Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi........

Marina Bay , New year countdown

2009-01-01T08:52:00.000+05:30

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)

2008-11-15T09:21:00.001+05:30

EXcellent......
Blessed be the man.who can make common people sing , dance , laugh and be merry..

My life @ an IBank....

2008-11-11T19:40:00.005+05:30

I wanna get out......

तलाश

2008-04-23T00:35:00.017+05:30

तलाश

The four years of my life at KGP has been more of a constant ' तलाश' or 'Search' - for friends, for a goal,for some peace, a bit of knowledge, a little fun and ....... some meaning of life. Let me describe the 'Search' in some details.

The search began after I secured a rank of 1047 in IITJEE - search for the IIT and the course that I was to opt for. Google came to my rescue. A few searches led me to the conclusion that KGP was the right choice - oldest and biggest IIT, nearest to my home, many known seniors, moderate ragging, 99% placements, and yesss- a good chance for depC. And yeaah today I agree that I took the right decision at that time. So thanks Google !!

Google continues to be my best friend. My Google web-history says that I do 150+ searches /day on an average and the peak is at 3 am. There were times when Google admitted defeat and said Sorry : "We're sorry...... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now."

My father accompanied me to KGP on the first day. We listened to the inspiring talks by the profs. of our dept. He left after warning me against drugs, bad companions and urging me to try to secure 9.0+ in the semester exams. This would have enabled me to get a dept. change.I promised to toil day and night and live upto his expectations.

However when the classes began I was shocked to find the teacher: student ratio - 1:300. Parker Smith did not match the standards of Irodov. Neither was Shanti Narayan any match for minds honed by TMH and the like. Even today,very few profs, know me by name .

I decided to divert my energies elsewhere. I became a programmer. I spent time in learning software development, web designing , helping friends with computer assignments. Becoming a programmer had its own advantages- You have no restriction. Just imagine and program your PC to do wonders !! I was also new to the world of internet. Free internet hooked me. and I searched and explored. I also became the G.Sec. Tech. of RK Hall and dedicated quite a lot of time towards the Tech. GC. And most recently I have been busy working for my upcoming startup.

People said : 'KGP is a boring place' . However me and my 'Hero Champion' traveled far and wide in and around KGP. I have been to a lot of places- Salua , Midnapore, Keshiary and visited rivers, hills, forts, world war remains forests nearby. My bicycle has covered nearly every place in KGP within a dia of 80 kms. I met lot of people at these places and did learn a lot about life from them. Many a times I sat down alone at solitary places and enjoyed the song of the birds and may be sometime I lay down on the road and let my heart sing to the skies.

The most valuable thing that I have acquired here in KGP is a lot of friends- good friends, whom one day I will remember and cry for.

At some point of time , I took the help of the mighty Google , in finding someone compatible of the opposite sex, after having failed to find any girl 'single' in the campus. I searched 'single gals in KGP' . Google replied : Sorry no results found , did you mean : 'single guys in KGP' ? :P

As these four years come to an end, I realize how much I am indebted to this place. I would follow Mr. Vinod Gupta in saying -" People visit Kashi and Mathura for pilgrimage. For me the only such place is KGP. " I may not have ever secured a 9.0+ in KGP,but the lessons I did learn here have gone into making me tougher, more confident, a bit wiser and have provided me a mission - 'to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield'.

Talaash abhi zaari hai mere dost ............ !!!

MUJHE CHANGE CHAHIYE

2008-03-03T21:47:00.009+05:30

ज़िंदगी रुकी सी है,
कुछ खाली खाली सी है,
हवा का रुख कुछ अनकहा सा है,
सागर का जल भी ठहरा सा है,
ऐसे में लहरों का बहाव चाहिऐ,
मुझको अब बदलाव चाहिऐ.

हवा में ज़हर घुला है,
साँस लेने में आफत है,
स्वर्ग कहते हैं जिसको,
वह फिजा अब रास नहीं आती,
अब टू नरक में पड़ाव चाहिए,
मुझको अब बदलाव चाहिऐ.

हर शख्स परेशां है,
हर आँख में कुछ नमी सी है,
हर दिन रात सा अँधेरा है,
और इस रात की सुबह नज़र नहीं आती,
इन बहते अश्कों में ठहराव चाहिऐ,
मुझको अब बदलाव चाहिऐ.

