The first semester at BITS got over quite quickly.
It was by means of cricket that I had started to know some of the people in the wing. I was good at cricket so I had a reason to be with them. Also the people in the wing below ours had challenged us at cricket. So I was brought into the picture. I was very passionate about the game and probably a bit aggressive too. We played quite a few matches, the matches were almost all evenly poised. We called ourselves Alpha-Q and they called themselves The JinXd.
The second semester started afresh. New hopes and expectations were there. A bit of anxiety related to the courses. I had secured a mediocre GPA in the 1st semester so I wasn't in the race for discipline transfer then. And it was for the same reason that I started neglecting my acads. The sincerity which i had possessed in the prior semester was all gone. I started bunking classes and almost completely forgot about studying.
It was at that time that I was influenced by a first person shooter game, Counter-Strike. A few of my wingees used to play it on LAN. I was fascinated by the game, as i love adventure and especially guns. So i started playing the game myself. Even though I was not very good at it, I was hell bent on improving. It was as if I wanted to be good at it. That was going to happen soon.
I remember now, it was my first class of maths. If it wouldn't have been a first, I would have bunked it. But since it was the first I thought of attending it. It was then that I saw this girl. In some way she seemed very different from others. She was someone whom I had noticed after quite a time. As I got to notice, she hardly spoke to anyone. She had an ambience which was compelling and she carried herself with utmost perfection. I was immediately drawn to her. I was scared to death of even looking her in the eye. So just for the sake of seeing her, I decided to attend every maths class.
Another development which happened was the technical festival of BITS, APOGEE. The majority of the 1st yearites were going home. But upon attending a few of chemical association meetings, I had decided to stay and so had Bhuvan. We decided to work on one of the projects that had failed for the past two years. It appeared to be a challenge and we decided to take it. The seniors were inspiring and helpful. The co-ordinator of the team, Jagan was very helpful. He was there for any and everyone at anytime.
It was then that I saw her again. She was in my own discipline! I had never known. Luckily for me, she was working on some project too. Now i started seeing her almost everyday. I even remember having talked to her. She seemed like a nice person.
As it happened our project leader injured himself. So we were supposed to abandon the project. Now we were supposed to assist the co-ordinator with his project. I was a bit dissapointed but the idea of working with the co-ordinator excited me. He was working on some new idea. We were supposed to give shape to the idea. He was so busy with all other projects that he left his project totally to us. We barely managed to complete it a few hours before the unveiling ceremony. The director of IIT chennai was the chief guest. And i remember that we(me and bhuvan) looked like zombies. We hadn't slept nicely for a few days now. Anyways our project was quite a success. Although we didn't manage to win anything, it was a good learning experience and our work was appreciated.
During apogee I joined the social networking site Orkut. And as people had said, it was quite addictive. I'd sit for quite long spells of time doing nothing but orkutting. I even found her on orkut.
Academics were not going well at all. With all the work from APOGEE, my joining orkut and my negligence of studies, I was heading for a fiasco. People say that "All's well that ends well". That end seemed quite far back then.
The comprehensive exams ended. It was a terrible experience. Getting the marks during the course of the tests was an even more gruesome thing. I had managed to successfully lower my CGPA below 7 with my extraordinary hard work.
Do keep reading.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
BITS-Pilani Chapter-I
As stated in my previous post, I decided to choose civil engineering at BITS-Pilani over a career in merchant navy. My dad accompanied me to pilani. It was a long and tiring journey. The reason was that we took the wrong route, which proved to be long. We reached pilani at 2 AM in the morning, and we were dead tired. We tried looking for a lodge for a night's stay, but couldn't find anything. So we were sitting outside a shop when suddenly dad went to buy a cigarette. There he met someone who offered to help. He was here for his brother's admission. He said that the college was providing the acco for guardians of the to be admitted students. He was kind enough to take us inside the campus in his car. So we went with him and were told that we were supposed to stay at Shankar Bhawan. The chowkidar escorted us to room number 416.
Upon entering the room, I didn't find the room to be much. And to make things worse, dad didn't like it much either. He even asked me if I still wanted to go to mumbai for merchant navy. I refused, coz I had made a decision to stay here. So however bad it was going to be, it was going to be here. We woke up in the morning but were unable to locate the mess. So we went to a redi and had something to stuff ourselves up. The registration was underway. We were photographed in the most annoying manner(I think all BITSians would agree). There was orientation session and some formalities.
The thing that was about to strike us was still on its way. I found out that there was still a way to go to BITS-Goa. I had heard that cut-off's for Goa were low. So that meant that i would be getting a higher preference of my choices. But the problem was that dad was short on leaves. He had to leave immediately. It was not due to his short supply of leaves, but my decision to stay that led me to stay in Pilani. And now I am grateful to god with all my heart that I made the right choice.
It was a weird feeling, staying by myself. I went to the bus stand to see dad off. I wanted to cry but I knew I couldn't. I was a big boy. A college student now. Do college students cry? I asked myself that kept the tears inside.
Like almost all the freshers, I had a room mate. At first he seemed to be very nice. Later I found out how careless he was. Losing things and blaming others. I still remember lending him a hefty amount of cash, coz he wasn't able to locate his money. Later I found it for him after browsing through his stuff.
Unlike other guys at college, I was very reserved and introverted. When all freshers were busy meeting each other and making friends, I was busy with my harmonica, enjoying my loneliness. I used to get to bed at 10 o'clock. I know...that is kinda childlike. My mind fills with a feeling of pity for myself back then. I was so naive. It was almost a week before I came out of my room and talked to the people in the adjacent room. They seemed to be nice people. And soon were going to be very good friends of mine. One of them, bhuvan was going to be the closest friend in BITS. At first he was difficult to understand. He spoke so fast that I could hardly get anything to my head. So i just nodded irrespective of what he spoke.
Soon I began to mingle with other people as well. I somehow managed to make a few friends. Ragging was the hot topic everyone was talking about. I had started doing push-ups in class 12th so that I could take some amount of physical ragging. But I was surprised to know that there was hardly any ragging here. Although it wasn't completely extinct, it was very little. I remember one of the seniors who tried to rag me but left after saying that I was too innocent and naive. He told me to be careful, for it was a bad world out there.
