The Weirdos

Apologies for the delay in writing on the weirdos but blame Ankur and Sudhanshu for the same. They refused to opt for courses I had registered for. I had their quizzes last week and I was compelled to first collect the notes,somehow from somewhere and then study them myself. This is a crime in the final sem.

Anyways, this is the last post in the series. It has been a good exercise for me though I have recieved some you-too-are-in-the-queue stares. I look forward to reading them after months,years and have a hearty laugh recollecting the days we spent together.

Let me begin with the Romeo of the group.

Name: Deepankar Garg
Nick: Ponker, Thee ponker

The guy who has bugged me the most, I present to you X, X- the romeo of Masti ki Paathshala fame, X- my BTP partner.

Try visualizing: At 10.00 AM we have a meeting with our BTP guide. I am about to leave my room at five minutes to 10. As I open the door, guess what, I have X standing just outside my room brushing his teeth with toothpaste dripping from all around his mouth.(He waited outside my room for five minutes very well knowing that I shall step out soon,he did not knock!!)  Thats him!! He comes up with a PJ(people they hit like a dagger deep into your heart) while in his room, comes to my room, wakes me up and leaves only when I kick him out of my room. These anecdotes are just the tip of the iceberg Since long my reflexes to his “ek khatta sun” is to scamper to a corner where he can’t reach me. I wish to listen what he chats with you-know-who when they are on long walks. I know he is different then and I want to see him in a sober state.

He is famous for falling asleep in the class/conference rooms when he is sitting right besides the prof. And he sleeps well with his head rested on the table and his hands alligned in the direction of gravity.When sleeping in his room, his legs often rest on the grills of his window.At times his body is finely balanced on the edge of the bed. I also distinctly remember an incident from our first year. This guy was sick during the endsems in the second sem. Saurabh Dhir (he was two rooms away) recieved a call from X’s home and X did not talk as he was feeling weak and was resting. After a few minutes an Alizee video (J’en Ai Maire) was played in Saurabh’s room and you can guess who garnered every bit of strength left in his body to move two rooms.

Lord had mercy on me; he is joining Bain, Delhi!! May the Almighty Bless the employees at Bain Capability Center

Name: Mayank Singla
Nick: Doctor, Singla

Alcher 2005:Officially Goldrush was won by Y.P  and E Sowmya Sudha but few know that the rightful winners were Mayank Singla and Jaspreet Singh. However coz of a very narrow outlook we were disqualified on the grounds on not being a “couple”. The next Alcher Singla paired up with a gorgeous girl(cupid stuck in “Crush”) and finished among the winners. In Alcher ‘07 he was turned down by the hottest female in the Alcher and then failed to find a partner on day 3.His day 2 partner ditched him for his junior!!  The golden couple(Singla and yours truly) returned in Groove ‘07 and were adjudged the best couple

This late latif has been planning his GRE since I don’t know when. He is headed to Shell and is still planning on GRE. Was also keen on CAT, I think he still is. He joined the class room coaching of IMS but attended only a couple of classes citing the reason “Class kaun jaata hai, Jo padna hota hai woh room pe hota hai.Test likhne jaayenge”. He wrote few tests saying room pe likh lenge. Junta, as told to me he was seen brushing up a few formulae in maths while on his way to the CAT test center

He takes a single puff, one peg but gets his pics clicked with a bottle in one hand and a cigaratte in the other. He is famous was his seductive badi badi ankhein and his dance steps,again very sensual

A week back, when both Ponker and Singla had no work to do they came to my room and made me judge a belching competition

I better get back to studying Visous Fluid flows. I have a midsem tomorrow morning, my last midsems beckon

Shareef Bachche

Plans changed.Ill write about the weirdos in the next post, for now the shareef bachche.Not that the others are rogues, hum bhi nanhe se pyaare se bachche hain. But they deserve the title more than the others.

Name: Ankur Pahuja
Nick: Ankurji

The respect coz he is the sharafat ka putla and the topper of my dep, most consistent in acads. Not once but twice he earned a SPI of 10 I saw to it that he stays in my lobby coz he is one of the reasons for the little success I have in my acads. His notes were my tonic for survival.

However, we were in for a surprise,  this simple bloke underwent a metamorphosis after his intern in Erlangen. He let his creativity flow.Started writing soaps viz “Bachelor’s party”.He presented the script of the pilot episode on my bday   His master stroke; we settle down in the mess. Ankurji arrives “(Mayank) Singla tu singular hai.Agar plural hota toh Single hota”. (To add, Singla single bhi hai:) ) There was no turning back since then.Our lobby now houses both the Khatta king (Ponker) and the prince.

Name: Gulrej Kakkar
Nick: Gulli

Months back, during a very lame bakar(gossip) session, the subject was wastage of water. The discussion drifted towards who saves water by not bathing for days/weeks. Singla was getting close to the accolades with a stretch of one week. However he was to be denied by a magnanimous effort in saving water, just two words that silenced everyone: “Fourth Sem”. Deo manufactures should also present him an award for highest consumption.

His favorite subjects include history (read world wars & Hitler), weather forecasts, wind disturbances etc. This “Devil from Xaviers” (as is Ankurji),was the first one in the lobby to bag two jobs .

