The i Blog

A female Co Passenger - Part 2

2011-01-04T08:02:00.000-08:00

Read the First Part of the Story here.

Continued..

For the next 15 seconds, we just stared at each other, like we were speaking with our eyes.

"What is it?"

"I just wanted to catch your attention"

"What is it?"

"Did you notice I was crying?"

"Why is it?"

"Don't you want to ask me?"

"Why should I?"

"Aren't you curious?"

"Why Should I?"

"Come on, Ask me na.."

"Yes I should" I thought , disturbing the wordless conversation and asked her, "You want anything?". But I somewhat guessed the answer. She didn't have the apologetic face, the one which normal human beings have after waking another fellow being from deep sleep. She just pointed at my leg and said "Can you just..."

Damn it, apparently, my leg had gone 2 mm into her "territory" and that had apparently disturbed the natural equilibrium of the bus. Had it been some other guy, he'd either ignore it or push it from his leg. This Boy-Girl co-passenger funda clearly wasn't fun in any way. My female Co Passenger was the most annoying co passenger I've ever had. I apologized, pulled my leg from her "territory", put her bag (which gave the kick previously) from below like a physical partition between the 2 countries. Now here we were, legs, shoulders, mind and mood separated from each other.

It took 10 minutes for me to catch next berth of the Sleep Express. It was hardly 15 minutes after I got into Sleep Express that someone pulled the chain. The same distinct prodding that woke me up 30 minutes back.. Yet again I was, staring at that unapologetic face. I was literally cursing the traffic and the driver for not crossing Nelamangala and not yet turning the lights off. I really wanted to shout "Now What?" but then marveled at my tolerance level. I just moved my head asking "What is it?".

She said, "Hey, I know I'm irritating you too much today, Can I have water?". Upendra's famous song "Bari Olu, Bari Olu" started ringing in my ears followed by his popular dialog, "Ella OK, aaga Show off Yaake?". I silently reached for the water bottle from my bag. But as I reached for the bottle, I also got a chocolate in hand. So as I gave the bottle to her, I asked "Chocolate?" knowing that the answer was "No". As expected, the answer was a "No, thank you" but it was accompanied with a smile. I calmly unwrapped the chololate and put into my mouth. "Good Job Raveesh, now you REALLY gotta sleep, you really don't want to look like a Zombie tomorrow in the Reception Snaps".

I asked her to keep the bottle in the water holder in our seat. Since the FM reception was breaking, I decided to switch to some Trance music. As the Voice of Enigma fell into my ears, the driver turned off the lights and "TADAA, this is the end of disturbance" I thought. But I was never more wrong. I caught sleep quickly but it wasn't peaceful at all. The window pane of my seat had a broken latch and hence it couldn't be latched completely. The December Chill was at its worst and the bus was cruising at 60+ kmph. I had to get up every 15-20 minutes to pull the window to shield the wind. It goes without saying that even my Co Passenger was shivering too.

It was in Hassan when the bus stopped for dinner break (??) at 1 AM that I decided to take off my jacket from bag. The girl was awake, texting something. I took off the jacket, stuffed the bath towel and other clothes inside. As I got up to keep the bag, I saw the girl (she was shivering). As if it was an involuntary reaction, I asked her, "You want a jacket?". That is when it stuck to me, "What would the girl think about me?". "Am I trying to be too friendly?" "Will she think I am trying to take advantage of the situation (whatever it is)"?.

But she accepted my offer but added "Will take only if you have another one for yourself". The reality stuck then, "Why on Earth will someone travel with 2 jackets?". Surprisingly, I had an answer which now makes me feel like a jack ass.. I said "Its ok, I have a bath towel, I can manage with that one". Typical movie scene isn't it? Hero offers heroine his jacket and he bears the cold??

As the bus started to move, I heard her saying "Have you truly loved someone ever?". Unexpected question and a completely unnecessary situation. Turning towards her, I said "True love is something....". Damn, she was on phone and I became a maamu.. Embarrassed, I turned sideways. In a minute or so, I heard it again, "Have you truly loved someone ever?". I didn't turn her way, knowing that she was on phone but I was wrong again. A distinct prod on my sleeve told me that question was for me.. I turned at her and said, "Oh, Me?? I thought you were still on phone.."

"Have you truly loved someone ever?"

"Well, True love is something I am yet to be blessed with" I said

"You are lucky, you're single'

I wanted to say "Looking at your situation, I am indeed lucky" but refrained. "Indeed I am, very independent".She said, "Oh, nice.. Thanks for the jacket btw. Its very warm. Hey, What is your name?"

"I am Raveesh Mayya from Belthangadi, quite close to Dharmastala". Before I asked her name, she said, "Wait a minute, I think I know you.."

It happens occasionally that people who attend Microsoft Events or Quizzes or Dance shows would find me on stage announcing my name. So I said, "I am into activities like Dance, Dramatics and quizzing". She said, "Oh, that is what.. You've acted in some movie right?"

WHAT !! Movie and me.. No ways. I told her, "A couple of times, I've come in a reality TV show in Suvarna Channel accompanying my friend who was a contestant. I've also come in MTV Youngistan once. But that's it. Definitely not into acting".

She was quite sure she didn't see me there. I mentioned about the books I authored ("No, I don't read books" she said), told her about Microsoft Student Partner program ("Dude, I hate to call myself a software engineer") told her about my dad who's a Mathematics Professor ("I didn't study there" she retorted). So the next 3 minutes went trying to help her get the right neurons fire. Even I was curious.. But unfortunately, Murphy's law prevented just the right ones from firing.. We finally gave up this exercise of remembering..

Just before sleeping, I told her "You know what, no one can hurt you if you don't want them to. I love my life and wouldn't do anything silly with it for someone else". She agreed. She said "Yes, you're right but.. " the conversation ended there..

It was 3 AM in the morning when I woke up to pull the window pane when I realized that a head was resting on my shoulders. The next instance I woke up, my sleeves were held (with her arms) and the head on my shoulder. That is when I realized that the divider which I had pulled down just before sleeping was moved up by "someone".

Human Behaviour is very strange isn't it?? Sometimes, you distrust people you know for years for some petty reason. Some times, you trust a stranger, oblivious to your previous state of mind. The girl might have found me trustworthy, else one wouldn't be sleeping that comfortably, clutching my arms and her head resting on my shoulders. Lets assume she was sleeping all this while :)

As usual, the conductor woke me up at the last stop in Belthangadi. The bus was ready to be moved to the Depot. No one was there in the bus. Slowly I got up, pulled down my luggage, took out my hand luggage from below the seat. It was when I saw my jacket on the next seat that I remembered what happened through out the journey. For almost a minute, I had forgotten my encounter with that mysterious girl. The girl had left obviously. Stuffing the towel inside the bag and holding the jacket in hand, I got down from the bus hoping to see her but she might have got down somewhere in between itself.

"I will search for her in facebook" I thought wearing the jacket. It just struck me then, "Oh, I haven't asked her name I think".. "What's her name?? Anuja? Nisha? Radha? Neeti? Sneha? Shwetha? Shruthi??"

"Damn, you haven't asked her name" my mind declared. "Ok, no issues.. What would I have done knowing her name? I wouldn't add her to facebook myself anyways.. So chuck it". I reached to my jacket pocket to take out "Orbit White" when I felt my bus ticket in the jacket. "Hold on, my bus ticket is in my bag". It wasn't mine. I pulled it out to find that it was of a person named "Rajesh". No clue how it came into my pocket. When I was about to throw it, I saw something written behind the ticket. It read

Thanks for everything Raveesh.Take care..

A.P

There I was standing in the bus stand thinking that 2 of my questions might never be answered.. Where had she heard my name before and what's her name..

A Female Co Passenger - Part One

2010-12-30T06:12:00.000-08:00

Honestly, I never got a chance to appreciate the concept of a train-travel. Firstly, the Bangalore-Mangalore train service was shut for just around 15 years, thanks to the commitment of Government(s) and swiftness in conversion of the rail track to Broad Gauge. Unfortunately, that 15 years overlapped with the time I was "economy traveling" to Bangalore frequently. Secondly, the nearest train station was 37 km away from my village.

As a frequent bus traveller, I am so used to the dynamics of the 8-hour bus journey that I have a blissful slumber each time. And I always choose one particular bus, the last stop of which being my village. So even if I over-sleep, the bus conductor wakes me up as he gets the bus ready to be moved to the depot.

Never in my 5+ years of night bus travel had I got a female co-passenger. I believed that this fact should be the last thing I ever cared about but the very fact that I'm blogging about it makes me think again. You guys, think about it : There are only 4 seats reserved for ladies, there are a lot more ladies (Definitely more than 4) traveling in each trip and my course in probability tells me that in 5+ years, I must have had at least half a dozen female passengers sharing the seat with me and at least a couple of good looking female co-passenger in the 2*2 seating arrangement. Even if I tell you now that I never calculated this before, you might prefer to differ.

This entire post is to illustrate an incident that happened a few weeks back.

Bengaluru weather, merciless as it is, makes bus travel horrible. Cursing myself for the gross underestimation of Bangalore traffic and thanking countless Gods for having the bus driver wait for me for 5 more minutes , I got into my bus, the same bus I always travelled. The conductor, my acquaintance, greeted me and casually enquired in Tulu if it was a vacation or just a routine visit to my village. After replying to his casual questions, I went straight into my favourite Window Seat in the bus, the seat which I must have booked atleast a dozen times. But when I reach there, I saw a young couple who'd occupied both the seats. After confirming that it was indeed my seat, I just told them that it was my seat.

The guy looked dejected, perhaps because he was expecting me not to turn up, so that he could grab the seat or at least hoped that his "Laila" travelled alone. Since I wasn't even in a mindset to think more, once he vacated my favourite Window seat, I put my luggage below the seat and occupied it. After the normal choirs (calling up my parents to inform them that I've got into the bus, sending good night sms to a few friends), I got a chance to relax my sense organs and take inputs from sources around me. That is when I that AAL IS NOT WELL with the couple.

It looked like the girl was apparently angry with the guy and I heard the word "broken", "trust", "flirt", "Loyalty, my foot" quite a lot of times. The bus started to move and the dude got down from the bus. I continued to listen to FM music from my music player. The in-ear pluggable ear phones, the one about which I always proudly told people that it cancelled noise efficiently, failed to cancel the noise from the source right next to me. The girl was shouting loudly, possibly because she was on hands-free and "Hands Free" users tend to forget that the world around them is quieter than they think. "Etu thintiya" (You'll get slaps from me), "ninnannu nambide, naane dodd fool" (I trusted you, I must be a big fool). Oh God, this lady.. Incessantly blabbering non-sense..

The last thing I wanted during this peaceful travel home was a chatterbox next to me and that is when the thought stuck "I've never had a female co-passenger before !!". "Big Deal" I thought and increased the volume from the music player until the "Hale Recordu" program by RJ Nethra was blasting old melodies into my ears. After a while, even though that "I hate you blah blah don't speak to me blah blah how dare you blah blah" continued, my brain efficiently rejected that non-sense. I thanked the ability of the brain to reject constant noise and remembered my professor's words "This Brain, what an amazing neural network it is".

I didn't realize when I slept off but as soon as my favourite SPB song fell into my ears, I must have gone into the trance world. I was woken up suddenly with the rude jerk by the bus driver and the girl's untied luggage ramming into my leg. With an excruciating pain, I woke up, deciding to blast that girl to stop speaking over phone and tie up the luggage. That is when I saw that tears were rolling from her eyes.. I saw her "Goggle Less" face for the first time and wow, she was pretty. It might have been my sleep or the music I was listening to but she looked very pretty. I could see dried tear streams on her cheek, indicating that she must have cried for a long time now.

The devil inside me said "Sleep you fool, tomorrow you need to goto a marriage reception". Like in a movie when you over-ride the devil, I decided to do something. But what can I possibly do?

The angel in me said

Initiate a conversation and ask her if I can help her(5 minutes)
Listen to her stories (2 hours)
Give her my free advice (1 hour)
Convince her that my tips are indeed selfless (2.5 hours)

Damn you Angel,

I can't give so much to a girl who I don't know
Girls of this generation always think that if a guy initiates a conversation, he has some covert intentions
No one wants free tips

I pulled out the ear-phones, reached for my bag, took my water bottle, asked her "Hi, water?". Since this was unexpected, she said "Hey, thanks, I don't need water". Even till date, I'm surprised with the speed in which girls get to their non-sensical "Self-Righteousness" mode. Since I expected this, I didn't react, drank a sip of water from it, kept it inside my bag, put the ear phones on and continued listening to music.

It must have been about 10-15 minutes since this happened when I was almost in sleep nirvana when something poked the side of my abdomen distinctively. It was definitely not some dream, it was physical. I woke up to find the girl was trying to wake me up.

To be Continued...

Read the 2nd part of the story by clicking here

I know I shouldn't but I still like her..

2010-07-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

Story Continued. Read the first part here.

"Congrats dude, I am very happy for you.. Really man, you turned out to be a chupa rustam, hiding things from your close friends !! Didn't expect this from you man.." I interrupted. Rohit started laughing listening to me. "Lets grab a cup of ThumsUp" he said.

The party hall had all of 5 people by then. The birthday boy was animatedly speaking to two girls apparently trying to impress them. Though I was pretty bad at that myself, I could say for sure that he was doing a terrible job at whatever he was doing (the girls were busy smsing someone and he was going on and on). Rohit and I grabbed a cup of ThumsUp, bade farewell to the host and started walking towards the bus stand.

It was a silent walk, quite uncommon for a person like Rohit. More than just curious to know about his story, I broke the silence and asked him, "Bro, aren't you gonna tell me more about my Bhabhi?". He smiled and said, "Buddy, its the same old love story da, like you see in a movie. Why do you want me to narrate Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" ? Wow, look at that car.. Don't tell me its a BMW Z4 !! Wow". "Same old trick" I thought. "Dude, you don't change the topic, please carry on with the story"

"Ok man, take it from me, this story might stay on for quite some time in your mind. Are you ready for it?" he said. I went "Of course buddy, I love "Love Stories".

==Story Continues==

It was mid semester and the basketball training became a bit more rigorous for all of us. We visited other colleges, playing friendly matches, practising for the University Tournament. My friend was considerate enough to keep Sanchitha in the team, atleast as a substitute. She had hinted me a couple of times that she was finding it tough to convince the college coach that Sanchitha had the potential to perform. I had convinced her that her game would come out, just that she had lost touch of it completely for 4 years.

