Unleashed

As the college comes to an end, nostalgia is expected. But when you ask people to scribble in the Class of 2016 Yearbook, beans are spilled, the town is painted red, inside jokes come out, unheard of friendships speak tons in 100 characters, emotions are unleashed!

As is human nature, each person forms an opinion of others. Some you know inside-out (my GANG members are laughing at this double entendre), while some people are a 50 shades of surprise. Sometimes you read between lines and realize a conversation some x months ago in some y context had some z meaning. Whereas most of the times, you know where you got your hands dirty from and that your partners-in-crime are just airing your dirty laundry in public :P Even if you or your friends aren't involved, but your crushes are, your brain cells are so active you'll just read the entire book of testimonials and connect any and every dots.


You start seeing people in a new light. Like a guy seen as a man of few words is really an encyclopedia  on Rock music. Or a guy I knew as a tough task master, focussed on work work work, has a romantic side.

And then you see yourself through others' eyes. Boy o' boy! You and your close friends are the wild animals who have seen each other naked in the field (well, figuratively). They know your harkartein, they know your takia-kalam, they know your soch-vichar. And you too. So you are mentally prepared for whatever comes out of their "shabdo ki pichkari". And they too.
But when rest of the junta writes about you, many different chemical reactions take place in your "khali-dimaag-shaitan-ka-ghar" :P And when your friends read out stuff written for you, the "chamak" on their chehre only indicates a night long session of leg-pulling and assumptions and conclusions and predictions and endless laughter.

So in the process of creating memories, we create memories.

First Mover (Dis)Advantage

" 

DEFINITION of 'First Mover'
A form of competitive advantage that a company earns by being the first to enter a specific market or industry. Being the first allows a company to acquire superior brand recognition and customer loyalty. The company also has more time to perfect its product or service.

" 

Investopedia 

That's the MBA side of things. First Mover Advantage. I pioneer in First Mover Disadvantage. 

Usually in my college, group assignments submission take place in a queue fashion. A Google sheet is shared with the class, and each group has to enter their group and project details. To avoid being the very first group, everyone fills the sheet leaving first n rows empty, considering n students in each group. And I always fill the sheet at the 11th hour, in total haste. 

So, once I got trapped by this n row trickery, and ended up filling the first group slot. Mine was the first group (=only group) to be axed. We set the bar so low, that all the other groups seemed Einstein-like to the professor. 

Another time, only two slots, first group's and last group's, were empty. I decided to fill the last one. Some of my group members decided to get the thing over with, and enjoy for the rest of the semester, hence the first slot. Meanwhile, a guy from another group lured me to defect into his team, who were also thinking of going for the last slot. Trying to stay loyal to my gang, I declined his offer, and before we knew it, only the first slot was left. 

If you think I'm a nerd, you're right. If you think my misfortunes are only in studies, I wish!

With many genuine problems, most of them solved, some of them unreasonable concerns- the moving in became an issue. Inside-everyone wants to move to the new place. Outside- no one wants to be the first one to move- be called a bitch- a traitor- seen as scared of administration-the stooge who can be blamed and used as a reason for others to move.

Yes, I'm that first mover. Haha, I'm the villain!!

Disadvantaged? 

As I see it, I'm winning. Others 'caught' me moving in the new place, started packing their stuff and have plans to move tomorrow. They accede to my courage, use it as an example and make the move. The sooner one moves in, the faster she gets used to the new things and sooner does she get back to normalcy. Many friends come and see how I have arranged my new room, they borrow my layout, feel re-assured, bring more friends and they see it too. Some find my decorations not so cool, make a blueprint in their minds and smirk at my poor arrangement. All of those who see me see how happy I am. This is a clear advantage :)

Tea in Coffee Lovers' Central Perk Mugs,
 that's a lethal mix :D

Girlies, I can only tell you how I felt- while packing, moving, un-packing, arranging, re-arranging with my roomie; we had a ton of fun. You get to know each others' idiosyncrasies, learn a few living hacks, get ideas about a dozen things, love and hate the changes, get absolutely tired, then prepare tea and enjoy it with biscuits in your new room. The feeling- out of this world! Change is inevitable, and if we want it to be, enjoyable. 

Cheers :)

Happyness is standing up for what you believe in,
and sharing it with your friends :)

I Did.

2014
Resolution to read a Wodehouse. Political blogs. Belling the CAT. Getting my article "The Gift of Time" published in AS WE ARE. Being nostalgic about AS WE ARE. And Renesa.  Hostel Day- LBD, check! Farewell to NIT Surat- Saree, check. And The Takeaways. 

