Pilani Ki Khushboo

This one surely deserves a tip of the hat. It is an excerpt of the speech by Mr. Sunit Rikhi (EEE 1974-79), Chief Guest Oasis 2007. And every time I read this, I feel nostalgic. So here it goes..  


" Har hawa ke jhonke mein Pilani ki khushboo doondhta hoon

Har bus-stop pe Nutan doondhta hoon

Har talaab mein shiv ganga doondta hoon

Har shamshaan mein shiv mandir doondta hoon

Har mandir ke aangan mein ghas dhoondta hoon

Har ghas par naachta moor doondhta hoon

Har nayee seekh mein funda doondta hoon

Har paronthe ke aas paas anda doondta hoon

Har kursi mein BITS style cricket ki wicket doondta hoon

Har oonchi deevar ke peechae Meera Bhavan doondta hoon

Wait...There is one more stanza left in this poem

Har baat mein laccha doondta hoon

Har mauke pe vellagiri dhoondta hoon

Har vartmaan pal mein apna ateet dhoondta hoon

Tum sabke khoobsoorat chehron mein, mein apna chehra doondhta hoon"

..After all every journey has to come to an end, but it just so happens at times that you want to get lost in the journey itself. Yes i say this even after almost 6 years at Pilani :D

I wanna stay Young with you

"Youth is like diamonds in the sun...Diamonds are forever..So i wanna stay forever young..forever young.... "

But ....

I wanna stay young with You....

I wanna sit in Silence with you, and feel your presence beside me

I wanna walk in the Rain with you, holding hands

I wanna Dance with you, dance in style,dance for a while on a starry night

I wanna sit on the beach side with you and watch a beautiful setting sun

I Wanna  sitting lazily on a terrace with you, with the cool winds kissing us softly, while we kiss each other passionately

I wanna enjoy music with you on a cool autumn evening

I wanna sip a cup of tea with you on a cold wintery morning, with the meek yet warm rays of sun touching us

I wanna dance with you in the heavy monsoon rains

I wanna get wet with you in the sprinkler of a garden on a hot summers day

i wanna fly high in the sky with you and feel the strong winds against our faces

I wanna jump into the sea with you and feel the water currents on us..

I wanna stand besides you on top of a mountain and feel the divine presence..

I wanna sit beside you and talk...talk about simple yet beautiful things in life...

I wanna sit on a ship deck and gaze at the waters n communicate my thoughts n feelings to you..

I wanna enjoy.. the speeches 'n' the silences with you

                       the euphony 'n' the monotony with you 

                       the happy highs' n' the gloomy lows with you

I wanna lose myself with you

I wanna stay young with you

I wanna be with you forever, forever...

I wanna tell you that You are being missed...

All Is Well..

[This is a random mix of thoughts, just written as and when they came]
All is well that ends well or that’s how I perceive it! Let’s just say it ended well! Slogging hard since the past two days! Skipped Meals, didn’t see much of human life around, Room seemed like a place for only for crashing late at night, but yeah a record of 2 papers in 2 days! Not bad aah! After all we do really work on the principles of rockets, only when our a** is on fire.


And did I just say something about ‘the time just flying off’ in my last post. Oh yes it did, once again! An addition to the previous one--Time just flies away when you have to meet deadlines, but luckily I did meet ‘em :-) As I said all is well.I don’t know what the result of this two day endeavor will be, but let’s just say, the road which led to the destination was thrilling! At times, the outcome doesn’t seem to hold much importance, but what matters most is what all you learned till you reached there.

Some random thoughts that just dawned on me while working:

-Data encapsulation is the key to research papers.
-Research papers are meant to be comprehended only by a small section of people; For others, RIP…Abhi dilli bahut door hai, mere dost
-It’s evil out there! The entire scientific community works for themselves and not, as they claim, for the betterment/advancement of the world
-At the end it just boils down to Publish or perish!
- There are four categories of people in the scientific community. The first category comprises the majority and the lesser known people who settle down at some obscure places and are complacent with the regular 9-5 teaching job, the second category is the one with a fair amount of national/global presence –These are the ones who frequently publish journal papers, write books and do good to the entire community, the third category belongs to the smart people who patent things and earn money out of it! You see it’s all about money honey ;-) And then finally there is this elite category of people who do breakthrough researches and get the prestigious Nobel prizes.