-Vineet Bhardwaj

Vineet Bhardwaj is a close friend of mine and is a good poet. A student of the department of Ocean Engg. and Naval Architecture at IIT Kharagpur, Vineet aspires to join the Civil Services.
Do send him feedback on his poem at http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=6686864990444632777

Very funny Indian ad for Education Times ,TOI - Hair Art

2007-12-12T19:59:00.001+05:30

Daler Mehndi - Tunak Tunak Tun Parody LIVE Performance FUNNY

2007-12-12T19:58:00.001+05:30

Award winning Indian ad for a cause- Hostel/Holi

2007-10-07T02:39:00.001+05:30

Indian advertising at its best

2007-10-07T02:35:00.001+05:30

Barclays - Quietly Recruiting

2007-10-07T02:26:00.002+05:30

Noise Street

Polar Bear vs. Walrus

2007-10-07T01:55:00.001+05:30

Nothing Else Compares- Wolves in Nature

2007-10-07T01:28:00.001+05:30

Never Poke a big Cat.........

2007-10-07T01:21:00.001+05:30

Watch this....

The battle of Kruger

2007-08-11T22:29:00.000+05:30

This is not a video worth missing. The most watched video of youtube. Fight between lions, buffaloes and crocodiles. Lots to learn from the battle. Do watch it. Highly recommended.

Orkut - A superb video.......

2007-08-11T12:39:00.000+05:30

A nice video for all Orkut fans .........

A suitable caption please !

2007-08-05T22:50:00.000+05:30

note :For non kgpians,the tower visible in the background is the tower of IIT Kharagpur.

My last day at Barcalys.

2007-08-04T21:24:00.000+05:30

These pics are of my last day at Barclays Capital. I had given a presentation on my internship to Shaun Taylor , Director Ecommerce and FIX Dev/Conn and my team. Everyone was pleased. I had also received a job offer in the same team.So I was also very happy.

Evening at Salua

2007-08-03T18:00:00.001+05:30

Cock fight @ Salua

2007-08-03T17:54:00.000+05:30

KGP से बहुत दूर .........एक गांव मैं ........

2007-05-02T12:00:00.000+05:30

The target .
ये कमल कीचड़ मैं क्योँ खीलते हैं ??

फस गया कीचड़ मैं

क्या बात है !!

kya smile है......

mission accomplished.......

कुछ तुम बोलो , कुछ हम बोले ........ कुछ तो है बोलना .......

2007-05-02T01:51:00.000+05:30

aapke liye.........

2007-04-27T22:27:00.000+05:30

Tanhai ........

2007-04-26T01:38:00.000+05:30

"Kehne Ko saath
Appne Ek duniya chalti hai
Per chupke is dil mein tanhai Palti hai"

(this pic has been made using Ms paint and no other software has been used. The sketch has also been done direct on paint.)

Musafir, jayega kahaan ???

2007-04-18T00:25:00.000+05:30

vahaan kaun hai tera, musaafir, jaayega kahaan
dam lele ghadi bhar, ye chhaiyaan, paayega kahaan
vahaan kaun hai tera, musaafir, jaayega kahaan
vahaan kaun hai tera.....................

beet gaye din, pyaar ke palchhin
sapna bani woh raaten
bhuul gaye woh, tu bhi bhula de
pyaar ki woh mulaaqaaten,
pyaar ki woh mulaaqaaten
sab door andhera, sab door andhera,
musaafir jaayega kahaan

koi bhi teri, raaha naa dekhe
nain bichhaaye naa koi
dard se tere, koi naa tadpa
aankh kisi ki naa royi,
aankh kisi ki naa royi
kahe kisko tu meraa, kahe kisko tu meraa,
musaafir jaayegaa kahaan

ho o o o, musaafir, tu jaaye gaa kahaan

kahate hai gyaani, duniya hai faani
paani pe likhi likhaayi
hai sabki dekhi, hai sabki jaani
haath kisike naa aayi
haath kisike naa aayi
kuchh teraa naa meraa, kuchh teraa naa meraa,
musaafir jaayegaa kahaan

This song is from the hindi film " The Guide ".The song appealed to me very much.So I put it on my blog.Listen and feel this song if you have time.I am sure even you will feel one with this song .