Living in Mumbai . Space Crunch. Took part in a city-wide treasure hunt #FirstTime. Starbucks, Mumbai Local Train and BEST bus #FirstTime. Tweeting. Stage antics on-camera, in-front of whole college and Godrej executives ;)

Fracture :'(

Business Suits. Feel Harvey Specter-like. 100 stairs. Pond. Green Tea. Girlfriends. One-piece. Zumba. Garba Night in Chatak Gulabi Chaniya-Choli. Making friends over cuppa coffee and Lijjat Papad. Video-making. Wrote the first-ever article in insideiim.com series "Weekend Wordsmiths". Halloween themed Birthday. Composed the winning tweet for a marketing proposition of a new brand. 

Caught the selfie fever. I blame my Nexus 5.
Got as many as 5 friends to watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S. <PROUD OF MY SELF >
Latest Crush: Fawad Khan 
Can make breakfast for self. Omelette :D 
Doing household chores #FinallySaysMom 
Baking a Cake. 

J J J 
2015

Losing Sleep over The One

Today started in continuation to yesterday. I was burning the midnight oil, trying to watch “Moulin Rouge!” It was a movie I had wanted to see since forever, which is since I heard the song “Kaisi Paheli Zindgani” from Parineeta. No, since Monica Geller accused Chandler Bing of being gay to love a movie like Moulin Rouge! The movie is everything that can keep me awake: story set in the year 1900, set in Paris, about the Bohemian revolution, a musical, a dark dark film…

It’s 4.45 A.M. now. Some 23 minutes of movie are still left, but a voice inside me says classes from 11.30 A.M. till 9 P.M. It’s the voice of that devious biological clock inside me which bodes well for my health. My roommate is finally done with her assignment aka “Google Searching Random Cow Videos about McDonald’s and Supply Chain something.” Now she’ll sleep.

This is life. You watch movies or TV shows till 4am and complete your month long assignment in 40-45 minutes of searching the web.  As we switch off the lights, I blurt out the truth- “Moulin Rouge! wasn’t what kept me awake, it was my facebook ‘fan’”.

Let me introduce myself. I am a kiddo in front of all the other MBA students who are three-four years older than I. This means marriage on the cards for most them. My classmates talk of the impending doom and how MBA has helped avert the wedding for another two years. Since marriage is what they avoid and what seeks them with an equal force, they go delirious with happiness in believing that my fan is The One for me.

My introduction continues- I finished 12 years of school to go to four years of college to pursue two years of MBA. I am officially student-zoned. I am not looking for The One. Give me a break.

True, the love nest- our NITIE Pond calls out to me. But walks around the waters are a great source to check-out the budding romances between the naughty NITIE- junta. I constantly tell myself-“This is what I want; oxygen, adrenaline and gossip. Shaadi is an exciting prospect, way into future.”

The professor responsible for the assignment on those Cows pops into my mind. He told us during the first day in college that NITIE pond is where many eyes meet, many hearts skip a beat, many love stories blossom, many marriages happen. The pond is the last thing I see from my window before falling asleep.

No. After you have seen the clock saying 5A.M., your mom comes to your mind. You wonder how you are yet to go to sleep when she has woken up. And when you check again and the clock reads 5.17 A.M., you start a mental calculation of hours of sleep you can still hope of catching. It’s more than five. Great! You curse yourself for drinking that cup of tea when ideally one should brush their teeth and go to sleep. You curse yourself for the plate of Maggi along with that chai. You curse the mess food, you curse the weighing machine which is in disagreement with someone who climbs more than 100 stairs everyday to go to class, you curse the 100 steps and when you are out of breath, you curse yourself for having no stamina. You blame lack of sleep. Sleep!

I realize that its 5.37 A.M., a loss of sleep worth 20 minutes. So the last thing I see before dozing off is my mobile. That’s the first thing I see when I wake up. I am practically married, my mobile is The One. No, my bed is The One. The snuggly pillow is The One. This silk quilt is The One…

Yes, I am the one who missed her class. 

Takeaways

The four years of my college have completed. There are memories that will always remain and moments that will always come back to me in a good way. That's the hope. There are many priceless things that came my way, and this a list of takeaways:

1. It's easy to get a picture in the newspaper. On page 3. Be at the right place at the right time.

It seems as if we were  listening to the lecture,
but we really were just pretending :P

2. Your best friend's boyfriend!

It's just adorable to see boys blushing. 

