For Friends

This post is something like a compilation of short testimonials. I got the idea when I saw Sonik'’s blog post about her friend. I simply could not pick out any single friend, so this is for the awesome people who have made my five years in KGP a wonderful time.

The Wingoo Junta

AG Sudarshan: This fellow has been my closest friend in the last five years, and a next door neighbour for the last three years. This oversized and lazy chap is an awesome friend to have. Know him since the first week of the first year and in the last five years we have had some wonderful times, flamethrowers and snake watching included. And once more I repeat, "Live Life Sudu Size".

The other wingoos, Apratim, Kanishka, Indrava, Vihang, Sumit, and the four wingoos emeritus, Arvind, Nikhil, Guddu and Mahananda are wonderful people to be with in groups. Have spent some really enjoyable times with them, and am looking forward to enjoying the last month at KGP with them to the max.

The Department Junta

Ajay Tomer: Ajay was my best friend throughout the first year, and he got me through it. The best part is that we'll again be at the same place once I'm outta here. Lookin forward to it. :)

Jai Vohra: Also known as Sardar Jai Singh Vohra Singh, I knew him since first year. In the beginning of second year he got a department change to my dep. and also was allotted LLR hall with me. Nice fellow to be with, always full of jokes and laughter.

Nitin Mohta a.k.a Tintin. I've know him since the beginning of my first year. Always being full of tempo, and giving more than 100% are two of his qualities. My gracious host at Calcutta for the times when I want to escape KGP holi :D. 1st day ITC job crack means he is in for an awesome future.

Now cometh the time for the Mech. Dual Thermal Triad. Saurabh Kumar a.k.a Kone Wala, Sandeep Saha a.k.a Sandy and Vivek Malewar a.k.a Mallu Uncle. Three awesome people to do all your classes with, more so because they pay more attention in them than you. Wonderful study buddies, and great friends. All those nightouts while preparing for various exams were really enjoyable because these guys were around to help and have fun along with.

The muTTer Junta

Being a geek has certain advantages. You get to know some people through forums and stuff that you might never have ever met. So here are the friends that being a geek helped me make.

Karan Rawat a.k.a Nukem. Lord Nuke, our benevolent dictator, the sehenshah of the kingdom of muTTer. Kudos to this guy for providing an awesome platform to meet more like minded people. A total game and anime freak, he got me hooked to Japanime. Thanx Nuke :D

Nitin Dhawan a.k.a Nitzee. Geek and coder par excellence. And a fan of survival horror games, got me hooked. But I can't seem to play alone as effectively as we did in a team.

Abhishek Agarwal a.k.a Recca, the basketballer + gamer. Real cool chap to have as a friend.

Vaninder Singh, the "Vanishing Nerd". Another real cool fella to have as a friend and discuss computer stuff all day long. And he can really match his nickname, vanishes for some long time streches, no reply on phone. gtalk or anything :P.

There are a lot more people whose names I have not been able to include here. They too have been an indispensable part of these years.

All I can say is, THANK YOU for being my friends.

Psycho's Day Out!! Version 3.0

Why Version 3.0 you may ask, when after the original Day Out, there was no version 2.0. Lets just say that we don't talk about the version 2.0 day.

The Version 1.0 stock of DVD's had been spent, and the HDD was stuffed full to its gills. So it was time to go back. Favourable was the fact that two friends also had business to deal with, and hence we set off for a good day's work. Travel to Howrah is always very similar, a suitably timed express train that is fast enough not to bore you to death before it reaches its destination. Another ferry ride, then the walk to the metro station, a quick metro ride and we are back in business.

First job is to deal with one friend's graphics card. First shop, no luck. Second shop, no luck again. We curse the superfast progress of the computers that has left those with a bit old piece of hardware to have no upgrade options. Even more so if you try to obtain a high end video card in India. Anyway, placing an order for a bulk purchase of DVD's, we move on.

For the second part, we travel a pretty long distance to another part of the city, walk some more, and finally give the goner HDD for replacement (All hail the five year warranty). Then we meet another friend, go to his place and relax for sometime. Then its back to the second shop to pick up the blanks.

A visit to the ATM later, we have with us 400 Blank DVD's and a keyboard. Then the Calcutta-wasi friend takes us for a small treat (wonderful ice creams). After that we take another walk (can't never have enough of these, can we) and then a bus ride back to Howrah station.

Call it the will of the gods or the stupid timing of our actions, we end up in a local train that is stuffed full of daily travelers. While they are used to it, this makes for THE WORST journey back to KGP. At least till halfway where the train finally got empty. Finally got back at about 11PM, took another walk with friends and then crashed on my bed.

Just saying "400 DVD's and a keyboard" might suffice as the explanation of a day well spent, but then the magic is in the details, isn't it.

Quote UnQuote

"You know the deal with friends, if they love 'em you have to love 'em, wether you like it or not" - Dr Bob Kelso, Scrubs 514, March 14, 2006.

Now this one got me thinking hard. You gotta like the people your friends like, no exceptions. While I have never been in such a situation before, I just hope I have the strength to do this if ever I have to.

