Here we come, Ahmedabad!!!

Living in a corporate world full of strangers (well, this is bit of an exaggeration but sounds more dramatic!!!) was over shadowing me day by day.. A dream about the college days, a bad day at work, a realization of distances already present between friends and still multiplying and totally exasperated from the routine life I finally gave in to the extreme temptation of going for a trip to Ahmedabad and have a small Dynamic reunion J And considering the consequences of our last minute travel plans, I must say it was worth all the pains..

I came to reality with the strange fact that movement of people between Nagpur to Ahmedabad are probably more than any other city!!! (It is high time more trains be run on that route) Last minute plans meant tatkal booking, so Neha and I (two of the laziest people in the world) got up at 7.00 am (even if we had a chance to meet SRK at that time, our eyes wont open!!!) and went all the way to Ajni station to book tickets. Long queue.. What!! Have they been standing here all night!! After 15 min our number came.

Neha: 2 tickets (slips in the slip)

Booking counter man: Madam, waiting hai, 95 (wtf, 15 min mein?!?)

Neha: Bhaiyya, 3AC mein hai kya?

Booking counter man : usme bhi waiting hai

Neha: 15 min mein?!? bhaiyya plz phirse check karo (As if its university result sheet to be mistaken)

Booking counter man (irritated): madam, waiting hai (gives the slip back). Ahmedabad ke liye first number lagana padhta hai

I and Neha do a little khus puss, with others in queue giving irritated looks and finally..

Neha: De do bhaiyya..

The man gave an “omg, aaj kal ki ladkiyan” look..

That was our only motto in the train.. Aaj kal ki ladkiyan J (had to use girls power today) Strange but it did work. Everyone welcomed us to have a seat. Well that was expected but then would you believe a good man actually gave away his berth to us when we attempted to sit down on newspapers!!! So somehow we reached ahmedabad and the first look at Nilange and that group hug took away all troubles and then began our journey of craziness.

There were a few places on my “must watch in Ahmedabad” list which included the very famous Akshardham temple, the Sabarmati Ashram and of course our dream IIM. And another of our favourite institutes which cannot be named here since I could not go there thanks to the concerned person’s busy schedule and his name is not to be revealed on request (Busy person, if you get time to read this, please note I am not blaming you for not taking you around your college even though I came a long way from Nagpur)

So one by one I ticked my list. Akshardham temple was exactly as I had excepted it, calm and peaceful. I wonder how could someone have the heart to disrupt its serenity! Sabarmati Ashram was informative and tiring! And the best was IIMA, a must watch for inspiration to all MBA aspirants. The architecture is grand, the pathways are spic and span, the hostels are breezy, the class rooms are perfect, the auditorium is large. Basically has everything that one can ask for in an Institute. A perfect home to a brilliant brain. And thanks to Das that we got entry into the campus and a special thanks for all his time and efforts.

Well there is a lot more to the city than what can be seen. Not to speak about the delicious food! The gujrati thali, the khichdi at Akshardham, everything at the manikchand eat street were mouth watering. The pineapple sandwich and the Cadbury pizza are the usp at manikchand eat street. Each one of us had the “peth bhar gaya, mann nahi bhara” look when we left manikchand street.

The trip gave me everything I had sought for. A relaxing weekend, a reunion with friends, a break from the boring dabba food and a new beginning to something...

Blue review on blue blog

I used to wonder how jobless people are to write blogs on movie reviews, but after watching Blue I can understand how desperately you want to get your frustration out and warn as many people as possible not to make the same mistake as you did! That is spending 150 bucks for a movie with bad review and watching as if you own the theatre! I generally manage to get myself entertained by not so good movies which even include movies like maine pyaar kyun kiya (which was intolerable by many). But Blue was too out of the not so good movies league, my inexcusable mistake after the disastrous Home Delivery!

