The week that was...

Theory exams end...finally...two great and one deplorable, but then they're over, and they won't come back again. No more mugging up causes for earthquakes, types of sands et al. I'm out of the cage of Fe415 bars for at least a month now. The theory exams went off exactly how they always do-mugging up numericals at 2 am, syllabus changes in the morning of the day of the exam, and suspense over which teacher will set the paper, and who will mark them; basically so unpredictable that now it is not even surprising. The high point of these exams is definitely two of our teachers fighting over a subject, and suggesting completely divergent topics to study from two different books that were not available in any corner of the city. But whatever it was, I'm done with it. And I'm hoping to score pretty well...again! Just this afternoon our practical exams were re-scheduled for the third time. This did come as a pleasant surprise to me, as I'm still not done typing out our 100 page long project report. But gladly, now I have quite some time to get the project work done. The sad part is, that the entire rigmarole has now extended by a couple of days more. 
I took the Civil Services exam on Sunday, and I must say, I was really taken for a surprise. The Sociology paper seemed unusually simple, and the General Studies paper did not go as well as I had thought it would. This complete reversal of expectations will add to my already highly unpredictable result. But I can only hope for good. My center was a government school, a little away from my home, and my five hours there really made me empathize with the students studying there, in total lack of infrastructure and the sweltering heat. And in my spare time there, I was made sure of the absolute incapability of the engineer and designers who made the school buildings owing to some very bad construction. Thankfully, my four years of undergraduate study have given me something to show-off about in situations such as these.
And lastly, it is now when all slam books have been autographed, t-shirts have been signed, drunk friends have repeatedly proven their unfathomable depths of friendship, that we are starting to have that really weird feeling of being apart...
being separated...
and losing on our friends...
And that things will never be the same again...

Towards the ending...

Today was an extremely overwhelming day. In the morning, when I was in the metro, it suddenly struck me how today would practically be the last day of college. Though there still is another week to go, but people will not really be regular next week. The sudden deluge of somberness that I experienced was extremely depressing, and throughout my one hour of travel in the metro, a montage of memories from the past four years flipped through my mind, after which I decided that because today would be the last day that all of my friends would be together voluntarily, I would try my best to make the day memorable. The weather also favoured us today, and I felt truly blessed. But the sequence of events that followed was completely different from what I had envisaged. 
I don't really want to detail out everything here, but I was really upset while going back home, and even the Black Currant shake couldn't do much to change my mood.  By evening, I was practically alone in the college. Most had either left for home or were busy with something or the other. I tried to get some to hang around with, but it eventually didn't turn out that way; I guess the approaching exams are keeping everyone busy. I had planned to stay on till late in the campus, but eventually changed my mind because of the same reason; but returned half-way for no apparent reason. All I wanted to do today was hang around with my friends, because I keep having a recurring feeling of how these days once gone, will never return, and I want to do more than just loiter around in the corridors.
Anyway, I just think that the day just turned out to be extremely futile, and did nothing except make me realise that things are starting to change. 

Dil, Dosti etc...

We're always complaining about how some people are mean, selfish, they do not care about our feelings, talk to us only when they have some work, or constantly try to take advantage of other people or get their work done some way or another. I have come across a lot of such people in life, mostly in college. But I don't think that there is anything wrong about their behaviour. What they exhibit, is as I'd like to call it, normal human behaviour. Why normal? That is because this is how most people are! At the risk of sounding cynical, I genuinely believe that most people are that way, and I personally think that it would be wrong to criticize their attitude, because that is the people they are and not much can be done about it. They are regular people with the regular attitude, and nothing can, or rather should be expected of them, because if we waste time doing so, then we won't be able to experience the other set of people in the world. Barring the people I mentioned, there is a percentage of people who do not have this 'regular' attitude; they are different in the things they say, and in the things they do. These are the people who last the entire lifetime as close friends; these are the people you, if lucky enough, eventually end up spending your life with. These are the people who make life beautiful and each moment worth cherishing. We seldom come across such people in life, and whenever we do-we create wonderful and everlasting memories. It just depends on how lucky you have been to have such people in life? These four years in college have also taught me a lot about 'friends'. Who is your friend? The one you hang around with the entire day? The one you bunk your class to go to a film with? Your agony aunt? A lot of back-bitching goes around, actually. So what is the point in calling each other friends when in the next breath you supplement it with your limited availability of options because the said person is in your class and you'd might as well get along! 
Shucks!!!! I just do not get it. Either you are friends, or you are not. A relationship of convenience is not something that goes down well with me, but then people have their own ways to deal with things, and I just find it really weird. 

