DG-eneration

The echo of the distant tide from a near-distant time

2011-07-22T03:27:00.003+05:30

So why is this post titled the way it reads up here.

Reason One:
Pink Floyd wrote an extravagant piece of art that lasts a little over 23 mins.
(staggered lyrics attached in post - marked in italics)

Reason Two:
Echo - A four lettered word that is very profound and also meticulous that it continues to haunt me with its certainty (or uncertainty). An echo by definition means reflection of sound. What goes unnoticed in the definition is the the adequate distance that separates the source and the obstruction. Because the certainty of the echo depends on single large factor, which is the "Setup".

Setup.exe here refers to the executable part of our lives that shall control the two physical dimensions: Distance and Time (M0L1T1) and give us Speed or Godspeed. Dimensionally Speed and Philosophically Godspeed!!!

Before we get further into the post. I have a few thoughts running in my head, that may be remotely relevant to the "Echo-Philosophy".

Argument One:
"The only language of communication between the Creator and the User is the Creation"
Give a switch to 10 year old and he will fiddle with it, Give a wheel to him and he will learn to roll. Instruction manuals are for bad creations. So... if the big words don't matter, a post graduate degree that teaches you to talk-in-style will never count. Or just may be. The words can surely sell a bad design.
Bottom Line: You choose to either "talk-in-style" or "create better designs".

Argument Two:
"Opportunities can be global, but Talent cannot be globalised"
I can be the best engineer of the team that makes the best nuts and bolts in the smallest industrial town in the third world. I can also be the best engineer of the country that makes the best motorcylces in the biggest technology sensitive economy of the world. The talent to barely acheive, achieve and overachieve the task is identical. So if I cannot find an opportunity in my backyard, it is certain that I will never find it anywhere else.
Bottom Line: You either "travel the world" or simply "explore your backyard".

And no-one called us to the land
And no-one knows the wheres or whys

Argument Three:
"For a creator, smallest of success is the end of the oldest of the facts"
Success defeats my brain every time. The escape route says that 'Assumptions of a Pre-consumed mind' keeps the nerves calm and heels cool. You evade the need to think, act or even react. But every success defeats the assumption. So being successful, is always dangerous.
Bottom Line: It is not Victory-Loss, it is "Face-Defeat"-"Give-Up"

Argument Four:
"Size of the opportunities does not grow bigger than us, but we outgrow them"
Opportunities big or small are alike because all of them set tasks, targets and goals. And while taking the long strides of success (defeating the brain) the goal is scored and then it leaves a Void. I call this the "What Next?" state of mind.
Bottom Line: The "What Next?" only ends when the whistle blows and time is up. Happy scoring!!!

So when does the echo come in, what does the echo do to me.....

Effect One:
Gives me inspiration
When I look back at the reflections from the past I feel confident and know for sure that "If it hits into me, I am sure that I can hit into it and nail it... because the "Hammers of Gods will always drive me home". Hence I am confident to find a few nails in the backyard that need attention.

Effect Two:
Gives me an instantaneous feedback
So while I am in the middle of an instinctive decision, the echo of the inner voice reflecting from the walls within me give me a sense of responsible action with anticipated results. Now I know what the Walls in me are doing. Glad to have them around.

Effect Three:
Gives me Hope
Simple and straight, if I know that all that I say is going to come back to me, I can "Shout it Loud", because I ll do it only once and the world will listen to it more than once. So I am hopeful that my actions will not go unnoticed. I only have to use the right words, actions or reactions.

Very strange to my pre-conceived notion that the echo is a hollow repetition of a stray sound wave reflected between random obstacles.
Put them all together, the four lettered word makes me Confident, Responsible and (if not anything else) Aware.

The echo of a distant tide
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine

So why do I have Two Reasons, Three Effects and Four Arguments.

I hear sounds around me, but I cant hear my own echo. I am longing to listen to the echoes from my past. So what is it, that I am talking about. It has shades of "the Quarter Life crisis" and more dangerously "A Complete breakdown of Identity". I do not have to explain what they mean.

Strangers passing in the street
By chance two separate glances meet
And I am you and what I see is me

But I sure am preparing the Setup with laying up of the bricks. I am also separating myself from the wall so that I can create the echo I want to hear.

But something stirs and something tries
And starts to climb towards the light

I am living the quarter life crisis but I am more than half way through. If you are still not convinced, read this post again!!! Awaiting to hear the resounding echoes of worldly success very soon.

Cloudless everyday you fall upon my waking eyes
inviting and inciting me to rise
And through the window in the wall
Come streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning

And no-one sings me lullabies
And no-one makes me close my eyes
And so I throw the windows wide
And call to you across the sky

-Sunny, Munich, Two weeks before turning 26 Years old !!

What do you want from me

2011-01-25T07:11:00.004+05:30

As I sit looking out of my room window, I only see the fire exit sign hanging on the stairs. And I begin to wonder, why the hell did I end up in a room from where I can only see the escape stairs. Taking a risk of viewing this as a metaphor, was this move in my life in a greater sense an escape route??
Lately, assignments, job application forms and BBC documentaries have activated some long lost grey cells which were probably on the verge of extinction. And the only answer my mind figures out to every question asked is "What do you want from me". As always, a song by Floyd sums it up more beautifully than I can ever do.

"What Do You Want from Me"
As you look around this room tonight
Settle in your seat and dim the lights
Do you want my blood, do you want my tears
What do you want
What do you want from me
Should I sing until I can't sing any more
Play these strings until my fingers are raw
You're so hard to please
What do you want from me

Do you think that I know something you don't know
What do you want from me
If I don't promise you the answers would you go
What do you want from me
Should I stand out in the rain
Do you want me to make a daisy chain for you
I'm not the one you need
What do you want from me
(David Gilmour/Richard Wright/Polly Samson)

That's it guys, this blog is alive again, not for the sake of being on the internet, but just for 'being'...
Deepak

5 to 1

2010-01-10T05:02:00.003+05:30

Listening to a lot of Doors these days... Jim Morrison's voice is drugging me..
I just got back from a late nite ride... and was listening to some more music on Media Player....
The player's playing me The Doors shuffled...
And soon it plays 5 to 1 ... I happen to look at the right bottom corner of the screen...
the clock reads 5:Oh-1 AM...
And them i count 5 to 1 is eight hours...
5 to 1 is also a quick downshift on the left foot lever...
and 1 in 5 is always the right gear to exit a corner "IN THE PRIME"
Lets get together baby one more time...

Here are the lyrics for you....

Song Title: Five to One
Artist: The Doors

Lyrics:
Yeah, c'mon
Love my girl
She lookin' good
C'mon
One more

Five to one, baby
One in five
No one here gets out alive, now
You get yours, baby
I'll get mine
Gonna make it, baby
If we try

The old get old
And the young get stronger
May take a week
And it may take longer
They got the guns
But we got the numbers
Gonna win, yeah
We're takin' over
Come on!

Yeah!

Your ballroom days are over, baby
Night is drawing near
Shadows of the evening crawl across the years
Ya walk across the floor with a flower in your hand
Trying to tell me no one understands
Trade in your hours for a handful dimes
Gonna' make it, baby, in our prime

Come together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together, aha
Get together one more time!
Get together one more time!
Get together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together, gotta, get together

Ohhhhhhhh!

Hey, c'mon, honey
You won't have along wait for me, baby
I'll be there in just a little while
You see, I gotta go out in this car with these people and...

Get together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together, got to
Get together, got to
Get together, got to
Take you up in my room and...
Hah-hah-hah-hah-hah
Love my girl
She lookin' good, lookin' real good
Love ya, c'mon

for all you know that your life is just a strange illusion

2009-05-07T22:33:00.005+05:30

Few combination of words when strung together have a strong influence on your life. However, this honest influence is very ironically deceptive and fades in no time. The title of this post is the best example of what I am trying to disseminate. These are powerful words picked from Iron Maiden’s popular song “Hallowed be thy Name”. Coz each day there will be moments when you feel that your life is not more than just an illusion of your own mind.

For elaboration – Most days of my life, I try to live with a reason. A reason conceived and perceived by my own imagination. The reason recorded clearly in my brain cells. I work towards it and then begin to observe triumph. And once the reason to live is justified to me – the question that haunts is “Is this all that I wanted to do?” Whenever these words hit my mind's eye, it illuminates the fact that our live is, just for the record, an illusion of our own mind.

When I fell in love with Mechanical engineering I wanted to sit in a design studio and make better machines. Which is very much what I m doing today or rather expected to do. Probably I wish to do even bigger things in life, which I am sure I’ll do. But what troubles me is that once I get to do that thing the question will remain the same “Is this all that I really wanted to do?”

Can’t really believe that I waited for 23 long years to live the life I’m living right now. This is the time I differ with myself – Is this what I wanted from life? It’s often said that you don’t always get what you need but what you deserve. Well that’s not quite true. Because you’ll always get what you always want, provided you want it really badly. But once you get it – you ll want some more and then some more and still some more.

For example, you set out to design a part which best suits the purpose. Then slog your ass out to make it work. Then you gauge the performance and record it for justification. However the gauging of performance is merely the interpretation of your own understanding. Meaning you end up convincing yourself that you are convinced. Eventually nothing exists in result – all you know and see is just an ILLUSION of your own mind.

And today when I sit down to complete this post, I am blank. I have very little to write. The reason for the same is certainly not known to me. But what I speculate is that I m genuinely confused. As I begin to look a few years back I see a time when I knew exactly what I wanted to do and the rest of planet earth of my age was still trying to find their preferred way of success. Today the tables have spun round a complete 180 degrees..It’s the time of my life when I actually don’t know what I should be doing next. The illusion has disappeared. The confusion has taken over.

And then I face the irony of life each day. Each day I go to office with a motive to make a difference to this place. Very often I sit down to list the things I wish to do, and each time I know that I have very little time. And on top of it all, I try a million times and fail a billion times.

Coming back to the reality, I think I am standing in midst of a youthful confused state of mind. The youthful enthusiasm to do whatever comes my way. The confused me who doesn’t know what to do at times. And then the state of mind that smacks me down to achieve that seems to be a distant dream.

Am I getting used to success or am I not getting any success at all? Have I showed myself the wrong way? Have I started to doubt my decisions or rather my choice?

And then Led Zeppelin had to happen. Run thru the following lines to learn more. Here the "Woman” being my “Distant Dream”.

Been dazed and confused for so long its not true,
Wanted a woman, never bargained for you.
Lots of people talk and few of them know,
Soul of a woman was created below. Yeah!

You hurt and abused tellin all of your lies,
Run around sweet baby, lord how they hypnotize.
Sweet little baby, I don’t know where you’ve been,
Gonna love you baby, here I come again.

Every day I work so hard
Bringin home my hard earned pay
Try to love you baby, but you push me away.
Don’t know where you’re goin
Only know just where you’ve been,
Sweet little baby, I want you again.

Been dazed and confused for so long, its not true,
Wanted a woman, never bargained for you.
Take it easy baby, let them say what they will.
Will your tongue wag so much when I send you the bill?

PS: None

Dil Chahta Hai!!! ..

2009-03-11T23:09:00.004+05:30

11th March, 2009 - Wednesday!!!

Rohan & Deepak (Tata Indica, Mumbai)
Junaid (TVS Apache, Mumbai)
Sunny (Room, Pune)

Half open first drawer -
Confused yet Sure Sid, Playful Akash, Sameer not seen...
Dats the DCH DVD cover i see...
Dont feel like opening the drawer neither wanna close it...

Cya..
Sunny

MUMBAI

2009-02-24T22:30:00.003+05:30

This is a tribute to a city which might have received ones before. But as they say, to each his own.

Mumbai has always been a part of life for me. In fact it has been an intrinsic part of my character.
Terrosrist attacks and bomb blasts have rocked this city to the core many a times, and people celebrate the spirit of this city only when innocent people living here die. The one’s who are the luckier of the lot, celebrate their survival. What an irony this city portrays.