The movie starts with the introduction of all the characters, old Sanjay Dutt as Sagar with Lara Dutta as a babe girl friend (considering I cannot recall her name, you should be able to judge her role) and friend cum boss Akshay Kumar as Aarav. Sagar and Aarav seem to share a friendly bonding and Aarav wants Sagar to become rich to say bbye to his troubles and get settled with his hot girl friend. Now enter Sam (Sagar's brother) who is a bike rider in some far remote place (no mention of name). Sam gets into trouble working for a mafia and has to run away to his brother leaving his chick (Katrina) back whom she had known only for a day and was madly in love. The mafia manage to find Sam, kill his chick, threaten him for his life, kidnap Sagar's chick, blow off his house and so the whole family is on road. This forces Sagar to accept Aarav and Sam's long pending request of the treasure hunt for "Lady in Blue" burried under the oceans! They take the journey, get the required money (not all), throw it on the mafia's face and before they can walk away they are threatened to go back and get all the money or loose the girl. So they go back, only to realise later that this was a big plan by Aarav himself! Dont worry it is a hindi movie and Aarav is the hero. So the story that is later revealed goes like.. Aarav's grand father was getting this Indian treasure from Britain to India after independence, where on way it was drowned due to heavy storm. But he was rather accused of having taken over by greed and thereby removed from Indian Navy. So he wanted to find the treasure and take revenge from I wonder who! That brings it to the end with a dialogue indicating a sequel of it is in planning(wonder if the producer will dare to take it seriously after the response to this one)

It is not just the plot that is weak but also the cast. Zayed Khan has done nothing apart from bike riding. Though the first scene reminds you of fast and furious but after some more boom-boom you are forced to close your ears. Sanjay Dutt is looking horribly old and fat and makes you wonder how he managed to get a hot chick (or how can any sensible person pair them as gf-bf)

The only decent part in the movie are the songs which are a welcome change from the predictable and repeating scenes. For the guys, it might be a treat to watch parts of tanned Lara Dutta. The song Aaj dil gustakh hai is worth listening to, though it made me wonder if Blue Film would have been a better title for the movie!

Oh forgot one thing, Katrina turns out to be Aarav's wife and was involved in the plan! (hindi movie :))

Simply WOW adventure trip

6.30 am ?!?!
It had been ages since I had last seen the early morning sun and absorbed some healthy radiations! Somehow, this was no ordinary day. No it wasn't my first day at college or my AIEEE exam day or a life turning interview. It was just an office trip to Maitriban, an adventure camp. Now that I have been to many trips with the most rocking people in college this might not sound so exciting. But it was important because I was supposed to rediscover myself and as expected, I rightly did :)

Welcome to Maitriban, an ideal spot for naturalists, bird-watchers and adventure enthusiasts (as per the pamphlet)!!! In fact the guys did have a good watch, thanks to the delicate dolls(dd) of the new ELTP (entry level training program) batch. I will not furnish any further details here, as a few of them will be reading this as well ;) And those few are the ones with whom we spent most of the day, did all breath taking activities and thanks to them that we finally feel a part of the persistent family. I wonder how will I part from this family, if ever I do! Anyways that's a far fetched thought, right now I want to live for the moment. Wow, that's like Swati :)

So coming to the adventure trip, it was supposed to begin at 7.45 am sharp and as expected it began (as per IST standards) at around 8.30 am. So I utilised the time to take a short walk to our very own campus and relive some moments. After making some calls, clicking some pics and pulling some legs we finally got settled in bus and left for the spot. Here begins the fun with all the singing and dancing and I couldn't stop thinking of our tronix trips. In fact we got real and imaginary couples here too!!! (for more details contact me personally :)) After a 45 min travel we reached the spot on the outskirts of zhilpi lake and I crossed another item from my bucket list. The beauty and serenity of the place is beyond words. After having a quick breakfast we headed to our first activity that was rappelling. Believe me when the guide was demonstrating the equipments and explaining how to use them, it felt like we were up for some roadies task! And when I was on the cliff, I did miss a beat, in fact more than one.. I had second thoughts but couldn't back out, reputation ka sawaal hai! So finally, I went down and fortunately I went only down and reached ground in 5min (no i wasn't any expert, it was only a 50m cliff) It looked like a one hand job once I touched ground. Then we had some time pass games, which as per the guide taught us importance of team building and strategic planning :P After the tiring first half we were back to our tents for lunch.

