College Chronicles .... Part -- 1

Winter of 2000 .. Was in college . College administration decided to shift our batch to a new campus. Plans for the day were pretty simple. Shift our belongings to the new campus , catch next available bus and go home for holidays. Shifting was scheduled to be completed by noon . Assuming IST , I planned on catching bus at  6 hoping shifting would be done by evening , in worst case. Surprisingly things were completed well before schedule  leaving me with ample time  before  next available bus .  Started exploring the surroundings along with friends. The new place was nice and peaceful with a country side look to it. The house next to ours had a nice garden . Guava trees caught our eyes. Only thought was to lay our hands  on those delicious fruits. Without any second thoughts , started climbing walls and in no time had enough fruits in our hands. They were delicious and this  was my first experience of having fruits freshly of trees , that too by stealing .. During our brief stay over there we were later  offered fruits by our neighbors  many times , and we happily had them ... The feel after the ones we had on first day was always the best.. As the saying goes ... "fruits" of hardwork are always sweeter ...

Mistakes of my life

" A beautiful thing is never perfect " . I believe Life is beautiful . So a person's life will never be perfect. We all make mistakes and keep on learning from them no matter what phase of life we are in.  Choices are also part and parcel of life. We have to make then all along our way in life. The results of some of  our choices may be good and the other not so good. In retrospect we can always say that if this was my choice my life would have been better . But we all have a very good hind sight. But it is our fore sight which makes  difference ..

Humans tend to introspect a lot in certain circumstances. They have lots of things on mind and feel helpless being able to do nothing fruitful. When they think they could have handled their responsibilities better.  Introspection is generally done by heart to address conflicts of heart or mind.  In my case , my reasons for introspection are a mixture of all possible feelings like helpless ,  sad , dissatisfaction from not being able to take care of my responsibilities better. During such introspections I tried to look at the other side of choices I made .

My first choice which I remember having made was declining to join a particular school after having got admission in it by writing a competitive exam . Reason was I didn't want to stay away from home in hostels. I was just around 9 years old . Those were the days when I used to cry if my mom was delayed in coming home from office because of work .  So I couldn't even in my scariest or wildest thoughts allow such a scenario let alone real life. My parents also didn't even try persuading me about joining it. Looking back , though I don't regret it , I think I would have got to know a different life and  my home sickness would have been addressed a lot earlier than when it was actually done.

In the next phase of my education , choice was between MPC and BiPC , two groups which large percentage of students from my parts take.  My choice was against my Dad's wishes but I never felt it was the wrong choice or even thought about the choice not taken. My next decision was what you can say life changing or life defining one. I had option of joining a professional course in a fairly reputed college or try another year and give myself the opportunity of joining a college of National reputation. Though I was interested in giving another try , I was talked into taking up the professional course . This is the choice which I regret the most in my life. I always felt it was the wrong choice and still even after almost 10 years I feel the same. It may even be the case of unknown pastures being greener. But this is how I feel deep down in heart.

I would like to associate or look myself as " Jack  of all trades and Master of none " . But unfortunately had to do my Masters that too in Technology , when my dream was always Business Administration . The factor that the  institute being  of National repute may also have played a part in my choice.  But eventually that particular choice of pursuing Masters to joining a job made me spend five years of life thousands of miles away from home. It hardened me in many ways and I can say have more exposure to ways of life. Initial two years were quite hard from personal and professional front. Needed a lot of emotional support because of things happening around and with me. Though there were lots of friends who were quite supportive , would have felt better sleeping with my head on mom's lap. After joining job , things got tougher on family front. Dad was diagnosed with a serious ailment and the medication was quite taxing both mentally and physically.  It is in tough times you get to know your real friends or relatives. All those who were with us when things were better deserted us. Those who were along with us in my home practically their whole life didn't bother to care. They may have stepped back fearing we may ask  financial help for treatment or  they may have to stay  helping my Mom. But the only thing wanted was emotional support. Though I was able to do it  on phone I would have felt a lot better if I was nearby. If things were not already tough enough , got tougher with my dad's demise. My brother who is still studying had to do things beyond his age. In this struggle , which my mind /  heart has been through for the past few years , I felt my choice was a mistake and  I would have been happier or you can say peaceful if I had taken up a job after my bachelors.

Making wrong or what you say not so good choice was sadly not just limited to my professional or student life. I had to live with this even at a personal level. Not once ... not twice .. but thrice in life I made the same kind of mistake. Despite my choices , few of which may have not been good or which I feel could have been better , I am in a position of strength. All these experiences have made me tougher and prepared me for further  challenges ahead in life which I think will be even more trickier and challenging.

" I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence , I can reach for , perfection is God's business " .

Crazy Dreams and A Walk I can never Forget ...

