The Ballad of Bomberman- Act 3

Act 3: Convince or Confuse!

November 18,2010

Dept. of Fuel and Mineral Engg.

Well if on Monday I was saved by my room mate, then on Tuesday Fortuna and Tyche themselves helped me out of Mandrake's torture session! I was halfway through the prac-o-mania and things had turned, to say the least, humorously favourable.
Wednesday was a gap day. I did nothing much. I had been doing nothing much for some time then. So, while people were busy studying for the 'Excursion Viva' on Thursday, I was writing a new blog post, chatting on FB, looking up for t-shirts on Myntra's website, pondering over which one's to buy soon.
It wasn't like I didn't want to study. I couldn't. Why? Well, here's the story.
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The 'excursion' on which the Thursday viva was going to be based happened sometime back in February this year,if I remember correctly. And guess what? I didn't go on that excursion! So while the rest of the future mineral engineers were getting to know about the various equipments and stuff at McNally Bharat Engineering, good old Varun lay in his bed, down with a fever which was the direct precursor of the break-up he had the night before!
The HoD was furious at my absence but our CR, Pathak- my sweetheart, controlled the situation. Still the HoD said he wanted a valid certificate from a doctor about my condition (physical, not mental!) or he would not let me sit in the semester exams. I didn't give a damn about the certificate, and the HoD, well he is too old to remember everything that he says!
And at that point I had thought- "Phew!That was a close shave man! Got away easily this time!"
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But the ghosts of the past had come back to haunt me. Imagine being in my situation and sitting in the viva when you never went for the excursion. It's like asking a virgin to write a 500 words essay on his sexual experiences!
I was confident the professors would have forgotten the attendance thingy.The only  worry was I had to sit there and bluff! Good thing for me, my room mate came to my rescue again. He had carried a camera on that day and I got to see what MBE actually looked like. My preparation comprised of knowing the place where we went(read, where I never went), a brief of the company operation told to us by the in-charge there ( read , never told to me), what equipments we saw (read, I never saw). That much was enough,I guessed. And I was way better than many other guys, including our very own Pammy-He had been on the trip and now while preparing he looked up for the company's site at Google by typing "Mechanically Bharat Engineering"!!! No wonder we hear so many Sardar jokes everyday! :P
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It was Kalicharan and Jha again! I was relieved to see no Nikkam the HoD. My group comprised of Bhangi, Adi, Baul and me. Adi too had missed out on the excursion and we were both happy that none of us would go to the gallows alone!
But I guess the professors had been bored to death by continuously asking questions about MBE. And so when we went in, they decided to ask some very basic textbook questions. What more could I have asked for! Well, I could have actually. They asked us some trick questions about the difference between Ball mills and Rod mills. All of us bungled up. But the bungling was so synchronized and carried out with such fluidity that the professors didn't notice it. I mean what we all said was correct, it was just not what they wanted to hear. But as soon as they opened their mouth in pride, ready to shower their clouds of knowledge upon us, we took advantage and started parroting the same things, just a second ahead of them! Once we started, it was easy to make out what they were gonna say next. And the effect of it all was that the profs believed we actually knew everything! Poor old chaps! Got fooled by the Gen Y !
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I took a peek into the marking sheet in Kalicharan's hand and I believe a saw a B against my name. For the non-IIT junta, that means 7 on 10. Not bad at all, considering I never went to the excursion!


PS- The only con in this entire episode was that I was taken back to the time of my break-up! Why can't we just erase some memories from our minds?


Continued...

That won't bring me back to you

"Wish you a very happy and prosperous 'DEWALI'. Take care of ur health & study beacuse only these 2 things r important in life & future.kabhi dil kare to bat kar lena tab shayad mujhe samajh pao. i m waiting.ok take care."

The sender of this SMS was close to me once. Then the sender made a mistake that ruined everything. I tried to stop the sender from choosing the wrong path. But the sender was adamant. The sender had become selfish, so he couldn't see what he wanted to do was ruining not only our relationship, but was tearing away several other relationships that were dear to both of us. Now, it's too late to mend those mistakes. The wounds might heel with time, but the scars will be there forever.

