Happy Birthday to Me..

Well its 30th January and I have finally become eligible for marriage ;) .

After staying in a hostel for the last 3 and a half years, of missing my parents and family on the last 3 birthdays, this time I am actually missing my friends from college, the birthday celebrations at midnight, the calls and messages from the special people in my life that started soon after.

Ghar par to kafi civilized celebration hoti hai yaar...from mom cooking my favorite dishes to maybe my cousins coming over in the evening,but college mein to kisi ke bhi Birthday par civilization jaati thi bhaad mein, with Adi bringing a chain( jis se sirf darata hi tha,maarta kabhi nahi tha), VNV bringing eggs and tomato's to the birthdays coming during monsoon...bhagwan rains kara ke waise hi awesome celebrations kar dete the...and sabse best used to be Pophali beating the birhtday boy with his slippers....

But it used to be great fun yaar...

Article From The Dawn

An article from "The Dawn" Newspaper, Pakistan

Daddy?
Yes, son.
Are we going to have a war with India?
Perhaps.
Oh, goody. We will thrash them, right? Like we did in 1857!
It wasn't in 1857, son.
Oh, okay. But whom did we thrash in 1857?
The British, son…
And the Hindus too, right?
Well, not quite - we were on the same side then.

Did Quaid-I-Azam fight in that war along with Muhammad bin Qasim and Imran Khan?
No, son. The Quaid and Imran were born much later and Muhammad bin Qasim died many years before.
Then who ruled Pakistan in those days?
There was no Pakistan in those days, son.
But there was always a Pakistan! It has been there for 5,000 years!
Who have you been talking to, son?
No one. I've just been watching TV.
It figures.
Daddy, why are all these people against us Arabs?
Arabs? But we aren't Arabs, son.
Of course we are because our ancestors were Arabs!
No, son. Our ancestors were of the subcontinental stock.
Sub-what?
Never mind. You seem to like wars, son.
Yes. I like to watch them on TV.
But real wars are fought outside the TV, son.
Really? What sort of a war is that? Never mind. Daddy, you look worried.
Of course I am, you little warmongering punk!
Daddy! Why are you scolding me?
Because TV is talking rot and so are you!
Daddy, are you supporting Hindus?
No!
Daddy, have you become a kafir?
Keep quiet! No more TV for you! Go watch a movie on DVD or listen to a CD.
Can't do that.
But we have so many DVDs and CDs, son.
Not any more.
What do you mean?
I burned them all.
What?!
I burned them all.
I heard that! But why?
They are all Bollywood trash and spread obscenity.
Oh, God. Son, go do your homework. What happened to that science project you were working on?
It's almost complete.
Good boy. What are you making?
A bomb.
What?!
A bomb.
I heard that! But why?
Because I am a true Muslim who hates America.
But only last week you wanted to go to Disney Land.
That's different.
How come?
Mickey Mouse is Muslim.
No, he isn't.
Is so. He converted when he heard azaan on the moon.
On the moon?
Yes.......Daddy, do you want to see my science project, or not?
Gosh, that bomb? But your science teacher won't like it.
No, she wont.
Really?
Yes. I plan to blow her up as well.
God, what is wrong with you? Go call your mother!
She can't come.
Why not?
I've locked her in the kitchen.
But why?
I will not let her out until she covers herself up properly!
But she's your mother!
She's also a woman!
So?
So she should be hidden.
Hidden from whom?
The whole world and Tony.
Tony?
Yes, Tony.
But Tony's a dog.
Yes. But he's male.
Son, have you gone mad?
No. By the way, I've made sure Kitto starts covering up as well.
Kitto?
Yes, Kittto.
But Kitto's a cat!
Yes. But a female cat.
But she'll suffocate.
Oh, she's already dead.
What?
I said she's already dead.
I heard that! But how?
I buried her alive.
You what?
Yes. To avenge Tony's honour. But now I will behead Tony.
But why?
To save mom's honour!
Oh, God!
Don't say God. Always say Allah.
What's the difference?
Daddy, do you want to be beheaded too?
No!
Do you want to be stoned to death?
No!
Do you want to be flogged?
No!
Do you want to get your arms chopped off?
No!
Then stop asking silly questions. By the way, I won't call you daddy anymore.
What will you call me then?
Whatever that is Arabic for daddy.
I don't know any Arabic, son.
That's because you are a kafir.
Who the heck are you to tell me who I am, you little fascist twit!
What's a fascist?

An irrational, violent, self-righteous mad man!
W... aaaaaaa...
Why are you crying?
You scolded me you kafir.
Okay, I'm sorry. You have to be tolerant and rational, son. Now be a good boy and go read a book instead of watching TV.
I have no books.
Of course, you do. I bought you so many books.
I burned them.
But why?
They were all in English.
So?
It's a non-Muslim language!
But we are speaking English, aren't we?
W... aaaaaaa…
What now?
Zionists made me forget my Arabic.
But you never knew any Arabic, son.
Yes, I did until you and mommy gave me the polio drops
Okay, tell me, can you do me a favour?
Sure, dad.
Can you blow up something for me?
Oh, goody! Of course, dad. What should I blow? A hospital, a hotel, a barber shop...?
No, no, something a lot more sinister.
Mom? Tony?