In one of our friendly match with the neighbouring college, (our competitor both in terms of basketball as well as college ranking), an acquaintance of mine, found Sanchitha very pretty and was finding opportunities to speak to her. As expected, I got a call from him that evening, asking her contact number. As we spoke, he told me that He had lost his mind over Sanchitha !! I had to work hard to convince him that she might not have been single, tat this is not worth the headache and finally, "She is not worth you". I believe I did a decent job at nipping his interests at the bud.

University Tournaments

Our confidence level was quite high when the tournament started as we had awesome players. As expected, the boys' team thrashed teams over teams and eventually reached the finals. Unfortunately, the girls' team had lost quite early in the tournament but they stayed back at venue to cheer for us. It was quite a satisfactory feeling that Sanchitha was cheering for us, for ME.

It was indeed a nail-biting finals, both the teams were equally strong and we knew it was just the confidence that mattered. We were a bit strong morally as we had defeated them convincingly in one of our friendly matches. Though their team had completely transformed, getting in some awesome players, we had a psychological advantage.

WE WON the championship !! After 9 years, our college had won this prestigious tournament. We were the HEROES !!! The only thing that mattered to me was, "I am a hero in her eyes, I think this is the time to tell her how much I like her". "Yes Buddy, this is the time" I heard a voice. It was my alter-ego suggesting me to go ahead.. I was super excited. But I didn't know how to tell her!! I wanted to pour out my heart at the right moment, at the place she loved. The only name I could remember then was Parinita, her close friend from childhood.

When I told Parinita about this, she was super excited as well. "Wow Rohit, this is too good! I always thought you guys made a good pair, I swear I did.. Now that you've realized this, do not delay it, just tell her today itself". I said, "Thanks a lot Pari, these words mean a lot, thanks yar.. Before I tell you anything, I need a favour from you yar.. I want you to know what she thinks of me. I want you to confirm if she indeed likes me". I was oozing with confidence and the thought of rejection sounded absurd. "Come on, I am doing so much for her. She obviously likes me"

We had the prize distribution ceremony the next day and the team had gone out partying. Sanchitha had stayed back. I tried to meet her but she was nowhere to be seen near Girls' dormitory. "She must have gone out to meet her friends, some girl for sure" I thought.

I sent a sms to her, "Hey Sanchi, wassup yar? Nowhere to be seen.. I want to tell you something important yar. Lets meet up before the prize distribution near the Botanical Garden, Take care". I was surprised to see an instantaneous reply (it had become quite rare these days!). It was from an unknown number though. It said "Hey Ro, Pari here.. Sincerely requesting you to postpone your plans. I shall speak to you tomorrow about this, take care". "I don't have Parinita's number saved" I realized.. The partying folks returned at 11 30 PM but the reply to my sms didn't. I was wondering all this while why Pari had texted me that.. I had tried calling her up quite a lot of times only to curse the Amazing service of Idea.

I was pretty tired and I decided not to wait longer for her reply. I hit the bed with an amazing thought, "Today is perhaps my last night as Single, I am going to be committed for rest of my life, starting from tomorrow". Seamlessly, I slipped into dreams and I can say for sure that I had Sanchitha in all my dreams.

I woke up with a smiling face, "Today is the day" I told. Sanchi had sent me a sms previous night, reading which my smile broadened. "Hey Rohit, Sorry for a late reply. We shall meet there, I too wanna tell you something, Gnit". Primping myself up, I went to the Botanical Garden. She was wearing a light blue t-shirt with Jeans and looked like a fairy. I ran to where she was waiting "Hey Sanchi, Thanks for coming yar, I really wanted to...". It was then that I realized that she was not alone. I was both annoyed and surprised to see Sriram. I knew him pretty well as he was from our a neighbouring college and a basketball player. We had, infact, knocked his team out in the initial stages of the match.

"Hey Rohit, guess what, I am going out with Sriram" Sanchitha told me in a single breath. It was quite an instantaneous reply (now I know how dumb the reply was), "Sure yar, you can, but after the prize distribution, I want you to cheer for me, I mean, our team". Sriram gave a (wicked) smile and explained, "Dude, as she said, you've got a good sense of humour.. We are seeing each other, you see, going out, dating and stuff". Rejecting his words outright mentally, I looked into her eyes, expecting an angry outburst on him, but the look I got back made me very uncomfortable. She said, "Yes Rohit, we're committed".

A mixture of feelings burst within me. I wanted to just walk away from that place. I felt like kicking Sriram very hard. I felt like shouting out, "How can you do this to me Sanchitha?". But I chose to act in the worst possible way, "Heyy, super news.. Congrats Sanchi, congrats dude, I never, its like, I can't believe, I mean, you people are a real super pair ya, I mean it". I was blank at that moment so I went on with my stupidity. "Where did you guys meet up (I already knew the answer) and how did you guys started liking each other? (I didn't want to know the answer).

Sanchitha said, "You must be thanked for this Rohit, you introduced him to me in one of the friendly match 3 weeks back. My life has changed after that you know.. Sriram is like the silver lining in my cloudy, dark life. I am thankful to all the favours he did for me and my family". I didn't want to hear any of that shit but she went on. "His dad owns a super speciality hospital in Delhi and he had agreed to take complete care of my dad from now on". This last statement of hers bought me back to my senses. "Complete care of your dad? What has happened to your dad? You didn't tell me anything"

"Have you ever asked me anything about my family Rohit? My dad is almost completely immobile from past 3 years due to an unfortunate accident which damaged his Spinal column beyond repair. My mom, a braveheart, had taken complete care of him since then until about six months back when she had a mental breakdown owing to immense pressure of our inability to pay the medical bills which is a bomb by itself". She took a long break, making me feel still more miserable.. "What the hell !! How did I not know about it?". She continued, "It was decision time and I decided to quit my education, being the elder kid. But my sister convinced me to complete my graduation from the best college in Bangalore and secure a high paying job to ease the burden. She decided to complete her 12th in correspondence and drop her plans to study medicine"

"Sriram's entry into my life has changed my perspective completely and though things are not turning back to normal, I am seeing that our days of sufferings are ending. Guess what, my sister's gonna write her entrance exam this year and Sriram's family has agreed to take complete responsibility of her education fees"

"But he is a jackass, you won't be happy with him" I thought. Coincidentally she said "I am sure I will be happy with him. What do you say Rohit?" she said.. I thought I did not have any choice but to say, "Bro, you've done an amazing job, hats off to you" to which he did not reciprocate properly. Sanchitha continued, "Rohit, you had something important to tell me right??".

I was so blanked out at that moment that I could not think of a reason. My castle of dreams was shattered well under 3 minutes which I couln't completely register yet. Coming out with a fake reason in less than 3 seconds was impossible.. "Heyy, its nothing yar.. My Blog on Android OS just got its 10000th visitor yesterday" I told the 1st thing that came to my mind.. "Oooo, what a Geek man. Can't believe you asked me to come here just to say this.. I am surrounded by Geeks and Nerds. See you at the presentation Rohit" she said walking away. I was completely not ready to see what happened next. They were holding hands. Though I realized then where she had been the last night and why Parinita had asked me to postpone my plans, I could not digest this fact.

==End of story==

Dude, that incident taught me a couple of lessons for life.

Never decide to take responsibility when you're not matured enough to handle it.. Bloody, I didn't even know what Sanchitha wanted and all I wanted from her was to like me. I didn't even know about her family and that made me a total loser.
Never recall this story and remind myself how I missed "The One".
Never create opportunities for a hot girl without confirming if she's interested in me or not"

Rohit laughed out very loud at his 3rd point. I didn't find it funny, his narration of the story made me feel miserable. I didn't want to ask him anything more but I asked, "Do you still like her?" He said, "Dude, relax.. I am over it now, I don't feel bad about it nowadays". His words echoed in my ears "this story might stay on for quite some time in your mind." I couldn't see his face clearly in the darkness but it sure said, "I know I shouldn't but I still like her"

I don't know how but I liked her..

2010-07-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

What was very unique about Rohit Mahendran is his ability to manage his extra curricular activities along with studies. Though he believed that there was nothing special about it, the entire world around him had great expectations from him. He always did what he liked and that made him a maverick in terms of his achievements. When asked about it, he usually rubbished them away. One thing I liked about him was his quick wit and fun loving nature. When he was at his comical best, seriously there was no better place than our class.

Being a good athlete and a dramatist, he was a part of innumerious clubs in our college. So he was the one who knew almost everyone (read girls) in our college, something I was a bit envious about. From the cute lead singer girl (our junior batch) to the darling of our college who hosted all the events in our college to the hot girl incharge of Fashion show, he knew them all. It is worth mentioning here that he referred to them with utmost respect with no comments whatsoever.

It was my long chat with him yesterday that is prompting me to write this blog.

It was quite an enigma for me why he was still single. At one of our common friend's birthday party, I asked him "Dude, Are you seriously single or are you not disclosing who your babe is?" He laughed out loud and then said, "Buddy, for a fool like me who doesn't have time or money to spend on a girl, do you think its possible to get a girl? Anyways, how is your gym class going?" he tried to change the topic. "Quite smart" I thought, recalling that the last time when our group spoke about relationships, Rohit has smartly skipped his turn. So determined to know more, asked him again to tell about his relationship status.

Realizing that I was not ready to budge, he started, "Ok dude, here goes my story"

== The Story Starts ==

You know what, getting busy with a lot of activities has its own advantages and disadvantages. You will be so busy in the morning that you don't have time to think about other (unwanted) stuff and you will be so tired at night that you can't think of other stuff. Atleast, that is the formula that works for me. I didn't want any girl in my life for some time as I didn't feel the necessity for having one. Like I have amazing friends in class, my basketball team, my drama team etc. Why the hell should I have someone very special in life, atleast for now? My emotional equations were all fine without a variable.

But then, one girl who threatened to change my equations. I knew her from last 2 years, she is our junior from the Telecom department. She did decent acting and we met every day for practice. I did not find her special at all for almost 18 months, i.e., from the I knew her. She was a super cool friend and an occasional victim of our pranks. Thats it.

You know very well that we in our college when the histrionics group are at its best. Being in Team Abhinaya, one of the best Drama team of Bangalore, we got a golden chance to goto Sri Lanka on a Dramatics Workshop and give a few performances for 2 weeks. It was on the ethnic day at Sri Lanka that I saw her in a new light.

There she was clad in Saree and she looked awesome. She was more Indian than I could imagine. She was the most beautiful Sanchitha I had ever seen. Why on Earth did I not find her this beautiful before? Of course, she played my wife in one of the drama but then I never thought I would ever want the same thing to happen in my real life. I know I am sounding "dramatic" forgive me buddy, I AM LIKE THAT ONLY.

"It is just a crush" I thought, so stupid of me to have a crush on my team mate. But then my alter ego spoke, "Why not dude? Why not??", I said "She is not my kind" and my alter ego went, "If she is not your kind, define what your kind is!!". Actually yes, she was a good artist, a good dramatist, good at studies and compatible (huh!!)

This debate would go on but I called it a day, deciding that once she comes back in TShirt and Jeans, I might come back to normal. Neither could I call it a day (damn, she had secured an entry to my sub-conscious thoughts) nor was I normal when I saw the "ordinary" her. My heart kept beating "Its her, Its her".

After we returned to India, I started messaging her pretty regularly. It took no time to realize that she is the person I wanted in my life. It might appear to you that it is some shitty movie dialog, a crap thought of an emotional fool. But believe me macha, I gave myself enough time before jumping into decision.

A Favour (?)

When she told me that she played Basketball for her high-school team, I was overwhelmed with joy. "One more thing in common between us" I told her, "Why don't you try hand in college team?" She said, "I would love to but I don't know if I can ever clear the selection criteria". "Buddy, it is the time to prove how much you like her, don't miss it" told my alter ego. "Hey, you forgot that I am the head of Basketball Men's team? Lets give it a shot tomorrow, come for trials".

As expected, she turned up for trials. I am not sure if she ever played professional basketball ever in life !! She could put the ball into the basket but I am 100% sure she could never handle a tackle from the weakest of the girls from the weakest of the opponents. The trial was over in 10 minutes and she was in. Well, you know that girl who selected Sanchitha was my supercool friend and I had promised to treat her in Gufha.

That evening was an evening to remember as Sanchitha agreed to treat me in a romantic (?) restaurant. We had ample time to talk and we spoke about everything from basketball to dramatics to relationships. I was super excited to hear that she was single and she was ready to get committed to someone who shared her interests. "She is hinting me" I thought.

Well, this continued for almost 2 months. I had offered to give personal training in Basketball for 1 hour every day. So every evening, we would practice basketball (though there was no sign of improvements), ate pani puri together and I would drop her back to her hostel. This did not go unnoticed and my Drama teammates started pairing us up. Though I thoroughly enjoyed those moments, I had to deny externally saying there was nothing between us. One of my dear senior, with whom I share my personal thoughts had told me that we looked great together. "You got to tell her what you feel as soon as possible, before it is too late" she'd told me.

Yes, I thought I should tell her as soon as possible. I was missing a lot of appointments with other teams, my website clients were unhappy with my punctuality and even people in the dramatics team started feeling insecure and started to worry about my lack of dedication in designing the plot and costumes for the upcoming drama. But how do I tell her? Should I give her some hints? Should I tell her directly? Should I use her roommate's help?

"Leave it this way" told my alter ego. You know, my alter ego had been my best buddy because he told me only those things I wanted to hear, suggested me only those stuffs I wanted to follow. So I agreed to him and decided to"Enjoy the feeling". By then, even though her regularity for the basketball practice had drastically fallen, whatever time I spent with her was fruitful and blissful. I was getting more n more close to her and that was good for both of us.

Honestly speaking, my life rocked !!

== Story To Be Continued ==

Read the Next part here

A beautiful girl's "Best friend"

2010-03-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

All my friends and blog readers who know and have got the first-hand experience of being the BEST-Friend of a beautiful girl, this story must be familiar to your story.

All my friends and blog readers who are yet to enjoy this position, this article must give you a reason why you should try and be one.

Story of my friend, written by me :)

== Story begins ==

I know you guys are envious, I know you guys want to be in my position.

