The irrelevant number@8.55

It was 10 o’clock on an empty bus, heading to Nadiad for the start of yet another semester in an endless journey for a piece of paper which was the degree certificate. Hardly two days break between the end of one sem and the beginning of the next. The heart though was beating at a faster rate compared to the bus speed. Had just horribly goofed up the NA examination. What was more troubling was in the retrospect I felt I was a bit over prepared. Not having learnt from one AE sessional exam where I had tried to study almost everything with very little sleep, resulted in a single digit score… The lowest so far. Alas sometimes one does not learn from his mistakes :/ Hence on that bumpy ride to Nadiad… I dreaded the result… The shaky experience at the time of the examination where the mind was totally blank which had never happened before still continuously hogged my mind.

A few weeks passed and by GODS grace, somehow got over the border with a couple of marks to spare and where my sessional score out of 36 was more compared to the final score out of 60! But a decent attendance at classroom and an inquisitive approach to study in the labs … somehow managed to fulfill my targets.

There I remember driving on one hand a speaker phone on the other, unable to believe I had scrapped through. And that’s where I thought for the next semester I did not want to repeat the same history. No more madness in studies. And to accept that achieving targets is secondary as compared to enjoying the journey to the final destination.

Having decided that the 4^th sem seemed so far to be the best and the most memorable one! Having had the pleasure of studying with some of the most “Interesting” Profs, learning seemed secondary compared to the enjoyment and fun in the class.

A week before the exam somehow I managed to watch over 20-25 movies along with fully following some 6 or 7 odd sitcoms. Twice managed to find ppl for chit chatting way into the night. And during the exam time, wanted to focus more on learning rather than scoring and strictly no more deprived sleepless nights. Had wanted to just score some 40 odd of 60 and finish the wonderful semester on a high! Somehow on the completion of the exams, I actually and honestly missed the past few weeks. In the hindsight they seemed some of the best days at Nadiad.

On yet another result time, I received the best present in a long time. Not that it mattered, but getting an otherwise meaningless number more then what you expected makes your parents especially, very happy.

Well what I feel is I still am under performing BUT if this is how I can still manage to get through I would gladly do that, for this number is not worthy of giving it your full potential. Moreover the recent RCB fiasco at the IPL has taught me one thing Do not reach your peak early on! For after that it’s a downhill ride. And I am glad I am no 9 pointer cause maintaining that would be a lot of energy and makes one sound like a geek! And lastly irrespective of your goals and pointers, if you learn and manage to make peace with your past, the future always would turn up good.

Lastly and hopefully if I remain sane throughout the remaining 4 sems , I would like to remind myself and to everybody else “The best days would be the ones when you start enjoying your academic along with your exam days”

Nokiac3 to Galaxy Note 2

The wait that had lasted for years for having a proper phone seemed to come true some few months ago. Back when I was small I was always fascinated by the use of stylus in the PDA’s (back then) or the mini computers… To me it looked cool. Since then I was always hoping to use a phone which to me seemed cool.

Having used (& broken) Ngage Qd and having lost a Sony Ericson Walkman series phone, the wait to me seemed to be quite long. Then came Nokia c-3 which was a semi-smartphone “back in the days” and it only increased my frustration.

But during those waiting periods I learnt the authenticity of certain notions. Having seen the secrets and its laws of attractions , and having read the shiv kheras- you can win , and having attended sneh desai’s mind training workshop , earlier I was hopefully optimistic. But with time I realized it’s better to be realistically optimist than hopefully optimist.

I must admit Nokia phones always taught me some wonderful lessons-

“No matter from what height you throw a nokia phone , no matter how many pieces it gets disintegrated into…Whenever you reassemble back , you start functioning like ever”.

 

 

Moreover like most of the things in life the enjoyment is in the quest or in the fascination. The day I changed the sim into Note 2, I felt as if all the wait for worthless. It was just another device which I am sure over time (sooner rather than later)would feel like an outdated model.

And even though I have a cool phone(acc to me) I still miss my old Nokia-C3 and the reasons being never having to look at the battery , Trying to run as many apps as possible , Rotating the phone in the hands , Occasionally throwing it up in the air , Never having to worry about forgetting the charger….

Man those were some good days… K

LOOKING IN THE MIRROR

I looked through the mirror and saw a young boy sitting 

in a chilly Air Conditioned room, looking a bit out of place. A blank notebook on his lap and a two rupee pen in his hand. He was wondering how in just 6 months of time his entire life had taken a 180 degree spin. Since past two years he had planned , prepared, wanted and had given up almost everything to go northwards and suddenly in 6 months there was only South visible all around.

At the start of that day a bench was put up asking for subscriptions of a collage newspaper. The boy   saw a very attractive poster at the subscription desk. And without any further thoughts the boy just paid for 12 issues of the collage tabloid... It was the most pleasant respite from such a boring lecture when A few hours later the doors of the MMH broke open and entered e a group of fat and jolly looking seniors. They had asked all students to come to Room no 1 at 5.30 if interested in being a part of the editorial team.

At the end of the college at 5.30, the boy was in no shape whatsoever to enjoy the remaining day having had EG torture as the last lecture of the day which could be really life threatening. Already having said no to his friends for any further plans in the day, he was preparing to move back and spend the rest of the day sleeping. On closing towards the Gate of the college he for some reason paused, and the announcement suddenly flashed in his mind.

It’s so weird how small stuff trigger some decisions you make in your life. Already he was physically and mentally tired and rest of his friends were dragging him to move along,… what happened nobody knows but he retraced his steps all the way back to the room no 1. He entered 20 mins late and saw a room full of students scribbling on a sheet of paper. On the board were topics to write on. The boy quickly settled down jotted some gibberish on the paper and left. The boy on leaving out of the door thought to himself it was a serious waste of time and energy. Seeing no chance on being selected he cursed himself for not listening to his friends.

Days later he finds out from the same 
friends that his name was written on a piece of letter which was entitled the Editorial Team and was displayed near the center foyer.A year from then the boy is sitting in a seminar hall. He comes to know that the university wants to create a world record. On the first of Jan he is a part of a team which led to the making of a world Record.

Looking at that moment now I wonder how could anybody judge or question the workings of the nature. How quickly does life transform. One moment the unexpected happens for a bad reason and on the other for a good reason. I still wonder what would have happen had I not stopped and not retraced my steps back to Room no 1.How on earth was I selected by a teacher who had not even met me ,on the sheer basis of some gibberish written by a mentally saturated student at the end of a tiring day at colg. How one change of mind can literally start rotating your life? How a second can change the path and medium of transportation towards the final destination. I distinctly remember debating once with the very same teacher who was of the opinion Golden Opportunities continue to come in Life. I would like to disagree once again with this article saying once that opportunity is gone it is no more golden.

That one moment has created an altogether different opinion towards colg life. Having met some of the most wonderful and “hatke” thinking people who unlike the other zombies are still alive. Staying and working with such a group is an honor which only a few can ever get in their lifetime. Currently imagining life without CONNECT seems very insipid. I can’t thank enough too many people, but guess it isn’t really required. Cause words would never be able to bring justice to what is required.

In the End I would conclude saying there are no logical explanations to certain things in like a change of Mind. What matters is not having regrets at the end of the day. And for that one seriously needs to break the shackles of the stale mind and logic and start taking impulsive actions towards few if not all scenarios of life. Till date I have no answer to what happened that second when I suddenly retraced my steps back. And till date wondering how many such chances have I already wasted and have never been aware of…