No, no…
What then?
The TV set!
Blow the TV set? But why - I don't want to do it, mom won't like it too.
Just do it!
Uh... Dad?
Yes.
How come you're so undemocratic, we outvoted you 2 to 1!!

The Blind man

Well, this is not a story with some moral at the end...its a true collection of incidents..

Close to where I stay in Delhi, there stays a blind man.Lets call him H. Now you'll ask "How did I happen to meet this man in the crowds of thousand that seem to roam about Delhi Roads...". Well one day I had gone to Hauz Khas market walking and while coming back, we encountered this man who was walking after probing around the road with his stick.When he felt that there were some people who were close by, he requested us to help him cross the road.My dad helped him and he went on his way and we on ours...That was how I met him the first time.And I didn't pay much attention to the blind man trying to find his way.

A few days later Dad had to go out of town, so I had to take a bus to reach the place where I used to catch the company bus. So I reached the stop. And H was standing standing there, waiting for his bus. Now I thought to myself that how would this guy know when it's the bus he has to board, because it 7:15 AM in the morning and there weren't very many people on the stop. Then when my bus came and I was going to board the bus, the conductor of the bus got down, said a loud Hello to H, asked him how he was still at he stop and then helped him board the bus. I was really touched, but that was not all. We went a little and was waiting at a red light when a DTC drew up alongside and the driver called out loudly to H, and came out of the bus and helped him onto his bus.In this time the red light had turned to green but neither our Blueline driver and neither the DTC driver was bothered. They calmly waited for H to change buses and only after he was seated did the buses move. Now thats what I call the other side of the drivers of the "Killer" Blueline bus.

On another day I took a bus home from somewhere, and while I was walking fromthe bus stop to the crossing( they are some distance apart and people prefer getting down at the crossing so that they have to walk less). Unfortunately for me, the light was green and the bus didn't stop at the crossing. Anyways while I was on the other side of the road, I saw H trying to find his bearings because his bus had left him at the crossing and he was feeling helpless. And before I could cross the road to help him, I saw a florist who sits near the crossing run over to him, and help him. Afterwards H thanked the man and walked off home and the florist then returned to his unattended shop.


All these incidents got me thinking how diffcult, even depressing it must be for H to survive in a place like Delhi. Getting to the bus stop in the morning might be easy for him if he had the number of steps counted etc, but he must be needing help crossing the road, to board the (correct) bus, and again to get anywhere if the bus left him at the crossing instead of the bus stop, and no doubt some people would feel burdened helping him, but there are countless other selfless people who help him whenever they can.

I can't even explain how guilty it feels to be feeling bad for things like not getting that 8 LPA job or doing well in MBA exams or CGPA when for that man, getting to the bus stop everyday is a challenge, when his whole existance is so tough.
.
.
And to think I used to feel that getting up at 6:30 AM is tough.

Rampur to Singapore

Bhai log,

Aisa hai ki mujhe abhi abhi Abhi(shek) aka phodu se pata chala ki QIMONDA...bankrupt ho gayi hai :)

To aisa hai ki hamara plan hai usse khareedne ka..to apni pockets tatolo, aur paisa lagao...especially Yahoo interns and BHEL,Amazon ke future employees....maine bhi apne SBI Zuarinagar Branch ke account ki statement mangwa li hai...aur jaise hi mere last semester ka advance SWD mere account mein daal degi, waise hi hum woh company khareed lenge....


aur tab tak jo hamare saathi IIM etc jaa rahe hai..woh bhi hamari comapny ki madad karen...



btw me in Lucnow till Tuesday, will be back in Delhi the same evening....
Happy Republic Day to all :

PS: 1st line mein kitne saari "abhi".. ;)

PPS: Jo iss topic ka matlab nahi samajh paaye hai..its similar to Chandni Chowk to China..ba hamara hero Abhishek Agarwal aka Phodu..aur Chandni Chowk=Rampur( read Aligarh) and China=Singapore.Bas ab uski Deepika Padukone dhoondni hai ;)

Ek Sawal

jab Pilani PSD is not responsible ( read bothered ) about our placements..why does Goa still not have independence in getting companies to campus?

Jis kisi vyakti ke paas iska uttar ho, kripya de



*these are my views, and no body is responsible for me writing this on my blog ;)

ST @ ST, the PS continues

The first awaited weekend after the PS has started. Awaited, because this week we went to the office for the five days while last week, we had just gone for a couple of the days and so that weekend wasn't that awaited like this one was….