I used to be a very sincere student back then. I used to wake up at 6, took a bath, went to classes. Very unlike the person I was about to become. I had to walk quite a bit and I must say that I lost quite a few inches on my waist. I used to go to the library every day to go through the notes of the classes. Not to mention that my primary aim was to take another shot at JEE and go to the IIT's. But I fell in love with the place in a matter of days. And I never thought about JEE again. I was working hard and wanted to get transferred from civil to computer-science.
I hardly went out anywhere during the first semester. Never played anything, didn't join any clubs or associations as I thought they would waste precious time. For leisure, I used to sometimes watch TV in the common room. I used to play table-tennis. Also I spent quite a bit of my time with my harmonica. It was a good companion to have.
The food was ok. I was quite comfortable with it, however a few of my colleagues weren't satisfied. They sometimes approached the mess authorities with demands of improving the quality of food.
During the 1st semester, I hardly came into contact with anyone other than the handful of friends I had made, and a few of the seniors. I was more concerned about my studies.
The end semester tests arrived. They were not so good. I couldn't do as well as I could have. Especially physics, I must say that I can't get hold of that one subject. My mind simply stops functioning when it comes to Physics.
Anyways I made a GPA of 7.47, which was far below what I had in mind. Now I could never get a transfer into computer science. But as they say, whatever happens, happens for the best. I got a transfer into Chemical Engg on the basis of my BITSAT score. And I must say that it was a life-saving thing for me. Although the joy wasn't that evident back then, but I am grateful that I got a transfer.
That was the end of the first semester. Quite dull and nothing happening there. But do keep reading....the surprises which are about to be unfolded are really worth reading. Some people even might change the way they think about me after reading it from here. CYA!
Upon entering the room, I didn't find the room to be much. And to make things worse, dad didn't like it much either. He even asked me if I still wanted to go to mumbai for merchant navy. I refused, coz I had made a decision to stay here. So however bad it was going to be, it was going to be here. We woke up in the morning but were unable to locate the mess. So we went to a redi and had something to stuff ourselves up. The registration was underway. We were photographed in the most annoying manner(I think all BITSians would agree). There was orientation session and some formalities.
The thing that was about to strike us was still on its way. I found out that there was still a way to go to BITS-Goa. I had heard that cut-off's for Goa were low. So that meant that i would be getting a higher preference of my choices. But the problem was that dad was short on leaves. He had to leave immediately. It was not due to his short supply of leaves, but my decision to stay that led me to stay in Pilani. And now I am grateful to god with all my heart that I made the right choice.
It was a weird feeling, staying by myself. I went to the bus stand to see dad off. I wanted to cry but I knew I couldn't. I was a big boy. A college student now. Do college students cry? I asked myself that kept the tears inside.
Like almost all the freshers, I had a room mate. At first he seemed to be very nice. Later I found out how careless he was. Losing things and blaming others. I still remember lending him a hefty amount of cash, coz he wasn't able to locate his money. Later I found it for him after browsing through his stuff.
Unlike other guys at college, I was very reserved and introverted. When all freshers were busy meeting each other and making friends, I was busy with my harmonica, enjoying my loneliness. I used to get to bed at 10 o'clock. I know...that is kinda childlike. My mind fills with a feeling of pity for myself back then. I was so naive. It was almost a week before I came out of my room and talked to the people in the adjacent room. They seemed to be nice people. And soon were going to be very good friends of mine. One of them, bhuvan was going to be the closest friend in BITS. At first he was difficult to understand. He spoke so fast that I could hardly get anything to my head. So i just nodded irrespective of what he spoke.
Soon I began to mingle with other people as well. I somehow managed to make a few friends. Ragging was the hot topic everyone was talking about. I had started doing push-ups in class 12th so that I could take some amount of physical ragging. But I was surprised to know that there was hardly any ragging here. Although it wasn't completely extinct, it was very little. I remember one of the seniors who tried to rag me but left after saying that I was too innocent and naive. He told me to be careful, for it was a bad world out there.
I used to be a very sincere student back then. I used to wake up at 6, took a bath, went to classes. Very unlike the person I was about to become. I had to walk quite a bit and I must say that I lost quite a few inches on my waist. I used to go to the library every day to go through the notes of the classes. Not to mention that my primary aim was to take another shot at JEE and go to the IIT's. But I fell in love with the place in a matter of days. And I never thought about JEE again. I was working hard and wanted to get transferred from civil to computer-science.
I hardly went out anywhere during the first semester. Never played anything, didn't join any clubs or associations as I thought they would waste precious time. For leisure, I used to sometimes watch TV in the common room. I used to play table-tennis. Also I spent quite a bit of my time with my harmonica. It was a good companion to have.
The food was ok. I was quite comfortable with it, however a few of my colleagues weren't satisfied. They sometimes approached the mess authorities with demands of improving the quality of food.
During the 1st semester, I hardly came into contact with anyone other than the handful of friends I had made, and a few of the seniors. I was more concerned about my studies.
The end semester tests arrived. They were not so good. I couldn't do as well as I could have. Especially physics, I must say that I can't get hold of that one subject. My mind simply stops functioning when it comes to Physics.
Anyways I made a GPA of 7.47, which was far below what I had in mind. Now I could never get a transfer into computer science. But as they say, whatever happens, happens for the best. I got a transfer into Chemical Engg on the basis of my BITSAT score. And I must say that it was a life-saving thing for me. Although the joy wasn't that evident back then, but I am grateful that I got a transfer.
That was the end of the first semester. Quite dull and nothing happening there. But do keep reading....the surprises which are about to be unfolded are really worth reading. Some people even might change the way they think about me after reading it from here. CYA!
Friday, February 27, 2009
The City of Nawabs!
As I stated in my previous post, we moved to Lucknow. It was a decision my father took for my sake. He had been offered to undergo a course for further promotions, but staking his career, he decided to take a study leave for the sake of my studies.
