Crap

This is going to be a crappy post. So readers, beware!!

I wanted to do something on the tradition of April the 1st being celebrated as the Fool's Day. But as it happens am too tired to do a proper post. And so am just gonna list down some random things...

These are the wrappers lying around in my half of the room (all of which have been consumed by yours truly over the last couple of months or so)

Britannia Bourbon cream (my childhood favourite.. :) )

Rasna fruitplus (lemon flavour!!)

Classic Elaichi cream

Lays Classic Salted

Sunfeast Dark Fantasy (love these!! an absolute delight!! )

Cadbury Dairy Milk

Dairy Milk fruit and nuts!!

Five star

Five star crunchy

Five start fruit and nuts!!

Monaco (now where did this come from :O)

Sunfeast Bourbon cream

Seven Up bottle

Coke bottle

An empty Real Juice 1L pack (I seriously need to clean my room!! )

Some loacl brand namkeen

Kit Kat

Thums Up bottle

Lots of Himalya Koflet wrappers

Small wrappers in which the beasn ke ladoos I brought from home were wrapped

ohk there's a lot more crap lying around my room but am bored of writing about it!! Blaaaahhhh!!

Insomnia

Over the last few days I haven't been able to sleep for more than 6 hours at a stretch. My schedule has gone for a toss and while that isn't such a big deal it's the lack of a long sleep that's freaking me out. Hell, it's downright scary!!

Medley

Being at home means a quite a bit of TV watching for me. Coz unlike in hostel, where u have to struggle to get a view of the screen amongst a lot of prespiring bodies in stuffy environs, its quite comfortable at home. And add to it the delicious snacks being served to you, while you sit and watch TV.. :D

Statistics can sure lie

I was watching this Champions League fixture between Real Madrid and Liverpool and I couldn't help but wonder at the irony.. Madrid were comprehensively beaten 4-0, and one would think that the Madrid goalie had a horrendous outing. Contrary to it Casillas, for me, was the best player on the pitch that day. Had it not been for him, Madrid could have well been defeated by something like 10-0!!

I don't know how often I have judged performances based on the scorecard alone.. Never Again!!!

Ahh.. my bad luck :(

The Indians had been in an ominous form in the Kiwiland. Sachin had already scored a masterful century and in the next match Sehwag has set the ground on fire with his shots as India chased down 200 odd without losing a single wicket! Well it was in this backdrop that I decided to wake up at 6:30 in the morning to catch the final ODI.. Can you even imagine it... Me, waking at that ungodly hour!! Anyways, wake i did. But unfortunately for me first the weather and then the Men in Blue chose to play spoilsport. After a delayed start, the Indian team managed to score a grand total of 149!! Can you believe it? The same team that didn't lose a wicket in nothcing up 200 had been bundled out for a platry 149!!

I jus couldn't believe my luck at that time and had it not been been for HBO, which thankfully was showing Into the Wild, the morning would have been a total disaster.. yay HBO!! :D

p.s. Am not a huge movie buff but a home somehow I do notch up quite a few of them.. these vacations accounted for Erin Brockowich, Into the Wild, Rocky Balboa, and a couple of others.. and haan, even rewatched the Matric and the Pirates... :)

Oh my dear IPL

We all loved the first edition and are eagerly awaiting for the 2nd! SET MAx, the broadcasters have already launched the promotional campagin. However, amongst all this, the very existence of the event remains in doubt. And with the recent reports that there wouldn't be any games in jaipur and Delhi, the very structure and format of the event has been jeopardised. Come on, how can you NOT have matches at these two places... Jaipur, the home of the winners Rajasthan royals. how would it feel if they are not playing their home macthes at Fortress Mansingh? And how would the Nawab of Najafgarh feel playing his home matches in some obscure place in Himachal!!

As the things stand right now, it would be very difficult for the IPL organizers to come up with an event similar to the hugely successful first edition. First and foremost the home and away format has been put in doubt because of the elections and the security concerns owing to the Lahore terrorist attacks.