"About how pride defines who we are. As far as Bob Kelso goes, I know that sometimes even the good things he does are for the wrong reasons. Still I also know I wouldn't want to have to make any of the decisions that he makes. But when all is said and done, I'd like to think he does care a little. ..Even if he's too proud to show it." - JD, Scrubs 504, January 10, 2006.

Pride is an all too significant part of our lives, and I am sometimes too proud to admit that I might be wrong. Has gotten me into a fair bit of trouble this pride. Guess I will have to learn to swallow it.

One more thing that these quotes taught me is that I have been watching too much of Scrubs. Time to watch something else, or to get some work done for a change.

Tag: Ei8ht

Tagged! Again! This time by Dipanjan.

The last tag itself was a pretty draining experience, and this one is tougher still. Last time around I was happy that we are playing tag online. Now I think this game is better restricted to the playgrounds. Anyway, here goes nothing.

Da Rules: (Ofcourse copy-pasted from DD's page)

1. The tagged victim has to come up with 8 different points of their perfect lover.
2. You have to mention the sex of the target.
3. Tag 8 victims to join this game and leave a comment on their comments saying they've been tagged.
4. If tagged the 2nd time, there's no need to post again.

Da Easy Part

I have never seriously thought about my perfect lover, and hence the following eight points are mere guidelines that pulled out from the depths of my (mostly dormant) grey cells. These points are what I think would help a relationship(if I ever get into one that is) go along smoothly. So my perfect girl(or bandi for those more comfortable with KGP lingo) should.....

Da Tough Part

1. be a treat to talk to. I should be able to talk to her endlessly about anything and everything.
2. be interested in Computers, gadgets and modern technology.(now this point filters out perhaps 99.999% of the girls out there I guess)
3. be strong willed and independent.
4. be cool minded to counter my (sometimes)random mood swings.
5. have a nice, sweet personality and a positive outlook towards life.
6. understand my weird passions and liking in life, which we may/may not share.
7. be attractive as a person.
8. love me more than anything in this world.

Da Ending Part

Now cometh the time to tag eight more people.
Vivek Malewar(start ur blog yaar), Saurabh Kumar, Abhishek Agarwal, Nitin Dhawan(restart blog posting man), Sonali, Nimesh, Nipun Narang and Amit Joshi.

Template Change

Switched to a Floating Text on Image template.
Inspired by The Bourgeois Buffoon, original floating text on image template by Blogger templates.

Midsems and Midnight Strolls.

While in the last few days lots of things have been happening, and some more are to happen in the coming few, I am taking some time to describe the two that I feel are the best to talk about.

So lets take up the midsems first. The last ever midsems... Two of 'em in total. One on a Monday afternoon, the other on the next morning. Pretty easy ones also, so was able to attempt 90% of the first and 100% of the second. Lets see what the endsems hold for me and then I can think about the grades.

Now that we are done talking about midsems and acads and all related boring topics, we can move on to midnight strolls. As summer has decided to descend upon us pretty early this year, the only time when one can go out and wander about is around midnight. And hence, our wing decided to take midnight strolls.

The first of these was a night-time visit to the SBI ATM, and because the one at the bank was shuttered, we went to the tech-market one and found a long queue there. At bloody 11PM. After about half an hour, after dealing with the ATM business, we decided the weather was fine enough to wander around, because all we had to do after coming back to our rooms was sit in front of the monitor. We had a good time and decided to make these a regular feature of our otherwise dull days.

The next day, we took off around midnight, and wandered along a curved road. The road followed such a path that one of us got totally disoriented when we ended up at a main road seemingly in a direction opposite to where we were heading.

The third trip was undoubtedly the best. While going towards the RDC, someone mentioned Vikramshila Top and it was immediately decided that we had to scale it. After about an hour of searching for the stairway to the top, we finally stumbled upon it left of the stage in the under-construction Kaildasa Auditorium. Then it was off to the top, but my slight phobia of heights prevented me from scaling the last ladder. Maybe next time...

Exams and stuff have brought a break into this ritual, but I am looking forward to starting again when the wing gets back to strength. Till then, I am as usual sitting in front of my monitor.

Lousy Day :(

I don't know why, but today has been a really lousy day. And on top of that, I can't figure out why.

Woke up at 8:30AM on my day off(well, was woken by a phone call). Anyhoo (Dr. Bob Kelso/Scrubs style), I started the rest of the day in my usual fashion, check the websites and forums that I frequent, listen to some music, watch an episode or two of F.R.I.E.N.D.S, have lunch, recheck the forums and websites. The usual. But I started slipping into a lousy mood by mid afternoon.

I don't remember when I nodded off to sleep, but when I was woken up for dinner by wingooz, I was at the rock bottom of the mood chart. Dinner was a decent affair at Billoz, where we made and unmade plans for watching a movie tomorrow(doh!). While we were there, I was supposedly so bummed out that my friends even didn't make a joke about it.

It's been three hours since then, and while my mood has lightened up a bit, it still seems as if something is amiss. Maybe I am trying to get this feeling out by writing this blog. Maybe the movie I am gonna watch next will help. Maybe, and I wish with all I have, that I will be able to sleep this feeling off. But why do we have such days anyway. Wish I knew....