I always remember one sentence said about this city by the great singer Kailash kher. He said in one of his interviews on being asked how do you feel being so successful after all the struggling years you have seen in this city. He answered, all that I can say is I still ask for a glass of water when being thirsty, but the same people who refused water once offer me wine now.
I think this is something I found the most apt to sum up the irony of this city. Or for that matter of any fascinating city in the world. I can relate myself more to Mumbai though.

I recently saw the movie Slumdog Millionaire and it was an experience in itself. Never have I felt living through Mumbai all over again watching a movie. This one really did it.The slums and the kids u see whn u are flying off the airport, relived without the flight. And there really cant be a better irony than a hollywood director doing the magic. In the land of the multi million bollywood ‘stars’ Danny boyle can show what Mumbai is, while Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor, the king’s and queens of bollywood are busy shaking their asses to crappy songs.

There is something really magical about this city. I have been to many cities in the past year or so, but this city is just unmatched in its energy. That’s what makes it stand out. Believe me what u do in rajkot in 2 days, u can easily finish in mumbai in half. Be it work or fun or nightmares or hangouts or shopping.
I still remember the first time I flew out of mumbai, seeing it for the first time in its totality, from the outside gripped me in a strange way. I was awestruck like a man who was born and brought up in a Ferrari F40 and was allowed to step out of the car only when he was 23, to see its styling.

Everytime I fly out of this city its like resetting my internal clock to a frequency of 2 seconds as compared to being set on a clock cycle of 0.5 sec.Nothing is more nerve racking than a fast day in mumbai, no machine coding and deadlines can be as strenous. And when u land in mumbai, first the beauty of it is the view, I just love it. I am still not able to figure out why, but I have never seen such an awesome view ever.Just the sight of it makes u feel alive, like a dope which assures that u are back to where u belong. No matter how many strenuous hours and days lie ahead, its what makes me feel alive again. Just the sight of MUMBAI.

Rajkot
23rd Jan 2009

The Blog is on Stand By

2009-02-14T18:41:00.003+05:30

Just a reminder!!

We are all alive!!!

-Deepak (Touring), Junaid (Alibagh), Rohan (Mumbai) and Sunny (Pune)

Going west!!!

2008-05-21T02:14:00.006+05:30

This was first written when Kedar was packing-up to leave for Uncle Sam's land (its been a lil worked upon since then). I've been through this feeling many a times. Lots of my closer friends have left the country (while some have left me), I am happy DG is soon coming back and kedar is already back for a break, after a year.

Good Bye… No Why?

Fly away, O Mighty ol’ west-wind,

Fly away, for today you must,

We swayed together in these fields,

The fields you will sweep, on your way, to dust.

I hear you ticking, O time you leveler,

I hear you don’t have much of a choice,

We’d slain away about a million of seconds,

That ticked away during our suburban-drives.

Every minute, every hour, I know you’ve got the power,

But back then we were kings, and you: just a device.

So winds and storm,

And time and tide,

How can you take away something that’s deep inside?

Those memories of moments, those bruises of life.

Can you take away those days of thunder?

Those nights of frenzy,

Those games, those blunders.

Talks of life, walks of strife, sizzlers and knife, how many can you wipe.

Malls and movies, some money, a call for cheers

Comforts and victories, decisions and fears.

I can’t believe, you’re leaving pal,

But your bag hangs on your shoulder,

Take care; I’ve heard out there it’s cold.

Should I say Good bye now? No wait I need to wonder.

LOST

2008-05-20T23:57:00.006+05:30

This is a part of whats been happening for some time now..... since the "END OF THE BEGINING".....just expressive of the way i've been feeling in the world, the Corporate World as they call it. The rest is for you to infer.

LOST

Does it feel great to be on the highway?
That wind in your hair, and passion to be right there,
Does it strike how far you reached, how many you left behind on the way?

Hi-tech, all geared up; ready to go.
Push the limits to what they could’ve never thought before.

Does the thrill drive you crazy?
Make you feel the center of galaxy,
Are you still awestruck by beauty, humbled by simplicity?

You’re sharper than before, nothings as potent to block the way.
Walk-on you’ve to conquer everyday.

Does it really need to be so damned?
So twisted and turned and lowered and churned,
They said, Faster, Higher, Stronger, you rammed.
You pushed the hardest now you hardly can stand,

Do they mean what they say?
Did you ask a “BY THE WAY”?
Did they say what they meant?
Or were those words from somebody lent?
Didn’t they teach you to go everywhere and knock-out and swear?
Didn’t they tell you of GOD and his Angels, and of DEVILS you need to beware?

I am lost, but to follow you, is the last thing I could dare,
I don’t remember, came I from where,
I don’t remember what I sought, no reason no prayer.
You have a plan, a road and a van, take care
Just watch out for that sign I saw back there,
I don’t know what it meant, four letters and a glare
I heard a man shouting, and I heard his bell,
In a mystic voice he said, “Bon Voyage on your way to HELL”.

PRINTING THE UNREADABLE

2008-02-13T19:13:00.002+05:30

Its been really long this time that something came up here, simply because no one bothered to write or read something here. Seems like all of us are too busy to come back to this place which kept us occupied all thru the days when there was nthng to do. All those days the thoughts kept pouring, in fact overflowing sometimes.

I was just going thru my own blog after like a month or so and I was surprised what we used to think just some months ago. It seems like I am talking to myself as I was some time back. And believe me it’s a really intriguing experience to see someone so similar.

A lot has changed in the past months. Junaid starting his job, me shuttling here and there as a part of my job, Sunny bought a pulsar 200 and Rohan moving to kandivli.

And as a part of this change here I am sitting in my hotel room in Trivandrum looking for ways to kill time after a busy day at work. Although I am dead tired I cant sleep so early, its just 10 pm and I am Deepak..not good for my image to sleep so early…

So as destiny, hard work or luck whatever u mite consider has brought me to Trivandrum working at a printing press, I am hoping with crossed fingers that this thing goes well. I hope this wud be a good learning experience, academically I know it will be and it is. But what I am enjoying is all the different places I get to go to. All the different people I get to meet. Be it the client who is not expected to be good at all, surprisingly here the client is good( so far so good) or the locals of this place. People understand hindi but can rarely speak it, English saves the day most of the times, seems like u r not in ur own country, but then I look around and I see all the old vintage KSRTC buses and ‘small’ cars, brings me back to reality…..

Since this is kerala, all I have seen here is coconut trees, bananas to eat, and men wearing lungis. It’s a part of the uniform at some places, I mean it. Peoples knowledge here about different cuisines is so limited that Chinese means noodles, north Indian food means anything made out of paneer and anything else I haven’t dared to try yet. Roti here is a very decent substitute for rubber and I am starving to have a soft roti here. I have been on rice for the past whole week.

This weekend we had the opportunity to take a half day on Sunday, yes ppl, half day on a Sunday is luxury here. So we asked the local people working at the press to guide us as to how shud we spend the day. And of crse the answer was go to a near by beach. I have heard that Kovallam( pronounced Kovaddam) is a beautiful beach and so I was keen to go there. But I was told that there is some rally going on at that place and wudnt be a good idea to go there coz of the traffic. So we went to a far away beach named varkala to see the nayked ladies( no spelling mistakes, that’s how they describe this beach, just try to get the pronunciations rite) and the rest of the graphic details I cant share here due to the lack of appropriate gadgets to capture the moments of bliss……..

So far this is the story from Trivandrum…..will keep posting as and when I have some time and access to the net…till then…idli dosa rice coconut banana Malayalam newspaper….thats what life is

Money

2007-11-20T22:55:00.000+05:30

Back after a long time...the last one by Sunny gave a glimpse of the transition from the carefree college world to the dog eat dog industrial world.

And heres something I chose to write on....one thing that makes the world go around....

MONEY

The first thing that comes to anyones mind is the most common phrase "Money is the root of all evil"

Have we ever really thought about what is the root of all the money that exchanges hands all over the world every single moment???? The obvious answer wud be all the people working all day long to earn money so that we can live a happy life....and to put it more precisely I quote some lines from Atlas Shrugged.

"Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made--before it can be looted or mooched--made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can't consume more than he has produced."

All thru the years when I gained enuf sense to form opinions about money and life and other concepts of life, I have never believed money is the root of all evil, on the contrary I started believing that money is definitely THE source of happiness. Of course what gives a man happiness is solely a reflection of his mind, his soul. Although in the last few months I found enuf reasons to think over the issue money being THE source of happiness all over again

I have always been crunched to spend money all thru my life, another way to put it wud be I never had money to afford luxuries in life. Basic necessities are all that I could always afford. Which again is a relative concept in itself. What is luxury for me wud be a necessity for others. But I wud define necessity as smthng I cant stay happy without(example: Ice cream) and luxury as smthng u can enjoy and feel good about but can live happily without it(example: Vodka). All thru those years when money was not an abundant resource we had, I always thght it will give me all the happiness that I look for in life.

It will give me the ability to do all the things I love. Finally I will see ppl around me happy at least from the money point of view in life. But sadly I was hit by a unprecedented reality check as soon as I started earning. And that was now that u have money which u never had in all the past years, u start saving it rather than spending it. And the Q is why?????. The answer really simple....what if those years come back again....or is it that difficult for us to move ahead and accept change in life????

And all this just leaves me with a faint smile...definitely taking back my own words....money IS THE source of happiness...I must say it can be...but it is not THE source of content and happiness.

U can have the best meal in ur life eating at a roadside stall or at a five star restaur. What matters is the experience and the memory. Baskin Robbins back then was not anything great cause I was the only one appreciating good Ice Cream. But now when u have a great company to share it with(I hope u get I am talking abt u) it taste like never before. In our college days we had the best times with not more than 50 bucks in our wallet every day. And today when I have the liberty to carry 500 in my wallet, I dont have my friends to live those great moments again. Of course after reading this I am sure they will come flocking to me this weekend for a party

To put the above whole idea in a better(philosophical) way here's Atlas shrugged again

Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he's evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he's evaded the choice of what to seek. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent. Money will not give you the unearned, neither in matter nor in spirit.

And if u think this post can end without the Floydian view of money...sorry

Pink Floyd - Money

Money, get away.
Get a good job with good pay and you're okay.
Money, it's a gas.
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I'll buy me a football team.

Money, get back.
I'm all right Jack keep your hands off of my stack.
Money, it's a hit.
Don't give me that do goody good bullshit.

I'm in the high-fidelity first class traveling set

And I think I need a Lear jet.

Money, it's a crime.
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie.
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today.
But if you ask for a raise it's no surprise that they're
giving none away.

Pink Floyd - Dogs

2007-10-18T21:19:00.000+05:30

For all the blog frequenters or none at all, for those wondering whether the blog is deceased or breathing, is it with the blog, or simply, the contributors dead? The answer to all of this is just that we are all riding are lives with the clutch pedal on. It’s the time to change gears fractions ahead of the next chicane. It’s the time to continue the engine (here, the hearts that drives men of immense wisdom) churning the revs with very modest or almost no power transmission. Only to keep it all set to pump up enormous muscle at the exit of the chicane. In plain simple words, it’s the point of our lives when we are bumping into the world of competition, technology and service.

So what is it that has caught up on us? Most of our time is occupied in recovering from the old concepts shattering blows of information each day at work. The rest of the time is used up in finding ways to spend the compensations after all the beating (This may not include others). I call it the Dog part of our lives. It’s the exact metaphor for human behavior at this juncture of our life.

To understand it better just run thru the lyrics of Pink Floyd song from the album Animals. Contrastingly, Roger Waters had composed these lines with a different view point; I looked at it from a different dimension.

Artist: Pink Floyd

Album: Animals

Title: Dogs

“You gotta be crazy, you gotta have a real need

You gotta sleep on your toes, and when you're on the street

You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed

And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight

You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking.

