The mystery of destiny...

How often do things happen in our lives which are not according to what we expect them to be? and then someone consoles us by saying that "This was bound to happen. It was predestined." From my discussions on this issue with my friends, I have seen that some people are strongly opposed to the conecpt of destiny. And this is because it sort of takes away the power of choice from the person. But what I would say is that they were predestined to oppose the concept of destiny... :D

One major point of clarification in this concept of destiny, which is usually held by critics against this concept, is that if everything is predestined, then we are not required to do anything and just wait for everything to happen as it is destined to be. However, this is not what the concept of destiny says. It does not tell u to stop performing ur daily tasks and wait for things to happen. Instead, what it says is that although it appears to us that we have a choice to make from different possible options, the one choice that we will choose is predestined and the universe is set to move according to that choice. Thus, what appears to us as possible options are just that.. possibilities! So, in order to follow the path of destiny, we must do what we are required to do and not bother about results that do not go our expected way...

Well, I would have loved to delve deep into the outcomes of my discussion, specially with Mohit, but since Mohit is planning to come up with a book on our conclusions, he is of the opinion that uncovering the mystery in this blog would affect the sale of his book, which is bound to be a bestseller whenever it hits the racks...

So, for the time being, you will have to wait for us to find the time to write down our thoughts in the form of a book to actually understand this mystery. :P

Kaun kehta hai ladke bida nahi hote?

NOTE: This msg was to be completed long ago but then somehow it just was left incomplete... so now i am getting the time to complete it.. and that was because there were some wonderful remarks on my blog which have inspired me to write more.. and as the saying goes... better late than never...

It was the 20th of June.. two of my best friends were embarking on a new life... Mohit had his first day at Ugam Solutions and Shastry was all set to scale new heights with the Indian Airlines flight to Abu Dhabi... so me and mohit had planned to say farewell to Shastry at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport... Mohit had a long and rough journey back to iit from his office in mahalaxmi and to add to it, it was also raining that evening... so we thought that the best way to reach the airport was to take an auto... we discussed Mohit's first day at office in the auto and both of us were realizing that things are going to change pretty soon... Within a few days I was to leave for bangalore (which was about six months back, my last back up :P) and mohit was desperately in search of a place to stay near office so that he could do away with travelling daily... Anyways we hardly realized as the auto made its way through the evening traffic and we were soon at the airport waiting for Shastry to arrive...

But Shastry was caught up in the traffic and we didn't have much to do in the meantime, so our discussion took a philosophical drift (as usual) and we began to discuss the relation between choice and destiny... Regarding these discussions we have had since our second year, had we documented them, we would have had a manuscript for a bestseller ready by now... :D But the details of the discussion definitely deserve a separate article...

Finally after some running around to locate the exact terminal from where Shastry was departing we finally reached there and met his parents and some fellow friends from TeamSwades (Sachin and Akshat)... and after a few moments of waiting, we found him! There he was; our dear friend, about to take a big leap in life... such moments are the ones that stay with you for a long time... Shastry was as usual in a lot of nbd regarding how he should describe his trip, since he didn't have an employment visa... but as the moments passed by, we knew that we would not be seeing each other for atleast the next two months (hoping that he would come back for the convo)..

And then the ultimate moment arrived, when Shastry said good-bye to each one of us individually (or so we thought until that moment repeated itself all over again twice).. Knowing him for the last six years atleast, it was no surprise that Shastry's feet were rooted to the ground and he was finding it difficult to grasp the enormity of the situation, leaving his family, his friends, his country for the first time to go to a foreign land.. and though he didnt actually cry, we knew that his heart was crying at this critical juncture in his life... he was very much moved by the gift given to him by Sachin and Akshat, which carried the photo of his icon, the great MK Gandhi... and that was when Mohit remarked.. "Kaun kehta hai ladke bida nahi hote?".. and I knew that it was so very true...
Soon, Shastry looked at us one last time and was soon gone to build his career... which undoubtedly would be an illustrious one... I wish him all the very best in his career... and I am sure he would come back to India to live the dream of TeamSwades...

