A new beginning, A new dawn

Our early steps were filled with apprehension,
Moving around with widening eyes.
Casting a glance at all that was immobile,
Hoping for a new beginning, a new dawn.

Walking through numerous corridors,
We've evolved into sturdy and secure pillars.
But still we can never pass into oblivion..
The stories in them engraved, each so genuine.

The trees whispering their little secrets,
Standing through watching the silliest of quarrels.
The numerous ones they've seen come and go,
Sealed lips these secrets forever they hold.

Memories remain etched at so many a post,
Timeless bends these places are to host.
Emotions staying hooked on some layers,
These places and persons will forever be in our prayers.

The most obvious of times we study!
With open books for hours we sit and chat..
These discussions have made our economy all the more sturdy!
Worrying not about our grades suffering a set-back.

Timetables scheduled and deadlines to be met,
Tables drawn and lines to be set.
Classes discovering new purpose,
Probably a movie or a drink would suffice!

The professors we were deemed to respect,
Mostly with an ego so bad, we don't know wat to expect.
"I've seen thousands of you", they'd say...
"Then why not someone else", I'd pray!

The scent of flowers and the "huddling" of lovers,
The flirty looks and the more "devily" ones.
Small time romances to those of epic proportions,
Down our roads, we've seen all directions.

And now our steps have become larger,
We are to move on into a new threshold.
And again we are to go back to apprehension,
Hoping for a better beginning, a better dawn.

The stains we sometimes leave....

Life is got its times when u are forced to regret.....
So many instances u wish u could have undone...
So many times u wish u hadn't been in...

But then....
There were the times in which u could secretly smile,
Times u could think of all the wonderful joys,
With friends making u drown in heavenly delight,
These times can bring u back from the deepest troughs.

But then....
I was a person who was always filled with laughter..
Engulfing all around in the silliest happiness.
And now when i am to say goodbye....
It pains to think that I am to leave stains behind...
On an otherwise clean sheet.....

This journey ahead... will help me regain lost ground...
Time helping to cut the many deeds I want undone...
Moments of distress going down the tunnel....
To see light at the end... And move on and on....

These stains we sometimes leave....
Is there any moment in which we can have them cleaned??
Or will they help us remember,
The many things life has had for us to see???

Road Trip to Kerala....Amazing!!!

Well it all started with this Q-Quest function of ours.... All my friends left on Thursday night by train to Cochin... But Pune and me stayed back as our paper was selected and we had to present it on Friday!! Well staying back saved its purpose... We came second in the competition... Pretty Good...

We then were running around Egmore station trying to find a bus that would take us directly to Thekadi or atleast somewhere near the place!!! There was a Volvo semi-sleeper which seemed all great until this person told us bout this sleeper bus(a/c). Seemed like a good idea and we decided to go for it....

The bus came, we walked in... man it was amazing!!! Had berths... each berth was like a double bed... with curtains that made it like a cubicle!! Was really comfortable... And then.. wat next... Speak to the drivers!! he he... those guys were cool and they were ok with us doing anything in the driver's cabin of the bus!!.. So now we had a place to smoke in the bus!! Just wat we needed.... The view from the bus was great... Nice to see lights whizz past u as ure lying down.... INCIDENTLY, i happened to have two bottles of beer in my bag... which we CONVENIENTLY placed under the a/c duct... Within about an hours time it was chill.... In the meantime we played some rummy(cards)... And did i pity Pune at the end of it... The guy lost all the three games we played...!!!! "Cheating, etc etc...", he screamed!! But the bottom line was that he LOST!!!! Anyways to give him his credit... he thought he finished his game and dropped his cards down only to realise he had overlooked something!!! Eventually losing dat game too!!! He he....

Anyways, wat else did we need.... Ah yes, a bottle opener!! So we went to the driver's cabin with the bottles and the cleaner guy there just bit the cap off!!!
One beer later and a couple of cigarrettes later... we went to get the second beer chilled... Once it was chill, we go back to the driver's cabin to see the Cleaner guy sleeping!!! So PUNE actually managed to bite the cap off... Dude... Was i impressed!!!! Anyways another beer down... it was good... felt good... We decided our favourite brand of beer was VORION 6000!!! We stopped for diner and then got to sleep!!! But this was one bus journey i will never forget in my life.... The best in fact!!

Well this bus was only upto a place called Kambum.... after that we had to get a bus either to Kumli or thekadi... So we hopped on to a bus and got down at Kumli and here i am... Have to wait here for more friends to join. One of my friends has got us permission to stay at a guest house here.. so gotta wait for him... Dint know wat to do...Saw this browsing centre at this "Post-Office". How come i haven't seen any at our Tamil Nadu post offices!!!! Anyways.. It was nice to cross this check post at Kumli and say "Man, we're in Kerala now!!!!, There's mallu written all over!!!" He he... There's a temple near this place with loud music playing!! OK ppl... I gotta sign off now... More on Kerala - "God's Own Country", yet to come!!!

Just another day except for.........!!!!!

