Because I Love You – Chapter 2
If you missed the previous chapters, then you can find them here. Chapter 1.
(Disclaimer: The whole story is a work of fiction and is in no way related to any person dead or alive. The names, characters and situations occurring in the story are imaginary and any resemblance to any person is purely coincidental.)
10am,16th January, 2010, Central Park
I couldn’t sleep last night. Being in love or rather ‘back in love’ is like temporary madness.”Why is Riya crying? Is she in any trouble? Or she just wants to be with me again?” kept boggling me. It’s not that I didn’t want her back in my life, but it was very difficult for me to accept that the ‘breakup’ was my fault and I was guilty. We were going to meet at the same place where we had spent some of our most cherished moments. That very bench in the Central Park reminds me of those intimate talks we had. We had eventually planned our entire future on that bench.
I reached the place at exact 10 am. Riya was always on time and it was I who was always late. Today also she was on time and for a change, I too was. I saw Riya from a distance, she was wearing a white salwar kameez with a red chunni. I remember I once told her that white was my favourite colour and I think this colour combination today was purely out of that. She was looking as pretty as always and no less than a princess straight out of those grandma’s fairy tales. “Why the hell did I bring my ego in between? She doesn’t deserve to go through all this because of a jerk like me. She deserves better”, I said to myself. I walked slowly towards her. The way Riya’s eyes were hooked onto me was making me nervous and feel bad about myself.”Why did I do this to her. Why does she still love me? Or does she?” . Riya had brought a birthday present for me.
“Happy Birthday Sweetheart”, said Riya. I thanked and hugged her. I don’t know why I did this; maybe I also wanted her back in my life. I guess, I did. And I was very sure that I will not be able to say this to her. Riya gave me my birthday present.
“Why are you getting so formal”, I said. Riya didn’t comment. She asked me to open the gift.
I opened the wrapping and it was a wooden box with a rose and a Gucci wallet. I had been eying that very wallet since our internship days and Riya had promised to gift me that when I get a job. What is bought is always cheaper than what is gifted and sometimes the manner of giving the gift is worth more than the gift itself.
”How did she know that I had got a job?” I wondered.” I am still in touch with your friends”, she admitted smilingly. I don’t know how she used to read my mind. She still does. Perhaps she knows me better than I know myself.
That gift reminded me of all those promises we had made to each other, all the amazing time we had spent together, how Riya used to be the center of my universe and how I used to wait for days just to meet her for one hour. A tear or two dropped from my eyes. I wanted to apologize to her. Wanted to say sorry for all the things I did, for not understanding her and for not even trying to give her a chance to explain things to me. My heart sank and sank deep.
Riya saw this. “Let’s have your favourite butterscotch milk shake”, she said smilingly.
She remembered that I loved Keventer’s Milk shakes. On the way to the shop, Riya reminded me of all the funny moments we had spent together at this place. How we ran out of money and begged the shopkeeper to leave us without paying, how we were caught by a relative of mine here and how we used to bunk our office and spend our entire day in CP.
While we walked to the shop, she said “I am in Delhi for two more days” and before she could complete her sentence, I broke in “Let’s spend the next two days together then…” Riya smiled. I got my answer, not only to the question I asked her, but also to the inner conflict that was going on inside me.
“Do I still love her? Is it over? Does she still love me? “. I wanted to ask her so many things. I wanted to know how she had been. Life had given me a second chance.
It’s true that we don’t know what we’ve got until we lose it, but it’s also true that we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives.
June 2008
We ordered two Espresso coffees. I had always heard that ‘a lot can happen over coffee’, but today, I just wanted something to happen. I just wanted love to happen.
“So Rahul, which college are you in”, Riya questioned.
“Bangalore College of Engineering”, I replied. “Computer Science?”. I nodded. She was in IIT and me in a local Bangalore college. But love was blind, I thought.
“So how come you are interning in Delhi then?” she asked. I explained to her that my parents were based in Delhi and my college was in Bangalore, so I wanted to come to Delhi for my internship so that I could stay with my family.
“That’s nice.. I am based in Dehradun, but there are no good IT companies in Dehradun so i am here “she said smilingly. It was a million dollar smile. As she spoke, her eyes said a thousand words. There are so many girls in this world but so few for whom you can wait for your entire life, and I had realized by now that she was the one.
She was interested in talking with me. She was taking the lead. That is so unlike girls, but I think she understood somewhere that I being a shy guy would not start the conversation and she had to take the initiative. While we were taking the waiter served us our coffee. It smelled like fresh heaven. I am still not sure what was better, having that wonderful coffee or seeing Riya talk. I guess the latter. The way she flipped her hair lock made me like her even more. I was about half in love with her by the time we sat down. That’s the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are.
While we were sipping our wonderful coffee, few employees started looking at us and passing stares at Riya. It made me uncomfortable. I was not used to this. I mean, I had never thought this would happen in offices and that too in an organization of such repute.
Pointing to them I asked “Don’t these things make you uneasy?”. “Naah.. Not at all. Initially it definitely did, but one learns with time. And obviously, there are some side effects of being pretty”, she said wickedly. We both shared a laugh at that comment. She had a good sense of humour too. That’s the way I like it. I loved girls who could talk sense and be funny at times. Beauty with brains is a rare combination these days.
