Mood-i

Dec 31st 2008 10:17 pm. The year 2008 almost coming to an end. In less than 2 hours a whole new year starts. What does that mean?. Nothing except that my vacation is done with and the 2nd semester starts tomorrow :(. I may as well end this year with a new blog. What better topic for the blog other than my experiences in Mood-i. Mood-i is the yearly cultural event that is conducted by IIT Bombay. It happens towards the end of December of each year. This year it was from 20th-23th of December. Mood-i is the biggest ever cultural program that I have ever attended till date and the experiences were worth it's weight in gold.

Unfortunately I couldn't make it to the campus on 20th since I had a get together with my close friends at Kochi on 19th. I, along with my classmate Vinu, reached campus on 21st around afternoon. As soon as we entered the campus, the sea change that the campus had undergone hit us with full impact. At first I thought I may have ended up in heaven surrounded by hundreds of beautiful angels, albeit with smaller clothes. The desert that was the IIT (regarding girls that is) has suddenly become Hawaii beach. There were lots and lots of banners and posters on both sides of the main road. All along the roadsides were stalls and Proshows. In one of the stall, sponsored by Ponds company, some kind of game was going on. I didn't know what the game was...but all I could see was that girls were standing on guys feet and dancing. Research is still going on world over to ascertain the amount of heartburn these things causes to unlucky guys like me, who are not so lucky with girls.

Soon I reached my room, took a bath, changed into a new set of clothes and then set out to explore the campus. I soon met up with with our guys Adil, Vishal, Harshad, Ajitav, Vaibhav and Ladha. They had all reached the day before and so were blessed enough to enjoy Mood-i from Day 1. From them I came to know that the Circus, that was supposed to be have been held the previous day got cancelled due to the crowd getting out of hand. This had also resulted in police lathi charge. Vishal recounted his "bravery" wherein he managed to escape the lathi charge by pushing the guy in front away and ran for his dear life.

According to the schedule there was going to be a DJ party on the swimming pool side at around 4:30 pm on all 4 days. Well before the scheduled time people would start forming queue in front of the poolside. Having no other events to attend around that time, we too stood in the line. We whiled away our time chit chatting and enjoying the natural scenary around us, mainly dressed in tops and mini skirts. At around 4:30 pm, the line started moving. Just before we reached the front of the queue, our eyes suddenly fell on a board kept near the poolside entrance
"COUPLE ENTRY ONLY"
Needless to say we didn't wait anymore though Ajitav said we still stood a chance. After all it's not mentioned that the couples should be straight.
But Harshad was determined to see what was happening in the DJ party. He had already made big plans to go about it, the blueprint of the plans being kept classified. But highly placed sources revealed to us that his plan went thus : "Identify a girl standing alone, go to her, and then go around her in a circle of radius of around 10 cm whispering poolside poolside". We never came to know whether he was successful, but we did see a red mark on his cheeks, the next day, which remotely looked like the party symbol of the Congress party.

The 6:30 events are the hightlights of each day. The events are usually concerts by different eminent people. These 6:30 events also have a commong feature. The experience of standing in the queue for these concerts gives you a miniature feel of how people get into a local train at Dadar station on weekdays. The entire "drama" starts with a wait of around 1.5 hours before the scheduled time. It starts with a single line at around 5 pm and minutes before 6:30 pm when they are about to start admitting people into the OAT ( Open Air Theatre) there would have formed around 5-6 lines. At 6:30 pm they start admitting people. Since only one line will be admitted by the security guys, pushing and shoving starts between the guys in these 5-6 lines inorder to form a single line. One needs to rely on one's no-one-get-better-of-me attitude to successfully get in. Motto: No compassion for others. Make sure you get your ass inside if you want to get your seat.If one gets to train himself in this format for a week, then I am pretty sure he would qualify himself to enter the local train from Dadar station on any day at any time. In contrast to this, the ladies-only line makes a mockery of all these efforts we guys put into getting a good seat. The girls stand relaxed, only one line at the 5 pm and also at 6:30 pm. No 5-6 lines like us :(. At 6:30 pm, when the entry starts, they calmly enter the OAT, with no pushing or pulling. ( For the unknowns, Dadar station is an important station for mumbaikars for whom the local metro train is the lifeline. A speciality of Dadar station is irrespective of whether the compartment is empty or overflowing, the latter being the more probable case, the "Dadarians" make it a point to punch each others' face when trying to get in. In case you are one of the unlucky few who have to board from the Dadar station, and you somehow manage to get inside the compartment, there is a high probability that the count of your teeth would have been reduced by atleast one).

