Two big zeroes after no. thirteen :) ;) :P

Well, this is one more of my "thank you a lot" posts!! :)
I'd like to mention here few of my friends who've encouraged me immensely over the past 6 months or so...!! :)
Richa - who handled evrything in college perfectly in my absence..took over a huge load off my shoulders..HATS OFF TO U SWEETIE!!

Snehal - my partner in crime(not literally ha..)got to know u better over these days, hope we'll head off together..'TWAS FUN BEING WITH U!!

Devesh - I bugged u all the time with my silly doubts n u solved them effortlessly, taking out time from ur busy schedule, not even once did u say no to me..YOU ARE GREAT, ROCKSTAR!!

Ravi - one person who reminded me to work hard each day n made me realise that I cud do really well..YOUR WORDS HELPED A LOT BUDDY!!

Nitesh - you taught me to stay cool n calm...THAT HELPED ON THE FINAL DAY!!

Parag - those links u'd sent were damn good..THANX A TON, DOC!!

Shreya(she always said i cud manage sumthing decent enuf), Amey(shall remember those maths sums), Pranay(helped me with the basic concepts)..it seems endless :P

Actually each of my friends - who tolerated my refusals to go out for parties, movies, picnics etc etc..
I did my job but without your interference..oops..i mean support it wouldn't have been possible...LOVE U ALL!! :);):p

Back to Indore....

...the first thing we did after reaching Dehradun was eat as all were feeling ravenous.The night was spent peacefully but the next day again started with waking up early in the morning, qeueing up for the bathroom, fighting for turns and finally getting ready to go!!

We went to SBSPGI first and were greeted by one of our seniors working there.The whole atmosphere was quite informal and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the visit.
That very day we visited the Forest Research Institute.The greenery all around was indeed a treat to the eyes.In the evening we were left on our own to go around the Paltan market.It was time for shopping and no one complained.

The next day we set off for Mussoorie...Sahastradhara and Kempty Falls fell in the way and we had a gala time. Nature was as its breathtaking best!!

By the time we actually reached Mussoorie it was evening...there we got to know that the ropeway was getting renovated and thus the whole exercise seemed futile.It all turned out to be a huge disappointment.

The last day at Dehradun was spent at the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped(NIVH). It was an overwhelming experience for all of us to see the visually challenged kids and adults performing various tasks efficiently.

Tht very day we left for Allahabad - our final destination.
Anand Bhawan - Pandit Nehru's residence took us back in history.
Early next morning we visited the Sangam - confluence of the three rivers, Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati(the invisible river said to be flowing beneath the earth).The waters of the Ganga and Yamuna could easily be distinguished and it was wonderful to see them merge.

After the holy sojourn we visited the Leprosy Mission Hospital at Naini.The doctors there cleared our myths regarding patients suffering from leprsoy and it was some learning experience for all of us.

Finally it was time to leave for indore.Everyone was happy to be going back home but felt sad too for the journey was about to end.All those moments we'd spent together would be etched in our memories forever!!

For me it wasnt just a tour but an experience that made me realise the value of everyone around me...how lucky and blessed i was to be surrounded by all my loved ones!!!So for me,

Life isnt about finding faults,
u simply need some adjustment
Life isnt really bad,
just try living every moment
Life's all about learning to smile
and staying happy all the while!!!

A Trip....contd

We reached Chandigarh at 3 in the night. The night time adventure included dragging our trolleys on the streets of chandigarh as our bus left us in the middle of the road. But Chandigarh was grt....awesum city, not the least like Delhi.
The museum, lake and the rock garden were the places we went to, of course after visiting the post graduate institute(PGIMER),it was an educational tour, remember!!

The next day we went to Kasauli - it was the most beautiful place i'd seen all my life...amazing!!! The sights were breathtaking. The winding roads tht lead up to this quaint hill station did make me realise tht i suffered from a terrible form of motion sickness! Tht was the least enjoyable part but the overall experience was mindblowing..we walked abt 8 kms tht day without feeling the least bit of fatigue, probably the fresh air we breathed was reason for it! our lungs must have enjoyed it as well...

Haridwar....the holy city on the banks of the Ganges....our next destination
Having taking a dip in the mythical river made us feel as if our souls had been purified...
A ropeway took us upto the mansa devi temple atop a hill and it also allowed us a wonderful view of the entire city.

