Shit happens again and again

In our lives, sometimes, some sequence of events lead to serious misunderstandings.
How serious…. I tell you a story.

I have a friend, Mitika. We are or maybe I should say that we used to be good friends. I met her when I was in the first year of my college life at IIT Kanpur. Since then we share this relationship of friendship. Just for the clarity, she wasn’t from my college. She was from some other engineering college in Kanpur. Good height, slim, fair and sharp features. I met her when she came to my campus for her project work in the summer of 2004. We totally liked each other’s company as one thing was common between us; both of us were hard-working or at least she used to think so about me :) But yes this girl was really a very hardworking, intelligent and of course I have already had described her beauty.

This girl is very special to me. Why? Not because of her beauty and other qualities but because of the fact that despite all my efforts, every time something happens which shakes the trust between two of us. I would like to start with the first incident.

Incident-1

November 2004

I was in the 2nd year of my college. At IIT Kanpur, we used to have inter-collegiate cultural festival known as Antaragni. It was a grand fest where students from all over the country used to participate.

Few days before this fest at around 5:30 pm, the telephone attendant came running to me when I was in my room in a semi-sleepy condition after a hectic day.
“Praveen ji, you have a call. Guess, some lady is there” he said
“Is she my mom?” I asked.
“She didn’t tell me but I guess she was younger” he said.
“Really”. I said. Now my eyes were wide opened
I rushed to attend that call.
"Hello" I said.
"Hello, oh you came. Hope I am not disturbing you" she said.
"No, of course not. I was just sitting in my room doing nothing and just yawning. Good that you called. But who is this, by the way?" I said.
"Hey you forgot me, this is Mitika. How can you not recognize my voice this time?" she said.
“Oh I am so sorry. I told you I was in semi-sleepy mode. That’s why I could not figure out. Now, I am awake. Totally” I put my point forward.
"Ok. So, tell me why did you call me" I asked her.
"Can't I just call you without any reason?" she said little irritated.
"Yeah, why not. Of course you can" I said pacifying my previous statement.
"I just called you to ask you that how are you doing these days" she said softly.
"That's so nice of you. Thank you. I am good. How are you?" I said swiftly.
"I am good. Actually Praveen..." she said and stopped and I could figure out little hesitation in her voice this time.
"Yeah, tell me" I tried to help her.
"I have heard that next week this grand fest Antaragni is going to take place at your college. And I have heard a lot about this fest. Lots of colleges from all over the country participate, lots of grand events are organized, some celebrities are also invited etc. etc." she continued yapping for the next 15 minutes.
"That's right" I said after I realized that she was done.
"So I was wondering if you can take me to this fest this time, if it is okay with you" she said in a single breath.
I wasn’t expecting this. ‘No’, ‘yes’, ‘not this time’, ‘why not’, ‘this fest is not so great’, ‘this fest is really awesome and you should really see it’ etc. etc. thoughts came to my mind simultaneously. Seriously I did not know what to say.

"Ok fine. You can come. No problem at all" It just came out of my mouth, I don’t know how.

“Oh really, I can come. I am so happy. You know I was thinking how to ask you. But thanks a lot. Ok then, I’ll see you there.” she said in a voice filled with joy.

“Sure, see you then. Bye” I said and disconnected the phone.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do that but since I promised her so I decided to show her some good events in the cultural fest.

Antaragni was going to kick off on the Thursday of the next week. I had the list of the events which were going to take place in that fest. After having a look at that list, I figured out that the 3rd day of the fest which was Saturday had the most exciting events. So, I decided to ask Mitika to come on Saturday of the next week.

Next week came rather Wednesday of the next week came. Mitika was also waiting for my phone call. So after my classes in the evening, I called her from a telephone booth beside my hostel.
“Hi Praveen, I was waiting for your call.” she said happily.
“Ok. I called you up to inform you that you should come to my campus on Saturday as many exciting events are lined up that day” I said
“Ok. Sure. I will. By the way, which color dress should I wear ?” she asked in a very excited voice.
“Oh, I really don’t have much idea about these things. Put on whatever suits you more” I replied.
“Praveen, you are so….By the way, what time on Saturday?”She asked.
“I’ll give you a call on Friday evening or Saturday morning to confirm the time. Ok. Bye for now” I said and disconnected the phone.