I am the best friend of a very beautiful girl from my college. I always hope to get her call at 3 AM in the morning when I need to explain her why our subject is not as bad as she thinks. Its a great feeling when she thanks me for boosting her morale and promises me a treat in CCD. I like the very thought of her taking me out for CCD. Now does it matter if she forgets this promise (as usual) before she even hits the bed that night?

I am the best friend of a very beautiful girl from my class and that makes me feel great. I am always willing to drop her to the bus stand even at 10 30 PM in an auto rickshaw. I get a chance to bid her farewell and a safe journey and that is more than the "double rickshaw fare" that I pay both ways and risk of getting expelled from hostel for breaking hostel rules. Now, does it matter if I have to drop the idea of buying a cricket bat (due to shortage of money) to my brother who's birthday is approaching?

I am the best friend of a very beautiful girl from my class and that makes me feel important. I really love those days when she broke up with her boy friend and came to me with her eyes swollen. It was when I consoled her that I realized that I could be a great counselor. All I know is, I got a hug from her for being so good to her in this bad world. The next few days were my best when she had her breakfast and lunch with me, offered me a chance to do her lab experiments and write lab records. I loved those days when I would empty my 100 free sms on her supporting her view that her ex-boy friend was indeed the worst person on Earth. Now does it matter if that worst person came back to her one day, they paired up once again and I got all my 100 free SMS for myself?

I am the best friend of a very beautiful girl from my batch and that makes me feel smug. All these years I studied on my own for exams and scored decently well for myself. The monotony broke when my best friend gave me a chance to study with her outside college library. I got a chance to read her subjects too and that is when I realized I can do more than just my regular subjects. Though I never needed any shortcuts to study before exams, I was surprised to learn that I was really good at devising formulae to remember the important points. Now does it matter if my marks go down drastically that semester and I miss the scholarship?

I am the best friend of a very beautiful girl from my college and that makes me feel satisfied. Never did I get a chance to speak non-sense about all those classmates/seniors of mine, how badly they dress up, how cheaply some girls behave to get their work done, how most of the guys misunderstand good friendship to love. I got a chance to have a sneak peek into my character and how I should be different from them. I got to see the world in a different way and realized that world is not fair and clean as I thought and understood all these years. Now does it matter if I feel alienated from my other best-buddies after seeing them in different light?

I am the best friend of a very beautiful girl of my age and that makes me feel complacent. I've lost the count of the number of technical seminars I've skipped to be with her during her bad time. I have missed a A+ score to my assignments only about 10 times, but its much less significant than helping her get that magic score for her assignments. I don't care if people tell me that I'm getting used. I don't really mind getting used actually.

If I were one of those ordinary guys, I should have felt bad when she reminds me how much she loves me as her dear "brother". I should have felt pissed off when her boyfriend, who was the"worst animal on Earth" during break-up, transformed over night and became a gentleman in her eyes. I should have felt agitated when she tied a Rakhi to reinforce our relationship. But as she tells me, I am above all of them. I am the best friend and I am doing justice to the word "friend". She always gives me a laugh reminding about of how these silly people think that we are committed and that they are grossly misunderstanding our noble relationship.

Ofcourse, I fail to explain why I still have a feeling (at the corner of my mind) for her and how I wished we ended up together. I have indeed been a failure in my own eyes when my heart fails to adhere to the relationship she's defined for us. But hey, I am getting better. I am growing up.

What?? Am I sounding sarcastic? Excuse my poor English, I didn't mean to.

== Story Ends ==

If you can relate yourself to a bit of this, take my hearty congratulations. You have been a successful friend to a girl. If your experience if different from this one, please feel free to comment..

When is the last time you updated your blog?

2009-08-14T03:36:00.001-07:00

This question looked really funny n lame but sure is a taunt. From the time I read this somewhere, I've been thinking, "Man, its been one hell of a hiatus; I need to update it". Why have I not been so very passive?

Q1 : Is it because I find blogging boring?

ans : Not at all

Q2 : Is there something more interesting online to do?

ans : Not quite. But I don't deny it.

Q3 : Is it because I maintain too many blogs that I'm not doing justice to my personal blog?

ans : Probably yes

Q4 : Is it because I am unable to think "creatively" ?

ans : Ha ha, I don't have an answer myself.

Q5 : Is it because I am not getting a theme on which I can write?

ans : Verymuch possible.

Q6 : Is it because I decided never to blog about my personal feelings?

ans : Yes.

Q7 : Is it because I do not want i.Raveesh to be my alterego?

ans : Yes

Then why on first place did I nurture i.Raveesh?

Am I of the opinion that my web activities are eating my bandwidth?

Are they becoming too taxing?

Well, this is how I put it.

I was lonely, I was ignorant. I wanted an interesting self. So I created i.Raveesh. Now, I see a more colourful real world. I want to live every minute of my life.

End Note :

Has i.Raveesh gone for ever? Will he be active?

I would say, he is taking a break. He is surely not gone.. NOT YET.

Three mistakes as a Bike Rider

2009-05-28T05:29:00.000-07:00

Decided to confess the 3 mistakes that I committed today as a bike rider as I couldn't take the pinch anymore. Feeling very guilty and sad for having done that. Without much of a build-up, here goes the 3 mistakes.

Mistake Number One :

On my way to Bangalore Race course road, I happened to stop my bike at a traffic signal. The traffic light was still red for us when I realized that there are no more vehicles from the other side and the road is clean. Deciding not to jump the traffic signal, I did not kick start my bike. It was just about 5 seconds when a Tata Safari (a Indian SUV) driver started honking the horn incessantly. It was very clear that it was for me and the signal was still red. I turned back and signaled him to look at the traffic signal.

He got his vehicle next to me and opened the door and started yelling at me. He made me realize that I was very "insensible" and "irresponsible" to have waited until the traffic signal light turned green. His body language was aggressive and flaunted his links to a state government MLA. Neither could I match him is size nor could I return back the words with equal vulgarity. I just made way to him but yes, executed the mistake of following the traffic rules.

Mistake Number Two :

There was this Tata Sumo which apparently not been serviced for over an year now. It not just contaminated the entire place with its smoke but also suffocated a couple of two wheeler riders (right in front of me). So in the next traffic signal, I decided to inform him the same. So when I did, he stared at me for about 5 seconds as though he wanted to poke my eyes with whatever he could grasp. With a pursed lips, he just turned away, neglecting my comment. So a brave youth, I knocked at his wind shield and told, "Boss, its not good to neglect other's comments, do check your Vehicle's condition". Another sensible biker joined me in suggesting him when he erupted with fury. "Muchkond nim kelsa nodkolro. Nange helak bandraa nan makla... Blah Blah. " (English translation : Shut up and mind your business. Don't try to give me advices blah blah).

Did a mistake again informing him to be sensible !!

Mistake Number Three :

There was a traffic jam close to Mysore Bank Colony and I was moving slowly. Suddenly I felt a jerk in my bike. Someone had knocked me with their bike !! Temper rising, I turn back to shout back at the careless rider when I see a old couple fallen down. Their TVS Excel had hit me perpendicularly which clearly meant that the rider lost control which negotiating the main road-sub road junction. (I was in the main road F.Y.I).

On humanitarian grounds, I went to help them when the mob around me started scolding me. The grandpa knew its his mistake but bloody, even he started scolding me. Clearly, I got a message that its a mistake owning a Karizma. I could recall just one statement from Onida, "Owner's pride, Neighbour's envy".

I couldn't control but shouting back at the crowd to judge sensibly in the situation. How on Earth can I knock a vehicle from behind !!! I told the grandpa, "I am not expecting an apology from you as you're a senior citizen, but you lost respect in my eyes because you acted cheaply" Clearly, its not fair to scold me when its his bloody mistake. I am sure, everyone around realized that its his mistake but they were dogmatic. I apologized the "Culprits" and scooted from that area.

Am I wrong in Doing this today? What an absurd question !! If I were right, no one would yell at me right?

I will vote

2009-04-21T05:55:00.000-07:00

Blogging after a very long time. Posting a blog for a noble reason. I am hoping to post this in a serious and urgent note

The country is right now got into the mood of IPL and the 20-20 mania is spreading like fire as expected. Youngistan, of which I am a part of, is fully submerged in the sensational IPL. We eat, sleep and talk cricket and it is (almost) our fundamental right to enjoy every ball of IPL.

But I am fearing the loss of seriousness in another right which we ought to exercise. THE RIGHT TO VOTE.

To throw some facts :

43 million FIRST TIME Voters have been enrolled to the 2009 electoral rolls. This is an amazing 4.3 crore population, representing about 10% of Adult population !!
An advertisement read, about 65% of Indian population is below the age of 40 making India one of the youngest countries in the world. Yet India has the oldest parliamentarians (in terms of age). !!

I have decided to vote this time. I have decided to skip 1 day of my internship, 1 day of college, spend around 800 INR to goto my hometown, JUST TO VOTE.

Why should I go home just to cast 1 vote amidst a million Inconveniences?

Ans :

I believe that I have the common sense to decide which government can do good and which one sucks..
I believe, A right policy by a right government gives me my money back in 2 months, may it be good roads or a good financial budget.
I consider myself ethically eligible to comment on Government : Good, Bad and Ugly.

We any ways have to vote to the same seasoned parties right? How will my voting/not-voting change the scenario?

This is one question which haunted me for quite some time. I think I have convinced myself now..

Ans :

All the poll predictions by various parties are done excluding the Youngistan since they take it for granted that we don't turn out for voting.
They rely on their illiterate vote bank for most of the calculations.
With the thoughtful Youngistan coming forward to vote and jeopardizing their calculations/statistics, the parties is forced to think next time.
Since the youth is thoughtful, they cannot do monkey tricks to impress us. The only way to woo the Youngistan is by doing something useful !!
The game has changed now !! We can see positive results in less than 10 years with young and vibrant youth being more and more active in politics.

So as of now, what I can do is to vote myself and blog about it. With time, I am sure of making myself more active in clean politics. I have time to decide my roadmap.

I feel proud of being a sensible citizen of the energetic Youngistan !!

Yahoo Open Hack Day 2009

2009-02-22T07:15:00.000-08:00

I was one of the invitee to the Yahoo! Open Hackday 2009. I felt glad as I heard there were around 900 applications and I was one of the 350 guys who got the final invite. And what's best, it was on the 14th of Feb. I know, many of you would think, "what an unromantic way to spend the Valentines Day!" I'm not yet qualified for the V-Day celebration as I'm still single :)

It was indeed a great event. Some of the highlights of the events as seen by iRaveesh

The sessions were really cool. I got to know about some of the coolest technologies available.
This was followed by the 24 hours hacking contest. Our hack was not that hot, yet the learning involved was tremendous.
I had a chance to interact with David Filo, the founder of Yahoo! Answering one of my questions, he said, "If you start a company because you like doing it, even if the company fails, you won't curse yourself because you liked doing it. But if you start a company just for profits, the failure of the company will put you in a worst mess"

David Filo, the co-founder of Yahoo! holding my shoulders :)

As a V-Day entertainment, there was a Dance show by Shadow One group. After their dance performance was over, they called the hackers on stage and perform impromptu dancing. I just jumped out of my table, ran to stage and danced!
The professional dancers were supposed to teach us dance, but as in the photo, I was teaching them some steps (LOL).

As I was the best dancer among the hackers, I won an iPod! (OMG)
Awesome food 24 hours a day with unlimited drinks.
My photo came in the Metro Edition of Deccan Herald on 19th Feb. I look like I am hacking very seriously :)

Find me - Bottom Left

It was a great event and I enjoyed every bit of it. Looking forward for the same next year as well. Next year, I hope to win the event

I am an intern at Microsoft

2009-02-17T22:01:00.001-08:00

Feels great to have secured an internship at Microsoft Acad Team. I will be working there for 3 months driving a couple of Academic Initiatives like Live @ edu.

The work has already started and I'm loving it. I would be interacting with academic folks, fellow student partners across the country. Always liked interactive work, let's see how much I love by The end of my 3 month internship. :)

Hoping to do my best.

End Note: there might be some formatting issues for this blogpost. I am using BlogWriter to blog using my iPod Touch.

Slumdog Millionaire : A great Concept but...

2009-02-02T08:19:00.000-08:00

It was when Slumdog Millionaire won Golden Globe awards for Best Movie (drama) that I decided to watch the movie. As told by few of my friends, this was one of the best/realistic movies that they ever watched and that it deserved Golden Globe awards and even the Oscar.

I ended up watching the movie that evening itself and I was thrilled. What a concept !! A slum boy, abusively called, "the Slumdog" goes on to win a huge fortune and also finds his love. What I loved the most about the story was the author's ability to link all the answers he gives to Real-Life incidents. I must say, awesome work Mr Vikas Swaroop..

Great Story, But....

India's one of the fastest developing country which has a history of about two centuries of poverty. Its natural to find slum areas in India. But its really not the way how one would picturize this great country. I seriously felt ashamed of the way India is portrayed. Every element of the movie is true but to what extent? The explicit audacity filmed in the movie is quite an exaggeration if you ask me.

Had to happen when a British Director comes forward to direct such a movie. Is it bloody possible for a non-Indian to understand the intricacies of Indian way of life. Thats the reason, the movie is so rudely candid and cruel. We've had enough from British for 200 years, physically. I am furious about this mental torture that we're expected to face. Just to quote 1 instance where the protagonist gets beaten up for robbing the foreigners and he audaciously says, "This is India" and that American lady hands him a 100$ note and says, "Son, this is America". I don't know about you but it got on my nerves! I mean, What the hell?? No Indian director would take the movie like that. But again, no Indian director would get the movie "The Oscar Nomination"

Ask yourself a Question :

Is this the story about India you'd want to tell the world?

If your answer is, "I don't care as long as movies based on India end up getting Golden Globe/Oscar", I have no answers for you.

If you are still open for ideas, I want to inform you that, most of the world, including USA and Europe has a picture of Indians as the snake charmers of Alladin cartoon. They can't just take the fact that a snake charmer's country can do so much of growth and achieve such level in mere 50 years. Rarely Indian movies reach the global audience. Thanks to Karan Johar and Akshay Kumar, Its reaching every corners of the world but the not the foreign crowd.

