..of pool and party

...well, since the so called 'dissertation' work has be procrastinated indefinitely, the days are getting better and better, though sometimes it does get a little stodgy at times sticking to the usual routine...not that I am complaining or anything but i guess fun also should come in assorted flavours. Well, on the other hand should be glad to get at least this much from a place like this. ok, the day begins with a couple of early morning bangs on the door (..this time the early morning IS early, its 7.30) and then a couple or maybe more lovely phrases aimed at me to bring me out of the slumber. Next stop, the swimming pool, with the strongest of intentions and ambitions to do smthin extra at least this time. twenty minutes into it, the stalwart ones amongst us decided to take the plunge from the first tier of the jumping board (..i dont kno what its called, will refer to it as this only). Well..i like heights and i like water...didnt know how both combined can turn out, so decided to put my dear life at stake and go with it. very soon realised that things look 'very' different from the top, and especially when one has to take a leap from there. one guy goes, two, three....and lo, its me all alone staring at the murky waters below.friends seemed to be cheering and shouting something and was nice to know that people are encouraging me but when the words did start coming clearly, got to know that those so called 'friends' were telling me which of my belongings will they keep if i dont make it through...huh..'i want the compu'...'i will settle for speakers' and other things, which were anything but encouraging. anyways, when u gotta do it, you gotta do it.a deep breath, closed eyes and a posture suggested by the trainer in mind, took the leap. well, the posture suggestd was something like this- keep the body straight, arms to the side and open up the arms wen u are into the water and DO NOT open up the legs. i got the point about the legs part, no one wants to hurt their 'precious' for some fun's sake but didnt pay that much heed to that keep-the-body straight part, consequently landed on the butt, which at that time seemed not to give much trouble but became somewhat pain in ass later...literally. so after getting that initial confidence, went through it a couple of times and tried not to give my other parts any trouble for the day. this concluded the beginning of the day, after that the usual breakfast, attendence, movies, sleep, movies, sleep etc... then just as another round of movie was beginning, another one of those btech guys called up(..dammn these ppl are really becoming smthin to handle nowadays, wonder what was with them all these years). so there was this grad party that was being organised at some new hotel nearby which supposedly had a pool also. tell you what, this kindof proposition seems somewhat unbelievable in a place like roorkee, but after a few confirmation calls, it was established that the hotel really had a pool and it wasnt a hoax call to pull in participation. conincidentially, the customised deptt tshirts also arrived and turned out to be nice. so at about 7 or so, 40 or so people in similar dress marched out for the destined spot. i choose to take the less tedious way with my(for the time being) ride with doggy giving me a company. the place turned out way way better than my expectations and was quite spacious, tidy, and the pool, though not that clean, was good enough for a party of this sort. the rest of the company had already reached and some were busy undressing for the occassion while others chose to lay back and enjoy the sight of so many of their companions taking bath at same time and with each other. as for others, and me included, we decided to be in the part of the group which was in the water. then began the water sport fest, with a variety of events, many of then never ever seen before and participants unconditionally taking joining or leaving any event as they liked. the list includes, something like water polo, only in this one, there was no goal and one could pass the ball to anyone who had the choice to either pass the ball to anyone or throw it out of the pool or even bang it on anyone outside the pool. the person possessing the ball could also try to keep it to himself and bolt in any direction he wanted till eight to ten people buried him and took the ball and the same thing again happend to the next guy. i couldnt figure out the rules but i guess there were none...but who cares as long as all were having an awsome time. then there were diving events where we tried all sorts of flip-flops and jumps and tried hard not to land on the guys in the water, as they were either busy with the so-called-water-polo, or were taking swimming lessons, just relaxing, trying to pull someones shorts down, throwing others in, or just sipping on to drinks and spectating. below is me and mogli taking a backward fall together, more were there with upto 5 people at a time, unfortunately cameras werent good enough to capture the spectacle.