After haridwar we proceeded to rishikesh..another of those sacred cities of the north.it was our bad luck to have missed the ganga arti for we reached there late in the evening.crossing both the ram and lakshman jhulas was quite exciting for all of us.

We reached Dehradun tht same night and the next thing i rememeber is falling fast asleep. Travelling throughout the day did make us tired but we were ready for more excitement in the days to come...a major part of our journey was over but still it wasnt the end yet!!!!!!!

A Trip to remember!!

It feels great to wield the pen (read keyboard) after a long time. The ideas were always there but maybe I wasn’t. Other things kept me occupied and my first love took a back seat. Now that the study tour (an important part of our curriculum) is over I’m looking forward to going back to my usual schedule – college, the department and of course poetry. But before all that I’d like to mention all about the study tour…. For it surely deserves some space on my blog…

The beginning wasn’t exactly great – DELHI!!!
Having left Indore on the 4th of March we reached Delhi on the 5th morning.
We boarded the bus to reach the All India Institute of Medical Sciences-our first stop. No
sooner had the bus progressed when our buswallah almost collided with a guy on a bike and lo! the biker had climbed the bus window to hit the driver!!
The Delhi adventure had begun.
At AIIMS the OPD was in progress and so we had to wait.
In the meantime we decided to take lunch…finding a place wasn’t very easy. We got into a Blueline bus and soon realized that one of our classmates was left behind at AIIMS.
Poor guy! He alone knows how he managed to find us.

After finishing lunch we came back to AIIMS and were shown around the electrotherapy units.
In the evening we went to Connaught place and Palika bazaar…the most interesting bit was traveling in the Delhi metro…simply loved it!!
Crossing the road was fun as well for we stopped the traffic every time we did so…41 people altogether!

The next day was wholly reserved for sight seeing – Qutub Minar, towered above everything else. Also the iron pillar left us surprised as it stood rust free even after so many years!!
The Lotus temple was magnificent. (Sydney opera house, anyone?) I don’t have words to explain how wonderful it was to observe complete silence!!!
Then we visited the ISKCON temple and Chatarpur mandir – we paid reverence to Lord Shiva (it was Mahashivratri that day).

Now we had to see Red fort. But our driver had other things in mind. He didn’t pay heed to anyone and rushed ahead. This infuriated the boys and there was a heated exchange(gaalis and all) between them and the driver that ended with a few blows here and there. And so we had to walk through Chandni chowk to reach Red fort.
That was a tiresome walk through an awful place. Somehow we reached the fort and it looked really marvelous in the moonlight (the red stone wasn’t that obvious though).

At last the Delhi sojourn was over and we boarded the train to Chandigarh…
A new place and experience awaited us!!!!!!!

Quiz me again!!!

“There’s this interschool quiz tomorrow, are you and Avani interested in participating in it???”
Tomorrow was Sunday & Monday onwards our unit tests (hmm…sadly those happened every other month) were to begin.

“Its just the written round, you could always give it a try.” Our teacher had to say something, as all we did was stand and stare at her and then at each other. We did want to participate but those tests weren’t allowing us to decide.
The next thing I remember is calling up our respective moms (back then in class VIII, mummy knew best…for me she still knows best :p)

Our moms were pretty cool, “Of course u can participate, what’s the harm??”
There wasn’t going to be any harm unless we fared poorly in those unit tests (!!!) That’s another story though…; )

The quiz venue was interesting in itself- St Paul Boys School (please, no raised eyebrows!) Avani was late, thanks to a flat bicycle tyre but we managed to be in time (well, the school being a 5 min. walk from my place)
Now that I think of it the written round was a quite simply, a cakewalk…

Then came the semifinal (not without its own hiccups), the next Sunday. By then our tests were over and well the results werent that bad. (…Hehe)
I distinctly remember nibbling those potato chips (provided by the sponsors), while waiting for my chance to get on stage for the quiz. We did sail through the semis as well.

Ah! The final was quite awesome…the whole atmosphere buzzed with the noises of students cheering their schools, parents eager to witness their wards coming out on top…that reminds me…I’d strictly told my Aai and Pappa not to be there (I knew I’d be nervous if they came) But who listens to me…they did come!!