What I am gonna say now may seem bizzare to some and preposterous to others. But there's a rationale from where its coming. The Elcetion commission could have been more realistic while announcing the schedule of the Lok Sabha elections. While at the face of it, the remark seems blasphemous, it's not. The IPL had already announced the schedule for the macthes. Would it have been too much to expect that the EC would consider the ground realities, both emotional and rational, and schedule the elections after the IPL window? Cricket is a religion in India. And if it comes to a choice between elections and IPL, you need not worry as to which side would this cricket crazy country vote. 

Had it been that the IPL would have announced a conflicting schedule with the Elections, they could and should have been taken to task for it. However what is happening right now is not fair. Its not fair to the players, to the fans and to the organizers. And all this because the EC wanted to be Holier than thou.. 

oops! I should be careful.. recently heard that u cud be sued for ur comments on a blog.. :O!! 

Beyawsum Thol...

Beyawsum.. thats the only word i can used to describe Thol, a lake situated some 50 kms from my coll. It also happens to be a place flocked by migratory birds in this season. And the experience of witnessing the sunrise over there was outta this world. With each passing moment, as the intensity of light increased, the chirping of the brids grew louder. and it was musical, different birds, all uniting to produce a kind of music that only they could. The only noise there was of our creation ( and considering that we had bhains and mio in our ranks, you can really imagine wat it wud have been like *sigh* :P ).

And well how can i forget wat happened before the trip... Chadda and I had decided that the two of us would go on tuesday morning. But events so happened that I was dead tired by monday night.. even then Chadda woke me up at 3 in the morning.. And Chadda. and Gol and Balu (the latter 2 dnt read the blog but still.. ) this one is for you, I don't like being woken up!! And Chadda, specially when i have said that IF i wake up.. it doesn't mean that you have to wake me up... And I don't like surprises when I have been roused from a deep slumber :|..To all those to whom the above few lines sounded like greek, don't bother.. it happens in a hostel.. where wat u have said, and even written on the door of ur room are blatantly ignored... :S

Anyways, wat had happened was that my plan had been hijacked.. Instead of the two of us going, a plan had been hatched behind my sleeping ass, wherein the number of travellers went up to six.. and they even took care of my 2 backup options for juggaroing a bike.. so as u cud imagine, that when i woke up, i didnt have a bike... anyways, somehow a bike was arranged.. but well, here's the twist in the tale, to call that piece of iron would be a gross injustice to the species called motorcycles.. :P 

Chadda still insisted, despite my persuasions to the contrary, that we should travel on that bike.. and well as anyone of you would have guessed by now, that piece of iron stopped midway and wouldnt budge.. and we had a hell of a time getting it back to college... so well.. the others enjoyed Thol.. while the original travellers were stuck...The only good thing to come out of it was that i once again got the opportunity to roam the streets of ahmedabad in the early hours of the morning... i somehow love doing that... 

however, if you think that I would have let things be, then you don't know me.. another plan wa shtached for the next day.. and boy... wat a trip it was... early hours of the day, more than 100 kms of biking, awesome weather, and a breathtaking view.. things don't get better than this... 

Even stopped over in Ahmedabad on the way back to get some books from Crossword... 

Stay off the Grass

The Great Indian Middle Class

Being Indian

I shall be well accounted for the coming vacations... 

Till next time...

p.s. for all those who couldn't understand wat beyawsum was; its beyond + awsum (awesome).. seriosuly guys.. :S

p.p.s. Have to go to Thol once again, it's the perfect place quench your thirst in a dry state.. ;P

Hmmm Home...

Just some random things that make homecoming so special.. :)

~

Its 4:30 in the morning. I lean out of the fast moving train as it slows down to stop at the outer signal. After a brief hiatus it moves on again, gaining speed and I stand there enjoying the pleasant chill against my face even as the wind blows through my hair, pushing them back in the way I like. As it enters the terminal I lean even further, hoping to catch a glimpse of my parents. And there they are, both of them, ready to take me home. Let me be honest with you. No sight in the world beats the sight of seeing your parents after a long time.

~

Its 5 in the morning as you drive out of the station. The roads are almost empty. Papa has brought his own car ( he assumed I was bringing back lots of luggage..lolz :P) and not my (ohk it's not mine. Technically it's mom's.. ;P) cute little 800. As we move to Ajmer Road, I put the car into the 5th gear and press down the accelerator. The speedometer crosses 100. Wow!