We talked about our interests, movies we liked, favourite actors and many more things. The conversation was getting so interesting that we had to order a second round of coffees. By this time Shruti and Sushant would have been busy discussing the life cycles and God knows what not about the project.
“Where are you guys. We are waiting for you. Lets start working Dammit“, Sushant messaged me. Riya also received a similar SMS from Shruti. I think they both planned and messaged us at the same time. Her expressions clearly said this. God save Sushant now !
“Waiting for the lift. Would be there in 5 minutes”, I replied. Being a total Delhite, I know how to make people wait for hours just by asking them to wait for more ‘5 minutes’.
“Your friend asking us to come back??? “she smiled. I nodded. By now she had started reading my mind also. I hate God for this. Why didn’t He give us guys this power to read minds.
“Yes, it was Sushant. I think they are waiting for us to start the work. Let’s go”, I replied.
I took out my wallet to pay the bill. Riya rebutted. She wanted to pay her share of the bill.
“I’ll pay my share of the bill”, she said strongly. ”It’s ok Riya, I’ll pay. Not a problem”, I replied. I thought girls liked guys who could pay their bills !
“No ways, we are going to divide the amount and in case you are that chivalrous, pay the entire bill next time we go to some other place”, she said smilingly . It took me 5 seconds to interpret the inherent meaning of this statement. She had indirectly asked me to take her out to some other place sometime soon. I took the hint and asked her if she was free the next day. But somehow she had a prior engagement.
Sushant and Shruti gave us stern looks as we entered the cabin. “Where were you Rahul, we have been waiting for you for more than an hour” said Sushant angrily. Shruti also nudged.
“We were downstairs and trust me; the CCD here has amazing coffee. I think you guys should go there sometime”, I winked at Sushant. By now i didn’t really care what Shruti would think of me or if she was Riya’s best friend. I wanted to fix Sushant and Shruti up so that they get involved in themselves and don’t disturb me and Riya. I so very much wanted these two characters out of my life.
We started working on the project. I was still not interested in it, but was just doing for the sake of impressing Riya. She was good at these project stuffs plus was an IITian and I didn’t want to portray myself as a jerk who couldn’t understand technology. This was the first time I was so deeply involved in any discussion with Sushant related to our project.
After today’s coffee meet, I think there were some genuine feelings for Riya brewing inside me. You may admire a girl’s curves on the first meeting, but the second meeting shows up new angles. I was so damn waiting for our second meet.
And yes, a lot can surely happen over coffee, at least love.
Because I Love You – Chapter 1
(Disclaimer: The whole story is a work of fiction and is in no way related to any person dead or alive. The names, characters and situations occurring in the story are imaginary and any resemblance to any person is purely coincidental.)
0100 Hrs, 16th January 2010
It was my birthday today. I was busy taking calls and messages from my friends and family members. It was pitch dark outside. The fog made it darker and silent. Delhi is famous for its chilly and foggy nights and specially on my birthday, it becomes darker and foggier. I was side by side making the final project presentation on my laptop. Suddenly my phone rang. Call at this hour was not new today. Picking up the phone I enquired, “Hi… who is that?”
After a long pause someone said “Happy Birthday Rahul ….”
I could recognize the voice. It was Riya. The first and last love of my life .I missed a heartbeat. This very voice once made me go crazy. A year back I used to call Riya just to hear this sweet and innocent voice. I wasn’t expecting her call at all, not that I had forgotten her, but the way we parted, I never thought she would call me back.
“You remembered”, was my first reaction.
I added “It’s been so long, how are you? “.
In reply Riya said, “How could I forget…I am fine…or maybe not… Not at all… Can we meet? “.
I could clearly make out the heaviness in her voice. “What happened??” I asked.
She started crying and repeated “Can we meet once??”
“Yes, sure…Just tell me the place and time”.
She said “10am Central Park, same bench”. I said ok.
The night became darker and foggier after that phone call.
June 2008
Every engineering student goes though this trauma of finding a summer internship is his third year. Sometimes people find excellent company to intern with or can end up in organizations which give no better work than studying their old projects and manuals. I and Sushant were best buddies in college and somehow got into the same organization for their summer internship. This was not a jugad internship and the company really expected their dear trainees to work and learn something out of it.
1st June was the day when we joined the company as interns. There were more than 30 other interns with us. The first day was the orientation premier, where the project manager gave some pointers about the entire training process and the details of the project on which all of us would be working on. As usual I was not interested in this stuff, rather in the entire engineering stuff and Sushant, being a techie, was excited about the new technology and the project he would be working on. I was here just to complete the formality and get my due credits allotted to this internship from my college.
Teams were made and each team had four members. I and Sushant were in the same team. We were allotted a computer each and were directed to our cabin. It was a cabin which could accommodate only four people. I was happy that we were given unlimited internet connection and a landline telephone at our disposal. What else a guy like me could ask for! Whereas Sushant was hoping that he gets some hard working and intelligent project partners (Not like me 
).
Suddenly our project manager came in. There were two girls behind him. One wearing black and the other, pink. He introduced us to Riya and Shruti. These two would be our project partners for the next two months. I couldn’t help myself noticing Riya’s earrings, her eyes which spoke a thousand words, her sparkling pink salwar kurta and her beautiful smile.
The project manager told us to study the entire project document, make out the action plan and report to him the next day. As the manager left, Riya and Shruti greeted both of us and took their respective seats. Riya’s voice was sweeter than a kaaju barfi. The very way she greeted me, shook hands with me, gave me a feeling that she is the one.