And after a while, you can work on points for style

Like the club tie, and the firm handshake

A certain look in the eye, and an easy smile

You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder

You know it's going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you get older

This is where it is right now. It couldn’t have got along any better than this. Beginning with DG (he has to start this). DG’s ass has always been the first ass to feel the gush of braking inertia each time. He was the first one to get a job (sadly with MBT though), first one to turn 18 (he did nothing, it just happened to be that way, or well, all of us were born after him) and most significantly the first one to fly abroad (purely on his credentials). Rohan is working with international clients selling the Americans insurance plans, Sunny (the author) is riding on 3D models of bikes and Junior is still burning up few more gallons of fuel on the test tracks for some more time.

The scene on the circuit is beginning to heat up. The start-finish straight of this new lap has faded in the rear view mirror (the induction training, I mean). We are all running down to lower gears to hit the first of the dreadful corners of just another lap of our lives. The analogy remains the same, the rules of the game remains same. The tyres are feeling new and the brakes are beginning to heat up. Time to develop a skill set to negotiate the trickiest of turns. I am allowing the Dog in me to take over. It’s the right time to run down the gears, feel the revs of engine and release the clutch lever once the curve is nudged away.

And this one is for you Junior; often the winner of the race is the one who hits the brakes last and hits every bit of the turn when the others are just trying to nudge off the apex. You’ll see a few people ahead of you in your visor, but they might very well be a lap down, so you don’t know who the winner here is? No one does…. The entire script is off course written by something Supernatural, we are just dogs in the park.

Still alive.....

2007-10-05T00:52:00.000+05:30

long long time......but frankly no time as far as i am concerned.....and no intention/time as far as others are concerned to write smthng here...

has been 2 long mnths since i posted here...lot happened...siemens strted...went to nasik for 3 weeks training...first outstation trip....earned a huge amount of this trip...

had a great time there...both in office and outside it as well....nice city to live in...small but independent and complete i must say....got to know some ppl better than i knew them before....will really cherish these memories abt this trip for a long time....

back to office in mumbai....first day we get down kind of assisting on a project...learning some softwares....second day at office i get my salary cheque.....a few thousands more than i was expecting....pleasant surprise....two parties planned for the coming 2 weekends...hope we have a great time....

srry this post is written out of an attempt to announce that this blog is still alive....i am not in touch with music or general entertainment means for a long time...so a good post will follow soon...over the weekend....

Coming Back to Life

2007-08-03T02:35:00.000+05:30

Here I am again.....this time its a pure tribute to a Pink Floyd song...
Song: Coming back to life Album: The division bell

There are times in everyone's life when u want someone to just be there with u....most of the times u know whom u want to be with, but there are times when u just dont know who u r craving to be with. Just the presence of someone u are connected to can make the difference between being comfortably numb or coming back to life.......

This song is David Gilmour's take on such times.....a song for his wife.....but many say tat maybe this song was written for his friend and band mate Roger Waters after he left the band(tats just before this album was released).

As always too good lyrics and never will u hear such pure love and longing in any other pink floyd song......all others are mostly outrageous takes on all unwanted thngs happening around us...the kind of rebel feeling to their songs...and yes wish u were here is another song which gives u the same feeling.....

The rest of the talking I guess shud be done by floyd....

Below are the lyrics and MP3 and click here to see the song performed by floyd at pulse,most of u wont, i know..:(

Where were you when I was burned and broken
While the days slipped by from my window watching
And where were you when I was hurt and I was helpless
Because the things you say and the things you do surround me
While you were hanging yourself on someone else's words
Dying to believe in what you heard
I was staring straight into the shining sun
Lost in thought and lost in time
While the seeds of life and the seeds of change were planted
Outside the rain fell dark and slow
While I pondered on this dangerous but irresistible pastime
I took a heavenly ride through our silence
I knew the moment had arrived
For killing the past and coming back to life
I took a heavenly ride through our silence
I knew the waiting had begun
And headed straight into the shining sun

Passion rules the Game

2007-07-25T22:51:00.000+05:30

So its me again. coz I am the only one doing nthng as of now. sunny is in pune, living his dream at bajaj auto. Rohan has also strted with his job, looking pretty decent as of now. So tat leaves me and Junaid as we say always bekaar, lukkha and what not.....

Most of these days have been spent by me doing nthng, sitting and just dreaming of big things, lots of money, lots of places to go to, lots of lists already exist in my mind of "to do things"....

Life has been on a roller coaster ride in the past few days. From good news tat I am still being considered for automation department to the news tat I cannot be absorbed into process control. Then came a super shock, when a candid chat in the canteen turned out to b an interview.....what is the freq vs current response of a rlc series circuit.....total bouncer....still managed to crack it.....all because of those basics tat are considered trivial.....anyways...managed to crack it somehow..

Then came the hardest part....waiting ...waiting...waiting for a reply....mentally preparing myself for the worst news and the good one as well.....was almost drained out of all energy waiting for a reply.....what if they say NO....every assurance I gave to myself and got from friends and mom....had that end....what if NO...being so close still if I dont make it....it will b harder to go to tech mahindra than before....back then there were no options and all thru the final year I somehow prepared myself to go to TM for a year or so....

Finally the news came...drives and motion control dept....was happy...but was kind of prepared for that news...so not surprised.....but mom was very tensed and I saw her crying after a long time when the news came in....the feeling was just awesome...kind of the same when i got the news of getting electronics engg at RAIT....and I knew now the time has come....its upto me now....I make it or break it....and I know I will make it the way I want it to be....

And in the past days I saw a documentary on Mclaren Mercedes F1 team....extensive footages and interviews of Mclaren drivers Alonso and Hamilton and boss Ron Dennis..was so moved by the whole story of Lewis Hamilton....when a 8 year kid goes to a ceo(Ron Dennis) on stage and pulls his pants and tells him..." i have just won the british junior championship....and one day i would like to drive your car"....and what a journey it has been since then for him...he is 22 now and has been racing for the past 13 years....and i am 22 now and driving INDICA occasionally.....well srry, no over ambitious comparisons

He and his father saw a dream, one day lewis will drive a F1 car....and they saw it when lewis was 6.....and there has been no black driver in motoracing's 50 years of existence....and they worked towards it...It was a pact....lewis will pursue his dream but not let studies suffer and dad will work two jobs, one for the household and one for his son's dream....to build him go karts....

Ron Dennis gave him his chance when he was 9.....he won, they paid for his studies and racing.....Ron dennis says " when i met him as a child....he spoke more thru his eyes than his mouth....they said it all" ....the most striking line in the whole documentary was when Ron says for Lewis" he is confidence devoid of arrogance".....

All this comes down to one thing....a tear in lewis's fathers eye when his son was on podium in his first ever F1 race....the dream accomplished....and what a way they did it.....

As for me, the chase towards the dream begins shortly....standing on a formula 1 podium as a team engineer....but the Q remains...who will be the one shedding a tear??????

A Saucerful of ?????????

2007-07-06T00:43:00.000+05:30

Long time since I posted smthng here......the last one by sunny was really nice......

Frankly speaking I was too bored to write smthng.....just lazing for the past whole month...I was expecting rohan to write smthng here....but he is lazier than me....

This post is not abt anythng in particular....so will not match up to the standards of this blog.

Lot of thngs going on in the past few days.....

Interview with siemens....was a big learning experience..

Matheran trip.....very close to the goa trip...was a really cherished experience

Daily outings with coll friends.....nerul station hang outs.....probably the last few days of freedom and fun....

Few quotes by friends....prasad said on last exam day...." apne liye jeene wale din shayad khatam ho gaye"....will always remember tat coz at tat very moment i was thinking our days have just strted.....prasad again" duniya ek medical store hai aur main aaj dosti ki goli khaa ke aaya hoon"....maan really feel like killing him sometimes...kitna pakata hai yaar

So many plans to spend money when i finally strt earning....I find myself making a list of restaurs where I wanna eat....things I wanna buy....parties I wanna give.....gifts I wanna buy for ppl.....and in distant future CARS I wanna buy

Sunny finally leaving mumbai....the first among us to strt his job...hope he achieves all tat he wants to...

Prasad and Rohan finally got their calls....all of my friends stay in Mumbai....except Nair and Charu.....really sad when I thnk of this...I hope v never find it difficult to find time for each other....

Lots of new music in the last few days....mainly Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.....dont feel like listening to anything else other than Floyd these days.....they are like GOD himself teaching u abt different aspects of life....the medium here is music...

Just realised a few days ago....so many common members between Pink Floyd and Ayn Rand community on orkut....two different takes on LIFE, but the ideology is the same.....

Didnt get chance to have vodka for the past 2 months almost.....waiting.....:(

My mom and bro gng crazy abt this Art Of Living Thing....and driving me crazy with their pravachan all day long.....no ways will i ever go to tat place.....the whole idea just feels disgusting to me.....how can someone else teach u "THE ART" of living your life...wat have u done all ur life if u dont know how to live it?????????

Thinking for the past few days....do we really mean when we say ..."we will be friends forever"...."i am always there for u"....and if we are not sure of whats gng to happen the next day why do we give these false assurances to others and ourselves????

Is guilt the only way u can make a person confess to his true self.....Is guilt the only link between u and ur conscience???? Have we stooped down to such a level tat we tlk to our conscience only when we feel guilty about something?????

Isn't the desire to take up the hardest challenge and beat it, a confession of weakness in itself????

Enuf said.....the saucer is overflowing now....so i better stop!!!

High Hopes - Pink Floyd

2007-06-11T23:01:00.001+05:30

Artist: Pink Floyd; Album: Division Bell; Title: High Hopes: Composer: David Gilmour

I have always existed with an illusion that beyond the horizon there is a world far superior and evenhanded than the world I currently live in. The world, which does not work on magnets of control bred from fellowmen. Men do not believe in power of miracles but hold high regards for value of labor. Men with immense passion to achieve what they dream. The world of my imagination where men are rewarded only for what they deserve. The inhabitants, who are blessed enough so that they don’t have to depend on an Abstract Extra-ordinary Super Power to live through their lives. A world where emotions are not like shackles that bind men. Instead they stir up motive power to go a step further. Men, who cheat or kill, perish at once. The others that survive the heat of healthy competition live their way with an honesty of purpose. Not very sure whether it is same as Atlantis or is it different?

Several attempts, successful and unsuccessful, have been made to get a sneak peek in a world of my fascination. The successful ones could only succeed to break open just a small hole through the horizon, just open enough to allow a distinct single ray of light. The unsuccessful attempts were blurred at first and then beyond a certain distance they went no further, only to be blocked by a wall. As DG very rightly stated in his earlier blog entry, the whole scenario looks so similar to masons building the wall around the center of creativity and talent, the bricks being the our well-regarded communal round, the masons are left for us to figure out. Inspiration very naturally came from Pink Floyd – The Wall.

And then I was moved by a brilliant blend of music and lyrics composed by David Gilmour, popularly known as ‘High Hopes’. The fact that it was the very last song composed by Pink Floyd, it couldn’t have got any better than this magnum opus. The lyrics were instituted during the period when the band had torn apart and law suits worth of a million dollars were trying to bring it further down.

It an epitomized by talking about all the insignificant countless small creatures that are trying their very best to confine our feet to a second-rate way of life. And to add to the agony, leaving all of us to a life obsessed with slow decay, signifying end in the most brutal mode.

But very soon, a passion drives a ray of hope in the blood stream of brave men who fear none but loss. And it’s this towering hope that keeps the will going, to achieve what currently appears to be behind the walls of a narrow minded world. It is this hope that shall dwell in men of character. Men that deserve to live in the world of my imagination. For now it may appear like a tough ask, but I have HIGH HOPES.

The desire, ambition and the hunger shall remain forever and ever.

PHANTOM of the Opera

2007-06-02T02:46:00.000+05:30

A long time since any activity on this blog…..but it has to be today…..of all the dayss....

Today I sat in a ROLLS ROYCE PHATOM!!!!!!!.Yes I took a ride in it, probably the most expensive car we cud ever think of(i hope not....i plan to buy a mclaren F1 in the far future)...it was on a promotion spree for the mobile store in our college campus…..God knows what connection is between a 5 crore masterpiece and some crappy mess of similar looking cell phones and utterly confusing talk plans…..

Still who cares….as far as u get a free ride in your own college campus in a Rolls Royce……..oh yes u do feel like a king!!!!!!!!!!!!

