Happy New Year

Here's wishing everyone a very Happy n Prosperous New Year.

Lets hope this new year doesn't come with a bang ( similar to the Mumbai ones ;) ).Here's also hoping our dream companies don't crash along with our dreams and hopefully the new year brings a lot of cheers (and happiness) to all our lives.

God Bless
Boxer

My first school

Well, the title of the blog may sound confusing to many cause most of them start and end thier schooling in a single school, but people from the defence background might understand...

Well, being in the Air Force my dad used to get posted to a new place every couple of years, and though going to a new place and making new friends was great fun, saying goodbyes to friends and packing everything up was really tough.

Anyways while we were driving back from Goa to Delhi after my last sem in college ( ya, will write about that trip in my next post).Anyways we came via Pune where Dad had done a course earlier ( earlier matlab when I was 3-4 years old). We stayed in the same mess there, saw my old house, the first one that I remembered ( I was born when Dad was posted to Bhuj, and I don't remember anyhting about that.After that Dad got posted to Pune.).So I saw my old school too...it was great, and a lot of incidents came back flooding to me. The pic on top is of the school in Pune

Anyways went to a lot of different places and schools after this-
Air Force Golden Jubilee Institute ( New Delhi)
Central School ( Utarlai, Barmer(Rajasthan)-yo thats the place close to which they found the tunnel to Pakistan)
Central School (Bidar(Karnataka))
Air Force Vidya Bharti School( Gwalior( Madhya Pradesh))
Air Force Golden Jubilee Institute ( New Delhi)

Anyways finished my schooling from the same school where I started it from class I. And made lots of friends, am in contact with most of them too..though I never even imagined that i would meet Gill at college, we had been together earlier in class 6-7th. Govi too was with me in 11th n 12th and so I knew he was coming to Goa too, and quite a lot of people I had seen/met at FITJEE came to Goa too...

Anyways I am going back reminiscing about those days at school..Cheers

Yeh naya blog kaunsa hai??

Well, it has been more than 50 posts now, this one is the 52nd one to be exact, and so I thought I'll change the layout of the blog because the current one was becoming too boring.So here is the blog in its new avtaar.

-The most obvious one is of course the template.I wanted to change the background after I saw Nimit's blog and the new template he had put up.It was Awesome and I too decided to go for new template, the blogger ones seemed too boring, so after trying out many different templates, I zeroed on this one.

-The traffic feed, well no particular reasons for putting this in my blog.

-The clock. Well, I really liked this clock because it seems so carelessly made, the circle being incomplete and well not exactly a circle.

-Label Cloud. I really wanted to have a label cloud on my blog, and when I searching on net for the HTML code, I only found the one that just listed the tags in random order and different size, the largest one being the most used tag.But I wanted the cloud like on Akash Bhai's blog so searched further and finally found the code today :)

Also my profile has also been updated, it no longer gives my location as BITS Pilani Goa Campus :(

Please lemme know how you like the naya blog...

Last Post from AH3-260

The corridors are empty, most of my friends have left( in fact there are just 4-5 people left on my floor of 62 rooms..) , some to come back next sem, others forever..and all of them have taken with them memories of this place..both good and bad...
...the years of friends and friendship, of fights and make ups, of ups and downs, of trust and brotherhood, years of cracking meaningless PJ's and still eliciting laughter from the audience( read like minded pagal log :) )..of exploring Goa, exploring the world of electronics (and electrical too :P) and ending up an IT job...


With regards to Academics in general and EEE in particular, the words that sum it up-

Been there, done that, can't remember most of it...

Learning everything from Biology to Report writing, from Advertisement and Sales to Analog and Digital Very Large Scale Integrated Circuit design (pheew) BITS ne sab kuchh sikhaya...

I will miss cribbing about mess food, complaining about the light and water problems that came up, especially the times when during exams A-wing plunged into darkness and electricity was there in C-wing..ohh those shouts of "Maaro Govil ko" ( our mess rep- kuchh khana nahi sudhar paaya) to "itna mat padhon saalon...mar jaoge padh padh ke"( during exams to "PHODU" ( which became the first name of half my hostel mates thanks to me) and how the hell I forgot HACs which we had coined in our first over dinner one night.I will miss sitting in Angad's room or Vishal's room at night trying to prepare for next day's exam, the tension at 8:50 AM for a 9:00 AM paper and the relief and the feeling "ki bas ho gaya paper.." at 10:00 AM...well life used to stand still during those 3 days of T1 and T2...