All three of them started studying the project report. I thought of numerous ways of starting a conversation with Riya, but all ended up in vain. I pretended to read the document, but in fact I just couldn’t get my eyes off Riya. “How can someone be so beautiful? How can someone be so perfect?” I repeatedly asked myself. Sushant was very excited to learn that we would be working on a proprietary technology of this company. I guess Shruti was also in the same frequency as that of Sushant. I wondered how a girl can be interested in these things.
Shruti said “I am so excited that we are going to work on this technology”. Sushant tasted blood, “Yeah… I have read so much about this; it was dream to work on this path breaking technology”. I didn’t want to be seen as a stuffed potato in front of Riya, so I immediately Googled about this technology and found some related information about it.
“What bullshit is this…I can’t even pronounce the names of the people who invented it “. Riya giggled.
Both Sushant and Shruti gave me stern looks as if I had killed someone.
I closed the manual and started surfing the internet. Sushant and Shruti by that time had started some discussions about the project and the way to approach it. Though Riya was involved in the discussion, as I saw it, she was not much interested.
The way she flipped her locks, the sound of her multi colour bangles hooked me onto her. I wanted to know her better. This was the first time a self proclaimed dude was at a loss of words.
“So … Which college are you guys from?” I asked.
”IIT Delhi”, said Shruti with pride.
I commented, “Ahhaa… I never knew IIT had girls too! “ .
Riya giggled again, “Yes, it does and guess what, IIT Delhi has the best you can find in any engineering college”, She said.
I couldn’t disagree. She was indeed the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life. Both Sushant and Shruti missed the humour in my statement and suddenly Shruti asked “What do you mean Mr? “ I was taken aback. I guess she took my statement otherwise. But Riya pitched in, “He was just kidding Shruti… Chill down “. I and Riya exchanged smiles. These five words made my day. I winked at Sushant. Sushant got the message and gave me a sarcastic smile. I think Riya saw this, but who cares. I was riding on the clouds.
After this, all three of them started discussing the models and lifecycle of the project. Riya pitched in with her ideas and they were readily accepted. “Wow… She has brains too “I said to myself. I also wanted to take part in the discussion, but somehow I didn’t. Facebooking and sometimes looking at Riya were the two things I did for the next two hours. Enough was enough; I had to do something to talk to her. After thinking of some ideas (and even Googling some) I decided to ask her for coffee. I gathered courage and asked
“Guys… Anyone for coffee “. I wanted Riya to say yes, I wanted to know her better and spend some time with her. Sushant replied rudely “No, Thanks … Let us work”. Shruti also bought that. How boring these guys were. I was just standing these guys because of Riya. If she were not here, I would have surely changed my internship company.
But to my surprise Riya said YES! “Ok, i’ll bring it for you”, was my instant reply. Damn, where was my ego?? How could I bring a cup of coffee for a girl to her desk? I was no peon. “What would she think of me? … Should I have had asked to come with me? Damn, I am such a fool “were the thoughts streaming into my brain that time.
I think Riya understood this and she added “No No.… Let’s go together; I am getting bored here anyways”.
The look on both Shruti’s and Sushant’s face was worth million dollar. Sushant was, I guess, both angry and jealous of me. He was a nerd and never had coffee with any girl. Riya had gone against her friend to come with me. This was more than enough. We both walked silently towards the in-house CCD on the ground floor.
—-
Chapter 2 coming soon
A call to destiny…
So, do you believe in destiny or luck for that matter? If no then you are like him prior to this incident. This is a story of a guy who believed that hard work can make things happen and there is no such thing like destiny and one makes his own destiny.
It was 18th January, two days after his birthday; Aricent (A dream company by college’s parameter) was visiting his campus. Being already placed in TCS, he was carefree. He didn’t have any hopes of making it to Aricent as he was told that there is a hard core technical interview which could even last for 1 hour. He was scared or to put it in simple words, he was under confident. He knew that he was not good at technical theory. He was an entire misfit for this Computer Science Engineering. All this friends were studying for this company. He thought to give this company a shot and just to sit for the test for the sake of it.
This guy was so under prepared that he chose his test language preference (Test language preference??? confused … it’s not English or Hindi … it’s C, C++ or Java ). He chose C because people sitting around him took C as their preferred language. Weird huh??? Nah… Not for an underprepared person like him. He was under the impression that he screwed the test and in no ways he could clear it. Hmm… So like all Bollywood movie this guy cleared the written test. Naaahh.. Life is not a movie and is not that simple.
He didn’t make the cut. All his friends did. Everyone expressed their surprise to him at this and asked him to believe in God and in that old adage “sab ke liye kuch na kuch bana hai… don’t worry”. To be true, this guy was also shocked, but was not sad. He saw the list, didn’t find his name and then dejected left for this home which was in some other planet (Let’s call that place Gurgaon ).
He started his car and switched on the music player. “Ikonkar” was the bhajan being played on one of the radio stations. Being rejected and dejected, he thought of God, wanted to complain and ask few questions, but somehow didn’t. He himself didn’t know what stopped him complaining. He drove for 78 minutes and 30 seconds ( One tends to count each and every second when one is low) and suddenly he gets a call from one of his good friends(let’s call him SS). He asked him his Aricent roll number. So our dear driver told him some number. And to his surprise SS said that he had by mistake written the wrong roll number and he has cleared the test. SS asked him to talk to the HR representative at the college and sort out the issue.