The Lasts

Now this being the last semester of my stay in KGP, it has finally begun to dawn upon me that in three-and-a-half months I will be getting out of KGP for good. This place has been home for the last four-and-a-half years, and suddenly you're outta here.

While you always know that you will be going away sometime, certain things can rub the reality into your face pretty hard. For me, these things were "The Lasts". Some of them are small enough to be overlooked, but some are pretty huge to escape from.

I have already talked about the "first last", the registration for the last semester (damn it was one crappy day), there have been further events that make you realise that the clock is ticking, and days slipping out of your hands. Be it the last "first mess meal" of the semester or the last "first class" that you attend, you are always dreading the moment when these things will be no more. And then the big one hits you. The Last Spring Fest.

Four days of an endless series of events (OK OK, it stops officially at 11:30PM each day), star nights, competitions, dancing at perpz, eating good pizza(the only time of the year this is possible in KGP), and hanging out with your friends, with the mind free of all worries, atleast for these four days. But for me, this was the last one. Perhaps the last time hanging out with friends like there is no tomorrow. And when you think of something like this, whole of the last five years flash before your eyes, times with friends, having fun, no worries.

Afterwards, you are left with a horribly empty feeling, and I can't make out what it really is. Just plain despair at the thought of having to lose times like these. Maybe ten years hence I will be able to look back and cherish these times and memories, but right now I cannot think of what I will do after 20th May, away from my home of five years.

Anyway, I still have a few "lasts" tucked away, to unfold as the semester passes, and the only way to be happy is to hope that you have your friends around you at these time :).

EDIT: In Koba's words of a year ago, leaving KGP will hurt, It will really hurt like hell.

Potholes on the highway!!!

Let me come straight to the point. So far, 2006 has not been as good as I wished it to be. Not that any of the following things are of much significance, but they sure add up to put you in a bad mood.

First of all, there is the academic registration, which has quite a few hitches in it. Of the four subjects offered (two to be picked) we have already done two so it is back to the usual, forced electives. And on top of that, the remaining subjects are not the most enjoyable (not that subjects ever are...). Anyway, uttering the word "Whatever" once more, I take these subjects, but not before another even tougher subject (which I wouldn't touch with a fourty foot pole) is wrestled into the options by deliberations with the HOD and letters to the DOAA.

Anyway, elective subjects are not the matter of prime concern these days. Its the (unseasonal) placement season and hence we gotta worry about placements. And while the placements are going well for KGP as a whole, the picture is a bit gloomy for us belonging to the 2001 batch. We are sandwiched between the B.Techs of 2002 batch (Magguz with hoohaa CG's) and the Post Graduates, and things are not as we would like them to be. Anyway, with some more people placed and a wingoo getting a schol, things are getting better now.

All this would have been OK if it wasn't for my bruised knee. Curse the "Under Construction" road that has been all mud and stones for the last seven-eight months, and the useless bicyclist who does not know any road manners. Shoulda run him down into the dust.

Hope that things get better soon. Don't wanna go into SF with such a lousy mood......

A Bonfire and "Patthar Paneer"!!!

This is what we did at New Year's Eve this time around. :). Let me explain the full story in chronological order.

Planning for the eve
First of all, there was supposed to be a trip to Cal on 31st December, with the New Year's Eve being spent in some party. This plan could not gain wide acceptance. So it was scrapped. The second plan was to go to Chandipur and spend the eve at the beach, but watching the susnset, spending twelve hours on the cold beach and then watching the sunrise was not everyone's cup of tea. So this plan also goes down.

So when Cal and Chandipur were both outta the picture, we decided to stay back home (KGP) and do something. A bonfire was on the table for the Chandipur trip, and its location was shifted about a hundred miles into the C-Ground of LLR Hall of Residence. And then there is always some grub required.

Of "Patthar Paneer" and the like
When the venue was decided to be our backyard, we also decided to prepare our own grub. Thus we went about marinating Paneer(cheese) and boiled potatoes with curd, mint paste, chilli paste and coriander leaf paste. The plan was to roast/bake/fry these on a stone slab heated by charcoal fire. Or something like that.

The Appointed Hour(s)
So finally the appointed hour arrives. We try to burn the charcoal but it turns out to be more or less black mud cakes. Whatever wood burns cracks the stone slab, so it is rearranged to a smaller size and using wood fire, some paneer and potatoes are prepared. They were awesome. The rest of the goods like chocolate cake, chocolate cookies, potato wafer chips and sodas were all right. But nothing like self made hot "Patthar Paneer". :))

At midnight, there was a small gathering of people from the Hall and it was time to exchange new year wishes, and take a GPL. I was perhaps the first KGPian to get a GPL in 2006. Not a very good start to the year eh! Anyway some music and weird steps dancing later, it was time to get to bed, and that's what we did.

The first and last New Year's Eve in KGP was really good. I just wish that I can have times like these in the future also.

:wq 2005.year (sorry Dipanjan, this was too good to resist, the geek inside me is more powerful than ever.)