The 6:30 concert events went thus : On 21st it was a concert by Kavitha Seth and then another by roop kumar rathod ( Veer Zaara music director) and his wife Sonali (I think). On 22nd it was the Indian Ocean Band and concert by Rabbi Shergill. 23rd was the biggest draw with concert by Mohit chauhan and Sonu Nigam. The Mood-i officially closed with the Sonu Nigam concert. All concerts were good though my favourites were Sonu Nigam and Indian Ocean.

The mornings were full of small small programs and gameshows which were very entertaining. Unfortunately there are so many of them that it cannot be mentioned in just one post. In this blog, I have just touched upon some interesting experiences I had in Mood-i and haven't mentioned much about how much I enjoyed all the events that were there. Even then I should make a special mention about "Laughter Lyrics", where 4 highly regarded comic hindi poets , though I forgot their names, thoroughly enthralled the audience with their sheer comic timings and dialogue deliveries. According to me, it easily stands out from the rest of the events I saw. I will definitely make sure not to miss any part of Mood-i next year.

Time : 2 am Jan 1st 2009. The new year has already come. A very very happy new year for all.

Death race

Have you ever had an experience where you knew, or rather, expected, that the next few seconds may well be your life's last? Well, I had one such experience years ago. It had such an impact on me that I am sure even if amnesia conquers me, it will never be able to get rid of this little piece of memory from my head. This one experience, more than anything that has happened to me till now, have made me realize the beauty of the entity called life.

I think it was when I was around 9 or 10 years old. My father had bought me a new cycle some months back and from then on cycling substituted walking as my chief mode of transport. Irrespective of whether the distance was too small or too far, me and my cycle were inseparable. During that time I had a friend called Naveen. He used to stay in a lane near to my house. His house was such that it was almost like being on the top of a hill since the lane was a steep climb upwards and his house was at the end of this lane. Starting from his house, this lane came downwards and joined the main road. Either side of this lane was covered with houses so that a vehicle starting from his house will never be able to see the vehicles coming from the left or right ends of the main road until the vehicle reaches the path where the lane joined the main road and formed a sort of tri-road junction like a T shape.

Naveen and I used to be very good friends. Since we were in the same class, we used to meet almost everyday. During weekends I sometimes used to go to his house in the evenings. One day he told me in class that the coming saturday was his birthday and that he wants me to come for the his birthday party. During those days, almost everyone in the class celebrated their birthdays by having a birthday party. I readily agreed and so it was decided that I will be at his house at around 4 pm on saturday.

Come saturday evening, I dressed up, took my cycle and rode to Naveen's house. The party began at around 4:30 pm and everyone had a wonderful time. By 6 pm the party came to an end and everyone was saying goodbye to each other and departing. Since my house was the closest, I waited till everyone has gone and then atlast I too decided to leave. By this time it was growing a bit dark also.

After taking leave of Naveen, I got on to my cycle my cycle and started pedalling till I reached his house gate. Since his house was on the top of a "hill", it was a steep ride "downhill". So I let gravity take over and relaxed as the cycle gained speed. Midway through the journey I thought the cycle had gained too much speed and pressed the breaks a little to slow down the cycle.
Nothing happened.
Hmm Looks like the breaks are not in good condition. I guess the cycle needs to be serviced.
I pressed the breaks a little more.
Still nothing happened.
I started getting worried. I pressed the breaks to the full extent.
Nothing.
I pressed the brakes again and again. Nothing was happening.The breaks were not working at all!!!!!!
I panicked big time. The cycle was gaining speed each second. In my frantic efforts, I just kept pressing the brakes over and over again hoping for some miracle each time.
The result was the same.
Since the lane had houses on both left and right sides, I could not even see whether there were any vehicles coming from the left or right end of the main road. The only part of the main road I could see was that part where the lane merged with the main road, ie, the junction, which was straight ahead. I thought of diving from the cycle. but the cycle had gained too much speed by then that I was sure I would crash my head if I did so. I thought of shouting out help. But no sound came from my throat. I was too scared. I had only one option left. Let the cycle continue down the path and hope for the best. Any high speeding vehicle passes through the junction, at the exact moment I reach the junction, and I was history.

Around 5 seconds to reach the junction.
I started sweating...
4 seconds...
I gripped my cycle harder
3 seconds...
One bus just went past the junction
2 seconds...
I could see stars all around my head
1 second...
I now knew it was now or never. I gripped my cycle with all the strength I could muster, called upon all gods whose names I knew, and on reaching the junction turned right. I closed my eyes expecting something to hit me from the left or right.
2 seconds passed...
The cycle was still continuing in it's path, but now on the main road. I checked my whole body. Hmm 2 hands are still there..both legs are intact....Overall I was still in one piece. And I was still alive. Whoaaa I escaped the jaws of death!!!!!!!! It was all the more spectacular because a speeding bus passed me around 5 seconds after I reached the main road. I shudder to think what a delay of 5 seconds would have done to me. I don't know what saved me that day. I guess it was sheer luck. But then it helped me look at life from a whole new perspective. I don't take life for granted anymore. I am thankful for each day that goes by, thankful for each new experiences it brings with it, thankful for the new things it teaches, thankful for the new friends it brings and last but not the least thankful for the chance to enjoy one more day.