This clearly means that the only "Indian Lifestyle" movies that they end up watching is movies like Slumdog Millionaire. Now I'm sure this fact would have pricked you. Those guys, watching the movie probably sleeping happily with a satisfaction that "India is LIKE THAT ONLY"

Guys, India once upon a time used to just export goods, now its exporting CEOs. I was discussing the movie with my friend Rohit. Quoting his words, "Dude, look at us. We're two young guys, going in an AC car to host a Quiz Show at a reputed college and as I drive, I'm speaking to you about the kinds of services we need to include in our Quiz Firm. This is the story you gotta tell the world". Can he be more true?

As an Indian, everyone ought to feel proud when a Music Wizard from our country is about to win an Oscar for one of his best composition. Hats off to A.R. Rahman for his wonderful music. I feel, movies like Roja, Bombay had equally great music (or even better) and equally intense story-line. But it was not Danny Boyle who was the director of Roja, so no international fame. It makes sense right?

To conclude with, when Slumdog Millionaire got Oscar nominations for Best Movie against Dark Knight and Seven Pounds, I couldn't help but laugh. I am sure, the Oscar committee must have been filled with Indian Fearers.

Capturing Wildlife with Kalyan Varma n Mukta Darera

2009-01-11T07:17:00.001-08:00

As a student of PESIT, if there's one name which is impossible not to have heard about, it is of an amazing person named Kalyan Varma. If you're still very sure you've not heard of Kalyan Varma, my humble request is to spend some time looking out for information about Kalyan. I consider him as my role-model when it comes to Following one's passion.

My good friend Mukta Darera, is another person who I adore very much for having quit her job at Intel and setting up an agency which she always dreamt about. Her company, iReboot helps people experience their dream job and find out what they love.

She recently sent me a mail which had details about a 3 DAY Risk-Free Photography Camp in Bannerghatta. And guess what, its conducted by Kallu (Kalyan Varma). The Slogan goes like this :

"You don’t have to give up anything to try your hand at your long nurtured dream of becoming a photographer. We at iReboot have configured a fine workshop to help people like you discover your hidden talents and desires, and possibly even reboot their careers, and their lives! Without ever risking what they currently do for a living. "

I am sure many of us would have dreamt about being a photographer and master the photography skills. All we need is a Triggering Event and I am sure, this event would do exactly that. And what more, its from 24th to 26th January (Saturday to Monday which is a holiday again).

Don't think much here. Let your brain not think for you atleast this time. Think from your heart. Visit iReboot website right now.

Pakistan : Was it ever Pure?

2009-01-05T17:50:00.000-08:00

I was more than shocked to learn that a country, as unholy as Pakistan had such a good meaning..

Pak in Urdu means PURE !! So Pakistan means, "The Land of Pure". Holy crap!! What an irony! Was Pak ever pure? EVER?

I would rather eat my soul than believing this. So I did some online research on the etymology of the word Pakistan. I discovered some more less-shocking but equally irritating facts.

It was coined in 1934 as Pakstan by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, who published it in his pamphlet Now or Never.
The name represented the "thirty million Muslims of PAKISTAN, who live in the five Northern Units of British Raj — Punjab, Afghania (also known as North-West Frontier Province), Kashmir, Sindh, and Balochistan."

Now we know why is that inane country so very desperate to acquire the territory of Kashmir. They feel they are not pure (Pak) without Kashmir. I say, they were never pure and will never be pure with their flawed fundamentalism and equally flawed constitution.

Deliberate Digression from Topic :

If India wished, they could have done the ablution of Pakistan long time back erasing its impurity. Mrs Indira Gandhi had a golden chance during the war for independence of Bangladesh. So unfortunate that the much touted "Most influential P.M" didn't utilize the opportunity to kick their butts properly.

Then came the incident of Plane HiJack to Kandahar which resulted in the release of 3 of the most infamous Terrorists. Eventhough India had enough evidence that it was masterminded by Pakistani ISI, they couldn't even touch Pak.

Then was the incident of Attack on Indian Parliament, the flagship symbolism of World's biggest Democracy. Fie on us, we couldn't put pressure on Pakistan, let alone attacking them.

Why so far, after November 26th Attack on Mumbai, India had all the proof and all the support from the world community. It was the right most time to attack them because the latest attack has been proved to be ISI / L-e-T masterminded beyond any doubts.

Its been close to 50 days and NOTHING HAS Happened. Today, every country on Earth, including Pakistan is literally laughing at our Government for showing that "We have Ball-less". Its unfortunate that 110 crore lions are being ruled by handful of old sheep but got to accept the fact, WE ELECTED THEM. DIDN'T WE?

If you say, "Thats why I never participate in election!!" there can never be a bigger criminal than you ! Ask yourself..

I am a Hindu

2008-12-24T22:36:00.000-08:00

Before making up your first impression reading the title of this article, I would want to clarify 2 main things.

If you expect this article to be against Islam or Christianity, you may stop reading this. Let me put it like this : My Life is incomplete without my Muslim and Christian brothers.

If you expect this article to be "Pro Bajrang Dal" or "Pro ShivSena" you might as well read my iPhone Blog. I shall make it clear that though I am a fan of RSS, Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad or Shiv Sena, I DO NOT subscribe to a few of their ideologies.

This is against the TWO sinisters of Modern Indian Society, the fiends who unfortunately have more reach and popularity than Raveesh Mayya's personal blog.

My first message is to India's worst and top hypocrites, the MEDIA

I am a Hindu who does believe that Islam never preaches Terrorism. But I feel very bad when every god damn newspaper, TV channel calls Sadhvi Pragya, a "Hindu Terrorist" while Osama Bin Laden, a Taliban Terrorist or Dawood Ibrahim, a underworld DON. I am here to ask you, who gave them a license to brand them "Hindu Terrorists". Aren't the media BULL SHITTING us?

I am a hindu, who literally was in tears reading about Gujrat Riots which claimed many lives. But what hurt me more was the fact that Media was focussing only on Muslim victims. Clearly, If there's one thing MORE DANGEROUS THAT A LIE, its the HALF TRUTH.

Like every other Hindu, I laugh with agony at the report which said, Godhra Train incident is an accident. Every soul in India could understand that it was a well-planned heinous crime against the Ram Sevaks but what are those fake reports doing. GUYS, WHOM ARE YOU BLOODY TRYING TO CONVINCE ?

I recently got a mail which said Rajdeep Sardesai and Bharkha Dutt working for NDTV at that time got around 5 Million Dollars from Saudi Arabia to cover only Muslim victims, which they did very faithfully. Not a single Hindu family was interviewed or shown on TV whose near and dear ones had been burnt alive, it is reported.

I won't say I completely believe the above report but one thing is sure. Every thoughtful reader can be MIS-GUIDED very easily(Hindus brutally slaughtering Muslims in Gujrat). My dear friends from Media made it look like that. Afterall, What you see is what you believe right? My humble question, did you see it impartially?

My second message is to the "Pride of Indian Democracy", the Political Parties.

I was a kid when Babri Masjid was pulled down in 1992. If it were today, I am sure I would have had the same anguish as every other sensible hindu because everyone knew it would lead to a tumult. This indeed happened and everyone suffered. WHAT GETS ON NERVES is the fact that its still the reason for a slug-fest during elections. Most of the political parties still HAVE THEM in their POLITICAL Agenda. Why the hell?

I am a Hindu who knows very well that no political party is clean. Unfortunately, every party, trying to grab the Muslim/Christian Vote Banks, makes statements against Hinduism. I have 2 questions for you guys :

YOU ACTUALLY THINK just by scolding Hindus and disclaiming yourself from Hinduism (with the fear that everyone brands you a Communal Party) you can grab the vote of my Muslim and Christian Brothers? What do you think of them, DUMB? FYI, they are smarter than you..
Just by using the same old trick, you can gain our trust!! you think we are MONKEYS?

Please note that I am one of those Hindus who wouldn't stop voting just because everyone is dipped in corruption. I will still vote the best person available, or worse, the smallest thief.

I am a proud Hindu

I am a Hindu who believes in his Lord's words which says, "Karma is your only right, discharge your duty, never expect returns". I shall discharge my duty as a son, a brother, a citizen of India, a leader, a friend and as an enemy for that matter.
I am a hindu who is proud of the fact that our Vedas, Upanishads and other ancient wisdoms are so thoughtful and still relevant.

I am a thoughtful Hindu

I am the biggest fan of Pratapasimha Deva, Arun Shourie, Shashi Taroor etc who are journalists, Unbiased and fair.

I am a hindu who feels no fear in stating that Rajdeep Sardesai, Bharkha Dutt, Tarun Tejpal (tehelka) etc who were my heros once upon a time have lost my trust and faith. If I had to select between you and George Bush, by now you know who I would choose.

While I respect politicians like Manmohan Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Narendra Modi etc I would never hesitate to show my anger on <<-- Name removed on someone's suggestion-->> (its not an exhaustive list).

End Note :

I am surprised I wrote a blog on this. I am a risk-averse guy who abstains himself on writing about sensitive issues like this. If I have written this, you must realize what should have been brewing in my mind for years. I had to vent my anger. I did it today. It is really coincidental that it had to be on Christmas. Not intentional at all.

Comments, hate mails, howlers etc are welcome. I am aware that I must be a fool to expect a fan mail. Or can I?

My New Tech Blog - Coolest Gadget blog

2008-12-11T10:18:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Its my privilege to inform you that I have started a new blog dedicated to "Coolest Gadget on Earth", the iPhone/iPod touch. I will be comparing various latest gadgets with iPhone/iPod touch here. I shall also be posting some of the "very interesting" findings on these gadgets in this blog..

Ex :

Did you know that iPod Touch is faster than iPhone itself?
Did you know that iPod Touch 2.0 has a Bluetooth Chip?
Did you know that iPod Touch 2.0 has a FM receiver chip?

The link to my new blog : http://touch-the-ipod.blogspot.com

End Note :

Check out the blog's theme. You'll like it for sure. Comment about it.
Please keep visiting this new-blog regularly as well. Be lest assured that there will be many "NON-GEEKISH" articles also.

Farewell to Pillars of Team Sanskrithi

2008-11-27T22:39:00.000-08:00

It was an emotional event indeed because the founders of Sanskrithi, the greatest cultural team that ever walked (to be specific, ROCKED) PESIT campus were about to graduate and leave the dance troupe. The least we could do is to bid a heartfelt farewell to them.

Credit goes to Rashmi who took the initiative of making the arrangements from booking the party hall to designing the collages to buying the gifts to our beloved seniors. 3 Cheers to Rashmi.

Shweta took up a tedious responsibility of compiling a short movie or a video clip describing Team Sanskrithi’s achievement. The video gives a sneak peak of Sanskrithi’s path from a humble start to a humungous leap to USA. 3 cheers to Shweta....

End Note :

We, the junior team bade farewell to 6 seniors who graduated this year. But unless I’m very much wrong, there was this 7^th person in the group who had already decided (with 100% surety) to quit the team with these seniors because for that person “Sanskrithi is Raghu, Nisha and Chithra”. I bade a silent farewell to that dancer as well.

Stop Speaking and Start Doing...

2008-11-27T06:49:00.000-08:00

Yet another time, the terrorists have tried to shake the mighty Indians. Today's well organized attack by the "Deccan Mujahiddin" terrorist group on the Economic Capital of India, Mumbai has worried me like never before. If you ask me why, India's Anti-Terror Squad (The ATS) is located in Mumbai itself !!

Some facts that I gathered from Websites like NDTV and NowPublic :

Places attacked : Trident Hotel, Taj Hotel, Nariman House, Wadi Bunder, Cama hospital, GT hospital, VT station, Bootleggers pub, Girgaum and Metro cinema.

Many foreigners have been held hostage by the terrorists.

More than 100 people have been killed so far, including nine foreigners

"Gunmen wanted anyone with British or American passport" says an eyewitness.

English cricket team currently touring India has cancelled its remaining matches and decided to return home after a Briton was killed in the Terrorist Attack.

Cricket Australia (CA) has told the Victorian and Western Australian sides, participating in the Twenty20 Champions League scheduled to begin next week, not to travel to India.

Observations : A very clear intention.. Jeopardizing the International Relationship of India. We can also see that they are partly successful as the 2 cricket boards (England and Australia) have pulled out of their Tour Of India.

My acquaintance Abhi posts in his blog :

Yet another attack, yet another pandemonium, condolences and political rhetoric, the cycle would be complete in few days as the incident would be confined to the archives of media and zero hours in parliament - life will go on, awaiting another vicious cycle. If you have lost any of your loved ones or your limbs you are the lone loser, my heart goes to the family members of those brave soldiers who lost there lives Ga Ga to media sensational programming and lots of TRP and condolences to fools like me who gets, just emotional and do nothing much other than posting such blogs……….. time to think should we do more than blogging and talking – will we ? or waiting to loose something to act ?

Friends, a couple of questions before we proceed..

It it right on our part to pay tribute to countless noble souls, the soldiers, cops who have sacrificed their life just by reading the news of their heroic death safely at home?
Don't you think we have seen enough of these happening to us lately?

Before our mother land finally shatters and beseeches for external help to prevent terrorism we have to act. But how?

Lets start with this. Lets stop being Corrupt. Its painful to see that every year, India's position is slipping in the Corruption Index (13 places down to 85th corrupt country in 2008). Don't you see the link here? Corrupt Government officials tend to compromise India's security system JUST FOR MONEY!! Having a well-organized terrorist attack on some of the technologically superior countries (USA, UK, India etc) is not a child's play.

Unfortunately I can't see a ray of hope with the existing system. In his book, “India’s External Intelligence: Secrets of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)”, Maj Gen (Retired) VK Singh clearly makes the modest allegations of corruption, mismanagement and petty behavior in RAW, Our own External intelligence Agency (equivalent to ISI of Pakistan)! Mr VK Singh is the retired Joint secretary of RAW. (Click here to read more on this). I am shocked.

Lead India, Youth

Rather than speaking about the catastrophes and maladies of Corruption, its time to act. We, the youth of India have to change the system. Involve in politics actively, enroll into IAS, IPS, RAW etc, participate in campaigns like Teach for India etc. Afterall, the country cannot change itself, we have to change it right?

I have vowed to make my country a better place to live. I am sure you are with me.

One cool website you ought to visit

2008-11-26T02:38:00.001-08:00

I came across this website named My Heritage. Its an amazing site and I'm sure it definitely keeps you hooked onto it. Its got a feature called "Match Your face with the Celebrity". I tried it and I got some cool results..

