Prologue:
I've always wanted to write a verse. Something a little more abstract than what i generally write. What follows is an attempt at the above. The only thing that gives me the confidence to post this, well, there are two things. One is that most of the current audience of my blog are my friends. And they can't stop reading just because i write unreadable stuff :) I mean, thats what friends are for. The other of course is the "Delete" option in blogger.


Small things
and yet, they bind you
don't let you fly away

You dream
dream of a day
a day when nothing holds you
a day you fly away

And then, bright and new
comes a day
a day when the small things that hold you
the things that bind you are gone !
Nothing stops you from flying away

And then you see
small things
small things you hadn't seen before
and you know you'll never fly away

But, cold and clear
will come a day
A day when the small things that no longer bind will seem bigger than the small things that do
And you'll feel that much closer to flying away.

Saw a foreign language film. Wihout any subtitles. Needless to say, didn't get a thing. The only two lines with subtitles were - "I give others hope. I keep none for myself".
The movie was called - "Lord of the rings - Return of the King". Maybe the name fooled me :(
I knew as much about the plot before watching the movie as i did after. And that is - There is this ring, and it is an evil one. And so, it needs to be put into fire. The ring obviously doesnt fancy such and end to its existence. Once in, and it would become a nameless, shapeless blob of metal. Or worse, thousands of nameless, shapeless blobs of metal. And so, it tries it damnest best to retain its name and shape. Tempts anyone and everyone who try to take it anywhere close to fire. Causes huge wars, huger books and hugest movies to be made. In the end ofcourse, as in all good stories, good triumphs over evil and the ring becomes a u-know-what.
Even with this extremely limited understanding, the movie was fun to watch. But, i still say, gimme a book over a movie, anyday.

Yahoo !! It's thursday !

Special dinner in the mess tonight !! There's little else that makes me as happy as food does.
If one looks at life just as a series of Thursdays, the weeks seem to pass by in a flash. I can remember the anticipation of the last 4 thursdays, just like they were yesterday and the day before, and the day before the day before ....

"Hi there, I am Punctual, Miss Punctual"
(Title inspired by one of Pooja's posts)

I've never been called punctual. Whatever may be the decided time, i'm always 5 minutes late. This is mainly due to an extreme reluctance to start early - somehow starting early seems more sacrilegious than arriving late. And, having been surrounded all my life with people of the older generation for whom punctuality comes a close second to godliness, i've never managed to earn much of a name in that department.
But, IIT K has changed all that. These people have taken punctuality to a new dimension - and left it there !!
A party at 6, and people are tricking in at 7.
A competition at 6, ou team reaches at 7, and we're the first ones there.
A movie scheduled at 9. Its 9.45, the screen still irresolutely white.
A match scheduled at 6 (a.m, mind you), we (the audience) reach there at 7 to discover we've beaten the players to it !

Havn't given up hope. I'm the only one around who still insists we leave at 6 for a party at 6. (Ofcourse, i end up leaving at 6.05 :)) I know though, that i'm fighting a losing battle.

Not fit for the previous generation. Considered hopelessly outdated by my own. I'm going to start a new generation - one for whom punctuality means being 5 minutes late !

For want of a shoe nail

A CD player. Magnanimously gifted by bhai, only too glad to get rid of me.

CDs. Filled with favourite songs carefully picked during my last days in Pune.

Batteries. Amongst the first things i bought on setting foot in K.

But, no headphones :(((

Didn't know i'd miss listening to music so much :(

The day wasn't special by itself but they'd been ordered to make it so. And so, after an extremely ordinary lunch that gave no hint about the festivities to come, they started to work. And work they did, till dinner time.
7.30, and the girls started trickling in for dinner. Dinner - a biological necessity, not something to be looked forward to. So unexpected was it that most of them didnt even notice anything different until they were well inside the dining hall. The whole place had been transformed ! Scrubbed clean, brightly lit, tables covered with table-cloths and table cloths covered with rose petals. They could scarcely believe it was the same old hall they ate in everyday ! As they filled their plates, they only hoped the food lived up to all this decoration.
And live up it did ! It was the food that completed the transformation. From a place filled with some disappointment, but mostly indifference, the hall was transformed to a place alive with happiness! It was everywhere and it touched everyone - those who didnt find the food extra-ordinary, those who were serving it and most importantly, those who'd worked to make it special.