School memories

As usual, on vacations, I have nothing better to do other than sleep, watch movies and waste time. Today I was just lying down on the bed, remembering my school life. I had done my whole schooling from LKG to 12th, at the same school :- St Thomas Residential School in trivandrum. As I was going through my school life, I was seized with a big urge to write a small post in my blog dedicated to my school life memories. There are lots and lots of things which I would like to write about my school life, but then I guess I can't put down the entire things in one post. So here I am putting down in words some of my fondest memories of my school life.

It was when I was in 4th standard. I was one hell of a restless mischievous naughty boy then. The lunch break was the time when most of the actions took place on those days. The lunch break was a horror time for my classmates while it was party time for me. The moment everyone washes their hands and sits down to have their lunch, their horror, in my form, appears. I start from one corner of the class and stops at each lunch box, checks whether the person (I followed a policy of no gender discrimination) had bought chicken or not. If any unfortunate guy/gal did bring chicken for his/her lunch, then they are forced to make their lunch boxes lighter, and my hand heavier, by one chicken piece. Obviously vegetarians were left unscathed. Though most of the class meekly "surrendered" to this torture, there were some other chicken-lovers who put up a brave fight by gobbling up an entire chicken even before I could reach their desk.

In the evenings, when my mom opens the lunch box, she would find a huge pile of chicken bones inside. In order to put a stop to my embarrassing habit, she will make chicken for me for lunch. But then being the smart boy that I was, I ate both my chicken and others' chicken and returned home with even bigger pile of chicken bones. After that my mom knew I was a hopeless case and didn't try anymore "tricks".

In 4th standard, I don't think there was even one teacher who hadn't had atleast one complaint against me. But the one who leads the pack was my social science teacher. I don't exactly remember her full name. Let's call her my SST (social science teacher). In those days, we had a 45 minute lunch break. 10 minutes went for lunch. Remaining time we played football. I guess rugby would be a more appropriate name. I would just roll and roll on the ground, in the name of playing football. Our uniform was made up of a white shirt and gray shorts. Not so for me post lunch break. It becomes brown and brown. Most of the days, the very next period after lunch break is the social science class. The teacher would enter the class. Then she would scan the class. What does she see. 40 white shirts and 1 brown shirt.This is how she tracks down her "favourite" student.

SST : Sree Shankar please get up. Come to the front.
I come to the front with my head looking down all the time

SST : So what happened
me: Nothing
SST : How did the white shirt become brown
me : I was playing football
SST : You were playing football alone?
me : No
SST : Then how come I see only 1 brown shirt.

I would look around the class. Hmm she is right. Do these guys apply any anti-dust lotion before coming to play?

me : I don't know teacher.
SST : Ok do one thing. Take off your shirt and put it on the window grill. You can put it on after the class is over.

I would go to the window grill, took off my shirt and put it on the the grill and returned back to the seat. Now the class looks better. 41 white shirts : 40 half sleeve shirts and 1 sleeveless shirt
(my banyan). If anyone thought this experience would have changed me, then they are horribly mistaken. This routine continued throughout the whole year :D.

When I was studying in the 5th standard, the maths subject was taught by one Mrs Alieyamma George ( I am not exactly sure of the name since most of the teachers in my school had their names as Alieyamma or Achamma or some variations of these 2 names. So I often confuse one teacher with another ). She was an expert in giving pinches. I am sure her resume would contain a degree on advanced course in pinching. She had invented her own method for pinching. It was as follows. She would search the entire triceps part of the hand for the most fleshy part. Once she finds the "weak" spot, it's a nightmare from then on. She swirls the skin at that area. The more she swirls, the more one goes up one his/her toes. Any outsider, on seeing a victim, could easily mistake it to be a ballet dance practice. The ISRO guys could surely have saved a few rockets, which failed to reach the space, if only they had thought of using our teacher's pinch instead of any fuel propellant. Even the rockets won't dare defy her pinch. No prizes for guessing who got the maximum pinches that year. One pinch from her would suffice to answer the question "how many stars are there in the universe".

Towards the end of the year, Alieyamma teacher had asked for a feedback. I don't know whether the above experiences had played any role in my feedback, but this is what I wrote.
" Teacher you are fat. I think you have diabetes"
Actually I don't recollect the above incident. It was told to me by my favourite teacher in school, Mrs Poonam Lal. Had anyone else told me such a thing happened, I would never have believed him or her. I must say I really had some guts when I was small.

These experiences do not even form the tip of an iceberg. Maybe some other time I may write another blog narrating more such experiences.

