Memories to cherish........

        I didnt attend the lectures today after the morning practical and so I was back to room early.I was just exploring my pc(There is so much unorganised stuff on my pc,I tell you) when I stumbled upon a folder named "mindspark photos".I found that it had photos and videos of Dogfight competition held at Mindspark'07.The very same competiion in which we were runner-ups(2nd position).I just cant get rid of the memory of those days,those fateful days!!

         I was in II year then.I and and my roomies, Anup and Karan along with my best buddy Prasad had decided to team up for robotics competition at Mindspark'07.I vividly remember the days of making of 'TAURUS'(thats what we had named our bot).We had put in our heart and soul into it.For the required stuff,we visited chor Bazaar,explored every nook and corner of Bohori Aali,worked at night and slept during days.After days of effort and loads of frustration,TAURUS was ready just a day prior to the competition.

          After having cleared the eliminations,we decided to modify the bot a bit.It helped.We won rounds after round and were finally into the finals against VIT.Not even in our dreams had we thought that we would be in the finals.The crowd that day was on a roll.It seemed like the whole college had turned up to cheer us up!!There were mexican waves,dance performances and what not.Taking into consideration the crowd's enthu and considering the fact that a COEP team had reached the finals,the prize money had been augmented from 15 to 20 thousand for first position and 10 to 15 for second.Amidst all of these happenings,we four of us were silent and nervous.But we wanted to live the moment.After all its not everyday when the whole college gives you a standing ovation.We were on cloud nine that day.

       Then the countdown began for the final match between COEP and VIT.I lost the cherry(50 points) but fought back hard and collected all other points.There wasnt a single person who wasnt elated and seated.Everyone was standing on their feet.There was so much cheering goin on.All I could here were the shouts of 'Akshay,dump it ...just go and dump it'(We had to dump the max no of cubes into a pit).And when the whistle was blown,everyone actually thought we had won.The crowd had gone ecstatic!!

         But back behind ,in my mind,I had been calculating while collecting the cubes and knew it was a tie!!And then we lost in the the tie breaker round.:-(....I wasnt that upset after losing...(we still had 15000 in our kitty!!)now that people,known and strangers,were congratulating ,shaking hands,giving a pat.It felt like we were the cynosure that night.And my maiden dance peformance the next day at mindspark cultural night was an icing on the cake.This is something I will cherish forever and ever............Here are some of the pics...

Things to keep in mind while confronting(for the first time) a girl you badly have a crush on.....

Hello people,

       After a good ten odd days of sheer enjoyment in Diwali vacation,I am back with some stuff.I wanted to write about how I spent my Diwali vacation,about the Get-Together that we had in our school and what all things I did in holidays.But,I think pending things should go first..I should have written this post precisely 15 days ago,(the day it happened) but it got delayed due to some inevitable reasons.

       Before I begin my sermons,I would like to tell that what I am gonna write is a blend of personal experiences and my friends' experiences.Some of you might connect with it,some might find it absurd.So..here I begin.Following are the things to remember while confronting a girl you have a crush on.....



1.)Initiate the conversation yourself.(She is a girl ..she wont do it...unless you are as good as a heartthrob or a superstar...I'm not :-) ).Before you begin ,you will feel tickles in your stomach and a sudden intense surge of emotion in heart,your heart will pound faster.Dont just panic...be cool.It will only last for a few seconds till you begin the conversation.

2.)Avoid questions that will only fetch Yes/No for an answer.

3.)Try and avoid pauses during the conversation because the silence that falls in between is embarassing one.You will feel that it has been there for eternity.

4.)Try and not blabber( Damn it...I did:-( ).

5.)Many people would advice you to look into her eyes while you are talking to her.I did the same...But believe me friends...its not that easy...coz those eyes were so deep...so unfathomable..I just could not help but fall for them.Then,I had no idea where the conversation was heading..or what she said..I was completely lost for a moment.And so will you be, if you follow suit!!!!


        Last but not the least....do not just scare her from behind.Walk in from the front..Go ahead and break the ice...
              Thanks for stopping by.Hasta la vista....

The Last Fortnight.......

     Hi folks...If you might have noticed the interval between two of my consecutive posts..it must have dawned on you how regularly irregular I am.Its not like I dont have stuff to write....its just that I have to have the right disposition to go and write a post.

         This post is not meant to be a didactic one.This is just meant to review the happenings in the last fortnight and the fortnight previous to it(the real reason being ...its to satiate my today's hunger for writing).

