My College

          As the vehicle takes a turn to the left, a hillock gets uncovered. Far from city pollution and noise, in a calm surrounding, over the unwinding roads, behind the lush green trees, lies my college; The Indian Institute of Management, Indore. One glance, and you simply get mesmerized by the look and feel.
          The hill is officially known by the name “Prabandh Shikhar”. Quite an exotic name for an exotic place to be in. We know it by the name, “the hillock that never sleeps”, and that’s quite true due to the inhabitants of this place, buzzing with all kinds of activities, submissions, deadlines till late nights.
          The gate is a grand one with the name carved on one side of a wall. It seems so magnificent. As we enter the gate, a line of flowers awaits you. Dancing and swinging in the wind, it gives a feeling of nature to the onlooker. The flowers are of many colors; yellow, red, orange, violet… each one of them so beautiful and elegant, the leaves do not seem to be noticed at all. The road takes us to the foot of the hill where the road keeps moving around the hill to make you reach your destination. But wait!!! Didn’t you notice the scenery on the way? If not, you better go and have another look. As the road climbs up the mountain, the world seems to be a bird’s eye view. Down below, you can see the road coming from the horizon and vanishing into the horizon on the other side. Lush green fields, full of agricultural activities, small huts at a distance, vehicles moving up and down the road… Sometimes I feel as if I am not at my college but at a hill station. In the morning, if you are able to get up really really early, you can be the lucky one to see the sun rising among the clouds during day-break. In case you are not a early person, you always have the sunset to mesmerize yourself with.
          After a small distance, one can see magnificent building awaiting the onlookers. That is my college. The circular structure and grand arches provides it a picturesque image.
          Further down the road, you will find a block of buildings. That’s the place I live in. That’s my hostel. That’s the place which will have a special place in my heart even decades after I move out of this place.

Man with the MARKER

        He’s the man. He’s got the marker. He’s the "MAN WITH THE MARKER". Thank him, despise him but you cannot ignore him. ‘Cos if you ignore him, time will ignore you. Yes, you guessed it right. He is the official time keeper of the class.
        Official time keeper, huh…. I wonder how he got this name. I think that was one time the CR of the class mentioned this to one of the teachers. I don’t know if he likes his designation. Seems like a time table. Keen to bang you up when your time is finished. People try to bribe him, intimidate him, threaten him but he has never defaulted on his time (at least he claims so).
        Lets go back in time and see what made him what he is today. It’s a long story, consisting of more than one full term of chipped markers and banged desks and yes, some scary looks and frozen faces as well. It all started when senior faculty of the college came to a conclusion that there should be a Oral Communication class in the curriculum of the first term. The name seemed a bit mundane. After some consideration, it was renamed as Managerial Oral Communication (MOC). It is supposed to be a support to the start of a life where you will be looking at the projection most of the time while the people in front of you will try hard not to go into a deep trance.
        With so many presentations to be dealt with, the subject needed a volunteer who could fight all the boredom and moments of desperate sleepiness to keep a track of the time during the presentations. There was this little guy with high ambitions sitting at one end of the class just under the AC (how he survives there, that’s a separate story). He likes to keep a digital watch with him as he likes digits. Surprisingly, this watch turned out to be the only watch in class which had a timer. Don’t know if the watch was happy to know that it was so lonely. After all, it had been more than 10 years since it came out of the factory. Wonder where it began its journey.
        This guy did not know what he was getting into. Time is a flowing concept. How can anyone keep it? He wondered. Due to lack of other volunteers, the task was assigned to him. “Great!! At least I am doing something for my class”, he thought. He did not know what to do, when to do, how to do. But with experience, comes deftness. With the Watch and Marker as his two well known tools, he had set forth on a journey of the time and terms. A journey, where he has to be the reference point to others.
        About the marker, it was a rather fat one; chosen as a tool to bang as it was robust and had the highest conversion factor of kinetic energy to sound energy. The bang of the marker was enough to stop speakers in between their sentences and bring out “Thank you” from the mouth of the professor. Sometimes it was softer, sometimes it was louder but it was always there to put forth a reference point in the short life span of the presentation. The Man preferred the Marker to be RED. Not sure if he liked red color or if he chose it as a sign of danger, the danger of crossing the stipulated time and losing out on marks. At least he was kind enough to give a warning bang and a hand gesture to indicate “Your time is almost up buddy!! Pack up as soon as you can”. Even videos are not spared from the time keeper. He times them all and sends it to the professor. He also notes down the time of each speaker so that no one may escape the heat (at least he himself escaped it under the AC :) ).
        One question which comes to my mind is that who kept the time when he was out there, stripped off his role as the time keeper, pointing at the presentation and trying to keep the audience awake?? Well he has got a few friends with whom he keeps sharing his responsibilities to provide them with valuable experience and expertise in the art of time keeping. Sometimes they take away his watch and marker anyway, but that’s what he considers his achievement, making the dull and boring job seem so interesting. I think that deep inside, he feels happy to be absolved of his duties for some time at least.
        Terms may come and terms may go but he and his team of friends will continue to bug each presenter, whatever topic the presentation may be. MOC has never been a boring subject in the presence of them who wake up the whole class with each bang of theirs.
        Finally, special thanks to the watch, the marker and yes, the big fat OB book (which had given a deep thud on being banged) which helped the time keeper in his efforts and made this blog a possibility. I think each one of us have a time keeper inside us, just waiting to be awaken. Do you have it in you? Kar lo MARKER mutthi mein!!!!