3. The fun games we played. The crazy seniors we met.

Informals, SPARSH 2012

4. And the epic matches that we all watched together.

THE 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup
INDIA WON!!

5. Music, SVNIT canteen, GRAMMY . Not just the cool tech fests or testosterone fueled sports events, my great college is a host to many great events which is how I got to meet a Grammy winner.

4th International Congress of  Environmental Research

Shiksha and I with
the inventor of Mohan Veena
Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt

6. WEDDINGS WE LOVE- be it the food loving wealthy Surti shaadis we gatecrash or some of our classmates who are ready to tie the knot. It so happens that as one thinks about jobs or higher studies, at least once the thought of marriage does creep into our minds. And hey, the Red Wedding!


7. It is possible that some of your friends entered the college with no idea about TV and now have downloaded so many gigabytes of TV series or spent so many hours streaming , then watching the episodes online. It's just impossible to talk to each other without a GOT reference these days! And then spoilers...

In the spirit of Hostel Life :P

And so I have friends who are crazy about F.R.I.E.N.D.S. There is a group of gals in my department religiously following Vampire Diaries. I am nuts about SHAMY and TBBT. Some of the guys talk BREAKING BAD. Everyone has watched HOUSE OF CARDS.  My youtube history is cluttered with the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Chandler-Joey moments, Matt Damon-Ben Affleck interviews and I once was in love with the Winchesters.
Meanwhile my best friend has evolved from Naruto to mangas. And of-course the superheroes from Marvel and DC Comics have their own cult following.

8. How can we not talk about the cartoons we loved watching while growing up? The 90's cartoons and movies and Indian television always remain the topics of endless discussions.

Our love for cartoons often turns into heated contests with everything at stake ;) 

9. And the world of Harry Potter. There are pure bloods who have read the novels, the half-bloods who have seen the movies too and the muggles who have only watched the films and don't know the minute details.

I proudly claim to have played and won the HP based scrabble contest once. 

10. Being born is a big thing. Birthday planning for your friends is like a project.

Friends go all the way to kick you out of your
room to decorate it
and sometimes you are a little late
so that candles are now just melted wax!  

Some times
the birthday girl
chooses her own cake

And actual project work is like a hideous wall hanging some one gifted you. You ignore it big time by throwing it away in a pile of assignments, laundry and other such stuff. Procrastination. So just like when those people visit home, you have to take out their wall hanging and dust it and display it-a major tiresome task, similarly with professors and project submission :(

11. GYAN There're many things I didn't know.
 (1) It's not important to have many friends. It's sufficient to have just enough friends who drive you crazy and this is how you survive the real world crap like a piece of cake.

 (2) EK GARAM CHAI KI PYAALI HO... the solution to all problems.


 (3) The driving force to appear in exams is never pointers :P

Boys and Booze :P
Courtsey: SVNIT Trollers, FB

(4) Do what you may, EC practicals will never yield outputs 

12. college ki hariyali

boughs of peace :-)

And the sentiyappa. "Bye bye" fb statuses. Forever together wali Jay-Veeru baatein. Everything one last time. A last lunch. A last dinner. A last ice-cream. A last walk. The last hug and stream of tears. One last time you see your clutter before packing and moving ahead. Memories of last this and last that that'll last long J

My 4 walls in many homes

Jayalalithaa's one-rupee idlis now in Delhi

The food stall has been opened at the Tamil Nadu Bhavan as part of Pongal celebrations 

and will serve South Indian food - idlis at Re one and lemon-rice and sambhar-rice at Rs. 5 

- till January 14.

For a person, who has lived in many different cities and has attended many different schools has had many different homes. For me, the number is two and a half.

Growing up In Delhi, With all the relatives- my first home. The most loved home. With fun-filled weekends at India Gate.The school where I had so many friends in teachers and class-mates and non class-mates and the choir group (yeah, I used to sing!) and the dramatics club (I was either the lead or the narrator) and the picnics- the last one at the Appu Ghar and the Garden of Five Senses. Movies at the Liberty. The Auto-Expo: little me in little leather jackets and leather skirts (LOL but true), with my cousins checking out the chic new cars, where I saw the first-ever human being with green eyes and wearing braces! 

Any news where Delhi comes up, I read/watch the whole of it. January 13 always means Lohri and popcorns and winter sweets (gud and moongfali ki patti, my favorite) around bonfire with LOUD music (LOUD is a must).