         To start with,we had 3 biggies(read:companies with a big name) lined up for placement one after the another at the start of this month.There was ZS(Zoltners and Sinha),there was NVIDIA and there was JOHN DEERE.I wont go into much of detail illustrating how the test was and all that stuff.I would just say that I flunked at the first two(didnt even clear the apti) and got through the third one(JD).But,eventually,didn't manage to convert it into an offer(after a so-so technical interview and HR round).I was not meant for JD,I think.

          Then...we had mid-sem exam which was a disaster.This time I found it more difficult than the previous ones.But then honestly I hadnt studied as much as I used to study before.(Final year fever,I guess...).Hey,guess what?, I joined gym some days ago(another symptom....guys here usually join gym in the final yr).

         I also watched a few good movies this month.To name a few,A walk to Remember(romance),State of Play(suspense,drama),The Hangover(comedy),Man from Earth(History,Scifi).Out of all these ,Man from earth which is really a thought-provoking one had a long lasting impact on all of us who watched it together.Its a story of a professor who confesses to his colleagues at his farewell party that he is 14000 years old and he does not age(de facto,he had stopped aging a long before).He further goes on to reveal that he has met Buddha,had a chance to travel with Columbus and many more.His most shocking revelation comes when he discloses the fact that he was JESUS CHRIST.Now isnt that an interesting one?? Go get your hands on this movie and watch it people.Its really awesome.

          Finally,the best thing that happened to me last month was that I got associated with an NGO named Pankhudi.At Pankhudi,some children from the nearby slum area are brought at COEP and taught life-skills.My very first day at Pankhudi was a day I will always cherish.I directly went to the wakdewadi slum to get the children.While my colleagues went to get the students ,I was told to look after those already present there.I found an unexpressible happiness and joy in playing with those kids,some were pulling my shirt,some were hitting me with hankerchief,some wanted me to lift them up in the air and when I did so..the innocence and mirth on their faces was so divine,I just cant forget that.It was great.It was really beyond words.

           The next day,we went to an orphanage name MANAVYA near Bhugaon.It was a different experience there.We played with those kids,showing them some tricks which they were puzzled to see at first but then they got us to tell them how to do those tricks.I was pretty amazed when a guy there who is gonna appear for SSC this year took me to their computer lab and told me things about computer which even I didn't know.I was happy,I had finally found solace.

       Thats it guys..this is all that happened last fortnight.Now that midsem is over,the monotonous college routine begins from tomorrow.:-(

Ambitions.....

           Aaargh...Its been long enough since I wrote last.Being away from a place from where I could blog is what kept me away from writing a post.I was home the last few days courtesy the outbreak of Swine Flu.

           At home when I was having some quality time with my Mom and Dad,I just could not help but tell them about the recent disposition of my mind and about the unfortunate happenings with me.(Believe me,I felt a lot relieved after doing this...Its only mother's lap where you finally find the heavenly solace on...).And then my parents simply laughed and told me about the grim problems they had faced.My mother narrated a story about a boy in our neighbourhood and what he and his brothers had to go through to finally secure their lives.It was then I realised that my shortcomings were so insignificant.My father boosted me up by reminding me of my achievements,about my ambitions and told me that he didnt bring me up to be someone who gave in so easily to debacles but to be a fighter and finally be a winner.I felt so rejuvenated.My morale catapulted after hearing the word 'ambitions'.Man..all this time I had been oblivious to my ambitions.

           While I retrospect the days of my childhood,when I didnt even know what ambitions meant..when someone asked what I wanted to be when I grew up..I gave answers..answers that I look upon now as funny or absurd .I am sure everyone of us must have had their own fantasies about becoming a pilot or a doc..or a cop and must have answered the same way like I did,isnt it??Gone are the days when you could just hop from one aim to another and lost are the times of changing aims for the sake of writing an essay on "My ambitions in life" that would fetch u good marks.

           Ambitions,I feel,are things that one lives for,one is obsessed with.Ambitions are not that one dreams of.Ambitions are dreams that render you sleepless.I have had many such sleepless nights dreaming about things that I want to do.I have tossed on bed many a times dreaming with eyes wide open and I loved the feeling.It kinda inundates you with zeal and enthusiasm.

           Many of us have ambitions that require us to break the shackles of peer pressure.But very few lack the courage to take the path less trodden.

           So all you people like me out there who are really obsessed with ambitions and really wanna get what u covet,brace yourself up for the challenges that are gonna come your way and for the hundreds of sleepless nights you gonna spend.

                      Thanks for stopping by..

I am Complaining....:-(

My moment of solitude told me that when you are going low,the whole world wants to hit you below the belt.Thats what exactly has been happening to me or is it just what I think?.I am flummoxed.

           I seem to have lost my bearings.My behaviour has become an aberrant one.There is a kind of feeling of being insecure all the time,of being vulnerable.I dont know whats happening to me.I just dont know.