We had our own house in lucknow. Dad had bought it in 1996. Its location was quite good. It was inside an army society. The only problem that i faced was that there weren't people of my age. Since I was changing schools after 11th class, finding a school was a task in itself. Quite a few schools rejected me despite of my class 10th and 11th scores. Finally i got admitted to Chiranjiv Bharati School. It was probably the least reputed school in the whole of lucknow. But I thought that may help me concentrate on preparation for IIT-JEE.
After finding the school we set out to find a suitable coaching center. Luckily FIITJEE had opened a new franchise center in my locality. So i took their test and got admitted there. I had heard a lot of good things about FIITJEE and was quite anxious to study there.
My session in the school started as did the classes in FIITJEE. Soon enough i had figured out that i didn't have to do well in school, but only clear JEE. Since that was the sole aim, i took school quite lightly. I made only a few friends in school and hardly looked at girls, I had to concentrate only on JEE at that time. One of my good friends in school was Anshul. The thing i liked about him was his happy go lucky attitude. He was very supportive and a true friend. Later on i befriended the best student in class, Binny. He was a very simple guy. He never thought ill about others. I didn't face any problem with studies at school.
At FIITJEE the scenario was different. On the first day itself, i got a mild shock. The batch that had been selected comprised of about 40 students. Out of them only 3 or 4 were 12th appearing, the rest being 12th passed. That made learning a tough job. The teachers always assumed us to be at the same level as them. So it was difficult to meet the expectations of the teachers. At times, i thought of giving up. But i simply couldn't. The very thought would make me feel ashamed of myself. I had always been a fighter, how could I give up?
I made a very good friend at FIITJEE. His name was Saket. He was like a guide to me, always helping me understand difficult things. I must say what i got after class 12th was half because of his help. He not only helped me with acads, but also helped me focus and not to give up. I remember one of his sayings which I'd like to quote, "Being a 12th appearing student, you have a better chance of clearing JEE than any 12th passed student." We used to live quite closeby so we went for the test series together. I remember that whenever we used to get out of the exam hall and discuss the paper, we found that we had attempted all different questions. We used to say, "If we sit in the JEE together, we'd definitely get AIR under 100!"
The thing that made it even more difficult for me to perform at FIITJEE was that a 12th appearing student was sharper than any student in class. Her name was Arushi. She somehow knew everything and was the best candidate for JEE from our batch.
During my year at school, I won 2 computer quizzes. One of them was an international event at MacFair International at City Montessori School. It was an amazing feeling, I actually got to talk to Barry O' Brien after the quiz!! I even had my photograph printed in a local newspaper, though it was a co-incidence. Things like these kept me going and motivated me throughout for JEE.
During my stay in lucknow, the only places i travelled to were, my school, FIITJEE and sometimes to a restaurant to have dinner with the family. I remember the restaurant called Aryan's was the best in the city. It served amazingly delumptious food!!
Finally the boards arrived. I did quite ok. Maths and Informatics was as usual good. English was so-so. Rest were all fine. Then there was JEE screening in April. I was shivering while leaving for the test. Dad dropped me to the place of my test. I started the paper, and when i came out I thought I had done reasonably well. But later after comparing my answers with those posted by FIITJEE's website, I thought I wouldn't make it. Later when the results were out, I got a big shock. I had cleared the screening test!!! It was an amazing feeling! Probably the best I had ever experienced. The test which was still left was the JEE-Mains exam.
Not taking any chances I had applied for AIEEE, BITSAT, Orissa-JEE, VIT and merchant navy as well. I took these tests in the time span between my JEE-Mains test. On 22nd May 2005 I sat for the JEE Mains test. I had never thought that I would actually be able to see the three differently colored question papers of the JEE! The test was fine, but I did badly in maths. Chemistry, which was my strong point, and physics were fine. But i had a notion that I wouldn't make it. Had i appeared a year earlier I would have made it...but then that would have been an altogether different story.
Now I had to decide where I would go for graduation. The options in my hand were not many. I had cleared VIT but had refrained from going for its counselling considering the distance and other factors. In AIEEE my position was not very good as I had appeared from U.P. I had an all India rank of 8000 odd. While my state rank was 1400 odd. It was quite disappointing. The options that I was left with were BITS, Orissa-JEE and Merchant navy at TS chanakya(which took on the basis of IIT-JEE).
After a few days, I got my result for BITS. I was getting MSc Chemistry(hons) at Pilani. I was overwhelmed. At first though my reaction was not very good. This was because, I wanted to go for Computer Science. But the reputation of the institute was unparalled. In a later iteration, I got Civil. I was happy. But something happened that day. My call from TS Chanakya/MERI Kolkata also came. They had their counselling 3 days after the joining date for BITS. I was confused. I had absolutely no idea about what I wanted to do. How can someone expect a 16 year old to decide for himself a career at the outset? My father guided me and told me that BITS would be a better option, although merchant navy offered immense opportunity for earning big money, the life wasn't all that good.
So I decided to go to BITS. That was the end of my stay at lucknow, though my family continued staying there for a year. A completely new and wondrous journey was about to unfold....do keep reading!
We had our own house in lucknow. Dad had bought it in 1996. Its location was quite good. It was inside an army society. The only problem that i faced was that there weren't people of my age. Since I was changing schools after 11th class, finding a school was a task in itself. Quite a few schools rejected me despite of my class 10th and 11th scores. Finally i got admitted to Chiranjiv Bharati School. It was probably the least reputed school in the whole of lucknow. But I thought that may help me concentrate on preparation for IIT-JEE.
After finding the school we set out to find a suitable coaching center. Luckily FIITJEE had opened a new franchise center in my locality. So i took their test and got admitted there. I had heard a lot of good things about FIITJEE and was quite anxious to study there.
My session in the school started as did the classes in FIITJEE. Soon enough i had figured out that i didn't have to do well in school, but only clear JEE. Since that was the sole aim, i took school quite lightly. I made only a few friends in school and hardly looked at girls, I had to concentrate only on JEE at that time. One of my good friends in school was Anshul. The thing i liked about him was his happy go lucky attitude. He was very supportive and a true friend. Later on i befriended the best student in class, Binny. He was a very simple guy. He never thought ill about others. I didn't face any problem with studies at school.
