estrogen-filled division of the fresher camp- the E division. I still remember on the first day when a batch-mate asked me my division, my answer almost gave him an orgasm! 2 words were all i spoke-" E division" and i could see him in his flights of fantasy as he inquired about all the intricate details and I could see that all my answers were disappointing him by the second, because i knew nothing! I wont mention his name(for obvious reasons), but that guy enlightened me with my first learning- THE TEMPLE IS FULL OF HORNY GUYS. You bet it is!

In my first 15 days at the temple, I came to know so many people from across the country that I was in a regional mess! For reasons known to all yet known to none, group-ism was the most prevalent practice. You could always see people from the same state(not assos, not yet :P) sitting together, walking together, eating together, living together, playing together and sometimes even sleeping together. It is hard to believe, but in the evenings, the temple main road resembled the republic day parade-each state following the other! Never before had i seen such regionalism in my life. I was looking for some explanations. Somehow life at the temple was not as i had thought it to be. People were mean- no not exactly that- they were taught to be mean! It took me a week to befriend my entire school division; I had been in college for 15 days and i just connected with 3 people. Weird thoughts used to hit me- Was I in a different world?? Am I the only one feeling this way?? Is this what people call 'real' life?? Fact: When i ended my four years in the temple, I knew and had connected with almost my entire batch and the batches below me. I still have 3 closest friends; the same 3 people??? We'll see...... ;)

Politics was a shock!! A big one at that.. I had been a sucker for merit almost my entire life, and when the bubble finally burst, I was disappointed. All the pieces were coming together- the regional fiasco's, the raw mean looks, the never-trust-anyone attitude- it all made me sick. You can blame it on my upbringing but I couldn't see injustice. It took me a deep thought of about 48 hours to gulp it all. The entire concept was alien to me and I hated it more.. But that was the only way it worked, it still does. I started to see people in an entirely different light altogether. It was as if they were wearing a tag or a uniform of their 'association'. The classification and the following mental discrimination was totally automatic. I began to loathe people whom i didn't even know! I had this cycle in my mind when i saw someone- boy->asso->positive/negative(explained later)->smile/frown.. Girl->asso->postive/negative->smile/smile.. I told you, the temple is full of horny guys!! :P

Elections- I still feel the tinge and the 'high' caused by victory. Surprisingly enough, I hated politics but I loved the elections. It was a completely weird case of cause and effect but it was true. The weakness that i felt while adopting the political system, turned into a newfound strength and a feeling of liberation after the elections. Our alliance of Local+GB+UP+Bihar+Orissa+Some others, came into power. I was happy because I contributed and did my bit for the asso. College suddenly seemed more fun and everyday began with a new aim, a new mission. Winning the election taught me a very important aspect of all the 'people' skills i possess. I came to know that convincing even a close friend to vote for an unknown third person was a daunting task. This is what I learnt from Vishnu sir. Whenever we approach someone for the first time, the general tendency is to introduce oneself in the grandest way possible. To be good at managing people, introduce yourself to be smaller than them even if you are miles ahead. This just takes you even further. :)

The elections and the after effects covered majority of the first semester. I was chosen to be a member of the magazine committee and was enthusiastic about it. The interesting part is, that I was a part of the sponsorship team. Being a localite, it as the most obvious committee to be a part of and I was excited about it. We are talking about the annual magazine of the temple, the magazine of an NIT! Sponsorship should be a cakewalk.. Isn't it?? To be honest, that one month working with the magazine committee was the toughest month of my entire college life. I made a fool of myself, sometimes publicly! But something told me to persevere and stick to it. A special mention again to Vishnu sir here because I feel he taught me a lot, and i owe him for that. Nevertheless I kept on getting insulted and shown the door, and by the end of that month, we collected around 20,000 bucks... which I later came to know was more than the collective amount of the coming two years.. :)

The spring came in full swing and I saw my first ever MindBend. It was the biggest thing I had ever seen and I was totally intrigued by the enigma of the event. Parnab Mukherjee as the quiz master was the icing on the most marvellous cake. For 3 days, I gave myself entirely to the event and explored the talent throughout the temple. I won a couple of paper presentations and I thought I would be great in them. For the record, I never entered that competition ever again. :P All those things that i thought i would achieve flew away in a jiffy. It just took one month to lose all that excitement forever! Ladies and gentlemen, SPARSH was here! :) :)

The annual cultural festival was the event which changed me forever. If mindbend was huge, sparsh was mammoth! I still wonder what attracted me so much towards it, but all i could see was colors everywhere.. Everyone was in a festive mood, the canteen used to be overcrowded with people-mostly to check out the female population who found a new meaning to their life in the temple. I'm not exaggerating even a nano bit, but girls have this thing for the spring season- they become so different! They start to come out in huge numbers, wearing the best of clothes and flushing with the cultural exuberance. Sparsh gave me a new mission, a new goal to look forward to. I had decided- IN MY FINAL YEAR, I'M ORGANIZING THIS! Boy was i determined! :) :P

Thats pretty much all I can remember from my first year in the temple. I still maintain that my 1st year taught me so much about myself than I had ever known. I was living in the temple, the pious temple amongst 2000 inmates from across the country. The Mahatma once said that India is such a vast country in terms of its cultural diversities that only God can understand the complexities. I think even God would find it difficult.

Each room, each face, each expression had a story behind it. I try to remember some faces I saw, I never knew their names, but I felt I knew them. There were thousands of rivalries building up every second, enemies being made. But a birthday and the midnight bumps brought even the fiercest of rivals to share the heartiest of laughs. The temple never slept, it always rejoiced with activity. Nights passed faster than days and days were spent in catching up on sleep. Crushes were born and destroyed every hour in the temple. I had 3 of them in the first year, all of whom are my good friends now. When I see the boot-cut jeans and the trendy tees from first year, I somehow don't relate to it anymore. The class room complex was the best thing about the temple and peek in there brings back all the memories. I guess the best and the worst thing about time is the same bloody fact- that it never ever stops! The nostalgia remains forever.... :)