A new beginning...

It was Friday the 13th!! I had to report to my new college with the set of documents,fees and the mandatory medical reports. Amma and Appa accompanied me on the first day to give me the moral support that I really needed. The 1001 questions and apprehensions kept bouncing inside but I managed to stay normal. It was a blessing to find Abi and HP on the first day and suddenly we sensed the connection. Apart from that, we met a lot of new friends who thought the three of us knew each other from a long time.

We took some time to get used to speaking to everyone in class but was a good start to the MTech programme. Just as Kabir had warned me, we had loads of test initially. I remember taking around 6 tests in a span of 10days. They were scary initially but we got used to the system and started moving with it. Our early morning walk to the chai shop, being the first customers for breakfast in whichever place we decide to go, the walk after the breakfast and some study time were moments which we can probably never get back.

They were exclusively attached to Prep Sem memories. The three of us slowly started mingling with the others. Preethy was another addition to this group with whom I can share all my joys and sorrows anytime. We had an official photo shoot session from college which was the first time we clicked umpteen number of photographs with friends. The class picture, the IIIT-B formation were the highlights among from many photos in groups..It was event better to see that in the batch book. The batch book had the contact information of all the 158 students with their experiences and background.

The days rolled on with studies,tests and fun. And before we could realize the Prep Sem was almost done. It was the first mega event at college..Time for SAC nominations. I gave my name and was very keen in being one of the four members. I had always been doing these things in college before but with greater power,come greater responsibility.

The first task as a part of the SAC campaign was to give friendship day cards to all my classmates asking them to vote for me. That was HPs brainchild but I was helped by Abinaya,Preethy,Niveditha,Mitali,Gaurangi,Sruti and of course,HP. The idea was aprreciated by all and felt great to have friends like them. They took time to help me make cards and we worked like machines that day. The next day was friendship day.I started my task right from the morning distributing cards to everyone though I had some trouble initially identifying a few faces. This assignment has helped me identify all the 157 people in class now. We also went to St Patricks church that day and attended a mass. In the evening, the mission of distributing cards continued which also carried on to the next day. Apart from that, I made a few posters to be stuck,got a speech ready along with an online poster.

We also visited a temple close by on the first day of the first semester. The tests tensions had reduced but we had to grasp more in class. We had grand Janmashtami celebrations at college where we volunteered to help the seniors out with the pre-preparations.

I was nervous about the elections but my friends always stood by me assuring that all is going to be well.We had a group discussion a day before regarding "Whether SAC has the real powers at college". The discussion ended on a high note with each of the nominees stating their stance and pointing out a quality in them that would help them win the title. The D-day finally arrived..Seniors had warned me not to prepare long speeches as there would be no time to deliver anything there. they were so right. All we could there was so stand,smile, say a sentence and come back when there were loads of comments on us being displayed in the background.

The best thing for me apart from the getting votes was the title song of "Lakshya" being played during the voting time for me..Each of us had 4 votes, 2 for a guy and 2 for a girl. We had a ball at the SAC elections. My heart was beating initially since the vote count were so close. After some time, i took the lead and felt relived. I was super excited and satisfied when I ended up with maximum number of votes. I realised the appreciation and responsibility that I had got from my classmates and senior SAC. I was renamed SAC since then. I sometimes get worried that people may forget my name in two years.

The next superb thing that happened to me was the Yahoo Hack Fest 2012. I had been there attending them in the past two years but never really created a hack. I was again alone in registering but found nice company in Sagar and Vamsi. There were many seniors who attended the event too but we preferred to stay alone. We also met two guys from Hyderabad who coded with us. I learnt a lot from this experience and learnt that I can say without sleeping for almost around 24-30 hours but some credits also go to the Red Bull they gave us. All in all, a great learning experience at Sheraton.

The next week saw me sleeping almost in every class, thanks to the lack of sleep and addition of SAC responsibility. Independence day was around the corne rand I had a blast organizing things with fellow SACs. The speech that they helped me prepare, which I delivered was the highlight of the day for me. The praise we got after the event and some criticisms too were great lessons to take forward. Appa,Appa,Thathappa and Aishwarya visited IIIT-B that day. We had a nice time together. Friends and family pulling my leg together was something that I got used to after some time. I dropped them till the bus stop after some photography session. I came back, had rest, went out with friends for Tushar's treat and came back to watch Rang de Basanti at college. Was a great great day at college, both personally and professionally.