Wedding bells

Now before u guys jump into any conclusions, lemme clarify...my wedding is still a long time away :D. This is about the wedding that I attended today. The background for attending this wedding is this. A few days back, Jijith sent me an invitation through mail and chat inviting me to his elder bro's marriage on dec 4th. So who is Jijith? He was my onsite coordinator when I was working in Infosys chennai. For those who don't know who an onsite coordinator is, he acts as an interface between the offshore guys and the client who is in the onsite (Usually an onsite is a synonym for USA for most of the projects in our account). Since Dec 4th happened to be the time when I would be at my hometown for vacations, I readily agreed because, though I had a very friendly and cordial relation with Jijith, I had never met him in person. All our contacts were through chats and/or phone. Though he had come to chennai office once, when he had come to India, I was at my hometown that day. So I was not able to meet him then. The marriage was to be held at a place near to where I was staying. So now here was a chance to meet him in person (at last!!!).

At around 10:45 am I reached the marriage hall. I looked around once, hoping against hope to meet someone whom I know.
Tough luck, no one.
Fine, no use fooling around. I went straight into the marriage hall. It was filled with people. Suddenly it struck me. How do I recognize Jijith in the first place? All I have seen of him is a pic that was about 3-4 years old. Well lemme try to think how he looks like...hmm thick moustache, little bulky, sort of long hair ( I think). Gr8 now all I need to do is to find the guy who matches this description. Now that should be simple right.
Aha there goes one a long hair thick mustached guy. He should be it. I was about to approach him when I saw a child and a lady along with him. Whoa he can't have a wife and a child when his elder bro is getting married today, can he? Only 1 explanation for this. This is NOT jijith. Atleast not the one I am seeking.
Aha there goes another one....Naa he's not bulky.
aah there another..and another...and yet another...oohhhh grrr @#$@!#&$%#$
looks like entire marriage hall is filled with long haired little bulky thick mustached guys!!!!
Then suddenly another terrifying thought stuck me....what if he has cut his hair short, cut his moustache and is no more bulky now. Oho, if so how will i ever find him in this "jungle". My dilemma was that I could not even go and ask anyone about this. What will I ask.."hello sir, I don't know either the groom or the bride...I am the groom's brother's friend. Could you tell me how the brother looks like?". People will think I have gone mad.

Then an idea stuck me ( whew, long time due ). The brother would be standing besides the groom once the marriage starts. So I just need to zero in on the thick mustached guy when the marriage starts. Soon I spotted a guy who was a bit bulky, but short hair, standing besides the groom. It should be jijith. Nevertheless I wanted to be certain. Since his back was turned to me, the "mustache clue" was still pending to be verified. Even after 5 minutes, no signs of him turning. I was in my mind shouting "Turn turn..". Guess he must have heard me "shout". He just about turned by around 10 degrees to the left. There....I could see the left end of his mustache. Thus by theory of induction, his mustache should also have a right edge. And since no person in his right mind will ever come to his brother's marriage with just left and right edges of his mustache, it means he should have the whole mustache "intact". Aha the 3rd clue verified. He shud be my man. Mission Accomplished. When he was free, I went over and talked to him. But, unlike me, he didn't have any difficulty recognizing me (wonder how???)

A wedding experience, especially the ones in Kerala, are never complete without a mention about the sadya ( lunch served during marriages). I was going to have one after a loooong time, especially after my torture for 4 months in the iit mess. Even the thought of having the sadhya was mouth watering. I just couldn't wait to get my hands on it (another reason was that I was damn hungry. But then I guess the first reason makes for a better reading rite :D ).

I was desperately waiting for the marriage ceremony to get over, I suddenly saw people rushing towards the food counter even before the ceremony got over. Whoa looks like there were more desperate people than me!!!!And from the looks of it they will not stop at anything before they lay their hands on the food.I guess I need to "suffer" for some more time and wait for the next batch. After 20 minutes or so, even before the previous batch was done with their food, the next batch was already ready at the doorstep of the food counter. This time I too took up my position. Enough of sufferings. Its time for action now. The time kept ticking. People waiting with bated breath on when the door will open.
Tick tock tick tock....
And then suddenly the door opens.
Whoaaaaa whoaaa don't push me..help!!!!
I was being pushed into the room by the crowd in their hurry to reach the counter and book their place. It was as if I was carried by them, instead of my feet, to my seat. And thus "thanks" to a little "help" from the crowd, I managed to get a seat.

Now I was ready to have my first sadya in a long time. I always had this problem, while eating the sadhya, that I could never control how much I eat since they are soo delicious. But this time I was determined to eat only what is needed. By the end of the meal I requested the 2 neighboring people to pull me up from the table, since I was finding it difficult to do it alone. So much for my eating control. Thus today I was at last able to meet Jijith and also have a delicious meal. good day's work :-).