If ever there comes a day when there are only two career options open to me - washing clothes and begging, i'm pretty sure i'll be stuck with the latter. Not so much because i'd make a terrific beggar, but because i'm a terrible washer. One look at the before and after of clotehs washed by me will tell you why. At least to the naked eye, there is no difference in them :(( If only i'd known that a
not-so-up-to-the-mark performance in GATE would lead to this, i would've given everything i had to do better.
And yet, even this dark cloud is not without its silver lining. All this washing contributes significantly towards my goal of winning the inter-galactic baddie
championship. Arms, wrist, plam - washing does seem to be an exercise tailor-made for wannabe inter-galactic baddie champions !

As an aside, all these inter-galactic thoughts can be attributed to my perusal of "The Ultimate Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy" in my spare time. Its hilariously, uproariously funny. I have to take a break after every two pages to let all
the laughter out of my system. Great chioce, guys !!

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

I actually feel physical pain every time i hear that recorded laughter coming out of a passing room. If only i'd been a little less me, i would've banged into the room full of stangers and sat and watched with them :(
Some day .....
But, i also know that for most events in life (my life at least), the anticipation is more exiting than the event itself.
Here's to anticipation !

I've never been ragged. And looking at what some of the b techs undergo here, am i glaaad i didn't give JEE (Did someone say sour grapes?) Objectively speaking, its not that bad. But singing and dancing is not what what i'm all about, as those who know me will readily testify.
I did have one unforgettable experience with ragging here. Havnig finished my dinner, i was getting up from the table, probably a little hestiantly because one of my friends sitting next to me hadn't finished. This is when this girl sitting opposite did some stange action with her fingers. I was not sure she was looking at me, but there was no one else nearby. I returned an utterly puzzled look and she said - "B Tech, first year ?" I managed to almost fall off my chair and also reach cloud number 9. Its been closer to a decade than i'd like it to be since i was in BE first year !! Took me a long long time to come back to earth .....
And, DARE anyone cast aspersions on the quality of eyesight of such a wonderful pure, benovelent soul !

The bubble did burst when i found out a probable cause for the misunderstanding. All first year b techs had to wear their duppattas in "jassi-style" (NO, i dont watch that serial, this is a second hand description). And, i'd probably unknowingly worn it that way.

Long will live Eakta Kapoor
(Not sure if that is the "latest" spelling, but you know who i'm talking about)

IIT. The temple of Indian education. A place where some of the greatest minds of the country are prepared for the future. (Dont mind my prescence here, i'm the exception proving the rule). A little surprising that the hostel of such an institute has a TV room. A little more surprising that it is seldom unoccupied. But, what is most unbelieveable is what the TV is made to dish out most of the time - yes, all those saas-bahu serials! And tough one wont find too many people in the TV room every day, almost everyone knows what goes on in every serial (me being an exception again, a happy one this time). All those people who refuse to acknowledge Hindi as a language to be used for normal conversation, stuck to the TV.

If this is the future, i wash my hands off it.

I've hooked up to another game. Basketball. If i continue like this, very soon,i'm going to be "not a jack, not yet a king" of all games ever invented.
What attracted me to the game is that it can really strengthen your arms (strength being very much in demand in that region). It can remove the one weakness that stops me from becoming a national, no international, maybe even inter-galactic baddie champion.
Met a girl here who'd played basketball in her school days. And she said that het biggest problem in baddie is that she hits the shuttle so hard that it mostly flies outside the court !!! I have met anti-me !! (remember Shyamalan's Unbreakable?) Anyway, that pretty much decided it.

Basky, here i come !

Anyone who sees me for the first time here will be execused for thinking i'm an exercise addict. From my very first day here, i've started exercising. My roomie is impressed with my determination. Little does she know the real reason behind my persistence :) Everyday, IITK mess does something that makes all this exercise necessary, probably even futile :( Yesterday, it was bread and butter for breakfast. I heard a voice challenge me - "Lets see you resist that". To cut a long struggle short, it didn't and probably never will. Today, it was an indianized version of french fries (much tastier, IMO). The voice again. Some voices never learn.
It is almost as if every morning, as i sweat it out (that being achieveable in K by simply standing) i am atoning for my previous day's sins.
1..2..3..4
Oh lord, please forgive me for the butter
5..6..7..8
and the fries
...

Had Shahi Paneer for dinner. Even had to pay extra for it. The voice had finally learnt its lesson.