For the second half we were divided into groups and luckily or strategically we were placed into the so called happening group. And then began a series of activities which included river rafting, archery and river crossing. First and the best of all was river rafting and before you imagine the scene, let me tell you that it was on a very steady water body and our chhotu guide took extra efforts to give us a feel by moving the raft haphazardly and throwing water all over us. Few of the dare devilry guys jumped off the raft to have a better feel, while a few like me just kept planning to do so. Completely drenched we came back, changed and headed for archery. And unexpectedly I did hit the target twice though not a bull's eye but trust me any hit on the board was commendable, its not that easy after all. And the last activity of the day was river crossing, which was more of a naala crossing but involved the same amount of courage. Though it looked very easy but turned out to be difficult only for me as I got hung up there unlike others and had to pull my way through. As per the plan, this was it but no one was willing to leave (As it is rightly said, humans can never be satisfied) So somehow, we managed to arrange for a bon-fire and then we all danced around it singing some old melodies.

Over all it was an amazing experience. And the cranky jokes, intelligent comments and timely pjs added the most essential extra element of fun . After a long long time my camera saw light. And each and every moment was worth capturing and preserving..

(To all the committee members, whom we call the elite group at Persistent)

PS: the 'we' includes gayatri and me :)

When you just don’t know what went wrong!!!

I don’t know if this has ever happened to you or is it only me. But in a fraction of a second you have a complete flashback of your life till date and you get lost into the darker side of it. You get depressed and go into complete isolation. This is one such time for me. I hope writing it down will make my heart lighter.

Sitting at my desk in cubicle A-5, 3rd floor, NG2, Persistent Systems Limited, Infotech park, MIDC in an air conditioned office (sounds insane but that has been my dream since childhood, or rather my mom’s) and listening to boulevard of broken dreams, enjoying awesome coffee, with a perfect view in a window right in front of me, waiting for a mail from manager and wondering how my life has taken form and how I wanted it to be and how much I have succeeded to that effect.

(@ Dukker: That is why I was lost :( )

Having been academically at the top throughout my life, studies and career were never my concern. I knew I would get a decent college and job, good enough for a not so career oriented Swati. The Swati who thought family is the only thing that matters in the world and that all my decisions will be based on my mom’s happiness. As a result, bbye to the better NITs and welcome VNIT (I still wonder the credibility of that decision). My hard work and dedication had paid off (I can use these words here as that was the only time I actually used to study) Those were the days of sleeping on books, eating while riding and not talking to guys (and in case of unavoidable emergency only for books) Might sound boring but that boring life brought me to VNIT, the place where I had the best four years of my life. Getting into VNIT, undoubtedly the best college in Nagpur, I was relieved of more than half of my troubles.

When I walked into the campus, I had that geek like mindset (study and be at par with your friends at IIT). This showed results in my first sem SPI. But by the end of the first year I got the feel of engineering college, for that matter VNIT and then came the emergence of a new Swati. The one who liked to have fun, do crazy things, hang out with friends and study only a night before exam :) After joining hostel in 2nd year, these activities were at peak along with the gtalk (call it girls talk rather than gossip talk :)) at night. The infinite college events always kept the all rounder in me on toes. Just four fun-filled years and I got completely lost. The girl who used to be the best in class is sitting in Persistent Nagpur, the girl who used to never talk to guys has her best friends as guys, the girl who used to be her parent’s favourite gets complaints that she doesn’t have time for family and is too immersed in friends, the girl who used to plan every minute from long term prospects thinks of living life for the moment, the girl who used to find happiness from small things in life is lost, completely lost. While I sit and wonder if that is a loss or a gain, some unsaid words, unexpected feedbacks, unimagined loses clog my mind, paralyzing me to the core. For no reason at all, for no circumstances at all, for no person at all, for no loss at all, but the fact remains..

I want to get over this feeling, I want to get my life back..