well, after a few hours into it, just when i was about to leave, took a dive and bloody did it too well, went in the water as streamlined as possible, and just wen was feeling good about it....bang..my head and the pool floor. so much for the diving and jumping. blacked out for a sec or two, surfaced up, figured out the up and down and other directions, and ya the head had a nice bump on it till now and hurt like hell. it turned out to be the last thing i did in that stupid pool. wouldve been better off sitting up there, sipping the drinks and munching on the snacks. changed after that, and took up the next job that was waiting...being the dj for the night. one thing is sure, the more the people the more it becomes intricate to fabricate a playlist that suits all and if u're not a pro dj, almost everyone will come to pour in their 'expert' comments and opinions about the next track to be played. anyways, i had to manage with watever collection i had left(...thanks to the HP service center staff) and with all kinds of requests coming in every second i found myself devoid of some of the basic you-have-to-have songs for the party including 'in the end', 'in da club' and sorts like that...not to mention some of the essential desi ones, wonder when there will be a demand for some trance... anyways, the retro collection with all sorts of dj dolls, vibes, bombay rockers, vikings, dj's at war and some of punjabi ones was able to satisfy the audience....well at least for some time coz when people want to change the song every thirty seconds or so and also want good ones to keep coming and coming, you simply run out of good ones, and that is when you get the looks, frowning faces and more of those 'expert' comments....yaar aadat chala de, tere paas garam masala nahi hai kya, abe yaar sab bor ho rahe hai...what the fuck man...and when you ask someone else to do it, the they disappear at that first mention of it or, worse, put their 'ideas' into action. m not sayin that am the best of playlist makers but sure i can do better that quite a lot of people. anyways the dancing arena shifted a couple of times with the intensity of dance escalating everytime. after the final few tracks, had a group photo shoot....below is the one ..



then had the pic with our backs toward the cam, just flaunting our tshirts thats all....



..had a nice dinner afterwards, the best part being the dessert, which was, for me and champa, chocclate sauce with a tinge of ice cream, and for others.....where the hell did the sauce go...luckly, the waiter brought another bottle and i was full till then. champa got down with his guitar afterwards with some nice chords and everyone joined in...the more is not always merrier, really....jst kidding, it was nice with everyone singing and enjoying the last get together of the batch. I do have to stay here but there wont be the people with whom i have been here all these years to share the feeling. will really miss the times i spent with them. all in all...really great time, today and all these years but ya...couldve been better...way better... :)

..as good as it gets..