So here goes….we were studying in the library(seriously…we were)…and Ashish calls me…..come down fast to RRC…..fast…come fast…Rolls Royce….ride free…free ride…come fast….and I was on my way….we reached there…Ashish and the others waiting with sparkling eyes….chatur updated us on the experience ….he went in the rolls for a ride already….we all were waiting…finally after a lonnnnnng minute we see it coming towards us….first slow…then suddenly accelerating very fast….car stops….some girls and guy come out….we pounce in the car…I was left waiting due to foto sessions…but I got the front seat….we climb in…there are buttons to close doors. They are too heavy and hinged in opposing manner….so electronics doing the job for us.The car starts…we take a left turn….the guy blasts the stereo with a promotional track and shows us how to take reverse using proximity sensors…and a free demo of how ur car can be rear ended if u have an asshole driver at wheel….n number of sensors cannot help u….an Indica bumped at the back….indica’s bumper seriously damaged….rolls left with a small scratch and slight mis-alignment of the bumper.

Ride ends with a small trip thru the petrol pump in front of the college…..lots of awestruck looks….and finally when we arrive in the college…theres a huge crowd waiting….felt as if we were kings getting down the rolls…(too imaginitve I guess….but happens when u r in a Rolls…a whole new world inside there)….well how was the car is the big Q…and I am no Jeremy Clarkson to comment on it….but still

The car was awesome royal,quiet,heavily loaded with gadgets and screens and controls and auto doors and mirrors and wood and leather and 100 years of Rolls Royce 'hand crafted' heritage and a blasting sound system and also an ASSHOLE driver

We managed to see the features of the car in live action.....the rolls wing logo going under the bonnet when the crash was detected (a typical feature of the Rolls Royce cars).

At the end I was left with the same feeling Jeremy Clarkson had after driving Bugatti Veyron.....I will never be able to afford it.....and is it really worth the money???

Do u pay 5 crores for the car or the aura that comes with it...the Rolls heritage....the umpteen man hours that have gone into it...the fanatic attention to details...the perfect combination of cosmetic and scientific excellence?????????

Well u pay to be a part of the elite who have driven on this planet in the ghostly coffins(all rolls cars are named after ghosts).U pay respect(read crores) to humans who have dedicated their lives to create the feel of a "ROLLS ROYCE"....

NEVER SAY "LIFE IS NOT FAIR"

2007-05-14T03:13:00.000+05:30

How many times have you heard people cribbing about life not being fair? It is a pretty common statement used by people to blame life for all that they haven’t achieved even after working so hard to get it. But is Life really not “fair”?

What do we mean when we say “fair”? The Oxford dictionary gives the meaning of the word ‘fair’ as “just, equitable” (and a whole lot more but irrelevant here). Something that is acceptable to all. But what is the meaning that we tend to understand? What we actually want is to succeed in everything that we do, reach every goal we want and never fail. That is the ‘fairness’ of life we are looking for!

But I say that “LIFE IS FAIR”!!!! How you ask? Simple…..

There may have been times when you have got something you really wanted and you were so happy. Like when you were a little kid and your parents got you that toy that you really wanted. Remember that happy feeling? And what about that sadness when that toy broke within a few days? You may have had similar experiences in your life till with different things. The sadness really gets to you if it is something that you really longed for and finally got it only to lose it again. At such times we get the feeling about life not being fair. But what if our desire would not have been fulfilled in the first place? Obviously we would regret our desire not being fulfilled. But wouldn’t that regret would be LESSER than the pain of losing it AFTER having fulfilled our desire????

Instead of blaming ‘life’ for not being fair, we should thank it for saving us from going through a greater pain.

So now tell me………..Isn’t Life Fair?

When the smoke is going down - Scorpions

2007-04-29T01:48:00.000+05:30

When the smoke is going down..................................

Artist: Scorpions; Music: rudolf schenker; Album: Blackout; Lyrics:klaus meine

This article is a continuation to what Rohan had written earlier, which really inspired my thought and blogging. It is in continuation to “BECAUSE I CHOOSE TO..”

How many times have you felt, that you have been living your life to the fullest? How often you want to live life extreme?

Nothing is as satisfying as satisfaction - A personal satisfaction in a world where achievement is second hand. Achievement is synonymous to an act, duty or accomplishment that is approved, recognized and appreciated by someone else. So when people sit down to contemplate their achievement, the reflections are merely in terms of academics for the geeks, failure for the jerks, social-service for the politicians and promotion for a regular service class individual. Satisfaction is what you reach when you do something for none other but your own self. Anything extra that you may achieve is purely fluky and or just a consequence.

The other inspiration to this article comes from a song by Scorpions – WHEN THE SMOKE IS GOING DOWN. The song talks about the band scorpions who want to be on stage even after the audience have left. They want to be there for the love of it. They want to do it all over again only for themselves. Because they simply love it.

I cherish the moments when I have done things for myself, sitting outside the closed doors of the library late in the night, not because I wanted to complete a topic for the day but because I was enjoying studying the subject. My performance was only consequential. Or for the matter of comparison; spending nights in college to put up an event, the fun was only coincidental.

Do we truly love our work? Does it come out of our OWN choice? Or simply because we are entrusted the duty to perform a task, so we shall succeed if we manage to complete it. Till today, all that most of us have been doing is what the system has demanded from us. But it is only few distinct individuals who trace the self-made paths.

I wish I could belong to myself. Do a little bit not because I am required to do, but because I enjoy doing it. Yes, I want to be on the stage even when there is no audience. I want to do it for myself. I want to work for no men or organization but for myself. I wish I live a life like this every day. I wish my work will keep me occupied and fascinated till and beyond the time when the smoke is gone down, the lights have gone dim and the gates are closed. It will only be me and my work and loads of contentment…. How I wish??? The pursuit begins very soon…

Beginning of the End - One Last Time

2007-04-25T00:39:00.000+05:30

Been long since I have written. Thought of it many times but didnt. I wont be able to live up to the standards of the last few posts but here goes....

The End has begun. My submissions are over, and am waiting for the exams to begin. Its that time of the year again when everyone is thinking of the amount of syllabus that is left to cover for the exams...For some it is the time to begin the revisions... for many, like me, it is the time to realise that we have insufficient notes and start hunting for them. But this is for the One Last Time.

Four years have gone by and it doesnt seem like a long time, but feels like a lifetime. When we began, we couldnt wait for it to get over and now we want some more time - not for the college work ofcourse but for the time we spent with friends.

We can split our entire life into 4 lifetimes - 1st the school life, 2nd junior college (albeit a short lived one), 3rd engineering college (or whatever course you do), and then the life after all this.

My school life was spent around the world (2 continents and 3 countries) - 2 years in Qatar, 2 years in Canada and 4 years in India. (I know that it adds up to 8 years, it is not a mistake. The remaining 2 years were spent between India and Qatar, not exactly sure how much where.) Out of these I hardly remember about Qatar and a little bit about Canada. My actual school life began in 1997 at St. Lawrence, Vashi where I met some of the best people I would ever meet - Sunny, Deepak and Aarohan. Thanks for being what you are. But the school life ended. Some friends were lost forever, some friendships were forged forever. But the memories remain.

The 2 years of junior college went by like a breeze. Got to do stuff that you couldnt do in school (like bunking lecs and going for a movie or openly flirting with girls). Had fun but didnt last that long. The college life ended too. But the memories remain.

Then came Engineering. The 4 years of copying assignments, completing the journals and doing the submissions on time. The running after the dumb profs for getting the experiments and assignments checked (here the hindi proverb applies perfectly - 'Kabhi Kabhi Gadhe ko bhi Baap banana padta hai'. I used to count the semesters as they got over ( i m sure every1 did).

And now the End of this life has Begun. But this End will be for the One Last Time. The new life that awaits us has no end. It ends only with our life. We have learnt a lot in our previous lifetimes and now we have to apply it. We shall be on our own now, no teachers to guide us and no dumb profs to act smart.

We got a few more days left but it seems too little. I want some more days, some more of the senseless waste of time that we did at leisure, some more of the carefree times spent with the friends, some more memories to cherish.......a little bit more....

But we have no choice. The new life awaits us. We have to greet it with Arms Wide Open and make the best of it. We have to face the End and a New Beginning..........for the One Last Time.

END of the BEGINNING

2007-03-27T19:51:00.000+05:30

This post is by Rohan(arrows), and I am posting it here because Rohan was too lazy to do so, but anyways, the post is what matters and undoubtedly it is another masterpiece after the last one Sunny posted.

“After the game king and the pawn return to the same box”

This is how I perceive my subsistence these days. Who am I? I am anyone of you, and yet distinct. I am like any other student who is counting days before he calls himself a Graduate, and yet I have an identity that can’t be assigned to anybody other than me. If you have not guessed it as yet; I am one of those constituents of the game who has realized that the game is nearly over and the distinction of identity and stature is subtly losing its existence.

We all played this game to the best of our ability, the game we call Engineering. Some played it straight-forward like the Rook; some tried twisted ways of the Knight, a few chose to swagger around like the Queen, and many were satisfied with the simple ways of a Pawn. Everyone equally engrossed in the pursuit of an objective which could provide the best possible clarification to and assign a cause reasonable enough for, his existence. By the end of this phase of life that is but just the beginning of what they call life, we are all related to each other by one euphoric sentiment “WE PLAYED”.

Lingering somewhere in the memory (which is by now perfectly tuned to function only for a stipulated amount of duration at a fixed time of the year) are those days when we stepped into this hallowed institution of engineering for the first time. Those were the times we had to stick together out of no choice, as the only savior of a drowning man is the man drowning besides him. Never had we then perceived that in one of these drowning men we will find the steadfast hand of a friend. At the end, for some friendship remains a virtue for others just a means to reach the end. In either case they cherish the moments of bliss when they could actually understand the profundity of this emotion.

From the horrors of mechanics to the mechanics of (managing) horrific profs we conquered it all. Some found their calling in Nirvana (Kurt cobain fans) some found nirvana in the intriguing circuits of Boylstad. The listless faces (of students) gazing at the excruciating ‘external’ (sometimes ‘internal’) metamorphosed into enthusiastic bundle of nerves with the onset of sports and cultural fests, only to surrender that zeal again to the inevitability of results. The vicious cycle of term end-submission-viva-university exam seem like a mundane affair by the end. From high school sweet hearts to newly discovered made-for-each-others many found themselves shot by the cupid and others just found a reason good enough to keep them happy for being neglected by the angels. From moments of self-denial to moments of feeling I-am-god we’ve all been there done that.

A thousand different stories yet we all relatively stand at the same point in our respective lives. A point where the world is waiting for us with its arms wide open. A point from where the lessons learnt in classroom will be applied to real life situations, where answers to practical questions will certify the gained knowledge. Equipped with the same eagerness in heart and fire in the belly here we stand all set to go. This is the point where the beginning meets its end.

As for the future, I am just reminded of these lines which say all that I would like to say to all my colleagues and juniors.

It’s something unpredictable,

But in the end its right;

I hope you had the time of your life.

The most valuable waste of time

2007-03-19T01:49:00.000+05:30

The most valuable waste of time is how I can best describe my four years (almost four as on date) of engineering in VJTI. So what did I do in college today? A question that remained unanswered daily after I reached home from college. For years, it didn’t bother me much, because it was the time to cut loose, let my hair down and simply have fun ‘JUST LIKE THAT’. Until today when I want to pen down, what it was like being in VJTI and doing all that was done, I make an attempt to find the answer.

What did I gain? A day in college was always like an open forum for discussions, where topics varied from the most unpredictable ‘University Exams’, to the most sensational ‘Good looking FE Chick in college’, to the most fascinating ‘theory of machines taught in the lecture’, to the most spell binding ‘Diction of a professor’, to the most mysterious ‘loss of words in an assignment’ and finally to the most trivial ‘bad taste of the tea in canteen today’. Issues never thought, planned or intended, but simply there for the heck of it. Ideas flooded in from the optimistic, from the pessimist, from the authoritative, from the sly, from the class clown and others straight from mars. Some ideas came out of choice, the others because there was no other choice.

