Nostalgic nostrills: That gas machine...

Nostrils often used to be a mode of drawing our attention to something familiar. That similar perfume of sweets lady, that delicious smell of chicken kassa cooked at neighboring place or even a shop, that smell in the bus coming from people who toil day in and out for their livelihoods, and that smell of cigarette which you sense when you teacher or boss had just had a puff: nostrils take us back to a moment of acquaintance in past.

So here is a note from me dedicated towards a moment which i hated as well as enjoyed(remember how i did told you that life is a dilemma); a moment which was all set because of nostrils.

Once in every month i used to smell something oily(kerosene like) while returning from plays in evenings. It took me a while to discover that that smell emanated from the reminiscent of the gas sprayer to shew away the mosquitoes.

One of the advantages of settling in a closely knit community(or say colony) is hygiene. From food to air, be rest assured that you are,consuming everything which is hygienic. So does follow all activities in ensuring hygiene. And pest cleaning is one of them.

The fogging machine: Memories associated...

Much to the annoyance of family members, much to the encroachment of privacy of bedroom windows and much to the aggravating due to the humming noise of machine, the mosquito pest control smoke machine( or the fogging machine) used to pay regular visit to every nook and corner of colony. It used to come with a sound of conch: its terribly humming noise. Even when the pest control at neighboring type was on, we used to be aware of it. The machine did not fear anyone: big, small, rich or poor, and diligently performed its duty. An equal credit goes to the operators who not only tolerated the loud humming noise of machine, refilled it at every step, but also never shooed away from foraying into deep area to ensure our safety.

Few days back while taking a stroll in my locality i happened to encounter a familiar smell; the smell of mosquito repellent smoke machine. Needless to say that it immediately drew my attention back to those good old days when i was irritated as well as excited at the prospect of machine visiting our house. Clearly, i do consider the machine as one of the biggest celebrity guest which has ever visited by house. It commanded respect and slogged to protect us. A tribute to the machine....

Turning back the time..

Sipping your favorite coffee and walking down the lanes of childhood days never seems to be a bad idea, especially when you are out of touch with your close pals for a while. A hiatus of two grand years from my school teachers, friends and people of colony gave me an excuse to hang out with my school friends.

Smile Please: Mr. Banker,Miss Fund Manger
and I strike a pose for the camera

The meticulous planning of the trip, whose destination was initially decided to be Kerela, tapered gradually over the time to culminate the location at local places near our old houses. And the number of friends turning out for the trio slowly plummeted from nine to three! If two is a company and three is a chaos, then four five six and on are pandemonium. The turnout was optimal to personify our wishes and requests for the trip. However that did not deter our plans. Me, Mr Banker and Miss Fund Manager kick-started the journey by visiting a popular temple of lord Ganesha in south Orissa. Mr Banker was quick to share his experience of visit Siddhi Vinayak temple in Mumbai. The soaring mercury, which did not do good to us, however was somewhat pacified by the AC in the taxi.

Prop under use: Mr. Banker and Miss Fund
Manager pose for a pic

What started as a normal trip turned to a voyage of fun and madness. Thanks to the super soaring mercury in Sambalpur, which gave Miss Fund Manager a right to exploit(yes, she made us slog with the camera work) us. With her frequent one liners such as “take a snap from that place” and “this heat is nothing as compared to that of Sambalpur”, she made sure to cover each nook and corner of the places we visited. Mr. Banker was a mixed bag as he often posed for photos and clicked photos and bemoaned the excessive frequency of snaps that were taken(at least 3 pics per 3 steps!!!). Three cameras and a never ending auto click mode(which was turned on in Mr. Banker’s mobile) increased the permutation and combinations of pictures. Literally every prop on the way was utilized to be stored in the frames of memories.

The photoshoot prevailed throughout the journey, as we headed next to “almost a college turned sanctuary” and an exotic hotel on sea shore. In a way, the photoshoot allowed us to experience the exotic and decors of the hotel. Not surprisingly did Miss Fund Manager or Mr Banker outdid me in the food department during lunch, as they tasted almost all possible dish available.