After a few days of normal first semester classes, it was along weekend. I went home, caught up on all the sleep that I missed in college, spent quality family time, got pampered at home and had some great moments with family.

These days am torn between deciding where I enjoy more.. At home with family or at hostel with friends.. And when the day is a combination of the two, like today, it is all the more exciting and happening...

Hope all the fun continues and I learn more and more from people and college over the next two years...

A memorable end...

I have had a month of one of my best holidays in life and then a month of new college life... I would try summing all of that here..

One of my best holidays... It was not about visiting Paris or holidaying at Manali..It was only about spending time with friends, some very close and some whom I knew since school.. That one month of holidays post my bachelors saw me visiting many new places with old friends..

Bonded the maximum with school friends, sometimes for long drives, sometimes to Goli or CTR,sometimes just gossiping and recollecting the old times and sometimes going back to the place where we created memories,KENSRI school.. School friends know maximum of our secrets and the some of the most embarassing moments we've had are in school.

I still remember the spark in our teachers' eyes on seeing us after a long time. I was so nervous to take an appointment from one of my all-time favourite teachers,Renu Ma'am for all of us to go and meet her. I gathered some courage to get that done and am so glad that I did it..I was overjoyed when she said she managed to take time out since it was me asking it.. May be I was one of the favourite students of my favourite teachers. Meeting Srish Sir and listening to his words of wisdom again after five years felt great...The way the teachers received us,remembering each of us even after so many many years and after seeing so many batches made me realise why teaching is such a humble and noble profession.. I salute each one of them today since they all have a huge role to play in what I am today.

I also took some time out to spend with really close PU friends who had left am imprint on my life forever. The moments I spent with them those two years at MCC was priceless..We had fights, we made up for it, had fun and some great learning experiences together.. Relived them and spent some time gossiping about our current lives and what we intend to do in the future.

Last but not the least, I spent a lot of time with my MVIT friends during holidays. We would all part away after three to four years together not knowing when we will all meet next. A few of us had planned what we wanted to do ahead in life and a few of us wanted some time to figure out where life is taking us. I was stranded somewhere in between these groups. With four companies in hand and a decent scope to go abroad, with GATE results not too good,but not too bad either I had too many options to confuse me.

With so many options but none so appealing, I tried hunting for other options. Attending the IIT-B interview made me feel great. But, my friends, who knew me the best, told me not to sacrifice on my course just for a college brand. And I am so glad I listened to them. With minute hopes of getting in one of the IITs for some inter-disciplinary course, I had a solid option in hand. IIIT-B. A major advantage was the faculty and location while the only thing bothering me was the high fees.

The confusions on the career front did not stop me from enjoying with friends. The time came where we had to give farewells to friends one after the other. All the memories would flash in front of us when they say good bye with heavy hearts. i always used to picturise my farewell that time. Fortunately, I would be close to home. The thought of not knowing when we would meet after sharing our joys and sorrws together for a few years seemed difficult. But there is a new hello that awaits every goodbye.

A month just vanished in partying,shopping,enjoying,relaxing and bidding our goodbyes. After discussions with dozens of friends and well wishers, I had taken the decision to join the International Institute of Information Technology,Bangalore for my Masters. In the last week of holidays, I made it a point to meet my group of friends and family. I always anticipated a hectic two year M Tech.I

There was a lot of emotions going inside me personally. I had met almost all my friends in the Facebook page but the apprehensions always existed. Would I be able to fit in a place like this? Would I get like-minded people with whom I can share all the things happening in my life and share my feelings? How would life be away from home? No more easy-going way to get things done,no more pampering..More responsibilities, more dedication towards studies... How would they manage at home without having their chauffeur in her Pleasure to drop them and do things for them? Loads of questions bouncing inside me but I chose to remain calm outside..May be that would make them feel better...

Reloading Memories...

Had written this long back.. Just adding it to the collection..