Our protagonist then called this HR representative. Hearing some harsh words and being accused of being the sole reason for the mess created at college , he was asked to come back to college for the next round (Group Discussions). He was surprised and happy. What the hell was happening? Where they kidding him? Was it 1st April? He was confused. It was 5 pm and the last batch for GD was scheduled for 7pm. He decided to turn back and try his luck.
He drove at the speed of light (100 Kmph was a new record for him). By this time, the entire college knew about this roll number fiasco. This was primarily because the roll number which he wrote on the answer sheet was of a person who never wrote the test. So people protested and represented. Because of this the entire thing came to light. One of his friends (KA) called him to tell him that the ‘Dhaula Kuan’ had a traffic jam of minimum 30 minutes and should be avoided. Our dear friend didn’t know any other route to his college so had to take that route. Waiting in a jam for 30 mins and knowing that you could miss a job and that too because of your blunder is like sitting on a stove. It really kills. But our protagonist was cool and composed. He now believed that God was scripting the entire story.
He reached to college just in time. Filled the employment form and straight away headed for the GD. The Group Discussion went fine but the HR person there didn’t leave the opportunity to tell him that he didn’t “deserve” to be there after all the mess he had created. He didn’t pay attention to his.As if he cared: P. It was around 8 pm by the time his GD got over. He drove back some 50 kms to his house. Reaching at 10.30pm he was dead tired. But some respite was that he was now scheduled for the final interview at 7.30 pm the next day. He had some 9 full hours in college to study for the interview. Thinking this, he switched on the TV and watched a movie. Which movie other that 3 idiots would he see? 
. Movie finished at 1 am, he slept thinking that he will reach the college at 10 am and study the entire day.
Before leaving for college the next day he prayed to God. Unlike always, when he used to ask for some favor or rather beg for, he just thanked God for giving him a second chance and correct his mistake (Yes, movies do inspire you to do the right thing 
).Reaching the college at 10 am the next day, he got some books issued from the library. And he started studying with a friend of his. And as it luck would have it, he was suddenly called for the interview at 10:15 am. He was shocked again. He asked the coordinator to please give him 2 hours to study. In reply he got this “jab four years main kuch nahi kara.. to aab 2 hours main kya kar loge.. jao the interviewer is waiting for you”. This was no less than a movie (Movies are, in fact inspired from real life stories: D).
So he went to the interview room huffing and puffing. He was asked the same usual question, ‘introduce yourself’. He started with, “my name is XYZ”, and in an instant the interviewer commented, “ aap ko to Aricent ka saara HR jaanta hai aab .. aage batao “. One thing he made sure what that he remained truthful in the entire interview. If he didn’t know the answer, he straight away said that he didn’t know it. The interview lasted for exactly 40 minutes.
After that it was a long wait for the final results. He and his friends played ‘guess the movie’ game for straight 4 hours to pass time. It was around 8 pm and everything was so out of the book, when suddenly he saw people started running towards the notice board. The final results were being announced. He was scared and at the same time shivering (due to cold outside ) . The first name announced was of our dear protagonist! Damn, he made it.
This guy wrote someone else’s roll number, was kicked out from the written round , was called back from Gurgaon , rescheduled for the last GD batch and then gave his interview 8 hours before his scheduled time . He and all his friends were surprised. Sometimes destiny has a larger part to play. This guy who never believed in all this has started to believe in destiny or rather the power of God, after this incident. He has become more spiritual, humble and less arrogant. Though he was not arrogant before this, but the iota of rudeness which he had has now disappeared. He is a completely changed man. He now believes that if you do good to others, good will happen to you. Sometimes you need shocks like these to get you on the right path, the path of life, the path of happiness.
Who could this guy be other than Me? I have realized the power of spirituality and karma after this incident. I try to be more modest and humble after this incident. I would be a better friend, a better son and a better human being. Thanks God for showing me the right path (Is this getting dramatic?? You should have been in my shoes to understand this ).
Before I end this post, I would like to thank few people. These people helped me in and out while this scene was being shot.
Sushant Singh and Ankur Vijay for asking the HR manager to talk to me at least once before scrapping off my name from the list because of my fault.
Kumar Avijit to tell me that Dhaula Kuan had a massive jam and I should avoid it.
Vidhi Jain and Ishan Aggarwal for keeping me informed about the last batch of GD and time left for its starting.
Thank you all, I owe this job to you guys.
All the best to all of you in all your future endeavors. May the force be with you
PS- Probability of writing a roll number of a guy who registered for the test but didn’t turn up ( 1 in 240 in this case) is less than 0.004 !!! . These things do happen . Thinking of this amazing 0.004 probability , i am a smiling
The JMET story
What is it to have one of your MBA entrance exam results and a Placement Committee meeting which would officially announce the coming of two mass recruiters on the same day?? I would call it, ‘life on the rocks’ .
The day started with no power at home (Fog and the grid failure in Haryana! ). In summer we don’t get electricity because of overload and in winters there are grid failures. Ohh yes, how could I forget, the World power of 2020 is still a developing country.
Driving bike in a 10 degree dilli ki sardi and chilli wind can make your fingers numb. Reached college, returned the book bank (I clubbed the travel to college for both the book bank and this PlaceComm meeting.. petrol saving you see ) . There was some confusion with the serial number of the books. Have to visit the book bank again to sort it out.
