Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear

A berth in an AC train has never failed to allure me to sleep. I rate it as one of the best beds that anyone can have.
I usually cover myself with a blanket and sleep for really long durations with short breaks to appease my stomach.
I detest the idea of being connected when I am sleeping. Hence I switch off my cell phone before going into that blissful state.
I was on my way back to Mumbai after attending a childhood friend’s wedding. Attended the wedding and even before it got over I congratulated the half married couple and left to catch the 3:00 AM train to Mumbai. Had I missed that, I would not have been able to attend the office on the next day. The entire plan was made in haste and I ended up spending more time traveling and less time at the wedding.

I got up at 11:00 in the morning for some fresh coffee. Imagine opening your eyes in the morning to find 3 really good looking females and 1 okay looking female in the same compartment. I cursed myself for having slept longer. I got down from the top berth and looked at the females to make some space for me. They were all coming back from a wedding in Calcutta and had so many luggages that I had to put my single small bag in space between the seats when I boarded the train that night.
I have never been able to figure out why females invariably need to carry so many luggages.
As I got down from the top berth, one of the females moved to one side and made some space for me simultaneously apologizing for occupying all the space available for luggage. Voila! A conversation had started without any effort and that too so early.

I brushed my teeth, washed my face and came back to the seat quickly. One of the females was quite a look alike of Riya Sen; she was the one who had offered the seat. She caught my attention again. My presence had silenced their never ending talk. I knew within that it would be resumed with even greater vigor shortly. The uncomfortable silence made me take my cell phone out & switch it on; as soon as it was put on messages started getting delivered on it.
4 msgs and all of them were implying a sense of urgency, requesting me to contact office as soon as possible. One of my team mates called me up before I could contact office, asking me to contact my PL right away. She transferred the phone and my PL broke news that promised an abundance of opportunities for me. I was selected for a new project @ Greece. Just as he was about to reveal more, the network was gone. I fumbled with my phone trying to find a network manually; I did find one but was unable to make an outgoing call. I messaged my PL to call me again. The network was so bad that nothing was audible when he called. I hung up telling him that I would contact as soon as the train stopped @ a station. I called him up after some time when the network tower was so high it would have come out of my phone.

I was selected for an Onsite assignment @ Greece and was to fly in about 2 week’s time. The project was to be kicked off in a day or two. The short conversation was so pleasing. It filled my head and soul with anxiety and happiness. My face had become a mirror of my emotions. I had been waiting for something like this for quite some time. Riya Sen triggered the conversation again by asking me if I was flying to Greece. She had overheard my conversation with the PL and so had everyone else in that compartment. We started talking and soon another beautiful stranger joined. I boasted about our Job and how it frequently demands us to go to various geographical locations to implement projects for giants like GE, HSBC, CITI etc. I kept them interested with my talk for sometime but my mind was somewhere else. All but Riya Sen got down at Durg station. She was a good company and accompanied me till Akola. She was one of those people who had multitude of topics to talk on and who knew exactly how to start a conversation. She reached her destination at 10:00 in the night and I helped her with the luggage when she got down.
All awhile even amidst those conversations my mind was working on the plan to go to Greece. There was so much to be done in so less time. I was hoping everything to happen according to the plan.

I went to my berth after she got down. As I stretched myself on the berth, I was thinking deeply about things. I realized I was feeling sad because flying to a foreign land would estrange me from my few close friends who I spent time with. It would also mean short and less frequent visits to my family. Some faces flashed in my mind turning me really sad. I knew I would not meet some of them for long time to come. I remembered something I read so often on the rear view mirror of the vehicles, ‘Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear’. In the mirror of my heart I could see some faces for which I was feeling stronger than usual; they were definitely closer to my heart than they apparently appeared to be. In some time that berth in the AC train started working and I unconsciously covered myself with the blanket. I switched off my cell phone again and went into that blissful state.
-Vicky

