Straight from Pilani

After being honoured with a CBSE certificate clearly specifying that I had managed to cross the river, and a guaranteed entry into BITS, it was surely time for fun. Gone were those days when I would pander to the needs of teachers, who constantly pushed my brain cells to come up with prolific results. They had pampered me enough with accents varying from the very "seedha saadha" way of our physics teacher to the wierdest forms of english in offer by our maths sir. I tearfully bid adeiu to my school life, ready to embrace a new world, a world of freedom. For those of you who are of the mindset that I was going to BITS-Pilani, it was Goa.

And so it happened. I landed in BITS and I knew it was time to give a chance to my stagnant creative side. New people were met, dances cherished, the guitar conquered, the fabulous goa explored and I was on a roller coaster ride of limitless joy. Finally, I hit a roadblock. I had heard from my school days that students in college are subjected to trainings, seminars and other forms of torture. I had gathered after my first year, that next year, BITS would send us out for training during summer. Then came the real news. The destination would be decided by my CG. In the process of cursing the insane maniac who was responsible for this rather biased system, I dediced it was time for resurrection.

I sacrificed many a wordly pleasures to improve my dismal academic record and raise my cg to atleast touch the safety "7" mark in the third semester. The results were announced and my mission was nearly accomplished ( 6.95=7 for larger values of the former). Aahh...the taste of sweet success (relative to my past CG!!!).

Time flew by. I opened my mailbox to find out that BITS had placed my summer in Pilani.Yes, no sooner than later, it was time to hit the road. I had managed to convince myself that this summer will change my life and that all others would learn a lot from their training and I would stand defeated. Now that I look at it, this thought seems preposterous.

Me and others battered through the dusty roads of Rajasthan to finally arrive at Pilani. At first glance, the place inspired awe. It seemed like the very college my dad wanted me to be in - traditional Biggie, old hostels occupied by inspired to-be engineers. An almost rebellious self decided that I would attempt to make the most of my "holidays" with both productive and academic pirsuits on the charts. Oh yes, I almost forgot, I had found out that my training centre was all girls with me bieng the odd one. I was subjected to comments like -"Wow yaar, all girls...ekdum mast" though my girlfriend gave an enchantingly nasty expression ( oops, i havent mentioned about my love,will elucidiate in the posts to come).

24th May, 2007. 8:00am. I stood in front of Birla Museum, searching for any signs of life which would enlighten me about the whereabouts of my PS-instructor. The clock ticked along slowly. It was 9am. A bunch of girls (read PS mates) were incessantly chatting away and I was beginning to feel the vibes. Two months, 8 girls, and a museum I was supposed to study labouring under the delusion of the curator that it deserved a mention in the seven wonders of the world. I knew I could not say quiet for two months and it was time to hook up the courage to introduce myself to the girls. I managed to do that rather easily. Finally, we entered the museum sometime later and were introduced to Mr.Vikramjeet Singh(read Paaji), an ebullient man, a sardar and also the curator of the museum. I slowly became more comfortable in conversation with my PS mates. And here began my journey.

Nearly a month and a half later, I am in my room typing this, deeply amused at what I used to think PS will be and what it has been. With dreams of emulating my dad at working with determination,practising sophisticated dance moves, moving towards the goal of becoming the next Jimi Hendix ("slightly" exaggerated), attempting my hand at electonics, acheiving exceptional fitness levels, improve communication skills, learn softwares...the list goes on and on. I have tried my hand at all of these, but never did any of these for a prolonged period. I have had fun at Pilani, attempting to do everything, but laziness getting the better of me everytime. Yet, I have learnt a lot.

I have sung before my seminar, injured my toe during basketball, built my muscles a bit ("slight" exaggeration again),joked around with PS friends (I would take this occasion to pity their failed attempt to associate me and paaji, my condolences) and what not. Above all, I have missed my girlfriend a lot.

Finally, laziness has got the better of me. My guitar awaits me to play a song. My old pal, lefty deserves his share of credit to inspire me to atleast write a word or two.Cheers dude. And yes, for all of you to get inspired from the world around you, I would end by this famous line from the Shawshank Redemption, which aptly suits my state of mind these days.

"Get busy living, or get busy dying"