So happy to know that I look like Nick Carter of Backstreet Fame!!

Why don't you try it once and see which actor/actress is lucky to look like you ;-)

Click here to goto the website

Think About IT

2008-11-21T04:37:00.000-08:00

As a quizzer, I had 2 dreams :

Climb onto the stage where the Grand Finale of the prestigious TCS Rural IT quiz happening in Palace grounds on the occasion of BangaloreIT.biz

Be the state winner of TCS IT quiz.

As a team, Ashrith and I had put enough efforts to win the event in 2004. A small, unexpected mistake from our side put us in the runners-up position at Udupi Zone in 2003. The winners eventually won the STATE level quiz also. I was very well aware that the same team would come back in 2004 and it will be a tough game again. So we had spared no effort to ensure our victory.

But man proposes, God disposes.. The 2004 zonal finals was indeed a battle of nerves. When we lost to the same team again, 140 to 135 (the other 4 teams on stage had scored 10, 10, 5 and zero!). When the quiz master announced that in the other 5 zones, the highest by any team had been 105, I could just keep myself from crying.

For the first time in my life, I felt like a loser. All my dreams were shattered as we were in our 12th Grade and that year was our 2nd and final chance..

When my mom consoled me that my efforts will never be a waste, I was not convinced, yet I believed her. It came out to be true.

The pain of failure urged me to THINK OUT OF the Box, discard every convention and author India's 2nd ever IT quiz book, Blitz - The IT quiz book. Unless I am very much mistaken, I am India's youngest author of a commercial IT quiz book till date. Failure indeed makes you learn more than what you could have with Success..

Mr Giri Balasubramaniam, the renowned Quiz Master of Tata Crucibles and TCS IT wiz fame identified my interest and talent for IT quiz and took me in his (Greycaps) technical quiz research team.

The happiest day was when I was invited (along with a couple of other budding quizzers) to join the research team of Giri Balasubramaniam and Lloyd Saldanha to compile a book, "Think About IT - 3rd Edition".

To add to this joy, I was felicitated by Mr Aravind Limbavali (Higher Education Minister, Government of Karnataka) and Vishveshwar Hegde Kageri (primary and secondary minister) on the occasion of Grand Finale of Rural IT quiz 2008 in Palace grounds on 7th November.

All the finalists of this year had read my book. They thanked me for writing Blitz and Think About IT and really appreciated my efforts. What more does an author need?

On my way home, I thought, my first dream (climbing onto the stage finals stage) had been fulfilled! More royally than I had ever expected!

And as far as winning is concerned, I will see myself winning every year when the young quiz champions of TCS IT Wiz and Rural IT quiz come down to me and say, "Your book really helped us. Thanks for writing Blitz" .

I haven't won it yet. But one thing is sure, I am not a loser anymore. I have got another chance. My latest attempt has been the strongest....

Is there something called "A Destiny" ?

2008-11-01T23:59:00.000-07:00

I wasn't sure whether or not I should agree with Mr Douglas Adams who famously said, "“I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be”. According to him, there's something called destiny and no matter how much you try, you'll end up being somewhere which you would never anticipate!

It is indeed hard to believe isn't it? Yes and No. Not if you haven't experienced it yourself. I shall narrate my experience..

Look at this snap.

This was taken in February 2008 when my dance team Sanskrithi had been to USA on a cultural exchange program with Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The day before our grand performance in IUP, we were invited for a formal dinner in Eberly College of Business and Information Technology. After the dinner, the Dean of the college took us to their Stock Market Trading Simulation centre where the students practice share trading . It was one of the best computer labs that I've been to. Every student has 3 monitors streaming real-time simulated stock market. Awestruck, we took photos standing besides the Flash board..

The flash board keeps ticking every 5 seconds or so displaying the current share values of various NASDAQ, Dow Jones etc listed companies one after the other.

You might ask me, thats fine, but what has that to do with my destiny? Now I shall ask you to look at the zoomed part of the photo..

If you still haven't got it, let me request you to look at the company that's displayed in the board.. Its CISCO !!! This was 7 months before I actually got placed in Cisco!! Now, all 16 of us took photos and when it was my turn, Cisco Value got Flashed!!

If you've read my previous blog entry on Cisco Placement (if you haven't click here), you know very well how I never expected to get into Cisco.

Now, should I believe in Destiny? I would want to say, have never got a reason not to believe..

Was it really necessary?

2008-10-31T01:52:00.000-07:00

The greatest sensation in the scientific world these days in undoubtedly the Large Hadron Collider,(the LHC). LHC is the world's largest and the highest energy particle accelerator, intended to collide opposing beams of protons or lead ions, each moving at approximately 99.999999% of the speed of light. (Oh, boy!!).

CMS detector

Some commonly known facts about LHC

It is funded by and built in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and engineers from over 100 countries as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories.
The total cost of the project is expected to be €3.2–6.4 billion. That is around 8.5 billion US dollars, 402 billion Rupees!!
Once the supercollider is up and running, CERN scientists estimate that if the Standard Model is correct, a single Higgs boson may be produced every few hours. At this rate, it may take up to three years to collect enough data unambiguously to discover the Higgs boson.
Some 1,232 dipole magnets keep the beams on their circular path, while an additional 392 quadrupole magnets are used to keep the beams focused, in order to maximize the chances of interaction between the particles in the four intersection points, where the two beams will cross. In total, over 1,600 superconducting magnets are installed, with most weighing over 27 tonnes.
Approximately 96 tonnes of liquid helium is needed to keep the magnets at their operating temperature of 1.9 K, making the LHC the largest cryogenic facility in the world at liquid helium temperature.

Simulated event in the CMS detector

Now, lets look at some of the things happening in the non-scientific world today...

Financial sector is in deep crisis and almost all stable Stock markets in the world have plummeted. Wall street,is literally crying and beseeching for a bailout today.
In Haiti, a child is relishing its MUD cookie (yes, mud made into a shape of a cookie) as the family cannot afford to buy anything, NOT EVEN RICE..

Mud Chololate

A kid in Zimbabwe thinks he's the luckiest child in the world because he can sleep on a bed of currency notes. Little does he know that that "bed of notes" cannot buy him even a loaf of bread (inflation is around 11.2 million percent).

Terrorism is at its worst, the prime target this time being the developing countries, especially India. every week we read about bomb blasts in different parts of India.

As a normal, non-scientific human being, I always wonder, "Was it really necessary to spend so much on constructing LHC?" I know very well that LHC is undoubtedly the best research facility in the world, but has it benefitted a normal man, in this day of crisis?

If I had all that money for myself, I would have spent a significantly high amount in philanthropy and charity. I am sure, even 90% of people who read this won't be different in this view. But then, Unfortunately, I, a common man, don't have that money and those people are SCIENTISTS!!

iRaveesh finally...

2008-10-21T06:06:00.000-07:00

i.Raveesh, my digital signature, finally gets a physical significance. I now own a 'WOW' gadget from Apple Inc. which I had always longed to own..

Previously, I owned an iRiver H10, a versatile music player. Day before yesterday, I bought an ipod Touch 2.0...

Presenting to you, iRaveesh finally...

My friend, Sandeep got me this latest ipod touch 2.0 from Chicago. Some of the latest features includes in-built speakers (not a great addition, but yes, it has some effect while playing games), buttons for volume control, a very good battery backup (36 hours of non-stop music) and more importantly, the App store. From what I have learnt, ipod touch 2.0 can't be jail broken. Not that I wanted to jail break it, but then Yeh Dil Mange More ;-)

Ipod touch has opened ways to a lot of things, especially to a gadget freak like me and since its the 'i' device, its added the perspective of glamor to my madness.. I just can't wait to explore it..

The Gandhian Thought

2008-10-14T06:31:00.000-07:00

"Generations to come, it may be, will scarcely believe that such a one, as this, ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth." told Albert Einstein about Mahatma Gandhiji. Then, in 1940s, people would tend to disbelieve this quote of his. How on Earth can someone forget Mahatma Gandhi? I mean, is it just as false as his famous statement on Theory of Relativity that "Time is relative and not absolute!!"

But now, its time to think. Just a couple of years back, the scientists got physical proofs for his Theory of relativity, didn't they? So will his thought about Gandhiji be proved as well? Or have we, the current generation already proved that?

When asked, "Who is Gandhji?" some movie buff is reported to have replied, "He's that person who helped Munna Bhai get his girlfriend". Jokes aside, but I seriously feel we are not much different.

One common arguement has always been, "If it was not Gandhiji, we would have got Independence much much before, may be in 1910s itself. The entire freedom struggle slowed down because of his "non-violence" movement. This lead to the formation of Pakistan etc etc" Now I would want to ask them one thing. Is Independence the ultimate goal? Or should we matured enough to handle the independence? If India had got Independence by 1910s, I feel there would be Madras country, Hyderabad country, J&K country, Avadh country, Bengal country and so on. The country as suckh didn't have that unified movement which got everyone together. It was the movements like Quit India, Civil Disobedience and Dandi March which got the entire country together and gave the feeling of oneness.

Another thing we must realize that British came to India as traders and ruled us because of our own lack of unity and greed. So unless we ourselves are matured enough to be united and face everything as a country, there is no point of freedom. Look what happened in Iraq immediately after Saddam Hussein was dethroned? Burglers took advantage of the anarchy and almost all the museums which preserved the ancient monuments of Persian and Mesopotamian civilizations were plundered. Today, the country is celebrating its non-dictator leadership, but at the cost of what?

Finally, our Independence is the result of sacrifices of thousands of noble souls. But just like the fact that Ustad Isa is credited to have architectured Taj Mahal even though thousands of people contributed for this eternal monument of Love, Mahatma Gandhiji is called the architect of Indian Independence. Having said this, it is very clear that the contributions of all our leaders like Balgangadhar Tilak, Chandrashekar Azad, Subhashchandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, Karnad Sadashiv Rao, Nehru etc are unforgettable. What we are, its all because of them.

End Note : Please note that this is entirely the opinion of the blogger and doesn't represent the public opinion or sentiment. Feel free to comment on this, if you feel I have been blind about my views...

F.R.I.E.N.D

2008-09-30T06:26:00.000-07:00

You must be really fortunate to actually have understood the feel in the statement, "A friend in need is a friend indeed". I am one of those fortunate guys who have understood that.

It feels so good to be loved and supported by that friend of yours when the entire crowd around you hates you. When he pats your back and says, "Hey man, I am with you. I will fight for you no matter what is the outcome", you actually feel your self-confidence,which is long dead, springing back into life...

Now I don't mind if the entire world is against me. And I mean it...

Rang De Basanti

2008-09-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

Kid : "Pappa, what are you doing?"

Dad : "Beta, I am planting these plants"

Kid : "Pappa, why are you doing this?"

Kid : "Beta, I am doing this so that once the plant grows we can harvest the crop and earn from that"

Later that day the dad finds his son sticking some sticks besides the farm. Curious to know what the kid's doing, the dad goes there...

Dad : "Beta, what are you doing with those sticks?"

Son : "Pappa, I am planting the guns so that once the guns grow, we can drive the British out of our country"

This revolutionary kid not only succeeded in making guns and bombs and scared the hell out of the British but also made our country realize that "You just can't communicate in words to the Deaf man. You need an Explosion to get them to their senses"

27th September is the birth day of the legendary Bhagat Singh who made best use of the Court Trials to speak out his principles and opinions. This was a unique approach which very much involved the most prevalent media of the day, the newspaper.

A British officer who was in duty while Bhagat Singh was awarded the death sentence has famously made this statement, "I always thought there are 2 kinds of people; one, who cry on the face of death and another who accept death with a smiling face. But now I know for sure, there is another kind". This was after he saw Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru singing on their way to execution ground.

I admit that I didn't realize that today (27th Sept) was the birthday of this legendary revolutionary until a friend of mine sent me a sms. Apart from giving tribute to Bhagat Singh which is my primary objective, I had one more thing to pen down. It was regarding this sms that I received.

The SMS goes like this : "Everyone celebrates the Birthday of Gandhiji on 2nd October. Today 27th September is the birthday of our great hero "Bhagat Singh". At least pass this message to every Indian. Be a true Indian. Jai hind"

I agree the composer of this sms has done a great job of reminding all the "True Indians" what they are actually forgetting. But then I couldn't help but notice this; Why was there a mention of Gandhi Jayanthi? Asking questions, Didn't the message mean "Why are you celebrating Gandhi Jayanthi?" Or in other words, "You guys are wasting your time celebrating the birthday of Gandhiji while the true hero is Bhagat Singh"! Now why on Earth is this comparison needed?

For God's sake, they are Freedom fighters. This is not some Political Agenda or Politicians to compare. They were unique in their approach, thats why they are leaders. But for God's sake don't compare them. Even though the movie, "The Legend Of Bhagat Singh" did a great job of featuring the true life of Bhagat Singh, the movie indirectly vilified Mahatma Gandhiji. I seriously hated this part of the movie. When you go to western country, people recognise you as a person from that place where Mahatma Gandhiji walked.

Please keep your personal agenda back at your home and come out to celebrate the birthdays of these true leaders at the truest sense. Let the spirit of oneness be there in all of us, the True Indians. Lets get united to face the modern day threats like the terrorism...

Its the time to Cisco

2008-09-25T18:13:00.001-07:00

Cisco Systems had come to PESIT on 19th of September to recruit students. I had decided before that I wouldn't give the written test for Cisco for the following reasons :

I had to host a Quiz show at PESIT on 20th on behalf of IEEE
I had to prepare for a test which was scheduled on the 21st September

Yet, I wanted to view their pre-placement presentation. I started repenting my decision to drop Cisco test while the presentation was going on. GOD, Cisco was much much superior and better than what I had assumed. For example, I never knew that they had a lion's share in the VOIP market.

So cursing myself, I gave my test, finished it quickly and resumed my quiz work. I was so engrossed with that, I never realized it was 9 pm and the shortlisted candidates list was about to be put up. It was only when Rohit, my friend from PESSE called me to congratulate me that I realized I was shortlisted. OH BOY!!

So I handed over the questions and the entire responsibility of the quiz show to Pradeep, another budding quizmaster from PESIT and informed the IEEE group that Pradeep would be handling the quiz.