(To my mom and her ambitions for me :) )

The Adventurous night outs in VNIT

Something I had always dreamt of since long was to have a night out from hostel, just roam about on the streets at midnight, go to tapri, have poha, jalebi and omlet, go to jhilpi, get drunk and just chill out.. I have been jealous of the guys since long for this as they can do it whenever they wish to while we girls have to manage a lot of issues in hostel, say a hundred lies at home and last but not the least gather all the courage to be out on streets all night long to do something like this.. So I had decided that after all the good girl image for 3 yrs in VNIT, I am definitely going to experience this adventure atleast once before leaving college.. And I can proudly say today that I had gathered enough courage to go on 3 such night outs, all of which were with different group of people, at different and controvertial places, full of adventure, unique in their own kind and as expected unlimited fun and experiences of a lifetime..

NIGHT OUT 1: Last day of Aarohi

This has been an Aarohi tradition since long but wasn’t being practiced due to not so courageous or uninterested senior batches. But as our batch girls has started a lot new trends from the inordinate girls-guys interaction in first yr to the sexy costumes on aarohi party in place of traditional sarees in the final yr, so we had to take a night out as against all circumstances. The prize distribution of aarohi’09 was followed by the forceful farewell speeches by each final yr to their beloved juniors in PAH. Then after a long discussion on all possible hang out places by kanabar and safety measures by president chopde we finally came upon to one conclusion and were all set to go to sher-e–Punjab dhaba on kamptee road. Going zoom zoom in kanabar’s car, here comes our first wish fulfilled, roaming on streets at midnight. But as for kanabar’s presence there had to be some K factor involved and so when we were half way through we came to know that sher-e-punjab was closed.. Wow, our hunger was killing us.. After considering mominpura for a minute and again ruling it out on safety measures finally we turned to cumsome (ok please don’t laugh, peth kahin bhi le jata hai), but again followed by K factor.. can you believe it even cumsome was closed!! So finally giving it up we were returning to college just checking on our way back in case lokmat tapri is open and here comes solace. So here comes the second wish fulfilled, tapri ka omlet. Peth-puja ke baad, we all gathered in the Aarohi cum Axis cum chakallas room at around 4.00 am. Guys being present the occasion was graced with all sorts of drinks which were sponsored by mine and neha’s antakshari prize money and then till dawn we were simply lying there chatting and being entertained by charbhai which was interrupted by some minor issues with the other hau-na-re group and the fear of Nikhil Chingalwar arriving at the spot. So that was the first ever night out in VNIT which ended peacefully without any controversies.

 

NIGHT OUT2: Department farewell

This was the best night out I had ever had considering its after effects and its out comes. Now this too is a tradition in VNIT that on the night of dept farewell, girls take a night out, stay in campus whole night, get drunk, go to boys hostel, see their loved ones rooms and chill out whole night. Well that is exactly what we had planned except the getting drunk part and considering we have no loved ones we decided on friends rooms. This we included myself, khushbu, neha and gayatri. This list of girls was wanted for a long time after the farewell night for reasons which will be clear later. So our night started at around 1.00 am with an hour long time pass on the dept lawns with all secrets pouring out. Then, after a bit of reluctance on my side, we finally decided to go the NBH and Extension for a wonderful trip to each of our batch mates’ room carefully studying their doors, analyzing the status of the rooms, making comments and this to be noted is inspite of the warning by the guards that girls are not allowed to enter BH. We are final yrs after all, dekh lenge kya bigaad lenge. After this tiring inspection we went to meta lawns, played some stupid games and then went to Shankar nagar tapri by 5.30 am. So here comes the next 2 wishes fulfilled of having jalebi and poha at tapri. From there we went to futala to chill out under extreme conditions of pressure where some 12 people were packed in one Mahindra logan!! So that brings my 2^nd night out to an end with far reaching effects..