Suraj Speaks

This is my first post ...I do not know what to write or where to begin from..Well I have missed the college right from the first day we moved out of it ,the friends,the food,the fun,the tensions,the heartbreaks,the triumphs,the tribulations anything which is college !!Today I met Goa after two loooonnng years ...Felt good !! As we sat back and reflected upon the days gone by I felt things havent changed much but for the year printen on calendar !!After examining each college pics minutely I realised that I could not recall names of more than half of the people in the pics.I felt bad as I was so engrossed in my work and personal life that I had completely forgotten about my golden/platinum(whichever is Costly !!) days.I picked up my phone and instinctively started calling up guys in alphabetical order.Its important to work hard but its also important to not let good things go by !!I have decided to be in regular touch with everyone with whatever mode I can...This part of the post, i am writing at 3:30 am in the morning... fully drunk...in complete senses... Just came back home... me, goa, solkar, Tandu('98), bage('96)... after 5 lagre pegs of vodka, 1 tequila shot, 2 pitchers of beer and 2 packs of flaming suttas...Booze makes you very honest and i am honestly saying that RIT was the best thing that happended to me in my life till now... Now me and goa were talking about the last four years after that heaven called RIT...

US Get-Together

These pictures are sent by Mahua and she asked me to upload them.I have added some of my personalized comments just to spice it up !! Hope Mahua doesnt mind ..

I think the date is wrongly set in camera !!

The place in your background is somewhere in New York.

Pehchan Kaun ?? Guess the personality and win prizes !!

The people from left to right are Rachana,Pehchan Kaun,Saurabh,Sankalp,Rashmi

Pehchan Kaun,Saurabh,Rachana,Rashmi

Chaar-Yaar

Trapped in the Net

Trivia : What is common in last three pictures ??

~Goa-97

Doctor BABA

Doctorate for BABA for his Thesis "Anatomy and physiology of the G phylum"

Date ka Wait !!

I'm reading Five Point Someone and if this blog seems influenced by it ,I cannot deny the fact.I hope Mr.Chetan Bhagat will give me some kind of latitude and due consideration. The views expressed are very personal and not influenced by anything or anyone

First day in college is so exciting.Guys go to college ,on Bikes ,Cars wearing trendiest of Attires.Girls flock the campus in hoardes, balancing the tilting gender ratio.They go to the college canteen which eptomises a mini MacDonalds,with trendy and slick furniture,bright walls,germ free environment.A very comical but freindly canteen owner ,people douse themselves in soft drinks and devour unending supplies of Pan Cakes,brownies what not.Have a lecture or two at most which is filled with fun.Then back to Masti .

This sounds so surreal ,I had this kind of perception when I went to college.A quantum load of Hindi Movie influence.

I was shocked to see the Mess which for once meant what it is suppose to.Canteen came as another shocker to me .Within few days the rosy picture had turned pale dull gray.

In initial days of our days at college there is a dress code to follow.Guys wear a plain light coloured shirt and a dark trouser without any belt.Girls wear a light coloured Salwaar Kamiz with a heavily greased hair.They have to make two plaits and wear awfuly coloured ribbons.They look like bai's or Domestic Maids.
One of my friends told me the kind of ragging they were subjected to.We laughed continuously till we dropped.So in his college ,the dressing for guys and girls is the same with one subtle alteration.Guys are not allowed to wear their undies and females are not allowed to wear their brassiere to college.He narrated one incident of Engineering Drawing class.He said the session is for four hours .None of the guys leave the seat even after half an hour after the class.They keep sitting on their seats waiting for stiffness between legs to soften .Once just as the class got over and the proffy left the Drawing room, the seniors ushered them out.They were asked to leave their drawing sheets and bags in the drawing room and were to march out of the college.They called it a gun salute.So these poor guys had to walk in front of whole college with their gravity defying poles stuck out.It was so hilarious .
There were about 25 girls in my batch of 300 which is a rougly 8.33 % of the population.1 Girl per 12 Guys.It was serious competition.Looking at them in the initial phase I had given up all hopes !!
Jamshedpur can be termed as Chicago of Bihar but this city was predominantly conservative.it constituted of people who had migrated from all parts of country but somehow the society remained very conservative.
College was no different,there were guys who hadn't spoken to a female before and for them to sit in the same class as them was a very big thing.There were some pretty faces in my batch too but none you could go out with.Even the females could not be blamed as It was simply not the norm !! You speak to a female and get smacked by some senior that evening for speaking to the girl,simply because he liked her and did not like anyone talking to his Lady.This was the scenario in my college.
I thought the best years of my life would be very insipid and monotonous and do it yourself types .
Just then I saw this lissome beauty coming my way as I was coming out of the AD block.She was a dusky beauty with an incredible features .She had kept her hair loose and they swayed either ways as she took each steps graciously.Time and again adjusted her hair which were coming on her face.Time froze for me and I lost track of everything ,I even did not hear my friends calling my name. I just stood there .She went past me ,the air was smelling of her perfume, I just stood there in awe.
I had a serious crush on this female !!
None of my batchmates had any Idea who she was.We consoled ourselves thinking she must be a proffy's daughter.We decided not to tread in dangerous water.
I saw her again after a few days.She was sitting in front of the AD block and talking to some guy,which meant she was from one of the four batches in college.After making a few enquiries I found out she was two years senior to me.She was one who I can ask out.Well it turned out that she was seeing someone in the final year batch and that someone happened to be my own state senior.I was broken as it would be me who would have to do the hardest thing.
I met her twice or thrice .I asked her out first time I met her and she obliged.So we fixed a date and a place . I was to go to GH and pick her up.She said she would foot the bill, I did not see why it would be a cause of problem.I would have her company thats all I cared about.Who cares about how the food tastes on a date ?