Everyday holds  possibility of a miracle. So everyday is special. Apart from that there was nothing special about that day. I was at school five minutes earlier , which was pretty much my usual time until I was into my tenth class. The day was pleasant , holidays were round the corner with winter just setting in.  Whatever little dew on grass was already a history .The tree branches are stark bare, their leaves stripped off in the fall . I come from parts of world where winter is just less hotter. Once school prayer was done , classes commenced for the day. First class was the boring of lot, Social Studies . After concentrating  for a while with great difficulty ,  I lost interest and started exploring my surroundings , a favorite time pass  . Our school had classrooms built along perimeter of  fairly large squarish rectangle area . My view from the class room covered most parts of the other three sides. I suddenly saw pit of snakes on the roof of all other three sides. There were snakes of  wide variety  . My initial reaction was of excitement at seeing such huge number at once. I was deeply involved in their observation that one emotion was missing .. fear ..... Suddenly a snake makes an entry to my classroom and finally panic engulfed us. It , probably even more scared by our panic screams , attacked one of my friends. Then I gave out a loud cry . Suddenly I felt someone's hands on me trying to calm me down. On opening eyes , I found myself in bed , mom comforting me and  was surrounded by other members of family and  neighbors as well. Even for my pea sized brain it didn't take long to realize the situation.

Geographical location of my place gives us adequate rainfall  , but it never pours down. On waking up one gloomy day , it looked like finally there was very heavy rain the other night . It was still drizzling. Rain really lifts our spirits. Main reason being hope of a day off from school . On calling  got  news that it won't one of those happy days and started walking. When I was few blocks away from school , suddenly  heard screams of people and they were running past me. On turning around , saw a flood coming in my direction. Instinctive part of brain took over and instructed legs to run as fast as they could ..though the saner part knew it was of no use. Moments later flood caught up with me and was flowing along with it .. I was able to hang on to something that stopped me from going along with water. I was screaming like anything . Next I found myself in bed , sun blazing down , mom trying to soothe me. 

I am  a reluctant  traveller. I like spending my time at home with family. Life gets boring if it gets routine. So  for a change was off to places where we could enjoy as well as have some adventures in holidays. Was decided that we go rafting. On reaching the place was pleasantly surprised to see my idols Sachin, Dravid , Ganguly etc . Took some snaps of them and we were getting ready for executing our plans. Everyone over there was busy in their activities. Suddenly observed that some persons were drowning in the river. I along with my friend jumped  and brought them out . Someone checked them and said they would be fine. Before even the satisfaction of saving three lives began to sink , was over joyed to know those  were of my idols. While I was trying to get to terms with my feeling , a sudden irritating sound started from no where. Came to reality and enjoyed a hearty laugh knowing that I don't even swim.

Days were slightly cold . I was just back in college after Sankranti holidays. On some days I used to go for a walk. My college was located at a place far off from city. There was no shortage of greenery. Vegitation varied from tiny grass to large trees. Walk on a chilly morning in a pollution free area , which our college was , is an experience one can never forget. Humming of birds , songs from a distant temple , sun rays trying to  peep out of clouds .. no better audio and video experience . Of course no graphics can compete with  nature . On one of those walks , I had a real time experience with a snake.  I felt some thing on my foot ,  I  saw it , fortunately  biting my pant and not any part of my body. I had no idea if it was even a poisonous one or not. I tried getting it off my foot by kicking it out. But the effect was the opposite. It curled its entire length round my leg. I started kicking air more forcefully .. My efforts bore fruit and fortunately it fell few feet away from me . Morning walk turned into a gallop and was in my room in no time . 

Donkey and Carrot Analogy

Now a post  in lighter vein ...

Post Courtesy : A Friend ..

Last day of School ..

It was a day with no trace of cloud in sky. What else should I expect in the first week of April. Sun showing his full might . That was the last day of our school life . Next was college , a complete unknown entity. But who cared ? There we were ... sitting under trees in our school .. shouting on top of our voices ...even hot breeze couldn't spoil our spirits ..

While enjoying the moment , I was lost in some thoughts of my own .. My attention turned towards the watchman who was trying to scare away two fighting dogs. Two cute kg kids were walking hand in hand smiling ... No beautiful sight than innocent smile on kids ..

My attention is drawn towards a bike that stops at our school gate . In walks a girl along with her dad. In a word she was heavenly. She in her maroon dress , wavy hair , light brown expressive eyes and with a pretty smile on her lips was like what you could call Venus , the goddess of beauty. Time stood still. Could care less about extremely heat which was aided by the breeze. Eyes just followed her as she walked past us to meet our teacher in staff room. Waited for a while dazed by her beauty and heart yearning to see her again . Imagined us in beautiful European locations of a recently watched movie having candle light dinner and having a great conversation with eyes . Came to reality on friend's call. She was still in there. In few minutes she was out and was leaving. Could do nothing but watch on admiring her beauty. She came , conquered my heart and left .. She is what you call a dream girl and my first Crush ..
 

That was the last I saw of her.  All the excitement which was there just minutes back seemed like ages ago. Teachers arrived 30 minutes late as usual to the get together to bid us farewell. Pretty routine stuff was on agenda. Couldn't care less about it ... After boring speeches ( content was neither new nor motivating .. same thing was said pretty much through the year  ) , songs and dance performance by friends cheered up the mood of the gathering .. Snacks followed and was off to home a little later with mixed feelings.