Just seems like yesterday that I walked into the portals of this mega-institution, Sir MVIT. Four years have flown by and here I stand, bidding goodbye to teachers, friends and well wishers. The mixed emotions of excitement, fear and happiness of entering into a new world, all seem so vivid. And now when everything seemed so settled, it is time to go.

I went through the same drama that almost all of us have to go through to clear the entrance exams and get admission into an engineering college which is certainly a tough ask. But, I guess that few months of torture were soon erased by some golden years filled with fun, frolic and friends.

Orkut came as a boon to me, way back in 2008, when I got to know my prospective friends through a community, Sir MVIT 2008-2012. Thousands of us would share our apprehensions and take a shot at predicting what would be in store for us at college once our classes start. We found some amazing seniors online even before joining college who would advise us to “Just Chill”.

I remember our Freshers’ Day at college when we were greeted with speeches, speeches and more speeches. Few of them were very inspiring but we were more excited in catching up with our so-called online friends. Our first day was occupied by meeting few new people, giving each other an introduction and looking forward to spending time together at college.

The time came when we walked into the institute not knowing anyone and scared to fall prey to the evil called “ragging”. But as MVIT claims to be a ragging-free campus, we were not very fortunate to get ragged but found some great seniors along the way with whom we had some memorable outings and some great knowledge-exchange during the club activities at college. We had various competitions and clubs at college which allowed us to interact with seniors and get to know them. They would patiently reply to our queries, advice us when needed, sometimes, convince us that we are at a great place and something great is in store for us over the next four years. And now, I realize how right they were.

From being in a class with students from various branches in the first years, building an ever-lasting bond with friends for a period of 10 months to moving to a new class with new friends and creating some un-forgettable memories for life , the journey has been a roller-coaster ride.

Every semester begins with us making resolutions to have more fun and taking a few weeks to get used to the new subjects and new teachers. The few weeks soon turn into a month and we welcome our first internals. Suddenly, the fun subsides a little and we are busy collecting assignments and trying some group studies to get a decent score making it easier for us in the future internals. And by the time we breathe a sigh of relief, there are more internals, more assignments and more record work. The semester just flies away by the time we finish all the tasks that we have in hand. The final few semesters added a few more exams and tests to our kitty ranging from placements to the GATE and the GRE.

But the classes, internals and assignments have never managed to keep us away from having fun. Spending time in the canteen, going out for lunch together, just sitting under some roof talking about random things and the millions of birthday celebrations with friends have all stacked up to give us our bible of memories. We often sit in class looking at the teacher wondering what is happening around and when we reach saturation, we just prefer to mass-bunk. That had to cut down over the years due to some punishments and some black-mails, but the mass-bunks have helped us create memories to cherish.

The time during our exams would be the peak season for the Xerox shop owner outside college when everyone realizes that they have no notes and sometimes no textbooks to prepare from. That would see us running to the xerox shop where we will be greeted by a long queue of friends already waiting for their Xerox. The arduous task of writing records, the improvement tests when we did not have an average and sometimes making our presence felt in class after lunch were some tough asks that we managed to pull off. The group studies, phone calls for clearing doubts and the messages of “How much you finished?” would give you a feel of how I see the exam season. I was fortunate enough to interact with so many people during my extracurricular sessions of elocution and paper presentations. Anchoring in college throughout the four years gave me the privilege to meet so many guests, interact with many teachers and make new friends.

The endless seminars, symposiums, talks and workshops that I attended made me more enthusiastic and gave me an opportunity to meet inspiring souls whose lessons would always stay with me.

Organizing fests in college constituted a major portion of my life at college giving me some of the most enriching experiences. Kalanjali, Fourth Dimension, Silver Jubilee Alumni Meet, ICUBED events and a few others taught me how important it was to get beyond the books and try something which may not give us extra marks but would give some unforgettable memories.

There are so many people who have encouraged, supported and guided me to get here. I would like to thank each of them from the bottom of my heart.

On a closing note…

From tomorrow, there would be no classes to miss, no race against time to get up and be on time to college and no friends to gossip with about the zillion things happening around us. We would have to transform from being carefree students into responsible adults. And what I would miss the most would be the hands in my lunch box, the friends in my group, the calls on one birthday night, and most importantly so many memories to cherish forever.