"You should........

...concentrate on your studies. Yeh ladki wadki ke chakkar chhod de,kuch nahi milta in sab se!"- Mom
...concentrate on me more.You don't give me enough time."- Girlfriend

...pass the ball more often. Self mat khela kar."- A soccer teammate
...keep possession. Thoda dribble toh kiya kar."- Another soccer teammate

...call your mom everyday."- Dad
...call your dad everyday."- Mom
...call your sister everyday."- both Mom and Dad
...call me as many times as you can."- Girlfriend

...grow long hair.Aajkal toh lambe baal ka fashion hai bhaiyya!"- Barber
...keep short hair. Lafange ladke baal lambe karte hain!"- Grandmother

...crack CAT and go to the IIM's. Aajkal MBA mein bahut paisa hai!"- Family
...crack UPSC and become IAS. Shaan ki naukri hai. Aur uppar ki kamai bhi hai!"- Relatives
...crack GRE and go to the 'US of A'.Yahan India mein kya rakha hai?"- Family and Relatives

...lose your virginity."- An experienced  friend
...not talk about 'it' with me.It's bad."- Girlfriend

...go for arrange marriage.It will make your parents happy."- A friend who is herself committed for 6 years and plans to introduce her boyfriend to her family soon
...go for love marriage. Parents sab maan jaate hain."- A self proclaimed loveguru

..................And I thought this was my life,huh!!!

Blast from the past-Part 2: Enter the dragon!

Continued from Blast from the past-Part 1: The Warning Signs ....

'INDIAN SCHOOL OF MINES DHANBAD' read the entrance gate.It was night and the light was low, but I could make out that a few letters were missing."Strange",I thought.I looked around as we entered the campus but couldn't make much in the dark."There aren't no street lamps?", I looked towards Papa with questioning eyes. Papa was talking to the father of another fresher like me. That fresher was sitting next to a senior in the back of the auto,and his situation reminded me of a lamb surrounded by wolves.

__________________________________________________________________________________

We were around 12 people in that auto-Four freshers(me, the 'lamb', a tall skinny fellow and a short skinny fellow), four fathers and four seniors.Soon after, we arrived at EDC(short for Executive Development Center) where we were supposed to stay until registration and other formalities made us students at ISM.

An 18 hour train journey can make you doze right away.But the excitement, anxiety and fear(of course) had changed the situation.I was turning sides the whole night. And for the 2-3 hours I think I slept, I had the strangest dream ever.

In my dream I was on an island, all alone.There were huge structures all around, and they were probably made of  books. The roads were zigzag paths and after walking for a few hours I realized they all returned to the same point. Suddenly, there was a huge noise behind me and as I turned around, I saw a huge eight-faced dragon! The dragon had shiny green eyes and he looked at me and thundered-"Don't let them get the better of you..."

__________________________________________________________________________________

"Okay so this is your room,106" my father looked at me as we started to enter the room.By 'we', I mean me,papa, my roommate Prashant Shukla(Mining Engg.) his father and his brother. Strangely though, we soon found out it was quite difficult for 5 people to be simultaneously be present in there.The problem solved soon enough as me and Papa got out to buy some items I would be needing.The city was nothing like Ghaziabad, it was worse, in every sense.I mean no malls, no multiplexes,no hang-outs,no girls!!! I really wanted to know if that's what our government thought would be an environment conducive to studying.
After the regular shopping and all, Papa stayed for 1 more day.Then he left on Sunday and from Monday we had our classes.I got to know there were 418 more freshers like me and 41 of them were in my wing only. That very evening I got to know a few of them and it seemed like we would get along nicely. All of us together survived the most dangerous meals of our lives that night and after some casual group discussions,moved to our 'rat holes'. Prashant seemed to be kind of an introvert and I(a chatterbox) was also not in a mood to beat about the bush. The thought of being in this place, away from everything I had ever known, was too hot to handle.
And we went to sleep at 10.It seemed like ages the last time I went to sleep so early.
And then the same dream.
"It is coming.They are coming. They want to take you away. Don't let them get the better of you!!"...

(Oxy)morons!

Wikipedia defines Oxymoron as "a figure of speech that combines normally contradictory words". Hmm...a lot of examples instantly flashed before my eyes:-
An honest politician!
What is with these guys?? I mean, why do they have to always keep stuffing everything up their...you know where!!! Bloody black holes for money! Stupid people getting all that power because of more stupid people like you and me.
The Delhi rain!
For those cynics who don't believe in global warming, I suggest you please come to my home...it's like the Thar desert minus the sand! Where is all the water gone man??!! It wasn't long back when I used to return from school all drenched in water. I get drenched now too, in sweat that is! And thanks to those black holes, electricity is as much a scarcity as the rains. Only God knows where we are headed(he has given a hint though-a four letter word that starts with 'H' and ends with 'L'...keep guessing!!)
Cheap petrol!
At Rs.57 a litre, it is already half of the pocket money I get per month! :P
Everybody's buying a car, but how many can actually afford it? I did some math(not that I am very good at it!!)...We have a Maruti Alto at home,a 2.75 lac decent family car. It notches almost 50 kilometres a day.And in the crawling traffic of the city,it gives around 12kmpl.So,(50/12)*365*57=Rs.87000!One-third of what we invested in the car!Per year...every year...
I have started saving money for a bicycle already... :)
True love!
Okay okay, I know it's a cliche, but seriously, where is true love?Or love for that matter? I am single nowadays(thankfully!!),but even when I was committed, I didn't feel anything I read about love in those rosy-cosy novels! One of the girls preferred a same-profession guy...as if that's got to do anything with loving her? The other was daring enough to cheat and stupid enough to get caught! And yet there was one who just wouldn't trust, and yes the one who was only interested in jumping into the sack... hello? What's going on?? Where is the L-O-V-E honey?
Uncomplicated life!
Naah...don't have to explain this one,do I? The ups and downs, the twist and turns, the friends and the foes,success-failure...all mixed up to make one helluva show!Enjoy!

PS-A kind professor, peace in Kashmir,India@FIFA World Cup,US troops backing out of Middle east,Lindsay out of rehab/jail, Indian TV sans saas-bahu serials....the list is long!!! : /

Back on the track

Hi there!
The past 3 months have been one heck of a roller coaster ride(as if my entire life is any different!!)...I almost got cut off from the cyber world,thanks to semesters, training, soccer, gals and blah blah blah....you know,the usual stuff...forgot totally I have a blog that fortunately enough,has some followers. And since I don't want that to change, I realized it's high time I returned to the scene.
So here I am again...with lots of things to share...the next few days will see me writing about my (mis)adventures in Vizag, the vuvuzelas, and the continuation of 'Blast from the Past' series...keep reading...

PS-The word 'Professor' has been derived from the French word 'preufesseur' which literally translates to "one who has a connection with the devil"!!!
(Ok now don't go Googling about it,it was a joke you silly) ;)