At FIITJEE the scenario was different. On the first day itself, i got a mild shock. The batch that had been selected comprised of about 40 students. Out of them only 3 or 4 were 12th appearing, the rest being 12th passed. That made learning a tough job. The teachers always assumed us to be at the same level as them. So it was difficult to meet the expectations of the teachers. At times, i thought of giving up. But i simply couldn't. The very thought would make me feel ashamed of myself. I had always been a fighter, how could I give up?
I made a very good friend at FIITJEE. His name was Saket. He was like a guide to me, always helping me understand difficult things. I must say what i got after class 12th was half because of his help. He not only helped me with acads, but also helped me focus and not to give up. I remember one of his sayings which I'd like to quote, "Being a 12th appearing student, you have a better chance of clearing JEE than any 12th passed student." We used to live quite closeby so we went for the test series together. I remember that whenever we used to get out of the exam hall and discuss the paper, we found that we had attempted all different questions. We used to say, "If we sit in the JEE together, we'd definitely get AIR under 100!"
The thing that made it even more difficult for me to perform at FIITJEE was that a 12th appearing student was sharper than any student in class. Her name was Arushi. She somehow knew everything and was the best candidate for JEE from our batch.
During my year at school, I won 2 computer quizzes. One of them was an international event at MacFair International at City Montessori School. It was an amazing feeling, I actually got to talk to Barry O' Brien after the quiz!! I even had my photograph printed in a local newspaper, though it was a co-incidence. Things like these kept me going and motivated me throughout for JEE.
During my stay in lucknow, the only places i travelled to were, my school, FIITJEE and sometimes to a restaurant to have dinner with the family. I remember the restaurant called Aryan's was the best in the city. It served amazingly delumptious food!!
Finally the boards arrived. I did quite ok. Maths and Informatics was as usual good. English was so-so. Rest were all fine. Then there was JEE screening in April. I was shivering while leaving for the test. Dad dropped me to the place of my test. I started the paper, and when i came out I thought I had done reasonably well. But later after comparing my answers with those posted by FIITJEE's website, I thought I wouldn't make it. Later when the results were out, I got a big shock. I had cleared the screening test!!! It was an amazing feeling! Probably the best I had ever experienced. The test which was still left was the JEE-Mains exam.
Not taking any chances I had applied for AIEEE, BITSAT, Orissa-JEE, VIT and merchant navy as well. I took these tests in the time span between my JEE-Mains test. On 22nd May 2005 I sat for the JEE Mains test. I had never thought that I would actually be able to see the three differently colored question papers of the JEE! The test was fine, but I did badly in maths. Chemistry, which was my strong point, and physics were fine. But i had a notion that I wouldn't make it. Had i appeared a year earlier I would have made it...but then that would have been an altogether different story.
Now I had to decide where I would go for graduation. The options in my hand were not many. I had cleared VIT but had refrained from going for its counselling considering the distance and other factors. In AIEEE my position was not very good as I had appeared from U.P. I had an all India rank of 8000 odd. While my state rank was 1400 odd. It was quite disappointing. The options that I was left with were BITS, Orissa-JEE and Merchant navy at TS chanakya(which took on the basis of IIT-JEE).
After a few days, I got my result for BITS. I was getting MSc Chemistry(hons) at Pilani. I was overwhelmed. At first though my reaction was not very good. This was because, I wanted to go for Computer Science. But the reputation of the institute was unparalled. In a later iteration, I got Civil. I was happy. But something happened that day. My call from TS Chanakya/MERI Kolkata also came. They had their counselling 3 days after the joining date for BITS. I was confused. I had absolutely no idea about what I wanted to do. How can someone expect a 16 year old to decide for himself a career at the outset? My father guided me and told me that BITS would be a better option, although merchant navy offered immense opportunity for earning big money, the life wasn't all that good.
So I decided to go to BITS. That was the end of my stay at lucknow, though my family continued staying there for a year. A completely new and wondrous journey was about to unfold....do keep reading!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Small Place....Big Dreams!
As I stated in my previous post, my dad got posted to a small place in Punjab called Faridkot.
I just hoped that the place had a table-tennis table and a swimming pool. I just loved swimming and even more jumping off the diving boards.
There were not many schools in the vicinity of our house, so I was admitted into Kendriya Vidyalaya. I had always held a low view point of KV's. It was just a preconceived notion but it was very strong. The results of the boards hadn't come yet. Some of the students like me still attended school as the classes had started already. I made a few friends. Since i was a quiet chap, most of the people left me alone and went on with their businesses. But soon when they discovered that I was sharp in class, they befriended me. I loved it when i answered something in class and a few jaws dropped here and there. I still cherish those moments.
The star of the class, as they called her was Dipti. She was supposed to be the brightest in class, and hence was my target to be. (muhuhahahahaha lol). Her first shock came when I had scored better than her in boards. She was the best speaker in class, and was good looking(I feel like killing myself for falling for her looks, even though it was for a very short period). It was when i found out that she was not good by nature, i realised the fact that looks can be quite elusive.
As far as tuitions were concerned, I joined a maths and a chemistry tuition. I didn't join physics as the physics teacher's first impression was really good. It was after that, that i stopped relying on first impressions. Maths tuition was taken by the same teacher who taught us in school. For chemistry, i went to the son of an ex-army personnel. His name was Mr. Jassa. I liked him as a teacher very quickly. Although he wasn't very experienced, he was a good teacher. I learned very quickly when he taught. Maths tuition was also attended by Miss 'Superstar' and her friend(i hope you understand by now).
Then came the new guy. His name was Rupesh and he immediately fell for miss superstar. And incidentally, they both were together for quite a time before Rupesh realised his mistake.
I made a lot of friends in class. Some of the closest were Ackshat and Ashish. I had the time of my life with them. Our whole class was so fun loving that we used to bunk n number of classes and play football and cricket. Sometimes we were so cheeky that we used to ask the teacher to give a free period!! It was then that i discovered another talent of mine. I was good at football goalkeeping. If I was standing at the goal, the opponent strikers thought thrice before deciding the direction of the ball, coz I didn't bother about the consequences of a dive. In cricket I was one of the good bowlers. I remember, I had once defended 2 runs for my team in a 5 over game, taking 4 wickets in one over.
