How I Meet My Accidents !!!

Accidents and I go hand in hand. I can meet accidents whenever and wherever. Luckily, apart from two, none has been near-fatal. Freaky accidents have been the part and parcel of my life. Injuring in and around my limbs is a common place event. I’ll try chronicling few of the incidents which I can remember at this juncture.

1991: SNS Playground, Tumsar:

I was a sprightly young kid of about 6 years. My KG school didn’t have more than two rooms and a playground was out of question. But SNS had a big playground and we used to play during the lunch hours. Sometimes we played football; sometimes we just ran and sometimes just fooled around. One fine afternoon, I decided to jump over the hurdles that had been kept for a senior competition. The first hurdle that I jumped was at a lower height and I easily passed it. Buoyed by my friends, I tried to jump the next hurdle and crashed onto it. I injured my left knee badly and not to say about the scolding I got from Usha aunty first and from my father later!

  1997 / 1998: The Road Outside My Uncle’s House, Ketugram:

Learning how to ride a bicycle has been one of my worst nightmares. It took me almost half a year to learn to ride. I was at my uncle’s home and decided to try my luck with his bicycle as well. The road was uneven and I was a lousy amateur. I just lost control of the cycle after riding a few yards and injured my left knee again!

  2003: Board Chemistry Practical, Holy Home, Serampore:

I’m not a very bright student when it comes to chemistry. In fact Organic chemistry has been one of the biggest unsolvable mysteries of my life. I was even worst at the practicals. In the final board practicals, I poured sulfuric acid more than the required and lo there occurred a fast reaction and all the contents in the test tube flew towards me. Some part of it left a burning sensation in my left eye. Some of it burnt my upper side of my hand but the worst affected was my Hall-Ticket. A hole adorns it on the top corner. I was completely shaky during the rest of the practical examination and was lucky to finish it!

  2003: Bawankar Chowk, Tumsar:

This incident again involves the bicycle. After my Higher Secondary results, I’d come back to Maharashtra for good. Before my admission in the college, I was living with my mother and brother in Tumsar. My brother used to go on his cycle to the bus-stop, leave his cycle there and go to school. One fine rainy morning, I forcefully persuaded him that I would drop him to the bus stop. He relented but I forced him to such an extent that he had to accept. It was more of a work to remove my boredom rather than sibling love. I lost control of my bicycle at Bawankar square and hit a motorcycle side-on. He also lost his balance and fell on the road. My brother fell on the road as well. The motorcycle fell on the rider and I was perched on his fuel tank. I’d lost my senses for a while and got up only when the rider said, “अब  उठ तो जाओ!”. I was lucky not to be beaten by the bystanders.

  2006: The Drain, Dharampeth Science College, Nagpur:

This incident by far injured me the most. My friend (name withheld) had bought a new Nokia 6600 and used to load it with video clips. In our college, there’s a raised paltform near the drain where we used to sit and spend our college hours. One fine afternoon, my friend said that he had brought some new clips and hence I hurried to see them. But the clips were not new at least to me and hence I decided to leave. When I hurriedly tried to leave, I lost my balance and fell half into the drain. The scene was worth watchable. My left leg was in the drain, right one was on the platform. My complete weight was on my left wrist which was by the way on the edge of the drain. I got up and didn’t feel pain at all in the first place. But within few minutes I was writhing with pain. There was no pain reliever available in the college and the chemistry lab offered me the IR lamp for momentary heated relief. Kaustubh dropped me to my room where my house-owner massaged me and tied the crepe bandage. For days I couldn’t tie my watch, sleep with my weight on my left side and even couldn’t wear the belt. It took me almost five minutes to dress up. It is one incident which will remain itched in my memory for long.

  2008: Outside CST, Mumbai:

I had gone with Barrel to CST. Everybody generally crosses the road in front of CST using the subway. Even Barrel wanted to do the same. But yours truly decided to walk through the road, jump the divider and then get to the other side. On any other time of the day, it would have been impossible given the traffic over there. But that night the traffic was thin and was inviting such an action. So, we started crossing the road. Suddenly, we saw a light approaching towards us from the JJ flyover. Barrel stopped on his tracks but I decided to continue. The biker was speeding at break-neck speed and on seeing him approaching me with such a speed, I realized my mistake and started running towards the divider. The biker missed me by a whisker. What remained with me was a pounding heart and choicest of abuses by the rider and Barrel. That day I first saw death!

  2010: On The Highway, Warthi, Bhandara

This incident is the newest and would have resulted in not one but three serious injuries. I’ve bought a new bike and learnt to ride a motor-bike only a few months back. For a month or so I drove only in Nagpur. For my birthday, I had to go home (120 Kms from Nagpur) and I decided to travel in my new bike. I reached home safely and brought it back without any hassles. That gave me the confidence and I took it back a fortnight later. From Nagpur, I took it to college (60 Kms). I delivered 3 lectures in the morning session, had my lunch and took a half day leave. I started for my home and was driving at ease down the highway. The next thing I know was that I was on the other side of the road. My vehicle had rammed onto another vehicle and its owners were shouting at me. I was totally lost about what had happened. They said that I apparently had crossed the road at a very high speed and rammed onto them. I was at my wits end as I could not remember a single thing related to the incident and their shouting was confusing me more. It was apparently clear that it was my fault and I had hit them in state of delirium. I paid for their vehicle’s repair and returned home. Luckily, my vehicle was unhurt apart from a few scratches. I was hurt though on my left ankle and right knee which I realized only after reaching home. I was lucky to survive in such an incident.

These are some of the incidents that I remember. Freaky accidents where I incur minor injuries are a regular routine and need not be chronicled!

The reasons given by different people for these occurrences are different. My mother feels that I’ve a ‘restless mind’. My father thinks that I ‘think way too much’ and that also on different topics while doing an altogether different job. Some of my friends feel that it has to do something 'wrong with my brain’ while some think that it is due to ‘lack of fitness’. Whatever may be the reasons, I hope I stay away from these freaky accidents for a while as of now. Amen.

First Salaried Lecture

1030 hrs, 31st August, 2010. This date and time will remain etched in my memory for the next few decades which I’ve on this earth. This is the time when I took my first salaried lecture. It’s not that I’ve not lectured before but never ever I had an audience of 40 odd students who were there just to listen me. And another aspect of this lecture is that it will be paid for by the college.

I had never thought that I would be teaching in a college let alone an engineering college. But there I was at the appointed hour all tied up in a new shirt and a pair of new shoes just for the occasion. It would be untrue if I say that I was not nervous. I was to the very core of my bones. And when the bus started delaying, my nervousness was shooting through the roof. I had kept rehearsing what will be my opening lines even in my dream. I had planned to rehearse once again before entering the class but the delay was making me uncomfortable. So, I rehearsed the whole thing in the bus itself (Of course in my mind. Otherwise, people would have thought me crazy)! At last I reached just 5 minutes before the scheduled time. Phew! Not a wise start to the very first day!