The after effects: This is the best part of this night out. The night out was on a Saturday morning and then we spent the next 2 days feeling proud of ourselves for all the adventure and the NBH trip. Only till Tuesday we didn’t realize that the authorities had got a hint that 4 girls had entered BH at around 2.30 am and they had identified those girls!! Luckily for us and unluckily for a few they had identified four altogether different girls. The next few days were full of tension with the grueling of the other four girls to either accept it or reveal the names of the girls who went to BH. What if we are identified!! We might have to call our parents, oh what a shame!! We might have a disco on us!! What if we get an HR or infact a CR!! Ah all these thoughts freaked us out. The worst part was our GH intime was reduced from 9.30 to 8.30, no night outs and late permissions and strict vigilance. So we had created problems not only for us but also for all our hostel inmates. The feeling was depressing, the way our batchmates looked at us made us even more guilty, friends were turning out to be not so friendly, we were the next SONIA of hostel!! (Sonia was the term used by us for rule breakers who lead to unwelcome changes in hostel rules)

This continued for a week or two with all the four musketeers shedding tears for losing friends, the wrongly identified girls were released after some proof giving and the search for the rule breakers continued and the news spread. Everyone in the college except the authorities knew it was the four of us. Infact news is that even the authorities knew it was us but didn’t take action because of our clean records and since final exams were near they didn’t wish to disturb us. Whatever it was we got clean through it without any troubles.

NIGHTOUT 3: Gurmeet ka dhaba

On the streets again, this time with the all adventurous K Wing. If you are wondering how did I manage permission then dont bother because at hostel they think I am at home and at home they think I am in hostel. I had always longed for this day, a night out with K wing, there is no ‘why’ to this, its just the feeling that it will include lot more adventure and as a matter of fact it did.. We picked up kana from his place and decided to go to jhilpi to chill out. Considering it was the K Wing, the K factor had to work again, we were almost there when we were stopped by the police and requested to go back considering safety norms. So here comes my jhilpi wish crashing down.. Finally with no place to go we ended up at gurmeet ka dhaba and what followed is mystery and now history.. (Sorry the details are not to be revealed due to precautionary measures and statuary warnings)

The parting moment..

Cant believe the time has come that I am writing this..

Before I realized and could grasp the fact that my college life has come to an end I was bidding good bye to people with whom I had laughed and shed tears in good and bad times, with whom I had shared my little-big secrets, with whom I had spent my days and nights talking about my  crushes, with whom I had spent the best days of my life, with whom I thought I was friends for life never to be separated but there I was standing at the crowded railway station parting with those special friends.. and the worst part is not knowing when will I ever see them again considering that some are from far remote places like north east which takes a 36 hrs journey to reach those damn naxalite areas.. Tears rolling down as if two taps fitted in eyes and left open till eternity..

Holding hands for the last time..

Hugging tight for the last time..

Looking into each other’s eyes for the last time..

(This seems too farfetched as convocation is only a few months away but ‘the last time’ sounds more effective and touching and anyways who knows who all can make it to convo considering their busy schedules.)

Now when I sit back and relax at home thinking what I did and achieved these four long years in VNIT, FRIENDS is all I can think of.. Ya surely I did get a job but that hardly required any of the crappy technical knowledge which my so called teachers imbibed in me in these 4 years. Experience with people and situations is all I am taking back. There was a time when I wanted everything to be planned in advance and safe & secure but now I want everything to be adventurous and SOMETHING DIFFERENT.. There were times when I used to call every person I laughed with my friend but now I know that acquaintances are many of which only a few are friends. There was a time when I used to get disturbed by any unhealthy comment passed on me but now I only care about what my friends think and I love it when they call me frustoo or harami.. There was a time when I used to hate those who love me but now I have learned to respect feelings.. There was a time when I used to hate groupism but now I am friends with the two most rocking unsophisticated gawaar groups of VNIT.. There was a time when any moment of fun was heaven but now I know that “Sometimes people are special, sometimes situation is special and when that situation is shared with those friends then its called heaven..”

Remembering all those heavenly moments sitting at home is painful but equally satisfying, those were the best days of my life….

 (In remembrance of all my friends whose lines I have plagiarized and whose references I have made. Missing you all)