It was around 10 45 pm that I could start preparing for the interview, taking out few books to brushing up the networking concepts.

The day of interview was MY DAY. Everything that happened favoured me. There were a couple of interview panels which rejected the students in 15-20 mins and there were a couple of them which interviewed the students for more than 90 minutes! But my interviewer, Mr. Manohar was a cool and composed person who asked handful of technical questions! Later he asked me the history of Cisco, about the C shell etc. As a quizzer I believe I could answer them satisfactorily.

The final selected list was announced at around 4 30 pm. I got into CISCO SYSTEMS !! It felt so good, I can't put it in words. In 2 years, I became the first ECE student to get into all 3 Tiers (Infosys, Thoughtworks and Cisco) having 2 of the most sought after offers! My hit rate of clearing the interview has been 75% (I couldn't clear the Wipro VLSI interview!! ).

Also, in every Tier, I got into the 2nd company I applied. In Tier 3, I couldn't clear Wipro VLSI but got into Infosys. In Tier 2, I tried Freescale Semiconductors, I couldn't clear the screening test, the next day Thoughtworks came and I got into it. In Tier 1, Yahoo! was my first try and the same week I cleared Cisco Systems. It is really a blissful experience.

After the formalities, I ran to the quiz site and for my delight the quiz had just begun. So I took over the show and finished it off in style. That DAY was MY DAY indeed.

I am now assertive that post-placement days are the most relaxed days of anyone's life. I am enjoying every second of it.

Microsoft Student Partner Lead 2008-09

2008-09-13T03:16:00.000-07:00

I got a mail this Thursday from Microsoft Acad team that I have been promoted as the MSP lead for the year 2008-09. Previously called as "Microsoft Student Ambassador", this role of MSP lead demands increased maturity, increased responsibility and along with that, recognition.

The happiest thing being, I am one of the 6 MSPs in India who are been selected as the Leads. The other 5 being

Bigyan Bhar - Kolkata
Kaushal Bhavsar - Ahmedabad
Lakshman Shrikanth - Bangalore
Mayur Tendulkar - Pune
Urjit Singh Bhatia - Baroda

We have 2 MSP leads from Bangalore, myself and Lakshman. This must be a happy news for the Bdotnetstudet community. Its feels so good when someone recognises our work and pat our shoulder. Not only does it motivates us to do more things, it instills self-confidence in us.

Aatmatrisha Logistics Team 2008

2008-09-05T11:02:00.001-07:00

June 3rd : "Hi Raveesh, I wish you happy birthday, Have a blast - Ms YYYYY, Aatmatrisha Logistics Team"

May 27th : "Hmmm, nice blog I must say. What boss, been really bindaas by confessing your love to someone in your Blog!! But please don't be a Devdas and step back because of this - Ms ZZZZZ, Aatmatrisha Logistics Team"

These are 2 of the sms I'd got on various occations which I had kept without deleting. I am not sure if Ms YYYYY and Ms ZZZZZ liked reading their names in my blog, so an alias ;-).

I am making this blog entry as a tribute to the wonderful logistic team of Aatmatrisha 2008. Aatmatrisha was at its best in 2008 of which I was a proud core team member. It all started well when a really dedicated core team was formed. As core team members, we rolled out our plans for the fest and charted out the dates, deadlines etc. It was then that a group of enthusiastic, charming girls approached us to take charge of the Logistics department which is the most laborious and strenuous of all jobs. Little did I realize then that this "all girls team" had tremendous amount of determination and energy to be one perfect logistics team.

The team not only did their assignments flawlessly, but also during my quiz events, (when there was a severe shortage of volunteers for evaluating quiz answer papers etc) they came to my resque, helping me out from evaluation to validation of tickets! Hats off to you girls.

Me with the Logistic Team after the fest

The fest was a success which made us forget all the pains we had for over a month. What's really worth noting that while the core team enjoyed the success and later forgot what is Aatmatrisha, these gals still associated themselves with the fest even after 3 months! I quoted those 2 messages in the beginning of this post to illustrate the same.

I realized then, that it was this team which had incessantly worked in the background to make sure Aatmatrisha was a success. The credit for its success equally goes to this team. I don't know if anyone else has thanked them, but I feel the team deserves more than just a thanks. Subject to immense pressure, I might have been rude to them occationally. I am optimistic, the team has taken it in a good sense. Yet my sincere apologies if I've hurt them knowingly or otherwise.

I couldn't "Apply Thought", yet my Thought "Worked"

2008-09-04T19:14:00.000-07:00

Analyzing one of my implausible dream...

I always dreamt of a situation when my "Dream Company" announced its final list and I found your name there! I used to ask myself, "how are you feeling right now?" I dreamt of the situation when that "Dream Company" offered me "Application Developer" portfolio (even though I'm from Electronics Discipline) along with some of the best Computer Science Brains of my batch!!

Now, when you know that this is an impossible dream, yet your dream came true, how would you feel? I know its hard to explain. Really hard to blog about it. But I can tell you this, "Its a blissful Experience!"

The first time I came across Thoughtworks was in my 4th semester in PESIT campus. As a sponsor of one of our college's fest they had set up a "Stall" where they were conducting an Open Tech Quiz contest. I participated in it, won it! An Alumnus of PESIT, the organizer of Quiz told me about the company and its unique work culture, I was really impressed.

Thoughtworks has 6 rounds of interviews and each round is an elimination round. Needless to say the recruiters were very specific about the qualities, a fresh thoughtworkers ought to possess. Agility, creativity and strength in computing concepts. Don't you think its a great feeling to find your name in the list after 6 rounds of interviews!

To justify the title of this blog post, I had applied for Wipro VLSI, an electronics company a couple of months back. I was rejected in the technical round as I was "inept in Electronics". That was the day I thought, "May be I should never ever apply for an Electronics company". Now I realize my thought indeed worked!

End Note :

When Adidas claims, "Impossible is nothing", I don't think they do it just because its a catchy punchline. Dreaming is not at all a folly when you start believing that you have the energy to realize the dream!

The 'I' day blog

2008-08-15T09:05:00.000-07:00

"Inverse Square Law", as it denotes, The Intensity of a celebration dies exponentially as the years pass by.

Sometimes I wonder how thrilled my Grand Father would have felt when Mr Nehru declared on 15th August Midnight "India is Independent". As I write this blog, my hackles rise just by imagining that sensational day. That was indeed the 'I' day.

On the contrary, I abruptly woke up today (15th Aug) at 6 45 AM in the morning as the guy next door was playing "Hallowed be thy name" from Iron Maiden!. I asked myself, was I wrong in expecting a "Vande Matharam" or "Jana Gana Mana" at least on the 'I' day ?

We detest our lecturers who 'request' us to maintain silence in class. We felt like beating up our primary teacher who humbled us for our indiscipline. Now, can we even imagine the situation when this "Primary School Control" had to be extended throughout our life?

Can we even imagine the days in which we had to pray God requesting him to secure our Fundamental Rights? Could we accept if a cop barges into our houses and drags our parents to the police station and beats them Black and Blue just based on some mere conjecture? WE MUST BE LUCKY to be in Independent India.

I agree 61 years is a lot to most of us, the "Hi-Tech" youth. But at-least twice a year let us try to remember our freedom fighters, the heroes without whom we might had to hoist the Union Jack even today.

Lets raise at-least twice a year to give a hearty salute to our Tri-coloured National flag which has always had a deeper connotation than mere 3 colours. Lets forget our religion and region atleast for a day and unanimously shout "We are Indians". Let us try to forgive our brothers and sisters who have always succeeded in stirring up fights in the name of God and language.

End Note :

As for me, I have always been a staunch believer of Gandhian principles. I never crib when non-Indians recognize me as a person from the country where Gandhiji walked. I know very well that most of my contemporaries disclaim their faith towards Gandhiji. But again, Gandhiji is not Hitler to coercively make everyone like him!

Again, I come on Suvarna

2008-08-06T06:21:00.000-07:00

I kinda feel privileged to have some of my esteemed friends who are achieving heights in their respective field.

Keerthana, my childhood friend with whom I acted a couple of months back in Suvarna channel in Confident Star singer Situation round (Watch it) called me up on 23rd July and said "Mayya, there is one more comedy round shooting. Can you come with your college Gang because I am planning for a college scene"

Unfortunately all of my college friends were either enjoying at their native or busy on 29th. So finally one friend Ashwini agreed to join us. I called up my friend Ashrith from Mysore and he readily agreed to join us.

Round : Comedy Round

Plot : A Village boy (Halli Mukka) comes to Bangalore to study. He is clad in an ill fitting Kurta and looks typically a halli mukka. The city dudes and babes find him pretty amusing and try to play around with him.

Cast :

Halli Mukka : Its me !!

College Students : Lakshmikantha, Ashrith, Keerthana and Ashwini

Watch out for the mixture of various emotions of the village boy .

End Note :

Its really an irony. Me, Ashrith, Lakshmikanth and Keerthana all are from very small villages who have come to a Metropolitans chasing our dreams !

I really enjoyed doing the Halli mukka role. I am pretty sure you will like it as well. Please rate my acting if you've time..

7 Blasts shake Bangalore.. I was at one of the blast Spot

2008-07-25T05:30:00.000-07:00

Date : 25th July, 2008

1 30 pm : I am stuck at a traffic near Hudson Circle. I curse the bad traffic sense and Zero Lane discipline of myself and fellow Bangaloreans.

1 35 pm : I get into Vittal Mallya road. I park my bike near St Joseph's Boys high school and goto High School Principal's Chamber.

1 40 pm : The attender confirms that the Principal will be available only after 3 30 pm

1 45 pm : I reach the parking place and chart the route to Baldwin's Girls high school in my mind (cursing the one way roads) as I wanted to visit it as my next college.

1 48 pm : I reach the Vittal Mallya hospital in motorbike and see around 7-8 people climbing the Park Gate and curiously looking at something. I too peep in but can't see much except that the croton plants were uprooted. I ASSUMED it was due to trimming of the park shrubs and again assume there must be some SNAKE in the park. (Snakes are common in Mangalore but not in Bangalore)

2 40 pm : Successfully finishing the meeting with the Baldwins Girls highschool Headmistress, I come back to the same spot but this time there were around 50 people and 5-6 cameramen there. Was it a Dragon or a Godzilla? Didnt bother much as I had to meet Josephs Princi.

2 50 pm : I meet the Principal of St Josephs high school who is really busy answering the calls of anxious parents. "No sir, none of our kids are hurt. They are safe inside the School". HURT? What the hell..

2 51 pm : I ask the attender "whats the matter uncle?".. He says Bomb Blast near Vittal Mallya Hospital. I was like WTF!!!!!

End Note : This is not a fiction. I witnessed it. I had planned to meet the Quiz teams from various high school and give a push towards TCS IT Wiz which would start on August 8th.

Not that Namma Bengaluru Jana didn't expect the blast but 7 blasts at the span of 15 minutes just shows us how prepared they are. its ought to create panic in all of us.

Hey, Cowards, we are peace lovers. Where there is peace, there is GOD and I believe He is with us. Leave us or you'll perish.

Horror on TV

2008-07-20T05:37:00.000-07:00

Honestly, I hadn't tried my hand in Acting until 11th June. On 11th I ended up doing some terrific (Terrible?) acting..

The best part being this. I acted in a Singing Reality Show called Confident Star Singer. Now, before you jump into a conclusion that I sing as well, let me clarify, I SING PATHETICALLY. My ex roommates are the testimonials (lol). I acted with Keerthana, my very close friend from Belthangadi, who's currently in Top 18.

Round Name : Situation Round

Plot : A lady who met with some unintentional / unnatural death is alluring her love. But in a graveyard, accompanied by her friends (who are ghosts as well) she is ought to scare anyone, including her love.

Unfortunately, the guy (who's still alive) doesn't know that his love is dead yet. Adding to this, he can only listen to her voice, he CANNOT see her..

I swear I didn't get a chance to rehearse at all. All the discussion happened over phone and I couldn't spare enough time on practice (I had my sem exams in 10 days). So on stage, in front of Lakhs of audience, we did our first rehearsal..

Note :

Please rate my acting. Keerthana's voice is just amazing, its uncomparable..

Superman Forever - The unoffical Trailer

2008-07-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

Christopher Reeve - Superman (1978)
Brandon Routh - Superman Returns (2006)
i.Raveesh - Superman Forever (2008)

Watch the trailer of the movie. Its available exclusively in the 'i' Blog. Worldwide release yet to be decided.

Rating : PG
Background Music : Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, NY
Background Voice : Arya Ashok, Preethi and a Museum Employee.

Disclaimer : All the characters in this film are real and any resemblance to person living is purely intentional..

Critics Rating : *** (3/5)

Viewers Rating : **** (4/5)

People, post your rating.. Write comment.

I am a Proud Infoscion

2008-07-17T03:18:00.000-07:00

I am a proud Infoscion. I got to Infosys on 14th July. I am extremely happy to hold my first ever official offer letter. From last 3 days, I wake up with a smile on my face. I chose my FIRST company wisely.

In the HR round, I came across one of the wierdest HR in my life. He started the talk in this fashion. "Mr Raveesh, I can see that you're really working hard to be a JACK OF ALL TRADES! Didn't your Dad tell you concentrate on your studies?" .

Phew, All these while I had thought I was increasing my productivity by indulging in a Plethora of activities. Thanks to this great HR who made me think there are more than ways of looking at a scenario.

The session went on for about 25 minutes (quite strange because Infy interview usually won't last for more than 10 minutes) where he kept on pointing that I am a confused soul without any fixed goal in life, wasting energy in dancing and quizzing. But as a PJ master, I knew exactly what to do at this situation. I laughed with him at his PATHETIC jokes and added my essence to the same joke. lol.

But in the end, I made a strong statement " Sir, thanks for letting me realize what I am. I will think about all that you've said and decide whether all these while my pursuit of happiness was wrong or not. I will get up a wise person from tomorrow"

I was 300% sure I had to come back on 15th to write the next company when I found my name in the final selected list. I took no time to exclaim Damn, it was a stress interview man.

About half a dozen of my friends who were interviewed my this HR didn't make to the final selected list. I thanked God and rode my bike at neckbreak speed at Ring road (It was raining heavily then) to celebrate, ALONE!