In the evening we used to play cricket outside our house. My brother and a few others used to come. It was fun. The biggest disappointment was that there was no swimming pool. Still we had a good time, playing badminton, table-tennis and pool.
The session was about to come to an end when a mock CET test was held. Many of us went to take the test. The test was over and we started discussing. I thought that the test was pretty easy and estimated my score at a good 150 out of 300. When the results came out, I was shocked to know that I was the highest scorer. I hadn't prepared a thing and still topped the test in the whole the city. It was exhilirating.
Since I hadn't been taking any professional help for my studies, dad decided to move to lucknow for the sake of my studies. We had our own house in lucknow. The word spread in class that I was leaving. Some people were sad, good friends were going to be separated. Some were happy(:D).
The final exams had arrived. I did well in all except maths. This was because, before the start of the paper, our teacher had come and told us to start from a particular question. I always had the habit of starting from 1 and going to the last. This gave me confidence. But the change in order forced me to leave some easy questions unattemted. I had score perfect 100's in maths all the year round. And now had got a meagre 86. I wasn't pleased at all. Inspite of this, I stood first.
Bidding fairwell to my friends, we moved to Lucknow- The city of Nawabs!
I just hoped that the place had a table-tennis table and a swimming pool. I just loved swimming and even more jumping off the diving boards.
There were not many schools in the vicinity of our house, so I was admitted into Kendriya Vidyalaya. I had always held a low view point of KV's. It was just a preconceived notion but it was very strong. The results of the boards hadn't come yet. Some of the students like me still attended school as the classes had started already. I made a few friends. Since i was a quiet chap, most of the people left me alone and went on with their businesses. But soon when they discovered that I was sharp in class, they befriended me. I loved it when i answered something in class and a few jaws dropped here and there. I still cherish those moments.
The star of the class, as they called her was Dipti. She was supposed to be the brightest in class, and hence was my target to be. (muhuhahahahaha lol). Her first shock came when I had scored better than her in boards. She was the best speaker in class, and was good looking(I feel like killing myself for falling for her looks, even though it was for a very short period). It was when i found out that she was not good by nature, i realised the fact that looks can be quite elusive.
As far as tuitions were concerned, I joined a maths and a chemistry tuition. I didn't join physics as the physics teacher's first impression was really good. It was after that, that i stopped relying on first impressions. Maths tuition was taken by the same teacher who taught us in school. For chemistry, i went to the son of an ex-army personnel. His name was Mr. Jassa. I liked him as a teacher very quickly. Although he wasn't very experienced, he was a good teacher. I learned very quickly when he taught. Maths tuition was also attended by Miss 'Superstar' and her friend(i hope you understand by now).
Then came the new guy. His name was Rupesh and he immediately fell for miss superstar. And incidentally, they both were together for quite a time before Rupesh realised his mistake.
I made a lot of friends in class. Some of the closest were Ackshat and Ashish. I had the time of my life with them. Our whole class was so fun loving that we used to bunk n number of classes and play football and cricket. Sometimes we were so cheeky that we used to ask the teacher to give a free period!! It was then that i discovered another talent of mine. I was good at football goalkeeping. If I was standing at the goal, the opponent strikers thought thrice before deciding the direction of the ball, coz I didn't bother about the consequences of a dive. In cricket I was one of the good bowlers. I remember, I had once defended 2 runs for my team in a 5 over game, taking 4 wickets in one over.
In the evening we used to play cricket outside our house. My brother and a few others used to come. It was fun. The biggest disappointment was that there was no swimming pool. Still we had a good time, playing badminton, table-tennis and pool.
The session was about to come to an end when a mock CET test was held. Many of us went to take the test. The test was over and we started discussing. I thought that the test was pretty easy and estimated my score at a good 150 out of 300. When the results came out, I was shocked to know that I was the highest scorer. I hadn't prepared a thing and still topped the test in the whole the city. It was exhilirating.
Since I hadn't been taking any professional help for my studies, dad decided to move to lucknow for the sake of my studies. We had our own house in lucknow. The word spread in class that I was leaving. Some people were sad, good friends were going to be separated. Some were happy(:D).
The final exams had arrived. I did well in all except maths. This was because, before the start of the paper, our teacher had come and told us to start from a particular question. I always had the habit of starting from 1 and going to the last. This gave me confidence. But the change in order forced me to leave some easy questions unattemted. I had score perfect 100's in maths all the year round. And now had got a meagre 86. I wasn't pleased at all. Inspite of this, I stood first.
Bidding fairwell to my friends, we moved to Lucknow- The city of Nawabs!
Friday, January 16, 2009
The Golden Year
I had passed class IX and gone into class X. It was a good feeling. Dipanjan and I had become quite good friends. And it was evident that due to this Navjot and I had drifted apart to a certain extent. I Used to sit in class with Dipanjan and we used to talk a lot. This was so annoying for the teachers that almost the whole school knew about us.
As the year started, we were supposed to be divided in houses and given appointments. I was given the duty of the Vice-Captain of the green house. But that was not to be. Later I found out that the Vice-Principal had reccomended me for the post of School Vice Captain for my good behavior and attitude. Well back then i used to be very sincere and humble. So i got two badges stating "Abhinav Thakur" and "School Vice-Captain. I was delighted! But I also understood the magnitude of my responsibility. Due to my frequent visits to the stage for collection of various certificates, the school had started to know me. And now I was Vice-Captain. I decided that i would not let the school down by any means. I wanted discipline to be the foremost virtue of the students.
The first tests came by, and the whole of the class faired badly. Even I couldn't score much(what can you do when a bunch of teachers are hell-bent on making you look like losers?). Well the talk of the class was that the Principal wasn't happy and had decided to split the good students among two sections. This meant Dipanjan would be gone to the other section. We tried very hard to convince the Principal that she give us another chance. Finally, we succeeded. That was a big relief for everyone. Friends would have separated if such a sorting took place.