I had thought to start with Semiconductors as I was comfortable with it and had actually prepared well in advance. But a meeting with a senior faculty on Monday changed it all. He advised me to start with Electron Ballistics as it was more concise and clearly understandable. I luckily followed his advice and starting preparing for the lecture. I had just prepared two pages when my brother came with the internet dongle. I got engrossed in Facebook and forgot to prepare further. So, with that preparation, I went for the lecture.

I had planned to get acquainted with the students first and ease the nervousness on both sides. After asking their names, I couldn’t even remember a single name and I realized that this method won’t work. Instead I should straightway start my syllabus and in due course of time get acquainted with them. They are anyways stuck with me for the next whole session! So, I started with electron. But I found out that the students were much hesitant in coming forward with the answers. This is a problem with most students. Even if they know the answer, they wouldn’t reply in fear of what would the teacher say and mostly what would the other students think in case of a wrong answer. I remember my Astro classes when Dipankar Sir would not budge forward until he got the answer out of our throats. I tried that but to no avail. So, I started dropping hints about the answers. When they reached the answer, they realized that they knew that all through. I believe this habit has to be inculcated now. And that brought a smile everyone’s face i.e. including me. When Dipankar Sir used to give us that smile, I thought it used to be a sign of frustrated relief. But today I realized, it was a sign of satisfaction.

I was so engrossed in teaching that I actually overshot the allowed time of 45 minutes. It was not until the next lecturer came, I had no idea! But even when I was leaving, I wanted to teach more. The students I guess were relieved. Next lecture was 45 minutes later. The hara-kiri in my mind had subsided. I was assured that I was not at the wrong place. I can be a good lecturer. So, in the next lecture, I was more composed and confident. This lecture also ended with the dissatisfaction of not being able to teach more.

After lunch I had a practical class. But as was decided earlier, practicals were not to start until next week. So, I started chatting with the students. First I started with semiconductors but dropped the topic after half an hour. We chatted for another hour or so before we ran out of conversations. It would have been a crime to continue torturing them on their very first day and hence a holiday was declared. Thus, I ended the first day of my teaching.

I have to thank all my teachers right from School to PG, whose ways I was trying to emulate. I must also thank my tuition students Aniket, Akshita, Rushabh and not to forget Nauty. Without them it would have been difficult to understand the mentality of the students. I must also thank my friends whom I’ve pakaoed during my college days while explaining before the examinations. At last I must thank MIET for giving this rookie a chance to deliver his wares.

Hoping for a successful session of teaching.

Amen!!!

What A Republic Day !!!

Sitabuldi fort is an off-reach destination for the civilians. It’s an army base and opens its doors for the common man only on the two national holidays of 15th August and 26th January.
When some place has a sort of secrecy shrouding it, curiosity to know about increases exponentially. Having seen quite a few Maratha forts in last two years, the interest to see the one in our own city was at its maximum. So, on this republic day we i.e. me, Santu, Prasad & Taresh decided to visit it.
All was set and we were to start at 7 for the fort. A delayed start due to Prasad made us late by a quarter of an hour. We reached Buldi and picked Taresh from there. For him a chance to go out is like finding the magnetic monopole! He was all ready and raring to go. While we had just woken and reached the venue somehow while he was all bathed, brushed and fresh.
Before the visit to the fort, we visited the famous Kasturchand Park (KP) pohewala. After having a plate of hot poha, we queued up at the fort. Although the official time to enter was 8, we were allowed 20 minutes past it. The fort is supposed to have few dungeons and tunnels. Actually one of them is supposed to run to Kamptee, some 16 kilometres away. Prasad was all eyes in search of it or at least any of them.
The fort was won by the British in 1817, in the Battle of Sitabuldi when they defeated the Maratha forces. Ever since then the British army held the fort and the surrounding tekdi as a prize trophy. The trophy passed to the Indian army when we gained independence.
Most of the fort was off-limits and numerous barriers were placed. The total tour took us no more than half an hour. The fort has some memorials inside it. There are the graves of the five British soldiers who were killed in the aforesaid battle. The fort also has a cell in which Gandhiji was imprisoned for about a month in 1923. The graves of the grandsons of Tipu Sultan are also inside the fort who were hanged for their role in the 1857 revolt. There is also a monument to commemorate the visit of the king of England in 1912. Whatever he was doing their overlooking the deep pit below is beyond me.
I, personally, was little disappointed how the tour turned out! But soon Taresh took us to a paradise. Vidhan Bhavan had a flower exhibition going on. Nature always has a soothing effect on humans & what more can be soothing than beautiful flowers! I was apprehensive at first given the location. But they just allayed all my worries. The display was majestic and fantastic. After a prolonged photo session, we moved ourselves to Taresh’s college, Institute of Science.
We met some of Taresh’s friends. We had a talkathon going on which had to be stopped as we had two non-participating members in Santu & Prasad. For the sake of convenience, we marched back home leaving Taresh with them.
During October’s Walkathon, we had walked almost this distance. But owing to the breaks that we didn’t have much fatigue this time. It also acted as a good practice to the marathon that we are to run on 31st { It will be another Walkathon, I promise at least from our side!}.
Akshita’s dad had his birthday and Nauty’s mathematics sir was giving a farewell. This meant that I had only Rushabh to teach and that too late in the evening. So, I slept peacefully and went to teach in the evening. As planned, in the evening, me, Prasad and Santu went to see a circus. This brought the kid back in me and I actually went there as a 7-year old! We, poor fellows, opted for the cheapest 30/- tickets and had to do circus ourselves to sit on the wooden plancks they gave us as seats.
The 3-hour show was good. Whenever we tried to leave, they would put on an exciting item forcing us to stay on. The overuse of acrobatics and less use of animals did disappoint us a little. Overall, the show was fine. And the hippopotamus was a bonus.
From there, we went for a dinner and then a sweet paan culminated the fantastic republic day celebration.
Long live the Republic of India.

The Lost Decade

The last decade I lost my childhood, dependence, school days, innocence, carefree attitude, home, taste buds, television …. Of the ten years, I spent 9 in hostels in 3 different cities of India. Many more years of this ordeal is still in the pipeline.