...nothing worse than waking up to a summer morning in roorkee, which i am realizing for about a couple of weeks now. Today was no different, with the unbearable heat acting as the alarm, and even sleeping in minimals didnt helping in any way that might be thought of as comforting. Ya well, after that, the daily routine of marking the attendence (young and sincere researcher in makin ....u see) and again weeding out any thoughts of a tentative reasearch work for the day, decided to go back to my havenly abode, which, to my dismay, was still as uninhabitable as before. Few minutes into giving it thought, i concluded that a little comfort can be sacrificed for another leg of hibernation and thus did some adjustments to make the conditions bearable(dont ask abt those..) and after a couple,well, a couple of couple hours later woke up to the second basic necessity that drives the human race...food (well, we all know the first one..). Had another tremendous mess food, seriously guys..i mean it...one has to appreciate this....its an art to keep anything so constant year after year...even when its lousyness.. and maybe inculcating at least this in us, we can make ourselves into better engineers, afterall, its one of the few things which are actually 'practical' here. Nyways, had a couple of hours off after that too(man..its too good being a dulla here) and finally my body eventually in to the stress of so much relaxation. So had to get up, only to find out its that time of the day when everyone else is off. So went to the market, did some research on smthin i had to buy..and ya, as i have an awsome ride for the vacations, that toiling in the sun and that endless walk dont seem to pull the spirits down for any kind of an excursion, even when the sun keeps the potential of baking my ass to cinder. Romaing here and there aimlessly constituted a part of the day, or the trasition of the day to the evening, which i hoped to be a bit more forgiving in terms of wheather. Was at a senior's room when a sudden thought to clean up that room propped up. The so called thrash that came out of there constituted of about 30 odd bottles, some cans, bedsheets, clothes, newspapers which have been used to diverse purposes(..."diverse"), and loads of different things that cant be described...for all those who know wat room i am talkin about its good, for those who dont....you DONT have to know. Anyways, suddenly the skies started showing eccentric but welcome colours, the dark ones. Its kindof usual here, one moment everything is clear then suddenly the opposite. Was clear that we had a bit of rain and maybe a little sandstorm at hand. The latter arrived earlier, and trust me, it was anythin but a 'little' one. So being a bit crazy myself, decided to put my bike driving skills to test, and just to make sure that i dont die alone, called up jojo to take the plunge. Well, i must say this, that one single round around the campus will always be the toughest one of my life....and even jojo's. Had sand flying around by the tonnes, seemed like bucket fulls of it were being thrown and we were being tested in a wind tunnel, trees were getting ripped apart and not to mention the debris like the broken branches and other stuff that the wind could lift at that time flying around like in zero gravity. Realised halfway that this was a bad idea, but had to go through it, and finally did do it. Found most of orifices in the body (....that are exposed, of course) filled with sand, the hair full of it, and the clothes having changed their color to brown. Obviously, shower was the next thing on the mind when suddenly God fulfilled this wish also, and then again the two gone-nuts buddies started off, only time picking another initially-somewhat-unwilling-but-finally-convinced alien(...read as jaadu) with us. After a few rounds of some stuff(...lol) , and choclate, there were a few rounds around the insti, with the rain beating down so hard that it actually hurt plus the temperature suddenly taking an unexpect and abrupt dive and so it was finally a combination of hard hitting rain, screwed up visibility, trees lying on the road, shivering wind(...yes..we came to the level of shivering...funny considering my intial state in the morning) and three freaks....and ya...no horn on that bike too. So after a single round, the possibilities seemed high and great and the next stop decided was GC(again for those who kno, good...who dont....no point in readin further). Crossing the iit main gate gave one realisation...riding in these conditions outside was the second most stupid idea of the day...but now that the decision had been made, what was done couldnt be undone. Roads outside were more brutual with their approach and didnt seem to make it any easier for us with that almost zero visibility( and did i mention that this was about 7..when usually its all sunny here). Finally did make it to that place, had to take a little pit stop...not to take rest but to look at the flow so strong and the level of that body of water so up the mark. It was one of the most powerful flow i had ever seen and with the rain still strong it didnt seem to ease down anytime soon. Anyways, after enjoying the view there(..i mean whatever was visible) we again decided to go on the road by that canal for a few kilometeres. Now, we had a narrow road, with that overflowing canal on one side, no-one-knew-what on the other side and occassional vehicles comin in from the other side, which never helped a bit coz of my specs (..and ya..no one else knew how to ride.. :) ). So the only thing that DID help was the lightning..yes...everthin was in full flow, even the freakin lightning...the thunders just made everything visible momentarily so clearly as if it were lit by the halogen lamps. It helped but we all know what happens when we get a flash of that halogen straight in our eyes....now imagine happening again and again.......and yet again. So eventually after realising that we shoulnt test our fate more after a few near misses, it was a u-turn and the same thing repeated all over again...one thing we were still more worried about was that shivering and it became so bad at a point of time that the muddy water splashed on us from the puddles seemed like heaven ......u guessed it....coz it was relatively warm. Back to square one then, took a real shower and again, the water that in the morning seemed a bit cold was like a sauna then. Then gave the bike a rest and grouped together some more people, so that the total headcount now was six, and went with one thing that was left to make it an awsome day...yep...the food and what better place to go than baadshah (...please close this window if u havent been there....), for the people who DO know what i am talkin about, they would be aware of the fact that the place is a heaven for the non-vegies and what the term saasta-aur-tikau really means and they also know what is the meaning to get a bill of six hundred plus there.... so thats wat happend at the dinner, the whole thing closed down, we were the last ppl to leave, we spent about and hour and a half there, and ate at the most alarming rate and to the most exorbitant quantities...and ya..some of the menu items were not available else the result woulve been smwat more severe. After a nice walk from there, came back, and since till now the electricity hadnt been restored, decided to go back to that cleaned-up room i mentioned earlier only to find out that the empty bottle count had increased and was actually escalating as we sat about and had some conversations. The individual dicussions converged into one final topic, which is kindof considered hot nowadays...politics. I decided to stay out of it due to some inexplicable reasons but was overhearing each and every word and ya....was one of the most hilarous ones i have heard (...sincere apologies to the participants). Finally, had another round of campus rounds in the awsome wheather and with the cold and shiver no longer being a problem and rain settled down a long time back, was much much more pleasant. Came back to the room, started a movie....had an awsome dialogue in that - to think like a woman, think like a man and take the reason and accountability out of it...( ..srry ladies...guys..high five) and ya the name of the movie was .... As good as it gets...indeed...