At the end of it, there were a zillion perspectives left to contemplate, which were often overlooked until today. The four years of mere wasting time has left impression in the form of multi dimensional thinking. Engineering has given a new dimension of analysis. Earlier there were always two ways of doing anything: the right one and off course the wrong one. Quite like always, engineering is path breaking in the sense that, it may not necessarily be wrong if it is not right. It can neither be right, nor be wrong as the same time. The justification follows: Copying assignments is not right but not wrong either, if you know no one is going to read them. Bunking lectures is not right but not wrong either, if you know how well read the professor himself his. The above mentioned are very obvious material benefits, but otherwise too, that is how life is…. You may not be doing what is wanted of you, but you will still be acknowledged for not doing what you are strictly not supposed to do. And this is just one aspect of it……

Thinking that grew into the evolution of individuality, a thought and a very predictable behavior. Today, the smallest of contributions to the discussion are individuals, people I call my friends, people I can trust, people I look up to for advice and people whom I can call in the middle of the night just to pull off a joke on him. In the process of taking each other’s case, we have bonded so well that our expressions are beyond words. We can laugh together at the mildest of smirks or, for that matter, absolutely nothing. At the same time we can feel the agony; generally referred in terms of failure to get a girl for those who don’t have one and loss of wealth for those who have managed to get one or more.

Individually, we are ideas, notions, visions and loads of fun together. For the spectators, we are a force, a team that organized equal volumes of fun with festivals, submissions, PL’s, vivas and even results. We, better known by the brand, BE Mechanical, have managed to add value to the institution and ourselves. At the end of four years, who are we? How do we recognize ourselves? It is plainly just a sentiment too difficult to be talked about or even written here.

Time is often considered money. Here in VJTI, we have splurged all our money (time) in having the most priceless moments of our life. And all this happened so incidentally, when we were simply finding ways to kill them. Today when all the smoke is gone down, we are left with an individual, an idea, an emotion and NOSTALGIA.....and the most valuable FRIENDS.

Can’t believe that the Law of Conservation applies here too…. “Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can be converted from one form to another”. We have succeeded to convert almost everything into fun with minimum losses... and guess what friends our conversion efficiency simply ROCKED!!!!!!!!!!!

RAIT- The wonder Years

2007-02-21T00:20:00.000+05:30

Hi guys, this post comes after a very weired time in my life, the last one was an outcome of a very depressed and frustrated state of my mind. Anyways, am back to normal, alive and kicking and yes getting bored and wondering what to do next and always ending up lazing arnd rather than dng smthng constructive.

But thats not the point I have in mind as I write here. This one is completely dedicated to my friends, my collegge friends as well as Sunny Junaid and Rohan. But since I have written about Rohan Sunny and Junaid in a previous post, I would tlk more abt my coll frnds here.

So guys, first of all thanks for being there(a typical line when u want to show gratitude, but nthng better than this). As the last sem is finally beginning, a strange realisation of the past always fills me when I am with u guys. All those moments we have spend together just keep playing as if a vdo being played repeatedly.

Earlier I never cared to enjoy the moments we had together in coll, for me coll was not more than IEEE and robotics. But since the last sem when I have 'retired' from all these activities, theres plenty of time to have fun, at least to be with u guys. I think I have started recognizing u guys a bit better, all because now I bother to care.

But as always I am late in dng good thngs, here I am realising all this when coll is about to end. The other day me and Abhishek were wondering how many of us will care to stay in touch after our coll finishes. And I really found the answer hard to fathom, that is when I realised how little I know about my frnds with whom I spend most of my time of the day. But still at least I know that I will care to stay in touch.

I was just browsing thru the pics and vdos we have shot in our engg days and I realised we all have changed a lot, physically of crse(from those timid FE's to care free BE's), but many other aspects as well. All of us have reached a new level of understanding, the pitty fights have reduced, they have transformed to hard core wars:). I have started appearing more in front of the camera, rather than always preferring to take pics. Most of us are 'committed' now. We all have graduated to gvng surprise birthday parties to everyone, most of us have stopped bothering abt results(except me, i never cared abt results), the meaning of coll has changed from a place to study(atleast we made sincere attempts for the first two years to do that) to a place to just escape from a harsh wrld outside and go inside a cocoon, a shelter with frnds arnd and a sense of protection and warmth.

Ppl have strted acquiring the status 'busy' on messenger, courtesy the permanent status 'committed'. I must tell u guys this committed status comes with a lot of packages attached. For eg. lots of profile fotos for orkut, to share on messenger. Ppl have strted going on shopping excursions just for 'her' or 'him'. These things were just dreams in FE and SE. But times have changed and they have changed for good. All these situations have kind of tied us tighter than we were before, made us more tolerant of each other.

And all this while I feel like I am a bystander, I never lived those moments of initial bonding with u guys, I was always there, but never connected. Again no regrets for that, I never wanted to get too involved with ppl, I always feared our friendship wud end before it even began.

But all that time has gone and has taught me a lot, u guys have taught me a lot. Thanks for all that. This might look like a farewell message, but honestly guys, every moment we spend tgether, seems like smthng is cmng to an end, which I want to hold onto, but cannot. So just wanted to make the most of the moments left, just wanted to thank u guys for being a part of the most wonderful years of my life.

It Begins......

2007-02-17T00:45:00.000+05:30

Hi to all....Finally after 3 or 4 aborted attempts I am finally putting up a post. The name is Junaid (aka Junior as called by the other three 'distinct individuals'). What is about to follow will in all probability be incoherent ( this is bound to be the case with many of my entries) so please excuse me....

Before I begin with my crap, there two things that I would like to say....
1) The previous post by Deepak is no surprise to me as it is totally expected of him. It was sooner or later gonna find its way as a blog entry.

and 2) Deepak 'STOP' regretting all that you haven't achieved coz regretting isn't going to get you all that you missed!

The other day I was telling Deepak that I want to fly in the air, just jump off some really high point and fly. No worries, no thoughts, no desires, no regrets,.........nothing at all.....just me with the sky above and land below!!!!! And then it struck me.........3 months or so more and we step into the real world. The very thought brought me crashing down from my flight of fantasy.

Till now we were more or less insulated from the real world. We were safe from the worries of life.....the kind that our parents generally worry about!! And the inevitable question....Am I ready yet? I dont know....I am not sure.......

What could be worse than an engineering students life?........LIFE ITSELF!!!!!!

Today we have all the time we want to do all that we wish, we may not have it in the neat future. We meet our friends frequently. In the future we may not even find time to speak for days....All the responsibilities.....worries.....The thought sometimes makes wonder ' will I be able to face it all? '

Looking back I can see that it was not a bad journey up till this point of time in my life....a few ups and downs...a few hiccups...but I got here......There were a few things that I would have liked to achieved in the past but it is no use regretting.. (so Deepak you are not the only one who missed out on a few chances, it happens with everyone).

Here I would like to share a Few words that I came across....The hammer that breaks glass can also give a shape to steel. So it is upto you to be glass or steel...

Now that I think, life in the future may not be that difficult a journey....I have reached here...I can go ahead too.....

But then again......Am I ready yet? I dont know....I am not so sure.......Till then I want to continue with my flight through the air....no worries...no thoughts.......just me with the sky above and the land below........

ME- Beginning and the End

2007-02-03T02:04:00.000+05:30

This post comes after a long time since Rohan wrote something here. I was a bit busy to write smthng good here for some days and then was too bored to vent it out here. I generally refrain from writing smthng here so that I don’t trouble poor readers with frustrations in my life.

But today when I was generally reflecting back on whatever has happened so far in my life, I just realised that it is equally important to share sadness and frustrations with others, which i restrict to a very few individuals in my life.

So I tght why not write it on the blog as well, let others know what brings sadness, dejection and regret.

So guys this one will be full of rantings about how bad my life has been so far, so if u r in a happy and joyous mood, plz dont read further and then curse me for spoiling ur mood..

Let’s make a list

I REGRET

1. not trying to get into IIT.

2. not being rich enuf to own a hard earned CAR(so far).

3. not being daring enuf to go out of the way to achieve my goals, considering they are a bit out of the way for a normal guy being born and brought up in a limited opportunity country like INDIA(again considering my interests like cars, electronics).

4. not being intelligent enuf, I need to work a lot more than many others(and less than many many others) to achieve something.

5. having an absence of luck all thru my life(i honestly do not remember any instance where I got help out of my luck, its just non existent in my life, good luck , bad luck both).

6. my family all tearing apart, never really disturbed me as a kid coz I never realised what I lost then, but now I realise what I wud have gained had it not happened. But again it was inevitable, and maybe happened for good (thats a universal justification for evrythng bad that happens, isnt it???).

7. all the circumstances making me so tough mentally that I am almost unmoved by any other human beings presence, everythng in my life is just abt ME. Its ME always first. So when I get too tired of ME, there’s no one else to relate to, coz I never allowed anyone to relate to ME.

8. understanding that in any relation a persons character is what matters, and not the relation tying u together. Thats why u will never see me asking for or doing smthng for someone by the excuse that he is my frnd or bro or sis. The reason will be he is Prasad or Sunny or Rohan or Sneha. The person is the reason, not the relation.

9. being a bit different from all the others I have come across. I agree every human is different from others, but I have made an effort all my life to be as diff as possible. I really dunno but I just tend to dislike any general behavior shown by ppl. I never feel like accepting the fact that general rules in a society can govern a persons existence. And that is the most prominent rule accepted by everyone. What I mean here is for eg. its accepted that u shud respect ur teachers coz they ' are teachers and they are elder to u' and on the contrary, recently its considered uncool and stupid to appreciate a professor if he is really good, then u r termed chaatu, sharif, padhaku and what not.

10. having a ‘dont mess with me’ kind of attitude and aura arnd myself, I have always been told this. Although I honestly never made an attempt towards this attitude, but rather its the outcome of my character and beliefs.

11. lacking the ability to speak, compliment and even scold others. I just dont know how to show care for others, coz I have really never cared for others, other than myself and very few ppl whom I like as a person. Again coz I never try to relate to ppl under the pretext of a relation.

And as I finish the list, I am also left with the feeling that some of the above stated reasons are also the source of all the content that I have in my life.

1. No luck- only hard work, so all that I achieve and lose is coz of me and not some divine unknown, unseen power. So my life is a result of my deeds alone.

2. My attitude- keeps away unwanted and stupid ppl.

See, so at the end its more regret than content. Well I guess this was supposed to be a vent out, so I am in no frame of mind to think abt good things in my life.

Sorry guys (especially Sunny, he will kill me for posting this after Rohan’s wonderful post, sorry dost). I wish to see something here soon by Sunny or Junaid.

But I am sure that ME will be the end of all my regrets as soon as I am able to justify all my actions and beginning of a wonderful and content life

.....Because I CHOOSE to!

2007-01-09T13:35:00.000+05:30

Of all the realities of life, I think I came across the most compelling one; in the most unassuming way……

A few months back, the stage was set, when Deepak came up with the idea of watching MATRIX REVOLUTIONS. Just another Hollywood flick, from the look of it…..rarest of its kind if comprehended. This is not about how great the movie was, but how great a message it conveyed. At the onset I understood head-nor-tail of it (lots of action and expenditure; typical Hollywood), but it had something in it that made me choose to watch the movie again.

A second look at the movie made me choose to watch THE MATRIX, which made me choose to watch MATRIX RELOADED. And here I am after I chose to write about this verity. The essence of matrix lies in a single line spoken by its protagonist NEO……… The backdrop is in wreckage (like the picture of earth, just before its extinction or origination), the moment is like an epoch when the opposites (I won’t say good and bad) collide and lead to annihilation of the difference between them. AGENT SMITH asks (not exactly like this) “why do you want to fight a lost battle….you know you can’t win…. Can’t you see? Is it for love…… or friendship or freedom or faith…. or for your people, who do not even value your existence?” WHY WHY WHY? The answer to this answered all the “WHY’S” of my life and probably human existence.