Well today's been a day of sorts!!!! More on the negative side though... i decided to vent my feelings here... So bear with me ppl.....

For starts, the day was all good till evening after my dance class(yes i am still going for my dance class). I left with guillaume to clemence's place and Karthik left for college.... Well we planned a nice evening with food and some drinks at Clemence's place as Arnav and Will(her friends) were to leave tomorrow.... So we called Dhaba and ordered some food... Then I get a call from Karthik saying he's in an accident and needs help immediately... So i leave immediately from T Nagar and get to Kotturpuram.. Get there to see Karthik's car in a bad shape and a Honda City ahead also in a pretty bad shape... Luckily no one's hurt there.... So then since we dint want to register a case with the cops, we had to come up with a compromise, though i wanted to yell at the other guy... coz he was talking to Karthik like no one makes mistakes in the world! For heaven's sake, we told the guy that we would cover all his expenses!!!!

Anyways, after dealing with Karthik's car and dropping Karthik at the hostel, I go back to Clemence's place to see dat they're still waiting for the food!!! It was one and a half hours since i left the place and there was no food!!! So i call the Dhaba guys and very decently ask him where the food was!! He said it wud be there in five minutes. A dozen calls and another half an hour later, a guy comes with food from Dhaba!!! So then i called the manager and had an argument with him again. We agreed to take the food if it were given to us at half the cost or else we were leaving to another restaurant to have our food!! After another hectic argument, we sent the guy off with the food and set off to have our diner at Murugan Idly Shop(which is open till 12 in the night). The time now was bout 11.35.

Then we walk down to the gate of Clemence's house and find it locked!!! "Oopsie... we gotta wake the watch-man", I thought... But then Clemence comes with a bunch of keys saying the watch-man had given her a spare key to the gate!!! "Wow, dat's cool", I thought to myself. We go try to open the gate to find out dat the "Smart watchie" had changed the lock. So now we gotta wake him up. Guillaume and myself move over to wake him up(he's fast asleep under a mosquito net) and he refuses to open the gate saying we are not allowed to go out after 10!!! Since when did watch-men decide when their house-owners were to leave and return to their place... So when i started arguing with him... it went on for some time... To the extent wherein my dear Bro, Guillaume got angry and yelled at him asking him to open the gate. Then he made some totally lewd and uncalled for statement about Guillaume and the fact that he is a foreigner!!! This got me worked up!! For heaven's sake he's working here and wat rite does he have to speak badly bout a person he hardly knows!! I was very angry and worked up!! Things got hotter and if not for a small gap, I guess the guy would have been hammered and brought to where he deserves to be!! He ran to the secretary's house! Well this lady came out... I told her the problems and well she was very understanding!!!! Well it ended with her asking that guy to open the gate for us!!!

Well this incident got me thinking!! Why do people have to come up with opinions about ppl without really knowing them??? That guy was angry with the fact that foreigner's were staying there and they come and go at wat ever time they want!! But for crying out aloud, who is he to care... He's gotta do his job and mind his own business!!! He needn't care bout wat other ppl do.. As long as he minds his own family(I came to know later that he's got two wives!!). So i guess dat wud mean he's got a lot of family to tend too... So why poke his nose into other ppl's lives..... Well i'll leave this topic for now and get back to it later when i have more time!!!

Well, apart from all this, it was a wonderful evening at Clemence's place with friends...And yes, there was more in store for me when i got back... Audrey's back... Feels good to know a good friend is back... Got her message just as i started typing out this post!!! Wud be great to meet her tomorrow after like a month!!!!

And yes, my Industrial Visit(Tour) plan got through and so my class guys are leaving tomorrow night to Cochin!!! My paper, the one on "Value based Approach towards identifying Quality Bottle-Necks" got selected for Q-Quest!! Pune and myself had submitted for last years Q-Quest. But last year's even was cancelled and hence it was automatically taken as an entry... Cool!!! Thing is its on Friday morning... So we guys are gonna attend the presentation and then leave only on Friday night!! We'll join our guys at Cochin or Thekady I guess!!! Anyways... well today couldn't be just another day right??????

Let us make our Destiny- Mr.P.Chidambaram

I have taken these lines from the speech of Mr.P.Chidambaram, our Finance Minister. This is from the opening lines of his budget presentation.

"The Young people of India are building castles, it may appear that these castles are in the air, but as Henry David Thoreau said : If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them"

I think these lines sum up the aspirations of many Indians such as myself... looking on ahead with an optimism that can only take us miles ahead... The world is already closely watching the pace at which our country is developing!! And oh yes, Mr. Bush is here!!!! I guess he's thinking of wat he can take away from here!!!! Guess he know's there's no way he's gonna get away with bullying China and so he's trying to extend his "helping arm" here with us!!

Swami Vivekananda's immortal words:

" We reap what we sow. We our the makers of our own fate. The wind is blowing; those vessels whose sails are unfurled catch it, and go forward on their way, but those which have their sales furled do not catch the wind. Is that the fault of the wind?????.......
We make our own Destiny"

I guess that sums up all we need to know in life!!!!