GROWING UP……..

The last few days have been full of realizations and maybe a bit of maturing…….

Apathy is the biggest affliction of our generation. We care more about silly parties and sillier clothes than the pains and troubles of people around us. Anything that does not affect us directly can go to hell!

Shantaram was right. It is really difficult to find a selfless good deed. My search continues….in others as well as in myself.

There is a big gap between what we know to be right and what we do.
The tap in the toilet continues to leak and the tubelight is switched on. Nobody is bothered to put it right…….

Some people have an un-usually large share of troubles. Maybe it is the test of fire, the price for not sticking to the system or some other such funda. But after a limit you just hope it would all be all right for them.

With all this, you tend to ask yourself…..where is it all going?? What is the relevance of what we do, day after day, as human beings??

Still, with everything gloomy and going the wrong way you can’t help but hope. Life is full of surprises…both pleasant and unpleasant. Just that, even after all the yoga and tie-chi, when stuck between two unpleasant circumstances…. you can’t help feeling blue………

STOP!!!!!

Did you know that a person drinking coffee everyday in a disposable plastic cup generates 12Kg of waste annually? Not only this, the amount of energy used and carbon di-oxide generated to make these coffee cups is appreciable. Plus recycling in not a reality for us yet so these cups will be lying around the beautiful campus for some days and then in a landfill for the next 10,000 years!!!!!!!!

All this can stop if you make a little room in your bag to carry your own mug. Impractical…..weird……just too much work??? Not really….if you just try.


We are lucky to live in a beautiful campus. We must do everything in our power to preserve it. Little deeds done today can make a big difference tomorrow.

I Just had a Zabar-DUS BITotsav

In our first year, when we were still scared and ragged little minnows, we went to do BITotsav work for FAS. BITotsav was just another word then but Anuj Bhiyya, the then FAS presi, sat with us and explained what it was all about. He said, BIT really comes to life during BITotsav, hundreds of events happening all over the place. Anyone in their first year should participate in it.
That was enough to encourage us. Overnight we collected people, prepared posters and next day team ZabarDUS was in the battlefield. We battled it for three days with the intro skit, the events and finally reached core night.
Back then, we shrugged off things like ’pauua’. We just gave our best and after a tough battle came fourth. The whole four day process was so enjoyable that we never gave loosing a second thought. All we knew was that we were better equipped for the next year.
In our second year, we launched into the battlefield with a strategy. We knew the events and the rules they are played with inside out. We qualified into the core night with maximum points. That year core night was sacrificed for a greater good and we accepted it graciously. End of story.
By the time you reach third year, the rut begins to set in. every thing has a ‘been there-done that’ tag attached to it. So when BITotsav’08 was announced the ex team members failed to show the required enthusiasm. However destiny plays its game in strange ways. One day before BITotsav, I was sitting in front of the canteen with someone we lovingly call butru and a couple of my classmates. Publicity had begun…..teams were putting posters; people were shouting slogans…..the fever was spreading and we were its first major victims.
‘We have to form a team’
‘Four days in campus, during bitotsav, without participation is too much for me to bear’
‘We have played this game for three years now, let’s end it with a win’

Enough words for us to spring into action…….
Old flexes, chart papers, thermo cols and paints were promptly arranged and enthusiastic archis sprang into action. Three hours of work in the design studio amid a great deal of excitement and confusion, resulted in two giant sized posters that were carried to the canteen at 4 pm amidst drums beating, cheering et al. the poster read ‘ ZabarDUS….kuch yaad aaya?!”
Intro skit went extremely well, even though we were shooed off the stage for exceeding the time limit. However, during the lunch break, we performed the whole skit again, not for points but for the people who wanted to see a ZabarDUS skit!!!
First day of events did not go well. We were overconfident and disorganized. Events that we were known for winning slipped out of our hands. At the end of the day we were chided by our well wishers and we decided to pull up our socks.
Second day was magic. Audi and Binnie, our two team managers, ruffled and shuffled us between events with amazing efficiency. At the end of day two, ZabarDUS was not only back in the game…..it was leading with over 30 points!!!!!
Core nights are stuff college memories are made of. Our skit, on the theme Yaaron ki Yaari’ had the core roaring with laughter. Our fashP was on the theme Black and what it meant to us. We interpreted it as ‘ Black it was……black it prevailed…..and black it will be’. A mixture of evil, sensuous and funny depictions of the colour kept the audience interested till the very end. Punch was handled by our butru as was Mr. BITotsav with Anu supporting on the Miss BITotsav end.
When it was all over and the results were being tabulated, the CAT echoed with our team’s name……….ZabarDUS…..zabarDUS……zabarDUS. We knew then, no matter what the end result, we had won. Ten crazy first years who had started this journey had finally arrived.
And win we did! The whole CAT broke in applause and cheers, the entire archi was on stage……and we were all happy beyond words.
Many years from now, when I will look back on my college days I will proudly recollect the doings of ZabarDUS…….the highs and lows and finally the unforgettable win…..