The reply came from a man who himself was in search of the same answer, a man who was enlightened at that very instance, a man who knew the extent of his own power and also his enemy’s prowess. He said “BECAUSE I CHOOSE TO”.

The world today is as it is because one of us at different instances of time wanted it to be like this. It was because one of us wanted to light up our lives that we have a bulb glowing in our drawing rooms, because somebody wanted to fly, we see these heavy metal bodies cutting across the sky. Because somebody wanted to rule the world, we had to suffer World War II, because someone thought non violence is the greatest weapon, we had to overthrow tyranny with its torture. Because somebody wanted to reason falling of an apple, physics was born. Because somebody somewhere chose to make a choice for himself and backed it up with a great amount of conviction; human race had to simply follow the path lit by them.

No disregard to any of those who followed the path, because they chose to follow the ones ahead of them. So the reason of all the human achievements and sufferings is a simple six letter word CHOICE. We live our life, the way it is because we chose it to be ours. There is no supernatural or extraterrestrial reason that controls the course of our life. We have the power to make a choice and we have all the requisites to fulfill our choice. But we mostly choose otherwise.

You see corruption everywhere because you choose to be a part of it whenever it benefits you. You feel the quality of education is abysmal because you choose to let the level of your knowledge be decided by the system. You feel the nation is under-developed because you choose to see it like this (and fly away at the first chance life offers you to). You face dejection and rejection because you choose to let your mind believe in such vagaries. You fail to achieve your goals because you choose to accept a small tryst as your destination. The world is as you see it because you choose to visualize it like this.

The question is not about right or wrong but about who decides it to be either ways. It is you. It is every human being who consumes the oxygen available on this earth to breath, who consumes the food resources to fulfill his appetite, who enables his mind to believe in whatever it does by a mere CHOICE. The reason and consequence of your existence, the way it is, is YOU. That’s the ultimate truth of life. There is nothing and nobody in control of your life other than you. That’s the power of you, that’s the power of your choice.

You chose to read all of this. Now you may choose to believe it and accept it or simply discard it. In either case you will have made a choice and I am sure you have the power to make your choice worthwhile.

To Think or not to Think

2007-01-05T02:12:00.000+05:30

This post is kind of a continuation to shamanth's 'about blank' post. Shamanth, I must say u r a true initiator man.Anyways thanks for initiating that post on thinking.

So here goes my view on it

Its a very rosy thought- not to think anything. To be on the lighter side I totally agree with Aneesha that some or the other time most of us may have used the phrase that 'my mind went blank' during the first few minutes of an exam. Wasnt that the time we dreaded the most, or was it the time we enjoyed the most. Dreaded not because u were afraid of failing, but very honestly because u realised that there is something u are not able to do, coz u found urself incompetent, kind of a fear that u experience just after a bad accident, whether ur shoulder which is paining so much is really going to work, or u have lost it.(speaking out of 2 brutal experiences)

Frankly speaking i fear those times the most when i found myself unable to think. Its just that mental paralysis which cannot be shown to anyone, it cannot be cured with someones help. It's just within u, u have to fight it. Have been some moments in my life, very brief but very scary.

I would go a bit further in stating some(actually many) lines from Ayn Rand's ATLAS SHRUGGED, which very precisely answer the question"to think or not to think". Here i would like to state a small disclaimer that i am not quoting these lines with reference to any of the comments or posts on Shamanth's blog, but just a very outright and kind of outrageous way of stating the subtle topic Shamanth started on his blog

Thinking is a man's only basic virtue, from which all the others proceed. And his basic vice, the source of all evils, is that nameless act of blanking out, the willfull suspension of ones consciousness, the refusal to think-not blindness, but the refusal to see, not ignorance-but the refusal to know. Its is an act of unfocussing your mind and inducing an inner fog to escape the responsibility of your judgment.

Man's mind is his basic tool of survival. Life is given to him, survival is not. His body is given to him , its sustenance is not. His mind is given to him, its content is not. To think is an act of choice. The function of your stomach , lungs or heart is automatic, that of your mind is not. In any hour and issue of ur life, you are free to think or to evade the effort.But u are not free to escape from ur nature, from the fact that reason is ur means of survival, so that for u who are human beings the Q is not "to be or not to be", rather it is "to think or not to think"

Too much philosophy to start with, but I hope I don't get any hate mails for this. Coz even if i get, i "choose" not to "think" about them.

3 Kings and a Jack

2006-12-25T23:25:00.000+05:30

Formula 1 could well be rated the most glamorous sport in present day world. With other sports catching up on this speed extravaganza, F1 might still manage to be a shade superior. The billions of pounds pumped in stand as a testimony. I am not saying that its pay cheques or the research figures in the ‘business’ but it is by far the most engineered sport. Passion revs up at 20000 rpm on the straights and enthusiasm propels life at 5 times gravity on the trickiest of chicanes. Though the FIA is infallibly trying to make the sport safer, year after year records have been broken. With the onset of yet another season, though it still stands about more than two months of painstaking testing, it surely promises a lot more than it has done in the past.

“I don’t support any racer or team, it is the game I live for” well that has always been my getaway statement each time I have been asked whether I was pro-schumi or the other way. I have loved every bit of the excitement; to a list a few:

It talks about 3 Kings of the Trade and a JACK …

Fernendo Alonso:

Better known as: Youngest F1 Champion

I like him for: ENTHUSIASM. That comes with keenness and a fantasy to win. The way he challenged Michael Schumacher, I respect him for the COURAGE.

I hate him for: TREACHARY. Ditched Renault and left for Mclaren. Can’t wait to see a previously overshadowed Fissichela beat the hell out of him in the Renault.

Michael Schumacher:

Also known as: Greatest F1 racer EVER – Legend – Laps of God

I like him for: SPEED. Others took three pit stops, he took two and won. Did it the other way, and still won. Spun, started from 20^th position and won again. A recap of all in the last race again – If there was ever a God for Racing, he drove a FERRARI.

I hate him for: POPULARITY. It is his popularity that’s got him all the accusations to be a cheater and a spoilt sport.

Kimi Raikkonnen:

Also Known as: The Iceman

I like him for: AGGRESSION and he is a FIN. Love to see his anxiety to get ahead of the leader on the first lap itself.

I hate him for: TOO AGGRESSIVE. The Mclaren didn’t respond well. Try it on the Ferrari – He’ll win for sure.

Jaques Villeneuve:

Also known as: Captain Bonkers – Jack Attack – Son of the legendary racer Giles Villeneuve

I like him for: Extremely UNPREDICTABLE moves on the field that has stunned racers and most significantly Steve Slater (the christener of all the above mentioned names). Today he stands not more than a badly paid champion from an acme of being the world champion (year 1997).

I hate him for: NOTHING. Who hates entertainment? If F1 was entertainment, he is my choice.

KEEP CHECKING THIS SPACE FOR MORE F1 Related BLOGGING.

ATLANTIS

2006-12-15T00:49:00.000+05:30

So finally i am back after a log time........ Anyways cud have written during exams....but avoided it so that i don't blurt out my frustrations on my blog....looks bad for future record.

So the vacations have finally begun and the Mathura trip also stands canceled courtesy extreme weather in the north and more so me and tinku's reluctance to waste ten precious days of vacations in a freezer.

Again falling short of anything to write on so here i chose my fav topic......if u haven't guessed yet..... CARS

Just the next day of the last exam i went to the book fair at Vashi station and was looking for a particular book by a last century Russian writer by the name Fyodor Dostoevsky. Obviously cudnt find that book owing to the fact that it was published in 1891. But found another title by the same author. Anyways as i was busy searching for my stuff, Sunny managed to grab the only thing he can think of reading. It was a magazine, not more than 150 pages, but worth more than thousand pages of jeffrey archer or sideney sheldon. Again sunny at his best. He found the UK edition of the mag F1 Racing. obviously we grabbed one and flipped thru the pages......BLISS

Sunny took it home and i cudnt wait to put my hands on it. Went back the next day and grabbed the only copy left of a diff edition. Also managed to search through the sea of shitty native cousins of playboy, awesome stuff like MOTORSPORT anniversary special(400 pages of absolute heaven) and some others like BMW M3 special edition and Jaguar Heritage. I was supposed to wait for my mom to proceed with the boring, once in a six month shopping routines. Cudnt find a place to sit down and read the stuff....... so sat down at the footpath near centre one under a tree shade and glanced thru the entire F1 racing edition. Then chose to read an article. It was on sudden change of team technical directors in the red bull racing team before the start of 2005 season.

Reading on i realised how politics and the usual ill feeling we find in ppl around us are more prevalent in the million dollar sport. I knew it wud be there but not at such levels like team owner and technical director. The whole outcome of the article was that the owner of the red bull team (an Austrian billionaire) sacked the tech dir just because he was not an Austrian but a Britishers. On the other hand the guy sacked is considered as the best and the most respected tech guy in the F1 circuit.

Was really shocking but in a way, subtle. Just made me think that we keep wining about the sick profs and the system around us for restricting our potential and making our lives miserable. But is there any escape to it?????

Is there anyplace where u wont find this? Where u wont be manipulated for the greater gain of the society? Where u wont have to sacrifice for the good of ppl around u???? Where u will be free to work on the basis of merit and not as a money earning machine?????

I think, at the back of our mind we all know that there isn't any. And we all know that there cannot be any. Coz such feelings are always associated with human nature, of which we ourselves are the architect.

Anyways i know of such a place, though fictitious, but i must admit it has played a very important part in reshaping my life. Its called ATLANTIS. ATLANTIS according to the writings of PLATO was a island which had a similar story like our world today, but 11,000 years ago, according to Greek mythology. I came across it in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. She has given that name to a place which is a very important aspect of the whole story.

If anyone is interested to know what happened to atlantis 11,000 years ago, and maybe, i strongly believe, will be the end of this age on earth. Just click here. Might sound too filmy or senti i guess, but kind of self assuring.

A weak hope that the ATLANTIS as described in Atlas Shrugged should exist, and one day i will find it, keeps me going.

'IF'

2006-11-21T23:15:00.000+05:30

Now that sunny has given a glimpse of the 'LIFE', we engineers are subjected to, heres a bit of a different take on life.

I came upon this poem over the net, written by the great Rudyard Kipling in 1895. I am too lazy to pen down my thoughts in a poem. i came across it reading about AYN RAND. This was the poem which was read at her grave. Kind of a perfect choice to pay her a tribute.

Anyways here it is

'IF'
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Nothing more i can say, except that the whole essence of life and in a way this blog by three of us (me, sunny and aarohan) is said in so few a lines. My favourite lines are highlighted in a different color. I hope everyone can identify with these modest lines.

NO MORE PROGRAMS AND ALGOS- BACK TO BUSINESS

2006-11-21T22:36:00.000+05:30

Studying a silly subject on computers was always the last things I would have wanted to do from the day I had taken up MECHANICAL engineering. Subjects like C, C++, Data Structures, SQL, Visual Basics and now CAD/CAM have always stepped on my weakest nerve. And after 7 grueling semesters, each containing programs and algorithms of varying sizes and blood sucking capabilities, it is FINALLY over.

And what a way to end this ‘percentage lowering factor’, just the way it has been always. 50 marks of CAD (Computer aided Design) and I attempted as much as half of it. Frankly speaking I didn’t even know bits and pieces worth 50 marks including options and of whatever I knew I was so jaded to heave it down my pen.

Of the COMPLETE one hour that I prearranged to write my last rites of computers linked subject, I could only manage to do so in the most untidy handwriting. Even a lame passerby (I mean the supervisor) gave me a bizarre look the moment he saw me scribble some crap on a very good quality Mumbai University Answer Sheet.

The reason of my complete disinterest in these subjects is purely because of the thought that ‘If I were to do all the computer programming, what would the computer engineers be paid for?’ I can’t see this happen to my friends from computer engineering.

However some might claim that a basic knowledge of computers can be handy for any person, but why the f*** do we have to do hard core programming. And to top it all theory straight from mars which only aliens can comprehend from typically available notes and Xeroxes. Ok fine, I know to run my computer, understand standard application programs, play the most complicated of games and also format and reinstall my PC. Isn’t that good enough for a Mechanical Engineer?