The months leading to April’00 were spent in studies and reading Hardy Boys with the days inching towards Class Xth. I was a proud fellow and pride comes before the fall. I got my first sub-80 mark that also in mathematics. I came 4th in my class. That’s another low. Luckily, I had got the jolt in time. I sprang back and gave a good Xth and secured a healthy 85% in boards next year. This was my first lesson of how vanity leads you to disaster. I have tried to stay put on the firm ground ever since.
My father was transferred in June’00 and we started living alone for the first time. Frequent fights occurred when I tried to be the boss unsuccessfully. I learnt early that I was bad in anything except studies. Just before my boards, I lost my beloved grandfather. He is the one from whom I learnt so many things and it was really sad for me that I couldn’t be near him at his last time.
All my friends, as well as me, decided not to attend SNS for our high-secondary. My parents consulted my uncle and sent me to Holy Home, Serampore, West Bengal. That was the worst decision I ever took. My studies dipped like anything. I enjoyed my life like anything and put on studies on hold until it was too late. The only favourable outcomes were friends like Arijit and Sanjay and the worldly wisdom I got. I grew up mentally and declined academically.
I immediately decided not to attend college in West Bengal. I came back home. My all aims of becoming an engineer had evaporated. I tried to study for entrances to IIT and AIEEE but to no avail. My interest in engineering had decreased and I was actually developing interest in basic sciences. The environs of Dharampeth Science College were not buzzing with science but somehow my interest just went on increasing. By the end of 3rd year, I had two jobs in MBT (now TechMahindra) and Progeon (now Infosys-BPO). With a brief stint of 2 days at Progeon, I bade goodbye to IT forever. I couldn’t secure admission to Pune University in the first try and hence I tried hard and secured the next time. I joined Pune not only because Physics was at best here but also because of Astrophysics course being taught at IUCAA.
In the graduation days I slowly lost all my school friends. Only Amoni and Kaustubh somehow stayed afloat. Others found it convenient to detach themselves. Good for me. I learnt my lessons in friendship. I was insulted and sad but slowly I forgot their existence. शायद पुराने वस्त्र बदलने का समय आ गया था |
I may have lost these fellows but I gained two valuable friends in Aniket and Prasad, loving and caring teachers in Likhite Maam, Dhule Sir, Shende Sir and others. My student Nauty is another gain as is my room owner Sathe Aajoba. When I look back it seems not a bad deal to bargain the so-called friends with these lifelines.
I studied Physics first time in Pune. Till then it was only notes. I fell in love with the subject and have decided to dedicate my life to it both as a livelihood and as a passion. Panat sir’s theory of 10+2+3=0 is not a fallacy. It’s a truth which even ‘3 Idiots’ is propagating. Apart from a lifelong association with Physics, Department of Physics gave me wonderful teachers and friends both in the department and in IUCAA. Aradhana, Avdhoot, Kaushalya, Anustuv and Barrel will always remain special in my life. It also provided me the opportunities to come across real physics, allowed me to see Jayant Narlikar face to face, allowed me to visit TIFR, GMRT, IUCAA, PRL and now IIA. It has provided me with an identity which was in doldrums during my graduation days. I had lost self-belief and purpose for the life. It all was reinstated thanks to them. Now I can look into anybody’s eyes and won’t give a damn to their bull-shit. Let anybody suggest anything, I’ll do what I want.
Mobiles and Orkut are the revolutionary ideas of the last decade. They have made the world a small village and all of us its citizens. They helped me to gain access to all my Holy Home friends who were all but lost. Communication was the most important thing of the last decade. It’s the next after the computers and genetic research of last century.
With the hope that all goes well in decades to come for the whole mankind and December 21, 2012 just remains another date in the history of mankind, I finish this piece.

P.S: My New Year wish to the almighty is that apart from bringing peace and prosperity to the entire universe; please do me a personal favour. Please don’t call me before I see the Halley’s Comet!

Dental Rumble

I was being bothered by my teeth for quite a few months. Those who know me know exactly what kind of a haphazard dental structure I own! Slowly and steadily I have made one of the unique dental structures in the world which has even prompted some of my friends to compare it with that of Count Dracula! So, it was the turn of my teeth to take revenge for the great state I have thrown them in!
About two months ago I started experiencing pain on my 5th and 6th teeth on the upper right side whenever I ate something sweet. I neglected it for a while but it became unbearable in the latter half of September when I started experiencing pain with every bite I ate. Now it was no time to procrastinate but to visit a dentist. That is what I did first up on the morning of 23rd as I went to Dr. Shailaja Deshpande’s dental clinic in Lakshminagar.
When in class 9th, I had read a poem on dentists. It was a hilarious poem on how the poet fears the dentist and his tools. The state of my mind was exactly like that! I was seated on a yellow throne and lo she started doing all kinds of drilling with my teeth. I was sure to lose all my teeth that day. It seemed that they will come all falling down with the kind of activity going inside my mouth. I felt like my mouth has turned into a mill! But at last she stopped and rebuked me for not taking proper care of my teeth. She was a nice lady and explained me that my unusual habit of eating only with one side of my mouth and that also with express speeds has caused the trouble. She told me that, I have particularly spoiled my 5th and 6th teeth and a root canal operation had to be done. She anaesthetized my gums and drilled holes in them. Now I was suppose to eat only with my left side. This I had never done in my life and was actually a difficult act. She had advised me to eat rice which wouldn’t require much eating!
My brother suggested me to go back home and that’s what I did. The weekend being a Dusshera weekend was to be a foodie weekend and I didn’t want to miss it! Seeing good food made me forget that I had problem eating with my left teeth. I had a nice pet-puja and then came back to Nagpur on 2nd for my root canal. Dr. Ghonmode is a competent doctor but I was petrified. The petrifaction was because of all the dental stories I heard from my friends. Anyways I’m afraid of operations but the good doctor calmed me down and told me to relax. Within 20 minutes, I was done with root canal! I even don’t know what he did with my teeth. He kept poking with a pin into my teeth and then filled in some artificial paste into it. I was told that I have to keep eating with my left side and come back on Monday to give my dental cast.
Monday morning, Dr. Shruti Nakade drilled and drilled for eternity (It is what it seemed to me!) before declaring that now my dental cast could be taken. A pink coloured, Colgate tasting paste was used to take the dental cast (I own it now!). I was called back on Friday the 9th for fitting the dental caps. Childishly, I was excited to own two steel teeth like Jaws (Moonraker)! But I was disappointed to find that the caps made were not perfect and I had to wait till Monday. I got impatient on Monday as I had not received the promised call from the doctor. At last I called and was told that the teeth will turn up sometime later. I was called at about 1430 hours and I immediately dashed to the clinic. This time there was no trouble with the caps and now I’m the proud owner of them!
But I’ve to take utmost precautions not to lose any more teeth or I’ll end up being Jaws totally!