Class X was fun, we knew none of the tests had any weightage, so we didn't care much about classes. Many a time, a few of us would convince the teacher that we had to prepare for a quiz and stay away from class!! I wonder how they believed us!
Tuition was great as ever. I still remember that we had finished the maths syllabus till July. I was so well versed with maths that i used to do any kind of problem given to me(no kidding). Even my tuition teacher sometimes found it hard to keep up with me.(okay now i am exaggerating! :P)
It was in that year that my father got promoted to the rank of Colonel. It was a big achievement for him. One of my achievements was that I had grown taller than him!! It felt good.
As you know everyone has a bad side to themselves. It felt bitter when i found out. Dipanjan had been taking tuitions for hindi and english. What was worse that he told me that he played badminton during that time. But i eventually found out. As it is I hate lies. I simply can't stand liars. So i discussed it with my mom. She told me that it didn't matter. We were very good friends, we used to be at each other's side for the smallest and the biggest things. But it seemed that he wanted to beat me. That was fair enough, but he could have atleast told me. I surely wouldn't have followed him to the tuitions.
The year went by, we had lots of fun. The boards were round the corner. It was a different feeling. I had heard lots of stories, 'its difficult to score in boards..'; 'teachers are very strict..'. I didn't care about all that stuff. I just gave my best. I remember it was the night before the maths test. And i was scared to death from the feeling of it. I wasn't able to solve the easiest questions. I felt like crying. Then i called up Dipanjan to ask some doubts. He asked me whether i was ok. Some of my doubts were the easiest questions. I told him that i wasn't able to solve anything. He asked me to calm down and take it easy. I decided that i had studied maths with all my heart. It couldn't slip from me. So i closed my book and watched TV. I went to sleep early. Next day at the centre, as the paper came to my hands, I felt the usual rush I had always felt while solving maths papers. It was a weird feeling. I started off like a rocket and within 2 and a half hours, I had done the paper. Then i saw dipanjan getting out. I though why not get out and discuss the paper. It felt amazing after finishing the paper. I went out and within 5 minutes i was cursing myself. I had commited not mistakes but blunders. It was the graph question and the taxation question. I felt as if i was going to die of grief. It hurt like hell.
Dipanjan tried to console me. I went home and cried. My mother comforted me. She told me it didn't matter as long as I believed in myself. I guess those words of advice are still imprinted in my mind. I firmly believe that it doesn't matter what others think of me, or how they judge me as long as I believe in myself.
Well my dad got posted elsewhere again. It was a small place in Punjab called Faridkot. The board results were out and i got 88.8%. It felt good, I had topped the school overall and individually in 3 subjects.
I take this opportunity to thank the readers for visiting my blog. Do keep reading!
As the year started, we were supposed to be divided in houses and given appointments. I was given the duty of the Vice-Captain of the green house. But that was not to be. Later I found out that the Vice-Principal had reccomended me for the post of School Vice Captain for my good behavior and attitude. Well back then i used to be very sincere and humble. So i got two badges stating "Abhinav Thakur" and "School Vice-Captain. I was delighted! But I also understood the magnitude of my responsibility. Due to my frequent visits to the stage for collection of various certificates, the school had started to know me. And now I was Vice-Captain. I decided that i would not let the school down by any means. I wanted discipline to be the foremost virtue of the students.
The first tests came by, and the whole of the class faired badly. Even I couldn't score much(what can you do when a bunch of teachers are hell-bent on making you look like losers?). Well the talk of the class was that the Principal wasn't happy and had decided to split the good students among two sections. This meant Dipanjan would be gone to the other section. We tried very hard to convince the Principal that she give us another chance. Finally, we succeeded. That was a big relief for everyone. Friends would have separated if such a sorting took place.
Class X was fun, we knew none of the tests had any weightage, so we didn't care much about classes. Many a time, a few of us would convince the teacher that we had to prepare for a quiz and stay away from class!! I wonder how they believed us!
Tuition was great as ever. I still remember that we had finished the maths syllabus till July. I was so well versed with maths that i used to do any kind of problem given to me(no kidding). Even my tuition teacher sometimes found it hard to keep up with me.(okay now i am exaggerating! :P)
It was in that year that my father got promoted to the rank of Colonel. It was a big achievement for him. One of my achievements was that I had grown taller than him!! It felt good.
As you know everyone has a bad side to themselves. It felt bitter when i found out. Dipanjan had been taking tuitions for hindi and english. What was worse that he told me that he played badminton during that time. But i eventually found out. As it is I hate lies. I simply can't stand liars. So i discussed it with my mom. She told me that it didn't matter. We were very good friends, we used to be at each other's side for the smallest and the biggest things. But it seemed that he wanted to beat me. That was fair enough, but he could have atleast told me. I surely wouldn't have followed him to the tuitions.
The year went by, we had lots of fun. The boards were round the corner. It was a different feeling. I had heard lots of stories, 'its difficult to score in boards..'; 'teachers are very strict..'. I didn't care about all that stuff. I just gave my best. I remember it was the night before the maths test. And i was scared to death from the feeling of it. I wasn't able to solve the easiest questions. I felt like crying. Then i called up Dipanjan to ask some doubts. He asked me whether i was ok. Some of my doubts were the easiest questions. I told him that i wasn't able to solve anything. He asked me to calm down and take it easy. I decided that i had studied maths with all my heart. It couldn't slip from me. So i closed my book and watched TV. I went to sleep early. Next day at the centre, as the paper came to my hands, I felt the usual rush I had always felt while solving maths papers. It was a weird feeling. I started off like a rocket and within 2 and a half hours, I had done the paper. Then i saw dipanjan getting out. I though why not get out and discuss the paper. It felt amazing after finishing the paper. I went out and within 5 minutes i was cursing myself. I had commited not mistakes but blunders. It was the graph question and the taxation question. I felt as if i was going to die of grief. It hurt like hell.
Dipanjan tried to console me. I went home and cried. My mother comforted me. She told me it didn't matter as long as I believed in myself. I guess those words of advice are still imprinted in my mind. I firmly believe that it doesn't matter what others think of me, or how they judge me as long as I believe in myself.