The PlaceComm meeting started on a high note. Two companies visiting campus in less than 10 days. Everyone was excited. There were series of question and answers between the coordinator and us. Eligibility criteria were discussed in and out. Reached an amicable solution and finally wrapped up the meeting.
While the meeting was going on, I got more than 20 messages and calls asking me my JMET(The entrance exam who’s results were to be declared today) score and rank.Why do people even bother to ask you your results when they already know that you wouldn’t get a good rank ? I was in no mood to check my result before today evening (the result was declared at 10am), so I didn’t note the roll number while coming to college. I thought I would see it after coming back from college. But as you know, friends are friends and they push you, literally push you, to check your results, especially when they know your have screwed the exam big time .
I and two of my friends went to a nearby cyber cafe to check out the results. I called up dad to ask my roll number. I had, some days back saved this roll number in my Gmail account. While dad was having a tough time searching the admit card (yea.. I usually keep my not so good exam’s admit cards safe in my drawer so that no one can find it ). The roll number which I saved in my Gmail account was accidently the wrong roll number (God Bless Murphy Baba : ) ). Keyed in the number, and to my, rather our (me and my two friends) surprise I got a 200 Rank!! We were like.. WTF… They both started abusing me “ tu saala aisa he hai.. kuch batata nahi hai…” and the likes. I told him to shut up and let me keyin the roll number again.I was like, DUDE!! I can’t get a 200 rank in an IIT entrance exam. I couldn’t believe my eyes. But then, the other friend pointed out that the name of the applicant is some Swami Narayan something something ailla ailla.
“What the hell is this” were the first few words I said after seeing this fiasco. I thought that I must have filled some wrong bubbles in the OMR and my OMR got exchanged!! . Crap.. This would have to be the blunder of my life. After 10 seconds of thinking at the speed of light ( Sit with a pretty girl and 1 hour seems like 10 seconds and screw your exam result just because of OMR bubbles , a 10 second wait feels like 1 hour… That’s Relativity ). Was it Einstein or Newton who formulated this relative crap ?? Ohh yes, today is Sir Isaac Newton’s Birthday. Happy Birthday Sirji . You and your three laws of motions have been making our lives hell since class 7th. God Bless you!
Meanwhile Dad called up and asked me to note down my roll number. And guess what, not even a single digit of this number matched with the one I had saved in my Gmail account. Again as Murphy Baba would have it. Tussi great ho.. taufa kubool karo Murpy baba !!
Keyed in my roll number again. A shrill voice from inside said “beta bahut ho gaya.. kafi scene hoya.. band kar aur ghar ja” . While I was keying in the roll number, the cafe owner had asked for an ID proof 10th time. I wanted to kill that man right then and there. Finally the result with the applicants name Aayush Jain opened. Ahhh.. alteast I didn’t screw the OMR !! . Got an All India Rank 735. Not that great, but expecting calls from 2-3 IITs.
This was the first time I saw my result in a cyber cafe. Seeing your results at home on your computer and seeing it in a cyber cafe is a total different experience. You have to experience it to believe me. It was something like living in 90’s. It was an experience which everyone should have. Next time you have to check out any of your results, please go to a cyber cafe and check it and I bet you would understand what I am trying to say.
So, this was the JMET story. Have to apply to individual IITs and then wait for a GD PI call. It’s an everlasting wait. I wish I get some calls and finally convert them.
All the best to all my friends too .
Good Luck
‘The’ Year 2009
So here is the customary cliche’ – The new year post.Well, years come and go. Some of them become those that you would look back with nostalgia, and some become the unforgettable ones , and year 2009 is one of them.
It’s always an odd feeling when you see the “ December 31st “ in your calendar and even more when you see the date changing from 30th to 31st on your computer or phone. It’s no less than winning a battle for me. The year 2009 has shown me all the phases of moon and sun too (does sun has phases?? I guess, metaphorically, yes).
Year 2009 or “THE” year of my life, as I would like to call it, has shown me the other side of this academics oriented life I lived before. It has shown me how you can change from making an exam your life and then caring a damn about that exam (many of you can guess what I am talking about, for rest, it’s just an exam which can land you up in a dry state or at Wall Street ).
This year has given me a new bunch of friends;friends whom I can trust( Can I ?? ). Some net friends and many others. I guess, sometimes, I talk to my net friends more than my batch mates . Life wouldn’t have been same without you people. I will remember this year for all the class bunks (straight 5 lab bunks which our lab teachers crazy), making stories just to watch movies and the amazing time I had in classrooms (Yes, that can be fun, and if you with right people , it can be a hell of a FUN ).And the strictness of attendance in our 6th and 7th semester was a blessing in disguise. It increased the bonding between all of us. We spent more than half of our days with each other and the rest half on facebook .
I watched a live one day cricket match for the 1st time in my life. It was an amazing experience. The night outs with friends have made me understand what the word “fun” really means (that too without getting drunk ).
In short I owe this year to the ‘change’. This is the change I wanted, but never realized. The re transformation I always wanted (a careless attitude for not so important things). I would remember this year as the year in which I did all those things which I ever wanted to do. I have understood the importance of family and friends. I have gone to the examination halls after just studying 10% of the syllabus (this was new for a guy who used to finish the syllabus the night before and the revised the entire syllabus two times) and still managing to get 26/30, which by my standards is an amazing score or going for a Management entrance exam without even seeing the old papers or any mocks and without knowing the marking scheme. I never thought I would do this to an exam which could so called “make my life”. But I guess , these stupid exams can never make our lives.