Middle school onwards, I have to call Ahmedabad my home. After years of being popular in school, it was crazy to be the new gal in school. Well, fortunately for me, there were four more new gals and we all naturally became best buddies. Still, the politics and hate-games were hard to endure. For instance,no one would name me for the upcoming Creative Writing contest because the school already had a Miss Her Pen Is Magic. But, mom-dad always know how to cheer their little Bollywood buff: Drive-In Cinema. Plus, this city has lakes! Plural. The food is sweet, but I have grown to like it. Although I have been into books since always, it is here that I first stumbled across the Crosswords . And till now shopping meant Karol Bagh, but Ahmedabad has so many malls. All around my house. 

No, this is the most loved home. Teenage and consumerism have kicked in! January 14 is when everyone, all the neighbours and the neighbouring societies are up on the terrace, flying kites and eating chikki (which, by the way, is gud and moongfali ki patti).

My half home is my college. My hostel. Where I have seen 3 batches of seniors. 3 batches of juniors. Plus 1 killer batch- mine. Here, we have a Lake-view and a bridge-over-the-river view and the quintessential Galla view-where I drink tea and munch on Vada Pav or an occasional locho. People smoke. I don't care, only try to avoid inhaling it. We have a Narmad Library- for the likes of me. The place has malls and McDonalds' and Subway and KFC and the latest, the Barbeque Nation. I don't care, we eat in our Hostel Mess- it's really good. No sarcasm. 

January 13 means bunking the classes and heading home. January 14 means kite fights. January 15 means boarding trains back to college.

That's all. Happy Lohri. Happy Uttarayan. To my Andhra friends, Happy Sakranti. To the scientists, Happy Solar Transition. Spring is coming (which means nothing here, but in Delhi, the pretty flowers bloom. I suddenly want to visit the Mughal Gardens.)

This time it's more than pitter-patter

I like the sound of pitter patter. Rabindranath Tagore called it "tapur-tupur". Raveena Tandon sang "tip-tip barsa pani". You can choose your own words. 
Like, rain is falling chama cham cham... actually this is clearly an understatement in Gujarat right now. Raining cats and dogs, if this expression can cover all the cats and dogs of the world.

3 years ago, before joining the college, I had asked a family friend, who had been studying here then, to describe Surat. She had said “it rains all the time”. I had shamelessly displayed all my incisors in ecstasy. Rains, I love.

It brings out the lazy, the foodie and the romantic in me. There’s the cool breeze that splashes the raindrops on your face. My lush green campus becomes oh so green! I lie in my bed all day long, cuddle with my pillow, imagining I’m on a bike ride and he stops to buy me a hot bhutta. Mushy daydreams aside, rains give me a craving for bhajiye and chai. There were days when I used to dance in rains. Whatever happened to that, I wonder? My nanaji’s anecdote pops into my mind. When he was young, whenever it rained, the school would be dismissed. I mean, isn’t that AWEsome!!

And this time the heavens poured just a couple of hours before my exams. And boy, did they pour! They had to actually announce that the exams have been postponed. I wake up because of the blaring noise that the public announcement system is, and I find my batch-mates dancing like peacocks. What a sight (And we are a bunch of clumsy gals). While panic was about to strike the city, a new lease of life was awarded to us students.

Then came the awkward moment when no one really knew what to do with this sudden freedom. And was it freedom indeed? I mean, we all knew we can shift+delete all the mugging. We can sleep. We can dance. We can yell.  We can do all that pleases us, within the threshold of the hostel. So this is going to be like stranded in the safe, albeit boring havens of H-12, the quintessential girls’ hostel.

And stranded we are. We have all the food, the water, the wifi- the basic necessities of everyday, mundane life. We can hop about, like a frog. We can go to each others’ rooms, to download into our external storage devices, the movies they have and we don’t have. We can listen to the radio; they are playing some of the sexiest songs of the 90’s. We can (as advised by our grey eminences and ignored by us all) utilise this time to study some more.

I, on my part, have been doing all this with a new found gusto. I am reading Agatha Christies. I’m day-dreaming big time. I’m eating all the biscuits and dry fruits I could hoard in this time of emergency. I’m listening to my favourite rain-song “Saawan barse tarse dil...♥”. I’m liking and commenting on facebook updates and uploads. I’m talking to my ma round the clock to know how much water has Ahmedabad received. I’m convincing my papa I’ll step carefully on the glazed tiles and through the water puddles and not slip/skid/fall like I’m prone to.  