I will miss sitting in CSD in mornings with Vishrut, Gill, Vishal, Choos, Pantar and Chillu, will miss the BITSAA PR work, working on everything from BITS Website to Glimpses '06 to Melange '04, those deadlines and the work put into getting the work done..

i will miss spending time sitting at Mongi, juice corner or even the b-dome....hell i will even miss the dinner time discussions, which even made the bad AATISH food bearable. I will miss those movie sessions in Gill's room, the nightouts with Gill and Nimit playing CS in his room, the nighout before the exams and those nightouts at end sem, just being awake to wish everyone a goodbye before they left at all odd times ( arre bhai yeh low cost carriers ko subah 5:30 ka time hi milta hai re..). And to think the time for the final goodbye will come so soon...

And who can forget the treat about everything, those Birthday parties at Bogmalo, the cake, the birthday bumps and the awesome celebrations in the hostels..it used to really make us forget the last 18 birthdays we had celebrated at home, and the fact that we were away from home..

The Zephyr and Waves and Quark, which used to be events to showcase our talents onstage and off-stage, winning the hearts of the crowd and taking panga with other hostels and colleges..I will also neve forget the awesome AH3 dance-I like to move it that made the crowds go wild... :)

I will not forget the elections and the drama associated with it, 7 candidates for a post, the audi debate, the results in the audi, those fates hanging in balance..( bas ek wish poori nahi ho paayi-watching "None of these" win, lets hope yeh feat bhi manage ho jayegi Goa mein...)

This is the last post I'll ever write from my room AH3, 260 BITS Pilani Goa Campus..and no matter how much I cribbed about everything under the sun..the fact is "I am still gonna miss it..."

And no matter how everyone tells me that its still gonna be the same...deep down I know...it never will be...


I'll end with the true feelings that sum it up..

The pain of missing friends isn't their absence but...its when you think of the times you have shared and ask '..will those ever happen again...'and your mind silently says "NEVER"

Engineer Kya hai??? Pt 2

Am continuing with a poem I had posted earlier ( again not mine..).

Engineer wo hai
jise lecture mein film ka khyaal aata hai,
theatre mein assignment ka sawaal aata hai,
mess mein ghar ka khaana yaad aata hai,
exam se pehli raat ko syllabus yaad ata hai,
practical mei to kuch nahin aata hai,
par phir bhi pass hone ka andaaz aata hai,
attendance se zyaada proxy lagata hai,
aur
placement ke kahayaal mein 4 saal barbaad karwata hai...

Relatively Happy...

Well I am happy today...OK relatively happier than I was a few days ago...

WHY??


Well there are a some reasons...

-Nimmo aka Nimit got a pre-placement offer at Precision tech, his PS 2 at Gurgaon...

-Adi and Pandey were supposed to leave campus on 8th, and I couldn't get myself to fact the reality that the fairytale three years that we spent together are now coming to an end, and I had to go,sit in his room and watch Pandey pack to let this realization sink in...but they decided at the last moment (read 8th morning i.e. about 8 hours before their train left) to stay back till 12th to enjoy with all of us(YoYO)...and so we are planning to go out and visit beaches for the last time now...

-Went out to Bogmalo yesterday, sat on the beach, dunno just watching the waves crashing onto the beach had a very calming effect ( in fact in the first year, we had planned to just go and sit on the beach after every few days...but thanks to the TOUGH BITS academic commitments, kabhi ho hi nahi paaya...) and yesterday sitting there, I realized that soon all of us would be busy in our own schedule, we may not all be at the same places, have commitments ( read girl friends etc...) and may not even have time to meet each other...and that is how friends drift apart...hoping this never happens to us...

-I am so vella for some days now( why??- next point) and I have no idea about what to do...net, dc, movie...sab se boriyat ho gayi hai yaar...and before you think that this guy hasn't even blogged once and says he is bored.. I wrote a few drafts, but couldn't complete even one of them..

-I finished 2 out of my 3 exams ( on 4th), the last exams of my life..and my next exam is on 13th...that's still a long distance away....
and after that long distance- I will nearly be an engineer...have to go for PS2 next sem , but BITS waale PS de hi nahi hai yaar...

Also this happens to be my 49th post...so a special half century post coming up :)

The motto of IMA

" The safety honour and welfare of your country
come first always and every time.
The honour welfare and comfort of the men
you command come next.
Your own ease comfort and safety
come last always and every time "

I don't have any more words after this...

Battle we must when the enemy is in sight...

I received this mail today and I really felt that you should all read it at least once...

"
We all have heard and seen the news and it has saddened us all. It has outraged me as it is no longer a terrorist attack but war. Pakistan has brought the war into our homes and we are still talking about a Hindu-Muslim divide.

I believe we are standing on the brink of devastation with blind politicians and an illiterate populace which will see what is shown....we need to see the writing on the wall. Pakistan is at war with us. And we do not seem to realise the gravity of the situation.

We send out our police to deal with a highly trained and brainwashed enemy...the three top cops just walked into bullets because they thought they were dealing with ordinary terrorists. Our lathi wielding, overweight police is no match . A case of letting the fox among chickens! What can the chickens do other than flutter and die amidst a lot of clucking!