Ankit Garg needs a special mention here. If I complete my Engineering in 2010, it would be all because of this one guy.Out of 42 exams we write every year , he makes me pass in almost 36 of these. I would never be able to pay of my debt to you. A simple ‘thank you’ is far less that what you have done for me. At any point of time in your life, if you are in any trouble, I’ll help you outright. Not to forget Sushant , Ishan, Harsh,Nishant,Ankit Ahuja,Sanchi,Shruti,Karan,Prashant,Ankit Jain and Ankur(Messi) and for those whose names i didn’t mention, you all are so important to me that i don’t even think of you when i have to count my friends,thats like being a default !! You guys are like .. aah.. I am at a loss of words…!
This year ended with ‘3 idiots’. If you take out the suicide attempt Sharman Joshi did, then I guess, I can somewhat connect to him. I was also advised to leave my company by some else i will not get good marks or a B school admission (But , I never did ). I have a new attitude towards life, which I am not going to change. 20 saal waat lagwa ke , raaton ki neend haram kar ke ye attitude aaya hai.. aab nahi jayega! . I am not going to change myself for anything now, be it any exam or any person. These lines from a song “give me some sunshine” represents my feelings in a true sense –
Saari umar hum Mar mar ke jee liye
Ek pal to ab humein jeene do..Jeene do
Kandhon ko kitabon Ke bojh ne jhukaya
Rishvat dena to khud Papa ne sikhaya
99% marks laaoge to ghadi, varna chhadiLikh likh kar pada hatheli par ..Alpha, beta, gamma ka chaala
Concentrated H2SO4 ne poora Poora bachpan jalaa daalaBachpan to gaya Jawani bhi gayi
Ek pal to ab humein Jeene do jeene do
Now coming to the New Year resolutions. It’s just one. I’ll try not to make my life complex and speak some less lies to myself. I have made my life a hell by constantly lying to myself and then lying again to prove that lie correct. It would be a simple year and I hope it would be a simple life in 2010.
Finally, I bid adieu to this amazing and insightful year. I am thankful to year 2009 for introducing me to a new and in some ways the old Aayush.
God bless you all and have an amazing year 2010.
Love
Aayush
The CAT Day
Finally the day arrives when i would write my CAT exam. It was a long wait and to be specific, a wait since 20th July 2008.
Last night or for that matter, last week, was not the usual one. All the preparations came to an end. The CAT testing window started on 28th Nov, with its own surprises. This time, not the CAT, but the infracture and the administration of the exam was a surprise .’Technical Glitches’, random rescheduling of the exam were wide spread. One considered himself lucky even when he was able to take the test successfully .
Last night, it was a different feeling. All the year’s hard work (only if it was ) and sacrifices were to materialize the next day. 6th December, 2009 would not be just another date in the calendar; it was my tryst with destiny. These thoughts choked my mind, and by 5 pm i was not in a condition to take it anymore. Took a break from these thoughts, went out the nearby market, had some street food (momos and rolls), came back, saw some news on TV (the climate talks, Viru missing his 300 and likes), called few of my good friends to wish them luck, replied to some “all the best” messages that i received and at the end changed my Facebook status message to some ‘CAT tomorrow’ type status message and then slept.
Finally, it was the day i had waited for so long. Dad woke me up at exact 7 am. Thankfully the test center was just 5 minutes walk from my house and that gave me some extra hours sleep .Some light breakfast, prayers to God and i was off to my test center. Reached the test center at exact 8 am. The admit card stated that the entry would start from 8 am, but to my surprise the authorities themselves were missing from the scene. Finally, the entry started at 8.30 am. At the center , there were students with dreams in their eyes and ’tika’ on forehead. Parents wishing their children all the luck they would need. This reminded me of the days when i wrote my engineering entrance exams. It was the same scenario; the only difference was the lack of insecurity in my mind. It was not a ‘do or die’ situation for me, which, however, was the case back in 2006 when i wrote those engineering entrance exams.
After the biometrics and the digital photo capturing, i was allotted my computer(S1). As soon as i saw that my computer number ‘1’, some wired thoughts started creeping in. Like 100-1=99 , and that could be very well my CAT percentile . It was around 9 am by then. The test center coordinator started giving us general instruction on how to write the test and some precautions to take while writing it. Exactly at 9:30 we were given our rough sheets, two pencils to do the rough work and a login key.
At exact 10 am, we were asked to start the tutorial. So, this was it. The moment had arrived when the CAT would be out of the bag and my chance to fulfil my dreams was infront of me. I entered the login key and the tutorial started. After 10 minutes, i quit the tutorial ( which told how to use the mouse and how to click on the right option ) and stated my test.
It was 1 minute remaining when i thought to give it up. I couldn’t have done anything extra in those 60 seconds .In those 60 seconds, i counted the number of questions i did in individual sections and the total attempts. Even after this i was left with 30 seconds, and finally i decided to hit the End test button. Hitting the end test button has a different feeling altogether. I never did this in all my mock CATs, and always waited for the ‘time out’ screen. That gave me a feeling that i had used all the time i was allotted and that too the last second. But this time it was not the same, it was more like, i had ‘submitted’ before CAT.