Anyways my company has provided us with company buses, which come to pick us up way too early. The last stop of my bus is the one I get-on from, and the bus comes at 7:50 AM. So just imagine what time it starts from Gurgaon which is the first stop.( Well the answer is 6:45 AM…just imagine people board the bus at that ungodly hours, campus mein to itni subah uthte bhi nahi the ;) ).

I generally go sleeping in the bus and it gets us to ST at around 9, then go for breakfast, then go to the office, system to de diya hai, but net is not given to trainees( the mentor has to log you in for you to access net…).

Then we work with frequent breaks in between, paas mein hi ek Monginis type multi-vending machine lagi hui hai, chai-coffee to kafi often pi lete hai.

Lunch is quite good, but line mein lagg ke plates uthana feels just like Sarath Mess, infact plates bhi kafi similar hai..anyways food is subsidized, and costs just 5 rupees for us. If we take the sweet, it costs just 11 bucks. After the heavy lunch and TT ( or sometimes just a walk and lazing around in the lawns ( dilli ki sardi mein the sun feels quite nice unlike in Goa where it used to literally seem killing…)

A nice analogy given by Sanket, another PS mate from Pilani it feels just like a school-subah school bus mein baitho, class ke beech mein breaks lo, interval mein khana khaa ke ghas mein baitho, aur phir bus mein hi wapas aa jao…

We have 16 people from Pilani here while only 3 of us from Goa. By the way Mentor Graphics PS has just got cancelled and so those students have been allotted ST. And so we are now 17+5 students at ST.

Waise shaam mein, the ST bus takes around 27 minutes to do what the local private buses took more than an hour on the zeroeth day (Read here). n I'm lovin it ;)- Sote hue jaao, sote hue aao :)

Kam bhi mila hai thoda, have to go through a firmware user-manual for 3/5 Megapixel camera for Nokia Mobile phones. Abhi am going throught that manual, aage kya karma hai pata chalega…

Chalo phir sone ka time hone waala hai..kal phir wapas jaldi uthna hai :(

kebrd

Merakeboardnahichalrahahai.Spacebarandsecondlastalphabetofenglishwaali
kesnahichalrahi.Abtochangekarnahaipadega.:(

In easier to understand form

Mera.ke(y)board.nahi.chal.raha.hai.Spacebar.and.second.last.alphabet.of.
english(that.is .Y).waali.ke(y)s.nahi.chal.rahi.Ab.to.change.karna.hai.padega. :(

PS II: Day 0

Well, the counting generally starts from Day 1, but we were all told earlier that PS II registration would be done today ie 6-1-09 while the PS would start from 7-1-09. So Day 1 would actually be tommorow.

However when we reached the venue for registration today, firstly the instructor was late( cause of heavy fog and the fact that he stays in Ghaziabad, way outside NCR). After he started registration, we were told that the registration cards for Goa students had not reached them till that time and our registration basically was to write our names, ID, and phone no. in a diary.

After that we were told that we had to start PS today itself ( hence the topic). I KP and Akshat started for Noida, reached in about half and hour, took another bus to Greater Noida, the private bus wala stopped at every crossroad to wait for passengers and took 1.5 hrs to cover the 18km to Greater Noida. After that we got off the bus and made our way to the building, only to be told that PS would start sharp at 9:30 AM TOMMOROW. We told them that there has been some mistakes and that we had been told to report today. We called up our instructor who told us that we had to report tommorow only and that he had talked to the company representative after we had already left (!!!).

So after getting permission to board the company bus tommorow morning, we all headed back, got a faster bus to get back to Noida (this one just took an hour to travel that 18KM !!!!). And by 5 PM, was back home.

Have to catch the bus at 7:45 tommorow morning, so have to sleep early ;)

Good night ppl

Countdown to PS II

Well PS II starts tommorow, and its time to arrange the stuff I need to take to PS. I dunno why but people at ST have been told to get an updated resume, photographs, an ID proof ( license, voter i-card- apparently my BITS ID card is not good enough a proof for my identity ;) ). So I am busy running around try to find my voter id card ( yes yes I have a voter id card, though being in Goa, i missed my chance to vote :P ). Also I can't seem to find my damned PS diary.

Also its the end of the chilled out days @ home ( well literally, the minimum temperature has been hovering around in single digits since the past few days...)

It is also the end of an era, all of us heading out to different places- Me at Noida, Vishal at Babrala, Vishrut at Bangalore, Pandey at Pune and Phodu at Singapore( Rampur to Singapore :P ). Also Meet and Abhay back at campus, with their placements starting soon, I do hope companies are coming( waise Abhay ko BITS Pilani Goa Campus Placement division ki koi zaroorat nahi-he has been placed @ Amazon for 11LPA - highest placement :) - aur ab do-chaar EEEnI and chemical walo ko to Abhay adopt karne ki soch raha hai ;) ).

Chalo, I have to go, Vishal pahuchne wala hai, we'll both go for registration together tomm and then its bye bye to him too. :(