I feel like Santa

      Continuing from my last year's blog, "Does Santa believe in material gifts only?", first of all, I would like to thank Santa to give me better food and lifestyle than what I had a year ago.
      The thought of writing this blog came to me while I was on my way to the supermarket on the Christmas Eve. I thought of taking my bike, but later decided against it as I would not be able to enjoy the air. Sometimes, it is feels great just to take a stroll towards your destination, knowing that you do not have a time constraint. Just walk on, enjoy the scene. The shops, the streets; all were decorated as it was the festive season. I saw a school celebrating some kind of fete. Kids and their parents were poring out of it with a smile on their face. I remembered how happy I used to be in my school fete. You know, smile is contagious.
      I walked on. A florist had put out a shop on the pavement. He had several types of bouquets. Were those flowers real? He had sprayed the area with water to give it a cool feel. I wonder how his business is going on. People who are buying those bouquets, I wonder how their lives are going on? What would be the price of a bouquet? I wonder if I would be buying one some day.
      A few steps forward, I saw a bhutta-wala. No, he was not the boiled bhutta types. Rather, he was the traditional popping in fire types. Some people had gathered around him. I wonder if these people will be eating less for dinner. I wonder if the vendor child will be having dinner. I hope he does. I thought of eating one, but I remembered that I was heading towards a mall and was not sure if I would be able to finish it before I reach the mall. Such a tight schedule you see.
      It is Santa season. I am feeling happy. There need not be a reason to be happy. You can be happy if people around you are happy. The sound of "Ho ho ho...." says it all. You gotta be smiling. A few steps forward, I saw a kid selling Santa caps. The long and tapering one with a bunch of white threads at the end. He was wearing one himself, although his clothes were not in good condition. Still, he had a smile on his face.
      In the present day world, people are so busy that people seldom look where they are going. No one has time to care for anyone. Every year I hear in news about debates over Santa's existence. I wonder if it matters at all. The guy at the restaurant was wearing a Santa costume and welcoming guests. The mothers were showing kids, "See, that's Santa". He was not giving away any gifts but still his looks surely put a smile on everyone's face. I believe that this was the best gift he could have given.
      One day someone told me that one should not cry as other people may be in much worse situation than you are. My experience tells me that it is true. Thus, there is just one thing left to do. Smile. Smile at your problems as they will have to face you. Smile at God as he may have archived your happy moments to be reloaded at a later point of time. Smile at the unknown shopkeeper as he will feel good that you came to his shop. Smile. That's all you need to do to be a Santa.
"You better watch out,
You better not cry,
You better not pout,
I'm telling you why.

"Santa Claus is coming to town!"

Finding Happiness

          Nowadays, I do not feel like writing any more blogs. I just don’t know why. May be I have turned too much pessimistic or may be it is the guilt of making others pessimistic. I do not feel like going to sleep at night. It seems like once I sleep, one more day of my life is over. In the morning, I don’t feel like getting up and going to office. I do not care if the cook has made dinner or not. People suggest lots of things. Somewhere I heard the term early life crisis. Is it that or is it something else? I just don’t know.
          To keep myself from getting melancholy, I must keep myself busy. I am trying reading novels. The one I am reading currently is “The Cry of Halidon” by Robert Ludlum. But you see, when I try to read it one my way to office, the movements of the bus ensures that I am not able to read more than one page. The result, either I go to sleep or else, I get lost in the dreams of years gone by. I think that I have developed this habit of living in the past. I always worry how I could have made my past better and in the process, I neglect my present. Sometimes I try to give attention the present but before I know, it has already become past. The past, which I remember and smile in solitude.
          In fact, many people have told me personally that they have seen me smiling in solitude with no apparent reason. What do I tell them? They will never understand why I am smiling. It’s just a reflex.
          I believe that every positive aspect inherently brings with it a negative aspect as well. If you have been watching superhero movies, you will see many super villains as well. Well, we do not see both kinds in real life. Thus, when I talk of smiling in solitude, I must also talk of crying in solitude. I have lately discovered that crying can be an art. You can make people think that you are smiling when actually, you are crying. Crying you heart out, but only you can sense it. Sometimes, if it is raining while you are traveling in a bus and you feel like crying, you can try crying while jutting out your head partially out of the window. I know, it sounds very silly. Try it once.
The point to note here is that it is just a part of life. Life will give you sadness and happiness in equal proportions. It depends on you which of these you tend to remember and which one to forget.
          Look at the people around you. You will find loads of happiness all around. All you have to do is just allow yourself to absorb it. Once someone told me that happiness is not an entity in itself. The absence of sadness is happiness. I still cannot decide if this is true or the opposite of it. I hope thats enough of pessimism for today. Watch out for my new blog series at http://how-r-u-doin.blogspot.com. The subject matter will be relationships. Its true, gossips always sell :). But instead, this will focus on the intricacies of various relationships we face in our daily lives. Hope to make you smile.