Simply Naughty

When I was in my BSc-II, I decided to take tuitions to fill up my free time as well as to earn some moolah. I hadn’t taught anyone outside my brother and was susceptible about my teaching abilities! Hence, when I registered with a Home Tuitions provider, British Academy, I decided to teach only upto class 10th. The first tuition that I got was that of an oriya boy, whose name I have forgotten. He was in 9th and needed someone to teach him Science, Maths and English. The academy had instructed to ask for nothing less than 1000 but the father was not going above 450. I thought over and started the tuition without informing the academy. The boy was attentive and his mother was a good cook and I enjoyed being called a SIR!
Few weeks later the academy, oblivious of my existing tuition, arranged for another one. The student was a class 10th CBSE boy named Prateek Rathi aka Naughty. I was to teach him English and was to start that at 6 o’clock in the morning of 2nd October.
Naughty was totally upto his name. He is the only brother of three older sisters and obviously too pampered! He had the bad habit of turning down teachers. He never got up from the bed once because he didn’t like the teacher at all and the poor guy had to return back! I was not aware of this whimsical behaviour and I went totally charged up in the morning of 2nd and tried to give my best. It’s funny that the first day the student judges the teacher and later it’s his turn to be judged all through the year! Maybe Naughty just enjoyed his first days! Later I came to know about his habit but he had liked me straight away!
Even though I was never sent back, there were times when tuitions had to be stopped before the stipulated hour because of his pending bath or breakfast. But most generally it had to be stopped because of Dollar, his dog. Naughty had to take him for his morning walk and more than often he would stop the session early. Slowly and steadily, I gained his confidence. I was more an elder brother and a friend than a teacher and maybe he liked that! He had this entire different lingo and attitude and was very angry with his teachers as they reprimanded him often for his poor results. He was not a bad student but he was very lazy. He had a different set of ideas from others and would write answers in his own style. His way though correct was not entirely without mistakes. I had studied the same way in my school life and was totally encouraged by my teachers. Seldom would my answers match word to word with the answers in the notebook. I found the same in Naughty as well. Whatever he wrote was from his understanding and not mugging. But as he was lazy, he understood very little! My job was to rectify his mistakes and make him little more industrious. First was easy but not the second. Because of his unpredictable mood swings, he could have just dismissed my services and which was the last thing we wanted!
To tell the truth, teaching was secondary to the money I earned that time. 1000 bucks seemed quite large at that time and I liked the scent of the money (Kya karein jaat se baniya hoon na!) I earned. I bought two watches with the fees on Diwali, one for me and one for my brother. These were our first watches and we love them very much! I bought my radio also at that time. But gradually I fell into love with teaching and when Naughty’s mother asked me to teach Babal, Naughty’s cousin, I accepted it though with some reluctance. The reluctance was more because Babal was in 12th and I was not confident of my abilities! The best days of teaching were when I used to teach both of them 6 hours a day split in two shifts. My friends were angry that I was not giving them time and were also worried about my studies. The first I couldn’t manage because these two were my responsibilities and I couldn’t shy away from them. The second I managed by studying at the time they used to solve the papers I used to set for them. For about two months, we continued with this. Naughty was weak in every subject and when his mother asked me to look into the matter, I taught him Social Sciences, Science as well. I had to resort to emotional blackmailing and had to throw challenges to get him working. Well he surprised us all by getting a very good percentage of 75.6 in the boards. His top score was 84 in Social Sciences! When he informed me, I was just struck with disbelief! As soon as I put the phone down, I was elated and jumped in joy. His success had given me a big boost. Well, I too scored very heavily in my exams.
I have mentioned in an earlier blog that I taught Naughty again when he was in 12th. This time he didn’t respond well and didn’t fare well. I am to be blamed as well for not stoking the same fire I had been able to do two years back.
Apart from the three I have mentioned here, I have taught four other students. All of them were boys of 10th and 12th and were good friends of mine. Apart from one all of them shared their beliefs, aspirations, likes and dislikes with me. But Naughty is the only one with whom I developed an attachment! When I used to go home, he would worry about my safety as my parents lived in a jungle! Sometimes he used to come to my room for studies and I used to get scolded! The reasons were generally the dirtiness of my room and my bohemian habits. So, whenever he used to come, I cleaned my room beforehand to get away from his scolding! I was a miser in those days and that also came under scrutiny more than often. In a way he was my temperature controller and I enjoyed his chaffing. He has his own tinsel world and I am happy to be a part of it. I like him as I like my own younger brother and pray to God for his success and welfare.

Memoirs of Academia {College (Graduation and Post-Graduation)}

II) College (Graduation and Post-Graduation)

1) I did my graduation from Dharampeth Science College, Nagpur. Most of the days I spent outside the classes not attending them! The only classes I did were of Electronics. There were few incidents in the labs where once a Zener diode failed to work because it was grounded in both the terminals. After half an hour of all kinds of tests, we found the actual trouble and laughed over it.
2) One of our friends in our Electronics batch had penchant for destroying experiments. The very first day he started doing experiments he just blew an experimental setup which has not been resurrected yet!
But the best one was in the Physics laboratory when we were in Second year. We had a thermister experiment where it was to be heated using an electric heater. God knows what happened but the heater kept glowing even after it was unplugged!
3) The one funny incident I most remember is when I almost broke my wrist. My friends were watching a MMS on a 6600 and I ran to watch it. It was one which I had seen before and I tried to run away and lo I was half in the drain and half outside it and injured my left wrist. I didn’t feel the pain at once. It creeped back few minutes later and I was writhing with pain like never before. And the only relief I got was from an IR lamp in the chemistry lab. For days I couldn’t wear my watch and belt. I still don’t wear a belt!