~

Hardly ten minutes later I am home. And guess what? Bua has cooked me awesome methi ke paranthein ... yummm!!!

~

I have been to a couple of weddings in the short stay here. And hey, weddings are fun this time of the year. Pleasant weather, good food, and oh well, this time the chicks weren't half bad either.. ;P. Ok but that wasn't the main point (however important and relevant it might be ;) ). The thing is, I get to spend some quality time with my family away from home. Oh that reminds me, am heading to simla for a week!! :D Finally a vacation with my family after nearly six and a half years!

~

Hot water baths!!! you can't even begin to imagine how much I like these. And ghar pe I don't even have to wake up early to have one (unlike the hostel, where the hot water runs out at 10 in the morning, that is, if there was any at all )

~

Breakfast in bed!! :D

~

I like to read a newspaper first thing in the morning. It hardly ever happens in the hostel. At home, I wake up daily to find my ToI lying besides me.. :)

~

And oh, how can I not mention home cooked food! Seriously people before heading to college I was fed up of it. Now I just can't get enough of it. I guess that's the same with everyone though...

~

Diwali..

Hmmm.. so finally the day is over. And with it ends my first Diwali away from home. It was a day of firsts. My first Diwali away from my parents; my first Diwali outside Jaipur; my first Diwali in the hostel....

It was interesting to say the least. The day started like no other Diwali. Usually am woken up relatively early and have to take my bath and get ready and everything. This time round it was different. I was still sleeping when my parents gave me a call at 3 in the afternoon ;P

After watching the latest episode of Heroes and cursing over the non availability of those of PB and HIMYM, I decided that it was time that I went and had a bath. After all you can't afford not having a bath on the day of a major festival... ( ab itna gaya guzra bhi nahin hun main :P... vaise another secret.. the bath would have probably been delayed even more, had it not been for the fact ki hostels mein garam pani nahi hai... :X .. aur mujhe beemar hone ka koi shauk nahi )

Anyways, Sobu and I had decided that we would go to CCD... Server was asleep, and after contemplating for a while, both of us decided that it was best that he be allowed to rest, lest the Server become unstable and start querying everyone in sight ;P ( something worth mentioning here... yours truly had, the day before, observed signs of instability and heightened activity when Server started querying about Sobu in the bathroom... not the washroom.. but the lil cubicles with a shower and 2 taps in it :P )

Anyways.. coll se nikalte hue, the two of us saw a banner advertising the opening of The Chocolate Room at Infocity... u r tempted, isn't it.. well so were we... after gorging upon the delicacies at CCD, we decided to look for it... we went as far as CP... but our efforts were in vain... sala mil hi nahi raha tha... thinking that it was probably towards the offices, we decided to turn back.. (G ne beech mein phone aur sms pe Sobu ko garyana shuru kar diya tha.. :P) And lo.. there was the Chocolate Room, right beside CCD... Sobu had an interesting observation to make.. ' bekaar marketing and placement strategy... jab hum dhundne nikle the, tab nahi dikha, to logon ko vaise kaise dikhega...' hmmm.. i wonder....

By the time we returned, it was time to light the firecrackers... That was a lot of fun.. As expected not everyone got hold of the firecrackers.. and the admin got quite a bit of verbal stick for giving us sub standard crackers... a pleasant surprise was that like me, there were quite a few who voluntarily said No to crackers... yeye... We going Green.. :)

Now we come to the most interesting part of the day... After playing cards for a while, we decided that it was time to hit the roads and check out the Diwali decorations ( Infocity had already disappointed us by the lack of the same). I had bugged Sobu enough about the magnificent illumination back home... We managed to obtain a Kinetic and began our journey... Our initial plans of going to Ahmedabad were put to rest by the mileage of the vehicle... So we decided to hit the capital city itself... Considering that it houses quite a few govt. offices, there were enough reasons to expect it to be well decorated... but man.. we were in for a surprise... there was hardly any decoration and illumination! You had to see it to believe the lack of it... We hit one sector after another... 11, 16, 24, 21... but the result was the same... no decoration! Even the main market of Sector 21 was without any decoration. In fact the most decorated places were the petrol pumps!! The brilliantly decorated images of Joahri and Bapu Bazaar back home flash in my mind... It was such a shock that it has got me wondering if Diwali is indeed the Festival of Lights...