Name: Gurtej Singh
Nick: Gary

The Sardar who personifies simplicity and innocense.Poor lad had to move out of the lobby after two sems coz his room was adjacent to that of Singla. Sounds of “Three frags left”, rockets flying around, rock being played at night drove him nuts. Again, headed to the firang land

Name: Bhaskar something (its too long)
Nick: Bosca-da

He moved in Gary’s room. He was a top ranker too and we thought, poor chap will also be driven out like Gary before his CPI takes a dip But to our pleasant surprise he drove Keeda nuts with his loud music including Assamese songs,Zinda Hoon etc. A music buff who raised the volume even while in the washroom, much to the dislike of all in the lobby. He moved out after a year to be close to his fellow reseach assistants.

We really miss him. He had come up with the concept of the laughter club. The entire lobby while still in the mess after dinner used to burst into roars of laughter. Junta in the mess used to stare at us wondering what has driven us crazy. Our reaction, this time we all stared at one soul and roared into laughter again, embarassing the bloke Another member with dollar dreams:)
 

One & Half Sardar

With the fireworks having started I had to follow up with the next post soon The guesses on who would be crucified next were not completely spot on. One & Half Sardar if broken down yields Balli-da and Keeda.

Lets start with the “Dude” of our group;

Name: Gundeep Singh Saini
Nick: Keeda, Semi Sardar

He is the only bloke to have consistently maintained his SPI between 8 and 9. All others have had jumps between 7 and 10. Has appeared for GRE,CAT,JMET,TOEFL and is finally headed to Shell. We all know “Keeda loves sports”. My lawn tennis buddy has expressed his desire to be called “The Mothman” or “The Beetle”,however, I have little doubt that he will grey with “Keeda”. Credit this nick to the ragging days.

He once prefered to describe himself as a cross between Brad Pitt , Andre Agassi and a few more lame souls from the firang land.An encyclopedia for every hollywood actress (even those who started of as exotic dancers),his USP is his bargaining skills

If you wish to hear his fantasies and much more get him sloshed His future plans include sleeping around, with a preference for blondes before settling down at 35. And with he headed to the sex capital for his (job) training, his fantasies are calling out to him aloud.

Name: Bhallinder Singh Gill
Nick: Balli

More often than not, one can find him (in his room)seated with his legs rested on his table, in deep discussions & working tirelesslyto win a game in SOF or RON.Famous for his hilarious one liners and sounds of “umhh, umhh”, the department rank two is also headed to the US of A.

Next in the series: The Weirdos

Welcome to Darkness

There are times when you wish to write on a subject, you even start composing the blog but leave it midway. It is not the first time this has happened with me. On two occassions I stopped coz the blogs were getting too cynical. For quite somedays my mind was wandering around people in relationships with their family members, friends, colleagues and many others. I was concentrating on “Trust/Faith”. In the end I summed up with the words of an IIM B prof “There are no friends, no enemies, only interests”. This though true is being cynical. Hence I stopped midway. Instead I looked at the brighter side and thought of writing on my friends. I narrowed down on my lobby,  there is lots of gossip

This has been our lobby for three years: Welcome to Darkness. One can’t miss reading those huge letters when visiting our rooms. In the second year when the admin decided on moving us to diferent hostels and lobbies we all got together, decided on a lobby and made it our abode.

Our group has been versatile. From top rankers in the respective departments to fest organizers, from student body heads to participants in Inter IIT sports,we have them all. I plan to compile some memories. Do not expect me to write orkut-testimonials here (Who wants to hear the good things).They have all been amazing friends. I start with V I S, only reason, I can write about him in length (though I plan not to disclose all I know) and expect my lobbymates to add loads of masala to it

Name: V I S

Nick: Inder, Pandit, Chechak

This Ambarsariya has punjabiyat written all over him. His sermons viz “Nanak naam chamkiya” is etched in our minds. Get in touch with him if you are interested in chaste punjabi, punjabi music and anything related to Punjab except the girls. He has loads of stories to tell but trust me they are of his friends

He has been a very consistent performer in acads.Has earned a SPI of 10 too   He is headed to the US of A. So far has got four calls for Phd with full aid from Wisconsin,Cornell, Minneasota and Santa Barbara (Thts four on four as yet). More are expected. The most jovial guy in the group with an amazing knack of pulling someone’s leg. A very warm guy and a wonderful host, had a rocking time when we visited his home town…

Next in the series, coming soon: One and Half Sardar

Remember Shakti: Giriraj Sudha

Soulful

A day in the life of India

Consumers are powering the economy.Here’s how much, on average, Indians buy everyday (Source: Industry Data/TOI)

Cars:2,416
Bikes:15,932
Scooters:19,332
Condoms:4.38 million
Cigarette sticks: 260.2 million
Jeans: 72,329 pairs
Washing Machines:4,274
Laptops: 1,183
Personal computers:12,643
Soaps (100g bars):15.1 million
Gold: 1,918 Kg
Movie Tickets: 10.4 million
Air tickets: 95,890
Indians going abroad: 24,657
Packaged water (650ml): 5.76 million
Beer (650 ml) : 8.6 million bottles
Soft Drinks (300 ml): 19.6 million
TVs: 22,740 with 9,873 flat screens
Fridges: 9,589

Consumerism is yet to reach its peak in India. These figures will inflate and even a wild guess might fall short. If the previous generation (say the age group of 45-60) had to adapt to the liberalised economy our generation will have to adapt to a economy which will progress towards a stagnation.Change is constant.