That was so much a relief. The CAT is over. The test, which made me run around like crazy, was now over. I did my best. This is the most i could have done. The only regret i have is that i could have done better time management. I gave more time to a section which was never my strength(rather weakness), and in turn lessening my total number of attempts.
But in all, i am satisfied. Even if i don’t get an IIM call, or even any other B school call this year, i would be happy that i gave my best and did all i could. I would write this exam once again the next year, in that case. Rest, as they say, is in the hands of God.
There were not technical glitches , server delay or any other problem with my test. I am really happy with the arrangements done my both the IIMs and the test conducting company. And i feel , this format of testing in far better than having the pen paper format.Some negatives points for this computer based CAT would be lack on ‘Commonness’ and fairness of the exam as a whole , but then i do hope that IIMs pay attention to this and improve for the next year’s CAT.
So, this is it. It was all about the exam day. I would like thank all those who wished me luck the night before. Can’t be more thankful to you guys.
The afterlife of India Vs Austraila
Finally, after IPL , there was a cricket match taking place in Delhi. The IPL season turned sour as the match which i went to see got cancelled due to rains. For this one, I and some of my friends somehow arranged the tickets. It was said that the tickets were sold out within hours of opening of the ticket window. So even getting the tickets was a big achievement ( that to at the last moment).
The match was to start at 2:30 pm and we were at the stadium at 11am. We thought that we would be the first people to reach the stadium, but to our surprise, there was a more than 100 meter long queue at the gate .
The enthusiasm in the crowd was AWESOME. Even awesome is an understatement. The match started at 2:30 pm sharp. I always heard in TV, the cheering done by the crowds for the players. This was my first experience at it. Cheering for Sachin (Saaachiiiiiiin………. Saaachiiiiiiin….. ) was something which i will never forget . Sachin was to complete his 17,000 runs in this match. But he never did. Never mind, India still won the game. The experience of seeing a match, live at a stadium, against Australia and that too in Delhi can’t be put in words. I am specially mentioning Delhi because of the innovative cheers for Indian players and abuses for the Australian players can be done only by dilli waley .
It was cold that night. I guess , this was the main reason for me catching cold and then a high fever the next day ( ohh yeah.. guys don’t wear sweaters , that too when you have girls around ). I had a project submission coming up the next week. My exams were starting in two days and having fever was the best excuse one could get for not performing in exams .I had even missed two Mock CATs for this match. But then i guess, watching a match at Kotla , that too India Vs Australia is worth it .
Today i received my Indian Navy SSB call letter. I had applied in Indian Navy under the University Entry Scheme. I am still not sure if i would join if i clear the SSB, but then i really want to see what is SSB all about. I am hearing about this SSB since i was a kid. The SSB dates are clashing with my Engineering semester exams, so i have to reschedule the SSB. I am hoping that they do, else i have to miss this chance. Going there would be fun as i would have some of my best friends with me there and i am really looking forward to this trip .
I had promised myself that i will not write about the exams that i am having , or about the preparation schedule we have , or the entrance exams i am lined up with . So , this is it
Last Few Months…
I had been ignoring my blog for the last few months . Actually it has been 3 months , 17 days 15 hours , 50 minutes and 25 seconds …aahhh 30 seconds since i last posted here.Today after my 1st terminal exams , i was having a feeling that some thing is missing from my life ( naah.. not the 99 percentiles in mock CATs ,you dont need them to be happy in life ) . I thought over it for some time ( you have plenty of alone time if you get up at 4 am) and finally i realized that my BLOG was missing. I was missing the energy with which i wrote , i was missing the joy of telling the incidents of my life to others and i guess i was JUST missing it .
So here i am , back to the thing (one of the things ) which i love the most , Writing
After my internship was over , my college started , that too with a bang .It was finally the FINAL YEAR of engineering(see my facebook album for more information ) . The year we all had been waiting from the day we stepped into our college . Finally the day had arrived .
One the very first day we had a MASS bunk . And literally for the first time we had more than 25 people going for a movie together . Which movie would have been better than Lov aajkal for this MASS bunk (am i stressing too much on this word MASS ?? ). It was before Deepika Padukone’s first dialogue in the movie that we got news that our 6th semester results are out . Damn , we only know how we watched the movie in utter fear of our results !
Next few days were spent realizing and admiring the wonderful timetable we had . Only 4 subjects and 2 labs !!. You can very well imagine the feeling we had , considering the 6 subjects(including the TOUGH electronics useless subjects) and 4 labs till last semester. The movie spree continued and we used to watch movies on Ankit Ahuja’s laptop every day (Monsoon Wedding , DCH,DDLJ,Neil n Nikki to name a few ) . It was no less than a mini theater where our dear friend took movie requests from people , download them and then screen them the very next day.It was a hell of time we were having.
Practicals were a piece of joke . No printers working , no sheets , no prac files to be made. Were we in heaven ?? I guess , Yes.Even xeroxed practical were being allowed . While we were having fun , ECE guys were complaining that this year also they have no respite from the $%^& ECE subjects . Being the placements representative of my class , i was attending some regular meetings of Training and Placement department. You cant imagine the utter sorry feeling i used to have when after an hour long meeting with the Training and Placements head , i had to tell my fellow classmates , who were waiting just for the meeting to get over , that there would be no placements till the coming January or February .I guess this is part and parcel of life. Kabhi khushi kabhi gaam.. Right ??