Splash Game! : Dirty, saline water of Bay of
 Bengal  under use for  splash game

The fun doubled with a packed sea beach, where we took recourse in splashing dirty saline water on each other. Mr. Banker shied away from this splash fest and took charge behind the lens. Finally, after rejecting Mr. Banker’s plea of dropping him home first, Miss Fund Manager took us to her home where we were welcomed with a good coffee and snacks. The whole experience drained out our energy, did gave a moment to capture which would bring in smile on our faces in future. Yes, everything in this world is a transaction and in this trip we traded our energy for fun and smile. Down the time, such hangouts would act as impetus for us to continue assembling for such more mad trips.

This time that year

Completion of a stint is a great thing. Especially when you mask yourself a man on the mission and come out with a i-finally-survived look. The scary experiences in the black box of stint jolts your perception, changes the alignment of your constellations and approach towards things.

While I come out from one of a stint, mind takes me back years ago during the bachelor in engineering/technology course. Mobile phones were a growing fashion that time. Class was determined by the weight of the phone, rather than its appearance. The torchlight mobile phones and the ever lasting samsung(RIM) phone were the alternatives during those days. Few had the liberty to hunt in for sony-erricson and other mobiles.

What drives my attention back to those days is an introduction of an offer(free talk time for reacharge of 500 INR within the telephone operator network). The teen couples rushed to pounce on such offers and did not bother about the low(extremely low balance offered by the cellular operator). In case you happened to own a number of different cellular network operator, either the onus was on you to call them up/ or you had to take the risk of never listening back from them(if they every call you, it would be a maximum two times ring missed call).

There were others who were not bothered by these offers(inelastic demand) and preferred the full talk time package. They took pride in changing hello tunes, more often than they changed their toothpastes, activated 'missed call alerts' despite not receiving much of calls and were frequent fan of more value added services of cellular operators.

The SMS alert was high during cricket matches, with people texting to those four or five digit numbers to learn about the score updates. That year, I also saw the quality of grammar deteriorate as alphabets were chopped off the words to be accommodated in the text limit of single SMS.

Those days can never be brought back, but I would like to travel with those loners and no-loners on those memory lanes and wonder how they perceive the world today(when mobile technology has leaped a long way ahead)?

Climax days...

Snatch some time...

The final days are one of the most boring and busiest period on universe. On one hand when one is saddled with completing the last formalities and strives to wrap them off in as minimum time as possible, the specified time period when he/she is needed to stay makes the experience a bit boring with a sprinkle of patience.

Smart Dude tries to fit in to a baby
high-chair to prove his fitness

I cajoled Smart dude to head out for a party. The trio headed after our classes to one of the outlets of a brand started by Col. Sanders. On seeing me pushing for payment(and thanks to pre-payment system before ordering food), Gold Lady ordered a delicious dish. The spiciness of the dish made us sip those mint drink which Smart dude ordered. Time had smiled on me, as I dictated the chit chat and Gold Lady supported my points. Naturally Smart dude was the casualty, but he seemed to enjoy those missiles of banter.

We soon headed to watch a bollywood flick, whose name coincided with a location. Sloppy story line, lousy dialogues and loose acting helped ease our mind as a action thriller was converted to a parody. We three joked and enjoyed. It took a while to realize that three protagonists in the movie were actually using the same song (without any alteration in lyrics) during their introduction scenes.

The movie finished with 1 hour in hand for the gates of college to shut down. We fed our hungry stomach and returned campus. That culminated the experience of trio. A chilled out educational hub gifted me experience with two cool folks and I would cherish it forever.

Lessons of life

I happened to develop rapport with an ex-service man. Before leaving the place I payed a visit to his place and enjoyed our chat. He mentioned his experience of serving in various locations during his tenure in a defense organization. One can never say on seeing this person that he has been a part of ambush, been at place with some of the tense security climate and endured much hardships during the course of service. It was interested to live this experience, where interacting with a person opened up a gamut of learning and experience of life. I would cherish the fact that we developed a good rapport and I have one more person who would be here when I visit next time.