We still could afford to travel quite a few kilometers, so we decided to hit City Pulse... Bhains auntie had once told me that the City Pulse vala road ends in a broken bridge or something which is quite a spot... so well we decided to check that out.... we kept on going.. par no broken bridge was in sight... finally we came upon a semi haunted temple... ;P ... seemed like a palce worth checking out sometime... we had encountered an auto on our way and it had told us ki twas just a village ahead... maybe Bhains aunite had meant some other road... maybe Bridge ke upar road ban gayi ho.. who knows... but yeah... we discovered a new place... that semi haunted temple... and how can i forget... we also came across one of the few decorated buildings.. a radhaswamy ashram :)... did u know that a such a place existed in our vicinity? i didn't!

We decided to head back towards college... On our way back we came across the Swaminarayan temple and it too was decently decorated... We were planning to hit Shrey Ashram next when it happened... the kinetic wobbled a bit... i felt something was wrong with the front tyre... Sobu got down to examine... he decalred the tyre to be hit... but alas! everything can;t be so perfect.. something had to be wrong... and it was... I was right about something being wrong with the tyre.. the only thing was that it was the rear one... :S

Well the next phase of the journey involved Sobu and I taking turns to drag the Kinetic back to the college... Thankfully it happened just around a kilometer away from the campus.... And that brings an end to the tale of my first Diwali away from home... one of the more interesting ones to say the least... but yeah.. i missed the decorations...

Last Night...

Hmm.. last night was nothing if not interesting... from the roof of the club house to the stairs of F wing... from liquids to fumes... from the college to Adalaj... from bottles to packs.. from a certain hostel to Pathika...from 0 to 100 km/hr.... from 12 am to 5 am.... and conversations.. conversations during which stories closest to our hearts were told... the pain was shared... grief was reduced... conversations which showcased the often hidden side of people... stereotypes were broken....

There are some things you never forget... some things that always stay with you... this night was one of those...

Things I hate...

Ah... the list is quite varied and long... and I can never expect myself to be able to compile it in its entirety.. but here's what has been bothering me a lot recently..

Mobiles: Thsi technological wonder has solved a lot of problems, but has created some too. The problems that it creates are not actually it's fault, it is the people who use cell phones who are to blame. Manners and courtesy are many a times thrown out of the window without even realizing. And its not that am just repeating what I have read here and there... its what you get to experience daily that causes you this much discomfort. Why don't people realize that their conversations over the phone might bother those around them, and have the courtesy to go outside the room and attend that all important call during which any and everything ranging from stock prices to phone recharge to your food habits are discussed? It just gets disgusting after a point of time to bear with all this crap.

Eating styles: Now don't get me wrong here. I don't give a shit whether you are a veggie or a non veggie, spend most of your day eating junk and have the unhealthiest possible eating habits. Its the manner in which you eat, that is a problem. Chips manufacturers advertise their products to be crunchy, but that doesn't give you a right to eat it while producing a loud crunch crunch sound.. hell even the bovines are better than this; even they don't produce this much sound!

thats it for the time being... let something happen that pisses me of more, and i'll give my 2 cents to it...

Random thoughts

Hola people!!! Well this one is a special one... for one i am posting when the sun still's out there, or rather not there.... well the weather is what one would call the quintessential monsson weather... its been more than 2 hours since its been raining and the Rain God hasn't eased on the pedal in the entire duration...

All my wing mates... members of our thalua gang have gone for labs... labs... how can one think of them in such a weather man... thats totally against the spirit of...spirit of... spirit of everything dammit :D.....

Well nothing much happening except the open structure of our hostel taking a nice bath... the common area at the junction of the wings in first floor is already flooded... and well i am looking at the prospect of having to remove water from my room if this doesnt stop soon... but then there's another part of me... who just wants the rain to go on and on... i guess spending your entire life in Rajasthan can do that to you....