Living in the past..

The last few days have been somewhat like living the older days once again.. And that has been because I have been meeting so many of my older friends. I had finally packed off from IIT and was enjoying my stay back home. And with that, I also got to be in the company of some of my best buddies from school and college.

I now feel that I am really indebted to Orkut because it finally got me back in touch with one of my best friends from school.. Aseem. I had never known his whereabouts since the past five years and was wondering how life would have turned out for him. But then a couple of weeks back, he added me on orkut and we could get to meet each other! What a great time it was... I went over to his place and we spent an evening together reliving the memories from the good old school days. The various experiences from college that we shared also brought back genuine smiles to our faces.

Then next was meeting up with my Standard X class teacher (Mrs. Nathan).. someone who had taught me since standard VIII and has played a pivotal role in shaping the way I think and feel... I was always impressed by the balance of kindness and agression in her teaching and few teachers have been able to strike that balance... She was a master when it came to teaching English Grammar... and having her as a class teacher in Std X also allowed her to leave a permanent mark on my moral values... When I and Arvind met her, she was still the same self that she was six years ago and we had a very memorable discussion on various social and moral issues...

This meeting was soon followed up by the Sathaye College Reunion... something that I was really skeptical about... since I hardly had many fond memories of Sathaye (we hardly used to attend college and most of the time during junior college was spent in coaching classes)... But Prajakta had called me up and her enthusiasm for the Reunion could not have met with a negative answer from my side.. Though she was confident that atleast 15 ppl would turn up, we finally ended up with only 9 ppl... just having a dinner at RK (Ramakrishna Restaurant, the fav hangout place for Sathaye ppl) and discussed many experiences from college... Though I was atleast saved from the embarassment of not recognizing any one, I had difficulty recalling a few names.. after all we had hardly interacted during college.... but it soon turned out to be a very good experience as we got to know each other and shared experiences from undergrad life.... We ended up by having softy at the SoftyBar (another fav place for Sathaye gang) and thanks to Arvind, we had some snaps as a memory of this most unlikely reunion for me (i was rather expecting a school reunion and not a college reunion, but the former seems uncertain as of now)...

Through all these times, I have also been enjoying the FIFA World Cup and have now have some basic literacy in football to indulge in the normal discussions among friends... also I have gained some amount of interest in F1 and am looking forward to the Canada Grand Prix... :-)

These few days spent in reliving the past have spurred up nostalgic feelings and I am now feeling more and more sad about leaving these wonderful carefree days behind and entering the new phase of life that beckons me just round the corner... the employed life!

Finally I am done...

Finally on the 10th of June 2006, I moved out from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay... :( I had finally come to the end of the road... The wonderful four year journey, that began on the 18th of July 2002 with the insti orientation programme, is now over... with a few letters added against my name... and loads of memories to carry away with me....

At this point, thinking back about the time when I first came to IITB, I find that life didnt exactly turn out as I had thought it would... sometimes for the good, sometimes for the worse... But it has been an enriching journey indeed... I now realise that the four years of undergraduate life are the most valuable years, where u come across so many diverse acquaintances and gather so many experiences... I just can't imagine the enormity of the impact that IIT life has had on me... from the transformation into a nocturnal creature to the changed attitude towards life, it has been a total metamorphosis for me... and apart from that, I have been lucky enough to gain the company of so many friends that this has alone made my life worthwhile... We always meet new acquaintances and make new friends at every walk of life but IIT has gifted me with such gems that make me feel deeply indebted to it...

And never before has this occured to me.. I have rediscovered myself here... And it pains my heart to leave all this behind now... The time spend in the company of these friends, the pointless night-outs, the studying on the night before the exams, the arguments, the debates over various issues of life, and the dabbling with many new activities; all of these would be mere memories now...

But that is how life is... I am done here and have to move ahead... After gaining all these experiences, I look forward to making my mark in the real world... where and how life would take a turn, I cannot tell... But being at IIT has helped me develop a positive attitude towards life... and so I am optimistic about the future turn of events... Though it would surely take some time to emerge from this hangover of nostalgia... At last, it is reality... I am an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay!