The winterJAVA workshop.........memories

2007-04-08T15:00:00.001+05:30

Last winter, I conducted a workshop on JAVA that I christened ‘ The WinterJAVA Workshop’. The workshop was all success - it included thirty 2^nd year students, two 3^rd year students and 2 Research Scholars from IIT Kharagpur. The participants also included a Railway Officer, two ladies who came from DVC and two ladies from SALUA. The workshop made my purse richer by 15-16k. And the experience and the confidence that I obtained was overwhelming. My students were more than satisfied.

It all started like this – I had promised some 2^nd year students of R.K Hall (for non-KGPian R.K Hall is my hostel ,I am the General Secretary, Technology of R.K. Hall) that I would teach them JAVA in winter. So accordingly I put up a notice in R.K. Hall mentioning that I would like to teach JAVA to interested students who would like to stay back in the winter vacation. I expected some 5-6 guys but the number was much larger. News spread to other Halls of residences and I started receiving requests to include students from other Halls as well. So I decided to include students of other hall as well. I also decided to charge Rs.500 per student . This would ensure that both I and my students would be sincere during the workshop. I put up a website in which people could register for this workshop. I put up fresh notices in all Halls(except S.N. Hall of course ).

Now space was a problem. Where would I find a room that can accommodate 30-40 people , that can station some computers for practical purposes, have blackboard for teaching, have chairs for students and so on ? Hijli high School was a option but it had many problems attached with it. It would cost me much and would be far away for my students. In the meantime I received a request from one of the KRAIG heads (Kharagpur Robotics Society) to include this workshop as a part of the KRAIG winter workshop . I readily agreed as this would provide me with everything I wanted- classroom, computers, projectors , etc. But eventually their were some problems and I had to do away with this idea.

In the meantime registrations were pouring and I did not know where to accommodate so many people. I could not call off the workshop as people had already booked their tickets accordingly . I took help from one Mr. Alok Saran – a native of Kharagpur who lives just outside the IIT Campus . He owns a Coaching Institute – ‘CAREER LAUNCH’ for preparing students for IIT-JEE. He promised me a classroom where I could conduct my classes. I had earlier helped Mr. Saran in many ways and he was obliged to me for that.

I asked people to pay the fees before the classes started. But very few did. All wanted to test me before they made their purses lighter by 500 bucks . This made me worried. What if I could not come up to their expectations? I became nervous . I never had gone on stage to speak something ,and now I was supposed to teach some 30-40 students for four hours everyday. And teaching IITians was not a joke.

I was really nervous. I started my preparations . I prepared some slides. I prepared my dialogues, anecdotes for the first day. It took me a lot of time.

The first day-I reached a bit early. Though I seemed inexperienced and nervous for the first 15 minutes, I gained confidence after that and all seemed a piece of cake from then onwards. I would entertain m students with jokes, give real –life examples for all that I taught. They seemed interested for they asked questions. I made sure they understood everything by asking them questions. I made people come up to the black board to solve problems. The classes were of four hours duration, with a 15 min. break . During the break we used to move to the balcony .People used to crowd around me and ask me to narrate my experiences. They used to listen to me with utmost interest as if I was some Nobel laureate or someone of the sort. For the first time in my life-I felt that I was someone .I felt confident.

Students seemed highly satisfied as all of them attended classes for all the 15 days (Though skipping classes is the second nature of an IITian ). All of them paid me as well in 2-3 days. This showed that I had come up to their expectations. I also took 2 surprise tests in which most of them performed well. I regularly collected feedback from the students. Most of them gave me 90+/100.

I took classes for 13 days though I had promised 15. This was because I fell sick and also had to prepare for an interview with Barclays Capital, Singapore. I promised to make up for the missed classes after the vacation.