 Hmm disheartened! Oh don’t be, let’s just be sanguine and say Better luck next time :)

Funnier: (Conversations)

-Mother tongue influences are bad! Some English words said by Punjabi’s actually seem like abuses.’ Oo meri ‘ppanddrive’ dena (read pen drive) !

-Blue moon & the ‘Kashmiri Kehwa’, which never was—Fool me once, Shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me! I’m a fool that I did not beware ;-)

-After an entire day spent at writing your results to prove that they are worth to be read by others, you don't think anything else other than graphs,plots,frequencies and networks. And when you finally land up for dinner at a place, you slop down on the chair and say,"Bhaiya zara woh 'Plot' laana"!! (read menu card) Yeah it happens. Excess of everything is bad,as they say :)

And before the time flies, I should get back to work.And let's just end this at a quote I read on someone's T-shirt today:
The best things in life are dangerous...
"BITS-Pilani" Cranking heads since 1964

Adieu!



O'Sleep How art Thou So Sweet?

Sleep'o'sleep! Everywhere You are

Each season You come in a different facade

In the cosy winter mornings, In the enervated summer nights

On the lazy rainy days & the dull autumn days

You are somewhere there...

Behind every word of that small font novel

In every equation of  that Technical paper

In every second we spend infront of the computer screen

In every bite of that heavy afternoon lunch

Sleep'o'Sleep! You are the best of companions

You come and relieve us of  the weariness of a tiresome day

You come and ward off the boredom of the class for us

You come and subside the fears of an early morning exam and transport us to the sweetest of dreams

Sleep'O'Sleep! You come when we need you the most

On gloomy days, You come to subside the tears

During illness, You come to assuage the pain and promise to take us to a better day soon

Sleep'O'Sleep! You are there in the darkest of nights

You are there in the earliest of mornings

You are there in the flutter of Eyelids

You are there in one of those Contagious yawns

O' Sleep you are so irresistible, that after the last word I type

I will jump directly to the bed!

Send me the sweetest dreams

Nyt Nyt :-)

Does Time Really Fly?

Antiphon in his chief work "On Truth" said that "Time is not a reality,but a concept or a measure". A common Buddhist thought considers it as an illusion, while  some others consider it as a metasensory concept!A sense which rides on top of all the other senses.A sense of time is threaded through everything we perceive. It’s there in the length of a song, the persistence of a scent or the flash of a light bulb.

The life of all the clocks, I think "Time" is King of the universe-been there before the universe began and will be there till it ends. Time- Dynamism personified, a dictator to the T and impervious to everything!

Ever seen time wait for anyone? You may wait for it, but it never waits for you. It makes you do things according to it's wish, but it never does what you wish. It's ruthless. It never stops when you want it to- Remember the time when you met your old friend after a long time and while you were just catching up on each other's lives, didn't the time just end? Ooh that romantic evening with your special one;Didn't it just fly at lightning speed! And that very important exam of your career and ooh the bell just rang and you thought there still was some time. To add to it, don't interesting and page turning novels end up fast and you are left thinking, "If only there were a few more pages".Damn the time!Heartless it really is. So does time really fly? Yes it does especially when you are having fun or don't want it to pass away soon.

 On the contrary, it becomes so stagnant at times! It will just refuse to pass on or it seems so. Not to talk about time flying, it will walk at a snail's pace when you want it to pass away soon. The dull and boring moments of life are always the longest and the exciting ones short lived. Illnesses tend to prolong.Don't you feel as if you've been lying on that darned bed forever if you are ill, and when you wish for a peaceful sleep on a busy day, the alarm will just buzz off even before you get some sleep. A boring lecture topped with a monotonous voice of the presenter will go on for ages while an interesting talk by an energetic speaker will end in a fleeting time. The uphill journey to reach your destination will seem excruciatingly long, while the return journey will be unwillingly short!