The elusive kiss of victory..

It was the end of the second day of the first test between India and the West Indies at Antigua, the ground that had seen Lara score the highest individual score in Test cricket (400* vs England).. India was in deep trouble with a dismal first inning performance and already under a 70-odd run lead... That was the time when I made a seemingly unreasonable prediction, that India will win this test... naturally evoking a strong reaction from my pragmatic peers... Anuj had even gone to the extreme of labeling my prediction as the height of optimism... But i think optimism is taller than most ppl think... :-)

though finally it was the determination of edwards and collymore along with dave mohammed to keep the indians just an inch away from victory... i think it was a wonderful performance from India and it is this sort of games that make cricket so much interesting... no matter what happens ahead in the remaining matches, India has come back strongly after the defeat in the ODIs and i am waiting to see what happens next...

And the week ahead is a treat for all sports-loving people... the Football world Cup is kicking off... the French Open will see some great action in tennis... we have the British Grand Prix lined up... and of course, the second test between India and WI... dont think will get too much time to blog all this while... :D

Encounter with the devil

Today was the dreadful devil day... when the date was going to form the devil number 666 (6 june 06)... and many bad things had been slated to happen on this day..... and it was the special time at 06:06:06 (that is six seconds after 6:06 am) when everything from year to second would read six... interesting, isn't it? well, i was awake to witness that rare occasion.. i was determined to stay up whole night for that... :D

And here is the proof, a screenshot of the local India time shown by Google, the quality of the image may not be too good... so in case u want to see a conclusive proof, u can get the large size image from me.. >:)

After enjoying the moment with pandey (the wing sbc.. lolzz), i buzzed manjan and one of the rare occasions when some one offered me to come to main gate for a cup of tea.. :D and i was more than willing to oblige... so we had an early morning bike ride and mast garam garam chai..

I finally got to sleep at 8:30am and then was up again at 10:00.. finally i met my guide and really, u cannot be luckier than me... mere guide jitna peace aadmi dekha hi nahi hai! had a very informal chat and I was back happy and waiting to pass more time... we went to upahar at Y-Point gate and then to our favorite ganesh juice centre...

The evening was quite blurred with sleep tending to overpower and then I slumped for sometime on anuj's bed (gosh! dunno exactly what bit me but I was rudely woken up by the bugs in his bed!) i still wonder how he sleeps there everyday... as he says, the bugs in his bed bite only people who should not be sleeping there.. (or maybe, they cant tolerate getting close to anuj.. lolzz) The India WI match was slated for an exciting finish and that was going to take up most of the night...

finally, the day of the devil was coming to an end with thankfully not much damage done and the world was saved from the grasp of the beast... :-)

The Reunion.. and the breaking away

Any transition in life is always associated with making new companions and parting with old ones.. And we naturally feel sad about leaving our old friends along with the fear that we may be as lucky again to get such friends in the future... But that is the bitter reality of life.. The purpose of meeting people is to one day break away from them... because each one of us follow a different path to their destiny...

Time is here again when we are at another junction in life. And this seems the most critical of them all. We are now graduates and now first get to taste the real world outside, a world which might turn out to be both cruel as well as rewarding.. And of course, it will be accompanied by making lots of new acquaintances....