Only our Armed Forces stand between us and disaster. And they are a taken for granted, an ill equipped, demoralised lot. Perhaps they question their importance too. But I know that what saves me and mine is that 24 yr old boy from Haryana who is more afraid of being laughed at than he is of catching a bullet, the tall lad from Punjab who will do what his saab tells him, the diminiutive Gorkha who is bravery personified and their young idealistic officers who lead from the front. Why I say idealistic is that the Army offers nothing other than honour and duty...and the ones who respond to the call are the true patriots. There was a time we held patriots dear and acknowledged our debt to them...now idealism is another name for foolishness.

I remember the Kargil war and the unbelievable acts of bravery and raw courage it threw up....who can forget Capt. Batra's laughing bearded face and that immortal line "YEH DIL MANGE MORE!" And a 19 yr old Yogendra Singh Yadav with 3 bullets in him, climbing up a gruelling 60 feet to reach and neutralize an enemy bunker and engage in combat…our only living PVC, Capt Vijayant Thapar whose farewell letter should be read by us aloud to our kids...."I have no regrets..if I become a human again, I will again join the Army and fight for my nation....if you can, please come and see where the Army fought for your tomorrow....never forget the sacrifice of these men...Papa, you should feel proud....Live Life King Size!" He was all of 22. Capt Anuj Nayyar, whose heroism fuelled a movie and numerous TV serials…this roll call of honour goes on and on. And it still brings forth tears from me…tears of pride and sorrow and personal loss. And a feeling that we cannot take these sacrifices for granted anymore.

The least we can do is learn from them…our enemy has a face…it is not Muslim…it is Pakistan ! Pakistanis do not see you and me as Hindu, Christian, Sikh, doctor, engineer, poet…we are their faceless enemy and to destroy us is the only gameplan. Why can't we see what they have made so plain?

I will go and donate blood and I will be vigilant in public places. I vow to take note of abandoned stuff and report it…and I will sit up all night when I see my country under attack and hold my head in my hands when I see the dead, the dying and the injured…is it enough?

We should take a leaf out of Israel 's book…I am no politician nor am I interested in political correctness..what I see is that the world fried and baked and grilled the Jews…millions of them and NO ONE spoke up…no one saw anything! While smoke was billowing from the crematoriums and the stench of human flesh was all pervading, no one saw or heard or smelt anything…they were the unseen dead. So they decided that they had to take care of themselves and that history would never repeat itself for them again. How many of us will have to be dismembered, to die anonymously in battle without knowing that they were the enemy….how much more will we take…how much is enough…is a 100 dead and 200 injured less…tomorrow when the tally is 500 dead and 1000 injured, is it enough? When do we get up and say that one dead Indian is one too many! How many more of these endless, bloody harvests do we have to witness and endure?

There are mails which proudly declare that India has never invaded any country in her entire history…when will we circulate mails stating that we gouge out the eyes that look at India sideways and tear out limbs that rise against us! And when will our war-cry be "ENOUGH"…

When will we reach out for our golden future which lies just around the corner? I KNOW it does exist…I can FEEL it! I can feel the throb of a mighty Indian awakening. There is so much of hope in me, Iam a believer!

The question is when! When will my brethren see in each other an Indian! When will India become our motherland and not a 'developing' country one must flee from! When will our national anthem bring tears of pride in our eyes! When will a Raj Thackeray never dare verbalise his stinking politics for fear of a public lynching from his very own 'marathi manoos'! When will the politician become a patriot and a leader! When will we find ourselves!

I will end with some of my favourite martial quotes:-

THE PAIN IS TEMPORARY, THE PRIDE IS FOREVER.

WHAT DOES'NT KILL YOU, STRENGTHENS YOU. And its inofficial continuation…WHAT KILLS YOU, STRENGTHENS YOUR MOTHER!

PERSISTENT DEFENCE, EFFECTIVE INTIMIDATION.

BATTLE WE MUST WHEN ENEMY IN SIGHT.

SARVATRA IZZAT O IQBAL (Everywhere, Honour and Glory)

BALIDANAM VEER LAKSHANAM

SHASTRA SE SHAKTI.

MY ISRAELI FAVOURITE..IN THE PLACE WHERE THE (TANK) TREADS STOP, THERE THE BORDER WILL BE DECIDED!

THE HARD WE DO TODAY, THE IMPOSSIBLE WE DO TOMORROW.

A PERSONAL FAVOURITE…AN ARMY BUILDS A NATION.

ONE WOUNDS ME WITH IMPUNITY.

HE WHO KNOWS WHEN HE CAN FIGHT AND WHEN HE CANNOT, WILL BE VICTORIOUS.

"

PS: I haven't written this mail, but we can still discuss what it says..