There is no rewind button for time as well ! How you wish to relive "the here today and gone tomorrow' joys of childhood or your college days. The absence of a rewind button is complemented by the absence of a forward button too. Remember your childhood days; Seeing grown ups around you and how you wished to grow up fast; how you wished to end the school soon and enter college; how you wished to finish graduation and get employed soon, but time never flew off then. It just took its usual course. Time can never be tamed. Such a wild nature it has!

How I wish now, that the time passes soon and I go back home. (Okay now you know, why I've been cursing time since then) But the time seems to have stopped. Days seem longer, exams haven't approached yet and seem far far away. Not to think of when they will end and when I will finally go...to the better times :)

I have nothing against the paradoxical nature of time. Infact this is what makes life a blend of good and bad times:) The good thing about time, as Ray Cummings, a science fiction writer pointed out is that it's something which keeps everything from happening at once :) So just enjoy the timely nature of time, while I get back to my work :-)

Jog on!

Of Farewells and goodbyes :)

    ~For You J~

I haven’t been there ever! All I know of the place is what I have heard from you. A beautiful campus, which during most months is on the boil, (I guess that’s why they call it the Jampot) except a few roaring showers it receives once in a blue moon. But yeah fortunately for the ac’s at almost every place, it wouldn’t have been that bad. (Regardless of the fact that cool air from the AC dozed you off in seconds and transported you into a dreamland of marketing strategies, cost cutting mechanisms, company labor laws and what not ;-)) It was a place where assignments, case studies and presentations were bread butter and milk for you. Without these your day just didn’t seem complete! Holidays seemed like a remote concept made for lesser mortals (the non-B school people ;-)). Sleep is alien to most of you at least for the first three semesters, except after the campus placements season. The sense of relief (read sleep) the placements give is much greater than the urge to go to the early morning class, which would have become a forgotten trend, had it been for the regular evaluation components. Going to classes wearing formals seemed like a norm and the Father Prabhu hall no more seemed like a slaughterhouse! Entertainment there seems to be the late night parties and the much loved ****$$@@@ songs of the very famous Bodhi tree band (Wonder how they come up with new ***** songs each time? Now that’s what I called creativity ;-)). Light conversations blended with a sip of coffee and a bite of egg Maggie at the “tapris” seems to be the best vent out after a marathon session at the library or a grilling lecture! Little do I know about the place, but one thing I know for sure is that you’ll definitely miss the place. College campuses always do that to you…A charm which always appeals, the memories which never fade and a life that always beckons. Much like travels/journeys, the small phase of life you spent there, will always seem pleasant in retrospect! When you are there, you don’t realize how attached you are to the place, but when the time comes to let go off it, you hate to do so. After all it had been good-the place, the people and the bonds you made and the fact just dawned on you.

All said and done, let’s just say it was real and it’s been fun! Despite of being on the boil, (literally and metaphorically) JamPot will always stay in your heart and the memories you made will be cherished throughout your lifetime!

I have never been there, but I still feel connected to the place. I have no memories attached to the place, but the four lined address which read, D-64, GMP Hostel, C.H area (west), XLRI-Jamshedpur-831035 does strike a chord! Ah will my pen miss writing this address on the numerous envelopes or will my phone miss dialing the 7209501990 or will I miss the usual schedule in my life, the schedule that We shared since one year…After all habits die hard, but they do eventually! So let’s just say, “Change is good” and move on to a better and brighter day of life!

From Birthday Bashes to Birthday Blues-II

...Continued

 The Strong bond we shared was YoPy-Be it far or near. The 8 till Infinity! And as I write this, I feel there is a void deep within me, which can never be filled and a wound which can never be healed.They say Time heals everything, but does it really? Time can let us plan the future in a different way but can it really erase the Beautiful past?No it can't, coz no one can, because No one wants to...