But this Saturday, we old buddies from school and junior college time did get a chance to catch up with each other before we step into the world ahead... We met at the Borivali station at around 5pm.... it was really wonderful to be together with old friends again... reliving those wonderful memories and enjoying each other's company. After a long debate (as always) about what to do next, we finally decided to go to National Park for a stroll.... With Arvind leading the pro-National Park opinion and Aditya garnering support against it, it was reminiscent of the heated arguments that we used to have during those golden days at junior college and JEE classes.... spending time discussing just about anything, be it silly or important, nothing used to matter more than proving your point and getting people to support you... The main argument from Aditya was that National Park would close at 6pm and so it would be useless to go there; which was quashed outright by the omniscient Bhagyesh, thus tilting the balance conclusively in Arvind's favor... Finally, we were at the park and overlooking the lake where we had a few snaps taken as memories of this reunion... We also had a good time in the children's amusement area in the park, where we just shedded a few years and enjoyed some carefree moments... Bhagyesh also had a merry time in the swing (strictly made for children and which shuddered under his weight :P) until he realised that he was very much vulnerable to mud-slinging and let go the swing (which seemed to heave a sigh of relief)...
Later we went to Siddesh's place and had some pet-puja and discussions on reservations, cricket and football.. We were basically whiling away time until our friend Mujju arrived from Mulund... Then, we planned to have a dinner at Urban Tadka but had to wait for as long as 45 min before we could gain entry.. So, we spent our time in the futile attempt to convince Arvind for a treat, which we all so much deserved.. But Arvind, as always, did not budge and we ended up having a contri treat... but that did make it any less enjoyable (except towards the end, when we had to shell out some money)..... The travel back to home in bus was the perfect end to a very memorable evening...

After graduation, some of us will be taking a job right away while others will be pursuing higher studies... our paths and our destinies seem to diverge from here on.. Our destinies may sure interwine somewhere in the future but we will definitely get to see each other less and less and the fun that we had together will only continue to exist in our memories... Such friendship will sure be very hard to find in the life ahead... At this moment, I just remember the old hindi song:

Lag jaa gale, ke fir se yeh haseen raat ho na ho......
Shayad fir se iss janam mein, mulaqaat ho na ho..... >:D<

And I would also like to say the following lines for each one of my wonderful friends...

A bond of love…
A medal of trust…
A shoulder in sadness..
A hand in darkness…
A special relation to hold…
An ear where secrets can be told..
An appreicater for encouragement…
Something that doesn’t cost…
A Jewel never to be lost…
No matter where in life either of us will end..
You reside in my heart, my dear FRIEND…

X Men

Mutation is the process through which evolution has progressed on this planet from the single-celled organisms to the present day humankind.. It is a continuous and slow process that is always creating new species on earth... but every few thousand years, evolution takes a leap; a leap into the future...

The X Men series is another masterpiece of human imagination which brings the power of mutation into the hands of humans... as expected with some disastrous consequences...

Every mutant has different special powers which he/she is free to use in whatever way desirable.. first, wolverine (Logan) whose bones have been coated with some indestructible metal... Logan can conjure claws out of his knuckles and can heal his wounds faster than anyone else... then, there is Cyclops who can produce a high power laser from his eyes that can burn anything in its way... there is Jeanne Gray who can control gravity through her mind (oh! what a brilliant idea!)... Firearm, who can manipulate fire but unfortunately cannot create it and so has to keep a lighter with him always.. the girl (don't know her name) who can walk through walls... Mystique who can take the form of anyone and also imitate his/her voice... and finally Magneto who can control any metal object through the use of his magnetic powers...

Such works of fiction tend to impress me a lot.. I seem to spend a lot of time imagining what I could have done with these special powers... How nice it would be to have chilled beer by just dropping in a couple of ice cubes out of nothing... Or how I could sneak into the classroom through the wall so that the prof would never come to know about it... :D Or how I could summon anything sitting from one place... yeah sure, that would make me fat and lazy beyond limits.. Or turn into anyone and do whatever u desire to get done... the possibilities seem endless.... If only we could actually speed up evolution and achieve something of this sort... But yes, as spiderman had said, "With great power comes great responsibility!" So would it be with such mutant powers...

Another thing that the X Men movies touched upon was how the human society as a whole is not accepting to anything that seems to deviate from the general accepted notion of normality.. And how we all have to constantly keep changing ourselves to fit into this social system... Any abberation is dealt with severity and isolation from society... This is something which significantly contributes to breeding criminals and anti-social elements... Something that the society as a whole does little to rectify...

Anyways, I am dying to watch the third movie in the series which has released in theatres just a couple of weeks ago... Hope I get to watch it soon... :-)