Then there’s the municipality’s praise-worthy feats of cleaning and recovery that one hears about. There are also many crusades my fellow comrades are pursuing in an attempt to live their own version of Prison Break (read once again our safe havens of H-12J) I, myself, am thoroughly enjoying my days in the VIP cell: P

I would like to sign off now, with the hope that the rains will come to a stop and sunshine once again spread in our lives (literally as well as figuratively). Meanwhile, I advise all to list and listen to their favourite rain songs. J   

Drunkard in backyard ~~~~ Blackout in between

These final exams brought along with nervous nights, two crazy crazy incidents.

April 30,2012

As I was splashing water on my sleepy face, thinking of Negative Feedback Amplifier and DC Chopper circuits , a guy peeked inside our washroom. I was shocked! He disappeared that very second and I tried to ignore this apparition . Walking out of that glum washroom and marching towards my notes (on my bed, in my room), I again saw that creep drinking water from our common tap. 
Heck! 
I indignantly told my room-mate about this labor-class looking guy inside the girls' hostel, and angrily wondered  why such people have to work around us at night. She too got irritated, as much with her Structural Analysis as with the absence of the hostel supervisor when such people work in our hostel.
We crammed our notes.....it was night tea time now. 
Meenam, my roomie's classmate walked towards us, expressing happily that she hadn't studied anything till now. We too echoed the same. (Every one does that, although we all know very well that we all study!!!)
She again came back, this time probably to ask the syllabus. 
Meenam (in her foreign accent): "Did you hear the bathroom incident? Didn't you hear the bathroom incident??"
Me: " No, tell us!" ( Like every other girl , gossip gives me kicks :D , even during exam time)
Meenam (chirpily): " There was this guy inside the first floor's washroom!! One of the girls went there , but was shocked to find him there. He said he was a cleaner and asked her to come later. She ran away, totally scared. Again she went, again he made her run away. Later, another girl went there and as she came out, that psycho was staring into her face!!!!"
Anushruti (runs towards us to add some more fodder to this). 
Meenam (continues, now in high spirits and even thicker  accent):  "That guy starts pretending to clean the bottom of wash basins , with a dry broom (oh yeah!) and girls yell and call the supervisor. She hurriedly rushes to the washroom, screams who's there, a girl's voice replies. Silly madam believed that. Huh! We girls crowed and shouted, then ma'm knocked hard on the door, he finally came out! Our warden soon came here, and grabbed that guy away by pulling his collar."
Priya and I can't stop rolling with laughter. (We are idiots, we should be scared of such breach of security.) 
 Anushruti: "He was a drunk ! He's handed over to the police....."
Well, every guy's dream is to get somewhere near our hostel and this 16 something, drunk , labor looking man walks in and spends a hell of time on two different floors of our hostel......
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 1,2012

It would be my favorite Principles Of Communication exam the next day . So I slept the whole afternoon, and woke up at around 7pm .  Priya went to the library to teach Sunny something, so in my solitary confinement ,        I tuned in the radio. 7.30 pm and Priya yells from downstairs: "Hungry?"
I say yes, and run towards the mess, thinking I'll eat quickly and finally open the books. We eat a little and electricity is gone. Power Cut!
We can hear groans of girls from all over the hostel, obviously since we all cram energetically a night before exam. 
We hope light would come back soon as it always does.( That's a good thing about Gujarat) In the mean time the mess girls have stopped cooking, saying they can't cook while they can't see. We too can't study . So we wait.
We wait. 
And wait...... they do cook for us, under the emergency light. We have eaten and still can't study. So since electricity is not there and its way too hot, me and Priya run downstairs to grab an ice-cream and this is what we see: Meenam, Ranjita , Snigdha and Somya are studying under the street light.

Snigdha and I try to recollect who that famous guy was who used to study under street light....??!!??

Was it Edison?

No sorry , no thank you?

Friendship means no sorry , no thank you. Really?
Well, sometimes these very words get you friends. And sometimes these very words save you friends.
Meghana is a sweetheart. I don't know what I may be to her.... I hope she considers me well too.

Prior to this Hostel Day ,  I had a string of exams , with professors telling a day before conducting 50 marks practicals and quizzes, sometimes twice a day, back to back. Sleepless nights have never really happened to me, and have always fared well enough in tests. I basically don't fear exams the way people usually do.
Head aches and nervous jitters happened to me in an unpleasant , uncommon way.