Not my cup of tea

2008-07-17T00:03:00.000-07:00

I hadn't taken placements seriously, I just can't explain why. I was really surprised at my blithe indefference towards placements, considering it as just another activity in my life. The only preparation I had done for Wipro VLSI placements was buying a good trousers, a formal leather shoe and a file to carry certificates. Was it because it was a VLSI company or because I wanted some other company is still mysterious.

I cleared the Aptitude round with ease. The technical round was an Eye Opener for me. The interviewer looked at my resume for 2 about 2 minutes and then said, "Well, you have done good work on Quizzing, web development, dance etc I agree. But is there any acheivement of yours in Electronics? ".

The moment he asked me that question I told myself "Shit, what am I doing here? This is a VLSI company". Till date all my achievements have been in the IT / Computer world.

I was not fortunate enough to get into Wipro (or is it the other way round? lol). But then I learnt one main lesson for my life. In the professional world, its a folly to even try your hands at some work which you might not enjoy doing. Doing so will be an agony to both you and your employer.

I woke up a wise man the next day with a resolution to choose wisely from then on.

Celebrating the 1000th Visitor for my site.

2008-07-02T03:37:00.000-07:00

I started to learn html when I decided I should have a website of my own. I did contact a couple of my friends who have mastered web designing to develop a website for me. Fortunately they didnt find enough time for this project (lol). So I was forced to take the only Road Ahead. I had to learn and develop it myself.

It has been an amazing experience in this web world. Learning how a html tag works, how to link a given page to another, how to use JavaScripts etc has been fun. Not that they were a piece of cake prepared exclusively for me. It was fun enjoying the pain. And yeah did I tell you, the sitemap and basic structure was deisgned in December (in between semester exams). Later I got busy with my US trip work (practice, visa etc) that I had to push it aside. Finally uploaded it in March 2008.

Last week when I visited my page, I was the 1001st visitor!

Its still getting hits (about 10 to 15 per day). Now, I cannot expect a thousand hits/day for my personal website (I'm neither a cricketer nor a movie star, lol). Moreover, The hit counter increments only when there's a unique visitor. I cannot just refresh or open the page 10 times to increment it 10 times.

Many people mailed me their feedbacks and suggestions. Thank you everyone.

Brain Vs Me. The Last Judgement

2008-07-02T03:16:00.000-07:00

As every one of us knows, the study holidays are the perfect time to stay idle, stay jobless etc. So my idle brain has been thinking a lot these days. In-fact, it is debating with me continuously on the same topic that I had spoken about almost a month back. A week back, something triggered the debate again and this time it was THE DEBATE. Somebody actually managed to win this battle.

Date :20th June

Brain : So, you still think that I am wrong, don’t you?

Me : No, you don’t understand. Fortunately or Unfortunately everything that is right need not necessarily be desirable. Right?

Brain : Dude, I pity you. I have given you so many reasons to prove that you’re unnecessarily wasting your time and energy on this. You still think its worth the effort?

Me : You see, I never had this experience in my life. I seriously think I very much like this experience.

Brain : Let me correct you, YOU CANNOT THINK because thinking is MY job (lol). You may just feel so, which I can prove with statistics and instances that its wrong. Also, it’s a new experience and a new experience need not necessarily be GOOD experience, in fact I can prove that this one is a not-so-pleasant experience.

Me : Oh, yeah? Go ahead….

Brain : OK, counting, this will be the 67th time I’m explaining you. Ok listen properly.

1. How many times have you rescheduled your works to synchronize with her? You realize you have missed some important deadlines and your efficiency is going low because of that.

2. Your expectation to get adequate response from her is rarely met. How many times has this troubled you mentally?

3. You assumed a lot of things in this particular case. By now you might have realised most of them are WRONG..

4. Your friends don’t want you to fall in all these and stop. Everyone expects Raveesh to be active, enterprising and carefree. They don’t want you to go off-track in any condition.

5. The year ahead is a crucial year yaar. Your 3 years work might see fruit this year in terms of placements, internship or Higher studies offer. Please don’t render your 3 years efforts waste just because you want to relax a bit now. Its seriously not the time to try out things.

6. Main Reason: How is her response to your messages, your calls etc? How much she wants to initiate or at least continue any conversation? Dude, she’s got no special feelings for you. Please understand that your efforts to impress her might repel her from you.

{End of Debate}

Hmmm, I know, as always my brain is right. Fortunately and unfortunately all the decisions for me are taken my brain and I got its decision. So with a crying heart, I have to accept my brain’s decision.

But fortunately or unfortunately nothing in relationship is binary (right-wrong, yes-no etc). So let me not further explore the advantages and disadvantages of committing myself. I am not sure if I should feel like a loser.

End Note:

As someone clearly said A Geek will be a Geek and must be a Geek. If everyone expects me to remain the same, I won’t disappoint anyone. I am kinda hurt but not shattered. I am 100% sure I’m gonna treasure this colourful months forever. My promise to the world is I’ll never stop. Yet, I know very well that she is too sweet to be lost.

The mystery of 'i'

2008-05-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

People keep asking me about the alphabet i that I use as my digital signature “i.Raveesh”. Before it becomes the butt of thousand jokes, let me unveil the mystery of the ‘i’.

identity : To start with, i.Raveesh is my identity in the cyber world. It is my digital signature.

innovative : I just didnt want to follow the normal Name&Surname or Name+Surname format for the website URL. Also i didnt want it to exceed 8 characters in the URL.

imaginary : All those who know me as very well will agree with me. I live most of my life in an imaginary world. Even though this crazy world which doesn’t exist, all my activities, my initiatives are the outcome of the dreams I see in this world. So I want to give credits to my imaginary world by adopting a new name in an equally imaginary world, the web world.

Therefore

y = real + i*(imaginary)

=> Name = 0 + i*(raveesh)

=> Name = i.Raveesh
Where the i is the mathematical representation of a complex number. (wow, I can be geekish)

iCon : Steve Jobs is my role model in life. His life has taught me not only to think different and dream impossible but to accept my defeat, not to lose heart at the gravest of my days. He is my iCon.

iterative : The Raveesh you know would not have been the same if he hadn’t been iterative.
For (i=0; CompetitionStatus!= Victory ; i++)
{
TRY AGAIN
}
Half a dozen failures have preceded any visible success in my life. It’s really cool to fail because every time I fail, I know very well that I have eliminated 1 of the million ways of failing. My efforts are not to avoid the failures, but not to end up doing the same mistake.

Also, if you’ve observed, the i in the name is in lower case. According to me, the upper case I represents AHAM, the ego. I use the upper case to quote great people like Julius Caesar, Rene Descartes etc. but when it points to me, forever it will be an i.

End Note :
This is not supposed to be a serious post. So please show some mercy on me while posting the comments. lol.

A Road-Trip to remember

2008-05-24T05:11:00.000-07:00

I hadn’t been to an expedition for quite a while now. Until I am very much wrong, last time I freaked out was almost 2 months back when we went on a trekking to Skandagiri hills. As my lab internals got over on 22nd and so I was free for 2 days and so were a few of my fellow hostelites. So we decided to go on an adventurous expedition.. All voted unanimously on a road trip to Bandipur, Himavath Gopalaswamy hills, Nanjangud etc which are located around 250 KM from Bangalore. So without thinking twice, kicking our bikes start with josh and our adrenaline running high, 8 of us left to our destination in 4 bikes.

A jolly Bike Trip

A nice photo session near Bidadi (the sunset time), a nice dinner at Pallavi Dhaba near Mysore, a photo sessoin outside Mysore palace etc were the highlights of the days ride.

Sunset at Bidadi

Mysore Palace

Thanks to traffic and other factor we reached Gundlupet at 12 45 AM in the night. Unlike what we had expected, all the lodges in tat town were full. As we'd biked for about 6 hours, we desperately needed a place to sleep. One kind bus driver, looking at our plight offered us seats in his bus. So, this had undoubtedly been my best night stay experience. A sleep to remember! All of us dozed off within no time.

The Adventure Day

We woke up very early, at 4-45 am as we wanted the first trip to the forest. The road from Guldlupet to Bandipur was the worst ever road that I have ever ridden. All my body parts were aching by the time we reached Bandipur which was just about 20 km from Gundlupet.

Bandipur forest safari wasn’t that exciting as we thought. We didn’t even spot a tiger, lion, not even a fox. But we saw lots of Gazelles, monkeys, peacocks and a couple of elephants.
Our next destination was Himavad Gopalaswamy hills which was about 20 km from Bandipur. After a not-so-promising safari, we were expecting a lot from this hill. But this exceeded our expectation. AWESOME would be an understatement. Here, the nature was at its best and a great harmony between nature and wildlife. We just had the best time of the day there.

Boys love Adventure

One of the hoselite actually went as close as 400 m to a group of elephants and took some brilliant snaps.

We went to Nanjangud after a light lunch at Gundlupet. Nanjangud is called Dakshina Kashi. It has a very famous and big temple of Lord Shiva. The 4 riders (including me) were so tired riding in the horrible road that we took a nap at the verandah of the temple.

NanjanGud Shiva Temple

Our next stop was Chamundi Hills, a very famous tourist spot in Mysore. After spending some time in the hill top, we climbed down to visit the Nandi temple which is half way down the hill.

Nandi temple

The last and final pit-stop was the backwaters of Krishna Raja Sagara Jalashaya (in short KRS Dam).

Backwaters of KRS

An ancient temple, i.e. the Venugopala Swamy temple which was submerged due to the Krishna Raja Sagara reservoir is being rejuvenated at the peninsula by literally re-locating the temple from the submerged place. The reconstructed temple at the KRS reservoir

End Note :
No doubt, this was one of the best tours I did. The only painful part of the entire trip was the bad and broken roads, may it be the Ooty road or road to KRS. This is an agony to everyone who want to visit these places. Karnataka Tourism, which boasts to be the best in India would definitely be aware of this. But why aren’t any steps being taken? I personally don’t want to believe that there is no sufficient funding.

So whom to blame now, Karnataka Tourism Department, the political system of India or the electoral, i.e. we people who haven’t spent even half an hour to choose the best government.

Somebody please tell me Whats happening with me

2008-05-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

I am no longer of the opinion that my life is monotonous.

I indulged myself in lots of activities for a few reasons. I didn’t want time for myself as I knew very well that I would waste it royally. Also I didn’t want to give my brain some time to think of impossible things and just focus on what I need to do in the near future. Keeping myself busy taught me to set priorities in life and work accordingly.

But I started to realize that trying to escape from a monotonous life I made my life a “monotonic busy life”. Everyday dance practice, everyday coding etc. I needed some break. I craved for a new kind of experience which I never had in life. Just that I couldn’t define what it was.

Now it seems God has defined it for me. Or at least he’s started to define it for me. I’ve started to find my world more interesting than it previously was. Surprisingly I’ve realized nothing in the world around me has changed. Or may be those changes are not objective. May be its emotional! May be something in me has changed. Have I started liking someone?

I just can’t believe this. I don’t want to believe this. I have seen many of my close friends struggling cos of this. I've laughed at their plight. I myself have suggested many of them not to fall in this. I’d told them it’s a PAIN. Now I realize now why everyone falls into this. It’s a pain everyone loves to enjoy!!

My brain keeps telling me Liking someone definitely means handing over your emotional remote control in her hand. Whether I like it or not, I’m controlled! Should I override my brain and let it happen? Or should I support my brain who’s been my constant guide from the day I started to think?

Brain vs Heart

Right now I am debating with my brain. The results of the debate are not out. I better not let my stupid brain interfere much in this matter. What say? Suggestions are solicited.

Touched by an Angel - NewYork

2008-04-09T06:23:00.001-07:00

My previous 3 blogs gave a complete description of the visits and fun that we had in New York city. Our NY city trip was neither in Team Sanskrithi's tour budget nor were we funded by Indiana University of Pennsylvania or PESIT. Our dreams to maraud the city of New York would have just been a dream if it was not for an Angel we met in New York. He along with his family not only took care of all 16 dancers but also ensured us a luxurious stay in New York and New Jersey. He is none other than Mr Venkatesha Naik.

Mr Venkatesha Naik

When we landed in JFK international Airport with luggage,double our number, he had arranged for 4-5 limousines to take us to New Jersey where we stayed for 3 days in a luxurious hotel named Days Inn. This is by far the most luxurious hotel that I've ever stayed in. He took us to various places like the Liberty Island, the Ellis island, The UNO, Empire State Building, Times Square, Madame Tussaud's Wax museum etc. All these places had an entry fee, nothing less than 15$ per person! Unless I'm very much mistaken, the entry to 102nd floor of the Empire State Building is nothing less than 30$ per person!

We had our lunch, evening snacks, dinner during those 3 days in Wendy's, Mcdonalds,etc.And other days,they were kind enough to host all of us for lunch and dinner and the food was delicious!Our last day was the most memorable. We actually travelled in an elongated Porsche Limousine from New Jersey to JFK international Airport.

The royal team

I absolutely have no words to describe his generosity, his love to all of us and his energy levels. His family has also been extremely kind to us, especially Akka, who along with cooking us some of the most delicious cuisines ,took care of all of us when we were suffering from jetlag. I've rarely seen people as humble as them.

Akka and their kids. The eldest kid's missing from the snap :-(

I would want to quote the most touching instance.. On the last day, when I went to him to express my gratitude, he told me, "The World is round; we will definitely meet once again. Feel free to contact me any time in life for help!!"

NewYork - The city that never sleeps

2008-04-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

The strenuous video-shoot never withered anyone's eagerness and enthusiasm because by 8 am, everyone was all set for the best day in NewYork.

We started with the Empire State Building which unfortunately we couldn't conquer the previous day due to overcast. Thankfully it was a clear day, so there was nothing that could stop us.. :)

The view of NY was just amazing from the Tallest building in NewYork. The wind blew at a speed of about 15 miles an hour which added to our excitement. I can say, this is one of the best sights of my life. Buildings everywhere which gave us the feeling of a Concrete Jungle.

a view from Empire State Building

We were in 86th floor (i believe) and Mr Naik got us the tickets for the 102nd floor. It was a observatory and the view from there was just mindblowing..

Aaj Mai Uper, Aasma Neeche

We spent quite a long time up there everyone ensuring that the sight of NewYork shall remain evergreen in our memory.Gala Time

Next stop was the Times Square, which most of us had seen in movies like The Spiderman. We split up and roamed around the Times Square where I did a bit of shopping.
Most of the times I was busy reading the Sign Boards, the colourful ads etc. I didn't realize we spent almost 2 hours in Times Square. Times Square definitely Rocks!!!