I don't remember for how long we haven't talked.


If you can read this, then you should know that sending greetings on festivals and birthdays won't undo what you did to me and my family. 

You yearn to talk to me? You want to hear my voice? You ache to listen to my words?  

Your punishment is not my words and my anger, your punishment is my silence and my indifference!

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.

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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..."

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"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!!"...

The moment!

Success doesn't come to you,you go to it.

It's 2 am as I write...

Have you ever felt how one moment can change your entire life ahead?for better?for worse?

No,I am not writing because I just experienced that moment....I am writing this because I just realized what a big fool I am!

That moment of my life came long back...and I was dumb enough to miss out on it!

Moreover,since I missed out on it, everything that happened from then until this very moment was beyond my understanding.Every action looked  like a mistake,and every consequence looked like a disaster.

Every Plan A failed...and so did plan B,C,D......till there were no more plans left. What I forgot was that "Life goes by as we are busy planning it"...

My attempts at avoiding failure were futile.Why?Because it wasn't failure,it was the lack of recognizing success.

My chase for success seemed never ending.Why?Because I was always running in a circle unable to realize that success lay within,not without.

I was frustrated, confused, desperate, dissatisfied....even rebellious! Kept wondering-"What the hell went wrong?"

NOTHING....nothing went wrong....

I  failed to realize that things were meant to be so...you can call it fate,destiny,God's wish...anything....for me it is too trivial a thing to ponder upon right now...I am thinking about something totally different and much bigger!

Now everything is fitting in its place.....the jigsaw is starting to take shape...a good shape...a shape that I didn't initially planned upon,or desired,or even thought of...but I guess this is why life is so interesting! If we always knew what we'll get,the joy of receiving would simply vanish,wouldn't it???

It's good to see things going back to normal,I mean they were always normal,the correct perception just went missing! :)

I missed my old self a lot...it's been a long time Varun Tyagi...glad we meet again!

PS-Talking about 'life changing moment'....is it happening for the second time right now??!!  ;)

Blast from the past-Part 1:The warning signs

Man... cannot learn to forget, but hangs on the past: however far or fast he runs, that chain runs with him.

Friedrick Nietzsche 

“Train number 2329 Kalka mail has arrived on platform number 2”.

Some journeys begin on a positive note. Most others don’t. My arrival in Dhanbad fell, according to me, in the second category.

“All India Rank 5752”-These four words were the worst four words of my life. They still are, for they had shattered my world of dreams then, and they continue to do so even today.

People around me were congratulating me. Why? What was there to congratulate? I thought they were actually mocking me and my so called success (or the lack of it!).

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“Papa lets find an auto for ISM”, I called out to my father.”Excuse me, are you going to ISM?”, a boy of about my age called out from behind. ”Yes”, my father replied.

“Namastey Uncle, I am from ISM.I am a second year student.”, the guy said. Senior, eh,I thought. And coupled with that thought were thoughts of ragging. A shiver down the spine was natural.

“Name, place, branch yaar”, the senior said.

“Huh,what?”, I thought for a moment.

“Name, place, branch yaar”, the senior, this time sternly, said.

“Varun Tyagi, Ghaziabad,B.Tech Mineral Engineering” was my slow and hesitated reply.

“Ghaziabad,huh?,he said.”Listen, don’t tell Ghaziabad as your place anymore, it’s complicated, but for now, just say Meerut.”

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“Congratulations!” the neighborhood uncle said. It felt like a pinch. Damn you, uncle! “So what do you plan to take up?”

“I’ll see,I have not decided anything yet.”

“Maybe you can get some mining wagerah in that college, what’s its name….”

“Its ISM uncle and I said I have not decided yet”, I said and tried to walk away. But I think uncle was in no mood to leave that day.”You took coaching in FIITJEE, right? Then what happened? My nephew got AIR 624”, the epitome of mockery boasted.

“So what? Should I go and kiss him?” I thought.

“Hmm… maybe I didn’t prepare that well, uncle” was all that came out of my mouth.