I was very excited as it would have been my first date in college.So I started planning in advance ...but it was not meant to be. Tragedy struck !!

There was some irregularity in Exam Session and college was closed sine die with it went all my hopes of goining on a date while in college.

~Goa(97)

Anatomy and physiology of the G phylum

Except we RITians, everyone else would feel that this is an article about some biological/zoological research. “G phylum”, name itself fills your mind and soul with respect and you are inundated with gratitude towards a specific species in our RIT.
No need to elaborate whom is I talking about. Irrespective of season, situation and weather condition they keep working hard and sweating out like an ideal Indian farmer.

The members of this group had certain common physical and chemical characteristics. They all were alike in senses of attending classes, their sitting orientation in class rooms, their bonding affinity with alike people and repulsive nature with anti G groups, their performance in class, homeworks and exams, attention of professors, views and attitude loaded with all the burdens of the universe. The aura of few of this phylum was so strong that even profs started calling them with G. I have great respect to them, because of them only I passed my exams. I vividly remember my last night before the exam (or 1st night of study), when I used to see that the phylum was giving the fishing touch (making sure that they have read everything at least three times) and going to bed on time. That was the time I used to rush to them to ask what to study to make sure that I pass the exam. I owe them so much that I still can’t call their names without using the suffix G.

Exam question patterns were made for students like us only. 5 out of 8 question. Read just half the book and no one can fail you in the exam. Passing the exam was the only motive. Who the hell was worried about what is there in the rest half of the book. Anything you don’t understand? Just remember that “aisa hi hota hai”, period. Go to the exam and vomit what you read last night. G phylum would study the whole book, not to make sure all the 5 questions but to select those 5, which can be answered perfectly. We were topper from the bottom. Still we were on cloud nine because our efficiency (input and output ratio) was the highest.

One of the biggest and obvious competitions was to have an impression in “GH” (20 out of 275). Influence of “G” (phylum) was already there, and rest of us was just ‘H’opeless. Many of us tried to put the weight of G to get a success in the arena of GH. But having an honor of G was not easy. You had to be a born fighter and load should be in each drop of your blood. We were like a waste for GH. Max we could do is zoom our motorbike like a flash on the road and after maintaining a considerable distance, ask our buddy sitting behind “kya be dekhi kya?”. I feel like laughing and rolling on the ground how we spent 4 years in RIT.

We can’t go back but surely relish all the memory by sharing with everyone.

BABA (An unexpected 1st doctorate candidate of our batch).

A small get-together in US

Hoping that others will also upload some of their pics ...

How old is their marriage

I have been observing that curve on their body for a past couple of days.
Not that these curves have come into being now, but these insipid curves seem to generate uncanny interest in me these days.


I wonder how drastically the attention on these curves changes before and after marriage.
It’s so damn important to keep these in good shape; they are a gimmick to the opposite sex. They definitely make better hunters out of you and fetch good bait.
Wild Dogs hunt for Sports, Humans hunt humans one at a time and for a purpose.
Arguably most of the humans stop this practice after one successful attempt and eventually the gimmick loses all the attention. It becomes vestigial as far as hunting is concerned.

These curves become larger as the marriage gets older. Interestingly these curves change their shape rapidly post engagement and before marriage.
I guess it would be directly proportional to the time that one spends with their WUD be SPOUSE. As the comfort level between them increases, the curves become pronounced and palpable.
The change in size may be as drastic as 32 to 36.
The initial change makes the subject conscious but eventually the WHO CARES attitude prevails and everything seems fine.