Before the start of the quiz I remember avani and me eyeing the magnificent trophy…how we longed to hold it in our hands, to win it, possess it!!

Being in the finals, competing against 4 other top schools was in itself an achievement.
That Saturday when we’d called up our moms, who’d have thought of it…at that time doing well in tests was all we cared about.

But now we wanted to win and it was the only thing that mattered.

The stage was finally set…10 rounds…one winner.
The excitement was palpable, round 1… 2, …3…4, it went on and on.
We lead in one round, just to concede it in the next. It went neck to neck. The uncertainty prevailed till the very last round…rapid fire…we answered most of the questions and the other schools just couldn’t catch up…Hurrah! We’d won…. yeah we’ won!
How ecstatic we were…the gleaming trophy looked awesome in our hands.

The moment was overwhelming…we’d made all Raphaelites and ourselves proud.

As I think of those days I realize it’s not worth worrying about little things (those unit tests,u see) in life. It’s about seizing your opportunities, exploring new horizons, treading those unknown paths and most importantly following your heart…sounds cliché but that’s just the way it is!!!:)

Friendship…an illusion??

Priorities changed & so did you,
Our talks veered,
The animosity grew

Amazed and horrified, I looked on
Pondering deeply,
Where had I gone wrong?

Across the road you stood, the gap widened
All my past memories
Now left me saddened

My tears dried, for the eyes bled
Remembering the moments,
Those words you once said

Getting accustomed, to your absence
Something I never did dream
But as friendship seems an illusion today…
That’s the only thing, making sense!!!

I Love Cooking???

Mum called me into the kitchen
Thus, my nightmare began
Cooking was one thing
Off which, I had kept my hands!!

“Here, chop these onions,
& Cut the potatoes square";
As mum gave the orders
The knife stared saying “Beware”

With a scowl on my face
I picked up the damn knife,
What luck! Wasn’t anything else,
Left in life??

Unwillingly I did the whole job
Barely saving my thumb, once or twice
But wait, the ordeal wasn’t over
I still had to cook the rice.

The stove looked sinister too
So I eyed it cautiously
How I hated this business
Words won't express that properly.

I was at wits end
Till all cooking was done,
“Eating is much easier,” I thought
while cooking isn’t half the fun!!!”

Licence to Blunder!!!!!!!!

The following isn’t a part of my imagination but has been ‘word to word’ and ‘spelling to spelling’ copied from the “Form of application for renewal of driving licence”

“Medical certificate in respect of an applicant for renewal of driving licence”

This is the part 2 of the form:
To be filled by a registered medical prectinor appoined the purpose by the government or persons authorised in this benaif by the state government:

After the usual name, address and date of birth entries…here comes the real thing-
1.Is the application to be best of your judgement subject to epliasay veetigo or mental adment likely to effect his dificency? Yes/no

2.Dose the applicant suffer from any hurt or lung disorde with might interefer with the performance of his duties driver? Yes/no

3.Is there any defect of vision? Is so has been corrected by suitable spectable?
Yes/no
4.Can the applicant suffer ready distinguish the pigmantry colur red & green?
Yes/no

5.Dose the applicant suffer from a degree of deafness with would prevent this
meaning the ordinary sound signal? Yes/no

6.Does the applicant suffer from in the blindness? Yes/no

7.Has the applicant any deformity or loss member with would inter for with the emidient yariomance of has duties & deliver is so given you reasoning detail?
Yes/no

8.Does the shown any drive of being addited to excessive use of alcohal to because or drugs? Yes/no

9.What is the night of the applicant? Do you consider that hight will diseve geous for his to have octer vision of the road while driving? Yes/no

10.Is he mentally bill persons? Yes/no

11.Is the suffering from any defect in movement control or muscular power or either
arm limb? Yes/no

12.Does he suffer from attacks of lossconselousness from any cause?
Yes/no

13.Is he able to distinguish with eash eye at distance of 25 metters good day light motor date? Yes/no

14. If he is your opining general danger to the public? Yes/no

It took me two readings to know what it all really meant. The first time I burst out laughing but as soon as I realised the relevance of the thing I was bewildered.

The RTO was going down the drain…was what I thought!
Who should be held responsible for this??