4) We used to go for a Mathematics Tuition. Our sir used to take classes thrice a week while twice it was taken by one other teacher. Now this guy was a pain in the ass! He would go on solving without explaining a single step. One day he had solved a problem comprising of six blackboard pages and the answer we got was wrong. We found that he had made a mistake in the second page itself. As it was supposed to be last problem of the class, we told him that we would solve the problem when we go back home. But Kaun kiski sunta hai! He gave a long lecture and then went through all the steps and solved it much to our agony! We got rid of him by complaining to our sir.
5) In First year, I finished my Mathematics-II paper in one hour and forty minutes flat. I wrote 48/50 and I got 48/50. I was in a tremendous hurry as I had to watch an ongoing India-Pakistan match. The invigilator kept prodding to check my paper and I just forcefully thrust it into her hands. When I went to my friend’s house, he rebuked me for seeing a match before my exam. I told him that I had come straight from the examination hall.
6) We could be found generally in the ground. We, me, Prasad Joshi, Adosh Dixit, Sameer Gokhale, Vaibhav Choudhary, Parvez Khan, Aniket Agarkar, Kaustubh Nimdeo, Deepika, used to talk over all and sundry for hours. We had few other friends as well. When all boys were around, if something Non-Veg crept up (which usually did!) one statement from Kaustubh was inevitable! He would immediately say, “Mi Yeto!” (I’m leaving).
7) Another batch of friends was me, Aniket, Kaustubh (My School friend), Kshitij and Aditya. Aditya was our Food and Movies guide. Whenever Kaustubh’s and Aniket’s granny used to leave Nagpur, we used to put up our tents there. All night we used to watch movies and laugh over trivial Jokes. One day we decided to watch Exorcist. Now this movie is supposed to be the most frightening movie of all times. So we decided that we will watch it in the evening with all doors and windows closed and curtained. The environment would be dark but could rush outside whenever we feel frightened. We watched the movie skipping many scenes but each one of us actually smelled the decaying body of the kid!
Another time we were coming from a party in a dhaba on Wardha Road. (We always partied in Dhabas as they are economic and gave us a chance to venture outside the city) While returning back we stopped at an ice-cream parlour for cold-drinks. We spent almost an hour to drink a 300ml bottle and cracked all varieties of jokes over there and were like a bunch of drunkards. The owner got even with us by overcharging us.
8) With Dhritiman I met a whole lot of new beings in Nagpur. He used to take me to most of the places he went. He is the one who introduced me to the Hanuman Temple in Telangkhedi. I still go every Saturday for Bhagwan Darshan and then Nari Darshan to the nearby Futala Lake, whenever I’m in Nagpur.
9) I did my post-graduation from University of Pune’s Department of Physics. The two years were of great fun especially in the hostels. In the first year, we had the habit of talking into dead of the night just outside our rooms. And there were people around complaining whenever they heard a sound. One had the famous excuse of having an exam all throughout the year. Later whenever he used to open his door we used to say, “Pata hai kal aapki exam hai”! This stopped him. Another fellow played his Mridangam. He was stopped by playing the ultimate Tabla, our doors!
10) We used to have fun with our friends especially in the night. We once decorated Umesh with a Permanent Marker while he was sleeping. The fellow just washed it and didn’t say us anything at all! We were disgusted and defeated. We tried again but with the same outcome. Whereas a side trick with Barrel did bore fruit. A toothpaste moustache was drawn and lo Barrel was not amused. We had fun but were really scared to try something again with him! Well the guy cooled and returned the plate he had brought back in a fit of rage from Sandip. He also explained Sujoy something on a software meant to design Electronic instruments! We used to watch movies (housefull) on Barrel’s laptop. Once a mouse entered into the room and it was a complete hara-kiri until Sandip threw it out.
11) Our birthday celebrations were quite weird. The birthday boy used to get birthday bumps all over his ass and sometimes was even drenched. Once we tried this with Barrel and as you have correctly guessed, the cake went down crashing. I hope the cake was delicious!
12) Avdhoot was my next door neighbor in the hostel. He had a desire to learn Bengali. And I was the most suitable teacher as I knew Hindi and understood a little Marathi as well. I started with common statements and then descended to slangs. He almost screwed me by uttering my teachings to one of our Bengali seniors!
13) We were a small group from Nagpur University. I had good friendship with only two of them, Vijay and Taresh, in the first semester. The only girl, Chiti, was even not aware of my existence. I also cared less about her as I have always been with girls. While coming back home for the winter vacations, she boarded the train as a waitlisted passenger (She was to come later but decided otherwise). I was actually annoyed on her. I softened a little after seeing the food she had brought (She has been feeding us ever since!)! We were eating a packet of popcorn and she asked for some. We replied that we won’t throw the plastic and continued eating. She didn’t say anything more. We realized our mistake soon but by then the popcorn were finished. All this happened because she had been prodding us not to throw plastics outside the train and we thought that she was saying the same when she asked for the popcorn!
14) We formed a new team when we started our third semester, me, Avdhoot and Kaushalya. The first day we went for the practicals it was a dark room practical. As soon as sir left, I said that Kaushalya should be afraid as she was alone in a dark room with two boys. She said it’s the other way round actually! I have been a fan of her ever since then.
We had great life all through the year be it the star grazing or going triple seat to have coffee at middle of the night.
15) Gathering is an important event in the Physics department. First year students are required to organize the whole event right from collecting money to the final dinner. I had taken an active part in the event when we were First year. The biggest enthusiast of all was Barrel who had framed a blue-print with Pranav even before others had returned from the winter vacation. But when our notice became a spectacle the very next day, we realized that no blue-print can cover this. Collecting money was another problem. We collected money in the canteen, from hostel rooms and where else. I remember collecting money from one fellow by waking him up at 6:30 in the morning. That fortnight was an absolute mayhem and was an experience of a lifetime for all those who were involved!
Next year we were only to be spectators. We waited a sufficient amount of time but saw no response from our juniors regarding the programme. At last we decided to talk with them. I proposed to do the talking but Chiti was chosen as the matter needed delicate and diplomatic confrontation. But what she said over there still rings in every head that was there. There was sternness, criticism and a challenge in her voice. I should say she surpassed herself that day. The juniors promised in positive and really put up a nice show in the end.
16) In TIFR, we i.e. me, Satti, Sooraj and Arun used to indulge in late night discussions which sometimes became quite hot. We had to take precautions later and subdue our actions when somebody complained that the students were boozing and shouting in the night!
17)