The worst part of this story is that; Mechanical/Civil/Electrical Engineers are constantly subjected to repetitive dumbing down by Computers/IT/Electronics/Telecommunication Engineers. I recall of what once a neighbor of my friend once told him after he got into VJTI Mech, “Kyun beta marks kam mille the jo mekanikal (mechanical) liya, kumputar (computer) ya IT nahi milla kya. Mekanikal ka koi scope nahi hai”. I don’t say that computers is bad and mech is the best. The point I am trying to make is that a mech engineer does not get the respect that a computer engineer gets just because there isn’t much money involved into it. Truly this false belief is shaken by the placements figures of my batch. The placement percentage is very high (with almost everyone placed) and extremely fancy packages as compared to what a computer/IT based company would offer.

So all you fellow mechies (if any reading it), the world is waiting for you (Looking at past activities, Pune would very soon have more than 5000 acres of automobile industry waiting for all of you.). For all those who have taken mechanical engineer for the love of it, the opportunity is just the Mumbai-Pune Expressway away.

To end it - Computer Programming for me is FINALLY OVER. I am back to my business – I call it – Mechanical Engineering.

ITS an HONOR....

2006-11-19T22:36:00.000+05:30

Hey....... i get a chance to share my ideas and view point on the INTERNET (arguably the brightest idea concieved by the human race in modren era). Thanks to firstly the Internet itself and then to my dear firend DG for inviting me to be a part of this cult (and save me the pain of creating a blog myself). Thats what true friends are for. Secondly its a pleasure to see my name with the likes of DG and SUNNY (Two geniuses who continue to be a source of inspiration for me). Well this post being introductory let me first clear any deceptions that might result due to the names that you come across on this blog.

For starters: myself "ARROWS" a name i acquired moreso because people at my college found it awfully painful to call out AAROHAN everytime they needed me (which they very often did); and not because of any quality that i exhibit.... infact if you take arrows to be synonymous with speed, that name could be a perfect antithesis to my characteristics. The name of the creator of this blog took me by shock when i heard it first; for i have known him for the better part of our lives and people fondly called him Deepak/Gudda but never had anyone thought of calling him DG. Another example is our very own "Sunny" rings some bells, well if you think this guy is gonna add sunlight to your life...... you are in for some big surprises, he can light up your life to such an extent that before you can even realise you are blinded.

Well thats it for now, hope to keep my presense being felt more often than not. In for some gooooooood time with my school buddies doing something together..... last time I did this was in FE when we set out on a mission to create our first robot (with nominal inputs from me).

On a mission to spread good will,
call me aarohan.

P.S.- This couldn't have ended without the mention of our friend Junior aka JUNAID who is very busy for most of the time and a little busy for the rest.

Reference book for LIFE

2006-11-09T23:53:00.000+05:30

The very first thing I would do here is apologize, apologize, apologize(ok no rakhi sawant here!!!!!) for venting my frustration out in the last post. Was kind of irritated with everything out here, so vented that on my blog.

But looking towards the brighter aspect of things I once again feel there’s some hope left and maybe things will look good someday. Or maybe we will start looking at things in a better manner.

Nothing particular in my mind as I am writing this post, too tired and bothered to think about anything in particular. Just waiting for the exams to get over(too early to anticipate this I guess.......but yes) so that I can get down to some real stuff(my project at TATA Motors).

Another important thing going to happen tomorrow, for the first time in my life (well second time technically) I am going to drive a CAR. No pride in this fact considering that I am such a car freak and I haven’t been behind the wheel all these years. Feel like a waste bum on this planet, when I compare myself to Fernando Alonso(i know a bit too ambitious) considering he made formula 1 debut when he was 19.

Anyways finally the day will be tmr, for which I was waiting, I guess all my life.Too weirdly emotional considering my iceman like image when it comes to any emotion. But this is how I am when it comes to CARS. Dunnno why but I just feel very calm inside when I talk think or drive CARS. The feel of a power house under my control, the noise made by the engine (particularly F1 cars), just seem to calm down all the worries and frustrations in life. The most melodious music in this world is a Formula 1 engines roar. No rock music can beat that melody of 80,000 band members working in precise synchronism. And the fact that every weekend there are 22 such competing bands, makes this rock concert the most melodiously powerful one than anything played at Woodstock.

Anything which is comparable to it, I guess is the music of Pink Floyd and Nirvana. I just love these bands, for some unexplainable reason. Not that I am talking in comparison with other bands, but the fact is that I have not liked anything after I heard these bands, of course Iron Maiden being at the same platform. Maybe they have raised the minimum acceptable level to a very high value(see PL's showin)

Same is the case with novels, I started of with Erich Segal kind of novels, preaching sacrifice, love and all crap. Liked them. Moved on to read Jefrrey Archer, was a big bore. Always hated sidney sheldon for no obvious reasons.

Came across Ayn Rand's Fountainhead. Loved it. Then hated it for making my life miserable. Didn’t sleep for nights asking questions to myself, fell ill (literally I mean it) finding the answer to every ‘WHY’. Life became hell. Finally gave up.

Came across Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Read it. Re read it. Got most of the answers. Started worshipping myself, these two books, life and everything around me. Life became much more calm, composed, organised, content, and above all HAPPY. Learnt the meaning of many words like LOVE, MONEY, LIFE, HAPPINESS, EMOTIONS, MORALS, VALUES, INTELLIGENCE and above all "ME". I still read it when life becomes turbulent, calms me down, helps me find all the answers. I call it my REFERENCE BOOK FOR LIFE.

Anyways I think the flow took me a bit too far away. Time to get back to memorizing(not studying). After that back to dreaming a formula 1 career.

My first ever blog entry

2006-11-05T01:00:00.000+05:30

Firstly, this is my first ever blog entry. This is surely gonna raise some doubts about me changing for the good. Due credit to my image to indulge in all kinds of dumb things(including watching a lot of C Grade movies and a lot of chamdi giri) and never doing the right things at the right time and place.

So reading a sensible book or a novel was almost out of question... And look at me now i am Writing. All I hope now is that DG does not kick me out of here for all the non sensible stuff thats gonna feature on this blog after today(read up "a place which i own"-- hehehe i m sure to invade into his privacy and make a hell out of it (joking)) But as it is said "All Bad things come to an end, and then the good things start" (I just made this up)

SO HERE I GO ---

SPONSOR ACKNOWLEDGMENT:
Worried by DG's online behavior, the way he abused almost everything in life including experiences in life, college life, sick profs and shitty vivas, I thought he needed some online help. Believe me i have been listening to the same ol' crap for the past few years now. I am sure Engg. has done this to my friend. I owe this blog entry to DG and i m here to help you. Its my way of "ehsaaan utaarna" because it is unarguably believed that I have spoiled DG, but he surely has taught me some GOOD things in life..... Thank you dost!!!!

CONTENTS:
1) What is a Blog?
2) Why do you need a blog?
3) Who needs a blog?
4) Where do you need a blog?
5) What are the advantages and disadvantages of a blog?
6) What are the application of a blog?
...............Why the fuck you fuck up at a blog?????,..............................

Bibliography: Some one else's blog.

blog... blog.... and some more of blog.......

Probably this is what we will write in our university exam paper if a question were to be asked for 5 valuable marks after attempting 35 marks ka paper. Woh 35 mark bhi classes notes ki daya hogi...

And life goes on... 6 semesters have past , add one more to it after a month and then just one more to go..... Imagine I will be an Engineer.... Who knows everything of Mechanical Engineering ... Believe me (and then save me from being killed by DG , species of my kind are becoming extinct)

I guess I have been studying a lot these days..... I better shut this crap before I go crazy.......

Study hard..... Before you see this place ROCK again...... Still wonder why do people think it is super cool to really rock something or the other.... Till you find the reason KEEP ROCKING>>>>>

Signed-
Sunny

Bricks in the WALL

2006-11-04T00:55:00.000+05:30

This post comes on the onset of another important and punishing time, the PL's. This implies that the most boring and demanding times lie ahead, but also the most useless efforts have gone by. Yes I mean the VIVAS.

As always I was the least prepared (by my own standards) this time, but this time I also cared the least. Dunno why, but as engineering is coming to an end, I am becoming more complacent in my attitude towards scoring marks. Not complacent towards studying but towards the exams and all the crappy systems and procedures.

I tried to figure out an answer to this in the past week. These answers raised more questions than before but helped me to feel free from the little feeling of guilt that was coming along with the complacence.

My first two vivas were a cake walk. The great HOD was not present during my viva and the external was fed up with her which was evident from her looks and mood.

The last viva’s preparation was very tiring, irritating, boring. Was not in a mood to study at all, had been awake all night, not studying just doing faltu time pass. The viva was as expected, no luck this time, was kind of screwed.

The last one forced me to think, are we really “learning” something? Isn’t there a fundamental difference created by us between learning and studying? Are the ppl from whom we are “learning” worth it? Or are they too, just another victims of the rotten system tat has been invented not to nurture creativity and skills, but to suppress them and promote social justice and equal opportunity. Aren’t we mere puppets of this system, we being sacrificed to portray to the world that INDIA is progressing FAST?

The ppl who “teach” us, are they worth being called professors? The meaning to the word teacher has changed such drastically that today good for nthng assholes who don’t have anything to do, who know they don’t stand a chance in the competitive industry, so they “teach to earn a living”

So the primary importance is earning not teaching. Anyways, is justified in todays money centric world. But aren’t we all responsible to make it money centric as well. Our misuse has made money a thng which is damned and condemned for everything wrong that happens. Isn’t it our own incompetence that’s to be blamed? Haven’t we made money more important that morals, values and work? Money after all is not an evil, it’s the value one man can pay another for his knowledge, productivity, creativity, all of these becoming extinct owing to the monotonous “general” procedures of inculcating knowledge in every “different” human being in the “same” manner.

And be it any profession, I thnk the worst impact is on the education related fields. Considering the scenario here I just remember the pink floyd video for another brick in the wall. Where kids are being tied to their benches in a factory similar to a car production line, a monotonous growth procedure being laid on them by a teacher.

The whole scenario looks so similar to a MASON building the wall around the centre of creativity and talent, the bricks being the teachers who are used, the MASONS are left for u to figure out.

I still remember the day my friend Chintan Shah told me, u will find a Vikas Nahar, a Deepak Gupta and a Chintan Shah everywhere u go. Just the faces will change, the personalities will be the same. If u can deal with all of them today, tmr will be easy. Thanks Chintan for that wonderful lesson.

Sometimes things just look so out of place that I start thinking this way. The problem being that I just think in this way, when things are out of proportion. Under normal times, we just accept things as they come, compromises driving us, general procedures ruling our actions.

I hope i will be the one to break this WALL some day.

AT LAST IT'S OVER

2006-10-27T04:33:00.000+05:30

Caught up with the vivas, this is the first time i couldnt find time to reflect on my passion.....ya thats FORMULA 1.

The last week will remain etched in every formula 1 fans memory for as long as the love for the sport prevails. The reason being a very obvious one , the retirement of the most successful driver EVER, MICHAEL SCHUMACHER.

Well to start with i guess i always hated Michael Schumacher, not because i loved Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen, but just because it was boring to support the already successful guy, so its better to support an underdog, fighting to establish supremacy.

Also i have time and again argued that Michaels successs was a lot coz of his luck. He has been extremely lucky at times, if formula 1 fans remember the occassions, there have been plenty when the hand of GOD literraly dropped victory in Michaels lap:)

But since the last few races when real bad luck has doged schumi , when he least needed it, i have strted thnking is it really true that we pay for our bad deeds here itself on this earth. The dialog from jhankaar beats keeps ringing into my ears "duniya gol hai aur har paap ka double role hai".

Well that being the lighter side of the whole matter, but technically speaking i dont thnk we remember ferrari blowing an engine since 2001, ferrari facing fuel pressure problems ever since i have strted watching formula 1, ferrari's tyre bursting with just a slight contact(even that still remains a controversy whether it was actually a contact with fisichela). Can anyone really imagine ferrari technical director saying that it was difficult to turn MICHAEL's car in time.