I also met up with an entrepreneur, who happened to be my acquaintance. Though younger than me in age, he was older than me in facing the music while realizing a vision. And unlike our assignments, where a mistake can be made up in future actions, this guy did not had any luxury to go for mistakes. I was happy to learn that his initiative was recognized in various global and national business plans competition. The passion which I see in him, gives me the answer to the question "why this guy works harder despite things nothing going the right way? why this guy is so optimistic?" Perhaps that's how one is supposed to approach life, and I would continue to look up to this sort of attitude.

As I leave a crazy, wacky place with a crazy and wacky experience I would always turn back to relive those few good memories I had here.

Vantage points..

Coffee after work

Time: A year and half ago..

It was during the days in first year. The guest lecture had just finished. So did my job of typing the draft and mailing it to my group. I packed the laptop and headed out. The phone buzzed as I was boarding the bus which was bound to campus.

The 'Trio': Back then in first year.
Picture taken by Mr. Young

It was Smart Dude. The idea of snacks struck him.This time the trio was accompanied Mr. Young. We headed to Caffee Coffee Day as it was one of the closer option available and my penchant for Frappe. Despite donning formals, I did not hesitate to head for coffee, as more or less I resembled a sales folk(no offence intended) tired after day's toil.

As we settled down, we ordered ourselves coffees and snacks. Gold Lady and Mr. Young took turns in clicking pictures. Smart Dude had a lengthy telephonic conversation and then joined us as the snacks were served.

Things have moved slow and such memories have always been at back of my mind. As I always believe, such moments can never be replicated, but we can cherish them forever.

Boredom on horizon

Time: Yesterday..

Saari duniya ek taraf hai, ek taraf hai hum..
When you smile for me, world seems alright..

A rejoiced Smart Dude replayed these lines again and again on his music system, as we were returning after some work. While returning a common notion struck me. What makes two, three or multiple persons as friends? Its 'purpose'. Each and every person in the circle shares the same purpose: whether it may be as weird as going for booze or as pious as visit to holy place. The notion struck me as I wondered what made me to tag along with Smart Dude or Gold Lady or Mr.Brave n Strong or others.

Even the rays of sunshine could not
inspire Smart Dude to come out of
boredom. (Image quality regretted).

I did realize that friends not only have a common area of taste, but also
common area of distaste. From making faces on the prospect of certain dishes to dampening the emotions on the prospect of an unwelcome person, the range of common distaste varies.

As I ordered food from, Smart Dude was super busy in his world of boredom. Singing songs in super slow tempo, posing super sad expressions and recurring the lyrics like a stuck cassette player, Smart Dude exhibited all attributes of a bored person to a perfect level. Luckily we finished the food and headed back to campus.

We are tensed

Time: 2 weeks back..

"Sir, what do you do when you are in distress?" I asked a senior volunteer who was travelling with me in train.

"When I am distressed or don't feel comfortable, I say no. But saying no has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. I have had a lot of trade-offs to do in life. But ultimately I was confident of my skills. That gave me confidence" replied the old man.

I suddenly found his words of wisdom to be apt. Somewhere in heart I do believe that our confidence has some co-relationship with the faith we put on our skill sets.

A relaxed Mr. Savior
poses after presentation

The next day I had a presentation to deliver. The day was filled with tension as my presenting partner was drowned in his set of issues and I with mine(I had a subject presentation coinciding the same day). After initial rushing to faculties, we were blessed by their suggestions to incorporate changes.

The next day we had presentation. To our surprise, we were received well and provided with lots of constructive suggestions. The incident taught me one thing: listening to varied people sometimes brings new learning and hones your skills.

We came out relieved and had our pictures clicked. Mr. Savior, who supposedly happened to be my presenting partner was happy for the thing to go smoothly. Realizing that we happened to be in suits,we snapped pictures of selves.

Numerous vantage points as these lie in the memoirs in mind. Sometime when they get flashed, I feel luck recalling such rare moments.