Well my dad got posted elsewhere again. It was a small place in Punjab called Faridkot. The board results were out and i got 88.8%. It felt good, I had topped the school overall and individually in 3 subjects.
I take this opportunity to thank the readers for visiting my blog. Do keep reading!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Bale Balle Srinagar to Amritsar!
As i stated in my previous post, we left Srinagar as my dad got posted to Amritsar(Punjab).
I was quite anxious to see what my new school would be like. I was admitted to the Army School inside the Army Cantonment. The first day in class wasn't very bright. Although I knew no one, I made friends quickly with a few people. They seemed nice to me. Others were a bit rowdy and looked much older than me. As usual I had only one aim in mind, to top the class.
Amritsar is a nice place. We were given a flat in the army colony. I made friends with some of the people in the neighborhood. Me and my little brother used to go to the club and play badminton and table tennis. But since we had shifted in mid year, we had to cover up a lot of portion of our respective courses.
The mid term exams came, and I topped them. Although the next best wasn't far behind, it was a good feeling. The thing that struck my mom was that i had done poorly in maths. She advised and later forced me to join a tuition for the same. A teacher in our school used to teach a group of students after school time. He used to take maths and science for a very nominal fee.
Till that time I had been totally against tuition. My dad had once told me that he never studied an tuition. Also when my grandad forced him to take extra chemistry lessons, my dad asked him such difficult doubts that his tutor left the job. This made me think that tuition was for slowpokes and duds. But i wasn't a dud. I resented but eventually had to give in to my mother's sayings.
In the meantime, i made a very good friend. His name was Navjot. He was a very friendly person with a very good sense of humor. We used to laugh in class irrespective of the fact whether the teacher was present in the class, or not. One day it got too far. We were caught laughing around 10-12 times in a gap of 10 mins by our maths teacher. She was furious and to make the situation worse, we were hysterical with laughter. Even her threats of taking to the principal couldn't wipe the grins off our faces.
It was towards the end of the year that we got to participate in the much talked about "Limca Book of Records Quiz". It was hosted every year by Mr Barry O' Brien. I was very excited. There were three of us, myself, Dipanjan and Anjani. The latter two were 2nd and 3rd in class respectively. We mugged all sorts of books for the quiz. The day of the quiz arrived, we were a bit nervous but we knew we couldn't do much. The quiz had an elimination round from which only the first 8 teams would get a chance to go on stage. We were all the more releived that we didn't stand a chance now that we were competing with 250 schools from all over the country.(we didn't want to get on stage and look like dumb people.) Anyways, the quiz started and we started searching the answers on each other's faces. We hardly knew anything. Finally the tormenting elims was over. We were almost ready to go, but the teacher accompanying us wanted us to look at the results once. So we stayed back. We were shocked to hear that we were the third team to qualify for the finals. But on stage we couldn't hold on. We came 7th out of the 8 teams on stage!
The year came to an end and I topped the finals too. This time much more convincingly than before. I was contended with myself and my studies. My parents were happy. I also started to take the tuition more seriously as it helped a great deal. We were about to be promoted to class 10th but then, a rumor went around that good students were going to be equally divided between two sections. This hurt me and many other students. As i had made a lot of friends which would go into the other section if this sort of thing was implemented.
I was quite anxious to see what my new school would be like. I was admitted to the Army School inside the Army Cantonment. The first day in class wasn't very bright. Although I knew no one, I made friends quickly with a few people. They seemed nice to me. Others were a bit rowdy and looked much older than me. As usual I had only one aim in mind, to top the class.
Amritsar is a nice place. We were given a flat in the army colony. I made friends with some of the people in the neighborhood. Me and my little brother used to go to the club and play badminton and table tennis. But since we had shifted in mid year, we had to cover up a lot of portion of our respective courses.
The mid term exams came, and I topped them. Although the next best wasn't far behind, it was a good feeling. The thing that struck my mom was that i had done poorly in maths. She advised and later forced me to join a tuition for the same. A teacher in our school used to teach a group of students after school time. He used to take maths and science for a very nominal fee.
Till that time I had been totally against tuition. My dad had once told me that he never studied an tuition. Also when my grandad forced him to take extra chemistry lessons, my dad asked him such difficult doubts that his tutor left the job. This made me think that tuition was for slowpokes and duds. But i wasn't a dud. I resented but eventually had to give in to my mother's sayings.
In the meantime, i made a very good friend. His name was Navjot. He was a very friendly person with a very good sense of humor. We used to laugh in class irrespective of the fact whether the teacher was present in the class, or not. One day it got too far. We were caught laughing around 10-12 times in a gap of 10 mins by our maths teacher. She was furious and to make the situation worse, we were hysterical with laughter. Even her threats of taking to the principal couldn't wipe the grins off our faces.
It was towards the end of the year that we got to participate in the much talked about "Limca Book of Records Quiz". It was hosted every year by Mr Barry O' Brien. I was very excited. There were three of us, myself, Dipanjan and Anjani. The latter two were 2nd and 3rd in class respectively. We mugged all sorts of books for the quiz. The day of the quiz arrived, we were a bit nervous but we knew we couldn't do much. The quiz had an elimination round from which only the first 8 teams would get a chance to go on stage. We were all the more releived that we didn't stand a chance now that we were competing with 250 schools from all over the country.(we didn't want to get on stage and look like dumb people.) Anyways, the quiz started and we started searching the answers on each other's faces. We hardly knew anything. Finally the tormenting elims was over. We were almost ready to go, but the teacher accompanying us wanted us to look at the results once. So we stayed back. We were shocked to hear that we were the third team to qualify for the finals. But on stage we couldn't hold on. We came 7th out of the 8 teams on stage!
The year came to an end and I topped the finals too. This time much more convincingly than before. I was contended with myself and my studies. My parents were happy. I also started to take the tuition more seriously as it helped a great deal. We were about to be promoted to class 10th but then, a rumor went around that good students were going to be equally divided between two sections. This hurt me and many other students. As i had made a lot of friends which would go into the other section if this sort of thing was implemented.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Srinagar RockeD?!