Please feel free to add to these memoirs...

Memoirs of Academia {School (KG-XII)}

This is a recollection of many events which have dotted my short academic life of about 20 years. The events are mostly which provided happiness in my life. There are one or two events of remorse as well.
Just for the sake of convenience I have distributed the memoirs into two parts, one for School days and other for the college days.

I) School (KG – XII)

1) The very first day I went to school i.e. in July 1989, I ran away from my class!
My father had dropped me with George Bhaiyya who was in some higher class. As soon as my class started, he took me to my class. I didn’t know a single person in the class and got petrified and fled. The teachers tried hard but I just couldn’t be controlled! I even stopped talking in Hindi. The only sentence I said was, “Aami Maayer kaachhe jaabo!” which means I will go to my mother. Luckily one of my teachers was a Bengali and she calmed me down. I cried so much that I was in a kind of frenzy and continued uttering the same lines even when I came back home and was sleeping in my mother’s lap. Ever since then I didn’t bunk a class deliberately until I started going to college.
2) I studied in Shirinbai Neterwala School, Tumsar from class 1st to class 10th. The school was some 30 odd kilometres away from my home. In the morning of 8th July, 1991 (First day to school), I went in a school bus whose driver I knew. My father told me that he will bring me back in the evening in the same bus. In the evening, the bus was a different one with an unfamiliar driver and hence I refused to board it. It was only after lot of persuasion by Mohsin Bhaiyya, whose sister was my classmate, I went into the bus!
3) Studying in SNS was never a trouble. Firstly, we had a large contingent of students from our mines and hence in starting days we didn’t feel lonely. Secondly, the teachers were so friendly and caring that I never felt away from home. The very first two friendships I made in Std. 1 were Dhritiman Mondal and Kaustubh Akant. I have lost many of my friends in the tide of time but these two are still there. In Std. 1, while trying to jump a hurdle I had injured myself. The support I got from my friends is still in my mind. I still remember the lovely scolding I received from Usha aunty which she gave while she dressed my wounds. She still remembers us and talks with us with the same warmth.
In the same class, I and Murli had accidently injured Sonu. His three fingers were fractured while we were playing with the door of our class. We didn’t get much reprimanded but I felt very bad as Sonu was my friend from KG days. He also didn’t tell his parents. But I couldn’t control myself when my father asked him on Dusshera about his plight. He kept quiet and just glanced at me. After going home, I confessed and felt such a relief. I don’t know where Sonu is but I still remember this unhappy incident.
4) My talkativeness and restlessness brought me strange punishments. One I remember was given to me by Singh Madam. I had to stand and read a whole chapter in the class while she explained. It’s worthwhile to say, I didn’t change. I actually enjoyed. Another one I remember was to sit between the girls. But, it only added to the problems. A talkative boy among girls was like adding petrol to fire. Soon, the punishment stopped!
5) My teachers had innovative ways of teaching.
Sil madam liked taking tests and we obviously didn’t! She once said that she will take a test of 5 marks. We were very happy. She gave us 20 questions of ¼ marks each!
Rao sir once taught us about Zaire in Geography. He started straight way from Tumsar Road railway station. From there we went to Cochin. I even tried to outsmart the customs and after a nice sea voyage we reached Zaire. All this happened in the classroom itself! The interest in geography hasn’t waned since.
Gill madam, our principal, was one of the best human beings I know. She knew everyone of her students personally and used to write a personal comment on each and every students report card after the final result. We all miss her a lot.
Wadia madam, our English teacher, once decided to enhance our English speaking skills. She decided to have a debate. The topic was wrong though as it proved. The topic was, “Who is better, Girls or Boys?” It created such uproar, that madam had to pacify us first.
Our SUPW (Some Useful & Productive Work) periods were fun but we generally didn’t take them seriously. For us they were, “Some Useful Periods Wasted”. So, Sarkar madam had lots of difficulty with us! She had coined the patent dialogue, “Yeh bachchha log kuchh kartaa hi naahi hai”.
I would like to thank all the teachers who taught us during these years.
6) We played almost every sport in our school. One bad habit that we had was that if we took up one sport, we continued with it until we were fed up completely with it. But one game which we liked the most was Cricket. We seldom played it in the regular fashion. We usually played it at the Kho-Kho ground, Basketball court, Football ground with one of the rods being our stumps. The bowling usually was a simple throw and sixes were considered to be out. But our favourite spot was among the trees. Two trees served as stumps and the rest were the boundary markings. The one man who commanded the show here was Anand Agrawal. We used to play the ball into the fields just outside the fence for a six (out) during the sugarcane season for the obvious of the reasons!
7) In the beginning we were a group of four, me, Kaustubh, Harish and Chandan. We had all those childish fantasies. We called ourselves with some Super-Hero’s name. I think I was Superman and Harish was He-Man. And we had the natural elements all to us. The sky was mine, greenery was Harish’s, water or maybe land was Kaustubh’s. We believed that three was inauspicious. And hence when one of us was absent; we would place a rock in place of the fourth and give it food!
8) My other friends were from Chikhla. After school, until the bus arrived, we used to play games like Pittul, Coconut, and Hide & Seek. In the school bus we used to play Antakshari and games of WWF and Cricket cards. Once we had made cricket cards of India, Pakistan and World Cup!
The friends of this time are Dushyant, Bulbul, Babai, Munna, Vicky, Hemu, Puckka, N. Shiv and others. In earlier classes we used to play Chor-Police which could have only four players. But Mohsin Bhaiyya introduced one or two characters more whenever he wanted to play!
9) In Xth, we were to have a science exhibition on our Annual Day. Nagpure Sir had planned a big depiction of a wind power plant. Our class helped him the most. When the question of the Presenter came, I volunteered. Kaustubh was my deputy. The presentation in front of the chief guest went well. But then the motors developed some problem. All motors stopped working. After fiddling for some time only two of them started. But somebody wired them wrong and they started rotating in opposite directions.
In an earlier class there were two volcanoes presented by our class. One was to show exploding and the other flow of lava. The chief guest I think was Mr. Praful Patel, Civil Aviation minister now. The exploding volcano had to be ignited using a magnesium strip. There was some problem in our earlier trials as well. It failed in first few attempts on that day as well. The chief guest moved on. He went on seeing other exhibits. As soon as the lava started pouring out of the second volcano, the whole hall rang with a single sound, “Sir Phoota”! It was from my friend who was trying to ignite the volcano and had succeeded!
10) I went to Holy Home, Serampore for my Higher Secondary. It was the first time that I was staying in a hostel and it was a new experience for me. When my father and uncle left me there, I just started crying. I regretted over my far-fetched idea of studying in Bengal. But help from my friends especially Bikash, Arijit, Baishishtha and Sanjay made my life easy over there.
11) Stories of ghosts were very common in there. There were people who actually saw them. Once after hearing some interesting stories, we went to sleep. In the sleep I fought with the ghosts. In the morning I found my neighbor halfway out of the bed and me and Bikash encroaching the area vacated by him. Incidentally Bikash had also dreamt and had fought the same ghosts which turned out to be the fellow with the bed in between ours!
12) Sanjay and I were good buddies. I used to be a one stop encyclopedia for him. And when with him it was like a house on fire. We along with Baishishtha used to chatufy people especially juniors. We were also the chief culprits when it came to decide channels on our dorm television. We got permissions for watching matches all the time. The World Cup Soccer final of 2002 was not so good for me. I was supporting Germany while Sanjay was with Brazil. Well Brazil scored three and I got three boxes all over my body.
13) There were repeated funny events in the dining room. Once while eating a feast of Chilly Chicken and Mutton Biryani, neither could I eat as something was stuck in my throat nor could I leave the table in fear of losing the chicken. Eventually Subir sir came to rescue and assured that I could have more of the delicious chicken. Then only I left the table.
Another time after a combined effect of a bowl of hot Rasogolla’s syrup and cool air of the Ganges, three of us were ecstatic and laughed for about half an hour over every silly joke uttered.
14) Our birthday celebrations meant drenching in water and cold-drinks. Whenever we had a birthday, we used to make the whole dormitory wet. In the night Subir sir used to ask, “Aaj kar jonmodin chhilo?” actually referring to the mess around us. Once after quite a number of back to back parties, we were tired and so me and Arijit decided to skip the ongoing one and went to the reading room. A messenger was sent but we stopped him as well. When at last we went, the fellows were waiting and we were drenched doubly, one for the party and other as a punishment.
15) For the final board exams, Bibhas had taught me how to signal the prepositions to him in the exam hall without making any sound. The signals were to be done with the lips only. I learnt the crypt but forgot most of it in the exam and couldn’t help him much!
Another one of Bibhas which I remember is his unorthodox therapy. Saurav was once suffering from immense cough and cold. He couldn’t eat properly. We used to get Puri and Chhole ki dal on Saturday mornings. Bibhas mixed some (I don’t know how many!) green chilies into the dal. After two puris Saurav started coughing like anything and within 20 minutes he was quite relaxed and had put out lot of cough outside his body! But Bibhas couldn’t get him eat the rest of the dal!
16)

{ There are other stories as well which cannot be disclosed in a public site! Some would need permissions while there are others which will never see the light of the day! And hence the stories are limited in number!}

Please feel free to tell other stories of these times....