The February fun

It was the party time again! The boring 'trio' got on again. But this time, there was fourth umpire on the field. Mr. Brave 'n' Strong accompanied us. Apart from being my roomie, Mr. Brave 'n' Strong has an amazing sense for critic, satire and humor. Needless to say, often I am on his radar of humors.

After fooling Mr. Smart Dude for around 10 minutes by assuring him that we have reached the spot(we actually didn't), we finally managed to reach the food court. Smart Dude was furious, but burst into laughter on seeing me chuckle. Gold Lady hijacked the Activa of Mr. Brave 'n' Strong and took a test ride in the perimeter of the parking lot. We soon boarded Smart Dude's car and headed for dinner.

Good food, cricket, humor and satire were on the agenda as we enjoyed the regale. Often critiquing and appreciating each other(Gold Lady was out of this fray, but she was active in drawing my attention on the group), we enjoyed shifting the topic from person to person. We headed back @ 10:15 to campus. Two presentations set on the next day had made me nervy, as I was flummoxed during the dinner as to what would I present and how. Mr. Brave 'n' Strong opened the lid of the secret of one of my presentation plans to Smart Dude and Gold Lady. The next one hour went terrorizing me as to how will Mr. Brave 'n' Strong, Gold Lady and Smart Dude ensure to spread the news across the batch and get maximum audience. I was so frozen by the thought of being grilled that I preferred to gaze at a local cricket tournament telecast on TV screen. Quietly I ate dinner, enjoyed the AC and my appreciations by the three of them and headed back to campus.

yeh mobile mujhe dede Gold Lady!!!

It is rare that we the trio have common subjects. And if we do, we(at least I) am scattered from the rest. After quietly settling on a comfortable seat, I was spotted by Gold Lady, who blackmailed me to accompany her and Smart Dude on the front row. I did not had choice, but to oblige. The next one hour was a silent fun as we shared biscuits, popped up allegations(from branding Smart Dude as e-waste) and taking my class(which had become a routine by now). The class ended, but the fun hadn't. Smart Dude had left his mobile, which the Gold Lady spotted and coolly slotted the mobile in her bag. I was a part of the crime as me and Gold Lady made a safe passage to Smart Dude's car, while he rushed back to the class from the exit after realizing that he might have left his mobile.

After a while we saw a flummoxed and smiling Smart Dude coming out of the exit and yelling 'mobile do mera'. However, he wasn't able to crack down the crime of Gold Lady, who smartly started marching towards canteen. With a 'kamaal hai, phone le gayi' attitude, Smart Dude finally managed to recover his phone back from Gold Lady. Soon, I and Smart Dude were accompanied by Mr. Non-erasable and headed to town for snacks.The snacks sessions were full of gyaans with Mr. Non-erasable speaking on a philosophical note. After a good snacks we returned back to our abodes to look for the next day.

An exam tomorrow, classes and some work. It looks like I have my plates full as of now. But the moments such as ones described above may seldom come again.

Repertoire of good moments

Chicken Ghee Roast Day

It was the turn of trio to hit a good restaurant. Occasion? Gold Lady's birthday. Blame it again to my shyness which forced Gold Lady to dump her celebration plans and execute the clandestine plan of treating the trio (no prize for guess the third person in form of mischievousness Smart Dude). Those were the good old days when we relied on Auto. We soon hit one of the nice restaurants at the city, located near a beauty shop.

Gold Lady's phone was abuzz with calls. In fact the way she greeted her relatives, conversed with them and closed the call taught me a lot of things. I was supposed to be excused that day for being too traditional, as I constantly kept hearing single word "pranaam" reverberating in her conversations. Smart Dude was relaxed and clam. His attention was transfixed to the television. Unfortunately I was seated opposite to him and all I could gaze at was their faces, a wall and the air conditioner. A flurry of american accented words were blasted in the air by a group seated nearby. Their pandemonium of fun and discussion aroused suspicion between the three of us. In case you stumble upon these accent, you would wonder if these are real or fake? 

After assuring(or say assuming) ourselves that the accent was fake, we played with words. Smart Dude often poked Gold Lady for her accent. The order was once again initiated by her, and this time she wanted to try a different recipe. So, what did she order?A chicken ghee roast. 