Out of sight...

I love Vodafone's ZooZoo ads. Those funny looking white creatures speaking some alien language are very  cute. But just this evening, while I was watching one of their ads, it suddenly struck me how their predecessor has now been completely wiped out from our memories. The Hutch dog was incredibly adorable, and I absolutely loved it in the ads. Even the jingle, 'You and I....' was really hummable. But then Hutch changed to Vodafone and the cute dog got replaced with ZooZoos....
I guess that is how things go around usually. At one time, everything is perfect and you're on the top of the world, and the next instant things change, either for the better or for worse. Everything in life is very transient...very replaceable, I guess. If there's something good, then there will always be something better around. I had some friends in school whom I vowed to forever stay in touch with, but now the only contact between us is Facebook. I have a group of friends in college, and at this point of time when we're all nostalgic as it is the last month before we graduate, I wonder how many of will actually bother about the others a few years down. Most of us who are in romantic liaisons will probably find someone different; someone better to be with. Our choices change as the days pass. It absolutely amazes me to see how people find relationships and memories replaceable!!! An individual's own choice it surely is, but I still find it very...for want of a better word...frustrating. And it really upsets me to see how this the way most people are generally.
Every relationship- even failed ones, every memory-even unhappy ones, every person I've been closely associated with-even if not now, and every penetrating thought is deeply etched in my memory. None of them can ever be replaced by terming as an emotional baggage, because each one of them has its own rightful place; each one of them has taught me, and made me better in thought and in action. None of my friends can ever be replaced by new ones, because I believe, each one of them has been amazing enough to deserve a very special place. My choices, and likes cannot ever be replaced because I have harboured them for as long as I can remember. Of all the people who changed, and all the things that eventually did not turn out in my favour? Well, they can not just be replaced to make place for 'better' ones because they are a constant reminder. All I am trying to say is that I am very happy to remember and moreover value each of these things because when they happened, they did matter a lot to me. I know a lot of people will not agree with me on this (they never do), but then... it's just me... :-)
  

Engineers on the streets

D.C.E. got changed to D.T.U. and all hell broke loose. 

Last summer, the Delhi government decided to upgrade our Delhi College of Engineering to the Delhi Technological University, and ever since the decision materialised, there have been a series of discussions about the viability of the action and its repercussions, among the students as well as the faculty. The government decided to take this action to enable full autonomy to the administration in terms of course revision, hiring of teaching staff and general administrative work. But the students did not take kindly to this, and fearing the degradation of the brand name of the institution, appealed to the authorities to revoke the decision. However, after months of no action, the students and the faculty decided to take the issue in their own hands and show a more salient agitation and disapproval. It all started earlier this month with the students protesting on the roads outside the college, against the Vice-Chancellor, who was asked to step down, and the authorities to repeal the decision. The protests went on till late in the evenings and over the subsequent days spread to Jantar Mantar, C.P., and India Gate. The protest has, surprisingly received complete support from the entire student community, as can be seen by the complete no show of the students in the mid-terms examinations that were to be held last week. The entire college chose to sit in the blazing sun in Japanese Park near the college in silent protest rather than appear for the exams in security of the RAF. My stance, on the conversion, is not what I'm trying to highlight here, though. What I am actually impressed by is the most remarkable feature of the entire unrest, which was that at no point did the students resort to any form of violence to make themselves heard. It would have been very convenient to burn down buses outside the college, disrupt traffic, break things inside the campus or even physically attack people, but kudos to all who chose instead to have a peaceful and non-disruptive and moreover a civilised and Gandhian form of protest against the authorities. All the students participated in the protest out of their own free will and no incentives were offered to anyone to join the agitation. I was quite surprised at how everyone actually turned up for the protests about which they were informed through messages! Everyone participated out of genuine concern for the college and the fraternal feelings running through the entire student group; and this is extremely commendable, as is the way Ravi and his team pulled off the entire protest....great work people (sic)!!!

I am here...again!

I started blogging a year ago as well. Then I stopped in, I think, three days because I got bored, and also because I was in the hostel at that time, and had no regular access to the internet. But these days I am literally vella so I thought of giving this a shot again.
Quite a few of my friends write blogs and they make for very interesting reading. Mohit, is one of them and I can say that he is my latest inspiration. So, I think this time atleast I will be pretty regular with my posts and will not delete my blog, unless of course,  there aren't any people to read it, which I am hoping will not be the case.