Of course, me being the JHS (you could picture JHS as second in command, on any funny sunny day) had to play an important and tiresome role in making our beloved hostel's "DAY" a great one. I had it worked out with Nupur (HS), another girl whom I dearly like and Meghana (JHS herself).

Catering was being looked after by Priya Agarwal , a first yearite , who reported to me and I to Nupur as well as our warden.
Meghana and me spent our good one and a half hours deciding upon a theme for the D-Day and then the next day I spent my four lectures designing a poster-notice for the same.

Then, on a rare four days back to back holiday, I went vacationing with my family to a resort after which came the above mentioned string of exams, tying me to my books and a new found fear.

The whole week was traumatic , as the practical exams showed no outputs and hostel day preparations poked me from left, right and center.
In between journal completion, Bhumi and Radhika made me help them write a letter to the Hostel Section to ask for funds for the Hostel Sports Day.
The next evening I , along with Priya, my room-mate and our mess auditor, designed a poster for the article writing event with loads of excitement , wishing many entries would pour in and we would have a nice time judging these entries. Meghana was among those to compliment us for our poster. Of course Bhumi again asked me to write up a little poster for the most awaited Treasure Hunt .

Exams finally came to an end on Friday, and Priya got really unwell. We decided to see a doctor on Saturday, which somehow got postponed till Monday.
Monday was our hostel day.
While people hated us for our conspicuous absence, we spent horrible moments at that horrible hospital, Priya still not feeling a nano-metre better.
At around 7pm, all dressed up, I went downstairs to find Meghana and a few other girls doing last minute decorations and then came a sour comment from my sweetheart: "So you found some time off?"

I  felt a little sad, then super angry, then full on hatred came all over me.

Next day I heard Meghana had cried the whole morning and was admitted to a hospital for seriously ill health.....

..... After 3 days, and many unpleasant stares and whispers and unkind comments about my "lack of participation" in the hostel day preparations and finally after I couldn't take it any more, wrote a little get well soon apology card to Meghana.

Write for yourself, your home--your hostel

THIS YEAR ON OUR "BLACK AND WHITE" HOSTEL DAY  I BRING TO YOU  AN ARTICLE WRITING COMPETITION WHERE YOU CAN WRITE JUST ANYTHING UNDER THE SUN ABOUT YOUR STAY AT KASTURBA BHAVAN  AS WE BID ADIEUS TO OUR LOVELY HOSTEL

Videocon Multie 6800

PROLOGUE page1

DISCLAIMER: This post is not about  Videocon Multie 6800's
merits or demerits . It simply features as the washing machine present
in the girl's hostel in which I used to be and is a part of fond memories  :)

One day, probably the previous semester , during some conversation which she doesn't remember (who does?), Vendetta  said she washes clothes at home.
Like every teenage girl, she has a mom, who would like to see her daughter doing as well in daily chores as in studies.

Vendetta doesn't.

No cooking, cleaning, stitching or ironing. 

Well, according to Vendy , she can do these things... well, whatever!

Pearl was actually impressed that Vendy actually does that, washing clothes, even if she operates washing machine for that. 

Unbelievably Vendy washes her clothes by hands when in hostel. She has her own reasons. 
a) She doesn't trust any of the hostel resource.
b) In the first semester, the first week itself, Sasha had told Vendy that her new tee got torn in hostel washing machine!!

Reason enough for our spoilt rich kid Vendy to do "haath ki safaai" even if it takes a lot of labour.

Today though Vendy decides she'll use the washing machine, she's done with using her muscles and tiring her limbs.

She requests Pearl to give her washing machine training as hostel's machine is different from her home's.

Pearl squeaks " Vandita! All machines are same. Engineering student hai be! dimaag laga....."

Vendy sadly heads to the laundry room where thankfully Sophie is present. Sophie "helps" her out. well, a little bit in her own way.

Vendy is completely stuck though. She doesn't know wash/spin is followed by drain followed by wash followed by dryer . Well, she manages to go past wash/spin stage, which Sophie has done for her. She smses Pearl to tell her next move to which Pearl tells her something that sounds as familiar as Japanese. 

Finally convinced ,  Vendy comes back only to realize , with Pearl's help that detergent isn't washed off! 

Pearl : " Vandita! How do you operate the washing machine at home?"

Vendetta: " By clicking a button."

Pearl:" Why didn't you click  them today?"

Vendy:" Arey! told you no only one button! "

Pearl:" Do you mean you operate an automatic washing machine at home ?"