Last Year of MSc: Unforgettable Memories

The last year of my Masters was by far one of the most interesting years of my academic career. If somebody would have asked me at the end of MSc-I that would I ever miss my batch-mates, my answer would have been negative. At the most I would have missed Barrel and Anustuv. These two were the closest to me. But everything changed after we entered Msc-II. One of the significant differences was that I had now left refractory and was eating Kaka’s awful dabba. This brought me closer to my batch-mates. Also the class was now divided according to the special subject that one had. But this division only helped in bringing us all together. In the first year itself many had made friendships (Unlike me !!!). Now was the time to have different ingredients and make a single delicious curry having flavours of each and every ingredient kept intact! To an extent the MSc-II curry was really delicious and digestible. Those who couldn’t be part of this should feel sorry about it (I nearly would have!!!).
The new year brought new friends. Significantly among them was a thin, frail and energetic girl called Aradhana. I am generally very bad in handling girls and have found all of them to be of the same flavour but surprisingly this girl was different. It’s mainly due to her popularity and the large friend base she commanded, I could be part of the MSc-II family of which I had been just a mute spectator. Now I too was interacting with people whom I barely knew by names. These were the faces which were around me for a year or so and we barely conversed at all!!! Here I made friendships with the Gayatris, Siddharth, Sanjeev, Atul and all. It would be difficult to forget the teasing that went around among us especially between Aradhana, me and Gayatri. Atul-Anagha fights were also common and entertaining!!!
Another group of friends are my Astrophysics batch-mates, Kaushalya and Avdhoot. While Avdhoot and I were friends, we didn’t know Kaushalya at all. She was in two minds before joining Astro as well which could have made the matters worse. We were also susceptible of the attention that we would be getting from our teachers in IUCAA as we were only three in number. But we got excellent teachers in Dipankar Sir, Kandu Sir, Ranjan Sir, Joydeep Sir, Narsimhan Sir, Tarun Sir and Varun Sir. They not only made astrophysics simpler but also entertaining. And for the first time in my life, I was doing practicals without the teacher being around. And we enjoyed all the practicals whether it was the dark room or the Radio observations (one at 9 o’clock in the morning while the other at 12 o’clock in the night). But the best were the telescopical nights. It was as if we had our own private telescope and the skies were our own. I will strongly miss those late night tracking of Sirius, Betelgeuse and Polaris and then heading to Shivajinagar for midnight coffee that too tripsy on a bike (Kisi Mamu ne pakda nahi !!!).
Also I would like to thank all my teachers in the department without whom learning Physics wouldn’t have been such enjoyable. They were always there to help us around whether with theory or with the practicals.
The last semester was the best of the lot. We had only two lectures per day and a practical every week which gave us enough time to waste around. We were generally to be found in and around the badminton court and the canteen. I missed these mostly as I had lectures starting at half past eleven in IUCAA after which I generally went for a nice afternoon Bhaat Ghoom (Rice Sleep)!!! But whatever quality time I spent there was worthwhile. We discussed on so many different topics and because of these interactions I came to know about so many new activities and things going around me. It was as if a veil was raised and an entirely new world beckoned me. This semester I also did a project under Dipankar Sir which was not done to the fullest by me. But the internet and food facilities which came along with it were fully utilized by me. This helped in reconnecting with many old friends who had been lost in the tide of time.
In all this year would be difficult to forget in years to come. I pray to God that the friendships that have evolved will not be lost as easily as has happened before.
Please put in your inputs and share any incidents that you remember.……

A Treat To Remember

22nd was the birthday of Sandip. On coming 27th, Barrel will turn a year older. They decided to give their birthday treats together. 22nd was decided to be the date and the venue was to be a plush restaurant called ‘SATHEE’ in Khadki.
We, 10 in all, started enthusiastically at about quarter past 8 in the night from our hostel for Sathee. It’s almost 2-3 Kms away and we reached there in about half an hour to find it CLOSED!!! We suddenly became clueless about what to do next. Here we were joined by Naren da. On his suggestion we decided to head for Aundh about a few Kms away.
We hopped into a bus, and after walking a further 2 Kms found out that the Non-Veg restaurants were closed. A hungry tension was brewing up among us. It was almost 10 in the night with shops closed on both sides of the road. We had walked quite a lot and had neither seen any sign of food nor were sure about seeing either.
Just then we came across two restaurants with signboards indicating the magical sign, ‘OPEN’. Here we were thinking whether we will get food at all and now we had two choices in ‘KOBE’ and ‘TAREEF’. We opted for the latter. The owner was an affable man and had a chaste English accent. Seeing our large entourage, he asked for 40 minutes to set up a table especially for us. We had no other options so we waited and were entertained with a glass of Jaljeera courtesy the owner. This generous act of his bound us morally there { Hunger, Lack of interest in adventuring again and Tiredness being the other factors actually !!! }.
In about 50 minutes, we were at the dinner table but the insatiable hunger had subsided. We had a decent meal and then promptly started our march back to the hostel. On the way back we had the dessert, Mastani. After a long walk, we reached back at about half past one.
Of the five and a half hours, we actually spent only three quarters of an hour in eating and rest was spent in travelling!!!
This is going to be one treat to remember and will be etched in our memories for years to come!!!
Jug Jug Jiyo Sandip aur Barrel !!!

Spring Trail

Today we had a meeting with Mother Nature. Although in a very small domain of the beautiful Pune University Campus, it was one to reckon with. The meeting was scheduled at 06:30 in the morning which no doubt was quite early for most of us. The meeting was arranged by V. G. Bhide Science centre. I have quite a good number of friends there and was looking forward to the walk down the nature lane. When at 06:20, Sanjeev knocked my door he was very surprised in finding me ready to go.
We started the trail from the Main Building. The trail had evoked a nice response and there were students from various departments. Two students, Shraddha from MSc Microbiology and Devyani from MSc Geomorphology, S. P. College were to be our resource persons. They were to be helped by the twins, Siddharth and Harshvardhan, Pankaj and few others. I basically can’t even distinguish between a raven and cuckoo or for that matter am not sure about most of the trees. One tree I am sure about is the Banyan tree which I hope is no big deal to boast about.
The entourage was distributed into two groups one to be headed by Shraddha and the other by Devyani. I was in the group headed by Devyani and whatever would be written below will be about this group only. The chief instructors in our group were Devyani and Harshavardhan. They meticulously showed us the flora and fauna and answered our queries to the fullest. They were ably supported by Pankaj and Aradhana.
Earlier I had never recognized the biodiversity around and wasn’t aware about the rich bio- heritage of the Campus. Today I came to know a few unknown facts like Gulmohar is actually a colonial tree and there are spiders which live in colonies. And the fact that any biological name having ‘indica’ is an indigenous breed of India had never crossed my mind before. We saw a lot of insects and were reminded about their contribution to the biosphere and there necessity in the Food-Chain.
Our trip ended in the Alice garden where we saw quite a few exotic and indigenous trees and came to know some informative facts about spiders, Hornbills and the Madagascar tree which is actually from tropical America. I hope this programme will help to strengthen our bond with Mother Nature and increase general awareness among us which will eventually lead us to understand the grievous danger that nature is facing currently and the contribution needed from each one of us in preservation and protection of nature.

Here is the Green pledge that we undertook:
“Vasundhara is my mother Earth. I dream that coming generations will live in unpolluted
environment. To fulfill this dream, I will lead by example. I will reduce the usage of natural resources and recycle them for the future.”
I am going to act on my pledge and encourage others as well and expect that from you as well.
PRESERVE!!! PROTECT!!! SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT!!!