It was time for the birthday girl to be trapped in the illusion of name as the dish tasted out way contrary to her expectations. Perhaps that was how I remember that day as : the Chicken Ghee Roast Day.

The Russian Salad Day

It was time for me to host my birthday treat. Again it was the trio and we three headed to the best hotel in the city. After initial dilly dallying, we finally settled for menu. Smart Dude wanted to try something different now. And in the process he ended up ordering Russian Salad. Destiny ensued Smart Dude the same fate as that of Gold Lady during her birthday treat. The dish turned out to be contrary of expectations. We soon decided to hustle to nearby restaurant and had a good meal.

Wake me up, when 8'o clock ends

The test of time is the toughest in the world where punctuality is the motto. End up being one minute late and you are off. End of waking 30 mins late, and you loose attendance for losing class. End up waking 12 hours late, you seriously wonder introspecting yourself and quitting things. The fear of quitting things(yes, I did went through a scenario where I ended up waking very late owing to illness) brought me to establish trust with my two buddies: Smart Dude and Nonerasable Man. We established a mutual consent where the one waking up early would ring the other two(I was lazy in this department). I often remember Nonerasable Man banging my door to wake me up. When I look back at those days I realized how an unsaid principle is established among people. We three happened to be the member of same group too and it often helped us.

The world of satire

It was yet again the time to hang out at a pastry outlet in the city. Smart Dude was kind again to pack me in his car and give a ride. My soul thanked Gold Lady for springing the idea of going for the cake at night, as I was damn hungry for a pastry. 

We settled with our orders. I could see Smart Dude giggling and asking me to check out the rest room. When I did I found something unusual. A poster read:

A similar poster as this was discovered by
me (Photo adopted from: www.etsy.com)

" If you sprinkle when you tinkle be nice and neat and clean the seat"

World today has turned much sophisticated to educate people about basic etiquette. Gone are the days of carrot and stick. The mood of today is 'satire'. 

No wonder I find it funny and attractive, but I also got the message quick and clear. Companies and retail outlets are doing everything to : a. educate people using their premises, b. politely list the rules without hurting them. 

As the days go by, we would often see such humongous satires with the basic message relating to etiquette and behavior. 

Something to ponder upon: My experience in city of dreams

Reaching a metro city early in morning was no new thing for me. The AC coach assistant wakes you up. You see people rushing to washroom, brushing their teeth and furiously wearing socks(combination does not matter, what matters is one should get down at right station). Thanks to my friend Mr. Savior, we got off @ LTT. It was turn of the city of dreams to welcome us duo.

After hopping one local train we managed to reach the hotel. Mr. Infant was already stationed since a day and  we had little difficulty in locating the hotel. My curiosity and mobile managed to sniff wi fi connection in the hotel. Infant was getting ready for his event and Savior decided to explore the city(he got lucky with his visit the starbucks). I decided to take to visit my friend's place in afternoon. 

A good nap of 4 hours was culminated with a call from my friend. We caught up after 45 minutes and headed his home. Aunty was kind enough to serve a delicious regale. Soon it was dusk and I boarded auto to Bandra. The trip in Auto was full of riches and rags around, handsome buildings and Savior's texts on going gaga over the place(where the event was held).

If you are wondering where should you visit to experience the 'Mayavi' of Mumbai, Bandra is the place to be. Ultra cool females, sublime luxuries, relaxed couples, smooth driveway and a lovely looking hanging bridge. Bandstand houses the abode to superstars of film industry(including Mannat of Badshah) and the super sleek Hotel Taj Lands End. We were lucky to attend the event in one of the finest brand of hotels across the nation.

With the consultation of Mr. Infant, I headed to the basement, where the event was scheduled to be organized. I soon met with Savior and we decided to explore the hotel and take pictures. In next 30 minutes, I witnessed a sneak peek of life in a luxury hotel, a life I am sure most of us strive to live.