Finally the workshop came to a close. All were happy as they were going home. I was happy –I had been selected by Barclays Capital . Also I was richer by 15k. I donated 1k to the Gopali Ashram, paid the rent for the classroom to Mr. Alok Saran, sent 6k to my parents and the pocketed the rest.[:D]

Ek Kahaani - I

2007-04-08T03:23:00.001+05:30

I had never seen this girl before. Was she an IITian? I doubted. She stood by the Sahara Restaurant talking to some three-four guys who seemed to be from the Indian Air Force. I was returning from one of my long bicycle rides. I slowed down my bicycle to have a good glance of her. Dressed in a white t-shirt and blue jeans, she had the looks that would charm one and all. She was the prettiest girl I had ever seen. Meanwhile she had turned and had noticed me. I turned my face away from her and sped up my bicycle. After sometime ,I again looked back at her. She was looking at me. She shouted –“ Hey , Stop !!” .Sensing trouble, I doubled my speed. I had not rode far when an Air Force van overtook me and the driver asked me to stop. He asked me to follow him. The girl wanted to have a word with me. He was taking me back to the place where the girl was standing. I started wondering what was going to happen –was she going to slap me ? . I started mentally preparing for it. What if she said she too liked me ? That seemed improbable. I followed the van.

Now what happened next was beyond my imagination. I got down my bicycle. I walked towards her. There was a strange look in her eyes, that I could not comprehend. She cried, “Mahesh, you have changed . You saw me and still ignored me. How can you do this to me ,Mahesh ? How can you do this to me ?” . She held my hands and repeated –“ How can you do this to me ?”. Her eyes were wet with tears. But I had never seen this girl before. Neither was my name Mahesh. Holding her hands softly I said, “Excuse me , I am not Mahesh. You are mistaken”. She let go my hands and gave me a tight slap on my right cheek. Before I could feel the pain she said, ”Mahesh, do you think you can cheat me again? Do you think I will ever believe you ? Mahesh, what are you punishing me for ? Is this how you return my love ? I am not going to leave you this time”. She hugged me and kept crying. The three young men from the Air Force stood there watching. One of them commanded ,”Mahesh you are going to accompany us today. Don’t hurt her feelings anymore. Please..”.

The driver started the van and asked me to step in. I had no options – I parked my bicycle near the restaurant and entered the van. “Where are you taking me ?”,I questioned. ”SALUA” was the reply. Salua was about seven kilometers away from Kharagpur. Salua was a nice place – good landscape and it also housed an Indian Air Force Station and also an Indian Army Base. I started analyzing the situation is was in. Was this a joke? Were they some gang of kidnappers who would ring up my parents for ransom? What if they stole my liver and kidneys and left me in some jungle ? I started to visualize wild things. The van started. She sat beside me with her head on my shoulders. The men sat in the front row and we behind them. She kept crying. I could feel her heartbeats. My heart had stopped beating. I kept wondering who the actual Mahesh was.

The sun was shining bright and I was dead tired. I had been riding on my bicycle since 5 o’clock in the morning and now it was noon. I had covered more than 80 kilometers in the scorching sun. I am an avid traveler. Though the summer vacations were on, I had not gone home. I had stayed back in Kharagpur to enjoy the holidays in complete freedom and without any restriction. In Kharagpur I worked on some projects during the night and slept during the day. But this day I had been unable to sleep, even though I had worked very hard during the night. So I had decided to take a long trip on my bicycle, get tired and then go to sleep. Initially I had plans of covering only 20 kilometers. But after covering 20 kilometers I had gained enough momentum to keep me going for another 20 kilometers to reach Basra Ghat – the bank of a river. It took me one and a half hours to cover the 40 kilometers till Basra Ghat. I spent nearly one hour on the bank of the river. The return journey was troublesome. The sun tormented me all the way back. I had to stop at least five times to take rest. I feared that I would die of sunstroke .But I could not stop as it would be five-six hours before the sun would calm down . I was really hungry as I had nothing since last night except a cup of tea at Chheddi’s. And all that I consumed during the return journey was water and some coconuts for this was all that was available. Somehow I managed to reach our campus. Though the forward journey had taken 1.5 hours ,the return journey took me 4 hours. I was dead tired. I was hungry. I wanted to go back to my hostel , have lunch and rest. But….

The van moved on. (............... to be continued)

The Vagabond

2006-12-15T17:03:00.000+05:30

The Vagabond

Give to me the life I love,
Let the lave go by me,
Give the jolly heaven above
And the byway nigh me.
Bed in the bush with stars to see,
Bread I dip in the river -
There's the life for a man like me,
There's the life for ever.