P.S. You can have a look at the photographs of the trail at the following link:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/subhasishchandra/SpringTrail#

Bi-Cycle Diaries

Cycling which forms an integral part of my everyday life and doesn’t require any extra effort on my part now was not so easy few years ago. Until class 7th (or 6th) I didn’t know how to cycle. In that year I read a story called ‘Cycle Ki Sawari’ in my Hindi text book. Upon reading it I decided to learn cycling.
But it was not as easy as it seemed. I started practicing with my father’s 24” Hero Jet. Initially I couldn’t cycle after getting upon it. The cycle was quite heavy and in the beginning it seemed it was pedaling me away and not the vice-versa. As a ritual I used to practice cycling every evening after school and then read the story and brood over my inability to pedal. Along with this were the numerous suggestions offered by the neighbours which confused more and helped little. It seemed it would take me ages to learn the art of cycling.
But at last my labour bore fruit and I eventually learnt to cycle within three-four months. One great thing about my cycling was that I never had an accident during my learning days. Hence I got the allowance of my father to cycle outside the colony. The evening I took the cycle out of my colony, I met with my first accident. I ran into a herd of cows and then I was at their mercy. They had lots of fun and left me with a lot of bruises. I had a nice lecture session from my father on my inadequacy of handling a mere cycle. But I continued cycling and it gave me immense pleasure. To move faster did give me immense thrill. I had few more accidents in these years like hitting a jeep, crashing with a motor bike and few others like them. I still cycle in the same careless wobbling manner and still hit and get hit but luckily haven’t been injured seriously.
My father bought me a new Hero Jet Plus and I started cycling around Chikhla every day. I started exploring the unknown, places where I hadn’t gone with anyone else. With the hills around, there were enough ups, downs turns and twists. I enjoyed cycling everywhere. Especially a steep slope in the mines area was my favourite which was constantly forbidden by my father. Once he found out and my cycling pleasures were temporarily suspended. In the two years of high secondary I couldn’t cycle much but resumed back in graduation. I cycled as much as I could in Nagpur and still do a lot of it in Pune.
Now in the passing let me tell about my motor-cycle experience. I want to learn driving a motorbike but haven’t been able to. In 2006, I tried but after I caused a small crash leading me, the bike and its owner (my friend Aniket) biting the dust(literally) of Deekshbhoomi grounds, the bike went for servicing and I haven’t sat on the driver’s seat ever since.
Well in the era of motorcycles (all my close friends have motorbikes) I did hate cycling during my graduation but couldn’t do without it as my parents were unrelenting in buying me a motorbike and I was left with only this form of transportation (My parents are now willing to buy one but I have lost the enthusiasm about owning one). Slowly my cycle has become a very important accessory in my life. Whenever I am bored, anxious, angry or have a mood swing, I like to pedal away alone and ride among the crowds. It’s a great stress reliever. The exertion, the sweat, the tiredness it brings have a soothing effect and brings peace to my mind.
With so many cycles around me in Pune, my interest in cycling has rejuvenated and nowadays I do take long excursions on my cycle. I have fell in love with cycling once again and don’t want a heartbreak but have a small wish that I learn to drive a motorbike sooner.

2006: Year of Exhilaration and Frustration

2006 AD is a year of utmost importance in my life. No other year has been as eventful as this one. It has had an everlasting effect on me.
I didn’t sleep on the very first day of the year as I watched movies whole night. I never realized that the year is going to be sleepless throughout. Then I met with an accident. I was trying to view some video on my friend’s mobile when I fell into the drain and injured my left hand. I couldn’t wear my watch for about a month and haven’t worn a belt since then. We had our exams in March-April. I had given good exams but was still undecided about my next step. I had a software job with MBT (now Tech Mahindra) along with a BPO one in Infosys. My teachers and my parents wanted me to go for MSc. I was also more inclined towards science than the job. I especially was interested in Astrophysics and hence wanted to join Pune University. I gave the entrance exam but couldn’t succeed in getting through.
And then came the shock of my life! I had secured 90% in the BSc III exams with a 40/40 in microprocessors. Now I was more determined to pursue science. Having not cleared Pune university entrance I opted for admission to Fergusson College. I came to Pune on 17th July only to know that the last day of application was 15th. I tried in Garware as well but couldn’t secure an admission. I went back to Nagpur to find that last date for application to the University Campus as well as Institute of Science was also 15th. I hadn’t considered Nagpur for my Masters before and hence hadn’t applied. I ran helter-skelter to be told that my chance of securing an admission was next to impossible. My physics sir, Shende Sir, tried his best to get me an admission but it didn’t come my way.
At last I decided that I would go to Pune for my MBT job. But having rejected it in the first place, I was told to try later. Then I contacted Infosys. They were ready and I was supposed to join on 7th. I started on 5th night from Nagpur in a Volvo bus. This journey was to be the journey of my life. In the morning we found the bus in a standstill. We soon found out that the whole western Vidarbha was under floods and we were in middle of it. Our bus was in front of an over-flooded bridge with vehicles all around. We were almost trapped and were cursing our stars when our driver tried to take us out of there to some nearby village. We reached a village named Dahigaon. People over there prepared a meal of khichdi for us. We were in middle of nowhere with no mobile coverage. I found a PCO booth (Reliance was there) and called home. On the villagers’ advice and directions we reached Mehkar Phata near Chikhli in Buldana district. This place had food and shelter. All the buses that had left Nagpur the day before were there. Here atleast there was electricity and mobile network. We slept in the bus in the night. My parents were dead worried and when the next day the buses decided to move by some different route with one returning back to Nagpur, I was the one among five others to return back. My parents also wanted me back home. I had already informed Infosys and was told that the next induction day was 16th August. We reached back at about 3 o’clock in the night to a dry enough Nagpur. My parents and my brother were happy to see me back safely.
I went back again to Pune on 14th but this time in a train. I went to stay with my friend Samiran. But by evening, I met my college friend Aniket and slept at his uncle’s house in the night. He had secured admission in Indira College and had even arranged for a flat in Wakad. First day in Infosys was uneventful. By night I had moved to Aniket’s flat. It was a mad journey with his vehicle going dry in the middle of the highway with rain pouring overhead. The second day i.e. 17th a feeling had started sinking that I didn’t belong to IT. By evening I decided to leave the job (The ICICI bank people did trouble for a year or so because of the salary account I had opened!!!). Aniket was not amused with the decision but I was determined. My parents supported my decision. I was back to Nagpur on 18th.
I had taught a boy in 2004-05 for his Xth. He wanted me back for XIIth. So, within few days I shifted back to Nagpur and started teaching Nauty(my student) Physics, Mathematics and English. His mother paid me handsomely (Rs 2500 / month) and my objective of not being a burden on my parents was fulfilled. I and my brother stayed in the room where I had stayed for 2 years. But this didn’t cooled me. Now I was frustrated to the core and wanted to delve completely into studies but the anger within myself was not allowing me to do so. I hated myself more than ever and considered myself to be a thorough worthless. I was not certain about anything and had even thought about the value of living such a life. My anger burst out more than often and the fellow troubled and affected most was my brother. He was trying to adjust with the new surroundings and my behaviour made it more difficult. He also sometimes lost patience and we fought over trivial matters. I had become inconsiderate, selfish and did not understand others. Instead I was blaming others for my grievances. It strongly affected my studies as well as well my brothers. This behaviour had taken a toll on my parents’ health as well. My mother had become weak due to my problems. I had developed an irritating behaviour and had become a complete nuisance.
In the meantime I got two more tuitions. My monetary health was fine but my mental health was not. Well this troubled year came to an end and eventually I cleared the Pune university entrance and am now pursuing MSc with Astrophysics as my special subject.
It’s said that, ‘All’s well that ends well’. It’s true in my case as well but the year has surely changed my life and has had heavy implications on my life. The year brought pleasure as well as sorrow not only to me and my family but also to my well wishers. I use this platform to thank all (especially my brother Shnehasish, friend Rohit Moharil and my physics teacher Shende Sir) who stood beside me in this troubled year and also apologize to all who were affected due to my irresponsible behaviour.