I had listed down all the good events where Iwanted to take her. Some of them were the mime show of ‘The Dramatics’, the fashion show “Ritambhara” and the “Sonu Nigam” live performance . So, everything was well planned from my side.

Friday came. It was 10 pm and I was about to inform Mitika to come to campus next morning at around 11 am. But at that moment telephone attendant of my hostel came to me and informed me that I had a phone call from my home. My mom informed me that my grandfather was seriously ill and wanted to see me. She asked me to come to the hospital in the morning which was in the Kanpur city and far from the campus. And she also wanted me to stay there in the hospital. My mom knew that it was fest time in my college so I would be able to come without disturbing my studies.

Now this situation was really a tough one. I had my commitment with my friend and now this family matter which has always been a priority for me.
Anyways, I decided to go see my grandfather. Now the Goliath task was to ask Mitika not to come. Of course, I could just tell her the real problem but there was a possibility that she might think it to be a false excuse so that I would not have to take her to the fest. Somehow, I convinced myself that I would call her in the morning and explain the situation. She would definitely understand.

In the morning, I called her up. With great excitement she picked up the phone.
“Hey, Praveen. I was just sitting near the phone waiting for your call. You know what I have selected to put on, a purple blue dress with matching designer ear-rings and matching sandals. Great, isn’t it? So, when should I come to your campus? ” she said innocently.
I was really feeling bad as I was going to break her heart. However, I decided to tell her everything. In the meantime, I pictured her in the purple dress in my mind.

“Mitika actually I am sorry that I cannot ask you to come to my campus” I said with a low voice.
“Why? Why not?” she was puzzled
“Because my grandfather is seriously ill and I am just going to see him in the hospital. So I myself will not be in the campus. I am feeling bad while I say this. But this is the truth. I am sorry” I told her in an almost begging voice.
“Oh really, this is sad. I was so looking forward to it. But..it’s Ok. You go ahead. Go and take a good care of him” she said and disconnected the phone.

After this she did not call me for next two months. Later from her friend, I got to know that she was not convinced by the reason I told her for not taking her to Antaragni. Instead she was of the opinion that I made an excuse. Her friend also informed me that she had specially purchased that purple dress only for the fest. This was the first incident which had shaken the faith in our friendship for the very first time. And after this for another three months she did not call. Even I tried to keep our friendship alive by calling her twice but her cold response always indicated that warmth in our friendship was gone. (To be continued....)

A Beautiful Conversation

Disclaimer : Dear Readers, this blog entry really contains some hardcore technical terms. So if you are not getting some of these or any of these, please ask me. Happy reading :)

This is an interesting conversation I wanna present which took place between two individuals. Girl was from arts background and the boy was from technical background, actually an engineer.

So, this girl Rashmi wanted to explain to this boy Sanjeev about the depth of her love. As Sanjeev was an engineer and on the top hopelessly studious, she decided to use some technical language to express her feelings towards Sanjeev. So, she used google and tried to learn some technical and mathematical terms. Working hard with this for a week, she finally decided to put her feelings in front of Sanjeev. So, let’s find out the degree of the success she achieved in her mission

So, the scene starts like this.

Sanjeev is sitting on a bench in a park close to Rashmi’s college. Again and again he keeps staring at his wrist-watch.

After a wait of 30 minutes, Rashmi shows up. She was looking terrific in her half sleeve pink top with skin tight blue jeans. She was also carrying a big handbag whose colour was going perfectly with her attire. With a lovely smile she sat on the left of Sanjeev.

“So late?” Sanjeev seemed little annoyed.

“Yeah, actually, I was just trying to put on something great so that I can impress you.” Rashmi replied with an innocent smile.

“Okay , fine. But why are you wearing bangles in each of your ears?” Sanjeev asked with curiosity and holding his hypermetropia spects closer to his face.