Leaving my first company

Lately, I have been much criticized about all the senti stuff in my blogs. May be I am making people too much depressed. Thus, here comes a blog which is a bit out of context. Let me tell you about my first company.

I had been working with it for the last two years. God, I was so happy the day I had got the job. It was my birthday and I got the offer letter in my hand. I feared that I may have to go into a mechanical core company but I was very elated to go into a software one. Time passed, soon I got another software job with much more pay. But I refused it. I had already got my dream job, I thought. The first few days of my joining was not easy going as I had just entered the corporate world. New people all around, tests everyday. But I also enjoyed some nice moments like movies and pizza huts with friends. Had I already told you how much I hated changes. After 4 months, I moved to Mysore from Pune. It was a totally different experience. Serious work. Very less friends. Too much time to waste with nothing to do. I lived in this state for the next two years. I would say the best years of my life (for some other reason...).

One day, I decided enough of this. I cannot be a frog of the well. I will have to move out, see other places, meet new people. I was wasting myself here. Thus I went for a certification program from Bangalore and then on to the interviews. The interview went so-so. Some nice, some bad. Some very bad. But overall, I gained experience with each interview I faced. Finally, it was great to know that I got through in the first interview I attempted. I left after a notice period of 1 month. It was really awkward. I wanted to leave but still, something was holding me back. I will lose all my friends, I thought. But thats the way of life. You meet some, you lose some. The ones closer to you will always get back, no matter how far you go. I thank all my friends who helped my in this two year stay in my company. I went through some really nice times in these years which I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Life

Sometimes life can be very cruel. You know, it pains the most when life is being at its most vicious form while other people think that you are very well off. Sometimes life makes you move to a point where you are like a Prizoner of War, being shoved into a 2'x2'x2' cell. You are just about to burst; but you can't. You have your social obligations. You can't complain about it to anyone as you can trust no one. You may have lots of friends but you do not have that one friend whom you can tell whatever you want and still expect that you will be consoled and not rebuked for it. Thanks to this concept of blogs which enables those unlucky ones to have a stream of thoughts trickle down from the otherwise tightly encapsulated 2'x2'x2' cell.

So, life moves on. You meet new people. You forget some old ones and then those old ones come up all of a sudden and make you feel awkward at not recognizing them. But on the way, you will find some whom you can confide upon just because you do not know them well and you know that the things you tell will not get spread across.

The V-day blog

Hello all,
     Here is Dholu wishing you readers (with loads of free time) a very happy V-day. For those who don't know me, I am Rahul's imaginary friend. You must be thinking where is he himself. Last I saw him, he was busy in some damn boring training class. Now, he must be at his home, watching tv or playing guitar. God! What an instrument to play. You can create music which can enthrall all other around you. On some other days, it can generate songs tunes which can bring tears to your eyes. Lets see what will he be playing today. But one thing is for certain. His roommates are sure to throw him out of his room. He he.... he still has a long way to go in mastering guitar.
     On this "auspicious" occasion of V-day, let me write some nice quotes which I have been hearing.

The greatest thing is life is being able to marry the person you like

The worst thing is life is sitting next to the person you like knowing that you would never be able to get him/her

     And now I present a tune which Rahul surely plays on every guitar session for his Nikki(as he says it, may be an imaginary GF like me his imaginary friend). I have a hunch that he must be playing it at this present moment. What is the song?? Why don't you play it and find out!!!

E ---------------0--------------------------------
B -------0--1-3------3-----------0---3----1-------
G ---2---------------------0--2-------------------
D ------------------------------------------------


E ----------------------------------------------
B ---1---0-----0-1--------------------0---------
G ----------2------------------0--2--------2----
D ------------------3-------3-------------------
A ----------------------------------------------


E -----------0----------------------------------------------
B ----0--1--3--3-----------0--3---1----1----0-----0-1-------
G -2---------------0---2-----------------------2------------
D ----------------------------------------------------3-----
A ----------------------------------------------------------


E -------------------------------------------------------------
B --------------0----------------------------------------------
G -------0---2------2------------------------------------------
D ---3---------------------------------------------------------
A -------------------------------------------------------------


Note: The blog has been written by the author assuming that no one ever reads his blogs.