Let the blow fall soon or late,
Let what will be o'er me;
Give the face of earth around
And the road before me.
Wealth I seek not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me;
All I seek, the heaven above
And the road below me.

Or let autumn fall on me
Where afield I linger,
Silencing the bird on tree,
Biting the blue finger.
White as meal the frosty field -
Warm the fireside haven -
Not to autumn will I yield,
Not to winter even!

Let the blow fall soon or late,
Let what will be o'er me;
Give the face of earth around,
And the road before me.
Wealth I ask not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me;
All I ask, the heaven above
And the road below me.

-----------Robert Louis Stevenson

Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi...............

2006-12-15T01:08:00.000+05:30

Its a winter morning .The winter vacations are on and I sit in a chair outside my room in my balcony and "doing nothing".......

People ask why I stay back in the hostel during vacations rather than go home and enjoy with family and friends. I reply--"to do nothing”. Leaning back on my chair, with just a banian and shorts, I wonder. I don't know what .

My room is on the third floor and I look down on the garden.....and I find two cute puppies fighting over a piece of plastic. They run here and there, jump over each other, kick each other and roll over on the grass with fun and frolic. I envy them. I wish..............I were one of them, could roll over in the mud without feeling guilty, could fight with them ,could run where I could without caring about anything else on this world. I wish I could forget --assignments, exams, submissions, grades, CGPA, internship, job and a hell lot of things that bug me.

A bird in the nearby tree starts singing. I wish I were a bird. I wish I could fly. Far away on the road I can see a pretty girl… I wish she were mine. Suddenly the phone rings and I pick it up to find that the grades of ‘CAOS’ had been declared and that the Prof. had given me a ‘D’ and that would further bring down my CGPA. A fighter plane shoots over the sky from the Kalaikunda Air Force Runway. I wish it would drop a bomb over this place.

The morning’s mood has been spoilt. I pick up my ‘Hero Champion’—my old, faithful, powerful bicycle that has been my partner for more than 8 years. We two were partners even in a dangerous road accident during the ‘Super Cyclone’ that hit Orissa 7-8 years ago. I will write more about that accident in another post. I consider my bicycle no less than Rana Pratap’s Chetak. My ‘Hero Champion’ has been to everywhere around KGP within a diameter of 80 kms.The traveling spirit in me is always awake and every other opportunity sets me get going ---sometimes alone and sometimes with someone who has a similar temperament. So where should I go today ?? A few kms ride on the National Highway would be good-I think enough to lighten up my mind. Many a times whenever I feel frustrated or lonely ,I find a new friend –the road .The roads speak—if you can hear.

A few minutes of travel takes you to a crossroad from where you get four directions---the first leads to Bombay ,the second to Calcutta, the third to Midnapore and the fourth back to KGP .Unable to decide where to go, I park my bicycle and myself on the crossroad. Trucks, buses, jeeps and cars speed by. Truck drivers slow down their vehicles and ask if I needed a lift. A van carrying a military office and his bodyguards stops to enquire if I belonged to Lashkar –e-toeba gang or some other gang. I show them my I-card and they leave-convinced that I am no terrorist. Vehicles come and speed by ,but I sit on the crossroad ,thinking…………….if I were a truck-driver, if I were a military officer, if I were a terrorist…..... Far away I can see a farmer ploughing his field while his wife waits with food that she has brought from home. And I wish I were a farmer…………….

I wish…………I wish…………..I wish…………. I wishhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh………

"Hazaaron khwaishein aisi
ki har khwaish pe dum nikle
Bahut nikle mere armaan
lekin phir bhi kam nikle"

- Mirza Ghalib

Hey guys(no gals I guess!!),hope you all liked this post of mine. This was my first blog post . More posts later.I am not that much imaginative or abstract as you might have guessed after reading this post. But just a bit. If you have any similar feelings do let me know. If you are in KGP and you would like to go on a cycle ride with me ……..do buzz me. We wont be sitting on crossroads, I promise. I have been to many interesting places here in KGP. So you will have full fun. Do leave your comments.