“No stupid, these are ear-rings. Haven’t you seen them before? Actress Raveena Tandon was so famous for such ear-rings, you know.” She mentioned.

“Ok. I understand. Now tell me why have you asked me to come here?” He asked.

“Sanjeev, you are so in hurry, directly jumping to the point. Don’t you like this weather, park, kids and people all around? Can we just talk about them?” Rashmi requested.

“Nope” Sanjeev replied in a flat negation.

“Ok, fine, as you wish, I’ll go directly to the point. Sanjeev, I think I love you.” Rashmi poured all her emotion with this last statement.

“Oh, ok. You ‘think’ so. It means it is just a ‘hypothesis’.” Sanjeev replied killing all the emotions which Rashmi has just exhibited.

So, now, Rashmi realized that this is the time when she should use the knowledge she has acquired in a course of one week to make Sanjeev understand the gravity of her love.

So accordingly, she said, “No, Sanjeev, seriously, my love is as true as Newton’s law”

“That means I am forced to assume it, right. Because laws and axioms cannot be proved. So, you kinda trying to impose a fact on me that you love me and on the basis of that imposition you want me to say that I love you too. No, I cannot buy this. Sorry, you need to prove it.” Sanjeev said in his flawless technical language.

“No, really, Sanjeev. I mean it. Actually, I don’t know how to prove it right now but one thing I would want you to know is that as the time will pass you will realize truthfulness of my love. All I can say is that even if you do not understand my love at the moment, I will wait. I will wait for you, like for thousands of Light Years, what you call in your technical language” Rashmi said with a hope that this statement will certainly put some emotion in Sanjeev’s heart.

“Oh well. Rashmi, as a matter of fact, ‘Light Year’ is a unit of distance. A ‘light year’ is basically the distance travelled by the light in one year. It is not the unit of time.” Sanjeev again explained with no care for her feelings.

“Sanjeev, you are not getting me exactly. I want to tell you that my love will always be the same no matter what. It is like e^x which always remains the same either you differentiate it or integrate it. Do you understand?” She tried again.

“In that context, I would want you to please specify ‘x’ because if this ‘x’ is the no. of days left in my life then I am afraid that your love will decrease exponentially.” He said.

“Sanjeev, it seems all of my efforts are going in vain. Fine, you don’t wanna believe me, don’t believe me but you know what my love is pure, very pure. If you allow me I will shower my love on you the way moon showers its light to beautify the planet earth and whole earth gets immersed in the milky light.” Rashmi again tried to convince him.

“That means you will first gather love from somebody then shower that love on me. How ridiculous is that. Because as the science suggests, moon is first illuminated with sun’s light and then in the night it showers that light on the planet earth. God, are you really going to do that.” Sanjeev again presented his logic.

Rashmi had given up and just wanted to leave. She was apparently crying. And when she was about to leave, Sanjeev stopped her.

“Hey, are you leaving?” he asked

“Yes” she said sobbing.

“Are you done?” he asked

“Yes” she said.

“Ok fine. But before you leave I wanna say something” Sanjeev said.

“What now? You have already said so much.” Rashmi said in a low voice.

“Yeah. Actually, yesterday, I was just thinking about you and I wanted to ask you something. You know this electron and positron when combine together they become inseparable. Would you like to be an integrated part of my life in that way? And also this combination produces gamma rays, so can we have our kids also in that manner?” Sanjeev said in one go.

“Oh my god! Oh my god! Are you asking me to be your life partner forever? Yeah, of course, I am ready, more than ready” Rashmi was wonderstruck with such awesome technical delivery from Sanjeev.

“Am I really asking you to be my life partner? I don’t know. May be.” Sanjeev replied.

“Stupid, I was trying to express my love for you for last one hour. But you didn’t get it, dumbo. And you have already planned our future together with kids. I am so happy, Sanjeev.” Rashmi was so exuberant.

“May be you should have tried some better way to express. You should learn something from me. See, how nicely I communicated my thoughts to you with the help of a simple example.” Sanjeev bragged.

“Simple, yeah, very simple” Rashmi said to herself.