All these thngs dont seem normal at such a time when the best team in the world is running for its lost glory to a 20 smthng kid, fresh on the calender. I really cudnt believe my eyes when i saw ferrari's engine blowing off, the greatest shock of my life. Normally i feel extremely happy when thngs go wrong with ferrari or michael, dunno why but i just feel happy that others are making their mark.

But this day was exceptional, i felt actually sad, dejected and really filled with emotions unable to say in words, all the past years were like standing and staring in front, all the good days, all the clean sweeps made by michael were looking like they were being done not by michael, not by ferrari, but by some divine intervention. And today HE decided to pay back to michael, suddenly the 1500 men slogging for years day in and out were mere spectators when HE decided to intervene to deliver DIVINE JUSTICE.

Same was the experience when i saw the last race, brazil, it was again as if it was payback time for michael. the newspapers next day said ' THE FLAWED GENIUS'. I really felt sad that more than 10 years of exceptional success has earned michael this title ' the flawed genius'.

This made me realise how cynical we have grown in our attitude, all we cud see of him was his 2 mistakes made, maybe some others as well, not so significant. Why cudnt we write about the way he raced despite his brother just gng through a 350 km/hr accident directly into a wall, lying unmoved in his car on the US race track. He still raced. i dont thnk it will be easy for any human to do that. Why cant we remember that he raced when his mother was counting her last breaths in a hospital, he could have easily asked ferrari to go with a sub driver.

There have been many examples where he has shown sportsman ship that is difficult to find. But we dont care to remember and respect them, and this we includes me as well. Be it michael schumacher or anyone else, dont we have the same attitude towards everythng.

At the end of it all i was convinced that there exists GOD, and maybe it was schumi to his fans, for me it was his spirit which reflected GOD, at times it wavered, but at the end it was intact.

The most touching words to read of that day were after race when schumi hugged his father his father said " at last its over ". thats all one can say after being there and done that, its over.

I hope we see another schumacher in the making in the next few years, coz without him i guess we wont enjoy formula one as we did with him

As Sunny Makkar hopefully says
For the face of aggression whose machine always let down his performance, on the last few laps this season he drove wheel to wheel with GOD himself. There was a momentary contact and the legacy was passed. Go Kimi, scuderia ferrari and 2007 awaits you.

The end of the penultimate ERA

2006-10-18T21:11:00.000+05:30

Today was a very boring day by the normal RAIT standards. Well i guess the reason was that we finished 4 submissions and a project presentation in 2 hours flat.

A big scar on the RAIT lab ass club(i am sure there exists one.......where they discuss how to make others lives like a piston inside an engine)

The day started with my project presentation.......a managable affair and was easier than i expected, except some stupid questions........but thats normal in rait.

The first time i regretted doing something with a bit of perfection and standard was today. I took my synopsis prints on a coloured page in coloured text(one page for 15 bucks!!!) and the rest of the pages on royal executive bond paper(ya ......laugh.......i know i am a fool).

And at the end i realised my project guide was interested the most in the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT page. Nothing else in the synopsis mattered as much as the that page, infact he didnt even took the trouble to at least look at the diagram and the small technical part i included. Just the certificate and acknowledgement part was all that mattered. And this page was full of self praises by a inferiority complex struck HOD who is trying to acknowledge her efforts in alloting the PG's a week before the presentation, which should have been done 2 months ago.

Looking at this lady, i feel i have a very bright future, i can bet on anythng that i will be dng much better than her, will be much happier and sober in my behaviour and ofcourse i will not have the unmatched quality to utter crap with such confidence. Phd in WCOM comes really easy these days it seems, u just have to keep uttering crap abt the morality(which is away from her by miles) and the customer satisfaction that shud be maintained by the service provider. The commercial and philosophical part of a wireless network is much more important than the techniques, this is what i could infer from her teachings.
All the lectures i survived and managed to stay awake in her class, i could draw only one conclusion at the end, she was discussing how frustrated she is with her cell phone and her unfortunate service provider. How she wished we all were swapped with the HUTCH guys, whom she wished to just torcher to death by her unmatched capacity to utter crap.

Just imagine, a person having the only weapon in his personality, to keep uttering nonsensical and unrelated thngs, she can talk endlessly on anythng, which shud not be said at that instant, at that time, and to those ppl.

i really respect her for teaching me what not to do and be in life, without u i would have commited horrible mistakes in my life and wud have never realised that one day i will become 'YOU'. so thanks to her once again for this early caution.

Anyways am glad that finally an end to the penultimate round of useless submissions.......These are the times which make me happy that engg is finally coming to an end............but there are a lot more instances which leave me wishing that time moved slower than................perhaps a formula 1 car( c there i go, good i am back to normal)

Friends for LIFE

2006-10-07T02:39:00.000+05:30

Junaid, Sunny,Me, Aarohan
at Chapora Fort, GOA

This post is dedicated to all my friends....

so here goes without wasting any time and space.....the order is not according to importance...just random

Aarohan singh: "Aarohan" with a double A, thats the way this guy introduces himself to a new person, considering the uncommon name he has. His name means progress and thats very true to his personality, has been rather slow but consistent.The only thing that u can remember abt him when u hear his name is his unpunctuality. Yes u have read it right, the first sentence and i am poinyting out his bad quality, many will brag abt how good he is, but inspite of all that he is a real pain in the ass when he is always late and uncertain till the last moment to do anythng. But once he is there u really frget that he has been here late and has screwed up so much bfore, his presence is just stimulating to frget all worries inlife and just live for the momnet. I have known him for the past 12 years i guess and never in my life have we fought over or even disagreed over any issue, will seem strange that no probs even in the adolecent years, well yes that has been the level of our compatibility. He is dng telecom engg now from thakur coll of engg at kandivli, has been the GS there and has changed a lot in the past 3 years of engg. The best thng has been that he has realised that the world is not as good as he tght it was which i always tried to tell him. Anyways i hope he lives the way he wants to

Sunny makkar: He has been my partner in every crime till date. He said it right, i was a nice guy untill i met him, he corruted my mind. He is completely devoid of emotions and what little he has, he always tries to supress them. I still dont know why. Extremely passionate(well thats an emotion he has to a little extent, which becomes extinct every few days) about cars. He says his dream is to be a formula1 engineer and then later buy a formula 1 team and has no other option but to do that in partnership with me. Big dreams. No idea whether he can fulfill them, but yes i am very certain that he can do what he wants when he wants only if he overcomes his laziness, intolerance and his short lived bursts of passion(they need to be long lived). He is currently doing mechanical engg from vjti, doing extremely good in subjects related to automobiles and has been the GS for the Techfest TECHNOVANZA.

Junaid Wangde: 'junior' has always been considered as the most matured among all of us since we know each other. I guess that was just the outer shell in front of elders, at heart he is as stupid as we 3 are. But he has this amazing qualtiy of taking everything in his stride and just moving forward. Never in the past six years have i seen him down and beaten, or maybe he has never shared that with us. But he is always wrking towards smthng. He was abt to leave to settle abroad which (fortunately or unfortunately) didnt work out. That was the time when we realised what a big support he was to all of us. He hardly stays in touch with all of us, although his college is just 5 min walk from my home. But theres always a feeling abt him that he is always there when u need him. And that is what i guess has kept us all together. He is currently doing his chemical engg from datta meghe coll of engg(he missed TSEC for this coll............try and beat that guys). We(me and sunny) plan to include him in our formula1 team as a lubricant engineer or something that a chemical engg can do(i know he wont join us).

This post is not over yet, for those of u who are really bored just dont follow up to the next post coz that will be a continuation of this. Profiles of lot more ppl cmng up later.

The Memory Remains

2006-10-06T01:48:00.000+05:30

This post comes after a long time........ i guess owing to lot of happenings in my life and most of all my laziness to type.....but here i am after arnd a month ready to vent out all thats gng on in my mind or rather just writing abt thngs which are diff to discuss with anyone coz of lack of time and ...........oppurtunity.

To strt with i think the GOA trip steals the show hands down.............that place is just magical......just try finding one bad thng abt GOA.......i guess every RAITian will have to rack his brain like never bfore(of crse a very scarce practise in RAIT).Not just the beaches there are awesom, but the whole air i guess is stimulating to push urself to the max of everythng......fun, frnds, absolute raantigiri and of crse high speed police chases(some will know what i mean)

As this was the last trip in my student life(i just hope not), i was in a mood to have the max fun possible wit the most amazig ppl i have known for the past 3 years. All lthese guys have in a way shaped me to a different 'ME'. When such guys are arnd fun comes as a package which did this time as well. the trip had its ups and downs but all in all a great memory to cherish later with some phyical marks on my body as well(owing to my bike riding skills).

As the GOA trip was abt to end, i guess i experienced this for the frst time in my life, fear of losing smthng behind there.............what i am stil trying to fathom. Maybe it was the fear that i am losing a part of me in GOA, leavng back smthng i cannot hold onto, the more i try to hold onto the more it slips. The tght that such days are over, never again will we get to live these moments gave the trip a new meaning altogther. Sadly i realised this as the trip was ending and not when it begun.

Anyways whats more imp is that i atleast realised it, considering imp thngs often slip of my mind when they need to be considered. just cant do anythng though rather than just remembering the good times, waiting for the pics and vdos which my asshole frnds havent gvn me yet and falling in love with DIL CHAHTA HAI all over again for bng such real take on every aspect of life.

The Thinking Wheel

2006-09-05T17:16:00.000+05:30

Today my day started as it usually does.....waiting for the bus to college. Actually in these past 3 years I have become immensely fond of traveling to college, as this is the only time I get to be 'alone' with my thought. I losely sometimes refer to the bus as The Thinking Wheel. I just love the feeling of talking to my self......I wonder how many of us do that, always giving excuses of the busy schedule and hectic lifestyles.

The truth lies within everyone, that u don’t want to, that if u talk to yourself, the darkest side of u cannot be hidden and that makes u realise what u have been doing which u yourself cannot justify, thus giving rise to guilt, shame and pity.

So simply we stop thinking coz we don not have the guts to take up responsibility of our own actions, always blaming the cause and the effect on someone else. That's how we maintain a 'clean' and 'selfless' image in society.
Maybe that's a way of life these days, the easiest, without any struggle, without any responsibility, without any THOUGHT.

Over the years I have started believing in one thing and that is how hard u try u cannot lie to you. And this is the process which leads to a felling of guilt and remorse.

Often talking to my own self I find a lot of pleasure, they are like my daily flush out sessions where i 'talk' about everything that happened that day, that shouldn’t have happened that day, what i should have done, what i shouldn’t have done and of course how good I was in doing something and how bad in doing the other.

One more thing that always forces me to ask the question 'why' is, why do people feel pride in oneself is bad, why cant u appreciate your own skills, why cant u feel pride in your own actions if u have done something good. Feeling proud doesn’t mean u r denouncing someone ability, why it has to be comparative, why pride in oneself is is interpreted as pity on others.

Give it a thought guys, humans are capable of immense emotions and not all of them are as bad as we make them look they are.

2006-08-27T21:12:00.000+05:30

Welcome everyone to my blog
Before I begin i must say that writing is not an art which i am a master at, frget being a master , i am not even good at it........so please bear with me if u find the language and tone a bit out of the way. I also want to give the credits of this blog to Chetan Kale, who has been an inspiration for me to write this blog.......reading his blog i realised its very important to express urself.....so kaarta thanks a lot

To start with i guess theres nothing particular on my mind, except tat i have to get early tomorrow morning(the most hated thing in my life) to visit Omkar Shetye's home, Ganesh Chaturthi Pooja.

Ganesh Chaturthi is one time of the year when my faith in GOD strenthens a bit. its always strange to see people immersed in rituals that have been here for centuries, they just stay with us without ever being questioned about their existence and need.

Anyways, i guess its enuf to start with............guys a lot more coming later............

HAPPY GANESH CHATURTHI