As I enter the office every morning, I sneak a quick look to gauge the size of the curves of my colleagues @ kanbay.
Large populations of my Sample Data belong to my very own project as getting other details like the age of their marriage is easy.


The study was purely based on my observation of the subjects.
Myriad people with their age of their marriage falling between 3.5 yrs to -2 months adhere to my observations mentioned above.

As you read this line of the email; Stand up and see if you can figure out an equation between the Age of their marriage and Size of your colleague’s tummy.
-Vicky

Happening New Year - 2006

10…9….8….7….6….5….4….3….2….1
The 80,000 watt pulsating music amplified to an even higher intensity.
Fireworks started in no time filling the sky with colorful light all around.
Our Female friend hugged us wishing both of us a very Happy and happening New Year.


The resilient wooden Dance floor started creaking and deforming as the people started to dance with greater vigor with the inception of New Year.

We were resonating our body in unison with the people on floor. The music was hitting the body creating vibrations that never ceased to stop. People were enjoying the music and dancing to the tunes of DJ’s who never failed to pick up the most happening and rocking tracks. As and when the crowd started giving way to fatigue, DJ’s would play an even better track and the indefatigable crowd came back to it’s toes again. None of us could stop dancing, but we three had to estrange ourselves from that wonderful crowd and an evenly matched DJ because of the GET IN THE HOUSE deadline of our female friend.

The New year eve started on a slow note. I had no idea what I was gonna do on the last day of the year.
I got up pretty late and saw the newspaper full of advertisements on New year parties being held at all the major clubs and resorts.

Much to my dismay, the entries were restricted to COUPLES only. Again that old thought crossed my mind, “World is never fair to individuals like me who can never manage to have a female companion especially for these occasions”. The thought continued and took me to my adolescent days when I wanted to become a MAFIA. Being a MAFIA ensured that you have the best looking females in skimpy attires by your side and more importantly you are so much more welcome at all the major events and parties.

Pune was abuzz with activities and I was yet to get a reservation done for my self at any place.
I called up chintoo to ask about his plan. He too had none.
I went to his place and then we started calling up at all the numbers one by one to enquire if we could be a part of their New Year Celebrations.
One thing in which we always beat each other is the ACTION TIME. We have always done things @ the last moment without an exception.

We started calling the most happening places first and went on in a descending order. The first couple of places were totally booked.

After a bit of trying we managed to find a place which had vacancies. Upon enquiring we realized we needed at least one female to get an entry.
They were allowing one STAG with a couple.

It seemed like a perfect thing for us. 1600 bucks for a couple, 4 free drinks and dinner.
We assumed that our close female friend Tanu had no other plans and would accompany us to SEVEN DEADLY SINS, KAPILA RESORTS.
The booking was done and we bought the passes from a nearby Ticket point.

Chintoo and I went to Shoppers stop to buy something jazzy to wear for the party. Both of us picked up a shirt each. Chintoo bought a dark very shiny one and I was content with a Black one having some embroidery. As we were coming out from the mall, I bumped into Tanu who was also looking for some apt attire for the party.
We had a short conversation after which Chintoo and I left for home.
In about 2 hrs time we were on our way to Kapila resorts.

We reached there in time and took a drink each before standing and chatting. Chintoo and I were filled with appreciation for all the good looking females wearing short skirts and plunging neckline. After chatting for a while over a glass of Bacardi, we decided, “It’s the time to Disco”. We hit the dance floor there was no stopping after that. We continued dancing for a long time till we were drenched with sweat and an unbearable liquid thirst. We took a short break from the floor, had a drink each in haste and were back on the dance floor again.

I was feeling a bit dizzy after coming out of that dance floor, I guess it was the effect of alcohol coupled with the latkas and jhatkas my body had experienced in the past 3 and a half hours. The feeling subsided in some time.
The three of us went to the Buffet and picked up something to eat. The dinner was awfully bad but we were happy for the good time we had there. Dinner was not so important.

We left the place @ about 3:00 in the morning heading towards Tanu’s house. On the way we were recollecting the moments we had spent sometime back.
It was good to share those moments with those idiosyncratic comments coming from the three of us. We dropped Tanu and sped towards my house.
I reached home feeling good and I am sure my friends share the same thought.
I would cherish these moments for long time to come for things that cannot be expressed, for things that I have not mentioned in this email.

We missed a person who used to be a part of our group. We would have loved her to be a part of the wonderful time we had at the inception of 2006.

-Vicky