When a NIFTian reached IIT....

I have a friend of mine. He graduated from NIFT, Gandhinagar. Our graduation year was same. In 2007, he graduated from NIFT and I from my engineering college. Well he is not the same person whom I talked about in one of my earlier posts. His name is... what is his real name.. gosh... I don’t know. The truth is that he used to be called by a nick-name which is actually a slang in hindi. That slang has been cropped in the last and twisted with such cuteness that all of us totally enjoy calling him by this name. Since it won’t be very decent to use that nick-name here as many of you may feel offended, so I would like to refer him by a combination of special characters.. let’s say.. “@$$”.

@$$ is a guy with a charming personality, enough to impress some girl. And in the college days, I have heard a lot about his numerous affairs. But after college, we were not much in contact.

So the day before yesterday I was having this tele-conversation with this guy and it was really interesting so I thought to share some part of that conversation.

It starts like this.

It was 8:45 pm. I was in my office busy with some project work. Suddenly my phone rang. It was some unknown number.

“Whose number is this?” I said to myself.

Wondering, I picked up the call.

“Hello, what’s up bro?” A little familiar voice asked from the other side.

I was trying to recall whose voice was that.

“Hi, I am fine. Your voice sounds familiar, but sorry, I am not able to recollect you” I said.

“I am @$$. You forgot me. How could ya? Seems you have become rich and successful and that’s why forgot your old friends” he said pulling my leg.

“Oh! Shut up. It just took a while otherwise I knew it’s you...bloody @$$” I said and giggled.

“So tell me what’s up there at your end. It has been so long since we talked. Where are you right now?” I added.

“I am good. You know what I am at your alma mater, IIT Kanpur” he said.

“Oh really, you are. What the hell are you doing there?” I asked with curiosity.

“I am an enrolled full time student here.” He replied.

“Stop kidding me. You designer jerk! What would you do in my technical institute? Tell me the truth. Why are you there?” I didn’t believe the fact of him being a student there.

“Dude, this is the truth. I cleared CEED exam and now pursuing M. Des. here at IIT Kanpur.” He cleared my doubt.

M. Des is basically Master of Design programme which is offered at IITs.

“Oh, wow. It is wonderful. You must be a proud person studying there at IITK.” I said.

“Yeah, proud, totally, except there is hell out here.” He said in an undermining voice.

“I know, because of academic pressure,it is really hell. I remember my 4 years. They were killing” I supported his view going back to the time of my college

“No, academic is fine. I have other problem with this institute” he said.

“Really, what?” I asked

“Dude there is almost no girls here.” He said.

I laughed a lot upon hearing this.

“No, seriously, negligible girls. How did you survive your four years I am surprised. When I was in NIFT, we had a total strength of 30 in my department of Accessory Design. Out of 30, 23 were girls. We used to get company all the time. Eating with girls, studying with girls, playing with girls and movies with girls etc. etc. But here it is a total desert.

Dude, it was my first class at IITK. I reached early before the commencement of the lecture. I chose to sit on the second row from the back. Slowly students were coming and they were filling the vacant seats. I was like this: 1 dude, 2 dude, 3^rd dude, 4^th dude. After 10^th dude, I thought that now atleast a dudette would show up. But no, I wasn’t that lucky. I kept counting them 15^th dude, 16^th dude... 29^th dude. 30^th person entered the room, slim and wearing jeans and t-shirt. That person had long hairs and was looking towards the floor so that her hairs were covering her face. From the back I thought that finally here enters my most awaited chick. Soon she looked up to find a vacant seat and what I could see that this person was a he and not a she and that too with a good moustache. It was my desperate eyes and mind which pictured him to be a woman.

And by the time, lecture was about to start, it was confirmed that this batch had no girl. When I was on the verge of losing hope...entered a girl. She had extreme fair complexion and looked stunning in her blue jeans and crimson red full sleeve tee. Though she looked little studious, she was the hottest girl for me on the planet. So, now I was wondering where was she gonna take her seat.