Things were really different as the clock stroke twelve this 22 March,2011. It brought back a flood of memories, a strong gush of emotions and it brought back the night of 21st Feb,2011-the day you suddenly chose to say a goodbye to us, and that too without a farewell from our side! 

You left behind umpteen memories and a whole lot of people missing you badly.Every sip of Cold coffee and every bite of Top Ramen curry reminds us of you...The drizzle 'n' the calm weather  reminds us of the day we bunked class just to laze around at Sky..The small font editions of novels reminds us of what a bookworm you were, F.R.I.E.N.D.S reminds us of your addiction for it,The hair straightener brings back flashes of you always jumping for it and straightening your already straight hair'! 

 The tea breaks in the hot weather, the tomato sauce loaded maggie at Night canteen, the love for winter and winter wear, the enormous collection of kurtis, the chocolate cakes, the swiftness you showed at work, the cool as a cucumber attitude and yes of course the keedi walk.. everything reminds us of you...

You may have left us behind, but your memories will never! Indifferent to emotions as you were, you did cry once when you left Pilani (and messaged us' Finally You did see me cry") and Now left us all crying when you went to your abode in heaven.

Deep within, I feel you will be reading this and hope you remember us too as We do.I wish this was just another journey  and that you came back again. They say"umeed pe duniya qayam hai".. I wish there was some umeed.. I wish that You did leave behind some hope for your near and dear ones.

Our Lovely Pragya

Dear Keedi,

We all really miss you! Many many happy Returns of the day.I remember when you graduated from Pilani and we couldn't celebrate your birthday, we posted you a Hand made greeting card, but this time around we are not sure of it's delivery to the far off place you've gone to. But we hope that you are happy as you always were! And we hope that your journey to God was safe'n'sound and that your stay in the other world is as pleasant as it ever could be. We are sure that God is taking good care of our Dear Angel on her birthday, for you deserve the Best.Have a Great one!

Love you.Rest in Peace.
xoxoxo

From Birthday Bashes to Birthday Blues-I

22 March 2004-20XX


In a remote place in Rajasthan...

On this day, every year, as the clock stroke twelve in the midnight, you could hear the eight damsels singing on top of their voices,"We don't know but we've been told,Some one here is getting old! Good news is we sing for thee,Bad news is we sing for free.Haaaappppyy Haaapppyy Birthday To You!" The cake cutting, the birthday bumps,the small surprise on her face(even if it was expected!) the pre-birthday preparations-room decorations and the mundane albeit herculean task of choosing the gift from the very same small pseudo-Archies gift store.And then the dinner treat at the only hangout place(read C'not) followed by a small round of our favorite Ice cream soda and while we sipped in the chilling ice treat someone would always come up with the idea of birthday confessions..usually the someone would be from the singles gang, interested in knowing the confessions of the committed one, but She always managed to get around with these confessions,always giving one-word answers,not letting a single expression belie her words, seldom reflecting a feeling on her face,  and never letting that rosy shade cover her face! That was her! Calm composed and crisp! A long walk, followed by a stop at the Saraswati Temple(at times), in the cool March breeze was what ended those blissful birthday treats...

In a small place like ours we didn't have those grand birthday parties.But there is a beauty associated with the small things in life, an inherent pleasure in each others company and a Strong bond in the closeness we share. 

.....Continued

And I am back....

Long time aah!Feels good to be back in my own space:)Have a lot of things on my mind about which I want to write.Life has changed so much so fast that there's been hardly some time to look back.Some of the things which happened are still not sinking in..They never will I guess! We always tend to accept and rejoice the good things and never want to accept the bad ones.Human mind is too conditioned and biased for the better things in life!If only we learn to accept the worse..
If only we learn to face the hard times
If only we could know the unseen
If only we learn to accept the fragility of life
If only we could time Life and death
If only we could make Life more predictable
If only We could change events,rather than events changing us
If only We could undo all the bad things which happened
If only We could accept that nothing is forever
If only we would not forget that after all there is an End to all of it..
If only we could say it right on her face,"Oh Life,Thou Art a Heartless bitch!
If only...
If Only there was no If..