Vendy:" Yeah, told you  no..."

Pearl:"Abey yaar!!  that means you don't actually do anything, like every other thing, no chores at all! Sorry Vandita! Next time will surely accompany you to the laundry. "

Vendy:" (Sob) Yeah, but no thanks , washing with hands is much more comfortable (sob)".

Pearl realizes her spoilt little friend is sad and tells her how she herself gets scolded by her mummy for not doing anything worthwhile.
A few seconds later hostel supervisor yells:" Bandeetaaa !! Masheeeen ka kya haal bana diya chhori!"

More sobs follow.

Under The Sun

Its 10 degrees in Surat and such chilled Saturdays in hostel can mean laze and lethargy. After a bread-butter breakfast and tasteless tea, I made Priya to come and sit with me on the swing in our hostel garden.



She was being pestered by some silly guy in her department and her inbox was getting littered with his pain-in-head messages as we sat on the swing. Newspaper had nothing new to offer as it had same old stories of elections, scams, Maldives and cricket. Of course there was this little snippet about Yuvraj Singh and his recovery .

News scanning was over soon . Then there was this BTS teacher of Priya's sitting on the nearby swing and my ears caught a few phrases of her phone call: "Shaadi k baad--I'm educated enough--Who says so--What is life without job----" . My ears rejected rest of it. My brain didn't want any more of it. Poor head is full of everything else, my day dreams, Vikram Seth's An Equal Music, our college fest, Priya's funky dresses for the Fashion Nite, who my co-anchor would be in the fest, MPI class test and PC quiz. That's more clutter in my head than in my room.

She starts clicking pictures . Her mobile camera is so good. Of course she would like a digi cam or a professional camera, HD and all. Sun has been warming me for an hour now. In-fact I remove my F1 jacket and enjoy the warmth. I join her in photographing our shadows. We laugh and we pose. I'm at peace now. 

bereft of something

Being bereft of something, since last few days. Started a short story writing, it turned out to be cool . Really! It was satisfying till some point, then it felt like dragged. No, I didn't drag it any further, just that story didn't last long. Priya by the way was generous in comments and never hesitated to laugh. Gearing up for Anchoring auditions tomorrow. Really wanna make a mark. Anchoring is anyday my cup of tea and just don't wanna miss my chance to be on stage all the time. Priya says I will get selected easily. Abhinav didn't think so. Shashikant ke views  toh I just don't wanna know. My sem results aren't out as yet and mid sem exams of new sem are nearing too. Priya says I should try to be indiferent, though she knows its a tough job. Plus everyone else has already scored handsomely. HMC is irritating these days. Getting hungry all the time. Tears downpour more than often. Don't know what's really missing.

Plus Bombay visit is no where in near future though I'm dying to see my family. And yeah, have decided to shop to my heart's content so as to lighten my mood. And wanna score big time in this PC test. 

Lauki ka Kofta

Surely the Star of the Day is Mr. Bottle gourd.
When we enter a hostel, its a common notion : " Gone are the days of yummy home food".
When we are over fed with this fad  , and if you are as lucky as me, the delightful mess food of Kasturba Bhavan makes you wag your tongue!
This was semester one.

Slowly the monotony steals away the charm and repetitive trips to the same restaurants all over the place makes you look up to home visits , where there's a mom , eagerly waiting for you, with her haven of good food.
That's sem 2.

Your room mate is selected as the Mess auditor. Great! You dream of five star menu for the hostel mess , forgetting the cooks remain the same ones as those in earlier sem! You are selected the Joint Hostel Secretary. Now you have already dreamt of revolutionizing the mess .  Alas! Dreams don't always come true. Potato crisis         takes a toll as every dish owes itself to potato and people don't hesitate once to complain. Yes, those with crown have a crown of thorns. Then comes inflation and lets just forget about eating in the mess. Queen Canteen welcomes with wide-spread arms and latent smirk. Lovers' paradise and cricket fan's hub- our canteen.
Sem 3, that was.

