Coming of Age

If one thing that higher education has done for me, it's my coming of age. As a fresher, MBA has been an extended B.Tech, and I can easily draw some looks for saying these two years have been more fun than those four years. 

As an under-grad student, going to college was the first thing that I did outside of my parents' love and care cocoon. I was lucky to find great room-mates and Kasturba Bhavan's mess food was not bad. I found a hang-out in Surat city's famous Kavi Narmad library, an easy time- pass in walks around the lush green NIT campus, an addiction of American TV series and a solution to all problems-college k bahar galle ki chai. Having day-scholar friends met rides around the city and home food. Engineering didn't excite me but college fests and hostel celebrations and student council were fun. Basically I was a kid trying to live on my own.

Then, NITIE Mumbai happened. Hanging out with ladies and gentlemen, three-four years my senior, has been an experience. These species have been to office, seen the world-some of it at-least and are not students. They are professionals. I got to meet an ex-Army man, a twitter celebrity, people who had good government jobs, a lady drummer, a girl whose dream's to be a Formula One racer, professional photographers, poets: both kinds-romantic and self-deprecating, those who always wanted to live in the city of dreams, the social media slaves, some slaves of their own expectations, people in love, people married. Yes, I met adults here. 

In an environment where classroom studies were as real as a work of fiction, campus so beautiful with green and a pond, nested between two beautiful lakes, located in one of the chic-est locales in Mumbai and housing hundreds of people who left their pay packets to grab a bigger slice of pie; I grew. 

Some takeaways

• Dad was right. Listening is more important than speaking. 
• Lord maketh every one different. Observe all his creations, for each one is a mystery greater than the Universe. Plus, it's fun to stalk hot-looking peeps ;)
• Don't just be yourself, be proud to be yourself. 
• We all need a high. Some find it in booze, some in books, some in friends, others in shopping, still others in themselves. We all get high.
• Cool things are often underrated. Case in point, NITIE.
• Post-placement, B-School final semester means every one is getting married. Yes these adults I met, many of them used higher education as an excuse to postpone their marriages, but in the end, their parents emerge victorious. Or, many of them were in a relationship and now have gotten a fancy qualification and a sexier job, so they are ready to marry their sweetheart. As a younger adult, I am not in this phase.
• I make good power point presentations :D 

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.

TV Review: TBBT Season 9 Episode 16

Title: The Positive Negative Reaction

The Gist: Bernadette tells Howard that she is pregnant, to which he freaks out. Boys try to calm him down and girls try to cheer Bernie up.

Key Points:

1. Even though Howard has always wanted to be a dad, it is natural that he is freaking out. Especially as it wasn't planned. (Though how she conceives is a fun story :P)
2. The men try to drink and celebrate and the women too (except Bernie, who now can't have her favourite sushi or hot tub dips too).
3. Drinks lead to some cool scientific brainstorming.
4. Sheldon; "Forget helium, you know what's a super-fluid? This fruit punch". :D
5. All the friends get together and enjoy a karaoke night to welcome the baby with their renditions of various "Baby" songs.

My Say: 

1. It seems that after focussing the first half of this season on ShAmy love story, the rest of the season would revolve around Howard-Bernadette's baby and the pregnancy related struggles and excitement of to-be parents. 
2. What's expected though is that now the writers bring back some geek stuff, especially when Sheldon's love life is sorted, Leonard's married track is boring and Raj is single again. I mean, in real world some scientists discovered a new planet. Sheldon and I agree that Raj should be digging that kinda stuff. 

TV Review: TBBT Season 9 Episode 15

Title: The Valentino Submergence

The Gist: Sheldon and Amy celebrate Valentine's Day with a "Fun with Flags" episode live streaming. Penny and Leonard do it by discovering that they are neither young nor have anything to do. Howard and Bernadette decide to break into their hot tub and this is what I'll talk about. Raj is Raj and finally breaks up with Emily and basically I am at peace now.

-ve points: Leonard and Penny track, which once was the fun core around the science stuff the boys were into, now is so repetitive, it's boring. I mean they are the stars so you gotta write some part for them in every episode, I get it. But they just plain bore me.

+ve points: 

1. Raj broke up with Emily. Finally. Because of the movie girl he met last time. As I suspected. The other girl didn't say yes. As I expected. Raj is single again. Let's see how this can-speak-with-women-without-alcohol-Raj deals with it.
2. ShAmy are back with an episode of Fun with Flags. It's Valentine's Day and Sheldon finds it the hard way that today the viewers would flag questions related to love and loneliness, not flags.
3. Howard and Bernadette are the only couple who make sense now. Their relationship has evolved so naturally over the years, it's real!
4. The couple decide to dip in the hot tub for Valentine's. What they find is a surprise in there.
5. Bernie has a surprise for Howie, which will change the course of the show. It makes sense at this point in their lives and I am excited to see what next.