A visit to Madame Tussaud's Wax museum : It felt as though all the best things happened together on the same day. The Wax Museum was simply the best of all things we did in NewYork. We met a lot of eminent personalities there including George Bush, Bill Gates, Michael Jackson, Shakira, Superman, The Rock, Mahatma Gandhiji and the best of all, Mr Charlie Chaplin (lol..

People, be frank. Who's the better actor among us?

After a grand dinner at Chand's Restaurant along with the Naik family (where we raised a toast for their amazing hospitality and help) we called it a day..

Last Day
It was cold as usual and a few of the dancers, Raghu, Chithra, Nisha, Arya, Rashmi, Shreyanka , Shweta and me were interviewed by Asianet USA at a temple in New Jersey. All of us were dressed in traditional Indian style and the gals looked more charming than ever (lol).

We hardly had time to pack our stuffs. In a hurry we packed and vacated Days Inn and within no time we were on our way to Indiana, the next phase of our US trip.

Conclusion :
I had heard NewYork was a city of sky scrapers, the city which never sleeps, the most beautiful city, a lively city etc. Now that I've witnessed it, i just wanna say, its more than just a beautiful city. NewYork is a culture, its a way of life. And more....

NewYork Darshan Day 2

2008-03-31T08:38:00.000-07:00

After a tight sleep, the day had to be vibrant. As expected, it was. The temperature was about 28 degree Fahrenheit and wasn't snowing :(

The day’s tour started with the visit of UNO headquarters. We went past the Times Square and all the digi cams inside our limousine were just capturing the beauty of the beautiful street. UNO is a place to visit, mark my words!!

Inside the UNO

After a remarkable time in the UNO, we did a bit of shopping in the UN store (boy, its damn expensive).

UN store Merchandises

Next stop had been the Empire States Building. But we were unfortunate, the sky was cloudy and thus the visibility was Zero miles. So we decided to eat out and the teams split into vegetarian/non-vegetarian group and get into different restaurant and in the process, I GOT LOST.

In a foreign country, like a lonely ranger, I tried to find my team desperately looking for them everywhere when for my relief I found Neetha, one girl from my team, but here came the best part, SHE WAS LOST TOO!

But thankfully she remembered Mr Naik’s number. We met 2 Indians who happily called Mr Naik from one of their cell phone and thus we finally joined the team.

We went to Macys store later where girls did a lot of shopping. As the items were really expensive I was extremely happy to do WINDOW SHOPPING.

Someone's Busy doing Window Shopping :)

Our first show in USA was for Asianet USA channel that evening. The shooting went on till 3 am in the morning. It was damn fun. More than that, the way the Americans looked at us when we were in our dance costumes, was a sight to see!!

Asianet USA show

NewYork Darshan Day 1

2008-03-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

As soon as we landed in JFK International Airport, we were taken directly to BridgeWater, New Jersey where we stayed in a beautiful lodge named Days Inn for 3 days. We were welcomed by Mr and Mrs Naik and their 3 charming kids.

A royal Welcome at The Days Inn

When we say New York, the first thing which comes to everyone’s mind is the Statue of Liberty. Contrary to many of our beliefs, Liberty islands is in the State of New Jersey!!!. After we dumped all our luggage at Days Inn and freshening ourselves up, we all sat in a Ford Limousine and started to Liberty Island. On our way we passed the Brooklyn Bridge, one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States.

The Brooklyn Bridge

It had been a freezing experience to all of us, especially me who had grossly under-estimated the US cold. We started from Ellis Island which is popularly known as the immigration island. Here we visited the Emigration Museum where we were told about the history of this federal immigration station.

Ellis Island has a very grave history though. All emigrants who wanted to come to USA had to go through innumerous processes, tests and examinations. The officer in-charge explained us how the medical examinations of the emigrants were done. He showed us the stairs where the emigrants were observed while they climbed up, the Great Hall and the hospitals for the diseased. This island is very close to Liberty Island. The guy went on narrating many anecdotes while our team members slowly started to fall under the influence of jetlag. We badly needed sleep!!

Do I look sleepy or do I look lost?

So the plans to go to Liberty Island and climb the statue of liberty had to be dropped unfortunately. But the ferry went so close to the Island that we almost felt we are in the Liberty island.

Ellis Island

Away from India - My First Experience

2008-03-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

The Joyous team in JFK international Airport

On 4th Feb, 2008, our aircraft, the AI 141 landed in John F Kennedy international Airport in New York. For many of us, the day was the most memorable one. For me, a lots of things happened for the first time in my life during the first 3 days of our USA trip.

My first Flight
My first time in Mumbai (i'm not joking)
My first international Flight
First time snowfall
First site of Sky Scrappers
First feel of –ve temperature
First trip in a Right-Hand Drive Car
First sight of a fully functional GPS etc...

As i see the world from Top

Mr Venkatesh Naik , a Mangalorean by origin, now well set in New Jersey hosted our 3 days stay New Jersey and sponsored our entire NewYork Trip. It is almost impossible to host a group of 17 people in NewYork for 3 days and take them on a NY tour, especially if it’s an All Students Group and especially if its Team Sanskrithi. Mr Naik was not just kind and sweet but he was patient enough to tolerate our boisterous nature.

A feather to Sanskrithi's Achievements - the USA Trip

2008-03-07T10:05:00.000-08:00

Sanskrithi, a team which started as a 4 member dance team in 2006 in PESIT has grown like a Banyan Tree in 4 years. With a firm root (named Raghu), powerful Stem (named Chithra) and the greatest nurturer (named Nisha) Sanskrithi has grown as an Institution itself.

Sanskrithi has trained/nurtured innumerous dancers like me in the process of its development. There is no forum in which the team has not won a prize. Starting from Bangalore College fests, the team's victory chain is never broken.

Sanskrithi's fame started oozing out of Bangalore with its victory at the Antaragni, the main fest of IIT Kanpur. Then on, it has won awards and accolades at the JIPMER Pondicherry, PES medical College Kuppam, IIM Bangalore to name a few. It has performed at many prestigious forums like the East Cultural Association, Kristal Kalavedi, Innovative Film City Bidadi etc.
A feather to all its achievements :
When we, the team members got a mail from Dr Bob Camp, the Dean of Eberly College of Business and Information Technology inviting us on a Cultural Exchange program in Indiana University of Pennsylvania, we couldn't believe it. We had an option to perform abroad, completely sponsored by PESIT (our institute) and IUP!!!

It was more than what I had asked for

Sanskrithi in Indiana

Team Sanskrithi - My Dance Team

2008-03-06T07:28:00.000-08:00

Sanskrithi, the eastern contemporary dance team of PESIT is a very unique team due to lots of specialties that the team as a whole has. It has got dancers from all over India, specialized in various dance forms of India like the Bharathanatyam, Kuchipudi, Mohiniattam, Satriya, Kathak, Yakshagana etc. We all are Engineering Students with a passion for dance.

This following song defines our team's enthusiasm... The junior dancers of the team actually wrote this song as a dedication for Senior Dancers. It is a modified form of Dekho Dekho from the movie Taare Zameen Par which is Aamir Kahn's directorial debut. The song goes as follows :

Dekho dekho kya yeh team hai
US jane wali team hai
raghu ne milaya rag
chithra hai chitrakaar
aur nisha ke nashe se
hua hua hua hua sanskrithi ka shuruath
duniya bar phelayenge sanskar
sanskrithi hai hamara parivaaar
(Chorus)Bum bum bole masti mein dole
bum bum bole masti me tu dol reoooooooooooooooooooooooooo (Chorus)

shreyanka ki chaal ne kiya hai dhamaal
o phir ayaa o pj master (Thats me!!)
hasna hasana uska kaam hi kaam
kuch jatke aur matke aur jhoomthe rahe
dus hazaar bar kiya humne dashavtaar
aur har baar mila hume hume hume hume hume puraskaar

{Chorus}ab aaye hai joonis senies ko nachane
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
ab aaye hai joonis senies ko nachane
par kudh seekh gaye nachne gane
khoob sataya (oh) khoob ghumaya
aur joshila sanskrithi humne banaye
khulke soche aayo
pankh zara phelaoo
rang naye dikhlao
chalo chalo chalo chalo naye khwab bundlen {chorus}

The Boisterous Team

Microsoft Technology Immersion Program

2008-03-03T08:27:00.000-08:00

On 16th December 2007, Microsoft decides to acquaint MSPs (Microsoft Student Partner) with 3 sub-divisions of Microsoft : Microsoft Research Lab (MSR) and Microsoft Developer and Platform Evangelism (DPE). So 8 MSPs from Bangalore (including me) and 5 from Chennai decided to make the best use of this opportunity.

We started our trip from the MSR labs located at Sadashivnagar.

Phase I : Microsoft Research Lab is a home of some of the world's best brains. Firstly Mr Mr.Ashwani , University Relations Manager for Microsoft Research, gave us some insight into what Basic Research, Applied Research, Prototyping, Advanced Development, Software Development and Services actually meant. He then spoke about the various research areas at MS Research that included, Cryptography, Natural Language Processing, Algorithms, Networks. He told us there are about 35 PhD scholars and about 15 non-PhDs (interns and himself) in MSR Bangalore.

We also interacted with Dr. Raghava, a young, energetic cryptographic expert and Dr. Jeff from University of California, San Diego (networking expert). I asked him personally about Indian students' performance in UCSD and he said, "They are doing Great".

Phase II : Microsoft Development and Platform Evangelism (DPE)
Here we interacted with Mr Tarun Gulati, the GM of Microsoft DPE. He wanted to know our opinion as Why isn't Microsoft successful in Stricking the Chord ? He was on a quest to know what was lacking/missing at Microsoft from getting the WoW factor among the customers.
We had a session by Mr Deepak Rajendran, the Enthusiast Evangelist on Photosynth Live and a seminar on Data Isolation Techniques in Microsoft SQL server by Mr Vinod Kumar.

A sneakpeak of Microsoft Global Tech Support Centre (GTSC) at the Signature Building in the evening concluded our Technology Immersion Program. Mr Tom, popular in GTSC as Top-Pa gave us an overview of GTSC and their work. He told us how people were wrong in assuming that GTSC is Microsoft's BPO wing. He explained us what was the level of expertise in technology an employee of GTSC had to possess in order to be able to solve its client's problems.

It was an amazing experience for all of us, a great escape from Exam stress indeed!

MSPs from Bangalore

Blue Buddies in PESIT Campus

2008-03-03T07:17:00.000-08:00

Intel Blue Buddies, a group of enthusiast Engineers from Intel came down to PESIT campus to demonstrate the cutting edge technologies from Intel, the Classmate PC, various chip platforms like Core, VPro etc. At the end of the seminar, the most innovative question from a student got him/her the invitation to visit Intel India Development Centre in Bangalore.
So on 14th November, I went to Intel IDC along with my other friends who earned themselves an entry too. We were pleased to meet Ms. Mukta Darera who is an application developer and a blue buddy at Intel. She took us around the campus along with few guys from other campuses (RVCE and Dr. AIT). We had a chance to witness the Penryn Technology release and a Grand Feast on that behalf.
We also bought ourselves some goodies from the Intel Store as a souvenir. It was so sweet of Mukta to be with us throughout the Intel visit and host us.

Group Photo

Touched by an Angel

2008-03-03T07:04:00.000-08:00

Mr Prakash Subbarao, the CEO of Spark Consultants, Bangalore is the owner of Bangalore Quiz Group. I had once posted about Blitz - The IT Quiz Book (My book) in the forums of BQG.

He instantaneously followed up the thread and congratulated me for my efforts. Not just that, he bought a book himself and posted his opinion...

And then came the best thing..He wanted to gift me something, which will help me in publicising the book. The first thing which came to his mind is A WEBSITE. So if today, i have a website of my own, all thanks to him who gave me idea and a push in that direction.

Visit my page : www.iraveesh.com

Being at Right Places at Right Time

2008-01-31T11:03:00.000-08:00

I always attribute the opportunities I've got till now to my STARS. I am always at right places at the right time

Ex: I lost the Rural IT Quiz twice; Mr Giri Balasubramanyam, the Quiz Master had noted my Quizzing style. When I came to Bangalore to support the team for which I lost, he appreciated my love to Quiz. Now I work in his company (Greycaps India Private Ltd) as a Research Consultant for the Tech Quizzes. Did I ask for anything more???

I had a chance to enter NIT, Suratkal or even RVCE for my engineering course. I chose PESIT. Now due to this choice of mine
1) I'm a part of a dance team, Sanskrithi which is Going to USA on 3rd Feb 2008 for a Cultural Exchange program.
2) I started the Quotient Quiz Club in PESIT as there was no quiz club in PESIT
3) I became the only Microsoft Student Partner from ECE dept in entire Bangalore (as my senior MSP was from ECE and he found me as his successor)

I had an opportunity to get in CSE dept once during CET counselling and once during the 3rd semester branch change day. I stuck to ECE eventhough Computer Science was my cup of tea. But now, I am more aquainted to Probability, statistics, Transformations, signal processing etc.

I also feel many of my batchmates are capable of doing these things much more efficiently than me also. But why me everytime? There might just be 1 thing in me which is different from others. EXPLOIT THE SITUATION MUCH BEFORE ANYONE ELSE.

The Early Bird catches the worm

Blogging, a Cyber-space Necessity

2008-01-30T10:39:00.000-08:00

At last, my resistance to being a non-blogger just gave away today. I had resisted this temptation for almost 2 years, finally weblog (blog as we all know now) triumphs.

As my first blog, I would like to thank Lord Almighty for giving me an oppurtunity to be in the a situation to blog. I can say I am a part of that creamy layer of the society which has got enough facility to sit and blog, let alone browsing and surfing.

Everyday I ride my bike in the glorious city of Bangalore, I see misery, pain around. From a small child selling earbuds to a very old man trying to sell napkins (with the pain that his son has abandoned him) , everyone strengthens my faith in God. I am bestowed with an opportunity to prove my worth in this damn competitive world, and I am always upto it.

As of now, all I can do to those people (who are not as lucky as me) is PRAY for them. Also pray God to keep me in the same state so that I can help them once I start earning.

Thank You God.....