You finally take a risk of including lauki to the menu as an experiment, fully aware 90% of junta hates lauki ( although you love it, screw yourself!)
Lauki kofta makes its way and surprisingly people didn't even know what kofta is! Even more surprisingly it is finished even before half of the girls have come to eat. YES!! That's success.
No! Success is when next week kofta is prepared, every one floods the mess in order not to miss the kofta this time round (those who came late last time) and those who had feasted last time knew this time even 4 chapatis would be less! (Remember, we are girls and eat limited, normally) . Personally, it tasted to me as yum as meat and yeah, no exaggeration.
Sem4 , still going strong!! :)

Priya laments when food wasn't good, complaints were never ending, but now no one comes up to praise. As the JHS, sentiment shared , roomie!
As an in-mate and a foodie.... forget about praise and lets feast!! :D

SURPRISE :)

Jan 5' 12


I returned to my home for four years... my college hostel. Was real glad to see my whole "family" after a while. A Happy New Year to all. After all this socializing, I had a job to do. Jan 6 is my room-mate's birthday!! My first obvious thought was to get a cake... so I instantly smsed our dearest friend Shiksha, a sweet and ever so excited person. About an hour later, with a "just woke up" look on her face... she asked my roomie for me. Shiksha insisted I talk to her privately... fueling suspicions in roomie's mind. We talked in hushed tones and decided after Shiksha is done with her "meeting" with the first years, we two will go together to the bakery.
Roomie asked what "private" talks we had, to which I replied of some  Robocon competition and debugging stuff that I had heard Shiksha discuss earlier with Leena, our Miss Super Intelligent.(Thank God I overhear, :D)
In the mess , during evening milk time, we met Leena... as roomie too was there , I pretended that I had received a msg from Shiksha for Leena (its a known fact Leena never carries her cellphone along) and passed on my phone to her. Ah! Ms Super Intelligent read out aloud: "Hey,secret ..kal Priya ka bday hai... cake lane jana hai..."


Alas! Priya the roomie couldn't resist smirking.... but as they say party must go on. Shiksha insisted for the cake; we got a black forest, a few cupcakes, Five Star and Mars bar..... :)

Thanks to Mayuri for this lovely little candle :D
And to Shiksha who insisted for the cake in spite of Priya knowing  about it.

But Ms. Roomie.... surprise isn't over yet.... I had secretly messaged all to surprise her by invading our room @ 12 in the night!! And even asked Roohi-- who had left our college to pursue her dreams of being a doc-- and was a close friend of Priya-- to surprise call her . Well, all these things may be a regular affair for everyone's birthday, but for Priya, there's never any surprise, and she never expects! 
 Our friend from Bhutan, Meenam, who was discharged from the hospital only yesterday, too dropped in (unexpectedly,  given her health) to wish!


 So, it was indeed a surprise party and we rocked it all right. Now, its her turn to treat us :D

Sitting Idle

April14,2011
A few months back my friend in the other sem said said that her sem's a bliss. Bliss!
I would go green looking at her happy sleeping face. Where I would burn midnight oil to complete my Civil Journal, assignments and Mech ED sheets, she would stretch lazily all over the cot or flip through one or the other novel.She would say she enjoyed the computer practical that day, when I would struggle to get readings out of the Physics Lab instruments.Trying hard to rote learn the brass alloys in Chemistry I would sometimes catch her playing with Logic Gates.
Heart of hearts, I decided the other sem is indeed a bliss. I was ready to get rid of the first sem, to do away with the Beams and Cables, the Sludge and Scales , Chaining and Leveling...
...those things were so GOOD!
Now, all through the sem2 , after indulging in some half  a dozen novels and gaining kilos, it feels pathetic.
FCP offers the dull computer history and BMS has its boilers( and if that's not enough, the extra baggage of boiler accessories). English (haha, now that's something  that does make me laugh) . ET has always been a problem as circuits are my nightmares and Maths now could be aptly called a saga( never ending Mathematical Models and sleep inductively long power series).I lie on my bed, finding hard to kill time, just a fortnight ahead of exams. Weather acts as a villain too. I can see my friend busied up in those delightful ISOMETRIC VIEWS of Mech ED and her classmates rushing hither-thither , calculating Reduced Levels by the Rise And Fall Method and trying to draw the lovely ellipses in CURVE TRACING in my all time favorite Civil ED.
I yawn, I moan, I facebook, I blog, I sleep, I sleep somemore, my radio complains, [ now she's yelling at me at some error of e^mx in some bloody differential equation!!!!]
Yeah, did someone say this sem's a bliss??
P.S. :now she's asking integration of some hell as easy function  and still busy , while I'm still as idle and still as sure that I would get sleepy as soon as I open my BMS book, and would loose sleep as soon as I draw the curtains.
P.P.S: yeah! BMS book comes into picture as tomorrow is BMS class test!! (Bliss??!!??)