The year went by, we were supposed to go to class 8th then. I was a bit let down by the fact that Kumud ma'am had left the school as well. So we were going to have a new science teacher. Her name was Miss Nusrat. From the first day I made a very good impression on her. I wanted to be number one in class and for that i needed to be in the good books of the teachers. The teacher who hated me the most was probably my english teacher. She knew that i was okay at academics and sometimes deliberately gave me less marks in the tests. My maths teacher was also kinda okay. She didn't know much math but posed as if she knew everything.
When the results of the first test were out, i was declared second in class. I was elated. I had beaten all of the class, except one. Her name was vishata. She topped the class quite unexpectedly. Our social studies teacher was more than lenient to girls and would always increase their marks whenever they went to him. I think that was the reason she beat me. Unfortunately vishata was not able to sit in the second test, due to which i topped the class. But the talk of the class was that i topped because vishata wasnt there. I was not at all pleased. I wanted them to know that i deserved the 1st place. In the forthcoming tests, i stood first despite of vishata sitting in the tests. No one was ahead of me. I was on cloud nine. I was soon going to discover another of my traits, the sin named pride. I took the victory to my head easily. It kept me from going on later.
During class 8th a few new admissions came into our class. One of them was Anil kumar. We became good friends pretty soon. He was probably one of the best friends i ever had. I shared everything with him. At home i had plenty of friends. Surinder and vijay the closest ones. We used to play cricket after school. Surinder is now undertaking training in IMA(indian military academy). I have lost conact with vijay though. One of the other new admissions was a girl named Malvika. I must say she was fat but still managed to look good. One of our classmates had a crush on her. A big row was created out of it, the parents of both the students were called and the students were counselled. Although the matter was resolved, a bit of bitterness was left.
Once in class 8th, a small feud turned into an ugly fight in class. Two groups of boys started fighting. In the process, a boy named Wasim threw the duster towards another student. The latter dodged it and the duster went on to hit the blackboard. The glass blackboard was shattered. Later we all were summoned by the principal. He told the culprit to come out else the whole class would have to bear the fine. Anil said that he'd tell wasim's name. I advised him not to, coz we didn't know what wasim would do to him afterwards. The matter was resolved later and the school paid for the repair.
Another terrible incident took place during the year. It was sometime in the evening. I was getting ready to go to play. Suddenly we heard a loud crash. It sounded like an airplane had crashed on the road running in front of our house. Quite a few windows of the colony were shattered. Later we were told that a 16 year old boy had driven to the gate of the cantonment in a maruti. He didn't have a proper indentification, so he tried to force his way into the cantt. Carrying 30 kgs of rdx, he exploded it all on being stopped at the gate. Nothing was left of the gate, the car and a few of the guards. We were all shaken by the incident. Later the gate was fortified and the security tightened.
My mom was pretty happy with my academic show. She began trusting me as she once did. I was happy. It was then that dad got promoted to the rank of Lt. Colonel and got posted to amritsar.
I was in class 9th then and had given the first tests. The results came out and i was in shock. I had been beaten badly by jitinder. The guy who used to be second. It was a result of the 'pride' that had been building inside me. Good for me that we were moving to another place where i would have to start from scratch. I didn't even go to take my result as i didn't wanna show my loser face to the class i had topped for so long.
When the results of the first test were out, i was declared second in class. I was elated. I had beaten all of the class, except one. Her name was vishata. She topped the class quite unexpectedly. Our social studies teacher was more than lenient to girls and would always increase their marks whenever they went to him. I think that was the reason she beat me. Unfortunately vishata was not able to sit in the second test, due to which i topped the class. But the talk of the class was that i topped because vishata wasnt there. I was not at all pleased. I wanted them to know that i deserved the 1st place. In the forthcoming tests, i stood first despite of vishata sitting in the tests. No one was ahead of me. I was on cloud nine. I was soon going to discover another of my traits, the sin named pride. I took the victory to my head easily. It kept me from going on later.
During class 8th a few new admissions came into our class. One of them was Anil kumar. We became good friends pretty soon. He was probably one of the best friends i ever had. I shared everything with him. At home i had plenty of friends. Surinder and vijay the closest ones. We used to play cricket after school. Surinder is now undertaking training in IMA(indian military academy). I have lost conact with vijay though. One of the other new admissions was a girl named Malvika. I must say she was fat but still managed to look good. One of our classmates had a crush on her. A big row was created out of it, the parents of both the students were called and the students were counselled. Although the matter was resolved, a bit of bitterness was left.
Once in class 8th, a small feud turned into an ugly fight in class. Two groups of boys started fighting. In the process, a boy named Wasim threw the duster towards another student. The latter dodged it and the duster went on to hit the blackboard. The glass blackboard was shattered. Later we all were summoned by the principal. He told the culprit to come out else the whole class would have to bear the fine. Anil said that he'd tell wasim's name. I advised him not to, coz we didn't know what wasim would do to him afterwards. The matter was resolved later and the school paid for the repair.
Another terrible incident took place during the year. It was sometime in the evening. I was getting ready to go to play. Suddenly we heard a loud crash. It sounded like an airplane had crashed on the road running in front of our house. Quite a few windows of the colony were shattered. Later we were told that a 16 year old boy had driven to the gate of the cantonment in a maruti. He didn't have a proper indentification, so he tried to force his way into the cantt. Carrying 30 kgs of rdx, he exploded it all on being stopped at the gate. Nothing was left of the gate, the car and a few of the guards. We were all shaken by the incident. Later the gate was fortified and the security tightened.
My mom was pretty happy with my academic show. She began trusting me as she once did. I was happy. It was then that dad got promoted to the rank of Lt. Colonel and got posted to amritsar.
I was in class 9th then and had given the first tests. The results came out and i was in shock. I had been beaten badly by jitinder. The guy who used to be second. It was a result of the 'pride' that had been building inside me. Good for me that we were moving to another place where i would have to start from scratch. I didn't even go to take my result as i didn't wanna show my loser face to the class i had topped for so long.
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