 Mr. Savior posing for a snap

Elite one-on-one meetings on coffee tables, groups of beautiful ladies with the bride rushing to the lift and some lonely souls on the table were found en route our exploration journey. Although I adored the richness of elite, luck of business people and beauty of bride, I could feel a connect with them. I did realize that on basic level, they too are human like us. I felt happy for the bride for getting married, sad for distressed looking rich people on restaurant and acknowledged a daily frame of relationship in form of 'transaction'.  We headed back to basement to attend the function.

The event was held in a grandiose manner. Me and Savior relished the snacks offerings and soft drinks served to audience as a part of event. 

"Dude, I think we are gonna win something. Lets borrow blazer from students back" uttered Savior in a suspicious voice.

Our conviction of winning slowly started getting stronger as our award category approached neared. We managed to borrow blazers from two kind souls, at the time of nomination announcement and were delighted to learn ourselves as the joint winners in our category.

The aftermath of award ceremony was colorful indeed. So jolly was Mr. Savior that our of excitement he picked up a wrong trophy for posing picture. My calculative mind(which I inherited from Smart Dude) alerted me of the discrepancy as I rushed to keep the trophy back at its original position, only to discover a lady faculty frantically searching for it. I couldn't stop smiling(due to Savior's act) while conveying my apologies to madam.

As I was heading out of hotel, I realized one thing. The people in hotel whom we envy, are normal persons. And not everyone out there is rejoicing that choice. There are some who are tied by the shackles of business and didn't seemed to enjoy the luxury. Not everything is hunky dory!

Crust of hopes or wayward dreams?

Seeing impossible dreams is a part and parcel of life.  And mind refuses to accept certain lessons despite committing the same mistakes again and again. So what motivates us to commit the same mistake? What drives us to run on the slippery task and ignore the risk of skidding badly and hurting back? What drags back to the cushion of inertia and coats our mind with lucrative dreams? Answer: the prize.

Whatsoever we may believe, shifting focus from result oriented to process oriented warrants time. One cannot change his/her approach overnight. Even after changing approach, some degree of craziness are bound to crystallize in the adrenaline(for instance one may exhibit result oriented approach sometimes, despite a complete change in outlook). I cite an instance in which three friends submerged into world of fantasy while working hard on their dreams for 3 days.

"I would give you a treat, take care of sightseeing in Delhi and ensure you have a comfortable stay" said Gold Lady, as me and Smart Dude were cajoled to propel our team into the campus round of a prestigious event. Gold Lady was expected to attend a function which happened to be at the same place of campus and at same time of event. We had qualified the preliminary round and working out the next round. The incentive of qualification in this round would be an invite to campus followed by our presentation of ideas.

The trio poses for pic during a break from
 the hectic 3 days effort. Although in vain,
the effort got the best out of the team.

With an awareness of string of bad lucks of past events with me, I tried to tone down the expectation and warn Gold Lady. But soon after Smart Dude switched sides and advocated Gold Lady's belief, I was lured to be optimistic.

So, what exactly does mean by being 'optimistic'? A frank confession from soul would elicit a clear answer "to dream that you can and have achieved the prize". And those who try to correct the 'dream' in the latter statement with 'belief', I must draw their attention to a feeling that there is a blurred line between 'dream' and 'belief'. Do hard workers not dream? Do people who do not work not believe?

We gave our best shot, dreaming of visit to the campus round and eased our anxiousness by mixing it with fantasy of making it to the final round. But..we didn't made it to the finals!

Sometimes its hard to explain a failure, as hard as it is to explain a victory. The only difference being, in times of victory your soul seldom demands an explanation, whereas in case on other side you perform all sort of analysis to understand the reason for loss. Coming to terms with loss is a slow and gradual process, just like recuperating from illness(you don't get well overnight, do you?).

It is easy to point to the fact that the element of dream was the culprit in spoiling our result and question our commitments. But won't that same dream acted a motivator and helped us push the envelope of commitment and hard work.

My belief for victory was a bit muted than Gold Lady and Smart Dude, but I don't blame either of them for believing ourselves to the final round. It is not the first time I have seen efforts gone to bin, unappreciated and rejected. Being persistently exposed to similar rejections showed me a bigger picture. But that has not ceased the urge to dream of accomplishment, and this dream gets grandiose in the waiting time(i.e. time between submission of your efforts and declaration of results). And the extension of result deadline just inflates your curiosity and dreams.