I had some 2-3 odd opportunities to go to NDTV’s shows (Gadget Guru and The Big Fight) . We were so happy to see ourselves on TV that we even told the teachers about it.(Tried to get some extra attendance and marks out of it ).
Mock CATs had started in full swing . MOCKing every Saturday and Sunday now a usual affair. And even getting a meager 70 odd percentile in five mocks back to back was also not new . One thing i have learnt from this CAT preparation is that there are things which are much more important than this CAT and one should not leave his LIFE for this two and a half hour exam. But then , i guess , it’s time for me to pull up my socks and study for this exam . There is now way out. !
CAT application form turned out to be a sleepless night for many . Most of the people bunked college(including me) to go the bank and collect the CAT registration voucher and be the first one to book the so very converted SLOTS . In this haste many got the application incorrect J . It’s only yesterday that the IIMs have allowed them to edit their application forms . Finally some respite to them .
Hmmm.. now coming to the best part . I had been researching on which laptop to buy for the last 4 weeks . Finally i got my Laptop . DELL Studio 15 . It’s simply awesome . I am just loving it .
So , here i am , over with my recap of last few months .
Promise to write regularly from now on.
Summer Internship- Day 1
I had been waiting so long for my 6th semester exams to get over, and finally they got over on 26th May. Now it was time for my summer internship. I was going to intern at the IT department of a government organization (Name of the organization withheld !!). I was briefed by some of my seniors that this organization is very lenient with its summer inters and don’t pressurize too much. I was really hoping that their words are true
The final acceptance letter which I got from the organization said that the reporting time was 9.00 am sharp. I woke up at 7 am, took a good bath and had my breakfast. It was already 8 am and I was late, considering the Gurgaon -Delhi traffic, that too in the office hours. So I quickly packed my bag (took the important documents) prayed for 5 minutes and left for the office.
The IT department here has two blocks, the old block and the new block. So as Murphy’s Law states I reached the wrong block. The interns have to report to the new block and I reached the old block.
There are obvious disadvantages of having so many flyovers in Delhi. Take a wrong turn and you end up driving 5 more kms (considering the heavy traffic… it’s a pain!!). It was already 9.15 and I was late on the first day itself. Took the next available U-Turn and reached the new block at 9.30.
I was to report the Mr.X the General Manager, IT Department (Again … Name withheld ). I went to him and introduced myself. He told me to wait for Mr. Y as he would allot me the group and the project. I asked the chaiwahah there and he told me that Mr Y usually comes at 10, and so I have to wait for him.
Ahhhh… that was such a relief. I didn’t miss anything and was not late anymore (God Bless the babu culture!!) . Mr Y was dot on time. He was in the office a full 1 minute before the Radio Mirchi’s RJ announced that its 10 am. After he settled down I went up to him and introduced my self. He told me that I have to first sign a format acceptance letter before I could join. He then asked me to take the letter from Mr Z, sign it and give it back to him. The same chaiwalah told me that Mr Z comes at around 10.30 or 10.45.
I then went to the guests room, took up the days TOI and started reading it. The chaiwalah again came in and told me that Mr Z would not come today and I need to take the letter from Mr. P. (Luckily Mr P comes on time i.e. at 9am). As soon as I was about to get up I realized that there are some more interns present there. I was happy that I was not the only one waiting .We all went up to Mr P , signed the official letter and then gave it to Mr Z .
Mr Z the asked us what we could for the organization!. We all came up with all the weirdest ideas of our lives . He told us to divide ourselves in 2 groups and then decide what we project we would do. We all 6 inters then decided that the 1st group would make a website for them (using PHP) and my group would make a website for internal use (using .net) .
We told this to Mr Z and he was ok with it. Then he asked me if I knew some one in the organization . I told that one of my relatives is working here. As soon as I told Mr Z my relative’s name, he took out his mobile and asked me-
Mr Z – “yehi number hai”?? (Showing the number in his mobile)
Me – “Yes sir… yehi hai “!! (After checking the number in my mobile)
Mr Z calling someone..
Mr Z – ” haan bhai.. ye kis ko bhej dea hai tune…. “(With a smile)… “tune mithaye to khilaye nahi kal .. aab internship karwa raha hai relative ki! .. ” aaj he khila warna abhi rook dunga iss ki internship… ” !!
lolz… this was amazing … Mr Z and my relative were one the best friends in the office (according to Mr Z ) . He then told all the interns to go and come the next day and asked me to sit down . It was a bit embarrassing for me… But I was happy too..
After every one went.. he asked me if I was interested in making a database for Finance department. I HAD to say yes. Giving me a CD , he told me that it contained the last 5 year records of the finance department and I have to make the database for this using either SQL or Oracle .After giving me some more details he asked me to report next week with a prototype !(a prototype in a week… man are you kidding ??)I greeted him and just pushed off from there.
It was so hot and i was damn hungry. Luckily the office campus had a Bikaner sweets shop. As soon as I entered the eating area, I ran toward the seat which was just under the AC .Finished my day with a special thali and a glass of Lassi.
Finally my Day one was over.. Now the real work starts…. have to make a prototype till next Tuesday and submit to him with full documentation! . Have to work hard now… 
Would update the blog soon…
Bye
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