PS----

Things I learnt-

i) There is nothing as ‘Pauua’. After three years of active life in the college, it is inevitable to know the Presis and the organizers. And if you do well, things are bound to turn into your favor.
ii) Without superb and experienced managers, the team fails miserably
iii) All events, formal as well as informal, must be attacked with equal zeal. In the end, every point counts
iv) ZabarDUS was never about just 10 people. It was about all friends who helped us get to the end with brush-strokes on our posters, lines in our debate, costumes for our skits and cheering on the final day. You made the whole experience special. Thank you.

A Valentine’s Day letter…….



Dearest Ija,

It’s February and love is in the air. Girls and boys are busy finding ways of expressing their undying love for each other. And here I am, thinking about you…..
Laws of nature tell us that life is all about moving on. Grow up, find a job, find a man, start a family and renew the cycle of life. But thank God for love!!!
The love that still makes you think about the comfort of your son before you go to sleep every night. The love that makes me sad when I think of my mother in an empty house. The love of my father who keeps filling my bank account lest I should need something. The love that comes from sharing the same house and life for eighteen years with your siblings. The love of aunts and uncles who spoil you with treats……
My love for you that comes from years of playing on your lap, from learning the alphabets off your tongue, from eating food off your hands, from the warmth of the sweaters you knit for me, from your sweet smell that filled my nostrils each night we cuddled together, from the long discussions we had about Mahatma Gandhi and Harry Potter….
If 14th February be a celebration of love then, Lady, I salute you and I salute our love!!!

Yours always,
Neelakshi

(Ija is the Kumaoni word for mother. Strangely, I always addressed my grandmother as Ija)

A month on the road……………

There is more wisdom in a mile of walking than in one hundred books.....

Well, going by that, I should be a pundit exuding knowledge from every pore of my body. The month of December was crazy! I walked, drove and rode thousands of kilometers across the length and breadth of the country finally to land back at my perch here at room 73.

It all began when I boarded a train at Banaras with 50 other ghanchakkars bound for Agra. Now traveling with 50 people can be quite an experience because there is never a dull moment. We did it all, from playing antakshari, singing bhajans, reciting Kabeer ke dohe, enacting Shakespere to conducting elaborate weddings! At Agra, we stayed in the cheapest of hotels, ate the most awful food, but had a blast visiting the Taj and Fatehpur Sikri. The monument of love did not inspire any awe because the moment was lost with thousands of tourists pushing and pulling to get their picture taken in front of it. At Agra fort, we got mesmerized by the shayaree our senile guide presented rather than the monument. Arz kiya hai……” shamma bekar hai agar ujaala na ho……husn bekaar hai agar chahnewala na ho”.

Next stop was Jaipur. We saw it all, from the world’s largest canon to the palace of nine queens. Watching a movie at Rajmandir was an experience as the hall has no equals when it comes to creating ‘movie magic’. Chauki Dhani, a resort village in the outskirts of Jaipur was where we had hukka, ate a 22course Rajasthani meal, feasted on chooran and had a jyotish whisper in my ear,”you’ll never settle in life!”(damn!shud have listened to him).

Then our troupe’ made a long journey to Jaisalmer, the far off desolate desert city. From there on a speeding Sumo (driven by yours truly!) we went to Sam, a village 40km from Jaisalmer. The camel safari was good, albeit a bit shaky! Then we joined in with the locals for a night of dance and music. Driving back from Sam, on the isolated desert road, is something none of is going to forget in a hurry.
At Jaisalmer, we also visited the only living fort in India, puffed some more hukka and spent a long evening shopping in the by-lanes.

By now, Rajasthan was getting to us, so for a change, we went off to Ahmedabad! Remembering that we were after all on a study tour, we went to CEPT, IIM, Apollo and finally Sangath, B.V Doshi’s office.
Not that we did not have fun. Mornings were spent munching on dhokla and the evenings roaming in the malls.

We re-entered Rajasthan to visit Udaipur. The beauty of its lake and palaces left us spellbound! We would have stayed longer but we were out of money so we decided to head home…..
At Delhi, where we broke our journey, guys and girls sat together and sobbed to Tare Zzameen Pe and later in the evening got lost in Chandani Chauk.
For most the journey ended there, they could rest their tired feet at home before joining in for the next semester. But for me, there was still a lot more to come!
When I got down at Banaras, my parents said that I had to join them for a week in the hills. So began the road journey to Almora. We met up with Gullu, Smira and her parents. The journey did not stop here. Our final destination was Munshiari, 270km from Almora. The twists and turns of the road took us two days to reach there. Yes, I saw snow after a long time. Gullu made us trek to far off places, up…up….up….we cursed him but there is nothing like the view from the top!!!
The high of this trip was probably seeing two naked sadhus, sitting amidst snow and smoking chillum!!!!
Alas! I had to break the journey and return to B.I.T. after all, it had been a month. So, after four days of traveling I was back. Its around one in the morning now and I am sitting hunched over my comp, googling out the next trip…..this time its gonna be spring fest at IIT, Kharagpur!!!!!

VIEWS OF COMMERCIAL COMPLEX @ RANCHI..........................

it's been a while.............

here is what i have been doing..............

this is the tee shirt design for this year's ZONASA...................

and these are views for a tourist information kiosk for Jharkhand designed keeping in mind the local art and building forms......................

coming soon................

Ranchi's highest appartment building & mall........................