But when I look back today, I realize what I achieved in the process. Three mediocre but arrogant souls burnt midnight oil in a fantasy. Perhaps this is one of the best team effort I have witnessed in life. There has to be a trade off between realism and fantasy as each has its merits. You lose the merits of one, when you exclusively go for a sublime choice. Thus, all our choices are blend of fantasy and reality.

Crazy wave

To go or not...was my initial confusion as I contemplated the cost-benefit of opting out of my committee hangout plan. After some level of coaxing by myself, I managed to pull myself out of bed, don in the shirt and   beat the 6:00 AM 'shut the alarm and continue sleeping' syndrome. I soon got a text from my wicked boss aka the bucketman to rush to reception. Soon I found nikepedia(the fame guy who needs no introduction) and Indu.

Nikipedia and soup share a moment of
 fun after capturing everyone asleep. 

After cajoling out rest of the members(who expressed their initial desire to head out), we finally started at 7:30 AM. Soup, keyycee, preetha, V-kas, Madhu, nidzz, KC sr, raamyaaa completed the gang as we headed to Yana. After a cozy breakfast, nearly all members were drowned in the whirlpool of sleep. Soup and nikipedia managed to get the 'i am in deeeep sleep' pictures of everyone as we cherished it on the camera. Indeed, the clandestine manner in which both were able to get the clicks makes them eligible for any spy jobs. Finally, everyone woke up after an hour to find their wicked pictures.

 On a break while trekking to Yani 

We finally arrived at Yana. The mini trekking to the temple was a fun journey as the group halted for pictures, drinks(notably 'Maa' is the brand name of the drink consumed throughout the journey) and rest(few people managed to climb to the cliffs, do a running race while coming downstairs and beat the heat and pace while climbing upstairs). The walk was a dance in itself as we calibrated the optimum time of keeping one foot at the hot floor before lifting it up and replacing it with other foot. The trek was exhaustive and we relaxed once we reached the vehicle.

After a dosa and tea break, we landed up at Murdeshwar. While my persistent plea to keyycee(to extend the bus journey to goa while everybody was asleep) was rejected, we managed to compensate dirtying ourselves on the beach. While V-kas queitly chose to head to super giant shiv temple, rest of us hustled to beach.

Murdeshwar was all fun!!

A lot of crazy water splashes, hoopla and camera clicks ensured a constantly high momentum of fun. The temple glittered as darkness slowly took over the control. Soon, we headed back to campus. A food pickup was on agenda as we tried out our desired dishes before breaking off for the day.

It was an amazing leaf in the book of pleasant experience of life. Apart from having free 'lunches', I enjoyed the trip, got pictures clicked and saw various shades of emotion on a single day. As one of my professor said "so far, so good', I am happy that the trip would continue to remain in our memories forever. At least, we were a team then :)

A wednesday: The wonder day

Failures and lessons often go hand in hand. A holiday package to USA as prize money looks lucrative to drive you an extra mile, and yet disappoint when fate refuses to smile at you. Then comes the crushing time for those poor, little and cute dreams of how would you celebrate after winning. Life hasn't been different for me either, as most of times I have been through same cycle. Over time you realize to enjoy those dreams as much as you can and make them grandiose than past one. Today, I essay one of the dreams which I lived in those moments awaiting results after a torrid 3 days of hard work.

Smart dude was furiously transfixed on computer screen, doing the best in his department of editing and calculative thinking(even I wonder how did he managed to get these two contrasting skills together). Gold lady was busy translating the ideas scribbled by me and adding them a value of simplicity and validating the logic of every line. A food parcel order at night, coupled with smart dude airing the rumor of ghost in lab(prank call again) to scare gold lady looked to be the highlight of the night. But the night was yet to finish.

Once again gold lady's adventure mind
got us to a super cool morning trip
to witness sun rise 

"Lets go to see sun rise" popped up a lively gold lady. 