She moved. But she didn’t move towards the class rather she moved towards the dais and started rubbing the blackboard with a duster. Damn it! She was the instructor of the class. God was being so brute to me. Well then I just tried to concentrate on the lecture while cursing my fate on the same time.

Somehow, I was trying to deal with the given conditions at IITK. One day on the notice board, I read a notice that they were going to organise a discotheque in the campus and entry was free. So, the evening came and I went to the disc. I entered the disc, hoping to have some fun that night.

In the NIFT, disc used to be full of girls and boys in a proportion of 50:50. And here it wasn’t even 5:95. Well, I saw that there were two girls dancing in one of the corners there. They were good looking too. So, I decided to approach them. Gradually, with my cliché talks, I came close to one of the girls. And we decided to go out of the disc and just have a walk in the campus. This was the first time I was feeling so good. We were having a lot of stupid conversation. We also had some coffee together.

But it was not really the beginning of something great because while having the last sip of my coffee, I was about to ask her a question which was going to devastate me again.

I asked her “So Tanushree, what courses are you enrolled in here at IITK?”

“No, no, no. I am not a student here. I am the daughter of Dr. Ragmohan Reddy. I came from US just yesterday. And I got to know about this discotheque today only so I came here with my friend.” She poured a lot of information.

And, after this I decided not to meet her again.” After saying all this @$$ took a long pause.

“Dude, what’s wrong with you? You got this great girl and now you decided not to meet her. Why?” I asked @$$ to know the reason and also to break the silence

“Why. I tell you. Praveen, I never met this girl but I knew this girl already, even most of the boys in campus know this girl. Because Dr. Ragmohan Reddy has only one daughter and you know what Dr. Ragmohan Reddy is the present Director of IITK. And on the top of that we know that her only daughter was married to a millionaire in US just a month ago.” He said it all in a single breath.

“Oh boy, this is a real disaster. @$$, you are totally screwed.” I sympathized with him and on the same time I could not stop my laughter which burst out abruptly.

Reached Nashik

Starting my latest session of travelling for official purpose, I reached Nashik this time. Being a patient reader of my blog, you definitely deserve to know this fun fact that why this name “Nashik” is coined to this beautiful place.

The credit for coining this name goes to Surpnakha ma’am and our angry young man Laxman sir in the Treta yug. It sounds weird, isn’t it?

Ok, I am gonna put it fairly simple

Basically, I am referring to an incident in Ramayana. This was the place where Lord Laxman cut the nose (Nasika) of Supranakha as she was demanding something which was unacceptable for Laxman (Asking a married person to marry her that too in front of his elder brother. I mean she could have waited a little to put this proposal when Laxman was alone). Anyways, willingly or unwillingly Laxman had to put his sword across Supranakha’s nose. Since then this place is called Nashik as the legend says.

Like other trips, this time also I was accompanied with two of my colleagues. We took a bus from Ahmedabad in the evening and it was expected to reach Nashik in the early morning. Thanks to our alert team (of course including me) that in the morning when we woke up and enquired conductor of the bus about our location he told us that we were 30 km ahead of Nashik.

The driver and conductor gave us a what-a-bunch-of-idiots look. But then showing our extra-ordinary wisdom, we told them “Actually, you guys are idiots. You see, we paid for only Ahmedabad to Nashik and in the same fare, we travelled 30 km more. So this is your loss, fools.”

Anyhow, cursing the driver and conductor, we got down the bus and went on the opposite side of the road waiting for any vehicle coming from opposite direction which could take us back to Nashik. So, we stood there and started making that “please stop and take us to Nashik” gesture with left thumb up and slightly tilted to every vehicle which was passing by.

We were lucky that within 15 minutes we got a bus which was going towards Nashik. We hopped in and reached Nashik in next 40 minutes. So, little tired we reached a hotel. As soon as we entered, the faces of my two colleagues beamed. I assumed it was just because of the thought that they will get some rest now after that long journey. But later, as we entered into our assigned room, room-214, I realised that it was because of that beautiful receptionist whom they were planning to woo in their own ways which came quite obvious to me when I heard them talking about her.

This was how we started our first day...