            I am yelling at people,spitting out all the venom of frustration on friends.I am complaining about everything that comes across.Gradually ,I am becoming cynical.I was not the same before.Though ,there have been times when I was bowled over and distraught over debacles,but I never gave in to them.But this time,I am not able to keep myself unperturbed.I never had to pretend that everything is hunky-dory because things were genuinely fine then.But I am pretending now although I dont want to.

           I dont know what I am transforming into,like some kind of maniac??.I am just sure of one thing ...... this is not the person I used to be.

The Audacity of Hope....

Yes....I am a final year student now.Our result was declared a month ago and I passed with good grades,not only good but in fact the highest that I ever got in all these three years of engineering.But they matter the least to me.Because they weren't there when I really needed them.The whole story goes like this..

           In our final year of engineering ,we are required to do a project that is sponsored by a company i.e they are company projects.The companies held tests to select students for projects.As soon as our end-sem got over,NVIDIA was scheduled to come the following week for selection test.The eligibility criteria was g.p.a 8.0 and above."Damn it!!!What the hell??",I exclaimed.I was just 0.02 short of 8.00.Mine was 7.98 then.Then came DELCAM.Again the criteria was 8.00.!I felt like being one of the most unfortunate ppl on earth.

           And after all these ,the most awaited thing came.Results!!They came but the harm had already been done!!My g.p.a now had augmented to 8.09 but I had missed two important companies."Cool,now I will be allowed to appear for all the companies !!",I mused.But when Binary Mantra came.I fell ill.Then there were rumours that Symantec would be coming the next week.I patiently waited .But when there were no signs of Symantec ,I packed my bags and set off to my home for my cousin sis's wedding.That was inevitable.I could not miss it.

           Then when I had just returned home from the wedding,I learnt that Symantec was going to conduct a test the next day.This gave me a coup de grace,a deathblow.So,in this way, I could not make it for Symantec .

           Now,I completely relied on TCS which was gonna conduct a test on 20th june.I reached Pune on 19th june and started preparing for the test.I thought I better grab this opportunity or I will be in real mess.But even this time ,I didnt succeed.I dont know what went wrong.Now I feel like being "misfortune's chosen one",like "ill-fate's favourite child".And what adds to the lament is watching people around you getting projects and discussing work and you are in total despair. By this time ,lot of people have gotten projects in companies and some have even started their work.

           But I still HOPE that I wont be left empty handed.I still HOPE that even I wud get a company.I still HOPE,that there would be bliss after this period of dismay.I still HOPE that this trauma would be over and I would be on cloud nine one day.Yes, I do HOPE.

           And such is the POWER of HOPE and its audacity that it drives in optimism in your life.It is HOPE and ultimately optimism that makes you believe in your self and hikes you up to face the challenges that are awaiting!!!!!


May HOPE be with you.......

The Bus incident...

     This incident took place when I was travelling back home from Akola to Buldhana(my hometown) after having attended my cousin sister's wedding.There is nothing very special about this incident except for the fact that it narrates how cheap and selfish some people can be.


     So,I was in the bus...When I boarded the bus,there were only a few people in the bus.But as it approached Buldhana,it got packed with people.(I still dont understand,why does the govt. not impose any restriction on the number of people that can be stuffed in a bus.And even if there is any such restriction,why dont the authorities or the bus conductor care to implement this?It gets quite messy and suffocating when buses are stuffed.)Well.....So,I was just one stop short of my destination..plenty of people were standing.


     At this stop ,one very old man boarded the bus.He was so old that the bus conductor had to help him board the bus.He even suggested him that he better take another bus coz this one was too jampacked and crammed.But the old man insisted...I saw him showing his pass to conductor.I was going to disembark at the next stop.I could not see the old man standing.Seeing his condition,I decided to give my place to that old man.So,I vacated my place and called the old man. "Aajoba, basa(old man ,have a seat)" ,I said to him rising from my seat.But before that old man could come and sit there ,a much younger man in his 30's had occupied my seat.That son of a bitch had seen me calling that old man but still he didnt care... That scoundrel gave me a nasty look that made me feel like that I was being mocked by him.Even that old man gave me a very pathetic look .I tried to protest and argue with that bloody S.O.B but I soon realised that the conductor was asking me to get down the bus,the stop I was to get down had come.No one amongst who saw this bothered to ask the man to get up and let the old man have that seat.


      I got down with a heavy heart and a helpless look from that old man that haunted me for quite some time.So,the next time you are in a bus n you wanna help someone by giving him/her your seat,just make sure some S.O.B isnt eyeing that seat...