Surprisingly our Smart dude managed to pull off his inertia and agree to the plan. And once again, they were kind to pack me in to the car. The surprise had just started. It was gold lady who was driving the car!!! Being a mechanical engineer made her escape from my suspicion as I was confident that she would pull it through. And..she did it with a style by defying the potholes, cruising through the early morning rushers and maneuvering smartly on tricky chicanes.  The car stopped at end point.

If ever you wonder to see the sun rise or sun set in this education hub, hang out here. Its a perfect place to rejoice the first sun rays in the early morning, bid adieu to night, feel the urge to eat breakfast before brushing teeth and have ultimate wish to sleep after returning back. 

Water Splash! Gold lady attempts to splash
water on Smart dude as he poses for camera

After an initial photo session, the trio decided to head back. Little again did I knew that fate had one more surprise as smart dude drove us to Arabi Falls. Its a small fall with perfect ingredients of early morning ambiance, a thick mix of fog to cloud the entire forest separating two valleys and open the floodgates of adventure within self.

Once again, gold lady took the initiative of spinning the yarn of adventure. We splashed water, exposed our rock solid legs to the cool water of the fall, froze some amazing memories and headed back to campus.The mood was strong enough to instigate the adrenaline of adventure in me, as we splashed water on each other. Smart dude, using his calculative mind, had prepared for contingency and had carried an alternative piece of clothing to look fresh.

We returned back to campus and were treated with Puri(yes, it was wednesday morning). Little do I need to say then how much did I enjoy sleeping on holiday. The results of the competition(which we were working on lab) did not had our names, but yet I felt as if I won something in this loss. I realize today what I won was an amazing time with two good pals. 

A wicked hangout

Tuesday evening is nothing special for me. Unlike Wednesday when I get an incentive to crush my sleep and run to canteen to grab Puri in morning, Tuesday does not have my favorite food/show. Incidentally Wednesday has been kind enough to me ever since my engineering days. From getting faculty approval for project, finding the concerned mentor, finding the right shop 'opened' and many more, Wednesday has been the day when all the deadlocks have been cracked and work done. But this Tuesday(i.e. yesterday) was filled with fun.

It has been a good 4-5 months ever since I have hung out with two of my best pals(which I made during my post graduate stint). Blame my 'no show to mass parties', 'shyness to group gatherings' or 'laziness', I have always shied away from invites. Yesterday however brought back the memories to the de-ja-vu lane.

So, it was Smart dude and Gold lady who played the prank with me. For the first time, I got separate invites from each of them for dinner. My initial assumption that we three were heading for dinner together,  was proved wrong by smart dude with a 'i don't know if she is going too??' text message. And it actually got worse when gold lady replied 'no, smart dude isn't invited'. Little did I knew that both of them were on the way to pick me up.

Gold lady : The talk anchor

After playing the prank for a good 30 minutes, both decided to grace their presence and relieve my tension. Yes gold lady, I indeed was damn pleased, relaxed and super excited to see dude friend arrive and break the news that I was foxed by both of you! You guys were betting on timing of my replies!!!!!

We headed out back to the old lanes of a good restaurant. The conversation was business as usual, with me as the topic of conversation(i have pleaded both of them umpteenth time to spare me, but fate seems to web different plans every time we turn up).

          Smart Dude: Let the food come to me, I
would not turn my head from the TV
 screen to focus on food

The treat turned out to be amazing as we trio tasted variety of foods. A sense of appreciation for dal-khichdi(which I recently have developed fetish for) came from smart dude with a 'this is tasty indeed' remark. While gold lady was vivacious and anchored our talk show, smart dude was fidgety in his choice of smile(often posing with a modest smile). However, we managed to get the best smile out of him and caught him transfixed at television screen. Indeed, his attention to television gave me and gold lady ample of opportunities to click pictures, videos and enjoy the phenomenon. But my limited reflex skills acted the hindrance.

Three musketeers, as smart dude addresses us, continued to have fun at the climax with plethora of jokes and talks of bravery of smart dude to challenge the potholes on the city pavement. In a nutshell, it was fun.