TV Review: TBBT Season 9 Episode 14

Title: The Meemaw Materialization

The Gist: Sheldon's beloved Meemaw visits, 'to size Amy up'. It's Meemaw v/s Amy, people. In the side track, Raj meets a girl at the comic book store.

My Say:

1. In the classic girlfriend v/s guy's mother/grandmother face off, Amy doesn't knuckle under the old lady. Take that, Indian TV shows on 'working bahu' who 'tolerates saas ke taane, pati ke khatir'.
2. Sheldon stands up for his woman. And he understands that his Pop-Pop was a difficult man to live with. There are times when I miss the Sheldon of yore, when science and games ruled his heart. But it's situations like this, when Shelly acts as the wise one, that I continue to enjoy the Sheldon 2.0- the non-robot, human.
3. Don't get your hopes too up, Amy :P Sheldon gave you his virginity, he's not giving away his Meemaw's engagement ring so fast :D
4. Raj brings back those olden days where he would just see a girl and imagine about their kids and grand-kids. The last season had ended with Raj trying (and failing miserably) to end things with Emily because of her morbid fantasies. Whereas most of this season showed them doing just fine. Maybe if this other girl comes into picture, Raj can think through and sort his romantic life.

Movie Review: Airlift

" Sir, kucch mila? 

Haan, Iraqi biscuit, Klecha".

Director: Raja Menon

Starring: Akshay Kumar (Ranjit Katyal)
               Nimrat Kaur (Amrita Katyal)
               Purab Kohli (Ibrahim Durrani)

Recommended for: people interested in war-based stories or rescue operations

The Gist: Rescue operation of Indian-origin people residing or working in Kuwait in the Iraq-Kuwait war backdrop.

+ve points: 

A refreshing break from stories highlighting how the rich and affluent do not care for masses, or party all night in their Guccis and Pradas and un-real dance sequences in foreign locales.The movie had a hero Ranjit Katyal, a big businessman, who though initially wanted to flee with his family when the war broke out, stands up for his workers, their families and lakhs of strangers of Indian origin. This shows that people with riches and position should neither be seen as apathetic to society, nor should they give up in weak moments, if they can, in any way, contribute to society.

All the characters are so real.

• Ranjit- the character shows that 'rich' people with 'comfortable' lives are very valuable to society. It means a lot if such persons with the right contacts, excellent negotiation skills, business sense, an understanding of people, power and money and good amount of funds put these things to use in crisis situations.
• Amrita- the wife of rich businessman Ranjit, who is crazed when her husband won't flee but 'save' his workers and their families.
• Ashok and Kurien- other businessmen who much like Ranjit in the beginning want to escape and not get involved in 'social service'. Very real human nature. If we have means, we always try to save ourselves first and rarely try to involve ourselves in helping others. And it takes guts to not run away. 
• Sanjiv Kohli- a 'babu' in Ministry of External Affairs in India, who is not 'in-charge of Gulf division' and so wouldn't like to get involved just because some guy from Kuwait had Kohli's desk number. Again, human nature- why should I get my hands dirty when it's not even my job. The man though has a heart and does try to seek help from mantriji, other babus, aviation department etc. Another character which shows that educated civil servants of our country are not just super intelligent and hard working, but very valuable to society, if they have the will to get the job done.
• Air India pilots- outraged to fly civilian planes over war-zone, ultimately showing courage in this risky undertaking of evacuation. 

My Say: I cried all through the first half and the Tiranga in the climax put a smile on my face. The story was about Indian-origin people who had been living as Kuwaitis, but realize that Indians they really are. It made me be proud to be an Indian too. A good feeling, specially when Republic Day is round the corner :)

An exciting night

Powai to Colaba, via the free-way at night. The lights in the background, viewed from a fast moving car, with a cool breeze through the window through my hair. Friends mocking the RJs of all the FM stations.

Marine Drive, some of my friends chewing sliced raw mangos, one having cotton candy, another one getting her pictures taken and yet another one glued to the phone. Enter two strange men, one tuning his guitar strings while the other one gazing into the stars and a few flying lanterns. The men sit next to us girls, facing the sea and start jamming. And suddenly we all are singing to their tunes. It's midnight and we and more strangers all around are One under the night sky, in front of the sea, with the music.

As someone who gets sickness in the Mumbai traffic and is averse to being out after eight, this experience just blew me away.

A few of my friends enjoyed getting ready for the night, make-up and accessories and everything girls do, some of them ticked the 'Colaba Social' experience off their list and probably many other things. But I wasn't really into it, until the ride on the free-way and the jamming by the sea.

In the hindsight, these happy experiences came out of some begrudging choices. I hate to be the one to always sit in the passenger seat when we book a taxi. I know why that is, because I'm fat and it makes no sense for other girls to be cramped with me in the back-seat. So by default I sit next to the driver. But then the free-way happened. Also, I wasn't really keen on going to the Marine Drive, as it was late in the night (by my standards). Good thing I tagged along with my group, or there wouldn't have been any starry musical night.

Sometimes it's good to go out of your zone, do things you don't want to and see the world a little differently. Well, sometimes :)