Well, the spelling mistakes could be overlooked keeping in mind the fact that maybe it was written by someone who had little/no knowledge about English…but then isn’t this reviewed by any higher authority??
My mind was brimming with these questions …and then I got the point.
This was INDIA.
Most of the government departments are going down the drain…it was just that this RTO thing had caught my notice.

Come to think of it…there are greater issues to be addressed, aren’t there??…Mistakes in a driving licence form hardly matter…

The day they do matter, INDIA would be a transformed nation…
And we won’t mind saying this from the bottom of our hearts…Mera Bharat Mahaan!!

WINNING TIMES!!

Saturday, 15th April 2006
INDIA TAKES ON ENGLAND IN THE LAST MATCH OF THE TVS CUP AT INDORE…
These were the headlines on the sports page of the leading English daily….

A match at Indore. I’d been waiting for this since the schedule for England’s tour of India
had been announced some 2 months back.
So what if England had lost 4 out of the 5 matches of the series. After all every new match had it’s own share of excitement. England were playing badly in the one-dayers (considering their performance in the tests, they had captured the Ashes after beating Australia 2-1…This victory had come after 18 long years…last one being in 1987) but that wasn’t my worry!!

My sessional exams were to begin on 15th April, the day of the match (such an auspicious date). But then you see miracles do happen…and in my case they did!!
My exams were rescheduled and now they were to start from 17th April (as if it made a difference).
Now my problem, the first paper-Pathology and Microbiology. Microbiology was interesting (bacteria and their sterilization) but I wish I could say the same for Pathology (I never could develop a liking for it). Better still I hadn’t studied it till now (so clever of me!!)

Well whatever, I had to watch the match…anyhow!! Dad being a member of the MPCA (Madhya Pradesh cricket association) was entitled to 2 passes for the match.
Great!!
THANK GOODNESS FOR SMALL MERCIES (in this case it was a big mercy!!)

“How are going to manage your studies? ”, aai’s query.
“Arre, its Sunday the day after…Waise bhi it’s not that tough, course bhi kam hai”, my confident answer.
“Fine then you can go”
This was 14th afternoon. That same night I don’t know what prompted me into saying this-“Aai, if you wish you and Akshu can go watch the match…I got to study”.
(Ye maine kya keh diya?)

Aai was more than happy…and all I did was bang my head on the bed…hard!!!
The next morning, dad, mom and Akshu left me alone at home and went to see the match.
I tried studying but all the while my eyes were glued on to the TV set. India had won the toss and had put England in to bat…they were 288 all out in their fifty overs…



At around 1p.m mom called “Akshu wants to come home…if you want you can come here and bring along one of your friends”…I pinched myself… “Was it really aai’s voice”…who else could it be…how foolish of me!!

Phone in my hand I dialled Priyanka’s number. “Free hai naa…chal match dekhne chalte hai”. She was like “Mera paper hai Monday ko…(she’s studying engineering) par no problem manage kar lungi…(he he)…reach your place in half an hour”
“Done, I’ll wait for you”


We reached the stadium late…(the damning traffic!!)The last ten overs of India’s batting…and the Indians were cruising along. Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina were at the crease…


We found our seats and grabbing a can of coke each sat down to enjoy the match
The whole atmosphere was rocking; the chants of “JEETEGA BHAI JEETEGA, INDIA JEETEGA” and girls shouting “Yuvi, Yuvi” made me realize what it was like to watch a match LIVE.



In a cricket crazy nation like ours there’s never a dull moment in any match…
As Yuvraj hit the winning runs the whole stadium erupted!!!
India had won the match by 7 wickets and the series 5-1…hurray!!!
And I had seen the match (a part of it…) LIVE!!
Shreesanth was declared man of the match for his 6 wickets and India found a new opener in Robin Uthappa who scored 86…everything had gone India’s way!!

As Rahul Dravid lifted the cup we promised each other not to tell the other girls about our adventure (nahi tha kya??)
Wow, the feeling was yet to sink in and as we chatted about the final moments of the match, smiles just couldn’t leave our faces…

I did manage to pass my patho-micro exam (pura din aur raat padhna pada) and our secret remained one till I myself revealed it here!!
I know Priyanka won’t have a problem with that!!! What say???